SPOILER WARNING

This review will contain spoilers for the My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising movie and manga spoilers.

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising American Premiere at the Regency Village Theatre

Heroes Rising, as the name suggested, showed class 1-A of UA High rise to the challenge of real hero work. Off the coast of southern Japan, the hero of Nabu island recently retired and class 1-A are sent as temporary replacements. Hero work, however, is not always about flashy battles with supervillains, as mentioned by Aizawa-sensei. In the first half of the movie, class 1-A helped out the island people with everyday problems. Iida carried an old granny, Asui saved a drowning child, Kaminari helped recharged an old tractor battery, and the townsfolk were extremely grateful for their help. The audience is reminded that we can be heroes too in our everyday lives, even without a quirk.

Nine

To challenge our class 1-A, we were introduced to the supervillains: Nine, Slice, Mummy, and Chimera. Nine subjected himself to the experiments of Dr. Kyudai Garaki because he was limited due to the cell degeneration side effect of his original quirk. As a result, Nine gained a limited version of All for One which allowed him to absorb the quirk he needed (Cell Activation) to be rid of the side effect. Personally, Nine, demonstrated more power in this movie than All for One did in the fight against All Might. So either All for One was holding back or he didn’t have good quirks like Nine (which I highly doubt). Even though Nine had All for One, he did not fight in the same manner. Nine fought with each quirk separately, never simultaneously, unlike All for One who would stack quirks to create a stronger attack. If Nine had quirks that could stack, our heroes may not have won.

Go Beyond

Putting aside Deku and Bakugo for now, several members of class 1-A had a shining Plus Ultra moment. Aoyama’s Plus Ultra Navel Laser was my personal favorite. Unfortunately, there were two that left me wanting more, Hagakure and Todoriki. I would have like to see Hagakure use her invisibility for a stealth attack against Mummy, since she did next to nothing. Todoroki was nerfed. Based on Endeavor’s scar, the movie takes place roughly 10 episodes ahead of where the latest episode last left off. At this point, Todoroki already showed resolve to use the fire quirk as his own and he even used it in the first battle against Chimera, so his reluctance in the second battle didn’t make sense. We also didn’t see Todoroki didn’t display the same amount of power he used against Midoriya in the school battle which would have helped a lot to bring down Chimera.

Plus Ultra

The defining Plus Ultra moment, without question, was when Mineta saved the girls at the beach. Kidding. Bakugo gaining One for All was a great twist to defeat the final villain. Class 1-A did not have All Might or another pro hero, so they had to defeat Nine on their own and a pro hero saving them would defeat the purpose of naming the movie Heroes Rising. Deku showed what he was willing to do to become a true hero, even if it meant never being a hero ever again. Even Bakugo showed sympathy and sentiment towards Deku for passing One for All. The music, the editing, the animation, and the emotion from the final fight scene was overwhelming and breathless. I watched the movie at the premiere and at a regular showing. Both times were Plus Ultra.

Bakugo Lost Consciousness?

Watching the movie twice confirmed one thing, however. The reason Deku kept One for All was weak. All Might said Bakugo lost consciousness before the transfer was complete. Based on how hard Bakugo gripped Deku’s hand and seeing him stand after receiving One for All made me, and many others, believe otherwise. Personally, I would have been okay if he just said, “The transfer was incomplete.” That’s it. If there had to be a reason, it would be because Bakugo did not EAT Deku’s DNA. The Viz manga translation, the Funimation dub, and Funimation sub all said Deku had to “eat” the hair. Deku was willing to pass on the quirk, but Bakugo absorbed Deku’s blood/DNA through an open would on his hand and didn’t eat the DNA, hence the incomplete transfer.

Courtesy of Viz Media

Final Embers

I’m not usually one for anime movies because the non-canon factor throws off the continuity, but this is one of the few exceptions. This movie does fit into the continuity by just being a little bit ahead of the anime, however, they do reveal a bit of info only known to manga readers: Deku has multiple quirks.

Everything from the amazing efforts of class 1-A, Bakugo’s willingness to put aside his pride to work with Deku, and Deku’s sacrifice made Heroes Rising one of, if not, the 2020 superhero movie of the year. If Kohei Horikoshi’s words are true and this is the final My Hero Academia movie, he should be proud to leave it at a high point.

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising
4.5/5