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Boku no Hero has restrictive settings.
Innovation of the setting in BnHA is very difficult since it is set in a realistic cityscape of Japan. The previous large arcs have occurred at... a forest. A generic city. A traditional Japanese mansion. A construction site/forest. And at a school training ground designed like... a city. In Boku no Hero, you can't suddenly explore Alabasta or discover soul-infused food in Tottoland. You're stuck.
Also the series consists of arcs away from and in a base (like early-ish Naruto). And since the "base" is so small (a school) and not an entire village, there's almost nothing to innovate there. This would be fine if Horikoshi could write interesting school arcs or meaningful low-key character interactions. He can't.
Also another restrictive setting is abilities that stopped impressing the readers. Unlike Black Clover or Kimetsu no Yaiba or One Piece or Hunter x Hunter, abilities aren't like a theme, they are like an RPG skill that you can put points into and maybe there's a tiny skill tree. Todoroki's ice can get... more icy. Kaminari's electricity gets... more volts. Deku's punches get... stronger.
Slightly off track, look at what Marvel movies have done to make the hero movies more interesting to a broad audience. Aliens. Gods. Mythology. Meanwhile in Boku no Hero's world, the extent of the lore is two brothers and how one is good and one is evil. And Avatar-inspired inheritor BS. I loved BnHA and still like it. About as much as Shokugeki though.
On SharkBait
Haha yeah. I like to believe he's not baiting at all and that someone like him actually exists out there. Has he ever, over his 5+ years of posting iirc, admitted he was trolling?
Finally you make some sensible points. I'll give them a fair shot but if this escalates I won't take up too much thread space. Although we do need to hit 1000 pages this year guys!!
On Neo
You're right that there could be more to Neo. However he has not shown it. He does take random do badders. Literally the most recent arc only happened because he was pissed that he got outwitted so he wanted to fight random bad guys, and by Deus ex Machina the bad guy has a connection to Gevaudin. He was interested in the lemmings thing because "I am a Shonen MC, I must save lives and stop bad people." Don't even mention him liking hot dogs, it's literally a pointless character trait. Maybe if the series lasts 100 chapters it could become endearing but I doubt it.
On Denji
Denji's current situation is very interesting to me. Many readers can empathize with being aimless. And yet in shonen manga, aimed at littler kids, most the characters have clear, simple to understand goals. Thus:
1. Denji is unique. He stands out from the caricature MCs of Jump.
2. Denji is relatable. I don't wake up everyday thinking "I'm going to be king of the salarymen!" Having a character that latches onto worldly aims to look away from the emptiness of his life is immensely relatable.
3. It is immensely interesting to see how he will live his life and discover what matters to him.
I find the fact that he has no current goal to be very interesting. If you think characters without goals aren't worth reading, then like I said, you'd be missing out on enjoying a lot of masterpieces, in not just manga but in all storytelling.
On Chainsawman's Potential
The potential comes from
1. Interesting, subtle, relatable characters.
2. Author's impressive storytelling. Effective uses of show not tell.
3. Good battle direction. Crazy cool panels. Style.
4. World is mostly unexplored yet there is a strong foundation that we can understand (the typical "exorcist HQ" has been executed in D. Gray Man for example). Also as **Tarot** mentioned there seems to be some thought being put into what's going on globally as well.
5. No skills are as restrictive as Boku no Hero. Yet they feel realistic and gritty as opposed to fantastical abilities like in Black Clover. There is just the right balance, and is similar to Jujutsu Kaisen.
6. Neo and Higuma are predictable. Next chapter Neo will hack something and win the race, and Higuma will slay the fox-demon but the fox-demon will be semi-redeemed. In Chainsaw, what the hell is going to happen next time? You kind of have an idea but you know the author will surprise you. That alone makes it the best out of the three.
7. There is an inherent silliness (tomato demons, etc.) that is portrayed in a serious light (e.g. a tomato demon exists in the same world as terrifying zombie demons). In this way the author has created a world that is very flexible. He doesn't have to worry AS much about internal consistency and can instead focus on meaningful character development and meaningful stories. This is where I see Boku no Hero tripping up currently, worrying about too many technicalities. It's becoming kind of a chore to memorize how everyone's quirks work.
On Higuma "vs" Chainsawman
"Monster of the week" correct. Although the type of monster is very different. In Higuma it's some Japanese mythology inspired monster. In Chainsawman it's unpredictable yet still has a realistic gritty feel so we can take it seriously.
"Modern society" it's clear that Higuma's society is just a lazy copy-paste of our own, yet Chainsawman's is brimmingly with alternate-universe possibilities. The Soviets still existing? Mobs essentially committing child slavery with no authorities to stop them? A publicly-known devil hunting organization? That ain't our world, Zaimokuza.
"Higuma has the edge on settings..." if you consider copying our world into manga and adding Enma's little dimension beats what Chainsawman has. And if so then I don't think I can change that opinion.
"...since Higuma can always have an underworld arc" How does this relate to anything? Bleach had not just an underworld/Shinigami arc (and Hell arc in the movies), but also a Quincy-world arc. Did having a Quincy-world arc vastly improve Bleach's settings, with a new, innovative, interesting to read about and discover world? So far One Piece and Hunter x Hunter don't got no underworld arcs but they're still interesting as fuck. Dark Continent, Wano, etc. C'mon man use your head.
"Higuma can best be compared to everyones favorite spirit detective (rouge Hell Warden arc when)." You talking about Urameshi? Because Urameshi had personality and character, as opposed to Kuma-san who is one of three forms: 1. Super chill as a meme 2. Tranquil to look cool 3. BURNING MAD BECAUSE JUSTICE. From the moment you first see Urameshi smoking and how he deals with Keiko and the teachers who complain to him about that, you already know he's not going to be a typical protagonist. And what the heck is a rouge hell warden arc?
Seriously don't understand how you can enjoy Yu Yu Hakusho and think so differently from me. It's interesting to learn that there are so many differently-minded people, though.
