#the fact that they dared to call it that

[whisunny]

APOLLO JUSTICE IS BACK IN TOWN 💥💥💥💥

[buttercupshands]

Chapter 419 Analysis or "How to make allies not pawns" a helpful guide from League of Villains (part 2)

This is now a second part of Tomura character analysis.

With chapter 419 being probably our last time seeing Tomura for a while, since we need to learn what happened with Aizawa now is time to remember that not only bad things exist it Tomura's life.

Warning of spoilers to the whole manga to the point of chapter 419! All of the warnings from My Villain Academy side of manga are applicable

So like... mentions of death, killing other people, manipulation, emotional abuse and many more!

This is Part 2 - See here for Part 1 of this depressing mess

With AFO being so sure that he knows better and actually controlled every single part of Tenko's life creating a Symbol of Fear without any redeeming qualities or even hope for saving after he destroys him. There's one thing that AFO still doesn't understand about Tomura and never did - and that's his allies, or the League of Villains that he created.

Even Kurogiri, being a Nomu who's views do not stray from what AFO thought was important didn't exactly understand what did Tomura think about his allies quick to assume that he thought of them as pawns all the was back in the Training Camp arc. With Tomura making game examples to explain the situation, he still didn't think of LoV as just pawns on a desk, like AFO does.

At the time of USJ arc there weren't many people Tomura called this, which could make you wonder how much it was just AFO's plan rather than Tomura's with him never worrying about those other villains yet getting so worked up over losing Nomu not only because he was strong enough to defend him from All-Might, but treating his defeat as something that must be avenged.

And that was long before Stain even entered the picture, the first of three people who greatly affected Tomura's view of his own motives alongside AFO's manipulation of literally everything else.

Tomura was terrified of fighting All-Might seconds before this and yet as this goes on it's becoming more noticeable - Tomura doesn't care for his own fear or worries as long as he's fighting for someone else's good. Not so different from how Izuku is ready to disregard himself for the sake of others, resulting in many injuries and being so close to dying so many times.

It never was a secret that Tomura is highly dependent on others to keep himself from losing confidence, or even will to fight, getting either too anxious to continue without anyone's reassurance.

And while AFO's "help" was mostly given only with some kind of lesson as we saw in "Tomura Shigaraki: Origin", with AFO literally sitting there, saying how Tenko is weak for not killing but showing some restrain instead suffering himself, never actually helping or comforting him. Only offering what he deemed nessesary for his own plan of making Tenko kill those thugs not caring that he's feeling sick from those hands.

But in USJ it's not AFO who's there with Tomura, it's Kurogiri, who was shown to still have some care that Shirakumo had that even Aizawa and Mic couldn't argue that it's similar to how Shirakumo couldn't just leave a kitten in the rain. No matter the responsibility that it would bring with taking a little one in.

A helpless little kitten that didn't get the help it needs from anyone else. Sounds way too familiar.

This never was a direct order from AFO other than he needs to "tend and protect" for Tomura, which can mean anything from just looking out when Tomura's sick, or protect him from any tread like someone trying to kill him.

Not helping him getting over his anxiety to fight or helping him and guiding him to do better as a leader of the League calming him if it got out of control. Which is somewhat opposite to the way AFO deals with Decay and Tomura's temper - letting him destroy anything even the hands that he gave him, just offering new ones when he succeedes and never really caring for his pawns, he can always get new ones.

And surely not asking if Tomura's well the first thing while talking to Heroes.

Which then leads us back to how Tomura never viewed anyone that he chose as pawns calling them his allies, with the word '仲間' which can even be translated as friends in needed context, but usually used as comrade or ally when Tomura says it. And the same thing is usually translated as "friend" when used by Twice.

In any case Tomura never once doubted his allies since he saw them as reliable, even if his first meeting with Toga and Dabi went so wrong that Kurogiri had to stop them from killing each other.

Up to the point of Training Camp AFO describes as him teaching Tomura to be independent which was at that point too far from the truth than he thought. If Tomura begging for AFO to leave with them is any indicator he actually was even less independent after All-Might almost caught them, making him doubt his own worth as a leader. Even if AFO's defeat finally let him think and wonder about himself and his past.

AFO believed that Tomura just knowing how to recruit people would suddenly make him great at using those new "pawns" which was proven wrong by Overhaul no so long after that. Showing how Tomura believed the same thing AFO did as well, fully trusting his judgement of anything including himself, all the while parroting what AFO says without fully understanding what it means.

Only after losing both Magne and Mr. Compress arm does Tomura slowly start making progress in becoming someone more than AFO tells him to do. Even if as we see in part 1 it used Decay as the ground to make it stable since he believed it was his quirk. And yet.

Even if Tomura didn't simply instruct his allies how to choose who to recruit, he never blamed them for it. On the opposite, when Twice was hard on himself after bringing Overhaul to them Tomura just looked at them for the first time without a hand on his face, or even on himself at all, showing how he trusts them as much as he would trust himself and believes that they can do it.

Taking off hands of his family would mean not relying on the conflicting feelings that they bring into the picture, something AFO would very much dissaprove, since he was now like an equal to everyone in LoV instead of being above them. He

And with this instead of making them blindly trust his decisions and following him from fear or adoration like people had been following AFO or Overhaul, he instead was an equal to them both in failure and victory that wasn't even all that guaranteed yet.

Each one of them had their own somewhat selfish goal that just seemed like they were just using each other without any worry being each other's pawns. Or maybe that's just how AFO would see them.

Yet it doesn't explain why did Toga care for Twice's trauma response of not having his mask on, since he already did his part and all that they both needed to do was done. But LoV was never about following orders or giving them, expecting for the pawns to follow without question. It was about a leader of the group that would stand up for his allies while allowing them full freedom, except when they needed to also accept that something is needed to be done for their own sake.

Like following Overhaul for a while all for cutting off his hands leaving him with nothing. Did that sound like something reasonable to do? No! They literally lost their chance at having sushi instead of just living at some abadoned building all the while occasionally searching for money or food, stealing and killing just to survive all while Tomura was just... waiting.

Nothing was really stable at the start of what we call My Villain Academia and yet no one from the LoV left while their state was... bad at the very least. No matter how AFO was teaching Tomura he was still left mostly waiting for something to happen rather than doing something to change the situation himself.

Sure, Tomura now was a famous leader of League of Villains that suddenly needed to be stopped rather that underestimated like before. But that was in the future, now LoV was laying low on funds and slowly Tomura showing his face became the norm, with him usually never wearing hands around LoV.

And with Tomura becoming more and more comfortable around LoV, the LoV itself was becoming more like a place that had one core value that accepted anything else added without anyone wondering about the past of others, like Compress said. Just some selfish people, who still followed their own needs first.

And yet somehow Toga, who joined just because she loved Stain and disliked how life was too hard found her place in the LoV alongside Twice who just needed to be trusted and trust in return. If Tomura only followed what AFO deemed to be the best way to lead no one would actually feel like they're accepted in the LoV as much as they were.

Goal or no goal Tomura succeeded even without having the whole world at the palm of his hands by just never pressing anyone to actually follow him - if they wanted to they could've just left here and there, but since they chose to follow he did what he thought was the obvious best - let his allies do what they wanted.

Which was okay for someone like Toga or Dabi who were either already comfortable by just being allowed to be themselves or being free to plan their own things for their own goals.

But not exactly that for Spinner. Who was instead literally searching for someone to show him what to do, not so different from Tomura, who still only followed whatever 'his Sensei' deemed worthy for him to look into, like letting Kurogiri go find unknown "power" that AFO left along with contact with Doctor.

And while Spinner was not fine with still being hollow even while following Tomura pretending that it's the same thing as following Stain... all it took for him to look differently at how exactly was Tomura thinking was the last real "barrier" that there was - Tomura basically spilling his whole backstory and motivations mostly for LoV to listen to, since Doctor was just testing Tomura's will all according to AFO's plan.

And after that it didn't took too long for Spinner to now follow Tomura, even if it was still not the time to really see the 'warped horizon that was waiting for them'. And yet in times where Tomura still showed some doubt over his decisions - that one old trait of his showing up like it was always at the back of his head not so different from USJ, only thing changing that Tomura got better and better at not letting his emotions control him so easily.

Since the price of that would literally be lifes of his allies.

And neither that or using their emotions to his own benefit was ever in his plans, contrast to AFO manipulating Tomura to do just that. Letting his emotions consume him completely just for his own goal and for his own sake. But as a person who was so familiar with this Tomura still was adamant at NOT allowing something like this to happen to his friends allies.

Effectively creating a bond between all six of them, including Toya that in the end kept them together until the very final arc, with Spinner keeping what Tomura would've thought and with him waking up and calling Machia to get LoV first and foremost Spinner did understand their's leader wishes, as well as Twice's who literally died for his friends.

With all that happening in the War arc the moment AFO returned with both being in control of Tomura's body and just abadoned anything that Tomura would care for like leaving Mr. Compress and Machia behind just to punish him for not getting OFA or not even caring to show any actual respect for Tomura's wishes. Instead showing how little he actually cared for anything but his own good.

But while AFO made so many pawns that he could change like gloves at any given moment, threating them and manipulating them with his power and quirks, Tomura only had 6 allies who stayed after AFO was caught and who were willing to die just to live the life they wanted.

And AFO couldn't give them that.

Even if Decay isn't Tenko's quirk and even if he has so much guilt for killing without it being a little bit justified by it...

LoV still followed him as a person who allowed them to live as they please and so what they want, not some all-powerfull overlord but an ally and a leader who had his flaws and fallings.

[autistic-beshelar]

ah yes dungeon meshi, the manga where an autistic man gets repeatedly bullied by people he thinks are his friends and not a single person supports him

[labyrynth]

mxtx did not write “the scum villain’s self saving system”, a satirical novel commenting on and subverting stallion novels, danmei, and a plethora of other genre staples and tropes, just for y’all to take the title at face value

[aoitakumi8148]

...𝓘𝓯 𝓘𝓽 𝓘𝓼 𝓦𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓷 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓦𝓮 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓓𝓲𝓮, 𝓦𝓮 𝓢𝓱𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓐𝓽 𝓛𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓽 𝓓𝓲𝓮 𝓣𝓸𝓰𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻.

[h0n3yk1tt3n]

Protect, discover, danger + boyf riends

It was an interesting little thing when the script was flipped; when Jeremy was the one to protect Michael instead of it being the other way after roughly ten years.

Sure, Jeremy broke his finger on the dickhead's nose in the process, but the burning satisfaction of seeing the gob of blood drip out of his tormentor's nose was rivaled only by scrawny little Jeremy Heere being the one to do it.

The senior would discover the two freshmen walking home in the snow a couple months later, Jeremy's finger long healed, but his patience as slim as ever when it came to who spoke to Michael and how.

Michael found himself horror-struck over not being able to prevent his friend from being brandished with a bloody nose to match the one that Jeremy had given the upperclassmen before; how could he have failed so badly at staving the danger away when he could've easily broken free of that lackey's arms?

Michael took solace in getting Jeremy inside and tending to his bruised nose, but was haunted by the crimson smattering that stained the white snow red, and the droplets that followed them the whole way home – spilt blood that demanded he do better to guard that which held so near and dear.

[stylinson-spagghetti]

am i the only one who misses jaylor?

[mothmanwarble]

Thinking about how the Skylanders novels take place prior to the events of the games and feature Flynn in several storylines, meaning that he’s known about Kaos for quite some time.

Thinking about how according to chapter 18 of Meditations on Boom, Flynn allegedly had been Kaos’ nemesis prior to the Skylanders’ return.

Thinking about how Kaos often refers to people with childishly disrespectful nicknames (“Poser Master,” “Dragonfly,” “Skyloser”) but one of the few people he somewhat consistently refers to by name, even when speaking to them directly, is Flynn.

Thinking about how “BOOM” is Flynn’s catchphrase, and Kaos uses “DOOM” repeatedly, and how in the Mirror of Mystery adventure pack, Evil Flynn uses “DOOM” instead.

Thinking about how Flynn—albeit reluctantly—congratulates Kaos on the sudden re-opening of the Wilikin Workshop.

Thinking about how Kaos explains the history behind the Wilikin Workshop to Flynn. Kaos’ love for the Wilikin is something deeply personal to him, and something he has supposedly never told anyone outside of his family about, and yet he’s so quick to tell Flynn about it.

Thinking about how in Trap Team, if you talk to Kaos in the Academy, one of the things he’ll mention is Flynn introducing him to enchiladas. It’s one of the few bits of hub world dialogue in which Kaos sounds genuinely happy.

Thinking about how Flynn gets genuinely upset over Kaos’ betrayal in Trap Team—especially after he had shared his food with him.

Thinking about the scene in Swap Force where Kaos’ Mom threatens Woodburrow and openly mocks her own son in front of an entire crowd of people, and how Flynn leans over to Kaos to say “Wow, your mom’s kinda harsh, huh?” to which Kaos responds with a simple “Ya think?”

Thinking about how Flynn proudly calls Kaos “buddy” in SuperChargers, and hugs him so tightly that he gets swept off his feet.

Just. Can’t stop thinking about how these two might’ve had some sort of history together that stretches further back than we ever thought.

[hussyknee]

Not entirely sure how I'm expected to respond when I point out something is white as fuck and the person I'm criticizing goes "I'm literally PoC!!" Okay? Good for you? Get well soon??

I literally live in South Asia, a place still nursing the world's worst colonial hangover. That's like one billion brown people desperately in need of joining Bootlickers Anonymous. If I had to respect the rancid takes of every yahoo that lives here I'd have to drown myself in the sea.

Living in white countries does something odd to diaspora brains. If you call yourself BIPOC in your own head long enough you end up forgetting you're just a garden variety idiot mainlining white supremacy like everyone else.

[craycraybluejay]

this is exactly what im talking about btw, baeddels harassing trans men but trans men are expected not only to shut up and take it but not do anything in turn. just like a specific brand of abuse on the tip of my tongue

like waow i guess im OpPrEsSiNg you for telling you its bad to call a whole group of people slurs as insults and being a misgendering and transphobic piece of garbage.

why cant we make 'theymab' a thing? oh yeah because its acceptable to abuse a trans person under the pretense of their agab if you see them as a woman but not if you're seen as a man. huh. i wonder what that reminds me of.

[lgbtlunaverse]

It's a really heartwrenching sequence as it's happening but looking back at the part where jgy grabs jin ling as a hostage in guanyin temple I always crack up when he starts to assure everyone that he really likes a-ling, actually! He practically raised him, he really doesn't want to hurt him so don't worry and please just do as he says.

A-yao. Sweetheart. The point of taking a hostage is that the people you're negotiating with believe you're going to kill the hostage so you can use their wellbeing as a bargaining chip. Saying "Oh yeah I really like this hostage I don't want to hurt him" kind of ruins the point of a hostage. What are you doing?

[araminakilla]

You know what? Now that I think about it, it's a really good thing we didn't see Mummy getting really really really pissed off, not just because of the hidden powers he could have as an undead monster, but because it is very well know that when a peruvian gets really angry, HELL WILL FOLLOW CLOSE

[qnfarc]

whenever I see someone arguing about how buddy daddies isn't queer and people who think it is are ruining the anime for others I just go 🤨 for well... obvious reasons of how tf enjoying the show through queer lens would ruin it but also because how do these people think the show will end?? like... genuinely, how do you think this slice of life with two men each with hard past and trauma raising a daughter together which forces them to confront said traumas and grow as individuals and partners (let's also ignore the ambiguous connotations of using this word and history of using if we must) is going to end? cause obviously it's going to end with this imperfect makeshift family creating their home together and staying together. loving and supporting each other in their own ways for years to come. these two men raising Miri together, completely comfortable in this home they've created and existing together, completely fine with no other romantic relationships in their lives spending their years together as parents. just saying that's...that's pretty gay of them you know? and honestly even if you argue about it and pull two friends can raise a child together card... this anime still provides so much wholesome and good content for queer community in such basic ways "our bank account", "you think work's more important than our kid?!", Miri saying she loves having two dads, "these are our genes at work" and much more... just a lot of positivity all around so it's no wonder queer community is enjoying watching it, read their relationship as queer and take comfort from the show? and there is really nothing wrong with that especially when as I said we all know it will end with heart-warming closure of this found family being happy and together

[carbonateddelusion]

mmmm chuck giving his one liners

"You call me that!"

"No. No, I don't."

"But you should."

"No."

"Fuck you. You're no fun."

[benetnvsch]

y know, its silly to me how much misinfo I see floating around esp regarding canon skk stuff so I wanted to just rq list some things that I've seen to have it all in one place -

"I should have taken Chuuya [from the mafia] with me" -> Not real, false memory, commonly sourced as the latest stageplay. The person who came up with this was a twt users who just misremembered what happened in the latest stage play which actually never did. They have since publicly stated that this quote isn't Actually in Canon and rather just them misremembering

"Human or not, doesn't matter to me" -> Not canon, mis/fan translation, commonly sourced from stormbringer. This was from a twitter fan translation which I believe has also? since been deleted/disclaimed by the translator as not Real/accurate

The "Chuuya and Dazai are one soul in two bodies" quote from Asagiri- Real quote, just not from Asagiri. It was said by a director working on Dead Apple

"The person I trusted as a partner and protected as a boss suddenly committed suicide without saying anything to me" -> not real, completely made up, commonly sourced from Beast Movie (often said its from credits). This one came from a mistranslation from a Very Controversial SKK account on twt who has been heavily criticized by other BSD (translation) accounts for being inaccurate and biased. Completely made up. The actual closest thing to it is a bit where Chuuya is complaining how horrible and how much he hated to work with Dazai and that he's been wanting to kill him for years and wished he was the one who killed Dazai instead of Dazai just dying on his own- a Very different vibe

Chuuya being Dazai's next in command/right hand man in Beast -> I just see this sited/used in fics A LOT. Just want to just say that in beast Atsushi is explicitly called Dazai's right hand man and there's an executive higher in command then Chuuya (not stated who but there is one more at least)

[fakeoldmanfucker]

The loneliness of everyone in the world calling you the same nickname. There is no middle ground between the full-length formality and the shortened familiarity. It is, overwhelmingly, either Mark Zuckerberg or it is Zuck. The nickname is not even a derivative of your first name. There is always a formality, ingrained now in text, in the very name people call you. You can't get away from it. Even your closest friends. Even your wife. But not just them. It is also every journalist who wants to seem knowledgeable. It is every person on the internet who wants to make fun. Calling you Mark now seems almost taboo. There are people who do it, of course, but it grates incongruently against your image, carefully, mistakenly cultivated. The journalists who call you Mark are immediately distanced from you, more than they intended by assuming the industry-standard polite familiarity. The use of your first name marks them as an outsider and thus, to the people that matter, unimportant. No one who criticizes you ever uses the familiar, of course: there is Zuckerberg and Mark Zuckerberg and then there is Zuck, intentionally informal to indicate disrespect. When your friends talk about you, the ones who you have known for twenty years, since you were a kid, when Zuck really was a meaningful indication of friendship and intimacy, they call you Zuck too. They may mean it differently than everyone else who uses the name, but it doesn't sound any different out of their mouths than it does out of anyone else's.