All Might Pointing At Midoriya Hero Notebook: Why Do You Have A Diary,

All might pointing at Midoriya hero notebook: why do you have a diary,

Midoriya : it’s to keep secrets from my computer

Well, it’s official! The first chapter of my first long-term MHA writing project, Something Poetic, is up on AO3, and I couldn’t be more excited. This last year has been absolute hell, and now that it’s 2021, I wanna stop moping around finally get cracking on all those ideas that I’ve talked about using, but never really put into actual use.

I hope you guys enjoy it! Essentially, it’s an adoption AU involving a rookie hero Midnight, and a very young Tokoyami whom she eventually takes under her wing. I really hope you guys enjoy the first chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I hope to put out a new chapter at least every month or so. Who knows? It might even be more often than that, god willing XD Comments are always, ALWAYS appreciated.

FURTHERMORE, the lack of mutation based quirks in more affluent families implies a level of classism for those affected by mutation quirk discrimination. While more data is needed, Todoroki, Momo, and Iida all have little to no mutation aspects to their quirks compared to their other (ostensibly) poorer classmates. This is al conjecture based on a small sample size, but if mutation prejudice is systemic, it would trend that those with mutation quirks make less than their emitter counterparts

 *glances at Shoji the dude with massive mutating flesh limbs who covers his face with a mask 24/7 and is a minimalist apparently and owns nothing* I mean, its a small sample size but imma take it into consideration. 

I MEAN, MOST OF THE VILLIANS WE GET IN CANON ARE JUST WACKOS WHO NEED A SMACK, BUT IF I WAS JUST A GUY WHO KEEPS GETTING STOPPED BY THE COPS BECAUSE I LOOK LIKE A WEREWOLF,  I MIGHT BE KINDA PISSED ABOUT THAT TOO. GENERALLY. 

Hawks, visiting Shouto in the hospital: *using sign language* how’re you?

Bakugou, sitting near the bed: sign to him that I’ve been teaching you

Todoroki, awkwardly moving hands: go fuck yourself

Katsuki: atta boy.

One of the things that draws the audience into the My Hero Academia universe is the world that is presented. Most superhero stories present the heroes as vigilantes, and there is debate over whether or not what they are doing really is “lawful”. But in My Hero Academia, the society is shown to fully welcome the idea of heroes, to the point where being a hero is actually its own profession due to everyone having powers. This is a very refreshing change of pace, because it takes away the conflict with society. 

…Or does it?

On the surface level, everything seems to be some kind of “quirky” utopia where everything is good up until the villains start trying to put cracks in the system. But if one takes a closer look at the things put into the world building, it slowly becomes clear that the society in the world of My Hero Academia is a lot more devious than it lets on. The hero society is corrupt and full of many flaws, and even if it is the villain’s goal to make people question it, maybe that is because it should be questioned.

((I should warn, this is like a whole full on essay so you better get comfy where you are if you’re gonna click that “Keep Reading”, which I sincerely hope you do because I spent too long on this for it to be ignored))

First of all is the treatment of people based on their quirks. Some people have quirks that affect their physical appearance, like Shouji, Mina and Kouda; and then there are people who have quirks that make them part animal, like Tsuyu. People in the hero society treat those with animal type quirks differently than they treat everyone else. In an OVA the audience is shown bits and pieces of Tsuyu’s middle school experience, and it is clear that everyone in her old school avoided her. There were various reasons given; they thought the way she acted was odd, they did not like how her tongue stuck out from her mouth, they thought that the way she held herself was funny, and so on so forth. All these reasons come back to the same attribute; that Tsuyu is, because of her quirk, part frog. The same can be said of the friend that Tsuyu makes, Habuko. Habuko was also avoided by everyone else and this was what originally drew them together, and Habuko was avoided because her quirk makes her have the appearance of a snake. It is clear from all of this that people are treated differently (mostly by being avoided) for having animal quirks that make them “odd” in the eyes of others. It can also be assumed from what we know that some people in the My Hero Academia universe would even view them as less human for having such quirks, and it is entirely possible that these people have to fight for their rights simply because of the quirk they were born with. 

However, that is not even where the discrimination against people based on their quirks stops. Obviously, while there are many people who’s quirk affects their appearance, there are many people who have quirks that do not; but that does not mean their quirks do not affect how they are perceived by other people. Shinsou, a character introduced during the Sports Festival arc, has a mind controlling quirk. In the eyes of many, this is a “villainous” quirk. Some people will only ever see Shinsou as a villain simply because of this quirk. They say things like “That would be a perfect quirk for a villain,” and it’s shown in a flashback that even people who do interact and talk with him say things like “Just don’t brainwash me, okay?”. Through no fault of his own, Shinsou has been villainized ever since he developed his quirk. But not only is he discriminated against for having a quirk that would be considered villainous, he is also discriminated against for having a quirk that does not give him any physical strength. With the way the entrance exam is designed, there was no way Shinsou could ever pass with the quirk that he possessed. Because of all this against him, it could be argued that Shinsou has to fight harder than nearly everyone else to be accepted as a hero. Despite what everyone says, Shinsou wants to be a hero. However, some people with similar quirks might not have been so determined; how many people were born with “villainous quirks” and then, after being called a villain for their whole lives, decided to become a villain because it was all anyone would ever see them as? It is clear that people with all kinds of quirks experience discrimination for being born with any quirk that would be considered “different” in a bad way. 

When it comes to discrimination based on quirks, though, there is one group that might just have it the worst out of anyone: quirkless people. In a world of quirks, the only people who have it worse than those with strange quirks are those with no quirk at all. The audience is shown this clearly through none other than the main protagonist himself, Izuku. Ever since being diagnosed as quirkless, not only was Izuku socially excluded by everyone else, he was bullied. For years, Izuku was bullied and tormented and abused simply for the crime of not having a quirk. Even people with the most useless of quirks looked down on him; in the scene of the classroom from the first episode, it is clear that many of them have quirks that do not have many uses, and yet all of them are laughing at and ridiculing Izuku when it is revealed that he wants to attempt to go to UA. The discrimination does not stop there, either; it was already mentioned in the paragraph above that UA’s Hero Course entrance exam specifically favors people with physically strong quirks, but for quirkless people it is even worse. According to the first episode, there has never been a quirkless student at UA. Not even in the general education course. Izuku even says “They removed that rule,” when asked how he expects to get in even though he is quirkless. That means it was formerly an actual rule that quirkless people could not attend UA. So not only are quirkless people discriminated against by society, they are discriminated against by the system itself. Considering the way that the hero society is now, and how the number of quirkless people will likely decline in the future, it will only get worse if there is not some kind of change to the system. 

In all of this discrimination of people with “strange” quirks and no quirks at all, though, there is one thing that should not be left ignored. Yes, most of this discrimination we see is committed by children and young teenagers. One might say, “These are just kids, they can learn to do better.” But to learn from one’s mistakes, it must first be known that something has been done wrong. Which uncovers a much bigger problem, an enabler to all of this behavior; the adults, in all of these situations, do absolutely nothing to remedy this behavior. The adults do not tell people to stop avoiding Tsuyu and Habuko just because their quirks make them “weird”, the adults do not tell people to stop telling Shinsou that he has a villainous quirk or that he would make a great villain, and the adults do absolute nothing to stop the bullying that Izuku goes through. In this situation, these adults should be given most of the blame for these events happening. It is their job to stop these kinds of actions and teach the children that it is not okay to do these kinds of things. But do they? No. Instead, these children will grow up with prejudices against people with animal quirks, people with “villainous” quirks, and quirkless people. Once they are grown up, it will be almost impossible to correct these unfair prejudices. They will think that nothing is wrong with it because it was never stopped in the past. With the hero society that raised them, who can blame them? They were never told it was wrong, and so the hero society as a whole obviously does not see it as wrong. They will continue to raise children to hate those with strange quirks unless something is done about it.

There has been lots of talk about discrimination for people based on their quirk (or lack thereof) but what about the opposite side of the scale? People with quirks that are physically strong and “suited” for hero work are treated as special and they are praised. The audience is shown this through the treatment of Bakugou. It is impossible to deny that the people in charge have constantly given Bakugou the special treatment. They were the ones who fueled his ego, constantly telling him that he was great, that he would be a perfect hero. So much so that Bakugou truly believed that he was the strongest, that no one could be stronger than he was. Additionally, by giving Bakugou this special treatment, they overlooked his bad behavior that should have been corrected. They did not punish Bakugou when he bullied Izuku. To them Bakugou was their “star student”; they could not let him get in trouble over something as “insignificant” as bullying a quirkless student. By treating Bakugou this way, they did him a great disservice. They never actually taught him anything. These adults let Bakugou believe that bullying was okay, that there was nothing wrong with the way he was acting, and that all that is needed to make a great hero is power. Bakugou was never taught the true importance of being a hero because of the special treatment he received. 

On the surface, the way that the My Hero Academia society approaches heroes as a whole seems like a good thing. The heroes in this world are rightfully praised for the work that they do, and they can work as heroes full time so that they can give saving people their undivided attention. However, the way that this hero society views heroes is incredibly warped because of the popularization and the way that heroes are treated like celebrities. Exhibit A: the classroom scene from episode one. The students are originally talking about what high schools they are going to attend, along with their plans for the future. However, after announcing this the teacher says, “Why bother. You all pretty much just wanna be heroes, right?” which is followed by the class breaking out into cheers. It is clear that all of them want to be heroes. But if all kids everywhere want only to be heroes, then what does that say for all other job options? Are they all filled by people who wanted to be heroes but failed? Another problem with the glorification of heroes is that it leads to people becoming heroes for the wrong reason. Some people want to become heroes because they want power and fame and nothing more. This system enables people like Endeavor; he is the number two hero despite acting the very opposite of how a hero should act, simply because he is strong and powerful. How many other heroes became heroes for the sake of being powerful? The way that the society itself glorifies heroes is wrong (and this is the only time I will ever agree with Hero Killer Stain on anything).

Along with this glorification of power in heroes, there is yet another problem; battle heroes are far more prioritized than any other kind. We know there are all kinds of heroes. There are support heroes like Recovery Girl, rescue heroes like The Wild Wild Pussycats, and underground heroes like Eraserhead as just a few examples. Yet, they are all outshone by heroes who are more focused on fighting. Everyone is a fan of All Might, or Endeavor, or whatever hero hits villains the hardest. There needs to be more balance in the system, because not every situation is one that a battle hero can handle. Most of the time, though, it is as if hero society itself is even pushing for the new crowd of heroes to go into becoming battle heroes. UA has one hero course, split into two classes. Logically, it should try to give an equal learning opportunity of all types of heroes, but it does not do this. On the first day they have a test on their physical abilities, and then the next they do battle training, then their rescue training is interrupted by the villain attack. After that, they have the Sports Festival, which is all about competing and fighting each other in different ways. Then they have internships where they get to choose, but none of the internships shown really offer much diversity for learning; even Ochako, who wants to be a rescue hero, interns with a battle hero. Then the final exam is about fighting the teachers or escaping. The license exams starts with fighting each other, but then there’s a rescue portion… that has the threat of fighting fake villains thrown in again. There is absolutely no training for underground hero work or support hero work, and the rescue hero work is always over shadowed by battle hero work. It is like there is not a real choice for any of them; they have to be battle heroes. Even though at the start of the series, villains are technically on the decline because of All Might’s status as the symbol of peace. It really is a shame when you consider that most of the students in Class A have quirks that would be very useful for a rescue hero. Jirou can hear people who need help, Todoroki can use ice to reinforce buildings that might be falling apart, Momo can also create things to help with reinforcing and do so much more, Ochako (who wants to be a rescue hero, again) can use her quirk to lift rubble, and there is so much more that all of these students can do. However, the system pushes them towards becoming battle heroes, thus showing favoritism. This favoritism of battle heroes reflects on a society that has become numb to the horrors of fighting and instead finds entertainment in it.

Another way that it is shown that this hero society finds entertainment in fighting is the blatant disregard of safety for students in hero schools such as UA. UA’s motto is “Go beyond; plus ultra” but often by pushing these students past their limits, they can seriously hurt themselves with their quirks. This is most obvious with Izuku’s initial use of One For All. Before learning to control it, anything he did would completely break his bones. However, the school does nothing to prevent him from doing this and continues to leave him as is. The only people who make an honest effort to tell him not to do it are Aizawa and Recovery Girl. Izuku is not the only one pushing himself past what is healthy with the “Plus Ultra” mentality either. Kaminari’s quirk short circuits him whenever he uses its full potential, and even if this is played for laughs, there is no way that constantly going brain dead is good for his health. Even Ochako has problems with her quirk; she constantly pushes herself to vomiting, and this is treated as a minor inconvenience. Then in the Sports Festival, Ochako exhausts herself to the point of collapse. Todoroki almost freezes himself over, and even if that was because he refused to use his fire, the teachers should have done something to stop that. However, again and again, these students hurt themselves by trying to achieve “Plus Ultra” and it is treated as a good thing. Because they are “determined”. These are children, fifteen and sixteen years old, and the adults who are supposed to look after them do not because they want these children to become heroes to fight horrific battles in the future. It is quite honestly disgusting how little UA cares so little about the well-being of its students.

Finally, the last point is that this hero society itself is what leads to the creation of at least some of the villains these heroes are supposed to be fighting. There is, from earlier, the rhetorical question: “How many people with villainous quirks were called villain over and over again until they became one because that was all society would see them as?” But there is more to it than that, and it is the “main” villain himself who proves it: Shigaraki. At a young age, he was found and manipulated by All For One. How did All For One manipulate young Shigaraki? Well looking at every above point; All For One could easily have been telling him at least half of the truth. By neglecting to help Shigaraki or save him from All For One, the heroes unintentionally made a villain. How many other “outcasts” became villains as well? Consider the situation of Toga, for example. There is not much that the audience knows about Toga, besides that she is young and she has a quirk that lets her turn into people when she drinks their blood. Why would someone so young turn to villainy? Where are her parents? There are plenty of possibilities for how Toga’s past led her to the path she is on in current canon. Was she abandoned by parents who were disgusted by her quirk? Were her parents killed in an accident when they could have been saved by heroes? Is she one of the unfortunate few who was constantly told they were a monster until they believed it? The point is that neglect from heroes is what causes some people to fall into villainy.

By looking underneath the surface into the cracks of the hero society of My Hero Academia, it is easy to see that things are not as perfect as they appear. There is constant discrimination against people based on their quirks, and some people are given special treatment based on their quirks; the society thrives off of the violence and glorifies the power in being a hero at the expense of the safety of the students trying to become heroes; and at the end of the day, half of the villains the system is supposed to fight are created by the system itself. Why is this important though? Well, it shows that even when something looks good on the surface, there can still be bad things lurking underneath. This applies to many things, not just the societal structure of a fictional world. It applies to the societal structure of the real world, it applies to people who look nice but are awful people, it applies to that food that’s been sitting in your fridge for a week that you haven’t eaten yet because at first it was too soon to eat the leftovers because you had them yesterday and then suddenly it’s been a week and you don’t know if the food is still good or not. Where was I? Oh right. Repeat after me:

Fuck Hero Society Rights

*bows* thank you, thank you. And if you’ve made it this far then please consider reblogging because I spent my entire day on this. *throws glitter in the air* bye

Hard

Taking from several of my Kaminari headcanons I made this dramatic angst so enjoy? (x)(x)

[AO3] [Commissions for Charity] [Writing blog]

It was a warm summer’s evening, a few days before they would be returning to UA, when Kaminari turned up unannounced on Kirishima’s doorstep. The trepidation glinting in the whites of his eyes outshone the dazzling smile he put on, and Eijirou noticed he looked a little paler than usual under the smattering of freckles across his nose.

After he had come in and said a quick hello to the rest of the Kirishimas, they headed up to Eijirou’s bedroom. Scruffily labelled cardboard boxes were stacked up in one corner and clean rectangles of brighter colour remained on the walls, a homage to the posters that had lived there for years.

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