Fanfic / New Game Plus (2022)

"I know about One For All!" Toshinori practically vomited blood on the ground in shock, and Izuku waited until he was finished heaving before continuing. "I know how All For One gave you your injury, how you can only use your Quirk for about three hours a day because of it, that the form you take as All Might is just that, another form. I know about Nana Shimura and Gran Torino, and I also know that All For One is still alive!" Izuku stopped to catch his breath, before he noticed the man staring at him, the look in his eyes showing contemplation on whether or not he should attack the teen before him or hear him out.

"Explain."

New Game Plus is a My Hero Academia fanfic by Shadow_Overlord on Archive of Our Own which started publication in February 2022. It's a Time Travel story where Izuku is sent back to the day of the Sludge Villain incident and, with the help of a few old allies in the know, decides to make the most of his situation by preventing every bad event from the original timeline from happening. Rewriting history, however, is easier said than done and never without consequences.

In October 2022 the story reached the climax of what is considered Act I, with Act II starting from Chapter 39.

There are also several spin-off fanfics, most of which are necessary additions to the main story:

• Rehabilitation (complete, 6 chapters) - Focused on the rehabilitation of Himiko Toga, it however introduces several other characters and features important story beats. Folds back into the main story at the end.

• Side Stories - Doesn't follow a specific tone, plot line or character but is at the same time necessary to flesh the story out. The first two chapters, for example, reveal what happened to some characters in the original timeline. Other chapters introduce or explain elements that will be important in the main story.

• The MHA Multiverse: What If...? - One-shots set in other timelines, showing how some events of the story could have gone very differently.

• The MHA Multiverse: Deep Dive - Stories set in other universes, with more profound differences from both the canon and the New Game Plus ones, even if elements from the latter are present.

• Ronri: Origins (complete, 4 chapters) - How one of the main characters of the story came to be. Not to be read before Chapter 45.

• Return of the Shield Deku - Originating from a snippet of a Deep Dive chapter. Izuku is isekai'd to another world and returns some time later, along with Raphtalia and Filo, who have to adapt to a new world while the boy has returned very changed, their road still leading to UA.

Not to be confused with New Game Plus the Trope, though of course there is a parallel.

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New Game Plus features the following tropes:

Tropes in the Overall Series

• Adaptational Intelligence: In canon, All Might and the UA teachers could sometimes come off as neglectful and incapable about students with clear behavioral issues like Bakugo and Mineta. Here however they are shown to be quite sensitive and competent on the issue, with much less tolerance for those behaviors and people who enable them for their own gain, like the schools affiliated with Detnerat/MLA. That alone brings several changes in comparison to the original events.
• Adaptational Personality Change: Discussed In-Universe in Chapter 6 of the Side Stories. Ronri explains to Endeavor that someone's personality can vary due to the infinite number of universes out there and how each one would change them to act a certain way. She uses All Might as an example, citing that he could be a "well meaning idiot" in one universe and a "Quirkest asshole" in another. Some spin-off stories explore this concept.
  • Some alternate universes justify this with different events that shape the characters. For example in What If #2 Bakugo's bullying and toxic traits are discovered earlier and he spends some years separated from Izuku while his issues taken care of, becoming more similar to later canon Bakugo by the time he enters UA. In Return of the Shield Deku, Izuku's experiences in a very different world have made him more cynical but also more confident (to the point he considers Bakugo little more than a nuisance now).
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Aldera was bad enough for encouraging illegal Quirk usage and terrorizing weak students. But in this story, they're revealed to be affiliated with the Detnerat Company which is a cover for the Meta Liberation Army.
  • The Meta Liberation Army is even worse than in canon. Beside the thing with schools like Aldera, which negatively affected students by making them cruel bullies (like Bakugo) or victims (Izuku, Hanako), their doctrine outright hates Quirkless people, and they don't like people with heavy physical mutations either, they just consider them useful soldiers to indoctrinate by taking advantage of the same misery they cause to them. It's eventually revealed that the original ideals of Destro had nothing like that, and the current edition of his book has been subjected to heavy modifications.
  • If Sir Nighteye's vision is of any indication, Bakugo will become a full on villain if he doesn't get the help he needs. By Act II, it largely has come true. Bakugo kills a restrained Stain in view of multiple Pro-Heroes, including All Might, nearly injures Ochako in the process, is caught on video which proceeds to go viral, and while he regrets his actions he's incapable of taking responsibility for them. He's expelled from UA and arrested as a result, with All For One proceeding to break him out and successfully recruit him.
• Alternate Timeline / Alternate Universe: The two concepts are treated interchangeably by the story. Some "timelines" Ronri traveled to were so different from both canon and the one of this story, we could rather talk about "universes".
• Butterfly of Doom: It doesn't take long to make clear that, for as many better outcomes can be created for events and people in the efforts by Izuku and his allies to make a better timeline, just as many others can get worse in spite of, and sometimes even because of, the same attempts.
• The Chessmaster: All For One keeps being one even in the face of Izuku's knowledge. He deduces Izuku has traveled back in time fairly quickly, and spends several months lying low to rethink and reorganize his plans in a way Izuku can't thwart them before they happen. He also knows when to wait and observe the longer-term consequences of events before striking again.
• Crossover Cameo: Quirkless Analyst AU is a series of short stories by the same author, published as not related to the multiverse of New Game Plus and its many spin-offs. However, in the second story, a character whose description fits the Dimensional Traveler Ronri appears briefly, and a situation described there is basically repeated in Deep Dive #1, published a few weeks later. While not openly stated, the AU may be one of the many alternate universes, also one where One For All can be passed safely to people with quirks too.
• Darker and Edgier: While it manages to keep a tone similar to the original series a lot of times, it tackles themes like domestic abuse, bullying and social discrimination, and the ways they can affect people, much more than in canon. Sad and/or tragic backstories, both for canon characters and original ones, abound, and despite the optimistic premise the changes Izuku has caused to history are pushing some characters to darker paths. Some scenes are quite graphic.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Aldera and other MLA-operated schools are known to do this by describing students with mutant Quirks or no Quirks as delinquents who cause problems for everyone while portraying students with powerful or admirable Quirks as genuine honor students.
  • More in general, the emphasis on Quirk-based discrimination is much higher than in canon. A lot of characters' issues are caused by people who treat Quirkless and mutants as inferior, and environments where said people are allowed to thrive.
  • By the time the story reaches the UA Sports Festival, some events bring the issue to the forefront in-universe, involving even All Might as he's made to realize he's an indirect cause of the Quirkist mindsets. It's also shown to be so bad, there are even some people who consider UA having Quirkless students, despite them being not even in the Hero Course, a problem.
• Fix Fic:
  • The story can feel like this early on, as Izuku and his allies make use of his knowledge to try and create an even better future; however as it goes on, it becomes clear (especially from Nejire's death) that for any element set right, something else can go wrong.
  • The What If? spin-off is this: timelines where a few small changes (instigated by Ronri) generate different and generally happier outcome for the characters.
• For Want Of A Nail: has its own page.
• Handicapped Badass: Izuku is still able to use One For All and the additional Quirks that come with it, however his body is back to its original scrawny form, meaning that he can't use his powers without serious injuries, just like in the beginning, and has to get it stronger once again. It gets worse when One For All ends up absorbing Nejire's Quirk, getting a significant power boost which will be harder for Izuku to keep under control.
• Harmful to Minors: A comedic version of the trope, in the form of a Running Gag of Eri constantly ending up exposed to age-inappropriate media (up to including the works of Junji Ito), be it because of Mina or accidentally, especially with series whose visuals or earlier episodes may cause someone to think they are light-hearted affairs.
• In Spite of a Nail: has its own page.
• The Multiverse:
  • While hints of it are present from the beginning, with a new timeline created by Izuku traveling back while the first Side Stories show events in the original one, the wider concept is introduced in the story through Ronri, a multiversal traveler, and Dr. Kojima who can communicate with his alternate selves, and further explored through other spin-offs. The author has plans for more stories set in other timelines, using New Game Plus and its characters as a foundation.
  • In several universes, fan theories and fanon are valid. For example in some of them, the reveal that One For All shortens the lifespan of its wielder unless they are Quirkless doesn't apply, and so people with Quirks (like Mirio) can safely inherit it. In others, Dad For One - the popular theory of Hisashi Midoriya and All For One being one and the same - is real.
  • Starting from Deep Dive #2, where characters talk about having seen an Evangelion Unit appear from Ronri's portals, the story's Multiverse is revealed to be even bigger, not just variants of the My Hero Academia universe but any other work of fiction.
• Omniscient Hero: Nedzu can come across as this, especially in the first chapter when he seemingly knows that All Might is calling about Aldera Middle School despite All Might learning about it from Izuku less than a minute prior.
• On the Next:
  • The ending notes of most chapters feature dialogue and scenes that set up for either the next chapter or a longer-term plot thread.
  • The notes at the end of Chapter 12 have a Title Drop to Rehabilitation, whose first chapter was published shortly after.
  • Taken to the extreme with Chapter 38, where the notes are a series of out-of-context moments from Act II, like a teaser trailer of a following season.
  • The notes of Chapter 52 have a character reminisce about events that are explained in Deep Dive #2, published one day later.
• Original Character: several, ranging from some who are as important as the canon protagonists to others who are there just for flavor. So many, there's a page for them.
• Peggy Sue: Izuku ends up being sent back in time to the day of the Sludge Villain incident when Eri's Quirk goes haywire. It turns out Eri was also sent back in time. While his allies take advantage of his future knowledge to do a lot of good, Izuku's incomplete knowledge of certain events and individuals also causes problems.
• Polyamory: Izuku, Ochako and Aoi from Chapter 23 onwards.
• Running Gag:
  • Every time someone is mentioned by their name or actions, the scene cuts to that person sneezing.
  • Izuku running into some character or issue during a day out, especially while going on dates with Ochako and Aoi, becomes one by Chapter 28.
• Secret-Keeper: Only a few others share Izuku's secrets. Among them are his master All Might, Gran Torino, Nedzu, Sir Nighteye, and Aizawa. Tsuyu later joins them as she took notice of Izuku's Freudian Slip ups and pieced together about him coming from the future, followed by Aoi who overhears when thought to be passed out, and Ochako to whom Izuku voluntarily reveals his nature of time traveler and how he already knew her - along with his love confession.
• Serial Escalation: For most of Act I, the story deals with the many changes and new events that Izuku creates by going back in time; quite a lot but still just a single timeline, and limited to Japan. The introduction of The Multiverse makes the scope bigger, even if it has directly affected the main story only a few times so far. Meanwhile, further events in Act II end up building bigger threats (not just on a simple strenght level) than Izuku and company have faced originally, and places and people outside of Japan get involved.
• Sneeze Cut: A Running Gag in the story.
• Title Drop:
  • In the end notes of Chapter 12, a character says it's time to start Toga's rehabilitation, leading to the Rehabilitation spin-off published shortly after.
  • At the end of Chapter 25, Shigaraki says Deku is playing "New Game Plus".
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Since his arrival in the past Izuku has brought so many changes to known events that Bakugo's personality and development have taken a turn for the worse; by the end of the new Hosu arc he's been expelled from UA and recruited by All For One in person, and if Nighteye's vision comes true, he'll go so down the path of villainy that even Izuku will give up on him.
  • Izuku encouraging Hanako's vaguely worded dreams sets her down the path of joining Stain. She succeeds in that but she's later burned by finding out his ideals are too much even for her.
  • Similarly to Bakugo, Izuku's new actions (and in some cases, lack of action) have generated a chain of events from which the whole Todoroki family have come out worse than they were at the same point in canon. Events in Act II appear to sway Shoto off the potential darker path he was on, including a strong temptation of joining Dabi.
  • The UA faculty, especially Nedzu and Aizawa who know Izuku's secret, try and protect the students and curb the attitudes of the most problematic ones with the best of intentions. However, they often end up involuntarily making things worse also because of the Butterfly Effect, especially with Bakugo as the attempts to railroad him using Izuku's knowledge end up making him worse in the long run. Another example is when they allow Hanako Yumara to visit UA even if the villain attack happened very recently, inadvertently kickstarting a chain of events that ends with her meeting and joining Stain.
• Visions of Another Self:
  • The theory that dreams are visions of alternate universes is treated as true here. Endeavor once dreamed of himself and other heroes dying to a mysterious villain; Ronri knows because it was actually her in another timeline, acting in revenge for how Izuku was treated there. Further elaborated in Deep Dive #1. Deep Dive #3 also features a character experiencing a nightmare, and the reader seeing what happened to their counterpart after the point the nightmare ended, while #10 ends with a counterpart of a prominently featured character waking up.
  • Following the reveal of the Multiverse encompassing literally any work of fiction, there's also the implication that human imagination in general is a window to other worlds, as characters and objects who are fictional to the story's cast actually exist in other universes.

• Tropes In Act 1 (Chapters 1~38, Rehabilitation 1-2, Side Stories 1~6, What If 1)
• Tropes in Act 2 (Chapters 39 onwards, Rehabilitation 3~6, Deep Dive 1~15, Side Stories 7~9, Ronri: Origins, What If 2-3)
• Tropes In Return Of The Shield Deku

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