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an alcoholic beverage that you constantly replenish with identical mixers and alcohol, to the point where you're unsure any of the initial beverage remains. and yet it is fundamentally the same beverage as it was to begin with. the sip of theseus

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i love when ppl say “that’s so you” it feels good to know i exist and have a vibe

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This is pure.

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I wish I had this problem.

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As someone who was, for years and years, hesitant to enjoy any anime due to perceived fan service-y things, and gross depictions of young women especially, not ONCE in DanDaDan did I find the show explicitly overt or sexualized (different than ‘sexual’ as obviously there are attempted rape scenes as early as episode 1).

Did it put children in situations where assault was both actual and threatened? Yes. Did children end up naked surprisingly often? Also yes. But the show treated these children almost as real people experiencing something terrible who didn’t deserve what was happening to them, not objects to ‘eyeball’.

Even scenes like the one where Okarun ends up on top of Momo in the hallway wasn’t treated as fan service. A completely naked boy on top of a mostly naked girl? And these two are the shows main ‘couple’? Most animes I’ve seen would have weird camera angles and make sexual jokes, or lingering boob shots. This scene was just treated as two kids who’d gone through a near-death experience having a moment of relief and joy and calm, followed by real embarrassment (can you imagine being seen naked by your peers in middle school?). But not once does Okarun try to feel up Momo, or Momo blush or anything. Because they respect each other and the show respects them and the moment isn’t sexual for them.

My husband watched it with me, and he said the same thing- how refreshing it was to watch something that was critical of assault, very much satirical in its use of dark humour, and not overt in the sexualization of its main characters, despite them ending up in compromising situations. Instead, we saw a show that was a sweet coming of age romance, and a darkly humorous critique of sexualized youth.

If you see it as ‘just’ fan service I think you’re watching it wrong. It’s okay to be uncomfortable with the assault scenes- you’re supposed to feel that way. But they’re not treated as a good thing.

Man… Dandadan is such a good genre blend of fantasy and sci-fi. It explores both through the lens of Japanese history and culture, and it does it really well.

But then it also does typical anime things—like having weird, over-the-top villains get handsy with its underage protagonists.

And the thing is, it’s not the same as the usual “let’s titillate teenage boys” fanservice you see in lower-effort anime. There’s an actual point here. The series is clearly aware of what it’s doing. It’s critiquing how adults—especially institutions—objectify, dismiss, and exploit adolescents. It’s about the way society simultaneously shames and commodifies young people’s bodies and emotions.

Because without the context to know what it’s pushing back against, it just looks like it’s doing the same tired, gross anime thing. And it becomes incredibly difficult to recommend to people who aren’t already familiar with anime and its tropes. You have to preface it with like three disclaimers and a mini lecture on Anime and Japanese culture.

And it’s frustrating. Because it is good. It’s funny and weird and heartfelt and genuinely thoughtful. It cares about its characters. It takes genre seriously without taking itself too seriously. But I still find myself hesitating to bring it up in casual recs because I don’t want to spend twenty minutes explaining why “no, the horny alien thing is part of the point.”

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this is actually like my third or fourth rodeo so i sort of get it but sort of dont

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@adelinejclose

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of course you have blue curtains and subtext

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No, he never gives direct numbers, you’re correct, BUT there are in fact several IN UNIVERSE conversations exactly about how each successive generation has less and less people born without a quirk.

In episode one, In Izuku’s Junior class prior to UA, he is the only one in his class without a quirk, in a family that are 4th generation quirk users, suggesting that its quirks are likely a dominant genetic trait and for Izuku to be born without one is a genetic anomaly in a family of quirk users.

In season 2 when All Might admits he was born quirkless, he says right out that “it wasn’t as rare back then” which literally says right out that quirklessness is less and less common all the time.

The first user and the other One for All vestiges have a conversation with Izuku in season 6 saying that Izuku will likely NEVER be able to pass on One for All to anyone because he’d ethically have to give it to a quirkless person unless he wants to condemn them to an early grave. The vestiges say that being quirkless “is like an endangered species these days” so Izuku is unlikely to find a suitable candidate.

Authors are historically bad at math, and I’m sure the stats don’t actually ‘math’ as you suggest. But fans aren’t just ‘trying to make it work’ in their heads. It’s literally canon that quirklessness is a dying trait.

I can’t and will not comment on the autism allegory because it’s not my place to do so.

If 80% of the population in MHA have quirks, then why, in the original series and Vigilante do we meet like, two people who are quirkless at birth?

Just saying…

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sorry i can’t go out tonight i’m at home sitting down

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COMMUNITY 3.04 Remedial Chaos Theory

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So. I’m extraordinarily happy to have had this analysis I did of Chapter 431 validated and all in one single page. Midoriya staying as a teacher but still rocketing up the charts, plus able to compete (as friends and equals) with Bakugo, and the two of them being happy with the situation.

I HAVE to address this MHA leak. This is getting out of hand. I think you guys may actually like this chapter if you pause and take a deep breath.

First, I rarely post about this kind of thing as I hate getting caught up in fandom drama- very few things take the enjoyment out of something quicker than people being pissy to each other (and to creators) because something didn’t go how you imagine.

BUT.

I need to say a few words in the defence of this new chapter, and I think there are a lot of really positive things going on that can be chalked up to character GROWTH and not character ASSASSINATION as everyone has been yelling about. Things that actually really tie up three really great characters in healthy ways, and in ways that also highlight the themes of moving forward and reaching out hands that the author has been pushing. I’m not going to address Ochaco’s growth here, which is also good, but I need to discuss the Baku-Deku stuff.

I’d like to preface all of the following with one important thing: when I read and watched MHA I never once incorporated SHIPPING into my enjoyment of these characters. It wasn’t the part of the text I was interested in. Did I think there were some cute moments between Izuku and Ochaco? Yep. But that’s about as far as it went for me. I also fully expected from day one that they would end up together because that’s how these kinds of stories in this genre go. I will also say that the character dynamics and growth between Izuku and Bakugo was something that is generally well done and a key aspect of why both those characters are so enjoyable for me-one of my favourite parts.

So, when I read these leaks, I actually found a bunch that I think tied up these characters really well.

I’m going to start with the big elephant-in-the-room one that everyone has been freaking out over. The: “Izuku would never turn down an offer to work in an agency with Bakugo that’s just so not him and he’s awful and I’ll never forgive him” thing that I just can’t…understand why people are angry about. This is a GOOD thing.

One of the things I actually sort of critical about in the INITIAL ending was that Izuku seemed like he still wasn’t putting himself first. One of the things that especially Bakugo KNEW to be the case about Izuku was he “never thinks of himself” and how self-destructive that was. We saw it time and time again- he was always sacrificing things for other people: his health, his time, even his QUIRK were sacrificed for OTHERS. He never put his own self-interest FIRST. He grew in strength, he grew and matured as a HERO, but part of saving people means also knowing how to save yourself.

The initial epilogue had this air of ‘he’s sacrificed something and he’s incomplete due to that’. Others (Bakugo and class 1-A) stepped up to help him fill that hole with the suit, and that thematically worked, but there was still a gap there for Izuku’s growth. I think this chapter completes his arc in the best possible way. Izuku did something purely for himself. He LEARNED that last lesson he needed to learn. AND he did it by ALSO helping Bakugo learn a lesson too.

Bakugo offers, in sort of a round about way, for Izuku to join his agency as a sidekick. He’s turned down other sidekicks because they thought he was amazing and wanted to be in his shadow. He wanted a sidekick that would say they would ‘surpass’ him. For Bakugo that has always been what he admired (and sometimes resented) about Izuku- Izuku wasn’t afraid to say that he would push himself to be better than Bakugo, and in doing so they both made themselves stronger.

But I’d argue that this rivalry was an endless cycle for both of these characters- not an opportunity for them to change how they saw each other. Izuku would surpass Bakugo and Bakugo would work to surpass Izuku on and on for eternity. Bakugo even mentions this in the hospital- that he hoped they would get to compete with each other “for the rest of their lives”. BUT that would also mean they would NEVER be more than rivals to each other.

When Izuku turns down Bakugo’s offer to be his sidekick, Izuku ISN’T saying “no, I don’t value you or what you did for me with the suit”. He’s saying, “I know what you did for me and I’m thankful for you, but I have to make my own choices separate from you.” Izuku is NOT Bakugo’s sidekick, or vice versa. They are adults that should have their own separate goals and lives. And, in a way, he’s also telling Bakugo, “you are your OWN person. You don’t need ME to be stronger. Keep pushing yourself forward on your OWN terms.”

And that’s the thing about Bakugo- from day one his growth has been DEFINED by Izuku. He’s pushed himself forward almost entirely because of how he sees Izuku, as a rival and, in some cases, as someone who he has to constantly try to live up to. That isn’t particularly HEALTHY. Bakugo sacrificed his LIFE to “catch up to Izuku.” Like, great acknowledgement of Izuku’s ability and moving on from being a bully, but not a physically healthy thing to do. There were a couple things about the initial epilogue that made me a little edgy because while Bakugo grieved the loss of OFA almost more than Izuku did (which was growth, and interesting growth), then worked tirelessly to get Izuku the suit, he did it because he wanted Izuku to keep being his RIVAL.

When Izuku turned down the offer to be his sidekick, but in the same scene also says he can’t wait to work as a hero again with his friends and see Bakugo MORE OFTEN as a guest lecturer in his Hero classes (which like, I don’t see why people are pissed about since that’s literally one of the biggest fanfic ideas people have been writing about since chapter 430 dropped), it actually shows how much more GROWN UP these two ARE. Izuku is acknowledging Bakugo as not only an EQUAL (not someone to chase after), but also a FRIEND. Someone he looks forward to seeing and working with. In fact, Bakugo saying “see you” isn’t a goodbye. It’s a PROMISE.

The panels of Izuku walking away are actual true character growth for BOTH of them. Izuku putting himself and his choices first, and Bakugo, for the first actual time in the ENTIRE SERIES feels like he doesn’t have to chase after Izuku. He can let themselves walk their own paths!

And, because the writing is actually better than you guys are giving it credit for, this choice actually does give them opportunity to still compete because Izuku will be on the chart now as an independent agent (because remember he’s not rejecting the suit and hero work, he’s incorporating hero work into a teaching career he’s ALSO grown to love and is good at). So now, as Izuku starts climbing the charts on his own (which he will because it’s Izuku we’re talking about), they can still push each other forward ANYWAY so like…that’s a GOOD thing. It’s like having your cake and eating it too, for BOTH of them.

Take off the shipper hats for a moment. And really LOOK at this scene. Is it kind of sad they won’t work together every day? Maybe. Does it mean they are growing apart and will never see each other? NO. They are closer than ever because now they are EQUALS and FRIENDS- neither is ahead of the other.