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My Hero Academia Chapter 419 “Design” Review

My Hero Academia Chapter 419 picks up right where the previous chapter left off with All For One revealing he is still around. Like the cockroach that he is, All For One revealed that he was bidding his time within Tomura Shigaraki’s Vestige World to take over his “protégé’s” body. Thanks to the efforts of Izuku Midoriya and the other One For All users efforts Shigaraki was weakened to the point All For One could strike. Now there is a new battle as All For One is looking to complete his plan to take over Tomura Shigaraki’s body. Let’s see how things go next with My Hero Academia Chapter 419.

CREATIVE TEAM

Writer & Artist: Kōhei Horikoshi

SYNOPSIS

Within Tomura Shigaraki’s Vestige World, All For One berates Izuku Midoriya for destroying One For All and his little brother, Yoichi. All For One then thanks Midoriya for his efforts allowing him to return.

All For One then speaks directly to Tenko Shimura. All For One reveals he manipulated Tenko’s entire existence. This includes giving his dad the idea of having a son to removing Tenko’s original Quirk and replacing it with the incomplete Decay Quirk to encouraging Tenko’s father to abuse his son.

With all of these revelations, All For One completely shatters Tomura Shigaraki’s spirit and forces Midoriya out of the Vestige World.

Back in reality, All For One has gained control of Shigaraki’s body. When the lingering part of Shigaraki tries to fight back All For One creates a hand to cover his mouth.

All For One then tells Midoriya, who is bleeding out from both his missing arms, he is now moving forward with his plan of world domination.

As All For One is about to kill Midoriya he is stopped by Cellophane, Tailman, and Sugarman combo attack. Eraser Head then emerges from a Warp Gate and apologizes for the delay. End of chapter.

REVIEW

My Hero Academia Chapter 419 was all about getting over All For One as a dastardly villain. Kohei Horikoshi wanted to drive home that he built All For One to be the final boss of My Hero Academia. With that goal in mind My Hero Academia Chapter 419 certainly hit its mark.

Given how unhinged we last saw All For One this rebuilding of the absolute menace that he is was very much needed. All Might and Bakugo made him look like a punk by the end of what appeared to be his story. With that being the last visual of the villain there needed to be a reminder of who All For One is. My Hero Academia Chapter 419 was very much that.

In the process Horikoshi gave us details to aspects about Tomura Shigaraki backstory we have only theorized at this point. We already saw from the last chapter’s flashback that All For One had a friendship-like relationship with Kotaro Shimura. But now we see the plan ran deeper than simply using Nana Shimura’s bloodline to get his ultimate revenge and achieve his goal.

My Hero Academia Chapter 419 Color Cover
Kōhei Horikoshi color cover for My Hero Academia Chapter 419, titled “Design.” Credit: Viz Media

All For One revealing that what truly motivated him to use Nana Shimura’s bloodline going back to his battles with previous One For All users Daigoro Banjo and En Tayutai showed this was much more personal. Adding in the strength of will All Might also showed in their battles, got over the idea that stealing One For All was more complicated than it already was. Coming to realize that he needed a will that was born and breed with pure hatred makes his manipulation of Tomura Shigaraki’s entire existence even more evil.

With this revelation we really see that Tomura Shigaraki from even before he was even an idea in his parents mind had zero agency in his life. From the moment he was born as Tenko Shimura he was nothing more than a puppet crafted to be the ultimate vessel for All For One’s world domination plan. The visual of Shigaraki’s spirit being shattered was the final nail to drive this entire idea home.

Horikoshi nailed how to make sure to draw All For One in control of Shigaraki’s body. All For One Shigaraki stood in a similar straight manner that the usually hunched Shigaraki doesn’t. It is a little detail but goes a long way in getting over how different All For One carries himself as a villain.

All For One making sure he continued to talk smack to a downed Midoriya in the real world helped get over his aura. The fact that Midoriya returned to his body with bleeding out of his half-torn off arms was a memorable visual. It really felt like there was no one left to stop All For One in this moment. The hero we’ve been rooting for this entire time is in a completely broken physical and mental state.

It all made the moment Cellophane, Tailman, and Sugarman appeared for the save to be a genuine surprise. It really felt that there was no left to stop All For One. And when it comes to heroes you expect to come for this type of last second save Cellophane, Tailman, and Sugarman are near the end of the list. Understanding their lack of build up Horikoshi made sure that the combo attack by Cellophane, Tailman, and Sugarman got the trio over.

This made the ending with Eraser Head appearing out of the Warp Gate a strong ending. This sense of escalation emphasized that this final battle isn’t just about Izuku Midoriya vs Tomura Shigaraki. This is a battle to decide the direction of the world. Not knowing how things will end make the story even more exciting.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My Hero Academia Chapter 419 drove home how All For One truly represents the ultimate evil there is. All the revelations of how All For One manipulated Tomura Shigaraki further drove home how he is villain built to be hated because of his pure evil actions. The ending of the chapter created even more things to be excited about discovering how the story will end.

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