The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Chapter 383, "Meek Spirits," by Kohei Horikoshi, translated by Caleb Cook available in English from Viz Media.
My Hero Academia returned after a very long break and fans finally got to witness the Final War saga move forward. In the last few chapters, the story focused quite a bit on allies joining the battle one after another as well as All For One returning to his prime state. In the previous chapter, the fight between All For One and Dark Shadow was focused on quite a bit. Towards the end of it, All For One seemed to be getting even stronger and that is precisely when Kirishima, Shinso, and Gigantomachia showed up.
The chapter ended on quite a big cliffhanger and then, unfortunately, the series went on a long break after that. Finally, My Hero Academia 383 dropped and fans were treated to a lot of incredible things in this chapter. Focus was thrown on the likes of Shinso, Kirishima, and Gigantomachia, however, it was Mina Ashido who ended up taking the spotlight in this week's chapter.
Gigantomachia Breaking Free
My Hero Academia 383 did not start where the last chapter left off. Instead, it gave fans a short flashback and, through that, a recollection of the events near the hideout where Gigantomachia was being kept. The PLF men found their way to the hideout and, since they were flying, they were unaffected by the softness Quirk guarding the hideout. Through their radio transmitter, they tried to project the voice of All For One to Gigantomachia, who possesses the Dog Quirk, as many fans know. Through this Quirk, he would easily pick up the voice of his master and then rush to his rescue. The situation looked very tense and even with the help of Mt. Lady, it appeared that defeat was on the cards for the Heroes.
In fact, Mt. Lady was assaulted by Gigantomachia, who ended up breaking free of his restraints following the voice clip of All For One being projected over the area. That is precisely where Kirishima revealed the trump card of the group. In the case that Gigantomachia broke free, they were to use Shinso and his Brainwashing ability to get him on their side. However, this was easier said than done as Shinso faced his own complications. Thanks to the Sludge Quirk that fans of My Hero Academia are very familiar with, having seen it in the very first few chapters, Shinso was now struggling to fight. This is precisely where Mina Ashido took things into her own hands.
Mina Ashido's Full Power
Ashido is one of the most intriguing female characters in the story and My Hero Academia 383 threw a great deal of focus on her character. She has always possessed incredible power, thanks to her Quirk called Acid. Previously, fans saw her use a special transformation called Acid Man, powerful enough to corrode nearly everything in her surroundings, however, she could not maintain this power or control it properly. Now that everyone she loved needed her the most, Mina Ashido channeled her full power after having trained with methods that Todoroki and Bakugo followed.
Fans saw Mina Ashido channel a great deal of power from her Quirk and burn through the hide of even someone as strong as Gigantomachia, saving Mt. Lady in the process. She then went on to rescue Shinso from his restraints and beat Sludge, who was holding him back. Kirishima, despite being powerful, seemed to be rather helpless and Ashido saved everyone, becoming the Hero in the process. While she certainly helped a great deal, she was exhausted following this incredible feat and what fans got to witness was a heartwarming moment between her and Kirishima, who exclaimed that she had always been his hero.
Shinso Saves The Day
Following being freed, My Hero Academia 383 sas Shinso using the Cloth Binding Technique that he mastered under the tutelage of Aizawa. He climbed upon Gigantomachia and immediately used the voice of All For One that he had managed to successfully copy over the course of months. Now, Gigantomachia was successfully brainwashed thanks to Shinso and the very first thing that the latter ordered him was to destroy all the PLF enemies in the air. Soon after, fans saw that the brainwashing was successful as Gigantomachia followed every single order of his.
From there onwards, the group then headed towards the main battlefield with Gigantomachia as their new ally. This then saw the events of the manga play from where chapter 382 left off with Gigantomachia attempting to attack All For One from one side and Dark Shadow from the other. The final page of the chapter saw a mammoth of a clash drawn on a double-page spread where All For One was holding off two monstrously powerful beasts on his own. Whether he will be able to hold them off or get overpowered is something that remains to be seen.
All in all, My Hero Academia delivered a very powerful emotional punch to the fans, pulling at their heart strengths with the growth of Mina Ashido and her relationship with Kirishima. It also gave her the much-needed spotlight that she deserves. One by one, every student of Class 1A is getting their moment to shine in the Final War and this trend will likely continue in the next chapters as well.