The Curse of One For All- My Hero Academia Discussion

Hey there! Edens Zero and the Shonen Jump chapters are on break(except somehow Attack On Titan), so we’re going to be doing a variety of content to see what really hits with people. I say that……..but I call a central point of one of the most popular series in a long time a “curse.” Yeah……I hope people keep reading beyond the title.

When I say “Curse;” I don’t mean that One For All is a literal curse, or that it was hexed by someone with some kind of “curse quirk.” I mean: it carries a lot “baggage” with it. For those who don’t know: “One For All” is the union of 2 quirks; a quirk with the power to access stockpiled power, and a quirk that passes on quirks. The story goes back all the way to when quirks first began to manifest.

There was a man who went only by the name of his quirk: “All For One.” All For One had the ability to steal and give quirks as he saw fit, and used this power to become the greatest crime lord in history. But he had a brother. Okay; still no name on the brother, but we do have a surname for All For One, which is also his brothers surname: “Shigaraki.” For the sake of this post: “Shigaraki” will be the brother, and we’ll just call Tomura Tomura. Shigaraki seemingly had no quirk, but still had a strong sense of justice. All For One, in an attempt to control his younger brother. It was the stockpile quirk.

But what no one, even Shigaraki himself knew; he had a quirk: the quirk to pass on quirks. And so he battled his evil older brother until he could no longer do so. And so he would pass on this quirk, making it stronger with each user until it finally reaches the main protagonist: Izuku Midoriya! Now that you have the backstory; on to why this quirk is cursed.

1) Explanations: At this point in the story; 80% of the world has a quirk. The unlucky 20% never get them. However; there have been some cases where a quirk manifests later in life. Take Tomura/Tenko for example; while others got quirks at 4, he didn’t get his until he was 6. And some people even debate that he got this quirk from All For One. Which we’ll talk more about later. Anyway; there are cases where the quirk comes later in life. So quirkless individuals have a better excuse. But now we know that, out of the 9 users of One For All; 6 of them had quirks. How did they explain this second quirk? People probably asked about when and where this second, powerful quirk came from. But did they have a potential explanation ready?

And even the 3 quirkless users kind of have to dance around explaining it in full detail. Take All Might: he constantly dodged the question when it came up. No one knows much about his personal life, so they wouldn’t know his parents quirks(or even if they had quirks). And Izuku;his parent both have quirks. But the one he has has nothing to do with either of them! And remember what the Doctor(COUGH COUGH*Ujiko*COUGH COUGH) said about quirks: “It would be one or the other’s, or a combination of the 2.” So Izuku, if he were to naturally have a quirk, would be either fire breath, levitating small objects, or some combination of the 2. But instead…….it’s a quirk that is incredibly powerful, but also breaks his body.

And everyone has taken note of that: “His body doesn’t match his quirk.” He’s managed to dance around it with everyone else, but perceptive individuals such as Shoto and Bakugo caught on. Bakugo more so than Todoroki because he’s known Izuku a lot longer. Shoto’s already asking questions, and it’s only a matter of time before he comes to the same conclusion as Bakugo. That scene may come very soon………

2) Involvement: I discussed this in one of the chapter reviews for the Liberations army arc, but I don’t think I gave all 3 points the same amount of depth as point 2. Speaking of; point #2 was about how One For All affects everyone around the successor. How they all get caught up in the century long battle. Take Nana’s predicament: because she possessed One For All; she gave up her son to a foster family. Not even to her own family. She gave up her son to save him, but…….that’s not how Kotaro saw it. Kotaro is her son, by the way.

He saw it as his mother giving him away to complete strangers so she could help more strangers. She didn’t give the full explanation for his safety, but that wouldn’t change anything. Kids are selfish individuals; “sharing is caring” doesn’t register in their heads until they hear an adult tell them to. He may not know the full story, but he does know that his mother “forsake him” for people she didn’t even know. Noble? Yeah……unless you’re in that situation. It’s easy to look at this act as “noble and correct,” but when you put yourself in Kotaro’s place; wouldn’t you be a little upset.

Especially with the way the name “hero” is in the series; it’s not something people with extraordinary powers do out of the kindess of their hearts. It’s a job. She gets paid to do this. People with jobs still have kids(Lock Rock is a good example). But without the full details; Kotaro feels “abandoned.” That’s the problem: the “Secret.” You could tell close friends and family you know won’t snitch about it. But then All For One would find them, and……..well; I’ll leave that to your imagination. Yet even with keeping the secret; Tenko still got wrapped up in this conflict. A “chain effect.”

Because Nana gave Kotaro away; he grew to despise heroes. And wouldn’t let Tenko become a hero. So when “Decay” manifested; his rage at his father caused him to commit murder. And because of that; he went homeless. No one came to save him from that abusive family, or from dying in a ditch somewhere. Except All For One. And because All For One was the only person to show Tenko any “kindness;” he became more and more like him. Until…….”Tomura Shigaraki” came to be. You can always say that All For One manipulated circumstances so that it would come to this, but……that still means that he had a vendetta against Nana, a user of One For All. And All Might for, you know: turning his face into a 4 year old’s knee cap.

And that brings us to 3) All For One: Everyone One For All user eventually comes into conflict with All For One in some way. But he wouldn’t have had to deal with that if he didn’t give his brother that quirk. Now look at him; a beat-to-sh!t old man without a face. So in away: the place he’s in now is his own fault. He created One For All(albeit by accident), and it got to All Might, who turned him into walking scar tissue. And if Horikoshi is really using Star Wars references; then you can also look at it in another way. A way that won’t come until much later, but is on its way.

If Izuku is Luke Skywalker and All Might Obi Wan Kenobi, that makes All For One Emperor Palpatine and Tomura Darth Vader. What happened to them all? Vader kills Obi Wan. And in the climactic final battle; he kills Palpatine. Ignore Rise of Skywalker for a minute. All For One did not really care about Tomura; you know he didn’t. He just wanted to f*ck with All Might and give Nana the finger(PAUSE). So if we go with this; Tomura will kill All For One in the future. He created One For All, which caused Nana to give up Kotaro, which lead Tomura into this. All For One sealed his own fate. I mean; look at all that’s happening.

Ujiko is giving Tomura power that “surpasses” All For One. If that’s the case; how will All For One stop him from destroying the world. Cause he definitely doesn’t want destruction; he wants to rule the world, if anything. But Tomura wants to destroy everything(both metaphorically, and likely literally). That brings them into conflict. And you know what Tomura will say when this day comes: “I already killed one father……..what’s one more?“

QUICK NOTE: Okay; this is a quick addition I made while I was on the toilet. I realize how much I’m saying this is “All For One’s fault,” which……it is. But I mean it like: the quirk to pass on quirks is a “gun.” All For One is the one that gave it “bullets.” And The users are the ones that pull the trigger. It’s just that the first 8 weren’t able to hit vital areas. So new guns are being used to end this conflict(Izuku and Tomura).

Ah……what else? Uh……how about 4)Personal Effects: “Personal effects” just refers to the effects on the user’s body. Look at All Might; he as we discussed in detail above, One For All brings the user in conflict with All For One. And that fight is where All Might got that hole in his stomach. And God knows what else is up with his body. If not for One For All; he’d probably lived to see 80 or so. But……..his times almost up. You know it, I know it; we all know it. The day Tomura comes for One For All; All Might will die. Again; “One For All baggage.” Even after passing on the quirk; he’s still caught up in this battle. Do I even need to specify it’s effects on Izuku? I believe chapters 4, 20, 39, and 76(episodes 3, 13, 23, and 42) are enough to show you.

Now that I’ve exposed the “curse;” how can it be broken? You could always not pass on the quirk, but I don’t think that’s where Horikoshi is going to take it. I actually have 2 ideas on where it’ll go once Izuku’s story is over. You know their names already, and we’ll discuss them some day. If this post gets a good reaction; maybe some day soon. But not here. Anyway; I definitely think that Izuku will continue to pass on the quirk. So that won’t happen.

Another way you could break it is to………..kill All For One and stomp out his whole organization. And before you say “Heroes aren’t allowed to kill!;” think about this: All For One’s……well; what’s left of his face. Why would All Might do that to someone…..unless he was trying to kill him. Because look at all he’s done: he killed Nana Shimura, All Might’s mentor. He created started this century old war between One For All and All For One. He’s manipulated people, and God knows what else he’s done. And then just how he manages to get under All Might’s skin the way he does. I can see it having been like this scene from the 2000 series Justice League.

In that series; Superman told Darkseid: “You and me are gonna fight. And we’re not gonna stop until you’re nothing but a stain on my fist.” It probably something like that, and towards the end, All Might pushed All For One’s battered body up against the wall and just punched him repeatedly until he became the All For One we know and loathe today. Gran Torino probably stopped him before he could deliver the killing blow, and that’s how AFO got away.

I already discussed a potential death scene for the man, so I won’t repeat myself any further. That said; that might be the only other way to stop this curse. But those are just my thoughts. I hope you all have enjoyed my post. I greatly appreciate your support. Until next time!