Very very serious analysis on Zen(AFO) and Yoichi(who?) [Part 3] (1831 words)Â
Part 1 Part 2
Then we got a timeskip to the twins in their adult age. From here, we can see how Zen had started addressing his little brother affectionately as with the word âdear/adorableâ, but not forgetting to call him âfoolishâ because siblings thing.Â
At this stage, we knew that Zen had already amassed many followers and was already a great manipulator. So him calling Yoiichi affectionately could be him trying to manipulate him that âbro I have changed from my emotionless phase, I do love you and will shower you with compliments that you never got during childhood just like me, so pls join my evil organizationâ or regretting the old days when he wasnât as expressive. It depends on how humanized you imagine Zen to be.
In this scene, it is implied that Zen was on the way to meet Yoichi but Yoichi went to find him/go elsewhere but ran into Zen instead. So Zen made fun of his lack of patience and called him a hypocrite.Â
He did the same when Yoichi continued to call Zen manipulative after he helped two men who suffered from having and not having a metapower. Then again when he told Yoichi how loyal and respectful his followers are. All of these were him trying to gaslight Yoichi that he wasnât doing anything bad and Yoichi was the one at fault here, which, successfully gaslighted the me from 2018 too NGL.
When I first watched this flashback on 2018, I felt like Yoichi is the bad guy here lol. One of his first lines being how metapowers shouldnât be used for personal gain did not give me a good first impression.Â
Imagine being born with something you didnât ask for, like maybe an extra arm. You faced discrimination for it, but your extra arm is helpful in your daily life. But this man with white hair came to you one day and screamed at you, saying how you should use your extra arm for the sake of others and never for yourself. That you shouldnât be selfish with the body you are born with. I think I will put Yoichi in a double vault if he did that to me. Zen is pretty lenient for just putting him in one layer of vault.
And Yoichi constantly just trying to jump Zen who was just standing still and helping two men just doesnât help at all. He also gets defeated by the air when he first tries to jump Zen. Like if he wants to be convincing about why Zen helping the two men is going to be a huge bad deal, show Zen reusing the men again and make them pay their debt in inhumane ways. But he only managed to show 20% of what he wanted to show so whatever. He forgot to show the other 80% even after the end of the series.Â
Heck, he will be a lot more convincing if he just shows Zen killing the glowing teen. Also he didnât only show this flashback to Izuku, he showed it to all of the OFA users too. I have no idea what Yoichiâs end goal is by trauma dumping his successors of that time when he tried to jump Zen but got defeated by nothing while screaming like a madman. If his goal was to max out the pity factor, I must say he did a great job with it. Iâm sending him back to his mental hospital.
Anyway as much as I think that Zen did help the two men who suffered due to their power/lack of one, he did do it for the purpose of getting followers. And a more morally better method to solve their issues was to get the parents to understand that their child is forever deformed now and to accept him as he is, and to just build a more peaceful society for the powerless man because you simply donât hand a weapon to someone who looks like he is going to stab 5 people minimum.Â
Also I must commend Yoichiâs effort for standing up after getting defeated by his brotherâs most powerful bodyguard, whose physical form is too strong to be seen but came in the form of coughs. Notice how adult Yoichi wears a singular jacket? It gives +0.1 defense. It will protect him from that bodyguard in his dream.
Moving on. From how Zen had the two men follow him to Yoichi, itâs implied that Zen intends to do the power transfer in front of his little brother since the start. The gaslight battles have been planned since long ago.
Then next up we see Zenâs second bodyguard, who is less powerful so we can see his physical form and pinning down Yoichi. While Zen is probably enjoying the feeling of someone respecting him so much so to put an end to his mentally unstable brotherâs rampage.Â
Even so, he loves his brother enough to warn the bodyguard to be gentle because Yoichi is like a balloon. Kick him, he fly. Grab him a bit too hard, he explodes. Please do not the Yoichi.
Anyway slander and agenda aside x2, I found this part to be one of the most important pieces in understanding how Zen thinks. He knew that he was a metahuman and at this time, he still thought that Yoochi had no metapower. And his little brother who grew up beside him opposed him from being evil! Why? IT MUST BE BECAUSE HE HAS NO POWER!!! I HATE THE OLD HUMANS!!! THEY ARE ALL SO HYPOCRITICAL AND CANâT UNDERSTAND MY DEMON KING DREAM!!!111!!1
Born with the Quirk All for One, Zen is highly likely born with the need to take and give Quirks. (insert 300 words why Quirks shape a person in MHA) Anyway, the point is Quirks shape a person. (insert 200 words why Zen is the way he is and Yoichi is the way he is)
Next we see the scene changed to the one the anime cut a bit here and there. Which I can understand why because this is supposed to be Yoichiâs flashback, so how is he showing Zen doing his daily quest if he wasnât there in person? And yet the anime leaves the part of Zen walking between the army of metahumans and old humans. So we can safely assume that Yoichi made up these flashbacks because he really wants his successors and us readers to know that his brother is evil and he is the pitiful mentally ill foolish little brother.
Then the famous memeâI mean the vault scene. Time to bring back the whole âI think Yoichi ate Zenâs clothingâ theory from two thousand words ago. Notice how Yoichi is missing his jacket here? He ate it.Â
Now to estimate the length Yoici is locked in this place. From the way Zen say âstill refusing to eat?â, the way none of them treat it like itâs a new thing. I will boldly assume that Yuichi has been trapped in the vault for at least 30 seconds. Maybe 40. Or a week. I really doubt that he has been hunger striking for longer because he doesnât look that malnourished at all. Thinner than Zen? Certainly. Visible ribs? Definitely not.
The point of the time estimation is to tell you that enough time passed in the vault where Yonichi mightâve eaten something but skipped at least two meals for Zen to make that comment. Hereâs the strange thing. How did Zen know that Koichi didnât eat when there is no leftover food in the vault? And donât you bring up the argument that the leftover food is outside the vault because my crack theory will fall apart otherwise.
Moving on. Zen knew that Yoichi hadnât eaten because he hadnât eaten more of his own clothing. Like we can even see how he has his shoes when his brother gives him a Quirk, but he lost his shoes when he got kidnapped by Kudo and Bruce. If this isnât enough evidence that Yoichiâs main source of food is fabric, I donât know what it is.
So why? Why didnât baby Yoichi eat his own clothing and eat Zenâs instead? Itâs simply because he is a selfish little piece of brother. The audacity of this devil. I feel bad for Zen.
Just to seal this case closed, in the anime, we even have Zen drinking something. But Yoichi? He didnât drink the hot drink Kudo offered. In fact, there wasnât even a drink in the anime because the staff was informed of Devichiâs eating habits. You will only convince me that Demonchi eats normal human food unless you can get me a panel with him doing that. Otherwise, he doesnât.
Alright we are a little off track by 300 words but letâs continue. Why did Zen lock Satanchi in the vault? The widely accepted take is that he wanted to break his little brotherâs spirit enough to give in to him. But obviously the real reason here is to contain the menace that is Shigaraki Yoichi. This man is not only diseased and coughing, he is also more powerful than the leader of the resistance against Zen. Yes Iâm talking about Kudo.
On the left image we can see Yoichi successfully hitting Zen in just one attempt. On the right image we see Kudo successfully NOT hit Zen in his attempt. Therefore, we can conclude that Yoichi has a 100% hit rate while Kudo has a 0% hit rate. If Yoichi were born with the gearshift power instead, he wouldâve been the most broken character in this universe. He will only be safely contained in 10 layers of vault, maybe 11.
Seriously speaking, I think Zen would be a foolish older brother if he had or intended to lock Yoichi in a vault for a ridiculous amount of time like months to years. Firstly, Yoichi is quite stubborn, he will probably let himself lose his sanity from the isolation rather than submit to his brother. What if he lost it enough and started throwing his âwasteâ at Zen like a monkey? With his 100% hit rate, Zen would suffer a fate worse than death. And not to mention how gross it would be.
Secondly, Zen might be patient, but he looks pretty impatient and wants Yorichi to join him as fast as possible. We saw at least two attempts from him trying to turn Yosanchi to his side and one of them was after his little brother was already locked up. I really doubt that stubbornly keeping Zoichi locked up longer would work. The point is I just think Zen is smart enough to know that doing the same thing won't crack Yunoci. Basically, only my opinion is correct and everyone elseâs isnât.Â
Shigaraki Yoichi is actually AFO this whole time, you gotta trust me.















