MHA Vigilantes Ep 1: Small Guys Fighting The Big Fight

My Hero Academia Vigilantes, a prequel series to the famous My Hero Academia series started streaming on Crunchyroll on April 7 2025. The series focuses on Koichi, a 19-year-old student with a lame quirk and a self-proclaimed idol, Pop Step.

Koichi is an average guy in the superpowered world of My Hero Academia, but his heart is in the right place. He is a huge fan of All Might and other heroes and collects All Might merchandise like a nerd.

As per the timeline, the story is happening when Eraserhead is barely out of school and is doing hero work. Also, only 80% of the population is “quirk-y” if you get it you get it.

Koichi being one of them, loves helping people by doing all he can with his Slide and Glide quirk, which boosts his speed. However, his top speed is barely faster than a bipedal cycle.

While going to work Koichi always runs into impromptu street concerts of Pop Step, a young wannabe Idol with average looks and singing skills. Her quirk, Leap, and skimpy outfits make up for what she lacks.

On one unfortunate night, while doing his duty at his part-time job, Koichi gets attacked by a group of thugs who threaten and beat him for fun. Koichi tries to shrug it off by seemingly wanting to do vigilante work instead he helps clean the streets and guides people.

This was his idea of vigilantism. Another day goes by and this time the same thugs are seen assaulting Pop Step who tries to scream for help but the sheer shock of the physical force used on her suppresses her screams.

Koichi tries to help but is easily beaten to a pulp and that’s when a big shadowy figure jumps into the heap of garbage. Thus enters the most interesting character of the series so far, an old but strong man.

He seems to be a martial artist and easily takes down 3 superpowered villains alone. His name, Knuckleduster, is as badass as his entire speech on how he profiles criminals and why he chooses to be a vigilante. He is the Batman variant of MHA world where he punches first and asks questions later.

This may seem like a twisted logic but until now it has worked in the favour of the old man. Knuckle witnessed that Koichi has a good heart and wants to help people. Although involuntarily Koichi becomes Knuckle’s disciple and chooses to train under him.

Whereas, Pop joins them as a tech genius and the good-cop amongst them. The manga is written by Hideyuki Furuhashi and illustrated by Betten Court. It’s both a spin-off and a prequel to Kōhei Horikoshi’s manga series My Hero Academia.

MHA Vigilantes was serialized in Shōnen Jump+ in October 2016. The anime series is produced by Bones Film