It started as a slight joke, but we decided to make a masterlist for Hot Moth Summer to make it more official and thus, easier to navigate!
Anyone can participate, here's how:
✶ writing: send a link (if finished) along with the title of your work, a brief description, and the genre(s)
✶ art: just the link and title/description if you have one is great
✶ please let me know if there's an age restriction for viewing your submission
✶ WIPs okay, just send the info then the link whenever it's finished
✶ there is no deadline or pressure to finish in the summer, we will still update and share the list throughout the year
✶ accepting all writing formats (x reader, OC, etc) and art mediums
✶ NO AI
✶ feel free to submit as much or little is fun for you, even if that's just gushing about mothman!Shigaraki in the comments!
Completed Works:
✶ Falling into the Woods in Spring by @deadhands69 [smut//fluff] MDNI
You take a tumble that leads to being lost in the forest for days. Is it your imagination or is that a large moth-man hybrid making it's way into your camp?
✶ Out Like A Light by @chimaerakirin [rescue romance] MDNI
Sometimes the line between man and monster is blurred. You're saved from one by the other, but it's not what you might expect. Sometimes indifference is benevolence. Your savior wasn't being kind, your tormentors just violated his boundaries. But now you're in his home, and you're stuck there. He's not so distant as he seems though, is he?
In Progress:
✶ Untitled by @shigarakislaughter [horror romance]
After moving to a new town on the outskirts of Musutafu, you're looking forward to some peace and quiet to help you focus on your career in wildlife conservation. However, you find that things aren't as peaceful and quiet as you expected. Strange disappearances have left your new neighbors afraid to go out at night. A large shadow seems to lurk among the woods behind your house. And no matter what, you can't seem to shake the feeling that something is watching you.
✶ Neozoa by @scary-grace [horror romance] MDNI
-- there is no taglist for the event itself, please contact the listed accounts directly if you'd like to be informed when these are shared or updated! --
I lied, these are basically just things I consider canon. Some actually are and I threw them in there cause I got off track. (A few of these r similar to my old hcs post about him,, but that's on a whole different account so we're gonna ignore it.) edit: actually this went 100% off track and I just started talking about fanon shiggy halfway through.
The urge to destroy everything used to be all consuming. Though when he met the league, they became his family. It was subconscious at first, but he didn't want to destroy everything anymore. He just wanted to destroy what hurt him, and what hurt his friends. As AFO began to take more and more control over him, he realized that he wanted to destroy AFO too. Even before AFO revealed what he did to him as a kid. That was a hard pill to swallow, since he'd been forced into the belief that AFO was the only person there for him, and the only person who loved/could love him as he is, meeting the league was the only thing that broke that belief.
He doesn't blame his sister in the slightest for anything that happened. He knows she was a child, just like he was, even if she was a bit older. He knows, and has accepted the fact that there's no way she could've predicted what was going to happen next. She was just stuck in a shitty home and didn't want to get in trouble for sneaking into their father's office. Though he does blame the rest of his family for not doing anything to help.
He dislikes bystanders nearly as much as he dislikes bad people, he can't stand those who make excuses about why something is happening instead of helping. Especially when it comes to adults. They really piss him off.
He really doesn't care about someone's power when it comes to joining the league, they're working towards a society where people aren't shoved aside for things they can't control so, why would he reject people who only want to help? (Like, he didn't reject Spinner when he joined the league, despite him having a pretty useless quirk compared to the others.).
He was a lil bit jealous when he saw stain merch at the mall. He wanted his own merch </3
He is NOT the introverted, touch hating, loser people make him out to be. In "encounter" he gets mad and then goes straight to a massive shopping mall😭. We rarely ever see him hiding away or rotting in his room. He's always available, always with the league, the most we see of him being alone is like,, him stepping out for 0.3 seconds to go take a breather. Not to mention he's VERY handsy. Pun intended. I think that if he didn't have a dangerous quirk, he'd be a lot more touchy (PLATONICALLY, YOU PERV) with his comrads.
He thinks about Mon and Hana more than the rest of his family,, ofcourse, he loves his mom and grandparents to an extent, but he still sees them as the adults who watched him be abused and never helped him. So ofcourse he thinks about the innocent more. He does understand that they were scared of his father too,, but it's always your responsibility as an adult to help a child in need.
His nails are neglected, always cracked/chipped
He lifts his pinkie even after he gains control over his quirk, it's a habit.
Villain work became a lot more taxing after the PLF formed, so it was a lot to take on. Especially since he'd been injured so badly he could barely stand.
Has played EVERY Zelda game to ever be made. ALL of them. He was on a MISSION to complete them all.
Decayed more than a few controllers‼️
He has to sleep with gloves/finger covers so that he doesn't decay his bed.
These started out as serious and now I'm just throwing random crap at you guys.
Instead of decaying his trash, he just stuffs it in bags and leaves it wherever he pleases. I like to think he has carpet flooring and doesn't wanna have to sweep dust out of it.
He had to get his room carpeted because he kept throwing his controllers around when he lost a game.
He has an insane amount of restraint over himself in every situation EXCEPT when he's playing video games.
Speaking of restraints..💕
He's lowk open to freakiness😞 not the way he is in fanfics, like he's not gonna bend you over and piss on you in an alleyway 0.5 seconds after meeting you, but if you're in a relationship he'd probably be open to a lot of stuff. He's one of those guys who just wants you to feel good.
Now 100% fanon shiggy headcanons, some nsfw. I'm sorry in advance.
He loves s3rl, and never left his nightcore phase.
Owns Minecraft creeper boxers.
Would give you the most ferocious, earth shattering, mind blowing, soul sucking head of your life n then look up at you with that stupid cat smile he does😞 THAT or give you this cocky look.
Would totes lose his shit n turn into a huffy puffy mess if you worshipped his cock
I'M SORRY IM EORRY KM6SORRY J DIDNT MEAN IT PLEASE FORGIVE MR
I lied, these are basically just things I consider canon. Some actually are and I threw them in there cause I got off track. (A few of these r similar to my old hcs post about him,, but that's on a whole different account so we're gonna ignore it.) edit: actually this went 100% off track and I just started talking about fanon shiggy halfway through.
The urge to destroy everything used to be all consuming. Though when he met the league, they became his family. It was subconscious at first, but he didn't want to destroy everything anymore. He just wanted to destroy what hurt him, and what hurt his friends. As AFO began to take more and more control over him, he realized that he wanted to destroy AFO too. Even before AFO revealed what he did to him as a kid. That was a hard pill to swallow, since he'd been forced into the belief that AFO was the only person there for him, and the only person who loved/could love him as he is, meeting the league was the only thing that broke that belief.
He doesn't blame his sister in the slightest for anything that happened. He knows she was a child, just like he was, even if she was a bit older. He knows, and has accepted the fact that there's no way she could've predicted what was going to happen next. She was just stuck in a shitty home and didn't want to get in trouble for sneaking into their father's office. Though he does blame the rest of his family for not doing anything to help.
He dislikes bystanders nearly as much as he dislikes bad people, he can't stand those who make excuses about why something is happening instead of helping. Especially when it comes to adults. They really piss him off.
He really doesn't care about someone's power when it comes to joining the league, they're working towards a society where people aren't shoved aside for things they can't control so, why would he reject people who only want to help? (Like, he didn't reject Spinner when he joined the league, despite him having a pretty useless quirk compared to the others.).
He was a lil bit jealous when he saw stain merch at the mall. He wanted his own merch </3
He is NOT the introverted, touch hating, loser people make him out to be. In "encounter" he gets mad and then goes straight to a massive shopping mall😭. We rarely ever see him hiding away or rotting in his room. He's always available, always with the league, the most we see of him being alone is like,, him stepping out for 0.3 seconds to go take a breather. Not to mention he's VERY handsy. Pun intended. I think that if he didn't have a dangerous quirk, he'd be a lot more touchy (PLATONICALLY, YOU PERV) with his comrads.
He thinks about Mon and Hana more than the rest of his family,, ofcourse, he loves his mom and grandparents to an extent, but he still sees them as the adults who watched him be abused and never helped him. So ofcourse he thinks about the innocent more. He does understand that they were scared of his father too,, but it's always your responsibility as an adult to help a child in need.
His nails are neglected, always cracked/chipped
He lifts his pinkie even after he gains control over his quirk, it's a habit.
Villain work became a lot more taxing after the PLF formed, so it was a lot to take on. Especially since he'd been injured so badly he could barely stand.
Has played EVERY Zelda game to ever be made. ALL of them. He was on a MISSION to complete them all.
Decayed more than a few controllers‼️
He has to sleep with gloves/finger covers so that he doesn't decay his bed.
These started out as serious and now I'm just throwing random crap at you guys.
Instead of decaying his trash, he just stuffs it in bags and leaves it wherever he pleases. I like to think he has carpet flooring and doesn't wanna have to sweep dust out of it.
He had to get his room carpeted because he kept throwing his controllers around when he lost a game.
He has an insane amount of restraint over himself in every situation EXCEPT when he's playing video games.
Speaking of restraints..💕
He's lowk open to freakiness😞 not the way he is in fanfics, like he's not gonna bend you over and piss on you in an alleyway 0.5 seconds after meeting you, but if you're in a relationship he'd probably be open to a lot of stuff. He's one of those guys who just wants you to feel good.
Now 100% fanon shiggy headcanons, some nsfw. I'm sorry in advance.
He loves s3rl, and never left his nightcore phase.
Owns Minecraft creeper boxers.
Would give you the most ferocious, earth shattering, mind blowing, soul sucking head of your life n then look up at you with that stupid cat smile he does😞 THAT or give you this cocky look.
Would totes lose his shit n turn into a huffy puffy mess if you worshipped his cock
I'M SORRY IM EORRY KM6SORRY J DIDNT MEAN IT PLEASE FORGIVE MR
🖐🏻 ━ Shigaraki is not a people person. His childhood should already be a big enough indicator of that.
🖐🏻 ━ His quirk always kept others miles away and his appearance didn’t help much.
🖐🏻 ━ He always saw love as a fatal flaw that could bring to the downfall of the strongest heroes and he’s witnessed it firsthand how true that sentiment is.
🖐🏻 ━ Until he found you.
🖐🏻 ━ Shigaraki would become fixated on you, constantly thinking about you to the point where it affects his judgment.
🖐🏻 ━ The LOV would be caught off guard when they walked into the bar area and saw a random civilian sitting, smiling, and drinking with their crusty, dusty leader.
🖐🏻 ━ This is clearly a date. Right?
🖐🏻 ━ Noticing their presence first and oblivious to their flabbergasted faces, you introduced yourself first.
🖐🏻 ━ Or at least you tried to.
🖐🏻 ━ “Oh! Hi!”
🖐🏻 ━ “Um… hello…?” Twice would be the first to greet back, albeit confused.
🖐🏻 ━ “Wow! You’re really pretty! Who are you? Are you new?” Toga rattled off, excited for a fresh cute face.
🖐🏻 ━ “Aw thank you! My name is–”
🖐🏻 ━ Shigaraki cuts you off by pulling your arm forcefully, pulling you off the stool and into his arms.
🖐🏻 ━ “Don’t waste your breath on these insignificant morons.” he snarled.
🖐🏻 ━ Toga and Twice gasped loudly and shouted back to their offensive leader.
🖐🏻 ━ Shigaraki drags you away from the bar, careful not to grip your wrist with all five fingers but still maintain an intense grasp on you.
🖐🏻 ━ “Oh, um! Bye guys! It was nice meeting you! And you’re really cute too!” you yell back, still smiling as if you weren’t being dragged away.
🖐🏻 ━ As soon as you both reached his room, he slammed the door and flung you onto his bed.
🖐🏻 ━ He flopped on top of you and immediately buried his face in your neck.
🖐🏻 ━ “Why’d you talk to them?” he grumbled.
🖐🏻 ━ You softly rubbed his back and giggled when you felt his dry lips graze your skin as he talked.
🖐🏻 ━ “I was just being nice.” you answer.
🖐🏻 ━ “Don’t be nice,” he snapped. “Don’t talk to them. Don’t look at them. Don’t smile at them. Don’t breathe around them.”
🖐🏻 ━ You laugh. “That last one might be hard.”
🖐🏻 ━ He gripped your waist tightly and growled harsher into your neck.
🖐🏻 ━ “I don’t care. I’d rather soon dust this entire league than have them so much as be in the same room as you.”
🖐🏻 ━ “But that would be rude. I can’t deliberately ignore a person when they talk to me.”
🖐🏻 ━ You spoke very calmly.
🖐🏻 ━ “And I want to get to know your friends.”
🖐🏻 ━ “They’re not my friends!”
🖐🏻 ━ You laughed and peppered his face with kisses.
🖐🏻 ━ “Please Shiggy~?”
🖐🏻 ━ Shigaraki fought with himself. As much as he wanted to say no and keep you locked in his room, he couldn’t resist your soft pouting lips.
🖐🏻 ━ “Ugh! Fine!” He finally gave in.
🖐🏻 ━ “But listen to me (Y/N). You’re mine now. No one else gets to have you, understand? If anyone tries to come between us, especially those worthless rejects out there, I’ll make them disappear… right in front of your eyes.”
🖐🏻 ━ “Lmao OK.”
🖐🏻 ━ He won’t tolerate anyone getting close to you. If he perceived someone as a threat, he’d remove them, either by intimidation or more extreme means.
🖐🏻 ━ The only person he’d trust you around is Kurogiri.
🖐🏻 ━ But, that wouldn’t really matter since he’s forbidden you from leaving the hideout. Which you didn’t mind as much since Shigaraki would cater to your every need.
🖐🏻 ━ Before getting together, he would stalk you. Always needing to know where you were and who you were with. You didn’t have a quirk so his need to “protect” you from anything and anyone would be overwhelming to everyone around him but you.
🖐🏻 ━ You find his overbearing attitude towards you to be endearing and sign that he really cares for you in a way you’ve never felt before.
🖐🏻 ━ “You don’t need anyone else. I’ll protect you from everything… even from those “heroes” that would love nothing more than to rip you away from me. And even if a hero could take you away, I’d kill them before they could lay a finger on you. Remember that. No one can save you from me. So don’t even think about leaving me. Because if you do… I’ll destroy you, and I’ll destroy myself so I could follow you.”
🖐🏻 ━ “But if you destroy yourself… I wouldn’t be able to hold and kiss you anymore…”
🖐🏻 ━ He uses his influence and power as leader of the league to isolate you even further from the outside world. Wherever you were living before would be cleaned out of your stuff and moved into the hideout. Your job would try to contact you, but to no avail. Friends and family would reach out to the community to ask where you went and search for you, but with no luck. To everyone from the outside, you no longer existed. You had seemingly disappeared without a trace.
🖐🏻 ━ He also makes the others go on errands for anything you needed, no matter the time or how busy they were. If they didn’t want to be dust, they’d be your loyal servant.
🖐🏻 ━ However, one day after waking up from a nap, he would feel around the bed after not feeling you in his arms and when he opened his eyes… you were nowhere to be found.
🖐🏻 ━ No one, not even Kurogiri, could stop the rampage that followed after Toga, Twice, Dabi, and Mr. Compress told him that they had no idea where you were. They had just gotten back from a mission. They had no text from you and Kurogiri also admitted that he saw you in the bar area for a while, but when he went to check on something for a minute, you were gone and he assumed you went back to his room.
🖐🏻 ━ This began the ultimate decay storm. He screamed, he threw punches and furniture. The members were awestruck by the insane scene happening before them. Over you. A quirkless random. There was nowhere to go.
🖐🏻 ━ When Spinner walks in, he barely manages to dodge a half-dusted stool hurling towards his head.
🖐🏻 ━ “What the fuck?!”
🖐🏻 ━ “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE THEY WENT?! WHERE THE FUCK IS MY (Y/N)?!”
🖐🏻 ━ “(Y/N)?! They’re fine! They went to go get something to eat like 15 minutes ago!”
🖐🏻 ━ Suddenly, the raging storm turned silent. The other members took this as a chance to make a run for it.
🖐🏻 ━ “Outside?”
🖐🏻 ━ Spinner gulped anxiously, feeling a chill run down his spine.
🖐🏻 ━ “You let. MY (Y/N)! GO OUTSIDE?!”
🖐🏻 ━ The remaining stools in his hands quickly turned to dust as he gradually trudged towards the green lizard with heavy, ominous steps.
🖐🏻 ━ Spinner froze, unable to move an inch.
🖐🏻 ━ “I-I was busy! I was getting information and there was no food in the fridge. The others weren’t here and (Y/N) said they were hungry so I gave them the keys–”
🖐🏻 ━ Spinner could tell Shigaraki wasn’t listening. All his excuses were falling on deaf ears.
🖐🏻 ━ Just as Shigaraki’s hand was mere mere inches away from Spinner’s face, he knew what would get him to stop.
🖐🏻 ━ “I KNOW WHERE THEY WENT!!”
🖐🏻 ━ Shigaraki stopped in his tracks and pulled his hand away as he stared down at the shaking heteromorph.
🖐🏻 ━ Spinner is Shigaraki’s loyal right-hand man. The first person he met when all hell seemed to be on them. The first ones to bring together this league. To bring down the heroes. Spinner would never lie to Shigaraki. And he knows that.
🖐🏻 ━ “Tell me where they went… please…”
🖐🏻 ━ Spinner and Shigaraki have always had a soft spot for each other.
🖐🏻 ━ When you first came into the picture, Spinner saw this as just a passing fling – mere puppy love – and soon Shigaraki would get bored of you and throw you away.
🖐🏻 ━ Looking at the nearly destroyed common area and how close he came to being dust himself, he was obviously wrong. He realized that Shigaraki would destroy everyone and everything around him if he were to lose you.
🖐🏻 ━ Meanwhile, you are having a great time. You’re sitting in a restaurant waiting for your to-go order and scrolling on your phone.
🖐🏻 ━ It was pretty peaceful despite the busy lunch rush. The only thing on your mind is getting the food and going home. You were honestly starting to get sick being around others and their loud conversations. Shigaraki really spoiled you by keeping you inside all the time and having others get food for you. You honestly wonder how you put up with this in the past. You cursed under your breath when you felt your pockets and forgot your headphones.
🖐🏻 ━ You checked the time again for the fifth time when a huge crash rattled the entire store.
🖐🏻 ━ Customers started to scream as bodies flew across the restaurant slamming against the floor and walls. Customers and staff that weren’t blocked by debris ran from any exit they could find, trampling over bodies and others trying to flee as a white unmarked van skidded into the entrance, the bumper and blood covered in blood.
🖐🏻 ━ You were about to make a run for it too when you heard a familiar voice.
🖐🏻 ━ “(Y/N)!”
🖐🏻 ━ You whipped your head back and immediately smiled at the familiar face emerging from the van.
🖐🏻 ━ “Shiggy!”
🖐🏻 ━ You ran towards Shigaraki, nearly tripping over the broken glass and concrete debris blocking the way.
🖐🏻 ━ As soon as Shigaraki felt your arms wrap around him and your body press against him, he nearly forgot how mad he was.
🖐🏻 ━ Nearly.
🖐🏻 ━ “I warned you. Did you really think you could leave me (Y/N)? I told you that I’d kill everyone around you if you ran away from me.”
🖐🏻 ━ The leftover customers and staff stood shell-shocked at the scene playing out before them. A few are already on the phone with the police.
🖐🏻 ━ You tilted your head quizzically.
🖐🏻 ━ “But I didn’t run away.”
🖐🏻 ━ You said it so calmly. Like you weren’t afraid of him or perturbed by his words.
🖐🏻 ━ “You disobeyed me! You went outside! You left me!”
🖐🏻 ━ “Shiggy, I told you I was going to get food. Don’t you remember?”
🖐🏻 ━ “Don’t lie to me, (Y/N).” He stared you down intensely and gripped you tighter like you were going to fade away right before his eyes.
🖐🏻 ━ “I’m not, babe! During our nap together, I went to the kitchen to get a snack and the fridge was empty. Toga, Dabi, and Twice weren’t there and I didn’t want to disturb them because they’ve been so busy lately so I asked Spinner if he could pick up some food for us.”
🖐🏻 ━ Spinner, still sitting in the driver’s seat, halted his breath wondering if you were going to throw him under the bus since he didn’t get the chance to fully explain the situation.
🖐🏻 ━ “But Spinner was also really busy so I asked him if I could borrow one of the cars to go get some food. He said he would only allow it if you approved.”
🖐🏻 ━ “I don’t remember you asking me anything…” Shigaraki remembers falling asleep in your arms, but nothing else.
🖐🏻 ━ “Awww~! Was someone half asleep?” you teased. “That’s so adorable~!”
🖐🏻 ━ Shigaraki couldn’t stop the blush that spread to his face. If Shigaraki was really awake, there would be no way in hell he’d approve any of this.
🖐🏻 ━ You stood on your tiptoes and gave Shigaraki a gentle kiss on the lips. Surprising everyone including Spinner and Shigaraki.
🖐🏻 ━ You’d only given him cheek and forehead kisses. This is officially his first kiss. You pulled away and smiled at him lovingly.
🖐🏻 ━ “I’m sorry for worrying you. I won’t do it again.” you apologized. “Honestly, being outside sucks. I just want to be back home with you.”
🖐🏻 ━ Shigaraki felt a warmth in his chest enveloping his heart. Without a doubt he knew what this feeling was. He hadn’t felt it in a long time.
🖐🏻 ━ “U-Um…”
🖐🏻 ━ Shigaraki’s eyes turned sharp as he glared at the vile creature ruining the moment.
🖐🏻 ━ “Oh! Is the food ready!” You smiled at the stunlocked worker covered in the building’s dust holding two large plastic bags trembling in his hands.
🖐🏻 ━ You took the bags from their hands and gave it a quick lookover. You hated it when workers gave you your food and left out important utensils or missing items.
🖐🏻 ━ “Yep! This is it! Thank you–”
🖐🏻 ━ “Didn’t I tell you not to be nice to others?” He grabs your face to look only at him as he glared at the worker you were freely giving your smiles to.
🖐🏻 ━ “Look! I got the league and us ramen! And look at this! They also have ohagi! Your favorite! I had a feeling you’d want something sweet after your nap.” You raised the bags and turned around to face him.
🖐🏻 ━ Shigaraki felt even more confirmation about this feeling than he thought possible.
🖐🏻 ━ This is love.
🖐🏻 ━ He wants to snatch you away from this place, away from the leering and perverted eyes of the disgusting NPCS walking this earth, but…
🖐🏻 ━ A honk cut clear through the tension.
🖐🏻 ━ “Okay, lovebirds! We gotta go unless we want to get some heroes to-go too!” Spinner called from the car.
🖐🏻 ━ Shigaraki led you by the waist and carefully placed you into the backseat of the van like you were made of porcelain.
🖐🏻 ━ Before he got in himself, he turned to the dazed customers and staff one last time.
🖐🏻 ━ “I guess I won’t blow this place up… Maybe I’ll decide after eating.”
🖐🏻 ━ As Spinner drove off, he kept glancing at the backseat as you and Shigaraki continued talking light-heartedly like they hadn’t committed domestic terrorism in a search for you.
🖐🏻 ━ Spinner sighed in relief as the storm finally blew over.
🖐🏻 ━ Call it true love or obsession, Shigaraki had no intention of letting you go.
🖤🖤🖤
a/n: my first reaction post for mr. hands aka crusty dusty. my love for him out weighs my love for sleeping. so i turned him into a yandere. pls enjoy!
When this chapter came out my mind was still processing the shit show that Izuku/Tomura had been, and I honestly thought that anything that came after that would never improve it. In part I still think the same thing but that doesn't mean that this chapter is still something I can appreciate and sincerely wanted to write.
The chapter itself can be easily summarized in the vision of two perspectives, the first told from a documentary form about the consequences that Tomura and his LoV left on the citizens of Japan and the other Spinner's perspective.
The vision of the citizens is totally empty of empathy towards Tomura, the citizens have their perspective colored by their losses and their anger, from the loss of their home or the death.
Lack of empathy in general, considering him scary, someone who no matter how much past he had, it shouldn’t be justified or someone without convictions and only hunger for destruction.
I emphasize the dialogues because those who say them are irrelevant, since they are only citizens. The panel of the lack of convictions is the one that catches my attention the most, because we can see the ignorance of the people, for the external viewer who lived the emergence of the Lov and the war, for them are exactly monsters. Tomura has no convictions because they see the same thing as the hereos at the beginning a manchild, that's what Stain told him at the beginning that he only sought to destroy without reason, that he had no convictions, the same thing Izuku tells him in their talk at the mall, Midoriya tells him that his actions were childish and had no purpose beyond destroying as a childish enjoyment, that even without endorsing Stain's methods he still understood his motives, something that didn’t happen with Tomura. It’s after their talk that he comes out with his convictions and I think that is the point where we leave that more generic vision of manchild and his actions become something serious in the search for an objective, which solidifies in the formation of the LoV.
Likewise, what I’m trying to get at is precisely one of the perspectives that this chapter shows us, citizens don’t see beyond their own losses and feelings and above all things they judge a stranger in whom they’re not positively emotionally involved but only negatively. What this chapter shows is that it’s very easy to dehumanize what is unknown to us, "monster, terrifying, etc." It’s easy not to feel empathy for someone who has only given us negative emotions, even their past will not be justified.
What is interesting is that the documentary and the talk between Midoriya and Spinner are intertwined, we not see the perspective of the finished documentary and then Spinner, but documentary is interrupted by Spinner and it’s where we find someone that talks about Tomura with care and humanity, which the citizens’ reports lack. Also what we see in this chapter is Spinner's breakdown and Izuku's reaction to this, which is correct and helps Spinner to have closure.
For every thought from the citizens we have Spinner showing us that Tomura wasn’t destruction for meaningless childish joy, for every comment about his lack of convictions we have a Spinner who found a way thanks to Tomura's convictions, for every person who is unable to see anything outside of a terrorist, Spinner sees someone who gave him a place, a purpose and treated him as an equal when until then he seemed resigned to his destiny, he sees a friend. We can even see the smallest things that it was that Tomura loved video games.
Although it has been discussed whether the LoV stories justify their actions, the truth is that this chapter shows that even that person who seems monstrous has another identity, Tomura isn’t the symbol of fear for Spinner, but rather his first friend, someone precious, this contrast of perspectives is important because it shows us that there are no blacks and whites but a gray scale.
Having said the above, in addition to the perspectives and the confrontation between them in this chapter, I also want to focus on the emotional aspect, loss and grief. For this I think that the main panel between them is a good introduction.
The first words that come out of Spinner's mouth are to call Izuku a murderer and Midoriya's with absolute calm, says that he will not deny the fact, again despite my criticism of Horkoshi and that I think he was mediocre in the treatment of Izuku and Tomura, I’m not going to deny that these words have been haunting Izuku since their confrontation and outcome, Spinner may be the one who puts them on the table for the first time, but from the hospital we know that Izuku feels his failure. This is seen again when the only time a UA student, tells him that he’s an inspiration, his thoughts return to Spinner's gaze and he doesn't know what to respond, because he knows that the admiration he receives is due to the outcome with Tomura which is not what he wanted, to be recognized for taking a life.
However, there is also something I must say and that is that during all the final chapters Izuku prioritized the emotions of others over his own, which is why we have no reaction with Spinner. Some blogs I read said that Midoriya's reaction to this chapter had been incorrect, because more emotionality was needed and perhaps a deeper attempt at consolation. However, Midoriya consoled and listened to Spinner's pain and recognized it and above all he didn’t try to justify anything, this differs for example from his reaction to Toga's confession and with Dabi in the first war, with Spinner he takes his pain, listens to it and does not try to justify himself or make him see another perspective but simply remains stable and lets Spinner to be one who feels, the one who cries.
Izuku's consolation to Spinner is not to justify himself, to accept his pain but above all to carry the message, because there are no words that he can add that generate more comfort than those he said, there is nothing else he could say or do that would have given Spinner a minimum sense of peace than knowing that until the end the LoV was Shigaraki's driving force, that he remained firm until the end in keeping his word and that he wanted to be the hero of the villains, wanting to fulfill his promise to Spinner.
Midoriya's recognition of the league is important, because he doesn’t detract from them but rather recognizes them as a central point of Tomura, that child and then adult who was manipulated in every aspect, at the end of the day he had his own will when he formed the LoV and that is out of AFO's hands. At the end of the day they were his last thought, and this is very similar to what Ochako told Toga when she recognized that she could not replace the LoV as Toga's family, Ochako recognizes them as importance for Toga, and Izuku in turn recognizes this in Tomura and conveys this to Spinner, as Tomura said "Even if I become an empty shell and all my hatred fades away, I still want to be a hero for them".
In the same way he also consoles him in his final words by encouraging the book and says he will never forget Tomura, by recognizing these two things he is telling him that he should tell his vision knowing that he would not be in a good light from his perspective and above all when he assures that he will not forget him, he does not say it because of what he did to him or his friends, but as a response to tell Spinner that Tomura's life had value and that he will not be just one more on a list of villains, because those are Spinner's words, that for heroes like Midoriya he will only become one more name on a list but Izuku says that Tomura will accompany him always, that is why also after those words Spinner loses his defensive posture and allows himself a few words about Shoji.
All of this is about Midoriya, but we still need to touch on what Spinner said from his own perspective. The way he slowly begins to lose control of his emotions and tells himself that he must stop thinking because otherwise the pain would return. The way he talks about Tomura as his hope and his friend, someone who gave him acceptance and who little by little breaks a little more especially because he is not only angry with Izuku but with himself, because he blames himself and his inability to reach his friend when there was still time.
Spinner acknowledges that he let everything take its course, that if he had been a little more involved, that even if he had objected to Tomura's plans to merge with AFO, then he could have changed the outcome, Spinner was a bystander, who could have taken action. but he didn't, he feels like he failed his friend because there was a moment where he could have taken a step forward even if it meant confronting Tomura's own plans and then everything seemed impossible to stop to the point that the only thing left to do was move forward and take a quirk from AFO to continue with the plans. Spinner's feelings about both his loss and his own inaction become a central focus and the book becomes his way of ensuring that even a memory of Tomura and the LoV is not forgotten, because perhaps he failed to be there for Tomura. but he will make sure that people know the real Tomura Shigaraki, the one they call without convictions or simply as a monster, he will be in charge of telling who Tomura was, the person who gave him a place of belonging, who played with him and accepted him when he had already given up and couldn't find a place to fit. Maybe that won't change the perspective of citizens in general, but it's better than hundreds of strangers talking about someone they don't know. Ultimately it's the only thing Spinner can do for his friend, that at the end of the day people know that his convictions stood even to the bitter end. I didn't think I was going to write something so long, but honestly this chapter is one of the few things that I liked and I felt that all its aspects deserved an analysis or at least an attempt at analysis. I clarify that I didn’t use the official translation because Manga Plus in my region does not allow me to read a certain number of chapters, but I remember that the original translation does not differ grossly from the chapter to alter the interpretation.
