Meet the Director of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

Summary

• My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is a prequel series directed by Kenichi Suzuki of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fame.
• The new director’s resume includes not only JoJo, but also Hellsing Ultimate, Drifters, and Cells at Work.
• Suzuki joins a promising production staff, combining veteran staff from the parent story as well as new artists.

The new year has begun and though the final season of My Hero Academia is ten months away, there is another story to be told, one whose anime adaptation fans have expected for a while now. My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is a prequel series about – as the title suggests – vigilantes operating outside the system and its director alone is cause for excitement.

Based on the manga by Hideyuki Furuhashi, with art by Betten Court, Vigilantes is one of the first major projects by Bones Film, the recently founded spinoff of anime production powerhouse Studio Bones. Among a slew of returning credits from the original series, director Kenichi Suzuki stands out, with a career notable for his work on another iconic shōnen series.

Related

My Hero Academia Season 7: Peak Fiction

With solid directing, impeccable artwork, and generational feats of adaptive flair, Season 7 is My Hero Academia at its absolute best.

Posts

2

From JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure to Vigilantes

Close

Kenichi Suzuki has served as a director across David Production’s adaptation of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure from Part 1: Phantom Blood in 2012 to Part 6: Stone Ocean a decade later. He has worked alongside the anime’s other key directors, such as Naokatsu Tsuda, who directed JoJo Parts 1-5, and Toshiyuki Katou, who directed Parts 4 and 6. Suzuki himself has directed every part save for Part 4: Diamond Is Unbreakable, and Part 5: Golden Wind.

Suzuki’s earliest anime credit is Gundam Evolve, a series of 15 promotional shorts released between 2001-2007, of which he directed two of them (#8, #14). Across the board, the shorts feature varied animation styles, with Suzuki’s being animated in 3D and though the animation hasn’t aged the best, the ambition on display is quite admirable. It wouldn’t be Suzuki’s last time directing for Gundam either. He would direct 2010’s Gundam Sangoku Den Brave Battle Warriors and a few episodes of Gundam AGE in 2011.

Hellsing, Drifters, and Beyond

JoJo isn’t the only big name Suzuki had a hand in directing. In 2012, he directed the final two episodes of Hellsing Ultimate, one of the most acclaimed anime OVAs of all time, at Studio Graphinica, the third studio to produce the OVA after Satelight and Madhouse. Suzuki must have gotten a taste for the works of Hellsing author Kouta Hirano because just a few years later, he would direct one of his most anticipated and sorely unfinished stories.

In a time before the Isekai genre became as oversaturated as it is now, Drifters made big waves in the anime community. This gritty spin on the formula saw historical figures plucked from the places of their deaths and thrown into a fantasy world. Combined with Hirano’s signature art style – made even more popular by the Hellsing anime – Suzuki’s adaptation was a sensation, which makes its subsequent obscurity today all the more tragic.

Suzuki returned to work on two Drifters OVAs, as well as writing and directing 2018’s Cells at Work, also at David Production. Next up was 2019’s Fairy Gone, a 24-episode fantasy action series from P.A. Works that was met with mixed reception on account of its uneven presentation and bloated narrative. Finally, Suzuki’s most recent work was directing JoJo Part 6 alongside Toshiyuki Katou.

Who Will Suzuki Be Working With?

As My Hero Academia’s anime comes to a close, Vigilantes sees the return of notable staff members from its parent story to lend their talents to this new spinoff. Chief among them is Yuki Hayashi, whose distinct sound is at the very heart of the franchise’s storytelling. Similarly, screenwriter Yosuke Kuroda is on board to compose the anime’s scripts. What’s even more exciting, however, are the new additions to the staff.

Hayashi is not alone in composing the music. He is joined by Yuki Furuhashi and Shogo Yamashiro, the latter of whom Hayashi has collaborated with in the past on the 2020 album Immersive Theatre “Sakura-hime” from “Sakura-hime Azuma Bunsho”. Finally, Vigilantes‘ character designs are being done by Takahiko Yoshida, the designer behind the anime for Yowamushi Pedal, Cells at Work, and Welcome to the NHK.

What it Means to Direct My Hero Academia

© K. Horikoshi / Shueisha, My Hero Academia Project

Following up a story like My Hero Academia brings with it high expectations, something even more daunting when considering the heights of its anime adaptation. Director Kenji Nagasaki received much after helming the first three seasons. It was the perceived loss of his creative touch in later seasons – where he assumed the role of “Chief Director” – which is often cited as a reason for an arguable downgrade in later seasons.

Of course, Nagasaki never truly left. Furthermore, Masahiro Mukai’s run as director across Seasons 4-6 was no less capable of delivering powerful storytelling, and Naomi Nakayama’s work on Season 7 was breathtaking. All this is to say that this series has been blessed with talented directors, among whom hopefully Suzuki will fit in nicely, having proven himself as a storyteller. The answer will come when My Hero Academia: Vigilantes premieres in April.

My Hero Academia is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

More

The Best Shonen Anime Of 2024, Ranked

These shonen were the cream of the crop in 2024.

Posts

3

My Hero Academia

ActionSuperheroAnimation

Release Date

April 3, 2016

Seasons

7

Studio

Bones

Franchise

My Hero Academia

Based On

Manga

Creator

Kōhei Horikoshi

Number of Episodes

159

Streaming Service(s)

Hulu
, Crunchyroll

Expand

Fuente: successacademy.edu.vn
Categorías: Anime