It's a Small World is the one hundred and fifty-sixth episode of the My Hero Academia anime and the eighteenth episode of the seventh season.
Summary#
With the overwhelming attack power granted by Tsukuyomi's Light of Baldur, All For One is successfully pinned down, and the Heroes continuously move in to back the student up in keeping the Villain away from Deku and Tomura.
As Dark Shadow tries to hammer his fist down onto the man again, it and the supporting Heroes are blown black by a massive burst of energy mixed with Radio Waves. All For One breaks out the attack and says anyone who relies on brute strength are nuisances, but something is now different about him: his body has reverted in age from a seasoned adult in his prime to that of a young teenager.
The young man flies off again towards his destination, as the Heroes struggle to catch him again while restoring Dark Shadow's power. To worsen things, they spot Gigantomachia running wildly towards his master in the distance, meaning he somehow broke out of his containment in Jaku City.
All For One order his subordinate to crush his adversaries but is instead met by the giant carving out an enormous piece of the battlefield and throwing it at him. The Villain is confused at his subordinate's out of character behavior, then quickly grows annoyed as he spots Red Riot and Hitoshi on Gigantomachia's back, with the latter using and adjusting his Artificial Vocal Cords.
Sometime shortly after Dabi's initial defeat, at the Jaku General Hospital Ruins, the Heroes are having trouble dealing with their portion of the Villains. They're floating above on purple gas clouds, and the Liberation soldier involved in Midnight's death began using a sonic device which keeps their opponents grounded and can potentially wake up Gigantomachia due to the frequency of the sound waves imitating All For One's voice.
Mt. Lady runs up to the man and swings down at him with a giant wrench tossed to her by Rule, but it's too late though, and Gigantomachia reawakens, bursting out of his containment shed, and ramming the woman in the back. Red Riot runs behind the shed toward Hitoshi, as he was hidden away from the Villains for another important task that now needs to be fulfilled. Red Riot yells for Hitoshi to use Brainwashing on Gigantomachia, but the boy is caught by the Sludge Villain, who's beginning to swallow up his body.
Mt. Lady tries to fight off the Gigantomachia, but is easily beaten into the dirt before the giant goes for a lethal swing with his Mole claws. Pinky comes the rescue, pushed by her fond memories of Midnight, and her desire to make up for the weakness she buckled under when facing Gigantomachia the first time, and she splashes the Villain's claws with Acidman: Alma, which is potent enough to melt through his tough skin and corrode the surface of her own, thanks to some extra training she requested from Shoto and Dynamight.
She then rushes in front of Red Riot and uses the same move on the Sludge Villain, which mix with his sludged body, forcing the villain to release Hitoshi and try to scurry away. Someone calls out for the Sludge Villain to wait, and he responds back, only to be affected by Hitoshi's Brainwashing, halting him in place.
After thanking Pinky for saving him, Hitoshi is able to quickly maneuver towards Gigantomachia with his Capturing Weapon, and use Persona Chords to control the Villain by replicating All For One's voice. Shortly afterward, the controlled Gigantomachia easily dispatches his comrades, which are then restrained by Mudman, spelling the victory for the Heroes at Jaku City.
The exhausted Pinky begins to pass out from dehydration but is swiftly caught by a concerned Red Riot. He apologizes to his friend for not doing more to help her, but Pinky considers them even now for the time he made up for her mistakes in sedating Gigantomachia during the first war. Red Riot tells her that she never owed him anything and says she's just as much his Hero as he is to her.
Before getting ready to transport the Villains, Mt. Lady received the recent status updates from All For One, which made her, the other Heroes, and Gigantomachia, mobilize towards their present location to assist in stalling the man until Rewind reverses his body into nothingness. All For One shoots an energy blast at Gigantomachia to break his Brainwashing, to the heroes' despair, as they fear that All For One will order him to attack them as he flies away.
To the surprise of All For One, Gigantomachia responds that even though he looks different, he can recognize his scent as his master, proceeding to ask why he abandoned him back during the first War, before going in for another attack. Hitoshi deduces that this behavior isn't a result of reusing his Brainwashing on him, but Gigantomachia's feelings overriding some of the control, similar to what happened to Deku in the Sports Festival, allowing everyone to resume their assault.
Over the ground near the Coffin the Sky, two helicopters are surveying and broadcasting a livestream of Deku restraining Tomura through Gentle's channel, which is currently being viewed all over the world. The duo in the first aircraft includes the reporter who tried to interview Deku and the rest of his class about All Might on his third day of school, who's amazed at how far the kids have progressed in just over a year.
A woman in the other helicopter is someone who accosted Endeavor and the Heroes during his press conference after the first war, who feels regret for her harsh words and has now sprung into action to back up the Heroes in giving the rest of world a sense of hope for Japan's future.
Eventually, a partially regenerated All For One gouges Mt. Lady in the hip with another giant head connected to a Rivet Stab neck, and slices Gigantomachia in the shoulder with a laser. The Villain, having regressed in age a bit more and struggling to maintain a lid on his dark thoughts due to his younger mental state, fires an Impure Beam at Dark Shadow, blowing it up and sending a ravaged Tsukuyomi and Hawks flying to the ground.
After defeating Gale Force, All For One stands unopposed once again, and rewards himself by taking Fierce Wings from Hawks, while declaring he'll do the same to Tsukuyomi's Dark Shadow afterward since he's impressed by the boy's strength. The now Quirkless Hero notices that the amount of the Quirks in the man's arsenal hasn't decreased with age from the modified Rewind effects, as the injuries the Heroes inflicted are preventing the stored Quirk Factors from disappearing.
All For One can't make practical use of Fierce Wings however due to how damaged his victim's Quirk Factor is and stops his gloating after he feels a Pop Off sphere land on his garments. Grape Juice tells All For One that if he tries to take Tsukuyomi's Quirk, it will just turn him to a "cringey, emo edgelord". He "recommends" that he steal Pop Off instead to get both a new ability and a "sick hairstyle", and begs the young man with tears in his eyes not to steal Dark Shadow from his classmate.
All For One has completely lost interest in responding to the "cries of the weak" by now and drops Hawks on the ground before levitating into the air. After noticing one of the news helicopters flying over them and giving one last statement to the Heroes on how badly they've failed and will then go on to lose their public support again, he flies of at top speed towards Tomura to resume his grand plan. As Hawks stumbles in his attempt to get up, he weakly hangs on to his sliver of hope that the Heroes can pull through in the end.
Characters In Order of Appearance#
Froppy Uravity Earphone Jack Twice (Doubles) Mr. Compress (Flashback, Double) Himiko Toga Dabi (Mentioned) Present Mic (Narration voice) Tsukuyomi Hawks Endeavor Illus-o-Camie Kamui Woods Shemage Gale Force All For One Gigantomachia Red Riot Hitoshi Shinso Grape Juice Mudman Guerilla Warfare Regiment Adviser Pinky Mt. Lady Rule Emily Comicman Sludge Villain Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight Shoto Midnight (Pictured) Creati Tailman Cellophane Chargebolt Ingenium Invisible Girl Sugarman Tentacole Can't Stop Twinkling Anima Re-Destro Eraser Head (Mentioned) Naomasa Tsukauchi Yuga Aoyama's parents (Mentioned) Spinner Near High-End Nomu Gentle (Mentioned) Deku Tomura Shigaraki Best Jeanist Yoroi Musha Mirko Edgeshot NHA Reporter Timothy Agpar Melissa Shield David Shield (Photographs) Katsuma Shimano Mahoro Shimano Death Arms Rody Soul Roro Soul Lala Soul Anna Scervino Giulio Gandini All Might (Mentioned) Shishikross Rei Todoroki Fuyumi Todoroki Natsuo Todoroki
Quirks#
Frog Earphone Jack Transform Double Infinite Doubles: Sad Man's Death Parade Zero Gravity Skill Release Double (Original, Flashback) Blueflame Dark Shadow Total Release Black Abyss: Light of Baldur Whirlwind Fierce Wings (Stolen by All For One) Hellflame Flashfire Fist: Prominence Burn Vanishing Fist Meatball Glamour Arbor Blueflame (Original) Rewind (Drug) All For One (Duplicate) Various Unnamed Quirks Rivet Stab Impure Beam Fierce Wings (Stolen from Hawks) Accelerator Rings Gigantomachia's Quirks Brainwashing Persona Chords Hardening Unbreakable Pop Off Mineta Beads: Ten-Fold Softening Gigantification (Mt. Lady) Size Poltergeist Comic Copy Warp Gate Sludge Villain's Quirk Acid Acidman: Alma Half-Cold Half-Hot Explosion Blackwhip One For All Full Cowl - 100% Fiber Master Rabbit Foldabody Ninpo: Thousand Sheet Pierce - Zenith
Locations#
Gunga Mountain Villa Deika City The Beast's Forest Makeshift Fortress: Troy (Mentioned, Screen) Takoba National Stadium (Mentioned, Screen) Ground Zero (Mentioned, Screen) Okuto Island (Mentioned, Screen) Jaku City U.A. High School Gym Gamma Heights Alliance Class 1-A Classroom Coffin in the Sky Residential Area for Evacuees Momo Yaoyorozu's Home Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall Tartarus (Mentioned) Central Hospital Washington, D.C. White House Shield Family Home Shimano Family Home Otheon
Battles & Events#
- Final War
- Pro Heroes & Trainees vs. Himiko Toga & Doubles (Continued)
- Pro Heroes, Trainees & Gigantomachia vs. All For One (Concluded)
- Jaku Ruins Team vs. Paranormal Liberation Front (Concluded)
- Deku vs. Tomura Shigaraki (Continued)
BGM#
- Message
- All For One
- Second Coming
- Villain Invasion
- Together With Shoji
- Past with Nine
- I Absolutely Won't Use the Heat (Left)
- INFLATION
- Mysterious villains
Anime & Manga Differences#
- When the Sludge Villain confronts Red Riot, the anime includes a flashback of the incident when Katsuki was taken hostage.
- When Pinky mentions the training she got from Dynamight and Shoto for Alma, the anime shows a brief flashback to the beginning of their training.
- Alongside the guest appearances of Melissa, the Shimanos, and the Souls watching the live broadcasts of the final battles, the anime includes Anna Scervino and Giulio Gandini from My Hero Academia: You're Next watching Deku and Tomura's fight alongside the evacuees living within U.A.'s residential area.
Trivia#
- The color of Mina's acid becomes purple when she overuses her Quirk, likely a reference to what her acid's color is in the manga.