Review:
There were three things I took from this episode that were truly brilliant and then the rest of the time I was stuck watching a slow moving tournament. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like the episode. It was fantastic. But what made it fantastic were the reveals and character moments and not what was actually happening.
Firstly, someone finally acknowledges how stupid that entrance exam is. There are so many different types of powers to deal with so many different types of situations and yet if you can’t beat a giant robot, sorry kid you’re out of luck. We see the obvious issue with that because if Midoriya wasn’t the protagonist, the general course student who failed the practical should have most definitely won the first round of this fight. It’s a great acknowledgement of the flaws of the world and the flaws that are inherent in any system of measuring someone’s merit. This was further acknowledged by some of the heroes in the audience after the match when they wondered why someone so powerful was in the general course.
Secondly, Midoriya won and that’s great and all but what was more important about this was how he overcame the brainwashing. Seems One For All might be a bit more complicated than it initially seemed and Midoriya is having visions that may or may not include All Might, which may or may not mean that the power really is leaving All Might for good and that torch passing moment may nearly be complete. I’d love to know more about this power to be honest given it isn’t an inherited power like pretty much everyone else (though it seems likely there must be other powers that can be transferred because surely the ones who created One For All weren’t the only people who thought making a power would be cool).
Finally, Todoroki. I may seriously have to go and write another top 5 list for cool users of Ice Magic because in the last five minutes of this episode Todoroki blew me away. He may have been angry and that may have been overkill but it was damn cool to watch and I’d love to see more of that.
So yeah, great episode, though limited actual plot progression given we’ve only seen two matches of round one.
My Hero Academia is available on Crunchyroll.
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Thanks,
Karandi James.
I like how the show puts Deku in a lot of situations where he’s forced to question his resolve to succeed not out of fear of his rival, but because he feels for them and see how they are just as worthy as him to succeed. With one of Deku’s prime qualies being his kindness, it’s a good lesson from him to not let that kindness hinder him when action is required.
Yes, he certainly proved that regardless of how much he emphasises for the other character he’s willing to fight to win anyway. It is an interesting contradiction in his character.
I like Todoroki….he’s cool. 😛 🙂