Posted in: Anime, Crunchyroll, Review, TV | Tagged: anime, boku no hero academia, Crunchyroll, my hero academia
My Hero Academia Season 6 Ep. 17 A Tale of Abuse & Regret: Review
My Hero Academia S06E17 "The Wrong Way to Put Out a Fire" was intense & triggering, offering insight into the abuse the Todorokis endured.
The latest episode of Crunchyroll's My Hero Academia, "The Wrong Way to Put Out a Fire," was an intense and triggering episode that gives us insight into the abuse the Todoroki kids were subjected to. It definitely puts Endeavor into perspective and how we might feel about him. Has he done enough to atone for his abuse yet? Will the Todorokis be able to heal together after taking this step? Will Endeavor even be able to fight his own son after what we saw before during battle?
Even though it has been established and addressed multiple times the level of abuse that the Todoroki children experienced, this really shows us what they went through because of an emotionally obtuse man that did not know how to express or control his feelings. It was pretty shocking and mildly triggering to watch. It really made me understand the depth of Dabi's character much more and how torn up inside he is. Pretty much like Hawks, the abuse was both physical and emotional. Unlike with Hawks: the cause was a hero, so the possibilities of being saved by one were pretty much none. Especially when Dabi saw his mom as complicit in it instead. It was a really fucked up situation I feel we never got to see how bad it was until now and how little things piled up to make them worse. On one hand, it reminded me a lot of Shigaraki's own backstory.
Also, I feel like it was pretty known before that Endeavor married for Quirk purposes. However, now I feel like going back as a Doctor mentioned it was taboo already by the time Endeavor married Rei, and they were advised not to pursue this. We see along the flashback how it all happened, and once they discovered that even though Toya had an inclination for fire, his body was clearly his mom's side and could not take the heat as Endeavor could. This created so much resentment and apparently more pressure to create a better Todoroki gene until Shoto was born. By that time, though, Toya already knew their main purpose and goal as Endeavor's kid, and Endeavor just completely turned away from his family and isolated Shoto from all of them.
My Hero Academia S06E17: Family Secrets Revealed
This lead to Toya continuing his training on his own and Endeavor finding the burns on his kin. This ultimately leads to Endeavor putting his hands on Rei, Rei losing her mind, and the incident of Shoto's burn and her hospitalization. I can imagine years of resentment and piled-up abuse being someone to the edge of madness. This was shortly followed by Toya's death— it seems his emotions play a big effect on his flames, and in despair, he lost control and was unable to put them out. I mostly feel bad about the family feeling guilty about Dabi as if it was their fault, too. I am a big believer that being ill is not an excuse to abuse others, but the kids doing their best to survive in this situation should not be looking for atonement. This part is all on Endeavor's shoulders.
I feel like I almost gave Endeavor a pass after he tried the bare minimum. I believe he has learned and grown, but the damage goes further beyond just a simple apology or just trying. This does not mean that I think everything going on with the villains should rest on Endeavor's shoulders though. I think this whole mess was caused by people turning blind eyes to situations like these and All For One taking advantage f broken souls that were forgotten about by society. It was heartbreaking to see him crying, but I am glad at least Endeavor can now see the ramifications of his fucked upness.
I was glad for Hawks' and Best Jeanist's interruption, though. I felt it came at a point right before I got annoyed at the emotion. Hawks gives Endeavor a rundown of everything that has transpired in the past couple of days, and the number of escaped convicts is pretty alarming— once again, how will they even get out of this one? Anyway, they now just have one question: what is One for All? Endeavor is quickly taken to the moment Deku is worried Shigaraki was after him and whispers his name. The truth is definitely out there, and I cannot wait for it to come out. I can also imagine the level of destruction and doubt that might come from it, but I think everyone needs to know how important Deku is, as Bakugo does.
I have to say, though, there were two moments I really loved in this episode: Hawks telling Shoto how cool he was by overcoming a similar background as he had in such an elegant manner and Bakugo screaming at Deku for still not waking up. As angry as he sounded, it was pretty heartbreaking, and I cannot imagine the weight he carries being the only one who knows about Deku's secret and needing him to wake up. That said, I am looking forward to seeing Deku's meeting with all of One for All vessels. I cannot wait to see where this will lead as Crunchyroll's My Hero Academia rages on…