Essays, reviews, thoughts, observations, character descriptions and what else interests my mind. So far the fandoms for which I posted/reblogged something are: - Air - Angel Sanctuary - Ano Hana - Axis Powers Hetalia - Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon - Card Captor Sakura - Chobits - Clover - Code Geass - Cyborg 009 - Death Note - Dragon Ball - Drug & Drop - Free! - Gate 7 - Gohou Drug - Hagunsei Senki - Higurashi no naku no koro ni - Kobato - Kuroshitsuji - Magic Knight Rayearth - Mirai Nikki - Pandora Hearts - Princess Tutu - Puella Magi Madoka Magica - RG Veda - Saber Rider and The Star Sheriffs - Saint Seiya - Seijushi Bismark - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Ghoul - Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE - Tsubasa WoRLD CHRoNiCLE - Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Wish - X - xxxHOLiC - Yami no Matsuei - Zankyou No Terror
Someone asked about Toga and hee skills and you said how in schools os mandatory to teach martial arts and dancing. I was thinking, for my fic, what would happen if in theory a public school refuses to do that?
Honestly I'm having troubles finding such detailed info.
What I know is the follow:
"Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe oversaw the revision of the 1947 Fundamental Law of Education to emphasise traditional “Japanese values” in 2006. As one direct result of this, traditional martial arts became compulsory in junior high schools in April 2012. Unlike the initial opposition to the new law, opposition to this particular aspect has not been led by teachers’ unions and their political allies, but by parents concerned about the health and safety of their children."
"Male and female first- and second-year middle school students will have to take classes in a traditional Japanese martial arts–such as judo, kendo, sumo, naginatajutsu (Japanese halberd fighting) and aikido–chosen by schools or local boards of education."
Also in late December 2011 the Japanese government has begun investigating how prepared middle schools are for the introduction of mandatory classes in Japanese martial arts and dance classes, apparently due to safety concerns voiced by parents, especially in regard to judo and the results of such research were to be compiled by the end of February.
The current belief at the time was that middle schools would chose judo as the compulsory martial art they would teach, partly because 60% of the schools who were already teaching optional martial arts were teaching judo (so they would have no problems to teach it), partly because it requires little extra material to buy.
"Under the ministry’s curriculum guidelines, the students are expected to be taught grappling and throwing techniques."
"The ministry leaves decisions on such points as how the classes will be taught and the training of school teachers who will do so to local governments and martial arts associations.
The All Japan Judo Federation, based in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, and other Japanese martial arts associations offer training sessions for school teachers. But the contents of the training sessions greatly differ.
The Aichi Judo Federation in Aichi Prefecture gave black belts, indicating the holders are dan-ranking judoka, to all school teachers who had completed a six-day training session.
The ministry received complaints from parents concerned about mandatory judo classes."
In fact...
"Many parents are concerned about the very poor safety record of school judo. Between 1983 and 2011, there were 114 recorded deaths and 275 very serious injuries of children in secondary school judo class or club activities. Although some parents of victims have pushed for prosecutions where they believe criminal negligence or other wrong-doing has occurred, public prosecutors have so far refused to act."
Also, in regard to the survey...
"“Martial arts classes will still be compulsory, that point won’t change. The research is to confirm whether schools are sufficiently prepared for the classes,” said one ministry official."
Long story short, either martial arts classes will take place regardless to the schools being ready for them or the government will force the school to be ready for them. I doubt they'll give the schools more time to prepare themselves as the law 's reform is dated 2006 which means they had 6 years to prepare.
Note that martial arts and dance will be included as part of their physical education curriculum, meaning the responsibility to teach them will fall on physical education teachers.
Said all this...
When something is compulsory, a public school can't refuse to teach it. It becomes part of their work to teach it.
Physical education teachers, as you can read above, were sent to follow lessons to learn to teach such things with the purpose to teach them, how and how well is up to everyone's speculation. If the teachers refuse to teach it as it would be their duty they will likely be fired and new teachers will be hired.
I don't have the ministry's guidelines so I don't know exactly how all this is supposed to work, if they established a number of lessons/hours that need to be spent in martial arts and which exercises kids need to do or if this is left up to the teacher's personal discrection and all he has to insure is that they learn certain things (in judo's case grappling and throwing techniques, I have no idea what else will be taught if they chose a different martial art).
So I don't think it would be possible for the school to refuse to teach it, the most they can do is to teach it poorly, especially if the guidelines aren't detailed, though I doubt they'll go as far as just show the kids "Kurenai Sanshirō" (1969), "Inakappe taishō" (1970) and "ＹＡＷＡＲＡ！" (1989/92) and tell them to figure things out just by watching them... ^_-
Long story short I expect they will receive some practical lessons.
To sum it up, if you don't want Himiko-chan to be prepared on such topics in your fic but still want it to be realistic, your best chance is to have the school teach them poorly, not to refuse to teach them.
Oh no, I was thinking of using this idea for Aldera. The line "Ah who cares, you all want to be heroes!" opens some ideas for me. Thank you for the answer.
Oh, in that case I would say Aldera definitely teach judo otherwise Midoriya wouldn't know how to make this toss since All Might didn't teach him martial arts.
Of course he could have used his magical main character's powers (sometimes main characters know how to do things just because they're main characters, no need to teach them how) but for realism's sake he should have had someone teaching him how to do this.
Aldera is clearly not a great school, so they could have taught him poorly, in the sense they might have encouraged others to bully him when he failed, not have explained him things clearly enough or gave him too little time to practice with, so this might be the first time he performs it correctly, but he needed Aldera to give him the basis for how to do it.
Thoght, again, Horikoshi might not have cared and made him able to do so just because 'he did his best'. Not realistic though.
First of all, WOOHOO a tweet about Sailor Moon got almost 200k likes!
Secondly, YES this is an aspect of Sailor Moon that I've always loved but hesitated to voice just because I don't want to be mistaken for a creep, lol. Both the anime and manga/Crystal reboot utilize nudity not only in an artistic sense, but as a way to represent a character being stripped down to their truest self, the essence of their very soul.
In fact, in the manga, characters in dreams, visions, or in the space between life and death (among other situations) are shown to be entirely naked or are depicted with clothes that seamlessly blend into their bodies.
And of course, the finale of the final arc has Usagi saving the day not through a last-minute power-up form, but by stripping down to her purest, truest self:
Sailor Moon has so many great examples of non-sexual artistic nudity and I hate when people are too immature to see what Naoko Takeuchi was going for.
I also love how, at the same time, Naoko doesn't portray sexuality/sex as something dirty and impure. I've said this before, but in the manga Usagi is heavily implied to be sexually active with Mamoru (in fact, it's outright stated that she's already pregnant with Chibiusa on their wedding day), but in no way does that diminish her role as the purest being in the universe and the star that shines the brightest.
I will keep screaming this into the void forever: Naoko Takeuchi and Sailor Moon really were ahead of their time, and that's why the series still resonates with so many people today.
I love translators translating manga directly to English and NOT TRANSLATING THE FUCKING PUNCHLINE OF THE JOKE???
It was supposed to be this:
It’s a play on words that only really works in Japanese, it’s the same exact reason Gohan was even named Gohan. They were talking about lunch and Gohan started laughing so they named him after lunch lol.
He didn’t forget she existed. Goku’s whole schtick is that he takes things at face value. It’s the same as the kissing thing. Goku wasn’t talking about kissing, he was talking about getting fed like a baby bird.
The translators seem to always misinterpret this and it’s getting annoying.
FUN FACT: Did you know that Vegeta wasn't blowing smoke on Namek when he claimed to have become a Super Saiyan?
Well. Not entirely, anyway.
And also the process of becoming a Super Saiyan is kind of complicated, and Goku is an enlightened martial arts master.
The process of becoming a Super Saiyan is complicated. The English dub got a bit confused on this point while they were frantically erasing as much spirituality and also martial arts and general power levels talk as they could from the series.
The dub was bad. I don't think that's a surprise to anyone. It was a 90's anime dub. It scrubbed the source material of a lot of stuff.
But specifically here, the dub confused matters when it said that to become a Super Saiyan, you have to be pure of heart. This confused matters, because being purehearted is a thing in Dragon Ball. You have to be purehearted to ride the Nimbus.
This concept of pureheartedness exists in Dragon Ball. But it has nothing to do with the Super Saiyan.
This isn't the same as that. To become a Super Saiyan, you need something else. Notably, the Viz manga also translates this idea as "pure of heart"....
But the idea being translated here is more along the lines of tranquility than innocent goodness.
Becoming a Super Saiyan is a bit of a process. To understand the Super Saiyan, we need to talk about limit-breaking. This is a concept that's expressed repeatedly throughout Dragon Ball. In order to become Dragon Ball Powerful, you have to break your limits. You hit a ceiling and that's as far as you can go, until you find some new way to push through and break that ceiling. The series is big on this idea.
As an example, Mr. Satan is an incredibly formidable martial artist. He is peak. Top-tier fighter. ...within human limits. But he doesn't hold a candle to Krillin because Krillin broke the human limit in childhood.
Mr. Satan is basically Panput from the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai.
Saiyans are in a different league from humans, and they have different set limits. Different norms, different standards, and different potentials. But, like humans, there's a ceiling. The first step to becoming a Super Saiyan is breaking the Saiyan limit.
Goku, as a low-class Saiyan trained on Earth in martial arts, was able to break through the Saiyan limit during his gravity training in space. This wasn't the goal of his training, mind; Goku had a particular goal in mind. He was subjecting himself to intense gravity so that he could acclimate his body to withstanding higher levels of Kaioken.
Not even realizing that was what he was doing, Goku was the first to shatter his Saiyan boundary and take the first step to becoming a Super Saiyan.
That Goku has transcended Saiyan abilities isn't lost on either Vegeta or Captain Ginyu, both of whom peg him as a Super Saiyan... before walking it back because Goku lacks the overwhelming bloodthirst and battle hunger that characterizes the legend.
Poor Goku has no idea what any of these people are on about. He might as well be listening to Game of Thrones fans infodump about the Lannisters.
But he wasn't alone. During his fight with Jeice following his third Zenkai of the arc, Vegeta finds himself trashing Jeice. Vegeta's as surprised as Jeice is, to be honest. Even with a Zenkai, he should not be doing this well.
Vegeta's last Zenkai wasn't just a Zenkai. It pushed him through the Saiyan limit.
You see, something happens to a Saiyan as they cross that boundary. Their ki begins to swell astronomically in preparation for becoming a Super Saiyan. Both Goku and Vegeta at this point have entered a sort of proto-Super Saiyan state. Their powers are passively being inflated.
Goku, too, eventually realizes that his power is growing at an astronomical rate that cannot be explained by his training or his Zenkai boosts or any phenomenon he's aware of. He's just. Swelling with power for reasons he can't fathom.
Neither of them are Super Saiyans yet. They still need the right spark to ignite it - and, despite knowing more about the Super Saiyan legend than Goku, Vegeta has no idea what that spark is. But they're both inflating like balloons in preparation for ignition.
Vegeta brings up the proto-Super Saiyan again in his first showdown with Frieza.
He recognizes that he is not yet the Super Saiyan. But he is a proto-Super Saiyan. He still feels it, still feels his power inflating within himself. He just. Needs. That. Spark.
But he won't find it. He said it himself: He doesn't think Goku and his "soft heart" can become the Super Saiyan. The Super Saiyan is supposed to be filled with rage and battle hunger.
But breaking the Saiyan limit isn't enough. You need the spark: A tranquil heart awakened by rage.
There are two pieces to that. The first is a tranquil heart. What does that mean? It means tranquility. Stillness. Peace. Becoming one with yourself and the cosmic universe.
During his training in space, with nothing to concern himself with and no distractions, Goku found tranquility. Alone in the void of space with only his beloved art, he achieved a measure of serenity and peace that he's never known before.
When Goku steps off that ship, he's different. He's entirely focused on the task at hand. He doesn't even want to fight the Ginyus, which is a stark departure for his character. He has no interest in the joy of battle; Only in doing what he came for and going home.
Goku asks the Ginyu Force multiple times to just go away. He does not care about this. He is thoroughly disinterested in fighting.
He's not even mad. They beat up his son and his best friend, and Goku does not care. Also, he can read minds now. Because he is the Heavenly Buddha, I guess.
This is a super weird moment, but its main purpose is to demonstrate that Goku has become... something else. He's not just "Goku but stronger"; he's changed on a fundamental level.
Goku is no longer a rash, impulsive student. He has become a master of his art. Do you see that kanji on his back? Kaio presented Goku with this new dogi after he got out of the hospital... uh... somehow.
You. Uh. You gonna elaborate on where the fuck that came from, Goku? No? Okay, man. You do you.
In any case, Goku's new dogi is distinctive because it erases the sigils of both the Kame school and Kaio. Originally, he would wear the Kame sigils on both front and back to reflect his status as a student of Kame-senryu.
Even if he did only technically study Kame-senryu for less than a year. It's fine; the Muten-Roshi filled him with a lot of philosophy that's guided him over the years so it still counts.
After he trained under Kaio, the sigil on his back was replaced with Kaio's sigil, to reflect that he is Kaio's student now as much as he is the Muten-Roshi's. Though he left the Kame-senryu sigil on Goku's front, because he is a student of both.
But from the moment Goku steps off that ship, both Kaio and the Kame sigils have been replaced by this new one.
This new sigil serves two purposes. First is that it's the first kanji of Goku's name. Both of his masters are now gone from Goku's expression, replaced by Goku himself; This symbolizes that Goku has, himself, become the master. His art is now fully his own.
Goku is at the peak of his journey. There is nothing more for him to learn. It falls to him now to cultivate, develop, and evolve his art for himself, using the knowledge and mastery he's acquired. And, as we'll see in the next arc, to ultimately pass it on to the next generation to come.
But, bringing this back to the tranquil heart thing: The kanji for 'Go' also represents enlightenment. Goku has found peace with himself and his place in the cosmic universe. That is why he, and not Vegeta, is ready to have his spark ignited.
He's broken the Saiyan limit. He has a tranquil heart. All he needs now is to snap, and have his tranquil heart awakened by rage.
But Vegeta still has a ways to go. Because his heart is far from tranquil.
The best he can come up with is "I Zenkai'd into this, I can Zenkai out of it!" Vegeta is very fettered, especially in conflict with Frieza. He is not one with the cosmic universe. He is a nervous wreck of emotions and wants and distractions. He was so close, but he could never have ignited here. Not under these circumstances.
No, Vegeta would only find his tranquility after becoming stranded on Earth. (No, anime, Vegeta did not have a spare spaceship on hand to leave immediately.)
Three years, living at Capsule Corp until he moved out and got his own place. Free from the yoke of Frieza and able to pursue nothing more than his own self-improvement. Driven by a desire to surpass Goku but in a low-stress environment...
...and apparently hanging out with Bulma in his downtime.
That's where Vegeta found his tranquility. And the spark of rage that ignited his tranquil heart? His own inadequacies, of course.
Differences between Magia Record's anime ending and game ending
I'm seeing some anime onlies wondering why Magia Record players are so disappointed with the anime ending/wondering what the differences are, so I decided to make a list of everything I can think of. Please feel free to add onto it if I'm missing anything, I'm just writing everything that comes to mind and I'm sure I'll miss a lot:
The biggest one is the deaths. Nobody dies at the end of Arc 1 of the game. The closest it comes is that Mifuyu's Soul Gem cracks and she falls into a state of near death, but Iroha is later able repair the cracks in her Soul Gem. Meanwhile, the anime ends with the deaths of Momoko, Mifuyu, Alina, Touka, Nemu, and Ui.
The Doppel system is presented much more positively in the game. There are hints that it has drawbacks or long-term side effects, but in general it's presented as a valid way to save magical girls. Iroha and co actually want to expand it in Arc 2; they only opposed the Magius' methods of sacrificing innocent people. Meanwhile, the anime shows that there are significant drawbacks and it's a very flawed system that won't work in the long run. Imo this was a shitty thing to do, because it gets rid of a lot of the driving force behind the plot and the chance of magical girl salvation.
The Doppel system seems to have disappeared at the end of the anime, whereas in the game it's still in full effect around Kamihama. The plot of Arc 2 in the game actually revolves around various magical girl groups trying to gain control of it.
The overall tone of the anime is much more bleak than that of the game. While the game has its dark moments (and Arc 2 is shaping up to be more serious than Arc 1), it stresses the importance of magical girls working together to overcome the odds. Arc 1 ends on a very happy and upbeat note, with Iroha and Ui reunited, Walpurgisnacht defeated, and most of the magical girls of Kamihama forming the Kamihama Magia Union so they can discover a peaceful way to expand the Doppel system to save other magical girls. Meanwhile, the anime ends with the narration and Kyubey saying "Magical girls will continue to suffer in the dark, you'll die to offset entropy, nobody will know about your sacrifices. Oh and also a bunch of people died"
In the game, the Holy Quintet is alive and Homura manages to escape her time loop hell (at least for now). The anime heavily implies that Madoka died fighting Walpurgisnacht, as we see Homura resetting the time loop. This is a decision that, again, actually pisses me off, because in the game Madokami herself basically says she's happy the Magia Record exists without her interference because it's the one universe where she and Homura are able to live together happily. The anime turns the Magia Record universe into yet another one of Homura's failed timelines.
In the game, Touka and Nemu immediately abandon their plan once they remember Iroha and Ui (also, Nemu lost her memories of Iroha and Ui alongside Touka). In the anime, they decide to keep going with their plan out of a desire to save Iroha. I actually liked this change.
In the game there's a character named the Rumor of the Ten-Thousand-Year Sakura, or Eternal Sakura for short. She is a Rumor (or Uwasa) who was created to fulfill the promise that Iroha, Ui, Touka, and Nemu would meet again someday under a cherry blossom tree. She plays an important role in the story and later becomes a pseudo-magical girl. She was entirely cut out of the anime save for a few references to cherry blossom trees (which is a shame because I was dying to see Sakurako animated)
In the game, Madokami interferes in the timeline to give the magical girls a rain of feathers that revitalize them and give them the strength to keep fighting. She says it's all she could do without her presence causing the timeline to break. In the anime, Madokami's presence is briefly alluded to but it seems like more of a cameo than anything else. In the game she's actively watching over the Magia Record universe because as I mentioned before she wants it to succeed (she actually can't interfere and do her normal magical girl salvation thing for unknown reasons btw, she's not just sitting on her ass lol)
There's not really anything to compare it to in the anime, but I just wanted to point out that in the game during the Arc 1 finale there was a raid event where players teamed up to battle Walpurgisnacht. It was really cool and recreated the chaotic energy of dozens of magical girls teaming up to take on a super-Witch.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I definitely recommend checking out the game story, imo it's pulled off much better. @muffinrecord has a Youtube channel where she has archives of the footage from the NA server.
Why do you think Sailor Moon caused so many magical girl shows to be made in its wake whereas we haven't really seen the same with Precure?
That's an excellent question! When Sailor Moon came out in the 90s, it totally revolutionized the magical girl genre. Magical girls went from cute witches who used their powers for mundane/self-serving purposes, to girls who transformed into glamorous idols, until Sailor Moon came along and introduced the concept of a magical girl warrior. Now magical girls were superheroes who fought against evil and protected the innocent. Now they were beautiful yet powerful warriors who saved the world. It's really hard to overstate how revolutionary that was, and just how much could be done with that formula. After the success of Sailor Moon, tons of new magical girl shows were created following the leader and trying to put their own spin on the new formula.
The same can be said for Madoka Magica and the rise of dark/edgy magical girl media. Madoka Magica was far from the first dark take on the magical girl genre, but it's undoubtedly the most successful one. Like Sailor Moon it shook up the formula of the magical girl genre, although not nearly to the same extent as Sailor Moon did (because while Sailor Moon re-contextualized the entire concept of what a magical girl is and what she does, Madoka Magica only provided a darker look at that concept while not really shaking up the core foundations of what makes a magical girl a magical girl; they're still superheroes who fight against evil, although some PMMM magical girls are more selfish and cynical than the idealistic magical girls we're used to).
Meanwhile Precure really didn't do that much to revolutionize the genre, outside of the Cures utilizing physical combat and having each new season cover new characters and a new story (a la JoJo's Bizarre Adventure). So Precure didn't really provide much for other magical girl shows to work off of and put their own spin on.
....and you've been following Revolutionary Girl Utena. Maybe a little casually. But yesterday, episode 12 dropped, and you watched Utena TAKE HERSELF BACK and you take your ass to the hobby store and stock up on-HOLY SHIT AN ENTIRE UTENA SUPPLEMENTAL IN THIS MONTH'S ANIMAGE???? IN ENGLISH????
That's right! Nagumo translated and I scanlated The Utena Dossier, a 36 page supplement with character sheets, massive interviews, comics, and more!!! (The interviews are so long I also made them into website pages, and also the entire thing can be downloaded as a PDF.) Or, you can view the whole thing in the gallery section of Something Eternal, our happy little forum!
Curious about what else dropped in June? I have a summary post about that in our watch thread!!!
Sorry about the lack of posts, I (Vanna) have been absolutely crushing the final stretch of a MASSIVE project I took on over a year ago--the Duelist Bible. This was only 36 pages. The Duelist Bible? That fucker doesn't drop until September 1997, but it also has 100. Some real print media history coming your way soon, stay tuned!!!
(Also, yes, I do mean to stream the musicals soon coming up, we're just kinda ironing out some hardware stuff.)
I remember reading this years ago and it’s always stuck with me.
“To the people of the world, all of them, whether it is the wrong race or the wrong language or the wrong lifestyle, tend to only think about what we cannot share. But our brains are all the same. We are the same people. With everyone’s strength, we can all share the same feelings. That much is obvious. But it won’t come easily.”
“We only have one Earth. To be able to feel such joy is true happiness.”
Not only is this closing message amazing from the perspective of how wonderful and unifying Sailor Moon and its message are (to the point of Naoko Takeuchi getting fan letters from a tiny island off Madagascar), it really tells a message we all need to hear right now.
We only have one planet, one Earth. To be able to live on it and experience life is truly a blessing, the greatest happiness we can know, because life is beautiful. It can be equally cruel and heartbreaking, but the people and things and places we love should always tether us closer to life than what would do us harm. But we should never stop fighting for a better world, one where we can all understand and respect each other. It’s going to take a lot of work and tears and blood until that equality is reached, but I’m an optimist. I believe we can do it, or at least create a world where most people get the justice they deserve.
The roses in this shot from the Walpurgis no Kaiten trailer are pretty obvious at first glance, but take a look at the arch in the background. Those are passionflowers (Passiflora sp.) and their symbolic meaning, like the roses, is abundantly clear: someone loves Madoka very much--passionately, even. I wonder who it could possibly be?
However, passionflowers are named for a different kind of passion--the passion of Jesus Christ, with Catholic priests likening different parts of the flower to his suffering and death. With a few exceptions, each flower only lasts for a single day before dying. Given Homura's Catholic background and propensity for self-sacrifice, that symbolism practically writes itself, especially since the flowers are also purple, the same color as her soul gem.
As if that were not enough, passionflowers are known in Japanese as tokeisō (時計草) or 'clock plant' and I just... this is not even remotely subtle anymore, is it? I cannot see enough detail to identify to species, and there are hundreds of them + cultivars, but the most likely suspect is the blue passionflower, P. caerulea, which is very common in cultivation.
Roses and passionflowers do not typically bloom at the same time, so this is another subtle indication that time no longer follows normal rules and reality is what Homura makes of it.
If the passionflowers represent Homura, then it makes sense that the pink roses likely represent Madoka--they are the same color as her hair, and they are heavily featured on her magical girl bow. Viewed in this light, the fact that these vines are on separate arched trellises could be a representation of how Homura and Madoka are separated from each other--that they are literally moving in different circles that do not touch or interact.
This will change, of course, with the sudden arrival of the doppelganger!Homura in the next shot, but once again, I am impressed at how much information SHAFT has managed to pack into a single seemingly innocuous shot.
So, the anime is here, and with it will most likely come the second phase of Hawks Discourse TM, but right now, I am much less interested in anyone’s personal opinions on if what Hawks did is right, if twice deserved it, if this would be morally permissable if these characters were somehow real people, etc, and focus on what the NARRATIVE thinks of this fight. And in particular, the visual framing during it.
So, if you hadn’t noticed, whatever you yourself think of this situation, the STORY thinks what Hawks did is wrong. Not the characters in the story (Though I must point out, Hawks himself calls Jin a good person even after he killed him and does not think he deserved to die) I mean the story as its own entity with themes and messages.
Did Dabi ever have any dreams like shoto? I was wondering if Dabi actuality had any dreams
Thanks for the ask, this is a real tough one! I think Dabi has goals, but do these goals count as dreams? I think we need to define both of these words before we can move on, so I’m gonna use the word ‘goal’ to refer to a desirable outcome of one’s efforts, whereas I’mma define the word ‘dream’ as something more abstract; something that you can work towards, but it also has to spark joy, okay?
So, Dabi is introduced in ch 57 where Giran shows Shigaraki a news clip about Stain’s arrest. Giran proceeds to tell Shigaraki that Stain has inspired a whole bunch of villains to step out of the shadows and reach out for the League. Now, Shigaraki was never the biggest fan of Stain, but at this point, people associate Stain with the League, thanks to Shigaraki unleashing a few Nomus when Stain was busy purging the streets of Hosu City. Given the fact that we get to see the first glimpse of Dabi during Giran’s speech, it’s reasonable to assume that Stain got Dabi inspired, one way or another.
In ch 67, Giran introduces Dabi and Toga to Shigaraki, and when (in ch 68) Shigaraki insists that Dabi should use his real name instead of a fake one, Dabi declares that he’s gonna tell his real name once the time is ripe. He also says that he’s gonna finish what Stain has started, and later on, in ch 72, he tells the newly founded Vanguard Action Squad that they’re gonna put all of those heroes in their place for the sake of a brighter future.
This sounds something like Stain himself would say, but here’s the tea; Stain is just a murder-positive All Might fanboy, and Dabi never, ever mentions All Might. In ch 74, Dabi mocks Aizawa for always worrying about others, whereas Stain seems to have mercy on every hero who’s willing to save a person even when it’s dangerous. In ch 52, Stain immobilizes Midoriya but decides to spare his life ‘cause Midoriya has the right attitude, which is such a fine example of Stain’s philosophy.
Dabi never shows mercy like this. In ch 160, he assists Compress to kill Snatch, a pro hero who was legit risking his life to protect a police officer. In fact, Dabi mocks Snatch for being so predictable. And then in ch 190, Dabi encounters Endeavor and Hawks. Both of the heroes have just saved a whole bunch of people from a Nomu attack and risked their lives in the process, but Dabi doesn’t care about their heroic efforts. In ch 191, he gleefully decides to aim for a double-kill, and the only reason why no one ends up dead is that a third pro hero shows up, and Dabi concludes that 1v3 is a bit too much.
Before Dabi leaves the crime scene, he tells Endeavor to stay alive ‘til they meet again, which implies that Dabi has plans regarding Endeavor. This gets confirmed in ch 287 where Dabi gets visibly excited after learning that Shigaraki is fighting Endeavor. He tells his comrades to get ready to tear down the fake hero society.
So, it seems that Dabi’s ultimate goal is to kill Endeavor, but would you call this goal a dream? I think it’s a matter of interpretation. Anyway, assuming that Dabi is Touya Todoroki, we know for a fact that Touya had a fire quirk that was even stronger than Endeavor’s. In ch 202, there’s a flashback scene where Endeavor tells Shouto to stop being so frail. He also says that even though Touya’s case was regrettable, Shouto is different, which could imply that Endeavor tried to make Touya his successor before concluding that Shouto was a better fit for the task.
It’s hard to tell whether Touya wanted to become a hero or nor, or did he dream about it, but when Dabi and Shouto meet during the Forest Training Camp Arc, Dabi acts almost resentful towards Shouto. They share a short dialogue in ch 82 after Compress has trapped Bakugou inside a marble but a sudden attack make poor Compress drop the thingy. Shouto tries to catch the marble midair, but Dabi is faster. He grabs the marble right in front of Shouto’s face, smirks, and says that it’s so sad for Shouto. He even uses Shouto’s full name, so it wouldn’t be too unreasonable to assume that Dabi never liked being replaced.
However, this alone doesn’t mean that Touya wanted to be a hero. In ch 252, Natsuo tells Endeavor that Touya always told him “everything”, which is vague, but Natsuo also talks about Endeavor neglecting the Todoroki siblings, so it’s reasonable to assume that Dabi’s current determination to kill Endeavor (and destroy the hero system while he’s at it) has a lot to do with the fact that Endeavor just cast him aside when a better number one hero candidate emerged.
And honestly, creating a new hero to surpass All Might was always Endeavor’s dream. In ch 31, he pretty much spells it out when he encounters All Might in a stairwell.
My best guess is that Dabi never had the chance to dream about anything, and right now, he wants revenge. Endeavor has to die, so Dabi can move on and figure out what he wants from life or if he wants anything at all. I bet that Dabi joined the League ‘cause he thought that the League was co-operating with Stain, and who are the people Endeavor despises the most? All Might and villains, that’s who. Dabi joined the League to flick a finger at Endeavor ‘cause stanning a villainous All Might stan is truly something. Everything in Dabi’s life revolves around Endeavor, and that’s the tragedy of Dabi’s life. He needs to move on, but he can’t do it as long as Endeavor is alive.
Dabi’s most prominent and one of his most notable traits is that he’s observant.
Dabi constantly watches his surroundings picks up certain things from people and changes in their mood.
Dabi is able to point out details in certain things from the environment that others overlook, as seen when he notes something different about the nomu:
Dabi notes people’s temperaments and the subtle details in his surroundings as is seen when in his comments about Tomura after he left when he attacked them when they first met.
Dabi notes Tomura’s change in demeanor at the beginning of the camp trip raid.
He was one of the members to note Tomura’s change in character about Tomura after he attacked them when they first met.
Another instance of Dabi noticing the small changes in people is when he is pinned down by Aizawa, he commented Aizawa being fierce despite Aizawa saying “let’s do this rationally” while threatening to break his legs all the while Dabi is the one on the ground.
Dabi notices Aizawa’s unexpected slight unhingeness in contrast to his usual no nonsense and rational behavior.
Next Dabi says this:
Dabi hits the nail on Aizawa’s head when he correctly guesses Aizawa’s fierceness is from desperately trying to protect his students all the while leaving behind an eerie message.
He does this again to Vlad when he taunts to Vlad like he done with Aizawa
this was like he was anticipating his reaction like when he knows how Vlad would react.
Dabi’s more observant than the rest of the members in the LOV. For example, Dabi realizes Bakugo would attack if he unties him.
When Tomura and the rest of the LOV didn’t notice, he was the one to suspect this which is why he asked Twice to untie him.
That shows that he’s constantly watches others and waits to plan his next move. He uses this trait when to get the one up on others, he deduces others weakness at just a single glance and acts when they can’t retaliate such with Snatch, Endeavor, and Hawks.
He notes the LOV actions in the group:
While in the background he’s always watching the LOV members’ every move.
While we know this is Dabi’s trait out of all the LOV what behind that gaze who keeps watching his very surroundings? Well we’re just going to wait to find out.
Have you ever wanted to die? Wish for the world to end? Have you ever lose yourself for a couple of minutes and felt like you wanted something really bad to happen to yourself or everybody else?
Has someone ever made you laugh in one of those cases, and just by that you realized how you didn't want any of it to happen?
You were just upset.
Hold this concept in your mind, would you? Because the heart of the pro-hero thesis of bnha is that a hero not only saves your body or gets rid of the villains threatening you— they also save you from yourself sometimes, from the darkness within you; they prevent future tragedies with the force of their kindness.
⠀When we were first introduced to Deku and his admiration for All Might, the one thing the story made emphasis on was All Might's smile. Why?
Because if you're afraid and you see the person rescuing you smile, you relax, it makes you feel better, it tones down your fear and anxiety.
It gives you hope.
I won't be able to put all the panels I wish I could show you to support this meta, so I'll rely on your good memory about the manga, okay?
⠀
During the hero license arc, we learn that being a hero is much more than just knowing how to fight. We already knew part of it from All Might's first session (take care of the situation with thw minimum amount of damage to both the property and the people surrounding the fight).
We learn that the way a hero saves a person matters. Their words, their attitude, how they carry themselves and how they approach the victims and situations, it all matters.
With Bakugou and Todoroki we learn that the job of a hero also implies daily services, like helping kids and guiding others, stuff Iida Tensei (former pro-hero Ingenium) used to do.
That's an idea that finds its development along many arcs, the maximum point being after the War arc, with Ochako's speech. When heroes were giving up, she reminded them it was not only about defeating the greater evil, but also about wanting to see everybody smile together again.
It is an echo of Nighteye lessons to Deku and Mirio, of course. An echo we see in bnha 367:
⠀As you know, my thesis is based on the idea that the major problem with the hero society was how they forgot what a real hero was, but not because everything was exclusively monetized (part of the problem, gotta admit). No, the major issue was exposed by Tomura Shigaraki in his first speech in front of the UA staff and students:
Violence became comfortable for the bnha world, mundane even, to the point heroes stop trying to find the root of the problems so they could treat it and the civilians stop trying to help because they thought it was the heroes jobs, not theirs. Serious issues were getting overlooked, the system was getting corrupted and the effort of the heroes was shallow, superficial, even if well-meant.
⠀Let's take Nana Shimura as an example; she was a great hero, we all know, the one who trained Toshinori and taught him that the people who smiled were the strongest. However, she was not perfect anf shouldn't be regarded as such. She failed her son and her family, something Kotaro was right about.
Can a hero talk about justice if they sacrifice their families to save others? Why some lives matter more than others? Why are heroes allowed to decide who lives and who dies, instead of helping everyone they can equally in the measure of their context?
⠀
What is a smile to a war?
You could ask, what is the sacrifice of a kid for the safety of the world, right? A life for the safety of the entire planet?
For Endeavor, what were his children and his family for the glory of his name and the glory of the hero industry, for example?
What is Tomura to AFO? Toga to the media?
What is Deku, a quirkless kid, to an entire society of people with quirks and cool abilities?
⠀
We learned it through Kota in the Summer Camp arc and with Eri in the Overhaul arc. Both kids, one of them a direct victim like Tomura of the hero society, the child of a broken family who had many reasons to hate what pro-heroes were; the other was a kid victim of the discrimination of quirks, a baby abandoned by her mother and used by criminal organizations for power and gain, just exactly what AFO did to Tenko/Tomura.
Deku could save Kota and Eri because he individually cared about them. No one told him there was a problem, he was actively looking. The same with Bakugo at the beginning, Deku didn't need a reason or a command, he didn't need the title or the suit, not even the quirk. He was doing the right thing.
Deku helped Kota because Kota was upset and he wanted to change that. He payed attention to Eri because she was crying. Same reason he found his way to help Bakugo, Todoroki and Iida.
What are they to Deku's journey of defeating AFO? Nothing. And everything.
⠀During his fight with Endeavor, AFO asked Hawks what was evil, what was wrong, why everybody got so easily offended. Then revealed that his main motivation of being a villain was because he wanted to make everyone bitter, everyone, inspired on those comic books villains.
In a way, it means "I am bad, everybody's bad too"
On the other hand, Tomura's motivation to destroy it all comes for the trauma of not being rescued. Why? Didn't he deserve it? Why people wouldn't help him?
Tenko asked his mother why his father hated him. He asked the UA staff what was the difference between villains and heroes using violence, the same way Toga asked Uraraka why people wouldn't help or save them (the villains).
There is real inequality in bnha: you have Spinner, Shinso, Hawks, Toga, Deku, Aoyama, Dabi, Tomura, Shouto, Hatsume, Aizawa... The list keeos on growing.
If you're a pretty metahuman to be used by the hero commission or a filthy "mutant" with a weak quirk, if you have a spooky quirk or a "villain" quirk, if you're quirkless or your quirk is not flashy enough or powerful enough, if you look creepy or are not "hero material", if you are hero material even if you don't want to be one...
Inequality. Discrimination. Society prescriptions.
AFO almost won, he almost made everyone mad and bitter, including Deku in bnha 367.
⠀
Go read what Nighteye told Mirio again.
The fight with AFO wasn't a fight of just weapons. It was a fight with the hero society itself.
Their indifference, their apathy, their prejudices...
A smile matters in a war because why the fuck would you fight for if the only thing your gonna leave behind is a bunch of broken people who wish they were dead.
Why would you rescue Eri if you're not going to fight everyday we you trauma so she can be happy, why would you leave Kota to live in pain and anger without his parents, when you can make his life full of light again.
The cultural festival arc.
Rescuing Deku from his suicidal mission.
Going for Bakugo and Iida and fighting for Shouto to melt his heart and Shouto going for Dabi.
This is why what Hawks did to Twice was wrong, because he forgot thw principle of a hero.
Every lives matter. Every smile matters.
The reason Tomura doesn't see a future is because no one has ever show him otherwise. No one saved him, in 20 years. No one told him he deserved to live and be happy, no one stop and tried to make him smile or laugh or ask him if he had friends or if he liked dogs.
AFO killed Tenko the day he put those hands on him and has been dragging his body around in a parade, and even when Tomura was screaming about pain and injustice and screaming about the problem of the hero society, no one listened to him, no one tried ro reach him.
Dead.
Except Deku sees him.
⠀
Every moment of the manga, every mission and arc, every panel and interaction, it has brought us here, to Deku asking AFO if Tenko/Tomura is still in there.
What is Tenko's smile to the bnha war?
Maybe the end of it. Maybe the defeat of AFO. You have a wounded animal that will try to attack you because it's in pain, and you can kill every wounded animal you encounter or eventually you can go search for the cause of their pain and treat it, so the next generations won't arrive at your door full of desperation and rage.
Everyone can be a hero, because everyone can do the right thing, everyone can make others smile, everyone can save someone one day just by telling a joke or being gentle.
⠀
A smile can prevent a war.
Which is more powerful than any weapon which could stop at war.
In summary, bnha is about a society ruled by violence and miscommunication leaking that if they don't reach to each other, if they're only solution is to erase what make them uncomfortable, they're doomed to dissappear.
these are organized by date, oldest to newest, and I’m including a brief bullet-point summary of each to make it easier to look up specific interviews by content.
also, please note that although I haven’t spoiler tagged this post, the interviews from roughly 2019 onwards include some spoilers, so please watch out for those if you’re anime-only or otherwise not caught up with the manga. that said, the other interviews I think are all good.
His motivation is unexpectedly noble for a guy who has suffered brutal violence and was raised by the ruthless killers. We can look into his head for the first time when he has an emotional outburst over the situation in Marineford. When Doffy’s emotions started to outpour, he verbally attacked the World Government.
海賊が悪!!? 海軍が正義!!? そんなものはいくらでも塗り替えられてきた…!!! // Pirates are evil?! The Marines are justice?! Such things have been changed as many times as you want!!!
“平和"を知ねェ子供共と"戦争"を知ねェ子供共との価値観が違う!!! 頂点に立つ者が善悪を塗り替える!!! 今この場所こそ中立だ!!! 正義は勝つって!? そりゃそうだろ! 勝者だけが正義だ!!!! // Brats who don’t know peace and brats who don’t know war have different values!!! Those at the top decide what is good and what is evil!!! This place is neutral ground right now!!! Justice will prevail, you say?! Of course it will! Whoever prevails is just!!!!
A huge inscription "The Marines” that is shown when Doflamingo is talking about the nature of justice kinda implies.
Justice is the favorite word of the Marines, the World Government army. He directly accuses the Marines of being not very just and defending the world order that brings people suffering. In the pictures from his head, the different values he mentioned are illustrated by the attitude to food. The child soldiers are happy about the canned food they have found (if there were meat on the skeleton, they would probably have gnawed it too), and the rich girl does not want to eat vegetables. Why this particular example is given becomes clear later.
These are the elite officers of the Donquixote Family as children. As can be seen, they all were destitute. The rest of the Donquixote Family members as children are also depicted in a similar way. Doflamingo felt like saying pirates are not always evil and the Marines aren’t always this shining beacon of justice, because sometimes piracy is a lesser evil than…
妻が焼き殺された…!! どうでもいいんどろお前らにゃ // My wife was burned to death!! It’s nothing to you, right?!
お前らに納める[ 天 上 金 ]のせいで…!! 国が飢餓で滅んだんだ……!!! お前ら腹へったことあるか!? みんな骨と皮になって死んだよ!!! // Because of the Celestial Tribute we have to pay, the country has been ravaged by famine!!! Have you ever had nothing to eat?! Everyone died leaving only a bag of bones!!!
...than death from starvation.
At the time of the Marineford Arc, it was not yet fully revealed how terrible the rule of the WG is, but, to put it bluntly, it turned the world into a giant Nazi camp.
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