My Hero Academia: “Win Those Kids’ Hearts” Review

Oh boy. Bakugo is back and up to his usual antics. Isn’t it nice to see something a little lighter in My Hero Academia again? This episode felt like mostly filler, but I was fine with that. I got a chance to breath and laugh at the characters’ ridiculous antics.

The plot of this episode is simple: Bakugo and Todoroki, along with returning characters from another school Inasa and Camie, have to control a group of wild school children. It’s a task for their hero license exam they must complete, given that they all failed the first time due to not focusing on the ‘saving’ part of being a hero.

Given that Todoroki is on the quiet and serious side, while Bakugo is a rage machine, this has comedy potential. For the most part, it does deliver. I feel like they interactions they had with the kids got ten times funnier once Present Mic started narrating the action with his usual insane energy. He was my favorite part of the episode hands down. I just loved him yelling, “THEY DON’T LIKE HIM! HE’S SO BORING!” when Todoroki tried to befriend the kids.

Bakugo screaming will always make me laugh. I feel bad for that poor voice actor, and I hope he drinks a lot of tea. The good news is that he does a killer job every time. Bakugo screaming at children that he’s going to beat them up is hilarious. Since this episode didn’t wrap up this week, and it ended with the children squaring up to fight the four high school students, I’m sure we’ll get more violent outbursts from him to come. I’ve never been the biggest Bakugo fan, but seeing him after going without his explosive (pun intended) presence for a very long time, I actually find his rage refreshing for the time being.

On the other hand, I’m still not totally into Todoroki. He’s cool, and I like him, but I’m definitely not compelled by him. To me, the most compelling thing about him is the complicated family troubles between him and his father Endeavor. Given the photos that show in the end credits of the Todoroki family, I think we’ll get to see more of that. We know Endeavor is neglectful and abusive, and I just…hate him. I want to see more of what’s going on with the Todoroki family. There’s definitely going to be tension between Todoroki and his father, and it has to boil over at some point. I’m still waiting for them to just come out and tell me Dabi is Endeavor’s son. How cool would that be! I know it’s not a revolutionary thought; this theory has been popular for a while. It would be such a cool arc though, and I’m crossing my fingers to see it realized at some point.

Regarding Endeavor, this episode gave us some more insight into Endeavor’s views of being a hero, and of All Might. It was nothing too different from what we know already. Endeavor wants to be the most powerful, but he struggles constantly in being compared to All Might no matter what he does. To that I say…I DON’T FEEL BAD FOR HIM. HE SUCKS AND HE’S MEAN. Man, I hate that guy.

It was nice to see All Might, I will say. He’s such a cool character, and he’s still so inspiring even though he’s Small Might now. I’ll never get tired about how he wanted to be the Symbol of Peace, and how he always wants to make people smile. All Might is a great character. He really does live up to being the ultimate hero. I wish he was real in our world, because he’s so believable, and he’s exactly the kind of hero anyone can look up to and rely on. He embodies the spirit of the show, and getting back to that hopeful feeling was something I’d sorely been missing.

That being said: Week one has passed with no Mirio. I’m having a countdown for how many weeks I go without Mirio, because he’s my hope in this show. May he return to us swiftly.

I’m interested to see where they go next week with this children vs. high schoolers fight about to go down. I’m sure it’ll be funny, given that Present Mic narrating fights is always a highlight of the show. Also, that weird Aoyama preview? What is that strange boy up to? Why is he creeping outside Deku’s window? On second thought, that might be the part of the episode I’m most looking forward to.