The best way to change the world is to support each other.
Last time on My Hero Academia,
everyone started adjusting to the new normal. Izuku and friends were taken to
the hospital and given the emergency medical care they desperately needed.
Bakugo’s right arm was pretty messed up, to the point where the doctor
suggested he might want to consider amputation and a weaponized prosthetic, but
he refused, wanting to do the physical therapy. He also learned that Izuku only
has embers left of OFA after beating AFO, which was a gut punch to Bakugo. He
really thought he and Izuku would be competing forever. Izuku and co were
finally able to officially move up to the second year, they’ve still got Aizawa
as their homeroom teacher because. They learn that part of their school
activities this year is to help with the reconstruction of Japan and do PR for
heroes. Aoyama announced that he’s withdrawing from school, but he intends to
still become a hero, he just wants to start over and do it the right way. His
spot is getting taken by Shinso, who everyone is excited to include. Uraraka
looks like she’s holding some things back, but Izuku isn’t able to talk to her
one on one to find out what. Shoto and his family visit Toya. The villain,
formerly known as Dabi is basically a burnt corpse that the doctors are trying
to keep as comfortable as they can before he dies. Enji, the man formerly known
as the hero Endeavor, tells his oldest that he’s retiring from Hero work and
that he intends to spend whatever time they have left being with him. He knows
it won’t make up for much of anything, but he does at least want to be there
for Toya in whatever capacity he can. Toya gets agitated and they try to sedate
him, but Shoto asks him one last question, “what food do you like?” Dabi says
Soba, and Shoto says that’s his too. Dabi starts tearing up as he gets put to
sleep and apologizes to his baby brother for the fighting. Outside, Natsuo
informs his family he’s going no contact with his parents, at least, and that
he’s going to get married soon. Enji respects his decision and swears that
he’ll spend the rest of his life trying to make up for some of the harm he
caused. Natsuo tells him that that’s a hell of a thing to try to do. Enji says
that that’s the dance he agreed to. The Todoroki children leave, but Shoto
tells his parents that he has his friends and thus will be okay going forward.
When alone Rei agrees that they’re in hell, when she realizes that they’ll be
dealing with Enji’s former sidekicks as they ‘help’ their boss, and the new
Public Safety Commission President, Hawks, calls in to check on him. Enough
recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?
We open on a very sweet scene, of
La Brava and Gentle Criminal reuniting. The former wanna be Villain TikToker
has been paroled due in no small part to his help during the battle and his
fiancée’s help on the technical side. Like, they don’t say they’re engaged, but
come on, he’s buying a ring for her with the first paycheck he gets. We then cut
to Hawks… or I suppose he’s just Keigo Takami now, Takami having a meeting with
Lady Nagant. She was paroled as well, but she’s electing to finish her
sentence. She’s… apprehensive of someone finding a way to use her like the
previous PSC, so she’s fine having her room and board covered by the taxpayer
until Izuku Midoriya can prove he’s changed the world. So, no pressure on the
16-year-old.
We then cut to a TV documentary
focused on ‘who is Tomura Shigaraki?” Tomura is obviously pretty universally
despised after what happened, the man did try to overthrow the government and
possibly destroy the entire island nation, but these folks obviously don’t have
the full context. Was Tomura a monster? Yes. But he was the monster a madman
and society made. Interestingly, one of the people interviewed is clearly the
old lady that once met a crying Tenko Shimura and didn’t do much to help him.
How interesting… A new reporter tells us that cuts in to mention that repairs
across Japan are going well, but the widespread destruction across the country
is just absurd. The reporter promises to inform everyone on who Tomura
Shigaraki was in the second half of their special. As he speaks, Izuku is
brought in to speak with Spinner.
The doctor on staff, the one with a
mushroom cap on his head, says that Spinner was beginning to turn into a Nomu
because of the extra Quirks he was given, but they’d found a way to reverse the
damage as he wasn’t too far gone at that point. Spinner calls Izuku a murderer
and says he’s got a lot of nerve showing up here. Izuku says he deserves that,
but they need to talk about Shigaraki’s death. He gives Spinner Tomura’s last
words, and that they were specifically for him. Not for Toga, Dabi and
Compress, just him. Hearing that causes Spinner to snap, saying that Tomura was
his hero and the man he looked up to. Tomura showed him that he was
worth something and gave him hope that one day he’d be able to do something
great. He hated being a heteromorph, but Tomura gave him a reason to live. He
starts hulking out as he talks, he screams as Izuku that Tomura was everything
to him as he grabs the boy in his claws. The doctor threatens to call security,
but Izuku tells him to hold off. We cut back and forth between the news report
and Spinners words here. The folks on the report all describe Shigaraki as a
monster, some are more empathetic than others, but they all are wary of
accidentally sugarcoating the situation and inspiring copycats. The classic,
“ya, he had a traumatic childhood but is that REALLY an excuse?” type stuff.
Spinner yells at Izuku that he and Tomura were both gamers, and they liked a
lot of the same games, and he goes so far as to call Tomura his best friend,
the first he’d ever made in his life. Izuku tells Spinner that Tomura said he
had to be the league’s hero, to be their example, and that makes Izuku think
that Tomura felt the same way about Spinner. The League was important to him,
they were his friends.
Spinner starts to shrink down and
admit that he got caught up in their movement. He thinks back to just before
the fighting, when he saw Tomura in pain as he was processing the mutations
that were given to him, and asks if he’d been braver, if he’d taken one more
step, could he have saved Tomura. The report concludes with one of the interviewees
saying that they always need to be on the lookout for the next All For One and
Tomura Shigaraki. Izuku gets up to leave, and Spinner asks if he and the heroes
will keep fighting. Spinner thinks that Izuku and the heroes will go off, be
all smiles, and try to forget about him and the league. He tells Izuku that
he’s not going to let that happen, he’s going to write a book about the Symbol
of Fear, Tomura Shigaraki and how he tried and almost succeeded in tearing
everything down. Izuku says that he hopes it’s a comic book. Spinner is angry
at that comment, until Izuku says that he’s worried over nothing, they won’t
forget. They had a mild stare off, and then Spinner tells Izuku to tell Shoji
to keep up the good fight. Once alone, he admits that having illustrations in
his book might be a good idea, pictures are super important.
Outside, Izuku meets with All Might
and Tsukauchi. Tsukauchi tells Izuku that he fulfilled the request he made. The
request? He arranged to have Overhaul get a visitor, his ‘Pops’ the former head
of their Shie Hassaikai and Eri’s grandfather. They’d been able to reverse the
coma that Overhaul put him in with a support item. Pops chastises Overhaul for
all the damage he did and for destroying their organization. Overhaul begs for
forgiveness, but Pops sternly tells him Eri is the one he should be begging for
forgiveness from. He hopes his granddaughter will be able to forget about what
Overhaul did to her, but he swears that he’ll see to it that Overhaul never
will. Izuku thanks Tsukauchi for that and asks if they can make sure nothing
like this happens again. Tsukauchi says no, they can only prepare. All Might
jokes that Hawks could recruit an army of heroes but tells Izuku that he was
joking when the young man gets excited. He tells Izuku they need to hurry back
to UA to meet the new students. Izuku says that he’s not sure why, as upper and
lower classmen rarely interact.
He’s proven that isn’t so true this
year, as Bakugo and Shoto are being chased down the halls by exuberate
freshmen. The new students gush about how cool they think Bakugo and Shoto are.
Iida tells them all that their support is appreciated but to tone it down a few
notches. Shoto and Bakugo, who were hiding behind him, agree. Shoto says that
he’ll speak to people one on one if they like, and Bakugo tells Iida to give
‘em hell for running in the halls. Inside the classroom, Shinso says that he’d
though Bakugo would like groupies, but Sero says that even Bakugo can handle
only so much attention. Izuku tells him that this is also a bit new for Bakugo
as girls have actively avoided him for… some reason. Bakugo tells everyone to
screw off, and we see Mineta and Kaminari are extremely jealous that Bakugo is
now so beloved. One of the students forces his way in just to say that he
respects Izuku and he wishes he can be brave and help others like him. Izuku
thinks about Spinners face and feels a weird intensity in his chest. Uraraka is
apparently watching him very carefully during that exchange and seems to be
feeling something similar.
We shift to the staff room where
Aizawa, Present Mic, and Ectoplasm are working. Present Mic says that he’d
gotten another interview request for class 2A. Aizawa says to just delete it.
Ectoplasm points out that some of the students, like Mineta, might like the
attention, but Aizawa says that some might NOT like it, so they’re erring on
the side of caution.
Later, the students are sent out to
help with clean up alongside Fat Gum, Best Jeanist and their sidekicks. The
students start the clean-up, Shoto freezes a bunch of rubble into a glacier
that Izuku shoves away. Bakugo has a moment with Jeanist and Edgeshot. Jeanist
points out that he’s still looking warn out and maybe he should rest, but
Bakugo ignores the comment. He notes that Edgeshot is still pocket sized. The
ninja themed hero tells him not to worry as he is recovering, he’s grown back
his hands after all. Bakugo asks if he’ll ever be back to normal, and Edgeshot
says he’ll never settle for anything less. The students clean for a while, and
some of the locals make them a big lunch. The spokesman for the group says that
this is their way of thanking them for their hard work, as it didn’t feel right
to just sit back and let others do all the work. Kaminari says that they need
to finish the clean up so they can feel like they earned the food, but the lead
man says that they’d need a few more workers for that. A bus pulls up and
Cementoss gets out, saying his students insisted on coming out here to say
they’re sorry for being nuances to class 2A. They do a group bow and then
insist that they can help with cleanup. Cementoss tells them to find something
small on the sidelines and not to get in the way. The headman says that he’s
not sure of the whole story, but it seems like 2A’s work ethic is contagious.
Izuku stands with Tsu and Uraraka, Tsu noticing Uraraka is zoning out and asks
what’s up. She nods and say that the world is starting to look up before
rushing over to get food. Seeing Uraraka eat food causes Izuku to feel that
beat again.
… Like, kid, you know you have
feelings for her, right? This isn’t news for you? I knew that that’s how this
would go down in Uraraka’s debut episode for goodness’ sake!
Later, Ashido tells Tsu that
Uraraka is headed home for a bit when the froggy girl asks. Tsu says the weird
thing is that Uraraka is leaving her unread. Which is weird for Uraraka.
We flashback to the end of
Uraraka’s battle with Himeko, as the Twice clones turn to ash and float away.
We learn that there isn’t any footage of this part of the battle as the camera
gal working with the reporter didn’t bring a fresh battery for the camera.
Uraraka says that only memories remain. We find her standing back at Troy,
looking over the city. She notices that the lights are coming back online and
things are starting to get back to normal. She thinks about how things had just
been getting progressively worse since the original USJ attack by Tomura and OG
League. Now, they’re making repairs, people are getting back to their lives and
are starting to smile again. Things are looking up, like she said before. And
then her eyes start welling up with tears and she admits that she’s holding
feeling in because she doesn’t want to spoil that happy feeling for everyone. She’s
repressing her pain, as she feels like garbage that she’s alive because Himeko
gave her all of her blood. I know I’m a 35-year-old man taking to a fictional
16-year-old… but to any actual young people who might be reading my work: Do.
Not. Do. This! Repressing things messes you up! Anyway, she’s crying and
holding her stomach like she’s about to throw up with Izuku leaps over to her.
She tries to hide her face and act
like nothing is wrong and asks how he knew where she was. He remembered that
they’d had an important conversation here before and had a hunch she’d be
there. She politely asks him to leave her alone for a bit, but Izuku bulldozes
past that and says that she doesn’t have to pretend to be okay. He tells her
that she’s always hiding how she feels and focusing on what others feel. He
realized that she’s always prioritizing others over herself. Hell, that was
literally their first interaction. She’s always been supporting him and everyone
else, giving them strength and support. He calls her his hero and refuses to
take the strength she’s giving out for granted. He takes her hand and says that
that sometimes eases the pain. She lets him se her face and her tears and
admits that all she can think about how Himeko is dead because of her. She sobs
at having failed Himeko and how she could have done something different to save
her. He asks himself who is there to support heroes when they need someone to
ease their minds. Izuku admits he’s been doing the same thing with his thoughts
about Tenko. He knew that he couldn’t face the battle against Shigaraki like
the others he has. He says that heroes might ‘meddle’ with other people, but
when they reach out, they can help.
Their conversation is interrupted
by the rest of their friend’s arrival. Everyone knew something was up with
Uraraka and they came to the same conclusion as Izuku, that she needed support
for once. Tsu specifically calls her a dummy for shutting her out like that,
and that Uraraka should know she can tell Tsu anything. Izuku feels his ember
grow a little smaller, but he’s happy. Bakugo asks about it and accidentally
tips the class off to Izuku’s powers running out. He offers to tell them
everything.
We jump forward and see that class
2B, formerly 1B, had busts-built commemorating them, and Monoma is, shockingly,
being a dick about it. We then head into the dorm to see the students throwing
a farewell party for Aoyama. Izuku narrates that he has completed OFA’s mission
as Eri and Jiro set up to sing for the class. Izuku muses that he hopes that
they can keep helping each other. He trails off, but the implication is that
helping others is how you actually change the world.
In a post credit scene, damn it,
this better be the last one, we see a crying child stumble out of a destroyed
house. His hands are glowing with a dark light of some kind, and he asks why is
it just him.
Once again, I like we’re taking
this slowly to tie off loose ends. It lets me savor the ending. I liked Izuku’s
meeting with Spinner. At this point in the story, I think everyone who has been
paying attention knows that Spinner is just a lonely guy that got wrapped up in
something huge. Despite designing his costume after Stain’s and talking a big
game when he first appeared, he’s just a former shut-in that wanted to rebel a
little and ended up becoming a supervillain and a figurehead of a social movement.
Who hasn’t dealt with something like that? I like that he’s sticking to his
personal ideals, that from his perspective, Izuku is the villain and he killed
Spinner’s friend. I think he’s being a little dramatic when he says
Tomura was his only friend, but I do buy that he saw Tomura as both a role
model and best friend. It’s a real shame that they met like they did, as if the
two of them had just been able to meet up in League of Legends game or
something, they probably could have been friends without the villainy. I really
like his resolve to write a book in order to not let Tomura Shigaraki and his
other friends be forgotten or turned into one-dimensional monsters. And it
being a comic book or at least having a fair number of illustrations is a good
idea. AFO nearly destroyed the world because of a comic for goodness’ sake. I
doubt history will ever look kindly on Tomura or the League, its good to have a
multitude of perspectives out there. It was also nice to finally address
Uraraka’s pent up guilt. In universe its been at least a few weeks since the
battle, and it’s clear she’s been bottling up her emotions the entire time.
I’ve never had to bottle up survivors’ guilt, but I am a bit experienced in
repressing and it’s not good for you, man. Uraraka has been supporting her
class a lot from the start, so I like it that everyone realized that she was
the one having trouble for once and they rushed to help her. It’s the ones who
lift other people up that often have the worst time asking for help. Izuku
calling her his hero as she exemplifies everything he wants to be going
forward, someone that is kind, and helpful, and wants to heal the world, was
really nice. He recognizes her contributions. So… ya, we got one more main
episode and then a flash forward epilogue-epilogue left. See you there. Have a good
night and stay safe.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/u2761062/posts/viewer-log-my-ep-165128181
Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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