Introduction
Deku is facing off against the greatest villain in history, and things could not look any worse.
Let’s break it down real quick: for one, Endeavor is about to die just as W2 Shigaraki breaks free from All For One. Three, UA has been completely destroyed and is about to nuke the city.
Ford Toga has created infinite Twice doubles. Five, there is global warming, so not only does Deku have to face the strongest villain in the past 150 years but also save the world against the greatest catastrophe ever.
No wonder he’s declared the number one hero in the world rather than just Japan, even though we all know Japan is the world. Chapter 379 just revealed Shigaraki’s true Awakening as he defies All For One and finally takes back his body. He is no longer restricted by Erasure and has access to all of his quirks, which amount to hundreds.
The villains aren’t willing to back down at all. Dobby, being the prime example, has been hit with Todoroki’s most powerful attack and burnt himself like my chicken that Sunday barbecue, but he still isn’t stopping.
Deku vs Shigaraki
And what do you know, he has been teleported to where Endeavor is because, in order to let Deku vs. Shigaraki’s 1v1 to continue, someone must contain Dabi. And what better way to end their story than to learn together in death?
Bad news, oh no. Anyway, with Endeavor being put to rest, it would thematically end the previous generation and welcome Deku as the new symbol of peace, tying back to this being a story of Deku foretelling how he became the number one hero in the world. But even through all this chaos and destruction, My Hero Academia cannot end until Uraraka has a girl talk with Toga.
They still have to sort out who gets that 100 Detroit smash from Deku. There are priorities here, all right. But what does that have to do with me? No, no, he’s got a point. Due to her love for Twice, Toga is able to use her busted Quirk Sad Man’s Parade, where she can make infinite doubles.
Toga is developing at super speed, being a full-fledged villain, and is able to make calculated decisions and strategies, shown by her telling Uraraka to shut the hell up with her love talk that she doesn’t care about anymore. Furthermore, Kurogiri is able to transport the clones all over the place.
And if you thought things couldn’t get any worse, global warming is destroying the planet. News reports all the way in the USA have deducted a huge thunderstorm that was generated in Japan and has affected the weather all the way in North America. How well, anime both science, of course.
Basically, Dobby and Shoto’s conflict brought together incredibly hot and cold temperatures, causing rain clouds to gather everywhere, creating a monstrous inferno, Cumulonimbus. With this, people start questioning how individual actions can cause worldwide effects.
America, along with other countries, decided to play it safe and avoided sending their full force to Japan, leading to their submission to All For One. But at the end of the day, this war will eventually affect everyone, just like the storm that was created.
The news anchor starts to ad-lib instead of reading off the prompter, going against her superior’s views, stating that the power of a single man could change the world. “I stay firmly opposed to the government’s decision, no, to the world’s decision, to pander to All For One,” which brings us back to believing in Deku.
He alone will be able to change the tides and save Shigaraki. In doing so, he will be saving the world. Now, you may be wondering, “Oh my God, shonen’s stuff, he’s gonna forgive him, isn’t he?”
Surprisingly, no, this is not the case. Remember that Deku and Uraraka’s conflicts tie in with each other as they’re both fighting to save their enemy, not by forgiving them as they’re way past that, but by understanding them. They had a conversation regarding their feelings towards the situation, declaring their intention.
Yeah, you can’t forgive Shigaraki, but you could forgive Aizawa instantly and cry for him. Basically, this will be what molds Deku into the new symbol of peace, as he won’t just be the symbol for the good but also the villains.
He will be the one to spearhead the redeem of society, to defeat villainous activity before it even happens by tackling the root cause: oppression and segregation. It’s ironically all one great big butterfly effect.
While Deku continues to use his talk no Jutsu in convincing Shigaraki that he can be saved, which he has been doing for the last hundred chapters. Let’s be honest, let him cook. Let him cook.
While all this is going on, Shigaraki is going through his inner battle against his manipulator, All For One. As Shigaraki gains primary control over his body, his mind separates from All For One.
This separation angers the Demon Lord, calling Shiggy a useless piece of trash. “I will send you to Jesus!” All For One is overwhelmed with Shigaraki’s fingers coming out of his mouth, symbolizing he’s taking back control with the hands he was given.
Yeah, that looks pretty gross. Shiggy tells All For One that all along, he knew that he was being used and manipulated. However, he played along, waiting for the right moment to bait and switch. He literally outmaneuvered the Chess Master. He retained his true sense of self by hiding his real hatred and origin deep inside of his heart.
The hatred for All Might or even taking One For All was never Shikaraki’s hatred to begin with; it was always All For One’s. He was bested by All Might, put to shame, shut down by all the users of One For All with constant battle throughout the ages. He wrongly believed he could push his own hatred into Shigaraki but failed to notice that Shikaraki’s pain was far greater than his.
All For One is a psychopath, whereas Shigaraki is more of a sociopath, having emotions and a deep scar from the traumatic events of the house he was brought up in. And since everything in the world gave rise to the condition of his childhood home, consisting of an abusive father who was the outcome of a failed hero-villain society, he now wants to destroy all of it.
When Shiggy was in despair, he was met with no help and no one to save him. He saw the false facade of the world where heroes only existed for a certain group of people but not for everyone.
The villains who took him in were actually the hero to Shigaraki. This is why All For One’s objective of stealing One For All is irrelevant to Shigaraki. And as he himself puts it, his card cannot be corrupted, being just like the heroes.
Shiggy understands he is the villain in the story, and unlike All For One, doesn’t pretend otherwise. He owns it. All For One tries to order Kurogiri to transport him to a new body as he has lost control of this one, but Kurogiri refuses as he has always been programmed to protect Shigaraki.
And so, with this, Shigaraki finally becomes the mind of his own body, bringing us back to his battle with Deku. Feeling the horrific recoil of using Gear Shift, Deku needs time to let his cells regenerate or he might just stop breathing and die. Whilst all of this is happening, the UA facility is falling from the freaking sky, but don’t worry because the true number one hero is here, Gentle Criminal.
Oh wait, you’re telling me you don’t remember this 32-year-old man who is in love with this girl that looks 12 years old? Even the FBI remembers them. “FBI, open up!” Okay, but seriously, Gentle turns the tides of the battle as we find out that he single-handedly stopped an entire prison’s worth of criminals from Breaking Free.
He started to remember the bright future Deku mentioned, feeling an intense need to help him in his goal, and his and La Brava’s love has grown even stronger since they’ve been apart, so he is next level now. He saves multiple lives and is even able to stop UA from falling. The amount of inertia and weight that building was carrying was insane.
Gentle is truly built different. That’s why he’s the ghost. Shigaraki, unfortunately, was still ready to use Decay in this situation, but when you thought you saw the last of him, Lady Nagant reappears.
Wait a minute, didn’t she get blown to smithereens? How is she back? Hey, she’s a baddie, so you know all is forgiven, Horikoshi. Lady Nagant comes in clutch and blows off the arm Shigaraki was about to use to kill everyone, much to the theme of Gentle Criminal. Horikoshi is addressing the power of Deku’s talk no jutsu.
Yup, straight up stealing Naruto’s entire flow, word for word, R for bar. Everything he promised Nana Shimura back in Chapter 305 is slowly materializing, starting with villains such as Gentle, La Brava, and now Nagant. The importance of these characters is first to understand that a villain can be accepted back into society.
Deku was able to address their origins of darkness and help them move forward. This is something he wants to do with Shigaraki, whose origins are represented by the boy, Tenko. Nagant, Gentle, and La Brava are just a representation of Deku’s true heroism, which is to spread hope in the heart of villains, the outcasts of society.
He is not only saving ordinary citizens, but he’s truly saving everyone. These recent chapters have really shown that Deku is already the number one hero. Through Deku’s motivation, a god’s determination is given fuel. As with every bullet she fires, the more it opens her wounds, destroying her body. As her final bullet rips the other hand of Shigaraki, these are the same two hands responsible for the fate of the Shimura family, along with many other casualties.
The power of Decay being stripped away is a form of retribution, which is a step closer in Deku’s goal to save Tenko Shimura. This reinvigorates Deku to keep fighting, while thoroughly annoying All for One. The cycle has come full circle; All for One’s reign of terror is about to come to an end. He’s lost control of Shigaraki’s body, and it’s only a matter of time until his real body rewinds into nothingness. His hatred and drive to possess One for All, clouding his judgment, causing his own downfall in the end.
Whereas Shigaraki has developed respect for the heroes that have risen against him, yet he’s not a hero. He just decides that he wants to erase everything to do with that horrific house and childhood he grew up in. This is a common symptom of PTSD. At first, he suppressed these emotions regarding his past as depicted in chapter 270, when Shigaraki was forced to bury it, running away from the memories of his family.
But now he feels like he should just erase everything that is remotely connected to it, where he believes this is the only way he will achieve true salvation. Deku, on his last legs, drags Shigaraki up in the sky with Black Whip to stop him from using Decay because we know he’s gonna just regenerate his hands. He states that he will not let Shigaraki succeed in his plans. He won’t ignore that crying child that he saw. But the peak fiction doesn’t end here.
That’s me, Andreea Blaga, author of the blog anime-everything.com. I work as a content creator in the US. I am also passionate about Japanese Anime.
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