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delawaredetroit · 2 months

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She's honestly one of the few LOV characters who has consistently had a relatively coherent systemic critique of hero society while actually believing in a future. It's actually not surprising she follows Stain even if she doesn't exactly share his ideology.

Shigaraki and Dabi's systemic critiques are muddled by the involvement of All for One and Endeavor in their stories. In that Shigaraki was groomed to see only the worst in everything and prevented by All for One from experiencing anything that wasn't misery. And Dabi in both what created him and his current goals are tied up too much in Endeavor specific neuroses. There are systemic critiques in there, but you have to pull back a few layers of scheming and circumstances that wouldn't apply to even most disenfranchised people in their society.

Toga doesn't have that problem. She was a "normal girl" from a "normal family". She (and Twice) are the examples of the psychological toll of their society's suppression of all quirks outside of heroics.

Due to the nature of Toga's quirk, she connects to people by drinking blood. This didn't inherently have to include violence. People routinely get small injuries in their day to day lives. Blood banks exist. Even the narrative directly acknowledges this - baby Toga didn't attack other children, she "kissed their booboos".

But because they live in a society based in suppression, she was treated poorly every time her quirk - her individuality - affected her relationships with people. And the fact that her parents, her quirk counselor are faceless - they could have been anyone. The reactions she received by those around her are typical of their society.

And kid Toga did her best to put on that faceless mask too, but it didn't fit right. In a moment of weakness - one bad day you could say - she attacked her crush after seeing him bleed in a fight. And she likely felt connected to another person for the first time in years. But Saito died. And then she was a villain. And thus the connection was established. She could only feel connected to people through violence - through causing harm to the people she wants connection with.

In the end though, Toga wants acceptance and believes a future like that is possible. But her experience has told her that the only way to accomplish that is through violence. Stain also killed to establish a future he wanted. He had a significant fanbase despite having a "creepy" quirk that necessitates the ingestion of blood. This might be the first time Toga saw society interact with a person with a quirk like hers in a way other than outright disgust. It's not a surprise she was also inspired by Stain.

#bnha reread #bnha 68 #bnha #toga himiko #shigaraki tomura #todoroki touya #dabi #twice #bubaigawara jin #hero killer stain #akaguro chizome #the final arc has really solidified how important toga's arc is to the series' main themes #bc you can't deal with her conflict by defeating a particular baddy or fixing one family - the system must change

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saito51mha · 9 months

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Saito , le crush de Toga qu'elle a attaqué

Il est vivant ou non ? Car si il est j'adorerais le voir apparaitre

#mha saito #toga/saito #sang #himiko toga

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deusvervewrites · 13 days

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On the previous topic of characterization, it is weird how many people call Toga a “Yandere” when she doesn’t show many of those traits, especially jealousy with how she is ecstatic that Uraraka also likes Midoriya. The closest she comes to jealousy is that Uraraka is close to the person that she (Uraraka) likes and notes it must be nice.

Uraraka has shown more jealousy than Toga ever has, at least concerning romantic interest.

Yeah that's always bothered me about people saying that about her. Hell, she's not even that obsessive; Saito was never confirmed to have died because she never mentions him, and she drops her interest in Midoriya and Uraraka after a single bad conversation with each of them--Uraraka has to make the effort to reach her again.

So she's not possessive, and she's not obsessive... all we've got left is "girl in school uniform with a knife" which I'll be honest isn't much to base a character archetype around.

Though, considering that the Yandere trope was invented by people looking at Yuno from Future Diary and seeing her absolute dogshit mental state desperately clinging to the one lifeline she had while also being blatantly played for horror and tragedy and explicitly acknowledged as toxic for them both and thinking "Ah yes, this will be an excellent addition to the Stock Harem/Comedy Ensemble Girls list," I can't exactly say that it's unexpected for the Toga-As-Yandere claim to appear.

Unfortunately thinking about all this has finally caused my brain to fire the last synapse needed to make a horrifying conclusion:

The real Yandere is Nighteye

#asks #meta

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super-paper · 4 months

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I feel like Toga and All for One have many similarities, but I am unable to articulate as to why I feel this way.

I think it's safe to say that AFO is an intentional foil to Himiko, Tenko, and Touya at this point! I've discussed how he shares body motifs with all three of them before, but his backstory more or less cemented that he's supposed to be read as "the worst possible extreme and the worst possible conclusion" to each of the trio's respective origins and overall stories.

As for how Himiko and AFO foil each other, specifically:

Cannibalism as a metaphor for Not cannibalism

Let's get the obvious point outta the way first, lol.

AFO and Himiko are both established as children that society wasn't prepared or willing to care for-- AFO was born during the advent of quirks where "paranormal" children like him were treated as diseased and shunned (or worse) by the rest of society, while Himiko was born during an "era of peace" where civilians are expected to maintain said peace through endlessly conformity and complacency-- outside of pro-heroism, civilians are essentially expected to role-play as though they've returned to "normalcy" (i.e. pre-quirk society) and the fear of being labeled as "abnormal" (despite living in a post-paranormal society) drives them to shun those who can't easily conform.

Both AFO and Himiko's "first sin" involves the "consumption of their fellow humans," which they both commit when they are too young to fully understand what they're doing-- and both acts of consumption were initially tied to their attempts to fulfill a basic human "need" that wasn't being provided for. Himiko drank the blood of a friend whose smile she envied after years of having her own smile called "creepy," AFO was a starving newborn whose mother couldn't provide him milk or protection and whose cries were ultimately ignored by everyone else. When Himiko takes someone's blood and "becomes someone else", she finally feels good "about herself". When AFO takes his mom's quirk and uses it to drink her blood, he no longer feels hungry and no longer has any reason to cry out for help/attention. Thus, AFO & Himiko ultimately learn and internalize that in order to fulfill their own neglected needs, they need to take from others.

Something something re: "the catharsis that comes with finally """"embracing your true nature'"""" so you can finally become what your family always feared you'd be (POV: you are 14 years old and utterly doomed by the narrative) (and so is the main object of your ""affection"") (puberty is a bitch ain't it!)" something something

To Himiko, the consumption of others becomes a way to "become somebody else"-- someone the world will treat more kindly than they treat "Toga Himiko." She feels the urge to completely drain the blood of anyone who has the life and relationships that she desperately wants for herself. Before that, drinking blood was simply her way of expressing admiration/affection and fell under the banner of MHA's definition of "pure love" (i.e. love as imitation). Himiko showed no inclination towards completely draining the blood of those she loves until her psychotic break with Saito, and she is notably able to restrain her supposed "urges" around the LOV despite loving them deeply. The "urge to drain those she loves completely" isn't actually tied to her quirk, but to her desire to "become someone else."

To AFO, the consumption of others became yet another way to rob them of their autonomy-- by taking away "a part of them" and forcibly turning it into a part himself in the most base, unsettling, and crude way possible. Before that, his consumption of others was simply driven by his instinct to survive. AFO's "urge to take" is tied to the preconception that no one will provide for him or look at him UNLESS he is taking something from them-- like Himiko, his quirk merely makes it easier for him to act on urges that don't actually stem from the quirk itself. AFO's warped perception of other people balloons wildly out of control by the time he reaches his teens, and finally cumulates in him ""eating"" the glowing baby out of jealousy:

*Kills someone over their follower count* Man, AFO is nvr gonna beat the "was a tiktok e-girl in his previous life" allegations

AFO and Himiko both "consume" other people out of jealousy and a desire to make up for what they feel they lack as individuals-- but an important distinction between the two of them, I feel, is that Himiko's consumption of others is ultimately driven by her desire to connect with other people while AFO's consumption is instead based on fear + mistrust of others. It's the difference between "Consumption as wanting to become a part of someone and become a part of the world they live in (+ consumption as a way to become a part of the world by living vicariously through someone else)" and "consumption as forcibly making someone a part of you and forcibly taking away their connection to the world."

Speaking of "consuming someone who has traits you envy in an attempt to make those traits your own" *pointedly looks at AFO's dynamic with Tomura* ...........yearp.

It's only after Himiko's human needs are finally addressed by Ochako, that Himiko learns the desire to "give" rather than take. I feel that this is probably one of the core take aways of the series while more or less being the "end goal" of the OFAFO plot-- "endless giving without ever taking" (All Might becoming the number one hero at the steep price of himself and Izuku almost destroying himself in the process of trying to emulate All Might) and "endless taking without ever giving" (AFO full stop, as well as society itself towards both the heroes and villains) are both extremes that only cause more people to get hurt. There has to be reciprocity. It has to be "One for All -AND- All for One." Give -AND- Take.

Side note: Himiko's favorite food being pomegranates also strikes me as ironic when you remember that Hori is gigantic mythology nerd-- In both art and mythology, it's not uncommon for pomegranates to be used as a visual for "flesh" and for their consumption to be used as a stand in for cannibalism. In greek mythology, pomegranates are known as the "fruit of the dead", and are believed to have originated from the blood of Adonis. There is also the legend of Persephone, who was cursed to remain within the underworld for six months each year as the price for consuming six pomegranate seeds while in hell.

The Buddhist legend of Hairiti/Kishimojin also stands out for framing pomegranates as a "cure" for cannibalism, by offering them to man-eating demons in lieu of flesh:

As for AFO-- it's been pointed out by several different people that he shares several parallels with the greek titan, Cronus, who is most famous for having devoured his own children whole.

With that in mind, I feel like the act of consuming blood has an almost mythological edge to it for these two (outside the obvious reality-based social stigma of it lol)-- the act of "eating" others, regardless of intent, is what condemned both AFO and Himiko to hell. But Himiko is offered a way out of that hell and ultimately finds salvation in allowing herself to be "consumed" in turn, while AFO just doubles down on eating every rando beefcake he can get his hands on while giggling like a school girl (and yet, when the chance to eat Toshi finally presents itself, he totally fails to capitalize on it. mfer can't even "cannibalism as a metaphor freaky gay sex with your dramaturgical foil" right smh 😤).

As an aside, when I say "people generally read into MHA too literally and expect entirely too literal conclusions for what is largely a fantastical story about abuse/trauma/coping mechanisms," how MHA depicts ""cannibalism"" through Himiko is actually one of the examples that comes to mind lol. So many people think that death or jail is the only appropriate conclusion for Himiko's character because it's the "only realistic conclusion" like they aren't reading a story where people have tape dispensers for arms lmfao.

OMNOMNOM-- (On Mouths)

Not much to elaborate on here, mouths (and smiles) are AFO and Himiko's shared body motif in MHA's narrative. AFO's mouth is his only distinguishable facial feature during Parts 1 & 2, Himiko's smile/mouth is her defining feature and how others perceive it is a source of trauma for her. Her villain outfit is notable in how it covers her mouth/hides her smile while also resembling AFO's act 1 mask:

*squish*

During the final war, Himiko puts her mask on and hides her mouth immediately after being rejected by Izuku. This is symbolic of a lot of different things, but mostly, it drives home how she is no longer interested in talking things out and has "fully embraced being a villain." Ochako understands what's at stake and spends the rest of the fight trying to "take the mask back off"-- she understands there is something behind Himiko's villain mask that she needs to save.

Meanwhile, Toshi smashes past AFO's mask during Kamino and finds there is simply nothing underneath it-- reinforcing the idea that AFO has made "being a villain" his entire identity and that there is nothing worth saving behind his mask. However, Toshi was also the one who "smashed" AFO's facial features away in the first place. AFO definitely deserved getting his head popped, but in the context of MHA as a whole, I feel like AFO and Toshi's dynamic only highlights the overall tragedy of the hero/villain system and why it's a good thing that the new generation is starting to challenge it.

It is worth mentioning that mouths are frequently used to mask and dehumanize within the context of MHA's narrative, but this isn't something exclusive to AFO and Himiko ('sup Toshi) (''sup Tomura).

(I don't actually have anything else to add here lol)

Demon Child, Demon Lord

AFO and Himiko also stand out in how they're both framed as having been "born bad"-- Himiko by her parents, AFO by himself and the narration. Discerning readers already know that this is a crock of shit.

Child for One sees the Demon Lord being surrounded by people who provide for him out of fear while he's stuck living in isolation and squalor with Yoichi, and decides the only appropriate reaction to this is to make a children's comic book his entire personality (he's just like me fr)-- He embraces the idea of becoming a demon and shedding off his humanity, and immediately starts self-styling himself off a generic biz-caz corporate shmuck (lmfao).

Unlike AFO, Himiko resists the label of "demon" as much as she can-- she styles herself as "a cute high school girl" despite being a middle school drop out because she realizes the world will treat her a little more kindly this way (but only a little). Himiko longs to be seen as human, but is made to feel like a monster instead.

What I find interesting is that AFO himself outright admits that he lacked the ego/awareness necessary to "consciously" take Yoichi's quirk when they were children-- yet, both he and the narration continuously frame the siphoning of his mother's life, quirk, and Yoichi's nutrients as though they were intentional, malicious acts. AFO leans into this framing and builds his whole identity around it until that framing is finally pulled away from him literal seconds before his death.

Being "human" to Himiko means going back to a time where she was loved and accepted unconditionally. Being "human" to AFO means going back to being that screaming infant who no one would look at.

Like it or not, everyone is human in the end little dude.

Other Miscellaneous Similarities:

This one doesn't require much explanation-- through prioritizing their own needs above all else, AFO and Himiko both dehumanize other people the same way other people dehumanize them. Himiko is still a child, however-- and she is ultimately saved by her desire to be accepted and form genuine connections with others. Her final fight with Ochako is as much about getting Himiko to see Ochako as "human" as it is Ochako acknowledging Himiko's humanity. Once again, it's all about reciprocity/give-and-take.

""join our family and let me raise you! :D *hard cut to a burning orphanage*" AFO being genuinely puzzled that ppl aren't jumping at the chance to raised by him is my favorite running gag in mha.

Both AFO and Himiko also have a habit of being.... inappropriately intimate with other people, often to the point where whatever "relationship" they have with others exists almost entirely in their own head. Himiko calls Tsuyu by her first name and gets told to cut it out because this is a privilege Tsuyu reserves for her friends, and Himiko immediately interprets this as Tsuyu offering to be friends. AFO calls his worshippers his "friends" and his cult "his family" and asks that his young victims call him "uncle" like he's a kindly family friend and not the dude who is blackmailing them into betraying all their friends.

Also, neva 4get.....

To think AFO could have also had fun yuri times if he had just stopped being a dickhead for five seconds. Tragic. 😔

(/j)

#sophie.txt #mha.txt #all for one #toga himiko #thank you for the ask!#threw in some stealth ochako-toshi parallels for good measure bc tbh it makes AFOmight as a ship even funnier #just two guys who fumbled each other so hard it changed the trajectory of the whole story lmfao 😭

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greenhappyseed · 11 months

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Extremely belated MHA 392 leak reactions:

Young Himiko’s parents thought she wasn’t normal, so they tried to use quirk counseling to force her to fit in. Sounds a lot like the Aoyamas.

Except the Togas repeatedly say their daughter is not normal until they reach their breaking point and say she’s not human. Holy shit, denying their CHILD’S humanity to her face is a whole new level of horror. Toya’s parents denied him attention and Tomura’s parents denied him his dreams, but Himiko’s parents denied her existence as a person.

It makes me so sad that Himiko felt she wanted to drink blood and nobody else does. That just can’t be true! We know Stain licks blood and Vlad King can manipulate his own blood, so even if Himiko’s quirk is a mutation or rare, there have to be others out there. That’s the quirk counseling she needed.

Himiko remains haunted by the “mask” she wore, which broke when she killed her middle school crush, Saito (who looked like Izuku). She was then forced to run away from home. In other words, inside Himiko’s head, she’s agreeing with her parents that the “real” mask-less Himiko is a killer. A monster. She loves being full of love, but she’s resigning herself to being a villainous inhuman. She tried to escape what she is and be free but got “caught” (her greatest fear) by her lack of humanity.

Okay, I really wasn’t expecting Kamui Woods to pop up again. Definitely not on my bingo card!!

Clones of Tsu and Jiro appear, meaning the Twices aren’t JUST Twices. They’re clones of Toga-as-Twice and can independently drink blood and transform?!?!???

The real Tsu explains to Himiko what Ochako is trying to do. Tsu even reflects on her pre-Kamino behavior that she later recanted. Himiko may not realize it, but Tsu is saying that righteous feelings DO matter. Damn the man, save Empire Records Himiko Toga.

Then Tsu says that understanding is harder than arresting or killing people. I’m excited for the official translation here, and I’m hoping Tsu is saying that BOTH heroes and villains are wrong.

Himiko doesn’t listen and just stabs Ochako, making her spit blood. However, Himiko doesn’t seem to delight in seeing bloody Ochako the same way she swooned over bloody Izuku. That’s how we know something is very, very wrong. Himiko says she doesn’t feel the same joy as everyone else, and it sounds like she’s completely lost her lust for life.

I’m aware there some fandom swirl? Controversy? Over a panel of Himiko grabbing Ochako. Idk, I won’t look until Sunday, so I’m not weighing in on that rn.

#bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha 392 #mha 392 #ochako uraraka #uravity #himiko toga #tsuyu asui #froppy #bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia

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dirt-apple-productions · 1 year

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Shigaraki Month, Day 15: The Sacred Six! For this month’s free day I drew the six core characters from Sazanka. From left to right we have Couraneya Hallowyra’s final design, Hikaru Saito, Tenko Shimura-Toshinori, Himiko Toga, Ochako Uraraka, and Izuku Midoriya! Can’t wait to tell their stories coming up here soon. 😊

Note: I based this drawing off of the Soul Eater promotional art sketches where the characters are cuddly with one another. The only romantic ships intended for display are Shigatoga and Dekuraka (Couraneya and Saito have a 4-year difference, so please read this as platonic.)

**This is a duplicate for the Shigatoga tag.**

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katkit-42 · 8 months

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I've been thinking about toga himiko again (I was explaining her character arc to my roommate) and like. There's two things I want to highlight about her.

Toga's character is "a girl who wants to fall in love and be loved in return."

First: This is very specifically referring to romantic love. But every romantic love she experiences sends her further from society. She was in love with Saito, but he ended up being her first victim, sending her on the path to the LOV (whether you think it was purposeful or not, it's besides the point). She's in love with Deku and Uraraka, but both of them refused any advances because she was "weird" and "unnatural". And even though she started off ignoring their rejections, as time went on, you can see how those rejections wore her down. She isn't a "crazy girl who only sees what she wants to see"--she knew how Ochako and Deku felt about her. That's why she cried when asking Ochako if she deserved to live. That's why she lashed out when Deku rejected her love confession.

And that's also why Ochako finally saying "you're the cutest in the whole world" made her so happy. She's finally been acknowledged as a regular girl in love.

Second: intertwined with this, we see Toga develop platonic bonds with the league. She loves Dabi, who tells her to smile, Shigaraki who supports her dreams (even when they contradict his), and like... do I need to even say anything about Twice. These feelings they have are not romantic love. They are platonic, and Toga loves and is loved by them.

The thing that I love most about Ochako and Toga's last fight, is that it is everything Toga wanted. She got to confess her love to the girl she's in love with and Ochako responded in kind. Even though Ochako may not feel the same romantic love, she does love Toga in return. Toga smiles, finally happy to have the love she craved.

But then. Toga rejects it.

Toga got what she wanted: a romantic interest loves her in return. But she will not fall to society for Ochako. She will not sit in a jail cell for Ochako to visit everyday. Her time in the league has changed her. It's not that she doesn't want to be romantically loved, but it's that her platonic love for her family is stronger than that. She has morals beyond "I want to be the one I love". She chose her morals--the morals informed by her family, by her platonic bonds--over her craving for a romantic partner.

And I think that's an amazing point of her character arc. She was introduced as a love crazy teen girl with no morals, and now? She's still love obsessed, she still loves intensely and violently, but she has a moral backbone that no one will shake. She won't turn her back on what she sees as good and evil for the ones she loves.

#boku no hero academia #bnha #bnha spoilers #toga himiko #togachako #togas character arc makes me go AAAAAAAAA

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