The Symbol of Peace

(I’m going to try to keep the amount of spoilers in this post to a minimum, but I probably won’t succeed.)

If there is one truth that I feel is consistent through out My Hero Academia’s run so far (and I hope it keeps going), it’s the fact that choosing a favorite character in this series is difficult. MHA is filled with a cast of brilliantly written characters that each have their strengths and their flaws. No, this isn’t just class 1-A because there aref good adult heroes, 1-B is showing some promise, and even the villains are interesting. You can call My Hero Academia some sort of ink blot test in which your favorite character can tell you so much about yourself. I’m sure there have been plenty o people who have made them online. Based on this post’s name, would you be surprised if I said my favorite character was All Might? As much as I love Deku and his friend’s journeys and exploration in this world and Eraser Head, All Might was the character that sold me on the show in the first place. Toshinori Yagi is too good, guys.

What is appealing about All Might you might ask. Well, because for a symbol of peace that represents the peak of hero culture, he’s such a great guy. He’s not just a big muscle headed bro. The guy only pumps into that muscle form to go into action mode. Also, he’s incredibly chunnibyou and moe at the same time too. The way that All Might came into Deku’s classroom during 1-A’s lunch time and seeing if he wants to eat with him is the most moe thing that he’s ever done. You know what? He keeps doing things like that through out the show and it’s just so good. Let’s also talk about how he isn’t a good teacher to Deku either because he had to send his student to some one else. All Might has flaws and a personality before he muscles up and takes on the villains of this world and it makes All Might so relatable and wonderful.

Talking about All Might as a hero, this is where we discuss even more of his flaws. Ever since his encounter with All for One six years ago, All Might received a wound that has slowly been lessening his power over time. At some point, All Might could only pump himself up at three hours at a time and it only gets worse during the series. Despite that, All Might still goes out of his way of saving civilians on the way to his teaching job early in the morning. By doing this, he is wasting precious moments of his power to save other people throughout the day. That along with his lines to Deku about him saving all the people that he could in front of him are incredibly powerful. Do I need to spell out how much I love All Might anymore? Toshinori is a perfect character without being perfect. He is the best Superman like character, besides some alternate versions of Superman like the DCA Superman and some other comic versions, that we can ask for.

So we talked about All Might the person and All Might the hero. Let’s talk about All Might the symbol. From all of All Might’s heroic deeds, his seemingly endless strength, and his smile, All Might truly captured the heart of the quirky community as a whole in a large variety of ways. Toshinori is a beacon that casts light and shadows. There are heroes and villains that are influenced by him in positive and negative ways. Some people are like Endeavour who are so jealous with All Might’s strength that they are playing the bad genetics game to create fantastic characters like Todoroki. Stain is worth talking about too because all he sees are the dark shadows casted by All Might. Even if the world of My Hero Academia is solely focused on All Might in so many complicated ways. He isn’t just a symbol of peace, but he is also a symbol of this show too. A muscular character that looks strong but has so many more weaknesses then can count on doing there. How does such a perfect character exist.

Looking into the Future with All Might being in the state that he has been in since his encounter with All for One is going to be interesting. The balance of My Hero Academia’s world was changed with so many members of the populous even knowing about it. I am pretty excited and worried to see how things go on from here. While the villain structure is in shambles and the ultimate evil has been thrown in jail, there are so many layers to this world’s structure that are slowly going to crumble. Episode 11 0f season three might have been All Might’s last hoorah and the populous doesn’t know that yet. That being said, I love All Might. I look forward to how he can teach Deku about not being wreckless in the future and possibly seeing how he can still move the world forward a little bit at a time. I hope he stays around forever in whatever form the show can present him.

Happy Fourth of July everyone. Hope you all have a great day.