Episode 18 of season 6 of My Hero Academia, titled “Izuku Midoriya and Tomura Shigaraki,” premiered on February 4, 2023. A lot of unexpected things happened in this episode. Deku was seen to be in a surreal setting, interacting with former heroes who had constructed and utilised One For All. Their conversation shed light on several previously unknown aspects of the oddity and its former users. After Shigaraki and Deku’s terrible combat, the League of Villains withdrew from the battlefield to give Shigaraki time to recover.
In contrast, heroes had been physically and mentally wounded and devastated. Deku, however, had fallen into a coma owing to the misuse of his body’s powers and the previous users’ desire to communicate with him; he was the only one who was taken to the hospital, but he eventually regained consciousness.
The End of My Hero Academia Begins
Deku contacts the people who have used his peculiarity in the past. With the hero society crumbling due to the great conflict between the League of Villains and Heroes and the terrible past of the number one hero, Endeavor, the season 6 finale of My Hero Academia left a devastating impression. League of Villains retreated to allow Tomura Shigaraki time to recover and fully unleash his abilities, therefore ending the conflict between them and the heroes for the time being. People have lost faith in the heroes and would do everything to prove them wrong, thus bringing back the League of Villains won’t help. However, when the war’s returning student and hero participants begin to feel better, the system crumbles and even the paid heroes start to leave.
A fatal tic, “One For All”
First seen at the start of My Hero Academia episode 18, Deku remains comatose in the hospital with his mentor All Might by his side. It appears that All Might is in touch with the previous quirk holders, One For All, and is aware of how much time it is taking for Deku to reawaken. When Deku was asleep, he travelled to a parallel universe where he met and communicated with people who had used his quirk, One For All, in the past. He could only communicate with individuals whose powers he already possessed, but they were there.
As the conversation progressed, it became clear that One For All is a fatal quirk that shortens the lives of its users. Deku and even the user Hikage Shinomori were unaware of the passing of the fourth user. Although Hikage died at the young age of 40, he revealed in the episode that accelerated ageing was the reason for his death. A fourth user chose to live a solitary life in order to perfect the quirk for future generations. Later, the quirk’s destructive force began to rip his body to shreds.
The final user of One For All will be Deku.
Based on their observations of how the quirk interacted with the users’ bodies, they determined that someone who already possessed a quirk could not hold One For All. As the final person in line to inherit the quirk, Deku represents their last, best chance of defeating All For One. Deku was also questioned if he could murder Tomura Shigaraki and how his perception was different from those of other users. Deku believed that Shigaraki was an inwardly crying person, but other users saw the happy impression of hatred that had been implanted in him by All For One.
Upon hearing Deku’s rationale, the quirk’s initial user vowed unwavering support, explaining that they were testing Deku as a means to an end. As an added bonus, they let Deku know that Gran Torino is still alive. Deku’s decision to leave UA High at the end of the episode was motivated by a desire to spare his friends any additional pain on his account. After writing to his buddies in UA and spilling the beans about his secret of One For All, he set out on a solo mission to fight the baddies.
My Hero Academia’s penultimate story arc has begun.
After some time had passed, Deku reappeared in his damaged hero garb, clutching Gran Torino’s cape and expressing an expression that had never been seen before in the My Hero Academia series. His face and torso are weathered and scarred. Now that Deku’s grin is gone, the episode concludes with the start of the Final Arc of My Hero Academia.