Once again, Hollywood has decided to adapt a major anime series for a live-action feature – this time, it’s My Hero Academia. Adapting the popular anime is Legendary Pictures. You may recognize some of their recent films as Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Pacific Rim: Uprising – they are also due to produce the 2019 sequel, Mamma mia! Here We Go Again.
My Hero Academia has been serialized as a manga since July 2014, with the first season of the anime adaptation running since April 2016. The series takes place within a fictional universe where possessing superpowers is the norm. However, the main protagonist, Izuku Midoriya doesn’t – and is often bullied by his classmates for not having them (or ‘Quirks’ as they are known in this universe).
However, upon daring to save his childhood friend Katsuki Bakugo, All Might, the world’s most powerful hero, bestows upon him his own Quirk, ‘One For All’. From thereon, Midoriya attends the U.A. High School, a superhero high school and fights against the League of Villains. This shadowy organization is assembled by All-Might’s archnemesis, All For One, to destroy all heroes and take over the world.
Where staff is concerned, the My Hero Academia movie will be overseen by Alex Garcia and Jay Ashenfelter for Legendary. Meanwhile, Ryosuke Yoritomi will oversee the project for Shueisha, the company that publishes the manga. This factor at least builds hope that the film will try to remain at least somewhat faithful to its source material.
Here’s hoping My Hero Academia doesn’t turn out like previous efforts to Westernise manga and anime. 2017’s Ghosts in the Shell is a fresh example of a critical and commercial failure – and Netflix’s Death Note didn’t quite do well, either. Another painful, if older, example is 2009’s Dragon Ball: Evolution which took everything good about the anime and turned it into a substandard Hollywood fantasy romp.
Are you looking forward to seeing how they handle My Hero Academia? Skeptical or hopeful? Sound away in the comments below!