#ofafo brothers

[ilovereadingandstuff]

Bro, wtf, AFO's words to Yoichi are so fucking romantic but toxic it's crazy!!!

"I love you like no other!!"

Holy shit, if somebody told me that, I would blushed so hard and die of flusteredness, y'know?

The exclusiveness and individualization of AFO's feelings by and for Yoichi alone just are prove of the obssessiveness he had over his brother's existance.

The capital letters, the exclamation marks, the present tense, alongside his facial expression, the gesture with his hands in a possessive but gentle motion...

This pannels how everything he did was directed for Yoichi to see, his whole world focused on him.

I think this pannel is exactly we needed as proof to say with certainty that, yes, the main problem of BNHA's story (AFO's plans and OFA's existence) arises from the roots of these two brother's co-dependent relationship mainly by AFO's perspective but Yoichi's side could be given discuss...and I'm pretty sure that this also borders incest if they haven't just done it already, but we as readers, haven't been given the info yet).

"...I'm hopeless without you! I'm nothing!!"

This is the toxic side of it.

AFO's motives for doing everything he does and did is Yoichi. Yoichi is his simbol of hope, Yoichi is his reason to survive, to thrive for more and beyond, even in the disturbed way he does.

Yoichi was the only 'thing' AFO ever had the comprehension to considered his. Yoichi is that reason of why he survived his violent and hellish childhood: even by Yoichi being that source of nutrients he stole in the womb AND as that person who 'accompained him' (certainly not by his consent, but that's other story) when nobody ever did. He was alone, exposed to putrid violence, discrimination and never had anyone as a guide to know 'what was wrong and what was right'.

AFO was definitely always emotionally dependent to Yoichi as the world they lived build him that way.

And now, a little bit more than one hundred years of living, AFO was defeated by his brother's denial of reciprocity of feelings.

AFO....was defeated by breaking his supposedly non-existent heart by the only person who could thought of him having it: his brother.

[helga-grinduil]

If you had to say, what is your opinion on the misogynistic aspect of AFO’s mothers role in his backstory or do you even think it is misogynistic, and all she is a tool to further demonstrate how All For One became who he is and anyone else in would have the same role in his backstory.

I don’t think it’s misogynistic. Or more like. It’s intentionally about exploitation of bodies. It’s critical of it. The fact that she was a prostitute is not what played the big role in what happened. AFO and Yoichi are children of rape. It’s about exploiting and taking advantage of the vulnerable. She died because she didn’t remember and didn’t know she was pregnant with twins. Just another ‘opportunity’ created by the failings of society AFO would usually use in his time. She got taken advantage of when vulnerable. AFO grew up as someone who always Takes and Takes and Takes (even from his brother’s body (hello OFAFO pregnancy metaphor)) and exploits because his mother died during childbirth and he had to survive and Take as a baby without ever experiencing a parent’s affection. Without anything. It’s once again about the cycle of abuse.

[super-paper]

How do you think AFO would be taken out?

Hard to say! All the heroes uniting against him as ~the ultimate evil~ might seem satisfying on some level, but it also plays directly into AFO's toxic comic book narrative and it doesn’t really "engage" with his character in a totally satisfying way, if that makes sense. I'm firmly on team "afo shouldn't get what he wants, Ever" so I'm not a fan of any ending that merrily sends him off into his next life as a "demon lord" instead of actively trying to rip that mask from him. Hori hasn't really let me down on this front, yet-- and as I suspected, it does seem as though chapter 419's AFO is more or less picking up where body!AFO's character arc left off. AFO's core desires as a human and the immensely fragile "heart" he's hidden away are both things that are being directly challenged in the most recent chapter, too:

Izuku, the hero, constantly inspires others to come to his aid because he doesn't hide his humanity, his identity, or his struggles from others-- people see him fighting for his life and realize that he is "just like them," and that motivates them to rush to his side and offer help. Meanwhile, AFO finds himself completely alone because he wont let go of the demon lord role and accept his own humanity. Something something We Still Need To Know His Name smthing sm.

With all of that in mind, I still think the most appropriate way of defeating him involves forcing him to confront his own humanity + weakness in all its ugliness (which Hori has already been doing at a pretty steady rate this arc!) and ultimately forcing him to take responsibility for Yoichi's death. This might seem like a massive leap from the person AFO is right now, but depending on how things go, I do think Hori could pull it off.

Anyway, as for what I would like to see:

Personally, I would like an end where he willingly lets Yoichi go (and by proxy, finally lets Tenko go). Not because I think this would redeem him (it wont) or because I want him redeemed (i don't), but because I do feel like something along these lines would be the natural conclusion to his character arc and the best way to symbolize him accepting death/his mistakes. He came into the world desperately gripping onto Yoichi, and was unable to ever truly live or truly die due to his obsession-- so it makes sense to me that AFO will only be able to leave this world when he finally lets Yoichi go. Like.... even now, we see him stubbornly persisting with the idea of conquering the world even though he feels it's totally pointless-- with the implication that he's doing this because the demon lord role and the captain hero comics are literally the only thing he has atp that still connect him to Yoichi in some capacity.

If I end up being right and the OFA embers now exist within Tenko's body, then ideally, I still want some sort of conversation + resolution between the brothers before Yoichi finally passes on with the rest of the OFA embers. I'll admit that I've never been 100% fond of the idea of reading Izuku & Tenko's story as Yoichi/AFO's "good ending", simply because so much of Tenko's story is about reclaiming his own identity (+ detangling himself from his abusers) and so much of Izuku's story is about finding his own identity-- which is why I feel the final resolution to the OFAFO plot needs to be between AFO and Yoichi, not Izuku and Tenko.

I actually don't want Tenko to kill him! I think I've said this before, but I feel this outcome would be only satisfying to folks who want Tenko to have very surface-level revenge on his abuser w/o thinking about the effect this act would have on Tenko himself. I personally feel it wouldn't do Tenko any favors, mentally, since the crux of AFO's abuse involved convincing Tenko that he only exists to destroy. And people really hate to admit it, but-- Tenko sincerely loved AFO and I don't want him to have to repeat the tragedy of being forced to kill someone he loved all over again (even if they don't deserve that love by any stretch of the word). Like, a lot of people want Tenko to take AFO out the same way he took Kotaro out, but I feel this would only emphasize how Tenko and AFO are trapped in an endlessly repeating cycle.

side note: Kotaro coming directly from AFO's stomach/womb during the 270's vestige realm sequence feels extremely intentional now, what with the constant cannibalism and pregnancy imagery surrounding AFO and Tenko. MHA continues to be a masterful example of visual storytelling and Horikoshi continues to be a straight up freak for no real reason /positive!

A big part of Tenko's healing was always going to involve him confronting his feelings for Kotaro, specifically-- all of his love and disappointment and wishes and anger. And with that in mind, it feels like Hori is setting AFO up to act as a sort of Kotaro proxy for this next stretch of Tenko's character arc (even TomurAFO's current hairstyle and facial structure reminds me of a mix of Kotaro x AFO x Toshi.... Hori really said "Tomura's final character design is gonna be a mish-mash of every potential father-figure who has ever let him down byeeeeee :)" and he was sooooo sick for doing that wtf). Anyway, I know people like to joke about AFOtaro, but honestly, the narrative itself really does justify the read of Tenko being AFO and Kotaro's traumababy lmfao...., 😭

Also worth mentioning is that this iteration of AFO/TomurAFO has pupils, despite there being no Tenko component to his personality at this time. AFO's lack of pupils are textually/canonically meant to convey his inability to "see" others as people, so I'm very interested to see where Hori intends to take things from here.

[haleigh-sloth]

While we joke about it, do you think/suspect AFO's feelings for his brother may be more than simply platonic? Me personally think you can interpret it that way as there is a lot of material supporting it, however I don't think the author intended it to be interpreted that way.

God, the jokes are hilarious and I love the running joke that AFO is a Freak™️ about his brother because of The Allegations he clearly isn't beating

However if we're being literal about it, nah I don't think there is anything intended beyond "possessive older brother who wants to control everything he can and get back what he lost so he can control it again".

That being said--I don't expect AFO to come out of this with 0 sympathetic qualities. Meaning I am sure his backstory will shed a new light on some stuff.

BNHA puts a lot of focus on family and the importance of the roles families play in each other's lives, so the fact that they're brothers and that they're "the only family" they have, tells me there will be some sympathy to be had for AFO at some point.

The initial issue was that he wanted to control and manipulate reality around him, but NOW the main thing is that he wants his brother's ghost (vestige) back and he's trampling over everyone to make it happen. He keeps bringing up how he regrets not being able to make his brother submit and follow. I think the OFAFO plotline is really going to be a familial issue when all is said and done. I'm sure there will be some type of backstory to back all of this up and put things in a slightly different, but not TOO different, perspective.

But I mean...no I don't think it goes beyond that literally.

He is a freak though.

[mettywiththenotes]

Manifesting Tomura tricking Izuku into giving him OFA then he kills AFO with both of his storage quirks, OFA and AFO (OFAFO)

Even better if Izuku just gives it to him temporarily

How hilarious would it be if AFO was so close to acquiring his brothers quirk, literally an arms reach away, but the kid he groomed and manipulated and treated like a pawn won't let him have it. He just keeps dodging AFO's hand, then fucking decks him when he has a chance

AFO looked down on him so much and now Tomura just dangles the quirk over his head like a carrot over a donkey

I would pay to see this