REVIEW: ‘My Hero Academia’ Episode 142 — “The Story Of How We All Became Heroes”

Still reeling from the revelation that Yuuga Aoyama (Kôsuke Kuwano) is All For One’s mole, the students of Class 1-A aren’t ready to abandon their friend. Understanding the position Aoyama was forced into, the class desperately reaches out in the hopes of bringing Aoyama back from the abyss. But things aren’t so simple and a lot of questions need to be asked before Aoyama can be trusted again. While the heroes decide what to do with Aoyama, Class 1-A prepares for their next battle in My Hero Academia Episode 142 (Boku no hîrô akademia) “The Story of How We All Became Heroes.”

Picking up where the last episode ended, we see A-1’s moment of impassioned hope checked by realism. While the adults want Aoyama to be able to aid them, things aren’t that simple. How they approach the coming battle with All For One could decide the fate of their entire country. That can’t leave anything to chance. But even as Aoyama is marched away in sullen silence, his classmates continue to reaffirm their belief in him.

My Hero Academia Episode 142 manages to balance this opening scene skillfully. It would be easy to paint the adults as distrustful grown-ups who have lost the capacity to believe. Thankfully, as it often does, the show takes a more nuanced approach. It’s clear the heroes want to believe, for Aoyama’s sake if nothing else, but unlike their students, they have to live with the consequences of their choices. As the ones making the call, if Aoyama should turn again, it would be on them. A possibility that isn’t so easily ignored.

While the heroes dive deeper into planning their next move, the students continue to prepare for the coming battle. Training and equipment preparation are the order of the day. The latter challenge causes Izuku Midoriya (Daiki Yamashita, Drifting Home) and Tenya Iida (Kaito Ishikawa, Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid) to visit the support department of UA in the hopes of enlisting the aid of Mei Hatsume (Azu Sakura).

As is usually the case, Midoriya and Iida’s arrival is greeted with a bang. Literally. It seems Hatsume continues to blow things up in her ongoing quest to perfect her “babies.” The brilliantly eccentric support student’s return to the series couldn’t be more perfectly timed. With so much bleakness in recent episodes, knowing that at least Hatsume hasn’t changed is a charming, well-delivered moment.

As the students explore the support course’s area, they learn that the kids there have been working just as hard as they have. The UA Barrier among other projects has had the support students running around the clock. As Midoriya and Iida stare on in wonder at the bustling work of their fellow students, My Hero Academia Episode 142 holds nothing back as it drives home how the students here care just as much and are giving just as much of themselves as 1-A. Even if they never have to stare down a villain in person.

From here the plot shifts to Hawks (Yûichi Nakamura, Jujutsu Kaisen 0) and All Might (Kenta Miyake) as they lay out the foundations of their battle strategy with a small group of trusted individuals. While the planning in this scene is fairly bare bones, it excellently lays out the major elements of the heroes’ plan. This establishes key concepts concerning the major threats the heroes will face, and what they have to try to achieve to counter these elements. However, the exact approach is left out, allowing the audience to wonder how the heroes will accomplish these challenging goals.

This scene is outstanding. The groundwork it lays out will hopefully allow the final battle to avoid being weighed down with explanation. By frontloading it here, the episode keeps it out of the way once the fight starts. The scene also superbly drives home just how complex the challenges are the heroes face this time. The energy is tension-inducing.

The visuals employ some excellent camera work to further build the tension in the moment. Combined with Miyake’s excellent voice work, delivering All Might’s layout of the difficulties of their position, the atmosphere in the moment is thick enough to survive a Detroit Smash.

Closing the episode out, we see Shouta Aizawa (Jun’ichi Suwabe) pay a visit to Aoyama in his holding cell. The heroes have confirmed that the explosive quirk used to kill Lady Nagant hasn’t been implanted in Aoyama. With this news, Aizawa can now speak openly with his student without fear of triggering the lethal quirk.

My Hero Academia Episode 142‘s closing scene hits on several levels. It gives Aizawa a chance to shine as he delicately balances being tender and uplifting in his attempts to shore up Aoyama’s wavering spirit. Simultaneously, how the episode depicts Aoyama’s struggle with the prolonged trauma he has been forced to endure is equally moving. How the young man can identify what needs to be done, yet struggle to reach out and accept it, hits home. He knows Aizawa and the others will keep him safe, yet the specter of All For One is so terrifying that it can trump the child’s rational mind. It is far easier to start fearing someone than it is to stop.

My Hero Academia Episode 142 delivers more emotion and tension as it continues building up to the final battle, while also finding a way to inject a bit of levity into the episode. This balance is important as the series moves into its final phase.

My Hero Academia Episode 142 is streaming on Crunchyroll.