Episode 96

Match 3 Conclusion (３試合) is the ninety-sixth episode of the My Hero Academia anime and the eighth episode of the fifth season.

Summary
With his Recipro Turbo technique activated, Tenya blitzes across the ice-encrusted battlefield with blinding speed. Tenya says that this will continue for ten minutes, but he has a hard time controlling his movements. Juzo, realizing he's no match for Tenya, sinks into the slushed ice and swims through the mud underneath. He decides to dedicate the rest of the match to backing up the rest of his teammates. Tenya stops and notices the ice is solidifying again.

Back at the viewing area, Izuku notices that Tenya's new move is even faster than Gran Torino's Jet Quirk. Minoru thinks Tenya improved his speed as a competitive response to Izuku's Shoot Style, which used Tenya's fighting style as a base. Mina tells them to pay attention to Mashirao, who is currently brawling with Sen. Kyoka remarks how plain Mashirao's fighting style is, somehow causing the boy to get a twinge in his chest from the out-of-earshot insult. Sen continues his assault, with his spiraling limbs repelling Mashirao's attacks and chipping away at his guard. Sen punches and loosens a pipe Mashirao was clinging to with his tail, and prepares to pierce the 1-A student in the back. Suddenly, from the depths of the pipe maze, Tenya rushes through and grabs Sen, saying he'll take the 1-B student to jail. Mashirao thanks him, and notices Tenya's increase in physical speed also sped up his speech. Sen tries to spin free, but to no avail as Tenya sends him to jail.

Meanwhile, Tetsutetsu and Shoto are brawling on the ice. Shoto launches a wave of ice at his opponent, but Tetsutetsu easily shatters it and lands a blow on Shoto's stomach with his Steel Fist. Now realizing that ice isn't going to work, Shoto lights up his fire and sends a Wall of Flames towards Tetsutetsu. Pony runs away from the fire, and Shoto asks Mezo to pursue her. To his bewilderment, Tetsutetsu walks through the fire, with his steel skin absorbing the heat, a skill he developed by using his Quirk while in a heated stove.

Tetsutetsu starts beating Shoto with his red-hot fists, and mocks Shoto for his Quirk being useless in this situation. Shoto, suddenly thinks back to the brutal training his father subjected him to as a child, where Enji angrily tells him to raise the temperature of his fire to the absolute limit. To his dismay, Shoto realizes he has to do just that in his fight in order to win, as he did with his previous fight with Midoriya. Shoto increases his firepower exponentially, burning his skin, melting the surrounding ice, and causing some of the security cameras to explode.

At this point, most of Ground Gamma is engulfed in a sea of fire. Tetsutetsu, whose body is completely surrounded by fire, grabs a hold of Shoto and starts kneeing him in the stomach, saying endurance matches are his specialty. Shoto warns him about the fire, but the other boy stands strong, saying that limits are meant to be broken in times like this. Far away from the fire, Mezo pursues Pony, who is surfing on her horns. Pony reaches a clearing where she attacks Mezo with her Thunder Horn, with Mezo countering with his Octoblow.

Suddenly, Mashirao jumps from above and restrains Pony with his Tornado Tail Dance, stopping her from firing more horns. Juzo then pops from the ground and melts it away, making the other students' lose their footing. Juzo swims underneath and tries to release Pony from Mashirao's grasp, but the tailed student counters with his Swamp Smack Spin attack, which loosens the ground and sends Juzo and Mezo flying. Mezo grabs Mashirao and Pony and tries to pull them up. From the melted steel, more of Pony's horns emerge and stab Mashirao's tail, carrying him and sending him flying into the jail cell.

Due to heatstroke setting in, Shoto's movements starts slowing down, as do Tetsutetsu's from the fire eating away at his stamina. To try and finish the other student off, Shoto recompresses all of the flames in the area into his fist and prepares to punch Tetsutetsu. Juzo appears and softens the ground once more, making the Half-Cold Half-Hot user lose his balance, and the melted ground causes the surrounding structures to loosen. A pipe falls on Shoto's back, making the boy pass out. Juzo prepares to harden the ground again, but is intercepted by a kick to the face by Tenya, which also breaks half of his helmet. Thinking back to his battle with Stain and his mission in Kamino Ward, Tenya grabs Shoto and focuses on bringing him to safety.

Tetsutetsu is too injured to move, and Juzo starts slipping out of consciousness. Not wanting Class 1-A to get the upper hand like the last match, Juzo touches a nearby industrial tank asks Tetsutetsu to headbutt it. The latter activates his Quirk, and stumbles toward it before headbutting the object. The tank then falls on both Tenya and Shoto, the resulting action knocking out Shoto, Juzo, and Tetsutetsu, and pinning down Tenya. This leaves Mezo and Pony to decide the ultimate outcome of the match.

Pony rushes in and uses her horns to pick up Shoto, Juzo, and Tetsutetsu, and carries herself and the students into the air. Mezo, unfortunately, can't reach them. With no way to continue fight, the timer runs out, making the third match end in a draw. Denki and Eijiro whine about how unsatisfying the outcome is, though Jurota reminds them that running away and seeking help is a viable strategy.

Shoto awakes to being kissed in Recovery Girl's office, with Tenya sitting next time, relieved that he's okay. Recovery Girl offers him a calorie bar, saying that Mashirao ate his and went back to the viewing area. A healed Tetsutetsu leaves the infirmary, but not before telling Shoto the matched ended in a draw, and that he was interesting in fighting him again. Tenya is downtrodden for being too slow to win, and notes that he wasn't good at managing Juzo's flexible fighting style. Shoto says that he played the biggest part in their loss, saying that his opening ice attack crippled his team in the long run. Juzo appears from the behind the curtain, saying he needs to work on dealing with intense Quirks like Tenya's and Shoto's. Juzo asks if they can fight again in the future, to which both boys agree. Recovery Girl tells them to hurry back to Ground Gamma.

Neito screams in glee that both classes are tied in wins, to the other students' annoyance. The boy says he's been looking forward to the fourth match because Tokage is in it, thinking she's a perfect foil to Katsuki. Both teams make their way to their starting positions. Kyoka and Rikido are surprised at Katsuki for an unknown reason, to which the latter tells them to be quiet. Katsuki grins maniacally, silently telling Izuku to watch him. Izuku watches from the viewing area, doing just that.

Locations

 * U.A. High School
 * Ground Gamma
 * Musutafu, Japan
 * Todoroki Abode
 * Hosu City
 * Kamino, Yokohama

Battles & Events

 * Joint Training Battle
 * Round Three (conclusion)
 * U.A. Sports Festival
 * Izuku Midoriya vs. Shoto Todoroki
 * Hosu Incident
 * Izuku Midoriya, Tenya Ida & Shoto Todoroki vs. Chizome Akaguro

Anime & Manga Differences

 * In the anime, Mashirao is shown getting caught and put in the makeshift prison by Pony before Tenya, Shoto, Juzo, and Tetsutetsu are knocked out.
 * In the anime, Recovery Girl offers Shoto a regular calorie bar instead of a Snickers bar, most likely for copyright reasons.