The entrance exam is underway! Midoriya, however, finds himself quickly falling behind as the other entrants destroy robot "villains" left and right, racking up points while leaving none for him! All the while, the heroes and teachers of UA watch the entrants, taking note of each one's strength, agility, and composure.
With time running out, Midoriya begins to despair as he finds no robots. Eventually, however, he finds a massive robot marching through the training grounds, one which is worth no points whatsoever and thus was avoided by the other students. He then notices Uraraka, the nice girl from earlier, trapped under some rubble and in danger of being crushed!
There is no time to think about whether it was worth taking down a worthless robot, not with a life on the line! Midoriya uses his new quirk, One For All, to launch himself into the air with a powerful jump, then uses the quirk to supercharge his striking power as he punches out the robot with a single blow! The other entrants, and the teachers, watch Midoriya's selfless act in awe!
Unfortunately, Midoriya finds himself in dire straits immediately after: he's now falling back to earth! As if that wasn't enough, the use of One For All has shattered the bones in his legs and right arm! Thankfully, Uraraka uses her quirk to let him land safely. The practical exam ends, and Midoriya's bones are mended with the help of the school's nurse, Recovery Girl.
A week passes. Midoriya hasn't spoken with All Might since, and the results of his entrance exam come in the mail. Midoriya already fears that he failed the exam...
When he plays the video that his results came on, he is greeted by a recording of All Might, who plans on becoming a teacher at UA. He states that Midoriya had, indeed, scored no points during the practical exam from defeating villains. There was, however, more to the results than this: he shows video of Uraraka, the girl he helped, approaching one of the teachers and asking him to give Midoriya some of her points so he could pass. Her request was denied, because there was no need: All Might explains that it wasn't just the ability to dispatch villains that the judges were looking for, but also a willingness to help others in need, even if there was no reward in so doing. With his amazing show of selfless heroism, Midoriya had managed to earn enough points to pass the exam! He was going to be accepted into UA High!
"Welcome..." All Might proudly declares, "...to your Hero Academia!"
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Big Damn Heroes: Midoriya's courageous leap to save Uraraka from the zero-point villain bot, which is one of the most iconic examples of this trope in the whole series.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: And legs, for good measure, when Midoriya punches the large robot.
- Hidden Purpose Test: Zigzagged. While scoring points by defeating as many villains as possible is the main component of the test (with a giant robot worth zero points compared to the smaller ones), each student also unknowingly receives a separate score measured by performing rescues. Izuku received 60 Rescue Points alone, enough to pass despite having 0 Villain Points, just for saving one person, which illustrates how much more value the graders place in such an action than just merely stopping a lot of villains. Uraraka, too, while getting a moderate enough amount of Villain points, gets a hefty bonus for saving Izuku from certain death. By contrast, Bakugo, who was first on the list, earned the score only on villain points.
- Jaw Drop: All of the examinees in Battle Center B react like this when they witness Izuku taking out the massive robot with one punch.
- Megaton Punch: Midoriya's first usage of One For All manifests as an incredibly strong punch that sends the villain bot crashing down, no doubt inspired by what All Might has done.
- Power at a Price: Izuku's body still isn't strong enough to handle One For All at full power, leaving him with multiple broken limbs after he invokes it. Downplayed with Uraraka: overuse of her Quirk just makes her nauseous.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Izuku abandons his chance to score points and pass the entrance exam, as well as ignoring the rule to ignore the large robot, in order to save Uraraka. Luckily, he unknowingly obtains hidden points from doing just that.
- Title Drop: Shown below, in All Might's message to Midoriya after the entrance exam.
- Took a Level in Badass: This episode strongly highlights Midoriya's growing courage, fueled by compassion, as he performs the aforementioned strike.
