Few manga endings in recent years have been more controversial than My Hero Academia’s; while the series ended on a mostly high note, especially with its epilogues, the pacing of the final arc and the overall resolution to various plot threads left much to be desired, and it’s common for people to say that they outright hated the ending.
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Naturally, the way My Hero Academia resolved some of its lingering plot threads involved some last-minute plot twists, including a major one involving the main antagonists, Shigaraki and All For One. Unfortunately, that twist is arguably the worst one in the entire story, and even a year after the fact, it’s little more than a detriment to the series.
How My Hero Academia’s Biggest Plot Twist Ruined Its Best Villain
Near the end of Izuku and Shigaraki’s battle, the vestige of All For One reappeared and revealed that he had manipulated everything in Shigaraki’s life for the ultimate end goal of taking over Shigaraki’s body; not only did he give Shigaraki Decay, but he also talked Kotaro into conceiving Shigaraki, and he even pushed Kotaro to be abusive, as well.
All For One stealing Shigaraki’s original Quirk and giving him Decay was a popular theory for years, based on both some subtle foreshadowing and how in-character it would be for All For One, so in that respect, it would have been fine if My Hero Academia had left the twist at that before moving into the climax.
The problem, of course, is that the twist didn’t stop there, and as much as All For One has been characterized as a master planner, the idea that he would be responsible for Shigaraki’s life to such a degree felt more like a parody of how he was normally written, making it almost impossible to take it seriously.
Even worse, though, is how it ruins Shigaraki’s character; Shigaraki was meant to be the ultimate representation of what happens when heroes fail to save people, but making it so All For One was responsible for everything bad that happened to Shigaraki means that his character isn’t about the problems with society, but the problems with one specific person.
That change not only diminishes Shigaraki’s character in a last-minute attempt to make him more sympathetic, but it also makes it harder to sell the idea that the world of My Hero Academia is supposed to be flawed, so it’s hard to see it as anything other than a detriment to the story.
My Hero Academia’s Worst Plot Twist Is Only Good For Its Biggest Villain
If there’s anything in My Hero Academia’s big plot twist that’s worth defending, it’s what it does for All For One’s character. For years, All For One had been characterized as a twisted, sadistic villain who loves to make people suffer, and his return for the final arc has only emphasized how terrible a person he is at every turn.
Not only does the twist of All For One controlling everything in Shigaraki’s life play right into how he had been handled in recent events, but it makes All For One look more monstrous than he had ever looked before, and with him definitively becoming the final villain of the series, that makes his ultimate defeat all the more cathartic.
That doesn’t change how contrived the twist is, nor does it change how much of a negative effect it has on Shigaraki’s arc and the story as a whole, but at the very least, there was something to come of the twist that was worth seeing, so it can’t be completely written off as worthless, if only just barely.
Does My Hero Academia’s Final Twist Ruin Its Ending?
With how bad the twist with Shigaraki is, there’s an idea that it’s bad to the point of ruining My Hero Academia’s ending, overall; the final arc was already marred with issues of pacing and general anticlimax for many plot threads, and with how much that twist works against the story, it could easily be the breaking point for some.
That being said, despite everything, the story still utilizes it to build an overall satisfying conclusion to My Hero Academia’s final battle, with Shigaraki receiving a fitting sendoff and All For One receiving a truly cathartic death. These revelations didn’t need to exist for that to happen, but in the end, it doesn’t make it as bad as people think.
My Hero Academia’s final arc is far from perfect, and unfortunately, the final twist with Shigaraki and All For One is a big part of why it doesn’t work that well, as it does a lot to diminish what should have been a fairly straightforward finale, and even a year after the fact, it doesn’t look any better in hindsight.
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Courtesy of Crunchyroll
