With the battle against All For One reaching nearing its conclusion Kohei Horikoshi has decided to final dig into the My Hero Academia villain’s backstory. We learned that All For One and Yoichi Shigaraki were born as twins to a sex worker who was the earliest confirmed Quirk user in My Hero Academia’s timeline. This origin immediately took an even darker turn as it turned out All For One sapped most of their mother’s life force so when the twins were born she died. From there we saw a deeper look at how comic books played a role in All For One’s dark origin. How will Horikoshi continue what is arguably the darkest My Hero Academia character origin? Let’s find out with My Hero Academia Chapter 408 “The Eyes Tell All!!”
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer & Artist: Kohei Horikoshi
SYNOPSIS
Two months after the resistance saved Yoichi Shigaraki All For One completely obliterates Yoichi, with all that is left of his brother is his hand and blood that covers Kudo.
Over the next several decades All For One kills every user of the One For All Quirk, including everyone connected to Kudo, until fighting to a draw with All Might.
In the present, All For One realizes that somehow Katsuki Bakugo has a striking resemblance to Kudo that may mean Bakugo is Kudo’s descendent. Done wasting time All For One activates his monstrous Omni-Factor Unleash: All For One Goal attack to kill Dynamight and reach Tomura Shigaraki in one go.
Dynamight sees All For One and can only wonder what he can even do to beat the villain. End of chapter
REVIEW
Whereas the previous chapter provided us deeper insight into All For One’s origin story “The Eyes Tell All!!” reframed a lot of what we’ve seen before. This time around wat we previously knew was given from All For One’s perspective, with some of Kudo’s past mixed in. This reframing of the narrative is where My Hero Academia Chapter 408 was at its strongest.
One of the most impressive things about this All For One arc within the The Final War Saga is how Kohei Horikoshi continues to capture the villain’s voice. Showing his talents as a creator, Horikoshi makes sure the reader knows it is All For One who is speaking. He is the character we are viewing everything that is going on from. While Kudo and Bakugo do get their moments, the main character is All For One.
This narrative choice makes it so that even if we get recycled plot from previous chapter it does feel fresh. What we learned about his birth and the why for him becoming the supervillain known as All For One is captivating. Everything he does is pure evil but you can’t help but want to learn or see more because it all builds a greater desire to see him defeated by our heroes.
We already knew that the resistance saving Yoichi was viewed by All For One as his greatest failure. Him taking things even more personal by not only killing every One For All user but making it his mission to wipe out everything related to Kudo was even more personal. This added fuel to what Yoichi’s escape made his hatred for Kudo deeper than anything he experienced before or since.
That rage growing to a new level of hatred when the realization of possibly failing to wipe out Kudo’s family lineage was a great way to bring things back to the present. Katsuki Bakugo likely being Kudo’s descendent gives even greater meaning to his friendship with Izuku Midoriya. Even if its not the case drawing parallels between Bakugo and Kudo is a nice touch to bring things full circle.
It all leads to one of the most impressive double page spreads Horikoshi has delivered in My Hero Academia. All of the detail seen in the Omni-Factor Unleash: All For One Goal attack screams all or nothing. One way or another this is the end of the fight with All For One. We don’t know what that will mean for the fight with Tomura Shigaraki left to be resolved but we are strapped in for whatever that outcome is.
FINAL THOUGHTS
My Hero Academia Chapter 408 is a satisfying conclusion to the All For One origin mini-arc we got. Everything we see in All For One’s past sets up the events in present day with Katsuki Bakugo’s last stand to have an epic conclusion. Add in what is possible the best double page spread by Kohei Horikoshi and My Hero Academia Chapter 408 is a can’t miss.
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
