#Like I knew eri was foreshadowing of saving tenko

[thyandrawrites]

I was rereading chapter 44 for fic writing purposes and

Oh my god

Can't believe I never put the pieces together before

Shouto's internal monologue here is literally foreshadowing. Change the subject of his thoughts from Rei to Touya and all of it still perfectly applies. The narrative significance of Shouto facing an estranged family member that might still hold resentment for him; Shouto's wish to reconnect mixed with the fear that makes his hands shake on that door handle (not dissimilar to his uncertainty towards Touya after the first war); the way Shouto's made to feel like he's the one holding the family member back from healing, together with his dad, despite that being a false belief and solely Enji's fault; the way it's purely Shouto's resolve that bridges that distance; the stress on Shouto feeling responsible for the abuse Rei suffered and the uncertainty he feels as the 'source' of her unhappiness (and by extension, Touya's).

The use of the word "existence" in particular stands out as significant: in jp, the word used here is the same Touya uses when he says he couldn't figure out why he "existed". The line that was translated as "with all I got" in japanese specifically has him talking about his body, thus referring more outwardly to his baggage as the "masterpiece" than as the pep talk it appears to be here. Which works as another callback to Touya's hangups

And then of course there's the most blatant hint that this is indeed supposed to read as foreshadowing:

"even if she's not asking for it"

Which directly ties to the war arc and Deku's resolve (mirrored by Ochako and, indeed, Shouto), to extend a helping hand to the villains even if they don't want the heroes' help.

And then, as the cherry on top, Shouto's eventual success here is framed as the one challenge he needs to overcome to truly call himself a hero.

🤯🤯

He's not. just talking. about Rei. At least on a metatextual level. Blows my mind.

But of course you won't know that until you reread everything from the beginning.

Rei was the first step towards Shouto finding his path as a hero, but the way Touya's next is woven into the story as early as this, and it's set up as the eventual climax of Shouto's arc right from the start

Chapter 44, guys. Dabi was introduced a couple of chapters later. Take that, haters. Shouto saving his brother was always in the plans.

You can say many things about Horikoshi's writing and its ups and downs, but you gotta hand it to him, this is super neat

[dekusleftsock]

Turning tragedy into hope-Let him lose those arms

I’ve tried making this post three times so let’s hope that third times the charm y’all.

I’m just gonna come out and say it but when I saw that panel where Izuku doesn’t have any hands I literally got so excited.

AND ITS NOT BECAUSE I LIKE MY FAVORITE CHARACTER GETTING BRUTALIZED (well? I do think it’s a little funny but shhh)

But it’s because this has been foreshadowed almost as much as the handhold itself between Izuku and Katsuki. And it’s wonderfully tragic in the best of ways. Literally half of the commentary surrounding it when it came out in the leaks was “omg I thought of that!” Because literally everyone and their mother KNEW this was coming in some form. Izuku was going to lose an arm, and that would be the case.

Hell, even outside of the story the amount of official art and AU’s Horikoshi drew that had Izuku without an arm is astounding. Like it’s so painfully obvious that this was coming, and so he upped the shock when he made Izuku lose them both.

Izuku is even doing his white eye thing, he isn’t shocked, he’s angry. My dude is pissed. Clearly, to me at least, the loss of his hands is less of a shock to him and more so that he’s angry that afo took away the reason he lost them in the first place—Tenko.

Y’all gotta remember who Izuku is, he’s the stubborn motherfucker that refused time and time again to give up on his dreams, he’s the one that illegally saved Iida and Katsuki, he’s the one that refused to let go of Tenko’s hands because when he was in his time of need, it comforted him.

Izuku has been told by his doctors for over a year atp that he was going to eventually either lose his hands, or lose the function within them. He’s accepted that. He can try to stop it, hold it off through equipment and treatment, but at the end of the day, everything breaks eventually. He knows that. We know that.

So if he was going to lose his arms in some way, it’d be through this: saving someone, holding their hands, never letting go, comforting them.

It’s tragic and sacrificial, but Aizawa’s the same. Did we make theories about how Eri is gonna heal him from being an amputee? Did the story say “actually due to this cool magical illusion/quirk it was all a mirage/eri could heal it”? No, it didn’t. Did Mirko somehow get her arms and legs back because they’re tied to how she views her strength? No, she didn’t.

And there’s a reason they didn’t. Multiple reasons they didn’t. They’re heroes, their scars tell their stories.

Not even mentioning how that’s such a trope (“everyone else keeps their long term injuries except for the main character because he’s special and gets main character powers, like not getting a disability from a dangerous job! :)”), but why should eri, a little girl, be responsible for everyone’s injuries? She doesn’t even have full control yet, she’s playing it by day. (People LOVE to talk about how all the 1-A kids are just kids fighting in a war, except when it comes to a little girl being responsible for everyone’s injuries, somehow)

The reason eri was shown wasn’t because she was going to somehow save the day, but because she wasn’t. It was supposed to stop those theories from having actual merit, because eri doesn’t actually have the built up strength to help.

So, with that out of the way, I wanted to say how this is so fucking beautiful. It’s tragic yes, Izuku and Katsuki never got to hold hands, not properly, but maybe the measure of their trust is beyond that. Maybe, an embrace could suffice—this would go back to Izuku’s vigilante arc. Where, instead of holding hands, Katsuki caught him when he needed to. And he’s going to do it, again and again.

Maybe holding a robot or silicone arm won’t feel the same, but it’s the feelings surrounding it that matters, not the act itself. The hand hold is still there, the hands still haunt the narrative like a mouse within the walls. It bites at cords like their own emotional walls.

Katsuki missed his chance, over and over again, and he’s going to have to come to terms with that. But that’s not to say that the story won’t let this aspect haunt the narrative like it always has. It’s still THERE, and I believe in Horikoshi to continue to write a story about hands while the main character doesn’t even have them.

Izuku’s hands are tied to his strength, physically and emotionally. He views them has the glue that ties his heroics to himself. His hands have always reached out to others, his hands have always punched those who were wrong, and even when he had to switch fighting styles he still saw them as the reason he was able to fight at all. They represent OFA, his love, his anger, his weakness, his strength. They represent his sense of self, and yet he’s more outraged than hurt that he lost them for Tenko to be free—only for AFO to take away that freedom all over again.

THATS why the loss had to happen. THIS. He lost something so incredibly valuable to himself, but he lost them of his own accord. He could have let go of Tenko at any moment, yet he didn’t because he wanted Tenko to know comfort and freedom. He wanted him to be free.

You could say that Tenko was telling Izuku to let go because he was breaking down his emotional resolve, and I believe you could also say that he was telling Izuku to let go so he doesn’t hurt someone who tried to help him all over again. You could say it’s both. It’s selfish and selfless, like everything in this story is. But Izuku refused to, and that was a choice Tenko could never take away from him.

So, that’s how I’ll turn this tragedy to hope, because this was done out of Izuku’s love, why take away that meaning?

Why put them back?

Why take away those scars?

Scars tell stories, they tell you how we became the greatest heroes.