Anime movies can give an anime bad rep, especially when looking at older anime. Anime movies forNaruto, a shonen anime that aired in 2002, for example, arecompletely outside the canonicity of the manga. The movies forNarutosometimes had powers that didn’t fit within the mechanics of the established universe and felt more like fan fiction with someone’s original characters rather than an actual movie related to the show. In short, a lot of anime movies feel like filler. This is the case with many other series’ as well - especially when it comes to shonen anime.
This is not the case, however, forMy Hero Academia.In order for something to be filler, it needs to not affect the original canon in any way. The three movies have storylines that aren’t too out of touch with the original anime or manga. Most parts of the movies coincide with the established universe’s rules as well, but there’s more to it than that. TheMy Hero Academiamovies are surprisingly important to the series.
RELATED:Would My Hero Academia Be More Interesting If Deku Stayed Quirkless?
They’re Just Good Movies
TheMy Hero Academiamovies are subjectively good. Each movie manages to capture the fun, cool shonen vibes thatMy Hero Academiacurrently gives off in the anime. The music for the movies is on par with the regular anime and the animation is just as good because anime movies have a better budget than episodes. While the first movie,Two Heroes,is said to have the weakest storyline of theMy Heromovies, it still manages to be a delight to watch due to the fact that it has lore about All Might.The second movie,Heroes Rising,has information relevant to later parts of the series. Said information wouldn’t make much sense without the context ofHeroes Rising.The movie also builds up Bakugo and Deku’s relationship as well as giving other characters screen time that they rightfully deserve.
World Heroes Mission,the third movie, is potentially the most liked movie out of all of them. The movie introduces heroes from other countries as well as new characters that the fandom has grown attached to. For viewers that want to know more about the mysterious brunet named Rody, they might want to watch this movie. Not to mention, this movie is accepted as the “most canon” by a good chunk of fans.
All Might’s Past
Two Heroesgives the viewer a bit of information about what hero society is like in America. More importantly, it tells the viewer about All Might’s past which viewers have heard about briefly from Deku at this point. It introduces a new character named Melissa Shield, who’s friends with All Might through her dad. While the plot of the movie is a bit weak, it does give the viewer insight into what All Might did while he was in America. It also shows the viewers that All Might isn’t just a popular hero in Japan, but in America as well.
They’re Canon According to the Manga
The following contains major spoilers for My Hero Academia Chapter 362, “Light Fades To Rain" by Kohei Horikoshi available in English fromViz Media. This section also contains spoilers for manga chapters that have yet to air in the anime.
Two Heroesalludes to gear that Deku will get later in the manga. It’s mentioned that All Might ordered them from America before the border closed from the war, which indicates that they were probably newer versions ofthe arm brace made by Melissa Shield. The hero Stars and Stripes, the biggest hero in America, is also confirmed to be one of the children All Might saved during a disaster while he was in America. Characters, gear, and tidbits of lore fromTwo Heroesare sprinkled throughout the manga.
Heroes Risinghas a short chapter in the manga that builds up to the movie. This chapter shows the main antagonist, Nine, and how his motives are connected to the main storyline including his dealings with the doctor. Near the end of the movie, there’s a scene whereDeku gives Katsuki Bakugo his quirk, One for All. During this scene they are both able to use OFA, which makes sense because All Might had OFA for a while after giving it to Deku. This scene does hold up to the mechanics of theMy Hero Academiauniverse.
Despite that, this scene got tons of backlash for two big reasons. The first, which disappointed many viewers, is that Bakugo falls unconscious anddoesn’t remember ever getting OFA from Deku. The second reason is that All Might states that “OFA did something amazing” and chalks up the whole ordeal to OFA being some kind of miracle quirk. This is later partially amended by Horikoshi, the author of the manga, where he says that this was the point at which the predecessors of OFA started interfering with the quirk itself.
OFA isn’t a “normal” quirk because it has the pieces of each predecessor’s soul inside of it. Due to this, they can influence the way OFA works whether it’s unlocking parts of it for Deku to access or, say, not letting it completely transfer to certain hot-headed blonds.
In the recent manga chapter 362, “Light Fades to Rain,” it is confirmed that Bakugo really did get OFA duringHeroes Rising.When Bakugo is killed by Shigarakiin this chapter, he sees the vestige of All Might, something that can only happen if someone is part of One for All in some way. There would be no other reason for Bakugo to see a vestige of All Might unless he still has a piece of OFA inside of him.
RELATED:The Issues With My Hero Academia’s Movies
World Heroes Mission,like the other movies, actually takes place in a set part of theMy Hero Academiatimeline. This movie also has a short chapter leading up to it, which takes placeduring the Endeavour Internship Arc.World Heroes Missionintroduces other heroes from around the world. This might come as a delight to some viewers because it has been a lingering question for some time. Fans of the series knew that other heroes exist in other countries, but didn’t get much information on them untilWorld Heroes Mission.In recent manga chapters, the American hero Stars and Stripes, as well as heroes from other countries are shown discussing what to do about Japan. Only one hero actually goes to Japan, but the fact that Horikoshitook the time to show the heroesintroduced inWorld Heroes Missionshows that the movie is at least partly canon.
Spoilers end here.
What Kohei Horikoshi Has to Say
While there aren’t full-blown manga chapters that each movie is based off of, there are hints that each of the movies are, in fact, canon. Some viewers argue that there must be a manga chapter for an anime movie to be considered canon, but that’s simply not true. For example, there is a manga chapter forTwo Heroesthat builds up to the movie before it came out. Horikoshi also had a hand in multiple parts of each movie. According to interviews and tweets made by Horikoshi, he has also confirmed that each movie is canon in some way.
If watching theMy Hero Academiamovies still sounds like a terrible idea, perhaps consider watching thenew Season 5 OVAs that came out. Until then,Season 6 is set to air on Crunchyrollin Fall 2022.
