My Hero Academia: Winners and losers of Episode 76
By Javier Reyes
The latest episode delivers one of Deku’s most defining moments, and perhaps the most memorable overall episode to date. Here are the winners and losers of My Hero Academia Episode 76.
2020, as a whole, hasn’t exactly had the kindest of starts. Sure, the Patriots lost and their stranglehold on the league is halted until next season, but things haven’t looked too promising as far as worldly affairs are concerned. In spite of all this, however, it’s at least a little comforting to have the glory that is My Hero Academia to look forward to every week.
While I selfishly wish I could’ve experienced Episode 76 for the first time in the dubbed version (it’s just my preference, don’t hate me!), there’s no denying that this was a special one. So, as always, let’s nerd out and talk about it.
Winners
Eri
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For the entire season, Eri’s involvement with the Yakuza has been as intriguing as it is horrifying. The tragic figure of the season has slowly been revealed to actually be quite powerful, and now we finally got a clear explanation as to what her quirky actually does. With the ability to reverse time — albeit without proper control — she’s capable of doing quite a lot. Not only does she strip Overhaul of his fusion with Nemoto, but she helps to heal Midoryia from his injuries once she joins with him. The latter is the real highlight, and believe me we’ll get to that soon.
Mirio’s cape
One of the things about Eri that’s so sad is it’s obvious that she’s been through a lot. It’s alluded to several times that every time a hero has tried to save her, Overhaul was just too powerful and stopped (and by “stopped” I mean “ruthlessly murdered”) anyone that dared to do as such. This has made her reluctant for help — instead of choosing to obey her captors so nobody else is hurt.
This episode, finally, we saw Eri act independently and the sight of Mirio’s cape seemed to have propelled her to do so. Symbolism, you know?
Dramatic music cues
Who doesn’t love this stuff? Is it unapologetically cheesy? Yes! Is it on the nose? Yes! But is it heartwarming and making me emotional as I type this? Yes!
Studio bones
If we got down to it, the Japanese animation studio could be in the winner’s section every week for the work they do on My Hero Academia. Bringing stories and moments like these to life are the epitome of “winning”, even if they’ve made some, to put it lightly, rather questionable decisions before.
The animation in this episode is reminiscent of the quality you might get out of a movie, and it delivers on the hype and satisfies the expectations I’m sure fans had. Seeing Midoryia and Overhaul battle it out was incredible, and it was especially breathtaking to see the former unleash the maximum potential of his power.
Izuku Midoriya/Deku
When I first started watching the series, I remember fantasizing and predicting what it would look like when young Midoryia finally reaches his full potential. I assumed it wouldn’t be something that I’d see for years, similar to how I grew up watching Naruto with the same vision of what he’d look like at the end of the series.
Seeing Episode 76, and everything that transpires, gave me a feeling similar to the one I felt when I saw Naruto — just a few years ago — finally achieve his goal that I dreamed he’d always reach. Even if it isn’t permanent and is a result of Eri lending him her power, it was truly exhilarating to watch.
Sometimes people ask me why Midoriya is my favorite character in the series. I’m aware it’s the clichè choice, but I don’t care. It’s because he’s a combination of several of my favorite comic book characters and with a personality that isn’t one of absolute confidence. He’s incredibly emotional and cries a whole lot, which is something that isn’t exactly viewed as being “heroic” when it comes to male characters. But that’s what makes him so endearing because that kind of gender stereotype is exactly that: a stereotype.
Being emotional and scared doesn’t make you any less heroic, and this episode was the culmination of all the growth Midoryia has shown throughout the series in a beautiful. I love him and this show so much. This is what My Hero Academia is all about.
Losers
Atsuhiro Sako/Mr. Compress
This may be a small note, but I just had to include it. Mr. Compress, who had his arm blown off thanks to Overhaul in an earlier episode, makes a brief appearance as a clone and is immediately taken down by the heroes. It’s amusing to see Toga and Twice just push the poor guy off the cliff in hopes that he’s able to snatch Eri before all the chaos ensues.
Rikiya Katsukame
Don’t you just love seeing big, bad bullies who make deplorable comments about women get completely obliterated? Well, I’m an ally, so I absolutely do! Katsukame’s quirk is pretty insane, allowing him to steal other peoples’ life force in order to increase his size and strength.
But even after weakening Uraraka and Tsuyu, they’re still able to take him down fairly easily even if leaves them almost completely drained. Then, he’s absorbed by Overhaul and killed. Take that, chump.
Kai Chisaki/Overhaul
Ladies and gentlemen, we got him. After many episodes of My Hero Academia showing off the ludicrous powers that Overhaul had — and even more absurdly so in this episode — he finally got taken down by our boy. This was as satisfying a defeat that a villain has had in the entire series, and his ambitious goals seem to have finally been put to rest.
Even still, Overhaul had an incredible run. We got even more of his backstory, which revealed that he was planning to sell both bullets that destroyed and restored quirks to both heroes and villains, and a better look into just how evil he is. It turns out that the mysterious boss of the Yakuza vehemently opposed the plans he had for Eri due to the inhumane nature of it. You know something is truly disgusting when even the head of the Yakuza says it’s too evil.
Foresight
Believe it or not, Overhaul isn’t the absolute biggest loser of the episode (well, he probably still is, this point is just more interesting in an epic sense). In the last episode, Sir Nighteye stressed that his foresight quirk has never been wrong and can’t be prevented. Despite this, Midoryia somehow manages to overcome the future Nighteye saw of him dying and save Eri in the end.
This, obviously, is huge and means that Nighteye’s quirk is not absolute. This could mean a variety of things but, of course, the main takeaway is that All Might might not die such a gruesome death like it had been revealed earlier in the season. Take that, fate!
Another unbelievable episode that brings a close to the crux of the Overhaul arc, and is the epitome of the indomitable heart that the show is capable of.
As always, remember that you can tune in every Saturday for new episodes of My Hero Academia on Funimation and Crunchyroll followed by breakdowns here on Hidden Remote.