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linkspooky · 5 years

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Shigaraki as a Second Protagonist

In literature, the deuteragonist or secondary main character (from Ancient Greek: δευτεραγωνιστής, deuteragōnistḗs, second actor) is the second most important character.

Greek drama began with simply one actor, the protagonist, and a chorus of dancers. The playwright Aeschylus introduced the deuteragonist; Aristotle says in his Poetics:

Thus, it was Aeschylus who first raised the number of the actors from one to two. He also curtailed the chorus and made the dialogue be the leading part.

A deuteragonist often assumes the role of “sidekick” to the protagonist. Conversely, the deuteragonist could also be a particularly visible antagonist, normally whom the actual antagonist hides behind. For instance while Light is the protagonist of Death Note, due to his equal amount of screen-time and parallel story L could be read as the Deuteragonist, despite acting as the antagonist to Light.

While there are characters that could be seen as a deuteragonist to Midoriya, (Bakugo the rival, Todoroki, even Uraraka and Iida who are set up as a trio with him), I would argue in a classical sense due to the parallel development between Deku and Shigaraki they are set up as a pair. They share the same conflict. They are both trying to achieve their dreams in a society that is fundamentally unequal. Shigaraki’s memories here directly parallel Deku’s in the first chapter, his desires as well.

Shigaraki is meant not as the main villain but rather a secondary protagonist who parallels Deku’s journey but from the dark side of society. Shigaraki first appears as a decoy villain, but as it’s revealed he is a victim, there is a much greater villain responsible for the conflict between Shigaraki and Deku that will be found at the end of their parallel journeys.

1. Midoriya Izuku and Shimura Tenko Origins

Shigaraki and Midoriya share the same conflict from their origin. They were both not allowed to become the people they wanted to be, simply because of the people they were born as. Tenko because he was born as Shimura Nana’s grandson, and Midoriya because he was born quirkless. Not only do they have no control of the circumstances of their birth which means they are suffering from unfair circumstances, but also the environment around them only made this worse.

Due to the fact that people are born with different quirks, and some are not born with quirks at all, the current society of MHA is unequal. People with flashy quirks, strong ones, are preferred over people with grotesque and dangerous quirks even though there is no helping someone you are born with. “Quirk Society” is something we are presented as being unfair from the very first chapter, it is the opening line of the series. Therefore it makes sense to make this, the central conflict of the series.

Shigaraki and Deku are both victims of quirk society. They cannot become the people who they want to be, their fully realized self, or even pursue their dreams because of the circumstances they were born into. Rather than trying to assist them, we see society try to force them back into their slots.

The central conflict of the story is a classic man vs society conflict. Here we see it represented in abstract form, Deku tries to be an individual, and he’s punished because his desires exceed society’s expectations for him. He even says that it’s not wrong for him to try even though it would be more difficult without a quirk. We see the response is for everyone to gather around Deku and oppose him. Deku is the individual, and Bakugo and the crowd around him are depicted as the outside group. Deku is the other, who must fight to find his place in the world.

The man versus society conflict is when a protagonist has a strong belief against the majority of the community or surroundings and decides to act on it. Since this type of conflict is between a character and an outside group, it is classified as an external conflict.

In the story, we are being shown now that Tenko is dealing with the exact same conflict that Deku is continuously fighting against. In his first flashback with Hana we see that Tenko found out about his grandmother as a superhero, but his father opposed it.

Tenko and Midoriya both desired to be a hero. They both faced opposition in the form of someone who personally tried to convince them they could never become a hero, likely Tenko’s father because he was abandoned by Nana due to the danger of her profession. Midoriya met opposition in the form of Bakugo who spent most of his life bullying him, in order to prove that Midoriya is someone who could never be a hero and never be better than him.

However, even though they have loving families that comfort them in spite of this antagonism from Father/Bakugo, those families still repeat what society has always told them. That they cannot become heroes. Both Tenko and Midoriya are both comforted but they are not supported. As Tenko cycles through his memories, he remembers his mother, his grandparents, all being kind but none of them telling him the words he wants to hear. That he can be a hero too. Shimura says that Hana is the only one who ever supported him on that in a way.

Once again, this is the conflict. Society stands in the way of their self realization. Not only are Shimura and Deku told their dreams are impossible over and over again, but also they are repeatedly told they are nothing. Not only can they not become what they want to be, but they can’t become anything at all due to their position as the “outsider” in society.

It’s even hinted that Shigaraki may have either been abused by his father, or born with some kind of chronic illness that would prevent him from becoming a hero. We see a flashback of his mother treating something wrong with his eye, and everybody else around Shigaraki trying to cheer him up as well. His father is so far the only one who has never appeared in the flashbacks, and it’s also the hand which grips Shigaraki’s face forcefully.

Either, there was a scar around his eyes left by his father striking him or Shigaraki was chronically ill which caused the wrinkling we see around his eyes and scarring later in life. He needed medicine but he could only keep scratching at it. It’s also noteworthy that Shigaraki shows signs of excoriation later in life, which is a mental compulsion to scratch at his wounds and make them worse when he feels stressed which could have been developed in early life. In the shattered flashback we also see his father’s face up close, as well as an arrow, or pointed object which could have been used to make those scars on his face.

Shigaraki and Deku have the exact same origin point, to the point of even being harassed and bullied constantly in some form from someone trying to convince them not to become a hero. Shigaraki may have even been a sickly child. However, the greatest thing standing in both of their dreams was simply the person they were born as, something they had no control over and something nobody would let them even try to overcome with effort.

The only difference is how their origins ended. Shigaraki’s chapter where we first learn of his origin is called Shigaraki Tomura: Distortion while Deku’s is called Izuku Midoriya: Origin.

They were just both found by people on opposite sides of the conflict. Deku was saved by the right person, and Shimura Tenko was saved by the wrong person. Which again is something that Tenko had absolutely no control over, he was a child.

Therefore if this is a man vs society conflict, Shigaraki makes more sense as a secondary protagonist who grows and changes and deals with a different aspect of society rather than as a villain to Deku. The reason is because if society is wrong for telling people what their roles should be because of circumstances outside of their control regardless of their efforts to change it, then it would be wrong for labeling Shigaraki as a villain who can only ever be a villain just because he happened to be found by All For One, rather than All Might like Deku was.

2. A Conflict for Self Realization

Tenko and Midoriya are fundamentally people who want to be understood. They want their dreams to be validated. They want to become the person they want to be, regardless of who they were born as. The primary conflict in this story is each of them struggling against that, and attempting to define themselves and improve themselves with effort to escape the circumstances they were born into.

While Deku gets more screentime than Shigaraki, and he also ends up participating in events not as related to this central conflict (because this is shonen manga not a tightly paced story with limited scope), all of the major moments with Deku are when he faces people who tell him that it is impossible for him to become a hero. He cannot become the person he wants to be.

Not only do they go so far as to call his dreams impossible, but they also say that Deku himself is nothing. He is ill fitted or lacking, and so they try to push him back into his slot with antagonism rather than try to support him in becoming somebody.

Not only was Deku bullied his entire life, but also nobody really ever did anything to stop it. Bakugo literally uses his quirk on Deku in front of the entire class and they just watch, because Bakugo is society’s voice in this case. Even if they might think bullying is wrong, they all agree Deku is worth less because he does not have a quirk. They believe what society has told them to value. Bakugo’s favorite nickname for Midoriya is “Deku” because the character means “Useless.”

Every major antagonist that Deku faces inside of the system insists that he cannot become a hero, either because he was quirkless at some point, because his quirk is not fully developed, or because there is someone else better suited for the role.

When he is faced with these words, Deku describes them as denying his entire being. They oppose him, not by fighting against him, but rather as a person. They are trying to say he must become who they want him to be. They stand in his way, rather than assisting someone who is clearly putting in effort to better themselves and develop.

At the same time when he talks to Shinso, he realizes that Shinso does not have what Deku has been given. That he had people tell him he could be a hero after all this time, first from All Might then by his friends at his school. That does not change the fact though that every obstacle they continually face, they have to prove the right to be themselves. They have to prove themselves as worthy over and over again which results in low self worth.

It’s a conflict to be recognized for the person they are, rather than the person that other people want them to be. They have to force others to acknowledge them for the effort they’ve put into their own growth. It’s not enough to simply pursue their dreams, they also have to be seen.

Otherwise, those words will continue to deny them, everything they are, everything they want. Shigaraki faces a similiar conflict with every villain he ends up facing against. He is continually told just like Deku, that he is an empty person not capable of becoming anything.

These are two characters who are repeatedly told they are nothing, that they are capable of nothing, that they have accomplished nothing, and that they will become nothing. Yet, we see each of them struggling to become someone, and not only that but to be able to dictate who they want to be.

They share the same fundamental conflict, to be recognized as an individual in a society that is unequal, unfair, and constantly calls upon them to prove themselves rather than lending them any assistance. For Shigaraki the struggle to define himself is especially pronounced, because rather than All Might who encourages Deku not to copy him, All For One only cares about Shigaraki as becoming a second version of him and has influenced him not to be his own person but rather All For One’s substitute.

3. Shigaraki and Deku Both Save Others

Deku’s one goal, his one motivation other than proving himself is “Saving other people.” He sees far more value in the people around him than he ever does in himself.

Shigaraki may be a villain still, but he is not necessarily Deku’s direct antagonist anymore. One, the antagonist shifts every single arc with the overarching conflict behind the scenes being the conflict that All for One and All Might left behind by the scenes. However, Deku may have chose to become a hero, but Shigaraki does not necessarily choose to become Deku’s direct antagonist.

Shigaraki may spend the rest of the manga as a villain, but a villain is not an antagonist. An antagonist is just a character that directly opposes the main character, they can even be a hero (in the case of Light and L). My point is, Shigaraki has his own separate storyline from Deku, and he’s not even interacted with him that much, only one conversation, and the raid on UA.

Shigaraki has stepped away from the role of the antagonist, and yet he still mirrors Deku’s actions. The both of them are central characters that save the people around them, by telling them it is alright for them to be themselves. They give the others around them a place to belong. This is what Deku tells to Todoroki in the school festival, that he is his own person and that his quirk belongs to him.

Deku opposes people who tell others what he was told in life, that he was destined to never become a hero because he was quirkless. He wants to be what All Might was for him, someone who can tell others that they can be who they want. He desires to be someone who tells others the words they desire to hear.

He does this for Todoroki, he wants to do this for Shinso because he recognizes his past self, he even does this for Eri when he tries to shake her free by Chisaki’s words by calling her quirk beautiful. Every time Deku has a meaningful interaction for saving one of his friends, he helps them by telling them they can become the hero they want to be. As that is his central conflict at heart as well.

Shigaraki is the same, as a character his priorities have shifted from someone who was just lashing out in an empty fashion, to supporting the other people around him. Shigaraki’s first three attempts at being a villain end in failure. His attack at UA Fails, he cannot defeat Stain and even loses a publicity contest to him, and then the camp raid and kidnapping end with Shigaraki losing All For One.

After that we see the first time that Shigaraki is succesful when he decides to fight against Chisaki. The reason he fights again Chisaki, is because of Magne. Magne’s desire was to be free to be whoever they wanted to be and live the way they wanted to live, and she found that within the league of villains. Not only does Chisaki kill her, but he also denies her true gender, the person she is. He denies the identity of the lady he killed, even after her death.

Shigaraki not only reaffirms Magne’s identity, but even goes so far as to plot this revenge and destroy Chisaki for Magne’s sake, and for the sake of everyone around him. Because, Chisaki was standing in the way of the people they wanted to become, as long as he opposed them he needed to be destroyed.

Shigaraki saves an entirely different kind of person than Deku does. He saves those with nowhere to belong, the bad, the dangerous, the non-virtuous, the ones who would never be saved by the heroes. He gives them a place to belong, and values them.

Not just as disposable subordinates that worship him the same way that All For One did, but rather as friends and equals. They are all together, because they are all whack jobs who do not belong anywhere else. Shigaraki says over and over again, not “me” but rather “we” will become the next ones, even when he defeats Chisaki.

Twice, who was let down by society over and over again until he had nobody left but himself and even betrayed himself in the end, is able to find himself again because of the friends he made in the league of villains.

Pecko the Gecko, I mean Spinner is someone who became a Neet because the bullying from his quirk was so bad and he thought himself a worthless person capable of nothing, but Spinner began to accept himself when he realized that even someone as worthless as him could still support Shigaraki.

Himiko is told over and over again by the media lady that her story is tragic, and that she should just become some suffering princess, and martyr for quirk kind because she was always destined to be an outcast born with a quirk like hers, and finding the league made Himiko happy because she found a group of people she could be normal around.

Even when other members of the league, or Giran himself insist that nobody is going to try to come to save him, we see no hesitation in Shigaraki whatsoever to make a plan into this life or death situation and obvious trap to save Giran.

Due to meeting Shigaraki, all of these people are on the way to being able to accept themselves. They are making efforts to improve, and we see all of their quirks improve as well, as “quirks are directly linked with personality.” They start to grow because they’ve been told the words that All Might told Deku, that it was okay to be them.

When fighting against the UA Kids, or trying to inherit All For One’s role, Shigaraki always fails. However, when he fights against other villains, and when he fights for connections with the League around him he succeeds. As this is the person that Shigaraki is meant to be. Someone who “Holds his family close.” It was the person he was meant to become if not for All For One’s interruption.

Shigaraki and Deku are co-protagonists who both develop around the same central conflict, not only that but they tell other people that it’s okay to be themselves while also struggling to realize their full selves.

The only difference is the sphere of society they interact with. They are both fighting a fundamentally unfair society, but Deku is on the light side, and Shigaraki is on the dark. Deku saves heroes and virtuous people. While Shigaraki is a person who can save villains on the absolute bottom who fall through the cracks.

Shigaraki is the hand which can catch those who have fallen so far even All Might could not save them. He’s also the hand that destroys the unfair society that let them fall in the first place. So once again, are those hands of his really only capable of destruction?

#mha meta #meta #shigaraki tomura #shimura tenko #shigaraki meta #deku #midoriya izuku #shigaraki and midoriya #my villain academia #midoriya meta #deku meta #league of villains #league of villains meta

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beautifulsexymuses · 5 years

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Hey if you wanna read me rambling about kaminari then here you go

I would say Kaminari is one of the most openly expressive and emotional people in his class. He has no problem showing when he’s angry, happy, sad, etc but they tend to stay in the realm of shallow reactions. When someone is mean he gets angry or dejected but it doesn’t seem to last long or have a lasting impression on him.

Each character arc tends to have an emotional barrier, there is an issue that the character needs to come to terms with and not only are they fighting a mental battle but a physical battle as well. Todoroki is fighting Deku in the arena but he’s also fighting that internal abuse, he’s confronting it for the first time and pushing past it. When he used his fire he has pushed past that mental/emotional wall and is bettering himself.

Iida is fighting Stain but in that time he’s waging a war internally, a war about what is right and wrong. It’s the struggle of something that is wrong but right vs something that is right but wrong. Avenging his brother seems right, but it is inherently wrong. Stain’s values seem wrong but are technically right. Heroes should be accountable, heroes should take their jobs seriously and serve rather than use it to serve themselves.

Kirishima vs Rappa (Spoilers for non-manga readers) This is a battle of worth, Kirishima doesn’t see himself or his strength as having any value. He makes comments on it since the beginning and it’s Deku who is the one who to say no, it’s like a pro heroes. In the fight Kirishima needs to step up and do something and he has to push past that feeling of being incapable of helping. He regrets what he did in middle school and it’s trauma that he has to overcome.

In that fight he realizes he is capable of more, his quirk is capable of more and he is worthy of the title of hero.

Momo vs Aizawa, now, for her I do hope we get more of her and more of an arc but this battle was really good for her. This is a battle of confidence and it takes the form of Aizawa. Honestly, what zaps a person’s confidence more than having their quirk taken away? She needs to find the confidence in herself, her own mind and abilities and Todoroki helps her remember that she is a very capable woman. With that reminder she puts the plan together and they are able to take on Aizawa and win. From then on she is more confident and we see in the 1-A vs 1-B arc that she has the confidence and if she trains more she’ll be able to execute bigger and badder things. She just overdid it and ended up tiring herself out.

Now, what does all this have to do with Kaminari?

WELL I’M GLAD YOU ASKED!

Kaminari doesn’t seem to display any deep emotional issues. It might be he’s too dumb to be sad, ignorance is bliss after all but I’m hoping that’s not the case. I’m thinking more of a dissociation issue.

When Kaminari loses he never seems to take it to heart, he doesn’t seem to concentrate on it. He’s not embarrassed on his mistakes or looking bad which is kind of weird. In the tournament he lost really easily, with his midterm exam he got 20th and failed the practical. Now, it can be noted that Mina who was in the same boat didn’t seem too upset either, we didn’t see her having a moment of insecurity or doubt. It can be equated that they’re too dumb and cute to feel bad about their failures. Which in all honesty, good for them. They are strong.

They got upset in the moment but we don’t see them reflecting and ruminating on their failures. Obivously the upcomming arc was not about Mina and Kaminari so they were pushed to the background as usual.

In any case if there was an arc for Kaminari I think it would have to do with his emotional distance, we don’t see him having any in depth heroic reasoning for becoming a hero. It could be he’s only being a hero to impress girls. Kirishima’s original concept had his reason for joining UA to impress a girl but since his reason has changed that concept might have been pushed to Kaminari. We haven’t heard him from Kaminari though.

All we know is that he’s a friendly guy and helps connect the class together. When they were describing Kaminari there was a panel that said he has a mouth that bridges gaps. He basically talks to people like they’re his best friend. That’s why he is fine with telling off Bakugo because idk about you but my bestie calls me a dumb bitch from time to time and I aint even mad about it lolol

He’s also open with compliments and what he feels, he says what he thinks and he does bridge those gaps pretty easily which is shown by the tiny tid bits between him and Bakugo. Kaminari straight up called his personality shit and Bakugo yelled at him but nothing more happened. The whole class saw that so everyone could kind of see that Bakugo is angry and crazy but he’s not completely bonkers and purely malice.

Bakugo told Kaminari about the use of his gauntlets which came in handy during the license exam arc. It’s hinted at that Bakugo told Kaminari he took music classes when Kaminari brought up that information when they were trying to make the band.

Basically, what I’m saying is Kaminari makes friends with everyone and see’s everyone in his class as his friends and treats them as such. He values them more than himself, he puts himself at a disadvantage and then puts himself in danger. So when it comes to fighting he seems fine with self sacrifice, when he was with Momo and Jirou and he decided to use full force he knew he’d go wheey mode. He knew that he would fry his brain but when he attacked he just yelled out how he wouldn’t hurt his friends. He was so excited and happy he could use his power despite what it’d do to him and save his friends.

He’s such a good boy.

Anyways! So with the recent chapter we have scene Kaminari does reflect on his ranking in the class when he talked about how now he doesn’t have anything that sets him above Todoroki and Bakugo now that they got their license. He doesn’t show any sadness, he’s actually quite nonchalant about it.

It can be hinted that he doesn’t allow himself to become emotionally invested in his own person. He doesn’t allow himself to feel to deeply about his failures or himself. Can’t be hurt if you don’t care kind of mentality. Or rather, can’t over think something if you don’t think at all.

I think if Kaminari had an arc it would force him to become present in himself, to think about what he wants and to take it seriously. He’ll face the physical form of his dissociation and the fight where he must look inside and figure out what kind of person and hero he’s going to be.

I’m hoping that he pretends to join the other side though and is a traitor but to the enemy. That’d be sweet.

#ooc #mun talks about her son Kaminari way too long #I forgot to add the endeavor fight #but basically a shitty power hungry monster vs a shitty power hungry monster #endeavor realizing being an abusive fuck aint it chief

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