English Dub Review: My Hero Academia “Izuku Midoriya Rising”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

With the combined forces of every hero still able to stand, as well as the vestiges of the previous wielders, Deku uses the remaining embers of One for All to end the story of All for One once and for all.

OUR TAKE

This. Is. It. The culmination of every battle, every struggle, every failure, every success…EVERYTHING since this anime started nearly a decade ago. Even with One for All reduced to its final embers and all of his predecessor’s powers gone, Deku pushes on to finish the fight, helped by everyone he’s inspired every step of the way since he first inherited his quirk. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE makes one last blow against AFO, getting a shining moment in the spotlight all while hyping up Deku as he builds up his remaining strength to get not one but TWO big hits to bring this battle to a decisive finish. We even get some surprising cameos from not just side characters watching from the wings, but every main character from the MOVIES, AND even a cameo from the protagonist of Horikoshi’s short lived cult hit manga Barrage. Just when you think the cuts can’t get deeper, they just go even more! I know I’m supposed to be critically analyzing this episode, but describing this moment in words truly does not do it justice, you just have to go watch the episode yourself. Yeah, I know, not a terribly descriptive analysis, but that’s my take. If you have been following this series for as long as I have, or even from the beginning, you are going to feel all of the feels going into these last few minutes. So, I guess I’ll use the remainder of my minimum word count to address a bit of a rather controversial element about this big victory.

Despite Deku protesting to his predecessors that he would save Shigaraki, or rather Tenko Shimura, he ultimately does not survive the battle as his body is disintegrated by Deku’s final blow. He does contribute in holding All for One back and getting vengeance for him basically manipulating his life from before he was even born (which apparently involved taking his original floating quirk he got from his grandma and giving him an off shoot of Overhaul’s ability, THAT was a weird connection to make), but he dies with AFO after telling Deku to send Spinner a final message. One could argue that is saving him to an extent, and I would certainly agree, but I do understand why there was some complaint over the fact that he did not get to reclaim what was left of his life, as Toga didn’t either and Toya/Dabi ended up with virtually no quality of life. Still, while this is cold comfort, we can at least say that Tomura Shigaraki went out on his own terms. Now, we only have three episodes (four if you count the OVA that covers the final extra chapter) in this season and the series, and it’s mainly about epilogue stuff and settling remaining threads, but it’s a great wrap up to the story so I hope you keep watching.