WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for My Hero Academia, Episode 71, "Suneater of the Big Three."
Of the Academy's Big Three, Tamaki Amajiki is arguably the most enigmatic. As a shy, awkward boy who struggles to interact with those around him, we've never really gotten any insight, as an audience, on his inner thought processes. We've only known him as that quiet boy who hides his face in every circumstance; as Fat Gum's protege, and as one of the three strongest students in U.A armed with the peculiar quirk, Manifest -- which allows him to manifest the things he's eaten.
However, Episode 71 of My Hero Academia finally sheds some light on that which, until now, has been shrouded in mystery.
CHILDHOOD BONDS
We open the episode with the heroes charging this season's villain, Overhaul's base. At this moment, Amajiki reflects on an incident from his childhood where he struggled to introduce himself to his elementary school class. He couldn't get a word in as he mumbled and hid his face from the class. He resigned himself being alone forever in class, unable to communicate.
That is until a young Togata, one of the future members of the Big Three, went up to him. The young boy seemed to understand what Amajiki was trying to say, and, like an excitable puppy dog, enthusiastically talked to him. This seemed to give Amajiki some degree of confidence to push forward.
Evidently, part of Amajiki's motivation as a hero is to shine as bright as his childhood friend and to inspire confidence and greatness in others. But at the same time, we later learn in the episode that Togata is just as inspired by his friends since it's only thanks to seeing them do their best that he feels motivated to improve. It's Togata who even helped give Amajiki his name, Suneater -- someone with a bright sun hidden within him.
THE RAID
With a whole faction of the heroes holding Overhaul's yakuza thugs off, the rest of the heroes charge down through the base. Sir Nighteye uses his foresight abilities to figure out what path to take, leading to the group entering a subterranean labyrinth. Togata scouts ahead to find walled dead ends, which Kirishima and Midoriya then proceed to beat down.
However, once they're inside, one of Overhaul's henchmen, Mimic, enters into the walls. His quirk allows him to manipulate matter he comes in contact with as an extension of his own being. This results in him being able to twist and distort the walls around him at will. The whole group of heroes is tossed around as the halls twist around them. But Mimic is supposed to have limited abilities, and Fat Gum concludes that he, therefore, must be using some performance-enhancing drug to boost his powers.
Amajiki figures that Mimic is creating extra escape routes for Overhaul to use. He's about to give up form his anxiety, but Togata then inspires Amajiki to push through his doubts, and the pair start charging on to find the next path forward with Togata making use of his phasing quirk.
AMAJIKI SHINES BRIGHT
While Togata surges on, Mimic opens up the floor from under heroes, dropping them into a lower level where multiple thugs are waiting for them. Fat Gum rears out to fight them, but Amajiki tells the pros to save their efforts for the more important heroes.
Still, the thugs -- Hojo, Setsuno and Tabe, three of the Eight Bullets -- launch their attack on their targets to slow them down. But before anyone can strike, Amajiki turns his body into tentacles and claws, tossing the bullets aside before crushing their weapons. He prepared for the fight by eating tons of seafood, giving himself the proper capabilities for a multi-handed defense.
Fat Gum, trusting his protege's abilities, sends the rest of the group to run, even arguing that Amajiki has more powers than anyone else on the team. His sole weakness is his own self-confidence.
Before Amajiki can knock his enemies out, they break free of his grasp. Setsuno, whose quirk allows him to absorb any of his enemy's equipment is the first to escape and begins carving through Amajiki's tentacles. The Bullets are, apparently, discarded heroes who were taken from trash heaps. They use this resolve to beat Amajiki -- or at least try to. He mixes his various aquatic abilities, conjuring his "Vast Hybrid" form, which combines all his abilities at once, conjuring massive, armored tentacles to beat down everything.
That is, until Tabe of the Eight Bullets leaps forward. His quirk allows him to eat anything, which lets him bite through the tentacles. The fight turns against Amajiki, with him being pinned to the wall under a column of crystals. Overpowered, Amajiki switches tactics. He swats some of the crystals off Setsuno's face and into his own mouth, which in turn gives him the power to sprout crystals himself. He then redirects all of their quirks into one another and, in a matter of seconds, it's all over. They're under Amajiki's feet, with him taking a second to reflect on the destruction.
While three of the Eight Bullets are defeated, that still leaves five more to go for the others to handle in My Hero Academia's next episode, but Amajiki can at least revel in this impressive victory for the time being.