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Yes we see Yamada is clearly protective, that much is absolutely clear without a doubt. A lot of people have kinda summarized it up to being just the way Yamada is.

But I've clicked that it's something further than that, this is not just Yamada's personality rising to the surface in these panels. This is where we involve Aizawa and his response. Because although Aizawa's response is still in a realm of possible responses within his character, isn't it a little, odd, to say the least, that Aizawa appears to approach it so lightly and so supportive initially at all?

Remeber that other post I did, about parallels of Izukus actions to Aizawa's?

These panels look familiar? (My post had the Japanese for Izuku cuz English hadn't dropped yet)

What were seeing is both Yamada's and Aizawa's trauma being reflected and their responses are directly tied to the Shirakumo/Kurogiri discovery.

Think about Yamada's position: he saw Aizawa struggle for years mourning Shirakumo's death, unable to do anything and knowing their relationship Aizawa absolutely shutting Yamada out from talking about his own pain from it. Aizawa took it and channeled it into avoidance and unhealthy, self destructive outlets, and I got a feeling Yamada at more than one point tried to talk about his feeling and Aizawa responded negatively (because he didn't want to address it). So Yamada bottled it up, he pushed it down, he put on a smile and pretended he was okay and decided to be there for his friend who - while outwardly was clearly showing signs of coping poorly - internally had chosen to attempt to ignore the pain at all costs.

Now Yamada has lost Kayama, he almost lost Aizawa a second time, and he's lost Shirakumo. And now he has seen these kids have been put at risk of losing each other (and experiencing the same pain him and Aizawa did) because of Aoyama's position. He saw how Kurogiri upset Aizawa, he saw how that has been a huge catalyst in how they responded to the Jaku raid. Now Yamada is seeing another child used by AFO and his first instinct is "not another shirakumo, not another kurogiri, not the same fate for these kids" and he jumps to this logic.

He sees Aizawa in these kids right now. He sees his own friend who was hurt, and traumatized, and has been near death twice now, and he can't bare the idea of seeing it happen again. His response comes from wanting to shield and avoid to keep them safe (much like he has with his own trauma and pain).

Then we have Aizawa: Who responds in the exact opposite.

Where Yamada sees Aizawa representing the kids, Aizawa sees Aoyama representing Shirakumo/Kurogiri. He sees an innocent, someone the class considered a friend, being taken and corrupted by AFO and Aizawa is responding to the upset he had seeing his own friend who is too far gone to save. (Supposedly, as Aizawa has said he talks to him everyday, regardless of that belief). Now Aizawa is seeing Shirakumo in Aoyama, but seeing him before he became Kurogiri. Aizawa sees Izuku doing the same thing he did with Kurogiri but with one substantial difference.

Aizawa sees that Aoyama can almost without a doubt be saved.

He's trying to save Shirakumo by saving Aoyama, by helping Izuku and his class do what he himself could not do for his own classmate.

Yamada quite possibly sees that, based on his reaction to Aizawa's support, but while Yamada is focusing his trauma into preserving the present, Aizawa is focusing his trauma on re-doing the past.

I’m a little suspicious this might have been a decision somewhat made for themselves, though. That a part of them didn’t want to deal with the future that awaited, so they decided for him, framing it to him like it was all for his sake or that it was the only way for him to fit in with society. 

After all, Izuku went through all of elementary and middle school suffering antagonism and rejection from classmates, from teachers, and worst of all, from the hands of his best friend. That’s probably why Inko cried for him so hard and became stressed. She knew the tough future he was going to face and felt such helplessness from it all. 

But you know what? Her radiant bundle of sunshine boy came out the other side so beautifully, after such a long and trying time, because Inko made damn sure to pour so much love into her quirkless Izuku as he grew up and suffered those hardships. 

Yet facing the same situation and feelings as Inko, Aomaman and Aopapa weren’t able to accept their son just as he was and came to their own conclusions on what to do about it, without considering repercussions. 

I was initially grumpy, but that has more to do with IRL stuff than how I actually feel lol.

I am pleased with it narrative-wise overall, though less okay with how it was bait/switch revealed (it's deliberately baiting fans with a popular fan theory just... for the sake of it, and that’s annoying). I admit I also kind of groaned because I know people will take it to mean Dabi's "save the cat" wasn't real, but upon basic reading that's just not true, yet... fandom gonna fandom.

But! Onto the narrative!

Narratively, it emphasizes the motif of parents manipulating and hurting their children. Honestly, this is the most likely way for Deku's dad to make an appearance in the story--as I've said, should he be mentioned and be relevant, it would almost certainly be with the reveal that he was embarrassed about a son without a quirk (not Dad for One lol). 

What I think is a more interesting twist on Deku’s father is if the man couldn’t cope with having a son who was quirkless and de facto abandoned him, albeit perhaps through a societally acceptable reason such as a job transfer or something (culturally it’s also not that unusual for a father to take work in another city/even country and live apart from a family). If this is the case, it could actually be used to make Deku question himself and his father’s/society’s estimation of worth. 

Aoyama's parents seem more bothered by him not having a quirk than Aoyama.

But the point is, despite Aoyama calling himself a villain, he's clearly not. He is terrified and trying to save the people he loves. He doesn’t want to be a villain at all. He wants to help people. 

Let’s look at the training camp attack again in a new light. 

Dabi sparing him takes on even more meaning now that we know Aoyama ended up in this predicament because he wasn't good enough as he was for his parents;

His cowering during the raid was guilt and fear of himself as well;

His attempt to save Bakugou and Tokoyami from abduction anyways makes him the single bravest character in the entire manga. Contrary to how he thinks of it, he tried to save his friends despite the threat of his parents' lives, despite knowing a lot of it was his fault for leaking information, etc. That's heroic.

I’d like to point out just two small things from the leaks, which by force majeur are probably coming a full cycle, if not soon at least in the end.

First, Shimura Tenko, deep down telling himself, almost trying to convince himself that “some hero is going to..” - but what is some hero going actually to? and just some hero? I think that there is a great difference between ‘some hero’ as in generally meant to indicate pro-heroes and ‘some hero’ that is implied here: once again, the “Midoriya” afterwards just checks it out - but here, what Tenko is trying to get at is not that there might be a hero that wants to protect and save him, but that IF there is a hero out there FOR SURE that still has the will to protect and save, then it has to be Midoriya Izuku. And it is heartbreaking, because Shimura Tenko stopped believing in heroes a long time ago.

He just stopped believing that anyone, apart from AfO, might want to save him - because no hero would want to save him; and if believing in a hero (like he did with All Might) brings him to be disappointed, wandering the streets and wondering why is no one giving him a hand then it is clear that not only what Tenko is doing here is a big leap of faith, but also the utter confirmation that Midoriya is deeply different from the heroes that populate Japan at the moment.

To himself, Tenko is admitting two things: he wants to be saved; the person who might as well save him is Midoriya (better explained in this wonderful post by @/haleigh-sloth). And of course, this development has been likely triggered by what we see in chapter 305 once again, where we do have a one-sided will from Izuku to save Tenko; a promise from one suffering kid to another, where maybe instead of growing up to be fighting, they grew up holding hands and being safe.

The second thing, is that maybe, in this moment, what Shigaraki sees as ‘saving’ is synonym of destroying his joint identity with AfO, because it poses an infinite danger to Japan and the world, which is why when he tells “A hero certaintly will..” it might also mean that Tenko believes that in order to save and protect, Midoriya will put an end to ShigarAfo.

tbh Horikoshi probably thought he was being progressive and inclusive by giving both the strongest quirk in the world and the #1 American hero title to a woman, but his track record of mutilating his women characters (Lady Nagant, Big Sis Magne, Midnight, Miruko, etc) and/or sidelining them (Ochako, Momo, etc) detracts from the impact this was supposed to have and instead adds to the long list of internalized misogynistic elements in his work. In this essay I will

Lol. No, really though. Star and Stripes served the narrative purpose she was created for. To the citizens of the bnha-verse she was the person that was supposed to beat the ultimate evil and make everything okay in a “well, if she can’t do it, no one can” type of way. BUT, Horikoshi introduced her with the purpose of her failing. She was never supposed to win. Why? Because a story needs a challenge to stay interesting. The stakes need to be raised for the heroes, and their fighting abilities, strengths, resilience, morals, and determination need to be tested (“how are we ever going to win now?!?!”).

Like, now that Star is probably dead, the heroes will have to go SUPER DUPER PLUS ULTRA!!! to save the day. AFO/Shigaraki taking that powerful quirk away from the strongest hero in the world is supposed to be terrifying for the people in BNHA and is supposed to stir suspense in the readers. AFO/Shigaraki are OP now. That’s the whole point fo introducing Star & Stripe. Things will get worse for the heroes (and Shigaraki) before it gets better, which is a steady and slow progression that’s been present since the war arc: there’s mass chaos and lawlessness, hopelessness, confusion, less heroes, more villains…

I hope I didn't come off as argumentative, I just wanted to know why you think that Touya was being set up like that.

I don't think that the point of those chapters was to make Endvr appear blameless, either, but Endvr's framing in them is pretty messy imho.

If you look at the flashback chapters, his actions are depicted with no saving grace. Yes, he's depicted as a man whose obsession is spiralling further and further, but the story is clear that he's no sympathetic character because of it. Rei's growing terror, the raw fear on Fuyumi and Natsuo's faces as they cower while Endvr yells at Rei the next room over, Touya's spiralling mental health, Shouto's tears as he gets between his mother and the man who just hit her... yeah no, Endvr is never depicted as a "helpless dad" at all. He's very clearly written as the one directly harming his family.

The problem is that the hospital chapters immediately after don't match that framing at all. They actually backpedal on it. After revealing the full extent of Endvr's neglect and abuse, Horikoshi failed to hold him accountable for it. Instead of making the todofam demand he own up to having pushed Touya into villainy to get his attention, they simply... entrust "stopping" Touya onto him. Not even "saving", but "stopping". The emphasis is always on how Touya is causing problems for them, instead of, you know, actually blaming the child abuser and wife beater who's really guilty of destroying their family.

Horikoshi could've easily written the same thing without all the implicit victim-blaming and scapegoating. He could've made Endvr realize that Dabi's actions as a villain are Dabi's to bear, and of course they need stopping, but Endvr could've also recognized that his son wouldn't have become a villain in the first place if Endvr hadn't abandoned him as a child and committed to making Touya a hero. There was none of that, though. Never once does he say "I treated him unfairly"; it's always "I couldn't look at him". It's guilt, but not an admission of his errors. Apologizing implies understanding and acknowledging why your actions were wrong. Endvr never does; he simply cries over them, and neither the narrative nor his family ever call him out on it. In fact, both reinforce the idea that Touya is just a plot device. Not a victim whose words always went unheard despite their truth, but Endvr's redemption token. If Endvr brings Touya back, his wrong will magically be "fixed."

I knew this Shigaraki panel looked familiar for a reason, and surely enough, it parallels Eri

Hori's never been particularly subtle about introducing Eri as foreshadowing of Shigaraki's eventual salvation, but the foiling here is really neat. Chisaki raised Eri to believe her existence is cursed because her quirk is monstrous and can only hurt others; AFO raised Tenko to believe he is a symbol of terror who lusts after blood, and that his quirk can only destroy.

yet, both of those things were just grooming. Their abusers used those claims to keep their victim docile. And indeed, Eri only ever get freed from the shadow of Chisaki's abuse when she started smiling, aka living a life devoid of suffering.

Similarly, Shigaraki has never really known freedom from his suffering, and his hatred is exactly what enables AFO's continued possession of his body:

What does this all mean? Well, it's obvious, isn't it? For Eri, true freedom from her abuser had to pass through that smile — a smile that means she's finally starting to live her life to the fullest, feeling genuine joy for the first time despite Chisaki's claims that she can only know pain.

Only then, did Chisaki's shadow that had her in his clutches fully vanish.

The three stars on top of this civilian’s hair is symbolic. Not only do these stars leave an impression and allow the readers to remember him later on in the series, but as stated in a previous meta: stars in bnha and other pieces of media,  represent hope, destiny and ironically going against fate. This civilian was the first one to support/believe in Deku’s ability to become an amazing pro hero, despite knowing him briefly in the beginning. The fact that even stated that Deku would one day become a pro hero, can also be taken as choric character as Deku later becomes a hero.. 

Later in the series, he even stands up for Deku and is one of the few civilians to believe in him and his intentions, again providing hope and inspiration, just like a star guiding lost souls in a dark night/time. 

Hi! So, I think that is pretty clear foreshadowing, actually. But, it is not foretelling.

For starters, it's an obvious callback to Curious and her understanding of Toga Himiko (side note: Horikoshi did not seem thrilled with the adaptation of My Villain Academia in the anime given the sudden references to it in the manga). I wrote a bit about this here, in which I predicted that Himiko's narrative would be about overcoming Curious's assumptions about her.

Curious's assumptions about Toga are twofold:

1) that she's a cautionary tale, and

2) she's a child who cannot tell her own story.

The first one is that Curious has told Toga she knows how Toga's story ends. Except... Curious didn't know that she was going to be the one to die that day, not Toga.

Curious also failed to see Toga as a person, instead seeing her as a symbol. See: the above image, with Curious holding Toga in the classical Pieta position, which originates in popularity from a statue by Michelangelo of Mary holding her son, Jesus.

By Horikoshi invoking this imagery, he's showing that Curious firstly views Toga as a child, but also that Curious views Toga as a statue, as a symbol, as an object. Which she also blatantly states:

"You're the embodiment" is exactly Toga's problem, too. Toga is not a symbol or a cautionary tale; she's a person. That's a recurring motif in her arc. That's what she wanted to ask Ochaco. Also, Toga sees herself as embodying others--although she wants to be a person, she struggles to see herself that way, too.

Curious takes charge of Toga's story, wanting to be the one to use her as a cautionary tale. Having Toga die as a tragedy doesn't work at all for the story (why would it want to say Curious was right?) But it is the one society is going to try to apply to Toga.

The challenge is for Ochaco to see beyond that narrative and to see Toga Himiko, the person. It's, after all, what Toga wants.

The latter is about self-actualization, the end goal of many coming-of-age stories. Toga needs to self-actualize, ie see herself as a person instead of trying to become others. That also means growing up (removing herself from the pieta position Curious has her in) and taking responsibility (oh look, a shout out to what Ochaco challenged Toga to do).

It's All About All Might

This week's chapter we have a reminder of Shigaraki's grudge against All Might, something he has not mentioned since the training camp arc after having already caused All Might's retirement. Of course I'm not the first person to notice that Shigaraki is talking about All Might again or point it ou, but I can talk about what that means, or rather what that symbolizes.

There's symbolism in Star being just another All Might Ripoff, and yet another person who was saved by All Might when Shigaraki wasn't. In that All Might can symbolize completely different things to different people. For some people he can represent the safety and reassurance that they will always be saved, a true symbol of peace, and for others he's nothing more than a symbol of violence.

Let's talk about how the smallest of details can show just how well Horikoshi can craft his characters. In this case just how much work he's put into creating Shimura Tenko.

Food is often used symbolically in media to convey something other than it's base nature, mostly because food does that outside of media. The food we eat and how we prepare it often has class, religious, and ethnic connotations; and to look at food historically is to traverse thousands of years of war, politics, and culture.

I'll use a small example first. We know Momo is wealthy because so many things about her are markers of wealth. Even more interestingly, compared to the traditional wealth of the Todoroki family, Momo's wealth is very much Westernized and that can be seen in how she interacts with tea. Her method and preference of tea is very different than the traditional love of matcha and tea ceremonies that some Japanese schoolchildren can take as extracurriculars. No, the way she drinks tea is very British-style, and this is bolstered by Gentle's mutual obsession with the same tea brands - he has a fixation over Anglo versions of gentility, as seen in his design. Momo then comes off as a 'lady'-like character. Not a traditional Yamato Nadeshiko, a term for the ideal 'Japanese' woman, but.. a Lady.

That's the more obvious stuff! But it's in throwaway things that I see Horikoshi's ingenuity.

This is Tomura's maternal grandfather serving him Ohagi. Tomura's been shown once or twice consuming sweets, so it makes sense that a five year -old version of him liked sweets the best. In this case he's fond of a very traditional sweet named Ohagi, or Botamochi.

Ohagi is a sweet, sticky rice cake made by steaming and pounding rice flour and adding things like red bean paste to it (which according to color is what we see in this image). It's traditionally associated and eaten the most during the Spring and Autumnal equinoxes during a weeklong Japanese Busshist holiday named "Ohigan". This is a holiday primarily concerned with remembering ancestors and visiting memorials. Ohagi itself is bit more associated with the fall equinox than Botamochi.

So, as a food associated with Ohigan, what this means is that often Ohagi is offered as an offering to the dead on that week, and is eaten in memory of those who have passed.

Tomura Shigaraki is a character created of grief, death, and mourning. He literally wears/wore those he mourns throughout the manga. Don't forget that AFO bestowed the name Tomura out of the verb Tomurau; 'To Mourn For'. Shigaraki also contains death (Shi), while the Shi in Shimura is a homophone.

Digging deeper, Tomura's given birthday (if it's real) is 4/4. Most casual Western watchers might recall that four is considered a 'cursed' number in Japan because it can be pronounced 'Shi'. Thus his birthday, 4/4 is very much a reminder of death.

The dates of the Ohigan vary, but it's usually associated with the Chinese calendar and specifically a period of time named Chunfen (Shunbun in Japanese) that starts around March 20 and ends on the 4th of April, with the 5th usually being the first day of the new fiscal year as well. Endings, deaths - it's likely very few details are over looked when Horikoshi comes up something for a character close to his heart.

She’s always been shown focusing on the things she likes rather than the things she hates. So she found commonalities with Uraraka and Deku despite them being Hero-trainees. She joined the League because it gave her a place to feel more comfortable in her own skin. Her goals weren’t about destruction, even if she’s going along with Shigaraki’s plan; nor did she have a particular grudge against Heroes. Toga wanted to live a happy, easy life in a world that’s nicer, better to her than this existing one which has left her disowned by her parents, and everyone else.

I think Toga still thought, somehow, she would grow up, find love, live her version of a normal life. She didn’t think about the full consequences and implications of the League’s actions. It’s naïve, but she’s 17, had been by herself since 15; she’s a still kid, like any other dumb teenager who thinks they’re at the pinnacle of growth and maturity, future vague and far away. Life was hard to live, but Toga was braving through. The League was going to change things, and besides, Izuku during the licensing exam said he’ll save anyone, no exceptions.

The League - except maybe Mr. Compress whose full deal we don’t know yet - are characterized by their profound disillusionment, of having nothing to lose when they joined, recognizing they’ve been completely kicked out of society and Heroes enforce that banishment.

Until Jin’s death, Toga hadn’t experienced the full, overwhelming force of this; she held out hope, even if she wasn’t conscious of it. It’s why she reached out to Uraraka, as a last ditch effort to not fall into total despair. Toga needed to know if she still could have a place, a future, a life in society. What she got from the conversation was a firm ‘No’.

i saw many different opinions on shimura tenko vs. shigaraki tomura, and the most are saying that they don’t want tomura to become ‘tenko’ again, because they’re afraid it would invalidate his experience as shigaraki. but the thing is that ‘shigaraki tomura’ is someone who afo created. shigaraki tomura isn’t his own person. ‘perfect’ shigaraki tomura in the way afo envisioned him isn’t fully a person at all - he’s an extension of afo. he’s someone who was moulded and groomed into being what afo wants - a mess of hatred, madness, pain, anger, - someone who doesn’t have a sense of self, afo’s submissive hollow shell to hold and house the man’s conscience. this persona and this name were imposed onto him.

‘but tomura is more than that!’ yeah, he is. you know why? shigaraki wasn’t created from nothing. he may be shigaraki tomura, but the foundation? shimura tenko? he never went anywhere. just like dabi is still touya, tomura is still tenko. but tenko IS a person. he cares for his friends, he’s angry about the injustice of this world, he’s funny, he’s smart, he likes to play videogames, he makes funniest faces, he’s determined, he hates his father and the way his family never protected him, yet he loved them, he feels sick when he kills people, he wants the world to change, he’s someone.

that’s why he screams ‘no’ and that’s why he remembers his childhood home where his own hatred began. because ‘shigaraki tomura’ afo wants isn’t someone who the person with that name really is or wants to be. accepting himself as shimura tenko wouldn’t invalidate anything, it would be finally shaking off afo’s expectations and visions for him and be able to be his own person and choose his own way

Horikoshi is crazy for the way he made Endeavor tell Shigaraki to his face that he had no ideals, and then made Tomura remember Kotaro:

And not just that, immediately after remembering Kotaro, Tomura pushed himself over the top and he's body started to crack in an even worst way.

It was not the first not the last time a pro-hero decided to brush Tomura's words and physical condition aside, pushing him down with words and trying to kill him, giving AFO space to get a better grip at Tomura's body and mind:

His body starts to crack after Endeavor questions why Tomura is fighting for. See his hair, see the air coming out of Tomura's body, see his eyes.

What feeds Tomura's hatred is not just AFO. It's every time a pro-hero decides he deserve to die instead of listening to him. It's how people refuse to see him as a human being, rather seeing him as the embodiment of evilness.

Some chapters before, Mr. Compress had told Dabi to don't underestimate the heroes. It translates to don't underestimate what they can do but also to don't underestimate what their motivations.

The hero finally put to sleep a giant, and in an interesting parallel, we see how the heroes underestimate Tomura.

There's a lot to unpack in this chapter, including how Grand Torino almost (but doesn't ultimately) acknowledge that Nana Shimura and him made a wrong decision by leaving Kotaro behind. In this chapter we can already see Aizawa wishing for the heroes to kill Tomura, the beginning of his search for revenge.

But the next panel is really interesting to me:

Deku here is saying he won't forgive Tomura, while Tomura claims he can't forgive anyone.

This is so important.

Deku doesn't have to forgive Tomura to try and save him. Which means Tomura doesn't have to forgive the world to live among them. They can of course, Deku can forgive Tomura and Tomura can forgive society, but it's not required.

They only need to communicate.

If people finally decides to listen to Tomura, it'll reduce his hatred and rage. The same way, if people listen to Tomura, it'll help them understand why the villains have a valid point and why they are entitled to be angry and hate society.

I find in here more support to the theory of Tomura getting redeemed, thanks to Deku's help. During this whole fight, he sees more and more Tomura, until it culminates with Deku seeing Tenko as a kid, alone, sad, crying. In that moment, Deku gets a revelation and he decides to save Tomura, going against the vestiges and Grand Torino's believes.

I'm reading the Spanish translation right now so that's why I'm erasing the dialogues. Still, we get to see Tomura thinking that he can face anything if he keeps with him his heart, his ideals and his origins.

Could this be related to bnha 330? If Tomura keeps Tenko in his heart, if he still dreams of being a hero and if he still believes in his own ideals, and not AFO's ideals, he's always going to have a change to overcome AFO and get redeemed.

His not too far gone.

Deku while fighting Tomura was in the same mentality of Uraraka and Shouto said after facing Toga and Dabi.

I will stop them.

Not kill. Stop them.

This is all I have for this chapter. I'm re-reading a lot and I'm really enjoying it, because I have a terrible memory and there are many details I forgot already.

I think No 1 does not necessarily mean the hero rankings, but also it’s not a bad thing to strive for in itself. 

The narrative clearly established that one of the worst things of the All Might era was the passivity it perpetuated among the heroes, who felt like they were not competing in the same field so they stopped trying as hard. And even in the case of Endeavor who was the only exception, the problem was never that he wanted to be No. 1. (that was actually a positive thing), but rather that he gave up very fast and tried to achieve his goal in unethical ways and pushing his related psychological issues onto his family.

In Bakugou’s arc, similarly, his ambition is not a bad thing in itself. The question is the “why” and the “how”. As a middle-schooler, he wants to be No. 1 because he feels entitled to it on account of his exceptional quirk. After DvK, it is about his wounded pride, it’s all about seeking external validation. 

Already at the time of the Sport Festival, his public declaration is a way to push himself, a motivator. What is problematic is his attitude towards the others, seeing them as mere stepping stones, people to look down on. 

We also learn during the Sport Festival together with Bakugou that someone giving their best is a sign of respect, and all the external validation in the world doesn’t mean anything if there is no internal validation to match it. The world can’t tell Bakugou that he’s the best, unless he himself FEELS it. So he does know quite early on that an external No. 1. ranking is not the same as truly being the No. 1.