#when is Horikoshi going to introduce a character with that crocodile quirk and it had better be immediately

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 234: Tomura Flashbacks and Giganto ex Machia

Previously on BnHA: Re-Destro lost his temper and hulked the fuck out and started breaking off Tomura’s fingers like a goddamn Kit-Kat bar. Elsewhere, (1) Twice cloned Toga in order to give her a blood transfusion, unaware that Skeptic was heading their way; (2) Spinner’s quirk of being a Gecko Man was revealed and he attempted to wall-crawl his way over to Hanabata only to be assailed by a bunch of redshirts fired up by Hanabata’s Trumpet quirk; (3) Dabi continued to battle Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine offscreen (I assume); (4) Compress was also probably doing something but who can be sure; (5) Giran was running off to safety with one of the clone Twices, and finally, (6) Gigantomachia Goron-rolled his way towards the action while Slidin’ Go stood there nervously, probably sensing that his number is coming up on the great cosmic roulette wheel. All of this happened two whole weeks ago because the manga was on break last week! But it’s finally back now, so leeeEET’S geeet ready to rrrruuuuUUUUUUUUMMMMMBLE.

Today on BnHA: RD continues to get handsy with Tomura until Tomura starts to disintegrate one of RD’s own fingers to see how he likes it. He does not, in fact, like it, so he flings Tomura away and starts thinking all of these shocked antagonist thoughts about how Tomura is stronger than he expected and his powers are ~awakening~ and blah blah blah. Meanwhile Tomura hops back onto the Flashback Train to Feels City and recalls how AFO gave him his family’s severed hands to make sure he stayed good and pissed!! And he also remembers more about his sister and how much she loved him! And his mom and grandparents who were also super nice and are now fucking dead and it’s a lot! Horikoshi is pretty fucking ruthless! Anyway so RD decides he’d better go all out and wrap this up, but before he can deliver a killing blow, Gigantomachia finally makes his entrance. At the same moment, Tomura finally remembers “everything” (?? ???!?!?), which, holy fucking shit you guys.

(All comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity immediately afterward, and added one or two ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.)

okay so let’s see what gruesome things are in store for our intrepid villains this week

“destroyed memories” oh? come again? you don’t say?? fancy that?? goodness me???

so is this referring to Tomura? or Dabi? if it’s referring to Re-Destro or one of his gang, I swear to god...! nobody cares about your memories RD. you’re a jerk and you suck

lol what the

aww. is this a “real” in-universe children’s book, is that what this is. did all the lil U.A. dumplings read this when they were small. and was there also a similar book called “don’t judge people by their lack of quirks” and if so why did no one read it to lil baby Kacchan hmm

anyway now we’re cutting right back to this unpleasant image! and not only that, but in the two weeks we’ve been gone things have even escalated!

we’re up to two hands being grabbed now! um. he’s really going to need at least one of those? probably?? please don’t Overhaul my deranged villain son fffff

reminder that Tomura needs to touch something with all five fingers in order for his quirk to activate (or he did before at least), so even though he still has... two...? fingers remaining on his left hand, that hand is still effectively useless as far as quirking goes. so if he suffers even the smallest amount of damage to his right hand as well, it’s basically all over for him. unless he actually was using his quirk with his feet in the previous chapter. I’m assuming not because he presumably would have decayed his way all the way down to the center of the earth if that was the case. I think @khorale mentioned this in a comment on my last recap, but yeah, seeing as the ground’s not disintegrating underneath him, it’s safe to say it’s Hands Only here

anyway I got so caught up in being calmly horrified over the current situation that I didn’t even read the dialogue. so RD’s saying that superpowers are linked to personality, and so that “don’t judge people by their quirks” stuff is in fact bullshit

um, source? are you a psychologist? in general I try to take things with a grain of salt when they’re said by pieces of shit, so yeah

fffffffff noooooo Tomura’s face sob Horikoshi you bastard

he looks so freaking young here. okay, shit. I’m starting to think I need to make plans to unwind after I finish reading this chapter. maybe get an Enya playlist in the works. diffuse some essential oils. find some cute baby animal videos

but on the plus side, it’s looking ever more likely that his are indeed the Destroyed Memories in question omg. so I will continue to get hype while also feeling very guilty and stressed

you guys I’m actually really glad RD is feeling like he has the upper hand now, because he’s starting to waste some valuable time monologuing, and with every second he babbles on, Machia is getting closer and closer to whooping some ass

so he’s asking Tomura what he’s trying to create

and well, actually, he’s not really that far off

I mean. does it count as nothing if he wants to destroy the whole world? one could argue that would be “creating” a new world in which everyone is fucking dead. idk. I might have to give RD this one; his whole point of “quirks are linked to personality and you have a quirk that destroys everything you touch so you probably just want to destroy shit” is holding up surprisingly well to scrutiny thus far

yeah so now he’s yelling “YOU ONLY LUST FOR DESTRUCTION! AM I WRONG?!” and nope. but even a broken clock, twice a day, etc.

oh shit OH FUCKING --

um, okay, (1) NO IT’S NOT, SHE WAS A LITTLE GIRL, NONE OF YOUR HANDS BELONGED TO A CHILD YOU GULLIBLE RUBE

and (2) MY FUCKING FEELS. why am I even surprised. what the fuck. I knew more angst was coming and yet it still...

just, god. okay fine Horikoshi I’m a glutton for punishment, please continue then

HAHA SOB IT’S A WHOLE FUCKING FLASHBACK OKAY SURE LAY IT ON ME!!

this really is the wildest shit though you guys. I still can’t get over it. “hello little boy I’m sorry your family is dead but don’t worry I’m adopting you and here are all of their severed hands. with little plugs on the end too or some shit. just, you know. souvenir”

I can’t fucking believe AFO played this so straight. maybe that’s why it worked. it was just so fucking out there that Tenko wound up buying it hook line and sinker. “hmm, seems a bit shady, but then again why else would a strange man I met only yesterday just randomly up and give me a dozen severed hands”

I don’t know if any of this shit is important, but it’s probably good practice to just post every mysterious thing that AFO says

yes you really did a great job healing this guy’s wounded fucking heart, Dr. Phil

oh wow, never fucking mind, even

I see, so that wasn’t meant to be a reassuring “in time you’ll get over it” speech; it was meant to be a cautionary “you’d better surround yourself with reminders of your terrible pain at all times or else you might actually stop feeling fucking miserable and WE CAN’T FUCKING HAVE THAT” speech. holy shit

I’m seriously having trouble wrapping my mind around just how terrible this is. like, it’s nearly impossible to fathom that level of cruelty. this is a four(?)-year-old child. he tracked him down, gave him a quirk that would kill his family*, sat back and watched it happen, and then let him stew in the horror of it all alone until he finally swooped in and claimed him and then raised him with the express purpose of keeping him sad and scared and angry and depressed at all times, all so he would eventually grow up and, with any luck, murder the man that his grandmother thought of as a son!

(*this is just conjecture right now, admittedly, but until I’m proven wrong I’m basically operating under the assumption that it’s true)

just. “fucked up” doesn’t even begin to describe it. god

anyways, let’s continue to read more about young Tenko’s extreme emotional abuse at the hands of the final villain I guess

OMG HANA

okay so I can’t remember where we left off on this last time, but a bunch of people said they suspected that the young Tenko wanted to be a hero when he was a little boy, and that’s why he was always clashing with his dad, because his dad’s own experience with heroes was pretty sour on account of the whole his-mom-gave-him-up-when-he-was-little-and-then-later-died-horribly thing

so yeah, I assume that’s what Hana is referring to here with the whole “I just tell Dad...” bit. so they both wanted to be heroes! how perfectly fucking tragic! great!

Tomuraaaaaa

KEEP IT UP TOMURA YOU CAN DO IT!! YOU CAN REMEMBER! YOU’RE DOING GREAT. aside from the whole “this really big man is killing you slowly” thing

yeah, this whole deal

but aside from that. doing great

!!

OOOOOOOOOH SHIT, THIS MUMMIFIED LITTLE PUNK’S STILL GOT SOME FIGHT LEFT IN HIM YOU GUYS

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

he got him to fling him away! YESSSS TAKE THAT YOU ASSHOLE. FOOL HIM ONCE, FUCKING OUCH, BUT FOOL HIM TWICE, AND LET’S SEE HOW YOU FUCKING LIKE IT YOU BIG WAD

so now Re-Destro is belatedly realizing that Tomura is going through a very weird leveling-up process and taking advantage of the fact that he’s temporarily become the main character of the series and thus possesses all of the narrative powers that come with that venerable distinction

...that he’s the main character? yes

anyways lol there’s some real good crazyface action going on here guys

did Horikoshi take the extra time just so he could devote a little longer to nailing down panels like this because if yes, A+++

SDSKJSODIFHOIESJ

it’s mom!! wow!!

DSLKFAJSLDK ARE WE GETTING BACKSTORY ON THE FUCKING SCARS OMFG I CAN’T THIS IS TOO MUCH

SOB YOU GUYS I’M CAUGHT UP IN THIS WEIRD CROSS BETWEEN BEING HYPED AF AND ALSO CRACKING THE FUCK UP NOW THOUGH, BECAUSE:

ALL OF THIS WAS SO FUCKING BADASS, AND THEN THAT LAST FUCKING PANEL, THOUGH. LMAO WELL HE’S ON THE BRINK OF SOMETHING, BUT WHO CAN EVEN FUCKING SAY WHAT

ANYWAY HE’S ZOOMING TOWARDS RD AND RD’S THINKING “HE’S FAST!” AND YEAH, BITCH, YOU SCARED??

WHAT ARE YOU THE PRESIDENT OF HIS FANCLUB NOW OR WHAT

you guys this is the most I’ve ever liked Re-Destro. there’s something about evil nemesis characters being begrudgingly impressed by their enemies that just pleases me, idk

LJSDFIJWEOF

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO HIS FACE HE LOOKS LIKE ONE OF THE SCARY TREES FROM SNOW WHITE

OH SHIT YOU GUYS WE’RE BREAKING OUT THE TROPES

so do we get 100% when he goes up against Machia, then? smdh, fucking power levels. well I guess Deku technically uses them too. but still, it’s not something we see in this series too often aside from that

holy shit you guys

honestly, I guess this should be really intimidating or whatever, but all I can think is that it’s about time this guy finally started taking this “pitiable gang of thugs” seriously. even if that does mean Tomura is probably about to fucking die, barring some Giganto ex Machia. that guy really needs to get a move on

oh hey

[RAISES EYEBROW AT GIGANTOMACHIA AND JABS FINGER TOWARDS WRISTWATCH] cut it a little closer next time why don’t you??

(ETA: also I didn’t notice all of Tomura’s other hands being flung away from him by the impact, but whoa. so now he’s just got the Papa Hand left in his pocket, along with whichever hand is grabbing the back of his head. and that’s it. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that his dad is the only remaining family member whose face we still haven’t seen yet. some big reveal coming up with that soon, I bet.)

oh and also guys here’s some more flashbacks. this time with loving grandparents. because Horikoshi just really wants to make sure our emotions are good and churned about

okay guys, Tenko’s very dead flashback!grandma and grandpa telling him not to cry and giving him yummy food so he won’t be sad is pretty much close to the limits of what I can take, angst-wise. I don’t know why this is hitting me so hard! this is hardly my first anime flashback! I should be a pro at this by this point, the fuck is wrong with me

but on the other hand, I think a big part of it is that I’m not just sad about Tomura’s past, but also angry. because none of this is just coincidence; all of it is actually stuff that was done to him very deliberately, and the worst part is he doesn’t even realize it. and so in addition to the usual rush of protective feelings, there’s also this sense of outrage about it all too. and I think that’s the harder part to deal with. here I am, a grown adult, getting really mad over the staggering cruelty of what was done to this fictional character when he was a child. it’s possible there’s some real-life anger and frustration over certain real-life horrific cruelties and injustices that may be bleeding over into this, idk. just, the world is a fucked up place, and my emotional support manga is currently being less than supportive and it’s a struggle sob

anyways sorry about that. meanwhile while I was having a mini breakdown, possibly the most pivotal character development in Tomura’s history was happening and HOLY SHIT THOUGH WAIT UP GUYS

sdfkdsfjwoilkkj BOY!!!!!!!

SOB HOW ARE THERE ONLY TWO PAGES LEFT I’M GONNA CRY THIS CHAPTER WENT BY SO FAST

-- HORIKOSHI WHY ARE YOU CUTTING AWAY FROM THE FLASHBACK OH MY GOD I’M GONNA!!!

FUCK ME, THIS IS WHAT I WAS WAITING FOR SO IMPATIENTLY, SO OF COURSE HORIKOSHI JUST HAD TO FINALLY MAKE IT HAPPEN RIGHT WHEN I WOULD HAVE GIVEN ANYTHING TO NOT CUT AWAY FROM THAT SCENE WE WERE JUST ON. THIS SADISTIC SON OF A...

...hee. but it’s hard to stay mad, though

... :)

:D :D :D

lol what. recall, if you may, that you guys are the ones who basically forced them to come down to your mountain city and kick your asses you dickasaurs

HAHAHAHAHAAA

SDLFKJLSDKFJ AND ALSO OH NOOOOOOOO

OH MY FUCKING GOD. AND THAT’S IT. THAT’S THE FUCKING CHAPTER. WHYYYYY

EAT IT YOU PRICKS, I HOPE GIGANTOMACHIA FLATTENS YOU ALL INTO NEXT WEEK

Tomura looks so freaking sad, you guys. he’s just standing there completely still and he looks like he’s just completely destroyed emotionally

and he said he remembered everything!?! so what the shit am I supposed to do, Horikoshi?? my boy is just standing there with seven fucking fingers and one shoe and so caught up in his sad reverie that he’s seemingly oblivious to the fact that the long-awaited cavalry has finally arrived. kid is maybe 2-3 chapters away from finally triumphing over this bald Disney tree man who talks too much. and not only that, but he’s more than likely going to finally win Gigantomachia’s loyalty in the process. which in turn means he’ll have access to Ujiko and all of his resources

so in short, this boy is minutes away from becoming one of the deadliest and most powerful forces on earth... and I’m pretty sure that right now, at this moment, none of that matters to him one iota

you guys. so what does this mean for future developments?? I’m really going to need him to define “everything” ASAP, for starters. that’s a very vague statement, and its implications could mean the difference between us just having a sadder-than-usual Tomura from this point out, or a Tomura that’s sad but also realizing for the first time that there’s a lot about his past that doesn’t quite add up, or hell, even a Tomura that’s actually out for fucking vengeance against AFO. that last one seems like too big of a jump to happen right away, but dare I at least hope for the second option though? god that would just be the icing on the cake for this fucking perfect arc

now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go do some yoga or chant some mantras or something holy shit. this fucking manga

[remnantoforario]

The Road Not Travelled AKA Fairy Tail’s Lack of Motivation

I know. I know. Another long-winded post about why Fairy Tail isn’t good, but before you fire up the reblog button calling me a hater, I just wanted to say my peace about something that has been bothering me about the series, almost since it started. That is (as the title clearly states) Fairy Tail (and by extension Hiro Mashima’s) lack of motivation when it comes to its characters.

Warning: This post is going to be very messy. This is mostly a rant/scattered thoughts about a variety of different things in the series. If you’re looking for more cohesive breakdowns of the series faults, I suggest looking at posts from @thegreatrhapsode, @ac-fairytail, and a few others since they would be much better at this than I am. Let’s get started. 

So what do I mean by “A lack of motivation”? It’s simple really. None of the main characters in Fairy Tail have anything to do and thus aren’t motivated to do anything other than what they have been doing. I’ll break them down.

Natsu: When he is first introduced in the series it was established immediately that his one goal in the series was to find Igneel. It was this goal that lead him to Hargeon where he met Lucy, and it was also what spurned him to go find Macao for Romeo. It is also one of the first things Mirajane tells Lucy about Natsu after she joins the guild. He forms a connection to Gajeel over their missing parents, and it is also one of the first thing Jellal says about him when he bursts into Erza’s mock trial.

Natsu’s singular focus in the story should be investigating any lead he can on Igneel...but after Phantom Lord he seems to lose motivation (there’s that word again) in favor of just doing whatever at the guild. Now I’m not saying every single arc Natsu should be out looking, but the fact that after Phantom Lord, Igneel isn’t really mentioned again until Eclipse poses a very large problem for Natsu as a character and the story as a whole.

Even when given a new goal (that of killing Acnologia) he still meanders around until the final fight to put the guild back together. 

With a goal so concrete in his mind, it would only make sense for the story to form around this idea and have arcs centered on it, but it doesn’t so Natsu is left dicking around with nothing to do. But he’s not the only one with this problem.

Lucy: Arguably the best developed character in the series, she suffers from a lack of motivation very early on. It was established not long into the story that her goal after joining FT was to gather all the Zodiac Keys (and finish her novel but that was never all that important and more of a character quirk). It wasn’t as pronounced as Natsu’s goal was, but it was progressing further than his. She already had Aquarius, Cancer, and Taurus before the story began, she acquired Sagittarius as early as the second storyline after the Everlue job, helping Loke gained her his Leo key, beating Angel during the Oracion Seis arc granted her the Gemini Twins and Scorpio, and Loke defeating Caprico helped Lucy regain her mother’s Capricorn key (which she was originally supposed to have anyway). 

Her goal seemed attainable...until the GMG (This arc was responsible for A LOT of FT’s problems, but that’s a post for another day). Yukino presents Lucy the chance to complete her goal by offering the remaining zodiac keys, but Lucy refuses. 

Now her reasoning is sound enough, being a CS wizard herself she knows how important the bond between a spirit and their wizard is and wouldn’t feel right breaking that up. That is fine and speaks to Lucy’s character, but the problem arises in that there is nothing for her to do after this moment. You could argue that her new goal is finding Aquarius’ new key but that is established so late into the story that it’s pretty much moot (even the sequel hasn’t done much with it at this point). 

Happy: Never really had any long lasting motivation outside of what Natsu wanted. Moving on.

Gray: Probably one of the biggest wastes of potential in the series when it comes to rival/best friend characters, Gray almost immediately stagnated after Galuna Island. His mission of “killing” Deliora done. He was aimless until literally Tartaros when he met Silver, after which his motivation became “Kill END” and we all know how that ended. 

Erza: Has pretty much the same problem as Gray, but worse. After her issues in the Tower of Heaven were solved, she was pretty much done for the rest of the series. Any significant change that could have been brought to her character was swiftly tossed aside in order to keep the status quo and she became a shell of herself as early as Tenrou Island. A mere two arcs later. 

Wendy: Probably the most developed character after Lucy (in my opinion) she was both blessed and cursed by having her issues resolved in the same arc she was introduced. After that, she pretty much integrates into the guild immediately and seems to have no goals other than “get stronger” and “be less clumsy”. Both are admirable, but nothing worthy enough to justify her being a main character. 

Compare FT’s main cast to that of One Piece or My Hero Academia’s. Now you can argue that a lot of the characters in both these series aren’t well developed, but the one thing both Oda and Horikoshi excel at over Mashima is that their main characters have goals that can be carried throughout the series and, characters with less broad goals don’t overstay their welcome. They do what they are introduced to do and leave soon after.

In OP, the main goal of the story has always been finding the titular treasure. It’s a defined goal, but also broad enough to carry the characters throughout the entire series. 

Luffy’s goal is to find the One Piece, but not only is the story framed around this idea, Luffy’s crew is as well. Zoro wants to become the world’s strongest swordsman, an easy way to do that is travelling the world and defeating strong opponents. Nami wants to map the entire world, best way to do that is travelling it. Usopp wants to be a “brave warrior of the sea”. He does that by doing various feats across the world and building his legend. Sanji wants to find the All Blue, Chopper wants to be the world’s best doctor, Robin wants to find the Poneglyphs and learn the world’s dark history, Franky wants to create the world’s best ship, Brook wants to reunite with Laboon after travelling the world, and Jinbei wants peaceful coexistence between Fishmen and humans. 

With the possible exception of Jinbei, everyone’s goals (while vastly different) center around and are bolstered by Luffy’s search for One Piece. Helping him in turns helps them, its mutually beneficial and thus creates a group of characters who are together because they want to be, not because they have to. They want to see each other succeed and feel like actual friends (instead of yelling about friendship every five minutes while being massive dicks to each other)

Other characters who have arcs that are resolved leave before overstaying their welcome. Vivi is a prime example. She stayed with the straw hats long enough to reclaim her country from Crocodile, and then she was gone. Her arc was done, so there was no real reason for her to stay. She would only stagnate. 

In MHA, all of Class 1-A share the same goal of wanting to be pro heroes, but all have their own motivations that go a bit deeper than that. Both Deku and Bakugou want to be as great as All Might, Todoroki wants to spite his father, Uraraka wants to make enough money as a pro for her family to live comfortably, and Iida wants to live up to his brother’s example just to name a few. 

Since Deku is the main character the story focuses a lot on his personal journey to the top, but other notable characters get their shine when needed.

Even Naruto built its story about Naruto becoming Hokage from the very first chapter. 

Bringing all of this back to FT. None of the main characters have any established motivation, and if they do the story either isn’t structured around it (Natsu), Drops it entirely (Lucy), or finishes it and proceeds to do nothing else with the character (Gray, Erza, and Wendy).

It’s not like Mashima is incapable of writing motivated characters. Rave Master’s main cast had various different motivations that either carried them through the series, or evolved over the course of time. 

People called FT a ripoff of OP in its early stages (a comparison I still don’t quite understand), but maybe Mashima could have leaned a bit on Oda’s story structure. 

Have the story actually center around Natsu’s main goal of searching for Igneel. Have him ask questions and going on jobs based on leads he had found, taking him (and his team) on various locales across the world. Build up the continent and its history with the dragons. 

He could even leave the story for an arc or two, giving a side character (like Levy, Cana, Juvia, Mirajane, Lisanna or Elfman) a bit of time in the spotlight to develop their own stories along with the main cast. 

Change him over time to be a more single minded character post-Tartaros. Have him ignore bringing the guild back together in order to find Acnologia, which would cause tension between him and his friends and add more weight to the END turn as his obsession grows. 

If Lucy no longer wants the Zodiac keys, why not have her new goal be earning enough money to buy back her family’s home and land? Its a lofty goal to be sure, but it would add a little more weight to her desperation to go on a job other than “I need to pay rent”. It still amazes me that Lucy is supposedly came from a very influential family in terms of industry in Fiore, but no one recognized her name. They have a railroad named after them for God’s sake. Do something with that. Does she not have an inheritance?

Gray is a little harder to pin down since most of his character is tied to Deliora and with him gone there isn’t much for him to do. SO if you don’t want to phase him out, you could evolve his motivation from killing Deliora, to finding Ultear. Have Lyon or someone (possibly even Jellal in Tower of Heaven) mention that Ultear is still alive. Gray’s mission would be looking for her in order to make amends, which would lead to their fight on Tenrou, to which after his goal could once again evolve into defeating Zeref for creating Deliora in the first place, leading to the fight with Natsu. 

Erza is simple enough. She is heralded as Fairy Tail’s strongest woman, so why not have her actually lean into that and try to become a wizard saint? The near death experience would have spurned her choice, leading to an arc explaining the saints and how to become one. Erza could fail to be accepted (something she never seems to do post-Tenrou) and the rest of the story could be her working up towards that goal, and in a change of pace you could KEEP HER AS GUILD MASTER. 

One of Fairy Tail’s biggest problems is its unwillingness to change. Everything and everyone just sticks to the status quo and the story suffers all the more for it.

Keeping Erza as master changes the entire dynamic of the team because the story would have to phase Erza out and put someone else in (again either Juvia, Cana, Elfman, or some other notable side character).

Wendy’s motivations could be the same as Natsu’s, finding her dragon. Her relationship with Grandeeney is arguably as strong as Natsu’s with Igneel so her joining him on his jobs wouldn’t be much a stretch. You could even add Gajeel for an arc if you wanted. Three dragonslayers and three exceeds. 

I say all that to say that one of Fairy Tail’s most frustrating aspects is its refusal to realize the potential of its characters. There is so much to do in this world, so much lore and information imparted onto the audience, but the characters (and the author) seem to not care the least bit about it. They say they will do something, but don’t and that to me is worse than doing nothing at all.