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thequietmanno1 · 4 years

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How to Stop Shigaraki (current Manga Chapter Spoilers)

ok, so first time posting this, but had some time to ponder after the most recent MHA chapter- 274 at time of writing- and i’ve come up with a theory about how events may proceed from here on in, based mainly upon my own observations and analysis of the characters and events we’ve seen thus far, and written up mainly because i recently discovered how to add pictures to my tumbler posts and figured i may as well try to write one of these things up with visual aids like all the normal MHA-obsessed fans do, rather than just walls of text that melt your brains as soon as you look at them

Spoilers about, obviously, if you’ve no up to that point, so proceed at your own risk

anyway, by time of the most recent chapter, Events had evolved to such a clusterfuck of ‘oh crap’ events and twists that shit was getting pretty hairy, but everything could be summed up with a single sentence: Deku is Fucked

Tomura Shigaraki recently awakened with the revelation that, in addition to his already OP City-destorying decay the ‘power-up’ that Doc Garaki offered to him upon proving himself the Successor to AFO in body and will wasn’t actually upgrading him body to hold multiple quirks implanted noms-style, is a cheap-knock-off version of AFO in preparation for the read thing, but AFO itself, with Tomura’s Body enhanced to withstand the strain of His mentor’s accumulated stockpile of abilities.

In addition to that, there were hints that the theory about AFO perverting the Traditional Mentor-apprentice chain even more so than he already has in his quest for vengeance against All Might and the past Successors may have more substance to it, as it appears Shigaraki’s new quirk comes with direct mental access to the previous holder in ways that aren’t complicated by Tomura’s level of control over the quirk, unlike izuku

So, in addition to all his old mentor’s actual power that he’d accumulated, since AFO fighting with a weakened, inferior copy of his Quirk was just what Horikoshi thought he’d need as a reminder of how OP the jackass used to be before All Might paid him a visit with an impromptu Potato-masher, Shigaraki has now inherited his mentor’s burning desire to possess OFA, which is apparently so strong and overriding that it’s the first thing he focuses on, to the exclusion of all else, such as the currently-strongest number 1 hero attempting to broil him alive. That’s not including the hints that AFO is additionally backseat driving inside Tomura’s head as well, giving him pointers and directions for his protege to follow like a proverbial Video Game Character that AFO’s mentally controlling from inside his cell in Tartarus.

and this means that the current wielder is his first and only concern, before he turns his attention towards fulfilling his dreams of society-wide annihilation

and, needless to say, Deku is nowhere near ready to face a full-powered Shigaraki, much less one that’s focusing on him and him alone, regardless of other heroes aiming to ‘fight’ him or allies he may still have to rescue in the immediate vicinity, such as Doc Garaki, whom he may need to council another check-up with since his spa treatment got interrupted.

Worse, in addition to all this power, Shigrki also has search- the quirk that Ragdoll of the pussycats kinda made a big deal about but never got to show off because AFO was all: “oh, that’s very neat actually! Gimme!!”

now, not only can Midoira not fight Shigaraki, he can’t run from him either, because, crucially, when i was checking out the official description of Search, as Given by Ragdoll herself

Hmmm, yes, very cool and useful indeed.

But What About Range?

at no point does Ragdoll indicate there’s a limit to how far she can see these people away from herself, which means that, if Tomura doesn't have a similar restriction, there’s nowhere Izuku can actually hide from him. All Might, when put in a similar situation by AFO murding Nana, had to book it out of the country to spend time abroad training with OFA to become strong enough to stop the Overlord, but with AFO’s experience, and his ability to now track Izuku anywhere, that’s not an option. Hell, if Shigaraki doesn't have a range limit, he might even be able to track Midoria outside the country and follow him wherever he goes, never giving him time to rest or train himself in OFA enough to stop him. And at the moment, Tomura certainly seems driven enough to go that far to Take OFA, and from what We’ve seem of AFO, it may be that this was the very outcome he’s bee waiting for all along, for Tomura to develop into a strong enough vessel that he can be partially possessed and driven to fulfil AFO’s desire, his need to possess OFA, the one aspect of the quirk society he grew up in that he was never able to control, no matter how much power he amassed.

Currently, Midoira’s in Doomsville, Population: Him, because he's effectively got a multi-quirk wielding version of this guy chasing him down with equal tenacity

and unlike Sarah Connor, Deku can't even rely on getting lucky or outlasting Shigaraki, because thanks to a handy-dandy quirk called Hyper Regeneration

Shigaraki will just reset any damage he receives in his unending pursuit of Izuku, aided by the ability to Jump Good, and not discounting his ability to destroy everything in a radius around him with frightening speed and reach, meaning he can neither be hurt or restrained long enough to get significant distance between them as things stand.

Deku’s unpreparedness for their encounter can be easily seen when they actually meet face-to-face briefly, as he can bakugou still thing Tomura’s on the level he was at the last time they met at Kamino, only to find out first hand that he’d gone from this.

to Goddamn This

The fact the Duo immediately equate his presence to AFO’s says it all, Shigaraki has evolved from Mid-level Dragon Minion of AFO to Final Boss level in less than a year or so since they last saw each other, and AFO was overwhelming enough when he was just standing near them and unaware of their presence, whereas Shigaraki is not only actively looking for Izuku, he’s got a quirk that lets him know his exact location at all times.

Shigarkai’s new and improved decay is powerful enough, but manageable to deal with if you use the right combo of Quirks, but with the Powers of AFO combined behind him there’s nothing on the battlefield that can actually stand up to him in a straight fight. Of course, the extreme disparity between his last appearance does have a reasonable explanation, even if we weren't following him for the last couple of arcs as a second protagonist of sorts

AFO and Garaki Cheated.

Shigaraki is using so many new abilities near-instantaneously, as he needs them, without training or need to fine-tune his control over them. Granted, this may be part of AFO choosing abilities that were easy to instantly use, like muscle enhancers and such, but then again, Shigaraki seems to have no problem using and mixing his new abilities at once, on the fly as he needs to.

here he just straight-out combines the best combination of abilities he has to achieve the result he wants, even using a quirk neither we or he saw AFO using before, yet he somehow knows that he has it and that it’s compatible with the air cannon. Shigaraki knows way too much about his new abilities and is way too competent with them right out of the bat, and this seems to result from AFO and Garaki ‘hacking’ his body with Garaki’s upgrade technology to allow him to wield these abilities to the fullest, as well as allowing AFO’s mental link with him to be even stronger and more powerful than Deku’s. AFO’s mental connection to Shigaraki, rather than the Force-Ghost setup OFA has with Midoira, seems akin to a gradual possession of the young body, allowing Shigaraki to benefit from AFO’s wisdom and experience directly whilst retaining his autonomy for now, but which may get even stronger as time passes and allow his mentor to gradually subsume Tomura and take his place- which may be exactly what Tomura wants, since he’s basically suicidal and has no goals for himself, so breaking down the hero society and them ‘dying’ to allow his mentor to resurrect in his body and rebuild his empire from the ashes he reduced the world too seems like something Tomura would gladly accept as his fate.

At the moment, however, it seems like the connection isn't strong enough to do more than give Shigaraki subconscious knowledge of AFO’s powers and a subconscious need to fulfil his master’s desires.

This kind of Power isn't just impossible for Shigaraki to possess right now, its unfair. Sure Shigaraki got put through hell by Garaki and Gigantomachima’s training regime, in addition to being attacked by the MLA, but still, rather than gaining AFO and having to go through his own training session with mastering his new abilities, Shigaraki can just use them straight away, like he’s been using them for years already. This must be coming from AFO, as Midoira, the only other person with comparable abilities, is still struggling to discover what the hell the other 5 even are, let along how to use them, and he’s had more time to acclimate to discovering he possesses multiple powers, whereas Shigaraki was firing off air cannons and Muscle enhancers the first few minutes after he became conscious.

According to makeste, OFA and AFO might even be more than twin quirks with a vital difference, but rather the exact same quirk accidentally duplicated into AFO’s younger brother.

https://makeste.tumblr.com/post/185620250693/bnha-bonus-rant-5-all-for-one-for-all

This makes the discrepancy between Izuku’s mastery of OFA vs Tomura’s effortless usage of the same abilities in practice more profound, highlighting how far Tomura’s threat level has grown, but also how ridiculous it is that he's gotten this strong so quickly-he simply shouldn't be this strong this early Deku’s hero career, especially since, narratively speaking, the two of them are supposed to be somewhat equal in power as opposite sides of the same narrative. And This disparity comes about from AFO effectively trying to ‘cheat’ on his planned final showdown between his ‘new’ lineage of AFO vs his Brother’s established Generational chain of OFA. He’s basically had Garaki transform Tomura into an effective vessel for him to target and hunt down the current wielder of OFA before he has time to properly prepare and ready himself in using OFA’s power, in a twisted reversal the heroes’ own plans for Dealing with the PLF.

Midoira is effectively facing down AFO reborn into a new body right now, and he’s learned from the mistakes of the past and is focused on him alone, since he’s aware OFA is the only other comparable threat to his power, given enough time to properly master it. And even if he survives this encounter, it’ll be a lucky retreat, and since he can never run far enough from Tomura, thanks to Search, something will have to happen at their next encounter to even the playing field between them and give Izuku enough respite to start Mastering OFA in earnest, and I think i have an answer to that already, in the form of a new power that even AFO himself can’t have planned for.

Eri.

By dint of narrative convention, you set up a Chekhov’s gun well in advance of the time you actually need to use it, and by this point, there’s a particularly large Gun Horikoshi’s been priming and getting ready to fire, namely Eri’s steadily returning power over the last couple of months.

we see this brief hint that she’s ‘charged’ and ready to fire her reversal wave ability, and before the raid on the PLF begins in earnest, Aizawa gets called aside to draw attention to the fact that her power is now starting to become painful from being restrained after it’s ready to fire.

Eri’s powers are now ready to be used, but in what manner?

I believe the hints come about from her first accidental usage of the power against Overhaul.

“the feeling of needing to be Saved”, or in other words, accepting their help so they wouldn’t hurt themselves anymore on her behalf. Eri’s power activated in a moment of wanting to protect somebody from harm, befitting Izuku’s description of it as a kind, gentle power, and whilst there might have been several instances of heroes getting badly injured in the current arc to need her rewind to return themselves to full strength.

These also don't exactly comes off as ‘protection’, since Eri’s power activation came about from wanting to stop harm from happening, not undo harm already down, and whilst i don't doubt Eri would gladly use her abilities to fix up hawks and the others once she got more control of it and wasn’t in risk of turning them into toddlers (though NGL, Teenage Miruko would be pretty kickass, and she seems like the kinda lady that’d love getting some years taken off her clock so she could train herself up again from scratch and enjoy the benefits of kicking ass in a teenage body still to mature into her adult self) Eri nonetheless first used her power out of need to stop another’s pain, and i think her activation of the ability willingly will be tired to that same emotion, and also being in similar circumstances may be a factor, but more than that, Horikoshi has been building up Eri’s usage of her power as something she can be proud of, rather than fear as overhaul tried to brand into her young mind, for quite some time now. Something she will learn how to use, consciously, to protect somebody in their time of need when they’re about to die, something she can use to save a life on her own.

More to the point, i think Eri will use her Quirk’s charge to Protect Izuku, or on his behalf to protect another. He’s the only other person other than Miro and Aizawa she’s been able to open up to, and it’s clear Eri’s selfless nature blends perfectly with hero work, so seeing Izuku getting put in danger would be the perfect trigger for her to want to use her power for his benefit, and i even have a slight theory for how that will go down, which most of this rambling has been leading up.

As far as i understand it, Japan has about three school years, of which Izuku and Class 1A are currently about one month away from the ending of the first year, sometime in April-feel free to correct me on that, but i’m a bit too lazy to fact-check right now- about the same Time Tomura and the PLF are going to be putting their Society-destroying attack into effect. If Horikoshi plans to have the story adhere to Izuku’s school years, he’s got about 2 years still to go, and Tomura is frankly too Overpowered to be defeated or restrained long enough for Izuku to master the rest of OFA before their final showdown at the end of Izuku’s 3rd year, so clearly, his Overwhelming power has to be nerfed somehow, so he’s not ‘quite’ as much of a wide-scale threat as he currently is, but is still more than the average hero can handle, and Izuku has time to put his nose to the grindstone and have more abilities in his arsenal the next time they meet, so here’s my prediction how i see things going.

Izuku and Co will barely escape Tomura as he currently stands from wreaking the remains of the city they’re in, mainly because Tomura starts to suffer the adverse effects of being taken out of his culture jar at only 75% and without Garaki present to help calm down the side effects, leaving him unable to continue after the retreating heroes and forcing him to delay the assault o hero society until he recovers in a few weeks time. Perhaps the Lodge assault party will run into a similar scenario where they are getting Crsushed by Giganto and re-destro leading the trapped PLF members in a rampage against them, until Giganto senses Tomura’s discomfort and breaks off the assault to rush to him- (dude got pretty far to reach Deka city when Garaki woke him up to fight the MLA in under an hour- see caleb’s notes for the distance he had to travel to get there before the fight was finished) giving time for the remaining heroes to escape, though presumably not without heavy injuries and cost, which will also traumatise those UA students who are sitting at the back and watching this horror unfold, seeing their senior mentors and advisors getting brutalises by an army of fanatics that are also aiming to kill them as well.

Following this, there’s a few weeks of recovery on both sides, with the hero side facing criticism and the students dealing with the reality of who serious the situation has become for them, and the PLF scatters to recoup their losses and prepare as best they can for the activation of their plan a few weeks early of the expected date, as well as the efforts of the heroes following hawk’s intel to cut them off from supplies and whatever else they were setting up to enact their big plan, only for tomura to eventually recover and lead an all-out assault against the heroes somehow

in the midst of the chaos, he tracks down izuku again, and this time, being better adjusted to his new body, beats him into a pulp effortlessly, possibly even inside the school grounds of UA for extra poignancy. Eri, being nearby, has to watch the boy who saved her getting brutally curb stomped agaisnt this maniac who reminds her a lot of Overhaul, resurrecting her trauma and parlaying her as Deku gets slowly beaten down blow by blow, until Tomura finally pins him down and tires to extract OFA from him. Despite his best efforts however, he can’t take the quirk, frustrating Tomura and his Master riding Shotgun inside his head that despite all the preparations he’s made, the quirk Still won't bend to his will.

Deciding that if he cannot have OFA, then nobody will. Tomura prepares to disintegrate Midoira until he’s stopped by the appearance of... All Might, emancipated, weakened, and in bad shape from getting caught in the middle of Tomura’s war. Seeing the perfect opportunity to try and break Izuku’s will and force him to give him the power, AFO eggs on Tomura to attack all might with every quirk but Decay, giving him a brutal beating that slowly drives him to the brink of death, just as Nighteye foretold.

However, there is one quirk that seems to be capable of upsetting Nighteye’s predictions, directly or indirectly, one which has already provided Deku the impetus to Overturn his predictions and twist the future, a quirk that AFO most assuredly did not know about or he would have moved heaven and earth to claim it, given how it could fix the wounds that even hyper regeneration could not heal

Eri’s power allows her to undo the damage that has been or is being down to another, and witnessing Izuku’s distress towards this man whom she may not even know (IDK if Eri and All Might have interacted all that much-certainly less that Aizawa has with her) even to the point of dragging his broken both towards Tomura despite the wounds inflicted on him basically leaving him about as worse off when he was breaking his own bones, will probably be the impetus for ERi to activate her power’s charge.

Eri’s quirk seems to be AOE effect, given how the manga had Overhaul get rewound just by getting close to her (going with the manga interpretation of the scene rather than the anime, which seems to be touch-based) and how the other heroes had to keep their distance from Eri when they arrived before Aizawa shut off her quirk, so she does;t have to stand close to Tomura to affect him, just in the vicinity.

Now, whilst getting rewound may be a benefit to Izuku and All Might, given their near-death states at the time, it would very much not be the case for Tomura, whom, besides the fact that he’s getting rewound to near-birth would also be getting rewound to before the point that he got all the hardware upgrades Garaki made to his body, meaning he’s no longer as capable of using the quirks without suffering repercussions on his body. I forsee Tomura getting rewound to just before the point where his fingers where torn off, giving us the lovely imagery of the digits reforming and tearing off the metal clip that Tomura has on his hand, and briefly incapacitating him with the pain until they're fixed. Though i admit this is mainly because the sight of his mangled hand is just really upsetting to me, since it looks so uncomfortable.

Realising what Eri’s doing, Tomura then turns his attention to her and prepares to use his powers to either kill her or steal her quirk, whichever comes fore first to his mind, until...

WHAM

Tomura gets blindsided by a left-hook SMASH that knocks him backwards out of the AOE of her quirk’s effect. Dazed, he looks up and is shocked to see All Might, not only standing tall again, his wounds healing, but once again in his muscle form, visibly de-aging as he stands pissed, between Tomura and Eri. As Izuku rolls backwards out of the quirk’s radius, his body fixed again to working order, he sees the wound that AFO dealt All Might vanish before his eyes, his mentor looking healthier as Eri’s quirk reverses the ravages his hero life took upon his body. Seeing both of them are saved from Tomura, Eri is able to willing fully stop her quirk, perhaps with some encouraging words from Izuku, before she de-ages All might too much, eventually leaving him in a fitter, though still de-powered, body half-way between his younger self seen in two heroes and his present self.

Angered by this unexpected reversal of events, Tomura stands up and prepares to brutalise the two of them all over again, only so soon discover he can’t. His Body starts tearing itself apart when he tries to use his quirks in quick succession, suffering body horror that requires him to rely on hyper regeneration to undo. Worse, whilst Eri’s rewind didn't erase AFO the quirk from Tomura’s body, somehow( quirks can have weird interactions with each other and what is and isn't affected by each superpower, ok?) it did reset the ‘time’ of the quirk itself, meaning that, starting from the most recent acquisition, several of the quirks Tomura was relying on are just gone, including Search.

Sorry, rag doll, but if it’s a choice between Tomura keeping your quirk to hunt Izuku and those he cares about, or not having it, it’s better for the quirk to be erased.

Pissed, Tomura continues fighting against Izuku, even as he suffers increasingly devastating blowback from using quirks he can't handle anymore, eventually requiring his allies in the PLF to extract him from the battlefield. I think that it’s probably here that Izuku will finally unlock Float, as Tomura may rely on it more and more as the one-sided fight against him drags on and he struggles to use any quirk he gained from AFO. Going forward from that point, Deku therefore has more time to train and master OFA whilst Tomura recovers from his reset and starts similarly training himself to use AFO the old-fashioned way, since it’s probably unlikely that the heroes will let him rescue Garaki currently, given he was last seen with Gran Torino, who recently re-appeared, presumably after dropping off Present Mic somewhere safe to keep an eye on Garaki and make sure he didn't escape.

Thus, the second half of Izuku’s first year ends similar to the way Kamino ended, with devastating changes to the status quo and izuku and Tomura in similar positions, both having to train themselves to master their abilities, with Tomura presumably having a slightly easier time of it, since he has AFO’s guidance on how to naturally reach the same peaks he was on before, whereas Izuku now has to work with his school mates and a revived and more energetic All Might, having successfully overcome his own proposed end, to try and rebuild the hero society alongside whatever heroes can currently work their jobs in a society that’s growing more chaotic after Tomura’s latest societal attack.

That’s about all i’ve got, if any of you think that this is a reasonable way to proceed, or have another other thoughts on how things may turn out?

@makeste

#bnha #my hero academia #mha meta #essay #thequietman #plot musings #midoriya izuku #eri #shigaraki tomura

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