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darkonekrisrewrite · 1 year

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Togachako is interesting

From both a smaller (personal) and larger (Plot) perspective

(Side Meta, not connected to the others) (Spoiler Warning)

Romance is and isn’t a central theme of Togachako I think, it’s more about the concepts and resulting individual goals motivated by love than anything else.

I don’t really think Toga and Ochako will wind up being Girlfriends by Bnha’s end, so much as the connections they develop through the themes of love, whether it’s for each other or not, is a bond that has a lot of interest to everything in Bnha.

Why that is, Togachako as a pairing that’s not exactly equal in their identities when separate, put together brings so much more to the story.

Toga Himiko is fascinating on her own and she has overarching plot relevance, which makes her one of the best in Bnha.

From a single character point of view, she’s a sympathetic villain with emotional weight. Having been born with a Quirk that eventually made it impossible for her to live a normal life, to the point of self-harming (biting her own wrist open) due to her bloodlust and constantly wearing a psychological mask, playing a role though her life.

Parents who didn’t care for her ^ and took no responsibility for how they failed to help their Daughter.

Toga’s whole relationship with the Lov, especially Twice, all the sweet moments (strictly friend based) and their tragic parting.

And from a wider point of view, Toga has a place in Bnha’s overall themes too.

Societal judgment based on a person’s Quirk (another way of looking at what happened in the picture above ^).

A direct connection through Twice to the moral arguments of the Hero’s choices/actions (then connecting to Hawks), and wherever that plot thread will lead as Toga is still hunting for Hawks and fighting other heroes with the Clones.

And finally what will happen in the Future of their society as a direct result of the Lov’s actions.

There’s a lot going on with Toga Himiko and all of it, the many connections and nuances, make her able to stand out and on her own as a character.

But with Ochako, while there still is a lot of great character there, there doesn’t seem to be as much weight or impact on her own.

Ochako isn’t as much without Toga, even though Horikoshi stated that he created Toga for Ochako’s development (or something along those lines), most of the time it feels like the opposite of that, in never quite reaching Toga’s level until recently.

Ochako’s origins and ‘place’ in Bnha is very ‘normal’ most of the time, very ‘Hero Girl Teammate’.

While her goal of earning enough money so her parents can lead easier lives may seem different from the other hero kids (or at least that’s how Ochako acted when she first stated her goal), it’s never really brought up in any way other than being her motivation.

There’s never anything else surrounding this goal, not any conflicts or attention brought to the money desire specifically.

Does Ochako ever have any plot relevance with Hero Killer Stain, with their ideals and goals tailor made to oppose one another?

No. They never meet, before Stain’s arrest or even after Stain broke out of Prison and came close to other UA students.

Although Ochako’s goal soon changes or I guess you could say evolves to being ‘I love seeing People’s smiling faces’, so it seems like development without resolution?

It feels like that happens a lot in Ochako’s story, as she does change and grow over the Arcs but it always feels a bit…tacked on.

Like after the important things in the Arc are done or close to being finished, Ochako will have some form of personal revelation, one that doesn’t seem to be capitalized on anytime soon (in the case of ‘who saves the heroes’, her megaphone moment addressing the civilian mob at UA came much later).

There are crumbs or maybe put more generously seeds of character development but no big hero moments or victories accompanying them, nothing to really impress or put an epic point to.

An example of this would be Kirishima’s big hero moment during the Overhaul Operation, with him fulfilling his heroic ideals while at the same time having a Plus Ultra moment against his enemy.

And even after her big scene of convincing the civilians to let Izuku stay at UA, her desire to ‘protect the heroes who need it’ falls a little short after that too.

Because where was Shoto and Aoyama’s help, specifically from Ochako?

It’s true that they already were getting help from their other friends/classmates but why didn’t Ochako have a moment here?

She didn’t have to make another big speech or anything, maybe just a small moment of Ochako trying to comfort Shoto as a friend or stepping up beside Izuku to say something in Aoyama’s defense.

Because having her only do that sort of thing for Izuku gives the impression that Ochako only did it because it was for Izuku.

I’m not saying all this to hate on Ochako, I’m just pointing out what did and didn’t happen in her story, and that being paired with Toga changes all of that for her.

Toga elevates Ochako by capitalizing on her evolving ideals and makes sure to point out that it’s her story, her hero narrative, influenced by Izuku but not involving him.

(Along with Asui too I guess? But no, this is definitely about Ochako/Toga.)

Putting Ochako into focus against her chosen Villain, completely of her own decision, in a greater conflict that will help to decide the course of Bnha’s future, all the while sticking to her ideals as the fight goes on.

Through Toga bringing Ochako higher on a personal and plot level, maybe that’s what Horikoshi meant when he said that he created Toga for Ochako.

Though I’m sure they’ll have to be developed equally from this point on (I hope).

(Side point: Izuku x Ochako is standard, not boring but kind of leaning towards it. It’s just like most of the other ‘main boy x side character girl’ Shonen relationships, unless it’s literally the first one you’ve ever seen then you’ve probably seen it before.

They work together to the same goals, they never have any real conflicts with one another, and they’re both firmly on the hero side of things.

Unless you’re really into uncomplicated Hero x Hero relationships, and there’s nothing wrong with that if true, there’s nothing in Izuku x Ochako to really point to and say: “Wow! I wonder where this will go?!”

It’s not bad just predictable, and if you’ve seen the same thing play out in other series, it gets old after a while, again unless you like it personally.)

Final Point: How Togachako develops may direct how Bnha’s story ends, at least I hope it does, it’s pretty much the only Villain/hero pairing that I’d bet on.

Because Dabi is pretty Toast at this point (definitely not as in dead or will die, just extremely burnt) and might not be functioning well for a while until he is somehow healed later.

And as long as Izuku still believes in Hero Society and his heroic answer hasn’t yet evolved beyond ‘Give helping hand’, I can’t think of anything he could say that would sway or impact Shigaraki.

With Togachako there are still a lot of possibilities left, another reason why it’s so interesting.

#togachako #toga himiko #himiko toga #ochako uraraka #bnha #mha #bnha meta #mha meta

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linkspooky · 4 years

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TogaChako - Good Girl and Bad Girl

Toga Himiko and Uraraka Ochako embody the classic good girl slash bad girl dynamic. It’s a classic dynamic in which one girl will represent what is the traditionally held notions of what a “good girl is” ie/ pure, nice, friendly and the other girl will embody the opposite of that a “bad girl” impure, mean, slutty. Inevitably, these two girls will fight. However, the crux of the good girl bad girl dynamic is that while the girls are total opposites on the outside, inside they’re the same, cuz they’re both girls after all.

Uraraka and Toga are written to be compared, they’re character foils, because the conclusion we’re supposed to come to isn’t one of them is good, one of them is bad, one of them is selfless, one is selfsh. Rather, they’re written so we see it’s the difference in circumstances that made them who they were. Toga became bad because bad things happened to her. Uraraka is good, because she was born into a good life. What makes a bad girl bad and what makes a good girl good? More under the cut.

1. Good Girl

Describe Uraraka Ochako. She’s a normal girl. She’s spunky. She puts other people first. She became a hero to help her parents make money, and feels bad because her motivations aren’t as selfless as say her close friend Izuku Midoriya’s. (But that’s wrong because she literally is being selfless, her reason for becoming a hero has entirely to do with benefitting someone else and not herself). She’s supportive, and friendly. She’s always cheerful and never lets herself get too down.

Uraraka represents the standard of a good girl in hero society. She’s always ready to help her friends, but ultimately she’s kind of passive. She works hard but is not too ambiitous. She’s selfless and always thinks of other people before herself. She has all of these good qualities.

However, I would argue Uraraka is a lot more complex then this. On the surface she seems to be just a good, nice girl who wants to help others, but her internal mechanisms are complex. While yes I agree Uraraka doesn’t have much of an arc so far due to lack of focus, there’s a difference between not having an arc and not being a complex character.

A simple character - what you see is what you get. A complex character - Has internal mechanisms that show the surface isn’t as simple as you thought.

A simple arc - character moves through the plot without changing who they are. A complex arc - character struggles in a way that fores them to change.

Uraraka’s inner mechanisms are complex in that there’s more too her in what we see at the surface, it’s just she hasn’t been challenged in any way. The plot doesn’t address her flaw and try to force her to change.

With that in mind let’s get into Uraraka’s character. Uraraka is defined to her goodness. Uraraka pushes herself to always be good to others. The reason being is that Uraraka is a very sensitive girl who is attune to the feelings of other people.

Uraraka gets serious for just a second, and people remark that she doesn’t seem like her normal self.

Uraraka then immediately backs up and gets embarrassed. She goes out of her way to beat herself up and denigrate herself in front of others, insisting her motivations are much more selfish than people like Ida and Deku.

Uraraka then tells Deku and Iida that she’s not becoming a hero for her own sake, but for someone else’s. Her entire motivation is to help both of her parents live easier lives, because she feels like she’s been a burden on them and pursuing her own dreams would be too selfish.

Uraraka is very secretive of her own feelings. She’s almost afraid to come off as selfish which is why she doesn’t share what her real goal is. Also, when she starts to get a little motivated to accomplish something for herself, everybody around her remarks how different this is from the fun-loving Uraraka they all know. Also, one last detail Uraraka never even talks about herself, and her friends don’t really think to ask, because Uraraka just so naturally makes things about others and not herself.

It’s already been elaborated why the reason Uraraka grew so perceptive. Uraraka’s parents were struggling to make ends meet and she grew up in poverty, and even if she has good parents that try really hard not to let the effect of this struggle show in front of her, Uraraka saw it anyway because kids are always watching their parents.

Uraraka learned to be sensitive to her parents needs, to never demand too much for her parents, her behaviors all became centered around not becoming a burden to others.

Uraraka thinks it’s only natural to put others first and help others before helping herself. That other people’s happiness is more important than her own. Because she’s someone naturally empathic. Because she’s someone naturally able to see the pain and struggle other people go through, because she grew up seeing it. However, the problem with this behavior is it makes Uraraka essentially a support to everyone else.

Uraraka is constantly putting others up on a pedestal and using that as an excuse to lower herself further and further. As cute as her admiration for Deku is, it’s also a bit unhealthy - as she uses it as an excuse to beat herself up. She sees Deku as this amazing person, whose always struggling to help everyone, whose always saving everyone for completely selfless reasons and she always suffers in the comparison.

I think part of Uraraka wants to stand out like Deku does, and has the same desire to go all out to save people, but Uraraka is so used to being secondary in her own life she can’t bring herself to.

Uraraka can’t even cry in front of others. I think, the most telling behavior she has in the entire series is the moment where she breaks down on the phone describing everything she did wrong because this is how Uraraka sees herself. She’s so extremely critical of herself, and constantly apologizing for herself, while at the same time hiding what she really feels from others.

Uraraka has all these self esteem issues that she basically just shelves so she can play the good, nice girl, that gets along well and is friends with everyone.

Uraraka assigns the role of group placater and peacemaker for herself because it’s something she’s so naturally good at and she’s always thinking of others, but because of that, Uraraka herself suffers. Uraraka only knows how to help people by belittling herself and her own role in things.

Uraraka’s greatest fear is being selfish. She doesn’t want to look like a bad girl. That’s the connection between Toga and Uraraka, because what Uraraka is afraid of ultimately is living her life the way Toga does.

2. Bad Girl

Toga is everything that Uraraka is afraid of being, and lives the life that Uraraka is afraid of living. Uraraka is someone so afraid of being selfish, and getting distracted that she is not even allowed to have a crush on a boy. Whereas, Toga lives her life chasing what she loves. Everything Uraraka represses about herself, Toga expresses. That’s the difference between the two of them.

When Uraraka first encounters Toga, her willingness to chase what she loves looks from Uraraka’s perspective to be entirely monstrous. Uraraka sees Toga as a selfish monster, because in part she is afraid of appearing that way.

Toga Himiko the bad girl.

However that’s far from the whole picture of Toga. When we see her away from Uraraka’s perspective she’s entirely different. She’s someone empathic, capable of being kind to others, and thinking about others feelings.

Toga’s just as capable of reading other people and addressing their feelings as Uraraka is. However, there’s still a key difference in their behavior. Uraraka acts to avoid conflict. When she intervenes, what she usually does is act in a way that avoids stepping on toes, and touts the “we should all get along and be friends’ line. Whereas, Toga is someone who directly addresses the conflict and the hurt feelings of others.

For Uraraka the most important thing is getting along with others. For Toga the most important thing is being true to her own emotions. Which is why she’s able to directly address the problem with Twice, she didn’t tell him to bear with it, she told him she knew he was in pain but that the two of them could take down the mafia together.

Even Himiko’s most selfish monster moments aren’t really that monstrous. Himiko’s reason for stalking both Uraraka and Deku is not because she’s weird and creepy, but because she wants to be a normal kid just like them.

Himiko’s reason for sucking the blood of high school girls and taking on their appearances isn’t because she’s preadtory, it’s because she’s been a runaway with no home for two years and she’s terrified of getting caught.

Himiko who is framed as a selfish monster, is actually quite the normal girl. She’s a normal girl reacting to the pressures of the society around her. The kicker is that Himiko isn’t someone who just decided to flip and turn out this way, she is only the way she is because she tried to live like Uraraka did at first.

Himiko tried to push everything down and live like a normal girl. She tried to lie about herself so she’d be a good, nice, harmless girl. She only became so selfish, because she tried to live selflessly first. She only prioritizes herself, because she was used to putting herself down before this. We see her classmates react to her, they all describe Himiko was the kind of girl that Uraraka is right now.

However, behaviors in Uraraka that are self-defeating and unhealthy, are absolutely ruinous in Himiko. Himiko has no sense of self, because she spent so long trying to be what others wanted her to be. Himiko is who she is, in reaction to the pressures of everyone around her.

When Himiko tries to figure herself out, she always gets the same response. Why do you have be so selfish? Why can’t you just act normal? Which completely ignores the fact that she TRIED and that’s what got her here.

The main difference between Uraraka and Toga is not one of them being good, and the other being bad. Toga’s been through way harsher life circumstances. Uraraka has parents that affirm her identity, and Toga’s parents deny her over and over again.

The point of the good girl bad girl dynamic is that they’re both girls in the end. Yes, Uraraka’s never reacted as badly as Himiko has. However, Uraraka’s also never been pushed so far. In fact someone as empathic as Uraraka can be oblivious to the suffering of others.

Uraraka doesn’t see what Himiko is going through, because she hasn’t suffered the way Himiko has.

It’s like. When you have a good sibling and a bad sibling. The good sibling always behaves because they conform to the pressure their parents put on them. The bad sibling acts out in response to that pressure, and because of that their parents have to discipline them and they end up soaking up most of the parent’s attention. In that situation the good sibling can come to ressent the bad sibling for acting out and needing attention in the first place.

Reasonable child and unreasonable child. There exist these black and white categories to define children into where one looks good and one looks bad, that actually totally fail to address the child’s behavior because people are complex and therefore don’t fit into black and white categories. But, Uraraka is still working with that black and white logic when it comes to heroes and villains. Even though she’s usually so good at sussing out the complex nuance of other people’s feelings.

This is what’s happening here in this chapter. You can apply the dynamic between the two of them to the conflict at large. Toga is selfish for acting out and causing problems for others, because she wants her own personal grievances to be addressed. Uraraka is sefless because all she cares about right now is helping the most amount of people. Uraraka is willing to repress herself, and put others needs before her own, because what’s most important is everybody gets along.

However, Uraraka insinuates, the same way that Himiko’s parents once insinuated that Himiko’s acting out just makes her selfish.

We’ve seen this conflict before. Himiko literally went into the conflict to ask this question. Do problem children like her count as “everyone”. However, no matter what happens this arc, no matter what critcisisms the villains levvy against the heroes we get the same hollow repettition of “Heroes save everyone”. Which is why Himiko looks just about to snap here.

Uraraka who is used to brushing conflicts aside and avoiding them for the sake of “everyone gettling along” sees the girl who can’t get along with “everyone” and calls her selfish. To Himiko, this is the same words she’s been hearing her entire life. “Why are you making a fuss? Why can’t you just be normal.”

From one perspective, yes Uraraka is the one fighting seflessly because she’s just trying to save as many people as she can and Himiko is getting in the way of things. However, Himiko is someone who grasps the bigger picture. Himiko addresses the problem directly rather than sweeping it under the rug, there are people who aren’t saved by the hero system. Those people are just as in need of saving as what heroes deem to be innocent people. You can’t claim to save everyone and then ignore the suffering of people you deem as “bad”. Himiko seems like she’s acting selfishly, but then again she’s acting for the sake of people like Jin who died because heroes insisted that his life was less important.

Uraraka is at the same time very perceptive to the suffering of others, and also very oblivious, and it has much more to do with personal hangups than anything else. She doesn’t want to see Himiko as someone similiar to her, because Uraraka is someone so deathly afraid of coming off as selfish. To the point that she treats people with genuine grievances against society as selfish childrens making demands for atttention.

Uraraka is the one who can’t face herself, and therefore the answer she gives Himiko is to the effect of “Shut up and deal with it.” It’s a very personal thing for Uraraka once you realize that Uraraka has also been shutting herself up all this time, pushing herself down, always letting people walk all over. Uraraka is capable of putting herself aside for the sake of others, so as a result she sees people who can’t put themselves aside as selfish.

“I can do it, so why can’t you? Why can’t you be normal?”

I hammer down so hard on this point because there’s a difference between placating and conflict resolution.

Placating comes from a place of “I want the conflict to go away” or “I want the hurt feelings to go away.” Placating is just saying whatever you think the person you’re talking to wants to hear in order to please them. It’s behavior that’s based entirely around avoiding conflict. Uraraka placates, she sweeps it under the rug, she swallows her grievances for the point of everyone happily getting along together.

This placating also applies to the hero system at large. It’s not really designed to save everyone, so much as make the vast majority of people feel safe at the cost of the minority.

When there is a problem does Hero society directly address the issue? Or do they sweep it under the rug for the appearance of everyone getting along?

I think the fact that every time a villain brings up a problem this arc, the heroes just shout “Heros save everyone” and “Heroes never give up” is evidence of the latter. That’s why, when Uraraka says it, when Hawks says it, “Heroes save everyone” just comes off as hollow because in the very same breath they both make it clear that Toga and Twice are not part of the everyone who gets saved.

#himiko toga #uraraka ochako #mha meta #my hero academia meta #my hero academia #mha 288 #mha 288 spoilers #bnha 288 #bnha 288 spoilers #himiko #uraraka #ochaco #ochaco uraraka #toga himiko

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shans-writings · 3 years

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for the writing prompts, #21, togachako?

Send me a Ship and a Number and I will Write a Kiss

Togachaco + on a place of insecurity.

Ochaco never thought she would be so terrified to see Toga in the crowd.

From the heights the position of the villain was clear. Not mistake could be made: Toga was among the people, that was her hair, her coat, the shape of his face. The thought sank in and the megaphone that Ochaco had held during her speech fell against her thigh, for she was unable to speak or move. Get out of here, she begged silently. If they see you, they will hurt you.

How could they be the heroes if they couldn't protect a young women in need of shelter?

A few moments ago, while she was talking about how heroes deserve to be saved, the mere image of Toga crying had made her hesitate. She had been thinking about it ever since, in Toga's words. What was a hero? What was a villain? Wasn't them humans after all? Ochaco had had a long time to reflect on her stupid decision to let Toga go that day. And then Deku was gone too, as if everything was starting to fall apart without her being able to prevent it. Ochaco could only go after one and she owed it to Deku, she had to put him on her priority list.

Ochaco's lips parted to scream something, but that was when the crowd decided to act. They have seen it. They have seen her.

Ochaco would not get to her in time. They were all angry. The three strongest heroes were present, the AU professors, her classmates. Ochaco's heart beat a thousand times and a thousand more as she gained momentum and canceled her quirk so she could take the advantage of the gravity sinking in. As she fell, she gave little thought to risk. I must arrive, I must arrive, I must–

But Toga was faster. In a second she made her way through the crowd, reaching Izuku.

They would hurt him. Ochaco knew that they would not kill her, but thinking of Toga hurting made her feel the same nausea as when she felt when she overworked herself. Didn't she owe Toga an apology too? She had taken so long to see how lonely Toga was, how much she was suffering. It had been all on her face that day. Ochaco had always seen her as a threat just for being different, and now she was paying the price for her arrogance by having to see that dangerous show.

Toga didn't hit Izuku. Something broke in Ochaco when she saw how the villain extended a handkerchief towards Deku, so that he could wipe the tears from his face. By sheer luck perhaps, Shouto got to them first. She didn't know why, she didn't think about it instantly, when she saw that Shouto created an ice barrier so that no one could touch them but left a space for Uraraka to pass, she ran faster. Ochaco heard in the background the roar of the people, the sound of the pro-heroes and the teachers, of her classmates, and what could she do? They were against the clock.

She wished she could make it all float it.

She wishes she could stop time.

When Ochaco reached the ice dome, she fell to her knees and felt the cold of the wall closing in behind her. Everything happened in a matter of seconds, so fast the others couldn't react. Soon the three students were in front of a badly injured Toga, with the handkerchief in Deku's cheek and an unnerving smile on her lips. Ochaco later learned that Shouto and Deku had had their own revelations about the villains during the war. But in that moment, Deku let Toga wipe his tears away while Shouto quietly reinforced his wall of ice.

Ochaco knew that the agitation and fear that she had felt when she came down must be etched on her face. Toga was shaking slightly, her eyes rainy.

“I thought I would see Izuku-kun die. I came to help if necessary, but I didn't know that Ochaco-chan would make him cry! It was reckless to approach, but I have a handkerchief and– ”

"You are hurt," Shouto stopped her.

Deku nodded, thanking in a whisper as he gently pushed Toga's hand away, using the handkerchief himself.

Ochaco frowned when she saw where the blood was coming from. Something had cut Toga on the side of the waist. Her uniform was dirty and ruined. Her skin was covered in scratches and bruises. It was simply...

Ochaco looked up, meeting Toga's catlike pupils. She had been watching her all this time, in silence. She seemed curious, yet distant. She was probably thinking about the conversation they had that day, the last time they saw each other.

"You need to come in with us."

Toga pulled a knife from her belt at that and Ochaco frowned. The heroine only reached out her hand to pull the girl's wrist and make the knife stay right next to her own neck. She could see Shouto and Deku's surprise and concern out of the corner of his eye, but they didn't have time for that. Toga was hurt. And very conveniently, they were three heroes willing to help.

“If you're going to cut me, do it now. When Todoroki-kun take down that ice wall, I'll be the only thing standing between you and the pro-heroes, ” she paused, inhaling, “ because I don't want to lose you. And you do not deserve to die, or suffer as you do, or be sent to Tartarus. I'm sorry I didn't see you sooner, Toga-chan. You were right to scold me. I'm sorry I didn't see before that you weren't the enemy and that we weren't doing things right. But if you let me ... "

The wall was cracking. Outside she heard the people yelling at them to take down the ice wall. His friends must have been scared, his parents were in the crowd too. However, Ochaco knew they could wait. She was doing perhaps the most important mission she would ever have in her entire life. There were only Toga's eyes, her surprise, the way she slowly removed the knife and returned it to her lap.

"... I can help. You don't have to hide or pretend with me, okay? If you want my blood, I can give it to you. But we will have to go in to heal you first. And you have to help us find Shigaraki Tomura and stop him, or your friends and my friends will all suffer. I just want to see us smiling, all together. Do you think you can do that? "

At first, Toga's reaction was to put a hand to her mouth. She looked from Izuku to Shouto and back to Uraraka.

"Do you want me to betray my friends?"

And there was something so silly about the idea that they hadn't realized until now that Toga was just another girl like them. Something so blind, so obvious, that Ochaco smiled. She extended a hand to Toga, standing up.

It was Izuku who answered.

"No, we want to protect them."

"And bring them home," Shouto added, finally letting the ice melt.

When the crowd regained their vision of the three students, Todoroki and Midoriya found themselves standing again, flanking Toga as if they were ready to face anyone who wanted to take her away.

And Toga ... Uraraka clung to his hand, both girls side by side.

Toga wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her coat. They all watched when Uraraka leaned down to kiss her cheek, thanking her for trusting them.

Toga smiled, wide and shiny.

“Now can I be friends with Ochaco-Chan?"

"Only if you promise to try not to kill me."

#shans.writing #kisses.prompt #Togachaco #Toga himiko #ochaco uraraka #todoroki shouto #Midoriya Izuku #Deku #Mha #My hero academia #Boku No Hero Academia #Bnha #Mha spoilers #Bnha spoilers #toga x uraraka #uraraka x toga #Ochaco x Toga #toga x ochako

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