by Cain Noble-Davies

Year:  2024

Director:  Tensai Okamura

Rated:  M

Release:  10 October 2024

Distributor: Crunchyroll/Sony

Running time: 110 minutes

Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth

Cast:
Various

Intro:
… a fun and electrifying superhero caper, balancing lighthearted humour with some interesting statements on the nature of heroism and what it means to wield true power.

Between the diminishing returns of the previous three My Hero Academia movies, the show proper reaching dramatic peaks during the Paranormal Liberation Front arc of Season 6, and the unfortunate fails within the superhero genre, there’s an undeniable trepidation going into the latest cinematic outing for the students and faculty of U.A. It also marks a slight change in management, with series head Kenji Nagasaki handing the director’s chair over to Tensai Okamura (Wolf’s Rain, Memories: Stink Bomb). Turns out that the new perspective was just what this franchise needed to go Plus Ultra.

With its main locale of a giant ship of illusions moulded into reality by the despotic Dark Might, both the setting and the visuals match up to the frame they’re being presented in. The series has always had a good handle on how to present compelling superpowered fight scenes, but the efforts from studio Bones (along with assistance from Wit Studio and the mad lads at Trigger) create a technicolour whirlwind of supercharged glory that permeates through every moment. The climax, in particular, has Trigger’s fingerprints all over it, with its immensely moody and chaotically eclectic visualisation of both the brightest and darkest of desperations.

The story holds up well too, continuing the murkier explorations of superherodom off the back of Season 6 to show Deku, fresh off nearly taking the dark road himself, confronting a being that seeks to warp and bend the legacy of his mentor to his own ends. The imagery surrounding Dark Might, of this impossibly vain gloryhound whose Quirk manifests as golden coins that can warp reality, is evocative of certain modern oligarchs who use the names of past legends to further their own agendas, not to mention the compiling of just about every cynical take on superheroes as characters and as entertainment that currently exist. The result is juicy catharsis once the real heroes step in.

The characters are much more recognisable here than in World Heroes’ Mission, from Deku’s infectious optimism to Hawks’ cool under stress to Bakugo’s explosive fourth-wall nudges that consistently steal every moment. But it’s with the new inclusions in the gun-armed Giulio and the blossoming Anna that the film wrings out proper emotion even without prior knowledge of why Deku would take this fight so damn seriously. Giulio’s calm but cutting personality is plenty of fun, while the wounded heart underneath gives the film pathos, especially in conjunction with Anna’s heartbreaking role in events. Even without the returning characters, these two epitomise the ideal of the superhero to combat the insidiousness of its co-opting by the Big Bad.

My Hero Academia: You’re Next delivers a fun and electrifying superhero caper, balancing lighthearted humour with some interesting statements on the nature of heroism and what it means to wield true power. For long-time fans, it delivers everything that makes the main show so captivating, and for newcomers, it offers a solid look at what the average story arc for this series looks and feels like, truncated as it may be for the big screen. It took a while to get here, but the films are finally starting to match the calibre of their foundation.

8Good
score
8
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