So… Spider-Man is back in the MCU
now, for at least one more solo film and to probably appear in guest spots
across the film franchise. Guess that month of general melancholy was for
nothing. Eh, I’m use to it by now. I’m just going to focus on the fact my
favorite character is staying where he belongs, and not on Sony’s rather
moronic decision to add a solo Madam Web movie to their separate Spider-Verse roster.
Who wants to see an hour and a half of a spider themed mystic exposit? Anyway,
back to My Hero Academia.
Last time on My Hero Academia the minor
characters continued testing. Using cunning, brute force, and tactics, eight
more teen heroes were able to continue on. Well, seven. Minor spoiler but tape
elbow Sero got a failing grade because he got knocked out right away by
Midnight. No real shock there, though. Oh, and Uraraka just barely escaped having
to explain to Izuku why a question her partner Aoyama asked caused her to blush
and seize up slightly. Not sure if it’s good or bad that she’ll be keeping her
fondness for a green haired fanboy to herself for some time longer. Speaking of
green haired fanboys, up next is Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo’s final exam,
against their shared idol, All Might. Let’s get to it.
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| Izuku should probably be glad that smack didn't cost him any teeth. |
We open with Bakugo being angry and
giving Izuku a death glare. So, it’s just kind of an average Tuesday for them.
Bakugo is still furious that Izuku has been making so much progress as a hero,
but doesn’t actually say anything to Izuku as he starts marching through the
test city. For the umpteenth time, how do they afford these things! Izuku does
his best to try and formulate a plan with Bakugo but the furious young man
refuses to listen. Probably because Izuku is dead set on running from All Might,
while Bakugo is dead set on beating All Might to a pulp. Kids got spunk; I have
to give him that. Bakugo ends up pimp slapping Izuku when he insists on the
running plan, much to the watching students shock.
Their disagreement is interrupted
by All Might butting in. He DEVASTATES the area with the shockwave his punch
created. He walks up to the boys and gives them a pretty chilling villain speech
before resuming the attack. Bakugo rushes to meet him, and while the young man
puts up a decent fight, he’s still a sixteen-year-old charging the greatest hero
alive. He lasts like 20 seconds before being put on the ground. He fires off about
a dozen weaker blasts at All Might, but they don’t even seem to annoy him.
Izuku tries to run to Bakugo’s aid, but he just gets targeted instead. He
avoids a hit by All Might, but runs into Bakugo in the air as the other hero-in-training
tried to leap at All Might.
All Might tries a different tactic,
pinning Izuku to the ground under a ripped off railing and then taking on
Bakugo alone. He hits the kid so hard that he barfs. Gross. Izuku has a flashback
to when he and Bakugo were kids and when he saw his frenemy gush about how
awesome All Might is and how the real heroes never back down. All Might chastises
Bakugo for squandering his potential, in not working with Izuku to reach their
shared goal. Bakugo flips out and says he’d rather lose than accept help from
Izuku. All Might winds up a finishing blow, but is beaten to the punch.
Literally. Izuku charges up, breaks free and punches Bakugo out of the way of
All Might’s fist. He grabs Bakugo and makes a break for it.
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| This teacher is about to School you. (I regret Nothing!) |
The boys drop a few blocks away,
after Bakugo punches Izuku. Izuku tries to convince Bakugo to run, but he still
refuses. But this time he decides to not be a colossal dick and explain why he
keeps saying no to running. He already figured out that All Might is too damned
fast for them to run to the gate, he’ll just catch up to them. And to make
matters worse, he’s too powerful for them to hurt with anything less than their
full powered strikes. That’s what he was testing when he fired off a bunch of
weaker blasts at All Might’s face. The boys seem to be formulating a plan.
Back with All Might, he’s searching
for the boys pretty nonchalantly. Bakugo leaps at All Might and fires off a few
more explosions. This, as it turns out, was just to distract All Might. Izuku
leaps behind the hero, aims one of Bakugo’s gauntlets and fires off one of the
stockpiled shots that Bakugo creates. The blast actually stuns All Might and
the boys make a run for the gate. All Might is actually impressed that they
were able to devise a plan that’s a compromise between running and fighting. He
muses that their history has led them to both have pretty complex feelings towards
each other, making it difficult, almost impossible, for them to work together
properly. He admits that working together for a test won’t fix everything, but
it’s a good step forward. He charges at them, shattering both gauntlets when he
catches up. He knees Bakugo into a building, grabs Izuku and whips him around
to collide with Bakugo as the kid charged at him again. Dude is great at that
whole “use people as improvised weapons” thing. He keeps holding Izuku by the
wrist and pins Bakugo under his boot. He tells the boys that working together
was a prerequisite for completing the test, so he’s glad they were able to do
that. Bakugo hits him with a point-blank full power explosion. The force of it
clearly distorts his arm to do so. It launches All Might into the air and drop
Izuku. Bakugo grabs Izuku and hurls him toward the gate, using another
explosion to add propulsion. He makes it to within sprinting distance of the gate,
but All Might New Hampshire Smashes to launch himself back towards Izuku, colliding
with him. Bakugo runs up and keeps hitting All Might with full power blasts,
despite the pain it clearly is causing him.
 |
| Yes, Young Midoriya, now that's a real Fight Face! |
Izuku tries to run for the gate, but
that last collision screwed up his back enough that he’s limping toward the
gate. All Might hits him to the ground again before turning to Bakugo. He keeps
blasting All Might, swearing to never stop fighting until he wins. He’d rather
be destroyed than give up. Izuku, hearing this, rushes All Might and Smashes
his face. He grabs Bakugo and starts limp running to the gate. All Might gets
up to follow, but he’s hit his limit and starts steaming again. The boys cross
the finish line, passing the test. The boys are taken to Recovery Girl for healing.
All Might is clearly proud of both of them for their recent growth. Izuku muses
about how everyone has grown in different ways following the tests, some are dealing
with defeat, some regained confidence, and some can just enjoy their growth.
Good times had by all.
 |
| Believe it or not, but she's actually the scarier of the two. |
Meanwhile, the League of Villains
seem to be plotting. Tomura Shigaraki is staring at a photo of Izuku from the
sports festival when Giran walks in. He’s a new character, a villainous black-market
arms dealer that has been apparently to spread the League of Villains
reputation amongst the underworld. Giran brought two new recruits for Shigaraki,
a young man covered in piercings and burns, and a dirty looking school girl
that is super excited to meet Stain. Something wicked this way comes.
This was a very good fight to close
the student’s exams on. The focus was as much on the rather odd frenemy dynamic
between Izuku and Bakugo as much as the fight itself. What I’ve liked about
Bakugo’s characterization from the get-go is that Kohei Horikoshi has done his
damnedest to not show Bakugo as a one-dimensional bully. Pretty early on, at
least within the first ten episodes, we were shown how and when he developed this
superiority complex of his, why he’s unusually vicious to Izuku and why he’s
hell bent on being the strongest. It’d have been really easy to make Bakugo a
dick without any redeemable qualities, but instead he’s shown to be as much an
early idol to Izuku as a tormentor. He’s strong, smart, and driven. I liked the
bit where it was made clear that, while he was being short with Izuku, he had
good reason to shoot down the running plan so hatefully. It wasn’t just pride;
it was because it was impossible to do. It was also interesting to see how
Izuku would work through fighting his hero mentor. While he was able to give a few solid hits to
All Might, it was clear that Izuku was forcing himself to do so. All Might, as
Recovery Girl observed, is pretty close to a God in Izuku’s eyes, so any kid
who would strike his ‘God’ would really have to fight to do it. It was also
nice to see Izuku taking the risk to grab Bakugo and carry him through the
gate, rather than just sprint to the finish. I’m a fan of risking a win to
spread the glory around. And finally, while they might not seem like much,
those two new recruits for Shigaraki’s organization are just the start of the
villains gearing up for their next big plan. And it will cause tremors throughout
their world.
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Twitter: @BasicSuperhero
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