My Hero Academia: Two Heroes

Izuku “Deku” Midoriya and his mentor, All Might, travel to I-Island for the opening of a popular superhero expo.  Here, Deku meets David Shield, All Might’s best friend from his glory days, and his protegee daughter, Melissa Shield.  It looks like a nice little vacation for Deku and the rest of UA Class 1-A.  That is until terrorists crash the expos opening ceremonies and gain control of the entire islands security.  With the heroes imprisoned, including All Might himself, it’s up to Deku and Melissa and a small team of students to break the terrorists stranglehold on I-Island.  Waiting for them is an onslaught of powerful opponents…and a heartbreaking truth that might break Deku and All Might’s resolve to fight.

In a relatively short span of time, My Hero Academia has become a juggernaut of an Anime title.  It’s popularity is on par with the greatest of Shonen Jump legends like One Piece, Naruto and even Dragon Ball Z.  With three seasons now under it’s belt for the TV Series, the time feels right that we’d get to see Deku, Bakugo and their classmates take to the big screen for a larger than life adventure.  While I wouldn’t say Two Heroes is any larger than a normal story arc from the TV Series, it still brings with it everything that makes My Hero Academia so special in the first place…and that’s definitely enough for a win.

For me, the biggest draw of the movie wasn’t just about seeing Class 1-A kick ass.  I was eager to see some of All Might’s backstory and early days as a hero.  Indeed, the opening sequence gives us that and shows All Might and David Shield making a great team.  However, the movie kind of moves away from that once Deku is in the picture.  It’s touched upon once or twice and there are plenty of emotional moments between All Might and his best friend (among a slew of others…cause it’s Hero Aca).  But I wanted more time with these two, both in the past and present.  In a way, I almost wish that we one day get a true All Might prequel movie or arc to build more on this friendship.  Actually, All Might and David are both kind of out of the action for most of the film until the last act.  Though I suppose it seems fitting that some form of their friendship is seen blossoming between Deku and newcomer Melissa.  They were cute together and, more than that All Might Prequel, I hope we see Melissa appear in the TV Series going forward (though this being a sort of stand alone flick, im not holding my breath).

Speaking of “stand alone”, Two Heroes is meant to be just that, taking place in the short interim between Seasons 2 and 3 of the TV Series.  And yeah, it is a story you can watch without having watched an episode, the movie spends plenty of time getting you up to speed on the world and Deku’s backstory right away.  However, two places where the stand alone approach gets lost popped up.  First, there are direct references to events in the TV Series, specifically ones that will pop up in Season 3.  I didn’t think it was necessary for everything about the plot to be connected to the TV Series.  I guess it would stir up curiosity to check out the TV Show (which you should do anyway cause its awesome).  Well that and there’s one of my biggest Shonen Movie nitpicks: everyone is here.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love watching Class 1-A interact with each other, it’s easily the heart of the show besides Deku and All Might’s bond.  Still, I wish the central group was a smaller and more focused bunch.  Like if it had been Deku, Bakugo, Todoroki, Uraraka and Ida as the main group plus Melissa, that would be fine.  But there’s a group of about ten heroes on the main board and we get glimpses of the rest of the cast (which will surely upset some fans that their favorites might get left out of the action).  A Shonen movie can work with a smaller cast and not everyone getting involved, something I admired about some of the Dragon Ball Z movies and definitely Bleach: Hell Verse.  Maybe My Hero Academia will experiment with that more in the future (this wont be the last movie, im sure).

Ok, im done making complaints cause it’s time to talk about how awesome the movie is as a whole.  Despite what I said above about everyone being in this movie, each character from the show does get a moment to shine, no matter how small or large their role.  And really, My Hero Academia has always worked best for me when Class 1-A is working together to form a plan after Deku or someone gives a passionate speech.  From then on, you get to the action and it is great.  With heavy hitters like eternal fan favorites Bakugo and Todoroki riding shotgun, you know the fights are going to dazzle.  That basically makes up the entire second half of the film, a non stop slug fest between students and terrorists leading to one helluva final battle that will make an audience cheer.  There’s special moves, there’s heartbreaking moments of discovery and there are “all hope is lost” moments followed up by the most inspiring mix of music, heart and good character writing.  In short, everything you love about the TV Series is here despite Two Heroes’ faults and they do a good job of negating them most of the time.  Plus, while the villains are really standard fare, I liked the additions of David and Melissa Shield to the Hero Aca World.  They leave a great impression, plus I secretly long for a bit more between Deku and Melissa.  Yeah they weren’t really romantically setup but it could happen (Sorry Uraraka).  And again, we need that All Might prequel cause he and David had some of the films best and most powerful scenes together.

My Hero Academia: Two Heroes isn’t a perfect first outing.  But where it stumbles, it makes up for by doing what it does best week after week on TV.  While every class member is present, the ones you know will kick the most ass get their moment to shine, both in battle and in quieter moments.  The new characters open doors of storytelling possibility I hope we walk through again down the line.  And all the inspirational feels and emotions that have made My Hero Academia so damn loveable are on display.  My heart was pounding and I was crying during so many moments.  Normally id complain about a movie doing something that a TV show does on a regular basis, most definitely the story.  But My Hero Academia is basically a series of thirty minute mini movies airing on TV every week, dazzling us with spectacle, humor and a beautiful examination of what it means to be a hero.  How would that not work in a movie, even if the story isn’t as strong as it could be?  At the end of the day, if you love this show, you’ll love this movie…cause it does go PLUS ULTRA…and comes out with a passing grade in the end.

8/10