My Hero Academia has many dramatic and emotional moments, but there are times when some of their impact is lost in the execution.
- In general, the series often gives characters runny noses whenever they cry. While this is realistic, several viewers find the effect distracting and a bit goofy, which can hurt the emotional impact of some scenes.
- Although some people consider it to be Narm Charm, especially in later chapters, some will never be able to take Shigaraki's severed hand design completely seriously.
- Some of the hero names the students chose. Imagine being saved by a hero named "Grape Juice" or "Cellophane".
- In episode 33 of the anime, Todoroki has a brief flashback to episode 31, when he, Midoriya, and Iida were visited by the police chief, who is an anthropomorphic dog. The problem is that this flashback is no dialogue accompanies this flashback, so if you didn't see episode 31, it appears just to be a still image of a dog wearing a suit that pops up for no reason
◊. Even knowing the context, this scene can still be funny just for how sudden, silent, and short the flashback is. - The scene where Midoriya learns about the circumstances behind Kota becoming an orphan can lose a bit of its emotional punch given the fact that Midoriya's dressed in nothing but the Modesty Towel he'd been wearing at the hot spring, while Mandalay and Pixie-Bob are both fully-clothed.
- Moonfish can be this. His design and concept are so over-the-top creepy that he's either one of the scariest villains in the series or impossible to take seriously.
- All Might screaming a Big "NO!", in English, after failing to rescue Bakugo from Shigaraki's bar. However, for obvious reasons, this isn't really a problem in the dub.
- The scene where Tsuyu tearfully tells Midoriya, Kirishima, Todoroki, Iida and Yaoyorozu how she was feeling after learning they broke the rules and went to Kamino Ward to rescue Bakugo is a sad one, especially when the others feel bad about her and comfort her, but because Todoroki still has his normal emotionless look in that particular scene, he looks less sad and more like he's bored and just wants to go sleep, making it slightly funny.
- The death of Sir Nighteye is undoubtedly one of the saddest scenes in the entire series. Unfortunately, the rather upbeat ending theme in the anime's fourth season follows immediately after it, which can kinda kill the drama.
- Eri trying to smile, and then saying that she doesn't know how to during Mirio and Midoriya's visit in the hospital. It's supposed to be a tragic scene to highlight the lasting effects of her trauma, but it's so over the top melodramatic that it's hard to take seriously.
- In the English dub, Ending can be a bit harder to take seriously since he talks in such a high-pitched and over-the-top manner even for an insane convict.
- When Shigaraki jumps at Aizawa to attack his eyes, his jaw is dislocated from stopping Midoriya's arm with his mouth. While this makes for a ghastly image in the manga, the anime tones down his facial trauma to just make his mouth look exaggeratedly large.
- In the aftermath of the Paranormal Liberation War Arc, the very somber scenes at the hospital feature funny-looking doctors reminiscent of Yoshi and Toad. As a result, it's quite a bit distracting from the seriousness that the story is trying to promote. It doesn't help that in Chapter 309, a mustachioed doctor with a hairdo looking almost like a cap appears as well.
- The Finnish translation ends up feeling like a different story at times, far more lighthearted and often dissonant, as a result of a single translation choice: on account of a dearth of good-sounding equivalents for "villain", they were forced to go with "pahis", which would at best mean "bad guy", and at worst "baddie". Now imagine the serious and collected Kurogiri calmly introduce the villains as "We are the Baddie League. We are here to kill All Might", and you will see the extent of the problem.
- The flashback where Toya tries to kill baby Shoto has some of its gravity undercut due to the latter's cartoonishly goofy design in the scene, with some even comparing it to Stewie Griffin.
- At the tail-end of U.A. Traitor Arc, we get the shot of almost all Class 1-A students making angry faces at the thought of All For One for what he did to Aoyama. It doesn't exactly work with some of its characters looking like they aren't exactly pissed off, because either usually their anger is played for laughs (Bakugo, Uraraka), they are largely Out of Focus (Sato, Ojiro) or because they are The Scrappy (Mineta). This single panel was enough to cause Broken Base in the fandom.
- During the final battle, Tomura's body continuously changes, allegedly "evolving" into its ideal form. The final form it settles on? Tomura's normal body but covered in hands acting as armor, which makes him look less like the terrifying Big Bad that the narrative is trying to sell him as and more like a cheesy Monster of the Week.
- In Chapter 371, the out-of-nowhere Shout-Out to League of Legends by Tomura Shigaraki in Spinner's flashback as he's currently transforming into a giant scaly monster ends up completely overshadowing anything else that happens in the chapter.
