āWhen Enji didnāt answer Shoutoās call and focused on Deku he choose hero work over fatherhoodā
Yeah, thatās totally why he did itā¦ because he liked Deku more and cared more about being a hero
Itās not like thereās an insanely superpowered criminal mastermind whoās targeting Deku and WILL target Shouto if he got himself involved with Dekuās mission. Itās not like protecting Shouto from certain and terrifying danger is part of Enjiās duty as a father. Ā
I mean itās one thing to criticize Enji for being overprotective and not having complete faith in Shoutoās powers, thatās valid, but to act like his motives and priorities are still the same as his pre-redemption self? and act like being protective of your child has nothing to do with fatherhood? wtf, fandom???
Unfortunately, I feel like Horikoshi sort of wrote Endeavor into a corner where no matter what he does he will be failing in someway.Ā
It doesnāt really matter if heās looking out for Shoto or not when he ignores his messages because it still will come across as him putting his Hero work over his family. But at the same time if he dropped everything and only focused on finding Dabi/Touya heād be criticized for being a bad Hero and caring more abut his personal issues then the citizens that are being attacked left and right.
I mean I remember when people got mad that it looked like that was what the Top 3 were doingājust going after Dabi instead of the main Big Bad AfO, but now thatās heās focused on AfO and helping Izuku, heās now being a bad father.Ā
Horikoshi has written it so that Endeavorās arc is supposed to be him learning to put his family over his status as a Hero, but then destroyed the Hero System and Society in a way where if Endeavor quite or focused on his family itād still make him bad because suddenly heās leaving when HeroesĀ are needed more then ever and innocent people are dying. Neither option will make him look goodāheās failed and is perceived as selfish either way.Ā
The only way I could have seen this being at all mitigated is if Hori had taken the time to do the Hospital Recovery Arc so many people expected because then we could have been shown Endeavorās reaction to finding out about OfA/AfO and seen his sudden concern for Shoto. Hori also could have had Endeavor explain to Shoto that as much as he would like to go after Touya with him, that AfO has to come first because theyāre working against the clock of Shigaraki becoming complete.Ā
As it is, it comes off as him blowing off Shoto, who most likely has something important to talk to him about because he doesnāt contact Endeavor for basic pleasantries. I donāt think itās supposed to come off as so harsh, and I until weāre given more on the situation, Iāll say that I doubt Hori wrote it to show Enji going back to his old ways. At worst I think it was meant to show how hard it still is for Enji to face his family, especially after all the negative things heās gone through lately and not wanting to subject his family to those things.Ā
I honestly canāt blame Horiās flawed writing for how some parts of the fandom chose to be deeply biased and jumped to silly, ridiculous conclusions.Ā
Thatās on them, not on Hori.Ā
It doesnāt really matter if heās looking out for Shoto or not when he ignores his messages because it still will come across as him putting his Hero work over his family.
I disagree.
It doesnāt have to come across like that because Horiās writing does not support that impression. Nothing in that scene even remotely indicated that Enji has regressed to his past self.
We donāt have to assume the absolute worse about Enjiās motives and priorities just because he felt he had to delay answering Shoutoās call (not outright refused to answer him). Itās an active choice on the fandomās part to come up with the conclusion that Enji is putting his work over his family again (when protecting Shouto IS part of his duty as a father).Ā
We didnāt need to be told that Deku is distancing himself from his friends in order to protect them. It was immediately understood and acknowledged as soon as it happened. But apparently we need to be explicitly told that Enji is temporarily distancing himself from his son in order to protect him or else itās totally fine to disregard all of Endeavorās character development and accuse him of selfishly choosing his work over his family.Ā
Was it wrong for Enji to delay answering Shoutoās call? Yes. He was too overprotective.Ā
But since when was āoverprotectivenessā something Endeavorās past self would do?Ā
Endeavor was never overprotective of Shouto before now. Worse yet, he disregarded Shoutoās physical safety every time he brutally trained him.Ā
So how can anyone say Enji āregressed to his past selfā when his old self wouldnāt have a problem in getting Shouto involved in physically dangerous situations?
