It almost goes without saying that there’s a very different feeling in writing this post as compared to most series reviews I’ve done – like Nana Maru San Batsu, where there was no hope whatsoever of a sequel.  Or Made in Abyss, where it’s a complete unknown whether it will happen.  There was a Season 3 announcement at the end of this episode, of course, but even if there hadn’t been there would have been no doubt we’d get one, and likely quite soon.  Boku no Hero Academia is both extremely popular and objectively superb, a power franchise in manga and anime form, in Japan and in the West.  And it could hardly be easier to see why.

So there’s no heavy heart as I write this piece, only a sincere sense of appreciation for just how good Boku no Hero really is.  The shounen action genre really isn’t as easy as Horikoshi-sensei and Bones make it look here – not even close.  There’s such a sense of confidence to this series’ storytelling – especially striking in a final episode where it can take a measured and thoughtful approach, knowing that it need only set up the wars to come rather than neatly tie up everything that came before it and wrap it up with a bow.

Let me say, first of all, that I love the fact that Deku wears a plain white T-shirt that says “T-shatsu” on it in this episode, because it somehow suits the adorkable little spud (and Horikoshi) perfectly.  The occasion is a shopping trip the the “Wookies” mega-mall, the first full Class 1-A (with a couple of notable exceptions) outing together.  The idea is to stock up for the summer class trip – which Aizawa-sensei has notified the class will include the students who failed the practical exam too.  That threat to was a little white lie, a motivational threat – as was the declaration that the teachers would go all-out to “crush” the students (they didn’t).

Out in the real world, the Yuuei hero students have garnered a bit of notoriety for themselves through their televised sports festival – though not nearly as much as Stain, who as expected has become quite the cult figure.  They’re even selling Stain masks at the mall kiosks – all the more alluring as Stain-worship has a bit of the forbidden fruit to it among proper citizens.  This is of course massively irritating to Shigaraki, why if anything seems to hate the Hero Killer more than heroes themselves, for he’s usurped Shigaraki’s place as the icon of villainy.

This was a massively creepy chapter in the manga, and it’s all the more so in animated form.  Shigaraki’s assault on Deku is really just another reminder of how vulnerable he – and all the other students – still are.  Shigaraki doesn’t kill Izuku here but there’s no real reason to doubt that he could have had he wished to.  Whether the meeting was coincidental (as Tsukauchi later postulates) or not, it’s an irresistible opportunity for Shigaraki to terrorize one of the many he feels humiliated and diminished him, and also to force the boy to tell him what he sees as the difference between he and Stain, from Deku’s perspective.

Deku’s answer is especially interesting – and strikingly honest, given the circumstances.  Even for him, the allure of Stain’s idealism is not without traction – Deku obviously disagrees with Stain’s ideals and methods, but (and I think this makes him very uncomfortable) he understands them.  And that’s what gives Stain his power, and what makes him so dangerous – and it’s all the more ironic that Shigaraki is forced to use Stain’s mystique to further his organization’s goals.  In a sense I think Stain is actually closer to All Might than he is to Shigaraki, but indeed it’s All Might that ties all this together – for each on their own way, Stain, Deku and Shigaraki have All Might at the center of their worldview and motivation.

The two adults who love Izuku also have much in common – namely their love for him – but for All Might and Inko-san, their priorities really seem to be at crossed purposes.  All Might is taking him away from his mother, make no mistake about it – the fact that Deku very much wants to follow All Might notwithstanding.  As Deku comes to understand what it means to be a hero the lessons become harsher and harsher – like the fact that even for the mightiest hero in the world, there are legions that he cannot save.  In this case that could just as easily have included Deku – a fact poor Inko knows all too well.  Just as All Might agonizes over drawing Izuku down this path, Izuku agonizes over the worry and heartache every new incident causes his mother.

It’s episodes like this which really set Boku no Hero Academia apart from even really strong shounen, I think.  The bonds that tie these people together, the themes that underpin this realistic and fascinating alternative reality the series has created – these are what drive BnHA more than the glorious battles and epic confrontations.  There have been many takes on the superhero genre both in Western and Japanese pop culture, but there are few that so adroitly and contemplatively explore the real-life implications of living in a world of superpowers and those who wield them.

It just wouldn’t be right for a Boku no Hero season finale post not to mention Hunter X Hunter, and the links between the two series go deeper than the narrative ties from the above paragraph.  I really believe that the future of Boku no Hero Academia as an anime is limited only by the health of its mangaka.  As long as there’s new material to adapt, I think there will always be a will to adapt it – and as of now, the anime could probably do two cours a year for the foreseeable future and not run out of material.  But Horikoshi, while a mere pup, has already experienced some of the health issues common to those who write weekly serializations.  This is an extremely arduous job, especially with a series as relentlessly ambitious as this one.  We get so much from writers like Horikoshi and give so little back, and the debt we owe them as fans is never lost on me.  Whenever BnHA returns to anime – Spring or Summer 2018, whenever – I’ll be grateful to have it back.