All Might, the ever-dependable, hopeful Symbol of Peace who saves everyone with a smile is an inspiration to us all. Along with the students of UA, he has also left us with the life lessons and the motivation to always push through rough times. The man was built to look like a superhero everyone can depend on, and he is, to a certain extent. The character of Toshinori Yagi appears to be simple and one-dimensional, but he definitely is more flawed than what he looks like, and there are problematic things we hate him for.
There are times when All Might can do questionable things – and it is not just his horrible ringtones or his advice of clenching butts to go plus ultra. Hence, we bring you a list of things that All Might needs to work on, for his own character development.
1. The Positivity He Practices is Toxic
Now, it is never a bad thing to be a positive person. We would be lying if we say we did not shed a tear during the battle with All For One when he rose supreme, fist in the air in victory and bearing the smile he always does when saving anyone.
However, this very trait of his, which inspired our main character Deku to become a hero that saves everyone with a smile – leads us to a question. Is his personality trait of always bearing the burden alone, never once letting the public see his condition, which has him dying through all MHA seasons while wholeheartedly fulfilling his duty, really that noble?
Not only does he set the standard for the fact that heroes never need rest or saving, but being the No. 1 hero, many kids like Deku would be inspired to throw themselves in danger without a single thought, thinking that is what makes the greatest hero alive. A good hero must know that there is no weakness in failure and feeling sad.
2. He Lowkey Suffers From a Saviour Complex
For those who may not know, a saviour complex is a state of the mind wherein the person having it feels the need to save everyone – often neglecting their own needs as it helps them feel good about themselves. It is not a diagnosable condition, but we can see that All Might has it.
All his life, his goal was to become a pillar of hope for those in need – and he lives up to it as well, saving people selflessly until the point of having completely exhausted his power. Given his background, it is easy to understand that in the MHA world, a person without a quirk and a big dream to become the greatest hero will naturally lead to them completely devaluing themselves.
Both All Might and Deku suffer from the same need to save others to feel like someone of importance. We believe that if it were not for this toxic, selfless nature, All Might would have been happier, contributing service to the citizens for a longer time.
3. He Definitely Plays Favourites
Whether you have thought about it before or not, no MHA fan will be able to deny that Class 1-A is a favourite of both villains and UA teachers and All Might is no exception to this. Moreso, All Might is partial towards Deku to the point that it is noticeable even by other characters Eraserhead, Todoroki and Bakugo have all canonically pointed out the closeness between the two.
Deku probably reminds the former No. 1 hero about his old self, which is why he feels a certain endearment towards the boy. Perhaps the special training he has with Deku comes from the responsibility he feels towards him as the former holder of One For All. However, as a teacher, All Might sort of plays the red card as we only see him focusing on Deku and helping him overcome his struggles and difficulties. To him, as long as the successor of One For All was the strongest, there was nothing to worry about – which is sort of the same toxic situation that the society is in during All Might’s tenure – all the burden on one man.
4. He Should Have Warned Deku About One For All
As all viewers of the show have seen, One For All is an extremely powerful as well as a dangerous quirk to have. Not only was it hard to control due to its evergrowing abilities to become more enhanced as it is passed down, All Might never warned Deku about the responsibilities that come with having it.
While it was a kind act to want to fulfill the dream of a promising boy who had just the same spirit as him, if you look at things practically, it is not a quirk you randomly pass down to a boy who has been quirkless all his life. By doing this, he put Deku at great risk and most of the injuries Deku suffers from as he learns more about his quirk, could have been avoided by someone who had some sort of experience rather than just spirit.
5. He Was Never A Good Coach To Deku As Well
While he certainly helped Deku through the previous seasons after his quirk was exhausted, we do not see the hero helping our protagonist out when he first needed it. All All Might did was give him pre-quirk training that he made up, make him eat his hair, and then leave him to fend on his own. We see Deku first discovering his quirk’s abilities through injuring himself and his experiments.
We only ever saw Deku learn something about controlling his power when he was under the guidance of Sir Nighteye and Gran Torino – both close enough to All Might to understand how One For All works. He learned to concentrate his power from Aizawa, his Full Cowl came from Torino, his movement style was self-taught observing Bakugo and all this time, his favourite hero was busy overexerting his damaged body to save people again.
6. He Indirectly Encourages Deku to Take Rash Decisions
It is a given that All Might and Deku run in parallels. They both are too much alike in the wrong ways, as mentioned by Gran Torino. There have been many instances, both direct and subtle, since the beginning of season 1, of Recovery Girl asking Deku to stop pushing himself body as his wounds could be fatal. His mom, Inko, is almost always on the verge of passing out from nervousness as well at the reckless, self-sacrificing behaviour of her son.
Despite this, not once have we seen All Might sit Deku down and ask him to be careful or to at least minimise the damage he causes to his body. We only always see him praise Deku for saving the day – which sort of will encourages Deku to continue his rash ways. When Inko refuses to send her son to UA dorms, fearing that Deku would recklessly throw himself in danger for the sake of others again, All Might promises her that he would protect Young Midoriya from everything, even at the risk of his own life. The message Inko tried to give him might have r/woosh-ed past his head, but we still commend and admire her for being the sensible adult in Deku’s life.
7. All Might Favours Morality Over Everything
We would have never had the amazing story of My Hero Academia had it not been for All Might picking Deku over all the potential students in UA. However, all the problematic things about him have the core, same reason – All Might prefers virtue over everything.
There have been many discussions about how Mirio is wasted potential – and he is. Handpicked by All Might’s sidekick and his greatest fan, he was the perfect candidate with his grades and abilities. Not only did he master his complicated and difficult quirk through sheer hard work and effort, we see in the Overhaul arc how he takes rational decisions and even puts others before him at all cost, being rendered quirkless.
However, All Might did not give a thought to the rational side of things, or the potential candidates he could have had from UA – instead, choosing someone mainly based on how quickly they give up everything to save people.
8. He Can Be Inconsiderate To His Loved Ones
Inko Midoriya has said it before, so we wholeheartedly agree. All Might should stop trading his life for someone’s sake the first chance he gets. He needs to learn that when he is ready to throw his life away, he is also at the risk of hurting his loved ones who care deeply for him.
Apart from his late teacher Nana and Deku, who he has to mentor, the only important bond of his that we see are the ones with Gran Torino and Sir Nighteye, who look out for him in their own ways. All Might actively avoids both of them – especially Sir Nighteye, who he only visits after years on his deathbed – all because he did not want All Might to go on a long, suicide mission.
We can see that just how All Might ignores his health and problems, he also keeps his distance from those who remind him to take care, perhaps because he knows the truth to their words and does not want it to happen due to the responsibility he feels.
9. He Keeps a Lot of Secrets
All Might is a mysterious man. He hardly lets anyone see past the one-dimensional personality he has in public. He does not let Deku know about the ghosts of One For All, the story with his sensei Nana, Nighteye’s vision about him which clearly shows his death – all things that are important for Deku to know as the successor of One For All.
We can understand that the former No. 1 hero does not mean to be secretive – perhaps his secretive nature comes from his fear of failure and weakness. We see that upon being encouraged by Gran Torino to let Deku know about his past, All Might takes action and tells him the story. However, it is not very practical about his headstrong nature to keep so many secrets, especially the one about the fact that he is dying. Also, if One For All is is such a huge responsibility, would it not make sense for him to teach Deku everything about it from the very beginning?
10. He Pressurised Deku Into Making ‘The Decision’ (Manga Spoiler)
This is perhaps the best worst thing All Might has done as compared to others, as it made him take a step back and look at the consequences of his own actions. Whether you agree or not that it was mostly him that led Deku to take his sudden decision to leave UA, you would certainly not disagree to the fact that the way Deku makes decisions is definitely influenced by All Might.
He consistently insisted that Deku was the new symbol of peace, and told him to keep it a secret from everyone, rendering Deku the sole person responsible for such great power. After the battle at Kamino, he fights till near death and then points at Deku through a screen, saying “You are next” – sort of giving the message that it is only Deku who can stop the forces of All For One and all the villains alone.
All this is very pressurising for a teenager – especially someone who had been quirkless his whole life. The secretive nature and the self-dependency that All Might encourages, only naturally led Deku to feel like he is the reason behind the villains that target him and his loved ones and it is his burden to carry alone. While Deku would never blame All Might for this, we are sure that if he had a better mentor, this would have not happened. The self-reflection arc for All Might is great for his mental health as well.
Also Read: 10 Anime Characters Like Aizawa From My Hero Academia
