My Hero Academia Recap: “RUSH!”

My Hero Academia‘s third season continues on Toonami, and the first phase of the Hero License Exam is nearing its end. It’s been a battle for dominance so far, and this final episode is challenging Class 1-A even further as the number of potential passing slots dwindles down. That means that the remaining students will be battling harder than ever in order to make it to the final stage of the exam and get their hero licenses.

What is the fate of Midoriya and the others? Did Class 1-A manage to make it through this first test scot-free? Read on to find out everything that happened on the latest My Hero Academia on Toonami!

1. The first phase of the Hero License Exam is winding down, and the remaining students are trying their best to be one of the final 38 people to pass. Ketsubutsu goes over their strategies, and Shindo mentions how the schools are all fighting at full strength and have thrown everything into chaos. The few remaining slots are causing others to panic, and Shindo is ready to take advantage of everything.
2. Meanwhile, Suiketsu’s Shishikura is attacking Bakugo and Kaminari and prepares to turn them into hunks of meat with his quirk. But Bakugo can counter every one of his attacks quite easily. This soon doesn’t turn out to be the case as Shishikura manages to sneak one of his fingers and turns Bakugo into a hunk of meat too. But Bakugo manages to give Kaminari one of his grenades before he does.
3. Shishikura reveals that he’s not in this test to pass, but instead is using his time to purposefully thin the herd. Kaminari uses the grenade Bakugo gave him to take Shishikura by surprise, and it turns out Kaminari got an upgrade that gives him a projectile that will help him shoot down opponents with his electricity. Fighting this way, he doesn’t have to worry about shocking others by mistake.
4. Kaminari realizes Bakugo was using weaker attacks to avoid hurting Kirishima and the other meatballs, and Kaminari gets Shishikura to realize he’s been wrong. With Shishikura damaged, Kirishima and Bakugo break out of their meat transformations and defeat him. Then the remaining meatballs begin to revive, and only 30 spots remain.
5. Meanwhile, Midoriya, Uraraka, and Sero enact their plan. Sero and Uraraka strapped tape to a couple of boulders and trap a bunch of opponents on the ground. Midoriya doesn’t back down when one of the other students pleas to pass the exam, and he, Uraraka, and Sero all get their required targets to pass.
6. The remaining Class 1-A students are struggling, and Iida finds Aoyama hiding by himself. He’s scared, and wonders how Iida will feel if everyone else passes instead of him but Iida doesn’t mind. He still wants to help everyone as much as he can. Kaminari, Kirishima, and Bakugo all pass too, bringing the total to 82 passes thus far.
7. Bakugo says he isn’t surprised Midoriya has passed with the “quirk he got” and says he must have made that borrowed power his own. This takes midoriya by surprise, but it’s clear that Bakugo has figured out Midoriya was telling the truth about his quirk long ago. With only 18 spots remaining, it’s going to be tight for the other 11 in Class 1-A to pass.
8. As the chaos unfolds, Aoyama tells Iida to leave him behind. The eight Ketsubutsu students all pass, and only 10 spots remain. The remaining Class 1-A members all begin to panic as they wind down, and Aoyama begins to fire his laser into the sky. Aoyama chooses to stand out and help Iida pass by striking those who try and attack him.
9. He says his ultimate dream is to be equal with the others who attend the school, and soon a wave of students attack. But before they can make their mark, the other Class 1-A students arrive to protect Iida and Aoyama. Ashido tells Aoyama that seeing his laser helped the others to regroup and help each other pass.
10. The remaining Class 1-A members, along with Shiketsu’s Camie (who snuck one in at the end), all make it through the first phase of the exam. But when the students all gather, they find that the arena has been purposefully destroyed. The next phase of the exam is to rescue those who have been caught in the damage.

My Hero Academia was created by Kohei Horikoshi and has been running in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump since July 2014. The story follows Izuku Midoriya, who lives in a world where everyone has powers, even though he was born without them. Dreaming to become a superhero anyway, he’s eventually scouted by the world’s best hero All Might and enrolls in a school for professional heroes. The series has been licensed by Viz Media for an English language release since 2015. My Hero Academia is gearing up for an even bigger end of 2019 with a new film in theaters later this year too.