Review: My Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission

 Izuku's going international.

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Different continent, same Bakugo.

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

 

Well, that's unfortunate.

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

Road trips are fun, regardless of circumstances.

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Power of Friendship, UNLEASHED!

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Review: My Hero Academia: Heroes Raising

 Nine is coming for you.

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

Nothing goods come from liquid filled pods.

 

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

 

Evil business casual.

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

 

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

 

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

 

Lot of hero work is just being willing to help.

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

 

Scolded by a child, a new low for Izuku.

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Izuku spends SO much time protecting Bakugo
from himself.

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Bakugo must be sick of getting captured so much.

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

The boys go Super Saiyan.

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 104

 Selkie returns. 

Last time on My Hero Academia, Endeavor cracked Hawks code. He realizes that the students under his care are going to need actual training as they’re Hawks’ and the Public Safety Commissions backup plan if things with this Meta Liberation Army goes sideways. Because of this, he resolves to teach both Izuku and Bakugo instead of just Shoto like he’d been planning on. He gives the boys the basics of hero work under him and shows them his skills by expertly taking down a hit-and-run suspect in one fell swoop. He gives the boys assignments to work on while training under him, and the additional challenge of trying to beat him to a scene even once. Hawks, meanwhile, is trying to get deeper into the Meta Liberation Army’s good graces. It’s slow going, though. Enough recap let’s get to it.

 

Uraraka and Tsu get a chance to shine.

Onto a filler episode. Izuku give a rundown on which of his friends are working with which hero or hero teams. The only one that really matters for this one is Ochako Uraraka and Tsuyu “Tsu” Asui working with the Dragon Hero Ryukyu and the “Big Three” member Nejire Hado. After Uraraka shows off a slightly redesigned costume, the gals have a welcome party for finishing their first day of the work study. How sweet. While they’re cleaning, the girls overhear about a wild fire that was caused by fight over a banned Quirk enhancing drug called Trigger. It’s the thing that the guy who grew blades from his body that Kirishima fought before. The factory that was destroyed didn’t seem to have any materials that survived the explosion, which is troubling.

 

We cut over to Selkie, that Japanese man that named himself after a primarily women Celtic fairy, and his crew chasing smugglers. One of the smugglers they were following takes a Trigger injections, enhances his powers and creates a massive fog cloud to hide them. Selkie orders the crew to get the out of the fog and muses that those smugglers are probably carrying the stolen Trigger drugs. They get out off the fog but their prey has vanished. His sidekick Sirius thinks that they’re probably hiding on a nearby island chain. Selkie, feeling them need back up, decides to contact Ryukyu for a team up. What a coincidence. Ryukyu gets the call and heads out with her interns.

 

They meet up with Selkie, Tsu has a quick flashback to remind everyone who this guy is, and Selkie makes his cutie face a few times. Selkie tells the girls to get down to the beach. Not for hero stuff, but to have a montage of beach summer fun. I can just hear my brother groaning. He hates beach episodes. Ha. Selkie says that he wanted to give them a chance to unwind for a bit. There isn’t much risk of the smugglers moving in the daylight, after all.

 

The smugglers, meanwhile, are hiding in a cave on the water. They plan to wait until nightfall before heading out. They have a bunch of Trigger ready to boost their powers to take down the pros.

 

To the sea they shall return. 

That evening, Ryukyu and Nejire plan to scout from the sky while Uraraka and Tsu go with Selkie on his ship. Ryukyu transforms into her dragon form and the two fliers take off. On the ship, Selkie tells Sirius to keep her super human ears for his morse code and then leaps into the water with Tsu to have a look around. They don’t spot anything for a while, but the smugglers finally head out, and Selkie tracks them down. They all converge on the smugglers. Realizing they’re cornered, the one smuggler takes Trigger and makes another huge smokescreen. Unlike last time, though, Selkie is in the water and thus isn’t blinded by the smoke. He and Tsu land on the ship, and Selkie knocks out the smokescreen guy with one good punch. He tells Tsu to standby while he has a look around. Tsu hears a splash as Selkie takes control of the boat. As the smoke clears, the find out that the smugglers had been towing a plane to use as an emergency escape plan. The plane takes off and Tsu tries to catch them with her tongue but it can’t reach far enough. Ryukyu follows but can’t keep up with the plane. But no worries, Sirius has a plan. Her plan? Launch Uraraka with a harpoon gun. She flies upward and is able to get her new grappling hook bracer to pull herself onto the plane. She takes out the smuggler… but then realizes that she doesn’t know how to fly a plane. Oh no.

 

I hate beach episodes but this is fine. lol

She gets told to bail out of the plane, but can’t as the Trigger chemicals would poison the local ecosystem for years. Ryukyu tells her to make the plane weightless, but she’s unsure if she can do that given how big it is. With help from an energy wave from Nejire to stabilize the plane for a moment, she’s able to make it weightless just long enough for Ryukyu to grab on and land the plane. The get the chemicals and Uraraka throws up her guts, so this went about as well as could be expected. While the girls have another beach outing, Selkie and Ryukyu compare notes. The smugglers were just the delivery people, so they don’t know much beyond where their drop off point was. The only concrete thing they know was that the ship was headed for the fake European country of Otheon. Selkie advices that peaceful days pass quickly, so they should enjoy it while they can.

 

In an after credit’s scene, a man in a Cathedral like building is informed that their shipment was captured. The leader, a blue man in armor, says that its no matter, as they have enough already to enact their plan. Ohhhh, this is a promo for the World Heroes Mission.

 

As far as filler goes, this isn’t bad, but I’d say it pales in comparison to Selkie’s first appearance. That’s for no other reason than this is all set up for World Hero Mission. I’ll explain. World Heroes Mission is the third My Hero Academia movie. Technically it’s anime only, but they tie it into the timeline of the anime more so than most anime movies. A human supremacist terrorist organization in Otheon releases a bomb that covers an entire city in super charged Trigger gas. All powers go completely out of control, killing all Quirk users that breathe it in. Endeavor gets called in to help in Otheon and brings his students with him, Izuku gets mixed up with a courier that was unwittingly working for the terrorists and framed for being part of the bombing. He must both clear his name and stop the next, bigger bombing from happening. It’s a fine movie, I might rewatch it and cover it here this month if I have time. Now, you might be saying to yourself, ‘Mike, you’re really summarizing the movie here… but you’re not saying much about the episode.” That is true… but that’s because there’s not much to talk about. Uraraka and Tsu go to do a team up, have a short beach day, then save the day, and then have another beach day while setting up a big budget movie. It’s fine, better than most of the season opening clip shows, but not by much. And that’s all I really have to say about that. Next time, either episode 105 or My Hero Academia: Heroes Raising, I’m still deciding. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 103

Training starts, again!

Last time on My Hero Academia, Izuku, Bakugo and Todoroki began their Work Study with Todoroki’s dad, Endeavor. Things started with a bang as Endeavor leads the boys into a fight with a crazed villain named Starservant who was using his glass manipulating power to cause havoc. Endeavor stops him and Starservant’s goons were captured by the boys and Hawks. Earlier in the episode, wew saw Hawks getting tied closer to the League of Villains, with an implication that he may have attacked the recovering Best Jeanist as a test of loyalty. Hawks gives everyone a copy of the Meta Liberation War, a book written by revolutionary Destro. He speaks in incredibly obvious code to Endeavor before leaving. Endeavor, thinking hard, realizes that Hawks left him a code in the book. He reads the second word in each highlighted section to get the message. It’s a warning that the Meta Liberation Army is growing, the group is 100,000 strong and they will attack in four months. So, no pressure. Enough recap let’s get to it.

 

It's weird seeing school girl Togeta on this shadowy
board of directors.

We open with Hawks flying to that same city in the mountains. He lands, walks in and gives a status report to the leaders of the Meta Liberation Army. It’s a mix of the original League of Villains and several new faces. He gives them all good news about how he’s been spreading the Meta Liberation War book and how his influence with teens and 20 somethings will be a big boon for their group. Togeta of the League of Villains distracts everyone by squeeing over seeing Izuku’s picture in a report about the Starservant capture. Dabi claims they haven’t grown that much, to which Hawks agrees as they’re just high schoolers. He’s dismissed. As he walks out, Hawks leaves one of his feathers in the crack between the doors. His Quirk is powerful enough to let him feel the vibrations in the air around a single feather and interpret what is being said. He learns that according to Spinner, the lizard with the big sword, and Togeta that things are going to plan and that in four months they think Shigaraki is going to rule the world. Oh no.

 

We jump over to Endeavor cracking the code again. There’s additional information this time from Hawks, explaining that his movements are limited and his ability to gather information is too, as he can’t spread his feathers about like he likes. He plans to send a signal before the fireworks set off. Hawks is at the same time wandering the Liberation Army base, but is having difficulty finding anything useful. He muses about just surrounding the main building with heroes and throwing down, but he knows that won’t stop them and that he needs info on all their bases if he wants to really end this group. His final note to Endeavor is that in case of his failure, he’ll need additional manpower. Endeavor realizes that the whole point of the Work Study’s this go round is to prep that additional manpower.

 

Outside the office, Endeavor’s chief Sidekick Burnin is giving the boys the rundown. Namely that the sidekicks will look after the other two as Endeavor only wants to train Shoto. Endeavor comes out of the office and lets them know he’ll actually oversee all their training himself. He muses that he doesn’t agree with the decision to use the kids as insurance but he’ll go along with it.

 

Hawks, meanwhile, remembers Dabi saying that the kids from UA haven’t grown much. He smirks to himself, happy that he stole their glory since it led to Dabi underestimating them. He’s confident that they could have taken those goons by themselves. He reveals that training with Tokoyami lead to him reevaluating how he thought of the students and he believes that Tokoyami and his friends are improving even faster than him. We get a quick shot of all the hero student’s we’ve met, both at UA and other schools, prepping for their Work Studies. Hawks vows that this won’t go the way the villains want and that the next time the cherry blossoms bloom, they’ll be ready.

The boys are ready for training.

 

Izuku and co begin their training with Endeavor. He gets a run down on the student’s powers. Izuku explains that he wants control of his power, revealing that he can manifest just a little of blackwhip to show Endeavor. He also explains how he can use airbullets and then starts muttering because he’s Izuku Midoriya. Endeavor sums it up, that Izuku just wants to be able to control his power level throughout a fight. Endeavor tells him that he’s not alone in having trouble controlling his power, but then immediately switches to Bakugo, who says he’s here to figure out what he can’t do. He muses that he figured out raw power isn’t enough to make him strong, and that he’s only here to learn how to be stronger than Endeavor. Endeavor begins to walk off to show them the ropes, but Shoto asks if he gets a turn to explain. Endeavor, annoyed, says that he’s just there to learn his Flash Fire technique, right? Shoto explains that he’d spent time perfecting his ice technique. He realized that hating his dad limited him in ways. He is wiling to do what his father wanted, but he’s modeling himself after All Might, not Endeavor. Endeavor remembers Shoto telling him that he’s impressed by Endeavor the hero but is still figuring out if Enji Todoroki has earned the right to be his father, as he’s still not forgiven Endeavor for his abuse of him and his mother. He tells the boys they’ll learn by joining him in the field.

 

As they patrol Endeavor’s beat, he explains hero work, it’s about fighting and rescue,  most heroes specialize but Endeavor prefers to be an all-rounder. He knows his beat and because of that, he’s got one of the fastest response times in the country. He tells the boys that their goal by the end of their work study is to try to beat him to a situation just one time. Endeavor gets a warning beep from his earpiece and rushes off to investigate. The boys rush after him.

 

Hope the driver is okay...

They track down the perp, a guy on motorcycle. Endeavor knocks him off the bike and he’s arrested for the hit and run he just caused. The boys arrive and Endeavor chides them for being slow. Bakugo claims that he has trouble getting warmed up when it’s cold. Shoto is impressed at his dad’s ability to turn and accelerate like he did just a second ago to catch the perp. Endeavor then draws their attention to one final point, that he used his flames to intimidate the suspect and make him too nervous to try to turn into the busy highway. They race off again, Shoto trying to use fire to increase his ice sliding, but he’s not nearly good enough yet to make that work. Izuku asks if they’re going to work with his sidekicks, to which Endeavor says he believes in working on his own as much as possible. He tells the kids that this is the real world and they’ll need to work hard to not make mistakes because in the real world if they’re too slow people die. To punctuate this, he lands and stops a lady from getting hit by a truck. While Izuku looks after the lady, who is screaming at the driver so I assume she’s fine, Endeavor gives Shoto and Bakugo a homework assignment. They need to condense their power and release in one big burst. They need to focus either on one focused or one high power shot, and then combine them. Endeavor tells Izuku to focus on using Air Force, he believes that learning to get control of Air Force will help him with Blackwhip. He believes all powers are based on a steady accumulation of skills. All Might was an exception, as he seemed to just get how to do everything. Everyone else builds their skills brick by brick. Izuku, enthused by Endeavor, vows to go beyond. But doesn’t say plus ultra, which feels wrong.

 

This episode was largely set up, which is fine, but as a consequence there isn’t that much to talk about. Endeavor learns that he actually does need to train the three students equally, which is weird for him, he gets a run down of their powers and their goals for their training. Izuku wants greater control, Bakugo wants more power, and Shoto is figuring out what he can do with his flame side, pretty box standard stuff for them. It was impressive to see how Endeavor operates. Say what you like about his parenting, the man is a very efficient hero. He’s fast, powerful, and decisive. It’s no wonder he was the number 2 hero for so long. The espionage angle for Hawks is pretty interesting. We only get a taste of it here, but it looks like he’s in deep with these guys already. Not that he’s deep enough, yet, since he needs more info. The next arc should be rather interesting once we start getting the steam going. But got some filler to get to before that. And maybe a couple movies, I’m still deciding. Next time, for sure, Uraraka and Tsu are going on a sailing adventure. See you tomorrow. 

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

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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