Mirio Togata is a hero, an absolute hero down to the last moment. His fight against Overhaul should go on the records as one of the most emotional and chilling fights in anime history. Even as he is shot with a bullet that robs him of the quirk he needs to become a pro-hero, he keeps fighting for Eri. Even with his life at risk, he refuses to let this poor scared little girl continue to feel unsafe.
I’m jumping ahead of myself though, we begin episode 11 where we left off in the previous episode with the guy morphing the walls to slow down the heroes going off the rails in rage and anger at Twice and Himiko.
Leading him to reveal himself to Aizawa and be captured, of course, this shows the heroes that the League of Villains had betrayed the Yakuza and used them in their plan to do so. However, they don’t have time to pursue after Himiko and Twice.
They must reach Mirio and Eri.
Now, I’ve seen a lot of complaints about how things were animated in this section. The ‘slideshow’ format, well, I am aware that My Hero is known for its amazing fight scene animation and choreography but I feel like somehow there was more of emotional tension in framing it like this rather than as traditional fight animation. As if you could really feel Mirio’s struggle in that fight and the absolute relief you feel as Deku, Aizawa, and Nighteye burst into the room at the end of the episode fo assist in the fight.
The fight with Mirio and Overhaul was emotional, but nothing could prepare me for the things in episode twelve. The absolute heart-wrenching pain of watching Nighteye try desperately to find a future in which they saved Eri and all of them got out alive. Not even all of them, but just Deku and Mirio. He had absolutely no regard for himself at that moment and perhaps that is one of the things that hurt the most.
I want to call special attention to Mirio’s English VA, Ricco Fajardo for his performance in this episode. His acting was absolutely on point and there were at least two times I looked back at my television and said something along the lines of “Damn, are you TRYING to rip my heart out? Cool, I didn’t need it anyway.”
The cry of ‘No!’ as Sir Nighteye is impaled by a spike from Overhaul and the way he is begging himself to move and begging Eri to stay safe just tore me to shreds.
Yes, the scene is emotional, to begin with, and the Japanese actor did fantastically but Ricco’s raw emotion in these scenes was just amazing.
Deku fighting desperately against Overhaul is also very tense and dramatic, because, despite everything, he still wants to keep going. Eri’s willingness to take on the pain of staying with Overhaul and having herself hurt on the condition that everyone else gets fixed and put back the way they were is also far too relatable and heart-wrenching.
Everything feels so hopeless until the last moment of the episode where Ryuukyu, Tsuyu, and Ururaka come onto the scene to join into the fray.
That’s where episode 12 leaves off and in the next episode, we’re going to see some amazing things from Deku. I’m interested most in the fate of Sir Nighteye though, that was a pretty nasty blow he took and I’m not sure that even Recovery Girl could bring him back from that.
I am so sorry for the delay in these reviews, between the holidays and doctors appointments I’ve been a little burned out. I will be posting episodes 13 and 14 as a double post next week to catch myself up and then be returning to a weekly schedule alongside my coverage of Magia Record.
Thanks for holding out with me and I can’t wait to see and write my thoughts on where the arc goes from here. I just want good things for Eri and for Nighteye and for Mirio and, well, you get the picture. I must protect them all.