Mha Shigaraki - Blog Posts

Even if I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, I can share some of my sketch of my MHA OC and Tomura Shigaraki

The one in green it’s juste a « Very Happy Ending Universe » when they can be together X’)

So, Have a great Valentine’s Day everyone’s ❤️❤️❤️

i don't think spinner thought tomura was being honest about kissing him...

Wait. If All for One can see his vestiges all the time does that mean that his mom was still able to take care of him? Obviously she wasn’t physical but was she the one who taught him to speak, to read, to write, so that he could teach Yoichi all of these skills? Did she scold him when he fought with his brother? Was she standing over his shoulder telling him what trash was safe to eat? To stay away from the used needles that littered the concrete, to stay away from the bitter tasting liquor that she’d lived off of. Did she warn him when the anti-meta soldiers were coming? Did she love him, even as he used her ability to kill countless people? Did she cry when she realized her baby lived longer than she did, laced with more suffering than she’d ever know?

Or did she stay silent and watchful, wondering what creature she had released upon the world?

i don't think horikoshi has ever seen a reptile cause why the hell does spinner look like that

anyways i based him on an anole instead of a gecko because anoles are very very good at climbing and imo spinner looks more like an anole than a gecko

Shiggy <3333

my little design for shigaraki

he's just a baby,,,

I take my hyperfixation so seriously, like it’s not even funny someone get him away from me before I explode

LOOK AT HOW HES STANDING im going to cry pleasee look at him

[MHA / LoZ / Saiki K / JJK / Danganronpa] So many fandoms, so little time...

I actually drew these a while ago (like a month ago) and am not super happy with all of them, BUT I do like how I drew some of them so I'm gonna post it.

Maybe it'll help some people get to know me better? I'm definitely gonna draw more of these characters/fandoms in the future except for maybe Danganronpa characters lol

Experimenting with colors

(A part of the Winged/Hero Commission Izuku AU) I was giggling and kicking and kicking my feet while drawing drawing this ngl.

Steampunk shigaraki has me twirling my hair and kicking my feet because who told him to look so mafia boss.

Shigaraki is now living in my head rent free… no matter how much I try to get him to pay taxes he refuses

it is not fucking fair that in the anime japanese that shigaraki has one of the most pretty childlike voices ive ever heard but in the dub HE SOUNDS LIKE A CREEP TINY LITTLE PERVERT

shigaraki voice redemption please the english does him so dirty

My man Shigaraki Tomura represents the entire eczema community frfr

hii. hope everything is well with you :)

if you’re not too busy can I request a shigaraki x online gamer friend reader. where he becomes friends with a random girl he met while playing league or something (modern au).

maybe even a meet up or something. tyyy!!

"Lagging Hearts"

Shigaraki Tomura wasn’t supposed to care about anyone online. He liked the distance. The screen, the anonymity, the safety of being just a name on a friend list. But then he queued up for a late-night ranked match in League of Legends, and everything started glitching—emotionally speaking.

He met you by chance. Your username—“Pix3lGrrl”—was the kind of cringe he'd usually block. But you locked in midlane fast, started typing callouts in team chat like a drill sergeant, and your sarcasm matched his beat for beat.

“Garen support? Wow. Peak performance,” you typed.

He smirked. Okay, maybe she’s not awful.

One game became three. Then ten. Then nightly Discord calls. You tilted like a pro, cursed like a sailor, and still somehow made him laugh when his fingers were twitching to decay the world.

“You ever stop touching your face when you’re mad?” you teased during a losing streak.

He choked on his soda. “How the hell do you know that?”

“You always stop talking right before you screw up a teamfight. It’s, like, your rage silence.”

He didn’t reply right away. He was too busy… smiling?

—

Weeks passed. He didn’t tell you who he was—what he was. You didn’t ask. It was kind of perfect. The late-night games, the trash talk, your sleepy voice when it got too late and the ranked queue became ARAMs “just for fun.” He found himself waiting for the little Discord chime that said you were online like it was a drug.

One night, after a particularly nasty loss streak, you groaned, “I need a break. Let’s just talk.”

And he did. For hours.

You made him laugh so hard his screen shook. You called him “crusty king” and he didn’t even hate it. You told him about your cat, your weird neighbor, the way your keyboard was missing the F key but you were too lazy to fix it.

He thought about telling you. About his hands. His past. His real name.

Instead, he just asked, “Wanna queue again tomorrow?”

You replied instantly. “Always.”

—

He didn't know what this was—just a gamer friend or something dangerously close to real—but for the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel like disconnecting.

---

It was your idea to meet.

“Well, technically,” you said, “I’m being bribed with bubble tea. But yeah. Let’s meet.”

Shigaraki stared at the message for a full minute. His thumb hovered over the reply button. He’d never seen your face, and you’d never seen his. It had been months now—countless games, DMs, weird late-night rants about anime betrayals and which champions needed nerfs.

He wasn’t ready.

But he said yes anyway.

—

You picked a little gaming café downtown. Neon lights. LED keyboards. The smell of instant noodles and too many Monster cans. You wore a hoodie, same as him, and your hair was a little messier than your Discord icon implied—but it was you. He knew it immediately.

You were sitting with a boba and a Switch, tapping your foot to some lo-fi remix. You looked up and smiled.

“Crusty King?” you teased.

He almost turned around and left.

Instead, he gave a dry little laugh and slid into the seat across from you. “Pix3lGrrl. Didn’t expect you to look so… normal.”

You arched a brow. “Thanks? Didn’t expect you to look like a villain from a dystopian anime.”

He froze.

Your smile faltered for half a second, and then you recovered. “Kidding. I mean—you’ve got the vibe. Grumpy, gray hair, twitchy fingers. Kind of hot, though.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Nothing.”

You both sipped your drinks. Played a couple rounds of Smash on the café’s Switch dock. Laughed a lot. It felt almost like home. Like a weird dream.

But then you leaned in, really looked at him, and asked, “Hey… what do you do, anyway? You’ve never said.”

His hand twitched—just once. He quickly put it in his hoodie pocket. His mouth went dry.

“I… break things.”

You laughed. “Okay, edgy. What does that mean?”

He paused. Then whispered, “My name’s not really Ten.”

“Wait.” Your smile dimmed. “What?”

“I’m Tomura. Shigaraki Tomura.”

You went still.

You knew the name. Everybody did. The guy who vanished after the League crumbled. The one with a death count and a face like a warning sign.

You looked at him, really looked, and then said quietly, “And you… you play Jhin in ranked.”

He blinked. “That’s what you’re focusing on?”

You smiled slowly, something tender and a little heartbroken. “You’ve got four kills, and I’m starting to think I’m one of them.”

He opened his mouth—but you held up a hand.

“I'm not running. Just… give me a sec to update my patch notes, alright?”

And then, in the same breath, you asked, “You still down to queue tonight?”

|| X: And how is the [Part 3] of your Bnha AU? Like, what's the difference with the canon? ||

|| Me: Umm... ||

|| Almost nothing changes, because Kumika stays where Afo left her, in US, she just sees the chaos that is happening in Japan. ||

|| WHAT THE FUCKING RIGHT DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE TO TALK ABOUT TENKO/SHIGARAKI IF YOU DON'T EVEN HELPED HIM YOU DAMN UGLY OLD WOMAN!?! ||

Done With Life Or Nah?

Thank you so much for supporting part one. I'm really glad you guys like it a lot. So here's another part for you guys to enjoy

Summary: You're already losing yourself. But what happens if someone you love and you thought cares about you, hurt you? You already feel like ending it all, maybe he could help you. Help you end everything. The pain, the suffering. After all, he didn't really love you right? Or maybe you could start a new life?

Warning: Cursing, Depression, Loosing a limb(it's on part one), angst, suicidal thoughts. (Tell me if I need to add anything else)

_______________________________________________

Maybe- "Y/n~" a voice shocks you before you could even use the knife. 'Toga' you thought, putting the knife away 'maybe not today' you quickly made your way to the door. "Yeah? Need something?" You raised an eyebrow at her. Brows furrowed at the way she had her hair down. She grins sheepishly and nodded her head. "You know how Kurogiri went out a couple days ago right?. He wants to meet ya" an awkward silence falls upon both of you. You nodded your head and followed Toga to meet Kurogiri.

"Hello dear. I guess you already know that I ask Toga to bring you here" he questioned which you nodded as an agreement. "Well regarding you um- hands" he stops abruptly and chuckles nervously as he can feel Dabi throwing daggers at him. "Would appreciate it if you stop looking at me like that" he mumbled before continuing "I bought a lil present for you" he brought out a box and put it in front of you. Silently asking you to open it. So you did with a little struggle of course, you only have one perfect hand anyway. Inside you see robotic hands if that even makes sense "I thought it would be great for you. Plus it is also built to handle a quirk so you can still use it with your immobilised hands". He went on nervously but stopped when he saw tears in yours eyes "Why my dear do you not like it? I'm sorry I thought you would like since you know-" he shut his mouth when you made your way towards him and hugged him as tightly as you can "Thank you Kuku you're the best" while wailing in happiness that someone actually thought about you other than Dabi and Toga of course.

Out of the corner of your eyes, you see Dabi's soft smiles but it seems like you're not the only one "Someone smiling" Toga yells teasingly "Shut up you psychopath" Dabi rolled his eyes while Toga giggled as a reply. "Awwwww someone getting soft" "I said shut the fuck up"

You can feel the warmth in your chest blooming. This is the feeling that you've been wanting to feel. The feeling of being cared for, appreciated and happy. The suicidal thought is now being pushed at the back of your mind. At the moment, you want to savour the feelings and memories forever. A laugh interrupted from you by watching those two bickering tears of happiness forming in your eyes.

Everyone went quiet for a hot second before they followed you. "There's the laugh I've been waiting for" Dabi mumbled. He's happy for you to finally find a light in your life even if it is the slightest bit of lighting. His eyes snap at the door near the meeting room, he can see the door opened the slightest bit and a bit of blue hair can be seen. He bit his words and let it died in his mouth, not wanting to ruin this mood. After all his favourite girl is finally out of her shell.

As you are retreating to your room, a voice calls out for you "You don't want to try it on?". You turned your back to see Dabi raising his eyebrows while drinking some wine "Didn't know you're a wine man" "There are a lot you don't know about me, princess" he chuckles. "Yeah Y/n try it! I bet it will look so cool! Or ugly. Sorry, my bad!" Twice yell. All of them look so eager to see you try it out. You take a deep breath "Does it need to be charged tho?" You ask Kurogiri. Silent takes over the room before once again the laugh interrupted. "Just imagine it ran out of battery while on the battlefield" spinner snickers. "Stop I can't" you laugh out loud. Even Kurogiri smiles widely at the accusations "Don't worry my dear. It uses batteries, pretty sure it could last almost a year" "That's good to know. I don't know what will happen if what spinner says happened" you giggled. "I'll be there to rescue you princess" Dabi says teasingly makes you roll your eyes "Sure Sure"

Slowly you connect the robotic hand with your left hand. Turn it on and double check to make sure it is on the right way. After a couple minutes, you try to light a fire and it "It works!" Toga exclaims excitedly. "Try to change the colour dear" Mr. Compress asked. You immediately change it to a blur colour almost like Dabi's fire. "I am impressed Kurogiri. I wonder where you got this from" You asked. He smiles in response while giving a sign that it is a secret. "Now we could go on a mission together! Not that I want to. Sorry!" Twice smiles. You nod while smiling brightly.

"Now who wants some food?"

______________________________________________

It is almost midnight when you sit on the rail on the rooftop. Breathing and taking in the beautiful scenery of Japan. You can't help but think about Dabi. The way he is always taking care of you. The way it treats you like you're the most fragile thing in the world. So soft and passionate. You smile while looking at the sky. Your body shivers by the cold breeze that hits your bare skin. The more you think about him. The more you feel like he's something to you. What are these feelings? Adoration? Love? Friends? Respect? You shook your head to clear up your mind.

You close your eyes, breathing in the fresh air. You barely notice the sounds of the door opening and the sound of heavy footsteps running towards you before all of the sudden you are being pulled back into a warm embrace. Snapping you out of your trance "What the fuck, Princess? Trying to get yourself killed?!" He yelled and you immediately recognised his voice,Dabi. "Woah there. A little warning next time perhaps-?" "Warning?! You are the one that needs to warn me!" "What? I did nothing!" "Yeah? Almost giving me a heart attack by sitting on the rail?" "You do it all the time, Dabi" you rolled your eyes, getting annoyed at this one fine hypocrite of a man. "That's a different story" "Same" "Different" "SAME" "Alright princess you win this time. Next time it's mine". You laughed happily at your win. He smiled obviously glad to see you all smiling again.

"You okay?" Dabi asked. You sighed "Just thinking about it" you replied, snuggling more into his warmth and he let you. "You shouldn't. Just forget about it. Continue with your life" "I couldn't help but think if I could have done it differently you know like" you stop abruptly noticing the side eyes he is giving you. "What?" "I'd rather have you all to myself princess " you blush at his response. Butterfly dancing in your stomach. "Dabi-" "Touya" you looked at him confused, a frown clearly on your face.

Straining your neck in the process. "It's, it's my name princess" he looked away face red. You frown gradually turning into a grin. "Touya?" You tested the name on your tongue. A shiver went through him at the sounds of his name. It's been such a long time since someone said it. "What's the occasion?" "Just making you as a special someone" You turned around so quick to look at him. "Dabi- Touya? What?" "So what's the answer princess?" Your heart beats for him and only for him. "Are you joking around?" There were tears in your eyes threatening to fall down. "No I'm not".

You smile at him, putting your face closer. When your lips meet and he's kissing you softly like he scares you're going to break. Both of you pull away for air "Does that answer it?" You giggle. "Hmmm I don't know. Maybe you need to try again" he smiled softly. His nose is touching yours as he watches you laugh. "That's not good. I need to show you more"

________________________________________________

Thank you so much for reading this🥰 I really hope you like it. I'm sorry for the late update. Life has been hectic recently. I'm not sure if I can accept some request but I'll find time to do it if you do Requests. This is basically the happy ending but if you want more extending one be sure to let me know. I'm working on the sad one so please do wait for that one. Love you guys ❣️

Update:-

I'll update the story "Done with life or nah" when I have time. I was only thinking about doing a short ending but then my brain exploded and I kept on going until it- more than I expected. I'll be updating the good ending first because my brain is focused on that one. Not sure when but sorry for the late update in advance. Thank you for the support ✨

In case any of you haven't read it yet, I'll link it here❣️

Done with life or nah?

Summary: You're already losing yourself. But what happens if someone you love and you thought cares about you, hurt you? You already feel like ending it all, maybe he could help you. Help you end everything. The pain, the suffering. After all, he didn't really love you right? Or maybe you could start a new life?

Warning: Cursing, Depression, Loosing a limb(read to find out who), angst, (not sure how I am supposed to note these but feel free to help me!)

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

You lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, deep in your mind. The usual thinking about your life decisions. This has become a routine for you every night. `Was it worth it anymore?' `Am I really useless?'. Lifting yourself up, you make your way to the bathroom. Your hands push the door weakly. You stand in front of the sink, sighing after catching a glimpse of your miserable face, you turn your head down to look at your feet 'I hate myself'. Quickly your right hand opens the cabinet under the sink, hand clumsily searching for something. Finally found it, you take a look at the knife. A knife that Toga gave to you as a present for your birthday. The perfect knife for killing people, most importantly killing yourself. You lost in your mind again, thinking if you really should do this, if you should just end it all. Often you see yourself as a burden, as someone who holds the LOV back. Maybe if you weren't there, they would be happy. After all, who would want someone as worthless and useless as you are. "Who would want someone like me?" You repeated. Yeah maybe he is right. Slowly you lift up your left arm, you stare at it sadly while also feeling the anger rising up. Tears threaten to fall. From the wrist up, your hand is completely gone. 'Yeah he's right" you smile sadly while holding back tears.

The members noticed the change of your behaviour. The girl that used to smile a lot, making jokes to cheer them up, playful but at the same time serious is now gone. All that is left is a girl that is desperately trying to survive. But again they decided to not say anything. They already have a hunch of what happened that may be causing it.

_____________

You just got back from your patrol. You know just the usual making sure there aren't any heroes out there that might already catch a smell of the base or else you all need to hide elsewhere. Feeling extremely tired you're hoping you would get some rest instead of comforting your boyfriend, Shigaraki, for the hundreds of times. Now don't get you wrong, you love him for all your life and would sacrifice yourself for him but recently things haven't been the best. You pushed the door to your shared bedroom, sighing to yourself miserably when you caught a pile of dust laying on the floor. Looks like the world will turn against you today too. `There goes another one'. It seems like another mission has gone wrong. You make your way to the corner of the room, having noticed your boyfriend scratching himself at the corner. You cringed at the blood on his body. "Babe? What happened?" You kneeled down in front of him. "Nothing, go away"

You sighed already knowing that this might take a while before you get the rest you needed. "Come on, Shiggy. I know something went wrong. Di-Did a mission failed again?", you tested your luck but when red eyes instantly snap towards your direction, you know you fucked up. "What do you mean by again?" he spats the words while glaring at you. "Do you really think I'm that worthless like you? I'm better than you, you stupid bitch!", You flinch. Trying not to make it worse, you try to explain yourself "No! I mean-" "LISTEN HERE YOU PIECE OF SHIT. YOU'RE ONLY HERE BECAUSE I WANT YOU TOO. I COULD JUST KILL YOU INSTANTLY WITH HOW USELESS YOU'RE TO ME NOW. HOW USELESS YOU'RE BACK THEN"

"Someone who couldn't even save their own family when they are right there" He knows he is being irrational when you only want to help him but he couldn't help but push on one of your nerves.

Now the word keeps on ringing in your head. You smile to yourself remembering the accident 10 years ago when you can't even save your own family from the fire that happened because your brother couldn't contain himself when he discovered his quirk. The only reason you can't save them is because you have the same quirk. You can't fight fire with fire. It's only going to make it worsen, so you just watch as everything goes downhill. Watching with your own eyes, your own family burned alive or so that's what you told them. But little do they know, you didn't even want to save them, not at all.

"Fine. Do whatever suits you. I'm tired", You ended the fight right there and then. "Where the fuck do you think you're going?" He spat out, standing up. Immediately you back away, giving him space. "It's not like I can help you since you won't tell me anything at all" you turn around. "You? Help me? Some weaklings can't possibly think they can help someone as good as a god like me." He smirk. You smile despite the ache in your heart.

"You don't even have a good quirk"

Now that's got your attention. "Excuse me?" You turned your body toward him, feeling deeply offended and hurt. Your quirk isn't "weak" or special. But it's pretty strong. It's a fire quirk that is almost the same as Dabi but the difference is you can change the colour to any colours you want, so it's easier for you to blame the fire to anyone else since you don't have a permanent colour while Dabi's fire is a beautiful and fascinating blue. It always gets you off guard every time he uses it. Even you can't copy the colour perfectly.

"What the fuck did you just say?" You glared at him, extremely pissed off. "I said your quirk isn't that great" he smugly said. "I mean take a look at your own quirk Shigaraki. It's not that special either. Not to forget what it did to your own family" You slam a hand on your mouth. You went too far and you didn't mean to. Shigaraki eyes went wide open and he's fuming with anger. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to go that far!" "FUCK YOU" You hear footsteps outside the room. The others must have heard you guys fighting for a while now. "Fuck babe. I'm sorry I didn't mean to!" "DON'T FUCKING CALL ME THAT"

When both of his hands started to reach out for you, you immediately backed off. "SHIGARAKI PLEASE!" You pulled your hands away from him and tried to turn around when you heard the door open. When you feel pain shooting down your left arm and you're screaming bloody murder. The pains are shooting all over your body causing you to scream in agony. You feel someone pulled you away and brought you to the bar outside. They quickly cut your left hand's wrist to avoid it spreading. "Take a deep breath. It'll be okay" You hear Toga said after calming down. You cringe at the pain you feel in your left arm. "Here take this" Dabi placed pain killers in front of you. Without hesitating you just gulp down the pain killers, just wanting the pain to go away. "You okay?" Dabi asked. "Okay? OKAY?! WHAT THE FUCK DABI?! I JUST LOST MY FUCKING LEFT HAND! I'M NOT FUCKING OKAY" You cried but when you feel Dabi hugged you. You feel guilty for screaming at him when all his done is just helping you. "'m sorry. Scared" he nodded. "It's okay. It'll be okay. I'm here for you. We're here for you" he calmed you down. After a while, your crying slows down to hiccup.

"Y/N........." Dabi feels you tense up when you hear Shigaraki's voice. "Baby? Please I'm sorry" you don't reply to him. You heard his footsteps coming closer, making you hug Dabi even tighter. You feel Dabi lifting you up "Oi Oi Oi Back off" Dabi back away with you in his arm, clenching his teeth. He can't help but feel the hatred growing in his chest after seeing Shigaraki use his quirk on you causing you to lose your arm. "Dabi. 'm scared" you whimpered. "Shhh Shhh. It's okay. I won't let him come near you" he promised, bouncing you up and down still trying to calm you down. Even he himself feels irritated with Shigaraki.

Toga's hiding you and Dabi from Shigaraki sight. The others are ready to prevent you from hurting more than you already are. They all have a soft spot for you but won't admit it. "P-please" he begged them, eyes burning with tears that were leaking. But to his disappointment, none of them moved from their spot and he knew he couldn't even begin to convince them to let him see you. For him to possibly apologize even if you won't accept it, the least he could do is try. A couple minutes pass that feels like hours, you finally whimper from holding the pain due to the room getting so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Eyes snaps to you, Dabi clears his throat sending a glare in Shigaraki's way "I'll end you if I have to" and immediately retreats to his room. For a second you thought that he's bringing you back to your own room so you clutch your hands on his jacket and quietly whispers "'m don't wanna go back Dabs". "I know I know. I'll never bring you back in there even if you want to" he shushed you. He opens his door and closes in on his back making his way towards his bed. "Sorry my room might not be as nice as yours. There's only one bed so I hope you won't mind my body as a company" he chuckled making you smile a lil. A proud feeling is booming in his chest seeing that he makes you smile. "There's the sweet smile I have been missing"

____________

And ever since you've been sleeping in Dabi's room. Shigaraki tried talking to you a ~couple~ hundreds of times but you never glance his way to even notice him. Slowly but surely he has given up his hopes and instead tries to send you notes at least once a day to let you know that he's sorry. But it got burned by Dabi before it can reach you. And that makes you feel a lot more better at the thought of someone protecting you from danger.

Your eyes burned with tears at the memory, shaking your heads hoping that it'll go away. You sighed miserably while still looking at the knife. Should you?

_______

Maybe a part 2 if you guys want? This is my first post so please ignore the mistakes (tell me). I'm not really a writer and English is not my first language. Hope you enjoy it. There are two possible endings maybe shorts one but we'll see.

Don’t you hate it when you accidentally disintegrate your gun

Based on

@intothedarknessigo

I’m gonna reenact something that happened during the end of class today

Friend: oh my god dude, look

*shows me a sick ass drawing of all might one of the other kids did on the back of a board*

Me: oh that’s so cool-

*activate Shigaraki*

Eugh, what the fuck why is he here?

I keep seeing sad edits of Shigaraki/Tenko and it’s hurting my fictionkin heart 😭

Well screw you too random person on the internet 😕

Don’t you think that Tomura, a man drowning in grief, who’s been denied affection, would cling to the league like a lifeline? Would go to sleep and each time he wakes up pray that they’re still there, still alive? Do you think he would ever forgive himself for losing twice, for letting the heroes get to them?

MY VILLAIN ANIMALS FAIR (2025)

Feeling kinda dysphoric and sad about Shigaraki’s death rn

I’m not really good at Japanese but I’m pretty sure this is saying “eek Shigaraki!” わつ(watsu) could also mean “oh” or “wow”

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.

hiii