Boy, Vigilante is just really good. It should be getting way more hype than it does, but when you consider that Boku no Hero Academia’s fanbase is one of the most intrinsically negative in animanga history, I guess it’s not surprising. Most of these people would bitch about getting a box of diamonds gift-wrapped in $100 bills. I’ve never been sure exactly why that is – big WSJ fanbases tend to complain for fun, but it seems worse with this franchise than any I can remember.
This ep was kind of a distilled essence of what makes Illegals so damn good. Tight, focused storytelling. Total clarity on the character dynamics and the themes. Enough of the big names we all know to tie it all together without crowding out the ones this series is really about. The trio dynamic is an interesting one for sure, with Pop theoretically holding herself at a bit of a remove (even issuing legal disclaimers), but clearly emotionally committed. She and Kouichi both see the danger in Knuckleduster’s approach – “just a little bit of overkill” is how he puts it, but as Pop says, that’s still overkill.
Meanwhile, a certain cat has been let out of the bag much earlier here than in the manga. I can’t imagine anyone struggling to recognize that voice on the other end of the line with Hachisuka Kuin. The anime could have worked around that but chose not to, interestingly. All For One lectures Hachisuka-kun not to go around indiscriminately distributing Trigger. There’s a certain type he’s looking for – “passion” is needed. He also contradicts her concern about the vigilantes who keep interfering with their disturbances. Leave them be, AFO says – they enable him to gather combat data without heroes or the police getting involved. In whatever long game he’s playing, the status quo with them works just fine.
One of the subjects Hachisuka lures in (not with the draw of enjo kousai in this case, though she uses that too), who’s pretty pissed off to begin with (AFO would approve I suppose) turns out to be quite the formidable foe. This is a pretty telling measure of just how badass Knuckle really is, because he goes toe-to-toe with that monster despite seemingly being quirkless. He reads the enemy, figures out their weakness, takes his punishment and brings the beast down. Overkill or no, he’s seriously impressive to do what he does against enhanced foes with only the power of his fists and smarts (and brass knuckles).
A certain familiar hero, Ingenium, has his hands full with another enhanced villain. He crashes out chasing him, forcing him to rely on his airbags to survive. On a morning jog he runs across Kouichi practicing Slide and Glide, and being a movement-based hero he’s immediately interested. Ingenium gives Kouichi in invaluable tip – rather than trying to stop with no brakes, just accelerate in the opposite direction to slow yourself down. He gives Kouichi a pep talk about the value of speed in the hero game, and even offers him a business card for his “Idaten” agency. Kouichi protests that he’s not licensed, but Ingenium assures him that can always be remedied on the job.
In fact, Ingenium never is able to catch that bat villain (even with agency help), who knows the ins and outs of the city better than he does. It falls to the vigilantes to do it – The Crawler and Knuckleduster anyway. Ingenium is a standup guy – he could be self-righteous or pissed, but he’s happy the threat is off the streets and prepared to look the other way. He does get his business card back from Kouichi the next time they meet – illegal is illegal, and that’s not something he has the power to change. But he doesn’t judge, even discourage – a realistic approach if ever you’ll see one. The right one for the job is key to everything.
What Vigilante ultimately stands for, I think, is exposing the cracks in the facade of hero culture in a way the parent series never could (both thematically and for reasons of simple time pressure). I think a lot of this comes to the age-old “hero we want, hero we deserve” idea. The hero system is there to stand against generational threats like All For One and Shigaraki, sure. But those are rare, by definition. Most of the time it’s there to create a perception, something society needs in order to function in this mythology. Heroes who drink the Kool-aid, like Ingenium and All Might, certainly exist. But to the people trying to get by where the cameras never go, a different sort of hero is called for.
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