*Spoilers for My Hero Academia Episode 160 ahead
It’s a bittersweet day–the eighth and final season of My Hero Academia has begun.
Season 7 kicked off the harrowing Final War arc, which saw the Heroes split off into groups to battle the Villains. The last episode, 159: “Battle Without A Quirk”, left off right in the midst of a bloody, explosive showdown between All Might and All For One.
The first half of the premiere episode of season 8 rehashes what’s happened so far in the fight between All For One and Armored All Might. Given that nearly a year has passed since the finale aired and considering what a pivotal moment we’ve reached in the story, this felt necessary in order to ensure audiences are completely up to speed with exactly where the fight is at. Moreover, it winds the battle’s momentum and tension back up. Audiences can now fully (re)digest the emotional impact of seeing All Might back in action, smiling through each punch with his endless resolve as he uses special tools and moves directly inspired by the students of Class 1-A.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, we find Aoyama and Fat Gum at the mercy of Kunieda, and things are looking bleak as they’re surrounded by countless fallen Heroes. Without his belt, Aoyama’s Navel Laser Quirk can’t save them. But with the arrival of Hagakure, the two are able to pull off an Ultimate Move to win the fight–Warp Refraction: Navel Laser. Following Invisible Girl’s literal appearance in season 7, I absolutely adore the way the animators slightly revamped and improved her design for this episode (that dreamy pastel color palette is seriously cosplay goals).
With everything at stake right now for the Heroes, it looks like we can expect the next episode to pick back up with Stain’s sudden arrival to the fight between All Might and All For One.
Kōhei Horikoshi’s long-running manga series came to a close last year after a decade and 431 chapters. Now, following its premiere in 2016, the anime adaptation is wrapping up as well with its final season. Be sure to catch new episodes of My Hero Academia on Crunchyroll every Saturday, starting October 4.
