#more like liza hyper organizes her blog and still struggles to find things

[plusultraetc]

lowkey highkey stalking ur blog and saw a tag abt how u have thoughts abt s6 shigaraki. share🥹

HI thank you for asking!!

So I think you might be referring to this post about Shigaraki's s6 Fit Of All Time. The spiritual TL;DR of those tags is: I know this version of Shigaraki is a character who has reached Peak Manipulated, Tragic Story Potential, but his look is lowkey fire anyway.

(A note on the outfit: I stand by the fact that it is the Fit Of All Time. Simple. Classic. Very very cool. I overthought about it when I first saw it because I <3 overthinking about MHA and had a small Moment about Shigaraki reaching this final-ish villainous form and immediately donning a hero's cape, and the possible implications of this. Plus, and this is more of a USAmerican view I think, but a red cape is like The Superhero Accessory, because Superman (and Thor. And Doctor Strange. But mostly Superman.))

So. For context, I'm halfway-ish through Season 6 atm. It's me and my pockets full of spoilers against the world, but there have been Several Things that no amount of spoilers could have prepared me for, Shigaraki being one of them. I mean. TALK ABOUT A CORRUPTION ARC.

The thing about Shiggy is that, by the time we meet him, he has already had his traditional 'corruption arc' when AFO found him as a child and manipulated him into becoming a villain. When we talk about corruption arcs in literature, we're usually talking about this kind of moral decay (pun intended). It's the movement from 'hero' to 'villain' (or, in Shigaraki's case, 'innocent child' to 'supervillain successor.' And, yes, I know he decayed his family before he met AFO, but I'm really not going to assign any moral blame there for obvious reasons).

But Shigaraki has also had numerous other negative character arcs before we met him. He starts his life perhaps not with a happy, normal family, but with a family and a house and a dog. By the time we are introduced to him in s1, he's been living in the shadows, is isolated emotionally and physically from the people around him, and has garbage interpersonal skills and relationships. Even his name has been 'corrupted,' from the name of a hero (Shimura) to that of a villain (Shigaraki). So, it seems like Shigaraki has undergone every possible negative/corruption arc long before s6.

AND YET.

The s1 -> s6 Shigaraki journey isn't a corruption of morals or circumstances. It's a corruption of wills. When we meet Shigaraki, he's a whiny, impulsive 'manchild' (I don't remember who called him that after USJ, but it was iconic and they were correct. It might have been All Might. You go All Might). But in spite of, or maybe because of, his manchild-ness, you can definitely see that Shigaraki has willpower. He's bossy. He's actually kind of bratty. He pretty much stomps his foot and expects people to comply with his demands. If he doesn't like something, he's like, "Ew, Kurogiri, get rid of it/them this instant." AFO definitely has an unhealthy amount of influence over him at this point, but Shigaraki still plays a very active (though often unsuccessful) role in his own schemes (the Nomu attack in Hosu City, for example).

And, after AFO's arrest at Kamino, we actually see Shigaraki's will get stronger. He might flounder a little at first, lost without AFO's direct supervision, but eventually he's forced to start making real decisions for and about the League. This character growth reaches its apex when he takes over the Paranormal Liberation Front. (Note: red cape again. Grabs him by the shoulders and shakes him, etc.)

But THEN. Season 6. The literal battle of wills. If AFO prevails, he will have destroyed pretty much the only thing Shigaraki has left. It's like. The ultimate corruption arc. Corruption of the self. BTW in case it wasn't clear I want to roundhouse kick AFO into another dimension. I genuinely like most of the villains in MHA but he is the Emperor Palpatine of this story and it shows. [MANGA SPOILERS FOR THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH] I really, really wanted Shigaraki to throw him down the proverbial reactor shaft Darth Vader-style, but from what I understand that ship has sailed. Boooooo.

So now s6 Shigaraki is walking a very thin line between the success of this final corruption arc, that of his autonomy, and finally breaking some aspect of AFO's control over his entire life. It is a very, very thin line, because even if AFO can't control him anymore, he's the reason Shigaraki is WHO he is and WHERE he is (and WHAT he is, if we get into the whole Nomu-ification storyline).

So, yeah. Walking a very thin line. But at least he looks good doing it!! Wearing a disembodied hand on your face is OUT, wearing a tattered red cape is IN. What does it symbolize? Shigaraki personifying what he blames heroes for--destroying society--while dressing up as one of them? Shigaraki becoming his own hero by finally 'achieving his dream' of being powerful enough to destroy the world that hurt him? Foreshadowing that Shigaraki, wearing a hero's literal costume, and AFO are in some way opposed now? The author wanting to draw a really cool cape??? Who knows!! But I love it sm.