My Hero Academia Season 7 Episode 1 review: An underwhelming start to the greatest arc yet

After over a year of being off air, and following the recap series released in April, My Hero Academia season 7 episode 1 premiered on May 4, 2024. While not the most spectacular start to one of the biggest turning points the series has, it does a good job in a lot of respects: voice acting, storytelling, the OP, and ED for example.

My Hero Academia Season 7 Episode 1 premieres Star and Stripe and her fight against the still-fusing Tomura Shigaraki and All for One. Despite a few flaws in the animation department, and a couple of odd choices for character placement in places, as well as an odd opening theme choice, Studio Bones appears to be getting their feet back where My Hero Academia needs it.

Disclaimer: The following review contains spoilers for My Hero Academia's anime as well as the manga. All opinions are exclusive to the author.

My Hero Academia season 7 episode 1: Star and Stripe vs. Tomura is spectacular but slightly undercooked

Plot summary

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The chaos in Japan following the Paranormal Liberation War and All For One's mass breakout sent shockwaves all over the world. None of the other nations could officially send aid owing to All for One's international criminal connections being emboldened by the chaos wreaked in his wake.

Only one Hero, America's Star and Stripe, was up to the task of flying to Japan. Just as she was set to meet with Endeavor and the rest of the beleaguered heroes, Tomura intercepted her. Their fight was brutal, with Star and Stripe utilizing her New Order Quirk and her stealth bomber lasers to their full might, stealing air away from Tomura.

All for One remained confident that the key to his new world order is stealing Star and Stripe's Quirk. My Hero Academia season seven episode 1 climaxed with Star and Stripe summoning a massive air avatar of herself and using its strength, the combined laser barrage from her bombers, as well as a cluster of cruise missiles to pin Tomura down and try to kill him.

The OP and ED

The opening song to My Hero Academia Season 7 Episode 1 is Tagatame (literally translated as 'For Someone's Sake') performed by Toru Kitajima, also known as TK from Ling Tosite Sigure. The ending theme is Tsubomi (literally translated as 'Flower Bud') performed by Omoinotake.

The opening is serviceable, even if the song itself may not be what fans expect. It's a more melancholy-sounding tune rather than something with a buildup like Odd Future or something quick and jaunty like Make My Story. The song is good, just unexpected when compared to something like SiM's Rumbling for Attack on Titan's final season.

The opening focusing on many characters - including a flash of Toru Hagakure, aka Invisible Girl's true form - is a good thing, since the U.A. Traitor and Final War arcs feature almost every character the series has.

The problem is the weird character focus: the high-end Nomu get a group shot, Star and Stripe not being front-and-center but rather shot from the back at night alongside her crew, and the final close-up lineup of Class 1-A heroes flanking Deku features Tenya, as opposed to more plot-critical people like Kirishima or Momo. This dulls the impact of what should be a final season opening.

The ending is far more impactful and heartfelt than the opening. It's a slower song, it focuses on the heroes and villains specifically involved in the final arc, and juxtaposes them against each other. The villains are in grey and dark colors like flowers left to wither and the heroes are vibrant like flowers in bloom with colors aplenty.

In short, villains like Dabi, Toga, Shigaraki, and Spinner, are flowers that never bloomed - people stuck in and consumed by their pasts. The heroes, meanwhile, despite having their fair share of struggles, have become their best selves: Ochaco is like the heroes she cheered on, Shoto is out of the darkness of his father's abuse, Shoji overcomes discrimination, Deku becomes almost like All Might, and so on.

The animation is gorgeous, but off in places

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One major critique fans have of Studio Bones' handling of My Hero Academia has always been the animation. For many fans, the animation has often been decried as being censored. Sometimes blood and gore are erased, and some iconic shots like Bakugo getting stabbed by Shigaraki aren't given the gravitas that they deserve.

Though the animation in the fight scenes and the OP and ED are as breathtaking as they should be in My Hero Academia season 7 Episode 1, there are a few problems with Star and Stripe. The iconic American superhero in My Hero Academia has some clunky animation applied to her, particularly to her face before the fight with Tomura.

My Hero Academia season 7 episode 1: Some Stars and Stripe frames (Image via studio bones)

My Hero Academia has always had a signature comic-book style for its animation. It is not as rough as, for example, early Dragon Ball Z, nor as clean as contemporaries Jujutsu Kaisen or Demon Slayer. This usually takes some getting used to, as some fans have constantly pointed out that even since My Hero Academia began, people have had a problem adjusting to the art style.

This isn't as bad as Seven Deadly Sins season 2 or the infamous Naruto vs. Pain fight in Naruto: Shippuden, or others like Goku vs. Beerus in the original TV version of their fight in Dragon Ball Super. It's more like how Jujutsu Kaisen's Shibuya Incident released Mahoraga vs. Sukuna unfinished, and yet it still turned out a great product. The Blu-ray will probably touch up these problems, as it did for Jujutsu Kaisen.

Pacing and plot progression are slower than contemporaries

My Hero Academia season 7 episode 1: Spinner plot point foreshadowed (Image via Studio Bones)

A slow pace for a season opener after a year off the air is to be expected, much like Jujutsu Kaisen's Hidden Inventory or Demon Slayer's episode regarding Rengoku prior to the Mugen Train arc. Prior seasons of My Hero Academia have also usually started slow, before ramping things up towards the middle of the season.

While seasons like 2, 4, and 5 got the action started right away, the rest have been slow starters.

My Hero Academia season 7 episode 1 is no exception to this, though it makes up for being a slow opener by foreshadowing a few important events that will occur later on. A major one includes Spinner becoming the new face of paranormal liberation, being molded into the new "Hero Killer" Stain. This foreshadows the heteromorph riot part of the Final War arc.

My Hero Academia season 7 episode 1: Further foreshadowing (Image via Studio Bones)

Star and Stripe's introduction, however, has an anime original scene in My Hero Academia season 7 Episode 1. Showing a US Air Force base, an overseas camera crew being attacked, and Star and Stripe gearing up with her squadron, plus a flashback tying Star and Stripe's origin story to the My Hero Academia:Two Heroes movie, is a better introduction than in the manga where only All for One's rant about her is shown before the battle starts.

My Hero Academia season 7 episode 1 also foreshadows several other conflicts: Toga looking forlorn at a newspaper clipping of her tragic story foreshadows her fight with Ochaco, Skeptic pumping out propaganda to rally people around Spinner and the League, and even the grotesque sight of All for One and Tomura's mental quasi-fusion is foreshadowing for key events later.

Voice acting is top-tier

My Hero Academia season 7 episode 1: All for One's VA Akio Otsuka and his other roles (Image via Tokyo Game Show, Studio Bones, Toei Animation, Konami)

The voice acting in My Hero Academia subbed or dubbed, is usually the cast bringing their best and never giving any dull-sounding lines or bad takes. The veteran voice actor Akio Ōtsuka brings the appropriate gravitas needed to the deep-voiced villain All for One as he rants about his plans for world domination in My Hero Academia season 7 episode 1.

Of particular note is Star and Stripe's VAs, Romi Park in Japanese, and Natalie Van Sistane in English.

Romi Park has been acting since 1998 and has played powerful women like Ragyo Kiriyuin from Kill la Kill and Hange Zoe in Attack on Titan. The same can be said for Natalie Van Sistine, who played Yor Forger in Spy x Family and Miorine Rembran in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.

My Hero Academia season 7 episode 1: Star and Stripes' VA Bomi Park and other roles (Image via Power Ranger wiki, Studio Bones, Wit Studio, and Studio Trigger)

The acting from everyone in My Hero Academia Season 7 Episode 1, from Tomura to All For One and Star and Stripe, and even the short piece of Deku doing laundry being appropriately quiet, help to give the characters life. Even the pilots and general that Star and Stripe speak to all have their lines delivered clearly, and with the seriousness the situation demands.

The sound design, voice acting, and appropriately timed leitmotifs and themes for characters like Star and Stripe and All for One help elevate scenes like the fight scenes or All for One's speech. Sound design is an often overlooked part of anime, so it's very good that Studio Bones has managed to nail this aspect.

Final thoughts

My Hero Academia season 7 episode 1 having a slow and underwhelming start doesn't mean bad signs for things in the future. Despite some fan complaints, Studio Bones has largely nailed a lot of the bigger moments My Hero Academia fans have anxiously wanted to see animated since the start.

My Hero Academia season 7 episode 1 might not have quite the same punch as Jujutsu Kaisen's Hidden Inventory's first episode or Attack on Titan's final season starter, but it's a solid starter episode to the Final Act Saga. It comes in as underwhelming mainly due to not getting into the exciting fights or intrigue right away.

Studio Bones has a lot of work to do to match the manga's intensity. There are a lot of epic, breathtaking, and amazing things that happen throughout the manga that people have wanted to see animated for years. If anything, an underwhelming start means they have nowhere to go except beyond, plus ultra.