My Hero Academia: The Overhaul Arc

The overhaul arc in My Hero Academia changed my whole perspective on the show. I would rate the arc a 9.5/10, with only a couple of complaints being on character introductions. Overhaul is a cool, dark character who is mentally twisted. His quirk is broken too and is similar to Shigarakis. He can destroy or create any matter that he touches with his hands. He has a very intimidating presence, and he does not care for anyone but himself and his organization, the Shie Hassaikai. His goal was to create a monopoly over the hero world by taking their powers away and selling them the only way to get them back. However, what he does to achieve this goal is what makes him such a scary character and is the major plot point for the arc.

Eri is a young girl who is the granddaughter of the former leader of the Shie Hassaikai. Overhaul basically took the leader position from Eris grandfather, Sauros, rendering him unconscious until his goal was complete. He did this because when Overhaul proposed the idea to Sauros and the rest of the organization, they denied him multiple times. Overhaul being fed up with being denied, and confident in his plan to raise the organization into glory, he literally took the organization from Sauros. Overhaul led the group with an iron fist and took Eri to use her for his plan.

Eri has the ability to rewind a person's bodily state. However, she cannot control this ability and it is very dangerous. With this being such a broken ability, Overhaul used Eri for her DNA and ability to create bullets that rewinds the targets bodily timeline to erase their quirk. How was he using her? He was turning her body into bullets by basically destroying her with his quirk then regenerating her with his quirk.

Overhaul mentally, physically, and emotionally abused Eri. He made her feel bad, making her believe that people were getting hurt because of her, and that the only way to keep people safe is by staying with and listening to him. Eri is a great character to explore for the show. What makes her such a great character with great potential is that there is a lot of trauma to be unpacked, and her ability is so strong she can become someone very important in the show. After her rescue, it is nice to see her introduced to the world and life without being abused.

I love this arc because of the build up to the rescue mission, and how to rescue mission played out. Mirio Togata and Deku passing Eri and Overhaul on the street was genius. The sense of guilt that was created made the rescue mission hold a lot of weight and pressure to get the job done. Then, as the mission played out, there were many aspects that made it interesting. For one, the League of villains betraying Overhaul. The fight between Togata and Overhaul was great, and Togata losing his quirk was good for the arc as well. It added a sense of danger and consequence for Deku and everyone else fighting, knowing the consequences that could be suffered. Deku's final fight with Overhaul was good as well. All the hero's working together for save Eri was great. It was nice to see everyone attempt to save a abused vulnerable child. The purpose of the mission get the viewers on board with it and makes the viewers really invested in the success of the mission.

The only thing about the arc that was a problem is how characters were introduced, and their role on the arc as a whole. UAs big three of Togata, Tamaki Amajiki, and Nejire Hado were introduced to class 1A. Night eye, All-Might's old sidekick, was also introduced. Night eyes agency was the agency Deku chose to work at alongside Togata. Both Togata and Night eye suffered consequences during the rescue mission. Togata lost his power, Night eye lost his life. This would have been more heart wrenching and more impactful if these characters were not just introduced. Togata stays relevant in the show and has hope for his powers returning. We explore his character a lot, and his ambitions so his loss hurt for viewers. Night eyes death however could have been written better if he was introduced earlier, or at least mentioned and talked about through out the show before his introduction. That way, his death would hit the viewers a little harder than it did. But at least the show was not scared for the protagonist side to suffer casualties.

However, the arc was very engaging, as we explored a lot about All Might and Night eyes relationship and their falling out, which foreshadows All Mights grim future. We also get a look into Overhauls traumatic past and meet a twisted but very cool antagonist. We also meet a few import characters in the UAs big three and now get to see Eri develop and grow with her power.