lacedteatime

[lacedteatime]

"Lazy" is your first and only thought, really?

I've had an issue with this for a while. In the first few days of UA, Aizawa assumed that Izuku was lazy in not training his quirk, and Bakugou assumed that Izuku had been hiding his quirk.

These conclusions are lackluster.

Late bloomers are a fanon thing, so I'll leave that out, but there are multiple other explanations that the other characters could have come to if they were as smart as Horikoshi tried to write them as.

OFA was shown to break Izuku horribly. What parent would let their child use their quirk if it had that effect? Medical costs are low in Japan, but it would build up, and it would leave Izuku with permanent damage (and has, so it is a valid concern). It would have been better writing for Aizawa to have "realized" this. Bakugou canonically wouldn't due to his belief that everything and everyone revolves around him, but... Actually, Aizawa wasn't narratively written as introspective in that arc, just as someone who says a lot of things learned from experience. That isn't a true indicator of forward thinking. So perhaps this whole post is pointless.

Who cares, I'm petty.

Another reason could have been that he saw Ochako about to be crushed by the 0-pointer and had a quirk awakening, causing a minor strength quirk to evolve into a major strength quirk without the protections the body of someone who originally had such a quirk would have. This would be a less likely conclusion to come to, but it would be something a teacher might consider while wondering why a kid with no control of his quirk due to "laziness" would go to such extremes to save someone in a test for no points after not getting any points with that power. This is probably the weakest explanation because of how quirk awakenings seemed to have been thought up by the author well past these arcs, and theytherefore might not have existed in canon before their introduction.

A third reason could just be that the Midoriyas are a law-abiding family. Quirks cannot be used publicly without a license, and using OFA (Superpower to those not in the know) in private would likely destroy their apartment and the ones around it. There isn't really a way around this. The first reason combined with this one would be a very reasonable and responsible explanation for why Izuku might have not touched it outside of its activation.

This becomes a little more complicated when you factor in Bakugou and try to question his reaction, as I am doing. What comes next will likely be pointless due to how Bakugou reacted without thinking in the scenes during Aizawa's and All Night's classes (I use Eraserhead's real name because he teaches as himself instead of his hero persona while All Might teaches as his hero persona).

Once Bakugou calmed down, he could have come to the same conclusions, though he would still think Izuku had been hiding a quirk. However. Inko would know that Izuku could have been pressured into demonstrating his quirk by his peers, thus breaking him and his surroundings. She might have decided to tell Izuku to pretend he was quirkless at school. This information wouldn't be shared with Bakugou.

It would likely not be shared with Bakugou's parents either, as we have no evidence that the two moms were actually friends. That's another bit of fanon. Sure, Mitsuki was protective of Inko the one time they interacted, but who's to say that she wouldn't have been like that with any other person she just met? If they were friends, I feel like that would have been shown to push the "rivalry" message from Horikoshi. Bakugou and Izuku weren't even shown to be that close of friends either -- Bakugou was arguably closer with mini Tsubasa and finger boy.

Anyway! I'm done, I think, but feel free to come up with your own explanations characters could have considered if you want to talk about it!

My next post will be more anti-Bakugou (I know this one doesn't fit the tag too much, but if I don't include it, I might have to interact with stans), whenever that may be, but I've had this stewing for years

[lacedteatime]

hi there! are you an anime only or do you read the mha manga as well

Greetings! I read the manga, though I don't analyze it as deeply as others might. I've only really seen through season four of the anime, and then I switched to reading the manga -- it fits into my schedule better that way.

[lacedteatime]

Quirk Assessment Test

I'm going to preface this by saying that this isn't about Bakugou, but I'm tagging it as such to prevent interaction with Bakugou stans. This is very Aizawa critical though.

I fully agree with the theory that Aizawa messed with the scores on this test. How did Izuku, who got absolutely jacked and also got a big score on the ball throw, get a lower score than some of his classmates? (Jiro, Hagakure, Kaminari, etc.) It was most likely Aizawa's way of trying to get rid of the kid he didn't see as worth helping, at least until Izuku impressed him.

That's not why I decided to post this though! I was thinking about it, and Aizawa's intro to the test makes no sense. He was saying that he thought it was illogical for schools to not allow quirks on fitness tests. Of course it is logical! The physical education classes are meant to improve your physical health, and if you can just sidestep that with your quirk, you are doing yourself a disservice. You would think that someone who needed to train as much as Aizawa did would understand that.

That's all I wanted to say, but if you want a bit of anti-Bakugou for your troubles, the author randomly makes him talented in different areas for no reason at all, and it is annoying, not to mention how it undermines the other characters with those talents -- especially when those talents are important to this character. I will probably make a post on that in the future.

[lacedteatime]

Bakugou isn't fun to hate

I usually like it when a piece of media has a character I hate. However, it isn't a good experience with MHA. Unlike the other terrible characters we see elsewhere, the narrative in MHA presents Bakugou as a likeable character, which makes hating him feel bitter.

The real issue, though, is that he is somehow NUMBER ONE on the popularity charts. I wouldn't feel nearly as much hatred towards him if the fandom treated him like they do Endeavor and Mineta.

It causes a lot of problems when trying to consume content about this anime and manga, which I somehow still like. Though that's less of an issue -- I'm already used to having not that much content to consume for a fandom, since I'm in some fairly niche ones. Most of my problem with it is constantly seeing how much people find his actions as acceptable and even endearing.

Look. I get that a lot of people with anger issues can find his character cathartic, living vicariously through his ability to express himself without getting punished for it. However, there are so many better characters to get that through, ones that don't treat other people like they don't matter, ones where the narrative doesn't excuse everything he does by telling the readers that it's "just who he is."

There are rare moments where he is fun to hate, and those are when I can consume content by people who also hate him.

[lacedteatime]

Hypocrisy

It's always frustrating when characters get mad at Izuku hurting himself with One for All but never get mad at Bakugou for hurting Izuku. And the characters that get mad at Izuku for hurting himself don't even offer any help! No, Aizawa, telling a kid to stop having quirk side effects does not help them learn to avoid them.

All Might may be bad at teaching, but at least he doesn't get mad at Izuku for not being able to control One for All perfectly like he could.

The teachers don't care if Bakugou punches Izuku in the face for no good reason, insults him constantly, drags him outside to beat him up, stabs him with pieces of his costume... but the minute Izuku gets hurt while using One for All they act like he failed in some way. It isn't necessarily wrong to say that he failed to keep himself whole, but you don't get to be upset at someone else for being in pain when you knew and did nothing to help prevent it.

This one is short because I should get back to writing what I'm supposed to be writing

[lacedteatime]

Bakugou's quirk makes zero sense

A lot of this has to do with Horikoshi giving Bakugou ridiculous upgrades so he can "keep up" with a quirk that has been growing exponentially over generations, which should not even be attempted. It just makes One for All seem less impressive.

In the battle trials, Bakugou used his support gauntlets to create an explosion that was around the same size as the one he pulled out of nowhere in the sports festival. After he'd fought earlier, literally winning with the fact that quirks gets tired over time. His quirk drawbacks are rarely used and only used to make him look better. It just feels cheap.

Again with the sports festival, if his quirk is based on palm sweat, how did he have anything to explode when Shoto iced him???

Do Bakugou's explosions create or dispell smoke? It's always the same chemical reaction, so that shouldn't change at all. Make up your mind, Hori.

He uses it to fly by having the force push him in the opposite direction. So why does that never happen when he's using it otherwise???

Not to mention how dumb it is that he can apparently change how much light vs sound it produces.

It's just annoying when Horikoshi changes the rules of his quirk constantly to push the rivalry that doesn't even exist.

(Seriously, the save to win vs win to save thing when Izuku literally does both anyway and it's just Bakugou that needs work is so annoying)

I could go deeper into this but I don't have the energy.

[lacedteatime]

Bakugou should be expelled

If any one of the students of Class 1-A plagiarized one of their essays, they would likely face severe consequences, if not expulsion. Not only is plagiarism wrong, but it shows that they don't have the morals necessary to be a hero.

Why should violence against peers be any different?

Many people in this fandom, including Bakugou stans, are so quick to say that Mineta should be expelled (as he should), but give countless excuses why Bakugou shouldn't.

His actions were before UA? Not all of them; the battle trials and the final exam are examples of it happening under teacher supervision.

He'd become a dangerous villain if he was kicked out? So watch him! Why should him being worse mean that his consequences are less?

He didn't know any better? He shouldn't be a hero if he doesn't know right from wrong.

The villains will go after him? He should have been expelled before the USJ, but with the villains as an issue, again, keep an eye on him! Do not put him in a position of power!

He placed first on the entrance exam and the sports festival, so the public would be upset? It would instill confidence from the public to know that heroes are being held accountable. Though Aizawa said that he would not become a villain at the press conference, but expulsion does not mean that the ex-student was or will be a villain. It's a tricky situation, but that does not mean that the abuser should be put in a position of power!

Anger management and a transfer to either 1-B or 1-C would be a better punishment? Anger management should not be the main punishment. If it is put forward as a punishment at all, it would not work. It is below the bare minimum, though it should happen. This idea of switching classes being a punishment only says that those classes are lesser. They're not, and he does not deserve their prestige, just like he doesn't deserve 1-A's.

Honestly, being held back a year while on probation would be better, as long as his re-enrollment was conditional enough. But like I said before, if a student would be expelled from UA for plagiarism on an essay, a student should be expelled for the level of violence Bakugou has shown.

If you think that a zero on the assignment, some detentions, and a note in the student's records would be the punishment for plagiarism, then it would be fine for that sort of thing (amplified to fit the level of Bakugou's actions) to be his punishment each time he hurts a classmate without good reason. But it should be clearly explained and carried out, as well as increased with each incident.

I still think expulsion is the right answer, but I get that my answer to a problem is not the only answer.

I get that they have bigger things to worry about right now, but he should have been expelled way earlier, and it can still happen once everything calms down -- unless he actually improves enough in the meantime. Leaving it at a half-assed apology and barely any change in behavior is manipulative and not nearly enough. Plus, he has treated citizens badly as well, so just changing how he treats Izuku wouldn't be enough either.

I just wanted to rant. This will probably happen again. If you don't agree, feel free to comment. I will respond, because debate about this stuff is like candy to me, so tell me if you don't want me to respond. If you are genuinely angry about what I said, please do not comment -- at least not without putting forward a legitimate argument. Yes, I have read the manga.