#For the first half of its run bnha is really shakey on its on themes imo and has to catch itself from mucking them up often | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hypermascbishounen · 4 months ago

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Well, probably because Greed's character arc led to that moment organically and closed in a natural way, that also lined up with fma's themes and story. So even when it was not necessarily expected or mandated and was tragic, it was still emotionally satisfying as a character conclusion.

Vs. While dying was always a possible conclusion to Tomura's arc, the way it was executed comes across as a cheap and anticlimactic shock death, bc it just unceremoniously cuts off not only Tomura's storyline - leaving a lot of emotional threads with Tenko, the Shimuras, and his side of the AFO plot, just kinda frayed - but also helps trash-can a lot of bnha's own themes. It doesn't work as a tragedy, because it throws the audience out of the story, with a sense their time was just wasted.

There's just too much build up around Tomura that suddenly feels like it goes nowhere in hindsight with this conclusion. And worse, it makes entire aspects of bnha in general feels like they never mattered. This isn't just a problem with Tomura when it comes to bnha's ending, but he's at the center of it - that the power of reaching out is repeatedly sold to the audience as worth it and necessary for a better future, and then literally is not the solution to the problems posed at all, the end, with no explanation for why the story would conclude on a really obvious and boring lesson.

Ofc we know that reaching out isn't always realistic and doesn't always work in real life. We live in the real world. That's not a profound or satisfying revelation, because the audience is not naive, and this ending despite seeming to be a mature, sobering, or "realistic", is actually the more infantalizing ending compared to everyone surviving imo. Bnha did not build up to a cathartic tragedy about the futility of trying your best, so it didn't earn this ending, and it falls pretty flat.

The truth is, despite the veneer of "reality" this very very literally is "and it was all just a dream!" as a conclusion, lol. We were enjoying a vision, and it ended in "no none of that was relevant actually the end". There's a reason It Was All A Dream is typically advised against, and it's not because it's "silly", it's because it makes the audience feel their time was wasted, bc the conclusion undoes most of the build up to it in most cases. That's why it's usually reserved for surrealism, or stories with consistent themes of time being wasted in itself.

Greed's death, meanwhile, is the theme of fma, and is immediately echoed in the following climax. The theme of fma is Truth, and the truth that Arakawa is selling to the audience is that human connection is the meaning of life. Greed breaks his code of never lying in order to give his life for Ling and everyone else, because Ling matters even more to him. He was searching for the feeling of human connection his whole life and when he finds it he realizes it's genuinely worth giving up his semi-immortal life to protect. He realizes he is not inherently selfish, and commits to an ultimate sacrifice, which is a strong character arc and conclusion for someone called Greed, even if it is tragic.

But more than that, the following series of events is on the same theme: Father's ultimate sin that sends him back to the hell from whence he came, was his eschewing of connection to others in favor of trying to elevate himself above everyone to control them, and avoid being vulnerable. Ed passes the final test of the gate of truth, by giving up his gate and ability to do alchemy, because he doesn't need the power when he has his friends. Hoenheim also gives his remaining life to the children he wanted to be there for, and wants to outlast him, because his love for them matters most. That is what full metal alchemist is about. That's why it has a strong and satisfying ending. All roads led to this, and it was the authors message to the audience. The truth is human connection.

By comparison, the equivalent of Greed's scene in bnha by narrative position is actually not Tomura's death. It's Bakugo's resurrection. That's the big emotional turning point set up that should lead into the rest of the final act. Bakugo being revived is narratively satisfying, because it's perfectly in line with the themes and his character arc. Bakugo goes all out against an opponent he knows could beat his ass and gets his heart exploded, but it's ok because other people reach out to help him and Bakugo no longer feels like needing saving is shameful like he used to. He integrates what he's learned from Midoriya, and the story actually set up this pay off. It would make no thematic sense to actually have Bakugo just die here.

And that should have been the prelude to an even stronger echoing of themes in the following series of events, the same way Greed's sacrifice does in fma. Unfortunately, that is not what happened. For whatever reason - probably a thoroughly misguided sense that audiences just want to be surprised more than they want a coherent narrative - Hori decided to swerve down an honestly tepid and thematically jarring ending. Things end not with a bang but a whimper, and instead of satisfaction, even cathartic tragic satisfaction, much of the audience will be left feeling vaguely dissapointed, like the point to them being there was missing. In conclusion, Hori left his story feeling like he had nothing to say to people with it, which is a shame because people were really invested in what he was already saying!

I'm super sick right now but I want to put this out there maybe somebody with more energy can take a crack at it

I love Fmab and I've been subconsciously comparing mha to it as the story goes on (afo and father, how well they execute their overalls themes,comparing Roy and Endeavor's atonement arcs, etc) and something that struck me is the similar aspects of the final battle (ie everyone coming to help defeat the big bad, the final punch, the protagonist giving up a power that meant so much to them) and something that struck me is how greed's death compares to Tomura's obviously they're different characters and have different roles in the narrative but both have their bodies possessed by the big bad, both actively help weaken the big bad to aid the protagonist and both die. But greed's death is so much more satisfying as an end to his character than Tomura's, it's so much more impactful.

Idk there's definitely something to expand upon there something to sink your teeth into but I'm too sick right now you guys get what I'm saying though right? Pls I really wanna talk about this with somebody 🥺

#Unfortunately this has been a bit of a writing weakness of Hori's before #Full cards on the table: I dropped early bnha because of this problem and only got invested later when it seemed to get a bit better #For the first half of its run bnha is really shakey on its on themes imo and has to catch itself from mucking them up often #And it didn't seem intentional at all I actually think Hori was failed by his editor somewhat #Not to let him off the hook for writing what he wrote but narrative conflicts like this is literally an editors job to spot #And im personally just so sad that Hori almost pulled his story out of his worst impulses but alas #Oomfie says it feels like his own insecurities as a writer got the better if him and...yeah :(#Yeah it really does seem like he got cold feet and felt his themes were too cringe and that people would be happier with something else #But he wasn't writing that something else so he just kinda ruined what he had going last minute imo. Oh well.#I think a lot about Hirohiko Araki's book Manga In Theory And In Practice where he outlines a lot of common writer traps and #Ofc there's It Was All Just A Dream and Shocking Deaths and why they usually do not work #And why he killed Jonathan Joestar and why and how that actually worked when he's so actually against those endings normally #And it really just comes down to set up and themes and understanding your duty to the audience a lot of the time #And it's amazing how easy it is to make theses mistakes as a writer even with the best of intentions and a lot of experience #Subverting the audiences expectations does not automatically equal substance in particular #It's a really good read esp for fans of shounen but also just for writers in general imo #A recc for these trying times ig lol #Sorry for hijacking your post stranger you probably could a better and more detailed post mortem than I

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