My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising Movie Review

Hello everyone and welcome to my review of My Hero Academia Heroes Rising. Before we begin, I just want to say two things. The first is, I am aware of a fourth My Hero Academia movie titled You're Next that, as I'm recording this, is out in theaters in Japan. And I'll say it now, yes, I will review it once it's out on home video, whenever that will be. The second is, if you haven't seen my review of the first My Hero Academia film, fear not, the link to it will be in the description, or if you're watching the site version on my website, it will be in the post itself. Now having said all of that, let's talk about the film, shall we? So the story shows a group known as the League of Villains in a truck trying to get away with someone inside a life support capsule when they were stopped by a bunch of heroes including Endeavor, played by Patrick Saints in the English dub, and Tetsuo Inada, I hope I pronounced his name correctly, in the Japanese version. While the League escapes because they are twice clones, we discover the being that was in the capsule is known simply as Nine, played by Jayan Bashi the English dub, and Yoshio Inoue, I hope I pronounced his name correctly, in the Japanese version, who escapes and regroups with his team. We then cut to Izuku Midoriya, played by Justin Brinder the English dub, and Daiki Yamashita in the Japanese version, and the rest of Class 1-A, who have been sent to a remote island known as Nabu Island as part of a safety program. Eventually, Deku runs into siblings Katsuma, played by Maxi Whitehead in the English dub, and Yuga Terasaki in the Japanese version, and Mahiro, played by Danny Chambers in the English dub, and Tomoyo Kurosawa, I hope I pronounced her name correctly, in the Japanese version. Later that night, Nine steals their father and several other heroes' Quirk, but because the former Cell Activation Quirk is incompatible with his blood type, he and his group theorize that his children on Nabu Island must have the Quirk with the right blood type, since Quirks are hereditary. As the film progresses, Nine and his group make their way on the island and try to capture Katsuma so he can steal his Quirk and achieve what he perceives as his Utopia. We are now to question how can Class 1-A stop Nine and his team? That's all the plot I'll mention, so now it's time for me to talk about what I liked about My Hero Academia Heroes Rising, what I didn't like about this movie, some trivia, and my overall opinion. To start with positives, the animation and in turn the action scenes are fantastic, with the best example being the final fight between Deku and Bakugo against Nine. Now it'd be easy to just say it's very fluid and leave it at that, but what makes that final fight so good is just how impactful it is. What I mean by that is throughout the whole thing, their plan is to not just separate Nine from Slice and Chimera, but also to use his Quirk so much that he overexerts himself. And the way he just builds until Nine decides to throw caution out the window and boosts his main Quirk of weather manipulation and the build-up to Nine's defeat is just phenomenal. With no dialogue, only the song Might You by Michaela Phillips combined with the animation makes it so powerful, considering it looked to have been the final time Deku uses One for All. Now obviously it's not, but for that moment it is a visual and audio spectacle in the best way. The voice acting by the English dub is great, and I'll say it now, major praise goes to Colleen Klinkenbeard for her ADR directing. Justin Briner does a very good job as Deku. Just like in the show, he really brings out how he's not trying to be a hero for the glory or the money, but out of a genuine want to help people and how polite he is. A perfect example is when after Nine before when Katsuma and Maruo tricked him at Bakugou, Deku has a conversation with Katsuma where Katsuma not only apologizes to them while Bakugou listens from a distance, but also when Deku asks him what kind of hero Katsuma wants to be. That whole scene was very sweet, not to mention what really makes it work was Justin and Maxi's performance. Clifford Chaplin really nails the hot-headedness of Bakugou. One scene that I think was well-acted is when Katsuma tells Deku and Bakugou there's a villain on the island, which in this case looks like a kaiju-sized praying mantis, only for it to be an illusion made by his sister Maruo when he figured it out because it doesn't have a shadow, and he basically blows a gasket at them to where he had to be restrained by Deku. Throughout the scene, Clifford really nails the exaggerated look of Bakugou after realizing the deception through his voice. The last person I'll bring up as far as the English dub goes is Jonnyon Bosch, who was very menacing as Nine. Now sure, I can see why people might find the character's motivations to be a bit bland, as it's nothing new even by shounen movie standards. Basically, he wants to create what he perceives to be a utopia for only the strong ruled. But despite that, I personally find the character to be a major improvement over the previous movie's main villain, which is something I'll mention why I think that later when I talk about the story. And the performance I think was a factor in me thinking that. One area I think he nails is how Nine would stop at nothing with no restraint to get what he wants, even if it means doing something underhanded, like during the climax he threatened to kill Mahiro in an attempt to have Kazuma willingly surrender his court to him. And he also makes it convincing on believing his ideals are just, and why other villains like Chimera and Slice would follow him. Just overall, his performance is a highlight of the English dub. There are other people in the dub I could mention like David Montrega as Shoto Todoroki, Lucy Krishna as Ochako Uraraka, Lydia McKay as Slice, and even Zeno Robinson as Hawks. But really, besides from saying the performances are good overall, I wouldn't have a whole lot that wouldn't be repetitive or needlessly drag out this review. As for the Japanese version, it's also really good. And much like the English dub, I personally don't think you could go wrong with watching it in any language, whatever your preference is. Daiki Yamashita did a really good job as Deku. He really nailed the tone a lot of the scenes are going for, like when he talks to Kazuma after he apologized for him about the previous night, when he and his sister lied to them about a villain on the island, and Deku has a conversation with him on what kind of hero he wanted to be shortly after noticing his pin of one of the top heroes in Japan known as Edshot. That scene, like how it was handled in the English dub, was very wholesome and you really get a sense of tenderness in his voice. Nobuhiko Okamoto was solid as Bakugo because he really brought out the anger in a bunch of scenes. The best example, just like with the English dub, is when he discovers the giant praying mantis is an illusion created by Mahiro because it didn't have a shadow. And the facial reaction could be described as about to blow a gasket until Deku had to restrain him before he went any further on, at the very least scolding Katama along with Mahiro. Throughout that scene, you could hear the anger building in the performance as he tells them they picked the wrong person to mess with or taunt. The last person I'll bring up as far as the Japanese version goes is Yoshio Inoue, I hope I pronounced his name correctly, as 9, who is fantastic in making a menacing and he really does a good job in making it believable that other villains would follow him in his quest for what they call a utopia or only the strong rule. One scene that shows how menacing he is was when after he destroyed Kato and Mahiro's home as the former was his target and proclaiming while he's not going to kill him he will steal his quirk. The way he delivered that line does a good job in showing how dangerous of an individual 9 is. Now sure, there are other people I could talk about like Ayane Sakura as Ochako Uraka, Yuki Kaiji as Shoto Tororoki, and even Shinsuke Takuji as Chimera. But like with the English dub, aside from saying the performances range from solid to genuinely great, I don't think I would have a lot I could say that wouldn't be repetitive or needlessly drag this review out. The music by Yuki Hayashi really works. One example is when 9 destroys Kato and Mahiro's home and is making his way towards them with the intent of stealing Kato's quirk so he can accomplish his goal. With the way what sounds like a bit like organs to me really gives a sense of dread and really makes that scene more intense in a good way. Lastly the story by shonen movie standards I think it's great. When I first saw it I thought it was great for fans, not good for newcomers because at the time I thought it shows events that occurred in the series and I don't think it helped bring people who haven't seen the series up to speed on the events prior, nor do they really explain who beings like the League of Villains were and their motivations. More than 4 years later and I no longer stand by that because I think it does just enough that I don't think it's mandatory to have watched the series prior to follow the story of this movie. Not to mention the League of Villains aren't really important to the story. Now when it comes to the villain 9 it's strange because on one hand like I said earlier I can see why some people might find his motive of only the strong rule to be a bit bland as it has been done before with other shonen villains. But on the other hand as a whole I think he is a major improvement over Wolfram not just in sheer power but also because of small stuff that adds to it with one example being they show a scene where he saves and recruits Chimera for his cause and it makes sense why a villain who is for all intents and purposes seen as a freak of nature by society would follow someone like him even when it's shown that Chimera is a major hypocrite about it. So to me it feels like while it's not super deep it does feel like there's a little more meat there than there was with Wolfram in the last movie. Just as a whole the story by shonen movie standards is a lot of fun and it's nice to see them try to give most of class 1-A a moment to shine and not have Deku and Bakugou take up all of it. Now when it comes to the cause of this movie there are definitely stuff to nitpick for sure that while they don't bother me personally I can see how they would bug people not just with 9's motivation being nothing new when it comes to shonen villains but also while she does develop as a character I can see why people would not like Mahiro in the first act when while you could say she was protective of her younger brother it could also be seen as her being an unlikable brat or even feel like the climax is lessened a bit if you know the continuity of the series but I personally find them to be nitpicks at best because at the end of the day they didn't really affect my enjoyment of it and some of it I think it's a case of an unfortunate drawback when you have a movie based on a at the time ongoing series and it's essentially set in the middle of the main story where regardless if it's canon or not and in this case it's the former they can't really get ahead of themselves something that many shonen movies I have seen are guilty of as well it's just I think this movie's overall strengths far outweigh the negatives now for some trivia the two ad art directors for the English dub are Colleen Klinkenbeard and Monica Rial which if you watch the behind the scenes feature on the blu-ray Colleen said they knew they were going to record in a studio in Dallas as opposed to Funimation at the time which they were on a compressed timeline and she picked Monica as the assistant ADR director because her directing complimented Colleen's style plus according to Clifford Chaplin the ending of this movie was originally one of the planned endings of the series not to mention from what I gathered it was originally intended to be the last movie in the series the animation studio behind this movie is Studio Bones who also did the animation for Soul Eater and its spin-off Soul Eater Not all three seasons of Mob Psycho 100 and both anime adaptations of Fullmetal Alchemist some of the other roles the cast of the English dub were in includes Justin Briner who you might know as the voice of Luck in Black Clover, Jinro in Dr. Stone, and Hanako in Toilet Clifford Chaplin who also played Kaoru Nakaza in the Netflix dub of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Harutora in Tokyo Ravens, and Yuki in That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime where he's also the ADR director. The last person I'll mention as far as listing off a few roles the voice actors that the English dub were in is Johnny Yong Bosch who I'm sure most anime fans would recognize him as voice of Vash the Stampede in both the original Trigon anime as well as Trigon Badlands Rumble and Trigon Stampede, but he also voiced Lelouch V. Britannia in Code Geass, Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach, and Ryunosuke Uryuu in Fate Zero. As for the Japanese cast some of the other roles they played includes Daiki Yamashita who also played Umio in Sailor Moon Crystal, Danji in Mobuzu Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans, and Shinnosuke Kunisaki in Twin Star Exorcist, Nobuhiko Okamoto who also played Top in Undead Unlock, Usagi in Juni Taisen, and Rin Okumura in Blue Exorcist. The last person I'll mention here is Yuki Kaichi who I'm sure most people would know as the voice of Eren Yeager in Attack on Titan, but he also played Issei Hyodo in High School DXD, and Meliodas in The Seven Deadly Sins. Overall, as far as movies that are part of a shounen series go, My Hero Academia Heroes Rising is easily one of the best I have seen. The animation, especially the final fight between Deku and Bakugo vs 9 is excellent, with Maitou making the final moment so powerful, the voice acting is solid across the board, the score really helps add to the scenes and the story, while the series might help you understand who the League of Villains are and fill in some details that the movie glosses over, probably for pacing reasons, I think you can follow the story well enough on its own merits. As far as a recommendation goes, it's easy. I think fans of My Hero Academia will absolutely like this movie and is definitely worth owing a physical copy of. I definitely recommend it to people who are fans of anime to give this movie a watch. As for people looking to get into anime, like I said earlier, while the series might fill in some stuff that the movie glosses over, but I don't think it's absolutely needed to follow this movie. Its story is pretty easy to follow. I give My Hero Academia Heroes Rising a 9 out of 10. The good stuff in this movie is phenomenal, and whatever negative I have are so minor that to me, it doesn't hurt the movie at all. This has been Michael Schomer, and if you want to see reviews before they are made public, then visit my website at michaelschomerreviews.com, and if you want to request a review in the future, then visit my Patreon at patreon.com.