#this is not only about DFO

[mallas28]

Rant post

This was a heavy week. But recent chapter 419 of MHA makes it worse.

I was hyped by 418 chapter, was full of joy and faith in DFO. Then suddenly 419 chapter completely crushed my joy and faith.

I dont want to believe in anything anymore. Not DFO. Nothing. I am just tired make my hopes up.

Because no matter that. It all goes to hell. I am talking not only about DFO here.

I am just tired. This chapter was last drop. I am done. I should left any hope

[pocketramblr]

Made a bet with a friend back in 2018 that dfo wouldn't become canon, if I won I would get $100 and if they won I would have to get a tattoo of the day the leaks confirm it. I was so sure back then that it would never become canon, now with afo headed to ua where shig and izuku are I'm like just 😟

What happens if it's never confirmed nor denied, aka my dream ending?

[katsudoncat]

HORIKOSHI YOU ARE A DAMN GENIUS!!!

Izuku said He Feels at Ease When Someone Holds His Hand.

Now we know that All for One is a Quirk capable of stealing or copying other Quirks and transferring them to whoever he wants or keeping them and using them if the user wants and we also know that he gave his supposedly Quirkless brother a gift of power accumulation… ok? Well that's when I saw this…

"Just holding hands soothes the heart."

Izuku says again that the simple act of holding hands calms the heart because it works for him, holding hands with his friends calms him down and makes him feel good.

Well, so far so good.

That's where THIS comes in…

It is then that Izuku can somehow feel the embers rekindling.

When his other friends arrive, Kacchan walks in and asks Izuku about the embers... "They flew you over here, but… are the embers okay?"

To which Izuku replies "Yeah" Because yes, the embers are so good that they burn again... And no, it was not the "Magic of Friendship" nor the "Power of Love" nor the "Izuocha"

then I was like...

Naniiiii? But what the hell happened here?! and I remembered the following...

Yeap! Izuku's hands in volume 417, and that's when it occurred to me that what a fucking genius Horikoshi-sensei is.

Well, now we all know that AFO steals quirks by touching his victims with his hands due to the holes in them that seem to absorb said quirks, right? ok, have you figured out where I'm going?… AFO is Izuku's father! YES!

So even though here it doesn't look like Izuku has the same holes as AFO, there does seem to be light in what would appear to be said holes, but that's because instead of absorbing Quirks, Izuku only absorbs energy, like the Quirk that AFO imposed on his brother stores energy and like AFO absorbs said power! So if when Izuku touched Uraraka's hand he absorbed part of the power of her quirk to revive the embers, wouldn't that mean that Izuku inherited AFO's mutated quirk somehow? Well you can say that Izuku would need the holes to absorb the power but do we remember what his mother Inko's quirk is? Attraction of small objects and she uses the movement of her hands to attract them, so if we add both quirks Izuku wouldn't need the holes, it would be a combination, and he would attract the power of the quirks just by putting his hands on people. And again you could refute me, "But Izuku has touched a lot of people with his hands" and I'll answer, Yes, but he was wearing gloves and it seems like he only activated his quirk recently in volume 417 of the manga by the looks of it since it's the first time those lights appeared on his BARE hands WITHOUT gloves, so Horikoshi, you damn genius, is this your way of revealing Dad For One in a plot twist at the end of the manga? Or am I just overthinking it?! Whatever it is, I'm happily sticking with this DFO theory!

[donkeys-waffles]

One piece of DFO brain rot that has lived rent free in the back of my mind for days is their hair.

AFO has always cut his hair very short, to the point where you can barely see the definition of his curl pattern. He definitely did this for both convenience and safety purposes. Afterall, when you're fighting against people, especially adults as a small child, you have to be careful of things like hair because it's easy for your opponent to grab it and catch you off guard. And I'm sure AFO would have no idea how to care for his curly hair because he never had a parent to teach him basic hygiene.

He kept his hair short all these years because it wasn't a priority for him. But what interests me is Yoichi always had long hair, during an apocalypse his hair poses a big threat for him. If he were to be caught by his hair by an enemy, he could easily be killed with a weak body and no quirk to fight with. AFO never forcefully cut his hair, (I also find it surprising that AFO didn't do this to make them look more alike, I feel like he'd like that.)

Their differences in hair length really illustrates the difference in childhood experiences/exposures to the worlds affairs that the two had. We see AFO was in the middle of everything, he had to fight and kill people from a very young age to protect his brother, and while Yoichi was exposed to some of that. I feel that their key differences in perspective are a root cause of AFO hiding Yoichi away from the worst of it. Like that scene where AFO flies into their hideout and Yoichi is already there, I don't think he was a part of a lot of the fights. I think he was very sheltered after that one scene when they were children, and it looks like Yoichi was attacked.

Yoichi's perspective is very idyllic while AFO is more realistic (in ways.) Yoichi's hair in some ways reflects the innocence he still has while AFO, who was forced to keep his hair short for protection, is scarred and brittle from what he was exposed to.

Yoichi is childlike in his heroic admiration.

AFO is childlike in his admiration for the villain who was surrounded by followers. He's childlike in his need for what he believed was love, a sense of belonging, and calm (his childhood scarred him to the point of sabotaging all of that.)

Now with Izuku, I see it as being similar.

Izuku keeping his hair on the longer side is very important to AFO. I like to think that AFO only started to learn how to take care of curly hair when Izuku was born with it. He read all the books and bought all the products. He kept his hair short, but he wanted to make sure Izuku could keep his hair long. I like to think that baby Izu had the best curls, fluffy, shiny, and soft. I like to think that Izuku knows how to care for his hair even if he doesn't remember who taught him.

And I like to think that AFO did all of these things for Izuku in the same way he did for his brother. He wanted Izuku to keep that innocence. He wanted to make sure his ducky never had to fear getting grabbed by the hair in a fight, because he'd never be a part of any fights. It all travels back to his hatred for All Might, that safety and innocence.

It all travels back to his warning, about the 'thorny path' Izuku was following. Because while the paths between them aren't the same, hero and villain, they take with very little reward. And I feel AFO knows that very well.

[aconstantstateofbladerunner]

I had a dream where it was DFO but Izuku was raised and molded specifically to be the kind of person who would appeal to All Might as a successor so that he would pick him and AFO could spy on him as well as set up a grand betrayal.  However, Izuku knows that his father is evil and doesn’t want to be his pawn.  Plus, All Might makes him believe in heroic ideals earnestly.

Eventually, Izuku lets it slip right before UA that he has an abusive parent, though can’t bring himself to confess the whole truth.  All Might immediately offers to take Izuku in, which he accepts in a heart beat.  But if he was too afraid to tell his caring hero mentor the truth, no way is he brave enough to stand up to his abusive villain father.  So he makes up a lie about finding a way to get even closer to All Might in order to bring him down harder, which AFO accepts.

So now Izuku is stuck between a rock and a hard place: he has to keep feeding his father information about All Might otherwise AFO could kill him for insubordination, but he also doesn’t want the only person who’s shown him love in years to get hurt, let alone find out what’s really going on, lest that love dry up.

[seri-41]

DFO HEADCANONS

Cuz I’m depressed af about CH423

- AFO likes to cook for his family. He can make katsudon and eggs. That’s it. Because he only learned to cook Yoichi’s favourite food. They appreciate the effort tho.

- Izuku is pretty short for his age, but he suddenly has a growth spurt at UA and now he’s taller than half the school. He almost gave Inko a heart attack when he came home.

- AFO likes to spoil his son and give him a big allowance. Funny thing is, Izuku spends it all on limited addition All Might merch, making the blond oaf richer lmao.

- Izuku wasn’t always AFOs first name choice. Yoichi (surprise, surprise) was a close second.

- When Inko got pregnant AFO freaked out because he “was a century old” and had such dry nuts he shouldn’t have been able to conceive in the first place. Izuku might have been a miracle baby. (Or maybe AFO had a vasectomy in the past to not have any children but Izuku happened 🤷‍♀️)

- The Doctor was so shocked Inko got pregnant he did like ten paternity tests because he refused to believe it belonged to his beloved master.

- AFO loves LOVES villain jokes. Much to Izuku’s embarrassment. “Why don’t villains ever get lost? Because they always follow their evil plans!” 😭

- He probably has business cards that say “All For One: Quirk Consultant. A Quirk in exchange for your loyalty 😃”. Maybe he has fliers too?

- AFO is a big fan of siblings. He even encouraged Nana’s son to have more kids. Maybe he wanted to give Izuku a sibling but had his face punched in.

- Izuku didn’t tell his father he got a quirk, nor did he tell him about UA because he knew his dad would disapprove and talk him out of it. When AFO watched his son at the sports festival and got the tuition bill, let’s say he was not a very happy man.

- When Izuku found out AFO was his father, he probably changed his contact info from “Dad 😃” to “Sperm donor 🤡”. Then he blocked him. Kept his emails open tho to keep getting that monthly allowance via direct deposit. Shoto Todoroki couldn’t be more proud.

[brewsbrownies]

I liked the ending of mha. Maybe it wasn't satisfying to a lot of people but I don't think horikoshi could have even made a "good" ending anyway. The fandom had so many conflicting expectations that the only way to appease everyone was to leave it up for interpretation. I personally love this since I firmly 100% believe in the dfo theory, thing is, what reason would all for one even have to tell izuku? If you think about it, the fact that he never told anybody makes sense i'd say. Now, since horikoshi never confirmed NOR denied dfo, or showed izuku's dad, nobody can get mad at anyone for having dfo as a head canon.

[dozhdevik]

One idea has been spinning in my head for a month now and it has been haunting me. I decided to talk about this idea while we are all waiting for spoilers. I'm just imagining a scene where Izuku and AFO are standing opposite each other. Izuku knows that Tenko is still out there somewhere, needing to be rescued, and Izuku really wants to help him, but he can't because AFO's will is still too strong and Izuku has no idea what he could do. At this moment, AFO begins to talk to him, and offers Izuku a deal: AFO will leave Tenko and the entire society alone if Izuku himself takes AFO's quirk for himself. Izuku just stands there, trying to process what was just said while AFO just stares at him calmly. In the end, AFO says it should be an easy choice for Izuku. He has seen that Izuku is a hero through and through, and knows that he would not leave a poor soul to suffer, even if the cost of saving that soul was Izuku himself. As soon as AFO's words sink in, Izuku makes a decision really quickly. AFO is right, Izuku thinks. It's a really simple choice. After all, Izuku always puts other people's lives first. His own life/freedom/soul is not such a big price to pay for saving another person. So Izuku eagerly extends his hand forward...

...

The battle is over. But the heroes didn't win, not really. The country is destroyed. Many villains are on the loose. There are few heroes left. AFO is still here. But Izuku promises that he will keep him under control. He will put his new quirk to good use, and as long as his friends and family are by his side, together they will overcome all adversity.

P.s. Just so you know, while I was writing all this, I was listening to the Kate Bush song Running Up That Hill. And the lines “And if I only could I’d make a deal with God and I’d get him to swap our places” played in my head all this time.

I like this idea because it would be the best outcome for everyone. Tenko would have been saved from AFO. Izuku wouldn't remain quirkless and could live out his dream of becoming a hero. AFO's quirk would be used for good, just like Yoichi wanted.

I also think this concept would work even better if DFO was confirmed, or if OFA returned to Izuku. AFO was then able to also be there for his son and/or brother.

[adoriablelittlesno-blog]

Yo. DFO fans.

I have been lurking around for god knows how long. So! Chapter 430, am I right? Hell of a chapter, and I don’t mean it in a good way. I know for a lot of us it’s disappointing, to see Horikoshi leave the case of Hisashi ambiguous despite his promises.

BUT.

There are other ways it can be shown. And no, this isn’t ‘copium’ or anything. He likely finished this series up due to stress, but there’s always interviews he could take in the future that might have more tidbits. It’s only a matter of time before someone asks about his father! It could also be revealed on his own accord.

But you know what the best part is? While there is no confirmed DFO, there’s no debunked DFO. We made inferences, and our inferences conclude something larger than the sum of its parts. Anyone who bothers to look into it will know that DFO is always more likely than not, and that’s all that matters!

Love you guys. See ya on the flip side!

[makeste]

Do you actually believe the DFO theory? What do you think supports it? (Genuine question)

I do think Deku and AFO have a yet-to-be-revealed connection, and back in my early BnHA fandom days I did think Dad For One was a possibility. nowadays though, I'm convinced there's a different explanation for the link between them -- namely, that OFA and AFO are actually the same quirk, and Deku is effectively a horcrux of AFO. I have a post here which explains this theory more in-depth, but basically the gist of it is that OFA was never a separate quirk at all. Yoichi really was quirkless, and when AFO attempted to force a quirk on his brother, he accidentally gave him a piece of his own quirk in the process. just broke off a lil section of it, like a Kit-Kat bar.

I will say that regardless of which theory turns out to be true, there's definitely something going on between AFO and Deku. chapter 217 in particular is practically overflowing with hints that the two are linked. Katsuki sees it right from the start, and even theorizes that AFO might have something to do with the SIXQUIRKS activating. and rather than disagree, All Might simply says "I didn't want to raise that point," meaning he made the connection as well. and then they just freaking drop the entire subject never to mention it again. and Horikoshi lays this panel on us as a parting gift.

which to me is confirmation that we'll be revisiting this at some point. simply because you do not lay the symbolism on that thick without some kind of game plan for the future. this isn't merely setting up OFA and AFO as foils; this is deliberately (and ominously) drawing attention to the numerous "coincidental" similarities between their two quirks. such as the fact that OFA is the only other quirk capable of holding multiple quirks within itself. and the only other quirk capable of being passed down to another user.

not to mention there's also the as-yet-unexplained link between Deku and AFO. the fact that Yoichi can "hear" his brother, and vice-versa. back in Jakku, the pre-Danger Sense Deku somehow knew that Tomura was awake before anything had actually happened. and when Deku first activated SIXQUIRKS, AFO was somehow aware, even miles away locked up in Tartarus. and we're just supposed to pretend this is all perfectly normal and makes total sense, lol.

so yeah there is definitely some sort of reveal coming up before this all ends. but I think DFO is more likely to be a red herring at this point. Horikoshi definitely knows about the theories, and that's probably why he still hasn't revealed anything about Dekupapa. he's the Hagakure in this scenario. distract me us with speculation about her, when in reality Aoyama was the culprit all along. it's the same tactic here. convince all the fans that AFO is Deku's father, when in reality the truth is even more insidious. he's not Deku's dad -- he's Deku's quirk. and the final final boss, secretly lurking not within Tomura, but within Deku himself.

tell me that's not the perfect final showdown setup. you know it's true. you know it's coming. or at least I hope it is lol.

incidentally, during the process of typing this all up, it occurred to me that if AFO is capable of creating horcrux!quirks (which we know for a fact he is regardless of how this theory pans out, since that's essentially how TomurAFO was created)... then why not Deku as well? which immediately led me down a whole new different theory rabbit hole. that's going to have to be its own separate post, though. my mind is now going a mile a minute, holy shit. this is going to be a busy weekend.

[marunalu]

The only good thing about that chapter is the fact it means this horrible and disastrous arc will be finally and thankfully over and the manga will most likely end soon. Im really glad that Im not that invested in mha anymore otherwise I would be way more pissed off. Unbelievable how you can fuck up an final arc so bad and do your own characters so dirty.

Izuku deserved better.

Tomura deserved better.

Mr compress literally sacreficed his own ass for nothing. He deserved better.

Every single other lov member deserved better.

The ua students deserved better.

The ofa vestiges deserved better.

Afo deserved better.

The ONLY character hori paid attention to and cared about was that horrible written, ugly and screaming waste of space, who he calls his favorite character.

Listen, I get that the job of a mangaka is stressful and can have bad effects on your health. But that doesnt justify you should rush the end of the story and dissapoint your readers like that. That an author cant make everyone of his readers happy is logical, but with this chapter it feels like hori deliberately planned to piss off almost the whole fanbase and Im not sure he can turn this around again even with a twist in the next chapters.

Im a big dfo believer and I still think its canon. I believe hori will keep his promise when he said "you wont be dissapointed" when hisashi will finally be "revealed". But even if he confirms it at the very end, the rest of this manga was sadly still a huge dissapointment and waste of my time. Dont make one of your main themes "villains are humans too and deserve to be saved" if in the end they die anyway all alone and miserable or will end up in prison. Yes, they should face consequences for their crimes, but they cant become better people again, if they are DEAD! Dont choose a theme for your story if in the end you go against it!

[kitsunefyuu]

Knowing afo backstory this takes dfo theory away for you? because after this I can belive that afo could or can care about any other human that it wasn´t Yoichi, I can think about afo caring either for Inko or Izuku like he cares for Yoichi.

IT ENHANCES IT! I love Gothic horror so excuse me this is fuel to my fire.

Love wasn't just a desire he acted like it was a NEED. He NEEDED the love and support and envied the glowing kid who got it. Just for being first even tho he and many other kids also had powers.

He was possessive of his little brother. Feeding and and clothing his little brother while he wore literal garbage. He fed on his mom holding his brother who would be swept away if he let go. He possessive but he also still cared for him.

Yoichi threw a can at him. He didn't kill his little brother he just was like, wtf and kick him. Normal sibling behavior but he didn't do anything beyond that.

BUT NOTE THIS, Yoichi looked like he was already beaten up and it likely why AFO went to murdering those men. They hurt what was his, thus his wtf when Yoichi tried to protect them.

Also remember this is AFO pov so he kind of tends to dehumanize himself. He always tries to act like he doesn't care.

Look here tho. It's soft, Yoichi isn't afraid of his brother and they read together. It something they bond over as AFO takes care of him and takes on the harsh burden of providing. Yoichi was the only thing he had and the tragedy is he took it for granted.

He began to think he was entitled to Yoichi. Like he provides him everything so yeah he should be entitled. He's the only reason he's alive, he thinks, he be dead without me! Regardless of the fact Yoichi has grown a lot and should be proud he is independent.

This man craves loves but never learned how to get it. All he seen was comic books where the hero is alone. He didn't like being alone but the VILLAIN that man had followers. He had people! He wasn't alone!

This shows how intrinsically AFO wants to be with other people and with company. He's cruel and cold, but it born from a need that he had been deprived from birth.

Which means, if someone happened to show GENUINE kindness with no strings attached. How would a man that only knows to take and exchanges to react to unbridled kindness? How would he react to the idea of family? How would he interact with not a follower but someone who smiles without wanting a thing from him?

Well who to say he wouldn't be selfish and pursue them? Wouldn't he instead have more reasons to want a family? Because it means they won't leave and are truly his?

[delawaredetroit]

Are you still a dfo truther? If so, why?

I'm not counting it out just because the body that All for One was eventually planning on discarding anyway is dead. The naysayers are taking too early a victory lap on that one. That said, if it does happen, this Deku vs Shigaraki fight is the last place where it feasibly could happen. There's no way All for One's vestige isn't making another appearance regardless considering his plotlines with Yoichi and Shigaraki have not been resolved.

Why do I think it's still possible? Because Horikoshi usually carefully plans the names of his characters. And it's odd that an ordinary businessman would have a name meaning leader and "a long time"/"eternal" when that sure matches the goals of the manga's villain who basically wants to be reborn in a new body so he can rule the world (and have Yoichi under his thumb). It's weirder when the alleged son in this theory has a name that includes a character that can be read "to be born" and the exact same a long time/eternal character. (Especially when unlike any of his classmates, he is the only one with both parents' names introduced where his name only has influence from one parent)

Also, it's because the themes between Izuku and Shigaraki currently feel incomplete. And they would feel more complete if this fight was also about the villain born from heroic origins versus the hero born from villainous origins. Touya, the villain character Shigaraki has the most parallels with, already has one of these in Hawks. And like Izuku and Shigaraki, those two are some of the only ones that really play with the visuals of angelic looking villains versus demonic looking heroes. All for One said that heroes/villains used to receive their "names" based on what their enemy called them - so it would make sense if what remained of All for One was defeated once and for all by those he has named. Izuku is the odd one out in this fight if dfo theory isn't true if he didn't receive a name from All for One like Shigaraki and Yoichi.

The general impression I get from people who hate this theory is that they don't want Izuku to not be an ordinary person or intended for some special destiny. And I'm ????? about that because I think these people have bought Izuku's unreliable narrative about himself hook, line, and sinker. Again, that "ordinary" interpretation goes against the actual reading of Izuku's name. Second of all, I have no idea what people are smoking to have interpreted the guy who knowingly and repeatedly breaks his bones like they're glow sticks as the most normal guy. Even before One for All - Izuku wasn't "normal" - he was part of a minority group and faced discrimination for being quirkless.

The second impression I get from naysayers is that DFO theorists are wrong because their characterizations of All for One and Inko are way off. To that I say - the original Dabi=Touya theorists were almost all way off about Touya's personality/motivations - but their conclusion was still correct. There's also more potential evidence to back up DFO theory now than there was to support the Dabi is a Todoroki theory at the time of that reveal.

At a minimum, if this theory turns out not to be true, there's enough bread crumbs left by Horikoshi that he was clearly trying to steer people into thinking there was a connection here. So am I sure it will be canon: no. Is there still a good chance it could still happen: yes.

[doodlegirl1998]

Hi, reading a fic (shig x hawks hear me out I was bored and want to see different charactizations of Mr. Sexy man) and in one scene as shig talks about his past...

It hits me once again how Izu doesn't have a mc trait.

Not saying he should be an orphan or anything like that.

But think this way: shig is the grandson of Nana. He is a Shimura.

Izu has nothing. I do like how he is from no important family...but he has no mc trope. He is an extra in his own show.

His traumatic past is BK abusing him but that doesn't count, ofc, and what else Izu has in his storyline? He wants to be a hero (everyone does) he is good with quirks sure and good with lil kids but....what else?

To be clear, don't think shig is better written or developed at all...and his reveal as SHIMURA was weak sauce and no one gave a shit.

But like there SMTH.

When you think about it....Shig had a better childhood than Izu...and yes, Kotaro was abusive. Yes, not denying that but like...he has monchan, friends and a mom who cared for him.

Izu has nothing but bk...forever.

Hi @mikeellee 👋

I'm not going to judge, read whatever interests you, but Hawks / Shig isn't a ship I like.

You are right when you say that Izuku doesn't have any traditional MC traits.

Now, it could be argued that OFA / "the chosen one" trope is used with Izuku being the final user. However, that, quite frankly, is bullshit because this ended up meaning nothing narratively, and Izuku lost OFA anyway. And an OFA user didn't end AFO - Bakugou (a no-name bastard) outside this passed down legacy of OFA did.

Izuku came from a no-name civilian family in MHA, no DFO, no other secret important linnege (unlike Shig and Dabi) - Inko is barely explored and Hisashi is mentioned in name only.

Unlike other MCs with tragic backstories (i.e Naruto and Tanjiro) Izuku's traumatic past abuse at the hands of Bakugou is undermined at every turn to make Bakugou look better instead of being treated with the respect it deserves.

To make matters worse, Bakugou is the reason Izuku suffered so much. No such abuse of the quirkless is seen LITERALLY ANYWHERE ELSE in canon. In canon, there is no Quirkless Discrimination seen in society (perhaps because there are so few of them). All of Izuku’s suffering is down to Bakugou being a bastard because he liked to be and couldn't handle being helped out of a river once.

Izuku is stuck with this literal narrative parasite until the very end and accepting pity payments from him so he can get his very own 'big boy' Hero Iron Suit after 6-8 years. I am disgusted by this ending.

[vtewig]

The Identity of Deku's Dad

Has anybody else been so hyped after reading the latest chapters of MHA (418-422) because of the hints that the identity of Deku's father will be revealed soon?

In chapter 422, The U.S. president is shown, stating that all American heroes are to come to Japan, so perhaps Deku's father might be on that list of people arriving to help out.

I know there is still the possibility of the reveal being Dad for One, which is an interesting theory in my opinion, but the other chance that it might be an individual who works with heroes or is one of them also seems very intriguing.

It could also be the president himself, given how he is always in the shadows, but I honestly feel there is a slim chance for that to be true.

I can't be certain how Horikoshi will put the puzzle pieces of who Izuku's father is together, but I feel the president panels might be a piece of the puzzle somehow. His face is in the shadows...

...but again so was AFO's face for a long time.

I still feel really strongly about the DFO theory. On one hand I do see how people might be displeased by it, because AFO does insert himself in a lot of characters lives and influences them from the background, but precisely because of that I find him a very interesting and fleshed out character. So desperate for attention and love, even when he has it he doesn't know how to respond to it. He is also quite a charming character, which I feel you would have to be to impress the lovely Inko Midoriya. She is just too amazing, I also feel that he would be drawn to her as well because of that. Or perhaps because she bears resemblance to a certain Shimura? But again, Inko is very different to Nana, as in, she appears much softer as a character than Nana does, and I feel AFO would crave that from a person given that he wasn't taken care of and had to help his brother out and grew up in a very feral state and an incredibly hostile environment for anybody, let alone a child. Even though he does end up using people, I do think that that is because of his defense mechanism and constant living on survival mode affecting him.

AFO is also someone who doesn't want people to know the real him, his weaknesses and inner thoughts, his human side. The memories he does share with Deku and Tomura are only to traumatize them and break them up; in short: they are carefully curated.

If DFO does come into play, I feel that Tomura/Tenko will have a hand in the reveal. Perhaps helping or saving Izuku from within the vestige world? Maybe he will be able to help by seeing Izuku's memories and altering them like Deku did for him, because in the case that does end up happening, Deku will be the one needing a helping hand in coping with the reveal, and who better than the boy who that man was a father figure to as well. And in the end Deku and Tomura could also together "defeat" AFO by seeing his memories and saving the defenseless child he once was.

This is probably overthinking, but I wanted to share my thoughts with you guys. I love trying to guess what will happen and still being surprised by Horikoshi's amazing execution each time. I would love to read what you guys have to say on the topic.

[greenhappyseed]

did... shiggy just died i-. idk what to feel. So he is not coming bach huh..... :(. OFA is gone too....

I don’t know what to feel either, anon. We really have to wait and see what comes next. But I do think Horikoshi is trying to say something about rebirth, so the rest of this post is going to be something like an elegy for the Tomura Shigaraki we knew (and what that can mean for Izuku): Why rebirth? Why is Tomura doomed? Tomura’s entire existence was tainted by AFO. Tomura can change his name, change his hair color, kill the AFO vestige, etc., but it’s impossible for him to escape AFO. How society would view him or his “redemption” is irrelevant; it’s that HE now knows his entire life, from conception onwards, was never his own. For Tomura, a happy ending is being completely free from AFO, deciding things fully for himself, and knowing his decisions are his own. It’s not a happy ending to remove Tenko from Tomura’s origin trauma only to plunge him into Twice’s “am I really me” trauma.

What AFO’s final, awful reveal showed is that even if Tomura Shigaraki became Tenko Shimura again, it’s not a rebirth. The very first cells of “Tenko Shimura’s” being were stained by AFO since AFO manipulated Kotaro into conceiving Tenko. Tenko’s parents and childhood friends were totally under AFO’s thumb. “Tenko” has no path to freedom; he has to be rebuilt from ash, one way or another.

For my own aesthetic tastes, I would very much prefer for Tenko to have agency over this. If he was going to disintegrate, I’d prefer it to be a clear choice — like Katsuki and Toshinori choosing moves that brought them to the brink of death. I don’t like the idea that Tenko had no choice in life or death, and that disintegrating is just another indignity that AFO manipulated him into. But maybe his story was always destined to be a tragedy, no matter how hard he tried to fight it.

Of course, there are ways that the spirit/consciousness of Tenko Shimura could return in a new body, and many of them do have Tenko participating actively in the process:

Phoenix quirk — Tomura disintegrates to ash so Tenko can choose to be reborn free of AFO’s distortions. (Maybe fandom was right about this theory but wrong that the phoenix was Dabi!)

Overhaul or quirk awakening - It’s possible for Overhaul (who is very much still alive and in possession of his quirk factor) to reverse the disintegration. It’s also possible that Tenko can do it himself (or that Tenko gave Izuku a quirk to do it) since Decay is half of Overhaul. Personally I don’t believe this is likely because I think Decay disappeared when AFO took control of Tomura this final time? Unclear, the end got really rushed and messy on these details for me, but if Decay is gone then it’s hard for it to “awaken.”

Rewind - The MHA standby ever since Eri’s introduction. She doesn’t have her horn anymore, so it seems unlikely, but she still has her quirk factor. The thing here is Tenko’s agency and if he would want to be rewound back to the body that AFO built for him.

All For One - Yes, Tomura could have given Izuku a quirk when they touched. What if it’s actually…All For One? Yoichi said the AFO quirk could have been the kindest in the world…and Izuku did promise to “bring it all back”… so if Tomura’s parting gift was to give the raw All For One power to Izuku, then Izuku could Overhaul and Rewind his way into healing everyone. He could borrow any quirk needed (Recovery Girl? Erasure?) use it as a tool, and then give it back because of course Izuku wouldn’t keep a stockpile for himself (absent being told he could keep a quirk). FWIW, I’d be HIGHLY amused if this happens, because it sounds straight out of a DFO fic. :)

Aura Might/OFA shenanigans - The “heroic fire” of OFA has seemingly gone out before, only to re-emerge both in the same person and in other people. I could see Tenko emerging from this fire.

Wishing energy that twists fate - Izuku and All Might both lived when they were “supposed” to die, so it could happen for Tenko too.

However, Tenko returning in a physical, corporeal form is not the only kind of rebirth that can complete his arc. It pains me SO MUCH to say this, but there’s a real chance his body doesn’t come back. Tomura fought for someone to see what was swept under the rug and understand that hero society isn’t perfect. He wanted a hero who would save him and imperfect humans like him, and he got that someone in Izuku. (He actually got it in Nana too, because of Izuku.)

Izuku Midoriya taking Tenko’s message deep into his heart and influencing all the people watching him to care more about the misfits and “villains” that pro heroes can’t help is a form of giving Tenko a new life. In the same way that the vestiges extended their power decades beyond physical death, and the same way that Shirakumo’s heroic heart survived his death and Nomu-fication, Izuku can keep Tenko’s spirit alive long after his body died. Maybe Tenko’s spirit is a new type of “heroic fire,” and it’s up to Izuku to keep those embers burning. It’s all in Izuku’s rewound, notably non-decayed hands.

Looking at it with this framing, you can also say Izuku gets his win AND save. Because even if Izuku couldn’t save Tenko’s physical body — and how could he if Tenko was doomed before either of them were born? — choosing to carry on Tenko’s legacy IS saving everything he could of that crying boy. It’s also far more immediate and tangible for Izuku to take on Tenko’s legacy rather than being unwittingly thrown into the 200 year old OFA-AFO fight. There’s something so poignant and human about an ending with quirkless Izuku humbly fighting for what Tenko believed in compared to celebrity #1 Billboard ranked hero Izuku with OFA. After all, Tenko and Izuku are 2 sides of a coin. Tenko could have had Izuku’s role in another life if OFA kept passing in the Shimura family.

Even the fact that Izuku never told anyone outside of Ochako, Katsuki, and All Might that he wanted to save Tenko works in Izuku’s favor. Izuku can help the whole world become the people Tenko challenged them to be and they’ll never know they’re actually fulfilling the dreams of a villain. (‘Cuz they’d be too biased to do it otherwise.) Finally, you know all the complaints that Izuku’s character has been stagnant in MHA’s third act? That he hasn’t really been challenged in his ideals? Maybe that hasn’t happened yet because it’s just starting NOW.

After all, Toshinori modeled “All Might” after Nana’s ideals, and she wasn’t known to the population at large. Izuku could follow their footsteps by modeling his hero career after Tenko’s ideals. We’d have multiple generations of Shimuras posthumously changing society for the bettter.

Look, I understand how emotions are running high. I’ve loved this series for years and I cried reading this chapter. I personally don’t love it if Tenko is gone, even though I can make narrative sense of it. It’s a tragic and bitter-barely-sweet ending for poor Tenko, whose very dreams of being a hero were engineered to sow division in his family and break his psyche instead of lift him up.

But none of us will know what it all means for a few more chapters. We could still have several more chapters before we get Tenko’s real finale. It’s nearing the end, but it’s not THE end yet. In the meantime, take care of yourselves and as always, curate your fandom spaces lovingly.