A simple trip to the hardware store takes about a 180 degree turn to bonkersville.
Last time on My Hero Academia,
Izuku and Togata showed Eri around the campus. The little girl was incredibly
timid, but she seemed to enjoy herself. While having lunch with her, he learned
from Midnight that the school is on a tight leash. Even a false alarm will
result in the school festival shutting down. Which would probably be bad for everyone’s
self-esteem. Izuku also made a little progress with his new air pressure attack.
He also tapped Mei Hatsume to make him a support item to help with his weaponized
flick. Meanwhile, Gentle Criminal and his lady La Brava plan to sneak onto UA
campus. Which, you know, would technically be a false alarm but slightly worse
because an idiot broke onto the campus. Enough recap, let’s get to it, shall
we?
One of the most potent powers in his world, and
he's using it for manual labor.
We open the night before the festival.
The students are doing a last-minute run through of their performance. Izuku
gets yelled at by Ashido for being a bit too stiff, advising him to “bring the
Fire” for the performance tomorrow. Everyone seems happy but nervous for their performance
in a few hours. They have him run to the catwalk and get Aoyama into the air, just
before Hound Dog comes in and yells at the students to get back to their dorm.
Dude is still super intense. As they head back to the dorm, Izuku realizes that
it’s just one more sleep until the festival begins at 9.
 |
| Nightowls celebrate! |
That night at about 11:30, Izuku and some of his classmates are just a little too wired to sleep just yet. Jiro advices everyone to get out of their heads and just have fun with it. Izuku and Aoyama are going over their gear for Aoyama’s rope stunt. Izuku notes that that rope they were using is looking incredibly frayed, probably from the extensive practicing. Kaminari suggest getting Yaoyorozu to make them a new one. This turns out to be a no go, as Ashido points out Yaoyorozu has already gone to sleep and they shouldn’t use her as a factory. A comment that makes Kaminari a bit depressed as he’s basically the whole class’s charging station. Izuku doesn’t want to make a fuss and says he’ll just run into town to get more rope in the morning after training. Kaminari points out that the performance is at 10 and that most places don’t open until 9, so he’ll be cutting it a bit close. Izuku isn’t worried, though. He knows a hardware store that’s about 15 minutes from campus that opens at 8, he’ll rush over get the rope and be back by 8:30.
Wait. A hardware store. By a little
house. Close to campus. You see where this is going, right?
Izuku get's his new gear!
The next morning, Izuku squeezes in
more air shot practice with All Might. He’s interrupted by Hatsume’s arrival.
The greasy (both in terms of biological as well as mechanical), exhausted girl
was able to squeeze in Izuku’s order when she took a break from her other work.
Apparently, she intends to pass out and sleep for 36 hours once the festival is
over. This girl is scary, but I have to applaud her passion. Izuku and All
Might look over the gloves, the retired hero marveling at how small support item
tech has gotten in the last few years. Hatsume rather proudly states that she designed
them to match his costume’s color palette too, as a good designer makes products
that work and look good while doing it. She gives Izuku the instructions and
then races off. Izuku takes the gloves on a trial run on All Might’s insistence.
We skip to Izuku rushing to the hardware
store. He got too wrapped up in using his new toy, making him not leave the
school until ten to 8. He makes a convenience store stop along the way, hoping
for rope but not finding any but also getting some goodies, before making it to
the store. It’s 8:30 by the time he starts heading back to the school. He runs and
cuts off a tall man in a medical mask and trench coat and his little girlfriend
coming from the house tea shop next door.
Wow... just... wow. Terrible disguises.
These two are obviously Gentle and
La Brava. Gentle yells at Izuku for nearly ruining the after taste of his Gold
Tips Imperial, before remembering he probably shouldn’t interact with people
before breaking the law and starts walking away. Izuku, recognizing the name of
the tea, realizes aloud that the house next door must be a tea shop.
Apparently, hearing someone that knows anything about tea makes Gentle
compelled to chat with them about tea for a few minutes. It’s during their quick
exchange that Izuku and Gentle put dots together and realize who the other is.
Izuku knows the tea, recognizes his voice and the video he saw about Gentle
Criminal drinking tea that corresponds to the difficulty of his task. Gentle
notes that Izuku must go to an elite school if he knows Gold Tips Imperial, and
that the closest elite school is UA.
This power is much more impressive in function
than it is in description.
They try to slip away, La Brava thinking
that it’s not Gentle’s fault that they tipped Izuku off, even though it 1000%
is his fault. Izuku put his stuff down and Gentle tells La Brava to get the
camera. Izuku announces loudly that he won’t let Gentle Criminal near his
school. Izuku makes a quick assessment of their surroundings. It's Saturday and
there’s not a lot of foot traffic this early. And, for some reason, there isn’t
a hero agency anywhere near UA, so he’s on his own. Gentle and La Brava reveal
their real outfits and Gentle promises that he will infiltrate the school, even
if he has to modify the schedule a little. Izuku rushes Gentle, but hits a
wall. Not a literal one, but a bit of solidified, stretchy air. Gentle explains
that his Quirk is elasticity, and that he can give the property to anything he
touches, even the air. He made this little wall of protection when he threw off
his coat, knowing Izuku would probably charge. He launches Izuku back and the
two villains make a run for it. Apparently in their brief exchange, Gentle
Criminal realized that Izuku was far too fast and strong for them to face head
on. Dude makes accurate assessments at least.
Izuku gets up and runs after them. He
almost catches them, but then Gentle turns and makes the concrete beneath them
bouncy, throwing Izuku into the air with his “Gentle Trampoline.” Terrible
name. Gentle admits that in his youth he also put a lot of effort into things
like festivals, and that Izuku probably feels strongly for the school, but his
desire won’t out match the desires of Gentle’s Mustache and soul. He makes
several air trampolines to launch him and La Brava into the air and they sort
of leap frog up into the air and toward the school. As they run, La Brava
remembers Izuku, having seen him at the UA Sports Festival and remembering he
broke his fingers to compete. They start jumping faster, hoping to carry out
their plan before he can sound the alarm.
Air shot, fired!
Izuku is able to spin in midair
towards them. He remembers talking to Togata and Eri and seeing how excited she
was for the festival. He also remembers, in a scene we didn’t see earlier for
some reason, showing Jiro his note taking techniques to help her train the
other students to play their instruments. And seeing his lessons being used in
real time with Tokoyami reading instructions from a notebook similar to his
hero notes. He focuses his power. He remembers Ashido’s advice in their dance
lessons to stay focus and in the moment and applies it. He shoots a “Delaware
Smash. Air Force!” hitting Gentle and knocking him to the side. Gentle is able
to correct himself mid-air and keeps going. Izuku is able to leap after them,
catching Gentle and making them collide into the construction site Gentle
mentioned before. La Brava lands on a roof and tells an old man watching the kerfuffle
that there’s nothing to worry about, they’re working on a project. She’s a really
bad liar. La Brava runs to catch up, realizing they should probably bail asap.
Wow, what a goofball.
Izuku lands, remembering talking to
Hatsume about what he wanted his gloves to do. She sums it up as he wants an
item that focuses his blasts and keeps them from going wild. Which her glove
does. I don’t think they explain it in the series, but the gloves seem to work
thusly. When he gets his hands into a flicking position and focuses, a cone extends
up and out from his wrist and encircles his hand, effectively turning his hand
into something akin to Megaman’s cannon. The barrel shape focusing the air
current so he’s not knocking everything around with his air pressure. Gentle,
it seems, hit a support beam and got stuck. He claims it and Izuku are but
minor delays. Izuku demands to know Gentle Criminal’s scheme. He rather bluntly
states that, as he’s not affiliated with the League or interested in kidnapping,
his only goal is to sneak onto campus, record it, and then post the video online.
Oy, this guy. Izuku tells him that it won’t work, as the school is on high alert
and all he’ll do is ruin the student’s day. Gentle thinks otherwise, believing La
Brava will disable the security, allowing them to slip in and out without notice.
No one will know it happened until after he uploads the video.
Izuku knows that’s a dumb, selfish
plan and tells him so. He lies to Gentle, telling the criminal he called the
cops already, but Gentle doesn’t buy it. He gets off the beam and starts
rocketing around the construction site, bouncing off his air trampolines and
the steel beams that he makes super bouncy. Izuku can’t get a bead on him, as
Gentle is really fast and can course correct on a moment’s notice on an air
trampoline. La Brava runs up and says they should run. Gentle isn’t done yet,
though. He slips out several bolts and then jumps up and down on the beam,
making it extra elastic. He tells Izuku that he can’t turn off his powers
effect once it’s begun, that the effect can only wear off on its own. And,
while the beam is super bouncy in that time, it’s mass is unaffected, so it’s a
heavy f-ing beam that will bounce for a while. Can you imagine the damage that
could cause? He asks, menacingly. The beam drops, towards the old man from before
watching from the street. Izuku rushes over and catches the beam before it can
drop. He calls Gentle out on almost trying to kill the old man, but Gentle
claims he would have knocked the beam out of the way himself if Izuku for some
reason didn’t get there in time. The old man runs. He tells Izuku to sit tight
and wait for rescue. He grabs a crane, makes it elastic and he and La Brava
launch into the air.
It’s currently 8:45, and class 1A
is prepping for their event. Jiro warns Bakugo to not freestyle during the performance,
Uraraka and the others on the dance team do a costume check, and Todoroki and
Aoyama prep for the disco ball stunt. Todoroki notes Izuku is still missing and
how weird that is, but they’re too busy to stop and look for him.
If you want Izuku to master a skill, threaten his school.
Gentle announces that History will
remember his name as he and La Brava fly toward the school. Izuku is able to hold
the beam up with one arm, aim and fire an air bullet at Gentle, knocking him
off course. Izuku is able to drop the now no-elastic beam and puts his game face
on to stop Gentle. We’re shown that there’s only 69 minutes to the concert as
the screen fades to black.
Okay, so I wonder if Horikoshi ever
curses himself for making Yaoyorozu’s power so useful. Like, he had to contrive
a LOT around her power to get Izuku to that hardware store in time to cross
paths with Gentle. Yaoyorozu had to be asleep, Izuku had to be either too embarrassed
or too earnest to ask for her help, she either had to not be asked or respect Izuku’s
decision enough to not just say, “Hey, it’s cool, I can make rope!” Lot of contrivance.
Then of course he had to make Gentle such a compulsive tea guy that he couldn’t
not talk about it for a few minutes with Izuku, thus tipping him off. I roll my
eyes at this. That said, I do enjoy the fight with Gentle and to see his powers
in use. I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for odd and unique powers. And Gentle’s elasticity
does make for a hell of a power. He can make barriers, move at incredible speed
and, for all intense and purpose, fly. Well, it’s really incredibly controlled jump
and falls, but the result is more or less the same. I don’t agree with his methods,
and his plan is, quite frankly, moronic, but his power is interesting. And
seriously, this plan. So, you’re going to break into a heavy guarded high
school… for bragging rights? That is just, so idiot. Never mind that if it gets
out your girlfriend designed a key to their security system, that that sociopath
Shigaraki or any other number of villains will want that shit, like, yesterday!
She’ll be put in danger, and you, Gentle Criminal, will most assuredly be dead,
but at least you got your bragging rights. Oy, my head. But, on a more positive
note, gotta love Izuku’s new gloves. The Air bullets are going to be super useful
in the future, and Hatsume never fails to make… memorable tech. I was going to
say useful, but then remembered that like 90% of her items explode. Memorable
yes, useful not really. The battle between Izuku and Gentle will ramp up next
time, hope to see you there. Have a good night, everybody.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/53011801
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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