okay i’m about to ramble here, because i love that we have someone (aizawa of all people!!) acknowledging in canon that toshinori is actually very intelligent
i’ve noticed that often, toshinori gets portrayed as a goofball, someone who isn’t that smart, and just wanted to discuss how, even though he is a fool sometimes, he’s one of the smartest characters in the bnha universe. just looking at his ultra analysis stat block:
toshinori has a 6/6 rating for his intelligence stat. for comparison, other 6/6 intelligence characters are:
principal nezu (who literally has an intelligence boosting quirk)
momo yaoyorozu (who is so good at utilising her quirk because of her in-depth understanding of material science, chemistry and physics)
all for one (dude is old as fuck (lots of experience), extremely emotionally intelligent (which he uses to be manipulative), and tactically brilliant)
we don’t know david shield’s official stats, but as he is a nobel prize winner, it’d be a safe guess to say he is also 6/6
toshinori also outranks sir nighteye (5/6), aizawa shota (5/6) and recovery girl (5/6) for intelligence
next up, we have one of the few things we know about young toshinori: he went to college in the states. that alone doesn’t qualify intelligence, but what we can infer from two heroes does
it’s not a stretch to say that dave was almost definitely a STEM major - he goes on to become a world renowned, nobel prize winning scientist. his inventions are used as support items for heroes globally. dave almost definitely majored in either physics or engineering
what’s notable, is that toshinori is taking at least Some of the same classes as dave, which we know from when dave comments about them both being late for their lecture again. dave is smart, already an accomplished inventor at 21, implying that they’re likely both enrolled at a high ranking university
toshinori is therefore capable of meeting academic requirements for a high ranking and competitive university, and is also shown to be mathematically and analytically gifted, based on his (probable) major
next up is toshinori’s tactical abilities. it’s almost a shame that all might could solve almost every problem with a punch or two, because the few times a fight gets tough, toshinori is shown to be very smart and tactical. look at the usj fight, for example:
toshinori identified the nomu’s quirk (shock absorption), used an educated assumption to figure out its weakness (there must be a limit - apply too much force over a short period of time and it cannot cope), and quickly switched tactics to apply his deduction, which turned out to be true
now let’s look at the kamino ward fight:
brute force alone was never going to win the fight. afo, as mentioned before, is incredibly emotionally intelligent, and uses that against toshinori. and toshinori, also incredibly emotionally intelligent, is able to compartmentalise these revelations, whilst still leading all for one to believe he was compromised by this
toshinori feints a "final attack", plays into all for one’s ego, and all for one’s expectation that toshinori will fight honestly (as in, he wouldn’t use deceptive tactics), then brings home the final blow when all for one believes the victory is his
toshinori yagi, though sometimes a bit of a goof, is an incredibly intelligent person. he’s well educated and highly analytical, he’s very emotionally intuitive, and he’s tactically brilliant. don’t underestimate how smart this man is
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