Title: All for One, Villain Extraordinaire


Author's Note: This time, let's take a look at All for One's point of view on the self-aware anime protagonist-verse. Is he right about being an anime villain or is he deluded? Once again, I'll let the readers decide.

Written for Dad for One week Day 6 prompt: "Good! Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you!"


I was born into a turbulent time period later known as the dawn of the age of quirks, when children around the world developed strange mutations and powers. In other words, I was born into an anime. It seemed painfully obvious to me from the beginning, even if no one else noticed. Come on, the plot was an overused classic.

I knew I was a villain because I had white hair and red eyes. It wasn't subtle—or politically correct. Even if I wasn't a literal albino, this was clearly the highly offensive evil albino trope. It became even more obvious after I developed the power to give and take quirks. You don't see protagonists starting out that overpowered right away. A main character has to go through a tragic backstory before they get a cheat code. But I had it easy from the beginning: I was born into a wealthy family, I was talented and popular in school, and I developed my quirk without the intervention of an old man mentor. Not a single talking animal or comic relief sidekick ever approached me.

Honestly, I embraced being the bad guy. Shounen Jump protagonist life was not for me. I never had any patience for power of friendship and I didn't like working hard. I had confidence that I understood the laws of fiction well enough to overthrow the narrative and win. By elementary school, I had already come up with my future villain name All for One and doodled cool helmets in the margins of my textbooks.

I had a younger brother named Yoichi. Yes, his name meant First Son in Japanese. Yes, my parents hated me. It was probably supposed to cause my fall to darkness. But I never cared if those insignificant background characters tried to diagnose me with narcissism and sociopathy. When the story failed to kill Mom and Dad fast enough, I cut the brakes on their car and collected the life insurance.

Yoichi was born with one of those vague coughing-up-blood illnesses that are so prolific in anime. When the doctors failed to find any cause for my little brother's illness, I instantly realized what he had: anime pretty boy disease. Invariably fatal in minor characters.

My little brother was, like most younger siblings, a royal pain in the ass. But I never wanted him to die. Especially not to give me a tragic backstory to drive me to villainy. I resolved to become a villain first so the narrative would have no reason to kill him off. I did not expect him to appreciate my noble act, and I was completely right.

Even so, I was not prepared for the level of whinging. You'd have thought the bank vault I locked him in didn't have a ventilator from the way he kept screeching at me to let him out. It was completely necessary for me to place Yoichi where nothing could harm him, because the narrative clearly had it in for him. Yoichi got into strange accidents whenever he left the house. He couldn't go to the bank without it turning into a robbery and hostage situation. The plot wanted him dead.

Younger siblings of the villain usually turn out to be either the protagonist, or they die. Yoichi was too pretty to be a main character in a shounen anime. Protagonists are always super-plain and usually bullied, so that the pathetic social rejects who sit in front of the computer watching anime all day can project themselves onto the main character. Yoichi didn't have the spine to be an edgy charming antihero, either. My brother's mysterious looks-exactly-like-tuberculosis-but-isn't-curable-even-though-we-cured-tuberculosis-a-long-time-ago-clearly-the-author-did-no-medical-research disease made it pretty obvious he was destined to die before the story even got started.

I prepared a PowerPoint presentation for my brother explaining that if he didn't want to be typecast as a flashback-only dead guy, then he needed to become one of my lesser minions and run around picking fights with the protagonist on my behalf. Only then would he have a role in the story. He had the nerve to tell me that I needed to get help.

It became evident that I couldn't expect Yoichi's cooperation in saving his life. I figured that if I locked him up, then leaked his location to the heroes, he could be cast as the noble good brother who got rescued by the protagonist. I even gave him a metapower to lift him out of the ranks of minor characters. Sure enough, a spikey-haired vigilante busted down the vault door to save Yoichi. This fellow had a tragic past, a brooding nature, and a band of close friends. He seemed like perfect protagonist material. My little brother had a rare moment of survival instinct and hooked up with the apparent protagonist. That was perfect: now that he'd become the love interest, his role in the story was safe. He seemed very unlikely to die.

Back then, I made just one critical mistake. Given the dystopian setting and slaughter of extras all around me, I'd assumed my show to be targeted at an adult audience. If I'd figured out sooner I was in a damn children's anime, I would have been a lot more worried about the bury your gays trope.

Then the spikey-haired idiot got himself and my brother killed in a very unimportant clash, and I realized my horrific blunder. Spikey-haired wasn't the protagonist! He was merely the predecessor figure to the true main character! We were still in the backstory phase of the anime! Just like that, my poor little brother became a casualty to cause my tragic fall to villainy despite all my efforts to save him.

I was bitter. I was infuriated. And I decided that if fate wanted a villain, then it could have one. But I refused to lose. I might have been able to accept being defeated to pave the way to my little brother's happy ending. After all, he was the only person I ever loved. But I refused to be anyone else's stepping stone. I would make this story regret choosing me as the villain.

I killed all the potential protagonists. I knew that those who inherited my little brother's quirk were most likely to become main characters, so I ruthlessly hunted them down and destroyed them. I bashed in their heads before they even had time to deliver their insipid heroic speeches. This story was going to be a oneshot, and the genre would be tragedy. If I couldn't have my happy ending, then no one could.

It was easy for me to track down the One for All holders. They all had convenient number puns in their names, in order of when they inherited the quirk. The author of this story wasn't particularly creative. I had serious doubts it would enjoy any commercial success even before I ripped the precious plot to pieces.

They all went down like little bitches, way too easy to be main characters. Then Number Eight arrived. Toshinori Yagi, later called All Might. He had all the traits of a protagonist: born powerless, a dead mentor, a total inability to mind his own business, and an obnoxiously Pollyanna attitude. I hated him from the moment I laid eyes on his overly toothy smile. My brother died so this idiot could have a cool power with a tragic legacy attached. I knew the author was more to blame, but I couldn't reach that hack. So I'd kill the blond buffoon slowly as a middle finger to the garbage author who'd created him and every last miserable viewer.

But All Might was like Teflon—damage just bounced off him and killed the random side characters around him instead. He'd cry a bit over their bodies, vow revenge, then attract more friends (suckers) to take hits for him. Even when his giant wounds dramatically bled, they never seemed to impede his ability to fight. I knew I was up against a real protagonist this time because this fucker would not die.

I was so badly filled with rage back then that I was willing to die myself to end the plotline. I went at All Might in a battle that destroyed half the city. I ripped out his guts, and he took my face. I should have died, but my doctor resurrected me. All Might definitely should have shuffled off to anime heaven—most his internal organs were outside his body! But the plot saved him.

By that point, I was tired. I decided that permanently ruining All Might's health was as good as I was likely to get. At least now his stupid smile looked a lot more forced. I retired from villainy, met a lovely woman with a last name that matched her green hair (seriously, someone show this goddamn braindead author a random name generator), and had an adorable baby boy named Izuku Midoriya. My old anger at the storyline started to fade away. I was content and happy.

Then my son become friends with an obnoxious brat named Katsuki Bakugo. I took one look at the spikey-haired brat and realized he was the new protagonist. Katsuki had all the right traits: he was blond (the author had a real hard-on for blond heroes), he worshipped All Might, he looked like he was related to the spikey-haired plague from my past, and he ran around shouting that he would be future number one hero almost as obnoxiously as Naruto screaming about becoming Hokage. The story wasn't done with me yet.

I was still fairly certain that All Might had been the original protagonist. But since All Might hadn't managed to kill me, the story had tossed up a new main character to ruin my happy family life. The plot would never leave me alone. It would kill off my family in order to drive me back to villainy. I had to leave them behind and become a villain before that happened—just like the time I became a villain in order to save my brother. But this time, I had a better understanding of how to keep the people I loved alive. It would do no good to try and destroy the story with a blunt hammer. Instead, I decided to subtly change who was the protagonist.

Villain's sons share the same fate as villain's brothers. They either become the protagonist, they become minor villains, or they die. I'd seen with my own two eyes how the main character was borderline invincible. I wanted that plot armor for my kid. No son of mine would become some redeemed minor villain following the main character around like a lost puppy. If Izuku had to get dragged into this clichéd story, then he would be the star.

First of all, I swapped out my son's birth certificate to change the spelling of his name to include the character for "nine." This was the single most important part of my plan.

Second, I stole Katsuki's quirk. The spikey-haired brat had a naval laser quirk, just weak enough to make him protagonist material. It harmed his body to use his power, the classic protagonist dramatic weakness. Instead, I gave Katsuki an explosion quirk. It would make him a natural star, so he never became an underdog. It was also way too violent and deadly for a shounen protagonist, since those bleeding hearted fools try to take every enemy alive. I distributed MLA pamphlets on quirk superiority around the Bakugo home. I helped the MLA infiltrate the brat's daycare. When Katsuki started bullying weaker kids at school, I felt confident that he was no longer protagonist material.

I gave Katsuki's quirk to a half-French boy, because he looked too foreign to be a shounen hero. When have you ever seen the main character of a Japanese anime talking in French? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Next, I stole my son's quirk. Naturally, this pained me. But little Izuku had a version of my own All for One that allowed him to not only steal but also copy quirks. That made him villain material. After all, I'd been typecast as a villain because of my quirk from day one. I definitely didn't steal my son's quirk because it was more powerful than my own and I wanted it. That was merely a bonus.

Being keenly aware of the frequent fate of protagonists' mothers, I arranged 24/7 bodyguard protection for my wife. Then I set out creating my own tragic backstory for Izuku. Being quirkless and abandoned by his father was a good start, but he needed a bit more to tug at the heartstrings of viewers.

I bribed a teacher to encourage Katsuki to bully my son. I know it sounds horrible to let my own kid get bullied. But how many popular, happy children have you seen as protagonists in a shounen anime? Enji Todoroki was beating up his youngest son so badly that little Shouto had all the right trauma to become main character. I wasn't about to let my kid get regulated to the rival role, playing second fiddle to Enji's heterochromatic genetic experiment. My Izuku was going to be number one.

With a little luck, Izuku would channel the rage at his bullies into motivation to succeed. Everyone in our family is motivated best by spite, myself included. The hate flowing through him would help him attract more fans. Sure enough, beating him down just made Izuku more determined to become a hero.

It hurt even more to buy All Might merchandise for my son. However, over the years I had come to understand how the blond buffoon's brain worked. (To be more precise, he had exactly two brain cells working overtime to keep him breathing.) All Might would pick a potential successor who stroked his ego or resembled himself. Since my precious Izuku could never in a million years resemble All Asshole, he would have to become a fanboy. At least I had the grim satisfaction of stealing every last bit of that merch, mostly from the charitable gifts that All Might sent to orphanages around the country.

Last but certainly not least, I launched an ad campaign across Japan to convince everyone that green hair was plain and freckles were ugly. Alas, my kid was just too damn cute to be a protagonist. However, this wouldn't be the first anime to draw the main character as attractive and then have everyone in-universe act like the kid was ugly.

I used a minor villain with a sludge quirk to arrange a meeting between Izuku and All Might. The blond buffoon had the nerve to reject my son the first time, so I arranged for a piece of homework to fall out of Izuku's backpack and reveal that his name had the character for "nine." Sure enough, he was picked as One for All's Nineth successor on the spot.

From there, I played my part as a villain to perfection. Like a demon king, I sent unimportant villains after my son so that he could defeat them and increase his experience points. I carefully set the stage for an attempted takeover of Japan, so that my son could rise to number one hero after he stopped me. Only for my darling Izuku would I be willing to let myself be defeated. Although I really did want to murder All Might first. Perhaps the dead mentor trope would work in my favor.

If it was for Izuku's sake, I would even be willing to die. But it's not in the nature of villains to deliberately aim for heroic sacrifices. We make other people do that. Therefore, I formed one last plan. I groomed one of All Might's adopted relatives into my successor, then planted my quirk inside him to take over his body. After I completely controlled Tomura, I would pretend to let Izuku redeem me. In the finale, I would reveal that my stolen body was his cousin on his mother's side. Then we'd be able to live together like brothers.

This time, the villain would get a happy ending.


OMAKE TIME!

Omake: Reference to Chapter One

All for One: It pains my heart, but I must arrange for my son to be bullied so he'll qualify as a protagonist.

Izuku: Dad, my bullies all ran away. They say I'm too scary. Kacchan is hanging on for now, but he keeps mumbling about fleeing to study abroad in America.

All for One: Sniff, I'm so proud! The way you're thwarting my plans just makes me even prouder! Don't worry, I'll use my connections to make sure you two end up in the same middle school. Your prey won't be able to escape!


Author's Note: This All for One tried to tell others across the multiverse about his ingenious plan. But he got thrown out of the All for Ones Club for the disgrace of deliberately setting up his little brother with Second and encouraging Izuku to become an All Might fanboy.

Does All for One's plan work? Or did Izuku foil the villain even after he went off-script? Pick your own ending!

I love the art from Possiblycringe (tumblr) / BucketOfMud (Ao3) / Popsicles (discord). All for One's face as he smirks through his comic books is just perfect. I adore the little puppets dancing from his strings. Puppet Yoichi is hanging from his neck in reference to fate or All for One's manipulations having a hand in his death. Delete the spaces to get the link:
possiblycringe.
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Also, here is a tumblr link to the same picture for people who can't access tumblr:
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