Things have escalated more than they ever have. The heroes were able to hit All For One with the Quirk Destroying Drug. That move became a double edge sword because rather than immediately depowering All For One it had a different effect. The Quirk Destroying Drug has caused All For One to regress through the various phases of his life. Before getting to the point where All For One no longer has access to any Quirk he has been gaining access to all his old Quirks as he has been going through a de-aging-type process. With a race against time can All For One be stopped long enough for the Quirk Destroying Drug to take full effect as the heroes desired? Let’s find out with My Hero Academia Chapter 386.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer & Artist: Kohei Horikoshi
SYNOPSIS
Tomura Shigaraki’s location Naomasa Tsukauchi scrambles to find anyone capable of stopping All For One.
Naomasa is informed that in ten minutes the thermal energy within Dabi will be released and cause an explosion that will destroy all the evacuation zones in a five-kilometer (which is a little over three miles) radius around the Gunga Mountain.
Hearing all this Toshinori Yagi contacts Tenya Ida and Shoto Todoroki, who are still injured from the previous fight with Dabi and the villains, to stop Dabi as they are the only ones that can. Hearing the belief All Might has in them Ida goes into Ingenium mode and rushes at maximum speed Gunga Mountains while carrying Shoto on his back.
Meanwhile, thinking back to what Izuku Midoriya said about wanting to be a Quirkless hero, Toshinori declares “I Am Here” and activates his car to begin transforming into armor. All Might and All For One then prepare to face off. End of chapter.
REVIEW
The deeper into The Final War Arc we get the more we see how Kohei Horikoshi has this entire arc planned out as happening in phases. We just completed the big phase of all the heroes doing everything they can to stop All For One from reaching Tomura Shigaraki. That turned out to be a failure as All For One is using the last burst of his Quirk powers he has to get his ultimate goal accomplished. Now we are in a whole new phase that sees Toshinori Yagi make his grand return to the forefront with My Hero Academia Chapter 386.
The stage gets set with the opening of My Hero Academia Chapter 386. There Horikoshi puts over the sense of desperation over how things have turned out thus far in The Final War Arc. Credit to how Horikoshi has built Naomasa Tsukauchi as being the Jim Gordon of the My Hero Academia Universe. Because of how he was scrambling as he got news about All For One and Dabi you feel how Naomasa was doing his best to process and respond. This gets down to how there really is no good response since every hero we know has either tried and failed to stop All For One or is severely injured.
This set up the return of Toshinori Yagi to the forefront of the story an even bigger moment. At a time when it felt like all hope was lost, it was none other than All Might who stepped up to give the heroes a second wind. It shines a light on how even depowered Toshinori has not lost his spot as the Superman of the My Hero Academia Universe. There is still the Symbol of Peace fire that he carries even now.
The speech All Might makes to Tenya Ida and Shoto Todoroki was perfect. It’s exactly the words of encouragement you expect to hear from All Might. There was complete confidence in both Tenya and Shoto that they are the only ones that can reach and stop Dabi. You see that with how Tenya and Shoto go from barely being able to walk after the intense fight they were in against the villains earlier to get their energy back.
Tenya getting back into Ingenium hero mode showed this impact All Might had. We’ve seen time and time again how Tenya has grown to become a hero who pushes to be stronger. Even though he hasn’t had as many moments as Izuku, Ochaco, or Bakugo, Horikoshi has clearly established how Tenya as Ingenium will get his moments to shine. Ingenium carrying Shoto on his back and rushing to Gunga Mountains at max speed was another one of these moments.
This all sets the stage for the next, and likely, final round in the Shoto vs Dabi fight. All Might’s speech established how Shoto shouldn’t think of the goal as just stopping Dabi because of the Todoroki Family drama but to make everyone feel safe again. Using Toya’s name rather than Dabi’s when talking directly to Shoto was a nice touch. It was a reminder to Shoto to not lose the fact that he is trying to be a hero who protects others. In turn, it makes the Shoto vs Dabi fight take on greater meaning than just two brothers fighting because of Endeavor’s past actions.
Then there is the finale of My Hero Academia Chapter 386. There was only so much time Toshinori could spend on the sidelines just providing the heroes support. With things looking as bad as they ever have it was time for the Symbol of Peace to return. Even knowing he was Quirkless does not stop Toshinori from getting back into All Might hero mode. Toshinori remembering Izuku’s words about if someone who is Quirkless can become a hero was perfect. Horikoshi did a great job using his artwork to show the shift from Toshinori to All Might in two panels.
It all led to one of the most hype endings for a My Hero Academia chapter with it looking like All Might will be using an Iron Man-like armor to fight All For One. The series started with All Might vs All For One conflict and it’s only right that these two have one final fight. This fight has so many layers to it with where All Might and All For One are at this point. There is even the potential for us to see parallels take place in the All Might vs All For One and Deku vs Tomura Shigaraki happen in the next few chapters.
FINAL THOUGHTS
My Hero Academia Chapter 386 does an excellent job setting up the next phase of The Final War Arc. We get a fantastic speech by Toshinori Yagi to set up the new round in the Shoto vs Dabi fight. Then there is the set-up for a rematch between All Might and All For One. How that is all structured creates even greater hype for what happens 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
