It’s Suneater vs The Eight Bullets of the Shie Hassaikai in this week’s episode as the search and rescue of Eri continues. The police force and the Pro Heros, along with The Big Three and the first year heroes are now deep into the Shie Hassaikai compound in search of Eri and Chisaki aka Overhaul.
As they get deeper and deeper into the compound things get complicated for all of our heroes. Irinaka aka Mimic has now given himself a dosage of the drug that increases the power of the user’s quirk. This turns the entire compound into a maze and eventually separates parts of the hero group.
Lemillion has now gone ahead in an attempt to catch up to Overhaul who is using his henchmen as a distraction so he can escape with Eri. Deku, Nighteye and Fat Gum, have also broken off in an attempt to catch up to Lemilliion, leaving Tamaki aka Suneater behind to faceoff against the Eight Bullets, a request made by Tamaki himself.
The focus shifts to Suneater who is looking to prove to himself that he can overcome his emotional weakness and shine as bright as Lemillion. During the flashbacks we see in this episode, we learn a lot about Tamaki and his early days at U.A. High School. Unfornutaley for Tamaki, he was a loner kid. No one interacted with him in any way and that only added fuel to his self-loathing. Often finding himself trying to find flaws within him to justify the actions of his peers.
That was until he met Mirio, who immediately befriended him for their commonality in liking superheroes. The friendship blossoms and grows as the days go by. We see how both Tamaki and Mirio learning how to master their quirks, but despite us knowing how powerful the Big Three are currently, and how they’re still developing their power, it was a nice change of scenery in terms of seeing other heroes training to become who they are right now.
Another interesting aspect of the flashbacks is how Mirio and Tamaki view each other. Tamaki holds Mirio on this pedestal of greatness, while he puts himself on the lowest of tiers because of his emotional weakness. He explains how this affects his mind. How any slight emotional inconvenience, completely throws off his entire mental state. Mirio, on the other hand, sees the greatness that Tamaki doesn’t see in himself. He cements this by saying that he wouldn’t be able to achieve certain feats if he didn’t have him around, and in getting to know Tamaki, he’s learned that Tamaki is a cheerful and fun person deep down.
These flashbacks serve as the catalyst for Suneater’s decision to take on the Eight Bullets alone and wanting to prove himself worthy to himself, to shine as bright as Lemillion does.
You might be asking, there are only three villains here, why are they called Eight Bullets? We’ll that because the group itself is called Eight Bullets and consists of eight villains, Tamaki is taking on Toya Setsuno, Yo Hojo and Soramitsu Tabe of the Eight Bullets.
Harkening back to Suneater’s will to take on these three men alone. Before he is fully left alone, Eraserhead uses his quirk to temporarily stun the villains for Suneater to easily arrest them. The key information for this particular scene is what was said in passing by Toya when he sees Eraserhead use his quirk. He mentions that Eraserhead’s quirk is a knockoff version of Eri’s quirk and he’s heard of another person having a quirk similar to Eri, referring to Eraserhead.
What’s interesting is the confirmation in Nighteye’s assumption. That Overhaul is using Eri’s blood and cells to make the drug that temporality negates a quirk. Hence why she has always covered in bandages and finds solace and comfort in the arms of Deku. Something she mentioned two episodes prior.
As the fight between Suneater and the Eight Bullets develops, Tamaki finds himself against the odds. Eraserhead’s effects have no worn off. Its two against one and while Tamaki is now on the defensive. Tamaki unleashes a new form by combining and mixing his quirk to bring in his Chimera Kraken form. That, unfortunately, didn’t last too long as Yo Hojo uses his Crystallization quirk to eventually break through Tamaki’s new form.
Tamaki soon meets even greater odds once Soramitsu regains consciousness. We learn that Soramitsu’s powerful teeth and jaw allow him to bite and chew through anything. His quirk allows him to infinitely eat and never get full, as he starts chewing off huge chunks from Suneater’s octopus limbs.
Tamaki has his back against the wall (literally) as Yo Hojo and the remaining two plan on finishing him off. One of Tamaki’s remarks incites Yo Hojo to reveal some of their respective backstory and how they became members of the Shie Hassaikai. All three villains were found in some way shape or form useless to society. Thrown away like the trash they all eventually considered themselves to be. They found no meaning in life until they came across Overhaul who in their eyes, gave them a reason to live.
As Yo Hojo goes in for the final blow, he is stopped by his own crystallization, manifested by Suneater who in the midst of being attacked by all three at once, ate a piece of Hojo’s crystal and manifested it.
The Shie Hassaikai is showing how much of a powerhouse they all are collectively and individually. You can understand why Overhaul walks around nonchalantly, swinging a big stick. He knows what he and his henchmen bring to the table in terms of villainy and power.
Things are finally starting to pick up in this season of My Hero Academia. As the focus is heavily shifted on secondary characters opposed to mainstays like Mirio and Deku. This season so far has done a swell job at highlighting these other heroes and showing how powerful they can be, while also showing the inner turmoil they have within them.
My Hero Academia Season 4 is streaming now on Hulu, Crunchyroll, and Funimation.