How Is Gran Torino Related to Tomura Shigaraki?
Gran Torino is a well-known, retired Pro Hero in My Hero Academia. The first time we’re introduced to him, Gran Torino pretends to be a senile older man to mess with Izuku, but he drops this facade quickly. He takes advantage of people’s perception of the elderly as weak and frail to mess with them. Gran Torino is an intelligent hero with a wealth of experience in the field. He made more progress as Izuku’s mentor in one week than All Might did in one year. You might think the twist is that he’s way more powerful than he lets on, but the real twist in Gran Torino’s character is that he’s somehow related to Tomura Shigaraki. These two characters rarely interact, so how can this be? How can a Pro Hero like Gran Torino be related to such a notorious Villain like Shigaraki?
Gran Torino was Nana Shimura’s close friend while she was still an acting Hero. It’s been revealed that Gran Torino played a part in Nana’s decision to place her son, Kotaro, in a foster home. He also did not look after her remaining family after she died. This fanned the flames of Kotaro’s hatred towards Nana and heroes in general, which caused him to abuse his son, Shigaraki. In the modern day, Gran Torino feels justified in his opinion that Shigaraki must only be viewed as a villain and that he’s ruining Nana’s legacy. Gran Torino indirectly created the villain that Shigaraki has become.
Nana Shimura is Shigaraki’s grandmother, and Gran Torino is her close friend. Some fans have speculated that they were romantically involved, but it’s been confirmed that Nana’s husband dying was the catalyst that made her abandon her son, Kotaro, for fear that he would be killed too. We don’t know if Nana became romantically involved with anyone beyond that, but Gran Torino played a big role in supporting her decisions and upholding them even after her death. Let’s look at how Nana and Gran Torino’s decisions affected Shigaraki and each character’s thoughts on the situation.
The origins of Shigaraki as a Villain
One of My Hero Academia’s longest-running themes is victimhood and what it means to be worthy of being saved. All people react badly when they’re put in bad situations.
Shigaraki lived with his parents, maternal grandparents, sister, and dog. As a five-year-old, he wanted to be a hero, but his father despised heroes. His father, Kotaro, was abandoned by his mother, Nana Shimura. This caused him to hate all heroes and abuse Shigaraki whenever he wanted to become a hero.
One day, Shigaraki’s quirk manifested without warning. He accidentally killed his dog, which he was cuddling for comfort. As he was just a distraught and traumatized child, he tried to reach out to the rest of his family for help, accidentally killing them too. When his father came out to see what was happening, Shigaraki purposefully killed him.
After that, Shigaraki became homeless and lived on the streets. The general population didn’t think to take him to a police station, alert a hero, or do anything, as they thought a hero would eventually come and rescue Shigaraki.
What found Shigaraki wasn’t a hero, but All for One. He “saved” Shigaraki, taught him to keep the hatred within him alive, and groomed him to become his successor.
Shigaraki’s backstory establishes the idea that someone can be both a victim and a villain. At some point, Shigaraki was just a normal kid. There was nothing inherently evil about him, as most normal people aren’t inherently good or evil. Most people are simply reacting to their circumstances.
Shigaraki’s circumstances are that he was abused in his family home, his quirk was a very destructive one that manifested without warning, no one helped him as a child roaming the streets, and the only one to extend a helping hand was a world-renowned criminal, who groomed him to become a villain for years to come. Shigaraki’s point of view is that everyone failed him, and the hero society doesn’t help the people who most need saving. Instead, they kill them.
Gran Torino’s role in Shigaraki’s creation as a villain
As Nana Shimura’s closest friend, Gran Torino had a good amount of sway over her decisions. They were both heroes, so they understood each other’s problems well.
When Nana’s husband died from a villain attack, she was shocked and grieving. She put Kotaro, her son, up for adoption in a foster home. Gran Torino supported her through this time and saw this decision as an act of self-sacrifice.
Nana’s actions are complex. Reeling from her husband’s death, she made a life-changing decision. Although it was with the best intentions, not all parties see this decision as morally good.
After all, her son Kotaro also probably felt devastated when his father died. Not only that, but his mother’s decision to abandon him immediately after that was doubly traumatizing.
Gran Torino is the one to witness what has become of Nana’s family, even after her death. She gave up everything to fight AFO and was still unable to defeat him. Gran Torino knows this all too well, as he was forced to abandon the fight.
Nana’s wishes were that he never goes searching for him, and Gran Torino fulfilled her wish. He never went to keep an eye on Nana’s family, which might have prevented some of their deaths. Things might have gone differently if Shigaraki had a pro-hero present when his quirk awakened.
Even if he hadn’t been present on the exact day of Shigaraki’s quirk awakening, if Gran Torino was close to the Shimura household, he might have stopped Shigaraki from falling victim to AFO by offering him help.
Gran Torino’s role in Shigaraki’s villainy today
Gran Torino expresses that it’s all Shigaraki’s fault that he ended this way. When Toshinori hesitates to kill Shigaraki, Gran Torino says, “If you think he’s anything less than a villain, no good can come of it. No matter who his parents are, he’s still a dangerous criminal.”
His exact words to Shigaraki are, “You even existing hurt Toshinori so much. It’s made everyone suffer.” He blames Shigaraki for everything and accuses him of trampling all over Nana’s memory.
There’s no way Shigaraki could have held onto any amount of goodness after being “adopted” by AFO. Gran Torino knows how manipulative and evil AFO is but somehow believes Shigaraki always had villainy in his heart.
Fans have speculated that this is Gran Torino’s defense mechanism to being faced with Shigaraki. Nana’s ultimate wish was for her son, Kotaro, to live a happy life away from her and AFO. When Gran Torino had the chance to help her last remaining family member, he didn’t.
His huge respect for Nana Shimura also prevents him from admitting that her decision to leave Kotaro might not have been 100% morally correct. He also can’t accept he might not have made the correct decision by not protecting her family after her death.
Gran Torino is a complex character, and so is Shigaraki. As a long-time pro hero, Gran Torino must learn how hero society fails people like Shigaraki, who need help the most. It will be interesting to see how their relationship develops and what they can learn from each other. It’s All for One that destroyed this family and pitted these two against each other.