Specifically, focusing Geten in Chapter 271/during this current ‘War’ arc:
Look at his face! Bloodshot eyes and a vein about to pop. Geten’s ferociously livid and about to slaughter some Heroes. (also I wanna point out that they’re actually addressing him as ‘Geten-sama’ still.)
In the Paranormal Liberation Front, Geten serves as one of the nine Lieutenants, and with Dabi, they lead the the ‘Violet’ Vanguard Action Guerilla Warfare Regiment.
It’s a mouthful! Dictionary.com defines ‘guerilla warfare’ as: “the use of hit-and-run tactics by small, mobile groups of irregular forces operating in territory controlled by a hostile, regular force.”
We’re aren’t told exactly what the Violet Regiment does, but I’m guessing they’re sort of first attacking force of the army - on the offensive; aiming at weak spots and key areas of Hero society; being quick, brutal, and unexpected to cause as much damage (to infrastructure, morale, personnel, etc) as possible to the Heroes.
Which makes sense! Dabi’s fire can destroy a good part of a city, as can Geten’s ice.
Making the two of them leaders, though. Well, it’s as one of the MLA member Sanctum said to Twice, they’re kinda figureheads handed their position (it’s true of the whole League save Shigaraki, really) - true for Dabi, definitely; and it seems true for Geten too, although he at least had some history of being a superior in the army. Still.
Geten as a commander
Despite being “central to the Liberation Army’s success” and being greatly respected, Geten never was given any leadership position that we knew of during My Villain Academia.
It’s probably because he’s shit at caring about his fellow warriors. Mr. Compress notes this in Chapter 230.
His massive ice attacks are indiscriminate, destroying whole streets and anyone unlucky enough to be there, friends and foe alike. It doesn’t seem to be calculated sacrifice for a larger goal - Geten is simply callous and reckless.
He’s still the same about three months later, despite having a regiment under his responsibility and in the middle of a battle where the army probably should keep as many of their numbers as possible.
Here’s him essentially destroying what’s left of the mansion, tossing everyone - allies and heroes - into the air; and interrupting Dabi’s attack that would have at least taken out the Number 2 Hero.
The irresponsibility extends off the battlefield - here’s Geten missing from a PLF meeting:
(Even Gigantomachia is there! idk, maybe he forced his way in and no one can make him leave, and I’m not quite sure the significance of this, but it says something that Machia is attending and Geten is just not.)
So it’s safe to say he isn’t very leadership material; he doesn’t know or ignores what leadership entails, and if he keeps up his preferred method of destructive attacks, he’s not going to have anything to lead either.
He does know how to “command” at least somewhat, however - or that’s what I think is implied in Chapter 271.
Breakout
(Same image as above, except Viz translation + another panel)
Who could forget this awesome scene? Geten doing a signature ice explosion, wrecking everything - and there he is, on the battlefield, attention all on him, calling the Heroes “dogs of the state” and telling them they will not die peaceful deaths. Damn. He has correctly assessed the situation! He’s giving orders! Got a strategy!
A sound strategy - and an actual one discussed in real military tactics: concentrate combat power on one location and rupture the enemy line.
(info I found through googling here, here, and here.)
An encircled force attacks by using the rupture force to penetrate the enemy defensive positions in at least one location. The commander must produce overwhelming combat power at each breakout point...
...The mission [is] to penetrate the enemy's encircling position, widen the gap, and hold the shoulders of the gap until all other encircled forces can move through.
It’s simplified here, and it’s kinda obvious, but it’s still exactly what one should do when they’re in a siege-like situation, i.e. surrounded, all routes, communication and reinforcement blocked and cut off.
I’ve half-joked about him being dumb and maybe illiterate because he bragged about not going to school, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t taught things and given an education. (Like Shigaraki!) He’s obviously learned some military tactics and commanding along with his quirk training.
So yeah, Geten is doing everything right.
The prospect of such a grouping of forces, placed in a confusing and desperate situation, makes unity of command and unity of effort absolutely essential. The most senior combat arms officer must establish his authority immediately.
Especially in rallying the troops. It could be coincidental, he’s just angry and shouting at his soldiers to do finally something right; yet he’s still done it.
And Geten does it alongside another action: he removes his hood.
In a meta sense, it’s likely to establish Geten as a character - he’s not a faceless mook, he’s not creepy ‘two glowing eyes in darkness’ enemy; he’s a character with a name and a (very pretty) face, that we can relate to and maybe even like. (That he mentions Re-Destro, the only person we know he cares about, and shows protectiveness/concern, adds to that.) He’s portrayed here in a way to make him badass, in a defining moment where the PLF gains some control of the situation, for us to cheer on.
In-story though, the reason is more unclear? to me, anyways. During his battle with Dabi, he never removed his hood then. Here, is it to literally face the Heroes, to show that he doesn’t care if his face is known, to go head to head with them? Is it to show his men that he’s here, let the sight of his pretty face re-energize them, he’s at the frontlines fighting too? His quirk makes it obvious who he is, he needn’t show his face.
Despite his disregard for other soldiers of the army, I’ve got a feeling that this is some sort of symbolic gesture to motivate them. Get their attention, establish his authority, finally be a bit of a leader. Cuz, man, the situation really calls for it.
The Ice
When the attack began, we see Geten running towards the frontlines (chapter 263):
(tiny note: Dabi is heading the opposite direction from everyone - going to help out Twice - but Geten, his co-leader, doesn’t pay attention to him at all. No ‘where the fuck are you goin’, nothing. Feel like they would’ve noticed each other, but no interaction here.)
From what we can see, Geten doesn’t show up until Chapter 271, a length of time enough to have Hawks confront Twice, Dabi intervene, Hawks kills Twice, Dabi fanboys Stain, Tokoyami to the rescue, and a little more. Let’s say... 15, 20 minutes?
So he’s missing from the frontlines at the start of the battle - I say he was probably trying to generate an absurd amount of ice during that time. This villa probably has a kitchen with some ice, but not enough. I’m guessing Geten went to find a water source (multiple of water sources?), froze it all, in preparation for the ice explosion. In preparation for him to create a battlefield to his advantage.
So it looks the ice has engulfed the mansion, going up several stories, as well as spreading out to the mansion’s surroundings. A bunch of people are surrounded by ice - like Gang Orca there, right next to a wall of it.
We know Geten has fine enough skill to shape ice to whatever he wants, and his range of control (and sense?) is massive. Whoever is standing on or is close to the ice - they’re in Geten’s territory, he controls the very ground they’re standing on.
Go get ‘em, Geten.
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Part 3 is next! Will be focusing on Geten’s relationship with ReDestro, and other miscellaneous details. Feel free to suggest anything too.
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I could very much be over-estimating Geten’s intelligence! So don’t my word here too much. I’m sure there are a couple reaches here to. Constructive criticism is always appreciated!
Note: a friend pointed out a reach in Part 1, which will be edited:
I think the fact that [Geten] targeted Dabi as his opponent, despite the obvious weakness his ice has to Dabi’s high-temperature flames, means he was looking for a challenge. Trying to show off, trying to prove that he can go up against his greatest enemy (as in, heat and fire) and come out on top.
It’s more likely that ReDestro had assigned Geten on the Dabi-hunt, given the panel from Chapter 238 where ReDestro is telling Geten to be wary of Dabi’s long-range flames. If there was any strategy to having Geten target Dabi, it could’ve been the general plan, rather than Geten’s own thing.
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Hatsume Mei was my fav female character in MHA, but she’s been bumped to second place because of G e t e n / A p o c r y p h a !!!! (Assuming Geten is a girl/woman.)
I love her???? Let’s count the ways:
She was kicking Dabi’s ass. I don’t like Dabi! It was fun to see.
She’s an powerhungry, arrogant brat.
But her strength backs that up; she’s trained relentless through out her life, enough to become one of the top Liberation Army’s solider
And she’s loyal; she cares for ReDestro! Hope it’s like a father-daughter relationship.
She’s feral. Does her own thing.
She uses the pronoun 僕 ‘boku’! Its traditionally a male pronoun, but when a female character uses it, it shows that she’s tomboyish, rowdy, tough.
I see Dabi/Geten, but may I suggest: Shigaraki/Geten.
Both are rude, feral, bratty smartasses
Both seem to have been found by a powerful patron and trained to be extremely powerful
And so taught to ‘liberate’ themselves, to use their quirk however they want, to take on the world and shape it to their will, essentially.
And now Geten is forced to work under Shigaraki - the guy who took down her mentor - as one of his commanding officers.
Given the opportunity and choice, I bet she would try to kill Shigaraki and the League. Starts a lot of fights.
Imagine Shigaraki having to resolve these fights lol
Shigaraki cares not at all for ideology, while Geten holds up quirk social darwinism up as a life philosophy...which means she gotta accept Shigaraki too
Is it possible to destroy ice??? Turn it into dust??? It would turn into water vapor, right? Which Geten can still maybe control if she has even access to a single piece of ice.
Will she ever come to respect Shigaraki? What would Shigaraki have to do to earn her trust?
Good tension
Two headstrong, dangerous personalities clashing together? Yes.
Illuminousawaken to simplemake it your primary principlethis is not negotiablebut nobledon't be gossip's mumbleor speak ill in dribblefor others will enableslander's fumble‒cast doubtson the honorableslander and peace‒never compatiblepeace always runs unstoppablefrom slander's rambling quibblekeeping its hostin honorabledon't be the negotiablesuccumbing to emotionsin grumblefight the urge to…
