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| U.A’s Traitor: Aoyama Yuga, confirmed. |
C’était toi Aoyama-kun! It was you all along.
Well, that cat’s out of the bag. But before we jump down to the comment section to confirm or justify whether or not we were right or wrong (which to be fair I don’t really think matters because as a writer Horikoshi did a good job at keeping us at bay), I have another proposition to make!
You guys might have noticed that I enjoy having moralistic, philosophical and conceptual debates about themes in anime and manga, and I wanted to open up the space to hear from your end: your thoughts and opinions regarding Aoyama’s parents.
I tend to spend some time on Tumblr and a few Discord groups and I noticed a lot of younger users condemning Yuga’s parents as if they were the actual plague. Now, I don’t know most of your ages, but I’m twenty eight and me and my partner are currently planning and organizing our lives to be able to have a child one day, so I’m on and off researching about things related to childbirth, upbringing, behavior, psychology, education, you get the gist. The thing is, I can empathize with Yuga’s parents and their unconventional choice. Would me and my partner have done it? No, but that would entail us having to take accountability over the emotional and psychological repercussions this would result in our child growing up in a world where 80% of the population has quirks and becoming a superhero is every child’s dream.
Would it be easy? No way José, take a look at Izuku–90% of me thinks Midoriya Inko would’ve made an agreement with All For One to give her son a quirk if he played her just right. Imagine if he’d never gotten OFA and Inko just happened to meet AFO and he offered her a quirk that could turn her son into a hero. Horikoshi doesn’t strike me as a guy who does things thoughtlessly, the parallels between Yuga and Izuku are intentional. That could’ve been him.
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| Aoyama sings Perfect by Simple Plan french version. |
It’s also still unclear how well Aoyama’s parents actually knew AFO. “We never would’ve done it if we’d known how this would play out!” Did they know he was a villain? Maybe. And if they did, did they truly know the extent of his villany? Unclear, but from observing AFO’s behavior thus far, I don’t think so. AFO likes to present himself as a savior, as the one who truly understands the pains of those who have been ostracized, of the outcasts and forgotten souls lurking in the shadows. AFO plays the role of the one who’s really bringing justice to the table. He’s like the corrupt president of a third world country who would fuck that country to shambles and still have people believe in him.
I think Yuga’s parents are misguided, unprepared and irresponsible, but I don’t particularly think they’re outright awful and villainous. Selfish? Sure, but I think they’re a realistic portrayal of a big chunk of society, who would put their family’s well being over the rest of the population. There’s still much we don’t know about their family dynamic, but what we do know is that Yuga loves his parents and his parents love him very much. We’ve finally found out the truth behind the traitor’s motivations: quirkless teen receives a quirk from the villain and is blackmailed to do dirty work and his family’s livelihood is used against him. What a ride! Like I said last week, regardless of who it was, it turned out to be a great read!
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| Nomadic Heroes and their Spirit Animals. |
Gabie’s fangirl love corner: I’m looking forward to seeing my gremlin take his quirk to the next level with his new upgrade. And I’m also happy to see Todoroki finally making great advances with his song of ice and fire *wink*. By the way, ha ha, how amazing that Horikoshi used a ram (a.k.a Bighorn Sheep) as Izuku’s spirit animal? These beautiful herbivores are not predators, but one does not simply mess with them! With horns that can weigh over 30 pounds–more than all bones in their bodies combined and capable of charging a good 20 miles an hour, as the male sheep their first order of priority is protecting the herd against threats! In matters of symbolism they stand for vitality, unyielding courage, wisdom, discernment and culturally speaking they’re also associated with sacrifice and achievement (self-sacrificial much Deku?). And perhaps the most important fact about rams is that they also sometimes engage in homosexual activity.
Izuku shouts: has anyone seen Kacchan?! #katsudekuconfirmedcanon
PERFECT, if you ask me.
As a hardcore Katsudeku shipper for years now the last part nearly killed me. XD It really is…perfect.
I have been waiting for you since my first BNHA post.
I thought I was the only one of our kind here.
Bless you.
With regards to parenting, I personally believe that Yuga’s parents were justified in their actions to grant their son a quirk in a society that currently ostracize those with0ut quirks. As parents you want the best for your children, be it safety, success or being happy; they would go to great lengths and sacrifice to secure those things. While they may have good intentions, the effect of your actions is never clear on how they would impact your child in the long run. I highly doubt that they recognize the danger of obtaining a quirk for Yuga and themselves entail. Now that Yuga has entered UA and coincidentally being placed in the same class as the successor for OFA, Yuga and his parents will now have to shoulder the burden and pain of being the pawn for AFO. Would the Aoyamas’ have rejected the quirk offer if they knew how things would turn out; I would say its likely given how much stress they are going through and how much it eats into Yuga’s mental state given how I am sure he has grown attached to his identity as a hero. As the parents, it is now their priority to be there for their child given that their actions are now causing stress and grief for their child; the latest chapter may have smudged their reputation as parents by baiting and forcing Yuga to make the difficult choices of bearing the brunt of dilemma of their choices. At this juncture where your child has to make a very important decision, Yuga’s parents should be there as emotional support to guide Yuga is making his decisions by provide him the space and avenue to channel his own thoughts and emotions. I believe if they were to do that, they could honor Yuga’s desire of being a hero and he will make the decision to come out to the rest of the cast of his status as a mole at a much earlier time. I think Yuga’s parents were justified in their decision at that point of time, but they should have provided a solid pillar for Yuga to lean on when the consequences catches up to them.
Do what best for your child, but be there when they need you when things don’t go as envisioned.
*Horikoshi shoots down invisible girl theories*
It’s super effective.
A wild Aoyama appears.
*Horikoshi winks*
Those were great points and I couldn’t agree more. Knowing Deku I can see him opening up the space for Aoyama to share his burden and come clean to the class, and given their personalities, I can see his peers eventually giving him a second chance. What the Aoyamas probably thought was that no one really stood a chance against AFO and that not even the school and heroes would be able to defeat him (especially since the Kamino incident). If they manage to bring Yuga and his parents to their side, they might be able to use the mole against AFO which could be quite interesting at the same time that it would reinforce the narrative of true heroism prevailing even in the darkest of places, as well as Horikoshi’s fondness for the atonement journey.
Then, it would be really nice to see Yuga’s parents honor their child and support him in his pursuits of heroism and honesty, they should’ve been a solid pillar (like you said), but there’s still time for them to step up their game, I guess we’ll see hey!
I love to see that buy I have a feeling AFO will see this double cross coming and turn poor Aoyama into a bomb just like Nagant. It would be stupid of him not to plant a bomb into Yuma just in case he turns against him.
It just further shows the intelligence of AFO (and sadly further confirms that he will be the final big bad which further makes the villain journey of Tomura for nothing. And yes I am still bloody bitter about the treatment of Tomura).
Considering that AFO has given Yuga the quirk at an early age, I doubt he has foreseen that far into the future where Yuga would end up in the same place where OFA has ended up. For Yuga’s case it may be more of a insurance and broad loyalty program for when the times comes for it. I think it is pure coincidence that Yuga and Izuku ended up in the same class. That being said, that leaves room for random people in society also receiving AFO’s blessing and having to work for him. Though I still question why Yuga would interrupt the villain attack on the summer camp where Yuga would almost prevent Tokoyami and Bakugo from being kidnaped by shooting Mr. Compress.
@Flappy: About the Mr. Compress thing: perhaps he just had to play his part? You know, so that no one would think he was acting too suspiciously by doing nothing, but also not going full power so as to disrupt the villain’s plans. Regarding the terms of his “insurance” I’m more in agreement with you. We’re still unsure as to what age he received the quirk, but even if it ends up being as an adolescent (like Izuku), it might’ve been to spy on All Might who was confirmed to start teaching at UA and was actually AFO’s main target way way back before he realized Toshinori had given Deku OFA.
@Zemox2: Along those lines (my last sentence above), then it could be that AFO set up a booby trap on Yuga’s quirk, so it’s actually a very reasonable route. One of the reasons why I would think that’s not the case would be kind of like “don’t write the same word twice on the same sentence because it gets too repetitive” you know? Yuga mentions how he wants to protect his parents, so Flappy and I think (if I may speak on your behalf), that that’s why his parents are being used against him–heck, maybe they have exploding booby traps! hahaha.
As for Tomura’s treatment, what is it that upsets you? I hadn’t really thought much about it before since he’s become AFOmura for now and I assumed that was intentional, but I’m curious to hear your thoughts.
Tomura was bring built up to be the final boss. His journey to become the greatest villain parallel Deku and his hero journey.. he gets a big victory in MVA and 2 arcs latter he loses his army, one of his friends and his body. AFO Stoke his spotlight and using him likeca puppet. It just possess me if that the writer is rendering the villain journey of Tomura completely pointless
Zemox2: I see what you mean. Hmm… I guess our views on who’s the actual main villain in the show diverge. For me it’s always been AFO and Tenko has always been an unfortunate tool in his plan, a puppet that he has given some form of masked freedom for a while so he [Tomura] could think that he had actual control over his decisions/path and would end up exactly where AFO wanted him through his own “volition”–an evil plan indeed.
AFO always let Tomura do what he wanted in his acts of villainy and even let him choose his own allies, do you remember that he [AFO] would often mention how it was important to let his pupil/successor fly off the nest (or something along these lines)? The truth though, is that his plan has always been to transfer his conscience and quirk to Tomura, who now calls for Izuku through his trapped child version.
My guess is that Tenko Shimura will be saved at the end and that as we’ve seen, he’s only been guided into the path of villainy due to his unfortunate circumstances and the many issues with the current system/society. AFO on the other hand, strikes me as someone who didn’t end up as a villain because of past traumas/sad circumstances, but because he’s a megalomaniac psychopath (or sociopath), but that’s just an assumption, we still don’t know his backstory.
Personally I want Tomura to break free, banish the visage of AFO and kill the original. That way it will be Tomura and his gang vs Deku and friends in the final battle. Tomura may have been a puppet but I think it be more impact full if he finally cuts the strings and destroy the person who used him all his life, by destroying OFA and dying him the chance to reunite with his little brother