kind of, fucking insane actually. Basic, but insane.
started watching this series for the sole reason of just because it is one of the most popular anime ever. Wasn't really expecting much from it, was expecting to be annoyed by it actually, with maybe some light-hearted fun to keep me going. This was the case for season 1, which I thought was rather weak, but served its purpose in setting up the world. Season 2 is where it all really came to life and showed just how solid this series could be. Coming into this 3rd season, I already knew of the climax-level event that is all-might vs. all for one. The first few episodes made me zone out, but slowly but surely, this series started to show its colors. And the shined brightly, with this episode being the brightest.
We get cool fights that are super hype like in one punch man and jujutsu kaisen; love those shows. But when you get a fight that really carries some actual weight, that's when they hit the hardest. That's why lots of fights in hunter x hunter are executed so well. They're not just there for show, they are a clash of a character's ideals. All-might vs. All-for-one actually wasn't that spectacular of a fight, it was a lot of big punches and shockwaves, nothing to special or worth noting. But that's not the point- All-might fought to the end to fight for his ideals and for justice, to maintain his image as the symbol of peace until the end, even when his true form was revealed to the world.
Whether or not you think that All-might being able to find and gather up enough power from one-for-all to be enough to finish All-for-One is complete BS or not, that's up for debate and I'll leave it up to you. But I think it at least makes much more sense than Deku's %1,000,000 punch earlier. Maybe there's a quirk to this quirk and that it will grant you the power you need when you REALLY need it. I'm fine with that. I really felt something with the imagery of the flame going out. All-might was done, he no longer had one-for-all, but he used every last bit he had left to take down his arch-enemy and the biggest threat to the world.
I liked the reveal that Tomura was the grandson of All-might's former master. I was aware of a lot of stuff surrounding this season, but I didn't see that one coming. All-for-one is just kind of your typical big final boss baddie who wants to destroy or rule everything or whatever, but that reveal gave him a new edge. He really wants to destroy All-might, be it is body, and especially his mind. That reveal must've been the greatest blow he received that day.
Lastly I just want to say that the moment where All-might points at the camera is the highlight of the episode, of the whole season so far, for me. He points and says: "next, it's your turn", while the audience cheers thinking it means one thing, Deku realizes its true meaning, being meant for him. Damn. He knew this was coming but it's already here; a huge burden and responsibility has been placed on his shoulders even though he is far from ready. But knowing Deku's character, he is up to the task and will train harder than ever before to bear the power that has been passed down to him, to use it to uplift his hero's heart and to carry on the duty of One-for-All.
Now how well they execute Deku's journey from here is up in the air for me, but looking at the general reception from the following seasons 4 and 5, it probably isn't that great. But hey let me dream a bit, and let me imagine that the story following Deku from here is a great one.
I was not expecting much from this series. I expected a shounen that was going to be rather bland, generic, and mediocre. And for the most part, it still is quite basic. But when it has episodes like this, I don't feel right in calling it mediocre. If the season ended by the next episode that closes off the arc, I'd have left this with an easy 8 out of 10. But....
So right now as of writing this, season 3 is sitting at an 8.12 overall score. That's pretty good for MAL, anything over 8, very generally speaking, is pretty good. However a lot of the top reviews have rather low scores. If they were scoring based on this first arc, then I'd question their reasoning. It's their own tastes, but still I'd be wondering what they were thinking. However, we still have half of the season to go, and maybe the rest is really lack luster, hence the low scores from the top reviews. I'm going to confidently say that that is probably the case, as there's no way they'd be able to top these highs that were being set up and foreshadowed from the start. But I do hope we'll get some decent fun at least. Trying to raise the stakes again after such a pivotal event would just fall flat, so the best they could do right now is just give us some more fun training time. Like there's not much else you can do when your climax is in the middle of the season. But I'm totally fine with that, we get to see the aftermath and fallout of these events, and see more of how our characters react to it all.
I rambled on for quite a bit I'm sorry, but the TL;DR is that I'm pleasantly surprised at how much this series has moved me. Ngl, I got some chills and some tears not only from this episode, but a some previous ones as well. And that doesn't happen too often with me, so I'm surprised it happened with fucking My Hero Academia. |