Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 106

Endeavor takes a big step forward.

Last time on My Hero Academia, Endeavor got introspective. Japan’s top Hero is wrestling with how he can help his family, as things are still difficult with his sons. To try to do this, he takes Shoto and the other two to a dinner at his house. The food is great, but things are incredibly awkward as Endeavor’s older son, Natsuo, is still incredibly angry with him. After dinner, his daughter, Fuyumi, admits that she also can be mad at their dad but wants to try to fix things if they can. Shoto is, shockingly, still not sure where he sits. Bakugo yells at them for having this kind of deep conversation while guests are over, and Izuku tells Shoto that he thinks his friend is ready to move forward. Endeavor, having overheard this, prays at the family alter to the memory of his oldest, Toya, and wishes that he could be part of a dream Endeavor has about his family having dinner together. After the credits, a shifty looking fellow seems to be setting his sights on Endeavor. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

True psycho.

We open with a flashback. Endeavor had just captured a villain and had been showing his insecurity by asking the cop he was talking to if he wished All Might had gotten the call first. Dude is just a ball of anger and insecurity, I swear. He walks out and a creepy man fixates on him as he walks past the reporters. He calls Endeavor a star in human flesh and is weirdly worshipful of him. In the present, he claims that Endeavor is his only hope, and that he had hoped Endeavor would kill him seven years ago, but is infuriated that Endeavor took him alive. He believes that a man should get to choose his end and it seems like he really wants to be immolated. This guy, credited as Ending, just got out of jail and immediately started stalking Endeavor in order to get his ending. He sees Natsuo leave the house and takes a Trigger injection. Oh no.

 

If she didn't have the red in her hair, I'd really
question how Endeavor is her dad.

Back in the house, Endeavor is still praying at his shrine to Toya while Shoto and Fuyumi explain their family history. Namely, that Natsuo hates their dad so much because he was incredibly close with their oldest brother Toya and that he died shortly after their mother was hospitalized. While Rei has been getting better, there was a time when she couldn’t even see Shoto without having a panic attack, Natsuo is slower to heal. He blames his father for Toya’s death and the implication is that its not without justification. Endeavor enters and tells the boys it’s time to go. The group heads to the car, Bakugo demanding to get a Tofu recipe from Fuyumi, and Endeavor thanks his daughter. Fuyumi thanks Izuku for being her brother’s friend and they head out.

 

Natsuo reaches his apartment when the sidewalk’s pavement markings rear up and attack him. Oh no.

 

I wonder what number of kidnapping this is
for Natsuo.

On the drive, Endeavor tells the boys he wants them to progress faster. He wants them to shift their schedules so they can do some Work Study work during the week. Feels like that might cut into class time... but kay. Bakugo yells about the cramped car and the driver yells back about ungrateful kids to their free ride. They’re drive is interrupted by Natsuo being used as the end of a flail at their car. Endings, whose power seems to be to manipulate sidewalk paint… kay, attacks them using the traffic lines. Endeavor, furious, leaps out of the car and charges Ending. The creepy stalker demands to know if Endeavor remembers him. Endeavor does, and that makes him so happy. He claims that he admires Endeavor for having all the things that he never had, could never have, not in a million years. He wants Endeavor to kill him, and is willing to kill Natsuo to get Endeavor to react. Threatening a man’s son… well, yeah, that would get me to want to incinerate him, that’s for sure.

 

Meanhile, Izuku and company break out of the car. The driver unleashes their equipment from the trunk and the boys get their gear on. They’re immediately attacked by sidewalk paint. They remember Endeavor’s advice to focus on extremely precise or extremely destructive power and start blasting the paint. Ending runs and Endeavor pursuits. Endeavor nearly catches up but then sees Natsuo’s look of horrified terror causes him to freeze up. The boys catch up and Ending is infuriated. He tells Endeavor he needs to kill him quick or more people are going to die. He throws a bunch of cars into the air and nearly has Natsuo hit by a train. Bakugo saves Natsuo using his speed and Izuku saves the car with Blackwhip. Shoto slides him and hits Ending with an icewave, knocking him back and presumably out. Endeavor breaks out of his fugue at this point, runs over and hugs Natsuo. He gets Bakugo too, but that’s I think mostly because he was holding Natsuo up. Disgusted by paternal affection, Bakugo slithers away and demands to know what happened to Ending. Shoto caught him in ice. He’s quite upset. He then demands to know if the “extras” are fine, which Izuku confirms. Bakugo is very smug about having fulfilled Endeavor’s challenge to beat him to a villain just once, but he’s too… emotional about his son to be mad. Endeavor apologizes to Natsuo, saying that he hadn’t meant to neglect his family, that he ran from his problems and let that happen. And that, whatever happened to Toya, he feels that he may as well have killed Toya himself. Natsuo says he won’t forgive his dad, as he’s not kind like Shoto, but there are tears in his eyes as he says it. He says he won’t forgive him. Endeavor says he doesn’t want forgiveness, he wants to atone. Natsuo demands to know what he could do, and Endeavor says he has an idea. Meanwhile, Ending is having a freak out, begging Endeavor to get mad, to flare up and kill him with his fire. Endeavor is 1000% not listening.

 

Endeavor is always in a glass case of emotions, it seems.

Later, Endeavor learns that Ending used Trigger to boost his powers. His driver tells him he’ll need to be more careful as this is the second attempt on his life in two days. Natsuo, standing with the boys, asks Bakugo what his hero name is, and Bakugo confirms he actually has one now. But he won’t tell Izuku, or anyone, as he has someone to run it by first. Endeavor thinks that Hawks has sharp eyes, indeed, which causes Hawks to sneeze where he his in the Meta Liberation Army headquarters. How sweet.

 

After the credits, Endeavor brings Natsuo back to the house and let Fuyumi know what happened. Endeavor also lets her know about his plan to start atoning. He knows that Fuyumi is working on getting Rei discharged from the hospital and live a peaceful life. He also knows that bringing her back to the house will probably only remind her of the worst days of her life, and that probably isn’t a good call. He tells her that he’s going to build them a new house, one that’s more convenient to her and Natsuo. He tells her to prepare to move. She asks what he’s going to do. Endeavor remembers his dream about his family having a peaceful domestic moment together at the dinner table. He asks himself again, what can he do for his family? His solution… to stay away. He tells his children that he’ll stay at the house and the credits roll.

This is a solid conclusion to this mini-arc about Endeavor trying to find a way to help his family. Having a stalker villain from his past, one that adored his fiery personality and so badly wanted to be destroyed by his heat, was a nice touch to show how he’d grown. Is it on the nose to have a villain shout at him to get mad, to get fired up and burn him, to show that he isn’t that guy that gets fired up and burn people anymore? Yes, but it works. I liked the heart to heart he had with Natsuo too. The one good thing, saving his son, doesn’t undo all the anger that Natsuo is still feeling, but it seems like it’s the important firsts step to maybe get there some day. I like the focus on atonement over forgiveness. While we still don’t know what happened to Toya, its clear that however Endeavor was involved, it either directly or indirectly lead to his death. That’s not something one should be forgive for, but trying to make the world better, or at least the lives of his family better, to try to balance the scales I think is a good call. His solution is a good one too, I think. Not for him, obviously, but trying to give them all space so they can possibly move forward I think is the right call. It’s really hard to analyze one’s feelings without a little distance. It was also fun to see Bakugo get so smug about meeting Endeavor’s challenge, only to be deflated when he realizes that Endeavor is too overwrought with paternal feelings to react is great. Next time, finally, Wakanda Forever. See you then!

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 105

 A dinner party at the Todorokis? This is going to be so awkward!

Last time on My Hero Academia, Uraraka and Tsu went on a filler adventure. They, along with their hero mentor Ryukyu and fellow Work Study senior Nejire teamed up with Tsu’s old mentor Selkie to track some smugglers. The smugglers were moving ingredients for the Quirk enhancing drug Trigger. The smugglers almost escaped on a plane but Uraraka got onboard and took out the last of them. The plane almost crashed, but with help from Nejire and Ryukyu she landed the plane. After, the girls had a beach party. Meanwhile, a man in white is told that their shipment was captured. He isn’t concerned as they have enough Trigger for their plan. This leads into the third My Hero Academia film, World Heroes Mission. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

We open with Izuku on his hero beat. A mugger steals a man’s briefcase and Izuku and company head out to help, but Endeavor literally blows past them and takes the guy out with a knee to his gut. Like, dude, you could have let them have that one and just not have it count since the dude didn’t show off any powers. Anyway, after that the student and Endeavor head out to check out a hit and run, Endeavor solving it before the boys even get there. Endeavor tells the boys to go home and get some sleep, they’ve got an early day tomorrow.

 

Heavy Lifting!

Later, Endeavor heads into his office, sees the Meta Liberation War book and remembers the key details about the 100,000 force that will be attacking in a few months. He’s interrupted by a call from his second child, and only daughter, Fuyumi. Fuyumi, still trying to make her dysfunctional family work, suggests that he bring Shoto and his other Work Study students around the house for dinner. Endeavor obviously says that he will, but then muses about how he can help his family. I guess he’s gone through enough of a personal arc to acknowledge that he’s the root cause of nearly all the Todoroki family problems, if he’s thinking about that. He remembers a dream he’d been having recently of his wife Rei, and their living kids, Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Shoto, enjoying a meal together. I give him props for acknowledging why he knows he’s never at the table with them. We get a flashback to when Rei had her nervous breakdown and threw boiling water at Shoto’s face to burn away his father’s side. We then jump ahead to when Endeavor learned via Fuyumi that Shoto was visiting Rei in the hospital. Fuyumi, rather optimistically, predicts that one day their family will be whole again. He then remembers Natsuo screaming at him for being an abusive asshole. His train of thought shifted to his conversation with All Might about what it means to be a symbol, and how All Might advised him to think about the kind of hero he wants to be. He’s pulled out of his thoughts by Burnin who tells him there’s an emergency.

 

The next day, Izuku, Bakugo and Shoto get up and head to the front of the building to go on patrol. During their Work Study, they’re staying at the dorms in Endeavor’s agency office. They chat for a bit about their training before Endeavor arrives and they set out. There’s a montage of the boys getting to scene just after Endeavor solves the problem. He advises them to constantly be observing, to act before thinking. That evening, Bakugo and Izuku are annoyed they haven’t caught up but Shoto points out they are doing better. Endeavor, thinking about Fuyumi one more time, sets his mind and takes the three boys to the house for dinner.

 

Most. Awkward. Meal. Ever.

Bakugo is obviously angry. Fuyumi greets them, Izuku is a dork as he introduces himself and Bakugo is seething with rage at having to be here. She leads the boys to the dining area and introduces them to Natsuo. The dinner is super awkward as Natsuo, and Endeavor are still not talking. Izuku and Bakugo actually start having a good time eating. Natsuo mentions that Fuyumi has been doing most of the cooking at the house for a while, and she pipes in to say he used to cook too. Shoto asks if he’d had his brother’s food before, which Natsuo says is possible, but Endeavor did watch his diet carefully. Endeavor, trying to reach out to his second son, says that he’d like to try Natsuo’s cooking some time, but Natsuo abruptly leaves. I guess he just agreed to be there for food, not socializing or dad forgiving. Dinner finishes and Endeavor starts doing the dishes. When alone, Izuku asks Bakugo is he realized that the Todoroki’s have a lot of issues, to which Bakugo says yes but he learned this information against his will. They overhear Fuyumi and Shoto talking, Fuyumi admitting she gets angry at their father too, but she’s trying to use the opportunity to fix things. Shoto isn’t sure if he can forgive their dad after all that happened. We get a couple more seconds of what happened after Rei through the water at him, and it seems like she immediately realized what she’d done and begged his forgiveness as she helped him with the burns. We learn via a flashback to a letter that Rei is doing better and is hopeful she can live with her children again someday. Shoto admits that he doesn’t know what he wants from their dad yet. Bakugo, infuriated, opens the door and yells at the Todoroki’s for talking about such sensitive subjects when guests are over! Izuku and Bakugo gather more dishes, Izuku taking a moment to tell his friend that he thinks Shoto is ready to move forward with his dad, that doesn’t mean forgive hm but maybe he can. Both Natsuo and Endeavor overhear as well.

 

Some mistakes you can't make up for.

We cut to Endeavor praying at a small family altar. This is a tradition in Japan, burning incense for the people that you’ve lost in your life. The altar has a picture of a white haired, blue eyed boy whom is revealed to be Toya Todoroki. Endeavor again asks what he can do for his family, and that he wishes that Toya could be at the table with their family like in the dream.

 

After the credits, we see a man covered in bandages walking through a shopping district. He sees a news report about Endeavor and smiles evilly.

 

I believe I said this before in the last Endeavor focused episode, but I really like how Horikoshi is handling his development. Endeavor was a monster, a blight on his family that caused a ton of physical and psychological damage to people he should have protected above all else. He fully acknowledges that at this point and seems to want to find some way to make amends. But he’s not asking for forgiveness. He knows that he can’t fix his past actions but he wants to do better in the future. I know I’ve said this before, but Horikoshi could have easily left Endeavor as a hatesink with no redeemable or admirable qualities other than his overwhelming power. Instead, he is showing us a man that is actively, desperately trying to change and right some of the wrongs he’s committed in the past. And, yeah, I appreciate that all of his children seem to be having mixed feelings about him. Fuyumi, who probably remembers her father not being a colossal dick all the time better than the other two because she's the oldest child of the three, is reaching for that memory of her parents when they were happy. Even if she can admit that she gets why her brothers struggle with it. Natsuo is obviously still wrestling with his resentment, an anger that must feel even more complicated after the fight with Hood and he saw his father fighting valiantly. And Shoto, the one who has probably seen their father change the most and yet still isn’t sure if that’s enough. It’s complicated, like family tends to be. Makes you wonder how Toya would feel, were he still around. What? The relationship drama enhances the brawls, that’s basic storytelling. I’m not apologizing for getting sucked into this weird little drama. Oh, and it is hilarious that Katsuki Bakugo is the one that seems most annoyed by the breaches of host/guest etiquette happening at this house. Classic Bakugo. Next time, we’ll see Endeavor make a little more progress. Have a good night!

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Review: My Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission

 Izuku's going international.

Alright, so last time on My Hero Academia show, Uraraka and Tsu worked with Ryukyu and Hajime and Selkie to stop some smugglers from moving ingredients for the Quirk enhancing drug Trigger. They stop the smugglers, but a mysterious man in white tells his henchmen that they have enough Trigger as it is for their plans. Lets get to it.

 

Still don't get why the leader of the Supremist 
group in fact has a Quirk.

This story begins with Flect Turn, a blue man in a weirdly pope like robe, talking about the evils of superhuman abilities aka Quirks. He claims that the “shining baby” was the beginning of the end of the human race. They believe in the “Quirk Doomsday Theory,” an idea that powers will continue to mix together with each generation, growing more potent until those with powers won’t be able to control them and destroy the world. This group Humarise wants to “save” the world by destroying those with Quirks, for the salvation of Humanity. As they chant that, one of their robed figures runs out and unmasks, revealing a dude with an eyepatch. Mr. Eyepatch starts running as Flect turns on a giant device. The device is a bomb of some kind and it unleashes a cloud of green smoke onto an unsuspecting town. The smoke seems to cause Quirks to flare out of control, making one man turn into a turtle, while causing other powers to go off continually or grow to exponential size. The whole city is destroyed as powers go out of control and the people are killed either from the destruction or from their powers overloading. We’re shown one man without a Quirk survive as  Humarise member approaches him and congradulates him on being saved. Creepy.

 

We jump to some big military planes flying into the fictional country of Otheon. The plane is filled with heroes, including Endeavor, his sidekicks and his three Work Study students, Shoto Todoroki, Katsuki Bakugo and Izuku Midoriya. We get some exposition about Humarise, it’s a human supremacy group founded by Flect Turn and who wants to “save” humanity from the Quirk Doomsday Theory. Just going to pause right here and point out the weirdness of the leader of the “Human’s good, Mutants suck!” club being one with a very obvious inhuman appearance. Back to the story, they explain that the smoke used was called Ideotrigger, a more potent form of Trigger that has appeared in the past. Groups of heroes in Otheon, Japan, Egypt, France, and the US have been gathered to search the 25 known Humarise compounds around the world to look for Trigger Bombs. All Might comes in on the intercom and tells everyone to bring smiles back to the people frightened by terrorism. Izuku and his team, all three wearing cool black costumes, raid the main Humarise compound and are looking for the Trigger Bomb. They have a pretty easy time walking through the Humarise members as most of their members don’t have powers. Izuku is with the team that go for Flect Turn’s office only to find him gone. None of the branches were able to find bombs, and Hawks theorizes that the attack was orchestrated by a smaller inner group of Humarise as none of the captured goons even knew that the bombs were a thing. They theorize there is a final secret base that they’ll need to find where the bombs are hidden. The director orders the teams to go on standby why they figure this out.

 

Meanwhile, Mr. Eyepatch is running with a suitcase. He thinks to himself that he needs to deliver the package or the world will be destroyed. Oh my.

 

We jump to a small slum built near the Otheon Airport and are introduced to Rody and his younger siblings Roro and Lala. The go through a short checklist of what they have to do while Rody is out before he heads out with his bird Pino. He runs through town to a bar. He pays for a tip and is told he can pick up a package at East 3^rd street and dropped at the Chinese restaurant in South Grove. Rody accepts the job, steals the bartenders bike and rides out to do his job.

 

Different continent, same Bakugo.

While that is going on, Izuku, Bakugo and Todoroki are buying groceries for the other heroes while on standby. Their errand is interrupted by a pair of crooks robbing a bank. Bakugo chasses after one while Todoroki and Izuku chase the other with the case. Bakugo takes out his guy almost right away. The second hands off his case to Rody as he flies buy. Todoroki catches him, but Rody runs off. Izuku spots him and chases after him. Rody’s bird attacks Izuku, seemingly stunning him with a fart. Izuku chases him over the rooftops, Izuku is obviously faster but Rody seems to know the area so well that he keeps finding shortcuts and little distractions to get ahead. Meanwhile, Mr. Eyepatch has been tracked down by one of Humarises actually useful members, a woman who can make a bow from her hands. She peppers his car with arrows and causes a car accident. Todoroki sees and says he’ll handle the crash and Izuku should go after the thief. Rody escapes onto the subway, but Izuku sees and literally chases him down to the next stop. Rody plays it cool and tries to talk his way out of Izuku’s investigation. Izuku tries to get him to show him what’s in the case but Rody uses the whole fact Izuku’s from out of town to get him back off. They fight over the case, it pops open and it’s shown to be full of papers and documents. How odd.

 

Well, that's unfortunate.

Back on the bridge, Todoroki learns from the local cops that the car was attacked somehow, it having been peppered with arrows. Arrow lady meanwhile recovered a case, but it’s filled with jewels instead of the documents she was after. She reports to Flect who says they’ll take the necessary precautions and that this woman, Beros, needs to keep tracking. He tells her to do it as it’s the only way for Quirk havers to find salvation and she runs off.

 

Izuku loudly apologizes for, seemingly, attacking Rody for no reason. Rody realizes that he grabbed the wrong case during the crash and runs off to try to find the right case. Izuku follows him and tries to ask if everything is all right. The cops arrive and almost immediately open fire on them, Izuku, being a good kid, grabs Rody and does hiss best to evade the police. Using his jumping and Blackwhips, they land on a train heading out of town. Beros spots them and launches an arrow from across the bay at them. Apparently her quick lets her control arrows fired from her Bow-hand like drones. Izuku and Rody dodge around them, Rody passes out and almost falls to his death, but Izuku saves him and dives into the water to escape Beros.

 

Back at their hotel, Bakugo and Todoroki are being chewed out by Endeavor for getting involved in local problems when they’re on an important mission. They realize Izuku is still missing and wonder where he is. Speak of the devil, Izuku calls Todoroki and explains what happened with the cops. They learn this just as another hero calls them over and they hear a news report. Izuku is being accused of being a mass murderer, having killed 12 people and is on the run from police. Damn, that feels like a reach… but they are in a foreign country, I guess they’ll believe an international hero might kill people. Todoroki tells Izuku about the charges and tells his friend to get off the grid while they figure this out.

 

All of Izuku’s friends react to the news that he’s wanted for mass murder and, thankfully, not a single one of them believe the accusation.

 

Imagine going out to do a crime, but then being
accused of a much, much worse crime.

Rody yell at Izuku for getting him wrapped up in all of this. Izuku realizes that the circumstances suggest that who is after them wants their case so bad that they don’t care if Izuku and Rody are dead or alive. They look through the case but don’t find anything incriminating. Rody first wants to turn the case over, and then to destroy it when Izuku points out they’ll probably get killed for handing it over anyway. Izuku says they need to calm down and think. Izuku suggest that they go on the run and cross the boarded into Klayd, the neighboring country, to hide out. Rody slips into town and gets them disguises. They slip onto the top of a bus, Izuku using his powers to pay the fare because Izuku Midoriya.

 

Meanwhile, Endeavor is yelling at the Commissioner General of the Otheon police for information about their case against Izuku. The commissioner says the case is ongoing and he won’t discuss it with Endeavor. Once Endeavor leaves in a huff, we learn that the Commissioner is a Humarise member and that Endeavor would be classified as a “stage 5” Quirk infected. Todoroki learns from another hero that the car crash victim was attacked by a Quirk user and that he is a Humarise member. And they learn the jewels stolen from the bank were found by the scene scattered about. Izuku texts Todoroki, telling him via code that he’s going to Klayd. He grabs Bakugo and they go to meet him. They spy police following them. As they go, Rody looks at a locket with a pic of him and his siblings inside.

 

Rody slips off and makes a call to the bartender from earlier, Stanleyk, and asks him to go and tell his siblings he won’t make it home tonight. Stanleyk then takes a second to yell at him for botching the job he was paid to do. He tells him to hurry and deliver the goods if he doesn’t want to die. Rody angrily hangs up the phone and plays it cool when Izuku asks if he’s okay.

 

Bakugo and Todoroki are on a train to Klayd. They realize that the cases must have been switched in the fighting earlier. They rationalize that Humarise had infiltrated the police and that’s why they’re after Izuku. Bakugo calls him an idiot.

 

It's bad when your conscience bird is yelling at you.

Izuku and Rody hide out in an old barn for the night. Rody complains for a bit before they hit the hay. While he sleeps, Rody remembers his childhood when he and his siblings lived in a nice house with their dad. Seems like they have a really nice life. Rody’s dad gives him a complicated little puzzle. Rody opens the puzzle, with a little help from his dad, and gets his father’s locket. A few years later, though, his father left them to join Humarize. They get ostracized from their community for their Dad leaving to join that group and ended up in the slums, where Rody swore to always look after them. When he wakes up, Rody steals the case from Izuku and tries to slip off. His bird starts flipping out at him but he slips away from Izuku regardless. He goes and makes a call.

 

Izuku is woken up by the bird, Pino, some time later and lead out to find Rody. A helicopter lands and Rody hands over the briefcase to the man that gets out of it. He transforms into an ogre and goes to attack Rody, assuming he figured out what is in the case. Izuku arrives and knocks the dude back into the copter. He then takes an arrow from Beros when he protects Rody from her shot. They grab the case and they escape. Izuku’s phone was destroyed by the shot but it seems like it saved him from a worse injury. They patch him up and find a cave to hide out in. Rody asks why Izuku saved him when he betrayed him. Izuku doesn’t really understand the question, and he explains that Izuku believes in helping people regardless of circumstance. He tells Rody he want to be like All Might. Rody is much more pessimistic about his circumstances, as he feels like he’s kind of stuck where he’s at as he needs to provide for his family. They bond over the feeling that they aren’t good enough, Izuku cheering Rody up with how earnest he is. He finally introduces himself and Pino to Izuku. Feels weird they went a whole day without that.

 

The commissioner reports the situation to Flect. Flect tells him to keep looking and glares at Rody’s picture.

 

Road trips are fun, regardless of circumstances.

The next morning Rody arrives with a beaten up old truck he “borrowed” from a nearby farm. He left him a note to talk to the World Hero Organization for compensation. Huh. Rody says that he wished it’d been a plane so they could have flown the whole way as they get in. Rody explains his backstory to Izuku, that he lived with his dad and siblings after his mother’s death and that things were good until he disappeared. He says that he doesn’t think too much about his dad anymore as he’s busy looking after his siblings. They almost crash as Rody gets too into talking about them, which is sweet. We get a little montage song break as Izuku and Rody drive across the country.

 

They stop for the night and Izuku asks about Rody’s quirk. Rody says it’s kind of weird… but then we cut away. Kay. I’m sure that won’t be important later. Izuku and Rody make it to a mountain pass. The train through to Klayd is heavily guarded. Izuku wants to carry Rody up the mountain and away, but Rody tells him to take the case and go as he knows Izuku’s injury would make carrying him hard. They’re interrupted by Beros arriving in a helicopter and lobbing size changing balls of death at them. Izuku is able to get a Blackwhip on the copter, pulling them up and getting an Air Force shot on them to knock the copter away. They land and Rody goes for the case, but is knocked off the side of the cliff. Beros’ helper goes to crush Rody and Beros is keeping Izuku back from saving him. Rody throws the case and drops… only to be saved by a Todoroki ice slide. He chastise Izuku for not learning anything from Hosu and sending too hard codes and he and Bakugo help him with theses psychos. Bakugo flies around the copter, making Beros use up her arrows. When she runs out, she jumps from the copter, killing herself. Damn. Todoroki brings Izuku the case and reveals that they found Izuku thanks to the flashy attacks they could see from the train. Izuku notices that the case has a secret compartment with a puzzle thing inside it.

 

The boys hide out as Izuku tries to get the puzzle open. Rody, recognizing the puzzle as one like one he did as a kid, takes it and solves it in about a minute. Inside is a flashdrive and SIM card. They plan to hide out in a nearby cave to figure out what’s on them.

 

The Commissioner tells Flect that they lost the boys and they think they fled to Klayd. Flect doesn’t care as he believes that Izuku left he can’t interfere. … He has no idea who he’s messing with if he thinks Izuku is actually gone. He presses the activation button on the Trigger Bombs. They activate across the planet, and Flect broadcasts his “I win speech” across the world. He tells everyone that in 2 hours his bombs will go off and cleanse 25 countries of Quirks. He’s giving them 2 hours because movie… I mean to show mercy. The hero teams are given the go order. Things are complicated by citizens freaking out about their imminent deaths. Heroes scramble to both help evacuees and to find the trigger bombs.

 

Izuku and co, in Klayd, get access to a computer and are able to access the files on the SIM card they got. It’s from Eyepatch, aka Alan Kay, who explains he and several other scientists were kidnapped by Humarise and forced them to make Trigger Bombs. He explains the first attack was only meant to lure the worlds top heroes into areas where Humarise had their bombs set up. They’ll set them off, killing the best heroes and create a power vacuum where they can kill the rest and set up a world for non-powered humans only. … This plan only works if Quirks stop manifesting... but whatever. He mentions that Eddie Soul, Rody’s father, was killed helping him and that he made the key to disarm the bombs. Pino starts crying on Rody’s head. The kids hear about the Humarise deadline via the news. Todoroki wants to warn the heroes about what is happening, but Bakugo and Izuku know that the heroes won’t leave even if they know they’re the real targets. They resolve to use the key to disarm the bombs themselves. Bakugo does a quick search and finds the location of their base. Its 400 km away, which obviously is too far to go in 2 hours… unless you maybe fly. They steal a plane from the Klayd airport and Rody flies them out. Izuku, Todoroki and Bakugo suit up and resolve to stop the bombs.

 

Todoroki sent an update to headquarters and All Might letting them know the situation. The heroes are all told and Endeavor’s team finds one of the bombs. They’re attacked by Humarise Quirk users. The others find bomb but are attacked by Humarise Quirk users. This cult is super inconsistent with their rhetoric. They have 30 minutes left.

 

The kids find the base, Izuku tells Rody to fall back and the three leap out, using their powers to land safely and raid the base. Bakugo is left outside to fight the guards stationed there as Todoroki and Izuku slide father in. He’s attacked by a pair of twins with the ability to turn their arms into extendable blades. They explain that they’re helping Humarise to get a place in their new world, much to Bakugo’s annoyance. Rody landed and is going in to help, but is captured by guards. At least he tried.

 

Izuku and Todoroki get separated, Todorokie staying backc to fight guards. He uses a combo fire and ice attack to blast them all away. He gets attacked by a Quirk user who turns into a hulk with bloodwhips. Todoroki is slammed through the ground into an underground river by this ting. Bakugo is having trouble fighting the twins as it’s two on one and their blades are incredibly fast and flexible. He keeps blasting, though, because he’s Bakugo. He unleashes an AP Shot and several bombs, attempting to bury them in the rubble. The take Trigger, though, and their powers increase, turning their two blades each into six. Bakugo prepares to get crazy on these fools.

 

Izuku makes it to Humarise’s inner sanctum. Flect comes out to meet him and activates his defenses, sealing them in and revealing a bunch of lasers. Flect gives a bunch of anati-Quirk rhetoric that is SUPER hypocritical coming from him and Izuku rushes to kick him. He hits a barrier of some kind, which knocks back Izuku’s leg back. Flect reveals that his quirk cause him to automatically reflect anything that comes into contact with him. Flect reveals that he hates himself because his quirk keeps him from touching anyone or thing. He wants to “save” people from powers that run rampant. Izuku tries to hit Flect, only using OFA at the point of impact but is till knocked back. Izuku tries to run past him, but Flect activates a laser grid that hits Izuku. He drops and Flect pontificates about his victory. Izuku gets back up and swears to stop the Trigger Bombs. On Flect’s video screens, he sees all of his friends fighting as he gets shot repeatedly. We also see Bakugo and Todoroki struggling against their opponents. Izuku tries to think how he could beat this guy. He drops, but Rody saves him. Rody takes the disarming key from Izuku and says he’ll give it to Flect. He reveals that he was told they’d stop the Otheon explosion if he helps them. Izuku ties to stop Rody, but he’s beaten up to the point of near death. Flect reveals that he forced Eddie Soul to help make the bombs or have his kids killed. Izuku keeps struggling but can’t get to them. Rody keeps saying pessimistic, defeatist things… but then Izuku sees Pino in Rody’s hood, shaking his head. At the last second, Rody flips the key into the air and Pino grabs it. Izuku rushes Flect and keeps him busy while Rody runs. Rody takes a laser shot to the side, but Izuku can’t get passed Flect to help him. Rody gets up and tells Izuku to stop Flect, he’ll handle the bombs.

 

Izuku keeps flighting Flect, but his refraction is still super intense. We finally hear the whole conversation about Rody’s quirk. He explains that Pino, his bird, is his quirk. The little bird always reflects what Rody is really feeling. Rody can lie about, say, not feeling angry but Pino gives it away by being angry, that sort of thing. Rody leaves a bloody trail as he walks down to the computer.

 

Outside, Bakugo is getting overwhelmed by the blade twins. He finally slams them into the canyon wall, and unleashes a massive Howitzer Impact to finally disable them, crushing them under rubble. Okay, so Bakugo has finally killed some people.

 

Todoroki is drowning when he and his captor come toward a waterfall. Todoroki creates an ice shell around himself to break free. He hits the creatuere with a Flashfreeze Heatwave attack. He and the creature have a fire fight, literally, Todoroki unleashing a Flash Fire Fist to finally stop it. He and it dop to the river below, him praying that Izuku stop them.

 

Power of Friendship, UNLEASHED!

While Izuku’s fight continues, Rody makes it to the computer core but drops from blood loss. He wants to be like his dad, like Deku and not give up, but he passes out. Flect calls Rody scum and that royally pisses off Izuku. He tries to kick Flect but it gets reflected. He says he believes in Rody because he believes in heroes. We’re shown the heroes getting the Trigger bombs out of the area and finding more bombs. Inspired by his friends, Izuku attacks Flect again and hits with enough force to force him back a step. Izuku notices that Flect’s reflection is weakening, realizes there’s a limit to how much punishment Flect can take and in classic All Might fashion resolves to surpass Flect’s limit. He tells Flect that he’s a failure for giving up and stop trying to exist with people. Izuku and Flect clash multiple times, completely wrecking the inner sanctum. Izuku ends up on the ground and hitting him with a full Detroit Smash that sends him to the ceiling. They brawl but Izuku is knocked to the ground. He’s reminded of All Might’s words of encouragement, enters his sort of Super Saiyan mode from the last movie and attacks Flect full force. He unleashes thousands of rapid blows before unleashing the United States of World Smash. Flect slams into the ground, defeated but saying Izuku is too late.

 

Izuku runs and finds a beaten and broken Rody. The bombs, though, don’t go off. It’s revealed that Pino made it the last few feet and got the key placed in time. She’s a good little bird. Izuku tells Rody that he’ll get him to a hospital, and that, yeah, he protected his family like his dad did. Like Deku would. They start laughing together when Rody says that he is pretty cool.

 

It's all about the friends we make along the way.

Humarise members are arrested, Izuku and his friends are taken out to get medical help, and Izuku praises Rody for giving his all and saving the world. As Izuku prepares to leave, Rody meets him, and they say their goodbyes. Rody says he’s going back to his normal life for now but maybe something interesting will happen. He tells Izuku to go back to Japan and stay there as bad stuff happens when he’s around… but Pino starts crying revealing how he feels. Izuku hugs him, promising to visit. Rody goes to Stanlyek’s bar and asks to get a real job, which Stanlyek gives him. It’s not much but it’s a start. Over the credits we see Izuku and his friends reuniting and celebrating, Rody starting his honest job and his siblings going to school and making friends, and finally Rody looking over books about flying to prepare for a flight exam. So, everyone is where they need to be, so that’s nice.

 

So this is a movie that I like but there’s one element that bugs me. Namely, I don’t *get* the number of Quirk Havers in the human supremacist group founded by a Quirk haver. Do these kind of groups always have a few members that are a part of the demographic they hate, thus showing that the group itself is hypocritical as hell because they’ll put aside their hatred and biases to use people? Yes, but they’re never in leadership positions! Hell, in the X-Men continuity, Graydon Creed, the leader and founder of the Friends of Humanity, lost his entire organization when they found out he was the non-powered son of two Mutants. So Flect being in charge and having a few hundred Quirk having minions seems… unlikely. I know, in this kind of story that means the normal humans would need a lot of tech and such to overcome the differences between themselves and the Heroes they’re fighting, and that can be a bit of a copout too, but I like internal consistency. Flect could have easily been the exact same character if he was in the favored minion spot with someone else doing the anti-Quirk rhetoric is all I’m saying. Okay, onto the stuff I like. I like Rody and Pino. They’re a fun addition to this story, a pessimistic criminal that the superhuman society failed big time but finds hope again because Izuku “Too Pure for this world” Midoriya encouraged him is just a fun team up. We’ve seen Izuku encourage a Quirkless person in Two Heroes, and a kid with a potentially non-strong power on paper in Heroes Raising, so it’s nice that he helping an adult find hope again after life kicked him down hard. Well, semi adult, if Rody is over 19 I’d be shocked. Plus, Pino is just a sweety. Seeing that little bird acting like Rody wants to is just a nice visual. The fights were pretty good in this, the visual of Flect’s reflection being a giant spiral cloud that forms behind him before bouncing backward was particularly neat. But there’s less oomph to them for some reason. I think it’s in part because while we get a lot of Flect in this, he doesn’t have a right hand like Nine had in Chimera to give a second, less intense but still kind of emotional fight. All of his goons are either religious self-hating zealots or in it for the pass on a metaphorical ark. Its not even “I was treated like a monster so now I am a monster!” complicated. The musical interlude where we just see Izuku and Rody traveling to a kind of somber song was odd, but I liked it. It allowed us to see them bond quickly. I’m realizing that I need to catch up on the manga, I’m wondering if Izuku’s One For All kind-of-Super-Saiyan form is movie only or if he’s been doing this during the fight with the Meta Liberation Army and I just never got to it. So, yeah, a fun movie with just a storytelling bit that’s stuck in my craw. Next time, back to the main story. See you then!

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Review: My Hero Academia: Heroes Raising

 Nine is coming for you.

Okay, so my neurodivergent brain won’t allow me to just keep going with the show when we had an episode setting up the third movie, but I can’t talk about the third movie before talking about the second, so we’re going to do My Hero Academia: Heroes Raising today and My Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission tomorrow. Kay? Kay. I’ll let you know, the movie itself takes place farther down the road than where the anime was at during the time of release. It’s actually slightly farther ahead than we are now, taking place a bit during the kids training post Meta Liberation Army.  But, there are very few bits talking about the current state of the world beyond Shigaraki rocking the hero world, so there aren’t too many spoilers. That enough set up? Good. Let’s get to it.

Nothing goods come from liquid filled pods.

 

Our second foray into My Hero Academia movies begins with an armored truck on the move, several cars in pursuit. The cars driven by heroes, including our old buddy Rock Lock. The lead truck is being driven by the League of Villain’s member Spinner, and that lizard boy is not happy to being followed. The heroes do their best to stop the truck, but Dabi and Mr. Compress are on defense and those two aren’t easy to beat. Fire and random objects growing from nowhere are hell on a chase. Spinner complains about being found out and the three speculate on an information leak. Inside the truck, we see a man floating in some purple liquid. The villains run into the heroes ace, Endeavor. The burning hero faces off against Dabi. Dabi’s flame is impressive, but Endeavor’s Prominence Burn overpowers him. Only for it to be revealed that this truck was being driven by Twice clones, they turn to goop before being incinerated. Those tricky little villains. The truck careens off the road and crashes below. Hawks arrives and the two check out the back of the truck. It’s empty now, but they find the machine that we got a glimpse of earlier. Hawks determines it’s a life support system of some kind, they were transporting someone… but who?

 

Evil business casual.

We cut to a man walking through the woods from the crash site. This is Nine, our villain for the evening. He meets up with his crew, Chimera, Slice and Mummy. Chimera says that he took his time, Nine telling him it was worth the wait. Nine we see is wearing some kind of machine that covers his entire upper body, including a mask that covers his face up to his eyes. He tells them the experiment was a success as his eyes start to glow.

 

After a quick universe summary from one Izuku “Deku” Midoriya, we jump to what the kids are up to. Class 1-A is currently working as a temporary Hero Agency on Nabu Island. It’s a small island with a population of only around 1000, so they’re more or less just doing odd jobs for the town, like serving as lifeguards, couriers, a mobile battery charger, and such. We’re introduced to two small children while getting an overview of Nabu, Mahoro and her little brother Katsuma. Katsuma is excited to see all the “heroes” but his sister is less impressed. We cut to the main office of the UA Agency, where Izuku and some of this classmates are manning the phones and sending each other out on missions. Uraraka gets a call from a child saying she can’t find her brother. Uraraka, Jiro, and Izuku head out to look for the missing kid. They came up with a pretty ingenious method of transport, Uraraka made herself and Jiro weightless, they grab onto an innertube and then Izuku powers up and runs them all at highspeed.

 

We cut to Mr. Nezu and All Might having a meeting with Yokumiru Mera (the guy that ran the Provisional License Exam) who explains the idea that due to recent “events” (vague because future spoilers) public trust in heroes has been shaky so they want to speed up their training. The idea is to send students to an area that’s in need of hero work, but is implied to be low risk enough that no one should die. … If only they knew they were in an anime movie.

 

Lot of hero work is just being willing to help.

We get a montage of the students doing helpful things around the island, Iida helping an old woman travel around, Ashido and Aoyama clearing debris from a rock slide, and so on, while Izuku, Jiro and Uraraka look for the missing kid. They finally find the kid, Katsuma from earlier, as he is looking for his sister near the playground. Izuku runs up and offers to take Katsuma to his sister, just for Mahoro to slide down the slide and start getting in Izuku’s face for being too slow. Yeah, she’s the one that made the call, and all to basically yell at Izuku for not finding her totally not missing brother immediately. Izuku apologizes to her as the girls join him. Oh joy, Izuku’s friend and crush get to see him getting scolded by an eight-year-old. Katsuma thanks him, though, before Mahoro drags him off.

 

Scolded by a child, a new low for Izuku.

Mahoro and Katsuma have ice cream as they walk home. Mahoro complains about heroes while Katsuma defends Izuku for being nice. Mahoro reveals in her inner monologue that she’s trying to show Katsuma heroes aren’t great.

 

Back at UA All Might is being a nervous mother hen, wondering how his chicks are doing without supervision. Aizawa tells him that it’s a small island with nothing but minor crimes reported for the last 30 years, so there’s not much to worry about. The focus behind this training is working on hero to civilian people skills.

 

That evening, the students are relaxing after working hard all day. Except Bakugo, who has apparently only been laying around the office since they got there. He says it’s to watch the office in case a real villain attacks… but we all know he hates dealing with people. The Mayor and some of the locals stop by and bring them a big banquet as thanks for their hard work. Everyone eats their fill and they bask on being liked. Everyone else is going to hit the sack, but Bakugo is told he’s on night watch for being lazy all day. .That night, Izuku spends the evening doing kicking exercises and thinking about the basic premise of One For All. One power, transferred from one generation to the next, making it more powerful and all that jazz. Bakugo, in full costume, comes over and mentions that Izuku seems to be doing a little better at One For All. He tells Izuku he isn’t patient, so he wants Izuku to master his power, so they can have a real fight and he can prove that he, Bakugo, is the best hero ever. Katsuma arrives and tells the boys that a villain is attacking.

 

Back on the mainland, Hawks and the Hero Public Safety Commission are tracking someone that is traveling down Mainland Japan. This person is attacking heroes, knocking them unconscious and somehow taking their Quirks from them. The officials wonder if Shigaraki and the League of Villains are busting out the Quirk destroying drug. Hawks suggests that maybe the Quirks are being stolen. Hawks tells them that he’ll look into both possibilities as he’s still under cover.

 

We cut to the League of Villains. Toga and Twice are complaining about not knowing what it was they were transporting. Shigaraki tells them to shut up and that the information is on a need to know basis. They were told by Daruma Ujiko, the Leagues evil doctor that kept All For One going and was the guy that told Izuku he wouldn’t get powers, that there is no need for them to get involved further. Shigaraki leaves and puts his hand mask back on.

 

We jump over to Mahoro and Katsuma’s father. He is watching a video of his children, telling him they will be fine until he comes home in 10 days. The video is interrupted by Nine and his crew, who wreck his truck. Nine says he’s been looking for him and that he won’t kill him, but he’s taking his Quirk. Nine steals his power, a lightning storm forming as he does so. After draining him, Nine directs the lightning to destroy the area, his team praising him, but then Purple lines appear all over Nine. He uses his Quirk sensing power and realizes that “it” doesn’t work on type B blood. The team is initially pissed, but Slice points out they aren’t back to square one. Why? Because they see the video, and, as Nine points out, Quirks are hereditary.

 

Izuku spends SO much time protecting Bakugo
from himself.

Back on Nabu Island, Izuku is running to keep up with Bakugo and Katsuma as Bakugo rushes to find and fight this villain. Katsuma tells him to go to the old castle, where a giant monster appears and attacks him. Bakugo tries to use his Stun Grenade, but then realizes that it’s an illusion, proving it by taking the monsters attack and walking through it. His blast reveals the monster didn’t have a shadow. It’s revealed to be Mahoro, using her Quirk to create an illusion of a monster. Bakugo, shockingly, is super pissed and starts yelling at the little girl for wasting his time. Izuku keeps Bakugo from attacking them and they run off.

 

The kids go hide in some bamboo. Mahoro complains about Bakugo, but Katsuma says that they did come to help them. She wants her brother to help people like their dad, and not be a hero.

 

Back at the city, Hawks has found out about the kid’s dad being attacked. He’s the only non-hero that has been attacked, and Nine and his team stole and destroyed all of his identification and left him comatose. They want to hide what the man can do, and that is weird according to Hawks. Shigaraki watches him from above, being spooky.

 

Back at the UA Agency, the kids get jobs for the day, Izuku heading to help a local family’s fields. He sees Katsuma watching him, and goes to talk to him. Katsuma says that he wanted to apologize for yesterday. Izuku accepts on behalf of him and Bakugo, and Katsuma tells him that he went along with it because his sister hates heroes and wants to prove they suck. Izuku notices Katsuma’s pin, of Edge Shot, and asks if he wants to be a hero. Katsuma says his power isn’t good for hero stuff and his sister doesn’t want him to. Izuku asks what kind of hero Katsuma wants to be. Katsuma says that he wants to beat up villains, but Izuku tells him that he wants to be a hero that helps people. Katsuma runs off and a neighbor, Mrs. Suzimura, comes by and explains their whole deal. The kids mom died when they were very young and their dad is away for work a lot. Bakugo was watching and heard the whole thing to. Katsuma goes to Mahoro and tells her he wants to be a hero, or starts to right before the ferry crashes into the island. Oh no.

 

Bakugo must be sick of getting captured so much.

The Villains have arrived. Nine tells Chimera and Mummy to cause a diversion while he works. Slice uses her Quirk, throwing blade sharp hairs about, to sink all the ships in the harbor while the others head out. Mahoro and Katsuma watch the whole thing. Katsuma wants to get the UA students, but Mahoro isn’t sure. Izuku makes it to the office as Mahoro calls. Bakugo answers first, he thinks it’s a “cry wolf” situation, but Izuku grabs the phone and believes the terror in Mahoro’s voice when she says there’s a villain attack, just before the line goes dead. Oh no. Chimera had knocked down the local cell tower.

 

Aoyama, Mineta and Hagakure finish helping a couple find their luggage before hearing a commotion and going to investigate. They find Mummy, who’d tangled a bunch of things in his wrappings and using them to bludgeon stuff. Aoyama destroys them with his naval laser, but Mummy tangles up more stuff, turning a truck, vending machine, and dozens of other objects into minions to fight the young heroes. They’re quickly overwhelmed as they can’t call for help.

 

Tsu and Shoji are clearing civilians while Ojiro and Tokoyami fights with Chimera. Chimera boasts incredible strength along with his weird mismatch of animal parts. Ojiro says he’ll hold him off while Tokoyami goes to the office to get help.

 

At the office, the kids notice their cellphones aren’t working. A guy on a motorcycle and Tokoyami both arrive to tell them about the villain attack. Bakugo, Kirishima and Kaminari are sent to the shopping center to help Mineta and that group, Yaoyorozu, Jiro and Ashido will go along to help with first aid; Iida, Sato, Sero, Todoroki and Tokoyami are going to help Ojiro with Uraraka and Koda helping with relief. Everyone seems to not notice that Izuku is missing… which seems… odd. Izuku, speaking of, makes it to the harbor and realizes that there’s no signal. He assumes his classmates know what is happening and will focus on helping the kids. He rushes towards Mrs. Suzimura’s house as he knows they’re near there.

 

Bakugo and his crew arrive just as Aoyama and Mineta hit their limit. They hold Mummy off for a bit, but Bakugo gets tangled up after saving Kirishima from some. Mummy explains that objects move like he wills when wrapped in his bandages. He can’t control people, but can manipulate things like Bakugo’s gear to use him as a puppet.

 

Iida and his team arrive in time to save Shoji from being killed, but Chimera is incredibly strong. He bats off Sato even at his sugar enhanced strongest. Chimera plans to take all the kids out quickly.

 

Mahoro and Katsuma run toward their house to try to figure out what’s happening, only to see it destroyed by Nine. He’s specifically targeting Katsuma. Why? Because his Quirk is “Cell Activation of Type B Blood.” Mahoro tries to keep him back but he walks through the Illusion. Nine almost gets to them, but Izuku rushes in and gets them away. Nine identifies Izuku’s Quirk as a strength enhancer and follows them. Izuku faces off against Nine. He shows off two completely unrelated powers, fingertip lasers and solid air shields, making Izuku think of All For One.

 

Back at the shopping center, Kirishima and Kaminari are caught in bindings. Mummy tells them they can surrender or be beaten to death by their friend. Bakugo, having had it up to here with this bullshit, tells them to stop screwing around and detonates one of his gauntlets to get himself free. Once free, Bakugo shows why he’s terrifying, quickly blowing through Mummy’s puppets and grabbing him by the head. Bakugo unleashes a maximum blast to Mummy’s head, knocking him unconscious… maybe. I think there’s a solid chance he’s dead. Bakugo flies off, saying he’s going after the other villains.

 

Chimera is holding off everyone, being too physically powerful for any of them to match. When Todoroki tries a fire blast on him, Chimera reveals that he can also breathe fire. Damn, weirdest combination of powers. Todoroki throws up an ice wall at the last second to protect himself and the others. Iida realizes they can’t keep this up for long.

 

These kids will not give up until they're dead.
Good for them.

Izuku tries a Delaware Smash, Air Force bullet, but Nine blocks it. He hits Izuku with a blast of air and then hits him with lasers. Izuku realizes its better to just try to take this guy out rather than risk being hit by more weird powers, so charges himself to 20% Full Cowling (his current max) and charges. Nine identifies Izuku’s big power boost before he tries the St. Louis Smash Kick. He hits an air barrier. Nine, his curiosity piqued, tries to steal One For All. Thankfully, it looks like he has a limit on the number of powers he can take and One For All is too much to take in. Izuku is too stunned to move, though, so Nine decides to eliminate him now. He blasts Izuku away. Mahoro and Katsuma are still nearby and run to him. Izuku tries to protect them but gets a laser shot right to his side. Mahoro, realizing that they might be die, makes a giant Illusion of Izuku and uses it to call for help. Bakugo rushes in and tries to blast Nine, but he throws up another barrier. Izuku warns Bakugo about Nine’s powers. Bakugo gets in real close and almost blasts Nine point-blank, when Nine shows off another power, creating large tentacles of energy. He slams Bakugo into the ground with them, breaking his ribs. Bakugo still tries to blast him, though, distracting Nine long enough for Izuku to try another smash. Nine, actually scared, blats them both with lightning. He goes to get the kids, but Izuku and Bakugo grab his legs. Nine blasts them again in a classic “such heroic nonsense” moment. He goes for the kids but drops to his knees in pain. Slice arrives to help her boss, but the other 1-A kids run in, using a flock of crows to distract them long enough to get everyone out. Nine wants the boy but Slice tells him they need to give him time to recover. She fires off a flare, telling Chimera to fall back.

 

The students hold up in an old factory, Yaoyorozu and Kaminari using their powers to get a stockpile of supplies and batteries going. The majority of the islanders are in the factory as a crisis center. They have Mummy chained up in the boiler room, but he’s not talking. Uraraka goes in to look after Izuku and Bakugo. The island has a pair of healers that work at the hospital, but their powers are only good enough to seal the boys open wounds, not mend their bones. Katsuma offers to try to help. His Quirk, cell activation, he thinks can help. He begins healing both boys.

 

Chimera joins Slice and Nine, the two realizing that Mummy got caught. They realize that even if Mummy was caught, they need to stick to the plan. Chimera remembers being saved by Nine. Nine wants to do the whole revolution thing, topple the corrupt status quo and make themselves the new rulers sort of thing. He joined with the League of Villains to get them to enhance his quirk, it appears his original power is the lightning summoning, and in the hopes the project could help cure his terminal illness. Nine was told by the doctor that the experiment worked, and he was given an artificial version of All For One’s power. He can now steal eight other powers, which is super convenient if he was already going by Nine. The downside is that his enhancement made his condition worse and that using his powers too much will kill him faster, but a cell activation Quirk should counteract it.

 

Back on the island, Katsuma is pushing himself to the limit to heal the boys. The boys start glowing really brightly, indicating he’s healing them. Iida explains to the others their situation, no communication on or off the island, no ferry, and no power. Yaoyorozu was able to make a drone and sent it to get backup. It’ll be six hours for it to fly to the mainland, and more time for the heroes to arrive. Katsuma and Mahoro come in during the tail end of this and Katsuma reveals the villains are after him. Katsuma offers to be handed over to the villains if it’ll protect everyone, but Izuku comes in to say that’s not acceptable. Izuku praises Katsuma’s quirk and he refuses to lose that to the villains. Bakugo says all they have to do is kill some villains, so why worry? They remember being told by All Might that the two of them working together will make them both stronger. The students rally and come up with a plan.

 

They plan to go to the ruin castle as their base of operations. There’s only one way to it and they’ll set ambushes along the way for the three villains. The civilians they’ll move to a cliffside cave to keep them safe and out of the line of fire. Katsuma and Mahoro will be kept safe in the castle. Izuku realizes that Nine must have a limit to how much and often he can use his powers, so they’re just planning to make him use his powers until he’s exhausted. They don’t have to win, they just have to hold out until help arrives. But Bakugo says they’ll win.

 

The villains find out where they’re hiding and head out. Yaoyorozu and Aoyama are waiting for them. Aoyama unleashes a full power blast to separate the trio, and Yaoyorozu reveals she has a pair of cannons to cut them off completely, Slice dropping into a cavern below and Chimera being forced to take another way around. Nine keeps moving forward. Sero and Uraraka are next, trying to crush nine with debris that Uraraka makes weightless and Sero throwing them. Slice, meanwhile, is up against Tokoyami and Ashido. Tokoyami wraps himself in Dark Shadow and plans to fight her head on. Chimera is lead to a waterfall, where Tsu drags him into the water and Tokoyami freezes it to hold him in place. But Chimera breaks free a moment later. Round two with this guy. Chimera flexes, his muscles growing bigger and feathers ripping through his sleeves.

 

Nine’s finer lasers cut through Sero and Uraraka’s attack with minimal effort. He hits them hard enough that they are forced to fall back to their next big trap. It’s a massive rockslide they set up and held back with a log fence. Uraraka, just barely holding back her barf, anti-gravities the logs and unleashes the slide. Sero then directs a flying Mineta who peppers the rocks with his sticky balls to seal him in. Nine blasts free a moment later. Nine goes to finish them off, but Aoyama distracts him with a weak laser. Nine says playtime is over, just before Bakugo rushes in and tries to blast him. Izuku follows a moment later, the two focused on protecting the kids above all else. Bakugo and Izuku, much to both of their annoyance, work super well together and are able to hold him back.

 

Slice overwhelms Tokoyami, her blade hairs beig tougher than he thought. He pushes her back and has Ashido hurl acid at her, melting her hair to a sloppy bob. She hits Ashido and severely injures her. Tokoyami flips out and gets taken over by a rampaging Dark Shadow. Slice, not wanting these kids to get in Nine’s way, collapses the cavern on them to bury everyone. Tokoyami gets to a bleeding Ashido and tries to cover her.

 

Izuku sees the ground collapsing from his fight with Nine and hopes they’re okay.

 

Iida, Kirishima and Todoroki are battling Chimera. He easily throws them aside… until he freezes up. They reveal that Kirishima’s fists and Iida’s legs were coated in Tsu’s toxic mucus, and he’s now paralyzed from it. Chimera goes to full power, transforming into a giant monster form. He unleashes a giant energy blast and the team falls back. Ojiro, watching from the castle, wants to help but Shoji reminds them they have to protect the kids.

 

Sero and Uraraka join the fight and try to get shots in. They’re taken out easy but Nine unleashes his energy tails, so they are at least making him use his powers. Nine tries to finish them off, but his powers start to fail as he hits his limit.

 

Todoroki tells his team they need to make an opening for him to touch Chimera. Iida uses the last of his Recipro Turbo to distract Chimera, Kirishima and Todoroki slide on an ice slide, Kirishima using his Unbreakable mode to shield Todoroki, and Todoroki rushes him. Tsu and Iida stop Chimera from attacking. Todoroki uses a lesson from his dad, to turn up the heat to the limit, to the opposite end. He sticks his hand down Chimera’s gullet and freezes him solid. His team is down but it looks like they took Chimera out.

 

Nine’s suit injects him with more purple goo as he says that if he just got the cell activation Quirk he wouldn’t have to hold back like this. He hits them both with a lightning, seemingly obliterating them.

 

Back on the mainland, Mr. Shimano is awake and he’s explaining his power to Hawks. Hawks learns about the kids and realizes Nabu Island is on the path. He gets a call telling him that a fishing boat found the drone and it’s under attack. He rushes out and tells the Commission to send help to Nabu ASAP.

 

Ojiro and Jiro try to hold off Nine while Shoji runs off with the kids… but they’re side characters going up this level’s boss. It doesn’t end well. Nine catches up and blasts Shoji. He and a recovered Jiro and Ojiro try to stop Nine but get blasted back hard. Thankfully, Nine’s attacks are slowing him down. Mahoro tries to hold him back, but she’s a child against a grown ass man. He grabs her by the throat and threatens to kill her if he doesn’t come to him. Katsuma runs at Nine and goes to hit him, Nine goes to grab him… but Izuku flies in and kicks him aside, Bakugo joins and saves Mahoro from hitting the ground. Izuku tells them to run. Nine is confused, asking how they survived his lightning blast. Izuku and Bakugo reveal they expect that since he’d done it before and used Kaminari to absorb most of the blast. The boys are actually able to hold their own against nine now, as his powers seem to be hitting their limit. Until he activates his full power. His suit shatters and giant wings of energy erupt from his back. He creates a tornado of energy and prepares to kill them all. They realize that Nine can control all types of weather. Izuku activates 100% Full Cowling and Bakugo hits the tornado with a Howitzer Impact. Unfortunately, their attacks aren’t enough. They’re knocked aside, one of Izuku’s arms broke and debris falling burying everyone.

 

The boys go Super Saiyan.

Nine smacks the boys around while he pontificates about his new world order determined by power. I feel that I need to point out that that’s actually a very old system… but whatever. He gets the boys in his crushing tails and Izuku tries to think of a solution. Mahoro and Katsuma try to encourage them and that gives Izuku an idea. He reaches a bloodies hand out to Bakugo and we’re reminded how One For All is transferred. Bakugo gets and reaches for Izuku’s bloodies fingers. They clasp hands and Izuku transfers his power.

 

Izuku and Bakugo break free and it’s time for round 3. It’s Nine vs. a double dose of One For All users. What happens next is a beautifully animated battle scene of Izuku and Bakugo use their combined power to battle Nine. They do a double Detroit Smash and their powers combined overwhelm Nine’s storm. Remember, One For All enhances the users current Quirk too, so Bakugo’s blasts are even bigger as he and Izuku tag team brawl Nine. The finish the villain off with a combination smash kick and mega Bakugo blast as the embers of One For All go out. Izuku says goodbye to the power and thanks it.

 

I do not envy All Might having to explain what happened
to the boy's mothers.

Hawks unburies Tokoyami and reveals that he and All Might rushed ahead to get to their kids. Izuku and Bakugo are found by All Might, and Izuku tells him that he gave One for All to Bakugo. Izuku doesn’t regret doing it, but he’s upset that he disappointed All Might for giving up the power before he could become a hero. All Might tells him to rest easy and he doesn’t regret their time together. All Might tells him that Izuku’s courage only strengthened the power. Izuku starts glowing with One For All energy, though, confirming he still has the power. All Might has no idea how, but the power did something miraculous to help them save the day. The kids are all saved, Todoroki is embarrassed by Endeavor’s affectionate embrace and the villains are all captured except for Nin.

 

Nine landed back on the island in a field of flowers. Shigaraki teleports in and tells Nine he’ll take Nine’s dream from here. He grabs Nine’s face and disintegrates him. Damn, that’s cold blooded.

 

Izuku and Bakugo get additional treatment for their injuries, Mr. Shimano reunites with his kids, and the students stay on for a bit to help with the repairs of the island. They leave, intending to go without a big farewell, but Mahoro and Katsuma made it to run along the ship and give a tearful farewell to the heroes. Izuku, remembering what All Might told him, tells Katsuma that he can become a hero just as the credits roll.

 

This was a very fun movie. We got to see the main cast in a new situation, we got a look at what some hero work is like, and got several big fight scenes with some interesting powers. I’ll say that the villains in this movie are a step up from Wolfram in Two Heroes. Part of that is the voice work, you really can’t ask for better than Johnny Yong Basch. The former Power Ranger always gives 10/10 performances, even when the character he’s playing is kind of bland on paper. “Wha, the guy with a ton of power wants to make a world where his power is all that matters? Surely you jest.” But Basch really sells the insane zealotry. They also found a way to make Nine incredibly powerful but also beatable by giving him that fatal unspecified illness. It lets him have some pretty over the top powers but always lets him be stopped before he could kill the kids. Let see, he had 1. Weather Manipulation, 2. Power Theft, 3. Power Identification, 4. Laser Fingers, 5. Air shields, 6. Energy Tails, and 7. Cell Activation of Type A blood, by the end of the film. So it’s a good thing that Izuku’s power was too big for him to take and no one else got close enough for him to nab, as he had one additional spot to give up. Mahoro and Katsuma were fine little tag along characters to this story. It was kind of fun to see meek but earnest Katsuma gravitate towards Izuku while brash Mahoro was a Bakugo fan by the end. It’s almost like the movie wanted to highlight Izuku and Bakugo’s sibling like bond or something. That final fight scene was amazing. I didn’t try to describe it as I don’t think I could do it justice. It was visually beautiful and was scored really well, so it has the right emotional tone visually and auditorily. I think everyone knows going into that last battle that Izuku really isn’t going to lose his power, since, ya know, this is an anime movie tie in to a long running anime/manga series. Unless this was the last bit of My Hero Academia stuff, ever, Izuku is going to keep his powers. That said, there is a small part of me that was like “wait, whaaa?” as Izuku willingly gave up his power for the chance to beat Nine. It’s a good character beat, as it reminds everyone that Izuku 100% believes in saving people above his own personal goals and ambitions. Losing his chance to be a hero is 10000% a fair trade to him if it protects even one person. That’s my boy. So yeah, a fun flick. It was originally going to be the last My Hero Academia movie, but I guess it did so well that they obviously needed to do at least one more. Which is what we’ll be talking about tomorrow, the World Heroes Mission. I’ll see you there. 

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