I feel like within every group of anime fans, there is one who– despite all their begging to differ– doesn’t actually watch that much anime; whether that be due to time, binge burnout, or simply having a never-ending list of shows you never get around to. The amount of anime I’ve left in watch limbo (not for lack of trying!) is longer than most of my anime friends’ finished lists. My Hero Academia is one of those shows, with me falling off from the franchise around season 4 or 5. I never stopped enjoying the show though; so, when the opportunity arose to watch the newest movie from the series, I jumped on it. After all, anime movies can often be only tangentially canonical to the franchise they originated from. So, even with missing about 2 seasons (and hundreds of manga chapters), surely there wouldn’t be too much of a gap, and– HE CAN FLY NOW??

Watching You’re Next after missing the last three entries into the MHA main series was like watching Captain America: Civil War when the last Marvel movie you watched was Iron Man 3. The 4th movie in the franchise, it was immediately clear our main characters had grown quite a lot since I’d last seen them, the movie starts with them in the middle of what looks to be a routine mission of hunting down “Jailbreakers.” The desolate and almost apocalyptic browns of the city landscape were jarring, completely at odds with the vibrant bright backdrops I remembered of the series. The color scheme was interesting, maintaining the characteristic look and feel of the world while making it clear that times had changed. The subtle shift in animation was reflected in the sense of maturity seen not only in Class 1-A’s appearances but also in the growth and usage of their power. Seeing characters frozen in my memory so much more practiced– and, dare I say, hero-like! -- was jarring, yet exciting to see. And just like watching a random Avengers movie, can get you sucked back into the MCU, watching the MHA movie has grabbed me back into the world of quirks, villains, and heroes. 

I remember the narrative chills I got when, in season 3, All Might delivered the strong message “Next, it’s your turn.” Villains, heroes, and civilians alike had ideas on the message’s meaning, and who it was intended for. We see that come into play with the main antagonist in this movie, Dark Might. Originally Valdo Gollini, Dark Might’s obsessive “stanning” of All Might is on par with his biggest fanboys, Deku and Bakugo. Valdo’s shrine-esque room decorated with various All Might memorabilia brings back memories of little Midoriya’s bedroom– though far creepier considering the circumstances. His journey kicks off with All Might’s audacious speech that just as Deku believed it was to him from his mentor, Valdo felt All Might was speaking directly to him as well. Donning a similar visage to All Might, Valdo took on the name Dark Might (a not-so-clever flip of All Might). The mafioso villain declared his intentions to take up the mantle proclaiming himself “the New All Might,” though not with the heroic ideals of his idol. Valdo believed it was power, his power specifically, that made him the new All Might. Deku vehemently denies acknowledging him as a successor. Dark Might does display immense power though; in one of the most extravagant displays of quirk power we’ve seen of this world thus far, he Great Gatsby’d a giant fortress with a shower of gold coins, sucking most of the people in the city into a void of light that– inside the fortress– formed a terra dome with various RPG like settings and landscapes that our main characters get separated into.

Though not written by Kohei Horikoshi, he did pen a special tie-in chapter to accompany the release! Released as part of Volume: Next, the prequel chapter accompanies various behind-the-curtain content like character sketches or interview blurbs. MHA: Your Next is written by screenwriter Yosuke Kuroda, who returns with a majority of the staff from the first three movies. Getting some background to the events leading up to the movie helped add to the experience, though watching the movie without it was still enjoyable. The art and animation were impressive, though it did reignite one of my favorite games to play while watching My Hero Academia. That is, of course, paying attention to the quickly scribbled expressions of characters in the background. The pacing was surprisingly well-done in my opinion, with enough time for me as a viewer to know and care about not just our returning characters, but the movie's original ones. It’s super easy for a shonen to rely on the same basic tropes when creating characters—think shy underdog = good, arrogant powerful guy = bad — but in this series, even characters that fall into a more cliché direction, still manage to be very entertaining. Minor “bit” characters, like Ugo and Gil Gollini, have their personalities shine through despite their smaller screen time, which makes the entire cast feel more fleshed out.

Another movie original character we get to meet this go-round is Giulio– whose voice I immediately recognized as Mamoru Miyano (and we all know how I feel about him!); a former butler of the Scervino family on his quest to save his former charge Anna from the villainous Gollini family exploiting her boosting quirk power. We get to see glimmers of his personality behind his stoic façade and usage of honorific language, but it’s clear that there are real feelings for her behind his crusade. Anna, for her part, is a bit reminiscent of little Eri from season four; with a quirk that is as powerful as it is dangerous. Her overmodificaion quirk certainly is powerful– if you’re compatible with her– so it makes sense why Dark Might and his crew would be so reluctant to give up their XP booster.

The finale concludes with our main MHA trio of Deku, Bakugo, and Todoroki managing to take him down in a, quite frankly, excellently scored scene. If there’s one thing MHA knows how to do, it’s underscoring a scene with a piece that perfectly fits– and heightens– the emotions of the characters and the audience (Yuki Hayashi, the genius you are!) It felt like the trio’s team takedown was well-earned, yet an air of apprehension surrounded their victory. They had certainly proven it was “their turn,” but it also felt like something else was on the horizon. Our trio had to work together to pull off a series of combo moves to even have a chance at taking Dark Might down. So, it’s not just the hero class that’s leveling up; clearly, the villain population is as well. Honestly, that makes me even more excited to see how the story progresses; because for a top hero to become the top, they’d have to defeat a top villain right?

By the end of the movie, I felt like class 1-A– and especially Deku–were following along the path that All Might set for them when he declared “It’s your turn,”. Throughout the movie, they continually prove that it is their time to patch the hole left behind by All Might’s retirement. Beating a villain of Gollini’s size was proof that, despite not graduating yet, our main characters were more than capable of being “real” heroes. Now what they did to become that good, I’ll have to go back and see! While you can in theory enjoy It’s Your Turn without being fully caught up on the series, there are some gaps in character growth– both power-wise and personality-wise– that hit differently when you’ve watched these characters grow through the events in the main series. I don’t think any spoilers in the movie would compromise your enjoyment of the main series (other than, again, the fact that Deku can freaking fly now??). So, rather than ending the film confused, I finished the film pumped to start binging through the seasons I missed. My younger cousin, who’s probably seen a combined total of 7 episodes over the 7 seasons, also enjoyed the movie and plans to start watching from the beginning. And as for you, dear reader; next, it’s your turn!