Now Is the Perfect Time to Watch My Hero Academia

Image: Toho/My Hero Academia/Crunchyroll

When season 7 concluded, I assumed the Final Season would begin with one of the franchise’s most gutting confrontations — and episode 1 (overall episode 160), titled “Toshinori Yagi: Rising Origin,” delivers exactly that. The episode throws us into a brutal clash between a now-Quirkless Toshinori Yagi (All Might) and a rejuvenated All for One, who has recovered his youth and is racing to rejoin his “other half,” Shigaraki.

The episode opens with a recap of season 7’s finale — a choice that initially felt underwhelming but ultimately proves effective, since the creators needed room to properly stage this confrontation. (It still raises the question of why the previous season stopped mid-fight.) As with the series’ most consequential duels, this encounter between the emblem of heroism and his most monstrous opponent functions as a narrative crucible, distilling the show’s themes into a single, devastating sequence. One moment in particular struck me for how closely it echoes realities beyond the screen.

Once the most formidable defender of peace, All Might now fights from a corpo­rally diminished frame. His current ability to stand against All for One relies on sophisticated battle armor engineered by Melissa Shield, yet even that tech feels inadequate next to the terrifying repertoire of Quirks All for One can call upon.

As All Might mounts his final defense, the duel is broadcast worldwide via a high-tech mobile camera. The narrative cuts to a distant country — a reminder that the story takes place in Japan — where a child watching the spectacle asks his grandmother who the hero is and what it means if he wins or loses. Her response is bleak and chilling: “It’s happening in a far-off country anyhow. No matter which one wins, won’t mean a thing for us.”

At its heart, My Hero Academia wrestles with the antidote to apathy. Deku’s origin is rooted in action taken in the face of indifference: despite being Quirkless, he intervenes when Bakugo is endangered while a crowd looks on. That refusal to remain passive resurfaces throughout the series, and here it manifests in All Might’s fragile, smiling stand against an enemy who seems unbeatable. The show doesn’t lean on sudden deus ex machina transformations; instead, it emphasizes that the most vital battles are sometimes those you aren’t destined to win — but still must undertake.

It’s difficult to hear the grandmother’s dismissal and not see a reflection of our own tendencies. Over time, societies can become numb to distant suffering, rationalizing inaction with phrases like “there’s nothing I can do.” My Hero Academia counters that fatalism: even small, seemingly futile gestures matter, because they’re the first steps toward accountability and change.

In a flashback, Toshinori Yagi recalls his first lesson from his mentor: people are consumed by the world immediately around them — in the original Japanese the boundary is almost literal, limited to “three meters.” That limitation helps explain why Yagi adopts the mantle of the Symbol of Peace despite being Quirkless himself — an emblem of the powerless determined to act anyway. An anime alone won’t fix real-world injustices, but the series’ central argument about resisting indifference feels especially pertinent now. Savor this final season while it’s airing.

Source: Polygon