The war arc had already introduced the idea of Shigaraki feeling stifled by AFO's influence, but I find it really significant that in 330 he's finally equating the mind control to the same oppression he suffered in the Shimura household.
Even as a child, Shigaraki never blindly submitted to authority when it stifled his self-expression. He never gave up his dream of being a hero even when he faced punishment and ostracization. In that household, his father's rule was absolute; Tenko's will couldn't outweigh it. It was his father who decided what was and wasn't allowed and demanded that Tenko gave up his individualism in order to follow the "rules."
The house itself then becomes a symbol of Kotaro's despotic authority. It's not a coincidence that we see little Tenko crying outside, in the garden. Out of his father's house. There's an extra layer of text there: Shigaraki doesn'tācannotāfit in his father's world because it's a world specifically tailored to deny Tenko. So long as he doesn't obey Kotaro's rule, Tenko is an outsider in his own house, someone forced to stay out.
Yet, Shigaraki's character has always rotated around the theme of overcoming that stifling authority, of stomping down his foot against anyone trying to bend him. The more someone tries to cage him, the more Shigaraki fights back for his right to be.
Then tragedy strikes. Tenko's quirk manifests, the Shimuras die, and AFO exploits Shigaraki's stubborn tenacity for his purposes. Shigaraki's traumatized, crushed by the realization of what he's done. It doesn't set in that his relief at being freed from the abuse is a normal response to weeks of taxing emotional oppression. Shigaraki thinks it's something he ought to be punished for. The guilt is crushing him, and it makes him the perfect victim for AFO to manipulate. So when AFO tells him, āyes, it was indeed your will that caused this tragedy,ā Shigaraki believes him. He doesn't realize that the abuse itself (Hana's betrayal + Kotaro's overbearing control) was the straw that broke the camel's back. When AFO echoes Kotaro's scapegoating, Shigaraki internalizes that he was the reason for the family to fall apart, after all. AFO postures as a savior, as someone finally vouching for Shigaraki's self-expression. He tells him it's okay to encourage that violence, to keep stomping his foot against authority, because Shigaraki is born evil and he must stop repressing who he is. It's simple and plain gaslighting: in the same beat, AFO validates Shigaraki's feelings by telling him it was true that his family repressed him, and reinforces his guilt by saying Tenko wanted them dead. And Shigaraki, traumatized and crushed by self-loathing and guilt as he is, all too easily falls for it. Yet, AFO is careful to subtly tilt the narrative he feeds to his victim: the stifling iron-fist for Shigaraki to fight against is hero society, not AFO's control.
Fast forward to the current arc. AFO got what he wanted, and he finally shows his true colors. He was never on Shigaraki's side, he was just curating his interests. Making it so Shigaraki could finally express himself freely was never the point. All AFO wanted was to have free reign over Shigaraki's mind, and manipulating that hatred was his only way to exercise that control over him.
So, to go back to the metaphor of the Shimura household as the signifier of Kotaro's authority... Horikoshi took that symbolism one step further. Before, Shigaraki was an outsider in his home. Now, Shigaraki is an outsider in his own head. AFO was never a savior, he only used a more roundabout way to bend Shigaraki to his will. Only, he knew Shigaraki wouldn't let AFO boss him around, so AFO planned accordingly; he made it so that āShigarakiā wasn't an individual in the first place, but just a container.
Obviously, Shigaraki's arc has always pointed towards the end goal of finally getting rid of this other force trying to suppress him. Figuring out that his āsenseiā was just another oppressor was the first step. Hopefully, the next one will be answering the question of āwho am I?ā with a return to his origins. To Tenko, and who that little boy was supposed to be
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