So I kind of played myself in a really stupid way in the end? My introduction to the series was the anime and I still haven't read whole stretches of the manga.
So I read The Tube Scene when scans dropped and yeah it made me real fuckin uncomfortable for personal reasons and definitely was the last step that turned Dabi into my fave but because it wasn't the anime I was able to push it to the back of my mind and Just Not Think About It for a long while.
And then the episode drops, making it "real" and inescapable as well as somehow significantly MORE grotesque than people were expecting so I've been having to work through the full brunt of grief, horror, and anger this past month that many of y'all have had time to come to terms with and make your own answers for it for like a year now
Agreed. I read the manga so I knew it was coming, but seeing and especially HEARING it made it SO much worse. Dabi is my favourite character and seeing him end up like this hurt really bad and even thinking about his character now just gives my that sinking, uncomfortable feeling and I hate it.
I obviously knew he wouldn't get a happy ending, but I REALLY wish he would have just died right after the fight with his family in season 7 episode 19 like Toga and Shigaraki did and getting to talk to them one last time, instead of keeping him alive and treating him like a tourist attraction when he is slowly dying, can't move, can barely breathe and can only stay awake and speak for a few minutes a day and looking like a skeletal corpse.
Hearing him gasp for air and crying while sounding really young hit me extremely hard and it makes me sick that he got the absolute worst and cruel fate among all the villains when even All For One got a much better and painless ending.
I've heard some people say that it's actually not that bad since he gets to talk to his family and is finally seen by his family like he always wanted + him likely choosing to stay alive like he did several times in the series, instead of giving in to death, but it still feels so inhumane and cruel to me.
Not to mention the MANY comments that bash and mock Dabi and that he got exactly what he deserved or that he should have gotten an even worse fate and claiming that he is just a brat with daddy issues that was born an evil psychopath and that he singlehandedly ruined the entire family for attention without anyone's influence smh.
I know it's dramatic, but I wish I could just forget that scene and pretend like it never happened.
I don't even look up his name anymore in fear of seeing pictures or mentions of his end state, which sucks because I love looking at fanart and collecting references from the show to draw.