Jun 16, 2025
i'm never forgiving horikoshi for building a 10+-year intricate universe meant to subvert the superhero trope around a theme of 'heroes and villains aren't so different after all - the society that separates us is the true problem' and creating a team of sympathetic and interesting 'villains' with deep narrative connections to our protagonists
and in the end STILL choosing to follow the 'only redemption for a villain is in death' overused cliche
too much of a coward to save the villains too much of a coward to kill the heroes too much of a coward to COMMIT to making a firm statement instead falling back into the very tropes he set out to subvert
#somewhere along the way we lost the plot#we were so close. vigilante deku acting more like a villain. lady nagant showing that even someone with heroic dreams can be pushed too far#WHAT WAS THE POINT. IF WE WERE GONNA KEEP THE SAME HERO WORSHIP SAME GOVERNING BODIES SAME SCHOOLS#the nation was destroyed. the children fought a WAR. EVERYTHING should have changed#and sure there's 'less' hero worship and now people aren't judged 'immediately' for having scary quirks#but these are half-hearted demonstrations for what was supposed to be something much grander#and dont get me started on the villain trio#tomura shigaraki. the chosen one. having his OWN QUIRK stolen for him because of his birthright#made to kill his own family groomed and manipulated and turned into the very villain he wished to fight#what do you MEAN there's no saving him. what do you MEAN there's only death#and listen. listen. him and dabi i. sort of understand. narratively.#but not toga. never her. and it wasn't even supposed to end like this?! he's just like 'well then theres no consequences?'#HELLO!?!?!??!?!??!?!??!?!#also how are you going to create a war like this and not kill any actual big heroes#endeavor's death would have been the most narratively satisfying i think#dying to save his son that he turned into a monster. subverting the 'dying for the sins of our fathers' into something actually powerful#THAT redemption in death would have been beautiful#AND leaving the todoroki family with the complex feelings of despising him and also being grateful to him#honestly all might. could have and maybe should have died.#i love the idea of the mentor NOT dying and choosing to live. its beautiful. toshinori deserved that. and deku + kacchan deserved to save h#but. again.#what kind of story is it when the only ones who actually suffer consequences are the villains? we're just right back to cliches there#anyway. the preview for next season has me feeling all types of ways
