Anime Lovers

Deku and his friends returned to fight against a new villain in their latest animated film, My Hero Academia: You’re Next (Boku no Hero Academia The Movie: You’re Next). This film was released in Japan on August 2nd, right before the release of the final chapter of the My Hero Academia manga series. It made its North American debut on October 11th, with a special premiere screening on October 6th in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

This movie takes place after the end of the anime series’ sixth season. This means that Deku and the class of 1-A have grown stronger, with a lot more experience as heroes than they had in the first animated film. Even though I got a chance to see a sneak peek of the movie at this year’s Anime Expo, I was watching it with little to no expectation except that it was a My Hero Academia movie. As it turns out, You’re Next is a pretty good movie to watch.

Amazing Animation and Action Scenes As You Would Expect In MHA

When it comes to My Hero Academia, one of the few things I was expecting to see was the animation that the series is known for, especially the action scenes for their movies. You’re Next definitely met those expectations. It delivered lots of amazing animation sequences, especially for the combat scenes, and is what I would expect from studio Bones.

One thing I was hoping for that didn’t happen was for Class 1-A to get more screen time to show off their quirks. I understand that most of the action scenes would focus on Deku since he is the main character, but Class 1-A as a whole also grew stronger, and aside from Bakugou and Shoto, I would have loved to see the movie show the rest of Class 1-A’s growth.

Kenta Miyake’s As Dark Might Is Fun To Watch

If there was one thing I can tell people that I enjoyed watching this movie, it’s hearing Kenta Miyake as Dark Might. Although Dark Might wasn’t my favorite villain, I really loved hearing Miyake-san voicing him.

Anime Corner had the opportunity to interview Miyake-san at this year’s Anime Expo, where he told me that he “was extremely excited” to play the villain. His co-star, Daiki Yamashita, was also at the interview, and he praised Miyake-san’s acting skills in voicing Dark Might, so I was excited to hear how he was as Dark Might compared to All Might. After watching the movie, I agree with Yamashita-san in that Miyake-san did an amazing job. It was really fun listening to Miyake-san as Dark Might every single time he appeared.

Guilio Takes The Spotlight As A Key Character Story

Aside from Dark Might, there are two other key characters in the story, Guilio and Anna. Personally, Guilio fit more as an important character to the story than Anna. Guilio has many scenes and lines throughout the movie and allows fans to form a connection with him. It’s also one of the reasons why I like Guilio a lot more than Anna. I’m also a little bit biased cause he was voiced by Mamoru Miyano, one of my favorite Japanese voice actors. Having scenes and lines does make a difference between a character who has them and a character who doesn’t.

While Anna also has lots of scenes, she doesn’t have that many lines due to her plot circumstances. She was an even more important character than Guilio due to the nature of her quirk, but compared to him, I couldn’t connect with Anna at all and felt like she was just there to bring the story along. If you take her quirk away, I feel like there is no point in her being an important character or even being a part of the movie.

Feels Like A Typical Damsel In Distress Story, But With Heroes

The story overall, however, feels okay to me. It wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t that great either, especially compared to previous My Hero Academia movies. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed watching it. I just felt that they could have done a bit better story-wise. The story of the movie feels more like the typical damsel in distress tale. The only difference is adding the heroes in the mix. Boy (which is Guilio) and girl (Anna) get separated, boy finds hero to help save girl, boy and hero fight bad guys, boy saves girl, and boy gets girl. Although, I’m not sure if he gets the girl even though it felt like it from a scene in the end.

Overall Thoughts

Overall, My Hero Academia still feels like a fun movie to watch. I didn’t get into this movie with a lot of expectations besides the fact that it’s a My Hero Academia movie, like what Miyake-san suggested in my interview with him and Yamashita-san. I did enjoy watching it especially now that Deku and Class 1-A have grown and Deku using more of One For All in his hero action scenes. I wouldn’t put this movie as one of my favorites. Still, I feel that this movie would be a fun movie to watch for My Hero Academia fans.

I want to thank Toho International and 42West for the opportunity to watch the movie.

Read More:
My Hero Academia: You’re Next Review – A Weaker Showing
My Hero Academia: You’re Next Releases on Blu-ray and DVD in February 2025

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