‘My Hero Academia’ Season 7 Episode 19: “I Am Here” hits an emotional peak

My Hero Academia Season 7 has been on an absolute tear as it leans fully into the devastation of these characters’ battles. And while there are individual moments that might surpass it, Episode 19 is the emotional peak. With stunning animation, tremendous and evocative voice acting, and writing that combines all of the tethers of the Todoroki family saga, “I Am Here” sits along the very best of the series. Delivering a visually triumphant installment that blisters and bruises as characters burn themselves to reach closure, it’s only fitting that an episode so consumed in flames and ice would deliver some of the series’ most chill-inducing moments. 

With the title “I Am Here,” the assumption is that All Might will take up a large piece of the story. Instead, My Hero Academia Season 7 Episode 19 plays with our expectations while delivering on them. Yes, we see All Might seemingly ready himself for a last-ditch stand of desperation against All For One. And he is the rousing voice that pushes Iida and Shoto into action. But Iida and the Todoroki family make it their mission statement, all in different ways. It’s amazing how the words “I am here” adopt different spirits through the context of these characters. 

The first is Iida, who brings Shoto to Dabi and Endeavor’s side through pure selfless heroics and quirk advancement. Rescued by Shoto (and Midoriya) in the past, he reminds Todoroki that his quirk is meant to bring smiles to children’s faces, a vestige of hope that escape and rescue is imminent. 

The moment is striking in the manga and brought to a different, kinetic life in the adaptation. Iida’s characterization is central to the sequence, pushing the face guard he usually wears onto Shoto and the rest of his speed-resistant gear. Carrying him when his legs can’t, he races through the city in a flash of light, the animation warping, demonstrating his speed and the way the world blurs because of it. Directed by Masayuki Otsuki, it’s just one of many striking sequences that beautifully capture these characters’ sheer power, the world becoming alien and new due to the quirks they wield. 

This brief yet pulsating burst of action ends with just one of the many poignant notes. Iida tells Shoto after depositing him at Gunga Villa that because of him, Iida is becoming the kind of person he aspires to be. He tells him that Shoto deserves to become the kind of person, human, he wants to be too. The growth of these characters stems from the influence of their friends and loved ones. 

While there’s a thrill to the entirety of My Hero Academia Season 7 Episode 19, the sweeping and grandiose storyline truly crystallizes in the final third. For the first half of the My Hero Academia narrative journey, there were times when the Todoroki drama didn’t always work. Dabi, being the long-lost son/brother, was a no-brainer, and even Shoto himself initially fit the bill of a too-familiar archetype. But their work post-Dabi reveals some of Kōhei Horikoshi’s finest writing — if not his best, period. It’s so good that it retroactively makes the first half better. 

As Dabi’s mix of wrath, grief, and stubbornness drives him towards Gunga Villa, a literal walking time bomb, the gravity of the situation is suffocating. UA evacuees are put in imminent danger — including Shoto’s mother, Rei, and two other siblings, Fuyumi and Natsuo. There’s no control over Dabi’s power. He’s become the amalgamation of personified hatred. He lacks any coherency or cognitive dissonance, simply latching on to the idea of wanting his dad to see him in his totality, burning bright yet deadly to get his father to finally look his way. 

Endeavor’s story of atonement has been a shocking bright spot in the series as one of the more complicated characters. And the animation refuses to pull its punches as we watch Dabi’s heat chip away at him. This man is so laden with regrets that he’s willing to go out with Dabi, letting his son’s flames consume him while refusing to let him leave this world alone. It’s a devastating sequence made richer by how complicated these characters are.

Endeavor was undoubtedly abusive. Dabi killed countless innocents. And while we don’t believe they deserve clean starts, it’s hard not to sympathize with and even pity these two lonesome, tragic figures. 

But the story refuses to leave it on a note of father and son. Instead, it’s a whole family affair as Rei, Fuyumi, and Natsuo rush to their aid, using their ice quirks to try and satiate Dabi’s flames. The sequence is gorgeous and rousing, a reminder of how each and every one of them has their own role to play in how the family crumbled and their potential for rebirth. Shoto’s arrival amplifies it further. From the desperation captured in the gait of his run, beautifully rendered by the animators, to his final major attack, the sequence is breathtaking. 

The visual depiction of Dabi’s flames turning to ice before splintering is innovative and allows the family’s emotional inferno to manifest itself visually. The burning blaze and then the icy, mournful calm. And once again, that theme of “I Am Here.” From Rei joining the battle as an active participant, she too now adorned with burns, to Shoto’s interference, the family reaches out to support Endeavor. And then, in perhaps the most heartbreaking example, Endeavor’s own version, a desperate “I am here” as a means to give Dabi a bit of solace. I am here now, even if it’s too late. His apologies ring across the battlefield as they lay crumpled and emotionally unstable. 

To be blunt, My Hero Academia Season 7 Episode 19 demonstrates why so many people, why I, adore this series. While it stumbles through too-long arcs and lackluster supporting characters at times, it knows how to drive home the emotional hits. The score by Yuki Hayashi is never better, threading in familiar themes and more mournful compositions. Hiro Shimono, Tetsu Inada, and Yuki Kaji all deliver superb and layered performances as Dabi, Endeavor, and Shoto.

The poetic moment of Dabi crying while croaking out his hatred of his father circles back to one of his first appearances, where he said he burned his tear ducts and can no longer cry. Because maybe, in the end, he’s found his humanity buried in the barrage of hatred he festers for his family. It’s a bittersweet ending and win that doesn’t ring triumphant like others. But there’s a finality to it that gives it a necessary, bruising weight. 

With thoughtful animation and compassionate writing that understands these characters’ messiness and toxic, violent journey, “I Am Here” strikes with poignancy. We care so deeply for these flawed characters. There’s palpable grief that seeps its way into the underbelly of the episode. Characters warp and distort the manifestations of their emotions. From the raw, rigid lines of Endeavor’s face to the mess of motion, lines, and light that overtakes Dabi’s. My Hero Academia Season 7 Episode 19 pushes the boundaries of its abilities one more, succeeding with a bombastic take on a personal story. 

My Hero Academia Season 7 Episode 19, “It’s a Small World” is out now on Crunchyroll with new episodes each Saturday.

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Images courtesy of Studio Bones/Crunchyroll.