Viewer Log: My Adventures With Superman ep 21

 Season 3 starts with candy and ends with mad science. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 171

 The kids are all grown up. But two of them still need a little push. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 170

 The story is over, but the journey never ends. 

Last time on My Hero Academia Izuku honored Tomura Shigaraki’s last request. He met with Spinner, who doctors were able to save from transforming into a full Nomu. Izuku told him Tomura’s last words, that he fought to destroy everything. Spinner has a bit of a breakdown as he says that Tomura was his first, best friend and his hero. Izuku tells him that he thinks Tomura felt the same. As he left, Spinner promised to write a book about the League of Villains and Tomura Shigaraki so no one can ever forget the group and move on. Izuku thinks that’s a good idea and says that he hopes it’s a comic. Izuku went on to start his second year with helping with cleaning up the debris and learning that the new crop of first years is already idealizing him and the rest of his class. Later, Uraraka heads to the Troy base to be alone and to have a hard cry about failing to save Himiko Toga. She’s interrupted by Izuku, who knew where she’d be, and had deduced that he and the rest of class 1A/2A’s supporter needed support for once. He tells her that he also feels like he failed to really save Tenko, Tomura Shigaraki, and that he thinks that they’ll need to help each other. The rest of the class shows up, all also insisting that they need to support one another, and Izuku puts his money where his mouth is and tells them about how his power is fading. They have a goodbye party for Aoyama, and Izuku looks hopefully to the future. In a post credit scene, we see a child with an implied destructive power escape from a ruin and ask why it was only him. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open with this scared Edward Scissorhands-looking child, named Koki, as he escapes from wherever he was being held. The boy wore what looks like a fancy straitjacket and his threads coming off of his face. He thinks, “Was it just me?’ as he stumbles out into the busy street and sees people walking around.

 

Keigo and All Might have lunch and Keigo tells the former hero that he’s planning on expanding the Hero Billboard chart. His plan is to expand it out so that it can include both professional, capital H heroes as well as the normies that just try to help out. He figured it’s a way to show recognition to the folks that stepped up and helped out during the fighting. All Might says he’s surprised Keigo doesn’t want to just get rid of the glorified popularity contest, and Keigo says that it’s a flawed system, but it’s the best one they’ve got right now. He says that heroes need help to save more people.

 

We return Koki as the boy wanders the street. He has a flashback to when his Quirk first manifested. It’s kind of vague, but it looks like he’s got some kind of destructive quirk that causes things to break down in a black-purple smoke. His father is horrified by this and says that if Koki’s Quirk gets out, the family will be ruined. He orders someone kill his son and hide the body. When one of Koki’s siblings points out that that’s an insane request, his father changes it to lock him up and hide him where no one will find the boy. Furthermore, they’ll need to keep him silent. He’s not supposed to speak again. Koki is paced in a cell in what looks like a fancy house and left to rot. He escapes after the destruction, and wonders what he did wrong. We see his Quirk is active, causing more of that black-purple smoke to rise from his shadow. He wants to know wants to know what he did wrong, why was he forced to suffer alone in the dark while everyone else got to go around being happy. He’s about 5 seconds away from going on a rampage with his quirk… when a little old lady grabs him by the arm and asks him what’s wrong. This woman was the one that found a young Tenko Shimura wandering the streets and almost helped him… but pulled back when she saw the crazed look in his eye and said that the police will find him, eventually. She says that she often wonders if that boy did get help… and that question has kept her up at night for a long time.

 

We jump back to Keigo and All Might. Keigo says that Izuku was a beacon during the battle. Folks watched him fight and he taught them all something.

 

The old lady goes from holding Koki’s wrist to grasping his hand and says that everything is going to be alright. Granny is here for him. This causes Koki to cry and for his Quirk to dissipate. We pull out and see Izuku and Uraraka on patrol. They’d been headed over to handle this, but smile when they see that Granny has it covered. Keigo says that he hopes the changes they’re making, based on what Izuku showed them, will make the world a better place and make a world that heroes can take it easy.

 

If this old lady had a nickel for every disturbed child with a destructive power she came across, she’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?

 

We flashback all the way to the first episode, where young Izuku tries to defend a bullied kid from Bakugo and his cronies. He gets his ass kicked. Narrator Izuku says that not everyone is created equal, people are different in large and small ways. But those differences are what lead us to care about one another. We see that we’ve jumped forward about eight years. Izuku is now a teacher at UA, the embers of OFA having faded a while back. He’s taking notes in the teachers lounge as a now teenage Kota comes in to talk to him. He calls him Midoriya, but quickly corrects it to “Mr. Deku,” and asks where the class is meeting for the practical course. Izuku tells him to head to the bus stop and they’ll be headed to the USJ.

 

We’re shown snippets of what has happened since Izuku was at UA. He attended classes and graduated. All Might spent time with Recovery Girl as he healed up. Heroes like Mirko and Mt Lady did hero stuff. Shoji got some kind of award from a Heteromorph group, Koda applauding him. Enji and Rei continued to visit with Dabi. And it looks like Eri was adopted by Mandalay of the Wild, Wild Pussycats and started going to school with Koda. Aizawa and Present Mic visited Shirakumo’s grave. Izuku trained with his classmates and prepared for the hero licensing exam. Izuku and a bunch of the boys did their best to encourage Bakugo through his physical therapy, and he tells them to shut the hell up. Spinner released his book and it’s at least a marginal success. I’d like to think Izuku has a copy, and he too suggests it to anyone that wants or needs another perspective on villains and hero society.

 

We pick up with Izuku and Uraraka as they walk home from class, Uraraka commenting on the snow falling and Izuku saying they’re just three months out from Graduation. They confirm with each other that they’re sticking to their plans post-graduation. We then head to graduation, and every one of Izuku’s class get their diplomas. Izuku is told by Nezu that he knows this world wouldn’t be the same without him. Izuku, humble as ever, says that they all did this. After the diplomas are handed out, Tenya Iida aka Ingenium is called up to give a speech. His speech is encouraging and ends with him saying that they need to GO BEYOND! This being the cue for their vision of the surprise thing-breaks-through-the-wall moment. Theirs is Bakugo and Monoma using Explosion to burst through it, Bakugo shouting “And show the world what we can do!”

 

Izuku sums up the story thus far, that All Might gave him power and he started on an incredible journey. He then says that that journey is over, but you maybe are asking why he’s still talking. And in the first meta joke from Future Narrator Izuku, he says “It’s because there’s still runtime in the episode.”

 

8 Years later we join a middle school class as they discuss their high school prospects. One kid wants to go to UA. One kid wants to build support items and wants to study at Lightly Labs, which is where Hatsume ended up and has been excelling. We cut to Hatsume as she works on her latest Baby and her supervisor orders her to go take a bath as she’s been focused on building for the last few days. Another student wants to be a doctor, like Ryu Yoshida, the lizard doctor. That name is literally Dr. Dragon Yoshi-da, which is a punny name even for Horikoshi. A fox girl wants to be a professional coder and wants to work for GeL Inc, the programing firm that Danjuro and Manami Tobita (Gentle Criminal and La Brava) started. Yes, they’re still together and it makes me smile. One kid, Dai, gets teased for applying for UA when he’s got a less than impressive Quirk. He says that he won’t know if he can do it if he doesn’t try. The first UA kid says that he shouldn’t bother because the villain rate is dropping. By the time they graduate, only the best of the best will be able to make it, and that’s not him. He students are told to turn in their surveys.

 

Dai heads home, musing about how much his classmates have changed. He thinks about the heroes the idolized when they were younger, All Might, Endeavor, Deku, Great Explosion Murder God Dynamite (hey, someone said the whole thing), and Shoto. He seems to be the only one that still feels that way about them. He heads to the All Might statue, and says that whenever he feels anxious, he heads there.  

 

We cut to a news report about Shoji, the hero Tentacole and how he’s doing his best to bring awareness to Heteromorph discrimination. He’s given the Imamura Peace Prize. We then cut to a report about how Iida (Ingenium), Froppy (Tsu), Creati (Yaoyorozu) and Uravity (Uraraka) are doing a nation-wide tour of elementary schools. They’re apparently working on different programs to fill time as villain rates have dropped. Uraraka is spearheading a Quirk counseling program that people are saying is the social program the world needs most. She’s trying to pull other heroes into the program as well. We see Eri, now a high schooler, meeting with friends.

 

Izuku gets shown a video of Bakugo freaking out while handling a fire by Aizawa. He says that Bakugo’s rating is going to nosedive, again. In the video, Bakugo shrieks at the kid taking the video to leave or die as he’s not here for his entertainment. Izuku asks Aizawa how trying to get Bakugo to calm down and speak more nicely has gone, and Aizawa shrugs, saying he failed. He adds that Shoto is going to get a big lead on Bakugo now, as he’s an extremely diligent, hardworking hero. He’s so good that most folks don’t bring up that he’s Endeavor’s son anymore. Izuku is pretty jazzed about that, saying that he’s sure he’ll rocket up past Mt. Lady, Kamui Woods, and maybe even dethrone Mirio from the top spot. He mentions that Monoma and Honenuki are hot on their heels. Aizawa gives him a look and asks Izuku if he misses it. Izuku nods, but says that he realized something when Fuwa spoke to their class at the start of second year. Sure, he was going to lose his powers, but he still had experiences that would be worthwhile to share with others. We pull in on some photos Izuku has taped up on his desk, showing him with various students he’s had. He figured doing that would make him ‘cool.’ He asks Aizawa if he’s cool, and Aizawa flatly tells him to be stricter with his students. Aizawa says that these days, UA graduates are all but guaranteed hero spots, so they need to give the students discipline so they don’t end up arrogant and lazy. Izuku points out that Aizawa was pretty nice to his class, all things considered. Thus, proving to me that he’s blocking out a LOT of his first year.

 

Izuku walks home and sees Tokoyami and Hagakure on product advertisements. He sighs and mentions that since getting jobs, he and the former Class 1A have had trouble meeting up. Which, ya, that’s a tough part of adulthood. Gotta make time for friends and hobbies as an adult, kiddo. He passes by a statue that commemorated him and his class. A report on a billboard talks about how Kirishima is super popular among male fans and some boys shout about how they’re Unbreakable like him. Izuku thinks about how much he likes seeing his classmates’ exploits. He mentions when he thinks about his school days, he often ends up at the All Might statue. One of the kids runs by and nearly falls on his face. Izuku dives to keep him from hitting the ground to hard, and sees Dai also tried to help, but he misjudged the jump and ate it really bad. Izuku sees the kid run off, and then helps Dai up, who geeks out when he realizes he’s looking at the Deku. They talk, and Dai mentions how he’s got a weak quirk and how that makes him anxious. He comes to the All Might statue and asks the statue if he can be a hero like them. Izuku realizes that Dai is in the same spot he was back in the day. He starts doing his analysis muttering, talking about how Dai’s ability to throw the large dots that grown on his head is a hair-based power like Mineta. Dai realizes that he’s trying to help but wonders why he’s being creepy about it. Izuku gives him the ‘You, too, can become a hero.”

 

Izuku says that he misses being a hero. But so long as he can keep inspiring others, this is still the story about how we became the greatest heroes. We get a “The End” graphic, but Old All Might grabs it and crushes it in his hands, telling Young Midoriya to hurry or he’ll be late to class. Izuku is excited to see him and asks why All Might didn’t tell him he was headed in, as Izuku would have gladly picked him up at the Airport. All Might reveals that he picked up a lot of data from his final battle with AFO. He hands Izuku a brief case designed like his Deku costume, saying that while the data he got was good, he and some others want Izuku to gather more. Since Izuku is one of the few people alive that has experience with multiple Quirks, he’s uniquely suited for it. The suitcase opens up and transforms Iron Man style into suit. All Might reveals that Hatsume and Melissa Shield’s made it, thanks to donations from his classmates and particularly a large donation from Bakugo. All Might tells him not to hide his excitement and get on out there.

 

We cut to Keigo, who mutters things are easier now but there’s still excitement. He calls heroes in to handle a landslide, and Izuku and former class 1A gather to handle it. Bakugo holds out his hand to him and tells Deku to come on. Izuku leaps into action with his friends, including Aoyama who must have gotten certified as well. As they charge, he sees a ghostly vestige of Tomura Shigaraki looking up at him from a roof and nodding approvingly. Narrator Izuku says that he and his friends will keep trying to save people and help others.

 

Over the ending credits, we see where everyone ended up. Hagakure and Aoyama are working together independently. Kirishima and Ashido are working together, Ashido using her charisma and zealous comments to earn him media attention. He’s selling a manly calendar and Ashido keeps her fans entertained with her breakdancing. Tsu and Uraraka are working with kids and on that Quirk counseling program. Shoji and Koda are dealing with human rights issues, and Shoji is now confident enough to go without his mask more often. Kaminari and Jiro work together, doing both hero work and training Eri on instruments. Ojiro and Sato are massively popular and Ojiro plans to open a marital arts studio. Tokoyami and Shinso are working together and are famous men of mystery. Tenya Iida took the lead on the Ingenium Agency, but his brother Tensei has made a recovery due to support items so is also helping out. I don’t have proof Hatsume is the one that built him the tech, I just know she did. Yaoyorozu works in a lab and is a lecturer in her spare time. Sero and Mineta are working together, Sero’s popularity annoys the shrimp who thought he’d be the more popular of the two. Shoto is also massively popular and doing good works. Bakugo is doing well but his attitude keeps him from staying high on the popularity charts. He’s still really close with Best Jeanist and Edgeshot, who did get to be human sized again. And finally, Izuku works as a teacher but is taking up hero work again. The story ends with a “the story continues on…” tease.

 

Well, that was a hell of an ending. I remember when the manga first finished up and there was some outrage over how it ended. There were folks that were upset that Izuku ended up retiring from hero’s work to become a teacher. I chock this up to some folks not fully understanding the story. Izuku from minute one was an inquisitive child that liked making notes, analyzing others and figuring out the best way to use the abilities he was eventually given by All Might. That’s a skill he showed off a few times in the various training arcs and would be ideally used in a classroom where he’s training the next generation of heroes. And from there, he can use his natural charisma and empathy to help raise up future heroes that are powerful enough to stand up to someone like Tomura Shigaraki, but with the necessary empathy and intelligence to stop those kinds of threats before they happened. His actions inspired that old lady to not wait for someone else to stop a threat, but to be the hand of comfort for someone who needed it. Being a hero in his eyes was never about the fame or power, it was about helping people, something he can do in spades as a teacher. The worst folks mocking this choice made a bunch of AI pictures of Izuku working at McDonalds which, like, wow, way to be a dick. I love that we went full circle with him. All Might once told a powerless boy that he too can become a hero, so too the hero Deku told a boy without much power that he too could become a hero. There are folks on the other end of the spectrum that didn’t like that Izuku got an Iron Man suit that lets him continue to be a hero, they feel like it cheapens his sacrifice if he just gets tech-based replacements. I think this argument has a bit more weight to it, but I like the suit. Being a hero does matter to Izuku, and being given the chance to continue to help people along with his friends feels like a reward that I don’t want to take from him. It’s having his cake and eating it too, to some, but folks only complain about that when they didn’t get that option, ya know? Okay, so that’s the main story of My Hero Academia. The extremely hectic two years in the life of Izuku Midoriya, the hero Deku, the Ninth Wielder of One For All that faced off against and defeated the generational evil of All For One and saved the soul of his greatest victim, Tomura Shigaraki. It was a hell of a ride. But we’ve got one more epilogue to cover before I do a total wrap up. See you for that tomorrow. Have a good night and stay safe. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 169

The best way to change the world is to support each other. 

Last time on My Hero Academia, everyone started adjusting to the new normal. Izuku and friends were taken to the hospital and given the emergency medical care they desperately needed. Bakugo’s right arm was pretty messed up, to the point where the doctor suggested he might want to consider amputation and a weaponized prosthetic, but he refused, wanting to do the physical therapy. He also learned that Izuku only has embers left of OFA after beating AFO, which was a gut punch to Bakugo. He really thought he and Izuku would be competing forever. Izuku and co were finally able to officially move up to the second year, they’ve still got Aizawa as their homeroom teacher because. They learn that part of their school activities this year is to help with the reconstruction of Japan and do PR for heroes. Aoyama announced that he’s withdrawing from school, but he intends to still become a hero, he just wants to start over and do it the right way. His spot is getting taken by Shinso, who everyone is excited to include. Uraraka looks like she’s holding some things back, but Izuku isn’t able to talk to her one on one to find out what. Shoto and his family visit Toya. The villain, formerly known as Dabi is basically a burnt corpse that the doctors are trying to keep as comfortable as they can before he dies. Enji, the man formerly known as the hero Endeavor, tells his oldest that he’s retiring from Hero work and that he intends to spend whatever time they have left being with him. He knows it won’t make up for much of anything, but he does at least want to be there for Toya in whatever capacity he can. Toya gets agitated and they try to sedate him, but Shoto asks him one last question, “what food do you like?” Dabi says Soba, and Shoto says that’s his too. Dabi starts tearing up as he gets put to sleep and apologizes to his baby brother for the fighting. Outside, Natsuo informs his family he’s going no contact with his parents, at least, and that he’s going to get married soon. Enji respects his decision and swears that he’ll spend the rest of his life trying to make up for some of the harm he caused. Natsuo tells him that that’s a hell of a thing to try to do. Enji says that that’s the dance he agreed to. The Todoroki children leave, but Shoto tells his parents that he has his friends and thus will be okay going forward. When alone Rei agrees that they’re in hell, when she realizes that they’ll be dealing with Enji’s former sidekicks as they ‘help’ their boss, and the new Public Safety Commission President, Hawks, calls in to check on him. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open on a very sweet scene, of La Brava and Gentle Criminal reuniting. The former wanna be Villain TikToker has been paroled due in no small part to his help during the battle and his fiancée’s help on the technical side. Like, they don’t say they’re engaged, but come on, he’s buying a ring for her with the first paycheck he gets. We then cut to Hawks… or I suppose he’s just Keigo Takami now, Takami having a meeting with Lady Nagant. She was paroled as well, but she’s electing to finish her sentence. She’s… apprehensive of someone finding a way to use her like the previous PSC, so she’s fine having her room and board covered by the taxpayer until Izuku Midoriya can prove he’s changed the world. So, no pressure on the 16-year-old.

 

We then cut to a TV documentary focused on ‘who is Tomura Shigaraki?” Tomura is obviously pretty universally despised after what happened, the man did try to overthrow the government and possibly destroy the entire island nation, but these folks obviously don’t have the full context. Was Tomura a monster? Yes. But he was the monster a madman and society made. Interestingly, one of the people interviewed is clearly the old lady that once met a crying Tenko Shimura and didn’t do much to help him. How interesting… A new reporter tells us that cuts in to mention that repairs across Japan are going well, but the widespread destruction across the country is just absurd. The reporter promises to inform everyone on who Tomura Shigaraki was in the second half of their special. As he speaks, Izuku is brought in to speak with Spinner.

 

The doctor on staff, the one with a mushroom cap on his head, says that Spinner was beginning to turn into a Nomu because of the extra Quirks he was given, but they’d found a way to reverse the damage as he wasn’t too far gone at that point. Spinner calls Izuku a murderer and says he’s got a lot of nerve showing up here. Izuku says he deserves that, but they need to talk about Shigaraki’s death. He gives Spinner Tomura’s last words, and that they were specifically for him. Not for Toga, Dabi and Compress, just him. Hearing that causes Spinner to snap, saying that Tomura was his hero and the man he looked up to. Tomura showed him that he was worth something and gave him hope that one day he’d be able to do something great. He hated being a heteromorph, but Tomura gave him a reason to live. He starts hulking out as he talks, he screams as Izuku that Tomura was everything to him as he grabs the boy in his claws. The doctor threatens to call security, but Izuku tells him to hold off. We cut back and forth between the news report and Spinners words here. The folks on the report all describe Shigaraki as a monster, some are more empathetic than others, but they all are wary of accidentally sugarcoating the situation and inspiring copycats. The classic, “ya, he had a traumatic childhood but is that REALLY an excuse?” type stuff. Spinner yells at Izuku that he and Tomura were both gamers, and they liked a lot of the same games, and he goes so far as to call Tomura his best friend, the first he’d ever made in his life. Izuku tells Spinner that Tomura said he had to be the league’s hero, to be their example, and that makes Izuku think that Tomura felt the same way about Spinner. The League was important to him, they were his friends.

 

Spinner starts to shrink down and admit that he got caught up in their movement. He thinks back to just before the fighting, when he saw Tomura in pain as he was processing the mutations that were given to him, and asks if he’d been braver, if he’d taken one more step, could he have saved Tomura. The report concludes with one of the interviewees saying that they always need to be on the lookout for the next All For One and Tomura Shigaraki. Izuku gets up to leave, and Spinner asks if he and the heroes will keep fighting. Spinner thinks that Izuku and the heroes will go off, be all smiles, and try to forget about him and the league. He tells Izuku that he’s not going to let that happen, he’s going to write a book about the Symbol of Fear, Tomura Shigaraki and how he tried and almost succeeded in tearing everything down. Izuku says that he hopes it’s a comic book. Spinner is angry at that comment, until Izuku says that he’s worried over nothing, they won’t forget. They had a mild stare off, and then Spinner tells Izuku to tell Shoji to keep up the good fight. Once alone, he admits that having illustrations in his book might be a good idea, pictures are super important.

 

Outside, Izuku meets with All Might and Tsukauchi. Tsukauchi tells Izuku that he fulfilled the request he made. The request? He arranged to have Overhaul get a visitor, his ‘Pops’ the former head of their Shie Hassaikai and Eri’s grandfather. They’d been able to reverse the coma that Overhaul put him in with a support item. Pops chastises Overhaul for all the damage he did and for destroying their organization. Overhaul begs for forgiveness, but Pops sternly tells him Eri is the one he should be begging for forgiveness from. He hopes his granddaughter will be able to forget about what Overhaul did to her, but he swears that he’ll see to it that Overhaul never will. Izuku thanks Tsukauchi for that and asks if they can make sure nothing like this happens again. Tsukauchi says no, they can only prepare. All Might jokes that Hawks could recruit an army of heroes but tells Izuku that he was joking when the young man gets excited. He tells Izuku they need to hurry back to UA to meet the new students. Izuku says that he’s not sure why, as upper and lower classmen rarely interact.

 

He’s proven that isn’t so true this year, as Bakugo and Shoto are being chased down the halls by exuberate freshmen. The new students gush about how cool they think Bakugo and Shoto are. Iida tells them all that their support is appreciated but to tone it down a few notches. Shoto and Bakugo, who were hiding behind him, agree. Shoto says that he’ll speak to people one on one if they like, and Bakugo tells Iida to give ‘em hell for running in the halls. Inside the classroom, Shinso says that he’d though Bakugo would like groupies, but Sero says that even Bakugo can handle only so much attention. Izuku tells him that this is also a bit new for Bakugo as girls have actively avoided him for… some reason. Bakugo tells everyone to screw off, and we see Mineta and Kaminari are extremely jealous that Bakugo is now so beloved. One of the students forces his way in just to say that he respects Izuku and he wishes he can be brave and help others like him. Izuku thinks about Spinners face and feels a weird intensity in his chest. Uraraka is apparently watching him very carefully during that exchange and seems to be feeling something similar.

 

We shift to the staff room where Aizawa, Present Mic, and Ectoplasm are working. Present Mic says that he’d gotten another interview request for class 2A. Aizawa says to just delete it. Ectoplasm points out that some of the students, like Mineta, might like the attention, but Aizawa says that some might NOT like it, so they’re erring on the side of caution.

 

Later, the students are sent out to help with clean up alongside Fat Gum, Best Jeanist and their sidekicks. The students start the clean-up, Shoto freezes a bunch of rubble into a glacier that Izuku shoves away. Bakugo has a moment with Jeanist and Edgeshot. Jeanist points out that he’s still looking warn out and maybe he should rest, but Bakugo ignores the comment. He notes that Edgeshot is still pocket sized. The ninja themed hero tells him not to worry as he is recovering, he’s grown back his hands after all. Bakugo asks if he’ll ever be back to normal, and Edgeshot says he’ll never settle for anything less. The students clean for a while, and some of the locals make them a big lunch. The spokesman for the group says that this is their way of thanking them for their hard work, as it didn’t feel right to just sit back and let others do all the work. Kaminari says that they need to finish the clean up so they can feel like they earned the food, but the lead man says that they’d need a few more workers for that. A bus pulls up and Cementoss gets out, saying his students insisted on coming out here to say they’re sorry for being nuances to class 2A. They do a group bow and then insist that they can help with cleanup. Cementoss tells them to find something small on the sidelines and not to get in the way. The headman says that he’s not sure of the whole story, but it seems like 2A’s work ethic is contagious. Izuku stands with Tsu and Uraraka, Tsu noticing Uraraka is zoning out and asks what’s up. She nods and say that the world is starting to look up before rushing over to get food. Seeing Uraraka eat food causes Izuku to feel that beat again.

 

… Like, kid, you know you have feelings for her, right? This isn’t news for you? I knew that that’s how this would go down in Uraraka’s debut episode for goodness’ sake!
 

Later, Ashido tells Tsu that Uraraka is headed home for a bit when the froggy girl asks. Tsu says the weird thing is that Uraraka is leaving her unread. Which is weird for Uraraka.

 

We flashback to the end of Uraraka’s battle with Himeko, as the Twice clones turn to ash and float away. We learn that there isn’t any footage of this part of the battle as the camera gal working with the reporter didn’t bring a fresh battery for the camera. Uraraka says that only memories remain. We find her standing back at Troy, looking over the city. She notices that the lights are coming back online and things are starting to get back to normal. She thinks about how things had just been getting progressively worse since the original USJ attack by Tomura and OG League. Now, they’re making repairs, people are getting back to their lives and are starting to smile again. Things are looking up, like she said before. And then her eyes start welling up with tears and she admits that she’s holding feeling in because she doesn’t want to spoil that happy feeling for everyone. She’s repressing her pain, as she feels like garbage that she’s alive because Himeko gave her all of her blood. I know I’m a 35-year-old man taking to a fictional 16-year-old… but to any actual young people who might be reading my work: Do. Not. Do. This! Repressing things messes you up! Anyway, she’s crying and holding her stomach like she’s about to throw up with Izuku leaps over to her.

 

She tries to hide her face and act like nothing is wrong and asks how he knew where she was. He remembered that they’d had an important conversation here before and had a hunch she’d be there. She politely asks him to leave her alone for a bit, but Izuku bulldozes past that and says that she doesn’t have to pretend to be okay. He tells her that she’s always hiding how she feels and focusing on what others feel. He realized that she’s always prioritizing others over herself. Hell, that was literally their first interaction. She’s always been supporting him and everyone else, giving them strength and support. He calls her his hero and refuses to take the strength she’s giving out for granted. He takes her hand and says that that sometimes eases the pain. She lets him se her face and her tears and admits that all she can think about how Himeko is dead because of her. She sobs at having failed Himeko and how she could have done something different to save her. He asks himself who is there to support heroes when they need someone to ease their minds. Izuku admits he’s been doing the same thing with his thoughts about Tenko. He knew that he couldn’t face the battle against Shigaraki like the others he has. He says that heroes might ‘meddle’ with other people, but when they reach out, they can help.

 

Their conversation is interrupted by the rest of their friend’s arrival. Everyone knew something was up with Uraraka and they came to the same conclusion as Izuku, that she needed support for once. Tsu specifically calls her a dummy for shutting her out like that, and that Uraraka should know she can tell Tsu anything. Izuku feels his ember grow a little smaller, but he’s happy. Bakugo asks about it and accidentally tips the class off to Izuku’s powers running out. He offers to tell them everything.

 

We jump forward and see that class 2B, formerly 1B, had busts-built commemorating them, and Monoma is, shockingly, being a dick about it. We then head into the dorm to see the students throwing a farewell party for Aoyama. Izuku narrates that he has completed OFA’s mission as Eri and Jiro set up to sing for the class. Izuku muses that he hopes that they can keep helping each other. He trails off, but the implication is that helping others is how you actually change the world.

 

In a post credit scene, damn it, this better be the last one, we see a crying child stumble out of a destroyed house. His hands are glowing with a dark light of some kind, and he asks why is it just him.

 

Once again, I like we’re taking this slowly to tie off loose ends. It lets me savor the ending. I liked Izuku’s meeting with Spinner. At this point in the story, I think everyone who has been paying attention knows that Spinner is just a lonely guy that got wrapped up in something huge. Despite designing his costume after Stain’s and talking a big game when he first appeared, he’s just a former shut-in that wanted to rebel a little and ended up becoming a supervillain and a figurehead of a social movement. Who hasn’t dealt with something like that? I like that he’s sticking to his personal ideals, that from his perspective, Izuku is the villain and he killed Spinner’s friend. I think he’s being a little dramatic when he says Tomura was his only friend, but I do buy that he saw Tomura as both a role model and best friend. It’s a real shame that they met like they did, as if the two of them had just been able to meet up in League of Legends game or something, they probably could have been friends without the villainy. I really like his resolve to write a book in order to not let Tomura Shigaraki and his other friends be forgotten or turned into one-dimensional monsters. And it being a comic book or at least having a fair number of illustrations is a good idea. AFO nearly destroyed the world because of a comic for goodness’ sake. I doubt history will ever look kindly on Tomura or the League, its good to have a multitude of perspectives out there. It was also nice to finally address Uraraka’s pent up guilt. In universe its been at least a few weeks since the battle, and it’s clear she’s been bottling up her emotions the entire time. I’ve never had to bottle up survivors’ guilt, but I am a bit experienced in repressing and it’s not good for you, man. Uraraka has been supporting her class a lot from the start, so I like it that everyone realized that she was the one having trouble for once and they rushed to help her. It’s the ones who lift other people up that often have the worst time asking for help. Izuku calling her his hero as she exemplifies everything he wants to be going forward, someone that is kind, and helpful, and wants to heal the world, was really nice. He recognizes her contributions. So… ya, we got one more main episode and then a flash forward epilogue-epilogue left. See you there. Have a good night and stay safe. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 168

 Everyone adjusts to the new normal. 

Last time on My Hero Academia, All For One and One For All clashed one last time. Spurred on by his friends and allies, Izuku rushed AFO in an attempt to defeat the Demon Lord once and for all. Everyone still standing contributed to getting him past AFO’s mass of tentacles and spines to get a final hit in. He was almost stopped by Kurogiri. The last High End Nomu teleported to his master to beg AFO to return Tomura Shigaraki as Spinner was waiting for him. Bakugo came in with the last save to open the way for Izuku. He struck the villain hard in the chest and almost destroyed him, but AFO rallied one last time. Izuku charge again, saying that AFO is no Demon Lord, he’s just a sad lonely man. AFO gets a vision of Yoichi in the mindscape and he begs his brother to stay, but Yoichi warns him that this is the end. The other OFA Wielders and Tomura manifest and they lead a one-punch charge on AFO’s mind. Izuku and Tomura’s fists connect as they both strike their version of AFO. This lets the boys have a farewell, with Tomura asking him to send his goodbye to Spinner, his most loyal friend. The final shot of the episode was Izuku punching upwards into the sky as the sun breaks through the clouds. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open with Meryl the weather girl in Washington state. She tries to ‘apologize’ for her ‘outbursts’ last week, but her director is keeping her on a tight leash, warning her to not do any more adlibs. She pivots to saying that it’ll be a windy day and wondering how that wind will affect this battle-weary world.

 

We jump over to Japan where the construction to repair all the damage that the battle caused is underway. Some kids run up and marvel at all the heroes like Cementoss and Salaam the Egyptian hero helping with the effort. Izuku takes over the narration, saying it’s been a week since the battle and Japan is finally getting to repairs that have been delayed since the Jaku incident. Once the fighting stopped, foreign aid came pouring in, particularly from the US. One of the construction workers marvels at how much easier the job is with all the Quirks they’ve got access to. One hero throws up a holographic display of the building they’re throwing together to give the construction crew a reference.

 

Shifting to the hospital, we enter the Bakugos room, where that lizard Doctor tells Bakugo and his parents that his injuries were really bad and his body will never be exactly the same again. He’d been watching the fighting and knew that Bakugo’s injuries would be bad before operating. They did their best to repair his right arm, but the bones were badly busted up. The doctor says that he could consider getting a weaponized prosthetic like Mirko uses, but Bakugo gives that a pass. He needs his arm to use his Quirk after all. He refuses to accept that Izuku might surpass him while he’s like this, so demands that he start physical therapy right now. The doctor says he can train ‘lightly’ for now. The doctor says that he’s impressed, in a scolding sort of way, that Bakugo did so much with a broken arm and an emergency stitched heart, so he just needs to rest for now.

 

We shift over a few rooms to Izuku’s. The green-haired young hero wakes up to find All Might laid up beside him in his own hospital bed. He says that Tsukauchi pulled strings with the staff to get them into the same room. They check on each other. All Might says that the doctors told him they’d never put so many screws in one body. And Izuku says he can feel his hands a little. Izuku laments that he wasn’t able to save Tenko, despite everything he did. All Might tells him that he did his best and that he’s pretty sure he saved Tenko’s soul even if he didn’t save his life. Izuku remembers that he died with a smile and a word of encouragement to do his damn best, so All Might is probably right. Izuku says that while he transferred most of OFA into Shigaraki to try to stop him, he still has embers of it left. Bakugo then bursts into the room, dragging his IV and parents with him. Mitsuki apologizes for her son, saying that he refused to stay in his room until he got to check on All Might and Izuku. Bakugo is horrified to hear that Izuku is down to embers, knowing that that means his power will fade. Izuku puts on a brave face, saying that he doesn’t regret his choice and he got to live as a hero for a while. Bakugo remembers all of their interactions, how they shifted from an angry to friendly rivalry and how he told Izuku to not let him, Bakugo, surpass him. He starts sobbing, admitting that he’d convinced himself that after the battle, Izuku would get back to normal and they’d keep going like before, pushing each other like they’d had all their lives. Izuku says to not be like that, as he still has the ember so they’ve got some time left. All Might tells him that he’s lived his dream, that he’s been a hero since running in to help Bakugo and that he’s been encouraging people to be their best selves. He also compliments Bakugo for being a great hero and the three share a metaphorical fist bump. Narration Izuku says that he thought that he world would live in harmony without fighting, but that’s not how life works. He admits that we need to set up a few more things if we’re to chart a bright future. We get flashes of Uraraka and Shoto in their hospital rooms as the scene shifts.

 

We shift to some weeks later when Izuku, mostly recovered but sporting a new hairstyle as about 25% of his head had to be shaved for his various surgeries, heads back to UA. Narrator Izuku tells us that in June they finally hold the graduation ceremony for the 3^rd years. The big 3 get their diplomas, and react as you’d expect, Amajiki is nervous and Nejire is boisterous. Present Mic starts DJing for the graduates, because of course he does. Amajiki asks Nejire how her injures are, and she says they’re bad, but when she’s happy she barely notices them. Amajiki says that’s thanks to Mirio looking out for them when the fighting got real bad at the Coffin in the Sky. Izuku compliments Principal Nezu, the little weasel used his notoriety and influence all over the world to secure aide and help set up Japan for the work they’d need to do to repair the country. Mirio gets to make a speech, he compliments everyone for their work and that they’ve still got a lot of work to do. He encourages them to make a world where everyone can smile and tell jokes again. He phases out of his clothes and into the ground. He shouts “See ya!” as he bursts through a blank wall they had set up, leading that giant golden head tank thingy one of the other 3^rd years used back at the cultural festival.

 

Izuku and his classmates get moved up to Class 2A. Aizawa comes in and says he’ll be their homeroom teacher again. That isn’t how things are usually done, but this is an unusual year, and the students are just happy to have him again. Bakugo makes a snide comment and Sero asks if he shouldn’t be in the hospital still. Bakugo replies he just needs to take it easy for a while and he’ll be fine, and they need to be all together for as long as they can. Aizawa tells them to quiet down and calls in someone. It’s Aoyama. He tells his friends that he’s dropping out of AU. No one is happy with this, but they’ll respect his decision. Aoyama reveals that Tsukauchi and Nezu said that he could stay, but he’s choosing to take responsibility for his actions. He is dropping out, as he only enrolled in UA to be a spy… but he’s not giving up hope on being a hero. He swears to his friends that he’ll find his own way forward, and someday he’ll stand with them, head held high as a hero. Aizawa nods in approval. Aoyama opens his jacket and makes a lightshow to tell his friends to not be sad. He then introduces their new classmate, Shinzo! Everyone rushes over to welcome him… which upsets Aoyama as he wanted their attention for a little longer, and he starts spinning and firing off more lights. These hit Hagakure, which cause her powers to glitch out and make everyone see her for the first time. Ashido gives her a tackle hug, saying she’s so cute, much to Hagakure’s embarrassment. Mineta tries to get in on that too, but Aizawa tangles him in his scarf and tells everyone to sit. Third year student Mawata Fuwa comes in and informs them that until further notice, 2^nd and 3^rd year Hero course students are helping out with repairs to Japan. She’ll be their point of contact for their various jobs. They’ll do repair work and general PR to try to rebuild the public’s confidence in heroes. Shoto points out that they’ll have to work hard as AFO originally came to power in a time like this. Fuwa heads out, but not before revealing she was in Aizawa’s homeroom back in the day. She says that he was a tough teacher back then, too (two years ago, sweetie, don’t talk like you’re in your 30s) but he taught her class how to be real heroes.

 

After class, Izuku and his friends head out. They tease each other a bit, Sero saying that Uraraka should give another speech despite that embarrassing her the first time, and Uraraka saying that she hopes Izuku’s hair can grow in again soon. She’s clearly putting on a brave face, but Izuku doesn’t get a chance to talk to her as they walk out. Izuku asks if Shoto will be able to make it to the party later, and he says he’ll try but he’s got a busy day. Shoto heads out to see his family, telling everyone that he’s going to be fine.

 

The house of Todoroki gathers together. They’ve all looked like they’ve seen better days. Endeavor is covered head to toe in bandages, and due to his injuries is confined to a wheelchair. The rest of the family are doing better, but Rei, Fuyumi and Natsuo all have serious burns as well. They all tell each other that no one ‘must’ be here, but they all agree they need to be. They head in and find Toya in a high-tech medical cell. He’s basically a skeleton with just a bit of flesh left on him. The doctor says that he’s on a slow march towards death, they are just trying to keep him in a reasonable level of comfort. They say that he can talk but only for a few minutes. Dabi makes up, sees his family and makes a crack about him being the latest tourist attraction. Endeavor tells him they need to talk about the future. I should probably stop using his codename. Enji reveals to his oldest that he’s retiring from hero work. He’s lost the use of his legs and his right arm, so he couldn’t keep fighting even if he wanted to. He says that he’d have done it anyway after the war. He compliments his oldest son’s flames, saying they were hotter than any he’d faced before and that he incinerated Endeavor. Dabi makes a few more jabs about it being a little late to flatter him. Enji takes responsibility for what happened to Dabi, saying that he knows that his son spent years trying to get his attention, but Enji never looked his way when he should. He knows the fire burning in Dabi is his fault. He reveals that he watches the video that Dabi released to discredit him every day. He promises that he’ll be there to see Dabi everyday, and begs his son to just talk to him. Enji also promises that his siblings might come by as well. Rei and Fuyumi beg him to use the time they have left to be together as best they can. Dabi actually starts tearing up, but his heartrate also goes up, so the doctors say they need to cut this visitation short. Shoto asks just one more question. He asks his big brother what his favorite food is. Dabi can’t answer, and they pull him back into his pod. As the Todoroki’s start to leave, Dabi whispers “Soba.”  Shoto says that that’s his favorite too. Dabi starts crying again, and he whispers, “I’m sorry,” to his baby brother.

 

Outside, Natsuo reaffirms that his feelings haven’t changed. He’s cutting contact with his family, he’s proposing to his girlfriend soon, there won’t be a wedding and they don’t get to meet her. Enji tells his son that he understands. It’s also revealed that Fuyumi has quit her job and is changing careers with the help of a parent of one of her former students. Natsuo asks if they haven’t done enough yet. Enji says that he intends to spend the rest of his life trying to make up for the harm he’s done. Enji assures Natsuo that he has done enough, but as his father he intends to keep going. Natsuo says that’ll be a hell of a way to live. Enji remembers when Dabi charged him and says that they’ll dance together in hell, and just says that ‘That’s the dance I agreed to.” Natsuo compliments his dad on sounding cool just that once before offering his brother and sister a ride back to town. Shoto runs over to the car but turns to tell his parents that he has his friends with him, and with them, he’ll get to be the person he wants to be. That makes them both smile. Enji’s former sidekicks, who are his ride home, start causing a scene and Rei mentions that this is indeed their hell. Enji’s phone goes off and she shows her husband that Hawks is checking in on him. We shift over to Hawks, who is putting on a brave face, and reveals that he’s the new Public Safety Commission president. That’s a good spot for the depowered hero. The credits roll.

 

I’ll start by saying that I like that this is a multi-part epilogue, as it lets Horikoshi tie off a lot of loose ends and makes the story feel more complete. Getting to see Bakugo tear up upon learning that despite the fight being over, things aren’t going to be like they were before was a great moment. He and Izuku have had a turbulent relationship, to say the least, but after his year of emotional growth, Bakugo finally understands that Izuku has made him better all this time. He accepts now that they’d spent most of their lives pushing each other to one degree or another and that he’s going to miss that when it’s gone. I like that Izuku puts on a brave face for him and says he doesn’t regret his choices. I know that’s true, my green boy is selfless to a T, but even as he smiles we know that he’s going to miss his powers. All Might giving them a ‘you did good,’ speech was also nice. Him thinking a lot of what he said last episode makes it clear that he’s been trying to put this into words for a while now. All Might knows what its like to be a hero and to walk away from it, so I think that makes his words more impactful. It was good seeing all the students back in their class again, it feels like a decade since they’d done normal school stuff. The changing of students will probably be a bit hard for class 2A, but Aoyama insisting that he’ll still be a hero in his own right takes some of the sting out of it. Plus, let’s be real, Shinzo absolutely deserves the spot. The kid has busted his ass catching up to the Hero Course students and has shown that he’s got all the right qualities to be a hero. And it was nice seeing Hagakure’s face again. It was sweet that Ashido’s immediate reaction was to hug her and say she’s cute. I like that we’re setting up something with Uraraka. As I said above, she’s clearly putting on a brave face to hide whatever emotions that she’s feeling. I hope Izuku gets it out of her soon. And now onto the heavy stuff, the Todorokis. I think this is the best way to end this little subplot. Toya is contained, in pain but they’re doing their best to ease his suffering. He hasn’t forgiven his father for what he’s done, but from those last few words to Shoto, I think he will spend whatever time he has left opening up to them. I like that Enji admitted to Toya that he’d done wrong, and that, ultimately, Toya got what he wanted. Endeavor is dead, and Enji will live with the consequences. It seems like a good-news-bad-news situation, in that this tragedy seems to have allowed Enji and Rei to reconcile. She’s at least able to be in the same room as him without having a panic attack, which is progress. Natsuo announcing that he’s sticking to a no contact policy after this is a bit sad, but I do think that it’s the right choice for him. Their family suffered a lot because of Enji’s choices, so he’s decided he won’t be a part of it anymore. I like that it seems like Natsuo is leaving on agreeable terms. It allows enough ambiguity that those that hope he never talks to Enji ever again can have their moment but also give romantics like me the slight hope that maybe, someday, Enji will do enough to earn a place in his middle son’s life again. As Natsuo said, it won’t be easy, but the possibility exists. I like that Enji intentionally made the callback to agreeing to dance with Dabi in hell. He’ll dance with his oldest for as long as he can. And I liked the reveal that Hawks has found a way to stay active without his powers. The former hitman of the Public Safety Commission as it’s president is… weird, but it feels like the right spot for him. We’ve got three more episodes of epilogue stuff to cover, so strap in. Have a good night and stay safe. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 167

 It all comes down to one final punch!

Last time on My Hero Academia Izuku finally broke through to Tenko. His intense empathy and the intense love Nana had for her wayward grandson broke through the anger and abuse Tenko suffered under Kotaro. This was a good news, bad new, and worse news situation. Good news, Tenko had an emotional break though. The bad news, it cost Izuku his hands as he grabbed Tenko and held on until Decay took his hands. And the worse news, the shifting in Tomura/Tenko’s mind allowed AFO’s Vestige to reassert control of him. Confident and smug, AFO revealed that he orchestrated Tomura’s whole life. He met Kotaro Shimura and pretended to be his friend. He encouraged Kotaro to have a second kid, to grow sterner and more authoritarian in his parenting, stole Tomura’s original quirk, and years later gave him Decay. It was a modified version of Overhaul, taken from a DNA sample of an orphan boy that grew into Overhaul. Using his new control of Tomura’s mind and body, AFO reshaped the body to better match his ideal He added a hand mask as well, for some reason. Once complete, he went to take care of Izuku, who lay handless on the ground. Izuku is saved by the timely arrival of Sero, Ojiro and Sato. They’d been dropped off by Aizawa. In a flashback, we learn that Aizawa and Present Mic broke through to Shirakumo withing Kurogiri and warped around getting back. Eri, wanting to do something to help Izuku, broke off her horn and gave it to Aizawa, assuring him that this would help. He used the horn on Izuku, which caused his hands to regenerate. He’s joined by the half of Class 1A that was still standing, and they all prepared to take AFO down once and for all. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

Izuku sits up and marvels at seeing all of his friends, fellow students, and the remaining heroes gathering around him. They all agree that they can’t call themselves heroes and stand by while Izuku fights alone. They let Mineta have the big line, the little pervert announces that “we are here!”

 

All For One isn’t all that impressed, since he’s surrounded by badly beaten children and B-list and below heroes. He gives us a slight explanation as to why he still exists. He concedes that he probably should have been destroyed when Izuku started hurling OFA users at Tomura’s mind to break through the metaphorical leaden wall, but sensing Yoichi’s disappearance saved him. Losing the object of his obsession left an empty void in his chest that no amount of empathetic connection that Izuku threw at it could overcome. I took this to mean that he’s basically a Nobody from the Kingdom Hearts franchise, his heart is gone but his body, his existence lingers. He says that he learned the lesson Izuku was trying to teach, that tragedy makes one stronger. He activates his Quirks and reformats his arms into a colossal mass of tentacles and spines. He asks if Izuku agrees. Sero actually steps up to answer instead, saying that he doesn’t. His life hasn’t had much tragedy or pain in it, but he keeps going because he wants to keep pace with his friends. He charges Sero and says that he thinks his friends agree that life is better without those tragedies! On cue, as he shouts and runs, two more Warp Gates open and Endeavor and Shoto leap through them and firebomb the SOB.

 

We flashback five minutes. Fuyumi and Rei Todoroki are rushed off to get their burns treated. One of the heroes escorting them says that Recovery Girl is pretty tapped out at this point, but the elderly hero will try. Natsuo, who is also badly hurt but still standing, tells his dad to hurry to the battle before he gets too tapped out to move as well. Endeavor forces himself to his feet, and Shoto insists on coming along.

 

Sero grabs them both Todoroki’s in his tape and whips them around, saying that no one should have to go through pain like they have. That was his first thought upon hearing Shoto beat Dabi earlier that day. Present Mic warps in as well and rallies the heroes to give it their all. AFO further mutates his form, adding more tentacles and spines. AFO is still confident, saying that these heroes are nothing, barely worth his time. The heroes start attacking, but AFO quickly blocks or diverts their attacks with his tentacles. Kendo of class 1B notes that it takes dozens of heroes to stop even one of his attacks… so they all need to fight as a group!

 

Izuku gets up to try to join the fight, but his legs give out. Aizawa reminds him that the horn only rewound him a few minutes, so he’s essentially back to where he was at when he started punching OFA into Shigaraki. He tells Aizawa that he’s lost the bulk of OFA, and all of the previous wielder’s quirks, but still has their compounded strength. For a little while yet, anyway. He knows that he can keep the ember of the power going, just ike All Might did. Aizawa looks annoyed, but unsurprised. He patches up Izuku’s wounds and gave him that shirt that the one guy gave him to keep the boy warm. Aoyama takes his hand and says that they need to rely on each other this time. We see everyone watching the scene cheer Izuku on as Aoyama throws him forward. An explosion goes off behind Aoyama, but he naval laser’s Izuku from behind to speed him forward, telling him to not look back. Aizawa tries to call out to Shirakumo to get out of the way, but his friend’s corpse is frozen.

 

The heroes are getting frustrated by their inability to hurt AFO when Aizawa screams at them to make a path for Izuku. AFO gloats that Omnifactor unleashed, the ability his original self tried that turned him into a blob right before Bakugo killed him, isn’t about giving into emotions and just blasting away, it’s about finesse and control. He forms a dragon out of his tentacles and tries to blast Izuku, but Hagakure leaps in and refracts the blast away from. Yaoyorozu and Kaminari combine their powers to make an electromagnetic railgun and fire spikes at AFO. He blocks and asks if they think they’re clever. He unleashes another blast that knocks everyone back. Izuku winds up for a smash, but the others leap in the way to block AFO’s attack. They tell him to reserve his strength for the finishing blow and to consider them his defense. Tsu and Shoji hold Izuku between them and they race forward. We get a shot of Tsu’s family back at Shiketsu, her parents and two younger siblings, as they cheer on their froggy girl. Yes, they’re all degrees of frog as well. The little girl from Shoji’s past also calls out that she believes in him. Shoji and Tsu throw him forward.

 

Izuku lands and almost gets swiped, but he’s saved by Ashido, Kirishima and Sato. They push the tentacles back, while Present Mic and Jiro use their combined sonic booms to destroy projectiles. The next wave of tentacles are handled by 1B and Mineta. He screams at Izuku to kick his ass.

 

AFO is clearly getting frustrated by this. The heroes he’s fighting are beneath him, they’re the carrion to his buzzard, and yet he can’t seem to kill any of them. He remembers writing off Izuku as worthless when he invaded Izuku’s mind palace and confronted Yoichi and the other wielders a while back. He finally realizes that he was wrong in that assessment, and that Izuku is motivating these people to fight past their limits. Izuku is pushed forward by bouncing off a Gentle Criminal’s air trampolines. Death Arms runs in and blocks more tentacles. AFO realizes that this is a power that Izuku has that All Might didn’t. The ‘strength of weakness,’ the power to keep getting back up over and over again regardless of how hopeless the situation is. Iida super speeds in and hurls Izuku forward. AFO realizes that so long as Izuku is alive, the heroes will just keep coming. He raises a hand to prepare another blast but a bit of goo seems to block the port on his palm.

 

We cut over to All Might and Ethan and Star’s old flight team. Ethan says that their plan was to fight to the bitter end, either killing AFO or dying in the process. They even disabled their ejector seats to try to stay in the fight until the last moment, but since those worked, he assumed All Might had them repaired. All Might says that the kids want absolute victory, so they need to have as few casualties as possible. All Might thinks about how he met Izuku and how the boy threw himself into harms way to save his ‘friend.’ He thinks that since that day, Izuku has been a hero. We get a flash of all the movie protagonists, Melissa Shield, Maharo and Kazuma, Guilio and Anna, and Rody Soul and his siblings all cheering on their hero.

 

Iida, as he’s mid-throw of Izuku, asks if he remembers their first day of school together. He says that he agrees with ‘her.’ We jump to Uraraka getting airlifted to the hospital with Pixie-Bob of the Wild, Wild Pussycats. She remembers telling Izuku that she likes the name Deku and thinks its kind of cute. We flash to the White House where the president orders all American heroes to Japan. His aide asks if that’s a good idea, as AFO will retaliate if he wins, to which the president says ‘who cares, just do it!’ Izuku says that he can hear everyone cheering him on and we get a flash of all the spectators and heroes shouting you’ve got this! All Might comes in to say that since that first day, Izuku has always been the greatest hero he’s ever known. Inko gets the last word in, running up and shouting for her son to do his best. Izuku charges through AFO’s slashing tentacles and hits him square in the chest with a full power smash.

 

AFO stunned by this turn of events. His body is starting to breakdown, as he realizes Super Regeneration just isn’t going to work on this decaying body of his. He makes excuses, saying that these insignificant beings gathered their meager power together and just temporarily overwhelmed him. He realizes that when Izuku transferred OFA into this body, it did damage not only to Shigaraki’s mind but his body as well. Remember from like the second episode? An unprepared body would be broken by the feedback of the power itself. Izuku gloats that after two years and the compounding of the Quirk transfer, OFA is even more powerful than it was when All Might last used it on AFO. He tells the villain to taste the power of all nine wielders. The rainbow power punch of the Nine Wielders shatters AFO’s body, disintegrating his body into ash. Or so it appeared.

 

AFO refuses to die, pulling his shattered bits together. He says he won’t die without having accomplished his goal. He seems to have been driven insane by Izuku’s last hit, as he mutters about taking one of the heroes fighting him, any one of them, and making them his new vessel. Claws form from his broken body and start streaking towards his targets. Izuku charges him again, not willing to let him have his way.

 

Shirakumo apologizes to Aizawa and Present Mic, saying that he has to act. He must protect Tomura Shigaraki, that is his purpose. He warps from their side and forms in the way of Izuku’s attack. Not to protect AFO, not really, but to beg his ‘master’ to give Tomura Shigaraki back. He remembers Spinner and his connection to Tomura, saying that Tomura’s ‘friend’ is waiting for him. But before he could unintentionally stop Izuku’s last attack, Bakugo flies in and shatters Kurogiri’s form. Present Mic screams that Bakugo was sent to the ER and asks if he explosion flew all the way back here. Bakugo boasts that he did, but admits that Shoto helped him with an ice ski jump. As he drops, he tells Izuku to not even dare let Izuku surpass him. Izuku says that he’ll never forgive AFO, but he understands him, their quirks resonate after all. There’s a flash between Izuku winding up the final strike, AFO trying to protect himself, and to that moment that started everything. We see from AFO’s perspective when Yoichi ran away. His inner monologue was asking, nay, demanding that Yoichi look at him, to remember that Yoichi belonged to him! Izuku exclaims that AFO is no Demon Lord, he’s just a sad, lonely man! And Izuku strikes.

 

AFO has a flash of when he and Yoichi were boys reading comics together. We enter the mindscape where an ember of Yoichi forms to AFO. He says that Izuku modified their plan and their Quirk ever so slightly to allow the brothers to speak one more time. AFO rushes to his brother and tries to keep the ember alight. He begs Yoichi to stay with him, to just show him his face one more time. He claims to love Yoichi, saying that he’s nothing without Yoichi, and they need to stay together. Yoichi warns AFO that he wasn’t the only being that the ‘knight’ Izuku awakened. Behind him, the other OFA wielders and Tomura form. There’s an amazing shot of Izuku in meatspace and the other wielders, Tomura in the lead, striking both versions of AFO and Izuku and Tomura’s fists meeting in the middle. This forms a connection to Izuku, letting him talk to Izuku one more time. He thought he was consumed by AFO when he stole back control, but he realized that his grandmother did something to protect him. He says that Izuku was right about him, in the end, he was nothing more than a crying child. Izuku says that he can’t forgive him, but he had to try to break the chain of misery that consumed him. He asks Izuku to tell Spinner, if he’s still alive, that Tomura Shigaraki fought to destroy until the bitter end. Izuku agrees to do that. We pull out and see Izuku doing his finishing uppercut as the sun breaks through the cloudy sky.

 

I don’t have too much to say about this episode as at the end of the day, it was just everyone getting a chance to shout, “you can do it!” and then doing one small thing to give Izuku the opening to strike AFO. It was nice that Horikoshi gave everyone still in the fight a chance to do this, from Mineta to All Might to the movie protagonists, everyone got a shoutout. I also liked that he included a few supporting characters for people other than Izuku, namely the kid Shoji saved and the rest of the Asui family. The Asuis never featured in the main series, but there was a short story included in one of the manga chapters that introduced readers to them. They are pretty much what they appear to be, frog people. The story itself was about how Tsu got over some internalized Quirk based racism for her to actually befriend a girl who’s Quirk gave her a snakelike head and face, so her natural enemy in terms of zoomorphic quirks. I just like it when stories acknowledge that characters have people outside the main cast in their lives, even the side characters. Izuku getting to build up for his one mega punch was great. The whole story was building to this moment of Izuku finally stopping AFO, and I like that ultimately, it was a team effort. He, Izuku Midoriya, 9^th Wielder of OFA and Tomura Shigaraki, AFO’s second wielder and greatest victim together defeated the evil that had so badly infected the world. Letting the Shigaraki’s have a sort of goodbye was a nice touch, as it highlighted Izuku’s point that AFO really is just a pathetic, lonely person. I do believe he believed that keeping Yoichi trapped in a cage, near him but beneath him at all times was his way of showing love. AFO is the personification of greed, and he could let anything go, not even the brother that tried so desperately to escape him. It’s a sad but extremely human motivation for the so called Demon Lord.  I liked that Izuku and Tomura got a goodbye too. They were never friends, and even in these last moments they had to talk about how different they were… but I like that Tomura’s last thought in this life was about Spinner, the only one of his teammates and friends that might get out of this alive. It’s a bittersweet goodbye for him too. So… ya, the fighting is done. We just need a few more episodes to tie off some lose ends. See you then. Have a good night and stay safe. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 166

 The truth of Tomura Shigaraki's existence is just sad. 

Last time on My Hero Academia, Izuku weaponized One For All. Izuku and the Vestiges plan to force the Vestiges into Tomura’s body, forcing a connection between the young men and hopefully allowing Izuku to break through his defenses and help him. This is rather difficult considering Tomura’s immense and varied powers. We flash across the battle fields and to the civilians, and see everyone is anxious for Izuku to win this fight. Some, like little Eri, get a confidence boost when Kota takes her hand and says he’ll win, others are less confident for various reasons, like Kaminari. Lady Nagant tells Rock Lock that she’s confident that Izuku will succeed as she’s been on the receiving end of his earnest desire to save others, and if he could break her defenses, he’ll get through Tomura’s. Izuku’s a clever little SOB, though, and is able to hit Tomura with 6 of the Vestiges, starting with Kudo and then following up with Yoichi, Bruce, Banjo, En, and Toshinori. The only one that’s forced back, somehow, is Nana. This forms an intense psychic link to form, and it pulls Izuku and Nana into Tomura’s mind. Once inside, they see his childhood home. Some old villains like Stain, Re-Destro, and Overhaul form as mental defenses, but Izuku pushes past them and opens the door to the house. Inside, they see the initially sweet moment of Tomura’s sister Hana showing him the photo of their grandma Nana and their dad, Kotaro, but then see the horrible moment when Kotaro finds out and slaps young Tenko. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open with Kotaro slapping his son, the photo negative version of Tenko Shimura, and Izuku and Nana reacting to it. Izuku immediately sprints forward to try to reach Shigaraki but finds there’s a barrier that’s separating him from the scene. He tries to force his way through as Kotaro tells Tenko that that ‘woman’ isn’t his grandmother. She abandoned her family, according to him, and he goes on to say a hero is nothing more than someone who leaves to protect strangers. This of course breaks Nana’s heart, as she realizes Kotaro kept the photo simply because he couldn’t bring himself to do it, not because he still loved his mom. Nana realizes that that Kotaro’s hatred infected Tenko and curses the fact that she wasn’t able to beat AFO and break the cycle. She apologizes to him for being so weak. Izuku keeps trying to force his way through and begs Nana to do it now! She transfers her power into Shigaraki like the others. She shoots through the barrier, grabbing Kotaro and stopping him from hitting Tenko again. She apologizes to Tenko for being weak as she and the Vestige of Kotaro break into pieces and Tenko fully forms.

 

There’s a flash and Izuku jumps ahead a few days to when Tenko’s decay quirk first activated. As young Tenko accidentally disintegrates his dog, Izuku senses the same danger coming from Tenko as he did outside of Jaku. Hana comes to apologize to Tenko for letting him take the brunt of their father’s anger, sees the dog ooze beside him and runs back inside. Tenko instinctively reaches out to her to try to stop her, but instead of grabbing her and accidentally kill her like in reality, Izuku, reduced to child form, leaps in and grabs Tenko’s hands. He swears they’ll finish this here. While in this mindscape, Izuku is able to break the rules of reality and do things like, say, keep his body from decaying when they touch Tenko’s hands. He just has to keep focusing on the reality of his own body. He says that he’s force Tenko to take OFA, and now he’ll give Tenko some of Izuku as well. Tenko asks why Izuku is doing this. Izuku says that he has to because he’s crying. Behind the boys, black-purple energy is surging. Tenko refuses to believe that he’s crying. He tries to own what he did, saying that he wanted to do this, he wanted to murder his whole family and flatten that house. He begs Izuku to tell him, if he’s not born to destroy things with these hands, why was he born at all? As the mental storm builds in power, Izuku realizes that Tomura is trying to weigh the hatred and catharsis of his evil actions against sadness and confusion. He’s still wavering, though, so Izuku refuses to let go. Tomura Shigaraki remembers what it was like right after the murders, when adults looked away from him and tried to ignore him. He realizes that if someone had just taken his hand back then… maybe things would have been different. Izuku tells Tenko that when he was lost as Dark Deku, someone (Iida) took him by the hand and it gave him peace. It’s because he knows how much comfort one can get if someone else gives a damn, that’s why he’s here. Tenko’s power is too much for Izuku’s body and he disintegrates Izuku’s hands. Despite this, he tells Tenko that everything will be okay, and it’ll all work out. Tomura realizes that Izuku’s feelings are flowing into him. Both boys fall face first onto the ground, with an exasperated, angry Tomura asking if this was really all it would take to break his hate.

 

Tomura flashes back to an afternoon playing with his friends. They were playing heroes and Tenko got a chance to play All Might, which excited him. The scene fast forwards to nightfall as Tenko insists he’s a bad guy. He does evil things, he hurts people because that’s his nature. The boys get up and are surrounded by mental images of Twice, Dabi, Spinner, Twice and Toga. Tenko insists that even if Izuku takes away his pain, it won’t work, because he has to be the hero to the villains that believe in him. Which is a weird stance to take, not going to lie. We get a brief few of a few depressed and/or misanthropic people that are cheering Tomura on in his effort to destroy society. The huge tower of hands that Tomura manifested before they entered the mindscape begins to crumble and Detective Tsukauchi begs Izuku to finish this.

 

In Tomura’s mind, he sees a very strange memory. Through the eyes of AFO, we see him approach Kotaro. AFO was playing the part of a businessman working at a place called Koga. Its clear from a few scenes that AFO had fostered a friendship between himself and Kotaro, as they’d walk together after work and got dinner together at least once. AFO is, to my meta perspective, already weirdly interested in Kotaro’s son. For some reason, neither Izuku nor Tomura recognize AFO’s voice when he speaks. Weird. Before they can puzzle it out, AFO’s Vestige manifests again, taking the mindscape and forming it into a giant body. It gobbles up Tomura, asking his vessel how could he break so easily. He claims that no choice Tomura has made has been his own, and curses Izuku and the other OFA wielders for ruining his brother and OFA.

 

As he’s being infinitely swallowed by the giant AFO, Tomura asks what the heck is going on. AFO manifests before him and says that Tomura was his puppet that he allowed to believe had free will. When Tomura still doesn’t get it, he explains. He learned after fighting and killing Banjo and later En, that he needed a stronger will than OFA in order to reclaim it. And when All Might arose and made him retreat into the shadows, he got to work. He admitted to spending years manipulating Kotaro. He didn’t start until after Hana was born, so he used his rhetorical skill and connection to Kotaro to convince him to have a second child, he stole Tomura’s original quirk when he was still an infant, and then to push him to get stricter and stricter with his kids. He even supposedly encourages Tenko’s friends into playing with him. After all of that, he disguised himself and approached a young Tenko and infected him with Decay. He even reveals that Decay is an inferior version of a Quirk that he acquired from the Doctor. He took a sample from a young boy in an orphanage, whom we’re all but told was Kai Chisaki aka Overhaul. AFO loudly and proudly proclaims that everything that Tomura has experienced, the hate, loneliness, anger, joy, and all the other things he’s felt, it was all AFO’s doing. He tells Tomura to get out of HIS body and disintegrates Tomura’s Vestige. We see the mindscape is being completely reworked into AFO’s body, he claims he wasn’t planning on doing this full redesign until AFTER getting OFA, but he’s got little choice now. He expels Izuku from the mindscape.

 

In meatspace, the hand cocoon bursts. AFO manifests, having morphed Tomura’s body to more resemble his own. He claims that he’s destroyed Tomura’s mind entirely, the only thing of him remaining being a crying he’s hearing at the back of his mind which he ‘banishes.’ For some reason, he also creates a hand mask to cover his mouth. Weird. He tells us that this drastic measure seems to have destroyed Decay as well. AFO laments losing that as well as his chance to absorb his brother, as Yoichi was used up breaking into Tomura’s mind. No matter, though, he’s focused on the future. He decides that he’ll have to focus on the hallow end goal, destroying the fetid world. Izuku tries to get back on his feet, a task made more difficult since his hands were in fact actually destroyed in that altercation. He’s just got pair of bloody stumps, he tries to get up but slips on his own blood. AFO walks over to him, saying that he’s going to lean into the narrative that they’ve created here. Loss makes one stronger, so he’s stronger now than he was before. Izuku didn’t have anything to lose, in his eyes, so this ending for him was inevitable. AFO holds up a hand and charges a plasma blast. But before he can fire, he’s tangled up in… TAPE! Sero leaps in to help Izuku. AFO is unimpressed, saying that Sero is a nuisance, a presence so unremarkable that Izuku’s presence drowned it out. Sero screams that they’re here to help.

 

AFO turns and slices thought the tape, only to get rushed by Sato and Ojiro. They take advantage of AFO not having Decay anymore and slam him back with a double hit. Izuku is stunned to see his friends there, but even more so when a Warp Gate opens behind him. He turns in time to see Aizawa step through, who apologizes for being late.

 

We flashback ten minutes. Aizawa and Present Mic are lost at sea with an unconscious Kurogiri, their comms down and no one knowing where they are. Present Mic is venting his feelings by punching Kurogiri repeatedly and telling the stupid carcass to wake up and tell them where they are. Aizawa grabs his arm and says that Kurogiri is crying. Present Mic refuses to believe that, saying it’s just the rain, Kurogiri doesn’t even have tear ducts anymore. It took them out of play because Aizawa was a danger to Tomura, end of story. Present Mic is angry and says that they’ll just wake it up to get them home and then put it down for good. They shouldn’t think about the minor miracle that brought Shirakumo back for a few seconds. He tells Aizawa that they’re 31, they can’t keep being students anymore. Aizawa points out that when he died, Shirakumo was still a UA student. He points out that Kurogiri could have easily killed them in transit, either by dropping them in the ocean, smashing them on the rocks, or ripping them to shreds between his gates. He grabs Kurogiri’s head as he said that they were able to draw out the light in Kurogiri once. Aizawa uses his Quirk on Kurogiri, saying to Present Mic that they’re UA teachers now, and as Teachers, they need to see students graduate. Even if it’s a bit delayed. He’s able to break through Kurogiri to Shirakumo, allowing their friend’s face to peek out of the darkness again. Present Mic tearfully says that these memories aren’t going away anytime soon, are they. Aizawa contacts Tsukauchi and gets a list of heroes that are still active, and their coordinates.

 

Aizawa runs into Shiketsu and tells Ectoplasm to gather every hero on guard duty that they can and to meet him out front. They need to hurry because they don’t know how long they’ve got control of Kurogiri and Warp Gate. Death Arms offers to help immediately, as does a no name hero, and the civilians offer up supplies to help the injured heroes. One guy gives Aizawa an All Might shirt off his back, which was sweet and weird at the same time. They then warp to the stadium where there’s still one villain left standing. They quickly take him out. A whole bunch of portals open and Aizawa announces that phase 3 is about to start.

 

AFO, still high on his own power, says that they’re all come here to have their Quirks stolen. Izuku is confused as to how AFO can be here, as he thought breaking through to Tenko would destroy him. Aizawa rushes over and asks how long ago Izuku lost his arms. He isn’t sure due to the weirdness of being in the mindscape.

 

We get another flashback to when Aizawa was leaving Shiketsu. Eri runs up to him and says that she knows that there’s zero chance that he’d let her come with even if she wants to help. But she figured out a way to help anyway, and offers her horn, telling him to give it to Mr. Deku. She asked Ectoplasm to help her break it off. She knows its just her horn, but she also knows that this will work. Aizawa starts to scold her for risking damaging her Quirk by doing this, but Eri cuts him off. She says that she wasn’t able to help Mr. All Might or Mr. Kacchan this way, but she wants to save Deku. She says that her dream is to be a singer, and that she plans to sing for Izuku and the others when this is over. Aizawa uses the horn on Izuku, which regenerates his arms. An Ectoplasm voice over says that it’ll only rewind two or three minutes, to let us know Izuku isn’t getting the rest of his powers back with this one. Aizawa tells Izuku he needs to hear Eri sing, so he’s not allowed to die. Mineta, Shoji, Koda, Yaoyorozu, Kaminari, Jiro, Ashido, Aoyama, Hagakure, Kirishima, and Tsu come through the portals. Mineta loudly announcing that if Class 1A hears Izuku is still up and kicking ass, regardless of how hurt and broken down they are, they’ll pick themselves up to join him. Izuku starts tearing up and prepares for one last smack down.

 

I’ve got to give Horikoshi praise for how he handled that reveal. He gave us all the information to figure this out, but I was still surprised. It’s been repeatedly shown that if a person is given a Quirk that isn’t compatible with their body, they can have physiological side effects. In Aoyama, it was his stomach pains if he overused his quirk, in Tomura, it was his chronic itching. Quirks are largely genetic, and while we only know Nana’s Quirk in regard to his family, somehow flight mutating into decay seemed… unlikely. He did give us the red herring explanation that quirks can mutate randomly like with Eri… but how odd it is that the grandson of Nana Shimura would be one to have this apparently super rare phenomenon happen to them. And AFO is absolutely the obsessive type of psycho that he’d stalk a family in order to orchestrate his grand master plan. Hell, even his relationship with Kotaro makes sense. Kotaro grew up without his parents, and while whomever fostered him did their best, I’m sure, the idea that he might still be looking for a paternal figure to fill the hole his father’s death and his mother’s abandonment left tracks. It is extremely screwed up to think that Tomura literally only exists because AFO manipulated Kotaro into deciding he wanted a second child. Dude is a freak. If anyone is curious, I looked into it, and according to Horikoshi, Tenko’s original quirk was that ring flight quirk that both AFO and Tomura have used in their battles. Neither know it, though, as Tenko had it stolen when he was weeks if not days old, and AFO steals a LOT of powers. Metaphorically stealing a child’s wings so he can be the perfect devil, that’s symbolism right there. It’s sad to see Tomura having his emotional breakthrough was the catalyst to allow AFO to reassert control. Dude was like two more minutes away from agreeing that he should stop fighting. Izuku losing his hands was graphic as hell. Aizawa breaking through to Shirakumo one last time so he could rally the troops felt really nice. I especially liked his scene with Eri, where this stubborn little girl takes after her various guardians and risks her own health and safety just on the off chance that she could help. Izuku saved her life once, so obviously she needs to save his hands. And Izuku having his exhausted friends at his back for this last battle makes me confident it’ll be a fight for the ages. But I’ll need to wait and see. Have a good night and stay safe. 

Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

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