My Hero Academia chapter 431 review: Did Horikoshi's true final chapter fix the manga's ending?
While My Hero Academia manga ended a few months ago, Kohei Horikoshi's latest addition to its final volume, i.e., My Hero Academia chapter 431, has left fans with an updated ending to the series.
As revealed by the manga's previous ending, the story experiences a timeskip of eight years that sees Deku become a teacher at U.A. High School. While he was content with his role, he missed being a hero. That's when he was presented with the unique opportunity to continue being a hero despite being quirkless.
While the ending wasn't perfect, it was something fans had come to accept over time. Just then, the manga's final volume updated the series's ending in hopes of fixing it. So, did Horikoshi manage to rectify his errors with My Hero Academia chapter 431?
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the My Hero Academia manga and reflects the opinion of the author.
My Hero Academia chapter 431 review: Horikoshi's updated ending is good but not devoid of flaws
As fans must remember, the My Hero Academia manga previously ended with a timeskip that revealed Deku's fate eight years after the final battle against Shigaraki Tomura and All For One.
The ending was nowhere near perfect for fans, as it left them with questions surrounding the fates of several characters. On top of that, Horikoshi faced major criticism over how he left things open-ended between Deku and Ochako. Such developments saw the two characters become a laughingstock among fans online.
While Horikoshi confirmed Deku and Ochako's relationship with My Hero Academia chapter 431, several new elements in the story seemed senseless as they got in the way of what the manga had previously established.
For starters, the manga's chapter 429 established that Hawks was trying to lessen the burden on Pro Heroes, allowing them to have some time to kill. However, the latest chapter went against this as it depicted how Ochako, being completely devoted to her work, seemingly had no time for herself.
As for Deku, the manga's previous final chapter revealed how he, despite being a U.A. High School teacher, missed being a hero. However, the updated manga ending went in the opposite route. The protagonist was presented with the opportunity to become a full-time hero at Bakugo's agency. Nevertheless, he chose to continue as a teacher while doing part-time work as a hero.
Many fans were also concerned that Dabi and Himiko Toga weren't mentioned in the previous final chapter. While the updated manga ending confirmed Dabi's death during the timeskip, it treated Himiko Toga poorly.
Ochako was shown to have dreams about Toga. This led fans to believe that there was some deeper meaning behind the dreams. However, it was later revealed that Toga, despite having passed away, was merely being used as a plot device for Deku and Ochako's relationship.
That said, My Hero Academia chapter 431 isn't full of flaws, as there are some things that it did much better than the original ending. For starters, the updated ending confirmed that Bakugo got his All Might trading card signed. On top of that, the manga also depicted his growth, as his words were the ones that acted as a catalyst for Deku and Ochako's relationship.
In addition, the updated manga ending also depicted Shoto Todoroki's growth. After Toya's death, he no longer felt confined to just being a hero and was looking forward to doing the things he liked.
Besides the story, something noteworthy in My Hero Academia chapter 431 was the artwork. While fans always knew that Kohei Horikoshi was brilliant with his drawings, the illustrations in the updated final chapter went a step beyond. The updated character designs for the heroes looked amazing. With that, the manga also showcased the updated hero rankings of the characters after the eight-year timeskip.
Final thoughts on My Hero Academia chapter 431
Overall, the ending of My Hero Academia chapter 431 was really good. The main issue with it was that it wasn't released soon enough. Hence, just as fans had begun to accept the flaws of the previous ending, they were introduced to some new story elements. This effectively caused a rift within the fanbase itself.
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