My Hero Academia - Volume 23 (Review)

By: EyeSpyeAlex 

Missed my last review? Check it out here!

The Story

Midoriya meets another vestige, who confirms what Midoriya has been experiencing: the power of One for All is growing. The two only have a few minutes together, in which time the former user of One for All stresses to Midoriya the importance of controlling his emotions. Only then will Midoriya truly be able to master One for All.

After this brief pep talk, Midoriya is ready to finish his battle against Shinso and Class B. Both teams give it their all and Class A emerges victorious. Despite losing, Shinso has impressed the teachers enough that they agree to move him into one of the hero classes!

There’s also a mysterious newcomer to the hero scene.  The owner of Detnerat, who has made his name in the lifestyle industry, vows to work towards a more inclusive world for those with human and non-human forms alike. Despite his promises, something sinister seems to be lurking below the surface.

His dark side very quickly exposes itself when he kills his poor assistant, Miyashita. It seems Rikiya Yotsubashi, the head of Detnerat, is the son of Destro, who is better known as Chikara Yotsubashi, a radical liberationist looking to seek the ability for quirks to be used freely by society!

Volume 23 of My Hero Academia suddenly switches plot points and we’re given a look into how the League of Villains is coping with the loss of All for One. Shigaraki and the rest of the League are barely scraping by and are desperate for a sign of what to do next. Cue a literal giant smashing through their hovel.

Gigantomachia as he’s known is a former body guard of One for All. He’s been searching for One for All’s successor, and is disappointed to find out how weak Shigaraki is in comparison to his old master. He was led to the League of Villains hideout by another one of One for All’s confidants, a doctor calling himself Daruma Ujiko. He vows to fully fund and support Shigaraki and the League of Villains if Shigaraki can win over Gigantomachia’s loyalty.

Thus begins a training montage of sorts. Shigaraki begins fighting Gigantomachia non-stop, hoping one of his attacks will be the one to knock out the giant. Their fight is interrupted by Yotsubashi, known now as Re-Destro, vows to wipe out the League of Villains. Re-Destro first plans to kill the League’s broker, Giran, unless they agree to meet in person in an hour.

Shigaraki decides to meet Re-Destro and his army, confident that he’s gained enough strength to beat them. As the League shows up to the meeting place they are greeted by a hero named Slidin’ Go, who volunteers to lead them to Re-Destro. This is more than a little shocking as Slidin’ Go is the one who took over cleaning up the crime scene of one of Re-Destro’s men. 

The Review

With the end of volume 23 of My Hero Academia we find ourselves left with more questions than answers. Just what does Re-Destro have planned? Who is Slidin’ Go and why is he helping Re-Destro? The plot thickens!

Speaking of the plot, it’s so exciting to see that Bakugo, Todoroki and the others finally passed their provisional license exam! While it was slightly outshone by the action that immediately followed this news, it’s still worthy of recognition! I can’t wait to see who Bakugo pairs up with now that he can start patrols.

As far as Todoroki goes, the manga seems to hint at him teaming up with his dad, Endeavor. He shows an interest in honing his fire quirk, and there’s no one better equipped to help the young hero. Hopefully this also means we’ll get some heartfelt family moments, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

One thing I really liked was the illustrations of Shigaraki remembering how he killed his family. Sorry, that sounds a little creepy. To clarify, I liked how well his facial expressions are drawn. Those couple of panels really sell the panic and disgust Shigaraki feels in that moment. The backgrounds provide the appropriate amount of context clues to allow the reader to fill in the blanks for themselves. The result is a combination of unease and horror, the perfect combo for such a gruesome moment.

I definitely recommend checking out volume 23 of My Hero Academia, and can't wait to see what volume 24 has prepared for us!