By Shanel Kamara

Things are beginning to heat up in Boku no Hero Academia, this season, with the arrival of a new antagonist and the upcoming long awaited battle between Todoroki and Bakugou. The appearance of the Hero Killer, Stain this episode is one that is bound to initiate the start of a potential all out war between the league of super villains led by the notorious Shigaraki Tomura and class 1-A’s students. The overdue battle between Shigaraki and Midoriya is one fight we can anticipate to happen soon. However, with Stain severely injuring Iida’s older brother Tenya, the pro hero known as ‘Ingenium’, it is certain that we can expect to see the young hero hopeful in his second real battle. How will he fare against the experienced and infamous villain Stain? Could the fact that Stain’s record of killing pro heroes exclusively mean that he will go easy on him?

As brutal as Stain is, I cannot imagine him immediately joining Shigaraki, Kirigiri, and the league of super villains. Stain’s status as a villain is unquestionable albeit unlike the amateur villain Shigaraki Stain believes that he has a bona fide reason for the bloodshed he creates. His ideology on what it means to be a hero drives him to seek out the demise of all the pro heroes who he believes are in the hero business simply for the fame and wealth.  Stain’s presence definitely offers a different perspective. His motivations for his acts of cruelty are the result of his desire to see the collapse of the current system society operates on and the will for heroes with pure and selfless intentions to appear. The fact that he acknowledges All Might as one of the ‘real’ heroes that exists and the only hero who that he will allow to kill him suggests that the system he so believes is corrupt is not as flawed as he makes it out to be.

Score: 4/5

Review: My Hero Academia E.024