In the future, mankind is blessed with superhuman abilities called “Quirks” and in response to the growing crime rate, superheroing becomes a viable profession. Izuku “Deku” Midoriya dreams of one day becoming a great hero like his idol, All-Might, but he was born completely quirkless with no powers at all. However, when Deku ends up having a chance encounter with All-Might in the flesh, it changes his destiny forever.
The Review
Content (warning some portions of this review may contain spoilers):
The battle to save Bakugo continues to push on this week as the situation goes through yet another crazy shift. Now that All-For-One has finally arrived on the scene in all his villainous glory, the focus turns towards the much awaited showdown between him and All-Might as the two of them prepare to duke it out. With the amount of buildup leading up to this, and the stakes higher than they’ve ever been before the stage was set for this episode to easily be another one of the anime’s strongest entries. In execution however, it’s a little mixed as some issues in adaptation hold it back from quite reaching that high.
As All-For-One makes his way onto the battlefield, the pro heroes struggle in vain to subdue him as his wide combination of quirks proves too be too much for them. With the heroes outmatched All-For-One attempts to round up all the League members in order to make a hasty retreat, only to be stopped by All-Might who’s all too eager to settle the score between them. At the same time, the other members of the League try to recapture Bakugo, but Bakugo isn’t willing to surrender without a fight, and tries his hardest to deal with them despite being outnumbered. Unfortunately this only serves to hinder All-Might rather than help him, as having Bakugo in the immediate vicinity means he can’t go all out against All-For-One since there’s a chance Bakugo could get caught in the crossfire.
While all of this is going on, Deku and the others are still hopelessly terrified of All-For-One, leaving them unable to move, and it’s here where the issues start to pop up. I briefly mentioned last time that the scene where All-For-One initially showed up and the kids imagined the fate that awaited them if they crossed him, was kind of undercut by their overly exaggerated facial expressions. Sadly those faces are back again and while it was a little easier to handwave it last week since it was only in a single scene, the kids maintain them for the entirety of the episode’s first half, meaning that every time it cuts back to them, we see them looking more like they’re suffering from extreme diarrhea rather than absolute fear and it kind of harms the atmosphere of what should otherwise be an incredibly tense episode. It doesn’t help that the action itself looks a lot more conservation than usual on the animation front, and while none of it looks super choppy, it’s definitely weaker than the show has looked in a while and it’s a little disappointing for this to happen during a story arc as big as this one.
Fortunately for as annoying as some of these hiccups are, they’re mostly counterbalanced by the strength of the material itself as it ramps up for the episode’s second half. With the situation looking hopeless, Deku and the gang attempt to turn the tide by enacting a plan to rescue Bakugo themselves, but also without running the risk of directly fighting any of the villains. The only issue with said plan is that it requires Bakugo’s willingness to be saved, and while Deku is still driven by his desire to help him, he also knows his relationship with Bakugo is still rocky at best and that Bakugo would never, ever reach out for his help even if it meant dying. Instead the role of the rescuer has to fall to Kirishima since he’s about the only one of the kids who’s actually befriended Bakugo, and it’s one I can totally get behind. Doing things this way doubles as both a demonstration that the kids have learned their lesson about acting too recklessly and are learning how to better operate within the rules, while also further building on the pre-established dynamics between them and acknowledging that now’s probably not the time for Deku and Bakugo to settle their differences. The latter of these really helps to show how well Hokoroshi has thought out these characters and I appreciate his willingness to keep them consistent even when it would be more dramatic not to. It helps that Kirishima’s save serves as the actual animation highlight of the episode, and while it is more than a little weird that didn’t go to something more action-oriented, it does help sell the point that Bakugo’s safety is a huge turn around in the heroes’ favor.
With Bakugo and the others now safely off the battlefield, All-Might is finally free to cut loose, but not before All-For-One manages to do the same for Shigaraki and the other League members. However rather than being grateful for the save, Shigaraki instead feels frustrated and panicked as he would much rather be fighting alongside his mentor and doesn’t want to risk him getting hurt. It’s the first time we’ve ever seen Shigaraki look this way, which really makes it clear both how much All-For-One’s guidance has “saved” him, and how much the man himself means to him. While it’s hard to say if All-For-One feels a similar level of affection towards him, or just sees him as a tool he can use to destroy All-Might (this being a shonen I’m inclined to think the latter but Hokoroshi has certainly surprised us before) it certainly helps to further mirror the relationship between them, and the one shared by Deku and All-Might. Now that all of the side actors are out of the way, we can finally look forward to All-Might and All-For-One’s big throwdown next week, and while the mixed execution of this week’s episode has me slightly worried about how that’ll be handled, I’m still pretty confident it’ll prove to be more than worth the wait.
In Summary:
The battle ramps up this week as All-For-One finally hits center stage. Unfortunately, while this leads to some strong material regarding how the matter of Bakugo’s rescue is handled, and the strange relationship between Shigraraki and All-For-One, it’s all somewhat held back by some weak adaptional choices and the animation being somewhat rougher than usual. Hopefully, this is all just a minor hiccup rather than a sign of any potential problems for the rest of the arc because with All-Might and All-For-One now free to go all out against each other, next week’s episode has all the makings to be spectacular.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Funimation, Crunchyroll, VRV, Hulu
