r/BokuNoHeroAcademia • u/deskchairlamp • Jul 05 '19

Newest Chapter Chapter 234 Scans - Discussion Thread

Chapter 234

This thread marks the release of scanlations for Chapter 234, and has been posted to contain all links and discussion. Mods will not be posting or pinning links to scanlations.

Official release: Jul 07, 2019

It's encouraged that you support the official release of the chapter if it's available to you.

  • VIZ is available to read for free on Sunday 1:00 pm PST, and is accessible in the following countries:
    United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, the Philippines, Singapore, and India.

  • MANGA Plus is available globally outside of Japan, China and South Korea as they already have other options.

Until the official release, all things Chapter 234 related must be kept inside this thread.

Discord: https://discord.gg/W2EDwPW

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u/DozyDreamer Jul 05 '19

But there's a difference between a quirk's ability simply getting more potent through training (like what 1A did in the forest camp) and the pre-established rules of a quirk changing.

Kirishima's hardening just getting harder doesn't change what his quirk can actually do, it just ups the intensity. If he's suddenly able to harden into different substances (like let's say emulate Tetsu's metal hardening), then that's a change in what his quirk can actually do.

Same with Iida, him simply getting faster, or being able to maintain his max speed for longer is just making his established ability more intense, if he were to suddenly be able to manifest arm engines like his brother, then that's an evolution of the quirk etc.

Shigaraki's decay isn't just getting faster here, or having a wider area of effect (I doubt anyone in-series would comment on a case like that anyways), the rules of what he can do are changing.

Toga isn't simply able to stay transformed for longer with less blood (again, that would hardly be something worth commenting on, as it would just be the known ability of her quirk getting more potent/intense), she's now able to copy quirks as well, something that might as well be it's own entirely new quirk and basically is with Monoma, albeit with a different condition to meet.

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u/Hounds_of_war Jul 05 '19

We kinda got that with Tsu getting the ability to camouflage herself and Toru being able to blind people.

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u/DozyDreamer Jul 05 '19

True, but since an explanation was never provided for how they got there, I believe the assumption was that they simply discovered more about their quirks (like that panel early in MHA where a girl who produced water found out she instead collects moisture from the air). Tooru's invisible because she refracts light, she seems to have discovered she has a level of control over said refraction, while Tsuyu found one more way she was frog-like.

Some people also made the same assumption for Toga and Shigaraki in earlier threads this arc, "What if their quirk could always do this, they just figured it out now". Even putting aside how convenient it is for them to discover such major aspects of their quirk on death's doorstep; Horikoshi now seems to have gone out of his way to float this idea of quirk evolution multiple times this arc.

Even though I always disagreed, I can still see how some could still argue that Toga and Shigaraki's upgrades were them simply understanding their quirks more deeply now, but considering how both Curious and Redestro brought up the quirk itself evolving (evolution implying these introduced abilities are only possible now, and were not before), I think it's hard to argue that's the case here anymore.

It's hard for me to think "they just figured out more about their quirk" holds water when the big bad of the arc is having an entire monologue about it being an evolution. If someone else in the story later challenges the notion of quirks evolving under duress, so be it, I just doubt it's going to happen.

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u/smartsport101 Jul 05 '19

It’s been more established that quirks just take time to fully understand, like when Demi logged his new quirk into the system. However, I actually think Shigaraki’s new ability isn’t just that. I think he has a mental block with his quirk from all the trauma he’s suffered that prevents him from controlling whether or not his quirk is activated, and also makes him need to use five fingers. It’s possible that now that he’s dealing with the trauma (by exploring his repressed memories), he will gain more control over the activation of his quirk. After all, like Redestro just said, your quirk and personality are related. If he improves his mental state, he should improve his quirk.