If you have not seen My Hero Academia episode 42, you should stray away from this post and go watch it. Giant ass spoilers ahead. You have been warned.
So the latest episode of MHA came out this weekend and it definitely went beyond plus ultra. We have the students out in the middle of the woods doing their quirk training. We can see how each of them is tackling their training to make their quirks better, stronger, and more useful. They are practicing to increase their stamina and endurance as well as range, speed, and power. We also get more of Kota, the little kid who hates quirks. At this point, we know that Midoriya has a soft spot for the kid and he tries to reach him with his words.
Obviously, this doesn’t work.
So later on, when the students are having their test of courage and the league of villains attack, Midoriya is the only one who thinks about Kota. This is a good thing for Kota because not only is he getting attacked by a villain, it’s the same villain who killed his parents. Midoriya shows up at the last second and saves Kota and an epic battle ensues. It is epic in the fact that we get to see Deku fighting a villain and relying on his own power.
The last fight we saw was between him and Killer Stain, however, Deku also had the help of his friends Todoroki and Ida. It was an awesome fight, and we saw Deku push his limits, but he still had much needed help from others. In this current fight, the scenario is much more serious. If he fails, the person he is trying to protect will die. The same could be said of his previous fight, but the feeling is different when it comes to Pros. They are expected to risk their life, and as we’ve already seen in this show, some Pros don’t make it out of their situations unscathed. Also, there would be shared responsibility for the loss; which is an easier burden to bear. The person Deku is trying to protect now is a child. That creates a completely different sense of urgency and tension about the situation. If he fails to do so, there is no one to blame but himself.
Deku is alone. He is outmatched. His is trying to protect a child (who refused to run when told to do so). He is afraid. He is injured. He cannot run away or retreat for help. His phone is broken, so he can’t call for help either. He has no choice but to fight or let this kid die. And we know that heroes don’t let the innocent (or anyone) die.
So this fight is epic. We get to hear Deku’s inner monologue. We see him dig deep for the strength to protect Kota and go at this villain with 100% of his power — which is equal to that of All Might — and see this guy not even be fazed. We watch as, first his left arm is broken, and then his right arm is blown out, and then he digs even deeper to continue to fight and protect Kota. Deku’s display of strength not only shows Kota, but shows us, what it really means to be a hero.
Even after being broken, bleeding, battered and nearly defeated, he does not just go beyond, he goes PLUS ULTRA! The best part of this episode comes in the last 5 minutes where we see Deku protect Kota with literally every ounce of strength and determination he has left. He not only pushes the villain back, but in one blow he defeats him! When thinking that he had the advantage and that Deku was done, he threatened to kill Kota which was a really bad idea. Deku came back from the brink of death and used One For All at 1,000,000%. Not 100%. Not 1000%. But 1,000,000%! It was the turning point not only for the fight, but for Kota. He saw what a real hero was and why people respect his parents for dying the way they did.
I think that this will also be a turning point for Midoriya. This was his first true win as a hero. Relying on himself, he protected someone and acted as a true hero. He didn’t have his classmates to save him or All Might. This win was all him and it shows just how far he has come since the quirkless boy we met in the first episode. I believe Midoriya has many great battles ahead of him and that this is only the first time he will go beyond plus ultra.
The Otaku Couple
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