My Hero Academia Teases Pop Step’s Upsetting Status

As My Hero Academia: Vigilantes prepares for its final battle, fans have seen Koichi and Kazuho ripped apart. Kazuho had been kidnapped by Number 6, and has since transformed into a villainous new kind of Pop Step after being taken over by Queen Bee. But as the world sees it, Pop Step is now a dangerous criminal who will be stopped without prejudice. Now Koichi is doing his best to save her, but the latest chapter of the series finally showed us a little bit of this ongoing conflict from Pop Step’s perspective. And it’s unsettling.

Chapter 77 shows how Koichi has been training in order to save Pop Step from her current predicament, but then shows us how much more treacherous of a situation this is going to be for the two of them. In the chapter, we see Pop Step bloodied and nearly broken as she cries over Koichi possibly forgetting her.

This arc of the series has been squarely focused on the partnership between Koichi and Kazuho. When up against a romantic partner, Kazuho is forced to confront the feelings she has been building for Koichi during their work as vigilantes together. She then strived to convey her feelings with an original song, but was soon tricked by Number 6 and kidnapped.

This flood of emotions is now being exploited by Queen Bee, which has taken root in her left eye. This confirms theories we had before about Pop Step’s immediate villainous transformation, and Chapter 77 sees Kazuho continue to struggle with this parasite. As he eye bleeds, her mind is filled with violent thoughts confusing strong feelings of love and hate.

Kazuho’s romantic feelings for Koichi will be turned into violent feelings for him, and we’ll soon see what that means for their partnership/relationship in the manga going forward. After teasing a romantic pairing for the two for so long, it will now become the focus of the final arc as the both of them have to confront those feelings in a very real way.

But what do you think? Were you distressed after seeing Pop Step’s current situation? What do you think the final battle with Koichi will look like? Will she be able to free herself from Queen Bee’s control? What is Number 6’s plan exactly? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!