My Hero Academia: Horikoshi retcons a crucial OFA fact to make Deku and Bakugo's iconic Heroes Rising moment canon

My Hero Academia presently stands as one of the most cherished series in both the anime and manga communities. The ongoing events of the Final War Arc are keeping the fandom hyped and eagerly anticipating each week to discover what twists the new chapter will bring and how the battles will unfold.

In the latest manga chapter, however, the mangaka introduces an unforeseen fact regarding OFA. Consequently, Deku and Bakugo’s iconic moment from the franchise’s second movie has officially been incorporated into the canon. As the story discloses more details about OFA and its past, the foreshadowing done previously becomes apparent to viewers.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from My Hero Academia manga.

---

My Hero Academia chapter 408: First OFA transfer revealed, canonizing the events in the second movie

The long-anticipated backstory of All For One and Yoichi Shigaraki is finally unveiled in My Hero Academia chapter 407. This revelation sheds light on numerous queries fans have pondered, speculated, and debated about, including how quirks originated and what initiated the enduring conflict between One For All and All For One.

The concluding pages of chapter 407 hinted at the imminent demise of Yoichi, the first holder of OFA. The subsequent chapter provides detailed accounts of his death and the events that ensued.

The narrator explains that Yoichi was murdered by his older twin brother, AFO, two months after his escape with Kudo, the second OFA user, and Bruce, the third user (this chapter also reveals his name).

Yoichi holding Kudo's hand before his death (Image via Kohei Horikoshi/Shueisha)

Sometime after his death, AFO is in his apartment with Yoichi’s hand, the only remaining part of his body following his gruesome death. AFO notes that Yoichi’s body no longer retained the quirk he had previously granted him.

Simultaneously, Kudo undergoes an examination, where Bruce, the third user, reveals his body now possesses two quirk factors. In addition to his original quirk Gearshift, he has another insignificant secondary one. In the following panel, paralleling AFO and Kudo, they both come to the realization that Yoichi’s quirk was passed down to him.

It suggests the possibility that it might have happened during Yoichi's last desperate attempt to stand against his brother, and he unknowingly passed it on right before dying. The earlier panel, which focused on him holding Kuro’s hand, appears to have foreshadowed this fact.

---

The connection with the second My Hero Academia movie

The events of this chapter draw a parallel with those in My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising movie. When the franchise’s second movie premiered in 2019, the method of Deku’s sharing OFA powers with Bakugo was perceived by the fandom as a non-canon occurrence, garnering criticism from the community.

However, the way My Hero Academia’s mangaka Kohei Horikoshi canonized it in the latest chapter comes as a pleasant surprise for the fandom.

In the movie, Deku, Bakugo, and the heroes face a formidable enemy named Nine and struggle to overpower the villain. As Deku was pinned down by Nine, he had no choice but to transfer some of his OFA quirk to Bakugo. The transfer occurred through them holding hands, the focus of much scrutiny from fans.

Deku and Bakugo both use OFA in the movie 2 (Image via Studio Bones)

At the time of the movie’s release, the storyline of the anime revealed that OFA is passed down genetically, requiring the ingestion of the predecessor’s DNA, such as a strand of hair or a drop of blood. The same also held true in Deku’s case when he inherited OFA from All Might.

Yet, the new revelation in chapter 408, hinting at how the first transfer also took place via physical touch and not DNA transfer raises questions among fans. They wonder whether this was a deliberate plan by the mangaka all along, and if the movie had foreshadowed this fact. The delayed discloser of such a crucial detail may lead to questions among fans as to why it wasn’t revealed sooner.

Regardless, fans are thrilled to see one of the most epic battle scenes in the franchise becoming canon. This development also opens up possibilities for more such events to occur later in the series’ plot.