We got a nice holiday gift of our final Shonen Jump issue of the year release new chapters on Christmas Eve. With it we got our final My Hero Academia chapter of 2023. And given how the last dozen chapters have gone we may or may not be getting the finale of the fight against All For One. This has been developing from the beginning of the series with recent chapters being all the focus about this one fight. The last hero standing in All For One’s way of getting to Tomura Shigaraki is Bakugo Katsuki. How will this battle end? Let’s find out with My Hero Academia Chapter 410.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer & Artist: Kohei Horikoshi
SYNOPSIS
Continuing to regress an infant All For One tries desperately to crawl to Tomura Shigaraki but Dynamight gets in his way. All For One summons the last of his power to fire a bone-like spear at Dynamight. Dynamight is able to catch the attack with his mouth.
With that All For One regresses to a fetus and then an egg cell before disappearing. As that happens the vestige of Hawks wonders if those alive that had their Quirks stolen by All For One will get their powers returned.
Elsewhere flying Shigaraki reveals he is using his Decay Quirk powers deep down onto the ocean surface in order to wipe out 378,000 km of Japan in a blink of an eye. Massive tidal waves are shown destroying the Shizuoka Prefecture.
Sensing All For One’s death Tomura goes to grab Deku but Deku is able to destroy Tomura’s fingers just as he touches him. Daigoro Banjo (the fifth One For All user) vestige speaks to Izuku Midoriya to reveal that Hikage Shinomori (the fourth One For All user) vestige has disappeared, which means Tomura has stolen the Danger Sense Quirk. While regenerating his fingers Tomura asks Deku how long he can keep going. End of chapter.
REVIEW
There is no stronger way to end the year than how My Hero Academia Chapter 410 concluded. We finally see our heroes get the victory they’ve been aiming to achieve with All For One finally gone once and for all. But that sense of accomplishment only lasts a few seconds as the greater horror that exists in the form of Tomura Shigaraki now has nothing holding him back.
There have certainly been points in the story where the story felt like it was going around in circles or not having a clear path. Now with the defeat of All For One there is a sense that every moment up to this point was to give us this payoff. Kohei Horikoshi nailed how Dynamight being the last hero standing to stop All For One be a culmination of everything in The Final War Saga. This wasn’t just Bakugo’s big win but the win of every hero who has stepped up to be the light in the darkness All For One consumed the world with.
It was absolutely satisfying to see a baby All For One so desperate to get to Shigaraki that he tried to kill Bakugo while crawling. Horikoshi did a great job having the artwork show that desperation with how dramatic the attack appeared. It looked like All For One was still able to launch powerful attacks. This made the reveal that Bakugo was able to catch this final attack with his team even more badass. Stopping this attack in that way was the final nail in All For One’s coffins as noting else would work. Having that realization as every cell of completely vanish to have never existed be exactly the fate All For One deserved.
Giving Bakugo the moment to celebrate and pass things off for Izuku Midoriya to finish was a nice false hope moment. Horikoshi knew exactly what he was doing when Bakugo on the floor lifted his fist in the air. The flashback to Best Jeanist speech to the other heroes was a clear reminder that while All For One has been the most evil villain in the My Hero Academia Universe the main antagonist of the story is Tomura Shigaraki. The heroes knowing that Shigaraki’s desire to destroy the Earth is much more terrifying than All For One’s goal of controlling the world is a perfect summarization of this fact.
Shigaraki using his Decay Quirk to cause natural disasters to destroy a large portion of Japan in a blink of an eye visually showcases what Best Jeanist spoke about. Shigaraki does not care about anything. Not even himself. All he wants is to see the utter destruction of the world. His character history has shaped Shigaraki into the pure representation of hatred.
Which makes it not surprising that the longer their stalemate has gone on that Shigaraki is showing no sign of tiring while Midoriya is already reaching his limit. The end of their stalemate resulting in Shigaraki stealing the Danger Sense Quirk in the brief second he touched Midoriya confirms the stalemate is over. Now we are going to be seeing a true back and forth in their fight with Midoriya now fully being the underdog.
With the Deku vs Shigaraki fight now being the complete focus of My Hero Academia, it’ll be interesting to see how Horikoshi handles things from here. Because up to this point its been established that Deku’s wild card that he wants to play is to reach what remains of Tenko Shimura within Shigaraki. But as things stand it appears that Shigaraki and Tenko are one ad the same so the plan of “saving the villain” is not part of the equation. It’s a strong way to end My Hero Academia on for the year and provide plenty of interest for the new year in the series.
FINAL THOUGHT
Kohei Horikoshi ends 2023 with an incredible final part in the All For One fight in My Hero Academia Chapter 410. We finally got the long building payoff of our heroes defeating All For One for good. As big of a victory that is the most dangerous antagonist is still left to be dealt with. And it looks like things will only be getting worse with how Tomura Shigaraki showcases his powers without his master around anymore. This all leaves My Hero Academia in an exciting spot as we see how Izuku Midoriya is able to deal with the final boss of the series.
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
