Christian Ashley and Alex Matthews dive into the thrilling depths of My Hero Academia's Dark Hero and Star and Stripe arcs, where the stakes are higher than ever for our beloved heroes. They kick things off by exploring Deku's transformation into a dark hero, driven by the weight of his responsibilities and the desire to protect his friends from the relentless villain, All For One. This arc isn't just about the action; it’s a deep dive into Deku's emotional turmoil as he grapples with the consequences of his choices, pushing everyone away while he fights to keep them safe. Then, they shift gears to the Star and Stripe arc, introducing America’s number one hero and her epic showdown with Shigaraki, highlighting the sacrifices made in the name of heroism. With plenty of banter and insights, Christian and Alex serve up a thoughtful yet relaxed analysis that will resonate with any MHA fan looking to unpack these intense storylines.

The podcast dives deep into the thrilling dimensions of the Dark Hero and Star and Stripe arcs in My Hero Academia, where Deku's journey takes a darker turn. Christian Ashley and Alex Matthews explore how the stakes have risen for our beloved protagonist, particularly as he grapples with the weight of his responsibilities in a world where villains are on the loose. The conversation kicks off with an engaging banter about their recent geeky obsessions, setting a laid-back tone that permeates the episode. As they dissect Deku's transformation into a 'dark hero,' they touch on themes of isolation and the emotional turmoil that comes when one feels they must bear the burden alone. Alex highlights Deku's struggle to protect his friends from All For One's relentless pursuit, while Christian emphasizes the poignant moments when Deku's friends rally to reach out to him, reminding listeners of the importance of teamwork in a hero's journey. They further explore the character dynamics, such as the tension between Deku and Bakugo, weaving in clever commentary and humor, making the discussion both insightful and entertaining. The episode encapsulates the essence of heroism, delving into the moral complexities of what it means to be a hero in a world rife with danger, and questioning whether the sacrifices made are truly worth it. All of this culminates in a riveting exploration of how the arcs contribute to the overall narrative of My Hero Academia, leaving fans eager for more.

Exploring the intricacies of My Hero Academia's narrative, this episode of Systematic Geekology takes a closer look at the Dark Hero and Star and Stripe arcs, with hosts Christian Ashley and Alex Matthews analyzing the stakes involved in Deku's evolving journey. The discussion begins with a light-hearted exchange about their recent obsessions, setting a relaxed vibe before diving into the heavier themes of the arcs. The hosts elaborate on how Deku's transformation into a dark hero symbolizes the internal struggles faced by many individuals when weighed down by expectations, especially when friends and loved ones are in danger. They examine the idea of sacrifice in heroism, emphasizing how Deku's decision to go solo reflects a common heroic trope of isolation, and the ensuing consequences of such actions. Moreover, they give ample airtime to the Star and Stripe arc, which introduces new characters and challenges, drawing parallels between her and Deku's ideals of heroism. Their witty banter and insightful commentary not only entertain but also elevate the discussion by prompting listeners to think critically about what it truly means to be a hero in a world filled with moral dilemmas. As they wrap up, the hosts encourage fans to reflect on their own interpretations of heroism, leaving listeners with thought-provoking questions to ponder long after the episode ends.

Takeaways:

• In the Dark Hero arc, Deku faces intense pressure as he isolates himself to protect his friends from the ever-watchful villain, All For One.
• The emotional depths explored in the Dark Hero arc leave listeners reflecting on the true meaning of heroism and the toll it takes on our heroes.
• Star and Stripe's introduction in the Star and Stripe arc adds a complex layer to the narrative, showcasing her selflessness despite the consequences.
• Listeners are reminded of the sacrifices heroes make, as seen in the finale of the Star and Stripe arc where her final act weakens Shigaraki's power significantly.
• The podcast masterfully discusses the moral dilemmas faced by characters like Lady Nagant, questioning if a society that needs assassins for protection is worth saving.
• Throughout the discussion, both hosts emphasize the growth of Deku and his friends, underscoring the importance of teamwork in overcoming villainy.

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We discuss all this and more in this one! Join in the conversation with us on Discord now!

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Systematic Geekology

Our show focuses around our favorite fandoms that we discuss from a Christian perspective. We do not try to put Jesus into all our favorite stories, but rather we try to ask the questions the IPs are asking, then addressing those questions from our perspective. We are not all ordained, but we are the Priests to the Geeks, in the sense that we try to serve as mediators between the cultures around our favorite fandoms and our faith communities.

What do you do when the villain can always track you down and you don't want to hurt your friends? Welcome everyone to the next episode of System Making Ecology. We are the priests of the geese.

Continuing on through our My Hero Academia series, we'll be covering two ARCs today. These of course are going to be the Dark Hero arc and the Star and Stripe arc. Controversial. Some of this, lots of other really good fun.

But it's not just me. Christian Ashley, your main host here. I'm also joined by Alex. How's it going, Alex?

Hello. What's up?

Yeah, we're going to have some fun today. I'm fairly certain I knew you were my hero person, so. Oh yeah, Alex is going to be on this episode too. So Alex, throw that in mind.

What have you been geeking out on recently?

Oh, what have I been geeking out on recently? Well, I've been catching up on the My Hero Academia episodes. I will be honest with that.

I did go through Dark Hero arc and I just thought the stars drive start, so bear with me. But I kind of know the gist of it.

Yeah, it's all good. Okay. We'll get through it. We're going to have some fun. Yeah. Now me, I got back into playing. I needed the game.

While I'm waiting on some money so I can buy other games later on, just replaying Assassin's Creed Odyssey again, it's. It's going to occupy my time for many weeks, maybe even months. So that's where I'm at.

So you didn't come to hear just about what we're geeking out on?

You came to actually hear, especially since if you've been with us since the beginning, continuing on through the My Hero Academia series, this time we have two arcs to cover. So Alex, we're going to start with the Dark Hero arc first. And would you like to join me in describing what happens here?

Sure. So, well, basically this is to me, this is where the plot really gets thick with the story.

And Deku, as the big loving hero that he is, he has all this pressure on him now because it's outed that he has. I get it mixed up all. Nope, one for all. Every single episode I get confused every time I get switched up. But one for all, it's out of that. He.

He has one for all and that what's his name all might like pass it down to him and all that. And so the plate, everything's destroyed because I said Tartarus got like all the criminals got let out. So it's like it's hell on earth everywhere.

And UA is on lockdown as a shelter for everybody that wants it. And Deku, in order to protect his friends and all the innocents and everything in ua, he leaves to try and round up all the villains around the city.

But in him doing that, he pushes everybody away, pushes all might away. Just kind of like seals himself off emotionally and all that and like, turns into a dark hero, basically.

And people mistake him as like a vigilante or a villain because, like his uniform or costume, whatever you call it, like, it's all torn up and everything. And he's all like, I'm so tired or I'm so dark.

Like the world, the fate of the world is resting on me and only I can show to this burning and all that.

Yes, yes.

Yeah, basically. And you want me to explain the whole thing, like at the end?

I mean, like, if you want to stop and let me carry on from there, we can take it back off. All right, there we go.

Yeah, he's all there because the reason he's doing this is because all for one can track him whenever he wants because he has like ragdoll search quirk.

True.

So I forgot knowing that thing, he doesn't want, you know, the villains to come after him while his friends are around because he loves them. He doesn't want to see him hurt. Even though they're capable. He knows how all for one does things. So he just does things on the run.

And in the process of doing all this, we see him helping out. Oh, gosh. What are their names? They have actual names, but I think their hero names are grand and Turtleneck. They're from the. The. What's it call it?

Grant, Reno and G. Well, Gran Torino is his mentor. Grant is the guy who can, like, do shockwaves kind of thing. Who was one of the students?

Oh, oh.

Yeah, yeah. Shindo maybe. I don't know, man. Yeah, I have trouble remembering one characters. There's way more to do.

Like, the more characters there are, the less I remember. So, like, they're trying to do their jobs, like working as heroes, you know, protecting people. But then Muscular shows up on the scene.

And if you remember Muscular, he's all the way back when they're having their training arc in the forest, he and Deku fought against each other, and he was barely able to beat him then. And now Deku's leveled up. Muscular got out of Tartarus. He wants revenge against Deku.

And it's revealed that Deku has gained some of the Abilities from the other users of One for All. Deku has beaten muscular this time around and gets sends him kind of back to prison.

And this is when we learn that he's also been working not only with All Might, but also with Endeavor, Best, Genus and Hawks who Know now what All One for All is. The select group knows and more people are going to learn in this arc.

And part of this is that Deku has gained some of the quirks of his past predecessors. I think we learned about Smokescreen and Fajin in this turn of events, right? Yeah. So Smokescreen is a Smokescreen pretty self explanatory.

And Fajin is kind of like a multiplier kind of effect. It's like when you kind of loosen your body up and do some exercising and it like makes you a little stronger and faster.

A kind of a lesser version of One for All, but like it works perfectly alongside One for All. Funny how that works. And then we see him being targeted by an assassin sent by all for One to murder him. Well, really just to mess with them.

Lady Nagant, who we find out used to be kind of the same way the Hawks was working with the Public Safety Commission and she would work as their assassin, kind of taking people out, killing them as need be because they were just that bad of villains and they weren't good for the prison system or anything like that.

And she has brought Overhaul with her to use him to identify Deku because he also escaped from the prison thanks to her and everything that was working to have, he can't use his quirk anymore in the same way because you know, Shikaraki did what he did best and decayed parts of them. But in that process, she and Deku kind of fight one another and reach an understanding of like, oh, you're what a true hero is.

You know, I shouldn't be doing this. But because of all for One being Offer One, he set something in there that would cause her to explode. But she doesn't die.

Because we can't have an attractive woman die in this series. We need them. So she makes it through.

So after this we see the other pro heroes kind of join with Izuku and All Might and they go down to try and figure out what all for One is doing. But it's a trap. And in the process of this, Deku is almost killed. And like All Might being the villain that.

Excuse me, All For One, being the villain that he is kind of like mocks All Might says, you're nothing, You're a loser. It's Deku's turn. It's his turn next for him to be savaged by me. And this is when we kind of get a little bit of what the other students are doing.

Like, they're very concerned about what Deku is doing because they've heard reports of this, him acting in a very vigilante kind of fashion, which is antithetical to their hero society. And our hero, Great Explosion, Murder God Dynamite, and the rest of Class A decide to join forces to go and get Deku.

And they end up talking to him and he's like, no, don't you understand? I can't stay with you guys. I have to leave. You're always in danger. And they're like, no, we're heroes. We signed up for this.

And so they have a little bit of a conflict there between them. Not really comes to blows so much. And it gets to the point where, you know, Chakra kind of speaks a little bit.

Then Bakugo speaks about how, like, back in the day, like, he was always, like, feeling inferior to Deku, even though, like, obviously he was the one who had the greater quirk and actually had a quirk. And he apologizes for everything that went on between them. And in the midst of this, Deku finally just kind of like collapses from exhaustion.

Then a couple minor things. We see him, you know, wake up, get a little better.

We see a lot of the civilians are now being brought to all the hero schools to protect them because their protection is far better than just living out in the open with the villains all around. We see as well, all Might goes to go meet Stain, who is still in prison because he stayed inside just because he knew he needed to be there.

And we learn that Shigaraki is about to reawaken again. So they have about a month, I think, to figure out where. That's right. It goes to three days.

Yeah, we figured this out soon because he's coming back out. And this is when all Might's like, okay, Japan, we can't do this on our own. We need to call out for help.

And rising to that call at the very end of this part of the arc is Star and Stripe heading straight from America to Japan. All right, so, Alex.

Yes.

Out of all that happens in this arc, do you have, like, a favorite character?

Favorite character? I don't know. I like a lot of them. Deku is definitely a favorite.

Yeah.

But because of, like, what he stands for and, like, his come up and all that, I don't know if I have a favorite, though.

That's fine. They're all just really good.

Yeah, they're all really good, complex characters in their own way, so. Which is really cool. Yeah.

My favorite, I'm gonna say I'll combine these questions we typically do favorite and then introduce. But for the sake of simplicity, I'm gonna say mine is actually Nagant. I enjoy her backstory a lot.

I mean, she's kind of what Hawks could have been if he had actually given in to despair and kind of, like, rejected the hero world.

And there's some really good questions brought up there of, like, it's a society worth saving if we have to have people like them around to do the dirty business that gets brought up here. But I also really appreciate how she's wrestling with all that.

But then she sees Deku trying to even save Overhaul's life, even though she knows everything he did to him and Arie and all this other stuff, and yet he's still trying to save a villain's life, and it kind of goes, oh, okay, well, maybe I was wrong about what a true hero is. I appreciate a character who can recognize her own flaws and then work on it even though they explode. But she's okay. She comes back.

Yeah, she does.

All right, how about a favorite scene or moment in this arc?

Oh, I know. I know the answer. Even though I've already. I've re watched this arc twice just to familiar my. Familiarize myself with it.

And like, the second time, I, like, I had the same emotions when Class A was trying to get Deku back. And then the conversation. Well, not conversation, but, like, the episode after that where the civilians were like, we don't want him.

Get that kid out of here. And Ochako was like, he's just a kid. Like, those two episodes, I was, like, tearing up, fighting tears, crying.

I'm like, man, that's like, I don't know, like, even a second run through, you would think that since you already know what's going to happen, you wouldn't, like, react the same way. But I was still reacting the way because, like, they were. Because, like, Deku, he's.

He's literally, like, on the brink of, like, killing himself because he wants to, like, save everybody, make sure everyone's good, everyone's okay. But then his friends are like, no, like, we're okay. Like, we can take care. Yeah, trust us. Like, we can help you. Like, accept our help.

Let us help you. And then the next episode where Ochako is like, heroes are always there to help others, but who's there to help them? I'm Just like, whoa.

Because she's right. Yes, she's right. So, yeah, that's my favorite. Those are 19.

Yeah. Excellent. Excellent choice. Because you understand everyone's motivations there. Like, Deku wants to keep everyone safe, knowing who he's up against.

He can offer. One can show up at any time and pretty much steamroll everyone if they don't have a proper plan in place.

Or he can send someone else to do his dirty work. So if he goes on his own, yeah, it's a lot harder for that to happen to the people he loves, but he puts himself at risk and they're like you.

That's unacceptable. Like, I, I, I understand your reasons behind it. You know, they're grateful, but at the end of the day, idiot, we love you. So, like, hang out with us.

They're more working together so you don't run yourself ragged. Because he does like he does. He looks very un Deku, like, throughout this arc, because there's very little positivity. Yeah, he's still a hero.

He's still doing good things, but it's. The wear and tear is very obvious. And if he stayed this way, it could have gotten a lot worse if they had to have intervened.

So that's a great choice for me. I'm going to go with, like, the rematch between Deku and Muscular, and because I'm always huge on.

You have earlier arcs with a hero or another Shonen character, what have you, and they face off against a bad guy, and it's a really tough fight, and they gave it their all and barely squeak out a victory at the end. And then I'm also huge on the. That villain comes back, but they didn't level up as much as the hero, and it's just over. Like, he makes a complete.

Another fool out of Muscular after he had just taken out two other heroes. Like, it's good to, like, see someone be put in their place.

Yeah, that was a satisfying fight. I almost forgot about that one.

Well, but speaking of fights, do you have a favorite fight?

Do I have a favorite fight?

Yeah.

My favorite fight, it's tied between in this arc.

That's fine.

Oh, in this arc, man. Dang it. Well, I know. Oh, yeah. No, my favorite fight is not in this arc.

You know what? Go ahead and tell me your favorite fight. You haven't been on the ones before, so I want to hear your favorite fight overall.

All right. Right. So it's tied. My favorite. I don't know. I always loved it. So the fight that Deku and Bakugo had in the. In the wherever area. That was that fight.

I don't know why. I love that kind of stuff. It takes me back to Naruto. When Naruto and Sasuke first had their like big. Their big fight. That's what it took me back to.

And so I really like this one. And it is also where they finally like, kind of came to terms of like how much they've each grown and how different they are.

And like, kind of started like their friendship for real. I kind of like that.

And then the other fight that's tied with it is when I forget, but it's when Deku first saved Eri from what's His Name with Overhaul. Oh yeah, Overhaul.

All the characters are in the series remembering everything and then remembering the arcs and remembering exactly when something happens. It's a lot.

Yeah, there's so much. But yeah, that fight because. Yeah, I don't know. That was so great choice.

So I. I guess the answer to that question too is going to be All Might offer one for me.

Oh yeah.

Just to see, like all might almost what he would have been at his prime, taking down all for One, using up the last of the embers inside of him or what he thinks are the last embers, just with the faint that he uses to take all for One out. Like the punk that he is. And like pointing to the cameras saying you're next and having the world interpret it one way.

But you know, Izuku knows it's for him. Oh, great moment. So, yeah, in this arc, what did you say is your favorite in this arc?

I don't know if my favorite, but the one that stuck out to me the most was when Deku took out. Ah, you said her name.

Nagant.

Nagant. Yeah, because it like it put it painted a dark side on heroism too. Because yes, heroes don't kill. Yet she was called to do that stuff.

So I like that fight because it was also like kind of a redemption thing for her too. Even though she almost exploded. Well, she did explode. I was explaining. She came back.

I think your Internet was funny for that one. I made the side of that we can't have a beautiful woman die in the series because, you know, we need them around.

Well, wait, did what's her name die?

Well, spoilers.

Anyway. If you haven't cut up. I'm sorry.

I just wanted to mess with you. You're golden, period.

I lost my. But yeah, I like that fight.

Yeah, but that's also my answer because of everything that has been mentioned before. It's like the. The clashing of ideals of Lady Nagant. It's like, well, I've seen how hero society actually works and.

And now the villains are coming in. I don't really like them, but what am I going to preserve? I'm just going to look out for number one and I'm going to do whatever it takes.

And then she sees someone who does the exact opposite of that and doesn't respond. You're just being naive. You're just an idiot. You're just a kid. It's like she has some of those thoughts, but at the end of the day she goes, oh no.

You're what I used to be or wanted to be. So why am I doing this now? I love when you can have a character conflict like that, where they realize, oh, you know, you can easy.

With every Shonen ever, you can always go, it's so easy. We can do to talk no jutsu every day, all day long. And now the villains always come back to the hero side. But you know, there's.

There's a good thing to show in something like that when you're portraying this, right? It's like reaching out in empathy to someone else who needs help, even if they themselves don't realize it.

To come back to who they used to be, to be better than they are right now. And Neku's fight versus leading to God, that's perfect for that.

All right, so we will move from there to the Star and Stripe arc, commonly one of the most least popular arcs in my hero, in many people's opinions. So we'll see how we feel. Alex, would you like to start us or you want me to go?

You go.

I will take all of it. So as we saw at the end of the last arc, Star and Stripe, who is the number one hero in America?

A very all might looking kind of costume and appearance to the point where people like, what is she like his daughter or something? Like, no, something different's going on there. She is traveling to Japan on top of a jet with her.

Her bros, who are all these American fighter pilots who have become like best friends with her and help her with her heroing in America. And they're breaking protocol because America and the rest of the world is like, nope, this is Japan's problem. It's not our problem.

We don't want anyone to lose their quirks to Shigaraki or all for one. But she's like, no, I'm the number one hero. I'm going to do what's right. And she heads that way.

And in the process, Shigaraki awakens and then goes after her with some Nomu. And this is when you find out that her quirk is known as New Order. And she can have two rules in effect at a time.

And she uses one of those rules to always keep her physique and powers to be similar to that of All Might. And the second rule changes all over the fight.

So it's kind of a game of cat and mouse between Shigaraki and Star and Stripe of who can get the edge over the other. Like, which quirk is she going to change with New Order and him figuring out her how her quirk works.

And it's revealed in all this that way, earlier on, when she was a kid, she was actually saved by all Might while he was, you know, training in America back in the day. And so heavily inspired by him, she chose to make herself kind of look like him in appearance and costume.

And that's why she kind of does what she does, because she wants to be the hero that he was to her, to everyone else. And that's what drove her to become number one in America.

And it's at this point that Shigaraki kind of figures out everything about her quirk and goes to steal it.

But in the process, she uses up one of her rules to make a rule that says, you know, if this quirk interacts with other quirks, those other quirks start dying off. That. That's keywords a little differently, but that's essentially what happens.

And so, yeah, Shigaraki kind of figures this out as he decays her, murders her, she's still able beyond the grave to affect him. And he realized, oh, no, if I keep her quirk, I'm going to lose every other quirk that I have.

So he then goes to try and find someone he can transfer her quirk to so he can keep the other ones. And a lot of his quirks end up dying, being taken away.

And like, her final, like, screw you to him is like, you had to deal with the after effects of this, yeah, you killed me, but you're way weaker than who you used to be. And he's able to find some random Joe Schmo, I think, give him her quirk and then keep the other quirks that he has.

And then, yeah, then for sure, like, the rest of the world's like, nope, Japan, you're on your own, that we don't care about you. Because if she's not making it out, our other heroes aren't making it out, just acting out of like cowardice and self interest.

And that's when we go back to 1A and where all might tell 7.

Now we have like a week before everything is kind of completed with everything, which is a lot better than it would have been because of Star and Stripe doing what she did. Anything you want to add?

No? All right.

Favorite character in this arc, I would.

Say Stars and Stripes.

Okay, yeah. What about her?

I mean, it's not every day you see like a superpower female character in an anime. So I thought first of all I was like, okay, she's cool. And then her quirk was cool. And the way she like kind of.

I just love those little things of how like even in death she's like, ha. Like, I love those things.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She, she's a character I have flip flopped on so many times because it's like aspects like, yes, I love that. And there's others.

I'm like, oh, you just exist so that you can Nerf Shigaraki in the final arc.

And I've gone all over the place on that because when I was reading this as it was releasing manga wise, I was like, okay, I know exactly why you exist. This is exactly what's going to happen to you. You're going to die and then he's going to lose some quirks or something like that.

And that's exactly what happened. And it was like, oh, so you've made this really powerful female character just so she can die. And that's a very cynical way of looking at it.

And there's a lot of criticism that can be levied that way, some of which is very valid. But over time I've grown to appreciate her a lot more to where she is.

My favorite character in this arc because I've focused more on the positive aspects that she brings in that she was inspired to be a hero by all might, much in the same way that Deku was. But then she used her quirk in a way to become the number one hero to look out for other people, emulating her fate.

Favorite, you know, superhero in the world. And what kind of superhero fan hasn't wanted to do that? At some point in time she got to actually live that out.

And her quirk, like when you first hear about it's like New Order. She can make anything happen. You go, what? Really? That's like Reality Warp and that's too powerful for the series.

But it's a little lesser than what you initially think it is. There are restrictions on it. She can make herself powerful, like all might, but she can't make herself as powerful as all Might.

And she only has one other rule that she can add, so there's a finite amount of what she can do and can't do. So good. But restrictions on your characters. Great. And I love her relationship with the bros. They have actual names, I guess, but they're just.

They're just American fighter pilots, and they're, like, doing the right thing.

They're acting all very Top Gun Maverick, kind of sense of the rules say to do this, but we're going to do this because the right thing is to head to Japan and take down the strength. Because if we don't take him out now, well, what happens later on when he takes over Japan?

Right.

We're all going to be screwed, so. And, like, she just, like, lifts them up and, like, they have this really fun relationship together. It's like, there's no romance or anything there.

It's just like, there's friends having fun. And, of course, her final action, as you mentioned, is stupendous. Yes.

Is it used essentially as a narrative way to just get rid of a lot of Shigaraki's quirks to make him nerfed a little bit, to make it more understandable when Deku will eventually Spoilers beat him because that's how, you know, CH manga are supposed to go. Yes. But she does it in a really cool way. And I'm still a little upset that we lose her.

And that's one thing we're going to be asking question later on about how we would have changed aspects of some of these arcs. And one of these would have been just to give you some spoilers about.

What I'm going to say without going into full detail, is to actually have Deku train under her for a while, and so we know a little bit more about her so that when she does go, there's more of an impact. Because I feel like there's still not as high of an impact as it could have had. But she still does a great job.

And I say that after, like, years of wrestling with this, like, strong female character just to be wiped out and murdered. It's not bridging in the case of, like, it would be for other characters, but it's not really the best portrayal. But she herself is a good character.

Mm.

All right, cd have a favorite scene or moment from this arc.

You know, I can't remember much of this arc, so I. I don't know if I can answer that question to the best. It's been a While since I've last.

Seen that is perfectly fine. One of the shortest ones, I think it's like five chapters and two episodes, but that's out of 500 some chapters, you know, hundreds of episodes.

I get it. No, it's taken there. I'm gonna go.

It's part of her fight with Shigaraki where she, like, kind of creates almost like a giant stand a la Jojo's and compresses the air around him in a weird way to try and like kill him for good. And it's this really cool scene that unfortunately doesn't work because she's not the main hero. It's not her fault, but like, it.

It looks really cool and she uses the rules as best as possible.

But it's also nice on Shigaraki's side of things because he realizes just not how weak she is, but what there are restrictions on what she can do because otherwise he should be dead. If she were able to do exactly what she said she was able to do. So it's good for the hero side of things and the villain side of things.

And this one's a bit of a cheat since there's only one fight in this arc. Once again, five chapters. What's your favorite? Yeah, it's just this one. Right? Do you have anything to add?

No, not really. Like I said, I thought it was cool. She in her. In death, she was like. But she still did help. But it also did suck that.

Yes. I mean, it's the only fight in the arc. It's my favorite in the arc by default. And it's. Is it the greatest fight in my hero?

But there are stakes involved. Yeah. Would I have written it differently? Yes. But for what we have in front of us, she is very capable. She's not an idiot.

Like, she plans things accordingly. It's not her fault. She's going up against someone who is intelligent enough to figure out her faults to where he is able to then take her out.

While at that same time, she also realizes her faults and then uses them against Shigaraki. So like, I think that's enough to make both characters competent without one making a character an idiot or anything like that. So it works fine.

All right. So both of these arcs together.

Just thinking real quick, going back to Lady Nagant, she has that whole thing where she, much like Hawks, wanted to be a hero and was trained to become like this super assassin instead. Taking out threats versus, you know, being a hero that everyone saw out on the streets.

Because the idea being is that she was protecting that society. What do you think about what the it's trying to say about something like that? Does a society. Is a society like that worth saving?

Society? Like what society talk about like her.

Society that has to have someone like her around to protect it. Is that society worth.

I would say yeah.

Okay.

Because. Because that whole thing about her, it just kind of just spelled out like it's not all.

Like obviously it's not all sunshine and rainbow and like, I don't know, it's not. And not even just her. Like what's Dane the hero killer? Like obviously his methods were not the greatest, but hit the reason why he did it though.

It kind of made me think because it's like, okay, a lot of these heroes, are they actually in it for the right reason? Yeah. Like are they there for the right reasons or just there for like the fame and whatever? Like is your heart in it?

So it's like, it's like characters like that, what it makes you think like, wow, there's another side.

Yeah.

So I think, yeah, I would say because I don't think they all choose that life. It just kind of like especially her, like she did choose that. Didn't want to do that. I don't think what I remember. So.

But I think at the end of the day I think somebody not to sound crazy. I feel like somebody has to do something like that because like yeah, like heroes don't kill.

But I feel like there are times where you have no choice but the world. You know what I mean?

So yeah, it's very simple dirty work.

Yeah.

And I'm, I'm with them. Like I'm not happy about it. Don't get me wrong.

Yeah.

But look, there are some things out there that you need extra normal means to take care of. And I know there's other people on the show who's. Who are going to disagree with us on this. And that's fine. They can be wrong.

But the idea being like we live in an imperfect world.

Yeah.

We live in an imperfect society and it's good to have heroes out there doing work. And I'm not talking about the real world, I'm talking about them specifically. First is you.

You need to have people who are willing to get a little dirty should they get dirty. We can debate the morality of that. But based on the rules that society has on, thousands are supposed to work.

If you let these people run amok, more people are going to die.

So my argument would be it's a greater good to allow someone to go out there and act like that assassin to take those people out while at the same time having people to keep those people making those decisions in check to make sure they're just not willy nilly. That's like killing people off the street who could maybe be a dissident or someone like that that cause issues in a political spectrum.

Yeah, that's an idealized version of something like that. But you need to have someone out there doing the dirty work.

No one likes security agencies around the world, intelligence agencies, but their job is to protect the nation they're supposed to, you know, be in and live in. So they do things that are very unscrupulous and then sometimes they go way too far.

And that's why we should have regulations around these things to make sure they can't do whatever they want. But for someone like Lady Nagant, you need someone like her because you need society to look at heroes foremost.

It's like the ultimate tier of what things are supposed to be like to inspire them to be that way themselves.

And then you have someone like her who does the dirty things where, yeah, she'll never get the fame and glory for it, but she can look at that society she helped protect.

Just much like hawks chooses to look at the situation and go, it was worth it because I made things easier for heroes or because they didn't have to worry about that person spreading this, you know, bioplague or, or whatever because I took them out of the equation.

Yeah.

And look, yeah, that's an easy thing to say in a fictional universe. And I know I'm not trying to conflate real and fictional here, but I get it.

I, I would be more of the opinion there's a greater good being achieved by allowing something like this to happen. Because you take someone out who could cause more harm.

Yeah, yeah.

But at the same time, you need to make sure there's someone around to make sure those people are being held accountable to their actions. Which is easy to say and a lot harder to do in practice.

Yeah, exactly.

But what was your take on when you, you learned that like the other nations of the world are like, nope, good luck. Sucks to suck Japan, you're on your own.

Well, you know, I have. Well, at first I was like, okay, I kind of understand why they would want to pull back, but at the same time it's like, she nerfed him.

This is the best time to come and pop off. Like, what? Like, okay, yes, rest in peace. But at the same time she literally like set it up for, for like she nerfed it. If everybody.

I feel like if all the number ones around the world could come together now, it would have been. And they would have had a better chance. I don't know. That's just. I think they should have went.

I mean, you get into things like you have to think about foreign interference in another country, in a sovereign nation. How do you do that? I understand that that's something like America wants to call itself the police force of the world.

And I'm mostly behind that idea. But that comes with repercussions for how you conduct that.

So sending other people, it sends a message about, oh, if I do it here, I could possibly do it there. And that's not what you're intending.

Maybe, but you have to think about those optics and then you have to think, oh, no, I don't want my number one heroes to lose their quirks too. Especially when maybe we're not as powerful as who the people are in Japan or something like that.

But at the end of the day, they're wrong because they're living out of fear and complacency rather than seeing someone in need and looking out for them.

And they're being very short sighted because, yeah, he's stuck to Japan right now, but what if after he's taken out all the pro heroes there, what is he going to do next? Is he going to be satisfied with Japan? The answer is no. Especially for like a card carrying villain. Like all for One.

Like his whole shtick is he wants to be the demon king of the world. Of the world.

Yeah. Not just all for One. Top dog.

Yeah. So I get it. But at the same time, it's just short sighted thinking.

Yeah.

Not wanting to risk something despite knowing if he gathers that power and steals all those other quirks along the way, you give him as long as he wants. You've just made him. Yeah. He made up the quirks that he lost from star and stripe. So you not striking at the right time.

Yeah, that part. Yeah.

Also there's. There's two of them running around right now. You got the. The for one and Shigaraki. It. It's all over the place in that regard.

Yeah, it's.

Well, Alex.

Yeah.

Do you have anything else you'd like to add?

No.

Okay.

I think no. That's it. Yeah.

So as far as rating and reviewing both arcs, starting with Dark Hero out of 10, what do you think you're gonna rank it?

I'm going to rank it.

Okay.

That. That's my. That's my favorite arc.

All right.

No question. No doubt. That's a. That's a 10. I just. I don't know. I just love stuff like that.

I love when the hero takes a dark path or coming back to the light and does some soul searching. I love it.

Yeah. Wow. Okay. Yeah, I'm throwing a nine. I'm still really positive on this. I just. And there's a reason we're going to be doing a bonus question later.

There's some things I'd like to change, so we'll get to that later on. If you can join us over on Captivate or Patreon and support us that way and you can listen to that bonus question.

So, yeah, I'm giving that a 9 out of 10. 10 out of 10 for you. How about a star and strip arc? What are you thinking?

Star Stripe? I don't know.

It was kind of annoying when other countries kind of pulled back at the end, but it was still pretty good, I would say, I guess seven out of ten.

Okay.

Yeah, I think died.

I think if you'd asked me, like, when I was reading the manga, I probably would have said, like, maybe 2 out of 10. 3 out of 10. Because I was just like that with how they handled it.

But, like, as I've given it more time to think about it and like, yeah, there's still some things I'd really change, including stuff we'll talk about in the bonus question, but I'm gonna give it a 6 out of 10 because I think ultimately it serves a good purpose in a story. Yes, they could have handled Star and Stripe better, but she herself made an impact that lasts for the rest of the series.

So without this arc happening, what happens later wouldn't happen. So I'm going to throw him a bone and give him a six out of ten.

Nice.

So, Alex, do you have a recommendation for the audience to try out, like.

For anything, Matches, anime, anything, anything, period? If to. To the people who like PC games, I'm really into peak right now. Really fun game. You should try with your friends. Okay.

Yeah, good. Me, I am really enjoying Star Trek. Strange New Worlds. It's been a really fun season. Once again, not a perfect season, but you know what?

It's Star Trek. It's fun. It's not Discovery, and I'm grateful for that. So thank you guys for all that you do.

Really appreciate you guys reaching out to us, asking us questions. If you want an episode topic for us discussed, send it our way. You can leave us questions and episode topic ideas.

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