My Hero Academia has some pretty incredible fight scenes and action sequences. It is hard to imagine they could one-up themselves, or even match the likes of ufotable when it comes to animation. But what many anime series miss, including My Hero Academia, is the nuance of scene. Beyond animation, the sound, score, and voice acting all play a vital role in bringing out the heart of a scene.
Queue season 4 of My Hero Academia and the long-awaited fight with Overhaul. For manga readers, they have been waiting over a year to see this animated. So much is expressed in the source material, the questions of how it gets expressed once animated loomed for many. However, once the episode finally aired, you couldn’t help but find yourself emotionally caught up in the scene. In this clip below, we see a very small but incredibly impactful part of the Deku versus Overhaul fight.
If you are not caught up this is your spoiler warning.
Movies like Star Wars: The Last Jedi proved to us that the art of sound editing can increase the impact of a scene immensely. So as we watch the clip above, all of the background noise is quieted, and a song begins. We have heard this song many times over the seasons. Yet, this one is sung much slower, and with more cinematic impact. Then listen to the emotion in the voice of the actor voicing Deku. Everything about this scene in the department of sound editing took Deku’s Full Cowling 100% and did a Plus Ultra supercharge. I absolutely cannot wait to hear the dub of this episode. “Deku” was also trending on Twitter the night this episode aired and for good reason.
As a fan of the series, or even as a new watcher, you can’t help but get a little emotional watching and listening. THIS is how you elevate an emotional scene. It doesn’t need to be more action, better animation or louder fights. Just simple, elegant sound editing and score choice.
