English Dub Review: My Hero Academia “Match 3 Conclusion”

 

Overview(Possible Spoilers):

We get the conclusion to the third match, in case the title didn’t clue you in. Everyone gets time to shine, Class B and A both put their best on the line. Unfortunately for both, it ends in a draw. Bakugo’s group is up next and you know he won’t take any crap.

Our Take:

We should just call this episode the “Studio Bones decides to show off” episode. The very beginning starts with awesome animation as Ida breaks out of Honenuki’s softened ground. The explosion and resulting “block” animation remind me of the Deku vs Todoroki fight from season two. We all know how awesome that visual masterpiece was. I am pretty sure that episode single-handedly won MHA a lot of awards that year.

One thing that is hard to do in these ensemble fights is making sure everyone gets time to do something meaningful. In this episode, everyone and I mean EVERYONE got a pretty big moment. That isn’t relegated to just the Class A group either. Pony Tsunotori has skyrocketed up my list of favorites. If I ever revisit that quirk list I did she might make the cut this time, as well as other Class B heroes.

If we’re talking character development though that award would have to go to Ida in this one. He learned a lot from his fight with Stain and seems ready to take on the Ingenium name. For those who don’t know, Ida’s brother was the pro hero Ingenium until he was attacked and forcibly retired by Stain the Hero Killer. Ida prioritized revenge and fighting instead of rescuing someone in need during that fight. Here though he prioritized rescuing Todoroki from the immediate area. Our boys are growing up!

J. Michael Tatum always puts in solid performances (when given the opportunity at least) and does well as always. Hate to reference the Stain episode but this was his best performance as Ida since then. It was really good and I had to mention it. The only one that stood out more was this week’s performance by David Matranga.

Todoroki is no stranger to big moments and I am sure he will continue to get more. Hearing the determination in his voice as he pushed past his limits was really good and reminded me how good David is as a voice actor. Todoroki might be my favorite role of his and episodes like this make that more apparent. What I am trying to get at is this show was cast really well and I can’t think of anyone who should play these characters other than who is.

I read the manga weekly and I remember this arc vaguely. The anime however is making it amazing. Don’t get me wrong I love manga and I think it’s great and can be enjoyed on its own. Sometimes though, certain moments are just better animated. The Overhaul fight from season four and this arc are huge examples of that. Great story but I found myself reading it and it was a bit hard to follow. I kept thinking “I can’t wait for this to be animated” and man was I right. Bones killed it this week especially.

Funimation is continuing to simuldub and it seems like they are mostly back on track. Some shows skip weeks but their big ones like this and Fruits Basket seem to be pretty consistent at the moment. I am looking forward to next week cause everybody’s favorite loudmouth Bakugo gets his shot. Something tells me he isn’t gonna lose, but that would be interesting.