#shigpress

judging by his words on people choosing their own fates, be they heroes or villains, as well as speaking of people's agency/personhood, it makes you wonder if he felt trapped in his own destiny too. he seems like he probably rebelled a bit when he was younger given his failed days as a magician, which doesn't feel all that prestigious for someone with his history. i can imagine he also sees himself in tomura, since they are both the heirs to some of the most prolific villains of all time--- if anyone understands the pressure he is under, it's atsuhiro. not to mention, mha has an obsession with using hands as a metaphor for things (particularly, oppression or freedom/affection), and though it's only in the anime, one of the few shots we get of kid atsuhiro is with his father's hands on his shoulders, guiding him to fulfill his legacy as harima's descendant, a thing he doesn't necessarily have a say in. it feels like it mirrors similar shots with afo and tomura, granted i'm not saying atsuhiro's father was some kind of tyrant, just that the insinuation of that pressure is there. while other villains were made by their circumstances or decisions, it was in atsuhiro's blood to rebel against the suffocating system they were born into.

him and tomura both having hand quirks also makes me think of another way they're similar. compression is a quirk that can be as dangerous as it is useful. we see that it can effortlessly maim others, which begs the question, what was it like learning that quirk? surely not easy or without consequence. that takes a lot of skill and precision. i think because of that, atsuhiro also makes for someone who probably wouldn't be afraid of or disgusted by tomura's quirk, which adds a further level of intimacy to them. he doesn't just see someone who destroys everything around him--- he sees new beginnings, and has the knowledge that from death, comes life itself. considering, despite his obvious skills in such, he isn't very keen on being a thief or violent for that matter, i feel like he's one of the few people to see and understand that tomura is not just the aggression and expectations that were made by afo--- he is his own person.

it also strikes me as suspicious that even though they needed as many allies as possible, he was never broken out of prison while other much more difficult people were pursued--- in the past he spoke out against the mistreatment of tomura and i feel like afo likely knew he was a risk to keep around, in the event he could not fully control tomura. so for as useful as he was, and could be, he was a liability, a part of tomura's humanity that couldn't be risked, especially when spinner was still around.

to close out, i don't think this was a last ditch effort, i think this is what he always knew to be his final act, he knew the curtain would fall with tomura, not him. tragically, he also probably knew none of them would realistically survive, but i think it was that fire that he saw in tomura--- a fire that could rival his great-great-grandfather--- that made him want to believe in him and drove him to do as much as he could. for all his theatrics and at times ridiculousness, his final act makes him feel like such a classically romantic character, someone willing to give everything up for the person he trusts and respects the most. i'll just never get over how utterly heart-wrenching it is to see atsuhiro's final panel be that wistful smile, still stuck in the same society that worships heroes.