Shigaraki's Decay Quirk was never supposed to be destructive, and Horikoshi sneakily revealed it in My Hero Academia before the final fight

By Kevin Tanza

Modified Sep 18, 2024 07:30 GMT

My Hero Academia explained the true nature of Tomura Shigaraki's Decay Quirk (Image via Bones).

My Hero Academia has ended, and most fans are looking back to reflect on the series, with one of the most interesting revelations taking place at the tail end of the story with chapter 419. It was revealed in that chapter that Tomura Shigaraki's Decay Quirk had been stolen and manipulated by All For One when the former was the kid known as Tenko Shimura, leading to some fascinating ramifications.

The most notorious consequence is that Shigaraki's Decay Quirk wasn't just built for destruction, as most My Hero Academia fans believed for a long time. It turns out, as per chapter 419 through All For One, that this power also had a regeneration variable, which would have paved the way for Shigaraki to have a different path, although that wasn't the idea his master had in mind.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda as a whole.

My Hero Academia chapter 419 explains the true nature of Shigaraki's Decay Quirk

Shigaraki as a kid and as an adult (Image via Bones).

Chapter 419 had All For One taking over as the main villain of the series once again and controlling Shigaraki's body, which also came with the revelation he had been manipulating his life since he was a kid. Moreover, the villain also confirmed that Shigaraki's Decay Quirk had been stripped from him and manipulated so it would be a purely destructive power, thus causing the dismantling of the Shimura household in the process.

This chapter also confirmed that this Quirk originally had a regeneration variable, which meant that Shigaraki, on paper, could dismantle something and then reshape it into something else. A lot of fans have drawn a comparison with Overhaul's Quirk, which was actually the template used by All For One to alter Tenko Shimura's powers.

All of this is very significant in the series because it was Shigaraki's Decay Quirk that led to the death of his family and his descent into madness. If he had a regeneration variable in his powers, things would have had a different outcome, which goes to show how far All For One was ready to go to get revenge over the likes of Nana Shimura and All Might.

The ramifications of this twist for Shigaraki

Shigaraki's Decay Quirk twist might have hurt his character (Image via Bones).

There is no denying that the twist of My Hero Academia chapter 419 had a lot of ramifications for Tomura Shigaraki and how he was perceived by the fandom. The idea that Shigaraki's Decay Quirk had been manipulated by All For One and all of his life had been orchestrated by the evil overlord is something that is divisive in the fandom to this very day.

This twist, to a degree, robs Tomura of agency and also makes his past less tragic because it was all caused by one evil man. Granted, that is also tragic, but the original story had a much stronger connotation and also made it seem that Shigaraki was also meant to destroy, which became his modus operandi as the leader of the League of Villains.

Final thoughts

My Hero Academia took a considerable turn when establishing that All For One had orchestrated Tenko Shimura's downfall and the events that eventually turned him into Tomura Shigaraki. A major aspect of this was changing the nature of his Quirk so it would only be pure destruction.

Related articles

Edited by Somava