With only a handful of chapters left Kohei Horikoshi still has things to wrap up before concluding My Hero Academia. One of the biggest is the narrative known as “The Hellish Todoroki Family” that, while going on since before the start of the series, fully kicked off back in My Hero Academia Chapter 249. Arguably the Todoroki Family has had the most development out of any family unit in the series. That especially been the case since Dabi revealed his backstory as Endeavor’s oldest child, Toya Todoroki, in My Hero Academia Chapter 290, titled “Dabi’s Dance.” Now finally with My Hero Academia Chapter 426 Horikoshi brought a conclusion to this narrative and opened the door to a new future for the Todoroki Family.
ENJI TODOROKI RETIRES ENDEAVOR
Thanks to his family pushing him to not fall into the darkness caused by his guilt over Toya Todoroki becoming Dabi, we saw Endeavor was one of the key heroes in the Final War Saga. That lead Endeavor along with the entire Todoroki Family to defeat Dabi and put an end to his destructive assault.
The question for Endeavor was what would be next for him after The Final War Saga was over? With all of his baggage revealed to the world there was no way he could keep his #1 Pro Hero title. It was a title he only still had because the structure of Pro Hero was virtually non-existent during The Final War Saga.
This is where My Hero Academia Chapter 426 provided us with the revelation that Endeavor entered The Final War Saga knowing what his fate after all was said and done was. That fate was to ensure he would live so he could officially retire as a Pro Hero and spend the rest of his life doing what he can to make amends for all his sins.
It is ultimately the best fate for Enji as The Final War Saga just delayed him having to truly answer for his sins. No matter what he accomplished in helping stop Dabi, All For One, and Tomura Shigaraki it could not undo his past or the truth of about his history becoming public. Whether this eventually repairs his family relationships is not up to him, as we see with Rei and his kids reaction. But what he can control is making sure he is the only one answering for his actions and trying to be a positive force however he can as a retired Pro Hero.
TOYA TODOROKI STILL EXIST WITHIN DABI
During The Final War Saga Dabi went for broke as he went beyond the limits of his Quirk. No matter how much Shoto, Natsuo, Fuyuki, Rei, and Enji tried to reach out to him he turned everyone away. He became fully obsessed with not just killing his family but taking out a large portion of Japan out with a explosion of his Quirk. Luckily for the world Shoto and his family where able to stop Dabi from accomplishing his deadly explosions.
Now with My Hero Academia Chapter 426 we learned that Dabi’s failed suicide explosion left him in a near dead state. It is to such an extreme that his life is being maintained by various medical technology and can only speak for a few minutes a day. Horikoshi did not hold back making the visual of Dabi’s near death state horrific. It really put into question if by leaving him in such a state what Enji and his family are doing is inhumane torture.
Though we do see that thanks to survive Dabi was in a way show that there was still some part of Toya Todoroki within his soul. That is thanks to the final words Dabi speaks was answering Shoto’s question about his favorite food. Dabi responds by saying it is Soba, which Shoto reveals is also his favorite food. With that we see Toya make a tearful appearance to apologize to his younger brother. So we at least end with knowing Toya is still within Dabi, even if the state he is left in is still questionable why it’s being allowed.
REI, FUYUMI, & NATSUO FUTURE
When it comes to the middle children of Enji and Rei, we haven’t spent much time with Fuyumi and Natsuo. They’ve largely supporting characters that made rare appearances. It wasn’t until the final battle with Dabi that both Fuyumi and Natsuo were given substantial screen time. And it can be said that Fuyumi and Natsuo played just as much a part in stopping Dabi as their parents and Shoto.
With their father retiring and older brother dying at any time, there was the question of how Fuyumi and Natsuo would deal with their own future. For Natsuo that was creating a future with his fiancé without his father in it. Natsuo bluntly told Enji he doesn’t want his father in his life even if he sounded cool by understanding his son’s decision. Fuyumi’s future was a bit more straight forward as she just mentioned getting a new job after recently quitting her teaching job.
The person we don’t get much of is Rei. She at best gets a few lines in this chapter. It does highlight how Horikoshi made Rei more of a plot device to advance Enji, Shoto, and Dabi’s arcs. The ending does seem to imply she will at least help Enji recover from his injuries. Though as she has done in the past, the lines Rei get are some of the most meaningful. So there is that when it comes to Rei, the minimal done compared to the rest of her family and most other characters in this series.
SHOTO TODOROKI MAKING HIS OWN HERO LEGACY
With everyone but Yuga Aoyama making the jump from Class 1-A to Class 2-A, it was clear that Shoto Todoroki was going to continue his hero journey. In My Hero Academia Chapter 426 Shoto reaffirms this by telling his parents that with his friends help he will become the person he wants to be. This is a massive statement that shows how far Shoto has come since his debut as a loner who both rebelled against Endeavor’s wishes but was stuck in that box.
Now with a strong support system with his friends and family, Shoto has a stronger path to becoming the hero he wishes to be. This comes at a time when there is a big hole to fill as there is no one Symbol of Peace like there was in the previous generation. There are a lot of unknowns for what a hero will represent in the world that was changed through the war against All For One and Tomura Shigaraki. Which can be viewed as an opportunity to reshape what being a hero means, something Horikoshi has been focusing on doing these last few story arcs.
That said, maybe we will finally see Shoto adopt a hero name. Because right now he is simply going by his first name. Even Bakugo adopted his official hero of Dynamight. It would add to Shoto making his next step by having a hero name that can help inspire a world that is still recovering from the recent war. This is all a great opportunity for Shoto to create his own path and be the start of a whole new legacy for the Todoroki Family in the world.
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