My Hero Academia Chapter 372 Review – “Naked”

Things have been escalating in the world of My Hero Academia as the war between heroes and villains intensifies. In recent chapters Kohei Horikoshi has been focusing on the growing anger and resentment with the mutant Quirk users known as Heteromorphs. Leading the charge for All For One’s Heteromorph army has been Spinner, who has devolved mentally after receiving a second Quirk that’s given him Hulk-like powers. With Deku and others busy trying to stop Tomura Shigaraki its been up to Tentacole and Anima to step-up to try to stop their fellow Heteromorphs from causing more damage and setting them all back decades. How will things go next? Let’s find out with My Hero Academia Chapter 372.

CREATIVE TEAM

Writer & Artist: Kohei Horikoshi

SYNOPSIS

Som time before the war Mezo Koji and Koji Koda tell All Might and Eraser Head they would like to be assigned to the defense of the Central Hospital after hearing from Ordinary Woman (the tall Fox-like woman that Izuku Midoriya saved back in My Hero Academia Chapter 310) that is All For One’s Heteromorph army target during the coming war.

In the present, with this memory in mind, Present Mic believes after seeing Tentacole and Anima in action that the next generation are far stronger than his generation ever was.

Meanwhile, Anima, after awaking a new form with his Quirk ability through his desire to help Tentacole and memories of the advice his mother gave him while growing up, uses his Hitchcock Birds attack to knock out the ranting Liberation soldier. At the same time Tentacole hits Spinner with his Octospansion attack.

While Spinner is knocked down Tentacole pleads with all of his fellow Heteromorphs to not let others like All For One exploit their wounds and protect those they hold most dear with the gifts they’ve been given.

Spinner gets back up and yells out that if heroes win nothing will change for them which is when they are hit, they must hit back. Spinner’s words capture the Heteromorphs hearts and they all follow Spinner to the hospital.

Spinner bust through the hospital walls and immediately heads to the research ward to find Kurogiri after remembering that is where All For One told him to go.

As Spinner makes it to the research ward he notices none of the Heteromorph army followed him. Its shown that the Heteromorph hesitate when they see the hospital staff, that include doctors who are Heteromorph Quirk users, standing guard.

As Spinner realizes that Tentacole’s words about protecting the innocent got to the Heteromorphs army members Present Mic appears. While Spinner calls out “Kurogiri” Present Mic yells “Shirakumo.” End of chapter

REVIEW

These last few chapters have been so emotionally charged that you do forget about the bigger battles going on elsewhere. The momentum is picked up heavily with My Hero Academia Chapter 372 using everything done in previous chapter by just barreling ahead to the big payoff of this story arc within the Final War arc.

What’s been most impressive about what Kohei Horikoshi has been doing with these last few chapters is how well his maximizing his page count. My Hero Academia Chapter 372 is a great example of this page maximization as Tentacole, Anima, Present Mic, and Spinner are all given time to further their individual character arcs. The way Horikoshi is able to go from one character to the next with meaningful dialogue or inner monologue was impressive.

It all starts with the flashback that reveals it was just an accident that Tentacole and Anima were in the squad assigned to protect Central Hospital. This was a conscious choice made by both of them because they knew something bigger was going on and they needed to be there. And because it directly tied to the Heteromorph Quirk users there was a responsibility that Tentacole and Anima had to do this to prove themselves as heroes

Bringing back the tall fox woman that Deku saved by in My Hero Academia Chapter 310 highlights how Horikoshi has done a lot of long term storytelling throughout the Final Act Saga. Having her appear in the chapters leading up to this as well helped further set her up as a key supporting cast member.

This all made the moment to open up the chapter in the present day with Tentacole and Anima each launching their attacks on Spinner and the ranting Liberation soldier a satisfying moment. It was made even more special by how Present Mic recognizes both Tentacole and Anima being examples of how this next generation of heroes are elevating the standard his generation set. It’s a great passing the torch moment that spotlights an important part of the Final Act Saga as a whole being about the Izuku Midoriya’s generation not just being seeing as “the next generation” but the present now.

Helping back all of this up is the continued character development for Koji Koda. Having the flashback to Koda’s mom talking to her son about her having to deal with hate and abuse growing up and how it was Koda’s dad protecting her and seeing her as beautiful was excellent character development. It showed that Koda was aware of what Tentacole went through even though he didn’t personally have those experiences. This further ties into how progress is not only made but maintained as long as all following generations continue that progress, which Koda represents for the Heteromorph Quirk users.

All of this made the continued back and forth we see take place between Tentacole and Spinner elevate even more. The battle of will was as important as the physical battle Tentacole and Spinner were having with each other. Even when Spinner appeared to prevail in this aspect he was unable to erase the powerful words Tentacole has been speaking this entire time.

The payoff to Tentacole’s passionate speeches being at the hospital with the Heteromorph army standing down when they witness the entire hospital staff that included a Heteromorph doctor standing together as wall a powerful moment. This more than anything was the game changer that the Final War arc truly needed. Because up to this point we’ve only been seeing the heroes and villains fighting one another. We haven’t seen things from the civilians perspective. In one panel Horikoshi gets that over how the Final War arc was not just about who wins in the latest hero vs villain clash but protecting the innocent people that just want to live their lives.

This moment created a lot of questions for the direction Horikoshi will take the ending of My Hero Academia Chapter 372. Because now we have the personal battle of Present Mic continuing to reach out to his friend that he hopes is still inside Kurogiri. Then there is Spinner who is dead set on helping Tomura Shigaraki and All For One’s greater plan. Who will win out and how this outcome changes the other battles going on in The Final War arc will be interesting to see go down.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My Hero Academia Chapter 372 does an excellent job taking the momentum created from the last few chapters to continue the emotional rollercoaster this story around the Heteromorph Quirk users has been. Kohei Horikoshi has put in a lot of great character work to make this story involving Tentacole, Anima, Present Mic, and Spinner matter as much as anything else going on in The Final War arc.

Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10