On a show like My Hero Academia that fits into the shonen genre of anime, it’s not unusual for a season finale to revolve around the defeat of the season’s big villain before the series can move onto a bigger, stronger threat. My Hero Academia doesn’t try to play against that stereotype, but it does leave a lot of the heavy lifting in the rear view mirror and instead focus on a more relaxed conclusion.

Midoriya and company still put their lives on the line in “In Each of Our Hearts,” but as far as finales go the stakes could be a lot worse for the heroes. This is a finale that’s confident in the work that it’s put in all year and this conclusion instead takes pride in letting these dozen and change character loose and watch them all try to be the best hero possible.

All Might has been able to look all impressive and play the role of uber hero in order to defeat Nomu in spectacularly awesome fashion (that hole in the roof will make a perfect skylight), but the results of which have left him completely drained.

He was already in questionable condition when he took on Nomu, so the fact that he’s still standing at all is a feat in and of itself. The only problem with this is that Nomu wasn’t the ultimate big bad at the end of the castle. Shigaraki is still hungry to fight and suddenly the good guys’ chances of survival are considerably less than stellar.

With All Might out of commission, Izuku is put in an all-too appropriate situation for a season finale. He’s left to step up to the plate and put the year’s worth of lessons from All Might and U.A. High into practice.