My Hero Academia Appreciation 2021

[leokearon]

spoilers:

I can't decide if I like "Tomura For One" or "All For Tomura" more. Or something like "Shigaraki Prime".

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I'm also really hoping now she doesn't lose her Quirk, both cause like you said, it'd be fun to see her interact with Deku and All Might, but also because this just seems like a power that'd be way too much trouble to deal with in AFO/Shigaraki's hands. What's making me think there's a chance they won't get it is because they already have 2 extremely deadly Quirks that require contact to use, Decay and All For One. The heroes already have to worry about either being killed or losing their Quirk being touched by him, adding a third thing would probably seem counterproductive narrative wise. What I feel like the best way for the story to end up going is for Deku to save Shigaraki and the two defeat AFO for good, but then Shigaraki still wants to destroy everything, so he and Deku have their true final battle. Deku gets his moment to be the hero that saves even the bad guys when they're in trouble, but Shigaraki still gets to be the big bad and stick to his ideals, beating AFO just being a way of regaining his freedom.

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Yeah Star turning up just to lose her Quirk would be a waste of a character

end of spoilers

[Jcogginsa]

That is a pretty solid guess. spoilers:

It is the only plausible manner, that we know of, for him to bypass One For All's resistance and be one step closer to his grand plan.

end of spoilers

I like this theory. Good idea.

spoilers:

I've seen another theory since making that post that would make a good meta reason for them to get it. Basically, the theory is that since Deku's goal is to try an reach out to Shigaraki, part of the endgame will involve Deku's efforts causing him to identify with the name Tenko Shimura more than Tomura Shigaraki or All for One. And in the process, a rule that All for One placed on himself to give himself an advantage will then fail

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[Lvenger]

I wonder if spoilers:

The reason AfO wants Star's quirk is because he can use it to bypass the factor that allows One for All to resist his attempts at stealing it?

end of spoilers

spoilers:

This is the most likely theory for why All For One is so interested in acquiring Star & Stripe's Quirk despite the threat she poses. It's certainly a powerful Quirk in its own right, but its potential to override the rules of One For All that prevent it from being forcibly taken are the driving force behind All For One wanting Star's Quirk.

end of spoilers

[Dark Soul # 7]

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I can't decide if I like "Tomura For One" or "All For Tomura" more. Or something like "Shigaraki Prime".

end of spoilers

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I personally like "All For Shigaraki", since AFO claims his name is Shigaraki it comes with some neat double meanings.

end of spoilers

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I'm also really hoping now she doesn't lose her Quirk, both cause like you said, it'd be fun to see her interact with Deku and All Might, but also because this just seems like a power that'd be way too much trouble to deal with in AFO/Shigaraki's hands. What's making me think there's a chance they won't get it is because they already have 2 extremely deadly Quirks that require contact to use, Decay and All For One. The heroes already have to worry about either being killed or losing their Quirk being touched by him, adding a third thing would probably seem counterproductive narrative wise. What I feel like the best way for the story to end up going is for Deku to save Shigaraki and the two defeat AFO for good, but then Shigaraki still wants to destroy everything, so he and Deku have their true final battle. Deku gets his moment to be the hero that saves even the bad guys when they're in trouble, but Shigaraki still gets to be the big bad and stick to his ideals, beating AFO just being a way of regaining his freedom.

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Hopefully whatever evolution that caused him to explode will tire him out enough for Endeavor and Hawks to last second help Star and scare All For Shigaraki away. That does sound like the most ideal, and honestly most exciting, ending. And I'm thinking that Shigaraki will either die or get depowered, not sure if that'll happen with Deku. Though I hope that Deku will keep his powers.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

I've seen another theory since making that post that would make a good meta reason for them to get it. Basically, the theory is that since Deku's goal is to try an reach out to Shigaraki, part of the endgame will involve Deku's efforts causing him to identify with the name Tenko Shimura more than Tomura Shigaraki or All for One. And in the process, a rule that All for One placed on himself to give himself an advantage will then fail

end of spoilers

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Whether that becomes true or not I do agree that Shigaraki's name will be an important part of the final battle. Getting him to reclaim Tenko Shimura as his name might for example help him overcome the personality fusion with AFO.

end of spoilers

[Inversed]

spoilers:

I've seen another theory since making that post that would make a good meta reason for them to get it. Basically, the theory is that since Deku's goal is to try an reach out to Shigaraki, part of the endgame will involve Deku's efforts causing him to identify with the name Tenko Shimura more than Tomura Shigaraki or All for One. And in the process, a rule that All for One placed on himself to give himself an advantage will then fail

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Somewhat related, another thing I think will become important by the end is learning All For One's real name and using that to their advantage. Maybe spreading it around to help de-mystify the "fear of All For One" in the public, or using it to slyly taunt him in person as a kind of psychological warfare (like in Deadpool him constantly calling Ajax "Francis"). We have had a pretty consistent run of "true names" having some important context lately: we had Midoriya call Muscular "Goto" as a way to try and humanize him, then we had both Bakugo and Uraraka call him "Izuku" for the first time, as their way of referring to him as a person and not just a hero, so looking to call Shigaraki "Tenko", as a way to represent him as the "victim", definitely looks to be what's going to happen next. Also something pretty cool if you're familiar with the history of Horikoshi's work, he originally wrote a one-shot called "Tenko" about a boy who could decay things, which is where the inspiration for Shigaraki became, and now with his long hair he's starting to more closely resemble the original Tenko from that one-shot.

end of spoilers

[Dark Soul # 7]

spoilers:

Somewhat related, another thing I think will become important by the end is learning All For One's real name and using that to their advantage. Maybe spreading it around to help de-mystify the "fear of All For One" in the public, or using it to slyly taunt him in person as a kind of psychological warfare (like in Deadpool him constantly calling Ajax "Francis"). We have had a pretty consistent run of "true names" having some important context lately: we had Midoriya call Muscular "Goto" as a way to try and humanize him, then we had both Bakugo and Uraraka call him "Izuku" for the first time, as their way of referring to him as a person and not just a hero, so looking to call Shigaraki "Tenko", as a way to represent him as the "victim", definitely looks to be what's going to happen next. Also something pretty cool if you're familiar with the history of Horikoshi's work, he originally wrote a one-shot called "Tenko" about a boy who could decay things, which is where the inspiration for Shigaraki became, and now with his long hair he's starting to more closely resemble the original Tenko from that one-shot.

end of spoilers

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Really, by the very nature of the hero profession the idea of having two names is completely ingrained in the series DNA. All the heroes and villains have their names that were given at birth, but in a lot of cases we mainly know them as/refer to them by the name they've picked as a hero/villain which can either be seen as their true idealised self or at least the stage name of the person they want the world to see them as. Even in his emaciated near powerless form All Might isn't called Toshinori Yagi by most as an indicator of just how much of an impact he's had in society as well as the metaphysical weight he feels. Iida couldn't bear the responsibilities of his brother's hero name as he didn't want to sully it when going out for revenge until after Deku and Shoto saved him from Stain and his own anger. To Aizawa the hero name is just a formality that's so irrelevant that he was ok with somebody else picking it for him and thus it's a bit mixed with how people refer to him, some use Aizawa and others use Eraser Head. Toga not having an alternate villain name while wishing to "become" those that she loves has a lot of implications. There's just a lot of things you can analyse in this series with the idea of two names and dual idenities, and to see that whole concept being brought to the forefront with our main villain is exciting.

end of spoilers

[Inversed]

spoilers:

Really, by the very nature of the hero profession the idea of having two names is completely ingrained in the series DNA. All the heroes and villains have their names that were given at birth, but in a lot of cases we mainly know them as/refer to them by the name they've picked as a hero/villain which can either be seen as their true idealised self or at least the stage name of the person they want the world to see them as. Even in his emaciated near powerless form All Might isn't called Toshinori Yagi by most as an indicator of just how much of an impact he's had in society as well as the metaphysical weight he feels. Iida couldn't bear the responsibilities of his brother's hero name as he didn't want to sully it when going out for revenge until after Deku and Shoto saved him from Stain and his own anger. To Aizawa the hero name is just a formality that's so irrelevant that he was ok with somebody else picking it for him and thus it's a bit mixed with how people refer to him, some use Aizawa and others use Eraser Head. Toga not having an alternate villain name while wishing to "become" those that she loves has a lot of implications. There's just a lot of things you can analyse in this series with the idea of two names and dual idenities, and to see that whole concept being brought to the forefront with our main villain is exciting.

end of spoilers

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We also even had a few chapters ago All For One, who while casually calling Spinner "Shuichi", then gives his villain name a meaning, "someone who spins this tale", when prior he probably didn't think much of the naming. Similar to the All Might example, you have everyone, particularly the Todorokis, pretty much always referring to Enji as "Endeavor", even in casual moments, to emphasize how much of that identity has consumed him and taken priority. And then of course, the whole Toya and Dabi thing. (also related, I liked in that other chapter AFO casually called him Toya too). It's definitely another fun thing to read into throughout the series, alongside the hand symbolisms and all the parallels.

end of spoilers

[Inversed]

Just came back from seeing World Heroes Mission!

Without going too in depth in all of my thoughts, I'll simply say this is probably the overall best executed of the three films. For all the big and bombastic action we do get, alot of the movie is surprisingly low-key, and it gives it a much different, and refreshing feel. Rody Soul is basically the protagonist, and gets to be a very well-rounded and developed character, and while Flect Turn still doesn't reach the height of most of the main series villains, he's definitely the most interesting of the three movie villains.

Probably the big thing I'll say is, don't go in expecting too much from everyone else in the cast, because they are all really just relegated to cameos, even Bakugo and Todoroki are mostly just there for action support. But I think after seeing them juggle a huge cast with the last two movies, going "low-scale" on the character stuff, even while the threat is "worldwide", is overall beneficial to the story's favour as a movie.

Also, the action and directing all around is stellar, in both the quiet moments and especially the set pieces. They do some really cool stuff with the camera here!

[Inversed]

New chapter for the day:
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"All For Shigaraki" figures out some of the limitations behind New Order, specifically that it works better on nonliving objects, and overall becomes more entranced with wanting to experiment with the Quirk for himself. Star and Stripe meanwhile does everything in her power to try and put down Shigaraki for good, turning the air into a giant construct of herself, punching him, and impaling him with a giant laser bolt. She's then informed by her Commander "Agbar" that their last resort is on the way, a fleet of missiles.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Mostly just a decent transitional battle chapter. We get alot of exposition just to explain the complexities of New Order, to show how/why/if it's so OP. Also get another little hint that it may not just be All For One and Tomura fighting for control over this new body, but also "Tenko" still in there. A legitimately awesome show of battle from Star, with the giant air kaiju and the thunderbolt of lasers, not only so strong but incredibly creative too, kind of Green Lantern-esque. I'm still very worried about her fate, with all the talk of what New Order can do it feels like that means it'll be important later on, and now that the nukes are coming, who knows what "All For Shigaraki" ends up doing that could potentially neutralize them. And of course, literally throwing Mr. "It's A Trap" here is very foreboding too, while also being a fun cameo.

end of spoilers

[leokearon]

spoilers:

If All Might Smashing All For One didn't stop him, I doubt a missile barrage is going to do anything

end of spoilers

[Dark Soul # 7]

Just came back from seeing World Heroes Mission!

Without going too in depth in all of my thoughts, I'll simply say this is probably the overall best executed of the three films. For all the big and bombastic action we do get, alot of the movie is surprisingly low-key, and it gives it a much different, and refreshing feel. Rody Soul is basically the protagonist, and gets to be a very well-rounded and developed character, and while Flect Turn still doesn't reach the height of most of the main series villains, he's definitely the most interesting of the three movie villains.

Probably the big thing I'll say is, don't go in expecting too much from everyone else in the cast, because they are all really just relegated to cameos, even Bakugo and Todoroki are mostly just there for action support. But I think after seeing them juggle a huge cast with the last two movies, going "low-scale" on the character stuff, even while the threat is "worldwide", is overall beneficial to the story's favour as a movie.

Also, the action and directing all around is stellar, in both the quiet moments and especially the set pieces. They do some really cool stuff with the camera here!

As a whole I'd say that yeah, this is probably my favourite of the movies so far. It's not perfect and there are a few things that the other two do better, but when it comes to just being its own thing World Heroes' Mission is definitely the better of the three. Now into specifics and spoiler territory.

spoilers:

Rody Soul is by far my favourite of Deku's movie exclusive companions. He's got the most dynamic character development, the most agency and while only tangentally related to the bad guy's main plot he proves to ultimately be instrumental in solving the conflict through his own tenacity and unique quirk in a satisfying culmination of his character arc. And he bounces off of Deku so well in basically all phases of their relationship. I also like that he has relatively mundane goals in just taking care of his adorable siblings and wanting to be a pilot. He's just and all around well written and down to earth character. I was a little worried that it would turn out that his father was Flect Turn or that he was still alive at least, which I feel would've hurt Rody's story. So I'm glad that didn't turn out to be the case. Rody being the focus while his character development is heavily influence by his time spent with Deku also works since it's a big part of Deku's character that he inspires others to be better. Flect Turn having more in common with Overhaul in that he's seperate from the League of Villains and just has a simple but powerful quirk works really well. Some times you just want a dangerous bad guy who isn't connected to the greater myth arc for the heroes to have cool fight scenes against. Adding a quick but still sympathetic back story that succinctly explains his motivation was nice as well. One of my friends said that they'd kinda wished for him to fight almost anybody else besides Deku since they found his powers interesting and would've wanted to see how they interacted more with quirks that are more than just "The ability to punch really hard", and they thought that it was a bit weird how a guy who pushed away everybody around him was able to gather such a massive following. Though none of that made him less interesting or fun to them, just a few comments. The other villains where just henchmen with weird powers that look cool in fight scenes. And given the focus on Rody, that's a fair trade off I think. Though I was disappointed that Beros just offed herself a bit randomly. She was cool and deserved a bit more of a final battle with Deku after hounding him and Rody throughout most of the movie. Now she'll only be a less interesting and less cool Lady Nagant. And yeah, the action scenes are some of the best in the series so far, one doesn't even mind that they're all pretty clearly amped up to look cool on the big screen. Deku chasing Rody and then swinging around the bridge while doding Beros' arrows was a great opening set piece. Bakugo's fight with the blade whip twins might be my favourite fight of his simply because it's so rare to see him actually get pushed to his limits and get annoyed with his opponent, and all the flipping around they did was damn nice to watch. And while the last two movies had epic team ups as brilliant finales I'm really glad that Deku got to win against Flect Turn all on his own, even if it was mainly through stronger punches and less with his usual wit and strategising. I just can't not get excited at a well delivered "Go Beyond. Plus Ultra!" leading into You Say Run as Deku overwhelms his opponent with the nutured power of One For All. That just gets me every time and I look forward to the DVD and hearing Justin Briner's take on that scene. Me and my friends all agreed that Todoroki got a bit of th short stick this time around. His fight wasn't as long as Bakugo's and his opponent was a bit of a mess design-wise. It was still cool just not as good as that of his peers.

end of spoilers

So yeah, a great movie experience with amazing action scenes and an engaging story that manages to mix down to earth character development with world threatening stakes. Just great stuff.

spoilers:

Mostly just a decent transitional battle chapter. We get alot of exposition just to explain the complexities of New Order, to show how/why/if it's so OP. Also get another little hint that it may not just be All For One and Tomura fighting for control over this new body, but also "Tenko" still in there. A legitimately awesome show of battle from Star, with the giant air kaiju and the thunderbolt of lasers, not only so strong but incredibly creative too, kind of Green Lantern-esque. I'm still very worried about her fate, with all the talk of what New Order can do it feels like that means it'll be important later on, and now that the nukes are coming, who knows what "All For Shigaraki" ends up doing that could potentially neutralize them. And of course, literally throwing Mr. "It's A Trap" here is very foreboding too, while also being a fun cameo.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

This is the wildest one on one battle in the series in terms of overall power and scale (that they're both surfing on fighter jets is the least nutty thing about it). My first thought when Star's kaiju sized air stand started weilding a laser spear (just that freaking sentence!) was Marvel's Thor for some reason, it just seems like the scale he usually operates on, but Green Lantern is also a good comparisson. Since it's possible that New Order will fall into the hands of the villains after this it'll be interesting to see how crazy future fights will be. Not-Admiral Ackbar saying that Star will surpass All Might by bringing down "All For Shigaraki" (I'm glad you liked that name) is the most palpable death flag, or sign of something similar to me. And "All For Shigaraki" casually thinking of Mon is certainly sus in regards to what's going on in there. It's a part all of his own that Tenko/Tomura might be able to cling on to.

end of spoilers

[Inversed]

As a whole I'd say that yeah, this is probably my favourite of the movies so far. It's not perfect and there are a few things that the other two do better, but when it comes to just being its own thing World Heroes' Mission is definitely the better of the three. Now into specifics and spoiler territory.

spoilers:

Rody Soul is by far my favourite of Deku's movie exclusive companions. He's got the most dynamic character development, the most agency and while only tangentally related to the bad guy's main plot he proves to ultimately be instrumental in solving the conflict through his own tenacity and unique quirk in a satisfying culmination of his character arc. And he bounces off of Deku so well in basically all phases of their relationship. I also like that he has relatively mundane goals in just taking care of his adorable siblings and wanting to be a pilot. He's just and all around well written and down to earth character. I was a little worried that it would turn out that his father was Flect Turn or that he was still alive at least, which I feel would've hurt Rody's story. So I'm glad that didn't turn out to be the case. Rody being the focus while his character development is heavily influence by his time spent with Deku also works since it's a big part of Deku's character that he inspires others to be better. Flect Turn having more in common with Overhaul in that he's seperate from the League of Villains and just has a simple but powerful quirk works really well. Some times you just want a dangerous bad guy who isn't connected to the greater myth arc for the heroes to have cool fight scenes against. Adding a quick but still sympathetic back story that succinctly explains his motivation was nice as well. One of my friends said that they'd kinda wished for him to fight almost anybody else besides Deku since they found his powers interesting and would've wanted to see how they interacted more with quirks that are more than just "The ability to punch really hard", and they thought that it was a bit weird how a guy who pushed away everybody around him was able to gather such a massive following. Though none of that made him less interesting or fun to them, just a few comments. The other villains where just henchmen with weird powers that look cool in fight scenes. And given the focus on Rody, that's a fair trade off I think. Though I was disappointed that Beros just offed herself a bit randomly. She was cool and deserved a bit more of a final battle with Deku after hounding him and Rody throughout most of the movie. Now she'll only be a less interesting and less cool Lady Nagant. And yeah, the action scenes are some of the best in the series so far, one doesn't even mind that they're all pretty clearly amped up to look cool on the big screen. Deku chasing Rody and then swinging around the bridge while doding Beros' arrows was a great opening set piece. Bakugo's fight with the blade whip twins might be my favourite fight of his simply because it's so rare to see him actually get pushed to his limits and get annoyed with his opponent, and all the flipping around they did was damn nice to watch. And while the last two movies had epic team ups as brilliant finales I'm really glad that Deku got to win against Flect Turn all on his own, even if it was mainly through stronger punches and less with his usual wit and strategising. I just can't not get excited at a well delivered "Go Beyond. Plus Ultra!" leading into You Say Run as Deku overwhelms his opponent with the nutured power of One For All. That just gets me every time and I look forward to the DVD and hearing Justin Briner's take on that scene. Me and my friends all agreed that Todoroki got a bit of th short stick this time around. His fight wasn't as long as Bakugo's and his opponent was a bit of a mess design-wise. It was still cool just not as good as that of his peers.

end of spoilers

So yeah, a great movie experience with amazing action scenes and an engaging story that manages to mix down to earth character development with world threatening stakes. Just great stuff.

spoilers:

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who got extremely worried when it seemed to imply Flect Turn was actually Rody's dad, so I was relieved when it didn't go that route. Instead it went the Rogue One way of "He was forced to work with bad guys and created a fail safe to shut it down" which fits better, and connects back to Rody's internal conflict of "family vs. the world". I did appreciate they gave some semblance of motivation behind Flect Turn, especially liked the off-handed comment how because he reflects everything, he couldn't even end his own life, so now he feels the only possible thing he could do is just kill all Quirks. It's also a potentially intentional parallel to Shigaraki, since they're both villains with Quirks that make them unable to receive any physical contact. There's also the difference where Shigaraki was "saved" by, and thus became a bad influence because of AFO, while Flect Turn had no one, and as Midoriya said, simply gave up and went the villainous route cause he thought it was the only solution. I didn't mind Beros offing herself, just because it demonstrated how brainwashed she was by the cult, giving up her life as punishment and seeing her Quirk as a "curse". It also contrasted with the twins, or one of those big guys, who admit they're literally only there just for their own gain/survival. I do wish we actually got to see and hear from the actual Quirkless members, not only would it be interesting to see how they fought against people with Quirks, but also hearing their reactions to living in the "Quirk-filled society", might have made Humarise as a whole more complex than simply "crazy cult" (Especially when we as the readers know that the Quirk Singularity is 100% actually real and something the main series will probably have to touch on again eventually). I feel like Bakugo's fight with the twins HAS to be some deliberate foreshadowing/referencing to him getting stabbed by Shigaraki during the War arc, one of the shots looks way too similar not to be. That fight also ends with maybe one of my absolute favourite Bakugo moments ever: doing the All Might pose, except also giving a thumbs down, it's perfect for him, and fits in to connect with everybody else who has done their own mimicking of "the All Might". What I especially love about the final battle is Deku defeats Flect Turn in the exact same way All Might beat the Nomu back in S1, just now with a movie budget filter. Plus, I will always be an absolute sucker whenever One For All 100% comes out, even if is the most egregious "Super Saiyan time" of the three times it's happened. I almost wonder if maybe something like him being knocked into a vat of Trigger, so it's a Trigger-enhanced OFA that beats Flect Turn, would be better or worse. I also loved how creative the Reflecting effect actually looked, almost made it feel kinda like a magnet. I watched it in English (going to watch it again in Japanese), and VAs were all pretty good as usual, with Ryan Colt Levy as Rody and Robbie Daymond as Flect Turn being the main performance highlights (I'm also a big Daymond fan so there's some bias there). Also, the dude who plays the twins does a magnificent Joker-esque laugh for them, so that stood out for me too. And then pretty much agreed with everything else you mentioned.

end of spoilers

[leokearon]

spoilers:

Well goodbye Star, we hardly knew you

end of spoilers

[Dark Soul # 7]

spoilers:

Well goodbye Star, we hardly knew you

end of spoilers

spoilers:

I'm holding on to hope that she's done something clever with New Order to prevent anything bad. Like maybe a rule that says she can't be decayed and/or New Order can't be taken from her. But in exchange she has to drop her own body enhancement rule so she'll still be injured from this. Becaus it would be rather annoying if she was introduced just to power up "All For Shigaraki" even more.

end of spoilers

[Inversed]

spoilers:

Between the flashback, and all the little back and forth the past few chapters, I really like the camaraderie they've been able to build between Star and her fellow pilots. So when it gets to that point where Star has the opportunity to take down one of them to try and stop "Shigaraki", she can't do it, because she doesn't want to waste one of their lives on a move she probably knows isn't going to work. Because in these final moments we're again seeing the duality between Shigaraki and All For One, with Shigaraki's gleefully demonic face of destruction, while AFO is the one actually speaking, what I'm hoping/predicting is that after touching Star, we get another argument between the two. Shigaraki wants to kill her, AFO wants to steal her Quirk, and that distracts them long enough for Star to be able to escape possibly. But whether All For Shigaraki gets it or not, the question of how New Order will play into the future is a question I have no idea, but we'll just have to see where it goes.

end of spoilers