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Drawn to Battle

How the hero Miruko is a Blood Knight (Part 1)

The new vigilantes (which I again remind everyone is canon) gives some really interesting Miruko characterization that also really kind of fits a pattern, but one most fanon depictions of her ignore? 

She’s always been super quick to fight first, ask questions later, but the darker aspects of this were kind pushed aside as “yes! spunky hot girl! She’s kind of like Katsuki.” 

And yet I always felt this comparison was a bit.. lacking. Katsuki likes to fight, yes, and his conception of heroism has to do with victory, but there’s not there sheer need for violence for the thrill of it. And until the last vigilantes chapter we had scant characterization for Miruko that hinted it might be that for her, but nothing concrete.

That’s changed. The fact she’s being introduced in Vigilantes at the same time we see a flashback of Rappa, years ago, is pretty spot on to what now seems to be crucial to her personality. 

This is Miruko as a high school student in a trip to Osaka. She’s wearing a touristy type of hat, but it’s her. Her friends in high school apparently call her ‘Ruko’.

Anyway, notice the way she specifically says ‘scent’. It’s portrayed as animalistic, almost, her love of fighting. Which is line with how Horikoshi often makes her seem in the main manga.

In this scene Miruko, by scent, has tracked down an underground illegal fight ring simply by her quirk. Mind you, she’s still a hero student on a trip. She might have a provisional license but this is definitely something the 1A kids would have been scolded for. 

Miruko’s excitement, though, centers around the possibility of fighting. It’s fun to her, and she recognizes that through actual blood and sweat. Let’s look at the main manga for a moment; she was relieved, happy even that she could crush the noumus. That it was okay to kill since she didn’t have to hold back like she did for normal villains.

Team Up gave us a very clear repeat of this: Miruko’s praising Katsuki’s violent approach (and Deku and Ochako of course are a little perplexed by this), and her gung-ho attitude to fighting first, not asking questions. In line with her thinking that teaming up is cowardly, and that she stated her intent has always been to ‘beating up villains who scheme’, one wonders what her motivation is to be a hero.

We’ve come across lots of different heroes motivated by many different things. Some out of a need for glory and a feel that they are the best (Endeavor), some out of wanting to be a symbol to a broken society (Toshinori), some out of a need for fame (Uwabami, even Mt. Lady). We’re told glory and money are often the motivations in a conversation between Hawks and the Hunter Commission.

So, what is Miruko’s?

Let’s get back to Vigilantes. The most recent chapter as of writing this has a flashback to several years in the storyline, and given Rumi is around twenty six or twenty seven in the manga, and is also of the birth month group where she would have likely been the youngest in her class, it’s safe to say this was likely ten years ago as of the current manga storyline.

Rumi is shown on a school trip to Osaka with her classmates from a hero school in Hiroshima. 

At the same time we see Knuckleduster, still a hero and undercover, going head to head with Rappa in an illegal underground quirk ring. Rappa as everyone will recall was all about fighting. That’s his motivation; the fight itself. He wants to go head to head, he’s all about fist to fist and even gets a little put out about Knuckleduster using a knife.

He is what we call a Blood Knight character:

Fighting is everything to the Blood Knight. He lives for it. It’s not winning or losing, morality, the motives of his allies, or even the glory that drives this guy so much as it is the opportunity for a good fight. (Tv tropes)

Why does this matter? Characters are rarely introduced without some sort of narrative in mind. Vigilantes is a prequel manga that has given us the backstories of heroes before (Aizawa, Mic, and Midnight’s, or All Might’s being the main examples, or even Ingenium Sr.) so it’s clearly Miruko’s turn. And setting in a minor detail in canon (remember Rappa talks about illegal quirk fighting rings to Fat Gum) means that there needs to be a connection.

It’s too early to tell since Vigilantes has just started this arc with Miruko, but I think what’s happening is that we’re going to see just what Miruko stands for. And there’s a likelihood that she’s being pitted against Rappa (narratively for now) because she is very much like Rappa.

We’ve been told constantly that heroes and villains are part of the same coin. So, what is the difference between Miruko’s need to fight and Rappa’s? What’s the difference between two people who seem to live for the thrill of fighting first and foremost, with no need for allies and such? Maybe it’s just that Miruko got labeled a hero and Rappa a villain. 

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AFO apologism, please do not take this too seriously, but:

during the beginning of quirks, AFO was someone who had a meta ability, and that would mean being discriminated against / being in danger. It’s the collapse of civil society, people are attacking each other on the streets, and ‘Metas-human’ were feared and despised, from what we have seen. And AFO had to grow up in that era, as part of that minority, knowing what this power would mean for him.

Though it’s also true his quirk was ‘invisible’. AFO didn’t have a mutant appearance, his power wasn’t very flashy, so he could’ve easily slip under the radar. He wasn’t in the worst circumstances, especially once he realized how powerful he could be, but I’m sure he still had to be careful.

Meanwhile, his brother (OFA) in all aspects was ‘normal’. Yeah, turns out Lil’ Bro did have a quirk, but neither of them knew it at the time because it was functionally useless, totally invisible - Lil’ Bro, in every practical sense, was not a meta-human, not seen as one, wouldn’t be treated as one, lived most of his life thinking he wasn’t one.

Of course, in the manga, the dynamics of humans and meta-humans shown weren’t so simple and as clear-cut as like X-men style anti-mutant persecution. So we can’t say All For One was like, ‘marginalized’, technically; plus he himself straddle that in-between line, he could basically control that dynamic to a degree.

But I imagine for AFO, having his ‘normal human’ brother tell him - someone who, likely by the standards of that time, wasn’t seen as totally human - what he can and can’t do with his power, how he should or shouldn’t use it, why he had to care about a world that was against him; that might have been rather unsupportive, if not patronizing. Even more so as he seems to be the one watching out for both of them, no parents or guardians in the picture.

AFO, definitely at some point: “My adorable but ungrateful little bother, I'm the one with a supernatural ability. I'm the one in danger. I'm the one making sure the both of us are alright, and here you are telling me what I can and can't do to protect us."

Again, it probably wasn’t that simple. And AFO is truly a giant, manipulative asshole who took pleasure in being evil. And OFA had his own disadvantages. Still??? I think it’s worth considering.

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Very intriguing thing about Shigaraki: he leads by example. He’ll ride on top of that truck and jump first into the fray and act as a distraction for you. He’ll rob with you. He’ll live in squalor and eat stale biscuits right alongside you and deal with everyone else complaining about it. Even if he tells you to stop and not get into a fight, if you do he’ll still join in and if you lose, he’ll avenge you.

I’ve speculated many times with what little information we’ve had about Shigaraki’s leadership. Will he come to take after All for One? Will he be manipulative? Lead from on high? Send out his minions to do his bidding?

More and more, the answer’s no: Shigaraki isn’t “that heartless,” he’s the player, he’ll protect his assets, he’ll level with them. He’s proving himself to be not a leader lurking in the shadows, not a puppet master (even though he likely could be if he’d so choose), not someone who acts surperior to those around him. Somewhat surprisingly, or unusual, for some difficult and lethargic, someone who’ll take one look at a potential powerful ally and say: “I don’t want it,” someone who’s periodically unhinged and one “creepy motherfucker,” he’s actually a very admirable leader.

I used to view him less favourably, I must admit. With more skepticism about his motives: truly, he doesn’t actually feel that close to his men - there’s a sense of distance to his emotions (well, in general), and he doesn’t affect much. And maybe that’s true to some extent, because of whatever emotional hangups we can assume/assess that he’s got with all that we know of his upbringing and attachment to deattached hands. 

But that doesn’t contradict that he’s one hell of a reliable leader for the league. He’s the reason why they’re all still there, even when it seems like they’ve got no openly acknowledged plan or streak of success. Who would betray a guy who’s sharing in your pain, who’ll defend you, who’ll let you tease him without reprimand, who’ll easily give you answers as long as he’s asked and divide the spoils of your (small) conquests? Who offers you, if nothing else, a little community of equally messed up minds, all of you, including him, in it together?

Villainy aside, Shigaraki’s the kind of leader you can’t help but respect, even if you fall on the other side of the law - the kind of leader, the kind of boss, you know that you can, and should, trust. The unaccomplished, 20-something trash of society, who’s pretty damn reliable to those that matter. 

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Dabi thinks of “bereaved family“

Holy shit guys, I don’t know if this has ever been mentioned before (I’m sorry if it has; google told me ‘no’). But make sure you’ve got something to hold onto.

So I finally got off my lazy bum and found the Vol.18 raws.

In the fan translation, Snatch says: “Have you never stopped to think about how their families feel?”

But in the raws, he uses the term izoku (遺族) to refer to the family, which means “bereaved family”/”family of the deceased”. In Japanese, a lot of things are understood by context without explicitly stating everything - that’s how we know Snatch is talking about the family of Dabi’s victims. But he doesn’t actually say whose bereaved family.

Therefore I prefer to translate this line in a more generalized fashion:

“Have you never stopped to think about how bereaved families feel?”

Now in Chapter 191:

Dabi: “I’ve thought about it so much that I’ve gone crazy.”

Ok. Given what I’ve just said about Snatch’s statement, Dabi did think about families of the deceased. But again it’s not entirely clear whose family that is, whether it is the family of those he killed, or family of the dead in general, or… someone else…?

I’ve already explained here that something happened to the oldest Todoroki child. We don’t know exactly what. At the time, I thought he got abused by Enji on the same level as Rei/Shouto. But what if that’s not all that happened? What if that child is “dead” as far as the Todoroki family is concerned. It would make sense why he isn’t talked about as an individual, and of course it’d also explain why neither Shouto nor Enji recognized Dabi (though both their vision were suboptimal). If that child had “died” in his teens, a decade would’ve passed since then - enough time for the family to recover from the shock of his death and mention him semi-normally. Dabi’s alias, “cremation” would also make sense.

Going back to Chapter 191, notice how Dabi’s statement is accompanied by a sad smile and his scar bleeding at the seam. I believe Horikoshi is trying to tell us that those scars are related to his supposed demise.

Guys, this is huge. It has always been my personal headcanon that Dabi “died” (and I’m sure many of you thought the same) but this is the first time that it received concrete evidence.

Summary: Dabi faked his death and thinks about his own bereaved family on a regular basis.

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We Have a Problem Here

It is! Spinner talks about it; and while this topic honestly deserves essays, I’ll just get into the meat and bones of it. This is not a real meta from me, because this topic deserves a lot more work and I promise to make something at some point that really addresses some of the social disparity here, but here’s a bit of an answer to your question.

We do have a problem.

Let’s talk about Spinner. Spinner’s inner monologue reveals a struggle with discrimination. His reaction to being called a lizard is important because being a lizard has been what caused his trauma all his life. When confronted with cultists that have a religion based on hating/wishing death on people like him, the first they do is call him a lizard. And he calls their thinking outdated but is it really ‘out-dated’ when it has been so pervasive in his life that not only is his hometown full of it, one of his teammates unknowingly has the same attitude of seeing him as a lizard?     Dabi (and Shouto) both say their lines in times of some distress, to be sure, but it’s revealing that neither think much of what they have done.  At the same time, like with most discrimination, there are different grades/reactions. Spinner has spent most of his life isolated and ostracized in his rural community for his appearance and also by his family for a ‘weak’ quirk. In a sense, his being a heteromorph had no ‘benefits’ in the way someone like Hawks might have which is why this difference is absolutely fascinating;

The difference here is very fascinating; Hawks was sheltered for most of his life and praised for his quirk and his mutations (which are subtle but there, as those eyes aren’t human whatsoever), and also was born in an urban area where there are presumably far more mutants. 

Meanwhile Spinner is alone in his town, except for his family. He’s been defined down to his mutation all his life that the pride Hawks has for his (and for people like him) doesn’t come naturally when he’s been excluded for it. Of course, Hawks is being exploited for his abilities so there’s a fragileness to that pride, especially when that birdness might stop being useful.

So, we have two ways that like two different mutants approach their mutations - one with outward pride and identity, and the other with resentment when he gets defined by it and the society that made him feel this way. But yeah, this is the second time Dabi’s done it. Shouto did to the dog-cop whose name escapes me, and very importantly, Shinsou did it. And look at Deku’s reaction here.

Deku’s shocked; all Shinsou has to is like say that Ojiro’s a dumbass for throwing his chances away after this, and Deku loses it. And while certainly there’s a lot to be said that Ojiro’s sacrifice is seen as very noble culturally, the highlight of monkey means that there was something particularly inflammatory about Shinsou’s words.

Now, remember, Shinsou says this because he wants a rise out of Deku. He’s saying something completely ‘un-PC’ because it’s shocking, because normally no one would call Ojiro a monkey. Especially not a stranger. Someone is pretty much insulting Deku’s classmate due to his mutations, a classmate who is helpful and nice to him.

We can really gleam a lot from moments like this. Shouto’s insult was done in anger; in the same way that many of grab for hurtful things regarding people’s identities when we’re insulting them, so do the people of BNHA. It’s clearly rude to. But why? 

It has a lot to do with this, to borrow some of @dabistits‘s writing on Twice:

This leads to yet another societal dysfunction. Because some Quirks are considered more valuable than others, and because Quirks are attached to persons, some people are considered more valuable than others. This comes through even more clearly in the original Japanese word for Quirk: 個性 (kosei). Kosei can be translated as “individuality” but also as “personality” or “character,” e.g. she has a strong personality (kosei), [source] a meaning that inevitably implicates the human behind the personality. But in the world of BNHA, a strong kosei no longer simply means a strong personality—it can also mean a strong Quirk. In the linguistic realm, personality and Quirk have become indistinguishable, and this has two effects: one, Quirks are presumed to influence personality (as in the cases of Toga and Shinsou), and two, that which makes us individual, our personalities, has become entangled with Quirks-as-commodity. That is to say, one’s kosei determines one’s worth under capitalism.

In a society where Kosei is everything, where your entire personality is your kosei/quirk, do you see where heteromorphs might have issues?

The MLA (and I’ve continued to make distinctions between them and the League because I strongly believe the PLF are not a permanent alliance inasmuch as an alliance of convenience; the world Shigaraki destroys also means destroying the society they want) very much wants this quirk-based society to go further.

That children’s book we seen an excerpt from; look at it closely. A little girl who looks incredibly ‘baseline’ and not mutated is given a bandage by a heteromorph who resembles a japanese oni; this is meant to be seen as contrary to the nature of oni, as they are bloodthirsty and eat people. But that person is being really nice! Take a look at the other children in the picture! It’s a zebra and a sheep, two prey animals, and they are dancing with a crocodile! It’s really telling how smaller and how the predatory animal is on one side facing the others! It might as well be zootopia. 

The meaning is clear; people aren’t their appearance! Especially mutants! Sure you have emitter quirks that can be hidden but the people look mostly normal! So you have to remember that heteromorphs are people, just like you and I!

Except in a quirk society, that doesn’t work. In a society where your quirks didn’t define you, you could do that; but it doesn’t work that way. 

Now, they’re talking about No. 6 the villain here; and there’s a clear link to AFO’s experimentation, but either way, there’s a reference to an abundance of ‘unknown’ and ‘non-human’ DNA which is why Tanuma, the cop in this picture, kind of winks and say ‘woops’. 

This is a very revealing attitude about how seriously society takes heteromorph/mutant discrimination; there’s an acknowledgment it exists, but methods to be at least more sensitive are treated with amusement by the general population; to parrot Redestro once more, “It’s a good lesson! I was raised that way too! But there’s a clear link between quirk and personality!”

This isn’t a society managing to fix itself.

The insect-guy in this is Kamayan, a man who was kidnapped and experimented on from his quirk and bioengineered into what you see in the picture. He talks about the challenges he faces in a world simply not made for him; even mentions how he can barely use public facilities in his town which is a ward in Tokyo, of all places. There’s a mention in that chapter (Vigilantes 37) of public housing for people whose quirks mean they can’t live in ‘normal’ housing, but Kamayan immediately mentions resenting having to be separated from society.

Something to note here is the immediate deflection from his friends. Kamayan might be a whiner, but he’s right, but when he brings this up, it’s just treated as a joke. In the same manner as the wink and nudge from Tanuma about ‘non-humans’. Or how in the same chapter, Tsukauchi tells Kamayan that his anger at being apprehended after a drug-induced rampage should be directed at the villains who kidnapped him, not the police who treated him like any other villain. In a sense, people like Kamayan are being told to shut up. Let’s see that panel from 160 one more time:

This is a different translation than Viz, but between “the hell you gettin’ mad for, such a pain.” and “Don’t flip out”, there’s a clear bewilderment (the anime made Dabi get angry, but the manga was far less emotional in this line) about the fact that Spinner cared so much. But Spinner does, because people have been throwing lines at him all his and likely not evening letting him be angry at it.

Much like Kamayan’s anger about the society being ‘half-baked’ and his need not being met, or that of others, Spinner’s anger is that people like Dabi get to choose whether he should be hurt by being downsized to just being a heteromorph. Because it’s ‘shocking’ when someone uses it as an insult, because it’s ‘not politically correct’, but does that matter when it’s done constantly? Or how Hawks gets to claim being a bird because his wings and bird-like mutations are useful in serving hero society, while Gang Orca makes lists about looking like a villain despite being a hero.

So, yeah, I’d say the society definitely has a problem. And even marginalized people like Dabi can contribute to it because it’s a societal and institutional one that everyone is raised in.

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Saiii-chan... What do you think if Kacchan and Todoroki have a relationship(romance or friendship)? And how do you describe it??? :3 Love u, mom of 1-A class!

(okay so i must apologize b/c this is more a meta about Bakugou and Todoroki’s relationship overall instead of what you asked, even tho you said you were fine with that earlier. sorry about that!!!)

i can’t see it as a romantic relationship, personally

i think Bakugou is still angry at Todoroki for giving up during their fight at the sports festival. at the very least, he still holds a bit of a grudge over it. Bakugou doesn’t take anyone implying that he’s weak lightly, and Todoroki refusing to use his fire powers during their fight, after he used them against IZUKU, implies a lot for Bakugou:

1. that Bakugou is less impressive than Izuku. this is a very big sore spot for Bakugou, beccause he has a lot of personal issues that stem from his fear of Izuku actually having the potential to surpass him, and it’s the reason he began bullying Izuku in the first place.

“IF I CAN’T GO ABOVE DEKU, IT DON’T MEAN A GODDAMN THING!!!”

2. That Todoroki doesn’t see Bakugou as worthy to use his flames against. which, again, is a sore spot. this implies that Bakugou isn’t strong enough or is too weak to have the honor to fight against Todoroki’s fire.

“Am I not strong enough for ya?”

3. Todoroki wasn’t even trying in their fight because he didn’t see Bakugou as worth fighting.

of course, the reason why Todoroki didn’t use his fire was because he was going through a lot of emotional issues, and Bakugou was at least somewhat aware of this. 

he did overhear Izuku and Todoroki’s discussion about Endeavor and what he did to Todoroki and his mom.

the bottom panels show up immediately after Todoroki’s.

how long Bakugou was listening in and how much he actually heard is up for debate, but we do know that he did overhear about Todorki’s home life and his declaration against Endeavor and his resolve not to use his flames.

however, Bakugou has a massive inferiority complex, particularly in reference to Izuku, and the fact that Todoroki was able to use his fire against Izuku is what really bothers Bakugou. Todoroki isn’t even trying to win during their fight. 

he isn’t even bothering.

look at how upset Bakugou is here. he looks like he’s about to break down in tears.

that’s how important this was to Bakugou. he’s literally about to cry because of this. and one of the reasons this fight was so important for Bakugou comes from early on in the series.

(the second image is a pic i took from my phone of the official translation)

“THAT ICY BASTARD! NO WAY I CAN MEASURE UP TO HIM, EITHER…!!”

immediately after Bakugou lost to Izuku during the Heroes vs. Villains exam, after Momo explained exactly how Bakugou fucked up for the entire class to hear, Todoroki comes and finishes the exam within minutes.

he barely had to do anything and he fucking won without breaking a sweat. in other words: he completely showed up Bakugou after Bakugou lost control, got angry and totally fucked up.

it was the first time Bakugou realized that there are people out there that are stronger than him. that there are people that he might not be able to beat. it was the first time Bakugou realized that he might not be the best, and he was faced with the fact that he might not be able to hold a candle to Todoroki.

so for Bakugou, their fight at the sports festival was very, very personal for him. 

“… YOU PLAY TO WIN!!”

hell, even for a moment, Bakugou actually agreed with Izuku when he cheered Todoroki on to fight his all against Bakugou.

but Todoroki was distracted; with his home life, with Endeavor, and worse (in Bakugou’s point of view), with Izuku.

it’s just moments before their fight, and Todoroki doesn’t even acknowledge Bakugou when he accidentally barges into the wrong room. 

no, instead of acknowledging Bakugou, Todoroki immediately starts talking about Izuku.

Izuku, Izuku, Izuku, Izuku.

of course this pisses Bakugou off. this is HIS FIGHT and Deku is already fucking with it and he’s NOT EVEN THERE. 

i do think that Bakugou was trying to help Todoroki in his own way. he was trying to get Todoroki to understand that his fire is just a biological function of his body. it’s his own power, no one else’s.

there’s a reason why Horikoshi specifically had Bakugou say these lines, especially during Izuku and Todoroki’s fight.

however, i think the reason why Bakugou did this was mostly to get Todoroki to overcome his hesitance because he wanted to fight Todoroki at his full power. think of it as Bakugou saying “Get the fuck over yourself and fight me at your full potential so I can prove myself.” 

(tho a bit of it may be because Bakugou does care, just a bit. the stricken expression he has after Todoroki explains his personal history is very telling, and it tells the audience that it did affect Bakugou somewhat. 

“And since I don’t give a shit, feel free to use that fucking flame side on me…!”

he very specifically denies caring about Todoroki’s personal history, tho he may have just done so to rile Todoroki up to get him in the mood for a fight. but also because he really just wants to fight against Todoroki’s flames)

he knows why Todoroki doesn’t use his fire. but he still used his fire against Izuku. and Bakugou wants part of that, he wants to fight Todoroki on equal ground and prove that he’s the best.

Bakugou wants so badly to test himself against Todoroki because of what happened during and after the Heroes vs. Villains exam. he wants to prove himself against Todoroki, to prove that he can beat this kid that he once thought he couldn’t. he wants to have a fair fight against Todoroki and fucking WIN without any of Deku’s bullshit getting in the way, and yet it’s already interfering before the fight even starts.

that’s why Bakugou was so angry that Todoroki wasn’t taking this fight seriously. that’s why he was about to fucking cry at the end of it, when he won. because he didn’t win due to his own strength, he didn’t prove himself in any way, he only won because his opponent refused to go all out against him, and that’s a huge slap in the face for Bakugou.

there isn’t any point in winning a fight where your opponent doesn’t even try to fight against you. and Bakugou hates being underestimated and taken lightly.

and again, this was a huge personal insult against Bakugou in particular. he wanted to prove something to himself but Todoroki just wasn’t in the right headspace to fight back at full power. 

of course, none of this is Todoroki’s fault. he had a lot on his mind.

but for Bakugou, this is all extremely difficult for him. he continues to hold this grudge against Todoroki prior to the second exam, where he threatens/challenges both Izuku and Todoroki.

hell, he even says Todoroki’s name here, which shows how serious he is. Bakugou never says anyone’s name, unless he respects them or they got his attention. i’m fairly certain that, during this moment, it’s not out of respect; Todoroki just royally pissed Bakugou off and part of that manifested as Bakugou using Todoroki’s name to show just how angry and determined he was at this moment

tho Bakugou does seem to calm down a bit after the second exam, after he was forced to work with Izuku.

even afterwards tho, where they’re paired up during the trial of courage, Bakugou is trying to get a different partner, any other partner besides Todoroki, because he’s still pissed about what happened.

(lmao i’m fairly certain Ojirou doesn’t wanna pair with Todoroki because he got his ass royally kicked by him in the first exam)

i think that Todoroki is trying to make up for what he did to Bakugou in his own way, but doesn’t really know how. he realized that he did Bakugou a disservice during their fight, and feels bad about it. 

i believe this is why he tried so hard to rescue Bakugou when he was kidnapped by the League of Villains/AFO.

out of all the kids, he was one of the few who was 100% set on rescuing Bakugou from the start. absolutely nothing would stop him from going and rescuing Bakugou. 

now, the reason why he was so dead set on this is up for speculation. 

personally, i think part of it was Todoroki trying to make up for what he did to Bakugou during the Sports Festival by helping to rescue him. 

part of it may be because Bakugou was kidnapped from right in front of him and he couldn’t do a thing to stop it, and he feels responsible for it.

another part may be because it’s part of his ideal of what a hero should be, which is rescuing people when you know you have the ability to, regardless of the consequences (which may be a call back to the Stain incident with Iida. if he and Izuku hadn’t shown up, Iida very well could’ve died)

anyway, the point i’m trying to make here is that Todoroki holds no ill will towards Bakugou. rather, he feels bad for letting Bakugou down, and tried his damnedest to rescue him, even after Bakugou made it clear that he doesn’t like Todoroki. 

in fact, they seem to have a fairly….. amiable relationship, at least for Bakugou’s standards.

it’s mostly just…. Bakugou getting angry and shouting, and Todoroki just not really reacting to him. i’m sure Bakugou is still fairly angry about everything in regards to Todoroki, but it doesn’t seem quiet as….volitile or personal as before.

and again, Todoroki holds no ill will towards Bakugou. there are only two moments where Todoroki seems truly angry or frustrated at Bakugou, and one of them is when Bakugou brings up his home life (which. yeah), and the second is just because he’s frustrated that Bakugou wants to use his explosions in the forest in order to fight the villain, which would only cause them more problems.

i think Bakugou is slowly letting go of his grudge. very, very slowly. it was a very personal issue for him and it’s hard for him to just let that go. but after seeing All Might retire and feeling like the cause of it, and feeling all that guilt… not to mention, he now knows the story behind Izuku, All Might, and One for All, and is actually supporting Izuku (someone he hated for so long). 

his feelings are becoming somewhat healthier now that most of those issues have been discussed. not quite resolved, because stuff like that doesn’t happen over night, but it’s getting there.

now tho, he might be more willing to try and let some of those angry feelings towards Todoroki go. i doubt it’ll be anytime soon, however. Bakugou is someone who holds long grudges about this kind of stuff. but i think he is slowly letting them go.

it helps that Todoroki doesn’t really react to Bakugou’s anger at all, haha.

related meta:

How Endeavor’s development is mirroring Bakugou’s

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

A meta about how Bakugou shows kindness, how he tried to help Todoroki during their fight, and how he felt guilty about how his actions lead to All Might’s retirement

Bakugou is actually Really Really Really Smart

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

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Can you talk about Dabi and his connection to sorrow? He’s commented on things being “sad” over and over again in the manga. And now ironically he can’t cry! I feel like there’s a deeper meaning to this.

Whether it’s laughing with a mouth full of blood, or smiling when anybody else would cry, you’re right anon Dabi is a character who is always distancing himself from his own sorrow.  Dabi not being able to cry because his tears ducts got burned is almost the perfect metaphor, not only does he not want to cry, but he physically can’t due to the lasting damage that’s been done to his body. 

In fact distance is a key word to use when analyzing Dabi. Even knowing absolutely nothing about his backstory, just reading his actions, you can see there are several distancing behaviors in the way that he interacts with others. What Dabi says to Hawks that he has his own agenda outside of the league isn’t even that much of a twist, Dabi has always been up front about it. Dabi tells Shigaraki he’s going to move on his own. 

You can see it in the way that Dabi refers to his comrades. Spinner is “Lizard”, Toga is “Crazy Girl”. Dabi chafes at how touchy feely twice is. The only one he really has casual conversations with is Mr. Compress who is always wearing a mask, and is himself very casual and distant. These behaviors aren’t just Dabi being a jerk, in a group that is all about finding a place of belonging and trusting each other even among crazy and psychoes, Dabi is always making it clear that he’s an outsider. 

He sets up walls with his behavior. Spinner doesn’t want to be called Lizard because of his background, his friends wouldn’t call him that. Toga is someone whose issues are dismissed because she’s just “crazy” when she’s actually an empathic person when you get to know her. The league of villains is a very humanizing force. They gave Twice a place of belonging that let him finally accept himself, they give Spinner a reason to be, Toga became a much more stable person who grew to have healthier relationships with others. The league is humanizing, but Dabi doesn’t want that. 

This is where we connect it back to Dabi’s backstory. Dabi has had his emotions so thoroughly invalidated by abuse he can no longer feel them properly. Remember, being called and dismissed as a failure is something that has affected Natsuo far into his adulthood. Natsuo can’t even sit in the same room for Endeavor without being triggered by his presence.

Natsuo has deeply internalized the feelings of being “one of the failures”, so then what must that say about Touya, who was ‘almost perfect’, then dismissed as a failure, and then literally died. Not only that but his murderer escaped, and nobody save Natsuo even seems to hold him accountable for it. It’s enough to make anyone feel dead inside. 

And, that’s what Dabi is trying to do. KIll his own emotions. Dabi was raised in an environment that made him feel like a failure, and that his own personal feelings did not matter. Enji completely ignored what his children wanted and instead forced his own wants upon them. Touya’s wants and needs were never prioritized and taken care of, quite literally, because he died. He wasn’t valued as an individual. 

Children need to be treated as their own individuals and grow up in a consistant environment where they are taken care of, and feel safe, otherwise they will not be able to grow up properly and face developmental issues later in life. Dabi is far out of touch with his own emotions, because it’s a behavior deeply ingrained in himself, his feelings do not matter. They never have. 

Dabi’s total and complete lack of regard for his feelings and well-being can be shown in the way he fights and uses his quirk. Remember, this is a learned behavior. This is what Endeavor taught him, that the only thing valuable about him is how much he can push his quirk to its absolute limit. 

Dabi hates Endeavor but he fights exactly like him. He pushes himself to use his flames to their extreme limits, so he can be individually powerful and effective on a battlefield with little regard to support, even though his body can’t handle it. He’s been effectively trained to think this way: he has no value unless he pushes himself this far. 

What Geten says to Dabi is horrible, but this is also what Dabi thinks of himself as shown by his behavior. He doesn’t regard his body or his life as something worth being careful with, and because of that he’s always burning himself up to use his quirk to his fullest extent. So while Dabi is quite literally fighting back against his father’s abuse and also trying to prove his father wrong about him, he also believes him deep down.

He always fights by attempting risky maneuvers he doesn’t know is going to work out, because he doesn’t really care that much about the consequences on his body. Touya has already died once, what’s another time? He fights so much like Endeavor he even quite literally copied Endeavor’s move from the Pro Hero Arc to use against Hawks. 

Which is why Dabi’s speech to Hawks is ultimately so telling of the way he sees himself. 

The reason that Dabi’s name doesn’t show up, other than Hori being a tease is because he thinks he doesn’t indvidiually matter, nor does his backstory, or feelings. The only thing that matters about him are what he fights for. He insists again and again, Twice doesn’t matter, the league doesn’t matter, Hawks doesn’t matter, but he too personally doesn’t see himself as someone that matters either. 

Even though Dabi insists he doesn’t care about his feelings, he clearly does, he’s willing to burn the world for the sake of a personal grudge against Endeavor. He’s always burning up in his own feelings but can’t admit that. That’s because Dabi can’t process his own emotions, so his feelings, both positive, and negative, are just like his flames another thing that harms him. We see it in the ending to the pro-hero arc. A scene that everyone collectively reads as tears of blood as Dabi bleeds from one of his stitches. Tears are blood are commonly used to express a sorrow that’s deeper than any tears can express, so deep it bleeds like a wound. 

Specifically it’s the idea of what the families feel of the people Dabi kills. Touya himself comes from a bereaved family who mourns his death even though he’s still alive and has been all this time. The reason Touya doesn’t think about what other people feel, what his family feels, what he himself feels is by his own admission he’d go crazy and never stop thinking about it. Dabi has to distance himself from his feelings, and can’t express them properly because if he did he would never stop. There are permanent emotional wounds on him that will not heal, and he can’t really actively seek treatment for because he’s a homeless villain so instead of trying to  deal with them he puts a stop gap on all of his emotoins. This is another thing that’s in common with the trio: Dabi, Shigaraki, Himiko it’s not that they don’t feel sadness it’s that they can’t express it. If they tried they would simply stop functioning. Which is why we see them smiling when anybody else would cry, it’s the only way they know how to keep going. 

Dabi distancing himself from his own sorrow is a maladaptive coping mechanism, because he can’t allow himself to feel his own feelings, otherwise he would succumb to them. Dabi’s entire arc is associated with grief, his grief for his family, his grief for what was done to him, and the grief his family feels for him. However, he can’t feel any of it. Even though he’s wounded physically on his face and carries those scars. Dabi doesn’t allow himself to feel because he wants to keep going on his mission. 

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Why Spinaraki is an underrated gem of a ship

Okay, so first of all I just have to make a quick disclaimer: this is not to discredit other Shigaraki and Spinner ships, this is just to highlight why I think these two in particular are just neat. 

Also, manga spoiler warning, as per usual. Content below the cut.

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Mr. Compress: We’re Villains! We should act like it.

Mr. Compress: We must be aloof and detached and properly villainous. 

Also Mr. Compress:

*is the one shown to be worrying over the League the most*

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It’ll be pretty funny if, despite how sweet Pony seemed at first,

she turns out to be a tough, foul-mouthed BAMF,

who knew exactly what Monoma was telling her to say after all.

She was pretty bold towards everyone during the joint-training ac after all, even talked back to her own teammate (albeit warranted).

Like,

bruh,

not only is she a general badass who stunned Todo-heckin-roki,

smack-talk is something she does to everybody,

& I mean she does it to everybody,

even in English. (The parts in the <> symbols are when she speaks English).

Monoma’s only sin is teaching her how to say these things in Japanese.

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The Monoma Meta Nobody Asked For

I don’t remember who it was on Reddit that said it makes sense for Monoma to be one of the most empathetic characters in BNHA cuz of his Quirk, (his quirk allows him to walk in the shoes of other people in ways most will never be able to even if for 5 minutes at a time), but let’s talk about it for a minute.

Monoma is a character full of contradictions but there’s a method to the madness. 

Let’s take a real deep look at the manga shall we?

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Hi! I was just wondering, could you tell us what honorifics the characters in bnha use to refer to each other? I'd like to get a better idea of the characters relationships with each other and how they view one another, but FA doesn't include honorifics in their translation.

Well, almost all of the characters use the same honorifics for everybody thus far, so I would look at the honorifics as saying more about the speaker than their relationship with the subject. For people who aren’t familiar, here’s a brief overview of how our little high schoolers are likely to use honorifics. This isn’t true of typical Japanese - it’s more how young manga characters speak, so don’t try to apply this to real life!

-San is somewhat formal and respectful, the honorific used on acquaintances and people in a higher social position. This is the default honorific. -Kun is used between friends, mostly with males, but it can also be used towards females when the speaker wants to underline their friendship without sounding too familiar. It’s chummy. -Chan is used between long-time friends or lovers. It’s more familiar than -kun, and sounds a bit flirty from boys if the two don’t know each other very well. When used by girls, it sounds more innocent and cute. No honorific is the most casual with no special feelings attached, sometimes used between peers. It can be friendly or arrogant, depending on the user.

Aoyama: Mademoiselle for females, monsieur for males. Because, you know, he’s “French.” Ashido: No honorificAsui: -chan Bakugou: Man, he doesn’t even know people’s names, much less use honorifics.Hagakure: -kunIida: -kunJirou: No honorificKaminari: -kun for males, no honorific for femalesKirishima: No honorificMidoriya: -kun with males, -san with females, and obviously -chan with Kacchan Mineta: No honorificOjirou: No honorificTodoroki: No honorificTokoyami: No honorificUraraka: -kun (She uses this with Izuku’s nickname, calling him “Deku-kun,”)

I think the most interesting things here are Asui using -chan to make herself more approachable and cute, and Midoriya’s gender split on his honorifics. Using -san on all the girls he talks to shows how stiff and uncomfortable he is with the opposite sex. It seems like he’d much rather be overly polite than overly friendly. I mean, even Mr. Formal Iida has added -kun to Uraraka’s name, and I would’ve expect Midoriya to do the same at this point. I think he’s just too spaghetti-in-pockets around girls to muster up the courage to do it. What a cutie.

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This meta can be read on the wayback machine: here, and #8 here.

The Fandom’s Misinterpretation of Katsuki Bakugou

Katsuki is the type of character who, without much interpretation, may seem unnecessarily aggressive, dramatic, or excessive. On the surface, none of these labels are particularly wrong per se, but this is a very basic and unthoughtful depiction of his character. After giving him so much thought, it’s disheartening to hear someone simply conclude that “Katsuki is an asshole” and that’s the complete extent of their discernment. 

There seems to be a trend in the fandom where there are reoccurring misunderstandings when it comes to his personality, motivations, and nature. There are very few gray opinions: fans either loathe him or they adore him. And I find this very ironic because Katsuki himself has a very black and white mentality, so it’s not surprising that opinions of him would be classified the same way. 

However, it’s not just people who hate Katsuki who misunderstand his motives and personality. There are several people who love Katsuki yet write him incorrectly and so painfully out of character, it’s hurtful to watch. Therefore, I have decided to put together this meta for the sake of a comprehensive breakdown of the most common misinterpretations of Katsuki’s character, as well as a few minor ones that will be littered throughout. 

If you hate Katsuki and you are looking for something to change your mind, this post is not for you. It is not my job to convince others and change stances that they have already solidified. I am only here to analyze Katsuki’s character and why he does the things he does, as well as give psychological explanations for these actions. You can choose to accept or reject these explanations, it’s up to you. 

Keep reading

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This meta can be still read on the wayback machine: here.

The Fandom’s Misinterpretation of Izuku Midoriya

As an introduction, let me start this off by saying that this is a companion meta to “The Fandom’s Misinterpretation of Katsuki Bakugou” which was written about a month ago. I have gotten asks since then commenting on the complexity of Bakugou and how it’s often overlooked, but I believe that Midoriya is quite possibly even more misunderstood than Bakugou himself. It’s ironic because upon first glance, he seems like a typical shounen protagonist who skids by on luck and willpower alone. While that statement isn’t particularly wrong, per se, it’s important to understand how Horikoshi deconstructs tropes and creates such a relatable character who creatively subverts expectations with every page the reader turns. 

Midoriya is an endlessly intriguing character with exceptional depth that deserves to be explored, especially with the lack of tact that is often taken in portraying him in fan-generated content. There are also many opinions formed that are based off of shallow observations and misunderstandings widespread among fandom members or simply made from the way people perceive him at face value. He is often assigned labels such as “boring,” “cinnamon roll,” “stereotypical,” “irritating,” and last but not least, “generic.” It’s disheartening because his character is crafted on the basis of being plain and common but his actions, morality, and thought processes are anything but that. 

If you hate Izuku, believe that the narrative “forces” him to care about Katsuki, or think his feelings or attitude towards his environment is a result of “poor writing” then this post is not for you. It is not my job to convince others and change stances that have already been solidified. I am only here to analyze Izuku’s character and why he does the things he does, as well as give psychological explanations for these actions. You can choose to accept or reject said explanations, it’s up to you.

Keep reading

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Other BNHA Libraries

This post will be where I drop tags to other libraries I’ve found. So if mine isn’t your fancy, not to worry! This list will (hopefully) grow over time. 

@bnha-university

@dreamersleeps

@bnha-meta

@analysisforthefuture 

@class1akids

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Who wants possible horrific side effects for 1A and their quirks? No one? Tough cookies because I am here! With this! Under the read more because its a wall of text.

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BnHA Side Story - Tsuyu Asui