#Which is valid of course. I'm not the judge of how ppl want to consume media. It's called entertainment for a reason

[thyandrawrites]

Looking back on it, I remember watching a few videos that encouraged the viewer to give Endeavor a chance. I ended up doing just that with mild hesitation given Horikoshi’s “interesting” way of handling him and you know what? Ol’ Enji proved to a be a bigger disappointment than I could’ve imagined! Here’s to hoping he gets prison time since I’ll be disappointed if he rejoins his family free of charge.

Honestly I think that a good portion of the people who praise his "growth" don't know the difference between show and tell. Or don't think that atoning goes past the simple will to do better. Because Enji's actions don't line up with that will at all. Which, you know, could be compelling if done right.

You want Enji to be resistant to change? Cool. You can absolutely write that and show how he went into atonement with the wrong mindset. You could focus on unmasking how his motivations are still selfish, and make him fail to get the one thing he wants as a result.

Like, it's canon text that he approached atonement as a challenge to prove himself in the eyes of his family. Not because he actually wanted to help them, but because he wanted to be the recipient of their respect. And it's also canon text that he got sucker-punched in the face by Dabi's reveal because he thought he could simply sweep the past under the rug and start afresh, with his pride intact, never owning up to it ever again.

It would've been a no-brainer to build off that and make him either persist in that self-obsessed avoidance and miss his chance at atonement altogether, or grow up and actually face the fallout of his actions. But instead, the narrative seems intent on making him run away from every responsibility, and then patting his back and praising him for his stagnancy by calling it development instead. All because heroes are the protagonists and they can't ever look bad.

It's all... Very frustrating tbh. I don't know how people can watch him ignore Shouto and Touya to go chase after All for One and not realize he's literally still the same cowardly man who refused to face his son and threw himself into hero work to avoid his duty as a father. The only difference is that now Deku and company lick his boots and call him a changed man for it.

I don't know why horikoshi chose to go this debatable route of softening Enji's character, especially since his writing never stopped focusing on how he's still neglectful and selfish. I supect it might be marketing logic, or editorial interference, since they have to sell merch and promote stuff and a black and white bad guy as the pillar of "moral" society is counterintuitive. But it seems to me like Hori doesn't want to write him actually changing. He takes every chance he gets to throw more dirt on the man, to paint him as an unsympathetic and almost groteque-looking monster, and all his better sides are only ever told but never shown, and blandly at that.

So while I don't think prison is in the cards for either him or Hawks (or any other hero tbh), I'm still... Very perplexed by the obvious lack of clear direction for his character. As I mentioned before, it seems like Horikoshi himself doesn't know what he wants to do with Enji's atonement. The story keeps throwing dices blindfolded, so one week he's a bad guy who can't possibly be excused, and the next everyone around him is kissing his ass, and both options are true and false at the same time. And this is played straight. And apparently some people find it satisfying...?