The final season of My Hero Academia streams new episodes in the UK every Saturday on Crunchyroll.
Synopsis
Izuku has dreamt of being a hero all his life—a lofty goal for anyone, but especially challenging for a kid with no superpowers. That’s right, in a world where eighty percent of the population has some kind of super-powered “quirk,” Izuku was unlucky enough to be born completely normal. But that’s not enough to stop him from enrolling in one of the world’s most prestigious hero academies.
Review
The final season of My Hero Academia shows no signs of slowing down. Picking right up from the previous episode’s end, All Might is on his last legs against a continuously de-aging but still powerful All For One. All Might is throwing everything he has, but it’s just not enough to fully stop him. Just then, a new challenger joins the fight: the hero killer Stain!
First introduced back in episode 24, Stain has been on a journey toward true heroism ever since Japan fell into chaos. Using his Bloodcurdle quirk, he briefly stops AFO and goes in for a killing combo with All Might. Cheers are due until, once again, AFO changes the board and puts them both on the backfoot.
It’s such an edge-of-your-seat moment to witness, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t cheer when they got close. Sadly, it’s not meant to be, and Stain is absolutely obliterated from the battlefield—and from life! The incredibly dangerous, “unredeemable” hero killer himself goes out as a hero, fighting alongside one of the only people he viewed as a real hero.
All Might is done though. He has nothing left and attempts to goad the now tween-sized AFO into focusing on him. We’re then given a horrific shot of AFO holding the barely-alive body of All Might above his head, slowly pulling him in half as the entire world watches on in fear. Deku can do nothing due to his stalemate with Shigaraki, and AFO smiles like a sadistic monster.
Heck, we almost get Gentle trying to join before the floating remains of UA suffer another attack, forcing him to hold the structure up. Another cheer comes from Stars and Stripe’s remaining pilots as they fly in to help, but they are swiftly taken out by AFO.
The world stops, however, as a new player joins… Bakugo is back in the game!
Verdict
This episode was intense! Balancing a bounty of highs and a heavy bag of lows, I was cheering and welling up throughout, seeing everyone’s last-ditch, “all or nothing” effort to stop All For One. Despite reading the manga and knowing what happens, I am still blown away by the moments we are witnessing!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐