#shimura tenko analysis

[fabled-lady-twilla]

I just discovered more tragic MHA symbols/parallels and my fragile lil heart can't take it anymore. 😭😭😭

Plenty of other people in the fandom have noticed this as well, but I just connected the dots myself when I noticed a couple of things: Izuku reaching out to young Shiggy in the season 6 opening, the season 7 opening (specifically the lyrics from Shiggy's POV), and the scenes in where AFO places his gross hands on baby Shiggy. The concept of touch/reaching out to someone is a very common theme in the MHA story. Usually, it's to help, save, or redeem someone. But it's also sometimes presented in a harmful way.

Some examples of the positive version of this:

When Izuku reaches out to Bakugou when he falls into the creek.

Class 1-A (specifically Bakugou) reaching out to Izuku when he returns to UA after going rogue.

Ochako reaching out to Toga during their final battle and wanting to understand her better.

Izuku bending down and reaching out to lil baby Tenko in the season 6 opening.

In chapter 419, while in Shiggy's mindscape, Izuku reaches out and grabs his hands, trying to reach him. Izuku remembers Bakugou reaching to take his hand, and he tells Shiggy, "It makes me feel at ease." and wants to give that to Shiggy as well.

In manga chapter 419, when little Tenko fully disintegrates Izuku's arms despite Izu desperately trying to reach him. Izuku actually does reach Tenko's heart, which AFO notes by saying, "Oh… you foolish vessel. This nobody of a boy made you have a change of heart?" and he even lost his arms in order to reach him!

However, this theme is inverted and implemented in awful sinister ways, too:

When AFO lays his nasty ass hands on lil baby Tenko when his mother is holding him. AFO steals his Quirk before it has a chance to fully manifest. AFO's touch is something bad, something that takes or hurts rather than gives or saves.

When AFO uses his Quirk to take Quirks from others, or to switch Quirks around to suit his underlings needs.

In season 7, when Shiggy is injured and exhausted, AFO lays his hands on him in a mocking example 'comfort' but we all know damn well he does not give two shits about Shiggy's well-being beyond his usefulness as vessel for AFO to take over.

After Shiggy decayed his family, he wandered the streets. He was a young distressed child bleeding, crying, and in need of help, and no one offered a hand to help him. Even in our real world society there are examples of this in social experiments where they'll have a children to act out scenarios in public. They'll have the child pretend to be lost, cry, and look around for someone. And in this experiments, there were TONS of actual adults who saw the distressed child and DID NOTHING OR IGNORED THEM.

Shiggy's actual Quirk itself, which ensures that anything he touches, he destroys. It is the complete opposite of his childhood dream to be a hero who helps others. Even if he wanted to, his touch cannot help, heal, or save. It can only destroy.

Here's the lyrics in question that made me so sad:

Everything I touch, I always destroy

I crossed the critical point that day

For I have nothing

Nor any color

As if the reaching hand were a monster

I've only been in this stupid fandom for two months and it's

RUINING MY LIFE!

MY HEART CAN'T HANDLE THIS ANYMORE! 😭😭😭😭😭

[hotpotatopotat]

Why I don't think Shigaraki or his legacy is over.

I don't normally do canon delves but I am compelled as a Tomura fan to dissect the final battle. This isn't a post on whether it's good or bad, but observations on what's been told.

Shigaraki's crux has always been that he feels like no one can possibly understand what he is trying to accomplish, that his message and suffering is pushed under the rug, and that society is so rotten there's nothing to be done. Deku's goal is to try and understand this.

When Deku breaks through in mha417, Tomura challenges him on this. What would even change if you saw what happened to me? What would you even DO about it? Deku declares to the one person that needs it most: To reach out and give you peace, and "that is why...I am here"

But... When given the chance to go back to a time when he was happy, Tenko chooses not to. "Nah." he says. I think this is often overlooked, but Tomura didn't WANT to leave behind everything he's done.

Tomura says, even if you got rid of my hatred, even if you succeed in "saving me", it doesn't change the fact that I still believe in the future I'm fighting for, to destroy. The villains need a hero, the suffering needs to end, and things need to change.

Hang on to that for a moment. All for One shows up. He mocks him, his dream, his goals, claiming that they weren't real, that they weren't his, that his heart doesn't matter, that none of it does. He's evil.

All for One does kill Tomura here... or at least he would have....

With Deku's final blow, he ignites any remaining embers, Shigaraki, included. They land the final blow to All for One. Without that spark, and without Nana having saved Tomura from fading away, he wouldn't have been able to do this. Tomura would have died before.

Tomura's vestige is still decaying away, and he laments the fact that maybe...he wasn't more than the crying kid Deku said he was. He couldn't do anything. He didn't even destroy Deku's hands. His dreams are over.

Izuku says that he wanted to stop the cycle of grief and suffering. Tomura gives him a soft "hah..." This is such a cathartic moment for them, because I believe that Tomura finally feels understood. He's actually quite relieved.

Strangely, Tomura is soft here. He's not decaying away anymore, he's solid, he's wearing his old shirt. He's NOT the same. He declares how he wants to be remembered, as the one who never stopped fighting to change the world. Izuku says, it's already been...but...

In mha424, Tomura instantly challenges this. With a giant smirk, he tells Deku that he better do his damn best to make sure that things change. It depends on the choices that he continues to make, not the conclusion of one battle.

424 feels like a giant wink wink nudge nudge for the reader. Deku is dissatisfied with not getting that instant gratification of "saving" Tenko, just like after a final battle, he won't get the instant gratification of changing the world. We don't get the gratification either.

But honestly, I really do believe that Deku will carry on Shigaraki's legacy and internalize it just like All Might's.

One final thing... You see his hair change textures. Left to right, It's decaying like in the final form, it's defined and stringy like in his early days, and it's airy and blocked like in his liberation days. This is such guardian angel energy, I swear.

I don't think this is the last we will see of him. And if it is, at least physically the last we see of him, I'm happy Deku will carry on what was truly in Tomura's heart.

[narwhalsarefalling]

wait hey. i have an idea. they split someone elses quirk in half, and gave the destroying half to tenko, right?

(we know that this is chisaki because this panal is cut directly from chapter 158)

well. i think i know where the healing half went. it went to eri.

think about it- everyone said her quirk was a sudden mutation unlike either of her parents quirks.

i think eri and a few other children like touya and chisaki were backup plans. we already know touya was one of those 'backups,' and we have evidence of chisaki being the source of the destorying/repairing quirk that was split.

eri was just a more recent backup plan in case things went south at the LOV attack at USJ. since AFO was arrested shortafter, she kind of got lost in the shuffle and was just written off to be a similar "seedbeds of ferocity and hatred" as she grew up under chisaki's care.

she even has a similar backstory to Tenko already, having killed a member of her family by accident

that could be why her quirks so weird to- it takes time for it to remember how to "fix" things since its also not "destroying" things as a blueprint. since the quirk is split, it doesnt know how to "fix" things because theres nothing"destroying" things. so it has to rely on time itself to "fix". thats how i think overhaul's quirk works anyway- something needs to be ''destroyed" before being "fixed". its even said that her quirk is similar to chisaki's.

she also suffers from the same control issues tomura had. i bet that her being placed in the care of someone suspected to be another AFO project was not a coincidence. she could have been a very fitting replacement for tenko- she killed her parents with her quirk and was raised in an environment where she was seen as nothing more then a tool for things to end. it was only her determination that she was able to escape his grasp.

just like how chisaki was saved from the same place where Touya woke up from. I wonder if Touya's breakout triggered Chisaki's escape and into the hands of the yakuza.

and of course, saving Chisaki from an even worse fate

[sleepingpopplio]

The Powerful Theme Behind BNHA’s Nuanced Ending

As I’m posting this we only have one more chapter of the manga and I don’t know how the ending is going to exactly play out, but I do know one thing. The deaths of Toga and Tenko were not in vain, and the author is still trying to give readers hope while also still maintaining some realism and bitter-sweetness in his messaging. Therefore, this is what I think Horikoshi is trying to tell his readers, especially the young people who have their whole lives ahead of them to make a difference on the world:

I see how this theme, the one that’s been built up throughout this manga yet simultaneously feels like it’s coming out of left field, is one of those themes that is a hard pill to swallow. Basically, no matter how hard we can try and push to do good and help others/make the world a better place, we’ll often fail again and again. A lot of bad things can happen, society can choose to remain apathetic, and it can seem like nothing’s ever gonna change because you just put all that hard work in towards the future for nothing. However, even if sometimes you can’t save everyone or society keeps trying to push issues under the rug, that doesn’t mean we should give up trying to fight for social issues we care about. We might never get to see the perfect world Deku and Urarak dream of, and Tenko and Toga may be gone, but their fight for a good and accepting world will someday be worth it cus their actions do have weight by showing that redemption is possible, even if no one has seen it except them. Young people like them just have to make sure to leave their mark so that others can follow.

My Hero Academia is about how we all can become the greatest hero, not by magically destroying the world’s problems and apathy overnight, but instead by continously reaching out a helping hand to people who might not initially seem like they want it.

[buttercupshands]

MHA didn't create some miracle way of helping others. It was never promised to be this way. And when it came to villains...

Spoilers for manga all the way to chapter 423.

The only way to get anything in life in MHA was to be born "normal" like everyone else and that way of thinking never left Izuku with Toga getting the same treatment she did before from everyone from her family to her "normal" classmates. It was Ochako who helped Toga even if just a little by lifting the weight of all the feelings that Toga had.

She couldn't save Toga the way one could save a civilian by saving them from harm. If it worked that way Dabi would've saved Toga even before Ochako could apologize for failing to notice Toga. She was so lazer focused on saving everyone else, that she was just another villain to stop, not a human.

Even if by the end of it Ochako helped Toga to deal with her grief, acceptance as it was wasn't something possible when a quirk makes you want to drink someone's blood from jealousy.

We got a bittersweet ending with Toga, in which she probably died from blood loss just like her double did in MVA. If it wasn't for Twice she would've died back then.

Giving away her blood for Ochako wasn't a redemption or a way to save Toga in the end, more as it was her being true to herself until the very end.

Just like Twice chose to stay with the League even if Hawks offered him a way to survive that battle. He refused and died protecting his friends who accepted him instead of choosing to betray them and accept Hawks' offer.

After Twice's death... It was a matter of time that more 'active' LoV members would join him as well. As sad as it is, we now can return to Izuku.

Who, after his time OFA-AFO quirk space, now wanted to help a "crying boy" he saw in Tenko just as before with Katsuki in chapter 1. He didn't forgive Tomura and didn't excuse the way he chose to solve his problems.

It didn't mean that Tomura would survive in their battle, even if Izuku didn't see killing others as a way to solve problems. He didn't understand Tomura, but he still wanted to try, and try he did.

The rest of this post was nothing more than a contextual prologue to understand that it's not the first time a hero failed to save a villain and in Twice's case we know that he died and his death was the reason Toga started thinking about her own possible death and Dabi finally revealed himself as Toya.

The goal of saving a "crying boy" never was an end-goal for Izuku in the Final arc, since helping Tomura deal with his feelings just left him hollow with a goal that clashed with Izuku's. As being a hero for villains meant destroying the world for them to help them live freely.

But that was before AFO resurfaced.

Sadly after that Tomura who was talking about making his own choices for a while now stopped doing that. Even if he still had a goal of helping villains and only villains, Tomura was almost gone. And his goals were now unreachable.

Izuku helped Nana who in turn kept Tomura from fading away entirely. In MHA there were countless situations where Izuku's help affected people by helping a different person to keep hope, All-Might being the first one and Nana being the last one at the moment.

Hollow after Izuku helped him to get rid of his hatred Tomura could do the only thing he did - accept the situation as it was.

Accepting AFO as his Sensei, accepting Stain's ideals and Overhaul's deal was the way he solved his problems. Just like Izuku had a problem of understanding something outside of his norm, Tomura was accepting too many things, which lead to his downfall after accepting AFO's quirk.

Just like Twice could've given up everything that he had for his friends so did Tomura.

With Izuku helping as much as he could let Tomura to finally rest as he wasn't really living ever since waking up in the hospital. With his body now affected by AFO's wishes instead of his own until the end.

In a way Izuku didn't succeed in his wish for Tomura to stop ever since PLF war arc. As he "kept fighting to destroy" no matter how hard Izuku tried to stop him.

The only thing he succeeded in was changing Tomura's mind about himself, instead of viewing himself as a monster he accepted that he was a human just like Izuku said. A "crying boy" who couldn't really destroy Izuku's hands in the end.

For a group of Villains who weren't supposed to get profiles of their own at the start of the series, League is slowly fading as the most memorable group that there was in MHA, getting backstories, their own Villain themed arc all the while being as human as anyone else.

As sad as their story is they were not "unlucky", they didn't need a happy false ending where they would need to change to be normal - they chose to live this way and they lived it to it's fullest.

[awkwardcreature789]

Has anyone else noticed the parallels between Eri and Shigaraki?

Eri is restore and Shigaraki is destroy (in regards to their quirks)

Eri was saved, while Shigaraki was not

They both had a life of suffering and both killed their family accidentally with their quirks (Eri rewinding her father and Shigaraki’s whole crisis)

Like…bro stop I’m actually gonna cry this is so sad-

This is the TikTok that made me go ‘wait a damn second’ (albeit how fucking stupid it is lmao)

[mettywiththenotes]

The sibling energy is back once again

Hana holding Tenko's hand when he cried, comforting him, making him feel at ease. Izuku trying to hold Tenko's hand because he remembers when he was in pain and felt comforted by holding someone's hand too

The fact that Tenko ended up decaying Hana. The fact that Tenko ended up decaying Izuku's arms off

All of this taking place in the same garden too

[irontragedyreview]

Who was Tomura Shigaraki?

When this chapter came out my mind was still processing the shit show that Izuku/Tomura had been, and I honestly thought that anything that came after that would never improve it. In part I still think the same thing but that doesn't mean that this chapter is still something I can appreciate and sincerely wanted to write.

The chapter itself can be easily summarized in the vision of two perspectives, the first told from a documentary form about the consequences that Tomura and his LoV left on the citizens of Japan and the other Spinner's perspective.

The vision of the citizens is totally empty of empathy towards Tomura, the citizens have their perspective colored by their losses and their anger, from the loss of their home or the death.

Lack of empathy in general, considering him scary, someone who no matter how much past he had, it shouldn’t be justified or someone without convictions and only hunger for destruction.

I emphasize the dialogues because those who say them are irrelevant, since they are only citizens. The panel of the lack of convictions is the one that catches my attention the most, because we can see the ignorance of the people, for the external viewer who lived the emergence of the Lov and the war, for them are exactly monsters. Tomura has no convictions because they see the same thing as the hereos at the beginning a manchild, that's what Stain told him at the beginning that he only sought to destroy without reason, that he had no convictions, the same thing Izuku tells him in their talk at the mall, Midoriya tells him that his actions were childish and had no purpose beyond destroying as a childish enjoyment, that even without endorsing Stain's methods he still understood his motives, something that didn’t happen with Tomura. It’s after their talk that he comes out with his convictions and I think that is the point where we leave that more generic vision of manchild and his actions become something serious in the search for an objective, which solidifies in the formation of the LoV.

Likewise, what I’m trying to get at is precisely one of the perspectives that this chapter shows us, citizens don’t see beyond their own losses and feelings and above all things they judge a stranger in whom they’re not positively emotionally involved but only negatively. What this chapter shows is that it’s very easy to dehumanize what is unknown to us, "monster, terrifying, etc." It’s easy not to feel empathy for someone who has only given us negative emotions, even their past will not be justified.

What is interesting is that the documentary and the talk between Midoriya and Spinner are intertwined, we not see the perspective of the finished documentary and then Spinner, but documentary is interrupted by Spinner and it’s where we find someone that talks about Tomura with care and humanity, which the citizens’ reports lack. Also what we see in this chapter is Spinner's breakdown and Izuku's reaction to this, which is correct and helps Spinner to have closure.

For every thought from the citizens we have Spinner showing us that Tomura wasn’t destruction for meaningless childish joy, for every comment about his lack of convictions we have a Spinner who found a way thanks to Tomura's convictions, for every person who is unable to see anything outside of a terrorist, Spinner sees someone who gave him a place, a purpose and treated him as an equal when until then he seemed resigned to his destiny, he sees a friend. We can even see the smallest things that it was that Tomura loved video games.

Although it has been discussed whether the LoV stories justify their actions, the truth is that this chapter shows that even that person who seems monstrous has another identity, Tomura isn’t the symbol of fear for Spinner, but rather his first friend, someone precious, this contrast of perspectives is important because it shows us that there are no blacks and whites but a gray scale.

Having said the above, in addition to the perspectives and the confrontation between them in this chapter, I also want to focus on the emotional aspect, loss and grief. For this I think that the main panel between them is a good introduction.

The first words that come out of Spinner's mouth are to call Izuku a murderer and Midoriya's with absolute calm, says that he will not deny the fact, again despite my criticism of Horkoshi and that I think he was mediocre in the treatment of Izuku and Tomura, I’m not going to deny that these words have been haunting Izuku since their confrontation and outcome, Spinner may be the one who puts them on the table for the first time, but from the hospital we know that Izuku feels his failure. This is seen again when the only time a UA student, tells him that he’s an inspiration, his thoughts return to Spinner's gaze and he doesn't know what to respond, because he knows that the admiration he receives is due to the outcome with Tomura which is not what he wanted, to be recognized for taking a life.

However, there is also something I must say and that is that during all the final chapters Izuku prioritized the emotions of others over his own, which is why we have no reaction with Spinner. Some blogs I read said that Midoriya's reaction to this chapter had been incorrect, because more emotionality was needed and perhaps a deeper attempt at consolation. However, Midoriya consoled and listened to Spinner's pain and recognized it and above all he didn’t try to justify anything, this differs for example from his reaction to Toga's confession and with Dabi in the first war, with Spinner he takes his pain, listens to it and does not try to justify himself or make him see another perspective but simply remains stable and lets Spinner to be one who feels, the one who cries.

Izuku's consolation to Spinner is not to justify himself, to accept his pain but above all to carry the message, because there are no words that he can add that generate more comfort than those he said, there is nothing else he could say or do that would have given Spinner a minimum sense of peace than knowing that until the end the LoV was Shigaraki's driving force, that he remained firm until the end in keeping his word and that he wanted to be the hero of the villains, wanting to fulfill his promise to Spinner.

Midoriya's recognition of the league is important, because he doesn’t detract from them but rather recognizes them as a central point of Tomura, that child and then adult who was manipulated in every aspect, at the end of the day he had his own will when he formed the LoV and that is out of AFO's hands. At the end of the day they were his last thought, and this is very similar to what Ochako told Toga when she recognized that she could not replace the LoV as Toga's family, Ochako recognizes them as importance for Toga, and Izuku in turn recognizes this in Tomura and conveys this to Spinner, as Tomura said "Even if I become an empty shell and all my hatred fades away, I still want to be a hero for them".

In the same way he also consoles him in his final words by encouraging the book and says he will never forget Tomura, by recognizing these two things he is telling him that he should tell his vision knowing that he would not be in a good light from his perspective and above all when he assures that he will not forget him, he does not say it because of what he did to him or his friends, but as a response to tell Spinner that Tomura's life had value and that he will not be just one more on a list of villains, because those are Spinner's words, that for heroes like Midoriya he will only become one more name on a list but Izuku says that Tomura will accompany him always, that is why also after those words Spinner loses his defensive posture and allows himself a few words about Shoji.

All of this is about Midoriya, but we still need to touch on what Spinner said from his own perspective. The way he slowly begins to lose control of his emotions and tells himself that he must stop thinking because otherwise the pain would return. The way he talks about Tomura as his hope and his friend, someone who gave him acceptance and who little by little breaks a little more especially because he is not only angry with Izuku but with himself, because he blames himself and his inability to reach his friend when there was still time.

Spinner acknowledges that he let everything take its course, that if he had been a little more involved, that even if he had objected to Tomura's plans to merge with AFO, then he could have changed the outcome, Spinner was a bystander, who could have taken action. but he didn't, he feels like he failed his friend because there was a moment where he could have taken a step forward even if it meant confronting Tomura's own plans and then everything seemed impossible to stop to the point that the only thing left to do was move forward and take a quirk from AFO to continue with the plans. Spinner's feelings about both his loss and his own inaction become a central focus and the book becomes his way of ensuring that even a memory of Tomura and the LoV is not forgotten, because perhaps he failed to be there for Tomura. but he will make sure that people know the real Tomura Shigaraki, the one they call without convictions or simply as a monster, he will be in charge of telling who Tomura was, the person who gave him a place of belonging, who played with him and accepted him when he had already given up and couldn't find a place to fit. Maybe that won't change the perspective of citizens in general, but it's better than hundreds of strangers talking about someone they don't know. Ultimately it's the only thing Spinner can do for his friend, that at the end of the day people know that his convictions stood even to the bitter end. I didn't think I was going to write something so long, but honestly this chapter is one of the few things that I liked and I felt that all its aspects deserved an analysis or at least an attempt at analysis. I clarify that I didn’t use the official translation because Manga Plus in my region does not allow me to read a certain number of chapters, but I remember that the original translation does not differ grossly from the chapter to alter the interpretation.

[ultimateempath]

Alright, I've been seeing an unnecessary amount of negativity towards the direction Horikoshi & MHA took, particularly about the main league members deaths, so I'm gonna put my two cents in here: I'm not bothered by their deaths, I don't think it could've gone any other way. My reasoning is below the cut.

First and foremost, Horikoshi doesn't like happy endings. A bittersweet conclusion was the best we were gonna get from the beginning, we've known this for a while.

Even if they had survived, the league would never be able to live the kinds of lives they wanted. Like it or not, they committed many acts of murder and terrorism. Their life after the war more likely would've consisted of prison and/or possible execution. Even if they were rehabilitated and let out of prison, they'd still be exposed to public scrutiny and ridicule. Eri wouldn't be able to rewind them to children ro anything either, she wouldn't be able to do that much at her current skill level even if she still had her horn.

Dabi refused to listen to reason and his physical & mental states were rapidly deteriorating as he was entirely consumed by vengeful rage and despair, so it was unfortunately only a matter of time for him.

Toga willingly chose to risk her life doing something good for the woman she loved. She wanted to live the way she wanted and die the way she wanted, she wouldn't have been able to do either if she survived.

Kurogiri was already dead to begin with, he deserves to finally rest in peace after being stuck in such a torturous existence for so long. Mic & Aizawa have to grieve all over again and that sucks, but it was for the best.

Tomura loved the league more than anything and wasn't just going to walk away from them. Passing ofa to him was the only way to reach Tenko, even if it meant his body would crumble. You also have to remember that they were fighting afo again too! He wasn't keen on letting Tomura go, that finishing multi-punch was their only remaining option. The crying boy was saved and Tomura was finally at peace in the end, thats what matters.

Lastly, to the people who are upset about Izukus reaction and him not being very upset about being quirkless again and not saving Shigaraki: izuku is bottling up his emotions and claiming that he's fine, putting everyone else before himself. That's his whole thing, there was a whole arc addressing this exact issue. Plus after afo took over again, Izuku straight up said that he just wanted all the hurt to be over already.

[codenamesazanka]

any chance of me being okay with Shigaraki taking up the name 'Shimura Tenko' again has withered, meta-wise. I hate seeing that name in Deku's dialogue bubbles. I hate that he feels he can call Shigaraki that. All he ever cared about was The Crying Child - Tenko. Then he failed to save Tenko. THEN Deku had the gall to expressed disappointment that Tenko - the very source of the kindness and friendship that readers all kept saying is why Shigaraki is still Tenko, why he should be saved, how the League is proof of 'Tenko' still existing! - would stay being leader of the League of Villains. And Deku saying 'Tenko' is supposed to be some sort of win???? Supposed to be touching?????

And I hate that this is probably how All Might and Gran Torino finds out the name of Nana's grandson, because they never bothered to check on the family and never tried to save Shigaraki and All Might tries to comfort Deku by saying 'well how did he look at the moment of his death?' as if that fixes anything, and now they're going to use that name. Never tried to save the boy when he was Shigaraki Tomura. But now they can mourn Shimura Tenko. because that's who deserved to be cared about. The melancholic reminder of a 5-year-old ghost, connected to someone they actually cared about. Not a villain they might have no connection to, god forbid. Why would they ever save an evil rando like that?

I think none of them should ever be allowed to say that name. They don't deserve knowing it.

[valenteal]

Tomura Shigaraki is an INFP! Why are people saying he’s anything else? I’ve seen INTP, INTJ, maybe ISTJ and I’m just like… wtf how did you come to that conclusion? Maybe it’s because I’m an INFP who is on the verge of INTP, but it just seems so obvious to me.

Introverted, no one is arguing that

Intuitive, he obviously focuses more on big picture stuff and the meaning behind his actions rather than the immediate impact.

Feeling, look guys, he is not a thinking type okay? He makes decisions based on feelings I don’t know how anyone messes this one up!

Prospecting, he doesn’t need a set path in front of him and if he finds a path he won’t hesitate to switch over. Tomura is spontaneous!

I feel like when a lot of people analyze personality types of a character they just use the stereotype related to one of the 16 personalities rather than doing it properly and breaking it down. But even based on stereotypes if you are a 16 personalities enthusiast then Frank James did an awesome video about the 16 personalities as villains and it’s pretty clear which one Tomura is.

Also I feel like any INFP has got to relate to Tomura’s “destroy society” plan. Like most of us wouldn’t actually do it but we’re very sensitive to all the horrible things that happen and it’s so easy to get overwhelmed by it and just… hate everything. We’re seen as nice and a bit spacey all in love with nature and harmony or whatever but that’s only true when you’re a kid. I will admit that is an apt description of me as a child when I wasn’t bawling my eyes out or screaming in anger but once you get disillusioned with the world… INFPs aren’t happy people for the most part because we can’t just ignore or accept all the cruelty and suffering in the world. Most INFPs wouldn’t do what Tomura does but it’s not like he chose the path he took. AfO manipulated him and in his situation any INFP would probably feel the same. I’ve certainly had my share of intrusive thoughts about destroying everything.

[ace-touya]

Sometimes I think about Oboro and get real sad

I headcanon him and Zashi met in middle school, with them meeting Sho in UA, and like. In the grand scheme of things he was in their lives for such a short time period, he’d known Shouta for just two years. Known Hizashi for four in my hcs

But he made such a massive impact to the point where neither of them healed from losing him, over a decade after it happened

I don’t think Rooftop Trio were that well liked outside their small circle. It was the three of them plus Nemuri sometimes, against the world

And sure, Hizashi has this sort of infectious positivity and makes everyone laugh all the time but it’s definitely a character he puts on. Buried just below the surface is this angry, sad, self-doubting dude who doesn’t think he’s doing enough for the people he loves despite the fact he always puts them before himself

And in contrast, Oboro’s positivity is so genuinely real, he’s just a happy guy. He inspired them both, lifted them both up, and probably is a big reason why they even were close in the first place, because Hizashi and Shouta are complete opposites but Oboro has some shared interests with each of them respectively which makes the two of them get close, and he absolutely was Hizashi’s biggest wingman ever when he realised he loved Shouta romantically

And then like.. after seemingly dying in a really gruesome way, he got turned into a monster at the age of only sixteen, probably in a really gruesome and horrific way if Tomura getting AFO’s quirk was anything to go off of (and that was with likely a lot more developed tech considering it was so long after, and the added fact of wanting to keep Tomura’s brain in tact, which wasn’t something they cared about with Oboro)

Then he was forced to care for a child only like 10 years younger than he was, while simultaneously also being forced to be a bystander while said child is actively being groomed, by the same guy who made him like this

Into a shell of a person, noidentity of his own, no purpose except caring for this kid who was too young and too hurt to understand that both of them were trapped. He had no free will, and no real personality

And the icing on the cake is that any of the genuine care Kurogiri had for Tenko came from the love and protectiveness Oboro had for Shouta, someone Kurogiri can’t remember but whenever his gloomy little honorary son would take too many naps in one day, or stare blankly at someone he found stupid, or coo at pictures of small dogs, he’d be reminded of messy black hair and eyes that turned red, and wouldn’t know that it wasn’t Tomura he was thinking of

[itsnothingofinterest]

So given that it seems AFO is growing a bunch of heads, which more than like seem to represent his own quirks' vestiges (hi Hawks):

I think my theory that Tomura has his family’s quirks just got a lot more likely:

I mean we must admit, between meeting with Tomura in his mental world and growing their bodies out of his mutating body, the Shimura family sure had been doing a lot of things quirks vestiges have recently been shown doing.

[featherstorm2004]

All For One and Shigaraki, the unreliable narraters

Apparently I am not done with studying the mind of the number one villain as I feel that there's more to discus with how All For One views himself, as I feel it's quite clear he is the narrater of his backstory in chapter 407 which I believe is quite telling. However, if I am to discuss the legitimacy of All For One's narrative I believe it's crucially important that I also include Shigaraki in this discussion as he is the prime example in MHA of an unreliable narrater.

here's a link to my first analysis for context on my opinion of All For One's character and state of mind "All For One and the power of context"

First I would like to discuss the similarities and differences in how All For One and Shigaraki characterise themselves in their stories and why they chose those narratives. First I will start with Tomura's dialogue as I is the easiest to deconstruct; in the beginning of the flashback we focus on the abuse Tenko took when living with his family however, the tone of the manga changes along with Shigaraki's attitude towards his younger self and family as the conflict goes on.

At first it's clear that Shigaraki views himself as a victim so that's how Tenko is depicted in the early parts of the story however, as things go on we see slowly how things begin to warp as the elder Shigaraki's biases creep into the flashback and Tenko himself slowly starts to look more and more monstrous. With Shigaraki questioning that perhaps he had always hated his family and deep down wanted them to die, despite the fact that Tenko during his awakening is clearly horrified. There's a clear disconnect with how Shigaraki views the situation and how we the audience view things, leading to a form af narrative ambiguity.

However, by the end of Tenko's awakening and the death of his howl family Shigaraki has taken full control of the flashback and he shows himself as a horrid monster that enjoyed killing his family.

Now, that's not to say that I don't believe to some level that Tenko enjoyed fighting back against his abuser and getting back at him for all the pain he caused to him. But we have to remember that at this time Tenko is a five year old child who likely hasn't fully grasped the concept and finality of death. So, whilst I can't argue that Tenko may have found some joy and relief in his actions it most defiantly wasn't to the extent that Shigaraki believed it to be.

And it's obvious in the second half of his flashback that Tenko regretted his actions and dose not wished to repeat it. This can be seen when he holds back against the thugs who beat him and only gave in to his desire for revenge when coxed by All For One, who is an authority figure in Tenko's life and the one who "saved" him so of course Tenko would trust his word above all else.

It's also clear in that All For One fed into Tenko/Shigaraki's image of himself as a monster by characterising Tenko's itch as a innate desire to destroy and forcing him to wear the hands of his family so he can never forget the negative emotions surrounding the event.

Which brings me to All For One's backstory which is similar to Shigaraki's it has some notable differences. One key difference being that unlike Shigaraki, All For One has complete control in how his past is depicted and it is displayed more like a story that he is telling to the audience than an accurate depictions of events. Unlike Shigaraki's where we can see things such as his family standing up against the father which he would have no way of knowing, and All For Ones talk with the doctor after picking Tenko up.

However, one thing that they both have in common is that both All For One and Tomura are both convinced of their monsters nature. This can be seen in how All For One describes himself in he Narrative, calling his infant self as "born arrogant' and his cries for help as only a means of manipulation. Despite the fact he was you know a baby.

I also find it quite suspicious how the artwork chooses to depict the infant All For One in line with how he views himself, which leads me to suspect that these flashbacks we are being shown is not as accurate as All For One would like us to believe. It's clearly seeped with personal bias whereas Shigaraki's was a lot more straight forward and it's clear that whilst the dialog would like to paint Tenko as a monster the imagery conflicts with that.

There's also the fact that All For One denies his ability to feel love or empathy of any kind and only regards Yoichi as his possession. Which I also doubt to an extent, mainly due to the fact that whilst All For One is dressed in nothing but rags and clearly more malnourished than his brother, who has a full set of cloths and appears ironically far more healthy.

That's not to say that I don't believe on some level a young All For One felt some level of ownership over Yoichi, (hell his actions in later chapters definitely prove that) but in his younger years as a young child and toddler I doubt he would even understand the concept. What I think is far more likely is that All For One as conflated the feelings of love and ownership into a singular concept, and chooses to call it possession as it better aligns with his self image as a demon lord.

It also helps that he was surrounded by adults and all known authority figures that regarded him as less than human, with him and his brother being referred to as "paranormal orphans' and "diseased". Which most defiantly fed into All For One's perception of himself as being inherently inhuman however, as a young child he likely would have no idea what to do with these emotions.

Until, one day his brother stumbled upon a comic that just so happened to depict a villain, a so called Demon Lord and probably for the first time in his life All For One saw himself in another. And what is this? The Demon Lord is surrounded by hoards of followers that worship and adore him, yeah... it''s no wonder a homeless orphan who is regarded by society as a monster latched so hard onto the concept.

But yeah I wanted to point this out as I feel that whilst All For One's time as the main threat is coming to an end there is still so much to explore about his character in the aftermath. I also can't help but wonder if the reason All For One took such a personal role into moulding Shigaraki into what he is today was perhaps due to the fact he saw a young child with eyes just like his own, who also accidentally killed his family at a young age and was also rejected by society for something out of his control.

I don't know just some food for thought, I could go on but then this analysis would get out of control. So yeah those are my thoughts.

[shigarakisslutbag]

Thought that has plagued my mind (that I haven't actually brought up n rp) but imagine y/n finding out Tomura isn't his real name and after going through that mental whiplash, just genuinely asking him what he <I>wants</I> to be called.

Kinda just imagining the faces he'd make because it's not something someone would normally ask him? And him trying to figure out y ud care about something like that? Then realizing he's never thought about it either, he just did what AFO told him to and didn't consider it outside of necessity/ if it was something he actually wanted to do or not

(casual angst is underrated)

TW: angst, mentions of the bitch that is AFO, mentions and themes of lack of body autonomy

I've been meaning to get to this sooner but the last two weeks I've been pretty much unconscious bc of my new meds 😭 (legit slept 12 HOURS the other night).

Sorry for all the typos, if any, I'm on mobile lol.

Tomura would probably disregard reader for a bit. Not in a rude way, but he'd likely just shrug and give no real answer, because he has no idea how to. The thought would stick with him for a while, though.

When you're a kid, you don't really question things, because your brain isn't fully developed enough (obviously), so as kids we accept almost everything adults tell us as fact. It's actually a common tactic used by some parents to get them to behave or teach certain lessons. For example: if a parent wants the child to stop misbehaving, they use Santa or "call" Santa on their phone as a way to keep the child from doing things they aren't supposed to.

This isn't to say tomura was "lied" to necessarily, but he didn't have the maturity level to be able to make decisions like that for himself, and understand he had a choice, so when afo gave him his new name, he didn't have any objections because... why would he? He grew up with the idea that his life and body- even his name, were not his. Of course he's not going to give his real name any thought because it wasn't really on the table. Up until this point, probably hadn't even thought of his real name at all.

Now, to circle back to the original question, how would tomura react beyond this? I would say after contemplating that option, he'd also wonder why reader would care enough to ask. Why do you care about what he wants? He can't really wrap his head around it, but now that the question has been asked, and now that he knows he has the option, he'd unsurprisingly choose his real name.

I think one of the biggest reasons he'd rather use his real name, is because he doesn't want to use a name given to him by someone who tried to control him. Tomura is not really the type to like being told what to do lol. I mean he is the leader after all. You'd be the first he allow to use his real name. Eventually the other members too, but you were the first who cared enough to ask, so naturally you're the first who he'll tell what he wants to be called. It won't seem like it in his facial expressions, but hes grateful you put that thought into his mind. He won't forget that.

A/N: I love casual angst that doesn't make me wanna throw myself into incoming traffic. Am I gonna read a fic about cheating tomura or cheating reader? Absolutely tf not. Will I read or write a fic that makes me wanna cry myself to sleep bc I can't comfort said fictional character? Absolutely.

[buttercupshands]

Chapter 419 Analysis or "How to make allies not pawns" a helpful guide from League of Villains (part 2)

This is now a second part of Tomura character analysis.

With chapter 419 being probably our last time seeing Tomura for a while, since we need to learn what happened with Aizawa now is time to remember that not only bad things exist it Tomura's life.

Warning of spoilers to the whole manga to the point of chapter 419! All of the warnings from My Villain Academy side of manga are applicable

So like... mentions of death, killing other people, manipulation, emotional abuse and many more!

This is Part 2 - See here for Part 1 of this depressing mess

With AFO being so sure that he knows better and actually controlled every single part of Tenko's life creating a Symbol of Fear without any redeeming qualities or even hope for saving after he destroys him. There's one thing that AFO still doesn't understand about Tomura and never did - and that's his allies, or the League of Villains that he created.

Even Kurogiri, being a Nomu who's views do not stray from what AFO thought was important didn't exactly understand what did Tomura think about his allies quick to assume that he thought of them as pawns all the was back in the Training Camp arc. With Tomura making game examples to explain the situation, he still didn't think of LoV as just pawns on a desk, like AFO does.

At the time of USJ arc there weren't many people Tomura called this, which could make you wonder how much it was just AFO's plan rather than Tomura's with him never worrying about those other villains yet getting so worked up over losing Nomu not only because he was strong enough to defend him from All-Might, but treating his defeat as something that must be avenged.

And that was long before Stain even entered the picture, the first of three people who greatly affected Tomura's view of his own motives alongside AFO's manipulation of literally everything else.

Tomura was terrified of fighting All-Might seconds before this and yet as this goes on it's becoming more noticeable - Tomura doesn't care for his own fear or worries as long as he's fighting for someone else's good. Not so different from how Izuku is ready to disregard himself for the sake of others, resulting in many injuries and being so close to dying so many times.

It never was a secret that Tomura is highly dependent on others to keep himself from losing confidence, or even will to fight, getting either too anxious to continue without anyone's reassurance.

And while AFO's "help" was mostly given only with some kind of lesson as we saw in "Tomura Shigaraki: Origin", with AFO literally sitting there, saying how Tenko is weak for not killing but showing some restrain instead suffering himself, never actually helping or comforting him. Only offering what he deemed nessesary for his own plan of making Tenko kill those thugs not caring that he's feeling sick from those hands.

But in USJ it's not AFO who's there with Tomura, it's Kurogiri, who was shown to still have some care that Shirakumo had that even Aizawa and Mic couldn't argue that it's similar to how Shirakumo couldn't just leave a kitten in the rain. No matter the responsibility that it would bring with taking a little one in.

A helpless little kitten that didn't get the help it needs from anyone else. Sounds way too familiar.

This never was a direct order from AFO other than he needs to "tend and protect" for Tomura, which can mean anything from just looking out when Tomura's sick, or protect him from any tread like someone trying to kill him.

Not helping him getting over his anxiety to fight or helping him and guiding him to do better as a leader of the League calming him if it got out of control. Which is somewhat opposite to the way AFO deals with Decay and Tomura's temper - letting him destroy anything even the hands that he gave him, just offering new ones when he succeedes and never really caring for his pawns, he can always get new ones.

And surely not asking if Tomura's well the first thing while talking to Heroes.

Which then leads us back to how Tomura never viewed anyone that he chose as pawns calling them his allies, with the word '仲間' which can even be translated as friends in needed context, but usually used as comrade or ally when Tomura says it. And the same thing is usually translated as "friend" when used by Twice.

In any case Tomura never once doubted his allies since he saw them as reliable, even if his first meeting with Toga and Dabi went so wrong that Kurogiri had to stop them from killing each other.

Up to the point of Training Camp AFO describes as him teaching Tomura to be independent which was at that point too far from the truth than he thought. If Tomura begging for AFO to leave with them is any indicator he actually was even less independent after All-Might almost caught them, making him doubt his own worth as a leader. Even if AFO's defeat finally let him think and wonder about himself and his past.

AFO believed that Tomura just knowing how to recruit people would suddenly make him great at using those new "pawns" which was proven wrong by Overhaul no so long after that. Showing how Tomura believed the same thing AFO did as well, fully trusting his judgement of anything including himself, all the while parroting what AFO says without fully understanding what it means.

Only after losing both Magne and Mr. Compress arm does Tomura slowly start making progress in becoming someone more than AFO tells him to do. Even if as we see in part 1 it used Decay as the ground to make it stable since he believed it was his quirk. And yet.

Even if Tomura didn't simply instruct his allies how to choose who to recruit, he never blamed them for it. On the opposite, when Twice was hard on himself after bringing Overhaul to them Tomura just looked at them for the first time without a hand on his face, or even on himself at all, showing how he trusts them as much as he would trust himself and believes that they can do it.

Taking off hands of his family would mean not relying on the conflicting feelings that they bring into the picture, something AFO would very much dissaprove, since he was now like an equal to everyone in LoV instead of being above them. He

And with this instead of making them blindly trust his decisions and following him from fear or adoration like people had been following AFO or Overhaul, he instead was an equal to them both in failure and victory that wasn't even all that guaranteed yet.

Each one of them had their own somewhat selfish goal that just seemed like they were just using each other without any worry being each other's pawns. Or maybe that's just how AFO would see them.

Yet it doesn't explain why did Toga care for Twice's trauma response of not having his mask on, since he already did his part and all that they both needed to do was done. But LoV was never about following orders or giving them, expecting for the pawns to follow without question. It was about a leader of the group that would stand up for his allies while allowing them full freedom, except when they needed to also accept that something is needed to be done for their own sake.

Like following Overhaul for a while all for cutting off his hands leaving him with nothing. Did that sound like something reasonable to do? No! They literally lost their chance at having sushi instead of just living at some abadoned building all the while occasionally searching for money or food, stealing and killing just to survive all while Tomura was just... waiting.

Nothing was really stable at the start of what we call My Villain Academia and yet no one from the LoV left while their state was... bad at the very least. No matter how AFO was teaching Tomura he was still left mostly waiting for something to happen rather than doing something to change the situation himself.

Sure, Tomura now was a famous leader of League of Villains that suddenly needed to be stopped rather that underestimated like before. But that was in the future, now LoV was laying low on funds and slowly Tomura showing his face became the norm, with him usually never wearing hands around LoV.

And with Tomura becoming more and more comfortable around LoV, the LoV itself was becoming more like a place that had one core value that accepted anything else added without anyone wondering about the past of others, like Compress said. Just some selfish people, who still followed their own needs first.

And yet somehow Toga, who joined just because she loved Stain and disliked how life was too hard found her place in the LoV alongside Twice who just needed to be trusted and trust in return. If Tomura only followed what AFO deemed to be the best way to lead no one would actually feel like they're accepted in the LoV as much as they were.

Goal or no goal Tomura succeeded even without having the whole world at the palm of his hands by just never pressing anyone to actually follow him - if they wanted to they could've just left here and there, but since they chose to follow he did what he thought was the obvious best - let his allies do what they wanted.

Which was okay for someone like Toga or Dabi who were either already comfortable by just being allowed to be themselves or being free to plan their own things for their own goals.

But not exactly that for Spinner. Who was instead literally searching for someone to show him what to do, not so different from Tomura, who still only followed whatever 'his Sensei' deemed worthy for him to look into, like letting Kurogiri go find unknown "power" that AFO left along with contact with Doctor.

And while Spinner was not fine with still being hollow even while following Tomura pretending that it's the same thing as following Stain... all it took for him to look differently at how exactly was Tomura thinking was the last real "barrier" that there was - Tomura basically spilling his whole backstory and motivations mostly for LoV to listen to, since Doctor was just testing Tomura's will all according to AFO's plan.

And after that it didn't took too long for Spinner to now follow Tomura, even if it was still not the time to really see the 'warped horizon that was waiting for them'. And yet in times where Tomura still showed some doubt over his decisions - that one old trait of his showing up like it was always at the back of his head not so different from USJ, only thing changing that Tomura got better and better at not letting his emotions control him so easily.

Since the price of that would literally be lifes of his allies.

And neither that or using their emotions to his own benefit was ever in his plans, contrast to AFO manipulating Tomura to do just that. Letting his emotions consume him completely just for his own goal and for his own sake. But as a person who was so familiar with this Tomura still was adamant at NOT allowing something like this to happen to his friends allies.

Effectively creating a bond between all six of them, including Toya that in the end kept them together until the very final arc, with Spinner keeping what Tomura would've thought and with him waking up and calling Machia to get LoV first and foremost Spinner did understand their's leader wishes, as well as Twice's who literally died for his friends.

With all that happening in the War arc the moment AFO returned with both being in control of Tomura's body and just abadoned anything that Tomura would care for like leaving Mr. Compress and Machia behind just to punish him for not getting OFA or not even caring to show any actual respect for Tomura's wishes. Instead showing how little he actually cared for anything but his own good.

But while AFO made so many pawns that he could change like gloves at any given moment, threating them and manipulating them with his power and quirks, Tomura only had 6 allies who stayed after AFO was caught and who were willing to die just to live the life they wanted.

And AFO couldn't give them that.

Even if Decay isn't Tenko's quirk and even if he has so much guilt for killing without it being a little bit justified by it...

LoV still followed him as a person who allowed them to live as they please and so what they want, not some all-powerfull overlord but an ally and a leader who had his flaws and fallings.