#i hope this wasn't rude but i'm sure there are parts that are snippy

[bisexualdawnsummers]

I saw somewhere that one of the reasons why people hated Michael is because he's too whiny and rude towards Justin. But imagine being in his shoes, tho. As someone who has a best friend I'm willing to ride or die for, I also think anyone will never be good for my best friend and I'm always suspicious towards anybody lol. Because I knew how hard they've worked, how much they suffered and how long of a journey it was for them to get this level of somewhat peace in their life. If anyone is ever trying to give them more stress in any way, I'm suddenly so pissed lol. For people who doesnt get it, Michael could definetely could come across as "posessive" & "overthinking" (the whole narrative of "He wanna fuck Brian so bad its pathetic" doesnt help either, which makes me roll eyes so bad because from time to time, it's mostly Brian that inniciate their physical contacts first so) but you can't help but always looking out for this particular one person that makes your life worth living, when you know they can be reckless like Brian especially. Especially with how escalated Justin's family life situation is after he met Brian. Through Michael's lense, Justin is a stranger with baggages that he doesn't want Brian to carry since he knew and understand Brian already has a lot in his plate. Guaranteed, I can't all justify every thing that Michael said and did in regards to Justin and I'm ok with that (part of liking Michael is to accept that he just makes human mistakes as a grumpy 30 years old gay Italian man lol), but the hatred that he receive literally degrade his existence into just "Another pathetic best friend that's in love with the main character" is just sad to see.

Yeah, I've always thought the idea of Michael being a big old meanie to poor little Justin as a bit overblown. Could Michael be snippy with him? Sure. And he occasionally went too far with some of his words, but his tendency to speak before thinking is one of his character flaws, and should hardly detract from his better qualities.

What a lot of people like to overlook/ignore is the fact that Michael was actually one of the first characters that tried to look out for Justin in a way. I think it's like ep. 2 where Justin comes looking for Brian again and when Brian ducks out on him, Ted and Emmett say that Justin is Brian's problem not theirs. Michael is the only one to act like a responsible adult and not let this teenage kid wander around on his own. He takes him to the diner and makes sure he has a ride home. Of course, it doesn't end very well when Michael tries to warn Justin off Brian. Justin is bratty to Michael in that moment. And Michael does come off jealous and a bit whiny, but I think in some way he was trying to look out for Justin. I don't think he was entirely selfishly motivated. He's probably witnessed Brian break countless hearts over the years, and was trying to save Justin a bit of grief by telling him the truth. He wasn't lying when he told Justin he wasn't Brian's boyfriend. Brian doesn't do boyfriends, he barely does repeats.

Also, I can see how Michael, or anyone in his situation would be annoyed by Justin's sudden and inescapable presence. Imagine being someone close to 30, and one of your friends sleeps with a teenager, and then that teenager shows up at your mother's house. The kid is not only stalking your friend but everyone in his life in hopes of getting closer to him. Anyone would feel a bit overprotective, and a lot frustrated.

And yeah, a lot of people like to downplay Michael's importance in Brian's life, reducing him to the guy with the hopelessly unrequited crush on his friend. But their relationship is so much deeper and more important than that (whether romantic or platonic). imo, if someone doesn't understand Michael's place in Brian's heart, then they just don't understand Brian.

[haleigh-sloth]

Idk how to interpret Tenko/Tomura because I feel like it's being left ambiguous on purpose (it's also something he's confused about!) I think even if they changed Shigaraki's severe repression and dissociation into full blown DID... Tomura still needs to be saved! Like, based on vestige Tenko only having the eye scar that means if the DID interpretation is true, Tomura would have "split" during the incident and either way would have been the one dealing w/ AfO's manipulation and abuse.

Sigh..."Tomura still needs to be saved!"

Yes. Saving Tenko means saving Tomura. They're the same person. One does not exist without the other. I'm a little exhausted of that take honestly.

THEY. ARE. THE. SAME.

It's really not that ambiguous. Honestly. I've pointed out a multitude of times that the "inner child" is used a LOT in BNHA.

Boku no Baby Academia.

I have talked about how to interpret it quite a few times (Here, here, and here). You're welcome to give those a read. Here are a couple of other explanations NOT by me, but pretty much align with what I've been saying, and delve into much more detail on this "inner child" trope, which is undeniably what this is (Here and Here).

I'm trying to give you options anon, because the way you're approaching it is, imo, not going to get you anywhere or land you on any conclusion you like. You're coming at this as if Tomura is going to be left behind in the dust and not saved. (And I'll touch on the DID stuff at the end because that's not a good way to come at this either). And I will reiterate what I said here, in another post explaining the Tenko/Tomura situation: Does saving Touya mean leaving Dabi in the dust to rot? No. Yet, I don't see people saying that about him? Yet he also gets the "hurt inner child" symbolism used for him as well, but for some reason this take doesn't apply to him. It shouldn't! But it shouldn't apply to Tenko either.

I'm not trying to tell you what to interpret it as, do what you want, I can't stop you. But honestly there really isn't a lot of room LEFT for open interpretation. It's pretty obvious what Tenko/Tomura is. Tenko is symbolic of the entire person's being. He is who he is.

It's as simple as this: The reason the entire person, Tomura Shigaraki/Tenko Shimura, was not FULLY absorbed by AFO, is simply because the ENTIRE person is not completely full of hatred and rage. That tiny part of his mind/heart/soul however you wanna classify all of this, is being symbolized by Tenko. Because Tenko was the identity this person was born with, and represents the part of this person's life before AFO gaslit him into believing that he was this destruction incarnate and had no hope for a happy life, because, well, destruction incarnate who destroys everything he touches--including people he cares about (his family), as well as any chance he will ever have of being saved (destroying society). That's what Tomura/Tenko believes about himself, and until that belief is washed away through an outside influence, he can't be saved at all.

Now for your take on DID. I have a couple of issues with it but let's start with this:

"I think even if they changed Shigaraki's severe repression and dissociation into full blown DID... Tomura still needs to be saved! Like, based on vestige Tenko only having the eye scar that means if the DID interpretation is true, Tomura would have "split" during the incident and either way would have been the one dealing w/ AfO's manipulation and abuse."

I have a problem with this. This is implying that one part of Shigaraki is experiencing the abuse while the other is not. That is not even applicable to irl DID. When a person experiences trauma, it affects all aspects of a person. This sounds like you're saying there are two brains within this person and while one brain is taking a nap, the other is dealing with the abuse. One brain, one person, one experience.

The very fact that Tenko is being used to symbolize Shigaraki's heart is pretty clear cut proof showing that this isn't freaking DID lol. Tenko remains unaffected and continues to represent the part of Shigaraki that isn't full of hate, hence keeping him from fully disappearing into AFO, leaving there leeway for someone to pull the entire person OUT of this possession. If this were going to be a clinical representation of this disorder, one part of Shigaraki would not be shown to remain unaffected. The shut away identity in a person with DID IS affected, that part adjusts to the trauma just like the part of them that is front and center. It just doesn't work that way where one gets off scot free and the other takes the brunt.

This is the second issue that follows up on that--don't assign diagnostic labels and then interpret canon through that lens. Do not. You will not find answers, because this isn't a clinical study nor a clinical representation. Headcanons are fine and projecting is fine! Absolutely, project away. It's how we cope. But trying to analyze the material as if it were canon, when it's honestly not, is not going to land you anywhere. I will hand it over to Horikoshi for displaying mental illness and trauma really well through his characters, and especially familial trauma and the effects it leaves on the family members (Todorokis and Shimuras), but I'm not going to assume he's got an open DSM-V on his drawing desk.

Here's the other thing--this "split" has not been an ongoing obstacle for Shigaraki. This "split" hasn't been a part of his character's struggles with his identity and who he really is. That struggle lied with uncovering his memories, and that already happened. When he recovered his memories, he just recovered them. And then spiraled even more. He adjusted to the "new" information and kept going. He hasn't been dealing with a "split" the entire story, as if to show that he is dealing with a separate part of himself that he is fighting to bring out, or keep at bay. The "split" in identities only became a thing at ALL when the literal possession started happening. And there are LITERALLY TWO PEOPLE INSIDE. So again, yet another reason this is just...not a representation of DID. It's just not. Of course there are aspects of it there--absolutely. But those little aspects ONLY started manifesting when literally more than one whole person was occupying a body. During the war arc you see Shigaraki reflect on his memories multiple times, but he doesn't revert back to his 5 year old self.

5 year old Tenko is a representation--nothing more. There isn't a literal 5 year old sitting in the vestige with a physical body waiting to be pulled out. He just represents the very fact that he can still be saved from AFO, and saved from himself. It shows that there is a part of him that knows he isn't good for nothing but destruction, knows he didn't legit murder his family, knows he didn't want them to die, knows he wasn't born to just kill. Those beliefs are there buried deep down, they just need to be validated. Pulled out from the bottom of the ocean that is AFO's gaslighting and psychological torment inflicted on him.

So not to be rude, really, but I'm going to have to kindly reject your interpretation.

I genuinely don't know why people are looking for a way to explain away Tenko though? The reason is pretty clear and simple for why he's there. Why do people keep looking for ways to try to make it make sense that "saving Tenko means leaving Tomura behind?" Why, honestly I'm at a loss.

The only people I see who don't like the Tenko situation are the people who don't want the villains saved at all, and the people who want this fanon version of Shigaraki that doesn't exist so they can see him, like fight AFO off and take back his agency (that he never had to begin with honestly) and just carry the League off bridal style into the sunset. Idk tbh but the attempts at making the Tenko symbolism out to be this negative force in Shigaraki's arc are exhausting to read.

Not saying anon is doing that but....tbh idk why there are so many attempts at explaining Tenko away to be something he's not. He's not taking Tomura away from us either. Yeah idk where that comes from but it's a take floating around out there.

I'm fairly certain that we will see more 5 year old Tenko, and 5 year old Izuku, since we've seen them both on screen together already:

So I'm hoping that maybe all of this "Tomura won't be saved if Tenko is the one who is saved" bullshit dissipates when we finally follow up on this lol.