My Hero Academia fans were treated to La Brava's backstory and the reveal of her quirk in chapter 178 of the manga. In this week's chapter, Gentle's backstory gets the spotlight as the fight between him and Midoriya rages on. What caused Gentle to walk down the path of a villain? And will La Brava's quirk prove to be the tipping point in his fight with one of UA's brightest? Here's what happened in My Hero Academia chapter 179.
SPOILER ALERT! The following will spoil Chapter 179 of My Hero Academia . If you haven't read it yet turn back now.
The chapter begins with Present Mic announcing the start of the UA School Festival. It is morning, but Midoriya has not returned to the school because he is still fighting Gentle and La Brava. The villain is shocked to see the young hero continue to fight despite La Brava giving a massive power boost to her partner. Midoriya pleads Gentle to stop his attack on UA while La Brava begins to cry on the sidelines, fearing her love isn't enough. Gentle launches a "Gently Sandwich" attack, creating numerous invisible walls and stacking them on top of his opponent.
Midoriya is pinned underneath the invisible sheets of air while Gentle explains he still intends to invade UA no matter what. Gentle begins to think of his past and explains to the young hero how he must continue: his dream isn't his alone anymore. Midoriya asks Gentle why is he doing this, if he understands how UA's students have dreams and hopes as well. Gentle says that is the way of the world and he will do whatever it takes, even if it's to ruin all the UA students' hard work.
We get a flashback of Gentle's teenage years with his mother in the high school principal's office. Gentle hopes to become a hero, but he's failing all his classes and has been held back a year. Gentle has flunked the provisional license exam four times already and the principal urges him to drop out. Gentle tells his mom that he will continue to work for his dream of becoming a hero no matter what.
But that doesn't go smoothly either. Gentle recalls another day, walking home and seeing a man falling from a window cleaning rig. He goes to save the man but instead gets in the way of a pro hero about to save the day. The victim hit the ground and needs six months to recover. The police give Gentle a strike for obstructing justice.
Gentle doesn't keep up with his studies, gets expelled from school and thrown out of the house. Four years later, he's unemployed and runs into an old classmate, a new hero who no longer remembers him. Upset, Gentle heads home and picks up a book on the history of supervillains, setting him on that dark path.
Back in the present, Gentle says he doesn't care if Midoriya mocks him as he continues his assault. Midoriya counters, saying nobody is mocking him while La Brava continues to look on the sidelines. She thinks to herself that they've used her "Love" quirk more times than she can count, but it was just to get away and deflect attacks, not use the powerup for violence. She tells Gentle he can defeat Midoriya as the two continue to fight.
My Hero Academia is available weekly through Weekly Shonen Jump.
And that's how My Hero Academia 179 ends. Are you interested in learning more about Gentle and La Brava? Do you think Midoriya will come out on top? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Phillip Martinez is a game and culture reporter for Newsweek. Prior to joining Newsweek in 2018, he was a reporter ... Read more
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