The Charizard Den

Commision of the lovely Lady of the Oceans, Queen of the seas, the one and only Moraenimon!

ever since all might retired, endeavor was consistently the most capable hero on the scene. endeavor was the only hero capable of fighting that high end nomu without knowing what it was capable of first. endeavor was the only hero even in question to physically fight shigaraki in the PLF arc. endeavor was one of the only heroes capable of fighting AFO.

so when it's exposed that he's a horrible person behind the scenes, it puts into question both what a "good" hero is, and gives the other heroes literally no choice but to support him. he's too strong and too capable of a hero to set aside. even if he was still abusing his kids, they still needed him to stop AFO from completely destroying japan. no matter what, the other heroes would've had to stand beside him, regardless of what message that would send to abuse victims.

by all means, he deserved his rank, so what does that mean about the ranking system? what does that mean for hero schools and those responsible for hero licenses? how do you prevent this from happening again?

(or: how I stopped worrying and learned to hate the system)

Now that I’ve gone off a bit about how Midoriya sees heroes and how he sees himself, it’s time to go off about how he conceptualizes villains. The definition of “hero” in BNHA society veers off of what we’d consider the idealistic definition, and indeed the definition that the Western-style comic books Horikoshi was apparently partially inspired by follow — a hero is someone who acts to save others, often at great risk, without being asked and without asking for payment in return. Unlike BNHA’s heroes, heroes in Western comics are sometimes viewed negatively by society and civilians (see various eras of the X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman, etc) but that doesn’t change the fact that they are heroes at their core. Heroism under the idealist/Western comic definition is both intrinsic and chosen. Heroism in BNHA draws a government salary.

That’s heroes. How about villains? In Western comics, villains are people who do bad things, often using supernatural abilities on civilians who aren’t able to defend themselves the same way. Villains are sometimes portrayed as evil for evil’s sake (ex. the Joker), but more often they’re humanized. A classic example is the X-Men’s Magneto. In his initial appearances in the comics, he’s unquestionably a villain — a mutant supremacist who believes that the human majority should be subject to the mutant minority. This is a bad look. Plus ultra bad, one might say. But when the comics reveal Magneto’s backstory, it becomes clear why he holds that viewpoint: As a Jewish character alive during World War II, he was a member of a tiny minority, persecuted and murdered en masse by the majority culture. The phrase “never again” is often used when referencing the Holocaust, and Magneto takes that concept and broadens it. Never again will he or anyone like him suffer at the hands of the majority. Magneto’s backstory, tragic as it is, doesn’t excuse his villainous actions (prior to his various redemptions, that is), but it does explain them. The reader understands why Magneto does what he does, and more importantly, the reader is meant to care. In Western comics, ‘villain’ isn’t a personality trait, but a descriptor of someone’s actions — and quite crucially, they can choose a different action at any time.

BNHA takes a different viewpoint. Villain isn’t a description of a person’s behavior, but an intrinsic trait. And this gets problematic when one thinks about the fact that all someone needs to do is use their quirk in the committing of a crime to qualify as a villain.

So, is this the darkest episode of Digimon ever? Like, having a kid stab a guy to death, that it wasn't just some heat of the moment thing where Kyo picked up the knife in the fight, he had that on him and that man was pleading for his life. (And it's clearly not his first time--Klay said he would always delete his targets and there wasn't any hesitation, which makes me wonder how just many people he's killed since joining the Five Stars at 11.)

Fellow child Karina being left to bleed out after witnessing the murder of her father, before passing away in Kyo's arms telling him to run.

Y'know, I was kinda deluding myself into thinking it was just Souji (at least, he thought he did) and Digimon Kyo killed, or that maybe he had Murasamemon deal the final blow against another human, but nope! Here's literal 16yro Kyo stabbing a man to death (with the same type of knife Haruomi had when he killed Elizamon's partner)! 😱

Souji Kuroshio was an anomaly among the Five Stars for his ability to "connect" with any Digimon utilizing his black e-Pulse.

Sting like a Butterfly, Fly like a... uh...

Finished up an old sketch for a Stingmon X Antibody design, so I decided to draw up a design for Hudiemon X Antibody to go along with it.

Who cares if it's good or bad this story has been retold so many times just read the original epic. Yes they had a huge budget yes they could have paid people to do some research yes they could have actually cared about the time period who caresss it's a usa movie made by a big name guy !!!!!!!!!!

What they SHOULDN'T have done is film the stupid fucking movie in illegally occupied dakhla ( _ _ )(significant because locals are heavily watched and fucking suppressed but good old nolan can do anything without even asking for permission), dumped plastic props in the ocean near sicily ( _ )(most likely breaking a contract as well as causing ecological damage to nature & animals, but it's hard to find English sources. I wonder why (sarcasm)) and used most likely looted iranian artefacts as an accessory ( _ _ )(lent to them by a collector, yes, but using genuine historical pieces to promote a MOVIE is insane) to advertise this stupid ass movie.

Lillia and Chiropmon

THE HYPOCRISY OF THE HERO (pt. 2)

07/24/2026

WORD COUNT: 1,004

A/N: for @megazardx2! sorry for taking so long, this was in my drafts for a while 🙃

SOURCE: My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi

Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia utilizes the similarities and conflicts between the traditional “hero” and traditional “villain” to question the ethical boundaries of traditionally “moral” and "immoral.”

Many authors, including Horikoshi, communicate subtle messaging through the character design itself. In Horikoshi’s work specifically, it is the discrepancies between the human and unhuman appearances within the characters that communicate their role and how the viewers must perceive them. For example, Mineta is a discrepancy within the conventional designs in UA. His height is short, his philtrum is exaggerated, and his nose is drawn like a cartoon character. This comical design invites the viewer to mock him or laugh at him, so his perverted antics are not taken seriously as a moral stance within the anime. By extension, many of the villains are designed to be unhuman or uncanny, inviting the viewer to hold them in distaste and disagree with their deeds. One of the main villains, Stain, bores a rather offsetting appearance. An abnormally large smile splits his face at the bottom, a ruffled mask frames his bloodshot eyes along with his miniscule pupils, and his nose is absent from his face. Even the individual teeth in his smile are detailed, the haunting grin becoming the focal point. His form is meant for the viewer to fear and recognize with disgust, as his design is painfully unhuman. This uncanniness is transferred on to the main trio of villains, Shigaraki Tomura, Dabi, and Toga Himiko. Although their base appearance is fundamentally human, subtle details disturb the viewer. In earlier seasons, the viewers could not discern Shigaraki’s face, when faces are mainly used to initiate eye contact, communicate with, or simply perceive. Gradually, the viewers uncover their visual barrier and recognize his abnormally dry skin, colliding with his otherwise regular form. Dabi’s scarring and numerous stitches contribute artificiality to his natural and normal exterior. Even Toga’s defined eyebags and perpetual smile evoke a sense of unease, despite her ordinary figure. The throughline is that all three of them look off-human or humanoid, rather than completely different species. Compared to Stain, they are more alike to the main characters than to him looks-wise. This communicates a significant message; that villains are not just fought and wronged, but are supposed to be ostracized, feared, and written off as “less than,” unfamiliar, and malicious before they even utter their first word. Yet, there is even more differentiating nuance between the heroes. Stain’s design is the most outright unpleasant because of how much he directly contradicts hero society’s ideology. Stain is someone the viewer must definitely object to. However with the main villain trio, they are saddled with completely human emotions—such as resentment, fixation, and betrayal. Instead of assuming at first glance, Horikoshi utilizes the “almost human” appearance to force the viewer to question their imposed hideousness—the scars, smiles, stitches, and masks, confront their humanity, and then decide their maliciousness. 

Despite the obvious distinction between villains and the main cast, similarities between the villains and the heroes suggest a broader realization on the ethics of hero society. Although the villains’ designs were deliberately uncanny and unhuman, the same abnormalities could be found in the heroes. For example, All Might’s face is always mainly in shadow, his smile uncanny and perpetual during his performance as a hero. Yet, those facts are dismissed because of his strong build, iconic poses, and vibrant costume. While the villains are shown to be “less than human,” heroes are shown to be “more than human”—as idols, commercial opportunities, symbols, even gods. Through this visual storytelling, Horikoshi establishes the core tension of the anime—that heroes and villains are essentially the same, but the side of society they land on is what determines their morality. To contextualize, All Might, the other pro-heroes, and the UA students are all the “crops” of general society. They were raised immersed in it, abiding and enforcing the laws, institutions, and authorities regarding hero society, and were eventually rewarded by hero society. The villains and a selection of other criminals were the failed prototypes, the few duds that were consequences of the worst of hero society; as they suffered through the complacency, betrayal, and exploitation brought on from its commercialization. Rather, they are rewarded by the community of the villain coalition, and follow that corner of general society. Additionally, villains and heroes’ causes are similar but aid the version of society they occupy. The heroes’ cause is to ideally eradicate evil from plaguing the general populace, who participate in hero society, through targeting villains. The villains’ cause is to eradicate the glamorization or commercialization of hero society from plaguing more and more of the vulnerable through targeting the symbols, or heroes. Through the visual storytelling and the structural similarities, Horikoshi presents us the revolutionary question; who has the right to kill? 

Ironically, despite the fact that the two groups serve a similar purpose and a similar visual, the mantle of murder is rewarded to the heroes. The anime imparts to us the ridiculous criteria that hero society uses to grant young graduates the privilege to kill: the correct upbringing resulting in complete compliance with the H.P.S.C—Deku’s fixation on justice and the glamorized heroes, Bakugo’s need for victory and validation, or even Uraraka’s parental encouragement, to name a few examples—three years at a government sponsored school, and a piece of paper—also known as their hero license. Yet the authorities fail to account for the ones who were abused behind closed doors, those who were discriminated against due to their quirk or lack of one, or abandoned. The only metric is those who kill under state-sanctioned parameters and those who kill. Instead of preventing this polarization, preventing these outcomes, the objective is to abolish the outcomes. In retrospect, there were no preventative measures shown in the anime—other than the quirk counseling in Deku and Bakugo’s school days; neither were there negotiation measures. The only objective was to trim the failed prototypes from the general populace, ensuring economic prosperity, commercial opportunities, and short-term peace.

THE HYPOCRISY OF THE HERO (pt. 2)

07/24/2026

WORD COUNT: 1,004

A/N: for @megazardx2! sorry for taking so long, this was in my drafts for a while 🙃

SOURCE: My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi

Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia utilizes the similarities and conflicts between the traditional “hero” and traditional “villain” to question the ethical boundaries of traditionally “moral” and "immoral.”

Many authors, including Horikoshi, communicate subtle messaging through the character design itself. In Horikoshi’s work specifically, it is the discrepancies between the human and unhuman appearances within the characters that communicate their role and how the viewers must perceive them. For example, Mineta is a discrepancy within the conventional designs in UA. His height is short, his philtrum is exaggerated, and his nose is drawn like a cartoon character. This comical design invites the viewer to mock him or laugh at him, so his perverted antics are not taken seriously as a moral stance within the anime. By extension, many of the villains are designed to be unhuman or uncanny, inviting the viewer to hold them in distaste and disagree with their deeds. One of the main villains, Stain, bores a rather offsetting appearance. An abnormally large smile splits his face at the bottom, a ruffled mask frames his bloodshot eyes along with his miniscule pupils, and his nose is absent from his face. Even the individual teeth in his smile are detailed, the haunting grin becoming the focal point. His form is meant for the viewer to fear and recognize with disgust, as his design is painfully unhuman. This uncanniness is transferred on to the main trio of villains, Shigaraki Tomura, Dabi, and Toga Himiko. Although their base appearance is fundamentally human, subtle details disturb the viewer. In earlier seasons, the viewers could not discern Shigaraki’s face, when faces are mainly used to initiate eye contact, communicate with, or simply perceive. Gradually, the viewers uncover their visual barrier and recognize his abnormally dry skin, colliding with his otherwise regular form. Dabi’s scarring and numerous stitches contribute artificiality to his natural and normal exterior. Even Toga’s defined eyebags and perpetual smile evoke a sense of unease, despite her ordinary figure. The throughline is that all three of them look off-human or humanoid, rather than completely different species. Compared to Stain, they are more alike to the main characters than to him looks-wise. This communicates a significant message; that villains are not just fought and wronged, but are supposed to be ostracized, feared, and written off as “less than,” unfamiliar, and malicious before they even utter their first word. Yet, there is even more differentiating nuance between the heroes. Stain’s design is the most outright unpleasant because of how much he directly contradicts hero society’s ideology. Stain is someone the viewer must definitely object to. However with the main villain trio, they are saddled with completely human emotions—such as resentment, fixation, and betrayal. Instead of assuming at first glance, Horikoshi utilizes the “almost human” appearance to force the viewer to question their imposed hideousness—the scars, smiles, stitches, and masks, confront their humanity, and then decide their maliciousness. 

Despite the obvious distinction between villains and the main cast, similarities between the villains and the heroes suggest a broader realization on the ethics of hero society. Although the villains’ designs were deliberately uncanny and unhuman, the same abnormalities could be found in the heroes. For example, All Might’s face is always mainly in shadow, his smile uncanny and perpetual during his performance as a hero. Yet, those facts are dismissed because of his strong build, iconic poses, and vibrant costume. While the villains are shown to be “less than human,” heroes are shown to be “more than human”—as idols, commercial opportunities, symbols, even gods. Through this visual storytelling, Horikoshi establishes the core tension of the anime—that heroes and villains are essentially the same, but the side of society they land on is what determines their morality. To contextualize, All Might, the other pro-heroes, and the UA students are all the “crops” of general society. They were raised immersed in it, abiding and enforcing the laws, institutions, and authorities regarding hero society, and were eventually rewarded by hero society. The villains and a selection of other criminals were the failed prototypes, the few duds that were consequences of the worst of hero society; as they suffered through the complacency, betrayal, and exploitation brought on from its commercialization. Rather, they are rewarded by the community of the villain coalition, and follow that corner of general society. Additionally, villains and heroes’ causes are similar but aid the version of society they occupy. The heroes’ cause is to ideally eradicate evil from plaguing the general populace, who participate in hero society, through targeting villains. The villains’ cause is to eradicate the glamorization or commercialization of hero society from plaguing more and more of the vulnerable through targeting the symbols, or heroes. Through the visual storytelling and the structural similarities, Horikoshi presents us the revolutionary question; who has the right to kill? 

Ironically, despite the fact that the two groups serve a similar purpose and a similar visual, the mantle of murder is rewarded to the heroes. The anime imparts to us the ridiculous criteria that hero society uses to grant young graduates the privilege to kill: the correct upbringing resulting in complete compliance with the H.P.S.C—Deku’s fixation on justice and the glamorized heroes, Bakugo’s need for victory and validation, or even Uraraka’s parental encouragement, to name a few examples—three years at a government sponsored school, and a piece of paper—also known as their hero license. Yet the authorities fail to account for the ones who were abused behind closed doors, those who were discriminated against due to their quirk or lack of one, or abandoned. The only metric is those who kill under state-sanctioned parameters and those who kill. Instead of preventing this polarization, preventing these outcomes, the objective is to abolish the outcomes. In retrospect, there were no preventative measures shown in the anime—other than the quirk counseling in Deku and Bakugo’s school days; neither were there negotiation measures. The only objective was to trim the failed prototypes from the general populace, ensuring economic prosperity, commercial opportunities, and short-term peace.