The Halfway Mark!!……… Maybe. My Hero Academia Chapter 376 BREAKDOWN

This doesn’t have anything to do the chapter as a whole; it more refers to how I feel about the events transpiring. I think we have finally reached the Halfway Point of this arc. This arc began with chapter 343, and we’re at 376. 33 Chapters. I think we have 33 or so left of this arc. Or really; I don’t think that there’s as much left of this arc as some may think. Horikoshi has stated before that he doesn’t really enjoy making long arcs- and it really shows sometimes. With Kurogiri free and All For One on a time table- not to mention that fact that the characters are starting to “shift location-” means that it’s time for things to Change. 

I can’t really say where the story is going anymore- Horikoshi isn’t making the “Endgame” as clear as he once did. All that we can say for certain is that Deku will save Tenko from All For One, Bakugo will be involved in some way(whenever he gets up off his Popularity Poll winning @$$), and All For Destruction will become a giant f*ckin’ monster. UA will crash to the ground; Uraraka might be there to complete that image that he drew for that art exhibition; Uraraka will talk to Best Girl Himiko chan; just the BASE things. No clue how all of that is going to coincide. Don’t we still need to know what’s going on with the guys who’re trying to free Machia, or Aoyama’s battle against Kueida guy. Maybe we’re not as close as I though……

But it’s GOTTA be reaching that point soon!! I believe the location shifting of characters is Horikoshi putting them where they need to be for whatever “Grand Finale” he has in mind for these storylines. At this point, it’s become a bit of a “Race” to see which plot wraps up first: All For One vs Endeavor and Hawks; The Todoroki Family And Their Monster; or one girl’s quest to talk with her friend. Which one will conclude first? Let’s find out!! My Hero Academia Chapter 376: “A Storm To A Flower.” Give me a minute…….

REVIEW

Following the events of the last chapter: Uraraka and Tsu follow Himiko chan and her “Sad Man’s Parade” to the All For One Battlefield. As they plummet to the ground- covered in flames and mud clones- the real Himiko chan comes out to tell them that the “Blushing Schoolgirl In Love-” No Longer Exists. The Infinite Doubles rage on, as the Heroes do everything they can to contain the rampage and protect the Villains they’ve already captured. Uraraka and Tsu are caught by Jiro and Tokoyami, who says that the “Divide And Conquer” idea has essentially Failed. 

We jump over to Endeavor, who makes note of the “X” shaped flame over Toya’s chest. He realizes that this might be the “Phosphor” move, and asks what Toyoa did to Shoto. He expresses his disappointment that he couldn’t bring Shoto’s charred corpse to their dad, but he’ll settle for burning everything else Endeavor hold dear. And it’s all as All For One had planned. He would have liked to get that long range “Warp Gate” quirk from Kurogiri, but it’s all the same- he just has to high tail it to All For Destruction. 

Hawks- seeing All For One’s desperate flee- tries his best to keep the Villain at this battlefield. He asks why All For One is trying to leave, and the Demon Lord responds that All For Destruction’s “Perfect Body” is still incomplete. This body still has something to do to that one before it completely disappears. Hearing this, and taking the situation at face-value; Hawks realizes that it has to be Him that keeps All For One here- Endeavor Has To Be The One To Stop Dabi. All For One chastises Hawks for leaving the situation to someone who’s barely conscious as is, but Hawks says that All For One has lost to Endeavor once before. And that seems to get to dear All For One…….

What’s left of Toya dives at Endeavor, who finally has to see Toya as he is……. My Hero Academia Chapter 376 END!!! Short and to the point. Not really an “OH SH!T!!!” chapter, but I think it gives us something to work with……..

Analysis 

Is it just me, or is All For One feeling a little bit………. Off? Almost as if his “precious contingency plans” are starting to Fail. I mean; I’ve kind of felt this way ever since the fight against Star And Stripe- he just hasn’t…….. felt as “in control” of the situation like he once did. The last thing he said to Star’s vestige didn’t feel like something the All For One from Kamino would say; it felt like a Loser trying to prove that he didn’t lose. Or even here; why does he even care about chatting with Hawks- or even react to what Hawks’ said about him losing to Endeavor? 

And even looking over at All For Destruction- who’s EFFECTIVELY just All For One in a Tomura Skin suit- isn’t acting right. He’s losing to Izuku, and he’s making excuses? His plan is failing, guys. Clearly, Star Stripe’s quirk was a little more essential to his plan that we may have thought. I don’t know what he was planning to do with it, but I feel like he may have been able to further the Mind-Meld by saying something along the lines of “Tenko Shimura will Fully Merge With All For One.” Because by the end of that fight; Tomura and All For One were completely Merged- but Tenko was never fully integrated. And because of stubborn little Tenko, the body is still “rejecting” the merging of the Vestiges. Thus preventing the body from reaching it’s Full potential. 

Now that might be where this body comes in. I heard a theory long ago from Vocal Pineapple Academia- a theory that I may have mentioned before- that All For One would give Tomura his quirks; something to make up that last 25% he needs to be complete. It would be the counterfeits made for the Counterfeit All For One quirk, but still probably effective all the same. Maybe that idea is still about to come into play- with the TRUE “All For One” quirk as opposed to the copy. And an older, stronger version of that quirk with a load out that we still don’t really know about. 

It could also be that he’s uncertain how much time he has left before he’s rewound out of existence. And he was expecting Kurogiri to come to him first, but miscalculated which one he would go towards first, and is now having to go “on foot” as it were. And without any sort of plan, he doesn’t know long that’ll take. And without whatever plan he has for this original body; that new one won’t be able to continue to function for very much longer- or perhaps it’ll fall apart the moment it reaches full Singularity, just as Tomura began to fall apart when he got his quirks back in that initial war. 

…………………. I had a plan for this post. I came up with something, but I had my family coming over and had to stop and make room for people to sit and eat(and interact with family that I hadn’t seen since Christmas last year). That- and I honestly didn’t really want to make this post at first. With One Piece, Oda included enough for me to stretch the post out properly. But Tabata and Horikoshi didn’t really give me anything to speculate on this time around. I’m still doing the new thing, but I stopped and thought about the “Off” feeling that I get whenever I see All For One these days. But I forgot a lot of what I said. As you can see in the first 2 paragraphs of this section. I don’t really have anything else to say now. As Such…….

Conclusion

That’s all I got, guys. It might just be that the characters- primarily the Villains- have gone through the process of “Flanderization” and have lost all the “unique, multiple facets” of their personalities. And All For One is just one of the victims. Or maybe he’s “overstayed his welcome” in the story and he just became this naturally. Either way; I think there’s some kind of problem that’s preventing him from thinking like he normally would. Hawks might be starting to pick up on that. Let me know what you guys think in the comments. And until the next post, all- Have A Magically Wonderful Day. And if I don’t post between now and then- Happy New Year, All. By~~~e!!!