My Hero Academia Episode 90

Hawks’ Mission

My Hero Academia Season 5 is finally here with Episode 90. And yes, I know that the fifth season technically started with Episode 89. However, that was really just a reintroduction episode, so I skipped doing a review of it. Episode 90 is the true start of the season.

As far as Episode 89 is concerned, I will say that at the end of the episode is when we first found out that Hawks and Dabi are working together. The post-credits scene of that episode left us on that cliffhanger. But, for anyone who skipped that episode, the reveal in this one probably felt a bit shallow.

Just after we learn that Hawks actually planned the battle that took place featuring Endeavor with Dabi, it’s revealed that Hawks isn’t actually a traitor. I didn’t even have enough time to consider what Hawks being a traitor would mean for the series before it was revealed not to be the case.

At least I can say that this false twist wasn’t as bad as the one in The Promised Neverland 2nd Season. That series also had a character who was shown to be a traitor and then was immediately revealed to not actually be. However, it was done in a much worse way.

With Hawks, the fact that he isn’t really a traitor doesn’t take away from the series all that much. This is because while he may not be a traitor, we now know that he’s going undercover within the League of Villains.

That’s still an interesting plot development for two reasons. First, there’s always the risk that he’ll be found out. And second, I’m looking forward to seeing if he can continue to look the other way when it comes to the League’s crimes.

A New Endeavor

Now, I’ve heard from a few people that this upcoming arc is the worst one in the series because it’s boring. However, that’s not to say that this season will be bad because I’ve also heard that the following arc, which is likely to be covered, is good.

Aside from that information, I know nothing about what’s going to happen in the future of this series. But I’m hoping that the “boring” arc people are referring to isn’t the Endeavor arc that seems imminent. I’m interested in his character development, so I hope it’s good.

There’s also a very real possibility that this upcoming arc has nothing to do with Endeavor. It seems obvious that he’s going to have an arc of some sort eventually. But it’s not necessarily right now considering next week’s episode is about joint training between Classes 1-A and 1-B.

Let’s take a brief look at where Endeavor’s character arc could go. It really began in the previous season, with All Might acknowledging Endeavor as the new number one hero. At that point, he realized that being the number one hero was much more than being the strongest.

I think that Endeavor is going to end up succeeding in this role. After all, if Endeavor fails, who’s going to take his place? Hawks may be popular, but he’s not the next strongest. I’m not really sure if there’s anyone who could successfully fill the void left by both All Might and Endeavor at this point.

So, for this reason, I do think Endeavor is going to become the kind of number one hero the world needs. Obviously, Deku or some other hero from his generation will take over the mantle eventually. But I think we’ll be seeing Endeavor fill that role for a while.

One-for-All’s Origin

Five seasons into the series and we’re finally learning the origins of the protagonist’s quirk, One-for-All. Apparently, One-for-All has had eight holders before Deku. And the first of those holders was none other than All-for-One’s own brother.

Now, the fact that the “original” owners of One-for-All and All-for-One were brothers is pretty cliché if you ask me. But, I do recognize that one of the appeals of this series for a lot of people is that it follows a lot of western superhero comic tropes.

And, it’s not as though I think this revelation is bad. I’m pretty indifferent to the fact that those two were biological brothers. However, I’m very interested in some of the other, more peripheral information we got from this part of the episode.

One of the big takeaways for me is that there seems to be an implication that All-for-One was the one who actually created One-for-All. He claims to have “found” a quirk that his brother’s body could handle.

We’re told that his brother was originally quirkless, which means he didn’t naturally have One-for-All. But also, if All-for-One had taken One-for-All from someone else and gave it to his brother, his brother wouldn’t be the first holder of that quirk. So either All-for-One created the quirk, or his brother already had the quirk but nobody realized.

The latter seems like it makes more sense to me for now. He probably already had One-for-All dormant inside his body and All-for-One gave him an additional quirk.

And, I’d also like to point out that another implication is that One-for-All is immortal. He’s been around since quirks first manifested in humans and were known as “meta abilities.” Considering he’s still alive and dangerous after 9 generations of All-for-One, I’m going to guess he’s acquired some life-extending quirk.

Conclusion

What do you think of My Hero Academia Season 5 Episode 90? Are you glad the series is back? I’d assume so if you’re reading this review. And how do you think Hawks’ infiltration of the League of Villains is going to go? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 91 is available.