WARNING: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Season 5, Episode 11, “Our Brawl,” now streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu.
Minoru Mineta is probably one of My Hero Academia’s least-liked characters, largely thanks to his constant harassment of his female classmates and pervy antics. Though he hasn’t totally abandoned his horrid behavior of late, he doesn’t engage in those shenanigans as often anymore in the series... with the exception of Season 5's Episode 11. However, though Mineta might have fallen back into old habits, a little good does come out of it this time.
During the second half of Match 5, Mineta and Mina Ashido find themselves faced with Class 1-B’s Nirengeki Shoda and Yui Kodai. The two teams seem perfectly balanced against each other: All attacks from either side being promptly deflected and all the students eager to show off their strengths.
The battle’s tide shifts a little in Class 1-B’s favor, however, when Mina attempts an aerial move. Her agility allows her to fire off her acid shots at tricky angles but with no way to control her descent, she became a sitting duck in mid-air.
Realizing her vulnerability in that situation, Class 1-B's Shoda instantly seizes his opportunity. He quickly picks up a scrap wheel from around the surrounding junk and tosses it in Mina’s direction before boosting it with a Twin Impact Blast. He intended for it to strike Mina while she couldn’t defend against it… and he might have succeeded. The wheel was on course to knock her right out but is stopped by none other than Mineta.
Mineta had already laid his Pop-Off balls all around the training field, and, since everyone else sticks to them while he only bounces off them, he greatly increases his mobility while forcing his opponents to mind their step. He jumps high enough using one of those balls and stops the wheel before it hits with a new move he called Grape Buckler. He then covers a shield with many of his Pop-Off Balls to simultaneously cushion the blow, as well as trap whatever strikes the shield. Mina is grateful to see Mineta come to her rescue but his real motives become clear when the momentum from being struck by the wheel carries him straight into her chest.
Enraged, Mina grabs Mineta and tosses him away with her Acid Layback. Using a number of his balls already laid around them, Mineta starts to ricochet off them like a cannonball. As he bounces, he throws even more of his balls around, sending the Class 1-B team into disarray, while yelling out the name of this new move: “Grape-Pinky Combo: Mineta Bounce!” Though Mina might not agree with his methods, it at least shows some growth for the lecherous hero-in-training.
