My Hero Academia Season 6

Episode 118

Since the start of this season, our heroes have had a pretty sizable advantage. They initiated the attack on both fronts, had strategies set up to divide and conquer the Paranormal Liberation Front, and despite some setbacks they have largely been winning the fights they picked. But this wouldn't be much of a story if there wasn't some back-and-forth between the two sides, and we all knew that at some point the pendulum would start to swing the other way. With Shigaraki miraculously awake, that means it's time for that final orb on the Newton's cradle to slam back down hard enough to crush the others to dust, and much of “The Thrill of Destruction” is just waiting for that to happen.

That makes a lot of this episode feel messy, as it scrambles to wrap up some lingering plot threads before the hammer drops. Tokoyami saving Hawks is a prime example, as it's compelling drama that nonetheless feels totally disconnected from everything else going on. Don't get me wrong, it's certainly shocking to see Hawks turned into extra extra crispy chicken wings, and that Tokoyami dove in to save his avian mentor is touching. It's also interesting to confirm that Dabi has his own motives outside of either forces inside the PLF, but it can't help but feel like there was a more graceful way to work that into the rest of the action, or at least make it feel smoother when broken up across two episodes. It's an extended preamble that feels just a touch too disconnected from everything else to fit properly.

Granted, that's probably a consequence of the sheer amount of decompression in this episode. Battle manga are known for stretching moments of time to their breaking point, and while Shigaraki's counterattack doesn't take a full five Namekian minutes to start, you can definitely feel the seams stretching as a handful of in-universe minutes are blown up to fill half an episode. At its worst, it feels like Shigaraki and the hapless hero he woke up to spend several minutes awkwardly staring at each other before either does anything. At its best, we see the following moments of mass destruction from a million angles, experiencing the panic and mad dash for safety from the countless characters facing down a sudden and unstoppable wave of decay.

That part right there is what makes this whole episode work. We start at the hospital, as every hero on the scene has to turn on a dime and scramble for escape, and quite a few of them don't make it (RIP to the number six hero who went from Crust to Dust). Then it moves out to the surrounding streets and buildings, where the backup heroes don't even know what's happening and are left to desperately, hopelessly counterattack until they realize it's hopeless. Then it reaches Deku and the other students, forcing them into a desperate race to evacuate whatever civilians they can carry. This isn't something they can fight or overcome – all they can do is try to outrun it with everything they have. It's the first moment of true powerlessness any of the characters have faced, and we know this is just the opening salvo. The first OFA user says that a transcendent one has arrived, and as Shigaraki stares out over the wasteland he just created, it's hard to say he's wrong.

Altogether this approach means this episode feels like one big opening act, and I'm of two minds toward it all. On the one hand, it means that by the end of this episode it doesn't feel like a whole lot has happened, as not even ten minutes have passed in-universe, and that makes for some frustrating weekly action. On the other, that final moment is one hell of a hook for next week, and I'm both thrilled and terrified to see the tide truly turn against our heroes. In the blink of an eye – or the beat of a heart – everything our heroes had planned has fallen apart, and I have no idea how they can even hope to win this. That's a hell of a place to be in this big war arc, and if the follow-up can deliver on its setup, then some scuffed pacing will all be worth it.

Rating:

My Hero Academia is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.