Mha Critical - Tumblr Posts

It's called learned helplessness

When people ask why Izuku didn't fight back, the reason is because he was mentally primed not to.

To train an elephant, you get one when it's a baby and you tie it to the biggest, thickest tree you can find. The baby elephant will attempt to pull itself free and get exhausted in the escape attempt, only to learn that it cannot do it. You repeat this experience as many times as needed. The elephant tries, and it learns that its strength is not enough. The end result is that regardless of how big and strong the elephant gets, it will always have this mental framework of what is and isn't possible. So when it's fully grown, you can tie it to a very little tree and it won't even attempt to escape. It knows it can't break trees, so it won't even try. What does elephant training have to do with bullying? They work the same way. This state is called learned helplessness. Most living beings are susceptible to it. The scenario has obviously changed on the outside, but the elephant will still follow the old pattern. To put it succinctly, the elephant has beliefs about themselves that prevents them from performing actions that they're capable of. They do not see escape as an option, despite being able to just walk away. The elephant can uproot a tree but they won't. They cannot see it because of this mental block. Humans function the same way and often need someone from the outside to help break the cycle, via educating them of what's happening or intervening. In canon, All Might telling Izuku he could be a hero is what broke him out of that mindset and got him to train.

But when people ask why wouldn't he, the question is, why would he? What in his life would empower him to make decisions like these? He had no support structure, he had no one believing in him. He had zero friends and clung to a childhood friendship that ended when he was 5. We're talking about a decade of almost total social isolation and bullying, while the only person who isn't a prick to him is his mother. Who pities him. He's been treated this way longer than he hasn't. The strength and motivation to act has to come from somewhere. It's really not surprising that he'd behave this way in such a toxic environment. Nothing about Izuku's life before the start of the series is structured in a way that's conducive to his success.

I couldn’t say it any better myself. This is fantastically written and structured and I feel it’s something everyone should read regarding how Izuku feels.

THIS!!! I love this SO MUCH! There is so much untapped potential in this series and I want it to be improved on so, so badly.

Ah fuck it Changes I would make to mha if god came down, pt 2

Fuyumi Todoroki should have been a hero and the more I think about this the more I will die on this hill. A) there's a severe lack of important female heroes and while Fuyumi is a side character I would have her take Endeavwhore's place in almost ALL of the times they fight Touya, both to give her more presence and because Touya being 'taken down' in any capacity by his abuser kind of sickens me. B) I want Enji a lot less present in the Todoroki plot than he currently is, even if he still gets some kind of a redemption. Fuyumi being a hero could both take his role physically and ALSO would give Shouto an actual reason for wanting to be a hero. C) I've always wondered like... why exactly Shouto would continue wanting to be a hero as he distanced himself from his father. His admiration for All Might doesn't seem like a good enough reason if his entire life has just been so isolated to only a few people and the major presence in his life his is abusive father who he's only ever seen misuse the power he has as a hero for his own gain. Fuyumi being a hero would actually give Shouto another hero role model to look up to, another reason to only use his ice, and give him a CONTINUED reason to want to be a hero. D) Also, Fuyumi's supposed to represent the 'fawn' response to abuse, and so her actively trying to do exactly what her dad wants and make a hero of herself and STILL be overlooked and discarded by him could really hammer in how Endeavwhore doesn't actually give a shit about any of his kids, even if they do what he wants; unless they're strong enough to beat All Might *with fire* like he wants he doesn't care.

I'm changing the entire entrance exam. It emphasizes entirely the wrong thing - killing things - above what heroes are actually supposed to focus on: saving people. If your hero school and society puts such an emphasis on 'taking down the bad guy' as opposed to saving people as heroes are supposed to do, that should actually be a point of discussion. That said, even if hero society still emphasizes defeating villains and looking cool for the camera above saving civilians, I'm changing it anyway:

Paper portion is the same as we get very little detail on it. My only change is UA students are tested on three foreign languages as well: English, Chinese, and Korean. They're expected to have a high level in all of them, mainly to add emphasis on just how hard UA is to get into (1 in 300 acceptance rate is fucking INSANE)

Practical portion!! This is completely revamped. Instead of the robots, current UA students are used as stand in civilians during a villain attack in a simulated urban area (a la the canon exam). There's only one giant robot, a few smaller ones, and the zero pointer. Students are put into groups of ten and are tasked with working together to rescue as many people as possible and take down as many villains as possible. Villain points are still emphasized over rescue points (which can now be gained from rescuing civilians and taking down the zero pointer, though very few do the latter), and the UA students are given pathways under the simulated area they can escape to if need be for safety. The practical feels more well rounded and realistic this way.

Also, this gives Shinsou an actual reason to be pissy about not getting into the hero course; the reason he got so few points in the practical was because as soon as the other people in his group found out about his quirk they refused to work with him, tanking his chances of almost any villain points (the mini villains are also robots). It also actually shows discrimination against people with 'villainous quirks' in hero society, something Horikoshi bought up but conveniently forgot about.

Kaminari doesn't have Whey Mode, it's a huge weakness and it's insane no one ever takes it seriously because of how big a safety risk it is for him. He can give himself nerve damage or kill himself if he uses his power too intensely, yes, but that's it.

Iida Tensi actually dies after being attacked by Stain.

Inko Midoriya is told about One for All and All Might's identity. She deserves to be in the know and it gives both All Might and Izuku another person for their support systems; she's the main character's only parent and yet she's so uninvolved in everything. It's disappointing. She would get more of a chance to voice her worries to both Izuku and Yagi, and she and Yagi could actually develop a friendship, which in all honestly Yagi really needs.

Momo is Class President and Tenya is Vice President.

Also like... Momo actually gets a chance to show off how powerful and strategic she is before we see her weaknesses hurt her. She's one of the most potentially powerful character in the fucking show die to her ability to literally create anything and yet we barely see what she's capable of before she is functionally rendered useless due to the author's inability to write female characters. I do like her arc about how her insecurities can get the best of her in the worst times and overcoming it but I want to expand on that. I want several scenes of her being academically and physically fantastic, top of her class, winning spars and overall seeming like the perfect up and coming hero, and THEN in the Sports festival, where she's one of the last few players, that's when we see her freeze up for the first time when one of her plans goes completely out of wack. And then, later (bc I'm putting the first villain arc as the Stain arc so USJ happens after that) when they're attacked for the first time, totally unprepared, she freezes up again and is saved by Jirou. This establishes her weakness - when she's in a situation she hasn't planned for or can't control she freezes up and that gets the best of her. Her arc is then learning how to better improvise in the heat of things (possibly becoming closer friends with Midoriya due to his ability to do exactly this) which she gets to show off during the Final Exams.

Also GIVE NEJIRE MORE PLOT TIME. Her, Mirio and Amajiki are meant to be a TRIO. I want her to get just as many fight scenes and emotional scenes as the other two, and let her be an inspiration to some of her younger classmates as well who also may have less conventionally strong Quirks, like Uraraka or Hagakure!!

Speaking of which: let Ochako be overpowered god damn it. Gravity manipulation is ALWAYS op (just look at Chuuya from BSD) and yet Ochako's never allowed to be just as powerful as she really should be. She has the potential to be one of the strongest characters in the series - she could basically neutralize as many hits or weapons as she could touch, could crush people into the ground with gravity, make herself or other people faster by making their feet lighter, or any other number of things but we never get to SEE IT!!

Also Ochako's foil is now Twice and Hawks kills Toga instead. I love both of them but Twice is unquestionably the more interesting character between the two from a narrative stand point and makes a very good foil to Ochako.

Hawks should have been used as a scapegoat for the Commission. From the beginning we've seen how he was basically brainwashed and conditioned to see everything they did as right; yet even when given chances to go against them that people in situations like his did take he continued looking up to them and supporting their actions. Like maybe after Dabi released the video of him killing Twice; the Commission uses him as a way to be like "hey, see!! We're the good guys!! He's the bad one so he's gone now!" Hawks killed for them and believed in them till his end and his reward would be either dead or as good as, a scapegoat for a mission they gave him. A tragedy of his own making, because he had chances to step away from them but chose not to. It would also be used to show how while the Meta Liberation Front aren't the good guys... well, neither are the HPSC. Like, at all.

Nana Shimura was a vigilante not a legal hero

And I've reached post character limit. Damn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's just. Incredibly infuriating.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

His quirk is 'Sparks'. Not Explosions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON BAKUGOU.

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

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

Here's some maybe controversial takes on My Hero Academia:

Spoilers under the Read More

Horikoshi has this weird thing for trying and failing to redeem abusive characters

Bakugou's character development is shit and that apology was awful

Hori is not focusing enough on Izuku, his main character, and the lack of introspection is appalling

Mineta being Hori's self-insert is disgusting and the SpaceToon version is leagues better

Dabi should not have been given ice powers

Bakugou is getting way too much screen-time and relevance, considering he wasn't even planned to be a major character

Ochako has become stale and lost any flavour after the Sport's Festival arc

Toga is not a good character

Shigaraki is not a good person. He was implied to be when he was younger, but not at the current point of time

Aizawa is a shit teacher and plays favourites with Bakugou and Shinsou

Shinsou is a lazy, quirkist asshole who likes to play Trauma Olympics despite his backstory being incredibly tame and not traumatising in the slightest

Monoma is actually really interesting and I love him

Momo's powers are being undersold majorly and Hori refuses to give her anything

All Might gets bashed way too much

Mic is the best adult around

Izuku should have either always been quirkless throughout the series or never should have given OfA away

Hori has a habit of making gory things happen for shock value and then immediately resolving them

Kaminari's quirk is OP but Hori doesn't want to acknowledge that

Eri is a plot hole and the way the heroes use her is disgusting. She should have just had a minor rewind quirk that was strengthened by Trigger, making it so she literally cannot rewind All Might to his prime, or Aizawa's eye and leg, or dead people

Mirio is amazing and I love him

Kouda is the purest boy but his hero costume is ass

People forget Iida a lot and it's saddening

Mitsuki is not abusive. She's just Asian

Inko is on a weird scale of 'supportive' and 'neglectful'

Hori lets Bakugou get away with way too much

Outside of the IzuCrew, (Izuku, Shouto, Tenya, Ochako, Tsuyu), which side character are you the most excited to bring attention to?

Personally, I would either go for Momo, Neitou, or Mezou.

Momo, mostly because her quirk relies on science and I love science, and she absolutely needed more time to shine and women with bows or swords always makes me feel a sort of way.

Neitou because he's really interesting to me. A lot of people don't like him due to him antagonising 1-A, but I knew straight away that he was insecure and I think delving into how that impacts his actions would be really cool. Also, there's every chance he's as much of a quirk nerd as Izuku and I love that.

Mezou because he's both really cool and would make for a much better statement of quirk discrimination than Shinsou. He's shown to be protective over others despite being discriminated against for his appearance, and thinking about how he was able to take all of that hate and decided to become a hero to help people anyway is amazing. I also think the contrast of his 'scary' looks and how sweet he can be is both funny and endearing.

(Feel free to answer this whenever you want. No rush <3)

I mean, y'all know I love my girl Momo. Not only do I love her, there's just so much potential around her. So she's definitely the one I'm most excited for.

(Confession: I'm not super great at science so I might get things wrong surrounding her quirk, as well as others'. Just a heads-up in case something I say is blatantly bs)

Monoma is such an interesting character too. I personally think he was a better minor antagonist than Bakugou. He isn't shoved down our throats all the time, he's legitimately funny, and he gets called out consistently by Kendo and others. An antagonistic character should be fun like that.

(Also, he read Bakugou for filth. King shit right there)

Mezou is ABSOLUTELY better for discrimination. Especially because if we're being honest, Shinsou is an asshole who likes using his quirk on people. No, people putting him in a box wasn't right and yes, I enjoy his parallels with Izuku. But the series making such a big deal out of him when Shoji is RIGHT THERE feels... Off. I'll probably talk a little about everyone in regard to discrimination though. Every voice deserves to be heard in those case

man. spinner and shoji were two characters that i really enjoyed and wanted to see more of... until i did get to see more of them and horikoshi stomped on my dreams...

spinner goes from being one of the best characters to being ridiculously one-dimensional. the heroes don't do jack shit, until it's revealed at the last second that they did, meaning that everything the 'bad guys' did was ultimately useless. kurogiri being in a hospital made no sense; the guy is a high-ranking villain who is far too useful to the villains to give up, he should be in a highly secure location like tartarus. shoji goes from being someone who i really enjoyed to being someone with ignorant beliefs, despite him accusing his friends of being such people.

seriously, shoji's rant on how the 'people from the city' wouldn't understand because they 'had it easy'. NEWSFLASH: discrimination happens everywhere. yes, it's a lot more rampant outside of cities, but it still exists within a city. heck, i had someone scream racial slurs at me while i was walking home, and i live in a big city. to say that someone had it easy just because you had it worse is a horrible thing to say, especially when it's coming from someone who is supposed to be empathetic.

this is not shoji's beliefs. this is horikoshi's beliefs. he could have easily had shoji say something like 'you have had it hard. that being said, people are more willing to turn to extremes outside of the city'.

also, shoji's whole 'violence to get what you want never works out!!' is wrong. i'm not saying from a moral standpoint - that's perfectly fine. but it's historically wrong. yes, there are such a thing as peaceful protests, but they have never worked out as well as those that fight violence with violence. blm riots, for example, were the thing to force the government to take a closer look at why people were rioting and do things to prevent more property damage.

another thing i found troubling was how the mutants became enraged at a person of colour, specifically black, for trying to intervene and empathise with them, screaming that he could not understand. it's supposed to imply that racism wasn't a concern after quirks emerged, as people found other things to discriminate.

which is... very idealistic. if that were something people would really do, then racism wouldn't be a thing after sexism came to light. and neither of them would exist after the lgbt or the neurodivergent. but that's not what happened.

if someone else arises that people could discriminate upon, people would just add that to the list of things to discriminate on.

horikoshi could have drawn anyone for the mutants to yell at. he chose to use a person of colour. it comes off as very tone-deaf and it was just another sign that the mini-arc would screw up.

spinner losing his mind was bad. as in bad-bad. as in, there were so many ways to write this fight, and he chose this? instead of being a battle of ideaologies, it's shoji convincing the rest to step down, then trying to beat a mind-less spinner.

it could have been one of the best fights, with shoji's belief that using violence to solve your issues will only make it worse, and spinner arguing that using violence is the only way to do it with the state of their society.

no matter who won, in that case, it would be ultimately up to the readers to decide who truly won. who had the stronger argument, who made the more sense, all that jazz...

instead, shoji yells at a bunch of people about how 'destroying property isn't good' and 'violence is never the answer', all the while using violence to subdue him.

that could have been could, if it was commented on. if there were some sort of self-awareness.

but it's not and there is none. it went from being an arc i was really looking forward to reading, to something i can no longer stand.

shoji. spinner. you were both done so dirty

toshinori's character was supposed to encapsulate the idea that 'not everyone can be heroes, but everyone has the capacity for heroism'.

maybe you can't be a hero without a quirk, maybe you can't be a hero with strength.

but it doesn't change the fact that everyone can be heroic.

after all might's retirement, toshinori goes through a bit of an identity crisis, wondering who he is if he cannot be all might. and aizawa tells him straight up that he does not need to be all might. all he has to be is toshinori.

stain further exemplifies this, when he saves all might and tells him that it was not his strength that moved him. it was his actions. the all might statue built had been defecated, and this upsets toshinori. it makes him feel as though he failed in being a symbol of peace.

yet, when stain tells him that people loved all might for his actions and what he stood for, not his strength, a single person goes up to that statue and cleans it.

all might may have died, but toshinori lives on and that is all he needs to do. all he has to do is be himself.

...

all this gets thrown out with iron might.

iron might goes against what his character was building up to be, what his character was going to say.

'not everyone can be heroes, but all can be heroic.'

by giving us iron might, it erases that first half. because, while quirkless, toshinori is able to fight on using this suit to mimic quirks. which, while i'd accept if izuku did this at the start, or if a different quirkless character did, is just not good.

the whole point of all might dying was so that toshinori could live on. he shouldn't have to fight after everything that he's already done.

toshinori dying would have been trash, but i wouldn't mind it so much if he died an honorable and heroic death, such as saving someone from an attack, maybe having a call-back to izuku's 'my feet started moving on its own'.

he wouldn't be a hero in that moment, but he would be heroic, and that is what his character was supposed to say.

his character was supposed to show us that. we were supposed to gather that, even if toshinori is no longer a hero, he is still heroic.

supporting others, trying to reach out to izuku in his dark hero arc, dong whatever he can to keep morale up.

iron might is cool and all, but it goes against his own narrative.

horikoshi, once again, did him dirty. he does so many character dirty.

I need Bakugou stans to realise that it's not that I hate him as a person. It's that I hate him as a character.

A lot of my favourite characters are unrepentant assholes, or assholes who are set to or have already been redeemed. Vegeta from DBZ, Ouma Kokichi from DGR: V3, Dio from JoJo, Laxus from Fairy Tail, Greed from FMA: B, Bill from Gravity Falls, and the list that goes on.

If a character is a terrible person, that's fine by me. But if the author tries and fails to redeem them, yet still acts as though they are suddenly this amazing person, that's when I have an issue with it.

Bakugou was originally written to be a minor antagonist, and that would have been fine, if Horikoshi didn't suddenly go "I drew him crying so imma fix him".

Redemption is such a complex yet simple thing to do. So when you try to do it and fail spectacularly, um, yeah, I do not enjoy that character or your writing.

That is my main issue with Bakugou. I do not think he deserved any redemption, not because he's a bad person, but because there is nothing to convince me that he could change.

He gets one scene where he goes, "boohoo I lost and everyone is stronger than me" then cries, and that's supposed to be enough for him to become a better person? That is nowhere near enough.

There was no moment that made me believe he genuinely regretted and took accountability for the abuse he put Izuku through in middle school.

"He changed!" That's not my issue. I don't care that he's changed. I care that I don't believe in it. If there was a plausible reason as to why he changed, then I would be fine with it. Maybe I'd even enjoy him!

The fact that he's changed doesn't mean shit if it's not believable.

"That was in middle school!" Okay. This one pisses me off the most. That was a year pre-canon? Oh, wow, I guess that's completely fine! It's not as if characters are the way they are based on their past. Oh, Itachi killed the Uchiha clan before canon! Okay, maybe comparing a massacre to bullying is a bit unfair. Still, just because it happened a year ago, it doesn't mean it never happened. It doesn't mean that he's changed considerably.

"Izuku doesn't have any lasting damage and forgave him!" And? Just because your friend forgives their bully, it doesn't mean you have to forgive them. And, again, I do not believe Bakugou's apology was good in anyway. He was trash-talking Izuku, blaming All Might for Izuku's behaviour, and didn't accept any culpability for what he did to him. He didn't tell anyone else what he did to Izuku. Also, if Izuku really didn't have any lasting damage from the bullying, then why did Bakugou's apology make him calm down? If he didn't care about the bullying, then why is he so relieved by the apology? BECAUSE HE WAS AFFECTED.

"Bakugou was being abused!" ... NO HE WASN'T!! Mitsuki is not abusive. Yes, she hit him round the back of his head. After he threatened her. Anyone with Asian parents can tell you that her hit does not hurt. Not only is it somewhat normal in Asian families, but it also doesn't hurt. We have no evidence that she is abusive. Horikoshi knows how to set up abusive families, as seen with the Todorokis. This not that. Either way, even if she was, being abused doesn't mean it's okay to abuse others. You can hurt without hurting others.

"It's the school and teacher's fault!" No, it's not. Part of the fault lies with them enabling him, but Bakugou is already fifteen when the series starts. His mother clearly doesn't agree with his attitude. The school is only partially to blame. Bakugou should have learned by himself what is right and what is not. In fact, he clearly does know considering he doesn't want any of that stuff on his records in case U.A. rejects him.

Again. I don't care if he's a terrible person. I care that he's a terrible character.

So the next time someone says that I'm stuck in Season One, take a moment and think about what you're saying. Bad people in fiction are entertaining. Bad characters are not.

Sorry, I keep adding onto this, but I agree completely.

Bakugou didn't experience any actual development. Maybe if Horikoshi acknowledged the emotional abuse, there could have been something, but as it stands, I wouldn't like that as it would enable the Bakugou stans. It would make them go, "See! See! I told you so!", while completely ignoring that he inflicted abuse onto Izuku.

I'm not going to sit here and compare people's trauma. That's wrong.

What I will say is that, again, you're completely right. Mitsuki doesn't seem to gain any pleasure from hurting Bakugou, emotionally-wise, whereas Bakugou did. He grins and laughs and feels powerful, and it's awful.

He likes beating down people who are already weaker than him, just to feel stronger. And there is nothing to convince me that he's changed from this. He still fights with a grin, not because he wants people to feel safe like All Might or Izuku do, but because he enjoys beating people up.

Like I said, the issue is the fact that people use 'he was abused' as an excuse, rather than a reason. I could accept it as a reason, something that influenced him to take such actions, but it's not. Every time this is seen in fanfiction, it's only there to make his abuse towards Izuku feel less, as though it suddenly doesn't matter just because he was abused.

What I'm fine with is: he was abused, but that is not an excuse. It's only a reason. He still should not be forgiven immediately, because that's not a reason to do so. We see this in canon with the League of Villains, like Toga who was psychologically abused by everyone around her. There is a reason as to why she turned to a dark area, but she is not forgiven. Her actions are not pardoned.

This is why I don't like Bakugou stans, and why I don't like people saying he was abused. If written well, I can stand it. But it's never written well.

There was a fanfiction where 1-A is hit with a truth quirk, and it looked really good. Bakugou was revealed to have bullied Izuku visciously for years, and the class reacted by isolating him, and Ochako is particularly upset.

It was going fine until Bakugou revealed that Mitsuki also visciously abused him, and suddenly everyone is okay with him. It's fine to be horrified by that, but then Ochako is painted in a bad light, and everyone forgets that he bullied Izuku.

(I ended up dropping it - I'm not going to say the name, because I'm not that mean or petty. I'm still petty, but not to that extent. If you know what I'm talking about, please don't reveal it. The writing was good, I just didn't like Bakugou enough to stay through that.)

A good example of the type of character Horikoshi wished Bakugou was, is Teruki Hanazawa from Mob Psycho 100. If you don't know, he's introduced a minor antagonist who used his psychic powers to bully people and keep himself on top. Because of his superior powers and strength, he held himself above people. He did this because he was bored. It's not shown as well in the anime, but you can tell in the manga how dull he percieved his life as.

It's not until he fights Mob, who doesn't fight back because he doesn't like using his psychic powers for such means. Hanazawa is confused and views this as Mob looking down on him. His ego can't handle this and he ends up going too far, choking Mob out to the point that he believes he killed him. His victory is hollow.

Then Mob reaches ???%. In his unconscious state, he gets up and his powers get out of control. Hanazawa is initially happy that he made Mob fight back, until he realises that he screwed up. Mob decimates him and he apologises for everything. Up in the air, he has this moment of clarity. The world is large and he is small. His power doesn't mean anything.

He apologises to Mob, and that's the end.

The next time we see him, he's admonishing someone for using their psychic powers willy-nilly. The best part of it: I can believe it. I can believe that, in the time we didn't see him, he internalised the message Mob sent to him. Being powerful does not mean you are strong. Protecting the weak, rather than holding yourself over them, is the mark of the strong.

It's a simpe yet powerful message that Bakugou could never portray, because his arc goes against this message.

'Save to win, and win to save,' is such a bad message. Because saving people should always come first. He'll prioritise beating the villian instead of the child three seconds away from dying because he has to win. His mindset hasn't changed. He started off only caring about winning, and he still only cares about winning.

He doesn't care about saving people, as is the message of heroism. He holds himself over the weak. He looks down on people and thinks 'I'm stronger than them.'

This kind of devolved into a seperate matter entirely, but I stand by it anyhow. Even if Bakugou's abuse was taken seriously, stans needs to realise that it's just a reason, not an excuse.

(Sorry for continuing this already long rant.)

I need Bakugou stans to realise that it's not that I hate him as a person. It's that I hate him as a character.

A lot of my favourite characters are unrepentant assholes, or assholes who are set to or have already been redeemed. Vegeta from DBZ, Ouma Kokichi from DGR: V3, Dio from JoJo, Laxus from Fairy Tail, Greed from FMA: B, Bill from Gravity Falls, and the list that goes on.

If a character is a terrible person, that's fine by me. But if the author tries and fails to redeem them, yet still acts as though they are suddenly this amazing person, that's when I have an issue with it.

Bakugou was originally written to be a minor antagonist, and that would have been fine, if Horikoshi didn't suddenly go "I drew him crying so imma fix him".

Redemption is such a complex yet simple thing to do. So when you try to do it and fail spectacularly, um, yeah, I do not enjoy that character or your writing.

That is my main issue with Bakugou. I do not think he deserved any redemption, not because he's a bad person, but because there is nothing to convince me that he could change.

He gets one scene where he goes, "boohoo I lost and everyone is stronger than me" then cries, and that's supposed to be enough for him to become a better person? That is nowhere near enough.

There was no moment that made me believe he genuinely regretted and took accountability for the abuse he put Izuku through in middle school.

"He changed!" That's not my issue. I don't care that he's changed. I care that I don't believe in it. If there was a plausible reason as to why he changed, then I would be fine with it. Maybe I'd even enjoy him!

The fact that he's changed doesn't mean shit if it's not believable.

"That was in middle school!" Okay. This one pisses me off the most. That was a year pre-canon? Oh, wow, I guess that's completely fine! It's not as if characters are the way they are based on their past. Oh, Itachi killed the Uchiha clan before canon! Okay, maybe comparing a massacre to bullying is a bit unfair. Still, just because it happened a year ago, it doesn't mean it never happened. It doesn't mean that he's changed considerably.

"Izuku doesn't have any lasting damage and forgave him!" And? Just because your friend forgives their bully, it doesn't mean you have to forgive them. And, again, I do not believe Bakugou's apology was good in anyway. He was trash-talking Izuku, blaming All Might for Izuku's behaviour, and didn't accept any culpability for what he did to him. He didn't tell anyone else what he did to Izuku. Also, if Izuku really didn't have any lasting damage from the bullying, then why did Bakugou's apology make him calm down? If he didn't care about the bullying, then why is he so relieved by the apology? BECAUSE HE WAS AFFECTED.

"Bakugou was being abused!" ... NO HE WASN'T!! Mitsuki is not abusive. Yes, she hit him round the back of his head. After he threatened her. Anyone with Asian parents can tell you that her hit does not hurt. Not only is it somewhat normal in Asian families, but it also doesn't hurt. We have no evidence that she is abusive. Horikoshi knows how to set up abusive families, as seen with the Todorokis. This not that. Either way, even if she was, being abused doesn't mean it's okay to abuse others. You can hurt without hurting others.

"It's the school and teacher's fault!" No, it's not. Part of the fault lies with them enabling him, but Bakugou is already fifteen when the series starts. His mother clearly doesn't agree with his attitude. The school is only partially to blame. Bakugou should have learned by himself what is right and what is not. In fact, he clearly does know considering he doesn't want any of that stuff on his records in case U.A. rejects him.

Again. I don't care if he's a terrible person. I care that he's a terrible character.

So the next time someone says that I'm stuck in Season One, take a moment and think about what you're saying. Bad people in fiction are entertaining. Bad characters are not.

Now, I hate to say I told you so...

But I knew MHA was a travesty and the ending just proved it.

Normally, I respect writers/mangakas, because it's such a hard thing to do.

But Fuck Horikoshi

Endeavor Apologists are not writing off Endeavor's 'abuse' of his family. But they recognize that there is more to Endeavor's character, and his actions are a product of a society that puts affection on people with Quirks, and within that class of people, those with marketable quirks are favored over those who do not.

Endeavor's life and lifestyle revolved around this society which is focused on the idea of idolizing powerful quirks. What Endeavor believes is good for his family is shaped by the rather toxic environment of the BNHA society and the pro-hero industry. Having a strong quirk is what gets you ahead in life, so Endeavor ensures that his children who have quirks are trained to control these keys to success, which is what any parent would do for their child.

Despite Endeavor's good intentions, however, the results are destructive and self-destructive. That is something Endeavor only recognizes after his family is nearly torn apart. Now Endeavor is trying to fix the consequences of believing in a flawed system that ultimately brought more harm than good to what Endeavor ultimately cares the most about.

Endeavor apologists are not dismissing the abuse. But we recognize that Endeavor is a result of an abusive society. We also recognize that Endeavor is trying to change as a conscious rebellion against the pro-hero industry and society. Which is a heroic action all on its own.

Endeavor had a lasting impact on his family, but the fault was due to the environment he is a part of.

Recognizing that Endeavor is a product of a broken system and that he is working around it is something an Endeavor fan can respect.

That recognition of something wrong and working to change in some way does not erase Endeavor's actions, but it is something Endeavor Apologists choose to focus on MORE than the abusive behavior. Abusive behavior that is an extension of the abusive nature of the Pro-Hero industry the characters in the story slavishly support.

To hate on Endeavor Apologists for focusing on MORE than ONE aspect of Endeavor's character is to miss the fact that the abuse reflects worse on the Pro-Hero industry and the world-building.

i am so fucking pissed right now, i have to explain this. BNHA manga spoilers and TW for abuse, self harm is mentioned

I am so overly, absolutely pissed that people are just writing off and dissmissing the abuse and hell that Endeavor put is family through. simply because of the fact that he saved Natsuo once. one good deed is NOT enough to erase 19 years of trauma.

i understand he's making the decision to "atone" or whatever, but doing good things doesn't erase the fact that he was literally abusive.

Touya was literally raised to believe, FROM BIRTH, that his worth revolves around his potential as a hero, and his potential as a hero is dependent on the strength of his quirk, and having a strong quirk = affection which = attention. That was what Endeavor made him internalize from infancy. because of this, even after Endeavor told him to stop using his quirk, Touya continued to train, which, in of itself, was self harm. he continued burning himself due to the neglect and severe psychological abuse he was put through.

he abused his wife to the point of insanity, and because of that, her own children's faces were triggers for her. he kept Shoto separate from his siblings. he was fucking neglectful.

idgaf what you say, he was abusive.

he may be changing, but dont you FUCKING dare start defending him.

i get that this is fiction. i know the Todoroki family isn't real. however abuse is real, it has lifelong effects on people, it hurts, and it kills. if y'all are defending the abusers and blaming the victims even just in fiction, I don't even wanna imagine how y'all would react if you found out someone was/is being abused irl.

it sickens me that Endeavor apologists exist.

Endeavor Apologists are aware that he has done some questionable things to his family ...

Endeavor Apologists are not writing off Endeavor's 'abuse' of his family. But they recognize that there is more to Endeavor's character, and his actions are a product of a society that puts affection on people with Quirks, and within that class of people, those with marketable quirks are favored over those who do not.

Endeavor's life and lifestyle revolved around this society which is focused on the idea of idolizing powerful quirks. What Endeavor believes is good for his family is shaped by the rather toxic environment of the BNHA society and the pro-hero industry. Having a strong quirk is what gets you ahead in life, so Endeavor ensures that his children who have quirks are trained to control these keys to success, which is what any parent would do for their child.

Despite Endeavor's good intentions, however, the results are destructive and self-destructive. That is something Endeavor only recognizes after his family is nearly torn apart. Now Endeavor is trying to fix the consequences of believing in a flawed system that ultimately brought more harm than good to what Endeavor ultimately cares the most about.

Endeavor apologists are not dismissing the abuse. But we recognize that Endeavor is a result of an abusive society. We also recognize that Endeavor is trying to change as a conscious rebellion against the pro-hero industry and society. Which is a heroic action all on its own.

Endeavor had a lasting impact on his family, but the fault was due to the environment he is a part of.

Recognizing that Endeavor is a product of a broken system and that he is working around it is something an Endeavor fan can respect.

That recognition of something wrong and working to change in some way does not erase Endeavor's actions, but it is something Endeavor Apologists choose to focus on MORE than the abusive behavior. Abusive behavior is an extension of the abusive nature of the Pro-Hero industry the characters in the story slavishly support.

To hate on Endeavor Apologists for focusing on MORE than ONE aspect of Endeavor's character is to miss the fact that the abuse reflects worse on the Pro-Hero industry and the world-building.

It probably isn’t surprising, but I am of the mindset that, from a storytelling perspective, Todoroki would be the best at serving the deuteragonist for BNHA because he and Midoriya could be a better example of “Save to Win, Win to Save” or something similar.

For that to happen, I think we need to have him lower his walls around people a lot more gradually and for his relationship with Midoriya to build up slower over time. Go from hardly considering Midoriya at all, to, near the end of the story, view him as one of his best friends. I believe what hurt him to grow as a character in canon is that he suddenly became more empathetic and more of a team player IMMEDIATELY after the Sports Festival, and when he went to help save Iida from Stain. He seemed to be static after that, imo.

I think if it was more drawn out, where he gradually tried to be less practical and aloof with people and more conscious of others, he could learn how it works out for him, sometimes it backfires on him, which could lead him to sometimes having disagreements and arguments with Midoriya and others as he is trying to figure out what is morally right and what is logical. Then he can slowly learn to become his own kind of hero.

As for Iida and Uraraka (because like HELL am I not gonna make sure these babies get the attention they are due), these two are more involved with Midoriya and are his guardian angels in a sense and help Midoriya question and grow from his ideals sometimes. They don’t need to be glued to him on every corner to be their own characters (unlike some explosive loser I will not name). But they will certainly make an impact in each other’s lives as there will be times they will be in certain situations where they would think, “What would Izuku/Tenya/Ochako do?”

Anyway, that’s my idea on how I would have approached this.

Feel free to give your reasoning in the replies or reblogs if you want🙂

You're the one who brought up the amazing point about how the Joint Training Arc and Sports Festival should have been switched around!

I absolutely 100% agree. As both you and @sapphic-agent have brought up, holding the Sports Festival so early in the year puts the 1st year students at such a huge disadvantage and is honestly unnecessary. I know it's supposed to be their "first foray into the hero world" or whatever, but they've only been in school for like 2 weeks. Realistically, not every student was able to train and hone their Quirks in elementary and middle school. Not to mention that broadcasting their personal information and Quirks across the entire country wound up being incredibly shortsighted, given that the LoV used the Sports Festival to plan Bakugou's kidnapping.

I also completely agree that rather than the Joint Training Arc being class vs class, they should have shuffled the teams up. Not only would this build a better dynamic and character development for 1B, it would have made for some interesting character relationships and ability development for Izuku and the other characters.

Sorry this took long to respond back to, @nutzgunray-lvt !Thanks for the response to this! Yes, pretty much what you said is exactly the mindset I had when I was thinking about that post with @sapphic-agent, so I don’t have much to add other than glad coming across others that think like this!

Hi

I think ochako is one of the most under utilised and underrated characters. I'm not a fan of her character (no, i DONT hate her). She had so much of potential amd her fight with BK just proved she's more than a pretty face. I'm fully aware of the fact that this show is oversaturated with characters. But let's not forget that she is the main female lead of the show. My biggest issue with her is that she didn't get to do a god damn thing in the Stain arc. She joined the academy with the sole intention of making money, and that's exactly what Stain hates about the hero society. Their monetary outlook. She could have been a part of the arc, the build up was there. She could have shown Stain that yes, while there are heroes who are there solely for the financial gains, that doesn't make them bad people. She all she wanted was to help her family get out of the poor financial situation they were in. Instead, she gets the typical shonen lead heroine treatment- being the love interest and whose sole purpose in life is to be a satellite character to the male lead of the show.

All her effort in the UA sports festival to do her best against Bk, all the desires to make good income as a hero to help her family financially, devolved into a girl who becomes a blushing mess infront of her love interest.

They did her so dirty. She was one of the few female shonen characters who felt like she could be someone in life without having anything to do with matters of the heart.

Also, notice how it's other characters around her who enforce her this whole Deku crush on her. Mina, toga and Aoyama to name a few. These are the characters who constantly remind her of her feelings for deku, thus pushing her further and further away from the plot relevancy.

I find this very annoying and makes me sick to think that a girl with tremendous potential is now relegated to the role of a girl hopelessly in love.

One last question: So many people think she's a terrible person for wanting to make money. I'm like, what? Are you serious? (If you want me to give further explanations I will) but it's the most human and realistic thing to do when you're stuck in a financial rut.

Please let me know and thanks for reading my extremely long post

Cheers

Ooooooooooo Lordy.

(Cracks hands and neck)

First and foremost, I still love Ochako. But I can’t ignore what’s happened to her throughout the series.

Honestly, it’s been ages since I’ve had that exact thought about Ochako and Stain situation! While he had a valid point (that wasn’t further explored, HORIKOSHI) about there being heroes that didn’t have the EXACT same mentality as All Might, her duality of wanting to provide enough money to support her family all the while having the desire to save others for the sake of saving others would be honestly a culture shock to Stain. (Or he may go further into denial, it’s actually hard to say. Guy had a few screws loose.)

But it HONESTLY would have been interesting seeing these two interact! And not to replace anyone the Hosu trio! It honestly would have been cool seeing her trying to use her new Gunhead Martial Arts (though she probably would have been focused on saving Iida as Izuku and Shoto took on the role of the main fighters, but Stain could have also tried to go after them and Uraraka would attempt to hold her own against him.) And we would have had MOST of the Dekusquad there! (Asui had her own internship.) Hiw great would it have been seeing the Dekusquad fighting together! And Ochako going feral protecting Iida!

Yeah, she happened to be more focused only about her crush with Izuku as time went on, which made a lot of her early traits and accomplishments kinda fade away and be forgotten. But for the record, and I still stand by this. A girl having a crush on someone DOESN’T cheapen her in my opinion. It’s something that happens to many teenagers. And some of their interactions I think are handled well, like them talking about wanting to save their respective villains. But other times, yeah, it felt a bit excessive that Horikoshi had to stop and say, “Hey! Hey! Do you remember Ochako has a crush on Izuku?!?” I honestly was looking forward to seeing how she acted after she vowed to put her feelings aside during the provisional license exam. But…Hori just continued to drill it into our faces.

As for the biggest perpetrator of making Ochako only about Izuku, I lay on Toga’s feet. Mina, yeah, she brings up the crush as well, but it’s done more in good fun I feel. And I think Aoyama has done that once. (Now that I think about it, it’s kind of random how he suddenly knew about her crush. He never does it again.)

But Toga? Horikoshi could have used her for something else to make her relevant, but the ONLY thing she had connected to Ochako is their shared crush on Izuku. Others say theirs other themes between them, but I’m sorry. I don’t see it, or believe that it was handled effectively. Ochako had more than just a crush. Like you mentioned, her want to provide for her family. Her fighting spirit and prowess that she showed against Bakugou. She had things that could have been fleshed out more.

Toga was a wha-wha girl that embraced being a remorseless villain and happened to be crushing on the same guy Ochako was crushing on. That’s it. There’s nothing else really about Toga. And she became to Ochako what Bakugou became to Izuku: a detriment to her character and preventing her from becoming something MORE. (Sorry but not really if I sound cynical about Toga. I just got REALLY tired being demanded to care about her. Like some OTHER blonde.)

Speaking of which, your last question? I also never understood this. I get it for a quick joke and stuff like that. Hahaha. But when people were SERIOUS about holding that over Ochako’s head? I was like, “Did you not hear her entire motivation?!?” I was dumbfounded how people could possibly come to that conclusion.

I find it ESPECIALLY interesting NO ONE brings up that BAKUGOU also had the desire to be a hero for money,JUST TO BE RICH AND FAMOUS! But no, shit on Ochako for wanting to take care of her family! Filthy hypocrites. I honestly wish Horikoshi did a better job balancing both her looking out for heroes as well as wanting to have a good paying job for her family. I think both are completely character of her.

Anyways, you gave me a long post, I gave a long response. 😜 But honestly, thanks! I don’t honestly get these and I hope my answers or thoughts are interesting or understandable! Have a good one and thanks again!

@theuntamedangel

Let's Talk About Izuku and Bakugou's Relationship

Happy New Year, everyone! Thought I'd kick 2024 off with a new post. I haven't written an in-depth analysis in a while, so I figured now was a good time.

So, I've touched on this before, many times in fact. If you've seen my other posts, you know that I think that the BKDK relationship is a clusterfuck of codependency, abuse, and toxicity. But I don't think I've ever analyzed it frame-by-frame, so here's an attempt.

Childhood

The lake scene has the most focus than any other flashback in the series. It's meant to show us why Bakugou hated Izuku; he assumed Izuku looked down on him and saw him as weak. It's supposed to support the idea that Bakugou has an inferiority complex that's been present since he was a kid and that's why he lashes out at Izuku and wants to be rid of him. Because Izuku makes him feel weak.

But this isn't true. Or, it doesn't paint the whole picture.

One thing the lake scene seems to gloss over is the fact that Bakugou was always mean to Izuku. Maybe he wasn't as harsh and could be written off as just a kid being a kid, but he still made fun of him. He still went out of his way to make him feel bad about himself and humiliate him. He called him "Deku" way before either of them were (or weren't) given a quirk.

And he only ever did this to Izuku, not the other kids part of his posse. He, even at such a young age, saw Izuku as an easy target, someone he could easily shove around because he knew Izuku wouldn't fight back (this would persist for the next ten years).

It's important to note that there's only one instance where Bakugou's behavior towards Izuku turns violent. It's when Izuku defends a kid that Bakugou and his posse are picking on. This is the moment where Bakugou becomes physically aggressive; not when he found out Izuku was quirkless, during the lake, or any time before. It's here, when Izuku stops being the defenseless wimp who won't stand up to him. He doesn't like that Izuku stepped out of the mold he had confined him to (I'll come back to this later).

The truth of their childhood together is that Bakugou was always inherently awful to Izuku. It wasn't like he experienced one bad moment that flipped a switch, Bakugou liked picking on Izuku from day one.

Middle School

There isn't much to say about their days at Aldera other than it's just a progression of escalation from their childhood. They've settled into their roles as abuser and victim. Bakugou knows he can say and do whatever he wants and Izuku won't defend himself because it's been the status quo for a decade.

He revels in that power he has over him, likes to remind Izuku of his "place." And if he steps out of line, Bakugou exerts that power over him to shut him right down, stressing his inability to do anything about his situation. It's a cycle of abuse.

Battle Trials

I've already talked about this scene before, but this is also another example as to what I was alluding to above.

As @delawaredetroit pointed out in a post from a while ago, Bakugou isn't feeling betrayed here. He himself has said time and time again that he and Izuku weren't friends. He cares about the fact that his victim now has power of his own.

All their lives, Bakugou had the power and Izuku was powerless. That was the dynamic they were used to and the one that Bakugou was aware and repeatedly took advantage of. But now, Izuku isn't powerless or defenseless. He no longer fits the mold that Bakugou had tied him to since childhood. That's why Bakugou is so upset; not because Izuku kept something from him but because the power imbalance between was shifting.

And it's why he tries to use guilt-tripping here. He wants Izuku to feel bad, wants to reestablish some of the control over him he just lost. And it works, because Izuku tells him he inherited his quirk completely unprompted after the fact. Bakugou knows he has the power in their relationship and has no issues abusing that power.

Sports Festival

I don't have much to say here, but I would like to point out something very inconsistent concerning Bakugou's interpretation of his relationship with Izuku. He claims that Izuku kept following him around and that he couldn't get rid of him, which attributed to his dislike. But even if that was true when they were 5, it's actually the opposite at least from middle school on.

Bakugou went out of his way to target Izuku in the first chapter/episode. He also tracked him down after the Sludge Villain incident. He's initiated every one of their confrontations in UA. And here, he deliberately eavesdropped on Izuku's conversation with Todoroki.

I don't know whether to call it hypocrisy or ignorance, but Izuku was content to leave Bakugou alone. Bakugou's the one who's constantly harassing and obsessing over him.

Final Exams

Izuku daring to display confidence and competence invokes immediate physical violence in Bakugou. He doesn't like that Izuku is talking to him like he's an equal, he doesn't like that Izuku dares to step outside of his role as a victim. Bakugou wants Izuku to act like he's below him and gets agitated when he doesn't do that. He, in this moment, cared more about putting Izuku in his place than his own grade.

Deku vs Kacchan Part 2

I mentioned that BKDK is codependent in the beginning of the post. This is what I mean.

Bakugou can't cope with the fact that he isn't the best and takes it out on the only target he has. Izuku had nothing to do with his shortcomings, but he still felt the need to establish superiority over him; a grasp for some measure of control.

Like I said above, he's well aware of the power he has over Izuku. Do you think he would have tried this with Todoroki? Or Tokoyami? Or Iida? No, because he knows that none of them would have even dignified him with a response. But he knows he can control Izuku in a way he can't with other people. He feels comfortable treating only Izuku as his emotional and physical punching bag.

Dark Hero Arc

It's interesting that prior to apologizing for treating him badly, Bakugou proceeds to treat Izuku badly.

This interaction is important because it's their first major conflict after Bakugou's "redemption." We're supposed to be at the point where he's changed. But he still resorts to insults and goading. His first instinct is still to put Izuku down.

I've said most of what I needed to about the apology. But I do want to mention that coming from Bakugou's mouth, it grossly understates what happened during those ten years. Because the abuser is the one telling the story, his transgressions don't seem that bad. He's the one controlling the narrative, so his classmates- Izuku's friends- don't know the full story. They don't know what Bakugou put Izuku through. Bakugou comes off looking sympathetic to their peers by speaking "his truth."

Was this his intention? Probably not as Bakugou doesn't really care what others think about him. But it does raise the point that this is the extent as to how Bakugou sees his past self; as a stubborn, overzealous child and not the abuser that he was

The one thing that many people within the My Hero Academia fandom forgets about Toga is what her crimes originally was in the beginning of the series...

Occurring to an interview that Horikoshi did the numbers were in-between 13-25 people that Toga killed.

But there is also a number on a wiki page for her saying it was 6.

But her main problem at the end of the series is that she doesn't want to get caught. Look the saying is; you do the crime you do the time.

Which is the main problem. Her story was not handled well and has so many problems. Especially when in the end she chose the easy way out instead of facing the consequences...

When I'm in a "My character got pushed aside for Bakugou" contest and my opponents are any of the Dekusquad

Wow, what a nice picture of the MC and his good friends, I sure hope they aren't ignored or lose complexity in favor of the MC's childhood abuser

So.

New chapter dropped.

And it was filled to the brim with BKDK bullshit.

MAYBE a bit of All Might and Izuku bonding time, but Bakugou had to make sure that he gets to invade that too.

Who fucking cares how the rest of his classmates feel about Midoriya after seeing him save the day? Especially Iida, Todoroki and Ochako? Pfft, those three specifically are losers!

Or the pros and acknowledging Izuku as the world’s greatest hero?

Or the civilians that Izuku saved and giving him gratitude?

Or Inko, and the fact she indeed is seeing her son alive and well after going up against the greatest threat in existence?

Just make sure the Bakugou stans are pandered, spoiled and kept satisfied, because only they fucking matter at this point.

Fuck me, this series is complete shit now.

I’ll throw my two cents in.

Listening to Midoriya’s first words, “Not all men are created equal, I had thought it would be how Midoriya was going to bridge the gap between those that had quirks and those that were not born with quirks. That is why my answer was the first one. Because that was what I expected originally, and he would be a hero to all that way.

However, I definitely think a mixture of the first and second choice would be best. That can give us reason to allow Izuku to interact with all the characters in some way or another. He can have an arc of characters with “weak” quirks like Ojiro, Hagakure, Mineta, and Sato, a section with him and the mutant looking students like Koda, Shoji, Ashido, Tsuyu and Tokoyami, as well as tackle the flaws of society with characters like Iida, Ochako, Momo, Aoyama, and Todoroki, including tackling the quirk marriage part. Maybe Momo would be forced into one…and to add the more awkward tension, it IS to Todoroki, and they just have a long small arc of getting a better relationship and saying no to the forced marriage and finding their own relationships, if they ever do.

The teachers and Nezu can have a small arc of realizing how the students were treated like soilder or show dogs instead of young people, and so Nezu and the teachers could sit down and make tweaks to their classes so they can be heroes but humans as well. And there’s a contrast between how not just 1-A, but all of UA’s students act as opposed to the other hero schools.

I would be more open to villain rehab if the villains showed like they WANT to get better. Some of them do or show potential, but the LOV in general seem more than happy being murderous psychopaths instead of “troubled” souls.

Anyways, that’s how I thought it was going to go and how it could have tackled these topics, as well as hopefully add more Acadamia portions of “My Hero Acadamia.”

With MHA coming to a close, I thought I'd see what you all thought should have been addressed. There's no small amount of missed opportunities in the story, but I want to see what folks were hoping for when they started reading/watching