Warning: Spoilers for My Hero Academia Season 6, Episode 9The latest episode of My Hero Academia took a break from the action and featured a flashback showing how Deku learned to control his new powers. As it turns out, All Might had a rather surprising choice of mentor in mind: his fellow students.
Ever since Deku’s first Blackwhip incident in season 5, he has begun to uncover the Quirks of the previous users of One for All, which have been stored inside the Quirk and transferred along with it. Blackwhip happened to be the first to manifest, but there are plenty of others. All Might suspected more might materialize, including the Quirk of his former master Nana Shimura, Float. Knowing what kind of abilities Deku will need to learn to use, All Might sets up a special training session.
In that session, he asks that Deku train his Blackwhip alongside Tsuyu Asui, who can perform many tricks with her frog-like tongue that might be applicable to Blackwhip, like grabbing things or swinging around. When it came time for Deku to learn how to maneuver in the air, Ochako Uraraka was called in. She used her Zero Gravity Quirk to make Deku weightless and allow him to float in the air, even before he had actually managed to manifest the Float ability. While weightless, Deku was able to figure out a way of using his Air Force technique to change his direction of travel and speed in midair, ensuring that whenever Float did manifest, he’d be able to use it immediately–which is exactly what happens when the flashback ends.
The Brilliance of Training with Fellow Students
Since All Might never actually seemed to be able to use any of the past users’ Quirks during his time with One for All, he really didn’t have much training to offer as to how to use them. All Might did make a point of offering Deku all the information he had about the previous users of One for All, which did include some data on their Quirks, but reading about them and using them are two completely different things. Finding other people with similar Quirks was the obvious move, but instead of searching out pros, who were likely busy preparing for the raid on the hospital and the villa, he turned to the students in Class 1-A. After all, these students have had these Quirks their entire lives, and have just spent the past year training hard to master them; if they’re capable enough to be sent in the field for work-study or this mission against the villains, then they’re capable enough to teach each other. Working with his friends also likely helped Deku to pick up these techniques faster, as he’s seen them in action plenty of times and knows their abilities well.
While flashing back to Deku’s training wasn’t the most exciting thing to happen in My Hero Academia this week, it was an important move nonetheless. It showed how Deku has already developed a grasp on this new power, and it let characters like Ochako and Tsuyu get to have a little time in the limelight.
New episodes of My Hero Academia are currently streaming on Saturdays via Crunchyroll.
