Review of 'My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising'
2nd film in the 'My Hero Academia' series
The second “My Hero Academia” film after My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, taking place roughly after season 3 of the anime television series sees the escape of villain Nine (voiced by Yoshio Inoue, Johnny Yong Bosch in English dub), whose Quirk is being able to acquire other Quirks (including “All for One”). Nine's team of villains seek to create a society ruled by those with strong Quirks. Searching a “Cell Activation Quirk” to steal and cure him of a terminal disease. On the remote, quiet island of Nabu, U.A.'s class 1-A have been sent to help the local people using their Quirks. Izuku Midoriya (voiced by Daiki Yamashita, Justin Briner in English dub), holder of the “One for All” Quirk, has befriended Katsuma (voiced by Yuka Terasaki, Maxey Whitehead in English dub) and Mahoro (voiced by Tomoyo Kurosawa, Dani Chambers in English Dub) who, it turns out, may just have the Quirk that Nine needs so he arrives with his gang…it is up to class 1-A, led by Izuku and the irritable Katsuki Bakugo (voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto, Clifford Chapin in English dub) to stop them, but how they can defeat a villain with effectively unlimited powers? It will take all of their powers…and more…
This is a suitably big-screen outing for class 1-A with massive settings, quality animation and long, drawn-out action sequences. Indeed, the last half of the film is largely devoted to an extended fight between Izuku and Bakugo as they take on Nine, demolishing most of the island in the process. Yes, lots of fighting, shouting and dynamic camera angles with little of the slightly calmer school-drama of the TV series. The end of the film is a bit of a cop-out, setting itself up for another film (and more TV episodes/seasons), basically putting us back where we were at the start of the film despite the wide-scale destruction and near-death experiences of many of our favourite characters.
As with the first film, humour here is basically absent with the focus instead being on lighter interactions between the heroes-in-training and the residents of Nabu. Fans of the series will be in heaven as well as those who like a massive, never ending, fight sequences (I am looking at you Dragon Ball Z). For me, it is a bit too much…
Rating: “It is OK but I have some issues”
Review Date: 2025-03-23
Directed by: Kenji Nagasaki
Studio: Bones
Year: 2019
Length: 104 minutes
Genre: Japanese Animation
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11107074/
Other reviewed films in the 'My Hero Academia' series:
- My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (2018)