(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well guys we just got done reviewing all of My Hero Academia this past summer, but that doesn’t mean we’re done with the series just yet. We’ve also got Vigilantes.
(Shizuku): The first season of the spinoff received good praise from fans and promised a second season that premiered earlier this year. Everyone was excited to continue the story of Koichi and the others and explore a different side of the series. Let’s return to the morally grey and take at MHA: Vigilantes S2.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Shizuku): The opening this time around is “CATCH!!!” by Threee. Overall, this is a good song. At first, I wasn’t a big fan of it, but it grew on me. The singer is good and the instrumental is catchy and full of energy. While I prefer the first opening over this one, I do think the visuals in this opening are way better than the first one. They keep the comic book aesthetic, but make it look sharper and more colorful.
(Nitsuj): The second ending is “Miss you” by shytaupe. It’s a sober song that does a good job matching up to the character of Koichi in his journey from a boy just being a vigilante to becoming a hero. The song is a reflection of how far he’s come and where the path will take him nice. Honestly, this is one of my favorite endings of the year.
Episodes 1-4
(Shizuku): Alright, so the second season begins with Koichi and Pop Step going to Osaka to work with local idols. Unfortunately, Koichi misses the train getting a bento, but he manages to grab on to the train using his quirk. Despite the speed of the train, he was able to hold on because his quirk allowed him to stick to the surface of the train (Nitsuj: His quirk is evolving). Once they make it to Osaka, they meet Fat Gum who directs them to the mall and we find out he’s working with the police in a drug bust operation. Once backstage they befriend a crab saleswoman named Kaniko (she is definitely Osaka’s spirit incarnated). When it’s time for her to perform, she gets a stomachache and Pop Step has to step in for her. Now at first, you think she’s the drug dealer, I mean that’d be the obvious twist. However, she’s not. She’s an undercover cop and the real suspects are the crab company she’s been working for this whole time.
Episode 2 goes by quick as Kaniko infiltrates the loading dock and finds the drugs she was looking. Unfortunately, a villain with super speed shows up and tries to destroy the evidence. Using the mechanical crabsuits (Nitsuj: Really, who needs that?) he manages to destroy one of the trucks and then tries to escape. One of the officers manages to shoot his leg to injure him, but he pulls off a Quiksilver on everyone to escape (scene here: https://youtu.be/YMPPLw10JPQ?si=g1AGZMuiT6rJL3JU. We would have had Sweet Dreams playing but we couldn’t afford the rights to the song. (Nitsuj): And don’t ask about Time In A Bottle. That was a nightmare). Back at the mall, the crabsuit Pop Step is in starts to go out of control and Koichi steps in trying to save her. Thanks to Kaniko, he’s able to get her out of the suit and Fat Gum uses his body to contain the explosion of the suit and keep everyone safe. Wanting to protect their identities, Koichi and Pop Step quickly split the scene (stage left) and head back to Tokyo.
Nothing much happens in episode 3. We focus on Nao Tsukauchi, the older brother of Makoto and All Might’s good friend who works in the police force (he’s the Jim Gordon to All Might’s Batman). He wants to question Pop Step about what happened last episode, but Makoto won’t let him (Shizuku: Don’t hit me with your technicalities, girl). Nao can tell she’s hiding something from him, but her refusal to cooperate annoys him. We also see Koichi continue to find new uses for his evolving quirk (scene here: https://youtu.be/WdgH5auFR9c?si=pPvbup0tc_vZDB5p).
Episode 4 is a good episode. It sees Koichi, Aizawa, a guy with a praying mantis quirk, and two kamen rider inspired civilians team up to capture this octopus quirk user who has gone berserk (Shizuku: Wow, that setup alone has me turning my head). Despite their best efforts, the octopus-man gets away only to get taken down by that speedster from episode 2.
Episodes 5-8
(Nitsuj): In the first half of episode 5 we get hit with nostalgia as Midnight goes undercover with Pop at a mixer. Apparently, someone has been spiking the drinks with Trigger and their main suspect is a girl named Rin. The two ladies go to the mixer in disguise where Koichi is also there (Shizuku: Against his will or comfort?) where he seems to hit it off with Rin which makes her friend, Hina, jealous. In turns out Hina was the one spiking everyone’s drinks at mixers in order to get back at boys for making a move on her Rin (you psychopath). Before anybody can cause trouble, Midnight uses her quirk to put all the men to sleep. In the second half, the nostalgia keeps coming as we see the return of Knuckleduster. We see Tamao still recovering in the hospital and find out that Knuckleduster is actually a former hero named O’Clock, a hero who hid his identity (to protect his family obviously) and was believed to be dead after having it stolen in the past). He’s also been investigating the Trigger and has a good idea of who the villain behind this is (scene here: https://youtu.be/PZeDFhoYNd8?si=N7-vuzfyUPDzEViz).
Episodes 6-8 show us Aizawa’s past in school. The episodes do a good job showing us what he was like in school, his relationship with others, and what set him on the path to the become the hero he is today. My only complaint is that this should have been an OVA series instead of in the anime. As much as I like Aizawa, Vigilantes is Koichi’s story, we should be focusing on him and other vigilantes, not the heroes (it’s like picking up a Batman comic and instead of focusing on Batman we instead see Superman on a date with Lois. It’s nice but that’s not what I came to see).
Episodes 9-13
(Shizuku): Nothing to say about episode 9. Captain Celebrity announces that his excursion in Japan is coming to an end, so they decide to give him a farewell concert and party complete with other heroes coming as honored guests (scenes here: https://youtu.be/B1HcWIKUYLE?si=GFi8aQxBv0ftjHZU and https://youtu.be/NyRexsmJfBc?si=hcH8oIpd7-QdTBO8, let’s do a roast).
In episode 10 the celebration begins and everyone is having a good time (scene here: https://youtu.be/QNoEEebK2KE?si=enN540Hi42Mn23hT) before the place gets attacked by our speedster villain who unleashes prototype nomu that can explode. While Captain Celebrity is talking to his wife on the phone, he sees the nomu break the structure of the sky dome and holds it up to stop it from falling. Leaving himself vulnerable to the nomu who keeps attacking with exploding punches.
So we start episode 11 with Captain Celebrity taking the unprotected punches from the nomu like a badass. The heroes are unfortunately trapped inside and have no way of community with the outside so they have no idea what’s going on. Their best course of action is to keep everyone calm, find a way outside, and get a feel for the situation they’re in. As they’re doing that, Koichi manages to make it outside and see what’s going on. Using his new powers, he’s able to protect Captain Celebrity for the time being and has to hold out for the heroes to arrive and save them (Nitsuj: That’s going to be a minute. Scene here: https://youtu.be/qDFsLspA1q4?si=kLBZRc2Bfy8L77QJ). As they stall for time, we get to see Captain Celebrity’s past where we see he met his wife in college. At first she didn’t like him and that only made Captain Celebrity try harder to get her to like him. Not knowing that he himself was falling for her. The two eventually got married and when Captain Celebrity became a hero that’s when the scandals and lawsuits began to happen. In his defense they weren’t his fault. He was tricked by others who pretended to be his friend and scammed him out of money. They all kept piling up that he had no choice but to leave the country. Koichi and Captain Celebrity get saved by Endeavor, Fat Gum, and the other heroes who managed to make it outside and defeat the nomu all while stabilizing the structure of the sky dome (scene here: https://youtu.be/3RJmRgN708M?si=oIvU9xySfuD0FUa_). With everyone safe, Captain Celebrity finally passes out and falls but Koichi tries to save him. As they fall, the nomu self-destructs making the dome fall.
In the final two episodes, All Might shows up to save everyone (scenes here: https://youtu.be/pZLW_plH0P0?si=OGYb-moYi9A1C_Gi and https://youtu.be/JZQDA5UwfZ8?si=gjotmaw5avl9VhW6. (Nitsuj): Sometimes it’s good to hit that Superman button). As the speedster villain tries to scramble a plan he gets shot by Knuckleduster (yes, the best character returns). The two talk where we find out the speedster villain is known as Number 6, a lab creature created by Garaki and he is in possession of the Overclock quirk. Number 6 was obsessed with O’Clock so when AFO stole O’Clock’s quirk, Number 6 begged him if he could have it. He wants to be Knuckleduster’s successor, but he already has one in Koichi. Number 6 tries to attack Knucklduster, but using his knowledge of Overclock, is able to neutralize him, but Number 6 reveals he can blow up and regenerate his body thanks to his cells. The two fight and we pretty much skip over it but in the end they confirm that it was Knuckleduster who came out on top (Nitsuj: As to be expected). We then shift gears and focus on Captain Celebrity who thanks Koichi for saving his life. His wife also shows up to thank him as well. After leaving the hospital, Captain Celebrity returns to America with Makoto joining him to study abroad and be his manager. We then fast forward 2 years later where Koichi is now in his senior year of college, The Crawler is well known in the city now (they actually get his name right), and he’s starting job interviews. With his college life almost over and his hoodies becoming ragged and worn out Koichi thinks about retiring soon much to Pop’s dismay (scene here: https://youtu.be/y3-aZQw28cA?si=91b-Mz-oqVGn2TOi).
Final Thoughts
(Nitsuj): And that was the second season of Vigilantes. Not as good as the first season.
(Shizuku): While the season isn’t bad it lacks focus on the main character Koichi. While he does get moments to shine such as his quirk evolving and saving Captain Celebrity, the anime seems to be more focused on other characters. Like boss said, these other characters aren’t bad but the focus should be kept on Koichi, his growth, and activities as a vigilante.
(Nitsuj): The villain also isn’t that great this time around either. What exactly was his goal? He has little to no presence in the anime. While it was cool tying him back to Knuckleduster’s past, the fact that Knuckleduster barely has a presence this season really makes his introduction and backstory pointless.
(Shizuku): The one character who really stands out this season is Captain Celebrity. Just like how Mt. Lady developed to become a true hero so too did Captain Celebrity only better. I didn’t think I would like the character, but they managed to pull it off in the end.
(Nitsuj): There’s not much change in the animation or music and while it is cool we got to see other heroes and new characters, their impact is small on the overall story.
Final Score
(Shizuku): My final score for the second season is a 5/10. Don’t hate it but didn’t like it all that much either.
(Nitsuj): I’m giving it a 4/10. I was rather disappointed in this season. I feel bad giving it a low score because I like Koichi and seeing his quirk develop while also seeing him develop confidence was great and I wished they focused more on that.
(Shizuku): There’s going to be a third season and with Koichi announcing his retirement soon, I’m actually looking forward to seeing what will happen in this final part of the story.
(Nitsuj): Until then, thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
