Boku no Hero Academia ep. 8: play by play

“Bakugou’s start line”

In the first half of the episode we get to see all of the other classmates to Izuku. We get to see everyone’s abilities and how they use them. I personally like the frog girl and the hot/cold guy. I can’t remember their names. It was nice to see what they can do and their potential for future episodes.

Once again, we get some good exposition on Bakugou. Throughout the episode he is pretty broken. As one of the most prideful characters of the show, this is not too shocking. He gets all these ideas in his head about how he was tricked by Izuku in the match. Bakugou soon realizes how blind he has been to everything. My thoughts on him becoming a villain are basically gone. I don’t think that would happen under Bakugou’s free will. Bakugou seems like he wants to beat Izuku as a hero, not in any way possible or as a villain. So I don’t think he will cross over to the dark side quite yet, though it’s not completely out of the question. As much as he hates Izuku for “tricking” him and embarrassing him. After his flaws during the match were pointed out, he soon understood that he has a lot to learn and he’s not the best around anymore.

so brutal they had to haul him away on a stretcher

Towards the end of the episode we switch to the nurses office, where we find Izuku. Due to his stamina levels, he can not be healed immediately. So he is completely bandaged up with a caste on his arm and looks awful. While Izuku is passed out, All Might has a conversation with the nurse about his powers. Turns out the nurse knew about the “all for one” quirk that was passed down to Izuku. All Might goes on to say that only a select few know about this. The principal was among those who know about it. We will probably be introduced to him/her in the coming episodes.

From how this episode was structured and sort of toned down. The arc is coming to a close and we are getting into the next arc. Especially since at the end of the episode we are introduced to a couple of villains chilling at the bar. The main one, I’m gonna “Mr. hand job” until he is identified, seems to want to kill All Might. I’m interested how he wants to go about doing that and if that is going to happen next arc or will it be build up for the following one.

Overall a well developed episode, more groundwork has been laid for the characters. Hopefully they get fleshed out a little. I know this is a 12 episode anime, but if they could give some backstory to them and why some of them got in on recommendations that would be awesome. That’s another thing, how did these kids get in on recommendations? Does that mean they didn’t have to go through the entrance battle that Izuku and Bakugou went through? What are they hiding that makes them so powerful to the point where they were just let into this prestigious academy on a recommendation? I hope they clear that up in the upcoming episodes because I don’t remember them talking about in the earlier episodes. I’d probably give this episode an 8/10. Not the best, but needed to further some character development.

I hope you all enjoyed! Have a wonderful day!