“World Heroes’ Mission” May Finally Make Me Sit Down and Watch My Hero Academia

The fate of the world is at stake. Our heroes are spread all over the world as they try to stop the terrorist organization Humarise, bent on eliminating everyone with a Quirk and ushering in a “pure human” future in My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission.

Full disclosure: I haven’t actually seen an episode of My Hero Academia. I’ve been meaning to watch it, I swear, but I always end up putting something else on when I have time to binge. However, I did attend the My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission panel at this year’s New York Comic Con, where they showed the first few minutes of the film, and after that my interest skyrocketed. After having seen the entire movie, I can’t wait to dive into this series.

The premise of World Heroes’ Mission is startlingly relevant to current events. Humarise could be any number of terrorist groups filled with members whose cult-like devotion to a cause can be even to their own detriment. The group, scattered across the globe, has developed what basically amounts to Quirk bombs. When detonated, the bombs release a gas that affects only those with Quirks, causing their powers to run wild and eventually kill them.

Our heroes are split into teams and sent to various countries, but the bulk of the action is centered in the fictional country of Otheon, where Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki are among the team attempting to find the Quirk bombs before they go off. Unfortunately, while stopping a robbery, Midoriya and a local kid, Rody (who was participating in the robbery in order to earn money to support his younger siblings), are falsely accused of mass murder and must go on the run.

I will say this: even with only a basic knowledge of My Hero Academia, World Heroes’ Mission was not hard to follow at all. I didn’t know all of the characters, but I’m passingly familiar with the core trio and was emotionally invested enough in Midoriya and Rody’s plight that nothing else really mattered. In fact, it probably helps that I don’t know that many characters, since most of the focus is on Rody, Midoriya, and to a lesser extent Bakugo and Todoroki.

Midoriya and Rody’s budding friendship was interspersed with amazing action sequences that had me on the edge of my seat, which is good, because honestly, the action scenes are by far the best part of the movie. The overall plot is pretty tried and true, the villain is kind of bland and forgettable, and as this is a standalone film, it will have no real bearing on the overall arc of the series. (I mean, I still got tense and worried about the fates of the characters, but longtime fans may not.)

But it was entertaining as hell, and even not having seen anything from this series before, I could absolutely tell when Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki were doing something epic and new. A special video from the Japanese seiyuu that they showed at the NYCC panel hinted that Todoroki would have a brand-new move in World Heroes’ Mission, but all three were pushed to the limit in the final battle and completely leveled up.

I will admit that I’m a little disappointed we spent so much time in a fictional country. The panel teased getting to see the heroes in new settings, but other than some shots of heroes fighting in front of locations like the Eiffel Tower or the Pyramids, everything looked essentially the same. They definitely underutilized the “world mission” aspect.

I’m not sure how much World Heroes’ Mission will offer veteran fans of the series – although if you’re super into the fight scenes you will probably enjoy this as much as I did – but as a new fan, this movie has really motivated me to finally sit down and start watching the anime.

My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission premieres in theaters across the US on October 29 courtesy of Funimation Films.

*I received an advance screener in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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