My Hero Academia Season 6

Episode 138

Welp, that's a wrap on MHA for another year. With the last two episodes covering the action and emotional climaxes of Deku's arc, there wasn't much left for this finale to do besides some requisite place-setting for the seventh season. That said, there's a pretty exciting setup to set it all off.

While most of the cast got some cathartic payoff last week when Deku was brought back to UA, one notable absence was All Might himself, and you can see why he isn't feeling too great about any of this. When his protege struggled under the burden he inherited from All Might, the man himself couldn't provide it. Deku is safe now, but it was entirely through the actions of others—people who not only understood Deku just as well as All Might but who could break through to him and confidently offer the support he required. It was a crushing failure for someone who dedicated his life to a brand of heroism he can no longer achieve and spent the last three seasons trying his best to carry on in a support role. What's worse, he doesn't have any peers or mentors for him to turn to, so he's left to wallow in his mistakes, walking among the crumbling vestiges of peace he tried to preserve.

So, with no heroes to help the ultimate hero out of this hole, it falls to a hero killer to do the job. Stain is not who I would want a pep talk from, but his single-minded devotion to All Might's legacy allows him to shift the man's perspective. To Stain, the failures of the society All Might helped establish are the fault of others—people are too selfish or shortsighted to embody the ideal of the Symbol of Peace. Neither All Might nor the show itself would agree with that, but it means that Stain is acutely aware of what All Might stand for. Stain has seen firsthand that his legacy continues in others and reminds All Might that he isn't solely defined by his worst regrets. He has done plenty of good in the world and may continue to do so.

It's a strong moment to end the season with, which makes it all the more perplexing that it happens before the OP can even play. Everything after that is necessary but not a particularly engaging exposition to set things up for the next season. We learn that there's a much tighter timeline for Shigaraki's return, see Deku finally get a bath, and even work in some brief cameos of characters from the World Heroes Mission movie. It's nice but inevitably feels like a momentum break that leaves this final episode feeling perfunctory.

The only thing to get a reaction was the arrival of Star & Stripe, the top Pro Hero from the USA. We don't know much about her besides calling All Might her mentor, but she immediately leaves a strong impression. She's big, buff, and voiced by Romi Park! She decks out in so many American flags that I think her body counts as a political embassy. She rides on top of stealth bombers like a militarized Teen Wolf. Most importantly, she brazenly disregards international protocol to enter other nations' airspace, so we know she's American.

It's hard to say how this new arrival will play into the oncoming battle, but I'm certainly excited to find out. Season six has been a big, loud, and busy installment of MHA, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it. While there were stretches of action that carried on a bit too long at points, the beating heart of MHA – its characters and themes – got a lot of much-needed development that kept even the slower moments compelling. I think we're in a very good spot to start an explosive finale as we enter the (possibly) last stretch of this story.

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My Hero Academia is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.