#bnha 376 spoilers

[linkspooky]

My Hero Academia, Chapter 376 Thoughts

Short chapter this week so there is not much to say, besides the obvious question. The heroes strategy with divide and conquer has failed, Hawks does not face Twice directly but rather chooses to go after AFO. Hawks announces to Enji the change in strategy and that he will have to be the one to take care of Toya now. Enji seems to be finally facing Toya, so what will he do with his son, try to battle him, or try to talk him down?

1. Let's all Take Bets

@transhawks and I have a running bet on what exactly Enji is going to do next because our opinion is the exact opposite. I am on the side that Enji is not really in a mental space where the first thing he's going to try to do is talk Toya down. I think the requirement to do that would be Enji finally beginning to view Toya as his own person which I am going to argue below he still has not done yet.

We have seen a peak inside of Enji's head fairly recently, so let's review that scene. The first thing Enji focuses on when he's self reflecting is how taking on the burdens of atonement for his past has made him even weaker than he already is now.

The biggest flaw in his thinking is shown right away with the way his younger self phrases what his problem is. Enji seems to think the source of all of this, the very origin of the decision to abuse his family and use his children for his ambition to surpass All Might is that he was too physically weak. That if he had been strong enough to surpass All Might on his own merit, that somehow, none of this ever would have happened.

I'm actually going to express an unpopular opinion, I don't think the flashback we see of Enji's origin story is unnecessary here I think it adds to his character. Enji feels abandoned by his father at a young age, because his father was too weak to save the girl from the criminal he was fighting against.

His father's flaw was being too weak to play hero, and his attempt at a good deed not only left Enji traumatized by the sight of his father's corpse, but also with no father figure for the rest of his developmental years. He is wearing a UA uniform in this flashback, and it's said in side materials (the light novels) that Enji's insane and toxic obsession with All Might started as early as UA.

If his father's failure was being too weak to defeat a villain, it almost makes sense in a twisted way, that in Enji's own headspace being stronger than villains, and being a competent hero and a provider for his family is him doing his job as a father.

This is as far back as the Pro-Hero Arc, Enji feels a sense of accomplishment from defeating the High End Nomu and surviving the battle, and comes home to find that nobody cares that he did a good job winning the battle. He expected that being a good hero that Shoto could look up to, would somehow fix their relationship so far.

That's actually a good origin for Enji's toxic mentality, and explanation for his behavior, he despises any weakness within himself, and the trouble he has with his atonement arc is that admitting to fault within himself counts as showing that weakness. He would rather be a strong hero than a failure of a father. All good, it's just after this scene Enji doesn't really progress. The way to go would be "Weakness = Okay" because all people are weak. You learn to get healthier by showing emotional vulneraiblity, which is just what Enji was raging about because admitting his mistakes and his atonement makes him vulnerable in a way he doesn't like. However, instead of doing that, he decides to continue "raging against his weakness." Of course, if his weakness is like "I did bad things in the past because I was an emotionally weak person and took it out on others" then yes, he shouldn't see that as a good thing. But like, Enji literally talks about how his weakness is just "not being a superman".

Enji's actions in his mental space don't really indicate the fact that he's moved on either, the thing he does is strangle his teenage self, and considering that Enji projects himself onto his children hard having this relationship with his personal weaknesses isn't the best thing.

He tells Natsuo that he was never trying to neglect them, but like it was a pretty clear and deliberate action on Enji's choice, he even physically seperated Shoto from the rest of his siblings and hired a nanny so he wouldn't have to take care of them. Enji even phrases Toya's death as a "mistake" in his recollection, again not a deliberate choice on his part to neglect him for years.

As I said above, Enji has trouble admitting when he's done something wrong, because that is admitting to a vulernability and he can't show any of those, no siree!

There's just a lot of negative foreshadowing in the way that Enji sees Toya. From the start he always pictures him in his head as Dabi smiling maniacally, not the twelve year old boy he continually let down. There's this scene where Shoto mentions that they have to handle Toya together, even referring to him differently than he usually does (I think he uses otousan rather than oyajii) but Enji only sees Dabi's maniacal face once again and averts his eyes.

He pictures Dabi the same way on the hospital bed, when he's expressing reluctance to face Toya on his hospital bed, he automatically jumps to having to fight him, like there isn't another way this could work out.

As far back as Dabi's reveal itself, Enji's first reaction is that Toya could have been the one to smash away all of the ugliness in his heart. Which indicates a deeper underlying problem.

Once again Enji projects himself onto his children, he puts all of his positive traits onto Shoto, and his negative ones onto Toya, after all Toya was the one born weak, who's body was too weak for his quirk which made the overheating flaw that Enji was trying to avoid even more of a problem for Toya. Enji avoids Toya because Toya himself reminds Enji of all of his worst flaws, and this happens even in early childhood. When Toya continues to train, Enji only sees it as "he got that stubbornness from me." Toya's unwillingness to give up is Enji's. Dabi himself is Enji's mistake. Dealing with Dabi is Enji's duty. Enji has not really walked outside of his own head to understand Toya himself as both a person, and a child, because ultimately it is about him, his duties, his atonement.

When he sees Shoto marching off to the future, Toya isn't really included among those people. Does he think Toya has a future? Does he think Toya has a chance of coming back? Nothing he says has clearly indicated that, all signs point to he still considers Shoto the success, the one with the future, whereas Toya is the failure and Enji's greatest mistake.

As for Toya himself, he may just be baiting Enji into fighting him as a last ditch method of making his father fail. If he can't kill Shoto in front of Enji to ruin everything Enji tried to do, then he can at least make it so Enji's atonement can never truly be complete by killing himself. That is part of Toya's speech during Dabi's dance, he wanted to give Enji the chance to feel like he was doing better as a hero, and a father, before tearing the rug out from under him. Dabi's lines here also remind me heavily of Nine's just before his death.

Dabi's biggest goal of all is to ruin Enji as a hero, so if Enji cannot save his own son he's failed both as a hero and in his atonement considering Dabi says he can't truly complete his dream now it might be a last ditch effort.

My only argument against this is Toya probably doesn't consider himself one of Enji's "precious things" because the whole reason he turned into Dabi in the first place, is that the Todorokis buried him and very little changed about the family like he never existed to begin with.

The language Hawks uses when instructing Enji what he's supposed to do is "Stop" once again rather than save, which is what Shoto said before failing to get through to Toya "just stop already".

So, like I said this can go one of two ways. If Enji follows Hawks plan then he is most likely just going to try to face Toya in a physical fight and "stop" him physically rather than reaching out to him emotionally. Or, Enji goes against Hawks plans and tries some other way of reaching out to Toya, and at that point I believe Transhawks theory is the most likely.

[anyosu]

HETEROCHROMIA BAKUGO CANON

HIS EYE IS THE SAME GREY COLOR AS EDGESHOT'S EYES

Edit: this has now been disproven following the official scans releasing - Bakugo does not have heterochromia (sadly)

[mettywiththenotes]

SAYING EACH OTHER’S NAME

[aashi-heartfilia]

The Ultimate Hero: Uravity

So, I guess the biggest plot point I have noticed for Ochako is to not let people go.

On one hand, we have Deku:

The greatest asset for the heroes; all tattered and bruised running away from his own comfort and happiness to protect his loved ones because the hero society has brainwashed him into thinking that heroism is all about sacrifice and he is the only one who can offer that.

And then, we have Toga.

A cunning villain according to the heroes, a constant thorn on their side.

But in reality, Toga's not a monster that she's perceived to be. She was just an unlucky girl born with a cursed quirk that led her friends and even family boycotting her.

A teenage girl, whose feelings are all over the place. A girl who loves heroes and wants to be like them. A person whose biggest question is that her life matters or not?

And then, we have Ochako.

More under the cut_

Who has failed thrice in reaching out:

First, when she didn't go after Bakugo. She convinced everyone else too, to not go after Bakugo in the Hideout Raid arc because of her own passiveness.

And then she even regrets later and tries to fix things up. But well we know how it goes.

Then she failed to save Sir Nighteye. He was a hero, that died in her arms and there was nothing she could do but helplessly watch.

We see some character development as she rushed to save Deku from the Black whip but just mindlessly running into danger without a plan in mind is not the best solution to a problem Chako cheeks.

But, baby-steps.

We have Toga. It's because she failed to answer Toga's question properly during the war (not that I blame her for it, considering the situation) that Toga turned into the villain she is now.

And finally we have Deku. A product of the society who's brainwashed into thinking that it's his Destiny to suffer in silence because he's a hero.

And yes, there is reason Ochako is highlighted here.

Deku isn't just a random person. He is her best friend and a fellow hero who is willing to suffer in silence for the greater good.

But doesn't he deserves to rest?

This is the bigger questions of the story asked several times.

Who is a Hero?

How do you define a hero?

A figure who doesn't flatter in a situation no matter how dire?

Or someone willing to stand up against the injustice?

Or just a tool of violence to keep villains down?

And that is exactly why Deku is the first person that Ochako saves. Not his life, bit his heart.

It's noticable how much importance heart is given in MHA. A story about saving the hearts of people.

This is also the reason why Ochako succeeds where even Best Jeanist fails.

The No#03 hero, Best Jeanist, a fan favourite, failed to convince the angry and panicked mob because he said that Deku is their biggest asset in this war and that they need him to win. Because in their eyes, an asset is what he is.

A tool, a weapon.

And tools can be kept anywhere. They don't have feelings. Why UA?

Because he's also a human.

More precisely, he's a High-schooler.

He shouldn't even be fighting there.

He has plenty to learn himself.

And like how All Might gave him the right to be hero..

Ochako gave him the right to rest, as human.

For Toga:

We've seen that Ochako looking back to her fight with Toga at the mansion. She was regretting about her actions as a person, something she did not considered before.

And now, she's on the battlefield ready to save both heroes and villains because they're both people. They are powerful but they're just as helpless when it comes to them.

They have bad pasts and horrible things happening to them.

They make mistakes and they're put on pedestal, but

Their lives matter.

Their happiness matters.

Their smile matters.

So, Uraraka's arc is about humanizing both heroes and villains. How they both are the victims of this superhuman society and how they both deserve peace and quite.

Which is why I think Ochako will be the turning point of this manga, now that everything have possibly gone wrong in the worst way possible.

Toga is out with her sad man's parade and dabi is there too, along with AFO all because Spinner's voice reached Kurogiri.

Ochako's name means a 'bright and sunny day' and her power is literally making things weightless. So what if she makes this entire deals weightless by getting Toga on their side?

Principal Nezu already said in his speech that they're just one step away...from understanding each other. And taking that first step is always hard...and when someone takes that impossible step, it leads to the birth of a true hero.

And yes, URAVITY is that hero.

A symbol of hope.

The greatest hero that will surpass even All Might.

[helga-grinduil]

sorry, but i don't think it's unreasonable for endeavor to ask touya if shouto is alive. the last time he saw touya, touya was trying to kill shouto to get enji's attention, and now he appeared using shouto's technique (after they got the news that shouto 'won' against touya). earlier, he was worried about both of them.

but touya is here right now and he's clearly alive, while shouto is nowhere to be seen and endeavor has no idea is he's dead or alive. it's a logical thing to be worried about, and it's not like he doesn't think about touya at all - the last page is literally him thinking about keeping an eye on touya.

[lylylylyy]

As a Touya stan I'm frustrated with the new chapter because Enji still mainly saw Touya as some kind of responsibility, not his kid wanting his attention from the very beginning.

When Enji faces Touya, the first thing we know about him is that he notices phosphor, which leads to the question of asking about Shouto's well-being.

Enji's question is rather reasonable since Touya made it clear that killing Shouto is his goal, and it's natural for Enji to be concerned about Shouto, the kid he showed to care the most in the series who could be dead. However, what annoys me is that he showed no concern about Touya's health-I mean, looking at Touya. The whole fandom and the characters in the manga are all wondering how he could be alive. He is basically on his last legs yet Enji here showed zero concern about this fact.

Contrary to Enji's concern for Touya in the previous chapter, he chose to ask the rather triggering question related to Touya's whole trauma of being thrown away by his parents for his younger brother, which is not beneficial for Touya's overall health state at all. Seeing this, I couldn't help but feel that some people in the fandom are way too optimistic about Enji's parenting skills. He is trying, yet his attempt is far from a good try, so I don't think the worries and frustrations are unsupported in the text.

Also, I noticed the final words, "父に課されたのは…" after the last panel. It's not Enji pov but still represents the author's attitude towards Enji's emotions.

父 means father, and 課された is not a very good word here. It means be imposed on, usually used to describe a burden or loan. Thus it gives me the feeling that the next chapter will not be the heart-to-heart conversation about Enji's love for Touya when he was young, just a talk about the responsibilities Enji had to take. No potential affection or caring parents vibes, only some obliged resignation.

I understand that Enji's reactions would absolutely make sense, since Enji was never a kind person in the past and he's not used to the thought of caring for Touya as a parent for 10 years. But as a person whose supposed redemption arc of becoming a decent father is receiving so many praises, Enji in this chapter feels pretty lame and upsets me because he failed to reach that bar again.

Horikoshi's been pretty busy, and I hope he could get the rest that he deserves. I understand that this chapter is short due to his alarming health condition and we will get the next chapter where meaningful things would probably happen between Touya and Enji. However, judging from the text, their upcoming interactions seem rather dim and uncertain to me.

We know that Enji thinks his mission(my translation of 使命, the word he used in the chapter) is to keep eyes on Touya, but keeping eyes on Touya now won't just magically remove the pain of being rejected for over a decade. I pessimistically think it would be just another battle shounen fighting scene, where Enji takes damages from Touya and fails to say anything that would be impactful enough to stop Touya from his self-destructive mental state. It might make a difference as Shouto and his Phosphor did, but it won't be strong enough to totally chill Touya. I just hope the next chapter will prove that I was wrong.

Considering the cultural background, the typical harsh East-Asian father Enji would not suddenly become a person that has no shame in acknowledging his affection and worries towards his son. Like the scene with Natsuo getting kidnapped, I strongly doubt that he would give the interactions western society considered the right things to do.

As for the Todoroki endgame, I can't help but think about Shouto, who genuinely desired to know his brother despite the sad fact they probably shared 0 good memories in the past. Touya 100% knows that his crimes would be a burden for his father, but as a person with very low self-worth, he won’t anticipate his family to want him back as a beloved member. I feel it pretty unrealistic if Enji turns out to be a loving A+ parent and solves Touya's issues all by himself, so I believe the narratives won't just go that far.

Therefore, I assume the father-son fighting scene would end with Shouto interfering. However, another scene of stopping Touya with ice again would be pretty unnecessary. My guess is AFO would do something stupid and Toga would be convinced by Ochako to stop the parade and help her friends, and Shouto might come to help Touya take AFO.

PS: I am not a native English speaker so I might end up writing weird or offensive sentences while not knowing about them. Please tell me if I was wrong or being rude _(:з」∠)_

[is-bakugou-alive-yet]

Is Bakugou alive yet?

12/21/2022

No

[littleholmes]

“This time around, I’m finally seeing you.”

I think Endeavor’s finally realizing Touya is his son? Which…he should’ve realized it this entire time but he’s been so clouded by his need to be Number 1 and better than All Might and have children who can exceed AM’s level that he hasn’t seen his children for who they are—but really, he hasn’t even appreciated any of his kids as they are or for who they’ve become and what their quirks can do because he’s been so far up his own ideals.

The start of the war with Touya’s reveal, the hospital family meeting with Rei and the kids, and now these final battles, plus all of Touya’s monologues, plus the fights between Shouto and Touya, and Touya coming back again and again…

I think all of this finally managed to shake him out of his own cloud so he can finally see his family as his family and not tests and lab equipment. (The fact that it took all of this for Enji to get it just highlights how deep he was in his warped sea and state of mind.)

idk I’m rambling but perhaps this means that now, much too late, as Touya’s racing toward him engulfed in white hot flames, E doesn’t see an experiment or even a villain, but his son

[animehime94]

Interesting Development...

AFO is going to where Tomura is.

If I remember correctly, our sunshine Izuku is fighting Tomura.

Which means....

DFO REVEAL IS FINALLY COMING

Especially because we had Dabi reveal in a similar way 🥰

I'm so excited for the upcoming "Izuku, I'm your father" scene 🥹

[dabiscrispyankles]

HES GOT THE HIGH GROUND

[dabisqueen]

Sir, it's time to take him out of the frying pan.

[9trixieturner6]

Wow I am so pleasantly surprised with the results, I wasn't expecting kaminari or enji in the top 10 let alone enji in the top 5. The rest isn't the most surprising but I can't complain. Love the special art piece, everyone has great energy. So many great designs but I think I love Ochaco's hat the best.

[mettywiththenotes]

Togachako break-up arc 😔

[aashi-heartfilia]

She will go against the norms

So, what if this talk about Love is not what we think it is? We've already seen this parallel between Shouto and Chako that they both try to stop their foils, but what if Ochako will be the first person to actually save a villain?

We've already seen her thinking about Toga in the previous chapters and ever since this fight started, she just wanted to talk things out.

So what if these feelings Froppy was talking about aren't the feelings for Deku but rather about her thoughts on the hero society?

More under the cut.

How heroes are always put on pedestal and seen as the light in shining armour? Aren't heroes also humans?

If a hero is someone who suffers in silence, what do we call someone as dire as you?

And this line hits hard, not because Deku is someone close to Ochako but also because Deku is an image of Heroism for Ochako.

She liked Deku in the first place because she thought he was cool but she immediately figured out that it was wrong. She should be giving her all to achieve her dreams as well.

It's also noticable how it's always someone else (especially Mina) pointing out Ochako likes Deku. And Mina is someone who loves to gossip. She'll see two people taking a walk and say they're on a date.

And just because it's a shonen, we're also made to believe that Ochako is the heroine of the story and her only role is to end up with the Deku.

. Even she wasn't thinking about it until Mina makes it a point.

.

Ochako does not like Deku and the feelings she always felt were just a result of her own insecurity as a hero!

After the war arc, we see that her arc is not just about Deku anymore. She wants to save people, she wants to fight for their smile.

Over the cliff, she was thinking about Toga, how the villain was shedding tears.

She always saw Deku's struggle to be hero because he was always right infront of her.

Before a hero, he is a human and he deserves to be loved, he deserves to rest, he deserves to sit in peace and he deserves to smile, just like anyone and everyone around.

That's what Ochako's arc has always been about...

To humanize Heroes who are seen as nothing but a tool to shut down the so called evil and maintain this temporary peace which is honestly nothing but an illusion...

And to save villains who are victims to the society first.

Throughout the story we've seen Heroes trample people for the collective good of the society.

Hawks killing twice is an example.

Endeavour neglecting Touya is an example.

Aizawa deciding to shut down Kurogiri is an example.

Toga unleashing Sad Man's Parade is an example, of how shutting down people will only cause them to react even further.

And resorting to violence is not an option. Just like everyone, heroes are also people who can make mistakes.

But then Villains are also people. The individuals who were victims first. They reacted because the society failed them.

So, I think Ochako will be the first one to advocate for the villains.

She will be the first one to talk things through with Toga and put a stop to Sad Man's Parade that will be the trigger to the major events from now on.

It will also be iconic because Ochako and Tsuyu were the 2 main people who during the Bakugo retrieval arc stopped everyone from going after Bakugo saying that they will be no more than the villains themselves.

So for them to stand up and protect Toga? Hell yeah!

Thanks for reading!

[tinyshinysylveon]

BNHA 376 SUMMARY

_(:3 」∠)_

[is-bakugou-alive-yet]

how many days has it been?

145 days and counting