Geten as the 5th sibling feels correct.
siblings
This is insane
7 to 3
I now have prints available of this piece here!
Sketches of Nine's armor. This design goes hard.
I wish we could see more of him in the movie with just the full armor without the suit over it (though is still looks cool af).
Also notice how in the sketch there's seems to be a sticky substance under the armor plates, that detail is absent in the movie.
One thing that is now unfair to ask is...what is Nine's name? Look hori treated him as an afterthought but his lack of origins works better than the comical twnko's origins.
Yes his family was all killed thanks to him but ...I can't help to think that scene was too ridiculous.
We never saw anyone mentioned them again, not even shig. (He remembers them in MVA and we do see the disgusting human puppet hori flay around) But that's it.
So Nine...
Im not one of those people who think a new character needs to be related to a pre stabelished one. Nine doesn't need to be a Todoroki, Shimura or hell even a lost Midoriya (hahahahahahaha as if hori would care for this family)
But ....imagine if Nine was related to Oboro, somehow, wouldn't that be interesting?
Maybe, maybe not.
Oboro's character became a thing to turns Aizawa into a better character...and fails. Kuro was sacrificed for nothing.
The thing about Shigaraki/Tenko backstory is that it feels... a bit overdramatic?
Well we can say that about his whole character, but the part of his backstory in particular when he kills his family is so exagerated for the sake of shock value that it kinda feels comical.
Horikoshi tried a bit too hard on make MVA feel like the edgier and "different" arc of the series, but the contrast in so big that I can't take it seriously.
Especially when Hori already nailed a dark tone without being super explicit or over the top.
Take the simplicity of Eri's backstory for example:
No blood, no unnecessary violence, just two panels giving a basic idea of what happened to Eri's father and yet the image of those clothes lying on the floor is much more haunting and eerie than the enterity of Shigaraki backstory.
Why Horikoshi stop being subtle with his storytelling?
...
Anyway going back to Nine real name, or the lack of one, I think it's interesting how that aspect of his character adds to the underlying theme of how AFO and Garaki dehumanize people, especially the ones that are part of their experiments.
We know very well how AFO doesn't view other human being as persons but rather objects that belong to him. This starts with his very own twin brother, which name Yoichi means something like "my first possesion".
And just like Nine, number 6 from Vigilantes was a child which whole life was modeled by AFO. They both are just numbers without a real name.
In this case the idea is presented even more explicitly because Six was a child who suffered some kind of amnesia and couldn't even view himself as a normal human with a face.
He even died as a monster without ever know if he had an identity outside being the number 6.
It's funny how you mention the idea of Nine and Shirakumo being connected somehow, as isn't the first time I've hear that.
It's interesting notice how they share this common theme about sky and clouds as part of who they are (Nine's name also is supposedly a reference to the term "cloud nine") both Nine and Oboro are individuals willing to sacrifice their own lifes for others, and ironically both of them ended being experimented by Dr Garaki.
I even have the headcanon of Kurogiri being the "Number 7" in this line of experiments were Nine and Six belong, as sort of missing link between Six and the sentient nomus.
I probably should make a post later explaining better this idea.
And yes for Horikoshi, Shirakumo was just a diposable character to make Aizawa look cooler and more edgy.
While the author of Vigilantes clearly invested a lot of effort on making Oboro a real and memorable character which complements Aizawa rather than just being an accesory. But that topic deserves it's own post as well.
P.S: I have an idea of what real name we could give to Nine, but I keep it for me at least for the moment.
Horikoshi didn't need to make him a prettt boy.
But he did.
And I thankful for the gift.
A soft Valentine's gift for them <3 Thank you @nyc3 for the most excellent mental image!
Full image under the cut, mind the 🍑
Can we talk about the way Katsuki looks at Izuku in OFFICIAL art?
y’all……
y’all……
HES ACTUALLY SO FINE???? WTF ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
The whole cinderIzu is great and I welcome with open arms. For my au, I have an idea for them meet.
Again, BK is a footnote in her life and Izumi is not dedicating all her time and energy in thinking of him. (She hears how his quirk remains the same, no quirk awakening bs, how bk's attitude got worse and how Aizawa is sure BK is the future)
Izumi hears about the mpa here and there and ...is not impressed. She needs money, her group can't work by luck...they need ration and more, and Izumi is not happy ReDestro has "schools" for kids to learn their quirks...its just a camp where the kid learns how to use their quirk AND NOTHING ELSE (Geten my be alliterate here)
Stealing from Redestro is not something she can pull off on her own. She needs help to do this heist.
(the quirk schools aren't illegal, per se, but it rubs Izumi in the wrong way. She is right)
Enters Cinder. He shows up with his helmet, all gear up and...well, he too needs money and Mr. Youtsubashi is loaded and if he wants to make quirk schools, fine...let's rob the fucker.
Izumi gawks as Cinder removes his helmet. He is handsome and cute...she wasn't expecting this.
Lol
(I love a good mask reveal!)
I also live for the moments when a character takes of their mask and reveals to be hot, and Cider isn't the exception. I mean can you blame Midoriya for want him?
Note: Izu probably loves in particular the little scar Cider got in his eyebrown, he/she found that detail to be especially sexy.
...
Is funny you mention the whole plot of Cider helping Izu to steal stuff from Re-Destro company, as I also have this idea of him making an operation to steal from a werehouse full of valuable tech and support items that Detnerant (I think that's the company name) sells into the black market.
They would have success stealing a lot of merch they later sell to get money, but also Cider found a particularly expensive prototype of a high tech glider he decides to keep for himself and use to compliment his surfing style. As Mizunami is really into surfing in my AU, like he seems to be in canon.
Oh I forgot to mention before but the vigilante name Cider/Mizunami will use for my AU will be "Splashdown". Be free to use it if you like the name.
And since you mentioned Geten here, do you think he will have some role in the story? As I mentioned before I love the idea of Cider being a Himura, but also he probably was rejected by his clan because his quirk is water instead of ice and the Himuras seems to be the kind of elitist jerks to would dishonor a child for born with a "imperfect" quirk.
Which would create a lot of tension between Cider and Geten, especially is they reconogice each other. Geten hating Cider for being "a failed Himura" and Cider will hate Geten because he's just a "an attack dog" for Re-Destro.
It's a shame Nine was mostly ignored by the fandom, but it's understandable considering HR was released during the time MVA was at it's peak of hype and everyone treated it like the 2nd coming of Christ.
Also if you're a movie character isn't like people is going to remember you very much, expect for Rody Soul, while the others like Melissa or the Shimano kids have a little niche of fans but that's it.
But it's funny how years later there was a resurgence in the talks of how the main villain should have been and Nine got a lot more of appreciation recently, cause compared to Shigaraki and AFO his characterization feels way more solid despite he having much less content.
Also people generally accepts Nine showed to be a better fighter and more skilled user of the properties of AFO (the quirk). To add to the irony.
You know? It's kinda of funny how LOV fans treat the whole "I want to be a hero for villains" of Shigaraki as something groundbreaking, when the same concept was already introduced in the series (and was done better) with Nine.
Unlike Shigaraki, Nine literally meet his team members when he saved their lives. In Chimera's case it was when a bunch of racists were about to execute him just for being a mutant.
Nine also was a hero for them in a more thematic level, as he not only save their lives but actually give his team mates a reason for live and fight. He offered them the chance to fight for create a better world. For me it's quite remarkable how Nine despite being a homeless and chronically ill person, go for save people he view as equally oppressed by the world.
He was selfless enough to sacrifice his own health using his quirk to save Chimera despite it was destroying his body, and without expecting nothing in exchange for share a dream Nine a hand to people at their lowest point.
That's much more of an "All Might for the villains" or whatever Horikoshi tried to make Shigaraki in the final moments. Or hell Nine even acts better as a foil to Deku in the sense both are selfless individuals who fight despite their bodies are crumbling, just for the save of the persons who are important to them.
How ironic is that Nine, the original movie villain that was supposed to be just a prototype for the "final villain" of MHA, ended executing the same themes way better than Shigaraki.
Hi @nyc3 👋
A main reason as to why people treat shigaraki's I want to be a hero for the villains ideology better than nine's is simply because I assume a lot of people forgot the plot of the 2nd movie or haven't read the one shot manga chapter mha leauge of villains undercover. All of this is a shame because I heavily agree that nine's version of I want to be a hero and hope for the villains is executed and built up 10000x times better than shigarakis and nine had a fraction of the screentime that shigaraki got which is saying a lot.
Actually rewatching the film and rereading the manga one-shot has showed me that nine and shigarakis arcs are pretty similar with nine's having a better execution and shigaraki having more wasted potential.
The movie sets it clear that nine and shigaraki are supposed to be foils for one another so it makes sense that they would share parallels. However, you would expect that by the time nine is defeated that shigaraki would naraatively prove to us that he is ultimately the better character but in truth he doesn't and nine's downfall by shigaraki ends up being quite disappointing to me.
Another problem within the narrative is also the lack of interactions that nine and shigaraki have. I think that nine is essential to helping shigaraki and start to infulence him to realise that he is just a puppet and should develop a goal outside of just destruction. If shigarakis goal stays as destruction then the destruction of what? Everything? And how would that benefit anyone including him?
Nine like you said meets his teammates and saves them. He sees his teammates suffer like him and chooses to help them and they choose to help him. There is a clear relationship being developed and all the characters come together for the same goal, with similar backgrounds and varying styles yet they work.
When nines team see him in distress they run to help him and vice versa. The team has trust and overall everything that a lot of the leauges dynamics and development lacks.
Nine seeks destruction but his path is clear. He seeks to liberate and let nature flow its course with the strong overtaking the weak and finally being leaders instead of feared and abused because they don't fit into the small little box that is the mha's status quo. Nine plans to get stronger while being fully conscious and knowing the consequences. He makes a logical and heroic decision where we see him realise that he is trading his own autonomy and agency in becoming a lab rat all in exchange for power and a slim chance at achieving his goal.
This is all contrasted with shigaraki and his actions. We don't see his goal of destruction develop into a much more consistent and precise idea like destroying the giver and status quo. We don't see shigaraki fully conscious to come to the conclusion that yes the doctor is evil but he needs power. We lack everything from shigaraki and the information of chapter 419 just makes his character worse as shigaraki was a lab rat through and through.
Horikoshi tries to make shigaraki the better character but nine outclassed him in every way possible from the traumatic beginnings, to the developed flawed goal and to the final bitter end where we see nine crumble due to various factors 1)shigarakis decay and 2) his illness whereas shigaraki dies due to afo still being a lab rat that fulfills his purpose.
All of this reminds me of the ask that said mha's manga ending is a sloppy edited 2nd movie ending (except I was only looking at it from a hero perspective but it even applies to the villains)
This was the most whelsome trend in the history of Tumblr
tiny yoichi reading his little comic...!