Horikoshi failed to give Toga the ending she deserved in My Hero Academia chapter 429

Modified Jul 29, 2024 01:09 GMT

Horikoshi failed to give Toga the ending she deserved in My Hero Academia chapter 429 (Image via BONES)

My Hero Academia chapter 429 spoilers were expected by essentially the entirety of the series’ fanbase to finally provide clear and concrete answers regarding Himiko Toga’s fate. While the issue did allegedly confirm that Himiko Toga died following the last time fans saw her, readers were unfortunately told this rather than shown.

In other words, My Hero Academia chapter 429 offered no additional dialogue or information on Toga that fans hadn’t already heard or known beyond the general confirmation of her death. The issue even lacked a flashback to show what fans missed after the “cameras” turned off, per the in-series excuse Horikoshi wrote in via earlier issues.

It’s an incredibly frustrating end to Toga’s storyline, as My Hero Academia chapter 429 completely removes her presence from this resolution and any agency she may have had. There’s also an in-universe impact to the end of Toga’s story being off-screened, as it fully prevents her final, noble action of saving Toga’s life from being known to society in general.

Horikoshi lets Toga down in My Hero Academia chapter 429, and it’s borderline inexcusable

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To further expand on the above points, My Hero Academia chapter 429 does see Toga appear, but only in a muted flashback format. These flashbacks also show scenes fans already saw, offering nothing new to her story and the conclusion to her life and arc. While it appears that Toga may say one extremely short line of dialogue, it’s unlikely that this one line will have any profound effect on the issue’s handling of her arc’s conclusion.

By completely removing her presence from the situation, fans don’t get to further understand the agency she exercised in her final moments. She’s also not given a chance to speak her final peace on her relationship with Uraraka, what she learned via Uraraka (and Tsuyu Asui, to a lesser degree), and her own life experiences. These were all shown as integral to her character and progression, so it’s somewhat confusing to see Horikoshi not give her this opportunity.

My Hero Academia chapter 429 instead takes her agency and seemingly gives it to Deku, shown primarily via his comforting Uraraka and offering words of encouragement to her. Moreover, these words don’t even primarily focus on Toga, instead seeing Deku prioritize Uraraka’s emotions and liken them to his situation with Tenko Shimura. While including such a scene is the right choice, doing so at the expense of a focus on Toga herself is dubious.

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However, even beyond how these choices impact the series’ quality, there are major in-world consequences to having Toga’s death be unknown to the general public. By not making Toga’s sacrifice known to society, it removes what could have been an incredibly influential result of the war in terms of pushing society forward and changing it. After all, Toga’s saving Uraraka is something of a redemption for her, showing that anyone can change for the better.

This is further emphasized by chapter 429’s “B-story,” which focuses on the “mysterious character” introduced at the epilogue’s start. Essentially, this B-story is used to show that society has changed, and won’t let another Tomura Shigaraki come about. While one can argue Horikoshi is showing that making Toga’s sacrifice public knowledge wasn’t necessary to spark this change, making her actions known would only further reinforce the change by that logic.

It’s overall an incredibly disappointing and confusing way to conclude what was otherwise a well-executed character arc. Fans have been nervous for quite some time regarding the series’ conclusion, and chapter 429’s spoilers seemingly validate those beliefs. With apparently just one regular-length chapter left to conclude the series with, fans are anxiously curious to see what Horikoshi does in the manga’s final moments.