#is horikoshi the traitor? probably

[mallas28]

Why i think Horikoshi need some help.

So, sorry for my English but will try to explain my point of view why Horikoshi favor Katsuki Bakugo so much and doesn't like Izuku.

Problem is...Horikoshi really doesn't like Bakugo and He actually loves Izuku. But he is too afraid showing this. This is my opinion.

Reason for this is Horikoshis PTSD from his previous experience with Shonen Jump. As you know SJ has cruel practice closing Unpopular mangas without giving them any time to get popular. (Ironically this cruel practice lead SJ in bad condition they are now).

Horikoshi suffered from this deeply. He even stated in interview that he considered leaving manga industry and find other job. He even stated that he has nightmares about that times and waking up with horror thoughts that his manga will be closed. So this is only my POV, but i think Horikoshi has PTSD and need help..

You see, Shonen Jump is not very nice company. Its a horror place in reality. I don't know other shonen magazine which have so mant artists with ruined health. Which says a lot about their work atmosphere.. You could also read about their conflict with Dragon Ball rights to realize how they treat horribly their employees. For Shonen Jump mangakas is a trash that needs to be thrown out.. Nothing more.

So going back to Horikoshi. I think he doesn't like Bakugo as many claims. I nean doesn't like so much. He in reality loves Izuku at some way.

Problem is because of his past experience with Shonen Jump. Horikoshi become to dependent from popularity polls. And popularity overall. You could see that from his interviews. Like that villain academia (the best written arc in manga) was axed because lack of popularity. Or that Aoyama was supposed to be revealed traitor in Camp arc but Horikoshi was afraid it will low popularity. You could find many of them

So i think Horikoshi is so afraid of losing popularity that he try to please fans instead of telling his own story. Like he pushes Bakugo forward and forward excuses his actions because he is most popular. Meanwhile Deku seems on second place..

Also, I truly believe that Horikoshi originally planned different ending but SJ forced his to rewrite it in last minute. Just look hiw badly 430 chapter was written. No design changes, narration jumping and etc.

So because of Shonen Jump pushing him and because of dependent from popularity Horikoshis own story suffers a lot. Bakugo gets too much ridiculous spotlight. Horrible resurrection and no abuse recognition. Izuku sufferers as independent character. Whole story and almost all characters suffers because of that.

. Why we only see it in last arc? The answer is editors. First three Editors were the saviors for Horikoshi. They lead him in righg direction.

The last one... Imamura or whatever. I think he is the most horrible. Because he did nothing. 430 was not edited at all. Why he was put with Horikoshi? I don't know.

So i truly believe that if not Shonen Jump and Horikoshi PTSD we would get a great story. The only thing that could probably change Horikoshi behavior and point of view on Bakugo is the next film flop in box office. If next film will be dedicated to Bakugo i will be praying for it to flop hard . And SJ will lose money. Only that could make them think a little.

This is only just my point of view.

[ihatetaxes99]

I'll say it: I love the MLA, but they probably shouldn't have existed. Not in their canon state, at least.

Everything about their presence after their introductory arc only really serves to make everything to do with storytelling harder for Horikoshi. Let's remove the League from the equation for the moment. The MLA has Geten and Re-Destro, implied to be two of the more powerful characters in the series (and neither of whom were actually defeated during the MVA arc, with the latter only standing down due to losing his own faith in the battle), and that's without getting into the 100k+ foot soldiers they've got kicking around. Curious and Skeptic are fairly useless in regards to combat proficiency, but Hanabata provides another strong support pillar of the army. Even before you add in Shigaraki, Twice and Dabi, the MLA is overpowered.

And what did this lead to? A massively tangled operation where half of its members had to be unsatisfyingly knocked out off-screen because Horikoshi had accidentally made them too powerful to be conceivably beaten. And to be fair, it's a trap I fell into myself the last time I wrote them. The Liberation Army are very difficult to make threatening, because you have to gimp them in order for the heroes to not get immediately blown to pieces like a small child throwing a rock at the Berlin Wall. As it stands, they're too good.

So, in all this smug retrospect, what would I have done? Well, it's something I'm toying with for something I'm working on, but my main idea would be to cut the MLA down. Make them a real underground faction of extremists. They still have their primary figureheads, but that aside, give them a couple of hundred loyalists spread throughout the country, not a couple of hundred thousand. They're powerful, but they're low in number, with many of their forces consisting of people like Yotsubashi's private security team and Hanabata's party subordinates. Much like the IRB at the turn of the twentieth century prior to the Easter Rising, they're basically an old boys' club, sitting around and reminiscing on when the group had power. Their schemes have to be more subtle, more focused on the - ahem - hearts and minds of the public. Things like Detnerat's products and commercials, Curious' articles, Hanabata's proposed policies, they all subtly push a pro-Liberation message. They warm the general population up to the idea, they take advantage of the Commission's failures, they engineer public crises from behind the scenes to weaken people's belief in the current system. What if, for example, it had been the MLA who had secretly encouraged Overhaul's production of a Quirk-erasing drug, in the hopes that it would cause further unrest and fear that they could manipulate to turn public sentiment against the current government? What if they had provided funding to the League post-All for One's arrest in order to stir up more trouble, instead of getting in a big fight and losing half their men to Shigaraki? What if the UA traitor had been acting on orders from the MLA, who then relayed the information to the League for the purpose of essentially using them as their pawns to attack UA on their behalf? A secret society pulling the strings, and using the League as their unwitting patsies, behind the scenes to sow distrust in the Commission and set them up for their eventual failure. The final arc could have been less about whatever the hell it was about and more about the League finally realising what was going on and having a massive three-way battle between the heroes, the villains and the MLA who finally take to the streets after spending pretty much the whole story scheming and manipulating and building up their forces.

It's all fanfic stuff, and it's so easy to point and gape and go "I would do that so much better!" but I honestly think the secret society working to undermine the government angle would have been more interesting and made for a more threatening faction than a massive revolutionary army which gets immediately crumpled during their first major battle with the heroes.

[bibibbon]

Wait, did Hori completely skip over their second and third year at UA? Or is the graduation talking about a different year?

Love how there's still absolutely ZERO introspection from anybody about the war, what drove Aoyama's parents to force him into being the traitor, Tokoyami and Izuku possibly being Quirkless, or Aizawa being such a shitty teacher that he never noticed the UA traitor being one of his own students.

And Shinsou can go kick rocks. I've never liked him since I learned how pervasive Fanon!Shinsou is in the fandom, and seeing his Goob from Meet The Robinsons ass being rewarded for his victim mentality really irks me. Again, love how Aizawa supposedly hates favoritism despite turning around and favoring Shinsou (and Bakugou).

#BringIzuku'sFluffyHairBack

Hi @nutzgunray-lvt 👋

No hori didn't completely skip over 1A's seconds and third year. The time skip was only a few days (which bugs me even more) so I was talking about mirio and his classes graduation. Personally I feel like it's too early to do such a thing but I mind of see it as hori making a full circle moment with what he mentioned in the war arc.

Oh my Iam so mad that there is no and I mean NO INTROSPECTION about what everyone or anyone just went through!??!?! Like y'all just went through a whole war and there is nothing acknowledging that!!!! Heck not even last chapters hospital scene made an effort in acknowledging what went down. The only type of acknowledgement we get is mirio's speech talking about how the heroes are trying hard to go back to square one and how they know there is a lot of work cut out for them but other than that complete radio silence which is weird as hell.

I mean we have seen people die in that war arc, many suffered injuries or lost things, many are probably mentally or physically scarred or both and hori opening no acknowledgement to that and trying to go back to normal is just horrible writing. The fact that it's been a few days since the war and they're going back to school is horrible in itself.

The series in itself doesn't even bother to mention aizawas faults as a character or teacher. Look I got into MHA because of the fanon promise of dadzawa (so Iam bias and have a soft spot for it) but dam horis writing of aizawa is such a let down to what fics and friends have told me about dadzawa. Also it's such a shame that aizawa apologises to izuku mid battle using his first name btw and then we are never brought back to that moment it's simply a one off. Also the simple lack of intropsection and information coming from every character is seriously annoying me it's like I can tell that they're simply puppets that hori is horribly controlling.

Also yuuga deserves better I have talked about how I wanted hori to use the idea of transfer students and students dropping out but this was unsatisfactory. Iam not saying that yuuga shouldn't of dropped out but Iam saying that there was no point considering that he went through that whole ordeal saying that if he fights that the education system may overlook his treachery but now he is leaving?!?!?!?

I like the potential that shinsou had but in all honesty he is way too underdeveloped for anything. There hasn't been any acknowledgements of his own mistakes and flawed ideology, we never see his interaction with Izuku and him learning that izuku isnt privileged, we don't see him apologising to ojiro for insulting him, we don't see him actually warming up to 1A rather he seems to be happier in his own class. I have talked more about shinsou and what he could of been here

Honestly it never made sense to me why aizawa likes bakugo so much when bakugo is like a carbon copy of his childhood bully so🤷‍♀️. Shinsou I kinda get but dam it's not a good look for sure.

#BRINGIZUKUSFLUFFYHAIRBACK

Horikoshi has no reason to take away Izuku's fluffy hair!! I need it to comeback and I beg for him not to give izuku a disgusting undercut like those aged up fan arts do. Also best Izuku is MHA 411 izuku!!!

[delawaredetroit]

It’s kinda fascinating how in retrospect Horikoshi did so well setting up stuff in the early parts of the series and then when the later parts were happening, everything was paced awkwardly enough that it almost feels retroactively less effective when the foreshadowing is cashed in. Dabi being a Todoroki child, Shigaraki being body-jacked, Aoyama being the traitor, Bakugou starting to grow up, Uraraka reaching out to Toga…

I’m just so curious why these things that were clearly in his mind for so long don’t feel like they have satisfying resolutions. I’m so used to finding serial series laying down groundwork and then building off it satisfying, and then here it’s just… Nothing doing

Have you not read a lot of Shounen Jump? Their mangaka work ridiculous hours (though that whole industry itself has a lot of problems with that) and stories suffer for it. Plus, that magazine in particular has a lot of control over what gets published.

Honestly, I think for the magazine he writes in Horikoshi is better than average in terms of having a solid idea of the main beats of the story early on and setting up the foreshadowing and plot events accordingly.

The execution just became more clumsy over time though. I don't know the guy obviously, but it seems like burnout to me. Beyond that, BNHA is far and away the longest work Horikoshi has ever created. It's probably of combination of dude is tired, he's overwhelmed by how big this thing got, and the Shounen Jump editors have been trying to put the story through the meatgrinder to make the most money possible.

[sugoi-and-spice]

My actual prediction for [REDACTED's] fate at the end of MHA, and just my big ol' meta on the whole situation.

Sadly, I don't think Shigaraki is coming back to life. I really fucking hope he does, but I can't believe it for two weeks and then watch it not happen, I will break . Yeah Horikoshi loves his fake out deaths... But idk, Shigaraki 's body is pretty damn gone. And he tends to pull his punches less when it comes to villains (Twice anyone?!)

I truthfully think the best chance we have of seeing him again is through One for All.

Shigaraki 100% transferred OFA back to Deku with that last bloody fist bump. That moment was a huge part of Horikoshi’s original ending with Bakugo, and I wouldn’t be surprised (or mad) if he decided to try to work it into this new version of his ending.

I think we probably will see Shigaraki again and get some more of that context and closure that we’re looking for, but it will be as a vestige within OFA. That’s my prediction, that’s the best direction that I can imagine this ending going in my little lizard writer brain. And I don’t think I’ll be mad about that. (But idk man, talk to me again in like 2 weeks lol).

I’ve always had a hard time believing that Shigaraki was going to make it out of this series alive. Of course, I’ve always wanted Horikoshi to find a clever way for him to do so without totally betraying his character -- I never believed that Shigaraki should fully join the side of the heroes. It’s just so antithetical to his mission and the message of MHA, nor could he ever just… live a normal life with every crime he committed, and him spending his life in prison would be just as miserable as him dying like this imo, no fucking freedom there. Sure, the simp in me wanted an ending where he got a redemption and life, but I certainly wasn’t optimistic. It would be a HARD fucking thing to do. I certainly don’t know how I would do it if I was in Horikoshi’s shoes, as a fellow professional writer (not just of romance either. I write and edit YA action fiction in my normie job, fun fact). I had hoped Horikoshi would figure it out, and a part of me is obviously hoping that Kurogiri managed to pull some hijinks and somehow warp him away, then he and his friends go on to live like little rats the way they have for the majority of the series, forever, buuuut-

I did always have a feeling he was probably going to go the Vader route.

Honestly, him dying beating the shit out of All for One is a pretty great exit for his character, feels more true than him sacrificing himself for the heroes’ side or humanity’s sake. It is the quickness with which this all occurred, the off-screen rescuing he had by Nana Shimura, and the lack of bodily autonomy in his death that I think is pissing people off. (It’s certainly what’s pissing me off). If we had even just gotten a moment of him having full control of his body again, looking up to the sky and seeing his friends waiting for him as he decayed away – or you know, just a death that lasted longer then two damn pages – I think the reactions wouldn’t be so visceral.

That being said. Horikoshi is a master chef, particularly when it comes to stories of recovering from trauma and getting closure, as well as tying up loose threads imo (remember when everyone though that he FORGOT the traitor plotline? Boy was that an embarrassing time for the fandom lmao),  and this man has been cooking for a while now. MHA has been the best it has ever been in this Final Saga and I don’t think he’s done with this dish just yet, nor do I think he’s done with Shigaraki. Physically? Probably. But everything that Shigaraki represents and stands for in this series, no I don’t think this is the end of that. Just because we didn’t see those moments we wanted in this last chapter, doesn’t mean we won’t see them in the next.

So as shell-shocked as I am right now to see my ultimate comfort character (who I have a tattoo of by the way lol) fade away into dust, I’m gonna trust the process and Horikoshi for now.

It ain’t over til it’s over, as it were.

Peace.

(And all that being said, I probably will still write a fix it fanfic where he lives instead, regardless of how this is handled lmao)

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

>They are really following the “saving child shigaraki” path 💀

No? Well, yes, but Deku seeing what happened to Tenko and talking to Tenko was always going to happen, it doesn't mean that only child Tenko gets saved lol. Tenko is Shigaraki's origin, his core, his genuine ideas, his honne (true feelings and desires). Of course Deku has to understand and save Tenko to save adult!Tenko, lol. Nobody seemed to complain when child!Ochako was talking to child!Himiko and etc., so what's up with some people's attitude now? 😭

I think the fandom is a bit paranoid because they really fear some theories.

I sometimes entertain those theories just to fuck around and create what ifs. It's a mere childplay. "Oh what if the school burned today and we all graduated earlier" type of mindset. The odds of it happening are non-existent, but c'mon. Unless you plan to burn the school yourself or you know someone will try, the odds are almost zero.

"but somewhere in the world a school burned—"

Sure, some mangas decide to end things the worst way possible only to cause shock, to fuck with fans, for money, sometimes simply because they don't understand their own stories. Even the big mangas is subjected to that. The author can go bananas for whatever reason and give you a terrible ending.

From my perspective, Horikoshi has rarely lost sight of the story he wants to tell. If he opens a plotline, he takes care to close it later. We got our traitor, we got the resolution with the Todorokis, we got AFO, class 1B, the villain comebacks...

Even when there were moments I knew Horikoshi went a little on the tangent (like Stars and Stripes) he was quick to return to the main issue. In bnha, to get an answer for your question you only have to wait for the manga to explain it— or in some cases, check the spin-off. If the answer is not in bnha itself, it normally is in the Vigilantes manga.

When someone asks me "Hey Shan, do you think that is possible?" the correct answer is always yes, because as long as the story is not over anything can happen. Objectively speaking, yes, it is as possible as anything else. As long as you're alive a lightning strike can hit you. A shark can bite you. An alien can come for you. The odds are there.

Now, is it probable?

No, not much.

Turning Tomura into a child to erase his crimes and resolve Deku's role within the plot is not only the lazy route, but also a disservice to the story. People don't resurrect out of nowhere in bnha. Limbs don't grow again. This is a story where the consequences are permanent. Even saving Mirio had a cost. There are only a few characters that can magically heal and their participation is soo little, it's almost as if they weren't there.

Each story has rules. You don't care about the real life rules or your own law code or whatever; you care about the inner rules of that story.

So far, Horikoshi has taken care of not breaking the inner rules of bnha. Why would he do so now?

Another bnha trait is that it doesn't stay stagnant on a plotline that is interesting yet irrelevant to the main story. It also doesn't hurry the story if it needs to go down a certain path. It will happen on its own time, after the events that need to happen had happened too. Example: saving Tomura has been a whole process. If Horikoshi were to turn Tomura into a child, why would he show all that he has shown us?

That's 'cause Horikoshi is explaining Deku's choice of saving Tomura. I know the trend of separating Tomura from Tenko, but it's absurd. They are one and the same. The kid is the adult and vice versa. You save the kid version, you save the adult one too. In order to save the adult one, you need to save the kid first. And if you went all the way to save that person, why would you want to erase all of it and turn them into a child again?

Isn't the story about how Deku giving little Tenko a chance? Isn't the story about Deku telling others they can do the impossible? Didn't Nighteye say that Deku could change the future and now we see him also changing the past, if only to allow the present to be a little more bearable? Livable?

I'll say this here: the theory that dictates that the heroes will turn the villains into kids to save them and the villains will stay like that has absolutely no foundation within the story.

If it happens, it's bad writing.

Horikoshi uses the kid images as symbolism. It is meant to represent the core of a person. It's the part of them that would never change, the part of them that dictates their dreams and goals, what they hate and love, who they are. It's the most basic of their forms, their essence, their soul if you want to speak on those terms.

Heroes are meant to connect with those parts of a human in order to save them, because the job of a hero is not only saving the body, but the human as a whole. To preserve hope, to heal past wounds and give people a reason to smile. To help people laugh as a kid again, to bring back their wonder and their innocence, to fight the apathy and the cynical part of themselves.

Bnha is fantasy. People have powers. The dead can communicate with the living. Of course that the heroes can talk with the childhood versions of the people to heal their past traumas.

Easy as that.

I can't say for sure if the villains will live or die. I only have my opinion (they'll live), but I am not the author. Horikoshi can have an epiphany tomorrow and kill everyone in the story with a meteor. Idk.

I can only say that Horikoshi has presented a cohesive and coherent writing, one that follows the lines it dictates to their natural conclusion. If things stay like that, there's no need to fear none of the crazy theories circulating the fandom. At the end of the day that's all they are, theories.

[nutzgunray-lvt]

This is probably a weird thing to criticize, but the MHA traitor situation would have resolved itself a hell of a lot quicker if the faculty actually LISTENED to Mic. I don't know if this is a problem with the arc itself or another one of Horikoshi's classic "tell don't show" blunders.

I mean, the man was right! Only a traitor could have leaked All Might's schedule to the LoV (which led to the USJ attack), and only a traitor could have told the LoV where the Training Camp was (leading to Bakugou's kidnapping). A fucking kindergartener could have made that conclusion, but everyone practically jumps down his throat for even thinking of such a thing.

Then, the whole traitor situation goes UNADDRESSED aside from some off hand comment by Nedzu that it's one of the reasons he turned UA into a boarding school (for investigative purposes). On top of that, there's little to no forshadowing or even no red herrings as to who the traitor even is until the Big Reveal. Even then, there's no realization from the faculty that they should have listened to Mic way earlier.

In my honest opinion, they either should have either resolved the traitor incident much earlier or introduced the concept at a way later time.

[bokunodumbassery]

(I just want to infodump. If you aren’t interested, feel free to scroll. This might turn into more of a guide or overview of what I know in the fandom so far; discussion is welcome and appreciated!!!)

So. BNHA fan-devised quirk theory!!! Because the fandom is better at clarifying worldbuilding in BNHA than Horikoshi himself.

The term ‘secondary mutation’ pops up a lot, and it’s probably one of the more important ones to understand. The idea is that, there are quirks, which are the actual power, and the secondary mutations, which are evolutionary characteristics developed to support that power. For example, Toga likely has an immune system specifically designed to fight the diseases she’s get from drinking random strangers’ blood, and Uraraka is probably actually more resistant to nausea and G-force to handle her quirk’s drawbacks.

Sometimes, a character has a secondary mutation without the quirk, or (in extremely rare circumstances usually related to a quirk being given/stolen) a quirk without the mutation. For example, Midoriya’s green hair - he doesn’t use it for anything because he was born quirkless, but presumably someone in his ancestry had a quirk that was supported by having green hair, so it became an evolutionary trait.

When you have a character with a quirk and no secondary mutation, however, things get interesting (spoiler alert for UA Traitor). Aoyama, being originally quirkless before recieving a quirk from AFO, has no secondary mutation to deal with his quirk; hence, the “drawback” of the stomach aches hurting him. This can also be seen in Izuku’s chronic bone-breaking tendencies, although not to the extent that it should, which is where a lot of Dad for One theories come in. And, weirdly enough (although I haven’t seen many people talk about this out of the context of Dad for One yet), a lack of secondary mutations in the brain may be the reason for the Nomus’ lack of sentience - there has to be SOME part of the brain that processes how/when/if you’re going to use your quirk, and it stands to reason that if you have too many quirks, your brain can’t do that.

That’s also why a lot of people believe in Dad for One; from a worldbuilding perspective, it’s the best explanation for why Midoriya of all people unlocked OFA’s potential through Quirk Singularity. Midoriya having a secondary mutation, passed down from his father, that allows him to hold multiple quirks would theoretically explain why it is that Midoriya can hold all the past users’ quirks without becoming a nomu.

(Technically, you can argue that OFA changes the user’s DNA to make them compatible, but that obviously has limits, as seen in Midoriya’s chronic bone breaking. If that limit is hit before the quirk even reaches singularity, then how would he stay sentient with nine quirks in his brain??? Also, why would OFA reach singularity when Izuku is quirkless and has nothing (quirk-wise) to combine the quirk with, if not for a wierdly specific secondary mutation that comes from the same family line as the first holder?)

If you read on ao3 among the ‘Dad for One’ or ‘Quirk Theory’ tags, or longer fics that mainly centre around that area, you probably know most of this already. If you’re interested in quirk theory, I would definitely recommend checking that area of fanfics out. Even if you aren’t; a lot of these fics are really good!

[crossdressingdeath]

A thought: I think the whole traitor subplot in BNHA would've been better if... well, first off if it had been better established and woven throughout the story instead of being briefly established as a possibility and then basically completely dropped until the reveal of the traitor's identity, but also if instead of Aoyama the traitor was Todoroki. Or alternately (and possibly more entertainingly) Aoyama was still All For One's traitor but Todoroki was working with Dabi (although that would obviously require reworking the whole situation between them so that they weren't on the worst terms two brothers can possibly be on).

Like... Aoyama is a very sympathetic traitor. He's a kid put into a horrible situation by circumstances outside of his control, so of course the audience feels bad for him and wants things to work out for him in the end. But that's basically all he's got going for him as the choice for traitor beyond confirming that All For One is The Most Evil, which wasn't really necessary at this point in the story. I guess there is a little bit of a thing about how being quirkless is treated in the setting if you want to read it that way, but nothing that wasn't already covered with Deku. I like how there are things he does in earlier chapters that read very differently when you know he's the traitor (like him drawing attention to the fact that his whereabouts were unaccounted for during the USJ attack), but honestly that's the nicest thing I can say about him being the traitor. He's a very safe choice, for lack of a better way of putting it; the thing that led to him becoming a traitor was his parents' decision rather than his, he has to do it on pain of death, he wanted to help and tried to draw people's attention to him being suspicious so that they'd do something about it. You couldn't come up with a less controversial reason for someone to be a traitor if you tried! And it doesn't require interrogating anything about hero society that we weren't already interrogating.

Todoroki being the traitor would be an entirely different story, though. For one he actually has a motive beyond "I'll be killed if I don't"; honestly I'm a little surprised he's never even utilized as a red herring, because this kid is the only member of Class 1-A with any reason to side with the villains. The number two hero was violently abusive towards him from when he was five years old at the latest and no one ever helped him. Endeavor was physically abusive towards Shoto and neglectful towards his other kids and no one ever helped them. Even when Rei threw boiling water in her son's face, a) it seems likely that this was covered up to at least some extent since otherwise that sort of story would be a huge deal (it's exactly the sort of awful, sordid shit people like learning about celebrities, tabloids would eat that up) and b) no one investigated the household afterwards, or if they did they didn't do a very good job of it. Hell, Endeavor's not particularly subtle about it; he openly refers to Shoto as something he made to take down All Might to All Might's face (and I've read in the original Japanese he refers to Shoto as "it" instead of "him"? But I can't confirm that for myself currently), and Shoto sure as hell isn't hiding the fact that his father treats him terribly. But Endeavor faces zero consequences for the way he treats his family until Touya outs the whole affair to all of Japan! His status as number two—and later number one—hero is absolutely protecting him, and I get the sense Shoto is very aware of that. If anyone in this class was going to say "No, this society is terrible, tear it down and start again"... well, he definitely has the most reason to. He's also a significantly more important character in the rest of the story than Aoyama, which would give the betrayal more weight.

Also, since Horikoshi clearly wants a sympathetic traitor (which I have to say probably is the best way to go unless the traitor was Mineta in which case the class should throw him off the highest roof they can find, he'd deserve it no matter how sympathetic his motivation was)... "I want hero society rebuilt because it let my dad get away with abusing his whole family for a decade" is still really sympathetic! It's honestly just as sympathetic as Aoyama's motivation, it just allows the traitor some actual agency. Or alternately if he's Dabi's spy specifically it could be a situation where the two of them are using the League to get a shot at Endeavor as Dabi does in canon, in at least Shoto's case because all legal courses of action have failed to do anything for him and he's desperate to do something, anything to get out of Endeavor's clutches. Either way that would create an opportunity to actually examine the good points the villains make with a character who isn't... y'know, obviously full of shit. After all, if heroes can do whatever and it'll get covered up for the sake of The System then there will always be people abandoned and allowed to fall through the cracks, and some of those people are going to turn to desperate measures to help themselves because there is no other choice. Plus going back to the point of agency, a setup where Todoroki is willingly working with the League (or at least his brother) because he thinks it's the only way to create a better world (or the only way to deal with Endeavor) would create a situation where he could willingly switch sides because All For One has gone way too far and this is not what he wanted, which a) is a viewpoint from the villains that feels like it should've come up more and b) to me feels more compelling than "I never wanted to help them anyway" as a motivation to change sides.

Also I do have to admit it: I like me some Todobros. I was very disappointed when it turned out Dabi genuinely hated Todoroki, I wanted them to be close. Really ramp up the angst of them being enemies, y'know? Also (while I haven't got to the summer training camp arc of the anime yet so I don't know how it's animated) in the scene where Dabi first appears to steal Bakugou in the manga the art looked to me like he deliberately avoided hitting Todoroki with his flames so it feels like a real shame that it turns out that either that was incidental or Todoroki just dodged and I misread (mis-saw?) the scene when it could have been Dabi not being able to bring himself to hurt his baby brother. Anyway, having them be close and working together to bring down Endeavor would give me the dynamic between them that I wanted canon to have. It would also humanize Dabi a bit to have a single positive human connection that he genuinely cared about, which I do think he'd benefit from; there are many good bonds that people give him in fics and fanon, but canonically he genuinely doesn't seem to give a shit about anyone or anything other than taking down Endeavor, and at times it kind of feels like he's written that way just to devalue his really good reasons for wanting his dad gone (in ways other than. y'know. all the murder). Also if they were close and pretending they a) weren't related and b) hated each other there would be so many opportunities for them to say and do things that would read very differently on a second read. Also there could be Todoroki agreeing to turn triple agent on the condition that his brother is shown leniency for all that murdering he's been doing, which is just a fun concept to me.

Anyway, though. Main takeaway from this: I just think Todoroki would've been a much more engaging and believable traitor than Aoyama and having him be the traitor would've created more opportunities to engage with the problems of hero society instead of just being another instance of All For One being evil. And honestly the more I think about it the more of a wasted opportunity it feels like that Todoroki is never even used as a red herring for the traitor seeing as he actually has reasons to turn on hero society.

[alteredphoenix]

This is probably the first time in a while that I’ve read a manga chapter, especially MHA, where I’ve gone Wait, that’s it? not out of anticipation (or, you know, the chapter going by too fast because Action Scenes) but because it’s very clear it got chopped in half to make the workload easier on an author who’s breaking his back just to make it to the deadline.

Like, it is very clear Horikoshi - or WSJ, or both - is just dragging his way toward the finish line like a starved and dehydrated man. I would say he needs way more than two weeks to recuperate and take care of his health, but then we’d have to wonder if the break would even matter considering we’re (arguably) watching the reverse play out with JJK where Gege is flooring the gas pedal as far as he can make it go just so he can blast through the finish line so he can make that idol manga I guess idk.

Personally I just find it sad to watch what might possibly be an author (and his assistants) struggling to keep up in real-time. And not even just an author, but one who’s done two other manga in the past that didn’t have anywhere near the same level of success MHA has garnered and was pretty much on his last strike with getting a successful story out the door for WSJ.

I think about what MHA Could Have Been if he’d just stuck to his guns with some of the original intents he had for the story (e.g. the UA Traitor reveal being done in the Summer Camp Arc, humanizing the LoV, making the world Darker and Edgier as time goes on, etc.), but this is not that kind of industry where you can let your story breathe and take its time anymore, and so we’re given the hand we’re dealt with.

[robotlesbianjavert]

i wish the detective dude was the traitor because that might’ve solved the issues ppl had w/ the traitor arc

traitor tsukauchi certainly would have had to look different enough from traitor aoyama that the big complaints (as i recall. i refuse to revisit unless under duress.) with the abruptness of the reveal (sobbing and yelling the confession like ten feet away in the shrubbery from everyone else) and how easily the issue is resolved (tsukauchi being an adult with authority with a close relationship to the #1 pro vs a scared child roped up into it by his spineless parents who is one of many students that all might probably struggles to remember the name of) AND you get toxic yaoi out of it. it would demand such a different path in the story that i have to really stew over what horikoshi could do to mess it up tho.

i won't deny that a student traitor as a narrative beat has its appeal, especially considering the Cycles and the proximity and struggle it could have provided for 1A, it's just the execution of it fell so insanely flat it's actually kind of funny now. traitor tsukauchi has its sex appeal, but conversely is almost too distant from the students (though maybe all might's struggle with it could impact his relationship with deku and the class, and how much he's willing to open himself up after being burned like that?).

most importantly though. can we think about what traitor tsukauchi's interactions with shigaraki and the league might look like. maybe he'd have some fuckin spice for once.

[quiveringdeer]

I feel so validated that apparently Horikoshi originally planned to have Tsukauchi as a traitor!

As soon as he walked onto the screen I was like-I don't trust you! 👀

but I'm glad he scrapped the idea cause Toshi probably wouldn't have been able to handle that betrayal :(

[bibibbon]

Who are your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters each from Jujutsu Kaisen and Boku no Hero Academia? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments each from both series? Thx :D

My top 5 characters from Jujutsu kaisen are :

1)yuji itadori. I already kinda answered why I love yuji in my last post but Iam a big fan of his character arc and I absolutely love his cog ideology. There is so much that is still a mystery to yuji and I think he will probably be one of my top favourite MCs really soon I do hope that his story ends up breaking the cycle.

2) Geto suguru. I love how he is a parallel to yuji, how close he was with both Gojo and shoko, how he realised that the system was broken but chose the wrong way to deal with it.

3) Yuki tsumoko. I love how she was basically a riko who got a chance at defying fate and living. How she studied the soul and probably had better understanding of all of this than anyone in the Jujutsu world. I think she deserved more screentime and moments before getting destroyed by kenjaku. I also believe that she was simply a catalyst to Getos downfall and not what caused it.

4) Mechamaru. I love robots Imma be honest this is bias. I also loved how much he cared for the Kyoto students, how he was basically being selfish not letting them go into shibuya being afraid that they would get hurt, I loved how he became the traitor for both his own selfish reasons and to protect the ones he cared about.

5) maki zenin. Her character breaking the cycle that the zenins created is absolutely beautiful. She is basically a toji who broke the cycle and is someone who is ultimately interconnected with mai through the use of the sword.

My top 3 favourite moments in jjk are:

1) yuji Vs mahito in shibuya. The build up to this was amazing the "Iam you" moments was also fantastic. The slow understanding that yuji and mahito are two sides of the same coin is just so beautifully done. The wolf and rabbit imagery throughout the fight how mahito went from being cocky confident to being terrified (a feeling that a curse like him never knew of) is just a masterpiece.

2) higumara Vs itadori. This fight really just have us insight to both characters. We really get to see how much guilt itadori truly feels and is burdend with after shibuya. However, with higumara we also see him and his backstory how he spiraled out of control always being confronted by liars and sometimes failing to help as a lawyer, failing to protect the innocent. His domain being blinded by only justice and what people say is something really cool especially when we see yuji break that and how higumara reassures yuji telling him that the shibuya incident was not his fault was a really good moment

3) Gojo Vs kenjaku. Short but I think it said a lot about both characters relationships. How Gojos only weakness was the one that he used to share the title of the strongest with or how even after death geto would still not want any harm done to Gojo so he physically takes control over his own body and tries to cause himself harm just to try and stop kenjaku from sealing Gojo.

For MHA my top 5 favourite characters are:

1) izuku midoriya. The potential he had as a character is insane he definitely breaks the regular shonen protagonist type as we see him overthinking, actually analyse stuff and he is a very emotionally intelligent character as a whole. I talk a lot about how many ways horikoshi could of used him in my blog

2) momo Yaoyorozu. My favourite female character she had a lot of wasted potential which I talked about I think she had a great character arc ahead of her she just lacked the manga time for it which is sad.

3) tenya iida. PROBABLY one of the best developed characters in the series (if not for some of the ooc things he does from time to time) a character who wanted to only be a hero because of a loved one and then going in a full murder hunt when that loved one is injured just to be met with ideological thoughts like what is a hero and if he is worthy of such a title.

4) toga Himiko. I think she had a lot of potential as a humanised villain. I don't like his she was redeemed and I also made a post about how much wasted potential she has int he series.

5) shoji mezou. He actually kinda carries the series on his back because a lot of characters would be dead if it weren't for him. It's such a shame he got his character "arc" last minute and we didn't get a more fleshed out version of him. Him being a victim of discrimination and hiding behind a mask is never talked about just how it's never talked about how he takes of the mask and gains the confidence to show his face without feeling ashamed.

My top 3 favourite moments in MHA are:

1) Stain Vs the trio (izuku, iida and todoroki).The stain arc realky put all the characters through some serious thought process and questions. I love how stain actually ends up logically questioning idea and having a point in those questions. I love how todoroki just got a message from izuku and was like "oh thats not how you text so I came" I love how the moment izuku realised he was in hosu he started to think of iida was ok or how stain thought and regarded izuku as a true hero.

2) Izuku Vs lady nagant. This was supposed to be a fight where both parties realise how wrong they are and for izuku to realise how messed up the HC is. Lady nagant and izuku have a lot of parallels him wanting to save her and not having the heart to kill her says a lot. The way she highly respects him is something I really like. I guess I mainly like this for the wasted potential it has🤷‍♀️

3) togas fight in MVA arc with curious. Her fight with curious really got a lot out of her character. We got a backstory and how she kept hiding her true self, how her quirk made her the way she is. We also got a good breakdown of both curious and Toga's characters I wish we had more but yeah.

[barelycontainedrage]

so. we all know that aoyama is the traitor now. let me defend why i believed the kaminari traitor theory and still like it for fanfic ideas.

sooooo if you've seen the infamous kaminari traitor theory video from 2021, linked here, then you know that theres a lot of canon backing for the theory. there are many different theories, from kaminari being in a sort of Twice situation, to him faking his weakness. ive always found the theory pretty cool.

i wont get into the specifics, but you can watch the video if you want. obviously we now know that it isnt kaminari, despite the overwhelming evidence. i feel it would've been a better choice to make him the traitor storyline wise, just to tug on the heartstrings of the audience more. nobody really cared when aoyama was the traitor, plus he wasnt even inherently evil, he was just forced into the role.

a lot of people are saying that there could be a second traitor. while i do love this theory, and think it would be a fun twist, i find it unlikely for multiple reasons. logically, if aoyama was one of two or more traitors, then when revealed i think he would give up the other one immediately, since he is no longer hiding his knowledge. i also know that sadly, my hero academia is almost over. horikoshi had said it will end very soon, with only a few chapters left. very sad, but all good things must come to an end.

time to defend myself!! i see a lot of memes of people saying they're so sorry for suspecting kaminari, or they're laughing at the theorists, and i respect that. i really liked the traitor kaminari theory for plot reasons, and because it made sense. i also enjoy a decent amount of the traitor kaminari fanfiction on ao3, so its a deep-rooted love.

i honestly thought of it as more of an au at all times, so as not to get my hopes up, which i see payed off in the end.

time to bring up some problems i have. i relate to denki on a spiritual level. i kin him or whatever. i am always told i am lazy and stupid when i really am just trying my best. kaminari has signs of adhd, which i have.

i love the trope, where the "weak" or "childish" or "dumb" character proves everyone wrong. its probably not healthy, but it always makes me feel better, and its definitely some buried inferiority complex, but were not going get into that.

TLDR; im going to continue to enjoy traitor kaminari content :) (that isnt horrible or disgusting)

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 263: [Immigrant Song Intensifies]

Previously on BnHA: Ujiko sicced five Noumus on Miruko. Rephrase that: Ujiko sicced only five Noumus on Miruko. In hindsight this was obviously a mistake. Miruko proceeded to laugh and jump around kicking all of them and literally ripping the head off of the strongest one’s neck with nothing but her thighs. It was legendary and awe-inspiring and also she lost an arm but WHO EVEN CARES, I’m still pledging my allegiance to her. Miruko once beat the sun in a staring contest. Miruko’s calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd, because nobody fucking fools Miruko. Anyway so also the heroes are finally attacking the League of Pliff’s HQ and Skeptic is running around all “AHHHH” so I guess we’ll see how that goes now.

Today on BnHA: Things finally get started over in Gunga, although for the time being most of the kids from 1-A and 1-B are still sitting around in the woods all pent-up and anxious and restlessly shipping KamiJirou. Meanwhile on the front lines, three-and-a-half-year-old Kaminari Denki is all “SOB I WANT TO BE BACK WITH MY FRIENDS WHERE IT’S SAFE”, to which Midnight, who I would just like to remind you is (1) an adult, (2) a teacher, and (3) a person responsible for this literal child’s safety in any number of other capacities, responds with “SORRY KIDDO WE NEED YOUR QUIRK.” I have yet to see any compelling evidence that they really do need it, but putting that dubious matter aside, Kaminari does kick some ass once he gets over his anxieties. Meanwhile Cementoss tears a building in half, Tokoyami reflects on how he was exposed to Kaminari’s good and pure moral character during their many soulful jam sessions, Hawks is about to kill Twice, and – wait, what.

a few stray thoughts since this chapter is taking forever to come out today. one, the good guys need to take out Twice and Toga as soon as they find them, because they’re currently the deadliest combination in the League. Twice for obvious reasons, and Toga because I’m pretty sure she got some of Aizawa’s blood that one time back during the Basement arc, and that fact coupled with the fact that she can now use the quirk of whoever she transforms into spells big trouble for the good guys since she can basically just cancel out whoever’s quirk she wants. plus she’s probably also immune to Midnight’s quirk. all in all bad news

two, it is interesting that Hagakure is the only 1-A kid we haven’t seen yet! probably just me overreacting, but still interesting!

(ETA: we do see her standing next to Mina in this chapter, so so much for that. you get out of it this time Tooru!)

and three, I’m not clear on whether or not Skeptic has actually figured out that Hawks betrayed them, or if he just suspects it, or if he thinks that Hawks leaked something accidentally and doesn’t realize that this entire time the dude was 100% playing them. I’m sure we’ll find out shortly. but regardless of how this plays out, I’m already dreading Twice’s reaction to all this :/ my sweet innocent baby. HE THOUGHT YOU WERE HIS FRIEND HAWKS. HE TRUSTED YOU. fff I really hope Twice’s inherently good and trusting nature isn’t a casualty of all this. then again I still think Twice himself is very unlikely to survive this. so basically I’m just bracing myself for pain sob

(ETA: oh this is bad.)

(ETA 2: by the way just to clarify, the above paragraphs were all written on Friday, and the rest of this recap+all ETAs were written the next day when I finally got to read the chapter! this is not important in any way whatsoever but now you know and that’s half the battle!)

“it’s time” holy shit finally lol. you all have been camped out over here for weeks now. not that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy each and every second of Miruko’s one-woman murder show, but it is nice to finally check in with you guys over here so we can get to work at last and I can get a better feel for who’s about to die. cuz someone here is dying guys

the chapter is called “I wanna be with the others!!” so. this is gonna be a Kaminari chapter isn’t it. I wonder what fresh new traitorous hijinks he’ll be getting up to this week. that detestable scoundrel

Mineta is being all weasel-y and reluctant, and honestly, I’m a bit annoyed. and for once it’s not directed at him! it’s like... how do I explain it. okay, so like, the manga is showing him being all cowardly and clearly not at all happy about being out here, and the fact that it’s Mineta doing it only adds to the general flavor of this being the wrong attitude to have and just a really shameful way of acting in general, because it’s Mineta and we all know Mineta is vile and so clearly he’s in the wrong here! the only thing is though, I actually don’t blame him even if he’s being a little shit about it, because the kids absolutely should not be here in the first place. are they strong? fuck yes. are they gonna end up being the ones to turn the tide once everything inevitably goes to shit, and thus the others are really goddamn lucky that they’re here? probably. does that make it right to conscript kids and send them out here to a soon-to-be war zone which the adults have very little control over meaning that some of these children will almost certainly be injured and traumatized and possibly even killed? nope! not right at all! no amount of “plus ultra” can justify this, folks. and “we get that it’s wrong but that’s just the fucked up times we live in” doesn’t actually justify it either, even if the HPSC seems to think so

but having said all that, there’s clearly nothing to be done about it at this point, and I’m about to enjoy this chapter of the kids presumably kicking ass even after all that whining, so I’ll just carefully climb down from my soapbox now. but I’m still keeping it handy just in case!

who the fuck is this Thundercats guy who looks like he was part of an old timey street gang in 1920s Chicago

lol can he hear the villain hotel being ripped in half over there in the distance

and speaking of hearing, Jirou is popping her earbuds into the ground to do some reconnaissance of her own I guess!

the heroes?? she better not mean the villains. oh lord I still don’t have the faintest idea how they’re planning on actually containing them all. well, brace yourselves everyone. here comes the shitshow

now Gangs of New York is making the most unnecessary speech in the history of this manga

were any of them actually going to be careless?? I’m pretty sure they understand the gravity of the situation my dude. and if they didn’t, I’d say that’s honestly on you guys and not on them because, again, they’re kids. and if you didn’t want a bunch of teenagers goofing off during your incredibly dangerous and vitally important do-or-die hero mission, then maybe you shouldn’t have brought a bunch of teenagers to your incredibly dangerous and vitally important do-or-die hero mission

��listen makeste are you just going to sit around all day bitching about my cardinal sin of daring to involve your precious little darlings in the actual plot,” the imaginary Horikoshi that sits around trying to keep these recaps from veering off track interjects. and okay fine

sob it feels wrong to see MomoJirou there without their Kaminari

(ETA: and there is Hagakure on the left, FYI. at least I think that’s her?)

their baby boy is all out there alone in the woods. is that why you were really listening, Jirou? you can tell me, I promise not to make a big deal about it

MOMO ARE YOU COMFORTING JIROU WHILE SHE OPENLY WORRIES ABOUT “TOKOYAMI”

I lied, I might make a big thing about it. what a beautiful March day for some OT3

MY INFANT SON!!

HE’S ONLY TWO YEARS OLD!! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!? MIDNIGHT YOU BETTER KEEP HIM SAFE!! at least until he makes it back safely into the hands of his friends, the League of Villains

meanwhile here’s a fun tip, this manga gets 100x funnier if you scroll back up to that panel of Jirou being all serious and saying “they’re on the move” now that we know that this outburst is almost certainly what she was listening to lmao. “oh, Kaminari is crying, that must mean they’re getting started”

and here they go!!

who is that in the witch hat?? COULD THIS BE THE LEGENDARY MAJESTIC, AT LONG LAST? this person looks like they cobbled together their entire hero costume from Sero’s bedroom. just ransacked it and draped all of his tapestries and throw pillows every which way over some Adidas pants. goddammit who is this person, I need to know everything about them right now

DAMMIT MIDNIGHT

HE’S NOT OLD ENOUGH TO MAKE THOSE KIND OF DECISIONS GODDAMMIT. HE IS YOUNG AND PLIABLE!! WHAT DID YOU DO, OFFER HIM CANDY. DID YOU PROMISE YOU WOULD TAKE HIM TO CHUCK E. CHEESE AFTER IF HE WAS GOOD

SON OF A BITCH ARE YOU GUILTING HIM

I DON’T LIKE THIS, MIDNIGHT. I MEAN, YOU ALREADY KNOW, IT’S NOT LIKE I’VE MADE A BIG SECRET OF IT OR ANYTHING. GUH

and he’s shouting back “no I don’t think you adults are pathetic at all!” while still looking terrified! goddammit how do I cast protection on a fictional character in a manga. I don’t play D&D, but D&D players can do that, right? how do I create a shield around my party. Kaminari you stay put while I try and figure this all out

lmaoooooo Tokoyami’s words of encouragement

A MAGNIFICENT FELLOW. you guys I’m gonna be honest, lately I’ve been enjoying these fan scanlations even more than the official ones at times. obviously Viz’s are fine and good, but sometimes it’s almost like they localize everything a little too much, you know? most people don’t go around calling other people magnificent fellows, but would Tokoyami? yes. yes he would. I believe this in every fiber of my heart

LMAO KAMINARI

“KAMINARI, I REALIZED WHEN WE WERE PLAYING GUITAR TOGETHER... WAY TO WHITE-KNUCKLE THOSE SICK FRETS, HALEN.” thank you so much for that Tokoyami but we are kind of in the middle of something so I’m not sure if right now is really the time to start asking my boy here for his autograph. after, maybe

now Cementoss is literally screaming “ATTACK!” and throwing subtlety to the winds

and now we’re back to this!

and it looks like this is most likely Cementoss using his quirk to tear the building in half! so that’s one mystery from last week solved! holy shit you guys I just realized we’re actually going to see Cementoss in action. so long as the environment is right, dude is a literal earthbender. we may be in for a rare treat

Skeptic is shouting at his minions to alert the Council. it’s okay, Cementoss already alerted them for you I’m pretty sure

so he’s sending Violet and Black to the front entrance, and Cleveland and Carmine to the Assembly Hall (where the Council is). these, if you recall, are the names of the various Vanguard squads, though I don’t recall who is actually on which squad and I really don’t want to go back and look it up... but fine!

okay, Twice is on the Black squad and Dabi and Otter Pop are on Violet. so they’re being dispatched to the front, while Toga, Compress, Spinner, and Skeptic himself (how convenient for you Skeptic) are heading to the Assembly Hall. isn’t that nice that Dabi is heading out to the front, where my son Kaminari “Clapton” Denki is. hahaha. fuck

Lefty Hair is now making a sudden appearance and giving Skeptic some threatening “you majorly fucked up and the only reason I’m letting it slide for now is because we’ve got bigger things to worry about” vibes, which I like. also he has a cigarette. it’s been a while since I’ve seen a manga character actually smoke a cigarette. I guess only villains are allowed to smoke them now

YOU GUYS LOOK HOW FUCKING RAW CEMENTOSS LOOKS HERE HOLY SHIT

HOW MANY PEOPLE IS CEMENTOSS GOING TO KILL TODAY. place your bets. and is cement stronger than fire. please don’t die Cementoss

YOU GUYS HE FUCKING SLAMMED THE FUCKING BUILDING OPEN LIKE ARAGORN OPENING THOSE FUCKING DOUBLE DOORS IN THE TWO TOWERS. I KNOW YOU CAN’T ACTUALLY SLAM A DOOR OPEN BUT ARE WE GOING TO SIT HERE AND ARGUE SEMANTICS ALL DAY OR ARE WE GOING TO KEEP READING??

ARE WE EVEN ALLOWED TO HAVE THIS MUCH BADASSERY IN A CHAPTER THAT DOESN’T HAVE MIRUKO IN IT. LOOKS LIKE SOMEBODY FORGOT TO INFORM THE BADASSERY GUILD THAT THEIR UNION MEMBERS ARE WORKING OVERTIME. I DON’T KNOW WHERE I’M GOING WITH THIS METAPHOR I GOT TOO EXCITED

by the way I like how a key part of their “let’s contain all the villains” plan was to open up their secret HQ and spill them all out like a bunch of ants. everyone knows this is the best way to keep people contained. instead of stationing people outside of every exit, let’s just make the entire building into one giant exit and MELEE AWAY ALL YOUR PROBLEMS

who died and made Lefty the smartest guy in the room

if only they had all listened to you, Mister Smart Guy. you’re so smart. why didn’t they put you in charge. probably just because they were jealous

booooo it looks like Black and Violet are attacking but Twice and Dabi are nowhere to be found! because they’re part of the Council?? boooo

Best Sweaterist can do anything a sweater can do. it’s not a very good power. everyone was all “you look like the number 3 hero you must be really strong” and so she got promoted waaaaay above her skill level and it’s too late for her to do anything about it now so good luck Best Sweaterist

finally some people from the League!

but where is Hawks? AND WHY IS DABI HEADING THE OPPOSITE WAY AS EVERYONE ELSE HOLY SHIT

LOL HAWKS YOU BEST MAKE YOURSELF SCARCE MY DUDE. OH FUCK

(ETA: Dabi is either going to arrive just in time to save Twice, or just in time to witness Hawks murdering him, and I’m not sure which would be worse.)

OH MY GOD EDGESHOT GOT A LINE

I CAN’T FUCKING WAIT TO HEAR THIS WITH MY OWN TWO EARS IN THE ANIME. IT’S GONNA BE SO GREAT AH MAN. but real talk, Miruko should be above him in the power rankings. I’m sorry I don’t make the rules. but unless you kill three Noumus within the next few pages here I’d say it’s pretty clear cut

OH NO MY SIX-YEAR-OLD SON, MY POOR BABY, HE LOOKS SO FRIGHTENED NOW. LIKE GENUINELY AFRAID-FOR-HIS-LIFE FRIGHTENED AND NOT JUST COMICALLY FRIGHTENED OH MY GOD I CAN’T

Kaminari you sweet little lamb, it’s going to be okay. you just take a deep breath and zap some of these PLF fuckers and then you can go run and hide and you’ll be playing tacky arcade games and eating hit-or-miss-quality pizza before you know it

Kami is actually in a lot of danger here what with how helpless he gets after he uses too much of his quirk though. (unless of course you subscribe to the theory that he doesn’t actually go dumb at all and that’s when he’s secretly transmitting his traitor messages to the zetans.) whose fucking idea was it to put him on the front lines, honestly. he’s only four!!

fuck me, Midnight sees him panicking and she’s being all soothing and encouraging while also being ridiculously sexy as usual. dammit Midnight

hey Kaminari if you want to think about Momo and Jirou I’m not going to complain, I just want you to know that. you can even make it all platonic by just saying “my friends.” either way is fine and I will respect your smokescreen

ahh he’s turning around and the camera is zooming back to the woods where the rest of 1-A are!

the title of this chapter is becoming surprisingly meaningful!! well played!

WOW

I don’t even know what to say?! I basically just slapped both of my cheeks and said “AWWW” out loud?! would you fucking look at these two bisexual icons living it up in this the year of our lord 2020. what a blessing

oh hey this guy decided it was time for him to talk again

okay Kami I give you permission to go pikachu on his ass. go ahead and show us why the heroes went ahead and violated ILO conventions in order to bring you here

don’t tell me this guy is also an electric type. lol who could have guessed that, there were absolutely no clues at all in his hairstyle or anywhere else. I would definitely have noticed something like that because I definitely pay attention to these things lol

(ETA: and presumably the heroes knew the identities of the Vanguard squadron leaders thanks to Hawks, and knew they had to have some sort of plan in place for this guy’s quirk, hence them being all “hey Kaminari let’s talk.”)

anyway

OH SHIT YOU GUYS KAMINARI IS ABOUT TO BE A BADASS!?

MOTHERFUCKER WAS THAT A SHOUNEN WOOSH???! whaaaaaat oh shit everybody brace yourselves

and now a Tokoyami flashback to the two of them jamming like little hero Hendrixes

because he prioritized the health of his fingers beneath his desire to learn the guitar to help his friends perform, you realized he was truly a magnificent fellow. aw shit it’s all coming together

yep

look how evil that smile in the last panel is. clearly the traitor. probably this other electric man is his dad

USING AN ELECTRIC ATTACK AGAINST ANOTHER ELECTRIC TYPE CLEARLY WON’T WORK AND THUS THIS IS ONLY A FAKE ATTACK DESIGNED IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN HIS COVER!

LOOK HOW EVIL HE IS

HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN A FIVE-YEAR-OLD HAVING THIS KIND OF RAW FIREPOWER UNLESS HE’S SECRETLY EVIL!??!

OH MY GOD I LITERALLY SAID “OH MY GOD” VERY LOUDLY IN REAL LIFE AND NOW I’M HOPING MY NEIGHBORS DIDN’T HEAR HOW LOUDLY AND EMBARASSINGLY I SAID “OH MY GOD”

FUUUUCK

just. it’s like this weird and crazy feeling that’s a combination of adrenaline and chills-rushing-up-your-spine. that’s the sensation of clicking to a page and suddenly seeing the thing we fucking knew was going to happen, but just because we knew doesn’t mean we actually wanted it to happen, shit

holy shit. does Jin have to die in order for the heroes to succeed? probably. do I want it to actually happen? NO. am I suddenly reevaluating every single thing I thought I knew about Hawks and mentally updating Jeanist’s presumed mortality status in my head?? yes. are Hawks’s eyes here going to give me nightmares for the entire coming week? also yes. am I really unsettled wondering if those eyes were the last thing Jeanist ever saw? listen why do you keep asking me all of these intrusive and deeply upsetting questions like I’m some kind of magic 8 ball?? am I going to be on the edge of my fucking seat now waiting for next week? fuck

[familyofpaladins]

Me, who finally read chp 335 and still desperately clinging to the idea that none of the kids are traitors: ya know, it doesnt actually Say that she is the traitor! This could just be a false lead! AFO is saying that he has a lot of friends, but it doesnt necessarily mean it's her! Maybe it means that who ever his "friend" is, is going to somehow hurt or use hagakure in his scheme, and she might be totally oblivious or unwilling in this. And like, AFO says he has "Lots of Friends", but he doesnt. He doesnt have any friends. He has servants and pawns. You could maybe say the doctor was a friend, but I'm not sure that's really true either. Anyway, I guess my point is that maybe Hagakure isn't the traitor at all, or at least not in the way people think?