I’ve kept myself from watching the fifth and sixth season during its regular run because I had the feeling it would be hard to wait week after week for new episodes to come out. As it turns out, patience is a virtue as I get to enjoy uninterrupted episodes in one go.

Synopsis: After the Metahuman Liberation Army joins with the League of Villains to form the Paranormal Liberation Army under Shigaraki Tomura, he commences the final upgrade that will strengthen his body and his power to become the vessel for All for One. Hawks sends the intel to the heroes to prevent the worst from happening so the heroes launch a massive attack on the villain’s two major bases. What starts off as preventive action turns into a bloodbath.

The title of the first episode of Season 6 was A Quiet Beginning but make no mistake. It was a misnomer. Nothing was quiet as tension grips both side in an unrelenting race to stop Shigaraki from realizing his end goal to destroy everything in his path.

What’s great about this season is that fans have already invested emotionally on the characters — both the heroes and the villains making each loss all the more painful and significant. Thanks to the My Villain Academia arc, fans develop a finder understanding of Twice, Toga, and even Dabi, who has set the stage for a major reveal towards the end of the first cour. The fact that the ragtag League of Villains developed the same sort of family as the heroes of Class 1A hits different. They were on opposite sides of the spectre, fighting for two different causes but the parallels in their situation makes a world of difference in terms of perspective.

You have to hand it to Endeavor. He really earned his stripes as the No. 1 hero but the ghosts that haunt him about his failings as a family man kept nipping at his heels, keeping him from realizing his goal to become All Might’s successor.

My heart was also ready to pop out if my chest as I worried about Bunny hero Mirko and Eraserhead, who never left the frontlines as the heroes battled High End Nomus and Shigaraki himself. It was truly touching to see the same Eraserhead from the first season being all protective of his students, and this time, seeing the students protect him instead.

The entire first half of Season 6 was as intense as it gets. The number of heroes who perished in the space of a few episodes, their connection to the students, their courage in the face of overwhelming odds. They were the very definitions of why the show is so great.

The Paranormal Liberation War Arc delivered wave after wave of disaster and battles and it was magnificent. Tomura was horrifying in the Deika City battle but even more so now that he has powered up his decay. Deku and Bakugo’s improving relationship was amazing to watch and a perfect testament to the character developments in this series. Shoto completes the trio of rising superstars and also had his moment to shine in his battle against Dabi.

But the real MVP in this arc is really Eraserhead. He was a bada*s through and through. The way he makes decisions, his commitment to protect the students as well as the heroes, and his levelheadedness in the face of his rage at what his friend Oburo had to endure under The League of Villains — it was just engrossing to watch. And let’s face it, without Eraser deactivating Shigaraki’s Quirk, the heroes would have been toast from the beginning.

While Deku always has the best moments because of his OP and vulnerability, it was also cute to watch Bakugo show his soft side towards his mentor Best Jeanist when he revealed his ridiculous hero name to him before he debuted it to anyone else. This just proved that even though he was petulant and moody while he was working for Jeanist, he was listening to the hero’s words all along.

And it was not just the Endeavor Agency Trio who worked their bu*ts off on the mission. The rest of UA Class 1A also pulled off heroic turns against Gigantomachia and during the evacuation of the civilians. It was also cute how Kaminari and Jiro’s blossoming romance was confirmed at the start of the raid. So there’s some positivity to go around at the beginning.

My Hero Academia Season 6 raised the stake so much higher with the first showdown of Shigaraki’s All for One and Deku’s One for All and it was interesting to see how the current wielders of the Quirks were in a race to see who masters theirs first. I cried so much and had my heart pounding for hours on end as the battle raged on. With the hanging ending of the first showdown, the final battle between Deku and Tomura promises to be one for the books.