Mid-Season Recap

My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 127 was, in part, a recap episode. There were about 8 minutes of recap, from roughly 5:00 to 13:00. Personally, I don’t see the point in mid-season recap. If there’s going to be a recap episode, it should be Episode 0 at the start of a new season.

Putting recap in the middle of the season or at the end of the season is pointless. The viewers are already familiar with what happened — they watched it recently. At the beginning of a season is a different story, though.

So, why does Episode 127 feature recap? One reason is that there was no episode last week. And the other reason is that the series is moving into a new arc. You could argue that this episode worked as an Episode 0 of the new arc. That’s why we had recap.

There is another possible reason for there being recap in this episode. Since this episode was a wrap-up episode, there simply may not have been enough new content to fill the run time. Now, as for the wrap-up portion of this episode, it was very important.

If we moved right from Episode 126 into Episode 128, we’d have a lot of questions unanswered. For example, what happened to the Paranormal Liberation Front members? And, what about all the pro heroes we saw get injured in the battle? Well, thanks to this episode, we have answers to those questions.

I wonder how many people got to the recap part of the episode and stopped watching. There was some pretty important stuff they’ll have missed. And even if they skimmed through the episode, it’s still possible to miss out on things. I’m looking forward to their responses to Episode 128.

The End of the Paranormal Liberation Front

It looks like the Paranormal Liberation Front is no more. Heroes and police arrested over 16,000 members of the organization. And that includes most of its leadership. Re-Destro and a few of his lieutenants are among those arrested.

We also saw that Mr. Compress of the league of villains was captured, as well. That’s notable because it confirms that he’s alive, for now. He could still die of his injuries. But, at the moment, he’s alive, which means Twice is the only villain who died in the raid.

Also of note, the police managed to capture Gigantomachia. That’s important because he’s one of the strongest beings we know of. He’s up there with All-for-One and Shigaraki. If he ever escapes, that’s going to be a big deal. But, I have a feeling he isn’t going to escape.

To be clear, it’s not that I don’t think Gigantomachia can escape. Shigaraki and All-for-One could rescue him. They both have a quirk that will allow them to locate where the heroes are holding him. And they both have enough firepower to physically break him out. But, I’m not sure what his return will do for the series.

From the next episode preview, we already know All-for-One breaks out of prison. Do we also need Gigantomachia to break out? Sure, that would be an even worse situation for the heroes. But, I don’t see the point in it from a storytelling perspective.

Of course, I also need to mention the villains who got away. Shigaraki, Spinner, Dabi, and Himiko all escaped. We don’t know where Dabi and Himiko are. They might regroup with Shigaraki and Spinner. Or, they might go off to do their own things. But I’m still thinking Himiko’s going to join the heroes.

Midnight, Majestic, and More

For me, the biggest shock of the episode was the reveal that Midnight died. We knew she had severe injuries. But, I didn’t think her injuries were bad enough to result in death. At least it was Midnight who died and not Mt. Lady, though.

Some other pro heroes died, as well. Majestic was one. He’s the guy who could create floating platforms — and probably other things. I’m pretty sure some of the students interned with him. But, it’s not like he was as major of a character as Midnight was.

Also, despite Midnight’s death coming as a surprise, it actually makes sense. With Midnight gone, Yaomomo can kind of take her place. She studied under Midnight and is the one most like her of the students. She can even reproduce Midnight’s anesthetic. It looks like we’re moving into the phase of the series when the students surpass their teachers.

Think of all the major student-teacher combinations. Deku might not have as much power as All Might. But, he now has a better mastery of One-for-All’s true nature. We also saw how Bakugo grew through his connection to Best Jeanest. And with Endeavor’s disgrace, Shouto can become the top Todoroki.

It’s not only the main characters, though. Of course, I already pointed out Yaomomo and Midnight. But, there’s also Tokoyami saving his teacher Hawks. And even Ochaco and Tsu are becoming more competent as heroes in their own right.

Oh, and we can’t forget that the literal teacher of Class 1-A, Eraser Head, is out of commission. Many pro heroes died in the battle and even more were injured. The students, however, are in relatively good condition aside from Deku and Bakugo. That’s because a lot of them were on the backlines, but still.

Conclusion

What do you think of My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 127? Did you skip the episode because of the recap? Do you expect Mr. Compress and Gigantomachia to come back at some point? And how do you feel about Midnight dying? 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, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 128 is available now.

Creature Rejection Clan

The first half of My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 126 focused on the League of Villains. I tend to prefer League of Villains episodes over hero student episodes. They’re just more interesting characters. Yes, even Spinner is a more interesting character than any of the hero students.

To be fair, there’s not much difference between heroes and villains. The hero students each have their reasons for wanting to become heroes. And the League of Villains members each have their reasons for becoming villains.

But, someone deciding they want to be a hero simply isn’t that interesting or special. The society they live in promotes the idea of becoming a hero and saving people. It’s normal that many people would want to become heroes. So, I prefer seeing why people choose the opposite path. What made them decide to reject hero society and become a villain?

I’m sure we’ve heard Spinner’s backstory before. At the very least, we already knew he joined the League of Villains because he admired Stain. And the same is true for Himiko. But, the part I want to focus on here is that what’s effectively racism also played a role in Spinner’s decision.

Spinner looks like a reptile as a result of his quirk. And because of his appearance, many people treated him as if he was a creature, not a person. This is what made him lose faith in the current form of society.

During the flashback part of Episode 126, we also see a cult called the Creature Rejection Clan. This is a cult of regular humans who hate those with quirks. And it seems that they hate people like Spinner, who have mutated appearances, most of all. His appearance was the only one they commented on.

Mr. Compress’s Final Performance

Considering the title of this episode, I thought Mr. Compress was going to do something crazy. Like, maybe he was going to reveal the true power of his quirk and save the League. But, that’s not quite what happened.

To be fair, he did save Shigaraki to an extent. But, it’s unclear if his sacrifice resulted in more than that. So, let’s look at where each of the League of Villains members stand at the end of the episode.

Starting with Mr. Compress, it doesn’t seem like he’s going to survive. He had to significantly injure himself in order to escape Best Jeanist’s threads. And at the end of the episode, All-for-One (in Shigaraki’s body) abandons Mr. Compress and flees.

That sucks for Mr. Compress. But, it doesn’t look like he was alone in being left behind.

As far as I could tell, All-for-One didn’t take any of the other League of Villains members with him. I didn’t notice the Nomu carrying off Spinner, for example. And I don’t feel like Spinner would be able to escape from the heroes on his own. So, he may now be in custody.

As for Dabi, the last we saw of him, Mr. Compress compressed him. We never saw Mr. Compress release Dabi as he did with Spinner and Shigaraki. So, it’s unclear what’s going to happen to Dabi. If he’s released, he could help Spinner escape.

Himiko is off somewhere else, so we have no information on what becomes of her. But, of course, she’s going to reappear later in the series. And, All-for-One left Machia asleep on the battlefield. However, he can always get Machia back if he has a way to get in contact with him — unless the heroes keep him drugged.

Saving Shigaraki

It looks like the League of Villains are now understanding All-for-One used them. I mean, of course he did. He’s the ultimate villain. He’s not going to help this team of misfits without getting anything out of it himself. And the thing he wanted was Shigaraki’s body.

By the end of the episode, All-for-One is in control. And it’s pretty clear that this isn’t good for anyone other than All-for-One. Obviously, the heroes want to stop him because he’s the most dangerous villain to ever exist. But, even the League of Villains don’t want him around.

Shigaraki hates All-for-One and doesn’t want to give his body up to his mentor. He has his own goals he wants to accomplish. And, this is part of the reason why All-for-One taking over is bad for the League of Villains. The other members want to support Shigaraki.

The other big reason why this is bad for the League of Villains is that All-for-One doesn’t care about them. He has no problem sacrificing them for his own gain. So, it’s not like he’s a viable replacement for Shigaraki. If they follow All-for-One, he’ll use them and toss them aside.

Now, this could be the breaking point for the League. I don’t think Dabi cares all that much about it anymore. He’s only interested in Endeavor and Shouto. But, what about Spinner and Himiko? It makes sense to me that they would want to save their friend (Shigaraki) from All-for-One.

So, how would they do that? They don’t stand a chance against All-for-One. Well, that’s where the heroes come in. Deku mentioned how it looked like Shigaraki wanted to be saved from All-for-One. This could be how, as I’ve theorized for a long time, Himiko (and Spinner) join the heroes.

Conclusion

What do you think of My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 126? Do you like getting more backstory for the supporting villains like Spinner? Did you expect more from Mr. Compress’s final performance? And, will Himiko team up with Deku to save Shigaraki? 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. And, come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman 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 127 is available now.

Threads of Hope

My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 125 taught us that Best Jeanist is really the strongest hero. Best Jeanist was able to stop Gigantomachia in his tracks for longer than the Class 1-A and 1-B students. Even when Machia received new orders from Shigaraki, Best Jeanist held him in place.

But, here’s the thing. The “strongest” hero is going to depend on the situation. Best Jeanist happened to have the perfect quirk (and equipment) for this specific job. As we saw, Dabi was able to burn through Beast Jeanist’s fibers. So, a different hero would be best suited to fighting Dabi.

The same argument could be made about Hawks being the perfect hero for taking down Twice. Really, any of the top 10 pro heroes could be the strongest hero in any given moment. However, that doesn’t mean this way of thinking extends to all heroes.

Something we need to keep in mind is that not all quirks have the same “power level.” You can have two quirks that do similar things, but one of them may be superior. Think about the Zero Gravity and Float quirks. Based on what we know, Zero Gravity is the better of the two.

You can also have two people with the same quirk, but one person’s quirk is stronger than the other. The Todoroki family is the perfect example of this. Dabi and Endeavor have the same quirk (supposedly). And according to Endeavor, Dabi’s quirk potential is higher than his own.

Now, is Dabi’s quirk stronger than Endeavors due to luck? Or does it have to do with the theory that quirks get stronger with every successive generation? Remember, that’s not something that only applies to One-for-All. One-for-All enhances this effect, but all quirks get stronger.

Lemillion Returns!

The highlight of Episode 125 was the return of Lemillion, Mirio Togata. Not only is Lemillion a fun character, but he has a cool quirk too. And, thanks to Eri’s Rewind quirk, Lemillion has his Permeation quirk once again. As you’ll remember, Overhaul deleted it back in Episode 75.

And, back in my review of Episode 75, I mentioned that I didn’t think Lemillion’s quirk would be gone for good. But, the way in which Lemillion got his quirk back could be a bit of an issue. If Eri can restore Lemillion’s quirk, where do her abilities end?

We already knew Eri could heal injuries from Deku’s fight against Overhaul. And now that she can also restore quirks that were deleted 6 months prior, what else can she do? Can she heal the severe wounds of all the pro heroes? Will Eraser Head get his leg back thanks to Eri’s quirk?

The fact that Eri can restore quirks also makes deleter rounds invalid in most cases. Eraser Head still needed to cut off his own leg, though. He had to do this because he needed to continue using his quirk on Shigaraki. It wasn’t about losing his quirk altogether.

Deleter rounds aren’t completely obsolete, though. You can still use one on Eri herself. Then, once she can’t use her quirk to restore other quirks, deleter rounds are back to working as intended. But, I can’t see that happening. Instead, I think deleter rounds are going to fade away.

Oh, and let’s not forget that Eri could technically restore All Might to his former glory. She can heal his body and make it so he can use 100% of his quirk again. This isn’t going to happen. But, as far as I can tell, there’s nothing stopping it.

Endeavor Falls (Again)

Have you noticed that Endeavor gets beat up a lot? I know he’s going up against a lot of strong opponents. But, I get the feeling All Might wouldn’t have had this much trouble. I mean, a single high-end Nomu was even almost able to take down Endeavor.

Well, Endeavor is down once again. He landed a final punch on Gigantomachia and then fell to the ground. And while, at first, it seemed that Endeavor’s punch also took down Machia, that’s not the case. The anesthetic Kirishima got into Machia’s mouth finally took effect.

So, here’s my question: After this battle, will Endeavor still be the number 1 hero? The pro hero power rankings are partly based on ability and partly based on popularity. So, will Endeavor failing to stop Shigaraki, Gigantomachi, and Dabi hurt his rank? Will the people lose faith in his abilities?

Also, we have to take Dabi’s existence into consideration. Will the fact that Dabi is the son of Endeavor hurt Endeavor’s reputation? Or, will people understand that Endeavor isn’t responsible for the actions of his son? Sure, Endeavor wasn’t a great father. But, he didn’t make his son become a terrorist; he thought his son died.

If Endeavor does fall from the top spot, though, who could replace him? Probably not the current number 2 hero, Hawks. Remember, the fact that Hawks killed Twice was broadcast to the nation. People might not think so highly of him anymore, even if he only did what he needed to.

And, here’s where we circle back to Best Jeanist. I feel like he was up in the third spot at one point. Now that he was vital in stopping Gigantomachia, he could be considered the number 1 hero. And he’s a worthy number 1.

Conclusion

What do you think of My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 125? Who do you think is actually the strongest current hero? Will Eri use her quirk to heal Eraser Head’s leg injury? And will this battle against Dabi cause Endeavor’s ranking to plummet? 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 site of choice — links are in the footer. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman 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 126 is available now.

Talking About Romance and Stuff

My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 124 could have been all about romance and stuff. But, unfortunately for both Himiko and us, Ochaco didn’t seem to be in the mood to play along. We could have had 22 minutes of Himiko, Ochaco, and Tsuyu talking about their crushes.

Ever since we first met Himiko, whenever that was, I’ve felt like she could come over to the good side. I even said as much as recently as last week in my Episode 123 review. And her words and actions in Episode 124 still give me hope that will be the case.

Himiko knows she has a problem. She says that when she loves someone, she has the urge to collect their blood. And the way she feels closest to people is by ingesting their blood and becoming them with her quirk. She knows the way her brain works isn’t normal.

As the saying goes, the first step is admitting you have a problem. Himiko has admitted this. And, she even goes out of her way to mitigate her impulses. Why do you think she wanted to talk to Ochaco about her feelings?

She told us her reason. It was so she could release her pent-up feelings in a non-destructive way. Up until this point, her way of releasing her pent-up feelings was by hurting others. We’re now seeing a Himiko who doesn’t necessarily want to do that anymore. Though, that likely only applies to those she loves.

Now, the issue with Himiko coming over to the good side is that she’s a mass murderer. Later in the episode, Dabi claims to have killed 30 people in total. I’m pretty sure Himiko killed more. She killed at least 7 the one time she used Ochaco’s quirk.

Dabi’s Dance

The reveal that Dabi is actually Toya Todoroki shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone. And by anyone, I mean any viewers. I can understand other characters in-universe not picking up on who Dabi really was. And the reason for that is that we have a far narrower view of this world.

Something Dabi says during this reveal is that flame-based quirks are “a dime a dozen.” That just means that flame-based quirks are very common. There are far more flame-based quirk users out there than only the Todoroki family. So, someone having a flame-based quirk doesn’t automatically make them a Todoroki.

However, that’s not our reality. Can you think of a single character with a flame-based quirk who isn’t a Todoroki? I can’t. So, from our narrow view of the world, it only makes sense that Dabi is a Todoroki. But, that’s also not the only evidence we had.

Dabi’s appearance was also a major clue. For starters, he has the same eye color as Endeavor. Also, the scars all over his body line up with the story about Toya dying in a fire. And since Toya’s body was never found, there was always a chance he was still alive.

I have no problem with Dabi actually being Toya. It wasn’t much of a surprise. But, the fact that Dabi is Toya isn’t bad writing or anything. With that said, I’m not a fan of how this reveal changed Dabi’s character.

Dabi was always a cool, calculating person who didn’t show much emotion. He would get excited when facing a strong opponent; that’s about it. But now, he’s gone full psycho. His entire purpose for existing is to take down Endeavor. He even has a pre-recorded manifesto. He went from cool to incelesque.

An Interesting Lineage

Mr. Compress doesn’t get much attention. He’s one of the more minor recurring villains of the series. The only member of the League of Villains who’s less important is Spinner. But, Mr. Compress said something in Episode 124 that stood out to me.

He said that Dabi has an interesting lineage, too. Obviously, this is in reference to Dabi being the son of Endeavor. But, when I first heard this, I thought he was saying “too” to mean in addition to himself. I thought Mr. Compress was saying both himself and Dabi have interesting lineages.

It didn’t take long for me to realize I was wrong in that assumption. The other one with an interesting lineage is Shigaraki. His grandmother, Nana Shimura, was the 7th user of All-for-One. However, we don’t know what that has to do with anything. Is that why All-for-One chose Shigaraki? Does his lineage matter beyond being used to hurt All Might?

Okay, so Mr. Compress doesn’t seem to have been implying that his own lineage is interesting. So, does this line matter at all then? Maybe. It could be hinting at Dabi becoming Shigaraki’s equal in some way. Not in terms of power, of course.

I don’t see Dabi taking over as the main villain of the series. That’s Shigaraki’s role. Shigaraki is the villain Deku needs to take down in the end. But, Dabi is now that villain for another one of our main characters, Shouto.

The three main characters of My Hero Academia are Deku, Bakugo, and Shouto. As followers of All Might, Deku and Bakugo have personal grudges against Shigaraki. But, Shouto didn’t have something like that until now.

It seems like we’ll see Dabi become more prominent, almost on par with Shigaraki. He may even take down Endeavor.

Conclusion

What do you think of My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 124? Did Himiko’s conversation with Ochaco make you think she can change for the better? Were you somehow surprised by Dabi being Toya Todoroki? And do you think Dabi will rise to the level of Shigaraki? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman 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 125 is available now.

The Ones Within Us

My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 123 didn’t have much going on. There wasn’t any action in this episode. And the vast majority of the information we got from the episode wasn’t anything new. In many ways, it was a bit of a recap.

But, that’s not entirely a bad thing. In fact, I appreciated that we got a little recap of how One-for-All works. All-for-One’s brother originally had a quirk that allowed him to pass his quirk down to others. All-for-One then implanted a power storage quirk into him, and One-for-All was the result.

Something to note here is that what makes One-for-All so good is the power storage quirk. Without that, it would be a worse version of All-for-One. The power storage quirk is what allows all the passed-down quirks to grow in power over time. Oh, and let’s not forget the physical output of One-for-All users grows over time, as well.

What’s not entirely clear is how the power storage quirk interacts with all the other quirks. When it comes to Blackwhip, I assume it allows for more whips that have a longer reach. But, what about Float? Can Deku float better than Nana Shimura could?

It could be that Nana Shimura couldn’t cause other people and objects to float the way Ochaco can. But, now that Deku has a stronger version of it, he can. Though, it seems he still needs to maintain contact with whatever he’s causing to float.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the quirks Deku awakens are. How will they interact with the quirks he already has — including the power storage quirk? And what about the dangerous 4th quirk Bakugo brought up in Episode 122? Could power storage make it viable for Deku?

Transplanting Souls

All-for-One’s plan has a lot of moving parts. But, in the end, there appear to be 2 things he wants. He wants to be immortal. And he wants to be the undisputed strongest. These 2 things go hand-in-hand because he can’t really have one without the other.

Is All-for-One immortal? I’d argue that he was to an extent. He had a regeneration quirk that we now see in Shigaraki. You can view that as one type of immortality. But, that type of immortality isn’t going to cut it when facing off against One-for-All.

This is why All-for-One needs to get his hands on One-for-All. If he has that quirk, there won’t be anyone else strong enough to defeat him. And then his immortality will go unchecked. But, the issue is that he had to give up his immortality in order to bring down All Might.

Why did he do this? Because it’s easier to steal One-for-All from someone like Deku than from All Might. And, All-for-One actually has a second type of immortality he can use. He may have transplanted all his quirks into Shigaraki. But, he also transplanted his own soul into Shigaraki, as well.

As All-for-One explains it, transplanted quirks retain their original owner’s personality. It’s the same as if you were to transplant a “soul.” And if the will of that transplanted soul is stronger than the new host’s, the transplant can take over. This is what we see All-for-One trying to do to Shigaraki.

On the other side, there’s Deku and the souls of the previous One-for-All wielders. You could argue that Deku’s will to save people is what keeps him in control of his own body. But, more than that, the other souls within him want to support him.

Himiko’s Question

The best part of Episode 123 was when Himiko was trying to figure out what makes someone a hero. She says, “If a person who saves others is a hero, then was Jin not a person?” And she follows this up by saying, “If heroes killed Jin, then will they kill me, too?”

These are some great questions and they get to the heart of the struggle between the heroes and the PLF. So, let’s break down what exactly Himiko means when she asks these questions. It might not be clear to everyone.

There’s some unpacking to do with the first question. Himiko starts with the assumption that a person who saves others is a hero. And then she asks if that means Jin wasn’t a person. The implication here is that Jin also saved people — his friends. So, why isn’t he considered a hero?

If a hero is a person who saves others, and Jin saved others, then the part Jin must be missing is being a person. To Himiko, this just shows that society viewed him as less than a person; someone not worthy of respect. And she’s reasonably upset about that.

Her next question has to do not with saving, but with killing people. Heroes killed Jin. If they can kill him, what’s stopping them from killing Himiko and the rest of her friends, too? And there’s also the implication here of, “how are they still heroes when they’re killing us?”

Where’s the line between hero and villain? Both sides save and kill as they see necessary. So, what’s the difference? Who gets to decide what lives are worth saving and what lives aren’t? Who gets to decide when it’s okay to kill? Himiko has some great points and she wants answers.

Conclusion

What do you think of My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 123? How do you think Deku’s version of Float is better than Nana Shimura’s? Do you expect All-for-One to supplant Shigaraki in his own body at some point? And is this the start of Himiko transitioning to the heroes’ side? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman 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 124 is available now.