Set five years before the original anime, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes follows protagonist Koichi Haimawari, a college student who works part-time at a convenience store and takes to the streets at night as “Nice Guy.” Of course at this point Koichi isn’t a vigilante and instead uses his Quirk Slide and Glide to help civilians with minor problems like returning dropped packages and giving directions. But as he runs into the vigilante Knuckeduster, he is pulled into something much bigger with the Quirk enhancing drug trigger at the center of it all.
In the first episode of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, viewers are introduced to the illegal Quirk enhancing drug Trigger. Originally developed to enhance the power and potency of weak Quirks, the drug’s use for criminal activities led to it being banned throughout Japan. Now manufactured and sold by various criminal organizations, the drug is generally distributed as pre-filled syringes that need to be injected through the neck. Once that happens, the drug boosts the user’s Quirk for a limited time with the side effect of weakening their sense of reason.
[RELATED – My Hero Academia Explains Why Its Hero World Actually Needs Vigilantes]
How Trigger Ties In to the Original Series
Vigilantes centers around a specific variant of this drug called Ideo Trigger. This is a more powerful but also more dangerous form of Trigger that not only enhances Quirks but also results in a significant physical transformation, sending the user into an uncontrollable rampage, creating Instant Villains. Luckily, there is one quick sign heroes (and vigilantes) can look for to identify Ideo Trigger addicts. As this drug damages the user’s blood flow, it can change an addict’s tongue color from pink to black which tends to be a dead giveaway anytime a Trigger user goes on a rampage.
But the MHA spin-off isn’t the first time fans have seen this drug or its variants. In the original My Hero Academia series, fans are first introduced to this drug during the Shie Hassaikai Arc. Despite his hatred for Quirks, Overhaul engages in trafficking Trigger to raise funds for his Quirk-Destroying Bullet experiments. This establishes Trigger as a sort of foundation drug that indirectly contributes to all the Quirk related drugs made after it and the broader events of the series.
Trigger’s Role in MHA Vigilantes So Far
Near the end of the first episode of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes a mysterious man with a ponytail and bold facial scar offers three thugs who had previously harassed Koichi vials of Trigger. Then as Knuckeduster, Pop Step, and Koichi take to the streets to keep an eye out for suspicious activity, they run into a seemingly innocent salaryman named Mario. But in the second episode of the series, Mario is revealed to have been carrying Trigger and uses it to enhance his Quirk, Playtime.
As a result, just by the start of the series’ second episode, the Vigilantes crew has had to face four Trigger enhanced Instant Villains. They run into two more Instant Villains by the series’ third episode and around this time, viewers also get their first confirmed hint of these not being isolated incidents. The same, unknown man has been distributing the drug for free and while detective Naomasa initially theorizes the man’s goal is to get users addicted and then overcharge them later, there may actually be something far more sinister afoot.
Since the drug can create instant Instant Villains, someone might be intentionally trying to spread it and create chaos for personal gain. And when we talk about controlling things from the shadows many MHA fans can’t help but think of All For One. The villain has been involved with Trigger before although it’s currently unknown if he’ll play a bigger role in Vigilantes.
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