MY HERO ACADEMIA Recap: (S03E17) Class 1-A

Fifty spots are left open for My Hero Academia‘s students to pass their Provisional License Exam. Scattered throughout the testing grounds and split into small squads, UA’s Class 1-A is pitted against opponents who saw them coming.

In a replica industrial district, Shoto Todoroki (Yuki Kaji) faces down a team of ten teen ninjas. Rather than hewing toward the ninja asthetic, their Quirks are specifically selected to counter Todoroki’s fire and ice, with spouts of water and strong physical attacks.

Ever clever, Todoroki blasts their water with his flames to conceal the area in a steamy haze. Hidden, he sets up a trap using a vat of chemicals. As the mist clears, the ninjas notice their predicament just in time to be sent flying as the vat bursts into a huge pink cloud. Todoroki casually tags their targets and makes his way to the victory suite.

Over in the replica commercial district, Momo Yaoyorozu’s (Marina Inoue) makeshift squad tries to plot their next move. Camping out in the upper levels of an office building, they know other students are closing in on them, but aren’t certain what to do. With opportunities to pass the test dwindling, they wonder if it’s time to head out on the attack. Kyoka Jiro (Kei Shindo) keeps her ears plugged into the wall for surveillance, and they hear something foreboding: footsteps closing in. Before they can plan a response, a burst of sound from elsewhere in the building shocks her sensitive ears and sends her reeling.

It’s the start of a cascade of nullifying attacks. The windows around them shatter, blocking the perception of Mezo Shoji’s (Masakazu Nishida) many eyes. From outside, the doors are welded shut. Cold air starts pumping in from the vents, immediately triggering Tsu Asui’s (Aoi Yuki) frog-like hibernation instinct. Someone has a dead read on all of their Quirks, and the longer they’re left trapped in this hallway the more clear it becomes that the puppet master is trying to corner Yaoyorozu into burning out her Creation Quirk to keep her classmates from freezing.

Thinking back to Izuku Midoriya’s (Daiki Yamashita) single minded focus on saving his friends, Momo shakes off the mindset of a student taking a test, and instead shifts her focus to getting her friends out of this predicament. Her brain genius opponent sits outside the hallway, having added up all the data and mathed out the possible outcomes, patiently waiting for the UA students to crumble. Inside the barricaded hallway, Momo Yaoyorozu sets aside the encroaching cold and instead creates a scheme that will make the most of Kyoka’s Quirk.

Saiko Intelli counts down the time to her inevitable victory, sipping her IQ boosting tea, when her tranquility is disrupted by a high pitched wail. Instead of futilely fighting the cold, Momo created a giant amplifier for Kyoka, and ear protection for her classmates. They grit their teeth and weather the debilitating soundwaves as their opponents, one by one, fall to the floor. Finally, they come face to face with Saiko Intelli. Momo struggles to stand after so much use of her Quirk, and Saiko takes advantage of this by pushing her back into the hallway and locking the door behind them. The overconfident genius will take down at least one UA student, today.

With one last trick up her non-existent sleeve, Momo conjures handcuffs to restrain one of Saiko’s arms. As her other arm swings down with a ball in hand, the door bursts open. The lock was no match for Shoji’s many beefy arms, and a fully-awake Tsu grapples onto Saiko’s arm with her frog tongue. With ample targets at their disposal, Momo’s entire team passes.

Entire squads are passing and failing in unison, and the remaining students are catching on to the volatility of the remaining passing positions. Facing their own challenges, Katsuki Bakugo (Nobuhiko Okamoto) and Izuku Midoriya will each have to lead their respective trios to a passing grade, and fast.