Why Koki Terumoto (and the way society is shown) doesn’t really work
Maybe it’s just me, but the character parallel (and way to show how society’s actually changed) Horikoshi made for Shigaraki in the form of Koki Terumoto makes almost no sense at all.
Like I can say the obvious, that unlike Tenko, Koki had never hurt anyone, had never done anything wrong, and was simply just abused and dehumanized by his family, but also that the only reason Koki was able to escape and get a new chance at life was because of Shigaraki.
Yes, I know that sounds kinda crazy, but thats basically what was implied in the manga. Had Shigaraki not started his war, and left Japan in a state of crisis, Koki’s family never would have left and Koki never would have got a chance to escape.
Even the rather unexpected redemption arc the grandma character had was because of Tenko, not because of whatever Deku’s big on-screen TV fight was supposed to represent. The guilt and uncertainty the grandma felt of what could have happened to Tenko was what led her to extend a helping hand to Koki, another scary looking lost boy in need of help.
This is just generally one of my problems with the ending. Nobody was “inspired” or willing to “lend a hand” to people who look like they need help because of Deku’s battle/televised fight.
Why? Because Deku’s whole “save Tenko’s soul” moment was purely psychology/in a mindscape.
The only thing people saw on screen was Midoriya repeatedly punching Shigaraki’s body until it literally became dust. The big bad villain was taken down and the only thing I can think that this inspired was people being more willing to see villains as less than humans and things that need to be killed.
There is nothing to suggest in the ending that villain rehabilitation became a thing. That’s something the fanbase just made up. The only fact we know is that villains became less frequent.
Which, y’know, checks out. It’s a known phenomenon that peace is common after war. That’s literally why baby boomers exist as a generation. This is often known as negative peace, a direct absence of violence. So how long until another Shigaraki, or AFO, or, hell, even Toga shows up? What’s stopping another League of Villains or AFO from forming?
While Uraraka’s Quirk program is good (and very earnest), it doesn’t stop violence or abuse from happening to those inside their homes, or even to children who don’t have homes.
The Terumoto’s had hidden and kept Koki captive inside their basement, relentlessly abusing him. No quirk program can stop that. Or even Touya’s situation, as he was groomed at home into his intense hero idealism (which turned into an obsessive drive against Endeavor).
The only reason Koki was able to get a new chance at life was because of Shigaraki, because his destruction led to the Terumoto’s finally leaving, giving Koki himself an opportunity to escape.
Can you imagine all the Koki’s or Himiko’s of the world who were able to escape abuse and neglect, all because their families left due to the war and could not be bothered to take the kid they were abusing with them? Had Shigaraki not caused his destruction, then society would have remained exactly the same. Hell, Koki could have even died due to his sustained, constant, long-term abuse.
I just find the implications that the only person who was able to save a child like Koki, even indirectly, was an abused child (turned abused adult) like Shigaraki, to be extremely telling. Why? Because society will not care for those people who are undesirable, abnormal, or just straight up different.
Even the Twice’s of the world could have gotten another chance to find a place in society, by helping become part of the rebuilding efforts or joining the charities being started.
I know that people criticise ideas like these because of how fractured society was shown in the manga, but like…not really?
A common sentiment I see is that this war would have made a crying, hurt, blood-covered child a norm and not an abnormality, but we are quite clearly shown with Koki’s character that this is not true. Redemption arc grandma offered help to Koki, upon seeing that he needed help, unlike the previous time we saw her (when society was stable and hero-worship was the norm).
Again, Koki’s character and situation is almost the complete opposite of Shigaraki/Tenko. This is why the Eri parallel Horikoshi gave to the story worked. In the beginning, at least.
Even their quirk-appearances are opposite, with Koki (and Eri) naturally having a mutation quirk and Tenko having been given Decay (which I heavily dislike as a narrative choice, not only for Shigaraki’s character but also just in general, but that’s a whole another rant).
Not to mention that we are explicitly shown people banding together, fighting against villains, and helping each other out, with the professional capital-H heroes trying to stop them. Muscular and Dictator were outliers, existing to show how much further Deku has grown as a hero.
Can you imagine how easy it would be to take down regular small-fry villains? It’s not like villains go to villain school and learn how to be the best villain they can become. Again, this would not have happened had Shigaraki not led to such widespread chaos.
Even the attack against the tall heteromorph lady was just showing the already existing anti-heteromorph sentiment within MHA society (and is never properly capitalised on in a meaningful way).
And no, I am not condoning murder or war, or trying to whitewash/excuse Shigaraki’s actions. War is awful. Murder is terrible. Killing people is wrong. But here, I am not talking about real-life issues or trying to apply anything of this sort to real life. I am talking about a manga which is set in a fictional world. A world where the bad guys were shown as complex, messy, and at many times, sympathetic abuse victims.
And their endings, character parallels, and story circumstances are just… hand-waved and not given too much thought.
ellievsbear
andulkaphoto
amandla
izzy806
theartofmadeline
