#ohohrmm! many more interesting things to think about

[the-nysh]

1) There is 100s of interpretation and this one may not be the flavour of the month but since I saw a bit of discussion on Deku focusing too much on the hero and neglecting the human and has been through out most of the story (even being able to admire Bakugou so much because of his heroic potential despite seeing him as a jerk as a person), so in how Deku and Bakugou often contrast, perhaps Bakugou was too much a person than he was a hero. The story seems to make a pseundo divide between

2) Villain/ Human/ Hero, where if you are not a Hero your just a human and a Villain is less than human, which has been iterated explicity a number of times. Bakugou enters the story where "he doesn't know what it means to be a hero", but he's definitely not a villain, so he starts the story very "human", not presenting any of the expectation of the hero image by being unabashedly himself. That honesty gets him villified by the heroes and the villains thinking he would relate to them.

Oho...?? 👀 What you’re saying is interesting, cause yes, I did happen to see some discussion about that! Mainly from Deku’s side, how he’s always fixated most of his goals/efforts on embodying the ‘hero’ at the expense of seeing the human, down to even neglecting his own human needs. But then when we’re introduced to how he sees Kacchan, he starts out as neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad,’ just confidently and unapologetically himself. Which Deku finds both personally inspiring (hero traits to strive for) and closest within reach as ‘human’ - since Deku also saw him as a person who’s not above needing help when hurt (ie the river incident.) The type of compassion young Kacchan misunderstood as a blow to his own growing image of ‘hero’ and strength. :’) So in this way, yes, Kacchan began as a bright/promising but fallible, impressionable person, whose future prospects and character label/interpretation could’ve easily fallen to either side of the hero/villain dichotomy (beyond Kacchan’s own firm decisions about heroism to strive for, and Hori’s promise he’d never go villain~) As even yes, the villains misjudged him by appearances and assumed he’d relate to them best.

3) Considering the lack of human compassion being offered to villains is a point of why they don't get saved, and how quick the media is to villify Bakugou for displaying his emotions (when he was the one being mistreated), Bakugou position in the middle feels like its pretty significant. However as the story goes on Bakugou learnt more about what it means to be a hero, and now Deku needing to learn more about considering himself as person. I wonder if it also could tie into the text regarding 4) the false conflation of quirks being tied to a persons worth or inherent nature (with AFO using it to groom Tenko), since Deku's quirklessness links so strongly to "useless" and why he tries so hard to always do his best to remove himself from that which brings him to turning away from who he is as a person, not unlike how Shoto once neglected his fire side but instead of making the "power his own" Deku needs to own himself without relying on a quirk as a means to have worth. Whereas Bakugou 5) did start looking beyond his quirk for what he was missing to be the person he wants to be and so separated out just having a great power dictating his destiny. While the powerless kid was a hero all along but neglected their humanity and now lost themselves to their power and mission - mirroring how Tomura also gave up what little they had of themselves for power and their goal, it feels like Bakugou closest to being great in power and as a person. Flawed interpretation but wanted to share.

Oho! Concerning Kacchan beginning in the middle as a promising human, and choosing to learn more (of his own volition) about being the best hero; whereas Deku begins following the fixation on heroes, and must now (be forced to) learn/acknowledge the value of himself as a human. :O I can see that! Yes, Deku needs to own/value himself as a person without disregarding who he is first, or he can’t hope to successfully reach out and empathize with the ‘human’ in others - such as the villains, who’ve suffered the most from dehumanization. Deku finding that inherent worth/strength in his own humanity, that goes beyond quirks dictating his destiny, much like Kacchan’s already done to address what he’d lacked. :O That at this point in time, yes I would also agree that Kacchan (after experiencing his ‘rising’ moment) is much closer at successfully becoming the best person & hero he wants to be, both self-aware of his power/worth & faithful to his own goals. Whereas Deku’s yet to address his neglected missing element (the ‘human’ he’s losing within himself, which we can see without it, becomes most fatal) before he can fully succeed too. Which is very interesting to compare/contrast how their characters have progressed (on similar, but different vectors) from their starting origins up til now, so thanks anon for sharing! :D