Episode Air Date
10-07-2025
The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia, Episode 156, “It’s a Small World”, now streaming onCrunchyroll.
Back around 2017, whenMy Hero AcademiaSeason 2 was getting rave reviews, there was a school of thought among its admirers that it wasn’t groundbreaking per se, but rather, “textbook.” To some, this comes with the negative implication of being iterative, but what it means in context is that this series is an exhibition of shōnen tropes and trends, simply executed well and with a style all its own.
Any popular shōnen could be derisively called “iterative” relative to another, older classic, and everyone will become familiar with these tropes through different shows. WhetherMy Hero Academiais particularly original in itself is irrelevant; what matters is thatSeason 7 - and the buildup to the story’s conclusion- has been directed, written, and animated exceptionally. As such, it’s worth studying how it achieves what it does.
The Eyes of the World Are on Deku
Surprise, surprise, this week was - to put it mildly - a lot, and that’s starting to become a theme as the season approaches its end. For some, Season 7 has been on the slower side, with its propensity for flashbacks to the segmenting of the major parts of a battle that has persisted for over a quarter of a year. It’s a fair critique, but one which has been answered in these final episodes. The pace has quickened, and the emotions charging this battle have heightened.
For any climax of this size, conveying the proper scale and stakes of the battle can mean the difference between an ending that feels truly complete versus one that is large but exhaustive.My Hero Academiadoesn’t need help presenting large battles with cool action, but making the weight of that conflict feel meaningful is essential. It’s what alloweda series likeFullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhoodto be heralded as a masterpiece and what countless other stories strive toward.
For weeks, we’ve stressed the importance ofMy Hero Academia’s supporting characters, as the story has made more abundantly clear than ever that they are the heart and soul of this series. However, even a series that wasn’t so centered around its supporting cast as this one would be wise to take note of how Episode 156 impresses upon the viewer the importance of what they’re witnessing.
Eight Years of Faces
Never did I think that seeing a bunch of journalists - who at most were only on-screen a few times - would contribute so much to an episode. But much like the students from the Business Course, who documented Gentle Criminal’s heroic deeds, their work is a form of fighting in itself. Through them, the whole world bears witness to the final battle alongside the viewer, and it’s given a world so close to the brink of destruction a glimmer of hope.
It’s powerful stuff. The moments of calm within the news helicopters offer introspection to minor characters whose lives have been touched in some way by Deku and the other heroes. If that weren’t enough, the anime continues its mission to canonize theMy Hero Academiafilms -even the newest one yet to debut in North America- by showing the original character therein among the spectators.
Fanservice it may be, but it’s also just damn good directing. More than that, it’s superb superhero storytelling. Superhero fiction is oversaturated for sure, but having the heroes' deeds be witnessed, and being able to see the faces of the everyday people whose lives hang in the balance, will never go out of style. It’s as essential to the genre as a costume or quirk, and it means everything here in a story so critical of the utility of heroism in the first place.
All For One Gets A Terrifying Glow-Up
It’s incredible what a new voice actor can do for a character, especially when the change is diegetic, and even more so when the actor replacing them is so iconic. Akio Otsuka’s voice for All For One is iconic, as is John Swasey’s in English, but the voice ofHiroshi Kamiya (Levi fromAttack on Titan)fits a younger version of this villain so effortlessly. It comes just in time for All For One to leave his most intimidating mark on the heroes yet. The younger he gets, the more in his prime he becomes.
What makes it hit so much harder is just how ferociously everyone beats down on him from beginning to end. There’s a sense that they know he can’t be beaten here, but it doesn’t matter, and that vindictive determination is captured well in the performances. Mt. Lady looks as exhausted as she does angry - almost as angry as Gigantomachia, whose arrival and subsequent vendetta against One For All is another sublime curveball thrown in.
A Handful of Triumphs
For as dour as the ending of the episode was, the overall package had me cheering much the same as the two weeks prior, which is the best a fan could hope for at such a crucial juncture. If there had to bean MVP of the episode, it was surely Mina, whose determination in the face of her self-doubts won victory for her friends at Gigantomachia’s prison.
Finally, it would be criminal to ignore what little there was of Toga and Uraraka this week. It was only a single scene before the opening, which is odd considering it had little bearing on the rest of the episode. Toga not being able to copy her friends' quirks is undeniably good, but the despair it causes her is no less sad. It makes her doubt her feelings of love, which are so foundational to her sense of self. This scene is devastating yet simultaneously beautiful, for Urararaka finds her in the crowd of copies simply because she is sad, which could not more perfectly encapsulate her heroism.
Another phenomenal week forMy Hero Academia. The preview for next week, in particular, gives off the vibe of something special. Something about the line art and the carefully chosen cuts gives the impression that fans are in for some incredible animation. Endeavor and Dabi’s fight will begin in earnest, Todoroki and Iida will team up to join the fight once more, and most excitingly, All Might looks to be stepping off the sideline in a big way. The wait for next Saturday just got way more brutal.
