Horikoshi suffers from Toriyama Syndrome — the inability to NOT up the stakes.
Raising the stakes in MHA doesn’t make sense either.
Most of Izuku’s extra quirks could be compressed into basic strengthening.
The rest could be done via support gear.
Hey, remember that time we thought Izuku only inherited a powerful strengthening quirk? Pepperidge Farm remembers. It was a simple, linear deal of him slowly figuring out all the different ways he could use his newfound power without breaking his body in the process (more than he already had) — and things were good enough. And then, in a plot twist fished straight out of a fresh cow pile, he’s got Blackwhip — and everything went completely sideways.
Toriyama Syndrome
Akira Toriyama, the author of Dragon Ball, has a problem. Once he had introduced us to “the strongest being in the Universe”, he HAS to go one step beyond in the following arc. Frieza was followed by Androids (somehow modified out of regular, weak humans by a scientist in a lab), followed by Cell, then Buu, and then the entirety of Super. This made us long since stop caring about powerlevels in Dragon Ball, because those numbers were already meaningless mid-Cell Saga.
Well, Horikoshi has a similar issue.
At the very beginning of the story, we were introduced to All Might — the Symbol of Peace, and the strongest superhero in the world. Despite being long past his prime, he’s able to change weather with a single punch, and overwhelm a tank of a bioweapon designed specifically to counter him. He’s the man who defeated All for One six years ago — and All Might had even proven that it wasn’t a fluke during their fight in Kamino, when he defeated All for One again, with the last few embers of his former power.
The power that he had transferred to Izuku at the beginning of the series.
And Izuku was not set to be half as strong as All Might in his prime — not even AS strong. Due to One for All being a transferable stockpile quirk, Izuku was guaranteed to be stronger than the previous strongest superhero in the world. So here’s the question — what did Izuku even need six additional powers for?
Six additional powers
First of all, Izuku’s assortment of extra powers lacks cohesive thought put behind it. Smokescreen, kinetic energy manipulation, control of acceleration and velocity, danger sense, grappling tendrils and flying. Out of them, two are obviously just included so our main character could be a Spider-Man we have at home (Blackwhip and danger sense). Acceleration/velocity control and kinetic energy manipulation could be compressed into the basic One for All strengthening. The ability to fly makes Blackwhip almost redundant, and how does smokescreen ever thematically tie in with the rest of it?
Second of all… How is ANY of this justified from the “we need to defeat All for One” standpoint? All these extra quirks do is give Izuku extra mobility, stealth and punching power — things he should’ve already excelled far beyond what AfO could ever counter thanks to One for One’s generational strengthening!
And third of all… This just breaks the story. Izuku was already set to be the strongest in the world. All this extra power does is make our green-haired boy EXTRA special through the power of lucking out not one, but seven times in a row. Horikoshi wanted to give Izuku extra options? He should’ve given him support gear. That was always an option.
Do you like the inclusion of Deku’s extra quirks in the story?
Deku, how come Horikoshi lets you have 7 quirks?
Summary:
Horikoshi suffers from Toriyama Syndrome — the inability to NOT up the stakes.
Raising the stakes in MHA doesn’t make sense either.
Most of Izuku’s extra quirks could be compressed into basic strengthening.
The rest could be done via support gear.
Hey, remember that time we thought Izuku only inherited a powerful strengthening quirk? Pepperidge Farm remembers. It was a simple, linear deal of him slowly figuring out all the different ways he could use his newfound power without breaking his body in the process (more than he already had) — and things were good enough. And then, in a plot twist fished straight out of a fresh cow pile, he’s got Blackwhip — and everything went completely sideways.
Toriyama Syndrome
Akira Toriyama, the author of Dragon Ball, has a problem. Once he had introduced us to “the strongest being in the Universe”, he HAS to go one step beyond in the following arc. Frieza was followed by Androids (somehow modified out of regular, weak humans by a scientist in a lab), followed by Cell, then Buu, and then the entirety of Super. This made us long since stop caring about powerlevels in Dragon Ball, because those numbers were already meaningless mid-Cell Saga.
Well, Horikoshi has a similar issue.
At the very beginning of the story, we were introduced to All Might — the Symbol of Peace, and the strongest superhero in the world. Despite being long past his prime, he’s able to change weather with a single punch, and overwhelm a tank of a bioweapon designed specifically to counter him. He’s the man who defeated All for One six years ago — and All Might had even proven that it wasn’t a fluke during their fight in Kamino, when he defeated All for One again, with the last few embers of his former power.
The power that he had transferred to Izuku at the beginning of the series.
And Izuku was not set to be half as strong as All Might in his prime — not even AS strong. Due to One for All being a transferable stockpile quirk, Izuku was guaranteed to be stronger than the previous strongest superhero in the world. So here’s the question — what did Izuku even need six additional powers for?
Six additional powers
First of all, Izuku’s assortment of extra powers lacks cohesive thought put behind it. Smokescreen, kinetic energy manipulation, control of acceleration and velocity, danger sense, grappling tendrils and flying. Out of them, two are obviously just included so our main character could be a Spider-Man we have at home (Blackwhip and danger sense). Acceleration/velocity control and kinetic energy manipulation could be compressed into the basic One for All strengthening. The ability to fly makes Blackwhip almost redundant, and how does smokescreen ever thematically tie in with the rest of it?
Second of all… How is ANY of this justified from the “we need to defeat All for One” standpoint? All these extra quirks do is give Izuku extra mobility, stealth and punching power — things he should’ve already excelled far beyond what AfO could ever counter thanks to One for One’s generational strengthening!
And third of all… This just breaks the story. Izuku was already set to be the strongest in the world. All this extra power does is make our green-haired boy EXTRA special through the power of lucking out not one, but seven times in a row. Horikoshi wanted to give Izuku extra options? He should’ve given him support gear. That was always an option.
Do you like the inclusion of Deku’s extra quirks in the story?
