My Hero Academia, Chapter 125: Overhaul
So it's a villain-centric episode and boy, what an awesome chapter this is! Most mangas like to show the protagonist how out of their depth they are by introducing a far, far more superior enemy or even a technical ally. One Piece had an awesome one with Aokiji, Naruto had Itachi's first appearance teasing the sheer power level of Akatsuki, Bleach had Byakuya and Renji's first appearance put Ichigo in his place, and Taizai had a very awesome one with Galan. Very rarely does this involve actual death, and almost never does this involve the villains.
The thing is, while Boku no Hero Academia still puts a fair amount of focus on the heroes, it also develops its villains pretty well, in addition to having some of my hands-down favourite designs in, like, manga. So last chapter seems to tease a simple team-up between Shigaraki and Overhaul's organizations, but the meeting is a bit... tense. Shigaraki recognizes Overhaul as a celebrity in the villain world, basically one of the many former yakuza bosses that ruled the underworld before the superhero craze 'hit'.
Overhaul talks about how his generation is starting to crawl out of the shadows not because of All Might's death, but rather because of All For One's fall. Before it, they used to be scared of the 'kingpin' hiding in the shadows, but now that All For One's gotten himself thrown into Tartarus, it's time for these older, retired villains to come out. Shigaraki tries to make himself look awesome, talking about how he's going to be the next kingpin, how he's gathering his forces, and how he's going to shatter the society.
The only thing is, as epic as Shigaraki makes himself to be, Overhaul brushes it off. He's not outright mocking, but he's acting like a business partner. Yes, Shigaraki's got ambition, but without a solid strategy beyond 'build a team, beat the heroes!' he's not going to join up without a concrete plan on how to control the other villains. And Overhaul's not entirely wrong, highlighting that Shigaraki lost three first-class pawns: the Hero-Killer Stain, Muscular and Moonfish, all powerful villains that Shigaraki, well, lost, noting that Shigaraki can't even figure out how to properly control his small band of villains, let alone expanding.
And he's not wrong, you know. A lot of times Shigaraki's emotions got in the way, and Black Mist had to pull his ass out of the fire. Overhaul makes it clear to Shigaraki that he actually has a plan, and he also wants to be the next Kingpin. He needs Shigaraki in a way, because he needs someone with enough reputation like Shigaraki and the Villain Alliance to get the monetary resources he needs. Shigaraki, of course, isn't interested in working under anyone, but it's Magne that goes in for the attack, magnetizing Overhaul's head and whacking it with his giant bar magnet.
Magne gives this speech about how he's not going to ever live bounded by anyone and something about his escape or whatever, but Overhaul pokes him in the arm. I knew something bad's going to happen to Magne -- getting his arm ripped off, maybe, or getting hurt really bad -- but shit, he flat-out got himself exploded from the waist up. Like a fucking blood balloon. Magne's fucking dead, just like that, and while he's not a main character by any shot, the sheer suddenness of the death just shows, well, how freaking different Overhaul is going to be.
I can't imagine that Midoriya's classmates are actually going to be exploded to death like that unless it's someone unimportant like, oh, Ojirou, because this is still a Shonen manga, but the chance of them actually getting hurt is still there.
Mr. Compress goes in for the attack (despite Shigaraki's orders to stop -- again showing how little control Shigaraki actually has over his team) but his quirk gets deactivated -- it's unclear if it's Overhaul or one of his cronies that did it -- before getting his arm blown the fuck off. Well, at least he's not reduced to a pair of legs. Overhaul also has a huge, huge aversion to being touched.
Shigaraki goes in for the attack, and Overhaul pushes one of his dudes to shield him. It's the first time we actually see Shigaraki's power fully envelop someone and the panel where Overhaul's mook clatters apart into a puddle of petrified flesh and blood is creepy. Of course, Overhaul's a senior villain and he's got a small army of plague-doctor-mask-wearing troops that have been following him (unnoticed by Twice) who burst in to bail him out. Among them is a giant plague-mask mucsle monster with a small shadowy blob riding it. I want to know what they do.
Overhaul quickly calls a stop to hostilities, noting that each side has one person dead, and killing each other is going to be counter-productive, and leaves, dropping his contact so Shigaraki can contact him after they both calmed down. Shigaraki at least recognizes the sheer lack of power and experience he has, and lets Overhaul leave -- despite Toga being a crazy fucker who just wants to stab him, and both Twice and Compress wanting Shigaraki to get revenge for them.
Very interesting, really, to see Shigaraki forced to mature. Without All For One (or Black Mist, interestingly) to guide him, he's forced with the reality that, well, his huge grandstanding isn't going to earn him much in lieu of allies beyond junior, reckless villains, and while it's all good for attacking a bunch of school children, for his big ambitions he's going to need more people that know what the shit they're doing. Very awesome stuff, honestly. Overhaul does come a little flat as a character, but no less interesting.
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