My Hero Academia: Vigilantes has officially made its debut. The prequel spin-off series to the My Hero Academia anime made its debut in Japan today, with the episode also releasing on Crunchyroll for those in North America.
As of 8:15 a.m. PT / 11:15 a.m. ET on Monday, April 7th, you can officially stream the first episode of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. It's currently only available with English subtitles, with the dub airtime still to be announced.
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is an anime adaptation of the manga written by Hideyuki Furuhashi and illustrated by Betten Court. It serves as a prequel spin-off to Kohei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia, set five years prior to the events of the main series. The series follows three vigilantes — Koichi Haimawairi/The Crawler, Kazuho Haneyama/Pop☆Step, and Oguro Iwao/Knuckleduster — who help others despite not being licensed heroes.
The story mostly follows Koichi Haimawari, a young man whose Quirk Slide and Glide allow him to travel quickly across any flat surface, and Kazuho Haneyama, a young woman who possesses a Quirk that allows her to jump several meters high. When the two are saved by the vigilante Knuckleduster, they get recruited to become vigilantes themselves.
Koichi Haimawairi/The Crawler is voiced by Shuichiro Umeda (Kazuhiko in Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!). Kazuho Haneyama/Pop☆Step is voiced by Ikumi Hasegawa (Ikuyo in Bocchi the Rock!), while Oguro Iwao/Knuckleduster is voiced by Yasuhiro Mamiya (Magma in Dr. Stone).
Koichi Haimawari is a dull college student who aspires to be a hero but has given up on his dream. Although 80% of the world’s population has superhuman powers called Quirks, few are chosen to become heroes and protect people. Everything changes for Koichi when he and Pop☆Step are saved by the vigilante Knuckleduster and get recruited to become vigilantes themselves!
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is directed by Kenichi Suzuki (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure chief director) at Bones Film. Series composition is by Yosuke Kuroda (My Hero Academia), with character designs by Takahiko Yoshida (Cells at Work!) and music by Yuki Hayashi, Shogo Yamashira, and Yuki Furuhashi.
The My Hero Academia: Vigilantes manga officially ended in 2022 with a total of 15 tankobon volumes. The series is available in English in North America, courtesy of Viz Media.
With the My Hero Academia TV anime not returning until October for its eighth and final season, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes can hopefully fill the void until then. With the beloved main series ending this year, it's possible that Vigilantes can also serve as a suitable replacement. My Hero Academia: Final Season is currently scheduled to premiere this October on Crunchyroll, which is already home to all seven seasons as well as the Two Heroes and Heroes Rising movies.