Last time on My Hero Academia, old
foes faced off once again. All Might met and began to battle All For One, the
criminal mastermind behind Shiguraki’s League of Villains and the murderer of
All Might’s master. The two titans faced off, but All Might kept coming up
short. Why? Because he was concerned for the safety of Bakugo and the bystanders.
Meanwhile, All Might’s apprentice Izuku frantically tried to find a way to get
Bakugo out of harms way. After a lot of thinking and what seemed like numerous
scrapped plans, he figured out how to do it. Using Kirishima’s… Kirishima-ness,
they were able pull Bakugo out of the fray and All Might was able to let loose.
He got one masterful punch on AFO, burying him in the ground, but AFO didn’t
seem too worried to have his skull mask cracked up. The real fight is about to
begin.
We open with a flashback, been a
while since we did a real one of those. We’re thrown back some twentyish years
to when a young man named Toshinori Yagi met Nara Shigura. The young UA hopeful
impressed the professional hero with his belief in heroism and the idea that a
Symbol of Peace that people can rally behind.
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| All Might is hitting the wall, but won't stop hitting All For One anytime soon |
In the present, the whole Kamino
ward is kind of in chaos. Though, that is what happens when roughly a quarter of
the buildings in town are demolished in a single blast. Todoroki and Yaoyorozu
make contact with Izuku and his team via the phone. They confirm that everyone
escaped, and are making their way out of the area. Izuku is clearly torn
between doing the right thing and leaving things to All Might and doing the
heroic thing and try to help All Might. At that moment, both groups make it to
a jumbotron showing the AFO/All Might fight, and any thoughts of leaving exit
their minds.
At the fight, AFO mocks Nana
Shigura and All Might and their “pathetic” ideals. He keeps pushing the Nana
button until All Might snaps and tries to crush AFO’s skull. AFO blasts him at
the last second with another shockwave. Gran Torino grabs All Might just before
he collided with the new copter capturing the fight. Torino quickly does his
best to focus All Might, telling his former pupil to stay focused, that AFO’s
powers are totally different, and that he’ll need to past his limits to defeat
AFO.
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| Really want to hear how he survived getting most of his head crushed. |
We’re shown a brief few second of
every non-Bakugo saving students reacting to the destruction in Kamino Ward while
random citizens provide terrified commentary. Everybody is tense.
AFO admits that he feels a little
conflicted that he might drive the final nail into All Might’s coffin himself when
Shigaraki did all the work to destabilize things, but said conflict doesn’t
seem to stop him. He forces All Might to take a full power blast, or else risk
a civilian getting killed by the shockwave. To make matters worse, his body is
deflating and the camera is capturing his mostly withered form on camera. AFO claims
that all of this, more than anything, was about obliterating All Might. He
wants to not only kill him, but destroy everything he’s worked to build, to
crush his image and legacy, not unlike what All Might did to his empire… and
face. All Might claims that he’ll remain the symbol of Peace regardless of what
happens in his heart. And that’s when AFO digs the knife in. He reveals that
Tomura Shigaraki is in fact the grandson of Nana Shigura. All Might doubts him
at first, but then hears AFO rational. “I mean, come on, using your master’s
grandson to #$%# you up is totally something I’d do.” I’m paraphrasing. He rather
sadistically asks All Might where his smile is.
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| All Might's Fist of Justice!! |
All Might is clearly shaken to the
core. I have to admit, finding out you’ve been battling your master’s grandson,
the one who taught you the whole “Smile to prove you’re strong” thing, will
screw anyone up. He’s also about out of power and is 90% in his withered form.
The random citizen he protected from the shockwave earlier begs him to keep fighting,
which seems to cause everyone watching to cheer as well. Their voices seem to
help to reinvigorate All Might, he’s able to bulk up one of his arms and is prepping
to fight again. He visualizes One For All as a flame, and hears Shigura to keep
his origins in mind.
AFO, clearly unimpressed flies upward
and continues to mock All Might and his ideals. He powers up another blast and
fires at All Might. He’s saved at the last second by a fireblast from Endeavor,
whom had just arrived with Edgeshot and the other heroes. He is furious at All
Might, at seeing the hero that was so far beyond him humbled, and demands that
All Might beat this guy. “Show why you’re better!” were his exact words. He and
Edgeshot keep AFO so that All Might can catch his breath, the other heroes like
Kamui Woods and Tiger grab the civilians.
Gran Torino remembers being told
about Toshinori Yagi by Shigure. How she thought he was a funny kid but worth
training. He tells All Might that he is a Pillar, and must not be broken. We’re
then shown all the student’s cheering All Might on before the battle resumes.
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| All For One's Fist of... Villainy |
AFO unleashes another massive
blast, knocking everyone but All Might away. Once they’re alone, he starts listing
off powers again. I don’t recall them all but he basically pumps a dozen
different powers together into his arm. It morphs his right arm into a deformed
monstrosity, a spear that he believes will destroy All Might. He also reveals
that he knows All Might’s power is fading, the flame is fading, that One for
All is no longer with him… and that it now resides in Izuku Midoriya. Well, it’s
been nice knowing you AFO, you threatened Midoriya… nobody threatens Midoriya….
Except Bakugo.
The two titans collide, their right hands exploding
with blood. Most of it All Might’s as AFO activated “Impact Recoil” so most of
the damage flies back at All Might. We’re seen a mental image of One For All’s
flame being protected by All Might’s body, as he tries to wring out every
second of OFA he can. This is all happening while their fists are still
connected by the way. He swears to never give up until Izuku is ready. He’ll
survive until his successor can stand on his own. He whirls around AFO’s fist,
bulks up his left arm and SLAMS it full power into AFO, claiming this time he’s
putting his back into it! He blows AFO into the ground. All Might powers up his
right fist one more time, mentally, he says Goodbye to All For One, to Nana,
and to One for All. He unleashes The United States Of SMASH, piledriving AFO
into the ground, defeating him at last.
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| The People's Champion, now and forever. |
He’s able to bulk up one last time,
pointing towards the camera in victory. Everyon cheers the #1 heroes final act.
By sunrise, the heroes are still clearing up the damage and finding civilians.
We’re shown All For One being loaded into one of the prison transports as All Might
watches. The Kids go to tell the heroes that they got Bakugo. All Might,
withered, injured, and on his last legs, points to the camera. He announces “Now,
it’s your turn.” Everyone seems to take that message a little different, but
Izuku thinks he knows the real meaning. That it’s time for him to step up, and
be the hero. The credits begin to roll.
And so ends the reign of All Might
as the #1 hero. The Symbol of Peace is broken. That was an intense battle.
Sure, I think Dragonball or Fairy Tail would have performed a more… elaborate
final battle with more punches and kicks and blasts, but I like this one. We’d
seen the measure of All Might’s strength, even as his power was fading, so I
think the fact All For One is able to take each punch and throw it back at him
speaks to how powerful he is. It’s like two comets colliding, you don’t need to
know the exact force of the impact to know the devastation. Plus, knowing that
All Might was able to overcome a punch created and customized to destroy him is
so freaking cool. I should note, it’s due to this ending that they came up with
the plot for the My Hero Academia film. As All Might canonically lost his powers
before he and Izuku could have ever fought together, Horikoshi created a
situation where the two could both punch an opponent into oblivion. I’ve heard
of dumber reasons to make an anime movie. So yeah, we’ve seen the end of All
Might. But, not the end of his job as Izuku’s master. Next time, we’ll see the
ramifications of Izuku’s actions and of All Might’s very public retirement. I
think you’ll be surprised as to who is the most upset that the students almost
got killed. But that’s for next time. Have a good night.
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