My Hero Academia Episode 3 Review

Summary

The episode begins with a recap of the closing moments from the previous episode; All Might deems Deku worthy of inheriting his power because of Deku's courage, and he is true to heart.

All Might reveals to Deku the secret of his quirk, which is known as "One for All." This quirk allows a user to pass on all of his/her abilities to a worthy successor. However, the successor needs to be the "perfect vessel," his/her body will have to be able to handle immense power, or else it will be destroyed. Deku doesn't hesitate, and accepts All Might's offer. All Might lays out a ten month training plan before the U.A. entrance exam. The training ground is a junkyard beach. At first, Deku struggles to even move anything out of the beach. Que in training montage: Deku slowly improves at the beach, he tries to stay focused in school despite being fatigued, he surprises his mom with his appetite due to the training, and he even starts training on his own.

The clock is ticking as Deku falls to the ground during a training day. All Might is angry at first because Deku doesn't have much time left, but then he realizes that Deku had overworked himself. Deku stands back up, and reassures All Might that he will complete the training so he can be a hero. All Might is inspired by Deku's will, and the two keep going. On the day of the U.A. entrance exam, Deku is able to clean out the rest of the beach, despite being behind with the training program. There is a very dramatic moment leading up to All Might passing "One for All" to Deku, which ends with Deku having to eat a strand of All Might's hair.

Deku rushes to U.A. where he runs into an impatient Kacchan. He then clumsily trips, but he is saved by a girl who seems to be able to manipulate gravity. She wishes Deku good luck and heads off, leaving an infatuated Deku staring into space.

Deku is able to make it into the proctor room where another key character is introduced. This guy is very serious as shown when he pointed out a little mistake in the paperwork, and claimed that U.A. should lose some of its prestige for simply having a typo. He also calls Deku out for muttering to himself, something that Deku does regularly. The proctor, a pro hero named Present Mic, explains the first test. It requires the aspiring students to defeat robots, and rack up points for doing so. The next episode will cover the first challenge.

You can tell he means business (serious guy that called Deku out).

Quirk of the Episode

One for All is All Might's quirk. It is a two part quirk that allows its user to stockpile power, which is shown by All Might's incredible strength and speed, and the second part allows the user to pass the quirk onto a worthy successor. All Might kept One for All a secret because society deemed that he had to be a natural born hero. Because of the information from this episode, we know that All Might was given One for All by his predecessor, and we can also assume that All Might was also born quirkless. One for All still seems a bit secretive, so perhaps there will be an in depth origin story for the quirk.

Quotes of the Episode

"Something that you receive because you are lucky and something that you are given because you are recognized are different in essence." - All Might

"A true Hero is someone who overcomes life's misfortunes." -Present Mic

Apparently, Present Mic quoted Napoleon Bonaparte, who was a pro hero in My Hero Academia's universe.

Pros

I really liked the pace of the episode. We got the background information on One for All, Deku's training, a first look at U.A, two key characters introduced, and a set up for the first challenge of the exam. I was really surprised they fit all of that into one episode.
The length of Deku's training felt appropriate. We were introduced to it, followed him through it with a montage, and ended with an inspiring moment.
There were some memorable funny moments in this episode: Deku struggling with the training and being scolded by All Might, Deku having to eat All Might's hair, Deku meeting the girl, Deku being called out... In fact, Deku was just hilarious in this episode. The only thing that I found hilarious without him was the Bonaparte quote.

Final Thoughts

No cons this week because I thought this episode was very well done. The pace was very good with introducing a lot of key moments. I know during the last two reviews I had criticized about the lack of action, and this episode didn't have any at all, but I'm learning to deal with it. My Hero Academia seems to be taking a fair amount of time to buildup its first big story arc by focusing more on the characters, especially when it comes to introducing new ones. With U.A. introduced, you better believe there will be a ton of characters introduced. Also, I know I will get my action during next week's episode, so I'm happy about that.