My Hero Academia Episode 99

My Hero Academia Episode 99

Mineta to the Rescue

While not a great episode, My Hero Academia Season 5 Episode 99 was a pretty good episode to end off the Class A vs. Class B arc. Unfortunately, it looks like next week’s episode is going to be boring. It’s Episode 100, and yet it appears to just be the “cooldown” episode of this arc.

No, as you can probably guess by the title of this section, the first thing I want to talk about in this review is Mineta. I don’t like Mineta. His character annoys me, he’s not entertaining, and his quirk is dumb. I feel like most people would agree with all of that.

However, I did like how he used his quirk in a variety of different ways in this fight. I’m always a fan of seeing characters use their abilities in unique ways. And even though Mineta’s quirk is dumb, he still accomplished that.

Mineta using his Grape Buckler to protect Mina from the anime series My Hero Academia Season 5
Mineta using his Grape Buckler to protect Mina

It must have been explained multiple times throughout the series by this point, but the balls Mineta creates with his quirk stick to everything except for himself. When he comes in contact with them, they act like trampolines that bounce him away.

Thanks to this dual nature of his quirk, Mineta can simultaneously set traps for his opponents and springboards to increase his own maneuverability around the combat area. And, the balls don’t really get in the way of Uraraka and Mina because of their own quirks.

Mineta also uses his quirk to make a shield capable of withstanding heavy impacts. The piece of metal he was holding wouldn’t have stopped Twin Impact very well on its own. But, the balls add a significant layer of cushioning.

Based on these uses of Mineta’s quirk, I guess he’s actually capable of doing a lot more than I ever gave him credit for.

Blackwhip

As far as Deku’s new quirk is concerned, I’m a bit conflicted. I don’t particularly like the trope of a new power being successfully used right when it’s needed most. However, I do recognize that that’s exactly the kind of situation that would make a new power manifest — kind of like how adrenaline kicks in when you need it most.

But that’s not actually my main complaint with Blackwhip. That’s minor enough for me to overlook. The big problem that I see with Deku’s new Blackwhip quirk is that he claims it’s a quirk he won’t be able to use until he’s mastered One-for-All.

I don’t know if that’s really going to be the case. But if it is, then it really makes Blackwhip manifesting right when he needed it cheap. He gets a new power, uses it once, and then we don’t see it again until the end of the series. That’s pretty bad writing.

Deku using Blackwhip for the first time from the anime series My Hero Academia Season 5
Deku using Blackwhip for the first time

If we consider that we’re in the fifth season of the anime and Deku can only use 20% of One-for-All, it would seem that Blackwhip isn’t going to return until season 25. That is, if Deku continues with his current pace of One-for-All mastery.

What I really don’t understand is why Deku can’t simply limit Blackwhip’s power like he does with One-for-All. He’s limiting that power somehow. So what’s stopping him from doing the same with Blackwhip? Also, what does Blackwhip being stronger even entail?

I get that if it’s too powerful, Deku can’t control it. But does it being more powerful mean that there are more whips? Do they grab onto things harder? Do they last longer? How is the quirk more powerful than when the original user had it? Unless we know that, it’s just arbitrarily “stronger.”

Phantom Theif

Another character that I don’t particularly like is Monoma. However, unlike with Mineta, the only thing I don’t like about Monoma is his personality. Aside from that, I think he’s fine — and I’d actually say that his quirk is quite interesting now that we know a bit more about it.

It turns out that Monoma can actually copy up to three (or four, if you believe him) quirks at a time. I’m going to say he can only copy three at once. We only saw him use three quirks definitively and he has three pocket watches to time their usability.

That’s another aspect of his quirk. He can only retain a copied quirk for five minutes (on average). According to him, quirks that are more passive last longer while quirks that are more active last shorter. That’s different from active and passive quirks, though.

Monoma after getting caught by Uraraka from the anime series My Hero Academia Season 5
Monoma after getting caught by Uraraka

Traditionally, an active quirk is one that has to be activated while a passive quirk is one that’s always “on.” But based on Monoma’s explanation, I’m using active and passive in a different sense. Active means that it’s actively using energy while passive means that it’s not — more active means more energy usage.

The example he gave was Kodai’s size quirk. Changing the size of something uses up energy, and therefore burns through the time he has the quirk for quicker. But once the size of an object is changed, it doesn’t burn through any extra energy until he reverts it back.

If Monoma had actually copied All-for-One, that quirk would last less time because it’s constantly using up energy while in effect. All-for-One has to be activated and actively burns through energy constantly. It’s an active quirk in both senses. Tsu’s quirk would be an example of a passive one in both senses; she can’t “turn off” her frog-ness and there’s no indication that doing frog-like things uses extra energy.

Conclusion

What do you think of My Hero Academia Season 5 Episode 99? Did this episode make you appreciate Mineta’s quirk more? Do you think we’ll see Deku use Blackwhip again any time soon? And did my explanation of how Monoma’s quirk works in regards to more active or passive quirks make sense? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 100 is available now.

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