 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「断罪/線」 (anzai/Issen)
“Judgment/Crossing Lines”
Episode 5
As you get deeper into Vigilante: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals, you recognize that diminished expectations are a powerful recurring theme. Maybe that’s one of the reasons it’s underappreciated. With battle shounen some fans want big action set pieces and soaring ideals and good vs. evil showdowns. This series starts out with Kouichi’s disappointment in his university life and builds from there. His heroism is centered on knowing what he isn’t capable of as much as what he is, and acting within the confines of those limitations. It’s not exactly glamorous but it makes for a pretty compelling personal story.
“My place is surprisingly spacious” is definitely copium at work. It’s better than to say “my place is a quonset hut on top of an abandoned building”. And while one could dwell on the fact that freeloaders come into their shack and eat and drink their meager provisions without paying a Yen, Kouichi focuses on the fact that at least he has company over. For a kid who had dreams of being a hero scattered like dust in the wind, it’s a fitting outlook on life. It’s obvious he’s had a lot of practice.
The importance of that lost dream goes deeper than the event itself. Turns out Kouichi missed his entrance exam for hero high school when he was diverted by a drowning boy, who he jumped into the river to save. In the end it wasn’t a boy at all (Kouichi still doesn’t know that), and the river was knee-deep. It’s the sort of low-grade heroism that suits Kouichi – and at least the water was cold. In the end it wasn’t a boy either, but a girl named Haneyama Kazuho – now known to most as Pop☆Step. Kouichi gave Kazuho his limited edition All Might hoodie before he left – and today it’s the only release in the entire set he’s missing.
Pop’s feelings for Kouichi certainly come into clearer focus now, though she backs away from her plan to come clean (and return the hoodie) when Knuckleduster is at the shack when she comes over to do so. When they go off on patrol that night Oji-san says he has other things to do (without elaborating), leaving the pair of them on their own. This is a problem when they run into a familiar face, the hardening villain they defeated once already. He’s new and improved, thanks to an enhanced variant of Trigger that Hachisuka is field-testing for her boss, All For One.
Here again, we see Kouichi trying to manage his reality. He can’t take this villain out on his own, so he resolves to lure him away from people while Kazuho calls the cops. But because the villain is stronger and faster than before, it becomes increasingly difficult for him to avoid taking damage. The Crawler looks to be in serious trouble, but help arrives in the nick of time. Not a hero, it seems, but another vigilante – a masked figure named Stendhal (seiyuu name redacted). Stendhal stops the villain’s attacks, and everyone scatters when the police arrive on the scene.
What we see after is evidence that Stendhal is a true vigilante in the darkest sense of the word – he executes his sense of justice with no restraint. Meanwhile the middle school pair tell Kouichi and Kazuho that a legendary sempai from their school wants to speak to them. It turns out to be “Dox & Murder” guy, someone they have no interest in ever meeting again. What he wanted is unclear, but he’s also the next target on Stendhal’s list, so his role in the story is clearly far from over.
Episode 6
An episode like this one perfectly illustrates, I think, how Illegals manages to pull off such a difficult balancing act. It’s able to be both an accessory to the parent series and a free-standing entity in its own right, and be essential in both roles. It’s only natural that someone like Stain would be part of Vigilante, given its themes. But giving him a believable origin story is quite an achievement. One of the most legendary characters in the franchise (I would argue its most interesting villain) is a risky proposition to take on, but his story as depicted here settles into series canon with ease.
There were certainly signs there in Stendhal that might make one see this coming. But that singular and arrogant sense of justice was turned in a very different direction. Stendhal is a true vigilante in every sense, not just standing in for absent heroes but taking the law into his own hands, doing things heroes won’t or can’t. He fancies himself judge, jury, and executioner (that’s in-character) but it’s villains he seeks to eliminate. Someone like Hachisuka is a useful tool in accomplishing his ends, but in way would he ever consider her an ally.
Kuin’s particular utility, in this case, is in proving illicitly obtained blood samples to Stendhal. They’s essential to his quirk “Bloodcurdle”, with which he can freeze anyone whose blood he’s consumed. The limitations are not clear, but it certainly lasts long enough to give him an advantage in seemingly any fight. That includes the yakuza group Abegawa Tenchu, whose leadership he wipes out in a horrifying tsunami of blood. Hachisuka next want to set him against Dox & Murder guy – heretofore known as Kugizaki Souga – who tried to meet with Kouichi and Pop last week. But Souga has had enough of Trigger, and declares his intent to take Stendhal down unaided. Hachisuka at this point takes matters into her own hands, however.
It’s certainly dubious for Kouichi to insert himself between these two, either of whom could end him easily. But Kouichi has heard Souga cry of anguish, and in truth, he has hero’s blood flowing in his veins. There’s a right thing to do, so he does it. Stendhal is not the type to listen to reason. If Kouichi helps an evildoer, he’s therefore evil, no matter the reason. He wounds a retreating Crawler – for reasons that will soon become obvious. And has no compunctions about taking Kouichi out at the same time as Souga. Which is very likely what would have happened, had Knuckleduster not shown up when he did.
It’s illustrative to see Stendhal and Knuckle juxtaposed, because it couldn’t be clearer that there’s a big difference between them. There’s a rationality to what Knuckle is doing – he has a purpose, and at least some modicum of restraint. He’s also impressive as hell, because he keeps taking on – and down – guys with quirks despite seemingly having none of his own. Stendhal sees him as a kindred spirit but that’s clearly not the case. Stendhal carries a persona – he becomes a different person when he’s behind his mask (which is something he’s aware of). Knuckleduster is resolutely who he is, for better or worse.
The aftermath of this confrontation – which sees Stendhal with a mangled broken nose – changes him profoundly. Knuckleduster’s condemnation of him finds the mark, and the lesson Stendhal takes away is that he can no longer hide behind his mask and the identity he assumes behind it. In rather gory fashion he symbolically merges the two, and redirects his righteous rage – at those who he now sees as the true problem in society. Not villains, but those pretending at being heroes – those not living up to the hero ideal (as he defines it). Thus the Hero Killer Stain – perhaps Horikoshi Kouhei’s most fascinating creation – is born. Not by his own hand, but in a manner that feels perfectly consistent with his own vision of the character. This Stain is his Stain – he simply takes the character to an even deeper and darker place.
As for Souga, one can certainly argue whether or not he’s a man deserving of a chance at redemption. But it does appear that something has changed in him, and he’s not the same person he was when we fist met him. He’s seen enough to realize that for his life to have any value, he has to take it in a different direction. And Kouichi provides an example of something very different than anything else in his world – something genuinely heroic, with no apologies for using the term. He’s an odd fit for this world – but that’s part of the genius of Vigilante, and Kouichi as a character.