this is actually so beautifully worded i love u dude
We're really out here using LLMs to write our comments on a manga piracy website? No human uses this many em dashes, especially in a non-academic setting. Please find your self respect and worth. I hope you realize that it would have meant more had you written and edited it yourself instead of feeding it into a sycophant machine.
Totally agree with you on this! I’m still torn. You just described exactly how I feel about it. ╥﹏╥
Wow, you honestly couldn’t have said it any better!
i get that this is a story but i kind of want to ask what you really meant by Deku staying as a symbol rather than a hero int he future. Because well at least in the story, he's a person who's still alive. he's only 24 at the end, and is basically just starting his life, so i kind of understand why he went on to continue being a hero
I apologize in advance for not being able to summarized it better but, here i go....
I totally get what you mean, and you’re right. He’s still young, and it makes sense that he’d keep being a hero. What I meant when I said I wished he’d become more of a symbol wasn’t that I wanted him to retire completely or grow old just watching from afar. It’s more that I think Deku already earned the title of hero long before the last battle. Even when he was Quirkless, he kept trying to save people, and that’s exactly what made him a hero in the first place.
So, when I said I wanted him to become a “symbol,” I meant that it would’ve been beautiful to see him remembered as the person who brought peace, not because of his Quirk or his power, but because of who he was: his heart, his courage, his compassion. He didn’t need to go back into battle to prove that again. That part of his story was already done.
And I get that they wanted to show him staying involved, but honestly, it felt like they didn’t quite know what to do with him afterward. His role just kind of fades, and they throw him back into the fight, but not as the same powerful Deku, just kind of helping here and there. Maybe some people will say “well, he just wanted to stay close to his friends,” and sure, that’s sweet, but it also makes me feel like he can only exist within the fight, when I think his true growth was supposed to be beyond that.
If he really ended up Quirkless, I wish that had meant something. Like, imagine if he had become a mentor, not just a UA teacher who disappears into the background, but someone like All Might was for him. The kind of person who guides the next generation, who represents what heroism truly is. He could’ve been that symbol. The one who inspires even without power, the one remembered in history as the hero who changed everything.
Even the battle between Deku and Shigaraki felt rushed. I waited so long for it, and it had so much potential. The scene with his arms getting destroyed could’ve been a perfect metaphor for sacrifice. I even imagined something like Fullmetal Alchemist-style, where he still fights with everything he has, even at that cost, and that sacrifice would’ve made his victory mean something (not that i like Deku to suffer, but at the end, it's a kid fighting a war only he can put and end to, so....it's normal he had to make some sacrifices, which makes him an even greater hero). But instead, the regeneration thing made it lose impact. And i know that in order for him to use the fullness of his power he needed both arms, so maybe just losing one could have represented that sacrifice better without it being regenerated. Again, don't like watching deku suffer, just stating another possible scenerario where i think the story could have more emotional depth at the end.
So yeah, for me, it’s not that I hate the idea of him being Quirkless, it’s that it didn’t carry the emotional or symbolic weight it could’ve. Deku didn’t need more battles. He needed recognition, not in fame, but in meaning. To be remembered as the hero who embodied what being a hero truly means.
Does that make more sense???? I mean, it’s just my thoughts and opinion, but at least for me, a few changes could’ve made it way more impactful.
you literally put my exact thoughts about this manga in to words 100% agree
Maybe it’s an unpopular opinion, or maybe not, but I’ve always thought My Hero Academia had the potential to be legendary, not just good. It had everything it needed to go beyond the usual superhero shōnen: a world where quirks don’t just define your powers, but your worth as a person; a society that measures heroism through fame and popularity; and a protagonist with no power who still shows what it really means to be a hero. That setup was brilliant.
That early scene of Deku crying after being told he’s quirkless, it hit me hard. It’s still one of the most powerful and heartbreaking moments in the whole series, at least for me. At that point, My Hero Academia felt like a story with real heart, about hope even when everything feels hopeless.
But as time went on, I think the series lost a lot of that emotional depth. It started feeling less like a story with meaning and more like a marketing thing, more flashy fights, more side characters, more “iconic moments,” but fewer scenes that actually meant something. And that’s the sad part: the action was never the problem, it’s that the message got lost in all the spectacle. The story stopped asking why we fight and started focusing only on how cool the fight looks.
And I think that shift showed a pattern that got kind of repetitive: friendship solves everything, optimism solves everything, and the stronger your quirk is, the more valuable you are. It’s a shame because that goes against the message it started with. Instead of showing real emotional or moral consequences, most conflicts end up being solved through power or speeches about hope, and that slowly drains the story’s impact.
At least for me, My Hero Academia always seemed scared of consequences and accountability, especially death. For a world constantly at war, barely anyone ever dies. That is actually, something Jujutsu Kaisen has no problem with (wink wink, for those that already read it)... but where Jujutsu overkills, My Hero Academia kind of overprotects. And that makes everything feel oddly safe, almost too clean (does that meke sense??). I think All Might is a great example of this. And yes, I’ll say it: I wish All Might had died. Not out of cruelty, but because it would’ve given Deku the space to truly grow. All Might’s presence, while inspiring, always kept Deku in his shadow. If he had fallen during his final battle, that loss could’ve been Deku’s defining moment, the moment he finally stood alone as the new symbol of peace. But again, the series seemed too scared to take that risk.
And that’s where My Hero Academia loses something for me. Another example is how it tries to make us understand its villains, but often stops at justifying them instead of holding them accountable. It’s a fine line, but one that really matters. Demon Slayer, for instance, does this beautifully. You understand why the demons became who they are, you even feel for them, but they still face their end. There’s dignity in that, not erasure. That’s the kind of emotional honesty I wish My Hero Academia had dared to go for.
I felt like the pacing in general became too rushed; there was no room for the story or the emotions to breathe. Even Deku’s lone arc, when he isolates himself, could’ve easily been expanded into an entire season. It could’ve been a moment for everyone at U.A. to truly understand what it means to be a hero, not just in battle, but as Midoriya’s friends, as kids thrown into a war they never asked for. That whole section had the potential to carry so much emotional weight, but it felt rushed, like we barely got to sit with any of it.
And then there’s Deku’s ending. I’m still torn about it. From the very beginning, he represented the idea that you don’t need a quirk to be a hero, that true heroism comes from heart, not strength. So for me, there were always two possible endings. One where he truly becomes the new Symbol of Peace, not just the next All Might, but something beyond that, the embodiment of hope itself. And the other, more poetic one, where he loses his quirk, goes back to being powerless, yet is no longer the same boy who once cried for being “worthless.” The hero who finds strength in spirit, not power.
And I know, I know he did become quirkless, but hear me out. They tell him he can still be a hero if he uses this new technology or gear that acts as a substitute for a quirk. They bring him back into action, which for me kind of goes against that original message. I would’ve loved to see him stay as a symbol, not as a fighter, but as living proof of what being a hero really means, beyond quirks, beyond strength. The way he began. The hero he always was. That would’ve been such a powerful ending.
In the end, My Hero Academia is a series that came so close to greatness. It built an amazing world, gave us unforgettable characters, and had moments that really hit deep. But it never fully embraced the emotional weight it promised. Instead of diving into tragedy, loss, and the messiness of being human, it chose the safer route, the “everything’s gonna be okay” route.
And maybe that’s why I kind of feel it as a tragedy in itself (well, maybe tragedy is a little dramatic, but you get the point). It could’ve been so much more. It could’ve been a story we’d still be talking about decades from now, not just for its fights, but for its heart. And we probably will still talk about it for decades, but at least for me, it just leaves you wondering: what if...
JUST MY OPINION, I STILL LOVE THE SERIES AND I LOVE MIDORIYA <3
P.S. Something I’ll always give My Hero Academia credit for, and something I’ll always personally love, is how they wrote Todoroki. He’s honestly the kind of character I imagined the whole series could’ve revolved around: great quirk, incredible backstory, and a development arc that actually breathes. His growth feels organic, painful, and hopeful all at once. In many ways, he carries the emotional weight that I thought every main and side character, even the villains, would eventually get. And honestly, I think Todoroki embodies the message My Hero Academia started with, the real heart of what it means to be a hero, beyond any quirk, which he greatly suffers from.