Things have escalated to a point we have not seen before in My Hero Academia as multiple hero vs villain fights are going on at the same time. The biggest one at the moment is the battle against All For One that Endeavor, Hawks, Earphone Jack, and Tsukuyomi are leading. In the last chapter it finally looked like things were turning around for our heroes as Endeavor made his big return, ready to hit the final strike on All For One. Now with the stage set for the climax in the current All For One battle who will live and who will perish? Let’s find out with Chapter 357 of My Hero Academia.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer & Artist: Kohei Horikoshi
SYNOPSIS
While defending himself against Endeavor’s assault All For One remembers the feeling he had when fighting All Might and how wounded heroes are always the scariest.
With Hawks help giving him more speed Endeavor is able to hit All For One with a powerful Vanishing Jet Burn attack to smash the villain into the ground.
Kamui Woods quickly gets all the heroes in the area to leave the area to give Endeavor room to continue his attack on All For One.
All For One tries to absorb Endeavor’s powers but Endeavor counters by burning All For One’s hand off.
While continuing his attack Endeavor thinks back to how he failed his son Toya Todoroki. With this in mind Endeavor declares that he will win the fight against All For One in order to ensure the past won’t get in the way the future Shoto Todoroki and future generations of heroes will build.
Endeavor then finally strikes All For One with his Ultimate Move, Prominence Burn.
As Endeavor holds All For One’s body that has burnt to a crisp All For One reveals that his current body already served its purpose. As his charred remains are blown into the air All For One smiles saying that “big sacrificial moments” aren’t exclusive to heroes, while also thinking how villains are also scariest when wounded.
Elsewhere, as Deku is flying to the battleground Tomura Shigaraki is at Yoichi Shigaraki (the first One For All user) tells Deku that he suddenly sensed something bad. Just as that is said several figures are seen in the sky near where Deku is at. End of chapter.
REVIEW
Kohei Horikoshi continues to find ways to top each previous chapter with strong character moments that keep the reader invested in what is going on at the moment. My Hero Academia Chapter 357 is yet another example of that.
This entire chapter just continues where we left off as we get both Endeavor and All For One’s perspective in this final fight between them. As the fighting goes on Horikoshi does a good job at emphasizing how Endeavor knows that All For One still won’t go down with one attack. Even in his weakened state thanks to Hawks, Earphone Jack, and Tsukuyomi hard work it is not enough. There still needed more to be done to make sure when Endeavor finally unleashed his Prominence Burn it was truly the finisher of a move it is supposed to be.
That all builds well into the idea that Horikoshi starts and ends My Hero Academia Chapter 357 people on both sides of the hero vs villain conflict are scariest when wounded. On the heroes side of things Endeavor is shown to represent this. Throughout this chapter in both his dialogue and the way he is drawn Horikoshi shows that Endeavor is fighting through immense pain. That fortitude made his thoughts about creating a positive future for Shoto and all future generations be even a greater motivation for him.
At the same time, we do see that Endeavor is not being reckless in his attacks. While they certainly appear that way Endeavor made sure every attack served its purpose of chipping away at Endeavor’s defenses so there would be no counter to his Prominence Burn attack. This set things up so that when Endeavor did finally unleash his Prominence Burn attack it was presented as a true Ultimate Move meant to finish the fight.
All the character building with Endeavor was complimented well with how All For One was viewing what was going on at the same time. Even as he was clearly loosing the fight All For One never lost the belief he lost the war. Even realizing how scary heroes are when they are wounded and desperate it did not make All For One lose confidence in himself.
This all made All For One even scarier as even as a charred carcass he acted as this was going all according to his plan. All For One telling Endeavor that heroes aren’t the only ones that can make others stronger by making a big sacrifice added to that fearsome demeanor. Adding the smile to All For One’s burnt face just made it even more terrifying as this was the first actual facial expression we’ve seen him make. This chilling smile creates so many more concerns for our heroes moving forward.
Speaking of which, the ending interestingly brought the attention of the story back to Deku’s perspective. Yoichi Shigaraki sensing something is wrong certainly adds to what just happened to All For One. For the first One For All user to sense danger you know that things are likely to get worse before they get better. What this all means as Deku needs to prepare himself to face off against a group of villains should make for an exciting next chapter.
FINAL THOUGHTS
My Hero Academia Chapter 357 delivers on all the building up to the finale of the fight against All For One. The character work done with Endeavor as the build towards him unleashing Prominence Burn on All For One worked incredibly well. The impact of that Ultimate Move and All For One’s reaction afterwards all creates greater excitement for what comes next in My Hero Academia.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10
