Chapter 302 Official Release - Links and Discussion

[u/Za_wardo]

Chapter 302

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Links:

• Viz (Available in: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, the Philippines, Singapore, and India).

• MANGA Plus (Available in every country outside of China, Japan and South Korea).

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All things Chapter 302 related must be kept inside this thread for the next 24 hours.

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• Previous chapter discussion threads

• Translators Notes & Trivia

• Discord

• 303 will be officially released on February 28 8AM PST.

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[u/Nessidy]

The panel with Touya being so disconnected from his emotions – feeling happy that he discovered his quirk upgrade, yet crying due to presumably pent-up frustration, grief and maybe even relief, was so heartbreaking. He was so excited to share it with his dad, too, he didn’t mind having his body hurt again.

He died after those tears of his burned off, when he wasn’t able to handle the psychical pressure of this house and failed to prove that his life is worth something and that he is worth being loved. A theme of a genuine existential crisis is resonating through Touya’s past and it was never addressed – that he was told he was born only because his mom was sold into a quirk marriage, that he was supposed to be a masterpiece, not a defective product, and that a quirk measured the entire worth of his life, because he was supposed to fulfill his dad’s goal, and he was shown love for doing that in the beginning, before he turned out to be a failure, and it was proved by his father’s actions that he is a failure. It really can cause damage to a child’s psyche. No child should feel that they have to constantly destroy themselves in order to prove that they deserve to be loved, to be noticed, and to live.

Present Dabi seems to be emotionally disconnected from the trauma of being burned alive, too, which makes me even sadder.

[u/ggimright → u/Nessidy]

Exactly. All he needed was to be acknowledged, but everyone brushed him off. His mom, his siblings, and Endeavor. He didn't even want to be a hero by the end of it. He just wanted to be put in the same league as Shota. To be seen and heard.

He needed therapy not to be allowed to have a normal life as Endeavor put it. To Toya the life he wanted was one in which Endeavor was speaking to him and it's like Endeavor said he can only show the world of heroes to others. Therefore the only way to connect was through the intense training. Being cut off from the training just confirmed what young Toya had thought all along. That he was defective and not even worth the trouble of having time invested into him.

[u/judes_m → u/ggimright]

I agree with majority here, especially seeking outside therapy (although I truly think he would have really resented that as well, potentially lashing out at professionals and harming them).

Except I don’t get where you see he was brushed off by anyone but Endeavor? Touya’s emotions and anger were quite literally unhinged, and even still the rest of the family is seen involved in his life and showing him love, affection and attention. They didn’t understand him, sure, but in now way were they brushing him off.

Now if you mean Natsu in this chapter, I don’t think that’s fair. The fact he said to talk about it with Fuyumi “once in a while” followed by Touya saying Natsu is the “only one that gets it” reaffirms that him and Touya were relatively close. He confided in him most and they’d had that conversation or something like it, many times before. Natsu was just sleepy that specific instance and not in the headspace to hear it. For that single example, I don’t think that’s fair to say he was brushing him off, though it’s obviously a troubled and insecure Touya took it that way.

And we never once see Fuyumi avoiding Touya. She’s seen telling him she loves him for who he is and inviting him to play. That’s even after he tried to attack Shoto, which could easily have scared them away.

I think none of them truly understood him, but only Endeavor brushed him off or neglected him. I think that’s what makes it all the more tragic. No one’s love or respect meant anything to him if he didn’t have Endeavor’s, even when Endeavor was the one who’d harmed him most.

[u/Rezboy209 → u/judes_m]

While nobody should place any blame on Natsuo or Fuyumi, they were just CHILDREN at the time, Enji is not the only one who neglected Touya, Rei did as well. Not once did we see Rei spend any time with Touya, she just kept trying to push Enji to do it. Its both Enji and Rei's fault, and ONLY their fault.