This character from My Hero Academia deserved a lot more love

When Rikiya Yotsubashi, also known as Re-Destro, first appeared in My Hero Academiahe seems to be another prominent villain to contend with. Not only is he the CEO of a successful company, but he also leads a separatist faction that dreams of being a superior power in the land. Yet, despite all the information and backstory fans learn about him, they barely get to see anything about him before he’s gone.

While he’s far from the best character, Re-Destro’s past connection to controversial groups seems to be a bigger deal than the show lets on. Instead, Re-Destro is introduced, fights, and then largely fades back into the shadows within a few episodes. Considering how much audiences know about him and how well known he is in the support item industry, fans believe it’s only right that Re-Destro gets his time in the spotlight.

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Who is Re-Destro in My Hero Academia?

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Re-Destro, also known as Rikiya Yotsubashi, is the President and CEO of Detnerat. Detnerat is a leader in advanced support gear items. The company also makes specialty items for everyday use by people whose lives are more difficult due to their Quirk. Detnerat offers the latest innovations in Quirk augmentation and customization. They are also widely marketed throughout the region.

Despite his success, Re-Destro’s quirk is one of the more interesting things about him. His quirk, Stress, allows him to channel all of his stress and negative emotions into power. The higher his stress level, the stronger and bigger he becomes. An unfortunate side effect of his quirk is that it causes him to lose his hair, but the power he gets in return is worth it. Additionally, he is incredibly exhausted after using it once all the power leaves his body. However, he continues to prove his strength time and time again to show what he is capable of.

Re-Destro is also the leader of the Meta Liberation Army when Tomura Shigaraki and his crew encounter him. The Meta Liberation Army is a group that works to free Quirk users from the government. They believe that the restrictions and rules the government has placed on Quirk users are a form of oppression. The Meta Liberation Army believes that everyone should be free to use their Quirk as they see fit. Therefore, they believe that all restrictions should be abolished and Quirk users should be allowed to use their Quirks freely, whenever and however they want.

What is Re-Destro’s goal with the MLA?

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The original Meta Liberation Army was formed decades ago, when quirks were still known as meta-abilities. Times were tougher back then. The government was still figuring out how to deal with everyone’s new abilities while the general public was showing off their new skills. There were more and more people with superpowers and evil intentions while the civilian population suffered. Any rules the government tried to enforce were deemed untenable, thus inspiring the Meta Liberation Army.

The first Meta Liberation Army was led by Re-Destro’s father, Chikara Yotsubashi, or Destro. Destro was a radical through and through. He was adamant about his cause and even wrote a book about his ideals that is still circulated in the series’ present timeline. Destro was born to a woman who would later become known as the Mother of Quirks, as she was the one who coined the term “Quirks” to refer to people’s superpowers. Both Destro and his mother dreamed of a day when people with Quirks would not be criminalized and people could be free to be themselves. Re-Destro vows to continue the work of his father and grandmother by creating an underground faction of like-minded people.

What was Re-Destro’s downfall in MHA?

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Regardless of his efforts and ideals, Re-Destro meets his greatest downfall when he tries to take on Tomura Shigaraki of the League of Villains. Re-Destro and Shiragaraki initially antagonize each other because Shigaraki destroys Re-Destro’s tower and also because Re-Destro kidnapped Giran. However, as they begin to fight, Re-Destro becomes more angry as he reflects on how Shigaraki is not trying to build anything. His only value is destruction. Just when Re-Destro thinks he has Shigaraki in a tight spot, Shigaraki’s decay taint awakens.

Shigaraki’s awakened Quirk allows him to decompose things without having to touch them with all five fingers of one hand. As the battle continues, Shigaraki’s decomposition now also seems to be contagious. This means that if a person or object touches something that is being decomposed, it will also be decomposed. The battle gets worse and worse for Re-Destro as he tries to keep up with Shigaraki’s decomposition and avoid his touch. Unsurprisingly, Re-Destro eventually falls victim to it. By the end of the battle, Re-Destro is missing both legs thanks to Shigaraki’s decomposition.

Despite being severely mutilated by Shigaraki, Re-Destro is impressed by him. Re-Destro finally sees his vision come to life in Shigaraki. Shigaraki doesn’t live by any rules and as a result has become even stronger than before. Re-Destro decides to appoint Shigaraki as the new leader of the Meta Liberation Army and the action is renamed The Paranormal Liberation Front. Due to Shigaraki’s incredible control over his Quirk and his freedom to be himself, Re-Destro feels that Shigaraki is better suited for the lead role. From then on, in the ensuing battle, Re-Destro is portrayed as a weakling and is essentially erased from existence. My Hero Academia Franchise.

How could Re-Destro have been used better?

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Despite being so mature, Re-Destro was cast aside like yesterday’s trash. He had a connection to one of the biggest pro-Quirk groups of the past and was the leader of the current one. He descended from the Mother of Quirks and had a lengthy backstory that made him seem like he was going to be a bigger deal than he was. Had he stayed on the show, Re-Destro could have been a third party in the conflict over the One For All Quirk.

Having One For All could serve as a beacon to show the world what a truly liberated Quirk would look like. On the other hand, Re-Destro would also have been a leader of the anti-hero movement. Heroes are some of the most regulated and (according to Stain and his followers) most corrupt Quirk users. With Stain in prison and on the run, Re-Destro could have stepped up instead and brought Stain’s followers under his banner.

It’s very surprising that Re-Destro gave up his place as leader of the Meta Liberation Army so easily. After all, he was incredibly proud of his lineage and was eager to carry on his father’s legacy. It seems unlikely that someone who cared so much about the position would simply give it to the person who maimed him. Some fans suspect that Re-Destro gave in because he knew he would never fight the same way again after his injury, but it still seemed illogical that he would give in to his new apparent rival so readily.

There are many ways Re-Destro could have influenced history, especially with a business as lucrative as Detnerat. His business could have provided battle-ready weapons to civilians who were tired of relying on heroes. This could have led to further conflict between the professionals and the civilians – and raised the stakes even further. Re-Destro could also have created more complicated and devastating machines to further the success of his cause. Re-Destro had so much potential as a villain or even as an anti-hero of sorts. Unfortunately, he was left behind to further other storylines that fans had known about for a while.

Overall, Re-Destro had the potential to be a great character. He was compelling, had a fascinating backstory, and an incredibly powerful Quirk. Unfortunately, he was cut down in his prime. Where he once had a determined presence, he is now nothing more than a whiny sidekick praising the accomplishments of his former enemies. With such a great sense of marketing and running a profitable support item business, Re-Destro and Detnerat could have drastically turned the tide of the war.

Furthermore, he had an entire army of loyal followers that he could have used to reclaim his title as leader of the Meta Liberation Army. Even if he ultimately chose to fight Shigaraki, an army of highly evolved heroes and villains battling with the pros would have been an amazing sight. It’s heartbreaking to know that so many history-changing things could have happened if this oddly interesting character hadn’t been swept under the rug.

My Hero Academia (2016)

Izuku has dreamed of being a hero his entire life – a lofty goal for anyone, but especially challenging for a child without superpowers. That’s true, in a world where 80% of the population has some sort of superpower “quirk,” Izuku was unlucky enough to be born completely normal. But that doesn’t stop him from enrolling in one of the most prestigious hero academies in the world.

Release date

May 5, 2018

Pour

Daiki Yamashita, Justin Briner, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Ayane Sakura

Seasons

6

Production company

Bones

Number of episodes

145

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