Interview: My Hero Academia: You’re Next Japanese Voice Actors Talk Anime Movie

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to My Hero Academia: You’re Next stars Daiki Yamashita (Izuku Midoriya), Kenta Miyake (All Might/Dark Might), and Nobuhiko Okamoto (Katsuki Bakugo). The trio of Japanese voice actors discussed their characters and the new anime movie. The film will be released in U.S. theaters on October 11.

“Set after the conclusion of My Hero Academia Season 6 and right before the final battle between heroes and villains, My Hero Academia: You’re Next sees Deku and his friends face a new threat—a mysterious figure calling himself Dark Might and claiming to be the new Symbol of Peace,” says the synopsis for My Hero Academia: You’re Next.

Daiki, We’ve seen a lot of growth for Midoriya during the anime, and we see him use everything he’s learned to battle Dark Might in My Hero Academia: You’re Next. What have you liked most about Deku’s arc overall?

Daiki Yamashita: A lot of it has left a impression on me. For each and every scene, there is always a small feeling of growth and strength that kind of goes along with each episode. Among all those, one of the things I do wanna point out is how he picked up on his Shoot Style as one of his moves. During the film, he goes about his days with this goal in mind of wanting to be a hero like All Might.

I believe that the moment that he took on the Shoot Style was the time that he switched gears to becoming not just a hero like All Might but, in my perspective, the greatest hero, the best that he could ever be. So I feel like that was the one thing that truly left an impression on me. This is truly his originality as a hero, the Shoot Style, as he goes along this path to become like All Might, but also about how he becomes his own greatest hero. This is where it all comes down to, and just how he puts these into action is truly what kind of gets him going.

He goes about with all these different smashes that All Might has also done as well. However, the Shoot Style is again just something so unique to Deku as a hero, and it truly reflects him as this originality, just that he’s not just someone, who’s just, again, just aspiring to be like All Might, but again, a hero himself. So I wish for everyone in the audience to be on the lookout for Deku’s Shoot Style in the film.

Kenta, you get to flip the All Might character and play a villain called Dark Might in this. What characteristics did you lean into in playing this version?

Kenta Miyake: All Might and Dark Might, the biggest difference is that All Might is for peace and for the people. Whereas Dark Might, he pretty much has power for himself and only for himself. So I was really focused when it comes to Dark Might of really focusing on the megalomania. You know, “I am, you know, “I love me. I’m the best. Me, me, me, me, me.” So that was the kind of psyche of Dark Might that I focused on.

Because of Dark Might’s psyche, he always has been looking up to All Might’s powers. It’s a power that he has wanted and admired at the same time, but that has come out as a very twisted homage and respect to All Might. So that was what I was also focused on, this twisted respect. Last but not least, I was always enjoying all the bad things I was doing [laughs].

Nobuhiko, Bakugo has always been a fan-favorite character. What did you like most about how he was used in My Hero Academia: You’re Next?

Nobuhiko Okamoto: There’s two things about Bakugo here. First was that he actually tells his classmates what to do. So he’s starting to show some leadership roles and responsibilities. So that was an interesting point.

The other interesting thing was coming into this project, I was wondering what would Bakugo say to Giulio, the original character that is in You’re Next, and I was really satisfied when Bakugo just said like, “Oh, okay. You’re, you’re the handsome boss character.”

Daiki, Dark Might presents a very personal enemy for Deku. What did you like most about this new enemy that you got to go up against?

Yamashita: Oh, I’ve never been so pissed off before [laughs]. It was just a constant refutation of this character who looks like All Might and has a similar voice as All Might but just saying all the wrong things. So I just wanted him to stop talking.

Miyake: Oh my God.

Yamashita: But in terms of something I like, this might not be necessarily of Dark Might as a character, but more of a respect for Kenta Miyake and just how, despite being the same voice as All Might, it truly onscreen sounds like a completely different character. I just have this new, like profound respect for Miyake-san just based off of like how he performed as Dark Might I truly think this theatrical release just shines his skills as a voice actor. Me perosnally, I truly, truly love him performing as All Might.

Kenta, Dark Might is accompanied by Anna and Giulio. What did you like most about getting to play off those characters and that dynamic in My Hero Academia: You’re Next?

Miyake: First of all, as All Might I see Dark Might as like — I’m not sure how it will translate — but it’s like, “Damn you!”

With Anna and Giulio, I felt a beautiful fragility from the two of them, which I think definitely plays out in the movie. I also felt that Anna and Guilio’s relationship was kind of the hardboiled genre side. I think considering the world of My Hero Academia, it was refreshing to see the Annie and Giulio. We haven’t seen characters of that type and of that relationship. So it was pretty refreshing.

Nobuhiko, as always with My Hero Academia, there are some great fight scenes in You’re Next. I wanted to ask about doing all of the grunts and action noises. Are those always recorded fresh? 

Yeah, all our recordings are fresh recordings every time. That’s just because we need to make sure that according to where we are in the storyline, we are all in the correct places emotionally with the storyline. It’s not as easy as just dropping in something from a different episode because there’s the nuances and there’s the context that needs to be respected. It’s always fresh recording.

For example, Bakugo always says like, “Die!” I’m not quite sure how it’s translated in the subtitles, but you have your key Bakugo words. But because how it’s said is affected by the moment before, it’s always gonna be a fresh. At least in Japan, it’s always gonna be original recording and nothing’s ever reused. So even when Bakugo says, “die” from episode to episode, you can listen to all the versions of “die” across the entire entire series, and you can definitely hear differences.

Tickets for My Hero Academia: You’re Next are now on sale.