Warning: SPOILERS for My Hero Academia chapter 367Deku just underwent a major transformation in My Hero Academia exactly the same way as Dragon Ball Z‘s Goku first goes Super Saiyan during his monumental fight against Frieza.
Dragon Ball may have completely changed the manga industry while playing a major role in expanding anime’s reach across the globe, but it also introduced a slew of tropes that other anime series haven’t been able to avoid. Undoubtedly, the most recognizable one is the heroic transformation or, in this case, the Super Saiyan form. The spiky yellow hair of Dragon Ball’s heroes and green eyes are ironic in pop culture. Now transformations are essentially a requirement in shonen. My Hero Academia didn’t just indulge in the most stereotypical aspect of this tired trope, but in another trope that’s unique to Goku’s first Super Saiyan transformation.
By the start of My Hero Academia chapter 367 by mangaka Kohei Horikoshi, Deku has finally arrived to face off against Tomura Shigaraki after being initially transported to the wrong battle. Upon getting there, he’s immediately subjected to the carnage from Shigaraki’s earlier fights, seeing Bakugo’s lifeless body getting repaired by Edgeshot and the other beaten heroes in various states of injury. When adding Shigaraki’s taunts to the equation, all this is just too much for the young hero. Anger overtakes him, and Deku reaches his powerful dark form before his former rival Lemillion is able to talk him down into a much less intimidating new form.
My Hero Academia Almost Brought Back Super Saiyan Rage
This development has direct ties to the first time Goku went Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball. It was the horrific sight of watching Frieza brutally murder his best friend Krillin that sets off an uncontrollable wave of anger to overcome Goku, eventually causing him to ascend to Super Saiyan. Of course, the secret to unlocking Super Saiyan the first time requires the Saiyan to either experience profound anger or sadness. As this was the first time that fans ever saw anyone achieve Super Saiyan, the scene became iconic, influencing countless stories from that moment on. The fact that My Hero Academia went out of its way to not only have extreme rage initiate Deku’s transformation but have its trigger be the death or significant wounding of one or more friends is such a blatant embrace of every crucial aspect of Goku’s first Super Saiyan transformation that it’s impossible to ignore.
Of course, there is one major spin to this whole moment. Besides not witnessing his friends’ deaths or defeats, Deku almost transforms into something sinister. But readers never get to see what his extreme anger is capable of producing since Lemillion calms Deku down, minimizing or taming the form he ends up taking. Ironically, Deku’s initial transformation is actually more accurate of what a Super Saiyan should be like in Dragon Ball. When Goku starts transforming during his battle against Frieza, he commands Gohan to leave the immediate vicinity since he doesn’t think he can control the raging inferno inside of him…even against his own son. This introduced a terrifying side effect of becoming Super Saiyan that, unfortunately, the series never followed up on. In fact, every subsequent transformation no longer requires the Saiyan to experience any strong emotions, further negating the potential implications of ascending. My Hero Academia is, therefore, in a sense, actually remedying one of the most disappointing developments in all of Dragon Ball. It might be a blatant rip-off, but it’s also an overall improvement, showing fans what Super Saiyan could have been.
