The best way to describe the beginning of season six of My Hero Academia is that shit is finally going down. It is a shame that the popularity of My Hero seems to have waned in the past year or two because we're finally approaching the beginning of the end for the franchise. While it has been a joy watching our young, spunky students slowly build up their abilities and proficiency in the field, season five also fully established the League of Villains as the societal threat they've always built up to. Our villains have amassed an enormous following and an awakening of their abilities, working on a plan to completely destroy the establishment that shunned them for so many years. Little do they know that the heroes are ready to strike, but will even that be enough to stop the inevitable?

Season six doesn't start with any crazy recap; we're six seasons in, and by the end of the first episode, we're already getting into the thick of it with students on the front lines of what's shaping up to be an all-out war, from other classes to pro heroes that have been sprinkled throughout the entire series. This truly does feel like an event years in the making. In many ways, a sense of validation comes with season six and its revelations. These are the episodes where most of class 1A are put into a life-or-death situation. Before, it was almost always accidental, but this time, they're being primed for battle from the jump. We see more power awakenings happen from both sides of this conflict, and long-held fan theories finally reveal themselves. If you've stuck with the franchise since the beginning, then there are a multitude of moments that will make you happy.

It's not perfect, and I would argue that despite having a stronger start than previous seasons, season six still suffers a bit from pacing issues. This arc should be a wild frenzy where something is happening every minute. We cut between various scenes on a vast battlefield with characters throwing down or processing significant revelations. However, it doesn't feel as hectic or kinetic as it should. Some threads drag out longer than necessary, and when you pair scenes of characters planning their next move in a forest right next to characters desperately fighting in a burning building, it can create whiplash. Also, one of the problems with creating the most enormous ensemble cast in the entire franchise is that the story cuts between characters that you may or may not care about. Personal biases aside, though, the actual conflict itself is fantastic.

Nothing here feels gimmicky or superficial. For the first time in the entire franchise, you feel like characters we might've taken for granted or loved could die at any moment, and by the time we get to the second half of episodes on the disc, the overall status quo has been completely flipped. Some scenes are downright haunting, not just because of what they mean in the moment, but also because of the implications for the franchise moving forward. There's no filler here, no cutting to characters on a work-study program or slice-of-life antics. Those days are now over. The entire Hero Society is being pushed to its absolute limit, and I'm itching for what will happen next.

The animation is impressive, although I would say nothing beyond what the franchise has established up until now. My Hero Academia has been a consistently well-animated show, even though you can tell where certain corners are cut. The fight scenes are spectacular and kinetic in all the right ways; there isn't any outstanding moment of animation that exceeds some of the best moments from previous seasons. However, the directing and soundtrack make up for it. Some scenes during the second half feel bone-chilling in their framing, and the most haunting scores from the soundtrack beautifully mash together to establish a sense of hopelessness. Then, when the return of certain leitmotifs is recontextualized, it truly feels like things will never be the same again.

This also carries over to the voice acting, which has always been good. For a while, it was Funimation's flagship dub, and for a good reason: I want to give special attention to Zeno Robinson as Hawks and Jason Liebrecht as Dabi. I can't go too much into why their performances stuck out without spoilers, but the mirror between these two characters and, by extension, these two performances were spectacular, especially considering that both characters are putting on very different types of performances within the context of the show. If either of these two faltered, I would argue that some of the best scenes in the season would not have worked.

I wish that for such an impactful season, the Blu-ray would leave a bit more of an impact itself. There's no commentary, and the special features are relatively bare, with just some promo videos playing in Japanese and textless openings/endings. However, the second disc does contain two OVA's titled "Make It! Do-or-Die Survival Training" Part One and Two. They're fine. My Hero Academia OAVs have never been amazing as they are the definition of filler in most cases, showcasing something other characters are doing or adding onto something already established in the main material. This is just the main cast going through a training exercise in a dilapidated town where they're supposed to rescue a dummy as if they were rescuing a civilian. Some character dynamics were interesting, and seeing the characters deal with a relatively realistic situation using their powers in practical ways was fun. Still, the OVA doesn't amount to much at the end of the day. I also don't think it needed to be two parts long.

My Hero Academia's quality has occasionally fluctuated, especially when comparing the anime to the original source material. However, this is where the narrative gets truly incredible. This is where we start seeing the beginning of the end for My Hero Academia as some of the major confrontations that it has built towards for what feels like forever finally come underway. The first half of season 6 truly changes almost everything about the franchise from this point. If you made it this far into the franchise and haven't gotten to this part yet, please pick it up as soon as possible because you will not be disappointed.