My Hero Academia 97 starts with the fourth match of the training. It shines a light on Bakugo’s character development and we love it! We see Bakugo speaking harshly with his teammates asking them to only follow his lead.
This scene in My Hero Academia 97 makes you think about how it is going to be a one-man show most likely Bakugo doing what he wants without considering anyone else. He says they need to move and make an opening so they can attack the opposing team without giving them a chance. Class A Team rushes forward following Bakugo while Jiro wonders if this plan will work.
Jiro uses her quirk to determine where the Class B Team members are. But surprisingly she encounters a lot of noise which disrupts her from pointing to their opponents’ location. Jiro suddenly realizes that they have been caught and informs Bakugo. Multiple pieces fly at Bakugo attacking him and he blasts them away in response.
It looks like Class B’s Tokage had cut her body into multiple pieces and scattered them around. Sero from Class A uses tape barricading their teammates against the surprise attack. But Bondo from Class B with the help of his quirk releases glue that sticks to all the pipes and tape creating a web-like structure. This ends up trapping the Class A team. Bondo notes that everything is going according to Tokage’s plan.
Kamakiri from Class B shows up and cuts the pipes using his razor blades making them fall on the Class A team. Class A is not able to react fast enough in response to this attack. But Sato steps up to protect his teammates. Luckily for him, Bakugo blasts away the pipes coming in with his super speed. But this looks like the chance Class B was waiting for as Kamakiri goes ahead to attack Jiro.
Shockingly, it’s Bakugo who comes back to save Jiro and attacks Kamakiri in return. This is a shocking sight to everyone. All Might and Midoriya note how he is choosing to save people and not just focusing on victory. Jiro is surprised and we get a flashback of Bakugo letting his teammates know that whenever they are in danger he will show up to support them.
This is a pleasant surprise as it’s the last thing we could have expected from Bakugo. Bakugo attacks Kamakiri with full force forcing Kamakiri to retreat. Jiro appreciates Bakugo for saving her. He responds by asking her to find Class B so they can win this fight. He states that there will be no casualties from his side. This is how a truly strong person wins. It’s a bold declaration but when you see Bakugo’s determined face, you can’t help but believe it.
Class B Team retreats noting that fighting directly against Bakugo is a losing battle. Tokage thinks how only Bakugo is proficient enough to attack them and his teammates will only follow his lead. So she decides to ambush the Class A team and stress Bakugo enough to make mistakes. This will lead to the downfall of the rest of the team.
Jiro tries again to find the location of her opponents by focusing hard. Bakugo follows her lead and finds Bondo but suddenly Awase shows up to attack him. Awase with his welding quirk binds Bakugo’s arms to pipes making him unable to move. Sero uses his tape to capture Awase but fails. Sato shows up and with the help of his Sugar Rush move, he can break Bakugo out of his binds.
Bakugo goes ahead to attack Awase leaving smoke in his trail. Awase is ready with the counterattack but when the smoke clears it’s Jiro and Sero who are in front of him. Jiro uses Heartbeat Surround channeling a loud heartbeat to hinder Awase’s movements breaking his defense wall. This way they capture him. We learn that when Bakugo said he will save his teammates, he also followed up by asking them to save him when in trouble.
This makes My Hero Academia 97 very exciting and beautiful. Breaks the notion of a one-man team. Not only choosing to help others but knowing that accepting help from others is not weak. Bakugo has grown up a lot and this threw off Class B’s team who counted on Bakugo acting alone. Bakugo rushes ahead after Bondo and successfully launches an attack which helps Sato to come and capture him. With this great teamwork, Class A already has two captives.
With Jiro’s help, Bakugo locates Kamakiri and attacks him. Kamakiri is no match against Bakugo’s powerful destructive force. And he gets captured by Sero. This is perfect teamwork and it leaves Tokage worried. Sero notes that Tokage’s body pieces stop moving after some time. And then she most likely regenerates her main body with her remaining pieces. This makes him think of a plan. He uses tape to stop the movement of few body parts.
Tokage then tries to regenerate her body by calling some of the pieces back. It looks like Sero attached a bomb given by Bakugo at the start of the match to one of those pieces and it blasts making her fall down. She says how much Bakugo has changed. But Bakugo responds by saying he has not changed at all, his primary goal has always been the same. To surpass All Might and become the No 1 Hero. Well, Bakugo’s approach to achieving this goal has improved for the better making him closer to his goal.
Class A team achieves a perfect victory with no casualties. Aizawa commends the Class A team for its performance while Vlad lets the Class B team know where they went wrong. Class B team was too fixed on their observations of Bakugo in the past that when the situation did not go the way they thought, they were not quick to adapt to it making them lose the battle.
All Might acknowledges Bakugo’s growth and tells him he was impressed. Midoriya also goes forward to tell him the same but Bakugo interrupts him and states that he is moving forward to his goal. This statement only manages to motivate Midoriya further to think about catching up to Bakugo and surpassing his limits. My Hero Academia 97 is completely dedicated to Bakugo’s character development.
The next match is something everyone has their eyes on. It’s Shinso’s second time in the battle, this time with Class B. Class B notes that they have to defeat Midoriya first to have a chance for winning. Shinso’s teammates tell him they are counting on him. Likewise, the Class A team is counting on Midoriya to give them an edge in this battle. They know Midoriya’s quirk is acting strange but Midoriya assures them he has got it in control and they are going to win.
This will be a very interesting match as Shinso and Midoriya have fought once against each other at Sports Festival. But this time Shinso has new tricks up his sleeves and Midoriya is experiencing strange things with his quirk. Will this be a disadvantage for Class A-Team? Well, Only the next episode will tell!
You can watch My Hero Academia 97 on Crunchyroll
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