My Hero Academia: Two Heroes Review

​After seeing the My Hero Academia movie two weeks ago, I definitely wanted to share more detailed thoughts on it beyond a few tweets. I want to make a habit of writing up my thoughts on event movies especially since I often look forward to those more than wide releases. I think the main reason for this isn’t necessarily the content or quality, as my favorite movie this year thus far was Avengers: Infinity War. Due to its immense popularity I was easily able to see Avengers three times. I think event films feel special because you have to work a little harder to see them. For the My Hero Academia movie there were at first only two days to see the film with the Japanese dub and on the only day I could go I ultimately had to drive down into Mission Valley in the heart of rush hour in order to see it. I saw the film alongside my friend Alex and my Dad who I managed to get caught up through season 2 in time for the film. (Incidentally I really enjoyed getting to share the Todoroki and Stain fights with him from season 2).

I’ll start off with my big spoiler-free conclusion, so if you want to see the movie fairly blind read this paragraph and save the rest for later. I think the My Hero Academia movie is a huge success because it is fully aware of what fans wanted to see and it constantly gives it to them in spades whether through fun character beats and interactions or the big battles with cool team ups. While it has a slow start for some, the back half of the film is very exciting and like the best beats of the show is actually inspiring. It has a strong grasp of how to make the characters’ struggles matter and delivers a satisfying conclusion with breath-taking animation. Simply put, it has a ton of heart and is absolutely worth seeing for My Hero Academia fans.

I first started watching My Hero Academia a week before the second season aired. A few of my Twitter friends were already very enthusiastic about the show and I had been hearing for a while this show was supposed to be the next big mainstream anime hit. When Crunchyroll acquired the first season I remember having a sense that I needed to check it out as soon as possible. By the end of the first episode I already was very intrigued and episode 2’s emotional conclusion only sealed the deal. I think I saw the next 11 episodes over a two-day period and I was so very excited to shout to the world that they needed to see this show as soon as humanly possible. It was that good.

Full Movie Spoilers Ahead – You’ve Been Warned

​​My Hero Academia: Two Heroes opens with something the series hasn’t shown us before: All Might in his prime. There is a villain causing trouble in California and the police and local super heroes are having a tough time battling him and keeping civilians safe. Suddenly a man few are familiar with arrives on the scene and the tide turns immediately. With his awe-inspiring strength, All Might rescues everyone in danger and effortlessly subdues the villain with a “California SMASH!” attack. A scientist named David Shields arrives on the scene via his hover car and tells the shocked onlookers All Might is going to one day become the Symbol of Peace whose presence will serve as a deterrent for villains the world over. I wanted to see more of All Might’s early career and more of California and its heroes (it’s my home state after all and it was weird California had seemingly incorporated Las Vegas into it in this alternate Earth), but the film quickly transitions to the present.

The film takes places right after the Final Exams Arc that concluded season 2 and before the Summer Training Camp Arc that begins in season 3. All Might is invited by Dave’s daughter, Melissa Shields, to I-Island which is the exclusive home of top scientists and inventors from around the world who specialize in creating equipment to support super heroes. Melissa wanted to surprise her father with a visit from his old friend now that he is getting closer and closer to completing his latest invention. All Might invited his successor, Deku, to accompany him and as the pair are about to land on the island, All Might reminds Deku to keep their true relationship a secret.

All Might was previously severely wounded in a battle with his nemesis, All For One. As a result, he could only operate as a hero for three hours a day, and following his transfer of his Quirk, One For All, to Deku, it has decreased to less than an hour. Since All Might is constantly in public at I-Island, should anything go wrong, he’ll be in no shape to battle villains. If there was any question as to what will follow, the movie cuts to shady people who clearly are going to attack in the near future.

​Walking into this film, I was very curious who would join Deku on I-Island and how’d they be introduced considering it was a closed off setting. While Melissa is showing Deku around I-Island and the I-Expo, from off screen Ochaco interrupts a conversation between Deku and Melissa because she hilariously misinterprets the two as being on a date together. Yaoyorozu and Jiro are accompanying her and they soon run into Bakugo, Kirishima, Tenya, and Todoroki who are all challenging an obstacle course. Everyone thus far was either invited to attend I-Expo directly or were accompanying one of their friends.

I was happy at this point that we had a good ensemble for the rest of the movie, since there were already a lot of strong dynamics in play, such as the friendships between Deku, Ochaco, and Tenya, and the one-sided rivalry between Bakugo and Todoroki. Sadly, the last two characters to join are Kaminari and series scumbag Mineta who were working at a restaurant. I had heard ahead of time Mineta was in the film and while he isn’t at his worst here and is effective when he is reasonably panicking from the danger the others shrug off, his perverse sexual desires and schemes aren’t welcome. It was extra disappointing Mineta made the cut for the main cast when significantly better characters like Tsuyu and Tokoyami were relegated to cameos.

In between introducing all of the characters, my favorite element of the first half of the film was its humor. In addition to Ochaco’s silly introduction, I enjoyed seeing Deku being swallowed up in All Might’s legion of fans and the cut right afterwards to All Might’s face being covered in lipstick marks from everyone kissing him. Another good scene is Bakugo’s introduction. Bakugo is challenging an obstacle course on the island and while Deku falls a tad short of his record time, Todoroki coolly crushes it when he isn’t watching which of course further sets off his short fuse. One other great gag was when a Godzilla monster appeared on the island, but it turned out it was actually a beloved hero. I thought for sure he’d show up again, but sadly it was just a one-off joke.

​The back half of the film entirely revolves around a group of villains taking over the island’s security system and taking hostages at a dinner party. All Might was giving a speech when the villains broke in and since he couldn’t risk innocent people getting hurt, he becomes a hostage too. Thankfully Deku and his friends were just outside and know the full situation. They quickly decide to escort Melissa to the top of the security tower to free the hostages.

Along the way, the heroes in training get to fight some of the more powerful villains and an army of security robots. Everyone in the group gets to show off their super powers, whether it’s Bakugo reluctantly teaming up with Todoroki to blast everything in sight or Yaoyorozu creating items to assist the others. My favorite part of the characters climbing up the tower was seeing Deku bounce around corridors and dodging bullets with his agility. It’s the coolest he’s been in the series so far without hurting himself!

As they reach the top of the tower, the big revelations come quickly. It turns out Dave actually hired the terrorists because he wanted to sneak out his new quirk enhancing invention so All Might could use it exclusively to maintain his status as the Symbol of Peace. Unfortunately, the fake villains Dave hired were actual villains (whoops) so they decided to betray Dave to give his invention to All For One. While this movie obviously had no real stakes from the start since we know Deku and All Might’s immediate future from season 3, tying All For One into the plot and injecting his gravelly voice and ominous theme music was a good way to up the drama and make the plot feel more impactful.

​The climax of the movie happens on the roof of the tower. The leader of the villains, Wolfram, has captured Dave and is escaping via a helicopter. While Deku fails to stop them, thanks to everyone else’s efforts the security robots were disabled and All Might is free to act. After freeing the hostages, All Might rockets up the tower to rescue Dave and Deku. As he battles Wolfram he realizes he has multiple quirks due to All For One’s involvement. When Wolfram realizes he is outmatched, he decides to use Dave’s device on himself which turns him into a metal monster with absurd powers.

The already exhausted All Might is now outmatched and begins coughing up blood, but thankfully Deku’s classmates arrive on the scene to help out which inspires All Might to keep fighting. The final battle is spectacular as everyone is giving everything they have to push back Wolfram. My favorite part is when All Might and Deku get into position (with All Might hilariously striking a pose in midair) for the first and sadly only time the two get to team up to deliver a “Detroit SMASH!” attack together.

With Dave rescued and reunited with Melissa, the movie quickly wraps up and I was left fully satisfied across the board. There were a ton of fun team ups in a tight, beautiful package and I loved how inspiring Deku’s efforts were. I mentioned earlier that there were no real stakes in the movie, and while that is true, the film ultimately succeeds in making you forget about that. Deku and his friends are in a dangerous situation with no back-up and All Might is clearly at his limit and frustrated by it. Yet together, everyone is able to keep pushing forward and save the day. In the final team up and punch with All Might and Deku you can really tell how much they care about each other and that makes it such a powerful moment. The music and animation do an amazing job accentuating all the big moments, especially in the back half of the film when the fighting becomes more intense. If I had any complaints, I really just wished it ran longer than 90 minutes considering it was so enjoyable from start to finish. I wanted to see the prologue in particular last longer and the first battle against Wolfram’s henchmen with Todoroki, Bakugo, and Kirishima.

One last thing I want to mention, I really enjoyed the audience I saw the movie with. There was a lot of laughter in the first half of the film and tons of cheering in the back half. You could tell everyone was excited to be there and everyone’s enthusiasm was infectious. I was really hoping to see it again in theaters since I had such a great time, but sadly I couldn’t make the additional showings. The moment the film comes out on Blu-Ray I’m definitely going to pick it up and see it again.

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Thanks for reading my latest blog! I hope you enjoyed it! I have some more blogs I’m working so hopefully I can post another one soon. If you want to contact me, feel free to on my twitter @JustinMikos. Until next time!

​- Justin