Anime Reviews (2010-2019): My Hero Academia – Season 3, Part 1 (a Neo-Tokyo 2099 Anime on Blu-ray Disc Review)

“My Hero Academia” is fast-paced and enjoyable! The characters and their powers can be a bit way over-the-top but its unpredictable hard-hitting action-driven storyline, makes “My Hero Academia”, an anime series on Blu-ray worth checking out! The third season kicks off with a bang and fans will surely love it!

TITLE: My Hero Academia: Season Three – Part One

ORIGINAL SERIES DATE: 2018

DURATION: Episodes 39-50 (300 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, DTS-HD Master Audio: English and Japanese 5.1, 2.0 Stereo, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Funimation

RATED: TV 14

Release Date: May 7, 2019

Originally Created by Kohei Horikoshi

Director: Kenji Nagakasaki

Series Composition: Yousuke Kuroda

Character Design by Yoshihiko Umakoshi

Music by Yuuki Hayashi

Art Director: Shigemi Ikeda, Yukiko Maruyama

Anime Production: BONES

Featuring the following voice talent:

Ayane Sakura/Luci Christian as Ochaco Uraraka

Daiki Yamashita/Justin Briner as Izuku Midoriya

Kaito Ishikawa/J. Michael Tatum as Tenya Iida

Kenta Miyake/Christopher R. Sabat as All Might

Nobuhiko Okamoto/Clifford Chapin as Katsuki Bakugō

Yuuki Kaji/David Matranga as Shōto Todoroki

Aoi Yūki/Monica Rial as Tsuyu Asui

Eri Kitamura/Caitlin Glass as Mina Ashido

Hiroyuki Yoshino/Sonny Strait as Present Mic

Inuko Inuyama/Morgan Berry as Thirteen

Junichi Suwabe/Alex Organ as Shota Aizawa

Kaori Nazuka/Felecia Angelle as Tooru Hagakure

Kei Shindou/Trina Nishimura as Kyōka Jirō

Kiyotaka Furushima/Christopher Bevins as Hanta Sero

Kōsuke Kuwano/Joel McDonald as Yūga Aoyama

Kosuke Miyoshi/MikeMcFarland as Mashirao Ojiro

Kouki Uchiyama/Eric Vale as Tomura Shigaraki

Marina Inoue/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Momo Yaoyorozu

Masakazu Nishida as Mezō Shōji

Ryou Hirohashi/Brina Palencia as Minoru Mineta

Takahiro Fujiwara/Chuck Huber as Kurogiri

Tasuku Hatanaka/Kyle Phillips as Denki Kaminari

Tooru Nara/Cris George as Rikidō Satō

Toshiki Masuda/Justin Cook as Eijirō Kirishima

Tsuguo Mogami as Noumu

Yoshimasa Hosoya/Joshua Grelle as Fumikage Tokoyami

Summer is here, and the heroes of Class 1-A and 1-B are in for the toughest training camp of their lives! A group of seasoned pros pushes everyone’s Quirks to new heights as the students face one overwhelming challenge after another. Braving the elements in this secret location becomes the least of their worries when routine training turns into a critical struggle for survival.

From Horikoshi Kohei , the creator of “Omagadoki Dobutsuen” and “Barrage”, came his manga series “My Hero Academia” (Boku no Hero Academia).

Serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2014, an anime adaptation began in April 2016 through June 2016 (for the first season) and a second season begain in April 2017.

The anime series is produced by BONES and is directed by Nagasaki Kenji (“Classroom Crisis”, “Gundum Build Fighters”, “No. 6”), series composition by Kuroda Yousuke (“Battle Girl High School”, “Fire Emblem”, “Gundam Build Fighters”), music was composed by Hayashi Yuki (“Death Parade”, “Haikyu!!”, “Robotics;Notes”), character designs are by Umakoshi Yoshihiko (“Air master”, “Boys Over Flowers”, “Heartcatch Precure!”) and art direction by Ikeda Shigemi (“Battle Athletes Victory”, “Afro Samurai”, “Bastard!!”) and Maruyama Yukiko (“El-Hazard: The Wanderers”, “Macross Delta”, “Active Raid”).

And now the third season (featuring the first episodes 39-50) is available on Blu-ray courtesy of Funimation.

“My Hero Academia” is a story that revolves around Quirks (people who begin to manifest special abilities) and all of a sudden people in the world began to have many people who became superpowered individuals. Some who use their powers for good, some who use their powers for evil intentions.

Because the government is not equipped to deal with these superpowered thugs, a special group of heroic superpowered individuals came together to protect the people and keep the peace.

The series revolves around a boy named Izuku Midoriya, a boy born Quirkless and looked up to the world’s top hero, All Might. And hoped that one day he could be a hero, despite not having a quirk.

One day, All Might received a near-fatal wound and now, he is losing his powers. When Izuku proves his bravery, All Might decides to transfer some of his power on to Izuku and now, Izuku must train to learn how to use All Might’s quirk and must prove that he has the skills to attend the prestigious U.A. High School.

“My Hero Academia” focuses on the following characters:

Izuku Midoriya – A shy and timid boy who dreamed of becoming a superhero like All Might. Often studying superheroes, when he steps up to save his childhood bully/acquaintance Katsuki from a villain, All Might chooses to transfer some of his quirk to Izuku. And now Izuku has the opportunity to attend the prestigious U.A. High School. He has a crush on Ochako.
Katsuki Bakugo – Izuku’s classmate and bully. He possesses the Quirk Explosion which allows his palm to sweat to become nytrolglycerin and explode. He is egotistical to people he deems are lower than him.
Ochako Uraraka – A girl who has the Quirk Zero Gravity, which makes any object she touches float.
Tenya Iida – The president of class 1-A who has the Quirk Engine, which gives him super-speed via jet engines in his legs. Often seen as serious and scary.
Shoto Todoroki – A student in class 1-A and has the Quirk Fire and ice, which allows his left side to control fire and his right side to control ice. He is the youngest child of Endeavor, the second top hero after All Might.
Toshinori Yagi/All Might – The top superhero in the world. But only Itsuku knows his secrt that five years ago, he was severely injured in battle and now he is losing his power and can use it only for three hour a day. He is a teacher at U.A. High School and his Quirk One For all allows him to transfer his power on to another.

In the third season, Class 1-A and 1-B prepare for their forest lodge trip for training.The group see two women wearing cat-like costumes known as The Pussycats, a Hero Team and a young boy named Kota, an orphan in their care who hates heroes, because his parent were killed. He believes that if his parents weren’t heroes, his parents would be alive.

As the group prepares to train, they are attacked by The League of Villains who have targeted one of the students for some reason.

As Izuku is with Kota, they are pursued by the villain, Muscular with a 1,000,000% Delaware Detroit Smash. How far will Izuku push himself and what happens if he pushes himself to the limit?

And who is the leader of the League of Villains?

VIDEO:

“My Hero Academia” is presented in 1080p High Definition and the anime series is respectful to the original character designs by Kohei Horikoshi. Animation is vibrant and characters are well-drawn and shaded, art backgrounds are also well-done.

As most TV series has a bit of softness, “My Hero Academia” looks fantastic on Blu-ray. I didn’t notice any banding issues or artifacts during my viewing of the series.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“My Hero Academia” is presented in Japanese DolbyTrue HD 2.0 and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Both soundtracks are fantastic and are well-acted. dialogue and music are both crystal clear through the center, front and surround channels.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“My Hero Academia: Season Three – Part One” comes with the following special features:

Inside the Episodes – Featuring behind-the-scenes making of the English dub for Kota, Drive It Home, Iron Fist!!!, From Iida to Midoriya, One for All
Anime Expo 2018: Interview with Hayashi Yuki – (9:07) Interview with composer Hayashi Yuki
Anime Expo 2018: Interview with Yamashita Daiki – (12:25) Interview with Yamashita Daiki, the voice of Izuku “Deku” Midoriya in Japan
My Hero Academia: Outtakes Reel – (2:31) English dub outtakes.
Promo Videos
Commercial Collection
Textless Opening and Closing Song
Trailer – Funimation trailers.

EXTRAS:

Both the Blu-ray and DVD versions of the “Season Two – Part One” are included on this Blu-ray release.

At first, I was wondering if “My Hero Academia” will be like another “X-Men” style storyline of humans vs. mutants and the world fearing mutantkind. In this case, humankind fearing Quirks.

What I enjoy about this series is the fact that our heroes are not exactly what you expect in terms of heroic characters. Whereas superpowered individuals in American comic books often showcase a character that is ripped, muscular, charismatic or gorgeous, “My Hero Academia” features regular characters and its main protagonist, Izuku Midoriya, is wide-eyed and looks far too innocent and unlikely to be a hero.

The third season is exciting as the group, who are training, are attacked by the League of Villains. It’s the first time to see the group pushed to their limits, trying to operate within the rules of the school while trying to protect people they care about and also to survive.

But the League of Villains is after one of the students, but the question is why and who is their mastermind?

So far, from what I have seen is that “My Hero Academia” is one of those series that just gets better and better. And while there are many characters, the first two seasons have done a good job of establishing them.

But now we have a deadly antagonist that is pushing the heroes to their limits including Deku, who learns the truth of how surpassing his limit may cause him severe physical damage that he may never recover from.

And for All Might fans, you’ll get to see one of the coolest battles and also surprises are in store for those who are passionately following this series.

As for the Blu-ray release, picture quality is vibrant and BONES did a wonderful job with this TV series as not only did the animation compliment the manga series in terms of overall design but the series looked great on Blu-ray and softness was not overly evident. The English soundtrack gets the better lossless 5.1 soundtrack and subtitles are in English.

There are also a good number of special features, from behind-the-scenes of the recording of the English dub, interview with the composer of the anime series and the Japanese voice actor behind Deku and more!

Overall, “My Hero Academia” is fast-paced and enjoyable! The characters and their powers can be a bit way over-the-top but its unpredictable hard-hitting action-driven storyline, makes “My Hero Academia”, an anime series on Blu-ray worth checking out! The third season kicks off with a bang and fans will surely love it!

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