What They Say:
In the future, mankind is blessed with superhuman abilities called Quirks and in a response to the growing crime rate, superheroing becomes a viable profession. Izuku “Deku” Midoriya dreams of one day becoming a great hero like his idol All-Might, but he was born completely quirkless with no powers at all. However when Deku ends up having a chance encounter with All-Might in the flesh, it changes his destiny forever.
The Review:
Content(warning as portions of this review may contain spoilers):
*sigh* So it would appear my fears about the pacing for this season seem to be coming true as we’re treated to yet another episode that moves pretty slowly. Thankfully it’s not quite to the ridiculous extent of last week’s premiere but it’s still really baffling to me that this is happening, knowing how much future material they have to work with. I guess that’s all just par the course for shonen adaptions at this point but it does have me concerned about where they’ll choose to wrap things up this time. At any rate I suppose I’ll just have to readjust my expectations for the time being so let’s get onto the actual episode.
Despite the big stakes placed on him by All-Might last week for the sports festival, Deku can’t bring himself to be all that motivated for it. He already knows that All-Might is firmly in his corner, and with his own lacking control of One-For-All added to the mix, Deku doesn’t feel that he really needs to make himself known to the world just yet. However his feelings change after seeing the resolve of the other students and he’s reminded of his own goal to stand at the top of the hero world. As the actual event itself kicks off, the students get thrown into a giant obstacle course and have to race to to the finish line, but Todoroki’s also out to prove himself at the festival, and makes full use of his powers to get the edge over the others.
That’s the basic gist of things here and while it could have gone a bit faster I’m glad there’s at least more to work with here compared to last week. It was particularly nice to get another peek at Bakugo’s character growth as he’s still not likable and intentionally so, but unlike all of his previous boasting, when he declares to the other classes that he’s going to stand at the top of the podium it’s more of a way to push himself than to simply look down on everyone else, and it’s demonstrating that he’s at least gradually pushing his way towards a healthier mindset. It was also kind of nice to see some of the other first year classes for a change as it makes for an interesting shift in perspective since from their point of view Class 1-A are the elites and having survived a face-off with a group of villains just makes them stand out even more. It makes their desire to knock them down a few pegs pretty understandable even if we know the Class 1-A kids just barely scraped by, and it’s a dynamic that I’m looking forward to seeing how much the show plays with this since it’s not often you get a shonen tournament arc where the hero and friends aren’t considered the underdogs.
I can also say that while the pacing hasn’t really improved to the extent I’d have preferred, the production values a certainly going up a few notches. Adding in some comic book style sound effects for some of the gags was a nice little touch and the obstacle course race itself is nicely animated so far, with just enough action going to keep from feeling sluggish. Even with all that said though, the strength of the source material is what’s keeping this afloat more than anything else, and while the anime’s issues aren’t exactly lethal it does kind of feel like it’s keeping me from being as immersed in it as I’d prefer to be. MHA is a really fantasic shonen manga, and with all the potential to be had here, I’d really hate to see the anime keep settling for merely being good rather than great so I really hope it pushes to improve.
In Summary:
While it’s not as painful as last week’s episode was, my woes with the anime’s pacing continue, and I can’t help but feel that it’s limiting some of the potential here. On the bright side, the material itself is a bit stronger than last time, as the show does a much better job of setting up some of the potential rivalries for the competition, and also manages to showcase a bit more of Bakugo’s evolution as a character. It all manages to more or less balance out in the end, and while I’m still murky on how the show will handle what’s to come, I still want to be optimistic about it’s chances of improvement.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll, Funimation, VRV