I must say, the anime version of the Shie Hassaikai arc has been an improvement on the manga so far, at least for me.  Not that there was anything wrong with the original, but this is where the first signs of fatigue seemed to start creeping in for Horikoshi.  We look back on “Chimera Ant” as being an abject masterpiece now, but Togashi was hanging on by a thread (when he was lucky) while he was writing it, with many hiatuses.  Madhouse was able to paper over all that even more than the volume versions of the manga did.  Comparatively speaking Bones’ job has been much easier since Horikoshi’s inconsistencies (health-related or not) pale compared to Togashi’s, but they’re still lifting the arc’s game in every way.

Interestingly, one of the things I found most striking about this episode was its depiction of the first-year quartet as they waited for the call to arms.  Imagine being 15 or 16 year-olds in that situation, looking forward to what was coming with a mixture of excitement and fear (and wracked by guilt, in Midoriya’s case) and having to go through the motions of daily school life while keeping it all secret to boot.  The support Iida and Todoroki gave Deku was quite moving, especially when Iida recalled the words Deku said to him at his darkest moment.  Iida has been sidelined plot-wise for a while but his friendship with Izuku is deep and genuine, and one of my favorite parts of this story.

Before the kids can be released from their purgatory the pros and cops have to do the boring part – intelligence gathering.  They fan out across the country, most concentrating on the known Shie Hassaikai as the working assumption is that the League won’t be directly involved in the eventual raid.  The breakthrough comes when Sir Nighteye spots Eri’s minder going into a toy store to stock up on girly stuff, and seizes the opportunity to use Foresight on him.  With what he learns the game is afoot, and school is truly out for the Yuuei Seven.

There’s certainly a palpable difference between how the big three and the little four are handling all this, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that they’re still kids themselves.  Mirio’s self-loathing has the purity of youthful certainty to it, and no one (except probably Deku) is happier to finally be able to stop grinding and start acting.  His two comrades are thrilled to see him back to being the loveable goof they know, but he’s way more emotionally vested in this than a professional probably should be.  Eraser is sticking close to Deku, but Tintin could use a little adult supervision too.

Shie know the jig is up, their spies having spotted the ramp-up in police activity and gathering of heroes (with one notable exception).  Chisaki is not looking for a final battle at this point by any means – he sends the Hassai (“eight bullets”) out to buy time while he sneaks away with Eri.  The first skirmishes are enough to make you wonder why the police are even involved in the raid itself, since Deku and Eraser have to rescue a few of them before they can even consider the opponent in front of them.  A battle of this scale, without All Might as backup – given that all of Deku’s biggest tests have been unplanned, this certainly amounts to the gravest assignment he’s ever had to tackle…