My Hero Academia Chapter 236 Review

Nothing could have prepared me for what was to come in Chapter 236. Within this chapter, we finally get to see the horrifying fate that befell upon Shigaraki’s family. In only 15 pages, we see Shigaraki go from being terrified upon discovering his quirk to fully embracing its power in order to murder his father. The start of the chapter was brutal with Shigaraki unknowingly using his quirk on his family dog with it only escalating further as he reaches out for his family members. Chapter 236 was absolutely harrowing and it surprised me to see how much Horikoshi didn’t hold back when showing the seriousness of the situation. Horikoshi has always been great at showcasing raw emotion with his art but never have I felt it as much as with Shigaraki’s mental breakdown upon accidentally murdering his family. The pages involving his mother and sister especially heartbreaking. The final two pages of showcase Shigaraki’s first true descent into his twisted nature and were both extremely well-drawn and terrifying. This is the darkest we’ve seen My Hero Academia and despite that, it didn’t feel overly edgy or out of place. Horikoshi isn’t afraid to show how dangerous this super-powered world can be and I greatly enjoyed that he isn’t holding back on that front.

I lost all respect for Kotaro after this chapter. I understand that he was trying to get Shigaraki to stop but striking him like that was absolutely not the solution especially when the first thing Shigaraki said to him was that he was sorry. If anything, he alone is the prime catalyst for Tomura turning out the way he did. The one panel where he recalls Nana’s words of her wishing for him to live a life full of smiles and joy really emphasized just how tragic of a situation befell upon the Shimura family. We now see even more just how ironic it is that Kotaro worked so hard to build up a hero-less household and that his own son would suffer from it and be one the one to tear it down.

Chapter 236 once again showcased a direct correlation between a person’s quirk and their emotional state. Shigaraki was able to use his long-distance deterioration from the start due to the intense mental state he was in. It’s possible that the similar emotions he felt during the fight with the Liberation Army and Re-Destro are what caused him to reactivate its power and further enhance it.

The Liberation Army arc has easily shot Shigaraki up to be a worthy main antagonist for the series. I anticipate seeing if we return to the Re-Destro fight in chapter 237 or if we’ll get one more origin chapter to showcase how AFO met Shigaraki.

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