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plush-rabbit · 11 months

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Dating Headcanons for Himiko Toga

Request: Could you possibly write headcanons for Toga with a fem civilian s/o?

A/N: I love her design so much!! I love her fangs and bangs and her eyes!! She’s so cute!!

Himiko loves with her entire being. She never meant it to be twisted or malicious, but certain upbringings and repression has made it out to be so. Having her as a partner is a dangerous one, she’s a villain- a young one at that. She is unstable, but she never means for her own obsession to hurt you with malicious intent. She can’t control it, she loves too much- too wholeheartedly.

Perhaps she has a type looking at her past two most obvious crushes. She likes to think that she doesn’t- that she loves people and all that they are, but she likes convictions. That’s what attracted her to the young two promising heroes, how far they were willing to go for the other, but you aren’t a hero. You’re a civilian, and it's been a long time since she actually liked anyone like you. But she becomes lovestruck when she sees how kind you are.

There’s a panic around the area caused by her and the others- people push past one another and somehow she’s been caught in the middle of it, pushed to the ground where her bare knees become scraped. The crowd disperses as soon as she's in the ground, and she’s not astanger to scrapes and cuts, but the knee injury hurts just a bit too much, and any pressure on her ankle makes her think that she might have twisted it. She’s taken in a sharp breath, ready to brace herself and move forward when a hand is held out in front of her. You must know who she is, when you hold out your hand to her when she’s fallen, there’s no doubt that even with her attire, there has to be some common sense in your head telling you to run the other way. Instead of doing the most logical option, you help her up, and hold her hand in yours for just a moment too long, until you pull away and mumble an apology, running the other, leaving her in the middle of the desolate plaza, with her heart beating against her chest. Late at night, she lays awake thinking of you, fisting the hand that you held and covering it protectively with her free hand.

She wishes that it were more of a challenge to find you- you’re too predictable, too easy and unaware of your surroundings, especially after an attack where you happened to be at. Fortunately for her, you walk home alone for a few blocks and that’s when she makes herself known, grabbing at your hand, and pulling you close to her. You’re startled, but not scared, and you let her lead you into an alleyway where you certainly don’t belong. She’s infatuated. Lovestruck. Obsessed. You aren’t scared of her. You’re letting her hold your hand. She already knows you’re kindhearted. She knows your name. She knows your schedule. She introduces herself, and when you reply back with your own name, she wraps her arms around you, already giving you a nickname, one dripped in sugar and everything nice.

There’s only so many places the two of you can be together without raising suspicions, and your family has already started to wonder why you keep going to the playground at night, so that location has to be shelved until further notice. Other than that, you often go wherever she leads you to which happens to be the current location of the League hideout. They didn’t take too kindly to you at first- Twice, or Jin- being the most harsh in wanting to keep you out of any type of League affairs. You later learn that he and Himiko have a rather close relationship, so you understand the brash behavior and reservations that he may have about you. The both of you usually meet up together after school. While you do your homework, she likes to peer over your shoulder and help with whatever she can. When you have passages to read, you like to read them outloud to her. She’s always happy when she gets to hear you read to her no matter how boring the story may be because she can rest her head on your shoulder.

No matter how sweet she can be, she’s still obsessive. Her questions always start off innocent enough- how did your day go? What did you learn? How was gym class? Who were you with during lunch? You’re not getting bothered are you? Is that teacher still giving you a hard time about your grades? She needs to know how your day went, and when she doesn’t know, that has her worrying her bottom lip. She cares too strongly, loves too fiercely. When she notices that you’ve had a particularly draining day, she holds off on the questions, instead taking you into her arms and resting her cheek over the top of your head.

It comes to no surprise that she’s an affectionate person. She loves to have her hand on you in some type of way. Your hand will be in hers, and she;ll press her palm against yours, comparing the size and slowly intertwine your hand with hers. Whenever you do your homework there at the hideout, she sits next to you, mumbling about how she always hated homework, and what subject she was the worst at. Sometimes, she’ll get a forlorn look in her eyes, and when she realizes that you;ve been staring at her, she’ll press her lips against your cheek and rest her head on your lap, asking you to read her the chapter of the day.

The rest of the League- once they get used to you and agree with each other that you probably won’t rat them out- do they actually tease the young member. It did take a while for the rest of the League to become comfortable with you and while you won’t admit it to your partner, you’re positive that they each gave you their own version of a shovel talk. During the threats, a part of you thinks that it’s nice that she found a family within them, how they all care for each other without actively saying it. Most of them didn’t even actually have a full conversation with you, only showcasing their quirks in front of you and you quickly understood that that was a threat.

With her quirk, she feels the need to have to suck on blood. And being around you can be a struggle. There has to be restraint, especially since she doesn’t want to scare you away from her. There’s been a handful of times where you’ve gotten a cut in front of her, and each and every time, she watched you with unblinking eyes. The scent of iron is thick in the air no matter how little the cut was, and there’s a heavy flush that reddens her face. She hardly makes a sound, and it reminds you of a predator watching their prey, with how her pupils dilate and how silently she moves. She leaves the room for a few minutes and returns as if nothing has happened, asking you if you’re okay and giving the bandaged wound a kiss.

Whether you give her a taste of your blood or not, she understands both decisions and she doesn’t press. She won’t ask for a drop of your blood. She’s loyal to you, and she just likes to be around you- more than she would have ever realized. If you were to offer your blood to drink to Himiko, she takes it as a great show of your relationship with her. She’ll take your arm and ask how you would like to do it. She could give you a little cut, or bite down, or press her needle into the soft of your elbow- whatever it is that you choose, she’s fine with that fact. Either way, she takes your hand in hers, twisting it around and kissing at every inch of skin that she can, mumbling how she's thankful for having met you. There’s still red beads of scarlet that prick from your skin, and watching you, she swipes the tip of her tongue across the wound, pressing a kiss into it and mumbling how she has to clean you up now. There’s a lovely look in her eyes when she glances up to you, her pink dusted in pink, and only deepening when you kiss her.

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villainsandvictimsalliance · 3 months

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how do you write the league of villians what are things to pay attention to when writeing them like with dialouge and gestures and stuff

Uhhhh, to be honest what I do is try to reread the manga a lot or write down certain chapters that help me with the characterization. Maybe another list would do it? Idk idk, I'm terrible with trying to explain myself today ejdndnjf. Let's try anyway.

Tips on what to pay attention to when writing the League of Villains:

1) You need to understand that the League is very individualistic.

If you compare the League of Villains to other teams like the Meta Liberation Army, then you will find out that the League really values their personal freedom and the ability to do as they please.

They have strong personalities that clash all the time, but they also know how to act together because they have a common goal. You need to be careful with those, because it's like handling the little threads of a puppet to make him walk in a certain direction.

Dabi tends to like working alone, but he always comes back when the LOV needs him. Twice is not very good in solo missions, but he's a real overkiller when he has someone he wants to protect or take care of. Mr. Compress doesn't like big fights and prefers to stick to subtle roles— he's the wild card of the team. Spinner is often in the support role, while Toga is the one with more secret missions among them. As the leader, Tomura is the main show and the most direct attacker.

I often try to categorize their dynamics and study how Horikoshi uses them in the manga.

2) Pay attention to how their backstories dictate how they see the world around them and how they interact with it.

A good characterization comes from knowing the character, understanding how they came to be and how they can grow. I suggest that you reread the manga and ask a lot of questions.

One of the best examples is Dabi. I've seen him depicted as this cool suave character, when in truth his very awkward!

There are several moments in the manga when a LOV member pointed out his low self-esteem or tried to comfort him over it. Toga said that he was running away because his fire couldn't hurt Gigantomachia, while Twice tried to cheer him up during the attack to the summer camp. He dances like a little kid when he gets excited and couldn't recruit one (1) good new member, the only one being a traitor. He's also very very dramatic, "falling from a second floor widow as I destroy a building" dramatic, which would be super aloof if it wasn't for Toga noticing that he did that to cheer her up after Twice died.

Another example is the difference between Dabi and Spinner:

Even when they are both Stain fanboys, they differ on what is a pro-hero and who gets to become one. Spinner is more idealistic, being a civilian kid that still has hope. Dabi is way more cynical, given that he knows by experience the inside workings of the Hero Society 'cause his dad was a pro-hero. On the other hand, Spinner suffered from a type of discrimination no one else in the League could understand.

They do not see the world the same way, so they won't react to it the same way either.

3) You don't want to turn them into a stereotype instead of the multifaceted characters they are.

I find that fandom spaces are deadly scared of making a character ooc or scared of turning them into a stereotype. I personslly think it's kinda silly to expect fan creations to be exactly like the main source.

Characters are defined by maaaany things like their past, their environment or the setting of the story, the current arcs, the message that the author wants to communicate, etc. They'll be different in each story, but the goal is not to write them to the point they are unrecognizable

If you're afraid of writing the LOV shallow or making them feel alien, remember: the most important part is to figure out the core of the character, aka those traits that cannot change under any circumstances or you'd be writing an original character.

Once you have those traits, you should focus on consistent writing. Every action must have an explanation, an origin. Create your own guidelines and stick to them.

For example, in my I Don't Dance au, Tomura leans into his "Tomura" persona for a healthier reason, but he still does it. AFO didn't force the identify change on him, instead Tomura took it as an artistic name to distant himself from the Shimura tragedy. While Tomura is still a shield for Tenko to hide behind, just like in the manga, giving him an artistic way to express his sorrow and guilt instead of a destructive quirk and the worst mentor figure ever— well, it gave me an excuse to make Tomura just as unwell, but a lot more sane and in control of his emotions.

He might be a bit ooc, but that's expected of an alternative universe where I changed a lot of his past! The important thing is that he's still a menace and that his issues are the same, just treated differently.

4) Like when you're learning a new language, you will have to exaggerate before you learn how to control their personal "accents".

Remember the essential traits I mentioned? One of them is the way they talk!!!!!

Try to think about the level of education they had, who were their friends, the socioeconomic status of their families, what jobs they worked in, what series they watch... Of course, you can ignore this and try to write them all on a basic vocabulary. This really depends on how deep you want to dive in the characterization.

You know that Dabi is really rude and that he grew up in a wealthy family. However, he'd try to hide his upbringing so as not to make others question him. You can write him talking more in the street style and maybe make him slip and add a witty comment from time to time.

Toga has a very kawaii talk. It's exaggerated when she's on beast mode. Like Dabi, Toga is pretending because she wants the world to perceive her as a little girl and not a monster. When Toga feels more comfortable she is kinda childish, but something closer to her age. She is more calm, more sober with her words.

This applies to the gestures too!

Spinner would try to act cooler because he wants to look like Stain, but he's a nervous wreck. You can write him as someone who tries to flex with his giant sword, while screams the most nerd stuff ever to exist.

In serious moments, Twice is able to look fully present, less divided; on the day to day he jumps from grumpy to childish with little worry. He's movement is probably clearer when in a fight and his words are more severe.

Mr. Compress acts like a coward, but when the time comes he's not afraid of the spotlight. He is not one to talk a lot. Theatric gestures like fixing his coat, his hat or his gloves are unique of him.

An exercise is to make them all say the same dialogue or do the same gesture, exploring how different can they perform under the same circumstances.

5) Know your limits as a writer or know when you want to explore / expand your range.

As a writer, you must know where you are, where you want to go and what you want to do. Or at least realize you don't know and that it's a new adventure for you!

Sometimes you'll have to write that fanfic and let it be for a while. You can reread it later and ask yourself what can be improved. Art is a process of failing and failing and taking notes of those failures, so you can get better.

Another good exercise is to read a lot of fics and study them. If you think a fic has good characterization, try to pinpoint what gives you that feeling. Be critical. Overanalyze. Complain on your own if you need to.

Instead of expecting it to be perfect on the first try, imagine you're building a stair. One step will not take you there. Work with one character at the time or with only one aspect, maybe the dialogues only. Focus on a part and then you can continue with others.

I'm aware of how general and vague I'm being, but I don't have specific rules for writing the League of Villains. I try to do the same thing I'd do with any other characters. So....

Hope this works for you too <3

#shan's asks #bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #league of villains #lov

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class1akids · 10 months

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I really would like to know if its just me or do you think Shouto had the same 'connecting' and 'hand-reaching' moment with Touya as Deku with Tenko and Ochaka with Toga? Especially when comparing the child images I personally feel a big difference. Within the one where Shouto and Touya are back to back he looks simply vicious (not that Touya looks any less angry) but also within the both boys crying panel Shouto is fighting and not reaching towards Touya in any way. This is also the case for Shoutos word towards Touya - he not once said, that he cares about him or wants to know him. You also point out, that Shouto saved Touya, but I actually feel more like he wanted to save everyone else. This is not meant as hate or anything, but for me it feels so devastating that between the villian-hero trios (even if Deku and Tenko are still to come) Shouto doesnt seems to reach out for Touya and I wanted to hear another perspective.

Despite the many common points, their situation is not at all the same. Toga was seeking acceptance pretty much from anyone, while Touya wanted validation ONLY from Endeavor. Toga wanted to live with the things and people she loved, Touya wanted to die with the object of his hatred taking others with him. Toga wanted Ochako or Deku to accept her since forever, but Touya had no personal interest in Shouto other than using him as a tool to hurt Endeavor or prove his superiority. Touya is clearly suicidal from the start - and Shouto's biggest challenge is to keep him alive despite his best efforts to burn himself to death.

Shouto never had the means to give Touya what he wanted - and let's not forget that he's been advocating since the PLF war for Endeavor and him go together to find Touya only to be let down by his father every single time. Plus Shouto believes his existence was the breaking point for the family (it's a belief nobody dispelled yet).

But still, Shouto showed up for Touya personally only to be told immediately that he's not what Touya wants:

And yet Shouto is saying that he can't be a hero if he just ignores Touya's pain (like Endeavor did). Shouto rather not be a hero, if he cannot help his brother. He's the ONLY person in the family who properly faces Touya (even if he's the one Touya doesn't want at all). He listens to Touya's story and he didn't attack him the whole time. It's Touya who escalates the fight deciding to kill Shouto and take him as a trophy to Endeavor.

Now, you also need to remember that the villains' love languages are different. Toga's emotions are expressed in blood. Touya's "love language" is his quirk. It's his bonding experience with Endeavor,

and he rejects any other quirk or move anyone else wants to teach him.

In the Todoroki family, quirk and who you are as a person and what is your worth is completely intertwined. Endeavor's flashfire connects Touya and Shouto even more profoundly than blood does, as out of the four siblings only the two of them share this.

so Shouto reaching out comes also essentially in a language unique to them - he makes an ultimate move just for Touya.

It's a move specifically made to stop him without hurting him. It's coming from Shouto's literal heart, from his healing, from him asserting who he wants to be as a brother and as a hero. It's also proof that there is a different way than the path that Endeavor has set them on. Instead of raising the fire and destruction with it, Shouto's quirk can be used to nope out from the toxic competition and save the family.

Touya's reply is rejecting Shouto - saying that they are not at all similar and that they cannot "mingle" - which Shouto counters with mingling with Touya anyways, refusing to accept their "separateness" - that leads to his power-up and copying of that very same move - the first proof that despite what Touya says, they are not completely different.

Shouto also tries to call Touya back when he tries to leave - this is a parallel moment when Ochako shouts at Toga how they haven't talked about love yet.

But Touya leaves, because Shouto despite pouring his heart out in his phosphor move, calling him Touya-nii, facing him properly - he cannot give to Touya what he ultimately wants: Endeavor's attention, approval and love (along with the attention of the other members of the family that Touya felt rejected by) and proof that his existence matters.

And it comes together in this brief delusional happy moment for Touya - getting the attention and validation he craves from his family.

And it's incredibly heartbreaking because it also makes it clear that Shouto could never give this to him, because it's not something Touya ever wanted from him. Because Shouto never denied him the way he perceived it from the others.

But also, this "perfect" moment falls apart almost immediately with Touya's realization that all he needed was just this small thing, something he could have gotten so easily, and he's unable to stop the explosion accumulating inside himself.

It's the symbol of all the rage he's been holding inside and it just seeks an outlet. And despite coming all together, Endeavor, Rei, Fuyumi and Natsuo are not enough to do anything about it.

And that's where Shouto comes in a second time - hits Touya again with Phosphor - just absorbing / neutralizing all that accumulated heat.

We don't get much of what Touya thinks of Shouto at this stage, but we his approach from Touya's POV in the moments when Touya is thinking about how it was all too late.

First he sees Shouto as this pupil-less monster, but then all the confrontation with Shouto and with the rest of the family makes Touya realize that he doesn't want to die anymore. He wants more time, he wants to say more things and at the same moment he sees Shouto finally as a crying child - as someone who is desperate to help his family, to fight for them and finally can give something to Touya that he wants - more time, a chance to say those unsaid things.

And sure, Shouto wants to save everyone - his friends, the pro heroes, the civilians in the blast radius. But also remember, Shouto doesn't know Rei, Natsuo and Fuyumi are there. Only Touya and Endeavor. And knowing his father, probably both All Might and Shouto knew that even if Endeavor had no ice to stop the explosion, he would take Touya up into the sky like he did with the nomu. I'm sure they both knew Endeavor's only option and the route he'd take.

So what All Might is truly asking Shouto is if he can live with himself if he doesn't try to save Endeavor and Touya - the two people who hurt him personally in very deep ways.

And while it's true that Shouto saves everyone (because Rei's intervention stops Endeavor's murder suicide), it's with Phosphor - the move he made specifically for Touya. And if that's not clear enough, then Shouto goes on to praise Touya in front to Endeavor - for his quirk, for how he was the one who finally did what Endeavor wanted and kept surpassing the heat limits going as far as saying that he can't do that, putting an end to the competition. He gives Touya the win he wants. He also rejects the "masterpiece" label and with the same move, freeing Touya from the "failure" label.

So maybe the ways Shouto is reaching out is not as straightforward and cutesy like Ochako or Deku in the spirit world vision - but Shouto keeps fighting despite Touya's rejection for his family, including Touya and when there is finally something he can give Touya (like a chance to live or ridding him of the "failure" label), he gives it to him.

He's been clearly paying attention and thinking what to do since he woke up in the hospital. Preparing for a chance to save his brother with training a move that serves no other purpose than to keep Touya alive. He's choosing the confrontation that's clearly emotionally very hard for him because he knows that Touya needs the family. He is the first one to ask him why he didn't come home, the first one to acknowledge his quirk and skill, the first one to tell him he's not a failure, but a masterpiece. And I think given what Touya's character is about and how his wants and needs differ from Toga's - it's really Shouto's best effort to save to him (being painfully aware that he's the last person Touya wants).

It all comes back to Shouto's arc - actions, not words.

It reminds me a bit of Midoriya vs Todoroki - where Shouto didn't want Izuku for more than to prove a point to Endeavor, and Izuku had to keep fighting and breaking himself just to get his attention. Or how Izuku was aware that after beating Shinsou, there are no words he can give him - it has to come from someone else. Or the time Deku let Kirishima take the lead to reach out for Bakugou, because he knew (thought) it wasn't his hand Kacchan wanted.

Like, sure, there are situations like Toga vs Uraraka, where Uraraka had the key all along to Toga because Toga wanted her. But there are also plenty of times in the story that are like Shouto's situation, where he knows that his hand is unwanted, but he still has to give it his best shot.

At the end of the day, it always takes a village to save someone. That was the point of the Eri arc. Uraraka is not doing it alone either - maybe the endpoint yes, but she couldn't have gotten here alone.

And I believe that Shouto's actions also matter for Touya eventually, we just haven't really seen it yet so expressly (but I hope we will), because the Todoroki plot is the darker, more nuanced plot and that comes with more complexity and less fairy tale-like turns.

TL;DR: Each villain's situation is different. Shouto is reaching out the ways he can, the ways that make sense for his and Touya's relationship. He is rejected, because Touya and Toga are different people with different wants, but Shouto despite that rejection keeps reaching for his brother to save him, to give him and their entire family another chance. And maybe, one day, all his actions will pay off with Touya also opening his heart to him. Sometimes, these things take time. But that doesn't make Shouto lesser, because connection is a two-way thing and Touya was clearly not ready to connect with anyone until he found some closure with Endeavor.

#bnha meta #c1a asks #bnha manga spoilers #bnha manga leaks #bnha 393 #todoroki shouto #todoroki touya

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aconstantstateofbladerunner · 1 year

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if still doing, AU where Blackwhip shows itself sooner, maybe the sports festival or the training camp, and the 6 other quirks are soon to follow? Maybe because Izuku doesn't have a good hold on ofa yet, he has bigger drawbacks, like blackwhip ripping his skin or something.

Black Whip shows up during his desperate final stand against Muscular, but he's so hurt and out of it at that point, he dismisses it as a hallucination. Even though his broken arms have more welts on the skin that usual.

Danger Sense comes through in the form of potent anxiety that first shows up while watching the Kamino fight, and doesn't go away for weeks. Izuku maybe gets three to four hours of sleep per night, but it doesn't feel like it since they're nonconsecutive. What he doesn't know is that Shigaraki's rage at his master being captured, knowing that All Might found his strength looking to protect his successor, is so strong, Izuku can feel it dozens of miles away. The thing that finally shuts it off is Toga's attack on him at the license exam replacing that as the immediate threat, so it goes away once the fight is over.

Smoke Screen is where he starts to notice something is wrong. After the fight with Overhaul, he starts randomly coughing smoke. At first, he thinks that Eri's power unlocked latent genes for fire breathing somehow. But when he goes to a quick specialist for it, they don't find anything in his genes at all, let alone any physical changes to his body that would indicate a fire breathing quirk. When he gets back to UA, disappointed as much as he's confused, All Might meets him with tea and a story about his master's master, who had a smoke quirk.

Float appears soon after and it makes Izuku the most excited. It shows up after the cultural festival performance, while he's talking with Uraraka about how much fun it looked to fly around the room. Suddenly, his feet are off the ground right in front of her. This means they can train together, and maybe come up with combo strategies. They both gasp, and since Izuku doesn't know how to balance himself, he flips over. Then it happens every time he tries it, unable to figure out how to keep his balance. Uraraka's advice doesn't help, her floating negates gravity while he's still affected by it enough to be top heavy. But Eri thinks it's funny, she he lets her drag him around like a balloon for a while.

Black Whip doesn't reappear until it's canon time during the joint training arc. Izuku thinks he's ready for it, but he's not. The way is suffocates his arms hurts more than anything he's ever experienced, and his anger trying to get it under control only makes it more violent. He ends up ignoring Shinsou's challenge. It's his quirk, he should be able to control it himself. He refuses to be back at square one with quirks he can't use because they hurt him. By the time exhaustion weakens him enough for the others to restrain him, the whips have dug into his skin nearly down to the bone.

#answers #au asks

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problemswithbooks · 10 months

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It all feels like a retcon starting from the first look at toga’s backstory because it doesn’t sync up when you put all her actions together. I thought maybe hori was trying to say toga’s quirk became unfortunately linked to arousal after years of suppressing it and it being triggered by her feeling of admiration for her crushes. But yeah that would have been too mature to tackle for my hero though I could maybe see it with chainsaw man. So I don’t know get what’s going on right now except toga’s mentally ill because of her parents and society and he keeps trying to make last minute parallels between toga and touya.

I think the issue is that Hori never spent as much time or effort on Toga as he did with Shigaraki and Touya. Even now her backstory is rather limited in comparison. We got full chapters worth to explore what happened to Touya and Tenko but Toga's is a couple pages or panels here or there with everything being rather vague.

Hori likes using her for sexy pictures and drawing suggestive stuff with Ochako, but she ultimately isn't given as much thought as her male counter parts. Which given the already bad implications of her character has only made her even worse.

Take this latest chapter. We get this page for Quirk counseling.

It's just 2 panels that are honestly really vague. It also comes after her drinking blood from a bird her parents think she killed. Toga says it fell on the ground but that doesn't mean she didn't kill it (baby birds are often on the ground until they fully can fly, or it could have been injured), so that's not helpful either. On top of that it makes sense her parents would find the behavior bad regardless because it either means she killed an animal or picked up an already dead one and proceeded to eat it. Neither of those are great and both are harmful to her.

We just don't really get a good look at how the Quirk counseling worked. They say that they'll make her 'normal' but that doesn't mean they abused her. They could have just explained why it was wrong for her drink blood, like the health issues it could cause. On top of that Hori drops the 'it happens all the time in our current society' line, but we have never seen anyone else like Toga. Not even Stain was ever hinted at being like Toga despite their similar blood based powers.

This is like if we reduced the Touya chapters to a black screen with Enji commenting that he can't train him anymore and we didn't get to see how much Touya struggled with what he perceived as rejection, or how Enji completely ignored him afterwards. Or if we cut Shigaraki's father's abuse to just him yelling at him in black panels before he accidentally killed his family.

Then we get this. This honestly makes Toga look worse, not better in my opinion. We see that she drank blood from someone before she snapped at school. She says they got hurt so she kissed it better, but if you look at her, she is covered in quite a bit of blood. Maybe her friend did get hurt but they were either really badly hurt and bleeding a lot and Toga did not help them and instead started licking them, or she might have even made their injuries worse to get the blood she wants.

If Hori cared more about her character he would have been shown what happened here. Or in the very least put less blood if any on Toga, which would show she didn't hurt this person or ignore helping them with a serious injury because she can't think of anything but blood.

As it is we have no idea if her friend got really badly injured and Toga ignored helping to just feast on them, or if her friend told her to stop, or if she made the person's injures worse. Yes, her parents are wrong for saying Toga's not human, but if she's attacking injured friends that's a huge problem.

One of the biggest issues with Toga is that she is both portrayed as so obsessed and desperate for blood she can't comprehend why anyone might not like her shoving a straw in their neck, but at the same time she was and is at times able to be perfectly fine. She can't understand why Ochako or Izuku, in desperate situations caused in part by her might not be happy with her, but can also turn around and comfort Twice and understand that he feels responsible for the death of a team mate.

It's impossible for me to feel bad for her because when I read her chapters I just see a drawing of an offensive stereotype that does what ever the author wants them to do. Toga just doesn't feel like a person at all. She's nothing but the sexy shell of a teenage girl that Hori doesn't seem all that invested in past her being cute and giving him an excuse to have two girls being all touchy and hot.

#ask #thanks for the ask!#bnha spoilers #bnha #mha #anti himiko toga #anti villain #bnha critical #shes just impossible to take seriously #cuz idk how she can be the most emotionally mature of the LoV #but somehow not get consent #like girl have you ever tried asking to drink someones blood before using them as a juice box?#did it really not occur to you that maybe people don't like being stabbed #i mean she never tries to attack any of her friends despite saying she loves them now #the only time she pulled a knife on Shigaraki was to threaten him #which means she does get that knives are threatening #yet she still throws a shit fit when Ochacko and Izuku are not happy with almost getting stabbed #like im sorry but that makes no sense even if she is really mentally ill #and if she was that mentally ill she never would have been able to pass as 'normal' until she was 14 or 15 #i also don't believe that neither her parents of the councilor ever explained why she shouldn't attack people #and just told her don't do that #even the abusive horrible gay conversion camps give people reasons they shouldn't be gay--even if they're all wrong #i just don't believe that they didn't tell her that it was at least dangerous for her after the bird #or say don't drink blood from people because they won't like it or that it hurts them #idk her character just drives me insane #and i legit don't get how there are people who think shes great #both as bi rep and as a well thought out character #she doesn't have a brain half the time and makes zero sense #and complains about people not liking her for very valid reasons #like shes just a whiny incel whose upset she can't attack people whenever she feels like it

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greatwyrmgold · 10 days

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I love many serial stories, but I'm developing a distaste for serial storytelling.

If you follow me, you've probably figured out that I like both reading and writing media analysis, whether it's essays about the characterization of a web serial's supporting cast or discussing the themes of Shonen Jump manga.

It's pretty easy to read and analyze media that is "complete," a word which here means "the author has written the conclusion". The conclusion is an important part of any story! It's the part where everything built up in the early parts of the story is brought together and assembled into its final form. Every setup has either been paid off or revealed to be a red herring. The puzzle is complete, we can see the picture, we can confidently interpret its meaning.

Analyzing serial media is trickier. You don't have all the pieces; you have to look at what's available, guess what might be missing, and interpret the meaning there might be in the end. This has some consequences.

Sometimes, stuff that you assumed would be explained later isn't. I remember a post I made after Chainsaw Man chapter 137 (which I can't find because Tumblr's search function is terrible) that speculated on why all those people would be mindlessly attacking Denji. It's weird! This isn't the sort of thing that just happens in Chainsaw Man, not without some devil or whatever doing something weird. Controlling people, or making puppets, or at least putting a bounty on Denji's head.

I assumed there would be some kind of explanation in later chapters. And I waited, and kept reading. Months later, I realized that there never really was an explanation. In chapter 138, Yoshida mentioned that it's natural for people to attack Chainsaw Man when they know his identity, and that was it.

Sometimes, stuff that you assume indicates a pattern later isn't. Back in My Hero Academia's sports festival arc, a bunch of spectators flip out when Bakugo beats up Ochaco, and Aizawa goes on a rant about how ridiculous their reaction is. They see a cute girl in a tournament arc and assume she's just a weakling who's being victimized by the big strong bully, and Aizawa won't stand for that. Sure, Bakugo beat her, but only because he recognized her as a threat. To quote Red Sarcasticproductions (2019):

My Hero Academia takes no prisoners when it comes to trope subversion. Man, I hope it stays good.

Foreshadowing is a literary device—

Anyways, it's 2024 and Ochaco has mostly been sidelined. Some time during season three, she and Iida were sidelined in favor of Izuku's new guy friends, Todoroki and Bakugo. Ochaco's only significant contribution in the climactic arc is her catfight with depraved bisexual Toga Himiko, which is its own can of worms.

Luckily, Kohei Horikoshi introduced a bunch of new lady characters with Quirks that can keep pace with the series's power creep. Unfortunately, pretty much all of them are killed, crippled, or otherwise sidelined after getting one cool moment. To be clear, new male characters are also introduced in this time, and while some get killed shortly after their introduction, they don't consistently fall into the same introduction—>action scene—>adios pattern as the women, and that pattern isn't the only pattern which makes the female characters look worse.

My Hero Academia went from being a series notable for vocally supporting its female characters, to a series notable for its mediocre treatment thereof.

And then there's Ward, which isn't a manga at all, despite what some people will claim. (It doesn't even have pictures!) In its last arc, there was some discourse which is difficult to describe without spoiling stuff, so...

There was this plan to solve The Problem. The audience saw a detailed explanation of, and spends chapters watching characters discuss the ramifications of the plan. Vibes in the community are rancid; the superheroes in that story are kinda allegories for people with PTSD and stuff, and the story thus far has drawn a pretty clear connection between "heroic sacrifices" and suicidal tendencies, and the plan seems kinda like a mass "heroic sacrifice"...

Well, it turns out that there was an important detail of the plan which the characters were keeping from the audience. I have strong opinions about why hiding that detail was a bad idea, but it was made so much worse by the serial nature of the story. If Ward was published as one 15-pound book, the time between finding out about the plan and finding out about the twist would be measured in days, if not hours.

But those chapters came out two a week, over the course of months, leaving us fans plenty of time to stew over the implications of that partial puzzle. People who read Ward later don't always like the ending, but they don't dislike it anywhere near as much as people like me who read it chapter by chapter.

And if you wanted another manga example instead of web serials, basically the same thing is going on with Aqua and Ruby's relationship in Oshi no Ko. Unless that's more like Chainsaw Man's "there is no explanation" or MHA's "you only THOUGHT we were handling this well"—it's impossible to say what's going on for certain, and that sucks!

I don't want to say that serial stories punish you for trying to understand them before they're finished; that kind of speculation can be rewarding. (And of course, some stories could not exist without serial publication.) But it can also suck.

It sucks when an explanation you're waiting for never comes. It sucks when a story you thought was good at heart slowly loses its credibility. It sucks when a pacing decision turns an okay writing decision into weeks of agonizing confusion.

#serial story #rant #random thoughts

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thegrimreaper-probably · 2 years

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Bnha class x Poison ivy power reader bc slay

Toga himiko x reader

Headcanon/drabble thing

• everyone loves your makeup

• definitely best friends with Mina or Uraraka

• you do stand with Todoroki or near him so you guys got some bond

• once you guy move into the dorms your room is full of plants.

•And a huge carnivorous plant is in the room. that scares everyone but you just pet the plants head

• you also become friends with Kota from the love of plants and animals.

• you team up with Iida to parent everyone which is very scary

• your the go to nurse rather then going to the real nurse.

• Denki’s definitely has goes to you for splinters

• You do make dinner with Bakugo the only time you two tolerate each

• When the lov attack Toga always try’s to fight with you. She’s your Harley Quin ♥️

• Tho you do get kidnapped which she loves

• the league try’s to make you join but you hate Dabi to much

“Come on just join us.”

“I am Nature's arm. Her spirit. Her will. Hell, I am Mother Nature. Why would I join a group that harms us?”

“The heroes are bad people not us!”

“You both are.”

“THEN WHY NOT JOIN?”

• Shigaraki just walks away after

• you get Dabi to kiss you so he passes out

“Men, the most absurd of God's creatures. We give you life and we can take it away just as easily.” Slay!

“I want a kiss!”

“You stupid girl she’ll kill you!”

• Shigaraki goes to hurt ya but All Might saves the day.

• you help with the fight then when the other save you, you just stay fighting

• you do leave once all of the other villains leave not wanting to die

• you hadn’t told anyone about your full quirk till after the fight

“So what can you do?”

“My blood is aloe, my skin is chlorophyll, and my lips are filled with poison. I control plants and can make them.”

“So is that Dabi guy dead?”

“No my lips just make you fall asleep.”

“So that’s why you didn’t let me drank from your cup?”

“Yes.”

• you and Bakugo do get closer from the kidnapping but still have a dislike for each other

• the girls go to you when they need help with guys

•you only go to the mall to protect them, not that they can’t do it themselves.

“Hey mamas!”

“Aww pretty boy want a kiss?”

“Kinda want more then that mamas.”

“Mmm, just one kiss and I’ll show you everything you see plus everything you don’t.” Man’s drooling but so sad he passes out after your little kiss.

• Toga goes undercover as Mina just to get closer to you, though you find out and bring her into your dorm.

“Darling? If you wanted to see me could’ve just came in.”

“You remember me!?”

“How could I forget such a cute face like yours?”

“Can I pleases get some blood? I bet yours is so sweet and yummy!”

“Oh honey, my blood isn’t for eating. It’s aloe which just leaves an awful taste in your pretty little mouth.”

“But-!”

“Darling I have to go make dinner for my babies. Why don’t you go home for me?” She leaves but definitely comes back at nighttime twice a week.

• the teachers love you

• Midnight loves your hero outfit and helps with your winter design

• Aizawa and you are similar in ways. You both care about the class and are scary when mad or when they get on your bad side. Plus you both are moody and got a goofy girlfriend/husband.

• you hate All Might and he’s scared of you. Often you correct him on a lot of stuff. No one knows why you hate him but you do.

• Mic is also scared of you but still loves ya. You guys both listen to music together or you teach him about plants

• Toga tells you abt overhaul, which your pissed about and do try to kill him but fail to do so.

• dude like 5ft away from you and is wearing a mask. You can’t kiss him, blow your perfume or powder. And it’s really hard to get plants through concrete.

•but Toga try’s to help you because she upset about big sis. She vents to you abt it.

• When Eri comes around you love her!

“Pretty.”

“Thank you darling. Your so pretty as well. Want to play with some plants and butterflies?”

“Mhm!” You guys play in your room.

• your the only one Aizawa let’s babysit by yourself

• You make plants and make Eri fly sometime.

• you teach her to read and take care of plants

• she even recycle which you are so happy!

• for Christmas you get her, her very first plant

• Aizawa freaks out when it dies and calls you

• you tell him what the plant is so he can just rebuy one when needed and when to water it incase she forgets

• Toga also gives you plants when she can

• she’ll give you carnivorous plants or red plants that reminds her of blood

• you give her a tomato plant so she can stab the fruit instead of animals plus she can eat them

• y’all in love and you probably do become a villain and you stay a hero so you get more info

• you still hate the league so you don’t join

• she’ll probably do your dirty work and kills everyone who says they have a crush on you or kisses you

• Mother Nature and her favorite plant in her garden a Langsdorffia (also known as a vampire plant)

Part two

#bnha x reader #mha x reader #bnha #bnha quirks #headcanon #toga x reader #toga himiko #posion ivy #plant quirk #bnha x y/n #my hero academia #mha x y/n #slayyyyy #feminist #eri bnha

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moon-is-a-cryptid · 1 year

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WHAT! NO WAY!! TELL ME ABOUT YOUR OCS!

Ok ok lol I have sketches of them all but I don’t have my book

so you saw

kuma, kuma has a shape shifting ability to give her the power strength and abilities of the animal she chooses to change into, she can also communicate with animals. Using her quirk too much causes her to become more animalistic in whatever animal form she is in until she transitions back, when she does she will need a nap. She has the ‘black cat gf’ personality and her hero name is Druid, she’s dating kirishima and met him when the Bakusquad went in a camping trip in the forest she patrols when a villain attacked!

Next we have

Kasumi has a quirk similar to Minas where she can produce toxic substances instead of acid, when these substances are produced depending on how kasumi feels is the intensity and can cause melting if she’s angry enough, she can control it like a water bender with water, creating weapons and being able to just throw is and such she is also immune to her own burns. But a downside is she has to wear a gas mask when she fights because the toxic environment can make her pass out if not careful. it leaks from her eyes giving her a cool drippy affect. She has neon yellow hair and her eyes have toxic symbols in the middle of them. Kasumi ran around protecting her own area in Japan hero’s called the ‘underground’ she met bakugo her bf when she got sent to UA to officially get her hero license after running into the hero’s and explaining what she was doing, they told her to continue she needs to get her license. Bakugou enjoys how feisty is and she never backs down from a fight (Dude I love the way I deigned her hero costume 😩 I gotta show you) her hero name is Toxoplasm

Emiko

Emiko has a floral quirk giving her the ability to grow plants anywhere in a medium radius including her body, she’s runs a flower shop as she never had the heart for hero work! She’s a big softy with a big heart she’s studying psychology as well! She had long brown hair that it typically braided back with flowers in it, honey colored eyes and glasses! If you couldn’t tell I like to use her for my shoto fics when I have one in mind 😂

Kijo

Typically goes by the name Whinny because she has a winter quirk called snow storm this quirk is the total opposite of Dabi’s quirk and when used too much gives her frost burn that riddles her skin in bright blue spots. She can freeze anything within a large radius and give someone frost burn just by touching them. Her favorite way to get information is to freeze a hand and break off fingers :) She finds the league after meeting toga while they both were running from the hero’s, Kijo protected Toga so toga thought she would do well with the team, Kijo after joining has a situation ship with dabi because both of them have trauma and can’t do emotion things well. Kijo has grey eyes and medium length pastel pink hair her and dabi work well together as she cools off his quirk and his quirk keeps her warm. she also flirts hella hard with toga. Civilians call her the winter death

And lastly

Alexandra

Alex is from Scotland has a digital quirk she calls pixelated giving her the ability to move through electricity and the internet, this quirk gives her the option to basically have the internet in her eyes like scanners, she can also take certain things like say a sword from a video game and use it in real life but once it’s damaged it turns into pixels that she can hit towards people, this quirk gives her constant headaches and she cannot shut off the scanners that she calls her eyes. Despite having a hero license she works as a support item tech only using her hero stuff for emergencies her eyes help her figure out the best ways to build or fix items. Her hair is medium length Ruby red that is kept up in in a high pony ponytail she has glasses to help with headaches and her eyes glitch between colors. She met her boyfriend shinsou when she got called to Japan from her home to build gear for the hero’s. She has a very “are you fucking stupid, please leave me alone” (that’s the best way I can describe it) attitude at first but once she warms up she’s a tired goofball who lives off coffee. Her hero name is glitchy. Because of her quirk it’s easy for her to hack into systems and get intel as well… people are scared to leave electronics around her

I have one in the works no name yet with a moon quirk who has a twin with a sun quirk 😩

#g.moonchaser🌙🗯️#moonchaser🌙#the lovely lemons🍋🍋#moons asks 🗣️#moons OC #I’ll see if I can get my sketches for you

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stingingcake · 2 years

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YASHAHIME REWRITE OUTLINE

Since I’m probably not going to make a season rewrite, because I just don’t have the energy for that, I thought I might at least share my outline.

So the jumping off point is my Sesskagu fic “Now She has a Heart” which depicts a post series romance between a newly returned human Kagura and Sesshomaru having Setsuna and Towa. Kagura’s human body has poor health, and so she doesn’t have long to live. A few years after the fic, she dies of her weak body and is revived by the Tensaiga.

Shortly after this, when the girls are all around seven or eight, her health starts declining again. Sesshomaru leaves to find a cure, but while he’s gone he attacked by the villain of the series. The villain (not sure if I’ll use the one from the show, or if I’ll pull a rumiko and have a bunch of rando villains before the end one) mind controls Sesshomaru who will now act as more of an antagonist.

Kagome possesses two of the pearls because she was using them to visit her family on occasion (she was gifted them in the fic). The villain wants revenge on Toga’s bloodline, so he attacks Inuyasha and Sesshomaru’s family. This guy is just too powerful, but Kagome thinks she can maybe take him. Inuyasha is severely wounded and Kagome is able to seal him in the tree (because, idk, it would parallel the original series and it makes a little more sense).

Kagura is also mortally wounded in the attack and with the last vestiges of her power is able to send her children away. The twins are separated, and Kagome finds Towa. She gives Towa the pearl and sends her to the future as a last ditch effort to protect her niece. Moroha is with Sango and Miroku who are fending off a demon hoard. Setsuna is picked up by Sesshomaru’s mom. Kagome faces off against the villain, and is able to severely wound him, but is sniped at the last minute by a secret villain and captured.

Okay, so to recap: The girls are all around 6 or 7 years old. Towa is being raised in the future by Kagome’s family who know who she is. Towa has some trauma related amnesia and sort of just forgets about where she came from. She knows she’s adopted and that Kagome is her aunt, but she can’t recall anything else. The Higurashi’s decide to raise her normally, and her demon powers seemed to be sealed with her memories.

Moroha is raised by Sango and Miroku. She is determined to avenge her parents (as they all believe them to be dead), and in general has a strong dislike of demons. She’s largely the same except she doesn’t have a debt to pay off. She’s a demon hunter because that’s what Sango’s clan does. Rin is also here, and she's the only one to have any contact with Setsuna.

Setsuna is raised by her grandmother. She becomes a warrior maiden who has sworn revenge on the villain who killed her mother (and to her knowledge her sister). She keeps in some contact with Rin whom she sees as an older sister of sorts. Rin is the one to try and appeal to her humanity, but Setsuna sees humanity as weakness both due to her grandmother’s influence as well as her own inability to protect her mom and sister.

Fast forward to the start of the series, seven years later. The villain has been recovering from his wounds all this time, and with the help of a pearl decides to try and attack Moroha. Moroha has a pearl from the rougue, but doesn’t know it. Setsuna, senses the villain has come out of hiding and comes out to meet him. Together, the two girls fight but are over powered. They escape to the future, Moroha not aware that she has the ability (and not trying because she doesn’t want to inform her maternal family that Kagome is dead).

Once in the future they meet Towa and it largely goes the same from there, except that Hsui and maybe Koga’s kid and shippo or someone like shippo will accompany them when they go on adventures in the feudal era. I feel like this will round out the cast a bit more.

I don’t think Koga has a son in the actual show, but in my version he does have a son. I can’t really think of characterization besides a funny dynamic with Moroha. I think it’d be funny if initially he comes onto her like how Koga came onto Kagome due to her abilities, and then once her personality comes out they start clashing real hard.

What rubbed me wrong about the show is that it needed to get the parents out of the way, but it didn’t do it in a way that respected them. I like aspects of it, like someone being sealed in the tree, Sesshomaru being an antagonist again, and the idea of the next generation having adventures. but the way all the characters acted like they didn’t know each other didn’t make any sense.

Anyways, If you got this far, how’d you like it? is there anything you would change? Anything you would add?

#Yashahime #sesskagu #Inuyasha #rewrite #fanfiction #inukag #mirsan

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talenlee · 1 year

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Story Pile: My Hero Academia, Season 3

Finally I’m having a good time

After two seasons of finding its feet underneath it, and also burning through a positively unnecessary amount of tournament head-to-head nonsense, My Hero Academia has finally set up a season that left me with an overall positive impression. It’s very clearly a show for little kids – recaps and previews can make up about six minutes of a 26 minute run-time, and wishing it did things differently is a bit of a fool’s errand.

What this season did have that I liked was three distinct story arcs, none of which were too long or dragged out their worst elements too long. I mean it’d be nice if they didn’t have the boring bits at all, but I understand that some people see the way that Deku and All Might both solve problems by Punching The Best Way as heroically important, and therefore, my desire for them to develop more than that is not happening.

This also seems to be the point where the story tries to grapple with having villains that are more than just a vaguely cryptic shape. I like the way the new villains are shaping up here, and I especially like the way they’re used sparingly.

First up we have the woodland training arc. It’s got a good setup, something the students want to do, and where the nature of the experience keeps students spread out, gives them a lot of stuff to do and lots of different ways to express who they are. Then you throw into that training experience, which is largely fun stuff that looks at the characters and asks ‘hey, how do your powers work and how do we make them better,’ like the quirks as lived components of a character’s experience. That’s good! Then to complicate that, instead of a tournament of the characters slapfighting with one another, the story introduces some real tension in the form of an attack from villains who have a specific plan.

This is good! It’s remote, so you can have an excuse for where the support structure is, it’s reasonably safe so there’s no need for a primary focus on collateral damage and it’s big enough that people can get lost and have chunked up conflicts that give them opportunities to express themselves in a lot of different ways. The story introduces a bunch of villains ranging from the fun and interesting (Toga, Twice, Mr Compress, Magne) to the miscellaneous (everyone else). With a lot of villains spread over a lot of territory coralling a lot of students, you have a ready made opportunity for lots of different characters to try and deal with different things in different ways. This can lead to some great fights where characters work together in interesting ways – I really liked Tetsutetsu and Kendo fighting Mustard, for example, and the use of Twice to extend the reach of villains was also great!

Tell you what though this arc really reminded me that I will put up with a lot of bullshit from a character in this world if they look like they’re having a good time. This did mean that the stuff that the story thinks of as important – Midoriya vs Muscular for example – was an absolute dead end for me. It’s anti-interest; it’s not like Deku’s going to die, and he’s also not going to do anything interesting. The fight is about a dude who wins vs a dude who wins, and the dude wins until suddenly the other dude wins. The hopeful outline of it – a story where Deku learns to rescue someone, fight for them, and to think of the world around him in a fight? It’s completely dismissed in favour of but what if we punch each other really hard.

This artist has a vision of combat violence that is embarrassingly basic.

The next story arc teeters on the edge of more of that frustrating ‘I can see a better way to do this’ narrative. On the one hand, a big slugfest between two really powerful dudes who hate each other while the story flicks out to flashbacks is extremely standard, and this doesn’t elevate the form at all. Seeing some of All Might’s backstory is interesting, but it’s also done to introduce a fridged lady mentor figure, which feels a bit basic at this point? And that’s kind of everything that there is going on in this chunk of the story; it’s potential for more, but it’s very basic.

It obviously has to set up the loss of All Might; the departure of the powerhouse version of the character from the story is obviously important, and that’s a good thing to do here, and spending all the last measure of his strength on a great villain is a good way to do it. But there are … weird elements to it.

First of all, the villain has this big reserve of interesting powers, just based on what we’ve seen, and most of what he does is just ‘hit All Might harder.’ Now, I have no doubt that this is meant to chain into a later plot where this is all part of his plan, but be honest: if he beat All Might to death in this fight, it’s probably a big opportunity for a major supervilain. The idea that he fought in this really basic way for some greater, later plot is just kicking the can down the road, because if he could have killed All Might and didn’t, then whatever plan he has has to be incredibly and stupidly elaborate.

Bleh!

On the other hand, the story shows the importance of protecting and rescuing people. Deku’s ability to understand how people think, including Bakugo, is instrumental to getting them all safe and clear. Mount Lady even has an excellent moment that serves to cut the tension and give a laugh. The villains get away in an interesting (though creepy!) way. In the aftermath, All Might makes a point of now trying to make things better for Deku by teaching him things, and that’s super important too!

Then again, do you remember how I said that the sign of a shonen is how quickly it broke out a tournament arc? Well, it feels like the license exam is another tournament arc. It’s especially annoying because it’s not a good example of what a license is meant to do – you want to make sure that people are registered for the task, contactable, and have accepted public responsibility, it seems that this filtering system designed to only permit a hundred at a time would just encourage more vigilantism.

Still, despite this, there’s still two things I really enjoyed here. Another round of interesting bit-part characters get introduced – I like Tatami for example – and we’re once again introduced to an antagonist who is, at the very least, having a good bloody time. I thought Camie was interesting, but the way her character seemed to be just a repeat of Toga’s ‘hey, what about blood?’ personality seemed like a failure on the story’s part. But then that paid out, and that was pretty cool.

I also liked that a whole chunk of this license program is dedicated to explaining and demonstrating that heroes need to know how to rescue people. I’d have liked it more if this showed up beforehand, where, like, teachers might be involved, to make sure the students are prepared for this conversation, but that’s running the risk of presenting this hero high school story as featuring some high school. I have already accepted that this story just isn’t about that – it’s an ordinary superpowered shounen anime that sometimes remembers that superheroes are a genre with their own language and storytelling ideas.

This season also introduces us to a pair of trans characters, in Tiger and Magne. It’s an interesting thing because Magne is a trans woman who somehow manages to skirt a lot of tropes that I’m used to seeing with that kind of character; oh, sure, she’s not presented as attractive or desireable, and her place in the world is a villain in an underclass, but it does this without bringing up the normal things that make me go ‘oh, god, no.’ There’s a whole conversation about her, about the way that trans women who don’t pass get treated as a different category to trans people who do pass, and the whole narrative around passing privilege (and when it’s withdrawn) is a complicated, interesting topic that is well above my pay grade.

Mostly, you can tell My Hero Academia thinks of Magne as a woman because it can’t think of anything to do with her.

Tiger is a much more neutral, natural zero-point though. He’s a big buff trans dude with a shapeshifting power that lets him look how he wants and he’s part of a successful hero group that lets him take care of other elements that he may want dealt with. Basically, I suspect he got top surgery but can use his power to do anything, so I don’t know what the difference is meant to be. Still, we have it confirmed that he did go ‘to Thailand’ for that, and that’s…

Yeah, that’s one of those things that sounds like a punchline.

I am a little tired by the way that Deku’s primary power is to eat shit with regularity, but he used it to good ends in the Bakugo fight. That fight presented a great kind of emotional payoff but still without an explanation. I don’t get it, I don’t get why Bakugo’s ego is so fragile and brittle. I don’t know how someone who has been praised non-stop and has superpowers and all that can still have such an inferiority complex unless there’s something about himself that he’s hiding, that doesn’t reconcile with the rest of who he is. Maybe like if he was trans or gay, that’d make sense.

I thought for a few days there that Muscle might be Bakugo’s real dad, and that might be the tension in his family that gave him this masculine fragility, but nope, it seems that Bakugo’s just a turd. Still, we got a moment of him getting a reassuring hug from All Might, and it being the limits of what he could handle, and that’s pretty good.

There are also some great episodes of the characters just messing around! That’s great! That’s stuff that gives characters room to express themselves and show more dimensions to how they work as characters. Great stuff there. Overall, I think this is a good season to start with because it explains most of everything (most characters get explained too many times honestly) and you don’t miss much of anything in the previous stories.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Media #StoryPile #Anime #MyHeroAcademia

#Anime #My Hero Academia

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mettywiththenotes · 3 years

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No okay but what if Tomura breaks out of All For One’s possession himself because he finally hears about what happened to Twice [assuming he doesn’t already know] and goes apeshit? Like he’s so livid that he breaks out of the possession, shoving All For One aside because this is more important than his shitty master, and he ambushes the heroes, specifically Hawks. Goes buckwild.

The idea that Tomura could override AFO’s possession because of heartbreak would be so powerful and so sad but I kinda need this to happen lol

#even better #he breaks out of the possession #finds toga and they both attack together #revenge is best served with a girl who once drank blood from a bird #and a man who cherishes his friends more than anything #hawks is a very interesting character and i like him #but i'm still super sad over what happened with twice #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #tomura shigaraki #toga himiko #twice #jin bubaigawara #league of villains #mettys posts #metty posts

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unfinshedsentec · 2 years

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tokyo manji gang with himikotoga!reader? 🐓

heya anon! Thank you so much for requesting <3

Trust me when I say I had a lot of fun writing Toman’s dynamic with a toga reader! That would be one hell of a relationship💀

toman with a toga! reader

word count: 1.0k+

characters: mikey, draken, baji, chifuyu, mitsuya, hakkai, angry, smiley, and reader!

tw: cursing, brawls, blood, beaten up people, and you’re toga crazy soo…

The Tokyo Manji Gang is a pretty…. interesting gang

Mikey is a cocky surprisingly childish guy, while Draken-mom, as we all know, is serious and pretty much keeps Mikey in check. Then, there’s, of course, Baji who’s the definition of violent, and Chifuyu, who’s Baji’s loyal love.

There’s also Big-Bro Mitsuya who’s the most sane and logical, with Hakkai who’s the most adorable. And of course, you can’t forget Kawata twins (smiley and angry), who are the complete opposite of their names.

Obviously, of all this together meant trouble. They beat up people, went out of their way to fuck with others, and overall were a crazy gang.

When they met and you joined the gang, things somehow got even crazier, so much so that no gang ever tried to go against Toman.

You see, things started when you met Mikey.

You were absolutely beating the shit out of a group of guys who tried to attack you, and ultimately beat them close to death. This was quite amusing to you, and was something you got a kick out of, but doing things like this usually scared other people away.

Well, that applied to everyone except Mikey.

Mikey instead thought you were interesting. While he was a little concerned about you and your happiness toward half-dead people, he was mainly amused by you.

Naturally, he and Draken, who was a little startled by you, approached you and eventually started a conversation with you.

That one conversation led to Mikey claiming you to be his friend. Not long after that, you got closer to the rest of Toman, started fighting alongside them (to your absolute joy), and soon enough, you found yourself being a member of Toman.

Not that you minded. You were close to most of them, and often fit in with all their craziness.

You’re pretty much a perfect for the crazy group of people.

There’s Mikey of course, who you’re closest too. He pretty much gave you a life full of the happiness, craziness, and thrill that you always desired. You really loved him for this, maybe in a little-more than a friend way.

You practically owed Mikey your life, and Draken too.

Draken will and always has been concerned for you and wants you to go to therapy. But he respects you and any decisions you make. He takes care of you, and pretty much keeps you and Mikey alive.

To put it in simple words, he’s your adoptive Mom, along with Mitsuya.

Mitsuya cares for you greatly, and treats you like you’re his little sibling. Though, he’s not a strict as Draken, he’s still pretty on top of you (he wants to make sure you don’t kill anyone). Mitsuya’s sort’ve like a huge sanity pill, so needless to say, he keeps you from going to jail.

He’s pretty much a necessity in your life.

And of course, Draken-mom and Big-Bro Mitsuya lose their crap when you and Baji get together, because that’s practically hell on earth.

You and Baji are very most and are absolute BEST FRIENDS because of it.

You both love beating people up, love burning cars, randomly punching people for no reason, love brawls, etc. You’re both troublemakers of the group, so you can imagine how chaotic it would be when you both team up.

Let’s just say people are terrified of you.

Of course, along with Baji comes Chifuyu, who loves you too.

Hey, you and Baji are, close so of course you and Chifuyu are close. He’s like your little brother who sometimes gets on your nerves, but overall, you find adorable You have full intentions of protecting him, and of course he’ll do the same.

Overall, your bond is close! So much so that Chifuyu tried calling you “partner” first, but you shot him down…

Poor Chifuyu :(

And then there’s Hakkai, who’s sort’ve like Chifuyu terms of how he sees you. Mitsuya likes you, so he does too. You like him and often try to start conversations with him, but he’s just too scared to say anything back, though he really wants too.

Poor Hakkai :(

Last, but not least, there’s the Kawata twins, and let me say, you’re one hell of trio with them.

You and Smiley are by far the most similar out of everyone. You love to see people suffer, and you really bonded over that! Of course, that similarity led you both to go out and fight with each other and boy do you get a kick out of that.

You guys are twins when it comes to personality, and obviously you’re beyond close. Naturally, you became close with Angry too!

Angry was little more hesitant with you, but you reminded you quite a lot of his brother, so he quickly warmed up to you.

Now, you guys are constantly together.

Angry just, in general, loves sticking to you. He feels safe and protected with you, and you, love doing that for him. You really have a soft spot or the blue haired boy, which is honestly adorable.

Though you constantly laugh at the poor boys constant pissed off face…

Poor Angry :(

Overall, you and the whole of Toman are a huge family.

They all love you, and you love them all. It’s honestly rare to see you so affectionate towards such a huge group of people, but you just loved them all so much.

They just got you, and you couldn’t be more thankful. They weren’t judgmental towards your weird personality, and never acted you like you were an outsider, which was how you were treated your whole life.

You found a true family with them, and they honestly saved you from all the sadness of the world. You just found a purpose with them.

The only thing that felt missing was love…which you felt towards Mikey.

Good luck on going and trying to get Mikey to get the hint. After all, the man didn’t understand even after you told him “I like you”.

…Poor you :(

//end!

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class1akids · 2 years

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About Dabi, for some reasons, I can see two possible versions of him.

First is the disassociate version. Like how some people and villain stans put it: Dabi does care about the League, despite saying that he is not and his layers are so thick that it is hard to see the real feelings and reason of his actions.

Second is the sociopathic/psychopathic version. That is everything he said and done contributes to a goal: Destroy Endeavour. Think of this version as a mini-AFO. He uses words and actions to manipulate people (like Twice, Toga, and Spinner). Because he knows with the right words and pushes, they will aid him in hurting Endeavour.

Of course, thematically, the first version is more suitable with the theme of saving villains/villains-are-people-who-are-wronged-and-did-not-have-proper-help/ect... of the manga. It also, like I said, makes Dabi more human and reasonable to certain people and stans.

The second version is interesting since it leads to the path that shows not everyone can be saved (which goes against everything Hori is trying to set up). However, I find that it is an interesting take that can be explore in a darker/different story. And of course, this version is not liked by some people and stans, since it takes the human out of Dabi, making him borderline unsavable.

But yeah, I have to admit I am leaning toward the psychopathic version more with the theme of not-anyone-can-be-saved. But that is not Hori's story/BnHA so I respect that.

At this point, I just skim the manga and wait to see my biases, tbh.

Your thoughts?

To me, the second version simply doesn't fit narratively at all for numerous reasons:

1. The time spent on Touya's childhood from every angle to make sure we understand that he's a child victim, just like Tenko and Toga vs. no time spent whatsoever to develop his as a supposed "psychopath". The Touya we leave on the mountain is this kid, desperately crying because his father wouldn't show up.

2. Touya hasn't actually killed anyone who matters, just like Tomura and Toga. His kill-count is mainly nameless thugs in an alley-way. Even Snatch, is technically killed by Compress rather than Dabi. But despite a brutal fight in the war - Hawks is not only alive, even his quirk is not gone, Tokoyami's foot is a little burnt but nothing more than a scar, Kamui Woods (the guy whose quirk is wood!!!) is fine, all the kids who face him are fine (except one of Jirou's ear things), Nejire lost her hair only, Shouto didn't even get a new scar. You get the gist. For a guy whose quirk can produce heat 4000 C upwards, and incinerate people in an instant, when it matters, he's fairly harmless.

Compare this to the irredeemable villains - notably Muscular and Overhaul, who are both shown to be cruel to children. Or if you are trying to make AFO parallels - there is his cruel manipulation of Tenko or the Aoyama's aimed at twisting people to the point they become something they are not, while Dabi's "manipulating" people is at most situational, sort of on the level of Hawks' actions.

3. Dabi got his "save the cat" moment in the first arc he's shown to attack, when he spared Aoyama, and we also see him thinking about his family, empathize with Tomura, talking about how he can't cry anymore etc. to imply an emotional depth buried.

4. Even if he says he doesn't care about the League, his actions show otherwise: he still goes with them without hesitation, stands with them in fights.

5. The Todoroki family arc has so far paralleled hero society - showing how the monsters you create come back to haunt you. In the aftermath, the family was shown to come together, just like hero society is coming together and the goal with new generation seems to be shifting towards saving.

6. Shouto's arc has been about healing from the past and heroes who not just save others, but also save their families and people's capacity to change. It would be totally random to give him an endgame where he kills his brother whom he understands on a visceral level. That would not be a good or triumphant endgame for Shouto, but something really dark and tragic for a character whose entire backstory is already very painful and has spent 300+ chapters trying to overcome it?

7. Endeavor's own arc has been about atonement and moving towards a moment where he'll finally choose to be a father. We have spent a lot of time exploring Touya's and Enji's relationship and showing that while he failed his family overall, Touya is still stuck in that moment of rejection. How would it make sense then for his arc to be to kill his own son - the person he selfishly created, used, tossed aside and failed in every possible way?

8. I can't see Touya as a psychopath. His emotions, rage, hate are all deeply rooted in the love he once held for his father. Also this very hate was very much on the nose paralleled with Earlyroki's own feelings. If Touya's hate is psychopathic, so would be Shouto's. But we know in fact that Shouto has grown into one of the kindest characters in the story, once he got out of his tunnel vision. Touya is stuck in the same type of single-minded obsession to make Endeavor suffer, like Shouto was. Only the scale is bigger. So once that hate gets exposed for the counter-productive, self-harming emotion it is, there is no reason Touya wouldn't be able to remember the bigger picture.

9. The Stain connection - Touya's cynical mindset about heroes vs Stain recognizing Shouto as a real hero.

So all in all, it would be incredibly random after all this build-up for Dabi to become the AFO parallel in the narrative. It wouldn't just be ruining his own character - but the entire Todoroki family endgame, including Shouto's and Enji's endgame too. There are irredeemable villains - Muscular, Overhaul - so you don’t need Dabi to show that not everyone can be saved.

Now, I don't exclude that Dabi will die in any case. But I think if he will, it won't be as a remorseless psychopath, but it will be rather a (still shitty, but not as horrible) "redemption by death" moment for both him and maybe Endeavor too. So I could see a scenario, where Shouto fights Touya, gets through to him, they get attacked by nomus or a clone parade or something high damage but not quite human, and Touya burns himself to death protecting their family / civilians either together with Shouto or giving Shouto the chance to go and help Deku or something like that. So in this scenario, he'd die, but heroically.

I don't like "redemption by death" personally as a narrative choice - but Hori is not above clichés, so I could imagine Hori choosing that solution.

#c1a asks #bnha meta #dabi #todoroki touya #keeping up with the todorokis #bnha manga spoilers #bnha manga leaks #bnha 341 #bnha speculation

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linkspooky · 3 years

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The Hands that Will Save the League

In chapter 321 we're reminded once again of the reoccurring motif of hands reaching out to save someone in need, especially with the double spread close-up of Iida's hands reaching for Deku's hands. I couldn't help but think how this could apply to the league of villains. Hand symbolism has always been associated with Shigaraki (duh), both in the fact that his hands destroy everything they touched, and also his reason for being a villain stems from the fact that not a single hand reached out to save him that day. However, we've also had another character in the league with hands drawn up close and personal reaching out to save the others: spinner.

1. Just an Empty Cosplayer

I'm not the first one to make this observation. @codenamesazanka pointed this out long before me, especially in regards to Spinner's importance to the league, but basically, Spinner's role is that despite being a teenage mutant ninja turtle he's also the everyman of the league. He's not connected to the main conflict of the story by bloodline or legacy, the way Shigaraki, Dabi, and Compress are. He's not someone with an incredibly powerful or deviant quirk like Twice or Toga. He is a victim, but he doesn't have the elaborate villain backstories of Twice, Shigaraki, Dabi, and Toga.

He literally is just some guy with a lizard quirk. He has the weakest quirk in the league and the weakest reason for why he joined the league. Spinner faces societal abuse because of his quirk, but what spurred him to action was seeing Stain appear on TV, and a desire to be a less empty person than he was before. Spinner was pushed, he was rejected by society, but I would say as an inverse to the league who are driven by extraordinary circumstances, Spinner is basically an every man who drives himself to keep up with the rest of the league despite seemingly lacking everything "special" they have.

And I believe this every man quality, and this drive Spinner has is what's going to be the key to piecing the league back together. It's because Spinner sees himself as so far behind the rest of the league, and so much less special than they are, that he's driven to try to understand them.

Not only is Spinner a member who has tried to understand every member of the league in one way or another, Spinner is also someone who similiar to Sihgaraki foils every single character in the league despite just being an everyman.

2. Spinner and Toga

While Spinner and Toga may not have the same level of development to their interactions as Twice and Toga, Spinner reaches out to her once but not twice, and there are a lot of parallels you can draw between the characters.

Both Spinner and Toga joined the league for the same reason, an empty admiration for Stain, without really caring about Stain's ideals. Toga admires Stain because he's covered in blood and fighting for something and she wants to become more like the people she admires, Spinner because he saw himself as pathetic for hiding in his room all day and when he saw Stain taking a stand trying to change the whole world on his own he wanted to become that way too. Which means both of them have a tendency to want to become more like the people they admire, because their own sense of personal identity is so weak.

Himiko and Spinner both define themselves by the way society has rejected them. Spinner has internalized the idea that he's an empty person who can't accomplish anything on his own, every terrible thing other people said about him due to his heteromorph quirk he accepted it. At the same time, Toga was somebody born with a "dangerous quirk" who was told to repress it and then did that living under a fake identity as a normal school girl that would please her parents and the people around her for as long as she could. Both Toga and Spinner are taught by the society around them to be self-loathing and to repress themselves because of their quirks. They're also characters who are both defined by a desire for release.

When Spinner asks if Toga still wants to be in the league because of Stain and she responds, Now I wanna become everyone I love. Spinner comments, "You're so free."

Spinner and Toga both claim they joined the league because of love for another person, they both loved and admired some aspect of Stain, but their real reason for joining, or at least the reason they stay is that deep down both of them desire the freedom to be themselves. Toga wrapping her desires up in language like love for other people, and wanting to become them, is because deep down she believes because of her quirk there's no one who would accept her for herself, as the normal girl she believes she is, no one will let her live as Toga thus she tries to become other people. It's the same for Spinner, who believes he can't be anything other than the Lizard Freak, so he too tries to dress himself up and become a Stain Cosplayer. It's only through the league's acceptance that Toga and Spinner slowly begin to learn that they are good enough on their own, just as themselves, and their priorities begin to shift.

3. Spinner and Twice

Twice and Spinner have several backstory parallels already. They are both characters affected by poverty, Spinner lived in a backwater town plagued by old views of heteromorph quirks, Twice lost his parents and began working to support himself at a young age before becoming homeless. Spinner and Twice were also both labeled in a way that stuck with them, after Twice got a criminal charge in an accident on his permanent record he couldn't find another job after being labeled deviant. Spinner was labeled as a deviant because of his quirk and the idea that he's a lizard freak has always stuck with him the same way that Twice has internalized the idea that "bad people don't get saved."

They also both chose to isolate themselves because of the circumstances they faced. Twice's first response to homelessness was to decide to never trust anybody but himself, and he became a criminal who pulled off heists with only clones of himself as team members until that stopped working for him. Spinner's response was also to shut himself away in his room and become a NEET. They both cut themselves off to the society that labeled them as unacceptable, but in the process they also cut themselves off from other people and became unable to trust others.

While they have major backstory parallels, I believe the greatest parallel between them is going to be that Spinner will inherit that role that Twice had for the league. While Shigaraki is the leader, Twice more than anybody else believed the League to be a family, and encouraged everyone to be friendly with one another.

It's Twice more than anyone else who emphasizes the bond of the league, that they're all strays, that they need to take care of each other and save each other. It's Twice who urges Shigaraki to save Giran because he's one of them. He makes the unspoken bond of the league as a group of miscreants into a spoken one, because Twice wants those things, he's well aware of the fact that he wants trust and acceptance and came to the league to find those things. This is the greatest thing that ties Spinner and Twice's characters together, because they both view themselves as worthless, they define themselves by how they help the other members of the league.

Twice's death so far isn't something that has been really capitalized on by the plot, Hawks has yet to face consequences, we haven't gotten to see much of the league's reaction because they were scattered soon afterwards. However, if Twice's death is going to cause development eventually I believe it will be in the vacuum in the league created now that Twice is gone. There is no longer someone who is urging all of them to be together. Twice's death causes most of the league to become less stable. Toga goes on a killing spree, Dabi attacks Hawks, Compress tries to kill himself in a heroic sacrifice, Shigaraki hasn't gotten the chance to react yet but he's also gotten worse considering he's currently possessed. You could even say that Twice's death has caused other characters to double down on their worst habits.

Dabi's worst habit is that he acts separately from the league and refuses to participate in the group dynamic, believing himself to be a solo avenger. Dabi not trusting or telling the league what he was planning on doing with Hawks, as a consequence of his decision to play solo avenger, caused Twice to trust Hawks which led to his death. Hawks was the one who killed him but Dabi played a part, and when Twice dies Dabi obviously reacts to it, but also his decision is to double down on his bad habit, insisting he's only using the league and he doesn't care about the rest of the group. Toga also doubles down on her bad habit, she runs away from the rest of the league and insists she's only doing this for the freedom to do whatever she pleases, not because you know Twice got killed right in front of her. Compress's arc is less pronounced, but he also does, in fact, try to kill himself in a grand heroic sacrifice for the rest of the league.

When twice dies the league begins to fall apart and everyone acts on their individual worst flaws, ignoring that they were always stronger together as a group. However, there is still one person who wanted the exact same thing Twice did, to be trusted, to belong to a group. This is most likely the role that Spinner is going to grow to, someone who is trusted by everyone in the group.

Notably, when Toga is about to run away it's Spinner who reminds her that the league is a place for them to come back to. Toga who was probably the closest to Twice and spiraling the worst because of his death, and Toga and Twice's friendship was the first time we really saw how much of a "bond" the league had formed with one another, because in the camp arc they barely cooperated, only begrudgingly. It's Spinner who who emphasizes that even though everyone in the league is doing this for individualism "doing what they want" that they are also together as a group. Spinner is set to inherit Twice's role as the heart, because one he tries to understand other people in the league making the effort to reach out, and two Spinner is aware of what he wants just like Twice he wants to be trusted by the rest of the group.

4. Spinner and Dabi

This one is a little bit harder because Dabi's character arc really hasn't started yet. We have just now gotten to the reveal of who he is and what his motivations are, after it being a mystery for so long. However unlike the rest of the league, we haven't really seen how Dabi has reacted and changed by becoming a part of the group. Even if his motivation isn't "I'm only using them" and deep down he really does care, I don't think he's even realized yet that he does care or that he's not just using them. Dabi still believes himself to be alone, and therefore he's still isolated from the rest of the league and flying his revenge quest solo even though he's really not.

In that case, the biggest parallel between Spinner and Dabi is that they both had to be won over by the league. They both joined because of admiration for Stain, probably because Dabi genuinely believed in Stain's ideals of taking down impure heroes because it fit his own agenda so well, whereas Spinner is a self-proclaimed empty cosplayer.

Spinner, however, has already gone through an arc where he was dissatisfied with his reasons for joining the league and didn't believe he belonged with the rest of the group. He didn't have anything to love like Toga. He didn't know yet he wanted friends he could trust like Twice already did. He doesn't have a strong backstory motivation like Compress, or Dabi or even knows what he wants out of society. However, the entirety of MVA is Spinner letting himself be changed because of his interaction with the group.

Spinner failed at life, his quirk is worthless and only good for sticking to walls. He also internalized the idea that he himself was a failure, and locked himself inside believing he couldn't accomplish anything on his own. Spinner says he has nothing he loves, and nothing he wants to do. Not only that he feels unloved and unwanted. However, Spinner finds something to love in Shigaraki, even if he can't find a strong sense of individualism and still believes himself to be worthless he becomes motivated to help others. Spinner, the most normal person in the group with the most worthless quirk, becomes the greatest help to Shigaraki, basically once he gets over himself and his preconceived notions of himself. Because, you don't actually have to be a special person or have a strong quirk to be a hero, you have to reach out a hand.

The same way Spinner was won over by the League, Dabi has yet to be won over. However, if that does happen, it's probably going to look like Spinner's arc. Dabi antagonizes Spinner a lot, but they actually have more in common than they do differences. They both have failure quirks, while Dabi has an overwhelming fire quirk he wasn't allowed to use, Spinner is literally just a gecko. They both also were labeled as disappointments and given up on, Enji gave up on Touya, Spinner never had any potential from the start and locked himself away in his room. However, their paths so far have been opposites, Spinner let Shigaraki reach him and became a part of the group, Dabi at every possible opportunity insists he's doing this all alone. He takes every chance he can to separate himself from others. If Dabi's arc is going to be a mirror to Shoto's arc eventually, then someone has to reach him and convince him he can't do this all on his own, and Dabi can only truly find himself when he's part of the group once more. After all, so far Dabi is the one most resistant to change. Toga's goal has changed, Shigaraki's changed, Spinner has changed, even Compress now admits that while they're just a gang of thieves that he cares more about everyone else's dreams than his own. Dabi is still nursing a ten-year grudge against Endeavor and doing everything he can to take him down on his own because he hasn't let the group in. And he won't improve or change until he does let others in.

5. Spinner and Shigaraki

I love Compress but I'm skipping over him because his arc hasn't been elaborated on yet. If you want a quick summary though, both Spinner and Compress didn't believe the group to be anything more than a gathering of selfish criminals, however, both of them changed because they wanted to see Shigaraki's dream come true. Not only was Shigaraki the one who inspired both of them to change, but also Compress is the one who first sees how close Spinner is to Shigaraki more than anyone else in the group was.

He also sacrifices himself BECAUSE he's come to realize that what he wants more than his own dreams is to see everyone else's dreams come true. I know Compress's backstory is rushed as all hell, but it almost... almost... works because Compress isn't actually doing this because he's Oji Harima's grandson. His motivation changed a long time ago, he just didn't realize it until he was about to lose the league.

There are a few more parallels, they're both dropouts. It's implied that Compress was literally just a retired and failed stage magician before he decided to become a villain. Hopefully we'll become more on that later because the idea of Compress sucking in showbiz so he decided to follow his grandfather's legacy is really awesome. Spinner was a Neet before he saw Stain on television. They also both have more minor quirks, Compress just shrinks people, Spinner sticks to things. They both also are characters who don't seem important at first, but consistently hover around in the background constantly making sure everyone in the group is okay. Compress calls to check up on people, he talks to Dabi a lot, he tries to keep up with everybody in a melee, it's the little things he does that make Compress same for Spinner. They're both cosplaying as legendary villains who are greater than they are, Stein is cosplaying his grandfather, Spinner is cosplaying Stain, but it's unknown whether Compress really cares that much about his grandfather's ideals, I think he cares about the league more. Compress and Spinner are also people who question and try to understand things, Compress lectures the kids that they had their ideals handed down to them for adult, Compress realizes Spinner's importance to Shigaraki before Spinner even did, Compress and Spinner also both try to understand other people's dreams because they're lacking in their own. Spinner doesn't even have a dream, but he's the one who listened to Shigaraki's dream first.

Now it's been directly said by canon that Spinner and Shigaraki's connection is the most developed, and they are the closest to one another. By developed I mean, it changed over time, when it started out they had almost nothing to do with one another. Spinner was just a rank and file league member that Shigaraki used on the hideout raid. They didn't even get a character introduction scene like Shigarki did with Dabi and Toga.

However, Spinner and Shigaraki's characters are extremely closely tied together. Shigaraki's like the main character of the league, his backstories parallel everyone else's, including the main character of the entire story Deku. He's the one who makes the plans, goes through training arcs, he's the one who the league unites around. However, Spinner actually has all of that too. I just spent a very long time showing how Spinner despite not having an overly complicated backstory has strong parallels to everyone in the league. If Shigaraki is the main character, then Spinner is the everyman / the perspective character, hence why he's the narrator of MVA. Shigaraki is a person of extraordinary circumstance, the symbol of society's oppression who everyone in the league deepy relates to because he's suffered the same way that they have and he accepts them. Whereas, Spinner has suffered because of Hero Society too, he's more like a normal guy who makes an effort to understand everyone around him.

However, Deku wasn't saved by his love interest, or even his childhood friend who is apparently his destined rival, he was saved by Iida trying his best to keep up with him.

Spinner and Shigaraki are both the emotional core of the league in different ways. The league all respects Shigaraki, they rally around his ideas, his dreams are what inspire everybody. However, more and more it's looking like Spinner, ordinary, average, Spinner is working to build emotional connections to everyone in a much more normal way. He talks to Toga and tries to understand her love. He even consoles Toga when twice is gone. He challenges Shigaraki directly to his face. Compress who is always sort of watching the league in the background and checking up on them in little ways notices how hard that Spinner is trying to take care of Shigaraki.

Shigaraki accepts people at their worst and gives them a place to belong, but I think by Spinner's efforts to get to know and understand others, we as an audience are shown how humanizing of a presence that Spinner is on everyone else. Spinner, just being a normal guy, brings out the fact that the rest of the league despite their extraordinary circumstances are deep down just normal people to, who want to be loved normally, and live normally. Spinner literally wakes up Shigaraki, because he remembered the one time that he opened up in front of all of them, and cares enough to try to understand Shigaraki's hurt feelings and what he cares about.

If anything from the last arc in the manga, we're shown at great length, how understanding, reaching out, it all takes effort and it's not as flashy as defeating a villain or rescuing someone from a natural disaster.

Spinner is so important to Shigaraki, because while Shigaraki has given everyone in the group a place where they can be individuals, Shigaraki hasn't realized he himself can be an individual yet. He ultimately, shares the same character flaw as Deku. It's because he's decided that he's going to carry out his dreams for the sake of the league and to create a better future for them, that Shigaraki no longer cares what happens to himself, or about his own future. Everyone talks about Dabi's suicidal nature, but this is something that Shigaraki is challenged on over and over again. What are your motivations. What are your reasons. What do you want to accomplish. He always responds with nothing. There's nothing that he wants, there's nothing worth living for, he only wants to destroy and make a better world for the people who are around him. Shigaraki is the most thoroughly dehumanized character, to the point where he just straight up accepts "god of destruction" because that is at least an identity. Shigaraki needs Spinner and his normalizing influence, because Shigaraki can't see himself as a normal person.

Shigaraki shares the same character flaw as Deku, he does everything for the sake of others, with no regard to himself, which leads to extreme bouts of self-harming and fighting alone. Shigaraki faced off against Endeavor, and basically all the heroes alone even though he did call for backup. However, even before that Shigaraki made the decision to get dangerous risky surgery that would be like hell, because he believed deep down he wasn't good enough alone. Shigaraki just does not care about himself and is unable to see himself as an individual, which is exactly why he needs someone to care for him and see him that way.

Shigaraki's greatest challenge to date is that he's been dehumanized so thoroughly, and lost sight of himself to the point where he's lost even his own body autonomy. When Shigaraki is battling for possession of his body as AFO attempts to take total control and make him into a symbol again, denying him his personhood, we're set up directly with Spinner being the one who reminds us that Shigaraki is just a person, who likes video games, and gets along with his friends. It's Spinner who notices right away that AFO is different from Shigaraki and challenges him the same way that he challenged Shigaraki directly in the My VIllain Academia arc. This is all set up most likely, for Spinner being the one to reach out a hand the same way IIDA did, because what Shigaraki needs the most right now, is not a hero who will save him, but rather a normal person who will understand him and remind him that deep down he was just a normal kid too before all of this happened. What Shigaraki is most in need of is a hand that will reach out to him, and Spinner has already done this once putting Nana's hand back on his face when he couldn't wake up, but what he's failed to realize is that it's his own scaly lizard hands that should be doing the reaching out.

#mha meta #lov meta #league of villains #league of villains meta #spinner #shigaraki #toga himiko #higuchi iguchi #shigaraki tomura #dabi #touya todoroki #twice #jin bubaigawara #compress

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