My Hero Academia is Proving The Last Arc Can’t Live Up To The Hype

Warning! Spoilers ahead for My Hero Academia chapter 336!

The late Star and Stripe’s almost random appearance and sudden death served as foreshadowing for how My Hero Academia‘s current and final arc will eventually play out – and it doesn’t bode well.

Mangaka Kohei Horikoshi has already revealed that fans are currently reading the final arc of his series, and only one week in the manga is left until the All For One/Tomura Shigaraki hybrid will recover from his last encounter with Star and Stripe, heralding the final showdown before the end of the series. This is problematic because Horikoshi still has to resolve too many loose ends, which means he will have to deal with them one by one in quick succession. What’s worse, the one-week reprieve has already begun and Horikoshi just exacerbated his self-imposed predicament by introducing Yuga Aoyama as the traitor in chapter 336.

Deku, who just found out the truth about Yuga, will have to resolve this messy business quickly before he can tackle many of the other issues he needs to address.  Truth be told, the whole prospect of there being a traitor felt almost sprung on readers. There has been talk about the possibility, but it never took center stage until All For One randomly mentioned in chapter 335 that he has many friends, fueling speculation when Horikoshi juxtaposed this bombshell with Invisible Girl. The fact that Deku just learned the truth – along with readers – eliminates the buildup that could have transpired where Yuga would have been seen struggling in secret with his dark truth.

In addition to Yuga’s betrayal, class 1-A still needs to put on their follow-up school festival performance for the angry mob that originally wanted to sacrifice Deku, all before the one-week deadline finally arrives. Then there are the numerous confrontations that are destined to occur simultaneously with Deku’s fight against All For One. Shoto Todoroki and his father Endeavor must face off against Dabi who revealed that he was actually their long-lost family member Toya. Himiko Toga needs to see Ochaco Uraraka again because of how badly Ochaco hurt her after the villain confessed that Ochaco was important to her. And since Deku is what connects them, he should somehow be involved – even though he’s supposed to be fighting All For One. Then there’s the fact that U.A. High will have to be attacked at some point to showcase the impressive upgrades that Principal Nezu installed. Also, the fan-favorite Lady Nagant should come back and not just with a brief cameo. But because she would likely return in the final battle, readers wouldn’t get to see what they actually want. They want to see the reckoning she’s destined to contend with upon her recovery and how she will atone for her past sins against hero society.

How everything is destined to unfold will undoubtedly share similarities with how Horikoshi randomly thrust Star and Stripe on readers. She was the first foreign hero to make a major appearance in the manga, and yet she debuted in the final arc when things were already hectic. Even though Endeavor hinted Japan could receive overseas reinforcements much earlier in chapter 318, it still felt sudden, just like how the aforementioned events will likely feel. While all of this promises an endless wave of crucial events and nonstop action in future chapters, there is another promise that readers need to brace for – it will likely feel rushed. Just like Star and Stripe who disappeared as quickly as she almost arbitrarily appeared, the answers and conclusions that fans have been anxiously waiting for in My Hero Academia will undoubtedly not be well-presented – all because of mangaka Kohei Horikoshi’s self-imposed deadline.

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