This week’s episode of My Hero Academia, tensions are high and action is trampling forward. The UA students are feeling the pressure of being involved in the Shie Hassaikai operation, and the opposition is looking more than ready to take them. Let’s press on into this recap!
1. IT’S OKAY TO CRY, MIDORIYA!
I was discussing this with a friend after I watched, but the relationships between all the UA characters are honestly SO adorable. Aside from the little jab from Bakugo (which even then is done through mostly good intent), every one of class 1-A is worried about their friends! Eraser Head is the first to establish that the kids are welcome to back down from the operation if need be, but then we start seeing it from the fellow students.
The stuff that really hit me was during the cafeteria scene. Having Izuku’s thoughts narrate the start of the scene, which followed on from his anxiety from the last episode, was a good way to show how much the pressure was getting to him. Having Iida and Shoto then offer themselves to talk then causes Izuku to apologetically burst into tears, to which they tell him that it’s okay to do that!! Heroes cry too!!!
2. Stakeouts
Meanwhile, we get a great little montage of all the professional heroes from the meeting staking out the city to find clues of where Eri is being kept by the Shie Hassaikai. It’s a neat little investigation moment to see how everyone’s quirks work in different ways but it does feel like the show is padding out time a little bit.
There’s some neat stuff going on between the Big Three of UA, however. Unlike the 1-A students, they’ve seen their fair share of experiences and work, and yet even they are somewhat uncomfortable with this long wait between events. Yet, they’ve got something that the 1-A kids didn’t realize they had: the ability to confide in each other about the task, which we see nicely done in a dialogue-less scene of them all interacting.
3. Nighteye and the Glitter Squad
The UA students collectively get the call in the middle of the night to come to the pro hero meeting as a resolution has been reached. It’s a great little scene where we finally see the tension and hype snap to a climax for each student as they all receive the texts on their phones. When they get there, they find out that the Shie Hassaikai had been hiding them… in their publicly known hideout all along, which makes the last scene feel a little pointless, which another character addresses.
Not all was hopeless, however: as it happens, Nighteye stumbled across a lead on his investigations, in which we see him corner one of the Shie Hassaikai buying a J-Pop idol doll from a set called Glitter Squad, presumably for Eri. Fat Gum hilariously questions him here, saying he could’ve just been into that stuff, but Nighteye reveals he used his foresight on him to confirm his suspicions. We’ve been seeing more of our favorite former sidekick get crafty and it’s a lot of fun!
4. Hangin’ with the pros
After all this debating, the professional heroes decide to storm the Shie Hassaikai base with the UA heroes in tow, to rescue Eri and nothing else. What ramps the tension up yet again is that we’re shown Overhaul talking to one of his associates revealing he knows about their presence and is preparing for a counter-attack. It seems that Overhaul has all his best henchpeople around too, which makes the situation all the more dangerous.
This scene is also punctuated with time stamps and location names, which makes the operation aspect a lot more fun and methodical. The show doesn’t shy away from showing how anxious the UA students are about this, however, and how much they see the professional heroes as cool, calm and collected. Even the Big Three can’t help but be awestruck by how relaxed the others look, considering the situation.
5. Assault!
The scene shows that the heroes have been working with the police to get a warrant for the Hassaikai’s hideout, which is a really great first for a superhero text to include. Just before they can officially announce their arrival, the action kicks off with one of the Hassaikai busting through the dang wall of the hideout to question why all these hero folks are up in their grill. He starts to wreak havoc before we get to see what we’ve always craved: the pro heroes doing their thing. Ryuku transforms into her hulking Dragon Form before wrestling the baddie away from the entrance, cementing her status as an official pro wrestling Queen.
There are some updates on the antagonistic side of this story too! Overhaul visits a sickly man in a hospital bed who turns out to be his father, and reassures him that even though the heroes are here, everything will be okay. He also assembles his personal task force, the Eight Expendable Bullets, showing that he has maybe the best villain team-naming skills.
That’s it for this week, friends! I hope you’re getting as hyped about this arc as I am and make sure to comment and agree on how this is the best season of MHA yet!
