Episode 101

Have a Merry Christmas! (メリれ！クリスマス！) is the one hundred and first episode of the My Hero Academia anime and the thirteenth episode of the fifth season.

Summary
In Deika City, cracks from a unknown source start spreading and destroying the area. Not long after, the city collapses into ruin and is engulfed in dust. In the center of the city stands Tomura Shigaraki, who is bruised, bloodied, and whose hair has now changed from light blue to a ghostly white. Tomura simply smiles and manically laughs.

Sometime later, Katsuki and Shoto are being interviewed in their dorms after their takedown of the group of villains. The reporter asks if they get along, leading Shoto to mention they’re friends, and causing Katsuki to erupt in annoyance as he argues with everything he says.

Nearing the end of December, Class 1-A react to Shoto and Katsuki’s interviews, with Hanta and Denki laughing at Katsuki getting completely removed from it, to his further irritation. At the same time, Izuku is watching a news broadcast which mentions the tragedy in Deika City that occurred 9 days ago. They talk about how just 20 people drove the city to destruction in about 50 minutes, and believing this is a ploy on the villains to lower the public’s trust in Heroes; Tenya comments how the destruction was seemingly worse than Kamino, however with fewer casualties.

The broadcast proceeds to interview several civilians, who comment on giving the Heroes some slack and wanting them to do their best. Their Hero critic, Aorio Kuraishisu, discusses how in the past, an incident like this would result in all the Heroes being blamed, but now they’re at a point in time when criticism is turning into encouragement. Ochaco and Mina mention how this is thanks to the “Look! See” boy who helped people to encourage Endeavor who’s been working hard.

Midnight and Mt. Lady enter the room, declaring to the students that while Heroes have always been about showbiz, now people want to see Heroes in the real sense of the word. Eraser Head appears to tell the students since they’ve started getting more exposure, they’ve asked the two to talk to them about the process. After Minoru points out how Mt. Lady is the most “showbiz” of them all here, she tells them she will inform them how a Hero should behave, to Eijiro’s excitement.

The class is revealed to be Hero Interview training, allowing the students to practice presenting themselves in front of the media. Shoto starts off, as Mt. Lady asks him questions, to his slight confusion. He tells her he wants to be a Hero that can make everyone feel safe, and then misunderstanding when she says the answer made her heart race. He proceeds to show off his Super Move: Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall, as well as mentioning his Flashfreeze Heatwave. The other classmates bring up Endeavor’s Flashfire Fist move he utilized in the battle against Class 1-B, however he mentions he’s not at that level yet. Mt. Lady concludes saying he should try to smile and that he’ll slay the ladies with it, which he once again misunderstands.

As some of the students question showing off their moves, Mt. Lady explains how since not everyone knows who they are, their ultimate moves are an expression of themselves and lets people know what you can do. She continues that these are all important in team-ups, warning villains, and helping others feel safe. Minoru is surprised by her change in attitude, as Eraser Head notes that all the Heroes have started making moves to improve themselves, thanks to Endeavor’s presence as the new Number 1 Hero.

Mt. Lady continues through each of the students, as Tenya, Momo, Ochaco, Fumikage, Eijiro, Mina, Denki, and more all introduce themselves to her delight. Katsuki then takes his turn, leading Mt. Lady to comment that he’s not as bad an interview by himself, and just doesn’t jell well with the rest of humanity. Shoto apologizes for getting in the way in the previous interviews, resulting in him arguing again. Midnight suggests he should just avoid the media like Eraser Head, but he believes he should learn from someone else.

Izuku takes the stage next, completely anxious and unable to answer properly; Eijiro comments how he’s hardened like his Quirk, and Tsuyu mentions how nervous he is in these situations. Mt. Lady brings up how most of his moves are based on All Might’s, breaking him out of his funk and starting to endlessly mutter over how his moves were inspired by him. Midnight asks about his Quirk going out of control the other day, wondering if he’s made any progress.

Izuku proceeds to think about how, in the past two weeks since Blackwhip emerged, he’s been practicing visualizing it every day, and imagines a locked door through which the Quirk is behind. Just like how he was able to master the percentages of One For All, he prepares to re-emerge Blackwhip, to everyone’s anticipation, only for a tiny wisp of the Blackwhip to appear. While Izuku is happy about this development, everyone else is completely dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, Nezu goes to visit All Might who has been hard at work creating a notebook containing information on the Quirks of the Past Wielders of One For All. Nezu then informs All Might that they will be restarting the Hero Work-Studies soon, to his surprise.

The U.A. Staff discuss the sudden decision from the Hero Public Safety Commission to start up the work-studies again, requesting all the Hero course students to get more training. Midnight suggests this is their way of informing them they are short-handed, even when they are already saturated with Heroes. Ectoplasm believes it has something to do with what happened in Deika City, with Snipe adding that the League of Villains must be involved too. Nezu tells them that since they are being so vague, they must have learned something they are trying to keep secret. He tells the teachers that it is important for Heroes to prepare for anything and to inform their students, before turning to Eraser Head to mention the Commission’s other program.

By the end of the month, Nezu calls All Might, who is busy researching with Naomasa, to tell him that after the four months since the dormitory system has been installed, there has been no suspicious activity, meaning none of the students are probably spies for the League of Villains, to All Might’s relief. Nezu then asks if he will be coming back the day, leading him to ask if anything happened to Izuku, as Nezu reminds him what day it is.

All of Class 1-A celebrate Christmas with a giant feast in their dorm common room. When the topic of the Work-Studies comes up, Kyoka asks Ochaco and Tsuyu if they will be returning to Ryukyu’s agency, which they say yes. Tenya asks Izuku if he will be going back to the Nighteye Agency, with Eijiro mentioning how Centipeder has taken over, however Izuku tells them he can’t due to how much work they have to do so they don’t have the time to take on anyone. He adds that since Gran Torino is busy too, he’s stuck in limbo so will have to wait to be assigned someone, since this Work-Study is mandatory.

Eijiro asks Katsuki if he will be going back to Best Jeanist’s, however, after he remembers reading about him supposedly going missing, he just says he hasn’t decided yet. He then thinks back to his time during their internship, when Best Jeanist questioned his lack of a Hero name, with Katsuki barking back that they were all rejected. After calling them all childish, he tells him that a Hero name demonstrates how you want to be or how you should be, and that once he gets his provisional license, he wants to see him again and tell him his name. Eijiro brings up how thanks to all the offers from the Sports Festival, he could go with anyone, but Katsuki isn’t interested in learning from any of them.

Minoru complains for them all talking about school stuff, and Rikido arrives with more food. Eraser Head soon enters, accompanied by Eri in a Santa outfit, to the classmates delight; she proceeds to get several of the holiday customs mixed up. He informs them that Mirio is with his class and tells Eri to go have fun, as she goes with the girls. Izuku notices how her horn has gotten bigger, with Eraser Head telling him she’s taken what he told her to heart, to his happiness.

Class 1-A, plus Eri, proceed to enjoy their feast and have fun. They end with a gift exchange, putting their presents in a pile and each choosing one at random. Izuku gets Ochaco’s gift of sticky cut mocha, and she gets his gift of an All Might keychain; Eri gets Fumikage’s buster sword. Izuku then thinks about how even though their future is uncertain, he hopes they can all have this much fun next Christmas.

Later that night, as all the students are cleaning up, Shoto approaches Izuku and Katsuki, asking them if they’d like to accompany him for their work-study with Endeavor.

Locations

 * Deika City
 * Musutafu
 * U.A. High School
 * Heights Alliance
 * Hero Public Safety Commission Office
 * Nighteye Agency

Battles & Events

 * Katsuki Bakugo & Shoto Todoroki vs. Cider House
 * Deika City Incident
 * Kamino Incident
 * Hero Interview Training

Anime & Manga Differences

 * The anime adds a prologue scene showing Tomura in the ruins of Deika City.
 * Minoru and Izuku's remarks about Katsuki's performance in the interview are cut from the anime.
 * In addition to Minoru commenting on his love for Christmas Eve, he is now shown taking a picture of the girls in the anime.
 * The anime adds additional narration of Izuku thinking about the future.

Trivia

 * This is the first time the anime has adapted an arc in a different order, adapting the Endeavor Agency Arc before the Meta Liberation Army Arc.
 * Nezu's comment to Eraser Head about the "Commission's other program" directly leads into the events of My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising.