My Hero Academia's Composer Explains The Process Of Developing The Music For Each New Season
Anime has displayed its share of memorable heroes, but Kohei Horikoshi's "My Hero Academia" makes its characters feel truly super. The series, which focuses on a world full of people with special abilities called Quirks, and an established system of heroes and villains, proudly wears its western comic book influences on its cape. It's hard not to look at the powerful and upstanding All Might and not feel like he'd get along swimmingly with the MCU's Captain America. And the journey of young protagonist Izuku "Deku" Midoriya to selflessly become one of the world's best heroes might remind fans of a particular radioactive webhead.
In an already stacked Fall 2002 anime season, "My Hero Academia" recently premiered its sixth season. And if fans weren't expecting any significant changes compared to the last one, that notion was shaken up as its premiere got the action ramped up earlier than expected. Each season of "My Hero Academia" has presented new items for the series. And that's been brought up consistently, whether in the form of villains, developing Quirks, or even costumes. Fortunately, all these changes throughout the series have perhaps best been reflected through the music of series composer Yuki Hayashi, who once broke down his process for developing the music for each new season.
Yuki Hayashi's compositions reflect each character's progress through the seasons
Whether it's watching Izuku "Deku" Midoriya have some of his most shining moments in "My Hero Academia" or through various funny meme videos, you're probably a bit familiar with his theme "You Say Run." It's the adrenaline-fueled yet heroic bop befitting a character about to charge head-on into danger. Or it's fitting music for Hank Hill to drive a semi-truck through a curvy road. In any case, "You Say Run" is instantly recognizable to "MHA" fans, even though it's gone through a few changes throughout the show's seasons. The song's different versions are thanks to series composer Yuki Hayashi, who told Crunchyroll that he arranged Deku's theme in many different ways.
Hayashi explained to Crunchyroll that Deku's shifting theme is a part of his process of changing the music throughout the seasons. The aim has been to ensure the music reflects each character's growth or progress throughout the series. "In that respect, there is still an element of that character that you recognize no matter how much they grow," Hayashi said to Crunchyroll. "So the core, thematic material of Todoroki, Midoriya, or the U.A. High School's theme will be the same, but because each thing has been different each season, there are different things within. It's not creating new content necessarily, but rather building on the same themes." It's impressive that Hayashi has been able to compose songs like "You Say Run" in new directions while still retaining its core.
All Might's theme is based on an iconic DC Comics superhero
Keeping on the thread about identifiable themes within "My Hero Academia," we'd be at fault if there were also no mention of All Might's song. The music is genuinely worthy of the hero, with its upbeat tone blaring out an inspirational vibe. In earlier seasons, especially, there's a feeling that no matter how dire the situation is, All Might is here to save the day whenever his tune is heard. Few songs in "My Hero Academia" produce such a hopeful image of that magnitude as All Might's theme. In fact, one could say the only other superhero who fits with All Might's music is perhaps DC Comics' most iconic Kryptonian.
It turns out that's actually by design. For All Might's theme, "MHA" composer Yuki Hayashi revealed to ComicBook.com that he referenced John Williams' theme for Superman from the 1978 film about the DC Comics heroes. On closer listening to both songs, their similarities are undeniable. Both have a distinct prideful marching band style rooted in John Phillip Sousa's compositions. And both will make any fans ready to stand in their best superhero pose. So the real question is, when are we getting that All Might and Superman crossover?