My Hero Academia’sTomura Shigarakiis certainly one of the series' most petrifying and complex villains, with a seemingly unwavering drive to destroy heroes at all costs. It is not just his evil motivations that make Shigaraki so frightening though,one detail of his costume is most chilling of all, and fans might have missed its true meaning.
Shigaraki wears disembodied hands all over his body,covering his arms, chest, neck, and face. These floating appendages are not just mere decorations to make the villain appear more menacing though, they have a disturbing origin that helps explain why Shigaraki despises heroes so much.
Shigaraki Wears His Family’s Hands as a Horrific Reminder
The Appendages Remind Shigaraki of a Time When Heroes Failed Him, Bolstering His Resolve to Defeat Them
Some Quirks are enjoyable, powerful, and well-respectedby society, but others, like Shigaraki’s Decay, are only viewed as curses that bring pain and harm, sometimes unintentionally. When Shigaraki’s Quirk suddenly activated during his childhood, the young boy was not able to stop it from hurting others beyond repair. Even though he did his best to stop his power from harming anyone,his family was caught in the crossfire of his Quirk.Shigaraki experienced the most traumatic moment of his life as his family members disintegrated in front of him, because of an out-of-control Quirk he never asked for.
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After the tragedy,Shigaraki waited in vain for a hero to come to his rescue and comfort him,but he was met with nothing but silence and isolation. Eventually, the villain All For One encountered the abandoned boy and encouraged him to join his efforts to defeat heroes, which Shigaraki was in favor of since he felt betrayed by heroes after this incident. In the past, Shigaraki actually admired and respected heroes, seeing them as beacons of hope in a dark world, but that perspective changed in an instant when heroes were not there for him when he needed help the most.
Shigaraki Fuels His Hatred of Heroes by Focusing on His Past
His Family’s Hands Keep Shigaraki From Forgetting the Anger and Pain He Felt During the Traumatic Incident
The hands on Shigaraki’s body have a truly terrifying meaning that ties back to this unfortunate childhood incident. Disturbingly enough,these details of his costume are actually the hands of his dead family members.Shigaraki wears these hands permanently to remind him of the trauma of his past, as well as to further charge his hatred of heroes which keeps him motivated to fight against them by All For One’s side. Although no hero could have necessarily prevented Shigaraki’s Quirk from activating, someone could have come to help him after the disaster, and no one did.
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This tragedy spoiled Shigaraki’s view of heroes forever, and he became desperate to make them pay for allowing him to suffer.Shigaraki’s story certainly does point out flaws in hero society,such as the fact that there are not enough heroes to aid civilians in every situation, leading to some people in need of help slipping through the cracks like Shigaraki did. Shigaraki himself pointed out these issues with hero society, stating, “This whole system you have built has always rejected me. Now I’m ready to reject it.” Seeing his family’s hands daily kept his hatred alive.
The Hands Further Reveal How Complex Of a Villain Shigaraki Is
Shigaraki Is Not Power-Hungry Like All for One, He Is in Pain and Desperate for Revenge on Heroes
Shigaraki is one ofMy Hero Academia’sbest andmost multifaceted villains, because he is not evil for selfish reasons like All For One. He is not initially power-hungry or self-absorbed, he simply believes he is doling out justice to the heroes who neglected to save him. Understandably, Shigaraki is in pain from the loss of his family and the knowledge that his own Quirk ended the lives of his loved ones, adding a layer of complexity to his character.He differs from most other villains in the series because of his unique, saddening motivationsand the frightening costume that reminds him of what he has suffered.
Shigaraki spent his childhood days envisioning himself as a hero, soit is devastatingly ironic that he became one ofMy Hero Academia’smost deadly villainsinstead,thanks to All For One’s manipulation and the uncontrollable aspects of his Decay Quirk. He may be a villain, but aspects ofhis backstory are unspeakably tragic, and the hardships he suffered at such a young age do deserve sympathy. Although the grotesque hand detail is difficult to stomach, it offers insight intoShigaraki’scharacter, remindingMy Hero Academiaviewers of the devastation he suffered and reminding Shigaraki himself why he is seeking revenge.
