The fight may finally be at its end. Did it all mean anything? Join Karandi and I as we discuss the emotional impact that the latest episode of Boku no Hero Academia gave us as a couple of seasoned veterans.
Kapodaco
“I swear, if Nighteye attempts to use his quirk on a future villain and it turns out being wrong because of some stupid wacky evil trick…”
– Me, writing on an episode several weeks ago.
While not completely accurate (there were seemingly no stupid wacky evil tricks involved), the story went ahead and prophesized that Midoriya would die and Chisaki would escape. Alas, the episode ends with Nighteye admitting that he never saw the current outcome in his vision. Wouldn’t you know? His quirk can be wrong. How predictable… unless this is just the beginning, and the continuation of the next episode will have Midoriya die and Chisaki escape and… yeah, that’d end the show. That’s not gonna happen.
This episode began the same way many episodes before it began: an abrupt perspective change with a whole lot of filler nonsense that no one needed to know about. If anything, the life-force-sucking goon made for a scapegoat as to why the help that arrived weren’t in much condition to help, which, in some ways, made it more hilarious that those that arrived did immeasurably little to combat the situation, forced to simply help the wounded. I imagined that dragon lady would do a little number on Chisaki while Uraraka and Tsuyu managed from the sidelines as Midoriya got a little time to rest and/or escape with Eri. But nope! Midoriya did everything anyway… so… was there any point to their dramatic entrance?
Ignoring those points, this was actually a pretty decent episode. The two strongest occurrences came in the form of the Eri-Midoriya tag team and Chisaki’s past being revealed with a steady flow of info (albeit in the middle of battle). Turns out that he was responsible for the Yakuza head’s current condition—something that could’ve been predicted, but was never confirmed. His overall plan was also revealed, trying to establish a monopoly by selling quirk-erasing bullets to villains while also selling antidotes to the heroes affected. On the surface, this sounds super dumb, as the heroes could put two and two together and stop them from doing so. I mean, there are laws on that, right? That doesn’t seem like something that could happen in civilized society, does it? Regardless, it’s good to know the full details after all that foreshadowing, which… might imply that the battle is close to being over. Is the author trying to spill all of that out because of it? Or because they couldn’t think of any other time where it’d be appropriate? Maybe this episode isn’t decent after all…
But! The fight between Chisaki and Midoriya out in the open was fairly nice. Progressed the plot smoothly and it felt like the emotions were getting through to me, just like old times! Midoriya using 100% of his power almost makes him Super Saiyan-esque, complete with glowing, flowing hair, and that power is almost One-Punch Man levels of OP. The connection between him and Eri was also cute enough to get me to empathize with the situation. And her quirk… the power to rewind… that will definitely… be hard to logically write around. But it’s fine! She doesn’t know how to control it! Saves her from being immediately OP.
Bottom line is that I felt more during this episode. It may not make the same effort it making anything logical, but it was fun while it lasted. Sometimes that’s all you can expect with a series as emotionally flamboyant as this one. For me, it increased my overall interest in what’s to come and didn’t bore me to tears with its clichés. Bring on the next one!
Karandi
The second half of this episode, with Midoriya/Eri using their quirks together to beat Chisaki in an aerial battle which makes little physical sense but looks awesome, was the kind of dumb fun that a viewer can really get behind in My Hero Academia. As Kapodaco pointed out, Midoriya using 100% of One For All visually throws back to about a dozen other shounen stories and honestly it’s the kind of spectacle we needed from Midoriya if we are to start taking him seriously as All Might’s successor.
Again, there’s a few logical issues. You know, the whole part where in none of the flash backs to All Might using his power have we seen him flying about with seemingly no propulsion and surrounded by glowing lightning so the fact that his quirk is visually so different when Midoriya uses it kind of needs to eventually be explained, but right now let’s just go with it looked super cool and if they hadn’t visualised it that way with Midoriya getting all glowy and Eri sparkling like some demented Tinkerbell from his back we probably wouldn’t have accepted him winning this fight.
So yeah, other than a lack of common sense, the second half of this episode was amazing and honestly I’ll accept the lack of common sense. Let’s just go with it. Equally, while it was pretty obvious that Night Eye was going to be wrong and needed to be in order for Midoriya to remain our main character who overcomes everything through sheer will and determination, it was a nice touch at the very end of the episode.
But that then brings us the lead up in the first half which as Kapodaco points out is mostly pointless as very few of the characters do much of anything. We could have had much the same conclusion if they top team had just accidentally broken the street (no league of villain manipulations) and fallen unconscious into the whole allowing Midoriya and Chisaki to take their fight to the skies. Now, I guess the LoV being all involved will have later ramifications but it just felt like they were padding out the episode.
The other thing that really bugged me in the first half of the episode was the music as Midoriya leapt toward Eri. Normally I love when anime suddenly play a song to emphasise a dramatic moment, fight or choice. Sailor Moon is full of these moments and songs and they work beautifully at drawing you into just that moment. Here though it felt jarringly out of place. Not that MIdoriya and Eri leaping together wasn’t a suitably dramatic and heartwarming moment, but more the song itself just felt out of place in this series. It was actually fairly distracting and any actual emotion I felt at seeing Midoriya ‘redeem’ himself by reaching Eri was quickly brushed aside by my wondering who chose that song and why.
Still, none of that changes that this was a cool episode and a cool fight. Nothing in this arc has drawn me in as much as in previous seasons so this didn’t have the impact of season three’s fight where All Might made his stand but objectively, this was a very cool moment for Midoriya.
(To see all posts concerning this collab, check out my Collabs page!)
Thank you for your time. Have a great day.
The Visualist's Veranda 
This episode was SO GOOD. I was legit at the edge of my seat during the entire second half. In my opinion, Midoriya vs. Overhaul might be one of the defining moments in shonen anime this generation. Right up there with Goku going Super Saiyan in DBZ. There were a few plot things that didn’t really add up for me, but honestly I’m not the kind of person who cares those sort of things all that much. The story doesn’t have to be perfectly paced or have an ironclad narrative as long as it connects with me on an emotional level, and My Hero has been able to do that every season thus far.
Since you were asking about the insert song, it’s a vocal rendition of You Say Run, the upbeat rock song that plays during most of the climactic moments in My Hero Academia. I actually really enjoyed how they slowed it down; it added a ton of emotional weight to the scene. I love when series take a familiar theme and remix it to sound different, and using this song in particular was perfect because it’s kind of Deku’s unofficial theme in the series. He’s come such a long way since trying to rescue Bakugo from the slime monster in Episode 2!
Midoriya finally goes full super Sayan. Or did Kenshin finally get past the Jupengata to defeat Shishio?
I enjoyed the backstories and the fights and the final episode was epic. I didn’t enjoy the wandering thru the villain’s labyrinth as a trope.