The Man Returns is the eighteenth episode of the My Hero Academia: Vigilantes anime and the fifth episode of the second season.
Summary#
On a late afternoon, Naomasa and Eraser Head are once again having a meeting at Hoppers. The detective has recently gathered testimonies about several Instant Villain attacks that popped up over the last several weeks, with all of the victims revealing a commonality between them all: the incidents came while they attended mixers with female college students.
Eraser Head can easily see why something like this could happen so often, as potential Trigger dealers can easily spike the drinks of the attendees, due to the environment being friendly and most being inebriated. Naomasa ended up making a spreadsheet of recent mixers held by college students and asks Eraser Head if he can look into a group that hold them in Naruhata. Eraser Head declines on the count of it not being his type of thing, with Ichiro saying he can't be picky with this considering it's part of his job. The Hero clarifies that he was getting to the fact that he knows someone better suited for that type of work.
On the day of the mixer, Midnight and Kazuho, who the woman invited as extra help, are parked out on the street in a white van. As they change into the disguises, Midnight discusses the plan, noting that the guys in attendance are the Mad Hatters. While the guys are free from suspicion, the two girls in attendance are their main suspects. Of the two, Rin Yaritezawa is the prime one, as she's been a constant eyewitness at the recent mixers that spawned Instant Villain outbreaks. Midnight then thanks Kazuho for taking time out of her day to help her, with the student saying its fine.
She then grows irritated, as it reminds her of why she went along in the first place: at Koichi's Penthouse, Koichi told her that the Mad Hatters invited him to a mixer with some local girls, which she got incredibly jealous of and prompted her to help Midnight in order to spy on her friend.
After polishing up their disguises, Midnight assigns Kazuho to make small talk and distract the quieter of the two girls, Hina, so the older woman can keep an eye on Rin. The two then step out of the vehicle, as Midnight and Kazuho head out as "Kaori" and "Kazuha" respectively.
As the mixer heads into the night, "Kazuha" tries to strike up a conversation with a blushing Hina, saying that she usually doesn't go to events like these. Hina nervously says she tends to get roped into them because Rin drags her to them. "Kazuha" picks up that the two are very close friends, with Hina softly saying it's "something like that" and that they go way back.
While Rin chugs another beer with presumed enthusiasm, in truth she is having a horrible time. She thinks the members of the Mad Hatters are boring losers and is annoyed that Koichi is keeping to himself and not bothering to talk to anybody. After swiftly switching from the beer to several cups of sake, Rin then seethes at the fact that she's so good at organizing events like these and getting along with people so well, because at this point, she feels like someone that's only used to set things up for other people.
She also can't stand that "Kaori" and "Kazuha" have suddenly taken the place of the two girls that were originally supposed to attend the mixer, with the former now stealing all the attention of the Mad Hatters.
Rin then gets up, wondering why she's even here and is sour at the fact that she still can't get a boyfriend even after all the effort she puts into these events. Koichi notices the woman and asks if she needs to pee, jokingly telling her not to fall in. Daiki, one of the Mad Hatters, then slaps Koichi on the head for his comment.
As Rin leans on the wall and grumbles at him, she clutches her mouth as if she's about to vomit and keels over, though Koichi catches her before she hits the floor. "Kaori" tells the student to lay her face up and to place a cushion under her head, as "Kazuha" prepares to run and get a staff member to help.
Koichi and another Mad Hatter, Akira, ask if Rin's okay. The woman can't get her words out as she's still cupping her mouth and tearing up from the nausea. Koichi then hands her a towel to cover her mouth with, as she apologizes to him. Upbeat as ever, Koichi tells her there's nothing to worry about, telling Rin that things are fine and that he'll take care of her.
Moved by his kindness, Rin starts blushing, which "Kazuha" notices and is flabbergasted by. Hina notices too, though she reacts with a sharp hiss, before snatching the towel and bolting to the bathroom without saying a word.
In the stall she ran into, Hina begins obsessively suckling on the towel, while she gets riled up at the sight of Rin "being fought over by the guys", declaring that she's the only one who looks after her friend. She then recalls Koichi and Rin's interaction as much more romantic and declares that he'll pay for "trying" to seduce her friend while pulling a large vial from her purse.
At the same time, inside Hoppers, the group is in the midst of another discussion pertaining to a possible different type of Trigger that was used during these mixer incidents. The victims said they had no memory of how or when they were drugged, compared to the earlier outbreaks where Trigger was confirmed to distributed with a Bee Quirk. Given where mixers take place, Naomasa thinks a variation Trigger that isn't administered through injection is being spiked into the food and drinks the patrons would divulge in.
Back at the mixer, Rin's health and mood has drastically improved, and she is now cozying up to Koichi while opening up to him about her insecurities. After she begins leaning on his shoulder, "Kazuha" jealously does the same to his other one, while "advising" that Rin should lie down and get more rest since she almost vomited.
Behind him, "Kaori" is drunkenly swaying around while complimenting the three youngsters on how well they're embracing their youth. The Mad Hatters are totally dumbfounded at the sight, wondering how Koichi of all people has scored all the female attention at the mixer.
From the curtains, Hina returns with a cheerier attitude and a completely redone, flashier outfit and appearance. Koichi immediately points it out, with the girl saying she just took her sweater off due to the heat. Rin says that her friend has a tendency to change her attitude suddenly, with Hina adding it takes her a while to get her engine running, before she boldly sits between Rin and Koichi and playfully nudges the man. "Kazuha" angrily winces at the sight, while the band members once again complaining about Koichi getting another girl's attention.
A staff member comes in with a tray of drinks they ordered, with Hina immediately asking for the man to set them down so she can serve everyone herself. As the Mad Hatters gush at the drinks and her kindness, Hina discreetly pulls the mysterious vial out her pocket. She then pops open the cap while internally calling Koichi a scumbag, promising to herself that she'll teach Rin that all men are shallow animals. Hina then drops some liquid into all drinks, revealing the vial to contain an oral variation of Trigger.
Hina then "merrily" offers Koichi a mug of beer, though he politely declines on account of him being underage, with Akira saying he'll take it instead. Hina tries to do the same with some cola and ginger ale, but "Kazuha" butts in and says Koichi hates carbonated drinks, with the college student wondering how she would even know that. The rest of the Mad Hatters take those two drinks, with Hina settling on a glass of iced oolong tea for Koichi.
Desperate, Hina prepares to offer him the tea, but the server comes back and picks up the tray of beverages, apologizing and saying that he got the orders mixed up. Then, the Mad Hatters' Quirks start going haywire after ingesting the spiked drinks, as Hina drops the act and tries to force Koichi to drink a laced mug of beer.
As the group starts to go out of control, "Kaori" discreetly steps out and sees the rest of the pub patrons freaking out due to their Quirks going out of control, confirming it to be another Instant Villain outbreak.
After chugging another beer and noting that everyone is inside a closed space with poor ventilation, Midnight strips out of her disguise and down to her undergarments, before seductively telling the men to breathe in the fragrance of her Somnambulist Quirk. In no time flat, all the guys in the pub are out cold, stopping the rampage.
Midnight then turns her attention on Hina, saying that she knows the girl is a Trigger dealer, but she first wants to know about her motive. Hina, now shocked and tearing up, says that she drugged everyone because she hated the fact that Rin wanted to hang out with guys and not her.
On impulse, she takes out another Trigger vial, though Midnight quickly stops her and lets out more of her fragrance into the room. Hina then falls unconscious into the Hero's torso, as Midnight says she'll always be an ally to lost young ladies like the student. Midnight then strokes Hina's hair and coos about how much she enjoys hearing these "youth gone wrong stories", with Kazuho thinking that her comment should have been kept to herself.
The next day, Koichi expresses his disappointment that trouble still seems to find him even at a mixer, before moving on to talking about the girls. Kazuho nervously asks what he thought of them, but all her friend has to say is that they all acted weird and scary towards him. The girl then blushes and assures that there must've been one girl he thought was nice and that he might just be misremembering things, but Koichi only reaffirms his stance.
Later at night, at Hoppers once again, Naomasa and Eraser Head are discussing the analysis results of the Trigger batch Hina was distributing. The detective says that this iteration of the drug was weaker and lacked the cocktail of psychotropics typically mixed into them. He thinks this indicates that whoever is making it isn't trying to make Instant Villains like with the intravenous version, though it's likely that its distribution might expand due to it being safer and more palatable by comparison.
Eraser Head notes how cases of Instant Villains have dropped since the end of summer, though in its place are Villains that are much stronger and have permanent modifications, like with Kirihito, Teruo, and Octoid. The Hero thinks that the Instant Villain outbreaks were used as a method of scouting for viable test subjects, after which the Villain Factory would kidnap the candidates with the most promise and experiment on them.
Jiro considers the possibility that due to the Crab Route being destroyed, these recent attacks are just another way for other dealers to drum up some more business. Naomasa takes it into account, but based on an interview done with Hina, it's likely that this oral Trigger was also sourced from the Scarred Man. The detective and his men even tracked down the bar the Villain was dealing from, but the space was cleared out by the time they got there.
Jiro points out the Scarred Man's craftiness and expertise in cutting losses to maintain business, and figures that in order to stop this situation, he needs to be dealt with directly. Naomasa says it's simpler than it sounds, considering this new Trigger was found to be distributed in individual packages from the rest of the Asia, meaning someone is personally importing it to Japan. Ichiro notes that any legal proceedings would be tricky in this case, since the country's Police Force and Heroes won't be able to properly deal with it.
Eraser Head then coldly says if this problem can't be dealt with publicly, he can think of "other ways" to take care of it quietly. The other three grow mildly disturbed, with the detective voicing the obvious legal issues with that. The Hero slyly says he was just kidding, with the twins not buying it and saying that the legally grey stuff is for people like them. Eraser Head then connivingly states that they have a point and he probably picked up the habit from some local scumbags, making the brothers complain even more.
Elsewhere, in Hong Kong, China, a filthy man in a hooded coat walks through a busy street, before walking into a shop tucked away in the corner of the city. He greets a shopkeeper at the counter, asking him if they serve any dim sum. The vendor says they're an apothecary, with the rugged man arguing that food is the best medicine. The old man figures out the patron is a tourist and asks where he's visiting from, with the other man simply saying that he's "come along away, taking seven turns to follow the Nathan Road". After adjusting his glasses and shutting his book, the old man gets up and tells the wanderer to come to the back of his shop.
He inquires the large man about what he's looking for, with him clarifying that he's searching for answers instead of drugs. The old man then scoffs, saying if he's not looking to buy, then he's not a customer. He also points out that since the area has grown rougher, he's made it a point to periodically change the password that buyers need to tell him, meaning that the phrase the traveler just used is outdated. He then rings a bell, as a trio of thugs walk in and laugh at the man.
He tells the dealer that he appreciates his cautiousness, as one of the thugs circles him and says they don't take kindly to window-shoppers. He then pulls out a knife, plucks the cigarette out of his mouth with his free hand, and lays that one on the visitor's shoulder. In a flash, the bulky man grabs the hand on his shoulder and spins him around, before twisting it back and disarming him, and quickly dislocating his right arm.
The visitor simply says that the vendor needs to look into changing his bodyguards on top of the password, as the other two thugs brandish their weapons. The tourist reaffirms that he's just here to ask questions, as one of the guards asks about his identity. He simply states he's just a wanderer that's between jobs at the moment, as the old man tries to pinpoint his identity. He then freaks out as he realizes he's the Hero "Hyper Quadfist", which turns out to be what O'Clock is called in China. The three men are befuddled, as O'Clock is supposed to be dead, due to his identity being exposed and his Quirk being stolen in a big battle.
The man then switches from Cantonese to his native tongue, as he confirms their suspicions and says that the man once known as "Hyper Quadfist" has died along time ago. He then tells the three that he's here in his place, as he pulls back his hood, revealing himself to be Knuckleduster.
Back in Japan, Soga, Rapt, and Moyuru are taking care of Tamao while she's still recovering in the hospital. While Moyuru is peeling an apple for her, both are laughing at Rapt trying and failing to play a guitar, with Soga staring out an open window. After slicing up the fruit and offering it to her, Moyuru suggests that she should be the one playing the instrument, as its good for her physical therapy.
Tamao then struggles to pick out a plastic skewer that was stuck into one of the apples and admits to the man that she wasn't that into guitar, and that she only picked it up to annoy her father. Rapt then merrily suggests she picks it back up for the same reason, before Soga gets up from his chair and takes the instrument from him.
The man then wordlessly starts playing and tuning the instrument, with Tamao being impressed by his skill. Moyuru says his friend used to play all the time long ago, with Rapt saying that he stopped after the man smashed his own guitar in a fight. Soga then hands her the properly tuned guitar, saying that Tamao should take up the chance to play it now that she has the time and a motive, especially since there are plenty who want to take up the instrument but can't.
As Rapt laughs at the irony, Knuckleduster enters the room, having returned from his long trip. Rapt and Moyuru freak out upon seeing the man again, with Tamao dejectedly saying that the beard her father grew out looks awful. As Knuckleduster notices how much his facial hair has grown out since he went away, Soga tells the man that it doesn't matter considering he left his daughter alone for such a long time.
Tamao happily tells Soga to chill out, especially since her dad doesn't do much even when he is around. Soga then prepares to leave, but Knuckleduster apologizes asks him to stay longer, as he once again says he has to take off for the day. The other man says he should be apologizing to his daughter, before telling Tamao that he has to make a quick visit to a friend and he'll be right back. The girl, while having his back turned to him, tells Knuckleduster to shave his beard first before returning.
As he leaves, Soga offers her the guitar once more, urging the girl to make some noise for her dad and tell him how she really feels through music. Tamao then smiles and takes him up on the offer, letting the music ring right out through her room, as Knuckleduster looks back from the parking lot and smiles at it. As Soga watches the man leave, Moyuru and Rapt tease him for going soft, which makes him slightly grumble.
In a smoking area, Knuckleduster meets up with Eizo while both men have their backs turned, as the detective says he prefers face-to-face communication for things like these over digital. The other man shares his sentiment, adding that he prefers to see who he's working with in person, and maybe throw a punch at them if necessary. Eizo laughs and says the man's current behavior makes it hard to believe that he is a Hero, which Knuckleduster simply says he's not pretending to be one. Eizo, noting Knuckleduster's current alias as "Kuroiwa", asks the man if he has any information for him.
Knuckleduster then sneakily passes him a cigarette carton, containing a list of drug dealers based out of Hong Kong, with highlighted areas signalling the Japanese citizens that are importing the drug into their home country. Eizo questions how Knuckleduster would know this list is accurate, with the man saying the old man at the apothecary is a veteran in the trade. He gave the man the list due to the fear of word getting out of his operation's defeat and was threatened with a beatdown if Knuckleduster found any reason to revisit the shop.
With the information passed on, Knuckleduster says it's up to Eizo and the Police Force to handle things from here and begins to leave, saying that he'll contact the man again if anything new comes up. The detective then stops him, wondering if he knows someone who has the exact same Quirk as O'Clock. Knuckleduster says no but warns Eizo that if he were to run into a Villain like that, they need to shoot them first before asking questions. Eizo chuckles and says Naomasa tried that and it didn't work, with Knuckleduster recommending that the shots must be fatal, otherwise someone like that could easily dodge anything less than that given the chance.
The detective laughs at the thought of someone like him and his colleagues immediately resorting to a "shoot-to-kill" mindset, though Knuckleduster says it means the Police Force is useless against someone like that. As he walks away, the burly man recommends that they would need outside help to deal with someone like that and declares it's a good thing that he's here to fill that role. Eizo then walks off, musingly saying that he'll pretend he didn't hear what Knuckleduster just said.
Meanwhile, The Crawler is being chased into an alley by a Next-Level Villain whose entire upper body resembles the locomotive of a diesel train. Pop☆Step is with him and stops to meet with the Hotta Brothers, wondering where Eraser Head is. Ichiro says he didn't show up today and promises to call him to deal with the rogue Villain, while Jiro tells "The Cruller" to keep circling around the block to keep the Villain occupied until help arrives.
As The Crawler and Pop make it back out the open street, Knuckleduster is watching the pair from atop a building. The Crawler suddenly looks to his left and sees something, asking Pop if their old master was over there just now. His friend tells him to stay focused on the Villain and says if Knuckleduster was really there then the man would help them. Unbeknownst to the duo, Knuckleduster passes by them on the other side of the road, reminding himself to shave his beard for heading back to his daughter.
Characters in Order of Appearance#
Eraser Head Naomasa Tsukauchi Jiro Hotta Ichiro Hotta Midnight Kazuho Haneyama Mad Hatters Koichi Haimawari Rin Yaritezawa Hina Kuin Hachisuka Akira Iwako Teruo Unagisawa Kirihito Kamachi Octoid Monika Kaniyashiki Fat Gum The Scarred Man Knuckleduster Rapt Tokage Tamao Oguro Moyuru Tochi Soga Kugisaki Eizo Tanuma Willy Wanda
Quirks#
- Miscellaneous Unnamed Quirks
- Somnambulist
- Queen Bee (Mentioned)
- Hardening
- Electric Eel
- Mantis
- Octopus (Squid)
- Eight-Arm Rush
- Overclock (Mentioned)
- Lizard
- Slide and Glide
- Leap
- Diesel Engine
Locations#
- Naruhata
- Recycle Shop: Hoppers
- Koichi's Penthouse
- Ringotaro Pub
- Naruhata Disaster Medical Center
- Hong Kong, China
Battles & Events#
- Koichi Haimawari & Chizome Akaguro vs. Akira Iwako
- Shota Aizawa vs. Teruo Unagisawa
- Koichi Haimawari & Christopher Skyline vs. Kirihito Kamachi
- Taishiro Toyomitsu & Police Force vs. The Scarred Man
Anime & Manga Differences#
- The events of the mixer infiltration are significantly condensed and rearranged in the anime.
- Eraser Head and Naomasa's discussion about the mixer is the first thing shown rather than as a flashback.
- When first talking about the mixer, Koichi doesn't mention the Mad Hatters' band leader asking for him to take his place. He also doesn't specifically think about taking one of his All Might hoodies, which Pop scolds him for, though he is seen holding them and generally wondering what to wear in the anime.
- Midnight doesn't spot Pop spying on Koichi and the band, and instead had already recruited her to assist.
- All of the Midnight Boys don't make an appearance escorting away the other mixer girls, and "Kaori" and "Kazuha" introducing themselves to Rin and Hina aren't shown.
- One of the Midnight Boys still appears driving the van where Midnight and Pop put on their disguises while watching the other mixer girls, though the reason the girls "cancelled" wasn't shown or specified in the anime.
- The beginning of the mixer where both groups introduce themselves isn't shown.
- Midnight and Pop go over the plan to investigate Rin and Hina in the girls' bathroom during the mixer in the manga, while in the anime they are doing it in Midnight's van before the mixer while getting dressed in the disguises.
- Midnight drinks more glasses of beer in the anime when hanging around the Mad Hatters.
- In the manga, Rin tells Koichi that she's leaving to go vomit while leaning on the wall, instead of just growling at him.
- In the manga, Rin vomits, which is wiped down by Koichi, and later sucked up by Hina. In the anime, Rin just nearly passes out while on the verge on vomiting, and is lying on her back while supported by Koichi, though her towel is still sucked on by Hina.
- The anime cuts the scene of Koichi looking at the Mad Hatters and gesturing to save him from the girls.
- The anime cuts the short montage of Hina changing her appearance.
- During the conservation at Hoppers about oral Trigger, the anime ends the scene with a new shot of the pub staff bringing in a tray of drinks, and cuts the scene of Eraser Head clarifying that the patrons are getting roofied. In the manga, it ends on Rin spiking a glass with Trigger.
- Pop's aside conversation with Midnight asking to arrest the girls is omitted.
- In the manga, Hina first drugs only the beer mug she offers Koichi, and when he refuses, she drugs the other drinks. In the anime, she drugs all the drinks as soon as they are delivered.
- In the manga, Koichi attempts to stand up and try to handle the situation when the Quirks start going crazy, making Rin feel more attracted to him, before Hina tries to force him to drink the booze. In the anime, Midnight is the one to notice the situation first and immediately uses her Quirk to put everyone to sleep.
- The anime cuts the shot of Koichi noticing Midnight step away as he's getting attacked by Hina.
- Kazuho cheering when Hina is taken down, and Midnight's suggestion to Rin to have "girls' nights" is omitted.
- Midnight visiting the Hottas' shop to report to Eraser Head and Naomasa is omitted.
- The sequence from the manga where Koichi deals with Tommy S. Gordon, including Pop trying to request help from Midnight, Captain Celebrity being busy, Koichi's repulsion blasts making the Villain angrier, Eraser Head finally dealing with it, and Naomasa just barely missing Koichi are omitted.
- When discussing the Next-Level Villains at Hoppers, the anime cuts the dialogue of the group arguing if Octoid is an octopus or a squid.
- Hina is shown being interrogated by Eizo in the anime, as opposed to her receiving the drug from the Scarred Man like in the manga.
- In the manga, Knuckleduster and the Chinese dealer only speak Cantonese until they go to the back shop. In the anime, it stops when Knuckleduster starts to reveal his identity.
- When the Chinese trafficker recognizes Knuckleduster as O'Clock and mentions that his Quirk was stolen, the anime adds a scene where O'Clock appears injured and the mask of his hero costume destroyed, an image that corresponds to later in the manga.
- The anime slightly extends the scene of Tamao struggling to pick up the apple skewer.
- When Tamao tells Knuckleduster to shave his beard before coming back, the anime follows it with a quick shot of him leaving the hospital.
- When Knuckleduster hears Tamao playing the guitar, the anime shows him turning back to the hospital and smiling.
- When Knuckleduster tells Eizo about the validity of the dealer list, the anime adds a visual of the former threatening the apothecary vendor.
- In the anime, both Knuckleduster and Eizo put out their cigarettes when they begin to leave.
- The Hottas' telling Pop to call Midnight while Koichi is dealing with Willy Wanda is not included.