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duendepika · 2 days

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There are a lot of rumors going around now ever since 420 that it's "not AFO" anymore, but these theories all seem to assume that the AFO we know is a regular human. The reality is that Horikoshi has never given us any indication that he is or was, and he has indeed done much to tell us that AFO is NOT human.

This post is primarily a character study of AFO (Part 1) with two theories added onto the end.

AFO is a unique entity in that he IS his quirk and always has been.

AFO and Yoichi are two halves of a whole, the human and the physical manifestation of the first quirk.

AFO-OFA are the same, and the singularity event already occurred. This theory is 3-fold, though I'd say the second and third parts are tangential and messier. I don't include panels for every single section, but I reference which chapters to check! I am use official translations and the Japanese originals ONLY. I know there are some issues with the official translations, but I cross-check with the Japanese. I have found far more errors in the fan translation.

Part One - Character Study

Many wonder how much quirks "control" or drive a person versus how much a person's personality and character at birth drives their quirk. The discussion is especially common with villains, but when it comes to AFO, it's largely irrelevant. He is more quirk than human to begin with.

AFO as a person has very limited emotional depth and personality (311). He consciously built his personality around a fictional character. He requires other vessels because he doesn't have enough emotion or strong will (305, 408). He only exhibits any emotion after we know he had been "contaminated" by his connection with Shigaraki. Before even getting into the theory proper, I want to point out that lacking a strong will is NOT merely a sign of being a villain. We have seen plenty of villains with extremely strong wills and feelings that have been acknowledged by the main characters. Giving villains a strong will and emotions are how Horikoshi humanizes them. AFO is unique in that he lacks these for the most part. From very early on, Horikoshi has very intentionally presented AFO as apart not just from the heroes but from any other significant villain with depth.

AFO does frequently present himself as something other than human, and while this could be wishful thinking or him trying too hard to be that "Demon Lord", there are plenty of instances in the story where it seems that he genuinely is not quite human. 1) This is even reflected in his appearance (entirely white and washed-out with blank, matte eyes without irises, etc) and his mannerisms. He isn't depicted with facial expressions or any semblance of emotions until he decides to be All For One, the Demon Lord as a teenager (407, 408). In fact, he seems to become MORE human once he decides to become the Demon Lord.

2) His choices and attitudes are completely arbitrary (365, 407). All we have is "he was born with nothing and decided everything therefore belonged to him". There doesn't seem to be any deeper logic, some originating hurt, behind his behavior. He picked a goal and an identity that seemed entertaining and just went with it.

3) Total inability to engage with fiction in a meaningful way, and given how much of this narrative centers around "stories", this is noteworthy. He latches onto one particular element of Captain Hero as opposed to engaging with the story as a whole and getting any meaning out of it (193, 333, 407).

4) He lacks the most basic human emotions. Hawks' and Endeavor's commentary on how something missing in him were not merely "o he's a villain" comments, but a reflection on the character as Horikoshi writes him. He is fundamentally incapable of experiencing his own emotions (beyond limited ones) and therefore relies on others. We see him clearly excited in 333 when he is finally starting to feel something due to his connection with Shigaraki.

Despite the fact that he can objectively manipulate people, he has a very limited understanding of human relationships. This is seen not only in his constant surprise/confusion over totally normal human behavior by others, most notably by Machia (382/383), but in his very language. When he says he loves Yoichi (193), the Japanese he uses is abnormal: 愛する is VERY rarely used despite it being the most widely-known form of the word; it's like he just used whatever word he heard first without understanding the meaning behind it. The same goes for how freely he uses the word friend (193, 333).

5) He's been acting for most of his life, not just as the "Demon Lord", but as a human at all. There are suggestions that he tries to act like other people (116) and offhand comments about human behavior as if he has to study it (234). Granted, these could be interpreted as generic villain-esque statements, but they hold much more meaning given what we know of his backstory. While his brother made an attempt to be a normal member of society, AFO made zero effort there for quite some time. He acted like a wild animal, and given that his brother was raised in the exact same environment, it can't be said it's just because of their situation. The term "people suit" very much applies to him.

6) Moving on to physical elements, he's already been brought back to life once. We are initially led to believe that he somehow survived/escaped (57, 59), but we later learn that he did actually die and was clearly dead for hours if not longer (408). If Kyudai Garaki really could resurrect the dead as a general rule, I think that would be a bigger plot point, so this is clearly something with AFO, not with the doctor.

7) He can live without his body as long as the quirk passes on, which is so powerful that he can just hijack other bodies. It's not like other quirks which, when stolen or passed on, allow people to live on as helpless ghosts in someone else's mind when their bodies die.

8) He has an abnormal ability to withstand extreme mental situations. Even though characters in this series have absurd physical limits, mentally nobody is depicted as really super-human besides AFO. Most people could not control their thoughts to the extent he does (116). He also must control what is likely hundreds of quirk vestiges at all times when awake, given that when he sleeps, they take over his nightmares (287) and when he's weakened (356/57, 409), they can rebel. (Worth noting that chapter 287 explicitly explains how it is not guilt or anything of the sort). I'd argue that this mental power level is inhuman even within the context of the manga because it requires such detachment from what is considered fundamentally human.

9) Furthermore, he was wholly sentient and aware from birth (407). AFO as a newborn infant thought and acted like a 2-year-old, and throughout his entire childhood he acted much older than he was. It's possible Horikoshi simply did this to make him more "creepy", but it's so utterly bizarre that I think there's more behind it.

10) AFO's backstory is unique among all characters in that he is presented more like a monster, for lack of a better word, than a human. Unlike all other villains given a backstory, there is no attempt made to "humanize" him. Considering the fact that even other "unforgiveable" villains like Overhaul were still presented as slightly tragic characters who had potential to be good and/or had some redeeming qualities, this is unusual. While the circumstances of his birth could be considered tragic and it's even stated that his own brother doesn't have any faith in him any longer (407), AFO was never portrayed as a victim, never presented as someone readers could be sympathetic towards or relate to.

That said, the base nature of his quirk is "emptiness". He has virtually nothing other than what he takes from others. Therefore, the argument can be made that he is "controlled" by his quirk and that he can't help it because his quirk compels him, but I believe he is a unique entity in that he and his quirk are one and the same. There's no internal conflict there.

I'm not claiming that he is wholly inhuman, as he does have some very basic human tendencies (needing attention, though arguably from him, it's rooted in an infant need to survival and not the kind of attention-seeking kids and adults want) I suspect that simply by living in the world, he does have some semblance of humanity, either from his connection to his brother or because he has been acting long enough.

AFO, as of right now, still does not have a name. 407 /408 made it very clear that "Shigaraki" was something he invented later in life (very likely with Dr. Garaki's influence given the similarities). He was the one to name his brother, Yoichi. I suspect that either: (a) he genuinely has no name other than AFO because I can definitely see Yoichi just not naming him back OR (b) Yoichi gave him a name in return, one he alone knows, and Yoichi using this name will be part of AFO's downfall. If he has a name, and Yoichi uses it, AFO will be called back to whatever slight sliver of humanness he has.

Part Two (Theory)

There is a possibility that AFO and Yoichi are literally two halves of a whole, the human and the human manifestation of the first quirk. OFA is the ghostly remnant of AFO, and neither is complete without the other. Perhaps as the original quirk, it truly was meant to be "kind" as Yoichi said, but it needed a human element to function as such. Because they diverged in the womb, we ended up with AFO the person/quirk.

1) The terms "One for All" and "All for One" are generally said together as a single phrase outside of the manga, and this seems to be the case within the Captain Hero comic that AFO got the names from.

2) AFO is perhaps so obsessed with "owning" Yoichi because he feels incomplete without him. He might not know why, but he knows he needs to be with him, that without his brother, he's not "whole". The current known narrative is that he wants him back simply because Yoichi was the first thing he ever had or "owned" and therefore, he needs him back. I think we can all agree that he goes a tad too far there though (277, 408), given that he seems to be having an ongoing narration to Yoichi in his head (333). As with other things, it could just be to up his creep factor, but it seems like there is possible something more going on.

3) AFO makes a comment about needing Yoichi in 409, though in the Japanese he explicitly says, "I can't do it without you" (my copy of Volume 40 is in the mail, so you'll just have to trust my memory on this until I get it and can update this post with an image). This could simply mean, "I can't go on without you", but it could just as easily mean that he needs Yoichi to be truly complete. This is further exacerbated by his comment in 419: without his brother, there's no point to his final goal at all.

4) Their umbilical cords are connected to one another, not to the mother. This could simply be to demonstrate how connected by fate they are, but it could just as easily have a deeper meaning re: their individual identities.

5) The hand that grew over AFO's mouth in his new body is very likely Yoichi's (419). The 40th volume release included a note about how AFO kept Yoichi's hand for decades and carried it around. If this is the case, then Yoichi's hand grew from his own flesh. Yes, it seems like he chose to have his hand grow there, but if he can alter his appearance at will, then he would surely fix other issues with the body. This suggests, again, some deeper connection between him and Yoichi.

6) AFO's preferred vessels such as Nine and Tenko look very similar to his brother. He wants to inhabit a body that looks like Yoichi's, which is. Something. Sure, he did make an offhand comment suggesting he would have inhabited Hana's body if he got to her earlier, but narratively, the only definite examples we have are Yoichi clones. (just showing hrksh's Nine art here...we all know Shiggy)

Part Three (Very speculative theory)

NOW finally tying all of this back to the Singularity concept.

In chapter 193, Yoichi says we've already passed the singularity (特異点はとうに…過ぎてる), which is odd given that so many characters and readers seem to think we are moving towards that. This is well before Shigaraki's transformation, so unless he's referring to some yet-to-be-revealed secret about Deku himself, this is almost certainly referring to AFO, who Yoichi continues to have some weird mental connection with to some extent. If the singularity already happened with AFO, this probably happened either a) when he was brought back from the dead, or b) simply when he was born at all. Any understanding of the singularity has been misguided from the start.

Perhaps AFO is the real OFA, but because the quirk was too powerful for the "hardware" right from the beginning, the OFA user and AFO diverged in the womb. The whole story has been about them coming together, which also explains why AFO is so obsessed with finding and inhabiting vessels that look identical to his brother.

Notes: There are a couple of minor things I considered going into, but I hesitated to due to lack of evidence in the manga. However, I will quickly mention them here in case anyone is curious: (1) Quirks vs. Human Personalities: AFO-the-body-with-the-copy and AFO-the-original-quirk seem to think, act, and speak exactly the same. Unfortunately, because we only have one other example of a quirk outside the body (Hawks/Fierce Wings) exhibiting sentience and it was only for a couple of panels, I can't say if this is simply "normal" or not. (2) Quirk copies: Again, not enough in the manga to really say one way or another, but I suspect that his copies are unique in that he is just duplicating HIMSELF.

#all for one #afo #mha theory #bnha theory #yoichi #character study

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doodlejoops · 5 months

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Kudou and Yoichi only had two months before AFO killed his brother. Two months. Imagine that in those two months, Yoichi lived in constant fear, not only that AFO would find him, but that he would also find Kudou, knowing all too well how cruel and heartless his brother was and what he would do to Kudou if he found him. But Kudou is kind and patient, he shows him a side of humanity that Yoichi has never experienced, and over those two months, he starts to feel hope again. When Kudou reaches his hand out to him again, he takes it, and when Kudou leans in and offers him the world, he wants it. When Kudou kisses him for the first time and promises them forever, he believes it. But hope is an exquisite pain. And when his brother finds them the morning after their first and only night together, his last thoughts are of the warm hand still holding his.

#bnha 408 spoilers #mha 408 spoilers #kudoichi #ichinii #kudou #yoichi #bnha #mha #joops art

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assassyart · 3 months

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rest in pieces, one for all yaoi

#assassys #kudoichi #ichinii #bnha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #yoichi shigaraki #kudou #second ofa user #first ofa user #yoichi #mha #mha spoilers #mha 413 #isnt it crazy how kudou watched yoichi die #and now yoichi is watching kudou die #wow i love couples doomed by the narrative :(

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codenamesazanka · 4 months

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#shitpost #edit #All For One #Yoichi #nalslastworkingbraincell

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kimbapkimbapp · 5 months

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WHAT DO YOU MEAN KUDOU GOT OFA BEFORE YOICHI DIED WHEN THEY DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT OFA WAS????????

THOSE TWO WERE KISSING FRFR

atp MHA is just gay people dying for each other and I'm here for it

#kudoichi #kudou #yoichi #mha #ofa #2nd user #bnha #bakudeku #togachako

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greenhappyseed · 5 months

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MHA 407 leak reactions

IT’S AFO/OFA BACKSTORY TIME!!! And buckle up for more history of quirks!!!

We open the chapter with a diseased, pregnant prostitute. Very Les Miserables.

She gives birth to twins (AFO and Yoichi) by a river and dies. The water’s current takes the babies away. Very Romulus and Remus.

The mice/rats make their return, eh? Remember Overhaul’s theory? And the experiments he does on mice to better understand Eri’s quirk?

A year later, the glowing baby is born, meaning AFO was born before the glowing baby.

Unfortunately, the publicity surrounding the glowing baby led to anti-quirk extremists, who targeted a young AFO. They think he is diseased and call him an “orphan of the paranormal”… so he kills them using the spike quirk he stole from his mom shortly after his birth. (Fun that AFO was keeping tabs on Overhaul, and he now aligns himself with the PLF, an extremist group that believes in quirk supremacy.)

Child AFO is a total asshat. He stole his mother’s nutrients, killing her and nearly killing his twin, Yoichi. He stole his mother’s quirk. He killed and attacked numerous people. He believes the world belongs to him. Meanwhile, Yoichi throws things at AFO to make him stop, just like young Toshi and his metal pipe. In response, AFO kicks his brother. The narration explains AFO kept Yoichi around as one of his “things.”

(Yeah, I’m not seeing brotherly love here you guys)

More tiny Yoichi reading his tiny comics, woohoo!! They really influence his thinking and make him believe AFO has some goodness in him, somewhere. AFO read some of the comics, and his takeaway was pretty much the exact opposite. Crazy to think the course of events could have been different if AFO said, “Can I read that?” and Yoichi said, “DON’T TOUCH MY STUFF!!!”

But then it turns out AFO killed the glowing baby and stole his quirk because AFO was jealous the glowing one had a higher follower count and held the title of “the first” when he wasn’t. The glowing baby had become a soldier fighting for peace, with millions of followers, and AFO just couldn’t let that stand.

HOLY SHIT, SECOND (KUDO) TOOK YOICHI’S HAND AND RAN FROM THE VAULT; AFO LOPPED OFF YOICHI’S HAND IN RETURN. AFO yells, “Why are you running? I just gave you power!” and then “If you’re not mine, then you don’t…” AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HE JUST WANTS HIS TOYS BACK!!!!!

AFO doesn’t seem to know who Kudo is at this point in time. I wonder though if Kudo is one of the glowing baby’s followers, and that’s why Kudo wanted to take down AFO so badly. I also wonder if there’s a time slip between Yoichi and Kudo escaping the vault and AFO choking Kudo, or if the events all happen one right after the other.

I assume Third is there somewhere too, since he was right there with Kudo when rescuing Yoichi.

#bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha 407 #mha 407 #Yoichi #all for one #AFO #tiny Yoichi reads tiny comics #glowing baby #overhaul #mha overhaul #Kai chisaki #second ofa user #2nd OFA user

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merlucide · 16 days

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Isagi’s gone American 🇺🇸🇺🇸🔥🦅🦅‼️‼️🔥🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅‼️🔥🎣🍻🍻🎣🎣🦅🦅🦅🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

#welcome to the states brother🗣️🗣️#yoichi isagi #isagi yoichi #blue lock #bllk #bllk isagi #blue lock isagi #isagi #yoichi #bllk manga #bllk spoilers #blue lock spoilers #blue lock manga #blue lock x reader #Blue #lock #blue lock memes #bllk memes #Chpt 257

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red-sneakers · 3 months

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I always dreamed that Kudo (and Yoichi) would tease Izuku for being gay about Katsuki, and now I kind of can’t believe how close to real that became

I mean… I guess we got the first hint back when this happened

#bkdk #dkbk #bakudeku #dekubaku #decchan #katsudeku #kudou #yoichi #kudoichi #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers

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artistichermit · 1 month

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At this point, I should probably make it a point to jest draw this man whenever I get a new brush set. It keeps happening without my knowledge.

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #bnha #mha #yoichi shigaraki #yoichi #first one for all user #first one for all holder #digital art #illustration #fanart

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cottelini · 3 months

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Trying to figure out my Deku design...

#artists on tumblr #art #bnha #boku no hero academia #mha #my hero academia #bkdk #bakudeku #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #deku #kacchan #kudoichi #kudo #yoichi

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0ynes · 5 months

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Kudou stayed behind with Yoichi because since he is weaker he couldn’t run as fast. Kudou didn't want to leave him behind. And look at the tears in his eyes 💔💔 AFO YOU'LL PAY

#kudou #kudo #bnha #mha #bnha 408 #mha 408 #2nd ofa #2nd ofa user #2nd user #all for one #yoichi #shigaraki yoichi #yoichi shigaraki #one for all #ofa #afo #kudoichi

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sistamajor · 5 months

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How did #OFA exactly transfer that first time? When even #Yoichi didn't even know how it exactly worked or if it was there at all?

Theory #1

#fanart #boku no hero academia #katsuki bakugou #bnha deku #illustration #comics #bkdk #midoriya izuku #Yoichi #otp #Kudou #deku #ofa #second ofa user #second ofa holder #first ofa user #kudoichi

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super-paper · 5 months

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This has probably already been done, but

It was so Them I couldn't resist.

#kudoichi #my hero academia #yoichi #kudou #the shigabros both having the ability to wrap other men around their little finger is one of their funnier twin powers

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codenamesazanka · 5 months

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assorted 408 thoughts

When I first saw this sequence of panes, I thought, wildly and hopefully, that’s Shigaraki Tomura. That could be Shigaraki Tomura, someone who holds the quirk All For One and who, despite everything, is kind.

＊

It reminds to be seen if Shigaraki Tomura can be stopped. As Deku says himself in Chapter 406, he still haven't come up an answer yet.

Since his first appearances, Shigaraki Tomura is infamous for being childish, talking about fights and battles as if he was playing video games. He's matured since then and his game metaphors have lessen in quantity, but his enjoyment of video games is still significant to his character.

But Shigaraki Tomura is also the one who created the League of Villains, a haven for outcasts and misfits. Twice considers the League the only place he belongs. Toga found life easier to live while with Shigaraki and others. The League is home to it's members, because Shigaraki made it that way.

Part of that is because Shigaraki Tomura is considerate of his teammates feelings and desire. This is core to Shigaraki - even as a child, he went out of his way to befriend those left behind, to include the children no one else wanted to play with. Underneath the layers of bitterness and rage caused by society's rejection, Shigaraki is still someone who cares a lot:

＊

One thing I really like about the new chapter is that All For One kept Yoichi's severed hand.

Why? Who knows. All For One isn't allowed any real human emotions by the story. But still - All For One kept a severed hand, a memento of a lost one and whatever significance is embedded in that; it's evidence of what he's done - killed his brother - and a symbol of his new purpose - to hunt down the other remnant of Yoichi.

Years later, he would do the same for Shimura Tenko, when he gives the boy the hands of the slaughtered Shimura family. And he intends for them to have the same meanings and purposes - for Shimura Tenko to remember the massacre, and for that memory to spur him onward.

That AFO repeats this gruesome gesture with Tenko, essentially reproducing the same horror he experienced onto the boy who he intends to be his heir. This recontextualizes The Hands a bit - instead of just what seemed to be a sort of unique psychological torment imposed out of revenge against Shimura Nana's descendant, it's also AFO just raising Tomura after himself. It's still a incredibly fucked up cruelty, don't get me wrong, but now it feels less because specifically Shimura, and more because AFO wanted an successor that mirrors himself, down to the same traumatic trappings.

＊

But of course, Shigaraki Tomura still greatly resembles Yoichi.

Overall, this panel of Yoichi does closely resembles the panel of Shigaraki from Chapter 221. Just— everything from the angle of the face and the direction of their gaze, to the position of the hand.

But based on Yoichi’s expression - the eyes, the slight smile, the whole demeanor - my first thought went to Shigaraki in Chapter 148, when he was telling Toga and Twice that he believes in them.

This is Shigaraki, revealing his face to Toga and Twice, when in the previous panels, it had seemed like he was insensitively ordering them around, without consideration for their feelings, telling them to work with Overhaul who had just murdered their friend Magne. But once the hand comes off - voluntarily, for the first time, facing them straightforwardly - we see a look that convey a lot of things - Shigaraki's resolve in taking down Overhaul, his trust in Twice and Toga, his sincerity in what he's saying. It's Shigaraki with probably his kindest expression in the entire manga.

It parallels the context somewhat too - in Yoichi panels, it had look at first like he was despondent, sad and weak, lamenting that he dependent and was unable to do anything against the evil that was his brother. But instead, with the face reveal, we're seeing Yoichi's own indomitable will and kindness, so much that he still sees the hopeful possibilities of All For One's power.

Both are victims of All For One, but both have always kept their strong sense of self and core sense and desire for kindness and justice.

＊

If you ask me what AFO and OFA combined would look like, I have to say: Shigaraki Tomura.

#Shigaraki Tomura #Shigaraki Yoichi #Yoichi #All For One #One For All #bnha #mha #heroaca #nalslastworkingbraincell #don't mind me #i'm just back on my 'Shigaraki Tomura as best character ever' bullshit

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