My Hero Academia S7 Ep 7 Review
No plan survives first contact with the enemy. Especially when said enemy is a crazy yandere that loves you so much, they want to kill you. And thanks to Toga, Deku is nowhere near Shigaraki, the person only he has a chance of beating. And without him, the hero’s plans to take down the League of Villains (or whatever they go by now) will fall apart quickly! So, Deku has to fight past his number-one stalker! *gulp*.
Do you ever wonder if these villains wouldn’t have turned out wouldn’t if they had received the proper therapy? Because I do.
This is Why They Needed to Split Up the Villains!
After the opening drops, the episode exposits more on what we already know about the hero’s plan: they need to split the villains up to win. Send all the core members of the League of Villains to different locations and take them down with teams best suited to handle them. The rest will guard the captured villains and ensure they don’t escape. Eight separate battles for the heroes to win. But like I said, no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and thanks to Toga, Deku’s nowhere near Shigaraki. And Shigaraki shows the show scary he’s become.
One advantage animation has over its manga counterparts is that it can go into greater visual detail about events. In this case, the anime spares no expense showing how scary Shigaraki is, even with Monoma and Eraser Head suppressing his Quirk. The man sprouts hands out of his body like Tetsuo from Akira and starts tearing into the heroes! They can barely their own against him! If he could use his Quirk, he could annihilate an entire city alone! It’s a pretty effective way of showing the viewers how the heroes have their backs against the wall, even when they’ve stacked the odds in their favor.
And we all have Toga to thank for that.
Toga, I Feel Sorry for You
Even if she’s got no excuse for killing people, I still can’t help but feel bad for Toga. If she’d gotten the help she needed, she wouldn’t have such twisted views on love and friendship. And I thought this was shown pretty well in her part of the episode. After dragging Deku along for the ride, she confesses her love for him and asks him to be her boyfriend.
For the record, I think Deku’s reaction was both on-point and matches up well with the manga. He may be a hero, but Deku’s still a nerdy boy with no romance experience. If it weren’t for the fact that this is a plea for help from Toga, I would find this funny.
Himiko Toga does love Deku in her way; the fact the attack off didn’t set off Danger Sense is proof of that. However, the story clarifies that this confession is Toga’s last, desperate plea for people to understand her. Tragically, being on a tight schedule (and doesn’t know anything about romance) means that Deku rejects her. And with that, Toga shuts down and decides to be as evil as she wants. It’s sad, and I honestly think she wouldn’t have turned out so bad if she got the help she needed. Now it’s up to Uravity and Froppy to take her down as Deku races back to Shigaraki.
The Real War Begins
From this point in the anime, things will start to slow down a lot. Enough that people may begin to complain about the pacing. However, that’s what happens with these kinds of war arcs. With so many players on both sides fighting it out, the story must slow down to focus on them all. Not everyone may like it, but I enjoy it. It gives everyone a chance in the spotlight to show what they can do. It’s an excellent way to ensure that many fans are happy! Naruto did it with the Fourth Great Ninja War. One Piece does it at least once per arc. It’s just something that I like to see.
And this next fight is one that many fans have wanted to see: Dabi (AKA Toya) vs Shoto. Two masters of fire, two siblings whose lives were shaped by their father’s actions in a fight to the finish! It’s a great premise, even if having siblings turn on each other seems a little cliche. And I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next in the episode. Go beyond, PLUS ULTRA!
I don’t understand the meaning behind the title for the episode, though.
