The Final War Arc, Explained

My Hero Academia Final Season will be released this year, and fans are excited to finally see the Final War arc adapted into anime, with all the emotion that this final arc deserves. Fortunately, Crunchyroll has already confirmed that they will be streaming My Hero Academia Season 8 in many countries and territories around the world when it is released.

The Final War arc takes place from Chapter 343 to Chapter 424 in the original manga, and the anime has already started to cover it from Episode 143 (Season 7) onwards, but the next season will adapt the most exciting parts of the war, including, of course, the final battle against All For One and the aftermath of the war.

Preparing For The Final Battle

The Final War arc is the penultimate arc of the story (if we consider the epilogue to be an arc), and it focuses on a war between the Pro-Heroes (and many members of U.A. High School’s Class 1-A) against Tomura Shigaraki/All For One, the main antagonist of the series.

Shigaraki is on the verge of completing the accumulation of the All For One Quirk in his body, and he needs to put into action his final plan to steal Midoriya’s One For All Quirk in order to achieve his goal of world domination. His plan includes using Yuga Aoyama to lure Deku to a place where he would be ambushed.

The Plan To Counter Shigaraki/All For One

Fortunately, Midoriya discovers the plan and Aoyama is questioned by the Heroes, when they realize that the guy is also a victim and is acting against his will. But this gives Eraser Head an idea to try to finally defeat Shigaraki.

The “counter-plan” is divided into two parts, but it is quite easy to understand. Shigaraki’s Quirk allows him to detect lies, so Shinsho uses his Brainwash Quirk to get Aoyama to talk to Shigaraki without triggering his lie detection ability. Their goal is to use Yuga to lure Shigaraki to a certain place.

Then, the second part is assembling a counter-force, led by All Might, to deal with the Villains separately, so that they wouldn’t be able to act together and help each other. This way, they are able to catch Shigaraki off guard after luring him.

The U.A. High School is transformed into a floating fortress to deal with Shigaraki’s Decay ability, and it is the place where the final battle takes place, after Shigarari is warped into the school.

The Final Battle Against All For One

The final battle is, as expected, a difficult one. Bakugo, whom Shigaraki always considered nothing but a “side character,” plays an important role in the final battle, and he almost dies — this is a key moment in Bakugo’s own character arc. Of course, he doesn’t do it alone, All Might and All For One have an intense confrontation, and the whole Counter Force is important in the final battle.

His final defeat involves the teamwork of everyone, which is fitting since All For One was a selfish Villain. While Bakugo’s Howitzer Impact: Cluster attack is very important to take him down, it wouldn’t be entirely possible to finish him off without All Might, Endeavor, Aizawa’s Erasure Quirk, Deku’s final moves, and the combined efforts of the counter-force. After All For One is vanquished, Tomura’s body turns to ashes as his life fades away.

Who Was All For One In My Hero Academia?

All For One was born many decades prior to the main story. His mother was a sex worker who didn’t know she was pregnant, or that she had a Quirk (Spearlike Bones), but Quirks were not yet known at that time — it was about a year before the Luminescent Baby. She may very well be the first person to have Meta Abilities in My Hero Academia’s version of human history.

Anyway, she was pregnant with twins, and she died in childbirth, mostly because the older one consumed most of her, leaving few nutrients for his younger brother. The older brother had a Quirk that allowed him to steal other people’s Quirks, and he quickly stole his mother’s Quirk by consuming her body. The younger brother, Yoichi, was Quirkless and always opposed his older brother’s views of a “Quirk-based world order”.

As the brothers grew up, the older brother’s villainous side became clearer and clearer. Calling himself All For One, he began to gather people under his command, operating in the shadows, and, of course, he would steal Quirks as he saw fit. His younger brother was the first user of One For All, and his successors were always trying to stop All For One.

Moving forward, All For One eventually raised Tomura Shigaraki, who became the leader of the League of Villains and aimed to kill All Might. Tomura later “inherited” the All For One Quirk while All For One was using a duplicate — however, All For One attempted to merge the two bodies, but Tomura was able to regain his autonomy (at least until the final moments of the Final War).