……….. Okay, I’m starting to enjoy this fight more. Not in the sense that this is my “Favorite Fight In The Series” or even in this arc. I like it for the simple fact that it’s capitalizing on one of the best parts of the Initial War: Everything is compounding on itself. All Might is facing an All For One who’s plan has Brilliantly backfired on him, and is using that- in conjunction with all that we know about his Self Rewind- to put this Wannabe Big Bad in his place. It’s something I didn’t know I wanted to see. We’re also getting All Might’s backstory, so……….. yeah. Don’t know why he waited ’til 11:52 of the story to give us this; he could have scrapped the Class 1B battle and done something akin to the Gojo’s Past arc in Jujutsu Kaisen and told us All Might’s past and showed us a mission or something- maybe even the First All For On Battle he’s had- and I doubt ANYONE would complain. But they needed to show off Izuku unleashing “Black Whips” without serious consequences, so……….. Eh. 

This is the second to last battle we’re going to see in the story. Unless Horikoshi decides to cut back to whatever Aoyama is doing after this. Why did I put that into the Aether? Please don’t extend the story like that, Horikoshi sensei– I don’t think you could take it. Let’s get this started. My Hero Academia Chapter 398: “Toshinori Yagi: Rising/Origin.” He realized it was a bit too late to do either, so he made this one both. Thought we wouldn’t catch that, didja, Sensei? 

Overview

Small Flashback: Toshinori Yagi is tailing behind Nana Shimura, begging to be her Apprentice. Present Day: The Hercules car sends another support item Iron Might’s way- “Super Acid Injection: Pinky.” He injects All For One’s rewinding body with acid, melting him from the inside(and unknowingly speeding up the rewind process). All For None’s p!ssed off, and we continue the earlier flashback. Nana rejects him because he doesn’t have a quirk, and tells him to use that pipe to protect a 3 ft radius with that rusted pipe(PAUSE). Then he says his family is already long dead. Nana can relate, but doesn’t have the time to help him on his Revenge Quest. But that’s not why he’s doing it; he’s just tired of this cycle of Criminal’s being “rewarded” while their victims are left sitting in fear. He aims to fix that– by becoming a Symbol that allows everyone to live happily with a smile. Because everyone is protecting their own “3 ft Radius,” while Toshinori doesn’t. He’s the ONLY ONE who can become that. 

Back to the Present: Tatooin Station, where All Might first met that D@mned Nerd. Even the same building. His ribs are fractured, and the Respiratory systems on the fritz– basically, he just got f*cked up. While All For One is closer to UA than anyone realized. Including All For Nobody Asked, who can’t think of anything else aside from mutilating All Might. He even takes a detour to continue to the battle. As All Might lay beat to h#ll, he recalls his first meeting with Deku- and what Stain said to him the last time they spoke. So he stands back up. And All For No One Cares Anymore shoots him a look like “You better f*cking Not………” Iron Might realizes that All For None’s gotten younger since they started the battle, realizing that he gets younger the more damage he takes. And then…………. He does the Thing that All For One was Hoping he wouldn’t do: 

He Starts Laughing His @$$ Off.

All For One’s all “Oh Now I’m Gonna Tear Your F*cking Spine Out.“ But Iron Might gets “Uravity Thruster” and “Ingenium” support items from Hercules, and ups the power output to max. While off in the distance– his Vestige can feel what’s happening. Now; Izuku Midoriya, Tomura Shigaraki, All Might, and All For One- Their Stories End HERE!! My Hero Academia Chapter 398 END!!! Go get ’em, Small Might. You better not lag behind you D@mned Nerd!! 

REVIEW

I said it before and I’ll say it again: The is the Penultimate Battle of The Series. All jokes aside: The Todoroki plot was the only other one closest in importance to the main One For All/All For One stuff, and that’s over. Best Girl Himiko chan’s story concluded beautifully; Spinner’s story is over; Horikoshi doesn’t care about what Aoyama is doing- none of us do; Compress ain’t comin’ back; Twice is gone and done with- This is the second to last most important battle. No– The Second To Last. I………. If Horikoshi decides at ANY POINT going forward to go back to Aoyama’s battlefield- I will NOT cover those chapters. He does NOT care, and pretending like he does now after everything is a waste of EVERYONE’S time. I don’t care how or why Aoyama gets in the Final Fight with Tomura, but I know that he and the rest of Class 1A are going to pop in to finish this. Or, well; the most important characters- character’s such as Shoto, Ilda, Uraraka, Kirishima, and those- kind of f*cked up right now. Then again- Bakugo. They’ll likely all be there, because this is the story of how they All Became The World’s Greatest Heroes. Or whatever. 

I have to say: I’m enjoying watching All Might’s sh!t-talking. It just further shows how far All For One has fallen- from a cold, calculating business man to………. a Dork. The impression that I got from All For One was that he was just that- A Business Man; being a Villain is a business, and he was ready to step down from the company- but still wanted to make fat stacks of cash. I feel like what Mammoth Base Opera Castle commented on a post a VERY long time ago was correct in that All For One is too selfish to fully step down. But…….. something about the way he acted when he was first introduced– it felt like he Genuinely meant for Tomura to replace him as this Crime Lord. Tomura was meant to be his successor, and he would retreat further into the shadows, reaping the benefits of the destruction that Tomura brings with him. That’s what I thought would happen. Or at least, since All For One was doing some body hijacking shenanigans- I didn’t think it would have gone on………… This Far. 

All For One felt like the same Machiavellian schemer that his predecessors were, but………… that he wasn’t gonna turn into a Parasite. Because that’s just what he is: a Parasite– some Pathetic old man that talks just to hear himself talk. He’s a “husk” of what he was. And All Might sees this. But what’s even more prevalent to him: The fact that All For One is aging backwards talking about becoming a “Demon Lord.” He is becoming a 13 Year old Edge Lord right before our eyes. And I can appreciate it when a Villain’s defeat is just them becoming a “Self Parody” failing to do what was once an “easy task.” I’m probably the only person in the WORLD who can find enjoyment in the Final Battle with Muzan. Though probably not for the reason the author- Koyoharu Gotouge- intended. Because I get a laugh out of it– especially when the character’s are able to talk sh!t like this. 

But there’s a way to do it. From my recollection; Muzan was portrayed as this “Terrifying DEITY” to the Demons- someone who can and would kill them without a second thought. Then he becomes more active in the story and you REALIZE– He Wasn’t All That Terrifying to start with. He wasn’t in the manga enough to where I can say he’d be as terrifying as a Madara or an Aizen, or even Tomura and Frieza. These guys had chapters upon arcs and mini arcs to establish themselves as THE Antagonists. Vs Muzan who was basically the origin of whatever Monster we were up against that week. Nothing in the story ever made me think he was gonna be “The Villain.” And come the end of it- The Baby. Well……… him slaying the Lower Moon’s will always be a really cool scene for me. But admittedly, seeing where the series went- that was just Gotouge “trimming the fat” so the series wouldn’t be 4-5-600 something chapters. 

I haven’t sat down and taken notes like I usually do; I’m making up a lot of this sh!t as I go. Um………. All For One’s De-aging. When he first did this, I’ll admit: I can’t say that I cared for it. Or did I? It was so long ago. I don’t think it added anything to the story aside from another “Major” problem to deal with. And if anything, it gave rise to more questions with Eri’s quirk and the nature of those Quirk Erasing Bullets. And then he started aging further and further back, gaining more power and less control over himself the further back he’s going. It’s a detail. And so is his de-aging accelerating the more damage he accumulates. I guess “Rewind” is accelerating to compensate for whatever wounds he gets- turning him back further and further to a point where that injury doesn’t even exist. 

It makes All Might’s plan with that acid all the more impressive. It doesn’t just “go away;” it was melting him from the inside out. And “Rewind” had to keep up with that. I imagine that All For One- in his crazed state- probably realized it, too, and tried to get the acid out by damaging himself and just letting it “spill out.” But I guess he wasn’t thinking straight, because damaging himself like that with his quirks only helped speed things up. If he keeps attacking All Might recklessly like this, he’s gonna end up…………. just like Muzan I JUST caught that!! All For One is on track to de-aging into a Baby just like what Muzan became! I don’t wanna say “Good Riddance” when a baby blips out of existence, but then it’s All For None- the person who inserted himself into a story that was better off with him locked up in a jail cell. And might have went better if he just up and died. 

I suppose the last thing I have to say would be All Might’s Mentality in being a Hero. His thinking at the beginning was the he alone had to become a “Symbol-” that he was the only was qualified to be this……….. Hero DEITY because………. he didn’t have anyone at home waiting for him. He didn’t have anyone to go home to, so if he died fighting a villain or saving a whole bunch of people- sad to say– people wouldn’t be around to mourn him. At least- not “Toshinori.” All Might will forever be remembered as a Hero the world over, honored as a a “Soldier-” Toshinori Yagi’s just another name in the crowd. Which might be why he kept people like Nighteye at such a distance; he didn’t want those connection because it would make his job that much harder to do. That and it meant less people for All For One to go after. In a f*cked up way: He’s Right. Not like “Nobody cares about the person behind the mask” or something; I mean he’s logically correct in the way he thinks. Though how far Izuku’s come with One For All in comparison to him, it’s clear “connection” are better than going in alone- just ask any protagonist! 

Conclusion 

………… Not bad if I do say so myself. Um……… Ah, what all do I have left to say? ‘Twas a nice chapter; I really did like it. It may not be the Himiko chan plot, but then neither was the Todoroki’s conclusion. Lookin’ forward to see how this battle concludes. I wonder if Izuku and All Might are going to get to say goodbye to each other. Because one of them is NOT making it out of this story. My personal theory is that- in a Parallel to All Might’s unseen battle with All For One(you know how much Horikoshi loves his parallels)- Izuku is the “Nana” in the situation, fighting against All For One/Tomura. But unlike that fight, Izuku- with his allies help- will win. And still die– not from the fight itself, but succumbing to One For All’s singularity. But he had to pass on One For All for the sequel series, right? Well, that’s where Tomura’s Singularity ties in. 

In my mind- with the theory I came up with about quirks and singularities- I think that the manifestation of the “Decay” quirk Tomura and Tenko will split from each other, leaving Tenko quirkless. And Izuku gives Tenko the chance he was denied all those years ago. And Bakugo becomes the “Gran Torino” of the situation, having not held One For All in the past(if you don’t count the movies), but was an ally of a past user. He’ll teach little Tenko how to use the quirk, and- since Tenko is mentally still a child- his body will “grow into” the power. That’s how I see this ending. But maybe you feel differently. Let me know what you guy’s think in the comments, and ’til next time, all- Stay Golden!! Laters!!