My Hero Academia Chapter 409 Review – “Quirk: Explosion!!”

Things aren’t looking good for our boy Katsuki Bakugo as he is in direct line to get hit by All For One’s Ultimate Attack called “Omni-Factor Unleash: All For One Goal.” The monstrous attack gives no room for anyone in its path to escape. That leaves Bakugo in a seemingly unwinnable situation. He’ll be lucky to just survive. With everything against him how will things go for Bakguo? Let’s find out with My Hero Academia Chapter 409: “Quirk: Explosion.”

CREATIVE TEAM

Writer & Artist: Kohei Horikoshi

SYNOPSIS

As All Might yells at Dynamight to dodge All For One’s “Omni-Factor Unleash: All For One Goal” attack Dynamight yells out “BLOW THE HELL UP.” Suddenly All For One’s attack is stopped by several explosion in his mouth.

Dynamight reveals that since his Explosions are weaker when its raining he decided to fire some explosive sweat beads mixed into the rain that would not explode until he triggered them. Dynamight then uses his Howitzer Impact move to get up close to All For One. Dynamight then launches a barrage of Explosions at All For One.

As that happens All For One realizes his Quirks are not working as they should. Within his vestige world All For One is confronted by Hawks spirit, who reveals that due to All For One’s negative emotions he has lost control of his powers and allowed the other vestiges to become Hawks’ fans.

Back in the real world Dynamight yells out “GET IT STRAIGT. THIS IS….OUR TALE” and hits All For One with an Explosion at point blank range, all while All Might, Masaru Bakugo, Mitsuki Bakugo, and the vestige of Yoichi Shigaraki watch. End of chapter.

REVIEW

In many ways the second half of the previous chapter and My Hero Academia Chapter 409 are one giant chapter. Kohei Horikoshi gave this continuous motion with how this chapter read that will make it so when these recent chapters are collected together, they will read very well in volume format. That does not take away from the impact of My Hero Academia Chapter 409 as an individual chapter, especially with the amount of detail in Horikoshi’s artwork.

If there was any question if Horikosi didn’t plan out this entire story just look at what ultimately cost All For One this part of the fight with Katsuki Bakugo. We’ve been seeing with Izuku Midoriya that there is an impact to using multiple Quirks at the same time. Part of that is due to Midoriya still being inexperienced with using all the Quirks he inherited as the One For All successor.

This negative impact that Midoriya has been dealing with hasn’t shown itself with All For One. Though largely we only see All For One at most stack three or four Quirks together. This battle against All Might, Bakugo, and all of the heroes he’s been forced to utilize every Quirk he has in quick succession or together. Which is something that Horikoshi has been building to eventually negatively impacting All For One as it has Midoriya.

Finally, all of that story build up pays off when Bakugo needed it most as he was able to overcome All For One’s Ultimate Attack thanks to everything every hero who has faced the villain thus far. Both through the artwork and dialogue Horikoshi shows that he had this all part of his plan. What could’ve been one of All For One’s biggest mistakes is stealing Hawks Quirk. With that he unintentionally created a spirit within his Vestige World that could influence Quirk user spirits to his side when All For One’s power over all of them weakened. It’s a build up that made All For One suffering the defeat he does receive in My Hero Academia Chapter 409.

While acting as a payoff to all the build up around All For One’s character this was also a continuation of Bakugo’s evolution as the hero Dynamight. Of course, it is incredibly hype to see Bakugo pull off all the moves he does with his Explosion Quirk. From the beginning Horikoshi has emphasized that Bakugo isn’t just the typical power obsessed rival character. In every battle Bakugo has been part of his strategic mind has been as big of an asset as his Explosion Quirk has been. We see that once again as Bakugo went into this battle knowing he was at a disadvantage due to it raining. Turning this disadvantage into an advantage with how his sweat is used is a great way to show how Bakugo continues to evolve the way he is using his Quirk.

But more importantly, Bakugo knows that his ability to fight back against All For One isn’t because of his powers or abilities. The glory for his accomplishment is something every hero who has fought All For One up to this point deserves credit for. Whether it one attack or simply delaying All For One, Bakugo’s explosive barrage being successful is thanks to all of the heroes participating in The Final War Saga. This all adds to the coolness factor of the moment My Hero Academia Chapter 409 ends on.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My Hero Academia Chapter 409 does an excellent job acting as the culmination of every battle we’ve seen All For One fight during The Final War Saga. Kohei Horikoshi is paying off every hero moment thus far with Katsuki Bakugo getting his time to shine without forgetting all his allies work. It all leaves us in a place to be even more excited for what comes next.

Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10