Saturday 1 April 2017

Boku no Hero Academia 132 Review: Motherfuckin' BMI Hero

Boku no Hero Academia, Chapter 132: The Plan


Oh, man, this chapter. It's a pretty cool one. We have Shigaraki showing up in the Eight-Precepts-of-Death base (which is a very clunky name and I'm probably just going to call them the Death Yakuza Gang or something that rolls off my figurative tongue easier). Shigaraki is there to make a deal, but he's actually being smart about it -- he's not going to just quietly submit as the junior in their partnership, but neither is he lording it over Overhaul either. It's a pretty cool moment of Shigaraki just stamping his foot on the table, ignoring Overhaul's OCD requests for him to take his god-damned feet off the table.

Shigaraki makes a note about how their motives happened to align, and that's why they are allied. So it's good -- Shigaraki is growing as a character, but he's not just going to be weak because he's in the world of villains, and he's going to make it to the top. In a way it's a twisted parallel to Midoriya dealing with the more experienced and also arrogant (deservedly so) superhero in Nighteye, so is Shigaraki dealing with the likewise more experienced and arrogant Overhaul. And a balance between respecting their seniors' experience and standing firm to their own ideals is a very interesting take on blending the two.

Hey, Fairy Tail? This is how you do 'picking a third option', not some nonsense speech and crushing two seeds. Jeez, that was horrible.

Overhaul's people react very, very quickly and violently to Shigaraki reaching into his own coat. The dude with the goggles and a white hoodie is apparently called Chronostasis (holy shit, a cool English name! Between Suneater and Chronostasis we're actually on a roll) and he's assistant to Overhaul. Also has a gun, because fuck all these powers, right? Guns! The adorable little plague-doctor dude that's just being adorable for the first part of the meeting apparently can have his little bag-like body burst out to reveal a big-ass gigantic muscly hand and his eyes gets very, very scary. The little dude's called Mimic, the 'General Manager'. 

I like them! They're cool. Overhaul manages to maintain composure, not bowing down to every whim Shigaraki makes but also not completely dissing him or disrespecting him. Shigaraki finds out Overhaul's plan, which is apparently needle darts that make Mister Compress's powers unable to work. So basically, Overhaul's re-enacting the plot for the third X-Men movie, with Eri probably being the substitute for Leech in this situation. 

We don't quite get to see this revelation before cutting away to "Red Riot" Kirishima, "Suneater" Amajiki Tamaki and their current boss, the BMI Hero, Fatgum. The motherfucking BMI Hero, ladies and gentlemen. A fat dude who eats takoyaki! Which is actually an important detail for a later fight.

Suneater is Kirishima's senior, and he's just so unsure of himself, which is equal parts adorable and pathetic, and it contrasts a lot to Kirishima's very hot-blooded attitude. Neither Fatgum nor Kirishima really manage to do anything about Suneater's emo attitude, and he's just physically unable to be optimistic. Kirishima also gets a brief moment of characterization, noting that he's subverting (or at least attempting to subvert) something that hit many side-characters in these kinds of school settings, which is 'unable to catch up'. I mean, like, yeah, maybe it won't work and maybe Kirishima will end up only having as much personality and screentime as, oh, I dunno, Shino and Kiba from Naruto or something, but at least he's trying!

We get a fight scene, and Fatgum's ability is, well, he's fat and squishy and people submerge into his body. One of them with a turn-into-a-string power gets away, only for Suneater to unleash octopus tentacles to wrap the dude out. It's a pretty cool power, and Suneater whacks the dude with a hand transformed into a clam shell. His quirk is Reappearance, and apparently he's able to transform his body into things that he eats earlier that day. Clam-shell blade hands, octopi tentacles, giant wings and talons... which the manga helpfully tells us 'Kentucky Fried Chicken'. Thanks, funny captions!

Poor Suneater is the MVP of the battle, maybe, but he's actually looking for affirmation from Kirishima. "Did I do a good job?" Despite him having as much cool and poise during the fight as anyone. Man, poor Suneater. He really needs some help. He gets shot in he shoulder by another one of the criminals, who has the power-negating darts from Overhaul's yakuza gang, and Overhaul gives Kirishima a speech about how his plan is to 'destroy justice', how they're playing the long game. 

Kirishima gets shot in the head, which got me worried... but apparently for the power-negating drug to work you actually have to have the drug penetrate, and hardened skin is better than dart needle things, so the projectile actually bounces off Kirishima's head. So yeah, this thug's going down, but our heroes are no closer to finding Overhaul or Shigaraki, who are basically going to make an alliance... and Suneater's going to have some real issues with his confidence after this is over with. (I really like Suneater!)

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