ONE FOR ALL AND TWO FOR ONE
WARNING: Spoilers ahead
The My Hero Academia (MHA) series has already set itself apart from the more mainstream and generic shonen anime. Its well-designed plot and brilliant characters help in making it a definite contender for the number one sport alongside the likes of Naruto, Fairy Tail and Dragon Ball.
Therefore it should be a no-brainer that its movie, Two Heroes, is equally as impressive.
Sadly, most anime, at least in the shonen world, do not have good movies. Most anime series usually go for a spinoff movie instead of one directly related to the main show's plot.
Thus the final result is one disappointing movie after another. However, MHA deviates from the general standard and instead provides a whole new experience.
In terms of timeline, the movie takes place between the second and third season of the show, and mainly deals with All Might going to an island with Izuku Midoriya upon invitation from an old friend.
The movie spends a bit of time to recap the journey of Midoriya and All Might since the beginning of the show, all the way up until the end of season 2.
This essentially helps get the audience hyped, and hooked to the story. The animation is beautiful and can be likened to the quality of animation during the shows major fight scenes, or even something like Bleach.
However, the movie isn't without flaws. Within 20 minutes of it starting, we find Midoriya and All Might's adventure being invaded by the rest of the U.A. first-year class, mostly comprising of non-major characters.
After that, around 7 minutes is spent trying to explain how all of these characters got onto the special island, mostly when All Might and Midoriya only came due to them being invited. This particular bit, along with the presence of so many unnecessary characters, makes for lacklustre storytelling.
While the presence of almost every recurring character feels pointless, the movie is quick to recover its footing and set out a narrative to appease everyone's need.
We get a history of All Might's younger days, mostly during his time as a student and aspiring number one hero. Additionally, we're also shown his time in America and are finally made aware of how he came to name all his final moves.
Two Heroes also takes time out to showcase Midoriya as the future successor to All Might's spot in the world of heroes. Mostly by the end of the movie, we're definitely given a lot of character development on Midoriya's end.
The movie is under no circumstances a flawless work of art. Mostly with the overflow of characters included, who don't even serve the plot, as well as a somewhat repetitive story.
However, as anime movies go, mostly in the genre of shonen, it can definitely give any of its rivals a run for their money.