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[shiggysquishy]

just wanna pop in and say that (the way i see it) hawks totally tried to kill twice, even before dabi showed up.

added with him saying something like "if neither side is willing to give up, someone has to die eventually" a few moments before he stabs twice's clone through his scar, will have very probably not stopped the movement of the blade had dabi not showed up. the fact he says "i'll be sure to tell the league that" kind of implies Twice won't be here to tell them that himself.

Do you think Twice was Hawks' first kill?

I like Hawks, and while I understand why he killed Twice (even though I was devastated by it) since the man himself was a literal one-man army, however, after reading some of your articles which noted how he was doing it because the commission trained him and his behavior it got me thinking.

Hawks was surprisingly calm throughout the ordeal, even when he was about to kill him. I maybe overthinking it, but I don't think that would be the behavior of someone who had never killed before.

Lady Nagant was raised to be an assassin and performed dirty tasks for the Hero Commission, along with who knows how many other heroes. Who's to say Hawks is not the same?

He certainly acts very desensitized about it. @/transhawks has written some excellent posts on this, but Hawks switches between trying to non-lethally apprehend Twice to cold-blooded murder at the flick of a switch, and it happens over the course of a single page. The abruptness of it is intentional, and it is meant to read as unsettling. It shows that despite how on the surface Hawks still retains that boyish wish to save people, there is still a disconnect between Takami Keigo and the Winged Hero Hawks, between his humanity and the soldier the commission has turned him into.

The parallels with Lady Nagant, as you mentioned, help us put this into perspective. Like Hawks, she was also a soldier, a hired gun that killed prehemptively whenever the commission saw a threat to the status quo. This is an important detail to note because she's stated to have acted on killing orders before a proper investigation could take place, without any proof of criminal misconduct. In essence, what she did was getting rid of people on suspicion of a crime. Or, to be more precise, on the suspicion that the people gathering to complain about the status quo would one day, if left to their own devices, potentially become violent criminals. In other words, extrajudicial murders. Nagant was the commission's chosen executioner, not a hero.

We see this reflected in Hawks as well. The crime Hawks accuses Twice of is having a quirk that could, potentially, become a threat to the status quo. He's seen how dangerous it was when Twice unleashed its full power in Deika, and the soldier in him knows that Twice is a threat that needs to be neutralized.

This is where it becomes interesting, though, because again, Hawks doesn't immediately strike to kill. At first, he only aims at tendons, seeking to immobilize Twice to capture him alive. That changes when Dabi shows up. Hawks realizes he's outnumbered, and he cannot realistically defeat Dabi and take Twice away at the same time. So he acts like a soldier. He cuts his losses and murders Jin.

I think that for me, what reads as more uncanny is not the fact that Hawks kills without remorse, but rather that he can go so quickly from seeing Twice as someone worth reformation, someone who still has a future, to cutting that future short with his own hands so fast. How quickly he can go from "because I like you" to stabbing him in the back. His whole demeanor changes abruptly enough to give the readers whiplash. Where did the hero who instinctively rolled Twice out of the way of Dabi's flames go?

Hawks himself puts it best: "after getting this far, I couldn't allow mere sentiment to trip me up."

There's no way of telling for sure if Twice was Hawks' first kill, but I think there's a chance that it was. If so, the reason why Hawks acts so nonchalant about it likely is because the commission taught him how to take a scalpel to his own emotions and surgically remove them at will when he needs to. Which is a lot more horrifying than plain brainwashing & propaganda. But from the people who stole his name and his identity with it, I'd expect no less

[shiggysquishy]

on the symbolism of Dabi burning down Toga's house

I haven't seen anyone discuss this yet, so in light of all the misreadings about Dabi's intentions, let's talk about symbolism.

Why the house, specifically? Has anyone tried to wonder about why did Horikoshi bother to show us that scene? What does burning a empty house full of bad memories mean, aside from a cool backdrop for a dramatic one-liner?

Well, you see. Horikoshi isn't actually very subtle. This is the third time in a row he deliberately used a house as symbolism of despotic control, and of finding your true self-expression by getting rid of the chains holding you back.

[under a cut for length]

Exhibit one: Tenko

again, since Horikoshi has the subtlety of a flamethrower, he literally showed the Shimura's house as the background of this very telling line.

Let's recap: Shimura Kotaro was a middle-class man who became wealthy pretty young. Being well-off, he built a home for his family, and invited his in-laws to live with him. As a result, as it's pretty much implied, he became the patriarch of that household. Everyone depended economically on him, and this is likely the reason why Nao, his wife, waited a very long time before starting to oppose the way he ruled said house. Arguably, she waited too long. By the time tragedy struck, Tenko's sense of self had been literally beaten to the point of snapping under pressure.

It is important to note here that despite being the main instigator, Kotaro is not the only adult to blame for Tenko's emotional neglect. The whole household contributed to it in one way or another, as we're explictly told

Nao was a loving mother, but she also refrained from stepping in until the abuse tuned from “just” emotional to physical as well. Tenko's grandparents soothed him with treats instead of defending him in front of his father. Hana broke as many rules as Tenko, but lied to get away with it by blaming her brother instead.

In other words, Tenko grew up without a single shred of validation from any of them. Instead of encouraging him as parents should, they actively tried to dissuade him from pursuing his dreams. And when that failed, they singled him out as the reason why the family wasn't happy. Kotarou tells Tenko to his face that all he wanted was to create a happy family. The implication being, of course, that Tenko was an obstacle to that.

The “peace” of that household rested on the expectation that Tenko should just “quit” his aspiration to become a hero because it didn't make his father happy. All of them let the abuse happen, expecting that Tenko would one day accept to follow his father's rules.

Tenko was (thought to be) quirkless, but he was still denied his individuality. And Shigaraki tells us this. The house he grew up in “gently denied him.” What this means is that he wasn't allowed self-expression. He had to sneak around his father's office, play heroes with his sister in secret, swallow back his protests when he got “punished”, all because the family as a unit functioned on the assumption that everyone should just act in a way that the patriarch found palatable.

The house as this symbol of rejection of your true self comes back again in Shigaraki's dreamscape. Quite tellingly, too. So when he finally frees himself from their shackles (or the choking hands, if you will),

symbolically the house appears once again, but it's now in tatters:

How does this relate to the most recent chapter, you might wonder. I'm getting there.

Exhibit 2. Touya

With Touya, the house symbolism is a lot less prominent, but it's still there. For one it's reflected in the power imbalances of the household. Much like Kotaro, Enji is an authoritative patriarch who built a home with his wealth and influence. He bought a wife, had kids, and showcased his power by buying a huge traditional-style house. It could even be argued that Rei is as dependant on her husband as Nao was to Kotaro, since the Himura family was stated to be poor and in decline.

The parallels don't stop there. In the Todoroki mansion there are no rules, but there's still roles to play, and a looming father's will that reigns absolute. Just like Tenko, Touya gets rejected for his stubborn refusal to “quit" (the training) for his own good and singled out as the reason of the family's unhappiness. This can be seen both in how the family still sees Shouto vs how they see Dabi, but also in their background. For one, instead of easing Touya's abandoment issues, Enji's idea of “fixing” the family after Touya attacked his youngest son was... to isolate Shouto. The implication being that Touya was the problem, not the parenting itself (or lack thereof).

This goes on. Shouto grows, becomes everything his father had always wanted, and Touya becomes more and more invisible in his parent's eyes. Once again, the child's ambition is blamed as the reason that legitimizes the neglect. If Touya could just give up the training. If he would just stop burning himself. If he could make friends like a normal kid and find other hobbies instead of being obsessed with becoming his father's heir.

It's the same routine as above. Instead of addressing the actual cause behind the family's unhappiness, the Todoroki all subconsciously (or not) wish for Touya to simply... deny who he is and move on. For the sake of the rest of the family. It gets so bad that they cannot even look him in the eyes anymore. If Tenko's family “gently denied him,” Touya's straight up didn't acknowledge his existence, until the moment he too snapped under that pressure.

So once again, the household itself becomes a symbol of that rejection. This is exemplified by this panel:

Where we see Dabi symbolically “crying” blood over a panel depicting the Todoroki household, the house that abandoned him, the house that didn't even recognize him when he came back. And he's pleading for them to look at him.

Annnd now we get to exhibit 3. Our girl Toga.

Toga's backstory is much more succint than the other two, so the parallels we can draw are limited. But this chapter shows that they're still very much present.

During her fight against Curious, we see Toga reject the idea that she's a deviant, that she's not the typical definition of a “normal” girl. And in her flashbacks, we learn why. Ever since her quirk manifested, she developed a fascination for blood. But instead of being nurtured with love, her parents rejected her as “monstrous” for it. They verbally abused her and made her go through quirk counseling, seeking to repress the part of herself that craved blood as just another body function.

Quirk prejudice here definitely played a role. This gets a little lost in translation but the original word for quirk, “kosei”, means individuality. The worldbuilding of the series shows us multiple examples of how this rationalization of superpowers has lead to a toxic mindset. To hero society, individuals are their quirk. They stop being seen as human beings and they become containers of powers that are either exploitable or too dangerous. This is why, for example, killing Twice made sense to an utilitarian soldier like Hawks. Twice was his friend, and he liked him as a person, but Twice was also the container of a quirk that was too powerful not to be a threat.

Hero society, and the HPSC in particular, promotes this idea that quirks have value depending on their marketability, on how easily they can be commodified by serving society through a hero license. This is why flashy combat-types are seen as the top of the social pyramid, and why those... let's say “less palatable” quirks like Shinsou's are regarded with distrust and seen as “villainous.” So the former become tools at the HPSC's disposal, and they become heroes applauded by the masses. The rest is labeled as useless at best (Spinner, Deku), and a villain in the making at worst. Since the general assumption is that people are their quirks, and quirks are either good or bad, it follows that people would be categorized as good and bad on a moral scale according to them as well.

So, to bring this back to my original point. Toga's parents obviously gave in to societal pressure. Instead of understanding her power, they got scared of it. They, before anyone else, treated it as something dirty, as something that wouldn't be accepted, and forced Toga to repress it.

her flashbacks show her symbolically wearing a mask. This of course is a visual connection to Tenko and Touya's backstories. Her "normal lufestyle" involved her lying about who she was, until she stopped being depicted with a face altogether. It's pretty straightforward, right there in the art. Her parents expected her to be that. A doll with a plastic smile painted on.

Much like Touya, she became the subject of various "if only" scenarios that were aiming to "fix" her. If only she was less weird. If only she would quit drinking blood. If only she was normal.

All three kids were asked to be someone they weren't for the sake of appeasing their parents. Tenko was told to obey rules. Touya was told to move on with his life. Toga was made to act like a watered-down version of herself. All three of them eventually snapped under pressure. All three of them left the nest in hopes of finding the means to a better self-expression. Tenko thought he found someone who accepted him for who he is in AFO. Touya thought he found a reason to live in the rejection of everything his father is. Toga thought she found a family of strays who let her live how she pleases.

Point is, all of them found a reason to just be in each other's company. Cause all of their respective households were never much of a home to any of them. But this is where it gets interesting. During this arc, the symbolism of the house becomes a larger metaphor. It's no longer just a symbol of parental rejection, but of society's as well.

This chapter does a great job of showing this. Toga's house is destroyed and full of graffiti calling her a monster; this is a reflection of how society still sees her. They don't know the great empathy she's capable of. They don't know about her emotional intelligence. They don't see a teenage girl who's just trying to be, they see a disturbance, a threat to the masses' happiness.

Dabi went on national TV to unveil his father's abuse and call for a bit of sympathy from the population, for them to hold his father accountable for years and years of domestic violence. In turn, they called him annoying, insane, gave his abuser a second chance and are now pushing heroes to just “deal” with him and reassure them that everything will be okay.

In other words, on a much larger scale, those three kids who were scapegoated and villainized by their families are still being scapegoated and villainized for the sake of keeping up a pretense of normalcy. Only now it's by the whole country instead. If they just “quit” being villains, the problem will be solved. Society will still be on the verge of collapsing, heroes will continue to be corrupt and largely in for the fame and money, but society as a whole would be able to return to brushing everything they don't want to see under the rug.

Which, by the way, is exactly what the League is trying to fight. The League of villains, at its core (not counting AFO's influence), is a group of outcasts that was born from the need to destroy the current status quo. This destruction is largely a trauma response. It's not subversive; they're not trying to build something better in its place. They're simply seeking to dismantle a system that never made any breathing space for those like them. It's reactionary. It's anger. It's hurt.

With all of this in mind, I want you to see that Dabi burning Toga's house is an act of solidarity. Where society still doesn't accept her (them), sees her as a threat to stomp on, Dabi offers her companionship and acceptance, in his own Dabi way. He burns down the house that rejected her, the house bearing the angry signs of a crowd that still largely hates them, that blames them for the heroes' failures. Yes, Dabi frames it as seeing Toga as an asset, but he makes her part of her plan to wreck this ruthless, unsympathetic society that never loved them. There's compassion in this act, but you gotta see through the layers of his denial to see it for what it is. This is Dabi acknowledging their common ground. A few chapters back he said “I didn't go far enough” while watching his father's press conference and the lack of consequences he received. Now he's burning down a symbol of their rejection, of society's unwillingness to see them as people.

And that's character development, not manipulation.

Dai went from telling Shigaraki “I don't care about your personal feelings, boss” to asking Toga if she'd made up her mind and encouraging her to smile in the face of ruthless dehumanization. Cause where the masses see a blood-drinking monster, Dabi sees a girl who loves so intensely she can bring back the dead.

[shiggysquishy]

A young couple dies on their way to their wedding

On their way to get married, a young Catholic couple were involved in a fatal car accident. The couple found themselves sitting outside the Pearly Gates waiting for St. Peter to process them into Heaven. While waiting they began to wonder; Could they possibly get married in Heaven? When St. Peter arrived they asked him if they could get married in Heaven. St. Peter said, ‘I don’t know. This is the first time anyone has asked. Let me go find out,’ and he left. The couple sat and waited for an answer…. for a couple of months. While they waited, they discussed the pros and cons. If they were allowed to get married in Heaven, should they get married, what with the eternal aspect of it all? What if it doesn’t work? Are we stuck in Heaven together forever?’ Another month passed. St. Peter finally returned, looking somewhat bedraggled. Yes,’ he informed the couple, ‘You can get married in Heaven.’ ‘Great!’ said the couple. ‘But we were just wondering; what if things don’t work out? Could we also get a divorce in Heaven?’ St. Peter, red-faced with anger, slammed his clipboard on the ground. ‘What’s wrong?’ asked the frightened couple. ‘OH, COME ON!!!’ St. Peter shouted. ‘It took me 3 months to find a priest up here! Do you have ANY idea how long it’ll take to find a lawyer?

[shiggysquishy]

Let’s not forget to acknowledge Alexandre Dumas this Black History Month

The writer of two of the most well known stories worldwide, The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo was a black man. 

That’s excellence.

[shiggysquishy]

BNHA ch 267 - Dabi & Caring

BNHA chapter 267 has one panel that has been polarizing. In one panel, Dabi tells Hawks that he’s never given a crap about the League.

However, this isn’t the first time Dabi has said something along the same lines. For example, in chapter 224, the League meets up in the outskirts of Deika City. Giran has been kidnapped by the MLA, and now the League is tryna rescue him. Dabi questions why he had to get involved in this, and Twice tells him to show some respect ‘cause Giran brought Dabi to the League, in which Dabi responds: “Like I care.”

Previously, in chapter 222, the League is preparing to challenge Gigantomachia. Shigaraki has told the League about his early childhood, and Dabi is the first one to break the silence. He tells Shigaraki that he doesn’t care about Shigaraki’s feelings, and that he isn’t gonna help the League with Gigantomachia since he has other things in his mind. Shigaraki is entirely fine with this. He tells Dabi that he’s looking forward to meeting this new ally who’s keeping Dabi occupied. So, technically, nothing or no one forces Dabi to do anything he doesn’t want to do.

Yet, in chapter 227, when Dabi sees Shigaraki pushing forward, he decides to fight against the MLA with the rest of the League.

If Dabi just needed a criminal organization to back him up and make sure that he stays alive as long as he needs to in order to accomplish his personal goal, why doesn’t he try to betray the League here and join the MLA? He ends up fighting against Geten, and this battle could’ve ended in Dabi’s death. As Geten points out in chapter 230, Dabi can’t fight for very long without getting burnt by his own flames. He still decides to fight ‘til the end, tho. A cold and calculative mastermind would retreat, but Dabi won’t.

In the same chapter, Dabi refuses to help Mr. Compress against the MLA, but this is not ‘cause he doesn’t care. Instead, Dabi spots an army of Twice’s clones and tell Compress to join them. So, essentially Dabi is making sure that Compress does the smart thing even when he’s tryna focus on his own battle against Geten.

The thing is that Dabi is not vocal about his emotions. More often than not, he’s not present when the rest of the League is just hanging out, and no one knows what he does. No one knows anything about his likes, and the only thing time he’s said anything about liking or disliking stuff without a manic smile on his face happens in chapter 240 where he tells Spinner that Spinner can have his sushi ‘cause he hates fish. One could even say that this is a peace offering since Dabi did insult Spinner in chapter 160 by calling him “Lizard”, and Spinner hated it. So, why does he make extra sure to inform that he doesn’t care about the League whenever he can?

vs

To fully understand Dabi, you have to look at the situation where Dabi is in. This arc started around chapter 258 with a flashback. Hawks recollects how he and Twice became “friends”, and around chapters 258 – 259, it is revealed that the heroes are going to attack in two locations, the Jaku Hospital and the PLF hideout. So, at this point, the heroes are attacking the villains, and in chapter 263, Cementoss makes the first move against the PLF by tearing the mansion wall down with his quirk. The PLF assembles, but Dabi is shown to go the opposite way from them, and Toga and Compress don’t seem to join the rest of the PLF either, which indicates that none of them are on board with the PLF’s plans.

In chapter 264, Dabi is walking upstairs and approaching the room where Hawks and Twice are fighting. So, at this point Dabi must’ve been aware of Twice’s whereabouts, and sure, one could argue that he’s been keeping an eye out for Hawks ‘cause he looks like he’s so ready to kill Hawks, but him being thrilled about his plan coming together doesn’t mean that he can’t care about the League members. These feelings won’t contradict one another.

In chapter 265 Hawks tells Twice that he’ll make sure that the League will know what Twice said about the League before his death. Hawks is about to deliver the final blow when Dabi enters the stage, telling Hawks that there’s no need to deliver any messages and that he’d heard everything loud and clear. This is also where Dabi overpowers Hawks and stomps on his face. Chapter 266 begins with Dabi verbally defending Twice after Hawks has said that Twice is unlucky. When Dabi talks to the League members, he’s rude, but Hawks is an outsider, and Dabi isn’t having it.  Dabi has nothing to gain here since he could encourage Twice later on if he needed to do that, and that’d be enough. But instead, Dabi speaks to Hawks, calling Hawks’ standard screwed up. This is not how “not caring” works.

The fight continues, and Dabi tells Twice that the others are waiting. He is referring to Toga and Compress instead of the entire PLF, and if Dabi’s only goal was to make sure that his side wins, it’d make more sense for him to tell Twice to go assist heavy hitters such as Geten. Toga and Compress are stealth fighters, especially Toga, so from a strategical POV, they aren’t the best people clone at first in such a strength-based battle where blows need to be delivered fast. And this also indicates that Toga and Compress lowkey know what Dabi is planning. Dabi even gives Twice a high five before they part ways, and this isn’t a cold and calculated move from someone who’s supposed to conjure fire from both hands. No, it was a brotherly move.

Everything goes wrong when it turns out that Hawks is faster than anticipated. The chapter 266 ends when Twice dies ‘cause Hawks managed to stab him from behind. However, one remaining clone of his manages to save Toga and Compress from the heroes before the clone melts away, Toga hugging him. 

We don’t get to see Dabi’s reaction ‘til chapter 267, but boy, he is enraged. He usually likes to burn his enemies as fast as he can (like those street thugs in chapter 115 and Snatch in chapter 160), but right now, he’s being deliberately slow. He’s basically treating Hawks like his new favorite chewing toy, and he smiles this manic smile throughout the entire chapter as he continues to torture Hawks with his flames. At this point, Hawks has lost his wings, but Dabi is prolonging this fight ‘cause he wants Hawks to suffer for killing Twice. Again, an emotion-based move, and from a strategic POV, this isn’t the best idea. So, this highlights that Dabi cares. He wants blood and ashes ‘cause he fcking cares.

Now, to recap the entire situation, the PLF has been attacked just mere moments ago, and Dabi is in the middle of a fight, and he’s lost a friend. He’s never talked about his feeling except when he’s highlighting how little he cares about the League, but the thing is that if you don’t care about people, you don’t remember to bring them up. Dabi does. Every time. Sure, Hawks is kinda pushing it by asking Dabi if that’s a face of a man who’s lost a friend. Hawks says that he’s looked into the League’s backgrounds and that there was no info about Dabi or Shigaraki. This is where Dabi tells Hawks that Hawks should’ve focused on Dabi instead of anyone else – and this is also where Dabi says that he doesn’t care about the League. But the thing is that there’s absolutely no point in saying that if this that’s the case. Statements like that don’t achieve a thing, but they do have shock value, and when you are a criminal, you do have a lot of enemies. You wanna people to think that you care about no one ‘cause if people think this is true, no one will be held against you.

So, this is not “not caring”. This is trash talk coming from someone who wishes they didn’t care the way they do.

[shiggysquishy]

No its actually SO FUNNY that Studio Bones were like “Cut out Spinner. Cut out his narration. Cut out his connection to Tomura. Just cut out his entire arc” and then Hori came up to them, BITCH SLAPPED THEM with this chapter and said “Actually he’s the face of a revolution, which is an IMPORTANT plot point not only for the League but for Hero Society as a whole. For the series ITSELF. Let’s see you backtrack out of this one, fuckers”

[shiggysquishy]

I know this is a really vague thing to ask, but do you have any tips for writing Shigaraki? I know Echodrops made a whole meta about fanon Shigaraki vs canon Shigaraki but do you personally have anything in particular you'd want to mention yourself about the portrayal of Shigaraki in fanfics?

(Here’s the link to @echodrops‘s post! It’s really, really good, and helped me figure out Shigaraki a lot in the first place. thank you!)

oooh! Not at all a vague thing, this is a great question. I started all this meta because I wanted to figure out how to write Shigaraki as well. A word of caution tho, because this would be my personal interpretation of Shigaraki, though I’ll try to use as much manga examples as I can. As always, super long post. 

Note: images are edited to fit exact quotes to relevant and reasonable sized images, instead of a whole manga page

Here’s some hand man characteristics/traits that I think are overlooked:

Shigaraki Tomura, in his beliefs/values, has a tendency for all-or-nothing thinking, to be extreme in his actions. In all three of his incarnations - the oneshot Tenko, the draft Sazanka, and this current one - a core of the character is 1) finding something flawed/bad/had hurt him somehow 2) completely loathing it 3) vowing to destroy it. 

Tenko despised samurai and their warring, and wishes to rid the world of swords. Sazanka is on a quest to kill quirk-users with quirks he deems too dangerous for society. And Shigaraki has decided that the Heroes and justice system is a farce, and is out to destroy it. 

Kinda fitting for a guy with his quirk - he either doesn’t destroy something, or destroys it completely. The moment he makes his decision, it’s fast and permanent. 

For Shigaraki, murder is murder, destruction is destruction, violence is violence, no matter how you dress it up. That’s why he couldn’t see the difference between him and Stain. That’s why he can’t see that Bakugou, as aggressive and vicious as he is, still wants to be a good guy. 

Now this is my take, but I think his mindset is: Because All Might can’t save everyone, he’s a fake, he’s trash; because everyone will say they condemn murder yet go about their lives carefree even though they know logically someone is out there getting killed, morality and justice is an illusion; because justice is so fragile and flimsy, I will expose it and destroy it. 

Not in any goodwill or for a better society, mind you. He just hates it. 

He also has no illusions about himself or his actions, he knows he’s evil.

Shigaraki is a lot more sarcastic and sardonic than usually portrayed in fanon. He’s very rude and can be foul mouthed, but the real insult comes from his tone and behavior. He condescendingly calls Eraserhead cool. He calls Stain the ‘Great Senpai of scoundrels’. He points out to Overhaul how a wakagashira/underboss like him should be more polite. Just about half of everything he says is dripping with mockery, and he’s very breezy and irreverent. So a bit less ‘I hate you, fuck off’, and more cheek.

Keep reading

[shiggysquishy]

Dabi has contributed more to society by making his broadcast where he brought attention to the dark sides of hero society and pointed out how each individual needs to be more critical of the heroes, than a hero just doing their job and being easily replaceable. So idk why people act like he's the bad guy, when he's advocating for change that is going to ensure less kids turning out like him, therefore helping reduce crime rates in the future, and more importantly automatically showing a bigger heart than the heroes who care so much about their own reputation that it becomes questionable what about them exactly is heroic.

[shiggysquishy]

You want ideals? He’s had ‘em!

An Exploration of Tomura’s Ideals (Part 1)

We really don’t give Shigaraki enough credit for a certain line that was overshadowed by what he said prior to it.

So, this is a very big line for Shigaraki, right? He states this, says it to /Endeavor/ of all people, and also links it to his father’s violence against him. BUT what does he say right after?

One of the things that has consistently been a problem for Shigaraki is people absolutely doubting his intentions and ideals. They oversimplify his action of wanting to destroy everything as destruction just for the sake of it. And perhaps he doesn’t himself realize he’s had convictions and ideals from the start. This has happened right from the very beginning.

This essay is devoted to documenting how Shigaraki’s ideals have always been present from the very beginning and how both ‘allies’ and foe alike have consistently denied their existence because Tomura’s actual ideals are incredibly linked to him feeling compassion and sympathy for others, which is not a trait either AFO would have wanted encouraged nor would his heroic foes want acknowledged. 

I. How Shigaraki is constantly portrayed as a manchild 

This entire page is the first time we see any sort of ‘villain’ ideology. Tomura is saying that the heroes are just as violent and disruptive as the villains, and that their violence is only reactionary and thus merely prolongs or adds to the cycle of violence - and that the designation of good and bad, in that light, is not a real designation. The Fallen Angel scans (RIP) put it more bluntly;

Tomura has always been upset at the way heroes are lauded by society for the violence and pain they cause. Because he’s been on the receiving end of that, whether by people ignoring him as a blood-covered five year old as a child so that heroes ‘could do their job’, or his father taking out his trauma over his mother choosing heroism over him on his own child. 

But notice how All Might immediately disregards anything Tomura says? And how Tomura readily agrees? He’s standing here, a few days after turning twenty, meaning an adult in Japanese society, and he’s told that his feelings aren’t genuine. Kurogiri and All For One believe that to be the case too, which is why he’s being ‘educated’.

Stain throws aside Tomura’s plans as ‘a tantrum’, because Shigaraki tells him he wants to destroy what he doesn’t like. No one really asks questions as to why he doesn’t like the society that holds up All Might, not those who ‘care’ for him and those who don’t, so his actual ideals and feelings go unacknowledged or, frankly, infantilized. The framework here is that Shigaraki is a manchild, so his motivations can’t be complex, or above wanton destruction and the satisfaction he can get from it. 

Stain is particularly important here because he’s also the first in a series of three adversarial villains to disregard Tomura’s capacity for holding ideals. Once again Tomura is asked his convictions, and first denies having them, but then states once more that he wants to ruin the society that made All Might.

Like everyone else, Stain then says, Shigaraki has something that needs to be nourished, a ‘seed of warped conviction’. It’s really fascinating that weeks after becoming an adult, Tomura is very much seen as a child by everyone around him. Kurogiri thinks of him as a child to be guided, All For One’s title of Sensei speaks clearly to his relation of him as someone who has something to ‘teach’ Tomura. Simply put, even someone who cares about Tomura, like Kurogiri, doesn’t think he has anything he believes in but a childish need for destruction. And this perception is nurtured too - from how Ujiko talks to him later on.

I do want to also say that Tomura doesn’t protest against being treated like a small child or told all his actions are devoid of any ‘true’ meaning besides a need for wanton destruction. Which is why he keeps saying he doesn’t “have convictions” to people. You can see that down below, in how Overhaul (the second of the adversarial villains) simply insults Tomura’s way of leading and calls it daydreaming, while Ujiko calls him a child with friends from the wrong crowd.

Why? Because he was groomed to reject the idea he had any ideals. In one of the scenes where Tomura has his third ‘adversarial’ villain encounter, with Redestro, he both affirms and rejects his grooming and we see in a flashback that the belief he has no ideals was literally instilled into him from the beginning.

It’s AFO’s prerogative to have an empty vessel full of hate, which is why from the start he starts telling Tomura that all he can do is destroy and all he wants to do is destroy. That morals and ideals are meaningless and only seek to control others. Tomura isn’t exactly as a manchild as much as he’s forced to be this way by AFO, with Ujiko and Kurogiri upholding that same grooming (the latter being programmed to do so). And the world reacts accordingly despite Tomura lack of outward disagreeing. As will be explored in part 2 of this essay, Tomura shows a paradox where his words, when questioned, mostly agree and voice his grooming and abuser’s opinions while his actions certainly don’t.

[shiggysquishy]

Things to remember about Toga:

She’s currently 17. She’s only one year older than the kids in Class 1-A.

She was 15 when she first stabbed someone, 16 when she was on the lam living in the streets, 17 when she confronted Uraraka in Chapter 288/289 during the Gigantomachia rampage.

Within HeroAca world standards and laws, Toga Himiko is a minor and would/should be treated as one, even with a Villain designation.

.

There is absolutely no evidence she killed the old woman she shapeshifted into to lure Uraraka to her.

Toga’s quirk requires only blood, and even a drop will do. She’s shown to be able to make use of blood from a simple scratch of the skin, and her equipment allows her to extract blood from a distance via a syringe.

Despite needing a full cup of Camie’s blood to get through a whole day of the Hero license exam, Toga didn’t kill Camie; just knocked her out and took what she needed.

So maybe Toga killed the old woman; but it’s just as likely that she didn’t, and instead got blood via another method, whether it’s a passing by extraction or making use of spilt blood by someone who already died.

There’s a world of difference there, between a non-lethal stabbing and full murder.

.

Toga, by herself, was not actively interfering with rescue operations - she was requesting help for herself. (The definitions of all that is up for debate, but that’s the point - it‘s debatable.)

Plus. even if Toga’s partly, indirectly responsible for Gigantomachia’s rampage, she’s still someone in the disaster zone and at risk. She’s just as likely to get injured or crushed.

As a Hero, Uraraka has a duty to rescue Toga as well, to help her evacuate, same as every other citizen.

Perhaps that sounds unfair, and maybe it is, but too bad. As public servants/first responders, Heroes likely don’t have the option to decide which life to save or not save.

.

Toga explicitly told Uraraka that someone tried to kill her. (And so her killing of Curious is self-defense.)

As a Hero, Uraraka should have responded to that with concern. Once again, it’s literally her job.

.

Toga quickly and simply accepted what Uraraka told her about ‘living with the consequences of her actions.’

She didn’t protest or argue or tried to change Uraraka’s mind or find justifications.

Toga confirmed her suspicions and accepted it and left.

idk, there’s something to be said about honest villains.

And there’s also something to be said about Heroes - who are obligated to protect all citizens - who, even if inadvertently, tell someone (even if a Villain, Toga’s still a citizen and not even an adult one) they’re not worth saving.

I’m not one to coddle Villains and make excuses for them, but these points are, at bare minimum, all true, important, and relevant. If Heroes, based on their own claimed values and standards, wants to be just and righteous societal guardians who save as many people as they can, these things gotta be considered.

[shiggysquishy]

An absolutely disgusting boy

[shiggysquishy]

the crusty and burn jokes are so fucking old, i swear i lose multiple braincells everytime i hear someone mention chapstick when talking about shigaraki

I need y’all to look at this really quick

oh would you look at that, same old stale and unfunny jokes 😂, like Shigaraki and the crusty jokes, yawn! come up with something fresh people!

[shiggysquishy]

[shiggysquishy]

why are you wasting all your energy into hating characters and plotlines and other people and discussing what's valid what's toxic and who's right or wrong when you could unanimously direct all the anger towards studiobones' choice of postponing my villain academia

[shiggysquishy]

So they're just not gonna show us the League in poverty or them wrecking that bigoted cult at all? They're not gonna show us shiggy living off energy bars? They're not gonna set up SUSHI?

Bruh.

[shiggysquishy]

man isn’t that the dream

Mentally I am sold to the league of villains and me and Shigaraki’s tongues are fighting for dominance.

[shiggysquishy]

Give me a big smile