PS Plus Premium Subscribers Adding Freebie for My Hero Academia Fans

Sony is appealing to anime fans by adding a My Hero Academia freebie to the offerings listed for its PlayStation Plus Premium subscription service tier. Customers who are signed up to PS Plus Premium will be able to enjoy some of anime studio Bones' adaptation of the My Hero Academia manga from the comfort of their PS4 or PS5 consoles.

Created by Kohei Horikoshi in 2014, My Hero Academia captured readers' attention with a world inspired by western-style superhero stories but inflected through the lens of shonen battle and school life series. It has gone on to become one of the best-selling manga of all time, with over 85 million copies in circulation. It's also achieved popularity on-screen, with the animated adaption running for over seven seasons in the hands of veteran studio Bones, which also produced iconic anime like Mob Psycho 100 and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Sony announced the new My Hero Academia freebie in a blog post detailing the PS Plus offerings for March 2024. Alongside a slate of 13 games added to the PS Plus Game Catalog, Sony highlighted an offer coming in April 2024. Starting on April 1, the first season of the My Hero Academia anime series will be available on Sony Pictures Core, an entertainment app found on PS4 and PS5 consoles and Sony Bravia TVs. Sony Pictures Core offers films, TV series, and anime for rent and sale, with PS Plus Premium-tier subscribers able to select certain movies and series for free access.

The first season of My Hero Academia first aired in 2016, and consists of 13 episodes. It follows Izuku «Deku» Midoriya, a young boy living in a world where the vast majority of people display a superpower of some kind called a «Quirk,» and the strongest become Pro Heroes, who safeguard the public and become celebrities. Despite being born «Quirkless» and without powers, Izuku still wants to become a hero like his idol All Might, and strives to join the elite UA Academy, the training ground for all the world's greatest Pro