Last time on My Hero Academia, it
was moving day! Our young heroes-in-training all gathered to move into the spacious
Heights Alliance dorm building. Uraraka had a couple of fainting spells, as her
rather humble background makes this building the nicest that she has ever lived
in by far. The students made a game out of who has the best room, and obviously
pick on each other’s tastes in décor. Izuku’s is All Might themed, Todoroki’s
is incredibly Japanese, and everyone flat out refuses to see Mineta’s. After
deciding Sero the sugar-powered Strongman had the best room, he got the entire
female vote due to his baking skills, Izuku and the others from the Bakugo
rescue team were called outside by Uraraka. She brings them to Tsu, who vents a
little about being frustrated about the whole situation, from her friends
harrying off and getting hurt, to her not helping even slightly, and not knowing
how to feel now that everything is said and done. But most of all she didn’t
like feeling awkward around her friends and wanted to vent to hopefully speed
things up to the ‘everyone gets along again’ stage. Which they do. Now that the
move is finished, and some relationships have been repaired, let’s finish off
this latest My Hero Academia splurge of mine with some special moves. Let’s get
to it, shall we?
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| How do you think All Might would react to this room? Would he be happy? Creeped out? Both? |
We open with a clip from last
episode, of All Might telling Izuku that he’s lost his powers and is going to
go into teaching full time. And him yelling at Izuku for rushing headlong into
battle and then complimenting his ability to avoid battle. Izuku then wakes up,
and is at first a little disorientated at being in his new dorm room but
remembers after a few seconds. He explains that it took a few days to get into
the new routine, but he and his classmates have gotten used to their new living
arraignment by the time class resumes.
On their first day back, Aizawa
reiterates that the focus of their summer training (it’s Japan, they have year-round
school) was and still is to prepare them for taking the Provisional License
exams in about two weeks. The test will give them Provisional Licenses, which
basically means that they can help out in stopping crimes or natural disasters
so long as they have supervision of some kind. It’s not the same thing as pro
work, but a certain green haired young man wouldn’t be at risk for being
arrested for helping in Hero situations anymore. So that’s a plus. As the
reward is pretty nice, Aizawa stresses that the test is incredibly difficult
and mentions that only about 50% of students that apply pass. In order to
improve their chances of success, the focus of the next few days will be on
perfecting special moves. It’s something they would have gotten started at
during the summer training camp, if it hadn’t been assaulted. He brings in
Ectoplasm, Midnight and Cementoss to help with the training and takes the kids
to training room Gama.
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| They're all ready and raring to go. Except Koda, his natural setting is bashful. |
The theory that they’re working on
is, that having a special move (think like Goku’s Kamehameha from DBZ or Naruto’s
Rasengan, or any other attack that the protagonist screams the name of) will hone
the kid’s skills overall and thus increase their odds of being in the fifty percent
that passes. It’s not entirely combat orientated either, as the teachers
mention that Iida’s recipro burst counts as one, as does the hero Kamui Woods’ Lacquered
Chain Prison. It’s just a skill that only the student can do which would help
in deadly situations. The kids get to work, with Cementoss using his concrete
manipulation powers to warp the field, Ectoplasm using his clones to give the
kids sparring partners, and Midnight… is there. The kids are also encouraged to
use the next ten days to figure out ways to improve their costumes and submit
alterations to the Support Course.
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| Well, he still gets points for trying, damn it! |
The kids jump whole hog into
training. For some it’s easy, like Ashido developing an acid spray attack in
like 30 seconds, and for some it’s harder, like Ojiro who apparently needs to
figure out how to fight without his massive tail… which is his superpower. Izuku,
naturally, is one that it’s harder for, as he’s worried about putting too much
strain on his ligaments. All Might stops in, as he’s still on leave and
recovering alone is boring. He’s impressed with seeing some of the student’s
progress, like when Bakugo obliterates his Ectoplasm sparring buddy, but notes
his protegee’s issues. He goes up to Izuku, whom asks the same “how do I fight
without damaging my hands?” question. All Might advices him that he’s still
trying too hard to imitate All Might and that Izuku should think for himself.
He then harries off to help other students, mentally telling us that he’s
intentionally not giving Izuku the answer, in the hopes that this will help
sharpen the boy’s already keen mind. He helps a few students with minor tips,
which impresses Aizawa a little, until he sees the Teaching For Dummies book in
All Might’s back pocket. Hey, he still get’s points for trying.
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| Two of the best, "Holy Crap, what just happened?" faces I've seen in anime. |
Izuku, not having much luck with
his special move training, elects to visit the Support Course and see if they have
or could make him a brace to help take some stress off his arms. He’s joined by
Uraraka and Iida a few moments before going in. The former is looking for
something to help her with her nausea when she floats herself, and the latter
looking for something to improve his leg’s radiator so recipro burst doesn’t
stall out his legs as quickly. Izuku opens the door and get’s blasted clear
across the hall. No, Bakugo wasn’t on the other side, instead, he’d been hit by
a failed experiment by Support student and tech super geek Mae Hatsume… as well
as by said student. The Support Course homeroom teacher Powerloader comes out a
moment later and chastises Hatsume for nearly blowing up the building, but she’s
not listening as she’s partially distracted by Izuku’s surprisingly muscular
form. After a minor freak out by Izuku… and Uraraka, at Hatsume’s boobs being pressed
up against Izuku, they reintroduce themselves to her. She claims to have no
memory of meeting them, or using Iida to show off her gear, during the Sports
Festival earlier that year. When Izuku mentions getting new gear for his hands,
though, Hatsume quite literally jumps at giving him some new toys to play with,
but Powerloader cuts her off.
He explains to the students that he’ll
do any small changes to their costumes himself, as he’s licensed for it, but
any large-scale changes will require them sending their costumes in for one of
the school affiliated support companies to retool and upgrade. But it’s a pretty
quick turnaround, three-day average for big changes. Izuku asks again about some
kind of glove or bracer to help with his hands, to which Powerloader thinks is
doable. Their conversation is interrupted by Hatsume feeling up Izuku again, to
size him up for one of her gadgets, I’m sure. She offer him use of a suit of
powered armor to help, but unfortunately hers is more HAMMER Industries than
Stark Tech, and immediately almost snaps his spine turning his around at the waist.
Hatsume isn’t too put off by the failure, and admits she could use the design
as a capture weapon so she’s still excited. Iida tries to stealthily ask
Powerloader for something for his legs, but Hatsume apparently has the ears of
a bat along with telescopic eyes and offers him one of her toys. Her solution
is to give his jet thrusters for his arms, which immediately cause him to hit
the ceiling. He starts yelling at Hatsume for offering him something, untested,
for his arms, when he asked for something for his legs, to which Hatsume
cheerily points out, if you want to reduce stress on your legs, use your arms
instead. This causes a lightbulb to go off in Izuku’s head and he starts
puzzling. While that’s going on and Hatsume is busy looking through her gadgets
for something to help, Powerloader apologizes for her… zeal. He reveals,
though, that Hatsume is one of those students that is constantly putting in extra
effort, constantly designing and redesigning tech even in her off hours. She’s
basically the Izuku of the support course, constantly trying, often failing,
but never stopping. Izuku finally gets his thoughts in order and asks Iida to
show him some things. The confusion of that statement is heightened by Hatsume
offering Uraraka a barrel of some kind that would somehow help her nausea, that
promptly explodes. I think Hatsume might have a problem.
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| While I like his suit upgrades overall, I'm still not certain his hero name with be Deku and not something like the Emerald Hare or Jade Jackrabbit. |
Over the next four days, the other
students are constantly training, fighting and improving. Some have added new
gear, some have rapidly increased their damage capacity, and Izuku finally gets
his new gear. We see that he did indeed get some gloves to help reduce strain
on his hands, overall the upper part of his suit is till at least based off his
mother’s design. We don’t see the biggest change until about a minute later. In
gym Gama, All Might visits again and is impressed by the student’s rapid
improvement. Tokoyami has gotten to the point where he can wear Dark Shadow
like armor, increasing his own strength and power, which he dubbed the Abyssal Black
Body. Which is so metal, I’m surprised he isn’t headbanging. Bakugo has developed
a super focused version of his blasts which he dubbed the AP (Armor Piercing)
shot. He blows a neat hole in come concrete, much to his own joy, but the piece
falls towards a now powerless All Might’s head. Before anyone else can react,
Izuku jumps into the air, and shatters the piece into dust, showing off his new
armored boots and legs. He figured out that because All Might had always used
punches, he’d been subconsciously copying him, assuming that was the natural
way to do it. His arms just aren’t designed for that kind of heavy use and
abuse. So, if he can’t use his arms, he’ll just use his legs. Thus, Izuku
Midoriya has developed his new fighting style, One for All Full Cowling, Shoot
Style. The evidence of a bunny motif just keeps piling up.
Well, that feels like a good place
to stop for now. Technically, it’s the start of the next arc, the test to get
their Provisional Licenses, but this still feels like a slightly stronger
ending than just making up with Tsu. The students are all growing and prepping
for their next big test, and Izuku has finally found a way to keep fighting as
a hero without further risking his hands. Progress all around. I liked seeing
how each of the students we took a moment to focus on went about developing
their special moves. Tokoyami is trying to perfect his control of Dark Shadow,
and made a technique that really shows off that control. Bakugo is all about power,
so he found a way to focus his power down to a super blast. Meanwhile, people
like Uraraka and Iida sought out new tech to overcome physical limitations and
improve their skills. While we didn’t see it pay off here, in the test itself
their choices in new gear will be shown off. And I laughed fairly hard at the
bit where Izuku got blown away, got a little too close to Hatsume, and how he
and Uraraka were utterly aghast when they realized her boobs were on him. Just
a very teenage reaction. And I liked seeing more of Hatsume. The girl has a
really fun energy about her. I liked that she’s such a gear head that, apparently,
she can forget the details of students she seemed to have gotten fairly close
with in their last outing. Not in a malicious way, but in a “I need more room
for Baby designs, out go names and using people memories” way. I honestly hope
she ends up being the chief designer of most of the 1A student’s gear by the
time the graduate. Some fans might hope that Melissa Shields from the movie might
be reintroduced and take that part, but I don’t think she holds a candle to Hatsume’s
personality. And Izuku realizing the flaw in his fighting style and figuring
out how to employ his power without hurting his hands is a nice visual to close
out on. It’s one example that I like to think proves All For One wrong, that
Izuku is improving with All Might’s help not in spite of it. But then, All For One
is trying to create a monster that can work on it’s own, where All Might is
trying to create someone who can stand on his own but is still supported by
others. Different end goals for their students necessitate different training
styles. Or so I think. When we return, we’ll be seeing class 1A preparing to
take on the best and brightest of other hero highs for the right of a provisional
license. It’s going to be a heck of a fight.
I’m not sure what I’ll be doing
next, but we’ll be taking a bit of a break from My Hero Academia. If you have
any suggestions of a show that you’d like me to cover a few episodes of, or a character
you want me to do a profile of, or a topic you want to hear my take on, just
let me know in the comments. Have a good night! And stay safe if you can.
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