My Hero Academia, Season 2 – Episode 26 – “Time to Pick Some Names”

The U.A. Sports Festival is all over. The action filled tournament is all done. The heroes all had their fun. Now it’s time for an even bigger challenge: Picking names. Time for the last episode of the 1st cour of My Hero Academia.

As Izuku goes to school on a loaded train, someone notices him from the tourney, and now everyone sees the kid who had the big fight in the tourney. They congratulate him and all, even if it makes him nervous. At school, he arrives 5 minutes early, but Iida is rushing there.  Iida does apologize for worrying about his brother, and said there’s nothing to worry about. The class is all hyped about being in the spotlight now from the Sports Festival, as Eraser Head comes in, all bandages gone, with a “special hero informatics” class. It’s not a quiz or anything. The class is going to pick hero names for themselves. Usually, this happens for the 2nd and 3rd years with the pro hero draft picks, but seeing as how exciting the 1st-years were, they get it early. Along with some getting offers from the pros. Here are those with the offers/amount of offers:

  • Todoroki: 4,123 offers
  • Bakugo: 3,556
  • Fumikage: 360
  • Iida: 301
  • Kaminari: 272
  • Yaoyorozu: 108
  • Kirishima: 68
  • Uraraka: 20
  • Sero: 13

As seen, Todoroki and Bakugo got the most. Some point out that Bakugo got fewer because of how he was tied to the podium at the end, while Todoroki thinks he got most because of his dad. And as pointed out by Mineta, Izuku got none, because of his “scary fight.”

Even those who didn’t get any offers, they will still be in an internship with the pros, getting some meaningful training with them at their jobs. For now, it’s time to settle on hero names, and who better to judge them than the goddess herself.

Midnight is doing this for Eraser Head, because Eraser Head’s has some history with hero names. As in, his old friend Hizashi Yamada (AKA Present Mic) gave him his hero name, and he just went with it. So yeah, they have to choose wisely.

The group gets boards, and writing their names, get to present them to class. First up is Aoyama. And his name he chosen is …. “I Can Not Stop Twinkling!” No really. His hero name is a damn sentence to compliment his sparkling. The class is shocked, even more so when Midnight helps him shorten it by English definition. Then it’s Mina’s turn. Her’s is better, but still goofy.

It’s basically centered around the Alien movies. It’s a “No” from Midnight, even if I liked the name. The class now thinks they may need some silly name. Tsuyu wants to go next, and her’s is a name she has thought of since elementary school.

Midnight loves it, since it’s cute and friendly. And so does the class, because it makes them realize they don’t need a weird name. The next one is Kirishima, who’s name he choose is “Red Riot.” It’s paying homage to hero Crimson Riot, as Kirishima wants to be like him. It may put pressure on him, but he’s prepared. This makes Izuku flash back to when he was a kid, wanting to pick a hero name that was related in any way to All Might. He had his mom helped him pick them out, and it led to a very cute moment with tiny, in-an-All Might-costume Izuku and his mom having fun.

Of course, Izuku now having All Might’s power and being under him has to think of his own name for himself. The others get through their own hero names, as these are some examples that Midnight approves of:

  • Jiro’s hero name: “Earphone Jack”
  • Shoji’s hero name: “Tentacole” (Combines tentacle with the “Tako”, the Japanese name for octopus)
  • Hanta’s hero name: “Cellophane”
  • Mina’s 2nd hero name: “Pinky” (Approved this time)
  • Kaminari’s hero name: “Chargebolt”
  • Hagakure’s hero name: “Invisible Girl” (Geez, I wonder why?)
  • Yaoyorozu’s hero name: “Creati”
  • Fumikage’s hero name: “Tsukuyomi”
  • Mineta’s hero name: “Grape Juice” (“Grape Drink” sounds better)

Todoroki’s hero name he went with was “Shoto.” Or, his first name. It’s weird to Midnight, but Todoroki doesn’t mind it. And then it’s Bakugo’s turn. And his hero name is basically about as Bakugo as Bakugo can get.

Midnight definitely advises on using it, as Kaminari suggests “Explosion Boy,” pissing Bakugo off. Uraraka goes next, as her name is, as Midnight points out, very stylish. Her name is “Uravity.” The names are going smoothly, with only 3 students left. With Iida, the show flashes back to the hospital room Tensei is in. He tells Iida that he has no feeling in his legs, and his time as a hero is basically up. So he asks if Iida would take over the “Ingenium” name. Iida is writing the name, but then changes his mind and like Todoroki, goes with his name, “Tenya.”

It’s Izuku’s turn, and he knows it has to have this as a name. He presents the class, as they are shocked. He didn’t like this name at first, but flashing back, it shows him telling Bakugo about the new meaning his nickname has to describe himself, and it made him happy. Izuku’s hero name is his nickname. It totally surprises Bakugo.

Meanwhile, one more offer came in late, and it’s for Izuku himself. All Might looks, and who offers him shocks him. As for Bakugo? His next name “Lord Explosion Murder” is not approved.

Now that the names are done, it’s back to the internships. It will last a week, and the ones with offers will get to pick where to go. Those with no offers will get to choose from 40 agencies of different places and specialties. With 2 days to choose, some already know what they want to do, like Uraraka. She’s going with Gunhead’s agency, to get more stronger, which hopefully equals more possibilities for her. She also notices Izuku trembling, for he has been doing the “air chair” exercise throughout the class. It’s a way to help him control his Quirk. As the two get ready to go home, they notice that Iida has picked his agency and left. As Izuku is leaving, All Might quickly gets to him and tells him the good news. He got an offer from All Might’s former homeroom teacher. His name is Gran Torino. Gran Torino more than likely offered it because of One for All, making Izuku learn that others know of it. And even though Gran Torino retired awhile back, the thought of him makes All Might shake terrifyingly and in paranoia. It makes Izuku question Gran Torino.

After this, Uraraka is happy Izuku got an offer, but they’re still worried about Iida. Eraser Head looks over the offers, and notices where Iida choose. He picked Manual’s agency, which wasn’t close to his best offer. But the location of the internship is the noticeable feature. It’s in Hosu City, the place where his big brother was attacked. Soon, news gets out on what happened to Tensei, and the Hero Killer Slain, who is an escapee who killed 17 heroes, and injured 23 beyond the point of making them heroes no more. The internship day arrives, and with the rule of minding their matters with the pros and not wearing their costumes in public, everyone takes off. As Iida goes off, he promises that he will talk to Izuku and Uraraka if he’s feeling down. Of course, Future Izuku warns us that something bad happens later on. Izuku himself gets to where the “terrifying” Gran Torino is supposed to be, which is a crappy, run-down complex. He enters, only to find him, a very old man, dead on the floor, in what appears to be a pool of blood. But, Gran Torino is alive, as he tells him so, making for a new adventure.

Overall, this whole episode is basically a set up for the next arc MHA is going towards. We got the hero names, and some goofy moments with them, and that’s about it. Other than that, it gave us a preview of who Gran Torino is, which he is an old man with more than meets the eye, as All Might being shook as hell proves there’s more to him. Mostly though, this episode gave us a nice breather from all the tournament fights we just saw. It also gave us the girls being cute as well. And you know the MHA girls can provide us with loads of cuteness.

Otherwise, there’s not much I can add to this episode that I have already recapped. With that, the first cour of My Hero Academia is completely. Tune in again sometime soon as I’ll be back to recap the 2nd cour of this fine series.

My Hero Academia is simulcasted on both Funimation and Crunchyroll. It can be seen Saturdays at 5:35 AM on both, with a simu-dub on Funimation.

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