Welcome once again to the coverage of the wildest superhero anime out there! This week on My Hero Academia, things reach a searing climax as the tense showdown between Izuku and Overhaul takes place with Eri’s fate up in the air. It’s heaven or hell folks, join me as we break down the episode into our five thoughts.
1. Party crashers
I’m super glad that the anime touched back with what Ryukyu the dragon lady and the others, as she has such a visually exciting power set. Unfortunately, we don’t get a full fight scene with here, and the fight she initially has with the help of Froppy and Uraraka is deligated to an offscreen win, but we see the enemy Rikiya gain a second wind due to a late-blooming boost from Overhaul’s drugs. The way his power works on the heroes is genuinely creepy as he vampirically leeches the life energy from those around him with an unsettling laugh, making him a solid villain.
Thankfully, the gang is somehow helped by Izuku being above ground for some reason, who shows them where the main fight is so that they can bust through the ground with little care for general public safety in order to help the others. It’s an inspiring moment as they buck against Rikiya’s expectations, saying together that they’ve always been told to go above and beyond – Plus Ultra!
2. Oh, the League are still here
Surprise, though! The above-ground Izuku was actually Toga disguised as him all along, wreaking chaos in order to help the heroes and the Hassaikai kill each other off. On top of that, we see that they’ve found a comrade in a Twice clone of their buddy Mr. Compress to help out with their plans. Through the bickering between them all, it seems that they’ve been relegated to comic-relief villains, almost reminiscent of Jessie and James. It seems like wasted potential, but they do move the plot forward and have good chemistry together. I do appreciate how morbidly thirsty Toga is for everyone, though it is a little creepy that it’s always directed at the teenaged Izuku.
3. Rewind
Back underground, the gang is struggling to overcome the big bad, Overhaul. Nighteye is in critical condition (I honestly thought he was a goner with the events of last episode), so Ryukyu and the gang move in to support him. Overhaul himself, in his current mutated form, is trying to escape with Eri above ground. I kind of love how much this episode goes to humanize Eri as a character rather than just a MacGuffin for both sides to try and claim. She sees Lemillion’s torn cape and resolves to no longer be passive in this fight. Eri activates her power and restores Overhaul to his base state, revealing to the audience that she has to power to ‘rewind’ things back to their natural, primordial point of origin. Terrifying!
We get a neat flashback that shows this attempt at humanizing Eri, and why Overhaul is the worst because he refuses to do so. The original Hassaikai boss, who is revealed to be Eri’s grandfather, wants to stick by Eri even though she was considered cursed by her own mother. Having an old man who has an unexpected relationship with a younger person is 1000% how to get me emotionally invested in something.
4. Super Saiyan Midoriya
When Izuku then attempts to rescue Eri from the depowered Overhaul, he finds himself powered up to 100% One For All, but with no physical harm to his body!!?? The camera pans out to show us that Eri is on his back, and subconsciously channeling her rewind powers to stop Izuku from sustaining bodily harm from using his powers. It’s a great way to really have Izuku let loose with the full potential of his powers without completely unlocking them for the rest of the narrative. Nonetheless, the threat is still present, as it is revealed since Eri doesn’t have control over her powers that she could accidentally rewind Izuku into non-existence. With this, we get an Izuku who looks calm, competent, and with energy flowing through him that could’ve been pulled straight from the later pages of “Dragon Ball”.
Overhaul naturally powers up again to match Izuku, absorbing the fallen giant Rikiya to ascertain a form akin to the final form of a Final Fantasy boss. He menaces over the whole screen with fleshy spider-like limbs stretching out in every direction, as Overhaul’s comparatively tiny body hangs suspended at the front of this tangle of flesh. Very “Akira”-esque.
5. Change the future
Make no mistake, the ensuing battle that takes place is superbly flashy. The studio has really gone out for this scene, and it makes for an incredibly grand event, especially as lights flicker and gleam from Izuku’s powers. However, what I really love at this moment is the validation that Izuku passes on to Eri, which makes him truly worthy of All Might’s position. Whilst Overhaul has spent all this time constantly reminding Eri of how much of a burden she is and of her cursed nature, Izuku turns that notion on its head. He calls her powers a blessing and inspires her to work with him to take down this glorified bully, who we find out hospitalized the original Hassaikai boss, only promising to return him to normal once his plan to mass market erasure bullets was complete.
Izuku proves how powerful he is in this form by effortlessly releasing a 100% Manchester Smash, obliterating Overhaul and sending him to the ground. We get an incredibly touching moment as Nighteye watches the scene and realizes with joy that his grim vision of the future was changed and proven wrong. Beautiful stuff!
That’s it for this week, folks! Let us know how Izuku is once again the greatest, or how much you enjoyed this climactic event.
