The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Season 6, Episode 8, "League of Villains vs UA Students", now streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu.
After Dr. Garaki’s procedure to prepare Shigaraki Tomura’s body to host the All For One Quirk, My Hero Academia’s symbol of fear should’ve been completely invulnerable by this point in Season 6.
Despite his enhancements, Shigaraki has sustained heavy scarring so early into his battle with the Pro Heroes at a rate that doesn’t match up to the injuries he’s received while fighting against Endeavor and Ryukyu. Here’s why he’s already sporting such terrible injuries.
All For One’s Quirk Is Overwhelming Shigaraki Tomura’s Body
Despite his continued domination of the heroes in the Paranormal Liberation War, Shigaraki is nowhere near the peak strength that All For One and Dr. Garaki envisioned for him. He was supposed to incubate and grow fully accustomed to the magnitude of his master’s Quirk after a period of four months. Unfortunately for him, the heroes began the Paranormal Liberation War before his transfiguration was complete. Shigaraki was forced awake a month before his body was perfected, and is only at 75% capacity of what his intended full strength would have been.
Even in his unfinished state, the heroes are having a hard time dealing with the newly awakened Shigaraki. Even the combined might of Eraserhead, Manual, Endeavor, Ryukyu, Gran Torino, Midoriya Izuku and Bakugo Katsuki hasn’t been enough to put him in any real danger of defeat yet, and he’s shrugging off their attacks as easily as if they never connected at all. Even so, Shigaraki has continued to accumulate scars throughout the battle that don’t match the blunt impact attacks he’s suffered from Deku and Ryukyu’s blows, or the heat from Bakugo and Endeavor’s Quirks.
The scars that have begun to stretch over Shigaraki’s body all seem to appear after he suffers significant damage, and not as a result of the attacks themselves. Instead, these scars are most likely a result of the All For One Quirk struggling to take root in his unprepared body and overburdening it in the process. The fact that Shigaraki was thrust immediately into battle following his premature wale-up call isn’t helping his master’s Quirk settle in any faster. Impressively, Shigaraki remains a threat the heroes can’t relax around for even a second, despite the formation of each new scar causing him excruciating pain.
Multiple Quirks Always Overburden Their Users in My Hero Academia
My Hero Academia’s power system is quite liberal compared to that of other anime, but there’s one unflexible rule concerning Quirks: under normal circumstances, everyone should possess just one Quirk factor. The most obvious example of the dangers of wielding multiple Quirks is the Nomu. Even the most rational High-Ends among them are incapable of truly independent thought and remain slaves to their creators on some level.
Even the series’ shining light, One For All, isn’t exempt from this rule. Whenever Deku attempts to use more than one of its Quirks recklessly, there’s always some blowback in the form of stabbing pain. Hikage Shinomori, One For All’s first user, suffered a similar plight to Shigaraki’s current one. He held onto the power-stocking Quirk factor for longer than any other user in addition to his original Danger Sense. Possession of two Quirk factors for an extended period of time caused him to develop crack-like scars across the left side of his face and ultimately shortened his lifespan.