The sequel to My Hero Academia: Two Heroes is here in ‘Heroes Rising’. Deku and UA’s Class 1-A take up a role for a mock hero agency to prepare them for their futures as heroes. The League of Villains are hired to transport a powerful villain to his group but are attacked by the Pro Heroes led by Endeavor. The villains turn out to be clones made by Twice and the Pro Heroes ponder what or who the villains had been hauling around. It should be noted this film contains manga spoilers that jump ahead of the anime, it also contains elements mangaka Kohei Horikoshi originally wanted to use for the initially planned final arc of the series.

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is a 2020 shounen anime film, it is produced by Studio Bones, and licensed by Funimation. It will release in theaters February 26, 2020.

Editor’s Note: An advanced screener of My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising was provided by Funimation in support of this review. Near complete to complete spoilers for ‘Heroes Rising’ may be present in this review. It should also be noted that the film has a small time jump ahead of the anime that’s in line with the manga and may spoil anime only viewers.

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising acts as a direct sequel to the previous film ‘Two Heroes’ while also providing the manga a complimentary arc. Deku and Class 1-A are sent to a rural island on an experiment to test their heroism with a mock hero agency that gives aide to areas not used to the activities of heroes and villains. These usually end up being basic jobs like finding missing children, animals, and personal items. However, a group of villains attack the island and without the aide of the pro heroes the kids must protect the island and its people from destruction.

THE GOOD: In My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising the growth of our main characters from Class 1-A is ultimately tested when insanely powerful villains attack a rural area they were tasked with providing hero aide to. The island is so rural that it’s actually very uncommon for anyone to use their quirks for villainous or heroic acts. Any other given time this wouldn’t be too much of a problem unless they were being attacked by a major villain like All for One. But the core issue for Deku and his classmates is that no pro heroes are present on the island due to it being apart of their current training course. The villain is named Nine a villain with the ability to absorb other quirks his group includes Slice a woman who can use her hair as a weapon, Mummy a man who can entrap and control people with unique cloth, and Chimera who has multiple quirks due to his nature. What’s worse is as the heroes gain the trust of the locals two of which Katsuma and Mahoro Shimano have been causing trouble for the kids, specifically Deku and Bakugo due to the latter having a disdain for heroes and dislikes the former admiring them. Nine wants to use Katsuma’s healing power so that he can better control his multiple quirks due to every use causing bodily harm to himself. Deku and his classmates fight Nine and his group to protect Katsuma but are easily defeated and forced to escape. Nine plans an all out attack as Deku and Bakugo recover from their injuries. The Class 1-A students swear to protect Katsuma and the islanders as the attack begins. Though they slowly defeat Nine’s partners they’re all ultimately overwhelmed by Nine in an attempted final standoff and Deku & Bakugo are left fighting the villain. The situation becomes dire as Deku and Bakugo are nearly killed, Deku feeling that there’s no other option offers Bakugo One for All in order for the two to fight on par with Nine. Bakugo is initially against it knowing that Deku would lose his quirk in the process of the transfer, but Deku reassures him that All Might wouldn’t have it any other way in the given situation. Now powered up with his own quirk and One for All Bakugo works together with Deku to use 100% of One for All’s power to defeat Nine who is later killed by Shigaraki deeming their partnership “completed”. The pro heroes arrive to fix the damage done by Nine and his group & All Might comforts Deku for his decision to give up One for All to Bakugo to defeat Nine. However, it turns out the transfer process wasn’t completed because the battle had wiped out the two into unconsciousness after it ended. Bakugo awakes from his injuries with no memory of the end results of the battle (including two broken arms) and Katsuma and Mahoro thank him and Deku as they leave.

On the surface My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising looks like a standard extended anime episode like most anime films attached to long-form series. But at the same time it goes a bit beyond that, especially considering that at one point some of the story elements featured in the film were once upon a time apart of the originally planned canonical ending for the series. It’s written just like a series finale and has questions that some fans probably often wonder of and ask about the series. The action sequences are some of the industry’s best of recent memory and character development for a lot of fan favorite characters are just as strong as they are in the series itself. 

THE BAD: Usually complimentary anime films like ‘Heroes Rising’ are non-sequential to its source material. Meaning that the story of the film won’t match the current advancement of the manga and thus not hurting the anime’s story placement. Unfortunately, My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising has more than a handful of manga spoilers that the anime is still a bit ways off from. So for that reason alone, I’d recommend anime viewers who don’t read the source to wait a bit before getting around to viewing it. If that doesn’t bother you however, then you have nothing to worry about. Most of the spoilers admittedly are mundane, but certain aspects like character design changes and character relations get spoiled in the film. Some characters currently not animated also appear in the film. The slice of life story isn’t as well fleshed out as it could be with Katsuma and Mahoro more often than not feeling like the only islanders that matter.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Spoilers aside, My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is an incredible step in Studio Bones’ animation efforts and an entertaining proposal for the series’ finale (the film is not the end of the series or anime). Some fun character development for Deku, Bakugo, and the other junior heroes in the face of catastrophic danger without pro heroes about is an excellent idea that’s beautifully executed here. If you can look past the time jump then you’re going to enjoy the hell out of this film. Otaku Dome gives My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising an 85 out of 100.