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Even if this hero society comes crashing down... even if I rise to rule the underworld... that weight in my heart is never gonna go away. It's why I hate everything. Every living, breathing thing just rubs me the wrong way. So why not destroy it all? Why not destroy everything?Tomura Shigaraki to Daruma Ujiko in "Tomura Shigaraki: Distortion"
Tomura Shigaraki (
Later on, Tomura changed his goal to instead, destroy society all together rather than reshape it. He then merged his organization and the Meta Liberation Army to form the Paranormal Liberation Front, and he becomes its Grand Commander.
Appearance
Tomura's unobscured face.
Tomura is a slim man with deathly pale skin, tinged yellow and wrinkled a great deal around his eyes. His lips are chapped and uneven, a small mole on the right underneath, with visible scars on his right eye and under his lip. He has messy grayish-blue hair of varying lengths, the longest clumps reaching to about his shoulders, left hanging over his face in uneven waves. His eyes are normally obscured, but when visible are usually stretched wide in a rather maniacal manner, their bright red irises very small.
Interestingly, when Tenko was at the age of five, he bore a striking resemblance to Izuku Midoriya, with his blue hair originally being dark black in color, while also having dried patches of skin around his eyes, though his lips were shown to be healthy in appearance. After his Quirk manifested, his appearance changed giving him a wrinkled face and changing his hair color.
When in his civilian outfit, he wears plain red sneakers, black pants which expose his ankles, and a matching long-sleeved v-neck shirt, a plain black jacket over the top, the hood pulled low over his face, one of his disembodied hands in his pocket.
His villain costume sports fourteen embalmed hands, all positioned so they’re holding onto him onto different parts of his body. These hands were taken from dead individuals and embalmed by Daruma Ujiko, who gave them a zombie-like grayish-blue color and attached to their bases a golden box with two holes drilled into the bottom.
Each pair of these hands originally belonged to an individual killed by Tomura during the time his Quirk first manifested: the one in his neck is his mother's; in his arms, his grandfather's; in his forearms, his grandmother's; in his wrists, his sister's; and the ones in his chest and shoulders are from two unnamed street punks.
The hand that holds and hides Tomura's face, and that he sometimes keeps in his pocket, is his father's left hand, called "Father" by him. The right one was accidentally destroyed by him, so Daruma had to make one to hold on the top of Tomura's head; this hand is connected to his mother's pair through two red cords.
All of the hands except one have been either destroyed or lost and discarded. For the rest of the outfit, Tomura just wears his regular black clothes, bar the jacket. He used to wear red tennis shoes, but they were destroyed by him.
After All For One's arrest, Tomura's hair has gotten longer, and he adopts a hooded leather coat that he wears over his costume.
During his fight with Re-Destro, Tomura's left hand was crushed, leaving only his ring and pinky fingers.
After the Revival Celebration, Tomura now wears a suit, a coat similar to Overhaul's, a leg brace, a brace for his left hand, and a hand on his face.
Gallery
Personality
Tomura's childish temper tantrums.
As a child, Tomura was shown to be relatively normal, even compassionate. He held a great love for his family and a strong desire to become a hero someday, not unlike Izuku. However, he was also shown to be psychologically fragile from the abuse he suffered from his father, being terrified of his father's mere presence. Sadly, his mind would eventually snap as a result of his quirk manifesting.
As an adult, Tomura has a sinister and warped personality: He doesn't care for his or almost anyone else's life, having no qualms about evil deeds like killing U.A. High School students in order to provoke All Might[1] or threatening Izuku Midoriya with the death of civilians unless he cooperated with him.[2] Tomura was initially perceived to be a "man-child" by the heroes, as All Might described him as a child who likes to brag and acts out when things don't go his way.[3] He is very arrogant, selfish, dependent and demanding, becoming angry if things don't in go his way, in a way akin to a child's tantrum. Like a child, he doesn't seem to be able to cope with his own feelings, instead lashing out and abusing both others or himself, tearing at his own neck when he becomes frustrated. By his own admission, he basically hates everything that breathes. This attitude stems from the abuse he suffered from his father and being alone in his childhood.[4]
Tomura likes to brag about the Nomu and the League of Villains, wanting to prove they have the power needed to accomplish their goals and taking pleasure in mocking his enemies. He retaliated Stain's attack by releasing Nomu to wreak havoc and was verbally upset when his plan failed, starting to bear a grudge against Stain and Izuku.[5] Upon meeting Dabi and Himiko Toga, he attacked them for simply mentioning Stain.[6] He later stole the Quirk-Destroying Drug and took great pleasure in mocking Kai Chisaki by pointing out he was now the very thing he wanted on others.[7]
The only person whom Tomura has shown compassion towards - apart of his closest allies latter - is his mentor, All For One, having a great deal of respect and attachment to All For One. He showed great remorse in leaving All For One behind to face All Might alone.[8] He also took the advice of Kurogiri, even treating him like a confidante and being upset by his capture. Tomura has a vengeful side for his comrades, decaying and cutting the arm off Overhaul after he killed Magne. He considers most of his allies as valuable for his plans, to the point that the Eight Precepts of Death described that the members of the League of Villains care for each other. He allowed Himiko and Twice to see his face while confiding in them of how hard it is to side with those who wounded him. Following his victory over Re-Destro, Tomura immediately asked for money to finance his forces.
Tomura feels great love for his deceased family and expresses heavy remorse for his accidental killing of them upon losing control of his Quirk. The severed hands that he wears all over himself are the only remnants of his lost loved ones. He claims that wearing them makes him feel sick, yet also keeps him calm.[9] Despite his sadness, Tomura experiences a partial relish in their demise since he wanted them to be punished for letting suffer at his father's will. By his own admission, he felt pleasure when purposely killing his father because of his treatment and his last attack on him.[10] However, Tomura overcame his past shackles of guilt after getting his memory back and now relishes in ending the unfair pain he suffered by their hands to use it to further fuel his hatred and desire to destroy society.[11]
Tomura displaying self control.
Tomura will do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals, such as abandoning his disdain for Stain and adopt his ideology to enlist more members to his cause, including Dabi and Himiko. He rallies them behind the idea that they need to crush hero society as a whole after Stain exposed its false sense of heroism. He has considerable leadership skills, taking charge of the Villains by sending the Vanguard Action Squad to attack the U.A. Training Camp and eventually dealt a crippling blow to Hero Society. Eventually, Tomura became calmer and gained some self-control, being able to deal with adverse situations without throwing childish tantrums or scratching his neck. When Katsuki Bakugo exploded the hand from his face, his colleagues were afraid he would lash out. Instead, he merely put the hand back over his face.[12]
After confronting Izuku in the mall, Tomura develops real convictions: He always had a desire to kill All Might, but it was out of an impulsive expression of anarchy towards a society which hurt him and caused his mental instability. In his talk, he now realizes that All Might is what he hates about both Izuku and Stain. Tomura truly wishes for a society without All Might, feeling that the world full of Quirks is a dangerous place and that the current society may easily crumble when their Symbol of Peace dies, believing it would show how vulnerable their sense of peace is.[13]
Following All Might's retirement, and during the League of Villains encounter with the Meta Liberation Army, Tomura has changed his conviction from crippling society, to completely destroying it. His dedication is seen when he challenged Gigantomachia and promised to make him submit while fighting him for a month.
Abilities
Overall Abilities: Tomura is known to be one of the most dangerous villains in Japan, contending with Pro Heroes in combat thanks to his physical and analytical skills. As the leader of the League of Villains, Tomura has total command over his powerful subordinates. During the U.S.J. Incident, Tomura had the mettle to briefly take on the formidable Pro Hero Eraser Head, and successfully use his Decay Quirk on the Erasure Hero's right arm. Tomura was even confident that he could take down Izuku Midoriya, Shoto Todoroki, Katsuki Bakugo, and Eijiro Kirishima, four highly capable U.A students, although at the time, he didn’t know the full extent of the quartet's abilities. Tomura was capable of battling Gigantomachia for half a month, not giving up until he is able to make the behemoth submit. When he faced Re-Destro, and his left hand was partially destroyed, Tomura's prowess had been suddenly enhanced to levels beyond his natural parameters. According to Re-Destro, if Tomura had his newly increased parameters during the Kamino Incident, he would’ve easily decayed at least 1 of the Pro Heroes present. After a fierce battle he was not only able to defeat Re-Destro but get support of the latter’s army, as well as tame Gigantomachia with his accomplishment.
- Enhanced Strength: Tomura seems to be stronger than his build suggests, capable of holding Izuku by choking him with only four fingers while his victim displayed visible difficulty in trying to fight back.
- Enhanced Durability: Tomura was able to take a point-blank blast from Katsuki's Explosion Quirk, sustaining little to no damage. He was even capable of battling Gigantomachia for half a month, and withstand the behemoth’s attacks.[14]
- Enhanced Speed: Tomura appears to be able to move very quickly, which helps him to touch his targets and affect them with minimal contact. He was able to appear before Tsuyu Asui in an instant and see Izuku after the latter had jumped at a speed that rivaled All Might's, immediately reacting afterwards. Only All Might himself was too fast for Tomura to track. Even when he was notably exhausted during the battle against the Meta Liberation Army, he swiftly swung himself atop a wall to avoid a massive onslaught of Army members, to their surprise, before disintegrating many of them in an instant. When he battled Re-Destro, he was able to move so fast with minimal wasted movements, that Re-Destro was taken by surprise by the increase in speed he had obtained.
Keen Intellect: Tomura possesses a sharp mind and is analytical, being able to deduce the workings of his opponents' abilities simply by observing them in action. He quickly deduced Eraser Head's weaknesses in combat and took advantage of them.[15] Tomura has a certain skill for unexpected plans, even when his intentions are apparently clear. After battling Gigantomachia for over month, Tomura realized that the behemoth has gotten much slower compared to the League of Villains first encounter with him, and strongly believes that he will soon have Gigantomachia successfully tamed.
Quirk
Tomura decaying Eraser Head's arm.
Decay (崩壊 Hōkai?): Tomura's Quirk allows him to disintegrate whatever he touches with his hands. Whether the target is organic or not, it will work without fail. The disintegration will spread through their whole body if a victim doesn't amputate the decaying body part, as shown with Kai's arm. Tomura's control over his Quirk has improved over time, as its speed has become noticeably faster in subsequent usages. His Quirk can even spread between targets he isn't touching, allowing him to disintegrate large groups of enemies instantly.[16]
However, Decay will only work when all five of his fingers touch the target, indicating that the activation of the Quirk isn't voluntary. As such, Tomura is often careful with his hands when touching objects he doesn't want to destroy. Because the Quirk has to touch a solid object in order to be activated, it is possible to counter it through manipulation of fluids or particles, such as Snatch's sand body.[7] During his battle against Re-Destro, the M.L.A. leader discovered that Tomura's Quirk has undergone a reawakening that allows the League of Villains leader to decay objects even without all five fingers in tact. This was displayed when Tomura used his 2 remaining fingers to partially decay one of Re-Destro's fingers with after the latter destroyed three of Tomura's fingers on his left hand, albeit much slower and weaker compared to when Tomura uses all 5 of his fingers.
Stats
| Power | 2/5 D | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | 5/5 A | |
| Technique | 5/5 A | |
| Intelligence | 5/5 A | |
| Cooperativeness | 2/5 D |
| Power | 6/6 S+ | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | 4/6 B- | |
| Technique | 5/6 A | |
| Wits | 5/6 A | |
| Hands | 6/6 S |
| Power | 6/6 S+ | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | 6/6 S+ | |
| Technique | 5/6 A | |
| Wits | 5/6 A | |
| Hands | 6/6 ∞ |
Equipment
Disembodied Hands: The most characteristic element of Tomura's costume is a set of fourteen disembodied hands, covering his upper body and face. These hands are the remnants of his family, which he accidentally killed when his Quirk Decay manifested for the first time. The main hand on his face is called "Father". The hands were recovered and preserved by Daruma Ujiko, returning them to Tomura when he was rescued by All For One. They have no other function than help Tomura’s mind, who confesses that his hands make him feel calm and at peace, although also cause nausea. During his battle with Re-Destro, all but one of the hands got destroyed and Tomura himself would end up destroying his father’s hand that had covered his face as a way to liberate himself from the past. He would wear the remaining hand as his trademark mask.
Battles & Events
| Battles & Events |
Trivia
Early concept design for Tomura.
- Tomura was initially designed to be creepier, having empty, black eyes and mouth. Aside from those specific features, this design was not very different from his final one. His prototype codename was Sazanka (沙惨禍? lit. "Sand Calamity").
- The characters in his name are composed of "死" ( shi?, lit. "death"), "柄" ( gara?, lit. "handle, grip"), "木" ( ki?, lit. "tree") and "弔" ( tomura?, lit. "funerals"). His birth name is composed of the kanji "志" ( shi?, lit. "intention"), "村" ( mura?, lit. "village"), "転" ( ten?, lit. "revolve"), "弧" ( ko?, lit. "arc").
- Tomura's rankings in the Popularity Polls are as follows:
- Tomura ranked 19th in the First Popularity Poll.
- Ranked 16th in the Second Popularity Poll
- Ranked 15th in the Third Popularity Poll.
- Ranked 24th in the Fourth Popularity Poll.
- Horikoshi revealed that he found drawing inexpressive hands extremely difficult. He stated that he was on the verge of tears every week due to having to draw a particular character which we are left to assume is Tomura.[17]
- Horikoshi revealed that Tomura is based on the protagonist of his first oneshot from 2007 titled “Tenko”, starring the eponymous boy during war time in feudal Japan.[18]
- Both share the same first name (Tomura’s real name is Tenko Shimura).
- Both share the same power to disintegrate anything they touch with their hands.
- Both are orphans, having accidentally killed loved ones with their powers.
- Both are driven by a deep hate for the world and a very intense goal to destroy something in it. For Tomura, it’s All Might and the world of heroes, and for Tenko, he wants to destroy all the swords in the world.
- The design and appearance of Tomura when he is young is similar to Tenko's, only with shorter hair.
- Tomura shares multiple similarities with Eri.
- Both have light blue hair and red eyes.
- Both have uncommon Quirks, and both accidentally used said Quirks to kill members of their own families.
- Both are connected to villain organizations, Tomura as the current leader of the League of Villains and Eri as a Shie Hassaikai hostage.
- Both were abused by family members, Tomura with his father and Eri with her mother and Overhaul.
- Tomura and Overhaul have several similarities:
- Both wear plain clothes and a coat but also have unique masks.
- Both their masks have some connection to their character:
- Tomura's hand has some connection to his father.
- Overhaul's plague-doctor mask parallels his mysophobia.
- Both are succeeding leaders in their organization after a previous leader was toppled.
- Both their Quirks have similar attributes:
- Both require direct contact with their hands to touch their target for their Quirks to work.
- However, unlike Tomura who needs all five fingers to activate his Quirk, Overhaul appeared to only need a finger at the minimum to use his Quirk.
- Also, Tomura's Quirk can disintegrate anything while Overhaul's Quirk can disassemble anything (thus destroying them) as well as reassemble them.
- Both Quirks are destructive in nature to their enemy.
- However, Overhaul's Quirk is able to reassemble objects while Tomura's doesn't.
- Both require direct contact with their hands to touch their target for their Quirks to work.
- The severed hands that Tomura wears across his body are remnants of the first people he ever killed.
- The hands around his neck came from his mother.
- The hands on his upper arms came from his maternal grandfather.
- The hands on his elbows came from his maternal grandmother.
- The hands on his wrists came from his older sister.
- The hands on his shoulders and sides came from two random men who made Tomura angry.
- The hand that he wears on his face came from his father.
- The hand he wears on the back of his head is a replacement given to him by All For One after he used his Quirk to destroy his father's other hand.
- Tomura can be considered as a dark parallel to Izuku Midoriya. Although My Hero Academia tells the story of how Izuku became the greatest hero, it also focuses on how Tomura will possibly become the greatest villain, as Tomura serves as a dark reflection of Izuku. Like Izuku, Tomura starts off being rather naïve and insecure of his position and power, but he gradually begins to become more mature and confident as the story continues.
Quotes
- (To himself) "Create a world without All Might. And cause enough destruction to show them all how fragile their justice really is. From this day forward… that’s my conviction. It’s all about All Might."[19]
- (In regards to his mask) "These sorts of things too... all unnecessary." [20]
References
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga and Anime: Chapter 17 and Episode 11.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga and Anime: Chapter 17 and Episode 38.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga and Anime: Chapter 22 and Episode 14.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga: Chapter 235.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga and Anime: Chapter 50 and Episode 28.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga and Anime: Chapter 68 and Episode 38.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 My Hero Academia Manga: Chapter 160.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga and Anime: Chapter 88 and Episode 48.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga: Chapter 222.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga: Chapter 236.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga: Chapter 238.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga and Anime: Chapter 86 and Episode 47.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga and Anime: Chapter 69 and Episode 38.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga: Chapter 223.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga and Anime: Chapter 15 and Episode 10.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga: Chapter 227.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga: Vol. 2, Omake
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga: Vol. 23, Omake
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga: Chapter 69.
- ↑ My Hero Academia Manga: Chapter 238.