A Forgotten My Hero Academia Character Returned to Reclaim Her Powers
Warning! Spoilers ahead for My Hero Academia chapter 340!
Tomoko Shiretoko aka Ragdoll of the Wild, Wild Pussycats pro hero team just made another brief but possibly very important cameo in the latest chapter of My Hero Academia.
The few fans who still remember Ragdoll recall how All For One stole her Search quirk during the Forest Training Camp arc. But she recently returned in chapter 340 to participate in the critical League of Villains/Paranormal Liberation Front Counter-Force meeting where All Might shares his plan and explains how their success is predicated on the separation of the last remaining villains. The organization's members only invited a few heroes to this pivotal gathering to ensure the information doesn't leak, and Ragdoll was the only one of the Wild, Wild Pussycats who made the cut.
Up until this moment, Ragdoll only briefly appeared at random intervals, most of the time just to provide updates on her current situation after All For One stole her quirk like the villain did with Star and Stripe. Ragdoll was more like her regular energetic self during her first appearance after her capture. Even though she could only contribute to the Wild, Wild Pussycats from the office, she articulated this unfortunate development as upbeat as possible by gesturing in midair with her fingers as though she were typing furiously at a computer. Her latest appearance was much more sobering during the Paranormal Liberation War, grumbling about not being able to help her teammates from behind a desk. But she seems to have returned to her old, overly flamboyant stuff in this latest chapter, making odd, goofy facial expressions and repeating other people's statements in an adorable manner.
But even more crucial is that she might be able to help hero society more than just keeping up with annoying paperwork. Despite the fact she can no longer read other people's locations and stats, she acts as though she still can help in this capacity when she says about All For One and his followers, "They're out there using my Search quirk for evil meow. So I'm here to help however I can." When she says, "Let's hear," Ragdoll pulls on her ear, creating the impression that she might actually be able to hear Tomura Shigaraki who is currently using Search.
It's been well-documented in My Hero Academia that anyone who possesses a quirk that originally belonged to someone else will experience echoes of the former wielder's consciousness in different ways. Is there a possibility that Ragdoll can somehow tell when and how Shigaraki uses Search whenever her consciousness echoes inside of him? As an echo, it's assumed that her actual consciousness won't actually appear in Shigaraki's mind, allowing her to hear or see what's happening there. Only the current wielder can undergo such experiences. Unfortunately, readers don't learn any more in chapter 340, since she doesn't appear again. That said, My Hero Academia has already completely changed how quirks work before. Why couldn't this happen again with Ragdoll?