Boku no Hero Academia 7 – Episode 14 Review

「しょーじくんといっしょ。」 ( Shouji-kun to Issho)
“Together With Shouji”

If you’re keeping score at home, this is Episode 152 of the Boku no Hero Academia anime. That makes 151 episodes of very little focus for a few unlucky members of Class 1-A. But it’s never too late for Horikoshi Kouhei. In a series where even the villains get entire arcs, it hardly seems right that a 1-A student should be virtually anonymous this late in the game. For Kouda Kouji (Anima) and Shouji Mezo (Tentacole), the long wait is finally over.

Mind you, we’ve seen plenty of Kouda and Shouji. But they’re usually in the background, rarely getting involved directly in the action. And that’s been true of the “Final War” arc up to this point. Kouda as we know him is a shy and timid cinnamon roll (so much so that Jirou once assumed he was mute), more comfortable talking to animals than people. Shouji is quiet as well but projects a lot more confidence, amid hinds of a painful childhood. These two lads are very different, but they have one very important trait than makes them crucial to this subplot – they’re heteromorphs.

There’s no question Horikoshi is playing on some real-life themes here. In overwhelmingly homogeneous Japan racism is a huge problem, and in HeroAca’s Japan it’s directed against heteromorphs. As in real-life Japan, the problem is much worse in the countryside (where Shouji grew up) than in the cities (where Kouda – and Tokoyami for one – did). Shouji experienced terrible verbal and physical abuse, was treated as an impure doom-bringer and cast out of his village. He bears the scars of that experience in every sense, but rather than drive him to villainy it prompted him to try and reform society through his example as a hero.

If those two are the point men on the hero side of the heteromorph story of this arc, Spinner is undeniably so on the villain side. Spinner is a pretty tragic story. He was always among the most loyal and thoughtful of the League of Villains. Indeed, even idealistic. He’s the textbook example of a Stain disciple, which he was – evil for a self-perceived higher good. He eventually moved into Shigaraki’s orbit of course, and is unwaveringly loyal to him. He’s never been that concerned over the issue of justice for heteromorphs, which has been an increasingly important underlying theme for several arcs now.

Sadly, Spinner is a shadow of what he was thanks to the quirks All For One foisted on him for his own ends. His mind “goes blank”, and he seems to have all semblance of a larger perspective. All he can do is think of revenge, and of the goal at-hand – freeing Kurogiri from Central Prison. The heroes have gotten intelligence that an assault by heteromorphs was in the offing, and Shouji got wind of it and insisted that he be allowed to face them. This, after all, is his life’s purpose. Gentle Kouda, who knows Shouji’s pain and looks up to him for his strength of character, insists that he be allowed to accompany his friend.

Eraser asks Present Mic to lead the operation and keep an eye on his students. And of course both of them have a direct and very personal connection to this story through Kurogiri. As complex as the issues Horikoshi is exploring here are, this conflict is really rather straightforward. Spinner is preaching violent revolution as the only answer – though of course he’s not thinking on that level now. This Spinner is basically an idea created by All For One and Skeptic, a symbol – a rallying cry for the last remnants of the Paranormal Liberation Front and those who believe in their cause.

The outnumbered heroes and police don’t have much of a chance here, leaving the responsibility mostly on the boys’ shoulders. Between Kouda’s “Hitchcock Birds” (he has a stress-induced level-up) and Shouji’s “Octoblow” and “Octospansion”, Spinner is at least slowed down. But armed as he with “Body Bulk” and “Scalemail”, he seems impervious to taking any real damage from Shouji’s attacks. He breaks through and enters the hospital, somewhere in which Kurogiri – so crucial to All For One’s plans that he constructed this entire plan to free him – awaits.

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