Red Riot makes his debut.
Last time on My Hero Academia,
Izuku “Deku” Midoriya went on his first patrol as a work study student. Things
were largely uneventful at first with his fellow student Mirio “Lemillion”
Togeta, until a little girl in rags and bandages ran into him. Her father came
up a moment later, Kai “Overhaul” Chisaki. He’s the head of a Yakuza (Japanese
mafia), the Shie Hassaikai, and the focus of the investigation of Izuku and Togeta’s
boss, Sir Nighteye. Eri ends up going with her father, once it was clear Overhaul
was seconds away from killing them. Eri is clearly being experimented on back
at their compound. Izuku also discovers that All Might’s health is
deteriorating, and probably won’t have much time left. Izuku is able to get All
Might to swear that he won’t give up and last long enough to see Izuku to announce
that He is here. And finally, we see Shigaraki arrive at the Shie Hassaikai
compound, he’s willing to deal.
Big fan of energy based powers and ones that let
you fly. I'd be a Nejire-Chan fan after her debut.
We open with a pair of criminals
with gigantification quirks, which means two giant idiots are messing up a downtown
area. Heroes are called in, and we get introduced to Nejire Hado of the Big Three
in her hero gear. Her code name is “Nejire-Chan” which is… odd. Remember, -chan
is a cutesy Japanese honorific mostly used for young children, girls, and cute
things. It’s the same thing as Izuku referring Bakugo as Ka-chan. But whatever.
She uses her power, called Wave Motion in the comics but mistakenly called “Surge”
to blast the two giants with spiral bolts of energy. She then calls in back up,
in the form of Ochako “Uravity” Uraraka and Tsuyu “Froppy” Asui. They use their
powers together to pelt the giants with debris, defeating them. After the giants
are arrested, we learn that all three girls are working with the hero Ryuku,
the #9 hero in Japan and who can turn into a giant Dragon. Automatically making
her my #1 hero. Ryuku thanks them for their help and offers to take Uraraka and
Tsu with her on a joint case she’s doing with Nighteye’s agency. The Shie Hassaikai
case, and mentions that the League of Villains are involved.
Don't offer these guys a stick of gum.
We then cut to the Shia Hassaikai
base where Shigaraki is in the process of making a deal. Well, first he
complains about the circuitous route that they took to get there, (it’s
complicated to help facilitate escapes) but then they get down to business. Shigaraki
is willing to work with Overhaul, but not FOR him. They’d be independent
contractors, working with the Shie Hassaikai but not under them. And, as it is
a partnership, he wants to know what the big plan is, he reaches into his pocket
for something, but is stopped by two of Overhaul’s guards, Kurono and Mimic. Overhaul
calls them off, and Shigaraki pulls out a bullet that looks like a tiny
syringe.
We shift our attention over to Kirishima,
who is on patrol with Big Three senior student Tamaki “Suneater” Amajiki and
their Hero mentor, Fat Gum. Amajiki is kinda of depressed and anxious about the
situation, but then, that’s kind of his thing. We’re shown that Kirishima kinda
forced Amajiki into introducing him to Fat Gum in a flashback. Positivity and
attention aren’t his strong suit. Kirishima, on the other hand, is super
positive about the work study experience, as he feels it’ll close the gap
between him and some of his friends. Their patrol is interrupted by a group of
criminals running by, they were selling drugs in someone else territory, I
believe. Fat Gum catches most of them by jumping in front of them and bear
hugging them into his torso. One is able to slip out of his grip, but he’s
caught by Amajiki, who hits him with a mass of tentacles, slaps him with a clamshell
hand, and then pins him under a chicken foot. We get an explanation of his
powers. It’s called Manifest, he’s able to take on aspects of the things he eats.
Yes, Octopus balls, called Takoyaki, is a big part of the Japanese diet. People
chear on Amajiki, but he seems not super comfortable with the attention. Like,
kid, you should really probably consider what kind of work you’re getting into.
Another member of the gang is watching in the crowd. He wants to help his guys,
so he pulls a gun and shoots.
I've heard you are what you eat, but this is
ridiculous.
We cut back to Shigaraki and
Overhaul. Shigaraki figured out that the bullet is the reason why Mr. Compress temporary
lost his powers and the reason why he lost his arm. Overhaul claims that the
bullet is how he’ll break the system. His people are developing these power-suppressing
bullets and distributing them to the criminal underworld.
Jumping back to Kirishima. Amajiki
was hit with one of the power suppressing bullets, but Kirishima hardened his
body and the bullet aimed at him bounced out. The shooter runs, Kirishima
follows, and Amajiki tried to grab the shooter with his tentacles, but his tentacles
won’t manifest more than an inch or two from his hand. Fat Gum starts following
Kirishima, but freezes when he hears Amajiki can’t use his powers.
Kind of amazed Kirishima's costume is still so
intact.
Kirishima is able to corner the
thug in an alley. The thug tries to slice Kirishima with blades he manifests on
his forearm. Kirishima’s armored form is tough enough for the blade to bounce
off, and knocks the gangster on his ass. He starts whining about how crappy his
power is, he can only grow blades the length of a box cutter or so. Kirishima
helps the guy to his feet in and tries to empathize with him a bit, but it’s
revealed the gangster’s whining was just to buy time for him to slip out a
syringe and inject himself in the neck. This chemical seems to supercharge the
gangster’s blade power and he starts manifesting blades feet long from all over
his body.
Back with Amajiki, they’ve got the
rest of the gang arrested. He wants to know what he was hit with, but they aren’t
talking.
The lone gangster slices into the buildings
around him with his extra-long blades. Kirishima tells everyone to run just
before the gangster hits him with a rain of blades. The new blades are extra
sharp and are even slicing through his stone skin. The dude is clearly tripping
on his power boost, and comes at Kirishima again.
Kirishima has another flashback and
remembers All Might telling him to use his power to become a bulldozer. We’re
shown him musing with some of the other students sometime after that comment, complaining
that his powers aren’t particularly flashy and how he wishes it was more
impressive. Bakugo gives him some encouragement, telling him to remember the
Cavalry battle and All Might at Kamino ward proved, that standing up makes you
strong.
Unbreakable mode is kick ass, but I'd so be worried
about slicing my tongue on those teeth!
He focuses, digs deep, and puts his
power into overdrive. He announces that this is his ultimate move, Red Riot:
Unbreakable. He’s basically turned his whole body, even his eyes, into a
stonelike form that makes him look like he’s chiseled from rock. He can only hold
this form for about 40 seconds, but while in it, he’s indestructible. He’s able
to force the gangster’s blades to hit him and he’s able to take it this time.
He gets in close and hits the gangster with “red gauntlet” a gut punch to drop
him. Thankfully, the dude’s enhancement seems to run out at the same time that Unbreakable
ends. He starts whining again, Kirishima lets his guard down, and the guy tries
to make a break for it. Fat Gum dives in front of him and grabs him. We get the
explanation of his power, Fat Absorbtion. Basically, his body works a bit like
a semi-liquid body, he can capture people in his body fat and hold them. Neat.
A crowd gathers and they start praising
Fat Gum and his new sidekick, Red Riot. Kirishima seems psyched with their
praise. Internally, he remembers “something” that happened in his past,
something that involves Mina Ashido (the pink, horned girl) some other girls
and a hulking looking villain. He asks why he didn’t help then, and hope can be
a hero now.
Fat Gum, whom I guess used to work a
lot of DEA cases, exposits that enhancement drugs are illegal in Japan, and
this guy must have gotten a black-market version because it only lasted a few
minutes. Apparently, we in the US have versions that last up to an hour. The
cops have the pieces of the gun, it was broken in the confrontation, and they’re
going to try to examine it. Amajiki still can’t access his powers. Fat Gum is
going to take them to the hospital to check them out. He’s clearly freaked out
that there could be a drug to take away his powers.
In an after credit scene, damn it,
a few days later we’re shown how the students are reacting to their work
studies. Obviously, everyone except Bakugo is jazzed that Kirishima, Uraraka
and Tsu are in the news. Bakugo is pissed, also obviously. Izuku is less jazzed,
as he’s still ruminating on All Might and Nighteye’s metaphorical break up and his
feeling of guilt on leaving Eri. Well, that’s a depressing note to end on.
This was a great episode for
Kirishima. He’s been one of my favorite tertiary characters in the series, so
seeing him start to get more of him in this arc is great. Yeah, while Bakugo
and Todoroki are benched due to their lack of licenses, and Iida not being mentored
along with a Big Three member, Kirishima is getting a chance up to bat as the
not-Izuku hero in training guy we’re going to spend a lot of time on. Tsu is also
going to get a fair amount of attention alongside Uraraka, but that’s not as
new a thing. I liked his dynamic with Amajiki as the bright one to his gloomy
self, and his general energy at getting to do this hero work study. I also
liked that they gave resolution to Kaminari feeling like his power is inadequate.
I mean, he complained about it all the way back in episode nine or so that his
power wasn’t flash enough and a general feeling of being second rate seems to
have followed him throughout the series. I don’t know about you, but I loved
the look of Red Riot: Unbreakable. It’s intense. If that flashback that he had
involving Ashido felt odd, don’t worry, we will get the context of that one.
Just know now, that those two have known each other a while. I also liked how
they set up the League of Villains and the Shie Hassaikai team up, and how sinister
they’re making the power disabling bullets seem. In a world where a massive
percentage of people have some kind of power, I have to imagine losing it has
got to make them incredibly nervous. But we’ll get more into that as this plot
develops. Have a goodnight, everybody.
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Twitter: @basicsSuperhero
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