My Hero Academia Season 7

Episode 139

If you think about it, the last season of MHA had an odd structure. After an entire cour and change of non-stop fighting, delivering our heroes their biggest defeats in the entire show so far, we spent the next dozen episodes just dealing with the fallout. Where previous seasons ended on pivotal battles that shook up the status quo, the last few entries of Season 6 dealt almost exclusively with character drama and narrative shifts built around dialogue, paying off longstanding ideas in thoughtful and often nuanced conclusions.

This season starts off in pretty much the opposite way. If you don't count the opening or ending animation, Deku and his merry friends have maybe 80 seconds of screen time in this episode, simply to establish that they're all happily back together and working hard to prepare for the upcoming fight. For most of this premiere, we turn our attention to everything outside of UA and Japan. Hell, we even dip our toes outside of what was or wasn't previously considered “canon” at one point.

As somebody who always prefers when MHA's human drama is at the forefront, you'd think I'd be turned off by that, especially when so much of this episode revolves around a character we just met, and whose only connection to the rest of the story is a five-second cameo from the anime's first movie. Yet, it works for me as a big, loud reminder of the actual scale of this conflict. The crumbling of superhero society was a really compelling framework for last season's drama, and it only makes sense that an entire country going to hell in a handbasket would draw attention from the rest of the world. I might not know much about Star & Stripe as a character, but her presence hammers home how much is at stake. If All For One manages to topple the vestiges of Japan's heroes and claim One For All for himself, the rest of the world will be next on his to-do list.

It doesn't hurt that it's a really cool fight. Star & Stripe's quirk is practically a Stand from Jojo's, but its conceptual nature allows for some great spectacle and interesting strategy from both parties. Seeing the now-hybridized Shigaraki/AFO combo (hereon referred to as Y'all For One) in action, combining quirks like our big bad did in his prime, gives us an idea of just how formidable he is while also showing off the analytical side brought in from AFO's consciousness. Meanwhile, Star's powers are just cool as hell, offering wild attacks at a scale no other character has managed in this show. The image of an ethereal giant holding a bolt of laser fire like Zeus' lightning bolt and stabbing it into the ocean is just damn good television, and that's before we have Admiral Ackbar Commander Agpar sending intercontinental cruise missiles straight at Y'all For One's face. If she can pull off stuff that cool, it's tough to care that Star is arriving at the 13th hour, literally out of the blue.

If I'm honest, though, the most intriguing part of the episode comes before any of that fighting, as Spinner takes up his role within the remnants of the Paranormal Liberation Front. Spinner's never been the most interesting member of the League, but there's a compelling mix of emotions at play nonetheless. This is ultimately a ploy by AFO, who could not care less about anyone, let alone the plight of those with heteromorphic quirks, so it's most certainly some trick. At the same time, this is Spinner finally becoming what he's aspired to for so long, taking up the role Stain once held. Yet that title being bestowed on him feels unsettling, undermining any sense of accomplishment it might have held for character or audience. I'm really interested to know how Spinner himself feels about all of this, and I'm hoping it'll get some focus once all the red, white, and blue fireworks have finished. For now, this is a solid and exciting return for the season, especially after an extra month of waiting.

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My Hero Academia is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.