English Dub Review: My Hero Academia “Tenko Shimura: Origin”

Overview:

Twice is trying to double Toga so he can give her a blood transfusion. Re-Destro shows just how powerful his quirk is especially for a businessman. His power allows him to store up his stress and unleash it as power. He damages Shigaraki’s hand but Shigaraki is having an awakening and his power has changed. We got a flashback of Shigaraki’s origin, his power manifested in a heartbreaking way. He accidentally killed his dog, sister, mother, and grandparents.

Our Take:

I had a feeling that this whole arc would be one giant feels trip. Before I get into that can I just talk about how stupidly awesome Re-Destro’s quirk is? This guy turns his stress into power, the more stressed he is the stronger he is. He even shot out an energy ball that I am guessing was made of pure stress. If that isn’t the most relatable quirk I don’t know what is, now back to your regularly scheduled depression.

So, Shigaraki had an interesting childhood. It was both happy and unhappy at the same time. His mother, sister, and grandparents were really kind to him. But his father could sometimes be abusive whenever heroes got brought up. Nana (The holder of One for All before All Might) was his mother and she left him to keep him safe. I can understand why he would have a less than savory opinion of the hero profession after that. That job took his mother, he even says he would of rather she stayed than keep him safe. Child abuse is never okay but I really like how human everyone is so far, no one has been just evil to be evil. Except for maybe Toga, she is kind of just insane.

Shigaraki’s quirk manifested at the worst possible time and being a scared kid he had no idea what was happening. I felt so terrible seeing what happened to him as a child. I don’t know what is in store for Shigaraki when everything is done with this series but I hope he gets some peace. No one deserves to have that happen to them but it also doesn’t excuse all the bad he’s done and probably will do.

Shigaraki had an interesting quote to me when he said “An adult’s words are absolute to a child”. They really are, that’s why your father telling you not to follow your dream can be so demoralizing. Shigaraki’s father was the only one he killed that wasn’t an accident. While he was by no means a great dad, he definitely didn’t deserve what happened to him. The whole situation is tragic. Shigaraki and Deku really are parallels of each other and I love it when media does that. I had no idea Shigaraki wanted to be a hero when he was younger, especially as much as he hates them now.

Erik Vale always does an amazing job but he did really well recounting that tragic past. When he said the line I quoted his delivery is part of what made it so impactful. I think this origin has a part two so I am really excited to see that. All for One really took advantage of a child who had nowhere to turn and made him a weapon essentially. See you all next week, plus ultra I guess?