My Hero Academia

But it also presents him as this master manipulator and long term planner, and his entire monologue to Tomura is how he never had any say in his own life, and by proxy only gave people the "illusion of choice", since it makes things look like they wouldn't happen naturally, but were instead the product of his work. Take Kotaro for now, with the knowledge that AFO preyed on his dislike of heroes and made sure Tenko loved heroes, it makes Kotaro look less like a genuine abusive asshole who treated Tenko harshly due to his own biases, and more like Kotaro was yet another victim of AFO and unknowingly tricked into having his Trauma Button stamped down over and over again, then manipulated into directing all of his frustrations at a son he was tricked into having.

It robs the Shimura storyline of any actual agency outside of doing what AFO wants, and gives the impression that, were it not for AFO, Kotaro would have been a decent human being and possibly better father to Hana, and that the abuse was less Kotaro's actual fault, and more him being a victim of AFO manipulating and gaslighting him, which cheapens the idea of him being representative of those heroes leave behind/Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You and how they are negatively affected. And when Tomura is supposed to be the face of that theme about Villains, it negatively impacts the overall theme by suddenly undermining everything about him with "Oh it was all the plans of a nutsack face manipulating his life as if he was just a VPet".

Edited by RebelFalcon on Apr 7th 2024 at 8:28:33 AM

I admit, the revelation that Kotaro was even more of a victim of AFO than he already was (via simply losing his Mother) has somewhat undermined some of the lessons that the story was building towards. Then again, the idea of the issues of the Hero business is still there. Toga and Twice still fell through the cracks without AFO's influence. Dabi may have been found by him, but everything that happened in his life was entirely Endeavour's mistakes. Those people with Beast Quirks who were ready to lynch a hospital weren't caused by AFO either. At most, this only shows that Tenko's problems were the results of one extremely petty and powerful man. I can see why some think it still works, and why some think it's a betrayal of the story's themes. Honestly, I don't think either side is wrong.

Edited by HandsomeRob on Apr 7th 2024 at 5:33:31 AM

wait until its revealed that afo is the person twice hit with his motorcycle who made sure to get him fired

Twitter meme about the latest chapter. The Puss in Boots joke.

And now I'm just giggling because I was reminded of one of the Yu-Gi-Oh! filler arcs which featured a villain who really was that petty in engineering all his minions' Freudian Excuses. Like, he started an entire war in (probably) Eastern Europe for the sole purpose of orphaning one specific person whom he then recruited.

A couple of things regarding 419.

First, the art. It's great, you really feel everything the characters are going through in their expressions and messed up bodies. Horikoshi never skimps on the presentation. I legit was shocked seeing Deku's fucking arms gone. 12/10.

Second, All For One manipulating Shiggy behind the scenes. I buy it. We've suspected this for a long time, and the story has left enough breadcrumbs to tell us that ol' nutsuckface would be petty enough to do such a thing. Appear once in a while to lay the seeds of destruction in Nana's bloodline, and scoop up little Tenko when everything goes to hell.

Third, Decay being a modified version of Chisaki's Overhaul Quirk. That, I did not see coming. But upon thinking about it, it makes sense. The Overhaul Quirk is destruction, rearrangement, and recreation all in one ability. If he had the ability to divide Quirks into smaller constituent parts, theoretically he should be able to do that for Overhaul.

Fourth, the background squad coming in clutch to save their MC friend. I'm a sucker for this trope, so I give it a thumbs up.

Fifth, Deku getting his arms back. It's gonna happen, the question is how. I don't think it'll be Eri, but I do think it'll either be Shiggy grafting his own arms into Midoriya (if he wrests control back from All For One), or Mei giving him mechanical arms. Just my two cents.

@Third point That kinda sounds similar to moment in Fullmetal Alchemist with Scar and his brother, but evil.

Man, we've seen Decay with a Quirk Awakening, just IMAGINE Overhaul with a Quirk Awakening. Chisaki remaking the world on a city-wide scale.

That's a good comparison, I didn't even think about that.

Kind of ties into point five, but with inverted morality, Shiggy doing it as a last second atonement/spite for a foe/a co-combatant, rather than an act of love towards a family member. Funny enough I think I had FMA on the brain in terms of "stories that ended with the hero crippled", similar to the other shonens someone mentioned earlier.

Also one thing that haven't been brought up yet but... Did AFO just psychologically revert back to his pre-comic book self after the realization that his brother is no more within his reach? I mean, he is not smiling anymore and emotes like a hollow from "Dark Souls" after regaining control.

Me hoping that when Af O meets his final, definite end, he gets dragged to Quirk Hell ala video one (just replace Father with Af O and the Truth with Yoichi and other Of A vestiges) and ends up essentially RetGone from living memory similar to Joker at the end of Arkham Knight

Edited by ImperiumAstarte on Apr 8th 2024 at 12:49:11 AM

I just want to state for the record I miss BlackYakuzu94 and Diana1969. I always enjoyed their takes on MHA, even if we did not always agree on certain aspects.

What happened?

I think a lot of people predicted that Shiggy was given Decay, but AFO being responsible for his conflict with his father, and even his birth, is pushing it.

Dunno what happened with Black Yakuzu, but Diana seems to have been Bounced. Best not to inquire further.

All this scheming gets really funny when you consider it's before he got potatofaced. Like, I imagine he might've seen the writing on the wall already, with All Might wrecking his businesses, but it's still a little amusing. Like all those that chase and attain immortality in their 30s.

From what I saw did Yakuzu and Diana both get banned for repeatedly getting very heated with other users during discussions, in Yakuzus case permanently since he had been banned for the same reason several times before.

Diana indicated that she needed to take a mental health break before trying to come back and then a while later her account dissapeared.

Thats all I know and yeah, I always enjoyed there contributions here and am sad to see them gone.

Taking breaks from the internet is always good for mental health.

Anyway back to MHA. So I get that we're in the ending of the series but damn, the UA students haven't even gone through their first year yet.

And Shonen rules demand that their adult years be full of serial escalation. I doubt the series will be totally over when the manga ends.

But man, imagine the crazy villains Deku will have to fight once he actually becomes a fully licensed hero. Dude keeps breaking his arms, it's psychically painful for me to watch, so I just know by adulthood he's going to end up losing them due to years of battle.

That's assuming that a Shounen-series continues into their adult years.

Sometimes, it just ends in a peaceful epilogue and that's that.

Last post I see from Yakuzu he was actually unsuspended, but hasnt posted since last year. Diana meanwhile deleted her account after saying she needed a break. T Hats as far as I got anyway.

Oh hahahahaha...... they chose the way of the hero. It's just going to lead to neverending war against evil.

The only peaceful end they will get is if they manage to retire peacefully after decades of hero work and surviving all those horrible injuries.

Deku has been to the hospital several times, and had a mental breakdown. He's not even 17 yet.

Now how old is All Might again?

Edited by RedHunter543 on Apr 8th 2024 at 10:12:15 PM

Mid 50's I believe.

Which is a decent age for a profession that by its very nature cripples and/or kills some of its youngest and brightest.

Yeah, Deku hasn't even reached 40 yet, and he's still got a long way to go in his hero career.

Even should he defeat All for One, and Shigaraki, there will be other villains to threaten hero society in the future.

Maybe but that doesn't mean he has to fight them all on a "Conveyor of Crime and Crooks" now does it?

This isn't Gotham after all.

Let the villains come sporadically, with months of peace between them, and then superhero life isn't as bad when dealing with regular stuff.

Edited by Trainbarrel on Apr 8th 2024 at 4:24:23 PM

What Deku needs is some kind of Justice League

Just US Just Ua Students

League

I mean, considering society in Japan is in a state of near collapse, taking out All for One and Shiggy won’t make everything automatically better.

There’s a ton of work to do. And more villains to rise from the ashes.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Apr 8th 2024 at 10:36:01 PM