English Dub Review: My Hero Academia “Katsuki Bakugo: Origin”

This thing is way out of control.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

This week on My Hero Academia,  Izuku, and Katsuki have to somehow manage to team up and work together and defeat All Might for the final match of the final exam. That’s easier said than done, and both Izuku and Katsuki have different ways in which they want to approach the battle. At first, it seems nearly impossible that the duo was going to work together, but that gives way to some compromises and a plan to pass their final test. As the heroes recuperate after a crazy ass battle, a familiar face joins the League of Villains.

Our Take

There might not be another franchise in the world that produces fight scenes with such voracity and emotion than My Hero Academia. The production during these bodacious fight scenes is just so far on another level, it, unfortunately, puts a lot of Funimation’s catalog to shame as a result (which is probably why the service picks up so god damn “slice of life” shit).

Voice acting should also be given a big ol’ kudos, with Chris Sabat not only being able to produce solid dubs but he’s also a pretty damn good actor himself in the role of All Might. Justin Briner does a rather excellent job as “Izuku”, delivering an almost “Morty-like” performance but with still enough conviction to remind you that he voices the most important character in the franchise. With all that said, with this episode being named after Katsuki, how can we not acknowledge the breath-taking performance by Cliff Chapin in his role as “Bakugo”.  Cliff shows such raw emotion as Bakugo that I think Funimation’s gotta figure out a way to start getting Emmy consideration because Cliff blows a lot of the mainstream competition away.

The animation production by Bones is outstanding, the slow-mo scenes and different shadowing effects produced for the characters to go along with blitzkrieg action sequences and the captivating flashbacks to somehow be balanced with the amount of effort put in to make this show as dramatically over-the-top as it is, is NOT going unnoticed. My Hero Academia is excellent…probably the standard bearer for anime in the 21st century. Feel free to comment any franchise you think that was released in the last decade that comes close…