Despite My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising originally being intended to be the last film for the My Hero Academia series, in a twist Deku and the gang return to the big screen for a third film. World Heroes’ Mission was part of our Summer Anime recommendations list and finally arrived in UK cinemas on 29th October 2021, in Belgium it will arrive on the 26th of January of this year and in The Netherlands on the 27th of January, which means it is time to see if it was worth the wait.
Spoiler Warning, there may be spoilers for those not up to date with the My Hero Academia anime in this review as the events take part midway through season 5.
Plot
A new villainous group called “Humanize” has emerged, aiming to wipe out humans with quirks. A task force of heroes from across the world has been put together, with top Hero agencies from Japan sent to work alongside local agencies to quell the global threat. As this happens when the UA students are on their work placements, they too are brought along for the ride. Endeavor’s agency is sent to Otheon and Deku, Todoroki and Bakugo, are brought along for the ride. As the trio are out doing an errand, they come across a crime which leads to Deku crossing paths with Rody, a local boy who takes on shady jobs as it is the only way he can make money to look after his siblings. After Rody picks up the wrong briefcase and Deku confronts him, they both end up on the run.
Now, the title is a bit misleading. As it focuses on Deku, Todoroki, and Bakugo, who spend most of the film in one country there aren’t many of the international scenes you’d expect to see. Particularly after the start, there is a strong title sequence showing off which country each of the UA students are in. Nor do we really see any international heroes, which again feels like a missed opportunity. Nonetheless, the plot is quite interesting, getting the audience to re-evaluate quirks to some degree. Although the impact of it is dampened with pacing issues. This is only made worse as it doesn’t feel like it properly fits in with the series timeline as Deku in the first part of the film seems way more in control of the Black Whip quirk than he is in the series. At least the original movie character Rody was a great addition, having a great character development arc through the film, it is a real shame he is just a movie character as it would be great to see him return.
Animation
Compared to the last film, it does feel like a drop in quality as World Heroes’ Mission feels more in line with the TV show. There were some moments where it pushed the boundary, mainly during the chase scenes as the camera spun round to create a stronger sense of 3D. It was cool but then felt out of place as it takes you out of the moment due to not being smooth enough.
Most of the good animation was saved for the final fights at the end, although even then there were parts that just looked goofy. Still, the backgrounds had a strong hand-drawn feeling which is nice but the layers stuck out so the characters didn’t feel like they blended in well with the environment. Still, the animation around Deku using his Black Whip was cool, having a Spiderman feel to it brought a great sense of dynamics. There was also more blood detail in this film compared to the series and other films, which is more of a sign of the TV series starting to become darker as it goes on.
Sound
Unfortunately this time the soundtrack was pretty underwhelming, again just feeling like the same as the TV show. It lacked any flair to it, not really creating any impact at the key moments to enhance the scenes. Still, at least the voice acting was the regular high quality of the TV show as their voice actors returned. They truly carried the emotional tone of each scene and made up for the lacklustre musical score.
Summary
Overall, where it did fail to impress after the last film, it was still an enjoyable ride. A TV film over cinematic, the writing did introduce a great new character which is a shame he won’t reappear in the main series. If you are a fan of My Hero Academia it is worth a watch. Otherwise, probably worth a miss.
Rating: 60/100
