#chapter by chapter commentary

[hey-sherry]

"And so I went into the studio," Jordan continued. "And it was very awkward, as I made sounds like 'mmm' and 'ahh'. And then I kissed my hand a whole lot."   

But he got the job done, and now he just hopes that everyone playing the game appreciates all the effort he put into helping make it happen—and keeps his very specific but vital role in the game in mind as they play.

"You think about that," he said. "You mull that over as you run around, you little horny perverts, with your little perverted roleplays, you randy bastards. You think of me."

[intoaneverythingbagel]

the tragedy of war torn veterans and it's correlation to my hero academia

I think the conversation revolving izuku midoriya, and how he's been treated since the war ended is very, very interesting. The general consensus being that it's genuinely insane the mistreatment he's faced only a bit after the wars ending. He's a hero. He was beaten, bruised, mutilated and traumatized on live television for the entire world to see. And has received zero acclaim.

Most people are saying that it's genuinely fucked up, and yeah, I agree, it totally is. I mean, a 16 year old boy had to step up because a bunch of adults couldn't hold their own, saving the entire world, all while simultaneously losing himself and his quirk. He gave up his dreams, his sanity, and almost his life for peace; and yet he gets to relish in none of that. None of the fame, the acclaim that comes with heroism. Nothing.

Some have said that they find it to be unrealistic- "he saved the world, of course he's famous!- horikoshi is just bad at writing!" And yeah, he should be, but I don't think that horikoshi is bad at writing or that him getting acclaim is just something that isnt being shown. Horikoshi knows how to write fame, how to write stardom, we see it with hawks and Merko and most definitely all might. We even see it in the newest leaks (427) where bakugo and todoroki have fans- the new first years.

So why then? If horikoshi can write, and he knows how to portray fame, then why is izuku facing neglect? Well, as we know, mha has always been a show about how people with disabilities are treated. (I will go further into dept on this in a future post, probably today or tomorrow) being quirkless is seen as being less abled then others= disabled, and now that izuku has lost his quirk, he is back at square one- being disabled. Not to mention the physical strain the injuries he has faced leave him with. He will face life long repercussions from those injuries. He is literally a disabled veteran. And for a lot of disabled veterans, the reality of the situation is that you don't always get to be a war hero after all is said and done. You don't get the fame you deserve, or the acclaim, or the help you need! or any of that because no one wants to hear about the gory, sad, disgustingly depressing side of battle. They want the glamour, the starlight and shine.

They want the miracles, and izuku is no longer a miracle.

I think what horikoshi is trying to portray is that things really dont go back to normal right after the war ends, peoples hearts and minds aren't all immediately changed, and the mindset that has been pushed for decades about quirklesness and it's abled-bodyness will not disappear just because the hero was once quirkless, because at the end of it (at least in their minds) they were right, someone who is quirkless could never truly be strong.

So, my consensus on this debate is that horikoshi is trying to portray how a lot of veterans end up after battle. It isnt some glorifying, amazing thing. It's not this heroic adventure. It's war, and it's after and disgusting and horrific and so so scary and it kills people, and it's usually the real heroes who end up the most fucked. A commentary on how veterans are often discarded once not needed anymore. Shits deep.

[dreams-cynicism]

I’m also really struck by how Asa kept steadily losing pieces of herself to war - she was slowly meshing more and more into Yoru, lost first one arm then the second and then her mouth to Yoru. Lost everything that gave her some semblance of control and agency. And now she has her arms back, but they’re weapons, and her mouth, but it’s been reclaimed from Pochita not by herself but by Yoru. How much of Asa’s body still belongs to herself?

[doriana-gray-games]

Ch5.2 public drop aug 2nd (Friday)! ✨🥳🍾✨

I’ll also put up around then a pov Watson thing I’ve been looking at on Patreon (if you’ve ever wondered about the moment when MC and W met) ❤️

[ihearasound]

The way Canto IV just dropped the statement "people hired from less fortunate circumstances will be much more loyal to the prestigious company than more fortunate employees" right after Samjo throws himself into the primordial soup for K Corp was really something man. I keep thinking about it. Samjo dropped his #inspirationalstory about how the companies technology saved his life and its immediately followed up with "and that's how we exploit you to your death :)"

Not to mention the "our employees need to break their own legs first before getting life saving treatment" and "in emergencies we do summary executions because data shows it keeps up the morale" happening previously

[balmungkriemhild]

my sweet pathetic babyboy malewife Seitarou...... how i would tear the world to shreds for you.....

(consider reblogging & donating to my Ko-fi, thank you!)

[wihellib]

By a slim margin, Mammon Clone(?) won the Favourite Chapter 6 New Character Sprite poll here. The long-haired centaur was in a close 2nd and Camael wasn’t even that far behind in 3rd. There was a nice spread of votes, which surprised me a bit, since I thought Mammon Clone(?) would win by a much larger number of votes because he has some familiarity bias.

Camael has a soft beauty that I’m fond of. I like his hair and the dark circles under his eyes are a nice touch. Also, I’m always down for a man in a good suit.

Mammon’s clone(?) is interesting. I like that he’s pretty distinct from Mammon while it’s still very clear that he’s related to Mammon in some way. Silver horns instead of gold implying that he’s second best. Love the muzzle and the collar.

The last guy’s got that long hair, elvish-esque, ethereal look going on that I love. However, I’ve never been a horse girly, so the fact that he’s a centaur turns me off.

[cosmicjoke]

Okay, chapter 57 of Saezuru!

So, we're at an impasse again.

I don't want to see anyone shitting on Yashiro here, though I know inevitably there's going to be people doing that, and probably people shitting on Doumeki, too. I think what people need to constantly remind themselves of while reading this story is that, at it's heart, it's a story about trauma, and the difficulty, sometimes near impossibility, of ever fully overcoming that trauma.

I know some people are going to talk badly about Yashiro's reaction to Doumeki, regarding especially the moment when he pushes Doumeki away from him. They're going to grow frustrated and say he's sending Doumeki mixed messages, etc, etc... But Doumeki is also doing the same.

Doumeki, at this point, seems to me to be operating out of frustration, while Yashiro is still operating out of fear.

I felt like the pivotal moment of this chapter came after Doumeki turns Yashiro around and, for just a moment, lets his mask drop. When Yashiro makes his comment to him about him "making a face like (he) wants to do it really badly", I felt like Doumeki had an opportunity here that he blew. I'm not blaming Doumeki, let me just say right off, so that nobody misunderstands what I mean. But I think Doumeki still doesn't quite understand what's wrong with Yashiro. I think he thinks Yashiro is playing games, but he's not. Doumeki saw Yashiro's earlier moment of pushing him away when he started kissing and licking at his leg, when he was being gentle with Yashiro, and I think likely took Yashiro's comment about the face he was making as a mocking statement.

The awful part here is, it was a statement made in earnest.

So was Yashiro's reaction to pushing Doumeki away.

Yashiro is still triggered by gentle treatment. Look at his face when Doumeki starts licking at his leg, as he remembers four years earlier, to the first time they had sex. His expression is horrified. He's scared. He's traumatized. He's giving a trauma response to what's happening. You can tell by his reaction after pushing Doumeki away that it wasn't even a conscious thing he did. His body just reacted. He has this wide-eyed, shocked look, like he doesn't know what just happened.

And then Doumeki lets his frustration and probably some anger dictate his response, which is to manhandle Yashiro onto his stomach and take him from behind. Again, it's really important to watch Yashiro's reactions here to understand what's going on with him, I think.

Once again, his face is stricken. You can tell he doesn't want this at all. He even looks frightened for a moment, and then in pain as Doumeki pushes into him.

The thing is, Doumeki doesn't want this either, but like I said before, I think he's operating out of a place of frustration and anger. He lets his frustration with Yashiro's seemingly contradictory behavior push him to be forceful with Yashiro. But it doesn't last long. Doumeki then turns him again onto his back, and that's the moment he lets his mask drop, and Yashiro makes his comment about his expression.

Again, I think it's vital to understanding what's going on with Yashiro to also pay attention to his own expressions. He reaches for Doumeki's face, and smiles at him, and the look in his eyes is very soft. You can tell he means it, what he says to Doumeki, and you can tell he genuinely longs for it, for Doumeki to look at him the way he once did, with that gentle kindness and genuine desire.

If Doumeki understood what was really at the heart of Yashiro's issues, I don't think he would have reacted the way he did. He makes a mistake here when he pulls Yashiro's hand away, and even squeezes down painfully on it. Yashiro's reaction is one of confusion. He doesn't understand why Doumeki is suddenly back to being cold. He says "Huh?", when Doumeki tells him "What a nostalgic thing to say.", before once again forcefully pinning him down. Again, I think Doumeki thinks Yashiro is playing games, but he's seriously not. His response to Doumeki's gentility is a trauma response. He's still triggered by that kind of treatment, while simultaneously longing for it. He doesn't mean to be sending Doumeki mixed messages. This is what I mean when I say people need to keep in mind that this story is, at its core, about trauma and the ways it manifests. His responses to Doumeki aren't a conscious thing on Yashiro's part. He can look back at them retrospectively and think about them, like he does at the end of this chapter, but in the moment, I don't think it's voluntary at all. I think if Doumeki had taken that opportunity to just be honest with Yashiro, to tell him how he really feels, it would have been met with honesty from Yashiro in turn, because I don't think Yashiro is being dishonest at this point. I think his responses to Doumeki are all real. He says at the end of the chapter "I'm full of contradictions", a direct callback to when Yashiro was a teenager and he thought the same about himself. He's both genuinely triggered by Doumeki's gentility, and at the same time, wants it desperately.

The heartbreaking thing here is, Yashiro is blaming himself for fucking it all up again. He compares himself to livestock that can't change, and says he's completely incapable of growth. Yashiro's self-loathing is on full display. He really believes he'll never be able to move past the seeming contradictions inside him, contradictions he's felt since he was a boy. The longing for love, the deep desire to be loved, and yet, because of the severe abuse he suffered, his inability to receive that love without succumbing to a terrified, panicked response. It's Yashiro's trauma, rooted in what his stepfather did to him for years, that's preventing him from fully embracing Doumeki's love. He wants to, but he can't.

And that's the thing, too. Yashiro has always been aware of the contradictions in himself. He spoke about it as a teenager, about how he wanted to hurt Kage, but how he knew he would be hurt if Kage rejected him. That's where Yashiro misunderstood himself, though. He never wanted to hurt Kage. That was Yashiro's warped perception of himself, the part of him that thinks he wants to destroy beautiful things. It's not that. He's always just been afraid because affection triggers him, and so he convinced himself he wants to be abused, that it's his fault he's been abused because of that, as a means of coping with the way that abuse has destroyed him.

Exacerbating all of it is Doumeki's refusal to drop his mask of indifference. Again, I'm not blaming Doumeki. He's understandably frustrated, and I think starting to become angry, because he thinks it's simply a situation in which Yashiro is refusing to be honest with him about his feelings. He thinks Yashiro is messing with him, so he responds by pretending like he feels nothing for Yashiro. I don't think he realizes that he's only affirming for Yashiro his own fears that he's managed to turn Doumeki against him, that he lost Doumeki's love for him by pushing him away before, which only makes it all the harder for Yashiro to, essentially, ask for help. And Yashiro needs help. He can't do this on his own. He can't process his trauma and explain what's happening to him, explain what he's feeling, without understanding.

I don't think Doumeki understands Yashiro right now. I don't think he understands what's wrong with him.

Yashiro thinks about Doumeki with Izumi, and thinks about himself as a teenager, alone, and correlates his seeming inability to change with that aloneness. Doumeki has moved on from him, he believes, he's found an emotional connection and partner in Izumi, while Yashiro remains stuck in the same place, forever destined to be cut off and isolated from all, human affection.

He needs help. He needs someone to help him work through this, to cope with the fact that he both longs for kindness, gentility and love, while those things also terrify and repulse him and trigger a flight response in him. Yashiro isn't doing this on purpose. He's not lying. His natural inclination and desire for love and kindness is coming into direct conflict with his trauma, with the way those things, as a consequence of the abuse he's endured, have rendered love and kindness triggering to him.

I don't think Doumeki can help him until he figures out that Yashiro isn't being dishonest, but that he's trapped by his own trauma. Until he figures that out, until he realizes just how damaged Yashiro is, he's going to keep pretending he doesn't care about him, either as a punishment, or in some crude attempt to force him into acknowledging his feelings, which ultimately is having the opposite effect. It's only pushing Yashiro into a deeper hole of self-loathing and fear, only reaffirming for him every negative thought and feelings he's ever had about himself.

[cairafea]

houseki no kuni brainrot doodles. ichikawa please release the new chapter soon the hnk countdown twitter account is gonna run out of pages to attach to each tweet

[johnslittlespoon]

what if. i said tough and sweet ch7 is done. and accidentally ended up being 20k words with two Large nsfw scenes

[xlillyle]

Why in my humble opinion MHA's ending regarding Midoriya Izuku is good and fitting and completes his storyline beautifully 🧵

Or: On what it means to be a hero.

I'm having a slight déjà-vu... oh well. There are lots of opinions on MHA and its ending, now that it is here, so after seeing some I felt compelled to shove my own to the board.

While it's impossible to disregard all other aspects of the ending as MHA is a rich story with many factors and subplots additionally to the main story, I will do my best to focus on my main point, which is: Midoriya Izuku's story is a good one and has been brought to a beautiful and very fitting ending that I like a lot. Here's why:

I have three (four) main points I will go through that are related to Izuku's story that imo were ended well:

One For All & what the quirk did for Izuku & how it ended.

Izuku's on-going career, resulting in him as a teacher.

Izuku's future career with the hero suit.

2 and 3 also both pick up one of MHA's main themes: What it means to be a hero.

So, let me start with One For All (OFA).

OFA is the quirk that kicks off this series because it's the quirk given by the Symbol of Peace All Might to our protagonist Midoriya Izuku, who has been quirkless but dreamt of being a hero. There are a few important things to note about OFA:

OFA is very strong; so strong that All Might, even after agreeing to give Izuku the quirk, makes him train. A lot. And hard. Because a regular body would not be able to handle OFA due to its nature.

We learn later that not only does it cultivate the raw strength of all its previous users, but that it holds their quirks too. And that these quirks got stronger with each generation of OFA user as well.

In fact, the major reason why OFA is so insanely strong when Izuku receives it, is the fact that All Might had been quirkless himself and therefore is the longest holder of OFA as the other users could not handle having their own quirk and OFA as additional one, passing away rather early.

OFA is also the quirk of Yoichi who is All For One's (AFO) brother who, in very simplified terms, have a long history and complicated, but hostile relationship with each other. Yoichi wants to stop his brother.

And, to make a very, over 400 chapters long story short: Izuku defeats All For One and he does so after countless of training and battles where he learned to make the best use of OFA and in the end by transferring OFA to Shigaraki/AFO.

Izuku has always understood OFA as a borrowed power and ultimately as one he'd be the last user of—OFA was a power used to defeat AFO and the fact that transferring it, ultimately what AFO had always desired, is part of what destroys him is very fitting.

OFA has given Izuku the chance to enter the world of heroes—and to help change it in the long run. He was able to open the people's eyes about society, he has shown that even after he gave OFA away, he would still fight and he has animated people to be heroic even if they aren't employed as heroes. He has added more meaning to the word "hero".

Izuku as teacher, part 1 of what it means to be a hero.

Now, I have seen a lot of criticism to Izuku ending up as a teacher and I am here to tell you—it's perfect for him! Izuku is someone who loves learning, he is genuinely enthusiastic about it, and especially about quirks—he loves geeking out about them, he spends his free time analyzing them and drawing out their potential, he is an amazing supporting character for children that need assistance in finding their footing in the world of heroes. Who can you learn better from than from someone who loves learning itself? He's got a contagious kind of excitement that sparks over to you.

And, he knows better than anyone how chasing after this dream of being a hero feels like, knows better than anyone how important people supporting you on the way is—because this is what he has received, back then, when he was in high school himself. Izuku has learned and experienced himself how important support from the people around you is, so he now wants to provide exactly that to the future generation of heroes. He wants to guide them on their path.

This career path also opens a new perspective that MHA has been trying to tell us for so long now: "Hero" isn't just who goes up and picks up this nice certificate and runs around the city with the "hero badge". "Hero" is more than that. Helping people, in any little way, is being heroic and makes you a hero. Teachers are heroes too. Izuku is being a hero, even now that he doesn't do "pro hero" work, because he is helping children—a teacher doesn't only educate, a teacher provides mental support to some extent too, and that goes even moreso for UA and other hero school teachers. Teachers protect their students as well. Izuku is, by all means, still a hero, just not a "pro" hero. He is a guidance to children and is dedicating his life to extend a helping hand to them and their dreams.

And he's happy with it.

Yes, it's also said that he misses the work of a pro hero—but that doesn't mean that what he is doing now is bad or "settling". He could have done SO many other things, but he CHOSE to pursue a career as a teacher—because this, too, is something he enjoys and finds happiness in. Both statements can be true. You can miss something you used to dream of all your life—it's very natural, even, but you can still be happy about where you ended in life right now.

Moreover, even if you don't agree with my take as "teachers" being heroes too, we see just a few panels later Izuku being a hero:

Which further emphasizes the point I and MHA have been trying to make: You can be a hero even if your job title isn't "hero". That's why civilians got statues too, that's why they are considered for the heroes ranking too. You can have a diverging opinion on how effective it is, but that is the point that is being made and the characters in-universe try to bring across too.

The hero suit and the conclusion on what it means to be a hero.

Truthfully, I don't know why people keep acting like MHA ended after Izuku's teacher career, because we have a conclusion that even traces back and argues back against anyone who doesn't agree with my points about him being a teacher and still a hero. And, more importantly, it brings the full manga into a perfect circle:

Because remember what the manga opened with: Can you be a quirkless hero?

And in so many ways across all these 430 chapters, but now even in the most literal sense of itself, MHA is telling you: YES. Yes you can! It shows us that you can be a hero without a quirk because anyone can lend someone freezing or wounded a t-shirt and anyone can reach out their hand to someone who is lost and anyone can sprint to catch a stumbling child.

But, also, our protagonist Midoriya Izuku, who is quirkless and had lived his dream at the age of 15-17 after borrowing a quirk, now is only starting his dream again at the age of 25: He can be a (pro) hero again and that although he doesn't have a quirk.

Yeah, it's expensive and not yet affordable for the average quirkless guy. But that's not the point of the story, because we started with asking "Is it possible at all?" and were first deluded into thinking the answer is "No.", but MHA is here to tell you: Yes, you can be a hero. There is most certainly an argument to made that now that the first one has done it, more might be able to follow in the long run.

So, what does it mean to be a hero?

I think MHA's message on that is: A hero is someone who steps up because they can, who helps people achieve a part of happiness because they have the chance to. You don't have to have a quirk or do grand gestures, you don't have to rely on the "professionals" to take care of it, at least not if you can make a difference already. There is no shame in a little heroic act because it doesn't make the act less heroic. There even is beauty in everyone being a little hero to each other every day.

Some last words about my feelings on MHA's ending.

This isn't really part of the thread anymore, but I still wanted to say this. This is purely personal, but, to me, what was really beautiful was: Midoriya Izuku didn't "peak" in high school, he had one peak in high school, but life is made of multiple "peaks".

Izuku is 25 and hasn't even seen all of the world yet and now he gets to live his dream again. Because you never know where life takes you and even if you may feel hopeless or lost and like you already experienced all the highs of lives, Horikoshi and MHA are here to tell you: There's always another peak yet to come.

MHA has this really beautiful ending that tries to reassure you that even though your teen years feel so intense and like the world is about to end and even though so many others your age may be so much "higher" on the "life achievements" scale, it doesn't mean that you are a failure or should lose hope because you can always catch up later, in your own pace, with your own wishes. Life isn't over at 17. Life isn't even over at 25. Your new dream might only just become true later than you expected.

[lemongogo]

trying 2 be normalabt dunmesh but its im like

[cuchufletapl]

Every day I am rewarded for having Mr Henderson as one of my favourite SxF characters.

He's such a good man who genuinely, sincerely cares so much for his students.

Not only does he go personally to the place where the bus has been detained as soon as possible, but he doesn't hesitate to put his own life on the line to bring food and water to the children and try to put them at ease — and then he decides to take an unwell colleague's place and stay in the bus.

(Look at how the students react when they see him! They're scared and tired and I'm sure seeing any adult they know would prompt a similar reaction, but still — that girl says that they missed him. He's a teacher they know to be fair and to help them when they need it (see Short Mission #4 or Chapter 64 for instance), so it makes sense that they'd feel particularly comforted by his presence. He's not just an adult they know, he's an adult they trust, and Henderson knows this.)

This man has the moral backbone of a steel beam and a true dedication for education and I appreciate him so much.

[melljam]

samuel during chapter 506 lol

[delawaredetroit]

What a visceral first shot of the main villain's "face"

And from his first real appearance, All for One doubles down on the idea that there are people who are born to be villains. And in retrospect, this seems like a justification to himself. Despite knowing Shigaraki's backstory and the influence All for One has had on his trajectory towards villainy, All for One still must tell himself that Shigaraki was inherently twisted. All for One needs to think this in order to justify that he himself was born twisted and there was no other path for him than to become the demon lord of his comics.

[hatterladz]

Looks into the camera

They all in fact, forgot that