ANYWAYS THE ARC WITH SERIZAWA IN MP100 IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS EVER

so, the run down is that mob encounters an adult esper who turns out to be very much like him: he was tortured by his powers and was unable to control them, which caused himself to lock himself in his room and away from society. until bad dad mc eyebrows comes along (i dont know his name, nor do i care enough to learn how to spell it ahdhsb i hate him) and offers him this false sense of security: an umbrella that supposedly keeps his powers in check. of course nasty eyebrow man didnt give one crap abt my son and only wanted him for his amazing powers. thus, he manipulated and used him as a object for his world domination plans, while also serving as serizawas only link to sanity.

mob, being the brutally honest lil kid we all love, immediately breaks down the facade. "youre being used, he doesnt actually care about you" and tears down this mans entire world.

what happens after that is most interesting: the comic brings up things like "only following orders" and "the person being manipulated did no wrong" ...but it tears it down and,,rebuilds it?

serizawa was NOT treated as an innocent victim, nor a child (despite his manchild-like devotion to evil and bad eyebrows).

mob and reigen were like "yeah man, we get it...this guy was using you. he toyed with your emotions and removed your ability to feel safe with yourself/have security but...you still hurt people. you still did evil things and you need to take responsibility"

bUT THEN, on the flipside, they come back with "and y'know what, you need a support system to be able to recover from all of this. we're here for you and we will help you"

...and that's something ive really never seen. a character is both explicitly said to be in the wrong, but then the characters follow right up and want to help him make it right. thats how a redemption arc should go.

continuing with the theme and central idea of self improvement, serizawa DOES get his crap together. with a new place of employment and a some non-toxic friends, serizawa works real hard to make himself a good person and he even goes to night school! studies constantly! he puts forth effort to make himself a proper person!
it was a particularly shocking thing for me to read, because it was...so,,unexpected? like, wow, mp100's writing and morals are top notch, guys. read this manga.

it said, blatantly, that serizawa is an adult and responsible for his actions, but also that he was clearly mentally unwell and had been abused and needed to not only just be punished, but to be given support and help as well. thats what discipline is, guys. a punishment+an explanation of what you did wrong and how to avoid doing it again

this was an incredibly small part of the manga but it told me a story i have literally never seen