My Hero Academia Chapter 309 Review

After a timeskip Izuku Midoriya made his re-debut as Deku by taking on Jailbreaker, formerly known as Muscular, and stopping his rampage before he hurt more people. The fight turned personal as Deku and Jailbreaker had an intense rematch. Thanks to his training and greater control of previous One For All users Quirks, Deku was able to defeat Jailbreaker. Now with the fight behind them what is next for Deku and the world as villains continue to rise up to cause more chaos? Let’s find out with chapter 309 of My Hero Academia.

Writer & Artist: Kohei Horikoshi

Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: As Mr. Smith (Ketsubutsu Academy third-year Shikkui Makabe) and Boomerang Man (Ketsubutsu Academy third-year Itejiro Toteki) go to help out their classmates they spot Deku (Izuku Midoriya) jumping high into the sky with Jailbreaker wrapped up.

Elsewhere the citizens that are still in the abandoned city help Turtle Neck (Tatami Nakagame) to get Grand (Yo Shindo) medical attention. As that happens Grand remembers seeing Deku (they met during the Provisional Hero License Exam Arc) but notices he has changed since then.

Over at the Daina Police Station, Deku drops off Jailbreaker to the cops so they can place him under arrest. Deku keeps up his Smokescreen Quirk up the whole time to hide his identity and takes off.

As his Danger Sense Quirk is calming down Deku goes to meet up with All Might (Toshinori Yagi) in an alleyway. Deku sys that he is okay, mentioning that the mid-gauntlets that All Might got him from America before the border closures helped him control his powers. All Might reminds Deku not to go overboard since the gauntlet can be destroyed if he uses 100% of One For All.

All Might suddenly gets a call from Hawks (Keigo Takami), who is looking to get an update on their status. Deku suddenly takes off. Hawks says that Deku likely wants to keep moving so he can keep everyone away from danger. Hawks goes on to say he is in agreement with Deku that they have to be proactive about seeking out the enemy (Paranormal Liberation Front/League of Villains).

All Might remembers when a doctor gave him, Izuku, and Inko Midoriya an update on Izuku’s injuries from the fight with Tomuro Shigaraki. The doctor reveals that while he still suffered some damage thanks to his strengthening body kept it them from leaving permanent damage. The doctor still warns Izuku to be careful about how he uses his powers.

Later, as All Might tells Inko about the safety measures the heroes are putting into place at UA High School Izuku says he is not going back to school. Izuku says he does not want to attract greater danger to the school and his friends so he wants to stop Shigaraki before things get worse. Inko breaks down unable to take how much her son is putting himself at risk. Izuku thanks her continued support but he needs to do this. Izuku and Inko then hug.

Hearing all of this All Might promises to Inko that he will stick with Izuku through all of this.

Later, All Might talks with Best Jeanist (Tsunagu Hakamada), who is with Endeavor (Enji Todoroki) and Hawks, and agrees with the plans for Deku and how to deal with the villains.

Izuku hen goes to see Gran Torino (Sorahiko Torino) and tells him his decision and meeting Nana Shimura (One For All’s seventh user). Gran Torino apologizes for failing to kill Shigaraki. He then tells Izuku to not be too rigid as killing can be another way to save someone. Gran Torino then gives Izuku what remains of his cape.

We then see Deku (now wearing Gran Torino’s cape as a scarf as part of his costume), along with Endeavor, Hawks, Best Jeanist, and All Might, ready to settle the score with the League of Villains. End of chapter.

The Good: After how action heavy the last two chapters were My Hero Academia chapter 309 slowed things down by filling in some of the gaps created by the timeskip. Specifically getting further into why Izuku Midoriya choose to leave UA High School and how the top heroes reacted to this decision made things even more interesting.

Opening with Mr. Smith and Boomerang Man, two other students from Ketsubutsu Academy, spotting Deku in the sky was a good way to set the tone for what we would learn in chapter 309. This along with how Deku masked his appearance with the Smokescreen Quirk when he handed Muscular over to the police fit to how he has been constantly on the move during the timeskip. While he is going out being a hero he is falling more in line to acting like a vigilante. With that comes a mentality that he cannot be fully spotted or given credit for his heroic acts like stopping Jailbreaker.

This made the flashback to after Izuku woke up and recovered come across even better. Through this flashback we saw how quickly Izuku had to grow up after the events in the Paranormal Liberation War arc. Seeing all of his friends, teachers, and allies suffer because he was one of the major targets opened Izuku’s eyes to the full reality of the situation he is in. There is a sense that the innocence Izuku carried himself has gone away as he has fully accepted the weight of carrying One For All and the fact All For One through Tomuro Shigaraki is after him.

Having Inko Midoriya there when Izuku made the decision to not return to UA High School even more impactful. We’ve seen throughout My Hero Academia that its been hard for Inko as Izuku’s mom to let her protective side go. We saw that specifically after the Izuku’s first meeting with Shigaraki and fight against One For All that the weight of seeing her son go through so many dark experience has been hard for Inko.

It’s all been understandable given how close Inko and Izuku were during the latter’s childhood. Inko being against Izuku not returning to the safety of UA High School all came from a place of love and concern. Which made how Izuku stood strong in his decision to not return to the dorms a major character moment. This is something he felt he had to make while also comforting his mom that it was not a choice he was making lightly.

Through this flashback we also finally got to see All Might fully embrace the responsibility of being Izuku’s mentor. While All Might has ben slowly more hands on with Izuku’s hero training he has still done it with the help of Aizawa and the rest of UA High School’s staffs help. But now hearing the determination in Izuku’s words was an eye opening moment for All Might that it is time mentor and watch out for his protégé himself.

It is good to see that both in the flashback and present day scenes that All Might is being supportive with Izuku’s journey as Deku. Things like talking to Endeavor, Hawks and Best Jeanist about Izuku’s decision showed how All Might won’t be talking his protégé out of his decision. Adding in how All Might was able to get Izuku new gauntlets to use as Deku to limit the strain One For All still has on him was a great way to get over this mentor role. It also a nice touch for it be mentioned that All Might got the gauntlet from America, which brings back into play the Two Heroes movie as we know Melissa Shield history has been worked into the manga in a special chapter by Horikoshi.

Now it will be interesting to see how Deku continues to work alongside Endeavor, Hawks, Best Jeanist, and All Might. Because while Deku is working with the top heroes he still is acting like he has to carry the full weight of dealing with Shigaraki and All For One. Which also shows that the conversation that Izuku had with Gran Torino is likely something that Deku is still thinking about. Where we go from here and how the rest of the My Hero Academia cast factor into The Final Arc Saga will be interesting to see play out.

While we don’t get much it was good that Horikoshi did give some resolution to Grand and Turtle Neck trying to get the people remaining in the abandoned city. Though the citizens still won’t leave we at least saw that they aren’t completely turning their backs on the heroes. They showed some appreciate for Grand defending them, hinting that they know they wouldn’t have stood a chance against Jailbreaker. The way non-hero characters continue to react to the heroes still being active is another major plot point that has a lot of potential to strengthen the greater Hero vs. Villain conflict in this series.

The Bad: Nothing

Overall: My Hero Academia Chapter 309 does a very good job in taking a step back by giving us more backstory into Izuku Midoriya’s decision to become a vigilante hero as Deku. Filling in those gaps and how All Might, Endeavor, Hawks, and Best Jeanist factor into Deku’s actions moving forward creates a lot of interesting plotlines post-timeskip. Now with Izuku’s side of the story firmly establish we can hopefully see the rest of the cast of My Hero Academia be brought back into the fold and we see where they are post-timeskip.

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