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):
It’s been a long and interesting season but things are finally winding down this week as we head into its final episode. Weirdly enough though, rather than giving the last bit of spotlight to our heroes, it’s the villains who take center stage this week as we delve into Shigaraki’s “motivation” behind fighting against the hero based society he finds himself in. This certainly isn’t a bad thing though as it helps to further drive in the strange parallels between himself and Deku, and gives the implication that there are some big things on the horizon.
As the episode starts off, Shigaraki finds himself with two new recruits ready to join the League of Villains: a psych0 schoolgirl named Himiko and a mystery man who calls himself Dabi. However, both of them were attracted by Stain’s ideology and Shigaraki is still frustrated by the amount of attention Stain’s getting since he still can’t see much of a difference in their methods. Meanwhile, the Class 1A find out that they’re all headed to summer camp for battle training, and they decide to go shopping together to prepare. While they’re all hanging around the mall, Deku ends up running into Shigaraki who decides to briefly hold him hostage in order to as Deku about what makes Stain’s so-called “ideology” special. Deku responds that while he didn’t agree with Stain’s methods, he could understand them, since, at the end of the day, he was inspired by All-Might to fix the corruption he was seeing while in comparison, Shigaraki just wants the world to burn. This response has a pretty strange effect on Shigaraki as rather than acknowledging those differences, he comes to the conclusion that he and Stain really are similar since their drive ultimately comes from All-Might, and he finds his own sense of “conviction” in vowing to tear down the peaceful world that All-Might has built.
This might seem like a pretty weird place to end the season on, but I really appreciate that it did. Like I said back with the Hero Killer arc, Shigaraki can feel a little too one-note as a villain, but I’m glad that the story seems to actually be aware of this, and is taking the time to mold him into something more. At the very least, a brief flashback shot in the episode suggests that there may be more to Shigaraki’s grudge against All-Might than his crazy manchild tendencies would suggest, and I’m excited to see that get explored in a future season. It’s always expected for heroes to grow over the course of a series, but doing the same for the antagonist is an angle that isn’t taken very often, and it makes the dynamic between him and Deku all the more exciting. Both of them have to grow into their respective roles as the successors of a great hero and an evil mastermind, and that’ll make things all the more exciting when they eventually do.
The second season of MHA has been a pretty crazy ride, to say the least, but all in all, it’s one I enjoyed. My issues with the show’s dulled sense of pacing as opposed to its source material still kind of irks me, but it’s certainly bothered me less than in the first season, and the actual material we’ve been getting has generally been strong enough to make up for those deficiencies. Much like Deku himself, the anime has gradually started to come into its own over the course of this season, and while I’m not sure if some of my frustrations will ever completely go away, I’m really happy we’re getting another one, and I’m looking forward to seeing certain future arcs finally getting adapted. So until next time: go beyond, Plus Ultra!
In Summary:
MHA’s second season draws to a close as we get another big encounter between Deku and Shigaraki. This ends up providing some strange character development for the latter as while he hasn’t gotten to the point of understanding the ideologies of people like Stain, his overwhelming hatred of All-Might has evolved into a sense of conviction in and off itself as he vows to destroy everything All-Might’s built. This helps to make the dynamic between him and Deku all the more interesting as their obsessions with All-Might lead them down opposite paths, and with a new season inbound, I’m excited to see where this leads.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Funimation, VRV, Crunchyroll
