A cornerstone of my MHA campaign speech has always been that it prioritizes character creation over pure plot. While the battles in this show are often less complex than the caveat-laden rules issues of Jujutsu Kaisenthis is always balanced out by the fights acting as narrative, explosively punctuating character arcs, or underscoring major themes. Sometimes, though, it’s just fun to get into the basics of shonen fighting and watch guys beat each other up hard.

Sure, there are some solid little character moments in this episode. I especially like that it’s Mirio who calms Deku down when he’s about to snap. While they haven’t spent much time together since the Overhaul story arc, it’s a nice reminder that Mirio is still Deku’s senpai – and capable of imparting important wisdom even in the heat of battle. There’s also an ongoing… well, not dialogue, but perhaps competing monologues(?) between the previous One For All users and All For One, and it does a good job of making this conflict feel important. This is the confrontation the show’s world and the audience have been waiting for. It’s not just Deku fighting Shigaraki, but multiple lifetimes of conflict and resistance coming to fruition against an everlasting enemy. This is the culmination of millions of decisions and lives, poised to decide the fate of the world.

In short, it’s the perfect soundtrack to fuel an episode that’s mostly about Deku beating up Y’all For One, and boy is it satisfying. After two episodes and a change of this fleshy behemoth tearing the rest of the cast to shreds, it’s fantastic to see him suddenly and completely on the defensive. With the Second One’s quirk being revealed last, everyone was expecting something big, but the way Transmission is used here is remarkable in its simplicity. It allows Deku to move fast. Really fast. So fast that he nearly breaks the laws of physics, landing multiple hits in a nanosecond and essentially running the entire fight on delay-based netcode. Poor Y’all For One has only ever played with buttery smooth rollback and Ethernet connections, so he has no answer for Wi-Fi warrior Deku, who forces the fight beyond the limits of inertia.

It’s also pretty damn cool to finally see this fully realized version of One For All in action. All the combos and clever setups we saw in Deku’s cryptic era come back bigger and better – every power combined into a relentless assault that even AFO has no answer for. For the first time in his life, our big bad falls victim to an unstoppable Quirk homunculus, and it’s a wonderful sight. It won’t undo all the damage that’s been done, but seeing Deku literally glow brighter than All Might ever could is as stunning a reward as one could ask for.

Is it deep or thematically complex? Not really. This episode is somewhat similar to the various films that have come out alongside the TV anime – a rip-roaring action spectacle that gives the audience something to cheer and scream about. In that respect, it serves its purpose perfectly.

Evaluation:

My Hero Academia is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.