My Review Academia S5 E16: Filler Time!

The studio is playing with fire, sliding a filler episode into an already cramped schedule. Are they really sure they can fit this in with the rest of the Endeavor arc and the villain academia arc?

While Deku, Bakugo, and Todoroki are training with Endeavor, we cutaway to see what Uraraka and Tsu are up to! They’ve gone back to Ryukyu’s agency, where they get a request to team up with Selkie, the hero Tsu interned with back in the season two filler episode! Together, they work to catch a group of criminals selling Trigger, a Quirk-enhancing drug!

Only after an extensive beach scene, though. It’s very important that the audience see all the girls in bikinis doing cute things. It’s crucial for the fan-service- I mean, the plot.

Yeah, this episode is loaded with ‘cute girls do cute things’ moments. Hell it’s how the episode opens up! While the main three are running around doing hero stuff, saving lives in high-stakes situations while the villains make ominous preparations for a massive battle, the girls are… eating cake and playing on the beach. All because of a very weak reason that’s explained in one line. It makes the stakes feel so low that it’s hard to care.

Does that seem patronizing to anyone else? Just me? Okay.

This plot also features the Quirk-boosting drug, Trigger. Which… doesn’t make any sense. I thought the whole point of Overhaul using Eri’s blood back in season four was that she was the only one capable of making something that could enhance/take away Quirks. Am I wrong? Whatever, it’s just filler, who cares?

I do…

It’s nice to see Selkie and the others come back from that filler episode in season two. Although do we need a flashback to a filler episode in a filler episode? Why do you need to pad out an episode that you have complete creative control over? And Selkie’s whole ‘cute/not-cute’ gag got old within the first five minutes; even he realizes it in the end.

The animation this episode is really stiff and rough. It’s clear they’re saving the sakuga train for the rest of the season. It feels like even the animators don’t want anything to do with this one.

Like, in terms of narrative, this isn’t a bad episode. But it spends more time focusing on the girls being cute on the beach. Why can’t we focus on them being badass and taking down drug dealers?! It’s still better than the average shounen filler episode. But it’s not one I’d be excited to revisit upon a series rewatch.

Also, what’s with that cliffhanger? It reveals some blue-skinned pope-looking motherfucker who is clearly a villain. Is it setting up another filler episode? A movie? What are they aiming for here?

I don’t care. Can we go back to the plot now?