WARNING: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Season 5, Episode 5, "Operation New Improv Moves," now streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu.
My Hero Academia's fifth season marches on with the continued battles between Classes 1-A and 1-B. Episode 5 features Tokoyami's face-off against Shihai Kuroiro and his dark Quirk. Much like Shinso was the focus of Episode 4, this clash features some flashbacks to Tokoyami's time with Hawks.
After losing the first round, the students of Class 1-B don't seem to be taking the competition lightly. Anyone who isn't putting forth a Plus Ultra attitude could quickly see themselves falling behind. Still, Tokoyami voices some frustrations he's felt about his own development as a fledgling hero, and he hopes to do both himself and Hawks proud in this fight.
Following the first match's conclusion, Aizawa and Vlad King grill their respective teams on their mistakes. Kirishima and Asui take the situation seriously, while Kaminari is cluelessly cheerful. Aoyama notes that Kirishima and Asui were part of the Shie Hassaikai raid. Since they had that real-world experience, they take training much more seriously than the relatively innocent Kaminari. Koda wishes he could've made better use of his Quirk, while Shinso is frustrated that he couldn't effectively use the binding cloths. As All Might says a little later on, the fact that Shinso's first emotion was frustration is a good sign. Meanwhile, the Class B team is dressed down by Vlad King for operating in an individualistic way and not working properly as a team.
Monoma sprints over to a relatively uninterested Shinso and starts eagerly planning how best to take down Class A in their upcoming match. Everyone else follows his lead, forming into their groups to discuss tactics. Still, there isn't much time for planning as Vlad King quickly announces the start of the next match.
Class A's team is made up of Tokoyami, Yaoyoruzu, Hagakure, and Aoyama. Class B's team is Kendo, Kuroiro, Komori, and Fukidashi. Kendo and Yaoyoruzu chat as they head to the training ground, with Kendo commenting on how they're perceived as being similar. Both of them shared the same internship, and both are often judged solely on their looks. Kendo tells Yaoyoruzu that she's been anxious to pit herself against her in an all-out fight -- not in any malicious way but to test herself against her perceived counterpart. Yaoyoruzu promises to give it her all.
As Tetsutetsu eventually explains, much of Class B's success and determination comes down to the leadership and personality of Kendo -- advocating that she'll be a strong challenge for Yaoyoruzu and the Class-A team. He even comments that if it weren't for Kendo, they would have been swayed by the negativity of Monoma. While her Quirk may be perceived as nothing too special, Kendo has a keen tactical mind and held her own during the League of Villains attack in the forest.
Meanwhile, Tokoyami is approached by Kuroiro. Both of them have darkness-based Quirks -- Tokoyami has his Dark Shadow, while Kuroiro can merge with darkness and move freely within it. Kuroiro says, "You and I share a destiny." So, not unlike Kendo and Yaoyoruzu, Kuroiro seems intent on taking down his Class A equivalent.
Tokoyami kicks off the battle by sending Dark Shadow out to scout the area and find the Class B opponents. Tokoyami has been working hard on his Quirk, and it can now go quite far independently. Unfortunately, this is what the Class B team has counted on, as Kuroiro almost immediately uses his Quirk to merge with Dark Shadow. Kuroiro uses the reluctant Dark Shadow to attack Tokoyami and the Class A team, and it seems like it might already be curtains for them. Luckily, Hagakure uses her Warp Refraction ability to produce enough light to cast Kuroiro out.
Tokoyami knows he needs to step up his fight, and his frustration leads him to recall moments of his work-study and internship with Hawks. Being chosen by the now-number 2 Hero was a great honor for Tokoyami, but we see that he did very little in his first internship. Hawks can move so fast that he usually deals with problems solo, leaving his sidekicks to handle things like paperwork and dealing with the police.
Hawks admits to inviting Tokoyami to be his intern because they're both "birds of a feather" and wanted to ask him about the League of Villains. Tokoyami couldn't help but be frustrated, and he went home without learning anything of value. However, when he returned for his work-study with Hawks, Tokoyami was intent on keeping up. He developed a new technique where Dark Shadow would envelop him, and they would use their strength together. Hawks saw this and was impressed and took Tokoyami flying that night. He told Tokoyami that another reason he'd taken him on as a student was he felt Tokoyami was wasting his potential and that "the ones who can fly, should fly."
In the present day, Kuroiro reveals that his talk of shared destiny with Tokoyami was just a ploy. He wanted everyone to think he was dead-set on fighting Tokoyami so they'd let their guard down -- and he immediately grabs Aoyama and races off through the maze of pipes. Since Dark Shadow is connected to Tokoyami, Kuroiro thinks he won't maneuver well enough to keep up. Little does he know, Tokoyami is about to use the new move he developed with Hawks: Dark Fallen Angel.
Tokoyami uses Dark Shadow to carry him and fly and covers Dark Shadow with his cape so that light won't affect its strength. Using this new ability, he quickly catches up and grabs Aoyama -- who uses his naval beam to fill the course with constantly shifting light. Kuroiro's Quirk is rendered useless, and Hagakure and Yaoyoruzu corner him. With Dark Fallen Angel, Tokoyami has come one step closer to realizing his potential. Still, without the teamwork of his classmates, it would never have worked.
Yaoyoruzu is surprised the Class B Team formed a strategy that was based around a single hero -- after all, they did that in the first match and lost. However, the battle isn't over yet. Mushrooms start appearing everywhere, and Kuroiro happily says that "as expected, Kendo's better than you." It seems everything so far has been part of Kendo's strategy. Kuroiro's shadow attack was plan A. Kendo's plan B is about to begin, along with the real challenge for the Class A team.
