My Hero Academia: Vigilantes 2×05 Review: “The Man Returns”

My Hero Academia Vigilantes anime season 2 episode 5, titled ‘The Man Returns’, brought back a much-missed character and revealed something very important about him.

The fifth episode of MHA Vigilantes gave me Frieren anime vibes due to basically featuring two storylines in a single chapter. And just like Frieren, I enjoyed the heck out of such a creative decision. I would rather an episode focus on two plotlines instead of trying to drag a single moment to reach the runtime.

‘The Man Returns’ opened with EraserHead, the Hotta Bros, and Tsukauchi having a discussion about the type of villain attacks occurring in their area. The attacks were different from the villain outbreak that occurred last summer. This time around, the appearance of villains was more random than usual. The number of outbreaks had also declined. Not only that, but the villains fell under the category of modified villains instead of the usual Trigger-fueled foes from last summer.

I have enjoyed the mystery aspect featured in the second season of MHA Vigilantes. A lot of times, hero work involves detective work, especially for professional heroes such as EraserHead, who don’t show up at the scene like All Might and other heavyhitters to punch away a problem. A fresh lead pointed toward how certain outbreaks of modified villains were linked to young people attending mixers. According to EraserHead, someone was likely using the mixers to distribute Trigger. A girl named Rin was linked to a number of suspicious gatherings. So, it made sense to go undercover at an upcoming mixer and keep an eye on Rin.

I wasn’t expecting Midnight to be the one to go undercover. The second surprise was PopStep helping Midnight. Again, the police force and licensed heroes were more than okay with asking vigilantes for help, but once the dust settled, vigilantism was still considered illegal, and vigilantes continued to be at risk of going to prison. I highly doubt PopStep can ask the police for a favor the way they decided to make her part of Midnight’s mission. Sigh! Politics.

Unaware of the undercover stuff, Koichi was also attending the mixer, with an indie band called the Mad Hatters also being guests. Turns out, Rin’s been planning such mixers for a while as a way to find a boyfriend for herself. I mean, I don’t fault her for doing so. It’s tough out there. I laughed when Midnight seemed to have taken over the mixer, with Rin feeling leftout and wondering why she was throwing mixers when she wasn’t into partying.

As for the Trigger situation, the mixers were indeed being used to spike drinks and causing people to lose control of their Quirks. The culprit was Rin’s friend Hina, who was jealous of Rin seeking attention from boys instead of realizing Hina’s feelings for her. I don’t know if Rin’s supposed to be a queer character, but yeah, Hina’s surely into girls, especially Rin.

I liked how Midnight handled the situation. Even though she was acting drunk and flirty, she was 100% paying attention to what Hina was up to. Midnight’s emphatic nature toward feelings of love came into play when she comforted Hina. Midnight wasn’t accepting of what Hina did, but she understood her. As Midnight put it, youth was the time for one to express their feelings.

PopStep not telling Koichi about operating undercover at the mixer and getting the opportunity to work with a Pro Hero like Midnight, even after the mission was complete, didn’t sit well with me. I don’t want the two to keep secrets from each other.

More information about what might be happening involved a theory about how a weaker dose of Trigger was being used to select potential candidates to be kidnapped and made into modified villains instead of causing certain people to go berserk at random. Not only that, but (from my understanding) the Trigger was being smuggled by a single person, and it was being developed in a major city. The yellow-scarred man was brought up again, but no one had any idea where he currently was. He seemed to be a step ahead of the authorities.

And that’s where a much-missed character made his return. I’ve been waiting to see Knuckleduster again. So, I was happy to spend time with him during this week’s episode. Turns out, he hasn’t been hanging around with Koichi and PopStep because he wasn’t in the city at all. Knuckleduster’s been doing his part in unraveling the people behind the Villain Factory. His mission had him journey to Hong Kong to collect information about the Trigger supply and the Japanese individuals involved.

Anime-only fans have been theorizing about how Knuckleduster was once an ex-Hero, and ‘The Man Returns’ gave us confirmation. Apparently, Knuckleduster was a Pro Hero named Hyper Quadfist, also known as… drumroll…. High-Speed Hero: O’Clock.

When I tell you that I was shooketh!

Like, what the heck do you mean the yellow-scarred villain used to be Knuckleduster’s student?

No wonder Knuckleduster’s so invested in taking down the Villain Factory and putting a stop to his former student. And of course, I’m expecting some strong emotions coming forth relating to the yellow-scarred foe’s feelings about Koichi (and in a way, PopStep) being Knukleduster’s student. I can see why the speedster villain referred to our young protagonist as “Little Koichi” in the previous episode.

The scars also make sense now!

I have been wondering how the good guys could defeat someone like the yellow-scarred man, and it turns out, they have a huge advantage in Knuckleduster. The two had the same Quirk, meaning Knuckleduster was familiar with the acceleration Quirk’s strengths and weaknesses. Apparently, such a foe needed to be brought down in an instant (basically being fired to death without announcing the shot). If he knew an attack was coming, there was no defeating him.

With Knuckleduster back in the city and keeping an eye on Koichi and PopStep, I’m looking forward to their reunion.

Talking about reunions, ‘The Man Returns’ did take the time to spotlight Knuckleduster’s relationship with his daughter Tamao. The two still loved each other, but they had a lot of emotional baggage to unpack. And that wasn’t easy to do because neither character was the most comfortable around the other. At least, Tamao’s recovering well. Soga and his crew seem to be offering her some good support inside the hospital.

Did you watch My Hero Academia Vigilantes season 2 episode 5? What did you think of it?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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