Was My Hero Academia’s Biggest Bait-and-Switch Worth It?

By now the secret is out: the big death that My Hero Academia hit fans with isn’t going to be nearly as traumatic or permanent as fans originally thought. Recent chapters of My Hero Academia’s Final War Arc saw fan-favorite Katsuki Bakugo get mortally wounded in the battle with archvillain Tomura Shigaraki. After fans initially balked at the idea of a major character like Bakugo truly being dead, My Hero Academia doubled down on its claim that Bakugo is dead by doing no less than openly stating it. Now, My Hero Academia Chapter 364 has revealed that Bakugo’s “death” is going to be the biggest bait-and-switch move the series has ever pulled! 

WARNING: My Hero Academia Chapter 364 SPOILERS Follow! 

The latest chapter of My Hero Academia sees things going from bad to worse in the war effort against both Shigaraki and his master (and controller) All For One. All For One uses a new bullet round based on Eri’s reverse quirk to restore his face and damaged parts, giving him even more terrible power As the tide of the battle starts to shift toward the villains, top Pro Heroes Best Jeanist and Edgeshot enact a plan to keep Bakugo alive. Bottom line: Edgeshot will use his folding body quirk to slip inside Bakugo and act as a makeshift heart for the kid – an act that will force Edgeshot to give up his own existence. 

So was it worth it for My Hero Academia to use Bakugo’s death as a big fake-out? 

A lot of fans were never willing to let themselves believe that Bakugo was dying for real, so for them this latest twist is simply validation of faith. However, there were also a lot of fans who did believe MHA creator  Kohei Horikoshi was going to kill this character off – and they had a lot of theories as to why it was going to be a major thematic win for the series. 

Boiling it down to simple terms: My Hero Academia started with a powerless Izuku Midoriya throwing himself into certain doom in order to save Bakugo from a villain. Bakugo was the epitome of a talented-but-arrogant hero type, so throwing hismelf into almost certain death to save other heroes was not just a major turn in his character, it was an almost perfect culmination of his entire character arc – not to mention a sacrifice that would effect Izuku and the rest of the Class 1-A students around Bakugo in life-changing ways. 

So what will mean that Bakugo comes back to life? It’s not easy to say for sure, but it is definitely fair to speculate that it won’t be as powerful of a turn as his death would be. What do you think? 

My Hero Academia releases new chapters free online.