My Hero Academia - Episode 44 (Review)

By: AlanVOur would-be heroes’ battle against the villains rages on in episode 44, and the results are a mixed bag. Deku is able to help Tokoyami tame the out of control Dark Shadow, but his attempts to keep Bakugo safe from the villains falls short. Ochako and Asui are also up against it as they face off against Himiko Toga.Deku is able to come up with a great plan with no time to spare to help out Tokoyami. Knowing the weakness of his quirk he’s able to figure out how to keep going towards Bakugo without leaving Tokoyami behind. It has Deku at his best, displaying his studious nature along with his insistence on helping as many as he can.Unfortunately, not everything goes the students’ way. Just as it seems as the momentum is swinging back to them a new villain appears. The worst part is that he’s able to capture Bakugo and Tokoyami, with the intent of showing them what it’s like on the other side. It makes sense seeing as Tokoyami has a darkness lurking within him while Bakugo has a rebellious and violent streak in him.Meanwhile, Ochako and Asui have an encounter with Toga. They get an up close and personal look at her evil nature, with Toga getting in some good shots on both of them. Toga also manages to get some of Ochako’s blood with a machine she carries with her. It’s not revealed the reasoning for this. However, Toga’s goal was to get blood from three different students.My guess is that they are looking to acquire the blood in order to create a Nomu that will be more difficult for the students to fight against. Going up against someone who has the exact same quirks will be a tough ask, especially since the Nomus also have insane strength and stamina to go along with it.This episode was chock-full of good action, and we get a deeper look at what the villains intentions were all along. It’ll be interesting to see if Tokoyami and Bakugo are as susceptible to being flipped as the villains think they are. The plan to suck blood from some of the students will most likely come up later on as well.