On to another episode in the next cour of MHA S2, as Izuku finally learned how to us One for All’s power last time. Through the use of the popular Japanese snack taiyaki. Oh shonen animes. Teaching MC’s in such weird ways. Anywho, onward to this episode.
Now that Izuku has One for All going throughout his body, Gran Torino wants to time him out. Deku has 3 minutes to land a blow on Gran Torino with this. The old man takes off, and starts to fight/trash talk Izuku, as Izuku can’t catch up with the old man’s speed. Gran Torino is so fast, Izuku doesn’t even have time to get One for All going.
To get some time, Izuku hides under the couch. Gran Torino tries to attack it, but it gives Izuku enough time to get One for All going and stop Gran Torino’s speed. He uses a technique with One for All: “Full Cowling.” Gran Torino dodges Izuku’s first punch, then Izuku gets behind him. However, unlike before when the old guy anticipated it, Izuku uses his own speed to then get above him. He uses Smash, but Gran Torino is still too fast, dodging it, and smashing Izuku into the wall. 3 minutes are up, but Gran Torino praises Izuku for his fast changes/predictions in how he attacked him this time. Plus, he actually made Gran Torino dodge seriously, and did leave a scratch on him. This power when he masters it could make Izuku a “monster” in the future. They stop to have the taiyaki they have, but it dropped on the floor in the chaos.
With the others, Uraraka is working hard with Gunhead and his “cute acting.” Kirishima and Tetsutestu are enduring Fourth Kind. Best Jeanist is making Bakugo presentable, as seen in the featured image. And Yaoyorozu and Kendo are watching Uwabami at a photo shoot. With Yaoyorozu trying her best to be in denial that this is something else entirely. With All Might, he’s meeting up with an officer about the villains who attacked, or more specifically, Nomu. Remember the muscly, brain chicken from S1? They found DNA results from him leading to the mastermind of them. Not only could Nomu not think for himself, he used to be a normal thug. He had 4 different, intermingled DNA samples in his body, meaning someone modified him to hold different Quirks. In short, someone has a Quirk that can give other Quirks. All Might knows immediately who it is, and it gets him angry.
Stain is still not willing to join Shigaraki cause of his desires, and is close to killing him, as he also injured Kurogiri too (He can’t move from it, as it may be Stain’s Quirk.) But Shigaraki ain’t done. He decays Stain’s sword to rust, and tells his own desires to crush society cause of what All Might to make it popular. He also wants Stain to be responsible for the injuries he caused on him. But, even though they have opposite goals, Stain sees they have the same true motive. He’ll help, even if Shigaraki doesn’t want his help anymore. Stain has Kurogiri send him back to Hosu City. There, we see Iida and Manuel, as Iida has more info on Stain. He usually injures 4 heroes wherever he is. Since Iida’s big bro was the only one he attacked, he knows Stain is coming back to Hosu.
It’s now Day 3, and at 5% of One for All’s power, Izuku is still getting his ass beat by Gran Torino. To not make Izuku fall into any weird habits fighting him, Gran Torino makes Izuku put his costume on and go into “Phase 2.” What is Phase 2, you ask?
Yeah, but it’s not the villains Deku encountered before. Just small time ones so he can experience different types and such. The old man talks about how lower populations have lower crime rates and how the heroes agencies are usually in urban areas with higher population densities like Shibuya, because they have more crime. The duo are gonna hop on a bullet train that leads passed Hosu CIty. Speaking of, Manuel and Iida are patrolling, and Manuel asks him if he only joined him to go after Stain. Manuel tells him that he can’t use his Quirk for personal grudges, because if he does, Iida can be charged a very serious crime. This makes Iida conflicted about his feeling of going after Stain.
As for him, he returns with Shigaraki, too. After more “change people’s minds about heroes” talk, Stain takes off, but Shigiraki thinks he’s all talk. We even learn that Stain is sort of a “hero breeder,” as in, more heroes are conscience of this guy, and made the places he struck have lower crime rates. Because of his disagreement with him, Shigaraki calls on some more Nomus. Three more Nomus appear thanks to Kurogiri, and they go out into the city. Iida has not responded at all to Izuku’s text worrying about him. But as they get near Hosu Station via the bullet train, some passengers see a building on fire. The train stops suddenly, and then a hero smashes right through the train. A Nomu also appears, beating the poor dude. Gran Torino springs into action, kicking the Nomu off the train and into a building. Izuku can see the city on fire.
Manuel gets word of what’s happening, and has Iida help him. Seeing this isn’t flashy to be Stain’s work, Iida notices something and leaves Manuel to check it out. What he finds is Stain attacking the hero Native (who is a Native American …. in Japan???) and is about to finish him until Iida comes in. Stain slashes his helmet off to show that Iida is just a kid, and he tells Iida to beat it, since he doesn’t like killing kids. But Iida is full of vengeance. Iida tells him he’s the younger bro of the hero he took out, and says his hero name is “Ingenium.” Stain changes his mind and has his attention now on Iida.
A lot happened in this episode, so it was an evenly spread out episode for a lot of it. We learned a bit more about the villains and what they do. We saw more Nomus. We saw Iida get ready to take on his foe. We saw Bakugo with a new hairdo. And we see Hosu being turned into a battlefield with the Nomus. It should lead us to a fun battle-filled episode next time. The progress of Izuku with Gran Torino may be coming to, but seeing Gran Torino fighting someone other than Deku should lead us into more of his Quirk. (Although, the transitions between parts last week basically gave away what his Quirk is and what it does. Also, it told us Izuku’s birthday was July 15. Happy birthday!) The Nomus should provide a fun experience here, as the original Nomu did in the first season. Plus, if it goes the way like the tournament, the fights should be animated well. So tune in next time. Overall, another solid episode from a season that has been solid all the way through.