It's true that it takes away from my enjoyment of the franchise if only the side of evil is taking permanent losses. It's a war for all of Japan and consequently the world that is happening. Maybe I'm cynical or maybe my usual genres made me unpleasant when it comes to works that are too inclined towards idealism and perfect victories. This final arc is building up to be that way right now, even Dabi is somehow living despite everything. Endeavor is living even though he did many awful things. Gran Torino is living even though Shiga almost did manual surgery on him. Bakugou is living in spite of a pierced heart. Nagant is living in spite of exploding. All Might is living in spite of how AFO only needed to spread his arms. Hawks is living. And now, even Edgeshot is living.
I can only take fake outs so many times before I stop batting an eye, because I know that the story is not committed to giving permanent losses to the side of good. I could go on, but I am not exactly advocating for Hori picking up a flamethrower and pointing it at the protagonists either. Before this arc began, I expected that he wouldn't consider any permanent loss to Deku's classmates.
What bothers me is that, so far, this protection expands to supporting characters. What the villains throw at the heroes does not matter, they can't score a single permanent win. They aren't just losing the war, they are losing every battle that makes it. Earlier, MHA arcs ended with them not achieving what they wanted but they could still achieve.
Stain, Overhaul getting rid of Mirio's quirk by playing dirty, My Villain Academia, AFO vs All Might having All Might use up the last of his resources. Now we witness loss after loss and past achievements negated (Mirio has his quirk again, All Might fought AFO and gave him some trouble, Nagant is not only alive but also kicking, to mention a few). Whenever it looks like they might win something, heroes turn tables. Now we have the most hyped AFO rejuvenating to his prime, who can't put down any side character for good.
I'm not talking about Bakugou. It's good that he gets his shot here. But AFO has been in a tango of failures the whole war. While it's karmic, when you think about it, having a main antagonist that is repeatedly one-upped by every character or group of characters makes him look plenty incompetent. I can't see him or anyone there as a threat anymore. Making a one line snide about You want death and death isn't the only way to get stakes! doesn't take anything from my argument.