My Hero Academia, Season 3, Episodes 19-25

The final part of my coverage of My Hero Academia's season 3!

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. 

Also, a bit of an announcement I'll be unable to post much in July, but I have a bunch of articles set up for release on automated schedule -- which will hopefully prevent the drought of content I had in late 2021/early 2022! It's mostly superhero content with the sprinkling of some anime content, but I should tide you guys over with some content until August-ish where my schedule is much more empty. 

Episode 19:

• I feel like having random explosives blow up the field that a bunch of underaged students have been running around and fighting in is a massive safety hazard. Unlike U.A., they don't even have the excuse of having that healing nurse superhero on standby!
• It is kind of interesting that they have a whole industry for people who act as victims in these sort of tests. 
• Normally I roll my eyes at Mineta's perverted antics, but him acting all high-and-mighty at anything "below R-18" and talking like he has standards so "just saying she's hot is not enough, I've been watching her" actually made me chuckle a bit. 
• Shiketsu's class representative is... uh... a giant walking ball of fur. I do actually like that they acknowledge that Shishikura's acting extremely rudely -- in other words, the 'Bakugo' of their class, although in a different sort of acting independently. 
• It doesn't really come up all that much -- especially since the next couple of arcs are heavily combat-based -- but I actually love that these aspiring superheroes are also being tested on how they would handle rescuing people in these conditions. These superheroes aren't just fighters, they're also helping in rescue operations! 
• I also like that absolutely terrible ideas like using a goddamn tornado to move people in large scale without checking for injuries that cannot be moved without proper stabilizers is noted as a completely dumbass idea. 
• Also deconstructed nicely is the idea that someone trying to be a one-man-show and taking all the responsibility on their own is going to be absolutely terrible in a rescue operation (unless if you're All Might, I guess).
• I also do like the little deconstruction that Uraraka being constantly thinking about her crush on Midoriya is actually portrayed as something that's actually causing her to get super-distracted, compared to how most of her classmates are putting their all into this examination. It's something that feels quite... 'real' for these teenagers, you know?
• Shishikura doesn't quite take it to the degree that someone like Spinner does, but I do like that his teacher actually notes that he's been influenced by Stain's idea to reform the hero society into something that's far more respectable. 
• Of course, this is still a shonen battle manga, so we do have the glorious GANG ORCA coming in at the end for a combat-and-rescue test, but still, I do like that we devoted an entire chapter to just deconstructing tropes about 'hot-blooded' rescuing. 
• I love that there's somehow a list of "ranking of heroes that look like villains". When he becomes pro, I bet Shishikura would rank high there, too. 

Episode 20:

• All Might interrupts the regularly-scheduled manga adaptation for a tie-in episode with one of the feature films. This episode (and I assume the accompanying film, Two Heroes) is set before the training camp.
• I do like the meta joke of Midnight, Cementoss and All Might dissecting... what's actually the IRL trailer of the movie, and they use it as an opportunity to drop random lore bits about All Might's "Young Age, Bronze Age, Silver Age and Golden Age", stuff that gets revealed in cover pages in the manga itself. 
• The plot of this episode is basically a 'special extra class' with some of the more popular students being in a class where they have to try and figure out crimescenes... only with hijinks as the 'plotlines' of what is just a standard hostage situation turns into a locked-room mystery and gets more and more complex.
• Present Mic just raps, yo, yo.
• It's pretty fun for what it is, honestly, I just felt like it could've been slotted like, one or two episodes earlier in-between the battle royale and the rescue operation segments of the provisional exam. 

Episode 21:

• Again, while it does cut away from the superhero fighting, I do appreciate the discussion about the worldbuilding and even the focus on teamwork in tests. This is really something that I felt made the first half of My Hero Academia feel so unique -- something that the post-timeskip manga kind of lacks. 
• Gang Orca is cool, guys. His ultrasonic orca attacks look pretty fucking awesome. 
• Gang Orca can clearly tank Shindo, Todoroki, Inasa and all the other large-scale-area students, but... man, those mooks (who aren't actually villains) must really feel shitty to get tossed around by AoE quirks. 
• I actually do like how Todoroki and Inasa are shown to be putting their egos above everything and how their quirks clash in battle -- something that the manga/anime actually takes great pains to show that when All Might and Endeavor met each other on the battlefield, their rivalry never went beyond words and they actually worked well together. The difference between pros and hot-headed teenagers, I guess. 
• Yeah, okay, Inasa... your motivations... are, uh... kind of dumb. But you're also kinda dumb, so I guess it tracks. 
• It works with Todoroki's character development, too, I guess, since Inasa is directly comparing him to his dad. Albeit in not the most... intelligent way, shall we put it. 
• Holy shit, what was that chanting BGM that plays when Todoroki's flames grow brighter, though? Damn, that actually sends chills down my spine. 
• I do like that Honenuki from 1-B actually shows up in Inasa's flashback of the U-A test.
• Camouflage Tsuyu! I don't think any frogs can actually go full-chameleon AFAIK, but you know what? It's cool. I don't mind. 
• I actually really love Gang Orca's badass boast as he climbs back up after Inasa and Todoroki's combo move. 
• "Please get away from those two!" Bless Midoriya, he's so polite.
• Damn, okay, Nagamasa Mora, you actually have a cool entrance.

Episode 22:

• Midoriya passed this exam -- for some reason, I actually thought he failed? My memory is failing me. That's why I'm rewatching this, I guess. Also, we get to see that Mineta passed -- and considering the rescue segment is based on a point deduction basis, we can actually see why someone like Inasa or Todoroki, who made extreme blunders, would fail.
• Speaking of Mineta, I absolutely love that random line where he talks about how "due to their high skill, they are in conflict with their own egoism"... which would be profound if it came from someone like Aizawa instead of Mineta. 
• Haha, that photograph on Midoriya's provisional hero license! 
• I remembered actually going "whoaaaa this ties into the main Villain Alliance plot!" when Camie got revealed to be actually Toga. It's still a pretty clever plot twist even knowing it's coming -- Toga's easily one of the more stand-out characters that the story's clearly trying to do more with, and it's nice to see that, hey, one of the new characters in a bunch of secondary characters... turns out to be a development of one of the important supporting characters!
• I get why All Might would want to see All For One in his hero costume, but man, the poor guy just looks so baggy in those. 
• I did remember not being super impressed with All Might and AFO's conversation in the manga, but the addition of music and voice acting does really elevate this scene. All For One's scummy gloating, All Might's "I will not die" declaration... 
• Bakugou and Midoriya's confrontation... back when I first read it in the manga, because I was following it weekly, I actually didn't care much for it because we already had a confrontation between the two during the practical classes early in the manga. But now, looking at the story more as a whole, seeing Bakugou's character arc of more as someone who's confronted with how he's failed twice in quick succession (his kidnapping and failing the provisional license), the revelation that he really admires All Might, and I guess appreciating Deku a bit more as... as someone who isn't just an object of bullying, I guess, has made him a bit more amiable to 'talk things out'. Being Bakugo, though, his version of talking things out extends more to duking it out, but it's at least an attempt at communication.
• I also like that Bakugo has pieced things together to realize that All Might might have something to do what he overheard about how the villains' boss could transfer quirks between people. 

Episode 23:

• I absolutely love that this whole mini-arc of Bakugo fighting Midoriya has so much of the monologues be Bakugo's. Whereas the first confrontation is Midoriya getting over his fear of being intimidated by his childhood friend-turned-bully, this is Bakugo trying to go through the jumble of mess of emotions in his head after his pride has been shattered over and over and over again in quick succession. It's not a huge proper fight and more like just Bakugo... lashing out after being frustrated for so long. 
• God damn that voice acting when he's begging for Midoriya to fight, around 6 minutes into the episode? That voice acting and how he's really about to break really adds so much depth to this character. In the manga I kind of read it as him being condescending and proud, but here it's kind of clear that he's holding back tears. 
• It also makes Midoriya's decision to 'okay, hell, let's fight, because that's the only way to get through to Kacchan' a lot more understandable. It's still dumb in the grand scheme of things, but considering that these are two teenagers and we've seen how Bakugo behaves... yeah. 
• And then Bakugo's multiple admission -- to himself and later to All Might -- that Midoriya's surpassed him, that he's weak, so weak that he can't stand up where it matters... poor Bakugo. 
• It's also important, narratively speaking, to turn Midoriya and Bakugo into... well, 'rivals' instead of just someone and his bully. 
• I like the bit where we actually compare Bakugo's admiration ("the way he fights is so cool!") versus Midoriya's ("he saves everyone with a smile!") and actually have Bakugo, in-universe, question if his 'way of admiration' was wrong.
• Man, the animators put a lot of effort into Bakugo's explosions. 
• "Why was I the one who ended All Might?" Man, poor Bakugo. 
• "...you passed me..." I like that little soft admission he has to himself.
• You know, I personally don't really agree that it's healthy for Midoriya to 'keep chasing after' a kid who always abuses him verbally and physically. It did end up relatively all right for the two of them, but... but man, while I was watching this episode and listening to Midoriya and Bakugo's respective POV's, I am so invested in their rivalry. 
• I absolutely like that Midoriya's personal "image" of victory is that of Bakugo, though, leading to him spouting more insults when he is in "I have to beat you" mode. That makes sense. 
• Okay, Bakugo spinning Midoriya mid-air and then rocketing both of them down with a burst of explosion is pretty damn clean. 
• All Might coming in to talk to them and explain everything... it's something that the story has foreshadowed and is honestly kind of overdue, but it's definitely well-scripted and well-scored. 
• I actually never noticed that having All Might and Midoriya's connection be a secret ends up being a neat little parallel to a traditional superhero comic-book's constant themes about guarding one's secret identity. 
• Also, I do like All Might's little explanation to Aizawa, which makes perfect sense -- even if Bakugo feeling responsible for his retirement is technically a half-truth. 
• Leaving the little bit where Bakugo finally begrudgingly gives Midoriya feedback about Shoot Style for the post-credits scene works pretty well, actually, especially since this season's end-credits music is pretty calming. 
  

Episode 24:

• SPOTLIGHT: TWICE! Always one of my all-time favourite chapters of MHA, because it's a standalone chapter that focuses on one of the side-characters, and it's also the first big hints that we're really going to develop the members of the Villain Alliance. I like that they didn't do the obvious thing that other anime would do and stretch it into almost an entire episode, but just got it over with in around 10 minutes, which is the right amount of time it really needs to be. 
  
• I do like the fact that Twice's monologue and his voice in his head that disagrees with him is given a different bit of vocal-processing reverb or something to make it a bit more clear that Twice is disagreeing with himself in his head. It's nothing that's overtly original, sure, but I really do like the little exploration into Twice's Multiple Man backstory and how it absolutely drove him crazy -- so much that he has no place to fit in. 
• I also always liked this because it makes something that initially seems like a wacky anime verbal quirk into something actually serious. 
• I like that over the course of the past couple of episodes and this one, we see the public as a whole reacting to Endeavour becoming the new No. 1 hero even though the man in question barely appears. 
• Dabi totally just casually murdered a bunch of thugs just because they mouthed off a little to him. Overhaul also totally killed those 'Team Reservoir Dogs' guys and horror-merged them into their own pickup truck. 
• I do find Todoroki being all down and sullen because he thought he let class 1-A down to be kinda adorable.
• Pony! Yeah, a 'foreigner speaking with broken English' really works a lot better with voice-over, since she actually says words like "class" and "Vlad-teacher" in perfect English pronunciation. 
• Mirio's face popping out of the wall will never not be funny. What a first impression!

Episode 25:

• Huh. Huh? That's where they decide to end the season? Not at All For One and All Might's conversation? Or even Twice's episode and showing Overhaul for the first time? Mmm... okay then? Mirio's first impression is... uh... okay? I would've put it at the beginning of a season myself, but I was definitely surprised to see it at the end of one. 
• I guess Midoriya remembers it in this episode, but it's surprising that he doesn't have an encyclopedic memory of all U.A. students from sports festivals... I guess he's not that big of a hero otaku. 
• Amajiki seems to have Conqueror's Haki, but all he really has is just some real intense introvert aura. 
• I know Amajiki from the manga, but I could forgive anyone who saw how that scene is depicted in the anime and thinks that Amajiki's quirks actually did turn everyone's head into potatoes. 
• Hado is about to ask Shoji about his mask and we almost got a backstory out of him! Damn it, Hado, you and your scatterbrained-ness! 
• "B-balls???"
• I really do like Mirio going all "all of you, fight me at once!" It really does contrast pretty well with the dorkiness of the Big Three in general while also setting the bar pretty high for our first-year students. And, of course, to establish good ol' Mirio as a goddamn badass... even among the pros. 
• Also, it really does make sense that 1-A isn't super special. There are other special kids with as much ambition as them on other 1-A's that have graduated and advanced to the next years!
• I also like that where Midoriya can try to analyze Mirio's attack patterns... so can Mirio, since he's the ace before Midoriya came along. 
• Jiro's expression to Mirio's... uh... wardrobe malfunction is hilarious.
• Poor Jiro is the first one the buck-ass-nude Mirio goes first, too. 
• "POWERRRRRRRRRR!" 
• Mirio's wholesale takedown of half of Class 1-A is pretty cool, isn't it? Slightly... uncomfortable because how he's naked and how everyone's lying unconscious around him, but damn if it isn't badass. There's just a degree of wackiness around it too because Mirio is just beating the shit out of everyone with clean one-shots while being naked. 
• "HISSATSU! BLINDER EYE METSUBUSHI!" Mirio clearly went to the same attack-naming school as Usopp from One Piece.
• I also absolutely love the deconstruction about how Mirio's quirk looks super-duper awesome because we see the final product of what he is doing... but then the story explains just the sheer amount of effort put into Mirio training to get where he is right now. I... I really like Mirio and how his story ends up developing over the series. 
• Speaking of really liking the explanation, there's some surprising amount of 'no required secondary powers' when Mirio talks about how he can't see or hear while phasing through objects, and how he's going to be repelled at a velocity and he needs to control it.