All in all this is a pretty low-key and comedy-driven mini-arc for Vigilante. But it represents a great example of what a good adaptation can bring to the table. Bones really enlivened the Captain Celebrity story – a DJ, cheerleaders, the whole nine yards. It’s not like you could do anything to make this dude seem less of a ludicrous popinjay (or that they would have wanted to), so why not go way, way over the top? And the anime can do that in ways the manga can’t, just by their respective natures. Some of that stuff was in the manga too, but the experience just isn’t the same.

Indeed, Captain Celebrity (Morikawa Toshiyuki having way too much fun) is very much the focus of this episode. He arrives in Japan as (supposedly) America’s top hero, a sort of living embodiment of everything Stain will one day set out to destroy. It’s always fascinating whenever Boku no Hero Academia takes on Americanism, since it quite brazenly wears its American influence. Indeed it’s noted (as Makoto confirmed last week) that the U.S. is where all this business started. And All Might is nothing if not a tribute to American heroism (including his attack names), even if he’s not a full-blooded yankee himself.

C.C. and The Crawler clash instantly, a process exacerbated when Celebrity signs his autograph on Kouichi’s All Might hoodie in sharpie. The Captain’s quirk is flight, and the hard truth is he’s very good at the whole hero thing. But he doesn’t like to act until the cameras are rolling. And Knuckle informs his young colleagues that the hero’s nickname is “Captain Catastrophe” in the States, and he carries a trail of lawsuits behind him like the train on a wedding dress. His arrival to work in Tokyo may therefore not be entirely a matter of choice.

Further complicating matters is that new old friend Makoto-san is working for Captain Celebrity’s hero agency. Kouichi has enough general irritation towards Celebrity that one could interpret his reaction to this in a couple of ways, but Pop jumps straight to the most obvious one (and she’s probably not wrong). Apparently most of C.C.’s lawsuits are a result of his womanizing, but fortunately Makoto is nobody’s fool (and she’s befriended his wife). She seizes on his arrival as a chance to rebrand him, Japanese-style – which leads to one of the most incongruous culture clashes you’ll see in any ad campaign (but then, Japan specializes in that).

As if all that weren’t enough, more comic potential is unleashed when Kouichi’s dad calls to tell him his mom is on the way. This is some of the first backstory we’ve gotten for Khiouic – he’s from the countryside, and his mother was highly skeptical of his ability to survive in Tokyo. He hastily cleans up the “penthouse” in a manner that will satisfy her, but there’s a bigger problem – Kouichi has told her that he has a fantastic girlfriend. Of course Pop’s mind immediately goes to the obvious place, but she’s very young – she’s not quite ready to suggest that (yet).

I never really suspected that Illegals was going to be a one-and-done – not with the HeroAca label behind it. But you never know, so the leak that a second season is already in production was certainly welcome news. Two cours would still be tight to adapt 15 volumes, but one would have been abjectly impossible. And this increases the likelihood that we’ll eventually get a reasonably full adaptation (which would probably require four cours). Given that this series is a real breath of fresh air in the BnHA mythology, that would certainly be a welcome outcome.