#afo critical

[sapphic-agent]

Alright, so the leaks.

@ The AFO battle was just...??? What in the Hell??? That's literally all I have to say to it because the only way to get rid of AFO is to turn him into a fucking baby and have Bakugo fight said baby. It was the most ridiculous thing, that I just laughed at it. Because what the Hell????????? Minus that, I'm glad he's gone so we can FINALLY focus on Izuku VS Shigaraki.

Which, I have to ask, how in the HELL did Shigaraki tell Danger Sense?? Like, is it because AFO is dead now and Shigaraki can have, like- full access to the quirk(s) within OFA?? I just HOPE it's not a dumb thing like fucking jean heart and exploding blood over here. But I will say, it's nice to finally have some stakes again with Shigaraki being able to just destroy a city within just a week and him having Danger Sense, now. ....I just hope Izuku VS. Shigaraki is like the most epic fight we see while Izuku is weirdly side lined via the whole AFO VS Bakugo... thing.

The ONLY way to salvage MHA is to give us a kick ass Izuku vs Shigaraki fight. Maybe then I'll think about forgiving Horikoshi.

AFO turning into a baby is one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen in a manga. And not even the kind of bizarre that's, "Oh that's so cool and creative" the kind of bizarre that's, "Well that was fucking weird." Also pretty insensitive to have Bakugou of all people fight him in that form considering what's been happening in the world lately. There was just no reason for it.

(AFO in general was such a let down. When he was first introduced he was a calm and collected master manipulator. Later chapters changed that into him just being a child who never grew up throwing a temper tantrum. This was the guy that ruled Japan's underbelly for 200 years, killed almost every OFA user, and chronically injured ALL MIGHT. And you mean to tell me that this was underneath that? Just a pathetic child? Freaking Dad For One fics gave him more personality and seriousness than that)

I'm gonna assume Shigaraki has full access to AFO now. That would make the most sense, not that Hori's known for doing that

[doodlegirl1998]

I saw your ask about how you would change MHA and want to add...AFO should be utterly pathetic.

Yes. I love evil mastermind as much the next guy. But AFO is a loser, look he has a powerful quirk and could have taken down the world but he instead figgle his tumbs and pines over Yoichi.

(The final villains should have been Redestro and HC)

Like the man is such loser...if I see any fic where he is a competent villain...I will think is an oc.

But let me ask you this: aside fron how loser AFO is, have you noticed how the world in mha seems to be a dystopia?

Hi @mikeellee 👋,

My issue with AFO is essentially this, he was built up by Hori at the beginning as someone who was meant to be the big bad, intimidating, powerful and a real threat to the heroes.

Yet later in the series he makes some of the most dumbass and infuriating decisions and reactions. I'll give some examples:

Screwing Shiggy's potential as a threatening villain in his own right? - AFO's fault.

AFO getting scared by a first year (Tokoyami and Dark Shadow) and getting strange PTSD off Bakugou? What the fuck was that Hori?!

Staying in Tartarus and waiting for Shig to get him out even though he could bust out at anytime himself? Lazy motherfucker.

Getting tricked by first year's including the UA traitor, who he didn't think to secure the loyalty of somehow? Like I don't know by making Yuuga explode like we just saw him do to Nagant? Yeah AFO didn't think to do that apparently...

I can find pathetic AFO funny and can laugh about it at times however an reflective issue of that on the story is this : If AFO becomes a pathetic villain by extension all the OFA holders 1 - 8 (including All Might become pathetic too.) Because if he is pathetic it shouldn't take 8/9 generations of OFA holders to end him.

As for your next point -

The main villains should be ReDestro and the HPSC. I can see where you're coming from and I think it would be a more interesting story if they were bigger villians. Many themes and ideas would tie organically here

1) ReDestro could have a quirk marriage of his own to carry on and strengthen his / his families legacy. (A good idea you gave to me in our private messages. This would fit his character.)

2) Geten being a Himura would tie in organically here as well as having him parallel Endeavor's lust for power/ attitude.

It would tie more into the world building of MHA and "heroic corruption" that Hori tells us off but never shows (bar Endeavor whose pathetic redemption undermines that anyway.)

And the final point - is MHA as a dystopia?

So a Dystopia is defined as this on Google

'An imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.'

Hmmm. Yes I can see where you are coming from. I would definitely say that Hori wanted to set it up as the heroic industry / society being corrupt and flawed initially and Deku / his peers to be the one to change that before he pivoted hard away from this angle and the systemic issues go ignored.

Quirkless Discrimination? Unexplored / unresolved.

Mutant Discrimination? Barely given the focus it deserved.

HPSC corruption? Destroyed by a ReDestro clone so they're now a non issue except when Hori wants us to feel sympathy for Hawks or Nagant.

Quirk marriages/ corrupt heroes like Endeavor? Well a 'hero' like that could easily happen again because he received no consequence for being an abusive POS or engaging in a quirk marriage. Also the ranking system remains in place so someone else abusive, powerful and equally driven could occur again.

Do you feel how infuriated I am with all this? Why waste this set up like this, Hori?!

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

A reminder that Spinner canonically compares himself to Dabi and feels inferior to the rest of the League of Villains.

Part of the reason he allowed AFO to manipulate him is because he wanted to be reliable, as in he wanted to be stronger to be of use to Tomura. So again, he's canonically kinda jealous not only of Dabi's quirk, but of him as a person.

[bicheetopuff]

Y’all are getting annoying with all of this hate. This chapter didn’t go the way you wanted it to so you start calling hori a terrible writer? You start saying it’s disgraceful? Are you for real?

Why’re we acting like the story is over? Was there a “the end” somewhere that I missed? Was there a conformation that Shigaraki was completely dead that I also missed? You guys are right that there are some things that didn’t make sense and that it felt a little rushed and how Nanas connection with Shigaraki was off screened but, we still have chances to see all of that.

The thing with Nana might come up with All Might and Gran Torino incase y’all forgot that he’s apart of that whole thing. There could a flashback for Tomura Shigaraki: Rising. Shigaraki could manifest overhaul and put himself back together.

Here’s the thing though, Deku was never motivated to save Shigaraki, he wanted to save the crying child inside of him. AFO was rewinding his age every time he died for like 30 fucking chapters, are you really convinced that he didn’t make sure Shigaraki, his vessel/escape goat, didn’t have the same quirk just incase? Wouldn’t it come full circle for Shigaraki to come out of this as young Tenko? Wouldn’t that even make MORE sense than Deku trying to save someone that’s already too far gone physically? Shigaraki was literally falling apart, wtf was Deku gonna do? Glue him back together? Stop punching him while he was still possessed and trying to kill him and others?

Why is this fandom always mad when Deku does anything? Some people are saying he didn’t have any emotional investment in Shigaraki and that he didn’t show emotion when he died but, we haven’t even gotten the chance to see his reaction yet. The last page he’s super far away and facing away from the camera, how tf do you know he’s not upset? How do you know he’s not looking at Tenko right now?

All of this to say, can y’all just be patient for once? Wait a few chapters before you start literally wishing death on Hori for writing something that didn’t please you in a shonen manga. At this point, some of you need to just drop the series if it’s gonna get under your skin this much. I’m really tired of defending this fandom and being associated with it when y’all are being this outrageous. Some of you need to start thinking and reflecting after you read rather than just go straight to your keyboard and start throwing metaphorical rocks into Horikoshis metaphorically online window.

[delawaredetroit]

The removing of the mask symbolism is back - Aoyama's mask is sucked up by Thirteen immediately before he drops his façade and starts acting more underhanded here.

"I am what I am." Aoyama knew he would be forced to give away the location of the training camp and that those who fail would not be permitted to go. This is Aoyama accepting that he is the kind of person who would sabotage Ochako's exam in order to prevent something worse because he recognizes that he isn't brave enough to try to come forward.

[nutzgunray-lvt]

Horikoshi when fans ask him where the continuity and already established plot points are:

[justatalkingface]

Let's talk about the Nomu and the Remnants

So, among all the other fuck fuck games Hori played with late-game MHA, I don't think anyone has really... picked up on just what implications he's made when it comes to Remnants.

You see, once upon a time, Remnants only existed because OFA let them, kept them, empowered them. Even when it wasn't really expanded on at the time, the fact that Izuku had them was a sign of his Heroic Mandate (TM) and Destiny(TM), it was something unique to him, something that even All Might didn't have. But... you know, now AFO is just filled with a screaming chorus of those he has damned or something.

Let's... let's ignore the general clusterfuck of AFO for this, and just... all the late game stuff. Let's just talk about one thing: the fact that he has Remnants, and the fact they've been trying to talk to (murder) him.

And first off, that's a big retcon, because even if the OFA Remnants didn't want to murder their users, I'm pretty damn sure they'd want to talk to them all the same, and yet somehow only Izuku noticed, even before the clusterfuck of the extra Quirks kicked in.

But even that's not the point, that's just an appetizer. Because the thing is? The Quirks AFO is holding aren't the only Quirks he's taken, far from it.

There are the Quirks he's given to various people throughout the years, subordinates, would be supporters and probably some random people he wanted to torture.

The Nomu he's made, experimented on for decades.

Hell, all the Quirks he and Dr. Diablo Ex Machina have made (somehow) throughout this time.

That's hundreds, maybe thousand, of Quirks. Millions potentially, if we're looking at the copies and trying to get a number out of the vague 'and then we invented a whole new science just to fuck other people over' bit. And according to this late game stuff? Every single one of them is host to the mental copy of the person they were stolen from (or cloned from, presumably). And outside of a few exceptions, (vanishingly few; while there were people in the past, and in rare occasions the present, who didn't want their Quirks... the magic dream copy in the Quirk would still have their Quirk. For them, the problem hasn't gone away at all! Maybe some of the reason they hated it is gone, but even at best they're still bearing that thing they've always hated... and that's not even getting into people who just... hated them, or thought they were wrong. Or were afraid of hurting someone... only to be given to someone who doesn't share those same concerns, or even the same level of restraint they had. Even though the actual person got what they wanted, there's a copy of them that is still in hell, and knows they're never going to escape it, because they are their own nightmare.) every single Quirk was stolen by force. Every single one of the remnants in these people are just... suffering, and for all intents and purposes will remain that way, until the person bearing them dies.

And all of that? All of that doesn't get into the Nomus. The largely brain dead living corpses made smashing together likely Quirks with the same energy of a child trying to force together Legos, even before whatever process happens to condition them into being loyal. What the hell does that do to a mind? Do they stay separate? Do they... blend together? Does the body/dominant mind/most powerful Quirk just get implanted with memories and desires of complete strangers?

Every single one of those exposed brain monstrosities is a walking, talking torture device filled with damned souls of some unknown number, and who even knows about how much is in the High Ends.

Hell, what about the copied Quirks? Do they retain the full knowledge of who they were? Or does each copy... lose something, each in generation away from the original? Do they realize that they're missing some fundamental portion of themselves, that they're not real?

I'm pretty damn sure that this, like so many things, is something that just happened because Hori didn't think it through, because this is horrifying on levels it's hard to comprehend. It's a level of human suffering on the level of you'd get from the Dark Eldar in WH40K, and on both Hori and AFO's parts, it's entirely accidental. And yet, I don't think there's one part of this that isn't canon compliant, that there's nothing to disprove the idea that, somewhere in Aoyoma, there's some poor sod that was shoved in there, that inside AFO there's a copy of Eri.

Just... just something I want people to think about, because I don't want to be the only one.

[w1lmutt]

Thing is, it doesn't matter if Tomura isn't dead and will be brought back in the future or not. To me, the way his character had been utilized for the story since the end of the first war arc is goddamn awful

[irontragedyreview]

I have to say this, as someone who enjoys AFO character and DFO theory, I think Horikoshi exaggerated his origin with Yoichi to the extreme. Before anyone gets mad, I understand that suspension of disbelief exists but the AFO story is so, what would be an appropriate word? exaggerated, incoherent, etc. Now, as I said, I understand that what matters is the message behind the story, but I think that could have been achieved with a more realistic backstory, because the more I think about it, the more bad taste it leaves in my mouth. The idea that as a reader I have to believe that two newborn babies joined by the umbilical cord survived rivers, rats, etc. This becomes worse when you think about how they survived beyond their first days? Did someone take care of them? Because yes, AFO was supposedly not a normal baby but his body had all the limitations, it isn't the baby AFO who fought with bk but the newborn baby.

When you start to think about it and it makes so little sense and it kind of ruins his story for me a little bit.

[bibibbon]

AFO sucked as a villains it's so sad that hori had to make him the big bad when we had so many better villains like:

The commission

Overhaul (so much wasted potential)

The doctor

Re destro

Curious

There were sooo many better villains than

AFO and I literally don't buy the idea of AFO being the big bad because of how badly the narrative did him. I will admit he had the potential to be a good villain but I would of rather seen the doctor just betraying AFO and actually being the big bad guy.

[sapphic-agent]

Let's Talk About Shigaraki

I've had some time to collect my thoughts, so I think I'm ready to finally talk about Tomura.

Fair warning, this is more of a rant. Mostly because there isn't much to say except that Horikoshi hates this motherfucker, almost as much as he hates Izuku.

Tomura is a character whose autonomy and agency has been stripped by the narrative repeatedly. And that's not really uncommon in MHA (Izuku, Hawks, Shoto, etc.), so why am I pointing it out? Because Horikoshi's assassination of his character didn't need to happen. In fact, it feels like he bent over backwards to make sure it happened.

Anyone who's been around my blog long enough knows that the MLA arc is one of my favorites, I even put it in my top five MHA arcs. It did a great job of having Shigaraki progress as not only a villain but a leader and come into his own power. My one issue with it and what kept it out of top three was that it seemed to immediately undo all the progress Tomura made by making him want AFO (the quirk). Him gaining this quirk didn't tie into his goals at all and it flipped him from wanting to use his destruction to make a world for the LOV to be free in (Eric Vale's delivery of this scene in dub was fire btw, go watch it) to him just wanting more power. It was an extremely weird decision.

The PLA War further perpetuates this and it causes some confusion as to where Horikoshi was going with his character. Instead of a newly established in-control and ambitious villain, he turned Tomura into a puppet for All For One to use for his own benefit.

(Off topic, but that also felt out of character for AFO. Prior to this, he seemed to want Tomura to succeed and carve his own path, even taking the time to gently correct his outbursts and give him actual advice and guidance. You could argue that this was manipulation on his part, but it didn't feel like it at the time. Why would he want Tomura to be level-headed and calm if the plan was to use him as a husk for his own control? It felt way more like Tomura was initially meant to be his successor, not his puppet. This reads more like another Horikoshi retcon)

For some reason, it feels like the intention was to turn him into a victim for Izuku to save. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing... Except he didn't develop Izuku enough for him to be able to do that.

Izuku doesn't understand Tomura, he even admits this himself. He sees Tomura as someone who causes destruction for the hell of it. And you know what? He wasn't wrong going off his few interactions with him. But that's where we hit our problem; Izuku has not interacted enough with Tomura.

And honestly? There's no excuse for this. They're supposed to be our protagonist and antagonist. They're supposed to be parallels with one another. So why in the world do they only really have one intimate scene together?

(I have mentioned this before, but Izuku should have been the one kidnapped, not Bakugou. Bakugou being in this position provides nothing to the plot, especially because All Might would have sacrificed his power for anyone. Bakugou isn't a dynamic or integral enough character for this to benefit the character progression of Tomura or the rest of the LOV, but Izuku is. Him learning why they're villains would have really done so much for their characters, as well as his own)

This leaves their interactions during the Final War completely stagnant and stale. Izuku doesn't understand Tomura, and Tomura knows that. He sees Izuku as a goody-two-shoes with no understanding of how dark the world can be. Except Izuku does understand because he experienced it. But how would Tomura know that? And how would Izuku know how Tomura became a villain? There's no understanding between them which is why Izuku is unable to connect with Tomura like he did Stain and Gentle Criminal. Which is why him trying to save Tomura goes nowhere.

It didn't have to be like this though. Even if it was rushed, Horikoshi could have squeezed it in. He could have made the effort. He chose not to. Partly because he can't be assed to give either of them good development, but also because he avoids the shit Izuku went through like the plague. He hates to acknowledge it and when he does it's sugarcoated (and used for Bakugou's gain, not Izuku's own). Because of he gets into the nitty gritty of it, his favorite blond rat's "development" goes right out the window.

Horikoshi wrote himself into a corner here, which is why the Izuku vs Tomura fight is so lackluster. Their interactions mean nothing, so their fight means nothing. What's his solution to this?

To fucking kill Tomura and retcon his entire backstory to force AFO back into the plot.

The last shreds of agency Tomura had as a villain were ripped away. He can't even have his own tragic backstory at this point. Hell, Kotaro can't even own his own shitty decisions, blame is pinned on Nana even though him abusing his kids was his choice and AFO somehow had a hand in him having kids?? Ok.

(Abusive man not being held accountable without someone else- a woman- taking the shit for it, what else is new in MHA)

Also, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN AFO GAVE HIM DECAY?

In all fairness, this has been a theory for a while. But again, the entire point of his character in the MLA arc was that he took charge of his "cursed" power and made it his own. So AFO giving him Decay erases another part of his development.

(And to add to this, what exactly was the point of having him take a quirk away from Tomura? Why not make him born quirkless so a parallel can be drawn to Izuku (and even Aoyama)? What is it with Horikoshi and quirkless aversion? There are four characters born quirkless in the narrative even though they're supposed to make up 20% of the population: Izuku, Aoyama, All Might, Melissa. Only Melissa stays quirkless)

AFO just happening upon Tomura- desperate, shunned, and vulnerable- who just happens to be Nana's grandson makes him so much eviler and more despicable. Him seeing an exposed child and deciding to use him to be cruel to Nana's memory and Toshinori drives home his callousness. Making it so that he orchestrated it just takes away from that. Tbh, it just makes him look like a loser. So, both Tomura and AFO just suffered character assassination.

Back to killing Tomura, do you know how awful this comes off? This character claimed his own power and goals, only for that to be stripped by making him a puppet, the attempt to save him is drawn out and goes nowhere, and then he just fucking dies. Like he never mattered at all. Like trying to save him was a complete waste of time and there's nothing about him worth saving.

And people saying he deserved to die for his crimes, THAT ISN'T THE POINT. It isn't about what he did or didn't do. I couldn't care less about that. It's about how Horikoshi stripped him of agency again and again and then discarded him when he didn't serve the shitty narrative he created.

Tomura and Izuku deserved so much better than this

[doodlegirl1998]

I REALLY hope the latest leaks aren't true...

I REALLY hope I'm not seeing what I think I'm seeing...

AFO manipulated Tomura from his very conception since Hana was supposedly "too old" for him to do it to her. Which is INCREDIBLY stupid!

And not only that, Izuku also ended up losing BOTH of his arms! Like he hasn't had enough shit thrown at him than he already did!

And not ONLY that! The other characters started to show up and saying they'll take care of AFO!

So the Main FUCKING Character doesn't get the final fight to himself! He's crippled and has to rely on the other characters to do it for him!

What a fucking joke of a story! How can anyone read this and think this is good story telling!?

Hi @theloganator101 👋,

This story is a complete joke now.

The truth of Tenko's backstory and all the Kotaro and AFO friendship shit is just ridiculous.

Hana being too old feels like a lazy excuse as to why AFO didn't use her. Sure, AFO would have a harder time with her, but a kid accidentally murdering their whole family would make them susceptible to manipulation through that trauma whatever their age.

Izuku losing both arms felt disgusting to see. The manga panel was so gory. The poor kid has already lost his quirk he worked so hard to master, then his arms on top - he's bleeding out and distraught because of that, along with Shig dying. When help arrives, no one - not even the adult hero present - (FUCKING AIZAWA) is rushing to help him.

Aizawa gives an overdue apology (using Izuku's first name, that feels unearned and OOC), which well - I'll be blunt he fucking should be sorry. Aizawa didn't teach any of 1A this academic year (only someone outside his class!) then threw them all (including those who had problems with thier quirks) to the wolves against the biggest villians in Japan. He's lucky 1A aren't perma-dead yet (but some might be soon with Izuku's state and Ojiro, Sero and Sato rushing ShigAFO 😬.)

I have never seen an MC humiliated like this. Never have I seen an MC not be able to fight their own battles or achieve their goals quite like what Hori has done to Izuku recently.

How can Izuku be the number 1 hero, or be a hero at all, armless and quirkless?

How can he save Shigaraki when the villain is dead?

How can Izuku continue to fight at all, let alone against AFO, in the state he is in?

Izuku began the story as a quirkless civilian boy, and he looks like (if he survives) he is going to end it as a civilian again - quirkless as well as armless with a shit-ton of PTSD.

Rather than the, as previously promised by Hori, next number one hero.

This is not the manga I gleefully began investing in.

This has become morphing over time into something else entirely - a bastardisation of the original premise of MHA - My Abuser Academy.

I am so angry. Never have I felt bait and switched by a manga as much as I have this one.

[palesweetscherryblossom]

I’d be willing to forgive AFO possessing Shigaraki if it meant something in the end.

It’s no secret that AFO has abused and groomed Shigaraki, with emotional neglect, conditioning him and literally forcing him to carry around reminders of his dead family.

So possessing Shigaraki could be symbolic of AFO taking away Tomura’s autonomy and control.

But Hori didn’t really do anything with it! It was just AFO fucking around and shit.

And I’d be willing to forgive it, if Tomura got to kill AFO in the end.

AFO ruined Tomura’s life, especially if the theory of AFO giving Tomura decay is true.

Tomura was abused and used by AFO and killing him would’ve been brilliant symbolism of him taking back control and by default, his life.

But nah, let’s have Bakugou, someone with little ties to AFO, kill him instead!

*Insert banging my head on the wall*

Shigaraki deserved better in the narrative. He’s a damn good antagonist and honestly very interesting with his character and personality, if only he truly got to flourish.

@bibibbon

@mikeellee

@doodlegirl1998

@theuntamedangel

[tengoku-izumi]

I'm really conflicted about my post now. Because:😣

I can understand how people are having fun with chapter 410 of MHA, but damn! Bombs and infants, bombing an infant does not go well with current real events.

I understand that the said child here is the final Villain but do we really needed to see "Children of Darkness" getting bombed in the manga? If AFO was needed to be defeated only and only by Bakugo then why not the adult AFO? Why didn't the author make adult AFO fight Bakugo as Bakugo was in a "dire need for a villain"?

Though I think it was not Horikoshi's intention. I remember when SpyxFamily did show a chapter relating to war of the real events. And SpyxFamily author did a wonderful job showing how the war destroyed both sides. But MHA themes in these recent chapters sure left a really bad taste because of the current world events it's traumatic.

I'm sorry.

[delawaredetroit]

"All to prepare him to be the next me." This is the only time a "mentor" character says this in BNHA where it is in no way a figure of speech. Looking back on it, it's hysterical that All for One just point blank states his Shigaraki possession goals in his first appearance.

Even All for One's body language is hostile towards Shigaraki here. Frankly, it looks like All for One is about to grab him by the neck and strangle him (which as we have seen in the second war arc, that is one of All for One's go to methods for killing his enemies).

I do wonder if All for One could even remember Yoichi's face at this point. He used Shigaraki as a Yoichi replacement but seeing Shigaraki's face (back when All for One had eyes) probably dispelled the little brother illusion. Perhaps part of the reason he covered Shigaraki's face with a disembodied hand was that after a century or so a hand was all he remembered about Yoichi's appearance anymore.

[tardigradetheking]

AFO dying of rewind is stupid. Eri could never rewind herself and if it was killing him just like grab a hero or random civilian and pawn it off.