I woke up early, so let’s get this show out of the way first. 

— Bakugo isn’t the only person to magically disappear in front of the heroes. All of the villains slip out of their grasp as well. I guess if you give All For One every single convenient power, you can never really shake up the status quo. He’ll always have a way to rescue everyone. I just think it’s kinda lame that they don’t manage to arrest a single person. Not a single one.

— All For One’s suit (but casual without a tie) combined with the music in the background — the slow piano and the operatic singing — is too over-the-top for me. This aesthetic combination might be better suited for a sophisticated villain like, say, Hannibal. For your bog standard supervillain, however, I find it hilariously silly. Of course, they paint All For One as a calculated genius, but I’m not feeling it. I’m just seeing an evil mirror of All Might.

— He takes a clean shot at Best Jeanist, and it looks painful. In fact, it looks fatal, but with anime, you never know. He’ll probably survive this attack. I don’t have anything against the number four hero, but I really want the show to finally raise the stakes. Can someone important finally die? Of course, we’d have to wonder if Best Jeanist is actually important or not…

— We finally get a close-up of All For One’s face (not really) and it’s… eh. I’m not loving it. In any case, he doesn’t want Best Jeanist’s Quirk, because it doesn’t fit Shigaraki’s disposition? But shouldn’t utility be the biggest concern? ‘Cause y’know, I’d grab Mt. Lady’s Quirk. I think it would be cool as fuck if one of the villains went Godzilla on the heroes. Unfortunately, All For One will probably just claim that becoming a giant doesn’t fit Shigaraki’s disposition either.

— Plus, if Mt. Lady loses her powers, then she will no longer be able to fulfill our giantess fetish. Let’s face it, that’s pretty much half of the reason why she exists.

— Deku and the rest of the kids want to run, but they are still frozen with fear. All For One’s aura is just that frightening. Luckily, Bakugo and the rest of the villains soon show up. This means Deku will have to stay and do something about it. He didn’t come all the way out here just to do nothing. He just has to come up with a good plan. Otherwise, Iida won’t let him lift a finger. If only there was a distraction…

— Oh hey, it’s All Might to the rescue!

— All For One’s got this father-son love for Shigaraki. He really sees something in the guy. It’s the same way that All Might dotes on Deku. But of course, we follow the kid, so we know everything that there is to know about the him. We know why he deserves All Might’s Quirk and tutelage. Shigaraki has honestly never impressed me, so it’s hard for me to see why he gets to be All For One’s heir apparent.

— Look at these two… just a pair of geriatric old men begging to hand the reins off to the next generation.

— All Might gives great speeches. All Might sounds very inspiring. Unfortunately, he’s got such a boring Quirk. He’s the prototypical superhero in a story full of imagination, so even though he’s the top fighter, all we ever get to see are boring punches.

— On the other hand, All For One is like an evil Mega Man. You never know what Quirk he has up his sleeve, which works to the story’s advantage. Whenever he needs to get out of a pinch, he just needs to summon up a Quirk we never knew he had!

— For instance, he can stab people with these black-and-red vines and forcibly activate their Quirks! Even though Kurogiri is unconscious, All For One can still warp everyone to safety. Convenient!

— The villains can’t leave just yet, though. They still want Bakugo real bad, so the kid ends up having to fight off six of them at the same time. I only have Himiko pictured here, because she’s like the least lame jobber of the all the Vanguards.

— And because Bakugo is still in danger, All Might can’t get serious. But I mean, even without the kid, he’s not in the clear, is he? Best Jeanist, Mt. Lady, and that whale guy are still here. They’re still in danger. They could still get caught up in a big, blowout fight.

— This is a visualization of Deku’s thought process. So is he hands down the smartest person in 1-A? Or just the best battle strategist?

— In the end, he hatches a plan that relies Kirishima to call out to Bakugo, because they’re lover bois. Deku and Iida will use their powers to carry Kirishima across the battlefield. Todoroki will create the giant ice ramp that launches them high into the air. Last but not least, Momo will… Momo will… goddammit, the girl gets to do nothing again.

— Good ol’ Bakugo and his one-track mind.

— Look at these jobbers still try and do something. Compress gets launched into the air as well, but he runs right into Mt. Lady. Yep, she has probably been awake for a while now, and when she saw the kids swoop in to save their friend, I guess she decided to lend a hand. At least a woman got to do something. She quickly passes out afterwards, though. Eh.

— Finally, Gran Torino shows up to lend a hand. Plus, with Bakugo out of the picture, All Might intends to go all out. But again, nothing is going to change. None of the villains will get captured, because All For One forcibly activates Magne’s Quirk and makes his guys to escape through the warp.

— All Might tries to throw another punch, but All For One teleports Gran Torino in front of All Might’s fist. At least that’s clever. Plus, friendly fire is always funny.

— But it doesn’t stop All Might from punching All For One again, and this time, it lands real hard. Unfortunately, we already know that Deku’s mentor is at the end of his ropes. He’s ready to sunset his career and leave the rest to his successor. Even though he’s trying all he can right now to stop All For One, even the bad guy can sense that something is amiss.

— Still, All For One can talk shit all he wants, but he’s the guy laying smack dab in a crater. Maybe he’s the only one who will get captured. I mean, there’s no one else around to help him… right?

— But even if All For One gets captured, it’s kinda whatever. After all, all he did before this arc was sit in the shadows, so if you throw him in prison, all he’s gonna do from that point on is sit in the shadows. So what has changed? Nothing.

— Also, the last badass One For All user was a woman, and she’s dead. Maaaaaaaan…