Even after learning that this year’s Jump Festa would be taking place on a virtual island delivered via your smartphone, we still didn’t know what kind of format the events on that island would take. Would they be the same as normal, or altered slightly for the changed medium? Fast forward to today, and the details revealed for My Hero Academia’s Jump Festa 2021 events show us the new normal… and it’s remarkably, well, normal.
Simply put, Shueisha hasn’t seen fit to change much about the format of the events they usually put on for Jump Festa 2021. As usual, there will be a bunch of talk shows with the My Hero Academia voice actors: a ‘talk live’ with Daiki Yamashita (voice of Deku) and Nobuhiko Okamoto (Bakugo) about the upcoming season five, a ‘super stage’ with those same voice actors alongside Wataru Hatano (Shinsou) and Junichi Suwabe (Aizawa), as well as a ‘special one-on one-talk’ between Kenjiro Tsuda (Overhaul) and Shinichiro Miki (Sir Nighteye). There will also be a screening of select episodes from season four, as picked by fans. So yeah, pretty much standard.
「ジャンプフェスタ2021 ONLINE」のバーチャル会場「ジャンフェス島」の世界を紹介したコンセプトムービーが公開だ！誰もみたことのないジャンプの世界にみんな集合！#ジャンプフェスタhttps://t.co/GREP3F1qat pic.twitter.com/SKgsmlMHy0
— KAIZOくん＠ジャンプフェスタ2021 ONLINE (@jumpfesta) November 30, 2020
Many of those panels will also be streamed online via either the official Jump channel or the Toho Animation channel, so you don’t even necessarily have to download the Jump Festa 2021 app to take part in these My Hero Academia events. Nevertheless, you may want to in order to take part in the My Hero Academia ‘Plus Ultra parade,’ which apparently will only take place in-app or via the website. I’m imagining something along the lines of a Disneyland parade, but with My Hero Academia characters.
Considering that My Hero Academia has been at the forefront of Weekly Shonen Jump and Jump Festa for a while now, we can expect this approach to be the same for many of the other series featured.
As of the time of writing, One Piece, Black Clover, Dr. STONE, and Jujutsu Kaisen have all been confirmed for a Jump Festa 2021 super stage, alongside My Hero Academia and some others from other Jump imprints. There are also other events going on, but considering that the super stages are where most of the most exciting announcements get made, these are what’s worth keeping an eye on.
For more information, please visit the Jump Festa 2021 official website.