#HIS Bakugou Shounen!!

[spinji]

Something I really love about the vol 40 cover is the inclusion of the Bakugou silhouette. Once again Horikoshi is beating people over the head with a mallet to make them understand that Bakugou also has a deep, personal connection to All Might and he unambiguously recognizes him as his successor alongside Izuku.

[flying-cat]

thinks about bakudeku and falls to the floor

[kisasan]

[vvienne]

Sometimes I’ll rewatch bnha anime like I’m fourteen again and be blown away by how pretty they animate Todoroki sometimes, like I’m fourteen again

[arabian-batboy]

Honestly I’m so happy Genya only spent like a couple of episodes max after his introduction being “the show’s token bad boy & the protagonist’s broody rival” and is now a really good and wholesome friend to Tanjiro instead, because having him be voiced by Bakugou’s voice actor AND needing 6+ seasons to learn to be nice toward the main character would have been overkill.

[bicheetopuff]

Shounen was written for young boys to help them to get stronger and find a purpose in life, thats why most shounen series end up in marriage and having kids. Japan's birth rates are dropping each year and you guys want to see Deku and Bakugou end up together instead of Deku and Ochaco getting married and having kids? The stories and media we consume has to match the standards of real life you know.

Wow… this is a lot to unpack. A normal person would just ignore this, but lucky for you, I’m a bitch when I wanna be, and I happen to have time on my hands right now.

1) “Shonen was written for young boys to help them to get stronger and find a purpose in life”

Shonen is literally just a genre that directly translates to “young men.” But I think you’re trying to define the meaning of story telling as a whole, and even still, that’s a very narrow way to view an entire genre.

Stories meant for young men, most of the time, are meant for entertainment. You have anime’s like Dragon Ball and Naruto that’s almost nothing but action scene after action scene with very little thought provoking plot, because at the time, they were written for young boys. Like, they were aired on children’s channels back in the day, young boys. And while I won’t deny that there are definitely some good lessons in both (I can’t speak much because I never finished Naruto and only got about 20 episodes into dbz) they’re not meant to make a boy “stronger.” Lessons in early shonen were meant to broaden world views and increase emotional intelligence in a way that’s easy to understand. I guess it depends on your definition of what strength is, but I feel like strength is built from personal experiences, not watching an anime.

That being said though, the shonen/young boys genre has evolved over the years in the east and the west. Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, and Attack on Titan, are all shonens, with aot being also classified as a seinen. Those are most definitely not meant for the same age group that Dragon Ball and Naruto and One Piece were written for, given the amount of gore and heavier themes presented. Now, that’s not me looking down upon those stories at all, that’s me pointing out the obvious difference in tone, despite them being classified as the same.

As the genre evolved, authors approaches have also evolved. Literally read any interview from any modern shonen author and you’ll see how unserious they are when it comes to their own stories. Gege didn’t even like writing his story past a certain point and was just trying to push through it, because it wasn’t the story he originally wanted to write. Horikoshi has always said he just wanted to tell a story with no real goal towards the audience. Chainsaw Man is literally about a guy wanting to touch some boobs??? What about any of that screams, “I’m writing this to raise the new generation of young boys into strong husbands and fathers who know their purpose in life!”

Shonen as a whole has grown into a genre meant for young adults, with heavier themes and becoming increasingly more political. It’s not the same genre it used to be, and trying to say that it is, isn’t fair and is lowkey insulting towards authors with a more progressive world view.

2) “Japan’s birth rates are dropping each year and you guys want to see Deku and Bakugou get together instead of Deku and Ochaco getting married and having kids?”

Yeah… you’re right. I’d rather see a well written relationship come to fruition than watch another male author completely disrespect their female lead and ripping away her development. Why the fuck would I, an infertile acespec queer person, give a fuck about using two fictional characters to inspire young people to get married and start a nuclear family…

Also the birth rates are dropping all over the world, don’t pretend it’s only a Japanese issue. In Asia specifically, the birth rate is going down because women are tired of men’s shit and refuse to bare their children, and I’m actually happy as fuck that other parts of the world are following in their footsteps.

Women have been treated like shit in every corner of the world for so fucking long, and we all just dealt with it because that’s what we all thought we were supposed to do. It’s about fucking time we actually put our foots down and protest in the ways that we can, which is practicing our rights to autonomy. Why tf should we be responsible to bear the children of men most of us barely even like? And why is having children a mans responsibility, when women are the ones who have to carry the babies? Besides, why the fuck would anyone want to bring a kid into the shit show that is the world right now?

We’re over populated, have a really fucked up consumption and capitalism problem which causes us to depend on disgustingly unethical ways to find resources to appease everyone, there’s fucking flowers blooming in the arctics, there’s several genocides happening in the world as a result of neglectful and corrupt governments, a literal ethnic cleansing happening, and a carton of eggs costs 12 fucking dollars while the minimum wage stays at only $7.25 and the cost of living isn’t affordable unless you’re making nearly triple the minimum wage. I don’t even wanna be subjected to this shit and I’ll be damned before I subject a child to it against their will. Most of us can’t even afford to take care of ourselves without our parents help right now.

Also, what does a gay pairing have to do with the birth rate at all? Is Deku gonna carry that baby? Or are you seriously just narrowing down Ochaco to nothing more than his incubator? If Ochaco decides to have kids one day, why should it have to be with Deku? Oh and I hate to break it to you, but Ochaco becoming a mother isn’t going to solve any of the issues you presented.

3) “The stories and media we consume has to match the standards of real life you know”

…you’re talking about a story where one of the background characters has a god damn spray bottle for a head…

It’s fiction. Superhero media, at that. None of it has to follow the “rules” of real life, and most of the time, this kind of media does the exact opposite of following societal norms. And you thinking otherwise probably made Stan Lee roll in his grave.

Also, what’re your standards for real life? Because everyone’s standards are different. If yours is to get married and live in a traditional household with five kids and one source of income in this economy, then I think you’re the one being unrealistic here.

We shouldn’t burden children with adult responsibilities. Having kids and being a “good husband” isn’t something a child should have to think about until they’re older and only if they want to. Believe it or not, not everyone’s goal is to get married and produce offspring. We should be encouraging children to do the things they like doing without having to worry about adult shit yet. Not indoctrinating them into believing that the only way for them to be a successful adult, is if they have kids.

Using shonen and other conformative media that is dead set on maintaining the status quo to brainwash kids into wanting to be parents before they even know how babies are made, is weird. Don’t be weird, anon. You sound like one of those “alpha males” with a red pill podcast, convincing young men that crypto scams are a perfectly ethical way to make quick cash.

Literally just say you’re a misogynist, and move on. And get tf out of my inbox.

P.S.

You know gay men exist in real life, right? You’re talking as if gay men aren’t real. Not only are they real, but they also have nothing to do with the birth rate dropping. Find something else to be mad about.

[masterdizzi]

Let's talk about Spacetoons Mineta...

Spacetoons is an arabic channel that semi-recently dubbed MHA. Some may call it "Arabic 4kids," but as someone who watched a substantial amount of shows in a 4Kids dub. (namely SonicX), that's not a fair comparison. The only 4 kids dub I actually enjoyed was that of "Kirby: Right back at ya"

Anyway, the BokuNometaAcademia sub brought to my attention the way that Mineta is written here. I have always hated how Hori used Mineta to live out his weird fantasies. The inclusion of Mineta's "comedy" turned a lot of people, me included off and honestly, why wouldn't it.

Spacetoons is more child-tuned so they did a lot of censorship, for example, look what they did to Momo

(They also greatly improved her character)

You may be asking, "What did they do with Mineta?" Valid question considering 70% of his character is horny jokes. Well, the completely removed the perv aspect and made him a loveable kid who wants to fight his insecurities and be great hero.....

I have always said it, Mineta holds some great potential. His moment during the USJ arc was a great stepping stone for some great character growth. The idea of a coward pushing to become a true hero is so different from the norm, but as we know, when it comes to MHA, potential don' get used.

From what I hear from spacetooneta, he is actually really likeable. He is so different from Canoneta that people mistaken him for a girl. The scenes where he is being pervy are either edited out completely or altered convincingly.

They changed the scene from season 3's filler episode so that the context is as follows:

Kaminari and Mineta want to goof off at the pool

Mineta has overheard that the girls have booked the pool too

They convince Izuku to come w/them so that they can get there before the girls

Izuku invites Tenya and the others and Tenya makes them train instead of goofing off

The girls are here, goofing off while they have to train

The most nuts part is that viewers of that dub absolutely LOVE HIM. He suprassed Bakugou in popularity even. This shows that Hori could have made one of the most loveable characters in Shounen. Think about it, his design is already cute, just slap a cute personality on and everyone would love him. But no, he had to be a creepy perv.

Canon Mineta sucks man

[pikahlua]

"A deuteragonist has a very different role in the MHA and that is a whole other post ."Can you please write this article? I am tired of Bakugo being constantly downplayed. There are very few people who understand his character and role in the story as well as you do.

Haha I mean hehe it's just hoho I never said fufu that Katsuki is the deuteragonist guffaw shucks haha I mean come on snort why are you putting words in my-

Katsuki Bakugou is the deuteragonist.

Katsuki Bakugou is the deuteragonist

Katsuki Bakugou is the deuteragonist

"Of course you would say that. You're a Katsuki Bakugou stan! You are invested in inflating his importance in the story because you love him." - some people, probably

No. If that were true, I would be arguing Katsuki Bakugou is the protagonist. But I'm not.

Because Katsuki Bakugou is the deuteragonist.

It's not that I love him and therefore assert that he's the deuteragonist. I love him because he's the deuteragonist (plus many other reasons). He is an archetypal familiar shounen hero made interesting in part by the fact that he is NOT the protagonist and deliberately written in the deuteragonist role/function, and I will go into visceral detail about this momentarily.

I promise you I don't go around in other fandoms arguing my favorite non-main character is the deuteragonist. I fully embrace whatever role it is they play in the story. YOU WILL SEE THE EVIDENCE OF THIS VERY SOON, FOR EVERY CHARACTER IN MHA.

What is a deuteragonist?

A deuteragonist is a story archetype. They are the second-most important character in a story (which is a vague as hell definition). They are often known as the "secondary main character."

That's it. Everything else one might say about a deuteragonist is just a sub-archetype.

A deuteragonist can be a sidekick, a love interest, a rival, an antagonist, or even a neutral party. They are often, not always, written as foil characters to the protagonist. They often, not always, provide a different and yet similar outlook to the protagonist's. Their utility in a story can be quite varied. Sometimes they support the protagonist, and sometimes they oppose the protagonist. Often, they are used to help the protagonist complete their character arc.

Sometimes, there can be more than one deuteragonist.

What the hell is a deuteragonist?

The problem is, the function of a deuteragonist can change just depending on the type of story we're talking about. A deuteragonist in an ancient Greek tragedy (theatre), where the term originally came from, won't necessarily function the same way as a deuteragonist in a 2-hour contemporary movie. Things get even more complicated when we're talking about a TV series, a book series, or a comic book series in which the cast becomes so large we're likely to see MULTIPLE deuteragonists.

My Hero Academia, like many long-running shounen manga, has an ensemble cast. Would you be surprised if I told you My Hero Academia not only has multiple deuteragonists, not only has multiple antagonists, but also has multiple protagonists? Because it does!

Sometimes people wanna divide MHA into three or four acts and make the claim that the deuteragonist changes from act to act. I say they aren't going far enough. MHA is divided into arcs, and each arc has its own protagonist and antagonist and sometimes even deuteragonist. This is a STAPLE of ensemble cast shounen manga, where often there will be so many characters they get grouped off into trios (or more) and one among them will be the group's designated protagonist.

Sure, in most MHA arcs, Izuku is the protagonist. But he's not always. Who is the protagonist of the Pro Hero (Endeavor vs Hood) arc? Who is the deuteragonist? It's not Izuku and Katsuki; it's Endeavor and Hawks! What about the protagonist in the My Villain Academia arc? Tomura. The Hero License Supplementary Course arc? Katsuki and Shouto (who can't seem to decide if they're co-protagonists or protagonist and deuteragonist and who is which). The Overhaul arc? Izuku is the protagonist and Mirio is the deuteragonist. Some arcs really play with these roles or make it unclear who is playing which role or if the role even exists.

What is a deuteragonist in My Hero Academia?

So if we have a bunch of protagonists, does that mean the most important one is the series' overarching protagonist and the one second in importance is the deuteragonist? It COULD be, but it's not necessarily true.

There aren't that many arcs where Izuku is not the protagonist. If we look at the number of arcs where someone else is the protagonist, following the above logic, we could end up with All Might or Endeavor as the deuteragonist. Maybe some people would earnestly make the argument Endeavor is the deuteragonist--I don't know, I haven't met those people I guess. The problem with this approach in my eyes is that it entirely discounts the deuteragonists of each arc. Would it not follow that the overarching deuteragonist is the character who has played the deuteragonist in the largest number of arcs? What if that character is different from the character who has played protagonist the second-most number of times? And this is to say nothing about if the protagonist or deuteragonist are the same as the antagonist in a given arc! It's difficult to weight any one character in this fashion particularly when you have an ensemble cast.

This is getting into the question of focus and screentime. How much should we weight this metric? Admittedly this one can also be complicated, especially when it comes to long stories with ensemble casts. The question is how much does screentime actually convey how much a character is the focus of a story, and does that necessarily translate to protagonist and deuteragonist? Because for many the question is: could the deuteragonist be an antagonist in MHA?

It just gets a little harder to argue someone besides Katuski Bakugou is the main deuteragonist the more Katsuki's screentime allocation looks something like this:

Okay, perhaps that exact size of gap is hyperbole. But there is a clear, measurable gap between Katsuki Bakugou and everyone else and I don't think anyone has ever disputed that. Please check out this post by @dekusheroacademia that has compiled some of these statistics (they also make some excellent points about evaluating the elements of a deuteragonist and how various characters fit or don't fit those characteristics).

Still, this is merely supporting evidence, not conclusive. I am well aware of the concept of a false protagonist, where someone appears to be the protagonist until later someone else is revealed to be the story's true protagonist. And while I've never seen a false deuteragonist where someone SEEMS to be the deuteragonist and is later revealed in a twist not to be (as opposed to the deuteragonist just merely changing NOT as a deliberate twist where expectations were set to be otherwise), that doesn't mean it can't happen.

Tangentially related, we could also potentially look at marketing as another piece of supporting evidence. It's not conclusive that just because Katsuki Bakugou is one of the most merchandised characters in the franchise that he is more important to the story than those who aren't, but it's still notable supporting evidence. After all, based on Horikoshi's marketing of his own story i.e. who he draws in which orientations on chapter and tankoban covers, or how he lists characters on character intro pages, we could easily come to the conclusion as casual readers that Izuku is the protagonist. There are many cases where one could conclude Katsuki is the deuteragonist based on such presentations alone. But again, I concede this is not conclusive.

So, if we set aside individual story arc roles, screentime, and marketing, what does that leave us with?

What is THE deuteragonist in My Hero Academia?

Even if we can determine Izuku Midoriya is THE protagonist of MHA based on things like the number of times he's protagonist in story arcs, his screentime, and marketing, I'll set those aside for the deuteragonist and see if there's something else that can help us here.

What element are we missing? The overall story.

Sure, we can break down the story into arcs and assign deuteragonists that way, but that's not getting us to THE deuteragonist. So let's start with the protagonist. How do we know Izuku Midoriya is the protagonist of MHA without considering the previous metrics? The way the story focuses on him. It is easy enough for anyone to recognize the characteristics of a protagonist in him from a functional perspective. He is a POV character. We hear his thoughts. He narrates the story. We see the story over the timeline of his character growth. His character arc coincides with the overall story themes.

I've talked many times about how My Hero Academia at its core is a story that explores the question: what is a hero? MANY characters explore this question, but the character who compiles these answers together and rounds them all out and grows and has his perspective change and exemplifies the moral is: Izuku Midoriya.

So let's go back to the functional elements of a deuteragonist. Remember those sub-archetypes? Well, in a shorter story with no ensemble cast, what do a sidekick, a love interest, a rival, an antagonist, and even a neutral party all have in common? They are defined by their relationship to the protagonist.

You see, in a story where all the characters interact with each other and converge on the major theme of the story, ALL characters are defined by their relationship to the protagonist. But in particular, the function of a deuteragonist is to supplement the story with what the protagonist needs FUNCTIONALLY. When is a sidekick the deuteragonist of a story? When the story focuses on the adventures of the protagonist and their sidekick. When is a love interest the deuteragonist of the story? When the story focuses on the developing relationship between the protagonist and the love interest (i.e. the romance genre). CAN a story with a love interest deuteragonist focus on their adventures and individual character development too? Yes, but sometimes the result is that the love interest is ALSO the sidekick...or the rival. When is the rival the deuteragonist? When the story focuses on the clash and growth between the rivals. When is the antagonist the deuteragonist? When the story focuses on the battle between them. NOTE that when I write this, I don't mean it focuses on the protagonist's adventure that culminates in them meeting the antagonist at the end for a battle. I am talking about when the BATTLE ITSELF is the main focus of the story. See stories like Silence of the Lambs or Death Note for a clearer example of what I mean, where the focus of each is on the psychological games the protagonist and antagonist play with each other. The point is, the story on a structural level, on a meta level, has to focus on these sorts of interactions to determine its deuteragonist.

Obviously this gets more complicated with a large story and an ensemble cast because you could have bits of the story where the structure changes and seems to focus on new things. That's why I pointed out that the more immediate protagonist and deuteragonist and antagonist often change in MHA depending on the story arc.

When I try to determine who is THE deuteragonist of the entire story, I have to look at the entire story. I have to ask myself what the story is about. So what is the story about? What is MHA about?

If you said MHA is about Izuku falling in love with Ochako, I'm sorry but you're wrong.

If you said MHA is about Izuku taking on All Might's mantle, I'm sorry but you're wrong.

If you said MHA is about Izuku defeating/saving Tomura, I'm sorry but you're wrong.

If you said MHA is about Izuku rekindling his friendship with Katsuki, I'm sorry but you're wrong.

MHA is about Izuku Midoriya (and most everyone else) learning what it means to be a hero.

It's in the fucking title. MY HERO ACADEMIA. The story is about Izuku's education (as it takes many forms) to learn what it means to be a hero.

So who is the deuteragonist in the story about Izuku Midoriya learning what it means to be a hero? The character who is second-most important in how Izuku Midoriya learns what it means to be a hero.

A lot of characters do teach Izuku Midoriya what it means to be a hero or at least some piece. But who is MOST IMPORTANT?

See, My Hero Academia is LONG. If we just focus on the parts of the story in which Izuku tries to learn from All Might or take on his mantle, we lose ARCS of the story. The same is true if we focus on his love life, or his rivalry with Katsuki, OR EVEN HIS BATTLE WITH TOMURA AND ALL FOR ONE. In the case of the latter, we're basically excluding HALF the story: the school arcs!

MHA is structured such that it alternates between what we colloquially refer to as "school arcs" and "villain arcs." And while exploring the question of "what is a villain?" is an important subset of the main theme, it is not the entire story. You can't just label all the school arcs as "filler" (because they're not) and chuck them out. Each story arc contributes to the lessons Izuku learns and the theme of the main story.

I can think of something every character teaches Izuku with respect to this theme. I can think of a lesson Izuku has taken away from every encounter and every story arc. But who ELSE is present in nearly every story arc? Who represents the foil to Izuku who allows us, the audience, to learn alongside them what it means to be a hero? Who learns the bits Izuku does not need to learn because he already exemplifies those answers in spades? Who represents the other half of the hero equation that Izuku is missing? Who has his own blanks filled in by Izuku himself? Who has played all the sub-archetypes of a deuteragonist for Izuku Midoriya, including antagonist, rival, sidekick, and even arguably love interest (replace with platonic interest for the rekindling friendship angle if you want so we don't have to go into that whole thing here please, I'm talking about the generic structural elements within a story more than anything)?

Izuku Midoriya cannot possibly have learned the fundamental lessons of what it means to be a hero without Katsuki Bakugou's character arc to supplement him. Katsuki Bakugou is an irremovable, integral player in demonstrating the theme of collectivism that informs the main story, not just for Izuku to learn it but for THE AUDIENCE to see it too. He is one half of "win to save, save to win." He is the standard shounen manga archetype who has to learn the value of teamwork/collectivism so that he can teach it to Izuku Midoriya and save him from himself. The story is structured in such a way that it resembles LESSONS for the characters to learn, and Katsuki's "education" in this respect is VITAL to the story, second in importance only to Izuku Midoriya's.

P.S. Is it actually taking away from Katsuki to call someone else THE deuteragonist?

Yes. I know some people don't want to have to say it that way, but it is. Based on a number of metrics, Katsuki Bakugou is most widely recognized as the deuteragonist. If there's a default answer to the question of who is the deuteragonist but you think the deuteragonist is someone else, then in order to be persuasive you must not only argue why you think your chosen character is the deuteragonist but why Katsuki Bakugou is NOT the deuteragonist. If you want to argue someone else is the deuteragonist, you are taking on that onus, that burden of proof. You have to disprove Katsuki Bakugou is the deuteragonist.

Are there other characters who fit the deuteragonist function at times? Yes! There are multiple deuteragonists! But if in spite of the multiple protagonists we're still able to call Izuku Midoriya THE protagonist of My Hero Academia, then we are absolutely able to call Katsuki Bakugou THE deuteragonist as well.

tl;dr MHA is about learning what it means to be a hero and Katsuki Bakugou's story is second-most important to that theme, which makes him the deuteragonist

[delawaredetroit]

So this is one of those times I'm going to directly contradict widely believed fanon. It's clear that Izuku has some level of aversion to physical touch.

He rarely ever initiates physical contact with anyone outside of heroics. And in the few moments where others do, Izuku typically looks somewhere between stiff and deeply uncomfortable as seen with Mirio here. Some of the only exceptions that come to mind are scenes with Inko.

Now, it makes sense where some people got the idea Izuku was a more touchy person. Izuku's character plays with the trope of the plucky, sunshine shounen protagonist. Being more physically affectionate is one of the traits typically associated with this trope. Izuku also has a lot of themes surrounding reaching out his hand to others, which logically involves physical contact with other people. But that wish to reach out to others is tied up with Izuku's concept of his hero persona.

There are a few ways to interpret this aversion to touch. One, this awkwardness with touch is there to add to Izuku's characterization as a bit of a dork. Two, it's the result of Izuku's backstory. He may have associated physical touch from people other than Inko with pain. The supporting evidence for this includes Bakugou existing and that Izuku's negative responses to touch decreased over the course of the manga.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 406: Secret Menu Hero Name

Previously on BnHA: Kacchan was all “NOT EVEN DEATH ITSELF CAN STOP ME!!!” and saved All Might so easily and spectacularly that it immediately became clear why Horikoshi had to keep him on ice for fourteen months straight. All Might was all “thanks for the assist Bakugou-shounen, now please allow me to show my gratitude by lending you my SWEETASS ROBOT ARM that nearly gave makeste a fucking heart attack when she saw it, HOLY SHIT.” Kacchan was all “I JUST LIKE TO SMILE, SMILING’S MY FAVORITE” and he smiled the BIGGEST EVER and indeed has literally not STOPPED smiling ever since, and my heart is warm. <3333

Today on BnHA: A jubilant menace stirs in the air. A chill runs down Kid For One’s spine. A sudden crash behind him. He whirls around, only to be met with the face of Chaos itself in all its raucous glory. The boy is relentless. His pursuit, unending. His blows, unyielding. And his mirth, as perplexing as it is petrifying. What the fuck. Why won’t he stop laughing. He’s laughing. Horikoshi is laughing. The readers are all laughing. You’re laughing. Kid For One is shitting his pants while this cackling sleep paralysis demon gleefully chips away at his frail sanity, one frenetic BOOM at a time. And you’re laughing. :|

doo de doo, don’t mind me, just gonna scroll past the first couple pages of this chapter so I don’t get spoiled for the outcomes of all the other mini-battles I haven’t finished catching up with yet :’)

though I already caught a glimpse of a bloodied-up Shouji before I realized what was happening, so unfortunately that particular cat is now out of the bag. can’t believe the suspense of whether or not Shouji would survive his fight is now completely ruined for me. can you even imagine how tense it would have been wondering whether or not Shouji would get killed off. ...and you know what, even as I type this, I’m realizing that this is really not the type of sarcasm that translates very well across the internet, lol. and even if it did, it could just as easily come across as “WOW, MAKESTE REALLY DOESN’T CARE ABOUT SHOUJI AT ALL, HUH” sarcasm, rather than the “it’s not that serious guys, it’s just that there’s no possible way Horikoshi could ever convince me that he was actually going to kill off one of the kids” sarcasm it was intended as! so yeah. you know what, I’m just going to shut up about all this now and move on. glad he’s okay though

so now back to the Main Character Battlefield, where Kacchan is currently having way too good of a time for someone who actually WAS killed off by Horikoshi fairly recently

All Might is all “he’s so fast!” and yeah he really is lol. ngl, I had a fair amount of Kacchan endgame theory stuff riding on his ability to meaningfully upgrade his speed, so all of this is very satisfying to hear! and to be fair, I do wonder how much of it is owed to the boost from Gearshift as opposed to Katsuki’s own newly acquired exploding bloodsweat. but I’d like to think that even without GS he’s still incredibly fucking fast at this point. like easily still a Top 3 BnHA Speedy Boi

well shit lol now Edgeshot is reminding everyone that even prior to his “death”, Kacchan was briefly able to surpass Tomura’s speed with his upgrade

well there you have it! so yeah, that basically confirms he’s currently even faster than All Might was at his peak. just a homicidal little comet casually zipping around all of these other slowpokes

lol

just for the record, I still have no clue how Kacchan’s bizarre new upgrade actually works, but I am fairly certain that sweat is NOT SUPPOSED TO EVER DO THAT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES

like seriously though Kacchan, doesn’t this hurt? like at all?

(ETA: hahahaha. ouch.)

well whatever!! if Tomura was able to bypass Erasure’s loopholes with all of his hand nonsense, then Kacchan’s sweat has my permission to zoom around inside his bloodstream and randomly explode inside him to somehow make him faster without actually harming him in any way, AND THAT’S FINE. the time for nitpicking ended roughly around the same time that a soft-spoken paracord man dove inside of him to forcefully restart his organs

LOL

“DON’T GET ME WRONG, I COULD EASILY KILL HIM ANY TIME I WANT! I JUST DON’T FUCKING FEEL LIKE IT RIGHT NOW, OKAY. THAT’S DEFINITELY WHAT IT IS, AND IT’S DEFINITELY NOT BECAUSE HE JUST EXPLODED ME SO HARD THAT I SAW THE FOURTH DIMENSION”

meanwhile back in Dekutown it looks like Tomura has maybe finally broken free of his impromptu Blackwhip toddler leash

whatever man. how are you still not redeemed yet since I last saw you in chapter 369. you had like an entire year’s worth of chapters. get it together already!!

lol what in the actual fuck is “instadeath”

is this just a Funny Ha Ha fanscan way of referring to Decay?? or were there some additional Tomura quirk developments that I missed out on which were somehow even wilder than the infinityhands

Deku keeps saying that he’s for serious REALLY going to run out of Gearshifts now, but I don’t fucking believe a word this kid says tbh

it will be the “final one” once the fight is finally over, and not a moment sooner. if I know anything about Deku, which I do. and Gearshift, which to be fair I really don’t

-- oh, fuck yeah

what the hell is up with that swirly hand shit though, Kid For One. you better knock that off right now

OH MY GOD THIS FUCKING GUY FOR REAL THOUGH!!

:/ well at least this time you’re being ignored because he’s actually scared shitless of you. shh. don’t tell anyone

holy shit this chapter keeps hitting me with these random bits of information Destiel meme-style and it’s the wildest fucking thing

so while I did obviously clue in to the fact that something must have gone down in the Endeavor+Hawks+Toko+Jirou VS AFO battle, on account of AFO very clearly not being in Jakku anymore, I have not yet caught up to that part of the series, so I don’t actually know anyone’s status! hopefully they’re all alive and relatively unmaimed! although they very clearly failed at their One Job, but oh well

that being said, “AS STRONG AS DARK SHADOW” looooooool omg. DS what did you do. my boy left an impression. I cannot wait to read that, oh goodness

KFO YOU LITTLE TWERP, DIDN’T ANYONE EVER TELL YOU YOU SHOULDN’T LOOK DOWN ON OTHER PEOPLE OR ELSE YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO SEE YOUR OWN WEAKNESSES

seems like someone ought to have told you that. could have spared you a lot of pain and agitation to come. more’s the pity

hee hee hee

hello there

so now my feral wolfchild is having a big internal monologue about how he’s finally mastered his new superquirk through the power of being an unrepentant masochist

fsdkfj. listen up Kid For One, he may be “nothing but a pebble”, but I promise you, if you could fucking hear this kid’s thought processes right now, you would already be halfway across the planet. living out the rest of your days in hiding while checking underneath your bed every night to make sure this little hobgoblin isn’t secretly waiting there to pounce at you

FSDLKFJSLDKJFL SDFLKWJEFLKWLF WLKJFLDKS

(ETA: you guys will never believe this but I found a sneak peak of the as-yet-unreleased soundtrack which will accompany this scene in season seven of the anime! SPOILER ALERT!!!)

ACTUAL GHOUL. I AM ACTUALLY SCREAMING. MY SON HAS BECOME GENUINE NIGHTMARE FUEL

THIS IS MY FAVORITE, FAVORITE, FAVORITE THING EVER YOU GUYS. HOLY SHIT. I CAN’T BREATHE OMFG

OUCH. HA! HAHA.

(ETA: once again, I know this sounds highly improbable, but I actually found some 100% authentic footage from the anime version of this scene! I’m telling ya. once this hits the airwaves minds are gonna be blown.)

HE IS THE “WHO” WHEN YOU CALL “WHO’S THERE”!!! HE IS THE WIND BLOWING THROUGH YOUR HAIR

you have to admit though, this really is the exact type of behavior you’d expect from someone who literally just got spat back out from the pits of hell

oh my god hold up what is this sudden tonal whiplash?

you guys I seriously had to sit back and take a deep breath and calm myself down for a moment, because Final Form Katsuki is just So Much. like actually just THE MOST. that I had to physically force myself to slow down and take these next few panels seriously and resist the urge to keep on making jokes about how CLEARLY EVEN HIS PARENTS ARE TERRIFIED. LOOK AT THEM. MASARU IS SOBBING AND MITSUKI’S HAND IS TREMBLING. IN THE WORLD’S MOST EPIC TWIST, AFO GOES DOWN ONLY TO BE REPLACED BY KACCHAN HIMSELF AS THE FINAL VILLAIN!!!

but yeah I had to stop and calm down from all of that because, oh. Masaru has his head in his hands. and Mitsuki’s trying to get him to turn around, but her hand really is shaking though. and it just really hit me that the two of them have spent the last... thirty minutes...?? swept up in the highs and lows of almost losing their child, and then getting him back, and then watching him be so strong and so good and SAVING ALL MIGHT and RESTORING EVERYONE’S HOPES AND DREAMS. and they must be so incredibly proud, but at the same time he’s still caught up in this fight, and the fight is still not over, and they know the tide could still turn again at any moment. and I can’t even imagine what that must be like. especially with them having already watched their son die once today

oh my god Horikoshi you cannot freaking do this to me!

goddammit. and now I’m all caught up in my Bakufam feels. DAMN YOU HORIKOSHI, THE MITSUKI TEARS WERE THE LOWEST OF BLOWS

and now Kid For One is once again whining about this “pebble” who’s pissing him off even worse than All Might. you love to see it!

OH MY GOD?!?!

oh my lord?! is it finally happening?? ARE WE FINALLY GETTING THAT SWEET, SWEET CONTEXT AT LONG LAST? WILL A MAN FINALLY HAVE A NAME??

-- Horikoshi I swear to god

YEAH NO SHIT. NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT, THEY DO KIND OF BEAR A RESEMBLANCE. YOU KNOW, IF YOU SQUINT

okay, color me intrigued. so that is indeed why AFO was crying when we previously saw this flashback! this is actually so interesting to me, because it’s literally the one and only time he’s ever shown real emotion outside of generic battle-related stuff (anger, shock, surprise, etc.)

so he says Kacchan pisses him off because he looks like Two. and every time he gets reminded of Two, he remembers how his brother died. and, I guess, made him feel sad for the first and probably last time ever???

holy shit, Kacchan was right

he really is AFO’s Final Boss. like even more than he realized

*~*~*OH MY GOD*~*~*

HOLY SHIT YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!

OFA DOS PARTIAL NAME REVEAL AT LONG LAST!! FULL NAME REVEAL AND ADDITIONAL FLASHBACKS TO FOLLOW NEXT WEEK...?? YES? MAYBE? PLEASE????

I swear to god, if Horikoshi deliberately kept Two’s quirk and name Top Secret for YEARS only for them BOTH to wind up NOT ACTUALLY BEING REMOTELY SPOILERY OR WORTH ANY KIND OF SUSPENSEFUL BUILD-UP IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER, I will. just sit here and be puzzled, I guess. lol. “sometimes I just like to fuck with people like that.” OKAY?? WELL GOOD JOB, THEN??

“Kacchan of the Bakugous” was so out of left field and I am grinning so, so hard right now. BAKUGOU NO KACCHAN. that’s officially the second Heroes Rising reference in as many chapters! sure feels like A Certain Mangaka is building up to a Certain Reveal about SOMEBODY maybe possibly still having SOMETHING which will remain unnamed for now, but which rhymes with “done for mall”! and that’s all I’m gonna say about that

except that it’s not, because I’d be lying if I said I didn’t also have fifteen other entirely different emotions about him proudly introducing himself to AFO not as Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight, but as someone even more powerful. “BEHOLD, it is none other than I... Kacchan!!! ( •̀ ᴗ •́ )و lolo get fucked you big dumb fart”

heh. but seriously. just me sitting here basking in the fact that he uses the name Deku gave him. the fact that he decides not to go with his formidable, much-agonized-over hero name in this one moment, but instead chooses to use a far more terrifying moniker, even if AFO doesn’t realize the significance. because Dynamight is a hero, yes. one of the very greatest and strongest!

but Kacchan? Kacchan is the boy with a dream. Kacchan is the boisterous child laughing at the danger, unafraid of the challenge. smiling in the face of the tallest wall. Deku’s motherfucking Image of Victory. hahahahaha. ouch

anyway so yeah! what a chapter. this may have actually derailed me because now my brain just wants to write a bunch of character metas even though I STILL HAVE THIRTY MORE CHAPTERS TO READ. and not to mention I still have to actually post all of them as well lol. but whatever! we’ll make it work. long live Kacchan of the Bakugous, and may his Secret Menu Hero Name always strike fear in the hearts of his enemies

[erasurecloud]

Some seriously awful MHA takes I have seen and why they’re dumb as heck.

Spoiler warning? Duh.

1. “How could class A forget all about Deku?”

My guy, they didn’t forget about him. They’re heroes. And even more than that, they’re adults. Adults don’t hang out with their high school friends every day all the time. Adult friendship is a constant stream of mismatched schedules and hangouts planned months in advance. He doesn’t say ‘ever since they began hero work they don’t have time for me’. None of them have time to hang out. I’m sure a huge part of why Ochako, Momo, Tsu, & Iida work together is because that’s the only chance they have to see one another regularly.

2. “THEY PUT BAKUGOU IN REHAB??”

Because Shigaraki severely damaged his arm and after significant injuries it’s totally normal to have to go through physical therapy/rehabilitation to get mobility and strength back. Sometimes Horikoshi is very consistent and realistic and this is one of those times.

3. “Deku’s sad and lonely.”

He misses it- of course he misses it, it was his dream and he had a taste before losing everything. But he’s not sad that he can’t be a hero anymore. He’s learned that there are other ways for him to fulfill his dream of helping people. That’s why he became a teacher in the first place. But he’s literally smiling as he thinks this. He’s not miserable- he’s clearly happy and content with the way his life has turned out.

4. “Deku can finally be a hero again!”

This hero suit is just dumb as hell. I could make an entire post detailing why but to summarize: consequences are meaningless if you can just undo them. Deku fought the strongest, most evil villain in the world and won. And he lost his quirks. He did what no hero could do in 8 previous incarnations. He saved everyone. Forcing him back into the fray undercuts his sacrifice and the significance of OFA’s end.

5. “No one remembers Deku”

Dai literally names Deku as one of the heroes he and his friends admired from the time they were kids. Deku’s heroics were never forgotten.

In conclusion this ending is very lukewarm but makes sense for the most part and is not ‘the worst ending in shounen’.

[bakuhatsufallinlove]

can i ask when you personally became a bkdk shipper? and how long have you been into bnha?

UHHHHHHHH funny story

I first got into MHA in 2017 via the anime. At the time, I was trying to improve my Japanese listening comprehension by having anime on in the background while I worked on art.

I can tell you now that this is, in fact, not an activity I enjoy LOL. I discovered that having my attention split actually put me in a very bad mood. I tended to get really irritated at whatever I put on.

I also happen to be someone who is... not predisposed to action shounen. The hallmarks of action shounen tend to bore me—power scaling, tournaments, prolonged mid-fight flashbacks, all that. I just tap out mentally, I don't find those things compelling on their own so I have to be really invested in the characters to stick around.

With that said, I shipped bkdk immediately.

I found their dynamic arresting and really, really wanted to see where it was gonna go. I found cocky little asshole Katsuki irresistible to watch, I couldn't wait to see him figure his shit with Izuku out. I loved Izuku right away, his nerdy little ass, his sincerity, his batshit insane approach to heroism. I was struck by his "check out how many bones I can break!" shtick.

To me, their relationship was clearly the heart of the series. They were always the reason I came back for more.

The thing is, I, uh, misjudged how slow burn these dorks were gonna be, and how expansive the story is in general. I was impatient for narrative pay-off. Every time Katsuki wasn't on-screen, I got bored.

I sporadically kept up with the anime until the Overhaul arc, which has......... less than optimal pacing and utterly lacks Kacchan, so I wandered off for a while.

Skip forward to 2021, I caught wind of Bakugou Katsuki: Rising and the apology. I was in a weird place in my life; I was trying to figure out how to enjoy things wholeheartedly. Without getting into too much detail, I had always felt too ashamed to love anything honestly and without reservation, and that made me miserable. I wanted to let myself love something without excuses.

I started reading the manga, and it became a conscious exercise in self-indulgence. I was able to enjoy it much more and appreciate parts I had not noticed before. The anime is excellent, but comics are very special to me. Comics are a totally unique storytelling medium. Reading chapters in Japanese, comparing translations, examining small nuances in the language, this became an intrinsic part of my relationship to MHA.

I got into the stage musicals and, already being a theatre fan, it was just heaven for me. They make me so happy. Being part of the subtitling team skyrocketed my language skill. I will never forget when I noticed it: I watched a scene in musical two as a casual first-time viewer in January 2023, and I didn't understand the dialogue right away. My listening comprehension wasn't fast enough, and I wasn't as familiar with the fluidity of casual speech. Five months later, I watched that same scene again and understood it so naturally I couldn't believe those sounds had ever confused me.

Honestly, if anybody is wondering how one might best learn a language, I can confidently say the answer is "find a hobby in that language." Maybe you get crazy into bonsai and start looking up advice in Japanese, so then you research grammar and vocabulary to understand the results you get. Maybe you love drama CDs so you play the tracks at half-speed over and over, transcribing what you hear so you can translate it and figure out the story.

Language learning works best when it is dynamic and constant, which means you have to love what you're doing or you won't do it.

Anyway, that's the story of how I became the biggest bkdk shipper got into MHA.

[ominousvibez]

thoughts on bnha ending

i had no idea that the manga was over until it popped up on my fyp on tiktok and i got spoiled for it and i have a few thoughts

losing one for all

i don't particularly care about izuku losing OFA? i mean, don't get me wrong, it's a cool quirk, but i've always wanted to see what izuku could have done without a quirk!

i think having the powerless character be the MC in a shounen manga would have been a really cool thing to explore! like, he's not anything unique. he's completely ordinary (beside the green hair). how would he adapt, how would he rise to the challenges around him? what sort of tech would he need to invest in, build for himself, so he can keep up with his peers?

i think that would've been cooler than OFA. kinda cool to see that bakugou ended up helping to design a suit for izuku to be a hero without a quirk. i'm kinda surprised that it isn't something izuku immediately jumped into after he lost OFA, but we all need a break from our passions, i guess

2. losing contact with 1-A

as upsetting as it is that izuku ended up losing contact with class 1-a after graduation, it's understandable. all his friends are pro-heroes now, but he's back in the shadows because of his Quirkless status. they're busy with their own lives, and he's busy with his.

it's sad, but it's just a fact of life. i haven't kept up contact with any of my high school friends since i graduated. i'm sure i'll end up seeing them again, of course-- if my school ever does class reunions, maybe we'll meet again there!-- and friendships for me don't immediately dissolve when we stop talking. i still see my hs friends as my friends!

3. teacher izuku

VERY ICONIC I LOVE IT IZUKU BEING A TEACHER AT UA WHILE NOT QUITE HIS DREAM STILL GETS HIM CLOSE TO THE HERO SOCIETY HE LOVED AND ADMIRED SO MUCH AS A KID AND HE GETS TO BE AIZAWA'S CO-WORKER. hilarious.

it's even funnier that he doesn't look a day over 16/17 in the final chapter. like aizawa looks like this gruff old man and here's the baby-faced savior of the world who looks like he should be one of his students. hilarious.

overall, i do think that BNHA missed some cool points in storytelling that would have been interesting/fun to explore in a shounen manga, but it's not that Bad of an ending as compared to........ other....... things

also btw i stopped watching/reading after the arc with Eri so i have no idea what happens in-between that and the ending

[ammy246]

Just because Uraraka has feelings for Midoriya doesn't mean he returns them. At the end of the day, it's always the protagonist who chooses who they end up with. Midoriya has never returned her feelings in a meaningful way beyond friendship, and he clearly cares about Kacchan more than anyone else. The fact that we're so close to the end of the series, and he has yet to really have any deep romantic moments with Uraraka speaks volumes. Meanwhile, the narrative is focusing very heavily on his bond with Bakugou. I cannot say for certain Bakudeku is canon given shounen's history of failed queer representation *sobs while thinking about sns's disappointing ending* but I cannot help but hope since Horikoshi has never given me a reason not to.

[hestzhyen]

Maybe I'm just too old to be lurking in WSJ shipping fandoms but the despair over a certain superhero manga's leaked chapter is sad to see. Please, c'mon folks, you should know better than to put your whole heart into a queer ship from a series like this. The kindest the author can be is to confirm nothing and let the relationships remain open-ended in the final chapter. They were telling a story and we shippers decided to put our own spin on a relationship we liked. That's all it ever is and will be for these shounen series. I kept tabs on BnHA/MHA for most of it's run, and I live and breathe for the bkdk dynamic after Bakugou gets his shit together; it's got a ton of things I love. So it's not like I'm pooh-poohing this as an anti or a smug het shipper. Hell, I've been a SoRiku shipper for decades now. I get it. I really, truly do. But you have to protect yourself when investing in queer ships from media aimed at an audience of presumed cishet 12-18 year old boys. They aren't thought to be interested in a queer romantic subplot and, honestly speaking, more than a few would probably dislike the series and drop it if the MC was openly romantically interested in his best friend/rival/narrative foil. There's nowhere on earth where a major queer ship can become canon in a series like BnHA, even if the author intended it in the first place. Not yet, anyway. We're close in the West- we've gone from no rep at all to overt hints to speedrunning to the end of the series after confirming it. But Japan has a long way to go still in certain respects. (It's a mixed bag; I highly recommend checking out Moony's videos discussing the state of media production and the status of LGBT+ rights/portrayals in Japan if you're interested in the political side of things.)

I want this to change. I want to read a WSJ series one day, get attached to the characters, and see some well-written queer characters being repped in highly developed relationships. But BnHA was never going to be the one to do it. Be kind to yourselves and save your wholehearted hope for a series that deserves it.

[yellowbluemoonshine]

In one of your posts (the favorite ship list), you mentioned that Ochaco is the more "masculine" in IzuOcha relationship, care to explain the reasoning behind that assessment?

Soft Boy & Tough Girl

Yeah, sure, and here’s what i mean in this post when i said Uraraka is the ‘masculine one’ in their relationship;

Izuku is unique shounen character for having alive mother because most of the shounen male characters lost their mother in some way or another and  Izuku’s father doesnt seem to be around either. Which is also why having a loving mother is the reason why Izuku is soft.

Something i really like about Izuku’s character is; Izuku cries when he is sad. He just cries, feels scared and he doesnt feel shame for crying or being scared. He doesnt feel any shame for being vulnerable. And i really like that about him because it is really rare to see in a male character.

Traits traditionally viewed as masculine in Western society include strength, courage, independence, leadership, and assertiveness.

Basically, Izuku is not masculine guy. He doesnt have any strength, he is scared, he is more follower type than leader, he has very low esteems. Especially at the start of series. This is who Izuku is.

He is just a normal boy and the reason i like this is because in media, we get many male characters who is most likely masculine, most of the time, they suffer from toxic masculinity, they feel insecure and lash out and sadly, audience seems to like it.

And later in series, even Deku gets stronger, even he gets confidence, become leader, or braver, he is not trying to look himself more masculine. He is not trying to dominate other people in any way. Basically, he doesnt show toxic masculinity.

And i like Izuku is not like that. We always gets to see bad examples of when a boy shows his vulnerable, he gets to hear ‘you are not man enough’, ‘you have to be strong’ but i like that story tells Izuku opposite.

‘Is your burden so heavy that it doesnt even let you cry? It looks like something you should share with us.’

Also when Izuku says 'heroes dont cry', Shouto is the one who reminds him again that its okay to cry. (This is also why i ship Tododeku too.)

The thing is some people is more sensitive to emotions, some people cry more easiely than others and thats how Izuku is. Izuku is very soft boy, he is very empathic, he is sensitive to other people’s emotions and he cry easiely and that is okay.

Compared to Izuku, Ochaco is kinda opposite.

She is tomboy but not your usual tomboy you see in media. She is not wearing boy clothes or extreme feminine clothes. She is just tough and she has the confidence. She wears whatever she feels comfortable with. Its like it doesnt matter to her and i love that.

Though, Ochaco is the one who seems to repress her sadness and any other negative feelings compared to Izuku who shows it freely. Which is why i think Ochaco is comfortable with him, even in novel she says, the first day at school seeing Izuku like that made her comfortable because she realized she wasnt the only one who felt nervous.

Also, unlike the ‘boy save the girl’ trope, in their relationship, its opposite. Its the ‘girl saves the boy’. Ochaco is Izuku’s hero since day one. The fact that before he was powerless, before the time he proved his worth to others, the fact that she showed kindness to him means a lot to Izuku. She was always kind to him, even when he was at his worst. Their helping each others happens too. Ochaco feels admiration towards him and think about him a lot, (writing has its flaws) but whenever Izuku thinks about his most important people in life, she is always part of it.

And another reason why i like izuocha and not other ships with her that much is because even though, Izuku was never masculine guy, Ochaco doesnt seem to see him as less guy or less attractive. Actually, seeing him so true to himself is what makes him attractive to her. Instead of populer guys in her class such as Bakugou who is good example of toxic masculinity or Shouto who seems tough and perfect, at least from outside. She just loves Izuku. She loves the boy whom everyone sees him as loser but to her, he was never a loser, she never sees him crying as annoying or bad thing, it is just part of him and she accepts it. And not only Ochaco doesnt mind Izuku's being vulnerable but also Izuku doesnt mind being protected by her, it doesnt feel him any inferior, actually it only makes him happy.

And when Izuku is vulnerable, instead of judging him, she holds his hand and says ‘Its okay’ and she is like ‘i am gonna protect this boy’. Unlike the usual romance where men always protect the women, Ochaco protects Izuku and thats fine because it doesnt matter if its a boy or girl. The one who needs help deserves to be protected. In this relationship, boy is the more vulnerable and emotional one and she helps him. Thats okay, this is normal, this is what healthy, supportive relationship is.

And this is the reason i love Izuocha at first place. Yes, writing has so much flaws but i love their origin relationship. And i hope we get better writing but well, its very nice ship.