It’s been awhile, and I kind of fallen behind on My Hero Academia. To catch up, it’s time for a double recap, that is all about the Stain fight. These episodes will involve a lot of blood.
Episode 29 – “Hero Killer Stain vs. U.A. Students”
As the train finally stops, Izuku gets off it to get to Gran Torino. He hopes the old hero is okay, as he goes into Full Cowling to catch up. Gran Torino, meanwhile, is in the city fighting the Nomu. Even though he is faster, the Nomu is attacking at random, going after the citizens. But, a giant fireball gets the Nomu, as Gran Torino sees a certain big, fiery hero comes to his aid (It should be obvious who it is. The show just doesn’t say who it is, though.)
Facing a Nomu before, Izuku knows the city is in danger, and wonders what Iida will do. He then hears Iida’s first name called, and getting there, runs into a bus being thrown by a Nomu. Manuel is there, along with a bunch of other heroes, as they try to stop two Nomus. However, Iida isn’t there, as he pieces together where he is. Izuku takes off to find him, as the heroes struggle against the Nomus. Shigaraki just watches all the carnage unfold. It flashes back to him talking to their master. Even though they aren’t as strong as the original one, they still got six Nomus. Shigaraki wants them all to kill Stain, but their master gives him half as a learning experience.
Now to where Stain and Iida left off their fight, Iida attacks, but Stain dodges, and stabs both of Iida’s shoulders.
I said this would be bloody. Iida tries to point out what Stain did to Tensei, but to no avail. He calls the two bros “fakes”, as Iida flashes back to his younger days. Their dad praising Tensei, as he tells how he wants to work hard to support the others who support him. Iida will never forgive Stain for this, and will kill him. Stain tells him to save Native first, and not give in to hatred, since that doesn’t make a hero. Who knew the villain could be the one giving wisdom. Stain licks the blood from the sword, affecting Iida as his body can’t move. As he gets ready to kill Iida, Izuku comes in and punches Stain with a Smash.
Izuku, without even thinking of how he’s just jumping from building to building now without missing a step, thinks of how the Nomu, League of Villains, and Stain are connected, and if Iida ran into Stain here. Going down an alley, since that was where he learned that 60% of places Stain has attacked was with not many people, he sees them both, and attacks Stain. Checking all the alleyways helped, and now sees here to help Iida. Iida, along with Native, can’t move cause of Stain’s Quirk. Just looking into Stain’s eyes, Izuku can tell this guy is different than the villains he faced at USJ. Izuku texts his location to anybody nearby, and will fight Stain himself. Iida thinks this has nothing to do with Izuku, but as All Might said, meddling in something like this is the essence of a hero. Izuku attacks, as he gets real close to Stain. Stain thinks he got him by taking out another weapon, but One for All’s speed gets Deku above, and he lays a 5% Detroit Smash on Stain. His movement makes Iida think of Bakugo. However, Stain does grazes him, and licking off the blood, Izuku is now frozen. This allows Izuku to know how Stain’s Quirk works, as Stain thinks Izuku is worthy enough to live. He decides to go after Iida and Native, but a fire attack stops Stain. Todoroki arrives, as he figured out Izuku’s location immediately, and tells them pros will be here soon. Using both sides, Izuku tells him to keep his distance as he figured out Stain’s Quirk. But Stain has other plans, as he throws a knife quickly , cutting Todoroki’s face.
Todoroki blocks another katana throw with his ice, but Stain gets up close and tries to lick his cut (gross). He protects himself with his fire, and uses his ice to attack, but Stain is strong enough to cut the ice down. Iida himself can’t believe these two will get in his fight. But Todoroki knows all too well about family issues. It’s why he’s helping. However, Stain gets Todoroki’s left arm, and is about to finish Native. However, Izuku attacks Stain, as he can move again. Native and Iida can’t, Izuku comes to 3 reasons why:
1) His Quirk is less effective with more people.
2) Time limit with amount of blood ingested.
3) Blood Type depends on effectiveness.
It is 3. As Izuku is a Type O, he can move in less time, as the order in which a person can move from least to most goes O, A (Iida’s BT), AB, and B (Native’s BT). This is Stain’s Quirk: “Bloodcurdle,” which can stop a person’s movement up to 8 minutes by only tasting it. Stain’s speed means Todoroki can’t protect the two immobile heroes, especially with all the blood he’s lost, so Izuku will distract as Todoroki supports. It leads to us finding out that Todoroki was also worried about Iida, as Todoroki tells us how his meeting with his mom went. After telling her everything, she apologized and was forgiving with a smile. She told him to move forward without hesitation, with her not holding him back. That would make her happy. It’s why he joined his dad’s agency. Even though he still doesn’t forgive him for all he did, he wanted to experience what the #2 Hero can do. Plus, Endeavor knew about Stain’s motives and where he was, which helped here. Using his left side freely, Todoroki attacks with Izuku. All this gets to Iida. Izuku gets cut, as Stain’s movements change. Iida wants them to stop, but Todoroki tells him the only way is for him to stand up on his own. Todoroki tells him to “Look properly at what you want to be.” As Stain attacks Todoroki, Iida’s fingers begins to move.
Episode 30 – “Climax”
Iida starts to wonder what type of hero he is, as his friends protect him, and starts to hate how he used his brother’s hero name to get vengeance on Stain. He flashes back to when he asked his bro why he was a hero, and it was simple. It was like helping lost children get to a service center, just thinking those people who did it were cool. (Which, young “Robot” Iida totally missed the point about. Tensei also points out that Iida was better at his young age than Tensei was.) Iida now sees he lacks maturity. But he still won’t give up. Todoroki’s attacks gets dodged by Stain, and it looks like he’s gonna cut Todoroki in half. But Iida finally stands, uses Recipro-burst, stops Stain from delivering a fatal blow, and kicks him away.
Iida apologizes, as he wants to finish this himself. Stain still calls him a fake and a cancer to this society of heroes, which Iida agrees with. But he won’t give up, even as he is bleeding out. He won’t let Ingenium’s name die. Todoroki can see Stain is getting flustered, as dealing with all these opponents while trying to kill 2 heroes is making him desperate. All while his Quirk isn’t quite as powerful as well. Iida’s Recipro is done, as he may have broke the radiator kicking Stain. However, he asks Todoroki to freeze his legs without plugging the exhaust. It’s to regulate the temps and make Recipro work again. Of course, Satin attacks them again, but Iida takes both attacks head on, taking out his arms. Even so, Todoroki freezes his legs, as Izuku starts to move again and get One for All powered up. Iida removes the blade, and starts to move. He has another Recipro: This time, Recipro-Extend. He, along with Izuku and Full Cowling, land a kick/punch combo on Stain directly.
The show goes back a few minutes before, to when Gran Torino is met by Endeavor in fighting the Nomu. It not only took the fire attack without losing consciousness (a first for an Endeavor opponent), but it absorbed Endeavor’s attack and made its own attack from it. However, it still got damaged. Gran Torino notices it has multiple Quirks, as it gets bigger and unleashes a tongue attack. However, Gran Torino uses his speed to go through its tongue, and crushes the Nomu himself. Seeing the explosions where the heroes are fighting the other Nomus, Endeavor flashes back to when Todoroki got Izuku’s location text. He told his dad the location (Ekou Street-District 4), and went off to help Deku. Endeavor gives Gran Torino the address to go find them.
Back to the Stain fight, the villain still isn’t done as he nearly slices Iida with his sword. Iida lands another kick on the dude, and Todoroki roasts him with his fire. He catches both Iida and Izuku with his ice, and gets Stain too. It looks like it’s over, as the group retrains him. With Manuel and the other heroes, they are still struggling with both Nomus. But Endeavor arrives and blasts the big Nomu. It regenerates, so Endeavor just fire roasts its head off. However, the Flying Nomu has a hero, and Endeavor goes after it, telling the other to Izuku’s location. He gets it in the face with a flaming spear, giving it an injury and saving said hostage. But it flies away.
Native finally helps as he carries Izuku, as it’s his only way to help. But even so, Iida’s arm is busted, and the 3 barely made it through the fight. Gran Torino finds them and kicks Izuku in the face for leaving the train. But he’s glad he’s okay, as he still reminds him of Toshinori (All Might). As the other heroes arrive, Iida apologizes again for all he did, as Izuku apologizes for not noticing his friend’s problems. However, the time for happy endings is soon disrupted by the Flying Nomu. It takes Izuku away. Gran Torino can’t get it in the air, but only one person can. It is Stain. He gets free from his retrain, licks some of the blood that drop off the Nomu and onto a lady hero, and it cause the Nomu to drop to the ground. He instantly kills the Flying Nomu, and take Izuku hostage, as Shigaraki can’t believe all that has happened to his Nomus. Endeavor arrives to fight Stain with the others, but Stain gets up. Izuku can see it immediately in his eyes. All the bloodlust that is coming from Stain. Stain wants to kill all of them, and it terrifies them. Iida, Todoroki, Gran Torino. Even the mighty Endeavor himself is scared shitless from this terrifying nightmare of a man.
Stain is ready to kill all the fakes, as again, only All Might can kill this man. However, as he is about to make his move, he drops his blade, and his bloodlust stops. Stain lost consciousness right there, as everyone is relieved. It’s learned later that at that moment, one of Stain’s broken ribs pierced his lung, ending it there. And yet, he was the only one standing willing to fight.
The overall storyline of this double recap is Stain himself. The man was a beast, as he was able to fight Izuku and Todoroki by himself while both were at full strength. Remember the Izuku/Todoroki fight and how that went? This was with one dude, and he still couldn’t stay down at the end. Stain was a monster, and even if his Quirk, while effective, had its flaws, it showed how he could take attacks, showcased his quickness, his timely brilliance with his sword/knife/blade attacks, him cutting through Todoroki’s ice like it was butter, and the end of episode 30 where he didn’t even need to be at full strength to show what a damn powerhouse he is. Just the looks of fear alone on Endeavor and Gran Torino was all you needed to show what type of player Stain was. He was a great over-powering villain to have, even if his whole ideology about “fake heroes” schtick did get old after awhile. I do admire his obsession with it though, even if hearing it every time was a bit much. The other storyline was Iida, and how he could handle his emotions with his bro’s attacker. It was pretty amazing to see this transformation of Iida, as it wasn’t like him at all. Usually stoic, always going by the rules, having your back for others. The revenge angle showed a side of him that we knew he wasn’t prepared to handle, because it’s not him. But it does show that he is more human than the robot we see in most episodes. His admiration for his older bro is something alot can relate to. To see it faced up in a battle like this, against a monster of Stains sorts. While he tried, I’ll give him credit. He did take a ton of attacks from the dude, and did help beat him. Another thing I liked was Endeavor. Yes, I know. Endeavor is still an unlikable asshole, for sure. But he is still a hero. That showed by how he handle those Nomus with relative ease, and how he shown helping guide the other heroes to other situations, and saving some. It’s as Todoroki said, you don’t have to forgive him, but you can respect his status as #2 hero.
Other than than, the animation was still great as always, even if in some spot in episode 30 it kinda looked a tiny bit off in some spots. The Nomus could have maybe done more here, and maybe that’s me wanting to see more like I did with the original Nomu. But they weren’t the main focus, so I’ll give them a pass. Plus, it was cool seeing Izuku go off with One for All’s power after struggling with it all this time. Overall, two fine MHA episodes that showcased a villain’s overall mighty strength and a hero’s desperate desire for vengeance.