My Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission Review
Redfox Reviews
My Hero Academia
World Heroes Mission
So this movie is actually pretty solid. Right from the start you're thrown directly into the action. Our heroes, on their work study, take on Humarise, a group of religious zealots. They are led by a mad man by the name of Flect Turn who is attempting to kill off anyone with a quirk for pretty generic main villain reasons. What I appreciate though, is his hatred wasn't for the Heroes, it was for quirks in general. The plan is to release Trigger bombs that will cause people's quirks to essentially overload and kill them. All of this is an attempt to create a pure society of quirkless humans, an idea based around the Quirk Doomsday Theory.
This is thought to be a point where quirks will eventually become too overpowered and complicated to control which will lead to the end of times.
Most of this movie is based around trying to find these bombs hidden throughout the planet. The Heroes are spread out into teams around the globe looking for Chemical Explosives and trying to track down Flect. While the idea of the heroes being in more than just Japan is an awesome concept, the movie doesn't really capitalize much on the “World” part of its story. It’s truly a waste of what could have been a great story of the heroes of Japan working alongside other heroes from parts of the world we don't often explore in the main show. We get very brief appearances at best of these teams out and about looking for the Trigger bombs, working alongside some very interesting looking characters. But again, this doesn't really get that much focus. Although, seeing Hawks in NYC is awesome!
The main focus is on Midoriya as he runs from this cult whose deep ties around the world has him branded as an international murderer. It’s here that we’re introduced to the Movie exclusive character Rody Soul who was an interesting character at first but the more time you spent with him on screen the more generic he became. The bad boy with a heart of gold and an edgy personality is kinda played out at this point. Then there's his absolutely useless quirk that is built up throughout this movie to a very lackluster reveal. It’s the kinda quirk that's in front of your face the whole time and you just don’t know it until the reveal. The movie makes a point to show Midoriya ask him this multiple times just to end the scene without Rody giving a direct answer about what his ability is, again this takes up alot of screen time that could have been better utilized elsewhere.
The movie seems to take place during the events of MHA Season 5, probably somewhere near the My Villian Academia Arc at the end of the season. Which is great because Anime movies are generally non Canon to the actual story but this can fit in perfectly as a “Moment in time” kinda story that shows you how much they all advanced in their training through the work study. Specifically the main trio of Midoriya, Bakugo and Todaroki who each get a point in the film to showcase their skills in a one on one bout against the top dogs of Humarize. I was kinda hoping they would have stayed with the awesome almost Black Ops costume designs used in the beginning of the movie to also display the changes made in their characters. Todoroki could have really benefited from a little more time shown on his one on one fight to display how he’s grown and adapted the fire to his arsenal as a part of his character growth. The main trio is as always one of the most interesting dynamics of the story, especially Todaroki and Bakugou growing closer to one another through the series. It is displayed very well in the movie with Todoroki still oblivious to Bakugo not wanting to admit that they're friends.
The movie weighs in at a healthy 1 Hour and 41 Mins, a respectable time length thanks to the movie starting off strong with the plot already moving forward while being explained as we go. It does drag just a bit in the middle while Midoriya is on the run with Rody. This would have been a perfect time to explore a little more of the heroes out on the front lines attempting to find the bombs around the world but sadly they use this screen time for Rody to give generic cool guy talk and an origin story. His story does have its place in the plot but it is fed to us piece by piece. This takes more time from the actual heros who are fighting around the world against zealots, trying to find bombs that could kill those with quirks…..but we have to give screen time to the edgy teen protag. All together the movie does a great job of telling it’s story in a very straightforward manner leading up to our main trio hitting the home base running for an epic showdown with Humanize. Bakugo’s final fight scene alone is worth the cost of admission and then some. Visually this film is beautiful, as always the animation is fluid and the action is this hailstorm of colorful violence.
The movie definitely earns it’s spot in an anime collector’s Blu Ray shelf and does a pretty solid job of just being a fun movie that focuses on the growth of the characters following the work study. It’s a fun time seeing the main trio apply the lessons taught by “The Number 1 Hero” Endeavor as they are sent on a real life or death mission to save the world. Despite some of the missed opportunities of the film and the lack of side character stories the movie is a definite must watch for any fan of the Series.
