Recap / My Hero Academia: Internship Arc

Overhaul

Class 1-A learn about Hero Internships, which deals with being mentored by a real Hero where real experience can be gained. It's not that easy, especially when a young girl running from suspected abuse puts them on the trail of the Shie Hassaikai, a dangerous Yakuza group looking to fill in the Evil Power Vacuum left in All for One's wake, and who have created bullets that cancel Quirks.

Tropes

• Accomplice by Inaction: The ultimate reason why Deku and Bakugo only end up suffering an in-house suspension for their fight rather than an expulsion. All Might argues to Eraser that the two of them, as teachers, are as much culpable for the fight due to their own inaction in actually directly addressing the festering antagonism between Deku and Bakugo. Eraser finds himself unable to disagree.
• Ambition Is Evil: After being brought in by a Yakuza boss when he was young, Chisaki wanted to make the organization relevant again, as the Yakuza faded into obscurity since the arrival of Quirk villains. His real goal in trying to "cure" the world of Quirks is to create drugs that could both destroy and return Quirks, thereby giving the Yakaza control over the market of Japan. This involves using the boss's granddaughter Eri for this task. Even the boss is sickened by the method discribed and forbids Chisaki from going though with it. Unfortunately, Chisaki already took that choice away from them both.
• And That's Terrible: Kai's treatment and overall attitude of Eri is depicted as extremely heinous, as shown by Mirio's reaction during their fight.
• Arc Villain: Chisaki/Overhaul and the Shie Hassaikai.
• Brains and Brawn: All Might's relationship his ex-sidekick, Sir Nighteye. All Might was the brawn while Nighteye, with his intellect, investigative skills, and precognition quirk, made him effective as the brains.

  All Might: His physical abilities aren't all that impressive, but that brain of his was just the thing to help me out.

• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Ochaco, Tsuyu, Nejire and Ryukyu take down the biggest Shie Hassaikai goon with barely a scratch. Most of the male members of the raid team are injured at best and dead at worst.
  • Downplayed and subverted for Eri. She is still an adorable little girl, but is implied and later confirmed to have scars all over her limbs under her bandages due to Chisaki's experiments. At worse, she is only scuffed in Deku and Overhaul's fight.
• Bittersweet Ending: Chisaki and his crew are defeated and Eri is freed from their grasp...However, Sir Nighteye is mortally wounded during the operation and dies (though not without at least giving some encouraging words to Deku, Mirio and All Might), Mirio ends up losing his Quirk and the League of Villains get their hands on the Quirk Nullifying bullets after getting revenge on Chisaki.
• Blessed with Suck: Eri's Rewind Quirk is a double-edged sword of sorts, with the power to reverse time on a living being. Can also qualify as Cursed with Awesome, depending on the situation.
  • The "suck" part is that she has little to no control over it. She erased her father by accicent, resulting in her mother abandoning her in fear, and nearly does the same to Midoryia. Chisaki uses her DNA to create a drug to De-power Quirk users.
  • The "awesome" part comes from her instinctively using it to undo Chisaki's forced Fusion Dance with another subordinate. Midoriya later entrusts her to use it on him to fully wield One For All to reverse any serious damage. Later, Mirio believes Eri can re-power his Quirk again once she learns how to properly use hers.
• Brought Down to Badass: Mirio, after getting hit with a Power Nullifier bullet that may have very well destroyed his Quirk for good, continues fighting Overhaul for the sake of protecting Eri. The narration notes that he was able to hold off Overhaul for 5 minutes, an entire third of the battle between the two, using his training gained by Sir Nighteye which stalled Overhaul long enough for Deku and company to arrive.
• Bullying a Dragon: At the start of the arc Overhaul is shown to be unimpressed with Shigaraki and thinks he and the League are all overhyped Villains who got by on lucky breaks. He then made things personal by murdering Magne and destroying one of Mr. Compress's arms. Shigaraki bides his time and, by the end of the arc, eventually gets his revenge, not only by taking Overhaul's arms so he is left effectively Quirkless, but then stealing the Quirk destroying bullets for good measure.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Deconstructed. When Deku and Lemillion first encounter Eri, Deku immediately notices how traumatized she is, but Lemillion has to warn him off from provoking mob boss Chisaki from making good on his killing intent. Then Nighteye warns Deku about just rushing in... unfortunately, they soon learn Chisaki's true goals, which could've been stopped if they had rescued Eri the first chance they had. Despite the big picture that would save the girl, and all other Quirk-users, Deku and Lemillion do NOT take it well.
  • Chisaki lampshades this often as a "disease" that he wants to "cure" the world from.
• Cruel Mercy: When Shigaraki and his gang intercept the police truck carrying Chisaki, the latter expects to be killed to avenge their ally, Magne, and reign them into his cause. Instead, Shigaraki and Compress take the boxes with the quirk-erasing bullets and then destroy his arms, depowering him.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Mirio delivers one to the entire Class 1-A, taking the whole class down within a few minutes, including beating all long-ranged fighters in less than six seconds.
  • Deku's final duel with Overhaul. Thanks to Eri's quirk, Deku is able to use One For All 100% completely uninhibited and completely dominates Overhaul in their final fight.
• De-power: Chisaki and company are working on drugs that stop a person's Quirk factor. They've made bullets that stop it temporarily, but it's implied they're developing a permanent depowering version.
  • The permanent version is used against Mirio at the end of the arc.
  • Chisaki is rendered effectively Quirkless as a result of Shigaraki and Mr Compress removing his arms.
• Deus Exit Machina: Mirio, a character who could very reasonably stand in the way of Deku achieving the narratively predestined endpoint of being the number one hero, has his Quirk permanently taken away by a special type of bullet at the end of the arc.
• Fate Worse than Death: Chisaki suffers this in spades after his defeat by Deku. Shigaraki and Compress tear off his arms, preventing him from using his Quirk. Before that, they take his Quirk-erasing bullets. He is now forced to stay on the sidelines while his dream of restoring his boss's Yakuza to its glory days is in shambles, while his adopted father slowly rots away in a coma that he put him in.
• Extremely Short Timespan: The bulk of the arc (the actual raid on the Haissakai hideout) takes place over less than an hour, with the heroes entering the Yakuza base at 8:30 in the morning, Chisaki being arrested, and Eri rescued by 9:15, even though it lasts from chapter 138 to 159 (more than many other arcs). The epilogue chapters take place later that same day and the next day.
• Hour of Power: With the aid of Eri's Quirk, Deku was able to use One For All at full power to completely overwhelm Overhaul, giving a brief glimpse of what Deku will be capable of when he fully masters his Quirk.
• Irony:
  • Midoriya and Mirio get chastised for wanting to save Eri immediately and not seeing the big picture. When they learn about the big picture, however, it turns out that doing exactly that could've solved all their problems, and the actual plan revolves around rescuing her anyway. Sir Nighteye, in a surprising moment of humility, takes full responsibility and admits that the boys' choice to leave her in Overhaul's hands was on his orders.
  • Chisaki frequently told Eri that her Quirk is a "curse" and danger to everyone around her. While he isn't completely wrong, given the girl's youth and lack of understanding, he never counted on it being used against him. Ironically, he is actually aware of the possibility and actually had others carry her for him, and only did so himself out of desperation.
• Laser-Guided Karma: By abusing Eri, Chisaki eventually drew the heroes' attention and was defeated by Deku with her help. By killing Magne, he drew the ire of Shigaraki and the League, who gave him a Fate Worse than Death after he was defeated.
• Love Is a Weakness: Chisaki exploits this by having one of his subordunates fire one of the bullets at Eri, expecting Mirio to block it. It works and Mirio loses his quirk, but not enough to completely stop him.
• MacGuffin Super-Person: Thanks to her Quirk, Eri plays a central role in this arc. She is vital for Overhaul's plans and the person who needs to be saved by Deku and Lemillion.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": All of the Pro Heroes and students have a varied response to the terrible secret behind the quirk-erasing drug, but it's Midoriya and Togata who express this the most because said secret centers around the girl they met before: Eri.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Sir Nighteye's Foresight Quirk can only do so much in combat, and has a once-per-day limit. So he fights his opponents with "hypermass seals". They look like regular office stamps, but they weigh five kilograms (11 lbs.) each. That's about the weight of a large cat, and he throws them around like they're shuriken.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Tamaki wakes up and realizes something bad happened to Mirio immediately after the latter gets shot with one of the Yakuza's quirk-nullifying bullets.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: Chisaki's Quirk-cancelling drug operation is powered by his "daughter" Eri's blood and cells.
• Power Nullifier: Chisaki's Quirk-cancelling bullets are based around Eri's Quirk Rewind, which can reserve time for anyone she touches. The bullets themselves can completely destroy the Quirk Factor of any person with whom her DNA comes into contact. Tamaki gets hit by a bullet infused with her DNA, which makes him lose his Quirk for about a day, while poor Mirio gets hit head-on by a perfected bullet meant for Eri, completely destroying his ability to use his Quirk.
• Power-Up Food: Tamaki's "Reappearance" Quirks makes any food he eats into this, as he can make aspects of that food (such as octopus tentacles from eating takoyaki and bird talons from poultry) manifest on his body.
• Psycho Serum: The "Trigger" drug, first seen in ILLEGALS, makes its main series debut. As seen in ILLEGALS, Trigger massively enhances the power and potency of weak Quirks; the "Psycho" part is downplayed, however, so it may be an upgraded version.
• Screw Destiny: It's revealed in this arc that Sir Nighteye used his Foresight Quirk on All Might to see into his future six years prior and that he would meet his ends in a gruesome battle with a villain. He also sees into the future during the raid of the Hassakai residence and believes that Deku will die fighting Overhaul. Both times Deku denies Nighteye's future and says he will find away to twist the future. Deku eventually succeeds at saving his own life by defeating Overhaul and Nighteye believes that he may be able to change All Might's fate as well.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Kirishima improves on his Hardening Quirk throughout the arc, allowing him to use his "Unbreakable" form against two dangerous villains.
  • Eri resolves to use her Quirk on Chisaki. It's more downplayed as she has the "desire to be saved" more by Midoryia than actually fighting Overhaul.
• Unsuspectingly Soused: Sakaki Deidoro, one of Overhaul's henchmen, is able to induce this in people with his Quirk "Sloshed", causing a feeling of intense dizziness and disorientation akin to having consumed a large amount of alcohol. Unfortunately for them, Mirio's Permeation Quirk means that he's constantly experiencing vertigo, allowing him to No-Sell the effects of this Quirk.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Thanks to his Foresight Quirk, Nighteye believes that anything he sees will always come to pass. This means he fully believes that All Might will one day lose his life to a villain and that the heroes will fall to Overhaul. He is very pleased when Deku is able to defy the future he saw in which Overhaul kills Deku and escapes, and believes that this means All Might's future can also be changed.