The muscular villain, Muscular, lies unconscious and Izuku Midoriya (Daiki Yamashita) has a lot of legwork to do before his adrenaline rush fades in “Drive It Home, Iron Fist!!!”. In this nighttime brawl, My Hero Academia is throwing dark, but the limp armed Deku still hopes to carry the light. The League of Villains has spread through the forest like a poison, sequestering groups of students and their chaperones, and Izuku and Kota (Michiru Yamazaki) have information and aid to deliver to all.
Hoping his heroic sacrifice proved a good example, Izuku tasks Kota with using his water spouting Quirk to break through the wall of fire that blocks their path toward Mandalay (Chisa Suganuma). If they can just reach her, they can lay out what they learned about the League’s true mission: the capture of Katsuki Bakugo (Nobuhiko Okamoto), and she can relay the info far and wide with her telepathy. En route, they bump into 1-A Homeroom Teacher Shota Aizawa (Junichi Suwabe). Earlier, it had seemed like Aizawa was ambushed by the Frankensteined-fire-conjurer Dabi (Hiro Shimono).
It takes more than a handful of fire to get past Eraserhead. In his fight with Dabi, Aizawa easily disabled his opponent and interrogated him while casually dislocating Dabi’s arms. While the stitched up pyro didn’t give him much to go on, he did dissolve into a puddle of mud. The apparent double Quirks at play left Erasherhead shook, so he sprinted into the forest to find out more.
As Izuku and Aizawa cross paths, the teacher gives his student an additional message for Mandalay to relay: all students are officially permitted to use their Quirks in combat. Izuku hands care of Kota over to Aizawa and bolts to the front lines, where a lizard man (Ryo Iwasaki) and a large man with a magnet (Satoru Inoue) are still holding Mandalay and Tiger (Shinosuke Ogami) at bay. Smashing through the lizard man’s swords, Deku gives the duo a reprieve and lays all of his messages out for Mandalay’s brain broadcast. Now, everyone knows the villains are after Bakugo, and that they’re allowed to fight back. Before the Wild, Wild Pussycats can do anything for the bashed up child, he’s vaulted back into the forest.
RELATED: Check out our review of last week’s episode, (S03E04) My Hero
Magnet Guy recognizes Izuku as one of the students Shigaraki (Koki Uchiyama) had marked for death, and throws a dagger after him, but is thwarted by his lizard companion. A strict adherent to the worldview of Stain, the lizard man recognizes Izuku as a true Hero, and puts that belief before Shigaraki’s petty desires. As the villains squabble, Mandalay and Tiger take advantage of the opportunity and knock them on their asses.
With single minded determination, Izuku zips between the trees to aid his eternal frenemy. His progress is stalled when the massive form of Mezo Shoji (Masakazu Nishida) curls around him, narrowly protecting him from the shadowy bird tendrils arcing throughout the woods. Izuku rushed into the forest to fight villains, but will instead have to help subdue a classmate and friend. In the darkness of the forest, the malevolent bird-like spirit that dwells within Fumikage Tokoyami (Yoshimasa Hosoya) has taken control of its host.
Amidst the poison cloud, Tetsutetsu (Koji Okino) is ready to fight, and Kendo (Saki Ogasawara) thinks she’s figured out the poison’s source. Tracking the movement of the fumes, she pinpoints the gassy villain’s location. At the center of the miasma stands a dweeby schoolboy in a protective breathing helmet. The villain, Mustard (Kiyotaka Furushima), can sense movements that pas through his gas, and proves frustratingly hard for Tetstutetsu to punch. Once up close the metal skinned brawler is left open to counter attack. Bucking the trend of unique weaponry or slick martial prowess, Mustard pulls out a gun.
Just a friggin’ revolver. His first shot shatters Tetsutetsu’s gas mask, and then he spends a while just shooting him. None of the shots are enough to pierce Tetsutetsu’s iron exterior, but each bullet saps his skin’s resilience. A ticking clock is suggested (how long can Tetsutetsu hold his breath while being shot?), but boy is it meekly delivered on.
After seemingly way too long, Kendo finally makes her move. Again, Mustard easily dodges the punch, but not Kendo’s fist as it expands to a hundred times its size. It’s the sort of attack that makes you think, “Cool! Wait, why didn’t she do that five minutes ago?” With the dork reeling, Kendo puffs up both of her hands and starts swatting away the poison, disabling Mustard’s blanket perception (again, why not try this earlier?). Finally seeing his opening, Tetsutetsu is back on his feet, laying that well deserved iron haymaker into Mustard’s face. With the dweeb knocked out, the poison dissipates throughout the forest.
RELATED: Check out all our MY HERO ACADEMIA Recaps here!
In their own secluded corner of the forest, Bakugo and Todoroki (Yuki Kaji) likely could use some assistance. The bondage cannable they stumbled upon, Moonfish (Shuhei Matsuda), still hungers for human flesh, and his permanently open maw is fixated on them. Giant swords extend from the creep’s teeth, propping him up like a grotesque spider that crawled out of a lesser Silent Hill game. Despite nothing about his form suggesting “nimbleness,” the movements of his sword-teeth are extremely quick and equally far reaching. It’s all Bakugo and Todoroki can do to dodge the trusts, let alone escape or fight back.
Bakugo knows these villains are after him, but how will that motivate him? Will he rush headlong into battle as he always does, or has he grown enough to know he needs to slip this creep’s grasp?
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