Although My Hero Academia Season 5 recently ended, fans don't have to wait long for new MHA content. MHA: World Heroes Mission hits theaters on Oct. 29, and instead of sticking to the usual set location of Japan, the students of UA, along with several of the country's top heroes, are sent overseas to deal with a new villain: Flect Turn. The MHA film also sees Deku on the run, following murder charges against him. During all this action, Deku and the audience meet another new character named Rody Soul.
Flect and Rody are both new to the anime world, but their characters promise to bring with them a unique perspective on heroes, villains, and Quirks. In anticipation of their big-screen debut, Flect's English voice actor, Robbie Daymond, and Rody's English voice actor, Ryan Colt Levy, sat with CBR for an exclusive interview about joining the popular anime. The duo discussed what their characters add to the MHA world and how the threat of World Heroes Mission is unlike any before in the MHA universe.
CBR: I would love to know what it was like for both of you to join the world of My Hero Academia, especially after it's been going on for such a long time and has developed such a huge fan base?
Robbie Daymond: My first anime was the original Sailor Moon, so I know a little bit about jumping into something that has been around for a while.
It's fantastic. I watch the show, so for me being able to jump in as something that's already in and play a major villain in a film, that's the best for me. I had written it off as something that I wouldn't get a chance to do because Texas is far away, and that's where they dub the show. I'm based in Los Angeles. Now with all the recording remotely, I was given the opportunity to jump in. It's awesome. I genuinely am a fan of the show, so that's always awesome when you get to jump into something like that.
Ryan Colt Levy: I will say easily it's been my favorite show for a very long time. Also, like Robbie, I genuinely did not think I'd ever get to be a part of it for all the same reasons. I have just appreciated it. When the opportunity actually came through, that itself was like a big like moment for me that I had to process because this is the first time I've gotten to be a part of something that I deeply love, especially on this scale, which also is extraordinary. I did a massive binge-watch again of the entire series once I found out I booked it... It was pure joy. I love this thing so much.
What are you both most excited to see brought to life by the animation -- now that you've done all this voice acting work, you're part of the show that you've liked beforehand -- now that you get to see all that hard work come to the big screen?
Daymond: We get to see the art while we're doing it. Since we're dubbing, the coolest part is seeing everything that you did, all the scenes come together to form the whole story because I purposely stayed away from it. I can see it all together, hopefully on the big screen. I have no clue how all the pieces are going to fall together. I'm proud of the parts that I did and the performances that I got to work off of on those scenes, but that's all I know. I'm really excited to see what Ryan's character goes through because we're mostly separate through most of the film. I'm stoked about that.
Levy: That's the most exciting part about getting to do this. You work on the scenes that you're in, and everything else is kind of a surprise, so when you get to see the finished product, we're going on the same emotional journey as everybody else. I'm really excited.
Daymond: Your directors give you context, and the producers let you know where you're at in the story so that you can play off of those things. We know the plot, but that doesn't quite equal up to the same experiences as watching it when the time comes.
Both of your characters bring a very unique perspective to the world of My Hero Academia, so what were you most excited to explore with these characters and what they brought to this world of heroes, villains and Quirks?
Levy: With Rody, it's the gray area and the unique perspective that I think he's going to bring to a show that is so superhero-heavy all the time. It's gonna be a nice surprise to see how he kind of changes Deku's perspective through his adventures because I think there's a lot of challenge and growth there with their relationship.
Daymond: I always like villains that have a strong backstory and complicated motives and playing into psychological themes that are real life in a broad scope, like self loathing, self hating. If we're talking about Quirks as an allegory for anything -- I won't say that they are, but I'll say maybe they are -- to have a self-hating Quirk user is really an interesting thing to play.
What makes the threat of the movie so different from the other ones that My Hero Academia has explored?
Levy: I think the simple answer is the world scale of it all. It's in the title that it is literally a world heroes' mission. This is the big one, so if they don't succeed, it's not just one part of the world. It is quite a massive scale. I think that in itself is terrifying. It really gives you a sense of how much they're up against.
Daymond: That is the correct answer, Ryan. Good job. That first scene when they're they're basically doing a Halo drop. I mean you can feel the scope of it. You can feel the scale of it. I think you can just vibe on that from the trailers. I think that is the big difference between that and the earlier part of the series and the other two films for sure.
