| My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Kanji | 僕のヒーローアカデミア THE MOVIE ワールド ヒーローズ ミッション |
| Revised Hepburn | Boku no Hīrō Akademia za Mūbī: Wārudo Hīrōzu Misshon |
| Directed by | Kenji Nagasaki |
| Screenplay by | Yōsuke Kuroda |
| Based on | My Hero Academia byKōhei Horikoshi |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Mayuko Furumoto |
| Edited by | Kumiko Sakamoto |
| Music by | Yuki Hayashi |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Toho |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes[1] |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Box office | US$47.03 million[2][3] |
My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission (Japanese:僕のヒーローアカデミア THE MOVIE ワールド ヒーローズ ミッション,Hepburn:Boku no Hīrō Akademia za Mūbī: Wārudo Hīrōzu Misshon) is a 2021Japanese animatedsuperhero film based on an original story featuring the characters ofMy Hero Academiamanga series byKōhei Horikoshi. Produced byBones and distributed byToho, the third film of the franchise is directed byKenji Nagasaki from a script written byYōsuke Kuroda and starsDaiki Yamashita,Nobuhiko Okamoto, andYuki Kaji as part of anensemble cast. In the film,Izuku Midoriya andhis classmates join thePro-Heroes around the world for a mission to stop a terrorist plan that will bring an end to humanity.
A third film was initially teased in November 2020 with a key visual featuring Midoriya,Katsuki Bakugo, andShoto Todoroki. One week after it was first announced, the film was officially confirmed for a 2021 release. Its full title was revealed in March 2021 along with the announcement of the release date. Horikoshi was credited for the original story in the film and the original characters' designs.
The film premiered in Japan on August 6, 2021, and was released in the United States and Canada on October 29. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the animation and plot but criticized the character development. The film grossed over$47 million worldwide and received a nomination at theNewtype Anime Awards. A fourth film, titledMy Hero Academia: You're Next, was released in Japan on August 2, 2024.
A doomsday cult known asHumarise believes that Quirks will eventually become so powerful that they will bring about the extinction of humanity. Because of this, they have planted bombs all over the world filled with "Trigger" gas which kills Quirk users by driving their Quirks out of control and dying in the process. Their leader,Flect Turn, plans to use these bombs to save humanity by killing the Quirk population.
After Humarise detonates its first Trigger Bomb, the World Heroes Association dispatchesPro Heroes andU.A. High Hero Course students to Humarise's targets in hopes of disarming the remaining bombs.Izuku Midoriya,Katsuki Bakugo, andShoto Todoroki are among those sent to Humarise's supposed main headquarters in the country of Otheon. None of the Heroes find any trace of Humarise and they are put on standby. During an outing, Izuku, Katsuki, and Shoto encounter a jewel robbery in progress. Shoto and Katsuki pursue the thieves while Izuku gives chase to their courierRody Soul, a street urchin who took the job to provide for his younger siblings.
Meanwhile,Alan Kay, a Humarise scientist, flees with an important briefcase but is attacked by a Humarise agent,Beros, and he crashes his car in the midst of Izuku and Rody's chase. Rody accidentally grabs Kay's briefcase shortly before Izuku catches him. They are soon attacked by the police, but Izuku escapes with Rody using Blackwhip. Izuku is publicly accused of mass murder by Otheon's chief of police, who is a member of Humarise, and goes off the grid per Shoto's advice. Izuku and Rody make their way to the neighboring country of Klayd, where the Otheon police will not have jurisdiction. Izuku sends a coded message about his new destination to Shoto, who heads off with Katsuki to join him there.
That night, Rody becomes homesick and secretly reports the briefcase to the police. The officers that arrive turn out to be Humarise agents, who attack him. Having been woken up by Rody's bird companionPino, Izuku saves him, but is wounded by Beros during the fight. Rody apologizes to Izuku while patching him up, explaining how his father abandoned the family to join Humarise, and that he and his siblings were ostracized as a result. The two are attacked at the Klayd border by Beros, but are saved by Katsuki and Shoto, while Beros commits suicide in order to evade capture.
Later, Izuku discovers a hidden compartment in the briefcase containing a puzzle which Rody played with as a kid. Rody solves it and finds aUSB device and adata disk inside. The disk contains a message from Kay, who reveals that he and Eddie Soul, Rody's father, were forced by Humarise to create the Trigger bombs; the device contains a kill code for the bombs created by Kay and Eddie. Humarise announces that they will detonate their remaining bombs in two hours, forcing the deployed Heroes to scramble in defense to find them and fight the Humarise soldiers. Izuku and the others head to Humarise's headquarters with the device on a plane piloted by Rody.
Katsuki and Shoto deal with high-ranking Humarise villains, while Izuku faces Flect Turn, whose Quirk reflects whatever comes into contact with him. Izuku is overwhelmed by Flect Turn's natural defenses, as well as his laser barrage. Rody arrives and seemingly betrays Izuku by handing over the device in exchange for his siblings' safety. Thanks to Pino, who is actually Rody's sentient Quirk which expresses his true feelings and intentions, Izuku realizes it is a feint and catches Flect Turn off guard. Realizing that Flect Turn's Quirk has a limit to how much damage it can take, Izuku uses One For All at 100%, to defeat Flect Turn with a barrage of attacks.
Meanwhile, Rody heads for the Trigger Bombs' control system, and despite being wounded by the laser defense system, he and Pino barely manage to insert the device in time, preventing the Bombs from activating. In the aftermath, Humarise's surviving members are arrested, while the Heroes are healed at the hospital. As Izuku heads back to Japan, he and Rody bid a tearful goodbye to each other.Class 1-A reunites back at U.A., while Rody gets a job at the local bar, and also pursues his dream of becoming a pilot.
Before the release ofMy Hero Academia: Heroes Rising in December 2019,My Hero Academiamanga creatorKōhei Horikoshi stated in July that "[probably] there won't be a third film", believing that the second film of the franchise was the "kind of finale forMy Hero Academia. That is because its story uses one of the concepts [I] had wanted to use in the manga's final battle."[6] In November 2020, each of the officialTwitter accounts forMy Hero Academia manga, anime series, and films posted tweets that could be combined to form the sentence "He will meet the three musketeers". Each tweet had links that would lead to images ofKatsuki Bakugo,Izuku Midoriya, andShoto Todoroki which could be combined to form a teaser visual for the third film of the franchise.[7] After a week, the latest issue ofWeekly Shōnen Jump magazine officially confirmed the film for a summer release.[8]
In March 2021, the title of the film was revealed asMy Hero Academia the Movie: World Heroes' Mission, which would be based on an original story, with Horikoshi serving as its chief supervisor and the original character designer. Additionally,Kenji Nagasaki was also revealed to be directing the film atBones along withYousuke Kuroda as the screenwriter andYoshihiko Umakoshi as the character designer.[9] The designs for "stealth suit" outfits of Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki in the film were revealed in May 2021.[10]
Ryo Yoshizawa joined the cast of the film as the original character namedRody Soul in May 2021,[11] as didKazuya Nakai andMegumi Hayashibara in June as the leader of an organization that threatens the world namedFlect Turn and the trusted partner of Rody namedPino, respectively.[12][13] Additional cast for the film were revealed in July 2021, includingMariya Ise asBeros,Junya Enoki asSir Pentas,Yūichirō Umehara asShidero,Shogo Sakata asLeviathan,Hirofumi Nojima asAllen Kay, andYōko Honna asClaire Voyance.[14]
Yuki Hayashi was revealed to be composingMy Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission in March 2021, after previously doing so forMy Hero Academia anime series and the franchise's filmsMy Hero Academia: Two Heroes (2018) andHeroes Rising.[9] In June 2021,Asian Kung-Fu Generation was revealed to be performing thetheme music for the film titled "Empathy" (エンパシー).[15] The following month, the 35th issue ofWeekly Shōnen Jump magazine revealed theinsert song in the film titled "Flowers" (フラワーズ), also performed by the same band.[16] The film's original soundtrack was released in Japan byToho Animation Records and in the United States byMilan Records on August 6, 2021.[17][18]
Milan Records released the soundtrack onvinyl records in the United States in July 2022.[19] That month,Anime Limited announced the release of the soundtrack on vinyl records in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[20] Selected tracks from the soundtrack wereremastered and included in the albumMy Hero Academia (Soundtrack Selection 2021–2023), which was releaseddigitally in March 2023.[21]
Ateaser trailer and the key visual drawn by Umakoshi forMy Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission were released in March 2021.[9][22] A new visual for the film was released in June 2021.[23] A bonus manga by Horikoshi titledMy Hero Academia Vol. World Heroes was given to the first one million people who viewed the film in theaters in Japan.[24] It was also given to the moviegoers who saw the film in theaters in the United States.[25] A novel based on the film written by Anri Yoshi was published in Japan byShueisha on August 6, 2021.[26][27]
Promotional partners for the film included thesushi restaurant chainKura Sushi;[28]Tsutaya, which released their membership card T Card with designs based onMidoriya,Bakugo, andTodoroki;[29] thebento take-out chainHokka Hokka Tei;[30] thesteakhouse Ikinari Steak;[31] thevariety store Thank You Mart;[32] the karaoke brand Joysound;[33] andGood Smile Company, which releasedNendoroids of Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki wearing their stealth suits in the film.[34]
My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission was released in Japan on August 6, 2021,[9] and received4D screenings on August 28.[35] The film held its American premiere at the Animation Is Film Festival in Los Angeles'TCL Chinese Theatre on October 24, 2021.[36] It was released in Australia and New Zealand on October 28, 2021.[5] The film was screened in the United States and Canada byFunimation,[5] and in the United Kingdom and Ireland byColumbia Pictures on October 29, 2021.[37]
My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission was released onBlu-ray andDVD in Japan on February 16, 2022.[38] The "Plus Ultra" edition contains anoriginal video animation titled "Departure" (旅立ち,Tabidachi), which is based on the chapter "No.XXX Hawks: SOOTHE" fromVol. World Heroes manga, and followsMidoriya,Bakugo, andTodoroki as they encounterHawks in an airport terminal.[39] The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD in the United States and Canada byCrunchyroll on August 23, 2022,[40] and in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Funimation on September 26.[41] Crunchyroll released the film along withTwo Heroes andHeroes Rising on Blu-ray and DVD in a single pack, collectively titledMy Hero Academia: 3-Movie Collection, in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2023.[42]
My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission grossed$29.3 million in Japan and$17.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of$47.03 million.[2][3] It is thetenth highest-grossing domestic film of 2021 in Japan.[43]
The film earned$2.81 million on its opening day in Japan, 229.2% more thanMy Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (2019) did on its premiere.[44] In its opening weekend, the film earned$8.51 million, ranking second behindF9 (2021).[45][46] The film reached the one-billion-yen mark in its second weekend and grossed¥2.07 billion ($18.82 million) in its third weekend, becoming the highest-grossing film of the franchise.[47][48][49] It placed first in its fourth weekend,[50] fourth in its fifth weekend,[51] and first again in its sixth weekend.[52] The film reached the three-billion-yen mark in its seventh weekend, with its ranking dropping to sixth.[53] It rose to fifth in its eighth weekend with$398,500,[54] but it fell to eighth in its ninth weekend after earning$288,600 and dropped out of the ranking in its tenth weekend after earning$228,300.[55][56]
Outside Japan, the film earned$6.4 million in its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, placing fourth behindNo Time to Die (2021).[57] In Australia, the film grossed$169,268 in its opening weekend, ranking fifth at the box office.[58] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the film made$293,000 from 260 theaters.[58]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 87% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Fun for newcomers and existing fans alike,My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission is an entertaining interlude between seasons of the series."[59] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100 based on 4 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[60]Cinema Today reported that the film's audience had more females than the targeted male demographic, comprising 76.5%.[61]
Rafael Motamayor gaveMy Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission 8 out of 10 forIGN, praising its visuals that "out-Marvels the [Marvel Cinematic Universe]" and the villains' motives that he noted were inspired by thegraphic novelX-Men: God Loves, Man Kills. He felt that the film "captures the heart of earlyStan Lee andSteve DitkoSpider-Man comics", particularly the "grounded approach" toDeku with his newfound power and its "sheer optimism in the face of great stakes".[62] Hayes Madsen ofComingSoon.net also gave the film 8 out of 10, noting the "bigger emphasis on exaggerated expressions for characters and action scenes". He praised its "sense of scale and gravitas that the past two films simply didn't have" due to the expanding world of the franchise but felt that the villain's development was "lacking".[63]
Richard Eisenbeis ofAnime News Network graded the film "C+", praising its animation and plot hook while criticizing the characters and their development.[64] Writing for/Film, Caroline Cao felt that the film was "solid enough in its watchability, crowdpleasing action, sight gags, and core relationship" but criticized its lack of scope. Despite noting Deku's shiny relationship withRody, she found the film did "little overtly novel with Deku's drive to become a Hero".[65]
Maya Phillips ofThe New York Times was critical of the film, particularly its "rapid cuts and camera shifts [that] makes it dizzying to witness", the characters being ignored "for the sake of a formulaic plot and forgettable antagonist", and the final fight she described as "long and... perfunctory". She felt that the film was a "missable third film" of the franchise and had "little to offer veteran fans of the series or new viewers".[66] Richard Whittaker ofThe Austin Chronicle gave the film two out of five stars, stating that it "never quite balances the darkness with the inherent plucky optimism and sporadic goofiness that makes the series so popular". He felt thatWorld Heroes Mission would work better if it was a television series rather than a film "since the last 40 minutes is one big punch-a-thon, with most of the supporting cast yet again busy offscreen".[67]
In December 2021,My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission was among the Top 100 Favorites nominated for the Anime of the Year at theTokyo Anime Award Festival 2022.[68] In October 2022, the film was nominated for Best Picture (Film) Award at theNewtype Anime Awards.[69] In December 2022, the film was placed first onU-NEXT's "The Best 10 Most Popular Works in 2022" list for Anime Rental category.[70]
A fourth anime film, titledMy Hero Academia: You're Next, premiered in Japan on August 2, 2024.[71]Tensai Okamura serves as the director, Kuroda writing the script, Umakoshi designing the characters, and Horikoshi serving as its general supervisor and original character designer.[71]
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