My Hero Academia – 72-75

First of all – apologies for my tardiness on MHA. Due to vacation and sickness, I haven’t been able to write about everyone’s favorite high school heroes. Fear not, as I will make up for lost time as MHA heads into their finale with….some rather uneven episodes, honestly.

72-75 has 2 good episodes and 2 not so good. The good: Red Riot and Lemillion. MHA shines in these two hero spotlights using the expected and unexpected. How so? Red Riot’s episode, which could also be titled “Proving I’m a Man”, was good ole fashioned hero fodder: overcoming backstory trauma, facing fears, and defeating the enemy. The unexpected here was a villain who stood by his ideals more than his mission and the respect Red Riot earns. I LOVE where Mr. Punchy (not his real name) corrects himself and titles Red Riot “man” – in reality, that’s all Kirishima’s ever been going for. All my complaints about his other episodes are erased – really this was just a prototypical but excellent “hero” episode.

“Lemillion” is different. Sure we have some backstory as to how Lemillion came to be, sure we have his adversary’s acknowledgement of his strength – what’s special here is when he loses his powers. Earlier, we saw how traumatized Suneater was – and rightly so. A Quirk is pretty much all your combat ability in this world; losing it is more than losing a limb.  That doesn’t stop Lemillion – he doesn’t flinch, doesn’t blink, does not waver. That’s where MHA is the best; that’s something we haven’t seen before. With the hero genre getting so much screentime these days, to be able to do something original is commendable. I’m reminded of Avengers (minor spoilers follow) where Hawkeye and Black Widow are fighting for the right to sacrifice themselves for their friends. That’s fresh – but so befitting a hero, you can’t help but applaud. Lemillion’s actions are the same.

Now for the not so good. First of all, Overhaul is so overpowered that a Deus Ex is necessary (pretty sure it’s two giants crashing through the ceiling). I’m also not a fan of his power being the one to fix this – I can’t imagine Nighteye dies here or Lemillion is permanently powerless. Secondly, MHA’s pacing has been a little strange – part of this is due to all the flashbacks. It’s an an embarrassment of riches, where each character has enough material that several flashbacks an episode are necessary. Finally, while I loved the League of Villians pep talk (Shigaraki taking off his original hand, which I believe is his fathers? was quite the tour de force), their injection just feels a bit contrived. I do hope to see one of them take Chisaki’s head in the finale though – that would be great.

MHA is lumbering to the finale. While this season has had quite a few episodes I feel fell flat, these recent two hero showcases were on point. I can’t say I’m not intrigued seeing what this show could become following our class’ graduation, but I’d rather it somehow incorporate the rest of 1-A. This whole season has felt sort of tangential – a widening of the world of heroes and villains. I wouldn’t be surprised if we return to more school life next season or escalate the main story (One4All vs All4One: Next Generation!) Still, there’s just too much firepower in this anime to let an entire season go to waste (thank goodness this wasn’t a OPM2 – I think that’ll be an award name for a sequel who utterly failed to live up to the first season), so I’m satisfied. Just don’t do another season like this, please.

Also, the League needs to take a trip to the beach – Himiko is PASTY (slightly NSFW).