Content Warning: Mentions of abuse, bullying, death, and a lot more. This show has a lot of tragic backstories.
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Oh boy, where to start with this one... I LOVE THIS STUPID, TERRIBLE SHOW. I prefer the manga, though. I could go on and on about the characters, and thier dynamics, and the writing. So I will. I want to start with a group that has writing that stands out to me in a way few other similar dynamics have. The Todoroki family. There are six members of the Todoroki family: Enji Todoroki, the father and abuser of the rest of the family; Rei Todoroki, wife of Enji, forced into a life of motherhood she was not prepared for; Touya Todoroki, the eldest child, driven to death by his need to show his father that he was worth something, that he was worthy of love; Fuyumi Todoroki, the only daughter of the Todoroki family and the caretaker after the downfall of Rei, desperate for a family that just loves one another; Natsuo Todoroki, the quintessential middle child who has spent his entire life with only Fuyumi and Touya to care for him, only to lose Touya while he's still a child, leaving the ache of neglect as a fresh wound; and finally, Shoto Todoroki, the youngest, the golden child, the one expected to be everything Touya could not be, the one Enji hurts the most, the one Enji focuses his abuse on. The way this family is written is amazing to me. They each have different reactions to the abuse, and each are incredibly realistic in a way that almost hurts. Fuyumi forgives without a second thought. She has to, to keep her family safe from Enji and to keep everyone happy and to maybe, just maybe, have a chance at being a happy family who just loves one another. I'm a lot like her, and I know that. Then there's Touya. He destroyed himself once in an effort to change his father's mind, and now he is willing to destroy the world to show him that he is good enough. That Touya isn't a failure, doesn't need to be replaced. He wants to think that he really just wants his father gone, that his goal is to eliminate him, but even in doing so, he would be proving that he was strong enough. Natsuo just wants out. He lashes out at his father for the way he's been treated his entire life, blames him for what happened to Rei and to Touya, looks at Shoto and feels like he is watching him wither away. He blames Enji, and rightfully so. Shoto has grown up in near isolation, losing his mother to a mental hospital after her attack against him (where she poured boiling water on his head, resulting in his iconic scar over his left eye), losing the only person who was there, who was allowed to be there, who stood between Enji and him. Since then, he has lived only to do as his father wanted, an overall hatred for his father growing inside of him for his entire life. A quiet hatred, unlike that of Touya and Natsuo. They all cope in completely separate ways. Whether that be escapism or trying to make up for what they think they did wrong, each of the children is searching for a way to separate themselves from their youth and the abuse they faced then. So, how does this impact Shoto as a character who is heavily ivolved with the main story? How does this influence his values, the way he views challenges he's given, how he forms relationships? Well, we see him in the first season and half of the second season creating distance between himself and his classmates, presumably in order to avoid forming connections. After all, he hasn't really been allowed to have friends for the entirety of his life, even being unable to find companionship in his siblings. The only people he has dealt with are his parents, both of which have hurt him in some way
