When we last left our heroes-in-training, they were under attack by The Vangaurd Action Squad of the League of Villains, who’s purpose is to simply cause chaos and make cracks in the society of heroes, something we learned at this beginning of this week’s episode, “Drive It Home, Iron Fist!!!”
After learning of the Villains’ plans, we find Deku bruised and injured but not yet broken, as he still has work to do, keeping warning the others, having Kota put out the fires, and, above all, keeping him safe. With his legs left uninjured, something he planned in his attacks, Deku jumps off into action, carrying Kota on his back.
Meanwhile, Eraserhead faces Dabi, a villain who can shoot blue fire from his hands, and boy is this sequence awesome. Eraser easily dodges his first attack and quickly uses his wraps and quirk to apprehend the villain. But, he quickly melts away, he was nothing but a decoy made by another villain, leading Eraser to bolt off and leave his students behind so he can fight the true threat.
On his way, he runs into Deku, whom he gives a message to relay to Mandalay, that the students have full permission to use their quirks. Mandalay sends out a telepathic message so that the students can defend themselves and join the fight without violating any hero laws. She also sends out the message that the villains are targeting Bakugo, and that he should avoid combat at all costs. Of course, he doesn’t listen at all, because he’s Bakugo.
Meanwhile, Eraserhead is getting Kota to safety, and we get this heart-wrenching moment in which Kota cries at Deku’s actions, he feels terrible that he punched Deku but he still came to his rescue, getting beat up in the process. Even worse, he hasn’t even said thank you or sorry. It’s a powerful moment because we see just how affective Deku is as a hero, and we see Eraser appreciate Deku’s actions as a hero, despite the fact that he has injured himself to extremes (to the point where he will be useless in the coming fight) and that he acted without permission.
Now that the students have permission to use their quirks in combat, the real fight begins, and it is awesome. Todoroki scolds Bakugo for not avoiding combat while the two of them battle a villain with blade-based powers, which is a quick, but fun sequence. Meanwhile, Kendo and Tetsutetsu of Class B deal with the poisonous gas in the forest, realizing that it is coming from a central area, and that they should take out whoever is causing it. The scene provides a small moment to show how heroic some of the other students are, particularly Tetsutetsu as he runs through the densest part of the gas to protect and avenge the others.
Things get even more intense at the center of the gas, where they find the villains known as Mustard. Tetsutetsu charges that the villain who shoots off his mask and leaves him with just his Steel skin as protection, which he uses to take a bullet for Kendo. Things continue to look grim for these two as Mustard increases the flow of poisonous gas, and Tetsutetsu’s straight charge tactics don’t work. Luckily, Kendo finds a way to defeat Mustard, which again gives us a great chance to see all the different fighting methods our young heroes employ, something I especially love about the series.
The greatest spectacle of the episode came from Tokoyami, who uses his Dark Shadow to defend himself, but because of how dark it is outside, Dark Shadow cannot be contained and turns into a giant monster, which only serves to worsen the situation everyone is in, building more and more tension for the young heroes of UA.
Overall, this as a strong episode that, while it loses points for throwing just a bit too much into 22 minutes, had a lot of great, powerful moments that shows just how heroic the students are, and how far they’re willing to go to break through whatever obstacles stand in their path.
How will the students of UA fair in this chaos? Check back next week for our review of My Hero Academia season 3, episode 6!
Follow Us
