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bnha is a very very good show, and I think that may have been my favorite episode yet.  I learned a lot more about Deku and Bakugou’s relationship, as well as the boys individually (like just how good Deku is at reading a situation, or how deeply Bakugou’s superiority complex runs).  I also feel like we’re really getting into how quirks face eachother in battle, and the clever ways that people can use them to one up eachother.  The moment where Deku deflects Bakugou’s attack, only to have him flip over him and blast him from behind was visually phenomenal.  The ending of the episode was pretty dang satisfying, too.  I’m really glad!

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Everyone else reacting to this situation in vaguely similar ways but then there’s

what is this face

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Would it be too much to hope that at least some of that upset look is concern?

Probably.

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WOW HAVE I MENTIONED I LOVE HER

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he cri,,

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No!!

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I LOVE THEM BOTH

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WHAT A GOOD BOY

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wow he did not need that ego boost

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I don’t think I ever appreciated just how intelligent Deku was until now.  It’s amazing to see him in action, combining all of the knowledge that he’s been absorbing into something that he can use as a legitimate weapon in combat

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This is actually extremely sad to see.  Like, imagine if Bakugou hadn’t decided to be a little asshole about his quirk and these two had remained friends.  I bet we would have seen a pretty different story.

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I’ve already watched up to episode six of bnha so here’s my thoughts so far:

(this got pretty dang long so I put it under a cut.  No obligation to read it, I just had quite a bit to say because this is a really interesting show.)

The setting:  I think that it’s pretty interesting that the writer decided to go with a world in which superpowers were introduced, rather than always part of the population, and yet unlike a property like x-men took us to after the initial shock of this event until the freakish is generally normal.  I do have to wonder exactly how long it’s been since people with powers started showing up.  I think the doctor said that Deku’s mom was a fourth generation quirk user, which would mean it’s been a pretty long time.  At what stage was the world in when quirks became a thing (like, what kind of technology did they have)?  How has technology developed differently because of quirks?  As for Deku, this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen a person who doesn’t have the same cool powers as everyone else be the protagonist of a story, because this makes them an automatic underdog.  I think that this kind narrative is more powerful when the person in question never develops the cool powers.  It often feels like a cop out, like the previous message of “you’re just as good as anybody else, just do what you can with the skills you have,” gets totally overlooked.  However, with the extreme limitations that Deku has with his quirk, and with the emphasis put on his own study and hard work, I still think it works pretty well here.

The characters:  I can already tell that this area is going to be this show’s strongest point, which is good because lovable characters are the most important thing to me.  Deku is such a good boyo; they’ve given him enough limitations that they can get away with his “too good and pure for this world” personality.  I love him. Bakugou is super duper interesting as a rival, especially with all of the history that he an Deku have.  I feel like they did a really good job of making a bully character who isn’t one dimensional, and who would want to be a super hero.  Also he’s a huge disaster and seeing what he’s going through as Deku becomes someone capable of challenging him is really fun.  I like All Might so far, but I’m not sure that I have a good handle on him as a person yet. I’m also not sure how I feel about him as a pseudo parental figure for Deku yet, because while we do see that he has a strong affection and admiration for the kid I’m also not sure that he’s always acting with Deku’s best interests in mind.  But that’s ok because DEKU’S MOTHER IS A GOOD AND WONDERFUL WOMAN AND I LOVE HER THAT’S THE PARENTING THAT ANY BOY TRULY DESERVES.  I don’t really know any names yet, but I am super duper excited to get to know all of the kids in Deku’s class, especially his two friends.  It seems like we’re going to get all sorts of different personalities and perspectives on the world, and I can’t wait for it.  Like I said, I think that this is this show’s strongest area and I’m prepared to adopt everyone.

The theme: The show is showing us a constant push and pull from two different perspectives.  On the one side, you shouldn’t encourage impossible dreams, because that just sets children up for heartache and maybe even pushing themselves too far and getting hurt.  On the other side, you can’t underestimate people just because they don’t have all of the same advantages as everyone else.  I think that this attitude was summed up most concisely and logically by the movie Ratatouille: “Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.”  The show is obviously pushing for this second perspective, as we already know from the end of the first episode that Deku is going to become a great hero.  However, I think that it’s still giving fair consideration to the first perspective.  It shows how sometimes people feel the need to be practical, even if it hurts people to realize that no one believes in them.  I think that the only reason that Deku’s story can continue the way that it’s going is because he is in his essence not a practical person.  He’ll go above and beyond to chase his dream, and not everyone can do that.  I’m not quite sure yet if I think this is a good message or not, so we’ll just have to see what they do with it.  Although I guess that it can never really hurt to tell kids to work hard towards their dreams.  It reminds me of a scene in The Pursuit of Happyness, where Will Smith tells his son that it’s probably not a good idea to go out for pro basketball, sees how dejected his son is afterwards, and then tells him that he should never let anyone tell him what he can and can’t do, including his dad.  This is a hard dilemma to get past, and one we often face.

The Style:  The designs in bnha are absolutely stunning.  All of the character designs are distinctive and interesting, and their expressions stretch well and tell us just how people are feeling. (One of my favorite things is Bakugou’s design and all of his stupid expressions especially the super angry smirk I could watch him do that all day).  Certain visual moments have really stuck with me, like when the slime guy tried to take over Bakugou’s body or when Deku was falling through the air, his broken limbs flapping around.  They do disturbing very well in this anime.  However, I can’t think that any fight choreography has been super memorable yet.  Mostly it’s just been big displays of power so far, or showing us how someone’s quirk worked.  Not to say that it hasn’t been interesting to watch, I’m just hoping that as things go on we’ll get some really good clashes or quirks where people have to try to think out of the box to win.  The music is also really nice. Both the opening and ending themes are super catchy, but my favorite thing is when lyrics start up in the background music during the show.  It’s just really really cool.

And that’s about all I can think of to say.  Sorry, I know that this isn’t particularly concise or easy to read, since I was just kind of throwing all of my thoughts against the wall.  If you’re actually reading this now, then thank you! You are probably a stronger person than I. It got waaaay longer than I intended. 

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I’m Gonna Start Doing Liveblogs!

I’ve been thinking for a while that I’d like to make a blog for this, since I really enjoy reading liveblogs myself.  It’s gonna be a pretty casual thing, since I can’t handle too much emotional pressure and sometimes trying to think of things to say exhausts me.  In any case, I hope that somebody might enjoy seeing me go through their favorite show.

Right now I’m on episode 7 of Boku No Hero Academia, and I’m going to start with that.  Thanks!