Episode 111

Tenko Shimura: Origin (志村転弧：オリジン) is the one hundred and eleventh episode of the My Hero Academia anime and the twenty-third episode of the fifth season.

Summary
Shortly after dealing with Skeptic’s puppets, Twice and several of his Doubles attempt to help the unconscious Himiko. Due to having grown since the Shie Hassaikai Raid, Twice re-measures her so he can create a Double of Himiko which he can extract blood from. The Doubles start to argue amongst each other, leading the original to yell at them to stay focused, declaring that he’ll keep her alive.

While Tomura was heading toward the main tower, Shuichi Iguchi stays behind to deal with Trumpet and the Liberation warriors in order to keep them busy. Trumpet brings out his Sevens Loud device, which he uses to greatly amplify his Meta Ability, Incite, which allows his voice to raise the morale of those who trust him, boosting their physical and mental abilities.

Spinner and the Twice Doubles find themselves bombarded by the enhanced Liberation warriors. Trumpet notes that all Spinner’s Meta Ability, Gecko, lets him do is stick to walls, surmising that what led him to being here now is that he was a bullied shut-in, and that he’s someone who he doesn’t see can accomplish anything. Just then, they see the tower crumble away in the distance, while Spinner is attacked by more warriors. Landing in the middle of the crowd, Spinner declares that even though there isn’t anything he particuarly wants to do, he wants to believe in Tomura’s future, and that he’d just be a worthless nobody if he didn’t do this.

In the rubble of the destroyed tower, Giran manages to survive thanks to landing on the Twice Doubles. Tomura confronts Re-Destro, mocking him for leaving everything up to his followers and how it feels for everything to fall down. Giran and a Twice Double flee as Tomura shoots his Decay toward Re-Destro, only for him to leap out of the way. Re-Destro states that of course he’s angry because he’s the type of person who stores away his anger, enlarging himself even more thanks to his Meta Ability, Stress, and grabbing ahold of Tomura’s left hand.

Tomura tries to resist but his other hand is also grabbed. Re-Destro talks about how even though they were taught at a young age not to judge someone by their Quirk, due to the link between Quirks and personality, someone like Tomura with a Quirk that destroys and only wants to destroy, asks what can he add to the world without creating anything. Tomura looks to the ground to see “Hana”’s hands, causing him to remember All For One initially giving him his mother, grandmother, grandfather, and father’s hands, and how he told him to keep them close so that his anger and sadness would never fade away. He then recalls memories of his older sister, Hana, comforting him.

As Re-Destro breaks several fingers on Tomura's left hand, he manages to touch Re-Destro’s enlarged finger with two of his, causing them to crack and forcing him to throw him away. Re-Destro’s surprised, as he believed his Quirk wouldn’t activate unless all five fingers touched, only to realize that Tomura is actually going through an Awakening. Tomura meanwhile begins to scream in pain as more memories from his past start rushing back to him.

Tomura boosts his way forward to Re-Destro at incredible speeds, making him wonder why he didn’t act this way during the Kamino Incident, until he realizes this new physical prowess is the result of some incredibly intense training. Thinking about how he shouldn’t have looked at him as an inferior, Re-Destro pushes himself to 80% Liberation of Stress, shooting a giant ball of energy called Stress Output Burden directly at Tomura, while he's experiencing more memories from his past. As he starts to realize what he wanted his family to say to him, Re-Destro gets a call from Skeptic, warning him that the League had a secret weapon they were hiding, as Gigantomachia rampages his way through the city.

Re-Destro is surprised Tomura somehow managed to survive his Burden attack, which he’s been training since childhood, and realizes that at the moment of impact, Tomura managed to touch one of his fingers to help negate it, putting aside his defensive instincts just to destroy. With everything becoming clearer in his memories, Tomura agrees that he doesn’t want to create anything, and isn’t thinking about the future, he just wants to destroy, as Re-Destro bulks up ready to fight again.

At 5 years old, Tenko Shimura is scolded by his father, Kotaro, for playing hero, while his mother, Nao, tries to protest, as in their house they had one rule enforced by his father: never talk about heroes. Tenko is left outside alone without food, with Nao and his grandparents, Chizuo and Mako, questioning Kotaro's actions. Nao notes how his allergies have gotten worse, while Kotaro mentions how he hasn’t manifested a Quirk yet, so he’s doing this to prevent Tenko from more suffering.

Nao comforts Tenko, who continues to scratch his face, unaware of what is causing his allergies. Tenko talks about he joined two of his friends, Mikkun and Tomo, playing heroes, which they were really happy about because no one else wanted to, with them saying he should be All Might. He asks if his dad hates him, with Nao saying he doesn’t, just that it’s hard to be a hero. Despite his mother and grandparents attempts to console him, his father continued to scold him.

One day, Hana snuck him into Kotaro’s room to show him a picture of their dad as a kid with their grandmother, who was a hero. Hana tells her brother she’s cheering him on to be a hero, causing him to be elated by her words, and the familial revelation. While playing with their dog, Mon, he suddenly notices a twinge in his right hand, as unbeknownst to him, a part of the ball he tossed crumbles off.

He’s then confronted by Kotaro, furious that he saw the picture in his study, while Hana cries claiming he wanted her to show him. Kotaro grabs ahold of Tenko, as his itching gets worse, stating that the woman he saw is not his grandmother, but someone who abandoned her child. Tenko cries out for one of his family members to help him, but all they can do is cry and watch on in horror. Kotaro declares that heroes are people who save strangers only to hurt their families, slapping Tenko.

Kotaro looks over an old letter from his mother, Nana, apologizing for having to leave because she needs to fight some really bad guys, and that she must leave to protect him from them. She apologizes for being unable to do anything motherly, and that even if he grows to hate her, she’ll always love him, hoping that he can still find a way to be happy. Nao, Chizuo, and Mako approach Kotaro, telling him they won’t abide by his rules anymore if he continues like that, as he thinks about how it would’ve been better if she did hate him, realizing he went too far.

Holding onto Mon, Tenko continues anxiously scratching himself, thinking about how he can’t take anymore of the abuse, and how much he hates everyone. Just as he scratches Mon, the dog suddenly decays into a pile of blood, causing Tenko to freak out in fear. At this moment, Hana approaches him, apologizing for what she said earlier, all the while he attempts to tell her about Mon, despite being unable to speak.

Hana notices Mon’s remains causing her to run away in horror, and Tenko fearfully chasing after her, believing it to be the cause of a villain. As he grabs Hana asking for her help, she too suddenly crumbles and dies. This breaks Tenko as he goes into shock, pulling on his face, while Nao and his grandparents look on in horror. Thinking about how they never did anything to protect him from his father, Tenko touches the ground, causing everything in the backyard to Decay around them. As she starts to crumble away, Nao rushes toward Tenko still crying for help, as she decays in his embrace.

Kotaro goes outside absolutely horrified to see the bloody aftermath of Tenko’s actions. Calling out for his dad as the Decay gets worse, Kotaro grabs a nearby rod and smacks Tenko with it, holding out his hand telling him to stop. At that moment, Tenko jumps onto his father, grabbing his face all the while laughing maniacally with the intent to kill him. As the entire house comes crumbling down, Tenko emerges from the devastation, as a pleasure starts to fill within his heart, realizing he doesn’t have an itch anymore.

Locations

 * Deika City
 * Shimura Household

Anime & Manga Differences

 * The anime doesn't show Skeptic heading for Twice and Himiko's location.
 * Spinner ordering the Twice Doubles and reacting to Curious' death is omitted from the anime.
 * Giran's observation that Tomura is Decaying things without touching them is omitted.
 * The manga has Tomura lose three left fingers before being grabbed by Re-Destro, while in the anime he just breaks his hand after grabbing it.
 * The anime omits Slidin' Go's scene where he reacts to the rumbling caused by Gigantomachia.
 * A reference to the book "Quirks and Us" is not in the anime.
 * In the manga, Tomura destroys Re-Destro's Stress Output Burden attack, while in the anime he just touches Re-Destro's finger to negate some of the blowback.
 * The anime omits Nao apologizing to a neighbor for Tenko's troubles.
 * The anime replaces Kotaro's first slap towards Tenko during the big confrontation with being grabbed instead.
 * The anime has new flashbacks showing Kotaro's childhood memories with Nana.
 * The anime censors Tenko's Decay by having his family members crumble like dust before showing their remains in bloody chunks.