Episode 16 (Vigilantes)

Okinawa gets a monster problem: an animate Shisa statue erupts near a shrine, a sentient goya vine mutated by the storms blocks the escape route, and a giant block of tofu grown from mutant soybeans comes bounding through the forest. All Might drops out of the sky, smashes the statue skyward, cuts the produce apart, and departs within seconds. Back at Might Tower he apologizes to Naomasa for running late, then erupts at the sight of the detective's cast and bandages. Naomasa waves off the cracked ribs and fractured collarbone he picked up from the Scarred Man's Trigger operation, and All Might insists a single phone call would have brought him. The detective disagrees on principle: a Symbol of Peace belongs to everyone equally, and any leak about who the top hero favors becomes leverage in a villain's hands. All Might offers a gift a rescued civilian gave him, rose-scented bath salts he thinks Makoto would like, and Naomasa accepts on the condition that his sister never learns who bought them, since she would drill straight through her brother to reach the number one hero's agency.

The precaution fails. Makoto accuses him of bribery, then argues Pop Step down to nothing: the girl was a victim in Osaka, her performances now run officially through FeatherHATS under Makoto's management, and questioning her is Makoto's call. Naomasa concedes, reminds her she is responsible for the girl's safety, and watches her clock the salts as an expensive import in the wrong bag. He revokes the gift out of spite and starts using them himself, which the next morning fills Recycle Shop: Hoppers with rose perfume during a meeting the Hotta brothers earned by cooperating on the Villain Factory case. Kirihito complains less about being experimented on than about the aftermath: too big for his apartment, unable to work a door with mantis forelegs, and shunted toward specialized housing rather than better infrastructure. Later, All Might suggests that Makoto treats her brother as family first and law enforcement second, and Naomasa calls that being spoiled.

Elsewhere, four karate students from 3rd Planet From The Black Hole High try to bully an all-girls school into dating them. The Crawler scolds them from a safe distance on the wall, and one boy answers with Spear Hand Missiles. Blocking a projectile with his palm, Koichi notices his hands repelling while his feet stay anchored, then takes one in the face. Pop leaps down and inherits the harassment. Meanwhile Naomasa, Sansa, and Eizo study footage of the Scarred Man dropping a room of officers, firing ten stolen guns, and vanishing in about a second; Eizo suspects a perception-accelerating Quirk, and Naomasa suspects Trigger amplified it. That points him to O'Clock, a retired high-speed hero with a relativity-based Quirk and a famous instant four-hit combo, who quietly stopped renewing his license. Eraser Head floats the idea that he turned villain, but the ages do not fit, leaving heredity or mentorship. Atop a skyscraper, the Scarred Man lands eight punches on a bag in one instant, declines his boss's advice to carry firearms because he prefers feeling the impact, and stares up at a poster of O'Clock. At home, Koichi shows Kazuho what he built from the fight: Scrappy Thrust Style, anchoring like a sumo wrestler and firing repellent blasts from his hands. He blows out a window, and she points at Knuckleduster's brass knuckles hanging on the wall as the reminder of who not to become.

Naomasa establishes the rule that All Might cannot prioritize individuals, since a leaked preference becomes a weapon, and the argument over the bath salts drags Makoto into a fight about Pop Step's status as vigilante, minor, and client.

Spear Hand Missiles debut against The Crawler, and the accident reveals that his hands can project repellent force independently of his feet, which he develops into Scrappy Thrust Style.

The investigation links the Scarred Man's acceleration Quirk to the retired hero O'Clock, and the villain is shown training beneath the man's poster while calling him Master.

The sixteenth episode of the Vigilantes anime and the third of its second season adapts chapters 37 and 38. Japanese and dub releases both landed on January 19, 2026, with CATCH!!! opening and Miss you closing.

The Okinawa fight is longer on screen, an added beat has the cafe patrons stare at All Might after his outburst, Kirihito gains a complaint about doorknobs, and a news feed covers the crime he stopped in Nagoya, where his opponent was an enormous tempura shrimp rice ball. His boss reaches the Scarred Man over a laptop rather than an earpiece.

The adaptation replaces the manga's Mazinger Brothers and their Mazinger High Karate Club with students modeled on Mechagodzilla and Moguera, so finger missiles from one student replace rocket fists from all four. Their three Mechagodzilla designs reference the Heisei version, the Showa version, and Kiryu, the school name comes from the alien world that built the original Mechagodzilla, and the redesigned schoolgirls nod to the identical-looking Xilliens of Invasion of Astro-Monster.