My Hero Academia Episode 15 Review: Roaring Sports Festival

The sports festival is finally here! And, boy, My Hero Academia has some wacky but also cool surprises for everyone, both the students and the audience! How would a quirky school such as U.A. hold such a famous event, especially if the participants have superpowers and are all determined to win it?

Japanese Original Episode Title:うなれ体育祭

Plot

New faces have been introduced! We don’t know their names and what quirks they have yet but it’s already pretty exciting! It was also really cool to see how Class 1-A prepared for the sports festival! You could totally see how serious they were at winning it and showing off their skills! It would’ve been nice, though, if U.A.’s sports fest was like the usual ones where the students are divided into teams. We could’ve seen unlikely teammates working together! But, this kind of tournament is equally amazing, and truly fitting for a hero school! You’ll never know what kind of games await our young heroes! Who will rise to the top?

Episode Highlights

Courses at U.A.: At first I thought that the school was exclusively for students aiming to be pro heroes; it is known to be their dream school! So who knew it actually catered to other students with different dreams! While I can understand the support and business courses as focused on the hero industry, the general education course is quite surprising. It seems like it’s a mix of the ones who didn’t pass the hero entrance exam but still hoped to be admitted there, and those who apparently just went to an elite hero school just to study normal high school stuff! I guess from now on we’ll see new characters from these different courses, aside from the purple-haired gen-ed student.

Declaration of war: Speaking of, that guy had some guts directly declaring war on the whole Class 1-A! Looked like he was pretty serious about wanting to get in the hero course and pretty annoyed that 1-A got the spotlight because of the villain attack. Even the tough-looking dude from 1-B was also running his mouth! However, the most surprising provocation of all was Todoroki’s! Up until now, he was just usually quiet, exhibiting his skills without being arrogant about it. But then he suddenly challenged Deku, which is curious, because why timid Deku out of all people? You’d think it should’ve been Kacchan since he was the one announcing to everyone that he’ll win, right? It kind of seemed like it’s related to All Might…

Giving their all: I was a tad bit confused as to why Izuku acted complacent all of a sudden, but then I realized that getting into U.A. and being mentored by All Might were initially his only dreams, and they’ve already came true! Training his body to cope with his quirk and learning how to control it would take him some time, so he knew being the greatest hero still seemed like a dream too far to reach. So I’m quite glad that, with hearing the others’ goals, he realized that he has to continue aiming for the top, ready or not! It’s just ironic that it took Bakugo, the one who kept belittling him, to realize it.

Obstacle race start! It’s a good thing U.A. has their school nurse, Recovery Girl, at their disposal because the whole event already seemed dangerous right from the get-go! Seems like the organizers of the sports fest were quite serious about filtering out the best of the best, not only in strength but also in wits! It’s definitely a test of how good the students are at utilizing their quirks during unexpected situations and handling a free-for-all competition! So far, it seemed to be a breeze for Todoroki with his powerful quirk! Makes you wonder what other kind of quirks will work the best in this obstacle course, huh?

Themes & Trivia

Motivations: What would make a person incredibly determined to win, to become famous or successful? Usually, it’s pride: having the right to brag about your achievements and show everyone you’re above them, which could be Bakugo’s reason for wanting to win. It could also be to prove something to other people, like you’re deserving to be in the Hero Course, as with the purple-haired guy. Or it could be to help your parents, like Uraraka, or become like your role-model, like Iida and Deku! Whatever it is, never forget your ‘Why?’ What made you want to reach that goal in the first place?

Sports Festival: Also called taiikusai in Japanese, it’s a yearly event held by most middle and high schools in Japan. It’s usually held in spring or autumn when the weather is cool. Family members and visitors are welcome to watch, so the whole school prepares really hard for this huge event, usually for weeks. Since the goal is to develop a sense of camaraderie and sportsmanship among students, the classes and years are divided into teams, and the games usually demand teamwork. We could see, however, that U.A. has a different culture than usual. Well, it’s still only the first game, so we have yet to see what else they’ve got up their sleeves!

Comments

I really like how they established the settings, explaining how the sports fest will go, as well as how it looks like on the outside to non-participants, with the stalls and the pro heroes attending to scout. Even the flashbacks may have seemed like a waste of precious seconds of new content to some, but I thought it was wonderful that they showed what’s going on in the minds of different characters. They let us get a better grasp of their thoughts and feelings.

Everyone’s pumped up!

It’s every student for himself! I’m really eager to see how each one of them will handle the first part of the event, especially Deku! Plus, the game has only just begun, so what else awaits them all? This is truly super thrilling!

So, what did you all think of this week’s episode? Did you enjoy the fun, and the slight drama? Who do you think will win this? Let us know in the comments section below! I’d love to fangirl about it with you! Please also keep a lookout for our other upcoming Spring 2017 reviews!