REVIEW: Chapter 51 (No, Iida, Stop!)

Gran Torino against the four-eyed noumu

Midoriya rushed out of the train, worried about Gran Torino.

Meanwhile, GT was engaged with the four-eyed noumu but the creature ignored him and started to attack civilians. GT observed that the noumu is quick. However, it appears to ignore its enemy and proceeded to cause destruction.

Just when GT was about to attack the noumu, a fiery blast came into the thing's direction.

Endeavor appeared saying he was aiming for the hero-killer and told GT he will handle the situation.

At first I did not realize the blast was fire until I saw Endeavor's lower face. I totally ignored the fact that this man is the hero who solved most cases so naturally Endeavor would've come into the same conclusion as Iida.

Endeavor appears!

Now that the number two hero is here, will All Might follow?

I wonder if Shouto Todoroki is with him, though. I always assumed Todoroki joined his father's hero office (it's nice to key in Todoroki's name again.)

Midoriya looks real mature in this panel

Back to Midoriya.

He ran towards the direction people are running away from. He heard someone hell the name "Tenya!" and went there.

He witnessed the destruction the other two noumus had done and saw heroes trying to contain the situation.

The heroes are having a difficult time to defeat the noumus

The Merman Guy was there and was loudly despairing because he couldn't find Iida. I understand his situation. Of all times, the kid you're charged with was nowhere to be found. You're responsible for his safety and there are monsters in the city.

It was from Merman Guy that Midoriya heard that Iida was missing.

Midoriya was told to get himself to safety by one of the heroes and he apologetically said yes.

He realized that Stain is in Hosu and went in search for Iida. Midoriya knew that Iida will try to take down the villain who attacked his brother and he was worried.

Tomura and Black Mist are seen, again and we got an interesting flashback from Tomura. Before his attack at Hosu, he was talking with his sensei. From this flashback we gathered the following information: There are six noumus currently operational but none on the same level as the one that attacked USJ.

From this we can assume that:

More noumus are being created and
Either the three noumus are weaker or stronger than the one that attacke USJ.

Tomura's sensei gave him three and I can sense these three are weaker than the other three left.

Tomura's reason for wanting to have the noumus was only because he doesn't like Stain and would like to smash things not to his liking. He wants the world to forget Stain after the sun had risen.

Tomura displayed another petty attitude this time. Just because he doesn't like Stain, he'll go on a rampage so the world will forget the hero-killer.

Now, Iida was actually fighting Stain.

Stain said he let Iingenium live to feed rumors.

But Stain was too strong for Iida, Stain's spiked boots hit Iida's right arm and when he pinned Iida to the ground, his blade pierced through Iida's other arm.

Stain said the brothers are weak because they're fakes.

Iida responded by yelling that his brother was a splendid hero because he gave him a dream and guided so many people. Iida said he will kill Stain.

Stain replied to Iida that he should save the hero first, the one Stain was about to kill before Iida attacked. Stain said,

"Before concerning yourself over yourself, Go rescue others. Do not brandish your power for your sake. Becoming seized by hatred for the enemy before your eyes, merely to satisfy your own selfish desires... That is the act furthest from the title of 'hero'."

Iida felt unable to move. Stain was about to stab him when out-of-nowhere, with Torino-like moves, Midoriya was able to connect a powerful OFA Detroit Smash on Stain's face.

Then Midoriya declared he came to save Iida.

*end of chapter

OOOOH! What a cliffhanger!

There are plenty of information we gathered in this chapter. Gran Torino fought so long ago he couldn't remember the last honest fight he had. Did he really retired as a hero earlier than expected?

Endeavor called him old man, there was no recognition. GT must have been an unpopular ero in his day. Maybe he was known but he looked so different now!

It could also be that in Gran Torino's time. heroes are not marketed and advertised like they are now so it's likely that there are unknown heroes who do well to help but are not given publicity.

I really did not expect to see Endeavor, shame on me. Will he be the one to save Midoriya from Stain? Or will Gran Torino come and rescue Iida and Midoriya?

It will be nice if Endeavor witness how Midoriya will fight Stain. Midoriya will do something awesome and Endeavor will realize there is another one who might be Shouto's prospective rival in the future.

Man oh man, that would be good!

Then there's Tomura who does not need any reason other than he does not like Stain so he'll destroy a populated city. His sensei sure is not giving up hopes in this stubborn, man-child student of his.

Let's now discuss the enigma that is Stain.

He gave me the Itachi-Lelouch vibe because of the way he lectured Iida about the merits of being a hero. That is, putting other people first before your personal feelings and using your power not for yourself (but for the greater good?).

Was he a former hero who got defeated and rejected because he couldn't generate income anymore? Was he someone who was too outspoken about how he wanted to change the system, he was betrayed by the people he trusted? Was one of these questions the reason the upper part of his face is covered with bandages and he's breathing heavily? He also got Gaunt All Might's face shape.

Did All Might gave him false hopes that's why he wants to kill him?

There are plenty of questions that spurned because of that statement from Stain. How could he lecture about saving others when you kill people?

I think, he intentionally made himself a villain and cause so much despair because he wanted the world to see a single form of true evil. The people will unite because they now have a common enemy.

Stain is willing to sacrifice himself so the world will know what it takes to become a hero. The people will now have standards about who the real heroes are. What I meant by this is that whoever killed the hero - killer will be the ultimate hero.

Maybe, by shedding the blood of the innocent, he can change society. That's why he took the name Stain. He's someone stained by doing sinful things. He also added hero-killer because he will be the one who will set the bar of who are deserving to be called hero.

Was also that the reason Stain wants to kill All Might? Murdering the Symbol of Peace will create you the Ultimate Evil the world is afraid of. There will be a clamor among heroes about who will defeat Stain and become the hero who sought justice for the murder of All Might.

Stain might be hiding some noble cause behind his unacceptable acts but killing people is still wrong. Heroes might be viewed as noble people who do noble acts but some of them do these things for selfish reasons which are not all about just fame and money. It's still unfair of Stain to try and kill these heroes. Wait, does he have a hitlist?

So much irony in this character. I had hoped for someone with badass attitude that equals the appearance but I did not expect someone with such complicated ideology.

Probably Deku's current Most Awesome Moment

Now that Midoriya comes face to face with Stain, I don't believe he will kill Midoriya. He might be lenient towards him since the first words Stain heard from Midoriya was he'll rescue Iida. Midoriya might also reason about their friendship which is soooo common in shonen that I won't be surprised of we see it here - in this instance

Or Stain will see the similarity of Midoriya's power to All Might he might perceive him as another fake-hero-in-the-making and decide to kill him..

I like how this manga tackles about the grey areas of heroics. This is not a story where good guys have good intentions, no. There are bad guys veiled with the name heroes and there are good guys fighting undef the wrong flag.

Well, I won't wait that much since I posted this review late (shame!) and the next chapter is about to come out. I can't wait!