My Hero Academia Animator Sheds Light on Izuku’s Sports Festival Fight with Shoto

When it comes to My Hero Academia, every fan has a favorite fight, but some stick out more than others. Izuku is involved in most of these bouts, and his skirmishes in season two still stand out to this day. In fact, the Sports Festival featured plenty of anime’s top fights, and now the anime’s staff is reflecting on its legendary battle between Izuku and Shoto.

The update comes from Anime Style‘s latest issue as fans were quick to share its contents with one another. Thanks to the user shibuyasmash, short summaries from the issue’s interview with the My Hero Academia have hit social media. It was there the legend himself Yutaka Nakamura spoke about his work as a key animator on the show, and director Kenji Nagasaki stressed the artist took the fight’s storyboard to a whole new level.

“Nakamura expanded on the storyboard with permission of the director & producer,” the summary reads. “Nagasaki says he told Nakamura the main points and then let him work freely in the time frame he had. They still do it this way, but that started with this scene in episode 23. Nagasaki says for episode 23 he told Nakamura that in the scene where Todoroki releases his power he wanted him to ‘make the ice like a tsunami’ and ‘do something with the ice even when Todoroki uses his fire’.”

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As you can see, Nagasaki gave Nakamura lots of leeway when it came to animating Izuku’s bout with Shoto. The director went on to say very few corrections were made to the animator’s cuts, and his expansion of the fight was a great addition to the anime. Of course, My Hero Academia fans would be hard-pressed to deny that given how well the battle was received. The sakuga hype surrounding the Sports Festival was no joke during season two, and Shoto’s explosive final move against Izuku still stands the test of time. And luckily, Nakamura has stuck around My Hero Academia and dropped even more stunning sequences starring the two heroes. 

What do you think about Izuku’s legendary fight with Shoto after all this time? Does the My Hero Academia battle still hold up? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.