My Hero Academia recently concluded its final war and it is safe to say that fans are incredibly surprised at what direction the series went in, in the very last chapter of the war. While, as a whole, this Final War Saga has been enjoyable for the fans, there are some characters the fans did not like the ending for.

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Of course, there was always going to be some division among the fans in regards to whether they liked the conclusion of certain character arcs or not, but, for very important characters, it is essential that the author nail the ending. One of the main characters in the series, and the man who was, for a very long time, one of the primary villains, Shigaraki Tomura, has finally seen his story conclude, and it has left the fans quite confused.

Shigaraki Tomura's Cruel Past

Shigaraki's True Past Was Utterly Shocking To The Fans

Shigaraki was introduced in My Hero Academia as a massive villain. Of course, back then, the organization he was leading wanted to destroy as much as they possibly could, and at the same time, they intended to ruin the legacy of All Might. Tomura was a force to be reckoned with, and eventually, a rivalry between him and Deku was set up. This was evident, given that All Might and All For One had their time at the top of the era, and now, it was time for the young blood to take up their flames and deliver yet again. Of course, Deku did what he could in his many encounters against Shigaraki, and the latter fought to his very best as well.

However, things were not exactly black and white in this battle. Of course, fans often see stories where a villain is purely evil and destroys for no reason whatsoever. These villains are, often, easy to hate, but at the same time, they deliver quite a lot of entertainment to the fans. Of course, then, there are the villains who were led to evil by the circumstances around them. Shigaraki falls in the latter category, and even though this type of villain has somewhat been overdone in media as of late, Shigaraki was certainly an excellent example of that. The more the author explored the character of Shigaraki, especially when My Villain Academia began in the manga, fans started to understand more of his way of thinking. Shigaraki's upbringing was very traumatic, and that is what led him to becoming the villain that he was. Of course, that didn't justify what he did and what he wanted to do, however, it did make him much more of an interesting character, and that goes without saying.

Shigaraki's Death Against Deku

Shigaraki Crumbled Into Dust After Deku's Victory

In My Hero Academia's Final War Saga, fans would inevitably get a battle between Deku and Shigaraki, and that is exactly what happened at the end of the series. This battle left the fans on the edge of their seats, and it was certainly very exciting, at least at the beginning. Fans also had to wait quite a while for this battle to actually begin. This did not come as a surprise to the fans, and that is simply down to the fact that the vast majority of the smaller battles were wrapped up first, before the author even touched this major clash. In My Hero Academia's final phase of the Final War, this fight finally began, with Deku at the peak of his powers, and Shigaraki itching to destroy everything that stood in his path. By this time, it can be said that the evil inside of Shigaraki had peaked and nobody could stand in his path, other than Deku.

With a proper combination of the vestiges that he had inside of him, Deku was able to carve his own path out. However, it wasn't until he started transferring the Quirks inside of Shigaraki that he actually started opening up a way to victory. With each Quirk being transferred, Shigaraki dove into his own psyche. At the same time, Deku, whose aim was to not just defeat Shigaraki, but also save him, because, at his core, he believed that shigaraki was an individual in need of help, was getting closer to his goal as well.

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After all the Quirks were transferred inside of Shigaraki, Deku started to see his memories in a different plane of existence. Here, fans found out more about Shigaraki's traumatic past. In fact, things that even Shigaraki himself did not know were revealed. Essentially, it was revealed that none of Shigaraki's decisions were ever truly his own. From the moment he was born, he was being groomed and manipulated by All For One. His Quirk was given to him by All For One, and the reconstruction nature of this power was stripped away from it, leaving him behind with just the power to destroy. The death of his family was, in a way, orchestrated by All For One in order to give him a trigger to break. At the same time, he then started to show himself as a Hero for him, and this certainly paints Shigaraki in a completely different light.

Shigaraki was fully manipulated into doing All For One's bidding for him, and now, at the very end of the war, his body was taken away from him one more time as All For One's to control. However, it was Deku, with the help of everyone else, who crushed All For One in the end, and ended the war for good. Little did fans know that with All For One's defeat, Shigaraki would perish as well.

Was Shigaraki's End Well Written?

Shigaraki Ended Up Turning To Dust With Deku's Blow

It can be safely said that the vast majority of Shigaraki's story was well-written. This was a very powerful character, not just in terms of actual strength, but also in terms of emotional writing and depth. Shigaraki has to be one of Horikoshi's best-written characters, and that goes without saying. The level of depth that he put into this character and the emotional attachment that the fans had to him due to his traumatic past was certainly commendable. However, the conclusion of the character arc certainly was not what the fans wanted. It would have been completely justifiable if Shigaraki simply wanted to destroy as much as he wanted due to what happened to him in the past.

However, the last revelation that was made by the author essentially confirmed that Shigaraki was just a puppet in All For One's game. Right from the moment when he was born, no decision that he took was actually his. He was being used and manipulated. He was essentially a prisoner of All For One and his body was never his own. Shigaraki was a character who deeply craved a Hero to save him, but was left without one. Even his descent into villainy was orchestrated by All For One, who completely controlled him. He existed for the sake of All For One, and he died a tragic death in the end. His death was certainly not what fans wanted it to be, and a character like him actually deserved a second shot at life.

Deku, who always claimed that he wanted to save Shigaraki, in the end, failed him, even though he did free his body from All For One. Shigaraki never got a second shot at life and never truly experienced true freedom because the moment All For One fell, his body crumbled as well.

My Hero Academia is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of My Hero Academia, My Hero Academia chapter 424, is set to be June 3, 2024.

My Hero Academia (2016)

Action

Superhero

Release Date

April 3, 2016

Studio

Bones

Creator

Kōhei Horikoshi

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll , Hulu