#yoichi just picks up a baby and of course it has to be a Meta baby

[mishy-mashy]

Oh the temptation to write a Resistance fic where Kudo learns to take care of a baby during terrible times

[kelluinox]

More MHA 407 thoughts

OK I saw interesting theories about ch 407

So I was right about the unreliable narration. This chapter is most likely from Afo's POV. And of course Afo is not going to be completely honest about his childhood. He's not a man who will admit to his own humanity, his own weakness, his true feelings on the matter and will frame his trauma in a way that makes it easier for him to cope with it. The evidence for all this is Tomura's backstory where Tomura said he felt "joy" when he killed his father (which is clearly untrue) and also Dabi's retelling of his story about how Endeavor abandoned him (which is how it felt to Dabi) when in reality Endeavor was trying to protect him after finding out how Dabi's quirk burned him.

This unreliable narration by Afo can be seen in several key details:

1) it's impossible for a child to be born conceited and we see just how violent life was on the street for Afo. There were people coming after groups with meta abilities and the world was in a state of chaos at that time as quirks were only starting to emerge and were not accepted by society. So Afo had to keep defending himself from a very young age until violence was second nature to him

2) child Yoichi is always drawn better dressed and fed than Afo. Like we see a panel of Yoichi in pants and a shirt and Afo is just wearing a blanket or something and we can see Afo's ribs, showing us just how thin he is

3) Yoichi in the panel above already looks beat up before Afo kicks him. It is possible that Afo retaliated against the guys Yoichi tried to stop him from hurting because they had picked on Yoichi. Meaning Afo was defending his brother. But of course, we can't be sure because Afo is insistent on telling this story in a way to make sure we don't sympathize with him. Making us feel sympathetic to him undermines his idea that he is "pure evil". Our sympathy makes him human. And admitting his own humanity is the last thing Afo wants.

4) Then there's a panel of Afo sitting side by side with Yoichi, showing a very brotherly moment between them

And here there is a focus on how the evil demon king had followers, people around him. Something Afo immediately latched onto.

Afo is clearly desperate for human connection, is desperate for love, attention and mass adoration. He was an orphan growing up all alone on the streets, surrounded by constant violence with nobody else but his brother to accompany and support him - of course he's going to be possessive of the only close person he has in his life, and won't be so willing to be separated from him.

Afo was rejected by society from the start for his meta ability, forced to kill. When in reality he probably just wanted what all humans want in their lives - to be accepted, needed and loved. That's human nature. That's, again, why he latched onto the demon king as the demon king was drawn surrounded by people in the comic. Afo wants to be surrounded by people as well. It's why he killed Luminescent baby. He was jealous that the guy got the attention and love and recognition that Afo never did. Afo wanted that mass following for himself

Afo was so dependent on Yoichi that he fell to toxic ways to keep the only human connection he had. And when Yoichi abandoned him, like everyone else in Afo's life, Afo lashed out in anger and killed him because the emotional pain of being left by this one person who was always there for him was too much for him to handle, we even see him crying afterwards while killing the second user.

And of course all this is covered up by Afo telling the story in a dehumanizing way, describing himself as "being born evil" and also dismissing how the constant violence growing up shaped and influenced him, normalizing cruelty for him

Afo probably also harbors a lot of self hatred if he describes himself as "draining his mom's life force away". He blames himself for her death but also doesn't want to acknowledge it and so explains it away with "I was born evil"

Afo covers everything up with "I was born evil". That way he doesn't have to face his own humanity - he's just evil. Evil has no emotions. Evil doesn't carry any responsibility for its actions. Evil is just evil. Evil is his nature and that's it so he doesn't have to feel any pain or guilt for what he does

Another thought here is that being a demon king would get Afo everything he wants, all the attention in the world without struggle

While being a hero means suffering for the sake of people who aren't grateful

Afo hates All Might because All Might turned that idea on its head. All Might made it so heroes were loved and adored and surrounded by attention from the masses while villains were feared and hated. Destroying this dream Afo had of being worshipped and needed by everyone by being the evil demon king.

Furthermore, Afo hates all the OFA users because they carry his brother's quirk and spirit inside them and due to his toxic upbringing and relationship Afo views his brother as "his", his "property", the only one who has any "right" to his brother, and he hates them for "stealing" his brother away. OFA is his brother's remnant, Afo wants it back.

Also I want to mention the parallels between Afo and Bakugo

Bakugo was born with a powerful quirk and worshipped by everyone around him for it and developed a "might makes right" mentality

Afo was born with a powerful quirk but feared and hated by everyone and that rejection developed a "might makes right" mentality

Bakugo eventually realized he was wrong and apologized

Afo never did and never wants to. He doesn't want to be human because of all the pain that being human entails