My Hero Academia Episode 78

My Hero Academia Episode 78

Smoldering Flames

During last week’s episode review I mentioned that this week’s episode was really going to be the arc’s conclusion, and it seems that was spot on. While there was a small amount of new information given in order to hint at the next arc, the majority of the episode recapped the arc we just watched.

So, obviously, I’ll be focusing on where the series is headed from here. And I feel like the best place to start looking for clues is the new opening sequence. I’ll be honest, the new OP isn’t very good as far as I’m concerned. I like KANA-BOON, but this isn’t their best song, and the visuals are all slice of life, school festival scenes.

Now, some of you may think that the visuals from this OP don’t really matter, but think back to all the other OPs. Has there really been one so far which didn’t have to do with the arc at hand? No. And it’s for that reason that I think this second cour of My Hero Academia season 4 is going to be pretty boring.

I do think that it will continue to set up for the next arc, which will likely include both Gigantomachia and Endeavor, but this arc itself will be just that — set up. Our main character will be relaxing and living his best school life after the events which just took place, and we’ll mostly focus on that with bits and pieces of side characters doing real things.

However, there’s also the chance that only the first half of this cour will be extremely slow and slice of life-esque. The second half might really ramp up the set up for the next arc, but I’d say don’t expect that to happen too soon.

Gigantomachia

As we learned in this episode, Shigaraki wasn’t All-for-One’s only pupil — there’s also Gigantomachia. And since All-for-One turned out to actually have two students, that opens up the possibility for him to have many more. Effectively, there’s a never ending supply of villains with connections to All-for-One, meaning he’ll always be “relevant.”

The problem with this is that All-for-One wasn’t a particularly interesting villain. And although he was built up as the most dangerous and powerful villain, he was defeated relatively early on. So since All-for-One doesn’t particularly matter, why does everything need to connect back to him?

Gigantomachia from the anime series My Hero Academia season 4
Gigantomachia

So, taking the series’ reliance on a boring villain like All-for-One into consideration, we start to see that, aside from Overhaul, the villains in this series aren’t that great. And Gigantomachia is a seemingly perfect example of this.

There are actually some decent villains already in the series — the League of Villains. Yes, I don’t like Shigaraki all that much, but at least the other villains who follow him are somewhat interesting for the most part. So then why was someone like Gigantomachia introduced?

There are two main reasons I can see for his introduction right now. The first is to remind us that All-for-One is the main villain, despite him already being defeated. And the second is to introduce a new villain who doesn’t really matter so that he can be defeated by Endeavor. I’ll discuss that more in a bit.

But even looking at Gigantomachia as a character himself, he’s kind of boring. Okay, he’s giant, but what else? He also seems to have a hardening ability, but again, that’s nothing special. In fact, we’ve seen at least three characters with this same ability before him.

Basically, why should we care about Gigantomachia?

Mirio’s Quirk

Taking a minor detour from the discussion of Gigantomachia and Endeavor, I want to discuss Mirio for a moment because what happened to his quirk could potentially be extremely important to that discussion.

As we know, Mirio’s quirk has been “permanently” removed by one of the special bullets Overhaul created from Eri’s blood. But, we also find out that his quirk may not actually be lost entirely after all — which is something I had already assumed.

If Eri learns to control her quirk, then it’s theoretically possible for her to restore Mirio’s quirk. All she would have to do is revert his body back to the point at which he had his quirk. And, I think it should be pretty obvious that this is something which will happen in the future.

What you may not have realized, however, is that Mirio is far from the only person who could benefit from Eri mastering her quirk. There’s another person arguably stands to gain even more from Eri’s ability, and that’s All Might.

Couldn’t Eri revert All Might’s body back to the point before he received his injury from All-for-One? And, wouldn’t this also mean that All Might’s full One-for-All quirk is restored to him?

That would be a pretty big moment for the series. With the return of All Might, basically every problem would be solved. The majority of the villains would no longer be a threat, and just his presence alone would reduce crime rates.

The #1 Hero

So, what does the restoration of Mirio’s quirk mean for Gigantomachia and Endeavor? Well, it means that All Might’s quirk could also be restored, which would push Endeavor back down to the #2 hero spot. And this is why it’s so important for Endeavor to defeat a powerful, “important” opponent like Gigantomachia.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a villain too powerful for Gran Torino, and who has connections to All-for-One, was introduced in the same episode that we see Endeavor make a comeback. Also, since Endeavor wants to talk to All Might, we can assume it’s about the new standings of the top ranking heroes.

Endeavor from the anime series My Hero Academia season 4
Endeavor

My guess is that Endeavor is going to let All Might know that he plans to hold onto the role of #1 hero. And although he most likely won’t say it in a nice way, he’ll probably be looking for All Might’s approval. Endeavor has always been second to All Might, and now that he’s at the top, he wants to be recognized for it.

So, All Might will probably understand how Endeavor feels and give him his blessing. Additionally, if this is what happens, that would also give All Might a reason not to use Eri’s quirk to restore himself to his former glory. If he supports Endeavor as the #1 hero, then restoring his own power would be a betrayal of Endeavor’s trust.

By the end of this arc I think what we’ll find is that Endeavor cements himself at the top of the hero rankings with his defeat of Gigantomachia. And, at the same time, this will effectively prevent All Might from making a comeback — which would have messed up the balance of power between heroes and villains.

Conclusion

What do you think about My Hero Academia episode 78? What about this second cour of season 4 as a whole? Do you think my assessment that this cour is going to be full of slice of life elements with some side character action is going to be accurate? And, what do you think All Might will do regarding Eri’s quirk? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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