My Hero Academia: Tenko Shimura inheriting One For All is the worst way to end the series

With the release of chapter 413 earlier this weekend, My Hero Academia fans saw series protagonist Izuku “Deku” Midoriya make a shocking decision regarding his future. Despite what fans thought, Deku did indeed agree to go along with Kudo’s plan to give up the One For All Quirk which he holds so dearly in order to save Tomura Shigaraki.

While My Hero Academia fans were initially skeptical of Kudo’s plan when it was first brought up, chapter 413’s in-depth explanation of the plan now has fans in support of it. Likewise, there seems to be a legitimate chance at saving Tenko Shimura, Shigaraki’s original personality, by going along with the plan, which explains why Deku agreed to it.

However, My Hero Academia fans are now growing concerned that the series is setting up Tenko Shimura as the 10th user of One For All, inheriting the Quirk from Izuku Midoriya. This concern is wholly justified, as Shimura inheriting One For All from Midoriya would be one of the worst possible ways to end the series.

Disclaimer: The opinions are that of the writer alone and do not necessarily reflect Sportskeeda's views.

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Tenko Shimura inheriting One For All undermines both My Hero Academia’s protagonist and antagonist

The negatives of Tenko Shimura inheriting One For All, explained

One of the biggest issues with the potential My Hero Academia ending of Tenko Shimura inheriting One For All as the Quirk’s 10th user stems from Deku’s presence and character arc. While this could be somewhat justified if Deku is dead by the end of the series, this article will assume he’ll be alive for the purposes of its argument.

Likewise, Deku being alive and not reclaiming One For All after saving Tenko Shimura is essentially the old adage “no good deed goes unpunished” brought to life. While Deku would be able to say he kept his ideals of heroism alive by saving Shimura as he wanted, to not return what is his greatest treasure to him would be a questionable move at best.

My Hero Academia chapter 413 further cements this assessment of the potential movie with how willing Deku is to sacrifice something that clearly means so much to him. Essentially, to end the series with anyone other than Deku being in possession of One For All undermines both his sacrifice of the Quirk in the first place and the relationship he’s cultivated with it.

There’s also the fact that, as far as fans currently know, Tenko Shimura was born with the Decay Quirk Factor. In other words, he is not originally Quirkless like Deku is, meaning inheriting One For All would be a death sentence. Other options include a retcon to say he was given the Quirk by All For One, or for all of Shigaraki’s Quirks to be destroyed after One For All is forcefully transferred over to him from Deku.

Neither of these options are particularly attractive, especially in the former scenario which would completely recontextualize what is very arguably My Hero Academia’s best origin story. In turn, this would also assassinate Tomura Shigaraki’s character, meaning both the series’ core protagonist and core antagonist would be completely undermined from a character arc perspective.

Likewise, these serve as the main reasons why the series ending with Tenko Shimura becoming One For All’s 10th user is a wholly unattractive concept. While there may be a way for series author and illustrator Kohei Horikoshi to end the series in this way while making it acceptable, that’s seemingly unlikely given the current landscape of the series.

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