Warning: Spoilers for My Hero Academia’s Final Chapters
Summary
TheMy Hero Academiamanga has officially ended with chapter #430, bringing the 10-year-long journey to a conclusion at long last. As with any ending, different fans have had some very different reactions to how the series ended, but the ending itself managed to stick closely to the themes of the manga right up to its final pages.
Chapters #424-#430 make up something of an “epilogue” arc, set after the final battle, where All for One is defeated for good. This was already something of an unusual move, since many shonen manga will only have one or two wrap-up chapters set after the final fight concludes. However,My Hero Academiahad a lot of story threadsleft hanging, which necessitated a longer ending than most, and series creator Kohei Horikoshi was determined to use this time to hammer home the morals of this story, and to show how the world has changed in the wake of the most horrifying events of the series.
My Hero Academia’s Ending Emphasizes the Importance of Civilians
The Real Work for a Better World Starts With Everyone
Throughout these epilogue chapters, the story puts a surprising focus on some minor characters, including ones who were introduced or brought back solely for this ending. Included among these are a mysterious new character with a disturbing appearance, the new class of first-year students at UA, and the return ofthe old woman who failed to help Tenko Shimurain his darkest moment, ultimately leading to the creation of Tomura Shigaraki. Having seen how the heroes battled on their behalf, a new wave of respect has passed through the civilian world, but something’s different from before.
For much ofMy Hero Academia, the civilian population is rather complacent, expecting pro heroes to handle everything for them and growing angry with them when it turns out that they can’t. However, as the public lost faith in heroes to help them, something began to change. Those still fighting on behalf of the people were looked at with a new respect, acknowledging just how much they’ve sacrificed to bring peace back to the world. Despite facing terrifying villains with horrific power, the heroes fought on anyway, and they did it for the public, even without so much as thanks.
My Hero Academia’s Final Battle Ended With a Beautiful Homage to the Series' Beginning That Fans Missed
Deku’s final attack against All For One seems to be a loving tribute to All Might’s first battle in the My Hero Academia franchise.
Seeing young heroes, like Deku and his classmates, especially inspired the people, and there was a slow acknowledgment that civilians have their own role to play in maintaining the peace of the world.They can step up to help each other, and break the cycle of violence that leads to the creation of villains in the first place. This couldn’t be better demonstrated than by the mysterious character, whose mouth was sewn shut in an abusive situation, and the old woman,Granny, who this time reaches out a hand to helprather than ignore the problem and hope a hero will solve it.
Granny’s actions may well have prevented the next Shigaraki from being created, and all it took was extending a hand of kindness at the right moment. This theme of taking things into one’s own hands extends to other characters as well, such as the new first-years, who were moved to join UA due to the actions of their seniors. They aren’t just after glory, though; the first-years are just as eager to roll up their sleeves and get to work repairing the city. Even the random civilian populations are chipping in, rebuilding their own communities alongside the heroes.
My Hero Academia Ties Up Loose Ends, But Leaves Some Hanging
The Story Leaves A Few Too Many Plots Unresolved
While the ending was thematically on point for the series, the degree of resolution that these final chapters offered has left something to be desired for many fans.By far the biggest of these is the romance between Deku and Uraraka; with Uraraka having acknowledged her feelings during the final war, many fans expected her to confess to Deku in these final chapters, but that didn’t quite happen. There are some implications in the final chapter that they may be together (Deku and Uraraka are shown in the snow together in one panel), but nothing is confirmed, much to the irritation of fans who wanted to see them resolve their feelings.
A great many things were squeezed into small panels in the background like that, such as Eraser Head and Present Mic visitinga grave that presumably belongs to Shirakumo/Kurogiri, which probably would’ve been better served as full scenes. They didn’t need to be long scenes, but something more than a 1-inch panel in the background is necessary. Fans no doubt want specifics about how the characters they’ve been following for years ended up, and the final chapter just didn’t really deliver on specifics, mostly keeping things a bit vague other than the fact that all the Class 1-A students (save Deku) ended up as pros.
One of the other more controversial aspects surrounds Deku and his lack of power at the end. It’s obvious that All Might and Deku’s final scene is intended to mirror the scene from the beginning where All Might tells Deku he can be a hero, and in that sense it works well. Deku is actually a surprisingly good fit as a teacher, and it’s a path many didn’t consider for him. His analytical mind is well-suited to the job, and his habit of studying Quirks in detail gives him a good basis to work with kids with a variety of different Quirks. While it might not be the hero work of his dreams, it’s still a valuable role to play, shaping the future generation of heroes.
Lastly, there’s Deku’s “gift” from his fellow classmates–a special suit designed to allow even a Quirkless person to work as a hero. Deku’s friends went to great lengths to create and obtain this for him, and it does feel like a suitable reward, allowing him to have a shot at his dream once again. Some fans disliked this, as they felt it trivialized Deku’s decision to work as a teacher, but there’s no reason Deku can’t work as a pro hero and as a teacher; most UA teachers do, after all. It putsDeku in that Batman/Iron Man-style role, which is something many other fans have wanted to see all along.
Overall, the ending ofMy Hero Academiadelivered on many points, but also managed to drop the ball on a few plotlines which were particularly important to fans. Thematically, the ending works almost perfectly, and provides the valuable moral that anyone can be a hero simply by being kind and helping out their fellow humans. While it could’ve been better in some very specific ways,My Hero Academia’s ending mostly does what it needed to, and it serves as a suitable conclusion to an epic series.
My Hero Academia
My Hero Academia is a multimedia franchise that follows a young boy named Izuku Midoriya, who dreams of becoming a hero despite being born without superpowers. These superpowers, known as “Quirks” are found in most people after birth, but Izuku wasn’t so lucky - until a fateful encounter with All Might, Japan’s greatest hero, Izuku inherits his Quirk and enrolls in U.A. High School to learn the true meaning of heroism. Alongside his classmates, each endowed with unique abilities, Izuku faces rigorous training and lethal threats from villainous forces.
