My Hero Academia: Where to Read Up on Shirakumo's Origin Story

The latest episode of My Hero Academia season 5 was one of the darkest that the anime series has [...]

By Kofi Outlaw

The latest episode of My Hero Academia season 5 was one of the darkest that the anime series has done. We learned the horrible truth about the Nomu monsters the League of Villains has created: their bodies are altered versions of dead people with powerful quirks. In My Hero Academia Episode 107, "More of a Hero Than Anyone" the reveal about the Nomu's origin gets delivered in a gut-punching emotional character story. We learn more about Aizawa's own childhood and his deep friendship with Present Mic and a boy named Oboro Shirakumo - and now fans of My Hero Academia's anime are eager to learn more about him!

READ: My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Manga Series

Aizawa's past exploits with Shirakumo and Present Mic were covered in the "School Days" arc of the My Hero Academia: Vigilantes spinoff series. That arc looks back at how a shy and uncertain Aizawa bonded with his two classmates at U.A. and had them (especially Shirakumo) help push him to become the hero we know Eraser Head to be. The arc really did make Oboro Shirakumo come alive as a fan-favorite character, which only makes the impact of his death - and the even darker fate he suffers after death - that much more painful to see in the big reveal about the origin of Tomura Shigaraki's personal guardian Nomu, Kurogiri.

Reading the My Hero Academia: Vigilantes backstory for Oboro Shirakumo also makes this season 5 episode of the My Hero Academia anime hit even harder, emotionally speaking. Details from the Vigilantes manga made their into the anime episode, as Aizawa looks back at his past at U.A. and his friendship with Oboro Shirakumo - Easter egg's like that infamous cat, which MHA fans felt in their collective souls.

This mini-arc about a minor character like Oboro Shirakumo is a testament to the power and depth that My Hero Academia creator Kohei Horikoshi has put into his world and its mythos. Aizawa's backstory being spread over two series only helped to enhance both, as it drove more fans to look at Vigilantes as a legitimate extension of the series, and built a great foundation for one of the main series' most pivotal and important reveals.

Thanks to the remnants of Shirakumo's consciousness inside of Kurogiri, the Pro Heroes may now have an advantage on getting an edge on the villains in the coming war.

My Hero Academia releases new chapters FREE ONLINE weekly. Season 5 of the anime is now streaming on Funimation and Hulu.

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