Why Shigaraki's death does ruin My Hero Academia's ending, explained

Modified May 25, 2024 03:25 GMT

My Hero Academia and how Shigaraki's death affects the ending (Image via Bones).

My Hero Academia chapter 423 confirmed Tomura Shigaraki's death as he, along with the previous One For All users, defeated All For One in the vestige world to help Deku and the remaining heroes. This has been controversial, to say the least. Not so much because of the conclusion but because of how the story got there, which involved wasting Shigaraki's character and not letting him live up to his potential as the series' main villain.

While a lot of My Hero Academia praised the character's rise to become the main villain of the series, there is now the perception that All For One was always meant to be the final boss of the manga, which wasn't the case for a long time.

This is why Shigaraki's death does affect the manga's conclusion, as even his redemption arc feels rushed and was not given the respect and development that it required.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda as a whole.

Explaining why Tomura Shigaraki's death affected the My Hero Academia ending in the manga

Deku and Shigaraki in the manga (Image via Shueisha)

For a long time in the series, Shigaraki was developed as someone who was going to become the main villain of the story, mirroring Deku's journey to becoming the greatest hero, thus resulting in a final clash at the end of the story.

However, author Kohei Horikoshi decided to bring back All For One after he lost against Katsuki Bakugo. It was also confirmed that he planned everything in Shigaraki's life to get back at All Might and also to have a more powerful body.

This reduces Shigaraki's character as he loses agency and his final bout against All For One felt rushed, without a moment for him to look back on his life. The moment All For One takes over his body, readers cannot see Shigaraki's reaction or his thoughts prior to his comeback, thus resulting in a less satisfying and more forced resolution to the question of who was one of the two main villains of the series.

Furthermore, while it makes sense that Shigaraki would want to get back at All For One for what he did, the lack of dialogue and interactions during chapter 423 was certainly a missed opportunity. While the discussion with Deku in Tomura's final moments was much appreciated, a few final words with Nana Shimura, his grandmother and the seventh One For All user, would have been another important point for his character.

The lack of Shigaraki as a threat

Tenko Shimura and Tomura Shigaraki in the anime (Image via Bones).

Another major aspect that affected Shigaraki's character in the My Hero Academia manga was his lack of casualties in the final battle. For a villain who had a wide repertoire of Quirks and a body that could rival prime All Might, as well as being someone always advocating for chaos and destruction, Shigaraki never really took the lives of any characters throughout the series, making him feel quite ineffective.

Now in hindsight, that was Horikoshi trying to keep the character from reaching a point of no return as he was attempting a redemption, but that is a problem that All For One also had. They are extremely powerful and had enough opportunities to take the lives of several characters, but they never reached that point in the final arc.

Final thoughts

Tomura Shigaraki was a very significant player in My Hero Academia as he was built to be the series' main villain, but Horikoshi ultimately went for All For One. However, even if the redemption arc was always planned, it felt very rushed and lacking in build up.

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