ghostcore3

Latest Posts by ghostcore3

whenever I hear “pretty boy” the first person I think about is Shigaraki Tomura

they’re synonyms

Hiii, I need to know, is weird that I ship Spinner x Tomura? I know there are more popular ships with him like Tomura x Dabi and someones, but I think the two silly gamers would be a cute couple, cuz also Spinner worries a lot for him <33 that's all, bye :p you're also my favourite tomura account xD <3

nope, not at all! in fact, i think spinneraki has better chemistry than shigadabi because the two already share a lot in common, he is canonically closer to tomura than dabi himself so it makes sense to pair them together.

to me, dabi seems to be too indulged into his hatred to even consider something else other than revenge but that’s just my opinion.

also, thanks! i really appreciate it 🤍🤗

can you not put your tomura x oc with the tomura shigaraki x reader tag i don’t wnma see my man with someone else when i’m trying to spend time with him

bruh grow the fuck up, he literally belongs to no one but hori so who are you to tell me this?

tomura shigaraki finishes his food like a damn gremlin and then the moment you come to eat yours, he suddenly remembers he’s starving and shoves himself in, eating like he didn’t just devour an entire meal ten minutes ago. he doesn’t even want your food, he just wants to make it inconvenient for you, bite into it while staring dead in your face like

“what the fuck are you gonna do about it?”

it’s not hunger, it’s dominance. kurogiri’s in the back sighing like a tired single mother, scolding him for being a dick again, but tomura doesn’t give a shit. he chews slow just to piss you off.

blessing your day with tomura wearing pink socks

(*´▽`*)🤍

he’s so cute 🥺🥺🥺

the illusion of free will

people say shigaraki is responsible for the deaths he caused, and while i don’t completely deny that, it’s way more complicated than just “free will.” what people miss is that he was groomed from the age of five, when he was at his most vulnerable until he finally broke free from afo’s grasp. afo deliberately took him in at a point where he was completely dependent on others for guidance, then shaped him into the perfect successor.

to shigaraki, his master wasn’t just a villain, he was his savior, the only one who “understood” him, the only one who gave him a sense of purpose after the world abandoned him. and that’s exactly how manipulation works. afo didn’t just take him in, he rewired his entire mind, fed him lies, reinforced his hatred, and conditioned him to believe that destruction was his only salvation. shigaraki never had a chance to form his own worldview because afo made sure to mold it for him.

look at shigaraki’s reaction when he was separated from afo, it wasn’t just anger, it was pure desperation. that’s the reaction of someone who has been so deeply conditioned that he doesn’t know how to function outside of his abuser’s influence. shigaraki was entirely dependent on afo, and when you’re raised under constant manipulation, you don’t suddenly “wake up” and realize you’ve been controlled your whole life.

it doesn’t work that way. when he saw all might trying to save bakugo while attacking the league, he felt betrayed by the world all over again. to him, it was proof that heroes will never save people like him. but that idea wasn’t his, it was something afo planted in his mind for years, reinforcing it over and over until shigaraki believed it as an absolute truth. so when afo was no longer there, what was left? nothing but the doctrine his master forced onto him. if he wasn’t groomed, if he wasn’t brainwashed into thinking destruction was his only option, then he would have taken another path. but that was never an option for him because he never had the freedom to choose in the first place. as afo himself admitted, shigaraki never had free will. none of his choices were ever his own.

compare this to dabi and toga. they were abused, but they never had an outside force controlling them like afo did with shigaraki. they became villains on their own terms, dabi out of revenge, toga out of rejection from society. but shigaraki? his entire ideology was forced onto him. if afo had gotten to shoto instead, then shoto would have ended up just like shigaraki.

and here’s the worst part; nobody in the story even questions it. if horikoshi wanted us to humanize the villains, then he should have given them a humanizing death, something that forced people to acknowledge what they went through and how they ended up like this. but instead, nobody even stops to ask why afo had to groom a child into being his successor. nobody wonders why japan’s greatest villain was so reliant on manipulating a mentally ill, traumatized young man into doing his bidding. they just see shigaraki as a monster.

shigaraki never had a choice, but the world acts like he did.

Cynical and bitter but I've been wondering if the League getting such a downer ending was indeed the plan all along.

Originally, Horikoshi never wanted to do Villain profiles. He wanted the Villains to be scary. Maybe he always intended death to be the answer to them, even as he expanded on their backstories.

In an old interview from 2018, when asked if Shigaraki is a villain who should be saved, Horikoshi does answer 'yes', but then follow it up with: "I think that we have gotten to the point where Shigaraki can no longer turn back though."

Movie 2 ending - which Horikoshi said was the ending he originally planned - has Deku and Bakugou punching Nine (pseudo-Shigaraki) to death-as-they-know-it.

Once again, technically, Shigaraki's heart was saved. Deku smashed his hatred. Deku took Tenko's hands. Unfortunately Shigaraki didn't immediately convert to Heroism and still wanted to fight for the League - point where he didn't turn back - so Deku gave up trying to save him physically.

A few weeks before, I thought that Horikoshi just got tied and wrapped things up in the quickest and sadly weirdest way possible. I still am willing to allow that, but ever since Horikoshi started Act 3 three years ago, he never actually wrote Heroes giving the Villains' grievances any serious consideration until it comes out during the confrontation and the Heroes giving a few words towards it at best, and at worse, not even knowing the problem (quirk counseling, Tenko's Walk). He let Uraraka and Deku still adhere to insisting on practically dehumanizing their opponents/Villains the day before the final battle (probably so that when Uraraka and Deku realize they still can't ignore the pain they see in their Villains and finally reach out a bit, that's the height of compassion and heroism.)

But really, sorry not sorry to sound like a broken record, Act 3 had Deku acting like a dipshit the entire time. He says he wants to save The Crying Child he saw inside Shigaraki's heart, and not necessarily Shigaraki the person, and never actually takes killing off the table. He only vaguely keeps up this idea. He never reveals this desire to anyone, never involves his friends or adults in this plan. He doesn't even have a concrete plan, and all he never did was just to keep punching Shigaraki to kingdom come. He never actually protested when Gran Torino told him he should kill Shigaraki, he never opposes the creation of a battlefield called "Sky Coffin", he does not speak up when the Heroes says they prefer the AFO persona to be in possession of Shigaraki. During their whole fight, Deku barely talks to the guy.

The best Deku ever does is to hold back on giving Shigaraki an annihilation blow until he could find out why The Crying Child was crying, which he does by literally smashing into Shigaraki's core to pry his trauma open. And even then, when Tenko is spilling out his guilt and grief that he killed his family, as well as his fears that his existence is cursed, all Deku has to say is "Well, holding hands feels nice, so I'm here." I get that's supposed to be like, Deku accepting Tenko despite Tenko having a deadly quirk and blood on his hands, but come on. As an act of Greatest Heroism that it's supposed to be, that's so... low bar, to put it mildly.

(Then when Shigaraki gets repossessed, Deku gives up any thinking on saving Shigaraki, and then readies up the annihilation punch. Volume release even expands on just how much power and preparation Deku is using to smash Shigaraki's body to pieces. There's no intent to figure out if Shigaraki is still there to bring back or minimize harm to Shigaraki's body so there's something left after AFO is gone. It's not an accident. Deku fully goes in for the kill.)

It all feels like truly saving Shigaraki - from possession, from AFO, from his distorted worldview, from a Hero System that hurt his friends, from his belief that the world isn't worth preserving - just wasn't a real goal for Deku. Never was, in Act 3. He wanted to understand The Crying Child and give some relief there, but that's it. Like exorcising an evil spirit and then forcing them to move on, never actually wanting the spirit to remain and continue existing - because there's no place for them in this world. (Which is why Deku also never has a vision for what comes after, for Shigaraki. Shouto wanted a meal with Dabi, Uraraka promised her blood to Toga, but Deku? Nothing.)

Overall, the ending actually does fit Deku's writing in the last act. He wants to save the ghost of The Crying Child but nothing else. He expands minimal effort in actually connecting with Shigaraki the adult man. He has no interest in addressing Shigaraki's grievances (nor in also saving the rest of League that Shigaraki is doing all this for) (and also it turns out Shigaraki's grievances aren't real because AFO made most of them up). His strategy is just to beat up Shigaraki until Shigaraki throws up his trauma.

Adding to that, Deku's last words to a dying Shigaraki is that he can't forgive him, so basically he's considering Shigaraki as having past the point of return - exactly as Horikoshi stated in his interview. There might be something to Deku regretfully telling All Might that he couldn't save Tenko's life, but when he follows it up with "Even after I smashed his hatred, he still wanted to stay the League's leader," that really can't be anything but Deku basically putting some of the blame on Shigaraki, for not ditching his friends (who, to Deku, apparently don't deserve to be saved alongside Shigaraki). Sticking with the League is being past the point of turning back... which is the same conclusion Hawks comes to with Twice, in Act 2 (...so it seems that's been there all along.)

The ending fits Deku's writing - and overall - in the last act (and even before that.) Deku's utter non-progress fits Shigaraki's conclusion. His half-hearted actions made sense and so of course led to his final battle of just giving Shigaraki a giant Smash (but with pity and some sympathy, because he's not an cold killer but a Hero who can even spare emotions towards a monster).

I really had toyed with the idea that maybe Horikoshi got tired and just ended it this sad way. Now I'm no longer so generous.

hiii

shigaraki would butt himself in between any league member that sits next you. with QUICKNESS!

a few members notice this and sit next to you before he does to mess with him

IM SORRY I JUST HAD A VISION

tomura shigaraki isn’t the type to be shy around someone he likes. all for one didn’t raise him like a normal child, and it shows. he’s straightforward about what he wants, needs, and hates.

so if he wants something from you, expect him to be vocal about it. if something itches him, he’s going to express it. he doesn’t hold back or shy away from what bothers him. while he doesn’t vocalize love easily, he’s not afraid to show admiration or respect when he feels it.

embarrassment and shame? not in his vocabulary. tomura strikes me as someone who embraces his feelings and desires without hesitation, especially when it comes to expressing what he respects or admires about others, what he hates and wants from them.

Hey, I’ve been reading a lot of your BNHA metas, (they’re all absolutely awesome btw) and I was wondering about two things, what kind of mental illness do you think Shigaraki has? And I read a post somewhere that speculated that he might have suffered a tbi when his father hit him with the tree sheers, do you think that might be true?

Hello anon, thank you for your ask! 

I will try to answer your questions the best I can, however beforehand I think it’s important to note that I don’t really like diagnosing characters outside of like specific examples where the authors tell us this is the disease they were attempting to portray, or headcanons. Shigaraki clearly shows signs of mental illness, but I don’t think Horikoshi writes characters by looking up a list of symptoms in the DSM and then writing them based on that. 

Also yes, the two clearest examples of mental Illness (Shigaraki, Twice) are both villains but I have faith that the mental illness of Shigaraki is an instance where it’s used to humanize him and show how much of a victim of a system both characters are, rather than just to give the villain traits that are abnormal and therefore creepy and dangerous. 

I can’t give you a specific dianogisis but I can give you a more in depth look at several symptoms that Shigaraki displays. 

Excoriation 

Excoriation disorder is an obsessive-compulsive spectrum mental disorder that is characterized by the repeated urge or impulse to pick at one’s own skin to the extent that either psychological or physical damage is caused. In Shigaraki’s case it’s clearly a stress response that is aggravated the more violent, unstable or dangerous a situation he is put into. 

Which is why I find claims that Shigaraki is content with violence, or likes being a killer and is comfortable living this way to be false. Because Shigaraki’s own body constantly rejects him. He feels a compuslive need to scratch and harm himself because his body cannot handle the stress of being violent. It’s a stress response because Shigaraki does not actually on some level want to be doing these things, and living in a constant state of stress and harm makes him more compelled to vent his stress by following his compulsions. 

The compulsion he feels can sometimes get so bad that in childhood he was rolling around the floor, crying and frantically scratching his whole body. This is not what All for One said and him holding back his urge to kill, but rather Shigaraki responding to the stress. Shigaraki is seven and was put in front of two homeless people who were threatening to harm him and he already came from a physically abusive household. He’s in unbelievable stress with no healthy way of venting it, and thereofre he compulsively self harms. 

Keep reading

Shigaraki Tomura: Abuse and Victimhood

While Shigaraki is introduced to us the readers as an unstable manchild, bent on killing All Might the symbol of good in the manga for unknown reasons as the story delves more and more into Shigaraki’s background it becomes quickly apparent he’s not just some villain without cause to be a villain. 

The stroy makes a clear case that Shigaraki is a victim of the system that fell through the cracks. However, he was not just neglected by the people and heroes who failed to save him, but also by his savior All for One, who adopted him solely for the purpose of becoming a villain. This post is going to be making the case that All for One is an abusive mentor, and Shigaraki is a clear victim of abuse who shows several traits of it in the manga. 

The kind of abuse that Shigaraki endured is pretty much the reverse side of what Endeavor did to Todoroki. Rather than having a child for the sole purpose of becoming a hero to succeed him, and then forcing that child into training and raising him with the expectation of being a successor, Shigaraki went through the reverse being raised from the young age and put through dehumanizing training to be a villain. The difference being that Shigaraki’s story is mostly untold to the audience at this point unlike Todoroki who is one of the main characters the story follows, so a lot of the signs of abuse for Shigaraki are instead hinted to or eluded at for the audience. 

Shigaraki is first presented to us as a very inhuman character. The traits that he’s shown having at this point are meant to otherize him, they are classical villain traits. Poor posture, creepy faces, lack of empathy. 

Shigaraki jumps straight to violence towards children as an acceptable step to getting what he wants. He’s a very thorough other, as it will be elaborated on later by Deku in the manga he’s not really someone others can understand at this point, he’s just lashing out baselessly. Basically his way of thinking and his way of acting is meant to seem as foreign as possible to normal people, and his incomprehensibility is supposed to make him look like a villain in our eyes. Because at this point the audience does not know who Shigaraki is at all, he’s just some creepy guy who showed up to attack some kids. However, there are lots of hints at deeper characterization in this scene. 

In his introduction scene Shigaraki’s childishness is demonstrated again and again as well. He refers to all the other low ranking villains he’s brought along as ‘playmates’. 

When he’s faced with setbacks, Shigaraki seems to have no true method of handling his emotions and resorts to excoriation, self harm instead hurting his own skin to vent the frustration. 

Excoriation disorder (also referred to as chronic skin-picking or dermatillomania) is a mental illness related to obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is characterized by repeated picking at one’s own skin which results in skin lesions and causes significant disruption in one’s life.

Shigaraki compliments his heroes too like a child would, praising how cool they are. He also compares the current scenario to a video game multiple times, referring to the Nomu as the final boss. 

Attention is drawn over and over again to his sickly posture, and once more Shigaraki can’t handle setbacks or failure, and the negative emotions that come with those things at all. His first response is to self harm, scratching at his neck until he draws blood, his second is to resort to violence and threaten Kurogiri on a whim only barely restraining himself and his third is to give up. Once again employ the video game language. 

When All Might interrupts we’re given further signs of Shigaraki’s instability. He addresses the hand on his face as father, the hand that grips his face almost violently, and not only that but he apologizes when it gets knocked away. This is another recurring trend his fixation on that one hand. 

Here’s another important part to Shigaraki’s writing. Again and again he’s seen by the outside system as just another villain who enjoys violence. Shigaraki also accepts that categorization very readily. “People who fight for ideals have a different sort of fire in their eyes”, Shigaraki accepts the assertion that he fights for no reason at all very easily even though we find out later in the manga that is not the case. 

He’s such a baby, really. 

So, from this introduction scene Shigaraki seems like an extremely irrational villain out to kill All Might, and therefore a pure evil to fight the pure good who is All Might one of the most wholesome heroes in the series for no rational reason why. One with no morals or restraints willing to even attack children, and who is so irrationally violent he snaps and lashes out at the smallest of setbacks. 

This is just the shallow lens we’re given to him at the start of the series however, because at this point we are only following the perspective of the heroes and not the villains, and Shigaraki is a definite outsider character. Most normal, rational people can find nothing to sympathize with in his mindset, nor can they understand him and that’s the deliberate point to his character. He’s mean tot be somebody who fell through the cracks. 

If you read closer, Shigaraki is coded with a lot of traits of mental illness. First, whenever there is any kind of setback Shigaraki’s first response is to punish himself and self harm repeatedly. He can’t handle any stress at all without channeling it into some kind of violence and he’s just as willing to do it to himself as he is to others. 

Next Shigaraki is so observant that even in the middle of a fight he can keep a running track of a deatil as small as the amount of time that Aizawa blinks. Shigaraki doesn’t have a specific disorder given to him by the author so I won’t go that far into depth about it, but it’s a common neuroatypical trait like that to be able to pick up on really fine details while at the same time seeming to miss out on a lot of obvious ones like social cues. 

Thirdly Shigaraki is a giant man-child as emphasized over and over again above. Not only does he have almost no control of his emotions, falling into panic, getting nervous or upest easily but he also frames everything as a game around him. His most common way of dealing with those emotions is like a child to throw a tantrum about it and visibly lash out almost immediately rather than try to handle his upset feelings. He even has the body language of a child, posing meekly like this from time to time. 

He dresses in sh a black shirt, black slacks or sweat pants, and bright red shoes which is not only meant to suggest a childish lack of care in his own appearance, but also is something that foils him to Deku a fourteen year old who dresses pretty much the same way. Shigaraki constantly gives shallow praise to the heroes he fights like “That’s cool” like he’s watching them on television. ANd he also is fickle like a child, giving up easily and lacking any kind of dedication and resolve. He also treats a life and death battle where he’s willing to kill kids to get what he wants like it’s just a game, not at all realizing the stakes. Which his complete and utter lack of empathy, not understanding the emotions of the other people he’s terrorizing or hurting to get what he wants is another childish traits as developmentally children are rather unempathic and have a self centered view of the world.

Now normally manchild has negative connotations as a man who deliberately chose not to grow up, and remains selfish, childish, etc. and hurts others with that irresponsible attitude there are also cases where victims of abuse grow into manchildren and retain childish traits into adulthood because they were not given any proper chance at all to grow up. 

In that sense you can’t compare everyone with the same yard stick. While yes abuse is not an excuse out of responsibility for every single action a character takes, or their lack of personal self reflection or development there’s still a definite reason why Shigaraki exhibits all of these childish traits. From what we know of his backstory, he was taken in as a child and then raised in a hideout like the bar we see him in with Kurogiri, communicating not with a person who was raising him but rather a person on the other side of a monitor. Which means that it’s heavily hinted Shigaraki was raised with little to no human contact, and entirely outside of society. 

So a lot of people don’t understand that developmental psychology is important for how a child grows and develops, especially in extremely divergent from the norm cases like Tomura’s upbringing. He’s basically conditioned to be a child soldier if you were to summarize his whole upbringing in more relatable real world terms outside of the MHA hero/villain dichotomy. 

Basically everyone is expected to grow up yes, but there are important things like interacting with parents, interacting with children your own age, growing up in a consistently safe environment which encourages children to grow up healthier. Of course there will be people who refuse to grow up no matter how good their life is that’s what most people are referring to when they use the term manchild, but there are also people who don’t receive the ideal circumstances to grow up, and also abuse and harm can further damage these processes.

Most normal people grow up inside of society, they have friends, they go to school everyday and not only do they learn information, but they also learn socially. They learn to think critically about things and therefore are able to self reflect, handle failure, etc… They envision the emotions of other people because they interact with them on a day to day basis. Also they are raised in an environment that is generally secure for them.

Then compare this to Shigaraki, as far as we know he grew up with as little human contact as possible because All for One would not want anybody interrupting his pet project. Therefore he lashes out at his own allies and enemies equally. He did not go to school, he had no people he was attached to nor he saw on a daily basis. Most of all he grew up on the other side of the law so he was probably constantly in danger and his life was at jeapordy. So all of these things which are there to help children develop Shigaraki is cut off from. Basically the only things that All for One supplies are things that will make him into a better villain, Nomu, resources, and allies. A child basically raised in a villain’s evil lair their entire life who gets most of their social interaction through a voice coming to the end of a montior is going to have extremely low empathy because they were never given a chance to develop empathy. Which makes sense because a villainous mastermind is raising him to be a villain. What good would him hesitating to kill others, or worrying about the victims of his violence do a villain. 

So Shigaraki already shows severe signs of neglect, he’s dirty, he can barely dress himself, he self harms and can’t handle his emotions and can barely interact with others. His hair and face are both a mess most likely due to complete lack of care, and his own tendency to self harm. These are all developmental problems connected with an abusive upbringing. How is Shigaraki meant to empathize and see the way society sees things when he has grown up entirely outside of society. Shigaraki has been thoroughly dehumanized and treated like a tool by the person who raised him, to condition him to dehumanize others and only see them as tools. Which will suit All for One’s plans for his sucessor just perfectly. Once again this is nothing that Shigaraki consented to as an adult. A child who was probably less than ten years old lost his only caretakers and then latched onto the only person who gave them any kind of support at all when everybody else passed him by. Shigaraki had basically no choice at all in this upbringing. He was moulded entirely by All for One’s desires. 

So once again, Shigaraki can’t put his motivations into words because he’s not motivated by anything really. At this point he’s just lashing out, and trying to carry on the expectation that All for One put on his shoulder. Stain even calls him a temper tantrum throwing child, he’s lashing out because he has an underlying pain deep within him that he cannot address, heal or fix in any way so he’s trying to deal with the emotions through violence. He was also, taught most likely to deal with these emotions this way.

Yet we see All for One, Shigaraki’s primary abuser positioning himself as an educator helping with his growth. Even though Shigaraki would have grown normally if he had not grown up in such a remote environment and only interacted with in his growth and development as a hero. So, comparing Deku and Shigaraki right now Deku is also being mentored by another hero but Deku has a home life he can go back to, he has a mom that takes care of him, the mentorship and his growth and training as a hero is something he chose to do. Whereas Shigaraki had little to no choice, and he also has literally no life outside being a villain. Nor did he ever have one because since he was a child he was picked up by All for One and raised for this purpose. 

Once again Shigaraki’s traits are still there. He basically has no reaction to violence done against him until somebody disturbs the hand on his face. He even laughs it off. Which you know, has implications.

Shigaraki was raised to hate All Might, but also his main conviction is lashing out society because he is not a part of it, and he never will be accepted into it at this point. 

Stain even says, as irrational as he is his goal is to upset the status quo that Stain is discontent with which stopped Stain from attacking him any further. Even if they have completely opposite reasons for doing so. And for Shigaraki it’s a personal motivation, he fell through the cracks of society, nobody came to save him, and he wants to get back at it. He doesn’t like that everybody else has the comfort and security that he was denied. 

Once again we see, Shigaraki has a tendency to lash out baselessly when he has to deal with any pain, or conflict at all. He has no idea how to handle it, he also wasn’t really raised to handle it.

So then the school trip arc comes around and we get more evidence of Shigaraki’s stunted behavior, immediately attacking new allies the moment he’s introduced to them, not able to socialize with them at all and resorting to violence because he’s in “a bad mood”. Kurogiri has to practically act like Shigaraki’s handler at this point because he can barely be trusted on his own.

In chapter 69 we get the first bit of self reflection from Shigaraki. When talking to Deku he’s honestly trying to figure things out about himself. So, the first thing he mentions is how everybody else unlike him is not living in constant danger and how that seems so odd to him. The peace and security everybody else is enjoying without him makes him very easy to imagine a scenario where he just throws all his carefully laid plans away and starts going into the crowd and going on a killing spree before he’s eventually put down. 

This makes sense when you consider Shigaraki’s environment though, he’s one raised outside of society, peace, law and its comforts and denied those things and two he was not taught in any way to value human life at all. Now I argued earlier that Shigaraki is a character who is coded to be highly neurodivergent, and also mentally ill, but I want to clarify I don’t think this violence is a part of his mental illness. This violence is Shigaraki’s response to being raised in a violent environment, an environment of constant danger and then going outside and seeing how seemingly peaceful everybody else is. Shigaraki expects violence, it’s his number one solution to everything but he doesn’t see that in the society around him and he’s confused why he’s so different from them. It’s like if you were to take a solider out of a warzone and put them in a suburb of course they would get confused because their expectations for everything are different down to a sensory level. 

Shigaraki as a person is constantly in a bad mood, doesn’t seem to enjoy anything about life, is constantly agitated and has no idea how to deal with those emotions. None of these are traits of a villain who was raised in a healthy environment or is particularly even enjoying it. 

He’s also very attention hungry and wants people to see his villainous actions. He wants there to be a marked change in society from what he does, he wants to cause ripples. This attention hungry aspect and his inability to function when people aren’t paying attention to him is also another childish trait. 

Deku even points this out about Shigaraki. That his mentality is foreign to most people, that people can’t understand why he thinks the way he does, or why he acts the way he does. If you know nothing about his background, he just looks like an irrational, violent, manchild. Of course Deku wouldn’t empathize with him he’s very scary and wanted to kill him, but the point is the default is most people wouldn’t empathize with him because Shigaraki is such an outsider who was conditioned and raised in a way so far outside of society nobody can really see him. He’s dehumanized so thoroughly to only play the role of villain. People have trouble seeing him as a victim of any kind because of how much of an outsider or an other he acts like. This is also something that will come up a little bit later. 

Then we have Shigaraki’s rant which finally establishes what I’ve been saying all along that he resents the whole of society for being safe and secure when he is not, for being saved when he was not and we see him start to uncontrollably flash back to his past as he loses control of his behavior. That Shigaraki in the past either accidentally or on purpose killed his father with his own quirk and then only the hand was left behind leading to his fixation on the hand grabbing his face. 

To the point where he carries the hand in his own pocket at all times and his hero disguise is to be have the hand grabbing his face. 

Now Shigaraki’s costume design eludes to this abusive violence as well. As you can see the hand which he calls father is grappling his face. Allow me to make some rocket science level conclusions here, when a father or adult grips your face in such a manner its usually to be violent towards a child. Couple that with Shigaraki’s nonchalance when dealing with pain something that’s deonstrated with twice, when he was shot by a hero and then stabbed by Stain. Also that he chose to make his costume his entire body being covered by those disembodied hands, it’s likely the home that Shigaraki was rescued from even before All For One showed up and started influencing him was a violent one. 

Shigaraki’s official art has him bring grabbed from every angle by other hands, some of them even manipulating his own hands. That’s pretty clear visual language for a loss of agency and an exploitation, not only violence. Hands covering a body have been used again and again for visual langugae for adult violence towards children in the past. 

Hands. 

Hands. 

Hands. 

It’s pretty commonly used visual shorthand. So not only is Shigaraki’s costume representative of the violence he’s endured, and also he often self harms in response to any kind of minor stress at all, in Shigaraki’s next flashback we see more of the condition he grew up in. 

Shigaraki was hunched up against a wall, in a phsyically dirty environment where nobody took notice of him. It’s highly likely he wasn’t living in a good place even before All For One showed up. Ye the only person who saw him and helped him was All for One, but that too the words he comforted Shigaraki with was an implicit manipulation. 

Notice how the panel is framed. They’re encouraging words but rather than shown any kind of warmth or encouragement in the framing of the panel instead the entire background is white noise. This praise is meant to be seen as horrifying. Even though what he’s saying is pretty standard words of encouragement, from All For One’s mouth they’re meant to be read not only as dangerous but manipulative. It’s reminiscent of the second opening where Shigaraki is kneeling in front of a monitor and All for One’s hand reaches out and touches his head. A pat on the head is usually a gesture of praise but everything from Shigaraki’s posture of totally reverence to the point it comes out of a monitor is uncanny.

This is just more manipulation. Shigaraki is being raised to be entirely dependent on All For One, to exist for the sake of All For One, and being conditioned to think that he owes All For One for every single tiny inhuman scrap of kindness he showed him.

We’re shown a brief flash of child Shigaraki who is in the aftermath of whatever happened to his father. He’s dirty, his clothes are practically in rags, and the scars around his eyes and the one that splits his lip have already been formed and seem to be childhood injuries. Further hinting that Shigaraki came from some kind of abuse before being picked up by All For One. And it’s clear, Shigaraki latched onto the only kind of parental figure he has, All For One is the only person that Shigaraki shows any concern for their well being at first until he loses him. But that doesn’t necessarily mean All For One is a good parental figure by any means, but it does show how starved for affection and any kind of human contact Shigaraki is that he’s attached himself to All For One and is willing to carry out the rest of his ideals. All for One basically found an injured and battered kid and moulded him to think that he was his savior and everything he did, every manipulation, raising him outside of society as a tool for a sucessor was kindness and consideration on his part and Shigaraki doesn’t know better because he hasn’t been shown better.

And All For One makes it clear right away he didn’t save Shigaraki out of any altruism at all. He did it primarily to dick around with All Might and also to give himself a successor. It doesn’t really matter who Shimura Tenko is to All For One, just the fact that he carries the shimura bloodline is something that will mess with All Might’s head. 

All For One even blatantly says he was raising Shigaraki to be fueled mainly on malice, hatred and his regrets towards society. Not to have any kind of healthy or rational means behind his actions. Also note how Shigaraki doens’t start improving mentally at all until he’s separated from All For One. So not only was Shigaraki raised and conditioned to be a crimminal, there’s not really an escape for him in the outside world. Gran Torino calls it foolish to see the boy as a victim.

Imagine if they said this about Eri. If Eri grew up under Chisaki’s violent abuse and then Chisaki passed the leadership of the eight precepts onto her, and then afterwards the heroes who were fighting her said “You can’t think of Eri as anything less than a villain, sure she was raised by the yakuza cut off from the outside world and experimented on everyday, but now she’s a violent crimminal so she can’t be seen as anything else.”

Shigaraki is dehumanized by not only the person who raised him but also society, he dehumanizes society in return and nothing is able to get resolved and no progress is made because the chain of abuse remains unbroken. Shigaraki will be a victim, even if he lashes out violently. There are very rare and few circumstances where children raised by adults who have all power over them conditioning them to be violent, and to grow up in a certain way entirely outside of society viewing no alternative for themselves are able to not be conditioned in that way. Even Eri saw herself as something horrible and ugly because Chisaki told her so every day and she had nobody else to tell her otherwise. 

Shigaraki’s abuse is the same as the abuse Endeavor gave to Todoroki. He wasn’t raised as a child to be loved and grow up into their own person, but rather as a creation to inherit their father figure’s fight for them, and because of that they were cut off from the rest of the world socially as well. 

Shigaraki was only ever intended to carry on All For One’s will and not have a will of his own. Not only does All For One not see Shigaraki as an indivdual, but he’s also tried to do the same thing in the past. 

All For One is willing to go so far as to beat up, lock up and starve his younger brother to coerce him into seeing his side of things. In the case of the original holder of One for All it doesn’t work. It’s not a case of Shigaraki being a bad person and the brother being a good person though.

The brother was already an adult when this manipulation was attempted, which meant he already had his own set of ideals, was probably raised in a family, and knew what society was. That’s entirely different from trying those kind of techniques on a child who has one a complete power difference, two no positive ideals of their own, no positive role models, no critical thinking skills to question the information they’re being fed and four is completely emotionally, and in all other ways dependant on All For One. So yeah, manipulation techniques work way easier like this on children because children don’t have their own thoughts and idea formed yet. 

Basically, All For One is shown to be completly willing to beat up, starve to death and abuse his own brother who he claimed to love, which must tell you how he feels about Shigaraki who he really only sees as a tool to one get back at All Might and two carry on his legacy for him. There’s a whole lot of implciations on how Shigaraki must have been treated which are not shown on screen but it is established that this is how All For One Manipulates people and gets their loyalty. 

So, there goes my long winded analysis on what exactly kind of character Shigaraki is. He’s a victim of abuse, but he’s not a good victim, nor is he an excusable one. He’s the kind of victim that everybody will see as a villain, and that society can’t accept. He’s ugly, his way of thinking is not understandable to most people because he was raised so far outside of society, he lashes out at almost every given opportunity. Not only is he a victim, he’s a victim that won’t be saved by the traditional heroes. Twice puts it best. 

The people the heroes save are always the good virtuous ones. However, considering how much of a victim Shigaraki is I hope rather than letting those who fell through the cracks fall further, the manga is shaping up to reform the hero system so that people who fell through the cracks can be recognized and saved by the heroes too. Which is why ultimately I believe Shigaraki is still a victim and also one in need of saving despite whee his current actions are leading him. 

Shigaraki’s Nihilism

Shigaraki Tomura’s mindset is a difficult one to understand. So much so, even in story both heroes and fellow villains alike reject his mindset as incomprehensible and unsympathetic. He comes off to them nothing more than a brat who wants attention and is throwing a tantrum, or just a villain who is as pure as a villain as one can get, one who only exists to destroy lacking a redeemable motive like stain. 

However, the real reason Shigaraki is incomprehensible to characters in story, and even some members of the audience is because of his position as an outsider. All of the other characters in the story, inherently believe that society, their actions, their values all have meaning. Shigaraki is someone who positioned as the outsider to society, sees it all as meaningless and becomes in opposition to everything. Which is why Shigaraki finds sympathizers in his fellow outsiders, who cannot find the same meaning and place in society that everybody else does. 

“Destroy Everything” may sound like a vague cliche of a villain goal, but it can be viewed as an extension of nihilism. Shigaraki rejects, recklessly so, all moral principles that Hero Society has told him should have meaning. He is the ultimate challenge to Hero Society’s hypocrisy. I will explain more under the cut. 

Keep reading

Shigaraki • Development

Backstory

(Note: Tenko was Shigaraki’s childhood name.)

First things first: Shigaraki’s backstory is probably meant as an allegory. The house his father built is a microcosm of society, his father Kotaro represents people with power, Tenko represents people without it, and the other family members are bystanders. The power imbalance and communal emphasis on harmony enables Kotaro to take out his baggage on Tenko while Tenko is required to repress his. Resistance, even if it’s minor, causes Tenko to be shunned and beggared, as Kotaro locks Tenko out of the house in the backyard, in the dark, unfed, without even a roof over his head.

Edit: @codenamesazanka​ has an excellent reading of this allegory!

Theirs is a household that prioritizes unity and a façade of happy domesticity over Tenko’s wellbeing. His mom and grandparents treat him gently, reject him kindly, and refuse to admit to him just how terribly Kotaro treats him. Though the three adults understand that Kotaro is the problem (they criticize him in private or cry out futile protests during an incident), they are unwilling to disrespect Kotaro to Tenko’s face. Doing so would mean facing their victim and owning up to their own culpability, too.

So, throughout Shigaraki’s backstory, Horikoshi intersperses black panels with increasing grains of white. This references Shigaraki’s “wound in his heart.”

The first black panel appears when Tenko is crying to his mom, Nao, about his dad; the second appears when he is similarly comforted by his grandparents.

Keep reading

Right now, people are speculating if tomura has lost his humanity which includes his attachment to the league now that he was awakened with his new quirk as a ‘transcendent being’. I wonder how he will interact with his team when he returns? Will he question how the heroes managed to get the jump on them? How will he react to twice’s death? To Dabi letting in a hero spy into their lair and causing this raid and twice’s death? Is the tomura we have seen grow disappeared or is he still the same?

SHIGARAKI TOMURA - A VERY HUMAN VILLAIN

People may question if Shigaraki Tomura has lost his humanity since acquiring AFO’s power, however I would like to point out that it’s a running theme in the manga for characters to frequently question the humanity of Shigaraki and see him as something less than human, or a force that only exists for evil and destruction. 

However, despite the fact that the heroes and Shigaraki’s enemies insist that Shigaraki has lost his humanity, the story shows the opposite. As much as Shigaraki has changed over the course of the story, he has also stayed the same. 

Shigaraki started out as a kid who wanted to be a hero who saved others, and specifically a kid who would go out of his way to play with the bullied kids. Everyone knows this by now, I would say however growing up in that household shaped Shigaraki to have core values that don’t really change no matter how much he changes as a person. 

Number one, the most important thing to Shigaraki is freedom. In a childish way he sees it as the freedom to do whatever he wants, because that is how All For One influenced him. 

All for One specifically told Shigaraki that being born with the power to destroy means that he should use it without restraint, and never try to hold himself back because in doing so he’ll only hurt himself. AFO tried to influence him to be an unstable manchild because that would make him more dangerous and fearsome to the general public.

However, Shigaraki’s destruction is always a response. He always destroys for a reason no matter how much he insists his destruction is completely random. One of the key themes of My Hero Academia is that in times of crisis you will remember your origin. Shigaraki’s origin is a household that oppressed him to the extent that he wasn’t allowed to become a hero. All he wanted was someone in that household to agree with him rather than deny him. He wanted people to stop telling him he was wrong. 

Shigaraki values freedom, specifically freedom from oppression. Oppression that specifically denies the needs of an individual just because they disrupt society. For example, the opppression that had Himiko’s parents turn abusive on her calling her a demon child because she was born with a strange quirk. 

In that way Shigaraki fights for a kind of true liberation, different from what the liberation force fights for. The Meta Liberation Army while wanting to overturn society also repeated several of society’s oppressive attitude, juding people’s worth based entirely on the strength of their quirk whereas Shigaraki is willing to accept people like Compress, and Spinner who do not have super powerful combat efficient quirks and value them just as much as all the other members from his team. 

Shigaraki also knows the feelings of someone who has not been saved. He’s reflected on this several times, even as early back as his conversation with Deku. He knows that the way the current society functions, it ignores the plights of victims like him that are either too inconvenient to save. 

It’s what Shigaraki says to Deku word for word: “I could hurt you right now and not a single person would come save you. They’ll all walk by and pretend it’s none of their business, because they all think a hero is going to come save them.”

Shigaraki is willing to give people like Twice a chance, even though he was insane and his quirk no longer worked as well as it once did. Not only that, but when people make mistakes Shigaraki never throws them away. Giran is captured and ratted them out, and Shigaraki went to go save them. Twice makes a mistake and because of that Magne is killed, but rather than get angry at Twice, Shigaraki simply asks Twice to do his best to make up for his mistake, and that he’ll be doing his best alongside him. 

Shigaraki understands the feelings of: “If only somebody had saved me” better than anyone else in the manga. This is something that even the kids don’t question. The kids in their complete and unwavering faith in the hero system can’t even respond to questions like “Who should you really be saving?” 

Shigaraki also goes out of his way to save people even after they’ve made mistakes, or betrayed the league. Giran ratted on them and got nearly every member killed, and yet not only did Shigaraki walk right into a trap to save him, he also took special care to make sure he was alive, and rescued safely when he was in the middle of getting pounded. 

The final is also somewhat of a paradox. Shigaraki has been manipulated to think that he hated his family, and  wanted to kill everyone. 

However, all of Shigaraki’s actions show the opposite. Not only does Shigaraki feel guilt for killing his family several years after the fact. Not only did he intentionally hold back his quirk at first because he was afraid of killing again. The words of his family stayed with him. Shigaraki only ever remembers his family in a mostly positive light. 

In his heart, Shigaraki holds himself accountable for what he did to his family even though it was an accident. At the same time, it’s revealed to us in his dream sequence that he already forgives his family for what transpired today, he remembers his grandparents being kind to him, he doesn’t resent his mom for just watching what his family did to him and even reassures her, he tells his sister he doesn’t care that she tattled on him anymore. 

His family is someone he can never forget in both senses of the word. He doesn’t forget the times his family household was kind to him, the genuine love his mother, grandparents, and sister all showed to him, and he hasn’t really stopped mourning them ever for a single moment. He even still keeps Nana’s hand, the last hand that wasn’t broken and wears it after his so called “liberation” from his past memories of them. Yet, at the same time he doesn’t allow his family to deny who he is. 

Shigaraki is someone who has been influenced by people all of ihs life, his abusive father, AFO, and then all of AFO’s constituents and the other villains he’s fought against so far. However, at the same time Shigaraki has remained the same kid throughout all of this. Always Shimura Tenko. Always the kid who wanted to play with the kids who got bullied. Always the kid resentful he didn’t get saved. 

2. Shigaraki is better than what created him

Eri is referred to as a cursed inhuman existence born only to destroy, simply because of the quirk she was born with, completely neglecting who Eri is as a person. Deku however says that just by slightly changing your perspective, you can see how kind and gentle Eri is. 

Shigaraki is a character much like this. The people around him, mostly heroes always insist that he’s inhuman and again and again that he can only want destruction because of his quirk. Yet, the people closest to Shigaraki know how kind, and gentle he can be. 

So we have characters like All Might, Mr. Completely Ignores Endeavor’s abuse of his own family, constantly saying that someone like Shigaraki can’t possibly have a cause for all of his destruction. Ignoring what Shigaraki says when he tells them that heroes can be violent too just like villains, their violence is just categorized differently. 

Shigaraki is continually told he has no reason for wanting to destroy things, that there could be no possible motivation behind his actions. This is something that even AFO himself said, that Shigaraki simply lusted for destruction because he was born that way.

Characters insist again, that Shigaraki isn’t capable of creating anything, or achieving anything because he can only destroy. This is an identity that’s forced on him by his environment ut it’s not who he is at the center of his being. Even when he’s getting the tar beaten out of him by Re-Destro what he thinks is not that he wants to destroy, but rather that he wanted his family to tell him it was okay for him to be a hero.

So we reach the most recent chapter with someone once again asserting that Shigaraki cannot possibly want anything other than to hurt the people around him, and destroy what he can.

Even ENDEAVOR (lol) of all people accuses Shigaraki of not fighting for the right ideals. Yet, Shigaraki has always shown to be fighting for something. 

People insist that Shigaraki was just born that way, that he just wants to destroy. Yet, there are very specific environmental factors that shaped him into who he is. Shigaraki who apparently has no reasons for doing the things he does, has the longest backstory in the series (four origin chapters in total if you count Shigaraki Tomura: Distortion). Shigaraki’s line against Endeavor also implies that Shigaraki has been fighting for the same thing from the start. That he’s always had a cause, something to fight for (or maybe even just fight against) and that he simply believed what other people constantly told him. 

So, no clearly the All For One quirk being given to Shigaraki has not changed who he is as a person at all. Shigaraki’s thoughts always rest with his friends and his family.  Shigaraki’s first literal action upon waking up is to call Machia to his side, and protect the league. Shigaraki’s actions also saved Himiko, because if Machia had not picked her up she likely would have gone on a suicide mission. 

So, there is one last point I want to make: The reason the plan is going so wrong right now is precisely because Shigaraki is someone who chooses again and again to put his trust in others. First, it went wrong because not only did he allow Dabi free reign to invite whoever he wanted to the league, but he also trusted Twice with his location. 

Shigaraki won’t throw Dabi out of the league for saying that he’s only here to use the league for his own benefit, because Shigaraki has always known this about Dabi and lets him work with the league anyway. Shigaraki is someone who puts his allies before themselves and gives them the freedom to be who they want to be. 

Shigaraki has said mutliple times the league can do whatever they want. He’s not really selfishly minded or motivated like AFO is. If anything, Shigaraki is much more likely to sacrifice himself, or put the group’s needs first. The Shigaraki that we’ve seen right now is the same progression of the Shigaraki we’ve always known: he fights on the front lines to draw the heroes away from his friends, he fights himself instead of needlessly risking his own allies, he needs his allies by his side. 

The raid happened because of Shigaraki’s trusting nature twice. Not only because he allowed Dabi to invite Hawks to the league, but also Kurogiri’s capture and betrayal someone Shigaraki was genuinely close to and listened to for counsel led to his location at the hospital being ratted out to both Eraserhead and Mic. So it’s not Shigaraki not trusting others that led to the Hospital Raid, but rather it’s because Shigaraki chose to trust others that this is all happening.

YET, when this happened last time with Overhaul Shigaraki didn’t stop trusting others. He didn’t throw Twice out. His choice back then was to take responsibility and trust Twice even more to fix the mistake he made. Which will likely be his response again. 

Shigaraki also fights against anyone who tries to control or oppress him the same way his father did once. When AFO tries to physically control his own body, he frees himself of the vestiges.

Shigaraki won’t lose his trust in other people, and won’t lose his close relationship with the league, because Shigaraki has already sustained this kind of loss before. Over and over again. He loses most of the Nomus, he loses Magne, he loses AFO. Yet, at those times when he loses these things Shigaraki’s response is always the same. 

Shigaraki is struggling to be better that the environment that created him. Shigaraki’s arc is not one of him losing his humanity, but rather Shigaraki keeping his humanity in the face of constant losses. 

His environment is really truly something that should have robbed him of his humanity. There are people like AFO who are out there to make him into a puppet, to rob him of all agency, and identity. Yet, Shigaraki always fights back against those trying to control him and tell him no.

Shigaraki won’t turn on the league, because his connections with the league are what make him human. It’s his connections with others he makes over and over again in the face of his extremely oppressive environment, first with Kurogiri, then with the league that allows him to stay the same at the core of who he is. 

While Shigaraki is constantly dehumanized by both the hero system and the villains he fights against, he’s actually one of the most human characters in the whole series. Not only is he very sympathetic and understandable where exactly he is coming from, but he’s also always, always, always, always, struggling against a set of very human flaws. 

Shigaraki Tomura Canon Tidbits #1

Happy Halloween from this Shigaraki fan! 👻 I feel like this is an especially important time for us because, well, symbol of death and decay. He's the embodiment of spooky and I love him for it! ❤️❤️

Unfortunately, wrote smut for both of my other blogs for the time being and I'm a bit burned out. *Sigh* Will try to scribble down something but since I'm not sure I will manage to do it today...

Here's some canon Tomura tidbits! Helpful for writing, and very cute~✨

Prefers quiet atmosphere (MHUI)

Likes to be talked to with respect, despite the fact that he often doesn't return that courtesy (lol)

Surprisingly open-minded; Will listen to the point of view of others, even if he disagrees with it

Likes playing games where he can figure out the strategy and win, but will get bored if it's too easy (MHUI)

Very good at reading people

Short tempered but able to rationally think through the situation once he calms down

Obsessive about research. Kind of a workaholic if you think about it??

He itches less if he's in a situation he can control

Feeling out of control may cause him to experience traumatic flashbacks

Likes to go on walks around the city

Especially if agitated?? That's how he (sort of) deals with anger which is surprisingly healthy??

Despite that, he hated going on nature treks in Smash. May be because it was hot.

Also in Smash, Tomura seems to hate being perceived as "cute" (too bad~~)

Doesn't wear socks, as we all know

Seems to prefer verbally talking through his thinking process to sort his thoughts out, and to bounce the ideas off of someone

Likes Green Tea

Often thinks up his current philosophy on the run, and is able to argue its points without believing in it. Basically, a debate lord lmao.

Which also (along with his room being full of books) suggests that he's pretty well-read

Stays up to date with the current events (boomer newspaper Tomura supremacy)

Seems like some kind of movement helps him think - most often seen scratching himself, or just moving his fingers. Stimming Tomura confirmed??

Extremally high pain tolerance

Tenko Shimura's ‘allergies’ and the implications thereof

I think most people always agreed that Tenko's allergies were - in some form or another - emotion-based.

Back in 235 we get the infamous "it only itches at home line" line.

It's also emphasized again later in the chapter when we see that the itching gets progressively worse after Kotaro yells at Tenko (meaning that it gets worse when Tenko is sad and/or in distress).

Back in the day, I saw a lot of people theorizing that the itch was a sign of Decay and that it was the early stages of the quirk manifesting within Tenko. But given what we know now, about AFO giving Tenko the quirk and especially when he gave Tenko the quirk, I don't think that this is the case.

We can pretty much pinpoint exactly when AFO gave Tenko the Decay quirk.

These two panels are from 235 and 419 - and I firmly believe that these panels take place only minutes apart from each other. This is also clearly the moment that AFO gave Decay over to Tenko, as shown by the small glow of his hand.

Before this point Tenko Shimura was quirkless.

Tenko got his original quirk stolen from him when he was just a baby - meaning that during the time between being an infant and being 5-years-old, Tenko was officially quirkless.

This makes a huge difference if we then look back at his allergies and why they appear.

This panel is from just before AFO takes Tenko's hand and gives him the Decay quirk. Look at his face. This boy already has irritated skin around his eyes (it looks like he's just been scratching at it too).

With the knowledge that Tenko at this point in time still is quirkless, I think it's fair to say that the allergies are not an early symptom of Decay.

It only itches at home.

Because the itching is purely psychosomatic. Because it's a stress-response/anxiety-response to the environment this young boy is forced to come home to every single day.

This boy is 5. He's 5. It's not normal for a 5-year-old to think thoughts anywhere near "does my father hate me?"

Kotaro has already put a fear in this little boy, which doesn't stop or go away as soon as his punishment does. The trauma in this boy is already so big that he thinks about these things in the moments when his dad isn't even actively scolding or punishing him.

It doesn't take a destructive quirk to cause a physical response like itching. All it takes is being constantly afraid of when you're going to be yelled at next, when you're going to be punished next, all by the hands of the parental figure you aren't sure even loves you at all.

It only itches at home.

Especially when the four walls of your house are a prison.

We should establish a term for that kind of fics that have a reader/oc with a quirk that enables them to remain unaffected by other's quirk, so i can blacklist that tag 💀 Easily my least favourite trope in reader x Tomura fanfiction…you just removed a very significant part of him so you don't have to "deal with it". What makes holding and kissing his hand even more beautiful -than it already is in general- is that it could destroy you just by one soft touch, without the intention needed to do so. Have some trust in him and yourself, cowards :D

gloomy bear! tomura and raven 🧸🎀

stressed so i decided to draw fluff

I LOVE IT!!! thank you so much for making those hc’s 🥺🥺💕💕💕🫶

hello! i love your shigaraki hcs so would you mind making an hc of shigaraki with an s/o that’s sassy & bitchy? they’ve known other for 6-7 years. it’s an intp x intj dynamic. they are too comfortable with each other.

(i’m okay with nsfw.) 💕

Headcannon: Tomura Shigaraki With a Sassy & Bitchy S/O

A/N: Love the concept. Love the art. Love a bitchy S/O. I definitely got a little carried away with this one. I'm so glad you like my work. I tried to get a little suggestive with this. I'm not tooooo confident in it, but I don't think it's the worst thing I ever wrote, but I hope you enjoy this.

Your relationship with Shigaraki is filled with biting sarcasm and snarky comebacks. It’s like a second language between the two of you, with each of you pushing the other’s buttons in a way that no one else could dare. While others might take your sass as disrespect, Shigaraki loves it—it’s your unique way of showing affection, after all.

Your back-and-forth sarcasm often leads to a buildup of tension between you and Shigaraki. What starts as playful insults and teasing turns into heated eye contact, the room suddenly feeling smaller as you inch closer to each other. You’ll mutter something snarky, and he’ll respond with a low growl, “You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” His eyes darken as he pulls you against him, the sarcasm in your voice melting away as the heat between you two builds.

Sometimes when you’re mid-argument, you find yourselves standing way too close—your chest almost brushing his. The heat from the bickering shifts into something more when you realize just how close you are. His breath will ghost over your lips, and there’s a silent dare in his eyes, challenging you to push him away or lean into him. You don’t back down easily, though, leaning in with a smirk, “Is this your way of surrendering?”

You don’t let Shigaraki get away with anything. He could be mid-rant about something trivial, and you’ll roll your eyes, muttering, “And you think I’m dramatic?” He’ll scowl at you, but deep down, he enjoys that you’re not afraid to speak your mind.

Your INTP-INTJ dynamic means you both thrive on deep, analytical conversations, though they often lead to debates. Whether it’s about strategy, philosophy, or something mundane like which game is better, you’re always challenging each other’s viewpoints. Sometimes the debates get heated, but that’s what keeps things interesting.

There are moments when Shigaraki will catch you completely off-guard. In the middle of a debate or when you’re being particularly sassy, he’ll cut you off by pulling you into a heated kiss, fingers digging into your hips as if to remind you that you might outwit him verbally, but he knows how to make you crumble. It’s a game of dominance between you two, and you both know exactly how to push the right buttons.

You’re brutally honest with each other, and it works. If Shigaraki’s plan is reckless, you’ll tell him without sugarcoating. In return, he’ll give you the same treatment, often responding with a deadpan, “You’re so annoying,” but he never wants you to change. He finds your bluntness refreshing, knowing there’s no pretense between you.

Shigaraki’s love language may be unconventional, but physical touch is his way of connecting with you. After an argument or playful exchange, he’ll make sure to leave you breathless. His hands, scarred and rough, know exactly where to touch you, whether it’s to calm you down or rile you up. He has a habit of wrapping his fingers around your waist possessively, pulling you into his lap and reminding you exactly who’s in charge.

When Shigaraki’s in one of his brooding moods around the League, you’re the only one who dares to make fun of him. “Wow, someone’s cranky. Did you run out of gamer snacks or something?” His glare is ice-cold, but you’re immune to it by now. The League members either laugh awkwardly or stay silent, completely in awe of how you handle him.

In quieter, more intimate moments, when the League is out of the way, you two find solace in your private space. The banter becomes softer, more of a game between you two. You’ll push his buttons just enough to get a rise out of him, knowing he enjoys it when you push boundaries. Shigaraki’s hands will find your hips, pulling you against him with that smirk on his face, loving how much you get under his skin.

Despite being sassy and bitchy, you’re fiercely protective of Shigaraki. If anyone in the League even thinks of undermining him, you’re the first to step up with a biting retort. “Didn’t know we were taking opinions from people who barely contribute. Sit down.”

Shigaraki can get a little possessive after intense moments between you two. He likes to remind you, in his own way, that you’re his—whether that’s by leaving subtle marks on your skin or keeping a hand on you in public to ward off anyone else. He might not say it outright, but you can feel the intensity in his gaze every time you challenge him, knowing that the fire between you two will always burn brightly.

You both roast each other constantly, and it’s always in good fun. If he’s slouching more than usual or complaining about something ridiculous, you’ll quip, “You look like a disgruntled noodle.” And when you’re being overly analytical or distant, he’ll hit back with, “You’re thinking so hard I can hear the gears grinding from here.”

Sometimes, your playful bickering takes an intense turn. You’ll have one of your usual snappy exchanges, and suddenly Shigaraki’s hands are in your hair, his lips crashing against yours to silence whatever snarky remark you were about to make. He knows you can’t resist matching his energy, and that only fuels the fire between you two.

Shigaraki loves to take advantage of your sassiness during more intimate moments. After you’ve had a particularly witty comeback, he’ll pin you to the wall, his lips trailing along your jaw as he murmurs, “You talk too much.” He knows how to make you squirm with the lightest touches, his fingers brushing over sensitive spots while teasing you about how you always have something to say—until now.

After particularly heated arguments (or heated moments), you’ll both lie there, tangled up in each other, the tension still lingering in the air. You’ll make some sassy remark, still unable to resist, and Shigaraki will respond with a smug grin, pulling you closer. “You like pushing me, don’t you?” he’ll murmur into your ear, his voice low and full of challenge. The post-argument glow only fuels the fire between you two, and it won’t be long before things heat up again.

For all your sass and bickering, you and Shigaraki share an unspoken bond that allows you to sit in silence comfortably. After an exhausting day, you’ll both retreat to your corners, him gaming, and you doing your own thing. No words are needed, but the presence of each other is more than enough.

Your energy matches perfectly—both of you can be cynical and detached from the world, but when you’re together, there’s a sense of camaraderie. Shigaraki never has to explain himself to you, and you don’t have to tone down your sass. You’ve both learned how to exist in each other’s space with an effortless flow that baffles outsiders.

The unspoken tension between you two is what keeps the relationship exciting. Even in the middle of a crowd, when you’re throwing snarky comments his way, there’s always that underlying desire simmering just beneath the surface. No one else understands the way you and Shigaraki communicate—both verbally and physically—but you wouldn’t have it any other way.

Your affection for Shigaraki manifests in playful insults rather than mushy sentiments. “Wow, you’re actually kind of cute when you’re not trying to destroy everything,” you’ll tease, and Shigaraki’s lips will twitch with a rare, fond smile. He responds in kind with his own version of affection: “You’re insufferable, but I guess you’re tolerable.”

Your sense of humor lines up with Shigaraki’s dark and twisted one, even if he doesn’t laugh easily. Your dry, sarcastic comments always get a smirk out of him, and he secretly loves how sharp-witted you are. Whenever the two of you witness someone being overly dramatic or incompetent, you’ll exchange a knowing glance that says it all.

When Shigaraki’s feeling down, you don’t sugarcoat things or coddle him. Instead, you’ll give him a swift kick in the ass (metaphorically speaking) with some tough love. “Quit moping, you’ll figure it out. You always do.” He appreciates that you don’t treat him like he’s fragile; you understand his strength and push him forward.

Despite the sass, you both have soft spots for each other. Shigaraki won’t admit it outright, but when he sees you working late on something, he’ll silently drop a drink or snack next to you. And while you may not laugh at his jokes or offer compliments, the little things you do—like adjusting his hoodie when he’s not paying attention—reveal how much you care.

Your relationship almost feels like a rivalry at times, with each of you trying to outwit the other. But it’s less about actual competition and more about mutual respect. You know exactly how to challenge Shigaraki, and he thrives on that tension, knowing you’re the only person who can keep up with him mentally.

Beneath the layers of sass, there’s a genuine understanding between you two. You push each other to be better—not just in terms of strategy or intellect, but emotionally as well. Shigaraki has softened slightly around you, allowing himself to feel more vulnerable, and you’ve learned to be more open, trusting him with sides of yourself that no one else gets to see.

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Masterlist

✨ doing each other’s makeup ✨

thank you for tagging me!

i dont have many mutuals here 👉👈

@tomurawr44 @bluelizze

Adult You/Child You Picrew here!

I like this one. What a weird way to be made to reminisce.

I'm going to tag...

@musubi-sama @delirious-donna @mrhaitch (sorry lover) @honeyandbiscuitandtea-cafe @ryomance @mysteria157 and @flaneur001

i paid attention to every detail except for the hands but ok

thinking of tomura blasting ‘bury the light’ at 3 am, waking afo from his deep slumber, only to start to regret buying him a pc

dating shigaraki is like having a wet lost puppy. he is emotionally dependent on you while simultaneously being unhealthy about it.