The TodoFam and U.A. Sport Festival - Second Event: “Cavalry battle” (騎馬戦 ‘kibasen’)
To better follow the sport festival here are a couple of info about the second event, in a step by step progression.
By the way some info are taken straight from the anime as they were included in the manga.
It is also worth to mention that in the manga Rin Hiryū wears an headband with 70 points around his head, while in the anime he wears one with 125 points around his head and will steal the one of 70 which he will wear around his neck. Generally when manga and anime disagree I go for the manga version, but since the manga version was a mess and lacked info, in this recap I will assume Rin had 125 points from the start. Sorry about it.
Another thing worth of interest is that all the teams take the name by their rider... except for Tsunotori Team, in which Kamakiri is the rider.
Groups first in order of points
TEAM MIDORIYA, RIDER: Midoriya Izuku 10.000.000 + Tokoyami Fumikage 180 + Uraraka Ochako 135 + Hatsume Mei 10 TOTAL = 10.000.325
TEAM KODAI, RIDER: Kodai Yui 60 + Bondo Kojirō 90 + Fukidashi Manga 5 TOTAL = 165
TEAM RIN, RIDER: Rin Hiryū 55 + Shishida Jūrōta 70 TOTAL = 125
TEAM TSUNOTORI, RIDER: Kamakiri Togaru 40 + Tsunotori Pony 30 TOTAL = 70
FIRST UPDATE
TEAM MIDORIYA (10.000.325) keeps its points
TEAM MONOMA (305) steals Team Hagakure’s (390) and Team Bakugō’s (665) headbands, reaching 1.360
TEAM TETSUTETSU (705) steals Team Mineta’s (420) headband, reaching 1.125
TEAM KENDŌ (225) steals Team Shinsō’s (295) and Team Kodai’s (165) headbands, reaching 685
TEAM TODOROKI (615) keeps its points
TEAM RIN (125) steals Team Tsunotori’s (70) headbands, reaching 195
TEAM BAKUGŌ (665) lost its headband reaching 0
TEAM KODAI (165) lost its headband reaching 0
TEAM TSUNOTORI (70) lost its headband reaching 0
TEAM MINETA (420) lost its headband reaching 0
TEAM SHINSŌ (295) lost its headband reaching 0
TEAM HAGAKURE (390) lost its headband reaching 0
SECOND UPDATE
TEAM TODOROKI (615) steals from Team Rin Team Tsunotori’s (70) headband, from Team Kendō Team Kodai’s (165) headband and Team Midoriya’s (10.000.325) headband, reaching 10.001.175
TEAM MONOMA (305+390+665= 1.360) keeps its points
TEAM TETSUTETSU (705+420= 1.125) keeps its points
TEAM KENDŌ (225+295+165= 685) loses Team Kodai’s (165) headband reaching 520
TEAM RIN (125+70= 195) loses Team Tsunotori’s (70) headband reaching 125
TEAM MIDORIYA (10.000.325) lost its headband reaching 0
TEAM BAKUGŌ (665-665= 0) keeps its points
TEAM KODAI (165-165= 0) keeps its points
TEAM TSUNOTORI (70-70= 0) keeps its points
TEAM MINETA (420-420= 0) keeps its points
TEAM SHINSŌ (295-295= 0) keeps its points
TEAM HAGAKURE (390-390= 0) keeps its points
THIRD UPDATE
TEAM TODOROKI (615+70+165+10.000.325= 10.001.175) keeps its points
TEAM TETSUTETSU (705+420= 1.125) keeps its points
TEAM BAKUGŌ (665-665= 0) steals from Team Monoma its headband (305) and, always from them, Team Hagakure’s (390) headband, reaching 695
TEAM MONOMA (305+390+665= 1360) loses their own headband (305) and Team Hagakure’s (390) headband reaching 665
TEAM KENDŌ (225+295= 520) keeps its points
TEAM RIN (125) keeps its points
TEAM MIDORIYA (10.000.325-10.000.325= 0) keeps its points
TEAM KODAI (165-165= 0) keeps its points
TEAM TSUNOTORI (70-70= 0) keeps its points
TEAM MINETA (420-420= 0) keeps its points
TEAM SHINSŌ (295-295= 0) keeps its points
TEAM HAGAKURE (390-390= 0) keeps its points
FORTH UPDATE
TEAM TODOROKI (615+70+165+10.000.325= 10.001.175) loses Team Tsunotori’s (70) headband, reaching 10.001.105
TEAM BAKUGŌ (665-665+305+390= 695) recovers from Team Monoma its own headband (665), reaching 1.360
TEAM TETSUTETSU (705+420= 1.125) keeps its points
TEAM KENDŌ (225+295= 520) keeps its points
TEAM RIN (125) keeps its points
TEAM MIDORIYA (10.000.325-10.000.325= 0) steals from Team Todoroki Team Tsunotori’s (70) headband, reaching 70
TEAM MONOMA (305-305+665= 665) loses Team Bakugō’s (665) headband reaching 0
TEAM KODAI (165-165= 0) keeps its points
TEAM TSUNOTORI (70-70= 0) keeps its points
TEAM MINETA (420-420= 0) keeps its points
TEAM SHINSŌ (295-295= 0) keeps its points
TEAM HAGAKURE (390-390= 0) keeps its points
FINAL RESULTS
TEAM TODOROKI (615+165+10.000.325= 10.001.105) loses its own headband (615) headband, reaching 10.000.490
TEAM BAKUGŌ (665-665+305+390= 695) recovers from Team Monoma its own headband (665), reaching 1.360
TEAM SHINSŌ (295-295= 0) steals from Team Tetsutetsu its headband (705) and, always from them, Team Mineta’s (420) headband, reaching 1.125
TEAM MIDORIYA (10.000.325-10.000.325+70= 70) steals from Team Todoroki its headband (615), reaching 685
TEAM KENDŌ (225+295= 520) keeps its points
TEAM RIN (125) keeps its points
TEAM TETSUTETSU (705+420= 1.125) loses its own headband (705) and Team Mineta’s (420) headband reaching 0
TEAM MONOMA (305-305+665= 665) loses Team Bakugō’s (665) headband reaching 0
TEAM KODAI (165-165= 0) keeps its points
TEAM TSUNOTORI (70-70= 0) keeps its points
TEAM MINETA (420-420= 0) keeps its points
TEAM HAGAKURE (390-390= 0) keeps its points
IN THE END
The members of the first 4 teams advance to the next event.
They are:
For Team Todoroki: Todoroki Shōto, Īda Tenya, Yaoyorozu Momo, Kaminari Denki
For Team Bakugō: Bakugō Katsuki, Sero Hanta, Kirishima Eijirō, Ashido Mina
For Team Shinsō: Shinsō Hitoshi, Ojiro Mashirao, Shōda Nirengeki, Aoyama Yūga
For Team Midoriya: Midoriya Izuku, Tokoyami Fumikage, Uraraka Ochako, Hatsume Mei
The TodoFam in BNHA Vol. 4 Chap. 028 - Strats, Strats, Strats (策策策 Saku saku saku)
Release date: January 26, 2015 (WSJ Issue 10, 2015)
Let’s look at what the manga shows us first:
Todoroki Shōto ‘Omae-ra o eranda no wa kore ga motto mo antei shita fujin da to omou karada. Kaminari wa sayoku de hatsuden shi teki o chikadzuke saseru na. Yaoyorozu wa uyoku, zetsuen-tai yara bōgyo-idō no hojo. Īda wa sentō de kidō ryokugen mo toi PHYSICAL o ikashita bōgyo.’
轟焦凍「お前らを選んだのはこれが最も安定した布陣だと思うからだ。上鳴は左翼で発電し敵を近付けさせるな。八百万は右翼、絶縁体やら防御・移動の補助。飯田は先頭で機動力源もといフィジカルを生かした防御。」
Todoroki Shōto “I chose you guys because I think this is the most stable formation. Kaminari will be on the left wing, generating electricity and keeping the enemy from getting close. Yaoyorozu will be on the right wing, providing insulation and assisting with defense and movement. Īda will be at the front, providing mobility and physical defense.”
Īda Tenya ‘Todoroki-kun wa kōri to netsu de kōgeki kensei to iu koto ka.’
飯田天哉「轟くんは氷と熱で攻撃・牽制ということか。」
Īda Tenya “So Todoroki-kun, you will attack and deter them with your ice and fire, right?”
Todoroki Shōto ‘..........Iya...... Sentō ni oite netsu (read: hidari) ha zettai tsukawa nē!’
轟焦凍「..........いや......戦闘に於いて熱（ひだり）は絶対使わ ねえ！」
Todoroki Shōto “... No... In battle I absolutely won’t use my heat (read: left)!”
Todoroki Shōto ‘Sorosoro datsuru zo.’
轟焦凍「狙いはひとつ。」
Todoroki Shōto “It is time to take it”
Observation notes:
We get fundamentally three scenes with Shōto. The first shows him telling the other members of his group why he has chosen them. Shōto, having quite a good number of points, likely had many people who asked to get in his team, same as Bakugō.
Shōto’s plan is solid, even if, since, as we will discover, he refuses to use his fire he is basically using Kaminari for the attack. Shōto’s choice not to use his fire put every member of his group at disadvantage but, apparently, no one argues with him.
Also, considering when he says he won’t use his fire he looks at Enji, we have another scene that confirms the two of them have a poor relation.
On a sidenote we can see that Endeavor’s Hero costume, which in chap 1 and 3 was the same and almost the same as the one of his prototype, now was changed in the chest area (even though the neck is still the same as the prototype) becoming closer to its final stage.
Another interesting thing to observe is that, although Shōto was second at the Obstacle Course Race and therefore gained for himself 205 point, the sum of the point of his team make them third with a total of 615 points (team Bakugō is second with 665 points). This is because Kaminari is pretty low in terms of points as he came 24 in the race.
The second scene in which we see Shōto is before the start of the cavalry battle, the implication in his words is that he is going to try to attack Midoriya (same as Bakugō).
The third scene in which we see him (after a quick glimpse as everyone scrambles) is the one in which he finally is ready to face Midoriya.
Retcon notes:
Here we see how Dark Shadow easily stop Bakugō’s explosion. The problem is Bakugō’s explosions generate light and that we will be told in the very next chapter, chapter 29 that Dark Shadow is weak to light which would have wrecked it and, in fact, to tame Dark Shadow, in chapter 80 they will use both Bakugō’s explosions and Shōto’s fire. Here though Bakugō’s explosions have zero effect on it while Kaminari’s attack would be a problem... or, more likely, Horikoshi thought only in chapter 29 to give Dark Shadow a weakness.
Sexism notes:
They had Hagakure fights half naked as she only wears her pants. Sure, if she doesn’t wear the upper part of her clothes her rivals can’t see where her arms are but all that truly matter is to see the headband and that is clearly visible and stolen by Monoma. Her invisible arms are of no use and the only good thing of all this is that she has such a tiny role and we are so used to her being fully invisible we might forget this means she is half naked but it is clear that the idea to leave her half naked is to play with male fantasies.
Teaching notes:
Horikoshi decided he would change the rules of the cavalry battle to allow for surprise scenes. The problem is that it turns out no one explained the changed rules, not to the students or to Present Mic. Not explaining the rules is the equivalent of sending the future Heroes on a mission and not telling them what they can legally do and what they can’t. In short it is not good.
Translation notes:
When talking with his team Shōto uses for them ‘Omae-ra’ (お前ら “you (plural)”). Shōto usually uses ‘Omae’ (お前 “you”) when talking with others which is a very casual way to talk to others and, if you are not close to them, it expresses the belief the speaker is of an higher status. The pluralizer ’-ra’ (等/ち) is also on the casual side, so it’s often associated with friendliness and/or disrespect. For this reason, it generally isn’t used for people who are of a higher social status than the speaker. Long story short, Shōto comes out as rude/looking down on his other team members.
In this sentence we see something interesting.
Todoroki Shōto ‘..........Iya...... Sentō ni oite netsu (read: hidari) ha zettai tsukawa nē!’
轟焦凍「..........いや......戦闘に於いて熱（ひだり）は絶対使わ ねえ！」
Todoroki Shōto “... No... In battle I absolutely won’t use my heat (read: left)!”
This sentence is one of those case in which we see the author writing a kanji ‘netsu’ (熱 “heat”) but giving it a different reading and meaning ‘hidari’ (ひだり) “left”, the kanji telling us the real meaning of Shōto’s words (in fact he uses his left side to fight, just not the heat his left side can create).
Weirdness notes:
The public is impressed with class A’s ability and deduces they should be so good because... they had faced Villains. Once. I... honestly don’t know how that could have helped here, it is like a single experience facing a real enemy was more worthy than a month of school training. While, of course, facing a really dangerous situation provided them with an extra esperience the others didn’t have this arc is incensing too much the fact class A’s kids had to face Villains, as if sending untrained kids on the battleground was really the best way to train them and what a school could give was really minor.
In addition to this the thing becomes ridicule because... while they were busy praising class A it was class B which actually managed to advance in terms of points, surpassing Bakugō, who has lost all his points, and Shōto. So really, maybe class A pulled out flashy moves but where those professional Heroes were looking since they didn’t realize class A was also being left behind?
When Shōto’s group faces Midoriya’s group 7 minutes had gone by and Shōto’s group’s points are unchanged. While okay, this is due to narrative exigences as the story didn’t have the time to focus on Shōto’s group in this chapter, it is a bad choice because it makes it look like Shōto’s group had been wasting time as it didn’t face Midoriya not collected headbands while class B’s groups managed to increase their points, therefore doing more.
If Shōto’s group had only wanted to collect Midoriya’s headband it could have been fine but we will see in the next chapter they will collect other people’s headbands so leaving them stalling in this chapter for narrative purposes is not a great idea.
It is also bad that apparently no Hero noticed a thing about how Class Ba managed to steal other people’s headbands, especially when one of the headbands stolen is Bakugō’s. I get the story wanted to surprise the readers by witholding this information but it really feels stupid the Pros didn’t pay attention to what was going on with the other groups especially since they are there to scout those kids.
As if this wasn’t enough it is even weirder how Midoriya, who is not close and should be busy running left and right, can manage to hear Monoma’s explanation even though the latter isn’t yelling. Again, this is done for narrative purpose but we could have a character from Bakugō or one from his team do that analysis as it would have worked better.
Now, regarding the anime version...
Episode 17 - Strategy, Strategy, Strategy (策策策 Saku saku saku)
Added parts notes:
While the first scene is expanded a little due to the anime having the time to smoothly follow the characters’ movement so that we can see Shōto raise his head, the only true addition is showing us Shōto clenching his fist before looking at Enji.
We also get an extra glimpse of Enji after Shōto and Midoriya found each other face to face.
Changed parts notes:
There is a minor change when Midoriya comes to face Shōto, as here it seems they had to abruptly change their course and stop, while in the manga the scene seemed much smoother, with Shōto and his group just appearing in front of them.
The anime also tried to make the scene more dramatic by showing us just Shōto’s left eye as he raises his head while in the manga we saw him from behind staring at Midoriya.
The anime also takes advantage of how it can depicts movements and so it has Shōto first stare at Midoriya then lower his head and say his quote, while in the manga he first talked then stared without moving.
