toga: i think that romance is becoming the person that you love and acting just like them and

izuku: say no more.

In bkdk we went from "GIVE HIM BACK" and thinking "oh, how quirky of him, he just wants Bakugou to be safe"

to Izuku becoming a OFA possessed Hell Demon punching a hole through ShigarAFO's chest, Eye-for-an-Eye style.

Like back then we had NO IDEA how feral this kid could become (over Kacchan)

AFO: Shigaraki? Oh yeah, he’s dead. Gone. Absorbed. May he rest in peace.

Tenko from inside: STOP TELLIN EVERYBODY I’M DEAD

AFO, trying to discreetly shove Tenko back in: Sometimes I can still hear his voice

The time travel theory is officially dead

I love AFO's expression here

I must know what happened between them. It's not a want anymore, it's a need.

It has been 69 days since Bakugo died!

THE WAY hori is drawing his hair all pointy THE WAYY the glow from his eyes is casting a shadow that looks eerily like bakugous mask, he is emulating bakugou to the highest degree right now, through his grief 😭😭😭😭

What we wanted Second to be:

What he actually was:

Okay… y’all aren’t hyping up these panels enough for me so I’m doing it myself

Literally-

The fact that he’s able to mirror Katsuki without even seeing what Katsuki was doing earlier is so poetic and shows how alike they really are despite being considered opposites. He’s even able to look like him…

also dekus eyes are so pretty

the 2nd user is an enigma to everyone...

...including All for One?

It would seem our time spent wondering about 2nd's quirk has come to an end. I guess I should put my old theory to rest? Well, hang on. I noticed something weird.

Please note that as of posting this official translations are not out, so I might easily be mistaken, but I'm under the impression that All for One did not know about 2nd's quirk. There are a few things that set up this implied detail:

It is established at the start of the chapter that AFO is the one in control, at least for the moment. So we know we're getting his POV in narration.

When Izuku uses Blackwhip and Fa Jin, AFO calls them old tricks that won't work on him. He's familiar with these quirks.

When Izuku activates Transmission, AFO is taken aback. He describes the power's appearance as completely different from before, and he doesn't seem to know what's happening right away.

When he describes what the quirk does, he's deducing it, which is odd. From this we can actually infer a couple of things besides him not knowing about it. First of all this must mean that the Search quirk AFO stole from Ragdoll can't see into One for All's additional accumulated quirks, otherwise he would have anticipated 2nd. This also means, dare I say it, that AFO is an unreliable narrator when he describes 2nd's quirk as "a meta ability that enables the user to shift the speed of anything he touches." He's making an observation using the given evidence, not stating a fact. 2nd strikes me as a very secretive person, so it seems possible to me that AFO never met him, or at least never experienced his quirk firsthand. Indeed, maybe no information exists about his quirk because he never told anyone about it. I can see how 2nd’s support items could be designed to conceal the use of his quirk to make projectile weapons move faster. They conceal his whole hand and forearm, so no one could see what he’s doing inside. 

Hell, maybe the way Izuku is currently using Transmission is also a misdirection. Let me once again call attention to the fact that 2nd told Izuku that his quirk evolved into something PARTICULARLY UNIQUE. THAT CANNOT BE WIELDED THE USUAL WAY.  Now I don't know about you, but the power we have been shown does not fit my criteria of unique, and Izuku seems like he wielded it pretty "usually." The previous scene made it seem like he tried and FAILED to use it before, so how come it came to him so easily only minutes later? I really really hope this is because we haven't seen the full reveal yet. Perhaps using this power now comes at some greater cost to the user. Perhaps we are only seeing one of its uses. It should be pointed out here that while the locked door imagery was used in reference to 2nd's quirk in ch 349, it was not used here. So, something hasn't been unlocked yet?

I think now I’ve reached the end of my rope in reasonable theorizing, but I want to mention one more thing. The name of 2nd’s quirk, Transmission. in Japanese it is called トランスミッション which looks to me like it’s borrowed directly from English, and it means exactly the same thing. Two things, actually. It can refer to the transmission of a motor vehicle, but more generally, transmission can of course refer to the action of transmitting something, anything. A message, an emotion, an energy, a thing, an idea...a quirk? I can’t get it out of my head. This feels so suspicious to me given the nature and origin of One for All itself as a power that is transferred.  What if 2nd is actually directly responsible for the transference of OFA? What if his own quirk holds that ability, and once he gave it to Yoichi, it merged with the power stockpiling quirk AFO gave him? The story we were given about Yoichi not actually being quirkless and unknowingly having a power that passes on... the ability to be passed on(???)--it’s rather flimsy, no? Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. We don’t even know how Yoichi was able to figure out he could give OFA away. Makes me think, if it’s not simply bad writing on Horikoshi’s part, it could be a lie constructed to further keep Transmission a secret. I mean, seriously, what if Transmission created One for All? Of course they’d want to keep that information from AFO. 

So Transmission + power stockpiling quirk = OFA, which in itself also gathers and powers up existing quirks, including the original Transmission quirk. Now imagine, what could Transmission do now that it’s powered up? What could it turn around do to OFA? 

Oh yeah, also, uhhh, this could be super relevant to Izuku and Katsuki finally holding hands? 

Deku hollowed out the exact same spot Tenko was at.

Me, getting distracted with the bnha 368 leaks, and then seeing the jjk 199 leaks with Yuuji back after almost 300 whole ass days:

Deku rn

I'm trying to put my words together....there is something sad, but also very loving about how being able to see Kotaro was proof that Shigaraki was still in there.

His family is associated with so many feelings for him, and throughout the story they've mostly been negative feelings.

BNHA doesn't handle families with a straight, clear cut image. There are two major family units we see in the story that both have negative and positive qualities, the Todorokis and the Shimuras. It's not so easy to just say how each member of each family felt about the other. The feelings were complicated for everyone involved in both families.

But the thing about both families is that they almost (almost) echo each other. The Shimuras were trying to do 16 years ago what the Todorokis are currently doing now. They were flawed, and not everybody within the family was comfortable or happy 100% of the time, but they had strengths too--and the manga made sure to show us that.

And with that I want to take it back to MVA where we first meet the Shimuras.

I want to point to this really good post by @saltytearsofjoy where she pinpoints exactly where the retelling of what happened to the Shimuras turns from an actual recollection, into a projected idea that reflects Shigaraki's current thoughts.

It's extremely telling that when Shigaraki is remembering what happened, he remembers what he initially thought as his 5 year old self at that time.

It's not phrased as "I think I remember thinking this". It's "At the time, I thought this. I was convinced of this."

The fact that the initial thought he had about losing his family was that it was because a villain had come to take them from him, shows that it wasn't what he wanted.

And ever since we got his backstory, remembering his family has always been a double-edged sword.

He loves and misses them, and that hurts. He resents them, and that hurts. Every time they've made an appearance in a memory or as a passing thought, it's always resulted in more pain and made Shigaraki more irritated or upset.

But NOW--

In a fit of rage he brought them out seeking offense and defense. Seemingly, that's bad, means he’s deteriorating still, even if he’s using them to protect him. BUT--

Because he brought them out, because he kept them in his heart--Nana was able to assure Midoriya that Shigaraki IS still in there.

And here, you could try to say it's still negative, that they're the source of his misery. Buttt I'm more so convinced that they're associated with hope.

This time, his family--his father even--was associated with a positive moment, the moment the heroes were able to confirm that Shigaraki isn't gone (we already knew, but they didn't).

Ah yes there it is

Horikoshi being gross about one of his minor characters

AGAIN

GOD

Hori showing AFO's face instead of Shigaraki's and emphasising that it's him Izuku is fighting, AFO seemingly being able to see Yoichi (who only appeared now), "older brother"...