My Hero Academia 3: Villainous Interlude

[Emmerlaus]

Spoiler: New chapter

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Well that was a twist! I heard that belly laser guy was probably helping Invisible Girl while being a traitor too. In fact, maybe Invisible Girl still is a traitor, we just know that she was spying on them. Monitoring belly laser guy and his parents. We didn't see her report that conversation to anyone AND she was in OFA last pannel. So I think Invisible Girl is STILL a spy unless proven otherwise... even if its just keeping track of belly laser guy.

[Devonix]

Spoiler: New chapter

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Well that was a twist! I heard that belly laser guy was probably helping Invisible Girl while being a traitor too. In fact, maybe Invisible Girl still is a traitor, we just know that she was spying on them. Monitoring belly laser guy and his parents. We didn't see her report that conversation to anyone AND she was in OFA last pannel. So I think Invisible Girl is STILL a spy unless proven otherwise... even if its just keeping track of belly laser guy.

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She told Deku, that's why he was there

[Emmerlaus]

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She told Deku, that's why he was there

Oooooh... I misread that!

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It almost seem to me that the author changed his plan halfway from this. But I get it, there was some clues about belly laser guy being the traitor too.

If the author did planned this fake-out, then thats a VERY good one though. But that also means I wish Invisible-Girl has being traited as more then just a fakeout. Like a boost to her quirk or something.

FOr exemple, I like Sugarman myself. A very nice guy. But was underused in the serie. But I get it: he is not very... standoff ish. But lets say he got an upgrade for his quirk that allow him to increase his speed as well? Or make super jump or something. That would have being different and awesome!

As for Invisible-Girl, I wish she could have a secret move to make people forget shes even here or exist, affecting memories but not technology. That also would have being awesome.

In any case, I think she MIGHT be still an impostor. Saw few videos on Youtube about it. The chance has decreased but I believe it could still happen.

[Traab]

Story i read gave him different abilities depending on the type of sugar he ate. Speed, durability, that sort of thing. It was even a bit of a standout moment when in a fight for his life he took a mix of like 4 different sugars and turned into a mini all might at the cost of him being a berserker with little rationality. Went from being unable to hurt his opponent and being cut apart to blades bouncing off him and cracking the guys ribs with each punch. Of course the kickback was also fairly extreme. His opponent thought the kid had taken trigger he got boosted so far.

[LaZodiac]

New chapter, now officially released!

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I love the swerve. I don't think Hagakure has anything to do with the traitoring now, and there's just as much support for Aoyama being the traitor as her; more so given he did confess like twice but Deku didn't really get it (the cheese, and the Still Waters run Deep message he left on the rock). This owns, and I'm excited to see where it leads.

That said; I did like Aoyama as a "character who shows that quirks are hard to manage even for quirk having people". I liked the disability angle of his character and what it brought to the world. The idea that he got the quirk from All for One so he could fit in better is... less than ideal for me? I'd have had it the other way; his quirk causes him serious damage and the hope is to get it removed in time so he can live a life without one of his natural body processes causing his stomach to collapse if used too hard and without support.

Still, it's good, and it really speaks to why Aoyama wanted to be Deku's friend. It's not just because "the quirks we have destroy us" but "we are quirkless people given a quirk" as well. That's good, I love that!

[Ramza00]

New Chapter

Spoiler: Dec 5th Chapter 336

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Why is it always the Cyclops expy who betrays friends and/or family

[Lurkmoar]

New Chapter

Spoiler: Dec 5th Chapter 336

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Why is it always the Cyclops expy who betrays friends and/or family

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Cyclops expy? That's too specific, and not really accurate to me. General power incontinence? Yes.

Wanting to fit in, or at least, not stand out too much is part of the human experience.

[Cozzer]

Just like the chapters about Tenko showed us how similar he was to Izuku, now we have an even more clear parallel with Aoyama. They probably were both diagnosed as Quirkless by Garaki, who chose Aoyama at random for this mole plan. It's very likely that Izuku would be in the same situation, had he been chosen instead (notice how Aoyama's parents frame their requests as "save us" or "protect us", to appeal to the kid's desire to be a hero).

I like how consistent MHA is about its statement that in most cases, whether you end up as a hero or a villain depends mostly on things outside of your control. It's a really balanced take, that doesn't absolve villains on account of their sob stories, but neither gives heroes permission to just treat them as monsters.

[flat_footed]

The Fullmetal Mod: "It's fine now. Why? Because I am here!"

[Ramza00]

New Chapter out for a new year in 2022.

https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapt...emia?locale=en

So we got a resolution of the traitor reveal arc if people want to talk about that. And shifting to spoilers for chapter 341 the most recent stuff since that is my jam even if I we all love different things about this manga.

Spoiler: Chapter 341, last chapter for the month of January

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Dabi has new / larger facial scars. The facial scars that will always get worse since he overhears but also because he is no longer able to cry since he has burned out his tear ducts.

And he is smiling. Oh god no he is smiling. Remember he smiles whenever he is aggravated, upset, distressed, or feeling too much emotion. It is a nervous tic much like Shigaraki gets itchy and has the urge to scratch when he is emotional.

Likewise Toga returns to the source of her trauma and is overwhelmed with emotions and memories. There is no escaping one’s fate here, there is a drive (not an instinct) that was unacknowledged for so long that an unhealthy version of the drive is now their desire, no matter how it impacts others. This is because society was indifferent with its one size fit all solutions and no one in authority or role-model showed alternative more healthy ways to live so the former children can learn how to mimic these other ways of living.

Twice lives through others now, he may be gone but his impressions have altered other peoples hearts and possibly their desires.

Likewise Spinner is now in a position to Lead and be a symbol of X depending on what choices he makes. He is now an object in the minds of others, so he is like Atlas holding the weight of the world on his shoulders while he goes further beyond (or not.) Where will this teenage mutant ninja gecko go next?

See you in two weeks!

[LaZodiac]

New chapter day!

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I wanna talk about the fact that Spinner really is being manipulated and how brutally sad that is, that he just thinks of Shigaraki as a friend and he's doing this for him and no one else, and that... horrifying thought of "everyone can be somebodies hero" in connection to him, a villain, inspiring other villains. Something insidious about that that I really do love.

But any amount of talking about this chapter also has to look at the red breasted sparrow in the room and look at what we just ****ing saw of Toga's backstory here and go "yeah no nothing she's done is her fault look at this. Look at her."

You don't willingly rip your own wrist apart with your teeth if you're not someone who needs help. She didn't get any. This puts paid to basically every argument, in my head, that Toga is somehow "at fault" for what she did. Because... god. My god. There's something so genuinely disturbing about Toga's little flashback here.

Also thanks for this Ramza. I completely couldn't find the thread so also posted this in the general anime manga thread XP

[lord_khaine]

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Most of all interesting how this shows that people see what they want to see.
Because as such i personally saw a Toga who threw it all away because she wanted to live as she pleased.

[LaZodiac]

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Most of all interesting how this shows that people see what they want to see.
Because as such i personally saw a Toga who threw it all away because she wanted to live as she pleased.

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Obviously, everyone's experiences are their own. But in my own life, compulsions and **** (especially those that are hard to control, those that we don't WANT to do but do because we can't not do them) are torturous... but the desire to just fall into them is so strong because it'd be so easy to just let it happen. Just do it. Embrace those things that your body are demanding, that your brain is forcing your limbs to do. The only way I endure is thanks to the support from people around me.

Toga had none of that. Not even one single shred of assistance. You don't rip your wrists open with your bare teeth because that's something you actually want to do.

[Rater202]

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I used to bite my hands hard enough to leave indents in my skin for an hour or two because... I legitimately don't know, but I recall doing it often while bored in class.

Edit: Like, I'd just do it. Not think about it, not decide to do it... Sometimes I'd realize I was gnawing on the back of my hand and have to consciously make myself stop.

[Dragonus45]

Spoiler: Toga Thoughts

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You know, the problem here isn't even so much the initial break or it's immediate aftermath. In another story I might have more sympathy for her but one of MHA's strengths is the moral character of our heroes here and the clear knowledge that any of our heroes would try and help her get therapy if she surrendered. Look at far Hawk, who is by and large one of the most willing to kill literal assassin heroes, went to try and save Twice despite a severe cost to himself. Instead she clearly wants to participate in mass murder and the total toppling of society so a megalomaniacal madman can rule the country and posses her supposed friend. I don't get how anyone can see how she has chosen to live her life and then declare she has no control or options to change it. She isn't a robot.

[LaZodiac]

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I used to bite my hands hard enough to leave indents in my skin for an hour or two because... I legitimately don't know, but I recall doing it often while bored in class.

Edit: Like, I'd just do it. Not think about it, not decide to do it... Sometimes I'd realize I was gnawing on the back of my hand and have to consciously make myself stop.

Spoiler: Toga Thoughts

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You know, the problem here isn't even so much the initial break or it's immediate aftermath. In another story I might have more sympathy for her but one of MHA's strengths is the moral character of our heroes here and the clear knowledge that any of our heroes would try and help her get therapy if she surrendered. Look at far Hawk, who is by and large one of the most willing to kill literal assassin heroes, went to try and save Twice despite a severe cost to himself. Instead she clearly wants to participate in mass murder and the total toppling of society so a megalomaniacal madman can rule the country and posses her supposed friend. I don't get how anyone can see how she has chosen to live her life and then declare she has no control or options to change it. She isn't a robot.

I'm looking at these two posts side by side and I feel like I can see the entire world.

To answer, Dragonus;

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she was never given a choice. She was never given the help she needed to stop chewing at her hands. She was never given the tools to control a compulsion, like Rater did likely get. At some point the compulsion took over who she was and guides her goals. She's not a robot, yes, and I'm not saying he's faultless. But I am saying she's gone completely untreated for the problems she has, and doesn't deserve to die for her crimes.

This isn't directed at anyone, but just a generalized statement that I feel is appropriate; I think Toga is autistic, with a severe compulsion, and I think your experience with autistic people will inform your opinions on Toga. Whether or not you feel she is fully in control of what she's doing or not will depend on your personal experiences, and opinions, on people like her.

[lord_khaine]

Problem is. You can excuse harming yourself. Its your body.
You can even excuse a beast for harming or killing a human. Because its just following its nature.

But when you have someone this bright. Bright enough to work as infiltrator.
Who still kills other people. Then all the excuses kinda falls apart.

She conciously knows that society considder what she want to be wrong.
And she has conciously made the choice, that her ability to live as she please is more important than other peoples life.

So i mean. There isnt really any excuses to be made for her.
Thats not also valid for just about every other monster in human history.

Likely less. Since at least by the look of it, she had a couple of parents who loved her and tried to raise her well.
But she jusy disagreed about things like "you cant live as you please all the time, nobody can"

If anyone deserves actual sympathy among the villains?
Then i think its Spinner more than anyone else. By the sound of it there is a decent bit of discrimination towards Heteromorphs.

[Lord Raziere]

Likely less. Since at least by the look of it, she had a couple of parents who loved her and tried to raise her well.
But she jusy disagreed about things like "you cant live as you please all the time, nobody can"

Their feelings mean nothing.

just because you love someone very much doesn't mean your competent at caring for them.

regardless of what they intended, they failed.

[Rater202]

I fail to see how "called her a demon and took her to a quack who told her to just ignore her feelings and do everything she can to 'fit in'" conuts as love, btw.

[Ramza00]

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Most of all interesting how this shows that people see what they want to see.
Because as such i personally saw a Toga who threw it all away because she wanted to live as she pleased.

Yes, but that is not surprising for she felt she was given a polarized choice, a false choice, a bad faith choice.

In Object Relations theory this is called psychological splitting, and when you see the false choice as option A producing dysphoria one instantly switches to option B even if B is full of excess and it may hurt oneself or others.

Let me rephrase this in an earnest question. Is this anything different than 5 or 6 year old Bakugou pushing Midorya hand away after Bakugou fell in a ditch and caused hurt to himself? Bakugou as a child pushed away friendship and concern from “the other” in order to preserve his sense of being strong, for opening up to feelings of vulnerability would hurt his sense of self and he could not tolerate that!

[LaZodiac]

Problem is. You can excuse harming yourself. Its your body.
You can even excuse a beast for harming or killing a human. Because its just following its nature.

But when you have someone this bright. Bright enough to work as infiltrator.
Who still kills other people. Then all the excuses kinda falls apart.

She conciously knows that society considder what she want to be wrong.
And she has conciously made the choice, that her ability to live as she please is more important than other peoples life.

So i mean. There isnt really any excuses to be made for her.
Thats not also valid for just about every other monster in human history.

Likely less. Since at least by the look of it, she had a couple of parents who loved her and tried to raise her well.
But she jusy disagreed about things like "you cant live as you please all the time, nobody can"

If anyone deserves actual sympathy among the villains?
Then i think its Spinner more than anyone else. By the sound of it there is a decent bit of discrimination towards Heteromorphs.

And as we've made abundantly clear, there's a decent bit of discrimination against mental illness. But that seems to be a blindspot for you. I feel terrible for Spinner, he's just some shut in who lived in a racist town- that hurts, a lot.

But Toga is the same age as him. Why do you give him an out, and not Toga?

Her parents did not love her. We know they explicitly, in the text, were afraid of the shame of getting help for her, and felt she was creepy. Any true loving parent would have gotten her help.

You're acting as if she chose to eat birds. No one DOES that.

[Dragonus45]

I'm looking at these two posts side by side and I feel like I can see the entire world.

To answer, Dragonus;

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she was never given a choice. She was never given the help she needed to stop chewing at her hands. She was never given the tools to control a compulsion, like Rater did likely get. At some point the compulsion took over who she was and guides her goals. She's not a robot, yes, and I'm not saying he's faultless. But I am saying she's gone completely untreated for the problems she has, and doesn't deserve to die for her crimes.

This isn't directed at anyone, but just a generalized statement that I feel is appropriate; I think Toga is autistic, with a severe compulsion, and I think your experience with autistic people will inform your opinions on Toga. Whether or not you feel she is fully in control of what she's doing or not will depend on your personal experiences, and opinions, on people like her.

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I am on the spectrum and I am just entirely done with people using as some metaphor or comparison for Toga and her bull**** let alone actually stating that she is a murder because of it. I was untreated or diagnosed until my late twenties and as much of a ****ing hell as it really was in retrospect I somehow managed to never become a serial killer because I still understand RIGHT AND WRONG. Sure she deserves life in prison and a lot of therapy for her crimes, I'm not calling for the death penalty here but this is also a literal active warzone and she has the blood of a lot of people on her hands so I'm also not sure why she should get special treatment outside of most of the main cast of this series are by some standards better people then I am and would probably get stabbed a few times, or more likely let other die in the process, if it meant taking her in alive.

[Rater202]

I am also on the spectrum. I think the idea that Toga is legitimately mentally ill or in some way neurodivergent is 100%$plausible becuase it fits perfectly with her actions and backstory.

Particularly the parents who emotionally abuse her instead of making the effort to be understanding that their child is different. And the psychiatrist who focused on making her act normal instead of giving her any actual help.

She denies being a victim, but she objectively is.

Incidentally, there's an actual psychiatric disorder that... Lines up with Toga's actions perfectly. I don't nessesarily agree that she's autistic per se, but she almost certainly has some kind of... Ingrained, biological version of Renfield syndrome.

Anyway, nobody is saying that she's a killer because she's ill or divergent, however. She's a killer becuase a decade of abuse and psychiatric malpractice compounded a pre-existing compulsion to the point that she couldn't control her actions. Afterward, she made rationalizations after the fact. she claims not to be a victim, but she objectively is. She also demonstrably becomes more unstable after Twice is killed, and once she falls out of that she seems depressed, almost suicidal.

Also note that, for all she claims to know right from wrong, she also seems to legitimately not understand that her actions, and those of the other villains, have consequences—notably concluding that the heroes don't see Twice as a person instead of assuming his death was a result of his criminal actions or the large scale conflict going on at the time, and legitimately not knowing, and being terrified of the possibilities of, what would happen if she were captured. It is also implied that the current attitude she expresses of cheerful bloodlust and how this is her "normal" is a lie she's telling herself—note Curious comparing her expression to that of a smiling doll... And a doll might be smiling, but it's empty inside.

And this is of course assuming that there isn't an addictive aspect to it. The ecstatic look she has when she finally drinks blood after ten years is... suggestive. If Re-Destro is right and Toga i hardwired to drink blood, then going without for a decade and then gorging herself when she couldn't take it anymore very well could have triggered a massive dopamine spike and... Well, that's how addictions start.

[Ramza00]

Just a reminder Toga is re-enacting her childhood wound and trauma. Her parents denied her love and admiration, something all humans need (of course you can challenge me on this, but I will still say this is self evident.)

Spoiler: Toga

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Her parents denied her love and admiration, something all humans need (of course you can challenge me on this, but I will still say this is self evident.)

And since Toga quirk combines two aspects of her psychology, the need for blood, and the need for admiration / desire her use of the quirk is entirely warped.

Toga has equals who do care for her with the League of Villians, and this is important and satisfies another human need, but it is not what Toga craves, what was denied Toga in childhood. No she needs to admire others, and she needs to have them admire her as a mirror. This is not narcissistic, it is a primal human need, and we call it narcissistic when you had the need met and you still crave more, yet if you never had it in the first place we use the word “tragedy.”

There is reasons over several chapters we see images of the blood being a mask for Toga, where she treats her transform quirk like being a doll where you put a mask on, but if she has admiration and desire aka love even if a twisted form of love then it is not a mask instead Toga becoming the people she transforms too. Toga on an unconscious level wants to be loved for who she is, and to love others while she remains true to herself. A fake form of love like wearing a mask to interact with the public and be popular Toga sees as more painful than anything else. This is an unconscious drive for Toga, of course she is still doing unacceptable things with all the murder and serial killing, but us the reader sympathising with her is part of our own wish, our own desire where if we can make the unconscious conscious we can create new rules of life where Toga is a murderer with regrets and is trying to do better. Instead we are stuck at the present with Toga who is a murderer who is monsterous merely for parents called her a monster (I think the precise English translation was “that … that demon child”) and then the runaway train begins with it being locked into this train track.

Why do we crave heroes? We crave heroes for we imagine it is an outside force that can stop negative cycles.
Likewise some of the times it is inside forces that stop negative cycles. And other times it is the mirror relationship where two people can be more than the sum of their parts by being in each other’s presence, or when someone sees another, or when they use the magic words, etc.

[LaZodiac]

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I am on the spectrum and I am just entirely done with people using as some metaphor or comparison for Toga and her bull**** let alone actually stating that she is a murder because of it. I was untreated or diagnosed until my late twenties and as much of a ****ing hell as it really was in retrospect I somehow managed to never become a serial killer because I still understand RIGHT AND WRONG. Sure she deserves life in prison and a lot of therapy for her crimes, I'm not calling for the death penalty here but this is also a literal active warzone and she has the blood of a lot of people on her hands so I'm also not sure why she should get special treatment outside of most of the main cast of this series are by some standards better people then I am and would probably get stabbed a few times, or more likely let other die in the process, if it meant taking her in alive.

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I'm not saying she's a murderer because of it, and trust me, I (like most everyone here lets be real) am also autistic. And if I didn't get the help I did, I likely would have fallen into some of the same stuff Toga did. Obviously not, literally like that, but you get what I mean.

It's also been made very clear that a hero's first priority is capture, not kill. It is right to try and capture Toga, and help her. That's all I'm saying. I may have given you the impression I was lashing out at you, and I'm sorry to have hurt you- it was more aimed at the people who do think death is the only option for her, and that she's 100% at fault for the things she did.

[Callos_DeTerran]

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I'm not saying she's a murderer because of it, and trust me, I (like most everyone here lets be real) am also autistic. And if I didn't get the help I did, I likely would have fallen into some of the same stuff Toga did. Obviously not, literally like that, but you get what I mean.

It's also been made very clear that a hero's first priority is capture, not kill. It is right to try and capture Toga, and help her. That's all I'm saying. I may have given you the impression I was lashing out at you, and I'm sorry to have hurt you- it was more aimed at the people who do think death is the only option for her, and that she's 100% at fault for the things she did.

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I don't think I've seen anyone advocating that Toga's only option is death unless its from like a narrative perspective and not a moral/legal one.

And from as far as I've read in the manga, I would say she's not 100% at fault for the things she did...but she's more at fault for her actions than any mental illness she might suffer from. Something like 80% at fault. Maybe 75%.

[Dragonus45]

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I don't think I've seen anyone advocating that Toga's only option is death unless its from like a narrative perspective and not a moral/legal one.

And from as far as I've read in the manga, I would say she's not 100% at fault for the things she did...but she's more at fault for her actions than any mental illness she might suffer from. Something like 80% at fault. Maybe 75%.

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I have at least advocated the idea that trying to take her down nonlethally when she has proven to be so dangerous and killed to many people is irresponsible and morally taking a kill shot if you have one should be considered correct.

[Ramza00]

No new chapter this week, see you again next week.

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Segue but I saw this on the internet and it is half MHA related. Manga plus by shueisha is doing this one year campaign from Jan 30 to Jan 30 2022/2023. If I understand correctly you can read any English manga translation with over 100 to choose from for free. There are some caveats, it has to be an ongoing manga with new chapters coming out, and the chapters are simulrelease the same week in Japan and English. Likewise it will only be available for Apple devices and Android devices and not desktop or laptop devices since this free campaign uses an iOS and Android App.

Most important caveat and thus gotcha is this.. You can only read each chapter for free, once, aka it is trying to get you into the manga by providing abundance, and then creating scarcity.

Anyone have any thoughts?. I brought it up here for Manga Plus was advertising it with MHA and One Piece

[Ramza00]

New Chapter, and it’s happening. I am hyped even if it’s a slow burn 🔥

https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapt...emia?locale=en

[LaZodiac]

I really love the conversation Deku and Uraraka are having here. This clear and present idea that... yes, they need to be taken down, in some way. But they're still PEOPLE. We can't ever forget that. It's some good ****.