My Hero Academia, Season 2 – Episodes 14 and 15

It’s the Spring season of anime now, and there are so many titles out there now. There are so many to choose from. I had many I can pick from, and so what I picked was the obvious choice: My Hero Academia Season 2. Okay, to be honest, this wasn’t my actual first choice. It I had to pick, MHA would not be high on my choices to recap this year. Which, don’t get me wrong, I liked the first season of MHA. It’s that there were other choices out there that I saw that I wanted to do. “Wanted to do” are the choice words here. Because the two shows I actually wanted to do (RE: Creators and the DanMachi spinoff) were taken up by Amazon’s Anime Strike. So much for that, huh? I would love to watch those shows. But that much for a service to watch two shows for $44 more than what it cost to have Comcast around? Yeah, screw that. And since the other new shows on Crunchyroll are okay at best, Alex doing Attack on Titan S2, and with no way in hell I was going to lose my sanity by watching Boruto, MHA was the only reasonable choice left.  So here I am. Again, I don’t regret picking it. Plus, with it having a 2-cour season, it should be a good ride with these super heroes. On to the first episode, which is a short one. (By the way, I’m calling it as it is with My Hero Academia, and not “Boku no Hero Academia.” The logo has the damn English name right there. Deal with it.)

Episode 14 – “That’s the Idea, Ochaco”

The first episode shows that …. ummm, okay. The first episode was basically a recap with some little new stuff thrown in. The heroes are dealing with the fact that the group of villains that attack last year attack so easily, and that the main baddy in the group is basically a “man-child” who never learned his “Quirk,” the name for the powers on this show, the right way. To move on from all that happened, the teachers decide to have the students get ready for the U.A. Sports Festival, a festival that was so big there, that it actually rivaled the Olympics. It’s one of 3 chances to join a hero agency too, so don’t want to lose their chance here. Mostly, we see Uraraka get hyped for it, and how she gets like this cause of her family. It does deliver a very cute moment with her tiny self.

We also see All Might tell Izuku that the Sports Festival is his chance to introduce himself to the world that he’s the next All Might. He just needs to say the words “I Am Here.” Other than that, it was basically a recap that showed stuff from the first season. So not much else to comment on. Well, other than the Best MHA Girl still being awesome.

Episode 15 – “Roaring Sports Festival”

As we see All Might still taking with Izuku, we learn more of the U.A. Sports Festival. The 4 systems of the school, the Hero Course, Support Course, Business Course, and General Studies Course, all make up one stage in it. The students all fight different types in a round-robin bracket to get to the top. Izuku has to prove how good he is to everyone, but he does has his doubts. All Might knows that his attitude will determine how this plays out, but also understands how Izuku feels, so he won’t force him. Later on, a bunch of other classes gather at Class 1-A. They know about what they did to the villains, so Bakugo thinks they’re here to scout them as enemies in the sports festival, calling them “extras” as well. Nice job, asswipe. A blue-haired student comes out from the crowd, telling him how a lot couldn’t make it to the Hero Course, so the school settled them in the other courses. But with the U.A. Sports Festival, it’s a chance to prove themselves and be able to transfer to the hero course. Of course, it could also have people in the hero course get transferred out from it. Basically, the  bold dude came by for a “declaration of war.” A loud, B-Class student also came to voice his opinion, but Bakugo doesn’t care for them. All he cares for is the top spot, which some of the guys think is very manly.

After we see Izuku flash back to his and everyone’s goals to be a hero, he starts to train for the two weeks ahead. Everyone also gets to training for the unknown courses that will take place, since it’s decided there. Everyone does their best to get as good as they can for these two weeks.

Well okay, mostly everyone does.

Freaking Mineta. Now, we have to wait a few episodes, just like in other shonen shows, to wait for the 2 weeks to-Oh wait, we don’t. Because 2 weeks arrives like that. For real, if this was Boruto, 2 weeks training would have been 22 episodes of filler hell. The U.A. Sports Festival is now here. Izuku’s mom wishes him luck, the reporters all gather for it, the fans there are all excited for the 1st years. And we see Mt. Lady being sexy to a food stand dude, because she has no money. It works. But really, she and a bunch of other superheroes are there for security since the villains attacked. As the students get ready, Todoroki knows of how All Might has been focused on Izuku. He knows that even though he is stronger than Izuku, which Izuku agrees with, he’s here not to be friends, but to get to the top, since the other students here are for that chance. Izuku knows he’s  gonna have to give it his all.

As the ceremonies get underway, Class 1-A enters the stadium to a rip-roaring applause of fans, getting Izuku nervous. Then the other Hero Course, Class 1-B, enters, followed by the General Studies Course of Classes C, D, and E, the Support Course classes of F,G and H, and finally, the Business Course of classes I, J and K. All the first years are here, so in enters the Chief Umpire of this sports festival, the R-Rated Hero, Midnight. A lot of the dudes in the crowd and on the field like the “R-Rated” hero.

Take that whip and make me yo-I am going off track now. Anyway, she calls on the Class 1-A representative to come up on stage and make a speech. The representative is Bakugo. The others can tell it’s gonna be bad. He gets up, and tells the crowd he’s gonna be #1. Izuku and the others knew it, as the other 1st years boo him immensely. However, Izuku can tell that wasn’t the usual crap from his friend. He knows Kacchan would’ve laughed as well. He was driven into a corner, and had everyone else caught in the middle of it.

And so, the first game is finally chosen. It’s an obstacle course race that will go all around the 4 km circumference of the stadium. The rules are simple: You can do anything, as long as you stay on the course. The race begins, and it begins as smoothly as possible.

It doesn’t help when Todoroki freezes everyone to get out in front. But Bakugo and a bunch of other 1-A students get ahead, Izuku and others have trouble on the ice, while those in 1-C help carry the blue-hair dude we saw earlier. Even Mineta, of all people, gets ahead with his detachable hair Quirk, and tries to attack Todoroki with it. However, he gets beat up by a new enemy. The “faux villain” robots from the entrance exams are here, and there are a bunch of them. The “Robo Inferno” are the first obstacle on here.

Because his “old man” is watching, Todoroki freezes one of the big robots, and goes through its legs to move ahead. The others see it, but he only froze them when unbalanced. It tips over, cutting off the exit, and getting praise from the hero announcers. But there are still more of the robots. Izuku’s mom, watching on TV, tells her son to run. But Izuku is using his head to try to get past these robots with what he has.

The first episode, as said, was just mostly a recap with some new stuff thrown in. I don’t know where to throw it in with the “mostly canon” or “mostly filler” part.  I’ll say take it as it was. The 2nd episode was all new, as we see the U.A. Sports Festival begin. I know I seen some people comment on the pace of the show, as there is a bunch of material in the manga to go with making a faster, paced episode. I say the pace was fine. At least compared to others. Look, when you have seen over 770 episodes of One Piece, sat through most of Naruto, and seen Bleach as well, the pace on My Hero Academia is brisk compared to them. If the critics have anything to say, let them. I’m gonna enjoy the show as it is. Overall, episode 2 (Or episode 15, whatever) was a good way to meet some of the other students at the school, and a good way to set up what’s to come in the next episode with the first event of the U.A. Sports Festival. Differing opinions on pace aside, an okay welcome back for all the superheroes of My Hero Academia.

My Hero Academia is licensed by Funimation Entertainment. It is simulcasted Saturdays at 5:35 AM on both Funimation and Crunchyroll. The sub versions can be seen on both, while a simu-dub can be seen on Funimation.