My Hero Academia Confirms The Darkest Theory About Its Villain

Warning: Spoilers for My Hero Academia, Chapter #418

My Hero Academia chapter 418 finally confirms the extent that All for One went to in order to manipulate Tenko Shimura into becoming Tomura Shigaraki, confirming a fan theory that’s been floating around for ages. As the vestige of All for One returns in the manga, so too does the truth of Shigaraki’s origin.

In chapter 418, Shigaraki and Deku are in a mental realm, with Shigaraki appearing as the child Tenko Shimura, reliving the moments when his Quirk first manifested. However, as Deku begins to sway Shigaraki, All for One’s memories begin to intrude, revealing that he was in contact with Tenko’s father well before his Quirk ever manifested. All for One’s vestige manifests itself once more, taunting Shigaraki by saying that “not once in your pitiful life has any choice been your own.”

The chapter ends there, but that’s enough to confirm that Shigaraki’s tragic origin was no mistake.

Shigaraki Was Deliberately Created by All for One

This turn of events aligns with a popular fan theory about Shigaraki’s backstory: namely, that he was given the Decay Quirk by All for One, and didn’t manifest it naturally. The reveal in this chapter proves that All for One was involved in Tenko’s life well before he accidentally slaughtered his own family, spending time with his father Kotaro and keeping tabs on whether Tenko had developed a Quirk yet. In the memory, Kotaro says that Tenko hasn’t, and the implication seems to be that, like Midoriya, Tenko actually should’ve been Quirkless.

All for One saying that Shigaraki never had a choice suggests an extensive degree of manipulation of Tenko’s life in order to get the outcome that he wanted. By giving young Tenko such a terrible Quirk, All for One had only to sit back and wait for the Quirk to activate, with a tragedy all but certain to occur. With Tenko’s family dead, All for One would swoop in and “adopt” Tenko, seizing upon his hatred and molding him into a vessel for his own consciousness.

Fans are a bit mixed in their reactions to this idea. Some feel that it weakens Tomura as a villain by making him a victim of All for One instead of a tragic accident. Others feel that it’s a brilliant twist to include, showing the degree to which All for One manipulated the situation in order to create a being like Tomura Shigaraki, as his kind of hatred doesn’t just come about naturally. It shows just how evil All for One is, certainly, and how intricately planned his revenge against Nana Shimura and All Might truly was.

While All for One hasn’t come out and said that he gave the Decay Quirk to Tenko yet, it feels as if the reveal to the characters is imminent, likely to appear in the next chapter. For readers, though, All for One’s cruel taunt is all the confirmation that’s needed to know that the Shimura family is dead because the insidious villain wanted them to be. My Hero Academia is about to shake Tomura Shigaraki to his very core, and how he reacts to this information will radically shape the final chapters of the series.

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