This week’s new dub episode was My Hero Academia‘s equivalent of “Bane breaking Batman” with All Might receiving a similar beatdown from All for One. The dastardly villain seems invincible as he wipes the floor against the heroes. Without further ado, let’s recap just how hopeless the situation seems to be.

Our episode begins with a flashback to All Might’s happy childhood reading an Anpanman book. The episode flashes forward to the not so happy present of All Might getting thoroughly beaten. Last episode ended with Stain’s appearance and the promise that he’d turn the tide of battle, but it turns out that Stain is completely incapable of making an impact in the fight. All for One had found a way to nullify Stain’s quirk of paralyzing anybody whose blood he licks. All for One managed to get his blood type changed. I’m guessing this was something All for One’s mad scientist underling, Dr. Garaki, helped with. All for One thoroughly beats Stain and incapacitates him.

The “cavalry” failed to save All Might and All for One continued his beatdown. All for One fires a giant laser and easily incapacitates All Might. All hope seems completely lost and All for One contemplates the battle going on between Midoriya and Shigaraki. All for One considers fusing with Shigaraki to easily end the battle against Midoriya, but Shigarki refuses as he wants to fight this battle himself. One for All agrees to this and has another plan instead.

Midoriya and Shigaraki’s battle continues to be a stalemate with neither party seeming to gain an upper hand. All for One comes to do the one thing that he knows will absolutely demoralize Midoriya and the hero community at large. He shows off All Might to Midoriya in the hopes of crushing his spirits. Considering All Might’s status as the inspirational mentor figure, this absolutely does devastate him. Several people close to All Might watch the broadcast and burst into tears as All for One prepares to kill All Might. Gran Torino and Melissa Shields among those who are mourning for what they assume to be All Might’s final hour.

All Might threatens to use the self destruct in his armor to take down All for One even if this would cause him to sacrifice his life. A group of American airplanes that were allied with Star and Stripe come to aid All Might, but this all for naught as All for One shoots out beams and destroys the planes easily.

The episode ends with Bakugo arriving to save the day. This was after he recovered from that horrible injury from last season. Will he end up just like Stain and only get beat up to show how invincible All for One is or will he actually put up a fight? We’ll find out next episode. The next episode preview reveals what looks to be an epic confrontation between Bakugo and All for One. We also have confirmation that All Might is not dead yet and the next episode will be about saving All Might.

What an action packed, yet bleak episode we ended up getting. It is common to have a “villain ability showcase” episode in battle shonen anime where the villain beats up heroes known for their fighting prowess to demonstrate just how dangerous the villain was. This was yet another example of the “villain ability showcase” episode. There is still the matter of whether or not All Might can be saved and fans are sure to be in suspense for the next dub episode. The episode’s titular “end of an era” seems to be the end of All Might’s time as a hero and the beginning of the next generation (Class 1-A). I’m excited to see how Bakugo vs. All for One turns out.

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