Things have been picking up in My Hero Academia as the All Might vs All For One final battle nears its conclusion. As we last left it by using Forced Quirk Activation on himself to activate his Bloodlet Quirk, All For One was able to counter Stain’s Quirk ability. With that All For One now has his target set on reaching Tomura Shigaraki now that he is near U.A. High School. With All Might down with major injuries can All For One be stopped? Let’s find out with My Hero Academia Chapter 402.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer & Artist: Kohei Horikoshi
SYNOPSIS
As reports come in about Dabi and Himiko Toga’s defeats by Shoto Todoroki and Ochaco Uraraka, respectively, all the Twice clones are disappearing. This gives Creati (Momo Yaoyorozu) and Mei Hatsume the chance to stabilize U.A. High School floatation system now that the weight created by the Twice horde is gone.
Meanwhile Izuku Midoriya and Tomura Shigaraki are at a stalemate with their fight.
Nearby All For One prepares to activate Warping Quirk to get to Shigaraki and claim his body for himself. Shigaraki consciousness proves to strong as he is able to cancel out All For One’s Warping Quirk with his will.
All For One decides to fly to Shigaraki instead and takes the heavily injured All Might with him so he can take responsibility for the dreams he filled Izuku and others with.
Shigaraki taunts Izuku about taking off to save All Might so he can kill everyone at U.A. High School in the meantime. Trying to fight back his desire to save All Might, Izuku remembers everything his mentor taught him. Suddenly sensing All Might’s vestige fading from Izuku can no longer hold back his tears and yells “ALL MIGHT!!”
At the same time, remembering Izuku’s ability to be a hero without a Quirk and will carry on his dream, All Might tells All For One he won’t abandon his dream of being the Symbol of Peace. All Might grabs All For One by the neck. This reminds All For One of Nana Shimura’s final sacrifice to save All Might decades ago.
All Might then prepares to sacrifice himself to force the Rewind effect to degrade All For One back to a kindergartener. All Might then activates his armor’s self-destruct system to cause a massive explosion. End of chapter.
REVIEW
Now that we are getting all these final battles Kohei Horikoshi has been showcasing his ability to choreograph fights. As what makes a great boxing match, Horikoshi is making sure that these final fights have a back-and-forth that leaves the reader guessing the results. That’s exactly what Horikoshi does with All Might vs All For One in their latest round in My Hero Academia Chapter 402.
With My Hero Academia Chapter 402 we see Horikoshi finally align all the events in the Final War arc. We see this with how the reports finally come in about Dabi and Himiko Toga defeat at the hands of Shoto Todoroki and Ochaco Uraraka. The impact of this is immediately felt as the Twice clones that have been raining havoc across all the battlefields disappear.
Showing that U.A. High School was able to stabilize because of all the extra weight from the Twice clones was gone was well executed. Horikoshi let the visual of all the Twice clones be what delivers the importance of this moment. Adding in how Momo Yaoyorozu was doing everything to defend Mei Hatsume against the Twice clones was a nice touch. This further put over Momo’s growth as Creati and what kind of relief Ochaco finding her own way to defeat Himiko was to this story.
This victory on the heroes side was balanced out by the fact we still have the two biggest battles still unresolved. There is no time to relish these two big wins against Dabi and Himiko as Izuku Midoriya vs Tomura Shigaraki and All Might vs All For One are ongoing. With both fights brought to the forefront Horikoshi made sure to show how they were in different rounds. By showing that Izuku Midoriya vs Tomura Shigaraki was at a stalemate the focus was able to stay on ending All Might vs All For One.
While All Might vs All For One was clearly in its final rounds, My Hero Academia Chapter 402 did a great job at using Izuku vs Shigaraki to amplify the stakes. Afterall, All For One was now in the drivers seat as he got to his goal of getting close enough to claim Shigaraki. This accomplishment made the twist that Shigaraki’s will was too strong for All For One to use his Warping Quirk as planned even more effectively. Horikoshi further emphasized how All For One’s planning was no longer working.
To the credit of what’s made All For One the perfect villain you love to hate, this twist did not deter him. All For One immediately used this as an opportunity to do even more damage to All Might and Izuku Midoriya. Dragging the heavily injured All Might so Izuku could see his mentor state was a pure evil move by All For One. This further drove home how there is no redeeming quality to All For One and he relishes that fact.
This led to the tie back into the mentor-protégé relationship between All Might and Deku to be emphasized again. Both changed each other’s lives in so many ways that they built a strong bond because of that fact. This bond is something that made Deku fighting back his desire to help All Might even tougher to see. Horikoshi did a great job showing how Deku was fighting back his tears and instinct to save his mentor as the fight with Shigaraki was too important to break away from.
Horikoshi using this situation to also drive home how similar pure evil personality Shigaraki shares with All For One was well done. While we know that deep down Tenko Shimura still exists within Shigaraki it does not remove the fact he is the villain of the story. Goading Deku to save All Might so he can go kill everyone at U.A. High School further drives home how Shigaraki has arguably surpassed All For One as the top villain in My Hero Academia.
With all this happening it made All Might’s final sacrifice even more impactful. Driven to continue being the Symbol of Peace until the very end All Might made sure he did everything to stop All For One. It’s the heart of a true hero to never stop fighting. The fact All Might knew his sacrifice would not kill All For One but would force the Rewind effect to turn All For One into kindergartener was well done.
Adding in how All Might’s sacrifice is similar to what his mentor, Nana Shimura, did to save him against All For One made this ending to My Hero Academia Chapter 402 even better. This further shows how All For One constantly discounting the heart of a hero is one of his biggest flaws. He left himself open for All Might’s final sacrifice to be successful. This now leaves us in a situation where we could see a Quirkless All For One before the villain completely disappears.
FINAL THOUGHTS
My Hero Academia Chapter 402 does an incredible job at making all the developments in the Final War arc come together at the same time. The payoffs to the results of Dabi and Himiko Toga defeats amplified the importance to the Izuku Midoriya vs Tomura Shigaraki and All Might vs All For One fights. How Kohei Horikoshi choreographed both these battles together made All Might’s final sacrifice an excellent moment to end this chapter with.
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
