My Hero Academia Season 1 Episode 2 Recap – What It Takes to Be a Hero

True Form

Midoriya asks if he can become a hero while being quirkless, but before All Might can say anything, the hero deflates into his true form. The number one hero is a frail old man.

The sludge villain finds himself dropped in a nearby shopping district, where Katsuki Baguko inadvertently sets him free by kicking on his bottle. The sludge manages to come out and takes Bakugo hostage.

Midoriya is horrified after seeing All Might deflate, even mistaking him as a fake. All Might explains that his huge form results from his constantly flexing. The boy’s image of him becomes utterly shattered. All Might shows him the wound he sustained from an enemy attack years ago. His capacity to do hero work is now limited to three hours daily. Saving the people with a smile and being a Symbol of Peace is a distraction he made to combat the stress and pressure of his job.

All Might tells him that power is required to become a Hero. Perhaps he can pick other professions instead, like police work. It isn’t bad to dream, but you have to be realistic. It was then that All Might realized he had dropped the villain.

Struggle

They hear an explosion coming from the nearby shopping district. The sludge villain holds Katsuki hostage while setting fire to the whole street. A squad of heroes comes in to help, but they’re no match against the sludge. Katsuki tries using his quirk but to no avail. Mt. Lady arrives, but she’s too big for the small alleyways. The hero squad is running out of options with no matching quirks for the situation.

All Might comes in to see his fatal mistake. Midoriya feels despondent as his options of becoming a hero have seemingly run out. Suddenly he passes by the shopping district and sees the villain they defeated earlier. He feels partly responsible for leading the villain here. Nearby, All Might grips his wound and feels the weight of his mistake.

The heroes are at their last wits until Midoriya sees that his friend Bakugo is the hostage. His feet suddenly move by instinct to save him.

He throws his backpack to distract the enemy and digs through the sludge to help his friend. He explains that he can’t help it after seeing how desperate Bakugo looked. Seeing this, All Might surpasses his limits and transforms before the villain can get to Midoriya.

Hero

All Might feels regret for admonishing the boy and now risks his life to fight the villain, ending the sludge and the scattered flames with a Detroit Smash attack.

Rain starts to fall from the updraft of All Might’s attack. The crowd celebrates after witnessing his deed. All Might smiles and raises his hand despite wanting to fall. The police took in the villain while the heroes scold Midoriya for needlessly putting his life in danger. On the other hand, his friend Bakugo is praised for his amazing quirk.

Midoriya regrets not having had a chance to apologize to All Might as he goes home. Bakugo meets him in anger, saying he doesn’t owe him anything.

Suddenly, All Might arrives to see him but deflates soon after. The hero thanks him for his help earlier and praises him for his courage. Despite being a quirkless boy, he had the guts to come to his friend’s rescue instinctually–A rare trait that only legendary heroes possess. All Might tells him that he can indeed be a hero.

Our Thoughts

Great set up for our main character to surpass his limitations. On top of that, we see how big his heart is at how he jumped into danger to save his bully. 4/5