#Harima Oji

[takami-flock]

Oops just remembered to post this here XD

[codenamesazanka]

The cope:

Next chapter switches back to Geten and Mr. Compress. It's time for Compress to share his story, so of course he talks about his great-great-grandfather, the vigilante thief, Harima.

He explains that Harima came from that very first generation of children born with quirks, when everyone was doing whatever they can to survive, so it was the perfect environment for Harima to hone his skills and his quirk, though he still only ever stole out of necessity. When they put the Hero System into place, when things were calming down, Harima was happy to settle down. Find a normal job, get married, have a family.

But after a few years, it was clear that the Hero System didn't actually stop all the chaos. It just took a different form. Some of the heroes began to unofficially carve out territories, and essentially made people pay them for protection. People who couldn't pay didn't get helped, so poor neighborhoods were simply abandoned. When they turned to crime to survive, they get branded as criminals. That was when Harima started to steal again, this time from corrupted Heroes to give to those poor neighborhoods. He didn't hate the idea of heroes, but he thought reform was necessary, and so he dedicated the rest of his life to that.

Since then, things have changed, but not too much. Money's still a factor to Hero work, but now also has fame added to the equation. Villains are still often people trying to survive in a world that's hard for them to live in. It's clear Harima's dream of reformation was still needed. So his legacy lives on in his descendants, who all try to expose injustice in their own way.

Compress says that he's actually the odd one out in his family, the only one who went and became a straight-up Villain. It felt fitting that one of them should go back to their villainous root, but in general, the family is dispersed into all walks of life. But at the very beginning, he started out as a magician. He failed to make a career out of it; still, learning magic taught him lots of important things.

See, magic is all about misdirection. For instance, drawing attention to one thing so they fail to notice another. The best time to do so is when everyone has their guard down, because of some spectacle... celebrating too hard to pay attention to little things, like a coworker who has walked away, or a missing key...

AND WE GET PANELS. Of a paramedic moving Dabi into an ambulance, but driving away alone. One of the reporters in the helicopter carrying Toga toward a different direction than the rest of the crew rushing Ochako into the hospital. A lone nurse appearing in the hospital basement, approaching Spinner.

And finally, the door to Compress's cell unlocks, opening to reveal a single police officer. Compress sighs, saying that if she (the police officer) is here, then the Heroes have won. Guess they have to keep chasing after the dream... So he ask if his cousin can also unlock the other cells. One of them holds a doctor, who probably will be very needed...

[delawaredetroit]

Ah yes, the famous villains All for One...and two guys we still know nothing about at the end of the manga

[thebnha-auhoard]

Au where everything is the same except Yoichi is the Peerless Thief.

Harima Oji still existed, he and Yoichi were just separate thieves and knew each other. They had the brother dynamic that All For One wished he had.

The reason why Yoichi wasn't tagged as the Peerless Thief was because he willingly gave up his title to Harima. He was the better thief anyways.

As he says that he thinks about the mad heists Harima pulled, and he can't get over the heist involving stealing his brother's Coat. Not any other old coat, The Coat. The one that his brother would flaunt and practically one of the telling signs that he was All For One. To steal from the King of the Underworld...that was one hell of an achievement.

At the same time as Yoichi goes and gives the title, Harima just thinks back to all the times Yoichi would steal not by grand heists but by simple words and through natural charisma. It's almost scary how good he was at getting people wrapped around his finger and showing him all their valuables.

And then in the corner we have Second and Third accidentally getting infatuated with that white-haired thief from the bar. God he was so hot and then he stole both of their phones and wallets and then he helped them with All For One and they both have it baaaad.

Meanwhile All For One is trying to figure out where his brother is going whenever he goes out with his friend. I bet that friend is getting Yoichi in so much trouble. God the moment he finds where Yoichi is going he’s going to place a hit on that guy and then vault his brother. His brother, doing anything that is beyond the image All For One made in his head? Hah! Impossible! He’s helpless after all!

[wentasch]

Here are the new pieces I drew for the edit that @takami-flock beautifully made.

Shun Harima

Shunko Harima

Hayato Takami Harima

Junto Takami Harima

Tsumi Takami Harima

And the big boss himself, Oji Harima. (Probably my favorite because of that creepy smile)

Shinyo is not part of this edit because me and Ines both agreed that this guy would not wear a suit, especially Harima’s.

The OCs are from @takami-flock, @sleepwalkersqueen and me.

[demon-lord-afo]

The Big 3

.

.

.

Just kidding

I'm the only big time Villain

The middle one was an ugly nobody

And the other died in prison after failing a revolution

I'm the only one who's worthy of being called a Supervillain

[great-cats]

BLACKOUT BIND? THE EPISODE GOT ALL THE WAY TO BLACKOUT BIND??

Folks, I'm not at all ready for this

CHILD COMPRESS CANON IN THE PREVIEW?

Man, I'm dead 💀

THIS SHOT WAS SO GOOFY THE STILL FRAME WAS JUST SLIDING ALONG

Yeah it's confirmed. I'm not at all ready for this

Over all, the episode was rather shoddy for something that got shown at the jump fest, but I got some Compress content so all is well.

[starredmoth]

A good plot twist can give a completely new understanding of a characters actions and dialogue. Suddenly knowing key information about a character can make you realize "Oh that's why they did that." or "That's why they have these opinions."

Mr compress' backstory is the exact opposite, literally none of his actions make any sense when you know his backstory.

Like he's the great-great-grandson of a guy who was basically robin hood, why the fuck is he joining a group of villains who are trying to kidnap and murder children? Why does he approve of indiscriminate mass murder? None of it makes any sense.

With a backstory like that he would've worked far better as an independent villain who was trying to expose government and hero corruption. Kind of like a more competent Gentle criminal who focused on actual corruption rather than a supermarket mislabeling expiration dates.

I am quite interested in that Mr. Compress rant if you do not mind sharing?

Mr. Comrpess felt so wasted among the members of LOV. He started off really strong. He's got a unique personality, a standout design, an amazing power, and a strong introduction. He catches the students totally off-guard, captures Tokoyami and Bakugou, and is probably the main reason why that plan succeeded in the first place. But after that, he really fades into the background and doesn't do much. He helps Toga and Twice escape the Yakuza, but that was a double. He takes Overhaul's arm, but that scene is completely dominated by Tomura. He doesn't get much to do in the MLA Arc, he didn't even get his own counterpart to fight, and he only becomes relevant when he saves Tomura.

This is especially felt when his backstory, if you could even call it that, is revealed. Hori had all this time to bring it up and then he rushed it with a few panels. It reeks a lot of Magne's death. A brief flashback of a character that didn't have much going on with them, desperately trying to get you to care about someone we haven't seen much of. Which again, was overshadowed by the Dabi reveal and everything else going on with the war. It feels like Hori didn't know what to do with Sako. It's like he only kept Mr. Compress around because he didn't have a chance to get rid of him in a satisfying way. I get that some characters won't get as much attention as others, but the sheer lack of anything going on with him feels baffling when Hori had all this time to develop him.

His backstory is especially bizarre given how at odds it is with the rest of LOV. When it comes to the main members of the League, all of their backstories revolve around how they were somehow faulted by society and that caused them to turn to villainy. Dabi was pushed into a bad headspace via social pressures put on him by his father. Toga's psychotic urges weren't treated properly, which led to a breakdown. Spinner felt pushed down his entire life and rallied to a symbol that gave him strength. Twice's criminal record and mental instability made him feel ostracized and he turned to the League for support. Sako doesn't really fit in with that. He wants to be like his ancestor, Harima. He chose to do this. As for far as we can tell, nothing external pushed him.

And it raises the question of why he's even in the League. Harima was a Robin Hood figure, trying to undermine selfish heroes and give back to the poor. If Sako wants to be like him, why is he with the League? Tomura wants total destruction. This works with the rest of the League or at least doesn't conflict with it. They try to connect to to putting things right, but that doesn't really sit well. Which I guess is part of the issue when you connect a character to a complete nobody that the audience barely knows. It would make more sense if he felt compelled to do this by societal shunning, hated for the crime of being barely related to a major villain and felt vengeful for it. Alternatively, maybe he could be a wannabe entertainer who felt like villainy was the only way to show off his skills because he couldn't use his Quirk without a license.

[autumnmobile12]

Normally when I create OCs, they're background characters. Names attached to a function; this character’s father, that guy’s childhood friend, etc. Sometimes I try to slip in cameo characters from other series for some extra fun. Ultimately, they serve no purpose.

But in Chapter 5 of Ambush Simulation, the character of Mr. Compress’ mother, Sako Koharu, kinda took on a life of her own and I decided to create a character design.

The inspiration behind Sako Koharu “Miss Sinister” came from the fact that Compress and his great-grandfather, Harima Oji, do not share a surname.  True, this could be because of one or more identity changes down the three generations, but it’s more interesting if this was a matrilineal relation. There is that one brief flashback Compress has where his father is talking to him about the family bloodline, but since the line is, 'you carry the Harima bloodline,' and not 'we,' there's just enough wiggle room that it's plausible the guy could have been referring to the lineage as an adjacent outsider.

So Sako Koharu.

Koharu was Harima Oji’s granddaughter and a thief.

The other part that went in her creation was my skeptism that all villains just accepted All For One as the crime overlord.  Historically, that’s not how humans behave, and I say that if there’s a whole gaggle of heroes who aspired to surpass All Might despite it seeming impossible, then there’s not reason a villain wouldn’t aspire to surpass AFO. You can't tell me that in all the years he was in power, not one villain looked at him and thought,

"That's a nice throne he's got there. I think I'll take it."

...

Similar to Compress’ ability to create an enclosed space and trap people/items, Koharu’s Quirk was Vacuum.  She could create a sealed space devoid of oxygen, and she used it to suffocate her victims.  It takes four to six minutes for suffocation to kill a person, so with her willingness to subject someone to that, Koharu was cold and ruthless with her enemies, and she used her Quirk to intimidate other villains, earning her a place as a feared crime lord. However, despite Koharu’s cruel demeanor, it is important to note that Compress never speaks of her in a negative way.  When Toga asks him if he had a good family, he answers, “The best.”  He also does not want to traumatize Toga with a description of how they died, both to spare her nightmares and to keep himself from reliving it.  This affection for his deceased family members contrasted with Koharu’s brutality gives a much deeper meaning to his line in Chapter 2:

“I’ve met criminals and villains who had more integrity than this.”

Compress saw firsthand what Toga’s normal family did to her, he knows about Shimura’s past with his civilian father, he suspects something bad happened to Magne with her family (although she’s told no one in their group about her past), and he knows how Endeavor the hero has abused his family.

And he’s left with the cynicism of,  “My mother was one of the most feared villains of the criminal underground and had aspirations of surpassing the current villain overlord.  And she was the most wonderful parent I knew. She loved us equally, she didn't care if we had or didn't have the same potential she did, she made sure we knew our heritage, but she didn't push us toward her path of radicalism.”

In spite of being a vicious criminal, Koharu loved and fiercely protected what was hers right up until the end.

RIP to a real one.

...

Her design had two inspirations, and it's rare that I can pinpoint something that specific in my head.

Her clothes came from this official art of Allen Walker from D. Gray Man. (Also took some inspo from the pose, too.)

And her design in general was inspired by Julia Belmont from Castlevania Nocturne.

Allen's influence made her look a little more ringmaster than whatever look Compress was going for, but the general aesthetic of emulating his late mother is there.

[mooniemp3]

I just want to talk about the curious connection between Dabi and Mr. Compress.

When MVA starts, we have 6 members of the LoV, these 6 are the most recognized members. While everyone in the LoV are connected because they share a lot of between themselves, each member have their partner. This duos are thematically connected, their characters share more specific things and usually, their best relationship in the LoV are with this partner. These duos are formed around the main 3 villains: Toga and Jin/Twice (the most notorious duo), Tomura/Tenko and Shuichi/Spinner, and Dabi/Touya and Mr. Compress/Atsuhiro.

A lot was and is talked about the first two duos, so let's focus on the third one.

I think it's not a surprise that despite the fact that Touya didn't want to get along a lot with the LoV, he did. And the one who weirdly had and has a better relationship (the best Touya can do) is Atsuhiro. The two mysterious ones.

What they have in common?

Theater/Dance theme, performance as the core of how they show themselves: While Atsuhiro is more "dramatical" and elegant, we know Touya, when it comes to showing before his family, he does his act, certain poses, phrases, etc, it's more like gothic literature btw (he is like Frankenstein's monster) Both share this theater theme/aesthetic, it's obvious, it's the first trait that its presented about Atsuhiro. While in Touya's case, is something we see later.

The family heritage and believing they are an extension of certain relative, the core of their stories: Core piece of their stories is about the accomplishment of his family heritage, the importance of their family ties.

Touya puts emphasis on being Endeavor's son, explaining that he does what he does because of being his son. He is Endeavor's projection, his continuation, his extension.

Atsuhiro puts emphasis on being Oji Harima's descendant, explaing he does what he does because he has to do what Oji Harima did. He has his blood, he sees himself as his continuation, his extension.

Atsuhiro himself highlights that Touya and him share this thing about being part of certain lineage.

Both let their lifes be about this relative, making it the core of their decisions and actions.

Of course it's extremely different what they lived but the point here is the essential part of the influence of family heritage in their lives.

New identity: Easy, Touya died, Dabi was born.

Atsuhiro before was a magician, an entertainer. But now he is Mr. Compress.

They new identity are their choice, it isn't a reference to someone else, and it's not only a new name and look, it's a whole new life purpose, their new self.

Both hid their true appearances, and revealing themselves is a big show.

Dabi's Dance and Final Performance: Touya's revelation and Atsuhiro's escape "act" are events that happened next to each other. In fact, one is ch. 290 and the other ch. 294. Atsuhiro's revelation follows Touya's. He starts the show with his dance, and Atsuhiro finish it with the League's escape. It all start with Touya first move of presenting himself as Touya Todoroki and ends with Atsuhiro's reverence. And they use the same stage for their show.

Both chapters have this curious theme about staging and their performances. For Touya its the beginning of his show, while for Atushiro, its the final. It's literally in the titles, the show theme is so important.

In these chapters, both reveal their real appearance and present their family ties and how important they are for who they are now.

Another detail is that the last one that Atsuhiro compressed is Touya, giving him something like a high five, looking like some takeover for Touya. Now he is the principal performer, the principal entertainer, it's his show, the beginning of it.

Self destruction as their show: Atsuhiro mutilated himself making the great escape for his friends. He didn't stop until Mirio punched him, but even being hurt, the show didn't stop. Touya is burning himself even more for his show. In Dabi's Dance he burned more parts of his skin, and during this final arc, he looks like a corpse, and it's crucial to his "show", his last show. Also, both do this using their quirks.

[takami-flock]

The amazing @wentasch recently drew some impressive pieces for our interpretation of Harima Clan (based on @sleepwalkersqueen’s “Fear Of You”) featuring OC’s of all three of us, and so I decided to edit them ^^

[codenamesazanka]

Japanese Compress fans are very, very happy to see this preview image, and are going crazy with wonder. Is that young Atsuhiro? With maybe his dad???

Particularly, fans take note of the traditional Japanese looking clothing both are wearing:

as well as the headband! Makes them look much like their ancestor, Harima Oji, the infamous thief that seemed to be one of the first major Villains opposing the newly established Heroes of his time. Harima’s costume looks to have kabuki (traditional Japanese dance-drama theatre) aesthetics, so that would be fitting.

Anyways, thoughts are abuzz: Are the Sako family a rather traditional family? Did they live in a big old-timey wooden house, complete with a koi pond and bamboo garden? These are more fantastical musings, but one main question is: Mr. Compress’ current outfit is distinctively Western style (suit, bolo tie, top hat), in contrast with what Harima wore and what we see in the preview. Why is that? 

Was it a family thing to wear Harima’s costume? Did Mr. Compress break tradition, even as he tried to follow in Harima’s folk-hero-thieving footsteps? 

Many questions! No answers yet! Let’s hope Mr. Compress show up in the manga soon and we’ll get to find out more about him! 

TINY COMPRESS

[marbled-magician]

Can you prove that you're the a descendant of the Peerless Thief: Oji Harima?

Journalist

I actually have the DNA test papers that show that I am the same blood as the Peerless Thief.. but I will not disclose such classified documents!

- Mr. コンプレス

[thebnha-auhoard]

How possessive is AFO in worst time? Cause that looks like Lord of The Rings Level Possessive

Well according to him he would say "I'm not possessive. I am simply protective. There's a difference." So he's very possessive and he is on the cusp of just Vaulting Yoichi before the Time Travelers came in and sped up the process.

He simply wants to go and keep Yoichi safe he says. Look at what’s happening in the streets! More and more people are dying and who knows where the Metahumans that are captured go. He has to go and keep Yoichi away from all harm. Why can’t Yoichi see that?

Yoichi is extremely aware of how possessive his brother is hates all of this. So he often just takes any and every opportunity he has to go out and not be around his brother. This then leads to the time travelers meeting him and well. Nothing is going to be good from that point on.

The possessiveness is going to grow when All For One vaults Yoichi, and it’s going to grow even more when the time travelers break into AFO’s base and some guy with pineapple hair and a pesky Thief comes in and steals his brother from the Vault.

So yeah just the normal amount of possessiveness. No big deal.

(Somewhere in the void of One For All, four people start freaking out on what just happened and are terrified on what will happen to them.

The Third knew the Thief, they met a couple of times. Both in and out of work. It would make sense that a Detective would chase after a Thief. It makes less sense considering this is also the time where he quit and started becoming a vigilante before he got arrested and sent to-

But he’s still free and still has that spark in his eyes.

There’s a reason why this is happening. There has to be. Third doesn’t know how the Ninth and his group is changing so much but it’s going to mean something but they don’t know what.

In the back of the Second’s mind, he realizes that there will be no one to reach out for him. And he realizes with horror that All For One will not be the only obstacle for them.

As the group goes and breaks Yoichi out, a shot rings through the air.)

[wentasch]

Hone’s undying loyalty

Hone was raised in a swordsman clan which cared much for honor and their traditions. Something Hone picked up on too.

So when he was given away he felt useless and thrown away.

Harima gave him purpose again.

This is why Hone is most loyal to the Harima family and believes in their clans superiority.

He will bow down for Harima’s blood if it passes him. He will get on one knee every time he is before Harima himself.

Hone has such great respect for this family and he will cut down everybody who dares to speak ill of them.

He’s like Harima’s blade.

Feared and respected. Like Harima should be.

The Harima clan comes from the fanfic Fear of You by @sleepwalkersqueen

The little boy in the drawing is Shun, Harima’s son, an OC by @takami-flock and Hones design comes from me

[deusvervewrites]

Woomy AU:

Ok, The Squid Sisters are Idol Heroes.

Off the Hook, I imagine are heroes too. If not Pearl is a support company heiress, with Marina being a Support Inventor. And they're dating because of course.

And Deep Cut are Vigilantes, following Harima Oji's doctrine.

Yeah these all make sense