After a decade of epic battles and building unbreakable bonds, My Hero Academia has rightfully earned its title as one of the most beloved shonen series of its generation. The final season brought Deku’s journey to becoming the greatest hero to a close in the most fitting way possible. Not to mention, it earned Action Anime of the Year at the Anime Trending Awards and won Anime of the Year at the Crunchyroll Awards.
Though the main story has ended, the Plus Ultra spirit lives on. Exciting new projects have been announced for its 10th anniversary, such as a new mobile game, a concert tour, and a new short anime. Before the curtain fell on the series last year, Anime Trending had the opportunity to sit down with several members of the English dub cast to hear what the series meant to them in this two-part interview.
My Hero Academia: Shaping the Zeitgeist of Modern Anime
Why do you think fans love the series so much, and what makes the final season stand out?
John Swasey (All For One): I think one of the reasons it’s such a popular show is that it’s a classic tale of good versus evil. It’s timeless in that it’s not a certain time period that’s reflective of our real world. I mean, it could happen anytime. It’s just got a lot of classic characters, fun characters, and brilliant acting by my compadres here. It’s such a fun show.
You know, it was supposed to end so much sooner than it has, and it’s not just because it’s a fan favorite. It’s got such a great, warm, and multi-layered existence. It’s got so much to it that it’s just been a fun ride. Even once it ends, I think it’s going to have longevity far beyond what we all even expected because of its just classic tale telling.
Christopher Sabat (All Might): It’s amazing. One of its strengths is that it’s a show that parents can watch with their kids because there is something for everyone. It’s got the superhero vibe if you dig that thing, but it’s also got high school vibes. If you’ve got a 10 and a 14-year-old, you want to know what their dorm room looks like or something like that, but it also has some serious moments, some heavy stuff happening in the League of Villains. It’s a perfect show about trying to fit in and become a hero regardless of whether you have that power or not. Everyone can be a hero.
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Justin Briner (Izuku Midoriya): There’s a lot of hype and excitement surrounding these episodes because this was marketed so heavily as this is the final season, and there are a bunch of viewers who probably were maybe taking breaks or saying, “I’ll get to it when it wraps up.” Now is the time. So everyone’s back on board, and it’s evoking like reflections of, “Where was I five years ago, eight years ago, when I started watching this show? Look how much has changed, all these friends that I made along the way watching the show. Now, let’s all get together and see it through.” There’s just a really special and unique kind of energy feeding into this that you don’t get often because we’ve had the pleasure of doing this show for nearly a decade now.
Clifford Chapin (Katsuki Bakugo): I think this being the final season is a kind of landmark occasion. We’ve had a lot of shows that we’ve all gotten to be a part of for a long, extended period of time, but very seldom have those shows had a new installment, a new season every single year, a new film, or a new video game going on at the same time.
This has been a constant not only in our lives, but the zeitgeist of anime and the audience of the series. As Justin said, maybe people jumped in five years in, maybe some people found it right at the beginning, maybe some people only just started, but the fact that this series has been constant for almost 10 years now is concluding is a milestone. It’s very seldom that something like this comes to be where it’s like, “And this is the end.”
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Luci Christian (Ochako Uraraka): I think people love a good superhero story, and My Hero is just quirky enough to really spark your imagination. I think the quirks are super interesting, and the characters are so great. Class 1-A is a bunch of likable people, and the villains are awesome! They are so good. The final battle has been so epic that I think people want to see the resolution. They want to see what’s come of all of this real work and chaos. I mean, it’s been crazy. It’s been really, really crazy. Plus, I think everybody just wants to be there for the end, just to bear witness to the end of this moment in the show.
Leah Clark (Himiko Toga): It’s so relatable. I love the way the characters are written, and I think another thing that stands out to people is that there’s always someone in there for everyone who watches, whether it’s one of the heroes or even a villain. Their backstories are so real and raw, and I think it’s great if someone can latch on to that and feel like they have a pal, you know?
Christopher Sabat: I believe it’s the first shonen in history that’s ever ended. I’m kidding, but it’s a rare occurrence. So many of them like extend, like go on and on and on and on, and there’s never an end to it, but this one, yeah, you’re going to get an end, which is kind of cool.
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Pink and Poison Rivalry — Ochako and Toga
Toga’s feelings towards Ochako and Twice reached new depths this season. What were your thoughts around her drive and the motives as we learned more about her backstory?
Leah Clark: I think it definitely shows how important it is to have nurture versus nature, how important it is for us as humans to have someone who understands. Let them know that they’re okay to validate that you are enough as you are, and show that there’s another way to connect. There’s a gentler way. You don’t have to terrorize people to make them pay attention to you or notice you. I think it’s very important to see what eventually opens Toga’s eyes and her heart is someone empathizing and understanding. I think it’s such a strong message for anybody watching because it’s easy to just brush someone off as different, weird, or angry. But what happens if we try to understand?
How did you find Toga’s voice for such a twisted, eccentric, yet somehow relatable character?
Leah Clark: In the beginning, my direction was that I needed to sound very cute and adorable, but at the same time, terrifying. Something scary. That’s what I was given by Colleen. I thought it was brilliant. Each line, we would do a little more creepy, okay, a good creepy. Add more of the bubbly cuteness to it. Okay, too cute, you’re not scary enough — just finding that balance. Then I figured out that I could be bright and bubbly, but as long as I’m growly a little bit, then I’ll be creepy.
Luci Christian: As long as there’s a gremlin in there, you’re weird!
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Ochako is starting to assert herself as a true pro hero. How did you express that growth in her tone and voice?
Luci Christian: I think definitely in the beginning, she was a lot more unsure. Everything was a little more like, “I don’t know, maybe, kind of? Hm…” As she’s gone along, I think she’s more in her voice: “I talk in my passion. I talk with what’s going on and how I’m feeling.”
I don’t think she deflects as much as she has in the past. Certainly, by the time we got to Toga and all of that, there was no time to do anything but just be full-on, honest, 100% full-throated. So, I’m proud of her. I think she’s found her voice for sure.
There was that scene where she showed compassion towards Deku during the Vigilante Arc, or Dark Deku Arc. What did it feel like to record that? Were you imagining yourself on top of a building, screaming down, or what was that like?
Luci Christian: It’s so good when she gets up on the building and yells. That is where you really see it. Like her going, “Hey, no, you need to…” But when people start pushing back, she says, “Listen! The heroes are the ones who are getting dirty!” She really starts telling everybody, “Come on, appeal to your humanity. Look at this kid. He’s just a kid.” Man, I was so proud of her.
I was nervous about it because I knew it was coming up. And when you listen to the Japanese seiyu, she’s incredible, and it’s very intense. So I was nervous. I was nervous about doing it justice. Also, because we only see the parts that we’re in, I had not seen the whole episode in context. I knew there was a large crowd there. I did not know everybody was there, looking up at Ochaco while she’s doing this thing.
When I watched it, I made my family watch it with me, and I thought, “Oh my gosh, nobody else can get this crowd in hand, and she’s doing that work. She’s calling everybody in for Deku’s sake.” What a boss moment for her. Of course, later, he says, “Hey, thanks for what you did back there.” And she replies, “Oh, it’s fine.”
Leah Clark: Precious angels.
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In another world, do you all think the girls could have been besties? Like, what would you want them to do on a day out together if they were not a villain and hero?
Leah Clark: I think they would be besties. As for what they would do — slumber parties, secret spilling. Whatever normal friends do at that age. I think they would have been really nice.
Luci Christian: We’d go eat. Ochako would ask, “Did you eat real food, or do you just — like, tell me how your quirk works.”
Leah Clark: “Are you just a cannibal?” She likes sushi, you know that.
Did any other battle stand out? It’s been non-stop fighting since the last season, but have any of the battles stood out to you both, or any specific ones?
Luci Christian: I thought it was such a good cliffhanger at the end of Season 7 with Iron Man All Might. So good.
Leah Clark: Love that! I think when we first figured out that Toga can take your quirk when she turns into you, and that whole fight with Curious, that was one of my favorites. That’s the scene where she’s half-Toga, half-Ochako. I love that. That was really fun.
Luci Christian: Even right before our thing, all this stuff with Dabi and how all of that went down, I thought it was gutting to me. But I’m a Dabi stan, so. I like my villains. I’ve always thought Shigaraki was going to outlive us all. He’s playing this weird, slithery long game where none of us can even see the board.
Did you also have a favorite character, Leah? Maybe a different villain or hero? Are you a stan of any other character?
Leah Clark: Stain is awesome. I loved that everyone was freaked out by him and why Toga wants to be like him. It was like a villain with morals or criteria. Like, what? I thought that was genius. I loved it.
Luci Christian: He was scary.
Leah Clark: He was scary. He’s played brilliantly. I love him, I thought it was cool. I also love Ochako as a character. At first, I thought I was going to be bored by her, but the more I get to know her and watch her, I think, “Wow, she’s a really good strong person. I get why Toga latches on to her.” It’s like that’s as good as that can get. It’s strength, that’s loyalty, that’s friendship. That’s pure heart. I love her.
Luci Christian: We stan Toga in our house, too. My girls, yes.
Leah Clark: I stan Ochak!
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Growth and Identity with Class-1A
Could you describe your character’s evolution in the last three seasons? What has been the most rewarding part of portraying that growth?
Christopher Wehkamp (Shota Aizawa): This has been an absolute roller coaster for Aizawa — really for all these characters. But Aizawa, more than ever in these last three seasons, has had his role as a superhero who can personally fight one-on-one diminished because of all the injuries he’s faced. We’ve seen him get more in touch with his vulnerability as a result, and I believe that’s forced him to grow. He’s gone from a purely logical tactician to a much more feeling sort of mentor who realizes that, whether he likes it or not, he’s going to have to put his faith in these kids. Faith in himself as a mentor, faith in his kids — that has been a huge area of growth for him over these last three seasons.
Colleen Clinkenbeard (Momo Yaoyorozu): A lot of Momo’s character development happened through Seasons 1 through 6, and then in 7 and 8, we see her pop in every now and again as if she’s been part of a fight that we’re not watching. Because the plot development was so intense and thorough, we feel like we understand what that battle is. We saw her go from being so vulnerable and hobbled by her own insecurities that she couldn’t really put forth as much as she wanted of herself. Then we saw her get out of her own way and find a way to actually accomplish her goals. I love that the world is so well developed that we have a full understanding of what’s going on all the way around, as if we were panning 360 without actually having to do it.
Justin Cook (Eijiro Kirishima): In the last three seasons, one of the biggest impactful things to me was the loss of Miss Midnight. The independence that those students had to immediately take upon their shoulders in the heat of battle felt like a real defining moment for that group of characters — Kaminari, my character, Colleen’s character, and Mina. That moment right there kind of allowed them to become heroes, as it were, moving from being junior heroes, in my opinion. So I thought that was a really fine way to bring a close to some of those open threads, because I think soon after that was the Gigantomachia arc with Mina and Kirishima.
J. Michael Tatum (Tenya Iida): It’s similar to what Colleen was saying about Momo. A lot of Iida’s growth happens in the first few seasons. After that, we see him a little sparingly, but he gets to come in and give really good tearjerker lines and then leave again, which is a good gig. If I had to put a finer point on it, he’s always kind of the rules lawyer. Someone has to be in a group like that, and it’s a vital function, even if it can be a little annoying for everyone sometimes.
His way of encouraging people, whether he knows how it comes across or not, is to kind of remind them what they’re getting wrong. That’s because he believes that with a little bit of a push in the right direction, that’s all they need. It’s less a criticism than it is a reminder [when he says], “Oh, no, no, go this way.” But he’s gone from reminding people what they’re getting wrong to reminding them what they’ve gotten right when they forget they’re heroes. In the scene with him and Deku when he says, “I’ll always run to you,” he gives him back that great phrase, “That’s the essence of being a hero.” It’s such a wonderful illustration of that energy. So his growth arc is kind of learning to trust everyone to be a hero without him having to ride them.
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What stands out to you the most about Deku’s mastery of One For All and his growth as a true hero in this final season?
Justin Briner: Him being able to master all of these separate quirks and understand all these different facets speaks to his intense pre-knowledge of all things heroic. All of these quirks may be new to him, but I’m sure there’s some reference or focal point he can draw from to bring them to the forefront. Also, he knows All Might, which is sick, and knows a lot of really great pro heroes. His class just excels at all of this, so he’s surrounded by a lot of really strong and powerful people he can draw inspiration from and work together with. I think without that support system and his own personality — this is what he’s always wanted and dreamed of, so he’s put in the hours to make it work — he’s rewarded with the mastery of this power that ultimately can save the world.
What was it like portraying the change in Bakugo’s attitude towards Deku, and what was your process in capturing that rapid evolution without losing his core personality?
Clifford Chapin: Well, it’s funny, because in terms of the story, it’s very quick, right? The bulk of this series takes place in the course of one year. But for me, the turning point was really at the end of Season 3 when he faces off against Deku in the practice city. It became kind of a thing that we worked on a lot with Colleen and then eventually Mike McFarland when he took over for Season 7. As the voice directors, we never wanted Bakugo’s growth to come across further than it was, so we always had to pace it: “How open is Bakugo to working with Deku right here? How good of terms are they now?”
It was kind of a tightrope walk, especially because we recorded the second movie, Heroes Rising, at the same time as the fourth season. Going into that movie, I thought, “Okay, this is farther into the character’s development and their progress of getting past their animosity, but he’s still not super friendly.” I think, even in that movie, I still have a line where he says, “Man, I even worked with Deku!” [while] they were still losing the fight.
We walked that fine line for a long time until really into Season 5, and then obviously Season 6 culminates in the big apology scene. That was sort of the final nail in that coffin, like, “This is all put to bed now. We are on better terms. We are finally able to work together.”
My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
