My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2

Episode 22

Was I the only one who genuinely felt like Captain Celebrity was going to die? Even though that didn't happen, that's very much what this episode seems to be building up to. I haven't seen this guy since last season, and I like that there's a reason for that. He has been working to clean up his image while he waits for legal and personal things to settle in America. But now that they have, there's not really a reason for him to stay in Japan. So this episode is all about giving him a proper sendoff, and everything just screams “this man is going to die soon.” That could still happen next week, especially since this episode goes out of its way to better explain what the captain's powers are, including their weakness. With this going-away event featuring a lot of prominent heroes, it's the perfect place for a terrorist attack!

I did miss Sean Schimmel as Captain Celebrity, and it's a huge wasted opportunity that he and All Might aren't going to share a scene just so he can play alongside Chris Sabat. It does feel like this episode did a little bit of character rewriting for Celebrity. The whole point of his character in season one was that he was kind of an egotistical jerk who kept getting into scandals because of his antics. That's why he had a falling out with his wife and needed a brand manager to avoid legal troubles in the first place. But this episode makes it sound like most of those situations were misunderstandings or straight-up lies. He definitely comes off as more of a lovable idiot who was easily taken advantage of, and that feels intentional to maximize the potential emotional damage of something happening to him. I don't think that was really necessary because by cleaning him up too much, it actually makes him come off as a bit less interesting to me. It also doesn't help that I haven't seen this character in forever, so the episode is laying it on really thick about how much of a lovable family man he is.

At least he's given a lot more fanfare than the actual plot of the show. I'm shocked that the episode finally had Koichi and Pop's past vigilante actions brought to the police as evidence, and it's sort of hand-waved away. Turns out that very little of what these two did could be considered illegal or worth pursuing criminally, and that makes sense. It means that any consequences or buildup to the whole “Vigilante” title really is only being carried by Knuckleduster, who has had a total of fifteen minutes in this season so far. I like that our leads are finally working directly with the heroes to gather evidence, but it feels like such an afterthought. Instead lets just fill the episode with cameos! Look, guys! It's Mirko and Endeavor!

I know there's a threat being set up with the bomb Nomu, but if all these heroes are going to be at this event, then will anything significant be accomplished? This is still a prequel, so the answer is most likely no. Whatever arc is being set up feels like a formality at this point. I don't know if this is a byproduct of the adaptation or the original manga it's based on, but I'm actually starting to get annoyed at where this show's priorities are.

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My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.