Endeavor treated Shoto way worse than it appeared, My Hero Academia's original Japanese dialogue proves it

Modified Aug 16, 2024 19:00 GMT

Endeavor treated Shoto way worse than it appeared, My Hero Academia's original Japanese dialogue proves it (Image via Bones)

Endeavor's redemption was shown before the My Hero Academia finale chapter, as he decided to stay with Toya for the rest of his life after retiring as a hero. However, his redemption was considered unsatisfactory by the majority of the fandom, who considered his violent acts on his children unworthy of any redemption, and the Japanese dialogue makes this evident.

The way Endeavor addressed Shoto was beyond shocking, as the kanji used for addressing him was the same as that used for addressing baby animals instead of human children. Moreover, the kanji Endeavor used for Shoto could also be considered the same as that used for objects, which the English translation hardly paid any attention to.

Disclaimer: This article contains potential spoilers from the My Hero Academia manga series and contains sensitive information. Readers' discretion is advised.

My Hero Academia: Why Endeavor's redemption is nowhere close to the magnitude of his sins in the past

Enji and Toya as seen in the anime (Image via Bones)

Enji Todoroki (Hero Name: Endeavor) became a hero because his father died protecting a girl during a calamity. As soon as he became a hero, he rose to the #2 position very soon but couldn't progress further due to All Might's influence. So, he decided to take part in a quirk marriage and conceive a child with a unique quirk.

He arranged a marriage with Rei through a quirk marriage and developed feelings for her in the first few years of their marriage. Their firstborn was Toya, who inherited Endeavor's flames. Despite him having a normal quirk, Endeavor was happy that his child wanted to become the #1 hero. However, his thirst to dethrone All Might kept growing on the inside.

Enji and Natsuo as seen in the anime (Image via Bones)

Fuyumi was the secondborn of the Todoroki family. Despite only inheriting Rei's frost quirk, Endeavor wasn't too concerned about Fuyumi's birth because he still had hope about Toya becoming a strong hero. Once Toya's inability to truly use his quirk was revealed, Enji wanted more children who could surpass All Might.

The thirdborn of the Todoroki family was Natsuo, who was hated by Endeavor because he also inherited Rei's quirk, and his execution of it was pretty ordinary. Finally, Shoto was born with a perfect balance of both of his parents' quirks, and the Todoroki family went through two turning points.

Also read: The four Todoroki siblings and their quirks

The first thing was that Endeavor directed all his attention toward Shoto to train his quirks. This training soon became a beating that started to take a toll on little Shoto, both mentally and physically.

The second was that Endeavor discovered Toya didn't stop his pursuit of becoming a hero and was hurting himself through his quirk. Combined with Endeavor's neglect of Toya, this eventually led to the Sekoto Peak incident. This resulted in Toya being manipulated by AFO into becoming Dabi, a villain who sought revenge against his father for his suffering.

Endeavor beating Rei (Image via Shueisha)

After Toya's 'supposed' death, Endeavor officially lost any feelings for his family and was solely focused on making Shoto the #1 hero through forced training. He also started to vent his frustration on Rei, which eventually led to her becoming mentally unstable and giving Shoto his scar. Eventually, Rei was removed from the Todoroki family and placed in a mental hospital.

Surprisingly, Endeavor also didn't hold back his feelings towards Shoto in public, which the English translations of the manga and anime couldn't portray properly. In public, Endeavor addressed Shoto with the Japanese kanji 仔 instead of 子.

Endeavor's abuse of Shoto (Image via Bones)

While both kanji characters are used to address children, the former is used to refer to baby animals or objects, whereas the latter is the proper term used to refer to human children. This wasn't portrayed through the English translations of My Hero Academia because English has different terminologies for each aspect, and kanji is an inclusive way of hinting at something.

Endeavor also refers to Shoto using アレ/あれ (Are), which is a term used to denote objects, instead of the proper term あの人 (Anohito). It is clear that he truly considered Shoto to be a tool, a weapon without an agency or sentience of his own.

Endeavor's way of dealing with Shoto in My Hero Academia could be considered similar to how racing horses are bred to compete in their life, which could be why he used such a rude kanji to address his blood-related son. This was also proof of why Endeavor's punishment was not as severe as needed.

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Edited by Gayatri Chivukula