"Stay back, Deku..."
"What A Twist!" is the seventh episode of My Hero Academia's third season, and the 45th episode overall.
Shoji, Midoriya, and Todoroki catch up to Compress and the rest of the villains. In the ensuing battle, they are able to rescue Tokoyami with some last-minute help from Aoyama, but the villains are able to get away with Bakugo. Because of Bakugo's kidnapping and the injuries sustained by many students (including Jiro and Hagakure, who are still unconscious due to Mustard's gas), the summer camp ends abruptly. U.A. faces backlash as a result and considers its next course of action. Present Mic posits that there is a mole within the school's ranks.
Midoriya awakens some days later and is visited by his classmates in the hospital. Kirishima and Todoroki inform him that Yaoyorozu and Awase were able to attach a tracking device to the Nomu that attacked them. They hope to use this to rescue Bakugo.
Tropes present in this episode:
- The Bad Guy Wins: The villains manage to kidnap Bakugo despite the students' and pro heroes' best efforts.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Compress could have gotten away with taking both Bakugo and Tokayami if he didn't stick around to start bragging how he outwitted the other students. Thanks to Aoyama, his team has to make due with Bakugo, their main target.
- Call-Back: Iida remembers Manual's words to him in the Hosu hospital following the fight with Stain when Todoroki and Kirishima bring up the possibility of a rescue mission.
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Played with for Bakugo. He hates wanting to be rescued since last episode, but telling Midoriya to "stay back" could be more of a sign that he doesn't want to endanger Deku for his sake.
- Cowardly Lion: Aoyama was unable to act against Dabi and Twice earlier, but lends crucial assistance when retrieving Tokoyami from Compress.
- Desperate Object Catch: Todoroki and Shoji make desperate leaps towards the marbles containing Bakugo and Tokoyami respectively. Shoji is able to rescue Tokoyami, but Dabi grabs Bakugo's marble just before Todoroki can.
- Foreshadowing:
- When Todoroki tries to grab Bakugo, Dabi intervenes and then taunts him, by using his full name. It is revealed several arcs later, that Dabi has a personal connection to the Todoroki family: he is Shoto's older brother Toya, who is believed to be dead.
- Aoyama being a Cowardly Lion is a subtle foreshadowing of the fact that he is the UA traitor and it is because of him that the villains knew where the students would be.
- To further ensure the safety of UA's student body, Nezu proposes a system to keep them safe and at the same time look out for any future leaks.
- From Bad to Worse: Principal Nezu suggests that Bakugo was targeted because the League of Villain want him in their ranks. Having a student do so would be the worst case scenario, spelling the end of UA.
- The Mole: The subject of a possible traitor in the school is brought to light as the faculty discusses how the villains obtained classified intel about the Hero Classes' camping trip. Since the Pussycats and the faculty are the only ones to have knowledge of the location, Mic suspects that someone in the staff or even the student body has been leaking information under their nose. Snipe warns to take caution as such allegations are serious and he and Nezu believe that anyone in the meeting room might have done it without knowing, even them.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Had the Nomu and Kurogiri not cornered Midoriya, Shoji and Todoroki and had Mr. Compress not paused to gloat about his true plan, they would've allowed Compress to escape with both Tokoyami and Bakugo. Thanks to their interference and Mr. Compress' overconfidence, they managed to rescue Tokoyami, at least.
- Pyrrhic Victory: While no one dies, both UA and the League of Villains suffer heavy losses following their battle.
- UA survives the Vanguard Action Squad's attack. However, most of Class 1B and a few of 1A are hospitalized. The school itself faces scrutiny the next day by the media and families for having Bakugo, one of the students, kidnapped and the rest attacked on the faculty's watch. And since Bakugo was the main reason the VAS showed up in the first place, this wasn't much of a victory for UA at all.
- The League of Villains capture Bakugo, but loses Muscular, Mustard, and Moonfish, three of the VAS's most dangerous villains, in the process. While they also had an interest in capturing Tokoyami, losing him was nothing more than a missed bonus.
- Skyward Scream: Deku, after a moment of shock from failing to get to Bakugo before he and the villains are warped away, lets one out in despair.
- Survivor's Guilt: Out of everyone in Class 1-A, Deku, Kirishima, and Todoroki feel this the most from having not been able to save Bakugo.
- Tracking Device: The Nomu wound up chasing Yaoyorozu and Awase. When it is called back, Yaoyorozu realizes they have the exact powersets needed to create and attach a tracking chip to it before the brute retreats. Yaoyorozu is later able to create a device that receives the signal, which the police use in their rescue plan.
- Wham Line: Dabi drops this while preventing Todoroki from getting Bakugo. What's interesting is that of all the U.A. students, he specifically calls him out.Dabi: Well isn't this a tragedy. Poor, little Shoto Todoroki.
- Your Size May Vary: Dabi appears to be One Head Taller than Bakugo (as seen in the picture above). Canonically, Dabi at 176cm (5'9¼") is only slightly taller than Bakugo, who is 172cm (5'7½").
