The TodoFam in BNHA Vol. 4 Chap. 030 - Cavalry-Match Finale (騎馬戦決着 Kibasen Ketchaku)
Release date: February 9, 2015 (WSJ Issue 12, 2015)
Let’s look at what the manga shows us first:
Bakugō Katsuki ‘Tsugi! ! Deku to Todorokin tokoda!!’ 轟焦凍「次！！デクと轟んとこだ！！」 Bakugō Katsuki “Next!! Deku and Todoroki!!”
Todoroki Shōto ‘Hidari… ore wa nani o…!’ 轟焦凍「左…俺は何を…！」 Todoroki Shōto “My left... What am I doing...?!”
Todoroki Shōto ‘……....Kuso-...’ 轟焦凍「.........くそっ...」 Todoroki Shōto “... Shit...”
Tokoyami Fumikage ‘Omae no syogeki kara Todoroki wa akira kana dōyō o mise ta. 1000 man o toru no ga honi dattarou ga … sō umaku hai kanai na.’ 常闇踏陰「お前の初撃から轟は明らかな動揺を見せた。1000万を取るのが本意だったろうが…そう上手くはいかないな。」 Tokoyami Fumikage “Todoroki was clearly shaken by your first attack. I guess I wanted to take the 10 million, but... it didn't look like it was going to work out that way.”
Todoroki Shōto ‘Kōgeki ni wa tsukawanē, sō kimeta HAZU nano ni keosareta…) Ikenē… kore ja… oyaji no omō tōri ja nē ka...’ 轟焦凍「(攻撃には使わねえ、そう決めたハズなのに気圧された…) いけねえ…これじゃ… 親父の言う通りじゃねえか...」 Todoroki Shōto “(Not to use it for attacks, this is what I had decided... but I was intimidated...) This is no good... This... is is just as my old man said, isn’t it?...”
Ashido Mina ‘Bakugō Todoroki no kōri taisaku de watashi irete kure teta dake de jitsuryoku ni miatten no ka wakan'nai yo--’ 芦戸三奈「爆豪轟の氷対策で私入れてくれてただけで実力に見合ってんのかわかんないよ──」 Ashido Mina “Bakugō only put me in to counter Todoroki's ice, so I don't know if my abilities are commensurate with theirs.”
Midoriya Izuku ‘Hanashitte… nani…?’ 緑谷出久「話って…何…？」 Midoriya Izuku “Talking... about what?”
ALL MIGHT ‘Yo-! Hisashiburi da na! Ocha shiyo, ENDEAVOR!’ オールマイト「よっ！久し振りだな！お茶しよ、エンデヴァー！」 All Might “Hey! It's been a while! Let's have tea, Endeavor!”
Todoroki Enji ‘ALL MIGHT...’ 轟炎司「オールマイト…」 Todoroki Enji “All Might...”
Observation notes:
So in this chapter we see the conclusion of the cavalry battle as well as of the duel between Midoriya and Shōto.
Now there was a lot of tension in the previous chapter because Midoriya was about to use One for All, which he can’t control very well, against Shōto. In this chapter we discover he only wanted to use it to... slap Shōto’s arm away using the force of the air he would move, the action also causing Shōto’s fire to turn off, him being surprised he had even turned it on in the first place.
Meanwhile Midoriya managed to grab the headband which he thinks is his own but instead take the wrong one because Yaoyorozu tells him they switched the position of the headbands around Shōto’s neck.
And again we have the effect BIG SURPRISE because we discover that something happened we knew nothing around (aka they switched the headbands). Honestly I probably wouldn’t be so annoyed by it if I hadn’t read the whole manga already and known Horikoshi is going to use it a lot more in the future.
We are at 10 seconds from the end, Midoriya tries to charge again, Kaminari uses his Quirk, Bakugō joins the action and... the time ends with Midoriya not managing to reach Shōto and Bakugō falling on the ground for funny effect as he somehow forgot to support himself and, this time, Sero didn’t care to bring him back on the horse.
Midoriya despairs, Shōto’s team is announced to be first, Bakugō’s team is announced to be second, Shinsō’s team is third and... Midoriya’s team is announced to be forth because BIG SURPRISE, Dark Shadow managed to snatch the headband on Shōto’s head even if actually Dark Shadow wanted to get the one with the ten million points around Shōto’s neck.
Shōto is unhappy and tormented because he has used his left and implies he has done what his father wanted.
The chapter ends with Shōto alone with Midoriya because he has told him they have to talk and All Might approaching Endeavor asking him if he wants to get a cup of tea with him.
Teaching notes:
Aizawa praises Monoma’s strategy as good and rational... only for us to have him and All Might basically imply that Bakugō’s overwhelming tenacity is better because Bakugō aims to the top and for this stubborness is more of a requirement than careful planning.
Okay, I kinda broke my rule here because this isn’t said outright in a way Shōto can hear it or witness but if this is one of the basic principles All Might and Aizawa believe in, well it will be passed down in their lessons.
The problem is... it is not even a great idea as practically Bakugō loses too much time with Monoma and therefore can’t go after the headband with the ten million points so he won’t get first place.
Yet the story has two of the most important adults basically praise what Bakugō was doing implying that is the right path to get first place.
Translation notes:
This is the first chapter in which Bakugō calls Shōto ‘Todoroki’. To be exact he calls him ‘Todorokin’ but I’ve been told the final ‘Todorokin’ is a colloquial way to add emphasis to a question or statement or convey feelings of frustration, annoyance and impatience. Long story to be told it is more something added to the sentence, to give it a certain feeling, than to Shōto’s name.
Tokoyami calls Shōto just ‘Todoroki’. Same as with his other classmates he doesn’t use honorifics for Shōto.
It is worth to mention that while in chap 24 Shōto called his father ‘kuso oyaji’ (クソ親父 “shitty old man”) he he calls him just ‘oyaji’ (親父 “old man”).
We also get Ashido calling Shōto just ‘Todoroki’. Considering girls are expected to be more polite than boys the fact she does’t attack honorifics to Shōto’s name makes her super casual.
Last but not least, in this chapter we learn that All Might and Enji call each other by their Hero names... which is pretty common among Heroes.
Weirdness notes:
I do get that the idea of Midoriya using One for All made for a great cliffhanger in the previous chapter but... first of all Midoriya had no idea Shōto would use his fire when he prepared to use One for All. Shōto had constantly avoided using it and I thought Midoriya had figured out he wouldn’t use it and Shōto wouldn’t have used it if Midoriya’s attempt at using One for All hadn’t triggered his self preservation sense.
To continue if the aim was solely to slap Shōto’s arm away he could have done it with his own strength, taking advantage of the fact they just launched themselves against him.
Yes, it would have meant to touch Shōto, but without One for All it wouldn’t have been dangerous for both of them and Shōto wouldn’t have been triggered in using his fire and Midoriya could be fast enough Shōto wouldn’t have managed to freeze his arm in the process.
So yeah, it is a very cool scene, but one done merely for the sake of a cliffanger and a cool scene, not a very logical one.
WHY IN THE WORLD MIDORIYA DOESN’T GRAB ALL THE HEADBANDS?!?
Beyond the dramatic factor he grabbed the wrong one, of course. He didn't need to leave Shōto’s team some and it was actually simpler grabbing all the headbands around Shōto’s neck than try to take the one on the top!
Dark Shadow, despite Kaminari having just used his Quirk and therefore having been weakened, and aiming to grab the headband with the ten million points around Shōto’s neck, managed to snatch the headband on Shōto’s head without Midoriya, who was staring at Shōto and was behind Dark Shadow, noticing anything. Totally believable. No, really this happens solely so we can have the BIG SURPRISE effect when the truth gets revealed. And it is two times in a single chapter and I am not counting the times this happen during the Monoma/Bakugō fight.
Now, regarding the anime version...
Episode 18 - Cavalry Battle Finale (騎馬戦決着 Kibasen Ketchaku)
Added parts notes:
The anime expanded the scene in which Midoriya uses One for All by basically showing us twice the same scene from different angolations. The final 10 seconds are also expanded so that they now the action looks a lot smoother. We hear Shōto tell Kaminari’s name first and then Yaoyorozu, to order them to get to action, and we also notice better how Yaoyorozu prepared another wand for Shōto to use, even though he never got the opportunity and we even understand better that Bakugō figured Shōto now is the one with the most of the points and turned to attack him, calling him. Overall it is much better and clearer, even if the few panels of the manga got us an idea of what was going on.
If anything Midoriya’s horse stilling is the only thing that feels wrong because it is too abrupt.
Team Todoroki also gets a single image just for them and, when Shōto says he will do as his father wants if this keeps up, the camera shows us Enji watching him and then leaving. We also have Enji’s fire increase when All Might calls him.
Long story short it is nothing big but the micro additions the anime did sure made things better.