Name: My Hero Academia season 6 episode 19
Director: Shōji Ikeno
Released: 2023-02-11T15:00:00

In My Hero Academia season 6 episode 19, Midoriya dons a new costume and a new vigilante persona, teaming up with Endeavor, All Might, Hawks, and Best Jeanist to save the people amid peril aplenty.

Recap

Third-year students of Ketsubutsu Academy High, Shindo, and Nakagame reach out to the stubborn citizens of a ravaged region that has been razed to the ground after the attack of the League of Villains.

Shindo and Nakagame try to convince them to take refuge at their academy instead. However, the citizens refuse to do so, citing their distrust in heroes as the cause, announcing also that they’ve started defending their own by themselves.

Returning empty-handed, Shindo and Nakagame are alerted that a Tartarus escapee is after them, who turns out to be none other than a rabid Muscular. Shindo takes him on but even after exerting the full extent of his quirk, he can’t take the villain down.

Moments before Muscular goes for a fatal pummeling, Deku blitzes him away with a punch. Exhilarated to fight the hero who bested him the last time, Muscular lunges at Deku but the latter, in his new vigilante getup, defeats the villain with a 45% Detroit Smash.

Before meeting back with All Might in an alleyway, Midoriya leaves Muscular with the prison guards. Meanwhile, another peril rings Deku’s senses and he takes off.

The doctor’s advice to Deku from earlier on is shown, while his mother sits beside him, who’s also updated on all that has transpired so far. She worries as Deku talks about having to become more powerful and defeat Shigaraki and All For One before they get to his friends.

Meanwhile, Gran Torino is informed about Shimura and he expresses his regret at not being able to take Shigaraki down.

He then passes the baton, and his torn-up cape to Deku, who sports it like a champ and meets up with All Might, Endeavor, Hawks, and Best Jeanist, who all make up a team working against the villains and tracking down the big bad ones.

Review

My Hero Academia season 6 episode 19 sees Deku sport his new identity rather well, and with an intensity not quite seen before. There’s also a certain panache that his punches carry now, as he makes the quickest work of Muscular, a villain who served as a final boss to him back during their first fight.
This also neatly conveys the jump in the power and skill that Deku has exhibited in a relatively short amount of time, justifying even more, why his vulnerability and wounds are such a great part of his development, not only signifying his traits but also imbuing his character with a realism uncommon in most shounen anime.
Meanwhile, the episode also helps create a certain level of hype in the anticipation of what more Deku is capable of doing now that he wields several quirks of his predecessors. Some new quirks are yet to be revealed in the upcoming My Hero Academia episodes, and the mechanics of it all is an exciting avenue to explore.