My Hero Academia Episode 56 Review: RUSH!

For our underdog freshmen who’ve been targeted the whole duration of round one, it was quite a big win! It proved to be a hard battle, but because of their resilient spirits, they managed to show just what U.A. students are made of! This truly was a fantastic episode of My Hero Academia!

Plot

Round one was slowly drawing to a close. Only 5 out of 20 members of Class 1-A have passed so far, and there weren’t many slots left! For that reason, most of the remaining participants were scrambling to eliminate other people and secure their spot! Good thing Class A kept on working together with leveled heads! Even if some of them were almost giving up, their hopes were renewed by their teamwork, leading to an exceptional buzzer beater!

Episode Highlights

Equal needs: When one of the examinees told Deku that they should give them, the second-years, the chance to get their provisional licenses since the first-years can still get them next year, it left me thinking of a couple of things. For one, has that guy not been watching the news? Hasn’t he seen that the U.A. students were specifically targeted by villains? That definitely means they need the licenses just the same so they can protect themselves! Secondly, fair is fair in the battlefield, isn’t it? Once they become heroes, they can’t go pleading with the villains to spare their lives because ‘they need this chance’! Deku and the others beat them fair and square, proving that they deserve to get their licenses!

Kaminari vs. Shishikura: Kaminari following Bakugo and Kirishima ended up being a great thing, as he was the one who saved his bros! Not only that, but since he was someone who often got ‘dumb’ after using his quirk, it was incredibly amazing to see him strut his stuff thanks to his new equipment! It’s also funny that he paved the way for the ‘smart’ Shishikura to be defeated. So much for a demonstration of power. Hopefully, Shishikura’s failure to pass will serve as a good lesson for him to not be too overconfident, no matter how powerful his quirk may be.

A compliment??: Was that a compliment Bakugo gave Deku? It sure sounded like one! Is the world about to end? Kidding aside, his comment about Deku having made what he borrowed his own further proved that he remembered what Deku told him before! He seemed mellow when he said it though, so it’s a wonder what’s going on inside his head.

Aoyama’s thoughts: I don’t think I’ll look at Aoyama the same way again! Who knew that behind his perpetual shoujo manga face lay some insecurities and dreams! I’ve honestly only seen him as an amusing character, chuckling at his eccentricity whenever he was shown. I’m also not sure who or what exactly he wanted to be equals with. But whatever it is, all we know is that he became the beacon of hope for the rest of their class, figuratively and literally. Even if he was kind of giving up when he did it, he’s got heart for doing it for Iida’s sake! We’d better take this twinkling boy more seriously now!

Cutting it close: Remember when Midoriya said in the previous episode that his original plan in keeping the class together was to detain their opponents first, then hit them with the balls? Did you guys notice that that was what the remainder of the class did exactly? I doubt that they planned it themselves, given their earlier panic. However, it’s still wonderful that they did the exact same thing he thought of, even without him there! Thanks to that, they pulled a miraculous, seriously–last minute win! I still can’t get over the fact that these kids, who were expected to get pummeled by the majority, ALL passed! You really can’t help but be dang proud of Class A! Since Aizawa seemed displeased, though, I’m guessing he was already expecting that, just not the last minute win.

Comments

I’m wondering if you thought some of Class 1-A wouldn’t pass, then got surprised that they all did. The way they executed that twist was amazing, wasn’t it? From the way the story was planned out, along with the magnificent animation, even! I got goosebumps when the remaining nine of them were slowly filling up the slots, more so when Aoyama and Iida got the last two! Another thing I loved was how observant Kaminari was with his bros, especially regarding Bakugo. Even if he got insulted or bullied by him most of the time, and despite his violent behavior, he knew Kacchan was trying to be careful not to incur friendly fire on him and Kirishima. It was also amazing how fast Bakugo acted when he threw that hand grenade at Kaminari. Ahh, I just love these kids!

The shape of my dream

After round one, which was kind of a glimpse into fighting villains, the remaining 100 participants needed to experience rescuing people next for round two! Hopefully, they won’t end up like the field and explode while doing rescue operations. Then again, it’s just saving people; how hard could it be, right?

As we wait for the next episode, why don’t you share your thoughts in the comments? You can also read our other Summer 2018 reviews!

NEXT: Rescue Exercises (救助演習)