That’s all I can really say without being negative.

— Starting from the top, Gentle tells Hound Dog that he simply tripped and fell… and punched himself over and over. Jokes aside, isn’t it sad how we tend to only realize what’s at stake until it’s too late? He’s trying to cover for La Brava to spare her from his fate, but that doesn’t mean that the authorities have to believe him (and they probably won’t).

— After Gentle gets taken away, Deku flat out explains to the audience why fighting Gentle was so difficult. Man, My Hero Academia is not a subtle anime.

— Alright, let’s get to the performance, which I’m sure we’ve all been dying to see.

— I’m actually a bit surprised to hear Kyoka singing in English. But other than that… meh. It’s not my type of music, not my type of choreography, not my type of costume design (garish), so on and so forth. Plus, the efficacy of live performances obviously can’t translate through the screen. You need to be there. You need to feel the vibration of the music shaking your very core, you need to feel the energy of the crowd around you, so on and so forth. Just watching it at home on my couch is a paltry experience at best.

— If we’re gonna talk about “live” anime music, then I will admit that I still like Haruhi’s impromptu performance from the first season of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. I’ve long since soured on that series, but the singing itself just feels more emotional. Well, “God Knows” is definitely a more emotional song…

— Still, Class 1-A’s performance unsurprisingly blows the audience away. More importantly, they get that one special girl to smile. It helps when you have superpowers to levitate people.

— And like a battle, we even get Kyoka’s backstory in the middle of it. Man, anime storytellers just can’t resist themselves.

— To be honest, Class 1-B’s play is so ridiculous that I probably would rather see the entirety of it over 1-A’s song-and-dance thing.

— In the aftermath, Class 1-A’s detractors admit that the performance won them over, so I guess mission accomplished?

— Hound Dog gets on Deku’s case for not calling for help. Oh yeah, why didn’t he do that? I forget. I think maybe he was afraid that they would see Gentle as a big enough threat to shut down festival… hm, I guess I can see why he would think that. At the same time, however, he also isn’t showing much faith in the instructors’ judgment.

— Y’know, I don’t really know anything about Hound Dog other than that he gets mad…

— The worst thing about Deku’s heroism is that it almost always goes unsung. Assholes like Mineta will then talk shit, which our boy will undoubtedly take in stride. That’s just who he is. But like I’ve said before, if I was in Deku’s shoes, my petty ass would never tolerate someone getting on my case when I just saved the day.

— But of course, Mineta continues to be the worst character. If a badass supervillain ever shows up and decides to show everyone that they mean business, I would have no qualms about killing off Mineta. Make him the first casualty. I don’t give a damn. I dislike his character that much.

— It’s time for the beauty pageant, so we see Itsuka doing karate in a dress.

— As for Bibimi, I have no clue what she’s trying to do. She looks like a boss from a tongue-in-cheek video game.

— Finally, Nejire draws a flower with her Quirk. Kinda boring, but it’s the safe kinda thing that would be seen as the epitome of femininity and thus win her the title.

— And win she does. If I had to pick between the three girls above, I guess I would go with the tomboy.

— Anyways, Deku sees Eri off with a candied apple. He even made it for her with the stuff he bought this morning. Man, our Shrubby Jesus is too wholesome for my soul. Makes me feel like I need to wash this sugary taste from my mouth with a show that is bitter and cynical. Too bad the only other anime I plan on watching today is Kyokou Suiri.

— After the ending credits, we see the police interrogate both La Brava and Gentle Criminal. With the former, you have an immense amount of talent. With the latter, you have an immense amount of passion. Nevertheless, they both became villains. Obviously, we can’t help everybody. Some eggs are bound to go uneaten and thus become rotten. Again, I’m not absolving these two of their crimes, but we can nevertheless take a step back and try to see the bigger picture. Will the world of MHA reflect on how they’ve managed to lose these two? Or is it suddenly all about personal responsibility now when things go wrong? I dunno. I know what I would like to see, but I also know that MHA is still just a very safe shounen. It’s never going to try to be all that deep.

— Oh hey, I saw that guy in the movie! He did jack shit there, though. I’m also told that we should get hyped for a bunny hero…