We’re back (a little late, sorry!) this week with some more coverage of that good good superhero anime, My Hero Academia! This week, Midoriya proves his worth to Sir Nighteye, and we find out some more juicy gossip about the newer characters occupying this season. Strap yourselves in, folks!
1. First impressions.
If you had hoped that somehow Midoriya’s All-Might impression from the last episode might’ve ended up a total success, prepare to be disappointed. Sir Nighteye immediately points out how not only is the joke in bad taste but also inaccurate. He hilariously nitpicks details like the centimeter length of All-Might’s dimples and questions what period of All-Might’s career Midoriya might’ve referenced, leading to his immediate dismissal of our proud protagonist.
Fortunately, since Midoriya is a total superhero nerd, they both have an extended discussion on the accuracy of Midoriya’s impression and the circumstances around a deceptively small-time heroic moment from All-Might’s career. It’s reminiscent of arguments I’m sure we’ve all engaged in about our own niche fandoms over the years, and makes both characters endearing. Thankfully, it also gives Midoriya a second chance.
2. Old Sidekick vs. New Blood.
After this initial conflict has cleared, we get a new one in Sir Nighteye promising to stamp Midoriya’s enrolment form: but only if Midoriya can get the stamp himself to do so in three minutes. It’s a classic Shonen training challenge setup, especially being timed, but the circumstances around the challenge are what make this scene interesting. Nighteye’s quirk (let’s see if I fully understood) is that he can see everything that will happen to a person for up to an hour after touching them.
This leads to a high-octane speed battle, with Midoriya starting out by trying to outthink Nighteye, even when the latter is literally narrating the scene as they fight. Tactics get switched up as Midoriya tries bouncing around the room like his former mentor Gran Torino so that Nighteye will be seeing too many moves to comprehend, but to no avail, as Nighteye even calls him out as being a second-rate Gran Torino. It’s a well-choreographed scene, with each move that moves the plot significantly being chock full of detail and momentum.
3. Mirio’s Missed Opportunity
This is not merely a battle on the physical plane, however. We see Nighteye constantly try to get into Midoriya’s head, and starts off with the immediate low-blow. Nighteye straight-up tells him that he thinks All Might picked poorly for his successor, which might seem contrary to everything we’ve watched in this show so far, but Nighteye lays down some pretty significant reasoning to back his claims. Tying back to Overhaul in the last episode, Nighteye touches on the fact that after All Might’s final battle, the general public morale is pretty low. He says that a hero needs to be someone who can balance power and public appearance, somehow who has the personality and vibrancy that All Might used to inspire people around him.
We’re also brought back to the idea that Mirio, part of UA’s Big 3, was supposed to be the one to inherit One-For-All, All Might’s power. We’re shown that Mirio was aware of this, which makes his relationship to Midoriya even more interesting as we question his reasons for helping him. Nighteye was and still is a big supporter of Mirio as he believes he has all of All Might’s characteristics (he’s not wrong). Once the fight is over, we see Nighteye concede to having Midoriya onboard, if only to try and psyche Midoriya out from his role even further.
4. The rest of ’em.
We get a small break this episode as we switch back to the rest of class 1-A once Midoriya’s been recruited. The show cleverly sets up most of the supporting cast with interesting roles to play this season, teasing who’s going to be important. Tokoyami, the hawk-headed student, interestingly gets set up for an internship with the number three overall hero, Hawks, and although the decision for that seems obvious, the fact that a minor character is getting sided with such a major league player seems like a big deal. My main-boy Kirishima (who has the ability to harden and sharpen parts of his body, for those not in the know!) gets a neat little deal too!
Continued belowMy favorite part of this scene, however, is that the two resident bad-boys of 1-A, Bakugo and Todoroki, both act as the comedic relief. Todoroki mentions with each character getting an internship that the ability gap between them is getting wider, with Bakugo constantly complaining at him each time he mentions it. It’s nice to see these usually-darker characters get a lighter role to show that they work in any situation.
5. The Shie Hassaikai.
The final point I wanted to touch on was that we find out Nighteye has conveniently kept tabs on this season’s big bad, Overhaul. He notes that the Shie Hassaikai has been fairly tame until the aftermath of All Might’s final battle. He even reveals that they were able to find out that Overhaul met with the League of Villains, which proves how competent and big-time Nighteye’s company is.
Outside of these facts, it’s great that the anime isn’t messing around with pacing. The story could’ve taken a lot longer to connect Midoriya to Overhaul, so it’s nice to see that we’re shooting through content at a fast and satisfying pace.
That’s it for the recap of this week’s episode! Do you have any thoughts about Sir Nighteye’s complex personality or the reveal about Mirio? Hit us up in the comments and tune in next week for more!
