Kohei Horikoshi has not held back as we are now closer to the conclusion of The Final War Arc, and by extension the end of My Hero Academia. In particular, we’ve been seeing the individual final battles against the League Of Villains’ characters who we’ve known from the start of the series in Tomura Shigaraki, All For One, Dabi, Himiko Toga, and Spinner. These battles have all hit on a personal level with the heroes involved. Up to now we have had the fights against Dabi and Spinner resolved. Now with My Hero Academia Chapter 395 Horikoshi concluded the battle between Himiko and Ochaco Uraraka in a dramatic way.
For those not up on recent events, Horikoshi has placed a major focus on the battle between the heroes and villains at the Gunga Mountain Ruins site. Things grew beyond chaotic when Himiko Toga arrived through one of Kurogiri warp gates and immediately utilized the Double Quirk to create an army of clones with Twice’s Sad Man’s Parade Ultimate Move. Things got even more out of hand when Himiko pushed her Quirk beyond its limits to transform all the Sad Man’s Parade clones into all of the heroes that she was battling.
As things looked their worst Ochaco Uraraka stepped up to battle Himiko. While they were both using the limits of their Quirks, Ochaco vs Himiko wasn’t a showcase of their power levels like Dabi vs the Todoroki Family became. Instead, the battle was more of one where Ochaco did everything to connect with Himiko on an emotional and personal level. Ochaco used her empathy to honestly connect with Himiko as a friend that truly believed Himiko’s smile was “the cutest in the whole world.”
That brings us to the events of My Hero Academia Chapter 395, where in the aftermath of Himiko time limit running out on using Twice’s Double Quirk Ochaco collapsed after all the blood loss from being stabbed in the gut early on in this battle. Further showing her growth, even in her near-death state, Ochaco was able to make sure everyone affected by her Zero Gravity Quirk usage was gently brought back to the ground. This was the last trigger for Himiko to have her hero moment as she drank Ochaco’s blood to transform into her rival and then conducted a blood transfusion in order to save Ochaco’s life.
With that came the end of yet another memorable emotionally charged battle that acted as a payoff to the character arcs for Ochaco and Himiko. For how long it seemed it took us to get to this and the other intense battles we’ve seen in The Final War Arc there is no arguing Horikoshi clearly had a plan for everything. The final battles against Dabi, Spinner, and now Himiko have each touched on different themes that Horikoshi has been playing with.
What particularly stood out with Himiko, among many things, is how this battle placed a spotlight on the impact Quirks have on their user. Specifically, when it comes to how Quirks can affect the nature of its users. While not everyone we’ve seen examples like Katsuki Bakugo personality reflects his Explosion Quirk. With Himiko’s character arc Horikoshi emphasized the extreme impact Quirks can have on a person.
Throughout The Final War Arc we saw various flashbacks throughout that spotlighted Himiko not only feeling but actually being ostracized because of her desire to drink other people’s blood out of love. This in turn created sympathy for Himiko as even with all that she was doing to cause chaos in her attack on the heroes.
Which in turn makes the fact that Ochaco was able to recognize Himiko’s mental health being strained by her usage of Twice’s Double along with her own history make this resolution hit an epic level in its own way. Ochaco herself even admitted that she has grown from being the person who was initially only looking to become a Pro Hero for the wealth that came with it. We’ve seen Ochaco grow from that initial character to become someone who wanted to become a superhero whose drive was to protect and save people.
Showing even more of her growth was how Ochaco went about her battle with Himiko. Rather than a battle where her powers shined like we see with Izuku Midoriya and Shoto Todoroki, it was Ochaco empathy that shined. Ochaco understood from all the interactions with Himiko, including in this final battle, that what her rival needed most was a friend who genuinely saw the best in her. Its why Twice’s death had such an impact on Himiko as he was genuinely her best friend. Ochaco was able to similarly connect with Himiko by speaking honestly about wanting to be friends that love each other and genuinely though Himiko’s smile was the cutest in the world.
This in turn made Himiko’s own sacrifice to save Ochaco an even more touching turn of events. With their friendship affirmed and seeing the lengths Ochaco went to save everyone, Himiko did not hesitate in the blood transfusion to save Ochaco’s life. An emotional moment, Himiko did this living the way she wanted, someone who lived and loved as she pleased. And it was thanks to Ochaco genuinely reaching out to her as a friend that Himiko was able to live and love the way she wanted until the end.
With that came an end to yet another character arc for the League Of Villains member that Horikoshi has been building towards since the beginning of My Hero Academia. Himiko was one of the most developed characters, hero or villain, in the series. And to Horikoshi’s credit this ending for Himiko was a memorable one.
