Old

in days before tragedy hits

Maybe UA 2nd Year is where they learn about Hero ethics and de-escalation techniques. And unfortunately everything happened before Deku could learn any of that.

I love VA comment inspired fan art (by yamcat_he)

i actually didnt think it could get worse but touya's reveal being the thing that brought the todorokis together and finally made them ally themselves with endeavour regardless of all the trauma he caused them and how impossible they've found it to even hang out together as a family for the entire decade touya has been gone. THAT being what binds them. they might as well have spat in the face of touya's memory. it's not even an acknowledgement that dabi must be stopped it's just like they never even loved him. endeavour is giving him more sympathy than them. 'you will have to fight dabi one day' et tu rei?

"Toya there are other things besides being a hero!"

"Are you gonna do them with me dad so I can still feel worthy of your love and attention?"

"Haha, don't speak bullshit I have Shoto to train now."

Dabi: why are you on the floor

Tomura: i’m depressed

Tomura: also I was stabbed can you get kurogiri

cw salt, but the fact that Shouto lets Rei say this:

without explaining the circumstances to Hawks doesn’t sit right with me, especially when we have a previous in-text reference for how Shouto feels about his burns and the real person who’s to blame for it:

and idk, call me pedantic, biased or whatever, but the framing of the scene makes it feel as though the further the story goes on, the more the characters aren’t allowed to have complex and sometimes contradicting emotions towards the abuse they experienced. It’s just as Fuyumi said, “it’s not like I don’t feel the same way Natsu does, but we finally have this chance, you know?”

and that was perfectly fine when it was just Fuyumi’s chosen way to deal with her own feelings. Like, when it was still a decision motivated by a character’s agency. Fuyumi wants a second chance at a normal family. What she wants is not presented as an authorial statement on what everyone else should want. In fact, Shouto and Natsuo want something else entirely. And that was fine.

Until now.

With the shift the story took now, with the whole Todoroki family coming together to stop Dabi,

and with the emphasis on extending a hand to Enji while doing so, it feels less like this is an organic choice that makes sense with the characters’ personal journey of acceptance and of healing, and more like the narrative is forcing them to reconcile because it’s what the story needs in order to keep moving forward down the “saving Touya” path. Like, even admitting that there was good faith on hori’s part, even conceding that they might’ve just called a truce for the time being because they realized they have a second shot at getting their brother back from death…

That good faith falls short of the actual framing.

Cause Hawks asks Shouto that question right after acknowledging that Enji was indeed an abuser. Past tense. As if shedding a few tears suddenly cancels that out. It’s all good now.

And… idk… For it to be a “truce” the narrative still needs to hold him accountable. But it doesn’t. The second Enji vowed to do better, the story declared he was better. Hori can say that the victims don’t have to forgive him all he wants, the truth still stands that the story has already forgiven him

Hm. Yeah. I think this may be an extension of me being a cynical hater but there’s a thin line ok not thin but fandom analysis really makes it seem this way lol in storytelling between “marginalization drives people to crime when society fails them” and “people with issues *wink wink nudge nudge* are inherently more prone to crime,” and I think BNHA leans more heavily on the second side than the first.

Some instances that I feel show how some messages MHA are detrimental, especially on how victims react to their abuser, can be gauged by responses that tend to be highly prevalent in the fandom.

(Definitely not every fan, but a great majority).

Endeavor is a great example. Whenever you post criticizing his approach to atonement (and ultimately criticizing Horikoshi’s writing), you get BOMBARDED by people either belittling you for not liking his character or essentially forcing you to like his character by frantically writing “at least he tried” arguments.

If I have the CHOICE whether to forgive his character or not, especially given he goes through an atonement arc and not a redemption arc, why is any form of criticism about his abusive behavior and essentially his abuse of power practically ignored by the story unacceptable?

The message was detrimental because people operate on the notion that for victims to be good people, they must forgive and even help their abusers. MHA presents people who choose not to forgive him as either a monster (Toya) or inconvenient (Natsuo). And if they are still unforgiving, they must admire the abuser for doing the bare minimum (taking responsibility; this is also about Natsuo).

Essentially, they are considered "imperfect victims" because they weren't merciful in their approach to their abuser.

The majority of the fandom tends to ignore the lack of actual consequences for Endeavor's actions because he vows to talk to Toya every day. Insisting that doing the bare minimum, which is recognizing his son's existence and suffering, became his "hell" is a wildly fucked up message, in my opinion.

It harps on the issue mentioned above that if a victim isn't receptive to forgiveness or doesn't act "demure," they are seen as an inconvenience—which is how the Todoroki family ultimately views Toya.

On a less critical note, I'll vent, so if you don't like this, just ignore it.

I'm so fucking tired of stories depicting imperfect victims as people who deserve death and torture. Plus, having to be on the brunt of so many people acting like you're morally fucked because you're not impressed with how a writer handled abuse. Horikoshi is not the first writer to try to atone a character who is an abuser (and he isn't the first to fail at that, either).

I'm not about to dick-ride every decision every author makes. Especially if the message convinces some audience members that victims are inherently broken if they can't bring themselves to forgive and/or admire someone who hurt them.

the band au art is so funny because why does mr compress still have his hat on