#chapter 044

Todoroki Shōto ‘(Jibun no sonzai ga Okā-san o oitsumete shimau kara awanakatta.)’ 轟焦凍「（自分の存在がお母さんを追いつめてしまうから会わなかった。）」 Todoroki Shōto “(I didn’t meet my mother because I felt my presence would overwhelm/corner her/drive her to the wall.)”

Observation notes:

What this chapter has is actually an extremely small line about the Todoroki’s past that only tells us that, after Rei was hospitalized Shōto never went to visit her because he feared his presence would make her feel bad. I originally didn’t think to include this bit if it wasn’t for the fact it will get retconned so I wanted to remark it existed.

Retcon notes:

Shōto in this chapter makes clear the decision not to see Rei is HIS OWN, that he chose so because he feared his presence would hurt Rei and that he started doing so from when Rei hurt him. Too bad in chap 250 it is said he had to do so not after he was scarred but AFTER TŌYA DIED, because their mother’s condition worsened to the point she couldn’t see him anymore.

This takes away Shōto’s agency in that decision, oddly singles him out among his siblings as if he were responsible for Tōya’s death and removes the connection between Shōto not seeing his mother and Rei burning him which will have consequences also on what will be revealed will be her dialogue (see chap 53). Basically, if Shōto had met Rei after she burned him, Rei should have apologized to him in that instance and since Shōto was not the one to decide not to meet her, he had nothing to apologize for. What is more, Shōto should worry more about if it would be okay to meet Rei because he was DELIBERATELY kept away from her for Rei’s own well being likely by the doctors (same as Enji), so he really shouldn’t show up unannounced here.

In short this future retcon makes the whole story a mess.

Timeline notes:

The tables that follows is made to give you an idea of the characters’ age when the facts are taking place. On top of each character there is the date of his birthday, below there is the age they has. April is the month in which school starts, so in it you find in which class each character is.

The table above is mostly done with info we will be given in chap 302, in fact, while in that chapter Shōto’s scarring and Rei’s hospitalization happens in winter, from the way they are dressed in the scene it seems they are in summer.

In theory I should have included tables for all the 10 years Shōto did not visit Rei but I thought it would be enough to just include the year in which he stopped doing so.

Translation notes:

Shōto uses ‘oitsumete’ (追いつめて) which means “overwhelm/corner her/drive her to the wall.”

Episode 25 - Todoroki vs. Bakugō (轟VS爆豪, Todoroki VERSUS Bakugō)

Added parts notes:

When Shōto starts thinking at his own reasons to see Rei and at how he had not been visiting her before, the anime adds a “since that day” to make clear this started from the moment Rei scarred him.