#deku thinks afo is EVIL sure but WRONG?

[stillness-in-green]

The thing that doesn't make sense to me if Izuku resolved to kill is how it doesn't let them prove AFO wrong? AFO did his big reveal which only makes it clearer how deep the grooming went and it should've been time for Izuku to understand Tenko and Tenko to understand the abuse then reject the mindset forced onto him. But Izuku killing Tenko doesn't do that. Tenko just dies. It feels very wrong.

I guess Izuku just wasn't very interested in proving AFO wrong! Honestly, the only thing I immediately remember Izuku disputing the guy on was the same thing he disputed Shigaraki on: that he was anything more than a human being. AFO isn't a Demon King, but just a lonely man. Shigaraki hasn't transcended humanity; there's still a human somewhere deep inside of him. Izuku won't correct his allies' use of dehumanizing language for Villains, of course, but he's quick to push back when the Villains themselves self-aggrandize.

Sorry, I really only have withering disdain for Deku at this point. And I guess I don't really see any evidence that Deku was ever particularly driven by "proving AFO wrong." He wants to stop AFO, certainly, but that's because AFO is a monster who takes advantage of vulnerable people to maneuver them into doing Bad Things that advance AFO's Bad Plans and sets them onto Bad Paths that are difficult to walk back, not because he expressly opposes AFO on this or that ideological point about the nature of humanity and society.

(Hit the jump for the rest of a somewhat rambly reply.)

If anything, current evidence is that neither Deku nor the manga itself really do disagree with AFO about the frailty of humans, as expressed by Tsukauchi answering Deku's question about how to prevent future tragedies by shrugging and saying, "You don't, because life fucking sucks sometimes and that's just how it is. Our hands are completely tied on improving the system as we have it, so all we can do is punch out the Villains that appear in front of us to stop them from causing more harm."

That's also me being a bit harsh, of course. The fact that Deku is even still asking that question in the epilogue suggests that the manga hasn't reached its final answer yet, and maybe it will yet come up with something better! It doesn't have much time left, but it's still possible!

All the same, Deku is still having to ask that question in the epilogue because he never truly faced it over the course of the story. Never thinking about what Shigaraki as a person said in favor of fetishizing the Crying Child, never coming up with any kind of non-violent plan of attack or conversational approach, I have to ask what exactly about Shigaraki did Deku ever disagree with AFO on?

AFO, in the end, characterized Shigaraki as a puppet he molded exactly as he desired, a doll who he sculpted and programmed to act as he wished, a feeble child who has never made a single decision that AFO didn't cultivate him to make. So far as I can tell, Deku never really contested that framing. He didn't know the extent of it until the full reveal, of course, but Deku, like AFO, insisted on approaching Shigaraki solely through that "Crying Child" lens. He seemed to believe that nothing Shigaraki said or did on the surface really mattered (save as a reason that Shigaraki had to be stopped and potentially killed), that the "truth" of Shigaraki was that feeble little weeping boy who never grew up.

How could Deku possibly "prove AFO wrong" in that context? He doesn't even disagree with him! I mean, he's got some nice talk about how people deserve a second chance, sure; he says that people doing wrong doesn't make them Villains for the rest of their lives. What does do that, however - insofar as I can tell from how opaque the series keeps Deku throughout the final war - is refusing the hand out of the darkness. You stop being a victim and become a Villain for the rest of your life by choosing to remain a Villain even when offered an alternative (no matter how patently awful that alternative is).

Shigaraki chooses to remain a Villain and Deku doesn't have a counter for that because Deku never really got past the false binary represented by Villains and Victims to begin with. And I think the same goes for people who expected Shigaraki to just fold when he realized the extent of the grooming he'd undergone. Disallowing Shigaraki any agency in who he is and what he's done is defining him the same way AFO and Deku both did; when Shigaraki refuses to accept that framing, refuses to be a passive victim, the only thing left for him to be is a Villain. And when a Villain refuses to stop...

Well, Hawks already told us what the Heroes' answer to that is. "Someone has to die." As no one ever stepped up to prove him wrong, as far as the story is concerned, he isn't.

AFO always knew that victims can be turned into Villains with the right nudges; that's the whole reason for him cultivating "warped seeds" whenever and wherever he found them. Hero Society is - and always has been - much too rigid in its enforcement of the Hero/Villain/Victim narrative to effectively combat him. Crucially, Deku - the boy who wants to bring everything back just the way it was - doesn't disagree with him. He thinks AFO is an asshole for setting people up to fail, but he doesn't disagree about what failure means. So if AFO, Deku, and the story itself are all in agreement, what's even there for Deku to disprove?

Now, there is something that would prove AFO wrong, but it isn't something you can do while insisting on drawing lines to separate sad manipulated woobie victims who just need to be saved from awful unrepentant villains who just need to rot. It isn't something you can do while infantilizing Shigaraki Tomura.

The way to prove AFO wrong is to make room in society to help all Villains. Even if they aren't asking for it, even if they never ask for it, and even if they're jolly bastards who don't really deserve it! As long as there's a point at which it becomes okay to give up on trying to save Villains, Shigaraki will remain unsavable. He will insist on being unsavable. He could no more let that go than All Might could step aside and let AFO's attack kill an innocent at Kamino.

That's what it means to be a Hero for Villains.

Ultimately, what makes AFO right is that he knows that Hero Society makes it difficult if not impossible to uncross the victim-to-Villain bridge, and so anyone who does cross that bridge (with or without his influence) is that much more susceptible to him. Deku, in turn, thinks the only Villains he can save are those who drop everything and come sprinting as fast as they can back to the Hero side, so anyone who won't do that is someone he can't help.

Shigaraki refused to stop trying to create a better world for Villains. Toga refused to live in a world that would imprison her. Twice refused to give up on the friends no Hero would help. It's the same with every other Villain who refused to quietly endure their status quo: in a society that refuses to change how it treats Villains, anyone who won't submit to suffering in silence cannot be saved.

That's the paradigm AFO exploits, and Deku will never prove him wrong without resolving to change the paradigm first. We'll see if the last two chapters get him there.

[codenamesazanka]

bnha could've been so different if Deku wasn't a complete asshat and really thought about what Shigaraki was saying in Chapter 69. "The reason these fools can smile and live their lives is cuz All Might always got that grin on his face. Smiling wide, as if to say there's no one he can't save."

And then after one (1) reflection a few chapters later when he goes "that sure is an opinion", Deku just never thinks about that mall encounter ever again. No "Shigaraki wasn't saved. How? Why? What happened? Should I ask, when I get the chance again? If I had recognized that pain for what it was back then, could things have been different?" Not after Jaku, not during the Edgy Deku Arc where he said he was actively trying to "learn what makes [Shigaraki] tick deep down", not when Shigaraki comes back after Chapter 379.

(then again, why think about it? Issue isn't ultimately All Might's Pillar or Hero Society or a broken social net. It was cuz Tenko wasn't saved from himself.

Saving Tenko/Tomura from being kidnapped and hidden away for 15 years? Saving Tenko from being abandoned on the streets? Saving Tenko from the rest of his neglectful family? Nah. Stop him from decaying his family and save him from his self-loathing. Don't get me wrong, that's important! The massacre was a moral injury that cut him deeply. It's just that ignoring all other issues really makes it seem like the onus is put on Tenko. Or just The One Evil Man.

If only Tenko didn't have this quirk (that AFO gave him, because he knew it would sentence Tenko to a lifetime of rejection, he was depending on society's fear and distrust to do his work). If only Tenko didn't have that bit of resentment toward his family (that was perfectly justified because they watched him get slapped and didn't even let him back into the house) that fueled the quirk. If only AFO didn't exist, this sort of generation trauma could never happen organically and so we would have to actually do something about everything instead of killing one (1) guy.

Deku never tells Tenko different, either. No "it was an accident, you're 5-years-old"; no "of course you'd feel angry and cathartic, you were abused, but it doesn't make you evil"; no "you have the right to exist as a person, no matter what you've done." And you have to assume that he doesn't actually think different. Stop the sadness. By identifying, addressing, and solving the issues that lead up to this? No, by punching Shigaraki into reliving-trauma submission.

I know it's a bit unfair of me to blame Deku. Should be blaming Horikoshi for most of this because Act 3 was bad, and I also am. But when the protag is already an unsympathetic incurious little blockhead 300+ chapters before, the character is also the problem.)

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 410: Kacchan Fights a Baby

Previously on BnHA: Kacchan was born and then he grew up and murdered the Demon Lord.

Today on BnHA: Kacchan fights a baby. Tomura and Deku finally remember that they were supposed to have been fighting too this entire time, and get on with that once again. Tomura is all, “[literally just reaches out and grabs Deku’s face because Deku’s main character powers suddenly abandoned him in a fit of confusion].” Deku is all, “[chops off Tomura’s fingers which is somehow not even in the top twenty of violent things that have happened in this series in just the last five chapters].” Tomura is all “joke’s on you I still got your quirk :D” and fuck me he actually stole Danger Sense, what the fuck.

logically I knew AFO still had to be alive somehow because he’s too big of a villain to go out that easily without a proper sendoff. but deep in my heart, I’m still secretly disappointed

it just isn’t fair, lol. this guy has died more times than Rasputin and he’s still out here scheming his schemey schemes. when oh when will it end

sir you did not just say you had yet ANOTHER unused trump card up your sleeve??

(ETA: the translation isn’t fully clear here, but I think the trump card he’s referring to is the whole “I’ll just go back inside him and join the part of me that was already in there and we’ll take over Tomura’s body again together” plan that he was trying to pull off. I think. if not though, that’s certainly something worth speculating about.)

well as always the psychology in this series is unironically fascinating! he just wants acknowledgement at the end of the day, huh. just wants some love and attention. too bad he was born in a rat-infested hellscape and learned all the wrong lessons and turned into a crazed omnipotent murderlad

also he really did turn back into a baby sdfsdlkjfl oh no. I need to see Katsuki’s reaction to this immediately

oh my lord

(●__●)

lmao this is so incredibly fucked up

ngl though, this is karma at its finest. he tortured and killed so many people trying to earn everyone’s fear and awe and reverence, only to literally blip out of existence at the end with absolutely nothing to show for it

everyone please enjoy this series of panels of a deeply vexed Bakugou Katsuki picking a fight with this slowly melting evil baby

“you think I care that you’re a baby now. you think I won’t fight a fuckin’ baby. let’s do this you little punk”

also I’m sorry but it’s absolutely ridiculous that the gigantic chest wound Tomura inflicted on him got sewed up so neatly lol. AFO’s not the only one who stubbornly refuses to die no matter what

...

just once, it would be nice if Horikoshi didn’t immediately shred my plot nitpicks to pieces mere seconds after I write them

LMAO

BABY AFO DON’T CARE. BABY AFO WILL THROW HANDS WITH ANYONE ＼(｀0´)／

KACCHAN MY BELOVED FAVE OF ALL TIME, ARE YOU REALLY ABOUT TO LOSE TO A LITERAL FUCKING INFANT

WHAT HAPPENED TO “PERFECT VICTORY” LMAO. MOVING THE GOALPOSTS EVEN AS HIS CONSCIOUSNESS FADES. “EH, CLOSE ENOUGH”

-- OH FOR THE LOVE OF --

me: wow it sure is uncharacteristic of Katsuki to just pass out before he properly wraps up this battle

Horikoshi: oh yeah good point, sure would be a shame if someone... IMMEDIATELY ADDRESSED THAT CONCERN ON THE VERY NEXT PAGE

me: ఠ_ఠ

ldskjflaksdjfkds

fdsfsdkf. “SORRY ABOUT THAT, FOR A MOMENT THERE I ALMOST FORGOT TO BEND THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE TO MY WILL”

holy fucking shit. his body was all “um, just a quick reminder that you’re HORRIBLY WOUNDED and have lost like ten gallons of blood and all of your cells are about to call an emergency meeting to shut this thing down before you get us all killed.” and he was all “WHAT WAS THAT?!” and his body was all “oh my GOD, FUCK, OKAY just forget we said anything”

and meanwhile Baby AFO is just lying there all “(◉⌓◉)”

this six-month-old child is truly and sincerely still trying to kill Kacchan while screeching death threats in high-pitched baby talk

this actually would have killed him too, if he’d succeeded in passing out. all that just to be punk’d by a damn baby

you are actually shitting me right now

at this point I’m genuinely not sure which of them has the more powerful angry toddler energy

oh no ffuffkdsfk

meeeeelting. meeeeeeltiiiiiing!!! oh what a world what a world

jesus Horikoshi I am genuinely speechless

... welp

WAIT NO WAY, REALLY?!?!

?!?!?! WAS IT ACTUALLY THAT SIMPLE THIS WHOLE TIME

-- lkjf

three times. three times in the same fucking chapter. I give up. apparently I’ll literally believe anything this man says. does it feel good, Horikoshi. preying on your readers’ hopeful naivete

yeefuckinghaw lmao

GOOD JOB KACCHAN YOU DEFEATED THE EVIL BABY

awwwww

I actually had a theory about this! well more of a wishlist item, really. I can’t remember if I’ve actually posted about it yet or not. but it’s like. you know how Deku and Kacchan are always being really dramatic about holding hands? wanting to hold hands; not wanting to hold hands; being afraid to hold hands; holding hands via proxy, etc. etc.?

and you know how both Endeavor and All Might have each done their own version of the victory pose that Kacchan is referring to here? with each one using a different hand?

so you see, I was thinking that it might be nice. might be a little poetic and all that. if at the end of the fight, Deku and Kacchan did, in fact, hold hands. and then did the victory pose together. and it became like their iconic hero moment. them standing there together. having accomplished their goal and defeated TomurAFO through teamwork. realizing their shared childhood dream. and sharing that moment of triumph with each other and with the world, ushering in a new era of heroes

anyway yeah. I was thinking that might be a pretty good ending. but it looks like Kacchan maybe really is about to pass out here now, lol, so maybe not? anyways time to finally scroll down

-- okay I literally said awww again out loud

what a fucking nerd. I have never felt more fondness for a character in my life

every damn person watching this on the news better have leaped to their feet and started applauding, goddammit. those motherfuckers better be CHANTING HIS FUCKING NAME. all those nagging reporters better be bombarding his phone with calls. those fuckers who deleted his footage from the Shouto interview better be shamelessly leaving him dozens of voicemails acting like none of that ever happened and presumptuously asking when he can free some time in his schedule to visit their studio again. all the heroes who haven’t hugged him yet better be lining the fuck up. that one guy from the post-kidnapping press conference in chapter 86 better be writing a fifty page letter of apology!!

oh hey it’s a random pre-battle flashback mysteriously taking place in Troy “a few days before the battle” even though I thought they only moved into that place the night before the fight

I love how Katsuki immediately narrows his eyes (I assume. we can’t see for sure but that’s the vibe I get) at Jeanist and has to resist the urge to call the police on him for that pun

so Hadou’s wondering what Jeanist is talking about because they already evacuated the civilians, so what else are they trying to protect. and Edgeshot is all, “well obviously we’ve gotta protect everyone’s future,” which is a nice... rearshadowing?? for him saving Katsuki’s life later on lol

and now Mirko is all “get to the fucking point already.” which, same

so Jeanist says that Tomura is an even bigger problem than AFO, because at least AFO doesn’t want to murder everyone on the entire planet. and he concludes with “he’ll probably try to touch the ground and use his quirk.” which is a conclusion that I have to say wasn’t really worth two pages of flashback buildup for, considering that we all figured that out years ago

I’m guessing this is all just some sort of awkward transition back to Deku’s fight now lol

and now we’re getting two pages of exposition on how long it would theoretically take Tomura’s Decay to spread throughout the city, and then the entire country, yikes

damn. talk about stakes

and now finally back to Deku!!

shoutout to everyone who correctly predicted that Deku was once again talking out of his ass when it came to being out of Gearshifts. we all knew. unlimited supply

wow Tomura way to throw AFO under the bus

the way I recall it, AFO wasn’t the one who failed to kill him back then lol. but go ahead and talk your shit king

DEKU WHAT ARE YOU DOING

holy shit?!?!

like my first thought was “well last time he did this he just tried to steal OFA rather than Decay him, so he’ll probably try that again and it’ll be fine.” only to remember that the AFO inside Tomura is currently permanently(?) out to lunch, and Tomura himself doesn’t give two figs about stealing OFA. so, uhhhh >_>

(ETA: nevermind.)

but then this happened

Deku what the actual fuck

OH MY GOD??!?!

HOLY SHIT

okay. okay, fuck. lemme gather up my thoughts, and then we’ll wrap this up

they’ll never admit it, but you know the other OFA Vestiges secretly resented Shino a tiny bit for being the only one of them to not be gruesomely murdered. bet they all feel guilty for thinking that now

Shino and Banjou also seemed to have this cute little pseudo-rivalry thing going on, so I really feel bad for Banjou now. :/ he looks so horrified in that bottom right panel

gotta admit, I did not see this coming in the slightest. OFA has been this immutable “I do what I want!” quirk for so long that I never thought Tomura or AFO would actually succeed in stealing it, even partially. that shook me to my core

BUT, it’s also really exciting to me because it’s going to make this battle much more interesting if Deku can’t use his get out of jail free card. shit just got way more real and I’m here for it

lastly, so! let me tell you guys my prediction. I still can’t see Tomura being the final villain lol. I just can’t. it feels too anticlimactic. if I’m wrong, I’m wrong, and I’ve certainly botched MANY predictions in the past, but I have not yet learned my lesson from any of it and I will not apologize lol

so here’s what I think. Deku and Tomura battle it out for the next chapter or two, and Tomura snatches up more of Deku’s quirks one by one. we see all of the Vestiges disappearing and the mood gets more and more desperate. eventually we’re down to just Kudou and Yoichi. Deku is panicking, but for some reason Kudou seems even MORE panicked

Kudou/Gearshift eventually gets stolen too, and it looks like this might finally be it for Deku (I have no idea how he’d stop Tomura from Decaying the ground once Blackwhip gets stolen, btw, but maybe Katsuki or someone else interferes in desperation towards the end). but just when it looks like Tomura is finally going to take the last piece of OFA, Deku’s vibes suddenly do a 180, stopping Tomura in his tracks

cut to the OFA Moon Gorgeous Meditation Realm, where Deku and Yoichi are staring at the door -- yes, that door -- in shock. because it’s finally been opened (now that the other Vestiges are no longer there to keep it at bay). and just like that, enter AFO, for the THIRD FUCKING TIME :D :D

tl;dr, HERE’S HOW HORCRUX!DEKU CAN STILL HAPPEN!!! wait where are you all going. wait come back

anyway so wow that was a really bizarre chapter that I truly thoroughly enjoyed, which should probably be a bit concerning. on to the next two week break! (for anyone who’s not aware, Shounen Jump will be on break next week, so yeah.) I’m on chapter 391 now. so close but still so far. the end of the year has gone by too damn fast tbh

[lovedabishiga]

MHA417 Thoughts

Cw: Discussion of spoilers, please be warned.

Everything about it is just chef's kiss. From the title that's just a name yet ominous; what we see in Tomura's world.

The appearance of Dark Deku, Stain, Re-Destro, and Overhaul blocking Deku is so important, imo.

All of them (yes, including Dark Deku) are from Tomura's memories, so in a way, I believe they're Tomura's last remaining safeguards trying to prevent Deku from seeing his heart/inner child.

Dark Deku tries to tell Deku that there is no point of doing this because he is a "hero" who is here to vanquish the "villain" (Tomura)

Re-Destro/Stain presses on to asks Deku why he is doing this of all things

Overhaul points out that Deku has no plan, only that he is moving forward and nothing concrete to do afterward

Kind of reminds me of the ghosts from the Christmas carol lol

And what's so interesting, and just makes my heart ache, is when Deku opens the door and we see the picture of Kotaro and Nana. It's almost as if Tomura is trying to tell Deku that "nothing went wrong, I'm just an evil villain, there is nothing wrong about me." And I'm glad that Deku pushed on, with Nana, because now begins unveiling layers of generational trauma inflicted on Tenko.

Not just from Nana, which all starts from Nana abandoning Kotaro, but also from All For One losing his brother and taking Tomura in as some kind of substitute for Yoichi.

(Note: If I read those speech bubbles correctly, Nana insisted that Kotaro was not 'abandoned.' And yes, I get it, Nana was forced to put Kotaro away for his own safety. But regardless of the intention, that is really what Nana did. And, despite her intentions, it cost problems to Kotaro and his family)

(Also note: I know that AFO's intention of taking Tomura was not really to take him as a substitute for Yoichi. He is, in many ways, a pragmatic villain: Tomura was the next him, or rather, his next body. And if Tomura failed, he had back-up plans in line. But, AFO is also, in many ways, a sentimental villain. I really think the way he raised Tomura -- the way Tomura dressed, spent his free time with games, dressed, looked like -- was heavily influenced with the way he raised Yoichi. And there's that weird name of Tomura (弔）being a few radicals away from 'younger brother' (弟) )

Chapter 417 is now an introduction to the Shimura family past. I hope we now see more of Tenko's past (mayperhaps name the next chapter as "Tenko"? So chaps 417 and 418 titles can be read as "Shimura Tenko")

I think that's important, especially for Deku. He is now beginning to understand the Shimura family pain and how it affected Tenko. But I also want to see Deku see Tenko lose control and kill his family. Because if not, Tenko/Tomura would've been an easy villain to empathize, wouldn't he?

More importantly, I want to see Deku see Tenko spend days trying to get help before AFO arrived, just to drive the point of Tomura's hatred for current hero society. Why didn't no one reached out and helped him? Why were the people around him, knowing and seeing that he needed help, deferred the responsibility to the heroes of helping him when they clearly could, in some shape or form? Sure, the destruction of hero society was something that was influenced by AFO, as the only solution to the problem that Tomura faced.

Now, it's up to Deku to see this problem, acknowledge this problem, and as a hero, find another way to move forward with Tomura.

(Additionally I want to see more LoV moments in Tomura's memories lol. I feel like Tomura's memories will be a rollercoaster for Deku - he'll see things where Deku would empathize and want to protect Tenko from; then he'll see fucked up shit that will make him question his empathy to Tenko; then he'll see moments humanizing Tomura; then moments that would make Deku see Tomura's capabilities as a villain. And throughout this time, Tomura will be adamant not wanting to be viewed as anything else than the Symbol of Fear that he is, and so justifying that he must be killed he hates himself there is no way he hates everything without hating himself)

[lesser-mook]

BNH Chapter 295-306 (Tomura deserving “Redemption” & Deku’s vanilla persona)

Some might think that Tomura deserves love, or solace-

Or the League should get redemption, because they weren’t written to be an archetype of evil like AFO. Like the contrast of them not being as bad as All For One is grounds to just absolve them or give them the Zuko treatment-

That’s a very naive, albeit very millennial mentality. You don’t get entitled to hugs or a do-over or owed something because Life bent you over, what you choose to do is your choice. 

That’s the bitch of autonomy: Accountability.

You don’t dismiss a massacre because the murderer got tossed across the room at 3 years old / abused as a child, yes it sucks; Does it play into how they turned out? Yes, the party responsible also deserves bars.

-so does it excuse everything the murderer has chosen to do, fuck no. 

We’re not a hive mind species, we’re individuals, you get charged on what you did, not what “they” did, that you can say- made you do what YOU did.

It’s moot.

DARTH VADER is leagues beyond AFO and Tomura put together, this man has ended family bloodlines on a galactic scale.

Yet, Vader’s turn to Anakin worked, because at no point: 

Despite Luke’s hope that his Father could come back- 

Despite Palpatine playing Skywalker like an instrument, so you could argue victimhood on Anakin’s part, could

Despite his Mother’s tragic end and how he dealt with that, & i say “dealt with” lightly-

Despite the heavy implication that Palpatine had a hand in his very BIRTH, and possibly the nightmares-

VADER was still culpable for his actions, he wasn’t owed shit. And we knew that.

At no point Is the story (post VADER) using child imagery or some misguided sentiments of righteousness to manipulate you into feeling sorry for the bastard enough to think he was owed something.

 Even Revenge of the Sith trilogy while showing why he turned, and we do feel empathy for him- still wasn’t making him into some martyr; By the end of that movie, his most famous line was an exclamation of dismay because he slayed his own wife.

His choice. He’s the bad guy.

That’s why it worked, because Star Wars showed you how gone he was, it wasn’t up to Izuku Midoriya to Tomura or Luke Skywalker to “save” Vader. 

The villain had to choose to save himself, just as he chose to turn in the first place and that’s what happened.

Now, Deku’s empathy isn’t the issue, he’s crazy yet boring as shit, and his love for his abuser really set me off but really- It’s his predictable nature and how Horikoshi presents that, without a threat.

He’s almost too consistent with this “save everyone” shit, too squeaky clean-

Even IIDA, our boy, our By the books Iida was willing to dip into the Dark side of the force.

Sure he spent most of his big fight with Stain with his goddamn face on the floor, but the concept was there, and his turn back to status quo made him more interesting-

Yes yet another character more interesting than Deku entered the chat, go figure.

It still made him more interesting because we saw a chink in the armor, flaws, where he’s willing to go.

Like a said in a previous post, a “Turning point”

SUPERMAN is stereotypically painted as Boy Scout central, right? That’s where you’re wrong. 

DARKSEID, Mongul, & Brainiac are leagues beyond AFO, VADER, and Tomura- in terms of blood

And guess what?

Superman will kill these bastards if he has to, and depending on the situation, voices that he will.

adventures of superman 1987-issue-595

And just before this, for the sake of context, Superman was in warrior mode ready to mud wrestle Darkseid til dust and bone.

Darkseids son had to break up the fight because Supes wasn’t going to stop on his own.

NOW he’s going to go kill a “soul less” machine, but an intelligence nonetheless and words it specifically “Kill him”

Not kill it, as you would address something without a soul, KILL HIM. 

This is the side of Superman nobody talks about, the darker human side, the side that keeps Batman up during the day. 

The side that Zack Snyder gave almost too much attention to without counter balancing it WITH the humanity and hope that everyone in threads thinks is all there is to his personality..

Both sides, missing a piece of the entire picture of Superman

And this is the same Post Crisis who fought the Elite, trying to plea to them how important a code is, contradiction is also human. 

There’s a big difference between mercy and reckless endangerment of others by letting the wrong person live.

Even All Might understood this, and was completely content with the prospect of having killed AFO for good when got his injury.

Sometimes you have to make that call, and it’s less about seeing it through than it is showing that the character is real enough to consider it- 

And yes, show it as a bad thing but “this is where the character is”, is the point.

That’s leagues more interesting than, “I will save people because that’s what heroes do” or “You look like you needed saving“ to a mass murderer

See how tone deaf that is?

Imagine if Captain America & the Allies said this shit to Hitler.

Deku needs that chink, that nuance and no, loud mouthing people with an edgelord glare isn’t a chink. That’s standard preachy Shonen protagonist shit.

He needs to compromise that Halo above his head a little, it’s the natural progression his character should take after all the broken bones, horrors violence and warfare he’s seen in just under 12 months.

If Deku was going to initially kill Tomura, then showed restraint in an intense moment of reflection like Shuri, then good.

If Deku wants to save Tomura but then proceeds to kill him anyway because the fight got too heated, or to save his own ass or someone else’s life aka Life isn’t always that simple where things end like a fairy tale:

And then he has to deal with that, then that would be a game changer.

But Kohei’s LIKELY not going to that-

In 306 he finally leaves that goddamn box of a school and ventures out to do what all the street level greats in the West had to do:

FIGURE it out

Unfortunately, given Horikoshi’s knack for backtracking goldmine concepts he introduced in the first place- 

Can’t wait to see how Deku ends up back on that goddamn campus lmfao.

Point being, 

Tomura ain’t entitled to shit, Deku should take him out after thinking he could reach Tomura only to be smacked with a dose of harsh reality. OR deserves Prison or the Death penalty as does AFO (& he’s my favorite character) ffs. 

Him dying in a fight with AFO wouldn’t be unexpected but it would be epic, nice turn of events given he’s not exactly AFO’s biggest fan as of 296 & onward.

The writing around Deku needs to bend a little, get his hands dirty, how he carries himself, and shake things up.

But i know a status quo reset will come, it’s just how many chapters will Horikoshi allow Deku to breathe without those other 18 goddamn students attached to his identity and almost everything he does.

And i exclude Ochako, because i actually like Ochako, so much wasted potential with that one.

And with redemption in mind, if Horikoshi went the extra mile of stupid to have the League of Villains side with the heroes and turned on AFO in the end, would not surprise me.

Tomura turning on AFO, is not me saying he should side with the Heroes. Not the same thing.

Tomura and AFO killing each other would be interesting to see, given how close they were before.

A weird parallel to the Sith rule of two, there can only be one or none at all.

[five-rivers]

If you're taking prompt what if Inko was the daughter of AfO and Izuku still gets OfA later. But he has fire breath like his dead beat dad thanks to his grandfather. Teach him for running out on his baby girl.

It had taken long enough that his minions were in need of a serious reprimand, but finally Midoriya Hisashi was sprawled on the ground at All for One's feet. He was suitably beaten, bound, and blindfolded, but alive, as requested.

"Hello, Hisashi. I suppose you didn't think you'd ever see me again." He used the man's first name, because he didn't care to associate his daughter's surname with this sniveling waste of space, even if he had legally adopted it at their farce of a wedding.

Hisashi froze. A whisper of smoke leaked past his lips.

"I wonder, do you even recognize my voice?"

"Shi- Shigaraki..."

"Oh, very good!" All for One clapped his hands in a show of false cheer. "So! You remember your father-in-law, but not your wife? Not your son?"

"I- I-"

"Because amnesia is the only acceptable excuse I can think of for abandoning them and trying to move all the way to Hokkaido. Unless you'd like to try a different one." All for One paused, and the silence stretched out before him, thin and brittle, much like Hisashi's bones. "I'm waiting."

"It- it isn't my fault," whined the man. "And I- I was always going to send money back. I just- I just can't live there anymore. I- Shouldn't you be pleased about this? You hated me and Inko get-"

All for One kicked Hisashi sharply. "Don't even say her name. I did hate your sham of a marriage. But as long as it made her happy, I put up with it."

Hisashi wheezed, more smoke filling the air of the disused underground parking garage they were meeting in.

"Speak clearly," demanded All for One.

"It- the boy. He's quirkless. I could- couldn't stay, with everyone knowing."

"Oh?" said All for One, voice suddenly silky smooth. He bent over and put his hand on top of Hisashi's head. "Well, lucky for you, that's something I can fix."

.

All for One dropped Hisashi on one of Garaki's carefully polished operating tables. "Make him into something interesting," he ordered, and Garaki scrambled to examine his new materials.

Meanwhile, All for One took a seat in one of Garaki's rolling chair. "I simply don't understand it," he said. "Who leaves their family just because they had a quirkless child? Unbelievable."

Of course, All for One had seen similar things many times before in his long life and knew they happened very well. He simply failed to understand. With his brother, even when he'd actively been trying to dismantle his empire... Destroying other people made sense, but family was special.

"He should be pleased by this outcome, really. Izuku won't be quirkless for much longer."

"You- you're giving him a quirk, my lord?"

"Yes," said All for One. "This fool's quirk, to be precise. And perhaps his grandmother's. I'll miss it, of course, but to be honest, I don't really use it the way it should be."

"But," said Garaki, "my lord, I've already diagnosed the boy as quirkless."

"Then you'll just have to practice your groveling for when you apologize to them." He paused. "Surely you aren't concerned about the medical reputation of a throwaway identity?"

"Not at all, my lord," said Garaki in a way that indicated extreme dissatisfaction.

All for One ignored him.

.

"Kacchan! Kacchan! Guess what? Guess what?"

"Go away, nerd!"

Izuku was undeterred. "I got my quirk!"

Kacchan scowled mightily. "No you didn't! You were dig-dag-dignoz-" The frown became mightier. "The doctor said you were quirkless, stupid deku!"

"The doctor was wrong! Watch! Watch!" He puckered his lips and a small tongue of flame emerged from between them. "And that's not it!" He pointed at a stunned Kacchan and a small gust of wind ruffled his hair. "I can do that, too! Mama said it's just like gramma's!"

"That's- you- You're still not better than me!"

"I know!" said Izuku, cheerfully.

"Hm, I don't know," said another one of the students watching, "Deku can do two things, and Bakugo just explodes..."

Bakugo's shriek of rage was audible throughout the entire preschool.

.

"Two quirks, Dad? Two? TWO? After everything you drilled into my head about how dangerous it was to give people multiple quirks? What were you thinking?" demanded Inko.

"Hardly anyone dies from just two quirks," said All for One, "and he retained the family adaptation for accepting multiple quirks, the risk was-"

"Not. Yours. To. Take." Inko punctuated each word with a jab to the chest, then sat down heavily in the nearest chair. "I hope you understand. I am furious with you."

"Inko, princess-"

Inko held up her hand. "No. If I see Izuku with another quirk, I will kill you. Do you understand? No warning, no third chances. If you're a threat to my son, you're dead."

"Perfectly," said All for One, choosing not to mention the longevity quirks all three of them had.

.

Watching illegally obtained footage of his grandson's entrance exam was and excellent way to unwind after a long and stressful day of being unspeakably evil.

Right up until the part where Izuku destroyed a giant robot by punching it to bits.

The heartrate monitor he was attached to unhelpfully informed him that his had skyrocketed. He had never told Inko about One for All. The entrance exam had taken place hours ago.

"Kurogiri!" he called. "Kurogiri?"

No response.

"Hello, Dad."

.

Izuku's acceptance into UA was marred by news of his grandfather's sudden death. He had been getting older, but he always sounded so full of life when they talked on the phone.

After the service, Izuku lingered by the grave. He reached into his jacket pocket and took out a small booklet, a copy of a vintage comic his grandfather had gotten him into. He put it down by the headstone.

"I was always too embarrassed to tell you this," he said, softly, "but the real reason I started to want to be a hero... it wasn't that old All Might video. It was this." He tapped the cover of the comic. "The way the hero never gave up..." Izuku sniffed. "It was just really inspiring." He wiped tears away from his face. "I'll make you proud. I promise. I'll be the best hero there ever was!"

.

In America, a woman named Morticia Roll paused. Her rather niche quirk was the ability to know who would be spinning in their graves the most, if people were able to spin in their graves.

Most of the time, that honor belonged to some random European dude. But Shigaraki Hiroshi sounded Asian... She shrugged and went back to her gardening. Whatever was happening, it wasn't any of her business.

[thyandrawrites]

Hey, I was reading your post on character regression in the villains and you have some good points but I was wondering about you saying that deku says he doesn't understand how Toga could hurt someone for her own sake when that's exactly what heros do to villains but that's not true? Heros have never been shown to hurt people for fun or whatever, they always do it in reaction to the villains causing destruction of people and property, in order to protect those who would otherwise become victims of a villain, so what do you actually mean when you say heros hurt villains for their own gain?

Hey. First of all, I want to stress that I never said I thought either party hurts people for fun. I said they both do it for their own sake. Please note this because those two statements are not equivalent, but phrasing it as though they are comes across like you already are sure of your own reading and are just checking what I mean by it so you can reinforce that you’re right and I’m wrong. Which is why I wasn’t even sure I wanted to reply, to be honest.

But I’m going to assume you didn’t mean it like that and actually care about what I think on the matter. So. To answer you. What I meant by it is exactly what I said. Both parties act on the belief that their violence is justified.

Let’s go with the villains first, cause it would make sense to think they are the ones who kill “for fun”. Or it would, if you just read their actions at face value, at least.

Let’s start with Dabi, who is the perfect example of what I mean. Dabi kills because he feels that he has something to prove to his dad, and at the same time he’s lashing out against the system for abandoning him. He keeps count of his victims, owns up to it and calls himself “filthy” and a “sin” for what he’s done, showing that he doesn’t do it because he enjoys violence for sadistic reasons. But at the same time he doesn’t show that he’s sorry for adopting these methods. He thinks they’re a necessary evil to make his voice heard above his father’s. To make the public see that he wasn’t born into violence, but groomed into it.

Similarly, Shigaraki sees violence as a megaphone to amplify his voice and shout his hurt at the world, so that they can stop silencing him for existing. Just like Dabi, he doesn’t take pleasure in it. In fact, he admits that he has an emptiness in his chest that doesn’t get better when he kills, but he still does it because that’s what AFO told him to do to “scratch the itch”. In other words, AFO gaslit him into thinking that extreme violence and indiscriminate destruction were his only tools to fight back against the system, and as such, Shigaraki embraces that violence as justified.

Then there’s Toga. At first glance, she seems like a less good example of this because at the very least she takes pleasure in drawing blood, doesn’t she? But in fact, she also fits this pattern. Toga doesn’t actually want to kill the people she loves. She wants to take their blood and transform into them. For her, becoming one with the subject of her affections is the truest form of love. But it was always misunderstood as something monstrous, repulsive. People begin to demand for her to suppress herself for their own peace of mind. As a result, when she begins to kill, she embraces that violence as her only way to stay alive without being hunted down and suppressed. She thinks she needs to kill in order to create a world where she’s not rejected purely for existing.

Now, as for the heroes.

You realize that saying that the heroes are entitled to their violence because the villains were violent first is not an argument, right? I just went over how it’s not that black and white. Sure, there are villains who are threats to civilians just because they wake up one day and decide to wreck shit for the sake of wrecking shit. Guys like Muscular and Moonfish fit that pattern. But what the series actually shows us is that a vast majority of the villains the kids face off against, particularly the League, resort to destruction as a result of falling through the crack of the hero system.

Please note that I’m not arguing that because sympathetic villains exist, all criminals should be condoned and forgiven by default. But to reduce the entire villain problem in bnha to one (1) type of villainy is a broad generalization, and a naive one to boot, that only serves to echo one side of the argument. What you’re saying is essentially just a repeat of what the heroes believe. Just because they are sure of their methods, it doesn’t mean those methods are right. Just like how the villains’ methods aren’t right simply because the villains think that what they’re doing is right.

You’re saying that the heroes use violence “in reaction to the villains causing destruction”. Which is true. But consider: reactions, by definition, imply a chain of events. So it doesn’t really work as a justification because it will always be partial to who’s speaking.

To simplify what I mean by this: the League’s violence is born out of unaddressed societal issues. So while the heroes are confident that putting them down is the moral thing to do because the League was destructive first, that’s just an oversimplification. From the villains’ perspective, society enacted violence towards them first, and they’re simply reacting to that as well.

Protecting the status quo at the expense of those who don’t fit into it is an act of violence. The fact that it’s carried out by the government doesn’t justify it by default. In fact, historically the worst types of brutality always started with the scapegoating of minorities from those in power, who were interested in upkeeping a certain type of status quo that only benefited the privileged.

Besides, this statement here: “Heros have never been shown to hurt people for fun” is false. We have seen it. Perhaps you haven’t metabolized it as such because you read it through the lense of justified violence, but we have seen the heroes abusing their power or just using it to satisfy their egos. The most obvious example is Endeavor, who stated on screen that he never cared about easing civilians’ worries, but only wanted to be number one to prove he was the strongest. The same Endeavor who is also guilty of the property damage you mention. In fact, if we are to take vigilantes into the equation, he also nearly killed civilian bystanders on the job.

I believe, correct me if I’m wrong, that in vigilantes we were also given Miruko’s backstory, and her reason to become a hero was that she enjoys a fight. Which ties into the main manga as well, when we were shown her elation when she didn’t have to “hold back” on the noumus as she normally did since they were already dead.

And that’s already two heroes from the top ten. I’m not even touching the can of worms that are Hawks and Lady Nagant. Overall, bnha shows us that the matter of morality itself isn’t as black and white as “heroes good” and “villains bad”. Both live in shades of gray, and that’s kinda the point.

So when I stated that both heroes and villains use violence for their own sakes, I meant exactly what I stated. Both think that they were wronged by the other party first, and both think that reacting with killing intent is justified. It doesn’t mean it is, or that one of those sides is more “moral” than the other. At the end of the day, violence is violence whether you dress it up as justice or whether you don’t try to hide it for what it is.

A theme that bnha has been pushing forward from its very first arc, and recently brought up again. Heroes and villains are just two sides of the same coin.

[leportraitducadavre]

ahhhh, i feel so much better knowing there are more ppl tired with bnha now. i see so many praising it and i'm not saying bnha is bad, it's good, i remember havibg quite a lot of fun reading it but lately... eh, lately it's becoming a chore to read it. deku is deku but how do you feel about shigaraki? not as a character, but more as the power scaling? up until that american hero, i was so sure Horikoshi was writing himself into a wall making the big bad so ridiculously strong. it feels like the american hero was not as much as meticulously planned as she was just an effort to deescalate otherwise a truly op character. without her, even ridiculously op deku would not stood a chance against shigaraki...

Hello Anon -I know you asked me specifically about power-scales, but since you’re one of the few asks I received (and I’ll be honest, that I’m specifically willing to answer -since I’m currently disenamoured with the manga and I don’t think I’ll be able to reply as thoroughly as I usually do for other fictional works), allow me to expand my answer and go on a full rant about Shigaraki, Deku, Dabi and Horikoshi’s writing.

First things first, I’ll reply about your main concern: Yes, I do believe that Cathleen Bate’s introduction and the whole purpose was to take away some of Shigaraki’s powers -and to give more time to the Heroes to prepare in order to face him, since some subplots needed to be addressed and resolved before the main clash (like, who was the traitor and to show some of the characters’ new techniques).

While Deku is limited to the powers that were passed on through OFA -Shigaraki’s AFO holds no specific limit as to how many quirks can be stored. I guess the main issue with it has to do with how much the body of the wielder can handle. If the OFA and AFO are “sibling quirks” then what’s true for OFA should be true for AFO as well, meaning that the more quirks, the more rapidly the body decays. Izuku and All Might are a special case because they were born quirkless, and I’m not completely sure Shigaraki was born with an innate quirk (I think he was born quirkless and his deterioration technique was given to him by OFA during his childhood), and although his collapsing body might have to do more with how his quirk works rather than OFA’s presence -I wouldn’t exactly deny the possibility.

However, and this will be the beginning of the rant,

it isn’t the first time Horikoshi performs something similar -that is, introduce a character with a specific and short-term purpose in mind. We don’t need to go far inside where the manga stands now to see another example: Lady Nagant was introduced as a former hero that became so disappointed with the system that forced her to do terrible things in the name of “peace” that she killed her former employer, and was imprisoned because of it. When she’s introduced, we are led to believe that her ideology and moral standpoints stand against Izuku’s, she isn’t necessarily evil because we understand what she rebelled against and why she committed the crimes she did; therefore Izuku is the embodiment of who she used to be (an optimistic newby that wanted to do good). The encounter between them wasn’t necessarily a physical battle -but an ideology one, which is why it’s won when at last, Lady Nagant (for some reason that is not even properly explored), surrenders to the MC’s perspective, putting her entire hopes for a reformation of the system onto Deku (despite Deku being All Might’s successor, someone whose figure was the main pillar in which the system she despises leaned itself on).

So what was the point of Lady Nagant? Simply put: To establish Izuku’s moral beliefs as the narrative’s parameters to differentiate what’s right from what’s wrong without forcing the hero to perform any deep introspection of their moral beliefs, annihilating the antagonist's characterization in the process.

But what about Shigaraki and/or Dabi? Aren’t they the real characters on which the “anti-system” ideology rests? Well, let me tell you something that many followers of mine (or even mutuals) that read BHNA will probably disagree on: Both of those characters aren’t even that good of a pillar for such an important objective (and some people actually compare them to Sasuke!).

Dabi’s intrinsical desire is to destroy Endeavor -bringing down the system that allowed him to gain and maintain economic and social power is just a resource he uses to affect him, he’s not truly above hurting (or murdering) those who suffered the same as him (Natsuo) nor innocent people that had nothing to do with it in order to stain Endeavor’s name, and his hate to his procreator is so visceral that he stretches that feeling towards his younger brother who unknowingly displaced Endeavor’s favor away from him.

Shigaraki, while more interesting since he was manipulated to believe his innate quirk was equal to an intrinsical desire (you’ve got deterioration because it’s what you want, so do it, more or less) also is against the system because he wants the chaos and destruction that comes with bringing it all down -I am not denying that his hate towards it wasn’t born from his personal experiences (he hates the society because it turned a blind eye to him while he was a child, and the particular distaste he has for heroes has to do with his father’s beliefs that made him hate himself plus AFO’s teachings), so it’s not about revolutionizing the system for neither of these characters, but personal desires.

And now, you can argue -revolutions have nothing to do with “good sides” or “bad sides”, but about an oppressed group standing up against their oppressors, in that sense, Shigaraki and/or Dabi are simply the faces chosen by the oppressed to represent them because they alone are a menace to hero’s society, but the movement in itself goes beyond them. And hell, that’ll be true, the problem isn’t Dabi and Shigaraki starting something solely to reach a specific (personal) goal that spread out of control into something much deeper that they are not interested in, it’s about how Horikoshi ties their twisted morals with such revolutionary movement -hence, transforming it into something wrong from the narrative’s point of view.

And that’s why I’m particularly against comparing any of them to Sasuke -because Sasuke was a problem for the narrative that needed to constantly justify why he was wrong; sure Shigaraki and/or Dabi starting a revolution against the Hero society whose problems are displayed is narratively hard to manage, but Horikoshi purposefully made both of them commit unforgivable things to give the heroes a reason to invalidate their “uprising”. In that sense, Horikoshi is -to me, far less skilled than Kishimoto, who allowed Sasuke to question the narrative until the very last second (he committed no crimes, he killed no innocents), where he had to surrender to the MC’s perspective.

[fanfiction-artist-prototype]

Yuuga being revealed as the traitor instead of wash and having to suffer the really harsh consequences?

Izuku getting dragged into it too, because his quirk?

Also after wash gets revealed the hatsumes are unter suspicion because they created wash so no one let's them around stuff right now?

Also because I took a nap that was too long I'm tired so this is the last ill do just for you

OKAY SO SO THIS IS THE CLUSTERFUCK AU YEAH??

THE AU WHERE YUUGA IS ALSO AFO'S BIOLOGICAL CHILD AND MIDORIYA AND TODOROKI ARE KNOWN TO BE HIS STEP SIBLINGS??

BECAUSE WHOO FUKING BOY BLOU THIS IS EVIL!

--

1) Because of how the Clusterfuck Au *works* there isn't any great Shigaraki v Deku fight so the reveal comes out of completely left field and it... isn't actually being a traitor. It's Yuuga emailing his Dad about his life in an attempt to create and real and healthy relationship with him.

But maybe he gets a virus or something breaks so he goes to the support department to ask them to fix it and Powerloader is already *there* so might as well help the student right? Except, Yuuga didn't think to close his emails since there's nothing wrong with them! He's talking to his dad for goodness sake why would he close out of it when it's most likely as simple as opening the settings and playing around a bit.

Except... Powerloader knows what a two way heavy duty encryption and cypher looks like and it's literally written into this kids laptop. Which you know... could be that the kid comes from a well to do family - after all when he helped Yaoyozoru the girl had so many military grade protections simply because of how high in society her family was.

So he fixes the issue and hands the laptop back off to Yuuga before going to take a look at the kids file because he just wants to make sure you know?

Looking up Aoyama Yuuga's file reveals a few things.

1) His quirk doesn't match up with his parents

2) His official medical files claim he's QUIRKLESS

3) Despite the fact he, Todoroki and Midoriya claim to be step siblings NEITHER of his parents have any connection with Midoriya or Todoroki's

4) Yuuga's emergency contacts aren't his parents and are in fact the currently under investigation Washing Hero Wash and another which (when he calls to check out wtf is going on) sends him directly to Shigaraki Tomura's personal phone number.

So Powerloader takes all of this to Nezu and they seize all of Yuuga's devices and basically line up stuff that when he told his 'Father' about stuff at school there were then incidents that took place with the LOV.

Boom, Yuuga is outed as a 'traitor' to UA.

2) He's immediately arrested, and locked temporarily in Tartarus as soon as it's revealed that 'Father' is in fact All For One and then of course, his family come out of the wood work and it gets worse.

People have things to say about throwing a sixteen year old into Tartarus but nobody is louder than Wash and the NUMBER THREE HERO who is apparently this kids older brother!? And then it turns out Endeavour's children are also this boys step siblings??? And it becomes a shit show with half the public being 'well he's probably a villain so lock him up and throw away the key' and the other half going 'with a family that connected to heroes and the dark side of heroes maybe it's possible but also he's a kid!'

3) In UA itself, Izuku and Shotou are immediately shut out of the class dynamic. They're related to Yuuga in some manner and are openly against what's happening to him - obviously. And Bakugou is righ there alongside them but the rest of the class has closed themselves off from them.

How can they trust any of them when it's quite possible that these people are also spilling to the villains as well?

The three have to pull out of UA because the suspicion turns into accusations and distrust VERY quickly and suddenly you've got three prime targets not only for harassment but also as martyrs for villains if anything happens to them.

4) Then Izuku's 'quirk' is revealed not by All Might or Torino or anything, it just ends up getting out from his files because somebody decided to doxx him and wow he was ALSO quirkless and now has a quirk unrelated to either of his parents? It must mean he also got it from All For One!

All Might tries to defend his boy but he gets drowned out, and Izuku gets accused of manipulating the number one hero. Only for it to be revealed that WASH is also his father and Wash recently just came forward and said he was working for All For One because he at least didn't torture children (in relation to Hawks) so now everything is in a even bigger shitshow.

5) The Hatsume family get absolutely DRAGGED through the media mud. Every little issue with their experiments or business' is brought up and over stuffed with false details that it's ridiculous and despite the fact that Nezu knew and had no issue with them because of it, the fact that it was a Hatsume who was in charge of the experimentation that helped create Nezu comes up.

And then people start asking how the fuck Wash was made and they're framed as these evil unethical people despite the fact that any actual look into their research papers and publicly available resources show the complete opposite to what the media is saying about them.

6) All For One had been waiting for his big reveal moment, his big 'ha ha bet you thought I was DEAD didn't you hero society!?' time. But one of his kids (his biological one at that) has been locked up, the others are being turned into social pariahs and now his HUSBAND AND WIVES are being tormented with his parents in law also being subjected to this absolute shit show so the gloves are off.

He comes in with a big bang; blowing up Tartarus style.

They woke up the sleeping dragon.

[mettywiththenotes]

320 bits I wanna talk about

Iieda looks like he’s doing the *inhale* before the BOI IF YOU DON’T- meme. Something along the lines of “BOI IF YOU DON’T GET YOUR ASS BACK TO UA-” kind of thing lol.

He holding something in definitely. Maybe charging up for an attack? Idk but he sure seems concentrated

Actually, Iieda seems kinda considering. Maybe he’s weighing up if he should join in the fight, as if he’s asking “Will I have to fight Midoriya, if it comes down to it? Or can the others handle this?” Something tells me he doesn’t want to have to weigh in on the fight. Maybe tear into Izuku verbally, but fight? No I don’t think he wants to do that

But also, I find it interesting that that black panel of text is under him and then it cuts to Bakugou yelling at Izuku. I mean, it could very well be Bakugou thinking that, but if that’s so, then why is Iieda the first person we see?

So, I think it’s Iieda thinking that. Tensions are rising, it seems. I’m expecting his turn to be full of a lot of emotion, or at least trying to get across to Izuku that he feels betrayed but mostly just wants Izuku to come back home.

I don’t really know what’ll happen with Iieda exactly, but I’m totally interested to see what happens

I know Bakugou has problems with his emotions and words and stuff, but I also think here he’s trying to anger Izuku in order to get him to fight back, maybe so he’s more angry than flexible in a fight, so the end result would be Izuku getting too angry to predict anything and eventually tripping up, and that’s when 1A could capture him.

The one thing to remember about Izuku is that allowing him to think is going to be the opponent’s downfall. We saw in the Kacchan VS Deku 2 fight that Bakugou knew this and so kept attacking as much as possible so Izuku wouldn’t have time to think. Which worked, because Izuku is great at analysis, so making his “Win” attitude [getting competitive therefore putting more energy into attacking than strategy] come out over his “Save” attitude [you’re my friend and I want to help you] is kind of a weakness of his. That’s kind of one of the reasons he lost that fight.

Then again, maybe Izuku has improved since then? I don’t really know but I think enough time has passed for him to have maybe improved more on that so idk we’ll see

I really love Bakugou’s expression in that bottom screencap lol

His wound!! All bandaged up!! I wonder if there’s a scar there or smthg :O

LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I know Enji or Bakugou probably gave them details about the multiple quirks but I still find it wild that everyone just knows now

KOUDA! MY SWEETHEART! I’m glad he’s getting a part in this too, along with Sero. Two of them who didn’t really hang around Izuku but still want him to come back :’)

Sero and Black Whip! Finally! I mean it’s not much but it’s still better than nothing

Also, seems like Sero is trying to taunt Izuku to get him to attack him maybe [same as Bakugou feeding into Izuku’s competitive side] soooo idk Sero following Bakugou’s lead? Maybe :)

Look at how,,,, innocent Izuku looks,,,,, *head in hands* AND SERO TEACHING HIM!!

I knew this lil moment would come bite me in the ass at some point, I knew and yet I’m still tearing up goddamn

That “I thought she was going to tell me its a useless hobby” bit really drives home how Izuku’s friends are 1A, that he loves them and they were the only friends he’s ever had [except Bakugou but he was a bully at the time so I’m not really gonna count him for back then]. HOW many people before UA had gone around and told Izuku his taking notes hobby was useless? SHOW me the people!

I, mettywiththenotes, will NOT allow anybody to slander one of my own!

I know it’s like the only moment Izuku and Ojiro shared, with the sports festival thing, but it’s still really sweet that Ojiro sees that Izuku stood up for him

*head in hands*

Shouldn’t this kid be more worried that he’s likely going to get kidnapped?

“Yeah this super evil villain guy has decided he wants to kidnap me and take me away, but like nbd guys really, that’s why I left in the first place! So I wouldn’t be a burden!” Somebody get this kid a fucking therapist or some shit

This is kind of a chilling and pretty scene though. The rain falling above Izuku and him looking down with these piercing green eyes likely being the only light between them. Good stuff.

Satou! Aha I like how he’s pulling all the stops, such as “I WON’T LET YOU BORROW MY INGREDIENTS FOR ERI!”

Also let’s appreciate that Satou caught Ojiro and Jirou and managed to land on a freaking traffic light. The balance on this kid! Very well done

Kaminari putting Izuku in a headlock! How cute :)

Be cuter if they weren’t trying to subdue a martyr-complex cryptid from killing himself, but still

Does Shouji have some kind of support-item?? Or could he always do the stretchy thing?? Or I guess maybe he’s just stretching his arms out like branches [like he usually does] and using them as more like a capture weapon rather than his usual stuff. I don’t think we’ve ever seen him use his heteromorph body and quirk for anything other than the 5 senses, though I could be wrong

Also Shouji remembering what Izuku said at the training camp, I’m so glad! Shouji always seems like the kind to be so protective over his friends, so I’m glad he remembered that. Then again, Izuku did compare them to freaking ALL MIGHT, but if the nice analytical kid in your class who knows your limits and strengths says you could basically beat A GOD, then that’s definitely one for the memory scrapbook lmao

“It’s nice and dark here, Dark Shadow.” Who said that?? Kami or Izuku?? I just have this mental image of Izuku being shrouded in darkness and trying to keep his eyes open from falling asleep haha

Tokoyami remembering that from all the way back then!! It makes me think that not only have Bakugou and Izuku been watching each other, but that Izuku has always had everybody’s eyes on him! Which is true, he’s inspired everyone! It goes both ways; Izuku loving his friends, and them loving him back :’)

Kami telling him to take a bath lmao I love it. Finally somebody said it

*ugly sobbing noises*

This kind of segment, with a mask falling, a space in-between and a reveal, reminds me of Compress’ reveal :) In that, the person is hiding their identity and then when the mask comes off, they reveal who they truly are underneath

While Izuku is of course determined to go after AFO and is quite the fearsome powerhouse, I really think when he takes off that mask, he’s showing who he really is underneath - a scared little boy who just wants everyone to be happy

JESUS, SHOUTO REALLY IMPROVED HIS QUIRK HUH!! LOOK AT IT, IT’S EVEN HIGHER THAN THE SKYSCRAPERS!!

“The burden placed on you... it doesn’t allow for tears, right?” He sounds so sassy here.

Kind of like saying “Oh you look upset. But that’s weird, I thought Heroes weren’t supposed to cry.” Lol it really shows here how pissed Shouto is at Izuku

But then he relents from that snark and is like “Hey, come on, we’ll share this burden. I’m not letting you go it alone, remember that we’re all here.” :’)

I love when Shouto is sassy and passive aggressive but I also love it when he shows that soft side of him

Okay, this is something I really love.

Tsuyu didn’t join the Bakugou Rescue Squad because “they would be just like Villains breaking the rules”

But here she is, learning from that regret of hers and coming right back to make sure Izuku isn’t the one struggling. She wants to be a part of this rescue squad and pick up where she left off :)

Tsuyu has always struggled with her regrets. It was shown after Kamino when she cried, but for me, I only realised this fully during the Joint Arc when she had her regrets about not making better decisions and not being quick enough [I think that was it].

“I won’t cry in such a flurry” reminds me of “I want to live a life without regret” and so that’s what she’s saying here. This won’t be another regret of hers. She wants to do her best to save her friend

“When scared, you’re allowed to tremble when it’s tough, you’re allowed to shed tears. That’s how you become a Hero like in the comics.”

I feel like that quote piggybacks off of Shouto’s “Heroes cry too”, in that, this is now 1A comforting Izuku. This is them fully coming up to him and telling him that they can help, and that he’s allowed to feel sad about his situation. Shouto’s quote was the teaser, while this entire chapter [and the rest that come to follow] is the main course.

And this is exactly who Tsuyu is. Reassuring, comforting, someone dependable. It says a lot that she’s come from not going to help in Kamino, confessing her feelings and crying about it, then coming back in a similar situation and offering her help - that she’s not willing to just let an opportunity go to better herself. I think I remember reading a few posts on her crying after Kamino and saying it was “performative” or that she just “wanted attention” or smthg like that, but I think she’s really just quite an honest person, and here she is making a great show of how she won’t let something like her guilt slow her down from being the hero she wants to be.

[A part of me feels like this is also a little more evidence with the whole People Not Caring About Bakugou’s Feelings Of Helplessness but like. I digress. It kinda counts but at the same time, it’s not what is going on at the moment.]

Seeing everyone try to reassure Izuku was lovely, and I can’t wait for the rest. I’ve seen a lot of people waiting more for Bakugou’s portion of the battle [AND YEAH DUDE ME TOO] but I really feel like Bakugou’s won’t come until like 2 chapters later or something.

Cause, if this chapter is anything to go by, we’ll probably get through Mina, Mineta, Kirishima, Hagakure and Aoyama next chapter, and then we’ll move onto the “more important” conflicts which will be Iieda and Uraraka, and if their segments are chocked with tension drama and tears, then Bakugou will have a whole chapter to himself hopefully.

Which means we’ll probably have to wait 2 more chapters until we get that sweet, sweet Bakugou chapter :( I hope I’m wrong and it comes sooner than predicted but whatever

I know for some people, that’s all they want, but personally I love these little bits that reflect on the background characters. As someone who isn’t really obsessed with the background characters but also likes them enough to appreciate their development/the little moments they have, I gotta say I really liked this :)

[pikahlua]

I know the dfo theory isn’t ur favorite, so is there anything u want to see regarding deku’s father? Like do u just want him to be a regular civilian or something?

I’m iffy on the dfo theory so i’m not gonna go into it, but i always thought it would be cool if deku’s dad was a criminal of sorts (again not afo cause i’m iffy on that but ya know just regular criminal stuff) because it kinda reenforces that whole “good is born from evil” type thing (which i think was mentioned in the manga??? I’m not sure). Idk it’s just a fun thing to theorize about.

Sorry to bother u about it I just wanted to know what u would like to see. Deku’s dad is basically a blank slate and it’s fun to see what others theorize about him.

I want very little.

No, I don't mean I'm fine with anything. I mean I very specifically want him to have a minor role at best.

Once upon a time I did really enjoy the DFO theory. I even had fun with the Compress = Hisashi Midoriya??? theory for a week.

What changed? We got closer to the ending of the story.

The severe lack of Hisashi Midoriya thus far means that his inevitable introduction can only have so much narrative weight. If he ends up being a big character, I can't imagine it being anything but forced.

Like, did you see the reaction to Star's introduction? Some people loved her, but whether or not they loved her, the vast majority of people still expect her to be a one-shot cannon-fodder deus ex machina character meant to give AFO a quirk he needs to be even more supervillainous than he already is. This is all because there has been NO LEAD-UP to her character (or the lead-up you could discuss is minimal and recent story-wise and not worth mentioning).

Hisashi Midoriya at this point has the exact same problem. There has been no lead-up. If he's given any role that isn't incidental, then any themes he serves to further will just seem shoehorned in and poorly written. I don't want it. I'd rather see more of the characters we already have and know and love. I'd rather they further the story.

Of course, if it turns out MHA has many more chapters in store, enough to properly develop a blank-slate character, then I will change my tune. That much hasn't been made clear, so I'm just operating on the assumption that we've got less than 100 chapters left.

And I don't have any animosity toward other people who want something else out of Hisashi Midoriya. I don't scoff at anyone who believes the DFO theory is true or any other theories regarding the man. Heck, Horikoshi, here's my open invitation to prove me wrong and bring this dude in as an amazing character that properly fleshes out some long-standing theme of the manga. If you can do it, PLEASE! Be my guest! I'll eat my words with relish!

[stillness-in-green]

codenamesazanka mentions you a lot when they talk about the new mystery person. any extra analyzes you want give? do *you* think its Tenko?

I 100% do not think it’s Tenko.  It would raise way too many questions about how he got in some rando’s house, why he had to use scissors to free himself, how or if he was recognized, why he was imprisoned if he wasn’t, why he was imprisoned if he was, and so on and so forth.  I wholly believe that he’s just an expy!Tenko, meant to demonstrate how society has changed.

I suppose the only other analysis I have to offer—and I don’t remember if Nal’s touched on this or not in the time it’s been since I got this ask—is the issue of how an expy!Tenko to save is kind of meaningless as a reflection of how Tenko might have been saved when the story was in such a rush to blame every aspect of him on All For One anyway.

That is, if every problem Shigaraki Tomura posed was actually because of the way AFO “groomed” him, then what does saving Scissors-kun change or prove?  Killing or imprisoning all the Villains in the endgame just proves that the Heroes can’t do shit about helping Villains because they’re “too far gone.”  Saving Scissors-kun before he becomes a Villain is great, sure, and much to be desired, but it doesn’t prove anything about how society has changed in such a way that it could now save any future Tomuras.

Conversely, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Scissors-kun is a Tenko parallel in a different way, and that’s making him be All For One’s fault, somehow, even though AFO is already dead.  He could be from one of the twisted orphanages Ujiko ran, or, for the stronger Tenko parallel, be the child of someone who grew up in one of those orphanages.  And if he was being kept locked in a basement as a result of someone twisted by the seedbed of hatred they grew up in, that ultimately makes the situation All For One’s fault, meaning the story gets to continue to blame all of its setting's problems on one (1) Evil Bad Man, even after that Evil Bad Man has already died.

Really, the whole issue with Scissors-kun as an expy!Tenko, even while I think it is most likely where the story’s going with him, is that he isn’t much of an expy!Tenko if his circumstances have nothing to do with AFO, but it’s still really shitty if they do.  He’d be a much better expy!Toga, but then saving him means the story doesn’t revolve around Deku, and I hardly expect that to start happening now!

Also, for all the talk about him looking like Tenko, I just don’t think he actually does.  The hair color and waviness is one thing, but to me, his eyes are wrong.  Sure, the color/lack of color is right—uninked irises with a black outline—but even accounting for the fact that they’re widened in distress, they’re much too large to be Tomura’s eyes unless he’s lost at least six years in the process of winding up in that house, and the corners of them are pointing at the wrong angles, besides.

Below are some comparison pictures--first of Scissors-kun compared to Tenko, then compared to Tomura:

Note how, whether as a child or as an adult, Shigaraki's eyes always have that upward angle to their outermost point, the shape of the his bottom eyelid sweeping upward in a smooth curve, such that the outer corner rests higher on his face than the inner corner. Conversely, Scissors-kun's eyes come more to a more level, horizontal-facing point, or maybe even a slight downwards-angled droop, such that the outer and inner corners of his eyes seem more level with each other.

To throw a third character into the mix, compare Scissors-kun with both Shigaraki and Re-Destro:

(Note: Shigaraki here has been mirrored for comparison purposes; I used the shot where he and Re-Destro visually face off during the latter's declaration of war.)

Scissors-kun is looking downward in the only shot we have of his face so far, so it's not a perfect comparison, but try to imagine how his eyeshape would look if he were facing directly outward, head held as level as Shigaraki's and RD's are. Do you see how the shape and angles involved would make his eyeshape look more like RD's than Shigaraki's?

Also, there's that funny little arrow point at the end of one of his bangs, the one by his nose that looks more like a baby version of one of Chrono's silly hair arrows than anything we've seen on Shigaraki or Tenko.

So, yeah, I think he is clearly supposed to be reminiscent of Shigaraki/Tenko, presumably for thematic reasons we'll be covering in the last few chapters, but I don't think he is him.

But then, it's only one panel so far, and the very first one at that, on top of the tilted angle. Maybe the resemblance will be more pronounced when he shows up next time. We'll see. Thanks for the ask!

[codenamesazanka]

chapter's out! I read it. It sucked.

random thoughts:

so many things wrong I don't even know where to start

Have to restate that Deku has never given a single fuck about Shigaraki. Yeah, he might have cared a little about the Crying Child (because whose heartstrings wouldn't be tugged by a cute, weepy five-year-old?), and he avoided agreeing when people talked about killing Shigaraki, but overall, he's always been aloof and honestly disdainful towards Shigaraki. The latest proof is that Shigaraki's body is falling to pieces and Deku keeps on smashing. He's fighting AFO, true, but he knows Shigaraki is possessed, he knows that's Shigaraki's body, yet he spares not a thought about what might come afterwards once he defeats AFO. Will Shigaraki have a body to return to? Is it saving when the body Shigaraki returns to is pulverized, mostly because Deku did that? Questions Deku never asks, never considers. What a compassionate Hero.

Further evidence being that it seems like Kurogiri created a portal to divert Deku's attack in order to protect Shigaraki Tomura from his punches. While also asking for AFO to give Shigaraki Tomura back BECAUSE HIS FRIENDS ARE WAITING FOR HIM. The only real Hero of this chapter is Kurogiri.

So yeah, why not have Bakugou bomb Kurogiri so Deku can land the killing blow.

The 'you're not an incomprehensible monster, you're just a sad lonely man' line is there really as a cliché, an obligatory 'Nominally Nice Protag Probably Should Not Act Like Some People Are Innately Chaotic Evil And Should Be Exterminated'. I mean, it's obvious that AFO was a pathetic guy who's been obsessively mourning his brother and can barely make real friends. But when has Deku ever spared a thought about AFO and his motivations? When has Deku even cared about people not being incomprehensible monsters, besides vaguely wanting to know what Shigaraki's damage is (but never enough to RESEARCH or ASK)?

I do like AFO screaming at Yoichi's ember. Pathetic man. <3 Don't understand why, if he did kinda cared about Yoichi in his own twisted way and was desperate to have Yoichi back, he needed to fake his tears to 'cause confusion and dismay' in front of Kudou. What was that?

I joked about Shigaraki coming back from the shattering pretty chill but it sucks. It sucks ass. What the fuck. Sure, let's have Nana and him (maybe???) reconcile off-screen (or not really, because it seemed to be unconscious vestige weirdness, since Shigaraki has to wonder if it was grandma keeping him whole later). Sure, let's have him share the moment with everyone when he has more right than anyone to deal the final blow, especially after the shattering five chapters ago, because he should also have a moment when he reclaims his life and purpose from AFO. Sure, let's have him just give up.

My sole, tiny half-relief is that it doesn't seem like Shigaraki is so much agreeing/being ~enlightened~ by Deku's assessment of him as a Crying Child (who only ever needed a hug uwu, please carry him into the light of Heroes and teach him how to love again uwu) as conceding that because he failed to destroy anything, he failed to crush Deku's hand, he was just a crying brat after all. His conviction lost against Deku's. The use of 'brat' is significant, I think. He's not elevating his child-self into some pure innocent existence; he was a tantrum-throwing brat with unresolved issues. Adding his last words to Spinner, in the end, he still considered his destruction valid (because it was. He needed to be a Hero for the Villains.)? My interpretation.

But really the writing and progression is so unexplored and confusing and rushing towards a conclusion - he doesn't get to reflect on the reveal???????? what the fuck???????? - it's hard to say.

God he deserved better.

As much as I love the Spinaraki, wish he did address the rest of the League 😭 But it does make sense he might single Spinner out, to complete their gay little friendship story thread. And out of everyone, Spinner - most devoted to him - would probably need words of comfort most. but frustrating. and as @robotlesbianjavert mentioned, we never get a Shigaraki + League scene or union post-MVA.

fuck he better not be dead. he needs to be a Hero for the villains. Especially with fucking Deku as the new face of new gen Heroes.

Deku is the worse. fuck that kid.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 315: I Didn’t Expect This to Blow Up

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “guess which plot that you thought was dead is actually not dead and is making a comeback!” and we were all “EVIL HPSC??” and he was all “girl you know it,” and that’s the story of how we got a sexy Lady Nagant flashback with lots of guns and murder. Flashback!Lady was all “gotta murder peeps to preserve the people’s trust,” but then a little while later she was like “actually wait that makes no sense,” and so she shot her evil boss and they sent her to jail. Back in the present, Deku was all “okay fair, the hero system might in fact be a little fucked up, but hear me out... have you considered not helping AFO take over the world so he can murder like a bazillion more innocent people??” The chapter ended with the not-all-there Overhaul finally revealing himself to Deku, and I honestly have no idea where this is gonna go.

Today on BnHA: In what is unfortunately the single worst plan ever concocted by anyone in BnHA, Nagant is all “I’m going to try and get this Deku kid to panic and freeze up by putting someone in mortal danger.” Deku is all, “[doesn’t panic and freeze up at the sight of someone in mortal danger].” Nagant is all “omg no way.” Deku, who is now all of a sudden being so OP that even I have to acknowledge that it’s OP lol, is all “[smashes Nagant’s gun arm to bits]”, which sucks but is also really cool, and which also apparently makes Nagant decide that she actually likes this kid after all. Deku is all “NAGANT I REALLY LIKE YOU AND THINK YOU’RE GREAT SO PLEASE JOIN UP WITH ME AND STOP BEING EVIL.” Nagant is all “aw shucks (✿ •͈ᴗ•͈) well okay then” and everyone is all “( ･◡･) ✰ ( ˆᴗˆ ) ( ᵘ ᵕ ᵘ ⁎)” and then Nagant FUCKING EXPLODES LIKE AN EGG IN THE MICROWAVE AND FALLS TO HER DEATH!!!! except not really because Hawks saves her??? In conclusion, (a) THE FUCK, and (b) AFO TURN ON YOUR LOCATION I JUST WANT TO TALK.

so I have to tell you guys something, which is that barely ten minutes after I made that “please don’t send me spoilers” post the other day, someone replied to the comments in a stunning fit of “tell me that you’re twelve without actually telling me you’re twelve” energy and posted what seemed to be the copy-pasted spoiler summary from reddit or twitter or whatever lol. so here is my good news/bad news rundown of all that

good news: I have very well-conditioned ABORT!! reflexes and have trained myself to immediately look away from the screen (usually in dramatic fashion) as soon as I realize that whatever I’m reading is a spoiler

bad news: unfortunately as I was subsequently deleting said comments, I accidentally read the very last one

good news??: said spoiler was so unbelievably, absurdly over-the-top that I’m almost positive this person was just trolling. like, there’s just no way lmao

bad news: but in the unlikely event that it is true I will absolutely lose my shit I swear to god

(ETA: “NAGANT DIES.” that was the spoiler I read lol. like, literally all I read from the person’s comments was “My Hero Academia Chapter 315 Title: “Beautiful Words.” Chapter starts with...” and then I noped out of there, and then of all the comments to read as I was deleting, it had to be that one lol. I seriously was just like “SURE, JAN.” all “just how gullible do you think I am” sob. but I was wrong. a troll, but an honest troll they remain.

but anyways like I’m pretty sure Nagant isn’t even actually dead lol, so in the end this whole little adventure doesn’t even have a point to it, but for me it was a journey!)

anyway, so there are apparently two versions of the chapter today?? no idea what the difference is, but I’m going to go with the Bean version, because it’s the one at the top and I don’t feel like making decisions today

huh, so Overhaul is actually more coherent than Horikoshi was letting on

look at him having a whole back and forth conversation with her. side note, how is he still this jacked when he’s been sitting in a cell doing absolutely nothing for the past six months

anyway so he says he’ll go with her on one condition. I wonder what that condition could possibly be. do you think it could be the thing he literally hasn’t shut up about ever since he reappeared lol

yep! and damn -- maybe this guy will surprise me after all

still would be nice if you also felt a bit sorry for the little girl you tortured and traumatized, but this is something at least. maybe Deku will yell at him for that other stuff lol

(ETA: also can’t help but wonder if he wants to make amends because he put him in a coma, or because his plan was a failure and ended up destroying the family. just hoping you’ve finally had that “hurting other people is bad” epiphany dude.)

anyways so now Nagant’s arm is transforming again, and this particular transformation happens to be the only truly unsexy thing that Nagant has done thus far so I’m just gonna skip right on ahead lol

aaaaand we’re back to the delirious ranting

buddy. just. read the fucking room, guy

wow she really is aiming at Overhaul, then. those theories were spot-on

damn she’s really out here all “it really fucks with kids’ heads when you kill people right in front of them and make them blame themselves” like yo

I’m picturing her saying all this in a very loud stage-whispery tone while making very significant eye contact with Deku lol

uh oh but wait

um. okay. who’s gonna tell her. Nagant I might have some bad news for you about the kid you’re trying to capture here. specifically about the way he tends to do the opposite of what you’re thinking that he’s about to do

holy shit

so it’s basically just “tap x repeatedly to charge up your attack” lol

and okay, so that’s cool and all, but is anyone else wincing at the thought of what that must be like on his knees. oh to be young

anyway, but so to the surprise of basically no one, Deku did not, in fact, freeze. I am very sorry, Nagant. he’s just like this

LMAO

someone wanna tell me how getting yoloed in the fucking ribs by this fucking slingshot kid moving at literal sniper bullet speed is in any way even remotely better than getting hit by the bullet itself lol

(ETA: this is 10x funnier now that we know the bullet wasn’t even gonna hit him lmao.)

anyway so now Nagant is having an extended “!?!?!?” reaction about how Deku just moved with no hesitation, and I’m starting to get an inkling of fear that the rest of this fight isn’t going to go very well for her and maybe that’s what all the “hoo boy” is about

oh my god Deku are you about to Gomu Gomu no Rocket yourself at her you insane little man

now Three is popping up again and he’s all “I see you’ve learned your lesson and are now only using three quirks at once instead of five” like with all this effusive praise about how great and badass Deku is and sob, okay, yeah. this chapter is basically one of those machines that shoots tennis balls at people, except instead of tennis balls it shoots hot piping discourse

OH MY GOD

YOOOOOOOOOO but also, NOOOOOOOOOOO

lol oh my god it’s literally two opposing reactions at once wtf. do I love this or hate this. like just for once can Horikoshi actually let a badass lady character win their fucking fight without getting their arm ripped off, BUT ALSO fucking look at that absurdly cool “SMASH” onomatopoeia though. it looks like it’s about to float right off the page holy shit that’s some seriously good art

anyway so is this really the end?? do I need to break out my ಠ_ಠ faces

lmao okay yeah I can definitely see how this would piss a lot of people off

he basically one-shotted her and she’s all “damn this kid is so amazing that I’m about to do a complete 180 turn on all of my previous angst” lmao. Horikoshi is really shounening it up today

on the plus side though, maybe this means there’s still a chance for her to join up with him after all? unless that spoiler was true lmao, then all hell is gonna break loose

YESSSSSSS

OH MY GOD AND HE SAYS THE BULLET WOULDN’T HAVE DONE MORE THAN GRAZE OVERHAUL ANYWAY, wow, I’m actually more relieved by that than I would have expected. I mean I would have forgiven her either way, but it means that there was still more hero in her than she was letting on

YES!!! FUCKING YES, THANK YOU

lol but I mean, it’s also like, “oh so today they get to have brain cells”, thank you so much lol. sometimes it’s really hard to tell which times we’re supposed to question these character decisions that seem dumb, and which times we’re just supposed to full on embrace them and switch off our critical thinking

but okay, so in this case it really was Nagant going easy on him on purpose, and not just her fucking up for no good reason even though she used to do this for a living and was the best in the game. and I know in this case it’s probably just Horikoshi giving us some consolation headpats to soften the blow of her losing so abruptly, but you know what, shit. I’ll take it

also you guys the light is coming back into Deku’s eyes again for just a moment here and I’m having feels about it?? the way it still comes back when he’s reaching out to save someone, and following his own hero path instead of the much darker and lonelier Christopher Nolan path that’s been laid out for him instead that he never wanted?? it’s both reassuring and also very sad

YESSSSSSSSSSS

DO IT LADY OMG PLEASE?? PLEASE COME BE HIS NEW IRRESPONSIBLE ADULT SUPERVISION YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO

AHHHHHHH SHE’S GONNA DO IT AHHHH

p.s. I am now absolutely scared shitless that that spoiler was actually true sob. swear to god, I will throw this manga into a fucking volcano. but we’re almost at the end of the chapter and this seems just WAY TOO GOOD to be true fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck f

UCK

NOPE NAH SEND IT BACK, NOPE, NUH UH, DIDN’T ORDER THIS. “GULLIBLE” OKAY FUCK YOU?? “COUNTERMEASURES” NOPE, DON’T NEED ‘EM, WE’RE ALL FINE HERE. WE’RE ACTUALLY GOOD SO YOU CAN JUST GO, OKAY. PLEASE

fuck, lol, I don’t wanna do it. I don’t wanna scroll down what have I ever done to deserve this oh my god

WHAT THE HONEY-ROASTED FUCK

WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT FUCKING VOLCANO IN ICELAND THAT I KEEP SEEING ALL THESE PICTURES OF. WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT SHIT. LET’S GO

ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW

can someone please give AFO a really good, sharpish kick in the balls. just really let him have it. I’m so tired, what the fuck

-- ARE YOU KIDDING ME LOL WHAT

bro. I was literally going through my Excel folders to find the spreadsheet about female characters in BnHA that I made back when Midnight died. was gearing myself up for a wholeass rant. and honestly I might just let all of that continue simmering on low to keep it warm just in case lol, because to tell you the truth I have absolutely no idea what’s happening right now

my girl straight up does not have a face. she used to have a face. people usually need those, idk. like, even if she’s alive, her gorgeous eyebrows are definitely not making it out of this and I’m gonna throw a funeral just for them

how the fuck did AFO just blow her up?? how did he know what was going on?? and if he had a quirk that could explode people at will, why is this the first we’re hearing of it?? you’d think that might have come in handy at Kamino or Jakku, like what

(ETA: present!me, who’s had more than three hours of sleep and can now actually remember facts about the series, would like to remind past!me that AFO gave Nagant a quirk, and so this is probably just more Vestige shenanigans now on his part. that’s also probably why Air Walk suddenly stopped working out of nowhere. still doesn’t explain why he doesn’t go around blowing people up more often though but maybe he thinks it’s gauche.)

Hawks just straight up out of nowhere. just Mirioed his way straight into the chapter just in time to be too late sob. here I was looking forward to seeing your face when Deku showed up with his new best friend. can’t believe Horikoshi deprived us of that moment

on the plus side, WELCOME BACK, HAWKS’S FEATHERS. I have no doubt that in this chapter of Deku being an almighty threequirk-mastering god, and Nagant losing anticlimactically only to be immediately blown up because girl characters in BnHA can only be cool for one fight and one fight only, there are still some people who are focusing solely on the “how dare Hawks get his wings back when he is a MURDERER this is an outrage what about CONSEQUENCES” discourse, and to hell with all the other discourses lmao

anyway, so yeah. wow. and now it’s just occurring to me that maybe the real reason why Overhaul is there is so he can get a head start on that amend-making by actually doing a good thing for once in his life, and using his quirk to heal Nagant. assuming he can still do that

and so now Horikoshi has got me out here actually rooting for Overhaul. you know what, on that note I think I’m just gonna go ahead and call it a day sob

[itsnothingofinterest]

So with the end supposedly approaching (relatively speaking), people have started giving some thought as to who the final threat is really going to be; Tomura Shigaraki or All For One. It’ll definitely be one of them, they’re the strongest and most established villains by a mile; but both have their own reasons for people to think they’ll be the “final boss” of the series. And far be it from me to keep my opinion to myself; I really think it’s going to be Tomura.

I’m not sure if that’s some level of controversial among the fans hoping for Shigaraki’s redemption, as I do believe the alternative’s gotten a lot of traction lately. Because understand that I’m still expecting his redemption too, and don’t expect his hypothetical final boss status to really prevent that. (Practically nothing can, it’s as much a guaranteed outcome at this point as Deku getting his sixth bonus quirk.) Realistically, the only difference would be if he & Deku then team up to fight the evil potato head, or to...just start fixing stuff I guess.

On that note, the eventual redemption is actually one of the reasons I think he’s the better choice. Almost every point of comparison between the two villain I can think of makes Tomura seem like the better choice, actually...with maybe one or two exceptions. So I wanted to go over all those points of comparison & everything they’ve got going for them as endgame villains and why the comperrisons overall seem to favour Tomura as the final boss.

1. Someone who was defeated to the power of just one man

For one, just looking at pure power levels, AFO’s just not as threatening as Tomura; and there’s not really a way to bridge that gap.

Like, Tomura’s obviously more of a threat personally; he’s got the stronger body that was scientifically enhanced, and only he has Decay on top of the AFO quirk and the collection that came with it. It is just a fact that right now, Tomura is far more powerful. And before anyone thinks that AFO could become an equal threat by just taking over & fighting in his body; that’s not true because, along with just more combat experience that doesn’t rely on an arsenal of quirks, Tomura also has that Shimura trick where you remember your origin and become super bad ass. You know, the trick that All Might used to beat AFO in Kamino. In other words, the most dangerous individual in the series right now is the AFO!Tomura body with specifically Tomura in control.

And as long as the slight edge in mentality in Tomura’s favour exists, there’s not really a way to bridge that gap and have AFO take Tomura’s place as the biggest potential threat. Restore or enhance AFO’s original body? That’s just catching it up with AFO in Tomura’s body, which is still behind Tomura in Tomura’s body. Have AFO boost Tomura’s body with him in control? It would still be better with Tomura in control. There’s no scenario where Tomura isn’t the most powerful character in BNHA.

(Well, except maybe AFO weakening him by, say, stripping him of his quirks; but if he has to make things easier for the heroes to become the most powerful, I think that kind of proves my point anyway.)

But one person can only be so dangerous, so lets talk followers. Tomura has a close knit group of friends & allies on top of a vast army super loyal to him specifically that reaches a six digit figure, and AFO...just doesn’t. And I’ll get back to this later; but I don’t think he wants one either. He sticks to just a handful of people useful to him and what’s left of his Nomu. And while maybe that is the better way for him to accomplish his own personal goals, it’s simply not as threatening as the force which Hawks thought could’ve conquered the country if the heroes hadn’t struck first.

Tomura is a country ending threat, who in the right circumstances could fight literally all of the heroes with a chance of winning, and AFO simply isn’t.

2. His own little world

And to return to what I was talking about earlier, I’m not sure he really cares to be either. Like, people say he wants to conquer everything, and I imagine he’d think regaining lots of money & power would be great down the line; but evidence seems to suggest he doesn’t really care much for the country as a whole or any of the major themes being discussed by the actual main characters at the moment.

I mean if he did, he’d probably have rescued the PLF, that army capable of competing with all of hero society. And he probably wouldn’t have told ~10,000 dangerous and powerful villains indebted to him for their freedom to just run amok while he keeps contact with only the ones useful for his personal goals. And he definitively wouldn’t be laying low & sleeping through his enemies lowest moment & giving them a month to recover, also in service to those personal goals. That activity seems to imply those personal goals matter a whole lot more to him than societal conquest.

And what are those goals? Seemingly, taking over Tomura’s body so he can finally steal One For All. To what end, we’re not 100% sure of, but I believe it’s either a) a weird pride thing where he finally has control over his brother who’s rebelled against him for decades upon decades or b) an attempt at immortality as a sentient & transferable body-controlling quirk. Either way it’s some selfish personal thing he just gets others wrapped up in.

He’s incredibly disconnected from the greater themes and conflicts of the story. He seems to have no opinions on heroics besides how people are stupid for attempting them, and no opinion on society besides that it just naturally sucks. He’s mainly just a nuisance for the actual main characters. This self-important old man stuck in his own little world is supposed to be Deku’s final opponent?

Oh, and on that note-

3. Deku who?

We’re also talking about who’s going to be the final obstacle for Deku to face; and the problem with the being AFO is that...they don’t really have much to bounce off of with each other. You might be able to argue slight foil-ment, but they don’t really know each other, nor do they have any kind of connection to each other besides Deku having OFA so he’s AFO’s enemy by default.

(In fact their latest & 2nd convo, which came out as I was drafting this post out, kind of proves that with how AFO basically just shallowly made fun of him for trying to be a hero. That’s basically the extent of their antagonism.)

In fact, I’m like 80% sure this is a major reason for the Dad For One theory existing; just to give them some connection, something to talk about. Because otherwise AFO is just an evil guy known by people Deku knows/wants to save. He’s basically just another, more dangerous Overhaul; who Deku's already fought. And to AFO, Deku’s just another OFA holder acting all high & mighty; which we also already saw him face in the Kamino fight. So what little they do offer each other has already been done for both of them. And there’s nothing wrong with that for carrying a fight, I just wonder if that can really carry the final fight.

Compare that to Shigaraki, who foils Deku in ways so numerous & obvious it’s almost hard to talk about, such as: their position as successors, strategic thinkers, very similar origins, very similar core characters, team players, red shoes, they looked really similar as kids...just to name a few parallels. Contrasting AFO, there is a lot to work with here that would contributed to a good fight that’d double as a battle of ideologies. And admittedly, we know this because it already has, this is also something we’ve seen before; but there’s a lot more unexplored with their conflict, a lot left unsaid that we could see from them arguing their viewpoints. A lot more than from Deku & AFO anyway.

I mean for Pete’s sake; All Might & Shigaraki have more in common and more to talk about than Deku & AFO. That’s a major problem if those two are meant to carry the final battle; which is why I don’t think they are.

4. Just punch him

There’s also the fact that AFO doesn’t really challenge Deku in any real way; and I’m not just talking about how All Might solo-ing him (twice) should logically mean endgame Deku should also be able to solo him. I’m more talking about how...that’s kind of all he’d need to do. If you can just beat AFO up enough then...that’s it, threat over. Wrapped up in a neat little bow.

To compare, Shigaraki is the greatest threat the heroes have ever faced, the victim most in need of saving, and to top it off, he’s got the gall to be both of those things at once. What’s a hero supposed to do with that? That’s a serious question characters are going to have to think about when deciding how to deal with Shigaraki. His position is that of, not just the greatest challenge, but a set of the greatest challenges a hero could face. And that’s before you get into his side representing those oppressed by serious systemic issues that need to be addressed as well; quite possibly simultaneously.

No one needs to address systemic corruption or prejudice to beat AFO though. They just need to punch him real hard. The biggest challenge AFO presents the heroes is “how do we make sure this guy stops being a problem for good when neither our most secure prison, nor removing his head, did the job?”

(Personally, my answer is to have Tomura do it. Because unlike Deku, Tomura actually does have a proper antagonistic relationship with AFO, so he has reason to be the one to end him besides just being the protagonist. Plus he’s under no obligation not to kill, so there’s that.)

And like yeah, that does make AFO the easier guy to deal with, and thus write an ending around (to say nothing of how he's also the most satisfying person to see punched in the face); but does that really mean Horikoshi would want to use him instead of the more interesting option of Tomura? I mean I guess we can’t be sure, there is merit in writing the easy resolution; but I’d prefer the complex finale if I were in his shoes.

5. Horikoshi’s favourite

And lastly there’s just the issue of which of the two Horikoshi’s put more work into. Spoiler alert: it’s not the guy that spent like 200 chapters in jail being menacing every one in a while.

Tomura is by far the more developed between the two, having constantly evolved over the course of the series. And more than just as a character, as described above he’s been developed as the more threatening and challenging conflict for Deku while also reflecting him in a lot of important ways. We’ve seen the growth of his power & influence, we’ve gotten to know & understand his motives, we’ve seen how he’s been failed by heroes before. Everything about him has built him up as the ultimate villain, the most desperate victim, and overall greatest challenge for Deku and the story as a whole to face.

And AFO is...nearly one of those things. Which is pretty much what he was from his first appearance. He has not developed at all over the series, and from what we can tell from his flashbacks, he hasn’t developed at all over the past ~200 years either. (I’m half tempted to call him more inciting incident then character.) What we have with AFO, as far as a character and a villain goes, is pretty much what we’re getting until he’s done. And, well; if Tomura is a better villain & a better pick for final boss than he was then, that gap’s just going to keep growing.

Like, I doubt it really needs stating how Shigaraki is probably the character Horikoshi has put the most work into in the entire series. And a lot of that work, a lot of his development, has gone to the idea of him surpassing AFO or being a villain foil to Deku, who himself is mean to surpass All Might. For his roll to be usurped by the guy he’s meant to surpass just feels like it’s going against that. Like, it’d feel almost as wrong for his character and the story around him than it would for Deku is All Might got his powers back and took over for him as main protagonist. It just doesn’t feel right for Tomura not to be the final villain, is what I’m getting at.

6. ...One saving grace

Okay, but I will admit one thing AFO has going for him that I would be remiss not to bring up. Besides being the most hated character in a series that also has Endeavor in it, I mean. He’s got this one trait that makes him an effective antagonist to anyone in the series; his complete disregard to pretty much every major theme in the series.

I mean think about it; the major themes of Shigaraki’s circle all revolve around trying to fix the society that rejected them; but AFO believes Society just naturally sucks that way as part of human nature, so their cause is doomed. And the heroes’ major themes all revolve around how to become/what it means to be a hero; but AFO believes trying to do good in that society can’t really be done & also it’s ridiculous to believe comic books are real, so their cause is also doomed and they look stupid doing it. So despite not really interacting with anyone’s core conflict or goals in favour of wrapping them up in his own, he still manages a one-sided ideological opposition with nearly every major player in the series; and that’s not nothing.

But, and I completely understand that this is just a matter of opinion, that kind of just leaves him feeling to me like a good antagonist, not a good final antagonist. I’d still prefer it be Tomura even from this perspective, because he’s able to oppose the ideologies of his opponents on purpose & with proper ideologies of his own.

To summarize:

Shigaraki feels the better choice for final boss because he’s more threatening, more interesting, both as a person and as an opponent for Deku specifically, he’s far more directly tied into the themes of the story and their resolution, & he’s had far more set up. AFO is more hated, and his callous disregard for everything everyone else holds important is something I guess, but that’s pretty much all he’s got going for him in compression. I don’t know about you, but I know who I think would carry the conclusion to the series better.

But I also know this isn’t the most popular take among my villain fan colleagues right now. So if anyone disagrees, I welcome any civil discussion about these two & their viability as final boss.

[redphlox]

Can I ask a controversial question/opinion? I don't think the LOV should want forgiveness or atonement for the things they've done. Would it really be right if they did, even after society/heroes abandoned them? To do evil to live a easier life or just to survive at all and then to spend (likely) the rest of said life apologizing or 'atoning' for it? Is that really a good/heroic message?

*cracks knuckles* alrighty here we go. let's deconstruct this.

Forgiveness, atonement, and redemption are subjective concepts with different definitions that vary from culture to culture and from person to person. I won't be talking about these. What I will discuss is that, usually, wanting to seek forgiveness and make amends is often attached to morality. As in, if you don't want to make things "right" then you're a bad person. For example, some find it easier to accept someone who has wronged them or broken the law if that person at least feels bad about their actions. Someone who steals is often labeled as a bad person. But what if they stole bread to feed their family? What if they did it but feel bad and want to repay? Does that person's feelings of regret change how they are perceived? Yes, usually, because there are a lot of social expectations and assumptions attached to feelings or the lack thereof. This is why phrases like "ugh soandso has no empathy or compassion, they're terrible!" are so common and potentially problematic because it opens people who do have conditions that present with low empathy to stigma.

Anyway, I'm not saying this to suggest any characters in BNHA have low empathy or have mental health issues. I just thought it was relevant because readers usually interpret the media they digest through their own personal views and beliefs. So, to these people/readers, the league has to atone and want forgiveness in order to be stomachable because that's probably the same belief they have toward IRL situations. But this is fiction, and while fiction and reality have crossovers, we need to analyze what the text says.

The LOV isn't asking for forgiveness and Hori isn't dragging them through a process where they have to suffer their whole lives to atone. I've seen readers state this, but it's more of a personal belief. If people think the LOV has to atone because Aoyama feeling bad for being the traitor set the precedent - well, he regrets hurting his friends but probably doesn't regret keeping his parents alive.

The story is stating that true heroes do exist. As in, altruistic people who genuinely want to help others without being rewarded by glory, money, titles, praises, etc, which is what the word hero had turned into thanks to heroism becoming a profession. The story has stated that society creates its own villains by ostracizing those who need help the most. Deku and Shouto and Ochako are true altruistic heroes because they will reach out to their villain counterparts and acknowledge and validate their pain. It's looking like the villains, now hopeful about their futures in a society that accepts them, will want to save society in turn by defeating AFO.

So, I'm not sure where this idea of the villains being forced to do anything is cropping up. The villains always wanted to be part of society. That's why they want to change society, so they can be a part of whatever new society they create. Touya wanted to be part of his family and be good enough. Toga wanted to be accepted by her friends and schoolmates. Tenko wanted to be accepted by his dad, but his dad had unresolved abandonment issues and a negative bias toward heroism because his mom chose her job over her him. Replace "hero" with "cop", "lawyer", "doctor" or any other job title that demands excessive hours away from family and you'd still get a resentful Koutaro who projects this vision of selfish people who value work over family onto his own son.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that the messages bnha wants to convey are being misconstrued and false or hyperbolic messages are being perpetuated. The story isn't making a statement about forgiveness or atonement. It's making a statement about the inherent goodness in people. Yes, there are characters who are trying to atone etc, but that's not a prevailing overall message. That's just one character arc. Overall, Hori is saying that villains are people too and belong in society, and if society would treat them better then the villains wouldn't be so hurt. It's cheesy, but Hori is a cheesy guy.