The real fun starts from My Hero Academia 102. Stakes are higher and things are brewing which leads to an ominous future. My Hero Academia 102 starts with Hawks being on call with Dabi. We see him assuring Dabi that he is still on their side and their goal is the same. Dabi finds it hard to believe but Hawks realizes that he is much more important to their cause than the risk of cutting him loose. So he feels confident enough that Dabi will give him another chance.
Dabi tells him the next chance is the last and this time any other Hero other than Endeavor needs to be targeted. Hawks reports back to Hero Public Safety Commission and lets them know that he is under watch. And any further communication needs to be done with extreme caution.
Hawks surprisingly visits Best Jeanist, it looks like he is doing better and recovering from the injuries left after the fight with All For One. When Hawks wonders why he did not go to the Recovery girl for speed recovery, Best Jeanist responds saying she cannot restore what is already lost. Even though this feels disappointing to hear, Best Jeanist believes that he can live on. He assures that he will return to work as there are many people waiting for him.
Later we see Hawks is worried because Dabi did not make contact with him at the spot they were supposed to meet. He also notes that there is no news about the League of Villains in Hero Network. This perplexes him and makes him concerned about what the league is up to.
For New year’s eve, the students go back to their homes. We see Midoriya with his mother to whom he is telling the story of how Uraraka and Shinso saved him while he lost control of his new power. He also shows her a letter that he received from Eri. All of this makes his mother emotional. She says how since Midoriya was young she always thought it was her job to protect him. Now looking at him seeing how much he evolved from the quirk less boy who was just a fan of All Might, it makes her proud of him. From wanting to save all the people who are hurt to being able to accomplish his goal, Izuku Midoriya has grown up so much. You can’t help but share the feeling his mother is feeling at this moment.
On the other hand, We see Slidin’ Go questions Hawks about his whereabouts. Hawks tells him that he was only out for coffee, this causes Slidin’ Go to respond with displeasure. At this, a mysterious man with a laptop chastises Slidin’ Go and lets him know how important Hawks is for the Hero Committee. His connections and status help in gaining more useful information. And the microdevices implanted in Hawks’ wings help in exposing the said information.
We see Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki meet up with Endeavor for their work-study. But it looks like Endeavor only wanted to work with his son. Still, there is something less harsh about him. After a quick fun interaction with Bakugo, Midoriya jumps in to thank Endeavor for letting them work under him. He also notes how there is something different about the Endeavor he is meeting now from the one he met during his sports festival. We see a flashback of Bakugo and Midoriya discussing their work-study plans with All Might.
All Might encourages them to do their best. He tells them it is a good opportunity to be working under Endeavor. To Midoriya he says that as long he is able to do the locking and unlocking, he does not need to worry about the new power getting out of hand. He lets Bakugo know that as his and Endeavor’s fighting style is the same it would be beneficial for him to see Endeavor up close.
In the present time, we see Endeavor recalls the words Midoriya said ‘Shoto’s not him’ during the Sports Festival. He says them out loud and suddenly starts running, transforming into his Hero Costume. He lets the kids know he is not into training them. And if they want to learn anything then they have to watch it from the back. Of course, these boys are not ones to sit out during action. They gear up and rush behind Endeavour.
In the city, a villain named Starservant talks about the divine message from god. He has a glass manipulation quirk that allows him to control all glass from the buildings and vehicles around him. We see Hawks notices this commotion. As Endeavor goes ahead to follow the commotion, Midoriya notes how Endeavor moved even before the sound of the commotion reached them. Starservant continues to talk about the divine message from God. He collects all the glass from the buildings to make a ball of glass. He gets ready to show his move called Enlightened Fallen King. But at the right moment Endeavor shows up and destroys the glass ball using Flashfire Fist.
Seeing this, Starservant runs away and Endeavor chases him. But it looks like Starservant has help as when Endeavor follows him into an alley, thugs are waiting to ambush him. Todoroki uses ice to destroy the rope that is there to trip Endeavor while Bakugo and Midoriya launch an attack against the thugs. But just at that moment Hawks comes in suddenly and takes care of the thugs in the blink of an eye.
As Starservant gets arrested he screams that Endeavor is the darkness they all need to be aware of. The police thanks Endeavor for his work and escort the villains away. Midoriya excitedly introduces himself to Hawks. Hawks comments that he knows who he is thanks to Tokoyami. Midoriya wonders why Tokoyami is not working with Hawks to which Hawks says he is busy. So Tokoyami is back at the agency with his sidekicks.
When Endeavor asks what is Hawks up to, Hawks gives him a book called Meta Liberation War. He tells him it’s a famous book about a leader Destro who wanted a society completed by personal responsibility. Hawks asks Endeavor to read the highlighted part. It looks like Hawks is trying to convey something in a hidden manner. Endeavor realizes that Hawks’ behavior is in contrast to before. He feels there is something amiss about the whole situation.
Midoriya wonders aloud if the book has secrets about Hawks’ super speed which pushes Hawks to give other copies of the book to the boys. While Hawks takes his leave he comments that Endeavor should read the highlighted parts and most importantly the second part. With this Hawks flies off. Hawks’ approach to things even when he is considerably young impresses Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki. The boys arrive at Endeavor Agency and meet Burnin and Flaming sidekicks. They get to know how big the agency is and the number of sidekicks onboard. Kido tells them how they handle a hundred requests per day. This energizes Bakugo and he expresses he is ready to work. But Kido tells him they need to wait for Endeavor’s further instructions.
We see Endeavor is in his office reading the Meta Liberation War book. He is deep in thoughts, he knows something is off from the way Hawks communicated with him. So he looks into the book to find out what exactly Hawks meant to say. Suddenly he realizes that every second part of each highlighted line makes up a message. Meanwhile, we see Hawks wondering if Endeavor was able to crack the message and hopes this attempt of giving the information was successful. Endeavor decodes the message, it comes out as ‘The enemy is the liberation army. They number over a hundred thousand. In four months, to action.’
Does this mean the Heroes will have an upper hand in the upcoming nefarious war? It does seem like that but it would be foolish to think Dabi would let Hawks know everything about that will go down. So this means there will be some unpleasant surprises that the heroes will have to face. But this information from Hawks itself gives an edge to the Heroes. As now they can prepare well for what is to come. We see in the preview of the next episode that Endeavor is training Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki. As the Hero Public Safety Commission asked all the students to take part in the work studies, Class 1-A is likely to be part of this upcoming battle. It will be exciting to see how our boys and girls cope up with these evil threats!
We have new Opening and Ending themes now–
The opening theme for My Hero Academia 102 is Merry Go Round by MAN WITH A MISSION
The song starts with ‘Its alright, Everything will be alright’. We sure as hell hope it will be, it pumps you up and gets you excited, adds a bit of nervousness for what is to come. The scenes that play during the opening theme give you a slight idea about the characters that we will be seeing in the following episodes. The song gives you a feeling that they have your back the heroes will do what needs to be done no matter how hard it will be.
The ending theme for My Hero Academia 102 is Uso Janai by Soushi Sakiyama
When the Opening song is always the one that brings excitement coursing through you, in contrast, the ending song is always softer and makes you sad just by listening to it. This song makes you emotional and your heart starts aching. The music is beautiful so even when it has a sad undertone it picks up, in the end, you feel a boost from it.
You can watch My Hero Academia 102 on Crunchyroll
For anime news – ikigai POP Anime News
For more reviews on anime, manga, k-drama, etc. – ikigai POP reviews
