The alleged final arc, and supposed final battle, between the heroes and villains ofMy Hero Academiais in full swing! So far, readers have been able to witness the beginnings of Ochaco versus Toga, the battle of blood between the eldest and youngest Todoroki’s and finally the titanic battle between Japan’s number one and two heroes and the world’s most dangerous villain. Almost all the battles we have witnessed thus far have ended on cliffhangers, not showing fans the conclusion to these clashes as Horikoshi jumps from several locations to show off what is the overall state of this war and this chapter starts off no differently.
The latest chapter gave some pretty heavy implications regarding Eri’s quirk and All For One’s return to power as well as suggesting that danger looms ahead for Deku, but this chapter begins with neither of those. While fans may have been excited to seeDeku do battle with his arsenal of quirks, instead readers are back at the first fight against Shigiraki. Bakugou, Best Jeanist, Miruko and other heroes are battling Shigiraki in the sky with the intent of beating him before Deku arrives. However, “fight” may be too strong a word as the heroes are doing everything they can just to survive until Deku can arrive to support them.
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Hanging On By A Thread
Chapter 358 ofMy Hero AcademiaOpens with an image of Shigiraki causing complete and total destruction with the hands growing out of his left harm. This facility that was made to combat him, hovering in the air, is still beginning to crumble even withoutthe use of any of his quirksas his superhuman strength and attack range seem to be more than the heroes expected going into this fight. Suneater is the first to be smacked by this colossal wave of fingers, and as Nejire calls out his name, she too begins to be assaulted. She narrowly escaped harm by using her quirk to create a powerful shockwave blast that shreds the digits as they attempt to worm their way toward Nejire as she flies in the air.
Best Jeanist warns them to keep moving as even the briefest of moments would result in one of them being crushed by the hands weighing down upon them. We can even see this to be true in the panel as Bakugou is nearly ripped apart himself, were it not for the intervention of Best Jeanist, catching him and pulling him back with his strings. That’s when the number 4 hero Edgeshot begins to act. Beingone of the fastest charactersinMy Hero Academia, Edgeshot turns his body into a paper thin blade and slices apart the phalanges. He comments on how he just cannot fathom this being a quirk to which Shigiaraki begins to clarify.
Its actually unclear who is talking at this point, as the speech given definitely is more akin to All For One’s monolgoues than anything Shigiraki has given in the past. He speaks about how the body needs to adapt to the many quirks within them and is looking for the perfect form to achieve that. Then he goes on about his core belief in philosophy using words that someone might need an advanced reading level to comprehend (Thought this was for teens?). Ultimately, it boils down to the idea that currently the world suffers from classism based on quirks where the strong and understood reject and fear the weak and powerless, but under him all will be the same as they are all beneath him.
Bakugou however is not a fan of this plan and rejects it. His speech definitely seemed to focus on him the most, as if Shigiraki/AFOknew the backstory between him and Deku. After all, Bakugou, the talented kid with an amazing quirk feared and rejected Deku for essentially the reasons named. He is the example of that disparity created but Bakugou just tells him to shut up because he is tired of all that yapping and reveals his new weapon made by the support course, so he can blow Shigiraki away.
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An Explosive Rebirth
With his “SUPPRESSIVE HEAVY MOBILE UNIT STRAFE PANZER” equipped, Bakugou makes a valiant war cry, jumps forward and begins blowing up everything in hopes of reaching Shigiraki’s real body. Mirko remarks if he means they do this as a team, and Bakugou begins to think about all the people supporting them in this fight. The support course, class 1-B, the teachers, Yaoyorzu, Kaminari, all of them are helping now and giving them the real fighting chance they need. This is once again highlighting the growth Bakugou developed over the series as he was one who never wanted to rely on others or teamwork to beat his opponents and while we saw glimmers of thatin the class 1-A versus 1-B arcthis is where it truly blossomed.
This growth culminated into a very Bakugou style speech to retort All For One’s points. Bakugou repeats back his points on disparity, dread, and misunderstanding and says he himself has already taken it to heart and created real steps toward progress. He says it may take time, but people will push past those things, and they don’t need his control or sermon. Then the chapter ends with him using his signature most powerful attack, but upgraded to a cluster version as he bombards shigiraki with powerful clustered explosions.
Conclusion
While the beginning part of the battle was really entertaining it was massively chaotic and hard to follow. I am certain it will be something that looks phenomenal when animated and make for great chase sequences especially at the speed its moving, but now it feels like Horikoshi plastered a bunch of fingers on the page making it difficult to actually follow along amidst the chaos.
Slowing things down with the speechwas good, and it really allowed the battle to take on a deeper meaning it otherwise lacked. All of the fights so far have been, in a way, grudge matches that have been built up over time. Even Endeavor who has only meant All For One once has a deeper connection in that the villain kidnaped his son, and is also the embodiment of what All Might failed to do. ForEndeavor beating All For One is proofof him surpassing All Might, accomplishing the one thing he failed to do. It does not connect as well however, as Bakugou did already have that moment of apologizing to Deku several chapters ago so its more just a reminder.
Overall the chapter was really enjoyable though despite its flaws. Fans mya hav epreferred to see what was going on with Deku or maybe some of the other students ather than returning to this battle, butafter it picked up speed it was a treat. The beginning half was lacking but from the speech onward the conflict became easier to follow, emotional stakes were introduced and the conflicted escalated to another level. The fanservice of Bakugou’s new moves and support gear was also very pleasing to see as he is one of the most popular characters in the show. It will be exciting to see what exactly happens next chapter.
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