#bnha 296 spoilers

[great-cats]

Compress animated

This bonus shot made me giggle

[grumpykt]

[decoysatrn]

While you're mourning Midnight, please remember that she'll never get to hear Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight's name, which makes it all the more painful

[cherrrrrrrrr]

me back when I thought Compress was gonna die: omg Hori just keeps killing off the villains. Y'know what he should kill off a hero next.

me now: I have REGRETS.

[linkspooky]

Tall Buildings Falling Down

It’s especially important that Uraraka was the one to hear this, a hero overhwhelemd by the demands of saving people, deciding to just give up and quit his job. Important because, out of all the characters in class 1-A Uraraka is unique for two reasons. One, Uraraka is perhaps the only student in her class who admitted she’s in the hero business for the money, she joined because it’s a lucrative job. 

Second, despite the fact that Uraraka only wanted to become a hero for the money, she idolizes heroes just as much as the rest of her class does. This has led Uraraka to question herself as times, because she doesn’t believe her motivations for being a hero are as good as the rest of her classmates. 

Uraraka is also attached to the overly idealized image of heroes that was sold to the rest of her classmates, that heroes always save people, that heroes are righteous, heroes are good and everything that gets in the way of heroes is bad. Heroes are here to protect us, heroes make people happy. Uraraka carries this overly idealized image of heroes inside of her.

However, ideals always fall short of the reality. When Uraraka saw Deku struggling with all of his might, that’s when the first cracks began to appear. Because Deku, he was hurting himself even as they fight Chiaki. 

Who protects the heroes when they need protecting? I think Uraraka means this especially in regards to Deku. Being a hero is hurting Deku. Deku pushes himself to such an extent that he breaks his body over and over again. Being a hero is supposed to be a good thing, but under the current system even being a hero causes Deku to suffer because it requires so much out of him, he must continually break his body again and again in order to keep up with the others. All Deku thinks of is saving others, he’s more heroic than most, and yet, the current system isn’t designed to stop this behavior. More than anything else it’s focused on strength, on Deku learning to strengthen his quirk, not learning how to take care of himself. The system values powers over people, but Uraraka is so empathic she sees Deku as a person and notices that he’s suffering because of it. All Deku wants is to be a hero, but what is a hero under the current system? Someone strong enough to win and beat all the bad guys. 

It’s clear that in hero society, heroes are valued much more for winning, rather than saving. When saving is what is needed especially in this chapter. Uraraka sees someone who became a hero for all the wrong reasons, just giving up and quitting. In the same chapter where Uraraka’s thoughts are literally just, there must be more people, there must be more people I can save, just over and over again. 

Uraraka herself has become more and more selfless, as she’s progressed as a character, more focused on saving people especially after watching Deku push himself to such extremes in the name of saving others. However, that’s not necessarily true for the adults around her. Uraraka who began all of this by just seeing heroics as a job, sees an adult who just treats it like a job too, giving up. 

As buildings are falling down all around her, Uraraka’s idea of heroes begin to fall too. To be fair, no one person could ever deal with a disaster of this magnitude all on their own. Society’s expectations of heroes were too high in the first place, no one can be perfectly selfless all the time, the perfect savior that saved everyone that all might tried to create was never going to save everyone. However, at the same time heroes get away with a lot, because people uncritically see heroes as “good” no matter what they do, to the point where the kids rejected any and all criticism of the heroes around them. However, in this chapter after fighting with everything they had to defend those same heroes, they meet the disappointing reality. 

The same adults who brought Kaminari Denki to the battelfield when he wasn’t ready, because they weren’t strong enough to fight the evil on their own, who insisted that they needed to fight the villains in this surprise ambush and start with war. 

The same adults that told them everything would be alright, that the heroes would always win, that they would go home and go back to school after all of this are now lying dead in the ruins of the cities they failed to save. 

ANd, what are we meant to take from this? Heroes can’t save everyone, that’s obvious. Heroes are flawed and make flawed choices. However, the students in looking up to their teachers idealize them a little too much, to the point where it becomes impossible for them to accept any criticism of the heroes. 

However, the kids are starting to see that heroes aren’t perfect. Theymake mistakes. They’re flawed. The problem with the kids isn’t that they liked heroes, it’s that their ideals were completely black and white. Heroes good, villains bad. Heroes always save people. Heroes can’t ever be selfish, self-serving, or flawed as the rest of us, because well they’re heroes. 

If heroes are supposed to save people, then what about the people they don’t save? That’s the question that Himiko brings to Uraraka, however, Uraraka can’t even understand the question. In Uraraka’s idealized reality there is no situation where heroes fail to save someone. Heroes are always well-meaning. Heroes always do their best to save others. There’s nobody who’s been failed, or even hurt by heroes. Uraraka doesn’t understand that people like Himiko have been disappointed and failed by heroes over and over again, and some of them like Dabi have been outright abused. Uraraka cannot understand that the heroes that are helping her, the quirk therapy system that never hurt her, could have harmed someone so thoroughly as it did Himiko that she believes that the only way to survive is to fight back and even kill. Uraraka just hasn’t seen a reality where heroes fail to save people. In Uraraka’s world, heroes are good, heroes are selfless, heroes are kind. Himiko can’t possibly have a reason. If Himiko wants to hurt people, she must have chosen to do that on their own. If Himiko wants to hurt people then she must be a bad person.

Heroes save people, so if Himiko questions heroes, or tries to fight back against them, then Himiko is just getting in the way. Then Himiko is just being selfish. She’s putting her own needs, and her own hurt feelings over all of those innocent people that are in need of saving. See, Uraraka can’t understand that heroes can hurt people too, so she doesn’t understand that someone like Himiko who has been hurt by the heroes, by the people supposed to save her, might be in need of saving. 

Uraraka can’t perceive of a reality where heroes would disappoint, or would hurt others. So, Uraraka’s declaration is partially made in ignorance. She says that Himiko has to live with the consequences of her actions, but Uraraka at the same time isn’t living in the same reality that Himiko is. She’s been protected, sheltered so far, and her point of view comes from that fact. The same system that helped Uraraka, has also hurt Himiko, and Uraraka can’t grasp that. Uraraka first fails to save Himiko, and then this chapter she’s met with the same thing. 

Uraraka learns the harsh truth in this chapter. That not all heroes are invested in saving other people as she is. That not all of them are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. 

If a hero can stare at this wreckage where so many innocent people are screaming for help, and then just give up. Just say, it’s too hard to save all these people. How many kids in this wreckage are going to get helped? How many are the heroes going to take care of? How many are they just going to give up on because it’s too hard? The thing is, every single kid in this broken down city could turn into another Himiko, because people aren’t good or bad. Circumstances are good and bad, they shape people in good and bad way. The same way that the children asking for help in this city are victims of circumstance, Himiko too was just another victim of circumstance, just another child that didn’t get saved. The only difference between her and the others is that she grew up and fought back. 

Heroes don’t save everyone and something needs to be done about that. Heroes aren’t perfect, however, closing your eyes to that reality and pretending they are, pretending that everything just fine means that nothing is going to change and nothing is going to improve. It’s only when the kids see the flaws in the adult heroes around them, that they can see how they as the next generation can be better than them. Go beyond plus ultra, right? If this manga is about becoming the best hero you can be. Then, the kids should be thinking about how they can save, even the ones that the adult heroes have given up on saving. 

[zambies4life]

Okay so everyone is talking about the recent deaths in chapter 296. And everyone is very much devastated about midnight (me to) but there's a huge thing not many people realise.

Denki was there. He got hit by the rocks and rubble as well. And in his panel there's a huge bit of debri right by his head about to hit him

He already got hit by a rock the size of him and we haven't seen him since. Midnight was in bad shape when she landed before getting finished off by a group of villains.

A lot of heroes and other people have been lost to this war.

People who have died now are:

°Background hero's

°A few pro hero's mentioned a couple times

°One of the top 10 heroes

°A MAIN story pro hero

°A main villain (twice miss I you every day)

°Civilian children????

A student hasn't died yet.

And someone is going to because of what Dabi was saying before

A lot of people have realised how corrupt the hero system is now. But what will help open peoples eyes is losing one of these KIDS, a student who is supposed to be protected. A child who was not ready to face these circumstances yet. A child who tried his best to be a hero while witnessing the horrors around him.

A war like this is not the norm. Sure being a hero is scary business but on a scale as large as this? I don't think he had the slightest idea what was going to happen when he enrolled.

His mum seems to be a hero by the looks of that woman with yellow and black hair with a quirk very similar to his in the MHA movie. He knows how dangerous the job can be and knows the odd hero will be defeated every now an then. But not like this. No one signed up for this

[fever-dreamer97]

SPOILERS FOR BNHA 296

HOLY SHI-

[czechforrain]

CH 296 My Hero Spoilers...Present Mic

Can we just take a moment and think of how messed up Present Mic must be. 

Within the past few weeks he discovered his friend was killed, and his friend’s body repurposed into an obedient servant of a terrorist. Then he participates in the raid and finds out the whole reason he died was because they tried to kill Aizawa. 

THEN after they fail to kill / subjugate Shigaraki and he is saved from certain death. The following things all happen far away from him in situations he couldn’t possibly effect. 

- His best friend gets his leg cut off and his face scarred, likely losing an eye

- His other good friend dies being hit with a giant rock, falling dozens of feet onto the ground and is presumably burned while alone against an entire group of villains. 

- Even The guy who saves his life, has his stomach pierced and is probably going to die shortly thereafter due to how gruesome his injury looked. 

And the WORST PART OF ALL...the cherry on top of this disaster sundae.

Shigaraki gets away, they nab a bunch of his minions and allies but he himself escapes at the last possible moment and he can’t do anything to stop that there either, even when he is there. This was a Failure. What happened to his friends can’t even be called sacrifices. It cannot even be called bittersweet. 

And through all of that, even though he should definitely be dead or at least severely hurt...for the most part he is fine with what appears to be surface level wounds. Another of his friends dead without him being there and Aizawa in terrible condition, where his career is in major jeopardy. 

Was it all for nothing, did his allies die in vain? Whose fault is it? Could he have done more if he was with Aizawa / Midnight? If he was stronger could he have killed Shigaraki and avoided this whole mess? Is this this the hero associations negligence? 

There is a mountain of survivors guilt on his mind imo and I really hope Horikoshi explores him and Aizawa’s feelings on the raid when the stories has a bit of time to breathe. 

[rhetorical-ink]

Vigilantes 60-62 & BNHA 296 SPOILERS:

Me: *Reading Vigilantes Chapters 60-62*

Man, it looks like Shirakumo had a crush on Midnight...they would have been a cute couple. It’s too bad he died...now, she can’t be with him. 

Horikoshi: *Writing BNHA Chapter 296* 

I know, too soon, but I needed to make something to cope after that chapter. 

[tinyshinysylveon]

“Shigaraki’s singular obsession... cost so many lives.” | | Boku no Hero Ch.296: Hellish Hell

[erasurecloud]

I'm curious as to how eraser and mic will respond to midnights death

I don’t know and I’m not ready to find out.

Part of me is afraid it’ll be brushed past but god I hope not.

[decoysatrn]

Looks like the UA kids are going to finally return from war, but at what cost?

[eri-cheri]

Deku: "I'm gonna save Shigaraki!"

Everyone mourning the deaths and mass destruction caused by Shigaraki and the PLF:

[velvs-oc-study]

Wow can't believe that Kotori got not one, not two, but THREE traumatizing experiences during this arc! Amazing!

[wanderingchocolateeclair]

EDGESHOT THANK GOD!!

[kitty-ray]

We Say Goodbye

When the rubble of the war is settled, Kaminari Denki is amongst those who don't survive. It's five years later and his friends are given one last chance to say goodbye.

AO3

The cool Spring air nips at Bakugou’s face, but he’s too distracted by his friends to even care. Kirishima’s and Ashido’s arms are wrapped around his waist while Sero and Jiro laugh at the stumbling three behind them. They’re making so much noise and people are looking and there’s so much happening that nobody even cares at this point. The alcohol has well wormed itself into their systems and doesn’t appear to be leaving any time soon. Bakugou’s okay with this. For one night, one night out of the entire year, he’ll be okay with this. 

“Oh!” Ashido cries and releases her hold on Bakugou’s waist. She grabs at Kirishima’s arms, pulling him away too and making him spin her. “I don’t want this night to end!” 

Sero laughs. “We’re just heading to Bakugou’s, not to bed.”

“I don’t remember inviting you lot over.”

“Nah, we invited ourselves. It’s best you go along with it, Blasty,” Jiro says before she dives back into her conversation with Sero. The nickname strikes a chord in his stomach, but Bakugou’s too drunk to pay much attention to it. 

He doesn’t want to think about it. He doesn’t want to think about the five years that have passed, he doesn’t want to think about his scars or their scars, and he definitely doesn’t want to think about the lack of scars. Instead, he focuses on the people here and his best friend waiting for him at home. 

There’s a crash coming from the alley next to him, and one quick look at his friends shows that none of them heard it. Really, he should keep walking. It’s probably a cat (and heavens knows he doesn’t need another one of those) or maybe even some wannabe loser villain someone on duty can take down. But Bakugou can’t help himself from stopping, especially after he hears whining. 

“Hey, dumbass,” he calls out. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re looking for, but it ain’t gonna be in that trash pile! It’s not exactly the comfiest in there.”

The whining continues, and Bakugou’s about go in there when he stops. There, sitting right on top of a pile of trash bags and cardboard boxes, is Denki Kaminari. 

Kaminari rubs his head before looking up. “Whoa, hey, Bakugou! I thought you were with Midoriya and Todoroki! Wait a minute, where am I?”

He doesn’t say anything, just stands and stares as the other blond gets up. He’s wearing his hero costume, and his glasses are all askew, but Kaminari doesn’t care about that. The blond’s too focused on rubbing his ass and complaining about falling. 

“Anyway,” Kaminari continues. “The battle’s getting a little hairy, and there’s this gigantic villain coming at you’re way. You should definitely let everyone know. Oh! Do you remember Yanagi from 1-B? Dude’s, she’s so pretty, and I got to lay in her lap and everything! I don’t really remember what happened except for all these rocks and--whoa!” 

Bakugou pulls Kaminari into his arms. When Kaminari struggles, he just holds on tighter. He’s real, Bakugou tells himself. He’s real and he’s here. 

“Bakugou! Where’d you go man? We need your keys!” Kirishima calls. Bakugou doesn’t dare move and simply keeps holding onto Kaminari. There’s still a part of him that’s telling him that what he’s seeing is just his mind playing tricks, but Kaminari’s struggles tell him that it’s not. 

“Bakugou, man, what are you…? Denki?” 

He doesn’t flinch when he feels Kirishima crash into the two, but Kaminari squeaks again. “Whoa, man! What’s going on?” 

Kirishima ignores him and briefly letting go to call out, “Guys! Get over here! Hurry!” 

“Hey, wait, is something wrong?” Kaminari pulls away and looks between the two. “What’s up? Why aren’t you guys wearing your hero costumes? And where are we?” He pats Bakugou’s chest. “Why are you so buff?”

“Kiri, Bakugou? You in here?” Sero calls out. 

“Is something… oh.” Ashido’s voice trails off. Bakugou turns, shoving Kaminari in the direction of his friends. The blond stumbles and calls out, but Sero catches him before he could fall. The three of them stare at Kaminari before Ashido’s sobs break through the silence. She launches herself at him. “Denki!” 

That was all it took for all of them to bombard him with hugs. They’re all drunk and tired and don’t care if that one random lady walking by is giving this group of adults crying weird looks because he’s here. Kaminari squirms as he tries to get out. “Guys!” 

Ashido’s the first to pull away, but she just places her hands on his cheeks. “Denki, you have no idea how happy we are to see you.”

“But I just saw you! We’re fighting that army and the big, destructive villain, and you were…” he trails off. His gaze flits between the group. “You were all fighting with me.”

“Kaminari,” Jiro says, her hand running through his hair. “That was five years ago. The battle’s over. It’s been over.”

“But I… We’re… I don’t get it.”

The group shares a look. There’s no denying that this is Denki Kaminari, albeit a bit younger than they wished. He looks exactly like the day they found him. Honestly, that’s probably what hurts Bakugou the most. 

Bakugou crosses his arms but stays close. “Kaminari.”

Kaminari’s head whips around. For him, this is probably the first time he’s ever heard Bakugou say his name. “B-Bakugou?”

He’s not deterred. Looking him in the eye, Bakugou says, “You’ve been dead for five years.”

His face falls, and he looks at all of his friends. They all nod. 

A car passes by them. There’s a dog barking as a woman walks past. A couple of men are yelling and laughing. They pay no attention to any of this.

“I don’t want to die,” he murmurs. Kaminari reaches for the closest person--Ashido--and sobs with them. “I’m not ready to die! I don’t want to leave you!” He turns his gaze to Kirishima. “You guys are the best friends I’ve ever had.”

They sit there, sobbing together and holding him. Bakugou pulls Ashido closer to him when she starts to dry heave. Kirishima has a death grip on Kaminari. Sero and Jiro have started to lean on each other while holding Kaminari’s hands. Closing his eyes, Bakugou drinks in this moment, relishes in hearing the dumbass’s voice, letting this sink in. 

He opens his eyes when he sees Kaminari’s body start to glow. Alarmed, Kaminari sobs. “I-I’m scared. I don’t want to go!”

Jiro places her hand on Kaminari’s cheek and smiles. “You got this, Chargebolt. We love you.”

He gives her a weak smile. “I love you guys, too.” 

They press their foreheads together right before he disappears. The night has gone quiet, so quiet. Jiro’s staring into the air, smile still hanging on. He counts the seconds (one, two, three) before it falls and she presses her hands to her mouth. “Oh, fuck…”

Ashido buries her head into Bakugou’s neck, her arms squeezing his middle. He squeezes her back. If it were any other day, any other person, he would have shoved her off and deal with this on his own. But it’s not any other day, and it’s not any other person, and Bakugou doesn’t really feel like doing this on his own. Plus, he’s still a little drunk. 

He sits there with his friends crying for what seems like forever. It’s so late at night that traffic has seemed to have stopped, so he doesn’t feel weird if he’s seen crying with four other heroes in a dark alley. Honestly, he probably wouldn’t even care if someone did see. 

“What are you guys doing here?” There’s a bright light flashing in his eyes before it’s quickly moved away. Blinking, Bakugou looks up, expecting to see a random passerby or a cop but instead sees Deku. His eyes grow wide as he takes in the state of the group. He runs “Whoa! Wha-what’s happening?” 

They don’t answer him, simply sitting there and crying. Eventually, Deku gets them out of the alleyway and up the stairs to his apartment. As everyone is filing into the room, Deku grabs Bakugou’s shirt. 

“Kacchan, why were you all just crying in the alley?” 

Bakugou takes one look at him and thinks about five years ago. He thinks about the terror he felt when he saw him almost die, and it makes him want to vomit. Or maybe that’s the alcohol. Whatever. 

“We had to say goodbye,” he whispers then follows his friends. They’ve crashed on the floor, and he can see that the girls are already nodding off. Sighing, he grabs them blankets and drapes it over them. “Idiots,” he mutters.

He turns back to Deku, eyes flicking down to his arms, noticing his braces are off. The tension leaves his shoulders as Deku wraps his arms around him. 

“I know what day it is,” Deku whispers. “I’m sorry.”

Bakugou says nothing. Instead, he just holds his friend closer.