Riding fresh off the heels of season 5, My Hero Academia World Heroes delivers on telling a great story while exploring new elements. Although the movie’s main plot may not be new in any way, how it’s told will surely captivate fans of the franchise. World Heroes Mission takes you on an emotional roller coaster every opportunity it gets while staying true to its core. Both the actors and the animators went Plus Ultra for this movie.
Plot Of The Movie
The movie’s tone is set as soon as it starts, with the introduction of Humarise, a terrorist organization set on purging the world of all quirk users. After setting off a bomb killing only humans with quirks, the heroes around the world band together to stop them from setting off more. But things take an unexpected twist when Deku is framed for murder.
Making Friends And Learning Lessons
The main thing that stuck out while watching this movie was how it dived deeper into why sometimes people do bad things. With the introduction of Ryan Colt Levy’s character, Rody Soul. A petty criminal who loves to use his charm to get what he wants. Rody opens Dekus’s eyes a little bit more as to why some people may turn to a life of crime. When Deku is on the run from being framed for murder, the two end up getting stuck working together, and their characters act as a yin and yang.
Throughout their journey, we see time and time again Rody trying to persuade Deku to bend the rules a little bit, even if they won’t hurt anyone. But as hard as he tries, Deku never gives in, not once. The two become better people because of one another. Deku shows Rody that it’s never too late to change, and people can still do good for one another despite how things may look. And Rody shows Deku that sometimes in life, people are dealt the short stick and have to do what’s necessary to put food on the table to feed their family, even if that means being ashamed of yourself.
With how much time these two characters spent together, the movie itself could have been a buddy road trip filled with heartfelt moments that’ll leave you laughing and crying. You’ll find yourself rooting more and more for Rody and wanting to know more about him after the movie is finished.
Fighting To Be Number One
As a fan of the show, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Deku, Shoto, and Bakugou all strive to be the number one hero. Both the voice actors in the booth and the characters in the movie showcase that even more with all three pushings themselves beyond what they’re capable of to earn that number one spot.
One thing that stood out was the lengths, David Matranga, the voice of Shoto, went. Throughout the show and even the prior movies, we hear a more laid-back version of himself. Even when he’s fighting, we don’t get to hear too much of a battle cry. But for World Heroes Mission, Matranga stepped up much more than he ever previously had as Shoto Todoroki, and it’s noticeable. With the sheer amount of emotion put into his character with every battle cry and every fight, you tell he went above and beyond for this movie.
The same goes for both Justin Briner, the voice of Izuku Midoriya, and Clifford Chapin, the voice of Katsuki Bakugo. There are plenty of moments throughout the movie that’ll leave you smiling because of something inspirational Briner says or at the edge of your seat because of how he delivered a line.
Lastly, as for Clifford Chapin, you know you’re in for a good time whenever Bakugou is in a scene. Chapin always hits the mark when Bakugo makes fun of his friends or simply talks smack whenever he has the chance. Not to mention just hearing him go entirely off the rails during fight scenes is always fun to hear.
But of course, what’s an animated movie without its fight scenes. World Heroes Mission does a great job showing how far these three heroes have gotten. Although they’re far from being the pro heroes they all want to be, it’s clear they’ve all made significant progress.
Throughout the movie, they’re all put in dire situations that’ll have you thinking that they’re right at death’s door plenty of times. Just for them to break their limits and push on even further. By showing off new tricks they’ve learned at UA and coming up with new plans in the middle of a fight was great to watch.
We see an unhinged Bakugo go all out with zero regard for how much damage he does; we see Shoto having to come up with new fighting strategies when nothing else works. And lastly, we see Deku pushed to the very edge and possibly another stage of One For All.
Predictable Villain And Plot
The only complaint to be made was that the plot was somewhat predictable. It was easy to tell a lot of the times when a twist or turn would be made. The overall story isn’t anything new at all. “Evil Villain Threatens To Destroy The World.”
Seeing the motives for the main villain was something we’ve seen repeatedly in the show, but this time it was just painted a little bit different. It’s easy to compare the motivation of these villains to the Meta Liberation Army, with the only difference is they want to get rid of quirks.
The movie very much feels like the Heroes version of the “My Villian Academia” arc, where the villains faced off the Meta Liberation Army during the latter half of season 5. But even though it was still predictable, how it’s told is excellent.
Rising To The Occasion
While we don’t see too much of the pro heroes such as Hawks, Endeavor, and Fat Gum, or other classmates such as Ochako Uraraka, Momo Yaoyorozu, and Eijiro Kirishima, what little we do see of them speaks volumes. Even though the movie isn’t really about any of them except Deku, Shoto Todoroki, and Katsuki Bakugo, we see why all of these side characters are important.
They stand out in their way, showing how badly and how far they’re willing to go to save the day. As well as how important they all are to each other and how much they depend on one another to keep them motivated to keep fighting.
Even though the rest of the cast is given little screen time, what little they show speaks volumes in the movie and helps build the anticipation for the next scene.
Getting Lost In The World
It’s always a great treat when you find yourself in awe of the backgrounds and animation in movies like this. It’s clear that there was love all around for this movie and the animation team did a fantastic job at doing that.
The world they built looks alive with so much color and shading done. It feels like you can go right to the screen and touch the water moving through the river or the blade of grass moving through the wind. It reminded me of a Studio Ghibli film with the amount of detail to make the world feel alive.
Another part where the animation shines is the action scenes. In some of the fight scenes, you can tell they went all out on making it a spectacle out of them. It was awesome to see Deku swing through the air with his newfound powers, or Bakugo flying and destroying everything in his path, and Shoto making an elaborate ice path for his enemies to get stuck in.
Overall Thoughts
My Hero Academia World Heroes Mission is truly a must-see movie if you’re a fan of the franchise. It does a great job at character development, it has incredible fight scenes, and the animation is spectacular. The movie is filled with tons of moments that’ll leave you at the edge of your seat and smiling like a dork. With all that being said, the movie is 9/10
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