With the anime’s seventh season underway, My Hero Academia is in one of its most exciting periods ever. The anime is ramping up to begin the series’ biggest confrontation between its heroes and villains, while the manga is delving into the exciting conclusion of a battle that has been literal years in the making. Chapter 422 features one of the manga's most exciting battles yet, along with tentative confirmation that the heroes will be victorious in the ongoing war.
My Hero Academia Chapter 422, “Izuku Midoriya Rising”, for the most part, feels like a bit like filler. Apart from confirming some long held theories and acknowledging the premiere of Season 7, very little else of substance occurs. That’s not to insinuate that Chapter 422 is boring in any way. The battle to defeat All For One is reaching its thrilling climax, with Horikoshi Kohei once again flexing his ability to draw incredibly detailed and cohesive battle sequences. The chapter stumbles at points, but its highlights include a poignant observation by All For One himself, which hints at factors that herald his impending defeat.
Class 1-A & the Pro Heroes Have to End the Final War, for Better or Worse
There’s No Turning Back for the Heroes Anymore
Until now, almost every phase of My Hero Academia’s war had contingencies of some sort for the heroes. Every single battle has been essential to defeating All For One, but the stakes were always held back. No matter how dangerous things were, readers and fans alike were made aware of the heroes' escape plans, fail-safes or reserves waiting in the wings to offer assistance when the heroes most needed it. Chapter 422 figuratively takes the training wheels off Class 1-A, as this fight was transformed into one with the potential to cost them their lives.
The very first page of "Izuku Midoriya Rising" shows Kurogiri collapsing, signifying that the controversial Nomu’s Warp Gates will no longer be a tool the heroes can rely on. Not only does his "retirement" limit the heroes' maneuverability against All For One, but it also traps them on their current battlefield with a supervillain who only seems to be getting stronger. Should the battle go south, almost none of the heroes present will be able to escape All For One’s wrath, and reinforcements will no longer be able to arrive as quickly as they did for Deku.
Class 1-A also proves that they are more than qualified to take on this challenge. Their strategy shifted from taking on All For One themselves to clearing a path for Deku to deliver the final blow/s with the embers of One For All. The battle panels in Chapter 422 are bittersweet, as they show Class 1-A using their Quirks to the best of their ability and in more impressive ways than ever. On the other hand, their relative youth contrasts with the presence of seasoned Pro Heroes on the battlefield, reminding the audience that for all their strength and apparent maturity, these are still high school-aged children being forced into battle by All For One’s insatiable desire for world domination.
My Hero Academia Chapter 422 References Season 7 & Canonizes the Theatrical Movies
My Hero Academia Chapter 422 Spotlights the Franchise’s Anime-Only Material
In Chapter 422 "Izuku Midoriya Rising", Horikoshi references My Hero Academia's ongoing Season 7 several times. The most obvious Easter Eggs are the chapter’s parallels to the anime's electric new opening, “Tatagame”, performed by TK from Ling Tosite Sigure. The new opening’s climactic scene features a montage of Class 1-A clearing a path for Deku. Since Horikoshi often slips key future details to the anime directors at Studio BONES, it’s likely that Chapter 422's similarities to the first Season 7 opening are intentional.
“Izuku Midoriya: Rising” also features the return of Star and Stripe’s "brothers," the pilots who escorted America’s Number One Hero when she confronted an empowered Tomura Shigaraki. They were shown returning to All Might’s position to rescue him, but that’s not all. The American president, who initially refused Star and Stripe’s request to send heroes to Japan, returned in a throwaway panel to order that all available heroes be deployed to aid the situation in Japan at once. It’s unlikely that these reinforcements will arrive before the fight is over, but it’s a small comfort to know that Class 1-A and the other heroes haven’t been abandoned.
In less subtle fashion, Chapter 422 finally confirms that the My Hero Academia theatrical movies are canon to the series' main story line. After coyly avoiding the outright inclusion of movie-original characters in the manga for years, “Izuku Midoriya: Rising” features four of them. Specifically, Melissa Shield from Two Heroes, Katsuma and Mahoro Shimano from Heroes Rising and finally, Rody Soul from World Heroes Mission all show up for a panel or two. Their integration is yet more proof that My Hero Academia is deep into its endgame, as it might be too late in the plot for their throwaway appearances to inadvertently create any plot holes.
All For One Realized What Made Izuku Midoriya So Dangerous to Him
Even Without the Power of One for All, Deku Is Still All For One’s Greatest Threat
In its final few pages, "Izuku Midoriya: Rising" highlights that All For One is finally beginning to understand the dynamics of Deku’s influence. As he studied the crowd of heroes simultaneously swarming him while clearing a path for Deku, his fixation on All Might gave way just enough for All For One to begin observing Deku as his own person, separate from One For All. In itself, this thought process along with its acknowledgment of Deku is proof that All For One’s consciousness might still be diluted with remnants of Shigaraki’s. Until now, no hero usurped All Might’s place of dishonor in his mind.
Inwardly, the villain described Deku’s shortcomings as a quality that All Might lacked. All For One no longer sees Deku’s pitiful struggles and determination as a weakness deserving of mockery. Instead, he now regards it as a contagion of resistance that must be stamped out. In the world he wishes to create where the strength of one’s Quirk determines their place in society, Deku’s existence and personality would forever threaten to overturn the villain's desired future status quo.
All For One realized that it is precisely Deku’s weakness that inspires the crowd of heroes and citizens to rise up against him. Watching Deku struggle isn’t spreading the narrative of hopelessness to the world that he wished it would, so All For One changed his objective for Deku. Currently, the villain means to martyr Deku, hoping that his death might be what finally crushes the incessant uprisings he’s suffered since My Hero Academia’s final war began. Unfortunately, this epiphany might have arrived too late for him. With how fiercely and well-coordinated the heroes are fighting, his chances of victory grow slimmer with each consecutive chapter.
My Hero Academia Chapter 422: Izuzku Midoriya Rising is now available to read in English on VIZ.com.
