My Hero Academia s4 ep76 – The Impossible

 

Hello everyone! Welcome back! I bought a Switch a few days ago and just started Fire Emblem last night. Needless to say I’m tired and eager to go back to it! So far it’s really fun. How are you Crow?

 

Wanting a Switch! I use a PC for gaming, and Fire Emblem isn’t available on it. Bummer. Otherwise, I’m fine. It’s about 60 degrees Fahrenheit here (around 15 Celsius), and I don’t know whether to enjoy it or dread what’s coming next — the inevitable tumble! 

Just for the record, I’m bold this week, and there will be spoilers. 

I’ve been hearing grumblings about this season of My Hero Academia. I don’t know the details but I do get it. It’s very different from previous seasons and it sure has been having a great time beating up on our heroes. But you know, this season has had me consistently tearing up. Sure, some of it is crass sentimentality and emotional manipulation, but it’s well paced, expertly crafted crass sentimentality and emotional manipulation. And gosh if I haven’t been enjoying it. If I had binged season 4 (which I still might) I think it would have been even better!

Can confirm. The emotional moments have been more poignant. I think what you described is a huge reason. I think another is that MHA has had 3 seasons before this to make us love these characters.

In any case, we left our heroes in dire straits with nothing but a wounded and exhausted Deku standing between Overhaul and his escape with Eri. A Deku that according to Nighteye was doomed to fail and fall in this battle. And then, the ladies to the rescue.

Episode 76 of my Hero Academia (sheesh, 76 episodes already!) caught up with Froppy, Uraraka and Nejire as they struggle with an overpowered villain under Ryuko’s guidance. It was a quick scene, but the episode was careful to highlight each team member’s determination and drive to save their friends and everyone really. And although it shouldn’t matter at all, I was still a little thrilled that the all ladies team was treated with the same attention and expectation as any other. I fell sort of silly for even bringing it up and that’s truly awesome!

That’s kinda the world we’re in right now. I loved that scene precisely because in the world of MHA, at least among the heroes, it was nothing unusual. Of course those heroes could execute; that’s what heroes do. The only one not to get the memo was the villain Riyaka Katsukame, and Nejire quickly and effectively adjusted his perspective.

As they are all trying to bring everything under control, Deku shows up requesting back up. I remember thinking, when did Deku have the chance to get back outside? This is maybe a bit before the end of last episode but still. Also good on Deku for recognizing when to ask for help. It’s one of his weaknesses so this is great growth….

Yup, wasn’t him…It was Toga again. Manipulating the Heroes and Yakuza in order to have them destroy each other as much as possible. There was also an offshoot of the plan where she and Twice transformed one of his doubles in order to gain Mr. Compress’ abilities for their own purposes. It was a fairly small and straightforward plan but it was brilliant. And it was Toga and Twice who came up with it. Neither are known to be particularly talented strategic thinkers in the league. If this is what their pawns can come up with, I think I may have been underestimating the league drastically. I think maybe everyone has.

Yeah, if Shigaraki had been a better leader, some of their previous encounters might have gone quite different. Also, both Toga and Twice are growing. As they gain experience, they’re levelling up, too. I’ve enjoyed how this series dramatizes that kind of thing without drawing attention to it.

At this point we caught up with the last episode. Ryukyu and her team came crashing through the ceiling to find an injured Deku squaring off with Chiaki (who’s also seen better days) as Eri goes through a painful dilemma.

It’s a horror show. Blood and destruction everywhere. Nighteye unmoving and impaled in the middle of the room. Deku looking so small and obviously in pain. Yet to me, he’s never looked stronger. They got me again!

I’d like to say I was ready for it and was ready to resist. Nah. They got me, too. His look of determination was fantastic!

At this point there’s an extended battle between Deku and Overhaul intercut with a few flashbacks. I’ll talk about those in a bit, but as far as the actual fighting goes I don’t have much to say. It was great to look at as always, but there was more to it and I’m not sure how to explain. At one point Eri realizes that her existence could be more than a simple burden and decides to trust Deku, rushing back to him. The action is slowed and a mournful but very pretty song begins to play. It’s heavy handed. There are tons of moments like this through the latter half of the episode. It’s obvious and cliché. Yet when you put them all together it builds up to a whole that is immeasurably greater than the sum of its parts.

Somewhere through those scenes, and I can’t say exactly when, I remembered that Deku was a hero. Not the commercial hero for hire of the MHA universe, not the generic term for protagonist, but an actual hero. A collection of drives and ideas that Horikoshi wanted to characterise because it brought hope to share with the rest of us. And something that a lot of fans found simple joy in. It’s a lot to ask for a simple fight scene but that’s nonetheless what it did for me.

Since Deku’s subconscious moved his body to save Bakugou all the way back in episode 1. His training layered on the skills he’ll need to fight effectively. He’s learned a lot about self control. But in this episode, as you just pointed out, he acted on his heroic instincts, and it was beautiful to watch!

The flashbacks were both painful and enlightening. They were basic exposition on Eri, her quirk and Chiaki’s past and personality. Chiaki is sort of unflinching. He probably could have been a decent hero, although a tad too rigid. I was always surprised that he managed to fit into the Yakuza framework so well. So I guess the flashback was pretty much what I expected.

On the other hand, Eri’s quirk was not at all.

Eri’s quirk is what I would call a writer’s problem. It’s amazing and opens up so many possibilities but if I understood it right, it also effectively renders all the characters immortal. Because she can only regress life forms, she probably couldn’t bring Mirio’s quirk back, but Nighteye’s gonna be just fine. No worries. So is Kirishima. No one needs to suffer at all here. And that’s a bit of a problem as far as creating lasting stakes go. I wonder how they’ll deal with it.

I think they tried to show it has limits — like her inability to control it. But as Deku said, she was just like he had been when he first got One for All. She’ll learn control. 

All any hero would have to do is have Eri on standby, and if they get too injured, evac them to her or bring her in. Voila! Instant health. And since her Quirk doesn’t seem to erase memories, since Deku was clearly able to remember everything, it is exactly as you suggested: Eri-based immortality. 

Oh and I was super relieved to have confirmation that she is indeed not Chiaki’s daughter. Although kinda and also considering what happened to her dad…. Ok, I’m going to stop thinking about this now.

And what did you think of what Overhaul did to the man who brought him into the Family? Overhaul broke him enough to put him in a coma. And he promised that once his plan succeeded, he would bring the old man back and show him Overhaul had been right. That’s both impressive and messed up!

I really liked this episode. I do hope we finally get that filler next week though. I want to know if Tamaki is o.k…

As long as they have Eri, I’m sure he’ll be as good as new!