My Hero Academia: Vigilantes 1×7 Review: “Truth”

My Hero Academia Vigilantes anime season one episode 7, titled ‘Truth’, had Koichi help an upperclassman research local vigilantism while keeping his identity concealed.

Though not action-heavy or dark as the previous episodes have been, ‘Truth’ served the necessary purpose of layering the world of MHA Vigilantes. One of the things I’m interested in is the discussion between heroism and vigilantism. The anime has been talking about it. However, the focus has been on action sequences and other character-centric moments. Fortunately, ‘Truth’ did a lot of heavy lifting this week as it introduced a character named Makoto who was curious to learn more about vigilantism.

An upperclassman, she reached out to Koichi with a deal. Knowing he didn’t have any friends due to being considered a creep in college, Makoto was willing to tutor him and share class notes in return for Koichi serving as her guide around the city as she gathered data about The Crawler, Pop Step, and Knuckleduster.

It was nice to see Koichi struggle with the prospect of aiding Makoto while also ensuring she didn’t figure out the Trio’s hidden identities. Knuckleduster was ready to scare her away if need be. Pop Step, on the other hand, was just annoyed about the entire thing. Knuckleduster wanted Koichi to keep his personal and professional lives separate. I liked how Koichi brought up the fact about being confused over what was personal and professional anymore. Was being a vigilante his personal life, or was it being a college student? Because, from the looks of things, being a college student during the day felt more like a costume compared to Koichi living his life as The Crawler at night.

Koichi’s clearly happy about hanging out with Makoto. He might even have a little crush on her. Good for you, Koichi. Good for you. He’s also interested in learning what the general public thought of the Trio.

Before Koichi accompanied Makoto around the city to interview the public, I liked the scene where Makoto went over chapter 3 of the sociology book on heroism. I’m a sucker for world-building history lessons. So, I was all ears as Makoto delivered an engrossing lecture. It’s revealed that vigilantism was necessary to maintain peace when people with Quirks started getting born. However, as the world grew accustomed to numerous folks having Quirks, specific laws began to be passed. Depending on certain circumstances, most vigilantes were disbanded, while some were registered as heroes to continue assisting with upholding order.

However, as we all know, textbooks (especially history books) don’t always share all of the information. Makoto talked about how America was the first country to pass legislation around heroism. In a way, the new legal system wasn’t about defining who was a hero. It was more focused on labeling villains. Apparently, there were close to 200 vigilantes in the American state that was the first to put forth hero law. Only a handful of the vigilantes were registered as heroes, while the rest were arrested under the crime of reckless or illegal Quirk use.

In a way, being a hero originated from vigilantism. But the government (in typical fashion) went after vigilantes to create its own version of right and wrong, dividing vigilantes into heroes and villains to maintain government-mandated control. Makoto’s research was about understanding what influenced certain Quirk users to be labeled as heroes or villains. The current Hero System was, in a sense, a popularity contest. According to Makoto, the opinions of the general public and how they perceived a vigilante were one of the deciding factors behind law enforcement treating said vigilante as a hero or a bad guy.

Makoto also had an interesting conversation with Detective Tsukauchi, who is revealed to be her brother. While Tsukauchi seemed to have a strict notion about vigilantism, Makoto was willing to offer more leeway. Things weren’t always black and white in the world of heroes and villains.

Makoto interviewing people made for a fun bit as we got a montage of random folks sharing their opinions about the Trio. The Crawler was considered creepy even though his heart seemed to be in the right place. People were wary of Knuckleduster. Pop Step was famous for her butt and singing.

Makoto’s laptop being stolen by someone with the “Soccer” Quirk prompted Koichi to jump into action to test out the new moves he demonstrated during his training sessions with Knuckleduster and to impress Makoto as the Crawler. Koichi’s new moves didn’t do him any good. My man can’t catch a break. Jube and Ichimoku had to stop the thief named Emperor Yotsuura.

I was waiting for Makoto to showcase her Quirk. And she finally did when saying goodbye to Koichi. Makoto’s ‘Polygraph’ Quirk allowed her to sense the truth. However, it required physical contact with the subject. Makoto asked Koichi if he was indeed The Cruller. Of course, Koichi said no. After all, he’s The Crawler. The scene did make me laugh. Makoto was so close!

I do hope to see Makoto again. She’s a fun character to have around. Her investigative inclinations might help the Trio uncover valuable information surrounding Trigger.  

What did you think of MHA Vigilantes anime episode 7 ‘Truth’?

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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