My Hero Academia, Season 3, Episodes 12-18

After the epicness of last episode's UNITED STATES OF SMASH, we continue on with my coverage of season 3 of My Hero Academia!

Again, my regular disclaimer: This is more of a 'reaction'  and my commentary as I watch this season in animated format for the first time instead of a review. Also keep in mind that at the time of writing this review I have been caught up to the manga, although I'll try not to spoil too much of it in case someone's reading this as they watch the show itself. 

Episode 12:

• This one is an in-between chapter where we get a lot of recapping about what has happened in the aftermath of the previous large arc, the aftermath of what happened to the students, and some revelations about the Shimura family... before we get the whole U.A. Student Dorm plot development. 
• I do like that even this early on, we do get some bits of redeeming qualities about Endeavour -- at least in regards of how he views the 'honour' of his career.
• That is the most hilarious 'Texas Smash' I've seen! 
• In all the excitement of All For One and Villain Alliances and pro hero team-ups and United States of Smash... I actually didn't realize that this is the first time Midoriya got out of a predicament without breaking an arm! In fact, All Might is the one that broke his arm! 
• The eyecatcher normally shows off random facts about heroes, but the one for this episode is neatly a bit more somber as it informs to the audience that Best Jeanist and Ragdoll are going to be out of hero activities due to their severe injuries.
• It took me until he opens his mouth and speaks that I recognize Aizawa. Man, dude looks so different with his hair tied up like that. 
• Haha, Kyoka's Deep Dope shirt.
• "It's seriously like Brian the Sun!" bless you, Kyoka's dad.
• Bakugo and his mother have an... interesting dynamic. Now which one came first? Is Mama Katsuki's rather physical way of parenting the reason for Bakugo's behavioural problems, or is that the only way that Mama Katsuki can even rein in her problematic son?
• Mama Katsuki appreciates what Aizawa said about Bakugo not actually being corruptible by the villains, which is a nice moment. 
• I also like that Bakugo was actually smart enough to pick up on Midoriya and All Might's special connection, and that he confronts All Might about it. It does work off Midoriya almost blurting out his secret to Bakugo in the first season well, and leads to Bakugo being a secret keeper for a bit later on. 
• Of course it gets resolved in this episode, but I really do like that we do get a scene of Midoriya's mother being super-against him getting constantly injured over and over again. We then circle back to Midoriya pulling out Kota's letter which is a neat little fuzzy moment. I also love that Midoriya instantly tries to respect his mother's attempted compromise of sending him to a hero course not at U.A. -- I think a less-'realistic' manga would've tried to hammer in the setting's main campus or whatever as the best and most perfect place ever. 
• Also, damn, All Might, that is a mighty fine speech you did. 
• Also, damn, All For One, that is a mighty fine twisted version of the 'now it's your turn' speech you did. 

Episode 13:

• This episode is mostly just our 1-A students moving into the dorms, and it's... it's all in good fun. Some discussion about the traitor on Nezu's part.
• Again, nothing really comes of it, but I do like Aizawa emphasizing that, yes, according to the law, and if things weren't in a crisis, what Team Midoriya did is technically wrong. Oh, add the powerful Tsuyu moment that closes this episode to that, too. 
• It really looks like Bakugo just shook down Kaminari and stole his money, yeah? And that was how I read this scene for the longest time. It's still not super-clear since Bakugo was being kind of coy about it, but I think the author had confirmed in one of the Q&A segments that the whole Kaminari thing was meant to be Bakugo using him to distract the rest of the class, while Bakugo actually did use his own money to pay Kirishima.
• Speaking of which, awww, Bakugo does have a heart.
• All the dorm breakdowns... it's something that honestly never really matters in the grand scheme of the story beyond anyone looking for background consistency in the artwork, but it does make for a nice little breather after the intensity of the All For One battle. 
• During the dorm showcase... man they really play up Mineta's perverted tendencies, huh? Though him doing that... uh... thing he did in Hagakure's room is kind of over the line. Clearly the other 1-A kids do so too, because in the background we don't ever see Mineta again, while Sero drags around a mummified lump the size of Mineta. 
• It is basic, but I do enjoy Yaoyorozu going "my house is much bigger" while Uraraka constantly freaks out at how fancy everything is. 
• Room showcases! Without me going into a breakdown of every single room, this episode is one of the comedic highlights of the series. My favourite is probably Tokoyami's super-chuunibyou room, and Ojiro's entirely unremarkable room... 
• Okay, Iida's glasses rack is funny too.
• Todoroki's deadpan "I worked hard" was funny too. 
• Ashido and Hagakure also get super-excited, which is nice since the two of them don't otherwise really get a whole ton of spotlight... actually, it's a lot of nice moments for characters like Sero or Sato who have been really out of focus. 

Episode 14:

• Present-day MHA is epic and cool and all, but man, between Midoriya reacting to life in the dorms and the class getting excited for a 'ultimate move' class, I really do miss the more slice-of-life parts of the earlier parts of this manga. 
• Okay, they do give some in-universe reasons as to why heroes need 'ultimate moves', but we all know the real reason is just that it's fucking cool, yo. 
• Though honestly, other than Midoriya's Smashes, Bakugou's grenades and Iida's Reciproburst, I really can't think of too many 1-A students that use any named ultimate moves. Although, I would also readily admit that calling out attacks are a bit less memorable in the manga compared to the anime. 
• Between USJ and TDL, I do like the running gag of all of UA's facilities sharing acronyms with Japanese theme parks. 
• In this case, Midoriya and the others actually question the "Training Dining Land" and note that a "certain mouse" might get mad at them. 
• Poor, poor Ojiro. Honestly, while I do get that all the other students get some improvements to their quirk usage, all Ojiro got is that "stop moving like someone who has a tail, it's too obvious"... he is Tail-Man! The whole point of him is that he has a tail!
• "I am... here even though I wasn't asked to be here because I didn't have anything else to do today!" God bless you, All Might. 
• Speaking of All Might being adorable... that 'even dummies can be teachers' book. It's like, played for laughs and Aizawa's eyes bug out at the sight of that, but you can tell that All Might's throwing all his effort into trying to do something productive even though he can't be doing any superheroing. 
• I really didn't like Mei when I first met her in the manga, but man, she's a lot more likable in this arc, and honestly, in the anime in general. I think it's the voice-acting making it a lot more obvious that she's just a complete scatterbrain instead of her being a jackass. And oh boy, this episode is a laugh riot with her trying to bring out all her BABY to give to our 1A guys. 
• I also love that Mei's wacky 'why don't you run with your arms' gag towards Iida ends up causing Midoriya to develop Shoot Style. 
• Power Loader has... a very interesting character design, let me just put it that way. 
• Mineta, that string of grape balls... no. Just no. 
• Also, Mineta telling Midoriya that his costume is on the boring side... dude, have you not seen your own giant porcelain diaper?
• Did Tokoyami ever use Abyssal Black Body in combat? I genuinely don't remember! That's actually a cool look! 
• All Might's massive grin when he sees Midoriya do his Shoot Style is adorable! 

Episode 15:

• Bless you, Monoma. You're good for a laugh. 
• Ashido's blunt delivery of "is it Midoriya or Iida?" is hilarious. 
• I also find it hilarious that it's because Uraraka touched her face in embarrassment that she activated her own gravity quirk on herself. 
• We have some absolutely great musical cues when Uraraka accidentally spies Midoriya practicing outside. 
• Shiketsu Academy! I found Inasa actually kind of forgettable in the manga (it genuinely boggles my mind how popular he actually is in the manga's popularity polls), but you know what? That dumbass over-the-top energy coupled with energetic voice-acting is a lot more endearing in anime format. 
• "Ah, blood." The joke is funny in and of itself, but the fact that it's spoken by Camie...
• I 100% forgot about Ms. Joke's existence, though, and her... interesting dynamic with Aizawa. I also completely forgot that Ketsubutsu Academy is a thing. 
• I do like that the 'super earnest' Ketsubutsu Academy student foreshadows the U.A. Crushing strategy of the other schools. 
• Good god there are a lot of hero course students, huh. 1540 in a single location!
• Man, this Mera guy just looks so fucking tired with life in general. Are you okay, Mera? Did the HPSC force you to take too much overtime? Do we have to call HR?
• I do find it interesting that the U.A. Sports Festival is such a double-edged sword. Sure, these guys are just hero students from other schools ganging up on our heroes, but wouldn't any villain that watches these Olympics-tier event basically get a rundown on every power of the U.A. graduates?
• Aizawa's badass boast about how "it wouldn't change how my students fight" is pretty damn cool, as is "if they become pros, everyone will know their quirks. Sorry, we look a little further ahead than everyone else."
• Okay, Mineta, your giant ball-whip thing is actually kinda cool. 

Episode 16:

• I don't think he ever appears after this, but Makabe Shikkui with his stiffening quirk is a pretty cool blue rock-person. He's buddies with Toteki Itejiro, or Boomerang, someone who looks like he's cosplaying Android 17 from Dragon Ball Z. I genuinely don't know if these guys are actually not in the manga, or if they are background characters that the anime expands upon -- I do know this arc does have a bunch of anime-original bonus fights.
• I know Nakagame Tatami shows up later on. I don't know that her quirk is 'Telescopic', though, which allows her to... uh... basically retract her entire body? Like, Mic the narrator says she 'folds her body into itself like a turtle, but pretty sure a turtle just... retracts into its shell. Tatami can retract her entire body between the neck and her hip into her hip. That's like some One Piece nonsense! 
• Shindo Yo, meanwhile, can use vibrations to create earthquakes. He's kinda cool, for someone with a relatively generic-looking design!
• Okay, Jiro's arm-mounted sonic-amplifier gauntlets are cool!
• Ashido actually has a named attack -- Acid Veil! Meanwhile, Tokoyami renamed his Abyssal Black Body into Black Ankh: Piercing Twilight Claws.. 
• I absolutely love that the huge, epic entrance of Inasa and his typhoon quirk is accompanied by some manly HOO! HAAAH! epic music. 
• Among the group of heroes that arrive with Boomerang Android 17 guy to ambush Midoriya and Camie is, for some reason, a random little kid riding a toy truck. ...okay? My favourite part about mangas like One-Punch Man and My Hero Academia is these wacky one-off random character designs. 
• Speaking of random designs, Midoriya has to dodge rocks, spiderwebs, water blasts... and a giant... stapler with cartoony chomper-arms thing? 
• It's mostly accompanied with flashback scenes and I'm never a fan of that, but I do appreciate Midoriya realizing that going too far in breaking his body is, well, conducive to absolutely no one after winning a single fight. 
• Okay, "Camie" gets notoriously 'censored' by having her 'wear' a bodysuit that's coloured chalk-white instead of being skin-coloured, but... honestly, Midoriya still treats her as being naked and I do kind of agree that if this is actually meant for the viewing of a younger audience, they really can't have a girl run around basically buck-ass nude. 
• Sero does something! Good job, Sero! 
• "WAS SHE NAKED, MIDORIYAAAA?" 
• The whole damn Ninninger Ninja Force just shows up to fight Todoroki. Red Ninja Dude has an Ant-Man style ability of tossing random things and causing them to expand into giant size. 

Episode 17:

• I am almost positive this Ninja Force fight isn't in the manga. Blue Ninja shoots out mud! Black Ninja shoots out water! The yellow ninjas are strong! ...they actually didn't last that long, even if I didn't expect them to take up like an entire half-episode. 
• Tsuyu, Yaoyorozu, Shoji and Jiro fight against someone who's definitely anime-original, Intelli Saiko, who's like this huge weird super-posh lady with a monocle and her abilities involve her summoning a fuckton of Physics and mathematics formulae like Kamen Rider Build. Actually, considering that at one point she talks about how "the formula for [her] success" as a catchphrase, and Present Mic emphasizes the word "GEEEEEENIUS!" she might be a more blatant homage than I thought. 
• Saiko's quirk is "IQ", which improves her intelligence... when she drinks tea. It sounds stupid on paper, but remember that Iida's quirk is canonically fueled by orange juice consumption.
• One of Saiko's minions is a lady with an entire chunky Nerf-style slingshot for an arm; a gas-mask girl that can shoot cold air out of giant finger-cannons; another one with finger-cannons can weld doors. Her little 'strike force' includes a girl with noodle hair, tentacle arms, metal staves that come out of palms, spiky hair girl, and a girl that creates a giant Rube-Goldberg hammer. 
• Considering how poor Yaoyorozu kind of gets lesser and lesser roles as the story goes on, I do like that we do get this episode putting her as the leader and planner of the quartet, and getting a whole monologue about how she wants to save everyone in her team. 
• Although, honestly, considering we've seen her make catapults and stuff, she really could've countered sniper-slingshot girl a lot sooner before she got to break Jiro's amplifiers. All I'm saying, Yaoyorozu should really look into making more weapons with her quirk.
• The anime staff at least thought about the fact that making grenades or bombs would cause a 'phreatic explosion', something that I actually was about to question.   
• Okay, that giant speaker is... honestly kind of simple, all things considered, and I kind of expected something that would make use of both Shoji and Jiro, but I'm not going to be too nitpicky. 
• Shoji also has a nice little moment -- everyone reaffirms how they're coming back to save Momo, but Shoji has a cute little flashback of remembering how Midoriya would 'save both of them'. 
• Oh, Shishikura and his ability to turn people into Cronenberg-ed meatballs... him, I remember, due to how absolutely fucked up his quirk is. He also can mould his flesh into floating globs that attack the enemy. Holy shit, though, he really seems like someone that would be super useful in a fight against the villains! 
• "My eyes are handsome and long in length!" I love that Shishikura actually gets offended by Bakugo's mockery.
• There's this guy whose head looks like a plastic bird skull with a black blob in the middle with Marvin-the-Martian style eyes around 18 minutes or so into the episode, hanging out with the Ketsubutsu students. That's a very cool design. 

Episode 18:

• Okay, with all the filler against anime-only students, was that recap from Shindo really necessary? I guess it's to show his 'true' manipulative, opportunistic face? 
• I do actually like the little emphasis on Bakugou making his "A.P. Shot" move weaker so that he can use the attack against people without killing them. He might be bloodthirsty, but he's not out to actually murder people!
• I do actually like the brief focus on Kaminari here! It's a neat little subversion where the fight looks like it's going to be a Bakugou spotlight, but a nice little showcase on how Kaminari's been improving his quirk and working on his own debilitating weakness is definitely appreciated. 
• I also really like the little character moment between Aoyama and Iida, where Aoyama is baffled and actually moved by the fact that Iida's running around helping other 1-A students even if it's something that would harm Iida himself. It's something that seems perfect for Iida after the Stain arc, and I feel like this is an overlooked moment for Aoyama later in the series.
• "Papa, mama, why am I different from everyone else?" 
• That giant pillar of light that Aoyama did to signal everyone where he is... that's honestly pretty damn badass. 
• That yatta dance that Sero, Uraraka, Kaminari and Kirishima do is adorable. 
• It is pretty obvious that Aoyama's giant light pillar is going to attract the other 1A students to help him, but it's still pretty badass. (How did Tokoyami, who's able to create shadow tendril-claws, not pass earlier?) Also, Mineta and Koda are probably the MVP's of that huge ambush attack.