My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Initial Review

Season 8 of My Hero Academia is still half a year away, but fans at least have the new My Hero Academia: Vigilantes anime to watch. While the series premiered last week, we got a chance to preview the first two episodes of this new anime to see if it’s worth putting on your Spring 2025 watch list.

In case you’re unfamiliar, Vigilantes is a spin-off manga of My Hero Academia, and its story happens before Deku enters UA High School. This series follows Koichi Haimawari, a young man who has a fairly unremarkable Quirk. Despite not having a pro license, he tries to help people as much as he can. At the start of the series though, a chance encounter sees him take the path to becoming a vigilante.

The World of MHA from a Different Point of View

The main My Hero Academia series is entertaining, though it’s fair to say that it follows the rather “typical” shonen formula. Sure, Deku may not have a Quirk at the start, though the fact the inherits One For All basically makes him the chosen one, as is the case with most shonen anime whose protagonists are special, for one reason or another.

In that sense, Vigilantes is a breath of fresh air as its main character Koichi isn’t anything special, especially considering that his movement Quirk isn’t particularly powerful. While the events of the first two episodes set him up to be a surprisingly capable combatant (at least when paired with his “Master” Knuckleduster), the show definitely has more grounded stakes compared to MHA.

Sure, the events that were set up in these initial episodes aren’t as high as the high-stakes plot of the main series, but they’re still quite compelling. After all, given that the start focuses more on street-level foes, we get to see the world of My Hero Academia from a different point of view.

To be exact, after a run-in with a group of thugs, Koichi is taken as the protégé of Knuckleduster, a Quirkless yet surprisingly powerful Vigilante. It’s soon revealed that Knuckleduster’s goal is to find the source of an illicit drug that’s making the rounds. This drug enhances Quirks but at the cost of lowering one’s reasoning abilities.

This initial plot point is an intriguing one, and it offers a grittier contrast to the more typical (at least for a shone) school setting of the main My Hero Academia series. We can’t say for certain how this will shape up as we haven’t read the manga, but it has piqued our interest.

The show is good in this sense, but we can’t really say that Vigilantes’ first two episodes were home runs. For starters, the story flowed a bit too fast for our liking, not to mention that the pace of the plot developments wasn’t too smooth (especially in Episode 2). There’s also the fact that the inciting incident involving Koichi and the “freelance idol” Pop Step can be a bit of an uncomfortable watch for some viewers.

Despite these, Vigilantes’ first two episodes were still entertaining. It helped that a popular Pro Hero from the main series appeared in two big fights. These scenes are no doubt treats for long-time series fans.

Speaking of fights, Vigilantes delivered in this regard, at least based on the initial episodes.

Bones Does Not Disappoint Animation-wise

We’ve long been fans of the anime studio Bones, so it’s not surprising that the team has done a great job so far with Vigilantes visually.

Sure, the look may not be a major departure from the main My Hero Academia series, but it still looks great overall, with the character designs also looking great. Koichi’s vigilante outfit is quite nice, and we can say the same for the looks of the other major characters, Knuckleduster and Pop Step.

The action is also quite good. Sure, the fight scenes here aren’t as large-scale as the many memorable moments of My Hero Academia, but what we’ve seen shows promise.

Again, it’s too soon to claim that Vigilantes is a must-watch purely for its animation, but it definitely has the potential to be one of the season’s highlights when it comes to fights.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Initial Verdict

Based on the first two episodes, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is a promising spin-off. Sure, some parts of the story didn’t flow as smoothly as we liked, but the overall plot is definitely intriguing. There’s also the fact that Vigilantes promises to offer a fresh point of view that promises to complement the main series well.

We can’t give a final verdict yet, but it’s fair to say that My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is well worth checking out for My Hero Academia fans as they wait for the eighth season.

Vigilantes is streaming on Crunchyroll, with new episodes coming out every week.