My Hero Academia Season 2 Episode 7 (Review)

By: AlanV[yasr_multiset setid=11]Deku’s one-on-one battle against Shinso begins in earnest in episode 7. Even though Shinso is from the General Class he still possesses an incredibly powerful quirk. He can control his opponents’ minds after having them speak, which turns out to be an easy task to pull off against Deku after a few antagonizing words.The fight itself isn’t the most interesting part, as Deku manages to snap out of it just in the nick of time and defeat Shinso in short order. Shinso doesn’t have a great deal of physical strength, and relies solely on his ability to mess with people’s minds. Once Deku breaks free of his hold the fight is settled.Seeing Shinso’s early years is what makes it worth watching. Everyone who encounters him and learns of his quirk is immediately suspicious of him. His quirk is about controlling others, not dominating them in a physical manner. This automatically makes the people who surround him go to dark places and assume that the only way of using his quirk is for villainy. This takes a toll on Shinso, who vows to only use his power for good.Once the match is over Shinso is rattled by the results. It really felt like watching a villain being born. His desire to be a hero seemingly matched Deku’s, and losing to him and not advancing with the possibility of being upgraded to the Hero Class looked like it was going to break him. Fortunately, some encouraging words from his fellow classmates from 1B snapped him out of it.The other matchup is Todoroki versus Hanta. Unfortunately for Hanta, Todoroki get an “encouraging” pep talk from his old man. Todoroki’s anger fuels him to a resounding victory that takes mere seconds to complete. It was going to be an uphill battle from the start for Hanta, but having an angry Todoroki sealed his fate.Episode 7 gives some more insight into the world of My Hero Academia. It shows that not all quirks are viewed in a positive light, and it isn’t hard to imagine this being a driving force behind a lot of the villains. It would’ve been nice if the fights had a bit more to them, though.