REVIEW: ‘My Hero Academia: Vigilantes’ Season 2 Episode 11 – “Balloon Soul”

On its own, separated from the rest of the series, My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2 Episode 11 is, admittedly, an effective 23 minutes of anime. Removing the frustration of how little Koichi (Shūichirō Umeda) has gotten to do over the past eleven episodes. The fact that Captain Celebrity (Toshiyuki Morikawa) has, seemingly, undergone a personality overhaul in the time between Season 1 and Season 2, “Balloon Soul” is charming, action-packed, and delivers something as close to trepidation as the series has mustered thus far. As a standalone, there’s an aggravating amount to marvel at. 

Aggravating because, again, the past two episodes leading up to the breathless display of character and heroism in My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2 Episode 11 have soured the story. Because, up until now, Captain Celebrity hasn’t worked as a character. And the, albeit, wonderful backstory about his romance with his wife, Pamela (Yū Serizawa), doesn’t remedy this.

In many ways, a backstory drop at a critical moment of do-or-die intensifies the present-day tension. On the surface, this works because it does, in fact, show us why he’d be giving it his all to save the 50,000 people trapped in the Sky Egg and why he’d want Koichi to tell his wife and child that he was a brave hero until the very end.

The backstory introduces the consistently glaring Pamela. She’s wonderful. 

It all still feels widely unearned when looking at the larger picture. But it’s easy in the moment not to want to pull back and hyper-analyze how the series might’ve better deployed his story, because “Balloon Soul” has us soaring along these skybound heroes. It has us breathless with the thrill of good superhero mayhem. 

Three key components make My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2 Episode 11 beat the odds to become one of the best in the series. The burgeoning romance between Captain Celebrity and the surly-faced Pamela. There’s Koichi leaping into action not once, but twice, in a desperate effort to help the man of the hour. And a crucial moment where the direction instills a brief but potent sense of dawning horror. 

The romance between Captain Celebrity and Pamela is briefly constructed but written with real heart and, more shocking, realism. Captain Celebrity sought heroism as a profession because he enjoyed being liked. A popular jock in school, he took to the skies as a means to seek boundless popularity and a sense of fun and freedom. There was, initially, no deeper motive. Even his pursuit of Pamela first began because he wanted her to like him – to see her smile – when her first look at him was her scowling (the character design for Pamela is adorably disgruntled.) 

“Balloon Soul” highlights a rocky love story. 

When Pamela says yes to his marriage proposal, it’s after talking about how much she can’t really stand other humans, which makes her liking him well enough such a big deal. The dialogue between them and her lines in particular are very funny, infusing them both with the right amount of personality to make them such worthwhile pivots from the main narrative. The writing is so quick and clever in how it sells the two that their darker days, when he disappointed her, hit harder because we can recall the image of the two floating away against the sunset with a pink balloon, weightless and happy. 

Captain Celebrity was happy to simply float along in life. And, even as he’s tried to rehab his image, he’s delivered a character amassed with hot air. He gets the job done, plays the role of hero, and blunders through everything else. But My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2 Episode 11 shows us a real shift. He’s putting as much might and resources into saving the 50,000 attendees as he did the three sisters in Episode 9. He is a hero, no matter the clumsy hardship he’s faced along the way. 

And he’s strengthened by Koichi, who, despite only just learning about his greater abilities of his Quirk, jumps into action to help him. Koichi, who still has untarnished faith in heroes, believes the two of them only need to do their best to hold off the Bombers until other pro heroes arrive to inevitably save the day. It’s a refreshing, moving moment because it secures what we know about him. He’s a hero through and through, no matter his lack of training or rusty abilities. He jumps when it matters. 

Koichi is a hero and deserves more of the spotlight. 

And that’s what leads to the final piece of the puzzle that makes My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2 Episode 11 so destructively powerful. The pro-heroes arrive, and Eraser Head (Junichi Suwabe) uses his Quirk to stop the Bomber, who faces off directly with Koichi and Captain Celebrity, as Best Jeanist (Hikaru Midorikawa) and co. secure the Sky Egg’s stability.

And despite being a pillar of strength holding up the entire structure, Captain Celebrity is on his last ember. He gives Koichi his last wish and director and storyboard artist Shōji Ikeno delivers a gut punch of a moment where the camera moves to Koichi who turns Captain Celebrity to see him gone. 

Suppose this were a darker series (and to a degree it is compared to My Hero Academia) that might’ve been that—a hero whose rehabilitation of his image came at the cost of his life. And, frankly, it seemed like the story was going that way since his reintroduction.

But instead, the moment loses some of its impact by ramping up our emotional attachment to Koichi as he, once again, goes for freefall in a foolish attempt to save the hero. It’s a case where he can’t even do anything once he reaches Captain Celebrity, the latter in turn willing the last of his strength to, at the very least, provide a protective barrier around Koichi before they hit the ground. 

My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2 Episode 11 ends on a breathless cliffhanger. 

My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2 Episode 11 leans into the greater destruction possible at the hands of villains in a world of superpowers. The moment where the Scarred Man (Taku Yashiro) moves forward with his last attack, his Bombers setting off multiple explosions that tip the Sky Egg on its axis, is impactful despite, again, knowing that the show won’t really go there. But it does a considerable job at forcing us, along with the other pro-heroes on the scene, to hold our breath as we try to figure out how Koichi, Captain Celebrity, and all of the people in the Sky Egg can make it out alive. 

In this case, we suspend our disbelief because, while we know it won’t end in utter tragedy, we don’t know how, and therein lies the fun. “Balloon Soul” also has fun by reminding us of the major pros of the original series, and characters such as Mirko (Sayaka Kinoshita) and Best Jeanist, in particular, shine as they display their immense, eclectic skills. 

Despite all of this and despite the thrill of a superhero narrative that understands the fundamentals of what makes a good, classic yet fresh superhero story, it still operates best as a part of a whole because piecing it together shines a light on the missteps along the way. My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2 Episode 11 thrills with thrumming excitement and genuine stakes, made better by an emotional core that intensifies the battle they’re all facing. It’s just a shame it doesn’t feel more earned. 

My Hero Academia Vigilantes Season 2 Episode 11 is out now on Crunchyroll. 

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