My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising – Voice Actors Comment on the Series’ Impact in the West

Even if you are not an anime fan, you more than likely have heard about My Hero Academia. This anime has become such a media phenomenon and an impressive series in the span of a couple of years. The latest entry for the series is a new movie, My Hero Academia – Heroes Rising.

Recently, we were invited to participate in an interview session with the cast of My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising before the release of the film. 

Among the questions asked, one thing I was interested in was why they thought this series has become as popular as it has. Clifford Chapin, the voice of Bakugo, put it best by saying, “To me, the world of My Hero Academia, despite being filled with super-powered humans, all have issues that everyone battles, and the way the cast of characters show it.”

The cast that was available for questions all mentioned that this movie is set to be a significant point for the series, and a real challenge for the future heroes of Class 1-A.  They added that the new antagonist, Nine, is a villain who will challenge the status quo. Now that the heroes have become complacent, Nine presents a new kind of strategy that they will have to contend with. Instead of dealing with one villain and one quirk at a time, Class 1-A now has nine different quirks to deal with, which pushes the students to their absolute limit.

Another major talking point came from the voices of Mahoro and Katsuma Shimano, two new side characters introduced in the movie. We discuss how their characters are fans of Bakugo and Deku. A significant point they wanted to make is that these characters have their own ambitions to be heroes.

When discussing the show as a whole, David Matranga, the voice of Todoroki, commented on the appeal of the series, saying, “My Hero Academia is a show that teaches people real human lessons, even with the cast being super-humans. These kids give us very human perspectives, and they do it in a way that isn’t ‘preachy.'”