I love this because Kudou's telling the others what to do, giving out orders like the rebel leader he was in life, and then he just turns to Yoichi with the softest look on his face. Then back into Serious Battle Mode
We know Kudou isn't good with feelings and stuff. Like he said, they didn't really have time for that when he was alive. So he just looks to Yoichi with this expression and says he's leaving it to him. It's not a teary emotional goodbye but it's his version of a goodbye and that means something to Yoichi
Also you could see this as like a reverse of how their roles began, in a way. Yoichi died and left Kudou with OFA. Now Kudou is going to let himself shatter and is leaving Yoichi with OFA
AFO yells at armless child Izuku in the mind palace. That tracks.
Attacking Tomura’s psychological scars allowed AFO to re-emerge. This also tracks. If heart is power, and a scarred, fractured, walled-off interior allows for AFO’s control, then yeah, Izuku cracking “Tomura’s” armor inadvertently allowed AFO to take over the mind palace.
Oh but AFO just has to get one last jab in against Tomura, so of course he monologues about how Tomura never made a decision for himself in his whole life. Which isn’t ENTIRELY true — AFO couldn’t control young Tenko’s desire to be a hero to Mikkun and Tomo-chan…and to the League of Villains.
We do learn that AFO encouraged Tenko’s conception so he could get his perfect successor, which is just so Enji Todoroki of him.
AFO was close enough to touch baby Tenko (!!!) because he stole candy a quirk from the baby. Then AFO waited years to make Kotaro think Tenko was quirkless before implanting Decay, which is itself engineered from a quirk that could both disintegrate AND reconstruct. Boy does THAT sound like a copy of Overhaul (who was an orphan that AFO was oddly familiar with and knew by name….)
We get both a hero name (Gaen) AND real name for En (Tayutai)! No idea what they mean — Google Translate and Jsho are giving inconsistent answers — but I’m excited to find out when official translations are released!
“Tomura Shigaraki” decays and Izuku is ejected from the mind palace. But AFO doesn’t get his brother back. He says Yoichi is gone. Ruh-roh! He also says Decay and the hatred are gone. And he hears a mysterious echo. Hmm, what could be echoing inside AFO’s mind???
Izuku, now in the real world, tries to stop AFO (who is piloting Shigaraki’s meat suit). But IZUKU DISCOVERS HIS ARMS ARE GONE???? I mean, it’s not shocking bc Horikoshi has hinted at it for forever, but inneresting that either (1) the mind palace and real world ARE entertwined; or (2) AFO took Izuku’s arms as soon as he emerged in the real world. I think it’s the former, which opens the door to some fun shenanigans. I.e., what can the heroes do in the mind palace to harm AFO?
AFO taunts Izuku and says that he “from the start had nothing” … EXCEPT FOR REAL FRIENDS THAT COME TO HIS RESCUE!!!! Sero holds back AFO, proving once again that AFO has a weakness for sticky things like tape and, uh, Mineta’s balls.
Ojiro and Sato are close behind, helping Sero hold off AFO. Of course, Izuku says, “You’re safe” because he doesn’t stop thinking of others even after he lost his actual arms. How did Sero, Ojiro, and Sato get to Mt Fuji so fast?
BECAUSE AIZAWA IS BAAAAAACK!!!
Clearly, something happened with him, Mic, and Kurogiri, and they’re able to use/control Warp Gate. I am hyped and ready for this flashback, please give the Rooftop Trio 2-3 good chapters.
ALSO. Am I the only one curious that Aizawa is in proximity to AFO, and AFO always wanted Erasure? Aizawa has fought multiple Nomu and the entire League at one time or another, but he’s never been near AFO. Then again, Aizawa can’t fight with Erasure himself, so perhaps AFO taking it can get Aizawa into the mind palace……
Something I made in a post that I think'll be lost in the texts + expanded a bit more
These panels are chronological events following AFO's pursuit of Yoichi's Factor.
AFO could tell if people were related through a Quirk. AFO and OFA also are connected to each other. In Kamino, AFO could confidently tell All Might that OFA had been passed on, so all that All Might had left were leftover embers.
When AFO killed Kudo, he asked where Yoichi was. He knew Kudo wasn't the holder of Yoichi's Factor at that time. He also realized when looking at Yoichi's hand that Yoichi's natural Factor was so weak he hadn't registered its existence. This implies AFO could sense Factors since he was young, and Yoichi's natural Factor never stood out to him.
Below are three panels of Bruce (right to left). Bruce fought, AFO killed him, and looked away in disinterest.
When he beat down Bruce, he already had a sense that Bruce didn't hold the Factor anymore. That's why, rather than yell in his face to figure out where it is and interrogate for a long time, he pulled up his corpse to inspect him better.
Bruce's corpse isn't resisting anything. Look at his feet; AFO literally dragged him. Bruce is already dead. Yet he's looking for something from him.
Bruce doesn't have anything for him. Nothing AFO wants.
When he looks away, he's dismissing Bruce, because Bruce doesn't hold Yoichi. AFO is wondering where Yoichi is, because he knows now that he's out there somewhere. Thus the pensive look to the wind.
After Bruce is killed, AFO and Garaki meet for the first time. Shinomori has Yoichi at this time, and AFO never comes close to him, so AFO is lost. He doesn't have any leads, and Yoichi has vanished.
Now that he knows Yoichi can transfer, it's possible for Yoichi to be kept out of his reach for the rest of his life. So meeting Garaki and having access to Life Force gives AFO more time to search.
Yoichi is still missing for 18 years though, because Shinomori is in hiding. AFO couldn't find him during the Fourth's turn.
This is why, when he encounters Banjo, the Fifth and active wielder of OFA [Yoichi], AFO is smiling.
It's been a long time, but Yoichi's in reach again. He knows where he is now. And this is the first time he's encountered the current holder.
Thus his shock.
[Yet... you never behave as I wish.]
It was the first time a Quirk wouldn't let itself be stolen. This was AFO's first encounter with this wall: it doesn't transfer without the holder's consent, and requires willpower stronger than all the holders combined to override that.
The holder is never going to give him that consent. To override the collective willpower, he's going to need something greater.
Meanwhile, look at Banjo's arms. Shinomori is the catalyst to tip OFA over the edge, that an unprepared vessel will be destroyed by how strong the Quirk is.
Banjo's arms are both messed up below the shoulder, just like Midoriya used to be. And like Midoriya uses Blackwhip to reinforce himself and stay standing, Banjo uses Blackwhip to hold his fist / arm together. His hand is being wrapped to stay in a fist.
(What I think is) The reason the limbs turn red, and then purple, from breakage, is a matter of blood vessels. Small, itty bitty, fragile things.
Using OFA breaks the whole area, from bones to blood vessels, causing internal bleeding. Thus the redness. But breaking those vessels again in a second go turns the area purple, because it causes instantaneous internal bruising.
But En wasn't ripped apart by using OFA. There's a cut on his thumb that lines up with the path of destruction; AFO sliced him in half. Otherwise, he wouldn't have that cut if it were just OFA.
It's hidden by the text in [... you never behave as I wish], but depending on where you see this chapter, you can see he got cut on the thumb. It's clearer where we see Nana take his hair from him, in [I only want... to make you mine!]
I have a post in drafts about En being cut in half rather than it being because of OFA, but I also hit an image limit, so I'm gonna end here. Ta.
Do you think child AFO didn’t understand the permanence of death because the people he killed would (usually, if he stole their quirks) continue to exist as vestiges in his mind. And when he killed Yoichi, he didn’t expect himself to mourn because he was so used to having a stronger, more forced connection with people after death. It just didn’t occur to him that he wanted more than to make Yoichi submit to him (submission being. death.), he wanted Yoichi to live and be attached to him forever
Kudou smirking as he uses Kacchan to finally get Izuku to listen to him
Izuku not wanting to let go of One For All, not because it’s strong or because he’ll be Quirkless again but because All Might gave it to him so it’s precious to him BABY
The vestiges taking the fight inside of Shigaraki, meaning we might get vestige Izuku and vestige Kacchan
Half-baked AU ideas I come up with at 3 in the morning:
Yoichi as Snow White. I can see AFO as the Evil Queen and being angry about Yoichi being prettier than him. Plus, she didn't kill Snow, the apple just made her fall asleep.
A universe where AFO takes quirks the same way Kirby gets his powers.
AFO as a dragon, but instead of gold or normal dragon hoarding stuff, he hoards younger siblings. Like, not just Yoichi but ALL younger siblings. Oh, you have a younger sibling? Yoink! Mine now.
Apparently a special called BNHA: Memories came out and it's pretty much a recap about OFA, AFO, and other events between seasons 1 - 3. But we do get some new scenes such as...