#chapter 021

Todoroki Shōto ‘Chirashite korosu… ka? Itcha warui ga, anta-ra dō mite mo “‘kosei’ o mote amashita yakara” ijō ni wa miuke rarenee yo.’ 轟焦凍「散らして殺す…か？言っちゃ悪いが、あんたらどう見ても『〝個性〟を持て余した輩』以上には見受けられねぇよ。」 Todoroki Shōto “Scatter and kill them…huh? I hate to say it, but no matter how I look at you guys, you just don’t seem like anything more than ‘people who don’t know what to do with their “quirks”’.”

VILLAIN ‘Koitsu…!! Idōshite kita totan ni… hontō ni GAKI ka yo… ittetete…’ ヴィラン「こいつ…！！移動してきたとたんに…本当にガキかよ…いっててて…」 Villain “This guy…! The moment he moved…is he really just a kid…ow ow ow…”

Todoroki Shōto ‘(ALL MIGHT o korosu… shoken ja seiei o soroe kazu de attō suru no ka to omotta ga. FUTA o akete mirya (read: ore-tachi) yō no KOMA… CHINPIRA no yose atsume ja nee ka. Mita kagiri ja hontō ni abuna sōna ningen wa 4 〜 5 nin hodo datta… To suru to…’ 轟焦凍「（オールマイトを殺す…初見じゃ精鋭を揃え数で圧倒するのかと思ったが。フタを開けてみりゃ生徒（俺達）用のコマ…チンピラの寄せ集めじゃねぇか。見た限りじゃ本当に危なそうな人間は4〜5人程だった…とすると…）」 Todoroki Shōto (Killing All Might… At first glance, I thought they would gather their elite troops and overwhelm us with numbers. But when I looked, they were just a bunch of thugs… From what I saw, there were only about 4-5 people who looked really dangerous… So…)

Todoroki Shōto ‘Nā, kono mamajya anta-ra jiwajiwato karada ga eshishiteku wakenanda ga, ore mo HERO shibō, sonna hidoe koto wa narubeku saketai.’ 轟焦凍「なあ、このままじゃあんたらじわじわと身体が壊死してくわけなんだが、俺もヒーロー志望、そんな酷え事はなるべく避けたい。」 Todoroki Shōto “Hey, if this continues your body will slowly undergo necrosis, but I want to become a Hero too, so I want to avoid that terrible thing as much as possible.”

Todoroki Shōto ‘(Ore ga tsugini torubeki kōdō wa───…)’ 轟焦凍「(俺が次に取るべき行動は───…)」 Todoroki Shōto (What should I do next—…)

Todoroki Shōto ‘Ano ALL MIGHT o yareruttsuu konkyo… sakutte nanda?’ 轟焦凍「あのオールマイトを殺れるっつう根拠…策って何だ？」 Todoroki Shōto “So you’re saying you can kill All Might… what’s your plan?”

Kaminari Denki ‘Denki o matō dakeda, ore wa! Hōden dekiru kedo ayatsureru wake ja nē! Futari tomo makikon jimau no! Areda! Todoroki to issho yo!?’ 上鳴電気「電気を纏うだけだ、俺は！放電出来るけど操れるわけじゃねー！二人とも巻き込んじまうの！あれだ！轟と一緒よ！？」 Kaminari Denki “All I can do is surround myself with electricity! I can discharge it, but that doesn't mean I can control it! It'll drag you both down! That's it! I'm the same as Todoroki!”

Observation notes:

Shōto appears in two scenes and is mentioned in a third.

The first scene in which he appears shows how he deals with the Villains in the landslide zone, and the second scene is just a quick panel showing him running.

In the first scene, we see how he completely froze the Villains, leaving only their faces out of ice, something that was hinted already in chap 14. Skipping how he dismisses the Villains as just ’people who don’t know what to do with their “quirks”‘, an elaborate way to say they are weak compared to him, what is noteworthy is that he is basically blackmailing the Villains, threatening to let them die (necrosis, especially that extended, would kill a person) if they don’t tell him their plan.

I don’t know why Horikoshi thought it was a good idea to have Shōto do such a thing, as this is a coercive tactic and in Japan even the police is forbidden from using such things (though yes, it seems they still do it behind closed doors) so Horikoshi is not showing him being smart and cold, he is showing him doing something that is forbidden by law.

The fact that I am fairly sure Shōto doesn’t really mean to let them die so he is just lying when he implies he will do it, doesn’t make this okay… though in future chapters we’ll see Aizawa breaking Tōya’s arms to get him to talk so I guess it was smart and okay in Horikoshi’s books.

Anyway, if I’m not wrong, this will be the last time Shōto’s ice will be considered dangerous because it can cause necrosis, we will see him using his Quirk freely in the sport festival, letting people stuck in ice without anyone worrying about the consequences.

The scene in which he is mentioned has Kaminari comparing his power to Shōto’s. Previously we saw Shōto telling Shōji to get out of the building because he would freeze it whole and if he were to remain there he would end up frozen as well. Kaminari claims he is the same, if he releases his power his allies need to stay away from him or they will end up getting hit by it.

Cultural notes:

Nihon kuni kenpō (日本國憲法 “Constitution of Japan”): the supreme law of Japan, an aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. In Article 36 it is absolutely forbidden the infliction of torture and cruel punishment by public officials while in Article 38 are guaranteed the right against self-incrimination, stating that “no person shall be compelled to testify against himself”. It also explicitly excludes from evidence any confession “made under compulsion, torture or threat, or after prolonged arrest or detention”.

Keiji-soshō-hō (刑事訴訟法 “Code of Criminal Procedure”): the law governing criminal investigations and trials, blending continental European (Germanic) and Anglo-American legal traditions to define how crimes are handled, rights of the accused (like silence and counsel), warrant requirements, and the structure of court proceedings, including the unique Saiban-in (裁判員 “lay judge”) system for public participation in serious cases, all aiming for swift, fair, and transparent justice that will ensure the maintenance of public welfare and the guarantee of the fundamental human rights of individuals. This law establishes the procedures for criminal investigations and trials, requiring that suspects be informed of their rights and ensuring that confessions obtained improperly are not admissible in court.

Keihō (刑法 “Penal Code”): the foundational law defining crimes and punishments, enacted in 1907, structured into General Provisions (principles like intent, attempt) and Specific Crimes (murder, theft, etc.), operating within a civil law system that emphasizes codification, with punishments including imprisonment, fines, and the death penalty, supplemented by separate “special criminal laws” for other offenses. This code includes specific crimes for abuse of authority by public officers, such as “violence and cruelty by a special public official” (Article 195).

As you can see from above, coercing someone to talk using torture or threat is forbidden by multiple laws.

Retcon notes:

Kaminari claims that Shōto is the same as him and can only release his power and not control it. This is supported by how in Chap. 11 Shōto tell Shōji to get out before he freezes the building they are in. Only in Chap. 18 we will see that Shōto, differently from Kaminari, can control his power just fine, in fact he doesn’t freeze All Might.

While Shōto controlling his power might have been always part of the plan and what Kaminari said was meant to be just his speculation and not a fact, it is also possible Horikoshi just retconned Shōto’s ability to control his Quirk to suit his needs and prove that Shōto is better than Kaminari.

Translation notes:

In the Japanese version when Shōto speak there are dots on ‘narubeku’ (なるべく “as much as possible”) that work in the same way as if Horikoshi had underlined such sentence.

Shōto, like everyone really, calls All Might just ‘ALL MIGHT’ (オールマイト) with no suffixes attached. While occasionally someone, when directly talking with a Hero, adds a suffix to his Hero name, the norm is that people don’t do it. I guess for them it is the same as with celebrities and athletes (and also historical figures): as long as they aren’t your personal acquaintances they are usually mentioned without any honorifics at all, unless you feel particularly close to them. That or just the name works already as a title so if you add an extra suffix, you give your words an extra layer of politeness. I don’t really know which is the truth, just keep in mind in this story it is normal to call a Hero without adding suffixes.

After Kirishima we also have Kaminari calling Shōto just ‘Todoroki’ (轟) without any suffix as he does for all of his classmates. As said before this makes Kirishima also come out as less formal/more casual/rude when talking with/about his classmates.

Weirdness notes:

I second Shōto, it doesn’t make a lot of sense they just went there with an overwhelming number of third rate Villains. It is true Shigaraki’s plan relied mostly on the Nōmu to kill All Might and the thugs were only distraction, but since there were meant to be two Heroes there, if All Might had been present the Nōmu would have focused on him and he wouldn’t have been able to knock down Aizawa. Actually the whole plan is as messy as few others. Why not to warp the students in a jail and use them as blackmail material for example? why with oh so many Villains use so few to deal with Shōto? I mean, he is Endeavor’s son and, even if it is possible Horikoshi hadn’t planned yet to have All for One keep his eyes on Enji, it doesn’t even take Aoyama to tattle it out to figure the kid is gonna be strong. Whatever.

As I said in other posts, chapter 21 reveals Hagakure was there as well but it makes zero sense how she wouldn’t try to speak with Shōto. The Villains are defeated, she should regroup with Shōto and establish with him a course of action. The fact that she decides instead to remain silent makes no sense and makes it seems like she lied when her being there is meant to be the truth and this is overall a stupid plot idea that Horikoshi implemented because she wanted both her and Aoyama to look suspicious. Still he would have done better to create a place in which he could teleport her that had no one in it. This way it would have made sense no one could testify her location and she couldn’t let anyone know she was there.

Another thing that doesn’t make sense is why should the Villains tell Shōto their plan. I mean, I get he is threatening to let them die if they don’t talk, but if they talk then what? He will let them go so they can attack him? They should know this won’t happen. On the other side, they DO talk and, as far as we know, they didn’t die so what? Shōto knocked them all unconscious after they talked and then felt confident enough to free them? And through all this Hagakure didn’t try to talk to him? Even if it’s possible it feels unrealistic.

English version notes:

In the English version Shōto seems more determinate not to kill the Villains, than he actually is in the Japanese version, where he is fundamentally threatening to let them die if they don’t answer him (something that is made even more obvious in the anime but I’m running ahead).

Now, regarding the anime version...

Episode 11 - Game Over (ゲームオーバー GAME OVER)

Added parts notes:

The anime decided to show Shōto fighting a little more as, after showing he foze 8 guys as he did in the manga, the anime adds two guys who somehow weren’t frozen and that appear all of sudden to attack Shōto... only to end up frozen same as the others. The intention is good, to give Shōto more space, but it backfires because the manga idea that Shōto managed to freeze EVERYONE in a second made Shōto look cooler than the fact he missed two people who somehow jumped out of nowhere (even if at least one has wings so this explains why he didn’t end up frozen... the same can’t be said for the other Villain though).

Something else that the manga adds is that when Shōto threatens the Villains, they are shown to be clearly scared of him and, what’s more, Shōto’s threat is made even more dangerous by how he places his hand near the only part of a Villain that is not frozen, his face, and slowly starts to freeze that too. If Shōto doesn’t stop, that is going to SURELY kill the Villain, way faster than the cold. With his face enchased in ice the Villain wouldn’t be able to breathe and would die rather quickly. This makes Shōto even more ruthless and cruel than he is in the manga, he is basically threatening to murder the guy, not just to let him die, never mentioning that, as said before, using coercive tactics is something that even the Japanese police is forbidden from doing. I guess they thought having Shōto reduce a Villain to tears for fear of being killed would make him cooler, but I can’t really see a good message in this.

Changed parts notes:

It is minor but the anime moves the line

Todoroki Shōto ‘(Ore ga tsugini torubeki kōdō wa───…)’ 轟焦凍「(俺が次に取るべき行動は───…)」 Todoroki Shōto (What should I do next—…)

to before Shōto starts blackmailing the Villains. This seems to imply what Shōto should do next is threatening the Villains to let them die, where in the manga, since this is moved after he threatened them, it seems to refer to questioning the Villains to find out their plan.

Weirdness notes:

Todoroki Shōto ‘Kyōshi-jin (read: PRO HERO) ka… Koko ni kore dake atsumarutte koto wa, gakkō zentai ni shikakete kitatte koto ja nasa sō da.’ 轟焦凍「教師陣（プロヒーロー）か…ここにこれだけ集まるってことは、学校全体に仕掛けてきたってことじゃなさそうだ。」 Todoroki Shōto “Teachers (read: Pro Heroes)… The fact that so many of them have gathered here means the whole school was not under attack.”

Ojiro Mashirao ‘Hagakure-san wa doko itanda?’ 尾白猿夫「葉隠さんはどこいたんだ？」 Ojiro Mashirao “Hagakure-san, where were you?”

Hagakure Tōru ‘Dosha no toko. Todoroki-kun KUSO tsuyokute bikkuri shichatta.’ 葉隠透「土砂のとこ！轟くんクソ強くてびっくりしちゃった」 Hagakure Tōru “The landslide. Todoroki-kun is so strong I was surprised.“”

Todoroki Shōto ‘(Kōra su tokodatta… abunē…).’ 轟焦凍「(凍らすとこだった…危ねぇ…)」 Todoroki Shōto “(I almost froze her… that was dangerous…)”

Observation notes:

Shōto appears in three scenes, in the first he shows again his ability of analysis by figuring out that if all the teachers could show up there, it can only means the rest of the school isn’t under attack and so they are all free to come help All Might, Aizawa and Thirteen.

The second scene has Hagakure claiming she actually ended up in the same place in which Shōto was. Shōto overhears her and thinks things could have turned out dangerous as he could have ended up feezing her too. And then what, I ask? If he never meant to hurt the Villains for real, he would have never let being frozen be something dangerous, he should have melted the ice... but this is true solely if he never meant to harm the Villains. Considering how the series handles the Villains I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t the case and the series were to try to pass this for okay so Hagakure was at risk of being harmed along with them.

The last scene is just a collage of images of Class A kids, Shōto included, as All Might says they will become mighty Heroes. Shōto is in the bit next to Bakugō and he has his left side in full view. We can see this a hint that the baton is going to be passed to him as, technically, he is Midoriya’s next antagonist for the next arc.

There is actually something else to say about this last scene, which is that All Might tries to paint as exceptional class A for going through that experience because no class previously had to go through such thing. I will pretend this is accurate and that no Villain, from the apparition of Quirks, has ever attacked a school before so this is not a lie. However All Might/Horikoshi is trying to use this experience as the basis for class A’s exceptionalism. Should I remind everyone that the world had stopped being in chaos only in a relatively recent time (around 35 years) so there were generations that should have grown up with experiences way worse than experiencing a single Villain attack at school and should have been therefore way more exceptional than class A? Also, psychologically, facing traumatic experiences like a Villain attack isn’t always oh so healthy, class A could have totally be traumatized enough to drop school because they felt unsafe/realized being a Hero isn’t their job or be more impressed by the Villains. So really, All Might’s speech isn’t the smartest/truest thing he could have said had this been the real world and it isn’t even a great message in a story. Facing a traumatic experience doesn’t make you for sure stronger, it has more chances to make you traumatized.

Translation notes:

Hagakure calls Shōto ‘Todoroki-kun’ (轟くん “young Todoroki”). ‘-kun’ (君/くん) is usually used for addressing males younger than the speaker. However teenagers in the same age group can call each other with ‘-kun’ and this is what Hagakure does with her male classmates.

Weirdness notes: So I have said over and over how it makes no sense Hagakure hadn’t let Shōto know she was there too but here there is something else that doesn’t make sense, the fact no one point out she should have let him know. This is expecially stupid because Shōto realizes since he didn’t know she was there he could have hurt/frozen her so it would have stood to reason he would have gone to her and insisted she must let him know she is present because he doesn’t want to hurt her by mistake. But no, the manga prefers to handle it like some sort of joke.

Now, regarding the anime version...

Episode 13 - In Each of Our Hearts (各々の胸に Onōno no Mune ni)

Added parts notes:

As usual we have more glimpses of Shōto, including a new scene in which Kirishima tells him and Bakugou to gather in front of the gate. The anime seems to prefer to keep Shōto apart from the class in some scenes in which we catch glimpses of him.

Changed parts notes:

And here let’s have a close up of the Todoroki involved:

Observation notes:

This is one of the few covers that in original weren’t colored but that tell us something about the story, which basically is where everyone is.

Weirdness notes:

As also said for chap 14, the story tries to establish a big mystery by hiding the location of Aoyama and Hagakure, as Aoyama was already meant to be the traitor inside U.A. HIgh and so he was likely teleported in a safe location... but in order not to make it too obvious they also hid Hagakure’s location. It’s really not a great idea because Hagakure will claim she was with Shōto but it makes no sense she hadn’t told him, especially when he froze everyone so it was absolutely safe to come out and talk with him.

English version notes: