#VillainAca

[nalmull]

This is the desperation of a drowning man looking for something, anything to hold onto. A raison d'être, a purpose; meaning. At his most passionate, shouting from his heart, Spinner reveals that it’s not quite Stain he wants to follow - it’s anything that will give him something to live for. Stain might be gone, but here was the League, here was Shigaraki. He’s begging Shigaraki to give him an answer. He’s willing to follow Shigaraki if Shigaraki proves himself - if Shigaraki inspires him, if Shigaraki can provide direction, Spinner will stay.

This was the wonderful question that hung over the entire arc, from beginning to end. Will Shigaraki prove himself? Is Shigaraki worth following? Spinner is sort of setting the standard here, asking what the audience is asking about the character of Shigaraki Tomura and his potential, providing the goal, the main thesis of the arc.

Spinner ends up serving as the audience surrogate - he’s ideal for it too: he’s sympathetic (victim of fantasy racism, an aimless young adult), he’s got ‘good’ reason to fight against society (where were the Heroes while the CRC were having their meeting?), and though we don’t know it yet, there’s already a sense that he’s the most average guy in the League, way in over his head. Relatable.

While the League being Plus Chaos is fun to watch (esp. Twice and Toga antics), we’re reading HeroAca for a story. We need that logical progression, we need a satisfying beginning, middle, end. same as Spinner, we’re looking for ‘purpose’ and meaning. MVA main thread is Shigaraki growing and maturing, and Spinner is the meta-framing for this.

BONES completely screwed up by cutting this. While the story was still told, it ended up being just an detour to see what the Villains are doing. Randomly, here’s Shigaraki fighting Gigantomachia. Randomly, here’s a Other Villain Group to serve as punching bags. Good, cool, now you’re caught up with our antagonist. the emotional depth got lost.

#villainaca #nalslastworkingbraincell #chapter 220 #spinner #shigaraki tomura

[codenamesazanka]

Toga!!!!!

#she's so cute #Toga Himiko #nalslastworkingbraincell #bnha #mha #HeroAca #VillainAca

[nalmull]

Extremely important that I remind everyone Gigantomachia is completely naked here. No pants, nothing.

#villainaca #nalslastworkingbraincell #heck yeah #gigantomachia #living as he sees fit #chapter 220 #another thing BONES denied us

[nalmull]

the hands! slapped back on. I really like how Shigaraki is drawn cradling them as he runs and wears them. Something about the cradle hurts.

In the background-ish, Toga’s also putting on her gear, ready for battle, ready to fight alongside Shigaraki. Twice is following Shigaraki, running towards him <3. Mr. Compress is ready to go as well. Only Spinner and Dabi seem to have not moved yet, watching everyone take off.

Clear divide of who’s fully thrown in their lot with Shigaraki, and who hasn’t. Twice, Toga, Mr. Compress - Shigaraki won them over during the Overhaul arc. Spinner and Dabi, not yet.

#villainaca #nalslastworkingbraincell #shigaraki tomura #chapter 220

[nalmull]

Shigaraki’s hand-mask is off - no wall, no barrier, nothing obscuring or hidden. He’s been so with the League nearly the entire chapter, a great visual cue that he’s gotten closer to them. Trusts them more than before.

Now that we know what the hands represent, it’s even more meaningful - in the presence of the League, he’s ‘taken off’ his rage, his most identifiable trait of ‘Shigaraki Tomura’, Symbol of Terror, the being that AFO had created. The hands are still close to him - in a pile on the couch next to him - and he’s ready to put them on in seconds at a moment’s notice, but right now, he’s himself, whoever that is.

Tired, chewing on energy bars, chatting with people, getting correctly accused of being a broke, homeless, aimless guy.

And this is the Shigaraki that Spinner confronts, face to face. mano a mano. tête-à-tête. It’s personal, it’s genuine, it’s raw. Spinner is asking Shigaraki, and Shigaraki must answer back. He’s looking straight at Spinner, eyes clear and— well, the emotion isn’t quite clear, but he doesn’t look like he’s annoyed, or angry, or shocked, or dismissive. Spinner talks - and it seems Shigaraki listens, hears him, considers.

Then we get this beat to break the tension:

It’s the rest of the league, unimpressed with Spinner’s outburst. Toga and Twice aren’t listening; the blank look on Dabi’s face and literally on Compress’s seem to tell us they aren’t very affected, tho they are paying attention. they’re not swayed, they have no strong feeling. We can guess their thoughts now knowing what we know - Mr. Compress comparing Shigaraki to Harima maybe, Dabi considering what this means for his plot. Still, They aren’t on Spinner’s ‘side’, but neither are they on Shigaraki’s exactly; they’re watching, observing.

With that, it’s Shigaraki’s turn to reply,

except we’re immediately interrupted. Not time for the dramatic monologue and reveal just yet.

I wonder sometimes about what Shigaraki would’ve said here. Now he’s getting annoyed; now he’s about to fall back to previous old explanations. It likely would’ve continued to disappoint Spinner. Fun AU to think about.

#nalslastworkingbraincell #villainaca #chapter 220 #spinner #shigaraki tomura

[codenamesazanka]

Toga and her two families:

scary | cute

restrain | free

repression | permission

distrust | faith

rejection | acceptance

thrown away | welcome back

#Toga Himiko #Toooooogggggaaaaaaa 😭😭😭 #League of Villains #Shigaraki Tomura #Twice #Bubaigawara Jin #Spinner #Iguchi Shuuichi #Dabi #Todoroki Touya #Mr. Compress #Sako Atsuhiro #bnha #mha #HeroAca #VillainAca #nalslastworkingbraincell #worse layout format edit ever #but eh

[codenamesazanka]

#bones what #nalslastworkingbraincell #Shigaraki Tomura #anime #bnha #mha #HeroAca #VillainAca #gif #edit

[codenamesazanka]

it's waiting for us

#Iguchi Shuuichi #Shigaraki Tomura #VillainAca #My Villain Academia #we were robbed #grand fucking theft #nalslastworkingbraincell #edit #Chapter 239 #bnha #mha #mva #heroaca #spinaraki

[codenamesazanka]

naruto runnin'

#Shigaraki Tomura #bnha #mha #HeroAca #VillainAca #nalslastworkingbraincell #gif #edit

[nalmull]

I love this image!!! I love all images of Shigaraki, but this is a particularly good one. He eats.

Apparently he’s eating a CalorieMate cookie, which is a Japanese energy bar.

It’s a “balanced food block.” … Nothing fancy, folks. … The ingredients are mainly wheat flour, margarine, sugar, and a thousand vitamins, plus whatever mild flavor note has been added to your choice. Is it healthy? No, but that’s not the point of Calorie Mate. The point of Calorie Mate is to fill you up for many hours, without requiring you to spend time or money preparing a meal. You don’t even need utensils to eat it. You barely need a napkin. It’s the “friends with benefits” of foods: satiating and reliable, without being overly stimulating.

Note that down, fanfic writers. This is like, the only thing we see Shigaraki eat in the manga so far. (Remind me to make a post about the stuff Shigaraki eats/seems to like to eat, as seen in manga/anime/Smash!)

#VillainAca #Shigaraki Tomura #Chapter 220 #nalslastworkingbraincell #CalorieMate

[codenamesazanka]

#Shigaraki Tomura #Shimura Tenko #bnha #mha #HeroAca #VillainAca #gif #edit #nalslastworkingbraincell

[codenamesazanka]

Bubaigawara Jin | Boku no Hero Academia S5, Ep. 110

#Jin!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 #he's so cuteeeee #;_; #Twice #Bubaigawara Jin #bnha #mha #HeroAca #VillainAca #anime #nalslastworkingbraincell

[codenamesazanka]

!!!

#VillainAca #Shigaraki Tomura #My Villain Academia #bnha #mha #HeroAca #Youtube

[nalmull]

It’s Mr. Compress hour! Focusing on him again because I love him; but also with his Harima Oji’s Bloodline Reveal, we can look back at what he does with that perspective.

For now, though, because this post got way too long, let’s take a look at how he’s doing post arm loss:

*disclaimer: non-disabled person writing about disability representation. my apologies in advance for any mistake or mis-portrayal or just overstepping my position!

As far as I could tell, Mr. Compress got his arm blown off by Overhaul in early September, got fitted for a prosthetic mid-September, and was taunting Overhaul with his new arm late September.

(Shout-out to Giran, who “had a hard time finding a manufacturer [that could create a prosthetic that is capable of] delicate, elaborate movements.” But he did it, and it’s good work.

*From Databook 2.)

That’s pretty much impossible irl with our level of medicine - from hastily done google research, it takes six to eight weeks (or longer) for surgical wounds to heal after an amputation, in which then you can get fitted for a prosthetic. After that, one needs rehab/physical therapy for both managing the residential limb and learning how to use the prosthetic, which takes months, sometimes up to a year. And of course, that’s even not mentioning that current technology haven’t succeed in creating a sci-fi ‘can do anything a blood-and-flesh arm can do’ cyborg prosthetic.

So Mr. Compress’s prosthetic process is pretty much firmly in the realm of futuristic science-fiction, with luckily is what HeroAca goes with: We’ve got robots and holograms and Japan’s super fast bullet train goes even faster. This puts the story/character/concept at risk of the ableism of ‘the magic cure’, which effectively makes the character ‘no longer disabled’ and issues of disability is just dismissed or forgotten or erased to bring the character back to the non-disabled norm.

…Which is fortunately not totally the case here! Yes, Mr. Compress has a magic robot arm that looks and seems to function like a flesh arm— but Horikoshi-sensei does give thoughtfulness about the realities of having a prosthetic: As shown above, the prosthetic needs repair (Japanese text has it that it’s ‘creaking badly’), maybe even replacement. Compounding the problem is that Mr. Compress has to wait and make do until Giran shows up (and if not, he’ll have to find a new broker who can find a new prosthetist who can custom make his specifications).

Later, we see Mr. Compress examining his prosthetic arm/trying to fix it? Which is another nice touch to show that it requires maintenance. By the end of the chapter, the hand is broken off completely and stays broken for the rest of the arc, leaving Mr. Compress effectively one handed.

(In the following two chapters too, we’ll see that in the background action, he’s losing his balance a lot - something that can happen since like one just lost a chunk of weight asymmetrically.)

Significantly, I think, is that - though it’s not addressed in the text, which is a pity and a handwave - Mr. Compress, even with his relatively-high-tech prosthetic, has permanently lost half of his quirk. Before, he can compress things with either hand; now, just one. Which is huge, for someone who uses his quirk to often fight for his survival against other Villains out to kill. His battle power (?) has been reduced, as has how he incorporates his ability into his nimbleness and magician’s act. Really wish we could’ve seen the repercussions of this! Mr. Compress seems rather unfazed, even taking this in good humor - but what’s under that mask? Did he mourn that loss? Did it affect his self-esteem or self-image? Is it possible to feel phantom quirk sensations?

So there’s quite a few elements of Mr. Compress’s disability portrayal here that are too convenient and shallow. He’s easily up and about within weeks, and his feelings and new experiences are entirely glossed over. He’s a side character, but still it would’ve been nice to receive one chapter focused on him in regards to this. So far in the story, the broken prosthetic doesn’t give him much of a challenge either.

And yet Mr. Compress’s disability remains and is addressed; he’s a character who does have to deal with the experiences and consequences of losing a limb. The futuristic setting could’ve easily allowed Mr. Compress a super-arm that brings him back to the non-disabled norm and all concerns and portrayals of a life after an amputation gets tossed out the window. But Mr. Compress still goes through issues of mobility and accommodation, and his prosthetic isn’t a cure-all. (At last in the MVA arc. Post-MVA is for a whole other post. also will need another post about the other portrayal of limb loss in other characters in the story, tho.) He’s not portrayed as tragic or broken, and befitting his personality, he’s come to accept it as part of his life.

Not that the author did anything amazing or perhaps even above the bare minimum - and we don’t even know if this was intentional - but I think it’s cool that Mr. Compress’s disability is incorporated into his character, as part of him now as much as his signature mask and magic.

thanks for reading this long post. and back to liveblog, sorry for the wait!

#VillainAca #Mr. Compress #Chapter 220 #Sako Atsuhiro #nalslastworkingbraincell #ALSO: please give Mr. Compress the attention he deserves #when talking about portrayals - metaphorically or literal - of disability in HeroAca #Yes there’s stuff to be said about Deku’s quirklessness #but i think there can be that and also focus on characters with ‘actual’ non-fictional disability #Personally i’ve got a rant about Deku has a disability metaphor #oh boy do I have takes on that #but next time #TW Amputation #Disability #please stan Mr. C #for both himself and as disability rep

[nalmull]

Ah, the beginning of romance

#the anime ROBBED me #destroyed my crops #manifested snakes in my home #an insult that can never be forgiven #Where are the close up scenes of their eyes #looking into each other’s #in a moment so tense and pivotal #WHERE #VillainAca #chapter 220 #Shigaraki Tomura #Spinner #nalslastworkingbraincell

[codenamesazanka]

Listening to the MVA soundtrack again and I just think, Yuki Hayashi worked hard on this, on getting the feel and mood right and matching the music to envisioned scenes and the anime just. fucked it up.

The opening of this one track is so obviously for the scene where we finally re-encounter the League, when Shigaraki shatters the opening title and we move into the night before coming upon a unknown and isolated mansion; then trespassing into it with our new protagonists to witness the massacre they’ll be committing.

Like??? idk music but. The soft creeping start; the moments of distortions; the orchestrals fit for a grand but dark and haunting tale; the lingering echoing end. All that.

It was perfect for the adaption of Chapter 220, and then the anime cut nearly the whole chapter.

#Spotify #BONES why do you hate us #bnha #shigaraki tomura #mha #heroaca #VillainAca #My Villain Academia #MVA #nalslastworkingbraincell #music #edit #Chapter 220 #Also. Horikoshi drew this i'm pretty sure because I thought they would fucking animate it #why else draw it like this?????