Highlights
- My Hero Academia’s latest episode showcases the heroes shining brighter than ever, with a clever plan and exciting battles.
- “Division” sets the stage for Season 7’s main event, with each character playing a crucial role in the unfolding story.
- The episode’s stunning visuals and positive message about every character being a hero add depth to the series’ narrative.
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Title |
My Hero Academia Season 7 |
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Director |
Naomi Nakayama, Kenji Nagasaki (Chief Director) |
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Studio |
Bones |
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Episode Air Date |
6/8/2024 |
Warning: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia, Episode 144, “Division,” now streaming on Crunchyroll.
If the last episode was a reminder of why the villains in this story shine, then My Hero Academia‘s newest episode is an even more exhilarating reminder of why the heroes shine brighter. In a story that so frequently shines its spotlight on the larger cast and not just Midoriya, this series’ philosophy has become clearer than ever before: “There are no side characters here.”
Episode 143 put the final pieces in place for Season 7’s main event as the villains prepared to make their next move while the heroes worked to set a trap for them with Aoyama’s help. Just as it looked like Aoyama had truly betrayed everyone, it turned out to be all part of the plan, as both sides’ forces funneled through portals, ready to do battle.
A Clever and Exciting Start
In our review of Episode 142, one of the biggest complaints was that it didn’t feel like the heroes’ plan was conveyed or built up interestingly. Sure, All Might’s reasoning was sound – splitting up the enemy is smart – but only in the sense that not doing so would be foolish. To get the audience excited, there would have to be a sense of intrigue about how they would do that, but that can’t be disclosed or else the reveal won’t be as exciting.
Sure, there were ways the preceding episodes leading to this point could have done it better, but pleasantly, the payoff ended up being worth it. Like with the fight between Shigaraki and Star and Stripe, the creativity on display is off the charts. It probably wouldn’t have been as exciting if the audience were privy to even half of the particulars of the plan beforehand.
An Episode True to Its Title
“Division” begins with the return of Hitoshi Shinso and Neito Monoma, whose quirks are essential to making the plan work. Shinso, having trained and strengthened his quirk, mind-controls Aoyama’s family to speak over the phone with All for One, circumventing his lie detection. Meanwhile, Monoma copies Kurogiri’s quirk at Aizawa’s request, allowing him to create portals through which the heroes can split up the villains across Japan.
The characters have all been sectioned off into their own arenas in which they can do battle, and the heroes, having drawn the lines themselves, are picking those match-ups. It’s glorious, but what makes it even better is the one crucial piece that goes wrong; Deku not ending up where he’s supposed to be. Without him, the team fighting Shigaraki is at an inherent disadvantage, even with the appreciable number of countermeasures at their disposal – more than ever before.
This Episode Looked Gorgeous
What makes an episode like this fascinating is that it’s not any less of a build-up than the episodes before it. Seeing how extensive the plan is and how everybody is contributing to it is remarkably cathartic, but it’s really just the story shuffling the pieces on the board into what the rest of the season will be. The onus is on the episodes to come to live up to that hype. Light pessimism aside though, this episode looked particularly gorgeous, which helped to sell the weight of it all.
The establishing shots of the individual battlefields pull their weight in gold to build excitement for these fights, especially Todoroki and Dabi’s standoff. What bursts of action did occur were exhilarating, especially Best Jeanist vs Shigaraki. Even the eye-catches for the commercial break seemed especially dazzling this time around, but that could be because Shinso and Monoma stole the show this week.
The Most Positive Message in My Hero Academia
It shouldn’t be a controversial take to say that Monoma has been quite annoying in the past, and that feels largely by design. He’s antagonistic towards the main characters and cocky in a way that just makes you want to punch him, but somehow, like with every other seemingly small character in this story, all they need is a single episode. A single episode in which even a viewer who couldn’t stand him before can go “Eh, I can’t stay mad at this guy.”
My Hero Academia‘s greatest strength has been its supporting cast and how their powers, no matter how situational, can save the day. The words that Vlad speaks to Monoma – that “there are no side characters here,” – feel like the thesis of the series, articulated in the simplest words possible. Some might argue that Deku invalidates this notion, but it’s worth remembering his circumstances.
But What About Deku?
Sure, Deku is the main character with a super special quirk that comes packaged with a bunch of quirks, but he had to earn that. By the rules of his world, he was a side character in his own life until All Might chose him to inherit One for All, and that was on the merits of Deku’s good heart. Deku is an extension of – and possibly the origin of – this message, not a contradiction to it.
That’s why every time another character takes the spotlight, it has to be epic. Because everyone can be a hero, which is more or less the message of every superhero story at the end of the day, but it’s no less endearing when it’s done right. This week, My Hero Academia certainly nailed it and kicked off the final war with gusto.
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