Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. My Hero Academia, it’s easily one of the most popular mangas in the world today. The series is written by Kohei Horikoshi and got started in the summer of 2014. With Naruto wrapping up later that year, Shonen Jump was really hoping to find new stories to fill in the gap that Naruto would leave behind and the series that filled that gap was My Hero Academia which makes sense. Kohei goes on record saying that Naruto made up his childhood and was one of the primary inspirations behind My Hero Academia so it’s nice to see a fan come in and fill in the shoes of his hero which is what My Hero Academia is. The story follows a young boy named Izuku who lives in a world where superheroes are real thanks to quirks and he wants to be one. However, he was born quirkless and his dream to be a hero would remain a dream until one day he meets his hero All Might who passes on his quirk to Izuku. From there, the series focuses on Izuku attending hero school, learning and training with others, and preparing himself for the day when he himself will become a hero and continue the work of All Might. In 2015, the series quickly took off as it was climbing the charts in the weekly Shonen Jump polls until it eventually became Shonen Jump’s most popular series alongside One Piece and Black Clover to create the new Big 3. Getting an anime in 2016 only helped increased the popularity of the series overseas. So because of this a lot of people have been asking me to review it and I want to review it but with the anime constantly coming out year after year I just haven’t found the right time to review it. Now the film on the other hand I can do. That’s right, in 2017 it was announced that there would be an original film based off the series. It premiered in 2018 under the production of Bones (FMA: Brotherhood, Soul Eater, Norgami, Kekkai Sensen) who also do the anime, directed by Kenji Nagasaki, and written by Yosuke Kuroda a man who’s written the screenplay and story composition for a lot of animes out there such as Hellsing Ultimate, Excel Saga, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Goblin Slayer, Trigun and Drifters just to name a few. The film did well at the box offices (both in and out of Japan) and was praised by critics and fans alike. Let’s go plus ultra and take a look at My Hero Academia: Two Heroes.
So the film opens up in California, USA where two villains have just committed a robbery (sounds like a typical day in California) but they get stopped by a young All Might (how young you say? Well we can see his eyes and everything) who is in America as a foreign exchange student (it looks good on the resume). He gets picked up by his good friend Dave who actually made the hero suit All Might wears to stop the villains (I like it but lose the cape). After that, we return to the present where All Might and Izuku are about to arrive on I-Island an artificial island inhabited by 10,000 scientists who study quirks (Shizuku: Talk about nerd HQ. I wonder if we can ship Mira there?). All Might has been invited to the island for an expo and has invited Izuku as his guest. Once they arrive, All Might gets mobbed by the fans and tells Izuku to keep One for All a secret while he’s on the island. They then get approached by one of the stars of the film, Melissa, the daughter of Dave who is the head researcher on the island and the one who invited All Might (scene here: https://youtu.be/5jMcU0kQ52A). After meeting up with Dave, Melissa shows Izuku around the island where we see Jiro, Yaoyorozu, and Ochako (who is obviously jealous) are there as well (scene here: https://youtu.be/HmLQ3M0pRuY) and joining them are Kaminari, Mineta (everyone’s favorite character to hate), Iida, Eijirou, Katsuki, and Shota who were all invited as guests through connections (scene here: https://youtu.be/4JB0jV2CQqE).
Later on, Melissa shows Izuku her lab (Baron: If he was a little older, I’m sure she’d show him a few other things. (Nitsuj): What are you saying? (Baron): You know exactly what I’m saying) and reveals that she’s quirkless just like Izuku until he met All Might (their connection continues to grow). But despite being quirkless she still has a desire to be a hero by supporting other heroes. She then gives Izuku one of her inventions, a gauntlet, which should help him better control his powers (scene here: https://youtu.be/X1BnVvsGejM?t=6). That night, they all meet up in the lobby to go to the party together (scene here: https://youtu.be/PpNDXv0pQLg), but little do they know villains have taken over the island. They hijack the island’s control tower, take control of the island security bots, capture all the heroes including All Might, and have made everyone a hostage on the island (efficient, clean, and totally by surprise). Once Izuku’s group realizes this, they can’t just stand by and do nothing and decide to reach the control tower and retake the island from the villains themselves (or die trying). The control room is located on the 200th floor (and no helicopter or elevator fights along the way) and they have to take the stairs in order to avoid being caught by the villains (hope you kids didn’t skip leg day). They unfortunately get discovered on the 80th floor in the garden where they hide from the villains but Katsuki and Eijirou who got lost bump into the villains and a fight breaks out. Shota stays behind to help fight while the others continue on their way. Shota and Katsuki manage to defeat the villains and try to catch up to the others (scene here: https://youtu.be/O48sNjDtNUU). Once the villains know they’re dealing with students from U.A (plus ultra), they sic the security bots on them and manage to corner Izuku’s group on the 130th floor. Some of them stay behind to fight them off only to get captured leaving only Izuku, Melissa, and Ochako left (Izuku’s got a mini-harem going on). They manage to make to the wind energy room (I was wondering if this island went green) where Ochako gets surrounded by the bots but saved by Katsuki, Ejirou and Shota. This leaves only Izuku and Melissa to continue on their own where they continue to fight their way up until they spot Dave and his assistant and discover that he arranged this attack and everything. It turns out Dave created a device that can amplify the quirks of others without any negative effects (alright that sounds great. But what if it fell in the wrong hands?). But the sponsors fearing this would fall in the wrong hands shut the project down, took the device and the research with it. That’s when Dave’s assistant recommended this crazy plan to get the device back without harming anyone, making it look like one big villain attack, and then escaping to continue their research. So, why did Dave commit such an act? He did it for All Might. Dave knows that All Might’s quirk is dying and wants to use his device to give him more power because he knows that if All Might is gone then villains will rise (and not to spoiler anything but he’s right). He begs them to let him give the device to All Might promising to accept any punishment that comes after, but Dave’s assistant pulls a betrayal and reveals that he’s working with the main villain (who doesn’t even get a name in this film, what the hell?) who received blessings from All for One. He shoots Dave and takes the device along with Dave as he plans to mass produce it for villains (now do you see why the sponsors took the device away from you? Scene here: https://youtu.be/dvGvR6vQbc0). Izuku tries to save Dave while Melissa restarts the island’s security system. Despite Izuku’s best efforts, he’s unable to save Dave but All Might comes in and saves him easily. However, the villain is determined to make himself remembered as he uses Dave’s device to enhance his own quirk which is magnetism (Marvel, sue somebody). So we get our final epic battle as everyone comes to fight and it ends with Izuku and All Might doing a smash attack on the villain to save the day. Dave apologizes for his blunder, realizes his mistake, and sees that Izuku will possibly be the next symbol of peace (scene here: https://youtu.be/g0ppLm376jY).
Final Thoughts
So that was Two Heroes and as far as movies go it’s pretty basic. It’s not that complicated or deep. It’s straightforward and to the point which is alright with me. This movie was obviously intended for fans so I recommend you read the series or watch the anime before checking out the movie. All the characters that we all know and love are here and maintain their personalities from the source material. I did like the character of Melissa. She’s a sweet and pretty girl who despite being quirkless still wants to do her part to make the world a better place and fight for justice. Her relationship with Izuku was good and I wish they had more scenes where they could talk with each other. It really is sad that’s she not a cannon character as I really did like her and think she would have been a great fit for the series as a possible love interest for Izuku as well as a great supporter for the rest of class 1-A. The animation is great and remains faithful to the anime although I will admit the fight scenes are impressive and action-packed. The last fight scene of Izuku and All Might fighting side by side was epic and made me shake with excitement when I first saw it. The only real downside is that the villains aren’t all that memorable or great. The series really does have some great villains, some of the best villains I’ve seen in a while, and the villains in this movie unfortunately disappoint. While they have some interesting quirks, the characters they’re attached to aren’t all that great as they had no personalities outside of being the bad guys.
Final Score
The final score for Two Heroes is a 7.5/10. Overall, I can say I really did enjoy this movie. It had the right blend of action, comedy, and carried its own sense of emotional weight while staying true to the series. For its first movie outing, My Hero Academia did a great job. I’m sure that as time goes on, they’ll be more movies down the line, and I look forward to seeing them. If you’re a fan of the series definitely check the movie out if you haven’t already. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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