Timeline Math: Shigaraki, Izuku, & Afo

timeline math: shigaraki, izuku, & afo

Some timeline math:

Shigaraki is about 20 years old. 

Izuku is about 16. 

The age when a child develops a quirk is age 4, also the age when Izuku was confirmed Quirkless.

In this flashback where we see AFO kidnap Shigaraki, he still has his face and hair, so we can assume it was before the AM vs. AFO fight that left them both at their weakest:

Listen, we know AFO choose to groom Shigaraki specifically because it would hurt All Might –– he says this. But why look for a full on successor before he was injured? He is essentially immortal, and character-wise, he has a massive ego backed up by intelligence. And (see above) he literally has Jesus holes in his hand, likely from his Quirk. I’m not doubting his choice to choose a successor, I’m doubting why he chose that moment. Any character needs a trigger. Since this was _before _All Might wrecked AFO’s whole face, what was his trigger?

Here we get two important, subtle details: AFO tells Shigaraki to call him Sensei, Shigaraki asks what he will be teaching. He establishes this relationship from the get-go: You will be a villain, and I will teach you.

But something that also struck me was this: AFO says sorry for the room being cramped. Why would Hori include this detail, unless it meant something?

Look at it this way. Shigaraki is called a man-child multiple times, his development is all off, and he’s interested in video games to a degree where he conflates it with his own life. 

My idea is he spent A LOT of time in this room, by himself, interacted with AFO and the Doctor only, played video games, and almost never left (if never left at all). I think this might be for a few reasons, but the most glaring is: Shigaraki was kidnapped. He had to be hidden.

Shigaraki says he can’t remember much before meeting the Doctor and AFO.

The Doctor says “Ah, I know a lot about that.”

Odd response, right? Is there something they did to Shigaraki he hasn’t caught on about?

Shigaraki has no memories of his past, only the emotions behind it. He even calls it a “broken record.”

AFO definitely ripped those memories out. Here, it’s pretty much implied his sister was showing him a picture of their grandmother in hero costume because their father disapproved of Shigaraki wanting to be a hero. Even if the trauma would help toward him becoming a villain, it’s much easier to groom him if he’s pretty much a clean slate, which is what AFO did to him. 

I’m not even so sure his father was abusive, which is what some fandom thought for a while –– not after this panel. It seems more like his father was reaching for him to calm him down. And what use does AFO have of a good father figure? None. Shigaraki only needs him.

Can we even say for sure if the hands he carries are of his dead family? Can we say for sure his family is dead, even? The one person I’m personally not so sure is dead is his sister, who Hori has: 1) drawn to look more like Nana, and 2) given the most panels out of any supposed family members.

What we can be sure of, though, is that people were looking for Tenko Shimura. He was a kid who disappeared. AFO couldn’t risk Shigaraki being found, or him finding out the real circumstances behind his kidnapping. There’s a lot of questions here, and a lot of gaps, but what we can be sure of is this is a classic grooming scheme,_ with a lot of work put behind it_. And for what?

First, I want to say:_ Izuku is a foil of Shigaraki_, and vise-versa. This is made clear many times. 

They even have the same shoes.

While all this is going on in Shigaraki’s end, we have Izuku, who should have just been diagnosed as Quirkless. All his memories are happy when he’s with his mother. But it’s just them, for every flashback, every single time. On-page, there is no mention of his father beyond: he has a fire-breath Quirk, and he’s Inko’s husband. (Other official sources say he is working abroad, it’s just off-page.)

I gotta say, this is odd. Why would anyone who had a father, a good one or a bad one or even an ok one, just never mention him ever? Not in a flashback, not in a memory, not in passing, no phone calls, no nothing. Not even when Izuku thought he was about to die did he think of his father:

He doesn’t even text his dad when he gets his license: 

The guy is just… not on his mind. At all. He has no feelings about it, either. It would be odd if he brought up his dad at this point, in a negative or a positive light. It seems that whatever situation his household is in, his father straight up just does not exist. 

So I’m proposing a theory: Was Izuku and his mother’s memories altered like Shigaraki’s? Was it around the same time they were both around the Doctor, who has been established as someone who finds Quirks for AFO? Why is it around Izuku’s birth does AFO find Shigaraki?

Shigaraki and Izuku are foils. But just how much are they connected?