I've Finally Formed A Thought That's Been Bugging Me Since The Spoilers Came Out.

I've finally formed a thought that's been bugging me since the spoilers came out.

And that is the Eyes of Afo.

We can responsibly assume, based on Dr. Garaki's words, that Afo has some real (his own) eyes (and voice and smiling face).

And now we can assume that the current eyes - without color and pupil - are not his real eyes.

Earlier I had assumed that they were, of course, a quirk. For disguise, for a more appropriate image of the Demon King. But also don't forget that the Eyes are the mirror of the soul. And the most likely thing is that Afo wouldn't want anyone to look into his soul and know what's going on there. And the role of the Demon King does not imply the presence of a soul.

But then how and when did it happen? Surely we have met these eyes before in chapter 193, the anime version gave us the “red” eye color characteristic of the Villain.

I would like to say that in the early years Afo had a normal human eye with a pupil, but in profile, unfortunately, we can't see whether there is a pupil or not. But since Afo, as the composition then shows us, is among humans - it is logical to assume that the eyes would be pupilless - soulless eyes. Or maybe not; maybe there is a pupil here, but it just merges with the shadow, like Izuku's here, for example.

And based on that, we can already conclude that Afo's familiar eyes are a quirk. And perhaps the sight of real eyes was only available to a select few - Yoichi as his brother, and Doctor Garaki as his personal doctor.

But from the Doctor's words about Afo's real appearance, we can also conclude that Afo hasn't taken his real appearance for a long time. A very long time.

And I daresay that this switch to “permanent villain eyes” was at or about the time of Yoichi's death.

The composition is constructed so that Afo looks up at the Second, and we cannot see whether there is a pupil in his eyes.

However, we are further accentuated precisely by the eye, and we can see irregularities around the edge of the iris - as if the iris ring is subject to some kind of interference. And the eye becomes what we see in Afo's restored face and when Afo takes control of Tomura's consciousness.

And as a result: On the day that Afo is confronted with the Second's death - defying audacity, which is like saying that Afo will never win and get what he wants, (maybe Yoichi had just died before that point - covering his friend from a fatal blow, for example, or Afo realized that OFA's quirk with Yoichi's vestige had already been passed on to another person - which means his last chance to get his brother back was disappearing right before his eyes), Afo and lost the self he was with Yoichi, locked the real him deep in his soul, and he's been smiling ever since. And the smile doesn't reach his eyes.