Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 57

Final half of the test starts ramping up with some rescue practice. 

Last time on My Hero Academia the UA students struggled to get into the last few passing slots of the first phase of the Provisional Hero Licensing Exam. Bakugo and Kirishima were almost taken out by Seiji Shishikura, a student that could manipulate flesh from Shiketsu high, but Kaminari was able to hold it together long enough to weaken him. Seiji is taken out by Bakugo and Kirishima, and the three reap the benefit of Seiji disabling multiple students without eliminating them. Izuku, Sero and Uraraka were able to trap several examinees, and earned the pass as well. The latter half of the class, including Iida were able to pass when Aoyama used his naval laser. He’d intended to sacrifice himself, he only had one target left, so Iida could pass in the confusion, but instead it drew the last nine members of UA class 1A together to get nine of the final ten slots. The last one went to Camie of Shiketsu. And in an after-credit teaser, it’s revealed that part two of the exam is going to be in a rescue simulation. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open with the bombing of the buildings and scenery of the first testing area, setting the stage for the rescue simulation they’re about to go through. They’re encouraged to treat this like the real thing. Some of the students are a bit freaked out when it seems children and old folks are on the field as well, but they’re revealed to be professional actors from the Help Us Company, or HUC. Mera explains that the students are going to be graded on how well they handle the situation. If they can keep their scores above a failing benchmark, they’ll pass. Iida and Izuku are reminded of the Kamino Ward incident, but Iida points out it’s a little different as they actually have to help the rescue effort this time instead of peacing out with Bakugo. Izuku resolves to do whatever he can to save people.

 

These two are more fired up about attacking their
friend on the rumor of being seen with a naked girl
than they were for the test.

While they’re still waiting for the test prep to complete, Sero goes over and tells Kaminari and Mineta about finding Izuku with a naked (?) Camie during the test. Class 1A’s horniest students are quite upset to hear that Izuku was getting some hanky panky during the test, as Sero told it, and yell at Izuku for it. Camie doesn’t help the situation by waving at Izuku when they draw attention to her. While Izuku is dealing with that, Uraraka is looking miffed again.

 

Bakugo is approached by some Shiketsu High students, lead by Nagamasa Mora, go to talk to Bakugo. Yes, Mora does look like Cousin It from the Addams Family if he had noticeable arms. He basically apologizes for the fact that he’s reasonably certain Seiji was being a dick when they met in the test. He wants to forge a better relationship with UA, and for once Bakugo doesn’t shout obscenities at someone for apologizing. Personal growth! As the convo is going down, Todoroki notices Yoarashi again, remembers the glare from earlier and straight up asks him if Todoroki did something to offend him. Dude, Shoto, I know you’re new to the interpersonal stuff, but that’s not the sort of question you spring on a guy! The jovial Yoarashi gets super serious for a moment, and glares at Todoroki. He tells the heterochromic young man that he hates him and his father Endeavor. That while Todoroki isn’t as bad as before, he still has his father’s eyes. He leaves to jovially return to his class after telling Todoroki something as awful as that.  

 

Mineta and Kaminari resume attacking Izuku with questions when they see Camie wave to him again as she leaves. Uraraka, getting tired of feeling like this, goes to talk to Izuku… but then Mera starts setting up the test’s backstory. Sorta, he didn’t even bother to think up a name for the town. He does tell the students to save as many people as possible and treat it like a real situation. He then drops open the walls and the heroes in training rush out.

 

Match, Start!

UA Class 1A decide to work as a group… mostly. Bakugo runs off again, with Kirishima and Kaminari in tow. When he demands to know why they’re always following him, the two saying “we just wanna.” Izuku hears someone crying and goes to have a look, everyone else following. They find a “Kid” crying about his bleeding scalp and injured grandpa. Izuku reacts with “that’s bad,” which causes the HUC actor to instantly freak out. He critiques Izuku for not being able to assess his injuries, and for not being able to put his mind at ease during a stressful situation. In the stands, Aizawa comments that experience does help. We’re shown several students doing tasks to help the injured, like that dick Yo Shinto setting up a first aid area with his team, and Mora using his locks of hair to clear space for the emergency vehicles when they show up.

 

Izuku, motivated by the yelling and his memories of All Might’s debut video, slaps himself and gets his mind in gear. He puts on his best All Might smile to reassure the HUC Actor. He instantly shifts back into the injured kid persona, and starts crying. Izuku volunteers to carry him to safety while the others keep searching. Uraraka walks Izuku run off and finally seems to come to terms with her feelings. Fact 1, she’s attracted to him. Fact 2, he’s hyper-focused on becoming a hero. Fact 3, said focuse means he probably doesn’t have room in his life for distractions like romantic entanglements. Fact 4, she also wants to be a hero and achieve her goals. She resolves to bury these feelings, work hard and become a hero… for now anyway.

 

Don't care if it costs me points, I say kill it,
kill it with fire!

Izuku, buddy, talk to her! You can’t be so stupid that you’ve missed the signs she’s into you, right?

 

What’s that, he’s still fifteen? Oh, yeah, then he’s got no idea. Sigh.

 

Mera watches the test from the observation area. He notes that after ten minutes and only a few minor hiccups, the test is actually running rather smoothly. That’s of course why they’re going to prep a curveball for the students. It’s not a Hero Test without a few surprises. This surprise seems to a large suited man and a ton of goons, FYI.

 

Yoarashi uses his wind quirk to move a few survivors and debris around. While the HUC guys are impressed to see his level of control with the wind and how easily he’s moving both rocks and people, they deduct points for him being reckless with civilians. While he catches the two HUC guys he was moving, one of his classmates points out Camie ran off on her own again and comments that’s unlike her.

 

In the stands, Seiji is watching along side his homeroom teacher… I assume. He might just be talking to a rando, no idea. Whomever he is, the older guy advises that Seiji learn from his mistakes and not get swallowed up by Stain’s rhetoric. Seiji is affronted, but the teacher explains. He points out that Stain’s message and All Might’s retirement made a lot of folks want to reevaluate the hero system. And while that’s good, getting too obsessed with separating the wheat from the chaff is dangerous. It’s that reason why Seiji didn’t advance, because he focused too much on that separation process.

 

The UA students find another man in debris. Uraraka runs up to free him. Which is revealed to be bad, as the HUC guy is going to deduct points when she does for not surveying the field and putting him at unnecessary risk. He’s denied this by Yaoyorozu, who stops Uraraka and points out the precarious nature of the debris. If they move too much too fast, it’ll all come tumbling down. She makes some scaffold and Sero and Sato set it up with tape and superstrength to brace against the big pieces. Uraraka then slides in and starts removing the debris piecemeal, slow but efficiently. The HUC actor muses that, while it isn’t the best method, the students are learning that working with teams and finding the most efficient use of skills is a corner stone of hero work. The students realize that they might work better in smaller groups, and break into teams. Iida even suggesting that they help other schools, it might be a test but they need to treat it like reality.

 

These three are quickly becoming a superpowered
three stooges routine, and I am here for it.

We jump over to the mountain zone with Bakugo’s group. A pair of HUC actors come up, yelling about their injuries and demanding help. Bakugo tells them to shut up and save themselves. Kirishima and Kaminari both scold him for his crap bedside manner, but the HUC people wonder if he didn’t make the right call. They were told to act like people with minimal injuries but be loud and obnoxious. They decide while Bakugo telling them to look after themselves might be right, his bedside manner sucks so deduct points.

 

Iida rushes around the area trying to find people that Shoji’s tentacles find. Tsu, Todoroki and Hagakure are in the river area fishing people out of the water, and everyone else is finding odd jobs to help people.

 

Stage presence like this, and I'm shocked that he's
only #3 on the "Looks like a villain" list.

Izuku makes sit to the first aid area, and drops his HUC actor off with someone acting as a de facto nurse. But then the test gets harder. The large man that we were shown earlier points out that while rescue work is important, a real hero often has to multitask and adapt to new situations. More explosions are triggered. Mera announces that another wave of attacks has started and the villain responsible is taking the field. This ‘Villain’ is the hero Gang Orca, a large, well dressed human/animal mix hero. He’s ranked 10th overall of heroes in Japan, and 3rd on the “looks like a villain” list. You might remember him as one of the heroes that was on Best Jeanist’s team when they had that fairly disastrous raid on the Noumu factory. He sends his squad in. Aizawa in the stands mentions that this scenario would be hard even for pros. Gang Orca gives a villainous speech asking what the heroes will do. Will they attack or defend? Rescue, or try to stop the villain? We’ll find out… eventually.

 

This was another solid episode. I might have to stop saying that, as My Hero Academia episodes are rarely “misses” for me, ha. I liked the scenario that the kids are being put in. Obviously with their job, rescue work is probably going to be a huge part of it. Natural disasters and villain attacks will always cause collateral damage, so being able to work in a disaster setting is crucial. I liked that Izuku was reprimanded for giving a very… Izuku response to hearing about the injured kid, before switching to a Deku mentality and being a hero. I’m only slightly annoyed that Uraraka’s recent arc of ‘do I or don’t I like him?” ends with a realization that it’s an emphatic YES, but that she won’t do anything about it. Not that her reasoning isn’t justified, Izuku is very career focused and it might be unfair to try and add a relationship to the tasks he’s focused on. And that she needs to do well in her career and she should be as diligent as he. No, I’m just annoyed that it’s another case of two leads that are clearly intended to be romantic at some point dragging it out because it’s easier to write two characters in a “will they/won’t they” situation than as a functioning couple. And/or this is a Shonen series focused on boys, and people continue to think guys don’t want to read about romance. They can, some do, and if you include it in an immensely popular series maybe they’d warm up to it. Just saying. I love the design of Gang Orca. He’s a whale, but also with unnatural eyes and claws, so more like a demon whale. He’s also known for having immensely loyal and well-coordinated sidekicks, so we’re going to see some interesting group tactics in a couple episodes. Yeah, sorry to break the tension, but the next episode is a filler episode designed to promote the then upcoming first My Hero Academia film. Not sure why they couldn’t put it at the end of the arc, but no use crying over spilt milk and all that. It’s a… unique episode, at least. But we’ll cover that later. Have a good night, everybody. 

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 56

 It's a mad dash to the finish.

Last time on My Hero Academia we got to enjoy a little filler. Todoroki battled some Ninja, not Naruto, and defeated them, becoming the first UA student that we know about that passed the first stage of the exam. Yaoyorozu, Shoji, Tsu, and Jiro had a bit of trouble with a group of girls from Seiai Academy. The only named member of this filler school, Saiko Intelli, forced the four into a near perfect trap, but Yaoyorozu out thought her and her team also advanced. Izuku, Sero and Uraraka started working on a strategy to get passing scores as well, while Bakugo and Kaminari faced off against a Shiketsu High student that turned Kirishima into an abominable meat potato. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

Wait, if his power only effects flesh, da hell
happened to his hand and forearm bones?

We open on a quick recap of the test and its parameters. You know, three targets, six balls, two eliminations get you a passing grade. The first new bit of info is that there are only 38 spots left for advancement. We catch up with Yo Shinto and his squad. He goes over Ketsubutsu high’s original strategy, to break up UA’s defensive formation, then go after them in two large squads. Unfortunately, Shinto’s quake caused them to lose track of UA students and cause just rampant chaos. He plans to have his group take advantage of this and all get passing scores. One of his classmates admits she’s happy to see him drop the nice guy act. He claims that he ‘respects the ideals’ of the other competing students but won’t go easy on them.

 

We jump over to Bakugo and Kaminari’s battle with the Shiketsu student. Bakugo charges him and fires his AP shot: Auto Cannon. It’s a weaker but rapid-fire version of his AP shot; it blows apart whatever it is that the other student is throwing at them. He makes a comment about killing the Shiketsu student, which freaks Kaminari out as he tells him “This is why everyone is terrified of you, you’re way too hardcore. The Shiketsu student is unimpressed and fires more fleshy looking pods at them. Kaminari tries to hit him with some kind of disk from the launcher on his wrist, but misses, the disk imbedding in the wall. Bakugo keeps firing, and holds him off, but one of the finger shaped flesh pods touches his neck. The Shiketsu student had sent it around while distracting Bakugo with his showier attack. He also turns Bakugo into a fleshy ball, but at the last second Bakugo throws something to Kaminari. It’s at this point that Present Mic’s voice over explains who this is, he is Seiji Shishikura, a Shiketsu high second year.  His Quirk is called Meatball. He can knead flesh in a variety of ways. He can turn his own flesh into long range projectiles, reshaping it to fit whatever use he needs. But he can only turn other people into his weird flesh balls. Gross.

 

Seiji turns his attention to Kaminari. He explains that he figured out that the PHLE had been changed in an attempt to make heroes more elite, and in the spirit of that, he’d changed his own goal from merely passing to eliminating inferior students. So that’s why he’s surrounded by flesh pods instead of just eliminating two and passing. Kaminari is clearly pissed at these comments, even more so when Seiji steps on Kirishima’s flesh ball and tells Kaminari that they still feel pain in this form, so he should be careful to not throw lightning at him. In response, Kaminari throws the thing Bakugo gave him at Seiji. It’s one of his personal grenades, charged with Bakugo’s sweat. The explosion distracts Seiji for a moment, and Kaminari hits him with an electric blast. The arc of his attack follows a line straight to the target he fired earlier.

 

Safe to say that Kaminari owes both Hatsume and
Powerloader a fruit basket each for upping his aim 
this much. And it better be a nice one, like an
Edible Arraignment.

We take a quick flashback to when Kaminari commissioned that baby. It’s literally one of Hatsume’s babies, a collaboration with Powerloader. Kaminari had wanted something to help him aim his power better, so he didn’t run the risk of shocking allies along with enemies. The device is called a Pointer-Shooter launcher. The disks he fires from it act like a lightning rod, drawing the electricity to it in a straight line, keeping it from shocking others.

 

Back in the present, Kaminari has a realization about Bakugo during the fight. Namely, that he’d intentionally used weaker attacks to avoid the risk of hurting either of the K’s on his team. He tells Seiji that Bakugo might act like a jerk but he’s way more considerate than you’d think when you get to know him. Seiji tries to rush Kaminari again, but Bakugo and Kirishima get up and attack him, knocking him out. Turns out, he can’t keep people in the meatball form if he gets hurt too much. Kirishima thanks Kaminari for the help, and Bakugo insults him for taking so long. It’s at that moment that they see all of Seiji’s other victims return to normal, and Bakugo licks his lips upon realizing they’re in a target rich environment.

 

In the waiting area, Todoroki wonders where the rest of his class is, just as Yaoyorozu and her crew join him. They explain how the bulk of the class got separated and that they hope the others pass and join them soon. Yoarashi watches and continues to glare at Todoroki.

Okay, safe to call this a successful team up!

 

We cut back to Izuku and his team’s antics. He and Sero are running from a large crowd when Sero tells Izuku to grab him and super jump away. Izuku does, and a moment later Uraraka releases her power. Several boulders stuck to strands of tape drop, pinning examinees to the ground. Uraraka and Sero had set that trap up while Izuku was distracting everyone. They get told 76 students have passed. One of the pinned guys pretty much begs Izuku to let him off, as they’re just first year students, they’ll have other chances, and that this is his only shot. Izuku says rather gravely that it’s his only shot too.

 

79 students have passed. We’re shown a quick scene of all the UA students doing their best to survive the chaos. In it, Iida rushes through the area and runs into Aoyama, the naval laser kid. Iida has been trying to gather their classmates together so they can hopefully make one final push and all pass. Aoyama is clearly feeling a bit defeated, two of his targets were hit, and he wonders why they should even try at this point. Iida tells him that it’s the class reps duty to at least try, and that he’s trying to live up to his brother’s example. He tells Aoyama that he’ll continue searching while still trying to pass.

 

Weird to get confirmation that there are indeed
people with less rhythm than my fat white ass.

Meanwhile, Bakugo and Izuku’s teams meet on the way to the reception area. Uraraka, Sero, Kirishima and Kaminari do a group victory dance while Izuku watches and smiles. As Bakugo passes him, he expects an angry tirade, but instead Bakugo mentions that it seems like Izuku is making “that borrowed power” his. Which kind of freaks Izuku out, that Bakugo remembered their discussion after All Might’s class in the first few episodes about him borrowing the power. Inside, they meet up with Yaoyorozu and the others. Jiro makes fun of Kaminari and thinks it’s his fault his group took so long and Tsu tells them were to go to get the targets off. The UA kids realize that 11 of their 20 class have passed, with only 18 spots remain.

 

Why do I feel like You Got the Touch should start
playing right now...

In the field, Iida and Aoyama are running for their lives. Iida is trying to keep Aoyama’s spirits up as they run, but seems to not be having much effect. Then they hear that 8 students have passed at once, all of them from Ms. Joke’s crop. 10 spots, with 9 UA students still in the fight. Aoyama, remembering Iida’s words and something about his past, tries to sacrifice himself. He leans back and fires a naval laser into the sky. He wants to draw people in, and hope that Iida can speed through and get his two eliminations to pass. Just as he tells Iida to run and a crowd rushes them, a ton of pigeons fly in, courtesy of Koda. Tokoyami, Ashido, Koda, ugh Mineta, Sato, Hagakure, and Ojiro all saw Aoyama’s naval laser and came running. The nine students are able to quickly coordinate and overwhelm their opponents. They take all nine remaining spots, with Iida and Aoyama taking their last two at the same time. We’re also shown Camie over a fallen opponent, with her earing the remaining slot.

 

Everyone starts cheering, Mera particularly hard. In the stands, Aizawa looks annoyed and promises that his students will be put through extra training for keeping him on the edge of his seat like that up until the last minute.

 

In an after-credit scene, (damn it, Studio Bones, stop doing this), we see what the next test will be. They blow the crap out of the buildings and all the landscapes to create a rescue exercise.

 

This was another solid episode. The battle between Bakugo and his group vs. Seiji was particularly enjoyable. I like how they continue to portray Bakugo as this barely controlled hellion, while showing off that when one pays attention, he’s way more careful than you’d imagine. He likes to bark loudly, but he’s careful where he bites. I liked Kaminari getting a bit of a chance to shine on his own. Electrical powers are always my favorite, and I’ve enjoyed him thus far, even if he’s an idiot. And while the name of his new gadget is kinda dumb, the ability to shoot his electricity much more effectively is the kind of gift that keeps on giving. Also, props to Seiji, his power is kinda gross looking but he uses it super effectively. Izuku’s passing was pretty simple, but I’m glad it was the result of a coordinated team effort. Plus, that line about this being his one chance was pretty chilling. Remember Bakugo’s comment about Izuku’s power, it’ll come up again soon. And that last mad dash to the finish with the rest of the UA class was great. Seeing them all use their powers to claim those last spots, including Hagakure showing off that she can blind people with a flash of light, was awesome. Though, I don’t envy these kids when Aizawa gets them back to UA. That’s going to be a rough training session me thinks. And that’s all I have to say about that. Have a good night, everybody.

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Monday, September 28, 2020

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 55

It's filler time. And that's not an insult.

Last time on My Hero Academia the Provisional Hero License Exam (PHLE) began in earnest. UA was immediately mobbed by other school, wish is apparently a tradition for the exam. Izuku and the rest of his class are separated when Ketsubutsu academy Izuku…er Yo Shinto used his vibration power to cause an earthquake. He quickly runs into a Shiketsu High student named Camie Utsushimi who hits one of his targets. Izuku seemingly escapes her and a group of attacking students are Uraraka comes to help… only for “Uraraka” to be revealed to be Camie in some kind of shapeshifted disguise. He’s saved by Sero and the real Uraraka, and the three retreat to form a plan. Meanwhile, Todoroki is cornered by a group of students dressed as Ninja. This should be interesting. Let’s get to it.

 

We open with Todoroki’s battle with the group of Ninja. I really need to know if that’s a legit school uniform or are these guys cosplayers? Oh, they’re filler characters, right. The Red Ninja has the ability to increase the size of objects that he throws at Todoroki. He seems to have a preference on nuts and bolts, his comment about using objects made of tungsten which has a high melting point, implies that he prepped for Todoroki’s flame. This seems to be more or less proven when the rest of the group attack, two of his Ninja have water powers and two have enhanced strength and throw stuff at him. Realizing that they’d overwhelm him, Todoroki unleashes a massive fire blasts that the Water Elementalists put out, but he runs in the steam that the attack created. Todoroki works out that this factory was made to be as realistic as possible, and finds a large tanker, he pierces it to confirm his theory. He draws the Ninja in, and when they’re close, hits it with a fire blast. The explosion isn’t as big as it probably should have been, only slightly burning the Ninja’s uniform and ringing their bell pretty thoroughly. Todoroki knocks them out and leaves this industrial area. He’s told via his targets that he should go to the reception area to wait for the rest of the test to wrap up.

 

In voice over, Present Mic explains that the targets are super advanced pieces of equipment. They are able to track the students, determine who hit their target and a bunch other “neat” thing. Once placed, they remain fixed in place unless unlocked by a magnetic key.

 

Of all the eye-wear options, why a monocle?

We then cut over a group of girls in fancy uniforms. (This part is filler) The lead girl, referred to as Miss Sei, is drinking tea when she’s told that a group of students are approaching the area they set up shop in. Her friend has a hologram eye, and shows Yaoyorozu (creates non-living objects), Shoji (multiple tentacle arms he can grow additional body parts onto), Tsu (is a frog), and Jiro (extendable earlobes that she can hear through or project her heartbeat through as a sonic attack). Miss Sei triggers her quirk, which seems to cause a bunch of complex formula and numbers to appear around her, smiles knowingly and tells her team to prepare.

 

We jump back to Todoroki whom had just made it to the reception area (This part is not filler). He enters and spies Yoarashi. The enthusiastic hero-in-training is talking about some hero he’s a big fan of to another student, who has no idea who Yoarashi is, who the guy he’s talking about is, and seems to just want to leave the “conversation.” Todoroki finds it odd that he doesn’t remember Yoarashi, as they would have taken the same test since they both were recommended to the school. Yoarashi sees him, glares, and then gets back to his one-sided convo.

 

Not a team I'd have chosen, but it's a good group.

Over the intercom, we get told that 56 students have passed. The foursome had entered a large building, went up to one of the top floors (because reasons) and were using Shoji’s eyes and Jiro’s ears to try and locate other examinees. (This is filler) Initially they were looking for classmates, but after hearing only 44 spots are still open, decide to switch to passing themselves. This is when the girls of Seiai Academy start their run. First, Jiro detects a small group approaching their floor at a deliberate pace, just before incredibly loud rock is played with rings Jiro’s bell real well and pretty much disables her as a recon asset. They then have a sniper, she uses energy balls launched from a slingshot, to shatter the glass on their floor, making it impossible for Shoji to see out of, blinding them. Wanting to go down fighting, Jiro tries to charge, but the sniper is good enough to shatter bother of her wrist mounted amps and hurt one of her earphone jacks. And then they turn up the AC and drop heavy shutters over the windows. Yaoyorozu believes Seiai Academy is trying to freeze them, a strategy that works incredibly well with Tsu. Apparently, her animal-based powers also come with extreme susceptibility to temperature extremes, and our little froggy is going into hibernation. It’s not so bad for the others, but they’re all shivering. Yaoyorozu wants to help her, but knows that this group probably has contingency plans for her creating anything advanced to warm them up, and the sprinklers make just going caveman and starting a fire a bad plan. She makes a blanket to keep Tsu warm, just as all the doors to their area are welded shut save one. Yaoyorozu tries to think of a plan, and knows that the air conditioning is their biggest immediate threat. She thinks about blocking the vents by making clay to cover them.

 

Outside, Miss Sei has already determined Yaoyorozu’s course of action. She’ll use up her lipids (she burns these fatty acids when she makes items) blocking the air conditioning, removing herself as a possible threat and then her team can storm in and take them all out. It’s only at this point that it’s revealed that she’s Saiko Intelli, second year at Seiai Academy and her quirk is IQ. She drinks tea and it boosts her intellect. What a… bizarre power.

 

Oh, sleepy froggy.

Back inside, Yaoyorozu starts making the clay, but stops before she materializes any. She realized that their opponents forced her into this situation and were probably planning on attacking once her lipid reserves were burnt up. She tries to think of a new plan, and fixates on the thought of ‘how would Todoroki, Iida or Midoriya handle the situation?’ She remembers Izuku speech from around when Bakugo was taken, and comes to the conclusion that he’d focus on saving his team, his friends, above all else. She has an idea, she makes copies of Jiro’s headphones, and then makes something large from her back. Oh, how interesting.

 

HA, group attack for the win.

Saiko, believing the UA students were either frozen or Yaoyorozu was disabled, has her team prep to attack. That is until a massive sound burst comes from the room, more or less instantly incapacitating most of her team and leaving Saiko stunned. Yaoyorozu, as it turned out, created a giant speaker for Jiro to plug into and use her favorite heart-beat as a sonic blast technique. The noise is loud and intense enough that it even gets through their ear protection, but they only had to hold the noise for a few seconds to make sure all of Seiai Academy were knocked out. They go out to claim victory, only for Saiko to pop out from behind the door, grab Yaoyorozu and force her back into the other room, shutting and locking the door behind them. Apparently, she decided that if she can’t win, she’ll at least make sure Yaoyorozu doesn’t pass either. Thankfully, Yaoyorozu is able to hold her off on her own long enough for the others to burst back in and disable Saiko. She’s confused as to why they’d waste time saving Yaoyorozu, as for all they knew she had already been taken out, but the others explain UA Class 1A looks out for their own. Saiko surrenders.

 

We then jump over to Kirishima, Bakugo and Kaminari climbing up onto an overpass of some kind. While it wasn’t mentioned before, it seems Kaminari followed the other two when they broke off from the group. No idea why, considering Bakugo verbally abuses him only slightly less than he does Izuku. Just sayin’. At the top, something hit’s Kirishima. Whatever it is, it turns him into some kind of lumpy potato looking thing, and drags him back to a Shiketsu academy student standing in a bunch of the meat potatoes. Gross. We hear over the intercom only 40 spots are left.

 

Izuku and his crew are still in hiding and trying to think of a plan. Izuku is hoping that the time crunch might work to their advantage, hopefully eroding the larger groups coordination as spots are taken up. Sero is a little confused by this explanation and asks why Izuku wanted them to stay in a big group, since the same thing might have happened to them. Izuku explains that he assumed that it would be easiest with a large group, as their class have a lot of folks with capture and Area of Effect powers, so they could have disabled a big group in one go and then taken points at their leisure. Shinto and his crew are coming up on them, so time is running out. Izuku elects to run out ahead and distract them, allowing Uraraka and Sero to use their powers to hopefully nab six of them so the three UA students could pass. Uraraka isn’t a super huge fan of that plan, but lets her obvious crush go when he pulls the ‘it’s the only way’ card, and she reaffirms to herself that she has faith in him.

Not going to lie, this Quirk kinda grosses me out.

 

Back with Bakugo, the Shiketsu high student gives Bakugo and Kaminari a speech about how his school is all about order and discipline and how wearing hats sin battle signifies that. I don’t get it either. Kaminari feels dumb listening to him, and Bakugo just gets pissed. The Shiketsu kid says that he has respect for UA, but thinks that Bakugo is a degenerate that sullies the schools name, as does the rest of class 1A. Be makes a bunch of large, finger shaped appendages that look like they’re made of sand materialize behind him. Bakugo isn’t impressed and rushes him.

 

Shame they can't smile and be within 100 feet
of each other.

As Izuku tries to lure opponents in, we join Aizawa and Ms. Joke in the stands. They seem to be killing time, waiting for this stage of the test to be over. She offers him some gum, but he declines knowing it’s one of those trick gum things. She notes that he seems attached to this group, which is unusual and wonders if he’s worried they’ll pass. She also says that seeing him care about things is gross, which isn’t important but funny. Aizawa explains that he really isn’t worried at all, as he has two students that seem to have an effect on the others. They aren’t the most popular, and they don’t get along, but they have a habit of bring out the best in everyone. And we close the image on a still of Izuku and Bakugo fighting the good fight.

 

Okay, so this is 90% a filler episode, but like all previous filler episodes of My Hero Academia, I don’t feel like it’s a waste of time. Got to give it props for that alone. This is in part, I think, to My Hero sticking to filler stories that fit into the larger arc. Shows like Naruto, Bleach and even Dragonball Z had a habit of throwing up filler episode that kill the pacing of the story at large. Hell, all three have had multiple episode long arcs, Naruto and Bleach had literal seasons, that were entirely pointless filler. My Hero’s filler at sticks to the story, and expands upon interesting characters. Like Tsu’s time with her internship. And, in Todoroki’s case, it was all stuff that might have happened. As I said above, his fight and early win occurred entirely off screen in the manga. So, really, any story about what he did after leaving the rest of the group could work. I did like how they took a moment to highlight his continual frustrations with learning how to use both his elements concurrently. And in Yaoyorozu’s case, they pretty much wrote a story about her that reinforced that closing idea, that class 1A is better for just having Izuku specifically being apart of it. As it was her memory of his speech about saving friends that motivated her to think outside the box in defeating her Anime only opponents. And kudos to the writers for highlighting Jiro and Shoji, two minor characters that need more love and attention. I’d include Tsu in that too, but I know she’ll be getting a lot relatively soon. No spoilers, though. Finally, the closing segments did do a good job setting up Izuku and Bakugo’s upcoming fights. The dude from Shiketsu is a tough opponent, if his body capturing power wasn’t enough of a hint, and Izuku has an uphill battle, being his group’s strongman as Uraraka and Sero try to do subtle work behind him. But we’ll get into that next time. Have a good night. 

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Sunday, September 27, 2020

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 54

Young heroes rumble, Izuku takes a tumble, Camie wants info.  What? I wanted to try to do a Haiku, it's been a while.


Last time on My Hero Academia Izuku revealed his new look. With the help of support course student Mei Hatsume and instructor Powerloader, his costume had been completely reworked into Costume Gama, and he’s begun training in his new “Shoot Style.” It’s a kicking focused fighting style, designed to protect his hands. Uraraka has starts grappling with her feelings for our green haired protagonist, a bit. The Students arrive at the Exam building. There, they meet a few other students, and Aizawa’s “Friend” Ms. Joke. Once in the exam hall, they learn that the test is going to be significantly stricter this year, in an attempt to winnow down the prospective heroes to the best of the best. Instead of the 50% pass rate of previous years, it’s going to be just over 6%.  Bakugo and Kirishima, and Todoroki split off from the main group, while the rest of UA gets mobbed by students trying to take advantage of their knowledge of UA’s capabilities and take them all out. Let’s get to it.

 

After a quick recap of the test, the rules and the reveal about the “Attack UA” tradition, we see our UA hero hopefuls beat back a large attack from Shiketsu high. Izuku does a big sonic boom kick, Tokoyami and Dark Shadow blow back a bunch, Sero tapes up some, Ashido melts more, and Yaoyorozu protects others without area attacks with barriers. It looks really cool. Aizawa in the stands explains to Ms. Joke that, since as heroes his students will have to face off against plenty of villains that know what their powers are, they’ve been prepared to tackle that sort of opponent. He claims that UA may look a little further ahead than other schools. Ms. Joke is a tad upset at him talking down about her kids and points out their experience and grit may beat UA yet.

 

Shiketsu students do a combo attack of hardening one student’s set of balls into small boulders and another’s student’s ability to throw and control trajectory to try and attack from below ground. Jiro uses her new fist amps and her earphone jack to send a sonic pulse into the ground, shattering it and causing the balls to fly skyward. Ashido melts them, unfortunately protecting Mineta in the process. He’s a perv, but he’s their perv, I guess. Tokoyami tries to take on the offensive, and seems to slice another student in half, but it turns out that’s just her power. She can collapse in on herself, it looks really weird.

 

Mera announces to the students that no one has passed yet, but he’ll keep them abreast of when that changes.

Dude is super intense.

 

Izuku assumes that everyone is still holding back at this point, playing defensively until they have a better handle on the other’s tactics. It’s at this exact moment that Shinto decides to do just that. He uses his vibration quirk to shatter the ground, causing a rockslide that splits the UA students up and breaks their defensive formation. Though we learn that a side effect of his power is that Shinto is going to get hit with feedback, so he probably won’t be wrecking the place again any time soon.

 

In the city part of the exam field, Yoarashi reveals himself. Using his whirlwind powers, he gathers up everyone’s balls and hurls them at the other students, all while explaining that Passion is important to being a hero and he wants to show his along side theirs. So, I guess the balls must have something in them to determine who threw them, as all of his hits count as his take down. Mera is quite shocked to reveal that Yoarashi took out 120 students by himself with one attack.

 

Think gymnastics is an elective or required course
for hero students?

In the rubble, Izuku gets up and realizes he’s alone. Ya know, he really should put his mouthguard on, just saying. He goes over the situation in his head, he laments that fact that his class doesn’t have the coordination that the older students have, but is genuinely excited about testing himself against other students that are this strong. It’s just as he’s thinking this when a Shiketsu High girl rushes him, leaps over him and hits one of his targets. She introduces herself as she lands as Camie Utsushimi. She says that Izuku “couldn’t be cooler,” I guess Izuku has fans now? Weird.

 

Meanwhile, Uraraka pulled herself from the rubble, commenting that attack could have killed someone. She’s ready to fight on her own, but rushes out to try and find other members of her class as back up. You go, girl.

 

Ya know, no test, no creepy lines about wanting to
get to know him better, Izuku might be 
down for this. Just saying


Back with Izuku, he powers up Full Cowling before Camie’s next attack. She lobs a stone at Izuku to get him to react before throwing her ball. He dodges, but she seems to move even faster and gets around him. He ends up pinned to the ground with her at his back. In some other circumstances, this might be fun, but I think in this instance Izuku is terrified. She asks him why he wants to be a hero, and admits she wants to know everything about him, his desires and what scares him! Before the freak train get gather any more steam, some of Ketsubutsu students arrive and start attacking, the two break their grapple and start dodging.

 

While Izuku is dodging attacks, Uraraka shows up and tries to offer Izuku a hand up to get him out of the metaphorical hot zone. Unfortunately, she’s noticed and knocked from her perch. Izuku flashes back to the fight with Muscular, and the chain of events that followed that ended with All Might’s retirement. He laments that he wasn’t fast enough then, but that pushes him forward now. He catches Uraraka mid fall, spins, creates a shockwave with a kick and his new boots, knocking the other students from their perch. He runs off at high speed carrying Uraraka princess style.

 

How dare you use the face of an angel for your
evils deeds? For shame!

The two are able to hide in some rubble. Izuku tries to figure out a plan. Uraraka looks at him, blushing… but then reaches for one of his targets, ball in hand. Izuku flips around, slapping the ball out of her hand and asks who she really is. Not-Uraraka tries to play it off for a bit, but Izuku figured her out. He noticed that she didn’t use her powers when in danger, she put herself in a risky situation that Uraraka wouldn’t have, etc. Not-Uraraka drops her guise, face and costume melting to reveal Camie. All of Camie. I’m not sure if she’s supposed to be naked or in like a super tight jumpsuit, but her look is certainly too much for Izuku, for a moment anyway. Camie tries to rush him, actually attacking him and scratching his face pretty bad, but he’s saved by Sero and his tape attack. The actual Uraraka leaps in and gives an assist. Camie leaps away, she stops just long enough to admit that she wanted to talk to Izuku more, but in private, and to tell Uraraka that he must trust her a lot before scampering.

 

Sero wants to go after her, actually calling out “Come back naked girl,” or something similar, but Izuku stops him. He points out that she didn’t have her targets on her, so going after her would be a waste of time with the number of open spots dropping. He rather nervously asks if they’re both who they look like, and when they give him “da hell?” look he explains that Camie turned into Uraraka. Given how they met Camie, Uraraka’s “I’m going to die of shame!” blush is super understandable. Sero’s rather intense desire to know if he saw Camie as Uraraka in a similar state of dress is less so. The trio hide out, and exchange info. Sero saw fighting so ran toward it to see if one of his class was in danger, and he and Uraraka met along the way. They agree to work as a team and try to regroup with the others.

 

Honestly, after hearing about her identity being stolen
and as a consequence Izuku now might have an idea about
what she looks like "all natural," I expected she'd blush 
harder. And Sero stop making that face, it's creepy.

We cut over to Todoroki in an industrial zone. He’s going over info in his head, relaying that most schools are sticking to teams of around ten, and, while he’s confident in his powers, that’s still too big a disadvantage for him to fight. Mera announces that 53 students have passed and 230 have been eliminated. A set of balls start flying toward him, he incinerates them. He’s up against a squad…of… ninja? How odd. Todoroki unleashes a big ice attack to shield, and a more focused one to freeze the squad in place. The lead ninja throws a nut at him, supersizing it half way there. Todoroki flame and ice blasts it and the other projectiles Red throws at him. He’s shocked when they don’t melt, but Red explains they’re tungsten and have a high melting point. He frees his team, and it looks like it’s Todoroki vs. Ten Ninja. What a fun point to end! Oy.

 

FYI, this is all filler. Todoroki’s fight happens entirely off screen, and while it’s implied to be a tough fight, we see obviously see none of it.

 

Another solid episode. It was fun seeing the new attacks that the students have developed during their intensive training, like Jiro’s improved sonic, Ashido’s bigger acid blasts, and Tokoyami’s improved Dark Shadow control. All very cool. As was Shinto’s big sonic blast that separated the students. I think that mentioning in the voice over about his power causing feedback and hurting Shinto was a little clunky, especially when they could have just shown Shinto drop to his knees or spit up blood or something to SHOW us that side effect. But that’s really neither here nor there. Yoarashi and his massive hurricane attack was super entertaining too. Power over wind is always a visually kick ass ability, even if you don’t get the full Storm weather controlling suite of powers. My summary might have made his speech about passion too preachy, but his delivery is very much that of a man having the time of his life and just wants everyone to experience it with him, if that makes sense. Izuku’s fight with Camie was… interesting. She’s a very fast and agile opponent, even keeping up with Izuku with Full Cowling on, even where her power wasn’t a physical enhancement type like Izuku’s. Her dialogue gets pretty creepy towards the end, she seems pretty obsessed with Izuku, I wonder why? And, while I don’t think the whole naked thing was completely necessary, Uraraka’s utter embarrassment face and Sero’s unabashed interest in details at least gave it a good payoff. Like I said, Todoroki’s upcoming fight is going to be largely filler, but it’s more of that good, on topic filler that I love about this show. But we’ll get into that later. Have a good night. 

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Friday, September 25, 2020

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 53

 Imagine if all tests involved brawls with other applicants. I'd definitely have studied harder.

Okay, so I settled on doing a couple episodes of My Hero Academia, hope no one minds.

 

Last time on My Hero Academia, most of the student body of UA High School started prepping for their provisional licenses and began working on developing special moves. The one main exception being Izuku Midoriya, whom was trying to figure out how to fight without putting so much strain on his hands. He made a visit to the Support Course homeroom to look at getting new gear to help with this goal. He was promptly blasted by a failed experiment by Mae Hatsume. After getting helped up by Iida and Uraraka, both of whom had gone to visit the Support Course separately, and Iida trying so gear that Hatsume insisted on, Izuku came upon a simple but brilliant idea. Hatsume told Iida if he wanted to put less strain on his legs, than he should use his arms. Izuku realized that the inverse must be true as well. As the episode closed, Izuku showed off his new gear and fighting style, Full Cowling Shoot Style, to protect All Might from some debris Bakugo accidentally blew towards him. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open on a flashback to Izuku pitching his Shoot style to Hatsume and Powerloader, the Support Course homeroom teacher. The two gear heads hit the ground running on Izuku’s redesign, much to Izuku’s surprise but enjoyment. They discus how they’re going to modify the suit, compare it to Iida’s speedy knight look, and whether Izuku is going to metaphorically rebrand himself from a Strongman to some kind of Speedster. To that last one, Izuku thinks that because his power can enhance his whole body that he’ll stick with being a Strongman but focus on kicks instead of punches. For some reason, Uraraka looks… miffed during the conversation. How odd.

 

Good to see my boy working on his confident smile.
Good to see my boy has worked on

his confident smile.


We then pick up where we closed last time, Bakugo trying his new AP shot and accidentally sending some debris at All Might’s head. Izuku flies in and shows off his new Shoot Style. He shatters the rock before it could hit his mentor. We get a quick close up of his new, the suit has sturdier bracers to protect his hands, and the iron soled boots to up the damage of his kicks. He’s dubbed this new design as Costume Gama. Good to know Mama’s design is will always be #1. Kirishima (Hardens skin into armor) and Kaminari (electric powers) compliment Izuku’s new look and also show off the modifications of their new costumes. Kirishima remodeled his look entirely, and Kaminari added some sort of doodad to his wrist. Izuku takes their praise, and mentions that he’d been getting some pretty intense training from Iida about how to be a more kicking focused in his fighting style.

Everybody is rocking upgrades.

 

Aizawa, who’d watched all of this with his usual level of detachment, tells All Might to be careful, which triggers a depress feeling in All Might about losing his powers. I have trouble imagining how it would feel to go from being Superman at least part time to something worse than pre-spider bite Peter Parker. Bakugo watches all of this from above and looks furious. Shocking, I know.

 

Class B arrives, with Vlad King trying to get into the training room early. That colossal dick Monoma comes in and tries to freak Class A with the factoid that the Provisional License Exam has 50% fail rate. He rather gleefully points out that their whole class could fail. I feel the need to point out that the class that has battled actual superpowered criminals’ multiple times is probably better off than the literal B team. But that’s just me. Aizawa and King go into more detail about the exam. It’s held twice a year in June and September, and at three different locations. In order to make sure things are as balanced as possible, UA will send Class A and B to two different locations. I assume that either the higher grades at UA will either take the exam later in the year, or maybe that class is small enough that they can all go to the third location. Or this is a continuity error. But I digress. Monoma has a very obvious sigh of relief, but then goes on about how disappointed he is that they won’t face each other. The last detail we’re given about the test is that, while there’s no minimum schooling required to take the exam, most schools don’t send students to it until the second year. So yeah, our heroes will be going up against students a full year more experienced. Fun!

Oh yeah, totally Ochako, bubbles and pink
sparkles surround everyone when they look
at a platonic friend 

 

That evening, the Ladies of class 1A discuss their progress of their ultimate moves and how they feel about the exam. Both Yaoyorozu (creates non-living objects) and Tsu (Frog powers) seem excited. But the scene then has to fail the Bechdel Test because Uraraka is zoning out and Ashido (Generate Acid and has pink skin and horns) immediately asks if she’s thinking about a dude. Though I will give her props for rightly narrowing down the potential list to Iida or Izuku. Girl has a nose for ships it seem. Uraraka feverishly denies this, but turns bright pink and starts floating… so safe to say no one believes her. Yaoyorozu shuffles the group off to bed to spare her friend more embarrassment. While floating, Uraraka looks out the window and sees Izuku continuing to practice to perfect his new fighting style. She blushes but still is adamant that’s not it.

 

Ochako Uraraka, the ONLY person who thinks you two are platonic is Izuku. And that’s because he still has zero confidence in his game, and is a teenage boy, and therefore stupid about girls. Just ask him out. I know she can’t hear me, but I have a point, damn it.

 

We flashforward a week to the exam. All of the students gather outside their exam building. Everyone is excited but are clearly nervous. Aizawa gives the kids a bit of a pep talk, which surprisingly works to a degree. It at least encourages Kirishima to try to start a Plus Ultra chant, but a student from another school butts in and shouts it too. This guy is Inasa Yoarashi, a student from UA’s rival school Shiketsu High from the other side of Japan. It’s the LA to UA’s NYC, it seems. To apologize for acting on his impulse to shout Plus Ultra, Yoarashi bows so hard he slams his head into the ground and causes his scalp to bleed, before running off to join the rest of his class. Aizawa mentions Yoarashi had actually been accepted into UA, and had gotten the highest score on the test that the kids that got in on recommendation took. But he turned down the spot at the last minute and went to Shiketsu instead. Izuku is a bit freaked out at the idea of someone being better than Todoroki. Aizawa warns his students to keep an eye on him.

 

Oh man, do I ship them already? Yeah, I do...

Before Aizawa can give more advice, a seafoam green haired woman runs up to greet him. Well, technically she asks Eraser to marry her, but that’s a kind of greeting I suppose. Aizawa turns her down, he feels that as a wife she’s be “an actual Nightmare,” and she bursts out laughing.  This is Emi Fukukado aka Ms. Joke. She and Aizawa’s agencies were basically right next to each other back in the day, so they’re “friends” and she seems to love using him as the straight man in her jokes. FYI her power is called Outburst and when she uses it, it causes her opponents to burst out laughing. Izuku is, shockingly, a big fan. She’s the homeroom teacher of a class of second year students from Ketsubutsu Academy. Her students walk up and introduce themselves to class 1A. The “lead” student from this group is Yo Shindo, a kid that looks so much like Izuku, I’m 70% sure his mother’s maiden name is either Midoriya or whatever-the-heck Inko Midoriya’s maiden name is. He acts really nice and shakes their hands, but he speaks almost exclusively in backhand compliments and micro-aggressions. Lots of “You guys have had a tough year, I’m shocked you’re hear” kinds of stuff. Bakugo is the only one who seems to pick up on this and tells him to screw off. After the interaction, most of the AU kids feel like their celebrities among hero course students, but a look Ms. Joke gives them makes me think that MIGHT not be the case.

 

Okay, either he's a cousin or Hisashi Midoriya
has some 'splaining to do.

The students are brought into a large auditorium where we meet Yokumiru Mera, a representative of the Hero Public Safety Commission, proctor for this exam and a dude that could really use a nap. About half his lines of dialogue are about how he isn’t getting enough sleep because of this damn test, which makes me feel for him. Mr. Mera begins the orientation. He explains that this year has one of the largest turn outs for a HPL exam, with 1540 applicants. This turns out to not be a good thing, as they’re greatly decreasing the number of students that will be able to pass the exam and get their HPL. Turns out, Stain’s attacks on pro-heroes coupled with the League of Villain attacks and the retirement of All might made the HPSC realize something they’d been avoiding. Namely, that there are too many licensed heroes and that Stain might have a point that that there are far to many glory seekers than can be allowed. So instead of the estimated 770 available passing slots in this exam of previous years, they’re narrowing it to 100. That’s roughly a 6% passing rate. Damn. This obviously freaks everyone out, but Mera moves on to explaining the rules of the first test.

 

It’s basically a game of dodge ball, with some modifications. The students are all given three targets to put somewhere on their body and six balls. The point of the exam is to knock out two other applicants by hitting all of their targets. The kid that gets the third target gets the point for that knock out, and the first hundred students to reach that goal move onto the next part of the test. Feels like they’re giving the kids a very small margin for error here, giving them just enough balls to pass the test if they try to take out two people all on their own, but thems the breaks I guess. The exam room hall opens up revealing a massive stadium with multiple different terrains. There’s a desert area, city scape, large lake and so on, all within the stadium. How. Do. They. Afford. These. Things!

 

Aizawa is watching his kids from above in the stadium seating with Miss Joke sitting nearby. She mentions that it’s pretty unusual for Aizawa to still have a full class at this point, as she’s well aware of her “friend’s” habit of dropping any student that he thinks can’t hack it. He shrugs and implies that he’s got a good crop. Miss Joke implies that there’s a secret that Aizawa kept from his students about the test.

 

So year two must spend a lot of time on jumping, huh?

On the field, Izuku is feverishly going over the data that he’d gained about the exam and begins to come to a scary conclusion. He encourages his classmates to stay together and fight as a group, most agree, but Bakugo and Kirishima go off on their own, as does Todoroki. Izuku and Miss Joke in tandem explain the thing Aizawa kept from the students. Namely, that a big boon in this test would be knowing what your opponent’s powers are, that classmates might not want to target each other, and that the group that has the most about their powers known are the UA high students, who’s Sports Festival and in this year’s case other activities, mean their abilities are pretty much common knowledge. Or as Miss Joke puts more succinctly, it’s tradition for the other schools to mob rush UA. Aizawa claims to have faith in his students and that they shouldn’t need him spelling things like that out.

 

At that moment, Miss Joke’s class and several other students, led by Izuku’s possible cousin Shindo, are mobbing the gathered UA students. They throw a quite frankly impossible number of balls at the assembled students, hoping to knock out the majority of UA’s hopefuls in one rush. Damn you, Shindo! But, thankfully, UA’s Class 1A has a lot of range and crowd control abilities, so they’re able to hold off the initial assault. So, it’s Izuku and most of 1A vs. Ketsubutusu academy, and Kirishima and Bakugo, and Todoroki off to face whatever else the exam can throw at them. What a fun way to start a test.  

 

This was a solid info dump episode. We got to see some of Izuku’s new fighting style and his new gear, and got quite a bit of lore about how the Provisional License Exam was held and how it will be held in the future. I like how Mera explained why the changes were being made, and the idea that the Exam is going to focus more on getting the best students out of it to be heroes instead of packing the streets with, quiet frankly, too many heroes to be effective. Hero work in Japan definitely has felt like a “too many cooks spoil the kitchen” situation to be comfortable. Although, just giving the kids six balls to play this game with seems a bit bonkers. I also really enjoyed Miss Joke and her dynamic with Aizawa. It’s kind of hilarious that this quiet, gloomy guy seems to just draw more extrovertive and loud heroes to him. Think Present Mic and Miss Joke are friends, or that they’re threatened by each other? Either way, their interactions are fun, both in this episode and in the ones to come. I also like seeing Izuku step up and try to lead his classmates a little. The little guy has some talent at rallying the troops that want to be rallied, and I think that those that follow his lead will be grateful for it. And the mob attack by the other students makes a hell of a lot of sense to me. UA’s got the best rep, its students are in the spotlight a lot in a normal year, obviously there’d be a fair amount of resentment in the non-UA students. Though, I wonder how long alliances will last once the spots start filling up… Oh, and to reiterate, Uraraka is not sure how she feels about Izuku, and that is annoying. Both because we as the audience are well aware that she IS attracted to him, and that this gal deserves a better arc than “does she want to hook up with her opposite-gender best friend or not?”. Just sayin’. The Provisional License Exam is just beginning and I can’t wait to see what happens next. Have a good night everybody. 

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