My Hero Academia: Vigilantes 2×11 and 2×12 Review: “Balloon Soul” and “This is a Hero!”

My Hero Academia Vigilantes anime season 2 episode 11, titled ‘Balloon Soul’, and episode 12, titled ‘This is a Hero!’, offered a lot of action and emotion as superheroes tried to save citizens during the Sky Egg attack.

With the Scarred Guy having his flying Bombers targeting the Sky Egg and Captain Celebrity being the first line of defense, ‘Balloon Soul’, decided to share more of CC’s backstory. If you have been keeping up with my reviews, you would know that I don’t really care much about CC. At least, not enough to be excited to learn more about him. But hey, with CC trying to keep the Sky Egg from falling to the ground and preventing thousands of people from being killed, I sat through his backstory.

The title ‘Balloon Soul’ came from how CC’s wife, Pamela, used to think of him as a balloon during their college years. Christopher had always been popular, which made Pamela’s annoyance toward him stand out. Wanting to learn the reason behind her dislike, Chris began trying to gain Pamela’s attention. According to Pamela, Chris was a “balloon” because he was all show with nothing but hot air inside. However, as the two continued to spend more time together, Pamela found herself softening toward Chris, while he (I think) began to act more down-to-earth.

I don’t know what the writers were trying to say through the duo’s relationship. Even now, Pamela seemed to be an easily irked woman, while Chris continued to fumble and cause a lot of controversy. Apparently, they both loved each other, but, in my opinion, CC was better off as a single dude or being in a relationship with someone who accepted him for the not-so-bright man he was.

With CC holding up the Sky Egg while tanking explosions from a Bomber, Koichi had no choice but to assist CC anyway he could. Koichi’s pulse attacks weren’t strong enough to defeat the Bomber (who could regenerate), but it was still nice to see him try to keep the Bomber away from CC.

Due to being aware of his skills and experience, it made sense for Koichi to tell CC how he planned to buy them as much time as possible for other Heroes to show up to help them. It’s one of the reasons I continue to be a fan of MHA Vigilantes and Koichi as the lead. The main character of a story doesn’t always have to be the one to do everything themselves or be the most powerful. All that matters is for them to make a difference.

With Koichi shielding CC, the rest of the Heroes inside the Sky Egg got the time to come up with a plan to protect the civilians and stabilize the tower. Best Jeanist was the MVP for me. He used his Quirk on carbon fibers to keep the tower standing. EraserHead and Tsukauchi also arrived on the scene.

Everything seemed to be going well. But considering the second season’s finale was right around the corner, it was clear the Scarred Man had other tricks up his sleeve. He wanted to cause as much chaos as possible, leading him to make a Bomber explode near the tower, damaging the carbon fibers.

‘This is a Hero!’ dealt with the aftermath of the explosion, with the present Heroes having run out of options to prevent the tower from falling. It was interesting to see how even with a bunch of Heroes stationed inside as well as outside the Sky Egg, they didn’t have the Quirks required to address such a calamity. The Scarred Man’s strategy had taken into consideration each Hero’s presence. He had analyzed how their defeat was guaranteed.

The only thing the Scarred Man had failed to realize was Tsukauchi’s relationship with All Might. And hey, that wasn’t the Scarred Man’s fault. There was no way he could have known that a detective and All Might were close friends.

I couldn’t help but smile at the self-awareness of the episode. The beginning of ‘This is a Hero!’ mentioned the concept of Deus ex machina. And while certain narratives use Deus ex machina to the annoyance of fans, I do think MHA Vigilantes used said storytelling trope effectively. In such a fictional world, All Might was the type of Hero who could face unbeatable odds, especially if his mission dealt with an attack from a villain who hadn’t considered All Might showing up.

Tsukauchi’s call to All Might allowed the episode to offer a flashback involving a young Tsukauchi realizing Makoto’s Quirk to sense people’s emotions. He wasn’t a fan of his baby sister going around and prying into people’s thoughts like that. However, he had grown to become fond of Makoto. Frankly, said flashback wasn’t necessary as there had been no question about Tsukauchi’s love for his sister in the present. But I still enjoyed watching it more than I did CC’s backstory with Pamela.

Of course, All Might landed the Sky Egg safely on the ground and saved a falling CC and Koichi. He even talked to the press about how everyone needed to remain calm and help the other Heroes and emergency services to ensure the civilians inside the Sky Egg were okay. So humble. He’s the Number One Pro hero after all.

I greatly enjoyed the short moment All Might shared with Tsukauchi. Even though Heroes had been told to keep their professional and private lives separate, there was no denying that heroism was accompanied by lots of emotions. In All Might’s case, having empathy for the plight of others gave him strength. His friendship with Tsukauchi and being able to sense Tsukauchi’s fear of losing Makoto had given All Might the burst of speed he required to get to the scene ASAP. Also, yeah, I can see why certain MHA fans ship Tsukauchi and All Might.

The best part of ‘This is a Hero!’ dealt with Knuckleduster finally confronting the Scarred Man. Not only did their battle showcase Knuckleduster’s genius as a strategist, but it also revealed very surprising information about the Scarred Man.

I had initially thought the Scarred Man had been Knuckleduster’s student who had gone down the wrong path. But nopes. It turned out that the Scarred Man wasn’t a human at all. He himself had been an experimental being named Number 6 who had, somehow, grown fond of Knuckleduster during his heroic years as O’Clock. While many aspiring heroes wanted to become like All Might, Number 6 felt that being OP was boring. For Number 6, it wasn’t about possessing the physical power to save or destroy the world; it was about having the time to do whatever he wanted. Number 6 wanted to experience true freedom, and the Overclock Quirk granted him just that.

Even though I found Number 6 interesting as a villain before getting to learn about his true nature, the major reveal made me like him even more. Kudos to Kōhei Horikoshi for presenting such a layered foe in a superhero story.

Due to Overclock being Knuckleduster’s original Quirk, of course, he knew about the Quirk’s weakness and how to subdue Number 6. After failing to land a fatal surprise attack, Knuckleduster’s plan B involved forcing Number 6’s brain to overexert itself because of Overclock. As long as Knuckleduster didn’t give Number 6 time to think, his speedy opponent would be incapable of escaping or attacking.

But as I said, the season finale’s upon us, and so things needed to be escalated. Number 6 had tweaked his body, enabling him to assimilate with the Bomber Quirk. There’s no doubt that Knuckleduster will survive the explosion. However, he might regain consciousness only to realize he’s been kidnapped for the people Number 6 worked for. Koichi you better go and save your teacher!

What did you think of MHA Vigilantes anime season 2 episodes 11 and 12?

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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