Boku no Hero Academia – Shie Hassakai: The Fall of a Great Villain Faction

WHOO WHEE! What an ending for a gritty arc! This is the first arc in Boku no Hero Academia that actually shows death on screen. Every faction have taken a hit. The faction of heroes. League of Villains. Even the newcomer Yakuza faction Shie Hassaikai as well. However, out of the three, the Shie Hassaikai is the only one that suffered a complete defeat.

Shie Hassaikai. The main villain faction of the Yakuza Arc.

There has been many regrets and thoughts on how things could have been better; specifically for Lemillion and Nighteye. But I have to say it. The biggest regret goes to the Shie Hassakai. WHAT. A. SHAME. Shie Hassaikai is such a brilliant villain faction and had great potential as a multi arc villain faction. But Horikoshi had other plans and ended the faction in one arc.

Whoosh. Just like that.

It is after the Kamino incident. All For One is captured and confined in Tartarus. All Might, now incapable to use his One For All quirk, is forced to retire from hero work. A large power vacuum in the villain world and the over bearing Symbol of Peace missing. The villain factions will be invigorated to expand, conquer and go wild. And Chisaki, current head of the Shie Hassakai came out of the underworld to make his move. However, in the same arc he debuted in, everything that he built up; his plan, his assets, the Teppōdama Hassaishū or The Eight Bullets, even his body; is wiped out at the end of the arc.

He lost everything.

Shie Hassakai would have heralded an uneasy era of a chaotic society. It will set a serious tone for the manga and raise the tension among the readers. Atlas, Horikoshi had other plans and nipped the great potential in the bud. Again, what a shame. Despite starting strong, Shie Hassakai eventually gets cornered during their folly and when the push came to shove, they fell short. Like a marathon runner starting off in a strong stride only to stumble and fall, leading to a broken leg which ultimately put the runner out of the race.

Horikoshi orchestrated Shie Hassakai’s fall, at the hands of the main character, Deku.

Now, enough with the lamenting. Why do I feel this way? The core of my complaint is the injustice done to Chisaki who held so much potential. He is a powerful character that really outshines Shigaraki and his League of Villains. My first impression of Chisaki was 'Whoa.' He is cold, merciless and very convinced that the current society is sick, disgusting, and in need of fixing.

Yes, when compared with Shigaraki, there are notable similarities. Though one is still better than the other.

While sharing similar views to Shigaraki, Chisaki has an edge over the League of Villains leader. Shigaraki has only childish tendencies, prone to tantrums and has just recently decided to put his mission in a better focus. Chisaki on the other hand has already gone past Shigaraki in terms of character maturity, taking on the challenge to filling the underworld power vacuum left behind by All For One. He has plotted out his plan and laid the foundation and assets to carry it out. Perspective, assets, planning, and leadership. He is superior to Shigaraki in every aspect.

Given a chance, I can see him standing at the top of the underworld like All For One.

I was thoroughly impressed with Chisaki. All this time, I saw Shigaraki as a petty child thug. An annoying pest. Then comes along the head of a yakuza group, strutting his stuff and showing Shigaraki how villainy is supposed to be done. So intimidating! I was hopeful to see Boku no Hero Academia stepping up its game and finally introducing a villain faction that will battle the heroes across many arcs. At last, the League of Villains can get a break to reorganize, buff up and be a stronger, more viable threat down the line. A multipronged war between multiple villain factions with the heroes trapped in the middle! … Then Horikoshi proceeds to shit on the Shie Hassakai and knock Chisaki out in one arc.

Are you serious?! Damn it..

Horikoshi, being the genius that he is, drew the story of this arc masterfully. And masterfully ending the Shie Hassakai as well. So I’m going to attempt to analyze the faction’s downfall and point out some actions Chisaki could have taken to escape his fate of being axed by his creator. And why not, I’ll try to plot the Shie Hassakai’s potential future. Show my perspective on how much has been lost.

Yes. For this post, let’s side with the villains.

Let’s start with how Chisaki and Midoriya met. Eri escaped from Chisaki’s watch and ran into Midoriya’s arms. The man Midoriya and Lemillion is told to watch out for is standing before them. Right, how did Eri escape Chisaki’s watch? She is the core of Chisaki’s plan and the little girl managed to escape from Shie Hassakai? Her caretaker may be careless but Eri was kept in the underground base under a yakuza den. How’d she get through all that? Well, I did much thinking on it and figured that she must have escaped while she is being moved outside. Shie Hassakai has many bases scattered across Japan. Chisaki has an ambitious plan to take over the underworld, so it make sense for him to occasionally move between bases for the sake of reach and safety. And the time where security is the weakest is during the time Shie Hassakai moves between bases. So, Eri’s escape is much more plausible with this consideration. Chisaki’s mistake is to let a careless minion take care of Eri instead of having a member of the Shie Hassakai who is much more loyal to take on that role.

Like this turd. Not only is he zealously loyal towards Chisaki, his quirk can break Eri’s will to escape.

The next thing to focus on is Chisaki’s interaction with the League of Villains. I have no problem with Chisaki’s first horrible meeting with them. Both sides are despicable criminals with a volatile sense of pride. A toxic bout with lost lives and limbs is to be expected. I’m more focused on why both factions interacted at all. Is it even needed? Chisaki said that he wanted to use the League of Villains’ name to expand his influence across the underworld, yet he is sitting on a greater source of influence already. Shie Hassakai may have deteriorated to a small faction but that does not mean their name won’t hold any weight. They are still universally recognized for a small faction and they didn’t even consider the easiest route. Why didn’t Chisaki use the universal influencer that is money to spread the name of Shie Hassakai? He may be short on cash, but hiring some PR does not cost a lot. Heck, he could just meet up with a villain broker like Giran who is capable of speed tracking Shie Hassakai to infamy.

Without Giran, League of Villains would still be a two man team. Behind bars.

But let’s imagine Chisaki in a situation where he could not hire a criminal broker. His grand plan involving the quirk destroying bullet will still be an insanely attractive sales pitch to anyone in the villain business. Removing a hero’s quirk, even for a day, is revolutionary. It turns the tables on the heroes, for they are now facing villains without their quirks. All it takes is a few seconds to take down a quirkless hero. With Chisaki’s quirk destroying bullets, no villain will fear heroes again. If Chisaki managed to generate an economy of destroying and restoring quirks, he would no doubt deserve All For One’s seat as king of the underworld.

That thought is spine chilling. Good thing Horikoshi shut him down, right?

But let’s not delve in the possibilities. Yet. Moving on to the climax of the arc; the police raid on the Yakuza residence. This is where Horikoshi assured Chisaki’s downfall. Shie Hassakai is backed into a corner. Rikiya Katsukame of The Eight Bullets engaged the police and the heroes stormed the house. The heroes will traverse the underground corridors where the rest of The Eight Bullets lie in wait. As for Chisaki, he retreated with Chrono and Eri deeper into the underground base to make a speedy esca-

… Wha… What the hell are you doing?!

Look at the gall of this guy. The police and heroes are hot on his heels. The Eight Bullets are risking everything to stop them from reaching him. And what does Chisaki do? Walk. Walk as if the dire situation isn’t urgent enough. His grand plan of reviving the Shie Hassakai is under threat. But that doesn’t seem to motivate him into putting more effort in his escape. Heck, if he had an underground base under the yakuza residence, then something convenient, like a FREAKING getaway vehicle, would be a godsend for his escape. Even if Lemillion caught up to Chisaki’s vehicle, Deku and Nighteye would have been so far behind that by the time they caught up, Lemillion would have died by Chisaki’s hand.

It is a race against time. Chisaki would have more time to finish Lemillion off and escape had he made some effort to put some distance. And with the extra time, Deku would not have made it.

The Eight Bullets were created as sacrificial pawns to engage the police and heroes and buy some time for his escape. ‘Buy some time for his escape’. A huge waste of valuable manpower. Many of them have a strong sense of loyalty to Chisaki as they were picked up by him when society has thrown them out. All their effort and good will. Wasted, because Chisaki did not put any urgency in his escape. It’s strange isn’t it? With his plans and aspirations at stake and his cool, calculative character; I could only see Chisaki’s lax retreat as a conflict to Chisaki’s character and a direct intervention by Horikoshi to ensure the downfall of the Shie Hassakai.

As well as to prop up these lame thugs.

AaaAAh… A waste of a good character. An unfortunate chain of events that led to a rising faction to its early demise. So what potential could Chisaki bring to Boku no Hero Academia? Horikoshi have already framed Chisaki’s downfall, so it is hard for me to show Chisaki’s potential without ‘breaking out of the mold’. So I will try my best to avoid making any drastic changes and start from there. Let’s reaffirm what Chisaki is first. Chisaki is a villain whose purpose is to revive the Yakuza to its former glory. He sees quirks as a disease of the society and want to use its eradication as foundation for the Shie Hassakai’s revival. With that in mind, let get into it!

Let’s set the stage!

It is near the end of the police raid on the Yakuza residence. Deku has knocked out Chisaki with his finisher at 100%. Eri’s quirk has gone berserk and Deku is caught in her power. Chisaki, who is knocked out, experiences a flashback from when he was young. He got in a fight with someone after they called the yakuza villains. The boss reprimanded Chisaki but thanked him for protecting the yakuza’s honor. This spurred Chisaki to act once more.

Once more, to revive the yakuza.

In a flash, Chisaki used Overhaul on himself, repairing his injuries as well as Rikiya’s. Fully revive with one minion on his side, Chisaki said to Rikiya, “Your last mission, destroy that girl.” Rikiya, knowing the meaning behind the order roars out with renewed vigor and charges at Eri and Deku. The other heroes come into the scene to confront Rikiya once more. Amidst of the battle, Deku looks in Chisaki’s direction, expecting an incoming attack. Chisaki slams his hands on the ground. Boom. Rubble erupts around him, flying everywhere. The heroes knock away the incoming rubble and take down Rikiya in an overwhelming joint attack. They turn their attention to Chisaki, but as the dust settles… Chisaki is gone.

Safe!!!

The best outcome for Chisaki and the heroes. Chisaki gets away and Eri is safe, away from that monster. No assets, no minions, no plan. The only thing left to Chisaki is himself. He alone made it, safe and sound. As he walks away into the darkness, his rage boils over as he plots his revenge on the heroes. He is still free. Along with him, his Overhaul quirk and the knowledge of his research in developing the quirk destroying bullets. The bare minimum to continue his next plan.

Oh, and the quirk destroying bullets, let those punks have it.

From this point on, the potential of the Shie Hassakai with Chisaki alone will flourish once more. A second bloom if you will. If we follow along the story of Boku no Hero Academia, Chisaki will be absent from future arcs. He needs time to rebuild after all. And when it’s his turn on the stage, it will be a huge shocker.

So, let’s gather what he learned from his encounter with the heroes. After witnessing Lemillion’s unstoppable fighting spirit despite losing his quirk, Chisaki will learn that destroying the heroes’ quirks will not eliminate them once and for all. Heroes would still have their will to fight even if their quirk is taken away. So he comes to a conclusion. The only way to break their will is to gradually chip it away. Like a disease eating away their life force. Chisaki would then pursue his research in quirks to turn them into what he view them all along; a disease. He would cripple the quirk society with his cure in the form of a disease. How would he do it?

Naturally, he would turn to quirks once more.

If he can’t take away quirks without Eri’s cells, he could try to add quirks. The knowledge from his research can be used directly without much tweaking. The research focused on preserving the quirk factor outside of the host’s body, so other quirks can be manipulated in the same way as well. This time, quirks that are dilapidating to a person will be used. A quirk that acts like a disease that will put a person’s life at risk. By nature, quirks will not directly endanger the host, but another foreign quirk will do havoc to one’s body. Especially if both innate quirk and introduced quirk are in conflict with each other.

The research foundation is done. A lab and some money and he’s good to go.

A quirk like petrification where the body slowly turns to stone and the victim has no control over it. Or a quirk that cause a person’s body to heat up, eventually causing heatstroke or even set the person on fire. And for the powerful heroes, a quirk specialized to interfere or disable the heroes’ quirks. For example, the petrification quirk would interfere with Fat Gum’s Fat Absorption quirk by petrifying parts of his body. The petrified parts will not be under Fat Absorption’s influence and will take direct damage when hit instead of adsorbing the damage into the fat. Another example is an animal transformation quirk that can interfere with a hero with a transformation quirk like Ryukyu’s Dragon quirk. A transformation quirk of a weak animal can transmogrify Ryukyu into a mixture of two animals, effectively disabling her as a threat.

He can access a plethora of quirks by recruiting thugs shunned by society over Japan.

Let’s not forget that Boku no Hero Academia is a shounen manga. And thus, Chisaki will meet his inevitable downfall. At this point, Chisaki massed power and successfully strengthened his faction. His ‘quirk’ bullet goes to market. Villains are buffed with secondary quirks and the heroes are getting hit by ‘plague’ quirks. The hero society is in an uproar and Shie Hassakai becomes famous overnight. Chisaki also attracted the ire of the League of Villains, now more organized and powerful than a group of misfits. Two factions, the heroes and the League of Villains, now seek to take down Shie Hassakai. The League of Villains begin to take down Chisaki’s quirk bullet labs while leaving enough evidence for the police to investigate. The police and heroes, thinking that there is direct conflict between the League of Villains and Shie Hassakai, planned to take advantage of the situation in order to take down both factions. Things escalate and the League of Villains and the heroes managed to foil Chisaki’s plans. Angry at the dire situation as similar as the police raid on the Yakuza residence, Chisaki decides to pull out all the stops and push for a massive campaign that will eradicate the society based on quirks. This forced the heroes to immediately mount an offensive to stop the Shie Hassakai. The heroes lay siege of the Shie Hassakai home base and engage with thugs with doped quirks. Chisaki, now in a more established position, won’t retreat anymore. The battle rages on and Deku, tagging along with elite heroes, confronts Chisaki. Chisaki combines himself with his top subordinates [or new Eight Bullets] to become a terrifying quirk riddled monster. An inferior version of All For One. Deku and the heroes are overwhelmed and could only defend against Chisaki’s attacks. During the chaos, the members of the League of Villains sneak past the battleground and into Chisaki’s stroinghold. Once there, they wreak havoc on Chisaki’s assets as well as swipe anything they find useful. Chisaki, noticing the destruction leaves the battered heroes to find his stronghold destroyed. Enraged, Chisaki engages the League of Villains who merely avoids his attacks while jeering him. They lured Chisaki towards Shigaraki who fought him on equal ground. After having a taunt filled bout, Shigaraki unleashes his trap. The Yakuza boss is revealed as a hostage to the members of the League of Villains. This sends Chisaki into a frenzy as he now pursue his benefactor instead of Shigaraki. The fight drags on as Chisaki is slowly chipped away by Shigaraki’s Decay quirk. One of his subordinates take the hit and Chisaki will use Overhaul to separate himself from the crumbling subordinate. When it is only Chisaki left, he lunged and successfully retrieve the Yakuza boss but not before taking a severe blow from an ambush attack by another League of Villains member. Chisaki lays defeated before Shigaraki, showing that Shigaraki has finally grown in character and strength to triumph over Chisaki. Shigaraki boasts at Chisaki before ultimately reaching out to kill him. Chisaki uses Overhaul for the final time, protecting the Yakuza boss from harm before succumbing to Shigaraki’s Decay. During that moment, Deku barges into the scene to see Shigaraki towering over Chisaki’s remains. The elite heroes caught up to engage the League of Villains. Having done their deed, the League of Villains escape from the scene just as fast as they arrived, leaving the aftermath to the defeated heroes. Deku and Shigaraki shared a moment of farewell; Shigaraki smiling gleefully at a horrified Deku. The heroes realized that they were playing into Shigaraki’s hands all along. End of arc.

There. I made this poo poo all smarty smarty. RIP Chisaki.

How’s that for a ‘Chisaki Resurgence’ arc?! Isn’t that a crazy arc?! I had Chisaki die at the hands of Shigaraki because it completes Shigaraki’s growth arc. Shigaraki, as the series main villain would have gone through a lot of growth and is actually a viable threat to the hero society. Having him be the one that coax both the heroes and Shie Hassakai go at each other, gives him the mastermind role and sends Deku a message that Shigaraki is the one he must rise up to defeat. The recognition of an arch nemesis. In the end, I did end Chisaki’s reign like Horikoshi; but look at this potential. Had Chisaki be given a second wind, his contribution to the manga’s plot would be tremendous. Society would be shown a strong demonstration of the effects of the power vacuum left by the incarceration of All For One and the retirement of All Might. Deku is dealt a bad hand and is reminded to strive harder to be a strong hero. Only this time, the reminder is not given by his peers, but by his enemy. Lastly, Shigaraki would be given a more rounded growth arc where he would surpass a superior foe with his own abilities instead of stealing scraps after the heroes have done their work.

Most viewers see this as brilliant display of vengeance and comeuppance. I see it as a parasite stealing scraps when no one else is looking. For a series main villain, this is truly pathetic.

What injustice. Done to Chisaki; and in a way, to Shigaraki as well. I really dislike how Horikoshi is handling Shigaraki. As much as I dislike Shigaraki’s character, I can see his potential as the series main villain. My own theorized ‘Chisaki Resurgence’ arc even puts him on top. But rather than gaining power through more personal means, Shigaraki is just handed power ups and assets. An ass pull power up if you will. This really cheapens Shigaraki’s value as a villain. I will not mind if this asspull is done to a random villain faction. Heck, it will be interesting to see a wild card villain faction screwing around with the heroes. But not for the series main villain. Is it some meta representation done by Horikoshi? The hero, Deku, trains hard to be strong and he have to master any power ups he get from scratch. The villain, Shigaraki, is a spoiled brat, pampered by All For One and handed assets and power ups without any effort. I think that is a terrible presentation. Even bad guys work hard too.

I still have hope for Shigaraki as the main villain. But these hand-me-downs have got to stop.

On the last note, this not the only time Horikoshi completely snub a villain faction in one arc for the sake of propping up Shigaraki and the League of Villains. More on that in the future.

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