Summary
Quick Links
It’s a great time to be aMy Hero Academiafan. After the hugely popular seventh season last year, the highly-anticipated seriesMy Hero Academia: Vigilanteswill shortly be on air.
Vigilanteshas piqued the interest of both new and oldMy Hero Academiafans by promising new characters and a new perspective on the world of heroes and villains. Forums and social media have been alive with fans planning their return to the long-running franchise, so here’s everything you need to know about jumping intoMy Hero Academia: Vigilanteswithout catching up on the main series.
Amateur Heroes Rise in My Hero Academia: Vigilantes
Vigilantesprovides a new and interesting angle on the world ofsuperheroes inMy Hero Academia. While the main series revolves around young, gifted people trying to make it as licensed heroes, what about all the ordinary people who still want to do good?
The new series stars Koichi Haimawari, a young man who also dreams of being a superhero but whose mediocre sliding quirk means he doesn’t believe he can make it as a pro. Still, he spends most of his days helping with simple do-good deeds, such as helping old women cross the street. Koichi’s life changes when he and his friends are saved by Knuckleduster, who introduces them to the world ofvigilantes, heroes working outside the main hero system.
Vigilantes: New Story, Old Heroes?
Vigilantesis technically a prequel to the mainMHAseries, although it would be more accurate to count it as a spin-off given its small connections to the main story. TheVigilantesmanga is written by Hideyuki Furuhashi and illustrated by Betten Court, not the original series creator Kōhei Horikoshi. WhileVigilantesis consideredMHAcanon, it’s also clear that they’ve tried to maintain distance between the two stories.
The new series takes place five years before the start ofMy Hero Academia. It’s also largely contained within the district of Naruhata, which isn’t featured in the main series. As a result, the core of the story concerns completely new characters and storylines. However, for fans ofMHA, there are plenty ofnods fromVigilantesto the original seriesfor fans to get excited about. The biggest is arguably Shota Aizawa, aka Eraser Head, whose backstory is explored inVigilantes. There are also origin stories for Stain and Mirko, as well as appearances by various other heroes from the main series.
Vigilantes Can Be an Entry Point for New MHA Fans
The consensus from fans of bothMy Hero AcademiaandVigilantesis that neither spoils the other to any substantial degree, meaningVigilantescan be enjoyed without having catch up on the main series.
A good comparison may be the situation aroundJujutsu Kaisen’sprequel,Jujutsu Kaisen 0. In that case, the prequel movie was designed to appeal to all fans; it explained stuff for those new to the series while also showcasing backstory that appealed to fans of the original series.
The originalMy Hero Academiaseries first aired in 2016 andnow has over 150 episodes, not to mention the various movies and OVAs. For fans that have wanted to get into the franchise but don’t want to commit to thousands of hours of content,Vigilantescould be a great way to step into this world.
