English Dub Review: My Hero Academia “Roaring Upheaval”

The school trip war rages on, and no one is safe from the Vanguard Action Squad!

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The battle for the UA school trip rages on; there’s not a moment to rest for Midoriya and friends, especially when villains aren’t the only thing they’ve got to worry about, but their fellow heroes as well. Tokoyami has completely lost control of the dark shadow within him, and has gone on a complete rampage leaving him more beast than man, attacking everyone and anything in sight. Poor Midoriya, battered bruised and broken, struggles to lead his classmates out of this rough situation. In a stroke of tactical ingenuity, he solves one problem with another, by luring the unleashed Tokoyami into a decisive KO of “Moonfish,” the tooth bladed villain who had Bakugou and Todoroki on the defensive. With Midoriya adding more to their number, Bakugou manages to bring Tokoyami back to his senses by using his explosive powers to generate an explosion of light, quelling the raging shadow bird.

Tsuyu and Uraraka are having troubles of their own, meanwhile, trying to fend off the raging psycho of the Vanguard Action Squad, Toga Himiko. Uraraka gets a chance to put the combat training skills she’s developed to use, and the two manage to escape and regroup with the others, but not before Uraraka gets some of her blood drained by Toga, but for what sinister purpose?

Just when it looks like things are going their way, Midoriya and the others lose Bakugou and Tokoyami to a magician-themed villain named “Mr. Compress,” who then rallies all the villains to the evac point, their objective of kidnapping Bakugou having been met, and then some. This bails Yaorozu and Aoyama both out of bad situations, who were nearly about to be caught by a rampaging nomu and the two villains, “Dabi” and “Twice”, respectively. But not to leave things on a quiet note, the episode ends on a daring hail mary rescue attempt by Midoriya and friends, who launch themselves after Mr. Compress using Uraraka’s anti-gravity powers in a desperate attempt to save their friend.

Our Take:

While this episode isn’t quite the heart-pounding adrenaline shot to the heart that the prior couple of episodes have been, there is still quite a bit to love in this week’s iteration of My Hero Academia. Its trademarked usage of dense, but efficient, long-form storytelling is really starting to bear fruit here, as side characters like Tokoyami and Uraraka get some major love in terms of character development, while still pushing the plot along at an astounding speed. There’s no time to waste when it comes to pacing here, and we are delivered moment after moment of satisfying, impactful scenes that seem more suited to a blockbuster movie than to an anime series.

This is par for the course for My Hero Academia, though, which has been satisfying my craving for quality shounen anime for quite some time now. Even small dialogue scenes hold the tension of the episode, and you never know when a new villain may strike or a character might get completely wrecked by an unforeseen circumstance. The stakes are high, and the characters feel human and alive, so you never feel too comfortable for too long.

The real show-stealers of this…well, show, have to be Toga Himiko and “Twice,” who are some of sauciest, most enjoyable villains I’ve seen thus far, who basically chew on the scenery of every sequence they’re in. Toga is a molotov cocktail of sadism, romance, and shameless perversion; a malevolent foil to the innocent Uraraka and Tsuyu. The delivery of her bloodthirsty lines by voice actress, “Leah Clark”, sells her unique blend of madness without missing a beat. I am disgusted by her antics, but intrigued by her particular brand of insanity, reminiscent to me of “Dr. Stein”, the screw-loose soul meister from the hit anime, “Soul Eater.”

On the flip side of this is “Twice”, who serves as a bastion of much-needed comic relief from the otherwise breakneck pace of this episode. He’s genuinely funny and amusing, with his particular gimmick of contradicting himself never overstaying its welcome. It looks like he’ll be a big player in next week’s episode, which will surely have me tuned in to see what development comes next for the cloning villain.

Of course, nothing is completely without criticism, and My Hero Academia is no exception. Midoriya’s ability to withstand the enormous levels of punishment he has endured so far seems to push him a little bit into “Sue” territory, especially with his uncanny tactical abilities accompanying him, but the show mitigates this pretty well. I’d also like to point out that the big bad villains introduced to us a few episodes ago have, in no small part, been dispatched relatively easily. One would think the terrifying “Moonfish” would put up more of a fight, but his quick defeat makes him little more than a speed bump on the road of our heroes.

Still, it was a lovely episode, poignant and powerful, that will bring me back next week, hungry for more.