My Hero Academia Appreciation 2022

[Dark Soul # 7]

spoilers:

Definitely alot of surprises going on here. Like the cool world building showing the effects of what the massive fire battles are doing to the ecosystem. Wondering if there will potentially be something else going on with Dabi for why he is still alive, or if it is simply just "man too angry to burn just yet". We get what I expected was to happen being a switch up for the villains, sending Dabi over to Gunga to face Endeavor, and probably now have AFO either go to U.A., or also send Deku and Shigaraki to Gunga too. But the biggest reveal being Toga managed to take Twice's blood and now has unleashed the Doubles. We see one of them is holding Tsuyu's goggles (she's almost certainly not dead), so we are gonna have to see next chapter a flashback of what happened there. I am expecting Shoto and Ochaco to follow them through the portals too, don't see how their battles are going to end like that. But either way, Twice is "back", so I'm happy!

end of spoilers

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This definitely feels like a turning point in the battle as everything is being condensed to fewer battlefields. Wonder how the heroes are going to start moving over to the locations that are being extra targeted by AFO. And he'll probably be trying to have Kurogiri go fetch Gigantomachia as well. I was wondering if AFO did give Dabi some kind of additional, even though it seemed like that was completely rejected by Dabi. It feels like a weird thing to bring up without paying it off down the line. Maybe it'll turn out that Rei genes did give him some kind of resistance to dying from burning himself up. We've known about Toga having Twice's blood for a while now. It was one of the biggest guns the villains have. Twice's power in the hand of seasoned killer is quite terrifying. I wonder how much of Twice's personality Toga will assume here. If she'll pull off his double gimmicks or just act as herself but with his body. And we better damn well get a flashback to what Toga, Ochako and Tsuyu have been up to during this whole thing. This is the last battle and Ochako better get a big part in it! Final note. Weatherwoman Meryl is really attractive and makes a solid point. I bet she'll get her own mini-fandom in and outside the series.

end of spoilers

[Dark Soul # 7]

Anime: We've gotten to the Bakugo gets stabbed bit. The animation is overall solid but I kinda wish they'd gone bit more out on Deku pummeling Shigaraki. It's their first interaction in ages and I was hoping for bit more. Again, it's still good. I just had too high expectations.

Manga volume: The latest volume covers Deku encounter with Nagant. In some of his comments Horikoshi implies that he would like to write a whole volume covering Nagant's backstory and I really want that now. And the tall lady gets to be on the coloured back of the volume, her fur is apparently green which surprised me.

[leokearon]

spoilers:

So Kurogiri is back and that is bad news for the heroes, however I'm thinking that Loud Cloud could come out and use Warp Gate to warp all the heroes to where all the villains are, especially as Kurogiri warps himself and Mic to Aizawa. It is really annoying that once again the girl's action has taken place offscreen, yeah we will probably get a flashback, but it isn't really needed since we already have seen the outcome and can piece together what happened. Also Weatherwoman Meryl is really cute and I could see her becoing the face of people's anger at their governments for not helping against AFO>

end of spoilers

[Inversed]

spoilers:

I was wondering if AFO did give Dabi some kind of additional, even though it seemed like that was completely rejected by Dabi. It feels like a weird thing to bring up without paying it off down the line. Maybe it'll turn out that Rei genes did give him some kind of resistance to dying from burning himself up. We've known about Toga having Twice's blood for a while now. It was one of the biggest guns the villains have. Twice's power in the hand of seasoned killer is quite terrifying. I wonder how much of Twice's personality Toga will assume here. If she'll pull off his double gimmicks or just act as herself but with his body. And we better damn well get a flashback to what Toga, Ochako and Tsuyu have been up to during this whole thing. This is the last battle and Ochako better get a big part in it! Final note. Weatherwoman Meryl is really attractive and makes a solid point. I bet she'll get her own mini-fandom in and outside the series.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

There's definitely been alot of theories about Dabi undergoing another kind of awakening. I'm honestly hoping it really is simply just "he's too angry to die". That his mind is just running non-stop 110%, and that the moment he is taken out of commission or accomplishes his goal, he'll wither away. I'm curious how all the other Doubles are going to end up being. Are they Doubles of Twice himself, or of herself transformed into Twice. I assume probably the former cause the latter could be too complicated for its own good, but that would make things more chaotic to just have a whole bunch of Togas running around.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

So Kurogiri is back and that is bad news for the heroes, however I'm thinking that Loud Cloud could come out and use Warp Gate to warp all the heroes to where all the villains are, especially as Kurogiri warps himself and Mic to Aizawa. It is really annoying that once again the girl's action has taken place offscreen, yeah we will probably get a flashback, but it isn't really needed since we already have seen the outcome and can piece together what happened. Also Weatherwoman Meryl is really cute and I could see her becoing the face of people's anger at their governments for not helping against AFO>

end of spoilers

spoilers:

That's what I'm thinking could end up happening. The Shirakumo side of the personality leaves the Warp Gates open long enough for the heroes to chase the villains through. Think it will be really cool if we get Deku, Shoto, and Ochaco fighting Shigaraki, Dabi, and Toga all together in the same location. Also, I think it's funny how we've now had two female reporters in this series and both with blue skin (at least I assume it's blue, she's shaded the same way Curious was).

end of spoilers

Anime: We've gotten to the Bakugo gets stabbed bit. The animation is overall solid but I kinda wish they'd gone bit more out on Deku pummeling Shigaraki. It's their first interaction in ages and I was hoping for bit more. Again, it's still good. I just had too high expectations.

Manga volume: The latest volume covers Deku encounter with Nagant. In some of his comments Horikoshi implies that he would like to write a whole volume covering Nagant's backstory and I really want that now. And the tall lady gets to be on the coloured back of the volume, her fur is apparently green which surprised me.

I do agree that I was hoping for something on the level of Deku vs. Overhaul, here they mostly just recreated the manga panels without adding too much extra flair, which is a shame because especially all the Endeavor action during this past fight has been stellar. The voice acting and music however from everyone was still excellent. Plus, I called them re-using the Volume 29 cover imagery in the episode.

Because the anime frequently adapts the volume content, just a few episodes ago they included the deleted scene that shows Machia picking the League up on his back, I'm hoping they show the rest of the Lady Nagant/HPSC backstory from that volume extra. It's a great somewhat under-utilized side story so getting the chance to flesh it out more would help alot.

[leokearon]

spoilers:

There's definitely been alot of theories about Dabi undergoing another kind of awakening. I'm honestly hoping it really is simply just "he's too angry to die". That his mind is just running non-stop 110%, and that the moment he is taken out of commission or accomplishes his goal, he'll wither away. I'm curious how all the other Doubles are going to end up being. Are they Doubles of Twice himself, or of herself transformed into Twice. I assume probably the former cause the latter could be too complicated for its own good, but that would make things more chaotic to just have a whole bunch of Togas running around.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

I'm thinking that Toga is gone. She turned into Twice and Twice's mind overwrote hers, given how unstable Twice's mind is. She died so Twice could live.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

That's what I'm thinking could end up happening. The Shirakumo side of the personality leaves the Warp Gates open long enough for the heroes to chase the villains through. Think it will be really cool if we get Deku, Shoto, and Ochaco fighting Shigaraki, Dabi, and Toga all together in the same location. Also, I think it's funny how we've now had two female reporters in this series and both with blue skin (at least I assume it's blue, she's shaded the same way Curious was).

end of spoilers

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Horokoshi must have a thing for Blue Skinned reporters

end of spoilers

[Dark Soul # 7]

spoilers:

There's definitely been alot of theories about Dabi undergoing another kind of awakening. I'm honestly hoping it really is simply just "he's too angry to die". That his mind is just running non-stop 110%, and that the moment he is taken out of commission or accomplishes his goal, he'll wither away. I'm curious how all the other Doubles are going to end up being. Are they Doubles of Twice himself, or of herself transformed into Twice. I assume probably the former cause the latter could be too complicated for its own good, but that would make things more chaotic to just have a whole bunch of Togas running around.

end of spoilers

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That'd be cool, if Dabi has a "flame burns brightest before it pewters out" kind of thing. But I still feel that he needs to meet his mother and other siblings at least once before dying. And that he needs to find some kind of peace, because otherwise this part of the story will just be really damn tragic. That is a good question. If she knows Twice's measurements then she just needs to create a couple of Twice clones and then they can start doing the rest. If she's only winging it from what she feels of her body then she might be creating herself as Twice. And if that's the case then the clones' impersonation could lead to some creepy behaviors and imagery.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Also, I think it's funny how we've now had two female reporters in this series and both with blue skin (at least I assume it's blue, she's shaded the same way Curious was).

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Curious has light colored skin in the manga. It wasn't until a colored cover that we found out she had blue skin. So I'm thinking Meryl just has regular brown skin.

end of spoilers

I do agree that I was hoping for something on the level of Deku vs. Overhaul, here they mostly just recreated the manga panels without adding too much extra flair, which is a shame because especially all the Endeavor action during this past fight has been stellar. The voice acting and music however from everyone was still excellent. Plus, I called them re-using the Volume 29 cover imagery in the episode.

Because the anime frequently adapts the volume content, just a few episodes ago they included the deleted scene that shows Machia picking the League up on his back, I'm hoping they show the rest of the Lady Nagant/HPSC backstory from that volume extra. It's a great somewhat under-utilized side story so getting the chance to flesh it out more would help alot.

Yeah, it's weird that Endeavor's getting all the animation love here. Especially since this was Deku big moment action-wise in the arc.
I do like that while they used volume 29 as a basis, they didn't just copy it whole-hog. They were a bit more subtle with it.

With the pace they're going at I'm assuming that we'll get to Lady Nagant in the second half of the season. Then it's a matter of how many episodes they devote to her. Her fight and the aftermath of it should take like 1.5 episodes I think. But there may be some time to expand on her backstory segment of the encounter. Would be cool if they did since she's such a freaking cool character.

spoilers:

I'm thinking that Toga is gone. She turned into Twice and Twice's mind overwrote hers, given how unstable Twice's mind is. She died so Twice could live.

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That's not how Toga's quirk works. She just takes on the appearance and quirk of the person whose blood she's ingested, not their mind. And just killing her off like that after all the build up she's had would really bad writing.

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[Inversed]

Yeah, it's weird that Endeavor's getting all the animation love here. Especially since this was Deku big moment action-wise in the arc.
I do like that while they used volume 29 as a basis, they didn't just copy it whole-hog. They were a bit more subtle with it.

With the pace they're going at I'm assuming that we'll get to Lady Nagant in the second half of the season. Then it's a matter of how many episodes they devote to her. Her fight and the aftermath of it should take like 1.5 episodes I think. But there may be some time to expand on her backstory segment of the encounter. Would be cool if they did since she's such a freaking cool character.

Although if you check out the ending, they included a new sequence that is a direct recreation of the cover, so they were able to go both ways.

At the pace they're going I honestly feel like the season is going to end with the Star and Stripe fight, which I think could be a make or break thing. That mini arc is already pretty controversial, so if they REALLY go ham on the animation to the level of S4's Endeavor vs. Hood, I think that could go a long way to redeeming it in many's eyes. Genuinely don't know how they're going to handle the second half of the season but very curious to find out.

[Drako]

The anime this season is being great, this is the best part of the manga imo and it shows in the anime.

The final arc of the manga tho, not so much.

[Guy1]

Just something cute I found.

[Dark Soul # 7]

Just something cute I found.

I hope he sent her somewhere nice.

[Guy1]

I hope he sent her somewhere nice.

Themyscira. So she could get some proper Amazon training for her next round with Toga.

[Inversed]

spoilers:

We see the result of the Okuto Island battle. Toga is able to trick Tsuyu into thinking she's injecting a blood vial, but it is actually a drug that attracts Nomu, which causes it to attack them, giving her the distraction to drink the real vial of blood, transforming into Twice and starting to create Doubles. Kurogiri then appears to help her, as she tells him to send her to get revenge on Hawks. At the Gunga Mountain, she unleashes Sad Man's Parade releasing an onslaught of Doubles. Right before the Warp Gate closes, Ochaco and Tsuyu manage to make their way through, not intending to lose her.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Nothing too much here, mostly just a transitional chapter leading into the next part of the battle. I particularly really liked when Ochaco said they still need to talk about romance and Toga has her hesitation moment before going through. Definitely wondering how they're going to deal with all the Doubles now and what other switch-ups there are going to be. Will All For One stay behind for a bit or be immediately warped to Deku & Shiggy's location? Will they warp all the Doubles to the other battlefields so now they have to deal with them too?

end of spoilers

[leokearon]

spoilers:

While I was annoyed that again we hardly saw anything with the girls through this arc, apparently we didn't because nothing really happened after Deku left, which is really disappointing. I would have though they would have at least talked while fighting but Ochaco's dialogue suggests they didn't even do that. Nice to see one of the League, trying to think ahead. Still it is interesting that now three of the League are on time limits. AFO is going to eventually rewind to nothing, Dabi's body is unlikely to hold out much longer and Tofa as roughly 40 minutes of Twice, so it will be interesting to see how those play into the battle.

end of spoilers

[Dark Soul # 7]

spoilers:

Nothing too much here, mostly just a transitional chapter leading into the next part of the battle. I particularly really liked when Ochaco said they still need to talk about romance and Toga has her hesitation moment before going through. Definitely wondering how they're going to deal with all the Doubles now and what other switch-ups there are going to be. Will All For One stay behind for a bit or be immediately warped to Deku & Shiggy's location? Will they warp all the Doubles to the other battlefields so now they have to deal with them too?

end of spoilers

spoilers:

While the chapter felt short it did a lot of things I quite liked. I was happy seeing Ochako and Toga strategising about their situation and the best possible actions to take. It's a small but nice way of further emphaising them as equal rivals. The splash page with Toga's Sad Man's Parade swarming the battlefield while Dabi burns in the sky is quite epic. I'm glad that the League's first two proper recruits have ended up in the same spot again, and I hope that remains the case. And Ochako finally being in the thick of it with some of the strongest villains going all out has some real potential. I hope Horikoshi uses this opportunity to make up for the times she's been present at a big fight but kinda stayed on the sidelines. The paneling on the last pages, with Ochako in the middle of Hawks, AFO, Endeavor and Dabi has me hoping.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

While I was annoyed that again we hardly saw anything with the girls through this arc, apparently we didn't because nothing really happened after Deku left, which is really disappointing. I would have though they would have at least talked while fighting but Ochaco's dialogue suggests they didn't even do that. Nice to see one of the League, trying to think ahead. Still it is interesting that now three of the League are on time limits. AFO is going to eventually rewind to nothing, Dabi's body is unlikely to hold out much longer and Tofa as roughly 40 minutes of Twice, so it will be interesting to see how those play into the battle.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

To be fair about the whole not a lot happening during the girl fight off screen. Toga's been focused on running away so that she can use Twice's blood effectively while Ochako's been focused on capturing this very stealthy yandere girl. And it is interesting that the three biggest villains besides Shiggy all have noticeable time limits placed on them now and are in one place. Could lead to some really intense action right there.

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[Dark Soul # 7]

The anime got to Dabi's dance and did a really good job with it.

They capture his manic and cruel joy really and had fun with his dance as he explained who he was.

The animation for his attempted Prominence Burn suicide was quite cool.