My Hero Academia

Episode 88

My Hero Academia Season 4's finale is here, and it's...a lot. In many ways it's a break from formula for the series – past season finales have always wrapped up their current storyline all neat and tidy, before taking time to tease the next big story arc to come next season. There is some of the latter there, with a foreboding after-credits scene hinting at whats to come in the newly announced Season 5. But Episode 88 is anything but neat and tidy. It's equal parts a knock-down, drag-out brawl against a nasty new Nomu, and a deep dive into the swirling maelstrom of emotions and ideas burning inside MHA's messiest character, choosing to end this season on a purely thematic coda rather than tying up all its loose ends and lingering questions.

The idea behind so much of Season 4 has been one very big question: who will take up All Might's place in the world at large now that he's retired? It came up throughout the Overhaul arc and even during Deku's crisis of faith in the School Festival, but it's always felt like the answer was far off in the distance – Deku, Bakugo, and all their aspiring classmates are just starting their journey as heroes and the idea of any (or all) of them becoming the new leaders of superhero society is a far-off hypothetical. But for Endeavor that question has been staring him in the face for months, poking and prodding at every one of his myriad flaws and moral failures. He's fought and clawed his way into the position of #1 only to find himself buckling under the responsibility it entails. And all of that comes to a head when a new “High-End” nomu comes flying out of the blue looking for the strongest opponent possible, and promptly hurls Endeavor through a skyscraper.

The fight itself is a perfectly thrilling affair. As expected, BONES pulled out their A-game for the action climax, and while not as jaw-dropping as some past season's crescendos it's a visual treat nonetheless. The biggest flourishes go to Endeavor's increasingly hellish flames as he lights up himself and High-End across the city skyline, with some wonderfully gross cuts of the nomu's regeneration for seasoning. Hawks gets his fair share of action too, showing off just how skilled and calculating he can be in a pinch, flitting every which way across the fight to protect civilians and other heroes alike while doing everything he can to support Endeavor in the main brawl. Regardless of how you feel about the man at the center of it all, this episode is absolutely worth watching at least once for animation's sake.

But in the end this episode is all about Endeavor, and that's almost certain to put people off. I've made my feelings clear on what MHA has to do to not lose me with this story line, but with topics as sensitive and personal as parental and spousal abuse everyone's going to have a different threshold for what's nuanced character writing and what's handwaving an abuser's crimes for the sake of the plot. If nothing else the exploration is interesting in its own right; as the fight spreads across the city and is broadcast to the world, we see a number of different perspectives on who the Flame Hero is to them. To the public at large he's the only thing keeping their teetering sense of safety from falling over the edge, whether he's ready or not. To Hawks, he's the one person who truly wanted to surpass All Might, fighting the complacency engendered by the Symbol of Peace's unwavering dominance. This recontextualizing of All Might's legacy is surprisingly sharp considering it takes up just a few scant seconds among the melee, but more importantly it lays out that the show's philosophical point of view on Endeavor's actions. What he did to his family was not only awful, but it was ultimately a betrayal his own desire for strength, twisting a drive to improve himself into a crazed and toxic thirst for validation.

So when he finds himself locked in battle with a reflection of his own evils, Endeavor has to finally face himself and decide who he will be going forward. Will he crumple under the pressure and revert to the monster he's been, or will he fight and stand with what's left of his own heroism? The battle to find that answer is tense, thrilling, and ends on a powerful bit of introspection. The image of Endeavor immolating himself and creature he once was stands right alongside MHA's most iconic imagery, and it punctuates a harrowing baptism in fire for a man trying to blaze a new, better path for himself. Bloodied, half-broken, Endeavor emerges from the wreckage of a fight against his own sins, and for a singular moment can raise his fist and say he's truly #1.

It's a hell of a moment, delivered with maximum impact thanks to a fantastically timed score, but it also leaves a lot of lingering issues. Endeavor deciding to be a better person is ultimately a good thing, but we've only barely seen into the hearts and thoughts of his victims. Shoto and Rei both seem to feel he's not beyond redemption, but will this newly turned leaf mean he'll work to make up for all he put them through? Hell can someone make up for the kind of pain and destruction Endeavor caused? And even if that's possible, is it responsible for such a widely popular series like MHA to deliver a story about a broken family happily reforming around their abusive patriarch?

The answer to those questions and more are left to stew at the end of all this, and it's difficult not to feel uneasy about where this season leaves off. “His Start” is just that – the starting line of a larger story that needs addressing – but anime watchers will be left with a presumably lengthy wait to see how it develops. So I'm left on the fence about how to feel about this episode. As a character piece it's complex and thoughtful, as an action setpiece it's phenomenal, but within its place in a larger serialized narrative it feels like a harsher cliffhanger than any post-credits sequel hook ever could. Part of me is thankful I'm at least left room to ask these questions, as a testament to how layered and complicated this conflict is, especially compared to how other series have fumbled addressing familial abuse (Looking at you, Black Clover. Nozel still sucks no matter how many retcons you pull to excuse him.). Still, it's a marked departure from MHA's past season finales, and will likely remain controversial with fans for quite a while.

On the whole MHA's fourth season has been a parade of the show's strengths and weaknesses throughout. Muddied with questionable pacing and some uncharacteristically inconsistent production values, but also featuring some truly transcendent moments of character writing and animation. Depending on how things shake out in Season 5, it might be fair to view these issues as growing pains while the series grows past its initial premise into a larger and more ambitious story, but for now we're left to wait and wonder. Or catch up on the manga, if that's your bag.

Rating:

My Hero Academia is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.