Seems episode 12 has divided us on our opinion. After the emotional punch that was episode 11, episode 12 was always going to be a bit of a lull as My Hero Academia began transitioning into the next phase of the story. Below, Kapodaco and I share our thoughts on episode 12.
Kapodaco:
It seems My Hero Academia will continue with its streak of “Laying down prospects to look forward to in the future” with this latest episode. The students of U.A. living together in a dorm? Sounds perfect for further development of relationships and personalities.
Other than that, I felt this was a fairly weak episode. Not as weak as the first six episodes of this season, but the first episode since the season started to skyrocket in quality where I found myself rolling my eyes at some of the dialogue present. Intriguing as it was to see a few parents of the student heroes and assume the make-up of their personalities by their behavior, much of the time was spent with Midoriya’s mother and how shaken she was with all that her son has faced. That’s fine and all, but it was clear as fucking day she would accept it eventually for the sake of moving the plot along, so the whole process of her being against the dorm idea at first just to proceed with super-emotional and moving dialogue that eventually changes her mind feels really stiff. There was one moment where she was going “I… I… I…” and all I could think was “JUST SAY IT AND MOVE ON!”
I feel this episode could’ve been shortened to just half an episode’s length, with the other half dedicated to showcasing more from the villain’s perspective. We’re only teased with All For One’s ominous reasoning for intentionally(?) allowing himself to be detained. I’m more interested to see the fallout of this from the villains’ perspective, to see if Shigaraki has gone insane from his latest setback. All that had been shown here could’ve been wrapped up quicker than it was, feeling more like filler than anything else. And in the bigger picture, not much really happens in this episode. The last episode had an excuse for the foundation of All Might’s ending reign as the Symbol of Peace, but the biggest issue faced here was one parent being opposed to a dorm project, and everyone knew she’d come around. That’s all.
So about that dorm prospect…
Karandi:
Well, I kind of find myself disagreeing with Kapodaco. Actually, I’ll amend that, half disagreeing. The first eight minutes of this episode were exactly what I wanted. The real weight of building up a single symbol of peace who has finally fallen being discussed and felt. The ripples of last week’s fight spreading through the community, who on reflection, realise the folly of the entire system where one man stands as a pillar holding it all up. While the scenes themselves were all pretty ordinary with meetings between the police, meetings between the teachers and All Might and Midoriya meeting on the beach once again, it did what it needed to do and because thematically this is what I love about this anime, I was really invested in this section of the episode.
I also found the very short segment where Todoroki looked in on Endeavor, who has now become the number one hero in a way he never wanted, to be quite well done.
The second half with the dorm project and the parent visits, well that part I could probably see being cut down significantly as it really didn’t add much. About the only thing we really learned was that Midoriya’s mother is sensibly concerned about her child. So this part probably could have been cut down significantly and then we would have had more time to spend with the villains and that probably would have elevated this episode from a reasonable transitional episode to something pretty special in its own right.
Still, overall I liked this episode. I’m not so sure I care for the idea of the kids all living together and I just started thinking about the concept of putting all your eggs in one basket and if I was a villain I’d probably crush the basket, but I guess we’ll find out what happens next. I can almost guarantee though that we’re going to get a Mineta moment that everyone is just going to hate.
Previous Reviews:
- Episode 11
- Episode 10
- Episode 9
- Episode 8
- Episode 7
- Episode 6
- Episode 5
- Episode 4
- Episode 3
- Episode 2
- Episode 1
Thanks for reading and be sure to check out Kapodaco’s blog next week when we review episode 13.
I felt like the part of the episode with the suits could’ve been cut down. They could’ve done it in more engaging ways than a bunch of no-name suits talking, too.
I guess I feel that way because the second half got me close to crying through Inko’s (Deku’s mother’s) talking about her son, plus it was more than enough seeing the effects of All Might’s loss through seeing Endeavour be like Bakugo was at the end of the tournament arc. (In fact, Endeavour is pretty much a grown-up Bakugo in a lot of ways.)
I really enjoyed this week’s blog. I saw this episode and could not help but fell emotional. It was a sad and touching episode and I can not wait to see what happens next. What do you predict will happen? I have been seeing rumors about Deku having another ability what do you think?
I’m continuing to try to avoid listening to manga readers or rumours about what is going to happen. I’d be a little upset if Midoriya turned out to have another power. It would kind of undermine the entire point of him gaining One For All and working so hard to control it. Not to mention, it would definitely start pushing My Hero Academia into the random power ups just because they are the protagonist land, but I guess we’ll see what happens.
For me, I’d like to see this story continue much as it has with the characters continuing to learn and grow from each encounter and the world to continue to respond to events in terms of how they view heroes and villains. That might be a boring request, but I think that is what My Hero Academia does best.
I do agree with your statement l believe that going forward it should keep the same dynamics. I do hope he does not have a second power it would ruin the show.
Momma Deku wants to Deku to succeed but he never took her concerns seriously. He now realizes how wrong that is. That should affect him going forward.
It would be nice to see some genuine growth there rather than just continuing to throw himself into harm’s way.
Great post , commented on the visualist’s veranda too
Great blog on this weeks episode!
Reblogged this on The Visualist's Veranda and commented:
Karandi and I are at each other’s throats in this week’s episode!! Tune in before one of us actually ends up despising the other!!!!