Tōichirō Suzuki meets with his Ultimate Five at the top of the Seasoning City Cultural Tower. The police and the JSDF are closing in, but not to worry. U5 member Hatori is amusing himself with police helicopters, and Claw's mooks can handle the ground offense just fine. They proceed to hurl oil tankers and skyscrapers at the frightened cops while Suzuki hands out work detail.
Back at Mitsūra's hideout, everyone turns to Reigen for advice as they watch the city's ruination unfurl on TV. With Mob still out cold, they don't stand a chance: best to leave this up to the authorities. A call from his insurance company, however, quickly changes his mind.
Shou, his lackeys, and Ritsu survey the wreckage, but are waylaid by U5 member Minegishi and their man-eating plants. Shou's crew promise to take them out, urging him to go on ahead to the Cultural Tower with Ritsu. Meanwhile, Team Reigen splits up for a two-pronged attack on Claw, air and ground; the man himself stays behind with Mob and Dimple. Mitsūra catches a break-in on security cameras and leads them to a safer place. Unfortunately not safe enough, as Claw mooks sniff them out of hiding anyway. Reigen somehow manages to talk his way out of this and disarm them, along with Shibata—the U5's designated dumb muscle—hot on the mooks' heels.
Cut to Suzuki père, pontificating upon his superiority to Shimazaki and Serizawa, the most ESP-gifted of all his enforcers. Serizawa wordlessly questions whether leveling this city is necessary. Reading the unease in his eyes, Suzuki offers the man some advice.
Shibata springs to life behind Reigen like an enormous 'roided-out zombie: the time Sakurai's cursed spray bought him just ran out. A second spritz does absolutely bupkis. The enforcer immediately moves to slug the child into atomic fragments, but Dimple possesses Mob just in time and fights back. Quickly realizing that he's outmatched, he runs for both their lives... straight into a crowd inexplicably capturing footage of this advancing tank of a man with their phones. He sees Tsubomi among them and blocks Shibata to shield her, but the juggernaut wallops Dimple clean out of Mob's body. The teenager's black-clad frame soars into the air, high above the city...
While Minegishi's plants slowly digest Shou's crew, a rather large corps of Scars pay Team Reigen Air a visit. Shimazaki intercepts Team Reigen Ground as they exit the sewers. This is not looking good at all.
While navigating around the rubble for a jog, the Body Improvement Club boys catch... a falling Mob. Shibata's steaming hulk homes in soon after, still intent on pulping him. The Muscle Brothers—and Onigawara—lay their lives on the line to defend their friend. When Dimple finally catches up, he possesses President Musashi, then overpowers Shibata in spectacular fashion before departing his body.
But the beast-man on psychic Angel Dust will. not. be. stopped. Rising to his feet, he makes it about two meters before a force abruptly flattens him face-first into the pavement, carving out a crater with his bulk...
Tropes appearing in this episode include:
- Body Surf: A benevolent example; Dimple keeps Mob's body warm to save him from Shibata. He later possesses the president of the Body Improvement Club just in time to prevent his back from breaking under Shibata's attempted Finishing Stomp of Mob and Musashi.
- Brass Balls / Big Damn Heroes: The Body Improvement Club jumps in to defend the near-comatose Mob from Shibata, despite being woefully outmatched and in middle school. Musashi throws himself between his clubmate and Shibata's foot; the pavement can be heard cracking under them.
- Didn't Think This Through: For all his drive and brilliance otherwise, Suzuki appears not to have worked out what ruling the world would actually look like, judging from the reasons he gives the Ultimate Five. Claw's head is never seen wrestling with the sheer logistics or politics ruling human beings actually entails.
- A major theme of this series is how childish this kind of power-seeking is. Mob is perhaps the only overpowered character in this show capable of contemplating the implications of his power to himself and others. He's more of an adult at fourteen than the literal adult espers in this story. Including Suzuki, who is over three times his age.
- Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: Lampshaded, parodied and justified. After activating his Psycho-Steroids in annoyance at having been knocked out, Shibata launches into what would have been an overlong explanation of how they work. Reigen lampshades the silliness of all this by cutting him short with another spritz of curse spray. It only enrages him further.
- This also marks the most Shibata ever says on screen, as he seems to communicate mostly in growls, grunts and roars. He broke his relative silence just for this.
- Green Thumb: Minegishi can send their man-eating plants through concrete and ensnare victims. They come in handy later on.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: Averted; Dimple in Musashi's body remarks on Shigeo's wisdom in training his own muscles: real muscles built with hard work trump Shibata's inflatable PCP psycho-strength any day of the week.
- It's All About Me / Smug Super: To a solipsistic extent. The elder Suzuki reveals much about himself in this episode while gloating to the two most powerful members of his Ultimate Five. He tells them to their faces that whether they live or die serving his aims is of no consequence to him. Seasoning City—the city Claw is decimating in Suzuki's drive to establish a new era of esper supremacy—is his hometown, and he has no attachment to that either.
- Just in Time: For a show that not infrequently delights in these moments, this particular episode is packed full of them. The most influential is Mob's awakening from his Shou-induced Deus Exit Machina to send Shibata to a literal dirt nap before he crushes the Muscle Brothers.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Suzuki to Serizawa. Serizawa's desperate need for approval and guidance blinds him to the fact that he's not working for a corporation at all; Suzuki actively encourages this dependence.
- No Poker Face: Serizawa's discomfort with the destruction being wrought in Claw's name is written all over his face.
- Powers via Possession: Just as Shibata is about to stomp him and Mob underneath to death, Dimple briefly possesses Musashi. This gives him the strength to overpower Shibata and hammer-toss him several hundred feet away, but he can't use his arms for some time afterwards.
- Technopath: Hatori's specialty is psy-jacking electrical equipment. He uses this ability to seize control from a pair of helicopter pilots and twirl their vehicle around like a kite in a gale. The pilots' fate is unknown.
- Temporary Bulk Change: Shibata's muscular bulk is seen to deflate twice.
- Unstoppable Rage: Once Shibata activates his psycho-steroids, he cannot be stopped. At least not by an unaugmented Dimple, a Dimple-possessed Mob, or an extremely lucky Reigen.
