Boku no Hero Academia is, to an extent, the king of the training arc.  This one even has “training” in the name, so there’s no question about where we’re headed.  I don’t consider this a flaw, personally, although I know not everyone agrees with me.  The nature of the story Horikoshi is telling seems to lend itself to it, and simply put he’s very good at them.  The key to a successful training arc, above and beyond simply being interesting, is for it to advance the larger plot and develop the major characters.  And BnHA’s have always met that standard.

As is often the case, the larger plot is running concurrently at the moment.  Not so much with the villains but I feel like HeroAca was becoming a little too villain-driven at this stage in the story, so I was OK with that.  It’s Izuku’s relationship with One For All that’s in focus here, and as he reveals the nature of his dreams to Toshinori, it’s clear the latter is surprised at what he’s hearing.  His disciple is seeing things he never saw, talking to people he never talked to.  This puts the devoted mentor in a position he’s quite unnerved by – he’s unable to offer Deku any real guidance because he’s never walked the path the boy is now walking.

For the first time in a while we hear about the “Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory” – or “Shin Sekai Yori” as I call it.  Deku connects this to the usage of the word singularity in his dreams, and once spoken, this idea is out there and impossible to ignore.  But for now it’s on the back burner, as the new struggle between Class 1-A and 1-B is about to begin.  Forever in 1-A’s shadow, the no drama hero class – is it finally time for them to claim some of the limelight for themselves?

For now, most of that spotlight falls on the kid who’s in neither class – Shinso Hitoshi.  He and Deku have a history of course, and it was always a question why a student like Shinso wouldn’t be in the hero track.  His “Brainwashing” quirk is one of the most versatile and powerful around, and he’s learned some of Aizawa-sensei’s abilities as well.  He’s the wild card in this class battle, like the guy who plays QB for both touch football teams when there’s an odd number of players.  He’s presented as being as much a handicap as an advantage for the team that gets him as their extra member, but that doesn’t really do his power justice.

With the classes split into five teams and Izuku going last (naturally) the cards fall so that he and Shinso will have their rematch in that final battle.  But for now Shinso labors for 1-A, alongside Denki, Tsuyu, Kouji, and Eijirou.  For Deku this is a chance to watch Shinso and take notes in Ei-chan-fashion, but in the larger picture there is very much a preliminary skirmish – none of the headliners from either class are involved, after all.