Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 102

Izuku is back on the Work Study beat. 

Yes, Wakanda Forever is coming, but I’m saving it for the end of the week. Be patient. It’s been long enough that I could use a refresh and it’s coming to Disney+ next week.

 

Last time on My Hero Academia Izuku and company got a crash course in handing PR by Mt. Lady and Midnight. Some kids did well, some poorly, and some refused to participate because he’s Bakugo. Izuku did some training off screen and got enough control over the new aspect of One For All (OFA) “Black Whip” to create a small energy tendril. The UA staff learn that the Public Safety Commission is insisting that Work Studies begin again, and speculate that the PSC wants to fast track hero training because another big incident might be coming. Some time later, Principle Nezu concludes that none of his students could be the League of Villains mole. The kids then have a big Christmas party. Fun is had by all, even Bakugo despite him being something of a Grinch throughout, and Eri even stops by to celebrate with them. In the end, Todoroki approaches Bakugo and Izuku, notes that neither can go back to their work study (Izuku’s mentor Sir Nighteye died and his successor Centipeder can’t spare time to teach, and Bakugo’s mentor Best Jeanist is currently one medical leave) and offers to take them with to his dad, Endeavor’s, agency. Oh, and there’s some background hints that Shigaraki and the League of Villains are up to something.

 

I don't buy this disguise working.

We open on a flash back to Kyushu a few weeks prior. Hawks gets a call from Dabi. They agree that things went poorly the other day. The other day being the High End Nomu aka Hood attacking and almost killing Endeavor. Hawks tells the fire elemental that he’d like a heads up in the future when the plans change. Dabi wonders if Hawks is trying to trace the call, but Hawks tells him that he’s being paranoid and that he agrees with the League of Villains belief that the age of heroes needs to end. To himself, he thinks that he knows that Dabi knows that Hawks is too valuable a resource to cut loose, he plans to keep playing the fool to keep stringing Dabi along. Dabi says he is going to give Hawks one more chance and Hawks smiles confidently to himself. Dabi tells him the next test will prove his loyalty to the League and their anti-establishment cause, and to not bring the Number 1 hero this time.

 

Hawks switches calls to the Public Safety Commission, whom he’s working for as a mole. He gets them up to speed on the situation with Dabi, and suggests that he thinks the League is monitoring him so they should switch to communicating in code. Hawks goes to meet with Best Jeanist. Jeanist is recovering, but it’s slow going. He lost a lung in the fight with All For One (AFO) and healing heroes like Recovery Girl can’t restore things that have been lost. He mentions that people are eager for him to get back on the street. Hawks, grabbing one of his feathers to make a sword, says he’s sorry to hear that. Later, Hawks is waiting to get in contact with the League. It’s past their meeting time and he can’t get a hold of Dabi. He tells himself he has to stay the course and not doubt his resolve. We’re shown him flying with a large bag over his shoulder.

 

If I didn't see her use her Quirk in the first episode,
I'd think her real power was super crying.

We jump over to Izuku, who is having a nice quite New Years Eve in with his mom. Or at least it would be, if Izuku catching her up on his latest test didn’t cause her to have a stress induced stroke. It’s so hard being a protagonists mama, isn’t it, Inko? She recovers and Izuku switches to telling his mom about Eri. She wrote him a thank you note and that is so damn sweet that Inko starts sobbing so much Izuku is worried their downstairs neighbors will think there’s a leak. Inko tells her that she’s proud of him and that she doesn’t think she’ll need to worry as much about him now that she’s seen the look of a hero on his face. And the two sob together. I’d like to think, somewhere, Hisashi Midoriya is also sobbing.

 

We jump a few days to the start of Izuku’s work study as his mother sees him off to the bus. He’s all set and ready to go.

 

Cutting to Hawks, he lands at a city in the mountains and is scolded by a hero named Slidin’ Go for leaving without permission. He reminds Hawks that he outranks him here, but another man with a laptop named Chikazoku questions that. He points out that Hawks is the one getting them the good stuff on the pro heroes, thanks to the transmitters hidden in his feathers. They’re going to use this information to expose the heroes and thus that Hawks is more important. He tells Hawks he’d been watching him the whole time, and tries to use the fact that Hawks dithered on what coffee to buy to freak him out, but Hawks is nonplussed.

 

It's weird seeing him happy.

We return to Izuku who is welcomed to the Endeavor Agency by Endeavor with Shoto and Bakugo. Well… sort of greeted. Endeavor says hello but then immediately informs both of his non-children that he wishes they hadn’t come along and that he only agreed to train them as a favor to Shoto. Shoto tells his dad to stop complaining and Bakugo tells he thinks he’s a jerk. Classic Bakugo. Izuku thinks to himself that he thinks Endeavor is kind off a scary guy but that something has changed about him since the Sports Festival.

 

Izuku has a flashback to when he and Bakugo told All Might that they’d gotten in as Work Study students for Endeavor. Izuku wonders how they’ll coordinate his OFA training, but All Might isn’t too worried about that as Izuku seems to have it under control now and that he should be able to stop another flair up if it happens again. All Might points out to Bakugo that he feels that Endeavor is a lot like him and that he should watch Endeavor and learn as best they can from him.

Suit UP!

 

Izuku tells Endeavor that he’s excited to learn from him and that they’ll all do her best. Endeavor remembers meeting Izuku and how he said that Shoto wasn’t him. Endeavor, still being a bit of a dick, tells the boys he only is interest in training Shoto and that they should stay back and out of his way. He leaps into the street and kicks on his powers, expecting to leave the three in the dust. But all three pull out their gear and are keeping pace with him. They run to intercept a villain, crazed fortune teller called Starservant who is using his power to manipulate glass to make crystal balls to float on. He babbles something about getting messages from the universe and that the end is nigh. Hawks, watching from a distance, says that this would definitely ruin his day.

 

Shoto points out to the other two that Endeavor told them to stay back, but Izuku points out that they won’t learn anything without watching him. Izuku noted that Endeavor started charging before they heard the explosions, which is impressive as hell. Starservant create a giant glass ball from the glass around the city and prepares to drop it to stop the “servant of Pluto” he’s foreseen. Endeavor hits it with a Flash Fire Fist before it can drop, melting the glass. He tries to escape, but Endeavor is in hot pursuit after ordering another hero to take care of evacuation. He chases Starservant through an alley, Starservant ordering some minions to try to stop him, but they’re almost stopped by Izuku and co’s intervention but are for real stopped by Hawks who was just a bit faster. Hawks says that he was worried that Endeavor might need help, much to Endeavor’s annoyance.

Info dumped.

Starservant is taken away by police, him shouting about how Endeavor is the monster he saw and that his flames blind them to his wickedness. Izuku introduces himself to Hawks, Hawks remembers Izuku from the Sports Festival finger breaking incident and from what Tokoyami told him. Izuku asks where Tokoyami is, but Hawks says that he’s getting training from Hawk’s sidekicks at the moment. He doesn’t have time to train right now, what with the double agenting. No, he doesn’t say that, it’s the implication. Endeavor asks what Hawks wants, and Hawks asks if he read a book called Meta Liberation War. It’s a manifesto, of sorts, written by a man going by Destro. He preached a society of personal responsibility, or something, and claims that if this is true then they’ll have too much time on their hands. Hawks, thinking to himself, reveals that he knows he’s being watched and prays that Endeavor picks up on what he’s trying to say without saying. Endeavor, having a flashback, remembers Hawks saying quite jovially that he wants to make a world where heroes have too much time on their hands, so this more… grim speech is giving him weird vibes. Endeavor takes the book. Izuku, being an idiot, wonders if maybe he should read the book to better get a better understanding of Hawks speed. Hawks hands out copies to them all. He tells them that he’s handing out books to all the heroes he knows, and that they should really pay attention to the highlighted parts at least. Endeavor opens the book and is contemplative.

 

We jump over to Endeavor’s agency and the boys are introduced to the “Flaming Sidekickers” All Might’s primary sidekicks. The leader of this little group is Burnin, a woman with flaming green hair. She’s super intense and tells the boys they need to work hard to shine here. They tell Shoto that he’s not going to get special treatment because he’s Endeavor’s kid. They get the basics of how busy the agency is, they have 30 sidekicks and something like 100 requests a day. Endeavor, in his office, is still mulling over the incongruity of Hawks’ words today. The lack of smile or jokes freaked him out. He remembers being told about the highlighted lines and is looking them over. He quickly reads through a page covered in Japanese characters, but they thankfully translate the important bit when he has his lightbulb moment. The second word in each highlighted section, it reads “the enemy is The Liberation army.”

 

Hawks flies back into the mountains. He thinks the commission probably figured out his code but he’s not so sure about Endeavor. He thinks that because heroes are joining the Meta Liberation front, they’ll want to keep this close to the vest. He’s disgusted that he had to make serious eyes at Endeavor. Endeavor, meanwhile, decodes the message. The army is the enemy, they’re 100,000 strong and they’ll attack in four months. No pressure!

 

This was a solid start to the next arc. We got a quick snapshot of what the boys will be up to as the students of Enji Todoroki aka Endeavor. As the current highest ranked hero in Japan, Endeavor has a lot of work on his plate. He’s fast, powerful, and, according to Izuku, seems to have a sixth sense for trouble. The espionage angle with Hawks is interesting. It’s not the first time I’ve seen a story of a person trying to ingratiate themselves with villains as a double agent. Hawks seems to be willing to do some dirty things in order to get Dabi’s trusts. But then, we don’t see him attack Best Jeanist, so the implication is all we’ve got right now. His code is rather obvious, but this is a show for teenagers and Endeavor is a bit hard headed so I guess Hawks couldn’t get too elaborate. Destro, as we’ve been introduced to, sounds like a ‘revolutionary’ in the same vein of ol’ Hitler and his Mein Kompf. Clearly evil and using his writing to spread a message that will poison generations of people. I suppose he might be like Ayn Rand too. Yeah, I said it. We’ll get more of Destro as the arc goes on. So, we’ve got an antagonist (Meta Liberation Army), a deadline (Four Months) to stop an event (a massive battle). We’ll see if Endeavor can stop it and if Izuku and co will be up to snuff to help. More on that later. Have a good night. 

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