#is kinda similar to shigaraki and deku at the mall

[yellowbluemoonshine]

League of Villains Redemption Discourse;

Its been a while since i’ve been talking about redemption for villains because it kinda become obvious that it will happen at the end of Bnha and all but there is still some discourse for villains, especially league of villains. That ‘Gentleman and La Brava fits redeemable’ type of villain better. That characters like ‘Twice are redeemable’ but Dabi isnt or Dabi can be saved but Shigaraki is bad blah blah blah. Like, the idea that ‘certain type of villain deserve to be saved’ while other doesnt. It is also ironic that people think characters like Shigaraki, Dabi and Toga are too far gone or they think this wasnt hinted. Well, here we go.

I would like to focus on league of villains to try to explain why i disagree with those opinions.

First of all, Shigaraki and Dabi’s redemption is hinted since the beginning.

The first time we saw Shigaraki, he was heaviely hinted that he is abuse victim and he was groomed. This his literally first introduction and story is telling you that this character is victim. And he had a conversation with Deku at the mall. Loosing his mind while saying ‘He hates Allmight because people are laughing as if there is noone he couldnt save’. And we get a little flashback form his childhood, ‘Noone saved you, didnt they?’. His entire character literally screams ‘SAVE ME. WHY NOONE SAVE ME? I HATE EVERYONE BECAUSE THEY DONT SAVE ME’.

And Overhaul arc. It is abour saving Eri who is parallel with Shigaraki, once again it is about saving Tomura in a parallel and we also seeing Shigaraki is capable of caring about other people which is a positive character development. And MVA arc is even more obvious. Not only story making his story more empathic because it is showing how tragic it is but also because we meet with Tenko who is kind kid who would help outcasts and well, Tomura even after ewvrything does the same with league. Showing that his inner kindness didnt disappear. Which is even making it more obvious.

Theme of Bnha is questioning the meaning of hero. Main character who wants to SAVE people in a fake hero society and his enemy who is entire character is about SAVE MEEEE, never really had choice because he was kidnapped by big evil, turns out still caring people and even helping them just like he used to be as kid. Its so obvious when Deku is like I WANNA SAVE PEOPLE and Shigaraki is like SAVE MEEE so yeah, well, it was always hinted that Shigaraki will be saved by Deku. Of course, he could die by being saved, we wouldnt know at first but one thing is sure that he would be saved. Shigaraki’s story didnt change. He was always redeemable and waiting to be saved. And the more story goes on, he only proved this more. Because in stories, positive character developments usually means noble death or redemption.

Btw, i dont think he will die because after everything happenned in story, there is no point of him dying. It also loose the point of being saved.

And Dabi.

This one is tricky since Dabi was mysterious character. I think two things make kinda hint that he will most likely get redemption. 1- He is heaveily hinted that he was Todoroki. He is doing what he is doing because he was failed by abusive hero. He is very similar to Earlyroki. So there is family drama there. Shouto is already tragic character in a positive story, so i dont see him ever killing his brother or something. Not to mention, if he is Todoroki, it would mean, he became villain because of his hero father so killing victim of hero, instead of saving would be very bad look. Not to mention, during the story, Dabi acts like dark cop or something. (Not to mention Frainkeinstein parallels). Despite revenge plan, he seems to care about morals, justice and even feeling remorse. What happens later, it doesnt change his story because he is parallel with Shigaraki a lot too.

 2- Save the cat moment.

A “save the cat” is a moment, very early on in the story, where we meet or see our hero do something nice that makes us like him and say, “I want to follow this person's story.” It's important to have it because you want your audience to be sympathetic or empathetic towards your protagonist.

This was mentioned by @hamliet​ and other people. The scene when Dabi decides to spare Aoyama, despite noticing him. Note; Dabi didnt know Aoyama was traitor. ‘Save the cat moment’ for a villain can be hint as a possibe future redemption for him.

And others. League of villains. I think their redemption werent necessarely hinted or it was necessary. I think for them MVA arc hinted it.

For Toga, we didnt know her full story and life until MVA arc and it turned out she is also victim of society, not just crazy villain. She is parallel with one of the main kids like Shigaraki and Dabi so assuming that ‘if Shigaraki and Dabi are gonna be saved by Deku and Shouto, Toga will be most likely be saved by Uraraka’ wouldnt be weird. Not to mention is this whole arc was about the family bond between league, that they are capable of caring other people. Same for Twice, Spinner and Mr Compress too. Because story is telling you that those people are here because society failed them and they have still humanity in them, they are not doing what they are doing because of evil but because they are victims so it wouldnt be weird to assume that whether they will get redemption or noble death, like Twice did.

‘Characters like Gentleman and La Brava are better example of redeemable villains’

No, they are not. They are not even real criminals. They never even did serious crime. I like them but they are like joke villains, they are not meant to be ‘actually’ villains. Whole point of ‘redemption’ is people who did commit serious crimes. If there is no actually wrong action, then we wouldnt need redemption at first place. I think redemption exist for characters like league.

Note; Of course, other villains can get redemption too, i am just focusing on them because they are good example to use. Especially since even characters in story told them, characters like Stain and Overhaul and even Redestro seen as ‘better person’ just because they have ‘goal’, just because they dont want destruction, like Tomura did. But in the end, Tomura proved them wrong because despite being at the lowest of low, he still showed more humanity and positive character development than them, just by treating his comprades better.

And i also dont like it when people see one league of member more redeemable than another. Especially with Twice and others. Because Twice is very obvious when it comes to showing how much he cares about others. He is obvious victim. He is not ugly victim like Tomura, Dabi and Toga. But the thing is;

Every member of League has side that makes them look irredeemable but also they have their own redeemable features.

Tomura's desire to destruction makes him look ireedemable but he is the only villain who never had a choice at life, he feel miserable with his life and he is very kind leader to his comprades.

Dabi’s distancing himself from others, using people he cares, even trying to kill his brother just for revenge against his father makes him look irredeemable but he is the only villain in league that feels remorse for killing others. He has strong sense of responsibility and he doesnt think its justified. He doesnt even plan to live long. He just wants to punish his father for his sins and thats it.

Toga’s self centered side, not caring about others without remorse makes her look irredeemable but one, she is the only one who born with serial killer quirk, with urges, like damn and second, this one is interesting. Compared to Shigaraki and Dabi, Toga never once had a grudge against people who hurted her. She never hated the society, heroes, people for calling her monster. She just accept this monster label and decide to live her life according to it.

Twice, Spinner, Compress arent different from them. Their redeemable side is how much they care about league and how much they go for their friends but they also kill many people and they dont seem to care which makes them look irreedemable too. Basically, it is pointless to separate one from another.

Also, i think it is kinda wrong to decide who ‘deserve’ redemption (i am talking about hero characters because you can always hate bad writing) because it not up to you to decide. It is up to you to do right thing by giving them a chance to rehabilate and changing or not will be theirs. Well, it is complicated.

Point of league of members isnt that they are just pitifull victims or they are just evil. The thing is they are bunch of losers. And thats what makes them beautiful.They are mentally ill victims. They need help and they need to be stopped at the same time. They lash out because they are messed up. Their violence arent justified because there is no such a thing that violence that can be justified. Violence is bad. But you can understand where it comes from. The thing about league is especially main villain trio, they are written to be metahpor for pain of abuse/society victims. Some victims never get saved, some of them make wrong choices and they messed up but some of them can still be rehabilate which is why redemption is exist. It makes sense why they get redemption because they are not bad people. And redemption isnt a bad thing either, it means taking responsibility and healing. It also fits to their characters so its good writing, well, hopefully it will written good later as well.

[mysterylover123]

Bakugou & Uraraka Parallels: Kamino Style

The villains decide to target them...

Tsu and Deku get super protective

Bakugou and Ochako get super protective of them

"we're Not so different You and I"

Beating up the villain who claimed they weren't so different

"I want to win just like"...(and then seeing their hero fallen)

Working together with Deku and Tsu to save the day

And watching the Fall of the Symbol of Peace with them

Also of course:

Not a parallel but a sign of them understanding each other at least.

[grimalkinmessor]

*cracks knuckles* TIME TO GET INTO MY SHIGADEKUBAKU AGENDA

How Shigaraki is BOTH Midoriya And Bakugou's Main Villain And How They're All Tied Together: A Long Ramble

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First thing's first—parallels. Specifically the differences between thematic parallels and narrative foils.

Hori has set Bakugou up as Shigaraki's thematic parallel, and Midoriya up as his narrative foil by making Midoriya mirror Tenko while also having Bakugou mirror Shigaraki.

Both Midoriya and Tenko grew up abused and lonely, one thought to be Quirkless and the other actually Quirkless, and even then the first manifested a 'villainous' Quirk not long afterward. Both of them have experienced Quirk discrimination and the inequality of society.

Both were shamed and discouraged for wanting to be a hero to the point that others would get physically violent with them. And while all three of them idolized All Might as children, only Midoriya and Tenko (specifically Shimura) have direct connections to All Might.

Meanwhile, Bakugou and Shigaraki are more physically similar. Both of them have extremely destructive, hand-centralized Quirks, and both of them have the same sort of attitude about them—even their speech patterns are similar in that they both say brash things while simultaneously staying polite in their actions. They are both quick to anger and yet incredibly intelligent and strategic, as well as not-so-natural leaders.

Bakugou's learning curve mirrors Shigaraki's on that almost identically. They approach their set goals with a stubborn single-mindedness that's honestly impressive.

The only place that they really differ is in their mindset towards battle.

Where Bakugou has always fought and trained to achieve absolute victory, Shigaraki has grown up being told that failure is expected and should be turned into a learning experience.

And now in this recent battle this difference is even more important, because while Bakugou is now finding a sort of 'freedom' in failure, Shigaraki has victory in his grasp and yet ultimately remains trapped.

Where Midoriya recognizes Tenko and his pain, but can't understand Shigaraki's villainy, the reverse is true for Bakugou. Where Bakugou cannot relate to discrimination and discouragement, he can understand Shigaraki's villainous mindset.

Because Bakugou has a mirrored redemption arc.

Both he and Shigaraki have anger issues. They lash out and hurt people at the slightest provocation, and are obsessed with making sure that they get what they want. If anyone gets in their way, they're toast.

Or, that WAS the case, at least.

Because wouldn't you know it, Bakugou has since grown! He was confronted with his own weakness, and learned the value of teamwork and kindness by making friends—though his ultimate form of redemption came through Midoriya.

Sounds kinda familiar, doesn't it?

My third point, which my bakudekus will love, is that Midoriya and Bakugou were always meant to be a team.

I always wondered why Bakugou didn't have a true villain of his own, before I realized that it's because Shigaraki is both Bakugou and Midoriya's main villain.

They are a matched set, a pair—you cannot have one without the other. Bakugou and Midoriya have each encountered Shigaraki once alone (Midoriya at the mall and Bakugou during his kidnapping), and every other time they've faced him together.

Because Bakugou was never meant to be his own hero with his own story. He's always been intimately tied in with Midoriya.

This goes all the way back to Deku vs. Kacchan 2, where the phrase 'win to save, save to win' came up, because it comes to fruition in their fight with Shigaraki.

Midoriya is not meant to fight Shigaraki, because he needs to save him. And only Midoriya can save him, because he's the only one who understands that Tenko needs to be saved.

Bakugou is not meant to save Shigaraki, because he needs to fight him. And, as we've seen in the new chapters, (what, you think a student would be the only hero to land a hard hit on the villain if it wasn't plot relevant?) only Bakugou can fight him, because he understands Shigaraki.

To beat ShigAFO, and to save Tenko, both Bakugou and Midoriya need to be the ones to face him. Together.

Both Bakugou and Midoriya understand helplessness intimately. They both know exactly what Shigaraki is going through right now.

In order for All For One to be defeated, and Shigaraki to be saved, you need them both. Because Bakugou couldn't do it on his own, and I guarantee you that Midoriya won't be able to do it on his own either.

And after Shigaraki is let loose, I'm willing to bet that it will take all three of them turning on All For One to defeat him. Not only because it seals Shigaraki's own redemption arc in place, but because it will finally be the three of them all together on the same side.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk! :D

[kaleidoscopic-quiddity]

okok so i do still think having hagakure being the traitor is a dumb and boring choice from a writing perspective in that it doesnt bring as much character drama as a different traitor would BUT i do also appreciate how well it works in universe 

her personality is so perfectly calculated to be unsuspicious it loops back around suspicious again, she’s bubbly, excitable and kinda ditzy (similar to uraraka and ashido) but she also has that ‘determined spirit’ one would expect from someone aiming to be a hero, she’s literally stereotypical ‘female teenage aspiring hero’ 

she gets along with basically everyone, she’s close-ish with the other 1-a girls but has no close nit group of friends. basically: she’s sociable enough to not raise suspicion but doesnt get particularly close with anyone 

her bedroom is like a parody, everyone else’s rooms showed off their characters at least a bit and i had assumed hagakure’s being so stereotypically ‘kawaii teenage girl’ was just laziness on horikoshi’s part but it makes sense in retrospect 

her quirk has never had a formal introduction from the narrator (anime only recap episodes don’t count) despite her being present in the story from super early on

as other people have already pointed out: she was the one who suggested class 1-a go to the shopping mall where deku ran into shigaraki, seeing as the LOV’s bar base is located in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture, and Musutafu (the fictional city where UA is located and presumably where that mall also was) is located in Shizuoka, the next prefecture over, it’s a pretty weird coincidence that shigaraki just so happened to be wandering there 

horikoshi has stated before in an interview that if toga were to drink hagakure’s blood she would not be invisible, implying that she does not actually have a ‘constantly activated’ heteromorphic quirk, which makes sense since her light refraction ability seems far more like an emitter type

todoroki apparently ‘didnt notice her’ at the landslide zone during the USJ attack which is a weird oversight from someone as skilled as him, it begs the question of whether or not hagakure was even there at all 

at the summer training camp she an jirou were hospitalised by mustard’s gas quirk, although it seems odd that hagakure would be ‘attacked’ by her allies this actually gives her an alibi and would make her an unlikely traitor from UA’s perspective 

so like yeah i get how ‘hagakure as the traitor’ works in-universe but it is still a really boring choice narratively 

she doesnt have an established backstory, im sure horikoshi is going to give her one now after the reveal but in the meantime it undermines the shock the reveal is supposed to have since we as the readers have minimal emotional attachment and investment in her as opposed to other more fleshed out members of class 1a

most of the ‘it works in universe’ points i mentioned are only worth mentioning with the benefit of hindsight, good foreshadowing should obviously be more obvious in hindsight but should give the sense that something is off before the fact, having almost none of your ‘foreshadowing’ being obvious or even notable until after a reveal is just lazy writing imo, not ‘masterful subtlety’ or whatever anitwt bros are saying in horikoshi’s defence

its just so cliche, of course the person with the invisibility quirk is the double agent, regardless of your personal opinion on traitor aoyama/denki/mic/nedzu/etc its clear that it’d at least be more of an interesting twist

she’s had no major moments in the spotlight, which of course works if she’s a spy trying to be as unassuming as possible, but it just means that we the readers have very little incentive to care about her character and thus that the traitor reveal feels underwhelming and anticlimatic to the reader 

[makeste]

more discussion about BnHA 237, and the “bystander effect”

Makeste, it’s been hinted for a long time now that Tomura had personally experienced the bystander effect when he was younger. When he had his little therapy talk with Midoriya at the mall he was pissed at how the people around him were just going about their lives and ignoring other people’s problems, thinking only about themselves. And when Midoriya pointed out that a hero would arrest him, he brought up that although anybody’s quirks could let them fight back and perhaps stop him, no-one would do so if he went on a rampage- their complacency and trust in hero society meant that they couldn’t conceive of such a thing happening to them, and so they would default back to letting heroes or the authorities arrive and save them, rather than saving themselves. Like sheep to a slaughter, they just couldn’t bring themselves to act, because they would rather support a peaceful society that protects them than willingly fully endanger themselves.

I actually liked that Horikoshi made it clear that some people were willing to help Tenko, so it wasn’t that Tenko coincidentally wandered into a street full of uncaring assholes, but his ghoulish appearance was a major factor in driving off the help he so desperately wanted. Just, looking at him, you can see the kid’s gone through something horrible, and if they got involved, they might have risked whatever caused it to happen to them next. They were scared of him, and didn���t want to risk getting involved in something they weren’t equipped to handle. Better to leave it to police, or authorities who have trained for similar situations and can protect themselves. Whereas the ‘defenceless’ citizen could tell at a glance that Tenko was something beyond their ordinary lifestyles, an unspoken threat to their peace and safety. Maybe some did call the police and authorities and Tenko had wandered off. But you can see why, for a society that, because of the whole ‘restrict your quirk and don’t perform heroic actions without a licence’ stuff, has been taught that they’re supposed to act normal and not get involved in dangerous situations or criminal activity, helping Tenko was too personally involving for those citizens.

You also got a hint of that when Tomura was restrained at the bar- the flashback’s words even spell out that “before long a hero will…everyone said things like that, but they all ignored you, didn’t they?” Maybe AFO had a hand in helping Tenko get isolated here. He could have had a subtle quirk that manipulated their emotions and fears to drive them to ignore Tenko, or he could have simply just used his connections to stifle any calls or reports of Tenko’s appearance to the proper authorities, and left him in the ‘care’ of the nearby public. Personally, my money’s on the latter. Either way, his appearance here definitely rings too good to be true- he was probably shadowing Tenko whilst he walked through the streets- but I get the impression that he honestly didn’t do much to make the general public act the way they did towards Tenko. He just let the boy experience the isolation and apathy of a society focused on ignoring danger unless there’s someone authorised to handle it.

It’s actually something that’s pretty common in some Japanese media. There’s a great example of this in the Anime ‘Psycho Pass’, set in a futuristic society that’s kinda a mashup of Minority Report and Mega-City One, wherein a city-wide monitoring system called the ‘Sybil System’ constantly monitors people’s emotional and mental states. Should they exceed an accepted threshold that denotes how likely the person is to committing a crime even in advance of them committing any crimes, that person is pursued by law enforcement and either arrested or executed, so they don’t spread undue stress and emotional instability to people around them and cause more people to become ‘crime co-efficient’.

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(interrupting here to add a *spoiler warning* for season one of Psycho-Pass, just in case anyone is planning on watching it at any point, which I would recommend actually; it’s a pretty good show.)

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 The main Villain of Season 1 is a psychopath that, due to his unique mental mind-set and view of people, doesn’t register as9)crime co-efficient when thinking about or committing crimes, rendering him effectively invisible to the system and incapable of being judged or sentenced under it, which is a problem since it’s illegal to hurt others unless authorised by the system. Despite this advantage, much like Shigaraki, the villain can tell how screwed up the world he lives in is, and seeks to awaken others from their blind dependence on the Sybil system, to think and act for themselves. In ep 14, he starts distributing helmets that shield the wearer from the Sybil System’s monitoring, allowing others to commit crimes to their heart’s content. This leads to a harrowing scene where a helmet-wearing stalker, in the middle of a busy, crowded street in public, walks up to his target and beats her to death with a hammer, in full view of everyone. No-one does a thing to stop him, their dependence and complacency making them think it’s some kind of performance art piece, incapable of thinking that it’s anything sinister or a problem for them to take action against. Even as the woman screams for help, they don’t lift a finger, and the Sybil monitoring robots actually start cornering the victim as she bleeds out, confronting her on how her emotional stability has exceeded the acceptable threshold, and she’s now crime co-efficient, even as she dies.

This isn’t the last time the Villain performs social experiments to demonstrate the inherent flaws of humanity in a society that lets a system control and define their actions. He lures the protagonist to an isolated room with a chasm in the middle, no way for them to cross to him, but no obstacles on his side to hide behind. Thanks to his invisibility, even as he speaks of killing more people, admits to his guilt, and tells the protagonist that he will keep hurting more people to prove his point, the Government-issued gun keyed to the Sybil system won’t fire on him. The villain has located and loaded an ordinary gun and left it on the protagonist’s side, challenging them to use it to shoot him dead. The system is incapable of judging him, so the only way for the protagonist to save lives is to take action without it, to act on their own initiative and do the right thing, even if it’s illegal in the eyes of society. The villain is fully willing to risk his own life if It means he can wake one person up for their society-wide bystander syndrome and make them act and think for themselves.

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(END PSYCHO-PASS SPOILERS)

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 Honestly, I’d love it if, going forward, Shigaraki took similar steps to underline the inherent flaws in a hero-worshiping society, running social experiments that force heroes to avoid participating and ordinary civilians to make the heroic actions and save the day, just like the twin ferry scene from ‘The Dark Knight’, perhaps closely monitoring everything so he can publicize how they made the correct decisions if the government tries to condemn them for taking illegal actions to save themselves. It would be a great way of causing an indirect attack on ordered society. And freeing up people to use their quirks more freely would also tie into the MLA’s vision of society, so that could be a case for what’s left of the army to work with Tomura for now, rather than get steamrolled by Giganto again and their cause forgotten.

If that’s what ends up happening, then that could be the main cause for Deku and Shigaraki to clash time and again against each other, as Midoriya keeps interfering in these experiments and performing heroic deeds to save those in need. Because the one thing that’s always been consentient about Deku- powerless or not, legal or not, he will step in to save someone regardless of the reasons not to get involved. It’s a shame, really, that Tenko and Midoriya didn’t meet when they were kids- you know Deku would have helped him because he needed it, regardless of the potential danger.

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first off, I just want to clarify that I do understand this scene, and I understand that the series has been clearly hinting at a scenario like this almost from the start. I can also understand and accept the logic behind it. it’s just that I dislike it. I understand the point it’s trying to make; I just disagree with it. I think it’s cynical and dystopian. I think the world is better than that, and I think people are better than that. I’m not gonna go into a whole rant, but there’s this psychological phenomenon called negativity bias that basically means that negative things tend to leave more of a psychological impact in general than positive things. put that together with the constant bombardment of negative shit in the media and online and basically everywhere, and over time that tends to lead toward people perceiving the world as being worse than it actually is. this is something that really bothers me about modern online culture, actually, because the overall effect it has on a lot of people (myself included) is to leave them feeling overwhelmed and depressed, and depression in turn drains your energy and makes it more difficult for people to actually do anything about the bad shit. which, I suspect, is intentional on the part of the institutions responsible for most of said media. let’s energize the far right, and dishearten and discourage the left.

but anyways, that’s getting off track and veering towards territory I don’t have the spoons to discuss further lol. okay, so back on topic. a lot of people pointed out that we don’t actually know whether anyone called the police or not, and it’s very possible that they did. this is a fair point. as for AFO subtly having a hand in influencing the passerby’s emotions as well, I’m all for that too. that was always my original theory. because it’s always been clear that, at least from Tomura’s perspective, this is exactly what went down -- something bad happened, and no one tried to help him. we’ve always known that was the case. I just hoped that it wouldn’t prove to actually be the case, and that we would learn that Tomura had misunderstood, or that AFO had intervened. I didn’t hope for this because I thought it had canon support and was logical; I hoped it because I, personally, disagree with the supposition that the average person, when faced with a situation in which a child is in trouble and needs help, would not help, regardless of the potential danger to them. my own personal belief, supported by my admittedly limited personal experience, is that they would.

lastly, I have seen Psycho-Pass (the first season, anyway; I need to check out season 2 one of these days) and enjoyed it a lot, actually. but it’s one of those things I enjoy simply as a what-if, kind of like The Hunger Games. it’s great entertainment if you’re in the mood for some dark and gritty stuff. but it’s a very 1984 type of worst-case scenario government-controls-your-thoughts type of story, and not something I personally would go “oh yeah, I could see this happening in real life” while watching it. it’s more of a fun cautionary tale warning people about the potential consequences of taking extremes too far, even in the name of the greater good. plus it has these really awesome guns that transform and look really cool and splatter the shit out of people. and Amano did the character designs, so if you liked the character designs in KHR it’s definitely worth a watch for that alone, just putting that out there. 

anyway. I’ve completely run out of time, so I’ll just post this and I apologize for not wrapping up my argument neatly. or, you know, at all sob.

[man-i-dont-know]

BNHA Chapter 175 & 176: Thoughts and Spoilers

Hello, I am back. Sorry the last couple weeks were busy. Anyway, I am really loving these two chapters so lets get right into it.

Preparation for the festival continues, and Deku still really can’t dance. We see a cute Eri and by now y’all probably decided that it was Aizawa doing her hair, and I agree (the dudes got some long locks himself, he knows how to do hair I can guarantee that). The class has made some serious progress and they are all nervous/hyped for the festival. Then a little bit of plot happens, Deku realized some of the ropes that will support the disco bal- ahem - Aoyama, are frayed and they need new ones. Deku says he’ll go out and get some new ones after his morning training (nothing will go wrong I’m sure). Kaminari notes that Deku will be cutting it close with training, shopping and prepping for the festival. So finally, the day of the festival arrives.

Hatsume hasn’t slept or bathed in a week and runs out into the woods to find Deku to give him his modified gloves (and damn they are stylin’). The sytlin’ aspect is actually something Mei consciously had in mind when she made it, which amazed me because all of her previous “babies” have been just straight up robots, but this time she had Deku’s hero costume in mind when she developed it. Mei is going to be a top-class hero support... uh.. person? Is there a title for it? Engineer? Something like that.

Deku is running a tad late because he was working with the gloves so much, but now he is going to get the ropes. He passes some of the festival which is nice to see that it is all coming together. He falls even further behind because the store he was thinking of was not selling any ropes that would work. At precisely 8:30, Deku bumps into two very suspicious individuals coming out of an alley. This oddly... gentle... individual diverts his path away from Deku and mentions something about a high-end brand of tea. Deku recognizes the brand as the one Momo so graciously served Class 1-A the other day. The mention of tea got this suspiciously suave individual’s attention and started a conversation without thinking. Then, legitimately, the scene gets tense. They start to piece together who each other are. “A high-class student,” “a suspicious character linked with tea,” “a student in the UA area,” “a familiar voice,” “he is a student at UA!” “He is Gentle!” Cue all black panel with Gentle and Deku staring each other down. I loved this sequence for a couple reasons: 1.) neither character is stupid, they’ve deduced who the other is very quickly with minimal interaction, 2.) other shows or stories keep characters in the dark about simple stuff for ages just for tension, whereas here nothing was kept hidden for long, but maximum tension was reached in three pages, 3.) the characters aren’t dumb! I can not stress that enough! God I love seeing characters figure thing out like normal human beings, it is so refreshing to see, 4.) and both characters are taking the other very seriously (more about that later).

Deku then does something that I adore, he asks Gentle to stop. Straight forward and honest, he leaves Gentle open to several options, one of which is dropping the idea and leaving entirely. It also speaks volumes of Deku’s character, despite being a hero confronted with a known villain, his first instinct is a peaceful resolution, not a fight. He does not instigate a fight, such a peaceful kid (despite how freaking crazy he is during his fights). The chapter ends like this, with a small counter saying the performance will take place in an hour and twenty-eight minutes.

The next chapter starts with Gentle admitting that Deku outted him, and Deku checks to see if there are any civilians on the street to worry about. I love that small gesture cause that is something that is typically neglected in stories, bystanders and if they are in harms way. Deku determines that they only thing now is to prepare for a fight. gentle has the same idea, whips off his disguise and tells Brava to start filming and not to stop under any circumstances. Gentle starts with a flourish and poses for the camera, Deku lunges, and basically hits one of those saran wrap pranks where it is pulled across a door frame. This saran wrap however is incredibly elastic and launches Deku backwards at high speeds. Gentle confirms that his quirk is elasticity, which is similar to what I imagined, so I am glad one of my theories was close to the mark. Gentle actually seems very surprised by the sheer force that Deku was launched at, meaning that he doesn’t put any force into his quirk at all, all the bounce comes from outside force (makes sense in this cause Deku was using Full Cowl). The distance that Deku was launched intimidates Gentle, saying that if the kid could withstand that, he must have some serious power behind him. Coming to that conclusion, Gentle and Brava book it.

Deku gets up and chases them further, Gentle sets up a trampoline and bounces Deku into the air so they can get further away. Gentle takes this moment to talk to Deku, saying that he understands Deku’s desire for the festival to go well, but Gentle is prioritizing his attack over the students having fun, which as a villain should be a given, but Gentle doesn’t really give off the villain vibe. Gentle and Brava make another dash for it, and Brava recognizes Deku from the sports festival, saying that he was “the crazy boy who fought by destroying his arms.” Gentle then gives a face of comedic fear, and I love it, Deku’s madman reputation is giving people pause now, I love that he is scaring the crap outta people he hasn’t even meet yet. Something similar occurred kinda recently in One Piece, I might write a post about that later. Anyways, Deku is tumbling through the air. He is remembering a conversation he had with Eri, and how she is looking forward to the dance party (THIS WAS SAID WHILE ERI WAS TRYING TO SMILE AND IT WAS SO SWEET I BECAME PHYSICALLY ILL THEN I LOOKED AT IT MORE). Deku is also remembering helping Jirou compile a load of notes she took for the other band members. She had notes on par to Deku’s hero notes, and Deku was thrilled cause originally he thought Jirou had a favorite hero she wanted to take notes on (Deku’s reaction to this was not like himself, much more like a friend’s though I can’t really place whose, Iida maybe? Either way, friends are rubbing off on each other). It is shown later Tokoyami using those notes, and its implied that Bakugou has already read it, which makes sense with his academic jock vibe.

This is all to show that Deku absolutely can not allow Gentle to get anywhere near to UA. Deku is about to launch a midair attack, remembers his training with All Might and comments about dancing from Mina. This combination allows Deku to fire off an air blast while upside down to stall Gentle. Deku immediately catches up with a Full Cowl jump and sends both of them into a construction site. And that is where the chapter ends, but I’ve got a couple other thoughts I’d like to share.

So there are a couple things I absolutely adore when some elements are included in a story. One of which is recognition. Not like a character starts off well known, but when a character works hard and somewhere during the story you realize, oh crap, this character is really well known now. Deku is getting there and you’ve got no idea how much that hypes me up. The implications of this fight with Gentle could launch Deku even further into the public eye. If Deku defeats Gentle, that will be the first villain Deku took down without help. On top of that, the whole thing will be recorded, meaning Deku will have to learn a lesson or two about camera awareness or at least he has to acknowledge the celebrity aspect of heroing. I would love for Deku to get interviewed or something, maybe we see a new article about him or something. Plus, imagine this: Deku starts to develop a fan club. Of course Eri and Kouta are the founder and president of the club, but imagine Deku getting recognized in public positively (we’re just gonna forget about Shigaraki “recognizing” Deku in the mall). To sum it up, Deku is moving up in the world, and there is some major potential for him to get his name catapulted into the pro-hero world.

The other thing I absolutely love is when opponents recognize each other as strong enemies. Far too often villains are so egotistical that they refuse to see the possibility that their adversary could beat them, even if they have already been beaten. A fight where both sides realize they can lose makes the fight 100x more tense, and this is what is happening here. Gentle is legitimately wary of the strength that Deku wields, and Deku is the cautious type by nature, so of course he too is aware of how this situation could be very bad. A fight between equals is sooooo good. Those are two of things I love seeing in stories, I got a couple others, but those are the ones that apply to this chapter.

That should be about it. Thank you for taking your time to read this whole long thing. I am thinking that I might try to diversify this blog to some other stories as well (anime, movies, etc.), though I have been busy recently so I am not sure how that would work out. I’ll figure it out later. Again, thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day.