My Hero Academia has finally returned with its fourth season, and initial reports about the premiere being a recap episode catching fans up to speed was a bit concerning. Recap episodes are often seen as anime filler detracting from the main story, but the actual Season 4 premiere managed this a lot better than initially expected. While the fourth season premiere did involve some recap, it was framed around an original story featuring a new character, freelance reporter Taneo Tokuda, who’s actually investigating Class 1-A following a hunch that All Might left behind a successor.
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By the end of the Season 4 premiere, Tokuda surprisingly discovers that Izuku Midoriya is indeed All Might’s successor, making him one of the few people to know Midoriya’s secret. While he’s not aware of One For All and its power, he does figure out everything else.
Throughout the Season 4 premiere, Tokuda follows Class 1-A under the guise that he’s there to write a story about the student’s daily lives. But his original pitch came with footage from after All Might’s fight with All For One. He took All Might’s “Now it’s your turn” declaration to mean he had a successor taking over his work as the Symbol of Peace, and suspected the kids of Class 1-A.
He starts out with six main suspects with Midoriya, Iida, Todoroki, Bakugo, Tokoyami, and Kirishima being of interest following their results during the Sports Festival. But he begins to eliminate them one by one as his deductions eventually lead him to suspect Midoriya. Confronting Midoriya later in the episode, Tokuda reveals his series of suspicious that lead him to figuring out Midoriya is All Might’s chosen successor.
Midoriya stepped in to save Bakugo from the slime creature at beginning of the series, and All Might was around to save them. All Might became a U.A. teacher at the same time Midoriya enrolled as a student, and he even spoke to the young Kota and found out how Kota was rescued as well. These various elements came together and brought Tokuda to his conclusion. But it’s not out of malice.
Tokuda tells Midoriya that he won’t be revealing his secret, and he too has a fondness for All Might. He was uneasy with All Might being retired, and seeing Midoriya being groomed as the next Symbol of Peace has him feeling much better. In fact, he sneaks in a photo with Midoriya that he’ll save to write a book all about it someday. Tokuda has all the confidence Midoriya will be ready for whatever comes next.
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 will also be launching its second big movie, Heroes Rising, in Japan this December.
