#HORIKOSHI COMES IN WITH MORE FODDER

[meeko-mar]

Every time I say to myself "I should try to be more normal about or temper my expectations about BKDK"

SOMETHING LIKE THIS GOES AND HAPPENS

[anti-katsuki-lounge]

You know, I still think about how like... Katsuki has never actually had a proper 1v1 vs a villain character ever. Like, it's always been with another person. All of his fights where he could shine... are against other heroes. And most of the fights where villains are involved, he loses pretty badly. But it's more than just that. Izuku's original design was going to basically be Japanese Anime Batman, being quirkless and using equipment and an adult. Katsuki's original design was going to be a nice person who just had no tact and was brutally honest. Apparently, that original design for Izuku was believed that it would cause him to fade into the background according to Horikoshi's editors, and Katsuki's original design was considered too freaking boring according to Horikoshi himself. And yet fast forward to the current events of the manga where... I genuinely don't even know what Izuku's personality is any more because all his idea of strategy is basically gone, it's just basically 'unleash overwhelming power', and he really has no character outside of being a vessel for the Protag Powers. And then you have Katsuki, who jobs constantly, the entire story basically feels like he was intended to be the original protagonist with how often he's shoved into everything and is just sucked off despite his jobbing as if he's more important to the plot than anyone else. Like fuck, Katsuki is literally listed as being an abusive egotist in the guidebook, and Kirishima has an entire thing in his backstory about being the victim of bullying yet he's completely okay with Katsuki, a character who is actively hostile to everyone and is abrasive AT BEST. Like I get they're high schoolers (which I genuinely don't understand with how they act considering high schoolers were more intelligent than this for me growing up) but fuck Horikoshi's writing makes fucking everyone so god damn stupid the moment Katsuki is involved. Anyway, I needed to vent after I was catching up on World Trigger and realising 'yeah I actually enjoy this arc because we have character personality conflicts and the individuals have to work them out because they're stuck together for a week. Oh and they actually talk to each other and you know, HAVE FUCKING BRAINS, and actively try and work on these flaws that are coming up', and getting incredibly mad that the entire character writing into MHA at this point is basically SMASH THIS NO STRATEGY and personally I blame the story constantly sucking off Bakugou who's supposed intelligence just feels informed and contrived because of his behaviour. Intelligent strategist but incredibly socially dumb my god. And he's so socially dumb he subtracts from everyone else's intelligence to get him to suck him off. I genuinely do not understand why the Bakusquad exists considering the personality conflicts there, especially with Kaminari outright stating his personality was raw sewage at one point early on and yet we're supposed to believe that Bakugou has grown and atoned as a person whilst still being a rabid dumbass who gets his ass kicked.

That’s an interesting point. A majority of Katsuki’s fights, the ones where he wins, are against fellow heroes in training. In terms of villains, he’s only ever fought Tomura, Nine, the canon fodder in the USJ, and the minions in the movies (with help).

I agree with what you said about Proto Katsuki in that he would’ve been far more interesting, or at least far more tolerable. I’d rather have a boring character than an outright terrible one. Like you mentioned before, everyone who interacts with Katsuki is made 100% dumber and is forced to neglect key components of their character just so that Hori can wank off his fave and push this “he has potential and is strong” narrative. I also agree that unfortunately it does feel like Izuku’s been reduced to “punch everything with a lot of force” rather than the creative fighter he was before. There was a really great analysis I just read that explains this. I blame it on Hori trying to wrap up his story as quickly as he can.

This is the analysis in question btw:

[snowandfires]

Ive been rereading all of the panels where TomuraAFO speaks to Bakugou before...that.

"I'm not interested in your progress...only in how close you are to Midoriya Izuku"

"You'll never be more than a minnow in One For All's wake"

Why would he say all of that-only for the author of the story to answer his question in the affirmative?

In past interviews, Horikoshi goes out of his way to point out Katsuki's growth. He clearly cares about showing it in the narrative, so why would he answer the question 'does Katsuki's growth matter' with a 'no actually it does not'.

This is also either linking or poking holes in vestige shenanigans with Katsuki living in OFA. The translation has TomuraAFO call him "Midoriya Izuku's hanger on". Is that foreshadowing that he will literally be hanging on to some form of existence by hanging off of Midoriya's quirk? That feels dangerously close to admitting that TomuraAFO is right.

This brings me back to the kidnapping arc. Where Tomura (just him this time) says some stuff to Katsuki too. And does a whole lot too. He kidnaps him thinking Katsuki has some chance of joining the villains. That they might understand each other. At the time, he is wrong about this. In an interview Horikoshi mentioned being strengthened in his resolve not to make Katsuki actually join the villains, because some fans predicted he might.

So why this time...would the plot be driven forward to confirm:

-TomuraAFO is right, nobody matters but Midoriya and everything else is a waste of time to the point where Katsuki is rage fodder alone

-if Katsuki is alive, he is now a literal hanger on to Midoriya, as TomuraAFO mentioned before in a non literal sense

And...what happened to that other interview where Horikoshi states that My Hero Academia is the story of All Might and Izuku.

I don't know where. I don't know how. But that alone. Plus a lot of meta posts by @/pikahlua (and others too) have definitely convinced me. (Go read their meta now please it's really onto something.) All Might shows up somewhere here.

Circling back to All Mights' famous death prophecy. We still need an answer about this. And events RE: the UA traitor confirm to me that "oh Horikoshi just forgot actually" isn't gonna cut it.

I.e. If the prophecy is avoided: how the fuck. If it's not avoided...well. I don't want that to happen. But that is also an answer to that plot point.

It's important in my head that All Might was around for the previous two Katsuki saves. Sludge Villain. He shows up. Kamino. He shows up. Rule of threes?

There's blatant All Might imagery and dialogue thrown about in 362. Why would that be if All Might isn't actually relevant here AT ALL?

Looking back at those other two rescues. Katsuki is pretty mad afterward that he had to he saved by his hero. Rather than a 'he articulated his last regret how childlike and sorrowful' spin on his conversation with the vestige All Might. Wouldn't it be more of a development of his character for him to...accept the assist from All Might this time? No regrets? Because he did technically accept the help the last two times (he had to), and had a whole lot of issues over it.

Lastly, I have been going back to that one video of All Might that Izuku watches as a kid. Which shows that when the hero gets there every thing is okay. Shouto says is later on. That he thinks a hero is someone who reassures people.

-Izuku showing up and devolving into 1) rage 2) depression is not reassuring? that's actually fucking terrifying if you're just a regular person

I think Izuku still needs a moment where his coming reassures a lot of people that everything is going to be fine. And I don't know how he's going to do that if he failed to protect Katsuki because plot logic made him be somewhere else for a couple chapters.

He needs that. While at the same time Katsuki's answer to TomuraAFO's "don't you see you don't matter nothing matters" question needs to also be 'no'. Things matter.

So how...how do both things...both boxes get checked. Katsuki dying here gets 0/2. Vestige Katsuki endgame sort of also gets maybe 1/2 if Izuku still saves Tenko and gets a win, beats AFO.

2/2 requires something else.

"What if Horikoshi doesn't actually care about any of this" -> I mean. He could suddenly switch from deeply caring about these characters to not giving a single fuck. In the sense that anyone CAN technically do a 180 on what they've said they value. It's possible. But I think of this as 'freak chance'. The chance that I will be hit by space debris when I walk outside and die. Its possible but it is not going to bother me, essentially, till it happens.

I've seen no evidence that he enjoys grimdark realities of war vs. telling a story that's about ideals and the triumph of good. Most characters introduced in the story very much represent and carry forward their own ideals and the conflict between them represents conflict between the ideals themselves.

Killing off Katsuki permanently is not a character death alone. It's killing a dream of heroism. Within a story about heroism down to its core. What.

Anyway caveat being I could be misreading literally everything and this way of things does somehow tell us something about heroism...and that's always been my fear with this.

That somehow Katsuki's actual death is a real tie back to the 'be not defeated by the rain' poem. That being a hero despite a tremendous loss is...heroism? This positions TomuraAFO as correct once again though, because he says to Katsuki: "you are only important as Midoriya Izuku's favorite".

If the story confirms this and uses him only as a "loss" to Izuku. That makes me uneasy. Because a lot of the other things TomuraAFO says and does are pretty jarring. How long does he get to feel validated in the things he's saying? Viewing people as pawns, essentially.

And because the idea itself makes me uneasy I again think 'no. No way' because this particular story doesn't give me the impression of one that would leave me feeling like that. This is not a 'great ending'.

[hybridempress]

Listen, I say this as someone who is an All Might stan. I fucking love All Might, he's one of my favorite characters in BNHA. But he is a fundamentally god awful character in the way that he is written. All Might is one of the most poorly written characters I've seen in all my years of fandom

And like I get it, he's a superhero in a superhero manga, so we should have some leniency with plot holes or mary-sue-ish powers, but JESUS CHRIST! This man exists solely to push plot forward in the beginning of the manga and then becomes utterly useless after the second AFO fight, but he's allowed to break every single rule set up by Horikoshi's worldbuilding, just 'cuz!

Like how the HELL is All Might a UA alumn but simultaneously his identity was anonymous until after the second AFO fight? Seriously none of All Might's classmates/teachers/any heroes he might have interned with/ANYONE WHO WATCHED THE SPORTS FESTIVAL were like "hey remember that Yagi kid who won the Sports Festival, graduated from UA and then disappeared? Well he looks exactly like this new All Might fellow and their quirks are exactly the same" not to mention that the GOVERNMENT has a registry of everyone's quirks and you have to get a LEGAL LICENSE TO USE YOUR QUIRK IN PUBLIC! You also have to file incident reports every time you do any kind of hero work!

It's also speculated that his quirk gives him regenerative healing properties, but of all the abilities we are canonically informed of when it comes to All Might's version of One for All, healing powers is not one of them. This man is missing most of his internal organs. He got his guts entirely rearranged, and not in the fun way. He literally should have died, but SOMEHOW he was miraculously able to be saved and CONTINUE HERO WORK FOR SEVERAL YEARS AFTERWARDS! His quirk hadn't completely failed him until very recently! So how is it that he could stay alive after something like that, but Nighteye had to die after receiving a similar but less intense injury, and Ingenium was permanently paralyzed (and practically erased completely from the story) after getting stabbed? With the advanced technology and healing quirks needed to keep All Might alive, there's literally no way in hell either of those two other heroes should have received the lackluster treatment they did.

This post doesn't really have a point, other than that I'm here to push my Toshinori should have been homeschooled instead of a UA Alumn and Ingenium deserved to not just be plot fodder from one arc and Nighteye being a martyr served absolutely no purpose to the story. All Might in and of himself contains so many plotholes and just complete decimations of what could have been excellent worldbuilding, and these flaws become glaringly obvious the more times I reread the manga or rewatch the anime. Like bro I love him, but his writing sucks ass

[stillness-in-green]

I saw speculation on this going around & I’m curious to get your thoughts on it: where do you think Geten’s story might be going in the future, & do u think it’s possible Dabi will kill him? I saw ppl talking about Dabi’s noted distaste for him & how the PLF seems more of a temporary alliance in the LoV’s mind (Compress’ noted rejection of the name in his thoughts, Dabi’s use of Skeptic against his will, etc), & w/ AFO back in the picture they theorized Dabi may get his quirk & kill Geten.

Okay, so, it took me a while to grapple with this one, and in the end, I'm going to have to break my reply up into two parts. Because you asked a very simple question, anon, and my answer to the question you actually asked is pretty simple (if characteristically rambly)! But you also provided a bunch of contextualizing information about what prompted your ask, and I have a lot to say about that contextualizing information, stuff that is only tangentially related to your actual question.

Note that some of this is going to get pretty salty, but I assume you wouldn't have brought a Known MLA Stan a question like this if you didn't want at least a bit of that. Most of the salt will be in the second part, though! This first part is pretty safe!

So, to answer the actual question: I don't have a lot of solid thoughts on where Geten's story is going, because from the looks of the way the series as a whole is going, it may well be that the MLA’s story is already done. I have previously expressed concerns about the current status of the MLA mainly because of all the speculation that Horikoshi is trying to rush to get to the ending, and if Hori’s rushing the ending, I don’t know that I’d bet on Geten coming back at all. In fact, given what I can guess about the scenario, I’d kind of rather he not.

The thing is, the MLA have always been far more relevant to the League than they have been to anyone else in the cast. They’re Tomura's victory spoils; their plot beats were established to connect to the League, not the heroes, the students, or even All For One. There’s just no personal connection there, and lacking a personal connection, all they’d do is be fodder for background fights to fill page space and give the side characters something to do.

And there’s just no drama in that! Not even any tension! We've already seen the MLA characters beaten--first by the villains, and then by the heroes. Hell, we've seen Re-Destro beaten three times!(1) Based on how the raid went, there are maybe three people in the entire MLA that present a credible threat--Hose Face, whose name we don’t even know, Re-Destro, who has a repeatedly-illustrated weak point in the form of his new legs, and Geten.

While I definitely think Geten could give any of the students save Deku a run for their money,(2) what would be the point? Who would he be slotted in to have a dramatic fight with? Geten hurt Cementoss, but he didn't kill him, and none of the students are uniquely close to Cementoss anyway. Geten has never personally offended or harmed any of the kids directly. There was a time people theorized that Shouto's end game boss would be a combination of Geten and Dabi, but with the PLF scattered, that looks less likely.

From the other side of things, Geten himself has no particular beef with the kids. If he'd been on the front lines to witness the opening moments of the battle, maybe he'd have a bone to pick with Kaminari, Kinoko, Juzo, and particularly Tokoyami, but it took Geten a bit to get to the front; he has no particular way of knowing about those four, and at the moment, he certainly has more pressing matters on his mind.

Geten's primary interest, when it comes right down to it, is Re-Destro. He talks a big game about the MLA's goals, but when the pivotal moment comes in Deika, he bails on the battle that was assigned to him to try and help RD instead. He claims that pure strength is to be valued above all else, but his loyalties don’t change when Gigantomachia bats him aside like a fly or when Shigaraki proves himself to be An Strongest. Even up to Jakku, Geten is still concerned solely with Re-Destro. With no real reason to pit RD against the kids, there’s no reason to throw Geten against them, either.

The only person Geten has an established rivalry with is, of course, Dabi, but getting the two of them even in the same vicinity again is going to require breaking the MLA leaders out of jail, which clearly isn't a priority of AFO's, and he's the one running the show right now. Would Shigaraki bother? He might, particularly if RD, Trumpet and Geten all get shipped to whatever Tartarus Lite Mr. Compress and Machia are likewise bound for. But if the story is headed to its conclusion, is Shigaraki ever going to get that option?

Is AFO the final boss? If so, it doesn't seem to leave much of an opening for the MLA to become relevant again, because, again, the MLA are all about Tomura's victory, Tomura’s ascendant arc as a villain, his status as a hero to other villains (namely RD). If Deku "saving" Shigaraki from All For One is going to magically resolve all of Tomura's issues with society as a whole, because hey, at least this kid is a good person, so his society can't be so bad after all! (GAG), that doesn't seem to leave much room to get into the myriad issues with society that all of Tomura's followers have. Frankly, the only thing the MLA has to offer Deku right now that's remotely relevant to his current goals is Re-Destro's starry-eyed explanation about why he's fallen so hard for Shigaraki, and Spinner is better suited for that role on basically every level.

So that’s all been one big if. The other alternative is the ending I'm hoping we get, in which Deku and Shigaraki join forces to put an end to AFO, only for Shigaraki to thank Deku cordially and then get right back to destroying things because, surprise surprise, Midoriya Izuku being a good person doesn't absolve Hero Society of all of its many, many sins. Then I can see there being room for the MLA to return. At that point, not only is there RD’s devotion to Shigaraki on offer, but also the MLA’s ideology of Liberation, what it is, what it offers, along with, for example, more on whatever Harima Oji’s complaints were about heroes, more on what has to change systemically to satisfy Shigaraki’s grudge. That’s a story the MLA can meaningfully contribute to, and therefore a story in which Geten and his quirk supremacist beliefs are more likely to be addressed.

However, I’m not optimistic that we’re going to get that ending, and until we find out whether Shigaraki will be satisfied with being rescued from AFO (if, indeed, he survives the process at all), or whether he and his compatriots’ societal issues will be left by the wayside, I’m not yet prepared to spend a lot of time theorizing on how the MLA’s role in it would look.

As to the specific question of Dabi killing Geten--honestly? I think that moment is past. While I said earlier that Dabi is Geten’s only established rivalry, that is frankly being more generous than their relationship actually warrants. After all, we haven’t seen them interact since Deika, and literally the only time one of them has so much as thought of the other in that period was Dabi grumbling, “That icy punk sure knows how to let loose,” after Geten’s big wall of ice attack allows Tokoyami to get away with Hawks. If their continued animosity were going to be a plot point, and especially if Dabi were going to murder him in cold blood eventually, Horikoshi should have shown us the two of them antagonizing each other as co-lieutenants of the Violet Regiment.

At this point, Dabi has made his big play, revealed his identity to the world. I think he's pretty locked into the Todoroki Drama now; he has bigger concerns than going back and winning a grudge match against Geten. Also too, given the point he's trying to prove about the strength of his/Endeavor's flames, would he even want Geten's quirk? If he were to get it, would he get the "evolved" version or just the basic one?(3) Because given the precedent set by both the mechanics of Monoma's Copy and AFO's comments about Jeanist's Fiber Master, I'd be inclined to think the latter, and Geten's ice powers are way less badass without the temperature control, especially for a dude trying to wield them in concert with flames of the temperature Dabi uses.

From a narrative standpoint, Geten has already been punished for his hubris with a personal defeat, the humbling of his leader, a loss of pride in his organization, and then a second, much more damning defeat and subsequent capture at the hands of heroes. Dabi taking his quirk and killing him at this point would just be kicking--indeed, killing--him when he’s already down. It doesn’t feel like karma; it just feels malicious.

That said, in the rather dubiously scaffolded scenario that the MLA gets free and finds their way back to the League and AFO/Shigaraki takes Geten's quirk(4) and Dabi accepts it, would Dabi then kill Geten with it?

…I mean, maybe? Do people think that Dabi is that much of a sadist? Because it would be the act of a sadist, to murder a kid who's almost certainly younger than he is and might even still be a teenager, one who has just been violently stripped of any ability to defend himself, all out of a desire for petty revenge over a months-old slight--a slight consisting of Geten parroting rhetoric he learned from the weird cult he grew up in, and which Dabi has very possibly been working with Skeptic long enough to know is maybe not all that accurate a characterization of the cult's ideals anyway!

And that brings me to Part 2. ---------------------------------------

(1) Four, if you count the clone’s destruction.

(2) Even 1-A's two remaining powerhouses don't present any more of a threat to Geten's ice than Dabi did, and Shouto will only give him more of it to work with. Their advantage over Dabi is that they can both sort of fly, which might well tip the balance--one of Geten's major advantages is his ability to manipulate ice from a considerable distance away, farther away than Dabi's flames can reach, but flying opponents deprive him of that advantage. Now, Shouto's flying is fairly unstable, so I suspect Geten is more maneuverable in the air, but his maneuverability wouldn't save him from Bakugou, the human equivalent of the anger-powered jetpack.

(3) Set aside the Doylist explanations about anyone who stole Geten's quirk getting the version the audience already knows purely out of laziness, forgetfulness, or authorial fiat.

(4) And look me dead in the eye and tell me Geten would just let Shigaraki Tomura or anything currently inhabiting his body just casually stroll up and lay hands on him without protest. Not to say I think AFOmura couldn't do it, but doing it in a "cool," dramatic way would probably involve some lightning movements we have not seen him make thus far.

[clearturtletrash]

Horikoshi’s writing of Shouto and the problems I have with it

If you’re a fan of the way Shouto’s treated in the manga, don’t read, we’ll end up disagreeing on everything and you’ll probably end up offended lol. Because I’m not (satisfied, that is). 

This post is spoiler-heavy for anime onlys, and for manga readers not up to date with the last arc (and last chapter for that matter, which is 301).

So, about Shouto and how he’s handled, along with ‘his’ story.

I don’t get how Horikoshi, whose writing I respect immensely, managed to depict such an incredible and alluring storyline with the Todoroki family, with some of the most complex character writing I’ve seen, but fumbled the one character he had to actually focus on.

Literally more than half the people in the Todoroki storyline are more interesting and more developed than Shouto at this point. Hawks, Endeavour, Dabi, Rei… a good bunch of fans are way more invested in their story than his, and I am too. It’s really sad, because if you asked me two years ago Shouto would have probably been one of my favorite character. But he was completely shafted, given no internal conflict, and at this point, I have the same interest in him as I do for Fuyumi and Natsuo, which basically means his only interesting feature to me is that he’s Endeavour’s child (oh, and he does have a cool design, but that can only get you so far).  

Deku and Katsuki are more popular than him by a landslide compared to before if we believe the Japanese popularity polls, because Hori actually bothers to give them focus, conflict, and cool moments (even though, sometimes I feel like Horikoshi forgets Deku’s his main character lol). It’s a testament to how great Shouto was and how much potential had that he’s still that popular despite everything. Because, let’s be real, Endeavour and Dabi have taken the focus because they have much more emotional energy, while Shouto is just stuck in the crossfire, as a punching ball and stress relief (and eventually as the person who’ll save him I guess) for Touya (see how he was relegated to first aid during the big fight against Tomura? how he did absolutely nothing against Touya who was burning him alive? And how Touya had no interest in Shouto outside of the fact he was Endeavour’s son? Story of the way Hori treats him). He has no particular interesting insight to give on the Todoroki family either as he was too small to remember the important events, so even on this point we can’t count on Horikoshi to write something for him, everything comes from Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Rei. He's really had one great moment in S2 and S3 and that’s it. The way Horikoshi struggles to give him a personality doesn’t help either (he admitted some time ago he was hard to write sometimes, and… yeah, I can see that).  I’m really trying to like his character but the manga gives us nothing, and keeps developing Endeavour, Dabi, and Hawks, which is great (I really love all three of them) but makes no sense given who’s supposed to be the main focus.

In the Endeavour agency arc, Endeavour’s thoughts and struggles were heavily touched upon, and Bakugou and Deku are in sync for 90% of it while Shouto’s just… there. as fodder for Endeavour, and maybe as a link between Endeavour and Bakugou/Deku too. He’s supposed to be a part of both these storylines, but instead, he just ends up as a way for them to overlap. we don't even take a peek in his thoughts, even though it's supposed to be an arc about the Todorokis!

I say all this as someone who eagerly waited for the day Horikoshi would portray Shouto, Katsuki, and Deku as a trio, but yeah, Shouto feels more like a third wheel than anything. if he wanted to establish them that way, he should have done it right after the sports festival arc, but after this arc, they have no scene together, and the focus shifted on Deku and Katsuki. Too little too late I guess.  

To come back to the Todoroki storyline, I feel like Horikoshi simply woke up one day and decided Endeavour was more interesting to write lmao. at this point, it’s more Endeavour’s storyline than Shouto’s, even though Shouto’s supposedly one of the main characters. it has come to a point where, even though I know it ought to focus on Shouto because he’s (at least he should be) the main focus of this particular storyline, I’m hoping it won’t, because that’s just the least interesting aspect of this whole thing.  

I’d say even Ochako’s treated better by the story, because at least Horikoshi tries to challenge her views and beliefs (even though for now it’s not very conclusive), while Shouto’s inner growth hasn't been put into question in how many chapters?

(btw, by inner growth, I’m not talking about his problem with his fire side, because that’s just been rinse and repeat for more than 200 chapters. I mean, srsly it’s been already 3 times since this problem has caused him to lose/fail... and it's not even satisfying like Katsuki or Deku (except for the first time in the sport festival, because that was when his character was still handled very well by Horikoshi). Why? Simply because when he loses, the stakes aren’t high, it’s all training or exams, so he’s just like, "oh, I have to maybe learn how to deal with it!", but there’s no real pressure he’s under. It’s not like Deku, who, if he does not progress, will break all his bones, and who failed to rescue Katsuki because of his broken arms (=and had a mental breakdown immediately afterwards and blamed himself). It’s not like Katsuki either, because Katsuki has a personality that makes low stakes feel like high stakes, which isn’t the case for Shouto. just compare Shouto's reaction when he loses because of his setbacks to Katsuki's reaction when he lost to Deku the first time (mental breakdown), or when Katsuki failed the provisional license exam (another mental breakdown, not caused just by his failing, but yeah). And anything else about Shouto's inner growth is tied to his reaction to Endeavour’s arc, which isn’t a flaw, and 100% depends on the way Endeavour acts. Apart from this, he has 0 internal conflict).  

Sorry, I’ve gone off on a tangent lol.

To get back to the point I was making, and to further develop my analogy with Ochako, let’s look at their relationship with Deku, because there’s a major difference there, which is clearly in favor of Ochako.  Deku has a big impact on Ochako, yes, but the reverse is also true. People complain she’s all about him (which, yeah, probably), but at least, she made a big impact on him too. She was the main reason ‘Deku' became his hero name. Shouto and Deku have a nice friendship, and Deku clearly considers him one of his best friends. but... it’s all one-sided in terms of impact, I can’t think of a single thing Shouto has done who changed/motivated Deku, while Deku literally changed his life. Because of this, he’s not one of the people who’s intrinsically tied to Deku’s character development, because he’s not Ochako, Inko, Katsuki or All Might (and probably soon Tomura).

His writing feels so fast compared to the others too. Shigaraki / Deku and Toga / Ochako have been paralleled for ages, have had a conversation at least once, and have had deep encounters early on. Nonetheless, both Deku and Ochako are just coming to terms with the fact these villains aren’t so different from them. However, Shouto’s only interaction with Dabi is a ten second eye contact when Dabi kidnapped Katsuki. Dabi had more interactions with Endeavour for fuck's sake! Shouto then learns Dabi’s Touya, and speed runs the development of Ochako and Deku. He doesn’t even need 10 chapters to process they’re ’the same'. Where were all the reflection and doubts? Okay, it’s his brother, so the parallels are easier, but still, it shows Horikoshi doesn’t allow Shouto to have that much introspection, and I feel it’s because Horikoshi just doesn’t care that much. Even worse! Horikoshi introduces another hero parallel to Dabi in the character of Hawks. A parallel much more interesting and compelling, because it parallels Dabi MUCH BETTER. They’re opposites in every ways (particularly in regards to their relationship with Endeavor), and know each other. Touya and Shouto don’t even seem to have spoken to each other...

And so, the only thing that still was interesting and that Horikoshi still bothered to develop was Shouto’s relationship with Endeavour, but in the end, even that was overshadowed by the much more complex, fucked up, and challenging relationships of Endeavour and Touya (and Endeavour and Hawks) as seen in 301 and before. Clearly the one Dabi’s fixated on is Endeavour.

one last thing: Shouto's stuck in a weird loop where Horikoshi kind of makes him comes close of the Bakugou and Deku duo, and then when we start to think they’re an actual trio, he does everything in his power to make it very clear how that’s NOT where he belongs either, since OFA/All Might/Deku/Katsuki is another storyline. It’s as if Horikoshi doesn’t want him here (see: how he decided the ‘win all might’ scene didn’t have to include him), but puts him there sometimes anyway. It’s probably because Shouto’s so popular, which, yeah, would be fine, if he could stick to it!

His supposed admiration for All Might (I feel like everybody forgets it's a part of his character, and I don't blame them) is brought up once every blue moon, which compared to Deku and Katsuki, is just ridiculous. And, once again, All Might has a much deeper and more interesting relationship with Endeavour than with Shouto. At this point, I don’t even know what Hori could do to make me want to read about him. I much prefer the dynamic of Hawks/Endeavour/Touya and Katsuki/Deku/All Might.

I hope the future will prove me wrong for his character. Actually, I hope everything I’m saying is wrong and idiotic, and Horikoshi will make every scene I criticized worth it and a means to an end. I mean, he clearly has the talent and writing ability to pull off some of the best character development I’ve ever seen, so anything’s possible. but yeah, I don’t really believe it for now, and I’m frustrated, because Shouto had so much potential.

tldr; I liked Shouto as a character, but he dwindled after some time, and now I feel as if he’s not the focus of his own storyline, because this place is occupied by the much more dynamic relationships of Endeavour, Touya and Hawks. And I’m not even mad, because their dynamic is much more interesting. However, I feel like Horikoshi grew bored of Shouto, and has put much more soul into Katsuki and Deku as of late.

I’m welcoming any responses, if people are seeing an aspect of his character I don’t, please enlighten me! I miss enjoying his character, and I’m not opposed to seeing him in a different light. I just needed to put down my thoughts in writing to make sense of them lol.

[autumn-foxfire]

I used to be in a villain stan discord b/c I honestly do love the villains so much. But after observing the server, I had a theory on why some stans are thoroughly convinced the League are the good guys and bend over backwards to paint them as victims in every situation. A lot of people relate to the League b/c its members are social outcasts due to the smth they can't control. But while the League provides an inkling of representation for marginalized people (1/3)

(mentally ill—Twice, disabled & abused—Dabi, discriminated on appearance—Spinner, etc.), the representation is very inaccurate and the villainization of marginalized people is a long used problematic trope. Instead of just dropping the manga over this, some stans kept reading and coped by slowly twisting the villains into better representation fodder. They headcanon things that make say Twice a more accurate representation of a mentally ill person, moving him further (2/3)

and further away from his actual character. Then they convince themselves the villains (who now are more headcanon than canon) have noble intentions, which removes that hated "villainization of marginalized people" trope. Basically, they so badly want the villains to be ideal representations of marginalized people and when Horikoshi didn't deliver, they took matters into their own hands. When I realized the only characters they actually stan are their fix-it versions, I dipped lol (3/3)

Maybe I’m dense but I don’t know why it’s such an issue to have people who come from marginalized backgrounds be villains when the show also has people with these same backgrounds be heroes too. So while Twice was mentally ill, we have Amajiki who too has a mental illness (while not exactly the same though), Dabi is implied to be abused and so was Shouto, Natsuo and Fuyumi, all who have gone on to have careers that are about helping people and then you have Spinner and Gang Orca and Magne and Tiger (though I’ve seen quiet a few people have an issue with their representation) and so on. It’s not like BNHA paints people who are marginalized as criminals, it just so happens that these people are criminals and fall into marginalized groups.

I also believe that BNHA is, admittedly clumsily, trying to adress the issues in society that caused these groups to become criminals. At least I hope it does because then it kinda does become the ‘villainization of marginalized people’ trope.

I like the villains the way they are in canon. I might not be completely impressed by all of them and some of them aren’t my favourite, but I genuinely enjoy watching them be villains. They’re interesting characters as they are and while headcanons can enhance them to a next level, sometimes headcanons that twist a character’s personality too much makes me lose enjoyment over them (especially when it becomes a popular fanon headcanon and you see it everywhere). I sound like a bitter old person writing this, obvious headcanons are for fun and anyone can headcanon what they want but personally I prefer the canon flavors of the characters a bit more.

[makeste]

ITP: an incomplete but lovingly assembled list of people who have it out for my kid

hi anon, thank you!!

and omg. I... don’t know, lol. like, I’ve thought about it before, but I always just ended up going “???”. there just doesn’t seem to be anyone tailor-made for him, and it’s honestly weird. shounen tropes have taught me that these things are always foreshadowed in advance. so where is it? WHERE IS THE FORESHADOWING, WHERE ARE MY TROPES. he literally got kidnapped by a whole troupe of them and not a one made any real effort to click. that was like the villain equivalent of The Bachelor and it still didn’t get us anywhere omg.

anyways, since I’m undecided, I’ve taken the liberty of listing and rating all of the Possible Bakugou Antagonists I could think of on a scale of 1 to 10, and I’m not gonna pretend like I didn’t enjoy every second of it, either.

Spinner - 1/10

no offense Spinner. you’re a great guy. but we just didn’t connect. you have absolutely nothing in common. those sparks just aren’t flying. I’m sorry. you’ll find someone someday I know it just keep being true to yourself.

Stain - 1/10

gtfo.

Mr. Compress - 2.5/10

I have no idea who Mr. Compress will end up battling, but it won’t be Bakugou. how do I know this? I just know.

Dabi - 3/10

honestly, Dabi kind of has chemistry with everyone. so it’s a shame he’s already spoken for. by three other people, no less. between Endeavor, Shouto, and Hawks, he’s really got his hands full already. it really is a pity because he was the one who actually kidnapped Bakugou, like grabbed him by the back of the neck and dragged him through the portal and everything. but he has beef with too many other people to make room in his fridge for even more. sorry Bakugou.

someone from the Liberation Army - 3.5/10

they had better not! he deserves someone more interesting! but, the one thing they do have going for them is their fierce commitment to the whole QUIRKS ARE SUPERIOR!! ideology, because I do have to admit, there’s a part of me that does like the idea of Reformed Shithead Bakugou Katsuki taking a stand against some prejudiced dickbags. so yeah. but also, no.

Twice - 4/10

honestly this rating is too high. there’s no chemistry here either. but on the other hand, Twice is basically the Kirishima of villains, and I just really enjoy the concept of him antagonizing Bakugou lol. plus he does have the whole Satisfying Cannon Fodder thing going for him too on account of he can clone himself x infinity and just attack Baku in waves only to get repeatedly blown up. this does win him extra points, because I feel like one of the important criteria for a Bakugou Antagonist is the ability to actually put up not just a good fight, but an entertaining one, and that’s pretty difficult against a quirk like Kacchan’s. so yeah. this honestly won’t happen but if it did I would be down for it.

Gigantomachia - 4.5/10

on the one hand, Machia is insanely powerful and definitely a worthy antagonist. but on the other hand he has no personality whatsoever aside from LOYAL TO AFO!!! so yeah, he gets mad points for being a challenge, but I can’t see him having staying power.

 okay so now we’re done with the ones who really have no chance, and on to the ones who genuinely could really pull it off. starting with...

 Toga - 6/10

okay so Toga is pretty much a lockdown for being Ochako’s main villain honestly. but I’m gonna give her a decent score anyway, for three reasons:

(1) I love her.

(2) Bakugou is thus far the only male character in the series who’s actually had a real fight against a female character, and not pulled any punches. yeah boy!! he’s a feminist! so I would kind of love to see this even though Horikoshi probably won’t. boo.

and last but not least, (3) THE MIND GAMES. omg. who wouldn’t love to see Toga transform herself into Deku or Kirishima or BEST JEANIST NOOOO or Camie or whoever else you can think of that might fuck with Bakugou’s head. yesssss. god I love Toga so much.

anyways!

Hagakure the U.A. traitor - 7/10

see above re: mind games. you’ll notice that the top tier of this list consists solely of villains who (with the exception of Tomura) all have the whole Now It’s Personal thing going for them. this is especially important because there is no clear-cut candidate to be Bakugou’s antagonist yet. so if he’s going to get one, they’re gonna have to get cracking on that bad blood between them so he can get his vengeance on. anyways the traitor will probably wind up being someone else’s main villain in the end, but they still get a high score because they would do an excellent job if they did end up being Bakugou’s villain.

Hawks - 7.5/10

on the one hand, not an actual villain. but on the other hand, YOU KILLED MY MASTER angst for daaaaaaaays omg. holy shit. Hawks what kind of hole have you dug yourself into?? you probably think you’re so slick you can just fly out of any and all metaphorical holes. BUT NOT IF THE HOLES BLOW YOU UP, HAWKS. anyways yeah. I don’t think Hawks will be a final villain, but as things currently stand there is a very high likelihood of there being at least some temporary antagonism between them, and my verdict is: bring it.

Shigaraki Tomura - 8/10*

the * is there because this score is contingent on Deku and Bakugou facing off against Tomura together. as it is, Tomura’s been built up to be Deku’s antagonist, so he’s not going to go after Bakugou instead unless Gang Green is also there. even though Tomura did engineer Bakugou’s kidnapping and all but single-handedly launched his character development into orbit, so there is history there! but yeah, I just can’t see it happening unless they double team him. that being said, the odds of that are actually pretty good IMO, hence the high score.

All For One - 8.5/10*

same deal as Tomura! but he gets a higher score on account of him actually being the final villain. so if you, like me, believe that the series is building up to Deku and Bakugou working together to become The Greatest Heroes as a team, then you have to assume that this battle is inevitable. unless you’re all-in on Tomura being the final villain instead, in which case see the previous entry.

confession time: I’ve had this plot bunny?/headcanon?/?? thing in my head for the longest time in which the League launches a huge attack on U.A. near the end of the series, and either AFO or Tomura goes after All Might and almost finishes him off, but then Bakugou steps in before they can finish the job, and proceeds to take them on solo. and he puts up an insanely good fight, but loses in the end (because he’s still just a kid! HIS TRAINING IS NOT COMPLETE) and nearly dies and/or has his quirk stolen, but then Deku and/or the others show up, and the villains leave (for some reason. shh). it’s my self-indulgent hurt/comfort as-a-result-of-being-a-self-sacrificing-badass fantasy. anyways then he probably passes out in All Might’s arms or something because I love me some Dad Might angst also. the thing is, if Bakugou ever finds out about Nighteye’s prophecy, there’s a good chance he’ll react even worse than Deku, because it already almost came true, and it would have been his fault. All Might actually went into the Kamino battle thinking that was the end for him, even. willingly ready to give up his own life to save this kid. can you imagine if Kacchan ever learns that. anyways so yeah the idea of him taking a potentially fatal blow for All Might in order to stop the prophecy coming true is something that’s stuck with me for a while now. and it has just about nothing to do with Final Villains, but I just thought I’d throw that out there because that’s one way to establish some Now It’s Personal hella beef between two characters for sure. having one of them nearly kill the other while targeting his mentor lol. anyways I went off on a real tangent, my bad.

 so now, drum roll please! last but not least, we have...

 Ujiko - 9/10

you guys. like 3/4 of the way through this post I suddenly went “!!!!” and remembered, OH YEAH, WHAT ABOUT THAT GUY WHO FUCKING TORTURED AND KILLED BAKUGOU’S CHILDHOOD FRIEND, THOUGH. holy shit. I forgot all about him. and also, what the hell, what is this thing all of a sudden where people whom Bakugou is secretly fond of keep getting secretly murdered by villains and he doesn’t know about it omg. like, why is that an actual trend. between all that and the prophecy, it’s like Horikoshi is actually just hoarding this huge pile of Things That Bakugou Doesn’t Know About Yet That Will Absolutely Fuck Up His Day When He Finds Out. like, I picture him stacking up a bunch of heavy boxes just behind a doorway and then waiting for Bakugou to step into the room so he can push the boxes over and they all fall on him and probably kill him fuuuuuuck.

anyways, but yeah. Ujiko, though. I really do think he’s got the best chance of becoming the main villain for Bakugou now that I think about it. all of the criteria are there.

(1) Satisfying Cannon Fodder - you get a Noumu! EVERY! BODY! GETS! NOUMUUUUUUUS fff but yeah. if you want bad guys for Bakugou to fight that he can blow up without feeling guilty, Ujiko’s your guy. -- though on the other hand, maybe he will feel guilty if and when he learns what the Noumus actually are. oh my god. which brings me to point two!

(2) ANGST FOR DAYYYYYYYS - hey guys, so everyone knows about this fun little thing, right?

okay so the short version is this: in a volume 7 omake, Horikoshi strongly implied that the winged Noumu who kidnapped Deku and was subsequently killed by Stain during the Hero Killer arc is -- or was -- Katsuki and Deku’s childhood friend Tsubasa. so right away, that’s fucked up. and it gets worse! because Horikoshi went on to include yet another hint tucked away in a corner of the first databook, confirming that Tsubasa was actually the grandson of that doctor in chapter one who diagnosed Deku as quirkless. the same doctor who is 99.9% confirmed to actually be AFO’s personal physician and the architect of the Noumus.

so yeah. this man took his own grandson and turned him into a lab experiment who was later murdered by another villain. and oh yes, that murder just so happened to caught on tape and subsequently went viral. holy shit.

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for this shoe to finally drop, guys, and I’ll continue to be patient. but holy shit, though. anyways, so yeah. if/when Kacchan and Deku learn about this, I can’t even imagine how they’ll react. but it’s safe to say that Ujiko has the Now It’s Personal factor more than covered. if Katsuki is going to go on a roaring rampage of revenge toward anyone, it’s this motherfucker right here.

and last but not least, (3) Ujiko is kind of at this perfect tier of almost-but-not-quite final villain level. like, he’s the guy behind the scenes. not on the same level as AFO, but there have definitely been hints that he’s pulling Tomura’s strings more than Tomura realizes. he seems to be AFO’s right hand man, honestly. so yeah, huge plot importance here, and definitely worthy of being a foil to the series’s deuteragonist. I can definitely see it happening.

so that’s it! I’m sure I’ve missed some people, but I think I got the big ones. anyways, this has been your friendly reminder that the Noumu are going to fuck everyone’s shit up, and there are tidal waves of angst on the horizon that we honestly might not survive. good thing we have a budding hero to root for who always wins no matter what. godspeed, kid.

[perpetualmood]

not an anti your anti-anti post got popular so i wanted to know why u ship bkdk? i'm genuinely curious bc i;ve only seen ppl say it's abusive and i'm new to mha

first of all anon thank you for approaching me respectfully about this. there are a lot of people i know who aren’t as lucky but really, thank you for possessing the basic human decency that so many others on this fucking hellsite can’t muster. 

now, first of all let me say that i’m not a “““hardcore shipper””” or anything of the sort. i just think that bakudeku/katsudeku has a pretty good dynamic with lots of potential, along with a lot of other plausible ships in the series. i don’t get into a series for its ships, and even when i ship something i won’t let it take over my experience of fandom, which is why i’m def posting less bnha and ship discourse. this’ll probably be my last post about it, ever.

now, about bakudeku. 

on bkdk being abusive:

it is not. 

i first want to clarify that while bakugou bullied midoriya in the past, that doesn’t fucking make it abuse. i know abusers, and i know bullies. bakugou was shitty, and i’m not excusing his actions or saying they were okay because they were fucking not. most antis get all their fuel with the line “take a swan dive from the roof” that bakugou says to midoriya in the first chapter. 

did he actually mean it? did bakugou, a boy who was told all his life he would be a hero, who wanted to be a hero, say it with the intent of midoriya actually killing himself? no, he didn’t. it would go against everything a hero stood for, and being a hero was bakugou’s only aspiration in his life. unless anyone is iterating that he’s stupid (which canon proves otherwise almost constantly) he knew that when he said it, midoriya wouldn’t do it. 

(and while it is important to note that horikoshi has explicitly said that he went too far with that line, as it is not how bakugou should be seen and/or characterised, i’m still treating it as canon because it is, antis don’t @ me.)

and, as midoriya makes very clear later, he has absolutely no intention of taking bakugou’s words seriously. instead, he brushes it off as ‘kacchan being a proud idiot who doesn’t think before he speaks’. however, while he did not take those words seriously, that doesn’t mean they didn’t hurt even a little. his expression when bakugou says it is hurt, but more than that, shocked. obviously, anyone with a brain can infer that it is not something midoriya is accustomed to hearing things like that from bakugou. if it had been a regular occurrence, his reaction would have been a lot more subdued as he would have heard it before and therefore expected it.

even if you look at the scene later on, bakugou does not go out of his way to target or even interact with midoriya up until their teacher brings up the fact that midoriya wants to go to ua. bakugou does not see midoriya as “his old friend” or “the kid who he grew up with”. what he sees is “a quirkless kid who can’t do anything is trying to get in his alley, the one that everyone told him was handcrafted for him”. is he right? absolutely fucking not. does he realise this? again, no. this all leads to bakugou having a major gifted kid + inferiority complex, but i digress.

(i feel like it’s necessary to say once again that i am not condoning bakugou’s behaviour just because he didn’t really intend for midoriya to commit suicide or midoriya didn’t take it seriously, or saying that it’s okay if nothing happened.)

anyway, back on topic. later during the final exams arc, midoriya also states explicitly that he and bakugou have not talked properly to one another since they were kids. this makes it clear that bakugou did not, in fact, ceaselessly torment midoriya throughout their elementary school/junior high years. they just didn’t interact, plain and simple. the experience shown on the playground when they were four and the one after school on this day were likely two of very few, perhaps ten at most, incidents in which bakugou and midoriya’s difference in power and therefore status was made clear to show what it means to be quirkless in this society. 

(i’d like to talk about how fucking messed up this society is, but that’s a whole other can of worms.)

bakugou has been a bully to midoriya. has he been abusive? absolutely fucking not. do i think their relationship is repairable? yes. i’ve been bullied before. i know what it’s like when you can reconcile with your bully and when you can’t. this is very clearly something that can be salvaged. 

on their canon relationship:

do i think of bakudeku as a “he pulled your pigtails because he likes you” situation? am i infatuated with the ever-popular childhood friend trope? not a chance, and dismissing any shipper’s evaluation of their relationship to that is fucking low. 

let’s start with their relationship at the beginning. bakugou harbours obvious animosity towards midoriya, and the only reason appears to be that it was because he was quirkless. (again, fuck quirk society) bakugou had always been told he was superior, and midoriya had always been told that he was nothing without a quirk. when you’re a young and impressionable child, having these things said to you a lot will make you believe it. in a sense, it’s akin to brainwashing. bakugou was made to believe that midoriya was worthless in comparison to him, a natural-born hero, and midoriya was made to believe that bakugou was amazing and undefeatable. 

there were a lot of ways it could have turned out, honestly. midoriya could have become someone bakugou saw as someone needing protecting, and as cliched as their relationship would have been were that the case, it would have been the only ““functional”” one they could have had. hence the dysfunction, because midoriya is not someone who can sit back and take hits. he wants to be a hero, which is half the reason he admired bakugou in the first place. 

so in the beginning of canon when midoriya’s desire to go to ua to be a hero is made known, bakugou, as i said before, feels as though his space has been invaded. he’s marked his territory, and all of a sudden this quirkless nobody i used to know wants to take it from me. of course, his way of thinking is wrong, but he’s never been corrected properly (sorry mitsuki, i love you but you’re not good at parenting, and masaru, please do something about your emotionally constipated son). 

bakugou’s reaction to midoriya saying he “just wants to try” makes it look like it was just a trivial matter for midoriya, as opposed to bakugou, who has been working towards wanting to become a hero since he was small (as opposed to midoriya who wanted to as well, yes, but never did anything being analysing the heroes for fun). he feels as though midoriya is going through it with a ‘meh’ attitude, which deeply offended by the sentiment and takes it personally. 

so bakugou obviously hates it. he hates feeling like someone that was, in his words, “a pebble in [his] path” could possibly even fathom overtaking him, when they were compared all the time. 

additionally, midoriya has been a part of bakugou’s ego fodder. he followed him around, praised him like the rest, yes, but it’s very important to note that even though midoriya showered bakugou with praise he still talked to him as though he would someday be on that same level, even as a kid. 

they were kids. they were dumb. but you  know what? they grew. 

bakugou especially has gone through so much development, even comparing him to the piece of shit he was in chapter 1 is a huge insult to bakugou, to horikoshi, and to midoriya, who has played an enormous part in it, especially after the sludge villain when it is very explicitly stated that bakugou didn’t even interact with midoriya until 

in the beginning of their first year at ua, bakugou learned for the first time what it meant to have people who were equal to him, that he wasn’t as exceptional as he thought. midoriya, too learned what it meant to stand as equals, but instead of falling from a platform above, he was thrown up from the ground. and during the battle trial, bakugou tasted bitter defeat for the first time, and it shook him to the point where he had a panic attack in class (which i’m disappointed all might didn’t notice, but i digress) upon seeing midoriya get k.o.-ed but still win while he was left unscathed physically, and lost to deku of all people. 

do i think their dynamic from the beginning of the year would have worked as a ship? no, abso-fucking-lutely not. bakugou feels nothing but betrayal (as in, he would obviously believe midoriya was hiding his quirk from him and lying to him their whole lives) and hatred for midoriya up until the battle trial, after which he doesn’t respect or even accept midoriya, but he acknowledges him because he beat him and then admitted half the secret to his quirk. 

their relationship is an absolute shitshow for a long time and it shows, but the battle trial was a huge part in the beginning of their relationship developing. and of course, it has to – midoriya is the protagonist and bakugou is the deuteragonist, after all. 

but the real turning point where bakugou comes to grudgingly accept midoriya is during their final exams before the training camp, where they went up against all might. being forced to work together and for bakugou to have to listen to midoriya really showed us depth in him we hadn’t seen before. sadly, all might was absolutely no help in their teamwork (despite that being the entire reason aizawa had paired bakugou and midoriya together) and instead made them try to focus on defeating him rather than working together, but somehow, that got the two of them to cooperate in battle. 

(personally, i believe that they would have been better matched against a more strategic teacher like aizawa or nedzu as they would be forced to come up with a strategy together, and all might provided an unrealistic situation for them overall and the entire fight makes absolutely little to no use of their intelligence, something that is canonically a prevalent strength for both of them.)

but honestly, after kacchan vs deku 2, where they finally become ““proper rivals”” according to all might, where they both finally, finally talk out their issues and try to patch their shit up. @dekatsu​ explains it really well here and i’ve rambled for long enough about it.

now, after that fight, they’re both at a point where instead of being at each other’s throats, they’re pushing each other forward, and that’s why i like them together so much, whether platonic or romantic. which brings me to...

what i like about bkdk

aka, the thing you asked me in the first place. 

do i approve of their relationship before kacchan vs deku 2? no. but after the fight, it blossoms into something absolutely brilliant. while they’re on their house arrest in the days after their fight, midoriya asks bakugou about his shoot style, and bakugou tells him exactly what he thinks and how it can be improved. and he admits, however backwardly, that he approved of it. 

from literally that moment on, their communication and relationship develops so so much (not getting into the later arcs because manga spoilers) and bakugou becomes a huge part of the “one for all” secret, and every. single. time he sees midoriya use it, he encourages him in his competitive way and he does want to make sure he sees deku become a great hero, dammit.

relationships where both parties push each other to do better always seem to be the ones that work best. bakugou is constantly striving now not just to better himself, but he’s making sure that midoriya is getting better too. the more the story progresses, the closer they grow. 

we’re at a point where bakugou sits in on midoriya’s meetings with all might about one for all and its technicalities and history, and is willing to train separately with midoriya because of it. they don’t have any problems with each other now -- even all might has properly acknowledged bakugou and midoriya as great friends. 

it’s indisputable. 

and whether you ship it or not, now if you deny that they have a bond that’s strong as fuck, you’re only making yourself look silly. 

platonic or romantic, these two have chemistry and they complement each other so well that it almost hurts. i can’t wait to see them grow into a hero duo. 

. . .

anyway, that’s the end of my 2k+ word long meta (which i honestly wouldn’t have been able to complete without the help of a tumblr friend who would like to stay anonymous) and i hope it answers your question and hopefully, it showed you a side of things that not only the antis are seeing. thanx, this is been my last ship discourse post.

[transhawks]

you know something QLA had good intentions for legalizing quirks but with the whole deal of chitose came around I'm starting to think the QLA may not be what I thought the leader killed his secretary for saying his opinion about destro they severely underestimated the LOV the worst thing is they claimed they are doing for their cause when in reality they throw their soldiers like fodder i find the whole life is precious hypocritical. when i look at their actions are there completely pretentious

I think this is a bit more complicated, but I mostly agree.

I don’t think the original Destro was very ‘wrong’ and I’m a bit too tired to write a huge meta on this before we get more background, but with both BNHA and Vigilantes, we see that the way quirk usage laws work….and the system being set up to prioritize some quirks over others, it was certainly not ‘quirk supremacy’ for quirked people to demand their rights; especially since it seems like actual systemic harm done against the quirk-holding population was glossed over. This would have also been the era where anti-heteromorphism was at its’ height, according to Horikoshi’s new volume notes on the CRC, which is probably where I think liberation sentiment is most necessary. 

Basically, in some cases, the QLA is sort of right. However, they also get so much wrong. The problem isn’t only quirk society; yet they are willing to engage with heroes and law enforcement, and use systems of power to their advantage, the same that enforce the same laws they protest. They are fine with a state that works to their own advantage.

And besides being run like an oligarchy with CEOs, the clear hierarchy structure really does make the QLA seem like a cult (as Twice called them) than an actual revolutionary organization. They seem very invested in their narrative, but ultimately, I don’t see their actions as very ‘revolutionary’, merely further consolidating power in those who already have it.

So they do come off as pretentious, or better yet, bourgeois. Which they most certainly are at this point. We have a legit politician helping lead people. Revolutions are not to be led by those who already benefit from systems of power; and organizations that amplify the voices of the empowered over the voices of the powerless are truly not revolutionary, radical, or liberating. 

[the19thduckpotato]

*deep breath*  Ok, so, here we go.  Bunch of fangirl rambling n distressing thoughts but for those that need to know, definitely spoilers through Ep 60 (most of S3).  Proceed or not as needed, my lovelies.  

In case it isn’t clear yet, heh, I absolutely adore Toshinori in all his forms.  Have been from Day One.  This I cannot deny.

However, there’s something else I’ve been very well aware of since Day One.  And that’s that Toshi is either running out of time or he’s living on borrowed time.  

In short, I’m pretty much convinced Toshi is going to die before the series ends.

Where do I start?  

His appearance alone is a serious cause for concern.  Especially now with the movie out we know what he should be looking like.  He said it himself, his respiratory system is all but destroyed and he doesn’t have a stomach anymore.  He coughs up blood entirely too easily.  Even One For All is gone from his body because the vessel can’t endure or contain the Quirk any longer.

Then there’s One For All.  He returned to UA solely to find a successor under the guise of being a teacher.  Dunno if he was trying before the series started, but this seems the actions of someone starting to get desperate.  Was All Might slacking for a while, not wanting to face the reality of OfA and potentially, his own mortality?  Or was he trying to avoid finding a successor because it brings back too many bad memories of his own master? 

Instead of keeping his eye out for someone along the way--which he should have been, knowing OfA’s history--he instead opts for the massive group option.  With that many choices, someone’s bound to stand out, right?

Even Christopher Sabat is anxious, saying he has no idea what All Might’s fate is, that he’s gonna be pretty unhappy if/when the worst happens.

And then there’s the trope options.

Kohei Horikoshi has said that Naruto was a huge influence for him and it’s easy to draw parallels.  Jiraiya automatically comes to mind here.  Any wise old sensei example, really.  And for a teacher, the greatest honor they can have is for their pupil succeed their teacher.  Usually, the teacher ends up, well, dying and as a result, their student gets that extra burst of what have you to exceed their limits.    

Promising Inko you’re protect Izuku with your life is a classic “gonna die” fodder quote.   The “three days from retirement” speechifying isn’t helping, either.   “I WILL NOT DIE.” Hun, that--just--hun, no.  Saying it a bunch of times isn’t gonna keep it from happening.  In fact, the more he says it, the more likely it becomes.  

So... ...well...

I’ve already been accused of the second since I’ve floated this awful little fan theory to fellow fans....

But y’all...

y’all

I really really REALLY don’t want to be right in this.  And I know with every doodle of All Might I sketch, every episode I delight in, every happy exchange I share with fellow fans, I’m digging my own hole deeper and deeper.  I keep getting a little more invested in a character I absolutely love and if/when this happens, it’s gonna hurt.  I know that sounds dumb and ridiculous but it’s true and this blathering is partly me trying to accept this very possible reality, to prepare myself.

 And if/when it does happen, everyone’s gonna know.  Spoiler rules are gonna fly out the window because you’re talking about one of the most popular characters on the currently most popular anime in the world.  

But at the end of the day, just know this: I don’t want it but I accept that it may happen.

And if that day comes, then just know that I’ll be right here with the hugs.

Ok, I’m done!  Now back to your regularly scheduled tumblr scrolling :D

[herald-adaar]

i LOVE your recent crimson riot post!! its definitely smthn ive been thinking about myself and im soooo glad someone put it together so nicely!! but wouldnt you say that bnha takes place in 2100s bc of how advanced tech is, the reference to how if it wasnt for quirks, humanity wouldve been on its way into space travel, and the nod to destro/a historical figure known now as the first villain ?

[Crimson Riot post here]

First of all, thank you!

While tech is more advanced, I still believe that BnHA takes place near the 2010s due to the pop culture references aligning roughly with our own timeline. Even if it’s not literally set in the 2010′s, it’s nearly indistinguishable from it in any meaningful way. If quirks starting emerging in the 2000s, it’s unlikely media and culture itself would have remained static for a century barring Horikoshi somehow neglecting to mention a global apocalypse scenario that only ended fairly recently.

As for the tech question, it’s unquestionably more advanced than ours, but with the lone exception of Crimson Riot’s interview holodisk in Kirishima’s flashback (and the holodisks used for the UA acceptance letters), the average civilian is using tech consistent with what the average person has access to in our current world. For example, phones! Everyone in class seems to have a smartphone but Uraraka, who still uses a flip phone from the mid 2000s.

Critically, we only see the advanced stuff when it comes to support items and the hero/villain world.

Off the top of my head, UA alone has its security gates, so many robots they’re used as disposable fodder during the entrance exams, sentient (and misanthropic) camera security robots, and their entire support department where Hatsume has made over a hundred dubious techological miracles in six months. Every hero in the industry seems to have access to someone to invent them whatever gadget they need to amplify their quirk, and support items are so tightly regulated in BnHA’s Japan the average person can’t obtain one barring verifiable medical need, like Aoyama.

Perhaps more telling of where the world’s technological focus went for the last five generations, there are iron maidens made to contain powerful quirk users, and Tartarus Prison. When it’s said we could be in space if not for quirks (I can’t remember the source of that, but I don’t doubt it was said in canon), I suspect it’s because humanity was simultaneously scrambling for ways to make quirks stronger and to counter/regulate them. If I were to speculate what sort of world created Destro, who appears to be a Magneto-like figure in superpowered history, it would be one where the latter was winning.

So TL;DR: yes, they have better tech and it’s progressed more rapidly than our own, but all advanced tech we’ve seen has been developed for quirks rather than space exploration. I suspect the “we could have space travel” thing is the equivalent of saying we could have cured cancer by now if the pharmaceutical industry we didn’t spend so much money trying to fight male pattern baldness.

[dailyblackclover]

I've been seeing a lot of post disappointed about yunos lack of appearance and development in the series, but I don't get why. I saw yuno as a type of reality check that asta isnt as far developed as we think, and after he joined the golden dawn I wrote him off as a revolving character. I like seeing asta grow with Noelle more too since they were pretty much starting at the same level. Your thoughts?

Here are two asks on about the same topic that I’ve answered before, if you want to check them out too.

Sorry, but I don’t agree with that! Tabata wrote Asta, Yuno and Noelle as the series’ protagonists, and he’s been showing us Asta and Noelle’s growth since the start of the series, but the only kind of development Yuno got was off the screen and almost all of it was Asta-centric, which makes him a rather plain, boring and overpowered character to at least half of the Black Clover fans. 

If Tabata wanted Asta to just have someone to surpass as a rival without giving them much development and without going too into their story, and whose sole purpose was to be Asta’s “reality check”, he could’ve just showed us flashbacks of Asta’s and Yuno’s promise during their childhood, and not advertised Yuno as one of the protagonists, who, as the title pretty much hints at, are supposed to appear quite a bit thorough the series, and are supposed to be developed on screen.

I don’t usually do comparisons, but look at how good of a job Horikoshi (BNHA’s mangaka) does with Bakugou and Midoriya. Midoriya also started off with no powers, while Bakugou was ages ahead of him and could be considered Midoriya’s “reality check”; but we still got development, on screen, from the both of them, both personality and powers wise. On the other hand, Tabata focuses way too much on Asta and Noelle’s growth, while trying to dodge giving Yuno any development on screen that’s not Asta-centric. This way, at least the western fanbase doesn’t really care about Yuno (Yuno’s my favorite Black Clover character, but I totally get where they’re coming from), and the suspense of who’s going to become Wizard King is kind of flat, since the only one of the two who gets any proper development is Asta.

At this point, Yuno is only treated as fodder for Asta, and all his thoughts, goals and even personality traits somehow revolve around Asta; while Asta, whose goal is still linked to Yuno, has an array of thoughts, personality traits and relationships that don’t pertain to only Yuno (like the Black Bulls etc).

All in all, both Asta and Noelle are treated as proper, and to a point, rather realistic characters; while Yuno is treated as someone whose entire identity revolves around Asta, which would be fine if he was just a background character, but he’s one of the story’s three protagonists.

[tokusashi]

Ok, so I’m back at home and I can reblog properly:

Ok first of  All: I never said that you should be happy from those characters because they’re female. Or that you should be happy with them- you’re all free to hate them if you want, that’s not my business. I only said that they’re females in the first place because people demanded more females in the story. If they would be males like always, then people (who are calling Hori sexist now) would be mad that there are new guys but not girls.

Shiggy have shown literally the same abilities that he had before, and he is damn powerful, we still don’t know if Izuku will be able to win against him without Aizawa or if he will even fight him to death- we know only that he (Izuku) wants to save him, and nerfing AFO is helping. And sure, Izuku still have two quirks to unlock, but also AFO have Shiggy to complete, and there’s the whole plot about fighting BOTH AFO and Shigaraki/Shimura. Sure the dilemma topic could’ve been shown the other way, but it was done the way it was done. We naturally can complain and say what could’ve been done better.

Aaaand I never said that all heroes are not heroic, what I was saying was that everywhere are heroes that have flaws, and it’s not only Japan problem. And we had a little of America before. All Mights episode, I-Island, and also it was said in manga that heroes FROM THE OTHER COUNTRIES are coming to help. And changing heroes system is the main plot of the story, so of course the whole world is involved! 

Still, the main topic was that HORIKOSHI IS NOT A WOMAN HATER.

If you don’t like his fodder females/males characters then you’re totally free to do so, but there’s no need to scream about misogyny, when he literally treats females the same way as he treats his males of the same importance. Gentle, Muscular, Snatch, Sir Nighteye and many, many more.

Horikoshi is not an woman hater.

Like, I don't believe I even have to say this, I know tumblr is full of people ready to start a war over a Frisbee that was thrown a way that somehow offended them but oh come on!

S&S was here for 3 (!) reasons.

Firstly, to show that flawed heroes are not only Japanese Problem, but worldwide. Because no, the moral of her fight was not "if you can't win it, nuke the opponent".

Secondly it was about showing us the dilemma in Shigarakis head over his personalities, that he's so messed up that he don't really know who he is and what his name is. Is he Shigaraki? Or Shimura? Or it doesn't matter because he's AFO?

Thirdly, S&S throwing uno reverse card at AFO (fighting his quirks from inside) is a way to nerf this overpowered villain.

And this all is needed, not to mention the last one was pretty badass move, and not a bad plottwist at all.

Sure, her character was used as a plot device, the same way as Gentle Criminal or even Sir Nighteye (yes, his role was a little bigger because he was in a bigger arc, but the role was pretty similar to S&S, he had a damn strong quirk only to be used in one arc and to die and leave other characters with moral). We had a lot characters like those (Muscular for example) who are male, but now everyone are shitting on Horikoshi because both Lady Nagant and S&S were females.

Not to mention that they were females in first place PROBABLY because people would be mad if new characters would be a males.

Because you know, too many guys.

Also kind reminder that while sure we have badass females like Mirko, who had badass fights, this is shounen manga, mainly addressed to boys, and they prefer to watch/read about guys fighting than girls. There's a reason why MMA is very popular but Woman MMA not as half as it, so there's no reason to cry over "why there is not as much strong females as I would like to have", when this is manga is not about women power. It could be much worse. It could be like Bleach where women are just tits. Or Fairy Tail where women are just tits or loli.

S&S could not win this fight. AFO/Shigaraki are Deku's to battle, it was obvious from the start that she will be somehow destroyed in this fight.

It's not about hating females, it's about using characters because Hori can use his own characters, and those two (Nagant and S&S) happened to be females, with a lot male characters like them to be one-mini-arc fodder as well.

[kitsunesbooks]

How to Write a Tournament Arc: A look at Boku no Hero Academia Season 2

Boku no Hero Academia has easily become one of the most popular manga in Shonen Jump’s lineup, barring One Piece of course. With the up and coming series airing its second season of the anime adaptation, we got a huge taste of the things we “anime-onlys” can come to expect of the series. With the second season of Boku no Hero Academia we were given a grand old tournament arc, and what a tournament it has shaped up to be.

So let’s recap a little. For those of you not in the know, the tournament arc has been a staple in many shonen battle manga and anime for years now. Many popular series like Naruto, Dragonball, and Yu Yu Hakusho have utilized this trope to great effect, so much so that the tournament arc has now almost become something of a staple in shonen battle stories. Typically these arcs are characterized by the main focus of showing off the strength and or potential of the main line of characters in a series. Additionally, tournament arcs can introduce brand new characters that almost serve as an initial measuring stick for the heroes, or more often than not, an obstacle to overcome. Another major trend, which is almost entirely the fault of the Cell Games from DBZ, is that tournament arcs almost always either end half way through by some intruding threat, or the entire tournament is high stakes and has some sort of serious consequence to the heroes losing. Boku no Hero does away with that and actually concludes its tournament arc with an awards ceremony and everything. However, that does not mean the story completely ignores the outside world as events for the next arc are carefully laid out to set up for the beginning of a much darker follow up to an otherwise lighthearted tournament. In addition to poor transitioning to looming threats, writers also need to worry about the ever growing possibility of a tournament arc being too long or, God forbid, filler.

So to begin, your main focus should be on your main line heroes. Boku no Hero Academia already had introduced a huge cast in its first season, and the light training arc we had plus the entrance of the League of Villains at USJ gave us a brief, but detailed enough look at the characters that will be sharing the limelight. One thing that tournament arcs can do, that Boku no Hero executes incredibly well, is bringing side characters from the wings and into the center of the stage. Characters like Todoroki and Kirishima have been given tons of development within Boku no Hero’s Sports Festival Arc. However, with an arc like this so early in the series, mangaka Kouhei Horikoshi saw fit to use the Sports Festival Arc as an opportunity to explore other classes at UA and introduce all new characters with different specialties while also hammering home the competitive nature of hero work. My previous Boku no Hero article talks about the competitive nature of the story’s world, and not only that, Geoff Thew of Mother’s Basement also covers it in one of his videos. (Insert Link) Some of the newer characters introduced include the eccentric inventor; Hatsume Mei, and the hilariously named; Tetsutetsu Testsutetsu. However, when introducing new characters for a tournament, you should be careful to make sure they get a decent amount of focus and also don’t disappear from the plot immediately after. One of the biggest problems related to this issue is that the tournament arc often focuses solely on the hero or cast of heroes, which means we hardly get to see the progression of other characters in the tournament. Boku no Hero has a very clever way of fixing this issue, and that is by not fixing it at all. Because of the setting, we know that everyone competing is a student at UA. Not only that, but prior exposure to our cast of students has given us an insight into each character in the tournament, at least within Class 1-A’s ranks. This means that pretty much every character in the tournament is a main line character to some extent. That also means that they will more than likely receive a hell of a lot of development in the future, which I am super hyped about.

With the way the tournament is set up, Boku no Hero spares no details of the rank progression through the sport’s festival, and that is a good thing. In the olden days, most tournaments made little sense and seemed like more of a gauntlet of baddies for the hero to go through instead of a tournament. Almost any tournament arc in the entirety of Dragonball is like that, save maybe the tournaments from Super. Hell, the Cell Games is probably the worst offender for this problem. Despite the Cell Games being one DBZ’s best arcs, it isn’t even a tournament. It is more like a duel or something similar. There aren’t brackets, no roster of heroes, just a simple “step up and test your mettle” type scenario with the fate of the world at stake. This right here is what makes Boku no Hero’s tournament shine. Not only do we already have a decent introduction to the cast, we get a small cast of new heroes as well, and we watch the progression of each and every one of them. However, what you want to avoid is allowing too much time focusing on battles that have lesser importance in the grand scheme of things. You’ll notice a lot of the earlier battles in the Sport’s Festival tournament are usually only a few minutes long. Even though the arc has a lot of characters receiving development, you can only work on so many characters at a time before losing your mind. This is amended by the earlier stages of the festival, which allowed some brief insight into the contenders. I stated before that you want your main line heroes to share the spotlight within the tournament arc. That still rings true, but because of that focus you can easily run into the problem of having the tournament turn more into a gauntlet. Making your heroes fight each other throughout the tournament allows for you to retain focus while also allowing for more individual development as each character will more than likely be on their own. This is what allowed fights like Bakugo vs Ochako, Izuku vs Todoroki, and Bakugo vs Todoroki to be so perfect in their presentation. Boku no Hero adds a second layer of conflict to the tournament and that is conflict of ideals.

When putting your heroes against each other in a tournament, you should definitely want to take a look at the motivation of each hero. Boku no Hero has obviously done this with the Sports Festival, but there is some very interesting things the series does to add a layer of drama to the arc. For one, the tournament is early in the series, this means all the main line heroes aren’t exactly friendly. They are at least acquainted. Secondly, the competitive nature of UA and the festival motivates the characters to fight tooth and nail for their dreams. Everyone in the tournament is there to show off their Quirks to the pro heroes and hopefully get signed on to an agency. This competitive undertone to the world of Boku no Hero has our friends turn against each other. Every single hero in the tournament must not only hold their own in combat, but they also have to be able to defend their ideals or adapt. This is especially true for characters like Todoroki, and to a lesser extent, Ochako. Both of theme experienced a dramatic shift in character either during or resulting from their battle in the tournament. Once again this refers back to my previous Boku no Hero article which goes in depth on the development of Todoroki in the tournament. Utilizing differing ideals, drama and tension can be established without the use of cheap tactics like a surprise villain attack. This method allows the tournament to be a true stepping stone for the main line heroes and focus more on their development and potential as opposed to just showcasing current strengths or being simple filler.

Filler is by far the thing a writer wants to avoid the most when it comes to a tournament. It is very easy for a tournament arc to drag on or seem like it is filler right out the gate. The biggest culprit that perpetuates this problem is the gauntlet issue, which we have already established a solution for. However, the very size of the tournament can make the arc seem like complete filler. More long running manga and anime like Dragonball Z or Hunter x Hunter often feel like they move incredibly slow or full of filler at times, this can be especially true for tournaments as some of these classic shows simply overload their tournaments with loads of new fodder characters to take a pummeling from the heroes, just to showcase how incredible the heroes are. This does little to hype up our heroes current power as viewers will be all too used to their ability to completely obliterate the average Joe. This can be fixed by making the tournament as compact as possible, without seeming too small. Eight brackets is a pretty decent length, but twelve could suffice as well for something more substantial. That, and you yourself should keep track of the bracket and make sure that it makes sense. Easiest way to do this is to, as mentioned earlier, have multiple main line heroes competing and showcasing their perspective as they ascend through the ranks. That and of course utilize an outline, plan the progression out in advance before writing it down into your story.

The tournament arc is possibly one of the most iconic, and hype inducing tropes in all of anime and manga, and Boku no Hero Academia has definitely made a modern classic of an arc. The early stages helped to solidify our characters and their motivations, while the official tournament put those ideals and dreams to the test as our heroes were pushed to their borders. While in the shadows, dark things began to lurk within the world of Boku no Hero, and with the appearance of the Hero Killer: Stain, things in the series are set to take a dark turn. This tournament shows us the emotional level each fight will present and the current state of the world before it is about to be turned on its head. The arc itself is full of amazing moments of animation, storytelling, and character development. It is a shining example of how a tournament should be handled. If you haven’t watched any of Boku no Hero Academia, or read its manga, you’d be doing yourself a favor to give it a chance. This series is shaping up to be the next major shonen hit for all age fans of anime and you are more than welcome for the ride. I hope you enjoyed the article and I have one more Boku no Hero article coming out soon. This one will be on none other than the Hero Killer himself and his effect upon the anime’s world. Thank you for reading and stay frosty.

[autumn-foxfire]

12, 23, 26 :)

Yay! Thank you friend ^w^

12. Any character you disliked at first, but warmed up to?

Hmm, I guess I can say Bakugou but I still sorta dislike him due to his bullying still not being adressed (though I will admit I also think this is also Deku’s fault which is something I’ve adressed before in the past).

I disliked Toga a lot at the start, I thought she was just a yandere highschool chick bait for horny fans but the more we got to see and her interactions with the other members of the league, I started to like her a lot more. I also appreciate that while her past has tragic elements to it, it’s been shown that Toga’s a villain because she likes it.

23. Any moment that was a disappointment?

I’ve already said in a previous ask about Re-Destro being a disappointment so I’ll focus on something else.

I don’t like how Horikoshi’s treated the top 10 heroes. It’s starting to look more and more that he’s just getting rid/injuring/killing them so the students can take the spotlight despite not having earned it yet. These heroes are supposed to be some of the greatest so why are they being treated like fodder that Hori can just throw away? (I’m hoping the Edgeshot gets to shine during this raid because he’s the only one in the top 5 who hasn’t had a chance to strut his stuff.)

26. What moment did you find the saddest, or that hit you the hardest?

Ummm, probably the death of Twice.

Twice was the first casualty in the start of this war and he died in such an unexpected way but what hit hardest was the interaction between Hawks and Twice before his death. Through out the whole interaction you could tell Hawks was devastated that it had come to this but Twice was so blindly loyal to the league and so disillusioned towards society that he couldn’t see it. I don’t care what people try to say, Twice’s life was a tragedy.