My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising – My Hero Academia – Boku no hîrô akademia THE MOVIE – Heroes: Rising – Hîrôzu: Raijingu (2019)

Directed by: Kenji Nagasaki | 104 minutes | animation | Original voice cast: Daiki Yamashita, Kenta Miyake, Yoshio Inoue, Tomoyo Kurosawa

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is set after the fourth season of the anime series. To protect them from the rise of new threats, UA High School sends its class 1-A students to remote Nabu Island. Due to the retirement of the current hero on the island, the students are given the temporary task of performing hero duties for the residents. It’s a fairly quiet job, as the small community mainly needs help starting cars, maintaining vegetable gardens and running errands for elderly villagers. However, all this changes when a powerful new super villain, Nine, appears with three dangerous partners and a dubious agenda. Without the help of pro-heroes and their teachers, Class 1-A has never been in more danger.

My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (2018) was the first movie based on the anime series and was considered a huge success by many fans. Plans for a second film were of course inevitable, but almost no one expected that the next part would be completed within a year. Fortunately, ‘My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising’ is anything but a cash-in. Not only is the film an improvement over its predecessor, but it also feels like an important chapter in the characters’ lives. This is a welcome surprise, as the vast majority of these types of anime movies are not canon. These films often tell stories that fit into the world of the manga or anime, but on the other hand often have no direct influence on the ongoing story. However, ‘My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising’ stays true to the overall story and feels like a fitting part of the anime’s world. This results in a movie experience that contains just about everything a devoted fan could want from a standalone story.

Since the previous film didn’t include every character, director Kenji Nagasaki wanted the next film to include them all. The anime has a very wide selection of characters, but Nagasaki more than lived up to its word with ‘Heroes Rising’. The film gives most of the characters a chance to shine, as most of them either contribute something to the plot or play important roles in one of the many action scenes. Even some of the lesser characters are involved in the action scenes, using their powers inventively.

The two characters that get the most attention in ‘Heroes Rising’ are Bakugo and Izuku. In the previous film, the focus was mainly on the mentor-student relationship between All Might and Izuku, but this time the makers wanted to highlight the quirky bond between the two students. Fans of both the manga and the anime will be delighted to see Bakugo and Izuku in action together, as the duo is rarely eye-to-eye. Their different fighting styles look very interesting when combined and both characters add an emotional layer that makes the movie all the better.

Another big asset that the film has in its possession is the animation. This one is a clear step forward due to a larger budget, with many beautifully designed backgrounds and a nice full color palette. Compared to the series, the character models have been given a more dynamic movement and the fight scenes have never been so well choreographed. The big final battle of the film lasts more than half an hour, but because of the beautiful animation it never gets boring. It’s a great example of animation techniques, which hopefully one day can be continued in the series itself.

While seasoned fans will experience an effortless viewing experience with ‘Heroes Rising’, new viewers without prior knowledge will soon be lost. Without knowledge of the character relationships and the overall universe, it will be nearly impossible for newcomers to feel the emotional seriousness of certain scenes. It simply takes away the impact of the film. It is really recommended for these viewers to watch the anime series first, and then of course come back.