Studio
Bones
Warning: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Season 7, now streaming onCrunchyroll.
My Hero Academia Season 7is in the midst of one of the biggest battles of the series yet, the centerpiece of which is a floating fortress designed to defeat Tomura Shigaraki. Every part of this operation has been meticulously planned, and out of everyone helping out, seven heroes have been put in the arena with the big bad himself - the catch being that only six showed up.
After setting off a trap and using Neito Monoma’squirk to copy Kurogiri’s teleportation power, everyone was sent off to eight locations spanning central Japan to separate the villains and crush them. Unfortunately, Deku - the one best suited to taking down Shigaraki - got pulled elsewhere by Himiko Toga, and the rest of his team had to make do without him.
Setting the Stage/ Preparing the Coffin
The Coffin in the Sky is perhaps the most ingenious construction built to stop a single villain like Shigaraki, combining technological ingenuity and clever use of heroes in a support capacity. Sure, Shigaraki can destroy terrain, but the ground within the Coffin is constantly being replaced thanks to the production of raw materials by Yaoyorozu and Cementoss.
Plus, the whole fortress is an electrified cage and - best of all -Monoma is there to eliminate Shigaraki’s arsenal of quirksby copying Eraser Head’s power. Their entire plan is contingency after contingency stacked atop one another, and for a brief moment, it almost looked like they didn’t need Deku to win. Unfortunately, Shigaraki busts out a power that can’t be shut off by Eraser Head’s quirk because it’s not technically a quirk.
This analysis isn’t concerned with the people outside the Coffin offering assistance so much as the heroes fighting within it becausetheyshould theoretically be contingencies in themselves. Whether Shigaraki’s quirks are a factor or not, these heroes are logically there because they are the most qualified to beat him. To see just how accurate that claim is, let’s consider each of them carefully.
Breaking Down the Team
Katsuki Bakugo | Hero Name: Dynamight
There’s not much that needs to be saidto sell people on Bakugo’s potential in combat. Love him or hate him, his quirk, “Explosion,” is remarkably versatile, giving him not only excellent attack power but maneuverability. This alone makes it easy for him to counter Shigaraki’s “Decay.” Additionally, as hinted at the start of Season 7, Bakugo has been working on creating bigger explosions by releasing large quantities of his nitroglycerin sweat andthenigniting them.
Tsunagu Hakamada | Hero Name: Best Jeanist
A No. 3 Pro Hero seems like a given for a mission like this, and Best Jeanist proved why he was the right man for the job in Season 6.Being able to control individual fibershas some crazily overpowering potential, which makes him great against an already overpowered opponent like Shigaraki. All he needs is distance and enough carbon-fiber cables - both of which he has plenty of - and he can treat the whole battlefield as his domain.
This will make him an invaluable support member, able to maneuver the various platforms to create defenses, but also hurl said platforms - as well as any detritus from the fight - right at Shigaraki. Plus, so long as Shigaraki is wearing clothes himself, Best Jeanist has an opportunity to constrain him with them, such as his red cape.
Rumi Usagiyama | Hero Name: Mirko
Despite a sublime performance in Season 6 andbeing the No. 5 Pro Hero, Mirkomight be one of the more questionable candidates, at least up against one like Shigaraki. To be fair, however, this is primarily because of Shigaraki’s mysterious mutation surprising her - and everyone else for that matter. Her speed and mobility give her an edge similar to Bakugo, and with Erasure suppressing Decay, she had no reason not to let loose with her strength.
Her biggest assets in the fight will be her speed and -possibly- her prosthetics, assuming they have some added tricks besides supplementing her lost limbs. She’s taken the biggest beating of them all so far, partly a result of her brash nature, but if her past is anything to go off of, she’s a hard woman to keep down. Plus, she is far too similar to Bakugo, which will either be a detriment or the making of a surprisingly solid pairing in combat. Hopefully the latter.
Tamaki Amajiki | Hero Name: Suneater
Suneater is another impressively versatile pickthat makes a lot more sense the more one ponders his quirk, “Manifest.” Sometimes the coolest superpowers are the things that already exist in nature. Think of any cool ability an animal has displayed on the National Geographic Channel, and he can do the same just by eating it.
If anything, Suneater’s versatile arsenal and his capacity for large multi-target attacks might make him the most qualified to contend with the unexpected mutation Shigaraki has demonstrated. To combat these large amalgams of human flesh, which themselves are quite strong, he could unleash a similarly large amalgam of animal characteristics.
Nejire Hado | Hero Name: Nejire Chan
Nejire’s quirk is fairly straightforward, allowing her to produce powerful shockwaves that can be used offensively and for maneuverability. Best of all, she’s able to use these shockwaves to boost other heroes’ strength, something that could turn the tide of battle easily. Conversely, her biggest vulnerability will be her stamina and maintaining it through the fight to fuel her quirk. Still, like Suneater, she might be perfect for countering Shigaraki’s mutation.
Shinya Kamihara | Hero Name: Edgeshot
The last Pro Hero of the bunch, Edgeshot is one of those heroes whose exact powers some viewers might have forgotten about over time.His quirk, “Foldabody,” lets him thin outand extend his body to maneuver through tight spaces and even slice through opponents with the sharp edges of his body created through his transformation.
As with the rest of the melee fighters detailed above, maneuverability is the name of the game and something he has down to a science. His effectiveness in combat against Shigaraki, however, depends on how tough his opponent’s body has become. If he can slice and dice through these rapidly growing hands and fingers, then great. Otherwise, Edgeshot might be the biggest liability.
Is This Team up to the Task?
It’s pretty clear that this plan was reliant on Deku being there to act as the heavy hitter of the team, but for what it’s worth, this team was cleverly and carefully assembled. It says a lot thatif Shigaraki’s surprise mutation wasn’t a factor, this team probably could have beaten him without Deku, and this would be a much shorter season. And even with Shigaraki busting out new tricks, they still have the makings of a strong unit.
My Hero Academia’s characters needed to think ten steps ahead to get the advantage over their opponents, even if only for a moment. Considering that, they picked a good team. They weren’t merely intent on counteracting their opponent’s strengths, but in some ways matching them by employing heroes whose quirks allowed for versatility and thrived on out-of-the-box thinking. They’ll still need Deku to win, but only because they areallnecessary to even stand a chance.
