Eri’s First Smile and a New Home

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Having overcome so many challenges in her life, like accidentally rewinding her father’s existence by an uncontrolled quirk, abandonment by her mother, grandpa in a coma, and abuse at the hands of her guardian, it was heartwarming to see Eri so happy, finally! Eri’s first smile was at the UA High School Festival during class 1A’s performance. Check out the festival episode, as well as the rest of Season Four of My Hero Academia, on Hulu!

Before the Festival, Mirio Togata gave Eri a tour of the UA campus. For some reason folks thought Eri was Mirio’s daughter. Also Mirio tried to pull a prank that didn’t quite go the way he wanted. But his reaction to Deku ruining it was funny.

Eri now has wonderful mentors and role models like Aizawa, Mirio, and the rest of UA. She even has a new home with a new family! And look at that smile!

Smiles from Todoroki and Bakugo!

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

What a surprise, the latest episode of My Hero Academia, “Relief for License Trainees”, brought a rare treat – smiles from Todoroki and Bakugo! Granted one of Todoroki’s smiles was due to Utsushimi’s quirk, Glamour. But those two rarely smile, so I’m happy we got to see them enjoying themselves. And even Bakugo laughing at Todoroki!

The hero students are taking supplemental classes so they can get their licenses for hero work. The ones from UA needing to retake the course are Todoroki and Bakugo. They are with Utsushimi and Yoarashi from Shiketsu High School. Gang Orca, knows how the students in this particular group (minus Utsushimi who was absent due to Toga) have had challenges related to teamwork and putting aside their egos. The perfect challenge for this group of four is having them work with rowdy, misbehaved, young students who have recently discovered their quirks. The leader of these rambunctious kids, is someone who ironically reminds us very much of Bakugo. The kids have big egos, their teacher is at her wit’s end, and they think they can beat the hero students easily so they come at them full force. This makes for a tricky predicament because the hero students need to win the hearts of the young kids, but also not demoralize them, or make them feel resentful. The hero students use team work, their own life experiences, and of course their quirks, to win over the young students. Even their teacher, who was crying, is flabbergasted at their changed behavior. The part I found touching, and the part that made me cry, was Bakugo seeing himself in their young leader and knowing exactly what he needed to say and do to inspire him.

I’m watching on Hulu, so check this episode out if you haven’t already! There’s a touching scene between Todoroki and Endeavor (Inasa joined), an update on Eri, and lots of Aoyama with cheese.

***Using her quirk, Glamour, we realize it wasn’t Todoroki throwing woo it was actually Utsushimi***

**Even though he’s teasing Todorki, it’s good to see Bakugo laugh and smile. He’s becoming somewhat friendlier!**

***A real Todoroki, not Utsushimi, smile!***

**Spoken like someone who has experienced this issue…lol**

**You’re so right Bak*ugo, I’m glad you are figuring it out…***

Bright Future (Post 2 of 2)

“Smile; a society without cheer and humor will not have a bright future” – Sir Nighteye

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Pro Hero, Sir Nighteye, was All Might’s sidekick for a number of years. He looked up to All Might as a mentor, but also cared for him as a friend. Sir took being a hero seriously, but also appreciated humor. He was overly cautious, likely due to his quirk Foresight. He’d send chills down people’s spines due to his stern piercing gaze. Thanks to an introduction by Mirio (that All Might helped facilitate), he took Deku for the work studies program. Sir really agreed to it because he wanted to show Deku that Mirio was the better candidate to be All Might’s successor. While on patrol with Mirio, Deku runs into Eri and Chisaki. Deku wanted to save Eri, because she’s clearly frightened and does not want to go with Chisaki (Overhaul). For wanting to save her Nighteye chided him (although later they all wondered if it would’ve been better to save her then). Sir did not think Deku was useless, but he definitely gave him a hard time.

Having been a sidekick to All Might for years, there is history between them. Sir Nighteye saw with his Foresight, that All Might would die a gruesome death at the hand of a villain, and he wanted him to find a suitable heir and retire. At that point in time, Sir’s Foresight had never been incorrect, so there wasn’t a precedent for the future being any different. They also disagreed with who should succeed him as the Symbol of Peace.

Not knowing the history behind them, Deku wanted to work with Sir Nighteye. All Might doesn’t feel comfortable introducing them, plus he was against first year students doing work studies. But he does introduce him to Mirio who is currently working with Sir. All Might reflects upon the idea, presented a while back by the UA Principal and Sir, for him to pass his quirk, One for All, to Mirio (before he ran into Deku trying to save Bakugo from Sludge).

This episode really illustrates the meaningful relationships between mentors and those they inspire. Some of the relationships that came to mind as I considered this were All Might inspiring Sir Nighteye, Deku, Bakugo, and countless others, Mirio mentoring Deku at work studies, Aizawa inspiring his students, Sir Nighteye as a mentor to Mirio, Bubble Girl, and Deku, and Nana Shimura and Gran Torino helping train Toshinori Yagi (All Might). There are countless people in the world inspired by the actions, personality, quirks, skills, traits, and outlook of others, not just in the world of My Hero Academia and anime land, but all around us. You likely inspire people by being your true, authentic self, in your daily life, even doing what you consider mundane things.

As Deku works with Sir Nighteye at his agency, alongside Mirio and Bubble Girl, we gradually feel Sir warming up towards him. He is hard on Deku, but since he doesn’t see him as useless, he must see his potential. He is appreciative that Deku showed him the future can be changed.

In the episode, Infinite 100%, we see Sir dejected. He is mortally wounded and the future he sees, shows Deku dying. He doesn’t see a point to the pro heroes and students, especially injured, risking more to fight. As the crew on the podcast Popped Off (@popped_off) pointed out this seems unusual for a hero. But given that Sir’s Foreight has never been wrong, there isn’t a precedent for him to think it can change, so his outlook is understandable. Thankfully, the future is different than he envisioned. Overhaul is defeated and Eri is saved. Sir Nighteye received his wish, through Deku, and the energy and efforts of those helping. But now, in the episode Bright Future, Sir Nighteye (not All Might), has been mortally wounded due to a villain.