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):
The show manages to really pick up the pace this week as it takes some major strides to help speed this arc along. With how much of last week’s episode was devoted pretty much entirely to shonen training shenanigans, I can certainly appreciate that since it at least gives me more to talk about. It’s not exactly a perfect episode, but it at least makes for some good-set up as it sets the stage for a big battle with the Hero Killer.
As Deku’s training with Gran Torino continues, he gradually begins to become more comfortable with balancing out One-For-All’s power, but it’s still not quite effective enough to last in a full-on-fight. Meanwhile the League of Villains’ attempts at recruiting the Hero Killer into their ranks are still going south, and it’s only when Shigaraki rants about wanting to tear down a society where All-Might runs the show that the Hero Killer feels any kind of respect for his ideology. However despite that moment of connection, the Hero Killer still isn’t interested in a full-on alliance and Shigaraki decides to take out his frustrations on the Hero Killer’s stomping grounds by attacking the city with Nomu clones. Iida and his internship mentor happen to be in the area, but rather than go after the Nomus, Iida decides to go looking for the Hero Killer and quickly ends up crossing paths with him, with his desire for revenge making him perfect for the killer’s next target.
There’s a lot of moving parts this week and some of those elements work better than others. While it’s still not doing anything interesting enough to separate from other shonen training scenarios, Gran Torino and Deku’s sparing match in the beginning at least has the benefit of looking cool and gives us at least a little bit of action to chew on. The same can’t quite be said for the brief cameos of how the other kids’ internships are going since they just feel like an excuse to pad out the episode a bit. The best part of the episode definitely go to the bit between Shigaraki and the Hero Killer, since the former has felt kind of one-note up to this point, and the fact that the Hero Killer was able to draw something of a coherent sense of motivation out of him is a welcome moment, and one that’ll hopefully make him a more compelling villain later down the line.
For now though, the Hero Killer is definitely the more interesting of the two, and it’s kind of noteworthy that for all the harm he’s caused, his actions have also apparently forced a lot of heroes to clean up their act in an attempt to not be targeted, thereby indirectly lowering the crime rate since his “mission” began. This tidbit isn’t all that big in and of itself, but it does at least help to further highlight how much of MHA’s hero society isn’t run on purely altruistic heroism and much as the show thrives on demonstrating the positive side of heroism, I’m always glad when it decides to explore the more cynical side of it’s premise since it’s a good way to help reinforce those ideals. Aside from all that, the other big thing in this episode is the revelation that All-Might seems to have an idea of whose pulling the strings behind the League of Villains and while that’s not likely to result in something major anytime soon, it at least serves as good build-up for a bigger conflict later down the line. Right now though, all eyes are definitely on Iida and the Hero Killer, and with Iida’s heart still set squarely on getting his revenge, next week’s fight is looking to be a big one.
In Summary:
MHA picks up the pace again this week as things quickly shift from training to all-out chaos as the League of Villains and the Hero Killer run loose in the city. There’s a lot crammed into this episode, and not all of it’s particularly interesting, but it certainly keeps things moving and I certainly can’t complain that we’re getting to the main event here sooner rather than later. Now that Iida’s desire for revenge has led to him running into the Hero Killer, the fight between the two is bound to be a pretty big one, and I can’t wait to to see how that one ends.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Funimation, VRV, Crunchyroll
