Lady Nagant the Anti-Hero

As I predicted last week, we got to learn about Lady Nagant’s backstory in My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 134. However, I wasn’t predicting Lady Nagant’s arc to come to an end so soon. Her formal introduction was in Episode 133 and by the end of Episode 134 Deku defeated her.

Still, even though Lady Nagant wasn’t around for long, she’s pretty interesting. Originally, the implication was that she swapped from being a hero to a villain. But, it turns out that’s not exactly true. She did some bad things. However, I wouldn’t call her a villain.

Lady Nagant is more of an anti-hero than anything else. And this makes her closer to someone like Stain than most of the other villains of the series. Like Stain, she saw a problem with hero society and wanted to fix it her own way.

But, what sets Lady Nagant apart from someone like Stain is that she had a very narrow scope. Stain basically hated all pro heroes who weren’t All Might. He believed they were false heroes who got into that line of work for the wrong reasons. And as a result, he became a terrorist.

Lady Nagant’s hatred for hero society is much more limited. She doesn’t hate all pro heroes. Instead, she hates the system that forces some heroes to do the nation’s dirty work and covers it up. She hates that the government acts righteous, but is actually dealing in death.

Eventually, Lady Nagant chose to act on her beliefs. But, instead of taking her anger out on all heroes, she directed it at those she viewed as responsible. We know she killed the Hero Association commissioner, and it was said she killed some heroes. We never actually saw her kill other heroes, though.

Quirk: Fa Jin

So, we know One for All’s third user’s original quirk is a speed boost quirk. But, it doesn’t work in the way I assumed it would. Considering the third user’s appearance, I thought his quirk would work like Iida’s. That’s not the case.

To understand how this quirk works, we first need to look at its name: Fa Jin. I didn’t know what this meant. So, after I finished the episode, I looked it up. According to Wikipedia, it’s a Chinese martial arts term meaning explosive power.

That definition of Fa Jin makes sense considering how we saw Deku use this quirk. First, he built up a large amount of potential energy in his legs. Then, he released that energy to travel at a high rate of speed. This is different from his ability to launch himself with One for All.

While I’m glad we got to see the third user’s quirk in action, I was expecting to see the seconds, as well. The second user seems to have some sort of projectile quirk. I figured that would play a role in Deku’s fight against Lady Nagant considering her quirk. But, I guess not.

I also want to point out that we still don’t know the names of the second or third One for All users. Why do you think this is? Is it simply that their names aren’t important so Horikoshi never gave them names? Or, could their names be spoilers for later?

I’m not really sure what their names would spoil, though. Even if we recognized their last names, what would it change? If the third user’s last name was Midoriya and we learned he’s related to Deku, so what? I’m thinking Horikoshi just never bothered to name them.

The Replacement

Lady Nagant had a lot of potential to be a good antagonist. But, as I already mentioned, she only lasted 2 episodes before Deku defeated her. And the way in which he defeated her wasn’t very satisfying. Well, the “second” way he defeated her wasn’t. The fight itself was pretty good.

After Deku defeats Lady Nagant in combat, he defeats her for a second time with his words. He reveals that she never actually intended to kill Overhaul when she shot at him. And he reveals that she could have defeated him with her first shot if she wanted to.

It turns out that despite the bad things she’s done, Lady Nagant still has the heart of a hero. And, to me, that’s a pretty boring resolution. I’d rather see Deku (and Hawks) convince Lady Nagant that the system she fought against is changing. Seeing her already be good deep down kind of made the fight pointless.

I get that having Deku and Hawks turn Lady Nagant to their side could be boring to some people. It’s very similar to Naruto’s Talk-no-Jutsu, after all. But, I think it would have made sense in this situation. We already knew Lady Nagant committed crimes because she’s a hero.

So, it could have been interesting to see how she’d react to learning that the system is changing. The crimes she committed weren’t for nothing. She changed the direction of the hero system with her actions. That’s what I’d have rather seen.

And, of course, we could still have the episode end in the same way. The explosive trap laid by All for One could still go off. I’m not saying I think she should survive to team up with the heroes and take down All for One. Not much would change.

Conclusion

What do you think of My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 134? Did you expect Lady Nagant to last longer than 2 episodes? Were you thinking Deku would use the second user’s quirk in this fight? And did you like how Lady Nagant’s story ended? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 135 is available now.

Superpower Dark Ages

My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 133 gives us a glimpse into the start of One for All. By start, I don’t mean how All for One made the quirk by forcing a power storage quirk into his brother. I mean how One for All’s legacy began.

If All for One’s brother never passed his quirk down, One for All as we know it wouldn’t exist today. And he never would have passed his quirk down if he wasn’t rescued by the (later) second and third users. They found him while hunting down All for One.

During that time, quirks were relatively new. Because of that, villains were running around pretty much uncontested. And, as you might have guessed, All for One was at the top of the villain world. He used a mind-control quirk to bend other villains and those with quirks to his will.

We don’t know exactly how One for All made its way from the first to the second and then to the third user. What were the circumstances surrounding the quirk getting passed on? I’m going to assume the second user got the quirk shortly after rescuing All for One’s brother.

All for One’s brother likely passed on his quirk to his saviors so they could fight his brother. But, what about the next transfer? What led to the quirk being passed from the second to the third user? They were both fighting together. So, did the second user suffer a mortal injury and pass on the quirk before he died?

It’s interesting to think about how this all might have played out. Based on the other users we know of, there was always a mentor passing the quirk down to a student. But, here, things were different.

The Final One for All Quirks

At this point, we still don’t know what the second One for All user’s quirk was. But, we can be pretty sure it has to do with projectiles. He wears what looks like a cannon mounted on his forearm in the flashback.

In the “present” (when Deku met with the past users in his mind), we see that he has 2 of these cannons — one on each arm. Still, we haven’t seen what it is he shoots. But, even with that piece of information missing, this quirk seems good.

Think about all the other quirks Deku has in his arsenal. None of them are particularly long-range quirks. Blackwhip can reach enemies and objects a bit farther from Deku. But, he doesn’t have a quirk that he can actually fight at a distance with yet.

The third user’s quirk appears to be a speed boost quirk, as I predicted in my Episode 131 review. We haven’t seen Deku use this quirk yet. But, when Deku’s about to attack Lady Nagant, the third user mentions accelerating. With this, Deku can either dodge her shots or close the gap between himself and her.

How can Deku use these 2 new quirks alongside the others, though? The second user’s quirk doesn’t seem like it pairs all that well with the others. Maybe it could be good when used in conjunction with the Smokescreen quirk. But, it’s not like it combines well with Deku’s physical strength, Blackwhip, or Float.

The speed boost quirk could be a bit better. Deku can set up a smokescreen to mask his movements and quickly close in on his opponent. Then, once he’s in range, he can hit them with a powerful punch. That seems pretty good, to me.

Hired Gun: Lady Nagant

Lady Nagant seems like a pretty good villain. Overhaul was a good villain. And Lady Nagant is dragging him around. So, she must be a good villain too, by association. Though, the reason she’s dragging him around is that she thinks she’ll be able to use him at some point.

So, aside from her wanting to use Overhaul, what makes Lady Nagant interesting? The big thing is that she’s a former hero. And, in fact, she’s more than just a former regular hero. She was a member of the Public Safety Commission with Hawks.

We also know that she got sentenced to Tartarus for killing one of her allies (another hero). Unfortunately, we don’t know who this hero was or why Lady Nagant killed them. But, I have a feeling that we’ll learn more about that as the arc progresses. She seems like she’s going to get a fair amount of backstory.

As for Lady Nagant’s quirk, I think it’s a pretty neat one. The name of her quirk is Rifle and it lets her use her right arm as a rifle. But, that’s not all she can do. She can also pull out her hair and twist it into a bullet to fire through her arm.

As Snipe explains in an interview, Lady Nagant’s hair works like 2-part epoxy. When she mixes the two colors of her hair together, it hardens into a projectile. She can even alter the shape of these projectiles to give them additional properties.

One of these properties is the ability for her projectiles to curve in the air. And since she can land shots from multiple kilometers away, this makes her the #1 marksman around. But, now there’s a new projectile quirk user in town, and his name is Deku.

Conclusion

What do you think of My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 133? Do you want to see more of the age of the first few One for All users? Which of Deku’s various quirks do you think is the best? And, what are your thoughts on Lady Nagant? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 134 is available now.

Grand and Turtle Neck

My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 132 starts off following Yo Shindo and Tatami Nakagame. These are two third-year students from Ketsubutsu Academy High School. And their hero names are Grand and Turtle Neck, respectively. This also isn’t the first time we’ve met these characters.

Grand and Turtle Neck were originally introduced back during the provisional license exam. And since we didn’t get to see Turtle Neck use her quirk in Episode 132, we have to go back to that arc to see what it is. She can pull her head and limbs into her body like a turtle.

Now, if I’m being honest, that doesn’t seem like a very good quirk. As far as I know, her torso isn’t hard like a turtle’s shell. So, while this quirk can help her dodge certain attacks, I’m not sure what it can do beyond that.

Grand’s quirk is more practical. He can vibrate things. Alright, so that doesn’t sound like a great quirk either. But, he can vibrate things to an extreme extent. According to him, he can even vibrate an entire building so much that it collapses. So, we shouldn’t brush off his quirk as being bad.

When we catch up with Grand and Turtle Neck, they’re making their rounds as provisional heroes. Due to the current state of Japan, there aren’t enough pro heroes to go around. So, even students have to be out on patrol without a pro hero accompanying them.

Though, these provisional heroes aren’t supposed to be fighting dangerous villains. If there’s a random looter, sure, the students can capture them. But, for the most part, their job is to get civilians to evacuate to the hero schools. Unfortunately for Grand and Turtle Neck, they run into Muscular on their patrol.

En’s Quirk

In last week’s review, I made some vague guesses about the last 3 One-for-All quirks. Those were the quirks of the second, third, and sixth users. Well, we now know what the sixth user’s quirk was. En (the sixth user) had the Smokescreen quirk.

With this quirk, Deku can emit a smokescreen from his body (obviously). But, what’s interesting is that we see him using this quirk in 2 different ways. When fighting Muscular, he uses it to create an advantageous battlefield for himself. Muscular has no way of seeing through the smokescreen.

However, the same isn’t true for Deku. We see Deku use his Float quirk to get above the smokescreen so he can survey his surroundings. And then, he uses his Danger Sense quirk to determine where Muscular is coming from. From this, we can see that Deku is getting used to working with the various tools in his inventory.

The other way we see Deku use the Smokescreen quirk is to hide his identity. For some reason, he doesn’t want people to know who he is. This could be because the public has questions about his quirk. Remember, it came out that he’s the one Shigaraki is looking for.

But, I don’t think he’s worried about people seeing him and reporting his location to villains. In fact, that would probably work in Deku’s favor. He could then let the villains come to him instead of searching for them himself.

Also, keep in mind that Shigaraki can locate Deku whenever he wants. It’s not like he’s waiting to get tipped off about Deku’s whereabouts. He has a quirk that can find Deku. So, I’m not completely sure why Deku’s hiding his identity like this. But, hiding from the press could be the primary reason.

The Dream Team (and Deku)

Toward the end of episode 132, we see that Deku isn’t actually working alone. He teamed up with All Might, Endeavor, Hawks, and Best Jeanist. This is kind of a dream team of pro heroes. If we exclude Deku, we have the biggest 4 heroes around.

Okay, so All Might isn’t a pro hero anymore. But, he has a lot of experience. If you combine him and Deku, you have a decent enough hero. The other three members of this team are what really make it something special.

Endeavor, Hawks, and Best Jeanist are the current top 3 pro heroes. Under normal circumstances, you wouldn’t have these 3 all working together. For example, look at the era in which All Might was the #1 hero. All Might and Endeavor didn’t work together. They each did their own thing.

Of course, Hawks and Endeavor have been working together for a bit now. Despite being one of the top heroes, Hawks is pretty much Endeavor’s sidekick at this point. And he’s fine with that. He looks up to and wants to support Endeavor. Best Jeanist, however, is different.

Like Endeavor, Best Jeanist has his own hero agency full of sidekicks. But, Hawks was able to convince him to team up with them. From what we know about Best Jeanist, he’s not someone to decline working with rival heroes. That’s the kind of thing we’d expect from Endeavor in the past.

Now, I’m wondering how long this group is going to be working together. It doesn’t seem like this is going to be the final group that takes down Shigaraki. Obviously, other U.A. students will be part of that. So, Todoroki, Bakugo, and Tokoyami might end up replacing their mentors.

Conclusion

What do you think of My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 132? Does Turtle Neck have the worst quirk of any known hero student? How do you feel about Deku’s new Smokescreen quirk? And how long do you think the pro hero dream team will last? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 133 is available now.

A Meeting with the Past Users

My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 131 is all about the past users of One-for-All. While in a coma, Izuku meets with all the past users. And they give him some troubling information — he may be the final user of the quirk.

Apparently, the human body doesn’t do so well when it has more than one quirk in it. As the fourth user of One-for-All explains, users of the quirk tend not to live that long. He only had the quirk for 18 years before dying at 40 from old age.

So, is Izuku going to suffer the same fate? Protagonists having decreased lifespans is a pretty common trope in shounen battle anime. It artificially creates a sense of urgency — they need to accomplish their goals before they die.

Well, it doesn’t seem like this applies to Izuku.

The problem most of the One-for-All had was that One-for-All was their second quirk. They already had a quirk of their own before receiving One-for-All. So, when they received it, their bodies weren’t able to contain the power of 2 quirks. And, just to be clear, One-for-All counts as a single quirk, not multiple.

So, why won’t the lifespan issue affect Izuku? Because he was quirkless before receiving One-for-All. This is also why All Might is still alive. He was quirkless, as well. But, what about other characters with more than one quirk? Do they have shortened lifespans?

All-for-One (the villain) appears to be immune to this issue. And his brother, the first user of One-for-All, was too. But, we don’t know if that’s true for Shigaraki or Gigantomachia. Shigaraki had the All-for-One quirk implanted into him. And Gigantomachia has a bunch of quirks implanted into him. Are their lives shorter as a result?

The Second, Third, and Sixth Quirks

During the fight against Shigaraki, Deku didn’t only awaken Nana Shimura’s quirk (Float). He also awakened Hikage Shinomori’s Danger Sense quirk. So, what are the quirks Deku has so far? He has One-for-All, Blackwhip, Float, and Danger Sense.

One-for-All obviously comes from the first user. Blackwhip was the quirk of Daigoro Banjo, the fifth user. Float was the quirk of Nana Shimura, the seventh user. And Danger Sense was the quirk of Hikage Shinomori, the fourth user. So, considering All Might was quirkless, there are 3 more quirks for Deku to awaken.

Deku doesn’t yet have the quirks of the second, third, or sixth One-for-All users. And as far as I know, their quirks haven’t been revealed yet. Let’s take a look at their character designs and try to figure out what their quirks might be.

The sixth user is the only one we have a name for, En. So, why don’t we start with him? Well, there’s not much to go on. He wears a red jacket and has bandages on his forearms. My only guess is that whatever his quirk is, it comes out of his forearms.

Next, we have the second One-for-All user. He has spikey, red hair, and that’s pretty much all we know about him. Do you know who else has spikey, red hair? Kirishima. So, maybe this One-for-All user has a quirk that strengthens his body. That could be useful for Deku.

For the third user, we have a bit more to go on. He has exhaust pipes or vents of some kind coming out of his shoulders. This reminds me of Iida. Because of that, my guess is that this is going to be a speed boost quirk of some kind.

The Final Act Begins

According to the end of Episode 131, we’re now beginning the final act of the series. But, what does that mean for the anime? Does it mean the series is ending with this season? Not at all. There are probably going to be multiple more seasons.

This week’s episode ended with the end of Chapter 306 of the manga. Currently, the manga is on Chapter 375. So, that’s 69 chapters’ worth of content just to get caught up. And as far as I’m aware, Chapter 375 isn’t the end; there’s going to be more.

But, how do these manga chapters translate into anime episodes? So far, the anime has been adapting about 2.3 chapters per episode. That means there are about 30 more episodes until we get to Chapter 375. And there are still 7 more episodes to go in Season 6.

Assuming Season 7 is another 2-cour season, it will end around Chapter 375 – 378 at the current rate. So, as long as the manga doesn’t end in the next couple of chapters, we’re likely going to get a Season 8. That’s good news for MHA fans.

What should we expect from the rest of the series, though? Well, since Deku left U.A., I guess that means we’re done with the “academia” part of My Hero Academia. Hopefully, that means we’ll be getting more action from here on out.

Of course, there’s been a lot of action throughout the series. But, with Deku going off on his own and all the villains released from prison, there’s bound to be more. There’s that new female villain, Muscular, Overhaul, the League, and All-for-One to defeat. Well, Overhaul has no arms, so they need to recapture, not defeat him.

Conclusion

What do you think of My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 131? Do you expect Deku to find a One-for-All successor at the end of the series? What are your predictions for the quirks Deku hasn’t awakened yet? And how long do you think the final act of the series will be? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 132 is available now.

Quirk Marriages and Designer Babies

My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 130 once again brought up the concept of quirk marriages. This might be the first time the phrase “quirk marriage” has been used in the series. But, the idea has been around long before now.

Basically, a quirk marriage is when two people get married to produce a specific quirk. The most obvious example of this happening is the Todoroki family. Enji has a fire quirk and Rei has an ice quirk. Enji married Rei because he wanted to produce a child with a combined fire and ice quirk.

As we know, it took 4 attempts to finally get the outcome Enji was looking for. Shouto has the half-hot half-cold quirk. And the benefit of this quirk is that he can regulate his body temperature. He doesn’t have to worry about overheating or freezing when using his quirk(s).

Now, there’s an issue I have with quirk marriages. And it’s one I know I’ve brought up in previous episode reviews. At the start of the series, we learned that quirks are random, not genetic. The quirk of a child isn’t supposed to be dependent on the quirks of the parents.

If I’m wrong about that, tell me in the comments. But, I’m almost positive that’s how the series set up the premise of quirks. And that’s part of the reason why All-for-One and One-for-All are so special. Those quirks let you pass your quirk on to another person.

Of course, there are still other examples of familial quirks. Iida and his brother have the same quirk. And Re-Destro inherited a version of his father’s quirk. But, for the most part, this doesn’t happen. Hawks’ quirk doesn’t come from his parents. And neither does Shigaraki’s quirk. It’s not consistent.

From Touya to Dabi

I think Episode 130 is my favorite episode of My Hero Academia Season 6 (so far). It did a lot to make me like both Enji and Touya more. And I know that might seem a little strange considering we saw Enji abuse his kids and beat his wife.

Here’s the thing about Endeavor, though: He’s actually not as bad as I thought. All the previous times in the series that we saw his past with his family were from his kids’ point of view. In this episode, we see the past from Enji’s and Rei’s points of view.

Of course, the bad stuff we already knew about Enji is still true. He didn’t treat his kids right and he even became abusive to his wife. But, now we also got to see the other side of things. Part of the reason Enji was hard on his kids was to protect them.

How Enji dealt with Touya is a great example. Yes, Enji wanted a child who could surpass All Might. But, when he learned Touya couldn’t withstand his own fire, he didn’t turn around and beat his son. He tried to divert Touya down a different path.

Enji didn’t want to see his son injure himself while trying to become a hero. He told his son he could be anything else he wanted and encouraged him to make friends. In that regard, he’s a good father. However, he still failed Touya in other ways.

Rather than outright denying Touya, Enji still could have worked with and taught him. The way Enji cast Touya aside and kept trying for a child who could live up to his expectations wasn’t good. And this is ultimately what led Touya to become Dabi. It was the neglect.

Reuniting Todoroki Family

So, it was Enji’s neglect that led to Touya becoming a villain. But, there’s a bit more to it than that. Why did Enji neglect Touya and his other children? Because of a character flaw that he recognizes in himself.

Once Enji decides what he wants to do, there’s no stopping him. Even if he knows he’s hurting his family in the process, he keeps pushing for the end result he wants. And he recognizes that Touya is the same way. This is why Touya couldn’t just give up on becoming the hero his father was searching for.

Touya’s the victim here, so I shouldn’t blame him. But, in a way, he holds at least some of the blame. He was unable to see why his father wanted him to stop — that he was hurting himself. And at the same time, Enji was unable to see what Touya really wanted — acknowledgment.

Then, there’s Rei. She’s also a victim, obviously. But, like Touya, she shares some of the blame, too. Much like Enji, Rei couldn’t figure out how to deal with Touya in a constructive manner. They both failed as parents to Touya.

With all that in mind, the reunification of the Todoroki family is exciting to see. They’re finally realizing that Dabi is a monster of their own creation. Every member of the Todoroki family failed Touya in some way — some more than others. Now, they’re coming together to fix it.

Well, I say fix, but I’m not sure if Dabi is fixable. I’m going to be pretty annoyed if they “defeat” Dabi through the power of familial love and accept him back. They either need to kill or imprison him. I can’t see their relationship with him recovering.

Conclusion

What do you think of My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 130? Do you remember when it was said that quirks are random and not genetic? Did this episode make you like Enji, Touya, or Rei more despite showing their bad sides? And how do you think Dabi’s story is going to end? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 131 is available now.