I think that there’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what exactly is…happening with Izuku’s character. Specifically in regards to chapter 425.
I’m glad that a lot more people generally recognize that Izuku is not a character that can be read at a surface level, given that he’s both a repressed person with built up emotion of basically everything and also a very glaringly HUGELY unreliable narrator, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with the ways I’ve seen this most recent chapter spoken about.
I see posts, comments, etc with ideas like “Izuku don’t suppress your emotions! Open up with people! It’ll be okay I promise!” When that’s fundamentally not what is happening here.
There’s always always ALWAYS been a distinct difference in character throughout horikoshi’s writing when he is showing that a character is:
A—Avoiding emotions, thoughts, ideas less than ideal for them. Not opening up when they probably should about their problems given that they’ve been handed the space to do so. Just genuinely not acknowledging, feeling, or expressing emotions that they don’t want.
B—Reflecting on the ways they feel about the world, themselves, or other people given their new perspective on a situation. Not outright reaching out to others to talk about these problems/feelings, but instead waiting until the moment they feel they have the most confidence to do so with their new outlook on their own life.
And genuinely, guys, to grab your BkDk attention rn, this is the exact reason why Ochako’s reflection on her feelings for Izuku and thereafter decision to pull away from them WAS NEVER GOING TO END IN OCHAKO EXPLODING WITH HER LOVE FOR HIM.
This was another common interpretation I saw of Ochako and Izuocha for a long time. That because she pushed these feelings away, they were somehow going to explode in this unbelievable way and she would “get the boy” because of it. That her arc would surround accepting her romantic feelings and that she can’t just push away how she feels for a career.
But yk. That didn’t happen. At all. Nowhere close even.
The same kind of goes for Katsuki, allmight, etc. They all had moments in their arc where it was spent genuinely reflecting, and the only reason we as the audience never connected it in the same ways we do ochako or Izuku was ALWAYS BECAUSE the narrative showed their inner thoughts while doing so (mostly because Allmight’s arc after losing OFA and Katsuki’s arc on what it means to be a hero were so intrinsically tied, both starting at the same time and ending at the same time during the final war. And because they were so tied this caused their own reflections, development, and thought process to be broadcasted to us frequently throughout their arcs… to each other. They also somewhat shared aspects with Izuku, but these were cherry picked more often than not, like dvk2 for example).
To us Katsuki never seemed to be.. idk, suppressing his anger in any way because we were always told what he was doing and why (side note: this is why I’ve always thought arguments against Katsuki were so weird, bc unlike characters like endeavor or Ochako he wasn’t like… hiding who he was and how he was changing. Ever. Like the audience knows at all times past basically season 3 what Katsuki is thinking and doing. Like how do you watch this happen, stare me dead in the eye, and tell me how much of a terrible and awful teenage boy he is. Like damn I didn’t think we were this dumb. This is also my theory as to why he’s most popular, his arc is very… in your face if that makes sense). Katsuki’s entire mini arc on reflecting his mistakes and his childhood and his future is spent TELLING YOU that it’s what he’s doing. (I’m referring mostly to the endeavor internship arc, the provisional license exam makeup, and basically everything in the war arc related to him leading up to bakugou Katsuki rising here)
And see, Horikoshi will stare you dead in the eye, tell you “this girl has taken into consideration that she doesn’t want to waste her time training her career focusing on a boy because he kinda caught her fancy”, and y’all will still say that this will explode in her face.
Y’all this is a series about learning how to manage emotions, maturity in relationship to one’s emotions, how to feel an emotion, but in a way that is helpful. Horikoshi isn’t telling you “go buck wild, feel everything all the time and always express it”, in fact he explores why you DONT do that! Through Toga or Shigaraki, they show how grief and anger can genuinely consume you. But he also shows why you shouldn’t just put everything in a box to never look at or acknowledge, or why you shouldn’t just let your grief destroy the world around you, or pretending that some emotions simply don’t exist.
I can’t say this enough, so let me say it now, mha is about the extremes of your psyche. That you should control something, but not too much. Everything can be harmful. Everything can be good.
Izuku is not controlling too much, he’s expressing just enough.
I LOVE shaming this dickhead at all times in all my posts. I love saying he’s an ignorant dipshit with a weird amount of distaste for a girl who just confessed to him. I’ve joked that chapter 348 is basically an entire chapter spent on Izuku calling Himiko a mean dyke. And yet I also believe he’s doing nothing WRONG here.
In fact, I’ll even say that this moment right here?
ISNT EVEN IZUKU DOING THE SOCIALLY APPROPRIATE THING ABOUT IT! But he’s still TRYING to reach out to someone he thinks MIGHT be able to understand. (And frankly, this moment is far deeper than what it’s being made out to be, to me it reads more like an unrequited friendship that Izuku both desires and has thought of them to have, while simultaneously showing the distance Ochako has successfully wedged between them for her own sake. Maybe it was always there though, maybe in weird, miscommunicated Horikoshi fashion, this is a representation of how Ochako always read all those “fun friend hangouts” as a little more than that, and without those feelings the friendship never really held any substance to her in the first place. Where Izuku saw his first real friend at UA, she saw little more than acquaintance)
Simultaneously, Izuku is genuinely reflecting on what it means for the world to change, to be a hero, to live after loss—and trying and failing to gain the connection he desires from individuals who can not and will not afford him that.
Izuku is ready for the world to change, a few select characters are also ready for the world to change (mirio, for example), but not nearly enough are. So maybe I’ll have to take this back if I’m proven wrong and I accidentally looked into this far past what everyone else did for no reason, but I genuinely believe with moments like this
And this
Aand this
That Izuku has come forward with that aspect of his character development. He’s reflecting on his new beliefs, not repressing his emotions for them.
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Ride 778: “Hakogaku's sprinter”
Pag 1
1: Izumida-san!!
2: I'll use it
“Hurakan”!!
Pag 4
1: This year's May
2: Ibaraki Prefecture
West Tsukuba
3: Tsukushiba University, located at the foot of the sacred eastern mountain, Mount Tsukuba, at 887m above the sea level
4: In front of the second dormitory building on the campus
5: Basically, Doubashi
You mean you want to race me in a serious sprint battle...
Pag 5
1: Yes, please
This might be a weird way to say it, but
2: In Hakone Academy... among our team, there's no one who can be my opponent!!
3: Alright, then I'll gladly accept!!
4: I, Izumida Touichirou of Tsukushiba University racing club!!
First year at Tsukushiba University, department of science and engineering, former Hakone Academy captain
Pag 6
1: Former Hakone Academy ace sprinter
2: The area around the university is a town, but if you go out of it it's really easy to ride, Izumida-san
3: There's both flats and mountains, it's a good place for biking
4: Did it take long to come to Ibaraki?
5: Coming here from Kanagawa, you have to cross Tokyo, so... yeah
Honestly, I had to change so many trains...!!
Pag 7
1: Is Manami doing alright?
Yeah, he's so carefree, but sometimes he says something serious too!!... I guess?
Sounds like Manami
2: Ngh....!!
3: Dammit.... this is so fun!!
What's this!! We're just riding our bikes and talking, but I've missed this feeling!!
4: When I was a second year and Izumida-san was a third years, we practiced like this every day!!
5: Sometimes Izumida-san was the one who attacked, sometimes it was me, and we pushed each other to our limits
7: It's not the time to smile about this!! I've come here to become stronger!!
Pag 8
1: Sorry, Izumida-san!!
I got too relaxed for a moment!!
3: It's good to relax
That's important, too
5: There's as many roads to ride as we want!!
So, which one is better? You can choose
For today's menu!!
6: An easy course with a 100km run along the roads of Ibaraki and a sprint at the end
Pag 9
1: Or the hard course, cut into section, with a final sprint when we're giving our all!!
4: Of course!! The hard one!!
6: Since it's you
Pag 10
1: I knew it would come to this!!
Abs, read?
2: Go!!
Pag 11
1: Abs, abs, abs, abs, abs!!
Buoooorah!!
Pag 12
1: Buah!!
2: Doubashi!!
You've really gotten stronger!!
3: If it were you from last year, you wouldn't have been able of getting ahead on a short climb like that before!!
4: Izumida-san, you're the one who has powered up!!
I seriously think I'm gonna be torn apart right now!!
5: But this is what I wanted
Pag 13
1: An opponent to race against in a fierce and close battle!!
During that you become stronger, and move to the next stage!!
2: Abs, Doubashi!!
Rise!! With that body!!
3: More....
4: Give me more, Izumida-san!!
6: Alright, I'll show you a sprint that will make you regret those words!!
Pag 14
1: Abs!!
Come!! Masakiyo!!
2: Buooorah!!
Izumida-saaan!!
4: Today was fun
Pag 15
1: Thank you
Well, I'm beat, Izumida-san
2: In the end, I lost at the final sprint
You rode well, you drove me in a corner until then!!
3: Did you see it? Your next stage
Yeah... well, little by little, but...
4: But I'm just a little closer, I feel like I can grasp something, but I can't
5: That's because you're too serious
6: And you're an hardworker
7: You know, there are two types of “right”
Huh
Pag 16
1: There's what's socially right
And what's right for yourself
3: Rules and norms, things that must be observed when living together, are what's socially right
The other
4: are the feelings in your heart you won't give up
6: Actually, both of these are “right”
Pag 17
1: But, sometimes these two go into conflict
2: Feelings....!!
“Feelings are strength”.... Izumida-san said that before
3: When something wrong happens, you end up resorting to violence, you reflexively curse at people
However, what should be restrained is the “action”
4: Not the feelings themselves
5: If you don't like something, you can get angry
6: No but, Izumida-san, if I just blindly do that.....
7: And when you're happy
Pag 18
1: you can honestly smile
2: I got too relaxed for a moment!!
4: There's no need to deny it
Those obvious “feelings” that are boiling inside you!! You can smile because you've missed something
5: The feelings that came out amidst of your own study and research and suffering
Where is the mistakes in that?
6: Even if you took a detour, there's no lie in your hard work!!
8: Release yourself more
Lead the path of your own heart
Pag 19
1: Polish what's right for you!!
2: What's “right”.... for me....!!
3: I understood it riding together with you today
You're already good enough for the next stage
You
Pag 20
1: will become much stronger!!
Buoooo!! Smash through!! “Hurakan”!!
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