So... Chapter 292 of MHA... I know Iām going get flack for this, but I have to be honest here.
You guys know I like MHA. I like it a lot. I have sung Horikoshiās praises many times on this blog because heās a good writer and this is a well written series. Iāve even defended controversial decisions in this arc like how long the Shigaraki fight has been and Kirishima being the one to throw the canister into Gigantomachia. So believe me when I say, this wasnāt a good twist in chapter 282. It was extremely poorly executed.
Iāve made it no secret that Iām not a fan of the ending with the return of a quirk powered Mirio. Now thereās other things about 292 Iām not a fan of: Nejire being jobbed out, Best Jeanistās big entrance being pretty easily undone because no duh fire beats fabric, but Mirio showing up is my biggest issue.
This is an asspull. This is literally a character who has not been mentioned or scene this entire arc and now heās a big surprise āray of hope.ā This is not good writing.
Now before I continue, people are gonna bring up is Mirio has been foreshadowed to get back his quirk. There should be no problem.
Yes, there has been a decent amount of build up for Mirio to get his quirk back. Thatās not my problem. I want this to be clear, Iām not upset that Mirio has his powers back. Iāve expected it.
No. My problem is that Mirio has literally not shown up in this arc at all, and how this is gonna be a ātotally well earned moment.ā Itās not.
Mirio has been absent since the beginning of this arc. He has not been foreshadowed as a player on this board. There has been no hints he was gonna show up. It literally comes out of nowhere with him popping out of the ground.
Weāve built this whole arc with a bunch of meticulous structure of where characters are located, what front theyāre on, and what theyāre doing. Mirio has been nowhere. Essentially, Horikoshi was being like ālook at all this despair and how there is nothing the current group of heroes can do!ā But thanks to sheer plot convenience, weāve brought in a character that essentially shatters so much of that build up. It essentially says that anything and anyone could show up.
But Iām sure what people are like: āBut what about Best Jeanist? He just showed up. Why is that not an asspull?ā
Well let me say, while Best Jeanist intro and addition to this arc was late and clunky, but unlike Mirio, there was actual build up that Jeanist would appear before doing anything in this arc.
This right here, goes a long way. Even if itās obvious itās Best Jeanist, this puts in our Jeanist is a player on the board before he takes action. Mirio doesnāt get that. At most he gets this scene of punching out a Nomu in this same chapter he fully reappears.
Thatās not build up if its literally the same chapter. Jeanist had to be alluded to 4 chapters early before he does something. Now, If they did this say a chapter earlier it wouldnāt be great, but it would have been something. Or hell, imagine they put Mirioās silhouette with Best Jeanistās? That would have been great!
But as it stands, this moment just comes out of nowhere and youāre supposed to think this is such a good twist. Itās not. It just exists to surprise you with no build up. I literally spent last week talking about how the Dabi as Touya revealās slow burn was fantastic, regardless of obvious. A well written twist is well written when itās laid out and makes sense with all the build up. A bad twist is one that comes out of nowhere and only exists to shock the audience because they couldnāt guess it.
And look, I know plenty of people will not care about this. People love Mirio. Theyāre happy heās back and donāt care. And look, Iām not here to tell you to not like Mirio or the fact heās got powers. Iām here to say this surprise came out of nowhere, is not well written and has made this arc poorer for it. This would have been an asspull in any other series, and even a good series like MHA is above having moments of bad writing.