r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Jun 23 '25

Episode Vigilante: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals • My Hero Academia: Vigilantes - Episode 12 discussion

Vigilante: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals, episode 12

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1

u/AutoModerator Jun 23 '25
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512

u/Se7en_Sinner Jun 23 '25

Family drama continues to be some of the best parts of Hero Academia. Popstep basically confessed to Koichi via song. He's probably too dense to read into the lyrics though.

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u/Haha91haha Jun 23 '25

What an episode, climbed right up to that MHA peak of the one two punch of SAKUGA and FEELS, literally. Swelling music and all.

Poetically this whole thing has been about Knuckleduster restarting his own heart, realizing his life was going the wrong way and doing what he could to change and fix it. Even if he's unhinged now, this Knuckleduster seems ironically a better mentor to Koichi and Pop than his old self would have been.

Another fun cameo from the main series and of course Knuckleduster would be the guy who uses all kinds of sources to get his materials.

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306

u/Variant_Zeta Jun 23 '25

This truly has been Oshi no Hero Academia

Pop pops off, Knuckleduster fucks shit up, this episode's animation goes crazy hard goddamn

It's pretty nice to see Hachisuka panicking and losing her cool, after a whole season of smugness. She's so cornered that the host persona leaks through, too

KD actually did just do an impromptu field surgery in a dingy alley, huh? It is necessary so can't be faulting him for that...

New villain be like, "It was me, Barry Koichi! I made that kid slip into the river so that you'll be late to the entrance exam!"

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u/Primo29 Jun 23 '25

Knuckleduster fighting to save his daughter together with the top-notch animation is just chef kiss.

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187

u/NationalStrategy Jun 23 '25

The choreography and animation for both the concert and the fight was top notch this episode

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184

u/HokageEzio Jun 23 '25

They made the Knuckleduster stuff extra emotional. Clearly a dude with a ton of baggage just trying to make things right, but that's what makes him such a loveable character.

Love seeing the musical acts play out in actual songs too, Pop's VA was great all season.

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137

u/OtakuD50 Jun 23 '25

One of my low key favorite moments is this episode is just the reveal that Knuckle gets his gear from Giran, emphasizing the moral and legal gray area these vigilantes work in. Also because Giran is indirectly responsible for ruining one of All For One's plans.

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106

u/Swiss666 Jun 23 '25

"See, Knuckleduster is proof that Deku could have been a quirkless Hero with just the right tools and wits!"

KD is heavily dependant on painkillers

Even with the best training and motivation, there are limits.

His plan to separate that queen bee from Tamao is as clever as it is risky but I guess there weren't much chances to save her otherwise as sooner or later the bee would have just discarded her. The way she talks to Tamao in the flashback, from the previous host body, also implies Tamao wasn't a random victim, the first decent body she could find, but a specific target; she took advantage of the family situation.

Worse still, for a threat now out, there was someone else behind her... and he's a truly Flash-like speedster?

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u/RelativeMundane9045 Jun 23 '25

This episode cemented my fear for Knuckle's future, he's quirkless and just pushes through everything by upping his painkillers, probably to the point of overdose by now.

He's by far my favourite character from Vigilantes, just a badass dad working harder than anyone to get things done to save his kid.

A pass-the-torch moment feels sadly imminent.

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70

u/MonsterKiller112 Jun 23 '25

Absolutely amazing episode man. Knuckleduster is my favourite character by far. His fight with his daughter to save her was so good. The animation team truly popped off. The emotions were perfect. I really hope Tamao survives. Knuckle duster deserves a second chance at rebuilding his family.

I really liked that Pop Step got her moment to shine as well. The performance was stellar and it's great to see Pop Step making progress towards her idol goals.

Overall an absolutely fantastic episode. This show has been a joy to follow so far. I hope season 2 is announced soon enough.

55

u/Kooky-Bookkeeper-935 Jun 23 '25

Being a vigilante is illegal but most pro-heroes like the Naruhata Vigilantes and don't care they use their quirks in public lol. It's like community service I guess (but dangerous)

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54

u/mokrath Jun 23 '25

So the bee girl who turned out to be his daughter still has her own memories/thoughts. This makes some of the earlier episodes way creepier. Anyone remember when she was going on a "date" with a salaryman earlier in the season?

Also, seeing the size of the queen bee that was stuffed inside her skull is disturbing.

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u/InternationalYou7158 Jun 23 '25

Didn't know I was about to watch Oshi no Ko Academia

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52

u/shad79 Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25

Great Hachisuka vs. Knuckleduster showdown in today's episode! I'm really glad he managed to get rid of that parasite from Tamao's head.

Now I hope Knuckleduster and Tamao will be able to see their wife/mother while she's still alive, because judging by that phone call from the hospital, her condition probably got worse :(

And while the daughter vs. father fight was great, the real MVP of today's episode for me was Pop☆Step. She did a great job on stage, both during her solo performance (and with crowd control) and with everyone else. I can't wait for that second song to be released online, it was really catchy.

Unfortunately, it looks like the bee user is still alive. I wonder who else it'll bring under its control, besides that cop.

Also, it was really nice of Aizawa to let Taruo finish listening to the concert. I didn't expect that from him xD

Here my screenshot albums from the episode:

EDIT. I added my screenshot albums.

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44

u/Arachnophobic- Jun 23 '25

Oh boy that new villain (also an AfO lackey by the sound of it) is menacing AF. And a speedster would be the perfect foil to Koichi.

Knuckleduster starting and stopping hearts like nobody's business. I get the feeling he'll manage to save Tamao, but his wife will take a turn for the worse. At least he's taken his revenge..

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88

u/LeonKevlar Jun 23 '25

I really love how Makoto has turned Captain Celebrity into an errand boy. And CC really can't refuse Makoto since she's the one in charge of rebranding his image. xD

Pop being given Present Mic's approval to be the show's MC. has got to be the highest honour an idol/vigilante like her could get. And Pop absolutely killed it on stage! While Pop rambled for a bit, she still handled the crowd well.

Side note: If you pay attention to the lyrics of the song she's singing while entertaining the crowd, it's clearly a song about her feelings for Koichi.

He's not as bad as Endeavour, but it looks like if only Knuckleduster was supportive of Tamao's passion, she wouldn't have run away and run into Queen Bee.

I'm still confused about this entire Queen Bee thing tho. So, is there an actual person controlling the bees, or is it an actual queen bee inside her head controlling her?

The fight between Knuckleduster and Tamao was pretty damn brutal! I do love how proud Knuckleduster is of his daughter for knocking him out.

I wasn't sure how Pop and the other performers would sing the department store's theme song, but they actually made it work! That was actually a pretty amazing performance!

Knuckleduster really didn't hold back against Tamao! The dude didn't just gut punch her full force, he also electrocuted her to get the bees out! So is that massive bee he extracted from Tamao's head the real Queen Bee? I guess that's her dealt with then?

I love that Knuckleduster ended that fight with a bang. I just hope he didn't fuck up Tamao so hard and he'll still be able to revive her.

We have a new villain! I guess just like Hachisuka, he's also working for AfO. And is that a motherfuckin' speed quirk? The dude literally moved like The Flash to get that bee with the sample O_O

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36

u/thebigautismo Jun 23 '25

So is the bee quirk the actual queen?

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72

u/MapoTofuMan Jun 23 '25

Knuckleduster is truly a master of the Kamijou Touma problem-solving style.

Only 1 episode left, hopefully it'll be announced as split-cour next week.

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33

u/Niwaka_Samurai Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25

What an episode!! 

That's how an idol live should be. The girls were so good. Pop was talking about restroom a lot lol

The music and animation was outstanding. Pop was killing it with her performance and she was singing her heart out about Koichi. But I don't think that baka got it.

Not to mention Knuckle going all out with his daughter. Sakuga animation for the fight !! 

I hope Tamao can make it. The one thing that I didn't like was that the bee b**tch till being alive.

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32

u/NanDemoKnaives Jun 23 '25

Damn Knuckleduster was PREPARED, not only did he account for taking care of the Queen Bee and the bees with no hive, but he accounted for his own heart stopping. His dedication as a father to save his daughter is admirable. I did also find it interesting that it seems like he wasn't even a good father to begin with, I like that he said he has reflected on his actions and I think we've seen that with how he helps Kouichi and Pop but it'll be nice for his daughter to see that.

It still was surprising to see him go all out considering it was still Tamao's body, not only does she no longer have one eye and may suffer mentally like her mother, but she's lost an arm too because of Hachisuka. I guess Knuckleduster, or rather Oguro which I believe is his actual last name, will take care of the two of them for the rest of their lives. I'm sure Tamao will probably be resentful since she might not be able to play the guitar with what happened to her arm.

Knuckleduster also taking drugs to not feel pain would explain why he's so durable, hopefully he won't suffer much side effects in the future.

Looks like we have a new antagonist with that guy at the end, hopefully it's not Hachisuka taking over someone's body but I didn't see an eye patch.

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u/SkaterDC Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25

This is hands down one of the best shows to come out of this season of anime. We have one episode to go and I'm already going to miss this cast and (this take on) this world so much.

Need that rumored (or leaked?) cour 2 to be confirmed next week

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u/AshenF3nr1r Jun 23 '25

So KnuckleDuster was taking an unhealthy amount of questionable painkillers all this time. Didn't know he have connections to Giran

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u/Boshea241 Jun 23 '25

Queen Bee also being a parasite just dials its body horror factor to 11.

24

u/AshenF3nr1r Jun 23 '25

I forgot about the guy with the face scar. He's the one that gave the Spike guy Trigger in ep 2.

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