My Hero Academia: Vigilantes
Short Synopsis: A college student and konbini employee with a subpar superpower finds himself wrangling a much more powerful vigilante.
Lenlo: I’m going to be real with you, if you don’t already enjoy My Hero Academia on some level, then you won’t enjoy Vigilantes either. While the focus has changed from big limelight heroes to street level vigilantes, complete with weak quirks and smaller villains/stakes, it’s still a show about superheroes fighting super villains. For me though, Vigilantes is what My Hero Academia was always meant to be. Our lead doesn’t get some overpowered quirk handed to him while he sits around doing nothing, he has some useless jank yet still spends all night helping people out and cleaning up his town, yet still responds to the call to adventure. The mentor isn’t the greatest hero in the world, he’s an unlicensed jacked hobo who beats up thugs while having no visible quirk. And the villain? They aren’t out to destroy the world, they just sell dangerous street level drugs. Even the production feels livelier, filled with more comic-styled onomatopoeia in one episode than the entirety of the main series, brightly colored panels and fun direction. It feels like Vigilantes is breathing new life into the IP, much like how the manga did back when it first began. So for me, this is an easy win, and definitely one of my favorite premieres of the season so far.
Potential: 80%
Wooper: I disembarked from the HeroAca train midway through season 2, so I’m not part of the target audience for this show – or maybe I’m exactly the sort of person Bones hopes to recapture. The timing of Vigilantes’ airing, six months before the debut of its parent series’ final season, seems to indicate that it can be treated as a separate experience (though familiarity with the original is recommended, so you can spot cameos from characters like Deku’s mom). So, is it worth signing up for this new entry in the MHA universe, even if simple familiarity is all you have under your utility belt? Well, despite its older protagonist, Vigilantes doesn’t feel any more grown up than its parent series, with its yelpy lead character and the beyond-cliched bullies who torment him. The mid-episode concert put on by the cutesy idol Pop Step wasn’t a major attraction for me, either. But the presentation is a bit stronger than HeroAca’s was (from what I remember, anyway), leaning into its comic book roots with on-screen text and a handful of split-panel compositions. More scenes are set at night, as well, and the resulting bluish-purples and twilight oranges give the show a contrasting visual identity. Animation and character designs are well above average too, as you might expect from this franchise. Perhaps Vigilantes isn’t aimed at me after all, but I’ll try a couple more episodes and see where I land.
Potential: 50%
Your Forma
Short Synopsis: When every aspect of life is recorded, from sights and smells to your emotions, the best way to investigate crimes becomes diving into these electronic memories yourself, with robot detective help of course.
Lenlo: This is a pretty classic AI anime, with most of the same failings. Like so many others, they are caught up in Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics”, using them as a framework for the AI’s entire personality while missing the point that these laws are a storytelling tool, made to be flawed, not actual engineering laws. Combine that with a lackluster mystery more concerned with looking cool than being interesting to solve, and you end up with another surface level science fiction AI show that doesn’t do anything particularly novel. It doesn’t even look good like Vivi did at times! Suffice to say, Your Forma might be able to do something later on, maybe just this first episode is toothless, but I have no interest in watching more to find out.
Potential: 15%
Bye Bye, Earth S2
Short Synopsis: Season 2 of Bye Bye Earth, where a bunch of things that I still don’t understand happen.
Lenlo: With 6 months of distance between me and season 1, I was hoping things would have settled and clicked into place a bit with Bye Bye Earth. Watching this episode though, I’ve realized it’s the exact opposite. I’ve forgotten what conclusions or theories I had from the first season, making the start of the second make even less sense than I was hoping for. It’s not all doom and gloom, I slowly rebuilt things as the episode went on, slowly managed to realign myself to whatever the hell Bye Bye Earth is. But the fact remains, this show makes very little sense, and there’s no guarantee it’s all going to come together by the end. It was already starting to struggle last season, so I won’t be able to tell you whether or not it’s worth your time until the end. So for now, I’d recommend anyone who didn’t jive with Season 1 to pass and wait to see what the final consensus on the series is before you try and dive into it again.
Potential: 30%
The post Spring 2025 Impressions: My Hero Academia Vigilantes, Your Forma, Bye Bye Earth S2 appeared first on Star Crossed Anime.
