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faintblueivy · 1 year ago

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Deku and Ochako: Two threads running in parallel

MHA has a vibrant cast with each character having its own quirks and perks. We often find ourselves shipping them and rooting for them to become cannon but in the midst of these shipping wars, we often overlook their personal journeys become true heroes.

One such pair is IzuOcha.

People often view it as a straight vanilla ship and ignore everything that makes it special/different from the other so-called vanilla ships. The fact that their journeys were always running in parallel, fighting side by side, inspiring each other in a give and take relationship...but let's start from the very beginning....

Chapter 3: The first time we meet Ochako, she saves Deku from falling on his two feet. She's nervous, but not as much as Deku. She wishes them both good luck and leaves. Now, this was their first meeting, and this is where their "Do your best" starts.

They both did their best in the exams, where Deku saves Ochako from the giant robot and Ochako in turns saves Deku from falling, like literally saving his life this time around.

Chapter 4: Then, the next time we see her, she was vouching for Deku, even at the cost of her own points. This also parallels her speech later in the manga.

Chapter 7: They enter UA, finally meet each other again, and become friends. In fact, on the very first day, Ochako says that she likes the name Deku, as it kinda gives a "You can do it!" vibe. Another fun thing to note here is that in Japanese she refers to 'gambare' which literally means "Do your best!".

She changes the meaning of his name, from an insult to something inspiring and it might have looked like a comedy gag moment at that time, but when you look at future chapters, it was much more than that.

Chapter 8: The very next chapter, we see Deku facing off Bakugo and saying "He's the Deku who does his best!". And we even see the importance of what Ochako said as she inspired him to do his best. In that test, they both pass with flying colors.

Chapter 22: Then not after too long, we find out about Ochako's motivation to be a hero, which was to earn money so that her parents can have easier lives. Some might say, there are other ways to make money, why choose heroism?

Well, you need to look deeper into the character, especially for someone like Ochako that has layers to her character. She's not someone you can tell by looking at first glance. From outside, she might be all sweet and cherry but from the inside, there's a storm. She has an iron will, and that she depicted again and again, be it her battle with Bakugo in sports fest or her quirk awakening and battle with Toga in the 2nd war. She has always been like that.

On the surface, she presents herself to be your average girl next door, but when you look behind that facade, you'll see a plethora of emotions.

She laughs with everyone but cries alone.

Her crying after Deku leaves (ch 37) or her thoughts about "who saves the heroes", or her "I didn't know the first thing about Toga" thoughts...

She has thoughts and emotions that are deep and not for not everyone can comprehend them. Some people might still see her as nothing more than a blatant love interest but we know that's far from the truth and that's why we'll deep dive into her character a little more.

Ochako has a lot of self-respect >>>

Despite what inspires her to be a hero, she refuses to take help from anyone. This is depicted when she refuses to take help from Deku in the SF. She felt embarrassed when Iida challenged Deku as that made her question her own ideals.

They were all there to become heroes and that makes them all rivals, even if they are friends and thus she challenges him to meet her at the finals.

I think that was a very underrated Ochako moment. (can't present all the pictures because Tumblr only allows less than 10 pics, but you can see it in the collage above)

From the very first day, her "let's do our best!" moment to their battle with Toga in the final war, she has been challenging / inspiring Deku but due to her soft personality, it gets overlooked very often.

It parallels Bakugo in a way and I love the parallels between Bakugo and Ochako but that is for another day.

So it's safe to conclude that just like Bakugo who has been a hardcore rival in power and ideals, Ochako has also been a friend / rival both in terms of power and ideals, although it might be more of her morals that inspire him the most. He even thinks about her in his final battle with Shigaraki, because she was the only one that resonates with his idea of saving villains but more on that later.

Chapter 37: After her loss, Deku goes to check on her and it turns out she was doing fine. She has taken it very positively or so it may seem but as soon as Deku leaves, she starts crying and Deku overhears her. He even feels guilty about not being able to do anything for her.

And that shows you how perceptive Deku really is. He's not some dumb, dense MC that has no clue how others are feeling. He's very sensible and wouldn't cause unnecessary trouble.

Chapter 45: After the sports fest, we see everyone choosing their hero names and Izuku chooses Deku. We even get a reaction panel of both Ochako and Bakugo. Bakugo always looked down on Deku and used it as an insult to call him 'useless' but Ochako changed its meaning to some positive, more meaningful.

Then in the following chapters (ch 46) they both go for their internships where Deku learns to control his 5% from Grand Torino and Ochako learns combat from Gunheads and I might say, IzuOcha might be the only people who learned the most from their internships, lol.

From then onwards, they both continue to grow in terms of power, as the story starts focusing on other characters as well, and we see less of her. Plus, her slight crush starts to develop from that point on, which made most people overlook her entire story.

But let's go over some of the key moments from that time:

Aoyama and Ochako vs 13: Aoyama teases Ochako about Deku, and this might be the first mention of her having a crush on Deku (ch 67)

Izuku encounters Shigaraki at the mall: If it wasn't for Ochako, everyone in the mall, including Deku would have died, making it the 2nd time Ochako saved Deku's life, quite literally (ch 68 and 69)

God knows what would have happened if Ochako didn't come back at the right time. She called the police and alerted everyone. Ochako doesn't get enough credit for her responsible and mature nature.

Chapter 76-77: Deku vs Muscular and Chapter 80: Ochako and Tsuyu vs Toga 1.0 where Deku and gang's interference saved them kinda like how Ochako's presence in the mall saved Deku from Shigaraki, although that was more serious.

Chapter 100: Ochako, Iida and Deku meet Hatsume. Yeah, that iconic encounter that has another parallel.

Chapter 102: Ochako realises her feelings for Deku.

Chapter 105: Deku realises it's not Ochako.

The thing is, Deku knew from the get go that the stranger is not Ochako. He even says "Ochako has been training to use her quirk and now she can float herself for some time, ignoring the side effects. In a situation like this, she wouldn't forget to use it and to reveal herself to the enemy without a plan?"

No, you're not the Uraraka I know.

And that, says volumes out there relationship! Even though, we saw how Ochako had romantic feelings for Deku in the previous chapters, she still kept on improving and Deku acknowledged that!

Even if we don't see him analysing her quirk again and again like Bakugo, he always keeps an eye on her, because note that in the manga, she never specifically tells him about her improvement but he still noticed it!

He knows Ochako enough to know that she's smart and strategic and that she would never reveal herself in front of the enemy without a solid plan. So when he saved Toga (disguised as Ochako) he knew that it wasn't Ochako!

And that's pure respect.

It is one of the examples of "Show, don't tell".

Chapter 107: Ochako quickly followed Deku's idea because she trusts him so much.

Chapter 109: And later, we see her struggling to keep her feelings under check. Because she's so inspired by Deku to do her best, it becomes an internal battle of emotions. At one point, she wants to compete with him, on the other, she has feelings for him that she can't control.

After that, it's a brief period of self-reflection from Ochako. We start seeing her less and less. She gets busy with her internship with Ryukyu and the team and we later see that they help defeat that giant villain in ch 156.

We later see that one of the biggest developments of Ochako comes from ch 163, where she regrets not being able to save Sir Nighteye.

In the class 1a vs 1b arc, she saves Deku when his quirk blackwhip goes haywire. If it wasn't for her quick thinking, again God knows what would have happened.

She may not have numerous power quirks like Deku but she's a capable hero in her own right and that is depicted in the Joint training arc when not only does she save Deku, but also manages to KO 3/5 people in the opponents team (Monoma, Rei, Poltergeist). She was literally the MVP of that arc.

Plus we get to see more of what runs inside her brain. Her ideology about forms the basis for one of the greatest arcs in the story.

"Who saves the heroes when they are in pain?"

After JTA, they again go to their internships and when they come back Deku apologises for what happened during JTA. Note that even though it was never shown, he was still concerned about Ochako.

He was sad that he unknowingly hurt her (much like how he says thank you very later after her speech). But Ochako on the other hand brushes it off, saying it's not a big deal and it inspired her to use wires much like Sero and Deku.

So, we see this relationship of give and take come into play again and again where they both inspire the other to do their best. Then they share a cute fist bump.

On Christmas, out of pure coincidence (wink** wink** Horikoshi) they both receive each other's presents.

Also note that, Ochako gets her hero costume upgraded after JTA, where she starts using those grappling hooks to grab and throw stuff, much like Deku and also attaches tiny rockets in her heels for more mobility.

Plus, that cute tiny pocket where she keeps her AM plushie❤️(that she got as Christmas gift from Deku). I think, after Bakugo and Deku, she has the most useful costume upgrade in the entire class!

Also, when Deku has a battle with Shigaraki in the 1st war, there is an entire chapter dedicated to Ochako vs Toga. Plus, she also gets to witness the aftermath of the war and her face, even now serves as the highlight for that chapter (ch 295).

The ragged blanket of heroism shed that day and what was left was the remains, of what it means to be a hero.

And for someone who was initially there for the money, it is especially important that she gets to witness this. It was the true horrors of hero society. She witnessed all this and still chose to stay in that line of work already says that she is way past her old thinking.

She's not some government agent like Hawks or Nagant or training to become the No 1 hero like Deku, Bakugo or Endeavour. Her life is simple, much like the citizens she saves, but it still matters.

And that's what makes her a People's Hero.

And finally after the first war, Deku leaves UA and Ochako rethinks "Who saves the heroes when they are in need?" and after that point onwards there was no looking back as her character arc takes a great turn!!

We get an entire arc of Dark Deku, indulging more and more into the darkness of his own powers and almost 10 chapters later we see a completely different Ochako.

I still remember people talking about it when ch 319 dropped.

This Ochako is ready to take action and takes shit from no one! One of the greatest character developments if you ask me. Ochako in a way is more like Lucy from Fairytail. Gets ignored most of the time but their moments are just as important.

Even though Deku went around saving people for days, people started viewing him as a villain. Ochako's speech brought him back to being a human.

Not a hero, not a villain, just a human.

And then we see her thinking about Toga, and how she didn't know the first thing about her in ch 342. She had a chat with Deku, where she confided in him. I think that kind of emotional intimacy is what makes their relationship interesting.

Her morals matter a lot to Deku, believe it or not! And that's why when she asks him to leave and take care of Shigaraki in ch 348, he thinks back to this conversation and unwillingly obliges.

Because he has faith in her, the kind that cannot be expressed in words. That comes from a long time understanding of each other...that is beyond comprehension for many people and that's why her "Do your best!" matters because that's what they have been doing since the day they met!

~Sunshine

#uraraka ochako #bnha ochako #bnha uravity #izuku x ochako #bnha manga spoilers #izuku midoriya #bnha izuocha #izuocha

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faintblueivy · 1 year ago

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This is such a good meta on the complex relationship between Bakugo and Deku. There is...so much between them that it's impossible to wrap it up so easily. The things that Bakugou has done to Izuku will haunt both of them forever even after they move forward. The only reason this relationship half works is because Izuku barely has any negative feelings for Bakugou even after what was done to him. He's kind to a fault that kindness is what is keeping this barely functioning bond alive.

This is such a good way to show Bakugo's complexity is not an easy mess to handle but slowly we might unravel it as more chapters come out and he grows emotionally.

ok but like,,,,why does bakugou have to be friends with izuku?? like he should apologize for bein a lil shit but after that idk why they cant have a professional relationship??? i feel like everybody wants them to be friends again and act like bakugou HAS to like izuku n im jst not seeing it??

the thing is, Izuku and Bakugou had an absolutely terrible relationship. this was the whole reason they were grouped together in the second exam.

until recently, they couldn’t even be alone together without something bad happening. and a major point of conflict in their relationship is that many of their issues stem from each other.

Bakugou has a lot of self doubt and self confidence issues that stem from Izuku. since they were kids, he’s been scared. he’s scared because he thought Izuku, despite being quirkless and weak, might actually… be hiding something. some potential. despite the fact that there’s no way he could’ve, but the idea itself scared him.

he thought that Izuku looked down on him. Bakugou was always told how amazing he was, but here’s this quirkless, weak kid, trying to offer him help, as if he was weak, as if he needed it…. it seriously fucked with Bakugou’s self-confidence, and it fuled his inferiority complex.

he was always the strong one. always the talented one. always the amazing one.

and that’s why he began bullying Izuku. but no matter how hard he pushed or shoved or yelled, Izuku would always get right back up and follow him around.

and Izuku had absolutely no idea that Bakugou felt this way. he had no idea that Bakugou feared him, or thought Izuku was looking down on him. neither made an effort to talk it out. Bakugou never told Izuku about this, and Izuku didn’t know, and never bothered to ask why, exactly, his former friend decided to start bullying him.

yeah, Bakugou h as always been a little rough around the edges. but after that moment where Izuku offered his hand, Bakugou’s attitude became terrible towards him.

and Izuku. Izuku looks up to Bakugou a lot, because Bakugou never gives up. but Bakugou did hurt and bully and abuse him for years, and it’s caused a lot of problems in his own self confidence.

whenever he has to work with Bakugou, everything Izuku feels negative about in reference to himself bubbles back up, and he becomes nervous and insecure and frustrated. this is a far cry from the more confident Izuku who’s slowly maturing and growing in strength, in both mind and body, that we’ve seen more of as the series goes on.

all of these issues came about because they had complete fundamental misunderstandings of each other. neither bothered to sit down and talk, and this went on for a full 10+ years, and it was seriously detrimental to the both of them.

so i think that, when the characters say that they want Izuku and Bakugou to be friends, they mean more that they just want Izuku and Bakugou to have a better overall relationship. both characters would be much, much better off mentally and emotionally if they had a better relationship, especially since every bad thing in their relationship was a result of misunderstandings.

they could honestly have a good–maybe not a friendship, but a good relationship–if their history wasn’t so clouded with misunderstandings and the resulting conflict.

again, they don’t necessarily need to be friends, but so many of their personal issues come directly from their negative relationship. so much of their problems stem from the fact that they’ve misunderstood each other for over a decade, and have made no attempts to fix it, or sit down and clear the air.

and no one in their life ever tried to help them, either.

their homeroom teacher is still in that classroom, and yet he allowed this blatant bullying to occur, right in front of him. even the adults in their lives turned a blind eye to what was happening. no one ever stopped to think that this wasn’t right, this shouldn’t be happening, i need to stop this.

all of Bakugou’s friends and peers encouraged his horrible actions towards Izuku, and no one ever defended Izuku. no one ever tried to be the middle-man or tried to help.

no one bothered to think about what was wrong with this picture, or what they could do to fix it.

this is probably the first time in either character’s lives that someone actually intervened and stopped Bakugou from bullying or hurting Izuku.

UA is the first time they’ve ever been in neutral territory. and while their relationship there isn’t as bad as it was before, people who’ve never met them until now are able to see exactly what kind of relationship they had. people who aren’t picking sides, who can see both sides of the conflict, who can see exactly what this is doing to the both of them, and realize that it isn’t good.

please note: what Bakugou did to Izuku is horrible, and Izuku absolutely did not deserve it. Bakugou needs to apologize to Izuku for all those years of bulling and abuse.

but they both have issues that come from their horrible relationship, and they would be so much better off if they had just talked it through and fixed it. which means, Bakugou would be in a much healthier place mentally and emotionally, and given time, he’ll finally be able to own up to what he did apologize of his own accord.

and honestly, Bakugou is no where near ready to apologize for his actions, because he has so many issues that he needs to work through. he’s got an inferiority complex, superiority complex, guilt, and so many other conflicting emotions.

but now that they’re finally working through them, Bakugou is finally on that path to reevaluating his actions and apologizing for what he did. it’ll take a long, long time, probably the entire length of the manga because things like this don’t just happen over night, but it’s a start.

a start that would never have happened near the beginning of the series.

look at the staggering difference there.

in the first panel, Bakugou is telling Izuku that he’s so worthless that he should just die and do the world some good.

in the second, he’s telling Izuku that he’s All Might’s successor, he can’t be losing, not even to Bakugou. he needs to get stronger and live up to the legacy All Might has laid out before them.

he’s supporting Izuku in his own way, and it’s thanks to the fact that there are now people in these kid’s lives who are seeing how messed up their relationship is. their teachers, their mentors, and their friends; they’re seeing it, and they’re all trying to actively fix it, because they know that it’s not healthy for either Izuku or Bakugou.

from the Omake chapter [here]

Uraraka: It’s like… you’re intimidating him because you’re scared and you want him to go away from you.

Uraraka: Since you’re childhood friends, and you’re in the same class, you should start being friends again.

people are finally NOTICING how detrimental this relationship is for them.

people are finally noticing, and trying to take action, and trying to help them. having this kind of relationship is only holding them back from their full potential, and it’s only causing them problems and suffering.

there is literally nothing to be gained and everything to lose with the relationship they had before.

one of the major points in the series is that adult characters need to be more responsible in how they care for and mentor the children in their lives, especially in reference to their mental health. they’re all only kids, and many of the problems in Izuku and Bakugou’s lives comes from the lack of responsible adult guidance. the lack of someone older and wiser being there to steer them in the right direction.

clearly, no one, adult or otherwise, bothered to help Izuku or Bakugou before UA.

but since they’ve been going to UA, they’ve been introduced to good people; teachers and friends and fellow students who can see their relationship for what it is and who want to help because they care, and because it’s the right thing to do, and because it’s better for them.

they don’t have to be friends. but the relationship they had for most of their lives was horrible, and it affected them both badly. by repairing Izuku and Bakugou’s relationship, they’ll be able to live healthier, more fulfilling lives without that weight holding them down anymore. they’ll be able to move on, and be happier, and won’t have to spend anymore time and energy focusing on such a negative relationship anymore.

“Unlike before, the two of them have become like proper rivals.”

and now, since they had their talk… since they finally bared their feelings, they’ll finally be able to have to have an better overall relationship.

finally, they’ll be able to build each other up, instead of tearing each other down, intentionally or otherwise.

they’re two halves of the same coin in regards to heroism; protecting and winning, winning and protecting. they can accomplish more together by having a positive relationship than they would otherwise. together, they’d accomplish more than if they continued as they were, fragmented and conflicted.

they’ll both grow up to become incredible heroes, who both win and protect. and they’ll do it without wasting time on conflict with each other.

they don’t need to be friends. hell, it’ll be a long time before their relationship is totally healthy. but for both of them, for Izuku and Bakugou, repairing their relationship will be the first step in becoming happier and healthier individuals, and i believe that’s the reason why so many people want them to be friends again.

they don’t need to be friends. i’m not even sure that they could ever be friends, with their history. but in the long run, repairing their relationship and clearing up misunderstandings will be beneficial for the both of them, and they’ll truly become forces to be reckoned with.

related meta:

How Bakugou isn’t ready to apologize for what he did to Izuku, but the narrative is working towards that

A meta about how Kirishima’s friendship can help mend the relationship between Bakugou and Izuku

A meta about Bakugou’s emotional state after his first fight with Izuku

How Bakugou and Izuku help inspire the class without realizing that they do

How Izuku makes Bakugou, Uraraka, and Iida feel self-conscious of themselves, and yet pushes them to do better

Uraraka confronts Bakugou about his feelings of fear towards Izuku in the Omake

A meta about Bakugou and Izuku’s relationship throughout the series and how it was abusive

What Bakugou is looking for in his and Izuku’s fight

A meta about Bakugou’s development and how he’s starting to feel guilt about what his actions led to and may begin to regret what he did towards Izuku

A meta about Bakugou’s building guilt about what his actions caused

A meta about how Bakugou has feared Izuku and his potential for most of his life

Bakugou is giving Izuku his support in a round-about way after his and Izuku’s fight

A meta about why Bakugou has already been punished by the narrative over and over again for his actions towards Izuku, and why Aizawa punished Bakugou (and Izuku) by giving them chores

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