The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Chapter 360, “Despite Everything...," by Kohei Horikoshi available in English from Viz Media.
Never before has the absence of the main character been felt, as it has been in the most recent chapters of My Hero Academia. The Heroes are struggling to simply stay alive against Shigiraki, seemingly no longer trying to stall but just trying to avoid death.
The last chapter of My Hero Academia ended with the Big Three from UA preparing to jump in and protect Bakugo from the approaching Shigiraki. Shigiraki has made it clear that the only reason he has an interest in Bakugo is due to his relationship with Midoriya. Most of this particular battle has been a constant highlighting of the relationship between those two, and it should be no surprise this chapter does the same.
The Ultimate Disrespect
It is still unclear who is in control between Shigiraki and All For One but whoever they are, it is brutal their treatment of Bakugo. He places his foot on his head, lifts him into the air by gripping his hair with his toes, breaks his other gauntlet, and chokes him. He even gives some of the most vile commentary while doing so, saying he’s happy his quirks are neutralized cause now there will be a corpse for him to recognize when he arrives.
His left are is a twisted amalgamation of fingers and limbs that is used to crush the rest of the equipment on his body and leave him broken. Once that was done, he finished his condescending speech by admonishing Bakugo, telling him that he will be nothing but a hanger on a minnow to Deku in the wake of One for all. Bakugo’s face as this is said to him show’s complete despair as he is effectively told his worst nightmare of always being second and looked down by Deku will become a reality.
With both his mind, body, and spirit seemingly crushed, the only thing left for Shigiraki to do is end his life. Before he can however, Nejire appears and uses one of her energy waves to save Bakugo. Shigiraki uses him as a human shield unfortunately, and then she needs to redirect it. Now that he’s turned his back though, Suneater uses the power of his scorpion tail and octopus camouflage to sneak up on Shigiraki and poison him. It doesn’t work though.
Shigiraki’s body continues to adapt, not only growing immune to the poison but also growing more body parts. Horikoshi appears to be flexing his artistic abilities a bit as hands, fingers, mouths and eyes are things artist commonly state they struggle drawing, and yet he is not only drawing a multitude of them and fitting them in a single panel, but also using them as attacks and weapons. It seems like all their efforts are failing, that is until Lemillion arrives.
Teamwork Makes Dream Work
Mirio is a character who was introduced with a lot of hype surrounding him, but outside of the arc he was introduced in, he was not given many chances to shine. This chapter however gives him tons to do. In the few panels he is given, he succeeds in saving Bakugo’s life form Shigiraki, avoid all of Shigiraki’s attacks, land a devastating blow on him by utilizing Nejir’s energy waves, and does it all while holding a conversation with him. He questions why Shigiraki is doing all this and when he says its to destroy the current framework he highlights how he must not have had any friends, because if he did he would see there are things worth keeping around. The blow he lands on Shigiraki seems to be significant but its unlikely it will be fatal and Lemillon knows it. He says he’s aware they can’t beat Shigiraki but he will do all he can to hold him off until Midoriya arrives.
Bakugo is a lot of things. He has shown himself to be loud, violent, rude, disrespectful, arrogant, vain, proud, and overall a mean person. However Bakugo is someone who because of those traits, one who never gives up. No matter how strong his enemy, how brutal the beatdown, how severe the punishment, Bakugo has always sought victory in his battles. Best Jeanist turns to him and sees him still watching the battle, studying every move, every tactic, and commentating on all of it like an announcer for boxing and then Best Jeanist sees it. Bakugo spirit is never broken, and even in midst of overwhelming power, he was still sicking to prove he was number one. After all, All Might always wins, and that is what inspires Bakugo.
Conclusion
The art in this chapter is so good it almost seems like a flex. Previously I stated how it was hard to follow with all the flesh and fingers on teh page, but this chapter provided no such complication. To add, the chapter also kept with the darker and more gruesome imagery the fans and readers should have grown accustom to in this arc. The action itself was mildly entertaining but perhaps the weakest part of the conflict.
There was not much actual fighting going on as Mirio only landed one blow and mostly used his abilities to evade and dodge. In addition, the other two memebrs of the big three really didn't get to show off much, so it just turned into Mirio doing the work of saving Bakugo and leading the offense. It touched on emotional beats about friendship, which also ties back to Bakugo's relationship with Deku, but not much else.
The best part however was the callbacks. Shigiraki remembering how Bakugo looked up to how All Might always win and then used that against him was good, but even better than that was how Bakugo showcased how he maintained that same drive and desire from then by staring at the battle ensuing. He truly has the heart of a warrior and it's that look in his eyes that make the end of the chapter so good and excites people to read the next one.