Splitting this final battle into fragments was the whole point of the heroes’ plan, of course. That necessitates a lot of narrative shifting around too, and that can be a bit of a risky move. We haven’t seen Deku or Kacchan for two weeks (and really, for most of this arc). It requires a deft touch to pace an arc like this so we aren’t repeatedly ripped away from a setting just as we’re really getting into events there. Horikoshi is indeed pretty deft about it, but the balancing of all those spinning plates falls not just on the writer but the audience too. I guess “Chimera Ant” is the ultimate example of this phenomenon, but Togashi gave himself even more time to work with there.
This episode did indeed jump around a lot (and there was a very specific reason for that). Spinner is on a mission here, to wake up Kurogiri and get “Warp” into this battle on Shigaraki (ultimately All For One’s) side. AFO even goes so far as to tell Spinner that “Warp” will be the key to the entire result. Shouji has succeeded in changing the mood of the mob (with the help of the hospital staff), so Spinner doesn’t have any backup on his final run. It’s pretty much him versus Present Mic, who also has a vested interest in what happens with the object of Spinner’s attention.
With “Voice”, Hizashi is able to put Spinner down before he has a chance to play the voice recording All For One instructed him to. But AFO seems always to have a contingency plan, and it’s Tomura’s glove with a microchip installed in it. I’m not exactly sure how this works to be honest, but Kurogiri does indeed wake up – and not in the way Present Mic would have wanted. Is this the end for Spinner? He’s already reverted to his original form and seemed to be in very bad shape even before Mic’s second attack.
All over the map indeed – the episode even detours to America (Washington State) where a weathergirl named Meryl is telling the viewers about how a massive cumulonimbus storm has formed (from Dabi, Shouto, and Endeavor’s flames) and combined with a tropical cyclone (Shan Shan, is that you?). She goes on to way lyrical about the butterfly effect – which is a major theme of this ep though not in the way she means it – and finally to hijack the broadcast to declare her firm opposition to pursuing appeasement with All For One. Cut to commercial.
With Kurogiri back in the game, things really start happening fast and furious all over the place. Toga is still doing battle with Froppy and Uraraka, and facing an increasingly untenable situation as her allies dwindle and she becomes more exposed. She knows she has to resort to the vial she carries with her – but also that if she unleashes “Sad Man’s Parade” on this isolated island, she may win a pyrrhic victory as she will have used it for the final time and still might not be able to escape the island. Also, sentimentally, she hesitates at having to say her final goodbyes to Bubaigawara Jin (for the record I really liked him too), the one person she was closer to than anyone else.
“Warp” makes that decision easy for her. Once Kurogiri intervenes, Toga knows her choice is clear. She suckers Froppy with a fake vial containing a nomu-attracting chemical, then uses the distraction it provides to ingest the real thing. “Sad Man’s Death Parade” is truly a staggeringly powerful weapon – all those clones imbued with killing intent on anything that poses an obstacle. And with “Warp” in play she doesn’t even have to limit its use to her own fight – she sends some clones to Gunga Villa too, where the man she hates more than anyone else – the one who killed her beloved Twice – is locked in battle with All For One.
This is the real butterfly effect in play. Dabi made the use of Jin’s blood possible, Hawks engendered the hatred that drives Toga, and now that hatred makes it possible both for Toga to seek her revenge and for Dabi to pursue his – against his father. Touya makes a rather calm decision in the heat of battle (pun intended), knowing that if he indulges his desire to keep fighting Shouto his body will never last long enough to engage Endeavor. And now “Warp” makes it possible for him to go to Gunga, Twice’s clones in tow, to have his final reckoning with his old man. Who, if we’re really honest, really has it coming – he doesn’t deserve to have Touya destroy himself blissfully out of his sight.
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