My Hero Academia Season 7: Peak Fiction

Key recommendations

  • My Hero Academia Season 7 is the biggest and best yet, despite being shorter than most.
  • Season 7 features effective storytelling with a strong sense of momentum and balance.
  • The season reaches new heights, surpasses previous ones, and explores its themes with seriousness and emotion.



Title

My Hero Academia Season 7

Principal

Naomi Nakayama, Kenji Nagasaki (Chief Director)

Studio

The bones

Premiere date

05/04/2024

The following contains minor spoilers for My Hero Academia Season 7, now streaming on Crunchyroll.

My Hero Academia Season 7 was four episodes shorter than every season since the first, but given the sheer amount of joy and heartache conveyed in its 21 episodes, you might not have noticed. It is without a doubt the biggest another season, and after half a year basking in its beautiful artwork and serious, emotional script, it's far from best also.


Naomi Nakayama, who previously directed the 2016 film Orangestook over as series director alongside head director Kenji Nagasaki, who helmed the series' first three seasons. She took the captain's chair at a critical moment and by all accounts knocked it out of the park, showing an eye for showmanship early on when she storyboarded the first two episodes.

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A premiere with Barely Time to Waste

Last season, fans were left with a cliffhanger. Tomura Shigaraki would reach full power in three days, and America's #1 Pro Hero, Star and Stripe, was coming to Japan to help. It was an enticing hook, albeit one that seems such a minor part of the story in retrospect. By the end of the premiere, Star and Stripe has already been intercepted by Shigaraki, who is determined to steal her quirk. Season 7 has a strong sense of momentum – as you'd expect from a story so close to the end.


It's a cleverly constructed yet emotional battle that leaves neither side necessarily victorious, but gives the heroes plenty of time to prepare for the final assault. Before anyone can resign themselves to what seems like an inevitable training arc between battles, the revelation of a traitor to the AU shatters that preconception and ratchets up the tension once again. Soon after comes the war that the rest of the season – and the series for that matter – will chronicle.

The beginning of the final war of My Hero Academia


The heroes are spread across the country in a coordinated operation to catch the villains one by one. Shoto confronts Toya in Kamino Ward, where All Might's career has ended. Endeavor teams up with the Hawks against All For One in the skies above the Gunga Villa wreck. An all-star team is assembled to defeat Shigaraki at the UA Academy, which has been converted into an aerial fortress designed to take him down. And this is only the tip of the iceberg.

It feels like the good guys finally have the upper hand for once, and that feels glorious, even if it doesn't last long. It becomes a tug-of-war, with unforeseen complications occurring quickly and often, with ripple effects increasingly affecting battles taking place miles away. Season 7 is incredibly effective at balancing the larger goals of its narrative with the individual roles the supporting cast plays in building those milestones.

How season 7 rises above its flaws


Of course, the above is not exactly news. Which attracted many people My Hero Academia for starters it was Deku; his despair at being capricious, his courage in spite of it, and his jubilation at finding that he could still become a hero Since then, this series has consistently treated the backstories of its larger cast with writing and presentation of equal or greater quality. So it's no surprise that viewers are still falling in love with the characters this late in the game.

So it's business as usual for anime, but what's less flattering are the oft-quoted ads about the adaptation that similarly persist here (at least early on). Even with a strong narrative drive, some exposition can seem redundant, and the flashbacks even more so. These aren't so much new issues as they are familiar ones that get in the way of really strong storytelling.


All For One, “Extras” and Missing Deku

Over the course of eight years and seven seasons, My Hero Academia it was a celebration and critique of superheroes in equal measure. The flaws of his society were constantly exposed through increasingly empathetic villains, challenging the heroes to question their complicity, rise above and be the heroes they claim to be. All the myriad themes that feed into that core are front and center as the story wears its heart on its sleeve more proudly than ever.

This is a story about societal collapse and how the mere fear of it robs people of their ability to think about a future. All For One explicitly states this as a goal; he wants to be the all-powerful terror living rent-free in everyone's head – to literally steal the future. All the while, he dismisses Class 1A – the next generation, which is the very future he wants to eliminate – labeling them as just “extras”.


However, the basic lesson of Season 7 is that there is no “extra”, something blindingly apparent as a result of Deku's relative absence. “Relative” is the key word – he's still there, still an active member of the conflict, and his eventual rematch against Shigaraki is excellent, but the story consciously and cleverly keeps him out of the way to emphasize everyone else. The idea that “anyone can be a hero” isn't new to the superhero genre, but this story delivers that message with a lot more heart than most.

My Hero Academia reaches new heights


Something beautiful happens in the second half of season 7 – probably around Episode 154. Those aforementioned flaws, so frequently cited by this show's detractors, seem to disappear as the pace quickens, the emotions rise, and the animation goes further. harder than he already had. I felt compelled to cheer and cry more than any show has in a while.

From the joy of unexpected returning characters to long-awaited showdowns, this season didn't just match the heights of the previous ones, it surpassed them. As good as the first half is, it's a little shocking how much it's climbed week by week. It has consistently raised the bar, raising the stakes while shaking up the formula to avoid becoming exhaustive with such a long fight.

This show deserves praise more than ever


It's a phenomenal culmination, built on eight years of excellent television that sought to adapt long-running shōnen without filler and without compromising quality too much. Your mileage may vary depending on the consistency of the anime, but there's no denying that what Studio Bones has accomplished with this adaptation is impressive. At a time when the landscape of the shōnen genre is changing, it cannot be understated how difficult this season will be. because it took eight years to get there.

My Hero Academia Season 7 is a wonderful work of TV anime, the construction and execution of which deserves to be as great as Jujutsu KaisenThe Shibuya incident. It's a testament to Kohei Horikoshi's writing, the testimony of Studio Bones, and the timeless appeal of shōnen that a story this serious can stand tall even as superheroes are more saturated than ever. In a year full of great shows, this season alone could warrant an Anime of the Year nomination.

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