Boku No hero Academia I: because it deserves a thread.

[Kato]

Yeah, manga-ka like Mashima seem to have a clear shape in mind for their female characters which is both easy to draw and conveys the feminine form simply, but becomes a repetitive staple to their art. So that, well... Erza's got roughly the same physique as Lucy, regardless. Sometime he'll throw out some different looking female characters, but these aren't the ones he'll be expected to draw all the time. Not that his designs are bad, but they sometimes feel like they were made from shifting sliders on an RPG's character generator.

I think Horikoshi on the other hand really likes the character design process, even characters who barely appear seem like fully formed ideas he's been carrying around for a while and really wants to get on page, and seems to be willing to put up with any extra effort that would require.

Hm... yeah, even Oda is kind of an offender to this. At least most attractive females are mostly the same body type. There is some more variety than with Hiro, but Horikoshi or heck, even Kishimoto had usually a larger range.

And yeah I agree with that. I hope we get some good ole silver foxes to add to the series to. Refined older gentleheroes would be nice to see.

But all heroes die young. Or turn out like Gran Torino. I'm afraid low chances for old gentleman heroes.

[lord_khaine]

We were already shown that Aizawa can negate Deku's power back in the first class/physical exam thing he did on day 1 of class, so I'd assume it wouldn't be diferent with AM.

Good point, i would say thats solved then.

Hm... yeah, even Oda is kind of an offender to this. At least most attractive females are mostly the same body type. There is some more variety than with Hiro, but Horikoshi or heck, even Kishimoto had usually a larger range.

At the same time though, i do think Oda is good at adding a lot of less attractive or unusual females. It does indeed seems like its mainly the pretty females that are kinda stuck in a single mold.

But all heroes die young. Or turn out like Gran Torino. I'm afraid low chances for old gentleman heroes.

I were going to say it was an impossible desire, since we have seen Gran Torino going from mature adult into wrinkled Yoda in around 10 years or so.
And thats actually one of the places i think Oda is a little better, he has given us a lot of distinct old people.

[LaZodiac]

And thus...it ends.

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All For One taunts All Might, saying that final hit was shallow...but that was only because All Might wasn't putting his back into that one. UNITED STATES OF SMAAAAASH! With one final blow, All For One is defeated! All Might raises his hand high, to give the world one last thought of him as the pillar of peace in this world. He points to the camera of a nearby news reporter and simply says "You're next". The world takes this as a comment against all the world's evil...but only Deku knows it's a message for him, that All Might's time is up. It's up to you, Deku...you're next.

And with All For One in the supermax prison with Stain, we realize something. It should be obvious but...All For One has been fighting this entire time without any ability to see or hear. We also get a little insight into his thoughts and they are...horrifying. If he had killed All Might, it's arguable that it would be LESS good a situation than what has happened now. He's actually glad he won...because it means Shiguraki has now lost his mentor, the final step someone needs to begin their own path to grow from their student like ways. We see Shiguraki, eyes in flames and ready to take on the world, and All For One simply repeats what All Might says. Deku...you're next.

I feel like this chapter is amazing, and that if we had somehow started this series with Toshinori before he became All Might...this would be the final conclusion of the series. What we saw here was the final chapter of the hero of another story, and now it really is time for Deku to pick up that torch. How will the world react to All Might being gone? He's not dead, but this is his final fight. There's no way he can continue after this. So what happens now? How will the schooling continue? And what future awaits our young heroes? This was an amazing chapter.

[Spamotron]

I wonder. Deku's friends and family aren't stupid. Some of them have already realized that his power is more or less identical to All Might's. The effect that kind of power has on the body long term is now common knowledge and they are aware of how much time Deku spends in the infirmary. His mom is already leery of him being a hero. Some kind of drama about how being a hero will ultimately destroy his body is likely inevitable.

[Kato]

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While this was certainly an intersting finale... the last chapter didn't feel that climactic somehow. Except for United States Smash.
Why? Well, for one, Deku is not an idiot. Even without AM pointing it out, he should realize from what he got from the fight that he would be a target now, heck, he was already a target, wasn't he? Yes, AfO "sacrificing" himself to motivate Shiguraki is an interesting twist as it it does by the villain but we kind of knew this was his plan already. So nothing really knew. Him being blind...heh, I'm half of a mind to call it a bluff. But I guess not. But I've seen enough blind fighters and he does have the ability to have hundreds of quirks to make up for it. Sorry, not impressed.

As for the future... I'm mostly curious how badly this hurt AM. If he will be totally out now, but this seems unlikely. He'll probably just have to quit heroing, maybe becoming a revenge target for the alliance. We'll have to see.
Shiguraki... I just have to see as a pretty immature novice who now without his mentor poses too little a threat. Okay, that is likely wrong but it seems to me without someone holding his hand... heck, what can he even do? Kill people by griping them. Wow.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

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Kind of surprised that the villain carrying what's probably the most powerful Quirk in existence is so dedicated to his role as a mentor (his rationalization that All Might actually failed doesn't seem like sour grapes). I was half suspecting Shigaraki to simply be a pawn for him to gather yet even more power, but no he seems to be on the level. Maybe after all that time he got bored of being directly involved? What we've seen so far of Shigaraki hasn't been impressive (failing the All Might USJ ambush, failing to outdo Stain, getting into a deathmatch with the recruits Stain's name brought in); it would be kind of funny if he continued to be an ineffective villain while his sensei patiently waits. Doesn't fit the tone of the setup though.

Also, it seems that despite his many quirks AFO can't outright regenerate what was lost from his previous battle. He and his doctor mentioned a healing quirk of some kind, but based on what he said I think his eyes are actually just gone.

The secret of One for All seems even more and more fragile. All Might fades away, a kid with suspiciously similar power is studying in the school he teaches at? Some conspiracy theorists and/or legit detective is going to put two and two together, if AFO hasn't already tried to leak the truth. And also the reveal of his true form; surely somebody's going to remember seeing that scrawny dude loitering around and his interactions with Deku.

The aftermath of this fight (since the chapter just wrapped it up then ended in the jail) is going to be interesting, I'll say. All Might retires? How will they explain his power loss? As a result of injury maybe, since Quirks are biological functions.

[Kato]

Just mentioning I really have to give probs to the anime. While I'm still not sure about Shigaraki's voice... they seem to try to make it strange but it's somewhat... inconsistent and... I don't know. Just totally not what I would think he sounds like... the short glimpses of students battling, the brutality of Aizawa getting smashed, the moment of Asui almost dying... all today was done really well.
And especiall AM showing up, stopping everything in it's tracks, the Symbol of Peace, saving the day. "All is well now, for I am here", indeed

[LaZodiac]

Also concerning the anime, Horikoshi draws a cute little drawing every time a chapter or episode airs. This tme he did one featuring Kaminari and friends. But he also made a sort of jokey version of it as well and it's kind of great.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Yeah, seeing Eraser take the hits from both Shigaraki and then Noumu in animated form was rough. Let's get our elbow disintegrated and then maimed by a big dude.

[LaZodiac]

And with that, denuemont. New chapter folks.

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The aftermath of the battle is shown. Many are hurt and even dead, and the police force are realizing...we don't have a symbol of peace anymore. They're not gonna be able to just stand idle while the heroes do all the work. The picture of All For One here is terrifying, by the way. We get to see that at least one of Todoroki's many siblings are alive and around and I think that's kind of cute if anything...though Endeavor is furious that he's going to be number one hero without actually having surpassed All Might. I hope Deku is smart enough to help Bakugou become a better person before this happens to him...

Speaking of Deku, he goes home and he's...basically just despondent. But then he gets a call. All Might meets with him and lightens the mood a little with his horrifying cartoon vomit...and basically says that while All Might is "dead", he'll still be there to help him grow into a person. The age of All Might is dead.

Okay so yeah when My Hero ends, I'd be totally find with Horikoshi doing a prequel series that details Toshinori's life. The arc we just went through feels like "Death of Superman" and yet we've known All Might for so short a time...the impact still manages to be amazing, but I would love to see a full telling of his backstory, or at least a flashback or two. We've gotten two "Origin" titled chapters, so give us one for Toshi.

So yeah. Fantastic chapter all around.

[Merellis]

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I'm just glad All Might finally chided the little guy on his self-destructive tendencies. Because seriously, Deku has been terrifying me with that.

[LaZodiac]

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I'm just glad All Might finally chided the little guy on his self-destructive tendencies. Because seriously, Deku has been terrifying me with that.

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He basically always had. Deku you're doing good but stop ****ing killing yourself. This is the first time Deku jumped into danger...and was aware enough to avoid getting hurt. So now he can be more blunt about it.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

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Endeavour is pissed off, to nobody's surprise. He had to know that if he waited long enough, AM would get old or seriously hurt in the line of duty. Can't say I feel any sympathy for the jerk. Though him being the new number 1 could be interesting.

Otherwise it's just a winding down from the climax. I like it. The fight wasn't too dragged out, the enemy was actually defeated there and then instead of pulling a secret escape card out of his butthole (despite being perhaps the most suited to doing just that). And the consequences are dealt with in a fairly believable way.

Pinning all your hopes on a single hero is never a good thing, IMHO. Stuff like this can easily break a society, even if as in this case AM was legitimately heroic in nature.

[Kato]

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Toshinori is adorable trying to be there for Izuku... it's kind of weird how his dad never seems to be around, so he stands in for him even though he's supposedly around off-screen? Well, they never went into detail on that...

I still don't quite see the Symbol of Peace thing. There are a bunch of other heroes. I love AM, but... he's one among many, isn't he? Or are all others like Endevour or have some other serious problems? I don't know why I have such a hard time with that.

Tomura gets praised for... not totally screwing up this time. The idea that AfO was lying is interesting but I guess it is true... and whether or not it doesn't really matter. Well, we'll see where all this is going.

[LaZodiac]

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Toshinori is adorable trying to be there for Izuku... it's kind of weird how his dad never seems to be around, so he stands in for him even though he's supposedly around off-screen? Well, they never went into detail on that...

I still don't quite see the Symbol of Peace thing. There are a bunch of other heroes. I love AM, but... he's one among many, isn't he? Or are all others like Endevour or have some other serious problems? I don't know why I have such a hard time with that.

Tomura gets praised for... not totally screwing up this time. The idea that AfO was lying is interesting but I guess it is true... and whether or not it doesn't really matter. Well, we'll see where all this is going.

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They've mentioned his Dad can breath fire...but it really does seem like he's just not around. I wonder what the deal is with that.

Well, look at it this way. I brought up Superman previously, and he's basically a symbol of peace. He is the indestructible good guy. When other DC heroes show up you can be calm, confident you're probably going to be safe. But when SUPERMAN shows up, you KNOW you're going to be safe. If he shows up anything that's bad in the vicinity is going to just be defeated, no questions asked. All Might is that, basically. It's a lot to live up to. Sure, there are a lot of heroes, but consider that the number 2 hero is Endeavor. A man who seems very rude, very brash, and probably well known to have basically practiced eugenics to create the ultimate son. Even if he saves the day a ton, people aren't going to rely on him like All Might. Number 3 in the best hero list is a man who wears jeans on 90% of his body. While All Might is one among many, he's so vast an existence you can't help but think of him as "larger than life" and that changes people's perceptions of the guy.

For what it's worth, the idea of having a single "Symbol of Peace" is kind of over the top, but for a manga series inspired by comic books it makes quite a deal of sense. Another thing worth noting is that, due to All Might...the future is going to be full of heroes who WANT to be that symbol as well. So there will be more of them in the future, more people like All Might who will be able to assure you that, as long as you stand behind them, victory is assured. Because "I am here".

[Kato]

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Well, look at it this way. I brought up Superman previously, and he's basically a symbol of peace. He is the indestructible good guy. When other DC heroes show up you can be calm, confident you're probably going to be safe. But when SUPERMAN shows up, you KNOW you're going to be safe.

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Except if you're a random citizen in Man of Steel. Sorry.

Yeah, I remember about Izuku's dad. That's what makes it weird. Though, maybe his parents are divorced? It doesn't seem to matter to anyone...

I get the idea baout AM being the same as Superman. I totally can follow that line of thought. I just don't want to. Because while I don't hate DC, it seems like such a strange thing to do... I'm willing to accept it for the sake of the story and I see the author did his best he could to set this up, and most others would have done a poorer job, but... I don't like the idea of people relying on one hero in that way for so long. Maybe this is in part due to AM taking no pupil and not creating a proper heir so far but it seems like even there should be a proper second in line, who would take up his mantle. Maybe #2 will do that now, but it feels there should be more heroes more similar to him, if he is such an icon.

I still love the series but sometimes I also like picking things apart. my bad.

[Kitten Champion]

The "Symbol of Peace" is within the context of this setting. The world of My Hero Academia went through a seriously dark period where established systems of security and order became unravelled and it genuinely looked like things were heading towards chaos, and it was the heroes who pulled it back from the brink. All Might being the strongest pillar on which that order rests. Society has come to rely consciously and subconsciously on All Might's presence as the assurance that civilization can continue, because it can very easily be upended as they've already seen.

That's not quite true of the DC universe, which more or less started from the mundane world the reader is familiar with and had heroes and villains pushed on top of it that kind of cancel each other out to maintain a status quo that the reader can identify with - My Hero Academia had superpowers rewrite history and how society functions in general on a more fundamental level.

As to this chapter, that crying face is just so touching. We've been talking about Horikoshi's art, and something which hasn't been touched upon I think is his ability to capture varying emotions is upstanding, particularly with creating subtle distinctions of mixed emotions with acute attention to facial features not typical to manga art. He still does some of the more exaggerated features for when he's aiming for a comedic tone certainly, but when it's intended as drama he puts the effort into that deeper detail to convey exactly what he's going for.

[LaZodiac]

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Except if you're a random citizen in Man of Steel. Sorry.

Yeah, I remember about Izuku's dad. That's what makes it weird. Though, maybe his parents are divorced? It doesn't seem to matter to anyone...

I get the idea baout AM being the same as Superman. I totally can follow that line of thought. I just don't want to. Because while I don't hate DC, it seems like such a strange thing to do... I'm willing to accept it for the sake of the story and I see the author did his best he could to set this up, and most others would have done a poorer job, but... I don't like the idea of people relying on one hero in that way for so long. Maybe this is in part due to AM taking no pupil and not creating a proper heir so far but it seems like even there should be a proper second in line, who would take up his mantle. Maybe #2 will do that now, but it feels there should be more heroes more similar to him, if he is such an icon.

I still love the series but sometimes I also like picking things apart. my bad.

Don't beat yourself up over picking things you like apart. I love doing it too! When the work is good it's always fun.

As for what you said in the spoilers, that's fair. Kitten Champion's writing below is a far more compelling argument for why it makes sense as well personally.

As to this chapter, that crying face is just so touching. We've been talking about Horikoshi's art, and something which hasn't been touched upon I think is his ability to capture varying emotions is upstanding, particularly with creating subtle distinctions of mixed emotions with acute attention to facial features not typical to manga art. He still does some of the more exaggerated features for when he's aiming for a comedic tone certainly, but when it's intended as drama he puts the effort into that deeper detail to convey exactly what he's going for.

This, 100%. I remember back in Barrage of the Battlestar, when

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the one lady's grandpa dies...the expression on that girl's face was so genuine that I just about broke.

Horikoshi's art is in many MANY ways good, but his ability to draw good emotions puts him head and shoulders above a lot of other mangaka out there. When he does the exaggerated emotions it's hilarious because hahaha look at Toshinori he's literally gushing blood from his face like a garden hose while ranting about justice and training this is hilarious. But when we see him all muscled up and finally confronting the villains...he looks like a raging ****ing demon and the nuance in every muscle of his being is so dramatic...it's fantastic.

Hell, a looong time ago I posted Horikoshi's pivix account. He drew Anakin ****ing Skywalker...and succeeded in making him look like the nuanced emotional character he's intended to be. Dude's fantastic at emotional drawing.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Hold on just a minute

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How exactly are they keeping a guy like AFO contained. Stain is easy enough, his quirk only paralyses and needs blood. AFO has a much wider range of abilities. I don't recall the presence of quirk negation other than Eraserhead. At the very least, his blindsight quirk is still active.

[Scowling Dragon]

Hold on just a minute

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How exactly are they keeping a guy like AFO contained. Stain is easy enough, his quirk only paralyses and needs blood. AFO has a much wider range of abilities. I don't recall the presence of quirk negation other than Eraserhead. At the very least, his blindsight quirk is still active.

I found that whole bit nonsensical and a setup for him breaking out.

I know regular hero prison is a revolving door but can we avoid it here?

[LaZodiac]

Hold on just a minute

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How exactly are they keeping a guy like AFO contained. Stain is easy enough, his quirk only paralyses and needs blood. AFO has a much wider range of abilities. I don't recall the presence of quirk negation other than Eraserhead. At the very least, his blindsight quirk is still active.

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They've probably got a ton of armed security watching this prison at all times. Given the creepy looking eyes of the guardsman that brought A4O into his cell, they've probably got some sort of Quirk that could keep him down.

Additionally, look at the speech he gave after being captured. He's perfectly okay with this. It's truly more to his advantage to stay in jail. Also...lets be honest, even a guy like this is legit messed up if he cannot actually see. He could be genuinely telling the truth that the cameras messing up his sight has basically just stopped him dead for the time being.

[lord_khaine]

How exactly are they keeping a guy like AFO contained. Stain is easy enough, his quirk only paralyses and needs blood. AFO has a much wider range of abilities. I don't recall the presence of quirk negation other than Eraserhead. At the very least, his blindsight quirk is still active.

Of course, whats absurd is that Stain is in that prison. Besides being a massive human right violation then its also kinda unnececary. As such his power is kinda weak for anything but straight up 1-on-1 combat.

[LaZodiac]

Of course, whats absurd is that Stain is in that prison. Besides being a massive human right violation then its also kinda unnececary. As such his power is kinda weak for anything but straight up 1-on-1 combat.

He's also an insane mass murderer who's killed multiple high ranking heroes. Would you want to put this guy into a regular population prison? He'd either rule it like a king or kill his way out fairly easily. As they said this is a prison for special monsters. I'd argue someone on Stain's level, giving his murder spree and his skills, classify for that.

[Kato]

He's also an insane mass murderer who's killed multiple high ranking heroes. Would you want to put this guy into a regular population prison? He'd either rule it like a king or kill his way out fairly easily. As they said this is a prison for special monsters. I'd argue someone on Stain's level, giving his murder spree and his skills, classify for that.

This. Not sure how many he murdered and how many he crippled but Stain is way too skilled to be kept in a normal prison.
As for AfO... yes, he is unwilling to fight. Not sure if they could hold him but supposedly he is not at top health and if they set up enough guards I guess they could hold him... or atumated guns/flame throwers.

[Kitten Champion]

The bit I'm unclear on is why the death penalty is too good for them. Other than that, I assume given they've been dealing with Quirks for generations now that imprisonment is something they can handle practically even if there's no specific exposition regarding how.

Still, as Zodiac said, that scene in the prison wasn't "Ahah! I shall escape and you will rue this day!" In fact the ruined condition of his body shows how far he had to stretch himself to get to that point. It was dramatically conveying the fact that A4O did "win" - while he failed to kill Toshinori and was ultimately captured, he still managed to strike a fatal blow against All Might as a Hero and Symbol of Peace to rally around while passing his legacy onto Shigaraki to fulfill his broader ambition with his freed villainous allies.

Which of course mirrors All Might and Deku relationship and torch-passing, as well as the arc the villains have which was commented on that regardless of the fact the villains keep losing battle after battle to the Heroes they keep growing in power and significance.

[LaZodiac]

The bit I'm unclear on is why the death penalty is too good for them. Other than that, I assume given they've been dealing with Quirks for generations now that imprisonment is something they can handle practically even if there's no specific exposition regarding how.

Still, as Zodiac said, that scene in the prison wasn't "Ahah! I shall escape and you will rue this day!" In fact the ruined condition of his body shows how far he had to stretch himself to get to that point. It was dramatically conveying the fact that A4O did "win" - while he failed to kill Toshinori and was ultimately captured, he still managed to strike a fatal blow against All Might as a Hero and Symbol of Peace to rally around while passing his legacy onto Shigaraki to fulfill his broader ambition with his freed villainous allies.

Which of course mirrors All Might and Deku relationship and torch-passing, as well as the arc the villains have which was commented on that regardless of the fact the villains keep losing battle after battle to the Heroes they keep growing in power and significance.

That's probably a Japanese thing. I don't believe they execute criminals, and for some monsters death is too simple a release for them.

[Kitten Champion]

That's probably a Japanese thing. I don't believe they execute criminals, and for some monsters death is too simple a release for them.

No, they do - though its rarely actually used to my knowledge - I doubt they would be too hesitant to execute such firmly established and prolific mass murderers though. However, even ignoring reality since this is a fictional parallel universe, they do reference the death penalty itself in the dialogue I believe.

While "a fate worse than death" is reasonable for poetic justice, kind of an issue for actual law though.

[LaZodiac]

No, they do - though its rarely actually used to my knowledge - I doubt they would be too hesitant to execute such firmly established and prolific mass murderers though. However, even ignoring reality since this is a fictional parallel universe, they do reference the death penalty itself in the dialogue I believe.

While "a fate worse than death" is reasonable for poetic justice, kind of an issue for actual law though.

You know...it occurs to me that maybe it's because they've actively surpressed knowledge of what he did that they can't REALLY execute him. They're trying to hide the fact that he basically took over all of Japan with his power to try and hide the fact that that's a thing you can DO, so...it'd be hard to convict him of those crimes as a result.

[Spacewolf]

Have they said he isn't going to be executed? It is only the next day after all he might just be awaiting trial.

[Scowling Dragon]

Won't he live forever? I think living comfortably in a cell is not a fate worse then death.

A fate worse then death would be buried in concrete and then dropped into a deep pit and the any data about the location is deleted.