Understanding the most misunderstood and controversial panel of the entire Paranormal Liberation War Arc

“You looked like you needed saving”

[A Thread]

To understand this panel - it’s meaning - and nuance surrounding it - you must first understand Deku’s character

Specifically - the fact that Deku is possessed by a drive to save others that “eclipses all common understanding”

This was stated directly in the same arc only a few chapters prior and is shown through the series as a major character attribute for Deku and one of his most notable qualities shown even in the first moments of the series

The reason it’s important to understand Deku’s character when understanding the panel - is because the entire panel is a commentary on Deku’s character, the ways it’s changing/progressing, and how his character has always been within the story

First off let’s clear up misconceptions

Deku isn’t forgiving Shiggy, he isn’t wanting to turn him good, he isn’t excusing Shigaraki’s actions

What Deku is saying is that Shigaraki needs his own free will.

Or to put it more literally Deku saw Shigaraki looking like he needed saving when he was being controlled by All for One - so in point the reason Deku feels the need to save Shigaraki here is because of All for One’s influence over Shiggy and that loss of free will

In fact the panels right before that final panel show how Deku acknowledges that his actions are unforgivable - and yet he still can’t help but feel the need to save him

BUT - even more so it’s important to note why this moment is so monumental for Deku

Because it brings him back to where he started (saving Bakugo) and it takes all of these experiences he’s had in his life and puts it into a new perspective

Because throughout the entire story the one moment that made All Might decide that Deku deserved One for All was when he jumped in to save Bakugo (at the time his enemy and bully) - therefore he saved the enemy

But now we are seeing Deku feel the need to save a villain (the enemy) again - this time it’s against someone he actually hates and will never forgive

This is big because it tells us Deku understands that Villains are people

We see countless times throughout the story that people aren’t looking at villains as PEOPLE - instead they see them as plain monsters and animals

The guards at Tartarus doing this to the inmates is the most recent example

That’s the issue with this society if we are really stripping it down - villains aren’t people in the eyes of “normal” people

Even though the majority of them are just fucked due to their quirks nature, their upbringing, or other outside factors

That isn’t a factor to them

But Deku here is acknowledging that his greatest villain, even someone as evil as Shigaraki is - at heart, is a person

And this is a subplot that has been present in our students and their respective villains

Ochako and Toga is one of the big ones and of course they parallel

Another HUGE one that is the most focused on as of right now is Touya and Dabi

The entire plot of this is telling us Dabi was a person before he became a physcopath and there’s a reason he became the way he is

And of course we have Todoroki dealing with that to parallel

So this panel is not Deku forgiving, excusing, or doing anything to pass off Shigaraki as a good person at all

It’s Deku feeling the need to save his enemy. It’s Deku starting to realize the villain is an actual person. It’s a step down a long path for Deku’s character arc