Chapter 356 of My Hero Academia opens with Hawks, Jiro, and Tokoyami continuing to display their teamwork and coordination. During the last chapter, the trio of heroes managed to crack the mask of All For One by syncing their attacks to assault him, perhaps the strongest villain in the series, with a barrage of blows.
Endeavor, the number one hero, is still on the ground bleeding from his rib cage lamenting his failures with his children and his past sins, as well as how he allowed himself to be careless, but that has not stopped these heroes to continue fighting in his stead. This battle only grows more intense as things progress in one of My Hero Academia's most consequential encounters.
Piling The Pressure
With All For One now on the ropes, Jiro advises Tokoyami to take advantage of the moment and press forward to smash the villain's mask. In doing so, Tokoyami demonstrates his new move “Abyssal Black Body Ragnarök; Fleeting Blow”! Once again, Horikoshi demonstrates his talent for developing very cool names for super moves and does this one live up to the hype.
It is interesting as the move Abyssa Black Body was changed to Black Abyss but for whatever reason Tokoyami changed it back. Hawks then begins to taunt AFO for thinking they were just stalling for Endeavor to wake up. At the same time, All For One begins to fall towards the ground with the shattered pieces of his mask crumbling around him and descending also. It appears as if he is even struggling to breathe with the way his hands reach for his neck and Horikoshi expertly characterizes a look of desperation on this character despite him lacking eyes, ears, and a nose to do so.
Speaking of, AFO then begins to think on how despite losing those sensory organs he still was able to maintain a keen awareness of his surroundings through the new quirks he stole. In fact, he claims the reason he is lagging behind is because of his quirks rebelling, which was brought on by Stars & Stripes. Stars & Stripes continuing to be a major factor in the story despite only appearing for one arc before her unfortunate demise is perhaps one of the best parts of this current arc.
It creates a sense of connection between the arcs and definitely makes her death not feel meaningless and gives that entire encounter a purpose. While AFO continues to deal with those quirks rebelling Hawks leaps in preparing to decapitate AFO, killing him, but then we are gifted with a very gruesome but well drawn image of All For One asserting his dominance over the other quirks.
After asserting his will, AFO uses his rivet stab quirk to release an explosion of rivets in every direction! It's almost as if the sky turned into a field of thorns with the way the red and black rivets reached all over the page.
These Rivets were used to grab the remains of his destroyed mask to reassemble it back on his face but to also severely injure Hawks, Tokoyami and Jiro. We do see that Hawks had just enough awareness to catch what AFO was up to and moved his body protect Jiro and Tokoyami from the rivets. In an effort to protect his mentee he shields them with his own body, and we are given panels showing blood splattering out with him covering them. However, this was not Hawks blood.
Keep Pushing Forward
All for one’s mask has been reassembled, blood is spattered across the page but then when he speaks it's not down to Hawks or the kids. No, we see Endeavor having risen up and taking the blow for them. The Rivets have pierced his body so badly, blood has not only spattered everywhere but his right forearm has been ripped off at the elbow.
AFO mocks him and his stubbornness saying it is that very character flaw which led him to be twisted and disfigured. Then fans are treated with perhaps a long-awaited treat. Endeavor has a flashback, and while we have had Enji Todoroki flashbacks before, none went to his time as a UA high school student.
The flashback happens in two parts. First is the image of Endeavor on all fours groveling beneath the visage of his teenage self. Teenage Enji begins to call him weak saying all the things he has done and strived for made him very weak. He forces him to remember the moment that was so defining for him as a character which offers readers a new insight into his character.
Endeavor's father died when he was just a teenager in high school failing to save a girl from a villain. This sight of his father's burned body, having died for nothing as the young girl also perished. Young Enji says it was this, coupled with the feelings of jealousy towards Endeavor and inferiority which pushed him to strive so hard to be strong. We see him picking his hero name, which he chose because it meant “Hard work” as Enji tells his hero self that he will never be a strong superhero no matter how hard he strives and works. Endeavor then begins to rise, reaching up and wrapping younger Endeavor around his neck.
As young Enji Todoroki continues to speak, Endeavor begins to light him on fire, burning him to the ground as fire engulfs his body. These panels are super intense, almost seeming to symbolize Endeavor killing his old self, killing his weakness and continuing to move forward The younger Enji tells him to not curse his weakness or forget it as that is the battle he’s been fighting against this whole time and serves as his whole reason for living. Then it becomes clear that Endeavor has always worked hard to overcome his weaknesses.
It's not that he is strong in spite of his limitation but rather because of them. It's because he had these weaknesses and flaws that he was able to push so hard and it was the decision to reject or eliminate them that led to where he is. Afterward, we get a beautiful double panel of Endeavor using his signature Flashfire fist attack to literally make a fist of fire where his right arm used to be and punch All For One, engulfing him in a blaze as he talks. The chapter ends with that image and Endeavor stating that he is dogged, and he will never be satisfied with a good job for as it's his duty to do what he set out to do once and for all.
The Review
This chapter was perfect. If this was the conclusion to this battle it was certainly satisfying being one of the best fights in the series thus far. The imagery displayed is phenomenal and the desperation of the heroes' situation could be felt with the buildup and tension. We are also given a lot of terrifying imagery from All For One devouring the other quirks, Endeavor losing his arm, Enji burning his old self, and the final double panel punch, which honestly is Horikoshi once again cementing himself as the double spread mangaka king in his artwork. From a narrative perspective the battle itself was very good and well-choreographed but of course, the major moment goes to Endeavor’s taking the blow and using the fire to strike. It's beautiful.
Some will say they don’t like how the story seems to imply even child Enji only cared about strength and power. This may even have readers believe he is undeserving of redemption and does not have noble reasons for being a hero. This is to be expected since Endeavor is one of the most disliked characters in the series. However, another perspective could be that Endeavor strived for strength to protect people. Endeavor witnessed his own father protecting a child he loved and because he was weak not only did he die but so did his daughter. Because he was not strong, not a superhuman he failed to do anything.
In the past, All Might seemingly defeated villains with ease while carrying a smile on his face. In contrast, Endeavor gritted his teeth and struggled. He needed to push beyond his limits and keep going. This is also relevant because Endeavor’s true desire was to eliminate his weakness by pairing it with an ice quirk so that way it would be flawless. He wished to overcome his limitations by making his own children powerful superhumans.
He curses his limitations and tried to find a way past them, but this shows he did that because he wanted to be strong enough to protect people. A kid seeing his own father die because of weakness would of course trigger the thought of endlessly pursuing strength. Endeavor wanted to work hard and keep pushing to reach what he needed relentlessly, and he had to learn to accept his flaws in order to reach his goal and this chapter was him doing just that. This feels like the perfect conclusion to his character arc and thus made this chapter as spectacular as it was.
My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi is serialized by Shounen Jump and chapter 357 releases on Sunday, June 26th.