Seriously! Someone that unlikable should not be so friggin’ great! Knock it off, show! You’re making me feel confused things!

My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia)
Studio(s): BONES
Genre(s): Action, Comedy, School, Shounen, Super Power

Aside from that, remarkably little to say. There are only so many ways I can dress up “This show is good. It does drama really well.” Yes, I already knew the bulk of this was coming (and not just because I’ve looked into the manga). But predictability doesn’t really bother me as much as execution. And these last two episodes were executed marvelously. Not flawlessly, but still really well.

Episode 47 did a lot to really build on the relationship between Deku, Todoroki and (most importantly) Iida. Seeing Iida getting on Deku about this was a really impactful scene. I’m not gonna say I liked seeing Deku get hit because… well… that’d be awful. But seeing that reaction was a big deal.

The heroes in this universe who are most “deserving” of the title generally share a common trait – their bodies act before they can really think about it. They’re, simply put, compelled to help for no other reason. Deku fits that bill. But there’s something about this that’s not often brought up for heroes who aren’t Spider-Man. They’re regularly risking their lives, often on a massive scale. And because they don’t stop to think, that generally means they aren’t really thinking about how this affects those who care about them. When it is shown, it’s usually out of a love interest, spouse, or relative. Which is why I liked seeing this out of Iida, rather than awkwardly trying to jam Uraraka into the scene. Friends can feel this too. And it was even brought up (albeit in a different context and for slightly different reasons) by Deku’s mother, at one point. Risk and Sacrifice are the job description for being a hero. So it’s only natural it affects more than just you, the people you save directly, and the people you put away.

My one hangup with Episode 47 was the shopping bit. I didn’t actually think it was out-of-place. It was perfectly keeping with the overall presentation of the series, which is to deliver really heavy moments and then do something silly for levity’s sake until the action starts again. Really it was just that I didn’t find the scene all that funny and was more cringe-y than anything. I’m not big on cringe humor, so I’ll just chalk that one up to it not being my thing.

“B-b-but it was funny!” “…it kind of wasn’t.”

The next episode there’s even less for me to say. A lot of time was dedicated to a press conference with one reporter who was rather annoying, frankly. Admittedly one of the heroes at the desk acknowledged that the guy was doing his job. But some of the questions, themselves, were far more focused on being “Gotcha” media, rather than asking actual difficult questions. Things like asking how this situation isn’t the worst possible outcome. Really, dumbass? The fact that the students were attacked by a group of villains and not one casualty was reported is your idea of the worst possible outcome? I imagine the absolute worst outcome would be… you know… everyone dying.

He did eventually get around to asking an actual valid question about Bakugo’s kidnapping, which led to perhaps one of the better scenes in the episode. But getting up to that point was just a good example of why I generally hate these kinds of press conference scenes. There’s always that one arse whose “hard-hitting journalism” typically amounts to a ring of questions that exist solely to make the responder look bad, rather than getting actual useful information. Yes. That’s unfortunately how a lot of actual media works. But that’s kind of my point. It shouldn’t be.

Anyway, I don’t really have anything to say about the scenes following that. Big cliffhanger that I’ll leave alone until the next review. But I do basically know what all is going to be happening next. In the meantime a couple of really Super Effective episodes. Some excellent scenes from Deku, Iida, Bakugo, and Aizawa. Some really good tension. Overall just extremely good viewing experiences across the board. But if you’re looking for something a bit sillier, there’s always Last Period.

My Hero Academia is Simulcast on Crunchyroll, Saturdays at 5:30am EST. And both Seasons 1 and 2 are also available to stream. That’s all for this time, guys. Thanks for reading, as always. Keep up the Awesome.

Take care,
C. Voyage