My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising
• a review of My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 16 March 2020.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

With super villains on the rise and an all-powerful superhero going into retirement the powers that be are keen to fast track a new generation of superheroes. Sent to the remote and relatively safe Nabu Island, the heroes find themselves doing menial tasks such as helping fix tractors, finding lost children and carrying old ladies with back problems. When the evil villain Nine (voice of Yoshio Inoue) realises he cannot steal the regenerating quirk (a superpower) from the man he had been hunting, he heads to Nabu Island to steal it from his son Katsuma (voice of Yuka Terasaki). It is up to the small band of would-be-superheros to try to fight off a league of super villains determined to destroy the island, take over the world and become unstoppable should they find the power that would allow them to regenerate again and again.

Jealousy, power struggles, children separated from parents and fending for themselves, violence as a means for solving conflict and the need to prove self-worth.

There is frequent violence in this movie including:

• High speed car chases where cars and individuals are shot at, cars smash, explode, are driven through fire and plummet off cliffs.
• There are numerous fight scenes that include hitting, punching, kicking, screaming, strangling, squeezing heads and brains, stabbing and getting shot and cut.
• There are lightning storms that suddenly descend over cities, blasting electrical currents to earth and setting buildings on fire.
• Katsumo’s father is left unconscious on the ground after Nine tries and fails to steal his quirk.
• One villain controls an army of mummified creatures that attack the young heroes. One is captured and temporarily turned into a mummy and another is nearly crushed by large boulders being thrown his way.
• One villain can shoot flames from his mouth, one has long hair that can turn into blades and another has laser beams that cut and slice.
• Flying rocks, catapults, canons, force fields, a storm of fiery tornadoes, lasers, knife like talons and claws, demon creatures and acid are all used against the heroes in a variety of confrontational scenes.
• A little girl is lifted off the ground and strangled in an effort to get her brother to give himself up to the villains.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• Many of the characters have scary looking personas and features. One man is shown with his face on fire. Another man appears to only have half a face, the lower part is covered by a mask held together with what appear to be staples into his flesh. One character has a partially masked face with red glowing eyes. Another has a face that glows and then cracks apart.
• One of the heroes is angry and surly and always yelling at others in a threatening and intimidating manner. His voice is very loud and very aggressive.
• A huge screaming bird collapses a cave and transforms into a dark, roaring, mass with red, glowing, eyes.
• An unstoppable wolf monster that shoots fire out of his mouth is transformed into a fierce looking frozen statue by a hero that shoves ice down his throat in an effort to stop him. The scene is loud, intense and dramatic and the wolf is frozen in angry disbelief as ice blasts through its body and out its throat.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• Nine appears from the shadows and keeps walking towards Katsumo and his sister. He explodes their house in front of them, tells Katsumo that he is going to steal his quirk and keeps coming no matter what they, or the superheroes do to try and stop him. Katsumo is terrified and crying and Nine is relentless.
• Heroes are shot right in front of the children while trying to protect them. Nine has two blue demon creatures that protrude from his back at will and both are attempting to crush the heroes who are screaming and bleeding as electricity drains from the island and the children watch in horror with tears streaming down their faces.
• Katsumo and his sister keep running from Nine, attempting to hide, but he keeps coming. Nine threatens to kill his sister if Katsumo will not give himself up to him. Nine grabs Katsumo’s sister by the throat and strangles her slowly while both children cry. They are saved at the last second by a hero.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

• The above mentioned scenes may also be disturbing to some children in this age bracket.

Nothing further of concern.

Product placement

• None noted.

Sexual references

• None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• One of the hero characters wears a very skimpy, revealing outfit that shows a lot of cleavage and leaves the centre of her chest exposed. This is noted a number of times. In one scene she bends over onto the ground, her mini skirt, which barely covers her buttocks, rides up and her underwear is shown.

Use of substances

• None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• There is frequent use of the terms “Damn” and “Damn it.”
• “Hell”, “Bastards”, “Idiot” and “Crap” are used occasionally.

In a nutshell

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is a Japanese, superhero, action film based on a Manga series. The animation is fairly basic and viewers will need to be able to speak Japanese or quickly read subtitles in order to follow along. The film will be most enjoyed by anime fans and mature audiences.

The main messages from this movie are that sharing can make you stronger and sometimes help you accomplish the impossible; that working together can break you out of a tough spot; and that you don’t have to have superpowers to truly be a hero.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Responsibility
• Integrity
• Teamwork
• Dedication
• Persistence
• Selflessness.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• Believing that you are the best and that you don’t need help from anyone.
• Taking what doesn’t belong to you and having little regard for the feelings and lives of others.
• Putting people down, out of fear or your own personal insecurities.
• Destroying lives, property and places in pursuit of a personal goal.
• Sending young people off to practice something they are not yet proficient at, without leadership or support.