My Hero Academia: Season 4 Episode 9 Review

This has been a stressful episode to wait for. My Hero Academia had another great episode this week, and I just have to say Kirishima is still one of my favorites and I care VERY DEEPLY for his well-being.

So this week we had an episode centered around Kirishima and Fat Gum fighting off two members of Overhaul’s gang, one specializing in power punching attacks, and the other at creating impenetrable barriers for defense. They’re a perfect pair in a way, and they catch the two heroes off guard, badly wounding both of them. It’s a pretty intense battle, and I was stressed out watching poor Fat Gum get the ever-loving hell beat out of him, as well as Kirishima having the mental struggle of a lifetime to get back into the battle.

A good chunk of this episode centers on Kirishima and the fears he’s had to overcome to be a hero way back in middle school. First of all, black haired Kirishima is adorable. He’s the regular type of kid you’d expect in this show, raised around heroes and obviously wanting to be a hero himself. What is his biggest obstacle is that he finds he doesn’t quite stand out, and when he finally gets the chance to step up to a villain harassing his classmates, he freezes. In fact, another student from Class 1A, Mina, shows up to save the day and send the villain away instead. Kirishima is devastated at what he perceives to be a huge failure, and he only pushes forward to become a hero and apply at UA high school because he sees an interview of his favorite hero, Crimson Riot, saying that he’s always scared of a fight, but what’s scarier is losing someone when you could have jumped in to save them.

I thought this was a really great moment for Kirishima, because it explains why he’s so eager to try his best at running into a fight to save others. He’s been so outgoing and eager the whole series, and seeing that it comes from a history of not being able to save someone shows that he’s already come a long way. It’s also such a cool parallel to Deku. The moment Kirishima freezes is like the opposite of what Deku does in the first episode, running without thinking to save Bakugo. Kirishima mentions this moment in the episode, making the connection super obvious. I liked seeing that both these boys had moments that ended in complete opposite ways, one rushing in without thinking, and the other overthinking and stopping himself from attacking, yet they both ended up as successful students in the highest class at UA. It totally enforces the idea the show says again and again, that anyone can be a hero no matter where they come from.

On a side note, it was great seeing Mina get some more screen time too. She’s amazing and she gets left off a one of the lesser side characters pretty often, and this episode showed why she belongs in Class 1A. She’s super charismatic and can diffuse a situation without using her Quirk. It also shows the friendship between her and Kirishima, and how much he admires her and wants to be as good as her at helping people. Yay to side characters getting more development!

This entire flashback goes on in Kirishima’s mind while he’s frozen, watching his mentor Fat Gum take all the hits to protect him. Shout out to Fat Gum for literally being the best mentor. He believes in both his work study students and pushes them to fight harder when they’re ready to give up. It helps Kirishima in one of my favorite hero moments so far. Though one punch from the enemy at first totally shattered Kirishima’s arms, he flies right back in front of Fat Gum and takes a barrage of punches yet again, even managing to blow back the villain as well. It’s not enough to defeat him, but enough to give Fat Gum time to use the energy he absorbed from all the punches to absolutely obliterate the two villains with one punch. Also that punch was so strong it made him skinnier!? He put so much energy into it that he literally took away a majority of his own body fat! The MVP! My roommates and I all totally lost it at skinny Fat Gum, I was totally not expecting it. However, I can’t wait for him to go back to his usual self, because he’s simply adorable. I think Fat Gum is becoming one of my new favorites this season. I like him more with every episode, and I’ve said it before, but the team of him, Kirishima, and Suneater is just the best thing that’s ever happened to this show.

Additionally, Kirishima continues to be one of my new favorites as well. I’ve always liked his attitude, but seeing the places his courage and drive comes from makes me love him so much more. I was just devastated watching his face as he struggled to overcome his fear in the fight, and I was so proud when he jumped in and saved the day. Bottom line, if you don’t like Kirishima, just…why?

Another quick side note: Suneater collapsing at the beginning of this episode is not. Good. I have so many questions and I think my roommate, the dedicated Suneater fan, almost had a heart attack. I don’t blame her, I’m also very concerned and I have many questions that need answers.

To look at next week’s preview, I am stressed…again. This time it looks like we’ll see all of the heroes, but it does look like the focus is on our main crew: Deku, Mirio, and Nighteye. If you’ve kept up with my previous reviews, you’ll know how much I love Mirio. You’ll also know that I’ve had a horrible feeling that something is going to happen to him. I’m SO NERVOUS. The last thing I want to see this season is something utterly catastrophic happening to Mirio, but I just know something is coming. I have a habit in anime where I like to pick the character that dies tragically and sadly as my favorite. I don’t do it on purpose, but every character I end up loving gets killed. My Hero Academia has been pretty tame in terms of character deaths so far, but something about Overhaul has brought this season into scary and brutal territory. I think this will be the season where someone will die, and so help me if it’s Mirio I will burn my apartment to the ground (sorry roommates).

Anyway, here’s to next week, and hoping that no one dies!

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