In celebration of the My Hero Academia’s eighth anniversary of the anime, Daiki Yamashita (voice of Deku) and Kenta Miyake (voice of All Might) appeared at Anime Expo 2024 to share their thoughts about what it’s been like to play their characters throughout the years. Having played the mentor and mentee roles for nearly a decade, both Yamashita and Miyake have found that their characters’ personalities have begun to bleed into their own.
For Yamashita, this journey has gone by quickly: “It was just like we were sprinting, like a blur. Everyone in the manga and anime keeps going, and I don’t want to be left behind, so I also had to step up and go plus ultra.” For Miyake, rather than thinking about his own perspective, his hindsight had him thinking of his student, Deku. He shared, “Over the last eight years, I have been watching little Midoriya running, growing, and learning. Even as All Might, sometimes I feel like I’m looking at HIS back, just watching him grow.”
In season seven, the standout moment was when Aoyama was revealed as the traitor among the students, having fed information to All For One for years. Yet, truly embodying Deku’s character, Yamashita’s reaction was quite understanding. “I like to act and perform by exposing myself to the material for the first time when I read the screenplay, and this is something [creator] Horikoshi-sensei approved because he said it’s how I can react and act best too” he began. “So, I was unbelievably surprised when I first learned Aoyama was a mole. But, I knew that even in that moment, Deku wouldn’t be a deer in the headlights, and he would be able to overcome and keep on pushing, as we’ve seen how he’s grown in the past eight years. If you look at my character screaming, it was actually directed towards myself and not Aoyama. It was frustration at myself, as instead of bottling up these emotions and throwing it at my friend, I just kept thinking about what I could have done to keep him from taking that path.”
Continuing to showcase just how similar they are to their characters, Yamashita and Miyake’s favorite moments from the season were reflective of Deku and All Might. “My [favorite battle scene] was Shoto versus Dabi. Shoto was extremely cool, and I could really feel his determination! I was screaming and cheering him on as I watched on my TV screen,” Yamashita revealed. For Miyake, this question was another opportunity to praise one of his students. “Jiro’s fight scene was just unbelievable,” he began, as he couldn’t keep from smiling and laughing. “Even when her ears were injured, I couldn’t even describe it. She was just so cool.”
Even after all the trials and tribulations their characters have encountered thus far, they still have new challenges to face in the upcoming movie. My Hero Academia: You’re Next tells of what took place between season six and seven, when an imposter named Dark Might decided that he wanted to become the new symbol of peace through destruction. “Compared to the first film, especially in this one, everyone truly felt like a hero,” Yamashita said.
“I have been playing All Might for eight years now, and now they told me they want me to play a villain, too. I was shocked, but just like the theme of My Hero Academia, I knew I had to go beyond, plus ultra,” Miyake began. “We recorded for Dark Might first, then we recorded for All Might. [Because I played the villain first], All Might had a sliver of villain left in him, and I had to re-record. I had an internal post mortem because of that.” After that experience, Yamashita and Miyake revealed that the two of them shared a meaningful moment together: “After we recorded together, the two of us shared a bento. It was a huge studio with space for about 30 people, but the two of us were just huddled together in the center eating our bentos together.”
My Hero Academia: You’re Next will be released in theaters in Japan on August 2, and in the U.S. on October 11. To build up anticipation, Miyake shared one last teaser: “[In the film, there is] a scene with all the 1A students. It’s a very moving scene, and it’s so cute! Please look forward to it.”
