10/09/25 Editorial note: We are aware of Crunchyroll’s partnership with OONA and that they have yet to respond to these reports. Given our position in regards to Gaza, further developments of this story may affect our coverage of Crunchyroll products in the future.
Welcome back to the stage of history. The final season of the runaway juggernaut shonen, My Hero Academia, is underway and maaaaaaan, this first episode came out swinging! Every shonen hinges on one thing: ideology. There is always some idea so ubiquitous that it spawns two philosophies. Each philosophy is a reflection of the other, and the audience gets to watch as those philosophies ebb and flow in strength. Until they are both so strong, so resolute that they battle to see which is “right”. We were introduced to the Quirk Doomsday Theory in Season Four, Episode Sixteen. Not since Star Wars and its contrasting philosophies of the ‘light’ and ‘dark’ side of the Force have so many of us been locked into an ideological piece of fiction. The heroes and villains of My Hero are in their final battle to decide how to address the Quirk Doomsday Theory. It’s either All For One or One For All. If episode one is any indicator of the tone of season eight, not only is it the end of an era, but it’s going out in a blaze of glory.
Just imagine, a full episode with no filler, just hands. I have never been more impressed by a simple concept than what the team on My Hero Academia has done with All For One versus One For All. Season Eight, Episode One is all gas; them boys were fighting like no one was watching. Even though a key plot point is that EVERYONE is watching. As someone who watched every episode from day one, there is so much satisfaction in seeing the most villainous character and the most heroic character just go at it.
All Might going full Tony Stark was not on my anime bingo card! A drippy nano suit with all the bells and whistles and the nerve to have the open face front so they can see the pearly whites of peace?! His battle suit got grills?! Toshinori came with the sauce! When he got that maniacally wholesome laugh off, I had to pause for intermission. Episode one does a great job of sussing out the feelings of nostalgia and heartache. Especially seeing All Might dedicate and name his final move sets after the One For All powers, and then each of the young heroes of Class 1-A. My Hero Academia took the kid gloves off in Season Six, but All Might is taking All For One to school in Season Eight! Inspiring. *Thug tear crawls down cheek.*
Meanwhile, All For One is letting that thang go. He’s combining all types of random quirks just for giggles. So petty with it, knowing All Might has no quirks at his disposal and cannot win this fight. All For One does not care, not one bit. The living embodiment of sociopathic wanton violence. Not a lick of empathy as he toys with a pre-broken Toshonori. To make things more wild, he’s fighting his little brother to the death just to prove his ideas about the Quirk Doomsday Theory are right. I can’t even count how many times he let All Might tag him, taking hits to the face while looking back at him like, “I was on my way to destroy your protégé, but I wanted to see these weak ass punches you was gonna throw in person.” All For One is unbothered while All Might is doing his best Gear 5 impersonation. My Hero Academia is not playing games at the end of things. Ain’t nothing about this episode sweet.
Long story real short, Season Eight, Episode One of My Hero Academia simultaneously wrenched my heart and filled my spirit to the brim. I don’t know what’s going to happen next episode, but the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been. Somebody gon’ die. The episode just dropped on Crunchyroll on October 4th and will be the talk of the town for the next week. So do your Season Seven recap and pull up to this one asap!
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