Summary
InMy Hero Academia, the way somebody engages in a fight—their fighting style, so to speak—is largely determined by their quirks. Those who can cause massive destruction with a single attack, such as All Might or All-For-One, can ignore everything and smash their foes to smithereens. On the other hand, those has quirky powers—Eraser Head andStain come to mind—have to come up with a unique fighting style that can take full advantage of their peculiar quirk.
Lemillion belongs in the second camp. Similar to Eraser Head and Stain, he too has a troublesome quirk that would normally prevent him from becoming a hero. In fact, his father, who has the same quirk as him, rarely uses it in his everyday life due to how hard it is to control. That being said, Lemillion is not one to give up his dream of becoming a hero so easily. So he trains hard and is finally able to develop his own unique way of fighting. Let’s use this chance to look deeper into what makes Lemillion’s fighting style so unique.
First Appearance
Episode 62
Before we get into the fighting style, let’s take some time to talk about the building blocks of Lemillion’s fighting style first. Three major components contribute to his way of fighting. His quirk, his physical strength, and his foresight.Let’s start with his quirk, Permeation.
Phasing Through Everything
As the name suggests,Permeation allows Lemillion to phase through anything.He can freely turn his body, or parts of his body, intangible and slip through everything. While being intangible, no attacks can touch him and no defense can stop him. This quirk is especially useful for infiltration missions. After all, it doesn’t matter whether the enemy hides underground or behind layers of thick slabs of iron walls, Lemillion can simply walk into their lair without breaking a sweat.
“Mirio, make one wrong move with our quirk and you could be split in two. It’s a tough one to control, which is why Daddy gave up on being a hero. But you’re still gonna go for it?”
—Mirio Togata’s father, Chapter 152
A Lot More Troublesome Than You Might Think
Reading the description above, Permeation seems like such a handy quirk, right? Well, that couldn’t be further from the truth. This quirkrequires an absurd amount of concentrationfrom its user. To perfectly timed which part of his body should turn intangible, Lemillion needs to have absolute control and awareness over every inch of his body.
Furthermore, while he is in full intangible mode, everything will pass through him, including light and oxygen. This means when he dives underground, he can’t see and he can’t breathe. By the way, to prevent him from slipping through his clothes, his hero costume is made out of a special fiber that is developed based on strands of his hair.
Physical Strength
Permeation is not a quirk that grants its users enhanced physical ability. It can help Lemillion move like no other, but that is pretty much it. So to take down villains andbecome a real bonafide hero,Lemillion has to train his body in the old way. This means adding more muscle and learning some martial arts.
Raw Muscle Power
Since any type of weapon and tools will only slip through him, Lemillion’s only weapon is his body. Or to be more precise, his kicks and punches. He realized this fact early on, so muscle-building has always been part of his daily training regimen. But that doesn’t mean he suddenly bulking like All Might. Lemillion’sfighting style requires speed and agility,which means even though he is muscular, he is still relatively lean. That’s why his build may not look that much different from regular people. Nowadays, he can easily knock people down with a single kick or punch.
Martial Arts
All the muscle in the world won’t mean anything if he doesn’t know how to throw a punch properly. That’s why alongside muscle building and quirk control, he also hasmartial arts trainingas part of his daily regimen. He doesn’t need to be an expert in every martial art under the sun. Boxing for his punches and karate or taekwondo for his kicks should be sufficient. Maybe some grappling or Muay Thai to tie everything together. So yes, Lemillion has mastered the foundation for a Mixed Martial Arts and that is pretty much all he needs to take down any villains.
Episode 63
Lemillion is the pupil of Sir Nighteye, a man who used to work together with All Might for years.Nighteye’s quirk allows him to peek into the future of his target,perfectly seeing what they would do in the next seconds, minutes, hours, and even years in the future. Thanks to this, nobody can touch Nighteye in a fight. Meanwhile, he can easily land a critical hit to knock his enemy down. Lemillion doesn’t have Nighteye’s quirk, but the master has made sure to drill this foresight ability into his pupil.
Taking it All in
The first thing that Lemillion does in a fight is observe everything around him so that he can take advantage of his surroundings. It’s better if he has information regarding his enemy beforehand, such as the caseduring the Shie Hassaikai raid.But even if he doesn’t know anything about them, Lemillion is trained to always analyze his opponents’s quirks, movements, and personalities so that he can predict their next actions as accurately as possible. By taking it all in, he will exponentially increase his chance of winning the fight.
Predicting Everything
When Lemillion uses his Permeation to dive into the ground, he will be repelled because two different masses can’t occupy the same place. Lemillion uses this phenomenon to propel himself in any direction he wants, which allows him to move faster than his opponents can react.
But no matter how fast he moves, if the enemy sees him coming, they will be ableto prepare a counterattack or take an evasive maneuver.That’s when predicting his opponents’ movement comes into play. By anticipating where the enemy will be or what they will do next, Lemillion can catch his opponents off guard and land a critical hit. He already has the quirk, the strength, and the martial arts, but it is the foresight that elevates his fighting style to another level.
“I watch my enemy closely! And try to predict his next action! But you move way better than some two-bit Yakuza thug! You’re strong, Chisaki! That said, between the two of us, I’m stronger!!”
—Lemillion, Chapter 151
Lemillion in a Fight
So now that we have all the pieces of the puzzle in place—namely the quirk, the muscle power, the martial arts, and the foresight—let’s see how Lemillion uses all of these tools in action. There’s no better way to showcase his unique fighting style than that time when he fought against Kai Chisaki, better known as Overhaul, and his goonsin the Shie Hassaikai arc.
Moving Before the Enemy
This fight happens in the long corridor underneath Shie Hassaikai’s HQ. Chisaki intends to escape from the secret passage with Eri and some of his underlings. The momentOverhaul and his goonsrealize that Lemillion has caught up to them, they immediately try to attack him head-on. But before they can move, Lemillion has already dived into the ground, propelled himself towards Overhaul, and appears right behind the masked villain. All of these maneuvers happen in fractions of a second. Before Overhaul can react, Lemillion has already landed a clean punch that knocks this Yakuza down.
Catapult by the Ground
Diving into the ground and nearby walls and then using the repelling effect to be catapulted toward his chosen direction is Lemillion’s signature move. Not only it is effective as a surprise attack, but it is alsoLemillion’s fastest move.In fact, one of his ultimate moves is called Phantom Menace. When he executes this move, Lemillion bounces around at high speed from the nearby walls, floor, and ceiling, and then takes out multiple enemies simultaneously. Lemillion uses Phantom Menace to knock down several of Overhaul’s minions before they get a chance to react. This move works especially well indoors.
Multi-Stage Phasing
After enduring grueling and extensive training sessions, Lemillion has finally achieved complete control over his troublesome quirk. He can now limit Permeation to take effect only on certain parts of his body and turn it on and off instantly. This multi-stage phasing allows him to basically ignore the enemy’s defense. The best example of this is during Lemillion’s final fight against Overhaul.
Overhaul’s destructive power stems from the palm of his hands. So when he realizes Lemillion is about to punch him, he instinctively opens his palm, both as a means to stop the attack and to destroy Lemillion’s hand. Unfortunately for him, Lemillion simply phases through Overhaul’s palm and then makes his fist tangible again while the rest of his arm remains intangible. As a result,his full-power punch landed cleanly on Overhaul’s face.
So in summary, when Lemillion infiltrates the enemy’s lair and has to fight against several opponents, he dives and propels himself toward the enemy that stands furthest from him. He will launch himself upward behind the enemy’s back and knock him down. He will then dive again and bounce from the floor to the nearby walls at high speed and take out the remaining enemies.
If there’s anybody who tries to attack him or block his attacks, he will use his mulCrunchyroll.ti-stage phasing to pass through their defense and land a clean punch or a kick to their face. Ifhe has to engage in a prolonged fight,he will analyze the opponent as he fights them in order to predict their actions and adjust his strategy accordingly. This is the essence of Lemillion’s unique fighting style.
My Hero Academiais available to stream on Crunchyroll.
My Hero Academia
In My Hero Academia, some humans have superpowers called quirks. Izuku Midoriya, nicknamed Deku, is not one of them. Deku has always idolized heroes like the number one hero, All Might, and since he was a child, he has always wanted to be a hero. However, his lack of a quirk has always held him back, but a chance encounter with All Might after discovering a classmate in danger sets Deku on the path to becoming a true hero. My Hero Academia centers around Deku and a class of heroes-in-training at UA. This school shapes young quirk users into future heroes through fake rescue missions, combat training, and other hero-tempering tasks. With young Deku inheriting the “One-For-All” quirk, he will learn what it means to be a true hero while facing off with dastardly supervillains.
