Talk about a massive downgrade.

I must admit, it never occurred to me when reading these chapters in the manga that Bones was going to re-cast All For One. I mean, it makes sense on some level – he does keep getting younger. And they don’t call Ohtsuka Akio the Marlin Brando of seiyuu for nothing. I guess it doesn’t make sense for that voice to keep coming out of that body at a certain point. But Ohtsuka to Kamiya Hiroshi? Damn, that’s a lot to take. Kamiya can be good in the right role, but frankly when he takes on evil characters his voice is fingernails on a blackboard to me. I’d happily stick with the incongruity of Ohtsuka to the bitter end if it were up to me.

Well, it is what it is, as the sign in my office used to say. There’s plenty of action all over the place this week, but after an episode that jumped from front to front at a frenetic place, this one mostly focuses on AFO. An important new player has entered the pitch – Gigantomachia. But the heroes had a contingency plan in mind for him. Shinso has been a forgotten man through this arc, especially since he was clearly being built up as someone very important (with a very important quirk). “Brainwashing” theoretically knows no limits on the size of the brain, and the idea is for him to the backup in case the big guy breaks out.

This doesn’t go flawlessly – it takes a timely assist (acidist?) from Ashido Mina (largely forgotten herself) to free Shinso and let him tackle the mission at-hand,with Kirishima’s assistance. The two of the plant themselves in Gigantomachia’s hairline and Shinso does his thing. It’s effective, but the giant seems to be fighting back – the only one besides Deku, Shinsu says, to ever do so. It’s interesting to hear Shinso refer to his quirk as like something a villain would use – many fans have felt the same way.

This is a theme of the episode, for certain. Dark Shadow and Brainwashing have much in common. Both are sleeper contenders for the strongest quirk in the cast, and both have an aura of villainy to them somehow. At this point no one would say that of their holders, but there’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg discussion to be had about that. Both Shinso and Tokoyami are central to events playing out this week. The latter is the primary means holding All For One down, preventing him from reuniting with his other self.

As it turns out, Gigantomachia is more or less moving of his own volition. But he’s bemoaning that his master has left him, and indeed All For One seems to now conclude that the behemoth’s usefullness to him may be at an end. The voice may be a step down but everything else about AFO seems to be leveling up as he grows younger and younger. That includes his ability to maximize his stolen quirks, and All For One eventually wears down Tokoyami and emerges as the last man standing. He steals Fierce Wings from Hawks, and turns his attention to Dark Shadow. Mineta tries to take one for the team, urging AFO to steal “Pop off” rather than turn into a chuunibyou with Dark Shadow. But the demon lord reckons time is of the essence and heads off to try and get himself together once and for all.