My Hero Academia is without a doubt one of the greatest anime and manga of the present era, but that's not to say that it's perfect. In fact, when one looks at the whole scale of the story, it actually feels a bit rushed, and that's something which could've been easily remedied.

The issue that causes some problems for My Hero Academia is that it's set over a fairly brief period of time. This might not seem like a big deal, but it can have some big impacts on characterization, believability, and even just making room for added content, such as OVAs and movies. The tight time schedule of the series leaves little room to breathe, and can make things like character growth feel rushed and, by extension, less earned. While it's too late to do anything about that now for the story, how much would spreading the story out over a longer period have helped?

My Hero Academia Happens Over a Short Period

My Hero Academia is Set in One Eventful Year

The whole of My Hero Academia takes place over just a little more than a year of in-universe time, meaning that many significant events happened back-to-back-to-back. For example, there's only a month or so between the Hero Killer Stain incident and the Forest Training Camp raid, and the Kamino battle between All Might and All for One takes place just days after the training camp. The story likely would've benefited from having more time to breathe between major events, spreading out the plot points of the story across multiple years of schooling at UA, rather than all taking place in 1-A's freshman year.

Even if one only thinks about things logically, the tight timetable can make some events unbelievable. The League of Villains went from not existing to a country-dominating force in just a year's time, for example. In many ways, it would've been more interesting to see the League slowly develop over time, turning from a small-time gang into one of the deadliest threats in the world. All for One himself is known for playing the long game, so why did he rush his plans so much throughout this one year that the story is told?

Believability is also struck by the proximity of incidents to each other in time. Can you imagine the level of scandal that there would've been if the USJ incident, the Forest Training Camp raid and kidnapping, and the dangerous work-study assignments had all taken place in the same year? UA would've shut down faster than the average computer. That's without even getting into the Paranormal Liberation War, and then the Final War, which are, again, just a few months apart. It simply strains credulity to have students in so much danger over such a short period.

My Hero Academia Should've Spread Its Story Out

A Story Spread Across All of High School Would've Been Better

That's not to say, of course, that My Hero Academia needed to be substantially longer than it is. 430 chapters is already very long, after all, and expanding the length would only help so much. A better approach might have been simply spreading out the events that occurred in the manga over a longer period of time, such as Class 1-A's entire high school career, broken up by time-skips and perhaps shorter arcs focusing on other characters besides Deku. The Kamino battle between All Might and All for One, for example, would make an excellent ending to their first year, setting up a second year of schooling where there's no All Might.

The second year could cover their provisional licenses, the Shie-Hassaikai story arc, and the school festival, culminating in the Meta Liberation Army arc, where the League of Villains takes a big step forward by expanding its size radically. That sets the stage for the Paranormal Liberation War in Class 1-A's third year, the decimation of Japan, the Dark Deku arc (which would definitely benefit from being a little longer, time-wise), and finally ending with the Final War arc, right around the time at which the students should be graduating.

A Lengthened Story Would Help My Hero Academia's Smaller Characters

A Broader Scope of Time Would Allow All Characters More Time to Grow

Expanding the story to take place over several years would give the characters more time to age and mature, making their character growth more substantial. This would be especially pronounced for characters who spend less time in the spotlight, such as Tokoyami, Shoji, and Yaoyorozu. By giving them more time to grow up and overcome the problems which they faced, they would be able to shine far brighter than they did in the actual manga. Even Deku would benefit, as he'd have a longer period of time over which to learn to master the powers of One for All, making his sudden skilled use of these abilities in the Dark Deku arc more believable.

This is also where it would make the most sense to add to the story. Smaller arcs focusing on Deku's classmates once a year, even as short as a single chapter each, would help to keep characters like Iida from being left behind, ensuring they stay relevant as the final battle approaches. As it stands, many characters who were quite important early on end up nearly forgotten by the end of the series, such as Kirishima. These chapters could also help to foreshadow their eventual fates, making some of the events of the epilogue less surprising.

While it's too late to make these kinds of changes now, it's clear that the manga's tight timeline had an overall negative effect on the story, and giving events more room to breathe would've gone a long way towards making My Hero Academia the best manga possible. This would've had the added benefit of making movies and OVAs more easily slot into the timeline of the series. Fans will never get to see this expanded version of My Hero Academia, which is a bit of a shame.