By Matthew Moorcroft

Strong Recommendation

• Directed by Tensai Okumura
• Starring Daiki Yamashita, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Yuki Kaji, Kenta Miyake
• PG-13

There used to be a time in anime history where the long running shonen series would get movies almost on the yearly, and while the industry is currently in a position where that’s mostly unsustainable, My Hero Academia is certainly damn well going to try. While You’re Next, the latest one in the long running series, is about a couple of years late, it’s still clear that it’s holding the guard in terms of giving audiences that old school battle shonen promise the anime industry used to be made of – that promise being one of glorious, kinetic spectacle and high octane emotions.

And yeah, You’re Next utterly delivers on that promise almost immediately. This is a spectacle filled blast of a time; very little here is left untouched in terms of expertise behind the pen as Studio Bones puts it’s best animators to work here. And with new blood in the director’s chair – this being the first film not directed by series chief director Kenji Nagasaki – it feels like the series has gotten a much needed shot in the arm after the previous film felt like autopilot. Okumura isn’t a auteur by any means but he’s an industry veteran who helped Bones reach it’s early heights of greatness and popularity in the 2000s with titles like Darker than Black and Wolf’s Rain, and then later made a mark on the 2010s shonen scene with Blue Exorcist and The Seven Deadly Sins. This means You’re Next is as fined tuned as you can get for these kinds of things, an action film that flows from one setpiece to the next with ease and handles it’s emotional beats with the subtlety of a brick. Moreso then the rest of the installments in the series, this one isn’t afraid to just blurt out it’s themes and ideas to you brazenly, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s a raging endorsement; it’s a film whose ideas are as loud and hot-blooded as it’s protagonists and action.

The conceit is simple enough. There is a man naming himself the “dark” version of series’ mentor figure and perennial badass All Might, and it’s up to Izuku and his friends to put a stop to his evil scheme… whatever that is. If there is any one fault with the film is that the said final scheme ends up not really being much of anything at all, instead it’s basically just “I want power” which is totally fine! But it does mean most of the depth has to come from elsewhere, and it comes in the form of new movie characters Giulio and Anna whose relationship forms the bulk of the narrative emotionally. Giulio himself is a strong character, mainly in design and concept – his mechanical arms and legs, and focus on firearms, makes him standout in a world of superpowered individuals. His relationship with Izuku, while not as strong as Rody’s in World Heroes’ Mission or Melissa’s in Two Heroes, is based in a “rivals to comrades” dynamic that My Hero Academia loves to do and has down to a science, and thankfully this is a solid one thanks to likable performances on both sides of the pond.

Thanks to it’s timeline placement as well, Okumura makes great use of having new kinds of scenarios to deal with then prior films. Gone are the “school days” lives of the cast; this is a world that is literally falling apart with building crashing at the seams and people living in shelters. Villains are running around rampant, and our cast is tired and overwhelmed. And yet, they press on; this optimism extends to a final act three way attack that screams out the main thesis of the entire franchise. It’s a loud, boisterous display of both written word and animation prowess that will likely send fans in a fury and non-fans at least impressed by it’s technical quality.

And yeah, that action really is as good as you’ve heard. With the sheer amount of powers and abilities in the series having expanded heavily at this point, the fights have only gotten more clever and insane, and here it reaches it’s apex. From alchemy based punches made with gold to a sneaky duo of teleport and telekinesis, there are so many cool visual ideas thrown in here that it becomes nearly overwhelming on first watch. Moreso then any other film in the series, this really feels like it was made as an epic first and foremost, with it’s final burst of animation being one of the most batshit crazy things ever done on the series bar none.

You’re Next will very likely be the final film in the series as MHA reaches it’s final season and Bones, and likewise it’s fans, move on to greener pastures, but frankly if this is how they wanna leave off, they’ve more then earned it. But if they wanna continue with new films on a bi-yearly basis even past this, I fully endorse it if they are as fun and creative as this. Another winner for the franchise, and one of it’s best moments in recent memory.