My Hero Academia Episode 4 Review

Synopsis

It the first trial for our aspiring heroes. They have to defeat robots acting as villains. Each one is worth a certain amount of points depending on their difficulty. Deku is extremely nervous, and he falls behind right from the start as the rest of his peers rush in to begin the trial. Things go from bad to worse as Deku can't seem to find a way to rack up points. He is way too timid and can't seem to form a strategy. Also, he is constantly worried about disappointing All Might.

It is the last minute of the trial, and Deku has yet to score a single point. A behemoth robot arrives. The young heroes flee as they remember Present Mic's warning; this robot is too powerful and it also happens to be worth zero points. Deku is stunned by fear, but he notices that Uraraka Ochako (the girl that helped him in the previous episode) is pinned beneath some rubble. Deku finally channels in One for All, pumping the strength of his arms and legs. He jumps a great distance into the air and lands a KO punch to the behemoth. However, Deku doesn't know how to control his new quirk. His arm and legs are shattered by the impact, and he free falls to the ground. It looks to be the end for Deku, but Ochako uses her zero gravity quirk to save him. Time is up.

Deku waits for the results of the trial, and he is extremely distressed. He knows that he failed the robot part of the trial because he ended up with zero points. There was also a written exam before that, which Deku didn't do too well. Deku's mom realizes his son's frustration, but she is unable to help him. The letter from U.A. finally arrives. Deku takes it to his room. He doesn't even want to open it but finally decides to get it over with. It turns out to be a video message from All Might; he explains that Deku was able to pass because he scored "Rescue points" based on his actions. The episode ends with Deku and his mom celebrating.

Character of Focus

Uraraka Ochako AKA "The Nice Girl" (coined by Deku), is a kind and strategic girl. During the trial, instead of rushing in to fight like Kacchan and Tenya (the guy who was not too fond of Deku in the previous episode), she would wait and finish the robots off. She realizes that her quirk is not strictly for offensive purposes, which is why she waits, so she doesn't put herself in direct danger. However, this definitely doesn't mean that she is a coward. She won't hesitate if someone is in danger. This makes her the type of hero that U.A. is looking for.

Quirk of the Episode

Ochako's quirk is Zero Gravity. She can make her target weightless with one touch. She can also release the Zero Gravity by placing her hands together (as shown in the picture above). It is unknown when it comes to how many targets she can make weightless at once. However, it was shown in this episode that she can become fatigued from using her quirk.

Pros

It was a really strong episode when it comes to showcasing Deku's will to be a hero. He was the only one that disobeyed Present Mic and took on the behemoth. It wasn't to showoff, which is something that Kacchan would do. Deku did it to save someone's life, and that is something every aspiring hero should do. We tend to root for a main character that has true character and that is Deku.
We also got to see a different side of Tenya. In the previous episode, he was a very stuck up person who probably thinks he's perfect. Now, we know that he is far from that as he regretted his actions of fleeing. He wonders if he would have done what Deku did. It was also nice to see him recognize Deku for his actions.
It was good to see Ochako brought out as a relevant character instead of being "The Nice Girl" in the background. She isn't the strongest, but I know she will get better and contribute more to the story.
Even with One for All, Deku is still far from invincible, and I definitely love that. This will further develop Deku into an even stronger character.

Cons

The slow pace returned, and it really bothered me. The majority of the episode was just Deku's nervous breakdown. I get that there's a lot of pressure with the exam. Also, All Might had just gave him One for All, but Deku should have channeled all of that to do the best that he could, especially if he was that worried about disappointing All Might.
I mean the pace was so slow that it even took forever for All Might to tell Deku that he passed. He just kept saying things to stall the episode.
I believe that the manga was a lot more detailed with the trial. This episode definitely could have done the same thing if the pace wasn't so damn slow.
I wanted to see more Kacchan. After all, he is the main rival, so we need to see more of him. Plus, his explosion quirk could have made for some pretty cool robot destruction scenes.

Kacchan is not too happy that his name was mentioned in the cons section.

Final Thoughts

This was a slower episode that didn't settle too well with me, but it's definitely not something that will stop me from watching. My Hero Academia is still going strong with its plot and characters. This is an anime that we have to give time for it to set up. From reading the manga, I can definitely tell you guys that it will be rewarding if you keep watching.