My Hero Academia Chapter 414 Review – “Overlay”

My Hero Academia is back after a few weeks on break for Kōhei Horikoshi to give us the best he can. Right now we are at the endgame with Izuku Midoriya vs Tomura Shigaraki. Things have taken a surprising turn with Midoriya’s One For All predecessors recommending he give up his Quirk to Shigaraki. This strategy is being done with Midoriya’s predecessors having the ability to damage Shigaraki from within. It’s a risky gamble that we don’t know if it’ll payoff. Let’s find out with My Hero Academia Chapter 414.

CREATIVE TEAM

Writer & Artist: Kōhei Horikoshi

SYNOPSIS

Deku covers his body in the Blackwhip Quirk to keep up Tomura Shigaraki. When they charge at each Deku use a smokescreen. Shigaraki counters by activating his Decay Quirk on the ground. This plays into Deku’s plan as he lifts the ground below them to the sky with his Blackchain move.

Shigaraki suddenly senses Deku attacking him from behind with his Danger Sense. This turns out to be a feint using Blackwhip so Deku could close in on Shigaraki.

Deku can land a blow that penetrates Shigaraki’s defenses and transfer Kudo’s vestige and Gearshift Quirk into Shigaraki. Shigaraki then immediately feels the recoil damage from Deku previously maxing out using the Gearshift Quirk.

At the same time, Midoriya and Shigaraki’s memories start to blend together with them both seeing moments they met their friends and allies.

The vestige of En (the sixth One For All user) tells Deku their plan is working and to keep up the attack. End of chapter.

REVIEW

After so many chapters where Tomura Shigaraki had the clear advantage it was refreshing to see the old Izuku Midoriya. We finally got to see the strategist Midoriya return. The reaction this got was what made My Hero Academia Chapter 414 continue the standout nature of this fight.

Since the fight with Lady Nagant over a hundred chapters ago we haven’t seen Midoriya fighting in a strategic way. Especially against Shigaraki, Midoriya has been placed a focus on utilizing all his Quirks to their maximum output. This battle was to put an end to the All For One vs One For All war. To that end as Deku, Midoriya placed an importance on being All Might’s successor and what that trust meant. It’s something that Kudo and the other One For All users have previously pointed out.

Credit to Midoriya’s development as a character that he did genuinely take in this criticism to improve. Surprising his predecessors with his mastery over the Blackwhip Quirk to make-up for his heavily injured body was a great way to show this. Deku was back to thinking moves ahead rather than letting his fear of Shigaraki rule his next move. The mix of Smokescreen and Blackchain further emphasized this. Deku took in Shigaraki’s current method of fighting to get the villain to fallback into a predictable routine.

This lead to yet another display of Deku’s adaptability with how he used his knowledge of the Danger Sense Quirk. Deku used his knowledge of Danger Sense’s activation and what he knew of Shigaraki’s Search Quirk to trick the villain. Utilizing the move he used against Lady Nagant was a great call back to show how Midoriya as Deku is constantly improving. It made the impact of Deku nailing Shigaraki with a strike to hit harder.

With Deku connecting with a blow Horikoshi was able to delve into Midoriya and Shigaraki’s history in a natural way. The way their memories blended together showed the biggest difference between our hero and villain. Whereas Midoriya was able to inspire others and gain friendship, Shigaraki never did the same. At best Shigaraki simply used the momentum created by Stain and All For One to gain allies. In his mind, Shigaraki was never close to anyone, even Spinner. This all further emphasizes that how Shigaraki will ultimately be defeated will be from within rather than “punching harder.”

FINAL THOUGHTS

My Hero Academia Chapter 414 was a great showcase of how far Izuku Midoriya has come. Thanks to the push given by his One For All predecessors, we got to see the expert strategist Midoriya is. With that we got a strong continuation in the final battle against Tomura Shigaraki that keeps interest in how it all ends high.

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