#izuku is over verbally/emotionally/physically abusive assholes

[lance-space-mommy]

Not On His Agenda

Izuku is more than familiar with being in an abusive relationship. Growing up quirkless and being a big target for people to prey on was all Izuku knew. He saw the best in people, but when someone gave him a reason not to trust him, Izuku automatically shut down. Why fight for someone that wouldn’t fight for him?

Izuku saw a message from his current girlfriend. They had been dating for nearly six months. This was Izuku’s first girlfriend, so most of this relationship was Izuku learning. He was trying to figure out what it was like to be with a girl.

Izuku was familiar with guys and what to look for, considering he had three ex-boyfriends. There was one common thing between boys and girls that Izuku now knew. There was one thing you never want to hear from your partner.

We need to talk.

Izuku had a good feeling he was going to be dumped. He didn’t change recently and hasn’t seen any noticeable change in his girlfriend. If he hadn’t noticed anything, then he either deserved to be dumped or the girl was playing with his feelings. If he ended up not getting dumped, he’d enjoy spending time with his girlfriend who he truly cared for.

Pushing open the door to the school, Izuku was expecting to meet his girlfriend and a second location, but instead, she was waiting for him outside his school.

Izuku was beyond confused about how she already was at his school but chose to ignore the strange fact. Instead, he approached her with a soft smile.

“Kiko, what did you need to talk to me about?” inquired Izuku, clearly concerned about what was happening. It was clearly big enough of a deal for her to show up at his school.

Kiko frowned despite her attempts to keep a neutral expression. Izuku and Kiko had made their way past the main gate and headed over to get some privacy.

While Izuku’s back was facing everyone exiting Aldera, Kiko had a clear view of the people that were eavesdropping. Kiko immediately recognized them as her boyfriend's bullies.

“We should break up,” stated Kiko plainly, getting straight to the point.

Izuku’s eyes widened slightly. He had anticipated being dumped, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. While he wanted to ask her why, cry, and beg for her love, he knew better. People loved a show and it was clear Kiko wanted a performance. She purposefully went to his school rather than meeting him somewhere more private where he wouldn’t be surrounded by people who knew him.

In his past relationships, getting emotional did nothing good. His ex-boyfriends always had something they were expecting when they dumped him. His first boyfriend, Masutaro, dated him simply to mess with Izuku. When Masutaro broke up with Izuku, he wanted Izuku to cry and beg for him. Izuku gave him exactly what he wanted.

Izuku’s second ex, Kichibei, had been the most abusive. Kichibei wanted full control of Izuku and he had succeeded.

Izuku spent more time with Kichibei than he did with his own mother. Kichibei made Izuku delete all social media and, as a result, Izuku lost all his online friends.

When Kichibei had enough and broke up with Izuku, Izuku was fully dependent on the boy. Kichibei didn’t tolerate Izuku’s pleas and it resulted in Izuku coming home black and blue.

Izuku's third boyfriend, Ryoko, had been a genuinely perfect boy. Unfortunately, Ryoko started to get bullied when he got caught being with Izuku. Being gay and dating a quirkless boy was a double kill.

Ryoko couldn’t handle it and dumped Izuku. Ryoko was desperate to gain back some of his friends and status so he spread a bunch of rumors about Izuku and mocked how Izuku reacted to being dumped.

“Okay,” replied Izuku, putting up no fight.

Izuku soon realized that the best thing he could do is remain calm and accept reality. He wasn’t wanted anymore and there was no reason for him to force someone to love him.

Kiko didn’t like the reaction she got, her cheeks heating up at his nonchalant response. She was even more embarrassed to see Izuku’s bullies’ reactions.

Katsuki was front and center, a smirk on his face upon hearing the girl dump Izuku. Hifumi, the boy with a long-finger quirk, covered his mouth to suppress his laughter when he realized that they were going to watch Izuku and this strange girl break up.

Teijo, the guy with super spikey teeth for a quirk, was more intrigued than entertained. He had no clue Izuku had an active dating life so to see Izuku getting dumped was shocking.

The three teens stood nearby, now stunned to hear Izuku’s response to being dumped. While they couldn’t see his expression, his tone told them everything they needed to know. Izuku’s okay was oddly cold and accepting. He clearly wasn’t too hung up on being dumped from the sounds of it. They wanted to laugh at the girl's embarrassed expression.

“Okay?” remarked the girl, attitude clear in the single word.

“Okay,” repeated Izuku, having nothing else to really say to the girl. If he had it his way, he’d be walking away. Yet here Izuku stood, waiting for the girl to speak up and say what she clearly wanted to say.

“Just like that?’ whispered the girl, debating whether to whip up some crocodile tears or yell. She walked into this expecting to come out on top, but now she desperately wanted Izuku to pretend he cared about her.

Izuku crossed his arms, shifting his weight from his left foot to his right. He didn’t want to play her game. If she was expecting a reaction from him, he wanted to hear it come from her mouth. “What do you want me to do?”

Hifumi’s eyes went wide, lightly smacking Teijo’s arm in disbelief. “Holy shit dude.”

“What the hell is Deku doing,” grumbled Katsuki, unable to comprehend the actions of Izuku. This wasn’t the Izuku he knew.

Kiko went red in the face, choosing to yell as her hands balled into fists at her sides. “I don’t know! I just wasn’t expecting okay.” She snobbishly mocked Izuku and used air quotes to further exaggerate the situation.

Katsuki, Teijo, and Hifumi choked back laughter at Kiko’s immature attitude. Seeing her throw a mini-tantrum was hilarious. What made things even funnier was how little Izuku cared.

Izuku called Kiko out, tilting his head to the side. “What, you want me to plead and beg you to stay?” It was hard to vocalize without gagging at his words. He couldn’t help but recall how badly all of his relationships ended and everything he’d been put through. Izuku just wanted to love and be loved.

Kiko scoffed, looking away from Izuku, finding the passing cars far more interesting. “Of course not. It just seems like you’re throwing us all away.”

Izuku took a step back, finding anger replacing the sorrow in his chest. “I’m throwing it all away?”

Katusuki couldn’t believe the girl's audacity. For once, Katsuki was completely on Izuku’s side. The girl literally walked up to Izuku and dumped him with no explanation. It wasn’t like she was obligated to nor did she owe Izuku one, but she couldn’t suddenly act like she was the victim. Judging his friends' expressions, they felt the same as him.

Kiko quickly switched from angry to sad, throwing herself a pity party the bystanders were worried would fool Izuku. “Yes. You don’t even care!”

Izuku finally turned his face away from her, holding his forehead in disbelief. The bullies saw how Izuku was irritated, his angry frown was clear as day. “You are the one breaking up with me. How am I responsible?”

“You’re not fighting for us!” shouted Kiko, desperate to redeem herself. She was being watched and she wasn’t about to make a fool of herself by losing to Izuku in front of his bullies.

Izuku shook his head walking over to a wall to rest upon. The bullies hoped he wouldn’t notice them and keep talking.

“Fight for what exactly?” asked Izuku raising a brow. Uncrossing his arms, Izuku sent an accusing finger at Kiko. “There is no us in this. What you really mean is that you want me to fight with you.”

Katsuki smirked, watching Kiko’s face drop. Izuku was right and Kiko could no longer get out of this without looking like a complete fool. Izuku wasn’t a confrontational kind of person so it said a lot about Kiko if he was going out of his way to confront her. Katsuki knew that if push came to shove, he’d scare her off.

“Come on Izuku! Change my mind! Make me want to stay!” cried Kiko, stepping closer to Izuku, and putting on the waterworks.

Izuku rolled his eyes, sneering at her. “None of this is my fault. So how am I supposed to do that? What do you expect me to do?”

“You decide if we should stay together,” declared Kiko as she put her hands on her hips. She was trying her best to make Izuku look like a bad person by setting him up to be the one to end the relationship.

Kiko was a fool because Izuku wasn’t stupid and he’d never fall for her trap. “You already decided. I’m respecting your decision.”

“I’ll take you back if you say so. You just have to prove you’re willing to fight for us,” whined Kiko, doubling down.

Izuku realized there was no winning this. If she wanted him to be the bad guy, then he’d be the bad guy. He wasn’t going to spare her feelings if she had no consideration for his. “Why would I want to stay with someone who wanted to break up?”

“I’ll forget about all of this, I promise. Please, but tell me you care about me,” whispered the girl, taking Izuku’s hands, believing she was winning this despite how Izuku's previous words were filled with hate.

Izuku tore his hands away from Kiko’s, staring at her in disgust. “Have—have you always been this desperate?”

Kiko watched Izuku put distance between them again. “Desperate?”

“You know what? Let me ask you something then… why do you want to break up with me?” questioned Izuku, sounding exhausted as he asked. Izuku knew he was setting the stage for her to guilt trip him. He was curious to hear what the excuse was or the reason behind her even dating him in the first place.

Katuski, Hifumi, and Teijo were beyond curious to hear what caused all of this to happen. With the way things were going, they knew it would be nothing but a load of horseshit. It would be Izuku’s fault and his fault only.

The closer they looked at Izuku’s body language, expression, and tone, they realized he knew the exact same. Kiko was walking into Izuku’s trap. That made the guys smile.

“I feel like you don’t care about me?” answered the girl, watching Izuku closely for a reaction.

Izuku wore the poker face of a god and fired another question. “And why’s that? What makes you think that?”

“You always push me away. It’s like you keep building a brick wall between us,” huffed the girl, clearly irritated her advances had been rejected.

Izuku’s eyes widened, looking at her in disbelief. “Kiko… we’ve talked about this. You’re moving really quickly and I’ve explained on multiple occasions that I’m not ready.”

Kiko rolled her eyes, waving her hand dismissively. “There you go again, pushing me away. We’ve been dating for almost six months!”

“So you think six months of us being together exempted you from the effects of my trauma? You think you’re entitled to my autonomy and have no remorse for ignoring my boundaries. You know what’s happened to me in past relationships so it's rich hearing you say all of this.”

“Stop putting words in my mouth,” yelped Kiko defensively, not enjoying the fact her excuses were backfiring on her.

Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose, trying his best to see this out and not run away. “So you don’t like hearing the truth? I thought that’s what you wanted. You’ve never cared to understand why I need to take things slow. You’re the one who assumed things about me and jumped to the conclusion I didn’t care about you at all.”

Katsuki honestly wanted to cheer Izuku on. Izuku was eating her up and spitting her out. Watching Izuku call her out and destroy her good-girl persona was so refreshing.

Hifumi was glad Izuku was chewing her ear out. From the sounds of it, Izuku was putting up with her bullshit for too long. She deserved this.

Teijo was beyond frustrated at the fact that Kiko was not giving up. She’s so delusional it physically hurts.

“You expect me to not jump to these conclusions?” argued Kiko, proving she had no good justification for what she did. She had no good rebuttal to shoot at Izuku because Izuku was right.

It seemed as if something clicked for Izuku and he froze, staring at Kiko in a mix of horror and embarrassment. “I already know you’re doing this to get a rise out of me. People like you love a juicy reaction… but did you dump me to see if I would care?”

Kiko was silent, the sweat on her forehead reflecting in the sunlight. She lost. Izuku read her like a book and there was nothing she could do to redeem herself. She was an asshole and now people knew.

Izuku had no sympathy for her. He had no sympathy for any of his exes. They used him for their own benefit and they wanted a final performance when they shattered her bruised heart. “Why would you do that? Why would you test me? You could’ve asked.”

Izuku knew why already. Kiko knew he cared. Kiko knew Izuku cared a lot. That was why she broke up with him in a highly public space. She wanted to embarrass him and shame him. Kiko was an insufferable bitch.

Kiko had some fight left in her, looking at Izuku as she spat, “What would I ask you? You’re too sensitive so talking to you is impossible.”

Izuku ignored her insults. Lowering his self-esteem or attacking his person to try and get him to apologize wasn’t going to work. Instead, Izuku decided to end things with Kiko. Even if she technically already dumped him, he wanted her to know he wanted nothing to do with her either.

“If you testing me was a better option than communicating when you think I’m too sensitive to even have a conversation, this won’t work out.”

Kiko went pale, regret written all over her face. “So we are actually breaking up?”

“Yes,” confirmed Izuku, no longer interested in giving her his time.

Kiko grabbed Izuku’s wrist tightly, tugging him a bit. “Don’t do this to me Izuku. I wasn’t being serious.”

Izuku aggressively tore his writing from her grip and snapped. “I am. Have fun with your next test subject because I’m done with you.”

Kiko may have been trying to fake cry before, but the tears falling from her eyes now were real ones. Her hands hung in the air after Izuku ripped himself from her grasp. Izuku stared at her, rubbing his wrist to try and ease the burning.

Katsuki looked at Kiko before breaking his silence. “Pathetic.”

Izuku head snapped over, dread creeping into his veins upon realizing Katsuki had seen something so personal. When he finally looked at Katsuki, it dawned on him that Katsuki was speaking to Kiko. Kiko's tear-filled eyes met Katsuki’s judgemental ones and wilted.

Hifumi walked past her and in front of Izuku. “I don’t know what you were expecting to happen. When you dump someone, you shouldn’t expect to be dating them when you walk away.”

Teijo nudged Izuku’s arms and nodded. “Shocked a dweeb like you could hold your own. Hell, how’d you get a girlfriend?”

Izuku let out a shakey breath, looking away from them and then to Kiko. “I don’t know. It seems like I attract the worst people.”

Katsuki looked at Kiko before turning to Izuku. “Shitty people are desperate for attention. You’re nerdy enough to know when to leave.”

Izuku nods with a weak smile. He was fed up with love and dating considering after four relationships, everyone he dated has been insufferable.

Izuku learned he needed to throw away his rose-tinted glasses and focus on the future he wanted. Izuku wanted to become a hero and he was training to become a hero, he didn’t have time to worry about dating.

Katsuki and his lackeys never brought up what they had seen to anyone. It wasn’t like people would suddenly stop isolating him or praise him for being a badass that knows his worth. It was a personal situation and clearly was something that affected Izuku.

When they thought back to everything they heard, it was clear Izuku did have a good history when it came to dating so they’d rather put his love life to rest.

[starsaber10]

I am not trying to attack anyone I just want to give my honest truth on the ship of BakuDeku. It should be noted this is my opinion and even if you don’t disagree I ask you respect it.

To be noted that this is a continuation of @thatoneanimequeen post on it as well

I will preface this by saying I don’t actually hate the ship in an of itself I hate the main ways that it is executed and I especially hate the idea that this a viable ship at all if canon isn’t basically rewritten which says a lot that I only am willing to accept it when you rewrite basically the entire story.

This ship would be outright toxic. Bakugou has bullied Izuku for at least 8 years and a max of ten years of his life. That means Bakugou has bullied Izuku for around two thirds of his life by the time of the first episode of canon. Bakugou verbally assaults Izuku basically every time he talks to him. Calling someone literally useless is messed up plain and simple. Bakugou also has been attacking Izuku for as long as he’s been bullying Izuku so eight to ten years depending on the timeline. I know some people say that oh he doesn’t usually use his quirk on Izuku and when he does it’s not as bad as what we’ve seen. But we saw Izuku as a child get beat up by Bakugou for doing the right thing. We know that him attacking Izuku in the middle of a classroom with his quirk isn’t uncommon. No one even bats an eye when he does it the teacher couldn’t care less. So this ship at its most basic level is between a jack ass with an aggressive and explosive personality and his verbal and physical punching bag for ten literal years who he suicide baited.

Speaking of suicide baiting let’s go to that. Bakugou suicide baited Izuku with no remorse at the moment. When Bakugou’s cronies asked if he maybe he went to far Bakugou blew then off. Some may argue this is Bakugou being Bakugou but he still to this point has not apologized for it so that’s not even a decent argument or excuse or reason.

Finally let’s get to the meat and potatoes of everything that happens in UA. Bakugou has at this point got Izuku to the point of flinching at every time he even looks at him weirdly. Bakugou tried to attack Izuku in the quirk exams Aizawa made, was so self centered he assumed Izuku was willingly going through suffering for up to ten years of just to look down on him which is stupid. Bakugou tried to kill Izuku in the battle trials and knew he could kill Izuku it wasn’t even accidental he literally shouts he won’t die if he dodged even though Izuku has basically nowhere to dodge. He punched Izuku in their final exams, dragged him out to fight for his own self interest getting Izuku in trouble and just overal he was being an absolute menace to Izuku 24/7.

The idea of these two getting together after all this is insane. He may have changed but Bakugou has a literal decade of shit to make up for. This ship is literally just “wouldn’t it be cool if Izuku got together with the person who you could argue out right abused him for a decade.” It’s utter madness and infuriating.

This all on top of the fact that Bakugou’s reasoning is beyond stupid and petty. It’s literally either one of two things. Either Bakugou was jealous and genuinely thought that somehow a scrawny quirkless child would be a better hero than him which makes negative logical sense and honestly incorrect if Bakugou was even a semi decent human being which apparently he would be if he wasn’t jealous or Bakugou for some reason thought Izuku was looking down on him 24/7 since they were four which makes arguably even less sense but is probably an overall better reason for what he did sense it just means he an emotionally constipated idiot with anger issues instead of a jealous asshole who for some reason saw fiction/potential future as reality and set in stone in which he proceeded to absolutely ruin a friends life over it for a reason that basically amounts to you might be as good as me so you must suffer. So he’s damned if he does damned if he doesn’t in both reasons.

[elkian]

I was gonna do a “missing the point”-style meme but I’m honestly not sure that would even work tho so:

Harry Potter and My Hero Academia/Boku no Hero Academia have similar issues with introducing and then immediately ignoring ENORMOUS issues re: ableism.

I think these two series in specific come to mind bc it’s ableism within a specific empowered community, and in both cases the series are pretty well-known and the community (Wix/Heroes) are immediately identifiable to many audiences.

[WARNING: Discussions of ableism, child harm, and abuse on multiple levels.]

What’s the problem?

SQUIBS.

[This post got stupid huge SO here is a tl,dr for all you lovely people who understandably have no time for this.

TL, DR: Both Harry Potter and Boku No Hero have a bad tendency to implement or imply a level of disability regarding unempowered people in empowered societies. They then continue on to completely disregard important conclusions to these implications, such as how heavily it is implied that these unempowered people (Squibs) are so ‘worthless’ to those societies that their very deaths are merely a byline rather than an actual tragedy.

This is especially troubling in MHA/BNHA when so many other political and worldbuilding considerations HAVE been planned out, and seems to be less-discussed in the fandom as a whole, so that’s a much larger chunk of this post.]

That’s your tl, dr!

Here’s the Harry Potter angle:

HP has a bit that I’ve seen people discussing already: Neville’s magic was discovered when his uncle dropped a literal child a potenial lethal distance. 

Neville activating his power and surviving is celebrated, and then JKR immediately glosses over the glaring issue this has introduced: the heavy implication that a Squib dying from this incident would have not have been mourned or even really commented on.

The few adult Squibs (and isn’t that a whole new slice of wonderful /j) are generally disliked and ridiculed for some reason or other. Now, while obviously there are plenty of places where the Venn diagram of “disabled” and “asshole” intersect irl, when your ONLY presentation of a disabled character or group is, every time, an asshole or a fool or both, boy! That’s bad!

Neville (who is generally presented as magically, physically, and mentally weak and often treated as comic relief) is a bit better via the POV Character constantly having positive interactions with him, but this is still a mess. Yes, Neville canonically is not a Squib, but it’s not subtle that he’s on the cusp OF being a Squib, and that is a key element of ridiculing him in many situations (also the whole trauma thing multiple times, like if I really get into it I could do a whole double-size post of how Neville was done dirty or nearly dirty by JK all the time but this isn’t that post).

This isn’t even the point of this post. Let’s move to MHA/BNHA

Hero Academia has differing but honestly even worse issues. And I’m aware that different countries handle ableism and accessibility in different ways, but if you think too hard about it this is an absolute clusterfuck.

What is the problem now?

Squibs! Or rather, the main character of the series, Midoriya Izuku.

Deku (a nickname meaning “useless”! Imparted after his disability is recognized! hilarity!!) is also born without powers. Even worse in some ways, he is born without powers in a world where the overwhelming majority of the global population has some kind of empowerment. I can’t recall if it’s outright stated or only implied that someone with a functionally useless (and hoo boy, usefullness to society is its own post nope not today i do not have that much energy) Quirk is still more of a person than a Quirkless human.

That sink in? Okay, let’s move on.

In a narratively not-uncommon turn of events, Deku gains power. This is partially a product of, and directly tied to, his own work and determination, as well as his willingness to help even when physically outmatched.

To an American audience (NOT the intended audience though I wouldn’t doubt it if Horikoshi meant to have international appeal more or less from the start), this is a deeply satisfying narrative. Who doesn’t love an underdog story? And we even learn that the strongest hero of all time (til this point, anyways) was ALSO born Quirkless!

However, from here, things take a nosedive.

The key problem is a combination of story progression and overall thought put into worldbuilding. Horikoshi’s efforts may not be the MOST thorough, but he has put a great deal of work and thought into his creation (he at least understands the concept of implications and sometimes plans accordingly, looking at you JKR). However, that tied with story progression and personal repercussions actually works to the detriment of the matter.

Especially given recent turns of events.

 [BIG MEGA SPOILERS FOR FAIRLY RECENT PLOT

 STOP HERE IF YOU’RE NOT CAUGHT UP

 SERIOUSLY]

 What I mean by this is the current state of events re: two particular recent/recent-ish plot arcs.

First, Quirk Removal, and second, Endeavor’s comeuppance.

Quirk Removal/Loss was the start of my realization to what the narrative was doing regarding Izuku’s Quirklessness and the state of being overall.

This arc was a perfect time to bring up Midoriya’s past! A lot of Western works certainly would have done so! And yes, it may be bordering on done-to-death, but many elements of Hero Academia put new twists on common themes and cliches; it wasn’t unreasonable to hope that he might do it again.

Instead, little to NOTHING is discussed during this time! In fact, iirc I’d go so far as to say Midoriya straight-up never considers his past at any point during this arc!? If I’m wrong then it obviously made little impact.

NOW, not every disabled character needs to incorporate their disability and/or skills gleaned from living with it in every narrative. In fact, it would get tedious and questionable if they did (note: this does NOT mean ignoring/forgetting the character is even disabled when convenient. Like, I’d like to think that’s the obvious point of this post but... *gestures at tumblr*). 

But the complete lack of it here feels really weird. Like, almost hollow. I think Midoriya makes some kind of suggestion to Mirio of his former Quirklessness at the end of the arc, but nothing that made any kind of impact.

Let’s move on.

Endeavor.

Now, the problem with Endeavor’s arc is not the arc itself. Or, rather, it’s the fact that Endeavor’s Comeuppance is pretty good.

This is a problem because someone else should be getting this exact same arc, yet the issue is never even RECOGNIZED, let alone addressed.

Endeavor’s abuse of his wife and children, all in the name of creating a Heroic legacy, is publicized and tanks his popularity. The general public is now aware of what he’s done to the people closest to him, which aside from giving him a more correct reputation, means they can’t trust him to protect them if they can’t trust him to protect his own family.

This isn’t the goal of this post and I’m no expert regardless, but up to this point (around chapter 290) this was handled in an interesting way. Endeavor is humanized and often shown interacting with people in a way that, while often domineering, isn’t always aggressive or abusive. He runs a Hero Agency for crying out loud! But abuse in the real world often isn’t constant, nor happening to everyone in contact with the abuser. So this is a surprisingly good lead up to the reveal, where you can understand how most people never realized this was an issue.

But here’s my main point. Let’s examine some traits and actions that come up:

physically abusive to a child (often dangerously so) to the point of permanent trauma and severe scarring in some cases

target of abuse was weaker (physically and/or regarding Quirk power)

often abused victim emotionally/psychologically, bringing this weakness up again and again

own immense power led to rising in the world of Heroics

comrades, fellow Heroes, UA teachers etc. not aware of prior abuse issues

Who does this sound like?

Endeavor, who has a whole fucking arc dedicated to this reveal and repercussions?

Or Bakugou?

Reminder: This isn’t a hate post. This isn’t a character post, or even an abuse post. This is about ableism.

Bakugou exhibits many, many traits and actions that Endeavor was literally just punished for. So why does the treatment of these characters in-universe differ so drastically?

Two primary reasons I can think of, which feed into each other:

1) Bakugou was a child (still technically is a minor, remember! Still a first-year high schooler!) when this started. This doesn’t mean he’s strictly innocent, but it’s an important point, because it leads us to

2) Bakugou Katsuki’s abuse of Midoriya Izuku is socially accepted.

Reminder of the audience’s first encounter with Katsuki. The very first page with him is him and his grade-school posse picking on a kid that Izuku is trying to protect. His posse is showing off their Quirk powers and mocking Izuku’s lack thereof.

Then we flash forward to late-middle school versions of the kids. Bakugou, in front of a fucking teacher and entire class, is verbally, physically, etc. abusive to Izuku. He trashes his stuff, threatens him, tells him to kill himself (which, as Izuku notes later, is a fucking felony in Japan too).

No one stops him.

No one criticizes him.

We don’t even get a shot of like, some more ‘regular’ students being like “man Bakugou’s kinda fucked up but we’re too scared to do anything about it” NO. NO. Everyone more or less either backs Katsuki up or straight up doesn’t care.

Remember that this started when Katsuki and Izuku were four. Remember that Katsuki’s power is absurdly dangerous, ie. LITERAL. GODDAMN. EXPLOSIONS.

Izuku has scars. He probably has hearing loss! He may have gotten at least one concussion which can cause serious neurological issues and open him up to further risk!

He could have died.

And?

NO ONE. DOES. ANYTHING.

THIS is the point of the post. THIS is the value placed on Quirkless people in this society.

And yet. Despite Endeavor’s comeuppance. Despite All Might and Izuku’s blatant ‘value’ to society through Heroics. Despite so many other political implications and quandaries address in the Hero Academia series.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing about this is addressed. The nearly-lethal ableism towards Quirkless people in this society is never ONCE brought up properly once Izuku receives One For All.

There is so much potential here! There is so much worth talking about! And yet we’ve moved into what feels very much like the Final Battle without it being addessed, despite numerous, numerous opportunities for a meaningful conversation about it along the way.

Mirio losing his power! Hell, Mirio’s powers’ drawbacks (and pretty much every Quirk’s drawback! if acknowledged properly!) border on a disability-analogue, and even more when Yuga’s laser comes up, and yet again and again we fail to truly engage with the matter in a meaningful way.

At this point, even if it comes up in the finale, I’m going to be disappointed in this particular aspect of the series due to the complete and total shut-down it’s been given so far.

What the FUCK, Horikoshi?

[edwardslostalchemy]

Explain the difference between endevour and Bakugou’s Behavior when it comes to treating others how they do. Thanks (:D)

This is tough because I’m so biased to believe they are both abusive. And I really just want to tell you with the Pam from the Office meme that they’re the same person. But I know that’s not entirely true. Both of these characters have inflicted damage to other characters. 

However, I acknowledge that Katsuki is still a teenager and I am holding out for hope that Horikoshi gives him proper development, that he can regret his actions, have a good redemption arc, apologize to Izuku, and be a better character. 

Endeavor is just. A monster. Because through more than 20 years, he never stopped to think that MAYBE just MAYBE he was hurting PEOPLE, and the people were his FAMILY, his WIFE, his CHILDREN. He hurt FIVE people. He didn’t even see them as people to begin with, just a means to an end. He didn’t even see Shouto as a child, he saw him as his ‘masterpiece’, an extension of himself, the perfect tool to use for his ambition. He saw his three older children as failures and neglected them, pushing them aside and separating Shouto from his siblings because he ‘lived in a different world from the one they lived in’. It is heavily implied and suggested that he has beat his wife and even on screen, the sounds that were made were obviously of him hitting her and she falls to the ground. And the way Shouto reacts, with a horrified expression while calling for his mother, is more than enough proof that that’s what happened in that one instant. He drove her to madness, so much so that she ended up maiming her youngest child, someone who had no fault in any of what was going on, but ended up on the receiving end of her meltdown, unfortunately. And what did Endeavor do? He put her in a mental hospital because she ‘hurt his masterpiece’. Not even ‘because she hurt my son/child’ or ‘because she needs help’. Because he hurt his masterpiece. His tool. We still don’t know what happened to Touya, but we do know that Endeavor had a hand in killing him, which is horrifying and so so terrible. How…how do you just. Move on from that? It’s no wonder Natsuo hates him so much. It’s no wonder Shouto has so many mixed feelings and doesn’t know what to feel. It’s no wonder Rei is so scared of him and doesn’t want to see him even if it’s been more than 10 years since she’s been there. Even Fuyumi has admitted that she feels the same way as Natsuo and Shouto. 

This is different from Katsuki. He didn’t do any of this and I really hope he never does. It would be unfortunate and sad. He has been compared to Endeavor, though, in terms of behavior, by All Might. However, he still hurt Izuku. He’s called him useless, he’s called him scum and has said he is like a pebble and like an insect he can crush if I remember correctly; he’s used his quirk on him to hurt him, and just by what we saw from the first episode, it says a lot about what he did. As little kids, he and his friends beat up Izuku. And then fast forward to middle school, he’s still bothering and hurting him. It’s quite exaggerated if I’m being honest, but still, Izuku is pushed against the wall and Katsuki stands over him threateningly. Their teacher doesn’t even do anything to stop it. After classes end, he burns Izuku’s notebook and tosses it out of the window and then tells him to kill himself. After the entrance exam for UA and they both get accepted, he pushes Izuku against a secluded wall and threatens him to not go to UA. He used so much of his quirk during the battle trial that All Might warned him not to use it or else he’d kill Izuku. And his response was that he wouldn’t get killed as long as he dodged. He still threatened him during their first semester and hit him in the face during their final exam. We don’t get to see throughout the years the extend of the bullying, just glimpses of how Katsuki tells Izuku his quirk will never be as good as his, he would leave him behind, he’d push him down; but we get to see the aftermath and Izuku does not think of himself as worthy. He has self-esteem issues, he flinches whenever he is approached by Katsuki, although this is improving because he hasn’t been stepping back recently. Katsuki can’t attack Izuku anymore because Aizawa can stop him. It’s not because he felt bad. It’s because a teacher with the means to do it finally stepped in and went ‘nope’. Aizawa doesn’t reprimand him, but he stops him. Izuku is getting better at fighting back. Katsuki can’t push him around anymore. But it doesn’t mean he’s stopped yelling at him or has stopped hurting him. He still stabs him on the head to shut him up. He’s very disrespectful when it comes to OFA meetings (and really he’s disrespectful all the time). But the thing is that now, currently in the manga, he doesn’t have that chance to attack Izuku anymore. Which is GOOD. I still see his behavior as abusive because bullies are abusive. They still hurt people mentally, physically, and/or emotionally. 

The difference is that nobody was there to stop Endeavor, but someone was there to stop Katsuki. Endeavor took a hell of a long time to realize that what he did was not right and evaluated that his reasons for doing what he did were not really….I guess enough. Or wrong. Perhaps I’m not interpreting that scene correctly, where he is fighting High End and he’s thinking “that’s the reason….the reason…” and it pans over Rei, Natsuo, Fuyumi, and Shouto. Endeavor is an ADULT who should have better judgement and better sense in treating people like people. He’s a certified Hero, but only acts heroically publicly. With his family? Not even close. He did it because he believed this was the best option for reaching his goal. But it was not an ethical option. Katsuki did what he did because his ego was inflated and people would tell him he was the best and his quirk was amazing, even by Izuku. Katsuki is a KID. And I really hope he gets better development. I really hope he stops hurting Izuku and starts treating him like a person and like a friend. (And I say this for Izuku’s sake, not his.) 

Now as far as how these two characters treat other people.

They’re both arrogant and proud, but they’re executed differently. Endeavor is arrogant in that he doesn’t want to join other heroes because he ‘is a very busy man’, as we saw when detective Tsukauchi requested his help to rescue Katsuki from the League of Villains. He also complained that All Might was getting the spotlight and not him. Why did he have to stay where he was when All Might was rushing into action? I am trying to translate this word to English, but what comes up is despot. He abuses power and oppresses others, most notably his family. However, because of his status, he is still rude and selfish with other people. His interactions with All Might are so tense. All Might goes to say hi and he’s like “is that it?” and walks away. And then he tells him how Shouto will beat him. It’s disgusting how he talks about Shouto as if he were a tool and not his son, and also he says ‘that’s why I made him’ as if Shouto is only worth being something to use instead of someone to cherish, i.e. a child. He’s beginning to atone, which is good. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth because I cannot stand abusers and I myself have dealt with someone who is awful. Not on this level of asshole, but he’s still an asshole. Anyway, back to him. He allows Natsuo to tell him what he’s thinking, which is GOOD. This is something I like because he didn’t shut Natsuo down and Natsuo was able to speak what was on his mind. Fuyumi is probably the person he has….I don’t want to use the word fondness….that implies that he cares about her, and honestly, I still want to believe that despite his abusive nature, he can at least spare some care for his daughter. I don’t know what word to use, but he lets her have dinners and convinces him to bring his interns over. He’s also trying to show Shouto that he can be a better hero, one he can be proud of. And I understand that this is part of his atonement, but it does not arouse sympathy out of me. His interaction with Hawks is interesting. He’s rude and impatient and wants for him to get to the point. However, he did not blow up when Hawks gave him a major burn on live television. Although, in later chapters, he lets Hawks give him information and it’s good he allowed this because it was so crucial. 

Katsuki is different from Endeavor in that he does blow up on people. His personality is, you guessed it, explosive. And I understand that goes with his character. Endeavor is fiery…he is fierce… Shouto is warm and cold. Izuku is full of energy he cannot contain, bouncing off walls verbally and physically. So it makes sense that Katsuki is explosive. However, he yells and threatens and tells people to die. I’ve read a post explaining that him telling people to die is a common thing to say in Japan amongst kids. Perhaps if handled differently for Katsuki, it would be funny when it’s meant to be funny. But anyway, let’s go with his explosive nature. He blows up. He loses his cool so easily and is provoked instantly. He treats people like dirt, not gonna lie. I want to believe he’s getting better. But I can’t see it. It’s so hard for me to see it. Blowing up on people that see him as a friend, blowing up on Izuku, blowing up on his classmates. Constantly telling Shouto they are NOT friends even though Shouto thinks they are. I see he has not yelled at Momo, which is good, because if he were to do it, I would be out for blood. He’s not horrible to Kirishima, and he’s getting better? Like that bit where Kirishima was insecure and he told him he was strong, that was nice. I wish he would be that way with other people, too. The way he wanted to fight all the kids during the provisional license remedial course was something. And that line he said to the leader of the kids felt hollow, but at least he stopped yelling at the kids. He’s also not 100% insensitive, because he at least listened to Shouto when he said there’s other ways of reaching out to children that DON’T involve violence, and he thought back to when Shouto told Izuku about how he was abused. He is learning to cooperate, which is something I appreciate, although he is not perfect, as we saw when he joined the 1A band (thanks Sero). I would like for him to realize, though, that his behavior needs improvement. Or at least he needs to stop yelling at everyone and should direct this anger towards villains. 

So really Katsuki doesn’t give a damn about public image, but Endeavor does. Still, both are rude and brash and flaunt their power in front of other people. Endeavor literally does this simply by having his fire mask, mustache, and beard all the time when he is out. 

I hope this is enough/satisfactory for you, anon. I tried to stay objective, but again that was difficult given how much I hate both characters. If anyone wants to add on, feel free because I’m sure I missed something, but this is what I was able to put together.

[thokage-archive]

i'll bite, what's your opinion on BAKUGOU KATSUKI

BITCH IM READY 2 GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

FIRST OF ALL……,,,,, SWEATEAL,

THATS MY SON! I WOULD D I E FOR HIM.

secondly, he is an extremely complex character & I beg all Bakugou haters to read what I’m about to write. I don’t think anyone needs to love him or kiss his ass by any means, let alone excuse his behavior towards Izuku. BUT! I beg of you to have some empathy for a fucking 15-year-old boy that has been through hell & back, is clearly emotionally stunted, obviously grew up in an emotionally manipulative, verbally abusive, and very likely, physically abusive household. 

As someone who was raised in a household like that, and as someone who was both the bully & bullied growing up, I just need you to understand how complex he is & that he is worthy of redemption!!! (after all, he is a child, he should be granted the opportunity to grow & learn from his mistakes. I don’t think people should give up on him just yet, lord knows where I would be if the people in my life had given up on me at 15). 

Deadass though…. let’s get into his fucking problems™ first because I am the last person on earth to act like he is perfect. 

#1 problem - extreme anger issues

It’s made clear from the start of the series that Bakugou expresses himself best through anger and violence, something he obviously learned from his mother. Horikoshi, in fact, has SAID that him & Mitsuki are essentially the same person. So can we all just take a fucking moment & imagine Bakugou as a parent…. imagine someone with that type of irrational & immature anger parenting a child. How tf do you think that kid is going to turn out? How does a kid being raised by a verbally abusive parent grow up?

Well!!! Luckily, this series provides us with two very good examples,

a) bakugou katsuki

while on the opposite end of the spectrum is 

 b)  todoroki shouto. 

Everyone deals with abuse in different ways, especially different types of abuse. While Bakugou is dealing with abuse by taking his anger & projecting it out, therefore reflecting his abuser, Todoroki internalizes all of his emotions & is extremely distant and at times submissive for fear of punishment.

Bakugou wards off his weakness/being punished by his mother for being weak, by expressing brute strength through his anger & aggressiveness, thinking of things such as friends and feelings (other than anger) as weak. Todoroki hides his weaknesses from Endeavor by closing off his emotions from him completely, so much so that he is emotionally/socially stunted.

In short

Bakugou’s emotionally stuntedness = lifetime of anger being his only coping mechanism/outlet & a huge failure on his parent’s part to foster any other sort of emotions 

todoroki’s emotionally stuntedness = lifetime of repressing all of his emotions from his father coupled with a lack of social interaction from peers

In both of their households….

losing = weakness

being #2 = weakness 

emotional vulnerability = weakness

all of these weaknesses = punishable by verbal & physical means

The reasons why people respond the way they do to abuse is very varied. My best guess for why Bakugou responds the way he does leads me to problem #2

#2 problem - His Huge Ass Ego/Superiority Complex

Bakugou is…. a perfectionist. Much like Momo & Iida (he is behind only them in terms of class rank) meaning not only is he a huge physical threat, but also incredibly smart & a very hard worker in all aspects of his schooling. He takes his future as a hero very very seriously, just as serious as Midoriya or Todoroki. He very clearly feels a lot of pressure from his parents & other adults in his life to do well & succeed due to the flashiness of his quirk. Even at four when his quirk manifested all people could talk about was how cool it was & how lucky he was to have it, therefore gassing him up & already inflating his 4-year-old head. 

All of the adults around him expected him to grow up and make something great of himself at only age 4, so he has quite literally been feeling that pressure for his entire life, at least as long as he can remember, which created this giant ego of his. 

(ALSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT ADULTS & PEERS ONLY GIVING A FUCK ABOUT BAKUGOU QUITE LITERALLY FOR HIS BODY. LIKE…. GENUINELY ONLY FINDING HIM WORTHY OF BEING A HERO BECAUSE OF HIS QUIRK BEING “COOL”. BECAUSE IF THAT DONT FUCK WITH YOU GROWING UP, WHAT DOES???)

Now his ego, in terms of how he responds to things, is why he most likely does not recognize what he is going through as abuse. And we all know that from ego, stems immense pride, and Bakugou would be far too proud to admit he was being abused IF he recognized his abuse, therefore he would not seek help for it, or vent / open up to anyone about it. But his ego is also part of the reason why he doesn’t recognize what he is going through as abuse. Admitting, even to himself, that he is abused would seem weak to him. He would have to admit he is not perfect, nor is his home life. He would have to admit that it has affected him, and he would most likely view that as a flaw or defect in his personality. He would never want to be viewed as a victim. (hint hint, how did he handle being called the “victim” of the sludge monster incident? He doesn’t want anyone pitying him or trying to save him from anything. He wants to handle things on his own & thinks of it was weakness to seek out help)

He also uses his superiority complex as a defense mechanism. For example, he overhears Todoroki talking about Endeavor with Midoriya the day of the sports festival right? And he later tells Todoroki that he doesn’t care about his home life and that he should still give it his all against him. This is because Bakugou probably realizes subconsciously that he too has been through some shit with his parents (not necessarily recognizing it as abuse, but not what all other kids go through) & yet he gives it his all. He almost says this as if to prove to himself that he hasn’t let what he has gone through affect him. He thinks it has made him stronger & that he will beat Todoroki despite his hardships, therefore proving him to be superior. When Todoroki decides to not use his flames at the last second it sends Bakugou into a rage because he believes Todoroki finds him unworthy of his full power. He thinks Todoroki is looking down on him, seeing him as weak, and just embarrassed him in front of thousands of people. (This is, by the way, the second time we see Bakugou lose it over the prospect of him not being better than his classmates).

The FIRST time we see it is when he and Midoriya fight one another on opposing teams for All might’s Class. He believes himself to be better than all of his peers & he is absolutely CRUSHED when he discovers that perhaps that isn’t so. After Midoriya fights him and wins, his spirit is broken. We see him retreat to the back of the class & silently watch as the other teams face off. 

His world is actively falling apart around him. For so long he was a big fish in a little pond. He was popular, he was powerful, he was looked up to and admired by adults and peers for his strength. He was talked up so high & told he was so special that for him to be anything other than the best was unthinkable. And yet, here was his childhood rival beating him in a test of strength and wits in front of their mentor and idol. And immediately following him was the son of the #2 hero showing his own display of brute strength & passing All Might’s test without batting an eye through the sheer power of his quirk

Bakugou is so incredibly saddened and shocked by the experience that he gives up, which is something he has never done in his entire life. Midoriya has to walk out after him once the test is over and ask him why he’s leaving, at which point Bakugou confesses, with tears in his eyes, crying, showing weakness in front of Deku, that he cannot keep up. That for once he is below someone and he cannot handle the feeling of failure that accompanies him not being number one. 

He gets over this, being motivated by both Midoriya & All Might to continue. But nonetheless, this is the first instance we see of Bakugou showing genuine fear & hopelessness for his future because he realizes he is not as great as he thinks he is. For him, there is no greater fear for him to face than for him to acknowledge the fact he is not perfect. He is flawed, there are things for him to learn and people he must learn them from and experiences he must go through before he can be number one, and that reality terrifies him. He sees it as nothing but endless opportunities for him to fail. So he determinedly puts on a brave face and screams at Midoriya and All Might that he will be number one no matter what it takes, that he will rise above everyone, even if it kills him. (Which of course it damn near does considering he is fucking kidnapped by villains impressed with his strength/power)

NOW ON TO THE ABUSE PART OF ALL THIS BECAUSE HOLY FUCK I CANT BELIEVE PEOPLE ARE GENUINELY OUT THERE SAYING THIS AINT ABUSE & WRITING WHOLE ASS ESSAYS TO DISPROVE MITSUKI AS AN ABUSER  ONLY SO THEY CAN WRITE HIM OFF AS A ONE DIMENSIONAL CHARACTER/ASSHOLE TROPE

Abuse is not only physical, and to dismiss emotional/mental abuse as not “real” abuse or merely “tough love” makes you an abuse apologist, sorry not sorry. 

The feeling I get from the few interactions we’ve had with Mitsuki, and the times Bakugou has mentioned his home life, is that the abuse he faces is overwhelmingly mental/emotional. He does, however, suffer some physical abuse too, which is essentially confirmed in this new chapter, it’s just unlike the abuse Todoroki suffers from. 

Todoroki’s abuse is blatant, its beatings, starvation, intense physical regimes, etc. The abuse Bakugou suffers is far more subtle and sadly enough, far more common. The abuse he is subjected too is what most of y’alls parents probably just call “good parenting” or parenting the old fashioned way, aka when most peoples parents were shit & everyone thought it was cool to beat their kids into submission & scream at them for hours and hours over simple things. (Sadly, a product of hypermasculinity and misogyny being the overarching influences in parenting tactics, especially in households with a male head. In this case, however, Mitsuki, a woman, is the abuser. So most of y’all tryna ignore it like women can’t be abusive, or violent how men can).

Her physical abuse most likely differs drastically from Endeavors as well. Parents who genuinely believe themselves to not be abusive, but just tough on their kids because they love them or whatever, rarely hit their kids as openly as Endeavor hits Todoroki. We see her slap him on the back of the head, which in another situation & with more context, could be taken as playful, not abusive. But again, all depending on the force of the hit, the intent behind it, how often these sorts of things, occur, and if Bakugou is comfortable with it. How he responds indicates that he does not like it. Therefore she is laying her hands on him in a violent manner, obviously without consent. 

A parent or not, “disciplining” your child or not, that is wrong. And I’m more than positive it happens frequently and in different ways after the new chapter. She is most likely a believer in spanking, which do NOT even get me started on that (my parents literally used to tell me I was fucking lucky to get beat with a belt and not an electric cord), spanking is abuse and I don’t wanna fucking hear it isn’t. You shouldn’t feel the need to beat your kids in any way shape or form to get them to listen to you. She also probably digs her nails into his arm or some shit when he says something she doesn’t like in public, or just generally is rough with him when she disagrees. 

Mentally/emotionally she does not come off as the type to apologize to a child, admit she is wrong to a child, or have a rational conversation with her child rather than beating them. Again, since when has Bakugou himself ever done those things? (and according to Horikoshi, we all know he is a carbon copy of her before entering yuuei). 

Gaslighting is when the abuser places blame on a victim by making them question themselves or attributing the situation to some imaginary fault of the victim. In this instance Mitsuki blames Bakugou for his own kidnapping, calling on his supposed weakness as the source of the problem.

She not only BLAMES Bakugou for his kidnapping, calling him weak and pathetic, but does so in front of his teachers, his idols, degrading him in front of the very people he wants to impress. And for someone like Bakugou, that is probably one of the biggest hits his ego can take and it is most likely killing him inside from shame and embarrassment. 

In fact, I KNOW it is because we later see him TELL Midoriya that he blames himself for All Might’s fall. He thinks he was too weak to handle the villains and so he had to be saved (something he hates having to admit) which lead to All Might’s battle with All for One and eventual retirement as a hero. He literally takes his mothers words and internalizes them to the point of breaking & then expresses them the only way he knows how: violence, by fighting Midoriya. 

So not only do we have concrete evidence of emotionally abusing him by calling him names intended to hurt him, but also of her mentally abusing him by placing the blame on him, causing him to question himself & his capabilities/role in the situation. She makes him genuinely believe that he should have been able to do something about the traumatic experience of being kidnapped by a group of known murders…. uuuuuhhhh does that scream totally normal parent to you? She is not even remotely concerned for his safety…. only how it looks, only with how weak he is. Does that um, cough cough endeavor cough, remind you of anyone? No? Okay. 

Which back to Bakugou and Todoroki, this new chapter killed me because Todoroki is a sweetheart and he really knows what he went through was fucked up. I can see him trying to get Bakugou to understand in the future that violence is not the way to get what you want in life, no matter how small the act, hurting someone, emotionally, mentally, or physically is not how you get people to do what you want or agree with you. Even though that’s all Bakugou has ever known, he just never recognized it as morally wrong the way Todoroki did, most likely because it was much more subtle & normalized in Bakugou’s household.

That all being said…. Bakugou has made many mistakes and I’m not kidding when I say he is a carbon copy of Mitsuki. I don’t want to go so far as to call what he does to Midoriya abuse because that implies a fundamental misunderstanding of his character in my opinion, but like…. bottom line… he abuses & bullies Midoriya severely. 

Bakugou is a classic case of an abuse victim turning into an abuser. However, he is a child, unlike Mitsuki. He was raised by someone who taught him that abuse is okay and normal. He has not yet matured or been able to view life through any other lenses. His parents have failed in teaching him healthy coping mechanisms, other adult influences in his life, such as previous teachers, have never discouraged his behavior either, therefore he merely copies what he knows. So I understand him not knowing any other ways to deal with someone like Midoriya, his antithesis, and rival. 

In sociology this semester we learned about a famous poem by Dr. Dorothy Law Nolte, a family counselor & writer. The poem focuses on the ways in which children develop due to what circumstances they are raised under. It goes like this: 

(Lines bolded reminded me most of Bakugou, lines italicized reminded me most of Izuku, lines with both… reminded me of both)

If children live with criticism, They learn to condemn.

If children live with hostility, They learn to fight.

If children live with ridicule, They learn to be shy.

If children live with shame, They learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement, They learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance, They learn to be patient.

If children live with praise, They learn to appreciate.

If children live with acceptance, They learn to love.

If children live with approval, They learn to like themselves.

(Full poem)

I kid you not in the middle of class all I could think of was Bakugou and Midoriya and how this poem so beautifully contrasted and compared them.

Midoriya is the exact opposite of Bakugou. Where Bakugou is strong, powerful, fierce, influential, popular, admired, confident, loud & aggressive. Midoriya is weak, small, quirkless, quiet, timid, mumbling & stuttering, friendless, self-conscious, and not very vocal. They are completely different in all aspects, Midoriya represents everything Bakugou strives to not be. He is useless, weak in Bakugou’s eyes. Something he has been told his whole life to not be, and thus he does not want to associate with Midoriya. 

However, the thing that scares Bakugou most about Midoriya is how much they can relate. They were, after all, friends. Best friends as children, they had the same dreams and shared common interests. Their similarities are only on display even more so as they both get into yuuei and progress throughout the year. 

One of the most important moments in Bakugou’s life is when Midoriya reaches out to Bakugou after he falls. Midoriya the small, shy, quirkless kid, asks if Bakugou, the great, powerful, destined to be a hero kid, needs his help. As if that is something he would even want, let alone need. 

I’m sorry but no 5 year old is going to get an idea like that on his own, you can see where Mitsuki’s thinking has already taken root, whereas Inko’s teachings have taken root in Midoriya. Up until this point in time, Bakugou was content with just allowing Midoriya to tag along with him, be a follower, quirkless or not. But this instance Bakugou clearly saw as a challenge for leadership, a questioning of authority. At five years old, he is already so distrusting of the sincere intentions of those surrounding him that he makes it his mission to let Midoriya know that he is above him and will not be surpassed by someone so weak.

It just makes me so fucking sad to see how twisted Bakugou’s logic is due to Mitsuki & the constant almost coddling of his ego that adults in his life have encouraged endlessly. It really isn’t until he meets Aizawa that an adult makes an effort to change that mindset in him. And slowly but surely, along with the help of Bakugou’s probably first real genuine friends that he views as equals and not just tagalongs, he is beginning to change his thinking & learn from his mistakes. Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari, and Ashido are all a wonderful influence on him and I genuinely think with their advice & trust he will be able to change his ways in the future, along with the guidance of All Might and Aizawa. 

And let’s not forget Midoriya, he needs to apologize to him, sincerely, and because he wants to, not because he is pressured into it by anyone. I have high hopes for him and his future relationship with Midoriya, but I don’t think it’ll be possible for them to be best friends again. I just hope Bakugou can realize that he was wrong for treating Midoriya the way he did when they were growing up and can put aside his ego for five minutes to correct his wrongs as best he can. I’m sure it will be in the far far future though because he still has a lot of growing and learning to do. No one is going to just be able to put aside an almost decade-long hatred for someone & admit they were in the wrong, over the course of a year. But still… I have hopes.

All in all, I really really love Bakugou. I have some extremely parental feelings towards him having seen all the shit he has gone through & the many failings he has endured from the adults surrounding him. I just want for him to embrace his friends and place at yuuei and change his behaviors so that he can be easier on himself & others. He deserves to feel that sort of peace.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. Bakugou Katsuki is deserving of love, friends, second chances, and a shot at redemption.