The Fall 2022 anime season features not just one, but two villainous shonen armies whose members have absolute faith in their power, their cause and their righteousness. All villainous groups have an express purpose and goal in mind, but in the stories of Bleach and My Hero Academia, it goes beyond that. Their battles are really about seeking justice through retribution for past wrongs.
In light of what was done to them in the past, these villainous groups believe their violent actions in the present day are fully justified. Bleach’s Quincy empire, known as the Wandenreich, seeks revenge on the Soul Society, much like MHA’s Paranormal Liberation Front wishes to get revenge for hero society’s rejection of its members. To both deadly organizations, their revenge is both sweet and long overdue.
The Past Wrongs Inflicted on the Quincy & Paranormal Liberation Front Villains
Neither Bleach nor My Hero Academia depict their vengeful villain groups as being truly righteous — viewers aren’t supposed to sympathize with the likes of Quilge Opie or Re-Destro. Instead, both series respectively explain why the Wandenreich and the Paranormal Liberation Front are justified in their own minds. To avoid making these groups shallow or cartoonishly evil, Bleach and MHA gave their villain groups an appreciable logic for their brutal actions. This still doesn’t justify the villains or make them righteous, but it gives them a rational reason to feel properly justified in what they are doing.
In Bleach, the Quincy empire is waging war on the Soul Reapers for one specific reason — to get revenge for the Soul Reapers’ genocidal war against them 200 years ago. As was explained early in Bleach’s new arc, the Quincy tribe’s habit of utterly destroying Hollows threatened to disrupt the cycle of souls and thus bring ruin to the world, and they refused to listen when the Soul Reapers urged them to reconsider. Running out of time, the desperate Soul Reapers reluctantly waged war on the Quincy tribe and nearly destroyed it. The surviving Quincy retreated into the Wandenreich, their hidden empire, and built up their forces to get revenge one day. That day has now arrived, with the Quincy king Yhwach awakening to lead his vengeful army to victory.
Meanwhile, My Hero Academia’s Paranormal Liberation Front — the union of the League of Villains and the Meta Liberation Army — believes its members suffered unfair discrimination and rejection from mainstream hero society, so they effectively formed their own hidden empire. Hero society never waged an actual genocidal campaign, but a non-violent version of that effectively happened anyway, with many outcasts deemed villains and monsters. Now those rejects have found solidary in one another, and together, they’ll get revenge by forming their own society or bringing simple anarchy. Either way, the PLF’s members have long since awaited the day when they can get revenge, which Bleach’s Quincy can relate to.
How This Reflects on Society’s Complacent Heroes in MHA and Bleach
None of this is meant to paint Bleach’s Soul Reapers or MHA’s Pro Heroes as monstrous hypocrites, but it does even the playing field a bit and prevents a simple black-and-white paradigm from taking shape. The Soul Reapers and Pro Heroes generally mean well, seeking to create and protect a stable, peaceful world where most people can thrive. They also use heroic methods such as teamwork and defending one’s own friends rather than assassination or lies to get the job done. That said, both groups have a rotten core and are far from perfect.
The Soul Reapers in Bleach are definitely guilty of wiping out the Quincy tribe, and have grown complacent and arrogant in the years since. They refused to adapt to the times and adhered to strict, sometimes draconic rules and laws, as Byakuya Kuchiki showed. They also underestimated humans and Arrancars and nearly paid the price for it. Perhaps the Quincy are slightly justified in labeling the Soul Reapers as arrogant thugs who only care about their own survival and glory.
Similarly, MHA’s Pro Hero society has many virtues — but it also unfairly pushes some people away, driving them into miserable obscurity like Spinner. Caped Pro Heroes like All Might, Mirko and Hawks are only good because there’s an evil “other” that opposes them, and hero society couldn’t or wouldn’t find a way to welcome those rejects.
So, while the Paranormal Liberation Front’s methods and actions cannot be justified, there’s a kernel of truth to Re-Destro’s and Tomura Shigaraki’s words all the same. Society really did reject and label them as monsters, a self-fulfilling prophecy the heroes are about to pay a stiff price for. It’s little wonder the PLF inspired so many zealous people to join in Season 6’s vengeful crusade to create the world they always wanted for themselves.