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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/9140644
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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