Boku no Hero Academia has always been two cours from the second season onward. But it quite religiously makes its cour-ending episodes feel like season finales, even if – as is the case here – they aren’t actually the end of an arc. While the main battle has reached an obvious transition point, “Paranormal Liberation War” still has a few acts to play out – not enough to fill up the second cour by any means, but not insignificant either.
One could almost argue that Deku has had a relatively small role to play in this arc. Not quite Togashi-esque, but maybe akin to Gon in “Chimera Ant”. His moments have been crucial, but the majority of the time the spotlight has been elsewhere. And he’s spent a good deal of this final battle incapacitated – but then, so has Shigaraki. And that’s no coincidence, given the obvious parallels Horikoshi-sensei is drawing between them. In fact the real MVP of this late-stage conflict has been Best Jeanist, without whose arrival the result would certainly have been very different. If anyone has come across like the #1 hero here, I think it’s been him.
As for Izuku, he’s hearing voices in his head – a voice, anyway. When he’s not feeling a stabbing pain there, that is. There were hints what this might be a few episodes back, but it’s now revealed to be another One For All quirk, “Danger Sense”. It belonged to the as-yet unnamed fourth holder of OFA, and it seems a very useful ability – provided of course that one’s body is not sufficiently wrecked as to be largely useless. That’s been a recurring problem for Izuku and current circumstances are no exception, though the spirit is certainly as willing as the flesh is weak.
On the villain side, the one doing the moving and shaking here is Mr. Compress. And it definitely falls under the heading of taking once for the team, as he gouges out his own flesh in what Best Jeanist calls a fatal wound in order to leverage himself free from Jeanist’s threads. Compress may call himself a side character (and I suppose he is), but he’s the one who manages to buy the others – most of them anyway – a chance to retreat and fight another day. Dabi is still mobile (and increasingly disinterested in Endeavor, since he’s unconscious and can’t be fucked around with), and Toga’s whereabouts are unknown, but Shigaraki and Spinner are securely confined, and Gigantomachhia is out cold.
Once more we see that among the League of Villains at least, the sense of personal loyalty is no different than it is among the heroes. It’s a misfit bunch who pretty much have nothing in common except being a bunch of misfits thrown together – and that’s the point. Some of them have political agendas (like Spinner and to an extent Dabi), some – like Compress and Twice – are really in it for the camaraderie. But they fight for each other, which is a strength the hero side tends to underestimate to its own strategic detriment.
That makes the reality of the current status a pretty big variable, because increasingly it’s All For One who’s driving the bus, and the bus is Shigaraki. How much loyalty will someone like Spinner feel towards him – especially when AFO thinks nothing of leaving his fallen soldiers on the battlefield (practical perhaps, but still distasteful)? It leads one to wonder just how deep the parallels between Shigaraki and Izuku go, especially as they’re being played up so strongly. Time and time again in Boku no Hero Academia we’ve seen that the two competing sides are not always as different as the one would have you believe.
DukeofEarls
December 25, 2022 at 4:57 amI wasn’t into Compress’s rationale here. Your ancestor was an anti-hero Robin Hood-esque figure, and you think a amoral psychopath that seems to value destruction above all else is the one to carry your family’s banner? I mean — I get it, in the real world there are plenty of irrational actors who do things that don’t make sense. But this is my overall gripe with Shigaraki as a villain: he’s not relatable. The struggles of the Todoroki family are relatable, Deku’s underdog story is relatable, and even All for One’s maniacal ambition are relatable to me on a human level.
Shigaraki’s mindless, psychopathic destruction is scary, so it’s exciting in a sense, but it’s also pretty one-note. Pairing that with him having these very loyal followers; something falls flat for me. It seems like All for One is still within Shigaraki and is in a power struggle to take mental control. I’d welcome that — the ambitious, intelligent sociopath who seems to still value the existence of humanity, albeit as his playthings, dominating the rabid dog that someone needs to put down for their own good would feel pretty gratifying.
Guardian Enzo
December 25, 2022 at 9:03 amI think that’s a valid criticism of Shigaraki (more so than Compress probably, though I do get where you’re coming from), even if I don’t completely agree with it. I guess my question would be this – to whatever extent villains should be “relatable”, do you find All For One relatable?
DukeofEarls
December 26, 2022 at 7:03 amYes, a narcissistic sociopath is more relatable to me than a destructive psychopath (I’m using the pop-cultural conception of sociopaths and psychopaths here, I know there isn’t an accepted medical distinction). I feel like during childhood we all grappled with a solipsistic, “nothing exists beyond me,” sort of mental framework. It’s easy to see how that can be twisted into a narcissistic framework that values power for oneself above all else.
I’m reminded of the lessons we learn from the Roman Empire where bestowing power on an individual at a young age often leads to the sort of narcissistic, power-hungry, dominant behavior you see in an individual like All for One. Hadrian was actually aware of this phenomenon and arranged for Antoninus Pius to adopt Marcus Aurelius, knowing that Marcus, who was his true envisioned heir, was too young to inherit the throne by the time of Hadrian’s death
So All for One, “blessed” with immense power, presumably from a young age, becoming what the character we see in the anime — it’s something I can understand and relate to in a certain way.
While we’ve been given Shigaraki’s backstory and can somewhat empathize, in a clinical and removed sense, with why he ended up with his destructive worldview, his portrayed worldview is too atypical for the vast majority of viewers. That’s not to say that there aren’t people, possibly millions of them within the current world population, that might sympathize with his “burn it all down” approach. They exist – but they’re still a significant minority, and to “normal” people of all stripes and shades, he isn’t very relatable.
A caveat I would add to this – I think a Shigaraki style villain has their place, but there’s some sort of discordant approach going on with these super loyal followers like Compress to me. I’m perfectly fine with a Kefka from Final Fantasy 6 style psychopath gaining power and ushering in the apocalypse. But Shigaraki and his followers just don’t really do it for me; it takes me out of my suspension of disbelief for whatever reason.
Guardian Enzo
December 26, 2022 at 10:12 amIt also doesn’t hurt AFO that he’s voiced by an incredibly charismatic seiyuu. Ohtsuka does a lot to make AFO jump off the screen.
And in the end, none of them can hold a candle to Stain. He’s one of the most fascinating shounen villains ever IMHO.
DukeofEarls
December 27, 2022 at 10:05 amGood point in bringing up the concept of charisma here – Ohtsuka (first time hearing his name) is an incredible talent that gives All for One that kind of unfortunate “Hitler-esque” sort of charisma that a tyrant like him often possesses.
Shigaraki, on the other hand, has the charisma, energy, and philosophical outlook of a US school shooter type. So why is the descendent of superpowered Yakuza Robin Hood so loyal to him? I don’t buy it.
Bob
December 25, 2022 at 11:29 amIt’s a shame that the “broke League dunks on racists” segment got moved to here, because it really killed the pacing. I’m also still not sold on Deku’s resolve to save Shiggy; it just feels ridiculous, even with Deku’s acknowledgement that Shiggy’s committed countless sins. I agree with you on Best Jeanist pulling way more than his weight, though.
Nadavu
December 26, 2022 at 1:57 amTo build on what DukeofEarls brought up, I feel the weak narrative point here is that the League side-characters are that loyal to Shigaraki even though he never really gave them any reason to. He isn’t very inspiring, doesn’t show any particular care to anyone, and until he got buffed up, he wasn’t even that strong. The only thing he had going for him is that he was already head of the league of villains when the others joined.