My Hero Academia has hit on a whole new level as we have entered The Final Act Saga. There has been a renewed focus on Izuku Midoriya’s journey as he has turned into a vigilante hero. This decision was not just made because of the change in the landscape of the hero society but because Izuku and his One For All Quirk is being targeted by All For One and the League of Villains. How long will Izuku be able to continue his vigilante career while on the run from the League of Villains? Let’s find out with chapter 310 of My Hero Academia.
Writer & Artist: Kohei Horikoshi
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: Late at night a bunch of civilians chase a Quirk user looking to beat her up for looking like a monster (she looks like a very tall fox). Deku (Izuku Midoriya) suddenly shows up and defends the Quirk user against the civilians.
After driving off the civilians Deku learns that the Quirk user first tried to hide out in her home thinking that the anti-Quirk sentiment would die down. When that didn’t happen she decided to go to the shelter at the nearby hero high school when she was attacked. Deku calms her down by letting her know things will get back to normal eventually.
All Might shows up and offers to escort the Quirk user to the hero high school shelter. Before Deku leaves All Might gives him a bento box so he can eat some food. Deku thanks All Might for the meal.
Later, Izuku talks with Daigoro Banjo (the fifth wielder of One For All) about how they don’t have any leads on where Shigaraki, All For One, or the rest of the League of Villains are. Daigoro says with how things are now the world is easy pickings for the villains. Izuku says that its clear with Endeavor and Aizawa-Sensei being unable to stop Shigaraki that he needs to draw out the full power of One For All to save everyone.
Izuku then thinks back to when he was in the Vestige World when he was still in a coma at the hospital. The past One For All user talk about how they are in the dark of where All For One, Tomura Shigaraki, and the League of Villains are or what they are planning to do. Izuku Midoriya says that since Endeavor and Eraser Head were unable to stop Shigaraki with All For One’s Quirk that all that is left is to use One For All to stop them.
The First One For All user then turns to the Second and Third user of One For All to ask them to help. The Second and Third just stay silent.
After a quiet moment Daigoro Banjo reaffirms the fact Izuku needs to master all the Quirks from the previous One For All users.
The Third One For All user suddenly begins to talk about how he and the First and Second One For All users came from the harshest era in Quirk history when All For One was at his peak and ready to dominate the world. He goes on to say because of this it took all the heroic Quirk users at the time to fight against All For One.
The Second One For All user then speaks directly to the First (who he addresses as Yoichi). The Second One For All user reveals that they lost many in trying to save Yoichi’s brother (All For One). He goes on to say that in battle victory means life and defeat means death. The Second One For All user then asks Yoichi if they can really trust someone like Izuku who wants to “save” their mortal enemy (Shigaraki with All For One’s Quirk).
Yoichi says that he knows it sounds delusional but if it wasn’t for the Second One For All user extending his hand to save him saving the world wouldn’t have been possible. The Second One For All user once again asks if they can trust the kid to save the day. Yoichi says they can as One For All will never bow to his brother.
Back in the present all of the One For All Users in the Vestige World prepare Izuku to go all in training to master One For All and their Quirks. Izuku says he is ready. End of chapter.
The Good: My Hero Academia Chapter 310 is a strong tone setter for this series moving forward. The previous chapters were all about setting up Izuku Midoriya as vigilante hero when he is working as Deku. Now with this chapter we see that moving forward Izuku is now on the fast track to fully master not just One For All but all the Quirks of his predecessors.
Throughout the life of My Hero Academia, especially in early chapters, we’ve heard talk about the Dark Age when Quirks first started to appear in the world. But now after the Paranormal Liberation War arc we are experiencing a second Dark Age in this world filled with Quirks. We first saw the move towards the second Dark Age in My Hero Academia Chapter 300. Since then we’ve gotten various hints of that being the case.
Now with My Hero Academia Chapter 310 we have our clearest look into how bad things are with the anti-Quirk sentiment. Seeing the young Quirk user being attacked by anti-Quirk protestors immediately reminded me of how the mutants have been treated in Marvel’s X-Men comic books. Things are clearly dangerous for anyone with a Quirk and even worse for those who have a Quirk were their appearances don’t make them look like a normal person. Your heart breaks for the young Quirk user as she was just trying to get to one of the shelters after she understood just waiting for the anti-Quirk sentiment to die down was not her best move.
As tough as it was to see this happen to her it did provide another example of how Izuku Midoriya is genuinely trying be a hero who smiles as Deku. Sure, he has a much more serious tone to his character now but when he is out saving people as Deku he still wants to follow in All Might’s path. The conversation he has with the Quirk user after saving her from her attackers showed this. Izuku has come a long way when he was unsure of how to properly rescue others during the Provisional Licensing Exam arc. And that is shown as he was successful in calming the Quirk user down and reassuring her things will get better.
All Might showing up when he did to help get the Quirk user to the shelter and give Deku a bento box was a good continuation of how he is stepping up as a mentor now. He clearly knows that Izuku has put a lot on his shoulders and sees past the smile of his protégé. At the same time All Might understands that Izuku needs to push himself as he is the only that can communicate with the other One For All users right now. It’ll be very interesting to see how long All Might continues to let Izuku be on his own in the way he is and if we’ll see All Might step in to be more hands on with the training in the future.
Flashing back to the Vestige World within Izuku’s One For All again was well executed. Kohei Horikoshi made sure to emphasize that it was important that we get this one last flashback to the pre-timeskip. It helped place a greater importance to how Yoichi was able to finally convince the Second and Third One For All Users to help in training Izuku with using all their Quirks. It was something that was needed as mastery of One For All is no longer enough to defeat Tomura Shigaraki and All For One. Izuku having all his predecessors help in mastering all their Quirks along with One For All will be key to how things go down in The Final Act Saga.
In the process Horikoshi provides us with further details into the original Dark Age of the My Hero Academia Universe and how the first generation heroes turned things around. Learning that it was the Second and Third One For All users who saved Yoichi from All For One imprisonment immediately gets you to understand how it really was a war at that time. Hearing how much was sacrificed just to get to Yoichi put over the original Dark Age.
It also helped to make the importance of the Second One For All user reaching his hand out to save Yoichi was a major turning point for the fate of the My Hero Academia Universe. In this one act the Second One For All user decided that rather than killing a weapon that All For One could’ve used against the heroes fighting him that he needed to save Yoichi from his tortured existence. Showing this provides an example that Izuku’s thought of possibly saving Shigiraki is not impossible. Its all about doing it the right way, which makes the training that Izuku is about to go through even more important.
The Bad: Though the flashback to the Vestige World was well done having this happen again was maybe one to many times for the start of The Final Act Saga. Horikoshi did go to the flashback well one to many times in these chapters. It does almost make you wish we got more of a linear story where all of the flashbacks were instead told in one go rather than in split up into several parts. It did not ruin the experience of what was accomplished by chapter 310.
Overall: My Hero Academia Chapter 310 does an excellent job in wrapping up the first post-timeskip arc as we begin The Final Act Saga of this series. Kohei Horikoshi brought the focus of the story back to Izuku Midoriya’s hero journey and laid out what the plans are for My Hero Academia’s main protagonist moving forward. In the process Horikoshi also sets up what the current world is like as an anti-Quirk sentiment is on the rise that will remind Marvel fans of how mutants are treated in the X-Men franchise. With all of this groundwork established there are many unknowns for My Hero Academia moving forward that all future chapters will be even more hotly anticipated.
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