My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

Episode 4

It feels like not a lot was done with this episode. Last week, we got the setup for a rather intimidating villain who seemed to be upping the stakes with the mass distribution of this drug. It got to the point where we were finally starting to get pro heroes involved in the carnage, so this follow-up felt pretty weak. Cool and interesting ideas were set up here, but either we're saving the payoff for later, or we're just dropping them altogether by the time the episode ends.

I like that Vigilantes is taking advantage of its place as a prequel to utilize characters who barely got showcased in the original series. Introducing Iida's older brother was a nice inclusion. There's a bit of tragedy to seeing his hero work in this episode, considering what we know happens to him later, but I thought he should have been the one who helped Koichi overcome a weakness with his quirk, considering that they're both mobility types. I thought the show was setting up a conflict where Tensei offered Koichi the opportunity to join his hero agency once he graduated from college. That seemed to be everything Koichi wanted, but it gets taken away by the end of the episode because Tensei says that Koichi is “right where he belongs.”

I'm sorry, that just felt very weak. I thought the issue would be that Koichi is technically doing illegal hero work, and he couldn't be legally or professionally hired if anyone found out he was doing those things. Maybe that would set up a conflict where Koichi has to choose between helping people now versus waiting before he is technically legally allowed to do hero work later. It just feels like the show isn't doing anything or commenting on the actual vigilante angle outside of a scant conversation here or there. I think it's especially noteworthy because Koichi isn't doing a lot to hide his identity either. It just feels like the story is letting him get away with doing things even though he is technically breaking the law.

At least I have more hope for Knuckleduster's potentially unhinged mental state. This guy is not okay and might even have some kind of death wish with how reckless he is. Once again, Jason Marnocha is doing a fantastic job playing him in the dub, and I especially like those moments where he weathers his voice, and you're not sure if he's enjoying himself or on the verge of breaking. His attitude is played up as a joke at the beginning of this episode, but I'd like to think that we're still setting up something dramatic with him later.

It doesn't feel like much narratively happens here. We get a lot of focus on Tensei, taking down a villain, and we see the bee girl talking with her supplier, trying to recruit certain people to give the drug instead of just giving it to random people. The bee girl's dialogue heavily mirrors what the League of Villains would be in the main series, but I'm curious if there is any direct tie to that. Clearly, this girl never shows up in the main series, nor does this drug, so I'm curious how this will resolve without contradicting the main series.

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