My Hero Academia 92-93 Review: All Might Just Won't Die!

My Hero Academia, Chapter 92: One For All

Man, I really expected All Might to die in this chapter. Or the next. It really seemed to be that moment you expect in mangas where the show has found its roots, the big mentor character has became likeable enough and taught the main character enough. And having him finally face off against Sensei/All-for-One really seemed to be the perfect point to build up this arc villain, have the villain pull off a victory and have All Might be defeated and/or killed all in one go.

But god damn, no wonder All Might is the symbol of justice! The man just will not die! Mad respect to All Might, and the mangaka for making the artwork look like it hurt so much just to be All Might in that position. I know the anime just started and is like on episode eight or whatever, but, yeah, I'm definitely watching this shit in that pretty pretty animation.

I didn't review this chapter two weeks ago due to time reasons, and I almost considered just shrugging it off and just going on with reviewing 94... but damn! Re-reading it really made me kick myself for not reviewing it sooner. It's one of my favourite chapters of all time, not just within this manga, but in all manga in general, I can safely say.

This chapter starts off quickly establishing that the kiddies are okay and out of the way, while All Might is absolutely incensed to hear Sensei talk about 'Shimura Nana', who is All Might's mentor. Nana is the previous One For All wielder, and is Shigaraki's grandmother. Sensei keeps talking shit about Shimura Nana, each moment driving All Might into a frenzy and allowing Sensei to get awesome counterattacks... in live television, too.

Gran Tourino manages to shake All Might and save him from crashing down from the sky, and, well, we get a montage of everyone across Japan (including other classmates) seeing this in television with various reactions. Some of them go all 'damn heroes, they keep slacking off' to 'eh, it's All Might, he'll pull through'.

Sensei gives this rather hypocritical speech about how he hates All Might for robbing him of his tyrannical empire, and swells his arm up to punch All Might... who cannot afford to dodge, because behind him is a trapped civilian! And he's a superhero. Gran Tourino gets knocked away, but All Might stands firm, blocking Sensei's massive blast... only to be reduced to his skinny, pathetic-looking state. Right in live telly!

Everyone from Bakugou to the live announcer is shocked, and Sensei shits all over All Might's true form, but All Might gives a pretty awesome reply. "My heart is still the heart of the symbol of peace!" indeed. It's short, a tiny speech two panels long, but as the saying goes... actions speak louder than words. And seeing this ragged-ass spindly figure that looks so wounded and hurt just stand up to Sensei? Damn, All Might. Mad respect to you.

Of course, Sensei chooses this moment to give a monologue about how Shigaraki Tomura is Nana's grandson, and this utterly breaks poor All Might, because it's not long ago that All Might battered Shigaraki around. And we get a short flashback of Nana teaching All Might to smile whatever happens (which is actually a sad explanation to how Buff-All-Might, the symbol of peace, always has that silly Golden Age grin plastered all over his face whatever the situation). And All Might just looks so utterly devastated.

And then the random civilian girl tells All Might to not give up and save her. Again, short and sweet, but damn if it isn't impactful. Lesser mangas might spend entire chapters just to have the hero reel from this, and to have him give a long trite friendship speech, but, again, the economy of dialogue and the sheer greatness of storytelling via artwork and good pacing shows just why this manga might have it within it to become the next big thing.

The crowd watching the television are more unsure, and I think it's realistic for some of them to go 'man, we're fucked if All Might can't beat him', which is sensible... but in the end they all come together and cheer for All Might. Even Bakugou got over his initial shock -- some of us thought that Bakugou might become disillusioned when he sees All Might's true form and that's what will make him go all Sasuke and evil, but nah.

Then All Might repeats his catchphrase -- again, in a wholly sensible way -- tells the random civilian to not have fear... tells Sensei that heroes have so many things to protect... but that's the reason that they can't lose. He focuses his power into one arm, turning it into its super-buff form. Man, All Might's badass.

My Hero Academia, Chapter 93: The Embers of One For All

And you would think that that one last act of defiance would be his final 'YOU SHALL NOT PASS' act before dying, but no. Not even then. We even get a death flag in this chapter, with the random fancy flashback of Nana telling All Might to 'remember your origin when you have to surpass your limit' and some inner fire thing. We get to see young All Might wanting to make the world a better place, and how the world needs a symbol of peace they can look up to. 

Sensei gives no shit, since he's ultimately still uninjured, but he notes that cornered heroes are dangerous and he floats into the air, remembering how desperate All Might was when they initially fought, with All Might's internal organs strewn all around. 

But then, a blast of flame! Endeavour and Edge Shot show up, and while Endeavour's all "what the hell's wrong with you, man?" he still looks pretty damn badass. Doubtful that Endeavour can do a damn thing if All Might couldn't, and Endeavour himself seems to realize it, in his own self-centered way. We get a short flashback about how Endeavour worked so hard to surpass All Might, but the harder he trained, the harder he felt the gap between himself and All Might's back, and roars at All Might about 'how did your back get so pitiful?' Aw, Endeavour, you do care. In your own jackass way. Edge Shot tries his little super-speed-stretchy-stab thing that Sensei dodges, while Kamui shows up to rescue the other wounded heroes. Tiger also shows up to rescue the wounded civilians.

And as All Might watches these lesser heroes try to alleviate his burden, even as Endeavour and Edge Shot tries to slow down Sensei in the background, they keep telling All Might that everyone is hoping that he wins. And normally I don't really like it when the plot focuses too much on just THE hero and reducing everyone to background distractions (i.e. Toriko at the moment)... but considering All Might's status in the universe's society and how he's been built up as the ultimate strongest hero with a fatal weakness... well, I definitely don't mind.

We get a short flashback of a young (and awesome-looking) Gran Tourino and Shimura Nana talking about how All Might has such potential to inspire as the Number One Hero... and we get this nice little montage of everyone just hoping that All Might needs to win.

And, damn, it's a beautiful speech, not only because it's well written and well paced, but simply because the buildup and everything really makes you believe it, not just see it as some regurgitated thing that other shonen manga did like a thousand times already. This is just wonderful work.

Sensei just blasts all the lesser heroes away, then rattles off an insane amount of quirk names, before turning his right arm into this... gross amalgamation of hands, arms, rocky growths and all sorts of cool-yet-disgusting things. Sensei notes how All Might doesn't have One For All anymore, and all he has are the lingering embers of the quirk that grows ever smaller, and he even threatens Midoriya as he comes in for the killing blow...

And as the two fists clash, Sensei activates 'Impact Reversal', utterly fucking up All Might's right arm. All Might then retorts how he needs to be alive for Midoriya... and we get a short couple of panels showing a figurative All Might protecting the last embers of his powers just to complete his duty, and how he needs to surpass his limit -- how, like his own master, he needs to be a teacher an raise Midoriya properly before he can be allowed to die. 

And then he just delivers an extremely satisfying mother of all SMASH!!!-es with his left arm, right onto Sensei's face. Way to surpass your limits, All Might!

Mind you, he might still die in the chapter coming this week, but damn. These two chapters really made me like All Might so much more as a character, and really, whoever wins it's great storytelling either way, with this great buildup making it really sad and extra-tragic if All Might actually does die, and making it an utterly triumphant comeback if he survives. 

Man, can't wait for this week's chapter.