Warning: spoilers ahead for My Hero Academia chapter 351!
Readers of My Hero Academia have been dying to know what Dabi actually thinks of Shoto Todoroki's Half-Hot Half-Cold quirk, since it was what led to his father Endeavor abandoning him. While the fan-made translation includes a crucial metaphor that helps shine light on the truth, Viz's official translation completely ignored it and instead chooses a far less potent insult.
Before becoming Dabi, Toya Todoroki's number-one goal as Endeavor's son was to be the one who would honor his father's wish of surpassing him and his rival All Might. Even though Endeavor's ideal progeny would inherit both his uncontrollable Hellflame and his wife's icy quirk to quell the raging inferno of his own powers, it appeared as though Toya was on the road to achieving his dream, despite not being blessed with any ice-based abilities. Endeavor initially chose to mentor Toya and devoted hours of every day to training him. But when Toya's younger brother Shoto was born with Half-Hot Half-Cold, Toya was cast aside, an unfortunate development that eventually culminated in Toya almost killing himself in an attempt to gain back his father's attention. Knowing this, it wouldn't be surprising if Dabi resented Shoto for possessing the quirk that helped gain him their father's attention.
In an unofficial fan translation of the chapter from a translator credited as 'Miren,' Dabi calls Shoto "a worthless mix of ice and fire." Although critics could say this was just an interpretation, the translation goes even deeper to explain why they chose these words. To quote directly: "[Toya] calls Shoto 'a broth of despair' in the original. In Japanese, the word for broth is made up of the 'boil' kanji and the 'freeze' kanji, owing to the fact that ramen broth is prepared by boiling the meat first and then letting it chill for a day in the refrigerator." Viz's translation instead has Dabi call Shoto, "Calamity incarnate, concentrated down into a boy-sized package!!"
This is a huge shame, since mangaka Kohei Horikoshi appears to have cleverly used kanji that perfectly correlate to both aspects of Shoto's quirk, and because Dabi would obviously have some strong opinions about Shoto's Half-Hot Half-Cold powers. Instead of finding another form of this visual pun, Viz's translation glosses over it with a far more prosaic line. In the unofficial translation, Miren's translation lets readers interpret what Dabi means with this useful context, allowing for the idea that Dabi is depicting the act of chilling derogatorily by essentially saying that the Half-Cold aspect of his brother's quirk is diluting his fire's power.
This belief would make sense since Dabi has completely embraced the strength of fire. Earlier, Dabi boasted to Shoto about how his own flames have surpassed their father's Hellflame, a claim which Endeavor's sidekicks later confirm in this chapter. In fact, before becoming Dabi, Toya was so determined that his quirk alone was what their father actually needed that he burned himself alive in an attempt to prove he didn't need his mother's icy quirk, and would have most assuredly died if All For One hadn't collected his charred body.
Of course, even with this fan translation, Dabi still needs to elaborate on this jibe so fans can comprehend his true feelings. It's obvious that recounting his tragic past riled up the villain to the point where everything he's saying can be interpreted as just an amplified or exasperated version of the truth. But the official translation My Hero Academia could have given readers a glimpse of this truth in the moment, rather than erasing a smart narrative element others found a way to clearly express.
My Hero Academia chapter 351 is available to read now from Viz Media.