My Hero Academia Season 3 Episode 21 Recap – What’s the Big Idea

Escalation

Three weeks earlier from the provisional exam date, the examiners get an order from their higher-ups to test for cooperation from their examinees. With the loss of All Might, there’s a greater need this time to have a unified hero community. As a result, this year’s exam proves much more difficult.

As Gang Orca and his crew of villains attack, the examinees will now have to thwart the villains while maintaining their rescue operations. It’s a close scenario to what happened at Kamino Ward.

The students panic as they still have a lot to do on the search and rescue front. The Public Safety Commission is watching the students closely on how they approach the situation, deducting points as they see fit.

As the villains approach the First Aid station, Shindo tries to go up front to destroy the terrain, but Gang Orga subdues him with one hit.

Todoroki comes in from the side to distract the villain as a few from class A reinforce the rescue. Inasa then arrives between Todoroki and Gang Orca. The ensuing distraction they caused helped Midoriya and his team reposition the injured civilians.

But then the tension between Todoroki and Inasa erupts. As Todoroki blasts his fire, Inasa’s wind gust diffuses it. The two argue while the villains watch in disbelief, so they shoot them with their cement gun weapons.

Grudge

Inasa seems to have a grudge against Endeavor for refusing to sign his autograph while he was young. As soon as he enrolled in UA, Todoroki gave him the same look, which made his hate grow stronger. Hearing this, Todoroki gets agitated and denies his likeness with his father. He tries to quell the anger inside, but it doesn’t give way.

The villains and examiners get frustrated as they continue to argue. Another botched combination of their quirks endangers Shindo, but thankfully Midoriya arrives to save him and yell at the two.

Inasa has always been a brave and daring boy who liked many things. This also gave him the passion to become a hero, but that would be quenched by Endeavor’s actions. On top of that, Todoroki’s act of ignoring him at the UA entrance exam exacerbated the situation.

Todoroki realizes that his hatred towards his father caused him to tune out his surroundings, causing the mishap with his relationship to Inasa.

Gang Orca stuns them both with his sonar attack while his crew moves towards the evacuation sites. The two downed examinees remember Midoriya’s words and realize that they must make up for their mistakes.

Thankfully, Shindo wakes up and creates a line of defense. He wants to make a stronger attack but the other two are in the way, so Midoriya moves to retrieve them.

Combo Finish

Todoroki realizes he can’t be a top hero acting this way, so he unleashes a flame attack together with Inasa. This time the combination traps Gang Orca. Even when paralyzed, the two can control their quirks extremely well.

Orca’s underlings try to help him by shooting their cement guns, but Todoroki blocks with his ice. This time he finally manages to use simultaneous activation.

Midoriya and Ojiro then stall the underlings. By now, only three HUC need rescue, and more students arrive to help deal with the villains.

Gang Orca manages to keep himself hydrated with a water bottle until the flames die down. As he tries to get the downed examinees, Midoriya blocks his attack with a kick. At the same time, the examiners declare the end of the exam as all HUC personnel have been rescued.

Some time later, the scores are announced.

Our Thoughts

I think this is the most realistic test our cast has faced so far. I’m surely expecting some to fail, 3.5/5.