Imagine a parallel Earth where 80% of the population possess superhuman abilities, or “quirks.” Some become heroes. Others, villains. Then there are those without powers who desire to become heroes. That’s the case with high school student Izuku Midoriya. Luckily for him, he befriends a mentor, All Might, who happens to be the world’s greatest superhero. All Might sees that Izuku has “the right stuff” and so, enrolls him in a school for gifted youngsters—U.A. High School, Class 1-A, where the kids are as quirky as their superpowers. Satisfied with Izuku’s mettle, All Might transfers his “One for All” ability to him so that he, too, can fight supervillains. In the meantime, Izuku’s rival, Katsuki Bakugo, strives to claim the title of World’s Greatest Hero after All Might’s retirement. Assuming they survive the supervillains, that is.

My Hero Academia, created by Kōhei Horikoshi, began as a manga series published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 2014, collecting into 24 volumes so far. Studio Bones produced an anime version beginning April 3, 2016, which so far has four seasons (88 episodes) with two movies, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (2018) and My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (2019). Funimation licenses the franchise and translates it to English, streaming it on its website.

On February 19, 2020, Funimation presented the North American premiere of My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising at the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood, California. Earlier that day, the cast gathered at the W Hotel in Westwood to talk about their characters.

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Justin Briner, voice of Izuku Midoriya; hero name, Deku: “One of the really positive qualities of My Hero is that you get to watch Deku start from the bottom and climb his way to the top. And it is also really important that they reinforce that he really do this without the help of his friends and the mentors and the people who love and trust him.

“So us, as an audience to get to watch Deku rise, is really amazing. It’s helped pull people out of some dark places to be able to root for Deku or just have someone that you can see overcome some adversity. So I love that, that audiences have Deku to relate to in some way. As far as the movie, I think the big lesson to be taken away from, is that the people who are competing with you don’t necessarily need to be against you. You can form a sort of friendly rivalry or a nice friendship and push each other in a positive way to become better at whatever you’re doing. So I hope that viewers who see this movie are similarly encouraged to push themselves and those around them to be better. Just in whatever facet of life that may be for them.”

Clifford Chapin, voice of Katsuki Bakugo; hero name, Kacchan: “In the first few years bad things happened and so I was dealing with a lot. Bakugo was actually very therapeutic in the first few scenes cause I just had a lot of emotion that I had to let out. When we got to season three, it was like the first season where nothing bad happened right before it.

“But now I’ve lived with that character for so long there’s moments that Colleen [Clinkenbeard, the director] has even said when we were recording this movie, Heroes Rising, she’s like, “Man, I never have to tell you how to say a thing as Bakugo. You have lived with Bakugo so much that you immediately know exactly the way that he’s going to say something.” As long as I have the context of the scene or like why I’m saying the thing, that might change the inflections. But really that was, that’s always it. Bakugo was just such a part of me now that I can always tap into Bakugo in that moment.”

Dani Chambers, voice of Mahoro Shimano, a little girl skeptical of heroes: “We live on Nabu Island, which is pretty peaceful. There’s no criminal activity, no villains at all. So it’s just pretty much the chillest island ever.”

Maxey Whitehead, voice of Katsuma Shimano, Mahoro’s younger brother; also, target of the lead villain, Nine: “We still know about heroes. It’s not a surprise. Deku’s compassion and kindness and just the time that he invests into Katsuma and seeing his potential just as a person is really kind and I think adds to his whole sort of world view of what he thinks heroes are and how they work.”

Dani Chambers: “It was really hard at first because it’s when you see siblings you would think that they would both like heroes, but when you find out she doesn’t, you’re like, “Oh okay. All right. What happened?” Then you see her backstory and you’re like, “Okay this is why.” And I think it comes from a place of love because she wants to protect Katsuma and she doesn’t want to lose anybody else.

“The reason why she hates heroes is because, I guess, just seeing other people die or pass away because of being in situations where she feels like they didn’t need to and she doesn’t want that to happen to her brother. So now that everything’s happening she’s like, ‘I have no choice but to stay and protect my family because dad’s not here, mom’s gone.’ So at first it was very hard doing it, because I am a very affectionate person, so for her to be like, ‘I don’t, you know, whatever. Get away from me.’ I’m like, ‘Whyyyyy? Don’t! They’re just there to help.’ And so her attitude and I’m like, ‘Stop it.’”

Kyle Phillips, voice of Denki Kaminari; hero name, Chargebolt: “When Kaminari shines that usually means he overuses his Quirk and goes into derp mode, as we call it, and derp mode is the best. He does go derp a little bit here [in Heroes Rising] so it’s pretty great.

“When we first established that, me and Colleen went back and forth and it was like, ‘You want something like this?’

“And I’d do something like high-pitched.

“She’d be like, ‘No, maybe more like this.’ And we just kind of went back and forth doing really dumb-sounding noises.”

Luci Christian, voice of Ochaco Uraraka, hero name, Uraviti: “One of my biggest thrills about recording this particular movie is there were a couple of moments where I was like, (gasp) “She can do that?” I didn’t know that she could do that yet. And that, to me, is why I prefer this film over the first one. I feel like you get to see a lot more people get to shine like that. Everybody has sort of a moment and it’s really fun. It’s cool to see.

David Matranga, voice of Shoto Todorogi; hero name Shouto: “Todoroki’s upbringing, his almost military-type childhood and training has made him really hard on himself. I think he’s critical of his abilities. He holds himself to a really high standard and I can really relate to that, almost to his detriment. He gets stuck in his head a bit, he’s not able to really express himself. At least I make up that he would like to. I think there’s plenty of times when he’s in a situation and he’s really only able to say a couple things cause he just doesn’t know how to do it.

“I can relate to getting stuck in my head to being critical on myself, to holding myself to a high standard to the point where it almost is diminishing returns, and we saw that in Season Three in the provisional licensing exam. That got in his way. His story and getting in his head got in his way. That’s the first thing that comes to mind, but I have a real deep connection to the character as far as his struggles, wanting to be something and not always knowing how to execute it. That’s what comes to mind for that.

“He doesn’t have a ton of worldly experience. He was sheltered and trained in a certain way and he doesn’t know how to do it. Colleen compared him to Drax in the Marvel universe, because he takes everything very literally and it can be hilarious. He just misses the social cue. What I have to do to lock into that is to remember there’s an innocence and that’s where it comes from.”

Luci Christian: “Shows like this don’t come around very often and I think most of us that are in it are aware of that. It’s got such crossover appeal. It is introducing a new anime to people who would not normally watch anime, and with that, certainly comes the pressure to want to do a good job.

“But I’ll tell you what I mostly just feel is excitement. I’ve been doing this a long time.

“A show of this caliber has so many wonderful people. Part of the magic is, it’s not on my shoulders to carry anything. There are all of these leads and all of these characters and everybody is so well-cast and the story is so well told that it’s hard for the fans to pick who they love and who they love changes a lot. And in terms of Ochaco, I just feel like the way the class is put together and the strengths everybody has, really shows that there’s not one kind of hero. They come in all shapes and sizes and stripes, but there’s a place for all of us. And it’s okay to play your note. Just play your note. You know, if you’re the good girl who also wants to be a bad ass fighter and levitate things if you want to do that to help your parents or if you want to do that to save people, play that note and play it the best you can.”

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My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising has its general release in the U.S. and Canada on February 26, 2020.