Overview
My Hero Academia is a TV show with a rich history. The original Japanese manga was published in a serial format in Weekly Shonen Jump from July 2014, but it then evolved into a popular anime TV series. For those not in the know, manga is a Japanese-style comic, while anime is a filmed animation of manga for TV or movies.
This show focuses on a boy who doesn’t have superpowers, in a world where it is the norm to have some kind of special skill. His lack of ability is noticed by All Might, one of the biggest heroes in the land. The boy is then sent to hero training school so that he can learn what his own powers are.
My Hero Academia has four seasons under its belt at the time of writing (between 2016 and 2020). That said, a fifth season was recently announced. The show also led to a spin off series called My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, and there are plans for a live action film with real actors.
Originally in Japanese, My Hero Academia has been serialized and dubbed in English for international release. The original Japanese network which showed this series was JNN, but it moved to NNS for the second season. It has been shown on Tonami and Animax Asia in English.
My Hero Academia has been responsible for a number of other popular spin offs including theatre shows, musicals, additional print media and video games. It has become one of the most popular Japanese animation shows in recent years.
Premise
My Hero Academia follows a young boy called Izuku Midoriya. Izuki lives in a world where superpowers, or “Quirks”, are common. However, he doesn’t appear to have any, so he spends his time dreaming of becoming a superhero. He is helped by one of the world’s most famous heroes, who shares one of his quirks and helps Izuki through hero school.
Cast and characters
Both the manga and anime versions of My Hero Academia feature a huge range of characters. Obviously, these are animated, so they are not played by traditional actors. That said, there are voice actors for both the Japanese and English versions of this series.The main character is Izuku Midoriya, who is voiced by Daiki Yamashita and Justin Briner in the Japanese and English versions respectively. The show follows Izuku for most of the main storyline.
Meanwhile, Katsuki Bakugo is Izuku’s friend and also a rival. They go to school together. There are a number of other characters training to be heroes at the school, including Ochaco Uraraka, a girl with zero gravity powers.
Filming locations
As My Hero Academia is completely animated, it is not filmed in a traditional sense. However, it was created in Japan and that is where all the animation takes place. My Hero Academia is also set in Japan, although other locations also feature.
Trailer
My Hero Academia has a range of different trailers online, and these are available in different languages. For the English version of the anime show on Funimation, there is a trailer on YouTube with over 250,000 views for the first season. The trailer for the spin-off “Heroes Rising” has over one million views.
Production
My Hero Academia is based on the original manga comic. This was created, written and illustrated by Kohei Horikoshi. After being serialized in both English and Japanese publications, it became increasingly popular.
In order to capitalise on fan demand, the idea for an anime show came about. This was announced in October 2015, with Studio Bones as the production studio. The original was in Japanese, with Kenji Nagasaki as the director and Yosuke Kuroda in the position of lead writer. Furthermore, character designs came from Yoshihiko Kuroda and music was created by Yuki Hayashi.
In 2016, Funimation landed the rights to the international version so that it could be streamed from their platform. That said, since receiving English dubs, the series has been licensed and shown by a number of different TV channels across the globe. It has also been spun off into additional shows, films and other media such as the popular video game.
Episodes and reception
To date, there have been four full seasons of the My Hero Academia anime show, although a fifth season has been announced. Season one had 13 episodes, while the following seasons had 25 episodes each.
My Hero Academia has been hugely popular both in Japan and internationally. It has been so thoroughly enjoyed by its audience that a number of other versions of the manga have been produced.
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Pros and cons
Pros
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Cons
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- Paying more to remove ads. If you want an ad-free plan with Hulu, this will cost more. Meanwhile, other competitors will offer all of their plans without ads.
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Types of content available
To browse the available content, go to the ‘Browse’ button in the top left hand corner and select the filter. For example, if you want to watch TV shows, this is a filter, with genre sub categories including action, drama, family, game shows and comedy. Further filters are available as you scroll, so you can view content that it’s been predicted you will enjoy based on your preferences or viewing history. Furthermore, you can view which content is popular at the moment, which series have new episodes available, Hulu Originals and newly added shows.
Available TV shows on Hulu include The Handmaid’s Tale, America’s Got Talent, Life of Kylie and King of the Hill. There are bite-sized episodes available for those who don’t have a lot of time on their hands, and you can catch up on missed episodes from both current and returning network shows. Many top comedies and dramas such as American Dad, Archer and 12 Monkeys are available to binge from the very first episode. Further filters include Staff Picks, International, Teen Shows and Anime Favourites.
When it comes to movies on Hulu, there is a similar selection of genre sub categories to use as filters, such as classics, history, horror and science fiction. Personalised recommendations are available at the top of the movies page, and there are also popular movies shown for users to browse. For example, people may be watching Deadwood The Movie, Jumanji and Night School.
Certain movies are exclusive to Hulu, such as Ben is Back, Destroyer and Backtrace. Similarly, Hulu Originals are also showcased on the movies page, with titles including All That We Destroy, Ask Dr Ruth and Treehouse. If you want an 80s movie binge, to watch a critically acclaimed film or to browse staff picks, this is also possible. If you have an addon, such as HBO, Showtime or Starz, you can watch titles such as The Meg, Crazy Rich Asians, Den of Thieves, I Feel Pretty and Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who.
Top Hulu TV shows and movies
The Handmaid’s Tale
Offred is one of a few remaining fertile women who must be a concubine for the Commanders in a dystopian society. She begins illegal relationships and dreams of being reunited with her daughter.
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This TV series takes place in the Stephen King multiverse. Death row attorney Henry Deaver is lured back to Castle Rock after an anonymous phone call. He returns to help a sinister man locked up under Shawshank Prison.
Marvel’s Runaways
Six teenagers come together against their mutual enemy – their criminal parents, who are part of a group called the Pride. They go on to live on the run as they figure out how to stop the Pride for good.
Seinfeld
A TV series based on real-life experiences from the comedian’s life. It was created by both Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, and stars a fictionalised version of Seinfeld. It is often described as a show about nothing.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Buffy Summers learns she is one of the chosen women who must play the part of Vampire Slayer. She wants to live a normal life but grows to accept her destiny.
Futurama
Fry is accidentally frozen and wakes up 1000 years in the future. He is taken in by his only family member – an elderly scientist. He works for his cargo delivery service alongside Leela, Hermes, Amy, Bender and Zoidberg.
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Letterkenny
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Jimmy and Gretchen meet at a wedding and decide to pursue a relationship. Their respective egos soon make life difficult as they battle it out. Jimmy receives tiny royalty checks for a single novel and Gretchen lives a sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle.
Wu-Tang: An American Saga
Set in New York City during the cocaine epidemic which took place at the start of the 1990s, this series chronicles the Wu-Tang Clan being formed. Diggs turns to rap so he can try to reach fame – going against the lifestyle of his brother Divine, who used drug selling to improve his family’s lifestyle.
User Interface
Hulu has worked to keep its user interface as consumer friendly and efficient as possible. Those who are watching on streaming players such as Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV will be able to make use of a grid guide which allows you to view shows up to 14 days into the future. You will also be able to see which shows are coming out in the next few weeks and plan recordings well in advance.
The Hulu app lets viewers see a grid of shows, allowing for easy choice and selection. There will be options to look through categories such as Sports, News, Movies and Kids. The personalisation level is high, as you can look at My Channels and Recent to access content you’re prone to regularly watching.
In terms of the on-demand interface, you will see rows of content displayed in a similar fashion to competitors such as Disney Plus and Netflix. You will be able to click on one of the titles under Keep Watching, or navigate to Jump Back In to return to shows you hit pause on in the past. There are also other useful categories such as TV, Movies, News, Kids and New Movies.
How to watch
There are many devices you can use to stream Hulu. For example, you can use your Android TV (for on-demand services only), Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV and Roku. If you want to watch Hulu on the go, you can load this provider on Android, iOS and Fire devices. Alternatively, compatible video games consoles are the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 (for on-demand services only), the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, Wii U (for on demand) and the Nintendo Switch. You can also use Echo Show, the in-browser app for PC, Mac and other desktop devices, certain smart TVs and TiVo if you’re using on-demand services only.
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