Anime Review: My Hero Academia Season 2 Part 2

My Hero Academia Season 2 Part 2 (UK Rating: PG)

Creator Kohei Horikoshi has already shown off plenty of original and fantastic designs and this new arc focusing on the kids taking on internships with various pros gives him the chance to further exhibit his senior characters. The internships are meant to be used to teach the kids what hero'ing as a business is all about. It's an interesting view, seeing how different heroes are dedicated to different areas, not just battling villains but saving people from natural disasters or accidents, acting like celebrities and even just taking part in simple tasks like litter pick-ups.

The whole class has garnered a considerable fan-base - unsurprising really - with so many cool designs, interesting personalities, and numerous "best girls." However, two members, in particular, take centre stage in this arc. First up, as to be expected, the hero Midoriya gets a big arc here. Despite doing particularly well in the games, Midoriya effectively destroyed himself and that was a big turn-off for potential employers. This resulted in not a single offer for an internship, but just at the last minute one comes in, one that has All Might himself shaking in fear. Midoriya is off to train with the man who trained All Might himself! Although, he's getting on in years somewhat now: small, walks with a cane, talks funny… Horikoshi is clearly a Star Wars fan.

The second kid to get major focus in this arc is the stoic and straight-laced Ida, who despite receiving numerous offers decides to go work for a somewhat less popular hero in Hosu City. This city was mentioned at the tail end of the previous collection, where news reports mentioned how someone was hunting heroes in this city, and during the U.A. Sports Festival, Ida received the news that his brother is the latest victim. His brother was a well known hero who has now been left paralysed, his dream over. It's more than coincidence Ida finds his way to Hosu as his revenge becomes an obsession and he is still hunting the hunter.

Stain is a great example of a three-dimensional villain. He isn't killing heroes because "he's a bad guy;" he has a philosophical reason for his actions. In a world where heroes are celebrities, Stain has come to hate the culture and phenomenon around professional heroes. Believing that heroes should be the epitome of self-sacrifice, doing what they do because they have these powers and, like a certain web-head once said, "With great power comes great responsibility." He's as enamoured with All Might as Midoriya is, considering him the last true hero in a society where heroes take up the capes for compensation or fame. He's hunting down what he considers "fake heroes" to try and return to the glory days, and his convictions touch a point with many.

The Hero Killer arc is the focus of this collection, but there's more here. There are eight episodes following the conclusion of Stain's story. There are a few standalone episodes, but it's all building to Class A's final exam where the students have to pair up and face off against their teachers. There are some big developments in both the individual characters and the story itself in these episodes, setting the stage for a big third season.

As with the first part of season two, there is both the original Japanese and the English dub with this release. Now, there are lots of anime fans out there that don't care for dubs out of principle and won't even give an English dub chance. Often they are right. Not here. The My Hero Academia dub is honestly on par with the original Japanese and no higher praise can be given considering the quality of the Japanese. There are so many voice actors putting quality performances here that to list them all would basically just recreate the IMDB page. Of particular note, Chris Sabat is the perfect All Might not surprising considering he is doubtlessly one of the finest English voice actors.

The bonus features really shine here, too; there are the usual clean opening and closing, but there is also so much more. There's an "Inside the Episode" featurette for every episode, each at around five minutes, where members of the cast and crew discuss key elements of the episode, the characters, their performances, and more. Then there's a 25-minute feature looking at the work and effort put into the simul-dubs. This is something that fans only a few years ago would never had thought possible and this glimpse behind the curtain at Funimation is eye-opening and fascinating. Finally, there's the IGN interview with Chris Sabat and Justin Briner from last year's event.

9/10

Exceptional - Gold Award

My Hero Academia is the best new thing to come out of Shonen Jump in years. It is an absolutely amazing Shonen series that a generation of fans will take as their show, and will doubtlessly bring countless new fans to the medium. It's that good. Those who were there at the start of the biggest anime know there's a certain something that makes the viewer realise before the first episode is out that this is something special. My Hero Academia is filled with enough promise to be more than the next Fairy Tail or even the next Naruto; there's even enough promise here for it to be the next Dragon Ball or One Piece. Season 3 just hit in Japan and it can't get here fast enough; absolutely spectacular.