English Dub Review: My Hero Academia “Infinite 100%”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Ryukyu, Uraraka, Tsuyu, and Nejire capture Katsukame, a villain who can drain energy, which he does to stop them from assisting with Nighteye’s team. Not even Nejire, whose power is spiral energy attacks, can quite take him down, but the group’s combined efforts take them underground to Deku’s fight with Chisaki. Though this was part of a plan by Twice and Toga to capture Eri which…doesn’t pan out. Deku continues battling Chisaki, the last one willing to fight after Mirio and Nighteye were mortally injured.

In flashbacks, we learn that Eri is Chisaki’s boss’s granddaughter, abandoned by her mother when she accidentally killed her father with a mutated quirk, which turns out to be the ability to revert or “rewind” materials and people to a previous state, explaining how her power can remove quirks when weaponized. Once Chisaki uncovered this, he tried using it as a means to create drugs which both take away one’s quirk and restore it, controlling the market from the shadows. When the boss refused this, Chisaki forcibly took control of the organization and left the boss on his deathbed with plans to restore him later.

In the present, Eri decides to put her faith in Deku and jumps into his arms, which gives him a sudden boost in power. Deku soon learns her power’s function from Chisaki, meaning that he can use 100% of One for All’s power without injury because Eri can rewind his body to before it gets broken, though he’ll have to use his power faster than she can rewind so he doesn’t disappear. Chisaki also gathers strength with Katsukame’s ability merged into him, leading to a final showdown. With his power at maximum, Deku finally manages to defeat Overhaul. Even Nighteye is surprised by Deku’s ability to break the future he once saw.

OUR TAKE
The Shie Hassaikai Arc reaches its climax with yet another gloriously animated fight for the record books. This is probably not much of a surprise for fans of the show by now, as I can’t really recall a single fight, let alone ones that cap off a story arc, that have ever been anything less than thrilling to watch and breath-taking look at. While it might go without saying that this show’s fights kick all kinds of ass, it’s also worth saying every single time. This show kicks ass in pretty much all ways, but if I had to pick one, it would be in the fight scenes.

We also finally get some insight on Chisaki’s backstory and motives in why he started this whole plan in the first place. He was a given a home by this yakuza boss and committed to paying that man back for that kindness…by any means necessary. Now, obviously whatever sympathetic aspects he has in his past does not in any way forgive his horrible treatment of Eri or the lives he’s either ended or ruined in his plans, but it’s nice to at least see he has dimensions to him beyond having a cool as hell design, an interesting plan, and a very versatile quirk. Those are all good things to have, but it’s also just as important to have a core for all of these actions to come from. The fact that he comes from an area of this world that we had previously not explored, street crime and how it has reacted to the rise of quirks, opens up a perspective that helps to further flesh out a world that already felt so lively and detailed. Chisaki has definitely been a great interlude baddie as we wait for the League of Villains to properly re-enter the story. I’ll get more into that bit next week, but right now I just have to point out it’s a job well done.

The arc properly concludes next week and with that comes more overall analysis of the arc as a whole, so then we can spend the rest of this season having fun school times. But before we get to that, lets see how the loose threads are tied up and we see how the Bright Future of this series looks. Also a shame that we need to wait another two weeks for the new OP, but them’s the breaks.