Despite being one of the biggest and most popular manga/anime series of the modern day, My Hero Academia hasn’t been able to dominant the box office as much as it has the illustrated page or television screen. This isn’t too surprising as even some of the most iconic anime series like Naruto, One Piece and Dragon Ball don’t always produce billion-dollar films despite their gargantuan global fanbase, but despite all four theatrically-released movies based around the Kōhei Horikoshi action Shonen manga series earning strong audience and critical scores, none were able to top $50 million at the box office and performed better in the U.S than they did in Japan, showing that while a big brand, the movies aren’t really responsible for that pedigree. With that in mind, they’ve done nothing to weaken it, and the 2019 film, Heroes Rising, still demonstrates the strengths of this series in a very entertaining fashion.

After being tasked by their school to travel to the remote Nabu Island to perform hero duties until they’re able to find a suitable permanent replacement, Class 1-A are finally given the opportunity to be professional heroes without adult supervision, which means the most to Izuku Midoriya (voiced again by Justin Briner) as he is constantly trying to improve himself to feel worthy of the One-For-All power he was previously gifted. Expecting a chill work experience period due to the island housing no major threats, trouble quickly arrives in the form of a group of villains who start terrorizing the island and threatening the civilians, forcing the class to jump into action. The leader of this group, the quirk-stealing Nine (voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch) seems to be targeting a young boy named Katsuma (voiced by Maxey Whitehead) as he houses a cell-modification quirk that will allow Nine to cure himself of his terminal illness and be free to conquer the world. With Izuku (otherwise known as his hero name, Deku) and his rival, Bakugo (voiced again by Clifford Chapin) being unable to stand up to his power and with reinforcements unlikely to reach the island in time, Class 1-A will need to go full ‘plus ultra’ in order to protect Katsuma and his older sister, Mahoro (voiced by Dani Chambers) and stop these villains from stealing his power.

Heroes Rising (like many anime-based films) feels more like an extended special rather than a proper theatrical movie, and due to its calmer, more laid-back atmosphere, it never fully feels that dramatic or even entirely necessary, but because it still holds onto the best components of this series, like well-executed fight scenes, vibrant visuals, sappy yet uplifting writing, and extremely likeable characters, it will still provide a good time.

It’s strange how an anime doesn’t always translate well into a movie, but it does somewhat makes sense given episodes of a show have more time to develop and execute plot and character more than a singular feature, but what’s stranger is when components are drastically different (or even worse) despite containing a lot of the same people. This goes beyond just having the same voice cast and even animation studio, as Heroes Rising featured a lot of talent from the series, including director Kenji Nagasaki (who directed episodes for the show as well as two of the other films, Two Heroes and World Heroes’ Mission) writer Yōsuke Kuroda (who worked on a long list of anime and OVAs including My Hero Academia), character designer Yoshihiko Umakoshi, composer Yuki Hayashi, and even series creator, Horikoshi, who supervised the entire project and assisted with some of the original character designs. Everything should match the quality of the series, and while a majority of the pluses are present, some awkward problems arise that feel specific to the theatrical space. As its own condensed story, this film definitely has a ‘’side story’’ vibe, with the main characters travelling to an isolated location and dealing with a never-before-seen threat (that feels eerily similar to another main antagonist in the original series), but thanks to the steady pacing, emotionally-engaging characters, and inviting atmosphere, it actually benefits from this lower-stakes energy.

It allows the characters to exude their charm while still providing a physically imposing threat, the rising tension built by having two children be the main targets keeps things from feeling entirely passive, and while the story will occasionally drop in elements from the series like major supporting characters and the main villainous organization (who don’t really have much purpose outside of cameo potential), they don’t distract too much and allow this relatively short-and-sweet flick to speed through and conclude in a nice enough way. However, while the film is very pleasant and delightfully minute, the attempts at adding a sense of grandeur can lead to some messy storytelling. The climax does have a lot of good elements to it, like incorporating the entire main cast and an increase in animation budget, but it also introduces a thread so drastic and conclusive only to then immediately backpaddle without proper reasoning, that it leaves the final note feeling pretty hollow and needlessly overdramatic. It’s not a terrible sequence and can’t ruin the solidness of what came before, but it’s hard to ignore such a notable yet useless element.

One of the best aspects of My Hero Academia is its characters, as whether it’s their designs, their voice acting, or their overall personalities and goals, they are very charming, very well defined, and (even if some don’t get the time they deserve) are very well utilized within the story. This feels refreshing for a Shonen story as they usually put more attention into their fights than their characters, but this roster is strong enough to carry even a nothing story, which is proven with this film. Just watching Class- 1A tend to typical civilian issues and trying to encourage a small child to become a hero is very endearing and will make people grow attached to them even more. While watching them fight crime with their distinct power sets will always be iconic, its these human interactions and dynamics that makes them timeless figures, so it’s great to see them hold onto that aspect even though none of them feel like they change from this experience. While this is common for most anime films as they try not to include any development in something disconnected from the central cannon, even by that standard, it does feel like no one really gains or learns anything from this experience

Deku and Bakugo exhibit their familiar traits and dynamic without much else, the other class members are involved in the final fight in a memorable way, but don’t really get specific moments to feel urgently important, and even the villains are so laughably bland that they barely register as characters, but instead power sets that need to be defeated. Even the main villain, Nine, has such a boring design, basic and reused powerset, and a motivation so bottom-tier uninteresting, that he’s easily the worse part of the movie. The only characters that feel like they get a smidgen of development are the two kids; Katsuma and Mahoro, as they are the main driving force behind the plot and it is cute how one looks up to Deku and the other to Bakugo due to their varying stances on heroism, but it feels like they needed more. While the newly introduced characters in these films are usually pretty good, these kids ironically don’t get enough time to wrap up their earlier conflict of one wanting to become a hero, and the other hating them, since the conflict kind of forces them to shift priorities, leaving them as cute plot devices rather than characters that’ll leave a strong lasting impression.

An ironic problem this movie faces is that the animation doesn’t feel very cinema-worthy, mainly because it doesn’t look that different from the show. This isn’t a terrible thing, as the show itself does have nice animation with fluid line-work, great character designs, and a vibrant color palette that leans into the super-hero/comic book vibe the world is trying to emulate, but it means that outside of a really explosive climatic fight, some very pretty backgrounds, and a few moments of character fluidity, nothing really feels upgraded for a theatrical release. The fight scenes are also nothing that special, and because the story doesn’t incorporate its action in a sense where it means more than trying to fend off a threat, it just feels like typical fare for the series with the flashy transformations, move sets and high-flying theatrics. As previously stated, the climax is well done, uses all the characters well, and is tense enough to feel like a good closer, but because of how uninteresting the villain is, how incomplete some of the arcs feel, and how haphazard the last-minute saving grace is brought in and then subsequently forgotten about, it doesn’t feel as effective as it arguably could’ve.

My Hero Academia is so successful as a series that it doesn’t need its movies to be incredible to bolster its ratings, but it is a shame that they mainly just act as extra slices of comfort pizza rather than a gourmet sampling of what the series is truly capable of when it brings forth the drama. Heroes Rising is just another flick to add to the pile, one that has some charming moments, likeable characters, and expectedly consistent animation, fight scenes and voice acting, but nothing much beyond that. The story, while enjoyable lowkey, doesn’t stir up the most interesting conflict (and what it does address doesn’t even get properly concluded), the villains are incredibly boring and have zero memorability factor, and the ending kind of wastes a pretty great idea on a side story that didn’t require something so monumental (not helped by the fact that it chickens out immediately as sticking with it would’ve been extremely messy for the story going forward). The show has more engaging emotional moments and higher stakes, but this retreat will still lead to a good time.

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