Movie Reviews

‘My Hero Academia Heroes Rising’: What Does it mean to be A Hero?

Plot

Class 1-A visits Nabu Island where the finally get ti do some real hero work. The place is so peaceful that it’s more like a vacation… until they’re attacked by a villain with an unfathomable Quirk! His power is eerily familiar, and it looks like Shigaraki had a hand in the plan. But With All Might Retired and citizens’ lives on the line, there’s not time for questions. Deku and his friends are the next generations of heroes, and they’re the islands’s only hope. – Funimation

Crew

Director
Kenji Nagasaki
Script
Yousuke Kuroda
Music
Yuki Hayashi
Original Creator
Kōhei Horikoshi
Character Designer
Yoshihiko Umakoshi
Theme Song Performance
sumika (ED)
Animation Production
BONES

Cast

Mummy
Kousuke Toriumi

Slice
Mio Imada

Chimera
Shunsuke Takeuchi

Mahoro
Tomoyo Kurosawa

Nine
Yoshio Inoue

Hawks
Yūichi Nakamura

Katsuma
Yuka Terasaki

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is doing great things right now, with an 89% critic rating and a 99% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising has been getting a lot of hype and deservingly so having said that, the main aspect of My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising that was lacking was the delivery of the voice acting. There were a lot more positives towards My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising that left me on the edge of my seat. In this review, we will talk about both the negatives and positives of My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising. If you disagree or agree, let me know what you think.

Philosophy/Story of My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising

The most compiling aspect of My Hero Academia is the different philosophy each character holds, and that is all thanks to the manga writer and illustrator Kōhei Horikoshi. Kenji Nagasaki and Yousuke Kuroda do a great job highlighting both Midoriya and Bakugo philosophies of what it means to be a hero and, as a result having a significant impact on Katsuma and Mahoro life. Midoriya and Bakugo are two characters that are the opposite of each other, but ultimately want the same goal, to be the best hero they can be. In Midoriya’s case, he wants to be the strongest, so he can save as many people. In Bakugo’s case, he wants to be a stronger hero than All Might, that is where Kenji Nagasaki and Yousuke Kuroda put their focus on the most, and it had a significant impact on the overall story. The point where it lacks the most impact is that Kenji Nagasaki and Yousuke Kuroda focuses way too much on Midoriya and Bakugo, and not enough on the other great characters like Todoroki, Tsuyu, Kirishima, and Momo. Do not get me wrong, they have great action moments, but when it comes to influencing other characters, that is where it is lacking.

Another strength of this film is the day to day life of being a hero and how it is not always about fighting supervillains but getting to know the people. Whether it is carrying a grandmother to the hospital or rescuing a person from drowning, the little things are as important as the bigger ones. And because our heroes are getting to know the people of Nabu Island, we as an audience get attached to people of Nabu Island as well. Because of that attachment, it will make the fight sequences in the later scenes have more weight to them. Kenji Nagasaki, as a director, did an excellent job setting us up with the action, but he does have ways to go with other elements before he becomes a great director.

Score: 9/10

Dubbed vs Subbed

Within the anime community, there is a debate going on whether you should watch anime in dubbed or subbed. I like subbed because it feels more natural. When it is in dubbed, it feels off; it might be because with dubbed, it has to re-record the audio, and sometimes it does not look right and does not feel right. Some anime that I prefer dubbed, and it is usually the older anime like YU-GI-OH, Pokemon, Beyblade, basically any anime that came on Toonami or Jetix. When it comes to My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising It just felt cringe to me; it could have been just the dialogue, the delivery of the voice actors, or both. I am going to watch this subbed when I can.

Score: 5/10

Animation

Studio Bones is the animation company that was working on My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, and you can see the quality of the animation Studio Bones produces incredible. From Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Mob Psycho, Soul Eater, and many others. Even though the animation is good in My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, it is not the best Studio Bones has produced, far from it. Even though it is not the best from Studio Bones, like I said before, it is still good. It is not as creative as Mob Psycho but they one standout that My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is the composition and timing when you watch Deku and Bakugo vs. Nine. You will understand how good the timing is with each frame, especially the shot where Bakugo catches Deku midair. Each action scene flowed well together.

Animation Score:8.5/10

Overall Thoughts

I had a great time watching My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising from the animation, the story, and the theatre experience, I swear the anime community is one of the best communities out there. If you enjoy anime, I would highly suggest you watch My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising.

Overal Score

 7.5/10