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I am not coming at this review as an OG MHA fan (which I am one), but rather I am coming at this as a fan of the original MHA Vigilantes manga. And I have to say? The show is a great adaptation of the manga so far. Is it perfect? No, it's not. But it's really good despite its faults. And there are a few reasons why the show did what I wish OG MHA's anime did.

1) Characters.
I loved Izuku, Ochaco, and other OG My Hero characters, but there were way too many of ... them. With Vigilanties, there are only a few that we fully follow. Those characters are Koichi Himawari (The Crawler), Knuckle Duster, and Pop Step. With Koichi he's a better MC when compared to Izuku because of how he's trying to fix the system outside of it, and without pretending it's perfect at the start. Pop Step, despite her outfit, was a cool character as she had her ambitions without trying to be a vigilante. And Knuckle Duster has his own thing around the world of Vigilanteism. And his background is... A spoiler for late in the manga, so I won't say. And the voice cast is good at bringing to life the characters from the manga to an animated format. There was a small censor with Pop Step, specifically in her outfit, that I think makes the show a tad bit better than the manga, but that's my opinion.

2) The story.
The story is a general "there is a spooky force going on in the background that you need to watch to learn about." And you'll see it for sure. But seeing how they set things up, I love how things are going. And I love how the anime is setting things up amongst what the OG did. Heck, it takes place ~5 years before the original series, so besides some of the pro heroes, you don't have to worry about whether or not you'll see the main MHA crew in the show.

3) The concentration and pacing.
There are multiple chapters of Manga in one episode. The first two did 1.5 chapters per episode. But it looks like 2-3 might be how they end up doing the later episodes. And this works because of the format of which is happening in which the show is. It's not to fast, but still fast enough to where you can cruise along.

4)The opening and closing songs.
When I write this, only one OP and ED have been released for the show. But I do prefer it to OG MHA because of how fitting it is with and without the visuals. That is not to say that OG MHA had bad songs, just that this is the best of them all.

5) Standing on its own.
I know I compared it to the OG MHA series, but that's because it's in the universe. But even without it, you can perfectly watch this show without worrying about who you'll see, and what is happening in the other series. It does everything it needs to without being overtly clingy to the OG.

Overall, whether or not you liked the original MHA or not, heck whether or not you like the manga or not, I would heavily recommend you the show. It gives you a good chance to see the series that made me love the MHA verse. Even if it's not your cup of tea, I think you'll enjoy it.

I want to note that this is one of those stories I love, but I can see or understand why someone else may not. And I do think that this has longevity as a series, which is part of why I gave it a 10/10. But what are the other reasons?

- The way the story uses its "collectibles". That is, in each story arc, there is a different story that is learned by the characters learn to perform or show off help with the things that the main character is meant to learn as different lessons.

- The main character, Akane Osaki, is charismatic. Sure, ... she isn't going to fight some BBEG of the arc, but she is very going through and exploring the world of Rakugo.
- The stories that she does end up learning are very interesting as they line up with what she's like as a person.

- The goal is "stereotypical" but is twisted in one way or another. I say this because yeah she's going for "revenge" but not in a way of wanting to murk a guy. But more in a "you must acknowledge that my dad's work is good enough to be the highest rank."

Do I think that some things could be worked on? Sure, but nothing that isn't horrible enough to make me lower the grade.

My only real "gripe" is that it's nothing overly hype. But I do think that despite that, this is a masterpiece of an episode/special. Yes, it's about people who were affected by the Strawhat crew. And I love that there was a representation of us fans in the episode. It is based on a One Piece novel, but I would say it's more of its own thing than anything as it's far removed from that One Piece Novel. Overall, 10/10 great episode and an addition to the One Piece anime. Also to add, the animation was great. it really fit with what the episode was ... going for when going through the story of the special/episode.