C&C - My Hero Academia - "Tomura Shigaraki: Origin" [11/6]

[Nobodyman]

Opening Theme: "Merry-Go-Round" by Man with a Mission
Ending Theme: "Uso ja nai" by Soshi Sakiyama

Previously on My Hero Academia: Re-Destro overwhelms Shigaraki, destroying his left hand and the hands he wears all over his body, causing him to experience flashes of his deceased family. As a child, Tenko Shimura (Shigaraki) lives under the one harsh rule of his father Kotaro: never talk about heroes, as they do nothing but hurt their own families to help strangers. Despite this, Tenko's sister sneaks him a picture of their grandmother, Nana Shimura. However, Tenko’s excitement is slapped away by his father’s rage, while his family watches on, unsure of what to do. Thinking back to when Nana abandoned him to the foster system, Kotaro realizes he made a mistake. Tenko’s Quirk manifests, killing his entire family one by one, even his mother as she attempts to comfort him. He attempts to beg his father for help, but Kotaro attacks him. Enraged, Tenko jumps on his father and purposely kills him with his Decay. Among the blood and rubble, Tenko feels a strange sense of pleasure and acknowledges that he may have wanted this all along.

Tonight: Shigaraki remembers his first encounter with All For One during the climax of his battle with Re-Destro.

Notes: Wow! Has it really been almost a month since the last MHA episode? Well, here we are, back after a fairly lengthy hiatus, and we have a double helping of MHA that actually marks the end of this admittedly rocky season. Hope you all enjoy!

 

[Kitschensyngk]

A month ago:

 

[Nobodyman]

Previously on MHA:

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Salaryman Lars is scared.

I hope you found time to wash your hands.

 

[Nobodyman]

Seems the people of that city have a bad case of Not-my-problem Syndrome.

Wait, are we getting the full opening?

 

[Kitschensyngk]

A Somebody Else's Problem field.

If only he had a security blanket or a stuffed tiger.

And that's how the goons from Durarara!! died.

So one of them had three arms?

 

[Nobodyman]

All for One gives Tomura a hand. Several, in fact.

Stress? Re-Destro, I think Tomura could tell you a thing or two about stress.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Like a murderous butterfly. A murderfly.

Father? I wanted to kill him. Mother? I wanted to--

This is Mob if his life had turned out different.

Phantom, CEO of Krankor.

 

[Nobodyman]

"It's like he's been liberated from everything."
Yeah, his family, society, sanity, all sense of right and wrong...

 

[Kitschensyngk]

You've got the whole world in your (many) hands.

Every boy needs a hobby.

Okay, so...how much Blade Runner will I have to watch to get Black Lotus?

 

[shany94a]

If only Shigaraki had found someone like All Might ... but instead of One for All, he got All for One

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Re-Destro's gonna need a re-developer.

 

[Nobodyman]

Re-Destro doesn't have a foot to stand on.

Well, how's that for a twist?

Sure, let's have Charlie Manson with God powers lead us. Great plan.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Eating sushi in a better room.

Thugs with money. Same old story.

So they're "paranormal agents" now?

 

[Nobodyman]

"We shall be all-powerful! Crush the lesser humans! Conquer the world! UNIMAGINABLE POWER! UNLIMITED RICE PUDDING, ETCETERA, ETCETERA!"

 

[animePWNS]

Didn't we just see "Part 1"?

 

[Yojimbo]

Oh good, Shigaraki got his memory back and deadlier than ever. And commands a cult army.

Negated Trumpet's quirk though with just the sheer look of terror in his gaze. Yeesh.

I thought it was Machia all this time but it was Shigaraki that caused the city's destruction.

Ah, Shigaraki is All For One's surname.

I don't really follow the "paranormal" part of the name. Guess it connotes 'human beyond normal' rather than the supernatural like ghosts.

 

[Gold Guy]

I know a lot of people wish that MHA could have aired on Cartoon Network, but honestly? This whole arc would have needed massive cuts. I wonder what Shigaraki's backstory would even look like...

 

[Space Cadet]

I know a lot of people wish that MHA could have aired on Cartoon Network, but honestly? This whole arc would have needed massive cuts. I wonder what Shigaraki's backstory would even look like...

Lots of flash cuts, blood painted over and his family being "vaporized" or "destroyed." Since CN can air TV-PG stuff, some stuff might make it through, compared to it being TV-Y7 but yeah, lots of edits would have happened.

 

[Light Lucario]

I know a lot of people wish that MHA could have aired on Cartoon Network, but honestly? This whole arc would have needed massive cuts. I wonder what Shigaraki's backstory would even look like...

I still don't know how they could have covered anything past season one on Cartoon Network proper. The blood and injuries from season one probably could have been tone down without losing anything or requiring any major edits, but I think most of the arcs starting with the Stain arc would have been just edited to pieces. Shigaraki's backstory from beginning to end was just way too deadly and full of blood for them to keep it in tact. I'm not sure how much they could have even kept considering that Shigaraki was abused on screen and the blood of multiple people was shown on screen too.

Anyway, I thought that this episode was really good. I had mixed feelings on the people ignoring Shigaraki as he was walking around in a daze. On one hand, it was pretty messed up that people didn't stay to help a lost child and just assumed that a hero or a police officer would come to help him. That definitely impacted the way Shigaraki views their society and it doesn't really make these people look great if they ignored a child in need. On the other hand, the situation would have probably been a thousand times worse if Shigaraki accidentally used his Quirk on that old woman or anyone else who tried to touch his hands. It would have attracted more attention from the police and heroes, but I'm not sure if it would have really helped Shigaraki. They could have assumed that he was a villain in the making already instead of a child in need of help. Shigaraki really did need someone to reach out to him and it's rather sad that it was All For One who found him. Even after what he did to his family, maybe his life could have changed if someone actually helped him.

All For One claimed that Shigaraki had this need for destruction and it manifested as an itch, but I'm not sure how accurate that really is. Shigaraki clearly had a lot of pent up anger caused by his abusive father, but the previous episode showed that he was still a little kid who just wanted to become a hero. If he had the emotional support he needed and possibly got to see a therapist to help him manage those feelings, I don't think that Shigaraki would have become a villain. It was still pretty unsettling to see him kill people as such a small child deliberately. Knowing that he is the grandson of All Might's mentor, there's a bit of extra sadness of All For One wiping away his original surname for his own.

The rest of the fight was pretty intense. Even after regaining all of his memories, Shigaraki was still eager to fight back. His voice changed right after he destroyed his father's hand. It was a pretty brutal fight and Re-Destro barely managed to survive. If he hadn't cut off his legs, then Shigaraki's Quirk would have killed him. It was an interesting twist to have Re-Destro just hand over leadership to Shigaraki, but it also would have been a waste to kill off all of these big powerful characters from the Liberation Army, especially when I assume that the main cast will be fighting against them in the future. It was also a sign of Shigaraki's strength. He and his fellow villains were able to effectively defeat a large army. It showed how powerful they were, as well as established Shigaraki as All For One's successor.

The new name is a bit strange though. The League of Villains was arguably more generic, but it worked as a quick way to define the group. Paranormal Liberation Front sounds a bit weirder to me. I can understand why they remove the villain part of their name since the Liberation army doesn't see themselves as such and keeping Liberation was obviously a way to make the group more accepting of the change in leadership. But paranormal is usually used in reference to stuff like ghosts and not villains. Still, it was a pretty satisfying way to end the arc and Shigaraki wanting even more power after what his upgraded Quirk can do makes him more of a threat. Overall, this was a really good episode.