My Hero Academia: The Two Heroes
My Hero Academia has become the darling of the anime industry this year, for quite a few different reasons. We’ve previously talked about how the show’s unique setup and wonderful characters make it one of the greats, and how its pacing helps keep viewers interested. While Season 3 is currently underway for the show, My Hero Academia is also getting its first full-length feature film this month, and it’s hitting theaters in the west for a limited-time run.
My Hero Academia: The Two Heroes is set between the events of the second and third seasons, and it sees Deku and All-Might receiving an invitation to visit “I-Island,” a place where the top scientists in the world convene to study Quirks. There, Deku meets a resident of the island named Melissa Shield, who’s Quirkless just like he used to be. As a villain takes over the island and threatens to kill everyone living there, Deku and the rest of the U.A. students have to band together to save it.
My Hero Academia is just about the hottest anime property out there right now, and the film looks to expand on what the show has already done. It’ll be hitting select theaters around the U.S. from Sept. 25 – Oct. 2, and you can take a look at the official page on Funimation’s website to check times and purchase tickets early.
FLCL Alternative
FLCL became an instant cult classic when its short 6-episode run debuted all the way back in 2000. At its core, the show was a coming of age story starring a young boy named Naoto Nandaba, as he meets the absolute maniac Haruko Haruhara. Now 18 years later, FLCL finally returned this spring with FLCL Progressive, a follow-up to the original show. At the same time, FLCL Alternative will cap off the story from the previous two shows, and it finally begin airing in September. Actually, Toonami aired the very first episode back on April 1 out of nowhere, as an April Fool’s Joke, but now the season proper starts back up on Sept. 8.
Alternative’s six episodes follow up on the original FLCL, and centers on a young high school girl named Kana, who spends her days hanging out with her best friends, Mossan, Hijiri, and Pets. Their perfectly normal lives are interrupted one day when an enormous Mecha falls from the sky, followed by a strange girl named Haruko. While Progressive may not have fully lived up to the legacy of the original FLCL, it was still a good show, and by all accounts, Alternative looks like it’s only going to improve on that. The first episode was already a great debut, and anime fans should absolutely tune in to see the story of this cult classic continue.
The show will start airing on Sat., Sept. 8 at 11:30PM EST as part of Adult Swim’s Toonami block. Of course, you can also catch the episodes on Adult Swim’s website, sometime after they’ve aired.
Chio’s School Road
Chio’s School Road has been airing for a little while already, but it’s certainly turned into one of the most charming slice-of-life animes of the year. The show tells the story of Miyamo Chiyo, an ordinary first-year in high school who simply wants to live out a normal school life. Sadly there’s no way this can happen as an increasingly eccentric cast of characters and situations continue to get in her way on the road she takes to school. Chio’s School Road gets comedy right through a combination of absurd animation, over the top voice acting, and great timing.
Chio herself is an avid video game player, and as she encounters these odd situations on her road to school she tries to use the lessons she’s learned from western video games to get out of each one. As with many slice-of-life shows, there isn’t one huge overarching plotline, but each episode mostly tells a self-contained story with some threads carrying over. Despite the lighthearted and comedic tone, there are also some light life lessons the show tries to impart on its viewers.
Its unique idea and characters make Chio’s School Road one of the most charming shows of the year, and if you’re a fan of comedy anime, or even video games, it’s definitely worth giving a watch. You can watch 10 episodes on Crunchyroll currently, and new episodes Simulcast on Fridays at 10:30am EST.
Double Decker! Doug & Kirill
September is a pretty slow month overall for new anime, as it mostly sees summer programming coming to an end before the fall season really kicks off. Still, there are a few new things arriving, one of which is Double Decker! Doug & Kirill. Double Decker takes place in the city-state of Lisvaletta, where the citizens live peaceful lives, but crime and drug trade run rampant in secret.
The SEVEN-O Special Crimes division specializes in cracking down on a particularly dangerous drug known as Anthem, The division operates on a buddy system known as Double Decker, including the seasoned investigator Doug Billingham and Kirill Vrubel, a man with mysterious and unexplained powers. After one episode, the show definitely has an intriguing setup and world. Only time will tell if it turns out to be a hit, but Double Decker is definitely worth keeping an eye on. You can catch the first episode on Crunchyroll, and the rest of the show should start airing soon on Sundays at 11:00am EST.
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