My Hero Academia: How Horikoshi Prevented Tomura Shigaraki from Becoming the Next Obito from Naruto

With the publication of chapter 423 of My Hero Academia, readers witnessed the protagonist Izuku Midoriya emerge victorious against All For One and Shigaraki Tomura. Prior to this climactic moment, many fans speculated that manga author Kohei Horikoshi would follow the same plotline as Naruto, where the antagonist Obito Uchiha eventually changed sides and aided the protagonists in defeating a more powerful enemy.

Thankfully, although the My Hero Academia creator followed a similar story pattern, they ultimately chose to deviate from it and provide fans with an original ending.

Please note: This article includes spoilers from the My Hero Academia manga.

Preventing Shigaraki from Becoming the Next Obito Uchiha: How the Creator of My Hero Academia Changes the Narrative

As fans of Naruto are aware, Obito Uchiha initially served as an antagonist in the series. However, after becoming the Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki, Naruto was able to persuade him to abandon his destructive ways. With Naruto’s guidance, Obito joined forces with them to defeat the ultimate antagonist, who transitioned from Madara Uchiha to Kaguya Otsutsuki.

Fans expected to see a development similar to that of the Naruto Shippuden anime in My Hero Academia manga as they watched Izuku Midoriya attempt to connect with the young, tearful Tomura Shigaraki.

Obito Uchiha and Naruto as seen in Naruto Shippuden (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Fans’ suspicions were further heightened upon discovering that All For One was responsible for the anguish in Tenko Shimura’s (Tomura Shigaraki) life. It was All For One who bestowed him with the Decay quirk, leading to the destruction of his family, his adoption by a villain, and his transformation into Shigaraki Tomura.

Despite the significant development, Shigaraki ultimately chose to remain on the side of the villains and continue his pursuit of defeating All For One. This decision was a relief for fans, as it prevented Shigaraki from following a similar path as Obito Uchiha in the Naruto anime, thanks to the choices made by manga creator Kohei Horikoshi.

Deku and Shigaraki as seen in the manga (Image via Shueisha)

In the latest installments of My Hero Academia, Deku was aided by his fellow heroes in successfully striking All For One. As a result, the hero was able to transfer the entire One For All quirk to All For One, greatly weakening the villain. This proved to be a crucial defeat for All For One, as it resulted in the death of his brother Yoichi.

Just at that moment, the remnants of Shigaraki Tomura and the previous One For All users launched an attack on All For One’s presence within the inner world. This turn of events led to Deku and Shigaraki joining forces to deliver a powerful punch to All For One, ultimately defeating him.

During the course of their fight, Shigaraki and Deku’s fists coincidentally made contact. However, Shigaraki was unsuccessful in decaying Deku. The villain rationalized that he was unable to do so because, as Deku had noticed, he was just a weeping child.

Despite teaming up with Deku, Shigaraki did not switch sides and remained a villain until the end. His only motive for joining forces with Deku was to seek revenge against All For One, the person responsible for destroying his life.

This was confirmed by Shigaraki’s desire to convey to his friend Spinner that he was still a villain determined to destroy everything until the very end. He requested that Deku relay this message to Spinner, but even after Deku complied, Shigaraki remained unsatisfied. This was because, as a villain, Shigaraki had already caused as much destruction as he possibly could.

Therefore, Kohei Horikoshi successfully prevented Shigaraki Tomura from following in Obito’s footsteps. Despite this, Shigaraki remained steadfast in his beliefs and continued to be a villain until the very end.