Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 25

It all comes down to this, an explosive rage-aholic vs. the king of cold. Who will triumph?

Last time on My Hero Academia, the final round of the Sports festival was set. Shoto Todoroki is going to take on Katsuki Bakugo. Tenya Iida was knocked out of the running after facing off with Shoto. Unfortunately, that isn’t the worst thing to happen to the Iida family today. Iida’s brother, Tensei aka Ingenium, was viciously attacked by a villain and serial killer, Stain the Hero Killer. He’s alive, but in critical condition. And, unbeknownst to anyone, Stain has been approached by the League of Villains, the baddies think he could be a major asset.

Shoto doesn't look SUPER invested in this fight.

We get a quick flashback of all the times that Shoto and Bakugo have been combative over the last season and a half. It’s mostly to set up that both of these young men are incredibly powerful, and probably have a few issues that they need to work on. Seriously, these young men could use therapy. We then cut to Shoto waiting in the prep room. Despite the, literal, fire he showed off while fighting Izuku earlier, he’s clearly still troubled about using his flames and conflicted about what Izuku told him. “Are his flames really his, or his fathers,” that sort of thing. Before he can delve too deeply into what he’s feeling, Bakugo kicks the door in. He mixed up the waiting rooms, despite this he tries to still act tough and demands that Shoto come at him with everything he’s got.  Shoto ignores the barbs and asks Bakugo if Izuku was always so… Izuku. This obviously infuriates Bakugo, and he angrily demands Shoto forget that stuff and come at him.

Shortly thereafter, the match begins, Shoto Todoroki vs. Katsuki Bakugo. Bakugo opens like he always does, with a massive Icewave. I’d say he was getting predictable, but it’s hard to mess with perfection. And a colossal glacier of ice expand out from your boot is a pretty perfect opening move. Bakugo takes the hit, but ends up using repeated focused explosions to burrow through the ice like some kind of mole man. He rushes Shoto, who dodges around and slides on an ice bridge. Bakugo grabs him on the left side, but Shoto can’t bring up his flames to protect himself. He breaks free, but is clearly rattled. Which just pisses off Bakugo even more. He knows that he can’t rightfully claim being the best unless Shoto hits him with the same force that he did Izuku, and demands that Shoto go all out. He charges at Shoto again. Shoto is about to give up, as he can’t find that clarity of focus to use his flames again, that is until he hears Izuku telling him not to give up. He is able to ignite himself enough to take care of the frost on his body, which gives Bakugo hope that he’ll get a real fight. Bakugo leaps into the air and hit’s Shoto with his Howitzer blast. Shoto nearly gets his hand up, but loses his resolve once more. He’s knocked out of the ring and of consciousness.

I'm legitimately concerned that a school had all that stuff on hand/

Bakugo refuses to accept this win. He goes over to Shoto’s limp form, shaking him and demanding they keep fighting. He’s only stopped by Midnight’s knockout pheromone. After Bakugo had been stopped, he’s named the winner. At the award ceremony, we’re treated to the sight of Shoto and Tokoyami standing on podium’s looking regal… and Bakugo continually flipping out despite being bound and muzzled. I’m concerned that the school had such equipment ready… Moving on, Midnight mentions Iida also got third place, but had to leave due to a family emergency. Izuku and Uraraka were told by their friend about what happened to Iida’s brother, and are obviously worried about him. All Might leaps in to hand out the medals. He gives each of the three young men a medal and a piece of advice. Tokoyami is told to train hard and learn to fight without his Quirk. Shoto is told to find whatever balance he needs and to keep moving forward. And Bakugo is told to just take the medal and treat it like a scar if he has to. With the muzzle off, he keeps screaming that this isn’t a real win and he doesn’t want the damn medal, but All Might forces him to take it in his teeth. Hell of an award ceremony.

After the festival, the students are given a few days off to decompress. Izuku mentions, using his seldom used Narrator Powers, that this was the first time he felt a subtle shift in the atmosphere at the school. Something had changed, and not for the better.

In Hosu City, Iida makes it to the hospital. He’s shown in to his brother, but it’s not looking good. Tensei Iida is covered in slices and stitches. He’s hooked up to oxygen, and it looks like he can barely move. Despite this, he’s conscious enough to know his family is there. He apologizes to Tenya, telling his little brother that he’s sorry he couldn’t live up to Tenya’s hopes and expectations about him. Tenya just sobs.

On a slightly happier note, the next day, Shoto goes to visit his mother. He’s advised by his older sister, Fuyumi, that this probably isn’t a good idea and that he should at least tell their dad, but Shoto is still in his “screw you” dad mode. He makes it inside to see her, despite his own reservations about the meeting. He’s decided that healing whatever wounds may lie between them, and seeing her safely removed from the hospital is the next step he needs to take to figure out himself and his powers. That’s a good goal, Shoto.

The credits roll from here, but stick around as we have a few more scenes to cover. I honestly don’t know why they rolled the credits despite having several more minutes of content, but there you go.

I haven't mentioned them much, but I love the fact that
Present Mic and Aizawa are either Besties or just two dudes
forever stuck together.

During the break, Ochako Uraraka is visited by her parents. This is rather shocking to her, as it’s implied that the Uraraka’s don’t take much time off and live a fair distance from UA high. Yeah, in Japan, high school is important enough that it’s not unheard of for families to get apartments for their teenagers to attend schools outside their home city. I personally don’t think I could let a hypothetical fifteen-year-old daughter of mine out of my sight that long for any reason, but there you go. They came to celebrate, and the Uraraka’s have a grand old time.

Izuku has dinner with his mother, who admits that she passed out seven times during and after the cavalry battle. But, two of them might have been from dehydration… I’m not sure that makes that better, but she seems too. While his mother praises and worries about him, Izuku mentally goes over everything that happened today. He has a better understanding about what he wants, and resolves to get a better understanding and control over his powers.

Finally, we have Bakugo. He’s taking out his pent-up aggression on his mortal enemy… plaque! Yeah, in a final gag scene we’re shown Bakugo violently brushing his teeth while shouting “DIE PLAQUE!” and hearing his mother off screen shouting “KATSUKI, YOU CAN’T SLEEP UNTIL NOON AND THEN START YELLING!” I feel like the entire Bakugo family might be a tad… explosive. I am not sorry.

Compared to fighting his classmates in obstacle courses and
arena matches... yeah, this is exponentially harder.

And with that we bid farewell to the Sport’s Festival Arc. Overall, it was a good arc. We got to see Izuku and some of his classmates grow, got a number of good action scenes, and also saw the start of a few personal arcs to boot. Izuku’s determination to keep going despite not winning the tournament, and the potential permanent damage he could suffer is a damn fine sight to see. While he didn’t win the tournament, I think he reaffirmed in All Might’s, and by extension we the audience, that the Symbol of Peace chose the right successor. The Mystery of One For All is also expanded slightly, with that weird vision Izuku had while fighting Shinso, and with the added information about how the power itself works. The fact that it not only boosts one’s physical strength but one’s natural Quirk does make that power just a bit more tantalizing, now doesn’t it? I liked the character growth with Shoto Todoroki in this arc. Up until this point he’s been a visually interesting character, but we didn’t get many details about him. We just knew he was a quite kid with a penchant for cold. Now, we’re quite aware that he’s a surprisingly well-adjusted individual despite a LOT of baggage delivered early on in life. He’s getting promoted from ensemble cast to a secondary protagonist after this point, i.e. he’ll be up there with Iida, Uraraka and Bakugo in terms of screen time, we’re going to see a lot of his growth from now on. Iida’s brother’s attack and the anger he feels towards Stain will be a driving force for the second half of this season. The Hero killer cut him, metaphorically, deep when he nearly killed Tensei and he’s going out for payback. And Stain has had a nice intro as well. The Hero Killer is our next major baddy. His desire to ‘cleanse’ the world of heroes so only someone as perfect as All Might can be a hero is about to shift into high gear. But, I’ll save the details on that for when we get back to this.

I think this is the natural stopping point. While I’d love to keep going with My Hero Academia, if I keep ignoring the Netflix Marvel Heroes I don’t think I’ll ever be able to catch up. The way I see it, I’m going to try to knock out Jessica Jones season 2 over October and November, covering the various movies that crop up, and do a few more episodes of My Hero Academia over December. It’s not set in stone, but that’s the general plan going forward. I’m still going to try to post a few more things by the end of the month, so stay tuned. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 24

Izuku could really use a "I fought my hardest and all I got is this lousy T-Shirt and broken bones." I know a guy if it has to be a custom job.

Last time on My Hero Academia, it was an all-out brawl between our hero Izuku Midoriya, and his freezing rival, Shoto Todoroki. Our protagonist fought valiantly, both to win the match, and help his opponent work through some personal issues. Hm… if this hero thing doesn’t work out, Izuku should consider work as a therapist. And if this hero thing works out, he should consider teaching during his retirement. Just a thought. Unfortunately, while it seems like Izuku was able to help Shoto embrace his full power, at least for a moment, his advice worked too well and Izuku lost the match. Now he has several broken bones and nothing to show for it but his wounded pride. Sorry this opener is a bit of a downer.

I mean... I think he's had worse.

After the highlight reel of the last match, we open for reals on the crowd’s reaction to what they just watched. Nobody understands why Izuku would have fought so hard while at the same time trying to push his opponent into fighting harder. The acoustics in that area must be phenomenal for them to have heard all of that verbal sparring during the match, just saying.  Bakugo is clearly pissed that Izuku is getting more praise, but hey, what else is new. In the arena halls, Shoto is approached by his father. Endeavor seems to think that, because Shoto used his Fire powers, he’s ready to stop being a baby and learn from his old man. I’m massaging my temples right now at how little this guy seems to understand how badly he’s screwed up his son. Shoto basically tells his father, ‘screw you’ he’s not over it, and the only reason he was able to use his Fire was because while fighting Izuku he was able to forget about everything. The years of abuse, the mom in a mental institution, all the other crap that’s come from being the progeny of Eiji “Endeavor” Todoroki. He’s not sure if that’s good or bad, but it’s the truth.

We then shift our focus to Izuku in the nurse’s office. Don’t worry, while that phrase might bring to mind less then adequate budgets and equipment, Recovery Girl has healing powers and is a trained physician, he’s better off there then in any hospital in the world. Injury count off, we have 1. Broken left leg, 2. A severely broke left arm and hand, 3. Numerous cuts, bruises and other minor injuries, and 4. To top it all off, a right hand that is so severely mangled, I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that it’s more shards then solid bones. Not a great assessment for young Midoriya. Recovery Girl is less then pleased with all of this. Izuku had broken the bones in his right hand so severely that bone fragments have spread throughout the muscles and cartilage. She needs to surgically remove those chunks before healing him. And even after that, his hand will never get back to 100%. Hey, it’s quasi-magic healing, not actual magic healing, there are limits.

I'm predicting Arthritis in this hand's future.

Just before Recovery Girl can really ream All Might for pushing Izuku too hard, Izuku’s friends rush in. That is, Uraraka, Iida, Tsu, and Mineta. Iida explains that the matches were temporarily postponed, due to the need to have to repair… completely rebuild the area. Props to Izuku/Shoto smash. Everyone is able to express their concerns for our green haired hero just before being ushered out by Recovery Girl. This gives Izuku and All Might a chance to talk. Izuku apologizes for screwing up the plan. You know, for him to win the tournament and announce “I am here!” in his best All Might impersonation. All Might tells him it’s not the end of the world, while they didn’t get the result they wanted, there’s always next time, and Izuku did his best to help a friend’s personal growth. Since Meddling in other people’s business is the essence of hero work, All Might is still proud of him.

We swap over to a few quick matches while Izuku gets his hand taken care. Somewhere, Mrs. Midoriya is vigorously cursing those safety releases she must have signed to let her son into UA. In the ring, Iida rushes around Ibara’s vine-hair-tentacle-things, and then shoves her from the center of the ring to the edge at high speed. After that it’s Tokoyami vs. Mina Ashido. The acid generator fights valiantly, but as Dark Shadow seems to be immune to acid, it doesn’t work out well for her. She too is shoved out of the ring.

Izuku’s surgery is finished. He’s given just enough healing for him to walk. His right hand is now clearly been broken and sports several scars. Recovery Girl tells Izuku quite firmly that she isn’t healing any more of these self-inflicted injuries. He needs to either find another way to fight or retire. As he and All Might leave to return to the stands, the two have a heart to heart. Izuku, his confidence shaken by the loss, asks if maybe it’d be better if he passed on OFA to another student, give All Might a Mulligan on his choice in successor. All Might does point out that could in theory be a workable idea. One For All, he explains, is a crystallization of power. Or, to put another way, it boosts everything. In someone like Izuku, who has no powers, it just enhances his physical strength for him to function as a Strongman. But, in someone like say, Bakugo or Todoroki, it would further enhance their Quirks to make their powers neigh peerless. But, All Might doesn’t want Izuku to do that. Former Quirkless kids need to stick together. Yep, All Might, Japan’s (possibly the whole world’s) greatest hero, the Symbol of Peace, used to be Quirkless. Much like Izuku, he’d impressed the former OFA wielder enough that she chose him to follow in her footsteps. He’s proud of Izuku, he expects great things, and he wants the kid to stop beating himself up about this one failure. Izuku seems to agree.

We get a quick scene with Iida, as he calls his elder brother. Obviously, he wants to know if his brother had seen and/or would see his next matches. Unfortunately, Tensei “Ingenium” Iida is on patrol. We cut over to the elder Iida as he finally tracks down his quarry, the Hero Killer, Stain. He has the sword wielding, long tongued criminal cornered in an alleyway.

In the matches, we see Bakugo vs. Kirishima. The two are putting on a hell of a fight, with Kirishima’s hardened skin absorbing the brunt of Bakugo’s blasts. Izuku and Iida join the rest of their class to watch. Iida explains more about his brother and how he hopes that next time he talks to Tensei it’ll be as the champion. Oh dear, never hero worship a sibling or parent in a dangerous job, it’s just asking for trouble. Bakugo decides to go with the Son Goku approach, just hit his opponent really, really hard, until he breaks through Kirishima’s armor and knocks him out. Bakugo advances to the second Semi-Final round against Tokoyami.

The first Semi-Final match is between Tenya Iida and Shoto Todoroki. Shoto opens up with an Icewave, but Iida able to dodge thanks to his speed. He tries a few more waves to box Iida in, but the speedster is able to leap over the ice thanks to the engines in his calves. He activates his Recipro -burst. For those who might not remember, this pushes his body to its maximum speed, but will cause his engines to stall after ten seconds. He slams a kick into Shoto’s head and tries to run the downed Elementalist before he can recover. Unfortunately, he forgot that Shoto is about as skilled at close up work as he is at ranged. He’d frozen one of Iida’s mufflers during that kick Iida delivered, which slowed him down. He then encased his opponent in ice, immobilizing Iida. It was a quick match, but Iida gave it his all. I’m sure his brother will be proud… if he makes it.

Heroes don't always get happy endings.

We flash back to the alley. Ingenium is lying in a rapidly expanding pool of blood. Stain, the Hero Killer, stands over his latest victim and pontificates. He claims that all heroes, save one, are a bunch of glory seeking, greedy, attention whores. They aren’t worthy of the name Hero. The only one who is, All Might, is the only one that can beat him. So… Stain is clearly unstable. Lovely.

Back at the Arena, Bakugo has Tokoyami on the ropes. He is using his explosions to shower Tokoyami’s Dark Shadow in bright lights, keeping it from releasing its full strength. Izuku and Uraraka in the stands are unsure if Bakugo is just getting lucky or if the rage-a-holic figured out Dark Shadow’s weakness. It’s proven to be the latter, as Bakugo hits Dark Shadow with his very bright “Stun Grenade” blast and tackles Tokoyami. Tokoyami yields. So, the final match is going to be between Shoto Todoroki vs. Katsuki Bakugo…  I personally wouldn’t mind being in the nosebleeds for that match.

Iida is just about to join his friends when he gets a call. He steps away to chat with his mother and give her the bad news about his loss. Not that it’s a contest, but Mrs. Iida has worse news for Tenya about Tensei.

As if the crazy eyes aren't enough, am I right?

Stain, the kind of sick weirdo that he is, watches from the rooftops while police and paramedics check out the scene of Ingenium’s assault. He continues to muse about how much most heroes suck and how All Might is great. This feels incredibly hypocritical, as all that we’ve heard about Tensei Iida is that he is a respected, likeable, hardworking hero. This is like nearly killing Sir Patrick Stewart and then preaching about how Sir Ian McKellen is the best actor to ever portray King Lear and a Mutant. Like, I’m not sure if that’s incorrect, but Sir Patrick doesn’t deserve to be attacked because of it. Yes, that is a forced and extreme parallel, but sometimes the weirdest examples stick with you the best. Before he can move on, Kurogiri appears. He’s got an offer for the hero killer.

I think the big thing about this episode, other then setting up the final match, is about consequence. Or at least it is for Izuku. While I’ve enjoyed Anime for years, my background is a bit more firmly placed in Western superheroes and other animation. The realm where an injury might be life-threatening, but ultimately recoverable from. Case in point, Batman’s back being broken fighting Bane. It took him three months to recover and he has had, to my knowledge, no lingering side effects. Injures are something a hero gets over, at least so long as they’re popular enough. Very rarely does a hero take an injury that adversely affects them long term. Izuku’s hands are permanently damaged, both invisibly and visibly. If you take the time to notice, anytime his hands get a close up or are shown in detail you can see the scars on them. That’s dedication. And from this point onwards, he’s aware that he’s on a clock. Any fight that he could injure his hands, which is all of them when you fight with your fists, could be his last. This marks the beginning of Izuku trying to find another way to use his powers without hurting himself. It takes him a while, but he does eventually find a way to fight with virtually no risk to his hands. Woo. This also marks the beginning of a bit of an arc for Iida. See, Tenya Iida worshipped Tensei Iida as a hero. He respects his brother about all else, he models his costume after Ingenium’s design, he (I think) hoped to be mentored under and eventually fight alongside his brother. Ingenium is to Iida as All Might is to Izuku, or pretty darn close. So, he takes the assault on Tensei incredibly hard. Iida will be going to some dark places in the near future to see vengeance. Ooo, foreshadowing. Next time, we’ll see which hero in training reigns supreme, the explosive Bakugo or the chilling Shoto. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 23

Izuku's unstoppable force meets Todoroki's immovable object.

Last time on My Hero Academia, Uraraka came down with a terrible case of explosions. Despite her best efforts she was unable to defeat Bakugo. Her best efforts involved dodging around like a boss and dropping a meteors shower worth of debris down onto the enraged young man’s head. So, she gets an A for effort. Despite the loss, though, she seemed to earn Bakugo’s begrudging respect. Well, she’s the first person whose name he was able to remember. Kirishima hasn’t even done that and he’s been trying since season one to be Bakugo’s best friend. For some reason. Oh, and Kirishima beat Tetsutetsu in an arm-wrestling contest. Next up, we have Izuku v. Todoroki.

That's his fighting face...
He's working on it.

We open to a depressing flashback of a young Todoroki sobbing into his mother’s chest. She does her best to comfort him after a probably hellish training session with his father. Endeavor has some high expectations for his (FIVE-YEAR-OLD) son. In the present the match gets underway. Shoto opens up with a massive wave of ice. The wave is stopped by Izuku, who uses an OFA powered flick. The shockwave he unleashed is powerful enough to shatter the ice and push Shoto back several feet. One finger down. Shoto tries again, but same result. Izuku is panicking just a little, as he’s trying to strategies with almost no data. Sure, he knows Shoto favors massive ice blasts, but he doesn’t know the side effects of them, how Shoto handles close combat, or really anything else as the Elementalist ends his fights far too quickly for him to draw any conclusions. It also doesn’t help that this is one of the worst match ups for Izuku, regardless of universe close up fighters just don’t do well against long ranged fighters. Another Icewave, another finger lost.

In the stands, Kirishima joins the other students. He and some of the others mention that they’re kind of jealous of Bakugo and Shoto since both are able to use such big and flashy moves without much effort. Bakugo tells them that it’s not that easy, and, like any of their powers, there are limits to what they can do. Quirks are like muscles, sure they may operate in wildly different ways, but at the end of the day if you over use a muscle you’re more than likely going to hurt yourself. Important thing to remember, Bakugo might seem like a meat head, but that dude has a mind on par with his boundless rage.

Shoto tries another Icewave, costing Izuku the first finger on his left hand. He rushes Izuku on an ice bridge, trying to get his hands on him. Izuku dodges, and elects to sacrifice his whole left arm to try and knock Shoto away. It works, a bit, but Shoto throws up an ice barrier at the last moment. So Izuku is out of fingers on his right hand, and his left arm is shot. Does he stop? Come on, haven’t you been paying attention?

Izuku, and Bakugo in the stands, notices that Shoto is getting ice build up on his hands and face, and he’s starting to shiver. Weird to see an Ice Elementalist reacting to cold. Shoto makes a crack about how Izuku should surrender, and how the fight was worth it just to see how angry his dad got when he didn’t use the fire power. Izuku doesn’t surrender, so Shoto tries another Icewave. I think I’m sensing a pattern here… Rather then be knocked away by Ice, Izuku further breaks his right index finger for another OFA smash. If you listen carefully you can hear Mrs. Midoriya shrieking in terror with Izuku’s breaking bones. The force nearly knocks Shoto out of the ring but he saves himself.  

Why do I suddenly feel like quoting Robert Frost?
I'm thinking Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.

Izuku points out the obvious, that Shoto is slowing down, that he’s getting too cold to fight well, and that it’s because he refuses to use his flames to counteract the effects of continually using his Ice attack. He lectures Shoto about not giving it his all in this fight, and that he demands to see Shoto’s full strength. Izuku couldn’t be in more danger if he held up a “I love Endeavor” sign right there and then. Shoto is furious, believing Endeavor paid Izuku to say that, and charges at him. Izuku, and once again Bakugo in the stands, notes that Shoto and his ice are moving slower. Izuku, concentrating hard on the image of an egg in a microwave, performs an OFA punch to Shoto’s stomach. Shoto freezes Izuku’s left arm in the exchange, but is knocked back clear across the field. And Izuku didn’t break his right arm, hooray for little victories. More Icewaves, more flicking of Izuku’s fingers to block. His right hand is pretty much a mangled mess at this point. I hope he didn’t plan to learn to play the piano, because I doubt his fingers are going to bend the right way after today. Ref. Cementoss asks if they should call the fight, but no one is willing to stop it yet. Izuku resorts to breaking his thumb by flicking it against his cheek to stop another Icewave. He lunges forward and headbutts Shoto, once again demanding that Shoto fight him for real. He hits Shoto with another OFA punch, knocking him on his butt.

Shoto flashes back to his childhood, watching his older brothers and sister playing while he was forced to ignore them and train. I think I need to reiterate this, pre-K Shoto was force to ignore his siblings because he needed to learn to fight better. You got to be a sick man to force your youngest to sequester himself away from your older children. He then remembers a much darker moment. Rei Todoroki, pushed to the edge by an abusive husband, seeing bits of Eiji Todoroki in her three older children, and seeing that same… darkness in her baby Shoto’s eyes, finally snapped. She douses the left side of his face in boiling water while calling his left side unbearable. Rei was put away in a mental hospital. Despite her being the one to burn his face, Shoto understood that the blame for his scarring and his mother’s mental breakdown rest solely at his father’s feet. Smart kid. He still decided to pursuit being a hero, but Shoto swore to never use fire in a fight again, as a ‘screw you, dad.’ Well, that’s depressing.

That's HIS fighting face. Yes, it is much more impressive then
Izuku's.

Izuku, still fighting, screams at Shoto that his Quirk is his, not Endeavors. This causes Shoto to remember watching an All Might interview with his mother. The very relevant interview was of All Might saying, yeah, quirks are genetic but the powers are the persons, not their parents. Or something. That’s what made him really want to be a hero, that superman with a disturbing smile on his face. He wanted to be like All Might. This causes Shoto to let loose his flames, thawing himself. Endeavor, who’d been silently watching from the crowd, roars with delight. He screams at Shoto to use his full power, and that they will work together from this point onwards to reach new heights. Shoto… doesn’t even look at him.

Shoto and Izuku charge at each other, drawing on their full powers. Sensing the very real chance these two might kill each other, Cementoss and Midnight try to stop them, Cementoss forming concrete barriers between them and Midnight releasing her pheromones to try and knock them out. It doesn’t help much. Those boys are too high on adrenaline to be calmed easily, so the pheromones aren’t useful. The combined force of Izuku’s One For All Punch and Shoto’s Fireblast obliterate the walls. Izuku was knocked out of the ring, while Shoto caught himself on some more ice. Shoto is declared the winner.

For those who don’t follow that sort of thing, the fight in this episode made it onto a lot of top 10 lists for anime fight scenes back in 2017. I know that my transcription here might come across as a little bland, but seeing the fight in motion is a feast for the eyes. Seeing both young men go all out as they battle for supremacy was really well done. The animation makes you feel every blast of ice, every broken bone that occurs in this battle. I highly recommend this episode for anyone that enjoys a good fight scene. I liked that Izuku spent nearly the entire fight getting Shoto to fully embrace his powers. While not guaranteed, he might have had a chance to win if he’d let Shoto keep focusing on his ice powers, as the young hero-in-training might have ended up freezing himself. But, as a shock to no one, Izuku wouldn’t have been happy with a win unless Shoto came at him full force. Speaking of Shoto, his home life is pretty damn awful. I mean, not only is his famous and powerful father abusive as hell, but his mother’s psychological break caused him to be permanently scarred. Oh, and the fact that even after his mother was gone, he was so cut off from his siblings that in a later chapter his elder brother admitted to not even knowing Shoto’s favorite food. That’s how little time the ‘failures’ of Eiji Todoroki got to spend with his ‘masterpiece.’ It’s a special kind of hell that he grew up in. Considering all of that, it’s kind of amazing that he turned into a cold but functional hero-in-training instead of a sociopath. Lucky that. Shoto being able to embrace his flame powers and use them without restraint is an important step forward for him. And it’s just that, a step forward. Shoto hasn’t suddenly been fixed. He is still trying to find a way to use the fire side of his Elementalist powers without reservations, and learning how to feel about his abusive father in the manga. Keep in mind that the manga is about two years of content ahead of the anime. Life’s a journey. Next time, we’ll see what the ramifications of repeatedly and savagely damaging one’s hands can be even with a Healer on staff.

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