#This is Tonal Shift the Blog right now | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mha-grievances · 2 years

Text

I posted 32 times in 2022

That's 32 more posts than 2021!

23 posts created (72%)

9 posts reblogged (28%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@anti-bakugou-memes

@mha-rewritten

I tagged 25 of my posts in 2022

Only 22% of my posts had no tags

#mha critical - 24 posts

#bnha critical - 24 posts

#anti bakugo - 13 posts

#anti katsuki bakugou - 13 posts

#anti bakugou - 13 posts

#anti bakugou katsuki - 10 posts

#anti bakugo katsuki - 6 posts

#mha tooru - 3 posts

#mha hagakure - 3 posts

#tooru hagakure - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 23 characters

#hitoshi shinso critical

My Top Posts in 2022:

So I think most of us can agree that anime has a lot of fan-service. Whether you like it or not, it’s simply the truth. For the most part, I could care less about fan-service. Too much makes me uncomfortable and deters me from an anime, but if it happens occasionally, then I don’t really care.

Another thing we can agree on is that MHA definitely has a lot of fan-service. I’m able to ignore a good chunk of it, but like others, there are things that make me uncomfortable. Momo’s costume, Midnight’s suggestive remarks when around literal teens, etc. Today though, I’m not going to talk about those though. Instead I want to talk about a certain panel that showed up during this week’s leaks:

It should be no surprise that the literal bunny hero is sexualized, both by Hori himself and by the fans. However, this right here is gore porn. Miruko is on display right here. The way she's laid out on the ground. The way her costume pinches in certain places. The way she’s even winded. For some reason, despite her injuries being super severe, Hori decided to use this moment to sexualize her. Why? What purpose does this serve to the story? Again, fan-service is going to be part of a story, but this is a huge tonal shift. This is supposed to be a dramatic moment. The number five hero was taken out, most of her limbs torn off. This isn’t a moment where she should be sexualized, but she is. Over on my other blog @anti-bakugou-memes, an anon said the following:

“People call her "disturbing and fetishized" purely for the fact that she has several missing limbs. Like... It's so terrible and abelist. Just because character is hot and disabled doesn't mean that they are sexualized. Fetishy disabled content is when character is helpless and used by superiour dudes. Mirko isn't. She is dominating the fight and being her badass self. How is she fetishized or disturbing? Fans are just ableist as fuck.”

In any of Miruko’s other moments, I’d definitely agree. I don’t have positive opinions on her, but one thing I do appreciate is that she’s never been treated as “lesser” or sexualized due to her loss of limbs. In fact, she’s still been kicking ass and taking names. Her sexualization has been focused on the fact that she’s an attractive and fit woman. Her disabilities play no part in her sexualization. It’s not treated in a fetishized way nor is it treated as something unattractive, which is commendable. However, here it feels that her being helpless and tired is being sexualized. This woman has had her limbs ripped off, is most likely dying, and even if she survives she’ll have a lifetime of trauma. Instead of showcasing that, it feels like Hori drew up something for some sick gore hentai. He could’ve drawn her in literally any other position or manner to convey she’s been defeated, and yet he chose possibly the worst one. It’s nasty and outright disrespectful.

55 notes - Posted September 15, 2022

Katsuki Bakugou and Why He’s Poorly Written

Whelp everyone, it’s time for me to kick things off with a bang by talking about Katsuki Bakugou. Just note that this essay is only a draft and I plan to release the full one once MHA officially ends. For now though, I hope you enjoy.

As the title says, Katsuki Bakugou is a poorly written character and is easily my least favorite character in all of fictional media. Now, I think there's two huge parts of his character and it's important to go over them. The first half of Katsuki is one that everyone recognizes, he's a boy with both a superiority and an inferiority complex. It's what the series considers to be his biggest flaw. As a character concept, this isn't new. In fact, anyone could list at least five characters like this without any issues. Why is this important? Well, simply put, this isn't why I hate him. Characters who start off egotistical and get humbled are often some of the best written ones. For Katsuki though, they don’t do this architype well. Now, he clearly has moments where his ego is checked (his fight against the Sludge Villain, him losing the battle trial, him not fighting Shoto at full strength, his fight against All Might, and him getting captured by the League of Villains). At first, he simply gets pissed off, which is natural. Soon though, he begins to reflect on this, realizing that he isn't the best. Normally, this is a good thing. However, most of these lessons don’t stick and Katsuki’s back to acting like he was before his ego was checked. What do I mean about this? I’ll get to that soon.

Sadly, now we get to the part I absolutely hate: the Katsuki that's a full on monster. For those of you raising your pitchforks at me, I'll provide some examples: first off, he bullied Izuku because he enjoyed it. He mentally destroyed a boy just because he dared to have a dream. Second, he nearly committed murder and didn't feel anything about it. Remember the battle trial where he launched a deadly explosion? Now, here's the part where some of you will say that he didn't intend to kill Izuku. That's true, but he didn't care if the boy died. He shouted "not if he dodges," not "he'll dodge." He was wiling to murder someone just to win a stupid exercise. Unlike his egotistical side, this side never develops. You never see him thinking to himself "oh, maybe I went too far," or "wow, I was such a shitty person." It's simply brushed to the side. No one in cannon ever bats an eye to this, and it hurts their characters. Katsuki nearly attacks Izuku in the quirk assessment exam? Shota gives him a warning, despite the fact he was about to expel Izuku a moment ago. So you're telling me that you'd rather keep someone who clearly has anger issues over a boy who's trying to learn how to use his quirk? After the battle trial, he's told to 'grow up' instead of being expelled on the spot. Shota's last class must've been filled with the worst people imaginable if he was willing to expel them and not the maniac. Ejiro and Mina have experience with being bullied, but they befriend Katsuki? Why? They should know that Izuku's being bullied based on his reactions (normal people don't flinch when around someone), but they conveniently ignore it. The entire class ignores it. Hell, I think they know something's up based on their reactions to when Izuku picks his hero name, which hurts their characters even more. Everyone else's characters are harmed because Katsuki has plot armor and everyone's got to worship him, even though realistically no one in that class would like him. Then there's the final exams, where the school tries to use Izuku to better Katsuki, phrasing it like it's somehow partially his fault that Katsuki doesn't want to work with others. Cool, let's treat Izuku as nothing but a prop and ignore the fact that he's actively tried working at getting Katsuki to cooperate. Next comes one of the worst things I've seen in a while; their confrontation when Katsuki learns that Izuku has All might's quirk (which have I mentioned is one of my least favorite scenes in all of media?). When Katsuki keeps questioning Izuku about why he was chosen, this should've been Izuku's time to shine. To give Katsuki 'the reason you suck speech' and let him know the literal hell he's been put through and how All Might doesn't care about strength but instead the person you are. Nope, instead that whole ordeal is brushed to the side and Izuku continues bowing down to Katsuki, showering him with praises. It makes Izuku look weak and makes me believe that he has some form of Stockholm Syndrome. This should've been Izuku's time to show that he isn't weak anymore (the battle trial doesn't count because after it, Izuku goes back to being skittish around Katsuki), but nope, let's ignore the fact that the reason Katsuki was kidnapped was because the villains saw one of them in him. No, it wasn't because he was weak that All Might had to save him. It was because he was a garbage human being. After that, Katsuki's sins are forgiven (if they weren't already) and everything's fine, except Izuku still has to deal with the trauma Katsuki inflicted on him. Unlike his ego, his shitty person-side is never checked. He's never punished for the things he did or has done. He practically gets off scott-free in this regard. He learns a lesson regarding checking his ego but never learns that he needs to be a better person. The only reason he's being "nice" to Izuku is that Izuku is no longer 'weak'. He's treating him like the rest of his classmates now (compare the way he treats the rest of 1-A in the beginning of the series to now. There's almost no difference).

Continued on a separate post cause apparently Tumblr has a character limit. Here’s the link: https://mha-rewritten.tumblr.com/post/685448765657792513/katsuki-bakugou-and-why-hes-poorly-written-pt-2

72 notes - Posted May 27, 2022

Katsuki Bakugou and Why He’s Poorly Written pt 2.

Continues right where part one ends. Read part one here: https://mha-rewritten.tumblr.com/post/685448277861269504/katsuki-bakugou-and-why-hes-poorly-written

Now, as I was saying before, he’s not doing so out of guilt, but because Izuku is 'strong' now. I guarantee that if he encounters another quirkless person, he'll bully them the same way he bullied Izuku. Hell, I believe that if Izuku did commit suicide, he wouldn't care.

In the end, Katsuki is supposed to be a hero, yet he's acting more villainous than the villains without any reason. Both Himiko and Twice have had their minds shattered by their quirks and find that they have no use outside of bloodshed. Tomura, Dabi, and Spinner want to destroy the society that destroyed them and prevented them from living a decent life. Their actions are horrible, but their motives are understandable and makes the viewer pity them, making them compelling villains. Even Muscular, who's basically Katsuki's steroid filled twin in characterization, is a better character because he knows he's a villain and rolls with it. He doesn't claim to be something he's not. He's not deep, but doesn't need to be as he's simply an obstacle. Katsuki? Well, cannon keeps trying to shove the idea that he's a hero in people's faces, but he's not. I get it, the point of Katsuki's character is that he has a superiority and inferiority complex: he has a strong quirk and hates it when people seemingly look down on him (hence why he took offense when Izuku tried to help him when they were kids). However, his response is to mentally and physically torture a boy. You don't have to like everyone, you can choose not to socialize with someone, but the moment you CONSCIOUSLY hurt others, then you're a bad person. People with trauma in the MHA verse such as Ejiro, Shoto (after the sports festival), and Izuku manage to be good people when they have every reason not to be. Even if Katsuki was right in that Izuku thought he was better than him, his response is to mentally and physically torture someone. There's knocking someone off a high-horse and then there's being a shitty person (not to mention how hypocritical Katsuki is being). He's a villain who is treated as a hero and gets no repercussions for his actions nor is he a villain who lashes out after being victims of injustice. He's not even one of those well meaning villains who chose to fight against society. He's just flat-out evil and a Karma Houdini. The only time he's ever punished is when he fights Izuku in the mock-city upon discovering his quirk and compared to everything else he's done, this is nothing, andIzuku also gets punished for defending himself. You can also argue that he doesn't earn his hero license, but he hasn't been shown to learn the importance of saving others from it. In fact, that's another strike against him, he never learns that the most important thing about being a hero is that you save the innocent and everyone sees it as fine. All Might literally says to Izuku that he needs to learn to understand the people who fight to win. Uh, this isn't an MMA anime/manga. This is a superhero one. In this case, saving people is more important than fighting. Even the most edgiest anti-heroes like Punisher and (later versions of) Deadpool avoid damaging the innocent in their crusades. Katsuki? He doesn't care if they die. As long as he beats up the villain, he's fine. I know this is supposed to be a process, but we're pretty far in the manga already and it still hasn't happened. Not hero material in the slightest. And sure, you can argue that his character is meant to embody the 'win to save' mindset, but only the 'win' part is ever shown, never the save. While he does mention this theme in his ‘apology’, it isn’t enough of a recognition for reasons I’ll get to soon.

I also want to highlight that Endeavor's development's been far better than Katsuki. He's been called out on his behavior, used All Might's retirement as a means of learning (discovering that only focusing on being number 1 is a hollow feeling), and is trying to make up for lost time. And guess what? Most of the Todoroki family makes it clear that he has a lot to atone to, and rightfully so. He has to work for their forgiveness, and so far, the only thing Shoto has done is begrudgingly given him a second chance. He still hates his father. Endeavor's being held accountable for his actions, and he still is now that Dabi's identity has been revealed. Katsuki hasn't been held accountable for anything. The redemption story is far from perfect (seriously, it should've taken a lot more for Rei to forgive him), but it's a million times better than Katsuki's.

Some of you might be thinking that I think he needs to have some sort of severe beatdown or something to change. However, I wholeheartedly believe that Katsuki doesn't have to have something traumatic to cause him to change. People change all the time without such incidents. However, he needs to have an 'oh shit' moment where he realizes what he's done. Hell, I've read fanfics that have redeemed Katsuki in magnificent ways without excessive violence. Canon has yet to give him a good redemption arc and doesn't seem like it will as they keep singing him praises. During the scene in the second movie where Izuku gives Katsuki OFA, he says that All Might won't mind it if Izuku gave it to him due to the fact that he admired All Might as well. What about the fact he was a shit human being and hasn't acknowledged this or bothered changing? I understand that transferring OFA was necessary in that final fight, but if All Might or his predecessors are even decent human beings, they will take problem with Katsuki having the quirk meant to symbolize hope and peace.

I think that the best time for his character to develop was during his fight with Izuku after discovering the boy has OFA (and in the way I mentioned or in a similar way). Its a bit too late for it to feel natural now…

Also, I know Katsuki sacrificed himself for Izuku and FINALLY apologized. However, both came out of nowhere. The sacrifice was way out of character for someone like him, especially when he still doesn't realize he's a horrible person ('his legs just started moving on their own' came from nowhere). If his development was more natural, like him consistently showing he's changed rather than him flipflopping between being the same person who bullied Izuku and someone who's trying to change, then this scene would've easily changed my opinion on him. The sacrifice felt more about protecting One for All instead of Izuku himself. If he were to have died, then he basically becomes resolved of any potential consequences he should face for his wrongdoings, stuff he still has yet to acknowledge as wrong. It'd be a cheap copout. It also felt forced seeing as it's supposed to be a touching moment between two friends, but Katsuki was nothing but an abuser. Same goes for the apology. Just ten minutes ago he was insulting Izuku and then he suddenly apologized? Yeah, there's a thing called consistency and this wasn't consistent behavior on his end, weakening the apology to the point where it was practically meaningless. These scenes also remind me of another reason I hate Katsuki's redemption story: Katsuki's 'redemption' story involves a lot of telling, not showing. We're told that he's changing, but he continues to do things that shows he hasn't. He still insults his classmates, hurts Izuku with a block of ice, mocks All Might the past users of OFA (he mocks the previous users dying due to them not being strong enough), fired a point-blank explosion at Tamaki for not fighting him, told a civilian to kill himself, stabbed Izuku in the head for talking about his progress with Black Whip (nearly killing him a second time), and yelled at Fuyumi for talking about her trauma. It takes a special kind of asshole to do the things he's done even AFTER his 'redemption story', especially nearly killing a fellow hero a second time, yelling at a TRAUMA VICTIM, and insulting people who risked their lives to save others while saying you could do better! Because of this, when we get moments like him sacrificing himself to save Izuku (which I think was more-so him protecting OFA rather than Izuku) or him telling the kids not to look down on anyone, it becomes hypocritical and/or OOC. Like what motivated such a random shift from Katsuki calling Izuku a 'wannabe All Might' (a sensitive topic to Izuku and is something he knows is sensitive to him) to suddenly apologizing? Either he has poorly written Bipolar disorder or he's just not a human being. In addition, the apology felt more as if Katsuki was apologizing about being an asshole, but not an abusive piece of shit. The apology needed to be lengthy, not just ‘sorry for everything I did’. He needed to actually acknowledge what he did instead of taking the easy way out, especially when his list of heinous acts are as high as they are. He even needed to acknowledge Izuku’s emotions and why it’s his fault Izuku suffers from self esteem issues. Instead, he just claims he was mean to Izuku, which is far from what he actually was. Dude nearly killed him twice. That’s not mean, that’s evil. Also, he still hasn't received any consequences for his behavior. Endeavor's life is being ruined and he has to watch his son Dabi become a villain, something he's responsible for. When has Katsuki suffered a blow to his reputation? Outright lost a fight to a 'nobody' or even a supporting character? The answer is never.

Another issue I have with Katsuki's development is that it also presents a horrible message: "if your abuser gets slightly better, what happened to you doesn't matter. Just forgive and it'll be like nothing happened! In fact, it was probably nothing so don't even bother thinking of it as abuse. Oh, and don't tell anyone because the person that hurt you is secretly good (lol, no, they wouldn't be hurting you on purpose then and sure there are good people who do bad things, but there's a difference in mugging someone and nearly killing them without remorse), and did I mention that it doesn't matter anyways!? Your mental health doesn't matter, just push through it, life doesn't revolve around you" (this was paraphrased from a comment on an AO3 story, I believe it was one left on 'Fuck Bullies' by RandomWeirdCat, which is a great anti-Katsuki story which I'd highly recommend reading). It may not have been the author's intended message, but it's the one he gives out (I have no ill-will for the author btw. It's horrible that people are sending him death threats for no reason. If you don't like the series, either complain about it online, write Fanfiction, and/or don't watch it).

I also want to mention that Katsuki has Mary Sue traits. Note that I didn't call him a Mary Sue. That term's been thrown to hell and back, but I do stand by the fact he has some traits of a Mary Sue. For starters, I feel Katsuki wins more than he should. In an outright fight, he's only physically lost once and that was in the second movie against Nine. You can also count his kidnapping by the LoV as a loss, but Dabi snuck up on him, so I don't really count it. Same goes with the Sludge Villain. I also don't count the final exam since it was a team battle and it was never concluded. Most of his 'defeats' is to his ego, which would be fine if A: he's humbled from his defeats which he isn't and B: his character flaw was only that he has a large ego (when in reality, his biggest flaw is being a terrible person, which is never addressed in canon). Yeah, he has a powerful quirk and good instincts, but he's never been formally trained and others have superior quirks which are barely shown off. Kyouka and Denki come to mind immediately. Kyouka one-shots anyone she plugs her jacks into (and from what I've seen, she can plug them into anything) and Denki can produce 2 million volts and his quirk lasts for a few seconds, producing a current which could easily kill someone. Shoto also would've stomped Katsuki if he used his fire as Katsuki isn't fireproof (otherwise Dabi wouldn't have been able to threaten him). Muscular, Rappa, and Overhaul would also kill him if he fought them. Rappa even has more striking force as he was able to break Ejiro's 'unbreakable' form while Katsuki couldn't pierce through Ejiro's regular form (only reason he even won that fight is because Ejiro has a time limit to how long he can remain hardened. If it wasn't for that limit, Ejiro could've just won the match. In fact, I'm positive that all he needed to do was grab Katsuki and headbutt him for a KO, but of course, Katsuki HAS to win all his fights. Oddly enough, this showing means that Katsuki's explosions are about as powerful as a bullet since Ejiro's regular hardening was able to take a gun shot with only a crack, more damage than he took when fighting against Katsuki. Katsuki's quirk does have the advantage of having a larger spread though while also being a combination of heat and force whereas a gun's only force). Fumikage would've also been able to demolish Katsuki if it wasn't for his weakness to light (a fair weakness, so I won't say anything about that). As for Katsuki's fighting style, his arms are his source of his quirk, so all someone has to do is break them and he can't use his quirk or else the recoil would bust his arms further (he does have enhanced strength, but he still gets hurt by things that would hurt normal people, so breaking his arm wouldn't be hard if you can get him in a correct hold). If anyone knows anything about boxing, Katsuki's fighting style is similar to that of an out-boxer, where he uses his arm's max reach when throwing attacks. Typically, an out-boxer does so to keep their opponents at bay and I think that due to the recoil of his explosions on his own body, he has to stretch out his arm if he wants to use his quirk to its fullest potential. In every fight, we see this and the only time he doesn't extend his arm is when he's letting loose smaller explosions. Simply put, if someone wanted to break his arm, all they'd have to do is dodge the first strike and slam his elbow with enough force. Long rant, but my point is that his quirk's overrated in canon and there are other quirks that exist that are simply better yet never get the time to shine (and if they do, it's for a running gag. Seriously, Kyouka casually one-shots people for laughs but when it comes to a fight, she suddenly forgets that she can). If they do get some spotlight, it's not against Katsuki who would get stomped without issue. He also has never received any formal training, with his only fights Pre U.A being against those who can't defend himself.

Adding on to the idea of Katsuki having Mary Sue traits, we're also told that Katsuki is also incredibly talented (somehow he can cook, is capable of tutoring when he has no social skills, ranks third in intellect, and can play the drums) yet we actually never see why he has these talents or when he developed them. Your character can be talented, but at some point, there's TOO talented (unless they're shown to have acquired those skills in a flashback or such is the purpose of a character such as Izuru Kamakura from Danganronpa who even then has a weakness- his apathy and the inability to find meaning in life). This wouldn't be that bad if his flaws hinder him, but they don't, or at least in a meaningful way. The worst it did was delay him getting his hero-license. He also gets suspended for provoking a fight, but so does Izuku for defending himself, so I don't count it since he wasn't solely punished for something that was his fault. In general, he never gets punished for his behavior. Seriously, despite how he treats everyone, he's still beloved and anyone who doesn't like him is painted in a bad light (such as Neito and the crowd who was correctly booing him at the Sports Festival). Ejiro and Mina, the two most anti-bully characters in the show, somehow don't notice that Katsuki is a bully and are still friends with him. I've already mentioned all the other stuff he should've gotten in trouble for (such as him nearly killing Izuku in the battle trial), so I'll save you that rant again, but all in all, Katsuki's flaws don't hinder him what-so-ever and he seemingly is good at everything (even in regards to social stuff, something he should be terrible at).

Katsuki is also clearly a writer's pet. You can clearly tell whom the writers pets in MHA are based on how they're treated and how they never receive consequences for their actions. Now, it's alright to have favorites, it'd be hypocritical for me to say you can't when I have my favorite characters of all time listed on my profile, but when it impedes in your writing, especially in a published material outside of FanFiction, you have a problem.

Finally, I also want to talk about rival characters. A rival character can be great. A character can learn how to improve themselves with the presence of a rival character. Naturally, a rival character doesn't have to be a good person, but they need to offer something to the main character. Katuski offers nothing, or at least nothing that another character can't. In terms of pushing Izuku to be the best hero, Tenya and Shoto could easily take Katsuki's spot. It isn't like Katsuki offers anything outside of being a skilled fighter and a benchmark that Izuku strives to be, which is something Shoto is better at anyways (him being considered the current strongest of 1-A and being able to fight almost evenly with Katsuki despite using 50% of his power). Tenya can also serve as an intellectual rival to Izuku. You also have Tomura causing chaos and showcasing the faults of the hero world. He represents the external conflict Izuku faces and presents an internal conflict as well (how far is he willing to go to save people). Katsuki is supposed to represent the idea that winning is sometimes the best way to save people, but Tomura could also teach Izuku this as well. Katsuki's actions only showcase why a desire to only win as a hero is bad and nothing else, which again could have been fine as well if it wasn't for the fact he's never punished for his mindset and that Izuku still worships him. Some might try to say Katsuki has a strong will and that this is something Izuku strives to have, but he nearly throws a temper tantum after having his butt handed to him during the final exam (he was stupid to even think he was anywhere near All Might's level especially after the Sludge Incident). Izuku was the one who snapped him out of it and has shown that he has a stronger will than Katsuki. Some might also say that Katsuki has confidence that Izuku wishes to emulate, but he could've easily gotten it as he got a better handling of his quirk. Seriously, Katsuki offers nothing to the narrative besides being a hindrance to the main character's growth, and not one the kind that challenges Izuku to grow further like Tomura and the other villains do. He also has no plot relevance, with the only plot relevance he has being that time he got kidnapped and triggered the fight between All Might and All for One, but you could easily replace him with someone else. Shoto's a perfect example due to his connection with Endeavor and Dabi being his brother. While rival characters are important, Katsuki is an example of one that isn't needed. MHA would've been much better without him. He's also a crap secondary protagonist (if you consider him to be one) due to his crappy redemption arc. I have no reason to cheer for him, rather, I'm waiting for him to get his long overdue karma strike.

I also quickly want to compare Katsuki to two other characters who get shit on by the fandom but in my opinion don't deserve to be, or at least don't deserve it as much as Katsuki does. First is Neito Monoma, who I think is a far superior character than Katsuki. Neito has shown that he can be a decent person (offering supportive words to Setsuna after she lost to Katsuki) and actually has a sympathetic reason for his behavior. He was constantly mocked for his situational quirk and wishes to prove that he can stand with other heroes. He also wishes to show people that his class is every bit as good as 1-A. Does it excuse his behavior? No. But it both explains it and makes his actions reasonable. He also hasn't tried killing or excessively wounding anyone, which is a bonus, and actually gets punished for his behavior. Yeah, you can argue whether the punishments are too light or whatnot, but Neito receiving some punishments is better than Katsuki receiving nothing while having everyone continue to suck his dick. Second is Minoru Mineta. There are several reasons for why I like Minoru better than Katsuki: first off, he doesn't hog that much screen time. He does his thing and is immediately out of the picture until he eventually comes back. The most screen time he's had is his battle with Midnight. Meanwhile, we have to deal with Katsuki almost all the time save for the Overhaul arc. Secondly, Minoru does face some punishments for his behavior. He gets nailed by a rock when trying to perv on the girls during the Summer Camp training arc, Tsuyu almost drowns him after he groped her, his classmates constantly look down on him due to his behavior (Denki mentioning that he thought Minoru was as dumb as him and Mina), and some of his classmates actively avoid him/are disgusted by him (Mina excluding him from the room competition). As I mentioned thousands of times, Katsuki never gets punished for his behavior. Everyone loves him for no reason and he gets a slap on the wrist at worst. Again, you can argue that Minoru's punishments are too light, but like I said with Neito, some punishment is better than no punishment when comparing the two. Finally, the series isn't constantly shoving down the idea that Minoru is a good person. His reason for being a hero is made known and mocked by his classmates. He's not treated by some noble person or someone who should be followed. He's constantly mocked for his shortcomings. The only reason he hasn't been expelled is due to plot armor. Meanwhile, canon keeps trying to get us to believe that Katsuki is someone who should be admired despite all his actions. He's given a shitty 'redemption story' to add on to the fact he should be admired, but due to how bad his 'redemption story' is, it only makes his case worse. He also has far worse plot armor than Minoru due to reasons I've already explained. In the end, I find Minoru to be much more tolerable than Katsuki. Now, in the case of me liking Minoru over Katsuki, I'm not arguing which of them is a better character, but which one I like better. I'm neutral towards Minoru as mentioned before due to him being a trope rather than an actual character while Katsuki is a horribly written one.

In conclusion, if the egotistical side of Katsuki was his main characteristic, then he would've been a fine character in my eyes. All that had to be done was make him a cocky asshole who looked down on Izuku for being quirkless and have him occasionally make remarks demeaning the boy, with him getting struck by karma or witnessing something life-changing causing him to rethink his behavior and work on improving himself. Sadly, he's instead someone who revels in another person's suffering and he neither learns from his actions or is punished for his manners. His behavior is simply brushed under the rug. Add the fact that he ruins other characters and he's one of the worst I've seen. It really speaks volumes when your creator wishes that he went a different direction with your character despite you being his favorite in the first place. Katsuki could have been something amazing, or at least decent, but he is never given the development needed to make a character like him work, reducing him to a shit character. Also, him being a kid doesn't excuse his actions. He's old enough to know how to be a decent human being. He simply chooses not to. If he is old enough to receive official training to be a hero, he's able to tell right from wrong. Another thing people use to defend him is that "it's not his fault he's the way he is. Society taught him to be that way." Except it didn't. It taught Katsuki that he has every right to develop an ego, but it didn't teach him how to be a bad person. He chose to torture others. That's 100% his fault. He chooses to tell Izuku to kill himself. He chooses to try fighting an unconscious opponent. He chooses to nearly kill someone twice. He's old enough to tell right from wrong and he doesn't have a reason as to why he can't (such as Himiko Toga whose quirk warps her brain to the point where she can't help but kill). Saying this is stupid and removes the concept of personal responsibility from someone who CAN control their actions. Now, there's things you can and can't help. Katsuki can't help but grow an ego in the environment he was raised in but he CAN help how he treats people (or at least help not torturing people). There's a difference between ignorance/being a cocky dick and outright evil behavior. Katsuki is the latter. In the end, he's one of the biggest wastes of potential I've come across.

Also, I know someone’s going to try to say something about how I don’t know Katsuki as well as Hori does, and that’s true. However, part of being a writer is conveying all the traits of said character. Katsuki is poorly written in that Hori hasn’t been able to convey all that he’s wanted to about Katsuki. Again, it’s a show not tell sort of deal. We’re told that Katsuki’s getting better but we never see it. Those moments that end up showing improvement only end up being OOC since they appear once in a blue moon and are not consistent. Hori may know his ideal version of the character and his intended development/feelings, but he hasn’t been able to convey them effectively in his writing of the character. As such, the Katsuki in his mind and the Katsuki on paper are two different people. An author can say whatever they want about their character, but unless they can effectively show the readers proof of their claims, then the claims are invalid.

TL;DR (To Long Didn't Read): I hate Katsuki because his development is crap, he constantly escapes punishments for his crimes, he has worse plot armor than the freaking MC (Katsuki's whole existence is protected by plot armor (him winning fights he should lose since his quirk's weaker than a bullet and easily countered by anyone who knows how to fight, everyone loving him despite him being awful to them, him not being expelled despite Shota being a 'logical' teacher, etc.)), his character spreads harmful messages, and his existence hurts other characters. I'd let his past behavior slide if it weren't for these reasons. I've actually had to stop reading the manga/watching the anime for a bit because of how much his character ruins the canon series. I love the setting and a lot of the characters, which is why I still write Fanfiction about MHA, but the cannon series is a waste of potential. Again, I have nothing against the creator of MHA, I'm just giving my opinion on his work.

If anyone cares, I can name other egotistical, psychotic, and/or antagonistic characters who've received ACTUAL good development than Katsuki 'let everyone ignore my sins' Bakugo. His character trope can produce some of the most powerful and well-written characters, but Katsuki represents how easily it is to screw it up. Some of the characters I know of who do his trope right even start off as worse human beings than him and have similarly crappy motives. The difference is how they're handled.

90 notes - Posted May 27, 2022

Hori being a perv part 69

So Tooru Hagakure is my favorite MHA character despite mainly being a gag character. So much could’ve been done with her, but hasn’t been done due to a combination of things (her not being a central character, there being many other characters already, Katsuki hogging up screen time that could’ve gone to others, etc.). After years of waiting, we finally got to see a glimpse at what Tooru looks like. Not only that, but not long after, we finally got her on a cover page. And what does Hori do? He fucks it up. This is the image-

Now let it be known that I love the color of her hair and design. What I don’t like is that instead of, ya know, putting her in a cute outfit or something to show off her design, he decides that he’s gonna make her naked. Why Hori? Yes, I know that her hero costume has her naked, something that still bothers me cause if Mirio can get a costume that phases with him then Tooru can definitely get a costume that turns invisible with her, but c’mon. Really? Should’ve expected this seeing as he admitted to Minoru being a self insert for his perverted nature but it still sucks to see. And like I said in my post about Miruko, I’m not a prude about fan service, but at some point, there’s a thing as too much fan service and unneeded fan service. This is one of those instances.

142 notes - Posted September 28, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

So in the future I want to go over Hori’s style of comedy and why it doesn’t work, but for now, I want to highlight an instance where his comedy does land, and it’s here:

Honestly this little joke got a chuckle out of me. I’ll even say it was well written just because Fumikage and Kyouka’s characters make it work. It isn’t overly sexual, it isn’t Katsuki abusing Izuku for the billionth time, it’s just two teens having a small and funny exchange that takes less than a second and doesn’t really detract much from the events going on. It’s one and done. And it’s relatable cause most people get flustered from physical contact, platonic or romantic. So Hori, you’ve earned a W this time.

201 notes - Posted May 29, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #mha critical

15 notes · View notes

daja-the-hypnokitten · 2 years

Text

Jukebox reviews part 11! For context, see my post “A Project” under this same tag. If you want to see a full list of his EMCSA stories, they can be found here, sorted alphabetically.And if you want to see some of his drabbles, check out his blog at @jukeboxemcsa

Feels Like the First Time