Name: My Hero Academia season 6 episode 9
Director: Tomohiro Kamiya
Released: 2022-11-26T15:00:00

‘My Hero Academia’ season 6 episode 9 sees a conflicted and frustrated Bakugo blast off to intervene in the Shigaraki v. Deku battle the moment it all turns rather precarious.

Recap

‘My Hero Academia’ season 6 episode 9 opens with Aizawa thanking his saviours who’re trying their best to contain Shigaraki and save him from his quirk-eliminating bullet.

The bullet does end up hitting Eraser Head anyway, but he’s grateful because the efforts of Ryukyu and Deku have given him an opportunity to act quickly and bravely — decapitating his leg above the spot where the bullet pierced him.

However, his quirk is affected nonetheless and for the time being, Shigaraki has retained his decay quirk. Before he can act on those powers, he lunges at Aizawa to finish the job, but a berserk Deku can’t allow that.

Using his whiplashes, Deku lifts all the injured heroes off the ground as well as Shigaraki, before he can inflict his decay wave upon the ground.

Then comes a barrage of brutal 100 percenters from Deku, attacks that he can’t afford to make willy-nilly but has to anyway, given the grave circumstances surrounding him.

There’s a flashback to when Deku learned the know-how of manoeuvring during an aerial battle, while Bakugo discussed the suspiciously perilous aspect of the ‘One For All’ quirk with All Might.

Back at the present-day battle that rages on between Shigaraki and Deku, Bakugo observes with both frustration and concern for the current ‘One For All’ user. Shigaraki tries hard to think of a reason to counter Deku’s mighty blows while blocking them as best as he can.

Deku is destroying his limbs with every other American smash while also calculating how much it’d take to take down the enemy.

That, and using all the knowledge he has with perfect management of multiple quirks — all the things that pose a great threat to him.

Bakugo finally steps up and concocts a plan in a jiffy, carrying Endeavor while having Todoroki cool him down. The plan is to throw Endeavor at Shigaraki and incinerate him with one last ‘Prominence Burn’ attack that the number 1 hero still has in him.

The plan’s execution is well but they don’t anticipate the unexpected, because, well, they can’t. This unexpected rears its head in the form of All For One, who takes over Shigaraki’s burnt-to-a-crisp body.

While Endeavor falls to the ground and Deku is in mid-air with little manoeuvrability, AFO shoots out a rivet stab quirk, right in the direction of Deku.

However, at a very precarious moment, Bakugo’s body self-admittedly moves on its own and he pushes Deku out of the way, getting impaled himself instead.

Review

‘My Hero Academia’ season 6 episode 9 gives a good look into the cause behind Bakugo’s tender inner self, beneath all that pretend hard exterior.
It also brings into perspective, his automatic move to save Deku, and why he did what he did, which was a self-admittedly instinctual act.
His meeting with All Might during Deku’s aerial training reveals that he feels remorse for all those years he bullied Deku because he couldn’t understand him.
That would also become the reason for him to agree to help with Deku’s training — a chance for him to atone for his actions.
It’s perhaps those very reasons that he acts out involuntarily when the tragedy knocks on the door; within fractions of a second, he sacrifices himself for Deku, receiving AFO’s attacks firsthand.
It’s a powerful and shocking moment that brings forth the episode’s titular act, and while Bakugo doesn’t get to land blows or blast the villain himself, it is both the character’s physical and metaphorical ascension, as he rises to do what he must do as a Hero and a friend — save others.