Warning! Contains major spoilers for My Hero Academia Chapter 362!
The manga My Hero Academia has a main character who holds some very destructive views, and now the series is finally showing the consequences of his philosophy. This is coming a bit late, as Deku has not needed to rely on this philosophy in some time. And what makes it worse is that the character suffering these consequences isn't even Deku himself.
Deku us a unique character in My Hero Academia whose philosophy and approach to using his powers is very unique. Initially born without a superpower, or quirk, Deku eventually met the hero All Might who was able to pass down his extremely powerful quirk to Deku. All Might then took him on as a protege, a potentially ironic twist of fate given that his enemy All For One might have caused Deku's quirklessness. Still unused to his powers, Deku would often push them too far, breaking parts of his body in the process. While he did receive some scars and was repeatedly warned that this technique could eventually cause him permanent damage, he never really suffered any lasting consequences from doing this. But now, another hero is suffering these consequences instead.
In Chapter 362, the fan-favorite hero Bakugo reenters the battle against the insanely powerful Shigaraki. He has already pushed himself to his limits and suffered grievous injuries, but this doesn’t stop him. As he fights, he wonders to himself if this is how Deku felt when he consistently pushed his body to its breaking point. As Deku’s main rival over the course of the series, this is a very touching moment that shows how their relationship has pushed Bakugo to grow as a hero. Unfortunately, overusing a powerful new attack causes his explosive power to turn against his body, which culminates in his heart exploding, seemingly killing him.
Bakugo's death here shows the dark consequences of Deku's actions. Yes, seeing him push himself past his limits was inspiring, as it showed his incredible resolve. But in taking this course of action, he inspired other heroes to follow in his footsteps, disregarding their own well-being just like him. And while Deku may have plot armor that prevents him from suffering any serious damage for too long, other characters are not so lucky. So Deku is propagating a philosophy that is causing his fellow heroes to likely die in battle against powerful enemies, weakening hero society as a whole.
Of course, Bakugo may not actually be dead, as in many of the American superhero comics that series author Kohei Horikoshi is a fan of, death often is not permanent. And manga itself is no stranger to resurrecting seemingly dead characters either. But even if Bakugo himself isn't dead, this battle still shows how dangerous Deku's philosophy is and how it can push My Hero Academia's heroes to inadvertently kill themselves for their ideals.
My Hero Academia Chapter 362 will release on August 7th on the Shonen Jump app.