It’s finally here. The dub for the first episode of the final season of one of the most beloved anime of all time has arrived and it continues the the big huge brawl against Shigaraki from last season. Last season ended with the reveal of All Might’s Iron Man-esque armor. The first ten minutes of this episode repeat the beginning of the battle from last season, but the second half contains new material of the fight between armored All Might and All for One and also contains a brief but memorable showcase for two characters who have usually been stuck in the background. Finally, there is a shocking cameo that got fans talking. So without further ado, let’s recap the episode.

As stated before, the episode begins with a symbolic scene of cherry blossoms falling from trees. Midoriya narrates that the final battle was a dark time when it seemed like the villains had the upper hand and were ready to uproot society. We cut to the scene from the finale of last season where All Might shows up to fight All for One in his new special armor, which we learn was developed by Melissa Shields from the United States. This character debuted in the first My Hero Academia movie and a lot of fans consider this a cool cameo. He kicks All for One in the face over and over in a satisfying scene. The All Might armor contains simulations of the powers his original Quirk One for All had, such as a mechanical Black Whip. He follows up on his kicks with a Black Whip and it seems like All Might has the fight in the bag. That is where we left off last season but now we continue on and learn that the fight won’t be that simple.

All for One gives All Might quite the beatdown in this episode. It seems like the villain is able to take any form of punishment dished at him as he recovers from everything thrown at him. All Might injects a capsule weakens him, but the effects seem to be negligible. The capsule shortens the lifespan of its opponent, but taking a couple of years off an opponent’s life doesn’t seem to be the best way to defeat an enemy in the prime of his youth. So what if a young All for One lives to be 73 instead of 75 because of that one attack. All for One’s blows seem to be inflicting more immediate damage at that moment.

We get a brief flashback that explains the title of the episode, the origin of Toshinori Yagi, better known as All Might. We again see him being trained by the previous One for All user Nana Shimura. This flashback doesn’t really reveal anything we didn’t already know as his conversation with Nana just reinforces his goal of being an inspiration hero who wants to help people and make the world a better place. Even though the episode is titled “Toshinori Yagi Rising/Origin” a better title for the episode might be “Toshinori Yai and All for One beat the crud out of each other.”

The plot is a very brief fight between Kunieda, a villain who escaped from Tartarus prison, and the heroes. He has flower powers and his flowers have sucked the fat out of Fat Gum, making him weak and helpless without his fat powers. Kunieda gets beat in a very brief fight that lasts less than a minute, but it is memorable to note who was responsible for the beatdown. Aoyama, who is famous for his seemingly lame power of belly button laser powers, shoots out a laser and misses, seemingly reinforcing his apparent status as a lame comic relief character. Actually, this turns out to be the attack to end the fight as Hagakure the invisible girl is there to reflect the laser and bounce it towards the villain, defeating him in one blow. Their teamwork paid off.

We learn that All Might’s armor has abilities inspired by his students as his armor also has a Can’t Stop Twinkling laser inspired by Aoyama’s belly button laser. He zaps All for One with it and follows up the attack with a sonic scream inspired by Jiro. Of course, All for One shakes these attacks off and continues to give All Might a beating. Things seem helpless when a character most unexpected shows up in this battle, Stain the hero killer.

Our post credit scene involves Aoyama and Hagakure conversing about how they overcame and beat the odds and we get to see Hagakure’s face as she somehow becomes visible. Actually, we see a little more than that to her embarrassment. She remembers that her becoming visible happened last season when Aoyama’s quirk evolved. She asks what is up with that, but Aoyama says there are bigger issues to deal with. That’s how the episode ends.

This episode provided a cool fight where All Might used armor with abilities inspired by main cast of his treasured students and we got to see that Aoyama and Hagakure and more than comic relief characters. The appearance of fan favorite villain Stain was the cherry on top. Even if the first ten minutes of this episode were basically the last ten minutes of the season 7 finale, this was a more than solid, action packed premiere.

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