Hello there Split Screen fans! It’s your intro blogger Madelyn, counting down the episodes until we finish Coffee Prince and catch up to the current season of My Hero Academia. We’re in the home stretch, and things are heating up both literally and figuratively, so grab a cup of joe, style your flame beard, and let’s get to the action!
(New to Split Screen? Catch every moment here!)
EDITOR EMMA: Sorry it’s been so long by the way!
Coffee Prince Sixteenth Cup (from minute 32)
M: There was a lot of (at least temporary) emotional growth that took place this time.
E: Han-sung and Han-gyul acknowledged that men suck, which is the first baby step towards emotional growth.
M: I’m glad they both recognize that they’re being overly controlling and shouldn’t try to “tame” their partners. They were then both rewarded for that realization with exactly what they’ve wanted, so maybe that message was undercut, but so it goes. Compromise, I guess.
E: Wasn’t this still about her going abroad though? I don’t think that’s exactly what he wanted
M: Fair, Han-gyul did lose out in that Eun-chan will be living in Italy following her dreams for two years. Boo hoo.
E: I’m glad that he came around on that so quickly though.
M: I know, it only took fifteen minutes of the episode, maybe less.
E: See, in the early days, that would have been at least an episode and one full Shrek movie.
M: I bet he had Shrek in that pile of DVDs that Eun-chan grabbed. A shame they didn’t opt for Shrek movie night.
E: I hope he has like the limited edition vintage version of like…ugh, The Lego Movie wouldn’t have been out, huh? He would love that movie.
M: Han-gyul’s dream job would be consulting for that movie. Providing craft services.
E: Just doing the catering, yeah.
M: I just got my own joke. CRAFT services. Oh boy, I’m pretty funny.
E: Hilarious.
M: No, but he probably has all the Lego Batman…before the Lego Movie version of Lego Batman, he probably has all the direct-to-home-video releases.
E: Oh yeah, I’m positive that’s true.
Just cousin things
M: Next episode is for sure going to be a flash-forward, right? At least the second half?
E: 100%. I guess the present Yoo-joo and Han-sung story is still kind of open, but it’s not enough that they couldn’t just go ahead and timeskip next episode. Everybody else is set up for it.
M: Maybe we need one more moment with Ha-rim and Byul so that we can see the players match made in heaven. The woman who finally tames him. But that’s probably clear enough. And this way we can get Sun-ki and his nameless lady back together without explaining too much about how that happens.
E: What a weird subplot. Why is it…like that?
M: It’s so tonally out of step with the entire rest of the show, and then it went nowhere. There was no reason for it.
E: It sort of feels like maybe they had bigger plans for it when it started, and then it just wasn’t working. Because it’s so detailed for a subplot that gets like fifteen minutes total to exist in this whole series.
M: I’m all for characters having complex backstories that don’t necessarily have to intersect with the main plot, but this was not well-executed. I don’t know anything about production schedules for k-dramas, but I have less sympathy for subplots like this that seem larger at the beginning than they actually get screentime for in one season shows. Just plan it out.
E: Maybe they couldn’t get the lady’s actress enough or something.
M: Recast! I don’t know what she looks like!
E: Anyway. Looking forward to seeing two whole minutes dedicated to that sometime next episode.
M: It’s going to be riveting.
E: Maybe it just got ribboned up in editing. I don’t know. Lots of stuff that could have happened.
M: It’s fine, it’s no big deal, Sun-ki is just a fun character and it’s a bummer he got a bummer of a sidestory that ultimately didn’t go anywhere.
E: Anyway, who is Mr. Hong?
M: When he started singing with the butcher and Mama Eun-chan…I don’t understand the relationship between those three at all.
They’re just some old people
E: I think he’s said he was childhood friends with the butcher man? But that’s just a vague, unreliable memory.
M: I kept waiting for it to come out that she was the woman he waited forever for decades ago, but no.
E: He’s just like a mysterious travelling bard and Eun-chan never unlocked his side-quest.
M: That does about sum it up, doesn’t it?
E: Other stuff happened this episode! I think!
M: Eun-chan stayed up all night drinking two hundred cups of coffee.
E: Right. I like the thought that the staff would just have to sprinkle coffee grounds on the table in front of her for every take so she could get new coffee grounds stuck to her face.
M: It was a nice touch. There were also a lot of weird, sweet, supportive moments this episode. Eun-chan’s mom coming to the coffee shop and insisting that she doesn’t like the butcher, Han-gyul looking forward to Eun-chan’s first kimchi, which I guess is a wife thing.
E: Han-gyul bribing his future sister-in-law to lay off. Very pure.
M: More Han-gyul and Eun-sae on the Hotel Prince spin-off that was foreshadowed in the skyline.
E: As long as she has her new iconic look of face mask and bugles on her fingers.
M: That was such a bold look for a ten-second scene.
I want to have this amount of power
E: It’s all about authenticity to the character. And Eun-sae would do that.
M: Which brings us to Eun-chan sneaking out to see Han-gyul. The energy of that scene…I get what they were going for, but it was wrong. I’m just going to say it, it was really weird.
E: They were both having some real weird panic reactions. I do relate to, when nervous, looking to do something with my hands. Open the refrigerator. Look at the movies. Chuck a basketball.
M: I love that Han-gyul’s low tolerance for alcohol has just disappeared.
E: Maybe it was meant to be an allergy to some particular type of alcohol, but yeah.
M: Anyway, glad that Han-gyul got his cosmic reward for going through a gay crisis and standing up to his grandma.
E: Not much romance tracker left to do, but Romance Tracker?
M: Everyone ends up together, right? Is anyone other than Mr. Hong alone at the end?
E: Mr. Hong…alone with his apartment and his Sailor Moon comics.
M: There are worse things, but he needs to hire a cleaner.
E: Do you think we’ll get wedding in the last episode, or just heartfelt reunion.
M: Since they held off on showing basically anything from Yoo-joo and Han-sung’s wedding, I sort of think we will get wedding? It’s a good way to bring everyone back together two to five years later.
This is power too
E: Will the bugs be invited?
M: Please no. The tiny flashback this episode was the stuff of nightmares
E: I want one of the giant bugs to be the ring bearer.
M: The Yoo-sung baby will be the ringbearer, but nice try.
E: Maybe that baby is a giant bug.
M: You know what? Han-sung does have short limbs. So maybe.
E: It was under our noses all along!
M: That’s why that whole relationship bugs me so much.
My Hero Academia S4E24: “Japanese Hero Billboard Chart”
E: The fact that there is like…a real billboard chart for heroes kinda makes Stain’s point feel even more valid in retrospect.
M: It’s bizarre, right? I mean, these are government bureaucrats.
E: Yeah, it is extremely weird. Apparently this is the first time they’ve done a real awards ceremony for it, but still feels bad.
M: You know that before this, Hawks would drop an Aviary Direct when he was announced as top ten.
E: Hawks does feel like he would be extremely social media savvy. I mean, considering half the consideration is approval rating and he made it all the way up there at eighteen, gotta be some Tiktok viral videos involved.
M: Hawks is on Twitch.
E: Gentle should have really learned from him.
M: If only Gentle had adopted Hawks. Alternately, if only Hawks had found La Brava, that would have been a power couple.
E: What’s your impression of Hawks at the moment?
M: He does have big “anime idol manager” vibes.
E: That’s basically what he says he wants to be for Endeavor.
M: Laidback, kind of a jerk, doesn’t seem like he’d be good at the job, but he will be. I don’t know why he likes Endeavor though.
E: Do you think he does? I remember coming away from this episode highly skeptical of everything Hawks said.
M: I hear that. I’m not one hundred percent sure I believe that he doesn’t want the top spot. At the same time, I do believe he has some YouTube videos with thoughtfully caps-locked titles to edit, so he’s probably not interested in the classic career track. He’s Gen Z. He values experiences.
No 1. Hero Gets Steamy (Not Clickbait)
E: You do have to wonder what the internship was like for Tokoyami.
M: It sounds like he hated it.
E: He’s not a very speedy bird.
M: They probably just did TikToks.
E: Tokoyami would suck at TikTok. Or he’d be really good at it, but not on purpose.
M: That’s okay, Hawks can exploit that. Dark Shadow would be a natural.
E: Dark Shadow Prank Channel.
M: There we go. Anyway, Hawks would be a bad number one, I think he realizes being number one right now would hurt his career. He’s too young. You can’t have a baby number one. Or a woman, apparently. Where are all the women heroes?
E: You know, ya gotta wonder. I’m not sure if it’s clear what Wash’s gender is, but yeah, there’s only two in the top ten besides that.
M: First, Wash is my number one hero. Second, what’s the maternity leave policy for these government employees?
E: Don’t. I assume. Or rather, don’t if you wanna be top ten. Probably same for paternity leave, to be fair.
M: Endeavor has like ten kids though.
E: Yeah, I’m sure they appreciated all the time off he took.
M: Edgeshot probably is a doting dad. You’d never recognize him.
E: He’s on a team with Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady, so he’s kind of babysitting already.
M: I sort of thought Kamui Woods could be a dad, but maybe he and Mt. Lady are dating?
E: I think he’s also sort of baby. Like, not as young as Hawks, but he’s just starting to be successful at the very beginning of the series.
Reminding me that I should really do some laundry soon
M: Speaking of baby, can we get Endeavor’s skincare routine? The man doesn’t have a single wrinkle.
E: Maybe his skin is like different and reacts really well to fire. It keeps him young. I will say that the burning fire all around his face makes slow dialogue scenes sort of funny. Whenever they hold on his burning face, it’s a little awkward.
M: I’m surprised Shoto hasn’t experimented with facial hair yet. He’s a teenage boy who presumably has the option of a fire and ice beard.
E: Probably doesn’t want to invite the comparison to his dad, but ice beard sure would be cool.
M: I bet he does it in the bathroom after a shower.
E: That’s why he’s sad in the opening, someone caught him.
M: He’s sad because Endeavor is going to die. Also, fire and ice beard is HUGE on Todoroki’s TikTok.
E: Todoroki should have a TikTok. I wish that for him.
M: He does, but it’s all Buzzfeed Tasty-style videos of soba.
E: Hawks did also straight diss him this episode. Imagine just rubbing in a guy’s face that you were 1. Planning to steal his son and 2. Glad you didn’t because he sucks.
M: To be fair, he does kind of suck. To be fairer, that whole test kinda sucked. Wasn’t really a good test, but whatever.
E: Any other thoughts from this episode? We’ve got scary talking, possibly flying(?) Nomu here at the end. Whose dub voice is like 5x less creepy just because none of the processing effects I remember from the original Japanese seem to have been applied. But still, talking Nomu. Pretty creepy.
M: Maybe next season. Jk, they will not be back in the real studio in time. I can’t believe they’ve let the Nomus run around for a dozen episodes.
E: They didn’t find any. I think they got all the ones that were where AFO was. Apparently there have only been rumored sightings since then.
When your FOMO takes control of you
M: What about the giant dude that someone was fighting in the first episode?
E: Well, he got away. I don’t know if he’s a Nomu though.
M: Still, I can’t believe there’s been no League talk for ages.
E: Dabi just showed up to say “hello Nomu!” and that was it this episode.
M: They had to set up his home studio just for that.
E: Yeah, they would. Oh, that’s funny in a sad way. He probably has other roles to work on too, maybe?
M: Let’s see, a few other observations: I can’t believe they brought Kota back after he’s been replaced in Deku’s heart.
E: Right when you were calling the show out for forgetting him. They anticipated it.
M: I can’t believe they won’t just come out and say that Aizawa is adopting Eri.
E: He basically is. All the teachers are, I guess.
M: That’s a whole other can of worms, which I won’t go too deep into, but how is UA possibly the safest place for a child with a dangerous, uncontrolled quirk? This can’t be the first time this has happened.
E: Yeah, it feels like there should be a support system for these types of situations. But maybe the reason that some of the villains are around is because there isn’t!
M: That’s believable, but also it does seem like there should be at least a few cases (and I’m being generous here) of five and six year olds with unmanageable quirks being cast out from their families every year. Do they just all live on the streets and become villains? That doesn’t seem accurate.
E: Yeah. I don’t know. Clearly there’s not a better option than UA in this situation, so maybe it’s been sort of handled on a case by case basis. And some are lucky like Eri, and maybe some are not.
M: I’m just begging for this world to have a bit more of a fleshed out universe, and I know it doesn’t.
E: I mean, I would argue that the lack of something like this is a worldbuilding choice.
M: I hear you, but the total lack of it doesn’t seem fully realistic to me.
Who needs social services when you have Quirkless Boy and Tired Teacher
E: The other unspoken thing is possibly that Eri’s Quirk is useful. So maybe they want to have her around.
M: Ah yes, UA and their child exploitation.
E: Just saying that is a possible explanation as well.
M: The test subject becomes the test master: Principal Nezu.
E: Anything else or time for lawsuit watch?
M: That restaurant should sue the Nomu.
E: Can you sue something that’s probably not registered?
M: They’re built from people bodies, right?
E: Seems mean to sue the families that the Nomu is made from, but sure yeah.
M: Nomu are probably not mentally competent enough to be sued.
E: This one can talk though.
M: Yeah, but is it like a parrot, or is it really talking?
E: We’ll have to see, I guess. Or you will, I know already.
M: I think all the women heroes should probably sue the Billboard Awards for gender discrimination.
E: They could but it seems to be all numbers, right? Number of cases and number of fans?
M: Well, they should sue their employers for better benefits.
E: Heck yeah.
M: So I think My Hero wins.
E: I think Coffee Prince wins caffeine watch
M: She drank two hundred cups of coffee.
E: Yeah, plus the one scene where they just both freaking out. Highly caffeinated.
M: Alright, I’m ready to make some predictions for the finale!
E: Season 4 Episode 25, the finale of the season, is called “His Start”
M: Prediction one: this is the Endeavor flashback episode, right? Endeavor backstory time while he fights the Nomu and then the Nomu kills him.
E: 
M: You can just put the green checkmark emoji, it’s okay.
E: Like Hawks, I zip my lips closed.
M: Prediction two: that kid on the street that is an Endeavor fan is definitely going to turn into a villain.
E: 
.
M: Prediction three: while Endeavor is fighting, Hawks creates the newest TikTok dance. It’ll be to We Didn’t Start the Fire or something like that.
E: 
M: Prediction four: This episode is actually about Mirio discovering his true calling: professional manny. A nanny but a man, if that wasn’t clear.
E: 
M: Prediction five: Shigaraki will appear and say some edgelord stuff while Nomu fights, and try to make a viral video of it. It won’t be well-produced, but it’ll do okay. It’ll get demonetized but only after weeks of complaints. They can’t take it down. It’s newsworthy. Actually, I don’t know if Shigaraki is into social media. He probably doesn’t like it. But he’ll have to reluctantly see the power.
E: Somebody on the League of Villains is a social media star. I’m not sure who.
M: Gee, I wonder who?
E: 
–
Hey there, Emma here! Thanks for watching My Hero Academia and Coffee Prince with us! Next time- the Coffee Prince finale and the My Hero Academia Season 4 finale all in one blog post!
Look forward to it!