PERSONA CHORDS

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My Villain Academia sets the League of Villains up in a conflict not against heroes, as one would expect. Instead it's against other villains...?

Well, no. That's not correct either. Yes, you could classify the citizens of Deika as villains. But they're not villains in the traditional sense. Note how their primary epithet is "citizens". They're civilians. 100k civilians, executives of powerful companies, and a handful of heroes. The League of Villains isn't going up against heroes, or rival villains, or any other clear-cut idea. The League is facing a microcosm of a society; which, although the Metahuman Liberation Army claims to care about personal freedom, the cult like mindsets, hierarchy, and practices of those within it (and yes, I'm a cult survivor, I'm not saying this lightly) places just as much restriction on the members as society as large. It's just under a different veneer of paint.

The MVA arc is also another turning point for the League; it's the arc in which they mature. See, at this point, they've lost the two big "voices of reason" they had (AfO, Kurogiri), and are floating aimlessly with wherever their whims take them. This arc intentionally forces their hand against much older, more mature, more powerful people-- people who have spent decades cultivating their following and status, and who have launched the attack first in hopes of catching them by surprise. And while the maturation of the League is carried on Shigaraki's shoulders, as his change is the most apparent and drastic, especially with his flashbacks and the recognition of his abilities by Re-Destro, the other members also get their chance to shine.

And that's where Toga comes in. Toga Himiko is characterized by her lackadaisical whimsy, to the point where it becomes unsettling when juxtaposed with her obsessive nature and fascination with blood. She was a lone serial killer before Giran brought the League to her attention, and we don't know much about her motivations other than she likes what she likes and doesn't like what she doesn't like. There's never been any acknowledgement of what has been or will be for her; simply what is.

And, as we go through this coming of age arc, she's finally forced to acknowledge the world outside of her bubble, and that world is Curious. Curious is one of the five executives of the Metahuman Liberation Army, and she's also the executive publisher at Shoowaysha, a media corporation parodying the very company that publishes BNHA, Shueisha. She's an immensely powerful woman, and has plenty of interesting juxtapositions to Toga as well-- but that's largely conjecture, so I'll refrain. What's important is why she's there, and why she's there is, well, Toga. Not the League, Toga.

You see, the Meta Liberation Army had invited the League to fight due to the infuriating fact that the League simply had more eyes on them. More media coverage, more attention, more reputation. That just wouldn't do. But Curious cares not for the League.

id: a panel of curious from bnha, with her eyes closed as she speaks. the text bubble reads "I couldn't care less about the League, but you...you're a different case. A girl gone mad! The story would make for an amazing article. Why, I haven't felt my blood pump like this since back in the days when I was on the beat." Behind her, a follower of hers falls to one of Toga's knives. Blood sprays from his neck. end id.

Curious is fascinated with Toga's motivations, and how she came to develop those motivations, something that the readers were also eager to consume. Toga immediately goes on the attack, because she, as she does with all her emotional confrontations, feels no reason to entertain it-- and that's when the trap begins closing in.

Curious is mobbed by followers; one of only two executives to do so, and the only one to attack alongside them (as opposed to Trumpet, who avoids entering the fray himself). They push Toga back the moment she attacks, and into the minefield, limiting her ability to move freely. They cut off her ability to hide among them by having Curious place her landmines in their bodies, so that her attempts to use their blood are thwarted. Escape is no longer an option.

Curious, this media mogul swarmed by followers and desiring only a story, represents the court of public opinion. And Toga is on trial. Curious knows things about Toga's past-- she personally interviewed Toga's parents after the first of Toga's attacks, and she has been keeping tabs on the story all this time. She's fascinated by Toga's skill, her motivations, her life, and her feelings.

And she's even sympathetic to Toga's plight; the MLA desires a society where people's quirks aren't suppressed, and that plays directly into Toga's treatment from her parents and the world around her. Curious talks about how quirk counselling forced Toga to suppress her admiration for blood-- and how that certainly must be what drove her to madness. But the disturbing part; and what Toga has come to realize-- this sympathy is hollow. Curious, the public, the voyeurs who scarf down true crime stories and lament the birth of children with undesirable quirks for the life that's in store with them-- all of them care about her as a tool for ideology, and nothing more. Curious is just fine with Toga dying so long as she gets her story-- and will be the one to kill her, if it means getting the martyr the MLA needs.

id: a page from the manga my hero academia. in the foreground, Curious cradles a battered and steaming Himiko Toga, resembling the religious work la pieta. Behind her, her followers reach down to aid and stare in awe, but many of them are washed out by the bright lights and hatched texture. The speech bubbles, coming from Curious, read "As a martyr, your tale... Will be a modern-day parable for the ages!" end id.

The religious imagery of the MLA is a consistent theme, but this panel is striking in how it juxtaposes Curious with the lady of sorrows herself; the mother of jesus-- the mother of the martyr. Curious views herself as the "creator" of the blessed child who will liberate them, even if it means said child must suffer and die; but unlike with Jesus and Mary, Curious is the one directly responsible for Toga's current condition.

The media wants a spectacle, a story, a clean resolution to messy social problems. And Toga is being forced to confront her actions and the fact that the world will view her as a spectacle; which is why she became so adept at hiding in the first place.

Id: a panel from my hero academia. Toga runs past two of curious' followers, disguised as uraraka, but still in her previous outfit. she touches them both as she runs. the internal dialogue at the top reads "Day after day, the police and heroes came after me. So without even trying, I became sensitive to how other people behave... ...and I learned that the world treats high school girls just a little bit kinder."

In this fight, we are presented with three Toga's: The girl, the monster, and the martyr. All of these perceptions as to who Toga is are simply splintered fractions of her full identity; one that the people around her refuse to recognize as whole. It's only when Toga herself comes to terms with herself as a person-- having her crimes presented back to her, trapped with nowhere to flee, and choosing to continue being Toga Himiko with intent and a sense of purpose, fully adopting her normal as NORMAL-- that her quirk evolves and she is finally capable of defeating Curious.

She wants to be who she loves, and when she loves, she wants to drink their blood. It's not abnormal, it's just Toga. Toga is Toga, and Toga is Toga in a way that is now filled with a sense of purpose tethered to her past, present, and future. This is what lays the groundwork for her confrontation with Uraraka in the war arc; now that her identity no longer relies on who she loves, and rather, the fact that she loves, as a deliberate action-- she is capable of confronting the possible negativity that may arise as the result of her obsession, such as asking Ochako where the line of heroism is, despite her love for her. It's only then that she's able to free herself from Curious and her hoard, thus in turn fully rejecting the accusations and assumptions other people push on her. She's taken control of her own narrative.