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bnhaobservation · 1 year

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Touya and Shouto’s fight or why assuming the other is you and baring fangs wasn’t meant to work

So here I am, looking back at the Tōya/Shōto fight and at why it failed to reach Tōya when many were hoping Shōto would be the one to save his brother… and how the problems which are in this fight also end up on applying on other fights.

So let’s start with…

A PREMISE

Although a part of the fandom hopes the LOV will be saved, the Heroes so far had been oblivious they need saving.

Yeah, Midoriya said he wants to save Shigaraki, but this is more because he figured AFO was taking advantage of him than because he realized how the circumstances in which Shiragaki was, ended up on triggering Shigaraki’s actions and made him a perfect target for AFO, as well as the misery in which Shiragaki still is, a person who believes he’ll never feel good again, that the weight in his heart will never go away, that he doesn’t need a future.

And it makes sense Midoriya would only see AFO as the problem, because this is what his Hero training mostly comes to.

As Eraser Head said in chap 100 “Heroes deal with accidents, catastrophes and disasters both natural and man-made.” He then added “It’s our job to save people from just about any situation imaginable.”

But, although Heroes are supposed to save people from any situation imaginable, it’s clear what Shigaraki is going through is a situation they don’t really have in mind.

It’s not that they’re told not to emotionally connect with people, that this isn’t an important part in saving people, actually in the “Remedial course arc” when Bakugo and Shōto took part to the remedial course (with Endeavor, All Might and Present Mic witnessing it), they were asked to connect with a bunch of elementary students and were also told how important this is… but this lesson ended up being applied rarely in the story, solely when they wanted to connect with someone they previously were friend with (for example when they tried to reconnect with Midoriya after he left) or someone they discovered wasn’t really as bad as it seemed (for example when Midoriya tried to connect with Lady Nagant whose shoot to kill Chisaki was deliberately slightly off and who had the chance to stop him by shooting his lower body and didn’t).

For the most part of the story, a Hero’s job was just to beat down the Villains so as to stop them from doing what they were doing.

And it’s with this mindset the Heroes faces the “Final War Arc”, as well as with a sense they believe they know what the Villains are feeling.

WHY IT SEEMED LIKE SHŌTO COULD UNDERSTAND TŌYA

So, Shōto.

The expectations Shōto would save Tōya clearly came not solely from the fact he’s a Hero and one of the beloved main characters as well as Tōya’s brother but from how it was assumed Shōto understood Tōya, due to how Shōto claimed Tōya was basically him, that Tōya’s rage was the same as the one he had felt [Chap 298] therefore, since he was stopped from going down to that path, it would fall on him to stop his brother.

“He’s basically… me. I was also burning with rage… up until that day. Dad can’t do it. I have to be the one... to handle... my brother Tōya.”

This made it sound as if Shōto was empathizing with his brother, viewing him as a person and not as a crazy criminal and understanding him.

The bit in which Shōto also implied he would like to sit down with his brother, eating whatever food Tōya would like even if it were the opposite of what Shōto liked, clearly also helped [Chap 342].

THE PROBLEM THAT ULTIMATELY LEAD TO THE WHOLE FAILURE

There are, of course, parallels between Shōto and Tōya, both children of Endeavor and both abused by him and angry at what they went through, but what Shōto did assuming Tōya was the same as him, wasn’t exactly empathizing, even if it felt like it.

What Shōto did was projecting.

He saw similarities between himself and Tōya and therefore assumed Tōya would feel the way he had felt and ended up believing that, to stop Tōya from feeling that way, he would need the same thing that Shōto had needed. Sort of.

“He’s basically… me. I was also burning with rage… up until that day.”

Now, when two people are similar, if one assumes the other would feel the same as him, and that what solved his problem would also solve the other person’s problems, things might work out in a positive manner.

But in this manga this sort of mindset is nearly always assured to fail because, right on the first page of the story, we learnt “People are not born equal” and the story is big about remarking differences among individuals.

And this is especially evident in Tōya and Shōto, because Tōya isn’t the same as Shōto, he’s actually the mirroring opposite of Shōto and therefore, Shōto’s assumption they’re the same and him interacting with his brother with this in mind, are bound to backfire horribly.

WHERE SHŌTO AND TŌYA DIFFER

AFO is a monster and an experienced manipulator but what he says is often the truth.

“The experiences of one’s youth determine the entirety of one’s life.” [Chap 374]

Tōya and Shōto’s experiences are diametrically opposite and, as a result, so are most of their reactions to them.

1) Relationship with their father

In his early years Tōya had a good relationship with his father. Regardless of Enji’s reasons for paying Tōya’s attention, Tōya felt he was loved by his dad and special. Then things started to go downhill and Tōya spent years trying to fix them...

...until, after his supposed ‘death’, Tōya comes to believe he would never have back the relation he had with his father as a child. In his father’s eyes he was a failure and was easily left behind in the past. His father would never be proud he had created him nor would look at him if he could avoid it.

Tōya clings to the past, because the past (in which he was a small child) was happy, he views his present as hell and he doesn’t even plan to have a future.

In his early years Shōto had a horrible relationship with Enji, the man isolating him...

...and abusing him as well as his mother,

…leading Rei to madness.

Shōto doesn’t want a relationship with his father, he doesn’t view him as a father figure, he wants to deny him in any way possible, going so far as refusing to use his fire quirk just to deny his relation with Enji.

Even his first Hero costume was made so that it would cover his left side.

Shōto feels better when he doesn’t think at Enji,

…when he doesn’t have him around. He never seemed to long to fix their relationship, if it has to be fixed (because Enji wants it to be fixed and Fuyumi and Rei also seems to hope for it), he expects Enji to do it by showing him which kind of father he can be.

He’s willing to let go of his hate, he’s willing to use his father’s resources, he’s willing to cooperate with him to stop the Villains but that’s it. Even when he extend his hand to Enji because they’ve to stop Tōya and his mother persuaded him he should do it with his father, he’s not meeting his father’s gaze, a hint he’s not comfortable with this.

Shōto aims for the future, because his past was hell, his present is good but uncertain but the future holds plenty of possibilities for improvement so that he too could have a real family and fulfill his dream.

2) View of the Hero Endeavor

Tōya was taught as a child that Heroes live in a different world, and that his father, being the Hero Endeavor, belonged to such world while he, not being allowed to pursue such path, was cut out from such world. While Tōya knows that Enji and Endeavor are the same person, likely he figured out his father identified more with his Endeavor role than with his role as a father. It’s because Enji is Endeavor, a Hero, that he’s not in the same world as Tōya, that he’s too busy to spare a look at someone like Tōya, whom Enji believes can’t become a Hero. Enji himself openly uses the excuse he’s Endeavor and therefore can solely show people the world of Heroes to avoid looking at Tōya.

But Endeavor is no Hero in Tōya’s eyes. The first time he calls his father as such it’s when, in a desperate effort to get his attention, even negative one, he tries to attack Shōto.

Later, we’ll hear him criticize Heroes due to them (or better due to Endeavor) making kids they don’t need.

In the end Tōya will become a Villain, embrace Stain’s ideology claiming that the Pro-Heroes (プロヒーロー) or just Heroes (ヒーロー) aren’t “heroes” (英雄 ‘Eiyū’) [Chap 267]

…and will denounce to the public how Endeavor, due to his selfish goals, abused his family. To Tōya, things turned sour because his father decided to be Endeavor, the Hero, instead than Todoroki Enji, his father. Enji being a Hero is what set him apart from Tōya, who is forbidden from becoming a Hero and, ultimately, will become a Villain.

Shōto, due to All Might, admires Heroes and wants to be a Hero as well and surpass All Might...

...and he’s encouraged to pursue such path. Although he wants to be someone different from HIS FATHER, he doesn’t blame Enji’s behavior on him being Endeavor but on him being a bad father, or better, on him not being a father at all. Shōto has a good opinion of Heroes and interacts with Heroes who leave on him a positive impression (all the teachers at his school) as well as with good kids who wants to become Heroes… and even goes as far as finding Endeavor amazing as a Hero, likely due to the fact he has the highest solving rate of cases.

Endeavor is very good at his job and, even though Shōto insists he’s doing it solely to pursue his own goal and not Enji’s, Shōto is ultimately willing to learn from him, going so far as to also invite Midoriya and Bakugo to learn under his father, meaning that he believed he could be a good teacher/role model for them… AS A HERO. It’s through the fact that Enji is the Hero Endeavor, number 2 and then number 1 Hero of Japan that Shōto comes to spend time with Enji, slowly reconnecting with him, through his internship, through his work studies, through the wars they fight together.

Enji being a Hero is what he has in common with Shōto and connects them even when Shōto is not so prone to accept him as a father.

3) Relationship with society

Although Tōya was banned from the world of Heroes, he couldn’t find allies in the world of ‘not-Heroes’. As a child he views his mother as co-responsible of his own situation. He was never shown being present when Rei tried defending him (“No… That would be too much! It’s too cruel! Especially now that Tōya knows what you’re hoping to archive through the children!” “He just wants you to look at him. To notice him. That’s all.” “Heroes? Aren’t you just running away?”) and she doesn’t support his attempts at training but tries to discourage him to continue (she had good reasons for not supporting it but this still didn’t help). Tōya couldn’t find any support in his siblings either (credits when it’s due, they’re too small to give him support but the irony in this is that Rei wanted more kids so they would support each other) nor he managed to make friends, due to how he desperately clung to the idea he would manage to enter in the Hero world and therefore his classmates wouldn’t belong to his same world. Society needed Endeavor to protect it, so that the latter had no time for his son… but, at the same time, society didn’t realize what went on in the Todoroki household and, even when it did, it turned a blind eye on it. Society is unbalanced and Tōya (and the other members of the league) gets the short end of the stick. Even when Endeavor and Hawks are admitting, one that he abused his kids, the other that he killed a man, society still doesn’t punish them but wants them to keep on working as Heroes. Society is fake Heroes’ accomplice, for its own self interest it enables them to continue with their actions turning a blind eye to their wrongdoing, and therefore it’s all but innocent and unconnected, even if society clearly feels like it. Therefore society isn’t really unconnected to Tōya’s family drama, it enabled it. Tōya knows and therefore holds society accountable and wants to change it.

Shōto blames solely his father for the mistreatment he suffered as a child, he views his mother as Enji’s victim, seeing her trying to protect him and being beaten by Enji in return, receiving her support and encouragement in regard to the pursuing of his dream. Rei was the only person in his family he had a loving relationship with and, of course, she meant the world for him. As a result, differently from Tōya, he doesn’t blame her for the part she had in his creation, nor for failing to protect him from his father, actually, as a small child, HE tried to protect HER. Even when Rei snapped and tossed boiling water to him, scarring him, Shōto made clear he solely blamed Enji for this and avoided Rei when she was hospitalized at first, thinking meeting him would be bad for her. Rei will claim Shōto forgave her, but Shōto actually made clear more than once he only blamed Enji. In his rage toward Enji, Shōto is blind of how society should be aware of what went on in his house but turned a blind eye on it. His mother was hospitalized because she turned insane due to the abuse she received, but no consequence befallen on Enji. No one noticed he was victim of abuse or, if they did, they pretended not to. When Tōya supposedly died, there were no consequences for Enji. People even believes Enji is a good father, All Might going so far as trying to ask him for advices and doesn’t get suspicious when Enji talks about how he ‘created Shōto to mold him into someone who could surpass All Might’. People swallow the idea Shōto isn’t using fire because he’s in his rebellious age, not due to a problem with his father. Even if Midoriya and Bakugo hear about Shōto living in an abusive family, nothing gets done. Ultimately, when Tōya exposes the abuse that took place in the Todoroki household, no one does anything. As Burning will put in much, much later “his family drama may be a can of worms but Endeavor shows up and gets the job done, even if he does stink like an old fart”. Society hasn’t just turned a blind eye and enabled Tōya’s abuse but also Shōto’s. Shōto though, decides not to hold it accountable in favor of blaming everything on Enji and it makes sense. Shōto came to decide his father was the sole responsible when he was too small and ‘society’ was likely a nebulous concept for a kid who was kept isolated and the idea that his father was the only one to blame for everything stagnated in him as he grew up. Now, mind you, it’s Shōto’s choice to decide if he also wants to be angry at society for failing to protect him and turning a blind eye on Enji, but the fact that Shōto would absolve it, doesn’t deny the part society had. Still, differently from his brother, Shōto doesn’t feel society is accountable for what happened to him and therefore he’s fine with keeping the status quo.

4) Personal goals and consequences of growing up in the Todoroki household

As a child Tōya has pushed on himself the idea he was supposed to become a Hero that should surpass All Might. It’s hard to say if he had this goal solely because it was pushed on him by Enji, because he viewed it as a way to spend quality time with his father, or because it was just something he was bound to want (plenty of kids want to become Heroes and surpass All Might so it’s not impossible that he would have wanted it even without Enji’s meddling) but what makes really hard to establish if this was something Tōya would have wanted for himself or a childhood whim due to his father, is that this future is ripped from him along with his relationship with his father and his sense of identity when he was too young to fully realize if this was the dream he wanted to pursue. As a result of the pain and trauma this caused, Tōya ended up clinging to that dream, clinging to the idea he had to become what his father originally wanted for him so as to recover his happy past. Unknown to him though, his goal shifts from ‘becoming a Hero’ to ‘becoming someone his father would notice’ and his life starts to revolve on pursuing such goal. Even when he’ll end up on almost killing himself and, once he wakes up, he’s told his body was too badly damaged, he runs back at home in hope to be noticed, and, when he discover he’s been left in the past, he still continue to try to shape himself into someone his father will notice. If there’s no way for him to be seen as his father’s son, then he’ll become a Villain Endeavor will have to notice, if only to put him down. He learns all his battle moves, join the league, pursue Stain’s ideals. Despite what he says, Tōya is aware he’s not Endeavor, and that his flames are his own, but he’s also aware he’s a product of Endeavor’s actions, that the man and society limited his choices, his paths. Tōya wants to hurt Endeavor the way he felt he was hurt,

...views himself as in hell...

...and still constantly rejected. His father doesn’t recognize him when they met the first time and asks him of Snatch instead, when Tōya reveals his identity still his father rejects him, claiming he’s lying, even in the Final War Arc his father accepts to go fight AFO instead than facing him, which is actually the thing Tōya wants the most.

As a child Shōto found himself dealing with a conflict, as he wanted to be a Hero, but at the same time he didn’t want to be what his father wanted because he despised his father. In an attempt to deny his father without denying his dream, Shōto tries to reject his flame quirk, covers his left side in ice in his first Hero costume, refuses to use his fire when fighting, basically rejecting half of himself. People see in him the same anger they see in Enji, the same coldness and, at first, Shōto aims to make Enji angry by denying him what he wants. Even when he’ll manage to reconcile with his left side, this conflict remains in Shōto because, ironically, he continues wanting to become a Hero that’ll surpass All Might, which is EXACTLY what Enji wanted him to become, but, at the same time, doesn’t want to be Enji’s puppet yet he believes doing what Enji wanted, interning for him, having his work studies at his agency, learning his moves, is the best way to pursue his own dream. It’s a vicious circle, Shōto wants to distance himself from the path Enji set for him, wants to stay away from him yet, ironically, he can’t do nothing else but walking that path because he can’t see another way to his dream, so all he can do is keeping on claiming he’s doing it for himself and not for his father. Being in his same line of work is only going to bring him to cooperate with Enji, both in the Paranormal Liberation War Arc and in the Final War Arc. And the irony is made worse by how, despite Shōto claiming he wants to be a Hero that makes everyone feels at ease, when he shows up, his fighting style, even with his ice quirk, mimics Enji. He doesn’t use his ice like Geten, but the way his father wanted him to use his flames. Where Tōya struggles to be recognized and accepted as his father’s son, Shōto struggles to accept his own fire as his own and, apparently, he’ll manage to fully do it solely short before the Final War Arc.

SO BACK TO HOW THINGS WENT WHEN THEY MET…

Tōya starts the whole thing talking about himself. How it was the battle in Hosu what spurred him to take action and how he’s bummed out by how his father wouldn’t pay him any attention but instead sent Shōto and his underlings to deal with him, evidently undervaluing him.

If Shōto were to remember the “Remedial course arc” and attempt to connect with Tōya’s heart, this would be a wonderful start because Tōya is basically tossing at him bits of himself which Shōto could use to build a bridge. Tōya wants to be seen, Shōto could prove he can see him in place of his father. Or just explain him that’s not due to Endeavor wanting to neglect him that he’s not there to face him. He could make this about Tōya and work with it.

Instead he makes it about himself.

He shows no interest in what Tōya told him and does the same he first did in the “Remedial course arc”, which didn’t work back then and didn’t work here too, he talks about himself,

...about how Tōya got it wrong because Shōto is there because he decided to do it…

...because at Shōto’s core, he wants to prove to the world he’s not Enji’s pawn… which is fair… but that’s not the best moment to do it.

In the same way in which the kids found Shōto’s introduction boring, Shōto’s words matter nothing to Tōya. Since Tōya is working under the belief that his father didn’t want to face him (actually in chap 351 Enji told Shōto he should be the one to face Tōya and Shōto instead insisted for being the one doing it so that Enji could face AFO, but Tōya can’t know of this detail)

…and Shōto didn’t say Enji actually wasn’t that much on board with the idea of Shōto facing Tōya in his place, Shōto telling him that he came there due to his own will AT BEST merely meant he agreed with Enji, AT WORST that he does what Enji wants but believes it’s his will because Enji successfully managed to mold Shōto in such way.

Even if Tōya might have noticed that at the UA Sport festival Shōto had reservations to use his fire quirk, the fact that his father was there, watching Shōto and encouraging him and that, ultimately, Shōto did use it and then interned under Enji, had his work study at Enji Agency, even went at home to have a family dinner with Enji, during the Paranormal Liberation Arc cooperated with him and, overall, seemed to have a good relation with him, likely cemented in his mind the idea Shōto and Enji had developed a good relation, with Shōto accepting to become what Enji wanted, a strong (fake) Hero.

To Tōya, Shōto isn’t there to save him, understand him or whatever, he’s there to stop him and those who were, like Tōya, oppressed by the limitations of the superpowered society. So far Shōto hadn’t showed empathy toward him and has acted to preserve a status quo that’s advantageous to Shōto. Of course Shōto is doing this because he believes in the narrative that, by protecting the status quo he’s protecting people, because he wants to protect people… and indeed he’s protecting the majority of the people… without realizing that by doing that, as Jin said, he’s throwing to the wolves the downtrodden folks… which, in Tōya’s books, makes Shōto a fake Hero as well.

In short… yes, Shōto is a teen who’s desperately trying to show he’s not his father’s pawn but deciding to show it in that moment went against his goal, a bit like how Iida wanted to be a Hero but prioritizing his revenge against Stain over saving Native made him look like a fake Hero in Stain’s eyes.

For Stain (and consequently for Tōya who believes in his ideology) being a Hero is about saving others selflessly, forgetting about themselves. So that’s not the moment to prove he’s not a pawn, that’s the moment to prove he’s there to save everyone.

But when Tōya shrugs his words off saying he’s just being a pawn, Shōto insisted he’s not because he’s not ignoring Tōya and keeping on trying to be a Hero and… it’s a good point, really, because what hurt Tōya the most was being ignored and this lead Tōya throwing him another bone. Tōya accepts his reasoning and tries explaining him why they’re fighting...

...and Shōto does another good thing by asking him why he didn’t come home since he survived.

This is showing interest in him, this is giving Tōya what he had been desperately asking.

Now… a problem in the narration of this part is that the flashback that starts is shared between Ujiko and Tōya and it isn’t made clear if it’s just a flashback for us readers’ benefit or Tōya was also sharing the whole narration of the scene with Shōto.

For all we know he might have told him everything that happened in details, or he might have told him only what we hear his saying at the end.

“Shōto. I did come home, actually. Even though I was weaker than ever, and there was no way that what I was hoping for was there. But I was sure something must’ve changed… it’s all I wanted to see. Instead I was shown once more the reason I was born. The fact is, as a failed creation, my life had been pointless. This family had left me behind in their past.”

Which… tells nothing of how he ended up in AFO’s hands, spent 3 years in coma and was traumatized by AFO’s words just after he woke up but still tried to resist his manipulation.

Shōto, who believes Tōya is like him, continues to interpret his words as an ‘I got angry I was left behind’ and not as an ‘I got desperate my family didn’t care about how I died and just moved on like usual’. Even as Shōto figures his brother is getting into this prepared to die,

...he still doesn’t realize Tōya isn’t suicidal merely out of spite but out of desperation, and that destroying everything that Endeavor hold dear is Tōya’s desperate last attempt at forcing his father to look at him because, if he can’t have positive attention from his father, then he’ll content himself with negative one, because negative attention is better than indifference.

The result of this trip on memory lane is that now Tōya has remembered all the pain he had felt back then, so, of course, his fire which answers to his emotions, gets hotter even faster.

Shōto however can’t capitalize on the info he got. Since he assumes Tōya is angry and Tōya is clearly being aggressive, he cuts any attempt at connecting with his brother’s heart and goes back to his stance of stopping Tōya. He doesn’t see the victim, he sees an aggressor.

The irony is Shōto could have seen the victim if, instead than linking Tōya to himself, he has linked his behavior to Rei’s. Rei was driven to madness by Enji’s abuse and attacked him but, contrary to what Rei seems to imply [chap 302],

Shōto never had anything to forgive to Rei because he always blamed Enji for how his mother snapped and ended up hurting him [Chap 249] and his understanding helped speeding up Rei’s recover.

Shōto doesn’t manage to see the parallels between Tōya’s behavior and Rei’s though. Since he views Tōya as himself, he thinks he can stop him the way he was stopped by Midoriya. Let’s give him a good fight in which Shōto throws him all he got and tells him that his fire is his own… because this worked with Shōto, he thinks that’s how he was saved, so it’ll surely work with Tōya. Surely.

It’s a plan doomed to fail because Midoriya has already told Tōya his flames aren’t Endeavor and he has accomplished nothing, so, being told to cold down his head again won’t get a completely different reaction from Tōya.

But I’m running ahead.

In spite of himself, Tōya keeps on talking, because being seen is what he wants the most and, at the same time, he keeps proving Shōto doesn’t see him. When he uses Hell’s Spider he does so in a thicker and more haphazard way than his father, giving them the impression he’s going for strength instead than quality, when he’s actually using is as a distraction to get behind Shōto and, even though he just told Shōto he learnt battle moves from seeing them over and over (and in the past fight he proved he could use Flashfire Fist and Jet Burn better than Shōto and almost used Prominence Burn) so Shōto should have been wary.

He then asks Shōto what he was feeling when he was holed up at U.A. While this seems a vicious question, it’s also a call back to Tōya’s past and to how he found hard to connect with his classmates because he was Endeavor’s son. In Tōya’s eyes Shōto’s situation at U.A. might have mirrored his own.

Tōya tries to connect with people through the pain he suffered, he wants to take everything from Endeavor because he feels everything was taken from him and only by taking everything away from him, he’ll understand what Tōya felt and tries to trace a parallel between how he was isolated due to his father and how Shōto supposedly ended up isolated as well (not that it happened as Shōto, differently from Tōya, has the support of many friends).

Now, credits when it’s due, Shōto not only was too young to remember what Tōya went through, but was even kept away from him, so he couldn’t know and Tōya’s attempt at making his pain be understood ends up lost also because Shōto lacks data that would allow him to make the connection.

However, and here there’s another important part of why Shōto fails to connect with Tōya, while Shōto not knowing Tōya wasn’t Shōto’s fault, once he decides he’ll face him, he makes no attempt to know him through the people who knew him, so that he could have the means to build a connection.

Shōto didn’t go to Natsuo and/or Fuyumi and told them ‘tell me which kind of person Tōya was before this mess. What got him to tick, what worked with him, what did he liked, what he did hate, so that I can see if there’s still parts of the old him under the ashes and pull it out’. Shōto goes to battle with his estranged brother without having idea of which kind of person he is, down to how he doesn’t even know his favorite food, and merely assume he can stop him because ‘Tōya is him’ and he has a new cool move to use to stop him.

Tōya goes on criticizing Shōto… because Shōto, in his view, has everything he wanted and was denied and yet he can’t capitalize on it. In Tōya’s eyes he’s no Hero, just Endeavor’s pawn. And it’s unfair Tōya was denied all those things Shōto instead could take for granted.

It’s another potential way for a bridge, for a connection because, by criticizing Shōto, Tōya is indirectly exposing what hurts him, how he was denied what Shōto has.

But it’s a way for a bridge Shōto doesn’t use. He recognizes his brother saw him for who he is, but then shows little understanding of why Tōya is doing what he’s doing.

The visual is interesting because as Shōto says ‘Dad was a madman! Our family was screwed up!’ the balloon is placed on both he and Tōya but he’s the one who’s watching toward the dark part of the panel, not Tōya, who’s watching in the opposite direction. Shōto insists Tōya should rage solely against him and their father, basically failing to understand Tōya’s pain but also how Tōya told him how he viewed society as responsible to it.

Shōto doesn’t see Tōya.

It’s kind of meaningful that both Enji and Shōto are characterized, by this lack of ability in seeing others (remember how in the “Provisional Hero License Exam Arc” Shōto admitted he failed to remember Yoarashi because he never took a good look at him? [Chap 112]),

by …their gaze that was filled with rage that stopped them from seeing anyone else,

…while, in Tōya’s case, we’ve Ujiko remark more than once that he has good eyes, that he notices things and even Shōto agrees he’s spot on about him.

Just by observing final moves Tōya figures them out and is capable to repeat them.

Tōya and Shōto are set apart also by this, Tōya is observant while Shōto tends not to be, especially when he’s dealing with other issues that affects him emotionally.

The flashback that follows is telling. Shōto tells Midoriya that he wanted to face his brother (even though his brother had made clear he wanted to face their father instead), that facing Dabi is a punishment because Dabi’s existence is his family’s crime and that, in order to reach the heights he’s aiming for, he can’t run from this and how he plans to solve everything with his new move. This is all to affirm the reason HE was born into the family.

This is not about Tōya, this is all about Shōto. Which makes sense since Shōto is a teen searching his path and an abuse victim but, since he’s also someone who wants to become a Hero and in this story is made clear true Heroism is not about yourself but about saving others, it’s bound to fail.

“When you reach out to lend a hand is anyone gonna be willing to grab it?! No!! It’s fine to bare your fangs now and then, but as long as you live and breathe, it’s all about saving people!! Saving… being saved… at the core of it is connecting with people’s hearts!! You gotta overcome this hurdle!!” [Chap 164]

Tōya warns him again, they ended up really different (contrary to Shōto’s belief they’re the same), Shōto isn’t getting his point and how society is not innocent in the whole mess but the most relevant thing Tōya remarks is that they’re ‘running in parallel, but forever apart’.

In short there’s no connection between them. Ironically Tōya had just laid out why Shōto is bound to fail, why he won’t stop him.

Shōto though, is so focused on his own growing process, on how far he got, he doesn’t realize. He doesn’t see his brother for who he is, just of an alternate version of himself who didn’t got stopped and so he’s there to stop him, the way he got stopped, through a fight.

When Shōto uses his Great Glacial Aegir, the truth is exposed bare for us to see as both Tōya and Shōto are represented not as two raging children but as two crying children. They both were in pain, so yes, in a way they were the same, but not in the way Shōto assumed, so it ends up in his failure.

He can’t stop his brother because he can’t connect to him and, credits when it’s due, it shouldn’t have befallen on him to do it as that should have been their father’s job.

AFO is, ironically, again forcing the Heroes to face unpleasant truths.

But the biggest truth in all this mess is that no one is really thinking another way to stop the Villains from rampaging is to connect with them. Gang Orca, who did such a speech about the importance of connecting the heart, is also fighting in the Final War Arc, but we can see that his group, on Okuto island, wasn’t instructed to try to connect the heart with Himiko or any other of the Villains. They just went at them ‘baring their fangs’.

Since the Heroes are so used to a narrative in which the Villains are the evil aggressors, they fail to notice the moments in which the Villains show their aggression is AN ANSWER to having been attacked first and not being saved by the Heroes, so ultimately the Villains ended up as pawns of AFO, who took advantage of society’s failures for his own gain.

As said before Shigaraki, who’s the only one who gets a Hero saying he wants to save him, manages to get some empathy only when Midoriya sees AFO trying to possess him… and Midoriya goes into the battle trying to smack the AFO controlling Shigaraki’s body down, not trying to connect with Shigaraki so that the latter can fight from the inside. The Tenko that is inside Shigaraki points out how no one reached out a helping hand to him… and Midoriya is there to help him… but his plan is still to beat the bad guy and not to reach for the victim.

The same applies to Himiko in an even more evident way.

She went out of her way to try to connect with Ochako and Midoriya, but they failed to understand her and connect with her, so they only ended up making matters worse.

Of course the situation isn’t making things easy, there’s a war going on and, what’s worse, they’re kids who’re being influenced negatively by the adults.

None of the adults is telling the kids they should connect their hearts with the Villains, we actually saw how Gran Torino seemed to believe the best solution would be murdering Shigaraki, and Hawks just told them they should murder Himiko.

On the positive side Shōto seemed to have realized he has failed to properly watch Tōya, that what he assumed on him was wrong, if only in regard of which kind of fighter Tōya is (he even switches how he calls him, moving from the rude ‘Baka aniki’ [馬鹿兄貴 “Stupid big brother”] to the more polite ‘Tōya-nī’ [燈矢兄 “Big brother Tōya”]).

Shōto generally tries to correct his mistakes so this might push him to reconsider all that he knows about his brother and finally see Tōya.

It’s not easy though, it’s much more psychologically comfortable to wish to beat up, to stop that part of himself that used to hates Enji and that he sees personified in Tōya than accept how his brother views things in a way that’s basically opposite of his own, make sense of such a vision and try to connect their respective extremes. Tōya feels like a threat and, indeed, he is one. It’s easier to think one should oppose violence to his violence. This is really not something that can be solved just by making a giant ice slide.

Even if, in another post, I expressed my hope that having Hawks advocating they should go for murdering the Villains might backlash and cause the kids to finally see the Villains as victims (in the BNHA world Heroes shouldn’t kill), this alone won’t cut the line. They need to find a way to extend a helping hand, to establish a connection and that’s probably the hardest part.

But well, we’ll see.

#Boku no hero Academia #Bnha spoilers #Todoroki Touya #Todoroki Shouto #Todoroki Enji #Todoroki Rei #Todoroki Fuyumi #Todoroki Natsuo #Aizawa Shouta #Midoriya Izuku #BNHA Ramblings #Yagi Toshinori #Bakugo Katsuki #Sakamata Kugo #Yoarashi Inasa #Garaki Kyudai #All for One

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rose-riot-johnson · 5 months

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Hello! Thanks for doing the other request it was amazing! I know I did already question this character but I’ll request again. This time smut.

Gang Orca x reader (fem) smut. The reader is having their first time with Gang Orca. Nothing more nothing less. Themes being anxiety, on both sides. Orca and the reader. And attraction, mainly Orca who’s just freezes seeing how beautiful she looks. (Although the reader does have a little suit link maybe major 👀). For the background they are girlfriend and boyfriend, and their relationship is pretty wholesome but secretive. Both come to the conclusion they want to have sex, but Kugo is the first to voice it. (Like after work he sits both of them down, and he hasn’t undressed yet. Still wearing a suit). They have a talk about having sex and they agree to have it yet as I said there both really anxious/nervous. (Though let’s just say both are pretty vocal during the act. Their neighbors aren’t gonna like them too much). The end! (Oh and go crazy on adding stuff in. Like how they first met and stuff. If you want. I love it when people add stuff on, as long as it doesn’t clash with the basics it’s good!)

You're very welcome and I'm glad you liked the other request😁👍Anyways I was working on another request, earlier today I got occupied, and I have been trying to come up with stuff pertaining your request, so I just got to your request and I may take longer than usual to complete a request (this request in particular)😅I decided I will definitely work with this request😃👍I definitely will see what I can do with this request😁👍And adding stuff to this request would be a good idea😃👍With the suit link part I'm seeing what I can do with that part, I'm not 💯% sure how that part will turn out😅

*Will say the words anxious(ly) and/or nervous(ly) multiple times in 1 or more paragraphs in this fanfic...

🦪😈You and Gang Orca's First Naughty And Forbidden Go Round Together😈🦪 (Kugo Sakamata, aka Gang Orca x Female Reader)

Genres: Smut (and sex) (Warning +18⚠️: Vaginal penitration, Nudity, Spanking, Language, boob groping, nipple pinching, and nipple pulling)

When both you and Gang Orca first met, you applied at his pro hero agency, as you had a job interview with him. He did look at your job application and he was eyeing you in a "you're so fucken hot" way. He had trouble keeping a straight face, as he said, "I'm sorry, (Female Reader Name)... You can't become my sidekick.", as you then became shocked that those words he said made you feel completely turned down, wondering what you did for him to do that.

Gang Orca then continued, "Let me explain... It doesn't mean you don't work in my agency at all... I feel you have potential to become a pro hero... You're a better fit than you do being a sidekick, however I think it's best off you become my secretary, that's if you want to have a secret relationship with me... If you decide not to be my secretary then you can be one of my sidekicks or both of us can become a joint (pro hero) agency, however inorder to keep our relationship a secret, we would have a better chance in doing so, with you strictly, as my secretary...". Afterwards you agreed to be his secretary and the both of you managed to keep the relationship a secret at the time. Gang Orca turned out to be right, so far...

While the both of you have been extremely wholesome with eachother in a secretly romantic way, it just seems like the longer you and Orca are in this relationship the both of you are secretly together in, the more sexual urges become harder to control. On your end, you stare at him and wonder what's underneath his pants (atleast), while on his end, he stares at what you're wearing, as he has been getting a hard on from eyeing you, while you're wearing a mini skirt and a shirt tight enough, where he wishes to fuck you at, everytime... He thinks you look extremely beautiful in that outfit. The only thing is the both of you were nervous about having sex with eachother for the first time ever, and the fact you have a (possibly major) suit link.

Gang Orca clearly knows that you want him to fuck you, however he knows he would have to have the first word in this, otherwise you would end up keeping quiet about you wanting to have sex with him. One day, he (nervously) told you he needed to address something about it after work, which was his way of having a private chat with you. You nervously agreed to his what he told you.

After work, Gang Orca carried you to the apartment building, where he lives and after that he (sneakily) took you to his apartment (or home inside the building). He nervously stated, "Listen, (Female Reader Name)... I can't repress this anymore... The longer we stayed together... The more and more I want to fuck you... My hot secretary girlfriend... Extremely bad... You look you beautiful that I get a non-stop, hard on... That's why I think it's time for my cock to feel your pussy around it...", as he then anxiously, gulped. You were surprised to hear what he said, as you (in an anxious way) nervously replied, "Well Orca... I was worried you didn't want the same as I did... I'm glad you addressed it... I also would like you cock inside my pussy, too... There are times when I look... I mean stare at you... I wonder what's in those pants of yours, to the point my pussy feels wet and I want to feel your cock inside of me...".

The both of you, then agreed to have sex with eachother. You nervously, completely took your clothes off. Gang Orca enjoyed the sight of your naked body, as he started to take his pants of nervously, so you could take a look at his hard cock. His cock just got harder from him seeing you completely naked. While the both of you were still nervous about the first time of the both of you fucking together, it just feels like the right time to get rowdy with eachother.

You nervously got your hands at the end of his bed, as you excitedly wait for Orca, to make his move. He then puts his hard cock inside of your wet pussy, as he began to thrust himself inside your pussy. He wasl gripping your hips at first, however after a few minutes of his cock being inside of your now tight pussy, he moves his hands off your hips, gives your ass a rough spank with both of his hands, and grips your ass tightly, as he continues to fuck your pussy. The longer he continued to fuck you, the louder the moans filled the room, then the apartment building where both you and Orca woke up the neighbors.

Once the neighbors woke up, the both of you hear the neighbors complain about the both of you waking and threatening to call the cops (in his hometown of Japan) to file a noise complaint. You're so cock drunk and Gang Orca was so pussy drunk, neither of you gave a damn, if anyone else hear the both of you moan and fuck eachother. He then shouted in a loud moan, "Fuck! Your pussy is so fucken tight and amazing, where my cock just feels extremely warm! Your pussy did my hard cock justice! And your ass is amazing...", before spanking your ass harder (and louder) than earlier, then gropped your boobs, to pinch and pull on your sensitive nipples. Your replied, while whimpering, "Your cock feels... Amazing! I wish this could last forever! I love that you're rough on me in bed! Fuck!!! I also love the way your hands are allover me, especially my ass and tits! I need you to keep pounding to no end!!!". Another ten minutes later, you finally released yourself on his cock right before he filled your pussy with his cum.

Gang Orca then had you stay in his room bedroom to put on warm pajamas to cover yourself completely with. Luckily for the both of you, didn't get in trouble for noise complaint, as these officers thought the neighbors falsely filed a report, because they see Gang Orca and they see you, so they won't expect either of you to make that much noise. Yes, the neighbor(s) who tried to get the both of you arrested for "noise complaint", had been put in jail, due to the officers (in Gang Orca's hometown) believing that the neighbor(s) falsely reported just to try to get both of you in trouble, ehich they didn't believe the rest of his neighbors, as well.

While your relationship is no longer a complete secret, however despite of this the both of you continued your relationship together, in similar fashion, only with the both of you having sex together every now and then. After that night, the both of you now know neither of you can get in trouble, no matter what. The both of you stopped repressing your sexual urges, eversince then.

😈🦪The End🦪😈

Okay my Tumblr Peeps, I hope you had fun reading this Gang Orca smut fanfic, as much as, I had fun writing it😈🦪😁👍And I hope I did the fanfic well and properly, @watergod57-69 😅I worked on this fanfic the best I could come up with😃👍And if there's any errors in my grammar, I do apologize and I'm trying write smut more often, so hopefully I do better in my grammar with more smut fanfics😅😃👍 I still had fun writing this fanfic with Gang Orca in it😁👍

#fanfic written by rose riot johnson #rose riot writings #rose riot johnson #request answered by rose riot johnson #rose riot answers #gang orca smut #mha smut #bnha smut #gang orca mha #mha gang orca #kugo sakamata #sakamata kugo #kugo smut #smut

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