It’s the final practical exam fight. Izuku and Bakugo vs All Might. How did it go? Who won? Did Bakugo team up with Izuku? Did we get carnage? Did we get friendship? Did I get a meme out of this? The answers to all of them will come soon enough, except the last one. Which is yes, I did.
Inside the area as the last match starts, Bakugo still can’t get over the fact that Izuku can use his Quirk now and used Bakugo’s own moves. His fierce attitude scares Izuku, but Izuku has to talk some type of strategy to him. It’s simple: They’re the heroes, All Might is the villain, All Might is too strong, all that jazz. Izuku argues to just run away to the gate, but Bakugo made up his mind to beat All Might down. Izuku tries to talk him out of it, knowing that All Might isn’t being beat. Only to have Bakugo smack him in the face, and get really super pissed. The teamwork is not working here.
As the two still go at it, All Might himself is ready to go. He launches one punch right at the two bickering rivals. It not only gets them, but the punch destroys most of the area that surrounds them. All Might shows why he’s not to be taken so lightly in this villain role, as his intimidation gets both of them shaking.
Izuku wants to run now, but All Might comes towards them. Bakugo uses Stun Grenade to blind him, to no avail. He grabs Bakugo by the face. Even so, Bakugo only focuses on All Might’s defeat, using explosions on All Might that do nothing. He smashes Bakugo into the ground, then gets behind Deku quickly. It reminds Izuku of his fight with Stain, and as he powers up, he jumps away. Only to run into Bakugo doing so. It’s getting ugly, as both have different goals here, as Izuku admires All Might like a god, and Bakugo relies on his combat senses. Still, Bakugo won’t give up, because only winning is what it means to be a hero to him. A tiny flashback then shows Bakugo as a kid admiring All Might on TV. All Might then stops Izuku with part of a fence by holding him down with, as a “present” for trying to run. Then he just lays the almighty hammer down to Bakugo’s gut. The punch was so hard, it made Bakugo vomit.
It flashes back again to tiny Bakugo again admiring All Might beating villains, as he always wins against them. Izuku knows Bakugo is a jerk, but he does admire him for how he wants to be a winner. All Might knows himself that Bakugo is angry because of Deku’s improvement, and that their own differences in power can’t improve at the same rate. He knows that Bakugo has so much more to grow up. However, Bakugo tells All Might this: He rather lose here, than team up with Izuku. As All Might is about to finish Bakugo, Izuku powers up, goes and punches him. No, not All Might. He punches Bakugo.
This stuns All Might, as Izuku doesn’t want Bakugo to say those words, takes the hothead and runs. Bakugo comes back around, and is mad at Izuku for this, but Izuku just doesn’t want him to say that again. He would rather have Bakugo use him then say he loses. Another tiny Bakugo flashback has his 1st-grade ass messing with some 4th-graders, and winning. The 4th graders run, as Izuku and the others are amazed that Bakugo beat them. As he says, “The most amazing hero ALWAYS wins in the end.” Bakugo, explode punching the wall above Izuku, knows he can’t run from All Might, while also knowing they can’t beat him with lame power. As All Might looks for them, Bakugo pops out and and starts blasting All Might’s face with explosions. However, it’s a distraction as Izuku has one of Bakugo’s grenade gauntlets, and pulls the pin to use on All Might, using all the power they can on the big dude. The big explosion sends Izuku back and hurts his shoulder, as both he and Bakugo run after this. They compromised on how to beat All Might (and didn’t destroy any other city parts, because heroes) so they are working as one for now. But All Might knows this is just a little thing. As he coughs up blood, he hopes these two will cooperate more in the future.
The duo is nearly at the the gate, as they see his punch got as far as here too. Bakugo still says he will be the one to beat All Might, with Izuku passing the gate, even with one gauntlet. However, All Might suddenly appears, and smashes both gauntlets they have. Even with the weights on him, All Might is extremely fast. He then knees Bakugo in the face, grabs hold of Izuku and smashes him into Bakugo like a hammer.
All Might thinks this battle is over, as Bakugo can see why he is called the “Greatest Hero” for a reason. All Might knows their plan using max power to get through the gates, but with no gauntlets, it seem fairly moot. But Bakugo isn’t done. He causes an explosion under All Might, sending him flying. He then grabs Izuku and uses an explosion to send him flying towards the gate to end this, with Bakugo’s arm reacting to the explosion. But, All Might uses New Hampshire Smash to punch the air and send him flying right into Izuku’s back, crushing his pupil. Even after that impact, Bakugo tells Izuku to get moving. Without the gauntlets to help maintain his maximum firepower, Bakugo is using all the risks that his body can take from his Quirk to win. He attacks All Might again, even with his arms feeling all of it as Izuku takes off with all he can. But All Might dodges his attack, and smashes Bakugo in the ground. As his teacher, he hates seeing them destroy their own bodies. And yet, Bakugo still makes explosions, weak ones, as he just wants to win, no matter the cost. Izuku powers up once more, but instead of going towards the gate, he goes right towards All Might. He remembers All Might’s words about smiling even if you are scared or worried, and in that moment, Izuku smiles. He then uses Smash on All Might’s face, grabs Bakugo and runs toward the gate as All Might’s time in his big form has ran out. All Might knows that Izuku wasn’t gonna leave Bakugo behind, because that isn’t who Izuku is. He’s been saving people since he met him, and knows nothing could stop Izuku here. Izuku passes the gate, and both of them pass the exam.
After all this, Recovery Girls heals them, and scolds All Might for going too hard on them, as Bakugo won’t wake up for awhile. Still, All Might can see how both of them have grow a lot stronger since they first met, and can get more stronger moving forward. In the end, the students learned a bunch of valuable lessons and about themselves and their goals through these exams. The finals are all over. Meanwhile, Shigaraki has a visitor come see him. It’s a villain named Giran, and he brought some people. It’s the blonde girl and the scarred-jaw dude. They both want to join the League of Villains.
This episode had plenty of great things in it. It had the back-and-forth between Bakugo and Izuku. It showed Bakugo’s own reasons for being a hero, and how Izuku does admire his own goals/ways of being said hero. We got a ton of action, ton of All Might being great and powerful, some great fight scenes with some fantastic animation to go along with the fight. This episode was …. a blast!
*BOOOOOOO!!!*
I’m sorry. Although, Bakugo was still his angry, jerk-ass self throughout this one, and I did want to see a bit more about why he is like this. But that will be for future episodes. He did show a lot of spunk taking all those punches not only from All Might, but from Izuku as well. If you don’t love his attitude, you have to love his tenacity for not giving up when it seems like he should. He will take on anyone, no matter who it is. His firey nature works so well with this “never-lose-to-anyone” attitude, and when he did want to lose, Izuku stepping in to tell him off was a great dynamic to throw in. If this felt like a finale to end the season, it would’ve been a great way to end it. But, we still got one more recap to get through as the finale is here. Next time, join me as I introduce a manga favorite who gets their turn, have a little chat, and go shopping! Yes, this all has something to do with the final episode.