My Hero Academia Season 7

Episode 147

One of MHA's most consistent strengths and weaknesses is its great cast of characters who don't always get anything meaningful to do. A consistent complaint through the first five or so seasons was how little most of Class A got to do—and how often everything boiled down to some combo of Deku, Bakugo, and Shoto over everyone else. It got to the point where filler episodes were relatively welcomed just for giving the rest of the class some real screen time. That's part of why I was excited when the heroes set up this divide and conquer strategy, to begin with: Deku & The Boys can't be everywhere and with so many monumental threats to handle, some of the lower card fighters are finally getting their time to shine. Iida mostly offers emotional support after Shoto's fight last week, but he got his big hero moment last season with Deku.

The first half of the episode gives us a glimpse into the ongoing battles outside of our main combatants. While all of these scenes are relatively small, they emphasize the scale of this fight and offer different emotional angles to observe. Mina serendipitously finds herself facing one of the Liberation forces who killed Midnight, and now has a chance to get justice for one of the heroes' many losses in the last battle. Shoji and Koda, the only full heteromorphs in Class A, find themselves confronting Spinner, who's not commanding a battalion of soldiers but an entire city of regular people who follow his symbol to revolt against the status quo. Aoyama's facing a Johnny Come Lately villain who, while cool-looking, is far less interesting than the other two. Still, I love his response to being targeted and threatened for his betrayals. They're each small glimpses of bigger conflicts, heightened by the knowledge that any of these fights going sideways could tip the scales for the villains.

The real star is Emmy Award Winning, Grade A Certified Best Girl Jiro, who finally gets to prove her undeniable supremacy once Endeavor gets baited by AFO. Move over you burnt-out old fogy. It's time for Earphone Jack and her trusty steed Tokoyomi to beat that talking thumb into the dirt with the power of ROCK N ROLL!

More seriously, it's genuinely great that these characters get a chance to shine. I've long accepted that most of my faves in this show aren't the main draw—and I have no preconceptions that Jiro and Tokoyami will take down the biggest bad in the show by themselves. Still, it's satisfying to see them arrive and refusing their mentor's call to hang back—because we know that these kids will be inheriting whatever future is decided by this war. If letting the students battle last season was grim evidence of the adults' failures, then this is proof of the good they managed to pass on. Graduated or not, these kids are already heroes. They're taking hold of that responsibility with both hands regardless of the danger.

It's a great episode for anyone who wants to see the extended cast get some of that precious spotlight. It's not the most propulsive episode as a result but overall it does a great job of carrying the momentum of this battle in small, important ways. Just be warned Horikoshi: if you hurt my punk rock daughter too much I will find you—and I will have justice.

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My Hero Academia is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.