#give me a tokyo ghoul style AU manga about her slow descent into villainy

[justatalkingface]

Idk I feel Himiko and Izuku have great potential as parallels; both people shunned by society due to quirks, but one took the light path while the other took the dark, but it seems MHA forgot there was any kind of link between the two to begin with

I mean, sure. But how do I put this... Toga is the Potential Character.

Just... every part of her, honestly, is filled with this untapped potential to work with:

How do people react to a 'villain's Quirk' like hers? Does the average person even think much of it? Were her parents just crazy?

Potential.

What was it like, with this kid being basiclly blood starved her whole life, when she first transformed? What did it do to her head? Was her first transformation that kid she killed, that she liked? How did that fuck with her head?

Potential.

When Toga went on the run, in that span of time between 'normal-ish girl who just broke and killed someone' to 'memetic Toga, serial killer', what was that like? What made her like that? How long did it take?

Potential.

The thing is Toga, as presented to us, is this almost one dimensional character: she likes to kill. She's crazy, to the point of literal delusion, when it comes to how things work. She likes blood and her friends. That's it.

And there's just... so much to work with, with her story. She has, more than any League member, a tale of just plain corruption from a normal person into the monster she is now, and there is just... so much concept with that story Hori is just flat out ignoring, skipping over, or replacing with something simpler and less interesting. Her story, properly implemented and worked with, there could be an entire ass manga just about her slow descent into villainy.

And yet, she has all this screen time, but it's just so shallow that it's honestly frustrating to think about.

She has potential with Izuku as outcasts, like you said, comparing their low origins, the way Izuku was helped and she was hurt, and how they both started from Average People into people of great power and influence. She has potential with Stain as blood drinkers and blade wielders who rebelling against society, for vastly different reasons. She has potential, technically, with Ochako as people who like Izuku* (and just... let me get back to this, I'm sorry but I'll make it make more sense). She has potential with Shoto, Dabi, etc, with her history of parental abuse.

(*Ok, the way the manga presents this dynamic? Shit. Absolute shit, I hate it. But if it put any thought, or work, into it at all... there's actually some interesting elements to work with. Izuku has no self respect. He thinks he's universally loathed. And this girl likes him. Loudly. This is made clear to anyone in the general area because she's really not subtle about this. And Izuku just has... no context for a girl liking him, at all; canonly, he has no context for a girl even talking to him before UA. How does he react to this? What does he think?

And, in a more realistic setting, that's something that wouldn't just be ignored whenever Toga wasn't on screen, if only because he'd probably have one or two existential crises over having a female villain (because of both of those words!) like him (and also, Responsible Authority Figures would probably realize that makes him a potential target and, you know, do something about that. Maybe implement a code word system or something, because Toga actively hunting you is nightmarish in an Among Us kind of way). Like, hell, it could be a launching point for a character arc on him redefining himself from Quirkless Era Lack of Self-Respect to something more realistic for who he is, and you know, make him reassess his past in general.

And the thing is Ochako does like him. Or did at least. But, since this starts when her crush is still relevant.... What does she think about this? How does this make her react? Does that make her push her affections? Give her perspective and give up on feelings as a childish crush? And how does she bring that reaction back to Toga?

Because the thing is, as much as this chick fight-y format gives me some real bad vibes, there is a potential to it fundamentally, but it's something that would take work and development and some actual respect, which Hori just refused to give to... literally everyone involved in this situation.)

All of that is there, but we're never going to get it, because as much potential is there as a character, Hori clearly prefers her as the Yandere Blood Waifu and we're never going to be able to past that into anything deeper, anything more.