AFO yells at armless child Izuku in the mind palace. That tracks.
Attacking Tomura’s psychological scars allowed AFO to re-emerge. This also tracks. If heart is power, and a scarred, fractured, walled-off interior allows for AFO’s control, then yeah, Izuku cracking “Tomura’s” armor inadvertently allowed AFO to take over the mind palace.
Oh but AFO just has to get one last jab in against Tomura, so of course he monologues about how Tomura never made a decision for himself in his whole life. Which isn’t ENTIRELY true — AFO couldn’t control young Tenko’s desire to be a hero to Mikkun and Tomo-chan…and to the League of Villains.
We do learn that AFO encouraged Tenko’s conception so he could get his perfect successor, which is just so Enji Todoroki of him.
AFO was close enough to touch baby Tenko (!!!) because he stole candy a quirk from the baby. Then AFO waited years to make Kotaro think Tenko was quirkless before implanting Decay, which is itself engineered from a quirk that could both disintegrate AND reconstruct. Boy does THAT sound like a copy of Overhaul (who was an orphan that AFO was oddly familiar with and knew by name….)
We get both a hero name (Gaen) AND real name for En (Tayutai)! No idea what they mean — Google Translate and Jsho are giving inconsistent answers — but I’m excited to find out when official translations are released!
“Tomura Shigaraki” decays and Izuku is ejected from the mind palace. But AFO doesn’t get his brother back. He says Yoichi is gone. Ruh-roh! He also says Decay and the hatred are gone. And he hears a mysterious echo. Hmm, what could be echoing inside AFO’s mind???
Izuku, now in the real world, tries to stop AFO (who is piloting Shigaraki’s meat suit). But IZUKU DISCOVERS HIS ARMS ARE GONE???? I mean, it’s not shocking bc Horikoshi has hinted at it for forever, but inneresting that either (1) the mind palace and real world ARE entertwined; or (2) AFO took Izuku’s arms as soon as he emerged in the real world. I think it’s the former, which opens the door to some fun shenanigans. I.e., what can the heroes do in the mind palace to harm AFO?
AFO taunts Izuku and says that he “from the start had nothing” … EXCEPT FOR REAL FRIENDS THAT COME TO HIS RESCUE!!!! Sero holds back AFO, proving once again that AFO has a weakness for sticky things like tape and, uh, Mineta’s balls.
Ojiro and Sato are close behind, helping Sero hold off AFO. Of course, Izuku says, “You’re safe” because he doesn’t stop thinking of others even after he lost his actual arms. How did Sero, Ojiro, and Sato get to Mt Fuji so fast?
BECAUSE AIZAWA IS BAAAAAACK!!!
Clearly, something happened with him, Mic, and Kurogiri, and they’re able to use/control Warp Gate. I am hyped and ready for this flashback, please give the Rooftop Trio 2-3 good chapters.
ALSO. Am I the only one curious that Aizawa is in proximity to AFO, and AFO always wanted Erasure? Aizawa has fought multiple Nomu and the entire League at one time or another, but he’s never been near AFO. Then again, Aizawa can’t fight with Erasure himself, so perhaps AFO taking it can get Aizawa into the mind palace……
Mina: We were watching this show on tv last night about medieval medicine and they used to diagnose you with ghosts in your blood. Can you believe that? Crazy, right?
I woke up thinking about vestige Katsuki casually having a chat with vestige All Might. WHAT THE DUCK was happening there if not something seriously fruity and why did we not circle back to it once we’d got over the fact that his heart had exploded?!
What must non-bkdks think is going on? I’m not even sure if we’ve fully discussed what is going on? Whyyy would he have a vestige if he doesn’t have OFA?
It’s not ghosts because a) ghosts haven’t been introduced as a concept in-universe and b) AM is there and he ain’t dead.
SO WHAT IS HAPPENING? Did we just totally overlook the fact that Hori made it canon that Katsuki either has OFA or just has access to the vestige realm for reasons unknown?
Also why is he fully clothed and able to speak, when poor Izuku spent every vestige scene nude and mute? And why is the background white not black? Vestige purgatory? A vestige waiting room?
I feel like when you suddenly realise you haven’t studied and the class has all moved on to new topics and you’ve somehow missed a key, fundamental part of how The Whole Thing works.
If anyone has meta on this please point me towards it because at this point I’m—
Edit 19.01.23: before anyone else tells me he had OFA in the movie, I know. 😙 I wrote a whole ‘nother bit about it here:
Edit 21.01.23: added All Might’s vestige for reference. ✌️
Apparently a special called BNHA: Memories came out and it's pretty much a recap about OFA, AFO, and other events between seasons 1 - 3. But we do get some new scenes such as...
My first thought when I read on the chapter that giving Gearshift to Tomura was making him nostalgic bc Kudou tested out how to pass the quirk without the other party wanting to receive OFA ^^' Like did you just use Bruce as a guinea pig?
An unstoppable force (Kudou wanting to test out some new crazy idea he just had) meets an unbreakable wall (Bruce's common sense)