I wrote and reblogged a lot of writing about the villains in bnha.
My first post was for the Lov.
Bnha wasn't supposed to have a "realistic" ending.
Because that was never how the story presented itself in all these years.
The hopeful and successful hero story was what everyone came to expect.
The heroes don't fail in what they set out to do.
The heroes not only win but save the hearts AND LIVES of the people they want to help.
That was always what was set up to be the ending.
At least that was how it always looked.
I and many others gave every logical and narrative reason why Toga should still be alive and why Shigaraki's story shouldn't, couldn't be over yet.
But it seems like this really is the end.
We weren't wrong about anything that was reasoned out.
But still we wound up being wrong.
So, sorry I gave everyone who cared false hope.
Fans of Toga, shigaraki and the Lov.
Fans of bnha who cared about the things that (were supposed to) really matter in the story, like the core themes, messages and character arcs.
In the end, all bnha amounted to was confirmation of a standard shonen ship and a 'Then things got better' ending that didn't show anything really different at all.
That new Quirk Counseling program?
It didn't address anything that created the main villains.
It lasts for around a month, and wasn't shown to be helping any children with a really dangerous/inconvenient, "villainous" power or children with a bad home life.
Just an outstretched hand, bad taste jokes and cheerful vibes.
All that build up and the weakest, most inconsistent payoff to show for it.
And the worst part about it all is the effect that it's going to have IRL, in the real world.
That benign and self-righteous hero ideals are the answer to every social problem, even the most violent and oppressive kinds of injustice and abuse.
If you drop the ball on helping the people who are failed by the system, if they die, you can just try again with the next 'villains' that appear.
Even if the villains you currently failed to save were supposed to be the 'next time'.
That death can be a form of "saving" for anyone who's too much trouble to save.
That the best that anyone who saw parts of themselves reflected in Toga, Shigaraki and the rest of the league of villains...
The very most they can hope for is a 'hero' to miraculously appear in their life at the exact right time to help them somehow.
Bonus, absolutely horrible, points in the implications of how Toga died and how it can relate to the average young fan.
An abused girl, LGBT+ and mental health allegories.
Her ideal ending according to bnha is to sacrifice herself -
TAKING BLOOD LITERALLY OUT OF HER WRIST
- for the hero, someone implied to be of higher value than herself.
While also pushing that hero to be happy and move on despite her villain's tragic death, all with a smile on her face.
They're going to see all of this.
People who have suffered through similar circumstances to Toga and the Lov, the villain's endings is all that they will feel when they think about how it relates to them.
Tragic and left without any hope.
Only left with the sentiment of how their deaths will benefit others and make everything better.
The most callus and heartless message to put out into the world.
Using a manga that's read by tens of millions of people worldwide.
I thought Horikoshi cared about the people who the league of villain's struggles embodied.
And I thought he would give the villains an ending without death that would give hope to those people for living life.
But still, I thank everyone, especially mutuals, who always gave a red heart despite everything.