My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON

Episode 166

Hey Deku, on your left!

Now that the very obvious joke is out of the way, I have a lot of complicated feelings about this episode and the overall trajectory of the show's finale from a thematic standpoint. Narratively, everything is there. It doesn't feel like anything was pulled out of nowhere, and even the sudden shift from Shigaraki back to All For One as the main antagonistic force of the series has been foreshadowed for a while. His presence was always in Shigaraki; it's just that Shigaraki's hatred was so strong that he was actually able to suppress his master. There is something ironic about All For One being suppressed by his number one masterpiece for being too hateful about everything, but the minute that Shigaraki has that hatred absolved by the hero, that's what allows him to finally take the stage as the number one bad guy. Obviously, things didn't go according to plan. All For One isn't as strong or as perfect as he hoped to be, and One For All is destroyed, but at least he's here to make one last stand. I do like the little touch about All For One being so tired and done with everything that ruling the world becomes an afterthought, but that's literally all he has left.

The problem with this episode and the story itself is that it feels like we are really condensing a lot of major narrative beats that might deserve separate episodes. There was a lot of buildup and foreshadowing for Nana and how she was going to confront the sins of her past. Her playing a role in breaking down that final barrier so Deku could get to Shigaraki was great, especially when her absence indirectly led to the trauma that he experienced as a child. There's a lot of irony there about how Nana passed on the power to save people to All Might so he could be the number one hero, but she also ended up passing down a hatred that led to one of the greatest villains of all time. I know that there's no way for her to directly confront the sins of her past because Shigaraki's family is dead, but I think it would've been nice if Nana were able to directly speak to Shigaraki. Weirdly, this seems to be her last appearance in the show, yet she was never able to directly confront Shigaraki on an emotional level.

Speaking of emotions, I like how Deku gets through to Shigaraki in the end, even if it is a bit rushed. This idea that Shigaraki is constantly in denial about being this crying child deep down was nice and a good parallel to Deku always being called a crybaby. He blames himself for the death of his family and thinks that he was always meant to be this tool of destruction, so this is a role that he needs to satisfy. Even though a lot of actions are arguably his fault, that one inciting incident wasn't. He was just a kid who made a mistake. He wanted somebody to declare that they were there for him, and Deku's big “I am here” moment, being the final thing to get through to him, just works out.

The second problem comes right after, where All For One shows up with his big “I'm Dio” monologue by stating that ACTUALLY it was him all along. I can buy some things like All For One tracking down Nana's descendants and passing on the destruction quirk as a way to ruin her legacy's lives. He is the exact type of petty bum that would do something like that. But once we start getting into specifics, it gets a little bit ridiculous. You mean to tell me that All For One is responsible for Shigaraki's destruction quirk, the friends that Shigaraki made as a child, and the abuse that he suffered at the hands of his father, because All For One kept suggesting it? Even Shigaraki's own birth was All For One's suggestion. I get it, this is the most evil person to ever exist, but there comes a point where it is a little bit much. It would've been more believable and narratively satisfying if he had just tracked down Nana's family, seen Shigaraki as an already young boy, and given him the destruction quirk.

There is something really depressing in the fact that All For One did orchestrate all of this, but his plan still could've arguably fallen apart if someone just reached out when Shigaraki was walking the streets covered in blood. I don't think the show emphasizes enough that Shigaraki could've still potentially been saved from all of these crazy plans if someone had just been there for him in his time of need. However, it still feels very clunky. Less would have worked out more even if I understood what the show is going for.

There is a tragedy to that idea. At the end of the day, Shigaraki was just a tool, but he is also such an interesting and compelling character. The fact that his hatred dissolved, but he still felt like he needed to be a villain for the sake of the friends that he made, is brilliant. I like the fact that the show does a bit of a reversal by showing the citizens' point of view. Before, it was showing scenes of everybody watching TV, cheering on Deku to save them, but now we also get a quick glimpse of people watching TV and praying that Shigaraki will destroy everything. There are people out there who want to see the system collapse because they're just a hair's breadth away from becoming villains. That would've made for a much better final confrontation, but it fizzles out like Shigaraki. I'm curious to see how much the anime will expand upon these ideas from the original manga because so far, it has done a good job of building on that foundation. Who is to say how much more they'll be able to add with only a handful of episodes left?

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My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.