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Homo-Erotic Subtext of Chapter 288: Why Toga’s Crush is Finally Being Taken Seriously.

Let me start off by saying I am not trying to convince you to ship them. I am not arguing that Uraraka likes Toga back. In canon, it is clear she only likes Midoriya. But it is also canon that Toga likes Uraraka.

In this post, I will argue that the chapter is intentionally coded as homoerotic, and it’s important to understand this to truly see the significance of the scene.

1. Toga’s Mental State is Heavily Dependent on Uraraka’s Answer.

In the previous chapter, Toga is in a mentally unstable state from her recent loss of Twice. She wants to know if all heroes will kill a villain. And most importantly, she wants to know if her crushes are willing to kill a villain. She’s in a state of mind where this answer will make or break her.

Look at that intense expression. The shadows around her eyes. She’s in a dangerous place right now mentally. We’ve seen a buildup of her obsessive love, but never seen it get to this point. This is the climax of her love for Deku and Ochako.

Every previous interaction and careless declaration of love has built up to this moment where her love is the only thing keeping her sane. Her love, while obsessive and unhealthy, is the only reason why she still has a fragment of hope for society.

Many argue that Toga is already psychotic, but I argue that she’s still trying. She hasn’t lost it completely, thanks to her respect and love for two heroes in training. Which is why she’s going to seek them out. She’s going to question them—she’s going to communicate, try to solve her dilemma without violence.

(Okay, fine, minimal violence)

It’s a reoccurring theme in MHA that villains consistently try to talk, try to cry out for help and communicate with others, but society is constantly shutting them down.

Beating them down, locking them up and killing them.

Yes, Villains aren’t not any better. But at the end of the day, the two sides are just as bad.

“Heroes and villains are two sides of the same coin.”—Best Jeanist.

Which is why, even before the confrontation even happens, we know that Uraraka is not going to listen to Toga. She is not going to try and acknowledge and understand her love, she’s going to be disgusted.

Which brings me to my second point.

2. Toga is Coded as Sapphic.

(Sapphic—A girl who is attracted to other girls, but not necessarily solely attracted to girls. Could be Bi, Pan, Queer, or a Lesbian.)

It’s very easy to read Toga as someone who is just crazy and thinks she’s in love with everyone, when she actually doesn’t understand what love is. Her craziness is her own Beard (A cover for her queer sexuality.) But we’ve seen Toga’s love defined several times. If she’s in love with someone, she wants to be them. That’s something most readers easily mistake for admiration. After all, people want to be others when they admire them, not love them, right?

Toga calls her “cute.” This is more than just admiration. A teenage girl calls people cute when she has a crush. It’s that simple. Especially one who says it in such a serious situation (middle of a war.)

Uraraka’s expression in the panel is one of frustration. She isn’t listening. She’s disgusted and annoyed. She doesn’t take Toga’s declaration seriously at all. Which is understandable because once again, they’re in the middle of a war zone.

But one of the biggest flaws of a hero is that they act professionally 100% of the time. Even when it’s clear that people need help that’s something a bit more personal. This is a very personal and intimate situation right now, and Uraraka approaches it in the completely wrong way.

This leads us into the third point.

3. While Uraraka is characterized as nice and sympathetic, when it comes down to it, she isn’t

Instead of understanding and sympathy, she reacts with the cold headed need to get Toga out of her way. She would rather save multiple strangers than save this one girl right in front of her.

Once again, this is a reoccurring theme.

Heroes hurt people to save strangers.

The whole arc with Eri was about this exact situation. Lemillion gave up the chance to save more people just to save a girl in front of him.

But Eri was the perfect victim. Toga is not. She’s a “psychotic murderer.” A “crazy bitch.”

No one will try to help her.

This is parallel to the other events going on simultaneously with Shigaraki. Midoriya didn’t try to sympathize with Shigaraki. No one tried to sympathize with Shigaraki. No one saved him.

Same with Twice. Hawks didn’t think Twice was worth saving. And this is what Toga is trying to figure out.

Her question isn’t really “Will you kill me?”

It’s “Will you save me? Would you have saved me all those years ago?”

And sadly Uraraka’s answer is a resounding no.

And this breaks Toga.

From Uraraka’s standpoint, defeating Toga means saving the lives of innocents. She flashes back to after Nighteye died, and she declared that she changed her motivation to be a hero. She wanted to save people.

But look at it from Toga’s perspective.

When Uraraka said she’d save someone, Toga’s reaction is an excited, “You will?”

Because she thinks Uraraka is a true hero. We’ve seen this parallel many times. Lots of villains deep down believe and respect heroes. Shigaraki thinks Aizawa-Sensei is cool. Dabi was incredibly disappointed when he lost faith in Hawks as a hero.

They think the system is corrupt, but acknowledge that there are true heroes among them.

So for Uraraka to say “I’m trying to save every life I can right now.” And then follow it by declaring she’s going to stop Toga. (Which Toga interprets to mean ‘by any means necessary’) It basically comes off as:

Uraraka: I’m going to save every life I can by killing you.

Toga: ...what am I to you then? Is my life not valid? Is my life not real?

Now perhaps that puts Toga’s expression into context. She just got told that her life isn’t valid by her crush.

Toga might not be mentally stable, but that’s no reason to not try to understand her. Yes, she’s also a villain, and must be held accountable for her actions.

But if we hold villains accountable, then we must hold society accountable as well. So if society isn’t ever going to change to reflect that it is what causes villains to be formed in the first place, it’s unfair to expect villains to change and apologize either.

So yes. Toga Himoko loves Uraraka, and she is unapologetic. She is a serial killer and a terrorist, and she is unapologetic. Her controversial same-sex crush Is a metaphor for all her other flaws society looks down on. This is why it’s important not to erase her queerness or her mental instability, but rather embrace it.

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