My Hero Academia ended before Deku achieved a key goal dealing with the One For All Quirk and living up to All Might

Modified Aug 10, 2024 18:50 GMT

My Hero Academia ended before Deku achieved a key goal dealing with the One For All Quirk and living up to All Might (Image via BONES)

With author and illustrator Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia manga officially ending earlier this month, the series’ fandom has obviously been very vocal about it in the weeks since. While some are extremely happy and satisfied with the conclusion, others take grievance with Horikoshi’s handling of certain topics, most of which revolve around protagonist Izuku “Deku” Midoriya.

One aspect of My Hero Academia’s ending, which fans have heavily scrutinized, is the fact that Deku does indeed end the series without his trademark One For All Quirk. While this is a logical choice given the decisions Horikoshi made during the Final War arc, it was nevertheless a frustrating choice for some fans.

However, one specific critique of this choice has seemingly resonated with My Hero Academia fans on both sides of the aisle in terms of opinions on the series’ conclusion. This is Deku’s seemingly abandoned plotline, never managing to climb up to 100% use of One For All, which is arguably the guiding star of the early series.

My Hero Academia’s end brings with it confirmation of the abandonment of a fan-favorite One For All plotline

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To clarify, there is a point in My Hero Academia where Deku uses One For All at 100% strength. This comes during his fight against Kai Chisaki in the climax of the Shie Hassaikai arc. However, he was only able to do so with the help of Eri’s Rewind Quirk, which instantly healed all the damage he received by using 100% strength. The dangers surrounding this approach also confirmed that this team-up would be a one-off by nature of the risks it posed to Deku.

Likewise, young Midoriya never again uses One For All at 100% strength across his entire body at any point in the series, despite his progressive increase in power usage being a core part of the story early on. Deku even receives an entire training arc showcasing his development of this skill, eventually culminating in the Full Cowling ability, which forms the basis of his fighting style later on.

While certain moves see him use 100% of One For All in isolated body parts, such as the Texas and Wyoming Smash moves, his goal was always to use 100% all the time. Fans are likewise taking issue with the fact that he never truly achieved this goal, only rising to the point of using 45% Full Cowling at his most developed technique and Quirk.

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However, Horikoshi deserves some credit here for the direction in which the series began moving with the One For All Quirk shortly after Deku achieved 45%. With the reveal of One For All housing several other Quirk Factors that Deku could access, it’s logical that the focus on Deku’s fighting style would change. Both of these powers needed to be showcased to fans, and it needed to be established that Deku was taking advantage of them.

Yet, in the same breath, there was surely a way for the My Hero Academia mangaka to both let fans have their cake and eat it too in this regard. This is especially true considering that the additional Quirk Factors never fully replaced One For All but were rather used to support the main Quirk. In other words, One For All never fell out of relevance per se, but instead, it had to share the spotlight, emphasizing why fans are upset Deku never reached 100% usage.

Likewise, fans are arguing that Deku never truly achieved one of his main goals: to live up to All Might’s reputation by utilizing the Quirk at 100% strength. Unfortunately, with the One For All Quirk confirmed dead along with Tomura Shigaraki in the series’ final chapter, it seems this is one milestone fans will never get to see Deku reach.