#i think horikoshi wants me to kill myself

[birdhouse-of-shadows]

He’s so fluffy!

Volume 38 extra - Fumikage and Shadow's first blizzard!

[jaded-ghoster]

SPOILERS FOR MHA 431!!! my thoughts on the epilogue (the roughly translated leaks of it, anyway) are as follows:

Of course he’s fucking dead, and thank god he is? Would you rather he lie there paralyzed for the rest of his, teetering on brain dead, life? rip my man but lets be real

Ochako is beautiful god bless her

I still don’t exactly see MHA as a shippy manga, and so even with the ending i’m not seeing it as a “oh my god they’re gonna get married and have kids,” im seeing it as a look into the future. They’re gonna put themselves, and each other, first for once. They’re gonna spend more time with each other because they were such close friends and they haven’t had a chance until now to really settle down! And if they do end up together (which the blushing kinda implies they might dabble in) then good for them and that’s fucking adorable

Since when does a canon ship stop anyone from writing a gay fanfic? live and let live

I’m actively killing myself over Deku not forming an agency with Bakugo

perhaps that’s counterproductive to my former point

HAHAHAHAHAHA HE’S FIFTEENTH HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

there’s no way iida can beat him this is straight rage bait im sorry iida stans, i guess he does win in terms of chivalry though

WHERE THE FUCK IS AIZAWA? but no news is good news to me, i bet he’s thriving

I personally thought the idea of Toga pushing her to live her life to the fullest and not let old guilt hold her down was really beautiful, but I definitely wanted more for my girl than that. but tbh that’s not the epilogue’s fault if she was set up to die since a while ago

Bakugo isn’t married stop being delusional about a couple pixels on his finger

I don’t think the leaks are fake, that’s kind of extreme of any leaker to do, and the definition of fake also does not extend to Horikoshi’s assistants working on it. Not to me, anyway. However, if they are fake, that’s about to be the funniest fucking thing in 2024

Um I didn’t really pay attention to the rest #haveMyBabiesMirko

[that-spider-fan-over-there]

BNHA 430: This wasn’t very “My Hero Academia” of you I’ll be honest—

Okay, where do I begin? Uh. So the story reached its conclusion. Congratulations, and all the best to Horikoshi-san for telling the story he wanted to tell for ten years, loved the characters, the little world he created after the cancellation of his previous works, I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

... but in my opinion: the last seven chapters were so bad- I don't think I can see this ending as anything other than a contradiction of what we were shown. Like, I thought we'd get a twist, everyone would be fine, something would change. I'm wearing the clown shoes already.

So, I'm just gonna treat this as a normal chapter, and not a final one, because I'll be here for days if I open this can of worms, which, I will not lie, is very bad (I'll open it at some point, not now.) I'm posting this on the.. 6th? Because apparently there's an announcement in the 5th and I don't wanna spoil the fun.

So, uh, under the read more are my thoughts on the ending, be warned I'm very, very negative about it.

*sigh* Oh boi, how killing the League made this go from an "underwhelming" to a "tone-deaf" chapter- I mean. Jesus fuck, leaving things open-ended don't erase the fact they can't make a single appearence to prove me wrong. And if they were alive, the last five chapters (and canonically eight years!) were a waste of emotions and keeping them hidden was a stupidly cruel move.

Funny, the narration is "people aren't equal but it's because of these differences that people find common ground to get along"- THE VILLAINS WERE KILLED OFF FOR BEING DIFFERENT BRO WHAT DO YOU MEAN- "if lending a hand and caring is being a hero then we all became the greatest heroes". Izuku, whatever you're drinking, I'm taking it and drinking it all by myself. You may have cared (which I can't even say for certain anymore). But Tenko died. On accident. Because you gave him OFA.

I liked the "Midoriya-Sensei" part... For 5 seconds. It's fitting, he loves learning stuff, he's good with kids, good for him. Until you say "it's only because his embers are gone". Then why use it as a tease for seven chapters only to just get rid of them at the end? Is running to Ochako really the last we get to see him use it? Not even as a part-time hero? (not that it matters at the end-)

Ragdoll works with the WWP, Tsukuachi was head strategist in the final battle, Hawks is the (H)PSC president, Aizawa is Aizawa. Why wasn't Izuku hired at an agency? Intelligence was a huge part of his character, yet the moment he was fully Quirkless again, he had to leave? Men truly aren't created equal...

"Cursed power", "blessing", "special" — the only thing special about OFA was being haunted by a guy whose brother was insane enough to hunt it down for generations. A Quirk's a Quirk; having multiple people/powers in one body isn’t special, Tokoyami and Shoto exist. Izuku was supposed to make it special using it on his terms. But I guess "meant to save, not kill" was a lie, as eight out of ten people who had it died. Nine out of eleven, counting BNHA: HR. Tenko died because his body couldn't handle the Quirk, but I guess Izuku isn't gonna think about any of it? Katsuki was right, I guess. OFA is a curse.

Spinner wrote a book (not a comic, guess he took offense to Izuku. Fair, actually). Mr. Compress got a panel, but no real mention of the LoV? They broke the status quo for months (in-universe), and after all of that, nothing changes? Did Spinner know about Tenko, how he became Tomura? And the people who will read it and pull an MLA? TomurAFO had followers, now he's a martyr a lá Re-Destro. I’m hoping Spinner didn’t commit suicide like Destro did.

Ochako’s expanding Quirk Counseling. Reform’s implied (it only said expansion), but Himiko still became what Curious wanted her to be: A cautionary tale. And I’m still asking how Ochako knows Himiko what went through, she only told Ochako she was hated because of her Quirk and how she loves. I wanna think she’s reforming it, but nothing else changed, why should I think she’s the exception? She might literally just think Himiko didn't get help, that's a cruel irony.

(At least she's seen as a hero on her rights… even if it took 429 chapters, messy writing with a shoved crush plot, her face looking like rubber seriously her face looks wrong to me for some reason and I don't know why, and still being a girlfailure recognized as a "caretaker", not a badass hero).

Shoji's travelling through Japan to solve discrimination and got a prize for it. No foundations or mentions of Spinner being the main reason he did it, just "standing atop those who rose up eight years ago", just solving it peacefully, you sure are, buddy. Like, I'm sure you are being successful but how exactly are you solving this? I mean, you "solved" the hospital fight by fighting Spinner with Koda and telling people to not defend themselves from others wanting to beat them up- Oh wait, time constraints, we can't elaborate how. I'm rolling my eyes.

Shirakumo showed the noumu state could've been reversed, yet Katsuki, who never killed someone aside from AFO (and that guy was gonna die anyway), fatally exploded him. I hoped it was a misunderstood panel but no. He died because he wanted to save Tenko. Even fucking Gran Torino was alive by the end of this. Why.

I think Shoto is the only main character I’m not really having a problem with (Ochako's ending required Himiko for it to feel somewhat complete. Sorry, Ochako). I’m weirded out that they mentioned the billboard using the guy whose life was ruined by it as an example, but other than that, he’s doing fine. Wish we saw him talking to his siblings though. But alas. No mention of Fuyumi and Natsuo. And Rei's with Endeavor. Fuck I take it back Todofam still deserved better.

Inko got so sidelined when Mitsuki and Masaru were in 424 for half a chapter, by the way. Just one panel for her, the protagonist's mother.

Schedules not aligning is one thing (I get it, my friends and I can't align ours anymore), but Class A not opening an agency together? They survived the same two wars. And you're telling me they wouldn't say "WE'RE WORKING TOGETHER AND TAKING MIDORIYA WITH US"? Also, where’s the "world where heroes have time to spare" when they look so busy? Were they understaffed or working as celebrities? (if someone says it was for the suit I will point out to the three nepo babies of Class A + Momo's Quirk, Katsuki’s a dumbass if he forgot that detail, I don't care if it's a surprise for Izuku).

We wasted pages on a kid that can throw plates from his hair. To tell him he can be a hero. Coming from the guy who had to stop working as a hero when he lost OFA. I'm not taking this parallel seriously.

I wish Izuku wasn't in "everything’s fine" mode until the end. We're really gonna leave him at "implied" mode, not confirm if his mental state's fine? Being open and emotional was an appealing part of him and now we just get “Yeah that’s just how it is”.

This one's petty and irrational, I know, but since I'm letting some of the steam out: I hate Izuku's new "protagonist that went through it" design; those face scars are my main complaint (the constant "FAILURE OF AN MC" reminder makes my eye twitch and I wish that was a joke, but also so many characters in BNHA got face scars, it doesn't even stand out), but "perfect necktie", normal, formal salaryman attire, his red sneakers are gone?! Where's the character highlights? The things that make Izuku stand out?

But hey: He gets to be a hero again! Not with skills, heart, intelligence, strength, in spite of Quirklessness. No, he has an Iron Man suit! That Class A paid billions for. The government should be paying the child soldiers- sorry, Class A and B (and Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu) instead, but all they get is a pat on the back. If the suit breaks down, hurts or kills him while in it? I'll laugh (Hatsume and Melissa worked on it? Oh it's gonna happen, I'm hoping). And Toshinori, what happened to him, did he hit his head when he landed on that building!?

Acts 1&2: Smiles cover his fear and reassure people, believed saving is about saving body and soul, wanted to help Tenko, only didn't because Gran Torino said it wasn't a good idea. Disliked people were being heroes for fame and not because it's the right thing to do, only used support items as reinforcement and a precaution, never as a full solution, even Iron Might was so he’d have a chance to fight, not a solution.

Act 3: If Tenko died smiling, it wasn't resignation, he was saved, even though he died. Didn't care AFO killed the Shimura - his mentor's - bloodline. Is fine with the billboards existing, even though it caused things like the Todoroki plotline. Now he's giving Izuku a suit, when the last time he did it himself, it didn't save him and his spine was almost snapped? Dude, what?

Also full disclosure, I thought he was paralyzed from almost getting split by the spine, but I guess he just had a bad back. Let's not discuss the trauma of almost being snapped in half and feeling your bones break so bad you set a record of how many screws were used, I guess.

... I. Hate BKDK's conclusion. Like, I apologize for this one being longer than the rest but I'm usually gravitating towards this dynamic and. It's actually so laughable how much I hate it. If the LoV had another outcome (or some deserved vindication at the very least if you're still gonna fuck them up with sudden deaths), I'd probably be overjoyed as a shipper w/o worrying too much. But if the LoV story ends in utter shit, then Izuku and Katsuki fail, and this mess is why I hate it:

Thematically, Tenko wasn't rescued, it wasn't a perfect victory because AFO still got away with what he did to him. Save to win, win to save were just nice words. "The End of an Era and The Beginning"? Nothing changed in the world they live in, and they don't stand out among other heroes (these are AM’s successors. And they aren't even important. How.) What "new era" is this, really?

Their resolutions, relationship rebuild? Offscreen, but Katsuki was the one with the Iron Man suit idea for Izuku and apparently that compensates for it. Because he’s the one who can solve all of Izuku’s problems now, not motivate him to be better anymore. It wasn’t even Izuku’s idea, it was Class A, and sure it’s a nicely condescending gesture. We’ve seen Toshinori barely come out alive even with one. That's a support item for a reckless little shit who will get himself killed.

Izuku barely batted an eye to any of the things he went through - losing his arms and/or OFA? Seeing Spinner's breakdown? Lady Nagant!? Katsuki or Tenko dying because of Izuku and OFA!? SOME INTROSPECTION?! IT’S BEEN OVER 100 CHAPTERS SINCE YOU’VE BEEN THE EMOTIONAL MC—

Katsuki's insecurities were pointless by the way! Izuku's empathy and heart never mattered, a Quirk was more important to be a hero in the end. YOU BULLIED HIM FOR NOTHING BUDDY- like. Shouldn't have done it at all, but now his own character development means nothing because his previous beliefs were the right ones. Changing for the better was pointless. Like Twice's death. Or Katsuki’s own death, since “Control Your Heart” meant nothing as well.

Izuku still remembers Tenko, but has he done anything about it? No one wants to remember him, Himiko or Touya. Spinner's book won't be taken seriously except for Tenko's followers, Mr. Compress was sidelined, Twice's death was pointless. They didn't change society, they've returned to the status quo. Pointless as Izuku losing his arms.

That fucking suit- Wow, he really couldn't be a Quirkless hero, the casual rivalry was just erased for an easy way out of their consequences, there's no catching up because Katsuki paid for Izuku a way to be a hero. Izuku doesn't get there because he still believes Quirks make a hero. This isn't heartwarming or romantic or whatever, Katsuki just proved he also didn't believe Izuku in the end, that he had to pay a way for him to be a hero.

And it ends with Izuku seeing Tenko's... Ghost? Hallucination? Vestige? I guess we’ll never know, because Izuku’s following his dreams again! Let's ignore he's doing this during class hours and he definitely should be in UA but who cares, he probably quit, we'll never know. Aside for lame BKDK/DKBK smut fics plots (tell me I'm lying, I dare you), being a teacher was clearly a inferior choice for him and he can't do both ignore Aizawa and Present Mic look at him being the world's greatest hero!

It just took 1 year of trauma, scars, following on his mentor's mistakes, losing the thing that "actually" made him be a hero, having the first (Katsuki) and the last (Tenko) people he tried to save dying because of his existence (one literally by his hands), proving anyone can be one! By ignoring the guilt of those you failed, give hands and sparing your thoughts, having superpowers and/or connections who'll give you a suit! And if they still "act out"? Then they deserved death no matter the valid points they've had and you gotta play jury judge executioner. Unless they decide to be quiet like a good entitled citizen.

Fuck this shit I swear- You could’ve had a BKDK proposal with a double spread handhold, and I'd still think Izuku's ending isn't earned. His "happy ending"— actually, hot take: BKDK crumbs are the fandom's "consolation prize" (ugh) for this ending. I feel cheated out my OTP (like. I'm shipping the version of them in my head, not the canon one 412-onwards because it's only gotten worse from there-), and for what? The League died, and it's the heroes' fault. I've held back because I genuinely wanted to believe the story was better than this, that the League would be helped, but fuck it, I've been asking this for seven chapters and two months: Why would I want Midoriya Izuku, of all people, to have a happy ending after this shit?

A story about hope bent itself over to give the protagonist an unearned happy ending, when it said it was for every character who wants to connect to that hope, who wants to give that hope. Izuku went from "wanting to be a beacon of hope and save people" to "talk about beacons of hope, but in the end, others are doing this better than you. You had none of the willpower to be one." He's not hope or unity. Act 3!Izuku is just a plot device, I feel nothing for his ending other than irritation, and I hate it because he was my favourite character. Lol, a very useless one in the end.

So. Yeah, those are my thoughts about the ending. I think. I don't know if these are all of them, hell, I might adding more to this post even months after. I feel horrible about hating it, but I've sat on this chapter for days and right now, not a lot can make me like it, especially with the timeskip, which made this "open ending" a rushed and incomplete mess. If you disagree with me, honestly, that is very fair. I'm glad for you if you liked the ending. I'm just disappointed, and wanted to share my opinions. (and I do have more stuff to say about it, and Act 3 as a whole, but I think I've been negative enough and I don't have the energy to talk about the entire arc at once).

But for the weeks I spent hoping this wouldn't slap a classic shonen ending in this catasthrophic mess and for making me feel like a dumbass after what we got in the end: Everything after 410 that isn't 421 and 422 is non-existent to me, this epilogue was a freaking waste.

Thank you for reading.

(EDIT.: Fixed some spelling mistakes and added a few more things because I can keep going on how bad this ending is. Also to just make one thing clear because of ship discourse: I am a BKDK shipper. But only until like. 405? 412 if I'm generous. Anything after that? Yeah, no, keep that shit away from me lol.)

EDIT 2: Got reminded this post existed and I've already talked about it, but to the Spider from the past, here's the update:

Society never changed at all and lobotomized MC chose being a teacher for future unemployment. Tomura's last words were used for romance bait with local monthly babysitting girlfailure haunted by Himiko. *opens up a wine bottle* But Shoto's doing fine, Touya wasn't done even more dirty and "Katsuki crash the car" memes are funny.

I still hate Izuku-Sensei. Busted Toshinori-wannabe, can't blame Toshi himself for not wanting to see an impostor walking like that's his son for too long.

[bkdk-dump-blog]

⚠️Spoilers For MHA Volume 42 (Chapter 429) ⚠️

I’m gonna give you guys a little story time:

I didn’t intend to look for leaks but I was scrolling through the Izuku Midoriya/Katsuki Bakugo tag on AO3 where I found someone dedicating a entire “fic” to complain about Izuchako being canon now instead of Bakudeku. I didn’t even know that 42 got leaked until I saw that

I’m not going to show who wrote it or anything like that, but they seemed a little over dramatic about it and knowing myself I need to see the full picture. Also, I’ve been CRAVING new MHA content! Can you blame me? (Yes, probably)

Surprisingly I only found screenshots of it here on Tumblr and not on Reddit

I’ll say my initial thoughts now just to get it off my chest and then come back to this post one the actual release comes out and I know everything

Shoto, my precious boy! You look so pretty and happy!!! GOD I love the shorter hair on him! He looks so handsome 😊

Just the fact that Izuku and Katsuki are sitting together at the bar… Horikoshi! YOU’RE KILLING ME!!!

It’s honestly surprising that people were upset that Togo died. It was pretty apparent to me but people are allowed to feel how they like

At the end of the day for the Izuchako and Bakudeku war, nobody won in my eyes (from what I’ve seen). Wow… it’s just way more underwhelming than I thought. We only got bits of it but from what I’ve seen, it isn’t looking good…

I don’t think Deku’s father will be shown… Trust me, People would’ve found it through the leaks! I’m honestly not that upset about it since he wasn’t even a character in the first place

OMG I forgot the new Hero Ranking. I’m with the majority saying that I really don’t like it! Dare I say hate it! My boy Bakugo took down All for One and he’s in the 15th SPOT?!?? HUH?? Deku isn’t even on there!! (IK Deku probably recently became active but come on! Deku is literally the main character) Mother fucking Fat Gum is higher than Bakugo?!? Mirio as #1… after the final battle it feels so undeserved. I remember what Nighteye said but still, undeserved

Hopes:

I’m fine that BKDK isn’t canon but Horikoshi.. PLEASE! I just want any scene where Bakugo visits Midoriya when he’s a teacher. I love this headcanon way too much and it fits so well. Even just a little frame would be enough!

I don’t need Bakudeku to be canon, I just need Izuchako to be serviceable and conclude nicely. This is a very personal thing but I kind of understand why Uraraka likes Deku, but I don’t see a reason for Deku to like Uraraka in a meaningful way. Of course there’s the fact that she gave Deku his hero name (now looking back this could be a good start) and her defending him from the refugees at UA but in my eyes that isn’t enough to warrant romantic tension. I really REALLY wish Deku and Uraraka talked after she defended him. Things would’ve flowed much more smoothly! Another thing I don’t understand is with their last interaction Deku calling her his hero. I wish it was more specific. She’s his hero because of what exactly? Her defending him? Giving him his name? Killing Toga? Maybe I’m misinterpreting something. Used to find the ship cute in the beginning but now it’s just :/

[bibibbon]

something that constantly pisses me off about lov bashers is that they don’t understand that an explanation is not an excuse.

they can’t wrap their head around the fact that yes toga is a murderer but that doesn’t negate the fact that she was driven to that point by society.

if her parents supported her and helped her with the symptoms and urges caused by her quirk i doubt she would’ve become a villain.

she was literally driven to insanity not because she’s always been that way, but because suppressing her urges for so long caused her to snap.

twice became a villain because he had no other choice. he had no family, no job, and he was just a child. he had no where to go and no one to help him.

it really hits home for me because i have autism and several other mental problems, so some of my behaviors are because of those issues. but whenever i say that people say i’m making excuses when i’m not. i understand that some of my behaviors aren’t okay. that my mental illnesses aren’t my fault, but they are my responsibility.

yes toga should go to jail/juvenile detention because she’s killed several people, but we should acknowledge that the reason she became a murderer is because of how she was treated. BUT that doesn’t mean her being a murderer is okay or justified.

this also relates to how i believe spinner was right about how placating to their oppressors will do nothing.

the civil rights movement wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. they had to *fight* for their rights. key word being fight.

yes peaceful protest are certainly effective but they won’t work 100% of the time. sometimes you just have to get your hands dirty.

for example, sit-ins and peaceful marches were extremely important to the movement. but sometimes you just need to throw a brick at a cop.

stonewall isn’t infamous because it was peaceful. it’s infamous because it showed the world that the lgbtq community wasn’t going to sit idly by and let themselves be brutalized.

but the thing is 100% of spinners ideology won’t work, and 100% of shoji’s ideology won’t work either. there needs to be a balance between the two.

tl;dr some of the mha community is allergic to nuance and it makes me wanna scream.

Tbh I wouldn't label myself a league of villains basher but Iam definitely anti against the lov fans that claim the league are completely innocent and haven't done any crimes whatsoever.

I have said this before and I will say it again all of the leauge of villain members are victims. They are victims!!! But they have also done bad things. They are victims and they are bad people. Two things can coexist at once.

One thing that I find interesting about some league members that I wish was explored more often was the hypocrisy they had. For example take toga who has stated that she doesn't want to go to jail for her crimes and has murdered but also simultaneously gets distraught over twices death. I love toga but that can definitely be described as hypocritical and it's something that I love about her and I wish horikoshi delved into this with the league a whole lot more.

Also one of my problems that I mentioned in another post is that the leauge don't actually have a viable goal. As of current their goal was to simply destroy and create carnage so they can somehow get a better world for themselves. Realistically that plan is incredibly flawed and would obviously backfire horribly so I wish that horikoshi could of made it so that they developed out of that plan and used the MVA to target groups like the HPSC and other parts of the government to prove their point without harming innocent kids and civilians.

Agreed shoji and spinners ideologies are both flawed but if combined there can be a common ground reached. Thinking about this I can't help but also wonder what if shigaraki properly used the MVA and their resources? What if there wasn't an outright war? What if there was more bonding between the villains and their heroes?

@mikeellee used to suggest that shigaraki would try and get izuku on board with the MVA and I can't help but think that's a great idea and would help the narrative while adding more nuance and development to izuku and other characters.

[epickiya722]

A lot of times the problem with these het ships is just, that there is an incredible lack of balance in it that almost feels toxic.

And i don't mean dark fiction or anything, i mean fiction that wants you to see them as a good couple.

Like in bnha, again. Iz///ocha has an inbalance over the fact that for it to go forward, it is completely reliant on Ochako, and whatever she decides to do with her feelings.

Which makes her the only one that ever puts the effort into her crush, even if it ends up not actually moving forward, she still the one who's ever confronted with them.

And Izuku never does anything to respond or even indicate that he feels the same. Frankly, if he was to suddendly show that he loves her, that would just make him look like an intruder. Or maybe even imply "now that everything's over, here's your prize, hero!"

I agree!!

While IzuOcha is a popular ship, it's also not compared to BakuDeku and even TogaOcha got some growth over it.

It's not because "het is ew" because I have crossed other shippers who are okay with IzuOcha and/or have other M/F ships they like (I myself like KiriMina).

It's because it is underdeveloped and one-sided.

Izuku reacts to Ochako the same way he has with every other girl. Any time there's crush talk, it's only from Ochako's side. Nothing from Izuku, at all. He compliments her, but it came off more like a bestie hyping you up after you say something self-deprecating than actual "Hey, I like you, let's go out".

To be honest, I don't even think Horikoshi intended for IzuOcha to be seen a ship for people to root for. I don't think he actually ever cares for it because if he really wanted to, he could have made it more balanced. I say this because look at M/F pairings like KiriMina and KamiJiro.

They're more minor than IzuOcha are and yet for both pairings there's a lot more balance between them. Even by design!

I talk more in depth about this here and here.

I totally agree with you on that last bit.

If Izuku suddenly goes "Hey, I love you" or even after winning there's suddenly them hooking up, it will come off as Ochako being some prize because, again, Izuku hadn't shown romantic interest in her like that.

It's funny to me that some people will "BakuDeku are like brothers" but then turn around and want to apply the same tropes and scenarios that BkDk have been through to their ship romantically.

Example, there were people who actually want AFO!Shigaraki to attack Ochako next just so Izuku could save her. This was during the time when everyone was brought in through those portals into the same area.

When I was so agitated about that because one, you really want someone to potentially get killed just for a "shippy" moment? I DIDN'T LIKE SHIGARAKI ATTACKING BAKUGOU LIKE THAT!! Two, so Ochako couldn't be dealing with her situation without any inference? Like she really need to be put in a damsel situation and not be a hero? Because that's how it came off to me.

Look, I myself have ships, but at the end of the day when it comes to the main goal of a lot of these characters?

The last thing any of them really want is romance. If no ship becomes canon I am so okay with that.

A lot of these characters, especially characters like Izuku, Ochako, and Katsuki want to be the best heroes they can be. They want to save people, make them smile, be the best. That was their goal when they chose (and got to) attend UA.

I don't recall Ochako saying "I'm attending UA to get a boyfriend!"

So why reduce her to that? She did not look at Izuku on their first meeting and decided "I'm going to UA to be his wife". I thought she wanted to be a hero so she can make people smile and provide for her parents. Am I wrong? Did I miss something? Did I watch and read a different version of BNHA?

[differentcoloredcontacts]

Class 1-b as random things me and my friends have said to eachother!

I tried to get everyone multiple times but some characters got more than others </3

There is a lot of cussing, name calling and mentions of virginity but dats about it. Plus a brief mention of drug dealing.

:] :] :]

Manga- BRO! IS THIS THE BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA ULTRA ANYLISIS BOOK THAT LETS YOU KNOW MORE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS, THEIR QUIRKS, AND THEIR RELATIONS WITH OTHER CHARACTERS FROM THE SAME SERIES?! PUBLISHED BY HORIKOSHI, THE AUTHOR OF BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA, HIMSELF?!?!

Bondo- uh yea?

Manga- i knew you were cringe but a virgin? Do better man.

:] :] :]

Sen- WHERE THE FUCK IS CTRL+Z?!?!?

Awase- ctrl z dosent work on tattoos actually..

:] :] :]

Kuroiro - the atoms will align because im hot like that. *runs straight into a wall*

:] :] :]

Kamakiri - the riddle isnt that fucking hard your just dumb as shit.

Kosei - can I give them a hint?

Kamakiri - no, fuck you.

Awase - you had to high expectations for me and tokage when making this riddle.

Kamakiri - I litterally looked up riddles for kids.

Tokage - well im obviously not a kid so that probably why I cant figure it out..

Kosei - can I pleasssseeeeeee give them a hint.

Kamakiri - fine whatever.

Kosei - ASS!!

Kamakiri - you know what? Actually... shut the fuck up!

Kosei - its a good hint!

Kamakiri - no the fuck its not.

Rin - no actually thats a great hint. Want me to demonstrate?

Awase - what is there to demonstrate???

*litterally 3 1/2 hours later*

Tokage - WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK DOES ASS HAVE TO DO WITH THE MOON?!?!??!

AWASE - FUCKING MOONING!!!!!

:] :] :]

Kendo - just letting you know, your a great friend. And I really care about you.

Kodai - being nice to me wont change the fact that your ass at mario cart.

:] :] :]

Shiozaki - *running up to kendo full sprint* hey um- quick question, could jesus do a kick flip? SPECIFICALLY with the kids hello kitty skatebord that crack dealer tried to sell us...

:] :] :]

Shishida - I dont like gossip but I thought I should let you know that monoma thinks your a drug dealer...

Kosei - why? Is he a cop?

Shishida - no but-

Kosei - is he buyin?

:] :] :]

Shoda - *crying in a voice message to the class b group chat* I just got into a car wreak and the cop had to pull me out of my carrr *loud as sniff* while fucking doja cat was talking about sucking dick... and it was really embarrassing. Oh! And I broke my leg I guess but whatever.

:] :] :]

Pony - Want my autograph? Too fuckin bad bitch! Im Beyonce type famous now I dont have TIME for your annoying ass.

Kodai - what happened?

Komori - she got 15 likes on a tumblr post.

:] :] :]

Tetsutetsu - MEN CAN LACTATE?!?!?!

Kosei - *loudly starts playing carless whisper in the distance*

:] :] :]

Kamakiri - shut the fuck up I only came over to your house to watch madoka magica and pet your cat now where the fuck is kitty kitty bang bang?!

:] :] :]

Honenuki - hand.

...

Honenuki - HAND!

Kuroiro - TAKE ME TO DINNER FIRST?! I aint ready for that kind of commitment man.

Honenuki - if you dont let me finish painting you nails I am going to kill your cat.

:] :] :]

Bondo - *crying while eating pretzels* he really did crank that soulja boy...

:] :] :]

Monoma - statistics show that I am better than you at litterally everything so riddle me this? If I am so fucking awesome why do I cry myself to sleep every night?!

:] :] :]

Reiko - that toddler is so fucking metal..

Like get it bitch. Tell your mom to fuck off for putting you in time out. Girlboss shit.

:] :] :]

Rin - that kid is litterally me.

Kosei - *earth shattering scream and falls off ceiling*

:] :] :]

Shiozaki - so is everyone that does crack jesus or just your mom?

:] :] :]

Shoda - thats a nice fucking rock...

Kodai - please dont fuck the rock...

:] :] :]

Awase - WTF WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEYRE NOT REAL?!

Rin - awase why would sen have a LIVE jellyfish inside of a lava lamp...

Awase - he would if he wasent a beta cuck.

:] :] :]

Pony - if I give you $20 can you draw the dude from highschool musical pregnant? Its for my cousins birthday.

Manga - first of all what the actual fuc-

:] :] :]

Shiozaki - believe it or not. But being a man. Ok? And sucking another mans dick. BEFORE MARRIAGE. Hear me out on this one... Is slightly againt the great lord above.

Kodai - jesus?

Reiko - no, ace ventura: pet detective.

...

Reiko - specifically after he climbed out of the rinos ass, naked.

:] :] :]

Sen - bro what even is this? Its low key ugly as fuck.

Rin - thats litterally me...

Sen - daymn *sticks photo in pants* ANYWAYS-

:] :] :]

Shishida - I get everyone is trying to stay calm but twerking to the fire alarm wont stop the fire!

:] :] :]

Rin - cute dogs!

Kosei - *lifting his foot* thanks I moisturize~

:] :] :]

Pony - i knew something was wrong with you when you laughed at my joke but not in the 'I watched mean girls' type of way.

:] :] :]

Komori - *walking around the house frantically*

Reiko - we would be out the door already if you didnt kiss all of your plants goodbye..

:] :] :]

Awase - I couldn't even hear that because me and kosei were talking about how hot she was.

:] :] :]

*Rin buddled up in like 20 blankets in front of a fire place*

Kosei - hot girl shit. *dives into the pile and face plants right into his balls.*

:] :] :]

Manga - can I eat your knees tall man?

Bondo - no thanks.

Manga - what if I asked in a uwu voice?

Bondo - still no.

Manga - daymn... alpha male type shit.

:] :] :]

Rin - you realize i am a dude right?

Awase - guys can have long hair?

Sen - of course they can have long hair dipshit.

Kosei - who cares if rin used to be a girl?! Hes a guy now and thats all that matters!

Rin - no I was always a guy...

Kosei - its ok man :D ill always be your friend <3

[deadboyswalking]

You know what feeling this epilogue is giving me? That feeling when you've just had a big fight with someone and instead of actually addressing the problem, they just act "normal" and pretend like nothing happened. There's this weird veneer of happy normality, but an uneasy underlying tension. On the surface, it feels like we've circled back to the happy school days at the beginning of the series. It seems like the world is trying to get back to the status quo (the kids going back to school, re-establishing the hero commission/system, condemning the villains, etc), but several important characters don't seem happy with this outcome.

Deku is consumed by guilt and his mistakes, and he still thinks the villains are worth saving and seeing as people. Shouto, his mom, and his siblings are prioritizing Touya while wanting nothing to do with Endeavor. We haven't seen much from Ochako yet, but we know that the minute Deku tried to talk seriously with her, she made a joke and dodged the question. I think the next chapter will focus on Toga and how Ochako really feels about the whole ordeal.

Frankly, I think that fans who genuinely think Horikoshi is writing a traditional happy ending are only looking at the surface of the series. If he was, Deku would've kept his Quirk and not been visibly filled with guilt and anger about the outcome of the battle. Spinner wouldn't have survived and even if he did, Deku wouldn't have talked to him and connected over humanizing Shigaraki. Endeavor's half-hearted attempt at "redemption" wouldn't have failed, and the Todorokis would've ended the series as a big happy family (or else he would've died a "heroic" death in battle and saved Touya in the process). Ochako wouldn't have emotionally connected with Toga that deeply, and they would've either had Toga give up villainy for Ochako or, more likely, (confirmed) killed Toga in that battle and had Ochako lose her empathy for her so she could be happy once the war was won. For villain fans like myself, would a traditional happy ending include the entire society of BNHA changing overnight to empathize with villains? Even if literally no one except a few young heroes and the villains themselves know enough about their backstories/personalities to connect with them as people and understand their perspective?

I think Horikoshi has something interesting to say about society here and I'm curious about what it is. We have 3 chapters to left to find out what the final message of the series is going to be and personally, I'm invested in it.

[transhawks]

Firstly, Happy New Year! I hope all your future dreams come true.

Secondly, I have a strong affection for Kaigo, but at the same time, I find myself disliking him, haha. I thought this would be the right place to share my thoughts because I'm confident that if you disagree with me, you'll enlighten me.

I believe that advising Hawks to take care of his health, "for the him that's not Hawks" considering the person beyond his role as a hero, would either leave him bewildered or possibly upset. But I also think that seeing right through him (if possible) would be the only way to reach out to him and form a connection. What do you think? :D

Happy New Year! Thanks! I hope everyone had a good one and I wish for this year to be peaceful and far less full of turmoil than the last few have been. Anyway, on to Keigo. I've said for a couple years that Hawks is not an easy likable character, and it's owing to a very shallow surface reading and his intentionally pretty looks that he's popular in fandom. He's written to be polarizing. Horikoshi designed him to essentially pose a moral quandary to the reader and to be the example of the hero philosophy of saving taken to an extreme conclusion (killing to save).

This is a character meant to be divisive; a base breaker.

For this reason, I always find myself stunned at some Hawks fans and how they approach him. Even outside of a more detached look at him as a character in a story, as a "person" I don't think Hawks is "likable" once you have a fuller picture of him outside the immediate hero persona. He's actually quite disturbing the more you look into him. This is what makes me adore him, actually. He's so rich and paradoxical in personality that he's never boring to think about. I don't think you're too strange for not liking him but loving him as a character, if anything I think you have a pretty good grasp on just how conflicting he was written out to be.

As for the second part of your ask - I think he's not good at thinking of himself outside of Hawks. And yet I also think he's self-aware about the abnormality of this but the safety of being Hawks and not Keigo (whoever that is) probably appeals, despite a cycle of feeling trapped/caged because Keigo doesn't know what to do with freedom anyway. There's a song called Selfish by Sylvan Lacue that I always think of when it comes to this line of thought.

People who see through him tend to really shake his world up. Whether it's Dabi who partially did, or Jin who really saw the emptiness and reached out in friendship, digging deeper beyond the many walls/masks/personas Keigo puts up is crucial but that's really on him to let people do. Again, he keeps his distance with people (read Graduation Day!) and when I have energy, I really want to examine him and Fumikage with this sort of lens of Hawks trying to push away people who care.

[hearth4days]

🎥 do you have any favorite scenes from your hyperfixation?

🏳‍🌈 do you have any headcanons (lgbt, race, neuro, etc) that are important to you?

(for mha and slash or abuseken 👁️)

Doing a cut because jesus I can't shut up 😭

BNHA has so many scenes aaaaa. Being mostly a villain fan, I've mostly got fights to work with, which is unfortunate when I am not a fighting scenes type of guy

I will say I really loved the Stain fight. A lot of the villains have their scary factor turned down a lot, but Stain was really striking as a villain from the jump. I was watching with my mom at the time, and he wasn't on screen for three seconds before we were both having a very strong "ew" reaction. He's my scrungly now, but I can still appreciate that Hori genuinely made him a threat throughout his whole first arc. It was a good kicking-off point for the rest of the story's themes, and he's such a cool villain

I also really love all of Dabi's backstory scenes. I kind of like that none of them are from his perspective, thematically he's never had any say in his life, so I think it works that we only really hear about his trauma from the people that traumatized him. I think the anime carried it all out very well considering how dirty they usually do all the villains

All of All for One's scenes in the final war arc were incredible. I've liked All for One since 2020/2021ish, so it was nice for Horikoshi to actually acknowledge the history he had that no one but me remembered enough to care about. I reallllly like that he's also a part of the league's theming of just horrific trauma and circumstance while still illustrating that people can be past saving. I think the fandom missed a lot of depth to the story with all the ableist and biased takes that came out of all of that. Also it was just funny to see a toddler murdering people. And I appreciated him being gay for Yoichi in his final moments

Abuse-ken doesn't really have scenes as much as songs :// but I think the best story-wise is Want to be Cremated. Zoy's perspective is a fun one, because while he is supposed to be sympathetic and as much a victim of circumstance, he is also like a pretty shitty person. And he's well aware of this, but he can't seem to help himself until the boiling point of his beloved wife killing herself because of him. I love him so bad. I could go on but I think I've already gone over this song a million times hfhxjsjs

I cannot comprehend how people make quirkless!Spinner anything but POC. 90% of the time he is some average-looking white boy when. That defeats the entire point of his character. I'm white myself, so I leave it alone most of the time, but it is just silly to me. Also he has to be autistic. And he has BPD. Those I can back up with canon. But I also like giving him DID with a fuck ton of fictives because I am the fictive heavy Spinner guy of course

On the DID boat, Dabi is 100% a system and I will stand by that. I think it's an incomplete reading of his character to ignore all of the signs of CSA his character and backstory show, both in his home life and with the whole Ujiko situation, not to mention the inherent trauma of being a Todoroki that I don't think I need to explain. There's obvious signs of different alters even in canon which my friend @/x-neurotoxin-x has gotten into more than I probably could

I hate that the fandom immediately jumped to NPD and ASPD with All for One in an ableist way, because I actually have both of those and I see it in him a lot. Especially the NPD oh my lord. He was born from nothing with nothing, and only his little brother to take care of. The main cause of NPD is emotional and physical neglect, which he experienced severely in both aspects. And then of course, how quirks and his role as a big brother affected his personality as he grew up and slowly came into power as a villain. He sees Yoichi the only way he really can with his background, a belonging. He has to take quirks to survive, he has to be willing to fight people to keep the two of them safe. The only way he got any safety from that was violence and manipulation, and treating himself as powerful. At the same time, we see through his narration of his trauma and his gayass last words to Yoichi, he does not actually think of himself as good. He villainizes himself even a few seconds out of the womb, he calls himself a demon and remains nameless, he claims he is nothing without Yoichi. He has so much NPD but people were assholes about it so now I sound like an asshole if I say it

Stain has to be trans <3 because I say so <3 To be real though, he looks very trans when you take Vigilantes into account. Fym you "fully accepted yourself" and then proceeded to cut your hair 🤨/hj Also I will not get into my headcanonned backstory because this post is long enough, but I also like giving him NPD purely because he has this whole thing of not wanting praise or recognition, and treating himself like a martyr for his goals. I could write a whole essay on him. Also I like giving him religious delusions and a god complex. He is so so silly. Yet another case of That Is Obviously A Black Man, but it's mostly just. Look at his hair y'all. That is not white guy hair

Kurogiri has always been aroace to me and I will not hear otherwise. I have never shipped it with anyone in any way that is not one-sided. Also I have to use it/its for it or I will die

Breaking my personal faves only rule to mention Jin. It is so wonderful that he almost canonically has DID. I love him so much. Genuinely the best DID rep ever

*Record scratch* Different media Hellooooo Ito is canonically a trans guy that's crazyyy. Anyway he is also a system for personal reasons that are not canon at all

Zoy is also a system

So is Frannie. Believe me

[autumn-foxfire]

toga is saving ochako on live tv. i was right the villains were going to be redeemed in the eyes of (some) civilians this way. the contrived situations is why i’m not a fan. quick note, pre plf war i don’t remember the set ups and executions being this bad. week-by-week hori was really good at it, idk what happened.

also looks like hawks might save toga now too. it’s what i expect from him anyway and it feels less impactful because toga isn’t out to hurt anyone anymore so he has no reason to not save her anymore. maybe fandom will get off his case about twice?

Who is going to save the heroes, Ochako asked! Well the villains that caused you to be in this state of course, Horikoshi answered as I try to brain myself on the nearest counter.

From what I've seen from the manga though, I don't think Hawks will be involved because that would have been good writing to include the man who initially caused Toga to actually reflect on her actions due to the consequences they could have.

Honestly it's annoying me how fandom is eating up this fight because of the wlw implications. I've said it before but I wouldn't have too much of an issue with Ochako wanting to reach out to Toga if it had actually been set up well. But no, it went from Ochako disliking Toga for her attempts at the lives of herself and her friends (with the fact that Hori in his attempt to make Toga 'sexy' made these acts come across as sexual in nature which brings up insane issues of consent), to her being angry that Toga killed an innocent women just to be selfish and ask what Ochako would do to her for her crimes and Ochako's answer was that she didn't even fucking care at the moment she's trying to save the people Toga and her 'friends' have condemned to death, to her wanting to save and then reaching out after being nearly murdered by this girl by saying she thinks her smile is the cutest in the world???

Ochako knows NOTHING about Toga's past. We could have had a chapter where Ochako learns that Hawks killed Twice and that Toga was very close to him, to Ochako asking Hawks why he did what he did, to her looking into Toga to find out about her and her circumstances (such as confronting the parents and the counsellors and we can see if their treatment of Toga was truly horrible instead of it being left extremely fucking vague for the purpose of letting the audience fill in the gaps like Hori loves to do) to THEN her reaching out.

It's lazy writing but fandom loves it because it's queer (and I'll probably have people angry at me because I'm critical of said queer writing but as someone who is bisexual so Toga is most likely my representation, I can be annoyed at the sloppy handling of her arc and the unaddressed and toxic traits Hori made her have.)

[sakuramiku]

＊・゜☆．。

it's been so long so it's time for a well needed update

🧸 my godmom + family had a beach day! i struggle so much with my anxiety these days that it literally does not make any sense to me because i have a very outgoing personality, i could honestly describe myself as an outgoing introvert. i admire people who can just DO things because i LOVE connections but my anxiety and overthinking limits me so much. i got to see my cousin who often comes up here for the summer and our other cousin who is up here with my aunt (her grandma) and we even got to go to american dream! we got super lucky cause my godmommy was so anxious to let them come. i had lots of fun with them probably going to see if i can get my godmommy a cake for her birthday which is today

⭐️ i am seriously thinking about my future. all my friends are having or announcing that they are having children and it feels me with a form of envy or jealousy . . i think? i'm not sure how i feel. after this semester, my next will be my last. i'll have a degree but i feel like my dreams of one day being a girl mom will be unfilled dreams. life is moving so fast for me and i honestly don't see it happening at all, like its one of those things that you say will happen later and then you never do it and go through those moments of grief and regret when you get older. but enough about that.

🌱 this new seasonal anime list has me so excited! i read the juicebox scanlations of yakuza fiance and i can honestly say that i'm more excited for that than dandadan. i got into both series when they only had 2 chapters and they both hold a special place in my heart because of those reasons. it's been lovely to see both series become well known and loved!

🍄 oh my god. bnha finally ended and i am so in mourning when it came to the ending. i originally dropped the series when twice died in 2020 and when i saw it was ending, i decided to quickly catch up so that i could experience the ending with everyone at the same time. i knew that eventually that the series would end but i thought the villains would get some closure and healing but i guess not. that deku/luke skywalker & shigaraki/anakin skywalker parallel is going to kill me everytime. i honestly forgot horikoshi was a huge star wars fan until that last chapter where shigaraki is a ghost, which is direct reference to anakin turning into a force ghost in return of the jedi. man i'm such a shigaraki girl. i bet he smells so bad but thats my man!

🎢 i want to get a picture on the coney island cyclone before it gets cold! one of the best things to be a landmark in my home city. okay i'm ending this here.

[wolfyaka]

Okay... I'll admit I'm having a hard time not freaking out after watching the spoilers, (damn you Horikoshi!), but apart from crying my eyes out for an hour before I could convince myself that this is the reaction Horikoshi wants, because it does look pretty bad, damn it, I was thinking about all the unknown factors that could save Toshinori and... You know, it keeps bothering me that we still don't know what was the relevance in the information Stain gave to All Might, yes, the discourse was very relevant to rekindle All Might's spirit, but there *must* be some relevance to that information too, right? I'm probably thinking something too farfetched and elaborated, but what if part of All Might's "I understand now" to Stain also included "I know what to do to survive now thanks to your info"?

I'm just rambling and breaking my brain trying to think of ways that such a close impact could not kill All Might, because, what's Bakugo really gonna do to save him if he actually (because we're just assuming he exploded his gauntlet, which is pretty likely but not 100% confirmed, at least not from what I have seen) exploded himself along with AFO? Unless All Might knew through his vestige that Bakugo was ready to fight and he somehow manages to free himself from AFO right in time for Bakugo to explode the hell out of him?

Damn it, this story is slowly killing me.

[sarahjtv]

My Hero Academia Chapter 403: The End of an Era and The Beginning

It's been a while since I did this mainly due to being busy with Grad School (which I'm almost done with thank god). But, I don't think a chapter has gotten me this hyped since Shoto Todoroki: Rising and Ochako's chapter where she saves Toga. Since the chapter is officially released, I can scream, cry, and kick my feet with you all in these bullet points. God, I love My Hero Academia, y'all.

• First off, HOLY SHIT KATSUKI BAKUGO IS ALIVE!!!!!! Apparently, it has been over 400 days since he was initially killed and brought every Bakugo lover to their knees in tears including myself. I still remember leaks night when that happened and pretty much everyone was in mourning. Then leaks night happens for his revival and everyone is celebrating like it's the second coming of Christ or something and I'm with them!

• We all knew that Bakugo would come back to life once Edgeshot started surgery on his heart, but it was the way his resurrection would be executed that I was wondering about. I can see why the whole "Edgeshot suddenly sacrifices himself to save Bakugo" would lessen the impact of his "death", but I really don't care much anymore because the way Kohei Horikoshi brought Bakugo back was SO good!

• Think about it: All Might is on the brink of death in the hands of All For One. All the red flags are there including the flashback of baby Toshinori (SO CUTE BTW LOOK AT THAT BIG LAUGH🥺) and his mother (whom he absolutely inherited his hairstyle from) in this very chapter. Gentle wants to help save him, but he's focused on keeping UA in the air. Every pro hero, UA student, and the Big 3 are either severely injured, passed out, or too preoccupied with something else to take on AFO. And even Izuku Midoriya, his protege, is busy dealing with Tomura Shigaraki in order to prevent him from turning Japan into dust. The only other person who can possibly save All Might now is Bakugo despite probably still being seriously injured himself.

• And this is great for Bakugo because this is his chance to save All Might. Not only is All Might his idol and his hero, but he is also the man Bakugo truly believes he destroyed after being kidnapped in Kamino Ward. I still believe Bakugo hasn't truly forgiven himself for that yet and this would be his way of redeeming himself. This reason alone is why I don't think All Might will die in this final arc. And if he does, I will be devastated because I really want to see him survive until the end.

• I am going to conclude this by commenting on how incredible Horikoshi is not just as a writer but as an artist because holy shit he needed that 2 week break. We got an incredible WSJ-colored Cover Page, a chapter-colored cover page, and then 15 pages of peak fiction. Those final pages once it's revealed that Bakugo is alive will live in my head rent-free for the rest of my days. ESPECIALLY THOSE LAST TWO PAGES HOLY SHIT! THE FACES, THE TEARS, THE WAY TIME SUDDENLY STOPPED WHEN THEY LOOKED AT EACH OTHER 💚🧡 The way Horikoshi draws All Might, Bakugo, and Deku is astounding and makes me cry. Those are his adopted sons. Those boys are soulmates in some capacity whether you like it or not. It may be the end of All Might's era, but it's the beginning of a new era; a new generation of heroes with Deku and Bakugo taking the lead. I can't wait for next week!

[stillness-in-green]

Chapter Thoughts — Chapter 382: Don’t Let Him Go

Two big lengthy segments today (guess what about) and some shorter observations. I'll just go ahead and put the jump here, shall I?

On Toga:

It’s hard to talk rationally about the drama with Toga this week, both because 

(A) The early leaks led to a lot of discussion centered on Toga and love and why—as the leaks expressed quite baldly—she doesn’t love Shigaraki and Dabi, and the bad takes are like unto a lingering poison I have to shake.

and

(B)  It feels so overwhelmingly like a copout.

There’s so much that can be theorized about Toga's dilemma and to what extent Tsuyu's assumptions about her love are correct, but I find it difficult to engage in good faith because it just feels so cheap. This is an almost Platonic example of arbitrary complications that are only a problem because the author says they are, not because they flow naturally from previously established facts.  If the Shigaraki that couldn’t make his quirk go off were a Toga-disguised-as-Shigaraki, that would be one thing, and you could move into discussion of her feelings freely.  But so far as we’re presented with, it’s not—it’s just a clone Shigaraki, exactly like any other Jin could have made himself.

Jin never had any problems with creating incomplete doubles.  If he didn’t understand something well enough, it wouldn’t look perfect on the surface despite missing core aspects internally; it would just immediately turn into sludge, like his attempt at replicating Overhaul’s quirk-erasing bullet.  Likewise, the various members of the League Jin doubled never manifested Jin’s own psychological need to cover his face to keep from splitting; that always remained unique to him and his self-doubles.

So why do doubles Toga makes have her emotional restriction?  Well, because the author said so.  Because Horikoshi couldn’t have this whole field of heroes be annihilated by a single double—even though, from all we knew about how Double worked before, that should be exactly what happened—so he had to come up with some arbitrary explanation why dozens of people haven’t been dusted where they stand.

As far as (A) goes, I think the real translation is more nuanced than the blunt statements in the leaks, and certainly the chapter as a whole is much more nuanced than the wild leaps people started making when all they had to go on was Tsuyu’s hypothesis—that people immediately took as fact—that Toga doesn’t love Shigaraki and Dabi.  For myself, I’m not inclined to second-guess Toga on her own experience of her feelings of love, what qualifies and what doesn’t.  She says she loves Touya and Tomura; I have to read that as at least as credible a claim as her love for Ochaco and Deku.

So where does that leave me?  Well, I think there are two major possible explanations for Toga’s problems that aren’t just the incredibly reductive and insulting, “She doesn’t love them.”  Both have some sub-issues of their own, but, well, that’s what comes of this whole development being dictionary-definition Arbitrary.

Theory 1:  Toga’s love always been tied up in her sense of wanting to become more and more like the objects of her affection.  She doesn’t just love Ochaco; she wants to become Ochaco.  So maybe the issue is that, while she loves Shigaraki and Dabi, she doesn’t particularly want to become them, and it’s the desire to emulate, rather than the love, that actually defines her ability to use quirks.

That would be consistent with the way her quirk evolution was portrayed in Chapter 226—much more consistent, even, than the idea that her “love” is the key factor.  Back then, the thought that’s on her mind as Curious comes in for the kill is, “I wanna be just like you.”  When she uses Ochaco’s quirk to kill, her spoken line is, “I wanna be even more like the people I love.”  Love is a factor, certainly, but it’s filtered through that additional qualifier.  This would mean everyone involved[1] has misread Toga’s condition in a small but crucially important way.

I can see two immediate problems with this theory, but both are fairly minor.

First, Toga never showed any particular desire to emulate Jin, but she’s obviously using his quirk—not without issues, but using it all the same.  This one’s fairly easy to get around, in that it would be very easy to say that she didn’t want to become Jin before he was killed, and her desire to do so now is inseparable from the fact that he was murdered.  Does she want to become him so he won’t be gone from her life?  So she can carry out revenge for him?  That’s fairly immaterial; as long as she does want to become him, his quirk becomes accessible.

Second, Toga has shown signs of emulating Shigaraki and, to a more debatable extent, Dabi.  While it’s not as full-throated as for Ochaco, obviously, Chapter 226 ends with Toga thinking that whatever she hates must be destroyed—right, Tomura?  Likewise, people have pointed out that Toga’s pose on the 339 color spread could be her copying his Frankenstein’s monster hands pose from 191.  So there’s at least some basis for Toga mimicking or adopting aspects of Shigaraki and Dabi, which would undercut the idea that she doesn’t want to become them ergo she can’t use their quirks. A single line of dialogue and a highly interpretable pose in a non-canon color spread make a pretty thin objection, though, so I don’t regard them as hard evidence against the theory.

Theory 2:  Toga’s transformation into Twice is flawed, so his quirk isn’t working to its fullest.  A flawed transformation would line up with that extremely unsubtle page of Toga agonizing about why she can’t become Jin overlaid against a background of thoughts about hero mass extinction that are highly un-Jin-like.  It would also point to the Sad Man’s Death Parade not being made up of Togas-transformed-into-Jin, which I had thought was the explanation for why they were so deathly silent compared to the riotous clamor the Sad Man’s Parade raised in Deika.  Rather, they are clones of Jin, but they’re flawed clones, strained through Toga’s grief and overpowering hatred, choking out Jin’s actual character: chatty, protective, desperately loyal.  If those distorted copies have Toga’s emotions, it makes a certain amount of sense that they’d also have her restrictions.

This one runs into serious trouble with my (B) objection, above, particularly the idea that Twice’s own quirk was always very all or nothing—it either works or it gloops, no in between.  If Toga’s attempt to use Jin’s quirk is reflecting a flawed understanding of Jin, she shouldn’t really get usable copies at all, just sludge.  As for explaining away this problem, well, we might say that quirks are pretty weird, so Transform and Double having some unpredictable interactions isn’t entirely out of bounds.  It’s just, again, deeply arbitrary.

I can't help but think, whatever the explanation, that there are ways around a hero massacre that wouldn't have required kneecapping Toga with nonsensical quirk restrictions. It's not as if we lack precedent for clones being way less dangerous than the real things!  The Shigaraki/Dabi/AFO clones were probably made by the bazillionth Himijin clone, so are about as strong as wet paper.  They'd also take longer to make, because it always took Jin longer to make clones of other people than clones of himself.  Just get Hawks off of AFO-sitting-duty and back down to the field to put feathers through any League/AFO-clones that are reaching out their hands in dangerous ways.

Heck, you could even further the teamwork themes by having Hawks—who's probably a bit low on feathers to do that whole thing himself—be the eye in the sky to coordinate everyone else!  (This might then leave him open to Actual Toga, who still deserves to knife him and has inexplicably not gotten to do so yet.)

Anyway.  I guess we’ll see how it develops.  I’m not against Toga having some good crunchy anguish, heaven knows, but it would be nice if it didn’t feel so mandated by the need to stop her from murdering a dozen acres’ worth of on-the-ground heroes.

One other thing, though, before I leave Toga and move on to the other big headache this chapter.  Tsuyu says, “It seems like Himiko-chan’s own restriction applies to the doubles she makes after transforming into Twice.  (...)  In an extreme situation like this, a single emotion could override that restriction at any second.”  That’s extra dangerous because of—and I don’t know if Tsuyu knows this or not—one of the factors in how Double works, or at least could be read as working.

Recall that back during MVA, we were told that the doubles Twice makes of other people are limited to what their real selves knew at the last time real!Twice saw them, but that this limitation doesn’t apply to Twice himself.  I never could 100% parse that, but one of the logical explanations is a sort of instant knowledge transmission—that anything the original knew, any double of him made would also know, even if it was itself made by a double that wasn't present for whatever new thing just happened.

Would this have applied only to new clones, each created as an up-to-the-minute copy of Original Jin and then lagging behind as they slide into their own experience?  Or is every clone updated moment to moment such that they stay accurate reflections of Jin?  That’s unclear thanks to the vague phrasing, but if the knowledge transmission works the same way for Toga, and she resolves her crisis and suddenly becomes able to create quirk-capable clones, then whether every Himijin on the field can abruptly do the same or only newly created Himijins, it’s an instant ticket to The Worst Situation either way.

(I’m rooting for you, Himiko!  Resolve that crisis!  Go go go!)

On Shinsou and Gigantomachia: 

On the one hand, this is the exact opposite of arbitrary authorial handwaves.  I can look back over Shinsou’s arc all the way back to the Sports Festival and see the groundwork being laid for this.  Indeed, I’d say all of his major appearances, combined with what we know about Machia, contributed to the setup for this.

At the Sports Festival, we learned that he could take control of people by tricking them into responding to them.  By the Joint Training arc, he’d picked up a support item that allowed him to mimic others’ voices.  In MVA, Machia was shown to be fanatically loyal to AFO, a trait that could be particularly guided by the sound of his master’s voice.

After the traitor reveal, Shinsou mind-controlled the Aoyamas through their phone call with AFO.  Since he can’t force people to do anything that requires much mental engagement (here meaning he couldn’t just order the Aoyamas to respond to AFO the way AFO expected them to), we must assume he needed to be able to hear AFO’s side of that phone in order to respond to it properly.  Thus, that phone call enabled him to learn what AFO’s voice sounded like such that he could later mimic it.

It all fits!  It fits extremely elegantly, more so than the vast majority of the late-stage twists have done thus far.

And yet...  And yet.

And yet it’s morally dubious and frankly, the Machia we were introduced to in MVA deserves better than this.

I know most people don’t care about Gigantomachia—indeed, the post-MVA series has not gone out of its way to encourage us to do so—but imagine for a moment that this wasn’t Machia attacking AFO.  Imagine it were Mister Compress.  He’s much too chatty to not trip into responding to Shinsou, and then he could be dropped in front of, say, Toga in hopes that seeing him would cause her to drop her guard long enough for Mr. Compress to be ordered into marbling her.

Wouldn’t that feel incredibly shitty, manipulative, and even outright villainous?  Especially for the kid whose entire character arc is about proving that he can use his quirk in non-villainous ways?  Like, Shinsou immobilizing Machia would be one thing, making him walk back into his cell, something like that would entirely fine. Actually forcing him to attack his own allies, however, is many, many steps past fine.

And it’s not like AFO doesn’t deserve to have a mountain thrown at him, but does Machia deserve to be forced to throw it?  Well, I could talk about that,[2] but as I see it, it’s a moot point.

Forcing enemies to fight their own allies, just so we’re all clear here, would be considered a war crime if this were a duly declared war situation.[3]  It isn’t a war, not least because the heroes are a nominally civilian force fighting against their own nation’s criminals, but, hot take, anything that would constitute a literal war crime in an international conflict is not something that should get readers cheering for the wholesome good guy heroes just because the crime’s being perpetrated against their own people.

Even if you set aside the ethics of the situation, though (which you by no means should), I have to ask about the tactical wisdom of bringing Machia to the field as well.  So Shinsou's controlling him now, awesome; we’ve weaponized one of the villains against their own side.

What happens when that control wears off?  Or Shinsou gets wounded (or worse) and loses focus?  Or AFO warps Machia out of there, likely out of Shinsou’s range of control?  Or Machia breaks himself out of the control because that’s just how much it agonizes him to be forced to fight his beloved master?  Or AFO breaks him out of the control because Machia is conditioned to respond to his voice, and he’s got the right smell to go with it?  Or literally anything because this is not a permanent solution but now Machia's out of prison and on the field with AFO, great job, team!!!

Another issue a chat friend brought up: Machia’s basically just retracing the path he took before—from the Villa to Jakku then back again.  Given how incredibly destructive that was before, how destructive was it this time?  Did they swerve around every settled area on the way?  Just run over it again because, heck, it’s not like anyone’s had time to repair it anyway?  ‘Cause like, back in Chapter 282, when the radio was running through the list of places that needed to be evacuated, the announcer listed twenty names before Uraraka picked up her line of dialogue, interrupting any further roll call of affected areas.

Furthermore, all the places listed were called cities—shi in the Japanese, the largest of Japan’s three municipal categories.  There are also towns (machi) and villages (mura), neither of which were mentioned in the broadcast, but which must surely also be scattered along Machia’s route.  That’s a lot of municipality to swerve around; would it even be feasible to do so and still reach the battle in a relatively timely fashion?  How much time has elapsed since we saw the Jakku battlefield in 353, at which point Machia was still down and dreaming?  How much time is that compared to how long it took Machia to clear the villa and arrive at Jakku in the previous war?

Machia’s travel times have always been a frankly impossible abstraction,[4] but seriously, it ought to take considerably more time to navigate around every clutch of houses in his path than to just plow through them.[5]  Unless, again, the kids just said fuck it and ran back over the path he took before, trusting that it was still an evacuated wasteland.  Which, while it doesn’t account for those who declined to evacuate to begin with, might be a fair bet—I can’t imagine the government’s shelling out much for repair and construction with things still so unsettled—but would still be a pretty bad look for Team Hero.

Stray Thoughts:

O  The layout of the narration boxes on the first page is very fun.

O  AFO is obvious, but I wonder why Dabi and not Shigaraki for Tsuyu’s pick on people they’d be doomed if Toga had chosen to transform into.  Shigaraki’s ranged Decay is by some measure deadlier, and that’s not even getting into everything else Shigaraki’s packing now.  Meanwhile, Dabi has still yet to kill a single named character.

O  Tsuyu calls Toga Himiko-chan, which is certainly A Choice she’s consciously making, given that last time they met, Tsuyu was still rebuking Toga not to address her by her given name.  Suffice to say, it’s a pretty strong suggestion that Tsuyu and Ochaco have had at least one serious conversation about Ochaco’s intentions towards Toga.  I wish we could have seen it, but I suppose there’s always a chance of flashbacks.

O  The panel of “Twice” with Toga’s eyes is a very nice touch.  I assume it’s not meant to be literal—the “Camie” the reader first meets at the License Exam also has Toga’s eyes, which are wildly different from Real Camie’s eyes, a discrepancy you’d think her classmates would have noticed if it were meant to be a true depiction of her appearance.[6]  Anyway, Ochaco doesn’t recognize her by the eyes; she recognizes her by the tears.

…Which is ironic, really, given that Jin was by far the most openly weepy of the League.

O  Teen AFO is great, but what I find most striking is the shadows beneath his eyes.  Specifically, the way they so strongly resemble the hollows beneath Shigaraki’s in e.g. Chapter 373.

I don’t know if this means anything, but it’s an interesting visual parallel.  I wonder if Yoichi was not the only brother prone to frailty as a youth?

-------------------- FOOTNOTES --------------------

1:  Tsuyu, who makes deductions based on it this week, Toga herself, who states it in Chapter 289; Ochaco, who heard it from Toga’s own mouth in the same chapter; and Dabi, back in 241, who probably also heard it from Toga at some point post-Deika.

2:  Mostly I’d say that since we know neither what AFO did to earn Machia’s loyalty nor how much say Machia had in the walking disaster he’s become, we don’t actually have enough context to say what he “deserves” and what he doesn’t, and that it’s not the heroes’ job to unilaterally dispense that justice regardless.

3:  Article 130 of the Geneva Conventions, which includes “compelling a prisoner of war to serve in the forces of the hostile Power” as one of several “grave breaches” of the Conventions that constitute a war crime.

4:  As has been the case for all the travel times this arc has flippantly handwaved.

5: Because if plowing through them would take him longer than running around them, he would have run around them the first time, the sooner to make it to Master’s side.

6:  Oddly enough, “Camie” only has Toga’s eyes for the first phase of the exam.  Once Toga switches transformations to Ochaco to target Deku and then shifts back into Camie after, her eyes look the Real Camie’s.  I haven’t done a thorough hunt, but she manifests Ochaco’s and Deku’s eyes normally at Deika and the Shie Hassaikai raid.

[dabistits]

quick bullet point of 394 thoughts again:

-at face value, the chapter holds up! it's pulls together ochako's changing thoughts throughout the 2nd half of the series and brings them to a conclusion as she's faced with someone else's pain who isn't the ~victim of a villain~ but an actual villain herself.

-himiko is in turn affirmed by someone who is "normal," who has never been abnormal and never been in her shoes the way the league has, who actually adjusts her (ochako's) perspective and admits her perspective was wrong in order to accept himiko.

-i do find this to be a much better turn than the todofam or (jfc) the mutant storyline. yes, todofam is forced to confront the skeletons in their closet and "own" their mistakes (not gonna get into whether or not that's correct given how it's mostly endeavor's fault <3) but i think there's a notable lack of acceptance of the way dabi is now. the focus was on the mistakes of the past and how they failed touya, not about what dabi might want to hear and do now. dabi was fought all the way to the end whereas ochako actually did reach out.

-and this might be bcs of where himiko and dabi's problems diverge (himiko's problem is one that is inherent to her, an instinctually-ingrained drive that doesn't necessarily entail harming people, whereas dabi's is explicitly taking out a bunch of uninvolved people to stick it to a shitty father) but positioning dabi as an issue to be solved by the family, rather than as somebody deeply wronged by multiple people who has a right to his hatred and rage (disclaimer: ~but not to hurt other people~) was weak and unsatisfactory. especially when contrasted with the fact that he has been more harshly judged, scolded, and physically beaten down in comparison to an actual abuser.

-the mutant storyline is just blatant libshit that horikoshi couldn't even hide under the guise of being about interpersonal relationships lmfao.

-in short, himiko's story actually gets a nod about how people were wrong about her and how that led to her mistreatment in a way that todofam and mutant storylines don't acknowledge. there is actually a focus on her feelings and how she was wronged, instead of being preoccupied with listing reason #872 why dabi/spinner are bad people.

-thematically though, does the chapter hold up? i'm still never going to be a fan of a story where the answer is assimilation into a society that scorned them. while this chapter is better than the mutant storyline, it still feels like it'll take a similar path: bnha teases "the attitudes of society has to change," but it also pins the responsibility of incremental/respectable change on marginalized people. idk ig this will either be addressed way into the future or not at all so we'll see.

-himiko's (and the league's) fate is still a huge elephant in the room. you can call her cute but can you be in her (and her friends') corners if the state wants to imprison or execute her?😳 how much is the acknowledgement of the league's importance to himiko worth if we're comfortable putting them all in jail? if i wasn't already a prison abolitionist bnha could make me one.

-being a qwoc myself i can say that a nice girl can call me beautiful all she wants but if she's in favor of putting me in jail her words would mean jack shit <3

-the other huge elephant in the room is twice. like genuinely no one acknowledged that he is dead, he was killed by a hero, and that fact is responsible for 99% of himiko's current rage😭 and then he just dissipates like he's a metaphor for himiko's hate-fueled rampage😭 come the fuck on stop treating this like it's a metaphor with no answer, we know there is a specific person who is responsible for this. hawks🤝endeavor, characters the story can't accept are directly responsible for this bullshit.

-good chapter canceled, horikoshi drew a teenaged girl nude again.