After years of fans quietly pointing out how My Hero Academia turned into a quirk-filled logjam of underused characters and half-finished arcs, Vigilantes is finally stepping up with something the franchise hasn’t pulled off in a while: focus.
And the timing makes sense. It’s coming in April 2025, just before the final season of the main series.
The Main Series Hit a Wall
My Hero Academia has been running for seven seasons. Along the way, it’s given us more heroes, villains, students, and pro-hero organizations than most people can realistically keep up with. Class 1A alone has 20 students. Add in 1B, side characters, and villains, and you get a list longer than a UA dorm grocery order.
Some characters like Mirio, Eri, Lady Nagant were introduced with big potential and then quietly pushed to the sidelines. Even solid early arcs like Ida’s fight with Stain eventually lose impact as the story keeps stacking more pieces on the board.
This isn’t just a minor issue. When every new arc brings in more characters but doesn’t give older ones time to grow, the story starts feeling disconnected. Fans have noticed.
Vigilantes Gets Back to Basics
Here’s where Vigilantes flips the script. Instead of throwing more bodies at the audience, it strips things back.
Set five years before Deku’s journey begins, Vigilantes is a prequel that operates on a smaller scale. No world-ending fights. No hero license exams. Just three unlikely vigilantes trying to clean up a rough neighborhood in Naruhata, a district left behind by the pro-hero system.
The main character, Koichi Haimawari (aka The Crawler), isn’t at UA. He’s not a prodigy. His quirk, Slide and Glide, lets him move across surfaces, but only if three limbs are touching. He’s slow, awkward, and exactly the kind of character the franchise needed.
He’s joined by Knuckle Duster, a former pro hero turned street enforcer who’s lost his quirk but not his edge. Think less superpowered icon, more alleyway brawler. Pop☆Step rounds out the trio, an idol with a jumping quirk and a defiant streak.
Unlike the main series, this group doesn’t exist to one-up each other or climb some power ladder. They’re trying to help people in small ways, and that keeps things grounded.
Smaller Cast, Better Writing
With fewer characters to follow, Vigilantes gives each one room to breathe. Koichi, Knuckle Duster, and Pop☆Step get real development. The show actually takes time to explore who they are and why they do what they do. There’s no rush to introduce the next flashy ability or setpiece battle.
And because of that, the stakes feel more real. Koichi’s not out here trying to save the world. He’s breaking up fights, chasing down small-time criminals, and going up against the effects of a dangerous quirk-enhancing drug called Trigger.
This approach makes every fight mean something. When things go bad, they go bad in ways that hurt, not just physically, but emotionally. And when victories happen, they feel earned.
Related: My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Surprises Fans With Stunning Young Inko Midoriya Appearance
Filling in the Blanks
One of the most surprising things about Vigilantes is how much it adds to the overall story. This isn’t just side content, it’s expanding the history of major characters.
We see a younger, more reckless All Might. A pre-UA Aizawa, Midnight, and Present Mic. The story of Oboro Shirakumo, Aizawa’s close friend, gets more attention here than it ever did in the main anime. It’s a look into how the current generation of heroes got their start, and what shaped them.
Vigilantes also shows us the beginnings of Trigger, the illegal drug that boosts quirks and often leaves users unstable. It’s a storyline that shows up later in the main series, but here we get to see how it first spread through the streets, and what happened when pro heroes didn’t step in to stop it.
Different Kind of Hero
One of the biggest differences between Koichi and Deku is how they see their place in the world. Deku has All Might’s power and is constantly aiming for the top. Koichi is just trying to make it through the day without getting hurt, while still helping others.
And that hits harder for some fans. Koichi doesn’t have backup from a big school or endorsement from famous pros. He makes mistakes, doubts himself, and sometimes fails. But he keeps showing up. And people are connecting with that.
The story never tries to force a message about greatness or being special. It’s about sticking it out when you don’t have flashy skills. It’s about caring enough to keep trying.
Vigilantes has Smart Timing, Strong Setup
The anime launches right before the final season of My Hero Academia, and that’s no coincidence. Vigilantes fills in the past while setting up a more emotional connection with characters we’ll be seeing at their final crossroads.
Even if you’ve fallen behind on the main series, or tapped out completely, Vigilantes is still worth checking out. It works as a standalone story, and actually gives a clearer picture of what kind of society produced both the heroes and villains of the main show.
And for long-time fans, it offers something rare: emotional depth without distraction. The cast is small. The themes are tighter. The action, when it happens, actually means something.
My Final Thoughts
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes works because it keeps things simple. It’s not trying to top the main series in spectacle. It’s doing something better, giving us characters we can actually care about, in a story that doesn’t get lost in its own size.
It brings the focus back to what being a hero really means, especially when you’re not officially one. And that might be the best thing this franchise has done in a while.
Whether you’re new to My Hero Academia or you’ve been following it since season one, Vigilantes is absolutely worth watching.
