My Hero Academia Flashback Shares First Look at Shigaraki’s Tragic Origin

My Hero Academia’s fifth season shared the first look at Tomura Shigaraki’s tragic origin story with a flashback in the newest episode! The fifth season of the series has finally kicked off the much anticipated My Villain Academia arc of Kohei Horikoshi’s original manga, and it’s showcasing what Tomura Shigaraki and the other villains have been up to this entire time while Izuku Midoriya and the other heroes have been training to get stronger. This has been the same case for the villains as well, apparently, and one of the major teases we have gotten for Shigaraki is how his strength is rooted in rage from his past.

The voice behind Shigaraki, Koki Uchiyama, had teased that we would be getting some major reveals for Shigaraki over the course of this arc and the first episode of it has not disappointed in that regard. Episode 108 of the series gave anime fans the first look at his origin story, and while it was teased to be tragic before he was taken under All For One’s wing, the newest episode reveals just how horrifying it really was as we get a glimpse of a family that the young Shigaraki ultimately caused the death of.

Episode 108 of the series sees Shigaraki challenged by All For One’s mysterious doctor ally as part of an overall test of whether or not he’s going to be a worthy successor. Shigaraki explains that while he doesn’t remember much of his past before meeting All For One, he remembers the meeting itself quite clearly. As the episode shows through a flashback, the young Shigaraki — real name Tenko Shimura — has been left broken down through whatever traumatic event happened before All For One found him.

All For One explains to the young Shimura that he actually manifested a quirk and murdered his family to the point where all that remained of them were their hands, the same hands he now wears on his body. This left the young Shimura even more broken and desolate, and thus the perfect putty for All For One to mold and tap into the rage left behind. There’s still lots left to explain about this origin as the anime continues through this new Shigaraki arc, but it’s clear that this villain began his lift in a truly twisted way.

What did you think of this first look into Shigaraki’s origin story with the newest episode? What are you hoping to see from the rest of the My Villain Academia arc before Season 5 comes to an end? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!