The cast of the highly anticipated movie, My Hero Academia: You’re Next, celebrated together during the North American premiere in Hollywood. We spoke with Clifford Chapin, the English Dub voice of Katsuki Bakugo, about his experience playing this character and his excitement for the film.

Clifford Chapin at the Hollywood Premiere of My Hero Academia: You’re Next

My Hero Academia: You’re Next is coming to North American theaters on October 11, 2024. The film follows the students of Hero Course Class 1-A of UA High School as they battle an imposter of a hero they adore. One of those students is Katsuki Bakugo. Over the course of the last seven seasons, fans of My Hero Academia have watched Bakugo grow and overcome a lot. We ask Clifford Chapin if the intense stakes of the current season changed the way he portrayed Bakugo.

Chapin says:

It was interesting because, in the previous season when there were like really emotional scenes, there was a lot of emotional energy to play off of from the rest of the cast. You know? Either Deku was emotional or the entirety of Class 1-A was emotional. In this particular season, in the really emotional episode, there was no one else being emotional. It was Shigaraki, Eric Vale, kicking my butt for like, the whole episode. And so, I had to kind of call upon the past eight years of voicing this character to kind of dig deep and get that emotion. And so, that was a different experience.

Chapin goes on to reassure fans that My Hero Academia: You’re Next is lighter than season seven. He says, “It’s hard to be darker than what has happened for Bakugo in season seven.”

“Bakugo gets to bring some brevity early in the film. And then we get some really cool action, of course,” Chapin continues.

But, you know, it’s still very personal for characters like Bakugo and Deku who grew up idolizing All Might to see someone trying to like, take on the appearance and be like, ‘Oh, I’m the next All Might.’ Like, that’s a big deal for them. Definitely not something they take lying down.

About My Hero Academia

My Hero Academia is an anime and manga series created by Kohei Horikoshi. In this world, most people have “quirks,” or special powers. However, Izuku Midoriya (also known as Deku), the main character of the series, is born without a quirk. Japan’s Number 1 Hero, All Might, bestows his own quick upon Midoriya, which allows him to join a class of heroes-in-training at UA High School. The students of UA High School are training to be the next generation of heroes.

The manga recently finished as of this year, after ten years of publication in Shonen Jump. There are seven seasons of the anime and three films, with My Hero Academia: You’re Next being the fourth. Watch each season, streaming on Crunchyroll.