My Hero Academia anime-original foreshadowing proves Studio Bones knows what it's doing

My Hero Academia's anime adaptation by Studio Bones has had some divisive opinions over the years, especially in recent times. While there is no denying that this anime has given Kohei Horikoshi's story worldwide recognition and success, some fans have felt that it has failed to elevate the source material in terms of visuals and even make things worse in some cases, such as how season 5 was structured.

However, there have been some moments where the My Hero Academia anime has managed to add even more to the source material, even going as far as the second anime, where the series began to gain worldwide appeal. In that regard, there is an example of early foreshadowing that the anime added that makes the connection between Endeavor and Dabi all the more notorious.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the My Hero Academia series.

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The My Hero Academia anime added an element of foreshadowing that the manga didn't have

During the second season of the My Hero Academia anime, as Stain is fighting the likes of Deku, Tenya Iida, and Shoto Todoroki, Tomura Shigaraki decided to unleash the Nomu in order to cause a lot more chaos, which led to Endeavor, then the Number 2 Hero, to deal with them. It is worth pointing out that this is the first time that Shoto's father fought in the adaptation by Studio Bones and it was anime-only, but it led to a very interesting piece of foreshadowing.

During the fight with the Nomu, Endeavor manages to grab and incinerate it with blue flames, which is a move that he never uses in the source material. This is very important because the other fire user in the series who uses blue flames is Dabi, also known as Touya Todoroki, Endeavor's first son, thus establishing a little hint that the Number 2 Hero and the member of the League of Villains were family.

It isn't difficult to assume that the staff at Bones were aware of the fact that Dabi was going to be revealed as Endeavor's son when that theory had been running in the fandom years prior to its confirmation. Therefore, it shows that when it comes to respecting the source material (barring the season 5 situation), the My Hero Academia anime staff, at least, have done their homework in terms of offering something coherent in relation to Horikoshi's story.

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The value of the Dabi twist

Dabi revealing he is Touya (Image via Bones).

My Hero Academia is not a series known for having a lot of mysteries or twists and turns, but the Dabi revelation was something that had been building for years and fans had been proposing theories for a longer time. Kohei Horikoshi had managed to leave a lot of crumbs across the story, such as not revealing Dabi's real name or his motivations, plus his then-weird interest in Shoto Todoroki during the camp when the League of Villains kidnapped Katsuki Bakugo, or his interest in Endeavor after the latter beat the High-End Nomu.

The revelation of Dabi being Endeavor's presumably deceased son, Touya Todoroki, received a lot of plaudits, especially for the way it was executed. Furthermore, it connected one of the main antagonists with two members of the main cast (Endeavor and Shoto) and made things a lot more personal for the upcoming final arc, especially considering the Number 1 Hero's sins and his attempts to redeem himself.

While a lot of people don't feel that the resolution of the conflict was good enough, most fans agree that the twist had a lot more positives than negatives for the characters of Dabi, Endeavor, and Shoto. And proves that Horikoshi could come up with some mysteries and execute them quite well.

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Final thoughts

The My Hero Academia adaptation by Bones had a very interesting piece of foreshadowing in the second season through the anime-only fight of Endeavor and the Nomu, showing the former's blue flames. This served as a sign that he was family of Dabi of the League of Villains, the only other character in the series to use flames of that color.