How Does My Hero Academia Vol 23 Change Shigaraki’S Role?

Question

In volume 23, his decay rampage felt like a major power shift. Is Shigaraki the main antagonist now, or is All For One still pulling the strings in the manga?

IvyTorres · Answer

It reframes his entire motivation from ‘spite’ to ‘ideology.’ Before, he wanted to destroy because it was fun and it scratched an itch. Absorbing the Meta Liberation Army’s philosophy gives a pseudo-intellectual framework to that desire. Now he’s destroying to ‘liberate’ quirks and reject societal order.

It makes him a more dangerous enemy because he’s not just lashing out randomly; he’s acting on a warped principle that could, in theory, attract followers. His role evolves from a chaotic outlier to the figurehead of a legitimate (though horrific) counter-movement. He becomes a symbol, not just of fear, but of a twisted form of ‘freedom.’

DeanYoung · Answer

It redefines his relationship with the other villains. Before, he was the moody leader of a found family of misfits. After assuming control of the Liberation Army, he becomes a distant, almost god-like figure to them. They don’t joke with him anymore; they worship or fear him.

Look at how Toga and Twice react. There’s awe and distance. Dabi sees him as a useful tool. He’s no longer ‘Shiggy’; he’s ‘the successor.’ His role shifts from ‘first among equals’ to an unquestioned, terrifying authority figure. This isolates him even further, completing his transformation from a lonely kid into the lonely king of ruin.

JamesWood · Answer

It finally pays off all those hints about his quirk’s true nature. The decay wasn’t just disintegration; it was connection-breaking on a molecular level. The upgrade reveals its full potential as a quirk that can sever anything—objects, quirks, even the vestige connections in OFA.

His role evolves from ‘destroyer of things’ to ‘destroyer of connections.’ This makes him the perfect antithesis to a hero society built on social connections (teacher-student, hero-civilian, etc.) and to One For All itself, a quirk built on the connections between its users. He’s not just breaking buildings; he’s breaking the very bonds that hold the world and its power system together.

EthanBlue · Answer

He becomes the unifying enemy for all the hero factions. Before, the top heroes were often at odds, and the students were in their own bubble. The threat of awakened Shigaraki forces everyone—Endeavor’s agency, the top 10, the school staff, the students—to unite under a single, desperate command.

His role is that of the great unifier, but for the good guys. He’s the common enemy so overwhelming that it breaks down all their institutional and personal barriers. The hero society that was fraying at the seams is suddenly forced to work together perfectly or be annihilated. He becomes the anvil upon which their unity is forged.

FaithRice · Answer

Let’s talk about the hands. They’re not just a creepy aesthetic anymore. In Volume 23, with the reveal of his family’s fate and his decay running wild, the hands on his body transform from a collection of trophies into a prison, a memorial, and a weapon all at once.

They physically constrain and define him. His new role is literally grafted onto his skin. He’s not just a guy who wears hands; he’s a being made of hands, of loss, of the very past he wants to destroy. The visual change cements his role as a tragic monster, a walking monument to the trauma that created him, which he now seeks to inflict on the entire world.

RexWolfe · Answer

Honestly, I just come to these threads for the fan art links. The discussions are way over my head.

JackLong · Answer

From a writing perspective, it's a necessary escalation. You can't have Deku growing into the world's greatest hero without a threat that justifies that title. All Might had All For One. Deku needed his own generational nemesis. Volume 23 is the moment Shigaraki graduates from 'Deku's personal villain' to 'the world's problem that only Deku can solve.' It formalizes their destiny. His role is cemented as the dark mirror, the inevitable final boss. Without this transformation, Deku's journey lacks a proportional counterweight.

Clara · Answer

It felt a bit rushed, to be honest. We go from ‘League on the run’ to ‘Shigaraki is an unstoppable demigod’ in the span of a single volume. The role change is massive, but the transition happens mostly off-screen during the surgery and the timeskip.

I wish we’d seen more of his conscious decision-making in absorbing the Liberation Army, or more internal struggle with the new power. As is, it feels like a plot-powered transformation to get us to the war arc faster. The what of his new role is clear, but the how he feels about it gets glossed over for the sake of spectacle.

ZaneGray · Answer

The practical, in-universe consequence is he becomes Public Enemy Number One in a way All For One never quite was. All For One operated from the shadows, a manipulator. Shigaraki, post-awakening, is the apocalypse happening in broad daylight. The Hero Commission's entire focus shifts to stopping him and him alone. It completely rebalances the conflict. The heroes can't play the long game anymore; it's an all-or-nothing, right-now scramble. His role changes from a criminal mastermind to an extinction-level event that demands an immediate, total response.

AmyJay · Answer

Honestly, I thought it was a bit much. The series had a great, personal villain with a clear, creepy power. Turning him into a city-busting, quirk-stealing, army-leading super-being felt like it jumped the shark a little. It worked for the scale of the war arc, but it took him from a uniquely unsettling threat to a more generic ‘ultimate evil’ template.

Sometimes less is more. The Shigaraki who could kill with a touch was terrifying in his intimacy. The Shigaraki who can decay entire cities is terrifying in his scope, but he loses that personal, chilling vibe. His role became so big it almost became impersonal.

LeoLake · Answer

I'm just here for the art. The two-page spreads of Decay waves consuming city blocks? Unreal. The detail in the crumbling buildings, the panic in the crowds—it's some of the most impactful visual storytelling in the series. Shigaraki's new role is primarily communicated through these immense, silent panels of destruction. Words aren't needed. You see the scale, you understand. He's not a character in those moments; he's the camera's focal point for depicting oblivion.

JossSmith · Answer

The flashback to his childhood in this volume is the key. It doesn't excuse him, but it re-frames him. Before, he was a man-child throwing a tantrum at the world. After seeing the sheer, accidental horror of his origin, you understand the tantrum is all he has left. His role changes from 'spoiled villain' to 'living tragedy.' He's not lashing out at society; he's lashing out at the memory of his own hands, at the silence that followed the decay. It adds a layer of pathetic horror that makes him infinitely more compelling than a simple power-hungry bad guy.

How Does My Hero Academia Vol 23 Change Shigaraki’S Role?

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