They read comic book when they were about 5-8 years old or older so if he only become a villain after reading book what one calls chaos gremlin who is going around brutalazing people, stealing quirks and causing destruction everywhere he goes up to that point? Chaotic neutral? He already was a villain at that point for years.
What comic book did was giving him a goal/dream to strive towards, because before that he was just...surviving, aimlessly drifting through life dragging Yoichi along. Comic simply organized his villainy.
And no, I don't think it makes narrative of "bro saw comic book villain and said hold my quirks" any less fresh and fascinating.
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All the comic did was show him how to be a theater kid. And he ran with it
This is exactly it
Who the hell has been saying that this blood covered child.started with a comic book?
Frankly a much better reason was staring Horikoshi in the face. He could have reasoned he just trying to forge a better life for him and his brother, he just went about it the only way he truly knew how, through violence and domination. Cause at the top no one can hurt you, if you’re feared, you won’t starve and you certainly won’t be hurt. At least by his twisted reasoning. That realization would have made so much more sense and would have fit Horikoshi’s thematic narrative. Hurt people hurt people. Hell take it one step further, he was only after One For All because he just wanted the one person he had done this all for back at his side.
the thematic narrative fell completely flat towards the end when he did nothing about all the villains and their stories and society at large. so thats probably why he backed out of making it deep w afo - it wouldve just shined more light on the lack of follow thru
That’s actually kind of fair. Honestly, it would have been better if Shigaraki killed him during the Tartarus breakout, making Shigaraki the true main villain, instead of an afterthought like he ended up being.
Eh disagree.
OFA sought to be remembered and felt entitled to everything because everyone ignored his cries anc because of hid natural instincts being shaped by the hell he grew up in. Everyone of course but Yoichi as a kid.
The one person he could never control or manipulate.
AFO wanted to be a Demon Lord because as Izuku saw, he was a lonely man. Desperate for attention. Who believed himself owed it because of his quirk and being ignored. Who couldn’t fathom his affection for Yoichi until his vestige died.
And I think that reason, the canon reason is a hell of a lot more interesting.
You’d have to rewrite basically everything about him.
Including why he enjoyed comics.
And it would make a ton of his pre-flashback origin moments OOC as fuck.
Since AFO loved lording his power over others and feeling superior. He relished in murdering the glowing child out of jealousy.
The decision to keep his only human connection being his love for Yoichi inside of a twisted man who enjoyed evil is far more interesting to me.
Also AFO is very much shaped by society in canon as seen by his reasons for murdering soldiers as a kid was because they ignored him/didn’t help. He was just predisposed towards selfishness and cruelty but he was hurt by rejection.
Saying he wasn’t a hurt person ignores how that AFO deep down knows he is a hurt person as shown by how he reacts to Deku’s words. By how he spent a century murdering OFA’s holders snd their family for Yoichi’s quirk. His brother’s last remnant. Out of a twisted love. His brother’s rejection snd society ignoring his cries left an indelible mark that justified and only amplified his evil.
The difference is you can be a hurt person and still born predisposed to cruelty and evil.
And I think that’s a hell of a lot more interesting than well intentioned extremist turned wannabe demon lord.
I see your point, but you have to squint to see AFO’s place in the thematic narrative, and in some ways his entire presence and actions lessens that same thematic narrative. His backstory and reasons for his actions also came out at the last possible minute. Way too late for it really mean anything.
I sort of disagree there because I do like how choices from two different people inform their character arcs regarding power, and as much as the series explores Nature and Nurture, it always points out agency and choices one can make.
Yoichi sees All for One as the potential to be the kindest power, the ability to develop empathy, engender empathy and provide compassion to people who suffer from their Quirks.
Zen sees All for One as a tool for domination, control and a mandate that he must rule and control all. Zen feels lonely and feels attached to Yoichi but he chooses not to recognize that, he chooses to indulge in his Quirk, he chooses to dominate and to control and he chooses to put up a false mask and pretend to be a Demon Lord rather than choose to be human.
Yoichi and Zen grew up in the exact same environment. One brother chooses to be kind, while the other chooses to be cruel. This continues well into Zen's adulthood where even when Zen has all the power in the world, he still loses the moral high ground to Yoichi.
Yoichi could have easily have just joined Zen, gotten like 1-5 Quirks, and basically had a chill life. He refuses on principle despite being weak.
I like the thematic motifs being explored here between Yoichi and Zen, and making Zen too sympathetic starts diluting that theme of choices and the power of a choice even among the powerless.
But what you say is entirely true. He was kinda doing all that. By collecting quirks brutalizing others and just trying his best to survive and thrive in insane environment, they inherited.
Ty! Because last I checked he was covered in blood before reading it with yoichi
Yoichi with green eyes is so cute though...anime did them both so well in last season.
Even further proof that Izuku is meant to be very similar to him
Yesss 😭😭😭 110%
I wouldn't mind if he did though.
Plenty of characters want to become heroes because of the characters they see in media but we don't often get that simple motivation with villains.
He watched both Joker movies and was so disappointed in the sequel that he decided to make one IRL.
bro saw the Joker movie once and made it his entire personality.
I think it can be both. I think prior to the comic book, Zen was just surviving with his brother, his perception of the world warped by his own internal wiring and the experiences they had had thus far. But when he saw the demon king with his power over everyone around him, that's when he realized what he wanted to be.
EDIT: To be clear Zen had already killed a bunch of people by this point. He was evil and already a villain, he just didn't have a definition for those words. I think he did those things because he thought that that was what the world was and he wanted to be on top.
i mean, didn't Shigaraki specifically also look to villains in media as inspiration? I feel like that was a thing and him being an Otaku of some kind was dropped as a plot point.
Yeah but he has the whole traumatic backstory mixed in.
I mean more in the sense of deku and bakugo seeing all might and wanting to be heroes out of pure admiration but with villains instead.
Maybe in the future somebody will read Spinner's book and look to Shigaraki like that
Garou it's a great example of this
He...hes literally murdered tons of people before the comic scene happens. He's covered in blood in that scene. He's been a villain since before he knew what comics were.
I don't think anything needs to be explained.
that's what they said about shampoo too
AFO: Ugh, killing is getting boring.
‘Reads comic book and grins’
The comic book just helped him create the “Demon Lord” persona for himself. Dude was a villain straight from the womb
Blaming fetus is another thing I plan to address it's kind of hilarious if you think about it.
Ngl seeing his eyes like this made me think afo was blind his entire life. Blank, dull ,lightless eyes are generally how anime depicts blindness..but given we can see yoichis reflection during one scene im not sure if he could see or if he stole a sight quirk at some point
Well, considering how he looked after his first battle with All Might, I wouldn't be surprised if he was blind then, at the very least.
He can see. His eyes are special.
Literally who the fuck thought the murder child who according to the narrator himself believed everything belonged to him wasn't evil?
AFO was going to be evil regardless. Claiming it was because of the comic book is the video games make people violent argument, which is disproven and idiotic.
Reading the comic simply reinforced his belief that everything he had done before was right.
Who’s stupid enough to think that?
He didn't become a villain because of comics he was inspired to become demon lord because of comics
AFO: "Hey do you know how to get blood off shirts, oh what you reading there Yoichi"
We literally saw him kill people before we even read the comic book, are there really people who believe that?
I sort of agree. All For One became a villain to fulfill his desire to be seen by others and loved. He relates to the demon lord in the comic because he gains the attention of others through overwhelming force and cruelty, things AFO has the capability for. Because he doesn't understand how to form connections with others beyond feeling a sense of control over them, he naturally gravitates towards this distortion of how relationships are formed.
AFO wasn't necessarily good or bad when he was a toddler, he was just strong and in an environment where extreme violence was normalized and more or less necessary for self preservation. He was living more like a territorial animal than a villain like he is when he's an adult. The comic didn't make him a villain, but it served as fuel for delusions of grandeur and the skewed value system he was already developing.
Hold my quirks is insane
In my headcanon he did became a villain for an comic xd
If people have seen the show in its entirety and still think comics is the reason clearly second screened this show
He was always a bad guy, he became a "Villain" because of the comic book.
Like "OMG, this Joker guy is so awesome, I wanna be like him"
The comic book just made him more flamboyant.
I think if he didn't even listen to what his brother had said, he would become a mass murderering and rampaging monster
Ya said that perfectly
It's the best example of "some villains aren't made or broken, some are born like that and strive to be nothing but evil."
The person who killed people since he was a baby became bad after his brother started learning how to read? Who thinks that? lol.
dont think anyone ever said he became "evil" because of a comic book thats like saying kids are taking guns to school because they played GTA and thought it would be cool everyone knows its not because of the game something is already wrong with that kid and how did he get a gun lol
This fanbase doesn’t care, they eat up these half assed story lines
The guy was already murdering people when he was 4-5.
The comic book didn't make him a villain. It made him a super villain.
He was already a villain, the comic just inspired him to do it with purpose.
When people talk about any media, they often say the most basic shit imaginable, and people run with it. Any story, even the ones that get praised for being well writen, have people like this.
Street kid who can steal quirks. There was no saving him
AFO was born evil. He is the exception to the rule that everyone can be saved. He killed his mother directly after he was born. The whole schtick is that he is irredeemable
I have to disagree with this most people that point out he’s killing as a kid forget that it’s basic instinct to survive he’s killing because he’s an instinct not because he’s evil at that point he could’ve been converted to hero if shown a a better path just because he killed some people does in his past does not make him evil, the comic influenced him to become demon lord what is afo want the most everyone to look at him? He wants everyone to obey him and see him. He wants people to see him as their savior. Could he not do the same thing as being a hero? Someone that saves lies and people are eternally grateful and excited to see him. The only reason he didn’t is because at that time heroes didn’t exist only a comic book and it showed a villain getting everything he wanted.
Again for the people in the back that didn't get the message.....ALL FOR ONE IS EVIL INCARNATE
No he isn’t, he wants to be, wishes he was. But he chose to take that path, and he was influenced and shaped by his environment and circumstances just like everyone else. Like Deku said, he’s not a monster beyond understanding, he’s no demon lord, he’s a guy, a human who is incredibly evil.
To blame it all on an evil incarnate is the same problem as betting it all on a symbol of peace, deflecting responsibility.
My brother in christ no he wasn't, he's literally the outlier. Tomura/Tenko is the one who was shaped by his environment and circumstances. All For One was literally born evil in the womb stealing nutrients from his twin brother. The same twin brother who he gave the name, "Property of Shigiraki," which is what the direct translation of his name. Deku was just saying that to demoralize him.