The Hellish Todoroki Family, Part 2 is the one hundred and twenty-ninth episode of the My Hero Academia anime and the sixteenth episode of the sixth season.
Summary#
In a scrap-made house located in the outskirts of a city, a man with feathers on his arms strikes a boy, his son, to the ground. The man obsessively scolds his child for going out to the city alone and then interrogates him under the assumption he did it to sell him out. The boy, a much younger Hawks, looks to the ground and emotionlessly explains he did so because his wings were tingling, and because of that he thought something significant was going on in town.
While Hawks explains he came back home after the tingling stopped and nobody saw him, his dad calls him a liar and orders him not to leave the house period. The man then turns attention to his wife, Tomie Takami, who complains that the television won't turn on with a similar demeanor to their son. Their current living state is a result of Hawks' dad killing someone over a scuffle regarding a small sum of money. To escape legal repercussion, Tomie harbored her fugitive husband, and their son was unintentionally conceived sometime after that.
As the married couple fight, with the woman pleading for her husband not to run off, Hawks takes the opportunity to pick up some stray slabs of wood and cover one of the gaping holes in the floorboard. The father then kicks his son in the back and yells at him for turning his face away from him, with the boy swiftly apologizing. The man then rants on as he scours the fridge, complaining that overlying his wife's Quirk, which gave her a pair of additional floating eyeballs, was a mistake for him. He then shifts the blame to Hawks, saying even without his wife's ability, he would've been a free man if his son was never born.
Despite his horrible home life, Hawks understood that both of his parents were broken people and silently endured it with the hope that his own situation when he gets older wouldn't be anything like theirs. Later, on a rainy day, Tomie tells his son that her husband got arrested in a failed escape attempt via carjacking by the No. 2 Hero Endeavor. Hawks can barely utter the Hero's codename as he takes in his mother's words.
The idea of Heroes was pretty big fascination to Hawks like most children, and one of the few solaces from his home life was watching news broadcasts of Heroes like All Might and Endeavor. However, his appreciation only aired in the realm of fiction over reality due to only viewing them through this filtered lens. The separation was broken once Hawks heard that a Hero personally affected his life, and looks in awe at a stuffed Endeavor toy his mother bought for him as a gift during an outing they kept quiet about to Takami. Fearing prosecution due to harboring her convict husband, she takes Hawks and they leave the house.
Unfortunately, Tomie was in no condition to work, and the two were stuck living out in the streets. Despite endless suggestions from his mother to steal money from others using his wings, and comments about why her son was born and that he was squandering his Quirk, Hawks refused taking from others and suggested going to the police for help.
Help would come soon, though in the form of two members of the Hero Public Safety Commission. The men, after seeing Keigo intervene and save several civilians from a car wreck, says the boy has innate talent and proposed he should be professionally trained by the Commission to become a 'special' Hero. In exchange, they will erase any ties to their family history and give the pair complete financial support. As Hawks accepts, he looks at his Endeavor plush and asks if he can be a Hero like Endeavor: someone who saves people by beating up bad guys, as well as making things bright for everyone else.
In the present, Hawks is woken up by Best Jeanist, who is currently driving to an unknown location. Best Jeanist is relieved that Hawks was just napping and didn't suddenly pass away in the car, praising the Central Hospital's advanced medical technology to keep the man stable. He expresses extra gratitude for their work in putting him into death-like coma to gain Dabi's trust and later on plan their surprise attack in the Paranormal Liberation War. Hawks apologizes for that, saying he proposed the plan knowing the League of Villains wouldn't fall for any cheap tricks to circumvent that.
As they drive, Best Jeanist instantly veers off and drives in the opposing direction, sensing a "loose thread" that needs to be dealt with. In a nearby shopping district, a group called the Glutton God Gang is taking advantage of the post-war chaos by smashing property and stealing food. The leader's plan to take over the district his cut short by Best Jeanist, who deploys wire cables from his car to quickly tie up the group.
Once the Villains are properly restrained, Best Jeanist asks the civilians where the police and Heroes are who would normally be handling this area. A man disappointedly says the police are busy rounding up Villains who escaped from prison, and all of the local Heroes quit due to public backlash. Best Jeanist then tells them that he'll send over some of his Sidekicks in the area to keep them safe. While some of the people cheer, Hawks notices the more displeased faces in the crowd, noticing how society's distrust of Heroes is worsening by the day.
Later the two arrive to their destination, and Hawks states he has to check on something before he returns to address the public. He walks into a lavish home with the name 'Ukai' printed on a nameplate by the gate, which turns to be where Tomie lives after accepting the Commission's offer. Hawks and Jeanist came to check on her after the fallout, but find the house empty with no traces of her in sight.
Hawks then notices a letter on a stand written by his mother. In the letter, Tomie apologizes, saying intimidating men, sent by Dabi, broke into her house and demanded she tell her about her previous family history. The woman cracked and gave them what they wanted, and wishing to not cause her son even more trouble, left the house shortly after. She apologizes once more and wishes her son well, then tells Hawks she is proud of him.
Hawks chastises himself, saying that erasing his familial ties to his mother, he effectively abandoned her instead of saving her like a Hero would. He feels his current state and that of Hero Public Safety Commission is the result of his actions coming back to bite him like karma. But with his mother gone, and the Commission unable to give him orders anymore, he finds a silver lining to it all: for the first time in his life, there's nothing to tie him down anymore.
He briefly remembers the day his mother got him the Endeavor toy. Although it was mainly to prevent him from leaving the house, and the toy was chosen due to it being less expensive than the All Might variant, Tomie offhandedly tells her son to grow up strong like Endeavor, a lesson the boy has seemingly internalized.
Hawks tells Best Jeanist that people show their true nature when they're backed into a corner, which is why he feels Twice was a good guy. Despite his dubious affiliation, he was a man who wanted to help and look out for his friends, which is something the Hero always strived to do as a person and believes why he was born with Fierce Wings to begin with.
Hawks then tells the other man that even if what Dabi said about the Todoroki Family is true, he doubts things are as bad now as they were back then. He then decides to tie up his own loose ends and revealed his own history to the public, as Endeavor's in trouble and needs support.
As the days pass, the state of the country's urban areas worsens exponentially. With all of the Villains breaking out of prison and running amok, including the Hero Killer: Stain, many Heroes resigning due to stress and backlash, as well the public's perception of Nomus moving from local legend to widespread confirmation, fear and resentment exploded and became commonplace. Most people are starting to reject the presence and any aid from Heroes entirely, due to their perceived repeated failings to keep them totally safe. They also started getting a hold of black-market Support Items to defend themselves from the rogue Villains.
Hawks simply puts it as everyone wondering what it means to be a Hero, in a world where Hero society has caused them to take seemingly endless peace for granted. A society where all of that pressured is packaged and placed on to one man, in this case Endeavor.
Endeavor, still injured and recovering at Central Hospital, looks down to see a massive crowd of his detractors asking for him. His doctor assures him that he and his family will be fine and solemnly tells the No. 1 Hero that he's rooting for him before leaving him. Endeavor is still grappling with the fact that he's alive and realizes that his son Toya knew his father would survive the fight just to make him suffer for his actions.
Endeavor them cries to himself, as he realizes he did the same thing to Shoto during their confrontation with Dabi as he did with Natsuo and Ending: the man froze and became incapable of protecting his family. Even though Best Jeanist disproved some of Dabi's allegations, Endeavor doesn't deny that his eldest son was speaking the truth, and all of this was his family's ugly past coming back to torment him. Things wouldn't matter even if he endured it, as the hero, Endeavor, died back during Dabi's revelation, and Enji is incapable of fighting his own son.
As he still weeps himself, Natsuo, Fuyumi, and a still injured Shoto enter is hospital room. As Enji began to profusely apologize to his remaining children for everything, he is then interrupted by Rei, who has apparently left her mental hospital to visit her distraught husband.
She tells him that all the regret and guilt he has for his actions is much more potent in her and their children. Enji asks his wife why she's at the hospital, and Rei simply say she's here to talk to him about their family and Toya.
Characters In Order of Appearance#
Katsuki Bakugo Rikido Sato Minoru Mineta Hanta Sero All Might Izuku Midoriya Hawks Takami the Thief Tomie Takami Best Jeanist Glutton God Gang Twice Re-Destro Yokumiru Mera Madam President Tomura Shigaraki Eraser Head Nomu (U.S.J.) Muscular Moonfish Cider House Wash Yoroi Musha Stain Endeavor Ending Shoto Todoroki Fuyumi Todoroki Natsuo Todoroki Rei Todoroki Dabi
Quirks#
One For All (Flashback & Screen) Hellflame (Flashback & Screen) Flashfire Fist (Flashback & Screen) Jet Burn (Flashback & Screen) Unnamed Elephant Quirk Unnamed Additional Eyeball Quirk Fierce Wings Unnamed Slime Quirk Fiber Master Muscle Augmentation Blade-Tooth Unnamed Seltzer Water Quirk Double Clean Bubbler Half-Cold Half-Hot Whiteline Blueflame
Locations#
- Fukuoka
- U.A. High School
- Unforeseen Simulation Joint
- Jaku City
- Tartarus
- Shinjuku, Tokyo
- Ground Zero
- Central Hospital
Battles & Events#
BGM#
- Not Even a Man
- Anguish of the Quirkless
- Can't face the grief
- Rescue
- I AM NOT HERE
- I have to be the one
- Joint Struggle
- About Your Resolve
Anime & Manga Differences#
- Hawks watching All Might saving people and Endeavor defeating a villain on the television is added in the anime, which was only mentioned in the manga.
- While Endeavor's fight is an original scene, All Might's rescue is repurposed footage from Episode 64, during Taneo Tokuda's recollection of the hero saving his father.
- Best Jeanist's procedure after being given to Dabi is expanded on.
- When Best Jeanist turns his car around to later pursue the Glutton God Gang, Hawks himself asks what's wrong in the manga, though incredibly muffled due to his injuries. In the anime, Hawks' face gets smooshed into the window from the sudden swing and instead uses his text-to-speech program to question Best Jeanist.
- The scene with the Glutton God Gang is slightly expanded.
- Hawks is the one narrating on the state of society post-War in the anime.