Funimation Adds My Hero Academia, Reveals Simulcast Plans

Big Might’s coming to save the day, with the help of the folks at Funimation!

Earlier today, Funimation announced that they acquired the domestic rights to My Hero Academia. The company licensed the exclusive home entertainment, video on demand, merchandise, and broadcast distribution rights to the show in the United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, and Ireland.

Funimation plans to stream the series as a simulcast on FunimationNow, the company’s digital platform, when it premieres in April. Funimation CEO Gen Fukunaga commented on the acquisition, noting that We’re extremely pleased with this expansion of our partnership with Toho following last year’s successful theatrical release of the ‘Attack on Titan’ live action movies […] The excitement around this new series is palpable. Fan response to the anime will quickly rank ‘My Hero Academia’ among top anime classics such as ‘Dragon Ball Z,’ ‘One Piece,’ and ‘Naruto.’

To promote the series, Funimation kicked off a promotional page on their website, which contains a new trailer.

My Hero Academia is based on Kōhei Horikoshi’s manga of the same name. Kenji Nagasaki is directing the project at Bones, with Yousuke Kuroda (Gundam Build Fighters, Trigun) penning the show’s scripts. Yoshihiko Umakoshi (Berserk) will provide character designs.

The confirmed voice cast includes:

Izuku Midoriya: Daiki Yamashita
All Might: Kenta Miyake
Katsuki Bakugō: Nobuhiko Okamoto
Ochako Uraraka: Ayane Sakura
Tenya Iida: Kaito Ishikawa
Tsuyu Asui: Aoi Yūki
Minoru Mineta: Ryou Hirohashi
Momo Yaoyorozu: Marina Inoue
Fumikage Tokoyami: Yoshimasa Hosoya
Denki Kaminari: Tasuku Hatanaka
Eijirō Kirishima: Toshiki Masuda
Mina Ashido: Eri Kitamura
Yūga Aoyama: Kōsuke Kuwano
Kyōka Jirō: Kei Shindou
Mezō Shōji: Masakazu Nishida

Funimation describes My Hero Academia as follows:

There’s a new hero in town! “My Hero Academia” is a superhero origin story that soars to the top of the class!
Izuku has dreamt of being a hero all his life—a lofty goal for anyone, but especially challenging for a kid with no superpowers. That’s right, in a world where eighty percent of the population has some kind of super-powered “quirk,” Izuku was unlucky enough to be born completely normal. But that’s not going to stop him from enrolling in one of the world’s most prestigious hero academies. Now, the only thing standing between him and his first class is the academy’s formidable entrance exam—nothing a little private tutoring from the world’s mightiest hero can’t solve.

In Japan, My Hero Academia will begin airing on April 3, on MBS/TBS. The title will occupy the “Nichigo” time slot at 5:00PM local time.

Character designs for several of the cast members, including Izuki and All Might, as well as a short promotional video are currently available. You can check these out below.