I don't see any reactors mention it but Dabi learning his father's moves (jetburn, hell spider) just by watching youtube videos is actually incredible. He was a prodigy .

To make sense of Shoto's phosphor, I understand through what Shoto said about doing the opposite to what Endeavour wanted. Endeavour planned to use the cold to prevent overheating Shoto's body and being able to use even hotter flames. So if Shoto is doing the opposite then he is actually using his fire to keep himself from freezing while he reduces the temperature so much that even Dabi's flames are extinguished, at the same time cold also causes burned-like damage. This is visualized into a not-really-flame that looks white the way white phosphorous shine in cold temperatures.

Dabi was a potential vessel, but they didn't find him before Shigaraki. He was about 13 when he burned up at Sekoto Peak, and Tenko was 10 at that point, so he had been with AFO for a while already. Dabi and the other potential vessels were backup plans in case Tenko didn't work out.

What I find fascinating is that the worst traits of Dabi - anger, hatred, stubborness - the traits that drove him essentially to madness, are also the traits that allowed him to hold on and survive this long. Without these traits he may never wake up, or be easily manipulated to stay in the facility and become a Nomu, or...just die within the month as expected. I love how Horikoshi is able to even make personality traits complex, just like All Might´s and Deku´s good traits often lead to bad outcomes (e.g. them being always too keen to take more reposponsibilities on as they should), Horikoshi also shows that horrible traits may have uses and positives too. Nothing is black and white.

Dabi and the Todoroki family have the best story in the whole series I think - Dabi is such a well-done character especially

This episode has a lot of added context from removed panels they didn’t use in the anime. Overhaul was in a very similar decorated room as Touya in the orphanage. And with AFO using his hatred and anger to control him, it appears they were BOTH likely candidates for AFO’s disciple. And the other is the shot with AFO walking through fire and wearing a hat. Let’s just say an unidentified individual was seen putting on the same hat at INCREDIBLY important timing at some point in season 5. Also Shoto unlocked is now capable of both sides fire and ice, and has become his own hero while Touya had stronger but sloppier copies of Endeavor’s moves capable of literal blue star heats. And Shoto just breaks absolute zero rules to instantly put it out in this fight. There’s NO WAY that final ice blast is 0°K or above to put out a blue star fire INSTANTLY. Shoto is just IMPOSSIBLE to measure his cold temperatures with what he’s done.

The Todoroki family’s story could carry its own series tbh

The fight was amazing. But honestly the flashback stuff with Touya was sad as well. We see even after everything Endeavor did, Touya was still willing to put his feelings of hurt aside and just go back home and apologize. Endeavor kept telling Touya to give up on his ambitions because it would only hurt Touya. But Endeavor himself never gave up on that dream. He kept trying to have children to make the "perfect kid". Then Touya literally exploded and burned alive because of the emotional and psychological trauma he went through because of Endeavor's ambitions. And even after all that, Endeavor didn't stop. Touya came home and saw that Endeavor had just gotten worse. While he was alive, Touya couldn't change anything. And even in death, Touya couldn't change anything. His father didn't learn anything. It's like his very existence was meaningless. So if Touya didn't have any meaning, he would be burned to ash and be reborn as Dabi. With flames so hot even the Demon Lord himself couldn't control them. I also love that Dani started to burn through the All Might statue. Because living up to that impossible ideal and his father's envy are what tore their family apart to begin with. And once again Dabi acknowledges again that he and the League are the accumulation of everything wrong with Hero Society. Their pain was created because of the failures of society. Which makes it even more fitting that Dabi begins to burn down the literal symbol of hero society.

Phosphor, full name Flashfire Fist: Phosphor: Phosphor allows Shoto to channel both halves of his Quirk throughout his body via his circulatory system, using his heart as a generator to circulate the chilled and hot blood around his entire body, merging the two halves of his Quirk into a single ability. The move grants Shoto an incredible defensive and offensive advantage against most opponents, especially those wielding pyrokinetic Quirks. The flames created by the technique are described as being a “Cold Fire” of sorts, allowing him to both burn and freeze his opponents. Fun Fact: Phosphorus, which Phosphor is named after, is a chemical element that exists in two major categories: white phosphorous and red phosphorous. White phosphorus emits a faint glow when exposed to oxygen at a cold or room temperature. Red phosphorous is created due to a chemical reaction that occurs when white phosphorus is heated to 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius). Therefore, the Ultimate Move’s ability to combine both the fire (signified by Shoto’s red hair side) and ice (Shoto’s white side) is similar to the chemical element. === Fun Fact: Great Glacial Aegir, which creates a sea of ice, is named after Ægir (anglicised as Aegir; Old Norse 'sea') (also called) Hlér (Old Norse 'sea') or Gymir (Old Norse less clearly 'sea, engulfer')) who is a jötunn (frost giant) and a personification of the sea in Norse mythology.

i felt like i was watching a movie with this episode. the animation, the voice acting, the music... whenever horikoshi does imagery during fights or conversations using the characters as children, it gets me hardcore

I actually adore Shouto, such a well developed and written character especially. I connect with him alot, pushing through this family mess but coming out on the other side when he could have given up and not deal with it. Such a strong willed character.

This episode was amazingly well done.

It's been said before (and by other commenters) but i'm truly amazed at the Todoroki family's story and it's place in MHA, and how Horikoshi has handled these very complex and deeply rooted ideas of domestic violence and family dynamics. The ripple effect Enji's actions have had on the entire world. They paved the way for All For One finding Dabi and seeing his potential as a backup for Shigaraki, or simply as a powerful underling for him to help the cause (rule the world/acquire powerful quirks/acquire powerful vessels he can use and ditch his original body). The story isn't saying "oh because Enji wants to do good things and help people we should forgive and forget about the abuse he has put his family through". But neither does it completely vilify him--it leaves space for his want to be a real hero, to do right by his fractured family and the civilians who have been caught up in this war. The nuance is so refreshing, compelling, and genuinely could be a series of its own. I know of a few people who only stayed this long reading MHA (that is, reading the manga up to where this episode is adapted from, and then beyond) because they wanted to see the Todoroki family's story unfold.

Dabi is literally cooking himself in order to burn every single thing that his father cares about to ashes. He doesn’t care about himself or anything else at all. He is laser focused on getting Endeavor to finally notice him by setting the world ablaze and watching it burn. Dabi is just built different. Dabi is such a great foil for Shoto and Endeavor. He is all of their flaws taken to the extreme. He is Shoto that never got past the resentment towards their father and was consumed with hatred. He is Endeavor whose sole focus was accomplishing his goal of surpassing All Might except Dabi’s sole focus is making Endeavor suffer. Just like Shoto and Enji were consumed with their goals and couldn’t see anything else, Toya is consumed with his and can’t see anything else. Not even his own value. Enji instilled that fire in Toya and taught him that the only thing that matters in the world is what you want. Your obsession comes before all else. Even family. And when Enji tried to extinguish that fire, the only solution was to neglect Toya and act like Toya didn’t exist after doing nothing but fawn over him as if he were the most valuable person in the world. It psychologically warped Toya’s view of his self-worth. Dabi is a manifestation of all of the toxicity that Endeavor possessed given flesh and unleashed on the world. Shoto vs. Dabi essentially operates as a more extreme Deku vs. Shoto. Shoto is trying to get Toya to cool down and stop him from killing himself and hurting others, and he does that by fully accepting himself by uniting both sides of his quirk. Instead of constantly putting a dividing line between his mother and father, he embraces all of himself to complete his quirk. He’s created a unique technique that is perfect against fire users. The development of Shoto’s cold flames is interesting to theorize about as he improves his Flashfire Fist: Phosphor.

Can we talk about how All For One has entire orphanages of young children he grooms?

21:46 Very sharp catch. Dabi doesn’t have much time left. They’ll get into it in the future.

I'd describe Dabi as the revenant of Touya Todoroki reanimated by the flames of vengeance.

Happy to hear your thoughts on the reaction for this episode I liked it too

I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but it’s honestly super sad that Shoto feels the need to carry all of the family’s hardships on his back when none of this should really be his responsibility. Unfortunately, Endeavor spent the last month or so completely neglecting Shoto and Touya, so he’s gonna have to fight All for One now instead, which sucks since Touya seems to really want to talk to him instead of Shoto, and I can’t say I blame him. Still though, I hope that Shoto can get through to Touya in some way. Touya may not want to admit it, bit they’re more alike than he thinks. Something I can’t say enough is how I couldn’t imagine being in Touya’s place in those flashbacks. Like, he burned himself up, and the next thing he knew he was several years older and looked completely different and had a different voice. And then he went home, only to realize that his father had essentially just continued on. All of Touya’s fears had essentially come to life then. What’s worse is that if Endeavor had just learned his lesson after Touya “died,” Dabi wouldn’t have been born when Touya returned home.

That 'finding balance between the two halves of his power in his heart' was a little cheesy, but as a metaphor for self-acceptance and healing from trauma, it's pretty damn good.

Dabi means cremation. Touya was cremated. That's why Dabi was born.

Wonder if they'll like the fact that the fight didn't end here

Toya is not resistant to flames, his whole deal is that he has fire powers but his body is resistant to ice

been waiting for this!!

I love how people realy think its over for dabi

4:43 oh come on, that's not true. Endeavour would've wanted his son back alive more than anything in the world

I find it funny how Dabi says his family had moved on and act like he never existed when he came back home but they literally build a shrne for him! Yes I get Endevour wasn't expessing his guilt and mourn him in the open but still! Guess he thought he stop training Shoto after Toya "death"??

Episode was great but I just wish there was more fighting

The shoto family storyline is the best sub story in MHA

Haha I'm confused why you didn't react to him looking older when he woke up. The fight was a bit disappointing.

Man, a Todoroki episode that given us more backstory and inner turmoils of the characters, and only 10 minutes of discussion? These guys really fell off lol I know the anime sucks, BONES ruined MHA since the 2nd half of S3, and it's clear the garbage S5 killed all their love for MHA, but at least this season has been decent so far

God forbid your family moves on 3 years after you 'died'. Get over yourself Dabi, God

I just love the concept of Phosphor. 🤍❤ Endeavor wanted a kid with his fire that could cool their body down with ice after using it. Shouto decided to do the opposite and balance both ice and fire to cool down the fire itself so it doesn't burn. It's such a great moment for Shouto's entire arc and all that he's learned

The shoto family storyline is the best sub story in MHA