#but when horikoshi then wanted to show that not all villains are fully evil so he took endeavour's SON WHO HE ABUSED

[hella1975]

hi sorry i dont even go here (bnha) i DO go here tho (your fics are pretty cool) but i couldve sworn most of the story in bnha was the pain that moral purism puts on a society, especially one of heroes and villains? and i couldve sworn that especially later into series, it got even more in your face about the morally grey and dubious nature of pinning all your hope into the black and white dichotomy that society would have you believe in? and that its healthier to BE morally grey rather than deny its existence all together and stick to your Idea of Purity Above All Else. or somefin. again i dont even go here, it just seems like "This is an abuser and this is the victim" is probably the simplist version of that idea horikoshi couldve written.

yknow. in the middle of a plot thats absolutely thick with it.

sorry you have some weird anons rn, but its my understanding that youre properly assessing the curtains

yep, you hit the nail on the head! ive said multiple times that ive adored mha's handling of morality so far, because it puts you with these excited young kids who want to be heroes because why wouldnt they want to be? heroes are the coolest and this society happens to be built around them and, cooler still, they're some of the lucky few that get to be trained to be heroes at a top school! and the viewer follows that, thinks the plot really will be that simple where we follow these lovable teens on their journey to become heroes, all the while with villains causing problems and testing their resolve.

but the heroes arent all good. and the villains arent all bad. and it's revealed to you very, very slowly but very, very thoroughly and the end result is devastating.

and the fandom looked at it and went 'okay! so these are the good characters and these are the bad characters'

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 410: Kacchan Fights a Baby

Previously on BnHA: Kacchan was born and then he grew up and murdered the Demon Lord.

Today on BnHA: Kacchan fights a baby. Tomura and Deku finally remember that they were supposed to have been fighting too this entire time, and get on with that once again. Tomura is all, “[literally just reaches out and grabs Deku’s face because Deku’s main character powers suddenly abandoned him in a fit of confusion].” Deku is all, “[chops off Tomura’s fingers which is somehow not even in the top twenty of violent things that have happened in this series in just the last five chapters].” Tomura is all “joke’s on you I still got your quirk :D” and fuck me he actually stole Danger Sense, what the fuck.

logically I knew AFO still had to be alive somehow because he’s too big of a villain to go out that easily without a proper sendoff. but deep in my heart, I’m still secretly disappointed

it just isn’t fair, lol. this guy has died more times than Rasputin and he’s still out here scheming his schemey schemes. when oh when will it end

sir you did not just say you had yet ANOTHER unused trump card up your sleeve??

(ETA: the translation isn’t fully clear here, but I think the trump card he’s referring to is the whole “I’ll just go back inside him and join the part of me that was already in there and we’ll take over Tomura’s body again together” plan that he was trying to pull off. I think. if not though, that’s certainly something worth speculating about.)

well as always the psychology in this series is unironically fascinating! he just wants acknowledgement at the end of the day, huh. just wants some love and attention. too bad he was born in a rat-infested hellscape and learned all the wrong lessons and turned into a crazed omnipotent murderlad

also he really did turn back into a baby sdfsdlkjfl oh no. I need to see Katsuki’s reaction to this immediately

oh my lord

(●__●)

lmao this is so incredibly fucked up

ngl though, this is karma at its finest. he tortured and killed so many people trying to earn everyone’s fear and awe and reverence, only to literally blip out of existence at the end with absolutely nothing to show for it

everyone please enjoy this series of panels of a deeply vexed Bakugou Katsuki picking a fight with this slowly melting evil baby

“you think I care that you’re a baby now. you think I won’t fight a fuckin’ baby. let’s do this you little punk”

also I’m sorry but it’s absolutely ridiculous that the gigantic chest wound Tomura inflicted on him got sewed up so neatly lol. AFO’s not the only one who stubbornly refuses to die no matter what

...

just once, it would be nice if Horikoshi didn’t immediately shred my plot nitpicks to pieces mere seconds after I write them

LMAO

BABY AFO DON’T CARE. BABY AFO WILL THROW HANDS WITH ANYONE ＼(｀0´)／

KACCHAN MY BELOVED FAVE OF ALL TIME, ARE YOU REALLY ABOUT TO LOSE TO A LITERAL FUCKING INFANT

WHAT HAPPENED TO “PERFECT VICTORY” LMAO. MOVING THE GOALPOSTS EVEN AS HIS CONSCIOUSNESS FADES. “EH, CLOSE ENOUGH”

-- OH FOR THE LOVE OF --

me: wow it sure is uncharacteristic of Katsuki to just pass out before he properly wraps up this battle

Horikoshi: oh yeah good point, sure would be a shame if someone... IMMEDIATELY ADDRESSED THAT CONCERN ON THE VERY NEXT PAGE

me: ఠ_ఠ

ldskjflaksdjfkds

fdsfsdkf. “SORRY ABOUT THAT, FOR A MOMENT THERE I ALMOST FORGOT TO BEND THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE TO MY WILL”

holy fucking shit. his body was all “um, just a quick reminder that you’re HORRIBLY WOUNDED and have lost like ten gallons of blood and all of your cells are about to call an emergency meeting to shut this thing down before you get us all killed.” and he was all “WHAT WAS THAT?!” and his body was all “oh my GOD, FUCK, OKAY just forget we said anything”

and meanwhile Baby AFO is just lying there all “(◉⌓◉)”

this six-month-old child is truly and sincerely still trying to kill Kacchan while screeching death threats in high-pitched baby talk

this actually would have killed him too, if he’d succeeded in passing out. all that just to be punk’d by a damn baby

you are actually shitting me right now

at this point I’m genuinely not sure which of them has the more powerful angry toddler energy

oh no ffuffkdsfk

meeeeelting. meeeeeeltiiiiiing!!! oh what a world what a world

jesus Horikoshi I am genuinely speechless

... welp

WAIT NO WAY, REALLY?!?!

?!?!?! WAS IT ACTUALLY THAT SIMPLE THIS WHOLE TIME

-- lkjf

three times. three times in the same fucking chapter. I give up. apparently I’ll literally believe anything this man says. does it feel good, Horikoshi. preying on your readers’ hopeful naivete

yeefuckinghaw lmao

GOOD JOB KACCHAN YOU DEFEATED THE EVIL BABY

awwwww

I actually had a theory about this! well more of a wishlist item, really. I can’t remember if I’ve actually posted about it yet or not. but it’s like. you know how Deku and Kacchan are always being really dramatic about holding hands? wanting to hold hands; not wanting to hold hands; being afraid to hold hands; holding hands via proxy, etc. etc.?

and you know how both Endeavor and All Might have each done their own version of the victory pose that Kacchan is referring to here? with each one using a different hand?

so you see, I was thinking that it might be nice. might be a little poetic and all that. if at the end of the fight, Deku and Kacchan did, in fact, hold hands. and then did the victory pose together. and it became like their iconic hero moment. them standing there together. having accomplished their goal and defeated TomurAFO through teamwork. realizing their shared childhood dream. and sharing that moment of triumph with each other and with the world, ushering in a new era of heroes

anyway yeah. I was thinking that might be a pretty good ending. but it looks like Kacchan maybe really is about to pass out here now, lol, so maybe not? anyways time to finally scroll down

-- okay I literally said awww again out loud

what a fucking nerd. I have never felt more fondness for a character in my life

every damn person watching this on the news better have leaped to their feet and started applauding, goddammit. those motherfuckers better be CHANTING HIS FUCKING NAME. all those nagging reporters better be bombarding his phone with calls. those fuckers who deleted his footage from the Shouto interview better be shamelessly leaving him dozens of voicemails acting like none of that ever happened and presumptuously asking when he can free some time in his schedule to visit their studio again. all the heroes who haven’t hugged him yet better be lining the fuck up. that one guy from the post-kidnapping press conference in chapter 86 better be writing a fifty page letter of apology!!

oh hey it’s a random pre-battle flashback mysteriously taking place in Troy “a few days before the battle” even though I thought they only moved into that place the night before the fight

I love how Katsuki immediately narrows his eyes (I assume. we can’t see for sure but that’s the vibe I get) at Jeanist and has to resist the urge to call the police on him for that pun

so Hadou’s wondering what Jeanist is talking about because they already evacuated the civilians, so what else are they trying to protect. and Edgeshot is all, “well obviously we’ve gotta protect everyone’s future,” which is a nice... rearshadowing?? for him saving Katsuki’s life later on lol

and now Mirko is all “get to the fucking point already.” which, same

so Jeanist says that Tomura is an even bigger problem than AFO, because at least AFO doesn’t want to murder everyone on the entire planet. and he concludes with “he’ll probably try to touch the ground and use his quirk.” which is a conclusion that I have to say wasn’t really worth two pages of flashback buildup for, considering that we all figured that out years ago

I’m guessing this is all just some sort of awkward transition back to Deku’s fight now lol

and now we’re getting two pages of exposition on how long it would theoretically take Tomura’s Decay to spread throughout the city, and then the entire country, yikes

damn. talk about stakes

and now finally back to Deku!!

shoutout to everyone who correctly predicted that Deku was once again talking out of his ass when it came to being out of Gearshifts. we all knew. unlimited supply

wow Tomura way to throw AFO under the bus

the way I recall it, AFO wasn’t the one who failed to kill him back then lol. but go ahead and talk your shit king

DEKU WHAT ARE YOU DOING

holy shit?!?!

like my first thought was “well last time he did this he just tried to steal OFA rather than Decay him, so he’ll probably try that again and it’ll be fine.” only to remember that the AFO inside Tomura is currently permanently(?) out to lunch, and Tomura himself doesn’t give two figs about stealing OFA. so, uhhhh >_>

(ETA: nevermind.)

but then this happened

Deku what the actual fuck

OH MY GOD??!?!

HOLY SHIT

okay. okay, fuck. lemme gather up my thoughts, and then we’ll wrap this up

they’ll never admit it, but you know the other OFA Vestiges secretly resented Shino a tiny bit for being the only one of them to not be gruesomely murdered. bet they all feel guilty for thinking that now

Shino and Banjou also seemed to have this cute little pseudo-rivalry thing going on, so I really feel bad for Banjou now. :/ he looks so horrified in that bottom right panel

gotta admit, I did not see this coming in the slightest. OFA has been this immutable “I do what I want!” quirk for so long that I never thought Tomura or AFO would actually succeed in stealing it, even partially. that shook me to my core

BUT, it’s also really exciting to me because it’s going to make this battle much more interesting if Deku can’t use his get out of jail free card. shit just got way more real and I’m here for it

lastly, so! let me tell you guys my prediction. I still can’t see Tomura being the final villain lol. I just can’t. it feels too anticlimactic. if I’m wrong, I’m wrong, and I’ve certainly botched MANY predictions in the past, but I have not yet learned my lesson from any of it and I will not apologize lol

so here’s what I think. Deku and Tomura battle it out for the next chapter or two, and Tomura snatches up more of Deku’s quirks one by one. we see all of the Vestiges disappearing and the mood gets more and more desperate. eventually we’re down to just Kudou and Yoichi. Deku is panicking, but for some reason Kudou seems even MORE panicked

Kudou/Gearshift eventually gets stolen too, and it looks like this might finally be it for Deku (I have no idea how he’d stop Tomura from Decaying the ground once Blackwhip gets stolen, btw, but maybe Katsuki or someone else interferes in desperation towards the end). but just when it looks like Tomura is finally going to take the last piece of OFA, Deku’s vibes suddenly do a 180, stopping Tomura in his tracks

cut to the OFA Moon Gorgeous Meditation Realm, where Deku and Yoichi are staring at the door -- yes, that door -- in shock. because it’s finally been opened (now that the other Vestiges are no longer there to keep it at bay). and just like that, enter AFO, for the THIRD FUCKING TIME :D :D

tl;dr, HERE’S HOW HORCRUX!DEKU CAN STILL HAPPEN!!! wait where are you all going. wait come back

anyway so wow that was a really bizarre chapter that I truly thoroughly enjoyed, which should probably be a bit concerning. on to the next two week break! (for anyone who’s not aware, Shounen Jump will be on break next week, so yeah.) I’m on chapter 391 now. so close but still so far. the end of the year has gone by too damn fast tbh

[bibibbon]

something that i can’t stand when it comes to this fandom is that basically no one can wrap their head around the fact that a victim can also be an abuser.

yes, rei was physically and emotionally abused by endeavor. yes, she was literally sold to him.

but she also just completely checked out and left fuyumi to pick up the slack.

yes, it’s not her fault that the abuse caused her to shut down, but as a result of that she neglected her children.

after she left fuyumi had to raise her brothers and become the woman of the house.

again, at the end of the day the root cause of the abuse is endeavor, but rei had checked out even before dabi's death.

it’s not victim blaming to point out the fact that rei neglected her kids. victim blaming would be saying that the abuse she suffered was her fault.

sometimes this fandom can be so fucking braindead. it’s always black and white, good or bad, hero or villain.

there is not a soul on this earth who is 100% a pure and good person.

all might, knowing full well what one for all contained and the massive responsibility that came with it. including an old wrinkly guy who will stop at nothing to take it, to a child and then proceed to not tell the aforementioned child what he was getting himself into. he with held crucial information because he knew that if he told izuku everything there was a chance he wouldn’t take it.

on the flip side, no one is 100% evil.

dabi cares deeply for the league, even though he doesn’t show it. shigaraki is literally the only person he will take orders from. some people may think he showed everyone hawks killing twice just for more ammo against the hero's. but thats not true at all. he cared about twice, and he wanted the world to know who he was. he wanted the hero’s to know that twice was human.

again i’m fucking rambling but i just hate how this fandom can be allergic to nuance and critical thinking.

I do think that many people do want a simple answer because at the end of the day it's easy to root for the good guys and boo the bad guys. There's also the fact that the narrative itself does sometimes struggle in creating a proper grey space morally.

Take for example the abuse victims in MHA. A lot of them are straight up innocent perfect heroes victims like izuku (who can never feel resentment in the narrative) and shoto while the others are straight up villains like Dabi and shigaraki. There's no in between with these characters and it's annoying. I remember talking with @mikeellee she has her saying of Shigaraki being the dark deku which honestly after that chapter where izuku comes into contact with a evil version of himself makes more sense.

I do agree with you in the sense that no one is 100% good or evil and in a way almost everyone is a victim to hero society. All might did willingly give a quirk that has a big responsibility to a naive quirkless child and all might is a bad mentor. However, at the same time all might is also a victim to a society he contributed to creating which is honestly so ironic and I wish horikoshi would explore these aspects of all mights character yet he doesn't and just gave us iron might (I dont like iron might tbh).

Also I love the fact that you brought up Rei himura and honestly Iam a big advocate for giving rei a redemption arc since it would of been more interesting and it would actually make sense to give her one than giving enji todoroki one. Rei was a victim and yes motherhood is difficult especially with the fact that she was abused and stripped of autonomy or agency but she also wasn't the best mother and that's something she does recognise in the narrative. My main problem however, is that the narrative doesn't allow her to fully engage with the family and she doesn't do much about it. Yes she apologises to both shoto and touya but what about her other children?!?! What about fuyumi who had to take on the role of a mother and shoulder a huge family burden? What about natsou who was also neglected?!?!. I say by giving rei himura a redemption arc the series can do so much that being actually involving the entire todoroki family into this, having more introduction to the hospital arc that may connect both touya and Rei and you can also have Rei make a connection with genten as @nyc3 suggested.

However, this also applies to the flip side. Characters like twice, shigaraki and Dabi aren't completely evil. Yes they have done bad things, yes they are bad people but they are also victims of the hero system and hero society. I do think that the leauge is a bit underdeveloped and I did definitely want more development between Dabi and shigaraki's while frenemies fiasco going on.

In the end I do think that almost every fandom may be allergic to nuance in one way or another. I do actually mean this because I remember seeing people try and say that Eren Yeager is completely good while some tried saying that he is completely evil but in reality he is complex and layered. You really can't put a definitive label on the aot characters because they all did their fair share of good and bad things and that's what makes them well written and enjoyable.

[kitsunefyuu]

I was really disappointed with the fact that we never had a completely recovered AFO, like the most we had was the rewind, which to be honest doesn't count, since besides having had it like that for a short time, and it wasn't really a recovered body it was he's simply younger, his true form continues to be the potato, since his vestige is still like that, I wanted an AFO without having this time bomb that is Rewind (which honestly doesn't make sense, the AFO gets younger the more it gets hurt , Izuku prevented him from rejuvenating by getting hurt) I wanted that unstoppable and imposing threat that was AFO in his prime, someone can say we have Tomura for that, I'll be honest with you I think Tomura is a terrible villain, and he's a simple destroyer he doesn't convey the evil aura of the AFO, in addition to not supporting the Quirk 100%, after all, cracks on the body are a bad omen, anyway, sorry for the long question, I just needed to get this off my chest

Honestly, there a chance that Horikoshi just keeps progressively changing his ideas. As maybe he did originally plan for AFO to be fully recovered. But changed his mind to focus on Tomura as much as I enjoy the save the victim- It not being executed in the best way.

NOT helped that Tomura as you said definitely isn't super evil final boss energy. But also the fact that Izuku kind of doesn't have a lot to relate to Tomura on. Unless we go to delve into all the bullshit that Izuku endured which MEANS calling out hero society.

Which if does that would work best with AFO who claims society will never change and always be exploited. Regardless it feels like Horikoshi had a LOT of stuff he wants to do with AFO. Yet because of how he paced everything and TOO many characters he was held back as a supervillain.

And you're always welcome to vent! AFO had the credentials to be a great supervillain as a kind of antithesis to all of society. As well as showing what happens when a 'victim' to abuser/monster pipeline becomes so reviled and allowed to fester so long. To become the very monster of society to take advantage and create more monsters like Tomura. Or just anything.

Tomura isn't simply a destroyer but you're right he definitely does not scream evil. He seems like like a Antivillain, he hates society but he actually likes his friends. He enjoys being around them and wants to destroy society because it sucks. Like damn he sounds like a protagonist almost!

It why I imagined Tomura and Izuku teaming up to take out AFO. As a kind of way to connect but welp that on me for not accounting for Bakugou needing his 'big moment'. 🫡

[haleigh-sloth]

hi haleigh! i dont know if im missing something but i dont think iunderstand what exactly is going on with shigaraki right now—last we've seen him after his battle with sns he was angry, it was his hatred of heroes and all might, his desire to destroy that we saw, but right now he just seems so out of it? do you have any thoughts on how his consciousness merging with AFO might manifest in coming chapters?

Hi!

So, I don't think there is a super clear cut answer for what's happening with Shigaraki's mental state right now, and we can only speculate based off of what we have seen so far. But I will say that all we know FOR SURE is:

His inner world is a fucking mess right now.

Also: I am going to be linking to a TON of past posts I've made that expand on points I'm making in this post better, because this post turned out kinda long. But the links will help explain my thoughts better in case I skim over some details here.

So the very first tell tale sign we got that something was off was back in chapter 329 when he appeared for the first time in so. fucking. long. when he hinted at the notion that HE HIMSELF is not completely sure of who he is:

And I had kinda figured that there was a weird disturbing mental struggle going on between Shigaraki and AFO, and I was kinda sorta right:

Throughout the entire S&S fight, it was kinda hard to tell who was talking at times. But I think that the majority of the time it was AFO's consciousness:

--with a little bit of Shigaraki poking through at times:

And then at the end of that fight, we got a little more insight into what's going on beneath the surface:

And then we get back to the evil villain lair and we see Shigaraki, once again, angry about All Might (very early-Shigaraki of him):

And then a little bit further, we see that he's doing much, much worse:

And....low and behold, he shows up to the final battle with blank eyes, and he is extremely passive and pretty much does nothing when he arrives on the battle field:

So the conclusion I personally came to about Shigaraki right now is:

The mental fight for who is in control has resulted in a stalemate. In other words, there is no real identity present and his body is on auto pilot. He will probably act on instinct, as in he won't let himself get killed, he'll go after OFA (because that's what AFO wants, and AFO's desires are kinda ingrained in Shigaraki atm), and he'll fight whoever is in the way. The reason I think this is because in chapter 344, him JUST saying "Dabi" was very passive and there was zero urgency, and I'm pretty sure he was trying to warn Dabi that there was something underground to be weary of. Also, the introduction of completely blank eyes shows us that something entirely new is going on that differs from AFO being fully in control or Shigaraki being fully in control. Another reason I think this is because it's not just Shigaraki and AFO we're talking about anymore. Tenko Shimura has been identified as a possible identity that is fighting for control:

Which is new, because Tenko Shimura has not really been acknowledged in anyone’s dialogue as an alternative to Tomura Shigaraki, until now.

Now, Tenko and Tomura are the same person through and through. BUT--as you can see in Horikoshi's symbolism with children, we know that Tomura is a GOTDAMN LIAR . Tomura Shigaraki is the "mass of destructive instincts and frustrations" (Horikoshi's words not mine) and Tenko Shimura is the true identity that just desperately wants a hero to give him what he's wanted since he was a child and save him, in every sense of the word (body, heart, and soul).

So I guess, TL;DR:

The struggle for whose identity is in control seems to have resulted in this auto pilot zombie that MIGHT (key word there because this is just speculation) only be acting on instinct.

I think once Midoriya does whatever he's gonna do to save him (in the vestige probably), we're gonna come back to the real world and see Shigaraki's eyes go back to normal and that's when we'll know that 1) Shigaraki is back in control and 2) Midoriya reached him and got through to him, and brought him back.

Again, this is just what I think based on what we have so far. I think we will get better answers once we see what the HELL Bakugo is going to do facing Shigaraki without Midoriya. He's obviously going to have some impact on Shigaraki because they have unfinished business, and Bakugo is undeniably tied to the OFA/AFO plot line. So we'll probably get more insight very soon.

[lurking96]

honestly, when i started bnha a couple years ago, i had such high hopes for the story and narrative, specifically addressing their world's view of good and bad, heroes and villains as purely black or white. I had hoped that it would eventually address the existence of toxic corporate powers that enable abusers, and that the systems in place to help people don't always acheive what they're supposed to, despite any good intentions.

I had also hoped for Bkg and Endeavour to get some comeuppance. Nothing made me more upset to see Shouto team up with Endeavour, and to see Touya painted as villain, specifically through Shouto's eyes. If there's anyone that understands the rage and sadness that Touya is fuelled by, it'd be his baby brother who ended up in the same position as he did. And I wished there was Izuku's perspective on the Touya reveal more, because seeing your abuser lorded as a good person and given an elevated position is something I feel like they related too.

Also I feel like Horikoshi enjoys/likes putting characters through traumatic events without fully thinking through the consequences that would influence their behaviour after the act. (Yes this is me stating the bakugou-todoroki friendship is actual bullshit. iida, todoroki and uraraka are izuku's real friends, i take no criticism.)

I have an au bouncing around my head with no AfO, where touya, tenko and izuku are all legally dead. ( touya's accident, tenko's quirk activation and izuku possibly listening to bkg's advice) but in reallity they're all alive and acting as informants/vigilantes for the underground. i may write it eventually but i digress.

tl;dr bnha narrative took a turn for the most disappointing and honestly kind of alarming with its rhetoric/sympathizing tone towards abusers. (hawks should have dropped endeavour like a sack of bricks, and i will stay mad about the fact that he didnt) and i am very disappointed.

The thing is. With his worldbuilding Hori had all the pieces there. He had established a society of Heroes and Villains. Where you have some Heroes only be into it for money and glory. Where you have tragic villains only being labeled as evil because they used their quirk. Where bad things can happen but those get ignored thanks to the quirk status of the people involved. He did not show us a Utopia but a somewhat working dystopia. Their society had cracks and it was shown from the start that it is all just a facade. Endeavor was set up as this person that is only in it to be number one. The privileged person in a position of power. He would do anything to reach the top. When they talked about quirk marriage this was not seen as a joking manner. This was serious. But then for whatever reason he decided to give Endeavor a redemption. And as part of it he decided to make him sympathetic by changing up how things were. Rei did not get hit by him. She simply tripped. Feels kinda like a retcon. It is not the worst redemption arc. But that does not make it great. Or needed. It´s a world filled with superpowers. A bit of a fantasy world you could say. And fantasy is not meant to be realistic. Yes. While there is some realism to make it well. Certain things can happen. The good guy can survive and get a happy ending. And the bad guy can land in prison striped of their power and influence. And yes. I am also not a fan of the friendship between Todoroki and Bakugou. Bakugou who repeatedly shows that he does not really want that. And Todoroki trying to befriend that guy that tells others to die, makes people flinch, is in it for the number 1 position and so on. I do not think he would normally befriend him. Probably would call him out from time to time. Shoto can be aloof but he can also run his mouth and call people out like with the chief of police in Hosu. So far even when the bad stuff comes out there do not seem any consequences attached. Yes. Right now there is a war going on so I can understand keeping Endeavor as heavy hitter around. But afterwards? Do they want to build their society on the atrocities of the past. Do they just want to keep going like nothing changed? Again it´s fantasy. It´s allowed to challenge the status quo and bring change. But if the message is that the status quo is fine then it is a rather bleak message.

[arkus-rhapsode]

MHA Chapter 315 Discussion-An Almost Great Conclusion, But Misses It’s Mark

Hi guys, Rhapsode here and it’s time for another MHA discussion. I haven’t really done one in a while, but after reading 315, I had a lot of thoughts I was working through. And before I start I want to say, I do not think this chapter is overtly bad. I think there’s a lot of good ideas to it, and overall nothing objectively bad. However, as the climax to this Deku vs Lady Nagant fight, I felt it didn’t quite hit its mark (pun not intended).

If you want my brief opinion of this current arc of “solo Deku”, I actually enjoy it quite a bit. I’m happy Horikoshi refocused on Deku after such a long war arc. As well as Deku FINALLY be proactive in his hero duties. No longer on the rails of the school setting. And I have especially enjoyed his current fight with Lady Nagant.

In terms of sheer action, it’s got a tried and true set up of a sniper battle, but then adds to it by taking the fight into the air. The action is hectic in all the right ways with the unpredictable bullets cutting up Deku as he dodges them with Danger Sense. As well as the introduction to a new quirk of OFA.

But where this fight really shines is Nagant and her origin. Lady Nagant was hero assigned to maintain the illusion of order by getting rid of potential threats and heroes up to no good for the Hero Safety Commission. Until being told to kill in the name of improving society and any of her activities being covered up finally weighed on her and she killed the then president of the Commission and placed in Tartarus. While she’s only hunting down Deku because she’s assigned to, she says that even if AFO wants to rule the world, it’d be more transparent than a return to the status quo.

It’s honestly a great reveal as it finally puts out in the open the actual corruption in the system that’s hinted at, but was never really delved into. But now it also finally has Deku confront the problems of the status quo that he’s grown up in. This isn’t an ideological battle like with Stain on the definition of hero or reaching people who have fallen through the cracks of society like Gentle. This is real flaws with the system that people have had faith in from the mouth of someone who has done their dirty work.

It’s something I think a lot of people have wanted to see. And I’m glad Horikoshi finally did dive into it the structural problems of hero society.

So how does this all get resolved in 315? How does all this end? Well after Lady Nagant targets Overhaul and shoots at him to make the situation harder for Deku to focus, Deku without hesitation goes into trying to save Overhaul (despite knowing Overhaul is a villain), Deku homages All Might and then shatters Nagant’s arm, and finally Deku makes an observation that Nagant wasn’t really going to hit Overhaul and that if she seeing the darkness of society, she knows where to expose it as she still has the heart of a hero. Nagant should join Deku.

But then AFO activates an explosive power right as Nagant is coming around. The blast fries her as Hawks arrives and we’re left on the cliffhanger of “is she going to survive.”

Now after reading this, my feelings have been… mixed. Let me get out this out of the way there is nothing with this chapter I disagree with: I have no problem with Deku making an emotional appeal to Nagant, I have no problem with AFO acting like a heel, and I have no problem with Nagant not being fully evil and never intending to kill. I know that last one has upset some people, but given Nagant’s backstory of killing innocent people for others because they told her so is the reason she fell off her path in the first place. So it makes sense she never intended on killing anyone.

And I know some people have nitpicked how it’s the female villain who isn’t fully evil, but that honestly doesn’t matter to me. As narratively, this arc started with the attack by Muscular and Deku couldn’t reach him. So it’d make sense to potentially end this mini arc on an example of Deku reaching and reforming a villain. It also helps that Nagant has actual layers to her motivation that could actually allow her to be swayed away.

Now my real issue with this chapter is honestly a problem that I was afraid Hori would do after he introduced just how messed up the Commissions back dealings, it’s that Deku doesn’t really take any concrete stance on what should be done about this status quo. Instead, Deku focuses more on telling Nagant she is a real hero and he ultimately wins her over after showing how much a real hero he is.

While Nagant uses the term “fake”, “sham”, and “phony” when discussing heroes and hero society, it doesn’t address the bigger issue. Namely that she feels this way because of the corrupt and unheroic things the Commission has done to maintain faith in it. Deku offers no actual answer to the very real and very hard question she poses.

And his only real response is this:

(I’m being generous as there can be something lost in translation here and it’s a bit on the flowery side )

While Deku did acknowledge this world isn’t Black and white and he’s saying she can expose corruption if she works with them, he dodges actually offering a solution to her concerns about the status quo. Instead more time is devoted to the same kind of “I will save anyone” appeal he always does.

And while one could argue Nagant’s only on the side of AFO because his reign would keep the Commission from having the power they did, even if she doesn’t fully believe in him. She still poses why being ruled by AFO has its appeal to her and Deku doesn’t actually counter that. No pointing out the obvious anarchy that could result from this or how AFO uses even the people he claims to love like Shigaraki. Deku doesn’t rebuff anything and once again passes the tough decisions onto other people. With Hawks appearance here at the end and his baggage about killing Twice, I can very easily see cleaning up the commission as becoming his motivation going forward. Once again resolving Deku of actually needing to make hard calls or form stances.

This is compounded by the fact AFO just blows Nagant up. It really doesn’t matter if you rebuff anything that AFO has said or offered to convince Nagant to join you, there’s no way she’d work with him after he attempts to kill her. Which feels like it undercuts this conversation about morally gray society.

Look we all know that AFO is evil. The audience knows and this is absolutely what he would do, but if you’re trying to give all of the illusion that we’re finally confronting issues with society and bringing this up and why we would get people loyal to AFO or people like the liberators or people like stain. And trying to sway someone away, then just having him nuke them for having a change of opinion. then it undercuts any actual ambiguity of a clash built on addressing moral grayness. Which I feel is always been one of the strengths of MHA.

I was not expecting Deku to have a thesis on how he plans to dismantle the shady parts of society. Or go full Eren Yeager and become his own revolutionary. But when confronted by a villain who isn’t like Shigaraki or Toga or Twice, who fell through the cracks in the system and needed a safety net like Deku wants to be, Nagant was a part of the system. The corruption of society runs deep in her motivation and Deku doesn’t really address it beyond acknowledging its flaws. And yet his actions of “true heroism” are enough to sway her. It just feels incomplete. There is a brief line that you can interpret of him wanting to clean up the system, but it feels way too short for a moment like this. Deku being confronted by all the darkness of a system he admires should cause him to make some kind of stance.

And no, I’m not going to speculate on if Lady Nagant is actually dead and this will finally forced Deku to take a firmer stance or what have you. I do want to keep these discussions at least relative to when they are released and in this moment the thing that wins over Nagant is the same “save everyone”/“inspiration by example” Deku usually does. Which doesn’t feel as satisfying a conclusion as it could be.

Not helped by a good chunk of this chapter being taken up by explaining all the bits and bobs of OFA’s power system and finally explaining what exactly his third quirk does. This feels like padding when I wanted the space could’ve been used for character dialogue or a continuation of their conversation about the status quo.

I do want to repeat though that there is nothing outwardly bad with this chapter. There is no real objective failure in the writing. It’s just a case of, “ this could be stronger.” And that’s the frustrating part.

Tl;dr there’s a lot of things that are good about this chapter from a technical and narrative level. The natural progression of characters and the switching of allegiance makes sense.  however it’s just all shy of really living up to a lot of the stuff it sets up about society and going back to the status quo. As Deku doesn’t seem to have any real concrete stance beyond his usual.

And because a lot of the things around it are very good it makes it a lot more noticeable when it doesn’t quite stick the landing. Not helped by what feels like nothing more than padding with the explanation of quirk ability instead of character introspection about this very legit and difficult revelation. There is nothing outwardly bad, it’s one of those cases of something that could be an 8-9/10 ends up more as a 5-6/10.

That’s my opinion at least. But I am extremely interested in seeing where Hori goes with this. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.

[itsnothingofinterest]

Well it seems once again that people are debating if BNHA as a franchise is entering it’s final strech. Now I understand why people would debate this; because in a lot of ways it really feels like the series is ending soon, but in a lot of other ways it really feels like it isn’t. That’s all been true for a while actually. So I wanna reiterate my stance on things: which is that while I acknowledge points from both arguments, I am firmly in the camp believing the series isn’t ending-ending, and we’re just entering into a new chapter of the series; possibly with a name change now that Deku’s left his Academia.

(Not gonna lie though, that’s mostly because it’s the side I want to take. There really is compelling evidence on both sides.)

I’ve gone over this before from a more neutral perspective (found here); I think I still ended up showing my bias in my work, but I tried my best to show all the points from both sides. But this time I’m deliberately picking a side and going over 2 points for why I don’t think the series is ending soon; 1 relating to All Might, and 1 relating to All for One.

Plotlines. So many plotlines.

One big reason I think the series is gonna be a while still, which I have mentioned before in that post I linked, is that BNHA has a lot of plot lines that it’ll freely let sit for 100+ chapters without addressing. Really gives the impression that big H is writing like he has all the time in the world.

Like, people like to say Uraraka hasn’t been developed in a long time and attribute that to Horikoshi not being able to write women, but the honest truth is that she is not alone in that. Shinsou’s plotline got put on hold for roughly a dozen arcs until Joint Training, it took a while to touch on Kurogiri after he got captured, Tokoyami tends to come and go from importance, and how long did it take us to learn Dabi’s name after he said he was using an alias? And frankly, I could keep going and touch on literally every character who hasn’t had an origin chapter (except of course for the characters who haven’t had any plotlines at all yet). Oh, also Deku’s arms; that was a plotline too.

Ah, but the biggest offender has to be All Might; BNHA’s most main adult character, and that’s including Endeavor. We learned over half the series’ lifespan ago that he was predicted to die at the hands of a villain (probably Shigaraki or AFO); and that incident set up this tension about whether he’ll die as predicted or if he’ll defy his fate. And ever since, his personal plot line has been on pause; as his life has not been in danger once since. Everyone who once had reason to target him is now targeting either Endeavor, the system itself, or both.

It’s true that All Might has had a presence in a supportive role in various other character’s plotlines, and I’m not saying that’s not fitting for his character, but his own plot has been sidelined; and will likely continue to be sidelined until he has reason to reenter the societal stoplight for whatever reason. And considering It seems like the most likely thing to do that is either Endeavor dying (if just metaphorically, don’t panic too much) or society getting even worse than it already is (which would be a feat), that feels a bit far off.

And then there’s actually concluding that plotline, which I imagine will involve at least one fake out. And all the other plotlines, for which there are many. And that’s assuming we don’t get any more plots started up; which feels unlikely when Horikoshi keeps introducing new characters & reintroducing old ones. Mostly villains, the type of characters that drive plots (but there are those international heroes to consider too). And are you starting to see what I mean when I say Horikoshi writes like he has all the time in the world?

Who’s the big bad again?

One big reason I think people believe the end is just beyond the horizon is that AFO is taking center stage as the big bad again. And AFO is a pretty simple villain to deal with, actually; he’s just one guy and, unlike the League, all you have to do to deal with him fully is beat on him until he stops moving. He’s strong, yes, but he’s not even as strong as Shigaraki was in Jaku (even possessed Shigaraki lacks that Shimura spirit that landed AFO in Tartarus in the first place); reserve a handful of chapters for the fight and it’s over.

But the problem is...what would beating him actually accomplish? In the long term I mean; he is a very dangerous man with the moral compass renunciant of an aristocrats joke and a habit of making himself everyone’s problem & encouraging Tomura’s bad habits. But y’know, as far as we know he doesn’t exactly have anything to do with the quirk prejudice motivating Spinner & Toga, or the corrupt hero system motivating Dabi & Shigaraki’s long term goals.

Besides encouraging Tomura’s bad coping mechanisms, All For One just doesn’t have much to do with the villains’ main motivations so he doesn’t actually mean much to them. And to the heroes, he is just another villain; albeit a dangerous one. To both sides, he’s just a hurdle to overcome with an especially punchable shit eating grin, & beating him doesn’t accomplish anything besides getting him off everyone’s back. He has little, if anything, to do with the major themes of the series or conflicts between the main characters; and resolving those conflicts is a much more daunting task.

And that makes sense, because he’s not the real main villain of the series. He’s an important figure of evil, just like All Might is an important figure of good; but the main villain of this series has always been Shigaraki Tomura, and the true source of everyone’s problems has always been the ingrained faults of society that need to be addressed. Any resolution to this series would replate to those elements far more than it would old potato head.

In short, the easy resolution people seem to be looking to doesn’t seem like it would really resolve as much as they really need it too. (Maybe some stuff, depending on how that fight goes down, but not enough.) In fact, I could almost say him being around causing problems of purpose could actually lengthen the series; were it not for the fact that I think we knew all along that he was eventually gonna come back into the picture to cause problems on purpose.

So to summarize:

BNHA has just a stupid amount of stuff going on and a lot is has to do, with more still seeming to be added on to that to-do list. Most notably major characters whose personal storylines don’t really tie into the core conflicts of the series, but nonetheless demand the attention and time of all the other characters and the narrative itself. And all of that just really makes me think there’s a pretty considerable amount of this series left.

[codenamesazanka]

In the mood to complain about Dabi cuz why not :P

Dabi is: an asshole who’s super rude to Spinner, and Horikoshi establishes this in a rather interesting - and more importantly, unsympathetic - way.

IIRC, there are two times in the manga where Spinner is called a ‘lizard’. 

The first time by Dabi, during the Overhaul Highway Incident. 

I think at the time, this whole scene was meant to be lighthearted and causally establishing several things about the characters - Dabi reveals he gets carsick of all things and he’s sorta careless and awkward; Spinner is a gamer nerd who can’t actually drive; and more importantly, Spinner dislikes being called ‘Lizard’. 

Still, it seemed to be just a blunt nickname, what do you expect from the rude, rough Dabi? Besides, he right, isn’t he? Spinner looks like a lizard.

The second time, however, it’s in a complete reverse in tone and meaning, by the hate-group Creature Rejection Clan when the League tries to rob them. 

It’s a panel dedicated solely to showing the CRC members singling out Spinner to call him a ‘lizard’, and ‘disgusting’. It’s obviously meant to be dehumanizing. To them, Spinner isn’t a human with a quirk that gives him a reptile-like appearance - instead he’s entirely an animal. 

This is at the very beginning of Chapter, 220, the official first chapter of the My Villain Academia arc. It’s a very significant opening scene - more so since it’s Spinner’s POV, making this confrontation personal to him (and somewhat to us, reading his narration). Spinner’s a mutant-type, there are words society uses to label him that he dislikes, and the shit that the CRC does, targets him.

Suddenly, Spinner being called ‘lizard’ isn’t treated like a lighthearted jab anymore. Now we know the ramifications of describing Spinner like so, and we see it’s a sore spot for him, and kinda very insulting. This is only emphasized when he reveals his backstory about living in a town that discriminated him all his life:

Specifically calling him “lizard” as well. 

And again! When Trumpet tries to belittle him. 

With this in mind, looking back, there’s really no choice but to see Dabi’s name-calling in Chapter 160 as an insult and pure callousness. It’s pretty prominent too, and whether intentional or not, this bit of worldbuilding about discrimination and injustice, even, draws a parallel to Dabi’s attitude. At best he doesn’t care about Spinner, about a fellow League member; at worse he looks down on him. 

...Now, that’s a bit unfair of me, I know. (I’m absolutely not conflating Dabi with the CRC - I know he’s likely not an anti-mutant supremacist, and he does hate Geten’s quirk supremacy argument too - still, prejudice is prejudice, even at varying levels of intensity and hate.) Maybe Dabi didn’t know it was that big of a deal for Spinner; and he never does call Spinner that again. Maybe Dabi is clueless and bad at social skills - which isn’t really an excuse, but fine, he’s just dense. It was a while ago, too - maybe Dabi and Spinner have different interactions now. 

Yet nothing in the manga backs that up. In fact, in the same chapter, when Dabi appears, his only line to Spinner is yet another jab:

Spinner spills out his heart to the League, to Shigaraki - and while the other League members also don’t seem to react much to his backstory, they stay quiet - Dabi is the only one to take it further. 

(We wouldn’t find out until much later that here at this point in time, Spinner and Dabi were both still Stain followers - Spinner outspoken about it, while Dabi keeps it quiet. But that gives another interpretation to this scene, one in which Dabi fully dismisses Spinner as a ‘fake’, as just a cosplayer and not a fellow ally who will make Stain’s will a reality.) 

There’s really no respect from Dabi here, or any camaraderie that can be seen. There’s no scene later that ‘makes up’ for that Dabi said to Spinner. Aside from a brief scene where Spinner asks if Dabi wants sushi, the interactions between the two are largely negative, specifically from Dabi’s side, and pretty firmed rooted in “jerk with no heart of gold, he’s just a jerk” category. 

---

*Note: When the League fights the CRC, sure, they’re just fighting another criminal group like they did with Overhaul and the Shie Hassaikai and not really fighting the injustice of mutant-discrimination, gotta admit that; but while the League isn’t here to stop them so much as to kill them and steal their valuables, they’ve still become the side we’re to cheer on, fighting against the more personal, more ‘real’ evil group of bigots that they, as demonstrated by the massacre, dislikes. 

*Note #2: Fine, the League are villains, most of them aren’t the type to apologize for anything; expecting an on-screen apology is pretty much impossible. But there still are scenes where the League do make up small things for each other, scenes showing teamwork has been re-established - like Spinner dedicating himself to Shigaraki after yelling in his face; this little scene where Shigaraki converses with Spinner:

Which isn’t much! Very low bar. But it’s significant for Shigaraki who’s usually portrayed as aloof and arguably inscrutable, talking to his friend ally, asking questions, asking for Spinner’s opinion; it serves as a small bonding moment between the two, here as a duo up against the overwhelming numbers of the MLA. 

There’s little to no such scenes with Dabi, towards any of his alleged teammates. 

[linkspooky]

Aizawa and Kurogiri

Edit by @inumaqi​

In the latest chapter we see Aizawa’s heartfelt attempts to get through to Kurogiri. To speak to his friend and search for him somewhere inside of the shambling corpse spewing black mist that might be all that remains of him. However as genuine as Aizawa’s feelings, and his pleas are towards Kurogiri they are most likely going to fall on deaf ears. Not because the power of friendship is fake, or no trace of Shirakumo remains inside of Kurogiri, but rather because Aizawa himself cannot accept his friend for who he is now. MORE UNDER THE CUT. 

 Gran Torino’s attitude towards Kurogiri is indicative of Hero Society as a whole and how Hero Society is never going to be capable of saving anyone in the league of villains as it is now. 

It does not matter who they were, or what their circumstances were. Even if they were directly created by the failures of hero society, once they become villains it no longer matters. They are no longer seen as fully three dimmensional people, just enemies to be put down. 

Shimura Tenko’s situation is literally the direct failure of both Nana’s poor decision to abandon her child, and Gran Torino and All Might following their word never to look after Kotaro and his descendants, and because of that both Kotaro and Tenko’s entire lives were destroyed by All for One. Yet, despite being directly responsible through negligence for Shimura Tenko literally being kidnapped as a five year old and raised by a villain Gran Torino insists that at the end of the day Shigaraki Tomura is just a crimminal and therefore completely responsible for his own actions. 

Those that are blind to the faults of hero society cannot see how people are hurt by hero society. They even speak of Kurogiri like he’s under brain control like they cannot possibly imagine why he would ever turn against hero society of his own free will. 

Shigaraki is not an abused child. He’s just an emo punk ass. He’s a problem to society. They don’t view Shigaraki as a person just the danger he represents to other people. Therefore, they cannot possibly conceive of why Kurogiri would have any kind of lingering attachment to Shigaraki. 

We as the audience know that the league of villain are all people, who despite being heavily flawed also have their good sides. They are capable of fighting for their friends, and have people they love as well. We’re introduced to two sides of Shigaraki Tomura’s personality. First, we see the violent manchild he is, lashing out at the world around him, volatile, unstable, constantly in pain. Then we meet Shimura Tenko. 

Tenko who is this constantly anxious kid, a crybaby who even though he’s literally constantly being punished by his father, stands up to bullies, and still wants to follow his dreams even in a household where everybody is dead against him becoming a hero. We’re introduced to a kid who’s a strong parallel for Deku, someone who cannot stand to see others be left out, because he also knows what it feels like to be alone even in a household surrounded by people and continually reaches out to others even when he himself wants to cry. 

Then we realize that Shigaraki is still that person. No matter how warped he became from his childhood self, that’s still the core of who he is. Shigaraki will always take in the outcast, he’ll accept them even when they’re not strictly useful. When twice failed to create a double of the Quirk Bullets, Shigaraki did not throw him out. 

The Tenko who will always reach out the outcast even when he himself is in pain, even when he wants to cry is still there. The Tenko that cares so much about other people’s feelings because he knows what it’s like to have his own feelings trampled on. 

He is neither Shigaraki Tomura the destructive brat who just wants to hurt others as a form of lashing out. nor Shimura Tenko the one who stands up to bullies and accepts the outsiders for who they are, but rather he’s both at once. He’s both an incredibly violent and emotionally unwell person, and also a kind one who always reaches out to others who are similiarly lost just like him. That’s the form Shigaraki’s victomhood takes, and it’s incredibly complex, ugly and hard to swallow. He’s the monster All for One made him into, and at the core of his being he’s still a victimized child. Neither of these traits cancel out the other, but hero society in its rush to categorize people as hero or victims will never understand the whole of Shigaraki. 

Aizawa genuinely cares about Shirakumo, even in his current form of Kurogiri. He still cares for his friend even knowing the sins he must have committed as Kurogiri. However, the bottom line is Aizawa is never going to be able to offer the same understanding that the league has already given to Kurogiri. Aizawa loved his friend for who he was, and for the traces of him that still remain present, but Shigaraki accepts Kurogiri for who he is right now. 

Shigarki is the central victim of the manga. He’s connected to the rest of the league. He’s even paralleled heavily to Kurogiri. They were both taken in by All for One at a young age, and both of them have been manipulated by him for a long time and were only saved by him to fulfill a purpose. They’re both ultimately tools to the man who took them in and are loyal to. Shigaraki has even now allowed his body to be tinkered with to the same degree that Kurogiri has in the past. They have both also been by each other’s side the longest, especially if Kurogiri’s sole purpose for being taken in was to raise Shigaraki. 

Shigaraki and Kurogiri are also both people who have gone by two different names (Shimura Tenko, Shigaraki Tomura) and (Shirakumo , Kurogiri). They both experienced the ‘death’ of their original selves. They both continued living on even after their own funeral. They are both former aspiring heroes who were turned into villains by All for One’s machinations. 

What Aizawa realizes is that both Shigaraki and Kurogiri are the same type of person. They are both people who could never leave a stray alone. They’ve bothspent their entire lives taking care of the outcasts. Those too dangerous to save. Those too problematic to save. Those who saving only brings in more risk and harm for others. They save the people that hero society would otherwise forget. 

Aizawa sees this quality in Kurogiri because he knew Kurogiri as Shirakumo, and he recognizes his old friend. However, Aizawa himself would never see this in Shigaraki. Even though Aizawa is a caretaker of children he would never noticed what a damaged and traumatized child Shigaraki is. However, they have essentially both gone through the same thing, Kurogiri and Shigaraki both died and were resurrected by All for One with their original personalities still in tact, if Aizawa cannot accept Shigaraki then he cannot accept Kurogiri as well. 

The point that Horikoshi is trying to show us with these people who fell through the cracks, these former aspiring heroes fallen to villainry, is that there is a reason they became villains in the first place. “Fallen” as they are, the children who once wanted to do good and become heroes are still obviously there inside of both of them. Shigaraki and Kurogiri cannot grow up because the world currently as it is would never let them grow up. That’s why Shigaraki wants to destroy it. 

Even the way Aizawa talks about Shirakumo’s death, he kind of implies it’s Shirakumo’s own fault for acting too recklessly. Not the fault of say, hero society for putting a teenager on a dangerous internship when the adults should have been handling the more dangerous elements like this. 

There’s this insistence on personal responsibility in hero society. That Shigaraki must have wanted to become a villain, therefore it doesn’t matter if he was an abused child taken in by All for One. Aizawa himself while being a very compassionate person is still a part of that society. 

Aizawa’s response to Shirakumo’s freak accident of a death was not that perhaps it’s a bad idea to put children into these circumstances into the first place, but rather an emphasis on individual responsibility. If Shirakumo had simply thought things through, if he had been more powerful, then he would have simply avoided the fallen rocks and continued living. Aizawa thinks if he can teach students adequately to be responsible personally for everything and account for those situations that they’ll never be put into harms way. 

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with personal respnsibility, but people like Gran Torino take it too far. Obviously, Shimura Tenko must have wanted to be evil at five years old. If he were a good child he would have somehow resisted fifteen years of manipulation from literally the world’s most powerful evil genius. 

But Aizawa knows that his teaching of indvidual responsibility only works up to a point. That people can’t do everything on their own, that they will inevitably need someone who pulls them along, and someone to rely on. People are not saved by punching a villain in the face, people are saved when somebody notices that someone else is in trouble and reaches out to help them regardless of the circumstances. People are saved by people like Shigaraki or Deku who will reah out to help the outcast that cannot help themselves. 

Aizawa himself has been damaged by hero society as well. He’s traumatized by the loss of Shirakumo. Which is why he can’t see the inherent flaw that allowed Shirakumo to fall through the cracks in the first place. The attitude that lets children take on full villains, that even now is letting the Hero Commission do shady things like consider all of the students as a backup army in case the heroes were to fall. 

The same people that never allowed Hawks to have a life of his own, and instead coerced and raised him to be a hero since he was a child, and then even after taking his whole childhood away by making him be a hero, kept him under their thumbs and made him their expendable spy for the league and made him dirty his own hands. They forced him to be a hero, and then didn’t even allow him to stay the kind of hero who saves others that he wanted to be because they needed him to kill someone to infiltlrate the league. That shows how much the hero regards the ethics of using children. 

Aizawa genuinely loves his studets, but he’s also trusting them with these people because he can’t perceive the flaws. He can’t see how Kurogiri is suffering under the system, how Shigaraki is suffering, and how he himself is suffering. 

Which is why Aizawa’s pleas will ultimately fail to reach Kurogiri. Yes, he knows his old friend is still there in Kurogiri, but he also completely fails to accept the person Shirakumo has become as Kurogiri. There is already a person who has made a deep connection and brought out the best of Kurogiri as who he already is now, and it’s not Aizawa, it’s Shigaraki. The reason Kurogiri is still kind like Shirakumo was is because he had Shigaraki to care for and bring it out of him by continually treating Kurogiri like a person. What Aizawa wants is to return to the past and become heroes again. Shigaraki will accept Kurogiri as he is now, even as a villain. Aizawa denies who Kurogiri has become, but Shigaraki has already accepted him at his most broken. 

That is why the league of villains saves the people who the heroes never could save. 

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 316: We've Had One, Yes, But What About Second Explosion

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all “[powers up like whoa because it’s time to end the fight]”, and he saved Overhaul from getting not-shot, and then smashed up Nagant’s arm with the power of his new rechargeable super knees. Nagant was all “yoooo this kid is crazy strong whaaaat, it’s like he’s some kind of protagonist or something.” Deku was all “I AM A PROTAGONIST, ACTUALLY, DO YOU WANT TO JOIN FORCES AND FIGHT BAD GUYS WITH ME?” Nagant was all “ah shit why the hell no -- ” and then AFO was all “SURPRISE” and everyone was all “?!?!?!” and AFO was all “TIME TO EXPLODE NOW” and made Nagant explode because he’s an absolute fucking dick. And then Hawks showed up, because Horikoshi just wanted to stuff as many plot points as humanly possible into a single chapter I guess.

Today on BnHA: Hawks is all “good job giving motivational shounen redemption speeches Deku but I’ll take it from here” and screams very earnestly right in Nagant’s face until she finally wakes up. Nagant is all “oh hey it’s my successor, you seem surprisingly unfucked-up from your own HPSC tenure, how did you manage that?” Hawks is all “fandom is going to love hearing this one, but basically it’s because I’m very upbeat and also I had the world’s best role model Endeavor to look up to,” and I swear this man stirs the pot on purpose, but damn it I still love him so damn much. Overhaul is all “HELLO AGAIN, JUST A REMINDER THAT, THE BOSS!!” and Deku is all “MAYBE TAKE TWO SECONDS TO REFLECT ON HOW YOU TORTURED A LITTLE GIRL,” which, thank you, lol. Nagant is all “btw AFO’s hiding in a house in the woods”, and so Deku and the gang go to the house in the woods. Video recording!AFO is all “hi I’m AFO welcome to Jackass” and blows up the house. Sometimes I wonder if this manga is just a weird dream.

I am once again reading the Bean version because I think it was actually the best out of all three translations last week. and that is surprisingly including Viz’s. “faux” is not nearly as entertaining as “knockoff”, and also I have literally no idea why Caleb thought Deku was saying the Third’s lines lol

oh hey, Endeavor’s here too! not that you’d ever be able to tell from this first panel lmao

glad you received All Might’s call, mysterious unidentified glowing smudge

oh snap he says he’s weaker in the rain. is that why AFO told Nagant to attack then?? except that as we discussed the other day, I believe that AFO fully intended for Nagant to lose the fight, so him giving her info that would give her an advantage doesn’t really fit in with that. maybe he wanted Deku to be separated from Endeavor and the rest for maximum angst, though

btw Deku’s eyes are unsurprisingly back to the new normal here

alas, the angst continues. I say, pretending like I’m not totally eating it up each and every week and writing essay after essay about it lol

anyway so apparently Hawks can’t actually fly lmao. he was just yeeting himself with style

for some reason this is the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever seen omfg. wave to Hawks, kids! say “bye, Hawks!”

j/k of course Deku is catching them. -- except???

wow so he was just running on fumes there at the end. well, good to know there is actually a limit to his shenanigans, particularly regarding this new “knockoff” 100% OFA. it will definitely not alleviate any of the discourse, but it’s good for my own peace of mind because it’s solid confirmation that he still needs his pals in order to win this thing

anyway, but on to the rest of this conversation, which is basically Deku deducing what we all deduced last week -- AFO implanted some sort of trap into Nagant when he gave her Air Walk. though I’d still like to get the actual details from AFO and/or Horikoshi, because this was particularly wild even by quirk standards lol

omgggggg

she still has a face after all!! so it’s confirmed, Horikoshi has no idea what “blowing up” actually means. we might have guessed, based on what happened to Toga in the MVA arc, and also based on everything Katsuki does ever, but shhh

so now Hawks is all “NAGANT PLEASE WAKE UP, IF I SHOUT MY NAME AT YOU WILL THAT DO THE TRICK”

this is actually kind of touching though because even though we all know (or most of us acknowledge at any rate) that Hawks is a pretty caring person, it’s rare to see him actually panic over someone’s welfare like this

oh shit Horikoshi is really doubling down on it

I wonder how much Hawks knew about what really happened between Nagant and the HPSC. regardless, he probably sees her as a kindred spirit of sorts, and I’m more than happy for Deku to pass the redemption torch onto him now that he’s on the scene. like no offense Deku but they actually know each other and stuff lol

DAMMIT NAGANT CAN’T YOU SEE HOW LOUD HE IS YELLING

apparently being freed from his HPSC shackles has finally given Hawks the space to embrace his own inner shounen protagonist. is there anything more shounen than trying to motivationally scream someone awake when they’re lying in your arms inches from death?? 100% guaranteed to work

!!! IS THIS NAGANT’S POV OMG

SO SHE IS ALIVE. THANK GOD. Horikoshi doesn’t want to meet with my emotional distress lawyer today after all

love how she’s all “just gonna stir up the weekly Hawks Discourse pot here by implying that he probably committed a lot of Atrocities just like I did, so now people can get all hopped up about that, even though there’s no evidence he’s ever killed anyone aside from that one horrible ‘damned-if-you-do...’ situation with Twice.” no one asked for your provocative speculation young lady!! trust me Nagant, our rabbles don’t need the rousing lol

but nice save there with the “so how are your eyes so untainted” well you see it’s because even when he was following the HPSC’s orders he always went to great lengths never to go against his own moral compass. which just to be clear was incredibly difficult, and led to a ton of pain and suffering on his part, because the life of a spy is basically just one impossible situation after another. but in spite of that he never stopped trying to do his best to help people. I don’t really know where this tangent came from or is leading to, lol, but anyway p.s.a. I love Hawks a lot and he’s a good kid dammit

oh shit??!?

how is the League always able to swing all these fancy forest mansions. where do they find them. how many do they have

so Deku’s dropping them -- very roughly, not sure if he was reacting to finally getting AFO’s location, or if his energy really is giving out -- and now Nagant’s saying that AFO hired other villains as well. well of course he did. gotta keep chipping away at OFA’s ninth successor little by little

now Nagant is asking Hawks how he’s able to keep making “that” face. I assume she’s again talking about the fact that he somehow didn’t let the HPSC wear down his spirit

oh my god???

thanks for stuffing this chapter to the brim with good nutritional Hawks Feels, Horikoshi. what a good. he just keeps on trudging forward undeterred no matter what bullshit comes his way. what a steadfast little guy. I WILL PROTECT YOU FROM DISCOURSE MY SWEET SUNSHINE

lmaoooo

“SPOTTED THIS DUDE JUST CHILLING OUT THERE ON THE ROOF WITH NO ARMS, SEEMED PRETTY SUS” good job Endeavor

anyway so you don’t really need me to tell you that Overhaul is immediately starting in with the “BUT THE BOSS WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE ME TO THE BOSS YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD TAKE ME TO THE BOSS” stuff again. but I will go ahead and tell you anyway. so yeah. he’s doing that

OMG YOU GUYS LOOK AT DEKU’S “of all the fucking assholes to just randomly drop in on my life once again why did it have to be you” FACE THOUGH, OMG

fun fact, if you go back to chapters 124 through 160, there was an entire story arc where Overhaul imprisoned and tortured a little girl. yeah, I know!! suuuuuuuuper evil. anyways just an interesting little anecdote for you all that’s somewhat relevant to the current situation

OMG, YES. FUCK YES, DEKU

THEN WHAT ABOUT SPARING ONE FOR HER!!! YES!!! EXACTLY!!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, SOMEONE GETS IT

HERE’S THE PANEL OF DEKU SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING I’M SAYING LOL

(ETA: so apparently there’s some discourse about this because some people are interpreting this as Deku saying “you should apologize to Eri”, which would obviously be a terrible idea even if Overhaul actually wanted to do that, because Eri shouldn’t ever have to see him again. however I just want to point out that there is a HUGE difference between saying “it would be nice if you could direct that feeling of regret/being sorry towards Eri as well”, vs saying “you should also apologize to her.” all Deku is doing is rightfully pointing out that Overhaul has hurt way more people than just his boss, and if he really is remorseful, then he should extend those feelings of remorse to Eri and the rest as well. it’s not a directive to take any specific action, and I’m 1000% sure no one at U.A. would let Overhaul within 100 miles of Eri ever again.

tl;dr “try feeling remorse sometime” =/= “do you want me to fly you over to U.A. right now to surprise the little girl you traumatized”, lol.)

[slings an arm around Deku’s shoulders] you’re a good kid. I like you. I don’t know if I tell you that enough, but it’s true

meanwhile here is Overhaul’s “spare... a thought... for Eri...???????” face sigh

the struggle is real y’all

(ETA: and that’s... the last we ever saw of Overhaul, I guess? well all right then. I assume Deku will make good on his promise, so we know he’ll get that little bit of closure before going back to jail or whatever, and I confess I’m more than fine with leaving the rest of it open-ended, especially given his character’s history. I think this was pretty generous all things considered.)

lmao holy shit

All Might what did you do to those tiki torch guys?? did you thrash them. did you give ‘em those hands. did you deliver their own asses to them complete with a sticker reminding them Amazon Prime Day is on June 21. we missed out goddammit

so Endeavor, who wasn’t the one he was asking, is telling him that they captured (well let’s be real, Deku captured, give the credit where it’s due) Nagant and Overhaul. and so I guess they’re going to take Nagant to the ER now

fire is no one’s weakness

-- oh my GOD I scrolled down and audibly gasped

[is politely but firmly approached and asked to remove my arm from Deku’s shoulder by the physical manifestation of all this Dekuangst] “we’re sorry, he’s not allowed to have visitors right now” oh shit, my bad. [goes to stand behind a police barricade]

lmao what. did you run out of room on the previous page

what an exaggerated fade to black lmao

-- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I actually can’t see what he’s reacting to so maybe I’m just seriously jumping the gun here lol, but THE HELL WITH IT. the next panel appears to be a cut to Haibori Forest, so I’m just gonna go ahead and declare that Deku ran off on his own all wounded to go have more Dekuangst, just like I manifested. now go call Katsuki goddammit

[scrolls three more inches down] oh

yeah so like I said, Deku is walking very slowly a few feet in front of Endeavor, who’s telling him to wait up. yep. we’ve all gotta be so careful to not just jump to conclusions. I know we’re excited but still

anyway, so! welcome back to Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods (ARE YOU GUYS DATING) and Edgeshot! have fun walking into this obvious trap lol

dammit Deku why are you so determined to tempt fate

[monkey puppet meme faces]

OH MY GOD THIS IS PURE GRADE-A CHEESY COMIC BOOK VILLAIN 101 SHIT AND I’M HERE FOR IT

that’s such a weird way of clapping who claps like that

unlike certain other people who shan’t be named, AFO doesn’t feel the need to inexplicably take his shirt off when recording sinister villain monologues. I think we’re all pretty grateful for that

high fives to everyone who called it!! yep yep

anyway so this whole scene has major booby-trap vibes, which I’m enjoying immensely even though I don’t think anything is really going to come of it lol. probably just another long-winded AFO Speech. but wouldn’t it be funny if like the ceiling started lowering down to try and squish Deku afterwards lol

(ETA: well the explosion was still pretty funny too ngl.)

ffff

[“Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies]

anyway so yeah. he’s just hitting up all of his usual villain talking points. we get it, you’re so smart and you see right through the thin veneers of society and people who don’t conform are left to fend for themselves and labeled as villains and history is written by the victors, and blah blah blah dude are you just jumping randomly from one soundbyte to another lol. literally what are you talking about. what does this have to do with you blowing up Nagant

-- holy shit??

[”Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies MORE?????]

LOL WHAT

BRO. WHAT IS WITH YOU. DON’T YOU KNOW HOW TO LAY ANY OTHER KIND OF FUCKING TRAP GOOD LORD

“YOU’RE NEXT” THE CALLBACK?? THE PARALLELS?? THOUGH WHEN ALL MIGHT POINTED HE MADE IT LOOK WAY COOLER. AFO’S POINTING JUST LOOKS LIKE SMOKEY THE BEAR

HAS ANYONE CHECKED IN ON KAMUI WOODS I HEAR HE IS WEAK TO FIRE?? THE ONLY ONE WHO IS, APPARENTLY

r.i.p. to this particular forest mansion. don’t worry they have a ton of backups

remember last week when I said maybe AFO thinks explosions are gauche. well never mind. he fucking loves explosions

anyway so that’s the end of BnHA, everyone. hope you enjoyed. it was a good ride while it lasted. see you all, good luck in your travels

[bokunometacademia]

Why Horikoshi is the Greatest Magician of All Time

I just explained the whole show to someone who the entire time looked at me like

And it just got me thinking about how incredibly BNHA/MHA is written. 

Horikoshi is a master of setting up traps in his writing. He leads us to believe one thing about a character, when the entire time it was something else, and the truth would have been RIGHT THERE if only we’d put away our own prejudices and our own notions of how characters work.

Bakugou and Shigaraki are the prime examples of this. Spoilers obviously. No manga spoilers.

For Shigaraki, we meet him as essentially a melodrama villain. The type of villain who is evil for the sake of being evil, the type of villain who is “bland.” I’ve read so many stories, I wanted a meaty villain, someone like Zuko who has an incredible redemption arc, someone with depth.

Whatever, I found myself saying. It’s only the first season, I’m sure there will be better villains, even if the big bad is bland.

And we got that with Stain, someone with a purpose, someone with a message and a reason for his villainous deeds. 

And then...

Shigaraki grows. He learns. He adapts. He doesn’t yet become a terrifying villain, and his message is still muddled and unclear, but he is put on a trajectory to become the most terrifying villain of Japan by none other than our broccoli-headed hero cinnamonbun.

It took me for a loop. I couldn’t even wrap my head around what had just happened. Shigaraki wasn’t a bland one-sided villain, not really, he was a character with depth, who was naive in his goal to become the number one villain in the same way our hero was naive in his goal to be the number one hero. I could have seen it all along, if I hadn’t have judged the show based on my own prejudices about villainous characters and my own expectations on how they worked.

And then there was Bakugou. He’s a likeable character even when you want to hate him. Although I was certainly only frustrated and angry at him in the first episodes of the show.

I really could not believe that a kid would tell our main character to go kill himself. That some people even liked this character. He was a better villain than Shigaraki in my eyes. A character I loved to hate.

Used to Sasuke and Naruto I knew where this was going especially when he got kidnapped. I am a smart cookie and can usually see where things are headed, I told myself. 

And then Bakugou...doesn’t become a villain.

I was confused, trying to piece everything together, trying to listen to what Midoriya was saying about this character. It wasn’t until he was brought back to school and him and Midoriya had their big battle that I got it. And I know I’m not alone in this. All of a sudden Bakugou’s reasons for being who he is, why he’s so hard on Midoriya, what Midoriya means to him made sense. 

Suddenly Bakugou went from being a villain to being a kid. I was judging him on the yardstick of my own years. I was basing his villainy on what I knew of other villains I had read about. But that wasn’t him. He was just a kid who wanted to prove his strength. Who Midoriya treated in such a way he could only understand it as mocking him. He wanted so badly for Midoriya to beat him, it would have given him purpose, but instead Midoriya fails and Bakugou is left frustrated and upset, torn up inside that it was his fault All Might fell. That because the new symbol of piece will never be good enough to beat him, he will never get it off his conscious. That he wanted only to be a hero.

It was all there. It was all written in the story if I had just looked, if I had just set my prejudices aside. Midoriya could see it all along. I was the one who was blind. 

In the matter of seconds Bakugou went from being a villain I loved to hate, to being a kid trying his best to be a hero and one of my favorite characters. 

And those aren’t the only two. Everyone in the class has more depth than I expected. Half of them are different than what I thought and judged at first glance.

Todoroki isn’t cold, he just has social anxiety.

Tokoyami isn’t mysterious, he’s just a nerd who puts on a front. 

All Might isn’t the best at everything, he’s actually a really bad teacher who has a lot to learn.

Endeavor is...well exactly the asshole you think he is...but man that arc...I could talk about it for days.

And this is the mastery of Horikoshi’s writing. By putting these two traps right up front he catches all of us who were judging the show for lacking depth (who maybe even almost put it down). But watching this show is like wading into the ocean.

The first season is one-dimensional, toes dipped in the sand, barely touching the surface of the water. The only purpose is to get the reader interested in Midoriya, Bakugou, All Might, or the nerdy world that Horikoshi has created. The only purpose is to keep us watching. There is no promise it will get better, just that it will be fun.

The first half of the second season brings more characters to life. Maybe you noticed a side character with an interesting look in the first season. The second season was an opportunity to expand our field of vision, to fall in love with Uraraka, Todoroki, and Iida in particular, to get a taste of some of the others and make foolish judgements on them. We waded into the ocean to our calves.

The second half of the second season was about bringing the world more to life. All of a sudden the world goes from being “fun” to being grittier and darker than any of us expected. There’s a lot more going on here, many more problems the show is dealing with than what was on the surface. We’ve waded waist-deep.

The third season, the whole of it goes so fast it’s over in the blink of an eye. We see our folly with Bakugou, recognize what Shigaraki is truly, and it’s too late. We have reached the drop-off point. The point where all of a sudden the ground falls out beneath our feet and water has flushed over our heads. There is no turning back, we have fallen in love with the show and the writing for all eternity. And...ya know...it’s also pretty funny. 

Horikoshi tricked me twice with those two character arcs. He pulled the wool over my eyes in the exact way a magician would. He misdirected me into seeing the wrong things. And yet it didn’t feel undeserved at all.

When I started I found the world fun and entertaining enough to start reading the manga (at that point only one season of MHA was up). I wanted to see if it went anywhere fun, fully prepared to quit if I got bored, which I felt was inevitable. The show didn’t seem special to me, just a fun shounen like other shounen. The same tropes, the same character arcs. Maybe a little more nerdiness and hilarity than average. I wasn’t expecting to love it. By god I was so wrong.

And now I have no choice but to trust in Horikoshi. I have guesses about where things could go, but I have no doubts that my first instincts will be wrong, or if they’re right, written in such a way that they will be satisfying and unexpected in some fashion. It’s just what he does. When people claim they’ll never like Endeavor, or they won’t continue to read the manga if X or Y theories becomes true, I can’t help but laugh. I think back and remember when I thought I hated Bakugou, when I thought Shigaraki was one-dimensional, and remember just why I have the fullest trust that Horikoshi will give us a story worth reading. 

[kae-karo]

hotwings!!

hi hi hi did u mean one of my favorite ships?????? - send me a bnha character or ship and i’ll give u my thots (x)! check out what i’ve already done (x)

look dabi and hawks have so much potential as a ship like the angst, the drama, there’s just so so much to potentially talk about (i should know i have two unposted 20k dabihawks fics that exist in similar aus of each other and 2 more i wanna write as companions to those, plus a couple lil one-shots, not to mention the entire dabihawks playlist (x) that i keep saying i wanna write a fic for every song)

ahem. anyway.

hawks will always be the one who’s like i have to focus on the mission but [squidward voice] oh god he’s hot while dabi is like the externally cool as a cucumber attempting to be suave guy who’s actually losing his fucking mind on the inside like they’re both a hot mess but they’re also both trying to keep it together like ‘i’m not flirting unless ur flirting in which case i totally am but like only if u are hahaaaaaaa’

i love the idea of them both getting so wrapped up in trying to figure the other out that they forget what exactly they’re supposed to be doing in the league like between dabi feeling obligated to make hawks prove he’s as evil as he claims and hawks trying to dig into dabi’s past they both forget that like. they’ve got like real actual things to be doing outside of obsessing over each other????

okay not to be serious on main but they also both were like. so immensely failed on the affection front in their current lives. like at best dabi had his siblings to hang out with growing up and his mom probably tried (oh yeah i fully subscribe to the dabi=touya ““theory”” - is it a theory if its true? - sorry if that wasn’t obvious by now lmao) and hawks was taken as a child to train at the commission and u bet ur ass they weren’t big on hugs there

so you have two touch-starved idiots who somehow perform intricate rituals that allow them to touch each other u know the meme i’m talking about lmao. the point being that they’re both dumb and constantly making excuses to brush against each other or sit next to each other or *ahem* dabi’s arm around hawks’ shoulder???? and they’re also both so deep in denial that the other might. actually like them cause god if that happened,,,,,,,,,the tragedy. the star-crossed lover drama of it all

uh yeah but give me ch 191 again where horikoshi isn’t a coward and we get a sexual-tension-filled meeting with hawks agitated and threatening dabi and dabi’s playing it way too cool and it ends with them nose to nose, hawks’ feather blade at dabi’s throat and dabi just grinning like a madman and oh. oh. oh. they both have that moment of ‘fuck fuck fuck fuck no i can’t be like. actually. falling for him’ 

and then we get the kiss horikoshi deprived us of (cause we all know that’s what should’ve happened - side note can u tell i’m a sucker for the ‘sexually-tense fighting that leads to a makeout session’ trope?????)

after that they start hooking up and hawks u know is like hurr durr gotta keep a professional appearance but he’s also like so fucking weak for dabi like dabi texts him that he’s bored? hawks suddenly finds an excuse to be over at the league hideout. total coincidence tho, total coincidence

dabi is a desperate lil hoe for hawks’ attention but he tries to hide it behind his whole ‘i don’t care about anything’ facade even when they’re together????? until he snaps over smth - an endeavor thing, a shouto/family thing, a league thing, doesn’t really matter but he fuckin snaps and hawks lets him take it out on him bc he knew there had to be more depth to dabi and y’know ya boi has a lot of trauma to work through and if dabi was taught that fighting was a coping mechanism then sure hawks will fight (bc he knows he’ll win i’m sorry but hawks is op at this point ya boi trained hard to have such a badass quirk)

and the one (1) time dabi actually manages to singe him with a bit of fire, he completely loses it, like genuine breakdown. he never wanted to hurt hawks. never wanted to hurt anyone. but he did, and he kept hurting people and he couldn’t stop bc it felt like something and something was better than nothing and how the fuck did he get here and hawks listens through the whole thing and just holds him and lets him talk and get it all out and ahem i may also be a sucker for the ‘villain never really wanted to be a villain but it felt like the only choice until the hero shows them they can still be good’ trope

[howdoyousayghibli]

Miyazaki Finally Gives Up the Pretense, Makes Film About Man Who Draws Planes for a Living

“Spoiler culture” gets a lot of hate these days, and I get it. There’s a fine line between “how hard is it to not talk about the plot of a movie you just saw on social media” and “how hard is it to stay off social media for a little bit until you’ve seen the movie.”

I get the annoyance with spoiler culture, but I also remember the circumstances that led to our current situation. I remember the mid-2000s, when trailers had half the movie in them — and if that wasn’t enough, the movie’s official website usually went the rest of the way. I remember poring over detailed rosters of every character set to appear in an upcoming X-Men movie. Even Pixar fell into the over-sharing trap — The Incredibles villain Syndrome, who doesn’t appear until a good chunk of the movie has passed, had a bio on the official website with his “powers” and evil plan right there for 12-year-old Chase to read all about. 

This led to teenage Chase making a conscious decision to not seek out information about movies that he already wanted to see, a policy I still roughly adhere to today. My greatest success was with Ant-Man, which I managed to see in theaters without having seen a single trailer. Usually, though, it means I just stick to teaser trailers. 

This go-in-blind mentality is never easier than when writing these reviews, since there’s not exactly a marketing blitz, past or current, for Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises. So far, I think my policy of avoiding both trailers and reviews of these movies has served me well, helping me to form my own thoughts without being biased one way or another. Unfortunately, this policy may have done more bad than good with this particular movie.

The Wind Rises was released in 2013, and is (for now) the last film directed by Miyazaki. It’s a dramatized biopic of Jiro Horikoshi, designer of Japan’s infamous “Zero” fighter planes — but you wouldn’t guess that from the movie itself. Not knowing anything of the film going in, I assumed I was watching a historical drama, like From Up on Poppy Hill or Grave of the Fireflies. As such, I was confused at the pace of the movie, which skips freely through large portions of Horikoshi’s life. The rapid and largely unannounced jumps in time and the lack of chyrons made it difficult for me to get a handle on the time period — although I’ll admit it probably wouldn’t be nearly so difficult for someone native to Japan, who could likely guess closely enough from the clothes, architecture, and other context clues. 

Beyond being confused about the setting, though, my lack of foreknowledge of The Wind Rises left me confused about the story the movie was telling. When you know a story is based on true events, it changes how you experience it. Studio Ghibli already departs from traditional Western ideas of storytelling and structure, and when you throw real-world subject matter into the mix, it goes further afield still. 

This is all to say: I think I would’ve enjoyed The Wind Rises more if I’d understood what it was beforehand. It’s a bit like how I kept waiting for the magic to show up in Whisper of the Heart, only it was a bigger, structural issue — something just felt off, until I pulled up the movie’s Wikipedia page after it ended and suddenly things clicked into place. 

Is the movie at fault for not spelling out its premise? Even the trailer doesn’t mention that it’s based on a real person. More than ever, I think that cultural differences may play a role here. I get the feeling that Jiro Horikoshi is relatively well-known in Japan; it would make all the difference watching this movie if you were vaguely aware of Horikoshi’s name and achievements.

As for the movie itself: it’s breathtakingly beautiful. The animation is almost insultingly lavish, like the third dining room on an episode of Cribs. Horikoshi’s glasses distort your view of his face, just like in real life. There’s a close-up involving a moving slide rule that made me gasp with its detail. The Wind Rises portrays Horikoshi as a dreamer, and his dreams constantly leak into the world around him, to wondrous effect.

The audio work is similarly audacious. Horikoshi’s (and Miyazaki’s) infatuation with flying machines breathes life into them, reflected not only in the lively way they’re animated, but also in the choice to use human vocals for the sound effects. The planes literally hum, roar, and gasp — never quite approaching cartoonish personification, but instead letting us see them through the engineer’s eyes. 

Other aspects of The Wind Rises aren’t quite as thrilling. I think there’s something very worthwhile in the film’s message on trying to make something beautiful in a world bent on cruelty, but it’s a bit muddied by a strange insistence that creative people have only 10 years to produce their life’s work. It’s an oddly specific limit, made even odder by Miyazaki’s own prolific career — at the time of this film’s release, his directing career alone stretched over 34 years. This may sound like nitpicking, but the 10 years number basically bookends the film, so I feel justified in calling shenanigans. 

Equally odd is the film’s love story. While beautiful and charming at times, it ends on an strange and unsatisfying note that makes me question the purpose of including it at all; did they simply feel that they couldn’t make a whole movie only about designing planes? If so, they could’ve done more to integrate the two stories, especially since this plot line was already entirely fabricated. 

To end on a positive note: the voice cast for this film is impossibly stacked. You’ve got Horikoshi voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, his work buddy voiced by John Krasinski, his boss voiced by Martin Short, Emily Blunt as his love interest, Mae Whitman as his little sister, Werner Herzog as his random German friend, Stanley Tucci as his Italian dream-friend, Zach Callison as young Horikoshi, and Elijah Wood in a role so small I literally can’t figure out what it was. It should be difficult to pick a favorite among such a lineup — and they all do great work here — but the runaway winner is, of course, Werner Herzog. The raspy voice and dry humor he brings to the sympathetic Castorp are a highlight of an already beautiful movie. 

I fully expect that, when I read other reviews of The Wind Rises, they will have only the highest praise for it. I can see where they’re coming from; this is a movie with breathtaking visuals, an innovative soundscape, a moving message, and talented cast. For me, however, those individual elements aren’t brought together in the service of a compelling story.

Up Next: The Tale of Princess Kaguya! It’s the last film directed by the late Isao Takahata and I’m ready to be emotionally destroyed. It’s also the second-to-last Ghibli movie (as of 2019), which is wild! Will I finish these reviews before the year ends?? The suspense is killing me!

Alternate Titles: The Wind Rises: Because No One Wanted to Put Poppy Hill on Their Best-of-the-Decade Lists

[kiritenyas]

this art of hawks, made by horikoshi, always kind of interested me. i wrote this meta/theory to kind of explain why.

i believe that this official art of hawks is very intriguing in particular because the first thing it reminds me of is the famous saying “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. this art specifically has a little twist on the saying that is special to hawks’ character:

hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.

before i get into hawks’ part, i’ll explain the background of the saying a bit. the saying “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” was first popularized in the 17th century- in the toushou-gu shrine that was in nikkou, japan (popularized in japan but believed to originate in china). a carving on the door to the shrine showed the three wise monkeys (also known as mizaru, kikazaru and iwazaru, that have a few other miscellaneous names) who each represent a part of the saying; mizaru sees no evil, kikazaru hears no evil, and iwazaru speaks no evil. the carvings that included these three monkeys spread the saying in the first place. some versions also have a forth monkey that i’m not going to talk about here.

these three monkeys represent an approach to life; some interpret them as guidelines that show what not to do (and that sometimes includes the forth monkey that mainly represents “do no evil”) the three are believed to be observers/messengers, meant to testify the good of humanity. these messengers were granted a defect: kikazaru who couldn’t hear watched the humans commit the bad deeds, and communicated them to the blink monkey, mizaru. mizaru would transmit the messages to the mute monkey, iwazaru. iwazaru was the one who received the messages and watched the fulfillment of the punishments that were cast on the humans, since he was the one to decide the punishments they should receive from the gods.

iwazaru who decides the punishment the humans will receive and watches it come true represents the “speak no evil” part of the saying, which is also what i personally think horikoshi tried to convey in this official art, both literally and figuratively. literally, the situation hawks is in physically stops him from “speaking evil” since he sort of plays the role of a double spy (for both the heroes and the villains) and is sworn to secrecy by both. figuratively, hawks is a hero known for his pure ideals and his youthful approach to the hero industry, and he is good in his core which stops him from “speaking evil”/using his powers for bad instead of good. but it goes deeper than that.

i think this art is super fascinating especially because of how hawks' nature is questioned in the manga at the moment. the last time we saw him (as of right now 238 chapters came out) he was talking to the best jeanist, after promising dabi he’d prove himself by killing a pro hero. the lesson the three monkeys come to teach is keeping a pure spirit; avoid listening to things that cause us to act badly, avoid speaking without reason and with ill intent, and don’t stand by/tolerate evildoings. hawks’ introduction to the story perfectly portrays this lesson, except for one aspect of it. he would fly around, assist civilians, and act freely for the good of the people, but he’d run his mouth and like to sass people/is very talkative. interesting that the lesson learned from “speak no evil”, which is talk with thought behind your words and respect others isn’t one that hawks’ initial introduction highlighted. he comes off as spontaneous, unpredictable, and his greed for popularity is seen as shallow. 

then, we learn that he just believes a hero should be loved and adored by the people, which is his main reason for seeking public approval rather than official acknowledgment. and after he shows his attitude of “strive for what you long for”, we start to see him as young, idealist and noble.

what makes his character so good is the fact that his biggest dream is pure and happy in its concept, but hawks’ means to achieve it are not. he understands that to achieve a good future, sacrifices have to be made. that aspect of his character is a little heartbreaking, considering he’s the youngest pro hero out there and is still being thrown into the thick of things.

hawks is the heroes’ main connection to the league of villains right now, which is also very interesting since his whole schtick is wanting to have it easy and make a world where heroes can put themselves amongst their priorities. tragically, he's trapped in the spying job he took on in order to achieve those desires. 

now, theory time.

the official art i showed above shows hawks covering his mouth but he’s not shown covering his mouth or eyes-- what leads me to believe that hawks won’t hurt best jeanist/kill him even if it is for the greater good/ideal future he wants. the pose in the picture represents iwazaru who spoke no evil and watched the humans go through the punishments he decided for them, but if i was to apply hawks to the three monkeys story, the humans are not civilians, but the villains in the story (this theory is also supported by the latest chapters/arc who begin to humanize the villains and make us sympathize with them). if the story of the monkeys does apply to bnha, the villains will receive the punishment for the sins they committed. i’m not under any impression hawks is going to decide the villains’ fate, but i do think he’ll “punish” them; at some point of the story, i believe hawks will battle the villains. whether he got found out, or the villains escaped after getting captured, or hawks is told to abandon the mission, i believe he’ll face them and inflict some sort of loss/punishment on them, even if the heroes won’t defeat them.

so, in this theory hawks represents “speak no evil”, but who represents see/hear no evil?

i personally think that toshinori represents “see no evil”. right now, he’s being protected by everyone, and the narrative drove him to be a mentor (a character meant to help develop other characters) rather than a hero (a character meant to help develop the plot). he’s not working as a hero anymore, so he’s now shielded from the actions of the villains by the hero society. but, the blind moneky, mizaru, delivers the message of the evil deeds to iwazaru who can’t speak, which leads me to believe all might and hawks will interact when hawks’ arc is further explored.

“hear no evil” in my opinion is almost definitely endeavor. i have problems with some aspects of his character but for the sake of the theory, i’ll only go over his relevance to hawks’ arc. now, at first, i thought “hear no evil” was aizawa, since kikazaru who can’t hear communicates what he observed to mizaru, and i thought a conversation between aizawa and toshinori made more sense than any other combination. but if i ignore the story of the monkeys and focus on their role in judging humanity/the villains, endeavor makes more sense. endeavor experienced first-hand the force of the villains’ attacks physically (just as kikazaru watched the human’s sins), but also his new role as the number one hero is now to be a reassurance to the public who lost their symbol of peace, so he “sees” the evil and “speaks” evil (communicating with other heroes/authorities about the things he sees) but he doesn’t “hear” the evil-- hawks can’t share the plan with him and endeavor remains in the dark, not “hearing” the evil because hawks can’t “speak” it. 

to fully bring judgment to the humans, the monkeys need the blind monkey to act as a messenger and connect the dots for the mute and deaf ones. so, if my theory is not a reach and isn’t too far fetched, toshinori will be the key to endeavor’s knowledge about the mission; especially considering endeavor’s change of heart (which is... for me at least, bad, but let’s ignore that for the sake of the theory), it’s not too unlikely that endeavor and toshinori will hold a conversation again in the near future, as they already did. the only missing piece in that puzzle is hawks. maybe endeavor would come to toshinori with information/need for advice, and then toshinori would dig into things by himself and uncover the secret spying mission hawks is a part of. or maybe not, and maybe this is very far from what will actually happen, but seeing the importance  of the monkeys to japan and the similarities between stories and most importantly this official art, i think it’s safe to say that even tiny details of the story of the three monkeys will come into play in hawks’ arc. but i guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

[dropping-a-toaster-in-the-bath]

All-Might, you’re my hero!

(Here I had to write an english composition about the usage of what a hero is in a media source and I decided to use BNHA, after rereading this, I realized how much i’m pleased with this and decided to let others see it rather than just my teacher.)

(Sorry for the text spacing, I’ll fix that later today)

It’s common knowledge that America has a strange fascination with super- heroes, in fact, this has been common knowledge since the 1920’s when the industrial boom of comics started taking off. Americans seemed to love the idea of a man in spandex with heroic ideals that people could relate with, a good samaritan but with special abilities that differentiated them from the average joe of expected kindness. A fictional being that they could look up to as a role model of what normal people wanted, to be able to showcase in the world around them, though they lacked the muscles and tight clothing to be able to showcase this kindness. Although, as time has gone on, the idea of a hero has been changing, and what defines a hero has also changed. According to Dictionary.com, a hero is defined as “a person noted for courageous acts or nobility of character.” This definition is a pretty good sum up of what a hero is usually thought of as. When someone thinks Superman, they usually think of the good deeds he has done, or the people he’s saved from danger. This is mostly what people think about when they think hero but, a show that doesn’t originate from America has become very popular in both countries and also wants to give its own unique and interesting take on idea of what really is and defines a hero.

“My Hero Academia” or “Boku no Hero Academia” (a manga written by esteemed mangaka Kohei Horikoshi) is replete with ideas and thoughts that really make his story stand out. From all the characters, to their convictions, their thoughts, their actions, and their goals in life, there isn’t any character in this story you can’t end up liking, they’re all extremely endearing. What is more interesting about these characters other than how real they feel, is how they all bring an interesting take on what a hero really is. Deku is the protagonist, a normal kid that lives in a world where essentially everyone is born with a special ability. Something unique that they can do that can be passed through their family line, creating a world where being abnormal is normal. The rare few with no quirks (special abilities as referred to in the story) – aka normal human beings – are considered the lesser and uncommon in this new generation of kids with natural abilities and talent. This creates an interesting dynamic now that the status quo has now been flipped on its head. In a world where everyone has amazing abilities, being a hero has no longer been looked down upon like in American hero comics, it’s normal. The government is now finally working with the heroes to take down villains, and people using their quirks to break the law. All-Might, the main role-model of Deku, is essentially Japanese Superman. He wears clothing that’s the same color scheme as Superman, constantly makes references to American culture and places (Ex: Detroit Smash being one of his special moves), and has the same moral code as Superman. Although, this is again, where My Hero Academia wants to differentiate itself from other run-of- the-mill superheroes stories. All-Might is not fully the big and muscular hero he appears to be on the cover, he may be very positive and in constant search of people to encourage and justice to deliver, but ever since he was injured and his power to strengthen himself

limited severely, he’s been lacking hope. All-Might is a hero because he wants to help and inspire others, although he can be quite down, his goal is to be the shining example that others can look up to, a protector of justice. This is quite in characteristic of Superman but the point is that All-Might is one of the normal exceptions from the others in the show as their reasoning differs greatly.

My Hero Academia’s writer Kohei Horikoshi is known for his special and unique twists on tried and true narratives, and My Hero Academia is another masterpiece of good writing and a unique twist on what we all know, love, and respect. MHA is a universe where nearly everyone has the ability to be a superhero, and being a superhero is even considered a well-paying job by the government. This leads to the interesting spin of less well-minded people and others with downright questionable morals having the ability to take a role that’s main point is protecting the innocent. All- Might is the normal example as he is the reflection of American traditions in superhero shows, almost a caricature of American superhero shows if you ask me. He is there to be the reference point to American viewers, and an example for native Japanese viewers, to give you a taste of our beliefs reflected in a character that is honestly done really well and respectfully. All-Might is mainly used as a “reference point” though because of all the characters the show wants to introduce to us. Endeavor (The World’s No.2 Superhero- only being surpassed by All-Might) is NOT a likable person, or even a respectable person at that other than the fact he is a hero, or employed as one, does not mean his morals match up to that of a hero. Endeavor is a disgusting child- neglecting, domestic abuser that forced a marriage with a woman he didn’t even know

just so he could mix his quirk with the woman’s to make his son the ultimate hero. A force so powerful with a quirk so strong that his son would have to surpass him in power no matter what, as after all of these years of playing second fiddle have angered him and he wants to at least have kin that surpass All-Might’s strength. Endeavor could even be considered a villain with the down-right evil actions he has committed but, he’s not. Although, he IS definitely without a doubt a horrendous person, he still commits himself to saving others as his career demands. He actually does seem to put effort into helping innocents from dangerous scenarios even though the man appears to be what makes a villain to its maximum force. Endeavor brings a strange twist to the idea of what being a hero is, just like the show itself does. Can you still be a hero even if you’ve down things that would be considered unforgivable, or scarring to others? Can you be registered a hero if your ideals are focused on the success and popularity of it rather than the safety of others? Well, don’t worry as these questions ARE answered by the show in a rather strong manner.

Heroes do NOT need to be good people, heroes CAN be disgusting scum with deplorable thoughts and actions or second-hand goals. Heroes NEED to be people that save others, regardless of how truly terrible they are on the inside, a HERO in My Hero Academia, is a person that’s willing to save others. This is actually a way more understandable view of what a hero really is when thought about deeply. Superman is well received because his deeds are simply done out of the kindness of his heart, and a deep rooted care to save the innocent from scenarios that are out of their control. Bakugou is a rude kid in which all his efforts are to beat All-Might to the top of the hero chain, but Bakugou is still aware of his requirement to protect others and defeat evil if he is to be that number one hero. We LIKE Superman because his heart is in the right place, but I feel the reason we LOVE him as a character so much is because of that fact that he’s even willing to go to such extents to save others. He has a personal life that is made a living hell by humanity’s constant dangers, yet still doesn’t lose faith in them or ever stop trying to save them. We’re thankful he even wants to do all this work to begin with rather than just siding with evil, but we never really think about what if Superman wasn’t so likable? What if Superman was a rude man that hated kids but still saved them? You wouldn’t like him, obviously, but you’d still thank him for saving your kid say a bus went out of control. Heroes are defined by their ACTIONS not their WORDS or THOUGHTS, or at least, in Kohei Horikoshi’s mind they are. It doesn’t matter if this person is hateful or rude, as long as they’re putting in the effort to do so much to save others, does it really matter what their second-hand goal is? A heroic deed is treasured in this world, not a heroic mind, the show also teaches us to judge people based on their actions while their thoughts as a side consideration. Endeavor is by no means a nice guy, All-Might is by no means the most hopeful man he appears to be, and Iida is by no means wanting to be a hero for other than indiscriminate family revenge, but they’re all taking the steps to save others. They are showing care to their work by saving others and won’t stop until that job is completed in a world abound of heroes that provide competition in saving others.

In the end, a hero is not simply steeped by their persona or their thoughts, rather the actions they take in making society better as a whole or in the savior of others. 

You can think hateful thoughts, and have rude misconceptions about others that are based on ignorance, but as long as you are doing what it takes to do the right thing, then you may be considered a hero on your own. Nobody is devoid of flaws, especially heroes, and the constant push of My Hero Academia to bring light to the flaws in desires in these heroes delivers a special grey area we really haven’t seen in American Superhero

shows. A land of neutrality where you start to question the idea of a hero as a whole, so as I end this with a Detroit smash, is a hero defined solely by their person? No, they definitely aren’t and heroes are more complex peole than just “a person noted for courageous acts or nobility of character.”