(Shizuku): Hey yo! It’s your girl, Shizuku here, and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Where we’re rolling along with My Hero Summeria.
(Nitsuj): We continue with by season 5 of the anime. We saw class A successfully defeat class B in a battle of the classes and winter has finally come. What awaits Izuku and the others? Let’s find out.
Episodes 13-16
(Nitsuj): The second half begins near the end of December. Recently, the villains have been active and have caused the destruction of two cities (good hero work everyone). Back with Izuku and the others, they receive a lesson from Mt. Lady on publicity (Shizuku: Because she’s all about it. I’m surprised Stain didn’t target her first). They do practice interviews and to her credit these interviews are helpful. They teach students how to act in front of the camera, showcase their moves to other heroes and citizens who may not know who they are, give the people hope, and send a warning out to villains. Everyone does a good job except for Izuku who is nervous as all hell (Shizuku: He’s not used to the spotlight just yet. It’s kinda cute in a way). Later on, the principal announces to the staff that work studies will be resuming again by orders of public safety (shit just got real). With the recent activities of villains and the destruction of two cities, public safety want as many heroes out there as possible. A few days go by where the students have a Christmas party with Eri dropping by (aww~, she looks so cute in her Santa outfit. Scene here: https://youtu.be/ss_RauPTXyA?si=Ze30-nQRdzCgLJYD).
In episode 14 the new year has begun (Shizuku: Let’s hope it’s better than 2020) and Izuku is off to his hero work study at Endeavor’s agency and joining him is Katsuki and Shoto. Their first day involves taking on a group of small time villains who were following the words of this book called the Meta Liberation War (sounds pleasant). The book was written by Destro the leader of the Meta Liberation Army (or MLA for short), who basically believed that the free usage of quirk is basic human right. Therefore, people should be allowed to use their quirks without restrictions or regulations whenever they want (Shizuku: Ignore responsibilities and be as wild as you want. I can get behind that). Anyway, Hawks comes by and delivers the book to Endeavor and the others where he put a secret message in for Endeavor to read (scene here: https://youtu.be/H2B-9QT_AcQ?si=bjM5uLFn7LooxHp3). The message was that the liberation army is back and are planning a large-scale attack in 4 months with the League of Villains.
For episode 15 we get a feel for just how dangerous the MLA really is. Not only do they have 100,000 members, but they also have heroes who are sympathetic to their cause and are secretly members (Shizuku: They drank the Kool-Aid and liked it). Their plan is to launch a full-scale attack on the entire nation and with their current numbers the heroes will easily lose. Therefore, more manpower is required to take down the MLA which means this work study is really just an excuse to get students ready for the call to arms. Once Endeavor gets through reading Hawks message he gets to work training our young heroes where I have to admit he is a legitimately good teacher. The stuff he’s teaching them is all good stuff that’s really going to help them unlock their true potential in the future (scene here: https://youtu.be/2gv9BsJis-0?si=PSBxdGl_pNwEyD7Q, once again, I’ve gained a new level of respect for Endeavor).
Episode 16 is a filler episode as we turn our attention to Ochaco and Tsu working at the Ryukyu agency (Shizuku: The dragon lady. She’s awesome). We see she upgraded her costume in order to help Izuku should his powers go berserk again (JUST DATE ALREADY!). In the episode the Ryukyu agency teams up with Selkie (Shizuku: That’s the seal hero. Cute seal) to find a group of villains who are in possession of Trigger, an illegal quirk enhancing drug (see MHA: Vigilante S1 for more details). The ship is hiding somewhere out at sea, so while Selkie’s team covers the sea, Ryukyu’s team will cover the sky. They manage to find the ship with the drugs, but it’s too late as they moved them into a cargo plane which just took off. Luckily, Ochaco fires herself off to the plane, takes out the pilot and with the help of Ryukyu lands the plane safely without destroying the ocean’s ecosystem. It’s a decent episode overall. Not what we were expecting, but a good change of pace that shows fan favorites also doing their best to improve.
Episodes 17-20
We return to Izuku, Katsuki and Shoto in episode 17. The three are still doing their hero training under Endeavor where their goal is to catch a criminal faster than him (Shizuku: Easier said than done. That man is speed. Scene here: https://youtu.be/1XQei-aonZU?si=05tWMEbJxBlTKch3). We see Fuyumi call Endeavor and invites him over for dinner along with Shoto, Izuku, and Katsuki but he’s a little hesitant as he keeps replaying the mistakes he made in the past (yeah you were an asshole, but I can tell you want and are trying to change for the better). Gathering his courage, he does take Shoto and the others home for dinner (Nitsuj and Shizuku: Nice~) where as you would expect the air is thick with tension and awkwardness (Shizuku: At least the food is good). Natsuo tries to get through the dinner, but just can’t do it and takes his leave in the middle of it. We also find out that Shoto had another sibling named Toya who unfortunately died (scene here: https://youtu.be/CJDXJoy1oc4?si=FNXUBsPGBbTcB2Sc, man, the more I learn about Shoto and his family the more it feels like he should have been the main character).
(Shizuku): Episode 18 is intense and a good episode. In the episode a villain by the name of Ending has escaped prison. 7 years ago Endeavor captured him and now he’s out for revenge. He kidnaps Natsu and holds him hostage forcing Endeavor into a fight where if he makes the wrong move his son’s life will end. Ending didn’t come here hoping to fight Endeavor, he wants Endeavor to kill him (clearly he’s insane). We get an awesome action sequence where Izuku, Katsuki and Shoto spring into action as Endeavor hesitates to act because of Natsu. We see Izuku successfully use the Blackwhip, Shoto and Katsuki take down Ending to save Natsu (scene here: https://youtu.be/5jh5FmuBj6I?si=EjeWdd2nxEGZt_af. (Nitsuj): And they did it all while outperforming Endeavor. Absolutely flawless, https://youtu.be/FfvTXACPv30?t=4). We then got touching scene between Endeavor and Natsu in the middle of the street holding up traffic (scene here: https://youtu.be/lHFcLRRyTcE?si=UsOreW7ps2FBRE8j. (Nitsuj): They’re having a moment here. Go around, the light’s green). After the credits, we see Endeavor make the decision to move his family to a new house as his wife is going to be discharged soon (good for her). However, Endeavor will not be joining them. He intends to stay in the old house and atone for his mistakes until his family and him are ready.
In episode 19 winter break is over and the third term has begun which means the work study is over (Nitsuj: What an emotional ride that was). The episode this time focuses on Aizawa and Present Mic. One thing we haven’t touched on that much in the reviews is the relationship between these two. It turns out they went to school with each other and have remained friends ever since (a bit of an odd duo who are kind of the opposite of each other, but that’s what makes them work out so well with each other). However, this episode reveals that the duo was once a trio. Aizawa and Present Mic had another friend they hung out with named Oboro. He was the more outgoing of the two and even proposed that they form their own agency together when they graduated (Nitsuj: That would have made them one of the most wholesome trio out there). Sadly, Oboro would die on a work study or at least that’s what everyone was led to believ. In truth, Oboro was captured by All for One who transformed him into Kurogiri the caretaker of Shigaraki as well as the first Nomu. Some time ago (off camera) Kurogiri got captured and now the police are hoping Aizawa and Present Mic can reach out to their old friend in the hopes of finding out where the Nomus are coming from even though he’s already dead and all that remains is a shadow of his former self. Throughout the episode we see the past of these three and Aizawa and Present Mic trying desperately to reach out to the remains of their former friend (it’s a very messed and sad situation. This is one of the few times we’ve ever seen Aizawa show raw emotion and it’s warranted. His friend who he thought was dead is alive, had his body altered, and doesn’t remember anything. He his whole mind and body violated. I’d be pissed at whoever did this to him). In the end it’s no use, Oboro is long gone and all that remains is Kurogiri, but Oboro does manage to give them one clue, a hospital (scene here: https://youtu.be/GpPwRvK6QnQ?si=rVH-5HCZQU3nqttf).
Episode 20 focuses on the villains who have been contacted by Dr. Garaki the mad scientist and loyal right-hand man of All for One (just how many allies did this guy have?). He offers to assist Shigaraki but only if he can prove himself worthy and the way to prove himself worthy is by taming Gigantomachia. Gigantomachia was the bodyguard of All for One and is completely loyal to him. He refuses to listen to anyone but All for One and since he can sense All for One’s presence in Shigaraki he’s drawn to him. However, Gigantomachia won’t accept Shigaraki unless he beats him so for sometime Shigaraki and the rest of the villains have been fighting against Gigantomachia trying to beat him and failing each time. As if that wasn’t bad, he only sleeps for a number of hours and then starts attacking Shigaraki and the others so they barely get any rest (Nitsuj: Hell, Shigaraki has barely slept). During this battle Shigaraki receives a call from the MLA who want to crush them once and for all to become the top villains. They’ve kidnapped one of their informants and are holding him hostage in Aichi. They now have one hour to arrive and rescue or the MLA will contact the heroes and tell them their location. Thinking quickly Shigaraki decides to go to Aichi and knowing that Gigantomachia will follow him he plans to use him to crush the MLA as well as weaken him.
Episodes 21-25
The battle between the League of Villains and the MLA begins in episode 21. The League of Villains makes it to a city in Aichi where they’re immediately attacked by the members of the MLA (Nitsuj: This is a fine welcome). The League of Villains fight back where we focus on Toga and learn a little bit more about her past. She was immediately rejected by her parents for having such a disturbing quirk and told to be normal. She complied and spent most of her life hiding behind a fake smile until one day she finally snapped, killed one of her classmates, and drank their blood out of a straw (if only it was a silly straw, this scene would have been perfect). This led to her running away and joining the League of Villains as a place where she could be herself and be accepted by others. Getting back to the fighting, we see Toga slowly being overwhelmed by the numbers she transforms into Ochaco and is able to use her quirk (so not only can she turn into people, but she can use their quirk too? (Nitsuj): It’s a two for one deal). Using Ochaco’s quirk, she lifts people in the air and has them fall to their doom before finding a safe place to pass out (scene here: https://youtu.be/pBicMjpRa38?si=rApwo_DhRPpDVHkV). She gets found by Twice who in turn gets found by the members of the MLA.
We focus on Twice in episode 22. We see more of his past where we see he was a guy with bad luck. He accidently hit a businessman on his motorcycle who just happened to be a client of the contractors he worked with so that causes him to get fired. Alone and desperate for company, he started making clones of himself to chat with and before long turned to a life of crime. Things were going well until his clones started killing each other until only one remained. Twice became psychologically damaged from this experience that he developed split personalities (Nitsuj: Throw in fact that not even he’s sure if he’s a clone or not and you have yourself one unstable man). Anyway, in the episode the members of the MLA hold down Twice and pick up the body of the unconscious Toga where they’re going to snap her neck (in the slowest way possible. Seriously, is this your first time? It shouldn’t be taking this long). After trying to save Toga and getting hit really hard he realizes that he’s been the real Twice all along. With this revelation Twice is able to get over his trauma (somewhat) and creates an army of clones of himself to rescue Toga and then those clones start going on a rampage throughout the city to save everyone else (it’s the Twice parade from Hell). Twice starts creating clones of everyone else and makes his way to the tower where the head of the MLA is waiting for them. Twice and a clone of Shigaraki make it to the top of the tower where they fight against Re-Destro the son of Destro where they manage to save the broker and stall long enough for the real Shigaraki to reach the tower and tear it down (scene here: https://youtu.be/XmtDiRpat7E?si=VKXQep29kYHJDOuC).
In episode 23 we get the fight between Shigaraki and Re-Destro. We see that Re-Destro’s quirk is Stress, the more stress he builds up the bigger and stronger he becomes (Nitsuj: He’s like a lesser version of The Hulk). Shigaraki gets outmatched in power, but keeps getting back up and fighting (give the guy this. He may be a villain, but he’s very resilient). Gigantomachia finally shows up and starts wrecking shit (well the MLA is over) and then we finally get to see the backstory of Shigaraki. Much like Izuku he admired heroes and wanted to be one despite his quirk not manifesting yet. He had a loving mom, sister and grandparents but a very shitty dad (Nitsuj: Even worse than Endeavor). His dad, Kotaro was the son of Nana and he resented his mom for leaving him to fight crime. He grew up to hate heroes (because they took the one thing that meant the most to him) and forbid Shigaraki from being one and talking about them. Shigaraki would often get physically abused by his father and then it finally happened, his quirk manifested. In one of the saddest scenes in the series, Shigaraki accidentally kills his dog, sister and the rest of his family as he was consumed by his hatred for Kotaro. He managed to kill Kotaro who tried to kill his own son first all while screaming how much he hated him and his family for not saving him (scene here: https://youtu.be/49S9qCgswEE?si=CyJket4D80NhRQn0).
The story of Shigaraki’s past continues in episode 24. After killing his family he went on the run where he was eventually found by All for One who manipulated and molded him into the person we see today. Shigaraki doesn’t care about the future nor does he have any grand goals such as ruling the world, he just wants to destroy everything (Nitsuj: Looks like All for One created the perfect agent of chaos). Returning to the fight, Shigaraki let’s go of his restraints and overpowers Re-Destro. Not even Re-Destro’s power armor is a match for now free-minded (and crazy Shigaraki). Shigaraki manages to beat Re-Destro who loses both of his legs and Gigantomachia shows up wrecking shit just the members of the MLA rush to save Re-Destro but are unable to move in awe of Shigaraki’s liberated state. Even Gigantomachia can’t move (scene here: https://youtu.be/sfrc5dhzgLY?si=XbZn8KpHT8n_zXKl). Re-Destro admits defeat and the MLA comes under the ownership of the League of Villains who uses the influence of the MLA to cover up this whole incident to the public. With the League of Villains and MLA now coming together they create a new name for themselves, the Paranormal Liberation Front (PLF).
In the final episode of the season we find out Shigaraki’s quirk has evolved and become much stronger. He gets ready to undergo a hellish procedure that will make him stronger than he already is. We then turn to happier times and return to Izuku and the others who are showing off the results of their work studies. We get a few shipping moments such as the classic Izuku and Ochaco, Mina saying Eijiro inspired her new move (I totally ship them now. Red Acid all the way). We also see that Izuku has mastered his Blackwhip quirk a little and even learned about the 5th user of One for All, Lariat aka Daigoro Banjo (Nitsuj: Cool name). After this, the students have a hotpot night and we end with a major event about to happen next season.
Current Thoughts
(Nitsuj): And that was the fifth season of My Hero Academia. Like we said, it’s not really a bad season. There’s nothing awful in it, it just has a lot of stories that feel out of place in the grand scheme of things and is just padding.
(Shizuku): The joint training arc between the classes was slower and less impactful than in the manga. While it had some good moments, in the end you find yourself not really caring all that much about the class B students as much as you care about the class A students. The Endeavor Agency arc was shortened. it does a good job continuing Endeavor’s redemption story and showing how each member of the family battling their own emotions over him. Fuyumi is willing to forgive, move on, and wants to become a family again. Natsuo is less forgiving and can’t move on. The years of neglect are just too much for him to ignore. Shoto is willing to forgive Endeavor but wants to prove that he’s changing. Talk is cheap, show me with your actions. Each of their actions and emotions is valid and understandable. The reveal that he had a fourth child is shocking and something I feel that it would have been more impactful if they focused on that story a little earlier.
(Nitsuj): Finally, the Villain arc was interesting. It’s rare when a series focuses on its main villains and dedicates an entire arc to the growth and development. It’s honestly one of the best arcs in the series, and they compressed it for us.
(Shizuku): In the end, this season is a hit or miss for most people. It’s gonna have things you like either shortened or compressed and feature stories that feel out of place in this point in the story. Honestly speaking, I always saw this season has a tune up season because after this, Bones would lock in and give us the series we fell in love with.
(Nitsuj): So yeah, season 5, has its issues, but nothing truly awful in our opinion. A mediocre season at worse, and a tune up season at best before they locked in which we’ll see in season 6. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
