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notliteralfingerfood · 4 years ago

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Food for Thought #1 - I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND ♫ ♪

Midoriya Izuku and Shigaraki Tomura are foils to each other + the endgame matchup.

Deku is set up to save Shiggy, reaching out when no one did.

Shiggy is likened to the first OFA user, Yoichi.

I'm aware of all these things and yet I can't help thinking about the what-if scenario where Shiggy refuses Deku's hand. Instead, he takes somebody else's.

But who? Who aside from Deku could possibly (1) have some experience in the art of hand-holding and (2) is willing to offer their hand to their "worst enemy" rival?

"He's coming - the star of the show!" (Kirishima, 2021)

The recent arc (Chapter 310, especially) made me think about Bakugou's role in the story. His endgame has always been left ambiguous, though Hori-sensei did leave some potential hints/clues if you squint really hard. But before going to his future, let's revisit a past turning point in his arc:

KAMINO INCIDENT. At the time, I was that part of the fandom who thought that Bakugou will "save" Shiggy during his stay with the LOV. What clownery, right?

Nevertheless, I noticed that these two are quite similar (like how Deku is w/ Shiggy, they look alike as kids jfc).

They have this dangerous + hand-related quirk motif going on and they're both emotionally constipated red-eyed edgelords who love the color black and biting people.

An AfO/future OfA user extended a hand (offering help) to both of them - one accepts the hand because no one would help him, the other rejects it because he doesn't want anyone's help. Whatever the case, how they responded to the hand led them to where they are now (PAIN).

(Baku rejected Deku's hand but accepted Kiri's. So does that mean Shiggy will reject Deku's hand and accept---)

Hori's hand-holding fetish aside, the parallelism doesn't end there.

COUNTERPARTS.

Shigaraki Tomura and 1st OfA user (Shigaraki Yoichi)

THEY LOOK THE SAME (sans the crusty skin)

tormented by respective family members

given a quirk by AfO

then locked away (mentally or physically) by the same monster

Bakugou Katsuki and 2nd OfA user (aka Baku-Ni)

THEY LOOK THE SAME (sans the sexy scar)

win or lose mentality

got offered/offered a hand (Deku; Yoichi)

having stepping stones (Deku, the pebble on the side; vigilante group against AfO, the sacrifices)

then becoming stepping stones themselves (the 2nd holder made passing OfA possible and paved the way for the following successors; Baku made Deku having OfA possible when he triggered Deku's desire to save, and his act of heroism was recognized by All might during the Sludge Villain incident)

(This further cements why I love Ground Zero as his hero name. I like Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight coz it's so him, but GZ has so much meaning - "the very beginning; a starting point or base for some activity". Kacchan started the fire y'all.)

Okay I'm going off tangent, anyway---

So yeah, they are similar in some ways, but what is the point?

THE ROLE OF BAKUGOU'S HAND

"Heroes and villains are two sides of the same coin. So what is it that really makes someone a hero?"

For the light novels, some characters were featured on the special covers, each accompanied by a particular virtue/value.

Bakugou got righteousness, something I found fitting for his character. He has high moral standards and a strong willpower to back it up (unwavering convictions). Most would see that he brings justice by beating villains, "win to save", whereas Deku is more on the "save to win", redeeming villains - perfectly balanced, as all things should be. Bakugou eventually learned the other spectrum, and now he's on his next step: manifesting compassion and empathy.

"The hands are generally called the extension of the self. So when you give your hand to another person to hold, you are really extending yourself. When you reach out to another person, the process of discovering the self becomes easier. You realize that you share a common humanity—that other people mirror your own strengths and weaknesses, dreams and aspirations, and even the things you value."

I think this would be Bakugou's answer to giraffe man Best Jeanist on what makes someone a hero. Just as Baku-Ni showed compassion and saved Yoichi - someone related to AfO, his archenemy, our Bakugou may also show empathy and save Shigaraki - someone affiliated with AfO, and also the one to order HIS kidnapping.

As @class1akids mentioned (I love their semi-crackpot theory, please check it out), Bakugou extending his own helping hand (out of pure compassion) could be his possible role in the endgame - the winning condition.

I just... ugh I just want everything going full circle.

Bakugou and Deku are the Wonder Duo. They're in to win it - so when one messes up, the other cleans up the mess. If Deku can't save Shigaraki, Bakugou will be there to back him up.

Baku initially refusing Deku's hand and becoming his tormentor, then growing up and offering his OWN hand to Shiggy, one of his OWN tormentors - fcking poetry my dudes.

And that's it, thank you for coming to my TED talk, byeee!!

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