English Dub Review: My Hero Academia “Create Those Ultimate Moves”

Ultimate moves and a sexy new opener?! Be still, my heart.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Class 1-A has moved into the dorms and is back in school, which means its time to get to training. The next big milestone for the class is to pass their provisional hero license exam. Aizawa informs them that the test is no joke, but if they pass, they can finally perform official hero work.

But our heroes still have a long way to go before they’re ready for the exam. First, they need to solidify their combat styles and create their ultimate moves, moves so powerful that they can consistently defeat any foe.

The class immediately gets to training their abilities, but Midoriya has a bit of a problem. He can’t use his arms to fight anymore without risking their destruction, so he has to figure out a way to fight once again. He heads, along with Iida and Uraraka, to the support department for help, where he comes across support curriculum the first year, Hatsume, who has plenty of insane ideas on how to help Midoriya and friends out. While none of her gadgets are what Midoriya is looking for, seeing how she innovates her machines inspire a breakthrough within Midoriya; he’s figured it out.

Later, while the teachers watch Bakugou and Tokoyami demonstrate their new special moves, a rock dislodged by Bakugou falls and almost hits All Might, until Midoriya flies out of nowhere revealing his new power: “Shoot style”, a fighting style that only uses his legs. All Might smiles, realizing that Midoriya has figured his power out and that he’s taken the next step forward onto becoming the symbol of peace.

Our Take:

My Hero Academia is a show that loves its big payoffs, usually giving us a powerful moment to attach to with each episode, and this week is no exception. Midoriya’s quest of self-improvement hits a huge milestone here, cementing his character as more than just an “All Might” fanboy. “Shoot style” is fresh, clever, and something that feels distinctly Midoriya’s; its a special move that doesn’t feel like something extra, but rather is a completion of who Midoriya really is. That’s pretty ballsy to do, especially three seasons into a series, but because it took so long to get here, this moment is top shelf.

Beyond just Midoriya, this is the kind of episode that you just can’t help but love. Special moves in anime are concentrated cool. When a special move takes the form of a really cool or clever idea, it makes me giddy, instilling in me that feeling of seeing something new, something beyond my imagining. Bakugou’s “AP Shot” and Tokoyami’s “Abyssal Black Body” are just fantastic; bits of innovation that echo “Naruto” or “Hunter X Hunter” and their innovative fight scenes. Innovation is the driving theme of the episode here, which connects everything together in a tight story of growth and evolution, through personal training or through technological advancement.

It’s nice to see our resident mad scientist Hatsume return with all her crazy gadgets in tow. She’s got that kind of applied insanity that dominates every scene she’s in. She doesn’t chew on the scenery, she devours it, with admittedly mixed results. She takes up a lot of the episode and her comedic moments are somewhat hit-or-miss. Though, I do appreciate that Hatsume gets a little more development as more than just a nutty engineer. She’s actually a genius in her field, an untapped potential needing only the time and maturity to really develop. In that way, she fits right in with the rest of our cast.

This episode can get a little preachy at some moments, and it doesn’t have quite the energy that the show usually does. At times, its a bit too zany, but when it buckles down and gets to the nitty-gritty of class 1-A and their training, its a really good time. The episode is something of a pit stop, but perhaps a necessary one, to move our heroes on to bigger and better things.