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I feel like Toga and All for One have many similarities, but I am unable to articulate as to why I feel this way.
I think it's safe to say that AFO is an intentional foil to Himiko, Tenko, and Touya at this point! I've discussed how he shares body motifs with all three of them before, but his backstory more or less cemented that he's supposed to be read as "the worst possible extreme and the worst possible conclusion" to each of the trio's respective origins and overall stories.
As for how Himiko and AFO foil each other, specifically:
Cannibalism as a metaphor for Not cannibalism
Let's get the obvious point outta the way first, lol.
AFO and Himiko are both established as children that society wasn't prepared or willing to care for-- AFO was born during the advent of quirks where "paranormal" children like him were treated as diseased and shunned (or worse) by the rest of society, while Himiko was born during an "era of peace" where civilians are expected to maintain said peace through endlessly conformity and complacency-- outside of pro-heroism, civilians are essentially expected to role-play as though they've returned to "normalcy" (i.e. pre-quirk society) and the fear of being labeled as "abnormal" (despite living in a post-paranormal society) drives them to shun those who can't easily conform.
Both AFO and Himiko's "first sin" involves the "consumption of their fellow humans," which they both commit when they are too young to fully understand what they're doing-- and both acts of consumption were initially tied to their attempts to fulfill a basic human "need" that wasn't being provided for. Himiko drank the blood of a friend whose smile she envied after years of having her own smile called "creepy," AFO was a starving newborn whose mother couldn't provide him milk or protection and whose cries were ultimately ignored by everyone else. When Himiko takes someone's blood and "becomes someone else", she finally feels good "about herself". When AFO takes his mom's quirk and uses it to drink her blood, he no longer feels hungry and no longer has any reason to cry out for help/attention. Thus, AFO & Himiko ultimately learn and internalize that in order to fulfill their own neglected needs, they need to take from others.
Something something re: "the catharsis that comes with finally """"embracing your true nature'"""" so you can finally become what your family always feared you'd be (POV: you are 14 years old and utterly doomed by the narrative) (and so is the main object of your ""affection"") (puberty is a bitch ain't it!)" something something
To Himiko, the consumption of others becomes a way to "become somebody else"-- someone the world will treat more kindly than they treat "Toga Himiko." She feels the urge to completely drain the blood of anyone who has the life and relationships that she desperately wants for herself. Before that, drinking blood was simply her way of expressing admiration/affection and fell under the banner of MHA's definition of "pure love" (i.e. love as imitation). Himiko showed no inclination towards completely draining the blood of those she loves until her psychotic break with Saito, and she is notably able to restrain her supposed "urges" around the LOV despite loving them deeply. The "urge to drain those she loves completely" isn't actually tied to her quirk, but to her desire to "become someone else."
To AFO, the consumption of others became yet another way to rob them of their autonomy-- by taking away "a part of them" and forcibly turning it into a part himself in the most base, unsettling, and crude way possible. Before that, his consumption of others was simply driven by his instinct to survive. AFO's "urge to take" is tied to the preconception that no one will provide for him or look at him UNLESS he is taking something from them-- like Himiko, his quirk merely makes it easier for him to act on urges that don't actually stem from the quirk itself. AFO's warped perception of other people balloons wildly out of control by the time he reaches his teens, and finally cumulates in him ""eating"" the glowing baby out of jealousy:
*Kills someone over their follower count* Man, AFO is nvr gonna beat the "was a tiktok e-girl in his previous life" allegations
AFO and Himiko both "consume" other people out of jealousy and a desire to make up for what they feel they lack as individuals-- but an important distinction between the two of them, I feel, is that Himiko's consumption of others is ultimately driven by her desire to connect with other people while AFO's consumption is instead based on fear + mistrust of others. It's the difference between "Consumption as wanting to become a part of someone and become a part of the world they live in (+ consumption as a way to become a part of the world by living vicariously through someone else)" and "consumption as forcibly making someone a part of you and forcibly taking away their connection to the world."
Speaking of "consuming someone who has traits you envy in an attempt to make those traits your own" *pointedly looks at AFO's dynamic with Tomura* ...........yearp.
It's only after Himiko's human needs are finally addressed by Ochako, that Himiko learns the desire to "give" rather than take. I feel that this is probably one of the core take aways of the series while more or less being the "end goal" of the OFAFO plot-- "endless giving without ever taking" (All Might becoming the number one hero at the steep price of himself and Izuku almost destroying himself in the process of trying to emulate All Might) and "endless taking without ever giving" (AFO full stop, as well as society itself towards both the heroes and villains) are both extremes that only cause more people to get hurt. There has to be reciprocity. It has to be "One for All -AND- All for One." Give -AND- Take.
Side note: Himiko's favorite food being pomegranates also strikes me as ironic when you remember that Hori is gigantic mythology nerd-- In both art and mythology, it's not uncommon for pomegranates to be used as a visual for "flesh" and for their consumption to be used as a stand in for cannibalism. In greek mythology, pomegranates are known as the "fruit of the dead", and are believed to have originated from the blood of Adonis. There is also the legend of Persephone, who was cursed to remain within the underworld for six months each year as the price for consuming six pomegranate seeds while in hell.
The Buddhist legend of Hairiti/Kishimojin also stands out for framing pomegranates as a "cure" for cannibalism, by offering them to man-eating demons in lieu of flesh:
As for AFO-- it's been pointed out by several different people that he shares several parallels with the greek titan, Cronus, who is most famous for having devoured his own children whole.
With that in mind, I feel like the act of consuming blood has an almost mythological edge to it for these two (outside the obvious reality-based social stigma of it lol)-- the act of "eating" others, regardless of intent, is what condemned both AFO and Himiko to hell. But Himiko is offered a way out of that hell and ultimately finds salvation in allowing herself to be "consumed" in turn, while AFO just doubles down on eating every rando beefcake he can get his hands on while giggling like a school girl (and yet, when the chance to eat Toshi finally presents itself, he totally fails to capitalize on it. mfer can't even "cannibalism as a metaphor freaky gay sex with your dramaturgical foil" right smh š¤).
As an aside, when I say "people generally read into MHA too literally and expect entirely too literal conclusions for what is largely a fantastical story about abuse/trauma/coping mechanisms," how MHA depicts ""cannibalism"" through Himiko is actually one of the examples that comes to mind lol. So many people think that death or jail is the only appropriate conclusion for Himiko's character because it's the "only realistic conclusion" like they aren't reading a story where people have tape dispensers for arms lmfao.
OMNOMNOM-- (On Mouths)
:D
Not much to elaborate on here, mouths (and smiles) are AFO and Himiko's shared body motif in MHA's narrative. AFO's mouth is his only distinguishable facial feature during Parts 1 & 2, Himiko's smile/mouth is her defining feature and how others perceive it is a source of trauma for her. Her villain outfit is notable in how it covers her mouth/hides her smile while also resembling AFO's act 1 mask:
*squish*
During the final war, Himiko puts her mask on and hides her mouth immediately after being rejected by Izuku. This is symbolic of a lot of different things, but mostly, it drives home how she is no longer interested in talking things out and has "fully embraced being a villain." Ochako understands what's at stake and spends the rest of the fight trying to "take the mask back off"-- she understands there is something behind Himiko's villain mask that she needs to save.
Meanwhile, Toshi smashes past AFO's mask during Kamino and finds there is simply nothing underneath it-- reinforcing the idea that AFO has made "being a villain" his entire identity and that there is nothing worth saving behind his mask. However, Toshi was also the one who "smashed" AFO's facial features away in the first place. AFO definitely deserved getting his head popped, but in the context of MHA as a whole, I feel like AFO and Toshi's dynamic only highlights the overall tragedy of the hero/villain system and why it's a good thing that the new generation is starting to challenge it.
It is worth mentioning that mouths are frequently used to mask and dehumanize within the context of MHA's narrative, but this isn't something exclusive to AFO and Himiko ('sup Toshi) (''sup Tomura).
(I don't actually have anything else to add here lol)
Demon Child, Demon Lord
AFO and Himiko also stand out in how they're both framed as having been "born bad"-- Himiko by her parents, AFO by himself and the narration. Discerning readers already know that this is a crock of shit.
Child for One sees the Demon Lord being surrounded by people who provide for him out of fear while he's stuck living in isolation and squalor with Yoichi, and decides the only appropriate reaction to this is to make a children's comic book his entire personality (he's just like me fr)-- He embraces the idea of becoming a demon and shedding off his humanity, and immediately starts self-styling himself off a generic biz-caz corporate shmuck (lmfao).
Unlike AFO, Himiko resists the label of "demon" as much as she can-- she styles herself as "a cute high school girl" despite being a middle school drop out because she realizes the world will treat her a little more kindly this way (but only a little). Himiko longs to be seen as human, but is made to feel like a monster instead.
What I find interesting is that AFO himself outright admits that he lacked the ego/awareness necessary to "consciously" take Yoichi's quirk when they were children-- yet, both he and the narration continuously frame the siphoning of his mother's life, quirk, and Yoichi's nutrients as though they were intentional, malicious acts. AFO leans into this framing and builds his whole identity around it until that framing is finally pulled away from him literal seconds before his death.
Being "human" to Himiko means going back to a time where she was loved and accepted unconditionally. Being "human" to AFO means going back to being that screaming infant who no one would look at.
Like it or not, everyone is human in the end little dude.
Other Miscellaneous Similarities:
This one doesn't require much explanation-- through prioritizing their own needs above all else, AFO and Himiko both dehumanize other people the same way other people dehumanize them. Himiko is still a child, however-- and she is ultimately saved by her desire to be accepted and form genuine connections with others. Her final fight with Ochako is as much about getting Himiko to see Ochako as "human" as it is Ochako acknowledging Himiko's humanity. Once again, it's all about reciprocity/give-and-take.
""join our family and let me raise you! :D *hard cut to a burning orphanage*" AFO being genuinely puzzled that ppl aren't jumping at the chance to raised by him is my favorite running gag in mha.
Both AFO and Himiko also have a habit of being.... inappropriately intimate with other people, often to the point where whatever "relationship" they have with others exists almost entirely in their own head. Himiko calls Tsuyu by her first name and gets told to cut it out because this is a privilege Tsuyu reserves for her friends, and Himiko immediately interprets this as Tsuyu offering to be friends. AFO calls his worshippers his "friends" and his cult "his family" and asks that his young victims call him "uncle" like he's a kindly family friend and not the dude who is blackmailing them into betraying all their friends.
Also, neva 4get.....
To think AFO could have also had fun yuri times if he had just stopped being a dickhead for five seconds. Tragic. š
I've read a lot of callous takes on All Might from fans who are otherwise sympathetic to Tomura (and vice versa)-- which is sad, because I feel these characters are meant to be viewed as two sides of the same coin. It's not much of an exaggeration to say that a good bulk of the story/conflict is built on top of their crumbling bodies. It's also not much of an exaggeration to say that the resolution to this story hinges on them both being allowed to heal.
Toshinori and Tenko are both victims who were repeatedly failed by the adults around them, and are now both adults who are stuck in roles that perpetuate the same cycle that wounded their childhood selves. Their particular traumas regarding identity/loss and how they've been taught to cope with pain (that is to say, not at all) doesn't allow either of them to truly be "complete" people-- instead, they shut away core aspects of themselves and attempt to lose themselves in their respective roles in a futile attempt to run away from their wounded selves. Toshi throws himself into the role of All Might, Tenko throws himself into the role of Shigaraki Tomura-- But Toshi and Tenko still haunt every aspect of this story, and their inability to completely vanish into their alter egos remains a source of pain before it ever becomes a source of strength for them.
One of MHA's biggest messages is about the importance of society's most vulnerable people having access to good social support-- so it's no surprise that Toshi and Tomura's feelings of isolation end up fueling their blind pursuits of peace/destruction. They both gorge themselves on a fantasy they think will fill them, but are never full-- at least, not until they start allowing other people in their lives who can see beyond their respective hero/villain masks and understand that what's behind those masks is someone who desperately needs help.
Brief(ish) Thoughts on the Gravity of Their Designs
"Starvation" is very much the theme of the hour for both characters-- both characters are introduced to the series in severely emaciated, malnourished states. Toshi's true form is literally skin and bones, with his stomach having been ripped from his body by AFO. Tomura is depicted as frequently vomiting from sheer stress and suffers from nearly constant nausea-- during his debut, he's so malnourished that you can literally see the outline of his spinal column. They're both unkempt and unhealthy looking (with Tomura's clothes being visibly tattered/frayed around the collar and shirt/pant cuffs in a particularly infuriating bit of visual story telling-- AFO UR FUCKING LOADED WHY IS HE WEARING RAGS I'LL KILL YOUš”ļøš”ļøš”ļø)
MEANWHILE, AFO himself is depicted as a cannibalistic, gluttonous, greedy monster who gorges himself on the misfortune of others and spares no expense whatsoever when it comes to maintaining his own health-- all while remaining well dressed and well groomed. Hori's art direction is simple but highly effective in how it indicates who the real enemy is, while also indicating that Tomura and Toshinori secretly share a mortal foe with one another.
Less seriously, Toshi & Tomura's muscle forms are both shams lmao.
Nana's Boys-------------------------------
God, Tomura is SUCH a fucking grandma's boy and he doesn't even know it. š š šYou too, Toshinori. Hate u both! ā¤
For all her flaws and mistakes, Nana still remains a major influence in Tomura and Toshinori's lives-- She is a source of pain for them both, but also serves as a source of strength for Toshinori and a source of deeply repressed hope for Tenko. She is the unbreakable binding thread that connects Toshinori and Tenko together as "family". Nana is also completely inextricable from the origin of both boys:
There's also the ever creeping implication that all the traits Tomura latched onto with AFO actually originated from Nana and Toshinori-- the concept of an inviolable "origin" that defines you, donning an invincible smile that hides your pain/fear, pushing past your limits by remembering why it is you swing your fists. AFO intended for both his "teacher persona" and his lessons to be a dark, twisted mockery of Nana-- but Tomura still "found" Nana in those lessons and then used them to take the first step towards breaking free.
Y e a h.
Nevertheless, Tomura can't bring himself to take the next step towards being saved until someone starts to challenge him a bit more on what his origin actually *IS* . Izuku, that's ur cue.
The Kamino Incident---------------------
mmm cinnamontography......
Kamino and its immediate aftermath is definitely the meat and potatoes of Tomura and Toshi's connection, and the story is STILL reeling from the aftershocks of this arc. AFO gleefully picks up his pen and proceeds to write Tomura and Toshi into a corner they can't escape from on their own, setting the stage for the rest of the series.
It's all but confirmed through AFO's actions and internal dialog that Kamino was a set-up meant to retraumatize Tomura and Toshinori by recreating the worst moments of their lives, while also permanently putting them at odds with each other-- AFO takes himself off the playing board willingly in a way that's deliberately meant to resemble Nana's sacrifice while also ripping Tomura's trauma about not being saved wide open. My guy played the longest con specifically so he could create a hell specifically tailored to these two, then gave them both time to "pick themselves up and dust themselves off" just so he could knock them both down AGAIN in an even MORE spectacularly traumatizing way a few months later. (I am once again encouraging people to reread MHA while actually paying attention to AFO this time and while acknowledging that Tomura and Toshinori are his victims, because the dude's a fucking FANTASTIC villain)
All Might and Tomura both get their "masks" forcibly removed in a way that's meant to humiliate them and expose their pain/humanity, which causes them to both bury themselves even deeper in their hero/villain roles and further away from each other. AFO depends on Toshi's hero mask and role as a "symbol" being the very thing that won't allow Toshi to save Shimura Tenko. Kamino is to Toshi what MVA is to Tomura-- an awful tragedy that shackles both men to their masks, masquerading as a good ol' high-energy shonen beatdown.
AFO: Hey can I copy ur homework lol
Name a bigger "Ohhhhhhh This Bitch (ŹāæŹ)" moment
AFO gets a sick pleasure out of masquerading as a savior and turning others into the "villain"-- he has always delighted in dragging others to his level, in bringing the absolute worst outta them, in watching them make all the same decisions *he* would make without him having to force his hand, in stealing the light from their eyes so they look just as dull and unhappy as his, in making others "another him".
Tomura is an obvious example, but Toshi himself is also a victim of AFO's particular brand of perversion (for lack of a better word)-- Kamino has AFO turning Toshi into "another him." All MIght is turned into "the villain" who takes Tomura's beloved master away from him, just as AFO took Nana away from Toshinori. All Might inflicts the same trauma he went through onto Tomura, while AFO takes a bow and proceeds to laugh himself all the way to the bank Tartarus.
(Seriously, tho-- reading "All Might: Rising" and the Kamino arc back-to-back and realizing that AFO's dramatic sacrifice was *literally plagiarized* is probably one of the biggest doses of fridge horror in the entire series-- it immediately throws EVERYTHING about Kamino and AFO's relationship with Tomura into question.)
*enraged chimpanzee shriek* THE WAY HE PRETTY MUCH SAYS EXACTLY WHAT HIS PLAN IS BUT THE PLAN WAS SO FRIGGIN INCONCEIVABLE THAT NO ONE PICKED UP ON IT.
FUKX>.
From AFO's perspective, Toshi's rise to power as "The Symbol of Peace" was shaped by his rage and the loss of his beloved master. This blind hatred eventually allowed All Might to corner and "kill" AFO. AFO takes his notes and ultimately sets Kamino up to mirror Nana's sacrifice, turning Toshinori into the figure who fuels Tomura's blind hate-- which kick-starts Tomura's development into "The Symbol of Fear" in earnest. He then spends 90% of his meeting with Toshi in Tartarus talking in bullshit riddles that are ultimately meant to mock Toshi-- He's basically saying "look a little closer buddy, that's you! :)" and then ominously chuckling to himself when Toshinori completely fails to pick up on what he's actually saying.
"wait so all that talk about Tomura growing and developing into a symbol and learning how to use his rage was just AFO being a perverted freak about Toshinori/All Might?" ALWAYS HAS BEEN!
AFO "writes" an "evil" version of All Might he has complete control over, then self-inserts himself into that version of All Might. Oh, and it's also a version of his brother who "willingly" submitted to him and was totally stoked walk the path of evil with him. Oh, and it's also a vessel that has the blood of Shimura Nana running through him, who happens to be the object of AFO's strangely charged derision.
Fellas, Freud would have a fuckin' field day.
>This Action Will Have Consequences.
Toshi's kneejerk reaction in the aftermath of Kamino is to chase after Tomura, to approach him as "Shimura Tenko". His first reaction is to act on his feelings as Toshinori, not as All might. Gran Torino shuts this down immediately, shoving both Toshinori and Tenko back into the hero and villain boxes and refusing to let them remove their "masks." Toshi's fear of Gran Torino is funny, until it isn't-- he buckles immediately and defers to Torino's will like a scolded child.
Gran Torino claiming āIt doesnāt matter who heās related toā in a series where familial relationships are frequently used to humanize its characters is a particularly backhanded way of dehumanizing Tomura (especially since the death of their families was the catalyst that caused both Toshi AND Tomura to start dehumanizing themselves).
Gran Torino immediately brings Toshi's "role" as All Might back up as a means of silencing him. Reading between the lines of this scene, Toshinori is essentially being told that he isn't allowed to take off the hero mask, that he isn't allowed to act on his feelings as Toshinori. Toshi is told that he can no longer act as the symbol of peace, but in the same breath, he's told that he can't ever STOP being the symbol of peace-- it's subtle, but this dissonance is what causes him to start slowly spiraling throughout Acts 2 & 3.
In Kamino's aftermath, Tomura and Toshi are both left feeling hollow and directionless. AFO mostly succeeds in hollowing out Tomura, who spends the beginning of Act 2 as a sullen and depressed mess until he finally snaps during the events of MVA. Toshinori, however, is lucky to have people in his life who begin to fill him up again with little acts of love for who he is outside the "Symbol of Peace" mask.
Toshinori, Rising.
MHA has been about Izuku's growth into someone capable of saving Tomura, but it's also been about Toshinori's growth into someone who can live outside his alter ego and finally become the sort of hero his childhood self wanted to be-- someone who breaks the cycle of grief turning into hatred. Yagi Toshinori WANTED to be the type of hero who could save Shimura Tenko, more anything. And if Hori sticks the landing with Toshinori and Tomura's arcs, then we're going to see some massive pay off in the coming chapters.
The series supports the underlying implication that Toshi's initial impulse to go after Tomura and treat him as Shimura Tenko was the correct one, and that not going after him was ultimately a massive mistake-- and Toshi has gradually been developing into someone who can now act on that impulse without being shouted down or shoved back into a box.
Side note: I feel that people who are insisting that Toshi is gonna die are severely underestimating how important Toshi and Tomura actually are to each other's respective arcs-- Killing Toshi before he gets to meet Tomura again leaves a big part of his arc unfulfilled. It also compromises Tomura's arc and MHA's message about the importance of good social support and family in saving society's most vulnerable people-- Yagi Toshinori becomes a hero that surpasses All Might through helping Tomura, and fulfills his dream about breaking the cycle of grief and hatred. Tomura gains the closure and social support he needs to finally start healing alongside what is basically his only remaining family (on a spiritual level!).
On that note.....
"You're Just Like All Might, Ten-chan."
*gazes pointedly at the SMAAAASH* Oh, Tenko.....
When Tomura/Tenko gets pushed to his mental breaking point during the UA Fortress Battle, he manifests the biggest targets of his grief and anger to "protect" him. Tomura twists his form into a childish interpretation of All Might-- one that exists solely to protect him-- then unleashes several "SMASH"es on the heroes. Tomura betrays himself and his true desires through this form more than any other.
The unstated implication scattered throughout the entirety of MHA is that Tenko has always been waiting for All Might to "finally show up and save him," but All Might never came. It's the core of the tragedy between these two. Tomura's ""hatred"" of All Might is fueled by extreme unprocessed grief, as always-- the same cycle that Toshinori dreamed of breaking when he was a child.
Midoriya Izuku's "Role"
NOTICE: THIS IS A SET. DO NOT SEPARATE.
(side note: Tomura touching All Might's screen while delicately raising his pinky to avoid destroying it.... I can see u bitch.)
Izuku is Tomura's hero for the same reason that Izuku is Toshinori's hero. Through Toshinori's relationship with Izuku, he learns that his life always had meaning, that he always had a role outside of being "All Might." He learns that it's okay for him to keep living as Yagi Toshinori, and that his "origin" didn't disappear when he lost One For All-- it's easy to see how Izuku's role in helping Toshi reconcile his identity and heroic origins ultimately bleeds into his arc with Tomura.
Izuku and Tomura learn how to define heroism and villainy through each other. Both boys start off with a vague, poorly-defined goal of wanting to save everyone/destroy everything-- and both goals are equally shallow/unattainable, at first. Thinking about those "goals" too deeply means confronting an aspect of themselves that's still wailing in pain-- they only begin to confront those feelings and the origin that fuels them through their repeat contact with each other.
All Might is the one who gave Tenko and Izuku's idea of heroism its "shape"-- but Tomura is ultimately the one who helps Izuku define his idea of heroism by forcing Izuku to repeatedly examine that definition each time they encounter each other. And Izuku the one Tomura's mind instinctively drifts towards when he thinks about about "some hero"-- he's the one who consistently motivates Tomura to struggle and claw himself back to the surface from the depths of the Demon King role. If "hatred" is what allows AFO to maintain his control over Tomura, then why was Tomura able to wrench back control after Izuku asked for him? Why was he able to resist when AFO attempted to unleash decay at the very beginning of the final war arc? Because there's something other than hatred fueling him right now. Tomura's truth, as always, lies firmly between the lines and under about seven different layers of misdirection (and yes, this is just a purple-prosey way of calling him a fucking tsundere /derog).
what do u guys think they were feeding toshi at the orphanage
Toshinori gets his mask removed, but learns that it's okay for him to live without it and that lesson brings him closer to his origin than he's ever been before. He is finally "reborn" as a fully formed human, not as a symbol. Anyway! *points at Shigaraki Tomura*
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LOV-centric Text memes, part 7 (6) (5) (4) (3) (2) (1)
(source on the first image for context that no one asked for) Anyway, AFO giving a bullied child an IBS quirk is still one of the most back-handed, black hearted acts of pure fucking evil I have ever seen in a manga. Greatest shonen villain of all time, of the year, of the century, of the week even, etc etc etc.
I've been wanting to talk about how MHA plays with the concepts of "fiction vs reality, the characters vs the actor, the world vs the stage" for awhile now, bc I believe understanding how MHA utilizes these concepts is pretty crucial to understanding our Big Bad (and Tomura!) (...and Izuku!) (.. etc!) (y-yeah...!!!) (wooo.....!!!!!)
If this post is more incoherent than usual, I apologize-- I'm just really enthusiastic about stories that play with the fact that they're stories and characters who throw themselves into a fictionalized role as a means of coping. I love the way MHA handles these concepts in particular, so I lost all sense of restraint as usual.
Hori: "I'm Like Dropping Hints That Hero/Villain Personas Are Actually Coping Mechanisms Lol"
"As Tomura Shigaraki and Tenko Shimura, I've got just one wish: the total destruction of everything that created that house."
"If my origin as Touya and Dabi was such a simple thing, then... No, there are still things I want to say. Arguments I want to have."
I've seen a few ppl saying that it sounds awkward/strange to have the characters repeatedly asserting themselves in the third person, but imo, the emphasis on real names versus hero/villain names during these particular scenes plays into the idea of the villain/hero identities being "alter egos" that might not actually have the same core desires as the """"actors"""" that are behind these personas.
Tomura and Touya invoke both their real and villain names while asserting their respective wishes. Himiko also invokes her villain name, though it's less obvious to english speakers because she uses her real name as her villain name (in the raws, "HIMIKO TOGA" as a villain name is written using katakana-- and this is what she uses when asserting her wish). MHA plays with the idea of "fiction"/"Alter Egos" as a form of escapism and as a coping method, and at this point in time, the Dabi/Tomura/"Himiko" identities are still being utilized as a crutch/mask by these three very hurt individuals.
Ochako's fight being like the second most thematically important fight in the whole series still makes me unreasonably giddy btw.
To contrast, Ochako uses her civilian name alone when asserting her wish-- and imo we're meant to read this as Ochako wanting to save Himiko as herself, not as Uravity. Saving Himiko is not something she can accomplish as her alter-ego-- Ochako is able to save Himiko by stepping off the stage and becoming a "real" person, while also acknowledging the person behind "Toga Himiko (villain name)".
Izuku hasn't had his "I'm Izuku Midoriya"/"I'm-saving-you-as-Izuku-not-as-Deku" moment yet-- instead, we see Tomura intentionally making that distinction between the-hero-and-the-true-self by constantly referring to Izuku by his real, full name. And I'm pr sure Izuku is also the only one he does this to-- we see him referring to all the other heroes he encounters by their hero names alone, or by insulting nicknames (l-lol). Correct me if I'm wrong, tho!
(side note: Tomura switching to calling Izuku just "Hero" in the aftermath of Bakugate is actually a big step backwards imo-- it reads as Tomura trying to push Izuku away by shoving them both back in the hero/villain box and doubling down on enforcing their respective "roles." Not that I ever expected mister doomdere to make things easy, but, woof. Good Fuckin' Luck, Izuku ( Ā“ļ½„Ļļ½„) )
TL;DR The final arc has mostly been about tearing off the hero/villain masks to reveal who is hiding underneathā MHA's careful use of names and monikers plays heavily into that and its distinction between "alter-ego"/"true self" a lot. Which is... probably one of the many reasons why All For One still doesn't have a given name, as someone who has all but completely lost himself in his character.
Anyway! That brings us to the meat of this post: how does MHA take the concepts of "reality vs fiction" and "the character vs. the actor" and apply it to All For One (...and Tomura) (and Izuku--)?
"Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain!"
"If you refuse to submit, then I'll just rewrite the story." - it's amazing how all of this coulda been avoided if someone had just introduced AFO to Demon Lord x Reader fanfiction. (/j)
AFO fancies himself as the author of MHA's greatest tragedy (the desecration of Shimura Nana's legacy via the sacrifice of Shimura Tenko), while simultaneously inserting himself into its overarching narrative and treating himself as the leading villain of the story-- it's self-indulgent and intentionally invasive in the way that most self-insert fanfiction tends to be invasive, with him going to extremes to make it seem as though the whole story revolves around him. AFO wants to be both the author and the leading character and the leading antagonist. This greed is typical of him, but it also establishes him as a character who's more caught up in (read: trapped by) his relationship to "fiction" than anyone else. Again, MHA explores the use of fiction and alter-egos as an escape from a painful reality-- so, it's entirely reasonable to assume that this applies to AFO as well.
To me, so much about AFO reads as an escapist fantasy of someone who is utterly terrified of being put in a position where he is truly seen. The idea of being vulnerable, of being naked, of being "human," is intolerable to him. But by not allowing himself to feel and "be a human," he has effectively cut himself off from what he wants most. The character of āShigaraki Tomuraā is as much an escapist fantasy for AFO as it is Tenko-- It's just another (younger, prettier) layer of skin he can hide his true self in.
"so basically you're saying that AFO is a never nude" yes, actually :)
AFO dehumanizes Tomura through his attempts to turn the boy into his personal comic book character, but he also dehumanizes himself by desperately trying to insert himself into that ācharacter." It's only fitting that Tomuraās innate humanity and capacity for feeling ends up rendering AFO himself painfully, painfully human-- and ultimately causes AFO's carefully constructed character to start crumbling.
If All the Worldās a Stage, Then Letās Destroy the Stage
"That stage is gone now. The theater's knocked down. How much longer can we afford to be spectators on the sideline?"
"Once upon a time, a man named All Might showed all of us how to be a hero. But somewhere along the way, people forgot about the heart and soul that made the man."
-MHA, Chapter 325
Tomura is attempting to destroy the stage, because without the stage there can be no "Shigaraki Tomura" (Or "All Might," or "All For One," or "Endeavor," etc etc etc). Without the stage, there are no more "characters" and no more tragedies. But-- without the stage, there are no more stories period. There are no more tragedies, but there are no more happy endings either. The world never recognizes the actor behind "Shigaraki Tomura" without the stage. The stage is not inherently a bad thing, so long as people can remember that the actors on the stage still exist outside of it.
But Tomura himself cannot imagine what happens after the curtains fall, and all that's left is Shimura Tenko. He is stuck in a role that was written entirely for someone else, but remains convinced that the role was always his and that the role defines him.
Tomura rebels against the story the only way he knows how--against an "author" who *LITERALLY* views him as a spicier self insert, and against a "setting" that treats his death as a happy ending-- but even so, Tomura still can't picture an ending that doesn't end in tragedy. His rebellion is not about him trying to wring a happy ending out of a miserable, mean-spirited book-- it's about burning the whole damn library down so he never feels let down or hurt by a story again.
Basically: Tomura cannot act outside the confines of his "character" in a way that will truly save him. Even as he rebels, he's rebelling in a way that is painfully consistent with the way his "character" is written-- and that's why AFO (the author) still poses such an enormous threat to him. Destruction cannot save him from this story when he was explicitly penned to destroy.
The only way to break this narrative is to act in a way "the author" doesn't expect, and to tap into all the traits that AFO desperately attempted to "write out" of him-- Shimura Tenko is someone who has always rebelled against his writing, his author, and the unfairness of this story with his kindness and his willingness to accept those that no one else will.
AFO cuts off Tenko's own power at the root by reinforcing Tomura's belief that the world will always inherently reject him, without fail, always and forever-- so he should just reject the world, too (and I've talked at length about this before, but this is why a story that ends with Tomura dying or locked away from society is an ending that fails in its goal to save Tomura). The more Shigaraki Tomura rejects everything and the more Shigaraki Tomura is rejected by everything, the more he distances himself from his root and the source of his power-- and the more Shimura Tenko gets lost in this character.
While AFO is terrified of someone seeing behind his mask, Tomura longs for it. Tenko has been there since the beginning and has been begging for someone to finally see and acknowledge him (both in-universe and out of universe).
"Iāll Be There, Changing Fate by Your Side."
AFO: "Blah Blah Blah DoĀ youĀ still believe myths can saveĀ you? Foolish creature. Let me be clear:Ā every versionĀ of theĀ story endsĀ withĀ you being slaughtered yadda yadda yadda :) :) :)"
ENTER, MIDORIYA IZUKU WITH A STEEL CHAIR.
Izuku's role is that of a completely average boy who gets pulled into a narrative ''that wasn't for him"-- he has no heroic lineage, no hidden powers, and no connection to the centuries old conflict that drives the plot. He's just a boy who did the right thing at the right time and was rewarded for it. Izuku is someone who was "never supposed to be a hero" the same way Tenko was "never supposed to be a villain" per the "rules" of their world-- and Izuku, like Tomura, is someone who exists to destroy those rules and the expectations of their narrative, completely changing the ending.
But rather than burning the book and ending the story forever (like Tomura wants to do), Izuku believes that the story and characters can still be salvaged. There's always something worth saving. It doesn't have to be a tragedy, they can still change the ending. They can talk specifics after Tomura's crazy ass puts the lighter down.
Izuku, like Tomura and so many other characters, throws himself into an alter-ego in an attempt to redefine himself and escape from pain ("Nobody's been saved yet. Don't be the worthless old Deku who can't save anyone" š¬). He almost loses himself in the role of "OFA's torch bearer" the way All Might did-- but just as Izuku managed to find Toshinori Yagi and helped in convincing him that his life as Toshinori has meaning, Izuku ends up getting saved by his friends who couldn't care less about OFA's ~protagonist power~ and know that Izuku is just a goofy, awkward, human boy who needs help.
Like.... If we explore quirklessness as like... a narrative stand-in for characters that the story typically views or dismisses as irrelevant extras/npcs, then AFO's barely restrained anger at Izuku and Toshi (and possibly Yoichi if we're being honest) for daring to ''act beyond their roles'' becomes even funnier. AFO can't stand the idea of his power/the protagonist role being passed on to someone who seems so utterly unworthy, unremarkable, and plain. He can't stand the idea of someone without a quirk/"role" standing up to him, the leading character. Dude really is a toxic comic book fan to the core.
afo really said "I didn't like how things were going so I stopped reading and just wrote a better ending to the story :^)" like...... @mhareddit that's u buddy...........................;
Anyway...........!!!!! AFO is someone who cherry picks what he likes about a story while ignoring the actual intent/message of the work (#theabsolutestateofthemhafandom), but he has no intention of breaking down the dichotomy between heroes/villains and instead actively enforces it (.............#theabsolutestateofthemhafan--). He just wants to flip what side wins in the end.
Tomura wants to break the narrative because he sees that as the only way to escape from his pain (but in doing so, he permanently cuts himself off from being a part of a story with a happy ending). He wants to destroy the dichotomy between heroes and villains because heroes and villains "will never understand each other and never stop creating each other" (lol. lmao, even).
Izuku wants to break the narrative because he's realized that there's something more to this story than your standard "Hero versus Villain," "good vs evil" affair and that he cannot explore what lies behind those masks and labels without tearing them down, first.
These three work together well as a narrative set of Fucking Nerds, and AFO works well as both Tomura and Izuku's villain for all of the above reasons (& also bc he's the only one who is actually benefitting from their current society) ((which basically offers him an endless buffet of hurt and angry children he can exploit on a silver platter)).
:re your tags about body motifs in bnha got me curious about something. I can think off the top of my head several examples of how this applies to the trio, and a couple more about how this applies to AFO. But can I ask you to expand on how the eye motif is present in AFO specifically? The hands and mouth are obvious, but I can't say I've ever picked up on the symbolism around eyes when it comes to him. Well, unless you're referring to that scene with the sensors in Tartarus. But I'm curious if there's more that I missed, and since I'm a slut about themes and symbolism (and the eye theme relating to the todofam in particular), I would love a deep dive into it and how they're connected, if you don't mind sharing, of course š Really love your meta btw
Thank youu~!
Yea, the eyes def receive less focus overall compared to the emphasis placed on AFO's mouth/hands-- but I feel that AFO's association with eyes is still pretty important even if they don't get as much focus, and the rare scenes where we -do- get to focus on his eyes + his relationship with eyes do a lot for his character.
ā Breaking down AFO's character design to its barest essentials, you can see Hori more or less designed his "true" appearance with these three elements in mind: mouths, hands, and eyes. A perpetual mask-like grin, the stigmata marks to both hands, and completely blank white eyes. Hori uses the composition and lighting in his art to further emphasize these aspects, usually by placing focus on one part/motif at a time-- AFO is essentially introduced to us in pieces, bit by bit, body part by body part.
I would say act 1 focuses primarily on his hands, while act 2 shifts to focusing on his mouth/smile. The final act is where we finally start exploring AFO's relation to eyes-- and imo, Hori chose to focus on AFO's eyes last b/c AFO's eyes seem to be what connect him to his humanity and """true""" feelings:
Panels that emphasize AFO's eyes specifically are almost always tied to Yoichi! It's a neat and completely loaded little detail. In what's heavily implied to be the aftermath of Yoichi's death, we suddenly shift from obscuring AFO's eyes to obscuring his mouth-- the total reverse of how he's typically depicted during flashback scenes. His eyes (and tears) receive all the focus. The narration doesn't match or address what we're actually*seeing* in a fashion that's eerily similar to the way that Tomura narrates over the deaths of his family. There's a lot of set up here already, and I'm looking forward to see how it all ultimately pays off.
And if eyes are ultimately the motif that ties AFO to his humanity, then the lack of eyes throughout Act's 1 & 2 also feels intentional.
Blank eyes are also a design trait he shares with Twice (i.e. "Guy whose own quirk drove him to insanity and completely wrecked his sense of identity/individuality") and Sir Nighteye (i.e. "Guy whose quirk lets him see into the future of others, and the future he saw caused him to fall into despair and become a bitter husk of his former self")-- both characters are depicted w/ blank eyes for 90% of their screen time, but "gain" pupils during key scenes. Twice stands out in particular, bc Hori starts consistently drawing him with pupils immediately after he's able to verify his identity and overcome the trauma associated with his quirk.
Also worth mentioning: Jin kicks off his entire arc talking about the importance of knowing who you are and lamenting about the pains that come with losing sight of yourself/no longer being able to connect with or trust others, and he completes his arc by affirming that he knows exactly who he is and dedicating his heart completely to others. Nighteye's entire arc is about smashing past his fear of the future and the fear of change while *also* learning to value Mirio and Izuku as individuals instead of merely viewing them as vessels for OFA. Both arcs are very much relevant to AFO's whole deal as a character/antagonist and the overall theme(s) of MHA as a whole. Twice and Nighteye serve as semi-heroic foils to AFO who manage overcome the same shortcomings that AFO implicitly struggles with, specifically because they allowed themselves to care about others-- So imo it's neat that these three all share this particular design trait!
they're also the two characters whose deaths have the most narrative impact outside of Yoichi and Nana/The Shimura Fam (whoops)
The final act has also been placing more and more emphasis on how a person's eyes look when they finally get to be their best selves and follow their dreams, and how they sparkle and shine when they think about their origins and their hopes for the future (and I've talked about how this contrasts with Tomura's fairly dead-eyed expression whenever he talks about his "dreams" of destroying everything before (link!), so I'm pretty pleased that the narrative is now calling attention to how a person's eyes look + making the total lack of ~shine~ in Tomura's eyes a very intentional thing).
AFO addresses this directly-- on the surface, he appears to be echoing Touya's desire to be "seen" and expresses resentment that people aren't looking at him. But where Touya longs to be seen in a way that truly validates his humanity and reason for existing, AFO instead wants to be "seen" as something completely devoid of those human qualities. Dabi wants people to see Touya, Mysterious Shigaraki X only wants people to see "AFO." He wants to be a looming, mythical figure who blots out the sun itself-- and when people look towards their future, they should only be seeing a path that ends with him and him alone:
This sequence will never not be thematically relevant
Tomura, Himiko, and Touya all desire the basic human connections that are associated with Hands/Mouths/Eyes. Even as they continue to lash out and use their respective motifs in increasingly violent/self-destructive ways, their core desire never changes. The desire to be touched gently, the desire to be spoken to like a normal girl, and the desire to be truly seen-- that longing for human intimacy (and who they ultimately seek understanding/intimacy from) betrays what their true desires are more than anything else.
AFO shares the same body motifs as the hero and villain trios, but he's a corrupted version of those motifs and represents what hands/mouths/eyes are capable of at their absolute worst. AFO doesn't truly "see" others. AFO doesn't see people as individuals, he only sees them as extensions of himself or as bit-part "roles" to be played out in his increasingly off-the-rails real people fanfiction. AFO doesn't want people to look to the future or even attempt looking beyond him. AFO doesn't want anyone to see what lies behind his shadowy mask and the AFO persona. AFO counts on society to avert their eyes from problems and pretend they don't see, so he can swoop in and play the benevolent savior to those who have been abandoned. AFO doesn't want anyone to see "Tenko," he only wants them to see "Shigaraki." Et cetera et cetera et cetera.
Anyway--!!
There's also the underlying implication that AFO wants everyone to have eyes that are just like his:
Blank. Empty. Completely devoid of spark and soul, pushed past the brink of total despair, with no hope whatsoever for a future.
Rereading MVA with the benefit of some hindsight really makes me appreciate just how well-crafted it is as a story arc. Like, pretty much every aspect of it was tailor-made for the sake of exploring Tomura (like....!! even the conflicts & themes explored thru other characters are still ultimately written to service Tomura's character in ways that only a completely insane person can appreciate, lol.)
Mostly just listing some observations and things I like abt MVA that I feel lay the groundwork for Tomura's entire character + arc:
There's a lot of significance to Tomura fighting quirk based cults back to back in the same arc that delves into his own upbringing under AFO, I feel! There's also significance to his indoctrination into villainy under AFO mirroring ReDestro's indoctrination by the Meta Liberation Army. Both Tomura and ReDestro are framed as believing that they made a personal "choice" to walk this path, when in reality they were both groomed into their respective roles by predatory adults.
Underrated and potentially devastating detail that I (a known sicko) enjoy : Tomura and ReDestro aren't even allowed to choose their own villain names after being baptized into villainy.
This part is especially glaring when you contrast it with the earlier chapters, where Class 1A is actively encouraged to *choose* their own names and really think about what sort of hero name best represents them. Even when the kids ultimately choose names that others gave them (Izuku), and even when they resolve to take up the mantle of their family names (Iida)-- the distinction is that they are still very much naming *themselves* and not being named by other people. They are all allowed to assign their own meaning to their chosen hero names. There is a choice.
In contrast, Tomura and ReDestro's villain names are not an expression of their identity, but a suppression of it.
The idea of inheriting a "will" or "name" that completely consumes your own is already in play, and it only gets worse from here!
Masks are also a big theme! MVA literally opens with the LOV wrecking a group of fantasy bigots who hide behind masks.
Spinner doesn't hide his own identity behind a mask, rather, he hides his lack of identity through cosplaying as someone else.
Jin and Himiko have their "masks" forcibly removed during their respective battles-- Jin is able to verify and assert his own identity, which allows him to discard his mask for the remainder of the battle. Himiko instead scrambles to put her "mask" back on in response to Curious claiming that she's secretly miserable.
Compress gets half of his mask shattered at the same time that his aloof "we're villains not a friendship club!!" faƧade begins crumble, and he becomes more and more vocally concerned for Tomura's safety. This bit of symbolism is repeated again during the PLW, where the whole mask comes off once he finally admits he loves the LOV and very nearly kills himself in an attempt to save them.
AFO's face is constantly obscured by shadows, but it otherwise remains completely uncovered-- indicating that the "kindly face" he shows to Tomura is, in fact, a mask in itself.
And here's where Hori's brilliant art direction comes into play! Tomura decays Kotaro's hand-- the very symbol of his own rejection and suppression that he has worn as a mask since his debut-- but he does not embrace his identity as Tenko. The blood from Tomuraās head injury now creates the visual of a mask as he instead embraces his identity as "Shigaraki Tomura", the symbol of fear who exists to beckon acts of mourning into the world. (and the blood mask also resembles the dark shading that constantly obscures AFOās true face in the flashback chapters! ...as does the creepy permasmile Tomura has for the rest of the arc! :D )
Visually, it also resembles the way ReDestro's (stress-powered!) quirk starts spreading across his face like a mask whenever he starts vomiting up MLA propaganda and ranting about the """glorious""" burden he inherited from the original Destro. (š¬)
The mask imagery is even more explicit in the anime, where the red really makes the whole thing pop:
lowkey it's hilarious that a good chunk of Tomura's story is told through a mix of visual story telling and symbolism, but he also happens to spend half his screen time shirtless and distracting ppl from said symbolism with his eight-pack.
Seriously tho', it's little stuff like this that really cements MHA as a story that's even more enjoyable when you reread it. Moving on!
Curious š¤ AFO, Being creepily affectionate with the victim whose story you plan to rewrite and exploit for your own gain
Togaās failed/rejected martyrdom at the hands of Miss Curious foreshadowing Tomuraās successful martyrdom at the hands of the PLF and AFO-- the inherent dehumanization that comes with martyrdom and turning others into a "symbol", the lack of actual care for the martyr/symbol as an individual, and the idea that Tomura has always been a sacrificial lamb that's lurking just below the surface of every aspect in this narrative. Curious wants Toga to die to fit the MLAās narrative, AFO wants Tenko to die to fit his own personal narrativeā neither Curious or AFO care about Toga or Tomura as individuals, nor do they care about saving them from their circumstances. Because to Curious and AFO, their only value lies in fulfilling a certain narrative-- and that narrative is only fulfilled through their deaths. Both AFO and Curious WANT these stories to be tragedies, and you only beat someone like that by refusing to follow their script.
"Let's turn your death into a tragedy! You'll become a martyr whose tale serves as a parable for the ages!" "I'll shape him! Mold him! He will be a symbol of fear who lusts for destruction!" Toga and Tomura are both depicted as lacking agency in how their respective stories are told-- Toga manages to lash back against Curious' attempts to commandeer her narrative, but Tomura ultimately finds himself written into a corner by AFO.
The manipulation of media and the '"truth" being a reoccurring theme in MVA through both Curious/Skeptic, and this being foiled with the way Tomuraās own memories/perceptions of his past are called into question multiple times throughout the arc. In the same chapter where Skeptic discusses his plan to edit the footage captured in Deika to make the LOV look like they're the aggressors and the MLA look like brave heroes, we have Tomura lamenting how his memories are like a busted movie recording. He compares his memories to film snippets at the start of the arc, too.
Tomura's perception of his past being directly influenced by his traumatic upbringing under AFO is something that goes without saying at this point, so I won't beat that dead horse any further-- but it's legit fascinating how Hori lays out the groundwork for the readers so that we naturally reach the conclusion that Tomura's recollection is something that we are meant to doubt.
Yet another notch on the long list of Tomura wearing clothes that other people chose for him, reciting words written by others as if they were his own (.....l-literally reading from a cue card lmfaoooo it could not be any more on the nose if it tried ššš)
but seriously i could write a a ton on how Tomura's lack of agency with his own clothes is Very Much a Thing in The Story, and how him no longer bothering to self-style after MVA and just letting others dress him up however they want (or y'know... just not bothering with clothes at all!) is one of the best stealth indicators of where his mental state is actually at.
(tl;dr tomura asserting that he's "definitely his own person" and that he "controls himself" when he doesn't even have the agency or energy to dress himself the way he wants and is constantly getting treated like a life-sized dress-up doll by other villains is another one of those understated parts of the series/tomura's character design that makes me Big Depressy)
But!! When Tomura DOES actually add his own flair & individuality to his fashion, he generally accessorizes with things that tie him to the hero side and his identity as Tenko (red shoes as a connecting thread to Izuku, long flowing capes that connect him to heroism)
What "liberation" does to a mfer
As an aside: ReDestro feeling liberated from his stress as Tomura starts laying waste to the MLA/Deika (but still failing to break free from his grooming despite this!) serves as a dark parallel to Tomura ābreaking freeā from vestige!AFO during the final war, but still insisting that destruction is all he wants. Both Tomura and ReDestro have been prisoners their whole lives, and thus, have no frame of reference for what true freedom is. They both come so close to having a Realization About What They Truly Wantā¢ only to immediately fall back into what theyāre familiar with (ReDestro has always been a follower of cult forced to masquerade as its leader, Tomura still thinks that he wanted his family to die and takes the catharsis he felt from destroying his abusive home as evidence that he was always secretly bad). Hori is horrifyingly realistic in his depictions of the hold that grooming has on people.
Like. It's also the way that Tomura and ReDestroās quirks are both powered by their misery, but they're surrounded by people who fail to see this as a bad thing and instead choose to romanticize their strength as something they can use to make their "dreams" into reality (and the unspoken question: is it really a "dream" if chasing after it makes you completely miserable? We have a different word for dreams that hurt you, boys!).
I'll stop here bc this is already too long, but man, every time I revisit this arc I notice something new (and horrifying) about Tomura's character. It's literally the gift that keeps on giving.
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In Japan, the Ulysses butterfly is also called the āblue butterfly of happinessā that will bring happiness to whomever sees it. In other cultures it represents the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, basically the path of the soul.
The flower meaning in Japan for rindou is āI will still love you in sadnessā ājusticeā and āfaithfulnessā. In other cultures the gentian flower may represent Justice and victory because of how it grows upwards.
Hori opens and closes the chapter foiling AFO and Hawks and their different perspectives on the flow of their battle, and it's clear that the chapter title itself refers to the mass effort to stop AFO from leaving Gunga.
But Himiko and Ochako are at the heart of 382, and the chapter title takes on a much kinder meaning when its applied to them.
Ochako is able to pick Himiko out of an utterly chaotic crowd of clones specifically because she's now focusing on trying to understand Himiko's feelings and perspective-- when Tsuyu theorizes that Himiko simply doesn't love the LOV enough to use their quirks, Ochako remembers their first meeting where Himiko talked about her idea of love and how it involves "becoming" the person she loves. Rather than leaning into the idea that Himiko's love for her friends is lacking in some capacity, Ochako instead focuses on how Himiko must be hurting because she isn't actually able to "become" Jin-- And with budding understanding, their eyes finally meet. Ochako realized Himiko would be hurt, and so, she was able to "see" her.
Himiko's ability to "disappear" into crowds and almost completely erase her presence has been touched upon at several different points in the series, and it's now something that's coming into play with Ochako's outright refusal to "lose sight of her again."
Himiko attributes her ability to disappear to constantly being on the run from heroes, but tbh, one can easily argue that its development precedes that. She has spent almost her entire life trying to make herself disappear behind a mask in some capacity. At some tragic point, the mask became "transforming into people she loves."
Erasure of herself is at the core of Himiko's pain-- we see this most blatantly with the scene where it's revealed that her parents threw out all her personal belongings, even scraping away the most harmless evidence that she was ever a part of her life. The league M.O. can also be summed up as: "Living is too painful so lets just erase everything we hate (even if that includes ourselves)." Even her concept of love is based around self-erasure-- she hates herself and wants to "disappear" into the identities of the people she loves, thereby associating love with the complete erasure of herself. She treats the people she loves as her own coffin, a place where she can finally put Toga Himiko to rest-- if only for a little while.
But Ochako is refusing to lose sight of her, refusing to let Himiko disappear, refusing to let Himiko continue down a path that is only hurting her. Just as Izuku took Tomura from his coffin, now Ochako is getting ready to pull Himiko from hers.
The sudden uptick of people who are now convinced that āTomura never wanted to talk with Izuku/has never actually wanted to be saved or associated Izuku with the idea of being saved/was only thinking about Izuku in the first place bc he hates him and heās actually just been fantasizing about kicking his ass this whole time(???š)/etcā is funny, in a wayā bc from what Iāve seen pretty much everyone has been disregarding how the incident pictured below is one of the most 100% damning moments weāve gotten in the series so far:
Like, just to hammer things home:
This scene is followed immediately by a scene where he doesnāt hesitate to unleash Decay (after he gets warped to the UA coffin). Hori draws further attention to Tomuraās initial resistance by having AFO tell him ānot to interrupt him this timeā before he tries using Decay againā and this time he is able to use it without any interference from Tomura.
TomurAFO also has enough fine control over Decay at this point that his allies would not have been in danger if he had unleashed it when the battle first began. Which leads us to our next pointā¦..
Iāve seen people argue that Tomura was intervening to save Dabi, and I can see how the paneling mightāve lent to this particular interpretation when the chapter first droppedā but in my honest opinion, the sequence of events reads more like: AFO realizes that Tomura isnāt going to let him use decay ā AFO tries to order Dabi to unleash hellfire on the heroes instead since thatās the next strongest AOE attack on their side ā Dabi says āfuck you old man I do what I wantā and proceeds to do exactly what AFO wanted him to do anyway while screaming about Endeavor (my son who is never gonna beat those C rank intelligence allegationsā¦ š)
Nothing is outright text yet, sure, but this is still something that needs to be asked: if Tomura truly doesnāt want to talk with Izuku, truly doesnāt want to be saved, and truly hates Izuku just the same as everything elseā then why try so hard to resist destroying what he supposedly hates? Whatās the motivation here? Why not let AFO wipe all the heroes out and then just focus on getting his body back after the dust settles?
Izukuās presence and absence are the key elements of consideration hereā and if I may be blunt, certain parts of the fandom going well out of their way to repeatedly downplay the effect Izukuās presence has on Tomura is more than a little disingenuous at this point.
All that being saidā! I really need someone to call Tomura out about this scene eventually because the subsequent meltdown both in universe and out of it is going to be so, so funny.
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Her secret is in the bullets. She can mold the bullets into any shape she wants. She mixes her two-toned hair like epoxy putty, and then once sheās done, they harden and turn into her bullets. From curving bullets to hollow-point bulletsāanythingās possible. Sheās a human sniper rifle. Her Quirk is Rifle. All long-distance Quirk holders are jealous of her right hand.
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