My Hero Academia: Vigilantesthe spinoff/prequel manga that aired alongside My Hero Academy 6 years ago, it's finally getting an anime adaptation from Bones, the same studio that produced the original anime. The series has been praised for its quality and for telling a very different story from its original series, which could very well make it a better anime.
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes follows Koichi Haimawari, a 19-year-old boy who didn't get into hero schools like UA, but still dreams of being a hero. Koichi serves as a vigilante in his home neighborhood of Naruhata, known by the alias “The Crawler”, in reference to his Quirk. Koichi makes contact with another vigilante, a Quirkless man known as Knuckleduster, and begins training to become a serious hero, now dealing with much greater threats than the purse snatchers he previously fended off. Along with an aspiring idol known as Pop Step, they begin calling themselves the “Naruhata Vigilantes”.
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes sees the return of many familiar faces
The Prequel Manga Involves Many Pro Heroes
Fans can expect to see more than just new characters. Since Watchers is set just 5 years before the main series, most of the pro heroes fans are familiar with are still active, like Endeavor and, most excitingly, All Might himself.. Although All Might's role in the series is quite small, it gives fans an idea of what All Might was like in his heyday, something many have longed to see. Other characters have a much more substantial role in the series, such as Shota Aizawa, aka Eraser Head, who makes contact with the Watchers.
Watchers does what most would expect a prequel to do, exploring some of the mysteries left in My Hero Academysuch as the development of the Nomu and how they came to be. It also explores the backstory of some familiar characters like Aizawa, who reveals his past with Shirakumo that was ignored in the main manga. The series also does a lot of world building, introducing heroes from America and explaining how the hero system works abroad, and exploring the seedier side of the hero world through the vigilantes operating without a license.
My Hero Academia: The New Vigilantes Characters Are Just as Attractive
The new main cast are fascinating characters
That doesn't mean the only attractive thing Watchers It's what's already familiar. Koichi is a very interesting protagonist, as he starts out having already “failed” to become a hero. Being slightly older than Deku and aging throughout the series, Koichi is at a very different stage of his life than Deku, who may be more in line with older audience members. Koichi's relationships with Pop Step and Knuckleduster are extremely well developed and form a strong emotional core to the story.
Knuckleduster himself is a Batman-style vigilante, using standard martial arts to take down villains, even as they use Quirks far more powerful than one would expect a Quirkless guy to be able to control. He is exceptionally skilled and quite slippery, making it impossible for him to get caught for his vigilante act. Pop Step doesn't fight much, and her Quirk is much more suited to performances, but she is able to use it to help spectators evacuate when an incident happens, and her goals of becoming an idol are quite different from Koichi's. .
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes begins more episodically, before settling into longer story arcs, including one centered on the villain Number Six, which lasts most of the series. Number Six is a fascinating villain, with a much more personal goal than All for One or Shigaraki. The scale of Watchers' history is, in general, smaller than the threatening stakes of the world My Hero Academy adequate, but that doesn't make it any less exciting.
However, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is an exciting series in its own right, as well as a fantastic addition to the My Hero Academy universe. Fans of the original who are unfamiliar with Watchers will receive serious treatment, and it must be exactly what the doctor ordered, since My Hero Academy is entering its final season. With a lovable cast of characters, a fascinating backstory and world-building, and an extraordinary story, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes It will be an excellent new series that anime fans won't want to miss.