My Hero Academia’s New Anime Is A Must Watch for Aizawa Fans

My Hero Academia has returned this Spring with a brand new anime adaptation of its official spinoff series, but My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is going to be a must watch for fans of Shota Aizawa in the main series. My Hero Academia is now gearing up to fully return for the final season of the TV anime later this Fall, and it’s going to bring Izuku Midoriya’s long running saga to an end. While the series has had some time to showcase other characters here and there over the course of its run, one of its issues is the lack of time it has to tell its stories overall.

My Hero Academia needs to spend so much of its time fleshing out Deku’s journey along with some other key characters who play a role in the final arcs that many of the others fall by the wayside. This includes Shota Aizawa, who begins the series as Deku’s hero teacher who plays a big part in many of the key battles. But when it comes to a focus on him, there are only hints of a past that are briefly seen in the main series. That’s all going to change with the My Hero Academia: Vigilantes anime.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Finally Gives Aizawa the Spotlight

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes‘ premiere episode kicked off a whole new look on the long running anime series. Revealing a Japan that takes place years before the events of the main series, main hero Koichi Haimawari ends up becoming a small time hero in his neighborhood. It’s not long before he’s roped into a much bigger situation by fellow vigilante hero Knuckleduster as a mysterious drug is now amplifying people’s quirks and turning them into dangerous villains as a result. As the episode ends, Aizawa makes his first appearance.

In the main My Hero Academia series, fans really only hear about the kind of hero that Aizawa was. You hear about Eraser Head and how he’s fought to save all kinds of people in his own way, but his main role as a teacher and mentor to Class 1-A means that he’s largely outside of the action except when he’s there to temporarily save them. We got some cool scenes here and there, but it was rarely within the full context of his style as a hero on the streets. That’s all going to change with this new anime series thanks to the fact it takes place years in the past.

Aizawa appears to quickly stop Knuckleduster from accosting a bystander, and he’s the first real hero that Koichi and the others involve themselves with. Because he’s so tuned in with the street level action compared to All Might (who is expected to zip around Japan at any second), he’s also the perfect one to bring into the fold as Koichi and the others are now going to be dealing with a street drug that makes things even worse. But the real draw of his involvement coms later.

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Aizawa Is Very Important to My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes takes place in a version of Japan that’s yet to be flooded with heroes. Koichi becomes a neighborhood hero in the first place because there aren’t enough police or heroes to deal with the evolving problems, and that makes Aizawa all the more important to the story. He’ll be an official guiding person for Koichi and the others as while he doesn’t agree with the fact that they are operating illegally (and stops it whenever he can), there’s a bit there that fans might recognize in that Aizawa is willing to bend the rules to save people.

Without giving too much away about what’s going to happen in the anime’s future, Aizawa essentially becomes one of the main characters of the spinoff series. Fans will get to see him as the pro hero he was rather than just the teacher he becomes later. Even more importantly is that this also showcases a new side of Aizawa that was only hinted at existing with his appearances in the main series. The biggest draw for Aizawa fans, however, is a bit of a spoiler.

Aizawa has a very crucial role in the final arc of the main series as Kurogiri’s true identity was revealed. This character seemed to be important to Aizawa and Present Mic’s past, but was never really truly explored in a full way. That was because this origin story, this arc itself is within My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. It’s something that happens further down the line, but it’s probably the biggest reason My Hero Academia fans need to watch this spinoff. It has some very crucial information and story you won’t get elsewhere.