About cheaper 302 of mha and... Mysoginist Touya(?)
It's incredible I feel the need to say this, but... TOUYA IS NOT A FRIGGING MISOGYNIST! Yes, he may be a mass murderer, a mysoginist and a petty lil bitch, but he's definitely not a porn star!
Jokes and old school Simpsons aside tho... It's clear as day why Touya said what he said regarding the women in his life. This kid is being neglected by BOTH his parents, that's why he resents deeply his mother too. The first years of his life had been completely devoted to become Endeavor's prodigy; he had to grow up into the one who'll surpass All Might, it was his duty as Endeavor's son, he was strong enough to get the job done... Only to be tossed away when his body couldn't comply. Such an incredibly harsh and unjustified treatment completely shuttered his sense of self, his whole existance lost any purpose or meaning.
In this chapter he's 13, old enough to understand all the ramifications that brought him to life.
Touya knows his mother married Endeavor because of the state her family was in. The Himura needed money and basically sold her to the best offerent. She had children with him only to fulfill a purpose, not because she wanted a family with a man she naturally fell in love with.
She could have refused the proposal, but she was too weak to go against her family's will and later on she's still too weak to put an end to Endeavor's bullshit. Simplifying a bit:
Touya sees his mother as a person who's only capable to do what others tell her to. She didn't build a future for herself after all, she just went with the ambitons her family harbored for her, so why should Touya listen to her advice if she is the first one to be stuck with her family's wishes?How can Rei tell him to find his path without being focused on Endeavor, if the only thing she did in her life was to marry the guy her parents sold her to?
What we are dealing with here is a child who doesn't get completely what's goin on in his parents' lives, but he can still see, clear as day, their respective hypocrisy and shifting responsibility. It's like he's a basketball being tossed between two adults incapable of playing correctly. They don't know how to talk to him so they avoid the problem altogether, thinking the other parent needs to do all the work alone.
Let's put this clear: I don't want to to do any victim blaming here. I'm very much aware of how fragile and compromised Rei's position was. She is a victim, but she's also a mother of four. As a parent she should've done better, not only with Touya, but with the other children as well. Touya is only 13 in this chapter... As I said, he's old enough to get something right, but emotionally he's still immature. He doesn't have the means to empathize with Rei on a deep level. You can't expect him to be too understanding, because Rei is still his mom after all. For a kid, a parent doesn't have any right to be weak. A parent who shows instability and fragility can't be the source of reassurance and protection its role needs it to be. Kids are often egotistical because they are not equipped to do better. They need a solid ground to thrive and love to learn how to process emotions correctly. If things get shaky, they feel lost and distressed... That's why Touya can't forgive his mother too. He is scared, alone and deeply concerned about his future. Nothing he does seems right enough and nobody seems really interested in what he has to say, even his siblings. So its not just Endeavor, he resents the whole family and the whole family needs to pull through and save him from himself.
Concluding my little ranting, Rei is a very well written character. Flawed, relatable and also strong.
But she wasn't strong from the start, or at least she was only very good at enduring. Now she is FIGHTING for everything she cares about, finally doing something productive for herself (and her children). She spent years thinking about what she had done and she really worked on her issues. She's changed so much Endeavor can't even recognize her, even tho I really think he never knew her from the start.
I also appreciated Endeavor's first steps towards a serious self analysis. He says he should've given up his foolish obsession, but at the time he couldn't because it would have felt like everything was in vain (even his child's death). He's basically admitting he was just covering for his mistakes and guilt.
He also says he didn't go to Sekoto mountain because he wasn't capable of dealing with Touya. Yes, at first he tries again to deflect responsibility: "I didn't want to fuel the fire more", but then he admits the truth: "I didn't know how to talk to him".
I'm very curious now about Hawks' pov on the matter. All and all I've really appreciated this chapter.
