Boku no Hero Academia, Chapter 140: Horikoshi Kohei of the Big Three
It's chapters like this that show that My Hero Academia truly respects its side characters, allowing them to have great stories even though they might not really be super-relevant in the future. Suneater is a character that's been a background character with a funny self-esteem emo-kid quirk and has been a recurring character for a while now, but we don't really know much about him other than he's buddies with Mirio.
The chapter alternates between the bookends that's a pretty standard flashback story and the present-day action. The flashback, taken at face value, is pretty much what you expect. Suneater used to be kind of like Midoriya, except instead of being quirkless, Tamaki's lack of self esteem makes him absolutely shit at socializing or performing in a social situation. And it's Mirio who ends up reaching out to his buddy, and while he's a fair bit more popular (mostly due to his hot-headed attitude that makes even his failures fun to laugh with instead of laugh at) he also tells Tamaki that he doesn't want to lose to Tamaki, who he sees as a friendly rival, And we get the origin story of the 'Suneater' name, because Mirio once told him that he won't just shine as bright as the sun, but as someone that can overshadow (i.e. eat) the sun.
Which is amazing. To anyone who just heard the name, 'Suneater' is just a cool-sounding superhero name, and one that doesn't make actual sense once you realize that Suneater's quirk is animal-parts transformation, but with this backstory? Suddenly a cool name has a pretty neat backstory attached to it.
The three pawns in the room go through a bit of a standoff, with Eraserhead deactivating Setsuno's (suit-and-tie plague mask blonde dude) "Larceny" ability. The pawns are apparently people who don't value their lives (the example given was someone whos suicide was interrupted by a hero) and are given a second chance by Overhaul to do something with it. Fat Gum kind of neutralizes their guns, but it's Suneater jumping into battle, swinging around as a huge mussel, before unleashing gigantic octopus tentacles to bind the three Pawns -- Setsuno, Hojo (dude with a doctor's mask) with the "Crystallization" quirk and Tabe (Scarecrow) with the "Meal" quirk. Hojo's quirk is pretty straightforward, he makes hard crystals, and we see that in the chapter, while Setsuno's Larceny ability allows him to instantly steal anything someone is holding, which is why the police mooks are so scared of him.
Suneater quickly neutralizes all of the anti-quirk weapons that the three Pawns have, and basically tells everyone to keep their strength in reserve, especially a powerful one like Eraserhead's (who shuts down all three again after briefly blinking). I'm pretty sure Tabe is taken out for the count, because Eraserhead whacks him in the head in a pretty brutal fashion -- though he's too cool to not even show off his abilities!
Fat Gum leads everyone out, despite the protests of practically everyone, and he says about how Suneater's abilities surpass everyone else in the room, even the pros, and his big weakness is his weak, easily-pressured heart... but the fact that he managed to climb so high is a testament to how powerful and skilled he really is. Suneater wants to quickly knock them out immediately before Eraserhead's quirk wears off, but when he's about to punch them, Setsuno headbutts... well, mask-butts Suneater's arm, stabbing him with a hidden knife under his mask. It's the interesting fight I want, so it's cool.
Hojo turns into a crystal monster, and Setsuno steals Suneater's clam, and it seems like Suneater's pressured enough to be knocked down... but after the flashback, Suneater crabs hold of Hojo's fist, showing that he can apparently combine the various animals, using both the crab shell and the octopus sucker-tip things.
Very TerraForMars. I like it.
Overall, pretty great chapter. Perhaps not as intricate a backstory as that of, say, Todoroki, but still a pretty amazing one that makes me like Suneater so much more. And he hasn't even pulled out his swordfish yet!
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