Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 114

 The Raid begins!

Last time on My Hero Academia, we caught up with Izuku and his classmates after their Work Study training. Everyone has improved significantly, even the non-main characters. All Might in the meantime has gathered all the information he could on the previous One For All users and their powers. Later, while the students celebrated, All Might revealed to Aizawa that he’s decided to do his best to keep living but is frustrated at how little he can do as a retired hero. Aizawa cheers him up by saying his presents makes people better. Around the same time, Eri’s powers are finally starting to hit critical mass and Aizawa plans to start training her. The episode ends with Izuku and co getting told they’re all going to be on a “Expeditionary Operation” through their Work Studies, which means they’re helping out on the raid of the newly formed Paranormal Liberation Front bases. Neat. Let’s get to it.

 

Interestingly, I believe this is the first season since season 2 that doesn’t begin with a filler episode that’s just meant to refresh returning or introduce new viewers on the basic concepts and characters of the series. Ya knows, a quick cute story that just shows us Izuku, Bakugo, Todoroki, Uraraka, Iida and the rest of the class, gives us their powers and the basic structure of their superhuman society.

 

Hawks got his serious face on.

We join Hawks as he continues to work with the Paranormal Liberation Front. He’s pulled aside by Twice who wants help figuring out a credo to inspire the troops. Why Hawks? Mostly because the others are in meetings, Giran and Dabi doesn’t care, and Toga is too cute to ask. Hawks reveals that the PLF has been split into regiments, there’s Black headed by Twice, Violet headed by Gitan and Dabi, Carmine headed by Toga and Skeptic, and Brown headed by Mr. Compress and Spinner. The top three members of each regiment serve as aides to the lieutenants. Hawks reveals that he’s been under surveillance since he arrived, and he has only been able to gather the intel that he has thank to his training. He gives Twice a wordy credo and sends him off. Hawks thinks the future looks dire. The plan is to attack major cities across Japan, killing leaders and heroes, and Shigaraki and Trumpet will hand out weapons to lead the new anarchist society. Twice thanks Hawks as he walks off. Hawks reveals that he has been purposely targeting Twice, as since he overcame his trauma, he has become a one man army. He dubbed Twice the villain that most needs watching.

 

Shigaraki's squad sure got scary fast...

Hawks flashes back to when he gave Twice some info on heroes in a classroom setting, Twice saying that he really needs to get Hawks in front of Shigaraki to show that he’s legit. Twice lets slip that Shigaraki is in the mountains for the next four months, but it shouldn’t be a problem that he told Hawks, since he’s been working so hard. In the present he dubs Twice friendly but far too trusting.

 

Hope this hospital is insured...

We jump over to Izuku, who gives us the info the heroes have on Garaki. Supposedly, he’s quirkless and started his hospital as part of Quirk based community outreach. Rocklock calls him a true villain. This is part of a meeting consisting of him, Endeavor, the Wild Wild Pussycats, several other heroes, and Detective Tsukauchi. Tsukauchi reveals that a spy was sent in and found a forbidden area that no one besides Garaki could enter, the only entrance is in the morgue and the spy got a shot of a tiny Nomu inside the room one time when Garaki entered it. Tsukauchi says that it’ll be easy to capture Garaki, but if they do it sloppily, it could be another Kamino ward or Hosu incident. Those really rocked the public trust in heroes, and they cannot risk it happening again. They’re going to hit this hard and with all available resources. They’re breaking the heroes into two teams, Endeavor is leading one and they’re going after Garaki, Edgeshot the other and his team will attack the Paranormal Liberation Front’s mountain villa. The Work Study students will help with evacuation.

 

Edgeshot and his team are preparing to attack the mansion. The leadership of the PLF are inside and hopefully cut off from their usual escape route as the teleporter they use is at the hospital. Komori (grows mushrooms) asks if the students should be this close, but Midnight comes over to encourage her that they need their help. And promises that they’ll just need them for the first few minutes of the fight and after that they’ll fall back and join the rest of the students on the evacuation team. Kaminari, Tokoyami and Honenuki (softens non-living material with a touch) are in the front with the bulk of the heroes, Kaminari freaking out about being on the frontlines and saying he never thought he’d miss his class so much.

 

Is it possible to insure an entire city? Cuz they
might need it...

Back with the class, Yaoyorozu theorizes they were brought to the front as all of their powers specialize in taking out large groups at a time, hence why they’re up there. Edgeshot mentions that all the auxillery bases of the PLF are all encircled too. Endeavor realizes that Hawks was the one that told them about this and asks where he is, but Tsukauchi tells him it’s classified. He walks off, telling himself he’d been preparing like Hawks warned him to do.

 

In Deiki city, the raid begins. How? By Death Arms grabbing Slide n Go, the PLF’s local hero and mole in the city. Izuku and co move in to start the evacuation.

 

At the hospital, Endeavor leads the troops in. Most of the heroes stay up front to fortify the location, but Endeavor sends Mirko (rabbit themed hero with powerful kicks) in ahead after their spy to get to the morgue. Deep inside the hospital, Garaki is super pleased with how things are going, right up until Endeavor shows up and threatens him.

 

Meanwhile, Natsuo and Fuyumi are leaving the new house together, discussing the fact Endeavor told them he’ll be out of touch for a while on a mission. This is way more information than he tends to give them, which stuns Natsuo a little, enough for him to say he hopes it doesn’t turn out like the fight with the High End Nomu. Now that’s something I doubt he’d have been able to say before his near murder. Character growth.

 

Garaki tries to run but he’s tripped by Aizawa’s capture scarf, who then cancels out his Quirk. It shows that he’s got a Quirk, a regenerative type that keeps him younger than he physically is. From the near corpse like look of his face without his Quirk, he has got to be 100+. They realizes that this is quirk, be it natural or artificially created somehow, is how All For One has lived so long. (We’re never given an exact date from the first quirk to now, but I’ve always guessed minimum of 80 years, but possibly as much as 120.) Present Mic grabs Garaki and demands to know why he’s using a power like Super Regeneration for evil. He demands to know what he did to his friend but is interrupted by two passing doctors who try to help Garaki. They’re evacuated and Aizawa gives Garaki the breakdown of what they know. He’s making the Nomu, without commands from specific individuals they’re basically corpses, and that they’re now going to take something important from him in retribution for all the things he’s taken. Damn, dark. Mirko found the secret room and burst inside. She reports to Endeavor what she’s in and that Nomu are starting to pop up. A moment later, a tunneling Nomu burrows through the ground and stabs Garaki. It’s revealed that he’s a Twice Double, and Garaki notes that it’s fascinating that Aizawa’s quirk doesn’t undo the cloning. The Nomu start attacking on mass.

 

And thus begins the Mirko arc.

We cut to Garaki, laughing to himself that the heroes didn’t consider that he’d clone himself to devote all his attention on his main project. He is still in the hospital, but in its bowels with the nearly complete Shigaraki. He reveals that reproducing a Quirk is a resource and equipment heavy process, hence why he’s still in the hospital. He won’t lose his catalogue of abilities, or so he claims. Mirko meanwhile flexes her legs and plows through a ton of Nomu to reach Garaki, crushing and killing the little Nomu he uses for teleportation. She asks him “What’s up doc?” and guesses he’s the real one. Ha, nice reference Mirko.

 

I think this was a great start to this new arc. Izuku and co were on the back burner as the pros got into position, but ya just know that something is going to go horribly, horribly wrong and Izuku is going to be duking it out with Dabi or Spinner in like two or three episodes. I initially questioned sending Endeavor into the hospital, as I’d thought that they’d want the heaviest hitter attacking the main base… then I remembered there’s a high chance of High Ends being in that facility, so him leading that charge was good call. I totally get why Mirko is now a fan favorite of the series. She’s both anime girl hot, but ruthless in a way that is just so fun to watch. Like, I know it’s technically fan service when we’re shown her visibly flexing her legs before she goes on a kicking spree, but when she does go on that spree, she decapitates several Nomu before crushing Giraki’s teleporter with a door. That’s so freaking cool that I can let a little fanservice go. And that’s really all I can say about this one, as it’s almost all set up. But what a beautiful set up it is. See you next time. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 113

 One last break before things blast off.

Last time on My Hero Academia, we got a bit more of Shigaraki’s backstory. Namely, his first “non-dad” intentional murder and All For One dubbing him Tomura Shigaraki. We also learn that Shigaraki is in fact AFO’s surname. Shigaraki, having unlocked his repressed memories and embraced them, wipes the floor with Re-Destro, unleashing a wave of disintegrating energy around them. Re-Destro survives but had to amputate his legs to keep from being disintegrated. Re-Destro, believing Shigaraki to be the ideal of “liberated” meta human, bows to him and gives him leadership of the Meta Liberation Army. The League of Villains and Meta Liberation Army are restructured into the Paranormal Liberation Front, with Shigaraki at his head and the former leads of both groups serving as his Lieutenants. The episode ended with Garaki offering Shigaraki greater power. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

Solid poker face for a guy who must be terrified.

We open with a flashback to Shigaraki being proclaimed the Grand Commander and his declaration that from now on, they do what they want. We learn that Hawks was in the crowd and witnessed the pronouncement. We flashback further to Hawks meeting with Dabi earlier to earn his trust. How did he do it? By presenting Best Jeanist’s corpse in a duffel bag. Dabi isn’t convinced that it’s really Best Jeanist, but does think Hawks killed someone, so he’s in. Hawks analyzes the situation and realizes that they’re extremely screwed. Between Skeptic (he runs a global communications network), Re-Destro (his company is one of the biggest Hero gear suppliers), and the High End Nomu, the Paranormal Liberation Front can do a LOT of damage. After the meeting, Hawks meets with Dabi and tries to figure out a way to salvage this situation. Meanwhile, Garaki is in a medical lab with Shigaraki. He notes that with Shigaraki’s latest spike in power, he can now disintegrate things touching his initial point of contact. Like, if he touches the ground, the disintegration can spread out and hit things touching the ground around him. Shigaraki notes that using his power once basically destroyed one of his arms and that he’ll need greater power to face the heroes. Shigaraki gets into the chair and begins working. He babbles a bit and claims that, with Quirks mixing and mutating with each generation, the powers get more complicated and more difficult to control. He calls this the Quirk Singularity Theory and it was the basis for his research. He tells Shigaraki that he’ll be undergoing this procedure for the next four months and it’s going to suck for him. He claims that all Quirks will be in the palm of his hand if he survives the process, even One For All.

 

In the present, Izuku and his class are practicing fighting the drones from their entrance exam. Aoyama, Hagakure, and Ashido take out a whole bunch of robots with their new skills. Ashido mentions, somewhat flirtatiously, to Kirishima that she got the idea for her new attack, Acidman, from his Unbreakable form. I only bring this up because I ship them. Everyone shows off their new skills, some learned attacks, some improved their existing skills, and coordinating their skills. Izuku uses full cowling and really impresses his master, All Might. He uses Blackwhip to tangle up a ton of robots and then shoot styles through them. What an impressive job, kids.

 

They've got just a sweet relationship.

After the exam, everyone congratulates Izuku, Bakugo and Todoroki. Izuku takes a moment to run over and thank Uraraka for her help in him getting control of Blackwhip. She plays it off as no big deal, and reveals that stopping him encouraged her to add extendable cables to her own arsenal. They do a fist bump and I squee a little.

 

Present Mic and Aizawa are together, processing what they learned about Kurogiri. Present Mic is taking it especially hard it seems. When Aizawa mentions that there must be a facility making Nomu, Present Mic says that he’ll do a karaoke contest with them and “boil their guts while their eardrums bleed.” Damn, Present Mic. They’re interrupted by Togata and Amajiki, who tell him that something is up with Eri. She’s with Hado, her horn has grown substantially and she’s crying, asking why it itches. Aizawa comforts her, telling her she’s in safe hands at AU.

 

All Might has a private meeting with Bakugo and Izuku. He congratulates them both for their growth, Bakugo being a dick about it, and apologizes to Izuku about not getting as much data as he’d hoped. He presents Izuku with a composite notebook titled “Previous Successor Quirks, Notes for Young Midoriya.” He says that he compiled all he could find about the previous OFA users and their abilities. The second and third users are complete unknowns, but he was able to find things on the others. As Izuku and All Might discuss using the Blackwhip, Bakugo grabs the notebook and flips to the user’s page. He was the 5^th wielder, Daigoro Banjo aka Lariat. Bakugo notes that none of the previous wielders all had abilities that were comparatively weak before getting the ability. All Might theorizes that might be on purpose, as AFO was obsessed with the power and might have killed anyone who he considered strong. Bakugo says that makes sense and probably why all the previous users died young. All Might tells Izuku the next power he should try to manifest is Float, the ability of his master, Nana Shimura. Bakugo starts cackling like an insane person, telling Izuku he wins because he can already fly and Izuku is going to waste time catching up to him. I do so enjoy this crazy rage monster. Izuku, shockingly, sticks up for himself and says he’ll catch up in no time. All Might enjoys seeing his two protégées bonding.

 

At the dorm, Izuku and Bakugo are scolded for being late and encouraged to help cook dinner. Bakugo has a great line where he yells at Todoroki for cutting the chives poorly, saying ‘You shamed your sister!” The kids have their potluck dinner and celebrate. Izuku basks in having friends and living like this at UA.

 

Deciding to live can be a hard choice.

Outside, Aizawa joins All Might. He tells the former hero that Tsukauchi called and said that he wants to postpone All Might meeting Stain for now. All Might asks how Eri is, and Aizawa tells her she’s sleeping and he’s planning on starting her formal training next week. All Might offers his help. He sighs, and when Aizawa asks, he says that he’s decided to keep on living but he’s frustrated that he can’t do more to prepare the students. Aizawa tells him his presence alone is enough to inspire greatness. All Might remembers his last moments with Nighteye and thanks Aizawa for the encouragement.

 

Meanwhile, Hawks is trying to figure out all the pieces to the Paranormal Liberation Front and Shigaraki. He knows that Shigaraki has a backer, someone to do with a hospital. We cut to Jaku Hospital, where Dr. Garaki works. A nurse asks him how his work is going, and he says that all that’s left is to put on the finishing touches. We’re shown Shigaraki being painfully transformed as he says it. Hawks joins the Front’s higher ups, musing that he’ll do his best to gain intel and buy time for the other heroes. He ominously states that X-Day will be here soon.

 

After the credits, Izuku and his class are all told they’re Work Studies will all be taking part in a “Expeditionary Operation” or a work field trip during Spring Break. They’re brough to Daike City and are told they’re going to help the heroes evacuating residence during the hero’s mission against the Paranormal Liberation Front.

 

Okay, so as season finales go, this one is just okay. Most of the runtime is devoted to getting us caught back up with Izuku and his class after their month-long Work Studies and showing us how the others have improved to make them ready to participate in the next big battle arc. That’s cool but I wish there’d been just a little more meat to it, ya know? The reveal that Hawks got his in with the League by giving them “Best Jeanist’s” corpse was a bit of a surprise. Mostly for the realism of the fake corpse. What? Hawks is a spy, that in and of itself makes it clear that Dabi is right and that is no Best Jeanist. Why pretend otherwise? I did like seeing All Might again and learning what he’d been up to in his downtime. The fact that he was able to compile any information at all is impressive given how little they’ve had to go on about the previous heroes. I mean, we can assume that Nana told him as much as she knew, but unless she got visions too, she probably only knew a lot about her immediate predecessor and maybe the predecessor before him. I also appreciated getting confirmation from All Might that he’s going to do his best to keep on living despite his injury and health problems. As Aizawa put it, him just being around is inspiring and even if he isn’t as physically imposing as he used to be, he’s still a symbol. Getting a plot update with Eri was helpful too. Seems like that, by whatever process she builds up energy in her horn, it builds up quickly after a certain point. Given that it looks only slightly shorter than it was when she helped Izuku, that bodes well for a certain hero’s return. And choosing to end the season on Izuku and co gathering to take part in the raid is both a really cool idea but torturous for the fans watching the anime. A mega level cliffhanger right there. Thankfully, I didn’t watch most of season 5 until now and we can roll right into season 6 next time. I’ll see you there. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 112

 What goes into making a monster?

Last time on My Hero Academia, we learned the origins of Tenko Shimura, aka Tomura Shigaraki. He was the younger child of Kotaro, the only son of Nana Shimura, All Might’s mentor. While Kotaro was a solid provider to his wife, in-laws and children, the man had seething hatred for heroes and often took it out on young Tenko. Tenko was often sent outside, despite an unknown allergy, and was regularly beaten. One shining spot, and unfortunately the beginning of the end of the Shimura family, was his sister Hana showing him a picture of their father and grandmother. Kotaro is furious when he realized that the kids had been in his office and took the photo, beating Tenko because Hana blamed him. Later, Hana goes to apologize to him, but Tenko’s power finally manifested when he accidentally killed their dog. Tenko accidentally kills his sister, mother, and grandparents, and deliberately murdered his father. After, he claimed that the itching finally stopped. In the present, Shigaraki is battling Re-Destro, the descended of revolutionary Destro and is getting his ass kicked. Let’s see how that is going, shall we?

 

There was a point where this was even sillier.

We open with Shigaraki’s flashback continuing. We join him just after running away from the wreckage of his house as he just sort of wandered around with bloody hands in a fugue state. People see him but do their best to avoid the creepy child with blood on his hands. He mentions that he’s basically mute while this is going on. A few strangers notice him, try to talk to him, but his disturbed face freaks them out. Shigaraki muses that if even one person had tried to reach out to him, his returned itching might of stopped. And then we see All For One (AFO) approaching him as he takes cover from the rain under a bridge.

 

After the opening credits, we join Shigaraki after he’d been taken to AFO’s safehouse. AFO and Dr. Garaki are with him and just presented him with his family’ hands. AFO tells him that his urge to destroy is so overwhelming and it’s spilling out of him and seems to be the source of his itch. AFO, a sociopath, tells Shigaraki to just do what he wants and just hurt and destroy as much as he want. He remembers two thugs that beat him up in his wanderings and tells AFO that he wants to kill them and doesn’t know why. AFO, again, Sociopath, tells him to do his best. We then see Shigaraki in his hand covered look, which is so much more disturbing when you know that those are supposed to be his family’s hands, finding these two thugs and murdering them. AFO and Garaki watch, noting that the boy is both repressing his memories, as well as his Quirk. Yeah, the five finger’s on one hand touching something to disintegrate it thing was a mental block he put up. AFO muses that Shigaraki’s family’s hands will “cradle” him and keep him in check. And that he’ll personally cultivate Shigaraki as his “Symbol of Fear.” Shigaraki muses that killing makes him feel sick, but feels incredibly calm. He gets the thugs hands added to his collection, and AFO officially dubs him Tomura Shigaraki. Also revealing that AFO’s family name is in fact Shigaraki.

 

In the present, Shigaraki claims to remember everything and now doesn’t see his family’s death as a tragedy but a thing of beauty. He takes his father’s hand from his face, destroying it and saying its no longer necessary. Re-Destro rushes him, but Shigaraki blocks his attack and starts disintegrating his side. At the same time, Gigantomachia is rampaging in the downtown area. Re-Destro hits a button on his belt and activates some kind of enhancement armor to raise up and attach to him. Re-Destro is starting to freak out a little, as his power seems to be waning. He is afraid of Shigaraki but it’s not the kind of fear that he can use to enhance his powers like he used to. He remembers being told by his family that he’ll be the one to bring Destro’s dream into reality as the armor finishes attaching to him. The Claustro armor, as it’s called, is supposed to enhance his stress to 150%.

 

Meanwhile, Twice and his clones, two of which are carrying Toga, are following Gigantomachia at a distance because while he’s helping them, they still need to beat him to make him an ally. While Dabi complains about his ice opponent fleeing, Mr. Compress calls to the doctor for an emergency evacuation. Garaki isn’t going to help them, though, unless they take out the Liberation Army first. Mr. Compress asks if he’s willing to let Shigaraki die, as he’s AFO’s successor. Garaki claims that it’s because he’s AFO’s successor that he needs to be driven into a corner. While Twice clones try to round the League of Villains up to regroup, the entirety of the Meta Liberation Army are rushing to try to get to Re-Destro.

 

Re-Destro hits Shigaraki with a fist, but Shigaraki disintegrates the metallic fist. Re-Destro claims that the Meta Liberation army is all about their, frankly, insane belief that people should be able to use their Quirks however they want and that it’s a god given right. Wow, the parallels to certain groups in the US is insane. He tries to fly off to get out of Shigaraki’s range. Shigaraki remembers AFO telling him to meld hate and joy in his heart to make himself free. He unleashes a wave of disintegration energy as Gigantomachia reaches him. The destruction wipes out most of the city and Re-Destro’s armor as he cackles “Destroy it all!”

 

A dark king is born.

Shigaraki limps toward Re-Destro. He’s reverted to normal, sans his feet. Why? He touched the ground while Shigaraki’s disintegration wave was unleashed, so he cut them off to save the rest of his body. Shigaraki mockingly asks why they were even fighting. The rest of the Meta Liberation Army arrive, and prepare to attack, but Re-Destro calls them off. He has decided that Shigaraki, as a shining example of a truly liberated being, offers for Shigaraki to kill him and that he names him the leader of the Meta Liberation Army. Gigantomachia is brought to tears at the sight of the successor. Shigaraki remembers Mr. Compress complaining that if they’d tried to work with the Shia Hassaikai they might have a nicer accommodations before asking if Re-Destro is rich.

 

We cut to a week later, with Future Narrator Izuku telling us what the Meta Liberation Army’s cover story for the event is. Basically, a group of villains lured the heroes away from Deika city and started rampaging. The Meta Liberation Army use the whole thing, including the story that untrained civilians held off the villains long enough for the heroes to arrive, as a PR stunt to push their rhetoric. Meanwhile, the League of Villain members enjoy some sushi on Re-Destro’s dime. Twice does a little shrine offering to the memory of Toga… not the real one, the clone he made to use to give the real one a transfusion. Because while Twice might have overcome his issues, he’s still a nutjob. Toga tells him to stop doing that as it’s creeping her out. Trumpet and Skeptic arrive to get them for a meeting.

 

A very odd executive board...

They’re all brought to a meeting lead by Re-Destro and Shigaraki. Re-Destro officially names Shigaraki as the leader, their Grand Commander. They redub themselves, based on something that Re-Destro and Spinner thought up, as the Paranormal Liberation Front. He names Re-Destro, Geten Trumpet, Skeptic, Spinner, Mr. Compress, Twice, Toga and Dabi as his lieutenants and that they’re going to do what they want. The crowd cheers. Shigaraki sends Re-Destro to get him some tea. Garaki congradulates him on his successes and tells Shigaraki he’ll grant him power, if that’s what he wants. Damn, hell of a way to end this.

 

Shigaraki’s whole backstory is just so damn depressing. This is a kid that was failed by their hero system, with everyone thinking that someone else will handle this, and that a monster prayed upon. And AFO used this kid to make him into a weapon of mass destruction. Props to the animators to make Shigaraki’s crazy face to seem supremely crazy. Seeing him unleash his full power and destroying most of the city in one blow is unsettling. Shigaraki just got a massive power boost, and it’s implied he’s going to get a lot more. I mean, we know he’s going to, that is what we saw at the end of the last arc. Which, I need to remind you, came after this moment in the manga. Shigaraki defeated the Meta Liberation Army, rebranded their group the Paranormal Liberation Army, and was promised even more power, then we don’t see him again for chapters and then we’re shown him getting a tortuous power boost. I personally think this is plays a lot better than how the anime did it, but what do I know? So yeah, the villains are more powerful than ever, basically now have unlimited resources, and the backing of thousands of minions. Good thing Izuku has had… a minor power boost. Crap, this might not be an even fight. But we’ll see how things start ramping up next time. See you then. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 111

 The origin of evil is usually pain of some kind or another.

Last time on My Hero Academia, the fighting at Daike City intensified. The Meta Liberation Army tried to capture Twice to use him to make clones of Re-Destro to protect him. To pacify him, Skeptic had HIS clone puppets break his arms and attempt to break Toga’s neck. The breaking of arms actually helped Twice, though, as this is the first real damage he’s suffered since his “my clones tried to kill me and now I can’t be sure if I’m the original” and proves to himself that he IS the real one. Psychosis cured, Twice starts cloning himself, multiplying himself two at a time to turn himself into an army. Twice’s army starts overwhelming the Meta Liberation Army, MLA, and allowed the League of Villains to start getting wins. Twice goes to save Giran, making clones of himself and allies to fight Re-Destro. Re-Destro easily dispatches most of the clones and goes to kill Giran and Twice. The Shigaraki clone survived and warned Twice to hold onto something, as he saw the real Shigaraki approaching the building and knowing himself, Shigaraki is about 5 seconds from disintegrating the building. He does, and it looks like Shigaraki and Re-Destro are about to throw down. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

Not her best day.

We open with Twice being frustrated that his data on Toga is out of date. Teenagers, man, they grow like weeds. He’s frantically trying to update his mental database for Toga so he can make a bunch of clones of her and give her a blood transfusion from said clones. They are able to make a clone and prepare to do the transfusion, Twice swearing that he won’t let her die.

 

Meanwhile, Spinner is running to try to kill Trumpet. He questions why someone with a support type ability is at the frontline of the battle and wants to prove to Trumpet what a stupid idea that is. Trumpet isn’t concerned and whips out his support item, the Sevens Loud, a helmet that amplifies his voice and thus amplifies his amplification power. The MLA members get a whole lot tougher to beat. Trumpet mocks Spinner for his weak ability. For a refresher, Spinner’s Quirk is called Gecko, and it both makes him look like a lizard and gives him all the abilities of a Gecko, the main one being the ability to cling to surfaces. He tells Spinner that his weak power won’t be much use in their new world order and plans to kill him. The tower falls, distracting Trumpet and Spinner tries to attack him, but he gets attacked instead by the MLA. Spinner hits the ground and Trumpet reiterates that he thinks the lizard man is weak. Spinner admits that he is weak and that he’s a follower. He doesn’t have grand plans or goals, but he was motivated first by Stain and then by Shigaraki and he’s going to see the future Shigaraki envisions. He points out that the MLA lackeys are just like him and swears he’ll keep fighting.

 

Dude's job must be hell if his stress Hulks him out
this much.

At the tower, Giran and Twice survived the fall. Re-Destro also survived and has basically hulked out. Shigaraki mocks Re-Destro, saying that he clearly thought he could watch from his high tower while the grunts did the dirty work, and that arrogance lead to said tower’s destruction. He demands to know what Re-Destro is thinking and Re-Destro attacks, saying that he’s furious. He claims that he’ll stop Shigaraki once and for all, starting with the hand that killed all his men. It’s at this point that we learn his Quirk is called “Stress” and that bottling up emotions increases his power and when he uses that well of power he increases in size. Re-Destro asks Shigaraki if he honestly would build anything or if he’s just a hollow man, a destroyer for destructions sake as he slowly crushes Shigaraki’s hands. Shigaraki, looking at some of the hands he wore that had fallen off in the fight, remembers one as being “Hana’s” hands. This triggers a memory where we all learn that the hands he wears are either literally, or facsimiles of , the hands of his entire family. AFO brought him these as a way to ensure that Shigaraki’s anger and hate never decreases.

 

We flash farther back to Shigaraki back when he was Tenko Shimura. His sister Hana came out and pulled him around to try to cheer him up. The memories are confusing Shigaraki and making him twist round and round. He claims the feeling of impotent rage he felt are causing these memories that he purged to resurface again. Re-Destro starts crushing his hand further, but Shigaraki is able to start disintegrating him a little, causing Re-Destro to throw him aside to save his hands. Re-Destro is a little freaked out to think Shigaraki was able to start destroying him without getting all five finger engaged. Shigaraki bounces a few times before landing, seeing the hands he wears and putting faces to their owners. He sees his mother, and he starts frantically scratching himself. Re-Destro mentions that powers enhancing during times of stress isn’t unheard of, as his own minion Geten only gained the ability to control the temperature of ice after Re-Destro burned himself in front off him. Shigaraki lunges at him, Re-Destro only barely dodging.

 

We learn via Re-Destro’s analysis that Shigaraki’s battles with Gigantomachia have had results, as the villain believes Shigaraki to be significantly stronger and faster than he’d been during the Kamino Ward incident. He claims to be almost impressed as he draws on more power and is completely covered in the black markings that started around his eyes. Re-Destro hits him with an energy ball of stress (Just go with it), knocking him back. As Shigaraki flies back, he remembers his kindly grandparents. Skeptic calls Re-Destro and warns him that… Gigantomachia is here. He drops his phone and notices that his finger was damaged. He is shocked to realize that Shigaraki touched him and began to hurt him in a fraction of a second. Shigaraki says that Re-Destro is right and that he doesn’t care about the future, he cares only for destruction.

 

The birth of society's greatest threat, an abused
little boy.

We flashback to young Tenko. He’s being punished by his father for “playing hero.” It turns out, Kotaro, son of Nana Shimura, is vehemently against heroes and punishes his son whenever it comes out. He is put outside and forced to deal with his allergies until he “apologizes” to his father. Kotaro rationalizes his abuse to himself, his wife and in-laws as trying to make Tenko “understand” his place in society. He’s five years old and seemingly quirkless, so he’ll be a second class citizen, so he needs to learn, seems to be his thought. Shigaraki explained that his father was a young businessman and had been extremely successful, building a house for his family and in-laws. Later, we learn that Tenko is suffering from an allergy that they just can’t find the cause of, hence the scratching. He also got in trouble because he’d been playing hero with some other kids who had been left out at school. So yeah, Kotaro, being a dick to his son for literally just being a good kid. His mother tries to comfort him by saying Kotaro is just worried about him but Kotaro isn’t buying it. Shigaraki as an adult claims his family were masking his father’s rejection of him with kindness.

 

Later, Hana showed young Tenko a “secret.” She got into their dad’s study and found a picture of him as a child with Nana and she realizes that the hero was their paternal grandma. She did it to encourage Tenko and says that she’ll support him if he becomes a hero. Later, Tenko is playing ball with the family dog when his power triggers just a little for the first time, partially disintegrating the ball. He’s kept from investigating this by his father coming to yell at him. He’d figured out, somehow, that someone had been in his study and was throwing all the blame on Tenko. Hana obviously could stand up for him, but, like a lot of children, was too afraid to lose her golden child status by revealing she was the one that went into the study first. Kotaro beats a young Tenko, saying heroes abandon the people they love to save strangers and he won’t have his son emulating her. Tenko begs his family to do something, anything besides watching but they don’t.

 

Yeah, I get why he'd repress this...

Later, Kotaro is in his office and is reading the letter Nana gave him on the day she left and just before she was presumably killed by All For One. She hopes that his life will be full of happiness and laughter. Kotaro muses that it’d have been better if she’d never loved him. His wife and in-laws come in and finally stand up to him, saying that they won’t stand for him raising a hand to Tenko again. Outside, Tenko is sobbing and talking to the dog, and saying he hates this whole family. He unfortunately triggers his ability for the first time and kills the dog. Hana comes out and tries to talk to him, she tries to apologize, but then sees the bloody smear of their now dead dog and tries to run. Tenko, freaking out, reaches to her and tries to get her to help him… and gets all his fingers on her. She disintegrates in front of him. His hair turns gray from the shock and he barfs right there. Shigaraki in the future claims he thought that someone “else” was doing it, that a villain was attacking them but he’s not sure now. Tenko destroys the ground beneath them. His mother rushes to try to grab and comfort him but is disintegrated too, as are his grandparents. Tenko tries to apologize to his father and reaches out to him. Kotaro freaks out and swings a rake at him telling him to stop. At this point, Tenko knew what he was doing and leapt at his father to kill him. He does so, also destroying the house, and Shigaraki in the future mentions that this was the first time the itching stopped.

 

The origin of Tomura Shigaraki is just… so damn sad. We have Kotaro, a man that felt abandoned by his hero mother and let his feelings and memories toward her sour through his entire adult life. He takes these feelings that are both more complex than, but can really be boiled down to “Why did you leave me, Mommy?” and turns them on his own son. It’s like 30% trying to keep him from being a hero, 70% punishing the boy for daring to make him think about his mother. The abuse he poured on Tenko manifested as a psychosomatic itching that couldn’t be sated. His wife and in-laws were, to me, obviously tore between their desire to protect Tenko… and the unfortunately self-serving desire to not want to piss of Kotaro too much as he’s the breadwinner. So, like countless abused spouses across time, they tried to just get Tenko to endure it. They aren’t the worst players in this, obviously that’s still Kotaro, but they’re not entirely blameless for their fate. It’s incredibly sad to know that they might have finally been moved to action and try to stop Kotaro literally minutes before their own deaths. Tragic, just tragic. The bit where Tomura lunged at his father intending to kill him was just unsettling. His face as he did it is just so disturbingly drawn. So… now we have Shigaraki, having just unlocked the memories he’s been repressing for most of his life, unlock those memories, and is now incredibly pissed off and more than likely able to access his powers to a greater degree than ever before. This is about to suck for Re-Destro is what I’m saying. But more on that next time. Have a good night, everyone. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 110

Am I me? The question that haunts Twice. 

Last time on My Hero Academia, the League of Villains began their attack on Daike City. Well, actually, they came to Deka City and were immediately assaulted by the citizens. It’s revealed that 90% of the city’s population are members of the Meta Liberation Army and have been training for the big Liberation War. The League members are split up, with Himiko Toga ending up fighting one of the MLA’s leaders, Chitose Kizuki aka Curious. Curious, being a reporter and head of the MLA’s propaganda wing, wants to interview Toga for, you guessed it, propaganda. We learn Toga’s life story, that possibly due to her power, she had a fixation on blood from a young age and tried to ingest it, like trying to eat an injured bird she liked. This freaked her parents out and they brow beat her to not drink blood. She was fine until her last year of middle school when she snapped, attacked a student she liked and drank his blood. Curious wants to use Toga’s story of repression to fit with societal norms in their big book of “why societal norms are bad.” Toga, not wanting to die, tries to run off and ingests his last bit of blood she stole from Uraraka. Impossibly, Toga uses Uraraka’s anti-gravity power to cause everyone to fly up before releasing it and killing all of them in the fall. The other League members meet their matches, but the one we’ll focus on is Twice being attacked by multiple clone puppets of himself after he found Toga. This triggers, like, all his trauma, so this won’t be fun for Twice. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

Yeah, this would mess with me.

We open with Twice, his mask removed, pinned to the ground by the clones that he didn’t make. He’s basically having a full mental breakdown as he trying to figure out if he’s the real him or if one of the clones are. Back at the tower, the clones are being directed by their maker, Skeptic, via the MLA’s computer network. Giran tries to get them to not hurt Twice, as everyone likes Twice, but Re-Destro says not to bother. Skeptic thanks Giran, as the client information they stole from him has made this whole thing easy. Skeptic tells him they’ll kill Toga and bring Twice into their group, with Giran thinking that Twice won’t bounce back from that. I haven’t focused in on it too much, but Twice and Toga seem to be the closest of all the League members to each other. This is due to Twice being nice despite being evil and psychotic, and Toga being kind to him. I never got an age inappropriate romance vibe from them, but more like big age difference friendship.

 

Back in the yard, Twice is really freaking out trying to figure out what’s going on. He’s seeing guys with his face holding Toga, preparing to break her neck. He’s frantically trying to figure out if he’s going to kill Toga, if he is Twice, or if he’s a copy. It’s some real existential crazy he’s dealing with.

 

It’s at this point where we get a brief history of Jin Bubaigawara aka Twice. We learn that when Jin was 17, he was in a vehicle accident. He hit a dude with his motorcycle. Jin did nothing wrong, the guy jumped in front of him, and he’d been doing the speed limit, but for some reason was blamed for the whole thing and this was the start of his criminal record. Turns out the guy he hit was connected to a company that worked closely with his job, and he was fired because of the incident. We also learn that Jin’s parents were killed in a villain attack while he was in middle school and that he had no connection to any other family members. Feeling lonely, he started to make clones of himself to talk to, which escalated into him making a small criminal empire of… himself. Things were fine for a while, until the inevitable “Clones argue who is the original” fight, where all of Jin’s clones killed each other and he got a scar directly down the center of his forehead.

 

Later, Jin meets with Giran, but he wears a bag on his head. Why? Because he believes that if he’s not wrapped up he’ll start splitting again. This is also the first instance of Twice contradicting himself, saying that he’ll split up without the bag but then immediately saying in another voice that no, he’s fine. He explains to Giran how that if his clones get a certain amount of damage they turn to mush, basically if they break a bone or something similar, and that has him concerned. Remember, he’s not sure if he’s a clone. Giran reveals that Jin’s various robberies with his clones were so prolific, he’s on the nations most wanted list. He also speculates that Jin could probably take over the country with his power and the right equipment. Giran tells him that he should find some people who he can trust and that might help him.

 

He is Legion.

Twice in the present frees himself and runs to try to save Toga, but the clones grab him again. Skeptic orders them to break his arms, which they do. He tells Twice to stop resisting and this’ll all be over. Skeptic, stupidly, just proved to Twice that he’s the real one. He admits that he’d been avoiding any real injuries since the “incident” and laughs at himself for being so stupid to not see how he could have proven he’s the real one years ago. He vows to save Toga and makes an army of clones of himself to fight them.

 

We take a quick break to explain how Twice’s power works. He can make copies of things with a touch. He can make two things at once this way. His copies are weaker than the original, with the first copy being only slightly weaker and the second substantially weaker. He also needs information if he’s going to make a good copy, Height, weight, eye color, etc. We’re shown a quick scene where he tries to copy the Quirk Destroying bullets but fails because he doesn’t have enough data. He wants apologizes, mentally, to Shigaraki for always messing up, for being a burden and says that he’ll make up for it now. Twice starts pushing himself, making clones of himself. He’s overcoming his limit, it seems, by making two clones that immediately start making two more clones, multiplication at nauseum. He calls this the “March of Grief. Sad Man’s Parade.”

 

Re-Destro is impressed that Twice has overcome his trauma so quickly. He mentions to Skeptic that his plan has failed, which seems to royally piss off Skeptic. He claims he’s only failed once in his entire life, so this is all actually going to plan. Kay, Mr. Crazy. Giran tells Re-Destro that without being limited by his psychosis anymore, Twice will at minimum even out the numbers on the battlefield. Re-Destro says quality over quantity, and we shift over to the fight between elementalists.

 

It's raining men,

Dabi’s fire blasts is opponent’s, Geten, ice attack. Dabi’s feeling pretty confident as it’s looking like Geten has used up most of the ice in the area and isn’t generating any more of his own. Mr. Compress is asking for help, Dabi says no and if he wants help he can ask them. The army of Twices has arrived and starts overwhelming the MLA members. They’re only stopped by Geten summoning more ice. Turns out he can make more ice, as he can control temperature as well as manipulate ice. He basically burst a water main to refuel his supply. Geten talks about the future they’re planning, that in their new world the strength of one’s power will determine their place in society, so a strong Quirk is essential. He also notes that Dabi seems to be hitting his limit, as his skin looks ready to fall off. The fire he's creating is so hot it’s burning him too. That is so odd, since usually elementalists are immune to their own power. Well, whatever. Mr. Compress notes that Geten is the only MLA member that’s really standing out and that he’s exactly who they want to throw at Gigantomachia. Dr. Garaki decides to meddle and wakes Gigantomachia early and sends him to help the master’s successor.

 

Meanwhile, Shigaraki and Spinner are running for the tower. They see the tower, but it’s completely covered in guards. They’re joined by a Twice Brigade, who offers to help take care of the small fry while Shigaraki goes for the tower. He wants a lot of the lesser members around to fight Gigantomachia, but he wants to kill the boss now. Trumpet arrives in his campaign van and gives his people a rousing speech that literally powers up his men. Turns out his Quirk increases the power of those who hear his voice. Spinner wonders what he can do to ensure that Shigaraki isn’t tired out even more before Gigantomachia arrives.

 

A Twice, meanwhile, made it to the inner tower and faces off against Re-Destro. Twice starts cloning himself and making copies of Shigaraki, Dabi and Compress. Re-Destro destroys a Twice and tells Twice that he’ll kill Giran if he makes anymore clones. They try to charge him, but Re-Destro makes his arm swell to gigantic size, a black mask also forms on his face as he uses this power, and destroys them all. A Twice survived long enough to make another Twice and he tries to free Giran. Twice apologizes for failing, but Giran apologizes for his info being leaked. Re-Destro goes to kill them both, but the Shigaraki double arrives and throws him off.

 

Masking up!

Re-Destro starts powering up and tells him the story of OG Destro’s life. His mother gave birth to him around when Quirks were first starting to appear, she actually coined the term, and tried to get rights for her son. This didn’t go well, she was killed, and things were chaotic for a while longer. Heroes became a thing, and they dug up her appeals and started using her term for meta abilities when they decided Quirks were good. As Re-Destro is talking, he’s taking giant armed swipes at Shigaraki. He says that reforms just restricted power use even more so. Destro wanted to “free” people to use their power as they see fit. He reveals that he’s Destro’s direct descendant and that’s why he’ll be the one to make the new world order. Shigaraki tells Twice that he’ll need a cushion to protect Giran. Why? When he was knocked outside, he saw the real Shigaraki approaching and says that he’d disintegrate the tower were he down there. OG Shigaraki does and seems miffed when Re-Destro survived the fall. The two bosses are about to face off. Neat.

 

It was interesting to get more on Twice’s backstory. The idea that one bad interaction with a single person led to a domino effect that lead to his life of crime and later extreme psychosis feels like it was ripped right from the Joker’s play book. Bad days, man, they can snowball. And it’s damn terrifying to think of how much more dangerous he is now that he can effortlessly clone himself. He’s a one man army that can also make more specialized units ala cloning his friends and allies. Hell, if he really wanted to it looks like he could swarm all of Japan in a couple of hours. Utterly terrifying. The fight between Dabi and Geten looks cool, but all I can really comment on again is the oddity that Dabi’s flames burn him too. Such an odd thing to happen to a fire elementalist. Am I foreshadowing? You bet I am. Getting a little more history on how Quirks changed the world of My Hero Academia was also neat. The idea that the term Quirk came from Destro’s mother and that the world governments only started using it as a means of pacifying the masses, that’s just too real world to not be crazy. I kind of get the MLA’s point about wanting to be free to use powers… but let’s be real, you let everyone, everywhere use their superpowers however, where ever they want, you get the destruction of society. It’d take just one Magneto to fry all electronics and magnetic strips in an area to see that that is a terrible idea. Next time, we get Shigaraki’s backstory. Be ready, it’s a gut punch. Have a good night!

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 109

 Toga's got an image problem that Curious wants to exploit.

Last time on My Hero Academia, Tomura Shigaraki’s training arc began. He and his crew met with Dr. Kyudai Garaki, the scientist helping All For One. He was ordered to help Shigaraki, but Shigaraki needs to prove himself. How? By defeating Gigantomachia, AFO’s extremely loyal monster bodyguard. Gigantomachia is extremely large and powerful, and Shigaraki spends the next two months ramming his head into the wall that is fighting Gigantomachia. Their fighting is interrupted by a call from their Black-Market contact Giran. Giran, as it turns out, had been kidnapped by Re-Destro. Re-Destro is the heir of the OG Destro and leader of the Meta Liberation Army. They want to destroy the hero status quo and rule the new world order. To do this, they’ve been prepping for a massive revolution and have the forces and resources to do it. Re-Destro gives Shigaraki one hour to reach his city and either fall in to the Meta Liberation Army or die. Shigaraki figures he can kill two birds with one stone by luring Gigantomachia to the city and have him wreck the place, hopefully weaking him enough for Shigaraki to beat. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it.

 

The battle is about to begin.

This episode opens with Izuku narrating the origin of the Meta Liberation Movement. Basically, when Quirks started to become widespread, the official stances most all governments went with is to restrict power usage. In essence, they forced the general populace to limit how and when they use their powers. Remember in the first episode how Kamui Woods charged the giant dude with “illegal use of powers?” This was the start of that. Almost immediately there was push back by those who felt they should be able to use their powers how and when they want, regardless of consequences and the biggest proponent of this was Chikara Yotsubashi aka Destro, the man who would destroy the present. He formed the original Meta Liberation Army and tried to overthrow the government, but was defeated and arrested. He wrote a book about his theories and call for revolution before committing suicide in prison. Izuku ends his narration by saying that Destro had no idea that he had an illegitimate son that would attempt to fulfill his ambition, which lead down the line to Re-Destro. We then see Re-Destro joining his crew and being informed they found Giran, the League of Villains contact. He orders Giran captured and tells them his plan to end the League.

 

We join the League of Villains as they arrive in Daike City. Spinner says that the place is completely unremarkable. Mr. Compress makes note of the time and says they have a little under 2 hours before Gigantomachia wakes up and will chase Shigaraki down to wreck shop. He hopes they can last that long. Pro Hero, and Meta Liberation Army member, Slidin’ Go arrives and tells the group he’s to be their guide. They enter the city and find that it’s basically deserted except for the heroes that work for the Liberation Army. We meet Koku Hanabata aka Trumpet and Chitose Kizuki aka Curious, two members of the Meta Liberation Army’s leading cabal. Koku gives a signal and the League of Villains is charged by dozens of Meta Liberation Army minions. They’re told that Giran is being kept by their Grand Master in the tower. Toga is attacked by Curious, who is a reporter and says she wants to hear all about Toga’s story about how she went from school girl to coldblooded killer.

 

In the tower, Giran tries to convince Re-Destro to let him go by pointing out the flaws in his plan. 1. Using an old man as a Damsel in Distress is dumb, and 2. It’s all over if Shigaraki brings in Nomu. Re-Destro counters by saying that there are 3 reasons that won’t happen. 1. No Nomu have been seen since Kamino Ward, 2. Hood released a lot of Gray Nomu that didn’t seem to have a lot of power, which leads into 3. That Dabi specifically said he came to get Hood’s body, confirming that the Black Nomu are special and hard to replace. They have to ration the monsters, as he puts it.

 

Symbolism

In the fight, Spinner notes that even the civilian members of the Meta Liberation Army seem strong and that’s no fair. Curious explains that their grunts train everyday to be the best and that’s part of why the League of Villains piss them off. They have no great cause they follow, came later and yet they’re the ones who are famous. She tries to bait to Toga to giving her an interview, but Toga isn’t interested. She throws her knife at one of Curious’ goons and tries to stab her, but is thrown off by Curious’ guards. Toga gets thrown into a nearby building, touches the ground and sets off an explosion. We learn Curious’ quirk is Landmine, that she can turn objects she touches into bombs. They’re non-lethal but she can make a lot of them. More Meta Liberation Army try to charge her, but she puts on her mask and throws her syringes around to strike them. Her plan is obvious, steal a lot of blood, disappear in the chaos and turn into one of the people she drained to get away. Unfortunately, Curious saw this outcome and charged up her goons to explode, saying their army has plenty of people that will die for the cause. Toga gets blasted out the back door and makes a run for it. We get the details about Toga’s pass, oldest daughter of the Toga family, disappeared after her middle school graduation and all of her friends and family seemed shocked that she went full psycho. There’s this weird flash of Toga with a mask on her face with a smile drawn it that cracks when we get a shot off what looks like Izuku fighting something. We get a flashback to Re-Destro advising Curious to go for the emotional side of things, not just dry facts. Toga gets up, despite a lot of bleeding wounds to her face and body. She says that the Meta Liberation Army is trying to make a new world and for that she loves them, but she thinks her life as it is right now is normal. Remember, Toga stabs the things she loves.

 

Creepy as hell.

We get a flashback to News reports from when Toga apparently snapped, attacking a classmate and draining his blood. Everyone thought it was crazy and that the look of bliss on her face when draining blood from the classmate was disturbing. We also learn that she’d drained a bird as a child, so attacking the classmate wasn’t a ‘new’ thing. Curious empathizes with her and says that society forced her to repress herself to fit into the world. Toga goes to stab her, but Curious has a support item that lets her block the attack and blast her face. She promises that Toga will be written in their new “holy” book and that she wants Toga’s last words. Toga make a run for it, and takes out an emergency vile of blood. She drinks it and turns into Ochako Uraraka. She’d been saving the last bit of blood she stole during the Provisional License exam because Izuku trusts her and Toga thought she could use that. Curious notes that she knows that Toga can only copy the appearance of the people who’s blood she drinks and assumes Toga wanted to look cute before she died. She goes for the finishing blow and Toga throws up her arm to stop it. She admits she wanted to be trusted like Izuku trusts Uraraka, to be like Uraraka and somehow she activates Uraraka’s anti-gravity quirk. She uses it on Curious and her goons, causing them all to fly into the air. Curious is shocked to realize that Toga’s power grew stronger in the face of death. Toga says she wants to live her life as she chooses and to be more like the people she loves, and with half of her face still looking like Uraraka’s, she releases anti-gravity, killing everyone by dropping them from several feet up. Damn girl. She passes out a minute later. Toga drags herself into a garden shed and passes out inside it.

 

Shigaraki admits he’s tired and that it’s causing him to see things that aren’t there. He sees an office with a picture of a small child and Nana Shigure (All Might’s master) smiling. He sees bits of people, moments like a girl saying she’s rooting for him. Shigaraki leaps at them, disintegrating the lot of them. He throws up after. Spinner, having seen the whole thing, notes that Shigaraki seems to have killed several people without touching them. Dabi, using Shigaraki’s attack as permission, says he’s going to start letting loose. He’s immediately attacked by an Ice hero. This guy, Geten, eggs Dabi into attacking him. Dabi incinerates Geten’s ice. Geten then reveals that he can control all ice and summons a bunch from a nearby convenience store. He claims to have been training for years to get his abilities to this level and that Dabi’s fire won’t stop him. Mr. Compress is freaking out a little, and trying to figure out where everyone is. He’s with Dabi, Toga ran off on her own, Shigaraki and Spinner are on their own, but he'd lost track of Twice.

 

Yeah, this would cause a panic attack in me too.

Twice, meanwhile, had followed Toga’s blood trail to where she’d passed out. He argues with himself as he tries to treat her wounds. He vows to kill them all. He’s being watched by Tomoyasu Chikazoku aka Skeptic via cameras. He brings up Twice’s past, the whole bit about him ‘liberating’ his powers to live his best life but how he was nearly killed by his clones and that caused him to have a psychological break. To prey on this, he used his Quirk, Anthropomorph, to turn inanimate objects into clones of Twice and sent them to attack him. He wants to make Twice join the Liberation Army as a means of protecting Re-Destro. He vows to make him join as the credits roll.

 

This episode was an interesting look into the backstory of Himiko Toga. What did we know about her up until now? Only woman member of the League of Villains, she dresses like a school girl despite not being in school, is a serial killer that drains the blood of her victims, and can shapeshift into them. This is the first look into her life pre-League of Villains and… yeah, Curious has a point. While thee news report we’re shown suggests that this was an “out of nowhere” thing where Toga attacked a classmate and drank his blood, we’re shown that she’d had urges to drink the blood of things she likes since she was a child. She’d been forced to repress that part of her and seem normal her whole life until she finally broke. So, in a weird way, the Meta Liberation Army is at least a little right that Toga is a victim of the current system. She was forced to conform and suffered for it. It was quite shocking to see her pull out a vial of Uraraka’s blood and then end up using her powers! It’s eventually revealed that Toga needs to have a strong desire be like or have a strong empathetic connection to her victims to use their power, but any kind of ability theft or copying is scary. The bit where half her face gets exposed so we see half Toga’s face smiling with a sociopathic grin and half Uraraka’s was just unsettling.  The set up for what Twice is going to have to deal with next time is also extremely unsettling. For those who don’t remember, he had the classic cloning issue of all of his clones claiming to be the original, they all get into a huge fight and, while he’s the only one left in the end, he can’t make himself believe he’s the original anymore. He only feels stable when he’s wearing his mask and has since never cloned himself again. So seeing a bunch of dudes with his face and having them tear his mask off is like the most screwed up thing you could do to him. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes. But we’ll talk about that tomorrow. Have a good night!

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 108

A VILLAIN Training arc. How unusual. 

Last time on My Hero Academia, Aizawa and Present Mic got a blast from the past. They were brought to Tartarus Prison to interview Kurogiri. Gran Torino and Tsukauchi had discovered something truly horrific. Kurogiri is revealed to be an intelligent Nomu, like Hood, but they’d discovered that this Nomu had been made using the corpse of a dead friend of theirs. Oboro Shirakumo had been the third of their amigos, but had been killed in an accident during their Work Study. Aizawa and Present Mic try to talk to their old friend, but whatever was done to him to make him Kurogiri seemed to lock down all of his memories. They do finally breakthrough for a second, and Shirakumo pushes his way to the forefront of his own mind. He is only able to tell them to look at the hospital before he reverts and Kurogiri shuts down. This information is passed to Hawks, who says that that puts all the pieces together. The final shot is of the League’s evil scientist, Dr. Kyudai Garaki, watching over Tomura Shigaraki going through what looks like an incredibly painful medical procedure. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

We start this arc by watching Tomura Shigaraki spewing blood from his body as whatever the medical procedure he’s going through advances. The pain he’s in looks excruciating. This seems to cause him to flashback to Kurogiri telling him the League of Villains has been weakened since losing All For One. He says that AFO left “formidable power” for him and that Shigaraki just needs to say the word for him to retrieve it.

 

We then officially jump back two months to the start of October. The League of Villains: Tomura Shigaraki (disintegrates anything he touches with all five fingers), Twice (Clones things), Dabi (Fire elementalist), Mr. Compress (can shrink objects to the size of marbles and restore them), Spinner (looks like a lizard), and Himiko Toga (can shapeshift into someone by drinking their blood) are facing off against a creature called Gigantomachia. He’s a hulking monster with skin that looks like it’s made at least partially from stone and around his neck is a radio. This creature was, fun fact, also the thing that scared the crap out of Ashido and Kirishima before they went to UA. Shigaraki claims he’s not impressed by this “formidable power,” this pisses of Gigantomachia and he seems creates whirlwinds with his movements. He’s super depressed at the thought AFO chose such a weakling to be his successor. Dr. Garaki contacts Shigaraki over the radio and gives him the info on Gigantomachia. He’s AFO’s biggest fan and former bodyguard. His giant body allowed him to take on multiple quirks without extensive Nomu modifications. In the final years before he was captured, AFO chose to hid Gigantomachia as part of his contingency plans to destroy All Might and the world of heroes. Gigantomachia charges and Dabi tries to incinerate it. This has no effect on the creature, but Garaki plays a recording of AFO’s voice to calm him down. Shigaraki takes off his glove mask and says Gigantomachia is more trouble than he’s worth.

Nothing good comes from people sized test tubes.

 

Garaki uses the black sludge barfing teleportation quirk that AFO used as his emergency escape for them in Kamino ward to bring the group to his lab. There are multiple containers around them where Nomu are being created, but Dabi notes they seem different than the ones from before. Garaki says they are, revealing them to be “High End” Nomu’s like Hood. Garaki introduces himself and he informs them that he’s only been giving the League of Villains the dregs of his work thus far. He made a deal with AFO to give Shigaraki aid but isn’t willing to let him have the good stuff like the High End Nomu until he proves himself.  Shigaraki remembers someone telling him to “stop it,” and he reveals that he doesn’t remember much from his past. He flashes back to when he met All For One, when he was still Tenko Shimura, and he adopted the boy. The villain that showed the boy kindness when the heroes failed him. Shigaraki is taken to his new home, introduced to Garaki and presented with his first gift… the severed hands of all his family that AFO reveals he killed! It’s the thought that counts? Shigaraki claims he doesn’t remember the whole thing but is getting bits and pieces now. AFO promises to give purpose to the frustration he felt. Shigaraki reveals he feels sick while wearing his hands but they also comfort him. He wants to destroy the world to relieve the disgust he feels. His speech gets Garaki on board, but he wants Shigaraki to prove his words with action. Toga asks if he’s going to destroy the things she likes, but Shigaraki says he’ll spare things his allies like. Garaki says that he’ll help Shigaraki, but he needs to prove he’s worthy by defeating Gigantomachia. Dabi says he’s not going to help, as he wants to court an ally (Hawks) and focus on that. Garaki gives them a new device to communicate with him, and then uses a small Nomu to teleport them back via ooze.

 

Shigaraki really thinks he can take this thing out...

They find Gigantomachia waiting and Shigaraki asks if he’s ready to submit to his future king. We jump to December where Shigaraki is still battling Gigantomachia and trying to get it to submit. His group try take him out by distracting him with a clone but it doesn’t stop. Toga and Spinner sum up the whole situation to us, that they’ve been fighting for months to get it under control with no progress, Gigantomachia rages for about 2 days straight before sleeping for three hours and then beginning anew. And, the creature can track Shigaraki wherever he goes, so he only gets 3 hours to sleep. The other villains swap in and out to give him backup since Gigantomachia doesn’t seem to care or notice about them. As they walk to rejoin the group, Spinner asks why Toga is still with the League, as she claims she was inspired by Stain but his influence is pretty much non-existent in the League at this point. Spinner, you’ll recall, thinks of himself as Stain’s great disciple. Toga says she’s there for “love” her love of Stain, and Izuku, and Uraraka, and that she’s overjoyed to “be” all these wonderful people. Spinner says she’s a free spirit as he puts his mask back on.

 

The destruction these two will wrought is impressive.

They find the group and, weirdly, Shigaraki is optimistic about finally beating Gigantomachia. Twice gets a call from Giran, their black-market contact. A dude with a distorted voice, noticeably not Giran, answers and tells them to watch the news. They hear about severed fingers being left at the sites of their big fights. It’s revealed their talking to Re-Destro, the leader of the Meta Liberation Army, and that the fingers being left are Giran’s. He reveals that they have Giran. He gives the League their party line, that the Meta Liberation Army is all about destroying the current order to make a new world order. Re-Destro reveals that his group has been prepping for their big revolution for years and that they’re currently watching the League of Villains via satellite. He tells Shigaraki that the leader of their Liberation has to be Destro’s successor, him, and that the League has grown too popular for that to happen. He gives them Deka City in the hour to free Giran, and then decide if he’ll join them or be captured. Twice is all for saving Giran, as he’s the one that brought Twice to the League. The other Villains are less interested, but Twice won’t drop it. Shigaraki takes off Twice’s mask to shut him up. They have two hours before Gigantomachia, and that Dabi is nearby. Shigaraki has a plan, to lure Gigantomachia to the city and have him destroy it for them, weakening Gigantomachia in the process and allowing Shigaraki to defeat him. The villains prepare to head out.

 

Training arc are fun, regardless if you’re following heroes or villains. We’re getting a little background on Tomura Shigaraki here and the picture is bleak even in this early stage. What do we know for sure? His family is all dead, his disintegration power killed them and reduced them all to severed hands. I know the whole story at this point, and I can tell you it only gets more depressing. We’ll get more of it as his arc goes on. Gigantomachia is an excellent trainer for Shigaraki, as the creature is big, powerful, and won’t sit still long enough to be disintegrated. That plus his devotion to OFA means that he’s coming at Shigaraki full force. Dr. Garaki is an interesting villain to add to the mix. Yes, I’m using his real name and not the alias. Why? … because I forgot he used an alias for a while. My bad. Anyway, he’s an interesting addition to the story as a sadistic monster that is willing to work on literally anyone in order to perfect his Nomu. And I’m not being metaphorical here. Remember, back during the Stain fight, where I mentioned that author Horikoshi revealed that the Nomu that grabbed Izuku at the end and tried to fly off with him used to be one of Bakugo’s henchmen when they were kids? That boy was named Tsubasa and he was Garaki’s grandson. Yeah. This coupled with Garaki being the doctor that told young Izuku that he’d never get a Quirk just opens up so many possible fan theories. And the introduction of Dr. Doofenshmirtz… I mean, Re-Destro and his group is a great challenge for Shigaraki to overcome. I won’t give too much away here, but they’ve been prepping to do the League of Villains “destroy the status quo” plan since before Shigaraki was born. So they’re VERY prepared. … no, I’m not the first person to point out that Re-Destro looks like a buff Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb. It’s just a very funny comparison. So yeah, a solid set up to the arc going forward. Next time, the raid on the city begins. Have a good night. 

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