From Aizawa is the one hundred and sixty-sixth episode of the My Hero Academia anime and the seventh episode of the eighth season.
Summary#
Not leaving a second to spare, Izuku rushes towards the memory of Kotaro abusing a black void of what appears to be his son: Tenko Shimura, the boy who not too far from this moment will eventually be put on the path into becoming the terrifying, all-powerful Tomura Shigaraki.
Izuku suddenly recoils back, revealing there to be an invisible wall corralling the memory, made up of the last remaining bits of armor surrounding Tomura's origin point. The young hero tries to push with all his might, as the memory continues to play out. Kotaro then coldly tells his son that Nana, his mother, whose family photo was uncovered by her grandson earlier that day, is just a brute who ditched her son. He tells his child that Nana is just like all Heroes: someone who hurts their family just so they can run off and help complete strangers.
Nana herself starts to cry, realizing her son kept that photo all those years because he couldn't push himself to get rid of it, not because he cherished it. She then breaks down, blaming herself for being the progenitor of the hate that would eventually consume and warp her grandson, and cursing herself for not beating All For One so she could return home and potentially amend their relationship.
From afar, Izuku calls out for her help, as Kotaro starts raising his hand to hit his son again. Nana apologizes to her son for her weaknesses, as she dries her eyes and stands tall. Nana then rams herself as hard as she can towards the barrier, completely destroying the mental armor, and allowing her to stop her son from assaulting his child once more.
With the last remaining Quirk Factor of One For All being destroyed, Nana's vestige, along with the memory, begins to disintegrate, as she apologizes to the vision of her son for not coming back to him. She then turns to the figure of her grandson and apologizes to him for causing all this torment, as the void around the boy beings to peel way and reveal Tenko's youthful, frightened face.
While the last bits of her vestige fade into the void, Nana looks at Izuku and smiles at him in acceptance, with the young boy returning the gesture with a confident nod. With Nana gone and their opponent's origin point successfully reached, One For All as a Quirk ceases to exist, and the only people left to settle the outcome are Izuku and Tenko.
Izuku then looks up and sees that its suddenly nighttime, Tenko is gone, and his body has now adopted his appearance from back when he was still in middle school. The hero hears a whimpering voice behind him, and sees Tenko crying against the wall due to his father's abuse earlier the day, right as Decay begins to manifest and accidentally reduces Mon to a pool of blood and loose chunks of flesh.
Before Izuku could try to intervene, Hana walks out and shrieks at the state her brother and his dog are in, with Tenko being too frightened to speak or compose himself. Izuku then quickly pieces together that whatever follows this scene lies the starting point of Tenko becoming Tomura, as he sees the young boy chasing after her sister in confusion and panic. Izuku, now taking the form of himself as a young boy, jumps in and locks hands with the terrified Tenko, leaving Hana to run for safety and deciding that this the moment where Hero and Villain have to end things.
As their surroundings begin to melt into a void of sinister purple light, Izuku tries to push back Tenko, as the surface of his arms begin to crack. Tenko, with his eyes now being nothing but white voids, dejectedly asks Izuku why he's trying so hard. The other boy says that it's because he saw him cry, which Tenko tries to deny as more of his corrupted emotions begin to flow inside the Hero. The abused child confides to Izuku that the destruction he brought on his home and family were all conscious, purposeful choices, and can't understand what else his hands are useful for besides that.
As his pupils return and more tears begin to flood from his eyes, Tenko asks Izuku about who can validate the circumstances of his own horrid birth. Despite the strength of the mental repulsion, and the state of his arms, Izuku refuses to let go despite Tenko's wishes. Knowing how it feels to have others take his hand in order to help make peace within himself, Izuku says aloud that he wants to be here to do the same for Tenko, who experienced none of that during his time of need as a young boy.
Izuku's words finally reach Tenko, as their surroundings clear up and turn back into the white void, and Izuku's arms shred out into the air and leave only the upper portion of his biceps. He then tells Tenko that everything will be okay with tears in is eyes, as the other boy feels his own hatred melt away at his opponent's kindness. They then fall to their knees in exhaustion, as the two tap her heads together in relief.
Tenko then imagines himself playing with Mikkun and Tomo, as the latter happily suggests that Tenko would play the role of All Might next time they hang out. As Tenko starts getting excited, he then smiles sadly and rejects the "offer", as day instantly turns into evening. Tenko accepts that he's a Villain at his core no matter who tries to whittle him down and exterminate his hatred, as he and Izuku turn to see visions of Mr. Compress, Dabi, Spinner, Himiko, and Twice staring down at them.
As his own vestige begins to crumble to dust, Tenko turns back into Tomura, as the man hoarsely says he needs to be the Hero for the Villains inhabiting the world. In its own disturbing way, the man's terror didn't go unappreciated, as several of the livestream viewers back in the real world, like a depressed salaryman and a shut-in, were begging for the Villain to plunge the entire world into ruin. At this point, thanks to the sheer power of One For All and Deku's efforts, Tomura's mutated real body begins to crumble apart, as Naomasa wonders what happened to Deku.
More of Tomura's memories start to flash in front of him and Izuku, but to the Villain's surprise, he's not recognizing the ones currently coming to him, also bewildering his enemy to an extent. The first one shows his father, a much younger version of him, walking down the street, from the perspective of an unknown man calling out to him. As Kotaro complains about his chronic back pain, the unknown man, an associate who works at a construction company, offers to refer him to an excellent doctor. Next, the two are talking in a bar, as the man asks about Tenko. The man asks if the boy's Quirk manifested, with Kotaro saying it hasn't yet.
As the memory fades out, Izuku and Tomura find themselves back at the house, with the lights off. Suddenly, a giant version of All For One's scarred face erupts from the ground, swallowing up Tomura and sending Izuku flying. Thanks to Tomura's mind being weakened sufficiently, the All For One "half" of the body that the man was implanted with now has enough strength to take back control. In a distorted voice, All For One endlessly scolds Tomura, asking why he decided to make his thoughts vulnerable to the "nobody" he was fighting, since his successor is such a weak, foolish vessel.
With his true colors on full display to his protege, and a large construct of his suit now taking shape from the rubble and surrounding his head, All For One delivers a world-shattering revelation: everything that has ever happened to Tomura in his life was a result of his own orchestration and nothing else. He then briefly turns his ire on Izuku, asking him why he destroyed One For All and the essence of Yoichi along with it. Tomura says he doesn't understand since he knows deep down that everything he's done up to now was by his own volition, with All For One saying that if he didn't make him think that, then he wouldn't possess any willpower to speak of.
The Villain then fully admits to Tomura about how he groomed the young man to eventually generate enough hate through him to override One For All's willpower and steal the Quirk by proxy. In his search for a proper vessel after going into hiding thanks to All Might, he eventually came across Kotaro as a fully grown adult after so many years. Hana, who was already born, was much too old for All For One to manipulate, so he implanted the seeds for Kotaro and Nao to have another child that was ripe for the taking, under the "advice" that children need siblings to look out for each other, since Heroes aren't always reliable.
Once Tenko was born, All For One wasted no time in setting himself up for success, first by discreetly stealing the boy's still-undiagnosed Quirk Factor as a newborn. Then, through his growing relationship with Kotaro, subtly churned the man's strained relationship with Nana and Heroes into his eventual abusive behavior towards his children. Thirdly, he asked Mikkun and Tomo to hang out with Tenko, leading him to come save them from an incoming truck during one of their play-dates and instilling an appreciation for Heroes in the young boy. Finally, All For One's finishing touch was walking Tenko home, with the boy's unsuspecting hand grabbing the man's as the Villain transfers what would be known as Decay into his soon-to-be vessel, which was born out of a modified duplicate of Overhaul that lacked its restorative capabilities.
All For One tells Tomura to get out of "his body", as the other Villain begins to hyperventilate and scratch his neck, before his vestige completely blows apart. With Tomura's body now his as planned, the vestige world begins to erode, as Tomura's body in the real world suddenly explodes, vaporizing and turning a chunk of the decimated forest into a barren wasteland.
Among the ash, the mutated fingers begin to crumble in the air. With his ties to Tomura completely severed, "All For One" begins to acclimate to his new body, which has now smoothed out and taken on a lifeless, grey tone. He hears the screams of Tomura's vestige in the back of his mind and morphs his lower face into a black and red version of the embalmed hand the other Villain wore on his face, both figuratively and literally silencing him. With no One For All to steal, no Yoichi to chase after, and no successor to accompany him, all "All For One" has left is to work towards his one true goal: a world all to himself.
From the wastes, Deku is the last person standing directly in front of him, though once again, the Hero can't rise to his feet despite his frantic efforts. He's crippled with exhaustion, and he too brought along something from the vestige realm: straight from his earlier confrontation with Tomura, his forearms are completely destroyed, leaving behind nothing but two bloody stumps. Even though his body is well past the point of repair, and his enemy can easily eliminate him with as little effort as possible, Deku refuses to give up. "All For One" walks up to Deku and readies an Air Cannon right at the boy's head, prepared to reinforce the idea that loss makes a person stronger, and finds some inevitably in the fact that a boy with nothing to lose would end up in such an agonizing state.
Suddenly, Danger Sense activates, and before "All For One" can divert his attention, his arms and torso are bound by a lasso of Tape. He turns to see Cellophane diving in from the dust, who has somehow made it to battlefield.
He didn't come alone, as just as "All For One" breaks the hold, Tailman and Sugarman come in from behind, and they knock the Villain into the ground with a combination of Tornado Tail Dance and Sugar Knuckle. Izuku is surprised to see his friends here and okay, and turns to see one of Kurogiri's Warp Gate portals opening up behind him. Out steps Eraser Head, alive and well, and apologizing to his student for the late backup.
Back when "Kurogiri" warped away Eraser Head and Present Mic along with himself, the two were stranded on a rock in the middle of the raging ocean. With no knowledge of their current location or a way to get back, Present Mic turns his frustration on "Kurogiri", before grabbing him by the collar and punching him in the face repeatedly, begging the criminal to wake up and get them back to the safety. The Hero yells out his regrets in trusting a Villain made out of the carcass of their old friend to help them in the war and tries to punch "Kurogiri" again before Eraser Head stops him.
The man notices that "Kurogiri" is shedding tears, which Present Mic refuses to believe so, and tells Eraser Head to stop trying to humanize the Nomu based on one lone, lucky breakthrough they had back in Tartarus. Present Mic says its pointless by now to try and treat "Kurogiri" like there's anything left of Oboro inside him, but Eraser Head disagrees. The man says if it really was the case, then "Kurogiri" could've easily torn them to shreds or dropped them to their deaths while preserving his own life.
While "Kurogiri" likely won't return to his old self completely, Eraser Head says he and Present Mic mixed the light in the Nomu's darkness by trying to reach out to their old friend, allowing the Villain to "help" them in some limited capacity. As Eraser Head clutches "Kurogiri's" head, he tells Present Mic that he understands why he's so upset since they're both U.A. Hero course teachers, meaning they're always responsible to make sure each incoming generation of Heroes graduates from their school, and that this institution is where their origins were born.
Miraculously, "Kurogiri" wakes up, while revealing the face of Oboro tearing up while saying Present Mic's real name. The Hero tears up as well, acknowledging that those old memories aren't going to disappear.
With "Kurogiri" awake and the three now mobile again, Eraser Heads calls Naomasa and inquires about Phantom Thief's condition. The detective says he's out of commission and being transported to the hospital, so Eraser Head requests a status update on everyone, a complete list of all Heroes active on the battlefield, and their precise coordinates.
The three make it back to the evacuation shelter at Shiketsu High School, and Eraser Head runs inside and asks Ectoplasm to round up all the Heroes on guard duty who specialize in offense. The other Hero has his doubts due to "Kurogiri's" instability, but Eraser Head begs him to do it anyway and put a rush on it since they're not sure how long they can keep the Villain under their control.
The first to step up are the now-retired Death Arms, and another, lesser-known Hero holding a strange, metal staff. The civilians then pitch in with supplies, including the young man who was originally against Deku returning to U.A., who gives him the shirt off his back so an injured Hero can potentially use it somehow. Eraser Head thanks everyone for their contributions, as they prepare to head out.
Just before they left, Eri stops Eraser Head and presents him with something: her horn, which was snapped off thanks to some assistance from Ectoplasm. Eri asks the Hero to take this to Deku to reverse any of his injuries, since she knows they won't take her to the battlefield to try and help the boy. Eraser Head scolds Ectoplasm, but the other man asserts that her request was out of rationality, which he implies she picked up from the other Hero. Eri knows enough about how her Rewind works to know that even this piece of her horn can still trigger the ability, but Eraser Head is more concerned that she damaged her Quirk in the process.
Eri doesn't care since she wanted to do this for All Might and Dynamight before but couldn't, and she doesn't want to waste another shot at helping someone. The girl tells Eraser Head that her dream is to sing, and says that he, Deku, and the others brought so much fun into her life, so she wants to perform for them once all the fighting ends. Even if she can't contribute directly, Eri wants Eraser Head to accept this piece of her so she can fight too, which the man eventually does.
Before making it to Deku and "All For One", Naomasa directed Eraser Head to Takoba National Stadium, where the remaining combative Heroes are still struggling against Gashly Eijiju. In a flash, a swarm of reinforcements flood through and take out the Villain easily before heading to the site of the final battle.
In the present, as more portals begin to surround the battlefield, Eraser Head kneels next to his battered student to assess his condition. The man asks the boy how long ago since his arms were destroyed, though Deku can't provide an estimate due to the skewed sense of time in the vestige realm. Regardless, Eraser Head pulls out Eri's horn and taps it on Deku's shoulder, which activates Rewind and starts to reverse the damage to the boy's arms. It only Rewinds his body to around two to three minutes in the past, but while they're heavily scarred, Deku's arms return thanks to everyone's help.
Eraser Head tells Deku that he can't die until he can hear Eri sing, as the other Hero begins to cry. From the portals, the other Heroes begin to step through, as Grape Juice says that even if everyone here is beaten and they can barely move a muscle, just hearing that Deku is still fighting out there makes them instantly want to get back up and do the same.
Seeing all his friends and allies pouring on the battlefield to help him, Deku holds back the tears and stifles himself, before turning his attention back to "All For One", now more than ready to finish the fated fight between the Heroes and Villains once and for all.
Characters In Order of Appearance#
Kotaro Shimura Tomura Shigaraki Mon Deku Nana Shimura (Vestige) Hana Shimura Nao Shimura Mikkun Tomo Mr. Compress (Vision) Twice (Vision) Dabi (Vision) Himiko Toga (Vision) Spinner (Vision) Naomasa Tsukauchi "All For One" Yoichi Shigaraki (Mentioned) Daigoro Banjo En Tayutai All Might (Fantasy) Kai Chisaki Chizuo Magi Mako Magi Magne Katsuki Bakugo Shishido Majestic Yoroi Musha Fat Gum Suneater Edgeshot Kamui Woods Ms. Joke Shemage Mudman Midnight Eel Boy Mt. Lady Cementoss Tenya Ida Cellophane Tailman Sugarman Eraser Head Present Mic "Kurogiri" Oboro Shirakumo Phantom Thief Ectoplasm Death Arms Astro Thirteen Gashly Eijiju Jack Mantis Lizardy Eri Grape Juice Pinky Gang Orca Sirius Burnin Can't Stop Twinkling Invisible Girl Tentacole Anima Froppy Earphone Jack Red Riot Chargebolt Creati
Quirks#
- One For All
- Decay
- All For One
- Air Cannon
- Danger Sense
- Blackwhip
- Smokescreen
- Arbor
- Overhaul (Mentioned)
- Tape
- Sugar Rush
- Sugar Knuckle
- Tail
- Tornado Tail Dance
- Warp Gate
- Gashly Eijiju's Unnamed Puppet Infants Quirk
Locations#
- Shimura Family Home
- All For One's Vestige Realm
- Shiketsu High School
- Takoba National Stadium
Battles & Events#
- Deku vs. Tomura Shigaraki (Concluded)
- Izuku Midoriya vs. Class A
- Kamino Incident
- Paranormal Liberation War
- Takoba Stadium Team vs. Gashly Eijiju (Concluded)
- Heroes vs. All For One (Started)
BGM#
- Nerves before dispatch - The story so far
- The End of An Era, And-
- The cinders of liberation
- Sixth Magnitude Star -MHA Arr Ver.-
- I AM NOT HERE
- Foolish Vessel
- The Demon Lord
- Don't give up!
- You can still be
- Start Dark Might Legend
- Butterfly Effect
- Strategy Meeting
Anime & Manga Differences#
- The anime shows Deku getting knocked back by the invisible barrier before he tries pushing on it.
- During the flashback of Nana leaving Kotaro, the anime adds some dialogue of the boy begging his mother not to leave.
- The anime extends Nana's disappearance and shows her looking at Tenko as she's apologizing for him. It also adds a short new scene of Nana and Deku looking at each other in acceptance before they part ways.
- However, the anime cuts a panel from the manga of Kotaro reacting to Nana's apology.
- In the manga, Deku incorrectly states that he sensed Tenko in Gunga. In the anime, it was corrected to Jaku.
- In the anime, Hana is farther away from Tenko before Deku moves in to stop him.
- The scene of Deku reaching Tenko's heart is extended, with a new scene of kid Izuku comforting Tenko that he'll be okay as he smiles at him and Tenko admitting that Deku's kindness is reaching him and crumbling his hatred away.
- The anime slightly expands the scene of the officers reacting to Tomura's fingers crumbling away.
- The flashbacks featuring All For One and Kotaro's conversation are extended in the anime.
- The scene of All For One destroying the vestige world is extended in the anime.
- The anime extends the flashback scenes of Smoke-Eater and Lariat by repurposing the footage of their battles with All For One from Episode 163.
- In the panel featuring All Might, the anime shows All For One looking at him when lamenting about stealing One For All.
- The anime expands the scene of a disguised All for One walking Tenko home.
- The anime features Kai Chisaki's flashback before showing All For One transferring Decay.
- During the shot of U.A. when Eraser Head talks about their work at the school, the anime replaces him, Present Mic, and Oboro, with three incidental students.
- More of Oboro's face inside Kurogiri is shown in the anime.
- The anime slightly extends the Heroes struggling against Gashly.
- The anime has Deku question how All For One is back before Eraser asks him how long it's been since his arms were destroyed.
- When Eri tells Eraser Head her dream, the anime cuts the flashback of Kyoka performing at the School Festival.
- The anime adds a shot after Eri's flashback of Deku tearing up before Eraser Head uses her horn on him.
- The anime extends the scene of the other Heroes coming out of the portals.
Trivia#
- The three incidental students that replace the "Three Dumbigos" in the flashback have hairstyles that resemble Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, and Knuckles the Echidna.
- During the scene where All For One hears the screams of Tomura's vestige, the English dub uses the screams of Young Tenko instead.