Dabi Is A Very Tim Burtonish Character If You Ask Me

BNHA Chapter 187 and Mad Love: The flower scenes

In chapter 187 of BNHA Natsuo and Fuyumi visit Rei in the hospital at the same time that Endeavour is fighting High End.

Natsuo ends up commenting on his fathers recent promotion as number 1 hero, and though chastised by Fuyumi he expresses resentment with everything Endeavour put their family through. He claims Endeavour left them behind. This is when Rei chimes in and says she doesn’t belive that, and that she thinks he’s trying to face the family.

What proof does she have, though? After all, she herself says she hasn’t seen Endeavour in ten years. Well, the proof to her claim is this:

Rei says that Endeavour brought her that flower and remarks he remembered she liked them despite her only telling him once.

Here’s the problem I have with this though: this chapter is the one that started building Endeavours atonement, and yet for Rei to be the one to create its foundation doesn’t sit well with me because she shouldn’t be having those opinions about Endeavour. He was her abuser for a decade, and the one responsible for her pain.

A single flower shouldn’t change Reis mind.

This fixation on the flower is what reminded me of a scene from another work that creates some unnerving similarities between the two

This is the flower scene from chapter 187:

And this is the flower scene from the DC comic Mad Love:

Some context about Mad Love:

It was a comic published in 1992 by DC comics, with Paul Dini and Bruce Timm as the writers and it was the first canonical backstory of Harley Quinn (other backstories would follow after, as is the case with American comics). The comic was all about Harleys abusive relationship with the Joker and how she seemed to be unable to realise just how bad he was for her. At the end it looks like she finally realises (after Joker throws her off a building)…. and yet, while still covered in bandages from the injuries he inflicted on her, she notices a flower he left her… and changes her mind once more.

Of course it must be said that Harley is a very, very different character from Rei, but these two scenes have a lot in common:

Both are women that experienced abusive relationships

Both of them are hospitalized because of their abuser

In the hospital, both receive a flower from their abuser as a form of “apology”

In both cases the flower seems to be proof enough for them to change their mind about their abuser for the better.

Perhaps the only difference is that in Mad Love this change of heart from Harley is framed as wrong and tragic. In the foreword of the comic, Paul Dini wrote he saw Mad Love as “… a cautionary [tale] about what happens when someone loves recklessly, obsessively and for too long”.

Horikoshis intent with his scene however, seemed to be the opposite. As I said before, what Rei says about Endeavour sets up his atonement. Its meant to be a hopeful moment, a good moment. But not for Rei. For Endeavour.

Mad Love tells the victims story. Chapter 187 is there for the abusers benefit.

Now. After writing all of this:

Do I think that Horikoshi made this connection with Mad Love on purpose? NO

Do I think these similarities with Mad Love are unfortunate and damaging to Reis story? YES

Every time I read that scene in the manga or watch it in the anime I cant help but remember Mad Love. And it’s endlessly frustating that BNHA tries to frame that scene as good when it very much shouldnt be. Because there is already a story that framed a similar scene as the tragedy it very clearly was.

Reis two appearances outside of flashbacks in the manga have mostly served to develop her abusers story, but I still have some hope that she’ll be able to escape Endeavours suffocating presence in the manga and break free of his influence.

Just like Harley eventually did.

When endeavor said "just watch me". Homie my eyes are wide open. Not seeing much tho

they dancing

dabi and hawks? for ship opinion?

okay okay i'm going to be more detailed this time around.

i have very complicated thoughts on dabihawks. like... i do read dabihawks, but that's more because it's all i can ever find for dabi content and i'm at the point where i'm like, whatever, i'll take it. i also will read fics by any mutuals who write dabihawks bc i trust them on their portrayals. and occasionally i'll read a good fic and suddenly get feelings for the ship again (because i used to like it).

HOWEVER... in general i'm not a fan of the ship. for obvious reasons in canon, but i think if it were just bc of canon i would have ignored the ship. its that the shippers have sort of ruined it for me. obviously this is not every single shipper in existence but some of them make it really obvious that they're just hawks stans who don't care about dabi and only use him as an accessory or therapist to hawks. either that, or they demonize shigaraki and the rest of the lov and act like dabi is somehow more morally pure than them, which is... wrong? i dont think this happens a lot anymore but i will occasionally stumble across that even now (i saw one like this today :/) and its just really weird.

i also feel really sick and uncomfortable at any fics that make dabi get together with hawks post-266. i've seen it a few times and i genuinely feel nauseous seeing that sort of stuff because it's like, twice just doesn't matter anymore to dabi bc he's getting together with twice's murderer, or it downplays hawks' actions and pretends that dabi is the aggressor or that he's abusive or something and he needs to beg for forgiveness. and i just really don't like that. before 266 is fine though.

send me a ship and i'll give my opinion on it ❤️

for some people who may want another access and other arts that I didin’t post over here go to my twitter. lately I’m more active over there.

my twitter << HERE

Call this a conspiracy theory

but with the recent reveal about Tenko's quirk and having spent some time dwelling on the details of Touya's death there are more and more things not making sense in the context we were given.

Touya died in a fire on Sekoto peak after having a breakdown which lead to him losing control of his fire. This happened notably on a day when Enji was at home, having a day off from work.

Then Touya's burned body was taken away by All For One, who had broken off a fragment of his jawbone and planted it as evidence of his death.

As neglectful as Enji may have been as a father, he was still a hero. I have no doubt he got to the mountain as soon as he realized there is a fire. The Todoroki mansion was also located close to the Sekoto peak, as both Enji and Touya used to go there regularly to train. Are we really supposed to believe AFO just so happened to come across the fire started by Touya, manually break off his jawbone, leave it there and get away from the mountain with his body faster than it took for Endeavour to come there? Enji is the one living there, not All For One. Touya's breakdown is not something that can be predicted by the other party, unless they are keeping close contact with the Todoroki family. Ujiko directly confirms they were indeed aware of the private matters happening in the Todoroki house, which lead to AFO taking interest in Touya.

Those kids were our spares, in case anything happened to Tomura Shigaraki.

What did happen to Tomura Shigaraki, when he still was Tenko Shimura?

AFO sought him out when he was still a baby, and immediately took away his quirk factor. He was meeting with his father privately and encouraged his behaviour towards his son. He even contacted Tenko's friends. When Tenko was 5 years old, AFO personally passed the Decay quirk to him in another meeting.

AFO was a fucking control freak, manipulating Tenko's life to unbelievable degree. Everything that happened to Tenko was a doing of All For One, pretty much. And once he had hold on him, he kept him in complete control and isolation for most of his life.

Is it really so far fetched to believe that Touya's death on Sekoto was also AFO's doing?

We already have the confirmation Touya was one of Shigaraki's possible replacements and AFO toon specific interest in his quirk, before giving up on it.

We also know the only reason they let Touya go was because his body was so messed up Garaki prognosed his life expectancy after leaving the facility to be a month tops.

Another point that stands out is Touya's ice quirk awakening. The evolution of quirks explanation is handwavey at best. But if the condition for Touya was a near-death experience, then wouldn't a 13 years old boy who was used to dealing with minor burns and didn't want to burn to death fulfill those conditions better than a 24 years old man who was dealing with extreme burns on the regular and actively wanted to die?

Anyway, All For One is the one who started that fire on Sekoto, not Touya. In this essay I will-

13 yrs. Touya under care of Ujiko [theory]

I really like hori Noumu design it a perfectly mixture of hideous and cute

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I don’t think Ujiko is a good person, he really twisted and a mad scientist type. but I think he have soft spot for all his creature [aka. noumu] like it his child/possession.

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I wonder if Noumu is cuddlable? or even comfortable to cuddle or not [but it made out of flesh so maybe it smooth for texture?]

Dont worry guys the sphere growing in Dabi is his homosexuality

i would be more tolerant of hawks or feel like #hottakes about him had some value if there was any interest in discussing him as a marginalized person buying into the system, for power, stability, and whatever misguided belief that the system does good. a child in poverty with abusive parents becoming a person who would do anything in order to never be disempowered nor poor again. a child who was saved by the hero system convincing himself that because he got out anyone can get out, especially anyone who is (like himself as a child) morally blameless and willing to try hard to win the approval of his superiors.

if only there was any talk about dabi and twice being, in hawks' view, morally inadequate and not appropriately grateful towards the establishment (nor, in dabi's case, his own abuser), because his assessment is informed by his own contrasting experience. he needs to perform those mental gymnastics to justify his own place within hero society, to justify his own deserving nature by creating a category of people, within his mind, who are undeserving. if only those people who resemble him would change, if only they would work harder, if only they would come around to his way of thinking, they could replicate his success and earn a place within hero society.

there are plenty of marginalized people who've somehow "made it" and are more than happy to use their own marginalizations to support the status quo. "i'm a poc and if i achieved this so can you." "i'm mentally ill but i did this, so what's your excuse?" "i'm a survivor and i think she's lying." we recognize that these people exist and are still marginalized with all the social precarity that that entails; however, they do harm to people who are even more vulnerable than themselves who share their marginalizations. talking about this means analyzing the positionality of a fandom-favored attractive skinny guy and the power he wields though, so it's more appealing to throw him into the trauma olympics to be bnha's one true victim or whatever.

the manga died with twice

man. in a way.

honestly i'd say it's less that it died with twice - i actually think that outside of hawks being a bit of a weak mirror for jin, his death was one of the most well-written and impactful parts of the story, paying proper tribute to jin's development and the core of who he is and what he believes.

where the manga died is when it failed to follow through on the fallout and implications of it all. to take one of, if not thee best, developed character to such a daring fuckin climax and then nothing? fuck all? hawks is just like well he was a nice guy sucks how things went. maybe i should call my mom. whatever dude your mom never should have baby trapped your dad.