My Hero Academia Season 5 episode 19 shifts focus from the students of Class 1-A to their homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. He and Hizashi Yamada invited to speak with Kurogiri at the high-security prison Tartarus. This episode focuses on the creation process necessary to produce Nomu. The Nomu are deceased individuals whos corpses have been modified by Kyudai Garaki. They come in numerous “grades” ranging from “Lower-Tier, Middle-Tier, Upper-Tier, Near High-End, and High-End.” So far in this series we have only seen one High-End Nomu, Hood. On the ride to Tartarus, Hizashi and Shota are agitated at the news that their dead friend, Oboro Shirakumo, is the corpse Kurogiri is based on.

Gran Torino hopes Shota and Hizashi can get Kurogiri to speak. In a flashback we briefly see Shota, Oboro, and Hizashi planning on starting an agency together. However, Oboro was soon killed in an accident during work study. Shota isn’t convinced that their connection will matter, but, Torino believes it’s possible to “reawaken Oboro Shirakumo’s attachments.” If Hizashi or Shota can’t manage that, they police will ask his family. Motivated to prevent his parents from witnessing what happened to their son, Shota activates his Quirk, Erasure.

The three of us can be heroes together

Kurogiri wakes. He asks “how Tomura Shigaraki is doing?” The question triggers a memory in Shota. Oboro was a caring guy and Kurogiri’s concern for Tomura reminds Shota of his friend. Shota talks too Kurogiri as if he’s Oboro, revealing he’s as teacher like he’s casually talking to an old friend. This situation is parallel to the relationship between Kakashi and Obito in Naruto. Like Kakashi, Shota is the stern teacher that takes teamwork seriously. They both seemed to develop this no nonsense approach due to the death of a childhood friend, only to see that friend return as a villain. Shota Aizawa has always been a character that expresses little emotion.

In this episode, he breaks down, crying at the sight of what’s happened to Oboro. Aizawa’s questioning manages to create some disturbance in Kurogiri, who claims to have “no idea what he’s talking about.” The Nomu’s are a disturbing abuse of science to manipulate life. Preventing the dead from resting in peace, Kyudai Garaki, erases what made them human in the first place. Turning them into mindless soldiers. Kurogiri appears to be different, specifically he’s smarter than the typical Nomu. When it appears Kurogiri has returned to being a Nomu, his shadow that covers his face, reveals Oboro’s underneath. Overwhelmed, Kurogiri passes out, ending the session. However, Kurogiri did reveal one important thing, the location of Garaki.