#this was supposed to be only todofam

[sinnamonpork]

au of a less traumatized todofam and their shameless favoritism when it comes to one another:

Shouto loves all his siblings, but Fuyumi would always have a special place in his soba obsessed heart. That's his sister that took care of him, attended his school meetings, and generally became the one person he knows will be there when the house would be empty of any soul. She's the one he'll run to when his brothers would be bullying him, knowing full well she'd side with him always. Class 1-A sees their resident ice prince goes full baby mode when his sister comes to visit. "Nee-san, nee-san, did you miss me? I really missed you, nee-san."

Natsuo having Touya as his favorite sibling isn't really a surprise, especially when the two slept in the same room. Touya was the first one who he told of his dreams of being a doctor, becoming a hero in the way he wants to. Touya only grinned at him and said he's sure he can do anything he wants to, because he's his baby brother. His big brother who he hid behind when the house got too loud, too destructive for such a quiet child that Natsuo was. He saw the lean, fragile back of his brother standing tall against Endeavor and not flinching for even a bit and was inspired to be like him, that when he grows up, he'll be the one protecting other people too. Basically, Natsuo's hero worship for the only person in their family who wants nothing to do with heroes lol.

Meanwhile, we got Fuyumi who we all know would be a complete daddy's girl. Because while their family became a tad shaky in the years of Natsuo and Shouto's childhood, she still remembers calling the no. 2 hero her Papa and being carried on his broad shoulders. She remembers those rough fingers brushing through her hair as she fell asleep to his singing voice, a little rough around the edges, but it's her Papa's. She remembers inexperienced hands fumbling to tie her hair yet still calling her the most prettiest princess even with uneven pigtails. It might be tainted by the years to come, but it's those memories that pushes her to keep their family together.

Touya, pierced and edgelord Touya, is a complete mama's boy. When he was young, still not knowing how to control his emotions that are always too much, he'd know that his mother's quiet and comforting demeanor would be the break he needs from the world. She would quiet the buzzing in his ears, playing with his hair as she hums a quiet tune, grounding him to reality when he's close to lashing out at anyone near. During his highschool days, the whole LoV(League of Vtubers) would get a front row seat to their resident deliquent being an obedient puppy and being nothing but a complete gentleman to his visiting mother. "Mom, you can have Shiggy's seat, I'm sure he'll be happy sitting on the floor if it's for you." Tomura just grumbles through it all.

Extra:

Future son-in-law and Honorary Todoroki Keigo's favorite person would obviously be Endeavor, to the horror of his boyfriend. Touya didn't think anything would be worse than the time he had to babysit a Shouto who puked in the middle of the supermarket but there it was. It takes the form of his boyfriend being an absolute simp for Enji and the hero just confused why this smol child is being so chatty. "Endeavor-san, what do you think about going with me and Touya to our trip to the Bahamas? Of course Touya said yes, why would you even think otherwise?" Keigo slept on the couch for two weeks after the incident, Touya making him remember who his attention should be on with his very talented tongue and hands. (and the piercings- oh god the piercings. keigo can die a happy man)

#this was supposed to be only todofam #but i cant help myself with adding in kei #hehe finally doing a fluff piece after my last angst works #dabihawks #dabi x hawks #touya x keigo #todoroki enji #endeavor #todoroki rei #todoroki touya #dabi #todoroki fuyumi #todoroki natsuo #todoroki shouto #todoroki siblings #todofam #pro hero hawks #takami keigo #bnha #mha #imagines

[doodlegirl1998]

So I'm looking into Dabi's past since I'm planning on making a post about him, then I get a reminder of why Endeavor is a horrible father.

When it's revealed that Touya's quirk hurts him because he didn't inherit his father's resistant to heat, he just tells him to give up knowing FULL well that he wants to be a pro hero like him.

So what does he do? Get him to someone that can possibly make something to decrease the burns? Get him to quirk counseling? NO! He planned on having MORE children to break his fucking spirit and give up!

Not to mention that when Rei calls him out and telling him that Touya only wants his acknowledgement, Endeavor gives a reply of he can only show the world of heroics instead of trying to be a decent father.

WHY IN THE FUCK ARE WE SUPPOSED TO ACCEPT HIS ATONEMENT AGAIN!?

Hi @theloganator101 👋,

It is baffling how Hori expects us to root for Endeavor's 'atonement' when Endeavor's actions decimated Touya and Rei's mental health along with the rest of the Todofam's.

I'll focus on Touya here since that's what the focus of your post is.

He deliberately had his son Touya to surpass him and All Might. He treated Touya like an object he was creating and as soon as it was revealed that Touya was 'defective' Endeavor threw him away and forced Rei into having two more kids to replace him.

Endeavor had no interest in being a father. He does not care about Touya or any other member of his 'family.' He cares about his dream first - his creation of his 'masterpiece.'

He literally committed marital rape to Rei in doing forcing her to have two more children against her wishes (which is UNFORGIVABLE - put this man in jail or kill him don't try and 'redeem him' - wtf Hori?!) But he also deliberately crushed Touya's spirit, neglected him, shoved him on to Rei (in true abuser fashion) and gave no shit to Touya's declining mental state or the fact that Endeavor made it known prior to this that Touya 'was born for a purpose' then expected him to just give it up!?

While Endeav does nothing proactive himself to help Touya give it up or help his mental state in general? What a joke of a father. Most parents would react with worry at Touya's self harm and find him professional help, Endeavor on the other hand? Just shouts at Touya, hits his wife and avoids Touya more.

Even the escalation of Touya accidentally burning himself alive, which is a fucking horrific thing to experience and way to die especially for a child, didn't make Endeavor stop or re-evaluate things. That's truly villainous. That was HIS son, that he believed died yet Endeavor just kept being the same abuser for a decade after?! We are now meant to buy his 'change' is sincere and that he loved all of the Todofam after he got what he wanted!? Fuck off with that Hori.

How are we meant to buy that Endeavor loves any of his family when he only started his joke of an atonement when HE got what he wanted (the number one hero position?)

The absolute insult of this creative choice is one of the most disgusting things about MHA. Endeavor's wish to 'atone' should have been portrayed as the manipulative farce and the escalation of abusive control tactics it is. And Dabi should have been allowed to kill him.

#mha critical #bnha critical #anti endeavor

[deaddovedecadence]

Snowflakes also fall in the spring

Pronouns: You/Yours, they/them

Summery: You are a student that crosses patches with Todoroki Fuyumi during her first year of teaching and get invite to visits her often. One day, you’ve come for a visit and her twin brother Touya is there. You don’t know it yet but this changes everything.

Warning(s): None

Author’s note: This is the official backstory for the yan todofam. I really hope you like this and everything about this au from now stems from this!

Liking Todoroki-sensei is easy, everyone does. She’s kind, always willing to a hand or an ear to anyone in need. She tends to her class like a mother would, icy blue eyes always following the wild, screaming kindergarteners. You’ve never has her as a teacher, already a fifth grader when she arrived at the school she managed to make you wish you did.

You first met her during a class trip to the library. She was there to pick up new book for her kids and asked you to help her carry them because she’ picked out too many/. You were young then, terrier of upsetting anyone, especially a teacher so you agreed and picked up one of the stacks. Todoroki-sensei was happy to chat with you as you made the track to her classroom, telling you all about her students and their amma y mishaps as they learned how to safely you their quirks.

“i encourage them to do it during recess,’’ she’d explained, telling you that it was easier for the kids to burn off steam that way and made incidents less likely to happen in the classroom. In return you told her little stories about having a light quirk in a family of night owls )(that also have light quirks) and the many late night mishaps of your parents.

When the two of you finally reached her classroom, Todoroki-sensei opened the door before taking the other stack of books you, cheerfully telling you to come visits anytime.

-

It’s been years since that first visits to Todoroki-sensei’s classroom and it changed your life for better. You kept of with sensei. visiting during lunch or dropping by after school before starting the walk home. At first you were worried about being a bother but Sensei’s always made you feel welcome, no matter what’s going on at the moment. She calls you snowflake with an impish little smile on her usually gentle face and it makes your day every time you hear it.

Sensei is also an excellent cook and gives you bento boxes on mondays. The first time you tried to refuse but she explained that it was supposed to be for her father but he didn’t want it and told her to toss it out so you took and she’s been bringing bento’s on Monday ever since.

Today happens to be Monday so you’re heading to her classroom, untucked school shirt fluttering in the wind. It’s warm today and the cool breeze makes it a pleasant day. Todoroki-sensei’s classroom is on the elementary side of the school making it a little bit of a walk but you don’t mind, not when it’s so nice outside.

When you get to her classroom, the door’s closed. It’s an unusual occurrence because Todoroki-sensei always leaves her door open to enjoy the elements no matter how hot or cold it actually is. It’s like she isn’t affected by weather at all but you know better than to ask about it. No one knows her quirk and the only person brave enough to ask got a vicious smile and a redirect. Nevertheless, you knock on the door, stepping away from it when you’ve finished.

A heart passes and you hear a muffled come in from the inside. you obey, pushing the door open to be greeted with Sensei sitting on the floor with a man and really smiling, wide and so much more real than you’re used to.

The man sitting across from her cats a glance your way, and you find yourself taken back by the vibrant royal blue color of his eyes. Sensei’s eyes are like the glaciers you studied in earth science, unmoving and more ancient than words can say but this stranger has eyes that remind you of life, of the bright blue fire that ate up the letters. For the time, Sensei reminds you of something dangerous and every instinct that you have calls for you to get away from both her and this man, but you don’t.

“I’m sorry Sensei, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”She smiles and you feel bad for thinking she could ever be dangerous. “it’s alright snowflake, Come and sit with us. This is my twin brother Touya, he’s been out of the country for a while so he hasn’t gotten to hear any of my stories about you.” You flush pink at the complement and smile at the now named touya.

You join the twins on the floor and Sensei hands you a bento box as is routine on Mondays. You pop it open, smiling at the at shaped rice balls and strips pf beef cut in perfect hearts. There’s star fruit in there and as but it’’s been made into little flowers, giving you a chuckle. You thank Sensei and start to eat, listening to toe twins chat with each other.

“How’d you meet ‘Yumi?” The question takes you off guard, mostly because Touya’s voice is so raspy like he’s been smoking cigarettes for all of his life. You shrug, offer him a smile and explain. “We met when I was in fifth grade and she asked for my help.” He laughs mockingly, sneering, “How sweet. What a good little fucking helper.” You flinch, turning to Todoroki-sensei to see what to do but she’s smiling. There’s a terrifying edge to it and you’re reminded of the instinct that’s telling you to run.

“Be nice to my snowflake Touya. I’m not going to replace you nii-san.”

Touya seems to settle, loosing the sharp looming posture that makes him predator for something that reminds you of a pleased jungle cat and pulling you closer to where the both of them sit across from each other, so close that their knees touch. “So snowflake,” he says like he’s tasting the name, “tell me about your quirk.”

-

Over the next few weeks you meet more of Sensei’s family, Natsou, a large cheerful guy with a water quirk, he’s a med student and happy to answer all of your questions, and Shouto, a lazy catlike teenager with one eye like Fuyumi’s and the other like Touya, who eats cold soba like a heathen. Sensei invite you in every time one of them’s over, making you part of the conversation easily because she is so kind.

It’s so easy to like Todoroki-sensei, she’s so kind.

(The Continuation)

#todoroki fuyumi #todoroki family #yandere todoroki #todoroki touya #touya todoroki #mha touya #dabi #yandere dabi #platonic yandere #yandere #bhna fuyumi #yandere bnha x reader #yandere bnha imagine #yandere todoroki fuyumi #safits

[marunalu]

You know something that I think bothers me (to make it clear I'm 100% convinced that DFO is true) is that the father figure has very little presence in the story, his only mentions are in chapter 1 and his Quirk is referred to again in chapter 72 , I think a lot of people don't believe in the DFO because they don't think Midoriya's father is an important topic and I don't think about it, I don't know I think more mentions of him like Inko talking about what a charming man he was, could be cool, or How does Izuku feel about him

Hori confirmed himself that hisashi WILL show up and play an important part in the story, so people can say as much and often as they want that izukus father will not play an bigger role or be important, the creator of the story already debunked that long ago! And if we consider how we are in the ENDFIGHTS right now and izukus dad STILL hasnt shown up to play that "important role" hori promised he will do, WHO is it supposed to be at this point if not afo?? I mean, even if we ignore all the hints and evidences hori put in the manga and people love to push aside, WHO is it supposed to be?? Afo IS the only person who makes sense and everything that was shown to us till to this point supports that.

About your point why neither inko nor izuku ever talk about him, I agree it WOULD be cool if hisashi was mentioned at least a few times, like inko comparing him and izuku and how much they are alike. On the other hand it would destroy the mystery surrounding hisashi. The appeal of his character no matter if he is afo or not is that we barely know anything personal about him.

I already mentioned it a few times in other posts of mine but let me explain again. My personal believe why neither inko nor izuku ever mention hisashi except in the first chapter when izuku was still a toddler, is because afo used some kind of memory quirk on them. Espicially in izukus case it feels like as if his father is COMPLETLY wiped from his memory. When he is almost killed by muscular his only thoughts are about his mother and ALL MIGHT, the mentor he only knew for a few weeks and NOT his own father who "eventually" raised him for a few years. Or when he wittnesses everything about the todofam drama and what a horrible abusive father endeavor was and it clearly bothers izuku, but not ONCE does his own father come to his mind no matter what their relationship was like. And we know that dr. Garaki used some kind of memory manipulation on little tenko so he has the right ability, on top he was izukus quirk doctor and is one of the most known quirk doctors with the best reputation in japan. So it would be easy for him to do something to izuku and maybe even inko to manipulate their memorys of hisashi, because both of them would trust him and propably not remembering anything afterwards anyway.

#bnha #bnha dad for one #bnha all for one #izuku midoriya #inko midoriya

[greenhappyseed]

Looking back at Chapter 387 during Endeavor's Dance in hell with Dabi, why does he finally "see" Toya as Dabi (and not in the monstrous way but the tragic way)?

What is it supposed to mean?

Also I noticed that when Endeavor finally "sees" Toya it's only when Toya can no longer see him like how he lost his mind in Ch 387 or his eyes are mostly hollowed in Chapter 390. Why is that ?

In 387, Endeavor’s not yet seeing lost little boy Toya who needs saving. He’s taking a step in the right direction, seeing his son rather than a bomb, but he’s still seeing a 24yo villain. That’s not Dabi’s origin. And Enji is still relying on physical strength to “solve” a problem like Toya, rather than compassion. In 387, Enji has nothing, physically or emotionally, that can help Toya. To put it another way: In 387, Enji is starting to see, and in 390 he’s starting to understand. It’s only once Toya is iced over that Enji suddenly has the right quirk AND the right words to gently warm his son. Enji specifically apologizes for never going to Sekoto Peak, meaning he’s now connecting to Dabi’s origin. And he tells his family to yell at him and let him have it, which means he’s willingly subverting the conservative, patriarchal role he used to play in his family. Of course, it’s just words, and Enji will have to back his words up with action, but it’s progress and it grabs Toya’s attention. Notice how Toya’s left eye (the one closest to Enji) pops open immediately after. Now it’s Toya’s turn to see and understand his family. Much like Shoto before the Sports Festival, Toya has a very rigid view of the Todofam dynamics and a one-track mind on the best way to deny his father. But he can’t heal (emotionally) if he clings to that. That’s why Toya couldn’t “see” Enji until Enji said “sorry.” It took Shoto, Rei, Natsuo & Fuyumi using their ice to force Enji on the sidelines before Enji could truly grasp his son’s origin. Now Enji has cracked open the door for Toya to see and understand his family. (And before anyone comes at me, notice it took two ice blasts from Shoto for Toya and his father to turn down the heat that distorted their relationship for the last decade.)

#bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha 387 #mha 387 #bnha 390 #mha 390 #toya todoroki #Dabi #shoto todoroki #todofam #bnha meta #mha meta

[problemswithbooks]

Just one small thing- "inaction". Shoto told Endeavor willingness doesn't mean enough without action. And he fails that too. I think everything changed since when Horikoshi had him contradict himself by saying the rain slows him down or maybe it was set in stone ever since the resolution of the war and the hospital. Because they took the first step for him so Endeavor has been lagging from the start. Rei is the true hero who moves own while Endeavor is pathetic and the root of all issues alone.

Yeah, I know that's what the text said, but why is that?

If the entire point of this side plot was to continue to have Enji fail and be shown up by his family why bother to spend so much time on Enji at all? Yet, if he's supposed to change by the end and step up, why have him never get the opportunity to actually do anything?

Enji is not a real person--he is a character being written by a person. He is not inactive because he chooses to be, no, Hori wrote it this way for a reason, and so far the only one I can find is because he thought having Enji do anything past inner monologues would strip Shoto and the family's moment in helping Touya, or take away from his final change of heart. Yet in doing so he has only made Enji's character worse, and caused some readers to think he hasn't changed at all.

And, again, it's said he's inactive in situations where that literally doesn't make sense. When he was with Izuku and the other Heroes they were specifically looking for the LoV and any leads to find them or AfO. If they had leads on Touya, even if Enji didn't want to go after him, the other Heroes and Izuku would have persuaded him regardless. On top of that Shoto says he had to learn Phosphor in the short time between the first War and second, so even if Enji had searched for Touya with him, they wouldn't have had a counter for him.

Hori only presented him as avoiding Shoto so the kids didn't have a way to find Izuku and could confront the adults in a dramatic moment.

Also Enji only looks bad in contrast with the rest of the todofam because he's the only one acting like a person. None of the others have any issues or conflicted feelings about Touya after the reveal. Enji is the only one that actually has human emotions about such a life changing event. Shoto in particular has been reduced to a shadow of his former self and is now just the 'Family Hero' who has zero negative feelings for a brother who he has no good memories of and who has nearly killed his friends and leveled Japan with the LoV.

As for being the true Hero while Enji is pathetic, that's not true and I don't think 388 is saying that from what I've seen. Enji didn't continue to fight AfO once Touya showed up or leave him to the other hundred or so Heroes on site. Like Rei he saw him and engaged him, and did the best he could to lead him away because he didn't want to attack him which would have killed Touya faster.

Enji is also not the root of all issues in the family; if he was Rei wouldn't feel the need to apologize to Touya. Yes, Enji is the most at fault, but Rei made mistakes to. She knew going in what a Quirk marriage was and agreed to marry Enji anyway. Yes, her options were limited but she never showed any discomfort with the idea of having kids for the purpose of legacy--probably because that was the same thing her family had been doing for centuries.

Again, this is a story written by a person, and Hori has the one that decided Enji wasn't allowed to do more, probably because he felt it'd takes away from the final climactic ending of this sub plot.

*ps, I'm almost 100% positive Enji was slow in the rain so Izuku got to fight Lady Nagant alone. Both because it gave Izuku a win, and because she would have been incredibly ineffectual against multiple opponents being a sniper. Not because it's trying to show him not trying. There was no reason for him to avoid that fight since Touya wasn't there.

#ask #enjj todoroki #bnha #bnha spoilers #endeavor #mha

[class1akids]

*head in hands* alas, and there goes another week. I am. Definitely getting tired of this, but it can’t be helped, next week for sure if there’s no surprise filler. This is like the 4th time I’ve said that. If they got two chaps an ep this week, I suppose that means 299-300 will follow that pace. Except now that I’ve gotten a chance to revisit ch 300, I have a new proposition. Because yeahhh suddenly I can’t be upset about this, it makes zero sense to include ANY of 300 for the Todoroki episode, it’s pure TodoFam flashback stuff, we don’t need a chapter that consists of heroes retiring, the EndHawks restaurant conversation flashback, and villains running around as part of their episode. So I can see why they slowed down the pace to keep it separate.

If they included chapter 299 in this week’s episode they’d hit the three chapter per ep limit and not have enough space to finish animating 301-302, they'd be forced to shove in 300 because ain't no way that ep fitting in this week and leave 302 hanging, mannn I should’ve seen this coming. I almost wouldn’t be surprised if they swapped the starting order, opening up with chapter 300 before going to 299 but it’s not necessary. Just goes to show how with so many heroes retiring, Hawks was among the first to stand back up. Best of all worlds I guess? Just another week’s wait for what we want to see, but y’all get a pure Todo episode, as should really be the case nothing else makes sense, four unrelated chapters in an episode sounds like a nightmare, and I don’t have to be sad about Hawks getting overshadowed by other characters again with anime-onlys as happened in the war arc. Win-win.

This is actually in line with my current speculation of the pacing of the 2nd cour.

#c1a asks #as long as the todoroki episode won't be chopped up #I'll be fine

[tonya-the-chicken]

If it was an adult work and not shonen, then I would question rei’s consent. But given that she herself says that she did consent and did that while in a position in power (or at least equal given that he’s in the hospital bed while she stands in ch 301) I’m willing to take her word for it. It neatens up the story and keeps it from going places a shonen can’t discuss. That things got gradually worse over time is already canon, and things getting really bad after shouto is born makes a lot of sense given that it’s such a catalyst for enji as a character.

Many people point to that most of the backstory is told from enjis pov, but seemingly forget that she is standing right next to him listening to everything. If she disagreed about his comment on how she thought it was a good idea to have fuyumi, she would likely have said so or corrected him. Horikoshi’s writing of women isn’t flawless, but fandom has a great tendency to ignore it every time a woman shows agency.

Both rei and fuyumi who are more reliable narrators than shouto (since he wasn’t born until 10 years into the entire bullshit and can’t have known) speaks indicating that things wasn’t always as bad. And that does not take away from any of shouto’s experiences or that it did get really really bad. Being a seemingly normal family (with a very shady foundation) at the begging and that rei did agree up until a certain point (presumably until shouto’s training started) is very important for their characterization to stay consistent. And I don’t think giving shouto more angst is a fair trade off for that.

Yup

I think in the todofam/Touya backstory while we have only a few lines directly from Rei, it is supposed to be something that is the truth aka reliable information. Like, it's not a sudden flashback or retelling by only Enji who could be biased. It's shown as an objective retelling of how their family developed with not only Enji but both Rei and Touya inserting their POV. And even if we look at it as a conversation in the hospital, no one in the family denied any part of it. So we must view it as the truth

Though it is not clearly stated that Rei consented to have Natsuo and Shouto, contextually, it would make more sense. Or otherwise, she just went all the way from mental asylum to her serial rapist to tell him to get his shit together. Like, for real? Am I supposed to believe that she would accept flowers from her serial rapist? I can understand forgiving an abusive husband who slapped her a bunch of times but rape would be too much to forgive like that (forgiving is used loosely here). Everything would be built differently if Rei survived the sexual assault from Enji. Rei's behaviour, really, is my biggest argument

I think woman + victim of abuse is the ultimate combo to denying any agency the character has. Victims of abuse are supposed to be weak pure angels that are helplessly experiencing their suffering and nothing more. They are not allowed even a drop of problematic behaviour. I hate that

#asks #bnha #bnha manga spoilers #todoroki rei #todoroki enji #todoroki family

[haleigh-sloth]

Why the cliffhanger before break is Dabi minutes before exploding 😭 also looks like the focus will be on AFO vs All Might first before Todofam (please don't I am sick of AFO focus we know that All Might will lose anyway). Still I am 90% sure that Dabi will survive, I predict Shoto and Todofam sans Endeavor will pull some ice combo move (like collective family power or something) to save Dabi. But then Enji is utterly failed on his atonement and as much as Hori stumbled with Enji's redemption I don't think he intends to make Enji has no role in saving Touya. At this point what do you think Enji suppose to do on saving Touya? Do you think hero vs family choice is still on the table now even though Hawks is Quirkless? (imo Hawks doesn't need wing to stab a potentially weakened Touya, his wings are already half burned when he killed Jin and now he's in emotional anguish already because of Tokoyami) I think if other ice family members haven't arrived yet and Enji is adamant to not kill Touya (the only way he can save the day, since he has no ice power) despite the danger Touya will cause, that will tip him on family scale more than hero but that's... very bare minimum and I don't want killing Touya became Enji's possible choice at all for me to stomach his 'atonement'.

"At this point what do you think Enji suppose to do on saving Touya? Do you think hero vs family choice is still on the table now even though Hawks is Quirkless?"

Yes I think hero vs family is still the ultimate choice he has to make. I think it can look different ways:

Either Hawks intervenes and makes himself the pinnacle of the "hero" choice, or choosing Touya over heroism simply is just choosing to save him despite everyone else probably rather having him dead.

Hawks's writing is just the least predictable to me at this point. Out of everything in the manga, Hawks is the one who keeps defying expectations at every turn. I don't think a lot of people expected a major Hawks vs AFO encounter, the way he's facing consequences is still happening like a lot of people wanted but it's suuuuper slow burn and not playing out in a way that's easy to guess what will happen next. I do think that Hawks has unfinished business in the Todoroki mess, but honestly at this point idk how it'll look. Because he also has unfinished business with the Twice mess.

The clearest pathway I can see is Hawks losing his wings making him question his identity, then wanting to turn to the next thing he's always considered stable and reliable for him, which is what he perceives his relationship to Endeavor to be. Endeavor is still the hero who "saved him" back then, so I wouldn't be surprised if he turned to his general direction for guidance, which also shouldn't work out and maybe he'll sob uncontrollably and we can finally celebrate.

As for what Enji is supposed to do, he literally just needs to tell his son he loves him no matter what and that he doesn't need to die in order to prove he existed. No, simple words won't be the only thing that work but that's the biggest thing, tell him and show him. Shouto should ideally be there to witness it and then help cool everyone down.

#bnha asks #anonymous

[lookotherway]

I still don’t understand where punishment came from. Is that the only way shouto can justify it to himself like how am I supposed to interpret this?

i hardly understand it either. the line’s just unnecessary to the situation. like, what exactly it meant? that endeavor had to fight dabi is a punishment or endeavor was placed away from dabi is a punishment? i saw some todofam fans interpreted it as the former, which made sense because it actually fitted shouto’s character. but as for me, i can’t brush aside the feeling that both interpretations are kind of wrong. the first interpretation didn’t sit well with shouto’s former and latter lines, and the latter, while synced with his lines, however didn’t fit shouto’s character. does that make any sense?

#ask #bnha #thank you for the ask #the punishment thing just completely unnecessary?? #idk what it means either????

[thyandrawrites]

Facing the past. The difference between Rei and Enji

or: recovery takes effort. How much work are you willing to put in?

I don’t think I’ve seen anyone address how pivotal standing up to Endeavor is for Rei’s character arc, or for the unknotting of the Todofam issues. Ok, I’ll fess up, I was the first person who thought that hori would never give Rei the screentime, and I’m still a bit wary of how he’s going to develop this next chapter, but let’s take a moment to talk meta about her and Enji. And how big this moment is for her and for her healing process, and how Hori deliberately set it up to contrast Enji’s.

[Under a cut for length and CW: domestic abuse]

So. To put it simply, Endeavor avoids guilt, while Rei owns up to it.

How so?

Up until now, Endeavor’s arc has revolved around the theme of avoidance.

There are multiple occurrences in which we see him removing his guilt over his actions in order to keep doing what he was already doing. In this post I discussed about his selective memories when it comes to remembering the circumstances of Touya’s upbringing, and how his recollections of it only and exclusively entailed the “good” parts. By doing that, Endeavor’s memories allowed him to avoid thinking critically of the fallouts of his decisions. That is, the fact that Touya developed crippling feelings of inadequacy, and had to crawl to Natsuo in tears because he didn’t understand the purpose of his own life anymore. We learn about that from Touya, not Endeavor, cause Endeavor was too busy with his new prodigy to notice Touya’s pain in the first place.

Another example of how Endeavor removes his own guilt to keep trudging on in his usual path is what happened when Touya “died”.

Touya’s death is a direct consequence of Endeavor’s neglect. Endeavor tossed him away as a failure and devoted all his energies to training Shouto, and Touya couldn’t bear it and started training on his own, without adult supervision, until he ended up self-immolating.

We now know of course that Touya survived the incident, but that’s not the point. The point is that at the time, Endeavor refused to believe that Touya had really passed away, so he could avoid blaming himself for not saving him.

We can tell that it’s avoidance and not his fatherly instinct finally making an appearance because had he truly learned from it, he would’ve stopped Shouto’s training. Instead, this is what he internalized:

That he was running out of time.

Touya died because he overheated to the point of burning alive. And what is Endeavor doing after that? He’s training Shouto even harder. Pushing him to use his fire quirk past the point his body could physically handle it, as shown by how Shouto is bent over and puking.

So, Endeavor’s arc till now has revolved around the fact that despite saying that he wants to do better, he’s still in no place to do so, because he has yet to even acknowledge the things he did in the first place.

This, however, is supposed to be a turning point for his character arc. I’m pretty sure that Hori is setting him up for a real redemption, but in order to get there, he needs to acknowledge his character flaw first. That is, that he’s approaching things the wrong way.

What Natsuo needed him to be while growing up was a father. Endeavor wasn’t one, and he still thinks he needs to make amends to his family as a hero. This is why Endeavor ultimately fails at rescuing Natsuo from Ending. If being a hero had been enough, thematically, Endeavor should’ve been able to rescue Natsuo easily. Or at the very least to capture the villain, something Endeavor’s done for all his career. However, he freezes, and it’s Shouto and his friends who need to pick up his slack. This theme is repeated in Jakku. Shouto’s life is on the line, and Endeavor freezes again.

The narrative is telling us: Endeavor fails as a hero, as a number one, because he fails as a father first.

But that’s supposed to change. Seeing Dabi, seeing who Touya has become, should shake him out of that avoidance. It should make him realize that he cannot be better so long as he doesn’t face the past truly head on. For real, by acknowledging how his actions have caused all this pain. Not by simply trying to move forward. Not by forgetting part of the past in order to feel less guilty.

Till now, he’s always thought that being a good hero was enough to make amends. However, the failure in Jakku made him see for the first time that it is not. And, not coincidentally, that’s when he finally starts recovering the memories he blocked out, the ones where Touya wasn’t fine and smiling and proud.

but Endeavor is prideful and stubborn and even if he’s finally starting to see the truth, change isn’t easy. It requires effort and comes at a price. One that Endeavor isn’t quite ready to face yet.

So he puts up walls. He says he’s sorry, but he ultimately still chooses avoidance. He’s giving up, because that’s the easiest way out, the one that doesn’t involve emotional labour. The one that doesn’t involve him acting like a father first.

This is where Rei beats him.

Now, I want to state something for the record. While Rei is a victim of Enji as well, and as such cannot be held to the same standard as her husband, she’s not completely devoid of blame as a parent.

In Dabi’s flashbacks, we were told that he had to crawl to Natsuo for comfort. Natsuo at the time was a child too, and younger than Touya to boot. We know that the Todoroki family is dysfunctional, but even then, it should be noted that Touya couldn’t even confide in his own mother. We aren’t told why, or what exactly happened there (tho I suspect there might be more flashbacks next chapter), but the point still stands: when seeking out love and care, Rei wasn’t emotionally available for Touya.

I’m not making this digression to demonize Rei. As I said, she was a victim too. At the time, her mental health was likely already in decline. However, the fact that she wasn’t there for Touya in a way that would help preventing his fall through the cracks has narrative weight. She, too, is supposed to do better. To face the past head on. It is important then to acknowledge that Rei is not choosing avoidance, unlike her husband.

During pro hero arc, Rei admitted to still feeling scared of Enji, and even her doctor advised her not to face him in case it would trigger a relapse. Back then, she still made excuses for his behavior. She thought that the flowers he brought her were a sign of him facing the past. She thought he was on the way to becoming a better person, and while she didn’t want to see him, she was okay with letting him try.

But this changed now that Touya came back in the picture.

Rei chooses to face the man who still scares her, and she’s holding that same flower that has been used before as a thematic symbol of Endeavor’s character development. The hint is there. She came to talk about Touya. Specifically, to talk about how to bring Touya back home.

What Rei’s saying here is that Endeavor’s regret and guilt doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make him special. All of them suffered. All of them faced those feelings over their own powerlessness. Shouto felt guilty for his mother’s hospitalization. Natsuo felt guilty about outliving Touya and about leaving Fuyumi and Shouto behind to go to college. Fuyumi regrets that she couldn’t be a big sister to Shouto sooner. And Rei...

Rei harbored guilt and regrets for ten years, trapped in a hospital she couldn’t leave, stuck with loose ends she couldn’t address. Enough so that when Shouto first visited and told her that he didn’t resent her, she cried and told him that reconnecting and finally being able to move on had saved her.

Up until now, Touya represented another one of those loose ends, of those regrets. Rei was already in the hospital when he died. She couldn’t even take part in his funeral (Fuyumi told us that at first they didn’t even tell her because they were scared it would hinder her recovery). Rei went on with her life bearing the weight of the fact that not only she couldn’t be there for her son, but that he had died without her. She spent ten years without ever getting any closure, ten years feeling that guilt that only now Endeavor is starting to feel as well.

So in the grand scheme of things, Endeavor’s regrets have no more narrative weight than any of the others’. But he’s in a different position than all of them. He’s the abuser and they’re the victims. He’s the one who caused this family to break, so he cannot simply avoid responsibility as he’s always done. He cannot say “I’m truly sorry, but it’s too late.” He has a duty towards them, if he is serious about making amends.

His regrets are pointless, if he doesn’t turn them into actions.

This is what Rei came here to say. It’s far too easy, too convenient, for Endeavor to simply give up on Touya like that because it’s scary. But “facing the past head on” means facing the things that scare you as well.

Rei already did. She’s facing the person who still terrifies her. She’s standing her ground for her son’s sake, fighting for his well being like she hasn’t before. And Endeavor needs to own up to it as well.

cause this ^ is exactly it, isn’t it? What the story is telling us is that he doesn’t need to fight his son. He needs to rescue him.

“Endeavor” isn’t dead yet. He needs to save one more person, Touya, and prove to his family that he can still be a father, cause being a hero has never and will never be enough for them

And while this sucks, admittedly, cause the abuser of the dynamic is still getting all the narrative attention, I think it’s important to acknowledge that making amends is a process that should cater to the victims’ wishes, not the abuser’s own. Imho it’s significant that Hori chose to show the process this way, and that Rei is the one who’s being entrusted with it. If Hori had made Endeavor wake up one day and be a great dad all of a sudden, especially after failing to rescue both Natsuo and Shouto, I wouldn’t have bought his redemption arc at all. But now, while still hating it, I can acknowledge that what Hori is doing here has weight.

It’s the rest of the Todofam who recognizes Touya’s victimhood and his humanity while Endeavor can’t. It’s them who are fighting to get him back.

healing has to pass through an acknowledgement of the past, and thematically, it’s them who reached that stage first. Endeavor’s redemption is not done for his own benefit, but for theirs. Cause at the end of the day, his feelings are only secondary to those of the people he hurt

#bnha spoilers #bnha meta #bnha 300 #endeavor #todoroki rei #todoroki enji #dabi #todoroki touya #my post #meta:endeavor #meta:rei

[latuuart]

Rei is not responsible for her husband, but she was a woman with a great quirk and plenty of opportunities to protect herself or their children. She is not a modern day abused wife with no power. I bet there are doctors/detectives with quirks like an actual lie detector. Would All might/others ignore her if she asked for help? She wasn't a nobody. Not to mention that she maimed one of the kids herself. Also, weird that none of the older kids ever reported this to their school, especially Natsuo

Hmm.. I'm not gonna assume anything about you here anon, but let me share a bit of experiences that I had with a few women in an abusive marriage here in my workplace.

These women came to me not for their situation. They came to consult about their children' condition. But, as we were talking and I was giving them consultation, these women couldn't help but blurted out the situation of their household. It's the pent-up feelings, they couldn't help it anymore that they told me about their husbands' violence towards them, some of them were crying when they were talking about that.

One woman came at me, initially came to consult about her right ear. It looked red and felt painful when touched. I asked her what happened. She said she fell. But, (from experiences and knowledge) the appearance of her ear and the other signs also the symptoms that she had did not really look like someone who has just fallen. It looked like it was gotten from a blunt trauma. And I asked again because it's always important to make sure the cause of the condition. She told me then, while crying, that her husband punched her. Not just on right ear, but also on her face, if I'm remembering correctly, there was subtle redness on her face too (I don't remember exactly it was on her right cheek or her nose, my encounter with her happened more than a year ago).

Do you understand what I'm trying to say here, anon?

It is never easy to tell people that your husband hit you.

It is never as easy as coming at the police then saying "hi, my husband hit me, please arrest him".

It is also not as easy as you think to tell other people about your household's condition. Those women told me because they saw me as a trusting figure, someone who would believe them. And I did, I do. It's not easy to tell people that you have been violated (in any way) that's why when someone come at you and say how they have been violated, it's always better to believe them, because it takes a lot of courage to speak up and how there always must be (even if just a little) an uncertainty in your head that people wouldn't believe what you said.

Enji is a powerful man. A very powerful one. One is denying the truth if saying he isn't. Take a look at how grateful Rei's father when Enji pursued his daughter, praising Enji's status and all. It shows just how high Enji's status was (still is) even comparing to Himura Family's status.

Next, coming at All Might? Like, coming at your husband's co-worker telling that his friend is hurting you at home? Does it sound usual to you, anon? Also, can we even trust the Heroes Society at this point? Did we ever see 1 (ONE) pro-hero confronting Endeavor for his past abuse or even just providing comfort to Rei and her children post Dabi exposing Enji? So easy to gather supports when you are a powerful man in a powerful position, huh?

Next, no, you are wrong. It is not weird for children to not talk about their abusive household. I will share another experience from my workplace. This kid was beaten by his mother and his mother's new husband. People from his neighbourhood took a pity on him (because they knew there was abuse going on towards him in his house for years) and took him without his parents knowing to us to check his condition, for this matter then to be able to be taken into the police. He did not want to talk at all, did not want to tell us anything at first. From a looong persuasion, he finally admitted what his mother and step-father had done to him.

So, if you never ask, why would a kid tell you their parents are hurting them at home?

Think about it again, please anon.

It is never easy to tell people someone that is supposed to love you, provide care to you, cherish you, is actually hurting you at home.

I also would like to add, about Rei's power, it is still forbidden for her to use her power, because she is no hero at all. Remember the Heroes Society's silly rule? You are not allowed to use your power if you don't have a permission. And, do you expect her to fight Enji? The hulk, big man, twice her size, the number 2 hero? He didn't have a problem with slapping and throwing her to the ground when she didn't even do anything to hurt him back, do you expect her to want to end up like the villains in their battle with Endeavor? She wasn't stupid. There's a difference between bravery and stupidity.

The last one, why would we talk about Rei so much here? If we want to talk about the core problem of the Todofam's abuse story, let's talk about Enji. In case you forget, the scar on Shouto's left eye, it wouldn't be there if Enji wasn't an as*hole. Rei hurting her son wouldn't even happen in the first place if Enji wasn't an abusive bast*rd.

So, let's stop this victim blaming energy (and kinda victim doubting energy too, because what it is supposed to mean when you said it's weird that the victims never reported the abuse before...). I'm sorry if there's any of my words that is probably rude and offends you, not my intention here, truly. But, I have to admit that I kinda got worked up when answering this (and it must be showing in my words) because this is such a, truly, a sensitive topic. Abused women are exist out there, and there are so many of them.

Worldwide, 27% of women aged 15-49 years who have been in a relationship report that they have been subjected to some form of physical and/or se*ual violence by their intimate partner.

The prevalence estimates of lifetime intimate partner violence range from 20% in the Western Pacific, 22% in high-income countries and Europe and 25% in the WHO Regions of the Americas to 33% in the WHO African region, 31% in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region, and 33% in the WHO South-East Asia region.

Globally as many as 38% of all murd*rs of women are committed by intimate partners.

Abusive relationship and abusive marriage are common. It is out there, 1 of 4 women out there experiences that. And it is only a number of women who have reported that, how about the unreported ones?

And if this world is such a safe place, just report to the authorities then it's done (just like you said just Rei reporting to All Might or other people so it would be done?), why the number is still so high?

Don't forget about Rei's feelings towards Enji, too. I doubt she loves him, but I also doubt she hates him and wants him to d*e or suffer. She is so much of a soft soul to be wanting that and it must be a complicated feeling to have if we picture ourself in her position.

Please, when talking about victims (of any situation), when we talk about what they are supposed to do and what they are not supposed to do, always remember, can WE do that if we are on their position?

Again, I'm sorry if my (long) rant answer offends you. Hope we can discuss about another subject other than this. Have a good day.

#rei todoroki #natsuo todoroki #bnha #mha #my hero academia #bnha spoilers #boku no hero academia #anti endeavor #dabi #anonymous #latu post

[todomitoukei]

Japanese vs. English Todoroki - A 302 Comparison

After chapter 301 gave us a bit of Touya’s backstory, this chapter continues giving us some flashbacks as well as the conversation between the Todofam in the present time with plenty of questionable lines! Just like with 301, we’ll take a look at every line from this chapter so this is another lengthy post...

「今後は焦凍を他の子らと一切近付けさせないことにす��。」

「今後 ; kongo 」-> from now on; hereafter

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「焦凍 ; shouto 」-> Shouto

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「他 ; hoka 」-> other

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「子ら ; kora 」-> children

「と ; to 」-> with

「一切 ; issai 」-> absolutely not; without exception

「近付けさせない ; chikadzukesasenai 」-> won’t let someone near someone else

「ことにする ; koto ni suru 」-> to decide on

= “I’ve decided that from now on, I will absolutely not let Shouto near the other kids.”

The official translation says that “we” are keeping the kids away from Shouto. While the Japanese line doesn’t include the pronoun for “I” it makes a lot more sense to go with that since Rei didn’t exactly have much of a say in anything, so whether or not she agreed to this isn’t even important. The point is, Endeavor made this decision.

This was most likely right after Touya tried to attack little Shouto so a direct continuation of the last flashback from chapter 301.

「俺は仕事でずっと面倒を見るわけにはいかんその為の使用人を雇った。おまえも燈矢から目を離すな。」

「俺 ; ore 」-> I 

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「仕事で ; shigoto 」-> attending work

「ずっと ; zutto 」-> continuously; straight

「面倒を見る ; mendou o miru 」-> to look after someone

「わけにはいかん ; wake niwa ikan 」-> cannot afford to

「その ; sono 」-> that

「為 ; tame 」-> sake; purpose

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「使用人 ; shiyounin 」-> servant; employee

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「雇った ; yatotta 」-> hired

「おまえ ; omae 」-> you

「も ; mo 」-> also; too

「燈矢 ; touya 」-> Touya

「から ; kara 」-> from

「目を離すな ; me o hanasuna 」-> don’t take one’s eyes off

= “I am attending work. I can’t afford to continuously look after him, for that sake I hired a servant. Don’t you take your eyes off Touya, either.”

The na at the end of me o hanasuna is a negative command to say “don’t do” I’m not sure how exactly Rei is supposed to not take her eyes off Shouto and Touya when they are kept apart from each other, but what do we expect anyway? Also, keep in mind that Touya is 8 years older than Shouto and has been training on his own for around 4 years at this point without his parents being able to stop him. Of course, Endeavor is not going to be the Number One Hero if he can’t even stop his own child from doing whatever he wants. How are two adults not able to handle one tiny child??

「。。。あの子はあなたに見てほしいんだよ。」

「あの ; ano 」-> that

「子 ; ko 」-> child

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「あなた ; anata 」-> you

「に ; ni 」-> by; from

「見て ; mite 」-> to look

「ほしい ; hoshii 」-> to want

「んだ ; nda 」-> explanatory particle

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

= “...That child wants you to look at him.”

The “that’s all” in the official translation is a good way to capture the nuance of nda yo. 

「。。。俺はヒーローの世界しか。。。見せられないよ。」

「俺 ; ore 」-> I 

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「ヒーロー ; hiro 」-> hero

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「世界 ; sekai 」-> world

「しか ; shika 」-> only

「見せられない ; miserarenai 」-> to see (potential negative) *shika requires the verb to be in the negative form

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

= “I can only show him the hero world.”

Shika is usually used in a negative context, so an alternative translation would be “I can’t show him anything but the hero world.”

Anyway, I absolutely love (sarcasm) when people try to claim that Endeavor was a loving family man who just didn’t know how to express his love even though it’s so obvious that he couldn’t be bothered to try and be an actual father. Saying that he can only show him the hero world is just a lazy excuse, similar to him telling Touya that he’s ignoring him “for his own good” - none of those are in any way helpful or something that a child could understand. Instead, it only signals that Endeavor doesn’t care. No one is born a perfect parent nor is anyone expected to be one, but a good parent would try to do a good job and not neglect their child because they are incapable of being a parent. It’s also like he pretends that only the hero Endeavor exists and that he isn’t anyone outside of that. He’s a hero and nothing else (unfortunately, he isn’t really a hero, either, though). The problem with separating the hero from the person behind the hero is taking away the responsibility and sort of using the hero persona as a shield. Instead of recognizing that he failed as a parent, he is acting as though he doesn’t exist outside of his hero job and thus doesn’t have any responsibilities outside of work. That is how he also ends up blaming Rei for everything that happens rather than acknowledging that this is all his fault.

「ヒーロー？　逃げてるだけじゃないの。。。」

「ヒーロー ; hiro 」-> hero

「逃げてる ; nigeteru 」-> running away; escaping

「だけ ; dake 」-> only

「じゃない ; janai 」-> aren’t

「の ; no 」-> explanatory question marker

= “Hero? Aren’t you just running away…?”

This is a fantastic line and it’s nice to see her call him out, however, it also just makes no sense when later on in this exact chapter, we see Rei - in the present time - now being a lot nicer to him and supporting him instead of calling him out for being at fault for what happened to Touya.

「燈矢兄遊ぼー！！」

「燈矢兄 ; touya nii 」-> Touya-Nii

「遊ぼー ; asobo- 」-> let’s play

= “Touya-Nii, let’s play-!!”

「おお」

「おお ; oo 」-> Oh

= “Oh.”

Something I want to point out about this panel is that we see two desks here. Do they have a computer room? Do Touya and Natsuo share a room? While there are plenty of books on Touya’s desk, the one next to him has a couple of action figures on it. Though it’s hard to determine who those action figures are supposed to be, it would be absolutely hilarious if they just had a bunch of All Might figurines that they placed around the house to piss off Endeavor.

「焦凍見るな。兄さん（アレ）らはおまえとは違う世界の人間だ。」

「焦凍 ; shouto 」-> Shouto

「見るな ; miruna 」-> don’t look

「兄さんら ; niisanra 」-> older brothers

「アレ ; are 」-> that person

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「おまえ ; omae 」-> you

「とは ; to wa」-> topic marker with added emphasis to the topic

「違う ; chigau 」-> different

「世界 ; sekai 」-> world

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「人間 ; ningen 」-> human

「だ ; da 」-> be

= “Don’t look, Shouto! Your brothers (they) are people of a different world.” 

Here, we have a sentence where the Furigana (= what the character says) read as are and don’t match with the Kanji (= what the character actually means), which read niisan.The ra at the end of niisanra is a pluralizer, just like tachi (ra is more informal). These pluralizers can be translated as something like “group” to say something like “the group of which your older brother is a part of.” It’s interesting that he says this, though, since the word kyoudai (=siblings) exists, which would better include all of Shouto’s siblings. Adding ra to the word Niisan (=older brother) rather than using a more neutral term like kyoudai then sort of adds emphasis to the older brother. This would be a great moment to joke that this is where Touya got his sexism from since Endeavor can’t even be bothered to mention that Shouto also has a sister here. But, I think this “group of which your older brother is a part of” refers to Touya specifically for a different reason. Natsuo himself has mentioned that Endeavor never even acknowledged him and instead he was tossed aside right away. And while Fuyumi is the one shown to be closest with Endeavor in the present time, that's only because Endeavor relies on her since she more or less replaced Rei in her mother role. But back then, she was probably just as ignored as Natsuo. That makes it feel like even here when saying “your siblings are in a different world” he is referring to Touya being a failure and thus not being part of the hero world, while not even acknowledging Natsuo’s or Fuyumi’s existence at all.

「いっかいだけでいいから燈矢兄たちと遊ばせて。」

「いっかい ; ikkai 」-> one time; one round; one game

「だけで ; dake de 」-> just

「いいから ; ii kara 」-> listen up

「燈矢兄たち ; touya nii tachi 」-> Touya-Nii and the others

「と ; to 」-> with

「遊ばせて ; asobasete 」-> let (someone) play (command)

= “Listen, let me play with Touya-Nii and the others, just one time!”

Ii kara is an expression used at the start of a command sentence for emphasis.

As mentioned before, tachi is a pluralizer and it’s similar to saying “Touya-Nii and the others” which is important for two reasons. One, this indicates that there were no further incidents where Touya tried to attack Shouto, since the latter doesn’t show any fear or resentment towards Touya, probably not knowing about the incident at all. And two, it really feels like Shouto is looking up to big bro Touya here. The oldest child - the head of the kids, if you will - and all Shouto wants is to hang out with this awesome brother of his. It’s not clear whether he knows that Touya used to be trained too or not, but either way, Shouto emphasizes Touya here and I’m glad the official translation included it like this, too!

「ダメだ出力訓練だ。」

「ダメ ; dame 」-> no good

「だ ; da 」-> be

「出力 ; schutsuryoku 」-> output

「訓練 ; kunren 」-> training

「だ ; da 」-> be

= “It’s no good. It’s output training.”

As mentioned later on in the chapter, Endeavor only ever taught Touya how to increase his flames and not how to decrease them. So I assume that “output training” is just that - training Shouto to increase his flames.

I’ve seen some people claim that the panel we get of Touya is him looking at Shouto in some evil or jealous way, but it’s more realistic to assume he’s looking at Endeavor, especially when looking at the part that comes right after. ALSO, please look at Natsuo in that panel. 

He looks so worried as he’s realizing that he’s about to hit Touya-Nii in the face with the ball. You think Touya manipulated Natsuo? Actually, Natsuo physically abused Touya :/ (this is sarcasm). This is also the part where, in the anime, Touya just falls down and Natsuo and Fuyumi laugh at him. No wonder he ended up as a villain. Bullied by everyone in his family, the poor kid...

「そりゃああの時は俺が悪かったよ。。。！！焦凍に罪はなかったもの。。。でもお父さんも悪かったんだよ！　俺たちは失敗作だから相手にされないすごいよな。。。要らない子をつくってこれが現代ヒーローなんだぜ。」

「そりゃあ ; soryaa 」-> well; that is to say (interjection, form of それは)

「あの ; ano 」-> that

「時 ; toki 」-> time; occasion

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「俺 ; ore 」-> I 

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「悪かった ; warukatta 」-> was at fault; was in the wrong; was to blame

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle 

「焦凍 ; shouto 」-> Shouto

「に ; ni 」-> for

「罪 ; tsumi 」-> fault; responsibility

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「なかった ; nakatta 」-> wasn’t

「もの ; mono 」-> sentence ending particle used to indicate reason/excuse/dissatisfaction

「でも ; demo 」-> but

「お父さん ; otousan 」-> dad

「も ; mo 」-> also; too

「悪かった ; warukatta 」-> was at fault; was in the wrong; was to blame

「んだ ; nda 」-> explanatory particle

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

「俺たち ; oretachi 」-> we

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「失敗作 ; shippaisaku 」-> failed creative work; flop

「だから ; dakara 」-> because

「相手にされない ; aite ni sarenai 」-> don’t associate with; take notice of (passive)

「すごい ; sugoi 」-> terrible

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

「な ; na 」-> sentence ending particle; used to seek confirmation

「要らない ; iranai 」-> not needed

「子 ; ko 」-> children

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「くって ; tsukutte 」-> making

「これ ; kore 」 - > this

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「現代 ; gendai 」-> modern era; nowadays

「ヒーロー ; hiro 」-> hero

「なんだ ; nanda 」-> explanatory particle

「ぜ ; ze 」-> emphasis particle

= “Well, that time I was to blame. Shouto wasn’t at fault. But dad was also to blame! We’re failed creative works, so we aren’t being associated with. Terrible, isn’t it… making children they don’t need. Is this the modern era hero?”

We know that Touya attacked Shouto when Shouto was a relatively fresh baby, but here Touya is 13, so this is roughly 5 years after that incident and yet Touya is still thinking about it and still feeling guilty about it, too. It’s also obvious that he never properly spoke with either one of his parents about this since a parent would then sit him down and help him work through these feelings of guilt. Then again, not his parents! Maybe he did tell them this before too and he didn’t get any reaction from it. It’s also sad how well he understands the whole situation and how much critical thinking he has (more than most of the fandom!), questioning how someone like Endeavor can be considered a hero when he isn’t even a decent person to his own family.

「たまには姉ちゃんことで言ったら。。。？」

「たまに ; tamani 」-> occasionally; once in a while

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「姉ちゃん ; neechan 」-> big sister

「こと ; koto 」-> phrase nominalizer

「で ; de 」-> with; via

「言ったら ; ittara 」-> if you said/told

= “If you told big sister one in a while…?”

This one sounds a bit strange when just doing a direct translation since this is one of those cases where the rest of the sentence is omitted because this part is enough to understand what he’s trying to say. 

The one compliment I always have to give Horikoshi is managing to write very believable sibling dynamics/interactions. Also, I can’t help but wonder whether they are sharing a room (which doesn’t really make sense considering they live in a large house) or if these two just like to have sleepovers (I prefer this theory).

「夏くんまで俺をたしなめるのか！？やめてくれ！夏くんしか理解できないから話してるのに！！わかるだろ家の女は皆だめだめなだ！」

「夏くん ; natsu kun」-> Natsu-Kun

「まで ; made 」-> even

「俺 ; ore 」-> I 

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「たしなめる ; tashinameru 」-> to chide; to rebuke; to reprove

「のか ; noka 」-> question marker particle seeking an explanation

「やめてくれ ; yametekure 」-> quit - asking for a favor (やめて + くれ)

「夏くん ; natsu kun」-> Natsu-Kun

「しか ; shika 」-> only (with neg. verb)

「理解できない ; rikai dekinai 」-> able to understand/comprehend/sympathize (negative form because of shika)

「から ; kara 」-> because; therefore

「話してる ; hanashiteru 」-> speaking; talking

「のに ; noni 」-> even though (used when complaining to someone)

「わかる ; wakaru 」-> to understand

「だろ ; daro 」-> right; I think

「家 ; uchi 」-> one’s family; one’s home

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「女 ; onna 」-> woman

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「皆 ; minna 」-> all

「だめだめな ; dame dame na 」-> entirely useless

「だ ; da 」-> be

= “Even you are chiding me, Natsuo-Kun!? Please stop! I’m talking to you because you are the only one who can understand me, Natsu-Kun!! You understand that the women in this family are entirely useless, right!”

The kure at the end of yametekure is used when asking a favor from someone, in this case, Touya is essentially asking Natsuo to please stop.

I know a lot of people said this is somehow manipulative and sexist?! About the sexist part: this is literally just a way for him to sum up that he’s talking about Fuyumi and Rei, which makes sense, considering he is not allowed to talk to Shouto, and obviously he can’t talk to Endeavor, either, which means the only remaining candidates he is able to talk to are Natsuo, Fuyumi, and Rei. Since he is talking to Natsuo, that only leaves Fuyumi and Rei (= the women in the family). It’s not that deep. It’s not like he said “they don’t understand because they are women” he just said “the women in this family are useless” which is an understandable feeling. While we don’t know exactly how his conversations with Fuyumi were like during this time, we know that Fuyumi is more on the neutral side in the present time and later on in this chapter, she even admits to having turned a blind eye in the past. And the next scene shows us why Touya thinks his mom is useless, too. He has legitimate reasons to view them as useless because neither of them acknowledged his feelings or listened to him properly. So no, he isn’t sexist he just uses this term instead of saying “Fuyumi and mom”.

And about the manipulative part - I’m not sure if some of you don’t have siblings? You are allowed to vent to your siblings. Also, let’s not forget that Touya is a drama queen, so him being a little dramatic here is just him being himself. More importantly, though, Natsuo is the only one that listens to him, so of course, he’s worried when the one person that he feels understood by tells him to talk to someone who doesn’t understand him. Not to mention the fact that Touya didn’t exactly grow up in an environment that taught him how to properly handle his feelings, which is the core problem in his life, so if he doesn’t perfectly articulate his feelings then remember that his parents never taught him any better.

「待ってまたお山に行く気でしょ。。。！たまにはクラスメイトと遊んでみたり。。。」

「待って ; matte 」-> to wait

「また ; mata 」-> again

「お山 ; oyama 」-> mountain

「に ; ni 」-> to

「行く気 ; iku ki 」-> feel like going

「でしょ ; desho 」-> it seems; right?

「たまに ; tamani 」-> occasionally; once in a while

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「クラスメイト ; kurasumeito 」-> classmates

「と ; to 」-> with

「遊んでみたり ; asondemitari 」-> try to do things like playing

= “Wait, you feel like going to the mountain again, right…! Once in a while, try to do things like playing with your classmates and…”

「友だちなんかいらない！世界が違う！」

「友だち ; tomodachi 」-> friends

「なんか ; nanka」-> make light off something

「いらない ; iranai 」-> don’t need

「世界 ; sekai 」-> world

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「違う ; chigau 」-> different

= “I don’t need friends! The worlds are different!”

Obviously, he has adapted this mindset from Endeavor. Thinking that heroes live in their own world and are somehow different - better - than anyone else. Being a hero in the bnha universe isn’t about anything heroic in most cases, but rather it’s about status and being a superior person. Sure, not every hero is as cruel to people as Endeavor, but even the other heroes believe that some people are worthier than others. In a way, they really are in a different world because they have the power to decide who to save and who isn’t worth saving, even though none of them are able to recognize this. To some people, though, like Endeavor or Touya, these different worlds are very clearly there.

「燈矢おまえ。。。本当にヒーローになりたいの？」

「燈矢 ; touya 」-> Touya

「おまえ ; omae 」-> you

「本当に ; hontou ni 」-> really

「ヒーロー ; hiro 」-> hero

「になりたい ; ni naritai 」-> want to become

「の ; no 」-> question marker particle seeking an explanation

= “Touya, you… do you really want to become a hero?”

「お母さんには。。。お父さんに縛られて苦しんでる様に見える。。。燈矢。。。世界は沢山あって選択肢は無数にあるの。お父さんだけじゃないもっと外を見て。。。！その中で本当になりたい自分を見つけてほし。。。」

「お母さん ; okaasan 」-> mom

「には ; niwa 」-> as for

「お父さん ; otousan 」-> dad

「に ; ni 」-> by

「縛られて ; shibararete 」-> to tie, to bind; to restrict (freedom)(passive)

「苦しんでる ; kushinderu」-> suffering

「様に見える ; you ni mieru 」-> seems like

「燈矢 ; touya 」-> Touya

「世界 ; sekai 」-> world

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「沢山 ; takusan 」-> many

「あって ; atte 」-> to be; to exist

「選択肢 ; sentakushi 」-> choices; alternatives; options

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「無数 ; musuu 」-> countless

「に ; ni 」-> to

「ある ; aru 」-> to be; to exist

「の ; no 」-> explanatory particle

「お父さん ; otousan 」-> dad

「だけ ; dake 」-> only

「じゃない ; janai 」-> isn’t

「もっと ; motto 」-> even more

「外 ; soto 」-> other place

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「見て ; mite 」-> look

「その中で ; sono naka de 」-> therein

「本当に ; hontou ni 」-> really

「なりたい ; naritai 」-> want to become

「自分 ; jibun 」-> oneself

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「見つけて ; mitsukete 」-> to discover; to find

「ほし ; hoshi 」-> want

= “To mom… it seems like you are suffering and being tied down by your father… Touya… There are many worlds, there are countless choices. Look more outside, there isn’t just your father…! I want you to find out who you really want to become therein.”

See, she can’t really blame him for becoming Dabi when she literally tells him he should find out who he wants to become. He only took her advice...

「お母さんが何を知ってんだよ！？啓発本でも読んだのかよ。。。！？」

「お母さん ; okaasan 」-> mom

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「何 ; nani 」-> what

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「知ってん ; shitten 」-> knowing

「んだ ; nda 」-> explanatory particle

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

「啓発 ; keihatsu 」-> enlightenment; development

「本 ; hon 」-> books

「でも ; demo 」-> ...or something

「読んだ ; yonda 」-> was reading

「なのか ; nanoka 」-> question marker particle seeking an explanation

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

= “What do you know, mom!? Were you reading some enlightenment books or something…!?”

Once again, the official translation makes him talk in the weirdest way. We get it, he speaks informally. But no one talks like that. Please stop. Also, while the official translation only called this a “self-help book” keihatsu is defined as the act of teaching and leading others by teaching knowledge and awareness and is based on a saying from the Analects of Confucius about teaching only those who have the desire to learn and struggle to express themselves with words. There’s another word for enlightenment in Japanese, keimou, which is defined as being about teaching people the answer, whereas keihatsu is about leading people to think about the answer themselves.

Again, in a way, Rei did lead him to think about what his answer to “find out who you want to become” is so it’s somewhat fitting since she didn’t explicitly tell him who to become.

I’m sure Rei hasn’t actually read any enlightenment books, but I’m sure Touya has (that and parental books, probably). Smart boy!

「おばあちゃん達が貧乏してたからお母さんを売ったんだろ。お母さんはそうするしかなかったんだろ。」

「おばあちゃん達 ; obaachantachi 」-> grandma and the others

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「貧乏してた ; binbou shiteta 」-> was poor

「から ; kara 」-> therefore

「お母さん ; okaasan 」-> mom

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「売ったん ; uttan 」-> was sold

「だろ ; daro 」-> right?

「お母さん ; okaasan 」-> mom

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「そうする ; sousuru 」-> to do so

「しかなかった ; shikanakatta 」-> had no choice but~

「んだろ ; ndaro 」-> right?

= “Grandma and the others were poor, so they sold mom, right? Mom had no choice but to do it, right?”

Remember how in chapter 301 I said that the first flashback seemed more like a business transaction? Well, well, well. Of course, just because Touya says that Rei was sold doesn’t mean that she was actually sold, but I do think that she was sold in the sense that Endeavor is providing for her family, which would also explain why they are never seen visiting Rei (aside from the fact that this story isn’t about her and they are just not important) since they are financially depending on Endeavor and thus don’t want to get into any sort of fights with him that would possibly result in him not providing for them anymore.

Again, it’s sad that a 13-year-old is already aware of these circumstances.

「燈。。。」

「燈 ; tou 」-> Tou

= “Tou…”

「だから俺が生まれたんだろ。。。！？お母さんも加担してんだよ。」

「だから ; dakara 」-> therefore

「俺 ; ore 」-> I 

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「生まれた ; umareta 」-> was born

「んだろ ; daro 」-> right?

「お母さん ; okaasan 」-> mom

「も ; mo 」-> also; too

「加担してん ; katan shite 」-> being complicit

「んだ ; nda 」-> explanatory particle

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

= “That’s why I was born, right…!? You’re also complicit, mom.”

Honestly, he looks so hurt there. Some people like to claim that he was too harsh or whatever, but he basically just poured his heart out to her and told her that she can’t understand his pain - which is true - and it’s so sad to think about how long he must have had this thought already at that point. Again, he is thirteen. That’s a tough age for most people as it is, and when your own family doesn’t listen to you or understand you that makes it even worse.

Another thing to note is the sweat drops on his face. As we learn on the next page, when his emotions increase, so does his fire, so it’s likely that by yelling at his mom and getting angry, his body temperature was rising, thus making him sweat. This also matches with the line that comes right after:

「火が。。。。消えないんだよ」

「火 ; hi 」-> fire

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「消えない ; kienai 」-> won’t go out

「んだ ; nda 」-> explanatory particle

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

= “The fire... won’t go out.”

Again, this could refer to the fact that a literal fire is lit inside of him as he’s more emotional right now.

「燈矢」

「燈矢 ; touya 」-> Touya

= “Touya.”

This conversation is similar to two other conversations we’ve seen so far: First, Rei gives him the exact same “advice” that Endeavor has given Touya before: “Make some friends. There are more worlds than just the hero world!” and then, Rei also tells Touya that there isn’t just Endeavor, similar to how she told Shouto “You aren’t bound by his blood.” So why did these two things not work on Touya?

The first piece of advice doesn’t work because it pretty much ignores Touya’s feelings, problems, and goals. He wants to be a hero, but his father won’t let him. Similar to how his own father couldn’t just give up on his dream of being a Number One Hero, thus starting a family and his little eugenics project, Touya can’t just give up on his dream of becoming a hero. To him, it’s not even necessarily about being a hero - it’s about proving himself to his father, to have his father say “I’m glad you were born” instead of just ignoring him and only focusing on his new masterpiece, Shouto.

The second advice worked on Shouto, so why didn’t it work on Touya? Well, the two of them are the same, but they are also opposites. Shouto has only ever had negative feelings towards Endeavor since he had to witness him hit his mom and terrify his siblings. Shouto always wanted to be a hero, but he didn’t want to become like Endeavor. Shouto said that he wants to make people feel at ease, and he knows that Endeavor doesn’t make his own family feel that way, so clearly becoming like him would mean not becoming the kind of hero Shouto wants to be. So by Rei telling him that he isn’t bound by Endeavor’s blood, she’s reassuring him that he can be independent from Endeavor and doesn’t have to be like him. 

So how is Touya different? Touya always wanted to be a hero, but more importantly, he wanted to be good enough in his father’s eyes because unlike Shouto, he saw the “good” days of his family. While Endeavor never unconditionally loved him like a parent should, to a kid love is love and all that matters is getting their parents’ attention. Touya had that, but then suddenly was only met with excuses of “We can’t train anymore for your own good!” which doesn’t really help a child understand why they are now being ignored. While Shouto didn’t want to become Endeavor nor did he want to be around him, all Touya ever wanted was for his father to be proud of him and view him as worthy. So of course telling him there are more worlds than just Endeavor couldn’t possibly be helpful, because how can you expect a child to just not crave their parent’s love anymore?

「早生まれの小さな身体に漸く訪れ始めた二次性徴」

「早生まれ ; hayaumare 」-> someone born between January 1 and April 1

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「小さな ; chiisana 」-> small

「身体 ; karada 」-> body

「に ; ni 」-> at

「漸く ; youyaku 」-> finally; at last

「訪れ始めた ; otozurehajimeta 」-> begin to appear

「二次 ; niji 」-> secondary

「性徴 ; seichou 」-> sexual characteristics

= “Secondary sexual characteristics finally begin to appear in the small body of someone born early in the year.”

Of course, we are all surprised that “Touya was always small because he came out of the oven a little early” isn’t a literal translation.

Hayaumare is a term that describes someone born between January 1 and April 1, since the school year in Japan starts in April and kids start going to school at age 6 and so kids born between January and April will be the youngest in their class, sometimes almost a year younger than their oldest classmates. Shouto is also a hayaumare since he is also born in January, thus one of the youngest in class 1-A. So while this doesn’t mean that he was born prematurely, he would just seem smaller in comparison to his classmates since there is still so much development happening during that time. Obviously, that doesn’t explain why he was so much shorter than Natsuo. While it’s true that Natsuo is the kid that most resembles Endeavor in appearance, Rei is also pretty tall and I believe even now taller than Dabi. I think that overall, this is more to amplify that Touya has a weak body.

Also, this is clearly a great moment for him to develop secondary sexual characteristics, which include things like body hair, only for him to burn them all off right then and there. This also means that they wouldn’t have recognized Dabi by his voice, since it wouldn’t have gotten deeper yet before he left the family.

「そうか。。。身体機能だもんな！感情の昂ぶりが火力に直結するんだ！すごいぞ俺。。。これならお父さんもきっとびっくりするぞ！」

「そうか ; souka 」-> is that so? (rhetorical)

「身体 ; shintai 」-> body

「機能 ; kinou 」-> function; feature

「だ ; da 」-> be

「もん ; mon 」-> because; indicates reason

「な ; na 」-> sentence ending particle; used to seek confirmation/ introduce new topic

「感情 ; kanjou 」-> emotion; feelings

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「昂ぶり ; takaburi 」-> excitement; stimulation

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「火力 ; karyoku」-> heating/fire power

「に ; ni 」-> to

「直結する ; chokketsu suru 」-> to directly connect

「んだ ; nda 」-> explanatory particle

「すごい ; sugoi 」-> incredible

「ぞ ; zo 」-> emphasizes the speaker’s will or opinion

「俺 ; ore 」-> I 

「これなら ; kore nara 」 - > this one

「お父さん ; otousan 」-> dad

「も ; mo 」-> also; too

「きっと ; kitto 」-> surely

「びっくりする ; bikkuri suru 」-> to be surprised

「ぞ ; zo 」-> emphasizes the speaker’s will or opinion

= “Is that so…? It’s the body function, huh! The stimulation of the emotions is directly connected to the firepower! Incredible I… this one will surely also surprise dad!”

Look at him still smiling! Wasn’t that All Might’s thing, to smile no matter what? Touya sure had that down too, still holding on to the hope that his dad would care.

「身体の変化と共にその炎は赤から蒼へと色を変えていた」

「身体 ; karada 」-> body

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「変化 ; henka 」-> transition

「と共に ; to tomo ni 」-> together with

「その ; sono 」-> that

「炎 ; honou 」-> flame

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「赤 ; aka 」-> red

「から ; kara 」-> from

「蒼 ; ao 」-> blu

「へと ; e to 」-> to

「色 ; iro 」-> color

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「変えていた ; kaeteita 」-> was changing

= “Together with the body’s transition, the flame’s color was changing from red to blue.”

「ああでも。。。くっそ昂ぶると何だって涙が出ちゃうんだろう。」

「ああ ; aa 」-> Ah

「でも ; demo 」-> but

「くっそ ; kusso 」-> extremely

「昂ぶる ; takaburu 」-> to become excited; to become aroused (of emotions)

「と ; to 」-> when

「何だって ; nandatte 」-> why?; what for?

「涙が出 ; namida ga dechau 」-> to shed tears (出る + ちゃう)

「ん ; n 」-> used for emphasis/ to show surprise

「だろう ; darou 」-> I wonder

= “Ah but… I wonder why I shed tears when I become extremely excited?”

Dechau consists of deru (to come out) and chau, which is used here to emphasize his emotions. The n after dechau is an explanatory particle and can also show surprise (basically asking for an explanation for this new discovery of him crying as a result of becoming excited).

Anyway, this is a super important new detail we now know about Dabi. In this post I talked about Dabi currently experiencing emotional numbness (in response to him telling Shouto that he doesn’t feel anything anymore), a coping mechanism that can occur after traumatic events. It doesn’t mean the person experiencing this doesn’t actually have any emotions anymore, but those feelings get repressed because sometimes it’s easier for your brain to pretend those feelings aren’t there rather than letting you become overwhelmed with extremely strong emotions. However, individuals experiencing emotional numbness might still show emotions like anger in situations where they might feel powerless or threatened.

While I still do believe that this does apply to Dabi, this chapter is proof that he still feels very strong emotions since strong emotions make his fire stronger. A little later in this chapter, we also find out that Touya was only shown how to increase his flames and not how to decrease them (imagine Endeavor teaching you how to drive lol, no thank you!) so it also seems like even now, he doesn’t have full control over his flames - or rather their intensity - since otherwise, he could have just used a weaker flame up until now instead of always using blue flames no matter what. So his flames are still controlled by his emotions, therefore showing that he still has very strong emotions now.

In other words, while he is suppressing his emotions and not fully experiencing them the same way he used to, those feelings are still very much there even if it doesn’t feel that way to him.

I think something very interesting to see would be if at some point (should someone ever properly decide to save him) someone would get through to him and we would just see his blue flames slowly turning red as he, for the first time, truly calms down...

「お父さん今度の休み瀬古杜岳に来てよ。」

「お父さん ; otousan 」-> dad

「今度 ; kondo 」-> next time

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「休み ; yasumi 」-> holiday; day off

「瀬古杜岳 ; sekototake 」-> Sekoto Peak

「に ; ni 」-> to

「来て ; kite 」-> come

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

= “Dad, come to Sekoto Peak on your next free day!”

Again, can we just appreciate how strong this child is still smiling and being hopeful despite years of being neglected and told he’s not good enough? Even now, he’s still trying and not giving up. He looks so cheerful here like he still has positive feelings for his dad here.

「火傷。。。周囲から見られない箇所での訓練。。。！」

「火傷 ; yakedo 」-> burn

「周囲 ; shuui 」-> surroundings

「から ; kara 」-> from

「見られない ; mirarenai 」-> can’t be seen

「箇所 ; kasho 」-> place

「での ; deno 」-> in (the no adds emphasis on the preceding word)

「訓練 ; kunren 」-> training

= “Burn… training in a place that can’t be seen from the surroundings…!”

「おまえまだ。。。！！」

「おまえ ; omae 」-> you

「まだ ; mada 」-> still

= “You still…!!”

Obviously, this is very different from the official translation’s “Dammit! Again?!” but I think the criticism only stems from people who think that swearing is some sort of terrible taboo way of speaking. No, he doesn’t swear in Japanese but there are so few swear words in Japanese and usually, the way you would swear is by speaking informally. Anyway, it matches his expression and you can see that he’s yelling so it’s one of those changes that aren’t that dramatic, and anyone that cries over this better also address the heavier changes in regards to Dabi and the rest of the villains. Also, as I’ve said before: the changes in Dabi’s speech are far more severe and impact how people view him as a person since the entire content is sometimes changed for the worse. He is also someone who is clearly smart and knows how to use language, so making him speak in weird ways like the official translation does definitely changes how he is perceived. Endeavor, on the other hand, is not perceived differently by the minor changes made to his speech, which don’t even affect the content. For example, with this line, he is literally yelling at his child. Saying “dammit” isn’t the reason I view him as a terrible father since him neglecting and abusing his children for over ten years at this point is enough proof for that already. Whether he swears or not doesn’t change that.

「すごい事になったんだ必ず来て！」

「すごい事になった ; sugoi koto ni natta 」-> to go crazy; to get out of hand; to end up in an extreme state

「んだ ; nda 」-> explanatory particle

「必ず ; kanarazu 」-> certainly; without fail

「来て ; kite 」-> come

= “It ended up in an extreme state, so you certainly have to come!”

What’s interesting here is the “sugoi koto ni natta” part, which is an expression with the above-mentioned meanings that certainly all fit Touya’s state there. But if you break it down then you have “became a terrific thing” - which is close to the  “what I can do now is pretty cool!”

「焦凍にだって到達できるかどうか。。。！オールマイトにも負けないかもね！お父さんもきっと認めざるをえなくなるからさ。。。！俺をつくって良かったって思うから！」

「焦凍 ; shouto 」-> Shouto

「に ; ni 」-> at

「だって ; datte 」-> after all

「到達 ; toutatsu 」-> reaching

「できる ; dekiru 」-> to be able to

「かどうか ; kadouka 」-> whether or not

「オールマイト ; orumaito 」-> All Might

「にも ; nimo 」-> also

「負けない ; makenai 」-> don’t lose; to not be inferior to

「かも ; kamo 」-> may; might

「ね ; ne 」-> sentence ending particle; used to seek confirmation

「お父さん ; otousan 」-> dad

「も ; mo 」-> also; too

「きっと ; kitto 」-> surely

「認めざるをえなくなる ; mitomezaru o enakunaru 」-> cannot help to grow to recognize/notice (認め + ざるをえなく + なる)

「から ; kara 」-> expresses sympathy

「さ ; sa 」-> emphasis particle

「俺 ; ore 」-> I 

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「つくって ; tsukutte 」-> to make

「良かった ; yokatta 」-> to be glad

「って思う ; tte omou 」-> to think

「から ; kara 」-> expresses sympathy

= “Whether or not I am able to reach Shouto after all…! I might also not lose to All Might, will I! Surely, you cannot help but grow to notice me too, dad...! And you will think you’re glad you made me!”

Later on, we get Endeavor and Rei both expressing that they didn’t know what to say to Touya around this time. When your child says “I will do this thing that’s damaging me to prove my worth to you and have you think it’s good that I exist!” maybe just say that you’re already glad they exist and that they’re already good enough! I’m sure parenting is hard, but affirming your child’s worth should not be one of the difficult parts of parenting. 

Also, I would like to point out that the fandom has talked a lot about Touya’s jealousy towards Shouto, but I don’t fully see it. First of all, Touya is fully aware of why he and his siblings exist and therefore also knows why Endeavor is training Shouto. This doesn’t mean that Touya isn’t jealous at all, but he also doesn’t really dwell on those feelings. He sees Shouto as his competition, but not even in a negative way. If Endeavor had allowed it, Touya probably would have trained with Shouto and the two of them could have motivated each other to reach their full potential. The only reason Touya had any amount of jealousy in him was that Shouto was his replacement and as long as Shouto was around and better than Touya, it meant that Endeavor wouldn’t pay any attention to Touya. The whole “Whether or not I am able to reach Shouto” phrase shows that he recognizes that Shouto is stronger than him at the moment, but again, it comes from a place of trying to show Endeavor “Look, I can do what your masterpiece can do, too!” because he knows Endeavor is currently only impressed by Shouto. Shouto sets the bar and Touya is trying to make his father see that he can reach that bar too (probably). If Endeavor had changed his mind and let Touya and Shouto train together, then Touya might not have had any ill feelings towards Shouto, so when talking about this jealousy, please keep in mind that all roads lead back to Endeavor here and taking him out of the equation would make for a good bond between the two brothers.

「何故止めなかった冷！！！頼んだはずだ！！！」

「何故 ; naze 」-> why

「止めなかった ; tomenakatta 」-> didn’t stop

「冷 ; rei 」-> Rei

「頼んだ ; tanonda 」-> entrusted to; requested to

「はず ; hazu 」-> expectation that something took place

「だ ; da 」-> be

= “Why didn’t you stop him, Rei!!! I entrusted him to you!!!”

Hazu is used with the past tense of a verb to express negative feelings in response to something not having turned out how you expected them to.

「お母さんいじめないで！！やめて！いじめないでよ！」

「お母さん ; okaasan 」-> mom

「いじめないで ; ijimenai de 」-> don’t be cruel to

「やめて ; yamete 」-> stop

「いじめないで ; ijimenai de 」-> don’t be cruel to

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

= “Don’t be cruel to mom! Stop it! Don’t be cruel!”

「焦凍は出てろ！関係ない話だ！！」

「焦凍 ; shouto 」-> Shouto

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「出てろ ; detero 」-> get out

「関係ない ; kankei nai  」-> not involved

「話 ; hanashi 」-> conversation

「だ ; da 」-> be

= “Shouto, get out! The conversation doesn’t involve you!!”

「お母さんが何を知ってんだよ！？」

「お母さん ; okaasan 」-> mom

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「何 ; nani 」-> what

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「知ってん ; shitten 」-> knowing

「んだ ; nda 」-> explanatory particle

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

= “What do you know mom!?”

「選択肢は限られていたけれど選んで進んだのは私の足でせめてその先では笑っていようと思っていた。。。のに」

「選択肢 ; sentakushi 」-> options

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「限られていた ; kagirareteita 」-> was limited

「けれど ; keredo 」-> however

「選んで ; erande 」-> to choose

「進んだ ; sunda 」-> to live

「のは ; nowa 」-> topic maker particle

「私 ; watashi 」-> I

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「足 ; ashi 」-> foot

「で ; de 」-> on

「せめて ; semete 」-> at least

「その ; sono 」-> that

「先 ; saki ; 」-> the future; destination

「では ; dewa 」-> topic maker particle

「笑っていよう ; waratte iyou 」-> should smile

「と思っていた ; to omotteita 」-> was thinking

「のに ; noni 」-> even though; and yet

= “My options were limited, however, and yet I chose to live on my feet and thought I shall at least smile in the future.”

「私じゃ止められない。」

「私 ; watashi 」-> I

「じゃ ; ja 」-> topic marker particle

「止められない ; tomerarenai 」-> couldn’t stop

= “I couldn’t stop him.”

Again, he’s thirteen. Maybe she didn’t read enlightenment books, but she sure should have read them. And also brought Touya to a therapist.

「そして。。。あなたは行かなかった。」

「そして ; soshite 」-> and

「あなた ; anata 」-> you

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「行かなかった ; ikanakatta 」-> didn’t go

= “And… you didn’t go.”

「出るな。。。！涙なんか。。。」

「出るな ; deruna 」-> don’t come out

「涙 ; namida 」-> tears

「なんか ; nanka 」-> expresses strong emotion; used to belittle something

= “Don’t come out…! Stupid tears…”

Nanka doesn’t really have an actual translation here, but the “stupid” from the official translation conveys that nuance of belittling something pretty well.

「。。。薪をくべてしまうだけだと。。。いや。。。」

「薪 ; maki 」-> firewood

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「くべてしまう ; kubete shimau 」-> to completely burn

「だけ ; dake 」-> only

「だ ; da 」-> be

「と ; to 」-> quotation marker

「いや ; iya 」-> disagreeable

= “... I thought it’s only completely burning the firewood… no…”

The to could be interpreted in different ways since it can also mean “and” but here it makes more sense to go for what the official translation did, which is assuming that it’s the quotation marker which would normally be followed by omou (= to think).

「ちくしょう。。。」

「ちくしょう ; chikushou 」-> damn it

= “Damn it...”

「何と声を掛けたらいいのかわからなかったんだ。」

「何と ; nanto 」-> what

「声を掛けたらいい ; koe o kaketara ii 」-> should start talking (to)/ give vocal support (to)/ to let (somebody) know (声を掛けた + らいい)

「のか ; noka 」-> question marker particle seeking a clarification

「わからなかった ; wakaranakatta 」-> didn’t know 

「んだ ; nda 」-> explanatory particle

= “I didn’t know what vocal support I should give.”

The official translation went for the more natural way of saying this, which is “I had no idea what to say to him.”

「おとうさ」

「お父さ ; otousa 」-> dad

= “Dad-”

「私もそうだった。」

「私 ; watashi 」-> I

「も ; mo 」-> also; too

「そう ; sou 」-> in that way; so

「だった ; datta 」-> was

= “I was also like that…”

Something that bothers me a lot about this exchange is that they both claim they didn’t know what to say to Touya, which is a weird conclusion as to where things went wrong. First of all, Touya is in all honesty probably smarter than both his parents combined and despite the translation constantly trying to make him sound like he’s speaking his own language, he has always been someone well-spoken in the sense that he chooses his words carefully as seen by how he knew exactly what to say to Aizawa in the summer camp, how politely he spoke in his broadcast, etc. He knows how to word things in order to get specific reactions out of people and be perceived however he wants to be perceived by people. More importantly, though, he had made it very clear on multiple occasions growing up what his problems were. He was always clear about his needs - wanting to train with his dad, having his dad come to the mountain with him, etc. - yet here it sounds a little like he never voiced his feelings or was somehow unable to comprehend what his parents told him.

Second of all, saying they didn’t know what to say to him makes it feel more like the whole thing was just a one-time slip and not years and years of problems piling up until it all collapsed. They knew Touya wasn’t fine. They saw him try to attack Shouto, they knew that he continued training and didn’t stop, they knew he wanted Endeavor’s attention.

As mentioned earlier, their advice failed because neither of his parents could practice what they preached. Endeavor telling Touya to give up on his goal of surpassing All Might and becoming a hero failed because Endeavor himself couldn’t stop to the point he started a whole family in the hopes that one of his children could do what he wasn’t able to. Rei telling Touya that he looks like he’s suffering and that he should find out who he really wants to become failed because Touya was aware that Rei didn’t marry Endeavor out of her own will but for her parents’ sake. And the thing is, he told them. He told them both that this advice wasn’t good enough, and then they just gave up. One piece of advice was what they deemed trying hard enough and now they boil it down to “I didn’t know what to say to him” even though the real reason Touya “died” was because they gave up on him from the start.

「わあっ。」

「わあっ ; waa 」-> Waa

= “Waa.”

「あれは熱かったな。」

「あれ ; are 」-> that

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「熱かった ; atsukatta 」-> was hot

「な ; na 」-> sentence ending particle; used to seek confirmation

= “That was hot, wasn’t it.”

「あつ。。。！止まらない！炎がー！！」

「あつ ; atsu 」-> hot

「止まらない ; tomaranai 」-> can’t stop

「炎 ; honou 」-> flame

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

= “Hot…! I can’t stop! The flames are-!!”

「ま自業自得だよな。」

「ま ; ma 」-> well; you might say

「自業自得 ; jigoujitoku 」-> paying for one’s mistakes; getting one’s just deserts; suffering the consequences (of one’s own actions); reap what you sow

「だ ; da 」-> be

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

「な ; na 」-> sentence ending particle; used to seek confirmation

= “Well, you reap what you sow, don’t you?”

I know we all made fun of the “that’s just deserts'' line in the official translation, but that is, in fact, one of the actual dictionary definitions of jigoujitoku. And to be fair, Touya was a smart kid. Maybe he just knows all these strange expressions no one ever uses. Maybe the official translation is onto something here… but to the rest of us, who never heard anyone say this before, it just sounds weird. Maybe we’re just all too stupid for Dabi… 

「火力の上げ方しか教えてくれなかったもんなあ。」

「火力 ; karyoku」-> heating/firepower

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「上げ ; age 」-> raising

「方 ; kata 」-> way of; method of

「しか ; shika 」-> only (with neg. verb)

「教えてくれなかった ; oshiete kurenakatta 」-> taught (教えて + くれなかった)

「もん ; mon 」-> because; indicates reason/ excuse/ dissatisfaction

「なあ ; naa 」-> used to say something emotionally when looking back on the past

= “Looking back, he only taught me the way of raising the firepower.”

Again, the kure in oshiete kurenakatta is used when saying that something was done for the speaker.

When speaking to yourself, naa at the end of the sentence can be used when reflecting on the past, as Dabi does here, which makes it sound like he wasn’t necessarily aware of this before or at least wasn’t aware of it back then. I know there were some people when the spoilers came out that claimed that Touya had obviously faked his death on purpose, but aside from nothing pointing to that as it is, this part makes it especially obvious that he didn’t do it on purpose. Touya was clearly surprised that his fire grew so strong there and that he was unable to stop it. And the naa here indicates that if he had been aware back then that he never learned how to properly control his flames, then he might have been able to prevent this incident from happening.

「あの日全て諦めていれば。」

「あの ; ano 」-> that

「日 ; hi 」-> day

「全て ; subete 」-> all; everything

「諦めていれば ; akirameteireba 」-> had given up (conditional)

= “If only I had given everything up that day.”

THIS would have to be about the saddest sentences in this chapter and I haven’t really seen a lot of people mention this. This is Dabi reflecting on the day where his life completely changed and although he just had quite a success by revealing his identity and broadcasting the truth about his family to the whole country, he’s looking back on the day he almost died and thinks “if only I had given everything up on that day.” If you didn’t think he was suicidal before, here is your proof. Yes, he’s freer now in the sense that Endeavor can’t tell him what to do anymore (not like that worked before anyway), but this is still not the life little Touya had wanted. He wanted to be a hero and someone his father could be proud of, and yet here he is as a villain whose sole purpose is to kill Endeavor. So not only is he still not free from his life being dictated by Endeavor, but he also turned himself into someone he never wanted to be. While revealing his true identity to the country was somewhat of a victory for him, it doesn’t change that he won’t ever get back all the years Endeavor took from him. He might be fighting, but deep down he’d rather just be dead.

「燈矢を殺してしまったことで後に引けなくなっていた。。。焦凍に傾倒する他。。。なくなっていた。」

「燈矢 ; touya 」-> Touya

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「殺してしまった ; koroshiteshimatta 」-> was killed completely (殺して + しまった)

「ことで ; koto de 」-> nominalizes the preceding phrase

「後に引けなくなっていた ; ato ni hikenaku natteita 」-> couldn’t stop

「焦凍 ; shouto 」-> Shouto

「に ; ni 」-> to

「傾倒する ; keitou suru 」-> to devote oneself to

「他なくなっていた ; hoka naku natteita 」-> can do nothing but; have no other choice but

= “I couldn’t stop after I completely killed Touya… I couldn’t do anything except devoting myself to Shouto.”

As mentioned before, verb + shimau can mean that an action was done completely, but it can also mean that something was done regrettably. This is one of those cases, where both meanings can apply. Endeavor completely killed Touya, thus Dabi was born, but this is also regrettable since Touya shouldn’t have died. It’s just weird to admit that you're responsible (and cry about it in front of your victims) and then also blame the victim for how you treated your other victim.

「燈矢が消えて。。。エスカレートしていくあなたが悍ましくて。。。こどもたちにまで面影を見るようになってしまった。」

「エスカレートしていく ; esukareeto shite iku 」-> to continue escalating

「あなた ; anata 」-> you

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「悍ましくて ; ozomashikute 」-> disgusting; repulsive

「こどもたち ; kodomotachi 」-> children

「に ; ni 」-> in

「まで ; made 」-> until

「面影 ; omokage 」-> face

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「見る ; miru 」-> to see

「ようになってしまった」-> completely reached the point that

= “Continuing to escalate, you were repulsive... until I completely reached the point of seeing your face in the children.”

Okay, first things first. Rei’s line created a lot of confusion since it contradicts what Fuyumi says in chapter 250, where she mentions that Touya died shortly after Rei was hospitalized. This tweet from the official bnha twitter account states that the “Touya disappeared and…” part in Rei’s line in this chapter was a mistake and will be erased in the volume release, so I didn’t include that part in here. I do think that this scene overall makes no sense, then, though, since the idea here is that Touya’s “death” made Endeavor worse, made Endeavor become abusive, made Rei pour the boiling hot water on Shouto, made Endeavor put Rei into a mental hospital. But that’s not true.

Endeavor saying that he started to obsess over Shouto after Touya died is also weird, since we all know that he was already obsessed with him before and didn’t pay attention to any of the other children, which is exactly what led to Touya dying when Endeavor couldn’t even be bothered to go to the mountain with him one time.

「壊れてるのを知りながら。。。怖くて踏み込めなかった。。。上っ面で繕うことしか。。。してこなかった。」

「壊れてる ; kowareteru 」-> to be broken

「のを ; no o 」-> nominalizer + object marker

「知り ; shiri 」-> to know; to be aware of

「ながら ; nagara 」-> while

「怖くて ; kowakute 」-> scary

「踏み込めなかった ; fumikomenakatta 」-> wasn’t able to step into

「上っ面 ; uwattsura 」-> surface; apppearances

「で ; de 」-> at

「繕う ; tsukurou 」-> to fix; to cover up (mistakes); to keep up appearances

「こと ; koto 」-> things

「しか ; shika 」-> only (with neg. verb)

「してこなかった ; shite konakatta 」-> continued to do

= “While I knew it was broken... I was scared and unable to step in… I only continued to… fix things on the surface.”

Tsukurou has several meanings like “to fix” and “to keep up appearances” so that’s probably why the official translation included both meanings here. The Japanese also only says “scared” and not “too scared” like the official English translation, though this is most likely just done to make it sound more natural. Another difference is that in the official translation, Fuyumi says “All I could do” whereas in Japanese she said that she “only continued to” fix things on the surface. The panel also shows a small flashback of Endeavor dragging Touya away and Rei trying to stop him, while Fuyumi is standing in the background and slightly turned away. She’s shown in the sailor uniform that is typically worn by middle school students, so she would be around 12 years old, which was around the time Touya “died” - obviously at that age there wasn’t really anything she could have done against Endeavor so the translation isn’t entirely incorrect, however, judging by Touya telling Natsuo that he can’t talk to Fuyumi because she doesn’t understand, it seems like she probably always tried to remain impartial instead of siding with her older brother. While she couldn’t have stopped Endeavor, she could have at least been there for Touya as emotional support - which, might I add, is her whole purpose for existing - so that’s why saying that she “continued to” only fix things on the surface is a more accurate line.

「全部あなたが始めた事であなたが原因だーでも

俺がぶん殴って燈矢兄と向かい合わせてやれてたら。。。荼毘は生まれてなくて焦凍に盛り蕎麦をご馳走してやれてたかもしれない。」

「全部 ; zenbu 」-> all

「あなた ; anata 」-> you

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「始めた ; hajimeta 」-> to start

「事 ; koto 」-> situation; incident

「で ; de 」-> and

「あなた ; anata 」-> you

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「原因 ; genin 」-> cause

「だ ; da 」-> be

「でも ; demo 」-> but

「俺 ; ore 」-> I 

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「ぶん殴って ; bunnagutte 」-> to hit hard; to give a hard blow

「燈矢兄 ; touya nii 」-> Touya-Nii

「と ; to 」-> with

「向かい合わせてやれて ; mukaiawasete yarete 」-> let someone face each other

「たら ; tara 」-> if

「荼毘 ; dabi 」-> Dabi

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「生まれてなくて ; umaretenakute 」-> wouldn’t have been born

「焦凍 ; shouto 」-> Shouto

「に ; ni 」-> to

「盛り蕎麦 ; mori soba 」-> cold soba

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「ご馳走してやれてた ; gochisou shite yareteta 」-> to treat someone to a meal

「かもしれない ; kamoshirenai 」-> may; might; possibly

= “You started all of this situation and you are the cause - but if I had hit you hard and could have let you face Touya-Nii, then Dabi wouldn’t have been born and he might have been able to treat Shouto to mori soba.”

The yarete that appears twice in this sentence is the potential form of yaru, which is used when something is given/done for someone from someone with higher status to someone with lower status. In combination with the causative form (making someone do something) as is the case with mukaiawasete, it changes the nuance from simply making someone do something to allow someone to do something.

Concerning this line, there was a huge difference between the fan translation that I read and the official translation. While the official translation matches with the Japanese line by having Natsuo say that he should have punched Endeavor (can we appreciate how funny that would have been, but also sad if TWO of your children have to stand up to you because you mistreat another family member), the fan translation that I first read had Natsuo say that he should have punched and faced Touya, which is a very different message. Fortunately, that doesn’t make sense and isn’t the actual line, though.

More importantly, mori soba??? I thought Shouto’s favorite kind of soba was zaru soba (it’s basically the same, but zaru soba has nori seaweed on top)… 

「責任はあなただけのものじゃない。今回のことは私たち全員の責任。心が砕けても私たちが立たせます。あなたは荼毘と戦うしかないの。」

「責任 ; sekinin 」-> responsibility

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「あなた ; anata 」-> you

「だけ ; dake 」-> only

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「もの ; mono 」-> thing

「じゃない ; janai 」-> isn’t

「今回 ; konkai 」-> this time

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「こと ; koto 」-> situation; circumstance

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「私たち ; watashitachi 」-> we

「全員 ; zenin 」-> all members; everyone

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「責任 ; sekinin 」-> responsibility

「心 ; kokoro 」-> heart

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「砕けて ; kudakeru 」-> breaking

「も ; mo 」-> even if

「私たち ; watashitachi 」-> we

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「立たせます ; tatasemasu 」-> make someone stand up

「あなた ; anata 」-> you

「は ; wa 」-> topic marker particle

「荼毘 ; dabi 」-> Dabi

「と ; to 」-> with

「戦う ; tatakau 」-> to fight

「しかない ; shika nai 」-> have no choice but

「の ; no 」-> explanatory particle

= “The responsibility isn’t only yours. We are all responsible for this time’s circumstances. Even if your heart is breaking, we will make you stand up. You have no choice but to fight Dabi.”

This is one of those lines that really make you wonder whether the character is supposed to be like that or if the author just doesn’t understand what he’s writing. It’s questionable - to say the least - to say they are all responsible this time. While I continue to wonder how the non-heroes of the family are supposed to do anything here, why would a mother expect her children to be part of this? They are civilians and she expects them to somehow take care of saving their villain brother? Sorry, but she wasn’t even able to stop Touya from going outside to train, and now she expects her children to do better than her? No.

There’s also something very odd about her referring to him as Dabi. I understand that this is done to say that they intend on fighting Dabi and not Touya, and it’s true that Touya is in a way dead and Dabi was born instead. However, the problem with this idea of fighting “Dabi” is that it suggests that Dabi could somehow be killed while Touya survives when that is not at all how helping somehow who has been traumatized works. You can’t just reset him and somehow get him back to the state he was in prior to the traumatic experience (especially when the traumatic experience was basically his whole life). They won’t be able to just kill Dabi and have him go back to who he used to be because he has never been allowed to just be himself. Dabi is now a part of him. And not just that, but Dabi is the result of the trauma and thus functions as Touya’s surviving mechanism. This doesn’t mean that Dabi can’t be redeemed or be saved, it’s just that this idea of fighting Dabi and removing Dabi from Touya is bound to end in failure because that’s an impossible task and, again, the wrong approach to this.

Why exactly is a mother asking her and her children’s abuser to fight her child? Them going against Touya is what caused Dabi’s existence in the first place, which is what the conversation is more or less about, and yet she continues to think that fighting him is the right option here? A lot of people have suggested that this is done to cause a problem later down the line with Hawks and Best Jeanist listening in on the conversation and probably assuming the family doesn’t intend on saving Dabi in any way. But this is still a somewhat weak argument for two reasons: One, Hawks and Best Jeanist talk with the Todofam in chapter 303 and tell them that they will help to fight Dabi, so them teaming up means they should discuss this a little more and with that, there shouldn’t be any problems in terms of communication; and two, anything that happens in a story still has to be believable. If there is an issue or conflict it’s absolutely vital to convince the readers that this couldn’t somehow be prevented or easily resolved. But Rei isn’t vague here. She literally talks about Endeavor having to fight Dabi. So even if this is just in order for the other characters to misunderstand her, I do find it odd for a mother to suggest that her abusive husband should fight their child instead of finally acting like a parent and saving this child.

Until we know what exactly the family is going to do, we can’t determine whether this is just Horikoshi’s writing or if he intentionally made Rei like this, but for now, this just seems like a really weird thing to say. And even Endeavor can see this as shown in the next line:

「おまえ。。。本当に。。。冷か。。。？」

「おまえ ; omae 」-> you

「本当に ; hontou ni 」-> really

「冷 ; rei 」-> Rei

「か ; ka 」-> question marker particle

= “You… are you really… Rei…?”

「私たちよりよっぽど辛いハズの子が恨んで当然の私を再びお母さんと呼んでくれた。」

「私たち ; watashitachi 」-> us

「より ; yori 」-> than

「よっぽど ; yoppodo 」-> greatly; to a large extent

「辛い ; tsurai 」-> painful; difficult (emotionally)

「ハズ ; hazu 」-> ought to; should be

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「子 ; ko 」-> child

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「恨んで ; urande 」-> to bear a grudge against; to resent

「当然 ; touzen 」-> it’s natural to

「の ; no 」-> explanatory particle

「私 ; watashi 」-> I

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「再び ; futatabi 」-> again; once more

「お母さん ; okaasan 」-> mom

「と呼んでくれた ; to yondekureta 」-> called (と呼んで + くれた)

= “It’s natural for the child that should be in more pain than us to resent me. He called me mom again.”

Originally, I thought this was about Touya since these chapters are about his backstory. But then someone asked me whether this was actually about Shouto and someone else also pointed out that the next line is about Shouto, so it makes more sense that this is about him. And this is what I mean when I say that this writing is contradictory. How do they all reflect on the past, recognize that they didn’t understand Touya and neglected him and didn’t know how to be parents to him, but then say that Shouto is the one that suffered more than the rest of them? Obviously, it’s not a competition, and comparing who has it the worst is not helpful at all, but Dabi is literally alone right now and has been alone his whole life, while Shouto at least has his family and emotional support right now. Do they not hear what they are saying? How are they so dumb? Shouto also literally never resented you or stopped calling you mom, so maybe shift your focus to Touya? No wonder he left.

「雄英高校でお友だちをつくって私たちをつなぎとめてくれた。焦凍が轟家（ウチ）のヒーローになってくれたのよ。」

「雄英高校 ; yuuei koukou 」-> U.A. High School

「で ; de 」-> at

「お友だち ; otomodachi 」-> friends

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「つくって ; tsukutte 」-> to make

「私たち ; watashitachi 」-> we

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「つなぎとめてくれた ; tsunagitomete kureta 」-> saved (someone’s life)

「焦凍 ; shouto 」-> Shouto

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「轟家 ; todoroki uchi 」-> Todoroki household

「ウチ ; uchi 」-> one’s own family

「の ; no 」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe

「ヒーロー ; hiro 」-> hero

「になってくれた ; ni natte kureta 」-> became

「の ; no 」-> explanatory particle

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

= “He made friends at U.A. and saved us. Shouto has really become our hero.”

Here we have another case of Kanji and Furigana being different. While the Kanji (what the character means) says “Todoroki household” the Furigana (what the character says) simply says “One’s family” and to be honest, I’m not entirely sure why there is a difference here. Like yes, obviously, by family she’s referring to the Todoroki family.

Anyway, this is probably the worst sentence in this entire chapter. There is nothing inherently bad about saying that Shouto is a good person and that he helped his family. However, he is a literal child. A minor. And a victim in this, just like his siblings - just like Touya. None of the kids are responsible for their family’s well-being or for correcting their parents’ mistakes, and yet here we are. Shouto shouldn’t have to be the family’s hero and feel the need to save his brother just because both his parents failed to be parents. Don’t get me wrong, I agree that Endeavor wouldn’t possibly get through to Dabi now (although realistically, Natsuo is the only one that could really get through to him) so it makes sense to get Shouto involved. But everyone praising him just further shows their inability to recognize that this exact mindset is what caused the problems in the first place. This whole idea of someone - specifically Shouto - being the one in the family who is able to be a great hero is what was part of Touya’s mental downfall. It’s also a harmful statement to make in general, as it pushes the “good victim, bad victim” mentality, where Shouto is seen as the good victim for being able to stay on a good path, live his life in a normal way and still speak with his parents, whereas Touya ended up turning himself into a villain and essentially throwing his whole life away in order to ruin Endeavor’s life, too. Aside from the fact that this mentality is problematic in itself by making it seem like there’s a right and wrong way to be a victim and that people who end up not being able to just move on from their trauma are somehow worthless and don’t deserve to get help, this sentence also shows the problem the family has: not learning from the past. Despite all the self-reflection we’re shown in this chapter with each family member expressing what they did wrong, they then continue to not change at all and just continue to demonize Touya. They are taking responsibility and admitting that they were wrong, just ignoring the problems and not saying the right things to him, but by claiming that Shouto is the hero of the family they continue to neglect why Touya ended up the way he did. Shouto was supported in reaching his goals. Obviously, Endeavor wanted Shouto to become a hero, but Shouto also always wanted to be a hero on his own accord. His mom reassured him that he could be whatever hero he wanted to be and not just be the next Endeavor. He was always supported both in his journey of becoming a hero and also emotionally through his family and his friends. That isn’t to say that he is somehow less of a victim, but it’s important to acknowledge that the reason he ended up on the “good path” was that he had people that reminded him that he wasn’t Endeavor and that he was free to be his own person. He was never held back from reaching his goals.

Touya, on the other hand, received the exact opposite treatment. He was kept from pursuing his goal and was only met with cheap excuses as to why he shouldn’t train, yet none of those arguments ever worked on him and so he continued to train on his own for almost ten years. Despite both his parents knowing about this, they never did more than just say “stop training” and thus actively ignored his problems. Even when he lashed out to Rei, she just watched as he walked away. It’s not surprising he calls her and Fuyumi useless when both of them sided with Endeavor instead of acknowledging his pain. Of course, he was going to end up on a “bad path” when he didn’t have a proper support system.

So saying that Shouto is the family’s hero might sound like an innocent compliment at first glance, but it only further shows how little the family understands why Touya has become Dabi, which becomes a bigger problem when they want to save him, something they won’t be able to do as long as they continue to fail to really see him and his pain.

「ここに。。。来る前お母さんと話した。おまえが。。。もう戦えねェと思って俺がやるしかねェって思ってた。。。でも違うみてえだ。」

「ここ ; koko 」-> here

「に ; ni 」-> to

「来る ; kuru 」-> to come

「前 ; mae」-> before

「お母さん ; okaasan 」-> mom

「と ; to 」-> with

「話した ; hanashita 」-> spoke

「おまえ ; omae 」-> you

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「もう ; mou 」-> yet

「戦えねェ ; tatakaenee 」-> unable to fight/ compete against

「と思って ; to omotte 」-> thought

「俺 ; ore 」-> I 

「が ; ga 」-> subject marker particle

「やる ; yaru 」-> to do

「しか ; shika 」-> only (with neg. verb)

「ねェっ ; neee 」-> not

「て思ってた ; te omotteta 」-> was thinking

「でも ; demo 」-> but

「違う ; chigau 」-> to differ

「みてえ ; mitee 」-> looks; seems

「だ ; da 」-> be

= “Here… before coming, I spoke with mom. You… I thought you couldn’t fight anymore and I was thinking only I would do it.... but, it seems different.”

「泣き終わったら立てよ。皆で燈矢兄を止めに行こう」

「泣き終わったら ; nakiowattara 」-> when you’re done crying

「立て ; tate 」-> stand up

「よ ; yo 」-> emphasis particle

「皆 ; minna 」-> everyone

「で ; de 」-> with

「燈矢兄 ; touya nii 」-> Touya-Nii

「を ; o 」-> direct object marker

「止めに行こう ; tome ni ikou 」-> let’s go stop

= “When you’re done crying, stand up. Let’s go stop Touya-Nii with everyone.”

Anyway, that concludes the comparison for chapter 302, which took a while to make because, to be honest, this is a very odd chapter. I know people continue to view this as the Todofam intending on saving Dabi, but the problem is simply that the present time scenes don’t really make sense in context with the flashbacks. Endeavor crying for three chapters straight somehow symbolizes that he regrets the past and has changed when in reality, none of them fully understand where everything went wrong and are trying to fix the problem incorrectly. It feels a bit as though they are downplaying what happened and how much Endeavor and Rei are responsible for Dabi’s existence by simply boiling it down to them not knowing what to say to Touya and by having both Fuyumi and Natsuo say they are also responsible without their parents telling them that they were children and thus could not possibly be held responsible the same way.

Personally, I’m glad that the focus seems to be shifting away from this storyline for now because it was really hard to read this chapter with all these weird lines. While I do continue to hope that Dabi will be redeemed and saved by the end of the story, I also still think that Horikoshi isn’t writing this in a good way, considering the contradictions and the constant “good vs. bad victim” mentality that all these characters are constantly voicing paired with the really odd ways characters are acting at the moment (= Rei in chapter 303???). It’s odd they want Endeavor to be involved in this and even weirder that they (in chapter 303) accept Hawks and Best Jeanist wanting to be part of this too, when they all saw the broadcast and thus all saw that Hawks killed Twice, aka Dabi’s friend and someone on the same side as him, which makes it feel like they are either too dumb to realize or simply don’t care that there is a high chance that Hawks is just going to end up killing (or at least trying to) Dabi, too. It’s also odd that Rei is apologizing to both Hawks and Best Jeanist since Dabi hasn’t done anything to Best Jeanist so what’s up with that? Anyway, she better apologize to Dabi too...

Anyway, so right now, the translation differences aren’t so much a problem as the writing in itself is and for now, we will probably have to wait a while to see how this storyline will continue and how exactly they plan on taking care of Dabi. 

Thanks for reading!

#translation #302 #todoroki #dabi #touya #bnha #mine #japanese #shouto

[idektbhmhaismylife]

Rei and Touya Were Done Dirty.

It’s time to talk about Touya and Rei in chapter 302.

So um, I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’m kind of starting to think (or notice? Idk) that Dabi and Rei were and are sort of being used... for the benefit of a certain other character.

There’s not a lot of evidence, but..

Enji decided to isolate Shoto from his siblings right after the incident where Touya nearly harmed/killed him (because of Enji), which makes it seem like “he did it to protect Shoto” (that’s obviously not why he did it, but it is framed that way, so some people think that that’s why and blame Touya for it).

Now onto the (very blatant) retcons.

The Quirk Marriage between Rei and Enji is retconned so that it is not forced (even though a light novel explicitly states that Enji forced Rei to marry him). 

This makes Rei more guilty and Enji more innocent than previously established (and that was obviously the purpose of this retcon). Now Rei is guilty of choosing to marry Enji, Enji is not guilty of forcing Rei to marry him, and the narrator of the light novel lied (as well as Touya in chapter 290). 

The timeline is retconned so that Touya's leave takes place before Rei's hospitalization, and it seems like Rei wouldn't have had her breakdown if Touya didn't fake his death (and you know, Touya deserves to be blamed for faking his death to escape from an abusive household after his abuser caused him to literally go up in flames, but Enji doesn’t deserve to be blamed for abusing Rei because he was grieving Touya). It looks like because Enji harbored frustration and guilt over killing Touya, he got worse.

This really helps people to come to the conclusion that “he was in a bad place after losing his son and that’s why he _____” “he didn’t mean to hurt his family,” and “he wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t for Touya.”

At first, I wondered if Fuyumi’s statement was a mistranslation and she actually said something like: “It was around the time/before Mom went away... her condition got even worse... to the point that she couldn’t look at Shoto...” which would make more sense, but it has to be a retcon because...

Apparently, the “once Touya was gone” part was a “mistake” and once you remove it, it’s obvious that Rei’s hospitalization happened first. 🙄

The “once Touya was gone” part makes no difference. Removing it does not make a difference. There is no difference. It still seems like Touya left, and then Enji abused Rei more and more. The “mistake” still is not fixed (psst, it’s not a mistake). Also, Shoto’s supposed to have his scar already. 

And the translation kinda makes it seem like Enji started abusing Shoto because Touya was gone which is false, and even though we’re shown that Enji trained Shoto and abused Rei before Touya died, there are still people who believe that he started being abusive after Touya died and not before-

It’s pretty clear that we’re not supposed to hold what Enji did to Touya against him whatsoever, because he didn’t know what to say to him, he searched for him, he was so upset after losing Touya that he abused his wife more and more and caused her to lose her sanity, and everyone is responsible for what happened to Touya. 

Speaking of everyone being responsible for what happened to Touya...

Natsuo pointed out that Enji is the one who started everything, but shortly after that, Rei told Enji that he's not the only one who's responsible (she actually said that they’re all responsible for the current circumstances- I guess you could read that as “we all have to deal with this as a family now,” but it could’ve been worded differently), rendering Natsuo's first statement- a very true one- relatively pointless. If there are actually people who blame Natsuo or Fuyumi for anything (which is disgusting), then that helps them.

Just a reminder that Hawks said Enji's family has “lightened his load” a short while later, smacking us in the face with what the true goal of this discussion was.

Also, this panel exists:

You know, it’s amazing. I’m so satisfied...

For so long, Touya has just been Dabi and we’ve been waiting for him to reveal that he’s Touya, waiting for his backstory, waiting for him to be a part of the Todofam subplot. For so long, Rei’s just been in the hospital and we’ve been waiting for her to be discharged, waiting to know more about what she went through, waiting for her to actually do something in the subplot... but Enji got to redeem himself first, Enji’s redemption comes first, and Enji comes first...

Welp, that’s all, folks.

#rei todoroki #todoroki rei #touya todoroki #todoroki touya #dabi #bnha 302 #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #manga spoilers #tw forced marriage #tw abuse #endeavor tw #ppl be like #haha ofc Shotos an unreliable narrator he’s the youngest and he hates Enji but loves Rei! #guess the narrator of the light novel is unreliable too then #Also I know it wasn’t necessary but I feel like a little more narration from Rei and Touya wouldn’t have hurt? #What happened to both of them was really damn tragic #Ik Hori wanted to generate as little sympathy for both of them as possible (and succeeded) but still #Hori doesnt want us to be attracted to Rei so that we don’t mind that she’s being used to serve Enji’s character #Its pretty clear that we’re supposed to be on Enji’s side and have sympathy for him #Im surprised that Hori wasnt bold enough to make Rei say that Enji’s the hero of the family ngl #if Hori wanted us to care about Rei or Touya he would’ve done anything but what he did #Enji is the main character of the Todofam subplot #Hori just said Ill make Dabi reveal that hes Touya and release Rei from the hospital then ill do this with them #also ppl still think Touyas an Enji clone??? #i tried the keep reading thing for the 1st time #r u proud of me #Enjis character arc is the most important element of the Todofam subplot

[hamliet]

I still think Hawks and BJ are the antagonists to the Todoroki plot. I mean they’re the two worst characters to be involved (BJ being a little bitch after Touya’s reveal and Hawks refusing to acknowledge that Enji sucks), but with them being outward and open about their involvement, in what way do you think they can pull off being the antagonists? They said they wanted to fight with them so they’re not gonna sneak around or anything...so I’m wondering how it could work.

Well, this is harsher than I’d be towards Hawks, but I also agree I don’t think any other role makes sense with what we have so far, unless Horikoshi is just... dropping the ball on Hawks. 

See, I think what bother me in fandom is that people tend to either think Horikoshi is writing a masterpiece in which every shift in framing is utterly brilliant and done deliberately and he never indulges in not-so-great writing, or that he's a terrible, incompetent, and even offensive writer. 

I truly don't think either of those are the case. I critique everything, even my beloved Dostoyevsky and Shakespeare (oh and I’m def subject to critique too), but I also don't think BNHA is reinventing the wheel or that it is terribly unique or revolutionary. I wouldn’t call it on the same level of literary impact as manga like Shingeki no Kyojin, but I would say it has a lot of value to analyze in and of itself too. I also don't think Horikoshi is a bad writer, which is why even with this bad writing this chapter I'm not overly concerned about the overall story trajectory. I think he knows how to tell a story and he has deep compassion that is evident in his characters and arcs. Some are willing to wait for a full story before criticizing; others are not, because serial fiction is supposed to satisfy and tantalize at the same time in each installment (which is almost impossible to do imo, but the strengths of serial fiction as a medium far outweigh the drawbacks). 

I personally think that if this chapter attempts to show Hawks on a good trajectory, it’s bad writing objectively speaking (well, good/bad writing is always subjective, but it fits the broader literary consensus of what constitutes poor writing). You don’t redeem a character by having them face no consequences (guilt, even internal guilt, is a consequence!) and still improve. Hawks has no guilt. He’s supposedly inspired by Twice, inspiration that lingers even after Hawks literally stabbed him in the back. Sorry, that doesn’t make any sense in a story. If this is really what inspired Hawks to change, well damn then, why not let Dabi kill Enji or Shigaraki All Might? Let that inspire them to change, since murder can work, right? Unless the answer to Toga’s questions is supposed to be “actually villains are not people,” which I think we all agree is not the case.  

I’m with you and not quite buying Hawks’ seeming alignment with the Save Touya Squad. If it is supposed to be genuine, then I’m happy for fans while also thinking it’s cheap writing that offers nothing remotely interesting to the story. Stories need consequences (positive and negative) for characters to progress. We need to see how they progress from Point A to Point B. 

It’s why I am not thrilled with Shouto's writing of late: much of it is told rather than shown. Give Shouto his own struggles instead of holding him up as a shining beacon of light to protect the Todofam and hero society from trauma he happens to share. Let Shouto feel his pain and excel in his strengths; that is what makes Shouto a compelling character for me, by far my favorite of the heroes. It seems like Shouto is constantly categorized as one or the other: a hero who saves his family, or a traumatized abuse survivor, black (red) and white, hot and cold, scarred and whole. Let him be both, please and thank you. While characters like Rei seem to acknowledge this, the story is not like... showing it in the framing. You’re telling me that he’s hurting, but we don’t get to see Rei convincing Shouto that Enji has to take responsibility and that Shouto doesn’t have to be the hero of the family alone. We’re just told this happened--offscreen. 

I’m often hit with “you want the villains to escape consequence!” when I say I want the villains to not go to prison at the end. However, this isn’t true. I have said I’m fine with a hospital setting (healing) and a chance to work with other troubled kids eventually (if safe, but story) to save them. And most important? I want Touya, Tenko, and Himiko to realize their murderous destruction and hedonism were wrong. I want them to realize the world shouldn’t be destroyed, and that true empathetic heroes can exist. I want the ending, be it working with kids or in a hospital or whatnot, to show that they have changed and no longer think it’s fine to kill to make a point (which is what Hawks’ story seems to be saying right now).

Hawks needs to learn that killing Twice was wrong, and he needs a consequence to learn that that was the case. If he’s just magically snapping his feathers and now on the path of empathy and saving Touya, that’s nonsensical writing. How did we go from this...

To Hawks saying he wants to be just like Twice? To Hawks partnering with the Todos to bring back a long-lost son who tried to kill Hawks? When as far as we know Hawks doesn’t seem to realize that Dabi’s flames got hotter and hotter because he really did care about Twice? Unless that happened too and we just... are supposed to realize it happened off screen? 

Do we think Hawks’ mode of confronting his negative foil in Twice is the Way to Go? That Deku, Ochaco, and Shouto should copy that when it comes to Shigaraki, Toga, and Dabi? I sure don’t think so. I really hope not, at least. If Hawks is going to be inspired by Shouto to realize he screwed up by murdering Twice, then why is he already admiring Shouto while also still not really showing regret? 

Is Shouto’s “he’s too close” humor, or a boundary thing symbolic of hero society controlling their family?

Then again, if Hawks is tricking the Todorokis, I still think that’s not excellently done because it’s not in-character. I would guess a conflict might arise later on to cause this trouble, but... again. Serial fiction and its inborn conundrums. This chapter just seems like bad writing. It doesn’t mean that Horikoshi’s a bad writer or that the story overall is poorly written. All stories have flaws, and overall, I really enjoy BNHA only behind BSD in terms of ongoing manga. 

Then again, the moment I got hope for Jin he then went the way I’d initially predicted and died tragically, so maybe I should just trust that the larger arcs of the story will make sense even if the individual chapters stumble a bit. which does not inherently mean hawks will die just that consequences and framing should be like a thing

#ask hamliet #dabi #bnha 303 #mha 303 #bnha meta #mha meta #todoroki touya #takami keigo #hawks #todoroki family #best jeanist #bnha theory #mha theory #Anonymous

[greenhappyseed]

Oh no I only meant Endeavour and Dabi not Shouto. Shouto is not done. But I do think the Todofam plot is over with including Dabi's and Endeavour's parts. There's nothing left for them to do and anything that is left can be left for the epilogue. Not to mention they are both badly injured so they can't really do much anyway. Shouto on the other hand is not badly injured just exhausted and after a bit of a nap should be fine to go again.

Why would Dabi have business with AFO? He needs to stay out of it this is a fight for the next generation of heroes. Dabi's had his time. Let the next generation of heroes who haven't done anything yet like Shouto have his time and the rest of 1-A

I suppose, but then again, Aizawa stared down Tomura after having his face bashed in (USJ) and after amputating his own leg (PLF war). All Might defeated AFO once with his own intestines falling out, and once with his quirk residing only in his right arm (which shattered upon use). Mirio gets shot and impaled and is still on his feet. Mirko goes on the offensive after losing her third limb. If Horikoshi wants everyone to get up and fight, then there’s a way. There’s also the vestige battle, where Horikoshi could have characters fight without their physical bodies being moved.

Toya has business with AFO stemming from Ch. 350, where it was revealed that AFO and Ujiko took Toya’s charred body and did…something…to fix him up before he awoke 3 years later. AFO wanted to raise Toya and groom him to be a spare in case Tomura didn’t work out. The only thing that spared Toya was that he was too fixated on Endeavor to submit to AFO.

Idk what you mean by “next generation” because Toya is in the middle. He’s 24, so he’s close to Hawks (23), Burnin (26), and Mirko (27). Even Bubble Girl (21). I guess you could say he’s a year closer to Aizawa (31) than 1A (16 mostly), but I don’t think that makes him a boomer. If anything, what makes Toya “old” is that he wants to appeal to his traditional, conservative father. But MHA is NOT the type of story where the teenagers save the world by themselves. Horikoshi has taken great care to show adults, parents, teachers, pro heroes, sidekicks, elementary school students, and UA students all playing a part in the final battle. 1A will lead the charge by changing how the world views heroism, but winning against AFO — and actually changing society for the better — will be a collective effort.

#bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #toya todoroki #todofam #afo #all for one #mha 350 #bnha 350