#dadmight meta

[toshinorimight]

can we also talk about toshinori crushing the "the end" card with his hand?

this man was gonna make sure his boy became a hero no matter what. like i'm fully aware this was probably just a humorous way to show us that this was not the end of deku's story, but to me it's symbolic of how the all might we meet at the start of the manga and this all might are not the same.

at the start of it all, he tells izuku he cannot be a hero without a quirk. but now he's the one quite literally breaking his way through deku's acceptance of his "fate" of not being a hero to tell him that he CAN be a hero. he's the one to hand him the tools to become a hero without a quirk (with bakugo, the one who always told him he'd never be a hero, being the one who spearheaded the efforts to get them made).

he crushed his dreams of being a quirkless hero once, and now he's crushing the idea that he CAN'T be a quirkless hero.

[allmightluver]

These photos especially hurt me.

The face he makes when he’s told he isn’t needed anymore. Something he’s known for a long time. He KNOWS he shouldn’t be alive, and that he’s only a burden to everyone now; especially Deku.

The face of heartbreak. Of understanding Deku’s position. He understands more than anyone possibly could. He held the world up by himself for over 40 years. I know how you feel. I know it feels to want to protect everyone, especially those closest to you. And the only way to do so is to leave them behind. Distance and Isolate yourself completely so you can’t get too attached to anyone. Because if you do, and the villains find out, it would feel impossible to live on knowing it was your fault they died. Because you endangered them by just being around them. Loving them. It’s only now, that I’ve allowed myself to live, that I can see how wrong I was to believe that. You shouldn’t have to suffer the same way I did. I can’t let you!

When he falls to the ground, he first lands on his torso. Which feels significant given the mortal wound there, as well how the normal pain in his side has moved to his chest. And even though the pain of having a misshapen, broken body can be extremely debilitating, the pain he now feels is absolutely unbearable.

The bento box. Sure it’s wasted food. But the fact that kills me is how lovingly he made it himself for his boy. Imagine him in their makeshift shelter, which may just be an abandoned building or apartment, carefully using the best ingredients he could find, to make a meal and feed his overworked son. The son he’s more than just a little worried about. It’s all he can think about.

But he busies himself preparing the rice, keeping an eye on the meat to be thoroughly cooked but not burnt, and then cutting it into small strips so his boy can easily grab it with his chopsticks while on the move without having to worry about cutting it himself. Protein. That’s what Deku needs most. And vegetables to keep his strength up. Everything is prepared as perfectly as possible in the short amount of time he has between following Deku to every villain attack.

He already knows the boy isn’t eating on his own. He did the same when he was a hero. Sometimes going for days without a proper meal in order to Protect. Toshi didn’t have anyone to help him with this, save for the few years Nighteye was with him. And that’s why he knows exactly what Deku needs.

After meticulously putting together the food in the bento box, he wraps it his signature bunny cloth…only to have Deku reject not only the meal, but HIM as well. Watching the boy walk away from him raises a memory of himself doing the same to Nighteye in the hospital. He now knows how Nighteye felt when he turned his back on him. Nighteye had left, unable to watch him slowly kill himself.

But Toshi can’t leave. Deku is all. He. Has. The only reason he’s still alive.

And yet, the food he prepared for his boy, the love he put into it to nourish him, ends up spilt. Splattered in the mud. Ruined. Rejected. Wasted…The food too.

And this final scene. Seeing this was so painful in the manga. I imaged he was crying, or trying not to. And my heart ached just thinking about it. But finally being able to hear it, to hear that yes, he is in fact crying, audibly, for the first time without holding himself back…that’s what finally shattered me.

[ilovereadingandstuff]

Okay, so I was doing some chores here at my house and, out of nowhere (something completely normal forr me as a fan of bnha), chapter 413 popped in my head, especifically pages 13-14, and I started rambling my ideas...until I realized something.

Izuku is going to lose OFA.

Ok, not that, which is literal text, but this:

Izuku is going to lose OFA, and while arguing with Kudou and the others vestiges, he was crying his eyes out because what mattered the most to Izuku about losing OFA, among ALL the consequences and intricate meanings which 'becoming quirkless again' could represent...It was the fact that OFA was a gift from All Might that made Izuku's heart ache in agony at that moment.

ch. 413 Here I want to note that the spanish official translation says exactly the same, so there's no contradictions.

It was not that he was going back to his past self, not that he most-likely would have to face that discrimination he went through all his childhood all over again. Not that losing his quirk could mean that he would have to stop being a hero. Not that he was gong back on being useless/worthless again...ANY OF THAT! BUT because he is 'losing the gift, meant for him, from his daddy might'...THAT'S what was causing his tears...

And from this, I see two things:

First...

IZUKU YOU BASTARD!!

HE'S AVOIDING AGAINNN THINKING OF HIMSELF!!

And, I'm sorry, but being quirkless is not goddamn easy!

It has been explained several times in the development of the plot that bnha's society is based on superhumans: people with quirks.

Being just a regular person without a quirk is a really complicated thing to deal with, and having that particularity means facing problems both on a social and psychological level.

In Aoyama's case, for example, his parents were so devastated over the fact that their son was quirkless, and therefore, he was feeling excluded and different from others, that they reached a point of despair that they made a deal with AFO and, well, you know the rest.

Another one that comes to mind is Ragdoll. Her inclusion here in the list could be debated, but what I want to distinguish about her character is that, after losing her quirk completely by AFO's doing, she had to face a huge set back in order to re-organize her new life now without a quirk. She didn't appeared in the story for many chapter until it was explained that she was still working as a hero but in the backstage, to say in a way.

And finally, Izuku is one of the clearer examples of all this (and that's why he's the protagonist).

He had to deal with bullying, rejection and exclusion (from their classmates when he was in elementary/middle school to the entire society against him). His OWN mother had her own troubles to support him over a dream that was impossible to achieve because, once more, confront villian with a broad range of hazardous quirks against a single person was basically suicidal...

On note of all this, I have to mention this scene (which I say now: I'll bring this up over and over again, a thousand times if needed). I've mention this specific situation in one of my posts before, but now I'll explain it more in depth:

ch. 72, pages 19-20

WHAT ABOUT THIS HORI!!??! HUH!!?? WHAT'S THAT?? WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN???!! "BIRTH DEFECT"!?? "HE JUST COULDN'T ACCEPT THE TRUTH"?!?!

This scene has always been stuck in my head since the first time I read it because...here it explicitly shows Izuku's demeaning perspective over 'being quirkless'.

Here he's saying that "it's a defect", an imperfection, something he lacks on (because society has made it a necessity or requirement).

And even in spanish, even though it doesn't translates as 'defect', it highlights the idea of 'he didn't get what he should have received' (in this case, that his parents 'couldn't provide him of that')

In both languages it is mention the phrase where he explains that ' ' 'his friend' ' ' always kept believing EVEN when the universe was proving him wrong again and again.

My point here is: Izuku has a negative view of being quirkless (just as any other person in-universe would have) and with that, the possibilities of him having a list of low self-esteem issues, lack of confidence and self-value even as a human being are REALLY high...

but then, the fact that Izuku, after having been thrown around for the most dangerous villian of all, shirtless and crying with a bunch of ghosts inside his head...when they're telling him of getting rid of what he should have had always what makes him human...he doesn't think of him. of the problems he would have to face. of the pain he would go through again...

Instead, he thinks of 'the gift from All Might', almost as if the quirk were a toy All Might gave him and that he shouldn't lose it because All Might would feel angry or sorry for him...

MAYBE, maybe I'm going around the bush and making no sense... but FUCK IT! I WANT ANSWERS, HORI!!

I NEED THEM!! I'M LOSING MY MIND!!!

Why is he refusing himself again?? Avoiding HIS feelings but worrying about others'? Or rather, worrying about THE THING instead the consequences it causes the lost of it??!

WHY IS HE ALWAYS THINKING OF ANYTHING BUT HIM?!

Second...

Ok. Now that I've calmed myself down and said what i was meaning to say...after having been screaming internally against Izuku and all his shit...the second point I wanted to talk about was that...

With everything that has happened, a GREAT opportunity would be presenting itself to develop the dad-son bond Toshinori and Izuku have been building since the beggining.

Let me explain:

When All Might first came to town and met Izuku, their bond began to form because they were interating with one another because of OFA. The 'you're my successor' was the excuse and only connection they had to be together. And for that same reason is how their relationship exists in the first place.

So...if Izuku loses OFA. If that excuse stops to exists...the only reason for them to continue being together would be the love they have develop for one another as father-son.

If Toshinori could spell out loud to Izuku that he cares for him beyond that 'you're my successor' or 'the one I gave it my quirk'...if they could transcend that lame excuse and finally spoke to each other as human beings...

GOD, maybe I'm projecting myself here because I LOVE their relationship and i would gladly like to see Toshi legally adopting Izuku or them calling each other 'my son' and 'my dad'...but, yeah...

Those are my ideas about the new chapter.

[greenhappyseed]

Very spicy salty and lengthy rant incoming. This is part 1 of 2, focusing on All Might (with Izuku and Katsuki), while part 2 will focus more on Ochako and the 1A reunion. I’m trying to help myself feel better about how deeply I dislike the “Dark Deku” and Star & Stripe arcs because I need to excise the real-life anxiety I’m feeling over this coming up in the anime. IMO, these arcs did not age well at all, and are absolutely no better in light of the ~35 subsequent chapters. It’s just that the subsequent chapters feel more cohesive and well thought-out despite Horikoshi’s physical pain and burnout.

While I’m not emotional over fictional characters, it is true that these arcs have impacted the fandom; namely, many people who were fans of All Might, Aizawa, Midnight, Mic, and the overall UA vibe dropped out. I get that sense from some LOV fans too. Overall, it means far fewer fics and art pieces with my blorbos, and it’s also meant far less interaction with my blog. (I don’t give a damn about “engagement” or followers, but I like talking about my hyperfixation with others who share it!). Obviously the story has to change as the series end draws near, but spending SO much time with Endeavor, Hawks, and Jeanist has worn me out, even if I think Horikoshi is handling Endeavor’s character growth well. (FWIW, I’m utterly disinterested in “Hawks the Optimist” who inexplicably became the expert on how OFA works, and Jeanist is…well…you know…a male model.)

Aside from everyone’s basic rant about how Horikoshi introduced two hot middle-aged women only to more or less fridge them (after killing Midnight!), my real complaint in this post is that the Dark Deku & Star arcs made a complete mess of All Might’s character arc and in-universe relationships. Don’t get me wrong — Chapter 326 with Stain seemed like something Horikoshi had planned since the early days of the manga, and that one hit HARD. But the rest felt like an improvisation. It’s horribly inconsistent on (1) when All Might speaks up and when he can’t bring himself to talk, and (2) how his relationship with 1A is handled compared to Star.

When it comes to All Might’s failure to speak up, it feels like Horikoshi was nerfing All Might and reducing what we know the former No.1 is capable of doing. I mean, in Chapter TWO he stops Izuku from overdoing his training. After Kamino, All Might helps Izuku develop Shoot Style by telling Izuku point blank that he’s trying too hard to imitate his mentor. In the Overhaul/Nighteye arc, All Might refuses to support Izuku’s desire to take on a work study because he thinks it unnecessarily exposes Izuku to villain activity AND Izuku needs to strengthen his Shoot Style first. (The awkwardness with Nighteye is his third reason.) When Izuku persuades him about getting stronger under Nighteye’s guidance, All Might carefully asks himself if Izuku is being impatient just because Izuku is his successor before agreeing to let Mirio do the introduction. When Izuku confronts All Might over Nighteye’s prophecy, All Might makes SURE Izuku is ready to hear an uncomfortable truth and then proceeds to tell him everything. In the next arc, All Might encourages Izuku to use whatever support items he needs, even though All Might always chose to fight with just his body. All Might is protective of Katsuki and Shoto too — when they want to jump out of the taxi and fight the Cider House gang, he tries to get them to slow down and “assess the situation first.” In all these situations, All Might can’t physically stop his students (and is usually on the losing end of the argument, as happens with argumentative teenagers™️), but he uses his voice to speak up and make his opinion known.

At the beginning of Dark Deku, things are looking okay. All Might gives up on the secrecy that defined him early on and tells Hawks and Jeanist everything when he realizes secrets didn’t keep people safe. That’s good, I think, but he didn’t seem to consult Izuku about it. Based on context clues, and how All Might initially wanted Izuku to stay at UA (again, he spoke up!) I think his motivation was to recruit the pro heroes to protect Izuku at the hospital and at UA. It sort of makes sense he would move fast and wouldn’t ask Izuku’s permission to do that…but in front of Inko after Izuku wakes up, All Might DOES ask Izuku’s permission to tell her. A minor inconsistency, but all right. It’s made clear All Might is worried sick about Izuku, warning him not to go overboard (once more speaking up!). Hawks even picks up on All Might’s hesitation, telling him that Izuku has the right strategy and it’s on All Might to keep the kid propped up. All Might does not look pleased about this as he looks up in the sky towards Izuku.

In helping Izuku, All Might fends off assassins and talks about how Izuku’s idolization of him weighs on him. It’s not just that he promised Inko he would live and look out for Izuku; he’s acutely aware his boy is just like him in ways good and bad.

Yet when All Might sees Izuku struggle and he begins to see why Nighteye wanted him to retire, he can’t bring himself to talk to Izuku. Even though he understands Izuku’s feelings, he just can’t say a word. You would think seeing Izuku get shot, or barely escaping AFO’s mansion explosion, would prompt a conversation. But no, he says nothing. (Then again, nobody seems to remember Izuku was shot; no mention in the bath scene either.)

At the same time, we see Nighteye pop up in All Might’s thoughts, but we don’t see All Might struggling with telling Izuku what Nighteye told him (that is, we have no idea if All Might still feels violated in some way by Nighteye’s actions). We also don’t see All Might worrying about Izuku realizing the Symbol of Peace was just a human being. All Might isn’t trying to keep up Izuku’s hope by hiding the real burden of being the symbol (besides, didn’t he pull back that curtain in, oh, CHAPTER ONE???) We aren’t given any solid motivation or thematic through line — he simply procrastinated on what he knew he had to do for an unsatisfying hodgepodge of invasive thoughts. That is inconsistent with the All Might we know.

Before anyone comes at me, All Might not telling Izuku about Nighteye’s prophecy is very different. In that situation, All Might honestly did not think Izuku needed to know because knowing would put MORE pressure on Izuku than necessary. In Dark Deku, it’s the opposite, and All Might knows talking to Izuku could help relieve pressure.

I understand this is supposed to be All Might’s low point to lead into the Stain conversation. All Might is supposed to feel like “doing his best” didn’t prevent society’s downfall and didn’t stop his boy from repeating his mistakes. But…it feels like Horikoshi tied his tongue because that’s what needed to happen for plot reasons, and Horikoshi just wanted it to happen quickly. We still don’t have a good character reason why. Would it have been so unbelievable that Izuku, in his panicked state, brushes off All Might’s advice to rest? Or would that “break” Izuku’s idolization of All Might in a way that Horikoshi is still saving for the finale, where Izuku finally becomes his own hero without imitating All Might at all? I don’t have an answer, but it feels like we still could have had the same basic story beats without the bizarre characterization.

The strangeness of All Might staying quiet also makes Katsuki’s argument to Endeavor in Chapter 319 feel funny to me. Katsuki is spot on that Izuku doesn’t take himself into account and All Might does the same thing. While Katsuki understands far better than Izuku that All Might is human, Katsuki doesn’t consider how protective All Might can be of Izuku. Katsuki doesn’t see (or understand, perhaps?) how All Might doesn’t want anyone else to be a Symbol of Peace the same way he was. Maybe that’s part of Katsuki’s idolization issues? Post-362, with Katsuki seeing All Might’s vestige and showing him the trading card, I think Katsuki never let himself appreciate that he had the former #1 in his corner, or that a person can, in fact, use their willpower to become a symbol that inspires a nation. Not to sound like Prince Harry in “Spare,” but maybe there’s also a tinge of lingering resentment over feeling left behind? There’s just something about Katsuki screaming to Endeavor, of all people, that you can’t leave Izuku and All Might alone together when Endeavor knows Izuku has already ditched All Might AND Endeavor and Hawks have already realized they’re “too slow” compared to Izuku. Of course it’s Hawks — who was saying Izuku made the right choice like Second and, uh, AFO — to announce that Izuku left All Might. There’s also Shoto yelling about how Endeavor “let them operate together,” but it’s not like Endeavor has enough credibility to control either Izuku or All Might.

How does a #2 protect their #1 when they’re too slow? Can you ever “run alongside” someone whose power vastly outpaces yours, or is idolization all you can do? I think these are fascinating thematic questions, and Dark Deku makes a mess of them.

These problems compound in the reunion chapter, 327, which is really cute when it comes to the bath scene and the 1A kids, but is inexplicably confounding when it comes to All Might + the kids. Izuku clearly calls All Might multiple times to reconnect, but the man doesn’t pick up his phone. (I think we’re supposed to assume All Might is talking to Stain when Izuku calls, but…he couldn’t use the Hercules speech-to-text feature to tell the kid he’s driving over?) Then All Might just happens to show up at UA as Izuku talks about him, and gives Izuku a deep bow while saying sorry “for being of so little help.” He says nothing aloud about how he feels towards Izuku, and nothing aloud about being proud of 1A (though he basically thinks that in this chapter and again in 335). When Mina asks for an apology because he just disappeared post-war and left 1A with the Wild Wild Pussycats, he briefly says he’s sorry for any anxiety he caused, but quickly pivots to the need to prepare for “the battle that will decide it all.”

Like the Stain conversation, I understand that this is supposed to be All Might stepping up and figuring out his place in the world post-retirement. He’s realized he passed the torch to Izuku and 1A, but that doesn’t mean he’s useless. He wants to join the fight with the kids; to catch up and run alongside them. And to do that, he….ditches them to join Tsukauchi and Endeavor. I do appreciate that All Might is open with Tsukauchi (and Sansa!!!) about his OFA experience. But he basically disappears from UA for two days to deal with Star and TomurAFO before coming back in 335 and then seemingly disappearing again before joining the UA faculty to discuss the Aoyamas. (As pictured above, Ochako and Tenya, then Katsuki, all rightfully call out All Might’s “I am not here” act in 335.) Are you really telling me that the man who cries over Aoyama’s reveal isn’t emotionally attached to the class and wouldn’t, you know, BE HERE for them?

What makes All Might’s absence from 1A even more problematic is that now he’s…Star’s mentor??? See, All Might sends out the call for help from his international super friends and Star comes riding in acting like she’s his successor. Chapter 364 later reinforces this, with Agpar’s monologue about “children observing adults and adults supporting the children as they pass it forward” showing a Prime All Might reach out out his hand to Star. It’s stupid because All Might has a direct successor already, plus two students (Katsuki and Shoto) that are direct heirs to other parts of his legacy, and another group of students that he’s been hands-on teaching for the past year. But Horikoshi decides to ignore all that setup and focus on “All Might + Star” rather than have him spend more time with 1A. Once again, if the point is to introduce thematic questions of inspiration and imitation, and how there’s a difference between someone imitating their idol based on their own interpretation vs actually receiving mentorship from the human behind the idol, it’s utterly lost in the execution. I just can’t bring myself to see Star as anything other than an interloper. I’m glad her pilot bros stayed in Japan to help out, and her sacrifice was heroic I suppose, but it suffered the same flaw as All Might. She tried to take on TomurAFO alone, and the best she could do is slow him down temporarily.

That’s all I can manage for now! In part 2, I’ll take a closer look at Ochako and the chain that leads to Izuku’s retrieval and where we are now.

[fedzkun]

I got curious aadfhjklsj

[krisingtons]

Why do you like DadMight? I mean I know why I like it but a lot of other mha fanfic writers favor Dadzawa or other people. You're one of the few writers I know of that consistently writes DadMight (and on top of that does a blasted good job of it). Why do you like writing it?

What a great question, and it's been really interesting to think about my answer! There are a lot of parts to it, but I'll try to be concise.

#1 I love Izuku and All Might as individual characters

Both Izuku and All Might, in my opinion, are genuinely good people who care a lot about others in a very straightforward yet still imperfect way. Many characters who are good people (like Aizawa) often have layers upon layers of something else about them (sarcasm, sexuality, intellectualism, etc.) that has to be sifted through in order to get to their true emotions. Izuku and All Might, however, both wear their hearts on their sleeves. So the internal conflict for them is not that they are hard to get to know but that they give almost too much of themselves, not leaving enough for any real self-preservation. This is especially interesting and satisfying to me given the fact that they are both essentially disabled characters (All Might through his injuries and Izuku through his quirklessness). As a result of all this, I really just want good things for them, which is why I write so many good things happening for them.

#2 DadMight is pretty canon-compliant

Some writers might think that it's more fun to stretch characters and relationships beyond canon, and my hat is off to them. But for me it's really satisfying to be able to take definitive moments from canon and go deeper with it rather than stretch things out from canon. That's not to say that I don't ever write OOC, nor that all Dadzawa writers do. I see it simply as vertical vs. horizontal thinking of working with the narrative.

#3 Izuku and All Might have a relationship we don't normally see in mainstream media

I mean this in a couple of ways.

After I watched and read BNHA for the first time, I went looking for examples of other strong platonic relationships like theirs in media and came up short. It's not that they don't exist, but they don't ever seem to have the depth of DadMight.

Most mentor-mentee relationships never really get there because the mentor usually dies early on, and if All Might had died at Kamino Ward, there's a very good chance that none of my fics would exist. Other good family-like relationships exist, and that's a big part of what draws me to Spy x Family, but most of them miss the other component that DadMight has. Izuku and All Might are so similar to each other and as a result can understand each other more deeply.

Most relationship dynamics of any type in any media tend to focus on stark contrasts between the characters, an opposites-attract sort of thing. I honestly think this is the main appeal of Dadzawa, that Aizawa is fundamentally a pretty different character from Izuku. His motivations are different, his world view is different, and Dadzawa fans seems to like that Aizawa presents Izuku with a different way of hero-ing than canon Izuku presents. (Vigilante Izuku fics, admittedly, work much better with Dadzawa for this exact reason I'd say.) I'm not saying that Izuku and All Might don't have darker sides to them, but their darker sides aren't in contrast to each other.

#4 DadMight is well-suited to focus on just the two of them

Finally, this is completely a personal preference, but I really appreciate that DadMight is (generally speaking) very private. Both Izuku and All Might, in their own way, are showy characters in the sense that they want to present a specific version of themselves to the world (something that All Might does much more successfully than Izuku), and if their relationship was not built in the sense of privacy that All Might insists OFA requires, then I don't think they would have the ability to present any part of their true selves, to themselves or the other person.

Dadzawa, on the other hand, can focus on Izuku, but Aizawa in canon is literally presented as the teacher to the whole class first, and I feel like some mental gymnastics need to be done in order to make Dadzawa to Izuku specifically happen. This is also why my preferred brand of Dadzawa is when he's being a dad for the whole class, whereas my preferred brand of DadMight is when he's being a dad specifically for Izuku.

In other words, DadMight, to me, is essentially a relationship where two people get to discover their true selves and to feel loved for who they are, flaws and all, through seeing themselves in the other person. The fact that they exist in the BNHA universe is honestly secondary, and if another relationship like theirs exists in any other fandom, I would be interested to know about it.

Thank you so much for the ask (and for the kind words), Anon! This was very interesting to think about and write out. If you feel comfortable sharing what you like about DadMight, I'd love to hear it, but I hope at the very least some of my thoughts resonated with you.

[maybabiii]

[PERSONAL INTERPRETATION]: Symbolism of LIGHT; Deku saves All might in more ways than one

The most common theme in MHA is that “heroes are always risking their life and saving people”. However, I realised throughout the series that all might is particularly grateful and appreciative when deku saves him.

When the USJ accident occurred, All might was captured and deku was the only one who knows his condition and saves him. When deku was loathing himself for not being of help, All might says something along the lines of “that’s not true.. if you hadn’t bought me those couple of seconds I would have been dead. You saved me again.”, with a glimmer of bright light - a repeated symbolism that is presented throughout the series as shown below:

1. In the first picture, all might announces that deku can be a hero because he sees the heroic and compassionate nature in him. Deku’s actions inspired all might to see what led him to becoming a hero in the first place

2. In the second picture, all might says that spending every moment with deku has changed his view of life - he was initially ready to die and meet nighteye’s predictions, but deku inspired him to shift his views so that he can continue to nurture his son

Just putting a gif to show that toshi is so proud of his son hehe

In both the gif and the first image, I think Toshi really appreciates that deku saves him physically and it comes in a way that a) he’s extremely grateful and happy that deku cares about him so much that he saves him physically from harm and takes his medical conditions seriously and b) he’s proud of his son’s progress but doesn’t vocalise it to him.

Even though deku saves all might from physical harm, it is obvious that deku saves all might in more ways than one. Despite all might’s weakened form, deku still loves him for who he is anyway and cherished him. Deku has grown much closer to him as they spent more time together, eventually progressing from successor to father-and-son dynamic. All might loves him too despite deku’s weaknesses, and he found a new purpose in life than just saving people and being heavily involved with heroics. Deku changed him in a way where All might’s newfound purpose in life is to nurture and raise this child like his own, even though his methods may not be perfect all the time. Deku saved him physically and mentally to the point where toshi decides to live. The glimmer of light represents new positive changes, and their growing hopes and love for each other. I personally feel that even though both deku and all might May trip and fall when crawling their way through life, in the end, everything will come back to them. And even though they may get lost in their path, and the core of their relationship is tested, I think they will find their way and come back to each other in the end because of how strong and complimentary their bond is.

[darkcircles4lyfe]

Death to All Might, Rebirth to Yagi Toshinori

So about All Might. I’ve been extremely wary of talking about what could happen to him because straight up saying “I don’t think he’s gonna die” is asking the universe to spite me. Plus it also feels like a room full of people turning to stare at me as if I said the Sun isn’t a star. Man has death flags everywhere, I know. 

But, okay, *Bill Nye voice* consider the following:

Mr. Yagi here, if he overheard everything, just received the final nail in the coffin on his career. His time as the symbol of peace is not only over, it was in fact partially responsible for the current state of things, since he once did so much on his own that his absence now makes heroes and civilians alike ill-prepared to cope. I think it was very apt for that one guy to be wearing an All Might shirt--he was acting as a mouthpiece for the latent societal problems embedded in All Might’s legacy. 

We know already that he’s been feeling useless. I love this scene and although I’m not gonna talk about it right this second, remember what Aizawa says about just “being here” being enough:

And we know from conversations with Inko that Toshinori is also reframed his purpose around looking after Izuku. But in the end, Izuku rejected his help, and it was his classmates instead who were able to save him. Now the very progress of humanity is rejecting him too. You may me wondering how on Earth I don’t see the logical conclusion of all this being his death. Hold on. It actually has a lot to do with the fact that we’re all expecting it. Nighteye himself saw it, and despite any contrary convictions anyone might have, the plot doesn’t seem to be veering away from that end. All Might Is Gonna Die, says absolutely everything. 

It’s occurring to me that I have previous experience with this kind of plotline that probably little to no one else in this fandom shares, being that I’ve read a certain book series in which the main character is told in no uncertain terms that he will die (no, I’m not talking about hp). The series in question is T*e Und*rland Chronicl*s (censoring so it doesn’t get put in their side of tumblr) and I’m sorry but I’m about to go on a shameless tangent about it and spoil the ending for you.

So in this series there is a prophecy in every book, each one having something to do with war and conflict, and so far all of them have been right. In the last book [mc] finds out that it’s prophesied that he will be killed. Lots of the things in the prophecies are convoluted and metaphorical, but no, this one literally says “when the [mc’s title] has been killed.” He spends the whole book coming to terms with this, and he gives into it, only to find himself waking up in the hospital instead. “Wow, plot twist. /s” you may be thinking, and yeah sure, the mc in a kids book survived, big shocker. But it doesn't end there. After the war, there are peace talks, but they escalate until the two sides are on the verge of declaring war again. And [mc], bless him, has just been caught in the middle of all of this the entire time. He’s sick as shit of fighting, of watching the suffering and death of people he cares about. He draws his sword against both of them angrily, gives a speech saying he won’t take a side, and then promptly breaks his sword across his knee: “There. [mc’s title in the prophecies] is dead. I killed him.” He’s giving a huge middle finger to everyone there, to the man who wrote the prophecies, to the entire fucked up culture of it all. And so something that was taken literally turns out to be metaphorical. That is, if you still believe in the prophecies at all.

Hopefully you’re catching my drift here. What I’m saying is, even though this other series has nothing to do with bnha, it goes to show sometimes it’s the most absolute certainties that are red herrings, and a “death” can consequently be a symbolic one. In All Might’s case, it could be the death of hero society and a rejection of his own past. In other words, character development for Toshinori himself that reflects on the way the world is changing, too. Also there’s the fact that the mc from that other series I’m trying not to name has an honorary title, and I’m imagining that role he occupied “dying” could correspond to something that amounts to, “All Might is dead. I (Yagi Toshinori) killed him.” 

And here’s another thing: we also have to ask ourselves what good a dead Toshinori is to Izuku, narratively speaking. Yes, Izuku has spent his whole life idolizing even the more toxic parts of All Might, and his idealized vision of his hero does need to “die.” But how about Toshinori as a father figure?  Izuku regretting that his last interaction with Toshinori was to reject his help may drive home the fact that he shouldn’t go off on his own, but at this point it’s kinda redundant. If anything it would negate some of the progress that was just made because it’d make him extra paranoid about losing other people too. To be honest, the whole “Uncle Ben” trope, the mentor/father figure who dies and gives the mc a reason to do better, is so tired. Experiencing the death of a loved one really doesn’t deserve to be romanticized like that. I might as well admit that I’m speaking from experience, and let me tell you, losing someone you love suddenly, when you weren’t around, and with unfinished business--it makes you paranoid as hell that it will happen again. It literally gives me nightmares. Y’all, I cannot stress enough that trauma does not equal character development. Granted, just because I know this doesn’t mean Horikoshi does, but in general he does seem to lead his characters toward healing.

Okay, back to the present. Toshinori is turning away from UA. He likely feels useless and rejected. We can infer that what happens next will involve Stain, and we have a couple of extra clues to go with it: Stain considers All Might a true hero, and has stated that he would let All Might kill him. And since Horikoshi loves his parallels, we also have this fight between Endeavor and this random villain who admires him so much that he wants to die by Endeavor’s hand:

This suggests a confrontation in which Stain challenges All Might to live up to himself as he once was, so that as a hero he can vanquish Stain and symbolically overcome society's perversion of that role. But based on what All Might has learned about the system he upheld, Stain is wrong. All Might is not a “true hero” in the sense that the societal issues Stain witnessed exist not in spite of All Might, but (in part) because of him, because he took too much of the responsibility for himself.

Stain probably had no idea about the personal cost of All Might’s lonely burden until after the fact. Maybe he’s seeing it now. So then perhaps the confrontation would be more about Stain claiming he’s just as fake as the rest. Either way, Toshinori has the opportunity to denounce himself and be rid of “All Might,”  to stop living in his own shadow. Nighteye’s vision has been defied before, and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the combination of society shifting + Toshinori’s own conviction is enough to do it again and work fate in his favor.

He is not All Might. He is Yagi Toshinori: quirkless, worn down, and directionless except for his dedication to Izuku. If he survives his interaction with Stain, he can resolve his imperfect mentorship by confessing about his shortcomings and simply supporting Izuku as a part of his family, not as his teacher (as Aizawa said, just “being there”). And that’s how you really get character development, for both of them. I mean, shit, imagine Toshinori straight up telling Izuku to stop calling him All Might.

[littleholmes]

Izuku ‘No, wait, I can’t go to bed without finding and talking to my dad so he knows I’m sorry about everything and that I miss his bento boxes (I’m so tired and hungry 😔)’ Midoriya and Toshinori ‘Young Midoriya, I am here!! after running (and speed walking) all the way across town to see my boy and apologize’ Yagi truly are father and son and the best found family

[makeste]

What are your top 5 Bakugo moments in the series? What are your top 5 relationships (of any kind) in the series?

with the favorite Bakugou moments, I can do you five better -- I have a list of my top ten favorite moments here.

as far as favorite relationships, they would probably be

Bakugou and Deku/BakuDeku - I’m here for this one any way you want to do it. friendship, boyfriends, soulmates, rivals, whatever. I just like seeing them interact in any way, shape, or form. they are the core of the series, for me.

Bakugou and Aizawa - this is a relationship that I’m sort of obsessed with even though it’s rare to get any actual interaction between them in the manga. the thing is, I’m a huge sucker for world-weary mentors forming bonds with confused and wary adolescents with big chips on their shoulders who have too much pride to admit when they need help and guidance. and damned if this relationship doesn’t tick off all those boxes. the moment where Aizawa defends Bakugou during the press conference, and Bakugou listens over in the ol’ villain bar with this little smile on his face, because it meant everything to him to have that vote of confidence in his own inherent goodness at a time when it seemed like everyone else in the world was trying to throw it into question, is still one of my favorite scenes in the series. you can imagine how thrilled I was when it got a callback just recently when Bakugou was rushing in to defend him in return. anyway so yeah I love this. I have probably read every single Dadzawa & Bakugou fic on AO3. there are not enough of them.

Hawks and Endeavor - there is definitely not enough of this, either. plenty of people shipping them, but usually not platonically, much to my disappointment. I’m just a big proponent of Get Hawks A Dad 2020, okay. even if that dad is Endeavor. especially if that dad is Endeavor, because y’all know I’m a sucker for that character development.

All Might and Deku - by this point you’ve probably noticed a definite pattern of platonic dad ships here lol. I don’t know if I have mentioned this on this blog before, but I am aromantic (which is something that took me the better part of 30+ years to figure out, because sometimes stuff that seems really obvious in hindsight somehow completely escapes your notice for a stupidly long time)! which is probably one of the chief reasons I tend to be drawn to gen/platonic ships moreso than romantic ones. for me, familial love is something I can relate to much more strongly, and so relationships like the one All Might has with Deku, where he just loves him so much and he’s so proud of him, and he just ends up basically dedicating his whole life to helping him grow -- that just really hits me in a place I can actually understand. I for reals fucking cried when he hugged him on the beach after Kamino. I still get emotional thinking about that moment. something about the love a parent has for a child, and the trust that a child has in them. guh.

Bakugou and Todoroki/TodoBaku - last but not least, this absurdly stubborn little-friendship-that-could, born of Todoroki’s underrated ability to see right through Bakugou’s bullshit, and his decision to befriend him whether he likes it or not. actually I feel like I shouldn’t even use the word “befriend” there, because that implies that there was actually a process of him gradually becoming Bakugou’s friend, which I’m almost positive there was not. Todoroki literally just woke up one morning and decided that they were friends, and that was that. just like that it became a fact, and Bakugou never had the slightest say in it. any and all protests of “we’re not friends” are shrugged off with the complete and utter disregard that they deserve. Bakugou can say that as much as he likes; he can also say that the earth isn’t round or that the sky isn’t blue. it doesn’t change jack shit and they both know it. anyway so this is another one that, like with BakuDeku, I’ll ship romantically or platonically or anything in between, because either way the core dynamic of the relationship is pretty much going to be the same, and that’s what I enjoy about them. Todoroki basically just sort of adopted Bakugou in much the way one might adopt a stray cat, and that will forever delight me until the end of my days.

so there you go, my top five. at least, that’s what immediately came to mind. I do ship almost every relationship in this series to some degree or other, so there are probably other relationships that I’m forgetting right now which I won’t recall until after I click “post.” ah, well.

[proiida]

y’know. the bnha fandom might be awful towards inko but it’s got nothing on the marvel fandom when it comes to being shitty to the mother figures of main characters in order to further dad-son dynamics when they do not quite exist

[allmightluver]

**bnha spoilers** I'm just sat here with renewed realisation of what All Might is going through. 40 years. /40 years/ he held and refined that power and dedicated his every waking (and sleeping if Vigilantes is anything to go by) moment towards the goal of defeating AfO and creating a society in which people could feel happy and safe. And now as it turns out AfO is still alive, society is broken and he has given a literal piece of his soul to this young boy leaving himself with only phantoms

Yes. I don’t think people quite grasp what all he’s going through.

It’s been shown recently to us that some, if not most, heroes have underlying ambitions in becoming a hero. Whether for money, glory, fame, popularity, doesn’t matter. They’re ultimately in it for themselves. Toshinori’s intentions from the beginning have been the most pure- he wanted to be a symbol that people can look to and know things will be ok. A symbol of hope. This boy was only around 14 years old when he decided this. What kind of 14 year old sees the world that clearly? Sees that people have no hope, that a veil of darkness covers them. The only thing I can think of is- Toshinori did not have a good childhood. Something had to have happened to a boy that young to stop seeing the joy in life so early, and see the world’s flaws. Truthfully, I believe he was an outcast- due to his quirklessness. Most likely an orphan, perhaps abandoned by his parents, as we’ve never seen him have any family. I do truly believe Toshinori has been alone all his life. I don’t doubt more could have happened to him as a child before he met Nana. 

Some may argue that Izuku is the same age, and therefore it shouldn’t be that hard to see why Toshinori wanted to be a hero at such a young age. BUT, Izuku had someone to look up to, ever since he was a child of four years old, to inspire him to be a hero his whole life *cough cough* All Might. Izuku also was quirkless, much like Toshinori, and an outcast because of it (hence where I assume Toshinori was much the same). But ultimately, Izuku wanted to save people because he saw his hero do it. It really wasn’t until Izuku was a bit older, has been in UA, has been on rescue missions, has seen what the heroes see, that I think he’s truly realized how dark the world really is. Toshinori didn’t have that. He didn’t have someone to inspire him as a child, someone to look up to, a hero to inspire him to help others. At that time, heroes hadn’t become as popular as they are in present times. Toshinori saw the world for what it was, on his own, at a tender age. I think that day Nana ran into this blonde hair kid, she eyed him up, noticed his scraggly form, looked into those captivating blue eyes, and saw a man who’s lived through the world’s horrors- experienced the worst it has to offer-, and wants to save everyone he can from the same fate, all in a 14 year old boy. 

Then after only a few short years with the woman he saw as his mother, she’s killed in front of him because of his own weakness- he wasn’t strong enough yet to protect her. The only other person his life, Gran Torino, literally abused him. He beat him to a pulp, taking his own emotions out on a teenager, and I doubt Toshinori said anything of it. He probably thought he deserved it. He’s still afraid of Gran Torino to this day, remembering the beatings and expecting more for his failures- even if he doesn’t know what they are surely he’s at fault for something, but he’s the only person who’s stood by his side for this long. Even while at a distance, and spouting nothing but criticisms along the way. But Toshinori had to put aside his own emotions to be that hope for everyone. He left everything he knew to go to a new country on his own, to learn how to be a hero, to be that hope for someone.

Vigilantes showed us just how hard he worked. Toshinori literally stayed awake with no sleep for days on end- 3 in the chapter I’m referencing- because people needed help, people needed saving, and no one else stepped up. He fought villains, rescued civilians, repaired damage, cleared rubble, (even accept and eat food that was against his dietary restrictions after his injury) whatever the public needed, all while draining himself further. He worked himself to the point of exhaustion because he had no help, once literally falling asleep while mid-leap across the city because he simply could go no further. 

^^These happen in succession of each other^^

No one stepped up to say “Hey, Mr. Number 1, you’ve been working hard lately. Let me help you!” No one tried to take over his position. Even the Number 2 hero, Endeavor, never tried to take some of his burden. His only goal was to try to be better than All Might in terms of power- he was never trying to be the hero that the people relied on All Might for. Everyone relied on him when things looked grim. He was the back up plan. And all of this happened before Toshinori’s injury. 

The only thing he ever wanted to do- help people- he can’t do (at least the way he’s always known how to). The ability to save people has been taken from him in the most gruesome way. He was finally able to fight the man that killed Nana, and in a rage that I’m sure echoed with all of the emotions of the previous users, he smashed that man’s head like a grape. But not without consequence. Several organs are gone. The pain is excruciating. He wears that man’s mark on his body for the rest of his life, never truly able to rid himself of the filth.

Then we have Nighteye’s betrayal. The man that helped him as a sidekick, the man that grew to be his only friend. Now some people may ask why Toshinori flipped like he did to Nighteye looking into his future when he was concerned about him making it through his injury. What I believe is Toshinori didn’t want to know when he would die (and really, who does). Now he knows he’s on a time limit, knows the clock is ticking. Time is running out to keep the world at peace, and with him as he is now, how long can this go on? 

I think the betrayal, doing something that Toshinori specifically asked him not to do, is what hurt the most. How can he trust Nighteye anymore? He already can only count on one hand the people he can trust, let alone befriend.

He’s wasted away into a skeleton, a shell of the man he used to be. He can’t over exert himself without his only lung bleeding in protest. It’s canon in the side books that he really doesn’t eat much, which isn’t good for his diet without a stomach now (he’s supposed to have several small meals a day). He is quite literally punishing himself by starving. (Granted, he doesn’t feel hunger anymore.) He’s a sick man, beyond medical help at this point. They can only stabilize him and hope for the best. For five years now he’s in constant pain, every day. He loses blood like sweat. Surely his veins are bruised and collapsed with how many times he would have needed to be hospitalized. Whether from losing too much blood, being too dehydrated or starved from “forgetting” to eat, or an organ failing as body continues to fall apart. “...even as my body rots and grows frail...” - Toshinori People are bound to stare at him as he walks down the street. A tall, willowy, skeleton with a grimace on his face and blood stains on his clothes as he coughs up more into his own hands. There would be the ones who outright ignore him when they walk by, the people who offer pitying smiles and sympathetic glances or just outright stare, and then ones who are afraid of his appearance- children screaming at the mere sight of him and running to their parents to hide from the monster. Each one is another knife in Toshinori’s side, an ache in his chest. If only they knew who I really am.

Losing Nighteye took a toll on his hero work as well. Mirai was a huge help in the past, and took care of all Toshinori’s paperwork, while also reminding him to take care of himself. Without him, Toshinori was even more buried beneath his responsibilities. Plus, now he was on a time limit. He even snapped briefly in his first meeting with Tsukauchi, accidentally revealing himself as All Might because he was under too much pressure, and telling the detective he literally couldn’t handle doing everything by himself (who graciously took over the paperwork side of things for him). 

He was living a double life now, having to lie to people left and right about who he was while in his small form, about how he became so sickly, why he was here in the first place who the heck is this skinny old guy. Surely he had multiple visits to the doctor while continuing to repair the damage done by AFO (there’s a limit to how much the body can handle at once. And things I’m sure continued to fail as time went on). Then he would be bedridden for as long as the doctors could keep him strapped to a bed, until he couldn’t take the people’s cries for help any longer, and would jump into action. (It’s also revealed he has something of a super hearing- able to hear danger- which may have been a form of danger sense of OFA that was never fully unlocked?. Either way, he surly could sense disasters happening while he could only lay and heal from his latest surgery. Those poor doctors must have had to re-stitch him several times). People blame him for not preparing society for his retirement, that he failed in passing on the torch so to speak, but in reality he did everything possible to keep society from falling for 40 years, doing all within his power just to keep things afloat. He is only one person. One human being, he can’t do everything despite trying to. Society failed All Might.

People blame him for not being a good teacher. He didn’t exactly have the greatest teacher himself to learn from. He’s never had to teach anyone anything, he just punches! He’s learning. And for his own credit, he’s an incredibly wise man, he has years of experience under his belt, and an intelligence score of 6/6, scoring up there with Nezu! He may not always have the right way to bring something up, but he’s doing his best. Yet even he blames himself for Izuku not being able to control his quirk better. Every time the boy hurts himself, it’s just another tally on the chalkboard of Toshinori’s failures. He himself knows the boy deserves better, better than him. Useless. Pathetic.

Then his friend from America, Dave, essentially became a villain trying to preserve Toshinori’s legacy after Toshinori told him about his injury. Dave went behind his back, threatened people, injured people (pretty sure people died), all for Toshinori’s sake. Something he didn’t want to begin with. Having to put your only other friend in jail for trying to help you surely couldn’t have been easy.

Oh, by the way? All For One isn’t dead. All Might will fight him again, publicly, have his weakened form exposed to the world, and have his own emotions toyed with as he finds out about his master’s grandson in the villain’s hands. Would Nana hate him for leaving her son alone like she’d asked, and dooming her grandchild to be raised by the greatest villain? Could he have done anything to save him? But Toshinori isn’t allowed to feel, he has to smile and push his own feelings aside once again, because there’s a villain to be fought, and only he can fight him. Despite coming out on top, he’ll have suffered severe head trauma, broken left arm, destroyed right arm, and several cuts and bruises that are sure to scar. And then, his quirk, the only thing that’s been allowing him to help people, the gift given to him that he carefully held for 40 years and molded into his own until his very consciousness was permanently carved into it, blows out like a match in the wind. And he’s done. Used up. Empty. Broken. Hollow. Alone, again.

He overhears his student, Bakugo, admit that he blames himself for All Might’s retirement. If he hadn’t been captured, All Might wouldn’t have had to save him, and he wouldn’t have had to fight AFO. Of course Toshinori knows that’s not true, his time was about to run out anyway. It would have happened one way or another. But how can he explain to this child that he wasn’t the cause of his hero, the world’s greatest hero, fighting for his sake, bleeding for his sake, being forced into retirement to keep him safe. Every time Bakugo sees the bandages covering Toshinori’s body is another reminder of the pain and sacrifice Toshinori willingly gave to keep him safe. Toshinori wasn’t held when his mentor died. He wasn’t told it was ok to be sad, that grief and mourning was a natural process, that it takes time to heal. He wasn’t told it was ok to cry. Instead his feelings were beaten out of him as he wondered if Gran Torino blamed him for Nana’s death. He already blamed himself How then, does he comfort a child mourning for him? For what he lost.

And then he gets the call to come to the hospital. Mirai, Nighteye, his old sidekick friend, has been gravely injured, much like he himself was only a few years ago, and most likely won’t survive the night. And to his horror, Nighteye is happy to see him, smiles at him, says he doesn’t hate him for what happened, only wants Toshinori to be happy. He can’t accept that, at least let him apologize, reconcile his sins before it’s too late! But it is. Another fractured piece of his heart gone.

Of course, seeing your students beat up and their arms completely destroyed must have hurt. Instead of being able to save these kids, they’re the ones that hurt themselves to save everyone else. And if Bakugo had kept OFA, things could have been very different (especially with what we know now of OFA and people with quirks). Toshinori wasn’t mad at Izuku for transferring it away, he’d never regret choosing Izuku, and I believe he still would have stayed by Izuku and Bakugo’s side should it have stayed in Bakugo, doing whatever he could to help.

As he tells Aizawa, “I’ve decided to live,” -that statement seems so melancholy, besides obvious reasons. It sounds more like another task he has to accomplish. He didn’t die he was supposed to die with the AFO fight, and now the whole life he lived is over. The world has no use for him anymore. If not for Izuku, he’d have nothing left keeping him here. But because his boy made him promise to live, he’ll do so. Though it almost seems like he says those words with regret. “I’ve decided to live.” Not, “I’m going to live!” “Nothing can kill me!” “I won’t go down without a fight!” No. “I’ll live if I have to, only because you asked me to.” The man is obviously and outwardly depressed. He has so many things against him. No doubt has severe PTSD, anxiety, among others. Not to mention his own physical health. Every day hurts. It’s painful to be alive. Why would he torture himself if he doesn’t have to? For you, my boy. You’re the only thing keeping me here. The only light in my dark world.

He tries to help Izuku find out the previous holder’s quirks, to help his boy in any way he can now that he’s worthless, and goes days on end without sleep, running his body into the ground. He even forgets Christmas. Only to find that by giving the boy the same gift he had received, he may have just doomed him to an early death, among psychological torture (danger detection). (Granted, he really doesn’t know how everything works, and he’s afraid to talk to anyone about it). His boy could live only half a life.

It’s only been a few months since he retired, and society has fallen into shambles. People are blaming him. People are dying. He watches helplessly as his colleague fight his fight for him, and end up battered, bruised, crippled, dead. He students, his boy, battle the monster he should have killed. Children are bleeding. This shouldn’t happen. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Is everything he worked for, everything he fought to protect, to build up, to inspire, is all for naught?! Did he live a foolish dream and doom the world? Was all the the friends he lost, tears he shed, the organs he destroyed, the pain he endures on a daily basis from the hole in his side, and the blood he continues to bleed every day, for nothing? The public, the ones he protected for so long, mourn his absence, but surely there are those among them who also blame him. The statue from his last fight in Kamino one that he never asked for was decimated in a mock of his catch phrase- the one that was supposed to give hope.

Now he can feel his own vestige speaking with Izuku in the OFA realm, even with out OFA in his own body anymore. His clock as nearly reached it’s limit, Nighteye’s prediction is due any day now. The only thing he wants is to see his boy smile at him, to give him some shred of hope. Yet the child remains unconscious, and Toshinori can’t even hold his hand from the bandages covering his arms. Will he still be able to fight? Is there any coming back from this now? Did I break him?

With all Toshinori has been through, I’m honestly surprised we haven’t seen him just outright break down. Anyone, anyone, else should have crumbled under the pressure of holding up the world for 40 years alone. And instead of being able to pass it on to someone when he can no longer bear its weight, it simply falls to into the abyss. People don’t credit All Might enough for everything he’s done. Most don’t realize the sacrifices he’s made. His character is so unbelievably profound and deep, it’s more than just the “I am here!” people focus on. He’s a deeply troubled, layered, complex character. And I can’t find fault within him.

[gentrychild]

I love this trope that is prevalent in quite a few dfo fics/meta (esp yours) that goes like

Izuku: Some time ago, my mom lost her husband Hisashi, my deadbeat father...

AfO: (offscreen) Quit telling everyone I'm dead!

Izuku: Sometimes I can still hear his voice...

You know, when I started reading DFO fanfic, it was either Villain Izuku who was crazy and evil or Really Angsty Izuku.

And I am glad we shifted to "My only dad is Dadmight" Izuku and just him despising AFO;

[greenhappyseed]

While I agree that liddol Toshi wasn't saying that there was no other role for him in the society, even with your interpretation he still gives himself less value as the others. 'Nothing is expected from me and I have no family, so I can freely go and put my life on the line to protect everyone else'. And it's not just that he was brushing off other people's kindness, it's also the fact that he saw All Might as more needed and important than Yagi Toshinori. He felt useless and helpless once he lost OFA, and had troubles with seeing how he can still be needed and usefull. Horikoshi even brought up the moment Toshi told Izuku that he can't be a hero without a quirk in this fight.

I definitely agree that Toshi felt useless and helpless without OFA. But I’ve come around to the idea that there’s not really a duality between All Might and Toshinori Yagi. OFA or not, they are the same person. It’s what Toshi tells Shoto in Ch. 386 — the body and mind are two halves of a whole. And I think Toshi’s need to feel useful arises from the person he is. It’s not that Toshi values himself “less” as much as his heart beats for others. His soul and his consciousness are at peace when they serve others. It may sound “crazy,” but young Toshi originally intended to become the Symbol of Peace without a quirk. As a teenager, he thought of his quirklessness and orphan status as assets — it meant he had nothing to lose. Why not try to change the world without a quirk? Like Izuku, Toshi just doesn’t care what happens to himself. Toshi is glad to try saving someone with his metal pipe, even if it’s a dumb idea that probably couldn’t succeed (like Izuku charging at the slime villain). Toshi thinks saving is “the coolest thing someone can do,” so he thinks nothing of putting himself in danger. Toshi’s fantasy was never having a quirk or being a superhero; it was stopping the cycle of grief and hatred so everyone could live with a smile.

Once he had OFA, and became All Might (which was before Nana died, as she calls him by his hero name in All Might Rising), things got muddy. Actually, I dare say it’s Nana’s presence in his life that changed things — she cared about Toshi, and was like a mother to him. That screws up his entire reason for himself being the ideal symbol that had nothing to lose. And then he DID lose Nana, so he doubled down on keeping others at arm’s length. I don’t think it’s possible to separate young Toshi’s understanding of himself as “All Might” from his need to be isolated. He successfully pitched the idea of becoming “All Might” because he was alone, and then his life experiences proved to him that, yes, All Might needed to remain alone. Then, the more successful All Might became, and the more people forgot about the man behind the hero, the more Toshi got lost in All Might.

Over time, Toshi distanced himself from his original idea to be the Symbol without a quirk. He became less “human.” In his 50s, having survived a gruesome injury, he saw that idea as youthful folly. So when Izuku asks in Chapter 1 if he can be a hero without a quirk, well, we get Toshi answering “no.” Just like Nana, Izuku’s young enthusiasm and selfless spirit wins the hero over, but Toshi still thinks Izuku needs a quirk. It’s only after Ch.326 and the Stain pep talk that Toshi understands the real “All Might” was his heart and soul all along, not OFA. Toshi realizes his original teenage ideals were right. It’s why Ch. 398 shows us these 3 panels together:

Toshinori Yagi cannot live his life in any way except for the sake of others. That means accepting he will put himself in danger in order to save. As he told Nighteye after his initial injury, he won’t stop helping until he’s dead. The difference is that now the risk of his death is far less because he’s accepting his humanity and accepting the help of others. Toshi is understanding that he’s not the only one who lives for others — people are willing to die to save HIM.

That’s why I struggle with the argument that Toshi and Izuku see themselves at this point in the story as having “less worth” than the people they save. We’re now seeing other characters like Stain laying down their lives (or close to it) to save Toshi and Izuku, as well as other heroes, villains, and civilians. The story has been clear that true heroism inherently involves risk, and frequently some kind of sacrifice. The key is knowing the difference between needlessly rushing towards death and living on to save another day. Right now, Toshi has to keep living to distract AFO, as he’s the only one who can. Beyond that, I’d say he has to keep living to see AFO eradicated, and Izuku and 1A rising to take up the mantle of the Symbol along with citizens. Creating a bigger network of hope and light is how Toshi’s fantasy becomes reality.

[fedzkun]

I feel like I do have to give kudos to my followers who might’ve not known I post bnha salt from time to time (with a bit more salty emphasis on how a certain boom boy is written), and decided to stay somehow?

I only hope that my metas about Izuku’s awesomeness and greatness and coolness and amazingness and strength and intelligence and kindness and compassion and friendship and happiness and empathy and seriousness and humor and analysis and creativity and observation skills and fighting skills and love (and relationship with Dadmight) are servings of sugar that would outweigh the salt on my little Tumblr buffet

[krisingtons]

What are All Might’s and Izuku’s love languages?

Oh, good question!

For All Might, I'd go with physical touch. He's generous with head pats and hugs in canon.

I do think he shows other love languages in canon, too, particularly quality time and acts of service, but I think these are less expressions of love and more in line with simply mentoring.

As for Izuku, I'd go with words of affirmation. Some of Izuku's biggest moments come when someone says something that is incredibly meaningful to him.

This idea also comes from a great meta I read about this scene. It discussed how All Might chose to reveal his previous quirklessness at the Sports Festival to lift Izuku's spirits. I can't find it at the moment, but I'll be sure to update the post as soon as I do! If anyone knows the one I'm talking about, please send it my way!

Update: thank you to @the-storming-sea for reminding me of your wonderful meta! It’s not strictly about words of affirmation but again, it inspired my earlier headcanon. https://the-storming-sea.tumblr.com/post/662897886094376960/actually-the-scene-where-all-might-reveals-that

Thanks for the Dadmight ask!