Quick Summary • Best Moment • Setup • Delivery • Other Posts
My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 118 – Quick Summary
In My Hero Academia Season 6 episode 118, “The Thrill of Destruction,” X-Less saw one last piece of equipment working as he guarded the unconscious and maybe dead Tomura Shigaraki. So he did something that seemed obvious. He destroyed it. But one of its power cables hit the fluid surrounding Tomura and jump-started his heart. Now, the villain sat up and groggily surveyed his surroundings. Does X-Less have time to strike before Tomura gathers his wits? Should he have avoided destroying that machine? And where’s his backup?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 118
I love how she wasn’t afraid. Just perplexed! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Katsuki Bakugou does not seem to have mellowed with age. Though to be fair, he’s still just a kid. Still, it would be nice to see him at least make an effort.
Maybe he is, and it’s just hard to see. Regardless, in this episode, Katsuki helped the townspeople evacuate. As he herded them towards a truck, an older lady stopped to offer him a chocolate bun out of gratitude.
“It’ll make me thirsty! Just go already!” he shouted at her (12:40).
At least he explained himself.
Best in Show Moment for My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 118
Dabi’s words shook Fumikage. But he still saved Hawks. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Setup: A Methodical Setup
MHA just showed us its heart. It just took a couple of scenes – preceded by about one hundred and seventeen episodes! The buildup is one of the things I’ve always liked about MHA. I could see the writer had a specific goal in mind, and here it is.
The show began from the perspective of Izuku Midoriya and his friends because it wanted to first present the idea of “hero” from their perspective. That perspective matched our common understanding of a hero: someone who stands up for the weak and fights for what’s right.
Some who acts in a way that they deserve offerings of food.
We had a group of characters like Jin Bubaigawara/Twice and Himiko Toga who we saw as villains, but who at the same time weren’t completely villainous, if that makes sense. So much so that by the time we go to My Villain Academia, we were ready to see that at least some of the villains either had a point or had been driven into villainy by hero society.
Dabi used a grim visual aid to get his point across. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Gradually, over time, the show also gave us hints that heroes might not be the paragons of virtual they seemed. Just look at Enji Todoroki/Endeavor! The way he treated his family was anything but heroic.
But in no case did the show simply try to assert that heroes = bad and villains = good. There are clearly good professional heroes, like Rumi Usagiyama/Mirko who fought for the right reasons. Or Crust who (if I saw right) gave his life to save Shouta Aizawa/EraserHead.
Delivery: A Payoff 117 Episodes in the Making
So it’s against this morally ambiguous backdrop that the show revealed its heart. Fumikage Tokoyami had just blunted what would have been Dabi’s finishing blow against Keigo Takami/Hawks. Dabi’s words had to burn in Fumikage’s mind. Dabi said (08:28), “Well? What did you come here for? Did you come to save him? What did you come to save? Those pros you admire so much play dirtier than guys like me.”
As evidence, Davi pointed to Twice’s corpse.
Is Dabi right? Not even close. He “played” as dirty as anyone. But he wanted to imprint his disdain on a hero student. But given what we’ve seen of the pros, he’s not completely wrong. Hawks did stab Twice in the back as Twice struggled to save his friends. But combat’s combat. There’s no playing fair in battle. You kill, or you die. If an enemy is distracted, you don’t politely wait. You take advantage.
But even while typing those words that, I’m aware of a feeling of taintedness. I can’t blame Hawks; but using the title hero doesn’t feel right, either.
Dabi’s words clearly disturbed Fumikage. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
My favorite moment is how Fumikage reacted. With some luck, he got Hawks away from the scene of the battle. Dabi’s words ate at him. To the unconscious Hawks, Fumikage said (11:33), “You don’t play dirty, Hawks! I believe in you! We all believe — That you did what was right! So don’t die!”
Is Fumikage right? I tend to think so, at least at the macro level. I think his youthful vision is unclouded by the cynicism I’ve picked up over the years. But that struggle between the two sides as viewed through the lens of the students is at the show’s thematic heart. It’s also the core of its appeal. I loved how all preceding one hundred and seventeen episodes came together in those couple of short scenes.
What did you think of the attack Tomura unleashed against the heroes? What were your favorite moments in this episode? Feel free to let me know in the comments!
My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 118: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Boku no Hero Academia Season 6 – Episode 118 discussion
- Random Curiosity: Boku no Hero Academia 6 – 05
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 114: A Quiet Beginning
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 115: Mirko, The No. 5 Hero
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 116: One’s Justice
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 117: Inheritance
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 118: The Thrill of Destruction
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 119: The Encounter, Part 2
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 120: Disaster Walker
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 121: League of Villains vs. U.A. Students
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 122: Katsuki Bakugo: Rising
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 123: The Ones Within Us
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 124: Dabi’s Dance
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 125: Threads of Hope
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 126: Final Performance
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 127: Hellish Hell
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 128: Tartarus
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 129: The Hellish Todoroki Family, Part 2
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 130: The Wrong Way to Put Out a Fire
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 131: Izuku Midoriya and Tomura Shigaraki
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 132: Full Power!!
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 133: Hired Gun
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 134: The Lovely Lady Nagant
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 135: Friend
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 136: Deku vs. Class A
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 137: A Young Woman’s Declaration
- My Hero Academia Season 6 Episode 138: No Man Is an Island
