#animepisode

One of the things about battle shonen, which the series themselves mostly try to avoid addressing, is that from an adult perspective it's kinda fucked up how often these literal children end up in life or death combat with the fate of the world on their shoulders. It's just one of those things that you have to ignore as part of a power fantasy directed at the largely teenage audience of these things, and 90% of the time series try their hardest to not make you think about it too hard. MHA, though, has instead made that tension a part of its central conflict for some time now. Our main heroes are all high schoolers, and while circumstances have put them in danger with narrative regularity, there's always been at least a token effort by their teachers and mentors to keep them away from the front lines, and them being endangered has always been framed as a failure of the adults around them to keep them safe.

That's why it's taken so long for the students of UA to join this fight in earnest, but it was inevitable that they would, and not just because there wouldn't be much of a story if our main characters sat out the whole fight. Rather, it's been clear since Shigaraki and Deku had their little hangout back in season two that this was always going to be the next generation's fight to answer no matter how much the adults tried to stall things. The plain truth is that while AFO, Shigaraki, and the League are the consequences of the past's failures and mistakes, those adults aren't the only ones shouldering that burden, and these kids are going to have to be involved in building any potential future. The best old-timers like Gran Torino or teachers like Aizawa can hope for is that the guidance they've given is enough to prepare their proteges. That's a terrifying worry for any responsible adult, but this war had been years in the making, and it's not going to politely wait for our heroes to graduate.

Honestly, that tension is what makes so much of the fights in this episode work. Mechanically the battle against Shigaraki is mostly characters hurling attacks and kiting him across the battlefield while he absorbs it all like the tankiest boss battle ever. Sure, those attacks look cool, and there's always the tension of any one combatant falling and shifting the tide, but the real dramatic weight comes from everything that came before this. This fight with Shigaraki forces Gran Torino to face the warped descendant of his closest friend, while Endeavor now stares down a threat as powerful as the untouchable idol he tried so hard to surpass. For Aizawa, it's excruciating having to sit on the sidelines playing support while his own students risk their lives and limbs against a threat he has no hope of stopping. There's a sense that, even if a miracle happens and everyone survives to win this fight, the fact it happened at all marks a grim failure for all the adults involved, and they have a lot to answer for no matter the result.

And that's just on Deku's end. Back with everyone else, things are falling apart even worse, with Gigantomachia stomping through every layer of resistance until all that's left is a couple dozen teenagers in way, way over their heads. But while there's still a sense of desperation and impending doom (things do not look good for Midnight at the end there.) there's also some triumph here for the audience, if only in seeing YaoMomo finally step into the tactical leader role the series has been hinting at for ages. And it's honestly thrilling to think we'll be seeing the rest of Class 1-A (along with some assists from 1-B) confront the sort of danger Deku and his main circle have been facing for so long. In a more responsible world, these kids wouldn't be here, but there's not really time for “what if” of “should have been” when you're facing down a raging kaiju, so by god I want to see them in action.

This is yet more rising action for what's shaping up to be MHA's most protracted battle to date, but now that we're capitalizing on so much character and thematic work from before, it zips by in no time once again. The heady mix of a visceral threat, paired with the thrill of seeing these students finally front and center, makes for a great episode.