Highlights
- Toga’s obsession with Deku stems from her first crush in middle school, Saito, who resembles Deku.
- Toga’s Quirk influences her desire for blood, leading her to seek out those she loves to “become” them.
- Toga’s traumatic past and need to suppress her Quirk have led her to misconstrue love with murderous intent.
When we first meet Himiko Toga in My Hero Academia, it is easy to see she develops a crush on the series protagonist, Midoriaya Izuku. However, as the series progresses, her reasoning for her crush and love becomes more twisted than what was initially thought to be a regular crush.
While it’s understandable that Toga is a villain and thus will have villainous tendencies, it would be hard to understand the reason for her obsession without fully understanding her backstory. While Toga may be misunderstood for her obsession with Deku, she was also likely searching for someone to accept her.
What’s The Reason for Toga’s Obsession With Deku?
Himiko Toga is obsessed with Midoriya Izuku, better known as Deku, because Deku reminds her of her first love in middle school, Saito. Saito was a Toga classmate when they were in middle school. He also bears a striking resemblance to Deku, with his messy hair, large eyes, and physical build. While My Hero Academia never described Saito’s personality in detail, according to Toga’s flashbacks, he was a popular student among her classmates, much like Deku in UA. Due to Deku’s strong resemblance to Saito, Toga has become incessantly obsessed with him.
Toga was unable to confess her feelings for Saito due to the pressures of her family and society, deeming her “not normal.” However, one day, when Saito got into a fight and was thus bloody from the fight, Toga succumbed to her Quirk’s influence and struck a straw into Saito’s blood and drank it. After this event, Toga was outcasted by her family and shunned by her classmates.
The Influence of Toga’s Quirk
Before Toga truly succumbed to her Quirk’s influence, she was regarded as “normal” by her peers. However, her Quirk Transform requires blood to change into another appearance and use their Quirk. As the nature of her Quirk requires Toga to see out blood, Toga becomes increasingly invested in trying out other blood, which is the nature of her Quirk.
However, drinking someone else’s blood and enjoying the taste, thus constantly seeking it out due to her family suppressing the use of her Quirk, led Toga to be seen as “not normal.” Therefore, she had to undergo Quirk Counseling. However, this is also where Toga begins to blur the lines between blood and admiration and sees the two as one. She also begins to state that her actions are “normal,” just like how “You all kiss the people you love, I suck the blood of the people I love,” this to Toga, love is the same as becoming that person, which is why she wants to suck their blood.
How Toga Became Infatuated with Deku
Toga first meets Deku during the Forest Training Camp Arc after being recruited by the League of Villains. During this mission to capture Bakugo Katsuki, Toga meets the two people she will fall in love with, Uraraka Ochako and Midoriya Izuku. Toga first became fascinated with Ochako because she is similar to Toga, someone in love. Toga then elaborates on this meaning by saying she loves people who are beat up and smell like blood.
It’s after this that she sees Deku, beaten up and covered in blood, looking similar to Saito, her first crush. After the League of Villains captured Bakugo Katsuki, Toga introduced herself to Deku and stated he would look even cooler if he were bleeding a little more. Soon, Toga would become increasingly infatuated with Deku, so her “love” could not trigger Danger Sense because she genuinely believes she isn’t harming him.
In the Final War against All For One, Shigaraki, and the League of Villains, Toga finally confesses her love for Deku as the battle begins and asks him to be her boyfriend. It is during this time that Toga confesses she wants to become Deku and asks him to let her suck his blood. This is most likely the result of her Quirk’s influence; due to the Transform needing blood to be activated, Toga feels she needs to become one for someone to show her love.
Unfortunately for Toga, Deku rejects her confession. “Becoming one” would mean that you would need to hurt the other person in order to become them, and Deku feels strongly against that due to his heroic ideals.
This then sends Toga spiraling as she remembers her family begging her to “be normal.” Thus, she relives the traumatic events in her life that have discriminated against her and forced her to repress her feelings and Quirk. During her battle with Ochako, we learn in Chapter 391 that Toga misconstrued her feelings about love with murderous intent. It’s also likely that due to her traumatic childhood, Toga, using her Transform Quirk, sought to be someone else, someone normal who could fit into current society.
So, because she had to suppress her Quirk for the majority of her childhood, her repressed feelings misconstrued what love would be. This is why Toga might have been so desperate to become someone she loves so she could be accepted into society. Ultimately, that is the last time Toga sees Deku before he speeds away to return to the battle against Shigaraki.
My Hero Academia is now available to stream on Crunchyroll.
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