The My Hero Academia Season 5 Moment That Went Too Far
This article contains spoilers for Season 5 of "My Hero Academia."
The franchise "My Hero Academia" knows how to get its fans talking. Most recently, the internet chatter has revolved around the anime's latest film, "My Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission," which is one of 11 anime films that have grossed over $10 million at the North American box office (via Anime News Network). The anime centers on U.A. High School student Izuku Midoriya as he trains to become a professional hero in a world where a large percentage of the population is born with a "quirk" or superpower. While the series is typically light-hearted, the recently released Season 5 takes a bit of a different turn.
Season 5 was quite unique as it provided an entire arc dedicated to the League of Villains. In the roughly five-episode arc, the League's broker is captured by the new villain group, the Meta Liberation Army, whose goal is to enable the free use of quirks. Throughout the arc, the backstory of the League's key members is explained, but one character's origin, in particular, takes dark to a whole different level.
Shigaraki's backstory is particularly horrifying
The leader of the League of Villains and All For One's successor, Tomura Shigaraki, is horrifying enough just looking at him, with those creepy, dead hands attached all over his body and his depthless red eyes. But it turns out, he has a pretty good reason behind his villainous ways.
In Season 5, Episode 23, we finally get to see how Shigaraki became the villain he is today. At 5 years old, Shigaraki, at the time going by Tenko Shimura, is a seemingly quirkless kid with an abusive father that detests heroes. Shimura's father catches him with a photo of his pro hero grandmother and unleashes a torrent of abuse on him. In his despair, Shimura's quirk, Decay, is unleashed on the family pet, which is quite literally turned into a bloody pile of decay. Shimura then turns to his family and accidentally uses his quirk on his mother, grandparents, and little sister, killing them all. Then out of hate, he purposely unleashes his quirk on his father, killing him as well. After the death of his entire family, Shimura wanders the street aimlessly until he meets All For One, who gives him the name Tomura Shigaraki and grooms him into the villain he currently is.
Fans agree the moment was pretty intense
This episode in particular is one that stays with you for quite some time. Shigaraki's backstory is one that is terribly depressing and the episode itself is unlike any other in "My Hero Academia" in that it is actually scary to watch, and many fans would agree.
In a Reddit thread, user u/Turambar1986 wrote, "I'm honestly surprised it was able to air in that form. It certainly wouldn't have aired on American TV. Not only the gore, but the horror elements, in general, were dialed up to ten. It reminded me of Tokyo Ghoul. I'm not easily upset, but I was horrified at the whole thing, my mouth agape. Not that is was bad, but it was entirely surprising."
Another user, u/Sunsurg_e agreed and wrote, "It was so powerful, but so heartbreaking... It was so well done. So ... so well done. I could understand exactly why he ended up the way he did, and exactly how he felt in those final moments with his family..."
Fans of "My Hero Academia" turn to the anime for its lightheartedness and fun action scenes, so this specific episode was quite shocking when it aired. With a backstory like Shigaraki's, it's no wonder he became the leader of the League of Villains and his story proves that the series can have a very dark side in addition to its comedy.