Hey guys! time to discuss my hero academia 270 As you know, bnha ended with a surprising incident. Shigaraki’s ‘death’. The guy who was being built up as the all-powerful main villain has apparently died.But if you guys, like me are regular manga readers, you know that the main villain ‘dying’ even before the story has reached it’s halfway point and that too, in the middle of probably the most important arc of the story yet, is a sort of a red herring.
Unfortunately we have to wait another six days to find out if Shigaraki has really kicked the bucket or is about to get up and dust all our favourite heroes. As we wait for My Hero Academia 270, let’s talk a but about the AFO body takeover theory that’s being discussed in the MHA fandom!
WILL AFO TAKE OVER SHIGARAKI’S BODY?
All For One was an enigmatic and sinister villain who ruled the society from it’s shadows for a long time and the arc nemesis of the One for All holders throughout history of My Hero Academia. Starting from his own younger brother to All Might, AFO would mercilessly hunt down and brutally kill the One for All holders until All Might, probably the most prodigious OFA user ever, defeated him at Kamino and sent him to jail in Tartarus.
Now, with the latest chapter and Ujiko proclaiming that Shigaraki’s death was the end of AFO’s dream, there have been speculations going on in the fandom that the ever powerful villain was going the Orochimaru route and was preparing Shigaraki for, yes, a body takeover. Well logically it’s a possibility.
AFO was always depicted as an overly narcissistic man who came into power by either manipulating people into becoming his allies or brutally crushing those who stood against him. AFO would do anything to maintain his position as the ruler of the society. He would even have his right hand man, doctor Ujiko make nomus out of dead kids and teens. So what really changed that this man who has so many of the world’s most powerful quirks in him, including an immortality/life extending ones and allies like Ujiko and Gigantomachia decided to entrust his will, his empire and all his dreams to a successor? It was indicated that AFO took in an orphaned Tenko Shimura to spite All Might. But to a lot of readers, it was hard to fathom that a man like AFO would ever want a successor. That he would groom a kid, that too, the grandson of his former enemy to be the next AFO. I am guessing that it’s hard for readers to believe that AFO would relinquish the power he had built up across all these years to another person.
AFO in this context, is oddly similar to Muzan, the immortal main antagonist of Kimetsu no Yaiba who saw a successor in none other than the very guy who was trying his best to kill Muzan, when faced with his mortality and eventual defeat. The battle with All Might prior to the manga’s beginning resulted in AFO losing his face and having to wear breathing apparatus forever. Even then the man could go toe to toe with hop heroes like Endeavor and Edgeshot and cause serious harm to others like Best Jeanist.
All Might too was forced into retirement after Kamino. A lot of readers believe that all these experiences forced AFO to face his mortality and see a successor in Shigaraki Tomura while others speculate that this caused AFO set up an elaborate plan to prepare Tomura for a body takeover because he was left with permanent injuries after his first battle with All Might.
I am leaning more towards the successor possibility. Why? Because there never was any foreshadowing. While a body swap is an interesting possibility to me and a lot of other readers out there, there simply has never been any foreshadowing or any clues, for example, a quirk or technology that transfers souls, to imply that it is even a possibility. But with AFO being as mysterious as ever with readers not even knowing his full name, let alone his true motives, a body takeover still cannot be ruled out. We know so little about him that even wilder theories like AFO being Deku’s father are popular in the fandom.
So here’s my ultimate verdict: We know too little about AFO to debate on any immediate possibility of a body take over is valid or not.
MY HERO ACADEMIA 270: A JAILBREAK IN THE CARDS?
As I mentioned earlier, we know too little about AFO or his motivations as of now. So it’s highly probable that a jailbreak is coming soon. It could be anything from Gigantomachia breaking open Tartarus to AFO organizing a jailbreak after factoring in the absence of the majority of the top heroes from the city.
And as for My Hero Academia 270, I think we’ll be focusing on the Tokoyami/Dabi conflict rather than the Shigaraki/heroes conflict. Last we saw of him, Tokoyami had just saved his mentor Hawks from an almost psychotic Dabi. It would be interesting to see their battle given that Dark Shadow is weak against light and by extension, fire.
My Hero Academia 270 Release date:
bnha 270 will release on the 10th of May. What do you guys think will happen? Will AFO take over Shigaraki’s body? Or is he really the new AFO? How is AFO’s role in the story shaping up? Share your thoughts in the comments below! don’t forget to check our latest posts: One Piece 979 & Kimetsu no Yaiba 204.