Product Info

Studio

Bones

Director

Kenji Nagasaki

Genre

Action, Adventure, Animation

Rated

PG-13

Theatrical Release Date (NA)

Oct 29, 2021

Release Date (NA)

Oct 29, 2021

Release Date (JP)

Aug 6, 2021

Film Length

1h 44min

Purchase From

My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission is the third animated film for the popular anime franchise. After a successful launch in Japan, the film opens in theaters at the end of October 2021. The previous film, My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, was released in North America theaters just before the pandemic shut down theaters for months in 2020. Anime fans can rejoice and should look forward to watching the latest My Hero Academia film.

Meet the Team

The film takes place after the events of My Hero Academia’s fifth season. If you’ve been watching the series, there’s an episode in the season that sets up the plot for the upcoming film. If you’re not caught up, you may not recognize a few of the characters. However, the majority of the characters from the series aren’t on the screen too much, so don’t stress out if you don’t recognize them.

The three characters the film focuses more on are Izuku Midoriya (Deku), Shoto Todoroki, and Katsuki Bakugo, three students from U.A. High School who are interning with the number one professional hero Endeavor Agency. Fans can pick up a special spin-off chapter online to see how Deku, Todoroki, and Bakugo get their new suits and are accepted to go on the mission. Later in the film, the focus turns to Midoriya and civilian Rody Soul, who become wanted nationwide for a crime they didn’t commit.

Brutal Suppression

The story doesn’t take place in Japan as in the original series. Instead, the action takes place in a fictional country in Europe called Otheon. A religious organization called Humarise is aiming to wipe out people with “Quirks”. Quirks are special, superhuman abilities an individual can carry. Quirks can range widely such as possessing traits from animals (e.g., sonar), creating fire from the tips of fingers, and having super speed. As of the current events in the film, 80% of the world’s population have a Quirk. The remaining 20% are Quirkless, also known as normal humans.

According to Humarise, as time passes, every single human will have a Quirk. Eventually, their Quirks would take over their bodies, creating chaos and destruction in the world. To stop it, Humarise believes in order to save humanity, it’s in the best interest for the world to kill off everyone with Quirks.

Is that considered to be true? The heroes and the majority of civilians don’t believe it, but Humarise continues their goal regardless. In the beginning of the film, Humarise detonates a bomb in a nearby city, spewing out a gas that affects anyone with a Quirk. When the gas enters their body, the individual’s Quirk goes out of control and kills them. Humarise, now labeled as a terrorist organization, tells the media they were responsible for the issue as they continue to promote their beliefs of getting rid of people affected by Quirks.

This display at the beginning shows how serious this organization is, setting off a worldwide emergency. When watching, it felt like the film went down a very dark path, showcasing how dangerous the situation is to the majority of the population.

Heroes around the world gather to find and diffuse any bombs hidden across the globe. Many of the students from Deku’s school are dispatched to different locations with other heroes. You won’t see much action or screen time from them compared to the last film, though. As mentioned earlier, Deku, Todoroki, Bakugo, and Rody take the majority of the screen time. If you were itching to see the number one hero, Endeavor, in a big action scene, don’t hold your breath.

One Step Ahead, Two Steps Back

If you’ve seen the first trailer for World Heroes’ Mission, Deku being wanted as one of the top criminals worldwide drew people to the film. How could a pure-hearted high schooler who wants to be a hero deserve to be labeled as a criminal? With Humarise’s power, it seems easy to manipulate the media in your favor. It comes across that the terrorist group is one or two steps in front of the heroes, keeping it interesting to see what will happen next. In fact, the enemy’s blueprint feels mostly perfect, except for a couple mishaps that seem to go in the hero’s favor, such as Deku and team interfering from the beginning to the end of the film.

After wrongfully being accused, Deku and his new travel buddy, Rody Soul, travel by foot through rural areas to avoid being caught by the authorities and by Humarise. The film takes the foot off the pedal once Deku and Rody begin their travels. Rody’s emotions are closed off towards Deku because of the backlash of not receiving any help from heroes while growing up. Still, no matter what negative actions Rody takes against Deku, it doesn’t faze the young hero, and Deku maintains a positive attitude with him. After this, Rody begins to warm up to him, and the two consider each other friends rather quickly. Who didn’t see that one coming?

The length of time spent watching these two travel, roughly 22 minutes, felt like it took too long. Sure, it builds up character between the two and there’s action thrown in there, but some of this time could have been used elsewhere. At least fans aren’t watching reruns of Deku and All Might meeting for the first time.

Instead, viewers learn about Rody’s tragic backstory. Flashbacks show the times when his father and siblings lived together happily to when he had to defend himself and his siblings after learning that their father suddenly vanished. The additional rumors spreading that Rody’s father has an involvement with Humarise didn’t make life easier either. It’s easy to assume that there’s a connection between Rody and Humarise.

Speaking of time spent and flashbacks, the leader of Humarise, Flect Turn’s backstory is very short and conflicting on his reasoning to remove Quirk users. Learning that Flect was never loved for who and what he was is all that is given to the audience. It would have been interesting to see a more developed backstory like how Flect gained power to run Humarise. With the budget and length of the film, a special manga chapter or two would be beneficial. It’ll be interesting to see if Flect ever makes another appearance down the road—even as a playable character in a future My Hero Academia game.

Going All Out

Like many shonen anime films, World Heroes’ Mission doesn’t steer away from the predictable multiple one-vs-one battles. Todoroki and Bakugo get their spotlights the most with their solo battle scenes, showcasing their talents. However, the heroes’ battles are entertaining throughout.

Many action scenes throughout the film use angled shots for a dynamic feel. For example, Rody sliding down a pipe in an alley takes place on the right half of the screen, the other half covered with the texture of the building. Viewers also receive a better sense of the action from a first-person scenario or when the camera itself moves along with the character movements. Deku maneuvering like Spider-man on a bridge or seeing a first-person view of Deku leaping into the air make the scenes feel more dynamic and entertaining. Overall, the angles, cuts, and storyboarding were done remarkably well to keep viewers focused.

Battles are no exception. In many shonen anime films, fighting scenes are the most focused. My Hero Academia doesn’t sleep on this either as no matter what battle takes place, the animators did a great job with the quality. An angled shot of Bakugo attacking an enemy in mid-air or the camera circling around Deku in his climactic battle make the scenes entertaining to watch. Special effects also play a part, bringing enhanced color and textures to the battlefield, such as Bakugo’s blast attacks and Deku’s green electric sparks. Don’t expect to see over-the-top and long battle scenarios like its previous film.

The soundtrack itself isn’t anything mind blowing, but it keeps the same theme carried over from the series. Popular Japanese band, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, has a couple songs for the film. One of them is an insert song and the other is for the ending credits. The insert song played during Deku and Rody’s travelling is a smooth, gentle score. It’s a solid choice to express a peaceful moment between the chasing and the battles. The ending theme is more upbeat and calm, fit for a closure as the audience watches scenes of the aftermath of the mission.

The Final Attack

My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission is an entertaining film even with a few predictable plot points and its long travel sequence. Watching its dynamic battle scenes, as well as seeing Humarise’s plot to wipe out Quirk users play out, make it worth the watch. PLUS ULTRA!

An early access to the film was provided for this review.