#bnha chapter 165 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bnhaobservation · 1 year

Text

BNHA Observations, speculations and assorted info: Pre-marriage Todoroki Enji (Part 1)

So, in order to write my fic, I spend much time observing canon scenes, comparing the manga and the anime version, take note of details, translations and info in them as well as finding out how are some things called.

Since what I noticed/speculated/found out can be of use for other fic authors I thought to share as well.

Resources:

Chap. 356 "Regarding the Enemy" (敵について Teki ni Tsuite) Chap. 93 "One For All's Ember" (残り火ワンフォーオール Nokoribi One for All) Chap. 165 "Win Those Kids' Hearts" (掴めガキ心) Tsukame Gaki Gokoro) Chap. 189 "Why He Gets Back Up" (彼は何故立ち続けたか Kare wa Naze Tachi Tsudzuketa ka) Chap 192 "The Todoroki Family" (轟家 Todoroki-ke)

Ep. 49 "One For All" (ワン・フォー・オール) Ep. 79 "Win Those Kids' Hearts" (掴めガキ心 Tsukame Gaki Gokoro)

School Briefs I "Epilogue" School Briefs III "Dramatic Makeover!"

Team-Up Missions: Mission 33

To this date the chapter that shows the youngest Todoroki Enji is 356, which include some sort of dream/hallucination in which Enji faces his past self and his 'origin' so first let's look at...

THE FULL SEQUENCE AS IT IS IN THE MANGA

There are two core scenes, one depicting Enji's father's death preceded by a speech of young Enji:

'Sara ni yowaku natta' 「更に弱くなった」 “You became beyond weak.”

'Tachiba to tsugunai to ayamachi to sekinin ga' 「立場と償いと過ちと責任が」 “Position, atonement, mistakes and responsibility.”

'Omae no seirai no yowasa wo abaki dashi miru ni taenai guzu e to hikizuri oroshita' 「おまえの生来の弱さを曝き出し見るに堪えない愚図へと引きずり下ろした」 “Your innate weaknesses was exposed and I can't bear to see how you were dragged down into an indecisive person.”

'Chōjin ni wa narenainda yo Enji (omae) wa' 「超人にはなれないんだよ炎司（おまえ）は」 “Enji, you can’t become a superhuman.”

'Genten wo omoi dase' 「原点を思い出せ」 “Remember your origin.”

While fighting the Nomu Enji said he hated U.A. School motto, Plus Ultra or, in Japanese 'Sarani mukō e' (更に向こうへ "Beyond the other side" or, better "Further beyond"). Now his past self seems to taunt him saying 'Sara ni yowaku natta' (更に弱くなった “You became beyond weak.”)

'Seirai no yowasa' (生来の弱さ) is translated as 'weakness that was always there' in the English version but 'seirai' (生来) actually make clear the weakness is innate, by nature. In short Enji was born weak and tried to hid it. 'Guzu' (愚図), more than a loser is a 'foolish figure', a 'dullard' or also an 'indecisive person'. Enji project an air of arrogance and security but Enji's younger self is implying he's basically not capable.

The official translation uses "Superhero" to translate 'Chōjin' (超人), but there's no 'hero' in the word, someone can be a 'Chōjin' (超人) and be a villain. Ironically we could also translate it as 'superman', and considering later Enji uses laser eyes like Superman I wonder if this was planned.

'Teki ga nan datta no ka wo' 「敵が何だったのかを」 "What was the enemy?"

'Akkan kara shoujo wo sukuou to shi kekka shoujo moro tomo nikukai to ka shita chichi wo' 「悪漢から少女を救おうとし結果少女もろとも肉塊と化した父を」 "Your father tries to save a girl from a scroundel and, as a result, he and the girl were turned into a lump of meat."

The way the sentence is put, it seems to imply that the girl and Enji's father both died because the man tried to save her.

Enji is witnessing the scene, a schoolbag on his back. His school uniform misses the shoulder insigna and the necktie which are part of U.A. summer uniform, so it's possible this took place before Enji joined U.A.

The whole implication of the sentence and the dialogue seems to be that since his father was weak, he caused his own death as well as the one of the girl, and this should have started Enji's obsession for strength.

Young Enji goes on speaking about other things Enji should remember:

’Shin no choujin he no senbou to higami wo’ 「真の超人への羨望と僻みを」 “Your envy and inferiority complex toward a true superhuman…”

Again, the official translation uses plural but there's the image of All Might and in My Hero Academia Ultra Archive is made clear Enji previously viewed everyone else but All Might as weak, so the 'true superhuman' is solely All Might back in his past (then he also added Deku).

We can't see Enji's father's face but he's likely the man on the picture hung on the wall in the room with the Butsudan as in that room Enji would place the photo of his deceased family members.

Going on.

'"Doryoku (‘Endeavor’)” to nanoru hikutsu na shoune wo' 「“努力" （エンデヴァー）と名乗る卑屈な性根を」 “You called yourself ‘effort’ (read 'Endeavor’) due to your menial nature.”

This bit confirms Enji chose his Hero name while at U.A. and picked it up because (compared to All Might) he believed he lacked in skill but, probably, he thought he could compensate with effort/hard work.

From other chapters we know Enji and Recovery Girl know each other from his time at U.A.

‘OB no Yoshimi de kite ageta yo’ 「OBのよしみで来てあげたよ」 “I came for you since you were an alumnus”

'Soreni ima wa mō No.1 hīrōda mono ne' 「それに今はもうNo.1ヒーローだものね」 "Besides, you're also the No. 1 hero now.'

While in the Japanese version Recovery Girl is more vague, saying she came because Enji was an alumnus, since she's in U.A. by basically forever she likely got to know him, which is confirmed in "School Briefs I Epilogue" and "School Briefs III Dramatic Makeover!".

In "School Briefs I Epilogue" is said that with her Enji manages his manners because she's someone he had known nearly all his life.

By the way the two of them call each other by their Hero names.

"School Briefs III Dramatic Makeover!" is more specific. It has Recovery Girl tell Shōto she's been in U.A. by a long time and knew his father from when he was a student at U.A. and how she was always threating him for scrapes, cuts and bruises back in those days as his father used to put himself through the wringer hoping to become Number 1 one day, implying he was impressively driven. Shōto will make clear he doesn't want to hear about his father so she'll later be more subtle, telling him every boy and girl at U.A. tend to do their darnest and that they always had, implying Enji did the same.

We also have a bit of info in "Team-Up Missions: Mission 33" about how Enji holds the U.A. record for no-quirks trash pick-up (as All Might was too busy chatting with everyone).

'Sorezore ga hirotta gomi no sōryō o kiroku!' 「それぞれが拾ったゴミの総量を記録！」 "Record the total amount of trash each person picked up!"

'Tadashi "kosei" shiyō-fuka!' 「ただし”個性”使用不可！」 "However, "Quirk" cannot be used!"

'Onore no junsuina tairyoku nomi de shin kiroku o mezasu nōsuji ibentona nda!' 「己の純粋な体力のみで新記録を目指す脳筋イベントなんだ！」 "It's a brain-muscle event where you aim for a new record using only your own physical strength!"

'Chinamini rekidai No. 1 kiroku hoji-sha Endeavor da 「ちなみに歴代No.1記録保持者エンデヴァーだ」 "By the way, Endeavor is the all-time No. 1 record holder."

There's something else in chap 356 that's interesting in the following bit.

'Kojishite inakereba tamotenu teido no minikui kokoro wo' 「誇示していなければ保てぬ程度の醜い心を」 “Unless you're putting on airs you can't sustain your ugly heart”

'Minikui' (醜い) means "ugly" in the sense of "unsightly/unattractive". 'Kokoro' (心) is a delicious word that can refer to "(emotional) heart" but also to "mind" and "soul".

So basically Young Enji is saying that to hide the fact Enji is weak and indecisive, not a real superhuman, he put on airs to hide it... but the interesting part is that the image focuses on Enji's fire beard.

This was said in his profile.

The rest we have on Enji's youth is from other chapter and it's mostly tiny info.

We've a young Enji, who's now an adult but who still feels the gap between himself and All Might is one he can't surpass.

'Kisama (All Might)..." 「貴様（オールマイト）…」 "All Might..."

'Kisama o koeyou to kensan o kasanete kita…!' 貴様を超えようと研鑽を重ねてきた…！ "I've been repeatedly training hard to surpass you…!"

'Kasaneru hodo ni tsūkan suru.' 重ねる程に痛感する。 "I realized the more I repeatedly did it, the more I feel the pain."

'Kisama to no sa ga… kisama no senaka ga…!!' 貴様との差が… 貴様の背中が…！！ "The difference between you and me is… your back…! !"

'Zetsubō ga! ! Ore o…' 絶望が！！俺を… "I despaired! ! I…"

'Nanda so nonnasakenai senaka wa!!' 「なんだそのっ情けない背中は！！」 “What’s with that pathetic back?!”

LOL, the sentence seems not to make sense but in Japan a large back is equated to strength. Hawks later, thinking about Endeavor will say Enji must do it because Hawks' back isn't large enough.

On another interesting bit... even if Enji says 'All Might' the kanji actually say 'kisama' (貴様) which is currently a very rude way to say 'you'.

We've another bit about Enji's past when he talks with All Might after the latter retired.

'Ore wa ase kō ni subete o takushita' 「俺は焦凍に全てを託した」 "I entrusted everything to Shoto"

'Hatachi no koro ni wa sudeni No. 2 e to noboritsumeta.' 「二十歳の頃には既にNo.2へと登りつめた」 "By the time I was 20 years old, I had already climbed to No. 2."

'Tō tte kitakara koso… rikai shite shimatta.' 「登ってきたからこそ…理解してしまった」 "Because I made that climb… I understands."

'Ore wa itadaki ni wa tadoritsukenai to' 「俺は頂きには辿り着けないと」 "I can't reach the top"

'katagaki ga hoshī dakenara kisama no yō ni herahera to' 「肩書きが欲しいだけなら貴様のようにヘラヘラと」 "If I just wanted a title, I'll be laughing like you."

'Aiso mo furimaitadarou sa.' 「愛想も振りまいただろうさ」 "I would have showed sociability as well."

'Ore wa dare yori tsuyoku naritakatta' 「俺は誰より強くなりたかった」 "I wanted to be stronger than anyone else"

Okay so this was meant to be solely about Enji's past but I can't skip this line. The English translation decided to translate 'takushita' (託した) with 'gave' but it's not like Enji gave Shouto everything Shouto wanted... it's that Enji entrusted his dream, his everything to Shouto. So he's not really depicting himself like a doting father but as a father who planned to have his kid fulfil his dream.

The relevant part in this little dialogue is that Enji became Number 2 at 20.

Considering he started U.A. at 15 and should have finished attending it at 19, it's quite a fast climbing.

The mountain is probably Sekoto Peak (瀬古杜岳 'Sekoto take'), where Enji said he used to train in the past and where Touya will 'die'. (Chap 291).

According to Hawks, Enji was the only one trying to surpass All Might.

Technically though, considering Hawks is one year younger than Touya and got interested in Endeavor after he was saved, he only witnessed him post marriage and it's hard to say if this applied also to when Enji was pretty young. Anyway the previous generation of Heroes come out pretty lame as now the kids at U.A. wants to surpass All Might while before only Enji considered doing it.

And so we get to Enji deciding he can't surpass All Might and therefore must produce a heir who will do so for him... but as that part was transposed in the anime, for a better comparison I'll put it in a part 2.

#boku no hero academia #Todoroki Enji #Yagi Toshinori #bnha observations

11 notes · View notes

evilkitten3 · 7 years

Photo

most of this chapter was really good but this scene. made me sad

like. i think this is the first time anyone’s ever told bakugou that his parents kinda fucked up with raising him.

he remembers that todoroki understands abuse and it’s just now occurring to him that he might’ve been abused too. i don’t think mitsuki ever intended to hurt him, really - i don’t see anything malicious in her actions, but that doesn’t make her treatment of him okay.

and no one’s ever made him think about that before.

it makes me wonder - if bakugou hadn’t overheard todoroki telling midoriya his backstory, would this scene have been possible? he’s being aggressive, but he also realizes that todoroki would know - because unlike bakugou, todoroki’s already aware that he had a bad childhood.

i don’t think bakugou is. his mom is the only adult we have any reason to think might’ve scolded him before u.a., and her methods are violent. regardless of what you think of mitsuki as a person or as a mother, she’s violent. and that was passed onto her son. bakugou heard what todoroki’s childhood was like, and then saw the scars it left up close and personal, and i think this is the moment when he realizes that his own childhood might’ve scarred him too

the relationship between these two is really fascinating to me - they aren’t friends, but they aren’t not. there’s a rivalry and a respect and an understanding that neither of them have in their other relationships.

i’ve had a theory for a while that endeavor’s upbringing was similar to his son’s, and for me this chapter sort of confirmed that. i can’t really explain it, but i think todoroki realized that children emulate the behavior of their parents, whether they want to or not - todoroki himself acts similarly to endeavor at times, especially towards the beginning of the story. it’s not something he probably wanted to think about or even acknowledge at all, but the confrontation with yoarashi made it impossible to ignore

so i think todoroki kinda guessed that bakugou was emulating his mother’s behavior - he doesn’t seem at all surprised that bakugou describes his mother’s parenting style (presumably just hers, as his father doesn’t show any violent tendencies) as using violence to put him in his place.

i find it unlikely that the series will acknowledge mitsuki’s mistreatment of her son, but that’s how i choose to interpret this scene, and either way i really hope we see bakugou and todoroki’s relationship develop more in this arc

#bnha #bnha spoilers #bnha chapter 165 #todoroki shouto #bakugou katsuki #todoroki enji #endeavor #bakugou mitsuki #bakugou masaru #child abuse mention #abuse mention #bnha headcanons #long post

637 notes · View notes