I have been thinking that Shouto’s mother looks super-young…
Like, VERY YOUNG. She surely doesn’t look elder then, for instance, Jirou Mika (36, famous musician and a media person = gotta take care of her looks) or Bakugou Mitsuki (38 + glycerine quirk which makes her look much younger than her actual age). Why the hell a woman who gave birth to 4 children over a very short time span, experienced at least 10 years of domestic abuse and then spent another 10 years in a mental institution looks so damn young?
Well, because she MAY BE very damn young.
Let’s calculate?
Shouto is 15. Fuyumi is minimum 23 (graduating from high school at 18, graduating from uni at 23, currently teaching). The other sons may be a bit elder or younger than Fuyumi, let’s give it 24. Let’s add to this the fact that babies aren’t made overnight (well, technically they are, but… stop, I’m talking about pregnancy time here!), so I’d say that Enji and Shouto’s mother are married for 24-25 years, give or take.
Normally you’d be able to get married when you are a proper adult, at the age of 20 — and Enji looked pretty much that age when he came to the conclusion that his power alone won’t suffice to leave All Might behind.
So, if he got married when he was twenty, and now he is 45, my calculations by now seem to be pretty realistic…
Now the things get pretty interesting.
The legal age of marriage in Japan is quite a peculiar thing. Normally you should be 20 to have the right to decide for your own, but men can still get married at the age of 18, and women – at the age of 16 (with the parents’ permission.
Now…
«With his wealth and fame, my father made my mother’s family agree to the marriage».
I’m using the official VIZ translation, just for the sake of accuracy.
So Shouto’s mother could be 16 when she was forced into this marriage. In any case, she wasn’t of the full legal age, as otherwise there wouldn’t be a point of pressing on her family, but rather on her personally. I double-highlight this fact. Triple-highlight it. In the current BnHA society it is perfectly acceptable for a woman to make the first step (such as Bakugou Mitsuki), it is perfectly normal and even quite common for a man to adopt his wife’s surname (such as Jirou Kyoutoku). Women do have many rights and freedoms, they are free to make their own choice and the society will not howl about any sort of sexist nonsenses. It clearly shouldn’t be a problem to marry someone without the parental approval, especially if you are financially capable of supporting your newly-created family without the financial help of the parents. The rules, traditions and moral limitations are pretty washed away.
The only situation in which to have the parents’ permission would be necessary is if your partner is underage. Which, I’m repeating my opinion again, is the case of Shouto’s mother.
Let me just emphasise that I’m not trying here to yell and claim that Enji is a pedophile or something. No, it surely is not the case, and 16yo girl may or may not have the physique of a child. And Enji surely would be looking for a fertile partner, so we are NOT dealing with any of this sort of perversion, so let’s not dwell on it any further. I’m simply pointing out that Shouto’s mother could be literally the youngest of what is legally possible to imagine in this situation.
Considering the fact that Enji needed an heir, I wouldn’t expect there a honeymoon or any chit-chats about «how are we gonna call our firstborn», or «isn’t it a bit too early to think about having children». More like «gonna make one child, and another, and another, just in case the first two end up being a failure». By the age of nineteen she has already given birth to three children. Don’t even get me started on the topic of marital rape.
Three to four years after (let’s say that at this point Shouto’s mother is nineteen to twenty) the eldest child ends up being a failure, manifesting only one quirk, not a combination. A year later the second child follows the same path. A year later… well, yeah, all three are failures. So, there goes another try.
Also, we don’t know if all the attempts were successful, as there surely is some weird thing with the blood types in Todoroki family… anyhow, she gives birth to Shouto at the age of twenty three-twenty four, more or less. So when we see her for the first time – she is 29-ish. And ten years later – well, yeah, approaching her 40. Which is pretty much the age she looks, considering that «ten years in a mental institution» doesn’t sound like some sort of SPA-resort.
Sorry for the bad quality of the photo. It’s the most recent (in terms of the in-universe chronology) picture of Shouto’s mother, during one of Shouto’s regular visits (from the light novels). She also looks much better than when Shouto came to see her for the first time in ten years, doesn’t she?
So… If there are any thoughts on this topic, I’ll be more than happy to discuss)
At first glance, the world of BnHA seems like it might be a fun place to live, but that’s because we’re viewing it from the perspective of the top 1%. For most people, the only difference between their world and the real one is that they are in constant danger.
Let’s review what we know about quirk law. Only licensed heroes are authorized to use quirks in public. You may use quirks privately, but they must be registered and there are myriad restrictions. You must obtain a license to use quirks for your job, also with various limitations.
On the surface, pretty commonsense. In practice, these laws target the lowest common denominator and thus punish everyone else. If you ever had a teacher who demanded silence from the class because one person misbehaved, it’s like that on a societal scale.
(excerpt from the spin off “BnHA Illegals”) This guy can move slightly faster than a brisk walking pace by holding 3 points of contact with the ground. He’s not allowed to do that. He becomes a vigilante hero, which is a crime.
The “Illegals” manga features several people who turned to the “crime” of vigilante heroism because of the draconian regulation of quirks. It’s on the level of thought-crime, guilty until proven innocent.
While licenses make sense in the real world with regards to vehicles and guns, it doesn’t make sense for quirks because A) nearly everyone has them, and B) it’s not a choice to obtain it.
(excerpt from chapter 85) Let’s talk about a case where these laws don’t just inconvenience an individual, but harm all of society. Momo has the quirk “creation” which is very tightly regulated for the sake of the economy. With a hero license she can create anything she needs for heroing, but anything else is (officially) off limits.
This is legislating to the worst case scenario, which, I contend, is a poor strategy in this world. It works from the assumption that she would use her quirk selfishly and excessively. If she created billions of dollars, she would ruin the economy and we would all suffer.
But what if she used her quirk selfishly and in moderation? She could make anything she needs for a modest life, or the money appropriate for a modest living, and it would have no impact on the economy. A good outcome for her and a neutral result for the rest of us. There’s no reason to prohibit this.
And, of course, the law doesn’t consider the best case scenario. What if she uses her quirk selflessly? What if, for example, every couple years she set aside a month to create smart phones for everyone in the world? Would that wreck the economy? One particular industry, sure. Would it benefit literally everyone but electronics CEOs? Would it save thousands of child laborers in sweatshops? YES! That’s a brilliant trade off! But, even if she applied for a business quirk license, I think she’d be denied for the potential disruption of the economy.
(Side note: It has been a topic of many forums whether Momo can make things as complex as a smartphone. I say yes. Recall in the School Trip Arc, she made a tracking device and matching GPS unit. It’s absolutely within her ability.)
Rapid fire round: what should these people do if society was more lenient? Shinso: suicide hotline operator. Todoroki: work inside a nuclear cooling tower, heat up water at the bottom, cool down steam at the top, infinite energy. Uraraka: construction worker work at NASA.
As civilians these quirks would be restricted. Even as heroes these quirks are going to waste from a utilitarian perspective. No one benefits from this arrangement. There is so much potential in the world, and its governments seem dedicated to squandering it.
This is a society that is oppressive to the majority. Quirks could fuel the next stage of human evolution, but laws keep society grounded in the stone age. How can anyone in that world (aside from the 1%ers in their ignorant bubble) not resent that? This is the philosophy that breeds villains, and I can’t help but agree with it.
Cheloneuniverse 