Mark your calendars, because PLUS ULTRA is back on the menu!
As the next cinematic entry in the My Hero Academia franchise gears up for its Japanese debut, production studio Toho Co. Ltd has confirmed that they’ll be looking to apply the lessons they learned from their previous distribution of Godzilla Minus One to the anime film’s international release.
Animated by studio Bones, helmed by Seven Deadly Sins director Tensai Okamura, based on a story penned by series creator Kohei Horikoshi, featuring a script from My Hero Academia series script writer Yosuke Kuroda and art direction from its resident character designer Yoshihiko Umakoshi, My Hero Academia: You’re Next will see the students of UA High fighting against the villainous doppelganger of the Symbol of Peace, Dark Might (CV: Kenta Miyake – Kaiju No. 10 in Kaiju No. 8).
“In a society devastated by the effects of such an all-out war, a mysterious giant fortress suddenly appears, swallowing up towns and people one after another,” reads a synopsis of the film provided by the film’s official website. “And in front of Izuku (CV: Daiki Yamashita – Soujirou Seta in Rurouni Kenshin) and the others, a man who looks like a ‘Symbol of Peace’ stands in front of them”
And in anticipation of its upcoming Japanese release on August 2nd, a bevy of new information has recently been released about the film.
In a recent interview with Da Vinci magazine, as translated by Twitter user @shibuyasmash, Horikoshi revealed how the idea of Dark Might stemmed from the aforementioned Kuroda’s proposal that the film’s antagonist be “a villain that misinterprets connections with people.”
“I brought it up casually, like ‘What about a villain like this?'” the My Hero Academia mangaka stated, “but now that I think about it, there was a ‘Black All Might’ idea in the plot proposals that Kuroda-san had come up with. So I probably had that vaguely in mind. I also thought it would look good to add flowers or something stylish like that. I think we discussed how it would be interesting to change the ‘colors’.”
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Then, during the recent 2024 Anime Expo, Toho International President Koji Ueda revealed that the outpouring of fan support for Godzilla Minus One influenced the distributor’s decision to bring My Hero Academia: You’re Next to North American theaters.
“We fully recognize a major driving force behind the success of Godzilla Minus One was the way the passionate fan community embraced the film,” Ueda acknowledged to Comicbook.com‘s Megan Peters. “As the distributor for the North American release, Toho International’s goal was to treat the release as seriously as any other, giving it the respect it deserved and that the community who has embraced the franchise for so many years equally deserved.”
“As the North American distributor for My Hero Academia: You’re Next,” he noted, “we look to do the same with yet another beloved Japanese franchise, tapping into the fan community to help amplify awareness of the film while also taking a wide theatrical release approach.”
Further, during a My Hero Academia-centric panel hosted by the convention, Toho International confirmed that the further adventures of Deku, Bakugo, and All Might are on track to hit North American theaters – in both English subbed and dubbed form – on October 11th.
