WARNING: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Season 5, Episode 8, "Match 3 Conclusion," now streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu.
My Hero Academia's Class 1-A is facing new challenges during Season 5's combat training with Class 1-B, with students putting their newest skills to the test. Tenya Iida, Class 1-A's representative, is now getting his time to shine as well. While watching Tenya's match in Episode 8, Deku notices that he's actually gotten even faster than Gran Torino, who is known as one of the fastest Pro Heroes in the world.
This is a major compliment to Tenya, considering how hard he's worked and the pain he's gone through to upgrade his Quirk. He gets to test his upgraded skills in Match 3, and even though his team ultimately tied with their Class 1-B opponents, he still succeeded where it matters most after some astonishing hardships.
Tenya's Quirk, Engine, features car-like engines on both of his calves that give him incredible speed and kicking power. Like his brother before him, Tenya hopes to use his Quirk for the good of the people. Tensei Iida was known as Ingenium but was unfortunately paralyzed due to his fight with Stain. Taking on his older sibling's job, Tenya strives to be as good a hero as Tensei, consistently working hard to meet the high expectations placed on him.
Sometime before the events of My Hero Academia Season 5, Tensei told Tenya about a secret family method to enhance his Quirk. The process required Tenya to remove the mufflers from his legs so newer and better-attuned ones could grow in their place. While this was undoubtedly difficult and extremely painful, Tenya did it without hesitation. This shows just how far he is willing to go not only to fill his brother's shoes but to be the best hero he can be. Tenya can now use his Recipro Turbo ability for ten full minutes, as opposed to ten seconds previously. However, this comes with some drawbacks.
While he can use his new ability, Tenya admits he cannot fully control it. As seen in Episode 8 during his match against Class 1-B, we can see how Recipro Turbo can be somewhat limiting. It's true that Tenya's incredible speed allows him to save Todoroki, but the lack of control means he cannot do anymore. Tenya is faced with the choice between saving the victim and beating the enemy -- a choice every hero must make. But as Deku notes, Tenya's new speed is something to marvel at, now even beating Gran Torino's speed.
Though he's now retired, Gran Torino's Jet Quirk still possesses vast levels of speed. It's similar to Tenya's Quirk in that the soles of his feet can shoot jets of air that propel him in any direction he chooses. All Might claims that Gran Torino can move faster than the eye can see, which makes sense as he is often knocking out the enemy before they can even see him. He's notorious for being one of the fastest Pro Heroes in the world, making Deku's comment about Tenya the ultimate compliment. If Tenya can now match, or even surpass, Gran Torino's incredible speed, this means he is now one of the fastest people in the world.
Tenya Iida's dedication to becoming a Pro Hero is outstanding, to say the least. He's 100 percent committed to doing whatever it takes to better himself and his Quirk, no matter the pain or hardship involved. It's now put him in a place where he's being compared to one of the world's best heroes.
While Tenya's new abilities did not win his team's match in Episode 8, he was still able to fully test it and see the limitations he must either work on or workaround. Tenya's capabilities are certainly impressive -- even to Deku, the holder of One For All -- and his skills can only improve as he is further challenged by his classmates and his training in My Hero Academia.
