Warning! Spoilers for My Hero Academia chapter 329 ahead!
Ever since its inception, the entirety of My Hero Academia's main series has transpired in Japan, leaving all of the international coverage for the spin-off films to handle, but the manga just hinted that All For One's true vision will likely bring readers beyond Japan's shores.
This surprising shift is now just the latest of a series of changes to a system that mangaka Kohei Horikoshi originally established as a tenable status quo, which he seemed unwilling to break until My Hero Academia began approaching its final arc. First, mangaka Horikoshi thrust Deku beyond the walls of U.A. High, where the bulk of the series had taken place until that moment. Then, he teased the arrival of overseas reinforcements, a first for the main continuity. And now, as Star and Stripe heralds this monumental shift, All For One just dropped another bombshell to longstanding precedent: He's planning on spreading chaos across the globe.
In chapter 329 of My Hero Academia, All For One reveals that obtaining One For All was never his endgame. It was always an important goal, but it just served as one step in a much larger operation. Apparently, the villain has friends around the world who he hopes will begin stirring up trouble as he grapples with dominating Japan. Interestingly, a group of top officials introduced in the previous chapter who appear to control the actions of heroes on an international level (and could possibly be affiliated with the U.N.) are reluctant to send heroes to Japan as this could cause chaos back in their own countries. Their worries are well-founded it seems, especially as All For One recently divulged that no other hero has been able to achieve what All Might has in Japan by single-handedly crushing all organized crime. And as America's top hero Star and Stripe lands on Japanese soil, hopefully readers will start witnessing the chaos unfold in the U.S. on account of her absence.
This would be a welcome development, and not just because it brings more unprecedented turns of events to a series that has, by and large, never strayed from its tried and true formula. It's because the series recently expelled a darkness that had descended on the world of My Hero Academia as though nothing negative ever happened, erasing all possibilities of any consequences transpiring. Witnessing countries that are not as far developed as Japan fall into despair would help instill a dynamic that's now very much absent in an otherwise compelling series.
As My Hero Academia comes to a close, fans are lucky that mangaka Kohei Horikoshi is presenting them with the opportunity to experience more of the captivating world he created that has, for the most part, stayed laser-focused in one area. Of course, it would have been more effective if Kohei Horikoshi began expanding his self-imposed boundaries earlier and not all at once as he is now. Doing so just creates the impression that he's trying to cram as much new stuff as possible into his story before it ends. Yes, these additional variables have appeared in various spin-offs as previously mentioned, but Kohei Horikoshi could have sprinkled them throughout his main continuity, which should be treated as the only storyline even if it isn't. Regardless, these changes coming to the My Hero Academia manga as a result of All For One's maniacal and diabolical plot are welcome, even though they are abrupt and create a rather relentless firehose effect.