Everyone adjusts to the new normal.
Last time on My Hero Academia,
All For One and One For All clashed one last time. Spurred on by his friends
and allies, Izuku rushed AFO in an attempt to defeat the Demon Lord once and
for all. Everyone still standing contributed to getting him past AFO’s mass of
tentacles and spines to get a final hit in. He was almost stopped by Kurogiri.
The last High End Nomu teleported to his master to beg AFO to return Tomura
Shigaraki as Spinner was waiting for him. Bakugo came in with the last save to
open the way for Izuku. He struck the villain hard in the chest and almost
destroyed him, but AFO rallied one last time. Izuku charge again, saying that
AFO is no Demon Lord, he’s just a sad lonely man. AFO gets a vision of Yoichi
in the mindscape and he begs his brother to stay, but Yoichi warns him that
this is the end. The other OFA Wielders and Tomura manifest and they lead a
one-punch charge on AFO’s mind. Izuku and Tomura’s fists connect as they both
strike their version of AFO. This lets the boys have a farewell, with Tomura
asking him to send his goodbye to Spinner, his most loyal friend. The final
shot of the episode was Izuku punching upwards into the sky as the sun breaks
through the clouds. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?
We open with Meryl the weather girl
in Washington state. She tries to ‘apologize’ for her ‘outbursts’ last week,
but her director is keeping her on a tight leash, warning her to not do any
more adlibs. She pivots to saying that it’ll be a windy day and wondering how
that wind will affect this battle-weary world.
We jump over to Japan where the
construction to repair all the damage that the battle caused is underway. Some
kids run up and marvel at all the heroes like Cementoss and Salaam the Egyptian
hero helping with the effort. Izuku takes over the narration, saying it’s been
a week since the battle and Japan is finally getting to repairs that have been
delayed since the Jaku incident. Once the fighting stopped, foreign aid came
pouring in, particularly from the US. One of the construction workers marvels
at how much easier the job is with all the Quirks they’ve got access to. One
hero throws up a holographic display of the building they’re throwing together
to give the construction crew a reference.
Shifting to the hospital, we enter
the Bakugos room, where that lizard Doctor tells Bakugo and his parents that
his injuries were really bad and his body will never be exactly the same again.
He’d been watching the fighting and knew that Bakugo’s injuries would be bad
before operating. They did their best to repair his right arm, but the bones
were badly busted up. The doctor says that he could consider getting a
weaponized prosthetic like Mirko uses, but Bakugo gives that a pass. He needs
his arm to use his Quirk after all. He refuses to accept that Izuku might
surpass him while he’s like this, so demands that he start physical therapy
right now. The doctor says he can train ‘lightly’ for now. The doctor says that
he’s impressed, in a scolding sort of way, that Bakugo did so much with a
broken arm and an emergency stitched heart, so he just needs to rest for now.
We shift over a few rooms to
Izuku’s. The green-haired young hero wakes up to find All Might laid up beside
him in his own hospital bed. He says that Tsukauchi pulled strings with the
staff to get them into the same room. They check on each other. All Might says
that the doctors told him they’d never put so many screws in one body. And
Izuku says he can feel his hands a little. Izuku laments that he wasn’t able to
save Tenko, despite everything he did. All Might tells him that he did his best
and that he’s pretty sure he saved Tenko’s soul even if he didn’t save his
life. Izuku remembers that he died with a smile and a word of encouragement to
do his damn best, so All Might is probably right. Izuku says that while he
transferred most of OFA into Shigaraki to try to stop him, he still has embers
of it left. Bakugo then bursts into the room, dragging his IV and parents with
him. Mitsuki apologizes for her son, saying that he refused to stay in his room
until he got to check on All Might and Izuku. Bakugo is horrified to hear that
Izuku is down to embers, knowing that that means his power will fade. Izuku
puts on a brave face, saying that he doesn’t regret his choice and he got to
live as a hero for a while. Bakugo remembers all of their interactions, how
they shifted from an angry to friendly rivalry and how he told Izuku to not let
him, Bakugo, surpass him. He starts sobbing, admitting that he’d convinced
himself that after the battle, Izuku would get back to normal and they’d keep
going like before, pushing each other like they’d had all their lives. Izuku
says to not be like that, as he still has the ember so they’ve got some time
left. All Might tells him that he’s lived his dream, that he’s been a hero
since running in to help Bakugo and that he’s been encouraging people to be
their best selves. He also compliments Bakugo for being a great hero and the three
share a metaphorical fist bump. Narration Izuku says that he thought that he
world would live in harmony without fighting, but that’s not how life works. He
admits that we need to set up a few more things if we’re to chart a bright
future. We get flashes of Uraraka and Shoto in their hospital rooms as the
scene shifts.
We shift to some weeks later when
Izuku, mostly recovered but sporting a new hairstyle as about 25% of his head
had to be shaved for his various surgeries, heads back to UA. Narrator Izuku
tells us that in June they finally hold the graduation ceremony for the 3rd
years. The big 3 get their diplomas, and react as you’d expect, Amajiki is
nervous and Nejire is boisterous. Present Mic starts DJing for the graduates,
because of course he does. Amajiki asks Nejire how her injures are, and she
says they’re bad, but when she’s happy she barely notices them. Amajiki says
that’s thanks to Mirio looking out for them when the fighting got real bad at
the Coffin in the Sky. Izuku compliments Principal Nezu, the little weasel used
his notoriety and influence all over the world to secure aide and help set up
Japan for the work they’d need to do to repair the country. Mirio gets to make
a speech, he compliments everyone for their work and that they’ve still got a
lot of work to do. He encourages them to make a world where everyone can smile
and tell jokes again. He phases out of his clothes and into the ground. He
shouts “See ya!” as he bursts through a blank wall they had set up, leading
that giant golden head tank thingy one of the other 3rd years used
back at the cultural festival.
Izuku and his classmates get moved
up to Class 2A. Aizawa comes in and says he’ll be their homeroom teacher again.
That isn’t how things are usually done, but this is an unusual year, and the
students are just happy to have him again. Bakugo makes a snide comment and
Sero asks if he shouldn’t be in the hospital still. Bakugo replies he just
needs to take it easy for a while and he’ll be fine, and they need to be all
together for as long as they can. Aizawa tells them to quiet down and calls in
someone. It’s Aoyama. He tells his friends that he’s dropping out of AU. No one
is happy with this, but they’ll respect his decision. Aoyama reveals that
Tsukauchi and Nezu said that he could stay, but he’s choosing to take
responsibility for his actions. He is dropping out, as he only enrolled in UA
to be a spy… but he’s not giving up hope on being a hero. He swears to his
friends that he’ll find his own way forward, and someday he’ll stand with them,
head held high as a hero. Aizawa nods in approval. Aoyama opens his jacket and
makes a lightshow to tell his friends to not be sad. He then introduces their
new classmate, Shinzo! Everyone rushes over to welcome him… which upsets Aoyama
as he wanted their attention for a little longer, and he starts spinning and
firing off more lights. These hit Hagakure, which cause her powers to glitch
out and make everyone see her for the first time. Ashido gives her a tackle
hug, saying she’s so cute, much to Hagakure’s embarrassment. Mineta tries to
get in on that too, but Aizawa tangles him in his scarf and tells everyone to
sit. Third year student Mawata Fuwa comes in and informs them that until
further notice, 2nd and 3rd year Hero course students are
helping out with repairs to Japan. She’ll be their point of contact for their
various jobs. They’ll do repair work and general PR to try to rebuild the
public’s confidence in heroes. Shoto points out that they’ll have to work hard
as AFO originally came to power in a time like this. Fuwa heads out, but not
before revealing she was in Aizawa’s homeroom back in the day. She says that he
was a tough teacher back then, too (two years ago, sweetie, don’t talk like
you’re in your 30s) but he taught her class how to be real heroes.
After class, Izuku and his friends
head out. They tease each other a bit, Sero saying that Uraraka should give
another speech despite that embarrassing her the first time, and Uraraka saying
that she hopes Izuku’s hair can grow in again soon. She’s clearly putting on a
brave face, but Izuku doesn’t get a chance to talk to her as they walk out.
Izuku asks if Shoto will be able to make it to the party later, and he says
he’ll try but he’s got a busy day. Shoto heads out to see his family, telling
everyone that he’s going to be fine.
The house of Todoroki gathers
together. They’ve all looked like they’ve seen better days. Endeavor is covered
head to toe in bandages, and due to his injuries is confined to a wheelchair.
The rest of the family are doing better, but Rei, Fuyumi and Natsuo all have
serious burns as well. They all tell each other that no one ‘must’ be here, but
they all agree they need to be. They head in and find Toya in a high-tech
medical cell. He’s basically a skeleton with just a bit of flesh left on him.
The doctor says that he’s on a slow march towards death, they are just trying
to keep him in a reasonable level of comfort. They say that he can talk but
only for a few minutes. Dabi makes up, sees his family and makes a crack about
him being the latest tourist attraction. Endeavor tells him they need to talk about
the future. I should probably stop using his codename. Enji reveals to his
oldest that he’s retiring from hero work. He’s lost the use of his legs and his
right arm, so he couldn’t keep fighting even if he wanted to. He says that he’d
have done it anyway after the war. He compliments his oldest son’s flames,
saying they were hotter than any he’d faced before and that he incinerated
Endeavor. Dabi makes a few more jabs about it being a little late to flatter
him. Enji takes responsibility for what happened to Dabi, saying that he knows
that his son spent years trying to get his attention, but Enji never looked his
way when he should. He knows the fire burning in Dabi is his fault. He reveals
that he watches the video that Dabi released to discredit him every day. He
promises that he’ll be there to see Dabi everyday, and begs his son to just
talk to him. Enji also promises that his siblings might come by as well. Rei
and Fuyumi beg him to use the time they have left to be together as best they
can. Dabi actually starts tearing up, but his heartrate also goes up, so the doctors
say they need to cut this visitation short. Shoto asks just one more question.
He asks his big brother what his favorite food is. Dabi can’t answer, and they
pull him back into his pod. As the Todoroki’s start to leave, Dabi whispers
“Soba.” Shoto says that that’s his
favorite too. Dabi starts crying again, and he whispers, “I’m sorry,” to his
baby brother.
Outside, Natsuo reaffirms that his
feelings haven’t changed. He’s cutting contact with his family, he’s proposing
to his girlfriend soon, there won’t be a wedding and they don’t get to meet
her. Enji tells his son that he understands. It’s also revealed that Fuyumi has
quit her job and is changing careers with the help of a parent of one of her
former students. Natsuo asks if they haven’t done enough yet. Enji says that he
intends to spend the rest of his life trying to make up for the harm he’s done.
Enji assures Natsuo that he has done enough, but as his father he intends to
keep going. Natsuo says that’ll be a hell of a way to live. Enji remembers when
Dabi charged him and says that they’ll dance together in hell, and just says
that ‘That’s the dance I agreed to.” Natsuo compliments his dad on sounding
cool just that once before offering his brother and sister a ride back to town.
Shoto runs over to the car but turns to tell his parents that he has his
friends with him, and with them, he’ll get to be the person he wants to be.
That makes them both smile. Enji’s former sidekicks, who are his ride home,
start causing a scene and Rei mentions that this is indeed their hell. Enji’s
phone goes off and she shows her husband that Hawks is checking in on him. We
shift over to Hawks, who is putting on a brave face, and reveals that he’s the
new Public Safety Commission president. That’s a good spot for the depowered
hero. The credits roll.
I’ll start by saying that I like
that this is a multi-part epilogue, as it lets Horikoshi tie off a lot of loose
ends and makes the story feel more complete. Getting to see Bakugo tear up upon
learning that despite the fight being over, things aren’t going to be like they
were before was a great moment. He and Izuku have had a turbulent relationship,
to say the least, but after his year of emotional growth, Bakugo finally
understands that Izuku has made him better all this time. He accepts now that
they’d spent most of their lives pushing each other to one degree or another
and that he’s going to miss that when it’s gone. I like that Izuku puts on a
brave face for him and says he doesn’t regret his choices. I know that’s true,
my green boy is selfless to a T, but even as he smiles we know that he’s going
to miss his powers. All Might giving them a ‘you did good,’ speech was also
nice. Him thinking a lot of what he said last episode makes it clear that he’s
been trying to put this into words for a while now. All Might knows what its
like to be a hero and to walk away from it, so I think that makes his words
more impactful. It was good seeing all the students back in their class again,
it feels like a decade since they’d done normal school stuff. The changing of
students will probably be a bit hard for class 2A, but Aoyama insisting that
he’ll still be a hero in his own right takes some of the sting out of it. Plus,
let’s be real, Shinzo absolutely deserves the spot. The kid has busted his ass
catching up to the Hero Course students and has shown that he’s got all the
right qualities to be a hero. And it was nice seeing Hagakure’s face again. It
was sweet that Ashido’s immediate reaction was to hug her and say she’s cute. I
like that we’re setting up something with Uraraka. As I said above, she’s
clearly putting on a brave face to hide whatever emotions that she’s feeling. I
hope Izuku gets it out of her soon. And now onto the heavy stuff, the Todorokis.
I think this is the best way to end this little subplot. Toya is contained, in
pain but they’re doing their best to ease his suffering. He hasn’t forgiven his
father for what he’s done, but from those last few words to Shoto, I think he
will spend whatever time he has left opening up to them. I like that Enji
admitted to Toya that he’d done wrong, and that, ultimately, Toya got what he
wanted. Endeavor is dead, and Enji will live with the consequences. It seems
like a good-news-bad-news situation, in that this tragedy seems to have allowed
Enji and Rei to reconcile. She’s at least able to be in the same room as him
without having a panic attack, which is progress. Natsuo announcing that he’s
sticking to a no contact policy after this is a bit sad, but I do think that
it’s the right choice for him. Their family suffered a lot because of Enji’s
choices, so he’s decided he won’t be a part of it anymore. I like that it seems
like Natsuo is leaving on agreeable terms. It allows enough ambiguity that
those that hope he never talks to Enji ever again can have their moment but
also give romantics like me the slight hope that maybe, someday, Enji will do
enough to earn a place in his middle son’s life again. As Natsuo said, it won’t
be easy, but the possibility exists. I like that Enji intentionally made the
callback to agreeing to dance with Dabi in hell. He’ll dance with his oldest
for as long as he can. And I liked the reveal that Hawks has found a way to
stay active without his powers. The former hitman of the Public Safety
Commission as it’s president is… weird, but it feels like the right spot for
him. We’ve got three more episodes of epilogue stuff to cover, so strap in.
Have a good night and stay safe.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/u2761062/posts/viewer-log-my-ep-165037787
Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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