My Hero Academia chapter 418: Exploring whether Kotaro Shimura is a villain for the series

My Hero Academia chapter 418, which was released recently, focused heavily on Deku's attempts to rescue Tomura Shigaraki from his inner self. The episode ended with a massive cliffhanger involving the latter's childhood. The series had revealed several arcs ago that Shigaraki murdered his family when he was a kid because of his Decay Quirk but now the cliffhanger of this chapter, showing the return of All For One, puts his childhood and Kotaro Shimura, his father, into question.

Kotaro is not only Shigaraki's father (he is named Tenko Shimura in actuality) but also the son of the seventh One For All user, the heroine Nana Shimura. My Hero Academia chapter 418 showed a memory of him talking with a man that most fans agree is All For One in disguise. Therefore, this has led readers to think that Kotaro is a villain and that he is plotting something with the main antagonist of the series.

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

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Explaining if Kotaro Shimura is a villain or not after the revelations in My Hero Academia chapter 418

The biggest revelation in My Hero Academia chapter 418 was Deku and Shigaraki viewing a memory that didn't belong to either of them, involving the latter's father, Kotaro Shimura, talking with a mysterious man about a Quirk. Then, both characters are consumed with All For One, who is revealed to still be alive because of his Quirk in Shigaraki's subconscious.

This has led to speculation regarding the role Kotaro is playing in all of this, with readers arguing that he is a villain helping All For One to manipulate his son. However, it doesn't make sense with the information the story has given thus far since, from his perspective, he wouldn't have a lot of reasons to side with a villain like All For One unless he is also being manipulated.

The most likely situation is that All For One has been manipulating Kotaro to get Shigaraki and be able to use him as a future vessel or just to spite the likes of Nana Shimura and All Might.

But this situation begs the question of why going for Tenko Shimura, Nana's grandson, when Kotaro was already at his grasp, which is why there is a lack of context that the new few chapters are going to have to address.

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All For One and Shigaraki's roles in the story

Shigaraki and All For One in the anime (Image via Bones).

My Hero Academia chapter 418 has probably established one of the most divisive twists in the story by presenting All For One as the person responsible for Tomura Shigaraki's tragic backstory. While it is worth pointing out that this hasn't been fully confirmed, it seems that the story is heading in that direction and is bound to be very controversial among the fandom.

Shigaraki had been built to be the ultimate final villain in the story because of his hatred of heroes and how he was abandoned by society and left to his own devices.

However, if it was All For One responsible for Shigaraki's childhood and Kotaro was involved, that would water down Tomura's achievements and character arc since, basically, his journey had been orchestrated by another villain.

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Final thoughts

My Hero Academia chapter 418 didn't give enough information to confirm that Kotaro Shimura is a villain and that, on paper, wouldn't fit with the characterization that he has had in the story. However, there is a good chance that future chapters are going to address that.

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