Balloon Soul is the twenty-fourth episode of the My Hero Academia: Vigilantes anime and the eleventh episode of the second season.
Summary#
As the Bombers continue attacking Captain Celebrity, Koichi screams out for the lone Hero defending the Tokyo Sky Egg. Despite taking powerful hits from the Bombers, Captain Celebrity continues holding up the toppling stadium with a single hand, mocking the monstrosities as he stands his ground.
As Koichi worries over the Captain, an article of clothing floats down and lands on his face. The young man pulls it off and sees that is the same exclusive All Might hoodie he saw in the gift shop earlier. Koichi then looks out into the cloudy sky, as his fear instantly shifts into confidence.
Inside the stadium, the Heroes are trying to keep themselves and the civilians calm, as Ingenium calls his team to get details on the situation outside. While Makoto tries to phone her boss, one of the Bombers, an EMP variant, lands on the roof of the stadium and sends out a blast of Radio Waves that engulfs its signal tower.
This not only cuts off any cell communication but shuts down the power of the building and all of the electronic devices inside. The Scarred Man is eating up the sight from afar, saying that he shut everything down so the "extras" inside don't get in the way of Captain Celebrity's last stand.
Meanwhile, the Heroes in the green room, along with Makoto and Captain Celebrity's staff, are looking at the layout of the Sky Egg with a flashlight. One of the staff members notes that if the situation was caused by a natural disaster, then the building would've shut down the elevators and activated the emergency stairwells. However, in their current predicament, the locks to the stairwells haven't opened up since they lost power. Best Jeanist correctly deduces that they're not dealing with a natural phenomenon, but a trap of some kind orchestrated by an enemy.
Death Arms begins to grow uneasy due to how many people are here, but Best Jeanist advises him to calm down in order to keep the civilians levelheaded. The Hero then asks Makoto about Captain Celebrity's status, and after admitting that she has no clue, Best Jeanist declares that they can't rely on his aid at the moment and its up to the Heroes in the building to handle the issue.
Best Jeanist proposes they first secure the audience's safety and head outside to get more information, and afterward establish a fresh line of communication while preparing themselves for attacks from any potential assailants. He then suggests splitting everyone up based on their Quirks to achieve these goals to the best of their power, and with 50,000 people to get to safety, Best Jeanist plans on making the sturdiest safety net possible.
Back on stage, Present Mic relays what little information he has on what is causing the problems with the Tokyo Sky Egg and advises everyone to remain calm while he and his fellow Heroes handle it. FeatherHATS then starts handing out water and medicine to the audience, and the Wild, Wild Pussycats and Midnight keep the children busy while the Midnight Boys start handing out blankets.
Airjet, Ryukyu, and Mirko then head to an access point on the roof the dome, which can lead them outside and allow them to escape and establish a communication line, and scout for any potential threats. As the building continues to shake, Makoto and Gang Orca hope Captain Celebrity can show up to help somehow.
Back underneath the dome, Captain Celebrity is still holding up, but the accumulated damage is starting to get to him, and he almost passes out from exhaustion. As he takes another rush of punches from the Multi-Armed Bomber, one of the blows gets intercepted by a speeding repulsion blast.
Clinging to the dome's floor upside down and arming himself with his Scrappy Thrust Style, Koichi has suited up as "The Crawler - Sky Egg Variant" and has arrived to help the faltering Captain Celebrity. The Hero tries to shoo the Vigilante away for the college student's safety and his own pride, but The Crawler ignores him and keeps providing cover fire. Using his new rapid-fire technique, The Crawler's Shooty-Go-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam, the young man is able to hit the Bomber's explosive fists and detonate them on impact, allowing the two to stall for the time being and prevent Captain Celebrity from taking any more hits.
While appreciative, Captain Celebrity acknowledges that they can't take the monster down for good due to its Regeneration, but The Crawler is fine with it and says that the sound of the blasts will alert the Heroes in the area to back them up eventually. The young man iterates that it's his style to do his best to help out so the other Heroes can eventually do the same, and while he believes it's not the most heroic thing in the world, Captain Celebrity tells The Crawler to give it his all.
The Crawler keeps fending off the beasts but his anchor to the dome suddenly slips due to him being overwhelmed from juggling so many tasks. He is then saved from a fatal fall by Captain Celebrity, who reminds the Vigilante that the lives of the people in the Tokyo Sky Egg are in his hands thanks to the cover fire he provides. The college student tells him not to spook him with those words, prompting the Hero to smile and apologize, before going back to encouraging him.
Captain Celebrity then thinks back to his high school days, where as expected, he was popular with everyone around him, especially girls. One day, while flying around and greeting everyone, he spots Pamela walking by, who gives the young man a scowl before turning her head and continuing her stroll.
Christopher then catches up to Pamela and asks the girl about the frown on the face, though Pamela clarifies that she isn't upset and that her face is stuck like this all the time. Christopher offers to fix that and suddenly hoists her into his arms and takes off to try into the sky and cheer her up. Unfortunately, Pamela doesn't take kindly to his "cure" and starts angrily punching the boy and flailing in his arms.
After getting back to the ground, Christopher apologizes, with Pamela angrily saying he could've have at least asked first before pulling that stunt and adds that it didn't help that the grin on his face creeped her out. The student is taken aback since no one has ever insulted him like that before, and Pamela compares Christopher to a balloon: someone who's gaudy, floaty, and full of hot air. The young man calls her rude, but Pamela simply scoffs before walking away from the student.
On another day, Christopher greets Pamela with a balloon while she's reading on a bench. He tries to formally apologize for scaring her before, attesting that he was genuinely trying to make her happy. The girl tells him that she's no longer angry with him about that, which Christopher was worried about since she glared at him before they properly met.
Pamela explains that she didn't look at him that way for any negative reasons, and she was just wondering then how it felt to fly around using his Quirk, since it seemed like fun. Christopher offers to try it again, but Pamela quickly shuts it down, due to it feeling like a rollercoaster ride. The young man, respecting her wishes, offers to give Pamela a "balloon ride" instead.
Later on, Christopher carries Pamela in his arm, as he floats around campus a few feet off the ground. The girl feels humiliated from the measly height, which prompts Christopher to gently ascend to the height of the nearby buildings as their peers and teachers watch from below.
Christopher is a guy who's always been obsessed with getting others, especially girls, to like him, and he felt then that getting the approval of someone sour like Pamela was a challenge. However, unbeknownst to him, he would start falling harder for her, from the moment he saw the girl give a bright smile as she looked at the ground from high above.
Although their personalities would seem to go together like oil and water on a surface level, Pamela soon became all Christopher ever wanted. He would continue trying to pursue her and eventually the two of them would fall in love and get into a relationship, which would stretch on for several years, even into his Hero career.
During a date in a luxurious restaurant, Christopher proposes to her, which Pamela accepts in her own, albeit harsh words. With the two getting married and Christopher's career as Captain Celebrity going well, things seemed to get better and better for the two. However, it couldn't be further from the truth.
Eventually, the two hit a rough patch, and Pamela soon started closing herself off from her husband due to his behavior. Additionally, this was around the time Christopher's job as a Pro Hero was in jeopardy. People he once trusted or considered his friends began setting him up for scandals or fraudulent legal claims, which led to his massive pile of lawsuits that threatened his career and forced him to flee to Japan. Even now, he wonders how his life has gotten to his point and thinks about what Pamela might say in regard to what could've been done to avoid this.
Back in the present, The Crawler asks why he's smiling to himself. Captain Celebrity apologizes for getting lost in his thoughts and explains he was just thinking about how much responsibility is being pushed on him at the moment. Another Bomber then fuses two of his fists together and flies towards the two, and Koichi responds with another repulsion blast. However, this only splits up the fists instead of blowing them up, and the Bomber flies in and slugs Captain Celebrity in the chest with the enlarged mass.
However, the mass only steams before deflating, as The Crawler wonders why it didn't go off. From afar, a helicopter arrives to the scene, with Naomasa in the passenger seat, and Eraser Head out in the air using his Erasure on the Bomber. On the ground, Monika and Fat Gum are driving to the tower in a police car, as the latter asks the other Hero about the situation.
While Eraser Head says he can only stall the Bombers at most, thankfully he doesn't have to face them alone. Best Jeanist strings up the attacking Bomber with metal fibers, as Airjet, Mirko, Snipe, Edgeshot, and Ryukyu quickly take down the others. Airjet then gives a box of earpieces to Death Arms, who hands then off to Ingenium to distribute to the Heroes. Slowly but surely, the Heroes begin to take control of the situation.
Ingenium then runs outside and informs Best Jeanist that his team just delivered his special order to the Tokyo Sky Egg. The Hero heads to the ground and straight for a truck carrying a massive spool of carbon fiber cables. While the staff members from below wonder if the Hero can use them due to their immense weight, Best Jeanists assures him that it'll be no problem, as heaviness isn't an issue as long as the material is a fiber of some kind.
The Hero quickly gets to work and spins a Thread of Hope, as the cables rocket into the air and latch on to the dome, providing the tower with some much-needed support. The Crawler is relieved that things are looking up for them, as Captain Celebrity asks his ally for a favor. The man asks the Vigilante to tell Pamela and their son that for once in his life, he acted like a truly great Hero.
As Edgeshot hops down to assist them, The Crawler turns to see Captain Celebrity missing from his position. The man is currently falling down, as his body has finally given out and he can no longer maintain himself in the air. As he careens towards the ground and begins to lose consciousness, Captain Celebrity thinks that he doesn't hate the idea of pushing himself to his absolute limit even if it's not his usual style, and "asks" Pamela if this final act will be the thing that will put him back in her good graces.
Before he can accept his grim fate, he then jolts awake upon seeing The Crawler plummeting down towards him while extending his arm. Both men then spiral into delirium, as the Vigilante jumped to help the Hero out of instinct with the expectation of being later flown to safety, and Captain Celebrity is still too exhausted to fly away and now has to look out for the student.
Without saying a word, Captain Celebrity grabs hold of The Crawler and uses what little energy he has left to put a barrier around the man, as he silently prays for a Hero or anyone at all to help his ally. From above, Eraser Head, Ingenium, Edgeshot, and Best Jeanist spot the pair and move in to rescue them.
The Scarred Man, unfortunately, isn't done with his attack, and plans to send them all straight to Hell. The Villain moves into his "grand finale" and makes another selection on his phone app, causing the Multi-Armed Bomber tied up by Best Jeanist to blow up one of its arms to escape. The smoke prevents it from getting affected by Erasure, as it flies out of Eraser Head's sight.
The Scarred Man then furiously uses his accelerated arm to make several commands on his phone while saying he can't stand the sight of the Heroes refusing to give up instead of accepting how pathetic they are. The now freed Bomber then heads back to the tower as its Regeneration is signaled to go into overdrive, causing its body to quickly swell and grow extra body parts.
The Cluster Bomber then explodes, and due to its increased size, the explosion is several times more powerful and easily splits the Tokyo Sky Egg into two separate pieces. The Scarred Man relishes in his work, declaring that it's game over for the Heroes.
Characters in Order of Appearance#
The Scarred Man Captain Celebrity Bombers Koichi Haimawari Tiger Pixie-Bob Ragdoll Mandalay Kazuho Haneyama Miu Yu Mad Hatters East Naruhata High Dance Squad Sisters of Saint Lila's Academy Ingenium Makoto Tsukauchi Manual Death Arms Ryukyu Airjet Best Jeanist Gang Orca Midnight Wash Edgeshot Mirko Present Mic Midnight Boys Uwabami Pamela Eraser Head Naomasa Tsukauchi Fat Gum Monika Kaniyashiki Snipe Onemu Shinya Bigshot Tough Grab Watchbird Enigma
Quirks#
- Flight
- Self-Detonation
- Regeneration
- Slide and Glide
- Wall Cling
- Scrappy Thrust Style
- The Crawler's Shooty-Go-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam
- Radio Waves (Bombers)
- Propagation
- Erasure
- Dragon
- Fiber Master
- Thread of Hope
- Foldabody
- Thousand Sheet Pierce
- Rabbit
- Luna Fall
- Overclock
Locations#
Battles & Events#
- Sky Egg Bombing (Continued)
Anime & Manga Differences#
- More shots of the civilians in the stadium wondering about the shaking are included in the anime.
- The anime removes the initial part of Koichi and Captain Celebrity's argument, about the Sky Egg getting destroyed if Koichi falls.
- The anime includes Monika driving alongside Fat Gum towards the Sky Egg.
- Koichi remarking about Best Jeanist's thread puns is omitted in the anime.
- Death Arms is not with Mirko, Ryukyu, and Airjet when they search for a way out of the Sky Egg in the anime. It also includes the three finding a way to get onto the roof of the building.
- The anime expands on the Heroes' fight against the Bombers.
- In the manga, Ryukyu and Mirko take down a Bomber together, with Snipe reporting to the group about it. In the anime, Ryukyu and Snipe take down a Bomber together, while Mirko takes down another with her Luna Fall Ultimate Move, an attack she does not use in the manga.
- The anime shows Airjet dodging the Bomber's attacks before being defeated by Mirko.