My Hero Academia Season 7

Episode 155

When old allies arrive at just the right time, it can be tempting to scoff at who gets picked. Like sure, Nagant makes a ton of sense, and Gentle too, plus he's got that fan-favorite energy going for him, but Inasa and the Shiketsu High kids? Those guys who showed up as necessary rivals in the license exam and then spent a few weeks doing handicrafts to prove they're good little boys and girls? What the hell do these kids have to do with any of this?

Well, nothing really, and that ends up kind of being the point. Where the rest of our cast is mired in self-doubt or else wading through decades of discord to finally bring about a happy ending, Inasa manages to put it in perspective. From his point of view, AFO is a relic of a bygone age; the kind of thing his generation study in history books. He's no personal boogieman or arch nemesis, and that allows these kids to go at him from a perspective AFO ain't used to. You may have noticed, what it is being half he talks about, but AFO loves the idea of being a demon lord, a comic book fiend made flesh for the world itself to tremble before. He relishes making individuals lose the hope to fight as they finally comprehend what they're facing – which can't happen when you're fighting a bunch of teenagers who only know about you in the past tense.

Of course, all this philosophical hairsplitting is good, but sometimes it's just really nice to see a crummy guy eat dirt, and who better to deliver than the true master of darkness himself? Let me tell you, if Gentle and Nagant set off my inner fanboy last week, watching Dark Shadow send a shiver down AFO's smug spine connected my inner fanboy into the back-end of the universe, and his consciousness is still ripping through valences of and secrets of the unknown while shouting about the other side of darkness and whatever else his super cool band likes to talk about in their songs.

Sorry if you came here hoping for something deeper or more intellectual, but sometimes superhero comics are just goddamn cool, and Tokoyami utilizing the power of darkness AND friendship to make the biggest, worst, most dangerous jerk in this show quake is rad. I've watched it like four times and will probably watch it again. It has an incredibly cool name! That's all I've got for you. Join me next time to see if something more complicated happens. Or if Tokoyami turns AFO's face to paste for several minutes.

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My Hero Academia is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.