My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is the second feature film set in the My Hero Academia universe, centering on the relationship between Izuku "Deku" Midoriya and his childhood bully-turned-trustworthy companion Katsuki Bakugo. The film was a major box office success in Japan and the US prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to both My Hero Academia's ever-growing popularity and its ambitious fight scenes. The film was series' creator Kohei Horikoshi's original plan for the end of the anime before he scrapped it in favor of something he promises will be even more Plus Ultra!
The film is a self-contained story taking place after Season 4 of the anime, where the heroes-in-training of Class 1-A are sent to the remote Nabu Island to test how they'd fare independently from their mentors. Pandemonium ensues when the villain Nine and his lackeys show up, with Nine's chilling powers bearing a clear connection to the legendary villain All For One. As only Deku and Bakugo know the truth behind the age-old conflict between One For All and All For One, it falls upon their shoulders to use everything they've got to put a stop to Nine's cruel ambitions.
Heroes Rising's English dub is voiced by the same cast as the TV series, with Justin Briner playing Deku and Clifford Chapin playing Bakugo. Ahead of the film's American DVD release, CBR spoke to Justin and Clifford about their thoughts on the film and how the pandemic has affected their work on the series.
CBR: Can you tell me a bit about your characters – Bakugo and Izuku? What were your first impressions of them, and how does that differ from how you see them now?
JB: My first impression of Izuku was that he's not very confident. He's been bullied for a while and my impression was this feels kind of real to me. I'm certain that there are many children around his age or younger who are going through similar stuff -- they're doubting their self-worth, they're doubting that they can accomplish their goals, that sort of thing. So I had hoped that if I could play this character, I would bring some honesty to that and then kind of give the fans of this character, a character to root and cheer for.
To see where he's come from Episode 1 to Episode 80-something is pretty staggering. So it's been really great. And I think rewarding for fans of these characters to watch them grow and learn and become confident in the kind of people they are.
CC: Yeah. You know, for me with Bakugo it was important to understand that character up front, like, okay so this kid is a bully, he's the popular one. He's had everything work out for him up until now, that kind of thing. And I would equate that to kids that I knew growing up in school. Like, I would hope that I was never anybody's bully, but there were kids that I considered bullies, you know? So I was in that mindset of thinking, well, this is what I experienced. This is what I felt from them. That's what I brought into those early phases, but now we've moved pretty far past that. That's not really all there is to the character anymore.
We've seen him grow and be humbled in ways that maybe I wished the bullies of my school had been. But now we see that character growing beyond it and becoming something better and more conducive. So it's very gratifying. It wasn't necessarily anything that I felt like I resonated with or had a personal experience of being that person. I'm sure there are people out there who have been that person and portraying that very honestly is always the goal.
Heroes Rising is the second My Hero Academia film you’ve worked on. Has your experience with Heroes Rising differed at all from Two Heroes?
JB: I just feel like there's more of everything from the last movie. All the stakes have been raised. There's more action. There are more characters in general. So it was just sort of a fun, natural escalation from our first bout with doing a film to the second one where everything from the creation on up was cranked up a notch, you know? It's just very rewarding. I'm excited to see where they take it from here.
CC: Yeah, I agree. I think everything about Heroes Rising sort of steps up off of Two Heroes. Like they learned a lot from doing Two Heroes and then it was like, well, how do we do it even better? How do we take what we learned and do it better and honor the greater cast at large? Everybody gets their little moment in this one, whereas in Two Heroes it felt like a lot of characters were really sidelined. Everybody has a moment in here and the fights are even more epic. I don't know, just, I feel like they really did learn from Two Heroes to make an even better movie out of Heroes Rising.
This film was one of the last that was able to premiere in theaters before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. While it didn’t alter Heroes Rising’s production process, can you tell us a little about how COVID-19 has affected your schedule and workflow when it comes to My Hero Academia?
JB: I think on my end things came to a pretty abrupt halt around March. But thankfully and very gratefully the studio put their heads together and found remote solutions for everyone still working on that season. So, you know, it's the difference between me in the studio doing the work versus me screaming in earshot of my neighbors doing the work. But the work gets done and I'm really happy to have been a part of that. Thankfully because the production of Heroes Rising wasn't very impacted, that stands as a very strong high note for the year that I can look back on very fondly.
CC: Yeah. I mean, if anything, the only thing that's really been impacted is just the rate of production. Like we had a little bit of holdup because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Funimation came together with a solution pretty quickly to get us back into production and putting out episodes. So whereas before it would only take us about a week to put out an episode, it was taking us a little bit longer. There was a little bit of a slowdown in the release schedule, but at the very least we were still rolling and getting it done and trying to get it out to people as fast as we possibly could.
Justin, do you struggle at all with the fast-paced mumbling mutters that Deku does?
JB: I kind of love the fast-paced mumbling! It actually started out as a strength of mine. So yeah, anytime he gets to go back to his roots and do a little muttering, I'm happy to see it.
What's the hardest part of playing his character?
JB: I'd say just like each kind of big scene each time is bringing it to the next level. He's always pushing himself and his techniques and his personal strength. You get a lot of character development just from seeing him fight these kinds of outlandish villains. So I want it to be powerful and I also want it to ring really true with the viewers. I just try to throw it all on the screen and I hope that's enough.
So, Clifford – you’ve said in the past you don’t read the manga, right? Have you resigned yourself to spoilers, or do you have some sort of special technique to avoid them?
CC: Spoilers are an inevitable part of it because very, very gratefully we have some incredibly dedicated and spirited fans of My Hero Academia. So whenever something exciting happens, fans are very eager to discuss with us what it was. If something happens, it's pretty likely at least a few dozen people will tweet at us or something to be like, "Did you -- this thing happened!" That's super cool, to be honest, that we could be a part of something that fans are so excited about and so eager to share with everyone and anyone who's willing to listen, that we get to be this person that they associate with that feeling. It's an honor. And so whether or not there are spoilers or not, it doesn't really bother me because, in the long run of everything, it makes me feel very fortunate.
A report recently came out that had My Hero Academia as the second most-watched show in the U.S. this summer, beating out heavyweights like Game of Thrones and Stranger Things. How does it feel to be part of a series that’s incredibly popular and will likely only become more popular in the future?
JB: It's humbling, deeply humbling. I get my own gratification from just getting to do the work and tell the story, but to see what a pop-cultural phenomenon it's been and how much it means to so many different kinds of people is just really special. For instance, I see families getting together to watch this show, and getting together every week to catch the new episode and talk about their favorites.
And I see people who this show means so much to them that it compels them to make some kind of positive change in their life or motivates them to become stronger in some area. That's the power of media, I think. I'm just really glad that these characters mean so much to the folks watching because I think it's a testament to the quality of the work. I'm really glad to be a part of it.
CC: Yeah. Completely agree.
If your characters could give a message to everyone out there, what do you think they would tell them?
JB: I think Deku would want people to stay safe and secure. And me personally, I hope that you all are taking care of yourselves and taking care of people around you.
CC: For Bakugo, I think his wording would probably be a little more rash, but I think the general perception of the idea and message would be the same as that. Like, you should do the thing that is good for other people and keeps you safe. And that's what I would echo -- I want everyone to be safe and healthy, and this year has been challenging for all of us. Together we can get through it. Even if we are alone in our togetherness and separate from one another, I believe that we're all going through the same struggles and we can get through. I wholly believe that.
Heroe: Rising is available now on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download from Funimation. The My Hero Academia anime will return for a fifth season in Spring 2021.
