June 24, 2025 | Roderick J "Jay" Friz

Knuckleduster Fulfills his Dad Duties!

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Ep 12 Review

When you’re a dad, you want to be a good dad to your kid. And since there’s no universal manual for being a parent, that means most of them are going to make mistakes. But no matter what, a good dad will do whatever it takes to make sure their kid is safe. And for Knuckleduster, that means pulling out all the stops to save his daughter from Queen Bee!

Narufest Lives!

Thanks to Queen Bee hopping Pop’s Eel-fan on more Trigger, there’s a blackout in Naruhata, putting Narufest in danger of being shut down. And since the heroes have to prioritize the crowd’s safety, there’s not much they can do to fix things. Thankfully, Koichi manages to come in clutch for everyone by grabbing Pop’s mic. If Pop can keep everyone calm until they get the backup generators (thanks, Captain Celebrity), they can salvage Narufest.

Its actually a pretty gutsy move having Koichi openly call himself by his vigilante name in front of Mic and Midnight. Then again, they probably know by now that he’s capable and well-meaning. Whats even gutsier is the fact that Pop fights to overcome her stagefright to get in front of such a big crowd. But once she gets past her initial fears, she gets to show off how good she is at working a crowd. And once she starts singing…the magic begins.

https://twitter.com/Branion7651/status/1937587145935315397

Pop☆Step’s singing has always been a highlight of Vigilantes, but in this case, it’s even more special than normal. Koichi and the audience may not understand it, but viewers should know right away that her new song is about how Koichi inspired her as a kid. It’s almost like her love song to him. It’s really sweet, and its only the opening act. The remix of the Marukane Department Store’s theme song turns really good! Who would have thought? Guess J-Pop can make anything awesome!

The real focus of the episode, though, is on the fight between Queen Bee and Knuckleduster. Or rather, the fight between Tamao and her Dad.

Knuckleduster Fullfills his Dad Role

As the last episode revealed, Queen Bee’s true identity is Tamao Oguro, Knuckleduster’s daughter. Or rather, Tamao is the person who Queen Bee is using as a host. Queen Bee is actually a parasitic Quirk that jumps from body to body, turning it into a hive for her bees. She possessed Tamao after the latter stormed off following a heated argument with her dad. Being the good dad he is, Knuckleduster won’t let his daughter stay the puppet of a villainous bee, and he pulls out all the stops to rip it out of her. He was even willing to stop their hearts to make sure that they could make it back together!

Knuckleduster might act tough, but he’s a big softie at heart. He’s a good dad. When his kid was in danger, he did whatever it took to save her. He did have to stop her heart to force Queen Bee out, but he started it right afterward. And the resulting parasite was disgusting to look at! Thankfully, Queen Bee is not going to bother anyone for a long time. And I only say that because a mysterious man manages to capture a single bee and take it away to places unknown.

For now, though, it seems the threat of the Instant Villains has been stopped. Naruhata should become a more peaceful place from now on, but that does beg the question: what will the Naruhata Vigilantes do now? Because it looks as though Knuckleduster might not be sticking around. Only time will tell, as apparently, next week is the final episode of the season, not this week.

I Give “Goodbye to Dad” a 4/5

Click here to see more animanga stuff.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Share: Facebook Twitter Linkedin