Vigilante: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals 2nd Season

This is a great continuation from Season 1 of the anime. It does start of a bit slowly at the beginning of the season, which I think works given that it's been almost a year since the end of said Season 1. We continue to see new characters original to the Vigilantes storyline, while seeing ones that many fans of the original series.

Talking about the story for a quick moment, I think that the way the story content is presented in this season is really fun, but I know that what's coming later in the season (I say writing this review before the season is ... over) is going to be sad as all get out. And the fact that we're still able to be "street level" is amazing.

And in terms of the new characters met in this season, I love that the new characters are done. The VA's of them did well.

I really liked season 1, the main trio is fun and the main character Koichi is lame and it helps make his development actually stand out. The main villain was conniving and also from a demographic of villain we realistically do not ever get to see in an actual "adult" setting. Appearances from the main MHA series' cast were pretty slim and mostly just to flesh out characters we did not really see much of, or just explain a bit of their backstory. Fun stuff! So now why is season 2 now 60% introduced characters from the main series!

My biggest gripe for season 2 is ... the focus on just every popular pro hero from the main series being ABSURDLY prominent! Fatgum, Eraserhead, Midnight, ITS JUST EVERYBODY POPULAR WHO DIDN'T GET A DEDICATED ARC TO THEMSELVES! I wouldn't mind if it was like once in a while, or just Eraserhead because he at least makes sense to be in that area prominently, but we spend so much time with even Eraserhead or that one detective from the main series I refuse to remember the name of that I almost forget who the actual main characters of the series are! Sure, Koichi was always outspoken by like almost every other character in the series, but he isn't even relevant now either!


Okay so spoilers starting here

KNUCKLEDUSTER IS JUST LIKE RANDOMLY REVEALED TO BE AN EX-HERO WITH A SUPERPOWER THAT WAS TAKEN FROM HIM! THE WHOLE DRAW OF THE CHARACTER WAS THAT HE WAS JUST BATMAN IN A WORLD WHERE ALMOST EVERYONE HAS SUPER POWERS! Maybe I am overreacting because after some thought, you could likely piece together the lightning scar guy from the first season as having a connection to Knuckleduster's scar that is in the exact same spot, but I really do not vibe with this new arc! There was something a lot more interesting about a character who is absurdly scrappy, recognizes how unfair the world is, and has to adapt to it by playing by his own rules however he can do it. But now it is just randomly revealed he was basically this universe's version of The Flash! So probably just the most overpowered version of a kinetic fighter, sure, I don't know anymore man.

We're like a bit closer to the halfway point, but the plot development for this season currently feels incredibly uninteresting and is almost unraveling the enjoyment I developed for the first season; basically just breaking down what I thought I enjoyed based off principle and now just shifting the story of this up and coming hero to basically just being the My Hero Academia guest appearance show every week. Maybe this is just an awkward part from the manga that will pick up, I've read the main series as it was releasing so I do understand that these arcs do just exist, but it is still incredibly disappointing seeing this fresh and interesting idea from this franchise seemingly just give in to referencing already known parts of the series possibly for fan service points. Really hope we focus on the actual cast for the rest of the series. Yes, I could just look into the manga to see if that ends up being the case, but for once I wanted to watch an anime thoroughly without being spoiled!

I wanted to rant about a few things, unrelated to an actual review, review over!

I genuinely loved the first season of Vigilantes! The main cast was super fun! Kazuho and Knuckleduster are fun characters that act like actual people, rather than how the side characters in the main trio of the first series were written; that is to say, engine ankles and gravity girl are pretty much just cardboard cutouts of "I want to do better cuz this thing happened before", and then a singular personality trait (or in regards to Uraraka, no personality at all!). The main character in Vigilantes is a full on boring dumbass and I loved that about him, Koichi is a very mediocre guy who gave up on himself but is figuring out little by little of what he is capable of and how he can do the best for his community! I really liked that he wasn't some super geek, 10th grade intellect like Midoriya, a character I find to be so much more lame to root for because he is a character who's only weakness never actually has any real drawbacks towards the overall plot, and he was a super genius the whole time too so he basically just thinks around the script to actually be effective. The main series for MHA was personally a lot more entertaining focusing on the villains or just when the side characters like Endeavor took the stage, or the plot actually regarding something interesting rather than like 70% of the runtime being wasted on like 4 tournament arcs. We're now in a setting that is entirely removed from the school aspect of this world, that I absolutely despised, but now it is now shifting back into what was already done in the main series when we already have something new and fresh with the vigilante aspect of this show! I just hope Vigilantes realigns itself soon!