Summary
The following contains spoilers forMy Hero AcademiaChapter 397, “Taking Out The Trash,” by Kohei Horikoshi, translated by Caleb Cook available in English fromViz Media.
My Hero Academiachapter 397 finally dropped after a long break, and as expected,the fight between All Might and All For Onecontinues this week as well. Fans expect this fight to last for a few weeks and Horikoshi delivered this week as well, as the entirety of the chapter focused on this incredible clash. Sadly, the chapter was only seven pages long and while that might not be what fans expected after a 2-week break, it is more concerning for the author himself.
RELATED:My Hero Academia: All Quirk Powers Of Armored All Might, Explained
Horikoshi has had health issues for quite a while now. The vast majority of manga writers suffer from these issues and, of course, Horikoshi is no different. His condition might actually be worsening, given how short his current chapter was. Fans can only wish him the very best and hope that he starts feeling better and is a bit more lenient about his work, even if it means taking more breaks. Thanks to his efforts, fans were served with an incredibly fun chapter that coveredmore combat between All Might and All For One.
All Might’s Plan
My Hero Academiachapter 397 began where things left off, with All For One at the receiving end of a powerful kick from All Might, the Shoot Style Smash powered up with Sugar Rush. All Might continued to pummel All For One in this week’s chapter and it came as a surprise to everyone watching that the Demon Lord was being pushed back to such an extent by All Might using an armored suit. In all seriousness, All Might should not stand a chance against him, given that he is the strongest of all Quirk users at the moment and stronger than anyone seen in the story so far. He’s even stronger than his prime self, which makes the fact that All Might is keeping up with him even more surprising.
Nonetheless,All Might continued to rile him upby using his words and saying things that he knew would throw him off his game. All For One has one nemesis that he simply cannot hide his rage for and that is All Might, and much of that is down to the fact that he could not steal the One For All from him. This is something that All Might hypothesized himself as well and according to him, speaking ill of him and using his words to rile him up was a great tactic that was certainly working. All Might went on to state that even in his retirement, when he is beyond his 50s, he is still able to beat someone as strong as him, which should be a shame for the Demon Lord himself. At hearing this, All For One would certainly be infuriated and that is precisely what All Might wanted. His plan here is to waste as much time as possible and eventually, see All For One fade into inexistence.
All For One’s Powerful Attacks
It was only a matter of timebefore All For One struck backandMy Hero Academiachapter 397 finally saw that happen. After being mocked by All Might and ridiculed by him in front of the entire world, All For One was infuriated to the point where he threw together a number of Quirks in random order and combined them, launching a powerful blast towards All Might in hopes of killing him. March to his surprise, All Might managed to survive this blow as well as he pulled out another ability that he based on one of his students. This time, it was Tokoyami, and the Quirk that he ended up using was Dark Shadow.
RELATED:My Hero Academia: Armored All Might, Explained
Thanks to his cape, he was able to take the brunt of the attack and survive this blow as well. Hercules was also seen inMy Hero Academiachapter 397, stating that much of the cape was seriously compromised and the armor’s left arm was as well. Of course, this spells danger for All Might, however, he simply cannot let himself lose here, and given that he is doing so well to waste All For One’s time, he asked Hercules to go into support mode, which likely boosts his capabilities beyond normal levels.
Fans also saw right through All Might’s plan, however, All For One doesn’t see it at the moment. He is too invested in the idea of getting rid of All Might and, according to him, he is simply a piece of garbage that he needs to take out. Even though All For One states that he knows that All Might is trying to waste time here, he simply isn’t going to accomplish anything because to him, he is merely garbage and all he’s doing is taking out the trash forever. To All Might, however, this is precisely what he wants. The more he riles him up, the better it is and the sooner he can achieve his goal. That said, All Might also realized that he needs to be careful. After all, all he has at his disposal is his armor suit, and a large part of it is already severely damaged. If he keeps on relying on it throughout the entirety of the battle, he will lose.
All Might’s First Meeting With Nana
My Hero Academiachapter 397 also dug deep into a flashback concerning All Might and Izuku Midoriya. This flashback was from the Cultural Festival arc, where All Might mentioned to Deku that Heroes should not rely entirely on their equipment. Oftentimes, in his life, he saw Heroes who were way too reliant on their hero equipment and they ended up paying for it, and being defeated ultimately. That is precisely what All Might is doing here at the moment and he realizes that he needs to alter his strategy a bit. At the same time, the flashback also continued and fans got to see the very first meeting between Yagi Toshinori and Nana Shimura. As fans know already,Nana is the 7th user of the One For All Quirkand the person who he inherited the power from.
Their first meeting was a rather bizarre one. It appears that Yagi was fighting against a horde of villains all by himself, using a metal pipe. At the end of it, it is implied that Nana ended up taking care of them, however, his hero spirit impressed her and that is likely when she took him under her wing. Back then as well, Yagi was purely relying on equipment of sorts and it certainly would not have ended well for him had he simply relied on that. A parallel was being made inMy Hero Academiachapter 397 and the implication is that All Might cannot simply rely on his battle suit. He needs more than just that to defeat All For One and that is why he’s trying out different strategies.
The Fight Continues
As the flashback concluded inmy Hero Academiachapter 397, All Might launched another powerful strike at All For One, however, the latter blocked it with his forehead without much trouble. Once again, he went on to state that he has nothing up his sleeve that can stop him and that he is going to take out the trash here, which is yet another nod at the title of the chapter. All For One ended up launching a powerful blast towards All Might, however, the fans did not get to see what exactly this attack was. Perhaps, it was another Quirk combination that he utilized. Fans might find out more about it in the next chapter.
However, what fans do know already is that it didn’t work all that much, given that All Might was seen talking through it. According to him, All For One is simply making excuses because he cannot believe that he is actually being stalled by All Might even though he has no quirk and is a simple human. The Demon Lord is being pushed back by a simple man and that must be infuriating to All For One. Judging from his facial expressions, that is precisely the case.
That said, the situation is only going to get more dangerous for All Might from here on out, especially if he starts using more dangerous abilities. All For One certainly has it in him to destroy Yagi and his armor, however, if the latter plays it smart, he can successfully stall him for as long as he wants and get the desired result. Fans will stay at the edge of their seats for one more week and, hopefully, Horikoshi will stay in good health and deliver a chapter just as amazing asmy hero academia397.
