Picking up on the powerful revelations and themes that the previous episode “Tenko Shimura: Origin” establishes, “Tomura Shigaraki: Origin” continues that chilling story in order to tell the grander narrative of the Symbol of Fear’s birth. This episode is a heartbreaking look into Shigaraki’s first steps as a villain that’s contrasted with his current destructive war against the Meta Liberation Army. In the previous episode, Re-Destro teases that Shigaraki was experiencing an awakening and “Tomura Shigaraki: Origin” brings it to fruition.
The 24th episode, titled ‘Tomura Shigaraki: Origin,’ begins by continuing with the story of Tomura’s childhood, when he was still known as Tenko Shimura. As his memories start to return to him, the adult Tomura remembers walking on the streets after killing his family and people recoiling from him. He wonders what would have happened if someone had reached out to him, be it a pro-hero or a civilian.
Ultimately, it’s All For One who extended his hand to Tenko and took him back to his headquarters. There, he convinced Tenko that his ability was not a bad thing. The supervillain told the young boy that the latter had to use his power because his urge to destroy things was much stronger than him. If he didn’t let it out, it would continue to overflow his body and show up as an itch. Following his suggestion, Tenko killed two delinquents who had tormented him when he was living on the street. Later, All For One gave him the hands of his latest victims as gifts to celebrate his rebirth. When Tenko appeared before his mentor wearing all the hands, the latter gave him a new name, Tomura Shigaraki. With Shigaraki being his own family name, All For One effectively makes the young boy his successor.
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In the present, Tomura has finally remembered everything. He killed his father because he wanted to, and the deaths of his mother and the others made his heart lighter. It was destruction for destruction’s sake. He tells Re-Destro, for whom future and destiny of blood are arguably the two most important things, that future is immaterial as he takes his father’s hand off his face and destroys it. While those hands always made him sick, they brought him a sense of calmness. Now, for the first time, he feels that he doesn’t need them. Meanwhile, Gigantomachia rushes toward Tomura while shouting, “Master’s successor.”
The end of all of this desolation is actually somewhat anticlimactic. Even though Re-Destro is completely overpowered, his submission to Shigaraki feels slightly sudden. Shigaraki’s accomplishment still resonates due to the crucial context regarding his past that’s provided, but the balance here is skewed and “Tomura Shigaraki: Origin” would benefit from slightly more time spent in the present before Re-Destro admits defeat. It’s still a satisfying conclusion to this lengthy arc, but it’s just a little surprising how brief the actual battle between Shigaraki and Re-Destro is in a series that’s so preoccupied with combat.
This clash of Quirks and values doesn’t result in more lost lives, but it instead culminates in the birth of the Paranormal Liberation Front, a supergroup of villains that’s formed from the ashes of these two antagonistic organizations. Past alliances between enemies have occurred, but the Paranormal Liberation Front feels unique because they very consciously choose a name for their group which disposes of the restrictive label of “villain.”
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