Tomura Shigaraki’s New, Final Form in My Hero Academia, Explained

It was as early as the USJ arc of My Hero Academia that Tomura Shigaraki was introduced as the main villain of the manga and anime series. Of course, as the storyline proceeded, this became even more apparent, especially after All For One chose Shigaraki as the new vessel of his power. Then, in the final arc of the manga, Shigaraki achieved a new form that turned him into an even more grotesque figure that had already passed the point of no return. So, what is Tomura Shigarakai’s new form in My Hero Academia?

Tomura Shigaraki’s new form forced his body to mutate to the point that it grew countless appendages with different fingers. The new mass of flesh eventually developed mouths of their own. Shigaraki notes that he achieved this form when his body mutated to accommodate all of his new quirks.

While Izuku Midoriya finally decided to save Shigaraki instead of killing him, it has become apparent that the villain had already reached a point where it could be impossible to bring him back from the dark. Of course, this could be seen in the fact that his mutation and appearance have already reflected his monstrous inner mindset. Now, let’s look at what we know about Shigaraki’s new form.

What Is Tomura Shigaraki’s New Form In The Manga?

It was early on in the storyline of My Hero Academia that we were able to learn that Tomura Shigaraki was the villain of the series, as this character brought an element of horror and monstrosity to the series. After all, he looked like a zombie that reflected his Decay quirk. On top of that, Shigaraki was covered in hands that were revealed to belong to his family members, who he accidentally killed when he awakened his quirk.

Shigaraki’s strength and troubled past made him an obvious choice for All For One, the villain of all villains to take advantage. He ended up taking Shigaraki in and even groomed him to become an even stronger villain. On top of that, All For One chose Tomura Shigaraki as his successor and as the new vessel of his powerful quirk called All For One.

In that regard, the manga is now in the final arc of the storyline, as All For One had already transferred his quirk and soul to Tomura Shigaraki, who now has the powerful All For One quirk, all while the master villain’s soul was taking advantage of the darkness within the young villain. Shigaraki, in the final arc, even proved to be so powerful that it took a lot of different heroes-in-training and pro heroes to fight him on par.

The secret weapon of the heroes, of course, was Shota Aizawa/Eraser Head, who has the ability to negate quirks as long as he keeps his eyes fixed on the target. Through his efforts, the group was able to negate all of Tomura Shigaraki’s quirks, which include Decay, which is still his most powerful weapon. But the problem was that, while Aizawa could negate quirks, he couldn’t erase them or totally get rid of mutations that are the result of quirks.

After Eraser Head neutralized Shigaraki’s quirks in chapter 360 of the My Hero Academia manga. However, this only led to the evolution of the villain, who became even more dangerous and grotesque than he already was. Shigaraki, as he was, was already quite horrifying because of his zombie-like appearance and decayed look. But the fact that he became even more horrifying made it clear that his original form pales in comparison to what he eventually became.

With the help of Neito Monoma’s copy quirk, both Eraser Head and the young hero tried their best to erase Shigaraki’s quirk. However, the villain began mutating as different appendages started sprouting out of him. This led to a horrifying creature with a lot of different fingers that came from the appendages. On top of that, the grotesque mass also started growing mouths, as it was clear that there was no longer anything natural about what had happened to Shigaraki and the overall transformation that he had accomplished. 

The thing is that the transformation isn’t simply something that could scare people because it actually served a purpose—to devour anything that came close to Shigaraki. So, while the Erasure quirk may have erased his abilities, the mutation allowed Shigaraki to fight back and still be a threat to the heroes who were trying to stop him. Even after the heroes were able to find relief in the fact that they negated his quirks, they still couldn’t get close to Tomura Shigaraki, who could still defend himself and fight back against anyone that wanted to come close.

In that regard, the My Hero Academia manga took a page right out of the Akira manga and anime, which are still works of art today. Akira is widely regarded as the manga that popularized the mutation theme, and that means that we cannot talk about Tomura Shigaraki’s transformation without giving props to Akira and the people behind it.

With all that said, Tomura Shigaraki has reached an entirely different level of monstrosity as his body is no longer human as far as its appearance is concerned. This means that the heroes have a lot of work cut out for them if they want to defeat this powerful villain.

How Did Tomura Shigaraki Achieve His New Form?

As mentioned, Tomura Shigaraki possessed a quirk called Decay, which allows him to force things to decay and die when he touches him (or makes indirect contact with them). But the fact that he became the successor of the All For One quirk, which was passed to him by All For One, was what triggered this transformation. Of course, we can’t forget about the fact that All For One’s soul is also hidden within Shigaraki.

When Tomura Shigaraki transformed and mutated, he said that his new form was the result of how his body was adjusting to the new quirks that he stole and acquired upon acquiring All For One. There’s also the fact that his body is also housing the grotesque soul of All For One. As such, when he transformed, this was the result of how he needed a new form that could reflect the different quirks that he had and the grotesque inner monster that was hiding under him.

This all leads to the possible conclusion that Tomura Shigaraki is no longer human due to the quirks he has in his body and because he was being controlled by All For One, who was preying on his inner darkness and past traumas. And we cannot forget about Akira when we talk about this transformation.

As mentioned, this was an obvious page taken right out of Akira. In Akira, Tetsuo mutated and transformed when his powers went out of control. This is the same case for Shigaraki, who became the monster that he eventually became when his body couldn’t handle all of the power and darkness that he had within him. As such, he had to grow new appendages and body parts to reflect the body that he needed to house all of the different quirks that he possessed.

At this point, it is tough to say if Tomura Shigaraki is still human, given the fact that he had already reached a level of monstrosity and horror that we have never seen in the My hero Academia storyline before. This makes it difficult for even Izuku Midoriya to fulfill his wish of bringing Shigaraki back from the darkness, as his internal and external monstrosity has reached levels that are beyond imagination. Nevertheless, if anyone could bring him back, it would be Deku himself.

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