My Hero Academia: Season 5, Episode 6: Class 1-B steps up

In My Hero Academia, Season 5, Episode 6, the second round of the Joint Training Arc concludes. In the last episode, Class 1-B took advantage after Kinoko Komori began using her Quirk, Mushroom. Momo orders her teammates to “regroup.” However, before they can Manga uses his Comic Quirk to create walls of onomatopoeia. His strange abilities are confusing at first but apparently when he manifests these “onomatopoeia” they have different effects:

• KABOOM! BANG! BLAM! BONK!; Creates huge, sturdy letters that crash through an area and function as a wall.
• DAMP; Creates letters that act as a humidifier.
• BOING; Creates bouncy letters that can rebound projectiles.

The effects of these words are always applied. For example, when Manga shouts “humidity” the mushrooms grow faster and bigger. Manga uses his Quirk to isolate Momo from the others, assuming that if they separate the leader, team Class 1-A would fail. Itsuka hopes to defeat Momo and increase her team’s advantage. Using her Big Fists Quirk, she overwhelms Momo with her fists. Momo refuses to give in. She creates a cannon and fires off her “lucky bag.”

Fumikage and Yuga are flying around trying to locate the teammates. Suddenly, Shihai grabs Yuga and Fumikage is overwhelmed by Kinoko’s mushroom and Manga’s solid onomatopoeia. Class 1-B has Class 1-A on the ropes having successfully separated Momo and hidden. Feeling backed up against the wall, Fumikage needs to find Class 1-B. He is released when he and Toru open Yaoyorozu’s Lucky Bag. This is her Super Move and within it are three spray cans of ethanol (fungal pesticide) and infrared goggles for Fumikage.

Elsewhere, Yuga gets imprisoned. Armed with the goggles, Fumikage zeros in on Shihai and Kinoko, while Toru attacks Manga. Fumikage uses his Black Abyss: Sabbath, he captures Shihai and Dark Shadow grabs Kinoko. When it looks like Class 1-A has once again bested Class 1-B, Fumikage begins to choke. In a surprising brutal move, Kinoko has used her Quirk to cause a split gill mushroom to sprout in his lungs. I’m starting to like Kinoko, she has a twisted personality.

Class 1-B steps up

This arc exposes us to more of the heroes Quirks but also their personalities. Shihai clearly has a crush on Kinoko. The problem is Class 1-B is likely going to go back into obscurity after this arc. Class 1-B win 4-0, but it wasn’t easy. In any anime or manga, the audience is trained to expect the main character to win. In this arc, we expect Class 1-A to win and feel the need to root for them. This is understandable. We know these characters and want them to be successful. However, we should want Class 1-B to succeed as well especially if they’re all going to have to fight against Tomura and All For One.