My Hero Academia: Vigilantes 1×5 Review: “Judgment”

My Hero Academia Vigilantes anime season one episode 5, titled ‘Judgment’, revealed Pop Step’s connection to Koichi as well as introducing a new kind of vigilante.

The latest episode of MHA Vigilantes featured a bunch of flashbacks. We got to know about a katana-wielding vigilante who wasn’t above killing villains to uphold his sense of justice. I mean, it was about time a murdering vigilante entered the picture. You can’t really tell a story about vigilantism without having people who take things too far. But more on that in a bit.

I want to first talk about Koichi’s life. Our boy tried his best to make friends. However, his inability to read social cues was his downfall. Koichi’s too enthusiastic for his own good. He was so excited to invite his friends to his apartment, but he hadn’t realized how creepy the building looked at night. Also, grabbing a female friend’s hand and pulling her into the dark building while smiling… yeah, not a good look at all. Koichi didn’t mean anything by it. But that particular incident had led to him being labelled a creep and dangerous around college. Whether you were a boy or a girl, you were supposed to avoid Koichi because who knows what he did in the “darkness.”

I had assumed it had been difficult for Koichi to make friends due to focusing too much on his part-time job and doing small-time superhero stuff around the city. But nopes. His reputation was ruined during the first year of college, and things didn’t get better with time.

At least, Koichi made friends with Knuckleduster and Pop Step. Even though the two were taking up space inside Koichi’s apartment (complete with eating his food without permission), you can tell he appreciated having them around.

Pop Step’s uninvited visit to Koichi’s apartment led to them having a conversation about the All Might merch Koichi wore as his superhero suit. Wearing the hoodie helped Koichi feel the flame of heroism inside of him. Though Pop Step didn’t understand his explanation, I sure did. As someone who knows about fandom, numerous fans indeed feel a sense of calmness or strength by having a favorite merch item on their person.

Koichi had bought every All Might hoodie, including limited-edition ones. However, there was one hoodie he didn’t have anymore because he had given it away to someone.

This is where we got a flashback of how Koichi was late to his superhero exam because he had to stop and save a child from drowning. Koichi had used the hoodie to keep the kid warm while he ran to see if he could still appear for the exam in time. Of course, he didn’t. But Koichi was still happy about being able to save a life. As far as he’s concerned, maybe one day the kid will grow up to become a hero and (during a TV interview) will thank the stranger who saved him all those years ago.

I was wondering why such a scene came up in the first place. We already know Koichi’s a hero at heart, even though he’s not a legal hero. And ‘Judgment’ indeed had an answer. It’s revealed that the young kid Koichi had saved was actually Pop Step. She had tried to cross the river using her Quirk. But because it had rained last night, the wet ground messed up her jump. Since then, Pop Step had kept the hoodie close and had gone on to create a (kind of) “hero worship” type of relationship with Koichi.

Their backstory helped provide context as to why Pop Step had been hanging around Koichi and Knuckleduster, even though she wasn’t into becoming an actual vigilante. Koichi had saved Pop Step a bunch of times now. So, she had been building up the courage to tell Koichi the truth about the kid he had saved and return the All Might hoodie.

While I get why Pop Step couldn’t tell the truth to Koichi with Knuckleduster being there, I do hope the two have a conversation soon. I want to see Koichi’s reaction when he realizes the kid he rescued was actually Pop Step. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pop Step ends up converting her feelings via writing a new song.

As for the Trigger side of things, the Hard Skin villain our trio had faced before showed up again. Named Akira, he was released from prison after being interrogated. Turns out, you aren’t branded a villain for a single offense. Akira’s immediately greeted by Kuin, who gave him an enhanced version of Trigger. Due to Knuckleduster being off doing something else, it fell on The Crawler and Pop Step to keep the civilians safe while waiting for the police.

Tasked with recording data, Kuin used one of her bees to observe Akira vs The Crawler. Apparently, the enhanced version of Trigger had more dopamine in it, which led to Akira’s Quirk making his skin harder than before. Koichi also mentioned Akira had grown faster and stronger than before.

I’m still waiting for Trigger to show side effects. It did make the user lose control and become reckless, but that’s about it. I assumed it might negatively impact a user’s heart after the first dose. Or the boost in power could end up killing a user if they aren’t knocked out within a certain time limit. I want the stakes surrounding the use of Trigger to be much higher. 

Akira’s powerful punches had messed up the terrain, making Koichi trip over a rock. However, before Akira could land a fatal punch, his strike was blocked by the katana-wielding vigilante. Introducing himself as Stendhal, the ninja-esque vigilante seemed more than capable of taking on Akira. But their fight was cut short due to the police’s arrival.

Koichi was obviously impressed by Stendhal and wanted to know more about him. The Crawler and Knuckleduster’s vigilantism seemed to have encouraged others to do what they could to uphold justice. Koichi and Pop Step were even contacted by Ichimoku about how a graduate from his school had some useful information to share. According to Ichimoku, the guy couldn’t abide by any wrongdoing. Again, Koichi was glad about more hidden hero-types revealing themselves. However, Knuckleduster did warn our young lead about how certain people who wanted to take justice into their own hands likely had a very skewed idea of right and wrong.

The guy Ichimoku wanted Koichi and Pop Step to meet was revealed to be Soga. I liked how Koichi and Pop Step didn’t want anything to do with him, considering how Soga and his crew treated Pop Step back in episode one. Soga seemed to have turned a new leaf, wanting to do better. However, it’s entirely understandable for Pop Step not to forgive him. I can also see certain fans not wanting Soga to have a redemption arc after what he did. I’m interested in seeing where Soga’s arc goes.

I knew Stendhal wasn’t done with Akira because we had seen him kill a villain before. The final moments of the episode showed Stendhal hunting down Akira and proceeding to injure and then kill him. Stendhal realized Akira’s eyes hadn’t hardened. Also, losing focus due to pain and fear decreased his hardening Quirk. Stendhal’s not playing around.

Crossing out Akira and setting his eyes on Akira, Stendhal isn’t done yet. I’m looking forward to seeing Koichi’s interaction with Stendhal when their philosophy of what it means to be a vigilante inevitably clashes.

Did you watch MHA Vigilantes season one episode 5 ‘Judgment’?

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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