My Hero Academia: Vigilantes 1×1 Review: “I’m Here”

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes season 1 episode 1, titled ‘I’m Here’, did a lot, in a good way, to introduce viewers to the dark work of MHA while introducing us to the lead trio.

Trigger Warning: This review of ‘I’m Here’ talks about sexual assault. Proceed with caution.

Even though I’m yet to catch up to the OG My Hero Academia anime, I was interested in watching MHA: Vigilantes because not only was it set before the events of MHA, but it also focused on the lives of illegal heroes. I kind of needed a breather from the shenanigans of the OG anime cast and the premiere of the spin-off MHA: Vigilantes gave me a refreshing one.

The main character is first-year college student Koichi Haimawari. He opened the episode by narrating how the MHA world came into being once the first ever baby with a Quick, or super ability, was born. From there superpowers became the norm, with at least 80% of Earth’s population possessing some kind of Quirk. Of course, not every Quirk was deemed equal and that led to not everyone being given a hero license. However, that didn’t stop certain people from taking the law into their own hands and protecting their communities as illegal heroes or vigilantes.

Koichi is shown to be a down-on-his-luck young man. He aspires to be as great as All Might but is self-aware enough to realize that will never happen because he has the Slide and Glide Quirk. Koichi’s power allows him to slide across flat surfaces as long as there are three points of contact. This forces him to crouch like a lizard or (as some people put it) a cockroach when moving around. Not only that, but his speed when gliding is comparable to a slow-moving bike. The scene revealing his speed made me holler.

Even though he is unlicensed and will likely never get one as far as he’s concerned, that doesn’t prevent Koichi from helping around his hometown in his own way. We got a montage of Koichi picking up garbage, offering directions, and more. People have dubbed him Nice Guy. And that’s kind of… nice.

However, things took a drastic turn when an encounter with three thugs culminated into a very dark scene involving the thugs beating up Koichi and wanting to take and post naked pictures of Pop Step online.

That particular moment painted a very clear picture of just how dark Koichi’s world was, especially when you weren’t a fighter. Even though he tried to rescue Pop Step from the thugs, Koichi was no match for the leader who could extend spikes from his knuckles and feet.

While I wasn’t a fan of seeing Pop Step being written as a victim during the very first episode, I understood why it happened. Again, Pop Step and Koichi weren’t fighters. Koichi used his powers to do good little deeds around the community while Pop Step used her Leap Quick to enhance the visual appeal of her surprise musical performances.

The way the three thugs wanted to not only unmask Pop Step’s identity but also wanted to take it further via the explicit pictures drew parallels from the real world where women do get attacked in such a manner, especially women who are accused of being “provocative” and “attention seekers”. Heck! Even women who decide to wear a hijab or some other kind of covering for whatever reason are attacked by people (mostly men) who want to see what’s “underneath”.

Again, the scene was dark AF, but also understandable when setting the tone of the series.

I just hope Pop Step grows as a character as the story progresses and doesn’t continue being used as a damsel in distress. However, I won’t be holding my breath considering this is a male-leaning anime and even the OG MHA doesn’t have many well-written female characters.

Koichi and Pop Step are saved by the timely appearance of Knuckleduster. He knocked out the thugs and checked their tongues for discoloration. Wanting to recruit Koichi as his apprentice allowed Knuckleduster to explain the mystery behind the discolored tongues. Apparently, a drug called ‘Trigger’ was making the rounds. The drug boosted a person’s Quirk but also made them aggressive by limiting their inhibitions. That’s why there’s been an uptick of random villains across the city. People who took Trigger had a dark spot on their tongues.

I liked the dynamic between Knuckleduster and Koichi. Even though Knuckleduster was supposed to be the young vigilante’s mentor, it’s Koichi who found himself keeping an eye on Knuckleduster who had the unfortunate habit of punching first and asking questions later.

Pop Step joined in after thanking Knuckleduster and Koichi for last night and then coming up with a far better plan to track down the new villains to hopefully get to the source of the dealer.

The villainous trio is shown to be offered three vials of Trigger by a shadowy figure after their defeat. Upon taking the drug, a bunch of spikes erupt from the leader’s body. The reptilian guy grows wings and becomes more menacing. The third dude gets fire-based powers (from what I can tell). 

A rematch between the thugs and the protagonists is inevitable. However, Koichi and Pop Step need to level up their powers in a major way if they hope to stand a chance against their Trigger-enhanced foes. I badly need to see Pop Step get a win against at least one of the three.

Along with the dark spots on their tongues and the lack of self-control, I wonder what other side effects might appear due to the consistent use of Trigger.

The episode ended with Eraser Head stopping Knuckleduster from attacking a seemingly normal employee of a toy company. Eraser Head’s not a fan of Knuckleduster being aggressive during daylight and thought the muscular man in black might be a Trigger user.

I’m looking forward to seeing how Knuckleduster will handle Eraser Head and what kind of assistance Koichi and Pop Step might be able to offer. Also, I think if you have read enough similar manga stories or watched similar anime, you can kind of tell where the reveal behind Knuckleduster’s Quirk is headed. Even though I haven’t read the MHA Vigilantes manga, I think the signs in the debut offering were obvious enough.

Did you watch My Hero Academia: Vigilantes episode 1 ‘I’m Here’? 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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