Zero Hour is the twenty-third episode of the My Hero Academia: Vigilantes anime and the tenth episode of the second season.
Summary#
One afternoon, Koichi pays a visit to Hoppers, asking Ichiro and Jiro if Eraser Head is around, as he wants to give him some more information from his recent patrols as The Crawler. Jiro says he's not here, with Ichiro adding that the Hero's been busy working with the Police Force lately. Ichiro then tells Koichi it's better to have Midnight take care of his data-related issues, but the college student explains that he doesn't want to interrupt the woman while she might be busy, which makes Jiro point out that Koichi is doing the same thing with them at their shop.
The young man then admits that he doesn't like talking to Midnight unless Kazuho is accompanying him, and he can't get a hold of his partner because she's been training nonstop for Captain Celebrity's farewell party, along with the rest of FeatherHATS. Ichiro asks why Koichi isn't helping them with the preparations for the event, and Koichi bluntly states that the group asked him to not get involved since he would do nothing but get in the way, with the shop owner agreeing with them.
At the Naruhata Police Station, Naomasa is meeting with Eraser Head in regards to the intel he gave on the Naruhata Vigilantes. After cross-referencing the criminals and the personal information of the Instant Villain victims mentioned in the flash drive data, along with the Trigger customer list provided by Eizo, Naomasa found out that half of those connected to the people mentioned in both sources have a commonality: they work with a company called Onomura Pharma Corp. as employees or contractors.
Eraser Head says he hasn't heard of them, with Naomasa not being surprised since they primarily produce and sell drugs in bulk to hospitals. The detective is trying to figure out if they are operating as the Villain Factory in the criminal underworld, with the Hero saying if anything, it could at very least be a hideout of some kind. Naomasa is grateful that they seem to be closing in on the group but admit that he isn't thrilled as a servant of law to be so dependent on anonymous tips from the public to get this far.
As Eraser Head begins to give his take on the matter, Fat Gum and Monika burst into the meeting room, with the other Hero finishing his thought by saying that the source of the tip doesn't matter since it makes their jobs easier, and the officer joking that Eraser Head would call that line of thinking rational.
Naomasa then properly introduces the two to Eraser Head and their role in the case, as the underground Hero is a bit put off by their jokey, cheerful attitude. The detective asks Eraser Head to assist Monika into her investigation duties, as while Fat Gum has worked with her before, he is too big and noticeable to be a stealthy bodyguard in the more sensitive parts of the operation. Monika then tries joking around with and trying out her Heike crab bit on Eraser Head, who once again doesn't know how to respond.
As the meeting stretches into the night, Naomasa tells the three that they need to make direct contact with several Onomura Pharma Corp. employees to get more intel. The next day, Eraser Head and Monika disguise themselves as employees and head to a company office, though the former is less than thrilled about the stifling getup. The officer tells the Hero that the suit looks handsome on him and says that he should think of it as practice whenever he has to formally apologize to the public for screwing up badly somehow.
Over the next several days, Monika and Eraser Head dress up to try and gather information from their targets, from businesspeople, to construction workers, and even hippies and convention-goers. Eventually, their hard work pays off, as Monika scores a staff card in an office. On another one of their outings, Koichi spots the two during his patrol, as the Vigilante wonders why the woman is here in Tokyo and chatting it up with the Hero.
Later that night, at Koichi's Penthouse, Koichi comes back from his patrol, as Kazuho is talking to Makoto about FeatherHATS' progress in training for the show. The young man tries to talk to her, but Kazuho quickly tells him to save it for later before moving on to getting costume measurements from Miu and Yu.
Feeling like he's intruding, Koichi decides to relax at Hoppers, though Ichiro and Jiro are starting to get annoyed at the college student dropping by so often, since Eraser Head recently stopped doing the same thing. The twins then jealously freak out upon Koichi telling them that he spotted Eraser Head hanging out with Monika and immediately assumes that the man is now dating an "idol". Eraser Head himself them drops by for intel and a cup of coffee, as the brothers soon barrage the Hero with questions about his "secret relationship" and requests to set up a mixer together with other idols.
Eventually, the day of Captain Celebrity's homecoming party arrives, as the Tokyo Sky Egg is packed from head to toe with supportive citizens from all across the city. Once the tower is filled and the guests are settled, the lights dim and show kicks off. Present Mic starts hyping up the crowd as Ingenium runs to the center of the stage, followed by Midnight, and the rest of the Pro Heroes. As the crowd roars, Present Mic introduces Captain Celebrity, who flies above the people while his entourage cheers him on. The FeatherHATS, the Sisters of Saint Lila's Academy, and his cheerleaders then hit the stage and perform their routine, wowing the audience.
At the same, Naomasa, his men, and the Heroes he's working with prepare to commence a police raid on Onomura Pharm Corp's R&D Center in Kanto, which the detective strongly believes is the Villain Factory's headquarters. After getting into position, Monika enters the building with the stolen key card, as the officers and the Heroes rush inside, under the official reason that they're conducting an investigation on illegal drug production. In truth, Naomasa says their true goal is to capture suspects and evidence of drug-based human experimentation, with the plan being to to subdue as many people as possible and vacate the premises immediately.
A smaller group consisting of Naomasa, Monika, Eraser Head, and a few other officers eventually make it to dark laboratory containing several giant incubators. As they get inside, two of the containers break open, and the team are confronted by two Next-Level Villains that resemble a panda and an elephant. Eraser Head was concerned about a scenario like this before the operation, as due to what they've been subjected to, the kidnapping Villains will likely be aggressive and prone to attacking them.
Fat Gum and Eraser Head quickly take out the two Next-Level Villains just as another tank bursts open, revealing another Bomber. Eraser Head immediately uses Erasure on it to stop the beast from self-destructing, and Fat Gum then jumps in and lands a nasty punch on the Villain, sending it tumbling down as more Bombers break out of the chambers and face them. Eraser Head then cancels out all the Bombers' Quirks at once and tells the rest of his team to take them down quickly.
The Hero then notices the Scarred Man lurking behind the monsters, who smiles and presses an application on his phone. This causes the top part of the center to explode, as the Bombers fly into the sky and escape, with the Villain hitching a ride on one of them. The man admits he was scared since he didn't expect a full raid on the building by law enforcement, especially so soon. He didn't even have a chance to let the research staff escape, though the man thinks it will work out in the end since the raid assures that they won't squeal about his plans.
He then lands on a truck driving down the highway, now turning his attention back to his goal of using the Bombers to torment Captain Celebrity, and declares that he has to get rid of his evidence now that he's been compromised. The Scarred Man then remembers that today is his homecoming party and decides to divulge in some improvisation as the Bombers head straight for the Tokyo Sky Egg.
Back at the celebration, Captain Celebrity uses his phone and the stage monitor to project a picture of him and Pamela at the hospital holding their newborn son. As Makoto grows shocked at the picture he chose for this, the Hero tells the crowd to keep quiet, as he's going to make a surprise call to his wife at the event. He then phones Pamela, who complains about being woken up after she tried resting after putting their son to sleep, as the man forgot about their massive time zone difference.
Captain Celebrity tells her about his stunt, and Pamela immediately freaks out and asks her husband if he's showing anyone that awful picture of her, the very one on display to his massive audience. The woman tries to settle herself, and says its fine if he's just showing it to a handful of co-workers. Captain Celebrity nervously tries to come clean, as Pamela correctly assumes he showed it at some kind of event after-party in Tokyo, and admits to him that while she's not happy, she'll forgive him as long as it wasn't more than fifty people.
Her husband then meekly says the event is still going and that he just showed it to fifty thousand people, which makes Pamela screech at her husband before hanging up, leaving the Hero in an awkward position. Thankfully, the rest of the event goes smoothly as the Heroes and FeatherHATS perform and do various stunts for the audience. While preparing for the next segment, Makoto asks Koichi to check on her boss.
After running around for a bit, he spots Captain Celebrity apologizing to his wife on the phone near the gift shop. Koichi then looks out the window and spots the smoking building of Onomura Pharm Corp. off in the distance, and the Bombers heading straight for them. One of the monsters immediately crashes into the tower and explodes, causing the structure to the rumble, and everyone to wonder what's going on. With the windows blown open, Koichi gets sucked outside. The college student quickly hops off the flying debris and clings to the side of the building and tells a now arriving Captain Celebrity that more of those Villains are coming.
The Hero immediately suits up for battle and begins engaging with the Bombers since he knows firsthand what they're capable of. One of the monsters grabs and detonates itself right on top of the Hero, who easily protects himself with his barrier, and eggs the others to keep coming after him. From afar, the Scarred Man says they're far from done.
A bigger Bomber then flies past Captain Celebrity and heads towards the Sky Egg, before latching on the building's tower and releasing a much larger explosion. The tower can barely take it as it and the dome begins to fall over, though Captain Celebrity thankfully swoops in to catch the stadium. With Hero now putting all his effort on keeping everyone inside safe, the Scarred Man moves into swarm the man with specialized Multi-Armed Bombers, who begin pummeling the man with explosive, self-regenerating punches. As Captain Celebrity takes on the assault, Koichi screams out for him.
Characters in Order of Appearance#
Koichi Haimawari Ichiro Hotta Jiro Hotta Miu Yu Kazuho Haneyama Naomasa Tsukauchi Eraser Head Mario Kugutsu Kirihito Kamachi Octoid Akira Iwako Iwao Oguro Eizo Tanuma Fat Gum Monika Kaniyashiki Izuku Midoriya Inko Midoriya Ingenium Midnight Midnight Boys Best Jeanist Edgeshot Uwabami Ryukyu Mirko Gang Orca Snipe Airjet Mandalay Ragdoll Tiger Pixie-Bob Death Arms Manual Wash Present Mic Captain Celebrity Teruo Unagisawa Jube Namimaru Ichimoku Samazu East Naruhata High Dance Squad Sisters of Saint Lila's Academy Bombers The Scarred Man Pamela (Screen) Makoto Tsukauchi Bigshot Enigma Gang Orca's Sidekicks
Quirks#
- Slide and Glide
- Wall Cling
- Erasure
- Playtime
- Mantis
- Lizard
- Octopus (Squid)
- Snip Clip
- Fat Absorption
- Engine
- Fiber Master
- Rabbit
- Dragon
- Serpentress
- Clean Bubbler
- Leap
- Flight
- Self-Detonation
- Regeneration
Locations#
- Naruhata
- Recycle Shop: Hoppers
- Koichi's Penthouse
- Police Headquarters
- SS Mall In Super Minami
- Onomura Pharma Corp.
- Tokyo Sky Egg
Battles & Events#
- Naruhata Vigilantes & Shota Aizawa vs. Mario Kugutsu, Soga Kugisaki, Moyuru Tochi & Rapt Tokage
- Koichi Haimawari & Christopher Skyline vs. Kirihito Kamachi
- Taishiro Toyomitsu & Police Force vs. The Scarred Man]
- Koichi Haimawari, Shota Aizawa, the Hotta Brothers & Kirihito Kamachi vs. Ikajiro Takobe
- Onomura Pharma Corp. Raid
- Sky Egg Bombing (Started)
Anime & Manga Differences#
- More posters and advertisements for Captain Celebrity's farewell party are shown in the anime.
- When Eraser Head and Monika are undercover in their disguises, the anime make some changes:
- Monika compliments Eraser Head's suit in the anime.
- Naomasa and Fat Gum observing and communicating with them in a van nearby is removed.
- Fat Gum fighting a Villain while they're disguised playing tennis is omitted.
- A new scene is added in which Eraser and Monika, disguised as scientists, obtain an entry pass to gain access to Onomura.
- The anime cuts Koichi waving to the disguised Eraser Head and Monika.
- Koichi isn't shown making tea for Pop in the Penthouse while she is on the phone in the anime.
- The opening act for Captain Celebrity's farewell party is extended in the anime.
- Eraser Head, Fat Gum, and Monika talking about Captain Celebrity's party and going there as a trio is not included in the anime.
- The Onomura Pharma Corp. building features a different design than in the manga.
- The anime removes the Heroes and Naomasa waiting in the van in preparation for the raid on Onomura, and has them outside alongside the rest of the Police.
- Onomura Pharma Corp. Raid is slightly extended.
- Fat Gum is shown capturing several scientists during the raid in the anime.
- The anime adds Eraser Head cancelling the self-destruction of a second Bomber.
- Monika plays a more active role during the raid.
- In the manga, Wash uses his Quirk to lift Gang Orca and his Sidekicks into the air. In the anime, he uses it with the C.C. cheerleaders and the Little Sisters.
- In the anime, Gang Orca arm wrestles Death Arms.
- Captain Celebrity brushing off the Bombers' first attack on him is more dramatic in the anime, putting emphasis on his aerodynamic barrier.
- The anime adds Koichi calling out to the Captain in fear slightly earlier than in manga.
Trivia#
- Izuku Midoriya and his mother Inko are shown from behind as among the people at the Sky Egg.