#izuku critical

[bibibbon]

Someone, please save Izuku. FandomWire released an article about how Horikoshi enjoyed working on Bakugou more than Izuku. 🥲🥲🥲

The only way we can save izuku now is if the fanfic writers team up and give him justice (some are already doing so!!!!).

I tried to find the article and the best I have gotten is to this 👇

I haven't fully read it but from what I have read I have to agree. We see Izuku a lot in the manga but dam it's just like we see him. We don't get to actually see inside him or what he is thinking and all like we used to.

Izuku in the beginning Vs izuku in the end are two different characters and a lot of people have described Izuku in the beginning as Izuku and the character in the end as deku (the hollow shell of izuku).

Izuku in the beginning would shout and rebuttal if he heard what spinner called shoji (he literally got all twisted up when shinsou called ojiro a monkey) but in the end we get nothing.

Izuku in the beginning would shout and be able to have negative feelings about people like bakugo and enji but in the end he defends enjis actions Infront of touya and doesn't even get any intropsection towards bakugos horrible apology.

Izuku in the beginning would do anything he can to be useful and be a hero but Izuku in the end gives up and doesn't do anything until he is given the tools to do so 8 years later

Izuku in the beginning and end still worships heroes and hasn't developed a well rounded world view even with the sliver of foreshadowing that he would from the begining of "not all are created equal"

Izuku in the beginning cried and prayed to have a quirk but in the end when he loses his quirk he is simply indifferent and it's bakugo whose doing the crying instead.

Dam too many of my favourite characters are going through character assassinations first Izuku now five whose next ?!?!?!

[medusasea]

On Yoichi's Heroism Part 2

A while back I made a post about Yoichi's heroism and after reading some resposnes I started thinking more. I disagree with a lot of the criticism about my post and I decided that instead of addressing individual replies I will write about my opinions on certain counterarguments to my previous post. You can read part 1 here https://www.tumblr.com/medusasea/759701821204905984/on-yoichis-heroism?source=share.

One common criticism about my previous post is that Yoichi is not supposed to be physical strong, but one with a strong will, that his strong will saved certain characters and helped them move on. I must admit that I was not entirely fair on Yoichi with this, his will did do good for other characters, even if just at the moment, but this brings up other issues I will address. One of them is the general way the OFA users dealt with Tomura. The most apparent problem is Gearshift's plan to give Tomura quirks. I would write an entire rant about this, but The youtube channel did it way better than I could ever do it, so here's a link to their rant on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSWe1EWwObk. Mind you, that Yoichi himself fully agreed with this plan.There is also the whole saving Tomura by killing him plot. Granted, the world is safer now with Tomura dead and it was understandable of him to kill his master, but the narrative wants to present his death as his rescue. Yoichi himself might've not stated this, but he certainly played a role in Tomura's death, so he helped the narrative reach this conclusion, regardless if he himself believed it or not. Yes, Yoichi helped OFA users, but the general way they all approached Tomura and AFO was extremely flawed.

Now I will further elaborate on Yoichi's lack of physical strength. I never claimed he had to have physical strength to be a hero. There are all kinds of heroes. I understand the narrative portrays him as more psychologically strong than physically. I understand the narrative portrays him as an idealist that inspires others. My problem was his faulty philosophy and the lack of vital information he gives. Sure, AFO needed to be stopped and Yoichi was right to not join his brother, but his philosophy pretty much starts and ends with "Villains hurt people for selfish reasons and they will always lose at the end.". Keyword "pretty much", since I am aware that he felt sympathy for his brother and tried to redeem him, despite the latter being evil, and he did agree with Deku's determination to save Tomura. The problem is that the definitions of good and evil are highly subjective and it's almost never as simple as someone harming others for selfish reasons. There are various reasons why people have specific moral codes and regardless of what your moral ideals are, people who are villains according to your definitions will often get away scot free. While the narrative did show nuance, there was never any confirmation he learned that bad people do not always lose in the end. Considering that Yoichi witnessed both AFO and Tomura dying at the end it is even possible that his belief about villains always losing got reinforced instead of shattered.

Moving on to Yoichi not addressing discrimination and corruption. Some counterarguments claim that he never witnessed discrimination while he was alive and that it is not his duty to address this topic. First of all, while he lived people were discriminated for having quirks and he knew it. He might've not been discriminated against himself, but considering how empathetic he is, there is no reason for him to not want quirk discrimination to stop. Second of all, he certainly witnessed plenty of discrimination and corruption as a ghost. While there isn't much he could do about it, we never get a glimpse on his thoughts on it. We barely get Deku's thoughts about this for that matter. Deku tried becoming the greatest hero, but he never has a plan nor signs he even plans to make a plan about it. Sure, they can't focus on everything all the time, and with Deku you can at the very least argue that he already experienced discrimination himself, that All Might already helped him understand that you can't always save everyone, that AFO and Tomura were way more immediate threats for him and that he was just a child. While I still think Deku should've thought more about the system, I can at least understand why he wouldn't give it much of a thought at the time of dealing with AFO. I can't say the same thing about Yoichi, who as an adult he was convinced villains always lose. I can also understand him dealing exclusively with AFO and Tomura at the moment, much like Izuku, but what I cannot understand is him never worrying while he was alive about people with quirks being harmed by society, even if his brother wasn't around. There was admittedly not much Yoichi could've done about systemic issues, but I have to wonder how he still kept his belief that villains always lose at the end. Did he believe that every single bigot out of thousands will lose? Furthermore, even if he would've managed to bring his brother to the good side, was he ever going to address systematic issues? This was never confirmed. Also, given Yoichi's empathetic nature, you would expect him to try help Izuku recover as much as possible from his trauma, this includes the discrimination and corruption he saw. While he brings hope, it's mostly just: "Things can get better, don't give up.". While on paper this sounds nice, humans have an instinctual fear of the unknown. As long as you don't know how how a terrible situation could stop, you will still feel a lot of fear. Yoichi and the other OFA users never try to come up with concrete solutions for systematic problems. They never give Deku advice how he and other people could influence society for the better. Sure, they are there for Deku, but their own plans are often faulty. Sure, they compliment him and tell him to keep faith, but they never teach him how to rely on external forces. They never consider he might need someone to talk to about societal issues.

This is the part I want to address the most and it is Yoichi offering vague information. The first time he ever talked to Deku, he didn't even introduce himself, which is universally the first rule when meeting someone and it only takes a few seconds. Keep in mind that Yoichi wanted to befriend Deku and it wasn't urgent for Deku to know about Yoichi's and AFO's past. It's not like Yoichi had much to say anyway, he just gave vague examples of people making deals with AFO, mentioned his brother toying and disposing of people, Yoichi himself getting imprisoned and AFO's group killing another one due to their own initiative. Yoichi not mentioning their birht cirrsumstance is one thing, maybe he wanted Deku to only see AFO's villainy at the moment, maybe he didn't think Deku would believe it or some other reason. My question is, why didn't he mention his brother always killing people? It's more realistic than AFO and Yoichi surviving as babies. Why didn't he start off by showing child AFO killing people? Really, something like "A villain killed people since he was a child." would much more effectively help Deku understand how horrible AFO is, than just Yoichi's vague description. Yoichi went right into his backstory without even telling Deku his own name, yet he didn't mention his brother murdering people since childhood? I think Horikoshi didn't originally plan for AFO to be a murderer since childhood and that he largely retconned their original backstory.

I want to add a few more things to Yoichi passing down his quirk. I mentioned him having dumb luck. This point by itself isn't that much against him. One thing I didn't mention is that I do not think it was pragmatic for him to yell at his brother in front of his face. Sure, Yoichi was right that AFO should've stopped, but yelling and bashing rarely work and he should've expected his brother punishing him for it. As mentioned, his reaction was understandable and I am sure he had no way of knowing better, so while I am criticizing his action, I don't really hold it against him. That being said, him being able to transfer his quirk was still dumb luck. I don't hold it against him, dumb luck is a thing in real life too, but the narrative presents this as being a very heroic act from his side, when in reality he only did it at the spur of the moment while he was the one being saved. Maybe he tried consciously or subconsciously to help Kudo with that, but it doesn't seem like he knew how his quirk works at the moment. Furthermore, he only obtained his transfer quirk by dumb luck, so even if he was actively trying to help Kudo by transferring his quirk, it still was only possible due to dumb luck. Granted, he helped the users not get the OFA stolen by AFO, I'll give him that, but other than that his contributions leave much to be desired for the reasons mentioned above. Yoichi's greatest achievements are passing down OFA, which was only possible due to dumb luck, and not allowing AFO and Tomura to take OFA, until he agreed to let Tomura take it for a convoluted plan to redeem him.

Lastly, I will address the reasons for Yoichi's flaws. I understand he didn't get much of an education, I understand he lived during different times and I understand flawed characters aren't necessarily badly written. I don't want flawless characters, I hate Mary Sues and Marty Stus just as much as the average person (outside of parodies). My issue with Yoichi isn't that his philosophy is flawed, it's that his philosophy does more harm than good (it would in real life anyway) while simultaneously never showing signs of improvement or getting any criticism. One of the story themes might be generations passing down to the next one, but the new generation barely did any improvements if any at all.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Bnha fans being convinced there's some epic love triangle between Shouto,Izuku and Bakugou and that Momo is purely platonic to him is dumb asf.If my abuse victim ass had to choose between a guy who's constantly insulting me and threatning me with physical violence both over nothing and my best friend who's like a brother to me that responded to me telling him about my childhood by comparing me to a comic book character and projected his coping mechanisms onto me in a way that insulted one of my blood sibling's,i'd be like 'Fuck 'em both,i'm dating my autistic trans pastel girl bestie who's never once done anything remotely mean to me and was the first person my age to make me feel normal'

[thaeonblade]

Okay MHA...I’m tired...

I know I’m going to get hate for this and I don’t care. But can My Hero Academia go five minutes without romanticizing a fucked abusive unhealthy, destructive or terrible relationship? Because right now, the heroes look like self-righteous dumbasses who should not be trusted nor have any good sense of reason, logic or frankly a consistent sense of morality, ethics and justice. And every time the story pulls out that “the villain is a child inside” crap or goes on about how life was unfair to the mass murderer, it makes the villain look more and more unintentionally unsympathetic. Can heroes like Izuku and Ochako be allowed to set boundaries and priorities to let horrible people hurt them without being considered bad heroes or bad people? Is it really bad for them to not let themselves get hurt just to validate some asshole’s feelings? Ochako doesn’t owe Toga shit. Toga isn’t entitled to shit. But the story is basically absolving Toga of all of the shit she’s done so that Ochako looks heroic for bleeding to death to reach out to this selfish murderous psycho bitch with a stalker complex. It doesn’t make Toga sympathic, it makes her look even more selfish. It doesn’t make Ochako a better character, it actually makes her kind of pathetic and hard to respect. I’m not sorry, I can’t respect people who disregard lives lost, families destroyed and can actually look a mass murderer in the eye and say that she has a lovely smile and admires how carefree she is while attacking her and her friends. This is Ochako’s big moment apparently. Enabling and coddling a fucking murderer because holding her accountable for her crimes and telling her that she mad bad choices and she’s responsible for them is “bad”. Society may have been unfair to Toga, but Society didn’t make Toga kill Saito (yes he’s dead per the databook) or any of the people she left to bleed to death, Himiko Toga choose that for herself. However, when I say Toga’s responsible for her choices I also state that she has the ability to make the right choice and do the right thing. Same goes for Shigaraki, but that requires taking personal ownership and responsibility for your actions. This is why the Toga and Ochako storyline sucks so much because it acts like Toga’s entitled to sympathy and patience and completely ignores all of the horrible and shitty things she’s done or been apart of. When Ochako says that she “can’t forget Toga’s actions”, this is empty protest and her actions and other words like “have my blood for the rest of my life” don’t add up. And no, Toga being bisexual does not excuse shit. She’s still a psycho murderer and deserves consequences. She sure as shit doesn’t deserve Ochako after nearly killing her and all of the harm she’s caused against her and her friends. I won’t change anyone’s mind here, but wanting TogaChako canon is basically saying you support a fucked up relationship between a selfish psychotic murderous borderline-sexual predator and the girl she’s trying to murder. If you want to support a Yuri ship, at least pick one that isn’t romanticizing or enabling abuse and romantizing suffering for an abusive or harmful partner like for example Momo x Kyoka. If Toga was a male, ya’ll would agree with me and you know it. I halfway wonder if some of you only ship TogaChako despite all of the objective red flags because you’re that desperate or thirsty for some kind of validation. Well sorry folks, you’re picking the wrong hill to stand on because canon-wise it sucks. Fanon wise, you can make it whatever you want, I mean it. I’ve read plenty of good fanfics where Toga got the help she needed before she went off the deep end and I enjoy reading about her relationship with other characters like Ochako and Izuku. But just like how Fanon Aizawa or in some cases “Dadzawa” is very different from the objectively asshole Canon Aizawa, Fanon Toga is a sweetheart compared to the psycho murderer Canon Toga is. I honestly wouldn’t care what you ship because it’s your business. I highly question your choice of ship, but feel free to ignore me and enjoy your warped fucked up ship as you please. With that said, I’m free to dislike said ship and use evidence from the story to point out how this is the worst possible cruelty you could inflict on Ochako. But please stop pretending like Canon Toga wouldn’t be a constant threat to anyone she was with. She fucking stabbed the first guy she had a crush on and he died (again databook) and even if he didn’t die, that’s still not someone who should be shipped with anyone. And after reading all of that, if you think I’m some kind of sexist, homophobic asshole because I don’t absolve or excuse murderers regardless of race, sex or sexual identity then we have nothing to discuss because I’m not wasting any breath on you. Fuck off. For the record, I already had this problem with the Bakugou and Izuku dynamic where Bakugou basically gets no consequences for his objectively bad actions and attitude. No justice for ten years of abusive bullying; No accountability for trying to kill Izuku during the training exercise; Izuku holds Bakugou on a pedestal he doesn’t deserve and basically does all of the suffering and giving for their messed up relationship; and the story doesn’t even do the bare minimum to make Bakugou’s “redemption arc” passable. The story ignored it for almost 300 chapters and then puts in a few grand gestures then acts like that’s all that’s needed and goes no further. I also have this issue with how Izuku is lionized for acting on blind idealism and emotionality to try and “save” Shigaraki despite the thousands he’s chosen to kill; the path of villainy that he’s chosen to take; and how he’s going to kill everyone if he’s not stopped. Society didn’t make Shigaraki become a villain; attack USJ; attempt to murder the Class 1-A students and teachers multiple times; send an attack against the Camp; try to make Bakugou join him or die; make an alliance with Overhaul whose torturing a child; or willingly take AFO’s quirk to be even more destructive and evil. That was Shigaraki’s choice. Tomura Shigaraki made that choice. Tenko Shimura made that choice. The little child within Shigaraki is irrelevant. It’s not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you. If Izuku and Ochako really respected Shigaraki and Toga, they’d respect their choices and stop holding back. Take off the kiddie gloves and defeat them however they have to. If the villains have to die so that no one else is killed at their hands? So be it. Nope, instead the story treats Shigaraki and Toga like children who can’t be held responsible for their actions because it’s all society’s fault. Which is insulting to them as characters, insulting to the many they’ve killed and Izuku and Ochako are also disrespecting their friends, teachers and comrades who’ve died or almost died including Midnight who was killed by one of Shigaraki’s men on Shigaraki’s command. What is heroic about disregarding the families destroyed? How will Ochako and Izuku explain themselves to the families of Shigaraki and Toga’s victims? Will they have any answer that doesn’t involve blind emotionality or idealism? I doubt it. What’s wrong with holding the villains accountable for their actions and giving them deserved consequences and acknowledging that society is flawed and wrong them? They are not mutually exclusive. You don’t have to scream at the audience about how you’re ignoring the problem if you don’t absolve these unsympathetic people because you know murder is wrong. And while we’re at it, if Horikoshi really wanted a story about Izuku and Bakugou repairing their relationship, then he needs to hold Bakugou accountable and responsible for his shit. Izuku needs to be allowed to love himself, knock Bakugou off of his “symbol of victory” pedestal, and learn that he doesn’t need to tolerate shit from Bakugou nor prove anything to him. Instead, Horikoshi’s portraying his characters as emotional pushovers and I’m sick of abusive horrible harmful people being treated like they’re entitled to sympathy, empathy or whatever. All because society wronged them and that apparently validates their chaotic emotions and how they’re lashing out and killing thousands of people. Yet, the story expects us to treat them like they’re the victims and they’re therefore entitled to infinite patience, forgiveness and empathy. They’re not. They’re entitled to a punch to the face. And I’m done here. Note: If you disagree with what I said then do so with respect. I don’t care if you agree with me, but harassment, threats and bullying will not be tolerated. Note: Just because I’m critical of MHA, doesn’t mean I’m any less of a fan. I just will not ignore its major problems as I’ve outlined. So if anyone wants to tell me that “I’ll have no peace in this fandom”, then just know that I don’t give a damn if you think I belong here or not. PS: Despite my harsh and blunt language, I really have nothing personally against TogaChako, BakuDeku shippers or whatever. I just hate these ships because of the unfortunate implications within them due to the canonical actions and attitudes of Bakugou and Toga. I strongly and fundamentally disagree with anyone who’d support or defend these ships and it honestly annoys how much some fans desperately force their interpretations over other fans, but otherwise you can like what you like. I just reserve the right to hate what I want to hate and sadly, your ship checks off all of the wrong boxes.

[nagitosstolenhand]

i don't like the growing opinion that people are being 'too hard' on deku for his failing to save shigaraki.

i've seen quite a few people complaining that a lot of the bnha-critical crowd are being too mean to deku for getting tomura killed, arguing that it isn't really his fault, and that hes a 16 year old child soldier who's been failed by almost every adult in his life, why should we be putting all of this on his shoulders? hes just a kid after all?

and the truth is, they're right. deku IS a 16 year old boy whos had the fate of the world thrust on his shoulders. but the story itself just plainly refuses to acknowledge this.

the narrative doesn't acknowledge how fucked up having a school that trains literal children how to be combo cop-celebrities is. it only tentatively acknowledges the fact that a universe having combo cop-celebrities is fucked up, and even then the only people who ever point this out are antagonists, who are portrayed and treated in-universe as untrustworthy. the narrative doesn't care how fucked up dekus circumstances are. the narrative treats deku like hes a fucking messiah here to touch the hearts of the evil depressed villains with his magical empathetic heart of gold before they get blown up or just sent to fucking superhell for daring to challenge the status quote.

deku isn't a person. he's barely even a fucking character at this point. he's a plot device, and a mouth piece for the objectively shitty themes bnha is trying to spout. the themes that tell you that if you're mistreated by society and want to do something about it, you're a villain. that disrupting the status quote and refusing to repent to some random teenage boy spouting empty platitudes at you means you deserve to get sent to fucking superhell. the themes that portray people fighting for civil change as mass murdering supervillains. the themes that look the audience dead in the eye and can call deku the greatest hero to ever live.

deku, who barely spared a second thought to lady nagant telling him the truth about the hero commission. who spouts meaningless platitudes about heroism and morality at nagant, and aoyama, and toga and shigaraki, when even the thought that he should question the world around him comes up. who's constantly talked about as this truly kind, empathetic person, but hasn't spared an empathetic thought to literally anyone who is classified as a villain. who listened to every authority figure around him except the ones who asked him to question his worldview. who saw la bravas tears, shigarakis various breakdowns, himikos plead for understanding, chisakis catatonic state, lady nagants truth, and barley batted a fucking eye. deku, who killed tomura shigaraki.

people don't criticize deku for failing shigaraki because they just hate deku. people criticize deku because of what he represents. because hes a mouthpiece for the atrocious morals and themes of this ideologically rotten manga. because any character he had was chopped up to bits in favor of the incomplete husk we have now. people criticize deku because hes the main character of my hero academia. theres nothing more damning then that.

[cryiling]

i see a lot of people headcanon that bakugo loves horror movies, meanwhile deku is a huge scaredycat/crybaby towards them. BUT actually i think it would be very funny if it was the other way around

SO. headcanoning that bakugo really fucking hates horror movies. NOT because he's. scared or anything what r u talking about. haha definitely not. but do not turn that shit on anywhere near him or he will fucking kill u

meanwhile deku USED to be afraid of horror movies. but then he decided that in order to get over his fear of them, he was gonna watch a bunch of behind the scenes for them to see how the movies were actually made and to be less scared when watching them. and then he became a HUGE horror movie nerd. he LOVES breaking down how the practical effects work and identifying them on screen when watching. jumpscares don't bother him anymore, he's too busy nerding out about the behind the scenes stuff and analyzing how all the different effects are working seamlessly together to make the horror movie effective

deku loves dragging bakugo to see new horror movies or forcing him to sit and watch them at home together, he's always really excited to analyze the effects and camerawork of the movies. bakugo only (barely) tolerates it because he just looks away during all the "scary" parts and concentrates on deku's mumbling to distract himself from the movie

deku: no kacchan it's actually so cool how they did this shot!! they only had one take so they had to position all the camera equipment perfectly and there's a whole bunch of hidden triggers and the visual perspective makes the intensity of the shot SO much more effective and blah blah blah-

bakugo, face buried in deku's shoulder and very much avoiding looking at the screen: turn this off immediately or i will explode ur face

[ilovereadingandstuff]

I'm sorry but THIS IS SO TRUE!!

Izuku, darling, you're my favorite and all media basically and i love you so much...but this is true.

[tardigradetheking]

I'm struggling to even articulate how bad the Iron Izuku armor is conceptually. It is everything wrong with One for All and the story as a whole. It exemplifies the failures of My Hero Academia.

The story is supposed to be about Izuku becoming the greatest hero. There are two ways a story like this could deliver. He could either become the strongest or fundementally redefine what it means to be a hero. My hero academia does neither.

When Izuku was given One for All fundementally has to becomes the strongest. That's how the world works. The last guy with it could at a sixtieth of his prime missing a lung and over extended can punch storms into existence. Yet even when Izuku is opperating at what should be well above a sixtieth of All-Mights strength. Izuku never becomes stronger then All-Might. Izuku can never be stronger then All-Might because the quirk gets destroyed.

If Izuku cannot be the strongest then in order for the story to deliver he has to become meaningful. He has to redefine the meaning of a hero. Izuku doesn't do that either. He spends the entire story wilfully disregarding the blatant problems with his society. Izuku is written as someone who is more distressed about lady nagant going rogue by killer he boss then the fact that her boss repeatedly ordered her to carry out illegal assassinations. Izuku is a bootlicker and bootlickers don't like meaningful change.

Iron Izuku becomes a sad consolation prize giving nothing of value. Izuku cannot become meaningful because after the entire story his character is the same. He is still someone who wants to be a hero yet does nothing to become a hero. Even now he is given Iron Izuku. He did not design it, he did not build it, he didnt come up with the idea for it and he didnt even facilitate its builders meeting. Not only can't Izuku become meaningful he also can't become powerful because a small suit of armor simply cannot match up to the power of One for All. Iron Izuku could have worked as a representation of the lives he changed for the better and the bonds he made. It could have but it doesnt. All his friends and classmates canonically barely saw or talked to him for almost a decade because he isn't important to them. Maybe Iron Izuku could have worked as an ending but not for this story. In this story Iron Izuku is a pitty laugh and limp twisted applause as the moth eaten curtains close, used as nothing more then an aknowledgement that a story occured and now it is over.

[sapphic-agent]

Waiting for the day Bakugou stans/BakuDeku shippers realize that Izuku not holding a grudge against Bakugou is an extension of Bakugou's abuse, not an absolution of it

[jp---v]

Weird how the class could barely ever see each other when Midoriya was just a teacher, but as soon as he gets this suit and can be a hero again, all twenty-one of them are all conveniently in the same place to answer a single call about a road being blocked by a landslide.

Just saying... eight years.

[bibibbon]

The way Deku’s dynamics with the rest of the cast have taken a nosedive in act III is so depressing, there’s SO much missed potential.

He doesn’t reflect on Endeavor (beyond a brief moment protecting the Todoroki’s on PLW)

He doesn't reflect on Hawks actions being exposed for everyone to see, the safety commission conveniently evaporates so Hawks and Nagant’s roles on society have already been taken down, leaving his desire to change society feel shallow.

Hawks interacts with Deku on Villain Hunt but him murdering a Villain that was actually a good person isn’t explored, and neither is wanting to save Shigaraki or the way he’s gonna go about it when you could easily contrast what Hawks DID with what Deku should have done.

Endeavor’s reaction to Izuku having All Might’s power, his relationship with AM is ruined, his relationship with his own class is barebones besides Ochako, it’s so sad to see a character that was known for learning from everyone around him suddenly losing all of the wonderful dynamics he had and could have had in the last stretch of the story

I would say that Izuku's interactions with other characters and meaningful interactions+intropsection that can directly help his character development has decreased in both quantity and quality since the middle of act 2 or much more accurately since the bakugo Vs izuku fight part 2 (is when I noticed it tbh)

I say this because it is exactly after those acts that we see less of izuku and all might relationship being depicted in a meaningful way or we don't have all mights problems with his successor being addressed, take for example the vigilante arc where all might and izuku meet after their falling out is framed as a gag or joke and we never see them talking it out. Sure the introduction could be played for a bit of laughs but what rubs me the wrong way is that there isn't a slow meaningful talk about this between the two (also I have just come to the realisation that all might and izukus relationship should of been built up a lot more before this moment and they're quite shallow in terms of mentor and mentee)

There's also Izuku's relationship with enji todoroki that somehow does a complete 180 spin where he first went from hating on enji for what he did to shoto and his family to then defending enji infront of touya and telling shoto that he is ready to forgive enji somehow even though enji has done unforgivable deeds. This moment just seems ooc for izuku and even after everything is revealed in more gruesome details like you said we don't even get a scene of izuku thinking about it or actually acknowledging that enji is a bad person and that touya has a point.

Or when the dark corruptness of society is revealed we only see izuku exclaim and almost berate lady nagant for killing her boss (who drove her almost insane because of the amount of killing he made her do) and it's so convenient that HPSC doesn't exists anymore so horikoshi doesn't need to make Izuku think about it at all (ultimately this ends up being bad because Izuku's dream of ripping up the realms of good and evil like a rug become almost meaningless) he k izuku doesn't thunk abkut how it was the hpsc and UA that sent both him and his classmates to war as child soldiers (actually none of 1A or 1B think about this)

Izuku and hawks could of had a meaningful conversation about how to go around saving villains and how their ideologies may clash with hawks believing that Jin needed to be killed to prevent tragedy and izuku wanting to save shigaraki. Izuku and hawks share some interesting parallels with one another but they're not deeply explored especially when they can be and lead to more izuku and hawks intropsection. Ultimately Izuku and hawks do have similar thinking styles with both of them believing that because a villain wouldn't back down that they can't save them, both of them being used as weapons by society, both of them wanting to protect, both of them being great analyst and having great intelligence. These are just some things that they have in common.

Or Izuku and his somewhat superficial or shallow bond with his classmates. I can admit that izuku and some of his classmates had a strong build up for some interesting relationships like izuku and iida (but due to iida being sidelined the whole holding hands moment and reaching out kinda falls flat) or Izuku and shoto (but Izuku's view of enji ruins it a bit and it's a shame we dont see izuku spill the beans to shoto since shoto is always the first to notice izukus emotional distress) or izuku and ochako (but it got muddled a bit because of the whole shipping thing and the way the narrative frames some of their moments). I think Izuku also needed more time with other classmates to build a proper relationship with them that's not based on transactional things that he did for them like encouraging jiro for the school festival or standing up for ojirou (I would of liked there to be more in between all of that)

Heck there are overall more character relationships that I want Izuku to have in deeper depths like izuku and shigaraki are pretty underdeveloped or Izuku and mei who had great chemistry or Izuku and shota. heck established relationships like izuku and kora or Eri should get more screentime and depth as they can for sure help Izuku's character. Izuku and his relationship with his mother could of easily been turned into an arc where inko realises that she is neglectful and steps up as a parent. Etc etc.

Ultimately it's a shame that these things never happen because what made Izuku's character so compelling to me is his parallels and foils with the rest of the cast and that he is a character who learns, adapts and also should of been one that questions and influences change within society but he doesn't!

[harukamitsuki]

Ugghh been consuming some bnha stuff and I'm reminded of why I largely prefer fanfiction over the actual story. I have so much hate and pettiness within me. Even so, I am never going to change my mind on how much I hate how bnha is just an amalgamation of wasted potention. Search the definition of wasted potential up and there's just an image of bnha.

I remember watching it as the first season was coming about because it was made by Bones and I just have to watch it in that case. I watched episode one and was so excited.

We have our mc, Midoriya Izuku, being powerless in a world full of quirks.

His childhood friend turned bully, Bakugou Katsuki, is shown to be favoured by literally everyone and this feeds into his ego.

All Might, the number one hero, is jaded and powerless for 21 hours of the day because of a fight nobody knew existed. Izuku is attacked and helpless, but saved by All Might. All Might tells him he can't become a hero. A much needed reality check because Izuku didn't work out a single bit before then and it's so incredibly hard to fight someone who has something you lack.

Then Bakugou is attacked and helpless. Bakugou, who is so much stronger and who people love, is left useless, only able to make the situation worse with his explosions creating a fire hazard. The pro-heroes can't do anything. All Might and Izuku both hate themselves for the part they played and how useless they are. Then Izuku sees how scared Bakugou is. He runs in, inspiring All Might as he mocks himself for breaking Izuku's dream yet forgetting the core of heroism.

Then, after all is said and done, All Might goes back to Izuku. And he tells him he can become a hero.

...

Then he offers him One for All. Now, when I was watching this for the first time, I was so disappointed. You set up a powerless mc in a world full of powers and you just give him the power of the strongest hero? Great. But, I kept watching.

I watched Izuku work to get his power, struggle even after getting a quirk. I watched as Izuku finally stood up for himself and win against Bakugou. I watched as the series went on and I... I started noticing more and more missed opportunities.

See, bnha is supposed to be a zero to hero story. It's supposed to be about the mc going from powerless to powerful. But it does it so quickly. Suddenly, it's not about Izuku finding his own form of strength, or realising how being quirkless may not give any advantages but it also has no disadvantages, or even any commentary on quirk discrimination or fantastic racism or anything.

It turns into a story about controlling your power. It's not what I signed up for.

That's just one missed potential. There's so many more. Horikoshi clearly tries to make some commentary on quirk discrimination and female heroes/sexism in the workplace and entertainment over peace. There's some effort put into making a comment on how heroes are glorified and people don't see them as public workers, they see them as celebreties.

But it's never delved into. We don't see how bad people with mutant or 'villainous' quirks are treated, and we don't see how people with weak quirks are treated, or how the quirkless are treated (because the only reason Izuku was treated so horribly was because of Bakugou). We don't see how female heroes need to have a bit of allure in their personas to have any sort of support.

Yuuei is literally a camp for making child soldiers, yet there's no controversy over it? There's no such things as heroes having to take lethal action and no moral dilemmas over it? There's nobody speaking out about how Midnight flirts with students?

We have literally no information about how heroes work. We don't know how their salaries are decided, how they're ranked, how undergound heroes work. if twilight heroes are a thing, how anybody but Rock Lock feels about bringing children into adult matters, (seriously, why do people hate Rock Lock for being rightfully worried about having 15 year olds in a raid against the yakuza), we don't know how villains work and how to decide if one's a criminal or a villain.

Heck, the only laws we know of are fanon, and the canon stupid idea that you can't use your quirk in self-defense.

It's just. Incredibly infuriating.

Also, analysis as a whole is so under-utilised. Both Izuku and Shigaraki are deemed creepy for their analysis, which is such a useful tool. I mean, Izuku accurately guesses Stain's quirk, which is useful because, otherwise, they wouldn't be wary about Stain licking their blood or cutting them. Shigaraki accurately guesses the time intervals between Aizawa's blinks, which helps him a shit ton.

But is it ever used outside of these situations? No. The thing is, quirks are scientific in nature, not magic. Therefore, they're not restricted like magic is. Fire doesn't always have to be fire, it can be smoke or just heat. Ice can be water or steam. Acid can melt through anything or just be used as a mario kart banana peel.

There was so much missed potential and that's exactly why there's so much fan content.

Horikoshi leaves so much out, and everything he misses tends to be the interesting parts. He willfully explains Bakugou's quirk in detail, but everyone else? Nah. Fuck them.

I mean, let's look at Ochako's quirk.

Gravity negation. Or is it? See, if it were just gravity negation, then two things, in particular, would happen. First of all, Izuku would have fucking died when she saved him from falling. Second of all, she would not have been able to get infinity in the ball throw.

Negating gravity does not negate the forces. Therefore, when she saved Izuku from falling, he would have still been affected by the force of his fall. It would have been no different from hitting the concrete. Additionally, when she threw the ball, it kept going. Air drag would have made it so that she couldn't possibly get an infinity.

More accurately, rather than force negation as some fanfics suggests, she's telekinetically accelerating whatever she touches. She telekinetically accelerates Izuku's body to stop him falling, and does the reverse for the ball, making it so that it continues to accelerate after she throws it.

See what I mean? Because Horikoshi gave Bakugou's quirk a scientific explanation with him sweating a nitroglycerin-like substance and being able to spark it, you have to look at every quirk with scientific knowledge. He could have said 'oh, yeah, I store energy from my quirk in these gauntlets' but Hori just had to be a smartass.

By the way, because of Bakugou's explanation, it's possible that his quirk is not what is named. Yes, it's possible to have two sides of a quirk, as we see in Shouto, but Bakugou's quirk isn't explained in the same way.

Rather than his quirk being creating explosions, his quirk is more like creating sparks in his palms. Why? Well, you see. Bnha never delves into actual quirk theory, but there's more than enough canon evidence that you have one main quirk and then one or more quirk mutations. For example, Ashido Mina's quirk is secreting acid that she can manipulate the acidity and viscocity of. Her appearance is not related to her quirk at all, meaning it's a quirk mutation from her parents. Same with Tokoyami Fumikage. Quirk is Dark Shadow, so there's no need for the bird head.

Why does this relate to Bakugou? Let me explain: Bakugou explains that he recieved a mutation from his parents with his mother secreting glycerin and his father sweating acid with combustive properties. In other words, Bakugou inherited nitroglycerin-like sweat from his parents, but his actual quirk is being able to create sparks.

His quirk is 'Sparks'. Not Explosions.

Why am I ranting about this? Because bnha completely misses all of this! It makes no sense which is a shame because the concept is so interesting! But then it throws away any scraps of potential left when it becomes 'My Kacchan Academia'.

Seriously, why do people and why does Horikoshi love abusive pieces of shit so much? Why did he throw away the potential to look into Shouto and his siblings' feeling about Endeavour? Why did he make Dabi's plot all about Endeavour instead of Shouto?

It's so easy to compare the ways Dabi and Shouto handle their trauma and their ways of revenge. It's so easy to look at Dabi and think about how easy it would have been for Shouto to become like him.

Shouto was transfixed on Endeavour. Everything he did related back to his hate for Endeavour. Using his quirk, fighting, grades, social interaction, everything. His only reason for becoming a hero is to spite Endeavour. It's only because Izuku reaches out to him and saves him from his own toxic mindset that he's able to move one and do things for himself.

Dabi, or Touya, on the other hand, doesn't get that. He doesn't get that person who recognises how far he's gone, how, in trying to spite Enveavour, he's living a life centred on him. How he's jealous of his little brother for being abused and tormented.

While Shouto became a hero to spite Endeavour, Dabi became a villain.

They're both full of hatred at first, but Shouto is saved from that spiral. Izuku helps him. Dabi doesn't have that. It would have been so interesting to see these two face of as parellels, but nope. It's all about Endeavour. Shouto is nothing more than an accessory.

I understand Dabi being hung up on Endeavour, but to outright replace Shouto with the abusive flaming trashbag? No.

Also, if Horikoshi wanted Dabi to be seen as sympathetic or redeemable, don't make him kill innocent people. Don't make it so that he unlocks an ice aspect to his quirk in a life-or-death situation because all that means is that Endeavour was right to hurt Touya the way he did. All that says is Endeavour should have hurt him more.

AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON BAKUGOU.

This piece of shit bullied Izuku relentlessly for years, used his quirk on him (yes that is canon), told him to end his life, tried to assault him in Yuuei, tried to kill him, threw a tantrum at an abused kid for not being magically okay with using a quirk that reminded him of his abusive father, assaults Izuku when he tries to work together but still magically gets a pass for being carried out unconcious which Sero was failed for, and the list just keeps growing.

Oh, but my bad. He has a sad backstory. You see, he fell in a river.

[v0id-clawz]

I don't think the mha fandom understands how truly mortifying the sludge guy scene with Izuku is tbh

Like. Izuku was 14. FOURTEEN, and nearly died ALONE

Sure, the scene with Bakugo was horrible for him, but there were a LOT of people there, he would've been on the news, he would've died a hero

Izuku didn't have that. He was alone, no one was there for him. Also, no one beside his mother really cared for him, given how he's treated in the episode, probably no one would've cared when he disappeared

Also, he might’ve not been on the news at all! The show has said that there's discrimination against those with different Quirks, so it might not have been just the class being jerks to Izuku

[donkeys-waffles]

Just as a warning to those that may be concerned, this is a Bakugo bashing post. If you love Bakugo as a character, then more power to you. He's my least favorite character across the board. And this is me venting my distaste for him, so be warned. Thank you :)

As I'm rewatching MHA, I've gotten to season 6 when Bakugo apologizes to Izuku. And there's something that really bothers me about it.

I feel like Bakugo had potential as a character. Like he really did, even though I don't like his character. I feel like there was potential for him to be an important figure in Izuku's development and growth. And the apology scene wasn't too bad for me. But I feel like it fell short in two major points.

Izuku rarely addresses and monologues about his own trauma/childhood. He expresses very little justified rage and the only real proof of the impact of his childhood lies within his body language and the subtext. His fear of Bakugo, borderline suicidal hero complex, every single scar on his body from overworking himself, constantly undervaluing himself and his efforts/improvements, and much more.

And the last point is Bakugo, I can understand wanting to keep core aspects of his character, but he has to change a little more to have it be considered character growth. The reason he bullied Izuku is because he felt that when Izuku reached out to him, Izuku viewed him as weak (delusional but go off. Literally harassed and assaulted someone for a decade because they tried to help you up when you fell.) His entire character arch was centered around the idea of not just winning, but also saving. He was supposed to understand the importance of both. But not only that, he was supposed understand and accept that help is needed, and you can't always win. I mean, if Izuku were to help him in a pinch now he needs to learn to set aside his arrogance, pride, and inferiority complex to accept help, and not explode into an overgrown toddler because he lost. With learning the importance of saving, he's supposed to not center his ENTIRE objective around strength and being the best all the time. And this could be done, while also still keeping his character true to himself. I always hear about his character development as a reason to like Bakugo, which... I don't completely agree. The only two changes are he doesn't physically attack people (Izuku) and doesn't call him Deku anymore, which GOOD I would hope that'd at least change. But his focus is still completely centered around winning. He says as much after the apology, in the baths, he's still fighting Izuku to become number 1. And that's not a bad thing entirely. I understand that's his character, what I want to see change is how he handles losing, how he handles not being the best and failing especially to Izuku. And what I get is an OVA with Bakugo having a temper tantrum because of a tie with Izuku, he used his quirk and was screaming about it too. It doesn't help that every chance he gets he talks about winning and out-besting Izuku in something, even with his fight with AFO he talks about it. Like he doesn't care that AFO is finally dead, and he saved the world, doesn't even offer a small sense of relief that he helped a lot of people, no, he beat Izuku and is clearly better and that's all that matters.

It's just, that entire mentality is what caused Izuku his problems, this mentality caused Bakugo to abuse him for a decade. I feel like the apology could've been done better, but it was just added to give Bakugo good boy points and then completely brushed aside. He's changed in some ways, but he hasn't changed enough to warrant forgiveness. Not when his competitiveness is still seen as somewhat mean spirited. Even when he found out about Izuku losing OFA, I just sat as he cried and thought "WOW, if I had my childhood bully that abused me for a decade for being quirkless, cried because I was quirkless again and couldn't compete with them anymore. I'd punch them so hard in the face." Like the audacity. Excuse me, I'm the one lying broken and battered in this hospital bed, with my dreams crushed again, and YOU'RE crying because you can't have an opponent for being the number 1 hero.

It's like Izuku is never seen as a person to Bakugo for most of the show, just something to kick aside, something to squash so he doesn't have to face his own inadequacy, and now just something to beat. Something with a power strong enough to rival the great Bakugo. And I feel like the narrative is trying to push that they were fighting for this dream together, since childhood up until this point in canon. That the bullying never happened, like that whole decade didn't exist. They do this through the scene of Bakugo crying and the All Might cards, but like how can you forget the last 5 seasons of the show and what 300+ chapters of Bakugo doing his upmost to crush Izuku under his boot. They most definitely DID NOT fight for that goal together their whole childhood, Bakugo has been crushing that boy's dreams of being a hero for years, instilling in him deep rooted self-hatred and a fat imposter syndrome.

[angy-grrr]

spoilers for chapter 429

idk if you guys remember but ochako does have parallels with All Might, specifically as the side who saves. It’s not that he feels the same for them both or something like that, they serve to represent the type of heroism he naturally goes to; his friend is not his love interest, from his perspective she’s out there having a crisis over not being able to save her, and Izuku reminds her that she is a hero bc she is his hero -she saved him multiple times, and she should be able to feel like a proper hero.

This conversation is not about the nature of their relationship, is about heroism; Izuku relates to a conflict between being a hero who saves and failing to save someone, and doesn’t want to see Ochako ending spiraling because she couldn’t also fulfill that role as expected. She’s his hero not because he loves her romantically -he’s a nerd I’m sure he would be way more nervous and blushing if he was confessing anything he thought was romantic- but because she’s able to go and do what All Might does to Izuku, save him physically and emotionally.

He knows she hides her feelings in order to not be a burden, yet he doesn’t talk about his own feelings outside of his guilt in heroics -what does he feel about losing OFA? About his own failures? About the people he personally lost? He can’t talk for others and claim Ochako is everyone’s hero, but he can speak for himself, and that’s his personal perspective -she is a hero to him, she’s his hero. And then the class appears to make sure she’s able to get support and understand she’s not alone, and she’s important to them too.

but Izuku doesn’t get support. Izuku cries a little and talks a little about himself, but he doesn’t get supported. If this was meant to be romantic, I don’t understand why he would hold back what’s inside of him.

the end of the chapter reveals that boy is going to be helped by that woman who regretfully ignored Tenko, and they both witness it and are happy about it while hearing izuku inspired that change, and iida wonders what’s up with them -this is the conclusion to their relationship. In their hearts these two are saviors who struggle to be heroes who save others, and they are happy there are appearing more people who want to be heroes like them. Heroes who save. Save like All Might.

That grandma for example, interpreting the narrative as what I think is intended, would be that boy’s All Might; she’s his hero.

Izuku and Ochako are heroes who save, and Deku is here to remind her at least she did save him many times, that she is still a hero because she is his hero. I don’t believe is meant to be interpreted as romantic, not that Izuku sees that phrase as it neither -after all, he said he does want to be like All Might and feels good to imitate him, but he doesn’t love him.

Ochako’s All Might hair moment, the parallels with Toshinori telling him he can be a hero, the trying to save from black suffocating quirks, the we can do it and do your best…

Do I need to remind you heroes arent a romantic thing for Izuku Midoriya?

[denkisauce]

(bnha manga ending spoilers)

what was the point

what was the point

what was the point

WHAT WAS THE POINT

WHAT WAS THE POINT

WHAT WAS THE POINT 😭😭

what was the pointtttt