My Hero Academia has discovered the perfect recipe for emotional origin stories, and few hurt as bad as Shigaraki’s history. The villain might have crossed every line there is, but fans still want to root for All For One’s apprentice. Even All Might has trouble throwing the boy to the wolves despite his sins, so of course one artist decided it was time to explore how things would have gone if One For All raised the boy.
The piece comes from Twitter courtesy of the user Trevoshere. As you can see below, the artist is going viral thanks to their AU re-imagining of Shigaraki’s origins. We all know the actual series saw All For One take in Shigaraki after the boy’s destructive quirk was unleashed on his family. But in this rendition, Shigaraki is found by All Might first.
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As you can see above, the adorable artwork not only suits My Hero Academia‘s style, but it shows what could have been. Tomura Shigaraki – or rather Shimura Tenko – did want to be a hero as a child. However, his home life and quirk tried to bring those dreams down. In this imagining, All Might is able to help Shigaraki harness his power, and it is too precious for words. The series goes on to follow Shigaraki as he befriends all those at UA High School he is trying to destroy in the main series. And honestly, the AU feels too good to be true.
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After all, Shigaraki is a villain through and through, but it wasn’t done by his own hand. The young boy was groomed by All For One to become his successor. Now, the tyrant is trying to take over Shigaraki for his own purposes, and his stripped autonomy makes him sympathetic despite his sins. And if All Might had found him first, well – there is no telling how One For All’s legacy would look.
What do you think of this alternate take on My Hero Academia? Do you feel like this could have happened…? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.