Evolution of Tomura Shigaraki, From An Innocent Abused Child to the Ultimate Abuser of MHA
- Jatin Thukral
- Nov 9, 2020
- 5 min read
Here presented to you is an elaborative character study of the major villain of hit anime series My Hero Academia by Kōhei Horikoshi. Although the boss villain of the show has been named as All For One whose real name is not yet disclosed and it is believed that he has always been called by the alias he wished which is also the name for his quirk, All For One. All For One is debatably the most powerful quirk of all the quirks in the show, while some people believe it is One For All.
Just like All Might found a well-deserving successor to fill in his One For All into, All For One had also been experimenting on a subject of his own while lurking in the darker than ever shadows. That’s right, he found the infamous criminal child, Tomura Shigaraki.
Introduction
Tomura Shigaraki is the leader of the notorious criminal gang ‘The League of Villains’. He’s the chosen one to succeed the evil entity of All For One and walk the same path to become the main antagonist of the show. Tomura Shigaraki, after being ludicrously abused by his father in his hate for the heroes was given a pretentiously warm hand and diabolic care of All For One after young Tomura had murdered his entire family in a sprawling series of events where he had no control over his quirk and its use whatsoever. All For One brainwashed the infant mind of a little kid who was weighed down by the limitless guilt and remorse of losing or perhaps, unconsciously killing his family with his bare hands. With All For One by his side and his care and sympathy, however demeaning and selfishly patronizing it may have been, little kid in Tomura grew fond of him and accepted him as his true companion or better be said, his saviour. Here began the journey of young innocent Tenko Shimura to turn into the devil incarnate Tomura Shigaraki.
Appearance and Personality
Tomura appears to be just as an ordinary teenage guy would in faded blue jeans and a black hoodie with casual sneakers until one decides to have a closer look to his face. Tomura has a sleek and seemingly petite body figure which makes him look well, benign at first but his quirk makes him much more dangerous when he decides to come in contact with his prey.
Tomura’s face has taken great deals of beating which left him no option but to cry and weep all the hours of the day; giving him thick hideous wrinkles around his eyes. With peeled lips crooked inside and reddish eyes (could be a result of the experiments done by All For One, or to add on to his evil personality), Tomura attains the appropriate appearance of a villain in a superhero-infested society. He is shown with greyish blue hair with varying lengths throughout the run of the anime series and manga editions. Interestingly enough, in the earlier life of Tenko, he shared a quite similar personality and bore a slight resemblance of Izuku Midorya, the protagonist of the show. As per the manga, young Tenko had dark hair with slight curls and big eyes that were always ready to cry just as young Izuku.
Tomura is majorly seen with several artificial hands holding him on different parts of his body. Each pair of hands belongs to one of the individuals Shigaraki had killed when he had just experienced the manifestation of his murderous quirk. On his neck, he has the hands of his mother; and father’s hands on his face and sister’s hands on his wrists.
During the events of My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising, he wore a dark red trenchcoat over his original black clothing and red shoes.
Tomura Shigaraki fits to be a villain with his master as one of the evilest personalities too ever have lived or come into being, yet Shigaraki attains a monotonous approach at realizing his plans and objectives and fails to participate in his shenanigans which is quite imperative for a villain f he wants to leave his mark. As of the show has run till now, Shigaraki has just used other villains as his pawns in the itinerary of his plans to bring the heroes down and inject chaos into the society. Further chapters of the manga, however, promise the arrival of Tomura Shigaraki into the battlefield against heroes, head to head.
For his personality, Tomura shows traits of a typical man child with the ridiculous egoistic wishes and ludicrous demands and getting tetchy if they aren’t somehow are fulfilled or even went as he planned them to go. He doesn’t care for his or anyone else’s life. This can be seen as a reflection in his multiple failed fiascos at the beginning and his encounter with Hero Killer Stain which left him embarrassed. Tomura is expected to grow more patient and sensible as the show proceeds and become a serious villain if he wants to realize his wishes of reshaping or even ultimately destroy it which can be done only after defeating each and every hero trying to save the society for such villains. By the admission of his own thoughts, he stated that he hates everything that breathes, showcasing the extreme nihilism.
Even if this hero society comes crashing down... even if I rise to rule the underworld... that weight in my heart is never gonna go away. It's why I hate everything. Every living, breathing thing just rubs me the wrong way. So why not destroy it all? Why not destroy everything?
-Tomura Shigaraki
Abilities
Thanks to the exponential analytical, physical and intellectual skills, he has the combat power exceeding most of the pro heroes in entire Japan or better be said, in the entire world. Tomura’s frightening appearance and powerful quirks also help him to enjoy the full control over the powerful subordinates of ‘The League’. During the USJ incident, Shigaraki managed to get the best against one of the most prominent pro heroes in Japan, and a senior teacher at UA High School, Eraserhead.
After being gifted with All For One from his master, Tomura has gained astoundingly on his natural parameters of abilities. With enhanced durability and strength, he was able to withstand the point-blank blast of Katsuki Bakugo’s explosive quirk during a brawl between the two without taking any damage at all. Tomura has also enhanced his strength and speed which is also displayed in regular intervals during the show.
Along with all the powers and quirks he has manifested or been gifted, Tomura has always had a keen intellect making him able to analyze things far quicker than any usual individual.
His original quirk Decay allows him to disintegrate whatever he touches with all five fingers. It will take effect on whether the target is organic or not. The disintegration spreads quickly and will spread through the victim's whole body if they don't amputate the decaying body part. His Quirk can even spread beyond what he's touching, allowing him to disintegrate large groups of enemies instantly.
Trivia
Horikoshi revealed that Tomura is based on the protagonist of his first Oneshot from 2007 titled “Tenko”, starring the eponymous boy during wartime in feudal Japan
Tomura can be considered as a dark parallel to Izuku Midoriya. Although My Hero Academia tells the story of how Izuku became the greatest hero, it also focuses on how Tomura will possibly become the greatest villain. Like Izuku, Tomura starts off being rather naïve and insecure of his position and power due to his tragic backstory, but he gradually begins to become more mature and confident as the story continues
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