Kohei Horikoshi is not holding back anymore. The first month of 2022 has been all about setting the stage for the big Hero vs Villain War that has been built due to all the actions that All For One has taken in an attempt to take over the world. With how careful All For One has been about making moves, even the big loud moves like Shigaraki fighting Star and Stripe, we don’t know when he will go all in on not hiding anymore. It does seem like we are as close as ever for All For One to send the entire world into chaos. Will Chapter 343 of My Hero Academia be where the war begins? Let’s find out.
Writer & Artist: Kohei Horikoshi
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: All For One uses a Lie Detector Quirk to see that Aoyama’s parents aren’t lying to him when requestion Yuga Aoyama’s contact info for the next phase of his plan.
The next day Izuku Midoriya finds Yuga in the city after he was released from jail thanks to his parents lawyers. Yuga reveals that All For One is planning to use the current chaotic state Japan is in that is similar to the Great Depression to make the world reliant on Quirks and he becomes the demon lord of the world.
All For One suddenly appears thanking Yuga for keeping his parents promise. Yuga turns around and fires a Naval Laser blast to show that he didn’t actually betray Izuku and the heroes.
Believing he is still in control since the heroes are all scattered across the country All For One teleports Tomura Shigaraki, Dabi, Himiko Toga, Nomu, and other villains to attack Izuku and Yuga.
Before sending the villains to attack All For One is stunned to notice one of Kurogiri’s Warp Gate’s open behind Izuku and Yuga. Neito Monoma is shown having used Kurogiri’s powers to bring Endeavor, Mirko, Gang Orca, Nejire Hado, Fat Gum, Suneater, Edgeshot, Onima, Shishido, and Wash to Izuku’s location.
Yuga then tells All For One “You fear the world learning Japan isn’t finished. You fear the light and hope that will come with recovery. And you fear Japan inspiring the world to unite once more. So today is the day and this is the place where you fall!!” End of chapter.
The Good: As Doctor Strange said at the end of Avengers: Infinity War “We’re in the Endgame now.” That is the quote that comes to mind right away when Kohei Horikoshi delivered the last four pages of My Hero Academia Chapter 343. If you didn’t believe we are getting to the end stages of My Hero Academia then you better because we are there.
Horikoshi is going all in on how there is nothing holding either the heroes or villains of the My Hero Academia Universe. The world is in such a bad state that at any moment we could have seen the war between the two sides begin and that is exactly what happens in chapter 343 of My Hero Academia. Everything about this chapter was about getting us to the final two big splash pages of this chapter is making you feel that this is where 2021 and January 2022 chapters have been building towards. The sense of payoff in these final pages was excellently handled.
The same goes for the lead up to these final four pages. Horikoshi made sure the reader kept in mind how big of deal the UA traitor sub-plot is to My Hero Academia. Yuga Aoyama speech to Izuku Midoriya kept you as the reader on your toes because we’ve seen All For One so in control of what is going on that you really believed Yuga was still working as one of the villain’s agent. Adding in how Yuga revealed the details of how All For One is planning to use the state of Japan to eventually take over the entire world further pushed you to question Yuga’s role in the story.
Credit to Horikoshi with his artwork really enhancing you feeling as shocked as Izuku was during this speech. Until Yuga turned around and fire his Naval Laser blast it did feel like we were betrayed by him again. But then when Yuga turns around to shoot All For One you see how Horikoshi has truly planned out all these big plot beats from the beginning. He knew that Yuga as UA’s traitor would be key in getting My Hero Academia into its final stages and that is exactly what happened.
In the process Horikoshi further pushed why All For One is the big bad of the entire My Hero Academia series. He is the pure representation of evil and absolutely revels in it. There is nothing about All For One that believes he is the hero of his story. Rather he considers himself as a Demon Lord. The framing of how Horikoshi showed us the state of the world in All For One’s vision during Yuga’s speech about the villain’s plan emphasized all that.
Which all went to how hype of a chapter My Hero Academia Chapter 343 was. After being thrown into a corner for well over a year worth in chapters it finally feels like the heroes are ready to fight on an even playing field. Even with how much Endeavor and the other heroes have working against them they won’t go down without a fight. The final shot of all heroes showed that those left to fight All For One’s forces are the ones most determined to stop All For One and that is what it will take to save the world.
The opening pages of this chapter also delivered an intriguing sub-plot set-up for Naomasa Tsukauchi. Given that Horikoshi dedicated a full page of dialogue to revealing that All For One stole the Lie Detector Quirk of the first person in Tsukauchi’s family line when Quirks first started appearing it wouldn’t be surprising if this becomes a bigger plot point down the line. Given how Horikoshi has used similar sub-plots to be developed into major plot points down the line Naomasa could become a key character the closer we get to the end of the series.
The Bad: Nothing.
Overall: Kohei Horikoshi holds absolutely nothing back as he goes all in on making My Hero Academia Chapter 343 one of the biggest chapters of the series to date. Everything about how Yuga Aoyama turning out to be the UA High School traitor was used by both All For One and the heroes was expertly done. With all of the build up that was had in the lead up there is no way you cannot be hyped when going through the final four pages of this chapter. The anticipation for reading the next chapter could not be any higher.
