#Tenko meta

[77dekiru]

It’s honestly so upsetting to see that the majority of people just don’t understand that Tomura doesn’t actually get enjoyment from killing people.

Tomura has literally felt so sick to his stomach that he has thrown up when he has killed people before.

The difference between all of the times Tomura has felt physically ill from killing people and all of the times that Tomura has gotten “enjoyment” from it (Tomura doesn’t feel enjoyment, he feels relief.) is that each time the person he killed had hurt him first.

Killing the people that hurt him is just genuinely the only thing that Tomura can think of to get them to finally stop so that they won’t hurt him anymore.

Tenko had originally reached out to his father for help, only for him to be struck by him with a gardening tool… and only then Tenko killed (with purpose) his father to stop him from hurting him again:

Tomura only wanted to kill the two drunk men after they had hurt him for literally just walking down the street:

Tomura wanting to kill the heroes that had hurt him (with the intention of killing him):

Tomura still doesn’t get enjoyment from killing people who hurt him, but he does experience relief from it…

((Edit: I would just like to clarify that the relief that Tomura feels from killing people that hurt him comes from knowing that they can’t hurt him anymore (relief that he is safe, even if temporarily) It does not come from him getting rid of the “itch” that he experiences (it always comes back, even after killing), like AFO groomed him into believing. I saw someone add that in the tags, and I realized that I never fully explained my thoughts on it. LOL.))

Not to mention, Tomura was literally GROOMED by All For One (which is something that people just like to ignore for some reason…) to even have this desire to kill people in the first place.

And even then Tomura doesn’t have the desire to kill people in the way that AFO wants!

His want for destruction stems from his inherent empathy for others, and his inability to understand how people are able to ignore the suffering of others. Not what All For One has groomed him into believing. (That Tomura’s want for destruction is an impulse that’s something inherent to him.)

Tomura has continued to have empathy for others despite AFO’s grooming, and has showed genuine kindness to the league on many occasions…

All of this is such an important aspect of Tomura’s character and being able to actually understand him, and it’s so disheartening constantly seeing people completely overlook this part of him.

#im just frustrated at seeing the constant mischaracterization (mostly on mhatwt) #im not sure how to end this rant but. yeah. #mha #my hero academia #bnha #boku no hero academia #shigaraki tomura #shimura tenko #meta

[featherstorm2004]

Me realizing the reason AFO is so obsessed with Tenko is because he is the reason Tenko was born, therefore making Tenko his the same way Yoichi was. which explains why he was so adamant with making him just like Yoichi, down to even wanting to be a hero just like his predecessor. Whilst also giving Tenko the same trauma AFO experienced making him a true fusion of the brothers the way AFO always wanted.

#shigaraki tomura #all for one #my hero academia #mha #bnha spoilers #bnha meta #bnha shigaraki #mha shigaraki #mha afo #bnha afo #boku no hero academia #bnha 419 #bnha chapter 419 #tenko shimura #bnha manga spoilers #bnha yoichi #shigaraki yoichi

[oshiawaseni]

The biggest obstacle when it comes to saving Shigaraki’s heart is Decay: If he so much as grabs someone’s hand… they’ll die. Which is a huge deal in a series that places so much emphasis on the act of a Hero holding a lost child's hand to reassure them that everything will be okay.

Shigaraki struggles with connecting to people because he’s never been able to perform even the most rudimentary of expressions for actually *connecting with other people* (such as a handshake)… it's a concept which has been shown to us time and time again in MHA. And if you are a subscriber of "AFO having given decay to Tenko" theory... this is probably the main reason as for why he gave him such a treacherous quirk that would never allow him to connect to another person.

No one has even hugged him since his mother died trying to… and she was his only family who cast aside her safety to give the love, comfort and reassurance that 5 year old Tenko needed back then.

So I think what's to come for Shigaraki is going to be about connecting with him in the way that’s been (impossible).

My theory is that Izuku could have a moment of reaching out to Shigaraki, just as Sailor Moon reached out with a hand for Sailor Galaxia to take… and in doing so, show Tomura his pure intentions to save him. I think this could be a main feature of the Izuku Midoriya Rising chapter!

This parallel works *really* well if Shigaraki is possessed by AFO at the time. The MC’s words and selflessness helping their enemy tap into the love which lives deep inside them. In Sailor Moon this dispersed the chaos in Galaxia… and in MHA it may tame AFO’s kosei/personality.

The full theory with videos can be read here!

When 407 came out, a LOT of us thought Izuku’s hand stood NO chance… even I was concerned! But I think this was actually foreshadowing a future chapter where Izuku reaches out to Shigaraki, knowing he’s risking everything to try reach into his humanity.

There’s also Yoichi’s words: “So why did you reach out to me that day, knowing full well of my ties to your enemy?” …Hori’s been cooking this theme of reaching a hand out to save those in need, no matter who they are. That everyone is a person with a human heart inside them.

So I think Shigaraki will reach out to grab onto Izuku’s outstretched hand, in a Sailor Moon-inspired moment of Tomura finally embracing the love in his heart… and this will free him of all his life’s built up pain.

One thing MHA teaches well is that pure love and compassion towards others, and the self-sacrifices made to help one’s community are the key to controlling one’s quirk. It’s the best expression of individuality in MHA. Kacchan had full mastery over his quirk by embracing love.

I think it’s enough for Shigaraki that Izuku is even *willing* to be decayed to reach into his humanity and show the compassion his mother once gave him when everything was falling apart around him. Izuku may even remind Shigaraki of Inko’s motherly warmth from the memories.

So Shigaraki will be able to control his quirk because his heart is cleansed, leaving only pure love inside. And so he won’t let Decay hurt Izuku when he grabs Izuku’s hand. Shigaraki’s soul could be truly saved by physically connecting to Izuku’s immense heart and kindness for others. No matter when or how it’s done, a handhold scene like this would be so beautiful!

MHA’s society may be incredibly broken and wrong… but the one right thing in the world is the connection between everyone’s hearts, all striving for a better future together. Their belief in hope and each other.

At the very end of her fight, Sailor Moon says that chaos "had gone into the hearts of everyone.” Because if everyone shares a little of the burden, it won’t all fall on one person’s shoulders. But, “It’s alright! The light of hope exists in their hearts also.” ✨❤️✨

#kana writes #bnha meta #bnha 417 #i wrote this before chapter 415 #op #bnha #mha #Tenko shimura #tomura shigaraki

[helga-grinduil]

It's so weird to me that a lot of Shigaraki/LOV fans somehow overlooked and didn't get the fact that chapter 237 was all about AFO convincing Tenko that he has an innate desire to destroy and kill due to his quirk, and that this is why society would never save or accept someone like him (but he would). That THIS is why he believes that he wanted to kill his family, since he must've had that impluse when he destroyed them.

'It's more ReDestro/MLA stuff' - oh, I wonder who could ReDestro possibly be a parallel to? A child who was brainwashed into being a future cult leader and was raised to be the next coming of a great villain of old?

Forget ReDestro, think about ERI. ERI, who is the most blatant, clearest, closest parallel to Shigaraki a character can get. Remember why exactly it was so hard to rescue her? Why Deku and Mirio had to convince her that she deserved to be saved? Because Overhaul taught her that her quirk was cursed, and she was cursed for being born with that quirk.

#bnha #bnha meta #-ish #shimura tenko #shigaraki tomura #afo #eri

[greenhappyseed]

Having now read the official release of MHA 407, I don’t (yet) see the argument that AFO was a traumatized baby who was just looking for someone to respond to his cries and take care of him the way that Tenko was wandering the streets. While it’s revealed that AFO doesn’t want to be alone, AFO’s backstory and Tenko’s backstory reveal two very different men with different motivations.

The narrative in 407 says young AFO distrusts anyone who won’t turn and look at him when he cries because those people don’t offer anything of value to him. He can’t manipulate them into doing what he wants, and therefore they are useless and he can kill them if he wants. This has long been AFO’s thought pattern, and it’s what he taught young Tenko — YOU are more important than anything, and YOU should always act how you desire. Nothing in the world matters except what YOU want to do.

Contrast that with young Tenko’s initial reactions when realizing he killed his family, and with Tomura’s later hesitation to kill (or even attack) Katsuki after Katsuki refuses to join the LOV. Tenko/Tomura cares about other people, even after they refuse him, in a way that AFO does not.

Moreover, look at young AFO’s faces. He isn’t shown smiling or crying or having any emotion at all until page 11, when he reveals he killed the glowing child and stole their quirk. He then grins widely as he talks about his dream of a world that exists only for him. AFO didn’t smile when killing the anti-meta group OR when reading with Yoichi. He has no happy, smiling memories prior to this moment (even with Yoichi), unlike Tenko who had fond memories of his mom, sister, friends, and dog.

As another point of contrast, look at why AFO wants to be the villain: He wants to be surrounded by people who pay tribute to him. He does not want to “battle on in solitude.” (Another reason why AFO hated All Might for smashing his face in — it required a lengthy recovery hidden away from followers.)

To AFO, people are a one-way relationship. He doesn’t want to be alone, so he wants to possess a brother who directly opposes everything AFO stands for; a brother who is family and who wishes for the best but will never be a supporter, follower, ally, or friend. AFO gives Yoichi a quirk thinking that will change Yoichi’s mind, or keep him somehow bound to AFO.

Tomura, however, wants allies, and in return he wants to give back to them. He got downright DEFENSIVE when Mirio said he didn’t have any friends. Tomura understands the give-and-take involved in working with people. He doesn’t just want followers that do his bidding.

In the end, AFO’s unrelenting selfishness will leave him alone — at some point he will run out of “followers” and paths to victory. Meanwhile, Yoichi and Kudou built a network that ensured they would not be alone in their battle. They found true allies in the other OFA holders, and in turn Izuku found allies among pro heroes and at UA, just as Tomura did in the LOV. They are not alone.

#bnha 407 #mha 407 #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #AFO #all for one #yoichi #mha yoichi #Kudou #mha kudou #2nd ofa user #second ofa user #tomura shigaraki #Tenko shimura #mha meta #bnha meta

[superbeeny]

It's interesting that Deku's thought about that time Iida held his hand during the 'save Deku' storyline twice so far. As if Deku wants to do for Tenko what Iida did for him (ie the hero who will take the hand of a lost child).

#like I think this makes it obvious why Iida is popular in Japan despite not having any juggernaut-level popular ships #he's a good class president. Japanese fans seemingly don't complain about his screentime and role cuz he plays the role he has well #tagging cuz MAJOR spoilers for this recent arc (even if it's something a lot of people suspected would happen eventually) #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #mha spoilers #mha 419 #bnha 419 #deku #izuku midoriya #iida tenya #bnha meta #mha meta #tenko shimura #shigaraki tomura

[pikahlua]

What is an antagonist in My Hero Academia?

Okay, I saw stirrings of this topic rumbling about, and I just have to jump in this time. Please note that I am doing so gleefully and excitedly. This is meant to be fun.

With recent advents in the MHA story, apparently there are some who now want to call Tomura Shigaraki a deuteragonist, or even THE deuteragonist. I see why they're saying this. I think the urge lies in the potential that Shigaraki could turn on AFO and become a hero in some sense. He could join forces with Izuku Midoriya! I am here to argue that Shigaraki is absolutely not a deuteragonist, and I mean this as a good thing.

Tomura Shigaraki is an antagonist. He is the ULTIMATE antagonist. What is happening with him in the current story does not contradict that idea but enforces it.

An antagonist is a character acting in opposition to the protagonist. Right away you may say "Then if Shigaraki stops opposing Izuku Midoriya the protagonist, that would make him not an antagonist by definition!" Hold your horses, friends. I maintain that Shigaraki is an antagonist still. An antagonist is not someone who by definition must be destroyed by the protagonist just to be considered an antagonist in the first place.

Horikoshi has already set the terms for what constitutes antagonism in My Hero Academia. Antagonists are not antagonists because they fight against Izuku Midoriya; they are antagonists because they represent a large obstacle preventing Izuku Midoriya from saving someone.

Izuku Midoriya is a protagonist who exemplifies the desire to save people. His terms for victory are defined by saving people. It is this ideal that acts as the cornerstone for the story and inspires other characters to admire and follow in Izuku's footsteps.

This is why Izuku is a radical, perspective-challenging character. He is not a bland protagonist in a generic shounen manga. MHA is in many ways a meta commentary on the genre and on storytelling itself. Izuku consistently demonstrates that, in a world of comic book superheroes, defeating an enemy in a fight holds little value for him. Everything is about rescue.

To demonstrate, I shall now show you some of Izuku's other antagonists.

Now don't get me wrong. Izuku has other antagonists too, like Stain and Endeavor and Dabi and Overhaul and AFO--but those antagonists still are such in the sense that they are hurdles to Izuku saving someone.

Many of the above pictured characters are antagonists who even fight Izuku, and yet their battles culminate in Izuku saving them (or else partially saving and then punting the complete rescue to some other moment down the line if they're a recurring antagonist). The point is, they didn't cease to become antagonists the moment Izuku saved them either. Even in those moments when we see the results of their rescues, such as Shouto visiting his mother in the hospital and Inko allowing Izuku to return to UA and Katsuki rekindling his friendship with Izuku and Eri smiling for the first time in ages and Gentle joining the side of the heroes and Nagant turning her back on AFO, those moments were not the characters changing from antagonist to protagonist. They were the moments showcasing Izuku's victory and the arc's conclusion. Each of these characters serves as an antagonist for a particular story arc. So long as we're still within the same self-contained story arc, that character is still technically an antagonist even after Izuku has won. Their functional statuses as characters in a story only change when the story moves onto the next arc.

This means Shouto is an antagonist through the moment he visits his mother in the hospital for the first time because the scene serves to show us how Izuku has saved him. But then Shouto functionally changes so that he is no longer an antagonist in the next story arc. In the Stain arc, Shouto serves as a protagonist or co-protagonist or deuteragonist or tritagonist depending on how you wanna define those terms. Just because his role changes doesn't mean he isn't still an antagonist during the sports festival. He is! That change is the whole point!

So to bring this back to the ending, Shigaraki himself is an antagonist--and not just any antagonist. He is the overarching antagonist of the entirety of MHA! Because he, not AFO, represents the greatest threat to the protagonist Izuku Midoriya's ideals.

For every second Tomura Shigaraki rejects Izuku's helping hand, he threatens Izuku's worldview not just that all people have equal hearts in equal need of saving but that Izuku himself is equal to all others. This is the driving existential force that keeps Izuku doing what he does. To Izuku Midoriya, everyone is included in the whole. Everyone. Izuku included. Tomura included.

So now that Tomura may turn on AFO and may change his mindset, we don't have Shigaraki ceasing to be an antagonist. We have Izuku conquering his antagonist, that being Tomura's rejection of salvation. Tomura is becoming a person who can accept help, and that's precisely what has to happen to all of MHA's antagonists in their individual story arcs. These are the terms for the protagonist's victory. Tomura would not be undergoing this change if he wasn't an antagonist. To be an antagonist in MHA is a very important, fundamental role. We're just now seeing the resolution to Izuku's and Tomura's (or Tenko's, if you will) ultimate clash as protagonist and antagonist.

A deuteragonist has a very different role in MHA and that's a whole other post lol

#my hero academia manga spoilers #final arc spoilers #tomura shigaraki #tenko shimura #izuku midoriya #meta

[haleigh-sloth]

I keep thinking about how much I want to see Tomura cry. I say this a lot, and I mean it.

Because one thing I love about BNHA is how much is emphasizes that it's okay to feel your feelings.

The main character cries...a lot. Readers hate him for it, I love him for it. Izuku cries a lot, but everybody outside of him tries to avoid it at all costs. But they let it slip sometimes:

And it's funny (probably intentionally done this way) that the first two people to be brought to tears after Izuku's intervening, they're the two to remind Izuku that crying is okay:

We had a whole arc where Izuku refused be himself and let his tears flow, and the same two people, once again, remind him it's okay to cry it out:

Now, those are people meeting Izuku eye to eye, being there for him.

Let's look at someone who has a different dynamic with him, someone who won't let it out and cry no matter what, or really until they can't hold it back anymore:

I've already said a few times that I think Dk vs Kc 2 is a very clear preamble for Izuku vs Tomura, and I think that so much because of how important it is in BNHA to cry.

Bakugo and Tomura have similarly constructed relationships to Izuku in regards to how they feel about him (disliking him because of how they feel about themselves).

Now lets look at our three villains:

Toga, who can and does cry:

Touya, who tries to cry because he feels those feelings that bring on his tears, but it's obscured with blood:

And then Tomura...who we haven't seen shed a single tear within the time frame of the manga:

Toga and Touya....more or less really know what they want. There are deep rooted feelings of self-hatred in both of them that they can't quite escape without help, but they know those feelings are there. Tomura on the other hand, has all of those same feelings, and isn't even really aware that those feelings are there. He's only good for destruction because that's what he was born to do, so why feel guilty or hate himself?

He's really far removed from his own truth, so he isn't letting himself feel what he really wants to be and should be feeling.

And we know what that is:

Bringing it back to Bakugo having a break down in front of Izuku. All I'm saying is that...if Bakugo was able to achieve some sort of relief, some sort of cathartic release by spilling his guts and letting the tears flow, and if Bakugo and Tomura are similar in this aspect in that they needed/currently need a person to spill it all out to, and if Tomura has yet to let the tears flow because he hasn't faced his own reality yet, then I think that's going to be a key part in Tomura really finally waking up.

We'll know when Tomura finally sees his reality for what it is when we see those tears flowing, because up until now the manga puts emphasis people crying to express their feelings. We'll know Tomura is really aware and making progress when the vision Izuku saw in the vestige finally shows itself out in the real world. Tomura is crying inside, and the reason he can't express that he wants to be saved yet is because he isn't crying on the outside yet.

Don't mind me, I'm just praying for my favorite character to have the break down of a life time.

#bnha #i love when my blorbs cry #it's great #shigaraki tomura #shimura tenko #midoriya izuku #todoroki touya #toga himiko #bnha meta #ish #boku no hero academia #shigaraki and midoriya

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

Rereading the manga, I notice something really interesting. If you go back to chapter 59, you'll find All Might explaining how AFO and OFA as quirks were born. That's the first time Toshinori explains the history of AFO too.

The interesting part is the way he tells the story of Yoichi, the first user of OFA. It reminds me a lot of Tenko's story. It can be just me, but please read it for yourself:

" The man had a quirkless little brother / the man had a quirkless younger brother.

The little brother was small, and frail, but he harbored a strong sense of justice...! / This brother was small and fragile, but he had a strong sense of justice!

His brother's actions panged his heart... and he opposed him / and the deeds of his big brother pained him... So he opposed the tyrant. "

( A quirkless little brother asking why the world is so unfair finding out he actually has a quirk when he decides to oppose his abuser? Of course, here the difference is that Yoichi was older than Tenko when it all happened. He was not a confused 5 years old trying to understand why and how.... )

" Yes... He who was thought quirkless, did in fact possess one prior. / Yes... It turned out he hadn't actually been quirkless from the start.

Though neither he himself nor anyone around him had ever noticed / thought neither he nor anyone else has known it. "

That means there is a previous instance in which a young man thought quirkless had indeed a quirk: Yoichi himself!

It also makes me think about how Tomura/Tenko's control over decay depends on his emotional and psychological state.

The night his quirk awakened, we saw that Tenko had no control over it; everything that touched the ground he had contact with decayed. After he was "rescued" and after he was given the hands of his deceased family, AFO noticed that Tomura had unconsciously restrained decay so he would only affect the things he directly touched. Later on the story, Tomura was able to expand his quirk, evolving to decay without using all his five fingers during My Villain Academia. He was able to decay things at will during the War arc!!!

Could it be possible that Tenko had unconsciously repressed his own quirk for years before the night he killed his family?

Maybe when he tried to repress his own feelings about what was happening at home, Tenko also repressed decay without knowing. If he kept all his negative feelings in check as to not upset his family, it'd be an option.

If we wanted to reaaaally go crazy theorizing, we could even make a case about how Tenko having a previous quirk before AFO implanted decay on him is a possibility (within the frames of the bnha narrative). I'm not going there, but I think that fic authors would appreciate the prompt.

#bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #league of villains #lov #shigaraki tomura #yoichi shigaraki #ofa #one for all #all for one #afo #tenko shimura #bnha meta #mha meta #shan's bnha meta #Shan's mha meta

[kitsunefyuu]

"Destroy everything that gave rise to that house."

I remember that line Tomura gave in reference to the tragedy and all that terrible hardship. To destroy society to it very foundation to give rise to something different. I imagine people think that if it all because of AFO it some how 'cheapens' the critic on society.

But the thing is AFO is the very PRODUCT of societies very foundation that was built on the blood of innocence. He is born from it poverty, it starvation, it cruelty, and abuse of power. He watched as people tore each other apart, forced to kill since youth while many people pretended to be on the side of good. He took in everything that society itself tried to pretend it didn't have and made it his identity to exploit because Society ALLOWED him to do so.

All for One would not have existed if there had been even one person that looked at those feral children in the streets. Saw they had powers and yet still extended a hand, but because no one did a monster was born from societies very malice. Trying desperately to have what everyone else has, to imitate everything else society can give but also to exploit others with no regard for who is crushed. Just like how society allows people to fall through the cracks, as AFO says society makes it easy to turn good people into villains.[MHA: Vigilantes]

Showing and exploiting the very weakness in that society. So him becoming that very house, to laying the foundation and being part of constructions. He is something to be defeated yet is not something that could easily go away just with a few words.

It like a poetic way of saying as long as Society continues to be the way it is, then All for One will never allow himself to die. That is what Tomura and Izuku need to fight against as long as society doesn't change another AFO will rise to exploit it.

#MHA 418 #BNHA 418 #All for One MHA #Tomura Shigaraki #Tenko Shimura #All for One BNHA #Yoly's meta #Yoly's theories

[explodo-smash]

Tenko and Kacchan - Shigaraki and Bakugou as two misunderstood children

Now that we’re in the vestige/memory mindscape for MHA's ending, and Izuku and Shigaraki are sharing memories, this is an analysis I wrote about the connections between Shigaraki and Bakugou, and how I believe Katsuki’s role in this finale will be as another vital mirror for Shigaraki to look at.

[Can also be found on twitter]

Shigaraki and Bakugou have both been denoted uniquely with some similar words/traits:

Overt Childishness/Childlike behavior

Short fuses/tempers

Arrogance

An abundance of power/strength - In general having gross/unappealing personalities etc.

This makes sense.

Because in the original ending where Dk/Bk come together to defeat Shigaraki (as laid out by Heroes Rising) - it’s fair to say the original plan was an story where Izuku and Katsuki alone embodied what society needed as the new foundation for change.

This obviously isn’t the case now, but theoretically it seems like the plan was to make Shigaraki too far gone. His ideals mixed with an enjoyment of destruction.

However, in an ending where he is not, and we’re not getting out of this situation without him being saved, the goals for a new foundation are the same with a different outlook - just the same players.

Shigaraki is seeking to be understood, first and foremost. And he is at the point where he genuinely believes no one can, even if they seek to - however it’s funny because equivalently he severely misunderstands Izuku and Kacchan in his pursuits to be seen.

It’s worth noting that timeline wise - immediately following Deku/Kacchan vs All Might, we transition into the formation of the League of Villains, where Shigaraki is contemplating his interest in Izuku.

He leaves to then go experiment with this interest with the mall, where Izuku disappoints but also inspires him to keep going.

Prior to this, he had left the Toga and Dabi hanging with an answer about whether or not he would accept them, and upon being told again the reason he is not being seen he is not understood, upon being told he has no ideals, his next plan of action was to get Bakugou.

To me, it means something that Shigaraki sought Bakugou out where the other characters had to come to him. Back when these chapters were released, there was a genuine belief amongst readers that Katsuki would fold and join the villains.

This assumption was being made by both Shigaraki, the reporters in the story, and the readers at large despite nothing about Katsuki indicating this but his personality - Shigaraki just happened to make the same mistake readers were making.

When Shigaraki looked at Izuku, he just saw another hero with lofty ideals who was not interested in putting that action to practice with things he did not understand.

However when Shigaraki looked at Bakugou, he saw someone he resonated with being suppressed, forced to change who he is, and unprotected by society at large. Remember, prior to the sports festival the only other thing Katsuki was known for was the sludge villain incident.

And even now, he looks to Bakugou as a mirror of himself, even when AFO was trying to suppress him, the things that started to wake Tenko up were things people said/did on behalf of Katsuki, seeing all the pro heroes work so hard to protect someone already gone.

If I were to give a tentative soft take on the early read, Shigaraki’s failure at being understood by Izuku and Katsuki despite seeking them out (and with the original ending put into context) it seems like the original idea was perhaps that sometimes death is another way of saving, and that Katsuki and Izuku were the main symbolic proof that society can be better when you understand one another.

Now that is clearly being challenged and slightly inverted.

Katsuki/Izuku are still serving the purpose of being the proof and evidence of what change and understanding can do, but now it’s just not as insular.

To me, it’s not a coincidence OFA was borne in the helm of a misunderstanding. Yoichi, the one outcast, suppressed, and unprotected, is still reached out to by Kudou - because he looks like someone who needed saving.

Furthermore, Kudou is the first person to sacrifice himself in the bid to save Shigaraki, betting everything on Izuku who he only grew to understand more after seeing his relationship to himself and Katsuki. Kudou and Shigaraki had similar ideas about him.

Katsuki is consistently the thread that leads to understanding Izuku.

And so while in a lot of ways I do think Shigaraki is going to be able to see Izuku’s childhood and empathize with his own treatment in society, I do think it’d be easy to write it off as Izuku just being a better person than he is, causing him to doubling down anyways.

However, Katsuki is evidence that your origins can be treacherous. You can be a horrible, simple, and destructive child, and still come out of it loved. Katsuki is the strongest evidence everyone has that Izuku isn’t bluffing, both Izuku's persistent and Katsuki's growth.

The biggest difference between Katsuki and Shigaraki is that Katsuki was blessed to have kept love in his life despite everything, and his ideals are predicated on this.

Tenko got to experience this only for a blip in time before being left behind and groomed. Izuku in all his craziness is presenting the opportunity for Tenko to remember it’s possible for him to have love in his life as well without taking the world down with him.

He just can’t do that without seeing the clearest example of that dedication in action with one of the first characters he'd managed to resonate with.

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #shigaraki tomura #tenko shimura #bakugou katsuki #mha #bnha #bakudeku #tagging it but this isn't inherently a romance-centric theory #mod shouto #meta

[metamatronic]

Where are the drawings from here you had to play 20 questions to guess who you were drawing in stream yesterday?

For those who weren’t there, I spun a wheel of danganronpa characters for chat and then tried to guess who I was drawing using only their yes or no guidance. It was chaos, but it worked out.

#art #doodles #doodle #danganronpa #kaede akamatsu #tenko chabashira #rantaro amami #mikan tsumiki #byakuya togami #nagito komeada #shuichi saihara #izuru kamakura #kyoko kirigiri #chihiro fujisaki #teruteru hanamura #meta streams

[featherstorm2004]

my reaction to the latest chapter leaks

I was not prepared!!!!!!!!!!! I was not prepared for the rabbit hole to go this deep omg omg OMG!!!!!!! AFO has known Tenko since birth!!! Tenko was not born quirk less he did in fact have an og quirk! OMG OMG OMG.

Now I'm just curious, like maybe I missed something but this plan is just so insidious like how the hell did AFO plan so far ahead that he played a part in Tenko's birth! I always assumed that he simply chose Tenko because of his coincidental resemblance to his brother but that's clearly out the window so like why? Why Tenko, why keep the Shimura family alive for so long why did he know Tenko was his perfect vessel I mean he's been trying at this vessel thing for years how did he know that Tenko was the one? I'm so lost XD

At least baby Tenko is cute, but I definitely think I'll need to see the full chapter before I draw any conclusions about how I feel about this twist.

But other than that this reveal dose back up the fact that AFO is completely obsessed with families, I mean he spent years becoming a family friend to the Shimura's, he played house with them for years to the point he was trusted to watch their child alone. And this is the family of his enemy so like, this was always going to end badly but I don't understand why he kept it up so long way before Tenko was even conceived other than the fact he enjoyed it on some level. Which somehow makes things worse like ugghhhh my mind is so scrambled I'll have to come back to this later. (Edit)

Ok so he convinced Kotaro to have another kid because Hanna was to old like ok, but that still doesn't explain to me why AFO was so sure about Tenko being the right vessel was it because he could control him since birth, was it because he saw it as the ultimate revenge against the OFA wielders. As in "you stole my only family so I'm going to steals yours" kinda thing, which to be fair is on brand for AFO, but still something feels off like were missing a final piece to the puzzle because AFO is way to invested into Tenko/Shigaraki I feel like there has to be an emotional element to it idk.

And I thought that initial investment was his resemblance to Yoichi but that's clearly not what started it so like why- wait is it because he sees Tenko/Shigaraki as his because he helped make him, like how he saw Yoichi as his because he was his only family...that might actually be it.

#shigaraki tomura #my hero academia #all for one #mha #bnha spoilers #bnha meta #bnha shigaraki #bnha afo #mha shigaraki #mha afo #tenko shimura #mha tenko #bnha 419 #bnha chapter 419

[lgbtlunaverse]

I LOVE me some 'oboro adopts/takes care of tenko' fluff but in light of that "characters in their late 20 getting misinterpreted as parental figures to teens when they're something else" post (and Oboro is in his early 30s and Tomura in his very early 20s but the point stands!!) I've been thinking and. their dynamic isn't really parent-child but it also isn't "older cousin or step-sibling" like that post was talking about it's like... closer to a butler/nanny but also very much a secret more fucked up third thing.

Person who was literally created and desiged to take care of you, but done so by a person who intended to harm you, and therefore fundamentally restricted in their ability to take care of and protect you but nonetheless solely devoted to that goal.

Combine that with Shirakumo Oboro's themes of being someone who takes care of those who others would walk past, even other heroes. With kid Tenko being literally a lost child no one bothred to help. It's like even before he's Kurogiri, Oboro was crafted to be the kind of person Tomura needed to take care of him.

And it's in a weird inverse of a usual parent-child dynamic. Because, generally, kids are created by their parents. Like, physically, and structured as people by how they're raised. But Kurogiri was literally created for Tomura. In-universe and from a thematic standpoint, he's made to be his caretaker. They've got this weird fucked up fate-like thing going on and Kurogiri afirms it time and time again. "I am the one who takes care of Shigaraki Tomura." Person who had no choice in taking care of you but when given that choice would make it. It's both dystopian and heartwarming. Both a sign of the utter lack of control both of these characters are given in the story and a complete dedication to a purpose in spite of a controlling force. And I'm not normal about it.

#bnha #shirakumo oboro #shigaraki tomura #kurogiri #shimura tenko #bnha meta #like. i am so fucked up about this relationship. #cannot WAIT to see what happens when kurogiri finds tomura on the battlefield

[helga-grinduil]

The Shadow Deku is PLW!arc Deku, by the way. He still has his mask, but doesn't have his gauntlents or a cape, when in this arc Deku wore a cape and lost his mask before losing his gauntlets, the cape being the last thing he lost.

Tomura in this chapter takes forms of people who shaped his current Shigaraki self (oh hey, another hint at the fact that Shigaraki is a fictive identity insead of Tomura's genuine real self). Stain, Re-Destro, Overhaul - those weren't memories, those were Shigaraki taking on their forms and questioning Deku's intentions. Their lines together form an actual dialogue. 'You will die because of this. What do you want to achieve here? Do you have a plan?'

PLW!Deku (the one before Deku got into the Vestige World and saw inside Shigaraki's head) shaped Shigaraki's idea of Midoriya. PLW!Deku in Shigaraki's mind is a representation of Heroes. He beats him up, he exists to stand in the way of Shigaraki's dreams, he doesn't understand him, he's a True Hero (negative, since heroes in Shigaraki's mind are someone who can't and don't want to understand villains and sweep their pain under the rug).

This connects to Shigaraki's evolution as a villain after Stain arc being jump-started by his disappointment in Midoriya, too. Izuku outright said that he doesn't understand Tomura (just like All Might didn't at USJ), confirming to Shigaraki that True Heroes (and Midoriya was seen as a True Hero by Stain, just like All Might + Tomura watched Deku jump in to save All Might and help his enemy at the Sports Festival), heroes who would try to understand and help people like him don't exist. But PLW arc made that impression into reality, despite the opposite happening in Deku's mind afterwards.

#bnha #bnha spoilers #bnha meta #-ish #bnha 417 #shimura tenko #shigaraki tomura #midoriya izuku #the2ofus 🐱🐰

[greenhappyseed]

It hurts to see how damn close Toshinori was to becoming a Tomura or a Toya or a Himiko. Like Tomura, he lost his family when he was young, and presumably nobody came to help him since he took to the streets with a metal pipe and a fierce determination to stop villains from hurting others. At first, even Nana ignores Toshinori — she won’t turn around to look at him when he says his family is dead.

It’s also similar to how Enji won’t look at Toya or listen to his ideas. And, like Toya, Toshinori seems to have internalized that, because he lacked quirk power, he existed for no reason. Yet Toshinori’s mark on the world will be the symbol of peace, not revenge.

Toshinori never succumbed to the slowly building cycle of violence and hatred the way Tenko did. Toshinori wanted to break the cycle and have a world where revenge and hatred didn’t have a place.

I love the contrast of the overpowered man-child standing in front of a beautiful, pristine skyline, saying he took his power to destroy it all compared to the oversized quirkless boy standing in front of a wasted, destroyed cityscape, saying he has no role but is willing to step up if he had power. Power isn’t something Toshinori is owed; it is a gift he is given.

Like Himiko, young Toshinori knew damn well that buildings come and go, but they can never fix people’s hearts. But he didn’t turn that inwards — he always looked outwards and found joy helping others.

And boy, does that line about “new buildings” bring it all back around to Tenko, and the one thing he says will save him: The destruction of everything stemming from his father’s house.

#bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha 398 #mha 398 #all might #toshinori yagi #toshinori yagi rising/origin #nana shimura #tomura shigaraki #toya todoroki #himiko toga #lov #league of villains #tenko shimura #Dabi #bnha meta #mha meta