Boku no Hero Academia, Chapter 148: The Sorrows of Young Toga-ice
I originally didn't really want to make a review for this, but I did kind of promise to review the chapters where I have things to talk about... and boy, does this chapter inspire me to talk a bit.
Getting past the cool action scenes first, though, Night-Eye just one-shots "Rappa's Brother", despite looking like a goddamn normal dude in a business suit. Twice's "EH" reaction is just absolutely hilarious, as Night-Eye kicks out the larger dude's legs from under him, then whacks a little thrown object -- a batarang equivalent, if you will, but it's called a Hypermass Seal weighing 5 kilograms. So yeah, Night-Eye's ability might not seem like it's going to make him dangerous in combat beyond dodging moves, but it seems that even against villains the combination of foresight and wacky gadgets like that (which has been an important part of Boku no Hero since its inception, but one that I've kind of forgotten).
Mimic 'rescues' Rappa's Brother (who I'm not convinced is a real person considering he melted) and it's just not a good day for Twice, who gets half his mask ripped off, and very nearly killed by Mimic who slams down a wall down behind him. And then Twice starts splitting apart and arguing with himself due to his exposed half-face (dude's basically a Batman villain, isn't he?) until Toga shows up and helps to cover the exposed side of his face. Toga then talks about how it's hardest on Twice, who feels a gigantic burden of responsibility for getting Magne killed and trying his best to cooperate with the yakuza, but he's still treated like dirt. Toga then looks up towards where an angry Mimic is spying on them, and notes that "if the person you're cooperating with is useless, you won't be rewarded in the end, right?"
We do get a very great flashback after this scene, but let's just skip to the last 'present-day' scene in this chapter, Twice and Toga decide to be true to who they are and just talk shit about Mimic and his bedridden boss, causing Mimic to go berserk not just in the area around Toga and Twice but also around the heroes. Mimic's driven insane by his drugs, and Twice and Toga are basically working on a 'those I can't stand, I'll destroy' mentality, but the way that the chapter presents this isn't by some ham-fisted monologue or a statement of their personality, but via one of the most effective usages of a flashback scenes. The flashback doesn't change what's going on in the present day, not so much, but it helps put Twice and Toga's character motivations into context.
We flashback to when Shigaraki tells Twice and Toga that they'll be 'loaned' to the yakuza, something that Twice is absolutely livid and pissed off about. Unlike Overhaul, who doesn't care if his minions die (and seems to lead a bunch of fanatics and a bunch of indifferent mafia), the yakuza feels like a closer-knit organization more similar to teams like, oh, DC's Secret Six or whatever. A bunch of misfits that stick together. Twice is absolutely angry, reminding Shigaraki that Overhaul killed Magne and ripped off Compress's arm.
Twice is blaming himself so much about bringing the yakuza to the Villains' Alliance's door, and the moment when he takes his mask off to tell Shigaraki this -- that he really, really doesn't want to deal with what's basically his greatest failure. Toga then speaks up, talking about how the League is all about feeling good, to make the world easier to live in. And she demands an explanation from Shigaraki (with a knife to his throat, to boot!) and asks him why they needed to do the antithesis of their goal -- i.e., an unpleasant, painful thing. Shigaraki then takes off the face-hand, and notes that it's "for my sake, and yours." It's... it's actually a pretty significant character development for Shigaraki, who in his first two appearances was a hot-blooded psychotic villain who treats his minions as pawns to be discarded and would've probably gone full 'destruction hand touch' the moment Twice pulled on his shoulder, let alone Toga's knife on his neck.
Shigaraki notes how the yakuza just wants to basically gain the chess peices that are Toga and Twice, hampering the villains' alliance and bolstering the yakuza numbers, but Shigaraki sees it as basically a way for Twice to take responsibility, because he "believes in them". It's not something Twice and Toga really understands, but these words, 'I believe in you', drives Twice and Toga to do what they did at the end of the chapter, which is to stay true to who they are, members of the Villain Alliance. I don't really think I've seen such a well-written group of villains in.... shit, forever. Shonen manga tends to be happy to just characterize the main villains (and they're lucky if they even have that) and with nearly no exception, I've never seen a shonen manga who characterizes the lesser mooks and rank-and-file beyond 'oh, look at the quirky sadistic guy!' or 'oh, look at the hot-blooded guy!' which is what we got with Rappa a while back. But Twice and Toga? God, they're just awesomely written, aren't they?
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