New My Hero Academia Prequel Anime to Feature Criminally Underused Hero

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes will be making its highly anticipated anime debut later this Spring, and the prequel anime will make good on one of the big promises from the original series by bringing back a criminally underused hero. My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is a special spinoff series that not only tells its own story outside of the events of Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia, but many of its moments and characters have direct ties into that series’ events. It’s one of the big benefits the spinoff series has by also being a prequel that’s actually set five or so years before the original.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is a special prequel series set years before the events of the main My Hero Academia series, and that means that its main character Koichi Haimawari comes face to face with the same pro heroes that Izuku Midoriya meets in the main series. But because it’s set so long before, these heroes are at a much different stage in their life. This is especially true for Tensei Iida, who was the original Ingenium before his younger brother took the title. And who’s coming to this anime with a much more expanded role.

Ingenium Returns in My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

In the original My Hero Academia series, Tenya’s older brother Tensei is alluded to as Ingenium, a hero that Tenya really looked up to. But when Tensei is taken out of action and is forced to retire due to an attack from Hero Killer Stain, Tenya decides to don his brother’s title and become a pro hero in his stead. But My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is going to be the place where fans actually get to see the speedy hero in action as he becomes a regular part of Koichi Haimawari’s early vigilante career in the prequel. It was officially announced that Masamichi Kitada will be returning from the My Hero Academia to voice his character in the prequel too.

As stated in a special statement shared with fans, Kitada is excited to really show off more of Ingenium’s time as a hero, “I’ve been waiting for the anime adaptation of ‘Vigilantes’ more than anyone else. I’m really happy. I can’t wait to be able to show everyone the sight of the first Ingenium sprinting. [Tensei] is a really cool guy. I will do my best to convey [Tensei]’s determination, passion, and fighting spirit that come through in the original work. Let’s run all the way together!” It’s because he’s finally doing something heroic on screen with this new anime.

RELATED: My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Runs Into Pop Step Controversy

When Does My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Come Out?

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes will be making its premiere on April 7th as part of the Spring 2025 anime schedule. The new anime will be directed by Kenichi Suzuki for Bones Film with Yosuke Kuroda returning from the main My Hero Academia TV anime to handle the scripts, Takahiko Yoshida returning to oversee the character designs, and Yuki Hayashi composing the music together with Shogo Yamashiro and Yuki Furuhashi. Kitada will be returning from the My Hero Academia alongside Kenta Miyake as All Might, Junichi Suwabe as Eraserhead, Hiroyuki Yoshino as Present Mic, and Akeno Watanabe as Midnight.

They will be joining the brand new illegal hero trio at the center of the My Hero Academia: Vigilantes anime too with Shuichiro Umeda as Koichi Haimawari (who becomes the vigilante known as The Crawler), Ikumi Hasegawa as Kazuho Haneyama (who becomes the vigilante idol known as Pop Step) and Yasuhiro Mamiya as Iwao Oguro (the brutal vigilante known as Knuckleduster).