Category: My Hero Academia

Time for Spinner to take the stage.

That’s right, Y’all. Spinner will lead the disenfranchised heteromorphs on a noble quest for equality. Too bad, even acting a force for “good” means Spinner’s a pawn for the bigger baddies. Shigaraki. Skeptic & the Liberation Army. All For One. To them he’ll simply a means to further their goals. Yep, our pal Spinner continues his trend of being in waaaay over his head.

Does Horikoshi have the talent to pull off the heteromorph inequality angle? To show the plight of those discriminated against and sometimes thought as less than human? Is he just gonna label all of them as bad guys or will we get a bit more subtlety? I hope so, but it’s not looking good. Where was Deku’s disdain for the people attacking the Fox Woman just because of her looks? The reactions from heteromorph heroes when said woman explained being unable to find a place to stay, again, because of her looks?

Toshinori, you cheap bastard! You couldn’t even spare a few bucks on string cheese?

Ah, yes. The ole divide-and-conquer plan. Basically, we’re getting a lot of smaller fights at different locations in the next big war. Gotta split up the baddies, especially All For One and Super Shiggy. So…who’s gonna fight AFO and Shigaraki, respectively? Team Deku VS Shiggy is a given, naturally. But, what about AFO, the OG supervillain? Well, I have a long-standing theory Shigaraki will break free of AFO’s influence and kill him, cementing himself as the undisputed Big Bag. I’m going with that.

The comedic calm before the storm.

Yep, that’s what the chapter was. A little lighthearted breather before things ramp up again. Maybe we’ll get one more. Whether or not we do, it’s nice seeing Hatsume again.

Aizawa’s got a plan. But what is it?

Heck if I know! Maybe the “him” Nezu’s referring to is Stain? Or, Rappa? Or, Gentle? Or, The Crawler? No, no. Let’s not get crazy. Hmm… What about Mr. Compress or Kurogiri? I can definitely see Kurogiri getting involved from a narrative point-of-view. And, Aizawa is the one who made the plan so… Okay! Let’s go with Kurogiri, Y’all!

That’s right, Aoyama. You can still be a hero. …As long as you help us trick All For One.

I’m still disheartened by the traitor revelation. Aoyama or Hagakure, I just wanted a true villain as the spy. Instead, we get a by-the-books betrayal ending with everyone seemingly forgiving Belly Laser, with a chance at redemption thrown in for good measure. What’s Aoyama’s chance at redemption, you ask? Getting Deku alone, of course. That’s one of the orders AFO gave our sneaky friend. U.A. simply needs to have it appear Aoyama does exactly that to lure AFO in. Not AFO himself, mind you. He’s too smart to go himself, but U.A. can work with that somehow.

Deep breaths. Relax. Don’t panic. Now, where did I put my chainsaw?

Aoyama’s a traitor.

He’s the one who led the villains to USJ and the summer camp. Okay. He and Hagakure were the top two suspects. I get that. See, Horikoshi? I understand. I’ll even admit I like the Aoyama family drama. The general revelation coupled with learning Yuga’s parents put him in this precarious position along with Yuga’s sorrow of having to keep doing All For One’s bidding, knowing the current dreadful state of the entire country is solely on that megalomanic and his allies was enjoyable. I ‘m shocked. I’m intrigued.

I’m massively disappointed.

Having an unwilling participant be the U.A. traitor is so amazingly underwhelming I wanted to scream! Where’s the conflict? What about the repercussions? Will Aoyama get kicked out of U.A.? Of course, not. None of this is his fault! Years of wondering what the traitor will do next. Years of anticipating the sweet drama of Class A dealing with having a monster living with them this whole time, a person they thought a friend seeking their very destruction, gone. And in its place? A kid in over his head who will no doubt be forgiven because Horikoshi won’t push the envelope. Yes, this news makes sense, but it still sucks.

I was so excited last chapter at the prospect of having a willing betrayer in U.A.’s mist. Someone secretly more powerful than she let on. Damn! I was wondering why Horikoshi revealed Hagakure as the traitor last chapter without her doing something or entering her POV. This is the answer. Ugh!

Seriously, is she Number 7?

And here we are. After years of speculation, it finally happened. Toru Hagakure is revealed to be the U.A. traitor. No surprise to me and a number of the community, but that’s expected. The clues were there. No, like with the Toya/Dabi reveal, it’s not about the who as much as the why and how. Not to mention the general repercussions and Horikoshi’s decision to reveal the traitor to us, the audience, before learning her true identity along with Class A.

I’ve got several questions. Let’s see if any can be answered as of now.

Is Toru a Number? For those who don’t know, a Number is what I believe are experiments specially meant to help All For One achieve a new stronger body unaffected by quirk singularity. Tenko Shimura is the tenth experiment. Nine, from the second My Hero Academia movie, is the ninth and Number 6 from My Hero Vigilantes is the, well, sixth experiment. If Toru’s among them, then it’s safe to say she has more than one quirk. A revelation that would help explain how she escaped exposer by someone as smart as Nezu other than simply no longer communicating with AFO or Ujiko after AFO’s defeat at Kamino.

I’m not sure I like where this is going.

And by this I mean “Tenko”. Okay, sure, Tenko is very much the victim as any other innocent affected by All For One. Buuuuuut, at the same time, didn’t Horikoshi establish Shigaraki wanting to destroy the world? That it’s his decision? Which is it, Hori? Tenko being manipulated by All For One doesn’t excuse ALL the death and destruction he’s called over the years. Yes, Tenko needs saving, but Shigaraki needs prison.

Now, I’m willing to let this angle play out given Horikoshi’s track record with Endeavor. I don’t want to be one of those internet haters coming down on him. Endeavor’s quest for redemption was a lot more complex than people first thought and maybe this is a similar situation. Maybe “saving” Tenko means killing him. Maybe Shigaraki will sacrifice himself to help take down All For One. I don’t know. For now, I’ll stick to my theory Shigaraki will gain control of his body and kill the OG All For One.

Well, we knew it was only a matter of time…

Star And Stripe is dead. And, I gonna say, I’ll miss her. We didn’t know her for long, but I really liked the character. A shame she got introduced in the same arc she died. Why, Horikoshi? Why keep America’s top hero under wraps just to kill her off? It would’ve been great seeing her interact with Toshinori and Deku and…any of the main cast. How about a movie set in America where we see her show up? No? Okay…

Horikoshi has created such an interesting world filled with interesting characters and concepts that it boggles my mind he’s so seemingly reluctant diving deeper into it. This arc, this whole final arc in general, just feels…too soon. Did we really need My Hero Academia to enter its final arc now? What about more inter-school interactions? Trips abroad meeting foreign hero students? Chapters focused on other characters? More, Horikoshi. I wanted more!

Star And Stripe lost to save her friend. Now, they can die together. Yay?

Sure. Star losing was the most likely outcome by a long shot, but it still sucks. I’ll say it again. It was a mistake for Horikoshi to introduce Star in the same arc she (allegedly) lost her quirk. Such wasted potential. NOW maybe I’m wrong. Maybe, juuuust maybe Horikoshi will subvert our expectations, having Endeavor come in and save her, but even I’ll acknowledge that’s wishful thinking. The more likely scenario is Star losing New Order. Oh well. It was a fun battle, at least.