Friday 20 January 2017

Boku no Hero Academia 123 Review: Mineta's Balls

Boku no Hero Academia, Chapter 123: Invincible


Well, we get the names of the Big Three, and they are... very colourful characters. Cool emo kid is called Tamaki Amakiji... and we get a very cool panel when he delivers a piercing gaze that freaks everyone out. We then get to see Amakiji's mind, where everyone's head is replaced with a potato. If this was a more serious manga, Amakiji might just be dismissive and disrespectful of these people, but apparently he's just got an insane amount of stage fright, and is unable to form coherent sentences until he turns around and looks at the wall. Man, and all the while he looks like a badass angry emo kid, too!

Meanwhile, the chick, Nejire Hadou, is... an airhead, as described aptly by Kaminari. He goes straight to asking so many questions about everyone and moving on before she gets answers. Is Asui a frog or a toad? Can Ashido move her horns... and, well, of course, she asks about Mineta's balls. Which gets the perverted bastard super-excited and happy. "ARE YOU SAYING YOU ARE INTERESTED IN MY BALLS SENPAI" well, Mineta, you need help. Like, you're entertaining as all get-out, but you need psychiatric help.


Aizawa quickly points out that they are 'lacking any sort of rationality', to which Mirio, the ever-happy dude with the weird creepy face excitedly tries to talk and starts talking like one of those annoying presenters who tries way too hard at being friendly and pushing audience participation despite all his attempts falling flat. Mirio just asks everyone to come fight him. Er, okay then. 

Amakiji tells Mirio not to do it, because apparently in the past some of the students who fought Mirio got so frustrated at the difference in talent that they gave up being a hero. We get a very badass scene of Midoriya activating his quirk and taking a battle stance, noting that he has the chance to gauge the gap of power between himself and the strongest student in U.A.

It's not just Midoriya, though, as the next page shows everyone gathering their powers. We get cool scenes like Kirishima turning his arms into armoured claws, Tokoyami summoning his shadows, Ashido creating goop, Sero preparing his tape launchers... and then there's the hilarious panel of Aoyama hip-thrusting and Mineta holding his balls. Right.

And the next panel has Mirio stripping. Much to the horror of Kyouka.

Midoriya charges in and goes in for a kick, to quickly ascertain what we guessed from last chapter -- Mirio can phase through things, and that includes not only Midoriya's kick, but also the barrage of attacks. I think we see Ashido's acid, Sero's tape and Aoyama's bellybutton laser among the attacks... but he disappears, only to pop out of the ground, seemingly naked (we later see he retains his pants) behind poor, poor Kyouka. 

And apparently in the space of 52 seconds he took out nearly the entirety of Class 1A, with the remaining survivors being Midoriya, Iida, Kirishima and the sugar-rush boy, all of whom charged forwards. I don't think Bakugou and Todoroki are among the fallen, though. 

That's a pretty badass final panel with Mirio flexing his muscles and shouting POWERRRRR. Apparently, after being scouted he devoted his internship 'under a certain hero'. Which, obviously, if his wacky mannerisms and the hints two chapters ago aren't indication enough, is most likely All Might. Aizawa shouts very nonchalantly that they should get beaten up by Mirio a bit because it's a great opportunity since apparently Mirio Togata is the man closest to becoming Number One, and that's a list that includes the pros.

Endeavour's just shit then, I guess.

Well, decent chapter. I'm unconvinced that Mirio's going to be a villain, just a little quirky. He might just be a douchebag or innocently insensitive, it's a bit hard to tell, but I honestly think he's just going to be a rival-type character more than anything. The buildup is cool, though, and the artstyle they chose for Mirio is pretty well-done, with him being mostly oddly differently-draw with his button eyes and simple lines for mouth and eyebrows, making the moments like the final panel where they actually gave him shading and anime creases far more effective. 

Quick PSA: I'll try to get caught up on Magi, Kingdom and One-Punch Man, and hopefully I'll be able to review them weekly (or whenever One-Punch Man decides to update) to replace the big void left by the departure of so many other mangas. No promises when regular updates will start, though. I'm also planning on reviewing Promised Neverland, but I'll have to get caught up with that as well. 

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