My Hero Academia Appreciation

[Dark Soul # 7]

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The chapter reminds me again of Endgame where A-Force help carol and the gauntlet. I'm suspecting given that Deku has embers of OFA, that he will use it to re-enter the mindscape and help Tomura. Alos Bakugo will sit this out, he's too badly injured and he already took out AFO, so it's Deku's turn

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I can see that. Though this feels more natural and less forced than the Endgame scene. And Deku actually needed help to get this far. Totally also expecting one last mind scene. And don't count out Bakugo just yet. He's a shounen dude, they can pop up anywhere despite their injuries.

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Always get a kick at these moments when all the characters come together to support someone, tanking and repelling the hits to help him keep running. I really have to wonder if the Season 7 opening creators knew that this was happening, since that running bit is eerily similar. It is interesting to me how this chapter includes an appearance from every 1-A student, even cutting away to Tokoyami and Ochaco who are off somewhere else, but NOT Bakugo. Either because he already got his "Do your best/give em hell" moment, or he's gonna make another surprise appearance in the fight. I'd buy either one. Shigaraki's body also is starting to bleed and crack, so hopefully this means we're going to see him starting to re-surface again next. Re:the League, we do see Dabi being carted away with his siblings last chapter. Toga is still MIA, no idea if she's on the copter with Ochaco or not. Spinner is also still missing, and Kurogiri also looks like he's starting to give over too, so we probably won't get a big moment with all of them here, but I'm hoping them all still get paid off.

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I was wondering that too. It might just be a just be a neat coincidence. But it could also be that one of the anime staff knew something like this was coming and thought it was too cool of a motif to not include in the OP. If Bakugo shows up again I hope he's more that he's limping onto the scene to shout encouragement rather than to actually do anything actiony. Again, since Ochako clearly won't be participating in the rest of the action I'd be annoyed if Bakugo gets to ignore his injuries and fight on. Hopefully Shigaraki's memories of them can at least provide support.

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[Dark Soul # 7]

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All For One realizes that he and his quirks are crumbling apart. Deku launching the OFA vestiges damaged the AFO quirk too much, and everybody helping out has worn him down. But still he refuses to go down. Forcing Shigaraki's crumbling body together and hoping to move AFO into Deku. Deku responds by launching one more Smash. Kurogiri's instinct to protect Shigaraki kick in as he moves to redirect Deku, while pleading with AFO to let Shigaraki go. Bakugo suddenly comes flying in to blow away Kurogiri, having blasted himself across the battlefield. With the declaration that All For One is just a lonely little man Deku smashes into the villain. This awakens the embers of the One For All vestiges and Shigaraki's consciousness. They destroy All For One's spirit just as Deku destroys his body. Deku and Shigaraki have one final discussion before Shigaraki fades away.

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And that should be the end of that final battle. All For One is completely defeated and Shigaraki dies along with him. I am quite sad that Shiggy ultimately dies instead of having to atone. But it's unlikely that he would've ever been able to accept society as it is and what it would want him to be. At least he gets to strike down his master together with Deku, and his final words are his own. Not a declaration of hate or some kind of hastily forced apology. Shigaraki had his view of the world and he fought for it to the bitter end. Hoping that that knowledge will soothe one of his few friends. Shigaraki's sad but rather dignified end is nicely contrasted with AFO completely breaking down. Desperately begging his brother to follow his command and having learned nothing. Everything he's built brought down before his very eyes and he just can't understand why. What a fucking loser. And Bakugo returned as I expected. But at least it was just a quick little assistance that itself was assisted by Todoroki. So it isn't too galling in comparisson to Ochako having to sit the final final fight out but being there in spirit due to being the one that changed the meaning of Izuku's hero name. But I still find it a bit annoying given that she once again is left out of a important action set piece. But I think I'll save that for a post about this whole final arc. Overall this is quite a kickass chapter.

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[leokearon]

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With this the last threats of gone. It means that the manga probably has about two chapters left. The aftermath and probably an epilogue. Great to see AFO being called out for the pathetic being he is.

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[Inversed]

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Definitely alot of mixed feelings about this for me. I don't know if I like Shigaraki dying, since I much would've preferred him having to live through this, and having Deku truly succeed. But I also liked his final words, where he reiterated his true desire to destroy, meaning he probably would've never went for rehabilitation, so begs the question of what do you do with him. Having him effectively sacrifice himself alongside AFO I guess was the compromise. It's still vague enough that I'm maybe hoping there's something else going on that will be revealed in the next chapters, so we'll see. Kurogiri's moment was also super confusing to me, to the point I can't even tell if he was actually destroyed or not. At the very least I did like how AFO went out, pathetically grasping to regain Yoichi. As for the ending now being very much in sight, since this chapter will be the first chapter of Vol. 42, that means we have about 10-11 chapters left in the story, to obviously fill up the final volume. Which is very unconventional for shonen, as they typically only have a few chapters of aftermath and epilogue, so I'm hoping this means we're getting a pretty juicy enough conclusion that will address all the remaining questions (like the fates of the remaining villains, and if there will actually be any impactful changes to their societies).

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[Dark Soul # 7]

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As for the ending now being very much in sight, since this chapter will be the first chapter of Vol. 42, that means we have about 10-11 chapters left in the story, to obviously fill up the final volume. Which is very unconventional for shonen, as they typically only have a few chapters of aftermath and epilogue, so I'm hoping this means we're getting a pretty juicy enough conclusion that will address all the remaining questions (like the fates of the remaining villains, and if there will actually be any impactful changes to their societies).

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While it would be nice to get a whole volume dedicated to dealing with the aftermath and the feelings of all the characters, I would especially like to see Deku's state of mind now that he's essentially failed to save Shigaraki and how he'll work to prevent similar incidents. Isn't it also possible that they'll just make the last volume a few chapters thicker than normal?

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[Inversed]

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While it would be nice to get a whole volume dedicated to dealing with the aftermath and the feelings of all the characters, I would especially like to see Deku's state of mind now that he's essentially failed to save Shigaraki and how he'll work to prevent similar incidents. Isn't it also possible that they'll just make the last volume a few chapters thicker than normal?

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Unless literally the next chapter is the last one (which we know for sure it isn't), anymore extra added would just make the volume a bit too thicker than normal, which is why I think they're gonna just go for a full final volume. He did mention in most recent Jump Festa about there being an "extended aftermath" so I think we might get it. Plus, I think both Shueisha wouldn't mind having an extra volume of this super successful series before it ends, and also 42 is a good number to end on (it is how long Dragon Ball went for, be a nice homage).

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[Dark Soul # 7]

No chapter last week and I'll be away for this week. So I figured I could write down some random thoughts I have about this final action arc now that it has come to a close for the action part. I find that it has ups and downs. So let's go through what I can think of.

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There are two aspects of this arc that I keep thinking back too in terms of whether I thought it was good or not. The first is how Horikoshi handled his absolutely immense cast of supporting characters. The second is the pacing of the entire arc. So let's focus on these two first. Horikoshi does a stellar job in giving so many of the supporting cast hype moments throughout the arc. Whether it's stuff that have been building up throughout the series or giving more focus to characters that have lacked it. I think that in most cases Horikoshi nailed giving the supporting some time to shine. You got long-awaited moments like the Todoroki family settling their tragic drama and Ochako reaching her zenith as a heroine while reaching out to Toga's heart living up to the hype. Gentle and Nagant coming back to help out had me unreasonably excited. Supporting casts members like Jiro, Tokoyami, Shoji, Monoma, Shinso and many more getting to play important roles constantly brought a smile to my face. But there's also a negative to this. First in that there are a few characters I think deserved a bit more. Iida got some time to shine, but it was mainly in helping Shoto get somewhere fast enough and helping Deku get back up on his feet. While that is fitting for his character, I wish he would've gotten something with more narrative meat to it. Sun-Eater and Nejire were unfortunately quite ineffective against Shigaraki. Stain's sacrifice felt quite rushed, inefficient and narratively unsatisfying. So not these hype moments weren't all equal. Making some of them stand out for the wrong reasons. But the main problem is that I think there were so many that they cut too much into Deku's confrontation with Shigaraki. There was quite a long stretch where it seemed like they were just staring into each other while stuff got destroyed around them. When it would've been nice to have some more fight conversation and more coreographed fighting leading to the confrontation we got. And just to be clear I did like pretty much everything about Deku and Shiggy's fight. I just wish there would've been more of an escalation to it. It just felt like they were going 100% straight from start partly because there wasn't time for anything else, since so much focus was put on everybody else. Which leads to the pacing. A lot of the individual segments are paced really well I think. Together they do form an arc that is maybe a bit too long for its own good. But that also gives it the appropritate grand scale for the series final battles. Mainly though it's AFO refusing to go down that feels the most drawn out, especially a certain times when you just want to go back to Deku and Shigaraki since that is the main rivalry of this arc. But it keeps going back to AFO fighting everybody else. Again, a lot of that fighting against AFO is really good stuff on its own. But man does it take a long time to bring him down. A bit too long really. So those are the main two things. But I also have to mention how much I love most of the villains and the resolutions to their stories. They're all dangerous as all hell and need to go down because while they have legit gripes with the world, them killing and destroying things to get their way isn't an option. But despite that there's pretty much nothing triumphant about any of their defeats. There's no cheering (in-universe) when Dabi, Toga, Spinner and Shigaraki are brought down. Just a profound sadness that they all could've been saved in better times. But here they were just too filled with rage and hate to ever consider giving up (except for Toga who let love lead her possibly final act). But in the end they all held on to their convictions, and the writing never betrayed their personalities. Which I really liked. Some other things: - The initial setup for how the fights are all spread out is great. - The reveal that AFO controlled so much of Shigaraki's life is by far the worst part of this arc. Could've been dropped without changing much of the story really. - Bakugo getting "killed" and sutured didn't really do anything for me. Him fighting the last ember of AFO was surprisingly engaging. His final bit in the final battle was unnecessary. Overall, while I do have some gripes with this arc, I think that the good to great stuff outweighs the bad. It's a bit long, but holy hell does it fit in a ton of awesome moments into its length.

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