WARNING: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Season 5, Episode 18, "The Unforgiven," now streaming on Funimation, Hulu, and Crunchyroll.
Endeavor's new obsession with atoning for his sins nearly results in yet another one of the Todoroki children becoming past tense in Season 5, Episode 18 of My Hero Academia. Fortunately for the Number One Hero, the Class 1-A students in his care cover for his hesitation, rushing into battle to show Endeavor how it's done. Deku, Bakugo and Shoto display the fruits of their labor with another perfect villain takedown.
When Natsuo finds himself in the clutches of a deranged villain who wants Endeavor to kill him, the flaming hero is unable to move when he realizes that saving Natsuo will end their already tattered relationship. This moment is crucial for Endeavor, as it makes him realize that his pursuit of redemption has been selfish, and his son's life should be more important than whether he ever forgives him. Luckily for Natsuo, Deku and the others were there to make sure this hard lesson didn't cost him his life, with Endeavor frozen in place and an increasingly unstable villain named Ending begging to be killed.
Once the boys rush into battle, Ending panics, using his bizarre Quirk that controls painted white lines to launch several cars into the air while tossing Natsuo in front of an oncoming train. Without a moment's hesitation or deliberation, the students leap into action, showing off the skills they've learned while training under Endeavor. Bakugo succeeds in instantly condensing his full power to blast himself across the battlefield to pull Natsuo out of harm's way. Shoto similarly summons his full power without delay and apprehends Ending, while Deku is able to focus multiple abilities at once, using Blackwhip to catch all the airborne cars before they crash back to the ground.
Endeavor is in awe of the boys' tremendous progress, noting how much they have improved after one week of training. The entire confrontation is over in moments: Shoto apprehends the villain, Bakugo rescues the hostage and Deku protects the bystanders and prevents any property damage -- a perfect hero operation. In addition to their impressive combat skills, Deku and Bakugo each have a hero's presence of mind to check on the well-being of the people they've rescued, assuring that everyone is okay. Bakugo even runs down the list of all the things heroes are supposed to do, ensuring that Shoto and Deku also did their jobs.
Shoto is stoic as usual, Deku celebrates their total victory and Bakugo takes the opportunity to rub Endeavor's nose in their success. Surprisingly, Endeavor has nothing but genuine praise for their performance, to the disappointment of Bakugo. The Number One Hero acknowledges that he made a mistake and appreciates that the boys were there to cover for it. Even though Deku, Bakugo and Shoto did what Endeavor asked of them by apprehending a villain before he could, to be fair, who knows if they would have beaten him to the punch if Ending had grabbed someone else's kid?
