‘My Hero Academia’ Season 8 Episode 2 review: “The End of an Era, and the Beginning”

Directed and storyboarded by Tomo Ōkubo, My Hero Academia Season 8 Episode 2 strikes the heartstrings. The effect is monumental – even if it takes a second to truly get there. With strikingly quiet bookends, “The End of an Era, and the Beginning” sets the tone for the battle to come, as one prominent figure of peace begins to crumble, and another stands in the background, ready to take his place.

Welcome back, Katsuki Bakugou (Nobuhiko Okamoto).

Fans of the manga had to wait much, much longer to earn his bloodied and singed reappearance as he and Midoriya (Daiki Yamashita) lock eyes over an expansive battlefield. The anime in comparison is tame – a recent One Piece binge will change anyone’s meaning of wait times, however. The result is no less thrilling, however.

For the most part, My Hero Academia Season 8 Episode 2 tracks the laborious battle between All for One (Hiroshi Kamiya) and the increasingly fatigued and beaten All Might (Kenta Miyake). Gaining the upper hand in the season premiere before falling and being aided by one-time nemesis Stain, the follow-up finds the prior Number 1 hero staring down a bleak fate. His armor is crushed, and his unlikely ally beaten. If there were ever to be a major character death in the series, it would be plausible to believe that All Might was about to meet his end here, at a critical and climactic moment for the heroes.

The story reminds us just how far All Might has come since his first appearance.

However, the series instead pivots to demonstrate the considerable growth All Might has undergone, teased in the premiere. Despite his inability to stand tall, he refuses to lose his will to fight. This remains true even as he’s used to taunt Midoriya, the latter of whom remains consumed by and locked in his fight with Shigaraki. In his cruelty, All for One seeks what will happen after breaking the Symbol of Peace in front of the young hero acting as his stand-in.

Not every aspect of the sequence works, even on a visual level. Studio Bones is such a consistent studio, but sometimes, in the case of My Hero Academia, it rests on the innate talents of the manga artist Kōhei Horikoshi. Everything looks good because the character designs are well-crafted and diverse, and the world is well-established. But it means that the animation team adapting the robust source material doesn’t always give certain scenes the weight and tactile nature they deserve. So while, yes, it makes sense that All for One could carry All Might with ease, there should still be a sense of gravity as his body dangles above such impossible heights in their trip to the battleground.

The same is true of Midoriya wrangling Shigaraki (Koki Uchiyama) with Black Whip. Despite their constant battle, which sees neither relenting an inch, it lacks the same weight and sense of force despite the fatigued struggle. These are minor notes, but they are amplified by the stunning display in Episode 1 and the finale of Episode 2, which give way to some of the more breathtaking moments in the series period. The premiere had the vibrant reveal of Hagakure (Kaori Nazuka), and now it’s Bakugo.

The return of a hero.

There’s so much thematic heft to his return that it comes in Midoriya’s most desperate moment when he’s about to lose it all. That it’s for All Might, the hero whose career he once believed he ruined. The soft focus and confident silence accompanying it make it richer. And it returns us to the contemplation of the opening scene. At the start of the episode, we watch as a young All Might sits with his mother in an idyllic home, as the would-be hero sings the theme to Anpanman—a character from a series of Japanese children’s books about a superhero protecting the earth. The messaging is clear without being overt about it or forced.

Bakugo’s return channels a similar level of introspection despite the contrast of the smoke-plumed battlefield and ongoing destruction. Everyone, from Gentle Criminal (Danjuro Tobita) and Momo (Marina Inoue), is fighting on spare reserves. And while some will certainly believe that the scene where Midoriya and other onlookers beg for someone, anyone to save All Might should have been scored, it’s perhaps one of the most interesting decisions the series has ever made to refuse it. His silhouette in the background lands with a mighty impact that required no forced sense of emotional release.

We’ve long understood that he and Midoriya, along with other young heroes in training, walk the path that All Might set out for them, inspired by his heroics. My Hero Academia Season 8 Episode 2 makes this more literal, as we watch All Might observe a young Midoriya and Bakugo as they clutch at their All Might trading cards before traveling back to reality, where Bakugo clutches his destroyed one in his hand.

It all comes back to the embers of hope.

These embers of hope and the belief in the resolve of those who mean well and who desire to ‘win to save’ and ‘save to win’ are what make the series so engaging. Because it earns us moments like this, where the animation comes alive and flourishes, it is truly remarkable. In just a few frames, the series elevates itself and delivers high-impact beats without much movement.

From the lights that flow into Bakugo’s card, to the way the lighting casts shadows on his face as the embers of life grow in his eyes, to Midoriya’s tears transforming into sparks of power around his eyes, there’s a necessary and shocking level of ingenuity to the sequence. The original panels by Horikoshi are stunning and hold power and depth on this return. The anime deepens its impact through the use of light and color, which are both epic and euphoric in ways that fit their respective mediums.

And it’s what the moment deserves. This might be the end of All Might’s fight, but his legacy promises a new era ready to hold the line. My Hero Academia was never – will never – be the dark and edgy anime. It won’t seek to emotionally level us through destruction and despair. Nor should it be. It earns its keep and finds necessary poignancy by showcasing how the characters, beaten and bloody, continue to stand and fight, no matter the battle ahead. The series has always been about hope and, in its final hour, is discovering greater means to visualize what that hope looks like.

My Hero Academia Season 8 Episode 2 is available now on Crunchyroll, with new episodes released every Saturday. 

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Images courtesy of Studio Bones.