My Hero Academia – Episode 53 (Review)

By: AlanVClass 1-A continues to work on refining their skills and outfits as the provisional license test draws near. They will have to compete against students from across Japan. It will be a massive undertaking because they will have to take on opponents they’ve never seen before. The odds get even tougher when a few nasty surprises rear their ugly heads the day of the exam.This episode is more mellow in tone, with most of the time being spent on seeing the kids get ready for their licensing test. During this preparation phase it focuses on more on the interactions between the main characters than anything else. Doing what My Hero Academia does best: touching moments.One of those moments is when Ochako is hanging out with the rest of the girls after a long day of training. They all quickly deduce that she has a crush on someone, specifically Deku or Iida. This leads to her squirming and desperately trying to deflect. This feels like such a genuine moment between these girls and can bring a smile out of anyone watching.All Might has his own moment when he’s supervising the training sessions. A large boulder comes flying towards him, with Deku jumping in to prevent anything bad happening. It quickly dawns on him that he is now viewed as someone who needs to be protected instead of being the protector. It’s interesting seeing that change of point of view, and he seems to take it in stride.Once the kids arrive at the testing center the atmosphere is completely different. Being from U.A. means they have the attention of a lot of their competitors, which really ups the tension. The only thing interrupting these tense moments is the back and forth between Eraser Head and Ms. Joke. It’s a classic setup of two comedians, with one being the straight no nonsense type with the other being the goof. It works brilliantly.It’s easy to lose sight that there are so many other hero schools when the focus is almost always on the U.A. kids. It will be fun to see how many more interesting characters this anime can house. *Taps roof of MHA logo* Episode 53 cuts off right before the fight begins, and it looks like it will be one hell of a fight. The next episode feels like it’s going to be chock full of action, and it’ll be fun to see some new quirks get put on display.