#qla

So much blood... It's like a Tarantino film

We begin with a flashback. People are recalling what she did to a classmate named Saitou-san. There are some unclear things here, like which one is Saitou-san; he's described as a popular kid so it's likely that Deku lookalike (or Shindou lookalike?) Is that one. Another unclear thing: Toga seems to be referred to as censored-san? So this implies that Toga Himiko might be a false name?!

She is downright terrifying and I love it. I love that facial expression of hers up there as she's drinking her classmate's blood through a recyclable straw (I hope she washes it!).

We are treated to baby Himiko killing a bird with her fangs and her parents giving up on her. Again we are shown that quirks are curses as much as they are blessings for certain people. Most if not all of the persons in the LoV seems to have that in common--Shigs and his distorted past, Twice losing his sense of self, Spinner being discriminated against because of appearance, Dabi's body burnt and destroyed by his quirk.

In Toga's case, where her quirk requires her to cause injuries upon others by ingesting blood, the curse upon her is that she develops a morbid fascination for blood and death. As a child she killed a bird by sucking out all its blood. There doesn't seem to be malice behind it but its still animal cruelty. her parents are understandably disturbed and start to desperately "normalize her" against her wishes by telling her to stop being creepy. All the repressed energy finally burst in middle school, resulting in the scene above...

It's so hard to make a judgment call here. There's definitely a better way to go about it, but... If you were Toga's parents, would you attempt to normalize her too? Or will you allow her to expand her horizons when it comes to her quirk?

In Toga's opinion, everyone is being annoying for judging her view of "normal" and for all the pity that comes with the unfortunate nature of her quirk. She's struggling from the exploded blood too; Kizuki describes her insides being damaged. That can't be good.

In desperation, Toga uses up her stock of blood from her attack on Ochako before. It's amazing to see Ochako's face again after so long, and with very interesting facial expressions too! I know she's at the brink of death and all, but it's so cute that she seems to be running on all fours in this panel

She says something about wanting to be close to people she loves... Wanting to be exactly like Ochako so that Izuku will trust her too. It's sweet in a way but also really scary?? Because apparently she loved that Saitou guy in much the same way too

Another thing--she has a stock of Camie's blood still! Oh, I hope she gets to use that in the future too, if only because it'll be interesting to see what she does with it!

Okay okay okay okay okay hold the phone

Look at that. Toga... Copying a quirk. COPYING A QUIRK. COPYING A QUIRK?!

it's a new development, apparently it's a new facet of her quirk that came out when she was under duress. We've seen that happen in other people too, Koichi from Vigilantes comes to mind when he discovered he can fly. But... This this is a big deal??

Because one--her quirk suddenly got more terrifying; the LOV just got more powerful. If she had a stock of the most powerful heroes' blood--Endeavor, Hawks, Miruko, etc. If she had a stock of the UA kids' blood. Or Aizawa's blood. Heck if the others in the LoV will lend her their blood, imagine the havoc she can do. Her use is not merely for recon or camouflage anymore, it's pure imitation. She can literally become you and can do everything you can do up to a certain limit!!

Two -- a Copy Type Quirk, hmm.. censor-san, an elder sister, a mystery family with a copy quirk. Is... Is this seriously Toga-Is-A-Monoma?! Is this crack conspiracy theory really... Really?!

Okay that's a bit too much, but it's certainly interesting to think about

So using all that she learned from watching Ochako, she executes the Meteor Shower move with living human bodies perfectly and does a lot of damage. Showing us what Villain!Ochako would do with her quirk if the tables were turned. Really interesting application Toga, it's gory like everything you do but well done

She gets some sense of satisfaction from destroying her body in a fight like Izuku has (geeze at this point they seem perfect for each other wtf). I like that her motives are simple at this point: stick to the guy who will get rid of everything you don't like. No cares about who will be the future king or whatever? Very good.

I thought that Dabi had paid for his new outfit with the qla money, but it seems that I was wrong.

Okay, so it took a few days to figure out what I want to say with this answer. While I did, I watched the series finale of a very…controversial show and a favorite character had something to say that I think explains what the QLA is doing in a very clear manner. Regardless on the validity of the lines in the original context, read as an explanation for human nature… I think it’s powerful.

“What unites people? Armies? Gold? Flags? No. It’s stories. There’s nothing in the world more powerful than a good story. Nothing can stop it. No enemy can defeat it.”

This is ultimately the lesson the QLA are ‘teaching’ the League - notice how Horikoshi is using an arc about narratives shaping others to show us their stories. 

And it’s true - stories have shaped ideologies more than anything. Using fanciful versions of things as rallying calls has been time honored propaganda tactics since forever. Stories shape our moral center, call us to action, make us want to live like we are in them. I can list hundreds of examples historically, across centuries and regions. 

More so than facts and statistics, things that make us feel will always be more important to people. It’s why demagoguery works, it’s why we elect people who can say nothing of importance; or those will little concrete plans. They shape our views with their stories and anecdotes. Many people scoff at this sort of thing, but, is it so surprising that an audience resonates with experiences than abstractions?

Clearly, the Liberation Army has done their homework on the League because of their stories. 

It’s clearly spelled out here why the Liberation Army is attacking the League - while they were working on being an army, the League took the spotlight. They co-opted the story of Stain; a lone truth-sayer who took it upon himself to deliver ‘justice’ against ‘false heroism’. The League did this with absolutely no outward actions of their own. People just assumed they stood for the same things and assumed that’s the story they were selling; in fact, it was the ultimate recruitment tool for Tomura. Stain moved people. And so is the Liberation Army.

Kaminari here is parroting what he saw in a video detailing Stain’s life story. Months later, Hawks is telling us about the societal implications of a post-All Might Japan, where people are looking for stories to believe in now that their societal symbol of peace and order is gone. 

This is what Deku was telling Tomura that day in the Mall. Tomura is not telling a story; he is not inspiring, he is not leading them to action...yet. Of course, Tomura understands this and more on that later. 

And the Liberation Army clearly spell out how they work here:

They want the League to be martyrs, they want to use their discontent from their pasts and reach as recruitment, and to prove a point. And they have the superior funds and technology to do so; as shown by the fact they’re taping all of this. 

And because they are good storytellers, they already accounted for the roles they want each person to play. That’s why Curious went after Toga, I’m sure that’s why Skeptic, whose power matches Twice’s, went after him. They had a story planned out - Parka guy is another example. 

From the very start, the Liberation Army has been planning this. After all, the LoV are their competition in reaching the hearts of people! Why wouldn’t they demolish them and use them for their own gain? Sounds like someone I know actually....

Because Shigaraki did the same thing with Stain. And did it again with Overhaul, taking his drugs.

He’ll do the same for the Liberation Army. What do they have that the League need? Funds. The support of thousands. A safe place. Technology to broadcast messages. Izuku told us that no matter how hard the League was beaten down, they always rose up stronger - he said this as we were introduced to the original two ‘members’, Toga and Dabi. 

And mostly, they’ll come out of this with a story. Whether that’s a certain black-haired man’s story, a particularly society shattering one, or something else, who knows. What we do know is that already, Toga has rejected the narrative Kizuki created for her. Twice is going to do the same by showing the Liberation Army they cannot manipulate him by using his mental illness, that he refuses to be victimized, much like Toga did. 

So the time of the LoV is letting them have a nap so we wont hear from them for 6 weeks at least really in bnha time. So for sure after this arc unless they are talking to any MLA member.

I am so glad we get to see what is happening and pair it up with the normal hero content on tidbits of the background plot with hawks and whatever side he is on. So Deika city was mostly destroyed (center at least). And with that I will assume this building is skeptics house until told otherwise.

Still looks close to the mountains, but far enough secluded that if it is skeptics place he can have a separate part of the power grid flowing only to here so he never surged out part of the city. Hawks complaining about coffee makes me think that he wants to not be caught in any one place for far too long lest he be seen by everyone else he is working with.

I cannot wait to see more of this with the MLA I honestly cant wait.

For the hero half of the chapter I found the fake out to be funny. And cannot wait for hades dungeon crawler next few chapters but I know the kids are gonna be doing something they were not supposed to do.

Or we see the MLA influence even with what happened on the news people joining the fight. Regular people joining the fight and Endeavor tells his new interns that they have to get the others out of the way.

TTALWINS did two awesome villainous pieces for the zine! Here's a preview of the second one to peak your curiosity. ;)

okay, any remaining hope I had for the MLA and their ideology is now gone; they’re officially not only not bad at any liberation by being utterly bourgeois, they’re also just essentially fascists and social Darwinian at that.

I’m here for Gigantomachia pulverizing them.

you know what’s even better about that scene (aside from how glorious it’s gonna be in anime format)? that metaphorically, it was Shigaraki’s answer to Redestro’s (pathetic) intimidation attempt. That tower is the symbol of the history Re-destro was flauting until two minutes prior. It was a physical manifestation of their influence and power, as the headquarters of their corporation. And Shigaraki pulverized it with a single touch.