Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 6

As I said last time, first days are nerve wracking. Said nerves are made all the worse when you’re reasonably certain that it might be your last. Trust me, I know. Granted, Mr. Aizawa has very understandable reasons for being so hard on Izuku. You can’t be a hero if your every Quirk-related action obliterates the body part that you’re using. Just saying. Let’s see if Izuku was able to salvage his ranking and not get expelled. Well, obviously, he does. He’s the main character of this show… so let’s see HOW he does it.

Yeah, I'd want him to teach me superhero stuff.

Continuing right from where we left off, Izuku used One For All (OFA) to lob a soft ball. He was able to focus his power to one finger, messing said finger up, but still leaving him on his feet. So, despite the crippling pain he must be in, he smiles semi-confidently at Aizawa. Aizawa looks to be about half impressed, half infuriated. He’s impre-riated. All the students are just impressed, except for Bakugo, who is just infuriated. Apparently seeing his former punching bag do even one thing exceptionally well is too much for Bakugo to handle. He flips out and rushes Izuku, demanding to know what trick he’s using to ‘fake’ having powers. Aizawa is able to stop him by 1. Canceling out his quirk and 2. Getting Bakugo tangled in his scarf. If you’re asking how the heck he did that, there is a very simple explanation. It’s a ‘capture weapon,’ designed to be lightweight and strong. I guess he controls it with his thoughts, they never really explain how Aizawa makes it move. He scolds everyone for making him use his powers so much, since his canceling ability gives him wicked dry eye. I feel your pain, Aizawa. The dry eye, not over using a super power, obviously. While he’s no longer actively trying to kill Izuku, Bakugo is still hyper furious. After that situation was handled, Aizawa posts the results.

After all the scores are tallied, Izuku is still shown to be dead last. Which surprises me. I know in his class there’s an invisible girl, a monstery looking but otherwise normal dude that can talk to animals, a pink girl that can spit acid, and a guy who can create cellophane tape from his elbows. These guys were able to beat out another kid that is probably one of the buffer teens, after 10-month training with All Might, and had a super lob with the softball? Not bloody likely. Doesn’t matter though, as Aizowa claims that expelling the lowest scorer was a lie. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief, especially Izuku. Well, everyone but one girl. She admits, after the fact, she deduced that Aizawa was lying. Way to look out for your classmates.

When class ends, and Izuku is sent to the nurse, All-Might confronts Aizawa. He reveals that the claim that Aizawa had lied about expelling someone was the actual lie. The year before he’d expelled an entire freshman class that he thought wasn’t up to snuff. Aizawa brushes him off. He explains that since Izuku has some potential, he won’t kick him out. Aizawa says, as he walks away, that it’d be crueler to let a student with no potential continue to struggle pointlessly. Which, once again, I can’t disagree with as he makes a very good point. All-Might seems to have developed a new respect for his fellow educator after this encounter. Which is nice.

A bunch of pretty neat costume designs.
And then there's are protagonist, the green bunny...

Izuku meets Iida and Uraraka after getting patched up again. Uraraka calls him Deku, believing it to be his name. Not her fault, as Deku is what Bakugo calls him. She was misled. Let’s see if I can explain this fast and simply. Japanese uses characters, or symbols, to denote words. Different symbols have different meanings and pronunciations depending on how they’re used. The last symbol of Izuku can be read by itself as Deku. Deku has a double meaning, depending on context. Bakugo uses it in the negative sense, “someone who can’t achieve/do anything.” That’s a very complex way to call someone a loser, isn’t it? Uraraka apologizes when she learns that it’s a mean nickname, but remarks that she likes it as it sounds cute. Izuku is immediately 100% okay with being called Deku from this point on. Just goes to show, if you want to make a mean nickname not mean, just get a pretty girl to say she likes it. Iida doesn’t get it, but then, I’m not 100% sure he can process non-curricular activities, so there’s that.

We get some quick exposition about how the school day works. The primary classes, Japanese, Math, Social Studies and so on are held in the morning, while the more important (for us anyway) Hero skills are done in the afternoon. Class 1-A’s first Hero Skill course is with All-Might. Everyone is excited, as it’s 1. Their first bit of hero training, 2. They get to be mentored by All-Might, and 3. Most importantly of all, they get to try out their super costumes. Woo! When the students first registered, they were able to submit a design for a costume. Said costume is then sent to a clothing company affiliated with UA, whom design it to meet the student’s sketches and/or ideas. And, while that deal is really nice, Izuku actually didn’t go along with it. In a flashback Izuku revealed that shortly after he got accepted into UA, his mother noticed a costume design in one of his journals. Mrs. Midoriya kind of jumped the gun, as she was so excited for her boy, and made him a costume herself. I don’t know about anyone else, but if mama makes me something, I wear it. Izuku is of the same mindset. His design, though, honestly looks really flipping scary. It’s like a green version of that bunny from Donnie Darko. It’s just an unsettling. Despite this, most of the students seem to like his look.  After All-Might grumbles about how obvious Izuku’s inspiration was, (his mask is modeled after All Might’s hair and toothy grin) he sets them up in two people teams. One team is the villains, the other the heroes. The Villains have a dummy nuke hidden somewhere in a building. To win, the Heroes have to get in, capture the villains (using tape) or capture the bomb. The villains win if they capture both heroes, again with tape, or the timer runs out. First match is Izuku and Uraraka as heroes vs. Bakugo and Iida as villains. This should be… interesting. And by interesting, I mean painful.

The villains go in first and start setting up. Iida is a little unsure about being made to be a villain, even for pretend, but puts some effort into the set up. Bakugo, on the other hand, could care less about the simulation. His one and only goal is to smack Izuku around. He’s completely livid at the idea that Izuku had been “lying” about his quirkless-ness for years and supposedly mocking him behind Bakugo’s back. He swears he’s going to “Roast that damn nerd!” today. Guy really needs to go to an anger management seminar or something.

Yeah, I don't think Bakugo is firing on all cylinders
at this point.

Outside, Izuku and Uraraka prep, and have a quick chat. Izuku quickly sums up his history with Bakugo, and Uraraka points out that this exercise then is really a fated encounter between rivals. Izuku denies this, but, yeah, that’s exactly what’s happening here. All Might announces that the test has begun, and both sides hop to it. Once Izuku and Uraraka slip in, they are almost immediately attacked by Bakugo. He goes right for the jugular, planning to waste Izuku in the first minute with an explosive punch. Despite Bakugo’s ferocity and his surprise attack, Izuku is able to predict his movements and flip him onto his back. He gives Bakugo a speech about how he predicted Bakugo’s movements (he studies everyone, even his childhood tormentor), and that from now on, Deku is the name of a hero. Despite Izuku’s claim, he’s trembling slightly at the prospect of a fight. Which only ticks Bakugo off more. And then the episode ends. My Hero Academia is really good at teasing, isn’t it?

I pretty much gave all my thoughts on the ‘pass Aizawa’s first test’ arc in the last post, so I’ll focus on the second half of the episode. Bakugo is really not taking Izuku’s growth well. It’s pretty clear that the (stupid) idea that Izuku has been acting weak just to mess with him is infuriating him. Well go into more detail about this next time, but suffice to say, he just can’t accept Izuku being good at something. It’s almost hardwired into him. Izuku, on the other hand, seems nearly giddy at the chance to take on Bakugo. This exercise is his first chance since the entrance exam to really try to use his new skills and powers in a ‘heroic’ setting. He might deny the ‘destined conflict’ between rivals thing, but that really is the only way to describe it. Well get to see whose philosophy is correct. Will it be Bakugo, who believes that being a hero is something you’re born to be, all but preordained at birth? Or Izuku, whom has trained night and day for it for most of his life? This is sounding a whole heck of a lot like Naruto right now… For those who haven’t seen it, early on in that long running manga/anime series, series protagonist Naruto goes up against a semi-rival named Neji. Neji is a big believer in destiny, believing the elites are elites from birth, and the losers are losers. Naruto, on the other hand, had worked hard up until this point to prove that he is, in fact, not a loser and going to be the best of the best. Yeah, this fight is incredibly similar. Just with two more characters mixed into the action. Speaking of, I really love Uraraka and Iida. She’s a super chipper, bubbly girl with a pretty unique ability. And he’s the so-studious-you’re-not-really-sure-if-he-leaves-the-school-at-night type… with superspeed. That’s pretty much all you get about them right now, but since they’re important support characters, we’ll be seeing a lot of them from this point onwards. And, come on, is anyone shocked by this? If you’ve been watching the episodes, you know that these two have a habit of stealing scenes. And, while Bakugo v Izuku is obviously the important story for next time, Uraraka v Iida is by no means pointless. Having seen the next episode already, I’ll just say that the payoff is pretty awesome for all those involved. See you next time.

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 5

I think it’s probably a universal truth that first day’s suck. Be it the first day of school, or at new job, something happens to make the day nerve wracking as heck. Granted, a large part of it can be choked up to just extreme nerves, but such days are further complicated by someone actively trying to make the day worse.

Never think about what's troubling you...

After receiving the good news about his acceptance into UA, Izuku meets up with All Might in the evening. All Might reveals to Izuku that he hadn’t told any of the judges that he’d been training Izuku. He also didn’t take part in the judging. So Izuku got in 100% on his own. High fives all around. All Might also reveals he had an idea that Izuku might wreck his body while using One For All (OFA). Why? Because Izuku can’t control his output right now. He can either use 100% of OFA or 0%. No middle ground. And, let’s be real, there is no way that we should expect a 14-year-old to fully utilize super-strength that’d been enhanced by nine previous users. And, come on, All Might was a newbie to OFA at one point too. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he shattered the bones in his hands more than once when he was still figuring things out. Just saying. Despite the risks to Izuku’s body, All Might encourages Izuku to keep trying to get control of OFA. Practice makes perfect as they say. He has confidence in Izuku, so much so that he chooses to exemplify said confidence by changing into his hero form. Which draws the attention of some people passing by, forcing the two to beat a hasty retreat. Who in Japan wouldn’t notice their eight-foot-tall, blonde super-duper man standing around?

We then flash forward to Izuku’s first day. He’s equal parts excited and nervous for what’s to come next.  As I think just about everyone is on their first day of school. The excitement fades a bit when he goes into the classroom, as pyro psycho Bakugo and super serious Iida are both part of his class. Boo. But so is Uraraka. Hooray. Bakugo seems to barely be containing his impulse to attack Izuku, as his intense hatred for Izuku seems to have grown in the last few weeks. In a flashback, we’re shown that Bakugo tried to intimidate Izuku to not take the UA entrance exam, but Izuku finally tells him off. Which just further infuriates Bakugo. Guy has got some severe emotional problems, don’t he? Back in the present, Izuku and co are introduced to their homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. He’s a pretty slovenly looking dude, with insane hair, droopy eyes, and for whatever reason he was in a sleeping bag. Weird. He makes them get into their gym outfits and takes them outside. He explains that for their first day’s assignment, they’re going to test Quirks. To demonstrate, he gives Bakugo a special softball and tells him to throw it while using his powers. Bakugo lobs the ball a whopping 705 meters. For a moment, everyone is excited to use their powers, but that excitement quickly dissipates when Aizawa reveals he’s going to expel the lowest ranked student. Aizawa explains that the board of directors of UA gives teachers a lot of discretionary power in how they run classes, so this threat is 100% serious.

All Might, having a little time on his hands before he actually has to teach, looks into which hero was assigned to Izuku as homeroom teacher. He’s rather shocked and annoyed that Izuku got Aizawa, implying that he and the other hero have… friction. He decides to find the class and observe how his young successor is handling things.

 Because it's like a self fulfilling prophecy.

We see a few tests, they’re your fairly standard physical fitness test, standing long jump, toe touch, and the like. But, each one of them fills Izuku with a little more dread. Why? Because everyone else is able to use their power to demolish at least one exam, while he obviously can’t. I think he’s being a little too hard on himself, personally. There’s one girl who’s only ability is being invisible, how much can that help her in a physical exam? Just saying. After a few more tests, Izuku gets up to the ball toss and plans to use OFA. He’s more than a little scared about what this will do to his body, but he’s come too far to just roll over and be kicked out of his dream school on the first day. Points for determination, Young Midoriya. But, when he throws the ball, it only goes a few meters. He turns to Aizawa, who’s hair is floating, eyes glowing, and scarf is now flying around him. This let’s Izuku see that Aizawa has a pair of gnarly looking goggles around his neck. It’s then that Izuku realizes who Aizawa is. He’s a professional hero that goes by the name Eraser Head. His quirk is that he can deactivate the Quirks of whoever he’s looking at. But the effect ends if he blinks or if his target escapes his line of sight. Remember that. He walks up to Izuku and between Aizawa and a lurking All Might, we learn why he chose to stop Izuku from using OFA. Aizawa hates the media, and heroes that get a lot of media attention. He thinks flashy powers that don’t actually help others are a waste of time. And, he thinks, that if Izuku is just going to keep breaking his body by using his powers, it’s better if Izuku just quits. Blunt fella, Eraser Head. Blunt, but not all together wrong.

Izuku, not one to be deterred, tries one more go. He focuses, winds up and throws. Using an amazing amount of control for someone still in the beginning stages of Quirk use, he’s able to focus OFA to the tip of a single finger, just as he releases the ball. That amount of extra force, focused on even this small surface, is enough added force to make the ball fly 705 meters. His pointer is messed up, but he can still keep going. He sort-of smiles at Aizawa, despite the obvious pain he’s in, and announces that he’s still standing. Aizawa looks like he’s impressed, but also that he’s about a half second away from killing Izuku himself. Aizawa is a man of mixed signals. From his shadowy spot, All Might praises his young student, and wonders when exactly did “Young Midoriya” get so cool? To which I say, he was always cool, you’re just now paying attention.

Mr. Aizawa is not amuse... or... maybe he is.
It's hard to tell with him.

Another slower episode, but one that does a good job setting up the environment that Izuku is going to be stuck in for the remainder of the series. While I still call bull spit on the whole, Izuku is worried about being in last place bit, seeing the other students combine their powers with basic physical tests is kind of interesting. You have guys like Bakugo, and one or two other students, using their powers as thrusters for the running, jumping, and ball throwing tests. And some more out of the box ideas like Uraraka using her Zero-Gravity power to lighten her clothes and shoes to help her run faster. It’s also a simple, but cool, introductions to a handful of the side character’s powers. There’s a faux-Frenchmen with a laser he fires from his stomach, a little guy that makes black hairballs that he bounces off of, a shadowy looking student with a crow-like head, and a being of pure nightmare fuel. That’s a little hurtful to Mezo Shoji, but seriously, having six tentacle-like webbed arms, and no obvious mouth is just wrong. Aizawa is a fun character. Despite his blasé attitude and rather poor looking grooming habits, he does seem to have the best intentions. Yes, what he says to Izuku is harsh, but he is also 100% correct. If Izuku is always breaking his bones or otherwise disabling himself when he uses his powers, he’s really not going to be much of a hero. His powers are a good example of making a hero powerful, but giving them realistic limits. He could have been made into a god like character in this world, with the ability to shut down anyone else’s power, but the whole blinking ends the effect gives him a believable limitation. And it just looks so cool when he activates his powers. His eyes glow slightly, his scarf coils around him like a serpent, and his hair sticks up like he’s going Super Saiyan. Visually awesome. He’s a minor obstacle for Izuku’s first day, but a necessary one. This kid is not going to have an easy time at UA, to have him believe otherwise for even a single day is just wishful thinking. Next time, we see how this test ends, and what follows. Episode six, here we come.

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 4

It’s been about four years since my last exam, and yet, I still periodically get that “big test I didn’t study for,” dream. Which is irritating as heck. I’m a twenty-six year old man, I should be passed exam nightmares. That being said, if I lived in the world of My Hero Academia, these dreams might be much more understandable. The entrance exams for Hero programs look so intense that I wouldn't be surprised if former applicants suffered from a form of PTSD. Let’s take a look at Izuku’s big test, shall we?

Izuku don't get no respect, no respect at all.

Once again, we start right where we left off. Izuku is prepping for the battle simulation part of his entrance exam. He’s (understandably) nervous about the test, since he has yet to even try out his new “One For All” powers. Not the best situation to try something new, a life altering test. He is able to forget about his troubles for a half second when he noticed the girl from the entrance, the one that saved him from faceplanting when he tripped. Her name is Ochako Uraraka, you don’t hear it in this episode, but she comes up a lot from this point on and I don’t want to write pseudonyms a dozen times. He wanted to thank her for her kindness, and hopefully get to know her a little better, but he’s blocked by the serious dude from the orientation. He chastises Izuku for even daring to think about talking to Uraraka, since it would mess up her concentration and potentially affect her testing ability. Guy needs to take a chill pill. He’s Tenya Iida, saying it now for the same reason as Uraraka. After that little encounter, Izuku gets the sense that everybody else has already written him off as someone who’s going to fail the exam. Dicks. Present Mic announces that they should start. He doesn’t believe in countdowns, apparently. Everyone runs for the entrance, but as usual, Izuku is the slowest on the uptake and is the last one to enter the test site. Not an auspicious start.

Want to know a secret?
The weasel is the principle.

Izuku has a quick flashback to when he got his powers from All Might. The mighty hero advises him to use the new power sparingly, as they aren’t 100% sure what will happen when he uses OFA. All Might also tells Izuku to physically prep for OFA by clenching his butt and shouting SMASH! Back in the present, things aren’t going super well for Izuku. The other students are schooling him in the robot smashing category. The only non-broken robot he runs into almost mows him down, but he’s saved at the last second by another student that has a belly laser. I sincerely hope we don’t see him again. We’re shown Bakugo rampaging in his exam site, and Uraraka and Iida smashing bots too. Izuku, on the other hand, has no points at all.

We’re shown the examiners briefly, who comment on the student’s strategies. They note that some students, like Bakugo, smash everything to get the highest score possible, others like Iida use speed to get things finished quick and efficiently, and while others focus more on strategy and information gathering. They then flip a switch marked as “Yaruki.” I looked it up, it literally means “motivation to do” something. Said switch activates the zero-point robot. The one that the students were told was an obstacle to avoid. What they weren’t told is that this particular robot is roughly the same size as Godzilla. Kind of hard to avoid a Godzilla sized… anything. That’s some pretty good motivation, now isn’t it? All of the other students start running to avoid Yaruki, and Izuku turns tail too, but stops when he notices that Uraraka is caught under some wreckage. His protective instincts kick in, and Izuku activates OFA. He launches himself upward, winds up, and smacks the robot’s head with a full power SMASH. The impact pancakes Yaruki’s face, it tumbles backward, defeated. Hooray. But, then Izuku realizes that his legs and right arm were completely wrecked by the kickback of his power. And he’s falling, fast. He tries to think of a way out of the situation. The only thing he can think of is to use his left arm for another OFA punch and hope that it can slow his descent. If it works he’ll be saved, and if it doesn’t, it’ll lead to intense pain and then death. Before he can punch, though, Uraraka floats up beside him and smacks him across the face. Why? Well, like we saw last episode, Uraraka’s Quirk allows her to cancel gravity’s hold on something. But, she can only do this if she can get all five fingers of one hand onto her target. Considering that time was kind of a factor, with Izuku falling and all, slapping him was the fastest way to do that. Once he gently floats most of the way down, she releases her power. He lands softly, she hits the ground a little harder, and then barfs her guts out. It’s a side effect of over using her power, extreme nausea and vomiting.

Yeah, Yaruki a heck of a motivator.

Izuku, with three broken limbs and a billion scrapes, still tries to drag himself forward. He wants to destroy at least one robot and get one lousy point. Unfortunately, the test ends mere moments later. Most of the other test takers write him off, but Iida realizes that there was something more to the 0-Pointer Yaruki robot, and that Izuku’s decision to fight it might have been the right choice. Wonder how he’d feel knowing that Izuku didn’t really choose to fight the robot, as he once again acted without thinking. Somehow, I think this is going to be a trend with him. The school nurse, Recovery Girl, is brought in. The sweet old girl uses her healing kiss powers to fix up Izuku’s useless legs and arm. High fives all around. FYI she is 100% the reason that UA can perform such a…risky entrance exam, school nurse with healing powers.

One week later, and Izuku’s in a pretty serious funk. He’s reasonably sure he did well enough on the written portion of the test, but he knows getting a zero on the combat portion totally screwed him. This realization has left him in a daze. And, to make matters worse, All Might seems to have vanished. So didn’t get into his dream school and his mentor dropped him like a bad habit. Not a good time to be in the Midoriya house. His mother is able to finally break him out of it when the results letter came in. Izuku goes to his room to read it, probably to hide his tears. To his shock, instead of a rejection letter he gets a little holographic video, from All Might of all people. The Superman-analogue has some information for Izuku. 1. That he, All Might, is actually taking a teaching position at UA. 2. Izuku passed the written portion, but got a zero on the combat portion. 3. Uraraka came to see Present Mic after the exam, and she offered to give some of her points to Izuku, since she thinks it’s her fault he didn’t get the points. 4. He didn’t need combat points to pass. Why? There was a secret third category, Rescue Points. A panel of judges rated them on how they did when Yaruki was released. Izuku got the full 60 points, getting him seventh highest score of all examinees that year. All Might proudly states, “Welcome Izuku, you’ve made it. You’re now part of the Hero Academia.” Roll credits. Which they do!

IZUKU SMASH!!

This is something I’ve said before about other series, but, HOW do they AFFORD these THINGS! Not one, but five colossal training areas, each filled to the brim with robotic drones and at least one Colossal Titan at each area. We’re talking billions of dollars here, probably for just one of the sites. Taxes in Tokyo and or tuition at UA must be exorbitant. Am I thinking about this to hard? You bet your bottom I am. Seeing Izuku run around in this insane training situation was a lot of fun. Reminds me of Saitama running around trying to find a crime to stop to meet his quota back in One Punch Man. It’s sad but also funny. Seeing this exam, yeah, I can pretty safely say that Izuku would not have lasted at all without powers. Kind of hard for a normal kid without so much as a bat to last in a flipping warzone. This was also a heck of a crash course in using One For All. If the backlash of his new power is so strong that it destroys whatever part he channels it through, he’s not going to be able to get a lot of mileage out this for a while. We do learn later on that the problem is that, Izuku can only use the extremes when it comes to OFA. He can either use 0% or 100%. The full power is too much for him, now, and probably will be for some time. He does get the hang of it, but it’s going to be a while. Also, All Might on the hologram video is hilarious. He and the unseen camera man have a few pretty good lines. “I have to do how many of these things?” is one of my personal favorites. First test passed, and Izuku has made his first big step into being a full-blown hero. What comes next? An insane first day. What else do you expect? Have a good night, everybody. 

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 3

Training is an important part of any ‘shounen’ manga/anime series. Shounen being a series that is aimed at boys, between the ages of eight and eighteen. The girl equivalent being shojo. Hm… the fact that I’m a twenty-six-year-old man that still enjoys this genre probably says a lot about me… But I’m getting off task. Training is important in this genre. Sometimes it can last a single issue, sometimes it can last an entire arc, and other times it’s pretty much the entire series. I’m looking at you History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi and Dragonball. In this case. the training story is actually pretty short. Let’s get to it.  

Could you trust that face?
Cause I'm not sure I could.

This one opens right where we left off, Izuku sobbing tears of joy at All Might’s feet. The strongest hero, the Symbol of Peace, the all-around super dude, and he just said Izuku can be a Hero. Dreams really do come true. But, All Might takes it one step further and drops the huge bombshell that he is going to give Izuku his powers. The power of All Might. Izuku obviously freaks out about this, as he’s never heard of Quirks being transferred. He kind freezes up, overanalyzing the situation, until All Might calls him back to reality. All Might explains his power is called “One For All.” It’s a power that works through succession. Each wielder further develops it, makes it stronger, and then passes it on to the next wielder who repeats the cycle. All Might, because of his injury, has been looking for a successor for a while and believes that Izuku is the perfect candidate, in spirit.

Flash forward two days, and we find Izuku on a beach, lugging garbage. Why? For two reasons. One, while he’s a perfect candidate in spirit for “One For All,” he’s not the perfect candidate physically. If he were to be given the power before his body is ready, his limbs would blow off from his body if he tried to use OFA. Not good. And Two, is that the beach needs to beautified. The beach used to be a lovely sea side location, but has been covered in garbage due to some unfortunate tides and illegal dumping. All Might thinks it’ll be a perfect act of a good Samaritan to begin Izuku’s hero training. Why does All Might care? Because this superman believes that a real hero helps where ever he/she/they can, be it stopping villains or helping to improve the community. All Might has prepared a full training and study schedule for Izuku, to maximize his chances of finishing this little project within the time frame, and still have time to study for the written portion. He has ten months to prep. While that’s a tight time table for training, with All-Might’s plan in mind, he’ll make it just in time for the test. Ready? Set? Go!

He's Izuku, hear him roar!

Izuku beings strong, but starts burning out before too long. Why? Because the overachiever pushes himself too hard in an attempt to finish early. He figured it’d be best to finish with a week to spare so he can train with OFA for a bit. All Might chastises Izuku for pushing himself too hard. His plan was specifically designed to maximize Izuku’s training without hurting himself. But, Izuku counters by giving a speech about how he NEEDS to work harder, since he’s going up against the best of the best to get into UA. Kids who will already have a huge leg up, as they’ve had years to master their powers, while he’ll be still figuring this stuff out. All Might, moved by his young student, agrees to adjust the plan to increase Izuku’s chances of finishing early. Ten months later, on the day of the Exam, All Might arrives to the beach to find that Izuku had actually cleared the entire beach, well beyond what he was assigned to clean. It puts him in such a good mood All Might transforms into Hero mode without thinking. After congratulating Izuku, with a huge grin on his face, he begins the transfer process. What does it involve? Izuku eating one of All Might’s hairs. Why? Because he needs a sample of All Might’s DNA to make the exchange. Izuku doesn’t feel all that different after eating the hair, and to further complicate matters he has zero time to practice with OFA before the test. He has to run to make it in time.

The campus of UA is an impressive sight, with an enormous gate, several colossal buildings, and plenty of students milling about. After basking in the campus’ beauty for a few minutes, he runs into Bakugo, who’s still a dick. Lame. But, Izuku does note that in recent weeks Bakugo has been less horrible to him. A side effect of Izuku trying to save him? Unlikely, but hey, stranger things have happened. Bakugo walks off in a huff. Izuku, refusing to let Bakugo ruin his mood, prepares to put his best foot forward metaphorically and literally. He trips. Probably not the best sign, not going to lie. Thankfully, a very nice girl uses her Quirk to keep him from face planting. She apologizes for using her powers on him without asking, and then starts gushing about UA High and how excited she is about getting to take the test. I love this first, and subsequent encounters between these two. I can best describe it as that scene from the end of Inside Out, where we got to see inside other people’s heads, and we saw inside that boy’s head. You know the self-destruct noises going off as the sirens blare ‘GIRL! GIRL! GIRL!’ She heads inside first, Izuku mentally celebrates (not actually) talking to a girl, and then follows.

Pretty Girl = Fried Teenage Brain
             Somethings are universal.

Inside, the DJ hero Present Mic explains the event. Also, get use to this guy, he does a lot of the exposition. Basically, students will be split into groups and sent into mock battle inside a mini-city. In said battle, they’ll fight robots that are worth 1, 2, or 3 points depending on their strength. One super serious student points out that there are four types listed, to which Present Mic just waves off and explains the fourth bot is more of an obstacle and not worth any combat points. Nothing sinister or suspicious about that. I assume that there was a written portion for this exam at some point, but they decided to gloss over that, as it would have obviously been boring. The students are broken up and sent to the areas. It should also be noted that the students are broken up in such a way that students from the same schools don’t fight together. To ensure that the teachers can see a student’s full potential without working off people they’d worked with previously. Once again, set up with no real pay off until next time.

This is largely a setup episode. Which is good. Sure, some folks are annoyed when action/adventure series slow down and take their time with setup, but, if you’ve read my previous V-Log series, I am not one of them. Slower, build up episodes are great when the payoff is good. I like how Izuku getting powers wasn’t a quick, ‘here ya go’ moment. He’s got the mind and spirit of a perfect successor, but expecting him to be the perfect vessel for All Might’s immense physical power would be a little much. I also liked All Might’s chosen training strategy. Having Izuku not only build up his physique and intelligence, but also instill the importance of Random Acts of Kindness was a clever way to force Izuku’s growth, physically and emotionally. And come on, seeing a cleared beach after nearly a year’s worth of work is a pretty nice moment. This episode also introduces some of the secondary characters, like the nice girl, Ochako Uraraka, and the serious dude, Tenya Iida.  We don’t really see much of them other than their base character traits, namely that Uraraka is a sweet girl with a bubbly personality, and that Iida is a super serious student. They’ll be important later on, so seeing just a little bit of them helps set them up a little later. Again, it’s a slower burn in this one, but that’s a good thing. For me at least. Next time, episode 4, the exam begins.

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 2

You ever hear the advice to “never meet your heroes?” Of course you have, it’s basically common knowledge. I can kind of understand why. If you deeply respect someone, nearly worship the ground they walk on, finding out said hero doesn’t agree with your actions or has some serious moral flaw themselves can be pretty damaging. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s get to the episode.

Cause that's a face of a hero... maybe.

We open to a flashback of Izuku watching All Might’s YouTube video and then learning he doesn’t have a quirk. Seriously, Dr. K-Buttkiss needs to work on his bedside manner. In the present, he asks All-Might the most pressing question of his existence, can someone without powers be a hero? Can he ever hope to be someone like All Might? Before All Might can answer he starts steaming. Literally, steam comes off him. Izuku doesn’t notice and starts fanboying out to All Might. All Might, meanwhile, seizes up before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Izuku is interrupted in his fanboying to see his all-time favorite hero turn into a really sickly looking man. Ain’t that a kick in the teeth.

Meanwhile, Mr. Goo wakes up in his soda bottle prison. Apparently, All Might accidently dropped him mid jump. Bakugo and his cronies happen to be passing by and kick said bottle prison, freeing him. Not good. Mr. Goo leaps free and grabs Bakugo, intent on making him the new skin suit. Even more not good.

In a fire, in a slime monster. Yeah, this literally could not
be worse.

Back with Izuku and All Might, Izuku is obviously having a major freak out about his hero’s sudden transformation. After All Might calms Izuku down, he explains. Basically, he’s using his Quirk to flex. Ya know, to make himself seem super buff and awesome. Like a guy at the pool. He goes on to explain that he got a serious injury to his left side about five years back. His stomach is gone and his respiratory system is basically shot. The damage is so bad that he’s pretty much been wasting away, and now can only hold his “hero” form for about three hours a day. The rest of the time, he looks like he’s been starved for about six month. Izuku guesses that it was a wound from a bad guy with an awesome name, Toxic Chainsaw, five years prior. All Might, while impressed with Izuku’s knowledge about his antics, dismisses this idea. Toxic Chainsaw was tough, but not anything out of the ordinary for All Might. The wound was from a fight that he has tried extremely hard to keep it under wraps. How mysterious. Obviously extremely depressed, All Might gives Izuku the advice he most doesn’t want to hear. That, All-Might believes that some villains can’t be defeated without powers, so no, he doesn’t believe that someone can be a hero without a Quirk. His words, it’s “Not bad to have a dream, young man. Just make sure your dreams are attainable. Realistic, understand?” Not terrible advice, to be 100% honest. Just saying.

All Might leaves, and then realizes he lost the bottle. And then an explosion happens. Super not good. Its revealed that, while Mr. Goo is in the process of possessing Bakugo, he can use his explosive powers as well. So, he’s blowing the heck out of the shopping district. This led to a perfect storm of awful for the area. The shopping district is too tight a space for the giant hero Mt. Lady to enter, strongman hero Death Arms isn’t strong enough to do damage to the viscus creature, and the remaining heroes are either not combat orientated or don’t handle fire well. And they have to be worried about not hurting Bakugo, since Mr. Goo is using him as a human shield. Why must civilian’s complicate things? But, to Bakugo’s credit, he’s not going quietly. He keeps trying to use his explosive powers to escape, but Mr. Goo is just too tough. All-Might arrives on the scene, but is too winded to transform. He’s furious that he got distracted, not by Izuku, but by worrying too much about using up his Hero Time. He’s a class act, that All-Might.

Gah, gnarly looking, isn't it?

Izuku also arrives, having walked to the scene of the battle without thinking. He sees Mr. Goo’s current rampage. that Bakugo is in danger, and blames himself for distracting All Might. Moments later Izuku runs in and does his best to save Bakugo. Not sure why, I’d have let him stew a while longer. He throws his bag at Mr. Goo to distract him, and tries to rip Bakugo free. It doesn’t work, but Izuku’s valiant effort gives All Might the kick in the pants he needs to transform. All Might rushes in, saving Izuku, and smacks Mr. Goo so hard that he scatters the creature into gooey chunks and changes the very weather from sunny to rainy. After that, Mr. Goo is gathered up, Izuku is scolded for being reckless, Bakugo is praised for being brave in the face of adversity and All Might is given a ton of publicity shots. So many mixed signals here on how to handle a crisis.

Later on, Izuku runs into Bakugo on the way home. Bakugo angrily shouts that he never needed or wanted Izuku’s help. Bakugo has some real emotional problems to work out, me thinks. After Bakugo walks off in a huff, All-Might runs in. Despite being as kind of hard to miss, All Might was somehow able to dodge the reporters and catch up to Izuku. He’s a quick bugger. The burly superhero shrinks back down to his normal form, and then takes back what he said about Izuku. He claims that all heroes share one thing in common, when someone else is in danger, they run head long into danger without thinking of their own safety. Which Izuku did with gusto. The episode ends with All-Might proudly saying, “Young man, you too can become a hero.” Which is all that he ever really wanted to hear.

All Might does everything intensely, even apologizing.

Once again, one of the qualities that I like about Izuku is that, first and foremost he’s a thinker. It’s hinted at here, and explored in depth as the series goes on, that he thinks first and acts second. It’s a skill that All Might’s successor needs to master. Even when rushing Mr. Goo, he’s remembers his notes and uses successful strategies utilized by actual heroes to some effect. Sure, all he really did was throw his bag at the monster and gives All Might the necessary motivation to transform. But, that was what was necessary for the heroes to win the day, today. Speaking of All Might, I think this second episode really highlighted a good aspect of him. That, even when in a situation where he could shift the blame, he doesn’t shift the blame. A lesser person would have latched onto Izuku’s meddling that caused Mr. Goo to escape. Which is true, had he just been able to Superjump away, that’d have been the end of it. But, it is also true that All-Might rushing lead to losing Mr. Goo. Had he just listened to a young fan’s questions, he’d have never lost Mr. Goo, either. All Might, never even once thinks about blaming Izuku. In his eyes, the blame is his and his alone. It takes a very big person to shoulder all responsibility for mistakes. Just saying. And I really love this ending. For starters, it did a call back to Bakugo’s ‘theory’ about heroes. If you recall, the little schmuck claimed that the thing that all heroes have in common is that they ‘appeared early.’ Namely, if you want to be a ‘somebody’ you’d better be a prodigy or something. Bakugo is a believer in fate, I guess. All Might’s theory is significantly better, that truly great heroes are selfless. Period. It’s a simple but rare quality to have, I’d say. All Might’s final words, and Izuku sobbing tears of joy is a powerful image to end on. Next time, young Midoriya takes the next step in his journey to becoming a hero, janitorial work. It’ll make sense later.

Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 1

https://www.patreon.com/posts/my-hero-academia-8687073

As stated in the last post, My Hero Academia is one of my favorite anime’s from 2016. It’s a superhero comedy that follows the life of our protagonist, Izuku Midoriya, as he tries to go from zero to number 1 hero in a world when superhumans are everywhere. His training is going to be a heck of a ride. Let’s get to it, shall we?

We open to a typical scene, small children fighting at a playground. What? Young boys fight a lot. It’s how we bond. One of the boys, the green haired Izuku, stands between three bullies and the kid that they were smacking around. He tries to dissuade the other kids from being jerks, claiming that he’ll fight them himself if they don’t back down, but the bullies are 100% not intimidated. Why? Well, for one thing Izuku is shaking like a leaf in a tornado. It’s really hard to be intimidating while shaking. And for another thing, they all have superpower, and Izuku doesn’t. Sucky. The lead bully mocks Izuku for his lack of power, and kicks the snot out of him.

Now that's the face of a hero, an Anime Hero.

Flash forward ten years, and Izuku is a fourteen-year-old kid living in a world of heroes and villains. Battles between superpowered beings on city streets are so common that it’s more or less treated like a traffic jam. Sure, people stop and stare when they see a superpowered smack down, but the crowd is a more healthy mix of excitement and annoyance. Even when said smack down is between a giant purse snatcher and several other heroes. Which is the scene that Izuku finds himself witnessing. A pathetic purse snatcher, once cornered, used his power to grow into a titanic monster. Which just drew more superheroes towards his location. So yeah, not a great plan. The fight makes Izuku feel…exposition-ie. He explains that this Brave New World began with a baby that glowed in the dark. Imagine the poor papa when he found out his kid was a glow stick. Since then, people born with these exceptional powers, known as Quirks, make up about 80% of the world’s population. We’re never told exactly how much time has passed, but it’s probably about 80 to 120 years in the future. It’s a rough estimate, though, don’t quote me on it. Since there are so many superpowered beings running around, being a professional superhero is now a thing. Their job is basically ½ cop ½ pro-wrestler. They take out bad guys and have to look flashy while doing it, to make sure the press keep talking about them.

After the giant purse snatcher is taken out, Izuku starts taking note about a new hero that jumped in during the fight, Mt. Lady. He quickly analyses her powers, how her size might affect her popularity and the problems her size may cause, professionally. He’s a fan boy after my own heart. He then goes to school where we get a little more exposition. As a third-year middle school students, Izuku and his classmates are prepping for high school entrance exams. For those who don’t know, in Japan high school is a heck of a lot more like college here in the US of A. Got to pass lots o’ tests to get into a good high school. All of Izuku’s class are planning to get into high schools with decent hero programs. The top school is known as UA High, all the top heroes in Japan are alums. Only two students in Izuku’s class have applied for UA, Izuku and the bully from the opener, Katsuki Bakugo. Bakugo, despite being a colossal jerk, has big dreams about become the greatest hero in Japan. Bigger even than their equivalent of Superman, All Might. Bakugo is rather… annoyed that Izuku also applied for the same school. And by annoyed, I mean that he threatens Izuku’s life for daring to dream so big. Why doesn’t the teacher stop this kind of thing? Seriously, I’m asking. Their teacher just stands there as one student threatens to assault another. That’s just stupid for a teacher to allow. But, then again, this is a teacher that joined in with the other students mocked the powerless Izuku for trying to get into the best hero school in Japan. These people suck.

Meanwhile, a slime monster robs a convenience store. A few locals comment on the fact that the towns usual heroes, that would handle this sort of thing, are more than likely busy with cleaning up after the giant purse snatcher earlier. The lucky Mr. Goo might have escaped scot-free, but for a passing convenience store patron. Said patron, morphs into a supersized superhero, the amazing All Might. With an over the top grin on his face, he proclaims “I am here,” and starts chasing after Mr. Goo.

After class, Bakugo nabs “Deku’s” hero notes and uses his explosive powers to burn it. Dick! I’ll explain the nickname later, but when Bakugo calls him Deku, he’s basically calling Izuku a loser. Bakugo, whom I guess is also feeling expositionie, explains his plans for his ‘hero’ career. He believes that to be the best of the best, he has to be the only student from their middles school to get into UA. Anyone else getting in ruins his personal narrative. Hence why he gets so heated at Izuku so much as dreaming about getting into UA. He doesn’t seem to get truly great heroes are humble, just saying. Confident that he’s finally gotten Izuku to see ‘reason’ he walks off with a smug grin on his face. After Izuku recovers his notebook from the fishpond Bakugo threw it into, we get another flashback. Four-year-old Izuku is enamored with a YouTube video. They don’t call it YouTube, but come on, it’s YouTube. Said video is of a disaster that occurred several years prior and was the worlds introduction to All Might, the symbol of peace. Despite the chaos and insanity around him, All Might has a wide grin on his face and an odd, but confident cackle. Izuku, at the tender of age of four, decided to model himself after this behemoth of a man. That is, until he’s taken in for a physical.

Do all baby's do that?

A doctor with incredibly crappy bedside manner informs Izuku and his mother that he will never manifest powers. Despite both of his parents having abilities, his mother can move small objects with her mind and his unseen father breathes fire, and that his mother is a fourth-generation Quirk user, Izuku is Quirkless. Doctor K-Buttkiss explains that after Quirks became a thing, studies were done and they found a correlation between powers and pinky toes, of all things. Basically, if you have a Quirk, you only have one joint in your pinky. It’s basically based on the theory that, since Quirk empowered people are a ‘new’ stage in human evolution, their bodies are losing vestigial traits. Izuku unfortunately has two pinky joints, meaning he’s 100% Quirkless Human. So, no powers. Sucky. Back at home, he watches the video again and asks his mother, with tears in his eyes, if she thinks he can still be a hero like All Might. His mother, in tears, lets him know that she wishes things would be different. In the present, Izuku admits that that wasn’t what he needed to hear.

While he’s walking home from school, he runs into Mr. Goo. Mr. Goo, who’s a little freaked out about being chased around by All Might of all people, is looking to get out of town. To do so, he plans to pull a Bug from Men In Black, and turn Izuku into an Edgar-suit. Gross. Izuku is saved from this grisly fate by the timely arrival of the Mighty All Might. He uses his mighty Texas Smash attack to turn the monster into gooey bits, traps him in an empty soda bottle, and makes Izuku go fanboy nuts. Izuku gets a kind smile, a pat on the shoulder and an All Might Autograph. Now, this would probably be enough for a regular fan, but Izuku really needs some advice from his hero. All Might, unfortunately, is in a hurry and tries to super jump away. Izuku, showing some pretty intense agility and grip, grabs All Might’s leg. Not the smartest choice he’s made today. All Might, being a nice guy agrees to drop Izuku off on a nearby building. While in the air, interestingly, All Might’s mouth starts bleeding.

All-Might lands on a building and scolds Izuku for his impulsive behavior. To be fair, I would say flying through the air, the only thing keeping you from falling to your death is your grip on a muscular man’s leg, is probably punishment enough. All Might prepares to leap away, but Izuku has to ask the question that’s been burning inside for years. If All Might thinks a Quickless person can still be a hero. And then it ends. You damn teases!

This is a decent opening to a great series. Granted, the info dump throughout the first episode is a little much, but it’s really hard to explain a world like Izuku’s ‘naturally.’ Can you think of a natural way to explain where a world of Superheroes got started? Other than like having the show start in the middle of a history class. Yeah, me neither. For some reason, I really enjoy Izuku. Not sure why I’d identify with a nerdy high school student that is obsessed with superheroes, doesn’t exactly ‘fit in’ with ‘normal’ folks, and has bizarre colored hair. Must be the hair. What? I’m a ginger. And I went through a mullet phase. Oh god… my mullet phase. <shutter> Joking aside, Izuku is a lot of fun. He’s a hyper fanboy that, despite being powerless, still dreams of being hero. Definitely an impractical dream, but I give him props for it. It’s only touched on here, but, his biggest strength is that mind of his. He’s got over a dozen journals on the subject of heroes, and has memorized the contents. We’ll see the extent of his skills next time. All Might is also a lot of fun. The series Mangaka (the series Author and pretty often illustrator), Kohei Horikoshi has gone on record stating that while the rest of the characters are of a more standard manga design, he modeled All Might off of western superheroes. Think Superman, Batman, Captain America, and the like. Hence his super-duper size muscles, and jovial attitude. Which probably explains why all of his attacks are all <US State> Smash! But it sounds cool. I personally find his smile and laugh more off putting then anything, but hey, maybe it’s a translation thing. His bleeding mouth is a hint of what’s to come next. It took a little time to get used to the term ‘Quirk.’ It’s not the strangest word I’ve heard to ‘name’ a superpower, but, seriously, why not just call them powers? It’s easier. So yeah, over all, a good start. Next time, episode 2.

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Announcements

Did you know I’m on Patreon? Of course not, because I have never mentioned it before. “But why?” I hear some of you asking. Well, because for one thing I have been trying to figure out all the nuances of the site, to maximize my ability to use it. And, more importantly, I really really really suck at self-promotion. This may shock you, for real for once, but despite the fact that I post my thoughts onto the internet for all the world to see, I am at times nearly petrified with anxiety when it comes to talking about myself and/or my semi-professional semi-hobby of blogging. Example, when I was in College, friends would ask me questions about myself after I’d had a few age appropriate drinks. That was the only way to get info out of me. But, I’m getting a little off task. Yes, I’m on Patreon, here’s the link  https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2761062. To start, I’m offering to my patrons’ early access to posts, starting now, and preferential treatment when it comes to things like requests. I’ll add more rewards as we go along. Got to keep things interesting for you folks. All I’m asking for is one dollar a month, from those who feel like supporting. No pressure, even if you can’t/don’t want to support Basics of Superheroes financially, you’ll still get access to my content, just a little later. Also, feel free to like, and share my posts. The more viewers, the merrier I’ll be.

Now that the self-promotion is out of the way, let’s move onto the new-new viewer log series, My Hero Academia. You’re probably asking yourself, why are we switching to this when you’re already in the middle of Iron Fist? Well, for one thing, I’ve been too busy/exhausted from my paying job to have time to sit down, watch and take notes on the show. For another, I had already been planning on doing My Hero Academia for a few weeks now, and actually have most of the posts already queued up and ready to go. And for a third, I really really really need this show to keep going. “Another show you really really really need to keep going?” You may be saying with a sarcastic eye roll. To which I reply, yes, another one. This anime is probably my favorite of 2016, and I’d hate to see it stop before it gets to the really good bits. I’ve read the manga too, so I can say with certainty that the stuff to come will look A-M-A-Z-I-N-G animated. Just saying. So yeah, that’s why Iron Fist is being paused for the time being.

As it stands, I don’t think any network is airing My Hero Academia, but the entire first season can be found at Funimation.com. You can watch the first season with subtitles for free, or, for a five dollar a month subscription, watch the entire first season dubbed. I pay the five bucks, it’s a good deal, since you can also watch all the other dubbed titles that Funimation has to offer. Considering they are one of the biggest dubbing companies in the world, that’s a lot of anime. I think that’s enough preamble/self-promoting. Next time, My Hero Academia episode 1. Available right now for patrons. Have a good one.