Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 138

One night to relax before it hits the fan. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 137

 Uraraka is getting an A on her speech course this year, I can feel it. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 136

Chase the green kid! 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 135

 Izuku is hitting walls but also hitting THE wall. 

Last time on My Hero Academia, Dark Deku faced off against a flying sniper. AFO, as part of his plan to capture Izuku to steal OFA from him, sent Lady Nagant to try to capture him. Nagant is an ex-hero that specialized in wet work missions, meaning she was the PSC assassin. She used her rifle arm to execute villains and potentially disgraceful heroes in order to cover over the cracks of the hero system. Such work put a tremendous strain on her mental health until she finally snapped and executed the PSC Chairman. She was arrested, charged with killing heroes instead of her boss and locked away in Tartarus to rot. AFO gave her the additional quirk Air Walk and sent her to face off against Izuku. Our hero was pushed to his limits, but with his new quirks, specifically the kinetic energy amplifying Fa Jinn from the 3^rd wielder of OFA, he put her through her paces. Getting desperate, Nagant tried to use Izuku’s fundamental kind nature against him and shot at Kai Chisaki, aka Overhaul, who she’d brought along to identify Izuku. Izuku outpaced her bullet, saving Overhaul, and then rocketed over and broke Nagant’s rifle. He reached out to the former hero, pointing out that she’d been taking only nonlethal shots for the whole fight and thus can’t have fallen as deeply into nihilism as she claims. She’s moved by Izuku’s words and him grabbing her so she doesn’t fall to her death. She tries to tell him about Shigaraki, but the villain implanted a third quirk, one that caused Nagant to explode when she tried to betray his secrets. She fell but was caught by Hawks, who rushed in to help. They get Nagant to talk, who reveals that there was a plan to bring Izuku to a mansion in the woods in two months after he was captured. And that she’s not the only one hunting him. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open with a badly burnt Lady Nagant repeating her message from the last episode, that in two months, she and the other hunters sent out to find and capture Izuku Midoriya are to gather at a hidden mansion in a nearby forest, Haibori Woods, to hand him over to All For One. Izuku is obviously livid at hearing this information.

 

We cut to the mansion; it’s the former hideout of that anti-animal Quirk group the Creature Rejection Clan (stupid name) that the League of Villains thrashed before they joined up with the Meta Liberation guys. Izuku is joined by his hero mentors, as well as Kamui Woods, Mt. Lady, and Edgeshot. Dark Deku starts walking toward the mansion, and Endeavor tells him to not jump the gun. They enter the mansion, only to find it empty. A few seconds after entering, a prerecorded message from AFO plays via a hologram generator. He gloats about being one step ahead of Izuku, how he anticipated that Izuku might be able to break through to Lady Nagant, and has evaded him again. He gives some very basic philosophy schpeel about how ‘oh society is inherently evil, villains are just people that had a bad day, etc.” I’m not exactly rejecting the idea that a lot of crime is just people trying to survive in an imperfect system, but when a dude who’s greatest ambition is to be a ‘demon lord’ talks like this, ya know he’s talking out of his ass mostly. AFO admits that after all these years, he’s grown bored of dealing with All Might and has thus decided to shift his full attention to Izuku. He closes out his message with a mocking, “it’s your turn,” turning All Might’s last words as a hero encouraging Izuku to take up his mantel into a threat. And then a bomb goes off.

 

We jump to a warehouse district where the heroes regroup. They somehow escaped the explosion, but, as Edgeshot depressingly points out, any trace of the League burnt up in the explosion. Edgeshot asks if they could get more info from Nagant, but Hawks says she’s still out cold and the doctors are kind of amazed she’s still alive. Considering how badly she was burnt in that explosion; I’m inclined to agree. Kamui Woods compliments the woman’s tenacity, especially after all the hardship she’s suffered. Edgeshot asks if it’s time that they expand their circle out some more, get a few more heroes in on the danger of All For One and the danger to Izuku Midoriya and the world if he’s captured. Mt. Lady says that, as unfortunate as it is, they need to lean on Izuku to get to the League, so they need more support to support him. Endeavor answers her comment by pointing out that her teammate and friend Death Arms quit hero work a few days ago. We flashback to Death Arms taking off his gear, complaining that despite everything he’s done to protect people, all he’s received lately is ridicule and harassment. He says that he thought he could take it, but one insult has more power than ten compliments. He says that he thought he was a hero, but in the end he’s just a person and walks away. Endeavor reminds them that Death Arms was a key component of their Raid on the PLA, and he lead the charge on grabbing heroes working for that group. He and Jeanist agree that it’s too dangerous to bring anyone else in if someone like Death Arms quit. Furthermore, the news outlets seem to be getting close and closer to Deku, making them think former heroes are leaking info to them. They’re worried that if news of AFO gets out, it’ll just cause more chaos. Mt. Lady asks why AFO just doesn’t do that, and Endeavor thinks its because if he did, that make him a credible threat. They’d hide Deku behind all the heroes they’ve got, thus making it difficult even for AFO to get at him. He’s clearly frustrated that their only plan right now is to just wait for someone else to try to grab Midoriya. He’s interrupted by a text from Shoto telling him to call him immediately. He remembers Shoto saying that they’ll work together to stop Toya, and Endeavor asks him for just a little more time to solve this current problem first. Hawks then gets a call from All Might, telling him that Izuku is facing off against another hired gun. But he finished it already.

 

We jump to Izuku having captured the thug in Black Whip as All Might looks on in shock. Izuku says that the guy didn’t have any useful information, but to be wary just in case he also was given an explosive quirk as a failsafe. He tries to run, but All Might stops him, offering his student another lunch box since he knows Izuku hasn’t eaten in a while. Izuku refuses it, saying that he’s going to go along alone. He repeats to himself the obvious lie that he’s fine. He’s better on his own. All Might tries to stop him, but Izuku angrily lashes out at him, saying that he’s as powerful now as All Might was at his pique and without any backlash like he used to suffer. Izuku remembers the prediction from Nighteye that if All Might continued on the path he was on, he’d die a gruesome death. All Might reaches out to his student and tries to stop him, but Izuku leaps away. All Might mentally begs his student to get that All Might knows where he’s coming from, and begs Izuku to understand that it’s okay to take a break, to rely on others. He trips, though, missing Izuku’s hand and dropping the lunch. He says he’s sorry for putting this burden on Izuku, all while a man with a long tongue watches him… Ohhh, no.

 

Izuku continues his mission solo. We hear voiceover on how the populace are reacting. Some are cheered by this hero working tirelessly to protect others, others are scared that he’s showing off multiple powers like a Nomu and Shigaraki, and a few point out that he doesn’t look very heroic in his Dark Deku gear and covered in dirt. Izuku flashes back to Endeavor saying they’re shifting strategies. They’re waiting on news of foreign heroes coming to help augment their forces. He advices Izuku take some time to rest while they wait, but Izuku refuses. He refuses to allow the League of Villains more time to prepare. His predecessors Vestiges also tell him to rest. My dude, if ghosts are telling you to slow down, LISTEN TO THEM!

 

In the mental plane, the previous users have a meeting. Nana thinks it’s her lingering feelings for her grandson that is putting additional burdens on Izuku, but Banjo says that that’s just one piece of the problem. Hikage says that the situation isn’t ideal, but their Quirks give Izuku a chance to do what OFA was made for and they might have to just let him do it. Kudo approves of Izuku’s work ethic, he acknowledges that Izuku can’t sit by and wait for aide, but he does know that Izuku needs something more than anything right now.

 

We see Izuku saving some civilians from criminals. While they’re thankful for his help, his multiple Quirks freak them out and they run the second they see an opening. Dark Deku leaps away, cursing AFO for hiding from him. He swears he won’t let anyone from the League hurt anyone else. He remembers all the people that he loves, like his mom, All Might, his classmates, Eri, Mr. Aizawa and Gran Torino, and swears that he will fix things so they can all go back to smiling. He trips and falls, exhausted, but he doesn’t get time to breathe as a villain appears. The villain, Dictator, has the ability to control others like puppets. He has a small horde of civilians that he’s puppeteering attack Izuku with improvised weapons. As the crowd rushes him, Izuku goes over what he knows. He knows that the hero Crust captured Dictator five years ago. From that case, he knows that enough damage to Dictator’s puppets or to the man himself will cause his Quirk, Despot, to short out, but he’s got enough human shields to make hitting him difficult… and Izuku isn’t one for attack civilians under any circumstances. He thinks about using his air shot to stop them, but he doesn’t have his gloves. He settles on using Black Whip… but he’s exhausted and starts passing out as the puppets start tearing at his mask.

 

We suddenly hear a familiar voice say, “Damnit!” and then “ARMOR PIERCING SHOT!” as Bakugo blasts Dictator from above, neatly getting around his human shields and knocking the puppet master out. Kudo in the mindscape repeats that Izuku needs one more thing more than ever as the word Friends appears by Bakugo’s face. Bakugo himself radios to his classmates that he’s found Izuku.

 

We flashback to UA just after Izuku left and gave everyone a goodbye note explaining why he’s leaving. Bakugo, Shoto, and Tokoyami head a meeting with their classmates to let them know that they suspect that their mentors are working with Izuku for this mission he’s put himself on. Bakugo swears he’s going to kill that damn nerd. Iida asks if they’ve contact their mentors to confirm, but all three say that their calls are being dodged. Shoto says that it’s not a huge leap in logic to assume Jeanist, Endeavor and Hawks are avoiding them to hide what’s going on. Jiro adds that All Might has been MIA at campus for a while too, which adds weight to the idea. Bakugo tells us that their classes are suspended, so they can’t move up a grade right now, and they’ve been told to be on standby to help with civilians. He’s sure that Izuku is out there fighting and that the other heroes are helping him. Kaminari says that they only know for sure that the top three heroes are working together, the news reports didn’t mention anyone else, and Bakugo tells him to not be an idiot. Bakugo is sure that this is the sort of stupid plan that Deku and All Might would come up with, distancing themselves from the students to try to protect them. Kirishima says that that means they have to track down Izuku and help him out however they can. Uraraka gets up and asks if Endeavor is a UA alumnus and Shoto confirms that, so she says they will get some answers.

 

We jump to Principal Nezu’s office. Nezu, at 1A’s request, called Endeavor in for a meeting to allow Izuku’s classmates to ambush the number 1 hero. Shoto confronts his father, asking why he has been ignoring them and why has he not brought Deku back. Endeavor doesn’t answer, but that confirms that he’s working with Deku and All Might as well. Bakugo says that using Izuku as bait seemed like a smart move and it might have worked with someone else, but Endeavor doesn’t know Deku. He’s known Izuku Midoriya longer than anyone save Izuku’s own mom, and he knows that Izuku is just going to keep pushing himself until he breaks. He’ll just say ‘I’m fine,’ until he collapses. All Might is the same way, so he won’t be able to stop Izuku either. Endeavor remembers hearing from Hawks that Izuku shook off All Might, thus confirming Bakugo’s assessment. Endeavor holds up his GPS device that’s tracking Deku, and about 1/5^th of the class jump him, knocking it out of his hand. Sero grabs it and apologizes for snatching it, but he needs to borrow it for a bit. Class 1A refuses to let Izuku run off like this. They swear to track him down and standby him as best they can. Endeavor says that its dangerous out there. Nezu says that he understood Endeavor’s concerns, which is why he allowed Izuku to be pulled out like this, but Izuku is part of UA and thus it’s the school’s responsibility to protect him. Uraraka has a flashback to when she was accepted into UA and she and her mom sobbed happy tears. She thinks that he’s right and that this is all of their hero academia. Endeavor asks if Nezu has thought about the refugees that the school is protecting, they could be in danger and they could riot if Izuku is brought in and brings more danger. Nezu says that he’ll make them understand, and that the school has additional defenses that they setup before the Sports Festival, and this will be an excellent time to test them out. He tells Class 1A to bring their friend back.

 

We see class 1A capture Dictator. The civilians run off. Izuku asks what they’re doing here, and Uraraka says they’re worried about him. Izuku says he’s fine and they should all leave now. Bakugo mockingly applauds his speech and asks his frenemy if he’s even able to smile right now. Izuku says that in order to bring smiles back to everyone else he has to go, and he tells them to get out of his way. Bakugo says, “You’re going to have to make us, you busted ass All Might wannabe!” Iida says that they were sure Izuku would say something like that, so they’re prepared. It’s Class 1A vs Dark Deku! Next time.

 

The majority of this episode really is just setting up that Izuku is hitting a physical, mental and emotional wall and he’s refusing to admit it. Which I totally get. I’m infamous among my relations as being the son/brother/nephew/grandson that will just keep saying, “this is fine,” “I’m good,” “I don’t need help,” and so on to the point where it does exasperate my mother. And I can say as a 35-year-old man to this fictional 17-year-old and to any actual younger folks reading my work this: That mindset will break you. I’m not a particular social person, I don’t like crowds, small talk, or interactions with people longer than a few minutes if I can help it, but we humans are social creatures and walling off your problems from the people that care about you just magnify them. Izuku’s case is obviously the most extreme version of that possible, but even if you’re just having a bad mental health week and you’re not reaching out to people that care about you, you’re exacerbating the problem in the long run. We see that class 1A are all worried sick about Izuku, to the point where Bakugo is leading a charge to find him, and him cutting all ties with them just makes it worse. He thinks he’s protecting them, but he’s just adding to their stress, and his own as he tries to keep fighting alone. The bit where he even tries to push All Might away for fear of his mentor getting hurt chokes me up whenever I see it. Izuku is trying to do the noble thing, but its hurting everyone around him, himself most of all. If 1A hadn’t been hunting him, he very likely would have been captured by Dictator simply because he was too exhausted to move. It’s not good bro. And now his friends are going to make him come home, or else. But more on that next time. See you then! 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 134

Izuku vs. Nagant, ready? FIGHT!  

Last time on My Hero Academia, Izuku had his first run in with a villain in his vigilante era. Working with All Might, Hawks, Best Jeanist, and Endeavor, and with the blessing (and scarf) of Gran Torino, Izuku ran off to use himself as bait for the League of Villains. Knowing that neither Shigaraki would let him run free so long as he has One-For-All, Izuku made himself as visible as possible. He did his best to draw attention to himself while still trying to help others in his spiffy, edgy new costume. They’d been working on this plan for a few weeks without any bites. The pro heroes assume All-For-One is resting and waiting for Tomura’s modifications to settle so he can fully possess his student and come at Izuku with his full power. That time wasn’t completely wasted, though, as the Vestiges of his predecessors have helped train him in the new Quirks he’d been manifesting. He finally got a hit when, on a rainy day with his help far away, a purple haired woman started taking shots at him. This is Lady Nagant, a former wet-works hero that served as an assassin for the Public Safety Commission. Her Quirk allows her to manifest a full sniper rifle from one of her arms, and to mold her hair into bullets of any type she needs. She’s an amazing shot, according to another gun-based hero Snipe, and it’s all skill, no power. She was hired by AFO as the elder Shigaraki freed himself from Tartarus, and was paid with an additional Quirk, Air Walking, that does what it says. So Izuku has to dodge bullets while chasing a woman that can effectively fly. That’s not going to be fun for him. Also Overhaul is there, Nagant having dragged him with her for some reason. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open with All Might’s car getting hit with a grenade that causes him to skid out. He realizes that this is a planned hit, trying to keep him from helping Izuku. A pair of thugs attack him, causing his car to crash, but the retired hero rolls out at the last moment. The thugs recognize him, but prepare to fight him anyway as that was what they were paid to do. All Might remembers the promise he made to Inko Midoriya to protect her son and all the growth Izuku has had since he met the boy. He gets the thugs to back down based on sheer force of will as he says that he will protect Izuku however he can. Izuku has been carrying a burden that All might gave him, and he’ll be damned if Izuku will have to carry it alone.

 

Izuku uses his agility to run around the empty skyscrapers to make himself a harder target to hit. He’s confident that he’ll be able to outmanuever Nagant’s shots, and plans to capture her and force her to tell her where Shigaraki and the league are hiding. He’s thrown off when his Danger Sense kicks in and has just enough time to dodge a bullet coming at him from behind. He kicks the bullet away, but is hit by a second bullet from his blind spot. Izuku is flabbergasted by her being able to sneak behind him and hit him without a search type Quirk. As he falls, he sees Nagant running on air and realizes that she’s been given additional quirks. She’s closed the distance to make it easier for herself to predict where he’s going, and to give Izuku less time to react to each shot. She’s basically trying to attack with enough speed that Danger Sense can’t trigger fast enough to warn him of multiple shots. Izuku lands and uses the Sixth’s Quirk, Smokescreen. He creates a cloud of smoke around himself, obscuring him completely and much of the city block around him. En Tayutai (6^th) manifests and scolds Izuku for not using his Quirk properly. He reminds Izuku that it’s dangerous to put out this much smoke, and that it won’t even be much help. Nagant is basically a mobile rifle, she’ll tag and shoot him the second he leaves the smoke cloud. Izuku says that he’s not running and starts… doing squats in place? Bruce Lee manifests and says this plan is stupid, that its beyond Izuku’s current abilities. Izuku remembers Endeavor telling him during his work study that Izuku needs to learn how to do multiple tasks at once. Lee reminds Izuku that parallel processing like that takes practice, and he’s not very experienced with Lee’s Quirk. Izuku says that doesn’t matter, Nagant has info he needs, so he’s going at her with full force. He says he’ll learn how to use this quirk on the fly. He announces that he’s using the 3^rd, Fa Jin as he finishes his squats.

 

Nagant is watching Izuku’s smoke cloud. She sees something dart from the cloud and fires, but it was just Izuku’s scarf. He throws out a few more decoys, which distracts Nagant long enough for him to rocket over her (through a build) and attack her from behind. He explains in a quick flashback that he used Black Whip to send out his decoys, tricking Nagant into firing on them so he could figure out where she was based on her shots. Izuku announces that a sniper is useless at close range, so she should surrender and spill what she knows. She retracts her rifle into her body and then whips it out again at high speed, using it as a club to knock Izuku aside. She tells him that the Safety Commission trained her well. As Izuku falls he asks why she’s helping AFO, as he’s a petty tyrant trying to control the world, and she used to be a hero. Nagant tells him that the world he’s living in, a world of justice, is a fantasy as she falls back to line up another shot. Izuku admits that Lee was right and that using multiple Quirks at once is much more difficult than he’d thought, right before Nagant hits him again. This grazes his hip and destroys one of his pouches.

 

The bullets Nagant fires have speakers built into them and she pontificates about her job for the Public Safety Commission. She says she killed dozens for them, just to keep people in the dark about how the world really works. She fires more shots, making Izuku dance around. She says that her job was to take out problematic elements, Heroes that go rogue, terrorists that target heroes, the sort of people that need to be removed for their hero system to work. She calls herself a ‘cog in the machine’ of hero society, that it has a ‘public’ face and a ‘secret’ face. Three guesses as to which face she was part of. We see her take out several targets and how it started to chip away at her mental health. We’re shown a bunch of kids running up to her wanting to get her autograph, and when she goes to offer her hand to them, she sees it absolutely soaked with blood. She pulls back but tries to put a brave face on it. We cut to another mission, she’s told a pair of heroes are secretly convincing people to commit crimes, only for the heroes to eventually stop them, and turn their victims in for clout. Her handler tells her to take them out. Nagant points out that covering up this kind of thing doesn’t actually fix anything, that if they want to stamp out corruption in the system, they have to acknowledge it exists. Her handler tells her to follow orders. Nagant pulls her rifle on him, reveals that this guy was the former commissioner and executes him.

 

In the present Izuku points out that contradicts what he’d read about Nagant, as it was reported she killed fellow heroes, not the PSC Commissioner. She says that they shifted the narrative to her killing other heroes to hide their shame and to hide that she’d rebelled against orders. She calls the hero world as nothing but an illusion. She thinks that if the world goes back to what it was, someone else will get pulled in and have to do the dirty work again. We see a flashback to Nagant when she was a high schooler no older than Izuku getting her job with the PSC and how happy she was at getting to do her part. She says that AFO’s future just makes more sense and fires another shot at Izuku. He fires a Black Whip tendril at her. She dodges, but he uses it to yank himself towards her. He admits that he knows the real world is shades of grey, not black and white, and that is exactly why he has to reach out to help. Nagant fires on him, but Izuku dodges in midair. Realizing that she has to change tactics, she turns her gun to her right. Izuku follows the barrel and sees Overhaul standing on a roof and shouting. Nagant, I guess, powers up her rifle and prepares it to fire. She makes her gun arm swell, and it looks really gross.

 

We flashback to Nagant stealing some new clothes for herself and Overhaul. Overhaul tells her that he met the boy once, and that he’s got an overinflated sense of ideals. Nagant says that this makes it feel like fate. She says that she’ll keep bringing Overhaul along so he can confirm the target to her. Overhaul agrees on the condition that she take him to his former boss and tell him he’s sorry. … Bro, you used his granddaughter in horrible experiments AND put him in a coma… if he wakes up I’m not sure sorry is going to cut it!

 

Back in the present, Overhaul is demanding Nagant hold her end of the bargain and take him to the boss, not realizing she’s about to shoot him in the face. Nagant has Izuku pegged, realizing that him failing to save someone, regardless of who it is, will eat at him. She’s going to give him too much to process at once, and when he breaks from the stress, she’ll take him down. Izuku dodges her shot with Fa Jinn. He explains the power this time, it allows him to build up kinetic energy by repeating movements. So those squats earlier, combined with him constantly bending and stretching his legs while dodging Nagant’s shots built up a handy stockpile of kinetic energy. That, plus OFA Full Cowling at 45%, and good ol’ fashion physics allowed Izuku to do what All Might used to do. (And a certain Big Blue Boy Scout still does) Move faster than a speeding bullet. He knocks Overhaul aside at the last moment. Nagant is astonished that Izuku is able to move faster than a bullet. Izuku is able to swing around in the time it took her to line up another shot. Lee narrates that Izuku had trouble using all of his powers at once, but he narrowed his focus down to Fa Jinn, Float, and Black Whip which greatly improved his ability. He used the last bit of Fa Jinn gathered force and OFA Full Cowling to do a full power Manchester Smash and shatter Nagant’s rifle arm as he rockets past her. Nagant slips in the air and starts to drop. She analyzes herself, thinking that she doesn’t hesitate, she identifies a target and fights like it was predestined to be. She asks herself when she started to feel sick when she heard empty sentiment. She remembers the PSC Chairman saying that she’ll save a lot of people with her right arm. As she drops, Izuku grabs her by the hand. Izuku says that he understands her, she shot towards Overhaul but not at him, and if she was as ruthless as she says, her first shot would have hit his spine and paralyzed him. He thinks that there’s still the heart of a hero in Nagant and begs her to help him stop the dark world AFO is planning to make. Izuku’s earnestness seems to reach her, Nagant saying that Izuku Midoriya is a real hero. Unfortunately, her skin starts to crack and then she explodes.

 

We cut to AFO, the eldest Shigaraki says that a hero’s heart is a fickle thing, and because of that he put a few contingency plans in play. He obviously implanted a quirk that would cause her to self-destruct if she ‘breached’ her contract. He says that she lived a truly pathetic life, being used to the very end. Izuku can only scream impotently as Nagant drops, but Hawks flies in and catches his senior. Endeavor also flies in and apologizes for being slow. Izuku tells him about Overhaul on the roof. He goes to grab the crime boss. Hawks starts to drop because his feathers aren’t fully recovered. Izuku grabs him with Black Whip and tries to slow their fall, telling Hawks that he thinks she didn’t do that on purpose. Hawks tries to talk to her, saying that he was kind of her replacement and that he understands her and begs her to remember that she’s a hero. Nagant hears this and is confused how both these boys still have such hope and optimism in their eyes. She tells them what she knows; that AFO told her and several other hunters to meet him at a mansion in the woods in two months with Izuku. She tells her replacement that she fell apart after all the things she did and asks how he can keep going. Hawks says that someone helped him out, remembering his Endeavor doll, and that he’s an optimistic guy. Endeavor flies in with Overhaul, and the crime boss is furious that she failed. Izuku tells the psycho that if he apologizes to Eri, he’ll hold up Nagant’s bargain, which stuns him. All Might comes running up and asks what happened. Hawks and Endeavor give him the summary and add that Izuku was roughed up by all this too. The episode ends with Izuku angrily saying All For One before the credits roll.

 

Well, that was an emotional rollercoaster. I think Nagant was an excellent mini boss for Izuku to come up against in this dark period. She represents the corruption within the old hero system; the sort of people that must dirty their hands over and over again to hide the cracks and broken places that their system has. It is sad to see the younger version of Nagant, who seemed to be a very bright and optimistic person as compared to the cold nihilistic person she became from years of having to do bloody work. The system broke her, it used her up and then covered it up when she crashed out to hide that breaking. And I like that Izuku has grown to the point where he understands that the world isn’t a simple black and white binary, but rather than reject morality like Nagant seems to, he takes it as a reason to keep trying to protect others. If the world is shades of gray, be the one that adds more light than dark sort of thing. And I like that Izuku added that bit about how Nagant isn’t fully into the worldview she’s espousing, with the example that she was clearly not going for lethal or maiming shots. She was less broken than even she thought, it seems. AFO sticking a self-destruct quirk in her along with air walk is classic villain stuff. And screw Overhaul. You don’t get to apologize to the old man when you tortured his grandchild. I think I’d have told him to shut his mouth and enjoy prison, but he’s a kinder man than I. Next time, Izuku pushes himself harder than before and seems to refuse to accept he’s cracking under the pressure. Fun times. Have a god night and stay safe. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 133

 Izuku's dodging bullets, our little hero is grown up. 

Last time on My Hero Academia, Izuku faced off against an old foe. Izuku, who has left UA high and is now operating as a Vigilante trying to draw out the League of Villains, face off against Muscular. The villain was freed from Tartarus when All For One, Shigaraki, escaped the prison, and was given orders to run amok, but not much else. Izuku hit him with 45% of his full power and ended up defeating him. This saves two of the students he took the licensing exam with, Yo Shinto and Tatami Nakagame, who Muscular was beating on when he arrived. Yo recognized Izuku, but thought he fights completely differently now. We see through flashback that Izuku and All Might told his mother about what is going on, and that Izuku plans to drop out of UA after getting out of the hospital to hunt for the League of Villains and Shigaraki. She’s against it, but Izuku convinces her that it’s the right thing for him to do. He gets Gran Torino’s blessing to handle this, and heads out with All Might, Endeavor, Best Jeanist and Hawks to hunt villains. Enough recapping, lets get to it.

 

We begin with Izuku explaining what he saw in the Mindscape to Gran Torino. The elderly hero is in rough shape at the hospital. He isn’t surprised to hear that the Vestige of Nana is still the sort of person to cry and apologize for their choices. Torino gives Izuku his blessing to do what he has to in order to save Tomura Shigaraki, whatever that means to Izuku. And reminds him that sometimes killing someone is the only way to do that. He gives Izuku his tattered cape, and Izuku adds that to his Hero Costume. Outside, he’s met with Endeavor, Hawks, Best Jeanist and All Might. He tells us that they’re working together to stop All-For-One, Izuku adding that he “has to” be the one to do it. We get a glimpse of his Vigilante costume, which is a much angrier, tattered version of his original costume.

 

We cut to a large green fox-looking woman, the fans have dubbed her Ippan Josei or Ordinary Woman in most material, as she’s running from a group of vigilantes. One of them uses a water cannon on her, shooting her multiple times as Josei screams that she wasn’t doing anything and she’s just trying to get to the shelter. Looks like these guys are operating under non-human racism, because this lady is just a big green fox, she’s got no offensive powers at all. The cannon prepares to shoot her point blank, but Izuku aka Dark Deku leaps in to block the attack. Despite his new aggressive look, Izuku still tries to be a voice of reason. He tells these guys to back off, he understands why their nerves are on high but Josei isn’t hurting anyone and leaves her to him. The vigilantes run off, muttering about how it’s Josei’s fault they attacked her because idiots.  Izuku gives her back her umbrella and then asks why she’s out in this weather. Josei admits that she tried to stick it out at home when the first evacuation order occurred, but things got bad fast and she tried to move to a shelter, but then got attacked. So, ya know, she’s just having a rough day. She drops her umbrella again, but Izuku grabs it and casually floats up to give her cover. She’s like seven-ish feet tall, so he’s not just flexing his new powers. Izuku swears that he’ll fix things as All Might pulls up in his car. Izuku asks All Might to take Josei to the shelter. He thinks he’s been in one place too long. All Might stops him long enough to give his student a lunch box before flying off.

 

Izuku does the superhero thing of watching the landscape from a tall building. Banjo manifests next to him and says that this is like time travel. He explains that in his day heroes had to lay low and fight from the shadows as that was during the height of All-For-One’s evil empire. And it was like that for the original Quirk users as well. Izuku narrates for us that the Shigarakis and the League of Villains are in the wind, and that the chaos the escaped convicts are causing has made it impossible for anyone to investigate that looming but currently quiet threat. Izuku notes that Tomura is more dangerous than ever now that he has All-For-One, citing that even with multiple pros help, they were still overwhelmed by his powers. Izuku resolves to master every facet of One-For-All to stop him.

 

We flashback to when Izuku was in the Mindscape. Shigaraki, the younger, tries to get the second and third wielders to agree to help train Izuku and stop staring at the wall of their Mindscape. Neither reacts, so Banjo breaks the tension by telling Izuku to train with the other powers until those two come around. Especially Smokescreen and Danger Sense since they’ll be a big help when he wakes up. The third finally speaks, a fella named Bruce Lee, saying that he and the second, Toshitsugu Kudo, lived during the worst years when Shigaraki the elder was at the height of his power. He says that most of Shigaraki’s minions back then didn’t even know they were being used, but the leader of their resistance, Kudo, knew. Kudo says that they had to fight and sacrifice a lot of their allies to get to Shigaraki the elder. They lived with the mindset that they had to either kill Shigaraki or the world would die. Kudo can’t believe that they have to put their faith in a kid that wants to save their enemy. Shigaraki the younger points out that that’s a bit of flawed logic, as they risked trusting him when the two found him. And in doing so set everything in motion. He says that they have to leave everything to the ninth. He says that One-For-All exists to defeat All-For-One, the power was born out of him defying his older brother. But it only exists as it does now because Kudo trusted him. The previous wielders all agree to train Izuku, and in the present they resolve to finally put an end to this… while Izuku finishes his lunch. Way to kill the mood buddy.

 

Endeavor faces off against some minor criminals holding up a convenience store. One of them is using a high powered nail gun to hold him down, which Endeavor angrily curses Re-Destro’s company for selling such an obvious weapon as a ‘support’ item. He takes out the nail gunner while Hawks and Jeanist capture his buddies. The gunner says that Endeavor has no right to stop him, as the No 1 hero’s crimes are worse than his. Endeavor doesn’t disagree but says that’s why he has to stop them. Jeanist comments that they didn’t get any new info about Shigaraki from these escapees and how frustrating that is. They prepare to leave when they’re met by a mob that angrily tell them to get out of town. The heroes leave without comment, but we hear that the civilians have heard that Shigaraki was after someone besides Endeavor, so the populace knows he’s still keeping things from them. The trio follows Izuku from a distance. They’re trying to use Dark Deku as bait to draw out the league, but so far no one has bitten. They know that the villains are biding their time and will try to nab Izuku and OFA in the chaos. Endeavor thinks that AFO is waiting for Tomura to recover and complete his metamorphosis so he can fully possess his protégée. Hawks wonders why Tomura’s hate seems to be such a big part of the plan, but Jeanist thinks that the villain needs that raw hate to overcome the will of the eight wielders within OFA. Hawks wonders why AFO’s hate isn’t enough to get the job done, considering that he’s been hunting OFA’s wielders for generations at this point. Jeanist thinks that one man’s hate just isn’t enough, Hawks wonders if there’s any real hate in the guy at all considering he’s always laughing, and Endeavor thinks he might just be empty inside. Jeanist says that regardless, they need to increase their efforts while the League is laying low.

 

All Might is also following Izuku in his own car, wondering if his successor has gotten any sleep at all. He remembers Nighteye advising getting sleep whenever possible and says that he’s trying to get his student to rest. Izuku stops to call up his allies, but his phone is shot out of his hand. Both cars race to his last known location, but All Might is slowed down by a grenade being tossed at him. The sniper tells Izuku that he’s coming with her, and if he doesn’t struggle he gets to keep his limbs. Izuku realizes that this is the lead he’s been looking for, that she was hired by AFO.

 

We get a better look at the sniper. It’s Lady Nagant, the purple haired woman from the Tartarus prison break. She took Overhaul with her after the escape, apparently, as the armless man is passed out by her. Her power is rather interesting. She’s able to manifest a full sniper rifle from her right arm, which she loads by twirling her hair between her fingers and molding it into her bullets. Izuku remembers speaking with Hawks before he went on the run. Hawks explains that they have captured all of Dr. Garaki’s tech after the raid, so that the League doesn’t have the ability to steal and store a Quirk factor like they did before. So, their main goal will probably be to try to take Izuku alive. Hawks thinks that with his experience and powers most of the Tartarus escapees won’t be able to catch him. Except one woman. Hawks says that she and him were colleagues, though she was the senior between them, and that he’s trying to track her himself. Izuku looks over his shoulder, and Nagant fires on him. He dodges and uses Black Whip to Spider-Man swing away. He confirms that this is Lady Nagant. He grabs his phone as he swings away but it’s busted. He tries to figure out what to do when Nagant says “Why bother running when you’re already mine?” and a bullet whips around the building at Izuku. He catches it, and her follow up shot, but they clearly hurt him.

 

Izuku remembers an interview the sniper hero Snipe had talking about Nagant. He says that he’d be the best shot in Japan if it wasn’t for her. He explains the difference in their powers, that he can hit targets from about 600 meters that he can see thanks to his Quirk Homing. Nagant can make the same shot from 3 kilometers away with just skill alone. He also explains how her quirk lets her mold her hair into whatever bullet she wants, hollow point, curving bullets and so on. Her Quirk is called Rifle. Izuku says that without his danger sense he’d be dead. Her shots lead him to figure out where she was, though, atop a building about 1 km away. He knows that’s well within her range, so evasion isn’t much of an option, so he needs to go on the offensive.

 

Nagant is impressed that Izuku was able to dodge her shots, saying no one has taken two before. She’s distracted for a moment by Overhaul muttering where ‘Pops’ the Shia Hassaikai Yakuza’s boss is. Nagant says that she will once this is over and sticks Chie into a building to hide him for now. She mutters that maybe she should have ditched him before. We flashback to the prison break where she helps the armless man escape. AFO finds them and the Demon King greets her. She admits that until recently he was her main target. He asks her to bring Izuku to AFO, advising her to take Izuku when he’s alone. She asks why her freedom comes with a price. AFO says it’s because she isn’t like the others, she’s a hero that killed an ally, and that she also desires the destruction of Hero Society. Overhaul draws attention to himself by saying Pops. He asks if they’re friends, but Nagant says that something is broken in him. AFO hires her for the job and gives her a second Quirk as an advanced payment. We see what it is in the present, Nagant leaps into the air and bounces through the sky on her toes, the quirk is Air Walk. She mutters that she has a mission to complete as the credits roll.

 

Well, damn. Things aren’t looking good with how quickly order is crumbling in Japan. Heroes are stretched thin battling escaped criminals, rampaging civilians, and civil unrest. And Izuku is clearly running ragged trying to be bait and still help others. We see a few shots under his mask, and he’s got deep bags under his eyes and the raggedness of his costume speaks to how hard he’s been running himself lately. I imagine that his mom and friends are beside themselves with worry. I do like that we took a moment with him saving Josei to establish that despite his more aggressive look he’s still the earnest young man we’ve been following. FYI, don’t google Ippan Josei without safe search on. Some fans have… thoughts about this large woman. Lady Nagant is a great antagonist as her combination of skills will put Izuku’s new suite of powers to the test. She’s efficient, deadly, skilled, and with her additional Quirk she’s extremely mobile as well. Her original quirk is really cool and unique as well. Just a sniper rifle arm and hair she can turn into bullets and she’s one of the deadliest characters Izuku has gone up against. Her skill basically speaks for itself when she’s able to hit Izuku when at this point he’s basically Spider-Man with extra bells and whistles. Do you realize how hard it is to hit Spider-Man? It’s canon that most of the hits he takes are because he intentionally got hit to protect someone else. Izuku might not be that dexterous yet, but he’s up there and as far as we can tell the whole area around him is clear of civilians. So this lady is an insane shot to hit him on the move just with her eyes. Izuku has got a massive fight on his hand even if she wasn’t able to more-or-less fly. But we’ll see how that fight develops next time. Have a good night and stay safe.  

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 132

 Old foes, but new, Dark Deku.

               Last time on My Hero Academia, Izuku met his predecessors. In the Mindscape of One-For-All, he met the previous users in the form of their vestiges, the mental imprints that each of them left within the power. There’s obviously Shigaraki the Younger (One), Daigoro Banjo (Five and Blackwhip), Nana Shimura (Seven and Float), and the incomplete Vestige of All Might (Eight) there were also Hikage Shinomori (Four and Danger Sense), En Tayutai (Six), and the Second and Third wielders that are actively ignoring everyone else. The vestiges help Izuku learn a fairly disturbing side effect of One-For-All, that the Quirk drastically cuts the lifespan of whomever is wielding it. This took a while to figure out as like the first seven all died extremely young before they past it on. It took them ages to figure this out as most were killed fighting Shigaraki the Elder aka All-For-One. The only one to hold onto the power for more than a decade or two has been All Might, leading to everyone to conclude the only person who can safely take on the power is someone who is Quirkless. And since Izuku is one of the few people on earth with that designation, they are on something of a time crunch to defeat Shigaraki the elder once and for all. Nana asks Izuku if he’ll be able to do the hard thing and kill her Grandson, Tomura Shigaraki. Izuku says that he will if he has to, but he believes that Tomura can still be saved and wants to be saved even if he can’t admit it. Outside the mindscape, All Might is approached by Hawks and Jeanist whom ask him for the full picture of what’s going on, to which the former hero agrees. Later, Endeavor holds a press conference confirming that Dabi is in fact his son, and gives the press his side of the ugly history that is his family. He swears that he will keep fighting to stop Dabi and atone for his sins however he can. Dabi, who watches the press conference and sees his father shout “just watch me” thinks he hasn’t suffered enough pain yet. And we learn that upon waking up, Izuku ran away. He gave all of his classmates letters explaining his powers, his ties to the Shigaraki’s and All-For-One, and that he’s leaving to protect them from this monster who can take their lives or steal powers. Izuku ‘Deku’ Midoriya has entered his vigilante era. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open with Izuku’s classmates all reacting to his goodbye letter. No one seems happy to hear that their friend has run off to try to protect them from AFO, a villain that is going to try to steal his true quirk. Remember, Izuku was operating under the lie this whole time to his fellow students that his quirk was “Superpower,” just a pretty standard strongman strength quirk. He tells them that meeting everyone and being with them has made him happier than he could ever describe and he ends with a simple goodbye. Uraraka calls him an idiot. She takes over narration duty and says that Japan has been devastated by the destruction caused by the League of Villains, Paranormal Liberation Front, and the random psychos they freed from the super max prisons. She says that in the wake of all of that, Japan has become lawless. A solid example of how bad things have gotten are the wrecked buildings, but a bigger gut punch is seeing All Might’s statue with the sign “I AM NOT HERE” put over it.

 

Dark Deku, what the fandom calls him during this era, sees an explosion in the distance and thinks it’s a huge villain. We cut to Ketsubutsu Academy seniors Yo Shindo, the kid with seismic vibration powers that looks like he could be Izuku’s half-brother, and Tatami Nakagame, a girl with the much dumber power of being able to retract any part of her body into herself like a turtle. The two get a call to help evacuate an area that is being menaced by a huge villain. Both aren’t stoked about trying to get a bunch of stubborn folks to evacuate the area, but Yo thinks he’ll be able to get them to leave by channeling Ms. Jokes energy. They reach the building and try to get the civilians to come with them to their academy to hideout. The civilians aren’t moving and tell them to get lost. Yo says that the thinks they probably can handle normal crooks, but they won’t stand a chance against some of these escapees. They refuse to listen, in no small part because the local pro heroes are quitting in droves. They’re kicked out and they head out. They get a call from one of their classmates, Makabe, who tells them to run, NOW.

 

A villain comes crashing it. It’s Muscular! He’s one of the original villains from the League that attacked the UA training camp. He faced off against Izuku, was defeated and captured. He reattaches his muscle fibers to his body to hulk out. Yo tells Tatami to get Ms. Joke and other back up, while he handles Muscular. Tatami runs in and tries to hold the civilians back, but they shove her aside and go to fight Muscular.

 

Muscular pins Yo in seconds, mocking the hero student’s lack of strength. I’d say that this is just a poor type match up, a mid to long ranged fighter like Yo vs. someone like Muscular who is a short range type that excels in closing distance is just not a good situation for him. Muscular mocks him, asking where the other heroes are, quoting an adage about how in their world if you see one hero there are ten more nearby. He spies Tatami and the civilians in their building, and Y uses his distraction to try to vibrate his muscles into oblivion. Muscular is confident that his layers of muscles will protect him. Yo unleashes his full power to try to shake Muscular’s brain right out of his head. Unfortunately, Muscular covers his head to protect himself. He goes to finish Yo, but a smokey purple bullet slams into him and knocks him back. Muscular is super excited to see him again, as he wants to have a real fight with Izuku. He claims this isn’t about revenge, he just got hooked on the rush of a real fight that Izuku showed him last time and no one else has given it to him. He molds a bit of rubble into a prosthetic eye that he sticks into his empty socket… I guess to fully mimic their original fight? Weird.

 

Muscular rips the build clear off its foundation to try to throw Izuku off, but he leaps away and fires off a smokescreen to cover their tracks. He returns Yo to Tatami and tells her to fall back and abandon the building as its no longer safe. As he runs off, he draws out the Vestige of En Tayutai and asks his opinion on how Izuku is using his quirk. En tells him he’s putting out too much smoke, and he exceeded the controllable limit. He warns Izuku to not overuse his power and accidentally give his opponent an advantage. He says to pull back and remember that none of their powers are ultimate moves on their own. Izuku fires off a Smokescreen and floats into the air. Muscular launches at Izuku, but he senses him with Danger Sense and dodges. He uses Black Whip to throw him aside and wrap him up. Izuku demands to know where AFO and the League are. Muscular isn’t interested in that, saying that he was just told to run wild. He wants to live life to the fullest, and to Muscular, that means having as many bare-knuckle brawls as possible. He wants Izuku to stop trying to empathize with him and fight him full force already! He really should be introduced to Rappa from the Shia Hassaikai. Muscular breaks free with his strength. Izuku tries to find an emotional in with Muscular, thinking that maybe if he understood his enemies better, maybe he could reason with him. This is obviously the practice round for that when he tries to talk to Tomura when they face off again. Unfortunately, Muscular isn’t willing to let him play shrink, so they just have to brawl.

 

Muscular tries to charge, but his muscles start break and pull back. Izuku says that there are gaps in Muscular’s muscles and they pull back into his body when he overuses them. Izuku theorizes that Yo’s tremor did more damage to Muscular than he thought and that his body is starting to collapse. Izuku charges and hits Muscular with 45% OFA Detroit Smash. The hit was more than enough to knock Muscular back.

 

Two more Ketsubutsu students, Itejiro Toteki and Shikkui Makabe run in to try to find their classmates. They see Izuku rocketing up into the sky, dragging Muscular after him encased in Black Whip. Tatami sees Izuku fly off and says that she didn’t even get a chance to say thanks. The civilians run out and offer a stretcher, saying that after all the students just did to protect them, the least they can do is help Yo and hear them out. Yo remembers Izuku from the licensing exam and notes that he fights like a different person now.

 

We jump to the Daina Police station. Izuku lands, kicking up a smokescreen to protect himself as he drops off Muscular. He tells the guards to get an iron maiden and restrain him before leaping away. Izuku meets up with All Might. All Might asks if Izuku is okay. He says he is, revealing he’s using compression gauntlets to reduce the muscle strain on his arms and legs. He thanks All Might for ordering them from the US before trade was limited. All Might gets a call from Hawks. Izuku gets a danger sense ping and leaps away. Hawks is impressed with Izuku’s decision to try to isolate himself and prepare for the villains attack. Hawks says that he knows this is hard on All Might, but he’s glad the former hero is there to support Izuku.

 

We flashback to Izuku in the hospital with his mother and All Might. The Doctor notes that Izuku used to hurt himself when using his power like this before, but Izuku has gotten stronger since then, so while he’s fighting at a higher level the damage is about consistent with when he was fighting with 5% power. This is Horikoshi handwaving away why Izuku’s arms haven’t gotten worse when that was once such a huge threat to Izuku he switched to kicking, me thinks. The doctor tells him to be careful. Inko asks to know what is going on. All Might explains to her what has happened. She’s obviously terrified at bad people hunting her son. All Might says that he should be safe at the school, but Izuku says he’s not going back. He is electing to fun off, to try to protect everyone from the League. Inko, sensibly, tells her son that he’s in the hospital because he couldn’t beat them by himself and to not throw his life away trying. He says he’ll get stronger. Inko admits that she’s loved watching him grow into a hero over the last year, but hearing this is breaking her heart. Izuku says that when he was a kid, she thanked him for ‘saving’ her and smiling when he played pretend and that made him smile. He promises to come home safe when this is over, but he has to fight now. All Might remembers his promise to protect Izuku some months back to convince Inko to let him return to UA. All Might says that Izuku might not want his help, but he is going to give it regardless.

 

All Might tells Jeanist, Hawks and Endeavor about Izuku dropping out of UA and electing to be their bait for the League of Villians. Jeanist says that that’ll work to their advantage and they’ll organize their strategy around it. Izuku meets with Gran Torino and lets him know everything. Torino isn’t shocked to hear Nana’s vestige is apologizing for their choices, and admits he should have killed AFO years ago. He tells Izuku to do what he has to do to stop Shigaraki, warning that sometimes the only way to stop someone is to kill them. He gives Izuku his scarf and his blessing. Izuku heads out to meet his allies and start their plan to stop the League once and for all.

 

Well, that’s sad. Izuku’s decision seems logical to him in the moment, but I think its clear even in his first fight with Muscular that he’s already hitting a wall mentally if not physically. Isolating yourself is hard, as I think anyone who has lived through the 2020 COVID Pandemic can attest to, and it’s harder when you’re putting yourself through the strain of fighting constantly. I like the use of Muscular here. The villain is still incredibly powerful, putting kids with more experience and training than Izuku through the ringer in no time flat. But Izuku has also grown tremendously since they faced off. While Muscular was Izuku’s boss fight during the Training Arc, he’s now just an average Tuesday for Izuku. Remember, when they fought during the camp, Izuku had to hit him with 100% OFA to take him down. This time he didn’t even crack 50% to do it. We also got to see Izuku’s battle IQ has grown quite a bit, as he was able to figure out Muscular’s state in just a few seconds, and was able to use Smokescreen and Danger Sense to hold him off extremely well. I appreciate that they at least brought Inko into the discussion here. While the story might forget about her a good chunk of the time, it’s important to remember Izuku is only like 16 at this point. His mama needs to be involved to some degree. Izuku is going hard after Shigaraki and the League, which is admirable, but its clear even in this early stage that he’s pushing himself harder than he should. Which definitely makes sense for his character, but is hard to watch. So Izuku has taken down an old foe, let’s see how he handles a new one. Lady Nagant has arrived. See you next time, and be safe. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social