Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 125

 The return of a king.

Changed my mind, we’re doing one more My Hero Academia episode and start next month with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Why? Because it’s been a while since I saw it and it’ll be on Disney Plus next month. Sorry, ya know how I like to get as much detail in these things as possible.

 

Last time on My Hero Academia, Tomura Shigaraki still refused to go down. He is on his last legs, though, his body more or less running on autopilot to protect himself. Gigantomachia finally arrived on the battlefield, grabbing Tomura, and asking his master for new orders. Dabi takes center stage, though and does his big reveal, that he has this whole time been Toya Todoroki, Shoto’s supposedly long dead oldest brother. Dabi edited together a video of himself airing out his family’s dirty laundry and revealing his father to be an abusive parent and spouse. We get a few flashbacks suggesting that Toya is exaggerating slightly, as there was a point where Toya was truly loved, and Endeavor wasn’t the worst dad. Dabi attempts to kill Shoto and Endeavor with a Flash Fire Fist: Prominence Burn but is stopped by the arrival of Best Jeanist and several high-tension cables. He tied up all the villains in one go and announced that he was back. Enough recap. Let’s get to it!

 

Yeah, this dude is unwell.

We open a few minutes back with Jeanist watching Dabi’s big reveal. He’s impressed with Dabi’s strategy and patience. He launches his cables and then leaps after them, saying that despite his time he hasn’t won yet. He captures Dabi and the rest of the League of Villains members int the cables, announcing that together they will spin the threads of hope. Dabi is shocked at seeing Jeanist alive, as the corpse he saw was real, Jeanist just saying that his greed blinded him. Shoto rushes Dabi, and the two brothers start battling. Spinner and Compress try to figure out what to do, Spinner realizing that Gigantomachia essentially powered down after reaching Shigaraki and that he’s now in standby mode waiting for new orders. Spinner tries to wake Tomura but he’s not listening, he bites his head to try to wake him. Nejire Hado prepares to blast them, but Dabi gets a sucker punch in, badly burning her and mocking his father for not stopping him. Shoto shouts at Dabi to just stop but he’s not listening. Jeanist gets him in more cables, but manipulating so many fibers is straining his body. He’s coughing up a lot of blood. Tomura, between nightmares about his family, regains consciousness enough to tell Gigantomachia to destroy it all and the beast starts rampaging.

 

Back with the other heroes, the Nomu stop fighting them and start flying or running towards the big brawl. Burning tries to follow, noting that the Nomu started working with more coordination earlier and is now worried something big is happening. A snake Nomu charges and almost eats her… but a bullet of a man in a red cape fly in and knocks it aside. Oh, whoever could it be…

 

Dangerously close to those giant jaws.

Gigantomachia continues to strain against his bonds, his immense strength straining Best Jeanist’s control to the limit. Shoto, meanwhile, is attacking Dabi and demanding to know why he’s doing all of this. He points out that that End psycho nearly killed Natsuo, which is so screwed up when you remember Natsuo was his emotional support according to everyone. Dabi just smiles and says he’d actually hoped for that, as a death of another child would hurt Endeavor that much more. Shoto says that he’s gone insane and Dabi agrees, saying that he can’t feel anything any more and turning up the heat. Spinner tries to get Tomura up to help but he’s still out. Mr. Compress sees and points out the Nomu are on the way. Izuku and Bakugo try to get the energy to fight as Iida takes Nejire away to get medical help, but their bodies are wrecked. As Gigantomachia is about to break free, as a Nomu is about to strike Best Jeanist and things will hit the fan… who should come shooting up from the ground screaming “POWER!” than Mirio Togata aka Lemillion. Proving that his six months of powerlessness hasn’t made him rusty, the phase-shifter leaps around the area, beating Nomu back with a giant grin on his Tin-Tin like face. He tells Izuku when asked that he’d been helping the Nighteye agency and they’d gotten a tip about what was happening from the villa raid. He then used his restored quirk to high-speed move to say the day. Remember, his favorite strategy is to dive into the ground than fly back up like a bullet due to the material he phases through not liking him being there. He muses that it’s been six months since he’s been in the field and that makes him tear up a little.

 

We flashback to just before the raid. He had a meeting with Aizawa, Eri, Izuku, Uraraka, Tsu, Nejire and Amajiki. He’d heard from Bubble Girl about the raid and wants to help. He’s been watching Eri train over the last two months and saw how her ability to use Rewind has increased. He begs Eri to try to use it on him so he can help. Eri gets a nod from Aizawa, her sort-of-dad at this point, and uses it on him, saying he shouldn’t be sorry because that’s why she’s been training.

 

Flying Fiery Fist of Fury!

In the present, Togeta is surrounded by Nomu, saying that he won’t go down easy but still calls out for Help. Bakugo flies in, using his explosion to blast back Nomu, and then Iida and Nejire rush back in to help as well. As Bakugo drops, he remembers Best Jeanist telling him to choose a hero name that truly reflects him. Bakugo reveals his hero name to Best Jeanist, “Great Explosion Murder God, Dynamite!” Everyone, the villains included, hate it… except Togata, who thinks it’s funny. The Todoroki’s are still battling. Dabi’s heat is burning both. He’s taking sadistic pleasure in torturing his father like this. He calls himself Endeavor’s greatest failure and wonders what he’ll look like when he sees Dabi destroy his masterpiece. I should note that some of the metal piercings keeping his skin together have broken off, so when I say his smile is disturbing, I mean it. Izuku flies in before he can finish Shoto, though, revealing to be using his tongue as a focus for Blackwhip. He modeled it after Tsu’s tongue attacks. Dabi blasts him back, saying this isn’t his business, but Izuku disagrees. Shoto is his friend and Endeavor is his mentor. He says that Dabi is obsessed with Endeavor and his fire, but points out (like to Shoto before him) that it’s his Quirk, not Endeavors. Unlike Shoto, the elder Todoroki isn’t impressed and goes on about how the broken hero system made him. Gigantomachia breaks free, Izuku reacting to it a moment before it happens. Dabi screams that the world they’re heading to is build on chaos. As Gigantomachia breaks free, Endeavor snaps out of his trauma trance and punches him down. Gigantomachia smiles… but then drops.

 

Remember the tranquilizer he ate an in-universe hour or two ago? It’s finally hitting. Best Jeanist points out that defeating Gigantomachia only happened because of the work everyone put in, the Work Study Kids, Mt. Lady, Kamui Woods, Midnight and the rest, chipping away at him and the League until they dropped. He says that while one thread might be weak, together they form a mighty rope. Together, they wove a tapestry of faith. He binds Gigantomachia. Shoto and Dabi are still duking it out, Shoto begging his brother to just stop. They have the advantage of endurance at this point, showing this off by rapidly cooling himself off by freezing his right size. Dabi still wants to fight. The kids refuse to back down, and after Gigantomachia is now down for the count, Best Jeanist devotes more of his strength to binding the other League members. Mr. Compress has a bit of an existential crisis at the thought that they will be captured. He’s not giving up, though, saying that it’s time for these philistines to see the greatest show on earth.

 

While not the focus of this episode, the lines we get here from Dabi do flesh out his mindset at this point. He’s gleeful at his father being paralyzed with shock. He is actively trying to murder Shoto. He talks about the potential death of his little brother whom is still actively mourning him as if he’s disappointed he’s not dead. He’s full-on psychotic here and it’s incredible to see. It’s weird seeing Dabi now being so expressive after dozens of appearances where he seems barely interested in anything. Think about it, while he executed orders and clearly took over as Tomura’s right hand after Kurogiri’s capture, he always seemed bored with whatever he was doing. Except when it upset a Todoroki. Then he’d smile, or laugh. The idea that this gleefully sadistic side to him was just barely undercover is scary. Like, he repressed so much of himself, just for this grand reveal and a chance to break his father. Insane. I liked Best Jeanist’s return, both for his fiber and clothing-based puns and for his hopeful insight. Dude is full of hope despite having been “dead” for several months and despite the seemingly impossible odds against them, which is refreshing. I honestly like Bakugo’s name choice… but just the last part, “Dynamite.” It has a nice ring to it, is true to his personality, and is a clear reference to All Might. It’s alternatively spelled DynaMight, but I can’t misspell like that, sorry. Oh, and Lemillion is back! I knew that Togata would be getting his power back, as I’d seen panels from the manga when he reappeared and was anxiously waiting for his return. I love that he seems to so effortlessly be back in the saddle after his time away and that he is still a damn wrecking ball once he gets his momentum going.  The heroes might have this all wrapped up, if it wasn’t for Mr. Compress’s comments. One should never discount a stage magician’s boast at being able to escape a situation is all I’m saying, but we’ll talk more about that the next time My Hero Academia comes up… which will probably be right after Ant-Man 3, as I can’t think of another show I want to do right now. See you then. 

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