My Hero Academia: Vigilantes 2×04 Review: “A Rational Man”

My Hero Academia Vigilantes anime season 2 episode 4, titled ‘A Rational Man’, had Koichi test out his newfound skill of shooting repulsion attacks while also getting closer to the Villain Factory mystery.

Even though PopStep reminded Koichi not to follow the footsteps of his mentor Knuckleduster, I think it was expected that Koichi wouldn’t be able to stay away from polishing his repulsion blast skill. Yes, he’s operating as a vigilante. However, Koichi used to dream of becoming a professional licensed hero. That’s why, similar to Pro Heroes, Koichi just can’t resist the appeal of leveling up his powers to protect others.

Due to how the Quirk system has been established in the MHA IP, Koichi’s repulsion attack also came with certain considerations. A base attack was strong enough for him to feel a recoil, even resulting in him losing balance and falling on his back. That’s why he needed to anchor his feet before shooting a base-level repulsion blast. However, smaller blasts, while weaker, didn’t have a strong enough recoil for him to worry about.

In theory, if Koichi anchored himself and had enough time, he should be able to charge his base-level attack to release an even more powerful blast. But he wouldn’t be able to move while charging, and he wasn’t sure of how much charge a single blast could hold or how powerful it could get.

Going back to what PopStep mentioned in the previous episode, ‘A Rational Man’ shared more of her thoughts regarding Koichi possibly operating as an attack-type vigilante. One of the reasons he and PopStep had been enjoying the authorities going easy on them was that the duo had been using their Quirks to create distractions and aid with crowd control during villain rampages. If the authorities saw Koichi unleashing a repulsion blast, even if it was against a villain, he would get into a whole lot of trouble, no matter how weak the blast was. As PopStep put it, people weren’t even allowed to throw soft items at other people, even if getting hit by said items wouldn’t hurt. But with Koichi realizing he had an attack move up his sleeves, it was only a matter of time before our protagonist was forced to demonstrate said attack while facing a villain.

This time around, the modified enemy was similar to an octopus. On a rampage, it was causing a lot of destruction because of having eight arms. With Koichi serving as bait to lead the foe away from scared civilians, he found himself running into EraserHead, who had been patrolling the neighborhood trying to unravel the mystery behind the Trigger supply and the Villain Factory. I liked how nervous Koichi got around EraserHead. But his nervousness was also accompanied by relief because, being a Pro Hero, EraserHead should be able to handle the octopus-like enemy, right?

Wrong!

I liked how the writers raised the stakes for EraserHead, too. Due to the modified villain having no Quirk for the Pro Hero to “Erase”, he quickly found himself relying on Koichi and the Hotta Brothers to put a stop to their current predicament. Apparently, it had 10 arms instead of 8 arms, with the two new arms being responsible for EraserHead getting hit and dislocating his shoulder.

Of course, the unlicensed Quirk users were allowed to operate in front of EraserHead under the “self-defense” clause. It’s always funny when law-abiding personnel are willing to bend the rules a bit when faced with danger. Kind of shows you how shaky certain laws are in the first place and how most of the laws can (and have) be used to enact an unnecessary power structure in society. Vigilantism has been used by Pro Heroes and the police department for their benefit when it comes to tackling situations that were deemed too small for them, or they couldn’t get there in time.

However, Pro Heroes and the police force still used every chance they got to remind vigilantes (basically a scare tactic to maintain the power structure) that their activities were illegal and that they were at risk of getting arrested. The government could find a way to give trustworthy vigilantes some kind of license, but nopes. The status quo had to be upheld.

Facing the 10-armed villain allowed Koichi to experience his repulsive attacks in the field. It’s how he figured out that the recoil could be easily managed when gliding in reverse while shooting the blasts. He also realized that the modified villains were very strong, with even a fully charged blast not doing much damage to them. Our young protagonist still needed to go through a whole lot of leveling up.

With the episode nearing its runtime, I was wondering how Koichi and the rest would manage to stop such a foe. I was expecting some other Pro Hero to arrive to lend a hand. But nopes, the surprise was the yellow-scarred villain tracking down the octopus/squid-like monster because his Boss had told him to collect a sample. He was able to use his time-freezing Quirk to easily knock it down.

However, an attack on the yellow-scarred man’s face led to him losing his cool and deciding to kill the monster. From what I could understand, the scar across his face was self-inflicted. It had something to do with O’Clock being his Master. That’s why he couldn’t tolerate anyone trying to permanently damage his face.

Before the scarred man could finish the job, Koichi arrived on the scene, mistaking him for a civilian and asking him to run away. It’s revealed that the scarred man was aware of “Little Koichi” and EraserHead. They are sure to cross paths again soon.

With the situation handled, Tsukauchi did bring up the possibility that the person who had helped EraserHead last night could be Knuckleduster. Unlike the audience, the good guys weren’t aware of the yellow-scarred guy walking around in their neighborhood.

Due to the Knuckleduster breadcrumbs I have been getting over the four episodes, I have fingers crossed that he makes an official return soon. Koichi and PopStep need him around due to the danger creeping toward the young duo.

Did you watch MHA Vigilantes anime season 2 episode 4, ‘A Rational Man’? 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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