My Hero Academia Season 2 Episode 23 Recap – Stripping the Varnish

Final Matches

For the fifth match, Uraraka and Aoyama struggle to beat No.13 and his black hole quirk. Aoyama asks if she’s thinking about “What Midoriya would do in this situation” and asks if she likes him. Flustered, she loses her grip, causing her to fall into No.13’s black hole. The ensuing panic makes her remember Gunhead’s martial arts lessons, and she manages to subdue the teacher for the win. 

More of Midoriya’s classmates join him to watch the upcoming matches.

The sixth bout pits Ashido and Kaminari against Principal Neda in an industrial setting. The two plan to escape, hoping that it would be easy enough to electrocute the tiny principal. 

Suddenly they hear a worrying sound, and steel pipes start breaking down and dropping on them. The principal lies far away, driving heavy equipment with a wrecking ball. Using his superb prediction powers, he manages to start chaos on his side that directly affects the students. His quirk is High Spec, giving him much higher brain power than ordinary humans. 

The two find their exit blocked, so Ashido hides them in a storage room also breaks not long after. The Principal seems one step ahead of their moves at all times. As a result, they run out of time and fail.

Go Beyond

The next match pits Koda and Jiro against Present Mic in a lush forest environment. Facing a teacher that could drown out sound poses a huge disadvantage for the two students’ respective quirks.

Present Mic yells at them from the exit, which nullifies both their quirks and causes significant damage. Yet they have no choice but to confront him one way or another. 

Jiro asks Koda to command an ant, but he’s surprisingly afraid of bugs. Left without an option, she asks Koda to command a slew of bugs from under a rock to execute their plan. As Jiro’s ears start bleeding, she encourages her partner to overcome his fear so they can clear the test. Koda then remembers his dreams of becoming a hero and going to UA. He goes beyond his limitation and finds the courage to push through. 

Not long after, Present Mic gets attacked by a swarm of bugs from underground. He passes out from fear, and Koda manages to escape while carrying the wounded Jiro.  

The eighth match proves quite dangerous, as Shoji and Hagakure battle against Snipe. The teacher keeps shooting at them from afar, hidden behind the thick columns of an industrial facility. Snipe then throws a smoke bomb to obstruct Shoji’s view. 

Hagakure splits up with Shoji as Snipe goes on the offensive. Shoji then meets the teacher and surrenders, which gives the invisible Hagakure an edge to cuff the teacher without him noticing. 

Looking Cool

The ninth match comes with Mineta and Sero going up against Midnight. Instead of preparing for his next fight, Midoriya opts to watch for some inspiration. Unlike him, Mineta runs away and cries that he doesn’t want the exam. Midnight had already caught his partner, Sero, who was now sleeping due to her quirk. 

Midnight caught them by surprise, with Sero getting caught after saving Mineta. Now alone, Mineta feels scared and outmatched. Recovery girl explains that these obstacles are necessary to weed out those who have a weak motivation to become a hero. 

At first, Mineta wanted to become a hero to be popular amongst girls, but it hasn’t worked out for him. Midnight hunts him down, but he holds his breath with Sero’s tape and runs. Mineta suddenly gets inspiration from Midoriya’s cool moves, so he tricks Midnight into a trap of sticky grapes. Ultimately, he manages to carry Sero to the exit while looking cool. 

Now it’s time for the final match, with Midoriya and Bakugo set to go against All Might. This could be the toughest one yet.

Our Thoughts

The fleshing out of 1-A students continues to be great. I rate this 3.5/5.