Shigaraki and Kurogiri as brothers
Not biological, of course. Anyway, I wanted to bring this headcanon outside of twitter. I usually flinch at unnecessary applications of familial terms (I’ve admittedly never liked dadgiri) but I do feel like there's a stronger case for this one, especially with it’s darker tones related to AFO’s cultish “family” of victims. So, I wanted to share my thoughts.
This first point is more of a simple one. Shigaraki and Kurogiri are both AFO’s “students”. It gets lost in translation since it all gets coined as “master”, but they are the only two recurring characters who refer to him as “sensei” (teacher/professor/master)- Machia refers to AFO as “Shū” (lord/head of the house/master).
And, well, AFO definitely raised Shigaraki. Kurogiri ominously says that “Shigaraki isn’t the only one he raised/molded/groomed” when referring to Machia, and he follows it up with “meet another one of AFO’s loyal servants”. Kurogiri tends to be put into panels that have double meanings and it’s very easy to make the connection that he could be talking about himself, too.
There's the third point that there's a strong theme of a cult-like family in the children that are orphaned/kidnapped by AFO and Garaki. AFO explicitly refers to "raising" Touya and being part of a family (of future Nomu).
On top of all of this, you have to look at their ages. Kurogiri has been raised by AFO from as young as 17. Bakugo and Toga are currently 17, if that helps with perspective. An older kid, but still impressionable. Maybe not always happy with all the lessons and dress-up, but he didn’t have the ability to leave. He was brought in at around the same time as Shigaraki, and their age gap is around 10-11 years.
So, here’s the logic. Kurogiri and Shigaraki were kidnapped around the same time, they were both kids, and they were both groomed-raised by the same man during the same time period. They view AFO with a similar reverence. He’s their sensei. Kurogiri doesn’t have any more ability to fight AFO’s will than Shigaraki does, even if he knows more.
So, rather than Kurogiri being a "dad", AFO is the "dad" to the two of them while Kurogiri is more of an "older brother" that's made to babysit Shigaraki (canonically, 'babysitter' is the only concrete term used to describe Kurogiri's role).
More discussion under the cut:
Once you realize they can be read as brothers, a lot of their interactions suddenly takes a more lighthearted tilt to it and a lot of things click in place.
I want to take a moment to debunk some interpretations I’ve seen that Shigaraki treats Kurogiri horribly or something, that it’s this awful abusive power dynamic. For one, Kurogiri can, in fact, say “no” to Shigaraki and his whims. He can’t say no to AFO assigning him as his protector, but this is a job that he genuinely doesn’t seem to mind.
The reason he does most of what Shigaraki says is that he, according to Ujiko, babies him like hell. 254 is the hammer on the nail that Oboro just genuinely likes and cares about Shigaraki, with his care for him being the very reason that Aizawa is able to recognize him under the mist. I’d even argue that the reason that Shigaraki’s voice is on the tape recorder is because AFO knew that Kurogiri would move regardless of mind control.
And, if you really look at the way Shigaraki talks to him, if you read him as a little brother, suddenly all the “idiot”s make a lot more sense. I’ve never quite placed how it’s intended to read but now it’s clear it’s “ugh, my stupid idiot babysitter who can’t read my mind”. It’s a very, dare I say, sibling thing to do!!
And Shigaraki cares in return. He’s clingy at heart. When it’s all over, I can’t imagine either of them would carry much or any resentment. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to have a proper reunion yet, but I’d be shocked if they didn’t.
That’s not to erase the complexity of their relationship that comes with the two of them being under AFO’s thumb, though. There’s plenty of other meta about how Shigaraki is abused by AFO (and it should be obvious how Kurogiri is controlled) so it doesn’t bear repeating here.
Kurogiri aids AFO’s plans and Shigaraki takes advantage of Kurogiri’s mind-controlled service, but at the same time, Kurogiri physically can’t dissent and Shigaraki is likely left in the dark about everything. For the two of them, there’s an underlying sense that they can’t save each other.
They can care, but not too much, and they can’t cling or protect respectively in any meaningful way. That’s why they both need outside help in order to have a relationship that’s genuinely as deep and meaningful as it could be.
Speaking of darker readings... There’s three main big brother/little brother relationships in mha: Toya/Shoto, Tensei/Tenya, and AFO/Yoichi. They’re all vital to the plot, and it‘s worth mentioning that the first two have similarly large age gaps as Kurogiri/Shigaraki. However, AFO always had a "complicated" relationship with Yoichi. Despite that, he seems to have a great desire to be with him. He now lives vicariously through Shigaraki, someone that looks almost exactly like Yoichi, so why not provide him a caring big brother that gives him good advice, just as he believed himself to be? Either ignoring or playing on the fact that Tenko, himself, had an older sister around his age.
EDIT: I COMPLETELY FORGOT!!!
Hammering this in, Shirakumo and Tenko are both paralleled with Mirio and Eri. Mirio is Eri’s babysitter/brother figure while Aizawa is both their sensei… but as a much lighter, happier parallel to the horrific situation that is Kurogiri, Shigaraki, and AFO.
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