"Back there, even without a Quirk, and no chance of winning, you jumped into action even when the so-called "real heroes" hesitated. And as I watched from the crowd, I thought to myself that if even this young, Quirkless, reckless, insignificant, foolish, pathetic, astronomically stupid boy could find the courage to step into a situation that—and I must reiterate—he had no business in, well, let's just say it sparked something in me that I thought died a long time ago. But far more importantly, it made me realize one undeniable fact. Young man, you too, can become a hero."
—All Might to Midoriya, Episode 1
My Hero Academia: Abridged is an Abridged Series version of My Hero Academia made by Something Witty Entertainment. It currently has three episodes out. The first can be found here and the second can be found here. The third episode can be found here. The fourth episode is now available here
The series stars an even more emotionally-fragile Izuku Midoriya, trying to become a hero like his idol, All Might. The world is a much snarkier, cynical place than in canon: All-Might is a washed-up, all-but-forgotten celebrity. The public has long moved on to newer, younger, and more popular heroes. Characters like Bakugou have their worst traits dialed up to eleven for comedic reasons. And the hero business, in general, is treated as a grim, brutal, hyper-competitive business of popularity and product placements rather than actually helping anyone.
My Hero Academia Abridged provides examples of:
- Accent Adaptation:
- All-Might has two. In his superpowered form, he has a posh, fancy Transatlantic accent. In his real, crippled form he has a rough and gruff Brooklyn accent.
- If you listen closely, some of the citizens have (admittedly exaggerated) Minnesotan accents.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Both Deku and All-Might are hit with this in the first episode.
- For Deku, his father is a deadbeat musician and his mother is a depressed alcoholic and he's more a messed up kid than in canon.
- For All-Might, even with all the work he's done, the public doesn't remotely care for All-Might anymore. He still has all of the canonical health problems, which adds even more trauma to him. His big speech to Midoriya before the climax is about how the hero industry cares little about actual heroism and is more focused on making a profit.
- Played for Laughs with Aizawa, who turns out to have gone through a bitter divorce that left him homeless.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- Bakugou is even worse than his canon self in the first episode. One such example is saying he's always got Deku's back before a sudden cut into him yelling "Kick (Deku) in the back!"
- Downplayed with Inko; she's just as nice and dedicated a parent, but her terrible love life has left her a temperamental and stressed-out nervous wreck with a great deal of anger towards the male gender.
- Revealed in a Freeze-Frame Bonus during a news story, Ryukyu. Whereas she is kind and the Cool Big Sis to Nejire in canon, here a report says she got swept up in a Renaissance Faire and ended up immolating several guests before fleeing with the "princess".
- The entire UA staff actually takes bets on how many students will die in this year's entrance exams. They even chant "eat shit!" as they watch Midoriya almost fall to his death. Subverted with Aizawa, who turns out to be a Knight in Sour Armor, if also a Crazy Homeless Person Drill Sergeant Nasty.
- Also Nezu is apparently a pedophile since All Might blackmailed Nezu with something to that effect.
- Iida in this version has fully bought into the idea that heroism is about fame rather than saving people and thus literally cannot comprehend why Deku would throw away his chance to be accepted into UA just so he can save Uraraka. Even the mere idea that someone would do something like that entirely selflessly is dismissed by him almost immediately in favor of the assumption that Deku must have had an ulterior motive.
- Downplayed with Uraraka. While she is still kind and friendly, a lot of her cheery, upbeat personality is an act to hide her selfish, foul-mouthed and insensitive personality.
- While All Might was initially Cruel to Be Kind to Deku, he still held onto his ideals of heroism. Here, it's more of a facade, and his dwindling popularity and the rise in greedy heroes have made him jaded and bitter. It's best displayed when Bakugo is being held captive by a slime monster and he overhears a couple criticizing All-Might for unintentionally letting the villain escape, which prompts him to decide not to step in and save the day.
All Might: You know what? I ran all the way here on half a lung. Maybe fuck 'em.
- Deku's father, Hisashi. In canon, he's never seen because he works abroad, but he still seems to be on good terms with his family. Here he seems to have been a musician that abandoned Inko when she got pregnant.
- Affectionate Nickname: Parodied. All Might refers to Midoriya as "my boy" when they talk. At the end of episode 2, this is revealed to be because All Might can't remember Midoriya's name. When All Might tries, the closest he gets is "Ezekiel Midorariya".
- The Alcoholic: Inko Midoriya has taken to the bottle after Hisashi left his family behind.
- Bait-and-Switch: All Might claims that Izuku actually managed to get into UA because of his incredible display of strength and heroism in the entrance exam... but also because All Might has some substantial blackmail against the faculty which he used to get Izuku accepted.
- Being Good Sucks: The prevailing problem with this version's setting. Being a traditionally good hero is met with general scorn and rejection from the shallow populace, who only care about how attractive and showy their heroes are. It's to the extent that most of the professional heroes only care about their marketability rather than actually helping people.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
- Downplayed with All-Might, who is The Cape in public but is, in reality, a jaded Knight in Sour Armor.
- Also downplayed with Ochako, who acts like The Cutie, but when stressed or surprised reveals she's a foul-mouthed Ladette.
- Black Comedy: All over the place.
- Bakugou threatens Deku's family during one of his typical bullying spats. After Deku mentions his Disappeared Dad, Bakugou says he will track Deku's dad down and reunite them, before tearing his throat out and forcing Deku to watch him bleed out.
- In the second episode, All Might explains how Deku's currently-feeble body would be destroyed by his quirk. Deku asks if that has happened before. Cut to All Might's horrific, drawn-out auditory memory of exactly that happening to another kid, right in front of his father.
All Might: The point is, it'll never happen again.
Midoriya: "Again?!"
All Might: I said "it'll never happen," and then I stopped talking. - The second episode also features the principal and teachers of the U.A. gleefully and sadistically betting on how many kids will die in the entrance exam. Later, it's implied that the former is a pedophile and that All Might used that as blackmail to ensure Deku was accepted.
- During the first episode, the teacher at Aldera was threatened by carnies that they will take his thumbs if he could get them at least ten kids. In the third episode, it shows his bleeding, missing thumbs.
- Mina offhandedly mentions that if anyone gets in her way, she will melt their faces off. Kirishima then comments in how he's seen it happen.
- Boring, but Practical: Deconstructed. The most common way All Might uses his Quirk (One for All) is simple Super-Strength, which is more than powerful enough to defeat most villains. Unlike the original canon, this makes him unpopular with the public; in a world where flashy heroes get the most praise, All Might comes off as a boring Invincible Hero.
Bakugo: He ends all his fights in, like, one punch! Who could possibly be entertained by that?
- Circus of Fear: Deku and Bakugou's junior high teacher tries to recruit students into becoming carnies because they have threatened to cut off his thumbs if he doesn't recruit at least ten kids. Episode 3 shows they went through with it.
- Comically Missing the Point: Deku's doctor, after trying to convince his mother that he could be a successful drug dealer when he grows up, calls her a "Helicopter Parent" when she objects to his lackluster advice.
- Crapsack World: Given with the extra black comedy, but in All Might's words, the heroes here only care about making money than actually saving the world.
- Crush Filter: Midoriya has quite a strong one when he looks at Uraraka. As she's pinned under debris and swearing up a storm, apparently all he sees is the first time they met while "Dream Weaver" plays in his head. His reaction to her vomiting is also a smitten "aw, she's even pretty on the inside."
- Deconstructive Parody: Of Superhero movies, especially when those power owners are adolescents.
- Due to being one of the few people born without a quirk, Deku has an inferiority complex and a sheepish personality to match.
- All Might's true form is emaciated and damaged from his past fights. He's also nihilistic and jaded due to witnessing the decline of true heroism; which was caused when altruistic virtues were replaced with greed and vanity.
Midoriya: (sees All Might's emaciated form) Jesus Christ, All Might! What the hell happened to you?!
Toshinori: What the hell happened to me? Being a hero happened to me! (shows Midoriya his scars) Take a good look, kid. This is what being a hero gets ya! Spend your whole life doing shit for people who will forget your GODDAMN NAME the second some new hotness comes along only to have your fucking stomach ripped out by some punk with delusions of grandeur!
Midoriya: But think about all the lives you saved, the villains you defeated! The world is undoubtedly a better place because you always smile when people needed you!
Toshinori: I shit in a bag, kid! A BAG!
Midoriya: Is it a nice bag?
Toshinori: (sighs) Look, kid. I can tell your heart is in the right place, but you gotta face facts. Without a quirk, I don't think you could ever be a hero. No one could. (Midoriya gasps) But, don't take it too hard. Being a hero stopped being about doing good a long time ago. It doesn't matter how many lives you save. People just see us as...entertainment. Something to be consumed and then thrown away. Sorry to be the one to tell you. You are chasing an ideal that no longer exists.
- Due to the more interesting quirk owners, the public has a very low opinion of the older heroes (like All-Might) because he doesn't produce profitable drama or have any interesting activities. Unlike the more popular heroes like Backdraft and Mt. Lady.
- A black comedy example comes from All-Might capturing Sludge Villain. All-Might has trouble scooping him into a plastic bottle; meanwhile, Sludge Villain is in intense pain from being imprisoned in two places at once.
- Disappeared Dad: Hisashi Midoriya is a deadbeat musician, who had a short-lived fling with Inko before abandoning her after she got pregnant. She refers to him as the "leather-clad incubus."
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Parodied in the third episode when Tenya thought that Bakugo was a Butch Lesbian until he hears the latter speak.
- Establishing Series Moment: The first scene starts with Deku giving the same intro used in the series, explaining how the first person with a quirk was a child born in China who radiated light... and then says that said child exploded, which was mistaken for a nuclear strike and started World War III. Really lets you know what you're getting into.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Played with since Tenya is simply an Adaptational Jerkass. When Izuku saves Uraraka and breaks his legs and arm in the process, he has quite the trouble figuring out why he'd be willing to injure himself by saving a "charitable 5" without the incentive of earning points.
- The Fake Cutie: Downplayed with Ochako, who is genuinely kind and saves Deku twice. But while she acts like a stereotypical girly girl in public, she reveals a much more irascible and foul-mouthed personality when she's startled or injured in some way.
- Gibberish of Love: After Uraraka saves Midoriya from falling, all he can say is "BEH?!" like a braying animal. Uraraka ends up thinking that Midoriya is a weird sheep person whose name is "Beh".
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: In spite of working hard to become a hero and being chosen as All Might's successor, Midoriya has constant self-esteem issues.
- Deku talks to his organs as if they're people, thinks he's failed All Might after a mild scolding, and generally has internal monologues where he calls himself worthless.
- He tries to save Bakugou in Episode 1 from the Sludge Villain because Bakugou once said that they'd always have each other's backs. Deku either doesn't realize that Bakugou was kidding, or is just pretending not to because he's that desperate for attention.
- During the QAT, Aizawa asks Izuku if he feels good about himself, which he responds that he never has.
- When Tenya berates him for accepting the name Deku, he asks if he has any self-respect. Izuku responds by asking "Why start now?".
- Hidden Depths:
- Bakugo gardens in his spare time, if his rant about All Might is anything to go by. He also developed a hatred of rabbits due to their constant disruption of his garden.
- Deku apparently has a pretty good singing voice. Granted, it's not clear how much of that is genuine and how much is his Crush Filter surrounding Uraraka making everything prettier in his eyes.
- Knight in Sour Armor:
- All Might is this when he's not buffed out and being honest with Izuku. All Might is bitter that despite his altruistic attitude and efficiency as a superhero, the public hates him because he's "boring". The hero industry, in general, is far greedier than he is. All Might even laments in Episode 2 that no one seems to actually want to help people as heroes anymore, apparently sincerely. It also explains a lot of his more self-destructive behaviors, since All Might has given everything to the public, but they don't care about him anymore, so he figures it's not worth trying.
- Shota Aizawa is a bit of a Crazy Homeless Person, but he is driven by a deep fear of someone else making the same mistakes he has and ending up a has-been derelict who can't even blame his wife for cheating on him for he having been a terrible husband and job addict.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Midoriya adores All Might, and is likely the man's biggest fan on the planet in spite of his popularity falling off. So when Midoriya meets All Might face-to-face, he immediately goes into fanboy mode, unable to think straight and trying to make his fanfictions come true.
- The Lad-ette: Ochako's true personality is a foul-mouthed tomboy, though she's genuinely nice.
- Lady Swears-a-Lot: When Uraraka's Mask of Sanity drops, she screams and curses far more than any other character. This is seen in Episode 2, where both of her legs are pinned underneath a rock with a giant robot bearing down on her, about to crush her.
Uraraka: (screaming) Fucking son of my ass! It hurts so shitting bad! Put a fucking bullet in me! END IT!
(cue "Dream Weaver" played over an image of Uraraka's smiling face from Deku's perspective)
Uraraka: Shit in my asshole! - Major Injury Underreaction: Aoyama responds to being shot with a dueling pistol with a pithy "I've been shot!"
- Mama Bear: Inko has a pretty understandable reaction to how badly Izuku was put through the wringer.
Inko: Izuku, sweetie? Are you okay?
Izuku: I won't lie to you, mother.
[Beat]
Inko: ...I'll kill them. - Mask of Sanity: Downplayed with Uraraka. While she's a genuinely kind person, she hides behind a mask of being a super girly girl who is nice to a fault. When she's stressed out or in trouble, Uraraka reverts to her actual personality of a foul-mouthed tomboy.
- Medium Awareness: Izuku acknowledges and admires how Uraraka's puke is rainbows, which in the regular show was ultimately a gag to lessen the gross factor.
- Mood Whiplash:
- Deku's being diagnosed as quirkless. The entire scene is loaded with intense Black Comedy, from the extraordinarily unprofessional doctor trying to encourage him to sell illegal drugs for a living (and who we ultimately find out doesn't have a license, or is a doctor at all), before transitioning to Young Deku having an emotional breakdown while Inko is helpless to do anything but apologize and hug him.
- When Uraraka is pinned under debris in Episode 2, she starts cursing up a storm in pain. The shot suddenly changes to Midoriya imagining Uraraka's smiling face with "Dream Girl" playing over it, then cutting right back to hear swearing some more.
- Mythology Gag: All Might's confusion about One For All and All For One originating from The Three Musketeers is a nod to Kōhei Horikoshi's own similar ignorance about the literary source when questioned about it.
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: Deku really doesn't pay attention to the media coverage of Mt. Lady, only focusing on how her powers work.
- Organ Autonomy: Apparently, Izuku's body is autonomously working out even after he thinks he failed the entrance exam because his limbs are still under the impression that they have a chance of getting into UA. We hear his fingers excitedly look forward to being accepted, including one that has a Voice of the Legion.
Izuku: Oh dear. Guess I'll have to break the news to the gang.
- Parents as People: Inko is just as caring towards Izuku as her canon self, but in other aspects of her life she's a depressed alcoholic with a hot temper who hates her missing husband.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: It turns out that All Might had no idea that the phrases "One for All" and "All for One" originated from The Three Musketeers, and mistakenly assumes when Midoriya mentions there are books about these that All For One wrote books on his and One For All's powers, leading to him spending three weeks investigating this "lead".
- Production Throwback: When All Might's flipping through TV channels in Episode 2, one of the channels is Asuna's Nightmare Face from Episode 15 of Sword Art Online Abridged.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Bakugo apparently likes gardening, something Deku thinks is sweet until Bakugo decides to use it to make a threat.
- Repressed Memories: Deku has these of his childhood, shortly after discovering he was doomed to forever be quirkless. He has a flashback of them in the first episode and quickly pushes them back into the vault afterward.
Midoriya: (thinking) Oh, wow! I forgot how sad I was back then! (chuckles nervously) How did that one slip out? Back in the box with you! And repreeeess... this is healthyyyy! (sighs) Good... now: LAUGH! (forced, broken laughter) Yes! This is the sound that Joy makes!
- Shout-Out:
- After saving Izuku from the Sludge Villain, All-Might tries to slap him awake with chants of “wake-up-wake-up-wake-up”. On the third time, he instead says “grab a brush and put a little make-up”. Izuku even responds “You wanted to…” upon waking up.
- Cat Noir can be seen jumping around behind All Might while he's in France.
- Midoriya watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer in Episode 2.
- Take That!: Bakugou says that All Might is boring because he ends all his fights in one punch, wondering who could possibly be entertained by a hero who wins all his fights that way.
- That Came Out Wrong: At the end of Episode 1, Bakugou is being an Ungrateful Bastard by refusing to thank Deku for saving his life, saying that he had Sludge Villain right where he wanted him: six inches down his throat. Bakugou realizes the Double Entendre there and just walks off in a defeated huff.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: In Episode 2, Midoriya stares blankly at his dinner while remembering Recovery Girl healing him. Because the bones didn't set right, she had to repeatedly re-break his arm and legs until they set correctly. Apparently, she needed to do this seven times before she got it right, according to Midoriya's internal monologue. His mom even notices this staring, saying she'll kill whoever traumatized her son.
- Verbal Backspace: All Might says that he can't just give Midoriya the power of One-For-All, because his limb would explode off of his body. Fearful, Midoriya asks if that ever happened before. All Might has an internal flashback of that very thing happening but denies it.
All Might: The point is, it'll never happen again.
Midoriya: "Again?!"
All Might: I said "it'll never happen," and then I stopped talking. - World War III: In the background that Izuku gives, apparently the first person with a quirk exploded which the countries around the world thought was a nuclear strike that led to World War III. He then skips over the rest, just assuring the viewers that things are fine now.