#i really wished dabi would have killed him

[tofumilkbread]

I wanna know more about the feeling that comes with Touya's newly discovered Ice quirk honestly. Like come on, look at me in the face and tell me he would have NOT gone feral with happiness and other mixed emotions if he had developed this before he absolutely ruined himself.

I hope Enji is happy now that Touya is too his not-so perfect masterpiece. Isn't that he wanted from the very start? Congra- fucking- tulations, asshole. There, you have it. Hope it was worth losing his eldest son, his wife's sanity and other kids trauma.

Also Touya having the unstable part of Rei and the anger and jealousy of Enji. Yk, both ice and fire.. deadly combination. Shouto is the child who represents how Enji and Rei compliment each other and Touya represents all the ways how that's absolutely bullshit.

I would have told Enji to burn in hell but that seems like such a mundane punishment. I could say give him to Touya but then again, I feel like he will eventually forgive Enji if he spent enough time with his dad because at last all he wanted was for his father to love him.

Lmao this got unnecessarily dark

[yandere-romanticaa]

"You know..." he trailed off, his voice gruff but cool. Two fingers danced across the countertop as you chopped the potatoes sloppily, as you were still not quite adept with handling a knife.

He continues. "... You would be a really nagging wife, did anyone ever tell you that?"

A scoff escapes you but even so, you chop. It's a little hard trying to focus on cooking all the while this idiot keeps trying to rile you up like crazy. Why was he even here, who even invited him? Yeah, he was popular around town and it wasn't uncommon for him to hop from place to place, regardless of what it may be. Be it someone's house, a bar, a club, a gaming center, it honestly didn't matter.

It just freaked you out how he was slowly morphing into the shadow you never wished to have.

"Is that so?" You ask him sarcastically, your face schooled into an unreadable expression. The smell of delicious spices enveloped the whole kitchen and it made you even hungrier. You were going to kill your friend for allowing this god awful fiend inside here. Refusing to turn to him, you still probed him.

"Don't marry me then, I never asked for your opinion to begin with."

He's stunned for a millisecond before regaining his composure, a booming laugh soon reverberated across the entire room. He clutched his chest a little, as if you had just told him the funniest joke in the whole wide world.

In a way, it was.

He, despite his bravado, wouldn't mind having such crummy a wife by his side.

He was living the good life and nothing could stop him. But there was just something about you, something that would always make him take a step back and think. It was so cute how you were trying to concentrate on making a tasty meal for himself, of course he was going to steal a little later.

He adored your cooking, even if it could get sloppy at times.

The "you'd be a bad/annoying/nagging wife" thing started off as something to humor him, and to piss you off naturally. Nothing brought him greater satisfaction than to see a scowl on your face and just straight up ruin your day. It was exhilarating to watch the light in your eyes crumble the moment he took a breath of air which came from your direction, let alone actually come to you.

It didn't hit him that he was actively interested in you.

He never even realized just how many of your dumb little habits he had picked up on, just how many times he had to stop himself from doing more than he already did because he didn't want to give you the wrong idea.

He doesn't like you, he thinks you're a fool. Plain and simple, just like that.

It doesn't matter that his heart beats so much faster at the mere thought of you, it doesn't matter that he started to fantasize how you would look like if you were his actual wife.... To come home to you, in your soft embrace as a meal was ready for him...

No matter. He'll trick, tease and steal from you as much as he possibly can.

🎀 Gilgamesh (Fate), Bakugo Katsuki, Dabi, Hawks (BNHA), Gojo Satoru (JJK), Guren Ichinose (Seraph of the End), Ayato Sakamaki, Laito Sakamaki (Diabolik Lovers), Satori Tendo (Haikyuu!), Aalto (Wuthering Waves)

[yonkokraven]

Horikoshi is a terrible writer

God, I wish I was kidding, these last couple of days I've been analyzing the whole damn manga and I finally understood where this guy is going with it and how it fails.

I'm going to make the post with spoilers and talk in random order about different things that he fail at, because honestly it's unthinkable to make an order in this manga chaos.

The League Without Goals:

I really can't understand how people look at this group and say "they have a plan" or "they're good antagonists" when neither of those things are true.

The league was founded by Tomura wanting to show the world that they live in a false peace, at first he wants to kill All Might for being the symbol that brought this false era of peace...

The claim is fair, I'm not going to lie to you, but after the Stain arc, instead of reflecting on how he can show the danger to society, he goes a step further and decides to destroy all the heroes, and the league "adopts" Stain's mentality with its new members.

You think it could improve, I mean, here they should tell us the reasons of the new members of the league about their mentality towards the heroes, but no, nothing, absolutely nothing.

Dabi introduces himself stating that he's there for Stain, Toga too, Spinner obviously too, but they don't reveal why they agree with Stain.

As time goes by we see glimpses of everyone's personality and past, and the first thing that comes to mind when I think back to the entire history of the villains, is that they don't have a group spirit here, in fact, not even a hint of personalities, Dabi and Toga are serial killers, Spinner is a mutant and Compress is a thief. Twice is a disturbed guy who lost his place in society by no longer being able to control his quirk, but he also has no qualms about kidnapping and killing children and god, Magne, Mudstard, Muscular and Moonfish are forgettable

The league's goal changes from "Show society the false peace" to "Let's do whatever we want" after the liberation army arc, here there is no direct reason, but Tenko says that he wants to destroy everything that breathes.

They show us their pasts but there is not really a more appropriate answer to "these people are crazy"

Spinner, who is the one with his head on his shoulders, should question why but he doesn't, He don't tell us what he wants to do other than "follow Shigaraki", and then in the final war they put him almost into a Nomu and leading an army of mutants without any plan of what to do when the world is his, there are no community plans, nothing, just find Kurogiri and destroy Japan.

Toga was deprived her entire life of living the way she wanted and she wants to do that, but when Twice dies she wonders if the heroes don't see her as a person when she can't even wonder why the heroes would see her that way, she kills people and animals without any shame and is plotting to destroy the world.

Dabi wants dad's attention, that's why he's going to destroy everything dad built including his mother and siblings, but he could go one by one, first Natsuo, then Fuyumi, then Rei, then the "Masterpiece" Shoto, or better yet, broadcast the video of Endeavor after the battle against High-End Hood, but instead he waits for the damn climax of the story to try to detonate himself. Not only could he have saved Twice and didn't, but he also has reasons to follow Stain but still sticks to "let's kill whoever gets in our way"... and that's it.

Tomura already came to this story in an extremist way and has reasons to hate society, at the beginning of the story I thought his motivation was going to be to reveal the imperfections of civilians and heroes, but his motivations grow to commit acts of terrorism to ACADEMY STUDENTS. And they are not even varied, it is the same academy and the same damn class

And when I thought that Horikoshi could not make it any emptier, AFO reveals that he always planned to take his body and orchestrated everything that happened to Tenko. AND THE WORST THING IS THAT HE DOESN'T EVEN REFLECT AFTER THAT, IF IT WERE UP TO HIM HE WOULD DESTROY EVERYTHING ANYWAY.

How do Hori expect me to feel bad about their defeats and deaths? They literally grew up in the opposite way to how they should have, and that's when I realized: Hori didn't want to give this group of clowns any redemption at any point.

Before you ask me "then why did Horikoshi make Midoriya, Uraraka and Shoto want to save them?"

No, here Horikoshi is writing 2 things, but he writes them so badly that the fandom interprets something totally different:

1-A hero is a human being, and villains born in their mistakes: The members of the league, if we look at their origins first, arise from the fault of people (not just heroes

Toga must be one of many who has their biology affected by their quirk, at no time do we have reference to the fact that there are specialized centers to help this type of people, because if that were the case, her parents would have accompanied their daughter in that way instead of repressing her.

Spinner is a mutant, so he hasn't grown up in a conventional way (as we're told, he was always alone). But that's the incomplete picture, being a mutant and following Stain's ideology, you add 2+2 and notice that Spinner suffered mistreatment even from heroes, but it's something he doesn't mention, and Horikoshi didn't delve into either his history or the mutant plot.

Dabi is the son of an arranged marriage (know how to differentiate it from a forced marriage) and that's already a lot to say, but his origin resonates with Stain's words about heroes only seeking fame and power. If the top heroes didn't exist or worked differently, things in the Todoroki family would have been different.

Tomura is the mark of an imperfect society, as his problems are not only his own, they come from generations ago. His grandmother left his father for adoption after his grandfather's death, and there is already a big red flag about the safety between heroes.

Then, his father grows up hating heroes because he never knew about the danger that his mother and he were in. And he hits his son every time he says the word "hero" just because he never knew how to properly deal with his father's death or his mother's abandonment.

And after what happened to his family, people look the other way hoping that a hero might appear, when that is not the job of a hero, it is something that everyone can do. Tomura marks the total and combined result of a society that has made heroes into nothing more than a service instead of people, while people simply go on with their lives.

Society in general after the dawn of power remains the same: discrimination, power and ignorance continue to be the daily life of people.

The biggest problem? is that Horikoshi shows us the league at first wanting to point out these injustices, but little by little they get to "let's destroy everything because Tomura is upset."

2- The origin of true heroes

The arcs that resonate the most with the soul of the manga are Uraraka and Hawks' arcs, two of which in my opinion are the best in the work

Uraraka enters the academy with the wrong intentions, but her heart is in the right place, she wants to help people and little by little she realizes something that many people ignore, that heroes and villains are also people.

Hawks is trained directly in the commission as a human weapon, but he does not fight against this because his desire is to be a hero, as he grows up between so much training and work, he realizes that despite being a hero, he is not allowed to be a person, and this is reflected in all the other heroes thanks to his phrase "I just want a world where heroes have free time"

Uraraka is the one who initiates the change to society by asking the civilians to let Midoriya rest in the academy, the civilians are scared but notice for the first time that the heroes are not in good shape either.

And they are not even heroes yet, they are children who still have the spirit to stand in front of the bullets when they should be crying for what happened, they lost teachers and classmates, in addition to being mutilated by people older than them.

In these epilogue chapters, civilians and heroes began to work shoulder to shoulder after this event and the battle in which Midoriya gave his all to prevent everything known from disappearing, and he succeeded by very little.

In chapter 429 we see a child who escaped from hell, and for the first time a civilian helps someone without having to request support from a hero, and it is the same woman who did not help Tenko years ago who still carries the guilt.

But what is the problem with this point?

Two small details, one being that Horikoshi isn't giving dialogue to those who started this change, and if he did, he did it incorrectly.

Uraraka feels bad for not being able to save someone who didn't want to be saved, when she doesn't reflect on how Toga got to that point of no return, or what made the heroes get to where they are now

Midoriya calms her down by telling her that she's his heroine (which isn't bad at all) but it's a very short dialogue for two characters who saw through all the flaws of this system and fight to change that same system for the better.

and Hawks is in a position to restructure the hero system for the better based on the things he knows, taking a correct step in creating a Top that is defined by the actions in the place of power... BUT YOU DIDN'T ELIMINATE THE OLD TOP? ARE YOU SERIOUS?

And now I know why he doesn't do it, because of someone who has taken up more than enough pages in this work, the damn Katsuki Bakugo, another damn symbol of the old society that glorifies power over heroic actions.

Horikoshi himself didn't know what to do with the character beyond the first tests arc and HE SHOWS IT, because it is so contradictory with this character and everything that surrounds him in a disgusting way and the fandom doesn't want to accept it.

He literally doesn't get any attention when he does wrong, when he attacked Kurogiri with Kirishima, when he acts arrogant at the sports festival, when he hits Midoriya at the final exams and verbally abuses him in front of everyone, when at the camp he ignores Mandalay's instructions.

There is only one consequence for him in the manga, ONE, AND THAT IS THAT HE FAILS AN EXAM AND THAT'S IT.

Then he has a nervous breakdown saying "it's my fault that All Might retired" when he doesn't reflect on the danger he put his teammates in or the way he acts.

Here everyone is useless when it comes to Bakugo; Aizawa lets him go with a pat on the arm when he tries to attack Midoriya, 13 should have reported Bakugo and Kirishima to the principal after Kurogiri, Aizawa justifies Bakugo's behavior to heroes who are obviously outraged by his attitude during the festival, All Might ignores that his disciple bled from a punch from Bakugo and also that Bakugo almost killed him in the team tests.

When he is kidnapped, no one points out that he disobeyed a direct instruction in an emergency like the camp, instead Aizawa grabs a microphone and says "He's a great hero."

And in the provisional license exams, the Commission should have intervened and called him to attention, or at least Aizawa, but NOTHING.

Horikoshi makes him absent for a couple of arcs and then Bakugo reappears at the cultural festival where he doesn't change a cent, he just plays the drums, then he passes the provisional exams making the minimum effort possible while Todoroki, Utsushimi and Yoarashi do all the work with the children, and he tells the leader of the children "don't be an idiot" and that's it.

Then the Endeavor arc, he sneaks into Midoriya and Todoroki's internships and disrespects half the world, again without consequences and his appearance in this arc is to justify the disaster of power increase in the next arcs, wasn't it that he had already mastered his quirk? wasn't he a prodigal?

Then there's the war and he only serves as a human shield, receiving a lethal wound and SURVIVING to then wake up in the hospital and ignore that everyone is injured or in mourning and start screaming.

Then in the Dark Deku arc he mocks Izuku who is at his lowest point and makes the emptiest apologies I've read in a manga, with an apology comes a change and HE doesn't change.

His death and resurrection is totally useless to the plot other than to nerf (not kill) Edgeshot, who turns from a paper man into a surgery man to repair his heart and vital organs that are shown to have EXPLODED BY SHIGARAKI'S PUNCH.

He gets up and fights All For One at his weakest point and eliminates him, which has no real value because AFO then possesses Shigaraki anyway. And to make this more regrettable Bakugo KILLS KUROGIRI WHO WAS ON HIS SIDE.

What makes me the most angry is that Izuku is losing OFA and HE IS THE ONE CRYING

At this last point Midoriya has already completely lost the spotlight because Horikoshi never tires of inflating the Gary Stu that is Bakugo. And God forbid Midoriya to do even a little of what Bakugo did.

Midoriya at the end of each arc has no recognition, in fact, the recognition that Horikoshi gives him is reduced as the arcs go by

The story started with Midoriya saying that this would be like him "he became the greatest hero" and in the last arc he changes it to "we all became the greatest heroes" and it doesn't feel like a true victory once they achieve it, because Midoriya is not even the shadow of what he was.

With Horikoshi's decision to preserve the previous Top of Heroes it is obvious that he will give it to Bakugo, it is a worthless title because it is not defined by heroism, but by statistics that come from power and solved cases.

and this last one ruins Endeavor's ending even more

Speaking of Endeavor, he doesn't have his family anymore, he already lost his position, he's disabled and his money won't be his anymore, since he's going to put it at the disposal of his children. I was wondering if Horikoshi would make him face something legally but with everything that's happened I think it would have been the same result, with him paying monthly damages to his family.

and his family, god, what a family.

Rei needed more introspection and perspective on the situation, especially with Shoto and Touya if she was going to be included in the final battle. And yes, she stays with Endeavor, good for some and bad for others, but I want to know what led her to that, Horikoshi didn't justify it.

Fuyumi was fired not because of Endeavor's abuse, but because of the things Touya did. Again, this information is useless without a proper explanation. What information do you want to leave me with, that she got a new job? Will she work at the UA library or what?

Natsuo will be a Kotaro 2.0 because of his attitude, and honestly I never really liked him, especially because he didn't put any energy into getting to know Shoto or trying to reconcile with Touya after the final battle.

Shoto... poor Shoto, it feels like he was orphaned after the last family talk. In fact it feels disconnected from the story since the Dark Deku arc.

Well, I only have to talk about Eraser, because I already pointed out everything, empty villains, Midoriya's lack of introspection, Bakugo Katsuki's superfluous character... and there's this incapable who must be Horikoshi's self-insert.

Shouta Aizawa, aka Eraserhead, underground hero and the worst teacher in the known universe.

This guy never knew what he did, and just like Horikoshi, he tipped the scales towards Bakugo in every situation he could. He forced his students to give their all, but he didn't help at any time in the evolution of their powers... WHILE HE WAS TRAINING SHINSO.

He's not a teacher, he's just a security measure in case a quirk gets out of control, nothing more, and he even does wrong, he ties up students with his capture weapon and attacks them with his quirk threatening expulsion in any situation that bothers him

Present Mic points this out and many other things but is continually silenced by Aizawa and the fandom, even worse

The Fandom ships them.

and since we're mentioning the fandom, this is one of the worst fandoms in the universe.

90% of them seem to have gotten the story wrong and don't have a cent of criticism towards Bakugo or the league, and don't value the moments of the manga in the proper way.

There can't be a second without them believing that this is Shoujo, because they focus on Bakugo and Deku in the same panel and take it completely out of context (a bad habit that Rukasu created by translating the leaks absolutely wrong on purpose).

Now everyone is angry with Horikoshi not because he wrote a story in the most absurd way possible, but because the league of assassins did not have a happy ending and they just discovered that this was never a shojo.

Horikoshi was right to fear that the manga would be cancelled, because he clearly excels at drawing, not writing. Now we're getting a fan-made Attack of Titan Requiem 2.0 of Bakugo and the league making this twenty times worse than it already was.

I've also noticed that there are some creative people who are writing arc by arc either on tumblr or ao3, which gives me some faith that this nightmare is bearable.

Well, I read opinions, but not from fans of Bakugo, BKDK or the League of Villains.

[manias-wordcount]

Dabi quirkless reader - soft/fluffy/comfort wet dream

Hes been dreaming of reader his dreams are of his better nature.

in short dabi remembers his dream; It wasn’t even very sexual.. and yet he melted when he remembers “your my hero”

Aka im back in your ask. Please and thank you for the content! 🌸 i just really like the idea of being on a guys dream girl hehe.

Even in His Dreams (Dabi/Touya Todoroki x Reader)

𝗔/𝗡: 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗼! 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆!

𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚!! 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 (𝘄𝗲𝘁 𝗟𝗢𝗟) 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺

𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚? ⇒ 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩

𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙧?

𝙗𝙪𝙮 𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙚?

It’s stupid.

He can’t remember how long it’s been since he’s been like this. It must have been years- almost a whole decade even- since this has happened to him. He thought he had grown past this a long, long time ago. He thought that this was something that every man except for the most pathetic of them all would grow out of. He thought he was above this. He thought he was above this feeling.

He thought he was above seeing a girl and falling for her so hard that she starts to haunt his dreams.

This isn’t him. It’s not- It’s not him. This is not him. His name is Dabi. He has hunted and killed who knows how many people at this point. He’s probably on a couple of different hit lists belonging to the government, the underground, and whatever hero agency he decided to piss off lately. But there you are. There you go, being present exactly where he doesn’t want you to be. There you go, being stuck in his mind no matter how hard he tries to force you out. There you go, working some kind of magic on him that is making him sick straight down to the stomach at the thought of never seeing you again. It must be your quirk. It has to be your quirk. It has to be. 

Because there’s no way in hell you have him wrapped around your finger with just one look.  Because there’s no way in hell you really have him loyal like a dog on a leash just because you said to him, “You’re my hero.” There’s just no way.

But fuck…did you have to look at him with those eyes? Did you really have to?

A small, small part of his consciousness registers the moment when he tosses his body to the other side of his mattress on the floor, unable to stay still and stable due to his workup. But he’s still fast asleep. His eyes are still closed. His lips are still parted. And his legs are still tangled into a pile of sheets that he knows he has never washed before while his head is pressed into a pillow that smells like a faint combination of everything he has smoked in this room in the past week.

He’s fast asleep. A time that should be peaceful, save for the occasional nightmare or exciting dream of the future he wishes to make happen more than anything in the world. But it’s not peaceful. He’s fast asleep and it’s not peaceful. Not because of a nightmare. Not because he’s dreaming of a world where he gets to play the unapologetic judge, jury, and executioner of his father over and over and over again. But because he’s in turmoil. 

Because he’s dreaming about you.

He’s dreaming about the girl he just ran into a couple of hours ago. He’s dreaming about the girl he inadvertently saved from being mugged and possibly worse. He’s dreaming about the girl who didn’t seem to hear how her attacker screamed and groaned in pain as his bright blue flames brushed against their skin. The girl who seemed grateful to be saved by a man who looks and walks the part of a villain. The girl who didn’t seem one bit scared of him, despite the heat of his flame, the coldness of his stare, and the frightening, grotesque look of his body.

He’s dreaming about the girl who looked up at him through pretty little eyelashes and whispered “You’re my hero…” just loud enough for him to hear.

In his sleep, Dabi tosses about the bed, once more. His sheets are further messed up. A groan escapes his lips. His eyebrows knit together before softening, as his body relaxes once more. Even in his sleep, those words act as a trigger for him. Even after meeting you just a couple of hours ago, you have power over him. The mere memory of an incident that lasted no longer than a few minutes has power over him. Even in his sleep. 

The moment it happened- the moment he heard your voice, he tried to brush you off. He tried to ignore the shivers he felt as he could hear you take in precious breaths of air as the smoke from his fire started to grow larger. And he tried to ignore the way his heart beat a little faster with every second you stood close to him. Because you just looked so helpless standing there. Leaning into his space as you tried to tell him thank you. Swaying gently like a girl with just a little too much booze in her system. And smiling way too wide and sweetly for someone whose savior only stepped in because their attacker owed too much money and he was angry to try to collect.

But there you were. Helpless, sweet, precious little you. A perfect stranger.

But a girl he finds perfect nonetheless.

It’s stupid. He knows it’s stupid. He knows he shouldn’t be falling in love with drunk girls who just so happen to be so nice and appreciative of him when he saves them from having a bad night. He knows he shouldn’t be caught up in some civilization girl’s life who probably won’t even remember him by the time her hangover has fully passed tomorrow afternoon. He knows he shouldn’t even be dreaming of you. Because Dabi doesn’t dream of the next time he runs into the pretty girl he only saw once. Because Dabi doesn’t dream about how soft your body would feel if he held you to his chest and wrapped his arms tight enough around you that no one could take you from him. Because Dabi doesn’t dream about the possibility- the chance- to hear you utter his name from your lips and call you his hero once more.

But Touya Todoroki does.

And by the time he wakes up, it’s already mid-afternoon. The sun is high in the sky and peaking through the window that he left open last night. And it’s starting to become a problem he can’t ignore. But before he thinks about shutting the blinds properly or tossing himself back into his bed, he has to deal with something. Or rather, Touya has to deal with something. That said, it’s been a while since he’s done this. It’s been a while since he has woken up with a mess bigger than he thought he was capable of in his boxers. So he could only just sit back and hope that he- that Touya- still remembers what to do.

That, and hope that you don’t mind boys who can’t help but get a little bit carried away, even in their dreams.

[mettywiththenotes]

It's actually fucking crazy how most of the league of villains are dead

I'll be honest, when Tomura died, I was very sad but I also thought that, narratively, if at least one of the other main villains were alive, preferably Toga or Dabi (because they are the only other two who have had more time invested in them by their heroes prior to the final war arc. thought was actually put into who they are as people), then the theme about everyone being saved including the villains who may need it can still mean something. Even with Tomura dead, something can still come from this

But then it was revealed Toga is dead. And then Dabi died too. Well, shit. Do we have any other villains left who can still make up the theme of "villains can be saved too"? Hmmm, let's see. Twice is dead. Kurogiri is dead. Stain is dead. Spinner is alive! Oh but there's no actual redemption for him and he's writing a book about the League's legacy. And maybe there's some hope there because he wished Shouji good luck, but, again, last we saw him he was in police custody, which doesn't really say anything good. Aaand Compress is in jail. Amazing (/sarcasm)

Actually, the only villains who could still carry along the theme of "everyone can be saved (villains too)" are Lady Nagant, Gentle Criminal and La Brava. They had redemption arcs and were somewhat saved by a hero, or at least they have a connection to him, and they survive until the end of the story

However, these are characters we don't know as well, aren't as relatable and don't show up continously like the League did. If you like these characters, that's great, but as characters who really only show up TWICE in the whole 430 chapter story (and remember, prior to the final war arc, they had only shown up once. ONCE. before being put aside for the end), it isn't as hard-hitting as it would have been with the League, and for a story like this that hinges on the implication of "but what about the villains who should be given the chance to have someone reach out and save them?", with an already full cast of main villains who absolutely had the narrative opportunity to be saved being killed off or imprisoned, it just doesn't. land well

Honestly it would have been all good and fine if these 3 were the only ones left to be saved, if they had had more appearances rather than just being one-arc opponents. Genuinely, if they had shown up more and had a bit more depth and insight into their characters or connections with the mc, I would have accepted it. Albeit sadly, since the lov would still be dead and I loved them, but I would still think "at least the theme still has meaning to it. at least there are still some villains who did get that redemption and tied it all in with reaching out for people who need it"

But that's not the case. With only having one other appearance before their last ones in the final war, in connection to the theme, it's just. weak. It's handled weakly, imo. Especially when, yknow, you kill off or put away most of the villains who could have been saved

And, actually, let's talk further about this. Because even though Lady Nagant is somewhat saved, survives and helps out the mc, she doesn't offer a good message at the end of the story. It's quite a shaky message tbh. To paraphrase, she basically says "I know I have the choice to go back into society now but honestly I don't trust it's not gonna be the same way it was again so I'm choosing to stay in jail and see what happens.". Which. I mean I guess it's something, in the face of her whole "AFO is bad but at least he means what he says" thing from before, at least now there's the implication that she's gonna wait to see how things go instead of jumping to work for a supervillain now that she has free choice again, but when the ending of your story is "things are going in the right direction" and you choose to have one of the only surviving villains who follows one of your themes stay in jail instead of returning to society or even just not living in jail but still watching what happens from afar is very. weird

And though it's a weird decision, I think the thing that would have made me feel better about it is seeing her out of jail in the future. At least just one panel of her, maybe somewhere in the background walking around the city or something. It would have made sense for her to initially be like "I'm nervous about the future and how things could change or not change at all" and then have her free in the outside world, showing that she overcame that fear of being used again after seeing how things supposedly changed. I get that this is probably something that's supposed to be left up to interpretation, but as a villain who actually made it and connected with one of the heroes, I think it would have meant something for her character, for what the heroes were trying (or saying they were trying) to achieve

Which leaves us with Gentle Criminal and La Brava. On the whole, these two are the only villains who get a redemption arc, survive the story and clearly go on to live their lives happily in society

And again, this would have been great if we had gotten more time with them. It would have been great if we had actually seen more of what their lives were like after the war, building their new business together instead of returning to villainy, instead of just having One (1) panel to show us they're alive. It would have been great if we didn't just have most of the villains, who we had more time with, who were pretty sympathetic (not that Gentle and Brava didn't have their moments but still) killed off or imprisoned without any deeper thought. But that's not the case, so it just sort of falls flat for me

Unless you're a Gentle and Brava stan and shipper, in which case congratulations. I like them too, they're cute! But it is insane to me, given everything

So I mean. Yeah. The only villains who really make it, who really add anything to the theme of "everyone can be saved even villains who may need help", are Gentle Criminal and La Brava

(and Nagant if we're giving the benefit of the doubt to the weird decision of her panels in jail being the last time we ever see her. I'm aware she's in prison just like Compress and such, but at least she has a choice whether she stays or goes, meaning she may get out in the future of her own will thanks to Hawks)

[hopeluna]

!! Fic Recs

Most of these are long fics or series and some of these are 18+ so be aware? But anyways, enjoy these works from absolute writing angels <33

Jujutsu Kaisen

Symptoms & Causes by @lostfracturess

Gojo Satoru x reader

Synopsis: he's arrogant, self-centered, and he's your professor. renowned for his brilliance in neurosurgery and infamous for his allure. too bad you have to work with him on this research team. now you're stuck with dr. satoru gojo, delving into the complexities of both the brain and the heart—and of how far you'd go for a love that could destroy not only him but you as well.

Love Entries by @chuluoyi

Gojo Satoru x reader

Synopsis: series of episodes of your life with the strongest sorcerer throughout the past and present

men are so quick to blame the gods by @awearywritersworld

Sukuna x reader

Synopsis: your boyfriend is a heavy sleeper, leaving you to form an unlikely relationship with the curse occupying his body during the late hours of the night.

wanna be yours by @nezuscribe

Gojo Satoru x reader

Synopsis: you find yourself in a marriage that you never wanted in the first place. your husband seems to hate you and you begin to wonder if anything you used to think of him was even true. who would have though a marriage to gojo satoru would be so difficult?

his kiss, the riot by @nezuscribe

Gojo Satoru x reader

Synopsis: the king has been struck by never-ending grief when he found out about his wife's infidelity. he has her ordered to be killed, but afterward, he is no longer the same. every night he marries a woman, and every morning he has her killed. the endless cycle continues until the night you're chosen to be his wife. instead of letting him ruin you, you tell him a story. you tell him a story that he just has to know the ending to. and so begins the story of one thousand and one arabian nights.

i'd crawl home to her by @likelilacwine

Geto Suguru x reader

Summary: the god of the underworld brings his most valued prize home at the risk of tearing the realm itself apart.

Boku No Hero Academia

@andypantsx3

Yes, her entire blog. Pls each and every series of her is god send. I cannot reccomend this to you enough!!

pretty white dress by @gaybybirth

Dabi x reader

Synopsis: You're shelving books like normal at work when a new face comes into the store. And in a small town where everyone knows each other, a new face really stands out. Especially when it's one that makes you burn in ways you never have.

FILL MY LITTLE WORLD (RIGHT UP) by @shibaraki

Aizawa Shouta x reader

Synopsis: you are employed by aizawa shouta to nanny for his vulnerable adoptive daughter eri while he’s at work. as time passes you find yourself equally smitten with them both, longing for a more permanent place in their family.

please save me by @hitoshiyoshi

Platonic!young!shimura tenko x reader

Synopsis: you save shimura tenko

Stranger Things

Not Wholly Evil by @uglypastels

Eddie Munson x reader

Synopsis: as the daughter of the Governor, there is quite a heavy prize set on your safe return home, and the captain will not let anything come between him and his bounty.

As you wish by @corroded-hellfire

Eddie Munson x reader

Synopsis: When Eddie isn’t appreciated like he should be, his babysitter feels the need to step in and comfort him.

Living After Midnight by @munson-blurbs

Eddie Munson x reader

Synopsis: Being a perpetual people-pleaser meant that you were constantly putting others before yourself--particularly your parents and the eccentric guests who stayed at their motel. But when a surly and mysterious musician checked in indefinitely, he flipped your whole world on its head.

Please do tell me if you want to be removed from this for whatever reason!!

[arceus-insanity]

With the Series Ending

I decided to do this solely based on canon, except for F which are so bad that they transcend the rule. I also put this in the lens of do I enjoy watching them, or do they infuriate me. Most of the ones in G are there because I can't tell who they are from the picture, or are so minor I don't get why they were on the list to begin with

Hawks was the hardest to place because as I've mentioned before I love villain fanon Hawks, and hate Canon for all the missed potential and the guy being shit.

Before the last arc, Deku would have been in C, and I felt most criticisms of him were undeserved. I still feel a lot of them are dumb, however, he's canonically a hypocritical, suck-up to labels, abuse apologist, idiot, etc. As much as it feels like character assassination it's canon, same with Shoji. I also just don't care to read fanfiction of him, and feel he takes a lot of roles where other characters would make more sense. If I'm not already following someone I'm not going to read fanfiction with him in it

Most of E I hate as much if not more than F but the fandom either doesn't write about, or treat them like the pieces of crap they are, looking at Mineta of course.

Fun fact Edgeshot is in E for bringing Bakugo back, and causing me both meta and dramatic issues for me. What the fuck was the point of killing Bakugo to immediately bring him back. How the fuck did Edgeshot know he could do this? How the fuck did he know how to do this? Why the fuck is he doing this for some random teenager he has never interacted with before, in the middle of a war? And now why the fuck does this fucker get to live, no one gave a single fuck about Edgeshot but he gets to live!

Centipeder would have been in E if not for the fact I know what my ringtone for him would be, Red Flags by Tom Cardy

Uraraka owes her rank in B for her arc with Toga, otherwise, she would have been in D. For the plot forgoing her original motivations so they could turn her into a generic love interest. Toga tried talking crushes with her 'twice' everything else regarding that shit, which started before they ever met, is on her

I actually love Endeavor fanfics as most of them either a treat his abuse for what it is, or b I view them as an own on canon Endeavor and his incredible laziness and selfishness. But Twitter exists and they flock to him and his bullshit so to F with him.

Speaking of Fs, Bakugo is a whiney spoiled rotten brat with a silver spoon shoved into his mouth since birth. I hope he never breeds. Damn near every shit thing that has happened to him, was either brought on by himself, literally applied to everyone, he literally doesn't care, and even with the two exceptions I'd give this, the Sludge guy, and being chained up at the sports fest (he should have been disqualified), do not justify his shit

Congrats to Dark Shadow and Tokoyami for being the only hero (student) to make it past B

Needless to say I love villains, Dabi is by far my favourite, followed by Himiko, they are way more engaging and convincing than the heroes. And by convincing I mean it actually feels like they are going to put in effort to make their goals happen, not just wish really hard. I truly wish we could have seen how Shigaraki's goals shifted during his reign over the PLF. We had already seen how he wanted the League to be happy and an exception to his goal of destruction

[irisintheafterglow]

hello hello everyone my sincerest apologies for being so ia lately...

*drops this enemies to lovers abomination on your doorstep like a cat and then disappears back into the woods*

cw: swearing, hurt/comfort, descriptions of injury, more swearing

it wasn't your first choice to be roommates with dabi. in fact, it wasn't your choice at all; it was shigaraki's. when you first joined the league and were declared important enough to stay in the same housing situation as the rest of its members, the only available space was a small side bedroom that was more like an oversized closet.

and just your luck, it was connected to the bedroom of the deep-fried creep himself.

for one, he unsettled you beyond belief, always lurking in shadowed corners and moving about without so much as a rustle. he had a nasty habit of saying whatever was on his mind, always biting out a comment that had you scrunching your nose in distaste. but mostly, he figured out early into your situation that it was very easy to get on your nerves.

he hid your body wash.

he mismatched your socks.

he moved all of your furniture one inch to the left so you kept running into the corner of your nightstand.

he walked into your room and pulled a single corner of your fitted sheet off the mattress.

his little pranks were always irritating but not enough to feel genuinely angry over, which was frustrating in and of itself. your attempts to voice your concerns to others, however, proved fruitless.

"have you considered that maybe he likes the attention you give him?" you shrug in lieu of responding, plucking another puff of stale popcorn from the bowl between you and toga as your legs swing off the ledge of some abandoned high-rise just outside of musutafu. "i'm serious," she continues, unsettlingly thoughtful. "dabi doesn't do all of that for anyone else."

"yeah, because he actually likes you guys, even if he won't admit it," you point out. "he does all that shit because he's pissed he has to share a bathroom with me."

"i think it entertains him, to a certain extent," toga muses and you frown, feeling far from comforted. "i know he cares, if that matters at all."

"how so?"

"he's grumpier when you're on longer assignments. checks in on your room, waiting for you to get back." you blink at her and wait for toga to declare that she's kidding and spontaneously prance away into the night. but, she doesn't, and when she catches you staring in disbelief, she shows her palms in surrender. "dabi hasn't told me anything, i promise. it's just what i've observed."

"and how many times have you observed this and never told me?"

"let's see," she begins, counting on her fingers a concerning amount of times before giving up and rolling her eyes. "it's kinda hard, since it's not always sulking in your room. he pesters everyone about when you'll be back, especially me and twice. he and tomura almost got into it when dabi tried to interrogate the boss about your whereabouts."

"maybe he's just wondering when i'll finally die so he can have his space back," you mutter, unimpressed.

"no, i don't think that's it," toga states earnestly. "if he wanted to kill you, he definitely would have by now. we all would have."

"thanks, toga. you really know how to make someone feel better," you deadpan but are unable to keep your smile from breaking through when she beams at you like she'd won the lottery. "let's just hope i get to have a serious conversation with him before he pours sand in my sheets."

as luck would have it, your wish for a serious conversation would eventually arrive...while you were struggling to staunch the bleeding from your shoulder.

it was a lucky hit from your opponent, a simple lapse in your judgment that gave them enough time to swipe at your neck. you meant to block with your forearm, but barely brought up your arm in time for the blade to slash just above your armpit. by the time you'd disposed of the crime syndicate tomura sent you to destroy and clambered through your window, the dark spots in your vision were closing in like a black-and-white movie vignette. you couldn't muster the energy to shout for help, nor could you find another piece of fabric to stop the bleeding. eventually, your body slumps against the frame of your bed, the exposed mattress soft on the back of your head. that fucker must have pulled up the fitted sheet corner again, you groan in your head, a last-ditch idea forcing you to grab your phone by pure instinct.

"i'm busy," is the first thing dabi says when he picks up the call, not expecting to hear you on the other end. on your side, it's enough to annoy you into having more energy; on his side, he can sense something is off as soon as he hears the unevenness of your exhales. he wills his feet to move faster across the dark rooftops, away from the bright flaming scene behind him and closer to home.

"yeah, and i'm bleeding all over your dirty floor, jackass," you grit out. he can't tell whether to burst out laughing or stop his heart from sinking. "if you could steal some gauze on your way back, that'd be fuckin' terrific."

"stop talking," he grumbles, "you're wasting energy. i'll be home soon, so stay on the line."

"you're literally so annoying, do you know that?"

"yeah, yeah. i know you love it." even as your consciousness fades in and out, you can still register the smirk in his voice. "hey." the sternness in his voice snaps you awake. you don't remember closing your eyes, nor can you tell how long they were shut. "you better still be alive, idiot."

"my heart beats from pure spite, dabi, so don't worry about me," you scowl. "get here faster so i can wring your stupid neck."

"aww, the little wifey wants me home," he teases and you physically cringe away from the phone, your fingers stained crimson after trying to pack your wound with whatever rag you could find.

"remind me to kill you once you get back."

"you wanna kill me now that i'm back," he replies without missing a beat. the hang-up tone beeps at the same time as your window slides open again. you vaguely register him crouching in front of you, his fingers ghosting over your injury.

"i fucking hate you," you declare unexpectedly after he's retrieved the first-aid kit from your shared bathroom. "you have no idea how much i loathe your existence."

"it's good to see you too, i guess," he responds absentmindedly. you watch his eyes, so intense and absolutely molten, scan over your skin and analyze what to do next like a supercomputer. "hey," he snaps his fingers twice in front of your fading vision. "you gonna tell me why you hate me, or am i gonna have to drag your ass from out of the underworld?"

"i hate you and your pretty eyes," you scowl, once again very much awake. he makes a noise between a chuckle and a snort and prepares a cloth with enough alcohol on it to just smell painful. one hand firmly holds your shoulder in place and your body acts on instinct when he moves closer with the cloth. "don't fucking touch me with that."

something inside him snaps before he can control it.

"you wanna die instead, then, dumbass?" you blink at him, taken aback by the sudden frustration that breaks through his cool demeanor. your mouth tightens into a straight line when you catch the way his eye twitches just above the stapled purple skin on his cheek. it didn't seem like he was frustrated with you, he seemed frustrated with...himself? "you hate me that much that you won't let me save your damn life? what the hell did i do to deserve that?"

"you pulled the corner off this stupid bedsheet, to get started on just one thing, and don't get me started on that dumb--" you're cut off by your body spasming on its own as he presses the cloth onto your wound, white-hot pain searing through your entire right side. the action leaves you gasping for breath, heaving on the floor with tears pricking the corner of your eyes; when you come back to yourself a few seconds later, you register dabi's free hand has traveled from your shoulder to gently cradle the side of your neck.

"there you are, easy. you can come back to me now," he murmurs, his thumb brushing just under your jawline. "i figured making you angry would distract you long enough to let me clean this up...i'm sorry."

"is..." you swallow and your voice suddenly seems so much smaller. "is the painful part over?" to your surprise, he doesn't insult you or mock your cowering; if anything, his gaze softens when he nods.

you sit in an uncomfortably awkward silence for several more minutes as he stitches up your gash. being around dabi, for better or for worse, was like having a human muscle relaxant nearby. your body couldn't help but decompress, slowing your heartrate to a speed you almost mistook for feeling safe. as much as he irritated you and loved to get under your skin, something about his presence felt reliable, and you'd be lying if you said he wasn't attentive.

"do you mean what you say?"

"hmm?"

"you heard what i said." asshole. you roll your eyes and wait for him to back it up with some sort of insulting humor. but, when he's finished carefully pressing a bandage on your shoulder, he sits back and waits for you to respond. "well?"

"of course i don't," you force out after a few moments' hesitation. "i could never truly hate you, no matter how much i try."

"why do you try? am i that easy to hate?"

"honestly, i thought you would be," you admit and his eyebrows raise once, like he was huffing in amusement. "but for the life of me, i just don't see you the same way the world does." he stiffens and clears his throat, his attention darting anywhere but your face. "you're annoying, please don't get me wrong," you quickly clarify.

"oh, we were doing so well," he chides with a poorly-hidden smirk and you lightly swat him with your uninjured arm. "this is the part where you confess your undying love for me."

"in your dreams, stupid."

"isn't everyone always saying you can make your dreams a reality?" you finally spare him an exhausted laugh and he gives you a rare smile, one you only saw once in a blood moon. "speaking of dreams, you should rest. shigaraki's gonna want a debrief in the morning, and you know he gets grumpy on thursdays." you groan and put on your best innocently-manipulative face.

"do you wanna keep taking care of me and take over my breakfast shift for tomorrow?" your eyelids droop but you still persist in batting your lashes.

"i'd rather die, but good effort!" he replies and you return to your blank expression. without hesitation, his arms loop under your legs and back and gingerly set you on your bed, pulling the sheets over your body and going so far as to tuck you in. "you all snug in there, little bug?"

"i am, thank you." without another word, he departs with a single bow of his head and an unfamiliar sense of panic washes over you as he steps closer and closer to the exit. "w-wait--"

"i thought you'd never ask." he turns on his heel like he'd been waiting for you to speak up and returns to your side, respectfully stopping at the edge of the bed. "alright, let's hear it. i'd like to hear a 'please, dabi' and a 'thank you for saving my life' and a 'you're the best in the entire city' and--"

"get in the bed, idiot, before i change my mind," you conclude, carefully flipping yourself so that your back is to him. you hear him chuckle and slip under the blankets with you, draping an arm across your midsection to pull you closer. "is this the part where you confess your undying love for me?" his breath is even and warm on the back of your neck, and you swear you feel his lips brush your skin before he answers.

"yeah, something like that."

if you enjoy my writing and would like to support me, you can buy me a coffee on my ko-fi! commissions and nsfw requests can be sent through my fiverr! you can also check out my full masterlist here :)

[bibibbon]

smth i hate abt hori is how easy it would’ve been to use the lov to show how hero society lets people slip through the cracks as a result creates villains, but he never fully expands on the idea.

jin’s parents died when he was in *middle school* MIDDLE SCHOOL! which means he could’ve been anywhere between 12-14. and then because of a motorcycle accident that *wasn’t his fault* he got a criminal record, was fired from his job, and became homeless. and then he just spiraled from there.

toga is biologically wired be to fascinated and obsessed with blood. but instead of helping her, her parents are disgusted by her and force her to suppress herself until she inevitably snaps.

dabi is a product of his fathers abuse and it was allowed to go on for decades because his father is a famous pro hero

compress is just an unapologetic evil bastard tho and i love him for that

This is also one of my problems with horis writing!!! Villains in MHA all had wasted potential and I absolutely hated the way their arcs went!

I guess the only arc that I can semi agree on is toga himiko's arc to a certain extent but that even has wasted potential that I talk about down below 👇. I discuss what togas arc could of been and different directions her character could of went.

In my opinion himiko was already introduced as somewhat irredeemable. The first time we see her we are told that she killed 6 people known so far and on around 5 of them she performed blood letting. Also her first victim she literally sliced him up and started drinking his blood (some including I theorise that she maybe even ate some of his body parts). I think it adds to the story simply because togas love or idea of love is based on her becoming that person and having parts of them on her whether that be literal or metaphorical.

I personally like the idea that toga is an irredeemable victim. Toga is someone who was failed by the system and had went through a lot for sure but the actions she did were also things that she should be accounted for ( I talk more about toga and what makes her different from lady nagant in another post). In the end I personally enjoy seeing toga be a humanised not redeemed victim of society that has also commited many crimes.

When it comes to other members of the league I feel like they could of all had better arcs in general.

I remember talking to @doodlegirl1998 and she suggested that twice and togas characters could of very much switched roles as twice is a character who parallels more with ochako (both struggling financially) and hawks would get more repercussions for killing a child (toga). However, I also do like twices death but I do have some problems like how I wish his death would of been thoroughly explored and we see how it impacted everyone or we should of gotten more from twice himself in general.

Dabi deserved better and I really would of wanted him to have a redemption arc, receive some concequences but end up with the todoroki family WITH ENJI DEAD (I HATE HIM!). I hated the whole Dabi always had an ice quirk and that he was just the second choice, always the second choice all along.

Shigaraki and just how much AFO was involved ruined everything for me also Shigaraki knowing about AFO was a horrible twist which made shigarakis characterisation even more inconsistent. I would of liked to see a Shigaraki redemption where he himself works towards one by starting to question AFO and get into the leader role a whole lot more while using the MVA to his advantage to get information, resources and more.

Spinner could of ended up being the better stain and learned form stains mistakes while also changing with shigaraki. I also feel like he needed more build up with his own counterpart like shoji and a thorough explanation and development of the whole hetamorphis discrimination thing.

Compress was evil for fun and it's fun to have those types of characters. One thing that I really would of liked to explore is compress's and magne's interactions. I feel like their arcs could of been interwoven (maybe I ship them a little who knows 🤷‍♀️) magne's death should of had more substance to it and all it just felt lacking and compress's disappearance the same.

Now when it comes to minor villains Iam a huge advocate for MUSTARD!! AND GIVING US A MUSTARD REDEMPTION 👇👇👇

I also think that muscular and moonfish should of obviously went to prison but that this could of been used as a way to shake the leagues trust for shigaraki. If any of the league members were to end up in jail would shigaraki help them? Maybe he won't as he didn't do that to muscular or moonfish or maybe he has stated to care for them more and he would as he is growing into that leadership role.

I would have it so that the Dr garaki is just an evil menace who starts to become much more greedy and manic causing AFO's death and going insane.

Kurogiri or kurooboro in this case would go through a different type arc that's down below.

In the end all of the villain characters or characters that don't up hold the status quo are victims of society. I think your ask could also apply to the hero characters that are also harmed by the system like hawks and izuku.

[stillness-in-green]

What do you think of shouto's arc? As a person who uh. used to be pretty similar to his "earlyroki" incarnation for lots of similar reasons I find it really reassuring that he gets to be a happy person who is generally content(somewhat negated by the treatment of Endeavor in the story admittedly lol)

Hey, anon; I'm touched that you'd come to me, a dedicated endgame hater with a question like this. I appreciate the interest and/or faith! This reply is going to talk a lot about the family in general and the broader themes of the story, as well as Endeavor and Dabi and their own arcs, but I've tried to keep tethering it back to Shouto throughout and at the end.

Shouto isn’t a character I devote a ton of thought to—I’m so-so on most of the Heroes at the best of times, and Dabi is an easy pick for my least favorite of the core League.  For a long while, Endeavor actually was my favorite of the Todorokis because I found him the most interesting—that went out the window in the last war, alas, as it became clear that the narrative had no intention of meaningfully grappling with his repeated failures to work with and prioritize his family despite his repeated promises to do so.

As to Shouto, though, I suppose I have three major thoughts: that he does okay for himself, that he got a bit shafted all the same by the decision not to kill Endeavor, and that I wish I felt more confident that his arc had any impact at all on his opinions about the Hero System.

(Hit the jump.)

Taking the last of those first, as it’s the point that involves Shouto himself the least, the systemic problems of the setting were always my primary interest with regard to the conflict between Heroes and Villains.  Because I was invested in relatively few of the Heroes, and also because the story was pretty assiduous about not letting the League kill off any characters the reader could reasonably be expected to give a shit about anyway, I never bought into stuff like Deku getting righteously fired up about the people Shigaraki had hurt.  For the most part, I cared about the Hero/Villain interpersonal dynamics only insomuch as they served as a path for the Heroes to recognize the scope of the real issues they needed to be addressing, and the Villains as—while dangerous—ultimately victims of those issues.

Unfortunately for me, the Todoroki plotline is ultimately treated by the overarching narrative as being, by and large, self-contained, unconnected and unreflective of the broader society in which it plays out.  Thus, while Uraraka connects Toga’s tragedy to the lack of acceptance of her quirk and devotes herself to finding some way to correct for that problem going forward, Shouto and Enji don’t make that same connection between Dabi’s tragedy and the problems in Hero Society that led to it.  Touya is, to be sure, primarily a victim of Enji’s choices, with Dabi being the ultimate result, but while no one forced Enji to make the choices he made, they were not made in a vacuum.

By my count, there are three ways in which the structure of Hero Society failed Todoroki Touya and his siblings, only one of which impacted them directly.  Firstly, Hero Society demonstrates a studied lack of concern for the mental health of orphaned children, which meant that young Enji was never going to get appropriate amounts of grief counselling, meaning there was nothing to inhibit his spiraling obsession with strength.[1]  Secondly, that obsession was given a perfect frame to build on in the form of the Hero ranking system.  And thirdly, we have no evidence that the Todoroki family was so much as mildly probed by law enforcement or regulatory bureaus about the string of accidents and tragedies facing it.[2]

1: From the Shimura Kotarou of forty goddamn years ago to the Izumi Kouta of the present, there is zero reason to believe that Enji would ever have gotten professional psychological help following his father’s death.

2: One might also add a fourth consideration, that being the whole-ass Himura situation that led to Rei feeling her abusive marriage was as inescapable as it was.  Perhaps if she felt less trapped by her family’s need—itself entirely a result of quirk-based bigotry, remember, so that’s a fifth societal consideration!—then maybe she would have been more willing to try taking the kids and leaving, or seeking help from authorities.  My focus here, however, is more on things that could have directly circumvented Endeavor's abuse, so I’ll leave the other factors here.

But BNHA doesn’t probe any of this, either, nor does Shouto.  The only people other than Endeavor who are remitted any scraps of responsibility about Dabi’s entire existence are All For One (for saving Touya’s life!) and Rei, Fuyumi and Natsuo, collectively given a few moments in which they regret not doing more. Otherwise, Endeavor is allowed whole and unadulterated blame for the situation.  It’s not something Shouto blames on any outside parties or circumstances, and so, once it’s resolved, he makes no efforts to try to address any of the very obvious contributing factors.

While it’s very much to Shouto's credit that he put so much proactive effort and thought into stopping “his” Villain without causing further harm—by far the most forethought of any of the students with Villain foils!—I’m not as positive about how he just lets everyone but his rotten father off the hook.  It’s a problem I think is less about Shouto as a person and more about the meta-narrative’s sudden third-act unwillingness to engage in systemic critique, but a problem it remains, given that it’s the systemic critique that I really wanted.

Moving on, I also think Shouto’s arc is severely hindered by Horikoshi changing his mind about not killing off Endeavor.  I’m not one of those people who thought Endeavor had to die to make up for his crimes, or who desperately wanted him dead because he’s an abuser and All Abusers Should Die, Actually.  Solely looking at it from the perspective of Endeavor’s arc, I think he should have lived!  It’s much more interesting for him to live and have to grapple with the consequences of his actions!

…But that would require that he actually have to grapple with said consequences.  Which he doesn’t.  And if he was not going to, and the story was not going to address him not going to, then yeah, absolutely, he should have died.  What’s the point of him surviving if he’s going to face no story-impacting consequences?  Feeling sad and bad about it, and getting yelled at once or twice by nameless bit characters, do not count as story-impacting consequences, I’m afraid.

More to the point, though, that’s Endeavor’s arc.  Endeavor’s arc, however, badly needed to take a backseat to Shouto’s arc, and probably Dabi’s, too!  While I think Endeavor could have survived without his arc torpedoing the arcs of his sons, that’s definitely not the story we got.  And I think this is in large part because Horikoshi didn’t change the story enough to account for Endeavor’s survival.

The echoes of that original story are all over the third act.  Consider:

Endeavor does nothing of consequence in the Edgy Deku arc.  His press conference doesn’t prevent societal breakdown; he limply defers to Deku in ways that let him remain active while ensuring those actions have no impact on the plot; he makes no major contributions to Hawks and Jeanist’s talks about the Villains; he’s not involved with the plans for the second war; and finally, we learn nothing from the hospital flashbacks that we couldn’t have gotten from any of the other family members, instead.      

We get early hints about too many quirks causing mental breakdowns, and this foreshadowing is fulfilled in Spinner’s corroded perceptions at the hospital—but miraculously, Lady Nagant has no problem at all with having an extra quirk.  Sure, she’s only got the one extra, and maybe it doesn’t happen every time, but…  Isn’t it a little odd that she comes out of nowhere, with very minimal foreshadowing, an elaborate HPSC backstory that Hawks shares, and the combination of quirks she’s packing is one that precisely replicates Hawks’s “long-distance flying attacker” shtick?  It’s pitifully easy to imagine a scenario in which Endeavor’s death in the first war leads to Hawks going rogue.  Also, while I don’t know exactly what circumstances would lead to him and Deku fighting, I do think Deku’s platitudinous speech about light and dark and reaching out to people feels far more tailored to a Hawks who only just went rogue than it does a woman betrayed by her own bosses who hates shallow platitudes, especially coming right on the heels of Deku rescuing Overhaul in a way that strongly echoes Hawks’s reflexive rescue of Twice but carries no inherent meaning for Lady Nagant.[3]       3: See here for the whole rant about this, but the short version is that it’s goddamn absurd that Lady Nagant hates platitudes and shoots at Overhaul on the assumption that Deku will have to save him, only for her heart to be changed by Deku’s platitudes and saving of Overhaul.      

Speaking of Hawks, the whole matter of Twice’s death goes less than nowhere, which makes one wonder what was the point of including it as an ethical dilemma at all? The public didn’t care, Hawks faced no consequences for it, and he was never forced to change his stance or grapple with his decision in any way, to the point that when he’s faced with the same situation later, he makes the exact same judgement, and this is something the narrative doesn’t even seem to notice, much less address.  Toga’s very personal feelings of hatred for Hawks get relegated to a single shallow knife slash from a clone that doesn’t even manage to leave a goddamn scar.  And all this lack of consequence leaves Hawks free to be reduced to nothing but an Endeavor Supporter in the final arc, possibly because whatever his arc could have been was incompatible with Endeavor’s survival, leaving Hawks with no final arc of his own but also no established place in anyone else’s.      

Endeavor’s dream about the family eating dinner around the table but him not being there, on top of Shouto’s stated intention to eat soba with his brother—seems like foreshadowing for an ending in which the family eats dinner around a table, doesn’t it!  But because Endeavor lives, Natsuo cuts contact in a way he’d have had no reason to do if Endeavor had died, and so there can be no family dinner, and Shouto’s soba thing has to be relegated to a frankly pretty thin line of dialogue about mutual favorite foods rather than an actual shared meal.      

The whole thing about buying/building a new house for Rei and the kids to live in so they can be away from the bad memories in Endeavor’s house.  Does that happen?  It kinda seems like that doesn’t happen, given that Rei seems perfectly happy to be pushing Enji around in a wheelchair at the end!      

The strange replay tape finale version of Shoto beating Dabi, where he does the exact same move twice, just once alone and once in the presence of family.  Almost like Horikoshi only came up with the one idea?      

The fact that the family promises to deal with Touya together but then Endeavor not only spends a chunk of time running from Dabi when he does arrive, but even when he does finally try to talk, he can’t because Dabi’s brain is so overboiled that he’s incapable of rational conversation—even though he was having rational conversation with Shouto some five minutes prior!  And then it’s Shouto and the family’s ice that actually save Dabi from those consuming flames, with Endeavor contributing nothing to that finale—huh, almost like the family saving Touya wasn’t written to include Enji to begin with!      

The Geten as a Himura reveal feels super vestigial.  I like it, mind you!  I like it a lot!  And I don’t know exactly how it would have factored into a version of the endgame in which Endeavor died, save that the Dabi-Geten combo really feels like The Final Boss Scenario That Wasn’t for Shouto—one guy with fire hotter than his who hates their father and Shouto personally, and one guy who can take control of any ice around him and stop it from melting and who hates the other side of Shouto’s family![4]  But instead Geten just winds up in prison and the Himura reveal does nothing but handwave Dabi having latent ice powers, which didn’t need a Himura reveal to justify it since we already knew Dabi had a physical compatibility with ice!  And even, via Shouto himself, that the mixing of ice and fire could produce a quirk with elements of both!  Geten being a Himura simply feels like a relic of a story in which Geten had more of a role to play, and while that may be my bias because I feel like the entire MLA was set up for a bigger role than they wound up having, it’s still easy to wonder if part of the whole, “We’ll deal with Touya as a family,” promise would have involved facing the other side of the family’s damage as well. 4: While also espousing a writ large version of Endeavor’s own Strength Is All That Matters mentality and still being a victim of eugenicist machinations masterminded by Shouto’s relatives!  Truly it is a mystery to me how Geten could just get defeated by Cementoss when he’s such a perfect distillation of so many of the issues swirling in and behind Shouto’s family situation. He even connects to a potential systemic critique in his ties to the MLA, who are practically nothing but systemic critiques of Hero Society.

And so on and so forth.

Shouto is a major character: by far one of the most prominent student characters, Deku’s first real victory in terms of changing someone’s heart, a foil for one of the central Villains, and with a profound insight into the kinds of damage the current system encourages and then willfully ignores.  He desperately needed an arc that centered him and his perspective.  But that arc also has to contend with Dabi, and Dabi as-written simply cannot convincingly prioritize Shouto when Endeavor is still alive.

There are certainly signs that Dabi did care for his other family members at one point in time, most prominently that he thinks remorsefully about how he acted towards them when he wakes up after Sekoto Peak, and emphasizes that he has to apologize to them.  But when the story so prioritizes Dabi’s obsession with Endeavor, to the point that he’s gleefully endangering the rest of the family’s lives and peace by sending dangerous Villains to their door, airing videos outing Endeavor as a domestic abuser, and talking about Shouto like he wants to leave him disemboweled on the Endeavor Agency’s front stoop, then that obsession has to be dealt with in some way before I’m remotely capable of believing that anyone other than Endeavor can get through to him.

So, Endeavor could have died, which would have neatly deprived Dabi of that driving focus that kept him going—what does he do without it?  That’s a question Shouto could have given him an answer for.

Endeavor could have fallen into a coma, leaving genre savvy readers confident he’d eventually pull through but the characters themselves in a state of muddled emotions about when or if he’d ever regain consciousness—that’s a half-measure, but I like it better than the half-measure we got.[5]

5: And heck, maybe we could have gotten Dabi trying to invade Central Hospital alongside Spinner and the heteromorph army, since that plot included a number of small nods to the Todoroki plot anyway via Spinner reflecting on Dabi’s unstoppable will and Shouji on Shouto’s strength of character.  Also, you know, more chances to poke at Dabi and Shouto’s tendency towards calling heteromorphs derisive animal names.  Probably not a scenario that does the heteromorph mob scene any favors, I’ll grant, but it would be hard to make it worse.

Heck, I could even see a version of the story where the narrative was simply more cynical about Endeavor’s ability to prioritize his professed atonement.  All his actions in the story as we have it show him continuing to prioritize his Hero duties despite his repeated claims that he intends to prioritize his family.  If the story actually recognized that contradiction, it could build Dabi up to a point of screaming frustration that I could, hypothetically, see Shouto breaking through.  Endeavor could still be trying, still be sincere, but if his ego or a rational decision to prioritize the lives of strangers over those of his family mean he cannot ever be counted upon to truly put his family first, then maybe that would be something the rest of the family could tackle.  Alternatively, the whole story could have had a mindset more like Natsuo’s, with the goal being to cut Endeavor off because his desire to atone, regardless of its sincerity, does not entitle him to a presence in the lives of those he hurt.  But none of is an option when the story itself is cheering for Endeavor the way BNHA does.

For Shouto’s arc to be at its best, something needed to give.  Dabi needed to be more open to the rest of the family from the start, or Endeavor’s desire for atonement needed to be complicated or stymied in some way that made it not feasibly attainable, be it his narcissism, his health, or the whole story’s outlook on abusers trying to atone and whose perspective to center in a story involving such abuse.  But with the Dabi we have and the Endeavor the story insists on, Shouto’s arc itself is what wound up giving.  It certainly has its moments, but I can’t imagine a world in which it wouldn’t have been far, far better served by Endeavor kicking the bucket as originally planned, allowing the brothers to confront each other, properly and fully, with Shouto the primary driver in saving Touya rather than having to constantly fight for screentime in his own finale.

That all said, I can definitely see the perspective that Shouto is just one kid from a shitty family situation and he does not deserve being called upon to solve the problems of the whole world and wrangle his family damage for the rest of time.  It’s not what I would have prioritized, in that I have pretty steep meta-narrative demands for a class of kids that we’re being told collectively became the greatest heroes, but from a more grounded, realistic, in-story, individual frame of mind, I think it’s wonderful that Shouto is exploring who he is as a person separate from his family issues and the career he semi-chose when he was in pre-K.

No sarcasm here; I do actually quite like his last scene.  I have some quibbles with the framing—I don't like that the rankings still exist, and I think he should just be allowed to go on sabbatical rather than trying to fit time for self-improvement/self-exploration classes in between Hero work, if we’re really meant to believe that the Villain incident rate is declining.  But just in concept, taking pottery classes and cooking classes and figuring himself out? Good for him!  That’s wonderful!  He did his best and he deserves every inch of it.

That is all to say, what I want from a fictional character in a relatively moralistic narrative is not what I would want from a real person in a situation anything like Shouto's, and while I don't love what we got in the former regard, I’m glad that people who empathize/identify with him can take comfort in the ending he did get. You, anon, and any others to whom that applies, deserve all that and more.

Thanks for the ask!

[thekingofwinterblog]

Fundamental Flaws

So one interesting thing i noticed about the League's flaws, is that the things that kept them from working together at the start, remained the basic flaws that prevented them from helping each other overcome their own flaws.

Namely that they all joined together out of convinience, and they never really got to the level where that actually changed.

When Himiko joins the league, she introduces herself with her seemingly rather confusing motives, namely that she wants a world that is easier for her to live in.

Shigaraki does not understand her wishes at all, and of course lashes out shortly after this after dabi has introduced himself as well, having deemed both of them as not the sort he wants to hang around him.

Dabi by contrast doesnt even try to explain his motives or goals beyond the very vague "fullfill stain's will."

The end result of this is that Shigaraki doesnt even attempt to understand either, and decides to just kill them.

The funny thing is... this kinda attitude never really changes.

Compress even notes it as one of the main reasons he loved the league so much. it didnt pry into his backstory and just took him in regardless.

This attitude is what managed to bring the league together as a force... but it also prevented them from truly truly growing as a group.

Because of the fact nobody wanted or even tried to learn each other's backstories and deeper motivations, none of them ever managed or tried to Help Dabi make a possible future for himself where he could get his vengeance on Endeavor, and still get to live afterwards, instead they just let him burn on, even encouraging him to do so, with the end result that he came to a hellish innevitable march towards death.

Dabi himself tried to help Toga emotionally by setting her childhood home ablaze and rally her heart towards vengeance and freedom, because that's what he is motivated by, but he completely failed to understand what she actually wanted out of life, the reason why out of the entire league, the only person she was able to transform into was Twice, because he was the only one who actually tried to understand her.

This in turn means that Toga ultimately ended up seeking what she truely wanted amongst the heroes, and finally found in uraraka, what she had been afraid to seek/never got from most of the league.

Something that ultimately cost them the war.

this is best showcased when Shigaraki actually lays out his motivations and feelings for villainy, and the rest of his crew(other than spinner) is either completely disinterested, dissapointed or confused.

None of them actually cares about Shigaraki's motives other than spinner, not even Twice.

only spinner and the doctor(who doesnt give a shit about Shigaraki himself) actually cares at all.

of the rest, the only one who even attempts to understand Shigaraki is Toga, and not because she cares about how he feels about it, but because she begun to realise that her goals and interests are ultimately incompatible with shigaraki's(something that would come to fruition during the final arc).

Out of the league, the only one who even tried to understand and did care about shigaraki's motives, and attempted to figure out how they allign with his own wishes, is spinner, and it's not a coincidence that at the very end, he is the only one Shigaraki left his final words to, even if Shigaraki loved the other main members of the league.

The five people Shigaraki Tomura truly cared about in his hearts of hearts at the end... But even here where his feelings are laid bare, there is also another, sad truth.

Kurogiri, the man who effectively cared for Shigaraki as his own son isnt included amongst them.

Kurogiri is a rather complicated character, but it's clear by his final words, that he truly loved the league, just like compress did, and hoped they would be reunited in whatever came next.

It's not clear WHY shigaraki felt like this(maybe once he learned the man was a Nomu that pretty much sealed his ability to think of him as an actual person) but it goes to hammer in the fact that the league was just on a fundamental level not able to try to reach out and understand the motivations of each other.

the main exception to this, and the only one who seems to at least have wanted to understand everyone else is Twice, withouth any doubt the true heart of the League of Villains. The only one who everyone, even cold, brutal dabi considered a close friend.

he is the only one who understood Toga, who always opened his heart bare for the entire league, and when it seemed Hawks was about to join that number, he did everything he could to make him feel welcome and to actually understand what hawks was teaching him.

it's not a coincidence that it is when he dies, that the league really begins to come loose at the seams.

Dabi completely loses it in a way he hasnt done since the time he snapped and tried to kill shoto as a baby, and afterwards any and all morals and reservations completely evaporates in his heart, which is is replaced by a fire that doesnt go out until he literarily cant do anything anymore, having become a burnt out husk.

Toga as to confront the fact that she is living in a fantasy and has to actually commit to the league and it's goals or go her own way.

Mr compress tries to step up to fill in the void Twice left behind, but the grandpa of the group ultimately realizes that somebody is gonna have to sacrifice it all, and decides that like any good father figure, the duty will fall to him. Thus any wisdom he might have been able to impart to the next generation is lost when he becomes the next leaguer to fall right after twice.

But he could have shared these bits of wisdom at any time before this... his goals, his background, the origins of his unique insight into the world. But he didnt. only here, at the very end is he willing to put all of his cards on the table for the league he loved so much.

Spinner doubles down of his friendship to shigaraki, but in the process lets all of his other relationships in the league falter in the hour when they matter the most, when everyone needs to stick together, and by doing so ultimately fails shigaraki as well by not reaching out to him as he's suffering.

Withouth twice and compress, Shigaraki in his most critical hour, when the question of wheter he or AFO will rule this new body, has nobody who has no reservations about reaching out to him to try to be his emotinal support, with all the rest of the league literarily just standing by listening/staring at this mental battle as he suffers.

In essence, all of the leagues problems and weaknesses could have been solved if they had actually been willing to talk to each other to understand their respective ideas and goals in life.

Instead, they did the opposite of what the members of 1-A and aizawa did, and let everything foster and grow until the rot destroyed all of them from the inside out.

[class1akids]

Looking back at the manga now that MHA has ended, I wonder if it was HK’s intent all along to go with the ending he did.

Mangaka’s have to plan in advance right? Unless it works differently in Japan, don’t they have to provide a story board and such, along with the idea of what the end will be. Because looking at MhA as a whole, it makes it seem like there is hope in tragedy, the only issue is the execution because the pay off seemed underwhelming, even if the villains were killed. Idk how otherwise HK could have wrapped this manga off with the pay off people wanted.

As an example, looking at the Todoroki plot which is one of the more in depth aspects of the story. Looking back it does seem like Dabi was meant to die in the end, how he “stepped” in to the light with Hawks as I remember seeing metas on that symbolizing hope or such (and now I wonder if it just means Dabi literally stepped into the light.) Aside from that, HK didn’t really give us any signs in MvA, he just kept hammering in how “evil” the villains were, making it seem like they were too far gone, and in the end, it did come off that way where they had to die in order to find peace.

The point is, wouldn’t a mangaka have to have a defined goal in order to publish? Or is it solely based on the decision of an artist chapter by chapter. Apologies if what I said above comes off weird, I’m just frustrated with how it ended, and I just question if HK did intend for this ending all along. After all, why publish it if it wasn’t his intention? Killing the villains is so far on the other side of the bar compared to saving them, I wonder if he thought he was too far gone unthinking they could live in his planning unless Shonen didn’t allow it? But yet again looking at it, it would NOT have been hard to change it up at the end for them to live. He just chose not to. But like I said, maybe he intended for them to die all along with all this set up he was doing for the kids to save the villains hearts. It was never about keeping them alive and maybe people misinterpreted that? Because when exactly did people start talking about the villains being capable of being saved? Or was it just a bias that came up for villains stans.

I wish I could talk to HK and know what it was like. Because it seems like he’s happy with how his manga ended, so maybe it was his plan all along?

I think he needs to have a general plan, but it's not like the story was pre-written. Mangaka have to be ready to end it on short notice if their manga is not successful. Horikoshi at that point already had 2 of his previous manga axed and from interviews, we know he was very insecure and worried and kept changing things in accordance with reader feedback.

As for him changing his mind, we know of two examples that he talked about:

He wanted to have the Forest arc longer with more fights, and to reveal the traitor soon after, but did not do it, as readers' feedback was negative on the villains. So he cut that arc short.

He wanted Endeavor to die in the PLF war and decided to keep him alive - this is obviously one of those big swings between life or death that had impact on the entire story. And looking at Act 3, it's clear that he did not think through properly all of the impact it would have.

We also know that often he did things last minute - for example, Nagant's design and her backstory came from him watching the movie Wanted like 2 weeks before he published the chapter. So obviously that means he changed stuff about the HPSC plot as well compared to what he had originally planned.

As for WSJ meddling: I'm not sure how much influence the editors had. We know that even though he wanted originally Deku to be a quirkless tech-based character, and an adult, the editors at the time forced him to put it into the high school setting and give Deku a power.

But towards the end, he always said that his editors were basically inexperienced yes-men who just cheered him on with whatever he wanted to do. So I'm not sure that WSJ "forced" him to kill the villains, or told him to end with a hetero romance.

But the editors pre-screen the fan mail - so knowing how much Horikoshi was influenced by reader feedback, obviously an editor would be able to manipulate him depending which feedback is given to him.

And in the end, I think he was just burnt out and wanted to end it. I feel like with how abruptly the fight ended after AFO came back in 419, it's not necessarily the big epic scene he had planned, but had no energy to execute whatever he had originally in mind and just finished it. That's the only way I can read why he'd give his MC such a whimper-like ending for his big fight.

[byjovewhataspend]

Putting on his best outfit to cheer himself up-- it's not really working :(

rambling thoughts about the new manga stuff below

It feels so WILDLY incorrect tonally for none of the villains to be saved. So many people told deku he couldnt save shigaraki and he pushed back against that-- but from any outside view shigaraki dying is the same as Deku killing him, i dont accept 'his ghost smiled so he was saved', afo shattered shigarakis mind the second Tomura's heart wavered and he died instantly (nana saved a little bit of his soul long enough for him to hang out and punch AFO, that had nothing to do with deku)

but the last thing he said before AFO killed him was 'i have to be the hero to the villains' and the last thing he said to deku was essentially 'tell spinner i did was i promised'

but before both of those points almost the entire league (sans compress) is already dead (spinner seems braindead? though the next chapter had people messing with what looked to be his scales so maybe someones working on helping him) so Deku cant tell them anything.

ANYWAYS my 5% hope here, a way to walk this shit back, is that Tomuras quirk 'which used to have a regeneration aspect' regenerated itself and Tomura comes back and Deku gets a second chance to save him for real this time, and then tomura uses the regeneration aspect of his quirk to fix all the rest of the league. he can return Spinner to his old self, and Dabi has GOT to be in that tank in front of Endeavor, right?

(What else in the world does Endeavor have to care about right now except for his family? none of them (or hawks, his only friend) needed a healing tank, so im guessing Dabis horrific husk is in some stasis goo with no hope , spinner is brainded/insane with no hope, toga is probably 'disappeared on the battle field' or maybe in a coma with no hope.. )

((honestly that tank, them not telling us yet if anyones dead (it would be weird to REVEAL people died who we thoughts died on screen a year ago) and the weirdly timed 'tomura couldve been able to regenerate but i removed that' a second before he died are the only reasons i have any hope. im not the hoping type. a series i was interested in ending badly has never been Taken Back before))

i dont know if That Person is Tomura (it didnt LOOK like him, not at all, honestly they looked like a woman to me, but who the fuck knows when they are doing Anime Crazy Face) but it feels like the only way to walk any of this back.

They put so much emotional stuff onto tomura and then gave him the worlds clearest 'he never had any choice to be this way' backstory EVER (even his BIRTH was arranged by AFO thats so fucked up, i wouldnt be shocked if he bought him the dog he killed too) that the ONLY doubt i had that Deku would save him was in that i wasn't sure how youd arrange to keep him out of prison for life. Id been guessing 'rewound to childhood to get a second chance at a better one' (not great but hey, it beats dead or tartaras and it matches that opening i liked) but hey, if hes Confirmed Dead and Deku finds someone Similiar To Him but with Fixing Powers and is liek 'hey everyone this is my brother Tenko my american dad just brought him over isnt that great?' id fucking take it

ALSO plucking Eris horn off so that she wasnt an option anymore like.. from a writing standpoint feels like it has to be FOR something.

Finally: deku looked SO depressed in the most recent chapter. he looked miserable. he hardly spoke a fucking word. considering how he acted about Eri i cant imagine hes the type to be like 'whelp, failed to save those people, i guess ill save a random different person in the final arc and thatll help me get over it'. truly i think if deku to failed to save tomura he'd spend the rest of his life not feeling like a real hero. especially when he checks to complete tomuras wish and spinner cant get his final words? and togas final words to deku was that she liked him and then he ran off and she died?? just. no. it feels so tragic and dark.

i do NOT believe horikoshi has that much creative control, honestly, i feel like if he had complete control he wouldnt kill tomura (since hes written a Tenko into like all his other stories and he loves him) but a small glimmer of hope is Dabi getting fuckign 4th place in the popularity results after he'd already become the most dead looking fucker i have ever seen. SURELY management knows hes popular and would be open to them being saved and redeemed just for BRANDING purposes, right?

PS: everyones been joking but he horikoshi SAID we'd see dekus FUCKING DAD. what possible purpose could that man serve when he wasnt even watching deku lose his arms on international tv?? if its as a cover for bringing tomura back ill fucking take it.

[ace-touya]

Have you seen the update? I cried when Dabi cried and said sorry to Shoto... They deserve better......I wish for AU where Touya can be the a big brother for his siblings. He'll be a good brother, right? Do you have any hedcanons if Touya still stay with his siblings?

I have seen the leaks! I don’t talk about manga stuff on here much because I’m not a manga reader, so I try to keep my blog spoiler free too.

But I do want to talk about this so I’m going to use ask this to do that! It makes me sad. I hope he doesn’t actually die, I think killing a suicidal characis not a good way to end their arc.

But it’s okay we don’t have to think about that, let’s think about big brother touya instead:

he’d probably be really good at piercings, since he has a few and he also just has to staple his whole face all the time. So I can definitely imagine him giving a piercing to one of the others, maybe they get matching ones?

I’d like for him to go no-contact with Enji in the same way Natsuo said he will, though I doubt he will if he does live because he still wants his father’s affection. I can see him considering it many times

I think he’d make a real effort to get to know Shoto and be close to him, after the apology I definitely think he regrets his actions toward Shoto and I think he’s always wanted to know him deep down

He’d be interested in the lives of the other two, I think he’d especially find Natsuo in med school to be quite wholesome as I headcanon Natsuo was the one to patch up Touya’s burns when they were younger

He would probably take longer to start talking to Rei again as I think he feels incredibly guilty for how he treated her. But I can definitely see him breaking down and apologising to her next

with Fuyumi and Natsuo I’d imagine he’d try and get their relationship to be back how it used to be. Which I don’t think would work, but I can see them becoming close again.

he’d be very excited if Shoto asked to eat soba with him <3

Thank you so much for the ask! I love answering them

[aaaaabigail99999999]

So I'm pretty new to bnha...

but I had this stupid idea while scrolling ao3. It could be platonic or not but whatever. Basically it would be a play on soulmates and soulbonds where they feel each other's pain. Basically shigaraki ends up having like a psychic link with touya that's strengthened during times of heightened emotions. Touya starts to believe his house might be haunted by a boy named tenko while the other had it explained to him that the cool older boy he saw in his dreams was his soulmate.

Obviously things go hitting the fan when touya gets hurt and tomura feels every second of it, screaming in pain for days. All he could feel was touya begging for death, for his father to save him. All tomura could think was that he wished he could kill touya in that moment, if only to put him out of his pain, but he couldn't because he wasn't there. He tried so hard to comfort him, he just hoped touya didn't feel alone.

After a while, he was finally given an experimental medicine for people whose soulmate died and their pain was shared, it froze and blocked the bond. It was given to him, thinking that surely the boy had died of his injuries. All tomura could think was that touya must have died because his father set him on fire.

Some time later, now Shigaraki has just weird levels of personal one sided beef with endeavor. Dabi is confused at the rage and hatred towards that hero. Every time he gets a headache or has one of his fits of phantom pain caused by the medicine as a side effect, he curses endeavors name. It's only when shigaraki says something about endeavor killing his own children that dabi gets REALLY FREAKED OUT.

In addition shigaraki has been super sympathetic to dabi as a burn victim, putting aside funds specific to getting him medical care and pain killers. Dabi thinks there's gonna be a catch, but shigaraki seems to genuinely just know more about burn victims health than dabi, and that is very weird.

Later on, kurogiri is caught in a crowd by one of the todoroki siblings, called out as the one who would put flowers on their brother's grave, and they thank kurogiri, asking how he knew touya, and kurogiri only replies that touya was a treasured friend of his ward and he'll be greatly missed. And that about BLOWS DABIS MIND ON SO MANY LEVELS CAUSE HE IS PRETTY SURE HE AND TOMURA WERE NEVER FRIENDS.

All this would just be really funny to me, where Shigaraki specifically wants to burn endeavor to death just like he thinks he burnt touya to death, and Dabi is just

Like just some random gamer was genuinely gonna get revenge for him

[omiangelic]

phoenix (dabi)

welcome to the first thing i’ve posted since i was 12 and on w*ttpad. i got possessed and wrote this.

wc: 1,111

cw: hurt no comfort, gender neutral Y/N (they’re never referred to directly), dabi and his whole deal (fire, domestic abuse, suicide/ideation), Y/N and dabi are both avoidant attachment :(

miniplaylist: It Means Everything from the Omori OST, Cheetah by Deux Visages, Spiricle by Flower Face, Blood on the Sheets by Violent Vira

You knew this would only hurt when you let it start. You’re both too avoidant. It would be ridiculous to think your negatives could make a positive.

The peninsula of your kitchen counter stands in between two people who are little more then scared, angry children. Two people who both grew up in environments too offensive to allow them to live, much less grow up. Two people who are now trapped in older bodies with damaged brains that built more walls than could ever be counted. That’s what you’re thinking about, what’s lingering in the back of your mind, as you stare at Touya.

When he told you his real name, all those months ago, after waking up from a nightmare shaking in your arms and unsure where he was, you looked him up. His obituary was public. There were pictures of him caught by paparazzi in the image tab, but every headline used the same middle school photo as his obit.

You’re staring at the boy from those pictures right now.

He’s holding his jacket, body turned towards the door. He looks at the floor, jaw tense. The aftermath of your explosion is deafening.

“That’s a stupid idea and you know it,” you spit the words out like they’re pure acid. They burn you both.

He pushed you to this point and he knows it. He’d watched you tick closer and closer to detonating every time he came to see you. It seems that today that countdown finally hit zero.

The charred remains of who he used to be gnaw and scratch away at him. I don’t want to leave, they beg. I can be safe here. Please, I want to stay.

Dabi wished he’d really killed that kid on that mountain. Maybe if he’d done it right, finished the job, he wouldn’t have to feel hurt like this. He doesn’t understand why this hurts more than dying did.

He tightens his fist around his jacket until his knuckles are white.

“What, you’re just gonna stand there? What about your conviction? Your determination to kill yourself over a man that never loved you?”

He doesn’t move.

“Did it never occur to you? That you’re already free? That you can do whatever you want without him? That by committing yourself to this egoistic death wish, you’re giving him power again? You act like you burned away that life, and maybe you did- but it never died. You’re trapped inside that godforsaken house, keeping the fire going with your brothers, and pretending that they aren’t right there with you.

“I get it. The heat is comforting. It’s familiar; but there are other ways to stay warm- different types of light. I’ve been trying to show you that for years. I’m tired of trying to get you to see that on your own,” you sigh.

“Whatever,” you pivot and begin walking down the hall to your bedroom, “go kill yourself, again, Dabi. Maybe it’ll make you feel something this time.”

You’re inches from the door when you feel a tug on your wrist. You don’t bother turning to look, “what?”

His grip tightens. He breathes in but doesn’t say anything. He still doesn’t say anything.

“What?” you repeat, tone sharper. Does he need you to drive him away more to feel complete? Is he unsatisfied because you didn’t fight his desire to leave, when his absence is almost as familiar as he is?

You knew this would only hurt when you let it start. You don’t think you’d realized how much it would hurt back then.

He’s hesitant before opening his mouth again, the rasp of his voice so achingly familiar, “You know how long I’ve been-”

“Oh, give me a break!” You whip around to face him, try to yank your wrist free, but his grip holds firm. He wants to hold you more than you want him to let go.

There’s no light in his eyes when you face him. He looks like the criminal they catch on security cameras and CCTV, not the man you’ve grown to- that you’ve grown too attached to.

He takes another deep inhale before starting again. “Endeavor-”

“This isn’t about Endeavor! This is about you!” You crack, “killing Endeavor won’t undo the damage he’s done! It won’t change anything!” You’re breathing hard, seething, splintering, breaking apart. His eyes are empty but the weight of his hold on you is a constant reminder that his presence. His hands are like freezer burn. So cold they’re hot, so hot they’re cold- they’re comforting in their discomfort.

You knew it would hurt. You knew it would hurt. You knew it would hurt. You knew it would hurt.

“What do you want me to say? What else am I-“

“You act like your hands are tied. Like you don’t have any other choice but to follow through with this. Like a life outside of this isn’t possible for you.”

“It isn’t-”

“Then what the fuck is this, Touya? Are you just playing house when it’s convenient?” He flinches like you’ve struck him and you aren’t sure what caused it: the usage of his real name or the accusation.

His grip is like iron. He’s silent again.

I hate this, he’s begging himself to say, I hate hurting you but it’s all I’m good for.

Once upon a time you told him you saw him as a phoenix- magnificent, reborn ablaze- but he feels like a tornado on fire; the kind that leave irreparable damage behind- ruin lives. He can feel your fire extinguish under his storm. He sucks the air out of you, can’t you feel it? How can you tolerate him? He can see your lip quiver from how hard you’re trying not to turn tail and slam your door in his face.

“I don’t know what you want from me,” your fight goes out with your flames. You attempt to free yourself again but there’s no force behind it.

Too avoidant. Ridiculous to think your negatives could make a positive.

He’s looking at the floor, “You had to know this was coming.”

“You had to know I was never going to beg for you to stay,” you snap, but you fizzle out just as fast as you’d sparked, “I tried. It wasn’t enough. Arguing won’t change that.”

The strain in your voice makes him ache. It was enough. You were more than enough. It isn’t your fault I’m only capable of destruction. I wish I finished the job, I wish I finished the job, I should’ve finished the job-

Maybe this is better. I want to stay. Maybe he can offer you the first piece of kindness he’s ever wanted to provide. I want to stay but this is all I've ever known. Maybe he’ll finally be good for something, be worthy of the way you look at him like he isn’t the filthy, rotten thing he knows himself to be.

He lets you go. He swears he can hear your heart crack, and he’s memorizing your face while your eyes well up in tears at his fatal determination before he’s gone like he was never there in the first place. Your front door shuts softly and you almost hear three forbidden words on the wind he leaves behind.

You forgot how cold your apartment is without him in it.

tagging @stunies i hope their suffering lived up to your expectations 🙂‍↕️

♡ Return to Navigation ♡ Masterlist ♡ About Me ♡ Main ♡ Fic Recs ♡