#i mean... ochako will always know where himiko is | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

darkcircles4lyfe · 10 months ago

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This doesn't have anything to do with anything, but i had a talk with a friend a few days ago, about shonen biasis and the way this shapes our expectations, and mha came up so i remembered how so many people apply those biasis HEAVILY into the manga, to the point that they sound like they're looking for a different story.

And one of those things that it seemed to be MOST talked about is exactly bkdk's relationship.

I have seen many times people from the fandom (sometimes really angrily) point out how in most cases Katsuki seems to basically take up not one, but four roles in Izuku's life and this includes putting him in situations that people associate with the MC's love interest, and it is weird that, despite Izuku "having a girl" for people to make assumptions about, he seems to completely repulse any female character that could be the counter part to Izuku's.

And this made us wonder if Katsuki's placement in those roles and lack of interest was made specifically because the author precisely did not want the actions that both do for each other as romantic but a whole another thing entirely, as a subversion for the these classic tropes, as he did by making the conflict between Ochako and Himiko not a "rivals fighting for the affection of a boy" but something that is connected to the plot of these characters instead.

Oh you bet! I am always down to talk about this, because I think about it a lotttt.

This reminds me, recently I remembered a funny habit I used to have with books I read. Like, back in middle school. I used to start by flipping directly to the last page and reading the final sentence. Usually this did not spoil anything whatsoever, but sure enough, by the time I read through the whole book, that sentence would take on new meaning.

So I started musing about what it would be like if only I could do this with bnha, if everything was already out. It made me feel so nostalgic…

Will the last panel be something grand, or something small? Hopeful or sad? Distant? Intimate? A parting message to the reader? Will it look like almost nothing of consequence to the unknowing eye—yet burst with hard-hitting subtext?

Of course I wonder about all the twists and reveals that might be still ahead of us, but it’s kinda soothing to think about how the whole thing could be put to rest. Because then I realize I’m not worried.

For once, this is not because the story is following so many tropes so predictably that I know exactly, in so many words, how it will end. It’s more like the story is a close friend who I’ve gotten to know well enough that everything they do is so “them” it makes me smirk. I'm often marveling at how Horikoshi has managed to pull all this off. How is it that (at least here in the west) people who aren't really paying attention call it basic and cookie-cutter. Even a Japanese animator called it "classic," and this interview shows such obvious dissonance between Hori and the interviewer, just... wow. But it's so clear that bnha has broken just about every rule in the book at this point, so much so that I struggle to condense it into words. I'm like--*gestures broadly at everything*--why haven't more people picked up on it??

Yet we still get bombarded with people saying "it's a shonen, c'mon, we all know how this will end." Um. No you don't. I KNOW there has to be a bunch of people who are secretly frustrated by Kacchan taking up all the roles and getting all the moments. It's not even in a mysogynistic way, because Kacchan is the most anti-dudebro character imaginable. Bkdk's relationship isn't intended for them and they know it... and you know what, I'm starting to ramble. You've heard all this before. The thing I should really be focusing on in your ask is the part where you mentioned how you and your friend were speculating about bkdk ending up as "a whole other thing entirely" rather than simply romantic.

Well, fuck it, I've been biting my tongue, but now might as well be the time I talk about this. I got into a bit of a disagreement with someone over it once and then I shut up. Because it's very difficult to approach the subject without being lumped in with those people who see bkdk as "brotherly" (ew) or otherwise try to push some "crisis of male friendship" agenda, or at the very least without being accused of enabling people to make excuses against bkdk being canon ad infinitum. So let me be clear that I do NOT want bkdk to have an ambiguous or open ending. I want their complexity and importance to be acknowledged. I want them to use their words. I think we may have created a bit of a false dichotomy there.

I am aromantic, and to suggest romantic relationships are inherently the most important and intimate goes against every fiber of my being. I also reject the idea that cut-and-dry gay representation is more desirable just because it is more easily understood by the masses than aspec representation or representation of relationships "beyond" both romantic and platonic. We recognize how ridiculous it is for people to expect Izu*cha at this point, right? Well, the reason they're so confident anyway isn't just because of heteronormativity. It's also because of amatonormativity, the assumption that romantic attraction trumps all: no matter how much focus bkdk get, Izuku blushed at Ochako, so that automatically makes them more "important." THAT is the notion that I want to challenge most. More than anything, I want bkdk's relationship to be fully acknowledged because they have so much more going for them than just attraction.

You and your friend make an excellent point, that it would be very much in line with Horikoshi's taste and the patterns of his writing so far if he chose to subvert the shonen romance trope not just by giving it to two boys, but also by disregarding its premise entirely. It's unlikely he'd try to stuff them into such a copy-paste ending right at the end.

So maybe they won't get the blushy confession, the obligatory kiss, the wedding, the 2.5 kids and a white picket fence. That's fine, we shouldn't pretend those tired tropes are suddenly revolutionary just because they're gay. But don't be disappointed! Without them, we have more room for things that are actually personally meaningful to bkdk to stand out and receive the nuance they deserve: talking through their feelings openly, building each other up like no one else can, understanding each other like no one else can, smiling at each other, embracing, holding hands, rushing to the other in the hospital, being glued at the hip (or even closer), healing mutual trauma, putting each other first in all things. Maybe we'll also get confirmation on Ochako's side as she moves on from her crush on Izuku. You know what other shonen manga took this exact angle as a way of subverting tropes and presenting genuine complexity? Blue Flag! There are so many ways to do bkdk justice.

Even a kiss isn't out of the question, if the right opportunity comes along. A perfect example of what I'm talking about is Good Omens (major season 2 spoilers) because the kiss between Crowley and Aziraphale was not at all about canonizing them. It was an expression of pain and desperation that just made sense at that particular moment. Neil Gaiman was adamant that if it took that kiss to understand the context of their relationship, you really weren't paying attention. I respect the hell out of that.

Recently I was even daydreaming about bkdk getting something similar to the sort of uh, shall we say tasteful nudity, that togachako got, because of how Izuku appears in the vestige realm.

Ya know like not in an nsfw way but in like a "this is so deeply intimate and soft that I feel like I'm intruding" kind of way... yeah. Because it represents vulnerability and openness and acceptance of someone as they are. And I don't care if people call that bait. It's not. It's beautiful. It’s honest.

#asks #anon #lin answers #bnha manga #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #bakudaku #bkdk #dekubaku #dkbk #aspec #queerplatonic

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darkonekrisrewrite · 3 months ago

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This can't be the final "End", for both the heroes and the villains

(Spoiler warning, long post)

Deku and Ochako's stories didn't end well, and not just for the shipping or not keeping One For All.

The narrative endings they got, either don't make sense or flat out don't work at all.

The end of Ochako's arc doesn't work because it conflicts with what we've been shown to be true.

She does try to help others after hearing PARTS of Toga's backstory, a natural progression of her character.

But the problem is that it leads to this:

"Uravity to expand access to Quirk Counseling"

EXPANDING Quirk Counseling...

Not REFORMING and then expanding Quirk Counseling.

Remember that this is Quirk Counseling:

"Where they attempt to hammer out any bumps in your understanding of the world and program you to fit neatly into society's little boxes.

It's a far from perfect process, the counseling ends up emphasizing the inherent differences among us all, and that's one bug they've yet to work out of the programming."

Stated by Curious during the MVA Arc, then confirmed later in a flashback featuring a counselor talking to Toga and her parents:

"Let's straighten you out so you can be "Normal".

Deviance is common in children with strong Quirks.

We'll fix it. It'll be like it never existed."

Focusing only on repression and the appearance of being normal, not actually helping the child at all.

So yeah, knowing that this is how Quirk Counseling really is, how exactly does expanding this help??

THIS WAS WHY TOGA STAYING CLOSE TO OCHAKO WAS SO IMPORTANT

(Not being with her in the shipping sense but working, talking with her and just being together.)

Anything good about this project that Ochako is creating is only implied not shown, and it doesn't mesh well at all with what we already know.

And even if Ochako did do things right, it still wouldn't be a satisfying payoff.

Ochako wasn't fighting so hard and struggling so much to help random, unnamed, unseen people from the villain life.

She was fighting to help Toga Himiko.

Her failing to save Toga and only (implying) saving others we don't even know, will never carry the same weight.

It won't feel right in a story that's supposed to be "Hopeful", because there's no solid connection left for that sentiment to be attached.

And there was no saving going on between Deku/shigaraki and Ochako/Toga after their battles were over.

This is the sentiment put forth by Nana Shimura (and at the time agreed upon by All-might and Deku), on what a true hero saving someone means:

"When you have to save someone, they're usually in a scary situation. A true hero saves not only their lives, but also their hearts... That's what I believe."

"Saving" is supposed to be both the life and the heart.

Not just one or the other.

And even if Gran Torino was supposed to be the one in the right -

(The narrative sure as hell made it look like he was supposed to be in the wrong and Deku was going to be the one to prove that.)

- in that killing can be a form of saving.

Deku and Ochako didn't even save the villain's hearts.

Not fully.

Shigaraki tells Deku that he still needs to be a hero to the villains and that he fought to destroy until the very end.

Only giving a snide encouragement to Deku at the end of the fight because he's literally crumbling into dust and got his world view rocked by the "It was AFO all along~" reveal.

Toga tells ochako that she didn't make "the bad stuff", the pain in her heart go away.

Only telling ochako that her efforts and words made Toga feel happy, but that's it.

They couldn't save their lives, only partially saved their hearts, leading to the results:

100% - 50% - 25% = 25 % (final grade)

FAIL

The rest of Deku's conclusion doesn't fair any better.

Deku's heroic finale ends the exact same way it ended in every filler bnha movie, only with even less payoff.

He didn't succeed in his goal, with who he wanted to save and he just goes back to doing what he always did at the start, being a hero.

He doesn't develop in any noticable way until the OFA embers run out off screen.

Even the symbolic saving of the scissors boy, Deku doesn't get.

It would have been a world of difference if deku had seen tenko's full backstory, then told it to the world.

Telling the civilians that they needed to do their part to help those in trouble.

(Knowing that there's no AFO left to potentially get in the way.)

Resulting in many civilians coming together to help the scissor boy.

That would have delivered on everyone's narrative payoff.

But instead the theme doesn't work here because the single old lady who does step up to help, does so out of guilt (Not helping tenko) rather than because it is the right thing to do.

Nobody among the civilians besides the old lady stepped up to help on top of that.

So it looks less like a societal shift and more like the redemption of one single person.

The narrative makes a half-hearted attempt to tie this back to Deku but it doesn't work there either.

Because how exactly does Deku punching shigaraki into powder inspire the old lady to extend a helping hand to someone who represents that same villain??

It doesn't.

Even if the sentiment is: that everyone must do their part to help, there is a giant disconnect between:

Everyone seeing the heroes helping each other, fighting and succeeding in destroying the scary villain.

and

Realizing that someone has to help the person who looks like a scary villain.

It doesn't add up together.

Doesn't flow narratively at all.

The 8 year time skip makes more problems with Deku.

The line of: "You too can become a Hero."

Is meant to be the payoff callback to All-might giving those same words to Deku in bnha's beginning, so now Deku says the same thing to another kid that has doubts about his ability to become a hero.

It is kind of sweet but thinking about it for more than 5 seconds should give pause because:

Deku was about to receive the most powerful quirk in the world from All-might.

And the kid Deku was giving those same inspirational words to could throw plates from his head.

It's not even confirmed whether or not the kid could control their size, telepathically manipulate them or something like that.

So if what that other loudmouth kid in the final chapter said is true, about how only the most capable can become heroes in the current time.

The entire conversation, just like many other things in this ending, reads like false hope from the heroes.

Not like Deku has to deal with any of that or the kid himself anymore because he gets a tech suit, allowing him to be a hero again.

We don't know if he keeps his teaching job or not, maybe he did, maybe he didn't.

But still, once again Deku avoids any difficult questions that the story puts in front of him.

And all of this doesn't even cover the other issues that the story brought up:

The popularity poll expanding instead of ending, as if that would prevent the Endeavor/Dabi situation from happening again.

Lack of social/government help for anyone who gets dealt more than a couple of bad hands in life, those caught up in hero/villain conflicts or other disasters (quirk based or not).

Remember how twice became a villain?

THE QUIRK SINGULARITY DOOMSDAY

Now that AFO, shigaraki and the doctor (all of his research and technology) are gone, what's going to happen when children start wiping out whole city blocks?

(The doctor may be alive and imprisoned but with AFO dead, the doctor likely won't help anymore because AFO was so important to him.)

With the power and complexity of the quirks inevitably increasing, think Eri unintentionally killing her dad X10.

Then the next round of kids, make it X50 then X100.

And finally, in the last chapter it's stated that there's a: "Decline in the villain emergence rate."

Why exactly that is isn't said, but it's implied that it's due to the efforts of Ochako and Shoji.

Let's put aside the suspension of disbelief and assume that it's true, that what they did worked in stopping villains from being made enough to have a real impact.

What happens to the people that are already villains??

The ones currently on the run or in jail.

If the hero kids made that big of a difference in the demographic of villains just by expanding counseling and nonviolent resolution, then that only reinforces the truth that the villains are easily preventable victims.

The implications of that aren't doing the heroes or hero society any favors.

We don't know what happens after because Rehabilitation was never offered to anyone who wasn't a small time criminal (Gentle Criminal) or a former assassin of the state (Lady Nagant).

Are the other villains still currently stuck in their circumstances just out of luck, help came too late for them too just like the Lov?

We don't know.

You can assume, imply and head-canon the solutions to all these issues, with what the hero kids might do, as much as you want to.

But if you have to do that with the big questions and plot points, then the story hasn't delivered on what it said it was going to.

Maybe horikoshi isn't that good of a writer but it's hard to believe that.

Horikoshi put so much into this series and all the characters in it, the central villains and the hero kids being the most important ones.

That he'd just fumble everything and pull a Falcon and the Winter Soldier: "You need to do better" and then they did'-Type ending.

This can't be it.

Maybe the "Ending" endpoint of this narrative but not the end of the overall story.

For the villains just as much as the heroes.

Toga dying to a blood transfusion, despite everything other characters survived (Gran Torino donut, edgeshot worm, Dabi charcoal skeleton) and things that she herself survived already.

Having curious bombs go off inside her body leading to internal damage and severe blood loss, yet she still survived until she received help and recovered just fine.

They got Dabi to medical and kept him alive.

Other villains like overhaul, muscular, compress and spinner survived.

It's not like she either had to die or go to jail, she could have just escaped.

Leading to her meeting up with Ochako again in secret or something, to finally fulfill both of their arcs and iron everything out for what would have happened in the future.

Then the Quirk Counseling ending could have worked.

Shigaraki dying after finding out his life was entirely manipulated by AFO.

Strung along like a puppet, mentally and physically manipulated to believe he is a force of destruction, so much that by the time the series starts, it's all shigaraki can believe himself to be.

Twice and Kurogiri fight and die trying to save Toga and Shigaraki, so they can live and be reunited with their friends.

This all just meant nothing in the end??

Ochako, Deku, Toga and Shigaraki's stories can't be over yet because they are important characters and there's too much left unresolved.

Ochako's resolution is incomplete and undefined.

Deku's hero ending feels disappointing and tone-deaf.

Toga completely disappeared before Ochako was taken by the helicopter, nowhere to be seen where she should have been if she had died.

And how is shigaraki a force ghost still walking around in the world if there's no quirks left tethering him as a vestige?

ALSO this recent interview with Horikoshi himself:

(Warning: Spoilers for the most recent BNHA movie)

"Horikoshi says one thing to pay attention to from the My Hero Academia "You're Next" movie is the relationship between Giulio and Anna and how it connects with Deku and the others' goals.

He writes:

"The relationship between Giulio and Anna is a part of the goal point where Deku and the others will eventually reach.

The movie as a standalone in itself is interesting, but if you watch the movie then return to the actual story, then you might feel 'oh so this is where the story leads to.' As such, please pay attention to Giulio and Anna in the movie!"

To give context, by the end of the movie, Giulio is able to cancel out Anna's quirk using his own, allowing her to live a life without being sheltered in fear of her quirk or used as a weapon. So Horikoshi's comment is probably referring to how they help each other accept their quirks or lack thereof and still be able to live in harmony.

In regards to their relationship, Giulio tells Anna he will always be by her side no matter what, they hug and then walk off into the sunset together at the end of the movie."

And another heavily lampshaded moment in the movie novelization when Giulio inner narrates this:

'He knew that killing her wouldn't be a true form of salvation.'

What was all this about??

There has to be more left.

#bnha #mha #toga himiko #shigaraki tomura #ochaco uraraka #bnha meta #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers

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derangedace · 29 days ago

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I am not sure if this is just me but I always thought Hori has always wanted BKDK to end up together, and I am not just saying this from a romantic perspective. I think he wanted them to be together, 'forever', as a duo and for that reason neither of them ended up in some other romantic relationship or marriage (aka the reason why izch didn't happen and narratively cannot happen because it stands in the ending Hori intended to give to BKDK).

Oh absolutely,,I do believe part of the reason izch wasn’t endgame was because mha is a shounen and its entire plot is focused around super powered kids, so any of its romance is going to be in the background, unless it's important to a specific character/or the plot. The other reason I believe izch wasn’t endgame was because–now hear me out, Ochako’s crush on Izuku was only for development and to lead her up to her fight with toga. That might sound extreme, and I’m not meaning to offend any izch shippers, I'm a multishipper myself and I love them too! But specifically from a writing standpoint, Ochako’s crush on Izuku wasn’t meant to go any farther than it did. Ochako’s crush came from a place of admiration for Izuku’s heroicness, and his willingness to risk everything for the sake of others. Her crush was meant to drive her forward in that aspect, allowing her to evolve as a hero, to become better–just like Izuku. It also gave her something in common with Himiko. As their first encounter back in chapter 80 Himiko tells Ochako that she knows she’s crushing on somebody, and tries to relate to her by saying, “Of course you wanna be just like the one you love. It’s natural” And their encounter after that she continues to try to reach out to Ochako, to convince her that she’s normal, that her desire to become like one ones she loves isn’t weird, and that she doesn’t understand why society ostracized her for her craving for blood if it was just a desire to be like other people. Ochako admittedly doesn’t recognize Himiko’s attempt at reaching out to be saved until it's too late. The end of her second fight with Himiko helps her realize this, after seeing her tears and finding the desire to help her welling up inside her, eventually leading up to their last fight where Ochako confronts these feelings and finally reaches out to Himiko. Just like Izuku she reached out to save someone when she saw their pain, no matter if they were a regular person or a villain. Her drive to become like Izuku helped her character grow into a proper hero, one who recognizes villains as people too, ones who also need saving. This is also why it was only really one-sided, because if Izuku had reciprocated Ochako’s feelings it would’ve been completely unnecessary to the plot. Ochako’s crush on Izuku was used as a catalyst for her similarities with Himiko. One that Himiko used to try and connect with her earlier on in the series. Izuku’s development stems from his relationship with Katsuki (and vice versa) . They have so many parallels it's insane. Katsuki needed to confront his complicated feelings about Izuku head on(bk the fakest idgaf-er on the planet). He needed to apologize and work at being a better friend to him. And Izuku, who constantly imitates Katsuki in battle, needed to learn not to carry everyone’s burdens on himself, he needed to realize when it's okay to ask for help and that it’s necessary to reach out to others when you can’t handle it all on your own. Izuku strived to save others but who would save him when he needed it? That’s why Katsukis apology is so so soo important and in the future when Izuku gets his suit, Hori specifically mentioning Bakugo being at the ‘heart of it’ was there for a reason! They were always meant to be together at the end even if it's not in a romantic way. They are literally soulmates. I cannot express this enough !!! (sorry if this is so long, I had to think about how exactly I wanted to respond to this. definitely got the gears moving!)

#bkdk #bakudeku #tgchk #togachako #izch #izuocha #mha #my hero academia #i typed this out on a google doc before pasting it in here LOL #apologies if some of this doesn't make sense #they consume my brain #in a BAD way #i dont get sleep

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dekusleftsock · 4 months ago

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Before the leaks tonight, my main notes in the department of “Izuocha not gonna be canon next chapter” is that tsu and Izuku were repeatedly chosen and placed to be in the same, worrying attitude for Ochako’s distance/absence.

Tsu was such a good subtle detail for this chapter as well. That gay ass signaling on Izuocha was so good. Like “this is platonic! Her and Izuku worry over Ochako equally!” And damn Horikoshi you really highlighted, underlined, and bolded in big bright letters Lavender Marriage for these two lmao

My other main detail is the way that Ochako’s/Izuku’s feelings are presented.

Specifically with this last little caption (that isn’t there in the officials for some reason???) on the very last page—

Pika’s translation btw

Maybe y’all don’t get it bc you need it put into perspective: the very idea that there would be a “no ships ending” is… absolutely insane. The fact that it’s the main opinion as well is even crazier.

And to put it into perspective even more, the reason it’s a common belief has to come from the idea that Ochako’s feelings are simply unrequited. A “no ships ending” wouldn’t make sense without it. Do the people saying that realize that it’s what they’re saying? “No time” isn’t a good justification, he had the time, he just used it on… other characters instead. If you believe this, you’re making the argument that Ochako’s story is about unrequited love

This line “The girl’s hidden feeings, and as for deku—..”

I fully understand what the feelings are talking about (Himiko’s death, the respective villains even if they aren’t equatable, etc), but it’s the implications of the way it’s written. It’s presenting it as Ochako’s feelings… for Izuku. It then asks the question, “..DOES Izuku feel the same way?” Because I mean, does he?

Now, I don’t think we’re getting any sort of confession. I could say in detail as to why, but that would be more like repeating the same 5 posts on my feed all week.

Because ultimately, it won’t happen. It’s another bait and switch, like it always is. And Horikoshi knows this.

So that’s why it’s so amazing that this line is here, it’s teasing, almost. Like “Look! The straight relationship is on the horizon! Just follow the cookie! It’s totally where you think it leads..”, and then signaling the warning bells in your head that not everything is as it seems.

Why make Ochako break down crying? Why not confirm Himiko’s death? Why make all of this romantic heartache? Why make straight shippers hold their breath, and then lead them into this supposed security?

Why ask a question on feelings, if it’s supposed to be a given?

#I promised myself I would post any sort of brief evidence on this before the leaks came out #but not when I’d actually written this #bc I’m ngl I wrote this like. almost a week ago. a day or two after the leaks came out.#I just felt like waiting since a lot of certain people decided to get weird and misogynistic all of a sudden. so here’s your slop.#this is a re-written brief version where I don’t go on three tangents on Izuku and Ochako’s characters #bkdk #togachako #I mean it when I said I waited to post this. luckily for me I didn’t see anyone else particularly point out these details before I did but-#GOD I haven’t been so angry at every part of this fandom in a while #trad wife misogyny to getting in the way of my gay ship misogyny I was so tired #and I better not see an even bigger spike in the 10% chance that Izuocha is canon. you can be sad without dismissing ochako #or I stg I’m becoming an Izuocha shipper full time people cannot be acting like this in the year of 2024 #my Izuocha shipper threat is 1000% real and it’s only in the case that bitches don’t behave

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villainsandvictimsalliance · 8 months ago

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>They are really following the “saving child shigaraki” path 💀

No? Well, yes, but Deku seeing what happened to Tenko and talking to Tenko was always going to happen, it doesn't mean that only child Tenko gets saved lol. Tenko is Shigaraki's origin, his core, his genuine ideas, his honne (true feelings and desires). Of course Deku has to understand and save Tenko to save adult!Tenko, lol. Nobody seemed to complain when child!Ochako was talking to child!Himiko and etc., so what's up with some people's attitude now? 😭

I think the fandom is a bit paranoid because they really fear some theories.

I sometimes entertain those theories just to fuck around and create what ifs. It's a mere childplay. "Oh what if the school burned today and we all graduated earlier" type of mindset. The odds of it happening are non-existent, but c'mon. Unless you plan to burn the school yourself or you know someone will try, the odds are almost zero.

"but somewhere in the world a school burned—"

Sure, some mangas decide to end things the worst way possible only to cause shock, to fuck with fans, for money, sometimes simply because they don't understand their own stories. Even the big mangas is subjected to that. The author can go bananas for whatever reason and give you a terrible ending.

From my perspective, Horikoshi has rarely lost sight of the story he wants to tell. If he opens a plotline, he takes care to close it later. We got our traitor, we got the resolution with the Todorokis, we got AFO, class 1B, the villain comebacks...

Even when there were moments I knew Horikoshi went a little on the tangent (like Stars and Stripes) he was quick to return to the main issue. In bnha, to get an answer for your question you only have to wait for the manga to explain it— or in some cases, check the spin-off. If the answer is not in bnha itself, it normally is in the Vigilantes manga.

When someone asks me "Hey Shan, do you think that is possible?" the correct answer is always yes, because as long as the story is not over anything can happen. Objectively speaking, yes, it is as possible as anything else. As long as you're alive a lightning strike can hit you. A shark can bite you. An alien can come for you. The odds are there.

Now, is it probable?

No, not much.

Turning Tomura into a child to erase his crimes and resolve Deku's role within the plot is not only the lazy route, but also a disservice to the story. People don't resurrect out of nowhere in bnha. Limbs don't grow again. This is a story where the consequences are permanent. Even saving Mirio had a cost. There are only a few characters that can magically heal and their participation is soo little, it's almost as if they weren't there.

Each story has rules. You don't care about the real life rules or your own law code or whatever; you care about the inner rules of that story.

So far, Horikoshi has taken care of not breaking the inner rules of bnha. Why would he do so now?

Another bnha trait is that it doesn't stay stagnant on a plotline that is interesting yet irrelevant to the main story. It also doesn't hurry the story if it needs to go down a certain path. It will happen on its own time, after the events that need to happen had happened too. Example: saving Tomura has been a whole process. If Horikoshi were to turn Tomura into a child, why would he show all that he has shown us?

That's 'cause Horikoshi is explaining Deku's choice of saving Tomura. I know the trend of separating Tomura from Tenko, but it's absurd. They are one and the same. The kid is the adult and vice versa. You save the kid version, you save the adult one too. In order to save the adult one, you need to save the kid first. And if you went all the way to save that person, why would you want to erase all of it and turn them into a child again?

Isn't the story about how Deku giving little Tenko a chance? Isn't the story about Deku telling others they can do the impossible? Didn't Nighteye say that Deku could change the future and now we see him also changing the past, if only to allow the present to be a little more bearable? Livable?

I'll say this here: the theory that dictates that the heroes will turn the villains into kids to save them and the villains will stay like that has absolutely no foundation within the story.

If it happens, it's bad writing.

Horikoshi uses the kid images as symbolism. It is meant to represent the core of a person. It's the part of them that would never change, the part of them that dictates their dreams and goals, what they hate and love, who they are. It's the most basic of their forms, their essence, their soul if you want to speak on those terms.

Heroes are meant to connect with those parts of a human in order to save them, because the job of a hero is not only saving the body, but the human as a whole. To preserve hope, to heal past wounds and give people a reason to smile. To help people laugh as a kid again, to bring back their wonder and their innocence, to fight the apathy and the cynical part of themselves.

Bnha is fantasy. People have powers. The dead can communicate with the living. Of course that the heroes can talk with the childhood versions of the people to heal their past traumas.

Easy as that.

I can't say for sure if the villains will live or die. I only have my opinion (they'll live), but I am not the author. Horikoshi can have an epiphany tomorrow and kill everyone in the story with a meteor. Idk.

I can only say that Horikoshi has presented a cohesive and coherent writing, one that follows the lines it dictates to their natural conclusion. If things stay like that, there's no need to fear none of the crazy theories circulating the fandom. At the end of the day that's all they are, theories.

#shan's asks #bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #bnha 417 #mha 417 #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha leaks #mha leaks #shan's bnha opinions #shan's mha opinions

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himuravity · 1 year ago

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hiii i wrote some togachako! it's the beginning of a fic i may or may not continue working on so if it feels kinda unfinished that's bcuz it is :3 lmk if i overused honorifics or if there's anything i should fix!! xoxo

- toga himiko & ochaco uraraka

- total words: 1.4k

♡︎♡︎♡︎

When Ochako was three years old, her mom took her to the park a couple blocks from their house. It was a nice little playground situated in the middle of the neighborhood that all the kids loved to play at when school was out. Ochako could go whenever she wanted, since she was a little too young for school, but she enjoyed being able to play with the bigger kids who knew so much more than she did about the world.

She was a very bright and bubbly girl. Excitable and extroverted, she had no trouble making friends. Every time her parents took her to the park (it was getting harder to go the older she got, though she didn't realize time = money until much later) she made a new friend.

The first time it was some girl who was the same age as Ochako; the big number 3! Her parents thought it would be best if she played with kids her age before branching out since they were in the same development stage with quirks and no one was likelier to get ostracized that way. Ochako didn't understand the reasonings, she was just glad to have new people to play with.

The second time she was able to make a new friend, it was a boy about two years older than her. He had developed his quirk already and Ochako thought it was brilliant. He could make bubbles! He would move his hand around in front of him in a very gentle, breezing manner, and out popped bubbles! At the time Ochako had no mind for where they came from, just that there weren't any before and now there were. His name was Haru, and Ochako admired him and his wonderful quirk. Unfortunately for her, however, Haru was too grown-up to play with her for long and ran off to go play with his friends from school. Ochako didn't let herself be too sad about it when he left though, she just moved on to the next person to be friends with.

The third person Ochako tried befriending was a four-year-old girl named Toga. Himiko Toga! Ochako had seen her on the playground occasionally but was always told not to say hi to her. Not by her mom, no no, her mom was very kind to everyone no matter what, but the other kids and their parents. Most of them called Toga dangerous or creepy. Ochako didn't know what those words meant, but the way everyone was scared of the other girl gave her pause. Just because she was told that Toga was scary didn't mean that she was scary, right?

Ochako had been sitting in the sandbox, staring intently at the other girl. Thankfully Toga had not noticed the intense staring, or someone else would be getting called creepy on the playground today. Ochako then stood up, albeit a little shakily (she was still three, after all) and she ran over to her mom as fast as her little legs could carry her.

"Mom," she insistently called as she arrived. Her mom had been sitting on a bench talking to another mom at the park. For some reason, Ochako did not realize that her mom had friends. It unsettled her deeply. Nevertheless, as she had yet to receive an answer, she gathered her courage once more and yanked on her mom's pants. "Mooooom," she whined.

Her mom, just now noticing that she was there, stopped talking to her friend and addressed her daughter. "Yes O-chan?"

Ochako grinned, happy with the attention. "Can I go play with Toga-san?" she finally asked. Phew! Working up enough courage to ask that question was hard! Usually, she had no trouble asking questions, as she was naturally inquisitive, but asking permission to go play with the "dangerous" girl was understandably very scary.

"Ahh..." her mom sat back, scratching her neck. "I'm not sure O-chan, why don't you play with Haru?"

Ochako glared at her mother as fiercely as she could manage (she was a cute toddler; it had no effect) before grunting. "Haru-san isn't here today. Toga-san is. Can I play?" Ochako had long since decided that she would attempt to play with her regardless of permission. She just needed to know if she had to be sneaky or not.

After Ochako had finished asking her question, the friend that her mother had been talking to spoke up. "Ochako, Toga isn't... the nicest girl to play with. She could be very mean to you."

Ochako furrowed her eyebrows. Toga Himiko always played alone. She played in the sand alone, she swung on the swings alone, and she watched the other kids play, alone. There was no way Toga could be mean when she was never even given a chance to speak.

"She's by herself, and I want to play." She looked back at her mom and started giving her the biggest puppy-dog eyes and the cutest little pout she could manage. "Please, mama? I'll be so safe and you can watch me!"

Her mom waited for a few moments, contemplating, before sighing and nodding her head. "Okay O-chan, but you have to be careful. Don't go anywhere you know I can't see you well, and be nice to Toga."

Ochako clapped her hands together and gave her mom the biggest brightest smile she could manage. "Thank you, mama! I'll be so safe!" And she was off.

At this point, Toga was sitting on a tree stump that some of the other kids used as a tea table. She was people-watching— a habit that helped the minutes pass until her parents decided they were done with her scheduled outside time (it got shorter every time)— so she was very surprised to see a determined Ochako come barreling towards her.

Ochako stumbled on the dirt and came to an abrupt stop in front of Toga, who looked very shocked to see her. Toga didn't know who this person was exactly, though she had seen the little girl playing on the playground before. They had never talked, always being stopped by the adults that were scared of her. Scared of her quirk. Toga frowned, untrusting, but interested. She didn't get a bad vibe from Ochako, who looked very ta— um, very nice.

"Hello, Toga-san!" Ochako smiled brilliantly, rocking back on her heels with her hands clasped in front of her. She was so excited to finally talk to Toga. It had taken way too long to work up the courage to ask her mom, but she did it in the end! "It's so nice to meet you, my name is Urar... Ura-ra-ka O-cha-ko! You can call me Ochako!"

Toga stared at the other girl, a light blush dusting her cheeks. No one had ever said hi to her before. Even though her parents didn't tell anyone what her quirk was, they still let all of the parents know that Toga wasn't to be played with. She was too dangerous, her quirk mutation too unpredictable, her personality too... volatile.

"Hello Ochako-san..." Toga replied with an inkling of hope. Would someone finally want to play with her? She hoped so. Her mom was sitting off to the side, looking impatiently at her phone, not even remotely acknowledging her daughter.

"Do you wanna play?" Ochako asked. She stuck out her hand. "You shouldn't have to be alone."

Toga stared at the offered hand in front of her. She could hear the blood rushing through the other child as her heart pumped, not once stuttering in fear.

You shouldn't have to be alone.

Toga looked up at Ochako, who was waiting patiently. When they made eye contact, the younger girl somehow smiled even brighter and tilted her head in a silent question.

Toga didn't think the other girl could remotely comprehend what she just offered. Toga wasn't allowed to have friends, she wasn't allowed near most other children except at the park. She was bad, a dark stain on her parents, a cursed monster that should not have been born. Even though she was just four years old, she knew her parents hated her. It was one of the undeniable truths of the universe. The grass was green, the sky was blue, and they wished she was gone.

"Why me?" Toga asked bluntly.

The girl's hand didn't waver.

"I already told you, though..."

Toga didn't believe her. "Say it again."

Ochako puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. Her hand was still outstretched. "You shouldn't have to be alone!"

Toga took her hand.

#uravity #ochaco uraraka #himiko toga #toga himiko #bnha uraraka #bnha toga #my hero academia #boku no hero fanfic #bnha fanfiction #fanfic #boku no hero academia #togachaco #togachako #togaraka #toga x uraraka #toga x ochako

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pikahlua · 1 year ago

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It's always so interesting to know just how many meanings the japanese language can build a phrase of. Thank you for helping us understand it a little more, keep up the good work!!!

I saw some people that were weirded out by some of the lines Ochako said, the way the leaker deacribed it (no hate to them), that her speaking of her "coming to like/developed a crush/falling in love" with Izuku together as "defining her as Uraraka Ochako" hindered the moment with Toga.

Though i realized that it was probably a lot more vague/had more context than that, since other translators were having a hard time coming up with as accurate as possible translations, and i didn't particularly think there was new information in that department. I wanted to know if you had any additional thoughts on those lines.

I think people are taking the "define her as Ochako" description way too seriously. It's a perfectly viable description of what that particular part of the conversation was about. People just took it as a much more definitive moment than the description was trying to provide (really it just was meant to explain this whole page of dialogue in one sentence).

I just mean that "something that defines her as her" does not have to be the big deep implication a lot of people seem to think it means. Ochako wasn't trying to boil down her own character into meta. Her goal in that scene is to connect with Himiko, to prompt her to share about herself in return. Ochako listed off the relevant points that Himiko needed to hear. Himiko has accused Ochako of crushing on Izuku many times over by now, and Ochako is basically acknowledging that Himiko was right in her accusations. This creates an opportunity for the koibana "love talk" that they keep bringing up. And it does prompt Himiko to mention her crush on Saitou and explain the tragedy surrounding that. This is exactly what Ochako was trying to prompt in return.

"Here's where I came from, why I decided to become a hero, what I've learned since then, yes you were right I like this guy and we can talk about it, and now I'm here to stop (not kill or capture, mind you) you."

Basically, it was all in service of Ochako's stated desire to "touch the sadness inside" Himiko.

#anon ask #ask pika #my hero academia manga spoilers #final showdown spoilers #ochako uraraka #himiko toga

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lostinlands · 5 months ago

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My brain isn't done marinating on the last few words of Tomura and the meaning behind his actions and words and how being a Sudaca influences my opinion on Tomura, (but that's a post for another day) but I was thinking about how theres is this kind of divide? Between people who like Tomura and those that like Tenko.

"But dude, those are the same!"

Yeah, no.

Most moments where the divide is made or is very clear that they mean one over the other instead of just jumping from name to name is on the debate of salvation, The Crying Child VS The Symbol Of Fear type of situation.

The thing that bugs me about that is the simple fact that I've been a fan of Shigaraki Tomura since he was first introduced to us in the manga, and that might have something to do with the fact that I am a Sudaca, 27, and also have always been in support of the villains when it comes to mangas because I feel like the heroes/protagonists are 9/10 times blinded by survivor bias.

I've been fan of Shigaraki Tomura since he was first introduced, and then we saw him change his final goals, his ambitions, and even his stance on his group/his friends. And still during all of that Tomura was unashamedly a villain. He didn't give a fuck, he was going to kill as many as necessary and force society to change because society needed (and at the current moment of the manga STILL NEEDS) to stop being so complacent to the status quo.

He showed us how fucked society was due to their own passivity, and that was all Shigaraki Tomura. There was not a hint of Shimura Tenko in the person fighting against the Shie Hassaikai, it wasn't Tenko the one who promised Himiko to let everything she liked untouched, it wasn't Tenko the one who internalized the fact that Mr.Compress wanted Sushi and the first thing he did when he got money was GIVE HIM SAID SUSHI (And also unsure his allies were in positions of power in the new military-like structure of the meta liberation army)

You could argue that "it was Tenko" the one that cared enough to pass on a last message to Spinner (However that point is immediately Decayed to the fact that the last phrase is "Tell Spinner that SHIGARAKI TOMURA fought till the end to destroy."), or the one that cared enough to try to advise Midoriya ("Oh yeah? That depends... on what you people decide to do tomorrow. Make sure... you do your damn best.") on making sure there are no consequences that might create a new League.

However, we go back to the fact that things are argued to be separated. Its not Shigaraki Tomura the one that deserves to be saved because: He's a villain and a murderer! But it IS Shimura Tenko, the perfect victim, the one who deserves a chance at salvation.

And in the fucking end Izuku saved nothing. He didn't save the crying child because the Crying Child had already become Tomura, and he didn't save Tomura because BNHA showed us time and again that the villains didn't deserve salvation.

"But what about Himiko? She got a redemption arc!" By sacrificing herself for Ochako. Her redemption arc was her death (Allegedly, who the fuck knows, maybe we'll tune in after Hori's break and Himiko is gonna be a new member of 2B since Hitoshi is the new member of 2A) in the name of saving someone she loved and who, if she had not been actively fighting a war, would've been saved in Tomura's worlds because she was one of Himiko's beloveds and as such one of the people Tomura promised not to hurt.

"Well, What about Dabi?!" The Todoroki's don't give a fuck about DABI, they are trying to save TOUYA (oh hey, ANOTHER CASE OF DUALITY!) and also being thrown into what looks like a giant cooler isn't exactly salvation and by how his wounds ended up at the end of his fight it might just be more merciful to kill him.

"Well, what about Spinner!" In jail, probably, and also his brain overloaded with Quirks so there is a big chance he's just straight-up brain-dead.

"Kurogiri was saved before by Mic and Eraser!" Kurogiri is a corpse. Even if he wasn't, we go back to the theme of how the heroes are trying to save one part of a duality by Mic and Zawa trying to save OBORO and not KUROGIRI.

"Mr. Compress then!" In jail! which BTW has been shown to not be a "rehabilitation" center to help villains stop being villains but just.... just jail. Also Compress lost all his friends, and all the people he had grown to care about. It's the same for all the villains that are still alive, they are in Jail and if I remember correctly Tartarus wasn't exactly... up to the Geneva Convention. What the fuck is that solitary confinement-looking shit.

Anyways this post was about the duality and how most people who expect Tomura to be alive are either hoping or expecting it to be Tenko instead of Tomura, and it's understandable, I'm not judging.

I'm also not in agreement.

I read either here or on Twitter that Tomura's death felt hollow and basically pointless, and how it would've been more enjoyable to see how a redemption arc could've been tackled with an unapologetic villain like Tomura. And while I agree that it would've been an incredibly challenging redemption arc I am actually happy with the fact that they didn't suddenly pull a "Yeah no now Tomura is good and agrees with Heores and saw the error in his way" out of their ass.

Tomura Shigaraki exists as a character to force the hero students and THE CIVILIANS to see the fact that society is currently fucked up and they can't depend fully on "Dogs of the state" without them doing anything. Sure yeah, people can depend and hope on cops (which is what heroes basically are), but that doesn't mean you are blind and deaf to the person being murdered next to you.

It's like this image from Club Penguin!

In the middle of the fight Tomura tells Midoriya and AFO "Everything I witness in this world of ours... led to the existence of that house." because Tomura only saw compliment people who's only solution to the abuse that Tenko was experiencing was "don't cry, it makes us sad".

When Midoriya wins, he insisted that the things that caused Tenko's house to exist have already been destroyed by Tomura himself, and that's when Tomura tells him "Oh yeah? That depends... on what you people decide to do tomorrow." but the next fucking chapter is them returning to school and telling us how Nedzu is basically president and helping with the rebuilding.

At the end of the day, the death of Tomura serves to show US the AUDIENCE that nothing has really changed, and the new character that we see basically crawling out of a destroyed house in a place that is NOT undergoing reconstruction efforts is the perfect visual representation of that.

Here is another Perfect Victim.

Now where are his heroes?

#Okay now im going to bed because its 330 in the morning #and my brain is swimming in fever #ANYWAYS I DONT THINK TOMURA SHOULD RETURN AS TENKO #AND I DONT THINK PEOPLE SHOULD ONLY CARE ABOUT TENKO BECAUSE HE DIED WHEN TOMURA WAS BORN #people should stop trying to rescue the Crying Child #and start listening to the honestly rightfully angry adult

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justatalkingface · 2 years ago

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Do you consider analyzing the villains one day (the main trio or in general) ? It seems that I saw somewhere that you wanted to. If that's the case, I would like to read your thoughts. This manga does not bring me joy anymore (it's quite funny for a story which is supposed to be optimistic to a fault), but I keep a close eye on the villain trio's evolution who are the only characters who make me stay, even if I have some problems with the way the mangaka wrote them recently.

Hmm. I did this big post on Shigaraki awhile ago, so let's ignore him, but let's talk about.... Himiko, Dabi, which are the rest of the big villain trio of the series, and then a bit about AFO and how the villains in general lately. I did a LOV post awhile ago, but that was more focused on how Hori was showing them, so there's still something to talk about.

So... Himiko. I've said this before, but I think there's wasted potential in how her character could have been spun, not as someone totally crazy but someone in dire straights being actively corrupted by her situation, but, it's not like the crazy serial killer archetype is bad.

The problem with Himiko isn't that she kills people, the problem isn't even that she likes it, the problem is she, by the time we meet her, is fully into it, fully living in a world all her own where things work different for her than everyone else, and this is never really... explored satisfyingly.

If we met her someplace before that, where she's, maybe, addicted to the killing, but not committed to it, there would be this interesting contrast where we see her morals, her old morals, conflicting with her finally unleashed desires, and they eat away at who she was over time, like we see in Tokyo Ghoul with Kankei.

But there still plenty of ways to work off a truly crazy character; I think what Himiko could use is a couple of good conversations. It's too late now, but what her character could have really used is a conversation, or better yet multiple conversations, about what she thinks about the world, with people who don't share her viewpoint. And she does that, but... she actually doesn't. A conversation, you see, is two sides talking to each other, and that never seems to happen with Himiko.

One side is always stonewalling the other, either the hero just blanket labeling her as a villain, without really acknowledging the depth of the issues there, or that there's a method to her madness, or that she has some good points mixed in with her crazy, or with Toga ignoring everything that doesn't fit with her world views with all the energy of a child going, 'La la, I'm not listening!' One sides shouts 'Killing is wrong', and the other shouts something about love, or how she wants to live with her friends, and nothing is happening.

The manga wants for this to happen, and acts like it has occurred sometimes, but it never follows through: Toga is stunned that a hero will kill, and that she could die? Where the hero pointing out that she has killed their friends?

Hori has been setting up this dynamic with her and Ochako as this sort of light and dark versions of each other, off the fact they both love Izuku? (And for the purposes of this, let's ignore that, A, that reduces their relationship to a giant chick fight over a guy, and B, we don't even know if Ochako actually still has a crush on Izuku anymore.) Fine. Then talk about it. Have them talk about what love means to them, compare and contrast their views, develop it. Hell, delve more into what Izuku thinks about it, even, that this child who has been stomped down on his entire life has someone who wants to be with him now, even if it's a crazed villain.

All of this and more could have been interesting things to talk about, develop, but it never happens. Himiko is made out of this wasted potential, a theoretically interesting character that never got to live up to what she could have been.

Dabi, meanwhile, is almost the opposite: Dabi, character wise, is good. He has depth to him, but fundamentally he's a simple character with simple goals, narratively and as a person, and he's meeting them.

Dabi wants revenge. Dabi wants to destroy his father, everything he's built and everything he's ever loved. Dabi is a hollow shell of a human being who lives for a single purpose, and defines himself by his abuser. He knows this this fact, and accepts this; there's no illusions with him about who he is. Dabi is a monument to Endeavor's sins, nothing more, and that's all he really wants to be.

There's more to him to that, of course; he cares for his friends, and mourns Twice's death, even if he is physically incapable of crying, even if he refuses to admit it, but Dabi, as a person, has been made for that one single purpose. Literally, by both the writer and the character himself, his entire life is designed to revolve around vengeance.

And on that point, he's doing exactly what he's supposed to. Dabi's problem is that, at some point between the original plan and now, the world he lived in has changed, and Endeavour's story is different now, cleaner, than it should have been. Everything about him is a testament to Endeavour and what he's done, and it's just... no one seems to care. The way the characters talk about him now is either, A, 'God damn it stop burning everything', or B, 'Touya, stop whining about how hard your life was and have some soba with Shoto already'.

Dabi is a monument to Endeavour's sins, but when no one cares about those sins, his entire purpose starts falling flat. He's doing the right things, he's saying the right words, but it doesn't matter if Hori won't allow him to have a point.

And finally, let's wrap up with something about the villains in general; this is something I touched on when I talked about Shigaraki (although ironically it was about how he got past that point at the time), that a good villain is one you're afraid of. A villain drives the plot, in many ways is the plot. You can think they're cool or stan them, but to really sell them as a character, there needs to be one simple ingredient: fear.

When a villain does something, you should be afraid of them, even if only the tiniest of amounts. It needs to make you tense, concerned, make you wonder what are they going to do next? What is their next move? What damage will they cause? Is someone going to die?

The patron saint of showing how much Hori has dropped with this ball is AFO: think back to Kamino. Remember how the students risked their lives to go and rescue their classmate, remember when this man in a mask appears and his mere presence is enough to make them freeze in place. It was tense, gripping, because we didn't know what was going to happen. We didn't know if everyone would make it out of there.

We didn't know if All Might would win.

All For One's simple, gloating speech in Kaminio was enough to fill the manga with more uncertainty than there ever has been.

Let's look at AFO now. He... he plots. He schemes. He chortles, constantly, about how brilliant his plans are, even as they fall apart around him, only to pull out yet another plan to be toppled.

I'm not afraid of him. I'm not worried about him, or what he's going to do. I don't doubt for a minute that Deku is going to beat him, and honestly I'm not concerned he's going to kill anyone we're supposed to care about. I'm just pissed off that he won't shut up for five minutes and actually do something. AFO, as of this manga chapter, is technically a lot stronger than he was in Kamino. He's whole and healthy, for the moment, while in Kaminio he was literally on life support, yet it was only in Kamino that I was truly worried.

This is what has been happening for awhile now, and that's why the villains seem to be worse than they used to be. And I think I can see why: Hori wants to make his heroes seem better, so he's putting them against stronger villains, but he seems to be operating under a misunderstanding.

You don't make heroes great by making their villains pathetic, true. But you don't make them great by making them strong, either; at the end of the day this is a story that is trying to be sold to us, and all the power levels in world don't make a story. You make heroes great by making their villains great. When a villain is great, threatening, gaining victory over them is triumphant. The hero has earned that victory, and that's what we yearn to see: the struggle. That is what we want, that is what we cheer for. Izuku has more genuinely struggled more training for UA than he has fighting against the power of AFO; beating up SFO doesn't make him great, just over powered. Hori makes great fight scenes, but it's more than just fight scenes, is the thing. It's a thousand smaller pieces before, during, and after the conflict, supporting reality of both sides, what they've done and what they're doing, and all of them adding up to make an atmosphere that draws us in, that makes the story seem real. And that's just not there anymore.

#ask #mha critical #bnha critical #himiko is wasted potential #dabi is a monument to endeavour's sins #endeavour critical #afo is no longer threatening #plot not power levels #great heroes come from great villains

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bibibbon · 11 months ago

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Characters with wasted potential : Himiko Toga

Honestly it's such a shame she really was one of my favourite villains but was done absolutely dirty by the plot.

I have a few problems with togas character which a lot of them are caused by horikoshi himself:

HER INTERACTIONS. What I mean is that her interactions with characters tends to be inconsistent for the most part I really love her relationship with the league and how she views them as a family but it made no sense to me how her relationship with Izuku is gone/non existent and how her relationship with ochako is. I get that hori made toga specifically for ochako but I don't see the appeal in togaochoa or how they're supposed to be Parallels?

HER BACKSTORY. Don't get me wrong I love the idea of toga's backstory and how it shaped her as a person but i think it could of been expanded on earlier like why did it have to be the last arc for her to shine and then get almost everything stripped away? Also there are some inconsistencies in togas backstory since it is implied that she had siblings so what happend to that?

HER SCREEN TIME. What I mean by this is as the manga continues her score time decreases a lot and it comes to a point where she almost always shares her screen time with ochako which harms both of them

THE WAY SHE IS SEXUALISED. I don't know I blame this on both hori and the fandom but why is that she has to be clothless in majority of the scenes like their definitely could of been another way to avoid that.

HYPOCRISY. A lot of the time toga can come of as a hypocrite. I mean she loved people like twice and the league yet she never tried to kill them or consume them while she does that with the people like toga. TO FIX THIS MAKE HER BE CONSISTENT and treat everyone in a similar way. ALSO THE CONCEQUENCES AND HER FEELINGS FOR TWICES DEATH ARE BAREKY EXPLORED AND ARE PUT ASIDE FOR TOGAOCHA!!! WHICH SUCKS

As you can see there really isn't many problems with toga's character and she really is one of Horikoshi's best characters and villains. This is what I would do to improve her :

Give her more of her own screen time and monologues - horikoshi can already do this very well considering her whole fight with curious and her relationship with twice focused a lot on her as a character and helped developed her.

Have her interact with more characters and give us more moments with the characters she already interacts with - what I mean is that we get more with toga and the league and her feelings about them. We can also get more about how toga views izuku and ochako well I do understand her views of ochako I would of liked to see both of their relationships develop a whole lot more.

Fix the inconsistencies in her backstory - Toga has some major inconsistencies in her backstory that could be fixed or addressed. For example, it is implied that she has siblings so show us the siblings, show us how her family felt. I used to be a fan of the monoma being related to toga theories because I feel like that would of been an interesting dynamic especially if explored in canon but I do understand if it clashes with the todoroki family plotline but I still like it and it could add more depth and complexity to both of them.

Give her and ochako more Parallels- maybe Iam stupid but I really can't see the parallels between them except of both of them having a crush on izuku and wanting to become the person they have a crush on

There are two routes you can go with Himi's character which is the original route that horikoshi took which actually is a pretty solid route or the other route which is to actually redeem her and make her someone who shows others that you can change for the better when given the chance and opportunity

Toga is a brilliant character who seems like the a redeemable villain(if she acknowledges her actions are wrong) but I like the ending she got it made sense for her character. Toga is someone who tried to love the world around her but the world never appreciated or liked the way she expressed herself. While there were definitely problems with the way she expressed herself instead of getting help with learning how to use her quirk safely and quench her thirst for blood she was just abused and beaten into putting on a mask to hide who she was. As we know that mask broke ( her mask breaking can also be something related to her canonically having a crush on ochako making her a bi character however I DO THINK THAT PLOT POINT COULD OF BEEN BETTER) and left toga insane and obsessed with the idea of love and becoming someone loveable. Hori is also smart with her character design as it can be hinted or implied that toga does self h@rm and the way she dresses tries to make herself more youthful and cuter so she can appear as someone who is easily loveable. I also love the sneaky ways hori utilises spider lilies symbolism with her character as in multiple character pages and manga panels when she is talking about blood and her quirk there is always spider lilies. Also the ending, when one of her buns is undone it symbolises her death as she sacrifices herself to become one with the one she loves.

In conclusion, Toga is a very solid character who is a symbol of those who are critiqued and discriminated for being different in society yet she lives the way she wants to and finds her own happiness in a strange place and in a unexpected way even if she ended up dying for it.

#mha critical #bnha critical #toga himiko #hori actually done something good with her character #horikoshi critical #anti togachako #anti toga himiko #mha #bhna critical #bnha #toga #izuku and toga

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a-path-diverged-in-the-woods · 1 year ago

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Welcome to "My Hero Academia: A Path Diverged in the Woods". This is a living choose your own adventure story featuring Uraraka Ochako. The adventure starts when Ochako meets Toga in the forest at Summer Camp. How will this meeting change this time around? Will they be enemies, rivals, friends or more? You decide.

There will be a poll below the cut at the bottom of each main post. Read the section and vote how you see best. When the poll finishes, new fiction will be posted based on the results of the poll. Each poll will be based on a decision Ochako is facing in the moment. The answers may not always be obvious. Further information is available pinned to this blog.

Now enjoy this tale of two girls, a hero and a villain, continuing their chat from inside a jail cell. Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 available here.

Chapter 6: Girl Talk

Ochako rested on detective Tsukauchi’s couch with her eyes closed. She tried to calm herself to decide her next move but felt several opposing desires gnawing inside of her. She wanted to help Deku by giving him the address, but she also wanted to be involved in the rescue. Talking to Toga had awoken something inside of her. A desire to be active. To be useful. To be a hero. Toga was the first villain she’d defeated. The first suspect she’d interrogated. The first person she’d convinced to help the heroes against the villains. And the first person she’d rescued. It was intoxicating.

At the same time, she felt like her conversation with Toga had been cut short. They’d been coming to a sort of understanding but had stopped right before the breakthrough. Maybe if they kept talking, she would finally understand the girl whose smiles she couldn’t get out of her thoughts. Ochako had never met anyone with so many different smiles. The variety and meaning behind each confused and fascinated her. When she thought of a villain, she didn’t think of a girl her age. But here was proof in front of her. What had happened to Toga for her to become a villain? Was it an external event or was it something internal to the girl? Something inherent? Was being a villain just in her nature? Ochako realized she needed to know.

Checking the time Ochako saw that she had two hours until her friends planned to meet to rescue Bakugo. Kirishima had told everyone when and where to meet. It was a sign of trust that no one would turn them in, but Ochako also knew no one would take him up on the offer. This was too big for them. At least, that’s how she’d felt a few hours ago. Now, just maybe, she felt like she had to be involved.

New determination filling her, Ochako balanced her desires and stood up. She took a deep breath and headed into the main part of the station. She found a desk being operated by a secretary and approached. “Hello?” she asked, her heart pounding in her chest.

The secretary looked up at her. “Hello. Do you need something?”

“I would like to visit with someone.”

“Is a detective expecting you?”

Ochako shook her head. “Not an officer. Someone in the jail.”

A frown. “In the jail? Who in there could you wish to talk to?”

“Toga Himiko.”

A look of surprise. “Why would you wish to talk to a villain like that?” asked the secretary. Then, dawning comprehension. “Wait, are you a UA student?” Ochako nodded.

“She’s not just any UA student.” Ochako felt someone clap her on the back as they moved to stand next to her in front of the desk. In between trying to not get bowled over she glanced up at a tall man in uniform. He had red skin, horns growing out of a bald head and a bright smile filled with rows of sharp teeth. On his chest was a name badge, Lieutenant Akumetsu. “This is the little hero who caught Toga Himiko. Didn’t you just have an interrogation with her?”

“I did.”

“What, got a taste for interrogation and want to see what else you can learn?” His tone was friendly, teasing.

Ochako shook her head. “No, I just wanted to talk. Like people.” It sounded stupid when she said it aloud. This was a villain she was talking about after all. A villain who’d attacked her. This desire of hers was absurd.

A strange expression flashed across the lieutenant’s face before the smile returned. Ochako wasn’t sure what she’d just seen, but something about him reminded her of Toga. “I see,” said the lieutenant. He turned to the secretary. “I’ll approve the visit and escort our little hero to meet with Toga Himiko. There should be no issue with just a chat.”

The secretary looked like he wanted to disagree, but after a moment he just nodded. “If you’re both so sure, then I wish you luck.”

“Right this way,” said the lieutenant. He led Ochako through the busy police station, curious glances thrown their way. She ignored them and just focused on following. She was past the point of feeling self-conscious.

Soon enough they exited the main part of the station and got to a hallway where they only passed a single person. The person nodded to the lieutenant, shot Ochako a questioning look that she avoided and went on her way. They made it to a stairway that led down below the station.

“Due to Quirks we need to be a lot more cautious than they were in eras past,” said the lieutenant, leading Ochako down the stairs. “Quirks demand a level of security to prepare for that isn’t very friendly to people in custody. Especially when we don’t know what their Quirk is. I don’t like the idea of keeping a young girl like this locked up under the station. Luckily, she should be out of here soon and I would hope on her way to a rehabilitation facility. Somewhere nicer that she can get the help she needs.”

“I’ve never really thought about all that before,” admitted Ochako.

“Most people don’t. Villains are just the people heroes beat on television and then they’re locked up out of sight. But for police and heroes, I think we need to think about them more complexly than that.”

“Like how?”

“As people who are hurting and need our help too.”

“But they hurt people,” said Ochako. Toga hurt people. Her shoulder stung again.

“Both can be true,” said the Lieutenant. “But if we don’t do it, who will?”

As they approached the bottom of the stairs, Ochako could hear someone talking loudly and passionately. “-believe this? The higher ups are hesitating to send that psycho to Tartarus. She attacked children, shouldn’t that be enough to prove she’s a dangerous villain who should be locked up?”

“Is that gossip I hear?” asked the lieutenant as they got to the bottom of the stairs and could see two officers, a man leaning against the wall, and a woman behind a desk. Past them was a see-through wall with the outline of a door in it. Beyond that was a series of metal doors. Cells, Ochako assumed.

“It’s not gossip if it’s the truth,” said the leaning officer, turning to face the lieutenant. “What’re you doing down here, sir?”

“Just escorting someone who wants to have a nice chat.”

Both officers looked to the lieutenant, then to Ochako, then back to the lieutenant. The one seated started typing away at her computer. “But the only prisoner in jail currently is the League of Villains member Toga Himiko. You want to talk to her?”

Ochako nodded. “I do.” She took a deep breath. “I already interrogated her, but I want to see if I can just have a chat with her.”

Lieutenant Akumetsu clapped her on the back again. “Listen to this little hero. Doesn’t hearing something like that make you feel like the future is secure when us old folks retire?”

The woman at the desk laughed, but the other officer scowled. “That’s stupid and reckless. There’s nothing to be gained by talking to someone like this. You trying to get yourself hurt?”

Ochako became conscious of the bandage on her shoulder. She resisted touching it, clenching her hands by her side instead. “I’m aware how dangerous Toga is. But I just want to talk, and I think she does too. Where’s the harm in that?”

The scowling officer opened his mouth to shout at her, but lieutenant Akumetsu clapped his hands loudly and drew all attention back to his toothy smiling face. “I think that’s enough of that. Toga Himiko is secured, and they’ll be talking through a wall. I’ll also be watching, there should be no danger. And if there’s any kid I’d trust to talk to her, it would be the little hero who caught her. I doubt anyone else is more aware of what Toga is capable of. Even villains get visitor rights. Could you log the visit for me, and I’ll take her right in?”

“Yes sir,” said the officer at the desk. He typed something into the computer and then the transparent wall buzzed and the door in it swung open. The lieutenant led Ochako past the scowling officer and through the doorway. It was shut behind them, and they walked to the end of the hall. They walked past several open doors revealing empty rooms. Only the final room was closed, a metal door blocking the view inside. “Here we are. Give me a sec to see if she’s up to seeing visitors.”

Ochako nodded, her heartbeat picking up pace. What would she do if Toga said she didn’t want to talk to her? Would it be strange and embarrassing to walk right out of the station if her offer was rejected? She wasn’t sure she’d be able to resist running out as quickly as possible, head low so no one could see her face. Maybe the lieutenant could sneak her out?

Lieutenant Akumetsu knocked on the door, waited a few seconds then slid open a viewing port in the door. “Evening Toga, you awake?”

“Nope. Sleeping soundly.” Ochako felt chills at the familiar voice.

“Sorry to disturb you then,” said the lieutenant with a laugh. “You decent? You’ve got a little hero who would like to talk to you if you’re up to it.”

A pause. Ochako’s breath caught in her throat. Then, “If the little hero can stomach seeing me just in my panties, then I think I could spare a few minutes from my busy schedule.”

“I’ll let her right in then.” The lieutenant opened the door by putting his hand on a scanner then gesturing her inside. “Enjoy your chat. I’ll be right here. Let me know when you want out.”

“Thank you,” said Ochako. She walked through and the door shut right after her.

Toga’s cell was very basic. There was another transparent wall separating the room in two, the outline of a door visible in it. On Ochako’s side was a couch for a visitor and a small television built into the wall. The news was on, but the TV was muted. On Toga’s side was a bed and toilet. And sitting on the bed was Toga Himiko.

“Disappointed that I’m not in my underwear?” asked Toga, holding her arms out, her orange prison garb completely covering her.

“Not really,” said Ochako, turning away in embarrassment. How could this girl turn being fully clothed into something lewd just through suggestion?

“Oh? I figured since you’d come back to visit me at night in my room that you were expecting something steamy. An illicit rendezvous with a villain while your crush ignores you to go rescue someone else. Doesn’t that sound exciting?”

“I just came to talk,” said Ochako, forcing her gaze back to Toga. The villain had moved to lounge on the bed, one leg in the air. She was focusing on her toes instead of Ochako. Something about that annoyed Ochako.

“I really don’t have any more information and talking to me in a more comfortable setting instead of a cold, hard interrogation room isn’t going to change that.”

“Not about hero or villain things.” Toga’s golden eyes casually drifted towards Ochako. “I just wanted to have a…girl…chat….”

That got Toga’s attention. She sat up, put her elbows on her lap and her head in her hands. “I could go for some girl talk. We going to talk about how dreamy Izuku is while covered in blood?”

Ochako shook her head. “No!” She took a deep breath. “Maybe more like things to get to know each other first. Like…introductions?”

“But we already know each other, don’t we O-Cha-Ko?”

“Proper introduction,” said Ochako. She gestured to herself. “I’m Uraraka Ochako, age fifteen and hero in-training at UA Academy. My Quirk is Zero Gravity. I love Japanese food, especially mochi and my blood type is B. What about you?”

Toga smiled. “My name is Toga Himiko, age sixteen and a member of the League of Villains. My quirk is a se-cret.” A wink. Then, her smile widened to show fanged teeth. Ochako was suddenly feeling regrets. “My favorite food is…,” Ochako inhaled sharply, “Pomegranates.” Ochako gave a sigh of relief, then felt embarrassed as Toga laughed. “What did you think I was going to say? Blood?”

“Uh…,” Ochako absently rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. “It did occur to me for a moment that might be your answer. Pomegranate is surprisingly normal.”

“I do enjoy blood though.” Toga stood until she was right up against the wall. “Especially the blood of those I find cute. You’ve got some cute blood. I wish I could get a taste of it.”

“You’ll need to buy me dinner first,” said Ochako, trying to cover up her embarrassment at being studied so intensely.

Another laugh. “I’ll make that the first thing I do when I get out then.”

Toga went back to laying on the bed as Ochako took a seat on the couch. The pair were silent for several minutes. Ochako tried to think of what to say but was coming up blank. She’d never had trouble talking to people before. But there was something about Toga that made it hard for her to speak. Finally, she settled on a topic. “What school is your uniform from?”

“All over,” replied Toga, lounging on her back on her bed.

“All over?”

“Yep. I built it from all the cutest outfits I could find while on the street. It worked really well, didn’t it?”

Ochako thought back to how ill-fitting the sweater had been. Suddenly it made sense. “That skirt was a little short though, don’t ya think?”

Toga sat up and smiled brightly at Ochako. “Were you oogling my legs, Ochako?”

“Of course not!”

“I bet you were,” said Toga in a sing song voice. “More importantly though, was that the hints of a cute accent I heard for a moment there?”

Ochako averted her gaze, blushing. “What if it was?”

“See, this is why I love you, Ochako. We’re both keeping secrets, putting up fronts to seem normal in a world of expectations. To the people born normal, who it all comes naturally to, they’ll never understand us, and we’ll never fit in with them.”

Ochako looked back to Toga. The girl had a neutral expression on her face. “Toga…,”

“Himiko.”

“Huh?”

“I told you to call me Himiko.”

“To-“

“Hi-Mi-Ko. Easy, right?”

Ochako took a deep breath. “Himiko.” Himiko’s smile reappeared, but this one was less predatory, more joyous. Ochako liked it much more. “What do you want?”

“Well, I’d to see some more of your or Izuku’s cute blood. I could do with Tsu’s I guess. Maybe see you crying on the floor. Tears add a lot to the cuteness of a person.”

“I’m trying to be serious here.”

Another predatory smile. “So am I.”

Ochako clenched and unclenched her fists a few times, taking a deep breath, then releasing it. “Please, what do you want?”

“You came to talk to me.”

“And I want to know what you want.”

A shrug. Toga laid back down on the bed. “You’ll need to narrow it down then.”

“Why did you become a villain?” asked Ochako.

Toga didn’t turn to look at her. “I felt like it. Seemed fun.”

“You’re dodging the question.”

“Why do you hide your accent?”

“Huh?”

“Why do you hide your crush for Izuku? Why are you embarrassed about being poor? Why do you act like the good girl all the time?”

“I don’t act like a good girl,” said Ochako.

“You totally do,” said Toga. She was staring at the ceiling and kicking her legs through the air again. “You want to be normal. To be like everyone else. To be accepted. To hide your real face so that others don’t reject you. Doesn’t that get tiring?”

Ochako wanted to protest, to refute Toga’s comments, but she stopped herself. The villain was partially right. She did hide her accent to not stand out as a hick. She didn’t have a crush on Deku, but she was drawn to him in a way she couldn’t describe and wasn’t comfortable talking to people about. They always jumped to conclusions like Toga was. Her closest friends knew that she was poor, but it was still embarrassing to admit. And she kept up a smiling polite face to her parents. She couldn’t worry them, after all.

“Maybe I am embarrassed a bit,” said Ochako. “It’s hard to show parts of myself to some people. I don’t want to worry my parents; they work so hard to care for me after all. And by being normal, by not embarrassing myself and by making friends, I can put their minds at ease. But is that so wrong?”

“It’s pretty stupid,” said Toga, putting her legs down but not looking over at Ochako. “The world has shackled you, forcing you to be who you aren’t. I hate that type of world. It’s not cute at all.”

“Is that why you became a villain?”

“Who knows?”

Ochako took another deep breath, then let it out. She checked her phone. A half hour had passed while they’d been talking. She would need to leave soon. It was a short train ride to the hospital, but she wanted to get there early to not miss Deku and the others. She was sick of sitting around and wanted to help rescue Bakugo. Like a hero would. Right now was probably as good a time as any to leave. But as she stood to excuse herself, she felt unable to turn her gaze away from the girl currently ignoring her. Lieutenant Akumetsu’s comments about how heroes should treat villains rang in her mind. She considered his unspoken conclusion; if we don’t help them or give them a chance, who will? She took another deep breath. “Himiko…”

Himiko glanced over to her, a look of surprise on her face. But only for a second. It was quickly replaced with a toothy smile as Toga hopped to her feet and skipped over to the wall separating them. “You called, O-Cha-Ko?”

“I want to help you.”

A laugh. “Sure you do. Why don’t you start by breaking me out of this cell first?” Himiko continued to giggle at the thought.

Ochako clenched and unclenched her fists. “Sure.”

The giggling stopped.

# # # #

Akumetsu Saito hummed to himself outside Toga’s jail cell. The girls’ chat had been going on for quite a while, which he viewed as a good sign. He’d always admired heroes, even if his Quirk hadn’t been well suited for the profession. There was nothing that gave him more pleasure than assisting heroes. Especially the idealistic ones.

There was a knock on the door behind him and he turned and said loudly, “You done in there?”

“I am,” said the little hero. “May I come out?”

“Sure thing,” he said, opening the door. Uraraka exited the room, her expression bright. “Have a good chat?”

“I did,” she said.

“Here, let me walk you out.” He led the girl down the hall and waved to the guards. They buzzed Uraraka out.

As the little hero was leaving, she turned to him. “Oh right, Toga had a question for you.”

“I’ll go chat with her then. You good leaving the station yourself?”

A nod. “I am. Thank you for everything.” Then the little hero was gone.

“What a strange kid,” said Officer Eizen, a perpetual scowl on his face. “You actually going to give a villain the time of day?”

“There’s no harm in answering a question,” replied Saito. He turned back around. “I’ll be right back.”

Saito made it back to Toga’s cell and knocked. “Hi Toga, I was told you had a question for me?” No response. He knocked again. “Toga?” Still quiet. He unlocked the door. “Sorry, I’m coming right in.”

He opened the door and stepped in. What he saw was not Toga, but a brown-haired girl laying on the floor of Toga’s cell. Unconscious. “Uraraka!”

The girl came to consciousness, groaning. “Uh…” She looked up at Saito and her eyes went wide. “Lieutenant Akumetsu?” She scrambled over to the door of her cell and tried to open it to no avail. “Please help. I’m sorry, Toga tricked me. She knocked me unconscious and snuck out. I think she has a transformation Quirk!”

“I’ll get you right out,” said Saito. He opened the door and the girl practically fell out of her cell. He caught her and helped her stand. “That must’ve been Toga I let out. I’ll go right after her.” He turned around, back to the girl. Then he felt a sharp pain in the back of the neck as he fell to the ground and the world went dark.

# # # #

Himiko hummed to herself as she walked out of the police station. That police officer’s blood had been surprisingly tasty. Not as good as Ochako’s of course, but not unpleasant. Maybe she should send him a thank you gift later? She had his wallet; she could probably buy him something nice.

She took her time walking to the station. It was in a lesser trafficked area that she entered the women’s restroom and found a stall in which to wait. Ochako hadn’t arrived yet. Himiko dropped the lieutenant’s phone into the toilet then stood in the toilet bowl. She balanced herself with her arms on either side of the stall and dropped her transformation. Most of the goo from her Quirk was caught in the bowl. A few dots slopped against the floor though. That was sure to confuse a janitor later. She flushed the remains of her escape down the drain.

“Hello?” asked a timid voice. Ochako. “Anyone in here?”

“Occupied,” said Himiko in a sing song voice. “Why don’t you join me?”

“I’ve got the clothes.”

“Are they cute?”

“I think so?” replied Ochako. “They should be better than that jumpsuit you’re in, I guess.”

Himiko got out of the toilet bowl and unlocked the door. She swung it open with a bright smile on her face. “What ugly jumpsuit?”

Ochako let out a small squeak as her face turned bright red and she averted her gaze. “Why are you naked?!”

“That’s just how my Quirk works,” replied Himiko.

Ochako held out the clothes she’d bought, never looking at Himiko. How cute. She took the clothes. “Thank you very much.” She slapped Akumetsu’s wallet into Ochako’s hand. “Here, take how much it cost from here. You can even return it to him when this is all done.”

Ochako looked at the wallet, then to Himiko, then quickly turned around. “It’s no issue. The clothes are pretty cheap.” The hero in-training pocketed the wallet without opening it. “How is the lieutenant? You didn’t hurt him too badly, right?”

“I played nice like we agreed on,” said Himiko, trying to look as innocent as possible. “Knocked him right out, took his blood then bandaged it up like you told me to. I was a good girl and I deserve a treat.”

“Thank you for doing that. He’s a good man and doesn’t deserve what we did to him.” Himiko caught a cute expression of melancholy for a moment. But then Ochako went right back to business. “Now, please change quickly. I’ll go buy us tickets.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Himiko closing the stall door. She slipped on the clothes Ochako had put thought into buying for her. She slid on the cheap panties and bra and thought about the embarrassed face Ochako probably made when she bought these things for another girl. She admired the shorts Ochako had bought her, sliding them on and finding them able to stay up but slightly loose. And finally, a plain red T-shirt. Simple, but cute enough for the moment. Once she was dressed, she tied up her hair in a single messy bun and slipped on a black face mask Ochako had included. She was good at sneaking around, but it never hurt to mix things up while keeping a low profile. But the most effective cover was going to be traveling with Ochako. One girl was suspect, two were friends.

“I got the tickets,” said Ochako through the door. “Are you done changing?”

Himiko slid the lock open but didn’t touch the door. “Why don’t you open and see for yourself?” There was a moment of hesitation, but Ochako opened the door. Himiko made a cute pose. “Are you disappointed to see me fully clothed?”

“No,” said Ochako, averting her gaze. How cute. “Let’s get going. We’re going to cut it close on meeting with everyone.”

“Eh, worst comes to worst we go ahead,” said Himiko, following after Ochako. “It’s not like we don’t know where we’re going.”

“But we need to be able to offer that help to the others,” said Ochako as they scanned their tickets and passed the turnstile. “And it wouldn’t be good if they were surprised by you being there. They might think you’re an enemy.”

“And who says I’m not?” asked Himiko with a broad smile.

“I do,” said Ochako, boarding the train.

Himiko lagged for a moment, considering staying behind to lose her guide. It would be so easy. If Ochako was doing this properly, she would’ve had Himiko board first. Always keep her slightly ahead and in view. Instead, she naively walked shoulder to shoulder, and boarded the train first. It was laughable.

Ochako turned to see if Himiko was following and found herself nose to nose with Himiko as she invaded the hero’s personal space. “Going to keep moving and give me some space or just stand like this the entire time?”

“Let’sgofindseats!” said Ochako quickly, turning and leading the way as the doors shut behind them.

As the train started to move, Himiko followed her hero and mused about how fun this night was going to be. Corrupting Ochako to be like her would make her blood even tastier. She planned to savor it.

# # # #

Saito sat up in his new cell, rubbing his neck. “Damn, she really knocked me out. I was planning to play dead but guess I didn’t need to.” He held up his hand and saw that a strip of cloth had been ripped off his shirt and wrapped around his finger in a rough bandage. That was a surprise. Toga wasn’t known for kindness like that. He took it as a good sign. That kindness hadn’t extended to not taking his phone or wallet. He bet his money was being used to facilitate her escape and his phone was probably in a fountain or trash can somewhere. She’d left his watch though, and checking it told him that he’d been out for about fifteen minutes. Toga had already been fed dinner, so it would be a while before anyone came to check on him. Most likely the guards wouldn’t bother to walk down and check on the cell until the morning. The chances of anyone finding him soon were low.

So, he grabbed the remote and turned the volume up on the TV and waited for the UA press conference to start. That should be interesting. Bide him over until he found out how the little hero was doing in reforming their wannabe villain. He couldn’t wait to see what the pair managed to do. He had a good feeling about them.

#mha #toga himiko #togachako #uraraka ochako #path diverged in the woods #togaraka #himiko toga #ochako uraraka #this got delayed because my computer died as I was finishing it the first time then i got sick and also work picked up #I think the final product is much better for the rewrites though

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hauntedaether · 3 months ago

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my hero is so silly i was a manga reader and i watch s7 with my dad now.. im literally insane about it. izuku midoriya does shit to my brain... whos ur fave do u have one..

OGHHHH ive been meaning to read the mangas alas i do not know where to buy most of them but its ok i will figure it out eventually...

growing up my faves were always ochako and tsuyu and denki and deku and shouto but i think its toga now i LOVE himiko toga

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cheeseofmysteriousorigin · 1 month ago

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It's a very small part of my fic, but there's a scene where Deku and Ochako are helping Toga pick a hero name, and Carmilla is one of the ones that Ochako suggested!!

“What about Carmilla?” Ochako suggested. “Like the vampire?” I smiled. “You know, it’s funny. The villains wanted to help me pick a name, and that’s one of the ones they thought of, too.”

Putting an excerpt of the brainstorm session scene below 🙂 Excerpt is SFW and so is the chapter it's from, but the fic overall is 18+

“Okay, so something that would fit Himiko’s personality…something that reflects your blood drinking and your ability to transform…” Izuku was muttering again. He was always so cute when he got like this. “What about Sanguine Chameleon?”

“Sanguine?” I asked. That was another new word for me.

“Nowadays, most people use it to mean calm and optimistic, but it used to be an adjective that meant ‘relating to blood,’ so it could be a good fit for you.”

“Ehhhh…”

“Ooh!” Ochako’s eyes brightened. She had an idea. “How about Mimicula?” We must have both looked confused—Izuku and I looked at each other, and then back to Ochako. “You know, like a combination of mimic and Dracula? Since you drink blood to transform into other people?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. It feels weird on my tongue.”

“What about Carmilla?” Ochako suggested. “Like the vampire?”

I smiled. “You know, it’s funny. The villains wanted to help me pick a name, and that’s one of the ones they thought of, too.”

“I know! What about Bloodwork?” Izuku said. “Like when you go to the doctor and they take your blood to run tests? Since they take some blood and use it to help people, and that’s what you’ll do as a hero?”

“Huh…I mean, it’s cool-sounding, but I feel like it fits a boy in a shōnen manga or something.”

They threw out some more names. Morphang. Bloodlust. Changeling Culicidae. They just kept getting worse. And then, we sat in silence. Completely out of ideas. I looked at the paper in front of me. I honestly didn’t want to pick a hero name. Why couldn’t I just be me? I picked up my pen and wrote in big letters in the middle of the field at the top:

トガ

“Toga…” Ochako read from across the table.

“So just your name?” Izuku asked. “I mean, it’s not unheard of. Shoto’s hero name is just Shoto..”

“Yeah.” I smiled. “I spent so many years not being able to be myself, and now that I got another chance, I can finally be me. So why not just use my own name? Why not just be Toga?”

fun fact: when the league of villains is suggesting villain nicknames for Toga, Spinner says "Vampiress Carmilla!"

Carmilla is the first vampire that exists. Many say that the first vampire that was invented was Dracula but that is a lie (Dracula was published in 1887, while Carmilla was published in 1872). So, the first vampire invented was Carmilla, and she's a lesbian vampire!

The story is told by Laura, a young woman who lives isolated with her father in a castle in Styria, a region of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. An unexpected guest, however, will awaken her romantic feelings at the same time that it will cause her some terror.

This definitely reminds you of some characters, right? In a way, yes... I can see why Spinner suggested this nickname. It suits Toga very well.

I wonder if Horikoshi did this on purpose, or if he's already read Carmilla... if so, I believe that Toga's relationship with Ochako may have been inspired by Laura's romance with Carmilla. I mean, that would make some sense

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dekusleftsock · 1 year ago

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IVE BEEN A GOOD KID AND IVE ACTUALLY LET MYSELF LIKE. THINK ABOUT THE OFFICIAL TRANSLATIONS SO. HERE WE GO BITCHES.

(Along with some other things bouncing around, implications of togachako because of this chapter, maybe even a prediction? This is my FINAL THOUGJTS POST, unless ofc I notice something and I say it BUT HOPEFULLY THIS IS THE LAST AND ITS JUST GONNA BE ME BEING SILLY AND POSTING FANART)

1, i find it funny that Caleb said lickitung than Pikachu since that… totally doesn’t make sense nor was why Twice suggested the name. IDK IM A POKÉMON NERD AND AN MHA FAN SO I JUST FIND IT A LITTLE SILLY.

Like I think Horikoshi chose Pikachu bc it’s the most recognizable Pokémon, along with Himiko’s “chu-chu” noises she makes when she drinks blood ofc, but it was also probably suggested bc… Pikachu has the same blushies that Ochako has…

Not to mention the fact that Pikachu is also representative of Toga’s colors, those of course being red and yellow.

Lickitung makes no sense other than the fact that it paralyzes people/Pokémon by licking them and making them uncomfortable. It’s such a… random gen 1 Pokémon idfk. I can see WHY he chose it, because lickitung is supposed to be a friendly Pokémon that accidentally makes people uncomfortable, but I think Pikachu being said instead just makes far more sense; Pikachu is supposed to be a cute Pokémon. It’s origins in gen 1 were, “I want you to make the cutest Pokémon you can” and the artist Atsuko Nisida had to go through 3-5 iterations of pixel art (bc they would make the pixelated version for the game first AND THEN draw the Pokémon from that) before finally settling on what people call “fat Pikachu” which looked like this

Lickitung works ig by being a Pokémon that ultimately is harmless to people but just accidentally freaks people out and makes them off-put by them, but Pikachu fits much better in a chapter where Ochako calls Himiko’s smile, something we’re supposed to see as creepy, perfect/pretty/beautiful. Comparing her and her cuteness to something like Pikachu just seems like something twice would do anything bc he’s a sweetie like that.

ALSO ANOTHER THING FOR PEOPLE WHO KNOW NOTHING ABOUT POKÉMON: reguri is I think the most popular ship? That might be beat by Selena/ash and misty/ash, but regardless it’s super popular and also is EXTREMELY SIMILAR to bkdk.

This does depend on which version of them you’re talking about, but personally when I read pokespe (the most popular official Pokémon manga, there’s others but that’s just the most well known one) I always thought bkdk were so similar to red/blue to the point it was uncanny. At the time I thought “eh that’s just gay rival tropes there’s tons of other characters in other anime/manga/tv that are similar to them too” but after the mention OF Pikachu and Toga’s purposeful similarities I do wonder if horikoshi was a Pokémon fan in the 90’s during his childhood. That wouldn’t surprise me seeing as the games were such a booming success in Japan (literally it’s the most sold Pokémon games ever nothing has beat it since), so it would make sense if horikoshi was a secret Pokémon fan.

I mean, blues hair is even similar to bakugous but idk, maybe it’s a stretch.

They’re not childhood friends in pokespe, but they are childhood friends in the games, blue bullying him as they got older and pushing red away, red goes and has an emo arc on mount silver by himself without telling anyone, eventually comes down from that mountain in black and white 2 where red and blue are starting to be friends again, and I don’t think they’re seen again until sun and moon where they’re on vacation together in alola. There’s other outside game content that has just… progressively gotten more gay.

AGAIN, IM NOT SURE IF HORIKOSHI HAS READ THE POKESPE MANGA OR IF HE PUT THIS MUCH THOUGHT INTO IT! However I WILL say that if you enjoy bkdk you will probably enjoy reguri and the pokespe manga, especially since it has a more interesting plot than the anime or games, along with being less corny. It’s a lot more… I don’t wanna say graphic but honest? It wasn’t really made in mind that it would be targeted overseas like all the other Pokémon stuff, so it’s just more honest about environmental issues and pet abuse and things like that. Red and blues character arcs and friendship, along with Leaf’s character arc is very interesting just by itself, highly recommend.

MOVING ON… my Pokémon nerdiness aside, I love Himiko’s defiance to conform to hero society especially as a villain. Will she go against this vow because she sees herself as a full fledged villain? I wasn’t really sure.

She didn’t, which is great, but I also think those themes of pity and feeling like Ochako is still looking down on her… remind me exactly of Katsuki.

I also find this page and what toga says quite interesting.

Saying that she KNEW ochako was sad too, that’s a VERY interesting observation to make when thinking of someone you “hate”.

And I like the distinction that Ochako wasn’t afraid of Toga because of her smile being creepy, or that she was trying to harm her or tsu, but because she couldn’t understand why she was smiling during a fight.

More bakugou vibes/lines

If/when they ARE canon, explicitly and completely and all that, then that would make mha a, and idk if it’s the first, shonen GL + BL. That would be fucking crazy.

ALSO THIS? THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT AN IZU//OCHA MOMENT… let me explain.

It’s a couple of things: Ochako is not explicitly saying how she wishes she could talk about her love with Izuku, instead it seems to be more framed as talking ABOUT Izuku.

He’s not even looking at her, and she’s not looking at him; no, instead Ochako and Himiko are looking at each other, and talking about the importance to talk about your feelings openly, how she admires that quality to Himiko.

In a way this is Ochako saying “No, don’t become like him, this is why I admire you. That trait makes you admirable, it’s a trait I love in you.”

And lastly, that marriage proposal. Is it REALLY a marriage proposal? How romantic or platonic is this this scene?

Well, I went back and read chapter 348 to find out, and a little detail disregarded, not only by me but everyone else, was the line, “If you ask me, being a couple means being one and the same. Makes sense right? Nothing else… would fulfill my desires.”

And then ochako in 393, purposely bearing her feelings to Himiko and offering her blood to her? Even with this knowledge? The knowledge that Himiko would see this as a confession? Fucking crazy.

For all her flaws, I can perfectly picture why Ochako would prefer someone who sees romance like she does, openly unapologetic about her feelings like she is, over someone who can’t even see a teenage girls confession as an actual confession of love. Way to be selfish Izuku.

(God he would be SO offended at all the shit talking I’ve been doing to him recently HAHA! BUT HE NEEDS TO HEAR IT BC HES AN IDIOT WHO SHOULD BE TAKING HIS FEELINGS SERIOUSLY. How are you going to let the hot headed blonde kid that bullied you be better at this. HOW.)

So yes, I think this is so explicitly romantic, I literally thought this scene would never fucking happen because I KNEW how gay it was, how gay everyone KNEW it was—but god damn. Horikoshi you mad man.

#togachako #himiko toga #togaraka #togaocha #ochako uraraka #mha 393 #mha chapter 393 #mha deku #togachako brainrot

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