My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2 Review: A Stumble In The Dark

Out now on various streaming sites leaps My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2, the spin-off to Kohei Horikoshi’s manga and anime series My Hero Academia. Taking place shortly after the events of the last season, we see Koichi and Kazuho, or as they are otherwise known, The Crawler and Pop Step, as they continue their misadventures in the world of vigilante work. Well, that and events management and promotions. A direction I didn’t think this series would really go in.

I’ve reviewed past seasons of the main series on this site. And I’ve been reading and reviewing the My Hero Academia Vigilantes manga series in my spare time, so I was always interested to see how they’d handle Season 2. I loved the first season. It ticked a lot of boxes for me. It added more to the piece than just being a straight adaptation. And I was curious to see how it would handle, or fail to handle, some issues I had with the source material. And regretably, it didn’t really work for me.

Quick heads up, I am reviewing the subtitled version. Not the dubbed version. So some elements might be slightly different in the dubbed releases. With that said, let’s get to it.

Story – Tourists

As I mentioned towards the head of this review, I had read most of My Hero Academia Vigilantes by the time Season 2 came around. Save for about five chapters that were adapted for this season. So I was curious to see exactly how this would translate to the anime. Whilst I’m not the kind of reviewer that goes gaga over arguing on how faithful or not an adaptation is/isn’t or should/shouldn’t be. I was still wondering how well certain issues I had with the manga would be addressed here.

My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2 does have its charms.

Season 2 of My Hero Academia Vigilantes sees Crawler and Pop Step continuing their misadventures in the realms of vigilante work.  Not that you’d know. Truth be told, most of the run time of this season is spent with the pair of them being involved in putting on promotional shows for supermarkets. Solving the mystery of the origin of Trigger is being done by side characters from the main series. In fact, they have no real connection to that mystery at all. Aside just being in the places where some of this stuff is happening. And even though they don’t do much.

Bubble & Squeak

On its own merits, Season 2 is totally serviceable. I know that sounds like damning with faint praise. But as far as Super Hero shows go, it gets the grade. It can be fun, bright, silly. There are some great action and dramatic scenes. But most of the drama and wider plot doesn’t involve Crawler and Pop Step.  Oh sure, they aren’t totally divorced from the wider mystery.

This is as close to the Trigger investigation as our heroes get.

But more often than not, they are stumbling into it and dealing with events tangentially connected to it; saving people from the monsters the villains make, more so than figuring out where they come from. Oftentimes, they fade into it like the custom characters in a video game adaptation of a pre-existing series. Vigilante work is swapped with putting on shows and dealing with rowdy youths. Cute stuff. But it feels insubstantial compared to the more dramatic and interesting moments.

Memories

The biggest example of that is a flashback arc where we learn about Eraser Head’s time in High School. Which is fantastic, and is the stand-out moment of the season. It is a short but powerful storyline. One that contextualises his character. It creates a great superhero story. But am I the only one who finds that a tad absurd? That the biggest and most impressive dramatic event in the season goes to a character from the main series?

Eraser Head’s arc almost works as a standalone superhero story.

This is told in a flashback that isn’t told to Crawler. He is just thinking about it. So it isn’t like Crawler is learning anything here. Again, it is a fantastic storyline. But it changes nothing about the wider story. It sits awkwardly in the middle of the season. And nothing even remotely as dramatic happens for Crawler or Popstep, despite the potential being there. Sure, we get something in that neighbourhood with Captain Celebrity. But not our two leads.

A Bandage

A major issue I had with the manga was that by this point, The Crawler/Koichi felt increasingly like a side character in his own life story. And to an extent, far worse than Midoriya did in the main series. At least Midoriya felt more proactive. The Crawler really isn’t. He just fecklessly bumbles from disaster to disaster, never really trying to solve anything beyond what is happening in that moment. And it feels like moving the Eraser Head storyline earlier in the running order felt like an attempt to remedy that.

Season 2 features more than a few cameos.

If the season ended with a focus on Eraser Head, it feels like that could have reinforced that sense. By moving the Sky-Egg to the end, it narrowly mitigates it. As he is more active towards the end of it. But you are still left with an ending arc that is still focused on Captain Celebrity more so than our two main leads. And honestly, I don’t think that changing the running order really undoes that core problem. It feels like trying to get the eggs out of a cake!

Life As It Stands

Whilst I have many issues with the writing and story structure of My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2, far too many to really put into a review like this, I can’t say it was totally joyless. When the series is willing to lean into goofier aspects of itself, it shines. When we have lower-stakes events, it succeeds. These are moments when it feels like it has its own identity. And it isn’t just setting things up for the main series. 

In some ways, Captain Celebrity’s story works better here than in the manga.

There are some fun and funny moments. Captain Celebrity, whilst I do feel they soften his character here and there, is still a fun foil for our cast. Seeing Popstep trying to carve out a career for herself as a popstar is fun and grounded, but in a way that daft things can build from it.

If there were a greater focus on our characters and having them involved in the main event, this would be a great season. But sadly, the focus is often elsewhere. Setting this up for the main series. Rather than ensuring we have proactive protagonists. Well, aside from one that I won’t name for spoilers. But their absence feels like it only makes the lack of focus on Koichi even worse. But that is a matter for another time.

Characters & Performances – Vintage Youth

As I just mentioned, the arc giving us the backstory on Eraser Head and exploring his time in high school is fantastic. Rich in drama and moments of visual subtext that are some of the best in the entire series. Both this one and the main series. It helps to give greater emotional context to their life and why they act the way they do in the main series.

I will be blunt, I dislike the Japanese voice acting for the young Eraser Head, as it is just his adult voice actor. This is a repeat issue, where sometimes a younger version of a character has a younger actor, and sometimes just uses the adult one without changes.

The voice acting for younger versions of some characters isn’t bad. Just miscast.

But it isn’t so distracting that it takes away from the drama in their respective scenes. I will grant you, there is no real justifiable reason for this storyline to be part of My Hero Academia Vigilantes. So we are in this strange position in this review where it is one of the best and worst things about Season 2. It is a great story. But doesn’t change anything about the story of Koichi and his friends.

It doesn’t give hints to the wider story or villain threat. Nor is it told to Koichi. Which only further adds to this feeling that our main cast are just ‘there’. With whatever storylines that could add depth to them being underwritten, if they are even written at all. Pop Step’s little arc at the start of the season could have been a great time to learn more about her. But no, we need to learn more about the Trigger Drug. And tease the villain’s powers.

Pacing & Cinematography – Villain Attack

The animation in Season 2 of My Hero Academia Vigilantes is solid and dependable. Not the most thrilling thing to say in a review, I’ll grant you. But, save for a few scenes with rather murky lighting, everything looks decent. The few action scenes we get are well-directed and have quality animation. I will grant you, however, that there is never a standout moment for me here. Due in part to the action scenes being rather short-lived. And the kinds of moments of creative flair we had in the past season aren’t there.

The action sequences are filled with flair.

Last season, we had American comic book artists doing sequences for world-building history set in America. We had retro-inspired TV adverts with VHS flavours. Silly voices, silly monsters. Here? Aside from some silly monster and villain designs (Which I like and like the fact they are silly), there is never anything that fun. And the animation never feels as expressive as it could or should be.

The pacing of Season 2 isn’t bad. But feels strange. Like I said earlier, the season has a different story progression than the manga. This season ends midway through Volume 9. Adapting the Eraser Head story from there, but doing it midseason. And whilst I like the way the Sky Egg arc was done. It doesn’t hold a candle to the Eraser Head story. And that means that Season 2 feels like it has a rather weak ending for me. 

Editing & Sound – Demo Sound

The editing of My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2 is competent, and there was never an issue that stuck out for me with this review. Oh sure, sometimes there were issues with subtitles, but that is a Crunchyroll issue, not a show issue. Nothing was glaring or out of place. And the odd moment when CGI is used, it is integrated decently. Not subtly, but it doesn’t stick out too much

Music is a mixed bag. The intro and outro are fine. I think the opening from season 1 really played into the feeling of the series overall. The soundtrack of the season as a whole? Oftentimes, it feels rather generic, and isn’t helped by the fact that some tracks are reused to the point that I find it undermines the scenes they took part in.

The soundtrack doesn’t feel like it has its own sense of identity. Not in the way that other series do. With it all feeling like it came from some sound library that the animators have. Whilst not make or break, it does take even more flavour out of the season.