What do you like in Endmight? I personally don't see it but I'd love a shipper's insight. :)
Hoo boy. I have to apologize! I’ve been sitting on this ask because I couldn’t figure out a way to answer it without it getting long, and I haven’t had the energy for that. ^^;
So Imma woman up and give it to you, finally.
Both All Might and Endeavor are absolutely fascinating, super complex characters. They are the two strongest heroes in the series, are driven by powerful emotions and motivations, save people for a living, have some seriously angsty shit going on in their lives, and one of them is deeply, deeply flawed while the other is Practically Perfect In Every Way (seemingly. He has some pretty serious weaknesses he could use some help on).
They’ve occupied the top two hero spots for literally decades. Endeavor is the only character we know, in fact, who is probably pretty close to All Might’s age, enough so that they could potentially have even gone to school together. If nothing else, they’ve at least been aware of each other since their early twenties, when they went pro. So they’ve got a long history.
Oh, yeah, and it just so happens that one of them is COMPLETELY OBSESSED with the other, and has been basing his entire life around the other for most of his life. I’ll let you guess which one. XD
Color added to emphasize Enji’s staring.
Haven’t colored this one, but it’s the same with the staring. Seriously. Check out pretty much any picture where they are in the same frame, and 99% of the time, if he’s not sitting right next to him, Enji will probably be staring at Toshinori. That doesn’t even change with Small Might! I’m pretty sure no matter what happens, whenever All Might is around, Enji will always be drawn toward him like a moth to a flame (heh). He just can’t help himself.
What’s really interesting is that according to canon, Endeavor himself acknowledges All Might as the greatest hero, far beyond any other hero. He genuinely admires and respects All Might as a hero and struggles on with him as his goal despite the crippling feelings of inferiority that he suffers from as a result.
As a hero, he was constantly compared to All Might and found lacking.
Hawks tell us that no other hero even TRIED to bridge the gap- they all just gave up on equaling All Might as impossible, much less surpassing him. Even Endeavor himself realized it was impossible, enough that very quickly after making the number 2 spot in his youth, he started embarking on a plan to pass his dream on to the next generation. Despite feeling that it was hopeless, he continued to keep trying, himself. He never, ever stopped.
Of course, this obsession resulted in him doing some pretty terrible things in his family life, enough that he was initially introduced to us as almost a villain. But over the course of the series, there’s a dramatic change for the better in him, owing a great deal to All Might.
Later on, when Endeavor is being officially announced as the number 1 hero at an awards ceremony, before he tells the audience about the kind of number 1 he wants to be, he remembers the above advice from All Might and simply tells them to “watch me.”
So All Might isn’t just an inspiration to him to become a stronger hero, but also to become a better person. A better hero. And a better father.
For All Might’s part, he seems to truly want to get closer to Endeavor, wants to get to know him. He continually seeks him out to talk and invites him out for tea. We see this once in the manga and twice in the light novel, which means it’s probably happened a LOT over the years.
And tell me you didn’t cheer when AFO was about to wipe All Might out and Endeavor blocked his attack.
These two are crackling with chemistry and emotion around each other. There is SO MUCH potential for the two of them going forward.
Their relationship has taken on a very different tone after Kamino, and hell, Enji began his reign as number 1 with a reference to All Might’s last battle (whether consciously or not lol).
Suuuuuuuuure, Enji. Sure.
I find it especially interesting that Horikoshi takes their infamous talk at the sports festival, and reverses it when they talk again at the provisional license exam classes.
It went from All Might spotting Endeavor on the stairs and asking to meet up to chat, and then asking him advice on how to educate the next generation…
…to Endeavor spotting All Might on the stairs, asking to meet up for a chat, asking for advice in how to handle the transition of becoming the new top hero, advice which also wound up changing the way he looked at mentoring his son (this was made very clear in the chapter).
Most importantly, Toshinori gave Enji permission to just be himself and find his own way.
With Enji released from the shackles of living up to All Might, and with the ability to look at Toshinori with clear eyes, free of hatred but not of admiration, there is a lot of possibility for the development of their relationship. The way that Enji refers to him as “former number 1″ does not come off as mockery at all. Rather, it smacks of a feeling of respect and equality.
I rather suspect that if Enji ever heard people talking shit about All MIght- like his retirement, his injury, his legacy, etc.- that he would either shut them up or fuck them up.
As far as their personalities go, that is another interesting mix. Their temperaments are definitely different- Enji is a hothead while Toshi rarely loses his temper. Both are extremely efficient and dedicated to their duty, but whereas Enji is frankly being slowly revealed as a giant tsundere, Toshinori’s open kindness and deep empathy are the core part of his heroism. Toshinori is flamboyant and fun-loving, whereas Enji is always serious (will we ever see him genuinely smile?) and has no interest in playing or entertaining fans or whatever. Basically, they are very different people, even if they share some important things in common. It would be interesting to see how they could balance each other out.
Plus, they are just fucking hilarious together, sometimes.
I mean, really
In closing- it also doesn’t hurt that they are both extremely attractive LOL Either you’ve got an extreme case of different body types, or you have a bara double-scoop, and either way is delicious.
And Enji is one of the few people with a physicality and temperament that I can easily see topping Toshinori, which is gold, in my book
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