In a way, it almost seems if if Boku no Hero Academia should feel guilty doing an episode like this one. No one should be allowed to make it look as easy as Horikoshi and Bones make this look – as great as this series is, an arc like this one is right smack in the middle of its comfort zone. But then, if Horikoshi didn’t write this stuff we’d never get a chance to see it animated, and that would be everyone’s loss. Sometimes a great series has to push the edge, and sometimes consciously take a break – but the meat and potatoes is always going to be doing what comes most naturally.
This is one of those episodes where I have so much scribbled on my notepad that I’m tempted to just chuck it and riff on my pure gut level reaction. So much happens here, starting with the reveal of Deku’s new “Gamma” rig. My favorite part of this sequence was All Might’s reflection that he’s now “someone to be protected” in the eyes of the world – and while he seems to be dealing with that as well as anyone could, it can’t be remotely easy for him. Or indeed, for anyone who cares about him – though the one who cares about him most is probably happy to have a major distraction right now, so he doesn’t have to think about that (as indeed is Ochako, who needs a distraction to distract her from her other distraction).
The provisional license exam certainly is a distraction, both for Deku and his classmates. And, indeed, for hero students all over the country. Yuuei takes the approach of splitting up its classes and sending them to different test locations (there are three of them) to avoid them competing against each other – as do the other hero schools across Japan. Given that Aizawa-sensei tells them that only about 50% pass, the draw here is obvious. He also tells them that most of the students that they’ll be facing off against are second and third-years, who’ve had more time to hone their quirks and use them in competition.
Upon arrival at the test site, the first to greet 1-A are their rivals from Shiketsu High – West Japan’s top hero school, and the major rival to UA. Most vocal is Inasa Yoarashi (Iwasaki Ryouta), Shiketsu’s top dog. In fact he had the top scores on the entrance exams for Yuuei (which means he outranked even Todoroki), but chose to attend Shiketsu despite the fact that he “loves U.A.”. Also making an appearance is the hero “Joke”, Fukukado Emi (Nagai Mariko), a teacher at Ketsubutsu High School. She knows Aizawa-sensei (her joke proposals seem half-serious) and she also knows something about the exam, which he’s failed to tell his students.
The administrator, Mera Yokumiru (Iwasaki Masami) drops quite a bomb on the license exam candidates – there are 1,540 of them, but only the fastest 100 will pass. Tsuyu’s math doesn’t quite add up for me, but that’s still a hell of a lot less than 50%. The nature of the exam seems simple – everyone will have three targets they can place in any fully exposed part of their bodies, and six balls with which to strike the targets. If your three targets light up you’re out, if you light up a candidate’s third target you get a kill, and if you get two kills you’re finished.
It’s a beautifully classic shounen setup in the Togashi mold – so straightforward, yet so devious. The nature of this test, as Deku quickly realizes, is to encourage the examinees to work as teams – and the logical ones to team up with are your own classmates. But Yuuei is at a huge disadvantage here – theirs was the only sports festival broadcast on TV, so they’re the only ones whose quirks are known to students from other schools. And then there’s what Eraserhead neglected to tell his pupils – the tradition start of the exam is “crush U.A.”. It only makes sense – given the limited number of licenses to be given out, U.A. as the top dog is everyone’s biggest threat. And its two top=ranking students, Bakugo and Todoroki, choose to go off and fight on their own rather then be part of the group (for different reasons, but maybe not as different as they’d have you believe).
I absolutely love Aizawa-sensei’s defense to Fukukado-sensei for why he hasn’t told his students (though as she notes, he no doubt does “like” this group). In the real world, if you’re a hero the bad guys probably know your quirk, and part of your job is turning a bad situation into a good one. “Sorry, but we have to think further ahead.” he tells her with flinty pride, and it’s the response of a man who knows the heavy burden he and his school bear in the world of heroes. For Yuuei, it’s not good enough to be good enough – you have to be better than everyone else. And by letting his students fight this fight the way he is, Aizawa-sensei is telling them he believes that’s exactly what they are.
BigFire
July 21, 2018 at 9:31 amNote that Deku is once again the field general figuring out what the situation is right away, and that the other two schools are going to ignore each other and crush UA right away. The only one that probably won’t listen to Deku (Bakugo) already went out on his own with Kirishima tagging behing means that everyone else will probably listen to him.
Kurik
July 21, 2018 at 3:11 pmAnother fun episode and I like how Kacchan was able to read that other student that was being all friendly but not with his eyes. I like this subtle moments as they make the show great for me. I suspect Kacchan and Todoroki figured what Deku figured from earlier and went off on their own to help defend the team by flanking. I hope that’s what they plan to do anyways.
leongsh
July 21, 2018 at 3:14 pmThis is as good a time to ask a question that has been in mind for some time. What about the 2nd and 3rd years of the Hero course at U.A.? They have not really showed up anywhere that I can recall. Are they chopped liver in this series? This episode showing us Ketsubutsu’s 2nd years are taking this provisional hero license exam have given me the opportunity to ask it.
Guardian Enzo
July 21, 2018 at 4:54 pmI feel that to answer that question would be a spoiler, so I won’t…
El Huesudo II
July 21, 2018 at 10:47 pmOh yes it would be! And leongsh…
Stefan
July 22, 2018 at 2:56 amBut saying that already implies something, Enzo…
leongsh
July 23, 2018 at 5:58 amSo, all this means is that the seniors will show up later.
If I am going to hazard a guess is that they would all have the provisional hero licenses and are out and about in their respective longer term internships with established heroes. That would be the best explanation I can think of to explain why they are not shown in school so far.
That leads to the likelihood of the class 1-A being assigned or apply to join the established heroes again as interns after getting their provisional hero license and thus, meet some seniors?
Stefan
July 23, 2018 at 8:37 amYou might very well think that; I couldn’t possibly comment.
animealex
July 22, 2018 at 1:42 pmThere was some very good characterisation for all three “class-a-main-chars” in this episode. First Bakugou is no fool and sees right through Shindou’s smile, which reinforces the image of a very good judge of character (with the obvious exemption being Izuku). But no one listens to him, since he shows his usual rude side. Izuku again shows, that he is very much a super hero “dork”, but once the fighting starts, he takes command and leads the class. That reminds us again, how things have changed since chapter one. (Always nice to see character growth done well.) And finally Todoroki is still a lone wolf. He may have become friends with Izuku and Iida (and possible Momo and Kirishima), but he still strikes out on his own. (At least Bakugou has one friend who follows him whatever may come.)
Sidenote: Enzo, do you plan on watching the BNHA movie and will you review it here?
Guardian Enzo
July 22, 2018 at 2:24 pmI’ll definitely go see it (as I did Mirai this weekend) but probably won’t review it officially till the BD release. I’ll post short reactions on Twitter.
The wild guesser
July 22, 2018 at 2:18 pmI’m assuming that Mr. Enzo is caught up to the manga, therefore I ask. As a fan of shounen action manga (well, anime and manga in general), where would you rank MHA among other shounen heavyweight titles such as Naruto, One Piece, and Hunter x Hunter?
Guardian Enzo
July 22, 2018 at 2:25 pmI’m actually not that huge a fan of Naruto or OP to be honest. I don’t think BnHA is on the level of H x H, but I’d rank it quite close with YYH – which really makes me excited for Horikoshi’s next series…
Stefan
July 23, 2018 at 8:44 amUgh. I find it disappointing that the current pattern seems to be 1) Hori is managing to keep up with the schedule, but 2) the schedule doesn’t allow him to concentrate his material and make something special out of it.
If you think that’s a spoiler delete me, but it definitely feels that way to me…