#I mean Izuku only wants to save Shigaraki now because he has OfA that let him see baby Tenko

[mettywiththenotes]

Thoughts on Izuku's new form + Mask symbolism

Thinking about Gran Torino's cape here, I think the symbolism it carries of "killing Shigaraki to save him" is withering away. It is steadily meaning less and less for the future of the narrative, not just because Izuku is so determined to save Tomura's heart but because now most of the vestiges (and the one that probably had the most reservations about it - Kudou) believe in Izuku's belief that Tenko is still in there

However, the mask has me a little concerned

To me, the meaning behind it reminded me of two things

When Izuku reacted to Bakugou's death, after his outrage, he hid his feelings behind black whip as he fought TomurAFO in an effort to control his heart. And when Izuku hid behind a mask in the Rogue Arc, his true feelings only showing once it fell off his face

This leads me to believe that 413's mask could be a result of Izuku hiding his feelings about losing OFA and trying to "control his heart" to focus on the mission

It makes it sort of worse, I think, when you consider the timeline of events being that Rogue Izuku wore the mask, it fell off and revealed his tiredness and sadness, then All Might picked it off the ground and gave it back to him. Then Izuku wears it in his battle with Tomura only for it to break off his face

To me, this was as if the narrative was telling Izuku to "reveal your true feelings on the situation, speak your mind". To which Izuku did, he told Tomura as well as the vestiges that he is human and that this is a part of something deeper inside. It's the second time Izuku has been outspoken to the vestiges about his beliefs and it's as if the narrative encourages this

But then Izuku defies it again, wrapping another mask around his face. Pushing his feelings down and away, this time because of the fact that All Might gave him OFA; he treasures it so much and now he must give it away

Another thing is that in the image above, Izuku doesn't think about the mask specifically but the connection it has to All Might. Again, it's the whole thing about him treasuring what his mentor gives, sadness in its damage and especially now that he has to throw away a piece of a quirk his idol, his teacher, his hero, entrusted to him

And so he holds his feelings back. Because he has to do this

It must hurt that this isn't something he wants to happen, but something that has to happen in order for what, at the moment, is probably the only plan available to succeed. He has to let a part of it go in order to win, and to do that he has to focus. Control his heart. Hence the mask

I just want to talk about the differences in how the masks are presented too, because Rogue Arc Izuku's mask was just placed on his mouth. UA Battle Izuku's mask didn't seem like it was exactly on his mouth, rather it seemed to swirl from and around it like a scarf. But this one...

It almost looks fastened to him. Comparing all the forms makes me a little more nervous for this one, because it looks so much more forced than the others. Additionally, this isn't something that can simply be put on or manifested around the mouth, it is forming over his face from the skin and inside his body

Which reminds me of this

The way "Your Turn" was displayed on his body. Inside his very being. Carved into him, almost

It's probably not the same thing, but to me, it's near enough the same sort of symbolism. "I have to do this" "I have no choice" etc

In conclusion, Hori stop making my boy suffer

[dekusleftsock]

Yada yada, kudou looked through Izuku’s memories and saw big gay thoughts, but we already knew they were gay. Of course they were gay. They’ve always been gay.

YOU KNOW WHAT I WANNA TALK ABOUT? THIS OFA QUIRKLESS THING!

It’s so FASCINATING! And I know I’m late to the party (school, work, life, depression, art block, the list could go on) but all I can think about is the trust that this entire situation holds.

On one hand, Izuku has to trust Kudou and his abilities. Defeating him from the inside out is probably the only way Izuku will win at this point.

And on the other hand, Izuku in his own way, is having to trust shigaraki, something he hasn’t done nor even considered before. He sees that little boy inside of him, but there’s more to that little boy. The man that stands before him, broken and beaten and shattered emotionally by society, is a person too. It truly doesn’t matter that the boy exists; yes it’s a way for Izuku to understand that concept of “heroes and villains are cut from the same cloth”, but it’s also the understanding that even when someone has fucked up their life, still deserves to be treated as a person for doing so. Everyone, EVERYONE, deserves the right to be and feel like a real and alive human being.

To me, it’s in the same vain as Izuku as a little boy. We could go over he details ALL DAY as to how he became the person he is, what could’ve been different, what could’ve happened. But at the end of the day, the only thing that changes the past is how we view it; Katsuki knows this.

There’s a part of me that whenever I see a fanfic where Katsuki meets his old middle school self that he hates him, wants to kick him down, humble him, whatever other verb here:

But that small part of me always thinks that it’s… oddly out of character.

Okay, comparing Katsuki and Izuku, who is more ashamed of their pasts?

If you guessed Izuku (and you agree with me), tell me what exactly inclines you to think that?

Because the difference between them is who accepts themself, and who doesn’t.

Accepting yourself doesn’t just mean, accepting that you were a bad person but you’re better now so it’s okay. No, I think that’s actually more complex than implied.

In my opinion, seeing your past actions as something to forgive is important too. Katsuki meeting his middle school self may seem like an aggressive cat fight in idea, but it practice may turn into high school Katsuki being unaffected by middle school him. He knows why he thought what he did, understands that it was bad, but also understands why that mindset came to be. He can be sorry to Izuku AND sorry to himself.

Izuku I think feels a sense of shame for his middle school self, especially that weakness. He cried more in middle school too; he didn’t try. That’s what he’s most mad about and unable to forgive himself for, he didn’t try.

And to an extent, Izuku has to learn that his perception of his past is what matters most: Shigaraki is the same.

Shigaraki as a little boy could’ve lived better circumstances. He could’ve found a hero and been saved. He could’ve had this or that or made a better decision. And I think a small part of him feels guilty for it. Shigaraki also doesn’t accept his past.

Ofa being taken away, as saddening as it may seem to fans, was always an ending I was hoping for. Of course I could be wrong and by the end of the manga he still has it, and while I’d still be happy with that ending… I just really want Izuku to let himself be a human being. A flawed one, with things he could or could not change, and accepting that fact.

After all, “You’re still human.” Right?

And sorry to bring up the girls again, but part of the key components to saving Himiko were trusting her, and not clinging to a small part of her. She wanted to see and know Himiko as she is, not who she was.

That’s this dudes problem; even if he wants to tear that rug to pieces, there’s certain ideas that hold him back. Think, the idea that your emotions matter less over others, or hating yourself for flaws that nearly every human being has.

Izuku saving Shigaraki has always always always been about saving himself too, and I love that.

Izuku had to trust Katsuki in this battle, trust allmight, trust Ochako, trust people. He had to let them take the wheel, the burden. Maybe he and Shigaraki can lift that burden for themselves too. His mask is broken, he’s become a monster blackwhip thing…

What’s your move Izuku?

[marunalu]

Hi. Many fans disappointed with new chapter. I see many complaining. I am more pissed because of Bakugo.

I am now sure that in next chapter Izuku will be catched by Ochako or sonehow Shigaraki give Izuku OFA back or his original quirk. Dont know.

How do you think DFO will be revealed then Shigaraki and AFO destroyed? Both spirituality and phisicaly.

Well, its no wonder people are upset after that shitfest of a chapter. That propably was the most anticlimactic final bossfight I have ever seen in a manga and after all the talking how izuku wants to safe tomura, dude just dies and izuku is fine with it. He just failed his attempt to save the person he wanted to save the most, but hey I guess the fistbum makes up for it (it does NOT!) Im actually curious how the japanese fanbase reacted to all of that.

I mean, of course hori had to force bakugou in it for a final time. Hes his golden baby boy afterall. Izuku cant do anything without bakugous or other peoples help. He is not allowed to shine on his own in his own fight against the main villain in HIS story. Nope, bakugou needed to help to give the final blow to afo TWICE, because HE is the true VIP of mha! I have actually seen quite a few bakugou fan who were not happy about it. If even his FANS complain about how forced and unnecessary that part was, maybe hori should ask himself if his staning for that one specific character is not going a little bit to far. I mean, seems like we just were all dumb. At the beginning of the story we were told izuku is a useless loser because he cant do anything without the help of others and in the end it turns out it was true. How could we not see that comming? The mc was not allowed to defeat the main villain himself and needs others, espicially his abuser to help him. Wow, what a great message! And the most depressing point is that hori was clearly trying to make that look like a positiv thing. There is one thing I can say for sure. I will never touch any work from hori ever again.

If this was really the conclusion of the final fight, then congratulation hori, you managed to write a more rushed and horrible conclusion for your story, then tite kubo did with bleach (which to be fair was not kubos fault but shonen jumps). Hori did literally EVERY SINGLE character except bakugou dirty and in the end even startet to write against his own established themes in the story.

Regarding dfo: I already mentioned it a few times in the past. Im still positiv dfo is canon BUT I also said I dont think anymore that dfo will end in a satisfying way. Which actually goes against what hori said, that readers wont feel dissapointed when he reveals hisashis true identity. But, right now I dont see how hori plans to manage that even with a twist. Even if lets say the clone theory ends up true (which would be hilarious because I was JOKING when I came up with it), it still would feel like so much wasted potential. And the thing is, while it would make me happy if it turns out true I would still be mad about all the rest hori fucked up which would make it impossible for me to enjoy the dfo reveal. And as much as I love dfo, if it turns out the afo clone theory is true and hisashi is the real afo who gets a happy ending while tomura stays dead and doesnt get one after everything afo did to him and the rest of the lov stay miserable too, I will still give hori the middlefinger. The only way I would be able to enjoy it is if hisashi ends up as the afo clone who choose a different path then his original body. It would still make dfo canon just in a unexpected way and it could be interesting to see in hisashi that afo COULD have been happy if he had choose a similar way.

I dont know, maybe in the end there is really some kind of twist involved. Shonen jump still hasnt announced that mha will end in the next few chapters and normally they do that at least 5-10 chapters before the final chapter. Maybe we are just panicking over nothing and hori has everything planned out perfectly. Maybe there is more to come. We really cant say for sure. There are still some plots who need answers and I cant see how hori wants to conclude everything in just 2 more chapters. On the other side this final arc was horrible rushed, even more horrible written and all in all a big dissapointment and waste of a lot of peoples time.

Who knows maybe thats why there is a break next week. So hori can wait for the reactions of the readers and include whatever twist he may think could work.

[meeko-mar]

I'm gonna complain a little bit here;

some fans are clearly missing the point of Bakugou's development in 358. ( I mean, what else is new...) and just...not realizing the context of the situation here?

"He's out to murder/death/kill Shigaraki;"

No he's not.

YES, he is STRAPPED with a load of new weaponry. But are we, or anyone inside the universe, under the impression that even these mods would be enough to kill Shigaraki? Bakugou's EXPRESS intent is to clear a path so the others can get to him, because if you haven't noticed, Shigaraki-AFO is physically expanding at an extremely rapid pace, all Akira style... And it's NOT EVEN A QUIRK.

And whether we have empathy and want Tomura to be saved or not, we KNOW That this situation is fucked. What are the heroes supposed to do right now? NOT try to match and out-do Shigaraki? Just let him go completely out of control?

Is Bakugou just supposed to do absolutely NOTHING to minimize Shigaraki-AFO's destruction?

They are trying to CONTAIN HIM. THE PLAN WAS to have Izuku WITH THEM. Izuku was supposed to lead the charge here, but HE GOT SEPARATED from them. The plan got fucked.

Bakugou is trying to BUY TIME, the whole team is.

"The fact that he's strapped to the teeth with new weapons just shows he hasn't learned anything about "SAVE";

No the fuck it doesn't.

Shigaraki-AFO is VASTLY, SUPREMELY overpowered. To stand a fighting chance against him, is it not LOGICAL that Katsuki equip himself well enough to be able to stand up to him?? He needs moves in his arsenal that can match Shigaraki, again, at least long enough for Izuku to catch up and do what he needs to do.

I'm certain that Bakugou knows what's up, and knows that ONLY IZUKU can save Tomura. It's not his part, and he doesn't have the power, the ACCESS to that mind-space. He can and does, however, tell AFO to shove the sermon, he already knows about it from personal experience; He can and does use all of those weapons, not to kill Shigaraki, but to create an opening for the others to get through(and likely, this Panzer thing will NOT regenerate for the rest of this battle!).

And regardless, right now, Shigaraki-AFO is an ACTIVE THREAT to everyone. EVERYONE. Is Bakugou just supposed to stand by and let Shigaraki-AFO do whatever the fuck he wants? Kill his comrades? Escape the UA battleground? Find Izuku first, get OFA, and kill him? Destroy the world?

Because that is the threat level he is facing right now. Just because we all know that somewhere in there, Tomura needs to be saved, does NOT MEAN that in the meantime, he isn't a very real, critical danger to everyone, and Bakugou and the team's job right now is to fight against that danger.

I don't know why Bakugou is considered a fucking Asshole for that.

"Bakugou has learned nothing";

Katsuki Bakugou has learned EVERYTHING.

He knows now, exactly what happened to his psyche that made him lash out and begrudge Izuku. He knows it was a shitty misunderstanding that was on HIS PART.

He acknowledges it in this chapter by yelling at AFO.

"Misunderstandings lead to fear and rejection" is basically Katsuki's life story.

And he tells AFO to go fuck himself because he has already processed and accepted that it was part of him, and he has decided to change, to essentially, kill that part of himself, and move forward. He's better for it, more powerful, united with his allies, because he LET GO of those fears and made effort to bridge over those misunderstandings.

He's done the legwork, and tells AFO to shove the sermon because he doesn't need it.

(This may be going up late, but I'm amazed that each and every time Bakugou does something notable in the manga and shows his evolving development and world view and relationship with others, there's still people just ready to blast him.

Guys, bakugou is doing fine.)

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 281, Replies Part 1

1) “Alright, now that I finally regained control over my mortal form, it is time to continue where we left- which was… Ah, right, Machia was about to kill everyone around him, and then we cut to Shigaraki about to drop the most devastating burn that Endeavor ever got. Yeah, I remember now, so, let us jump in on Chapter 281: Plus Ultra

Oh this title does not bode well for some reason…”- Befitting his status as an evil counterpart to Izuku and a hero to the villains he leads, it’s Tomura that starts going beyond his limits and kicking everybody’s shit in, just when it looks like the tables are turning agaisnt him. He’s alone, outnumbered, and handicapped…and all that does is make him even more determined to win, no matter the abuse he puts himself through physically.

2) “And okay Shigaraki, I know you got hurt, that I have no way or want to deny, but… Your father was not a hero, and your grandma had two choices, either abandon him and allow him to live or let him stay and die with her, I suppose you know that AfO killed all the other holders of OfA, right? or that your grandma was one of them? You do know that, right? right?

3) "And, well, what other heroes have you know are hurting their families (again, Endeavor does not count) unless you’re equating endangering and dying in the line of fire as hurting their families, in which case… Well, I mean, you are part of the problem.”- Tomura very much still doesn’t know about OFA, AFO and their connection…and he even more emphatically doesn’t give a shit about it. Yeah, he has the counterpart to Izuku’s Quirk, on a greater level of strength than he can wield himself, and he’s basically destined/being compelled to target him, but that’s all a side-issue to Tomura. What Really matters to him, is none of the history stuff that’s gone into this combat been the good and evil Quirk users of the past generation, it’s his own suffering and torment that drives him onwards, to avenge himself on those who slighted him and abandoned him and refuse to comprehend him.

At the same time, this counter-intuitively makes the current generation of heroes even more unlikely to understand him, but Tomura’s fine with that. As he is now, he doesn’t see anybody being capable of offering a saving hand to him, doesn’t think that’s a possibility in this world even if he emotionally wants one, and because he’s being disappointed by that, he’s lashing out and hurting others. It’s a self-destructive spiral of emotions and pain and just extending all that torment to others so he can make himself feel even slightly better about his suffering, and yes, it makes him part of the problem, but as much as he recognises it, he doesn’t care anymore. Tomura and the league are a fascinating middle ground between heroes and truly hateable villains like AFO, occupying a space where they could be better, if they had the right set of circumstances, but with everything they’ve learned in their lives, they’ve come to the conclusion that nothing will ever get better for them, so there’s no point in trying to be better, which is what tips them towards ‘villains who need to be stopped’ rather than ‘saved’.

They’re being selfish and focused on their own wants, despite their sympathetic qualities, which contrasts with heroes who try to be ‘selfless’ in the line of duty, but yet ironically, Tomura’s situation was in fact created by Nana’s own attempt to be selfless, putting her son in care so she could try and stop AFO and protect others from him, only for him to then go out of his way to utterly trample all over her efforts in the aftermath.

4) “No time to philosophy, there’s muscles to flex.”- Tomura’s flexing his debating muscles so much, his body’s starting to crack like a jigsaw puzzle…or a chrysalis, with the power he contains starts to reach the limit of his mortal ‘shell’.

5) “Alright Aizawa, do tell me, your quirk requires constant line of sight or not? Because if it doesn’t then why the fuck you’re here for, just to die a senseless death? You damn heroes hurting your families, you have a daughter back home waiting for you!”- Aizawa’s Quirk just requires him to make eye contact once and then not blink, but I think it has increased effect if he’s looking directly at the target for an extended period. At the same time, his broken leg from the high-end grabbing it is preventing him from being easily able to run away…and the need to carefully regulate his eyes being moisturised in case he blinks whilst running or such means Rock Lock and Manuel can’t make fast progress escaping, especially since Tomura has insane jumps and can easily catch up. 6) “Alright, let the speech roll, I want to see the point you want to get to, and I hope it is a good one, I don’t want to lump you with the villains who make no sense.”- It’s a simple one, but that also makes it impossible for others to understand him, which in turn becomes his point. He hates the world because it never helped him, so he wants all the power he can get to tear it down in revenge. Despite that, part of him is still frozen in that moment, awaiting help, but because no hero exists who can see past the monster he’s become, he won’t get that desire satisfied, and the disappointment, loss and loneliness he feels keenly because of that further enforces his desire to tear it all down. And even when he says this outright to the heroes, that he wants to tear down society because of its flaws, the lack of context and everything that’s gone on in his past means they don’t understand where he;s coming from – which again, Tomura’s come to the conclusion that they’ll never understand him, so he’ll just keep destroying thigns to make himself feel better, having his negative actions rebound on his innermost wishes and in turn redoubling his self-destructive efforts because they’re inherently incompatible.

He’s literally targeting one of the most empathetic heroes out there, but because he’s turned into a ranging monster from all his power and the hatred that courses through him, Izuku doesn’t get what drives him, just seeing a demon that tears through those he cares about to get to him, and when he’s done with him, will turn his carnage on everybody else 7) “Ah, alright, now with that I can see where you’re trying to get to, but unfortunately that first part about families was a bit unsubstantiated. Yeah, heroes are merely a facade, there are people hurting and suffering, but they pretend that everything is okay to keep the appearances of a just society, alright Shigaraki keep the words coming”- Tomura’s drawing from his own experiences to bring up the point about families, but the truth of his words in applicable in other circumstances as well. We know there are heroes out there with selfish motivations and don’t quite measure up to Izuku and All Might’s example, and the fact that these issues aren’t widely known about and discussed, with everybody only seeing the good in society, because of censorship that enforces the narrative of ‘heroes good, villains evil’ – that’s what Drives Tomura and the other villains, with their own disparite histories having some kind of common ground in this same fact – that nobody wonts to admit that the world isn’t perfect and ignores those whose existence proves it. 8) “And that was exactly the moment I was thinking about, the day his trust in heroes was completely shattered.

Well, gonna be honest, that was more of a society™ fault rather than a hero not wanting to help him. The people got too complacent, thinking that they have no civil obligations because “some hero is gonna help” and shrug because it’s not their problem

Society failed Shigaraki, but of course, he sees Heroes as merely another part of this problem.”- At this point, his power is merely to make sure no heroes will stand in his way. Heroes are the weapon of he society that hides behind them whilst rejecting Tomura, and so, Tomura needs to be strong enough to tear through all of them in order to get his desire to destroy sated. In a way, it almost verges around to ‘nothing personal’ with him – his hatred is for the people hiding behind the heroes, whilst they’re fighting him and putting their lives on the line, which he seems to somewhat respect, at least in Aizawa’s case 9) “YEAH YOU, YOU BITCH, YOU ARE THE ONE AT FAULT HERE. YOU MONSTER, YOU ABSOLUTE MONSTER, YOU LET THAT CLEARLY TRAUMATIZED AND HURT KID ALONE

Although we can’t deny that everyone on that street is at fault. Apathy to others is the real villain of the story.”- I’ve heard it said that Apathy is the opposite to Love, not hate, because hate is still focusing on somebody with an intense emotion, whereas Apathy is complete and utter rejection, which is what isolated Tenko in the first place and left him vulnerable to AFO. 10) “Again, Society™ is the real villain all along

And I’m not even being facetious, this whole thing, I already mentioned a lot of time, does not work. Quirks are part of people, there should be a balance to be reached rather than suppress everyone and only let a small group use them freely”- The thing is, it’s Too Late. If the issue had been addressed sooner, then maybe next-generation heroes like Izuku could have made steps when they undertook their hero careers to reach out- we’ve already seen examples of this in Gentle. But AFO’s plans allowed Tomura to reach a level of strength to start a war on society before he could see that it was possible for people out there to still save his soul and empathise with his pain…and now, the pandora’s box is opened, there’s no going back, and all the pain and bloodshed spilt on this battlefield will only deepen the divide as the fighting eslcates… 11) “I wouldn’t say “corrupt” there, but it is a rather vicious cycle. 

Again, apathy and extremes restrictions created this society, and people only perpetuate it rather than trying to fix it. And the ones that supposedly had intentions to break this system have not the best of intentions, re-destro does not want to free people out of goodness, he just wants to be the one on top instead.”- In a warped sense, getting confronted with this viewpoint is a good thing for Izuku. Tomura is an ideological counter to the perception that ‘heroes make everything better’ that kids are being raised with nowadays, so by appearing before him when he’s still forming his ideas about what kind of hero he wants to be, Tomura acts as Izuku’s biggest opponent in an emotional/idealogical standpoint, rather than a physical one. Their fight is not really about who hits harder, it’s about who’s right, who’s wrong, and what parts of their philosophies deserve to win in the end. 12) “That I can’t deny

But I still don’t rule out this being all due to AfO, all the pieces being placed there to fall the way he wished.”- The absolute lack of AFO’s presence in the backstory, despite the hints that he could be manipulating this, give it a further interesting dimension to Tomura’s motivations. Because, rather than AFO being the source of all his problems, the fact that it’s something as insubstantial as society itself, rather than an individual, broadens the scope of his motivations, pushes him to go further beyond just one person to hate, make him become someone, something, powerful to destroy it all. Even if it does get revealed that it was AFO all along, Tomura no longer really cares. To him, the motivation that drives him still exists regardless of that fact, and by holding onto it, he actually becomes his own villain, rather than ‘another holder of AFO’ to oppose Izuku. In a way, Tomura has developed into a villain in his own right, who wants to fight Izuku and the rest of the heroes for himself, not AFO, with the whole OFA/AFO conflict being an unnecessary hang-on to this fight, even a detriment, thanks to his master starting to worm his way into his head. 13) “Welp Shigaraki, I’m sorry to say, but although you are a villain, you were also a pawn, guided to this conclusion by someone that is truly and undoubtedly a villain.

There is a lot for you to respond for, but the real reasons you are who you are right now has less to do with society and more with a mastermind using you to further his own plans.”- And yet, despite this possible outcome, it doesn’t detract from the fact that Tomura’s still dangerous, more so now than even AFO himself, and a villain who needs to be stopped regardless of the part he plays in the mastermind’s grand design. Their separation has turned Tomura from AFO’s follower into somebody who stands separate from him, on perhaps even an equal level to him now with the immense power and conviction he wields.

The image of him here, mirroring his younger self, highlights this, a monster on a first look, but a crying child pleading for aid with a second introspective one. A monster, and a victim in one, a saviour to the villains, and an unstoppable destroyer for the heroes. Holy, and unholy in one. He’s stepped out from his master’s shadow, such that AFO’s threat now comes from him working inside Tomura’s mind to overtake his immense power, rather than being a direct threat to Izuku. 14) “Dammit Shigaraki, you started monologing and let him recover. Well done you idiot, at least make sure to kill him before you start the next speech.”- I mean, it also let Tomura’s battered body get a few seconds breather as well, especially since he’s starting to hit his own physical limits with the healing turned off. 15) “Well Endeavor, you see, he has those things called “muscles”, it is all the rage nowadays, all the cool villains have them”-  Muscles, backed by pushups, situps, and plenty of milk. Tomura went ultra-jacked, so he can tear through anything. Actually, Izuku should really double-down on his own workout, assuming he survives this.

16) “Yeah, one might say he’s going plus ultra right now

Honestly, I don’t remember the last time we actually saw someone saying that in this series. It was so prevalent back at the first few arcs, it’s like not even the characters believe it anymore.”- This war is basically the villains all going plus ultra, getting their turn to tear down the heroes and never stopping, best symbolised by how Tomura’s not even defending himself anymore, he’s just taking the hits and striking back in the same instant like a rabid animal, focused only on killing, not on self-preservation. A destroyer, reduced to using just his bare hands to fight with, but still, the instinct to attack is over-powering anything the heroes hit him with.

17) “ OH WOW OKAY OUCH THAT FUCKING HUTR JESUS CHRIST SHIGARAKI THERE WAS BETTER WAYS TO GET BACK UP”- Yeah, but this way, he’s attacking Gran Torino even as he’s rising up. His destructive emotions are practically being channelled with every move he makes, him using everything he can to lash out and destroy first before thinking of his next move. 18) “I’M SORRY FOLKS, I DON’T THINK THERE’S ANYTHING THAT CAN BE DONE TO SAVE HIS FOOT RIGHT NOW. THIS TORINO IS NO LONGER GRAN, DARE I SAY.”- His foot will be less of a concern to him than the massive gaping hole gouged in his stomach. 19) “Good fucking job Gran Torino, jumped in just to be immediately caught and about to be murdered. Well Done you fucking moron. At least you brought Shigaraki a bit of joy on killing another hero.”- Well, better the old man than Endeavour I guess. On average, Endeavour can do more damage to Tomura with his flames than Torino’s kicks could, so you could say he took one for the team. 20) “Huh, is that Nana? Back when she gave her son away? Tell me, were you watching it Gran Torino? Because I doubt this is Shigaraki’s mind right now.”- He was there to support his friend on the most painful day of her life- and it wasn’t even the day that she died. 21) “I fucking knew it you goddamn dramatic asshole.

Alright, now let us see more of that particular moment that set forth most of the tragedies that ensued, and of course, this moment right now where Gran Torino’s foot went to Valhalla”-  You have to wonder just how AFO found out about Kotaro in the first place. Nana went through all these lengths to hide him, yet he seemingly kept up the search for her relatives even after she’d died, just out of sheer spite for her memory, apparently. 22) “ah jesus I knew this would turn sad

We know this wasn’t an easy decision, we know there was no choice, but seeing Nana crying over it was not something I ever expected to see, even though I knew it happened”- Nana has always been remembered by All Might as this smiling, bright happy woman, so Gran Torino’s memories shown her letting the mask of that slip and showcase her inner anguish that she hid from everybody, even her protégée, hits harder. 23) “…

Oh god, I just realized the irony of this phrase right now

“hurt your own family to help complete strangers”

Nana had to erase all traces connecting her to her son to save him from AfO, by all intents and purposes they were complete strangers to each other

She was all alone, her only family was now herself.She hurt her family to help a complete stranger”- And that same action rendered Tomura a complete stranger to gran Torino, his grandmother’s closest confidant, such that they are now at mortal blows with each other with Tomura not giving a damm anymore.

@thelreads

[rrandomtthings]

Why Bkdk is NOT toxic:

A look through their relationship throughout the series

Cw// MAJOR bnha manga spoilers

As bakudekus, we experience that “bkdk is toxic!1!” argument on a daily. It’s something that we have all just.. let sit next to us knowing that it’s always going to be there. Of course, and understandably, it bothers most of us. What many see, especially non-manga readers, isn’t what we see.

Let’s start off with what they see. In the first episode/chapter, we start off with Bakugous infamous “Swan dive off the roof” line.

Of course, no matter how you look at it, this was a terrible thing that Bakugou said to Izuku. There is no excuse. Telling someones to kts, no matter how you may disagree and not see eye to eye, is always inexcusable (this applies to real life too!!)

Later in the chapter, Bakugou carries around a can that says “Lip Service,” which, pretty much means being all talk and not meaning actions behind the words that are being said (usually said with a negative connotation.)

Once again, does this excuse what he said to Izuku? Absolutely not. However, this does give us insight on the future and when we find out about how Bakugou feels for Deku.

Note: As for the bullying prior to this scene, there is no proof that Bakugou continuously bullied Deku as of when this has been written.

Then, the sludge incident happened. At first glance, Deku looked horrified at the attack. However, he didn’t make any moves as he assumed that the heroes will come in and save the person. Once it was revealed to him that it was Bakugou, Izuku had his “My body moved on its own” moment and did not even hesitate to save Kacchan.

After the sludge villain attack, it was explicitly stated that Bakugou had not bullied Deku since then.

Now, the two are in UA and it is revealed that Deku has a quirk to Bakugou. A quirk that he was told to keep its origins of a secret. However, Deku told Bkg about OFA, ignoring All Mights warnings because he felt like he could not lie to Kacchan. Despite them still having a very rocky relationship at this point in the series, Deku still felt the need to tell Kacchan about OFA. He could not lie to him. He could lie to his mom, all of UA, everyone in the world, but not to Kacchan.

Fast forward to DVK2 and they are fighting out their emotions. Here, Deku talks about how, although he hated those small parts of Bakugou that bullied him, he never let the bad outshine the good. He always looked up to Bakugou and wanted to be just like him.

Deku compares how he sees Kacchan to All Might. His literal hero. The man who he idolizes like crazy. He felt closer and more inspired by Kacchan than All Might. Because Kacchan was always there next to him. In Dekus eyes, despite the bullying and all, he saw Kacchan as more than All Might.

Izuku expresses how he is the only one who can accept Bakugous feelings. Not because it is explicitly about the two of them, rather it’s because he is the only one willing to listen and understand where he is coming from. And Bakugou knows this too. He could have easily asked anyone else, but instead he chose Izuku. He trusted Deku enough to be vulnerable around him.

During this fight, Bakugou expresses how he always thought that Deku continuously looked down on him. And it’s because he has never seen such genuine kindness from anyone. He was always expected to get up on his own. All because of his quirk and how he was praised for being gifted with such. He always thought that Izuku had an “attitude” that he was so unfamiliar with.

Deku, during their fight, although he does not say it out loud because he thinks that it “sounds stupid,” talks about how he sees Kacchan and his image of victory. To him, when he thinks of victory, Kacchan is who comes to mind.

After this fight, they are able to start to see eye to eye and start to understand each other’s perspectives. Now that Bakugou knows about OFA, they start to work and grow together. Win to save and Save to win.

In the JT arc there are very fun moments between the two as they start becoming more and more friendly with each other. They continue to try and one up each other, but it is much different than before. There is a lighter undertone to their words and actions. They start hanging out in the meeting room with All Might as there is also a lot of banter between the two—this is when their relationship has started to mend. Not to mention, during this arc Deku unlocks black whip all because Monoma insulted Kacchan.

Now, after the two spend so much time together with the JT and Endeavor agency arcs, the two has become much closer than they were at the beginning of the series. The two have started to mend their bond and continue to do so.

Then, the war arc.

After realizing that Shigaraki is after OFA, Deku makes the decision to follow after him. Throughout these panels, he looks absolutely terrified. Of course, why wouldn’t he be? He is about to run into a battle field all on his own, without any support and with no one knowing what he plans to do.

However, Kacchan does.

Kacchan follows Deku to Shigaraki. He claims that it’s because he has “unfinished business” with him, but, while that may be partly true, that’s not the full truth (I.e. he wants to protect Deku.)

Now, the two have reached Shigaraki and Deku is fighting against him. Bakugou tells Deku to get away from him and that he should be the last person near him. The response Bakugou gets is that no one else can defeat Shigaraki as Kacchan watches Deku in absolute fear that he will end up being terribly hurt.

Side note: look at the terror in his eyes.. I’m gonna sob

Within this specific fight with Shigaraki, there are many heroes with the two. Some of which are Endeavor, Shouto, Rock Lock, Aizawa (injured), etc. Despite knowing that this is a child up in the air fighting Shigaraki, some (not Rock Lock, he had the right idea with questioning why children are on the battle field) look in amazement as Deku continuously breaks himself so he can try and get Shigaraki down.

However, Kacchan sees past this as he yells at the other heroes about how this is not helping Deku in the slightest and that he is going to get himself killed at the rate that he was going.

Bakugou devises a plan to try and help Deku and to get Shigaraki down as the heroes look in awe at Deku. He uses Shouto and Endeavor as they try and get up to where the two were and have Endeavor use his Prominence Burn on Shigaraki in hopes that would bring him down.

While Bakugou is flying them up to Deku, he has a flashback to a conversation with All Might.

They were training Deku with black whip. They were playing a game called “Catch a Kacchan” (I will never get over how cute this name is 😭) and they called in others to help Deku practice with quirks similar to the ones that he will eventually or has either unlocked (Uraraka for Float, Tsu for black whip, etc.)

As All Might and Bakugou watch on as Deku trains, they have a conversation.

Bakugou asks All Might why he is hiding information about the fourth user from Deku. No, he doesn’t ask, he confronts him. He confronts his childhood hero for the sake of Deku. He straight up tells All Might to stop keeping information from, knowing that this could potentially harm him.

Bakugou is upset at that point. He wishes for All Might to stop keeping secrets from them, more specifically Deku.

Then, as the two continue to talk, All Might brings up the fact that he is worried for Izuku. And Bakugou is too, to which he does not deny in any sort of way.

Note: once again, even when they’re not on the battle field, Bakugou looks so worried for Deku. Many have speculated that him looking tired throughout this chapter (ch. 284) has to do with him continuously worrying about Izuku and thinking about their past together.

Bakugou continues the conversation as he talks about how Deku does not understand how special he is. All Might brings up the idea of atonement and questions Bakugou as to whether that is what he is doing with Deku as a way to make up for their past, to which Bakugou does not disagree upon. The conversation then ends with All Might talking about how the two will eventually get to talk this out together and allow for Bakugou to express his worries for Deku to him.

Then, the scene changes back to the battle field as Endeavor uses his Prominence Burn onto Shigaraki, only for it to fail as he got right back up due to his regeneration.

The battle continues between Deku and Shigaraki (who at this point is AFO) as he releases Quirk Activation spikes in Izukus direction.

Kacchan, seeing as Deku is about to get hurt, rushes to him in an instant.

Throughout this scene, we see Bakugous inner monologue. Here, we are shown all his regrets with his and Dekus relationship. How he completely regrets bullying him in the past. Deku are his final thoughts in a moment where he thinks he is about to die.

Kacchan had his “my body moved on its own” moment as he rushed in to save Deku.

After Bakugou was hit, his first words to Deku were to try and calm him down and to tell him to not win this on his own.

Upon seeing Kacchan hurt, to even say that Deku went bat shit crazy would be an understatement. He was absolutely livid as we see him fight like never before.

As Deku continues to fight against Shigaraki, Shouto flies up with his fire quirk to catch Bakugou as he is falling, to which he eventually grabs Deku after him and Shigaraki separate and Izuku starts to fall.

After putting them on the ground, Shouto goes back and fight with Nejire.

As Iida had arrived at the battle field by this point, he tries to help an injured Bakugou get out of the battle field. However, Bakugou refuses as he continues to fight.

Here, it is revealed that Bakugou, just by seeing Deku almost die, has never felt so close to death in his lifetime. Not when Bakugou got kidnapped. Not when class 1A was attack at the USJ, not after he was stabbed. It was the thought of Deku dying that made him feel like he was about to die.

The need to get to Deku caused for a quirk evolution as he had to advance his quirk in that moment to be able to reach Deku.

After the battle is done, Bakugou falls into a 2 day coma. When he wakes up, the first thing he asks is how Deku, Todoroki, Aizawa, etc. are doing.

Upon hearing that Deku is still asleep, Kacchan rushes out of bed to get to his room despite still being heavily injured. At this moment, Bakugou knew that he would not be able to talk to Deku. He just wanted to know if he was okay. He just wanted to see him.

After having to tie him up with Tsuyus tongue, knowing that that if they tie him up with anything else he would explode it, Bakugou yells “Why am I awake while you’re still asleep?” towards Dekus room as he is being dragged away by the class.

Many have taken that line as a way of showing that Bakugou fully expected to die for Deku at that moment. And he was willing to. Seeing that his effort to protect him failed and led to Deku being in a coma only greatly upset Kacchan.

At the moment that this has been written, Deku still hasn’t woken up and Kacchan was forced back to his room.

If after reading this post you still think that bkdk is toxic because of their past, I do want you to understand that people change. We all have a past, a present, and a future. You are not who you were in your past. You are who you are in the present, and you will be someone different in the future.

Bakugou clearly regrets how he treated Deku. This is not an opinion, this is a fact. He is trying to change and mend their relationship. They are living in the present right now, not the past.

Izuku does not hold any grudge against him and even admits that he feels blessed to be able to have conversations with Kacchan.

When it comes to Bakudeku, so many only look at the first episode. Even if you’re just an anime-only, the anime has DVK2. The episode where a lot of their progression comes from.

At this point, if you still think that their relationship is toxic, then im really not sure what to tell you. If your argument is still “in the first episode...” The no. Stop. We are 300+ chapters in. These two are the main protagonists and the show literally revolves around them. They are obviously going to grow. You can’t completely ignore this growth because of what happened in the first episode. You can’t only look at the things you want to and ignore the big picture.

[lurking96]

Chapter 319 or why Bakugou might not be healthy for Izuku

This here might be a bit on the anti Bakugou side. I tagged it as such so you can filter those out and put it under a read more if you dont want to read it.

So. In the last day I did read a few opinions on the chapter leaks. What some think will happen and so on. Some from Pros some from Antis. This again is an opinion. It is not absolute. I do not claim it to be the absolute truth. This is just my personal interpretation. What I think that will happen is that Class 1A lead by Bakugou will fight Midoriya to try to bring him back. I don’t think talking to him will happen with Bakugou there. As one of Bakugous coping mechanisms is fighting. However with that come problems. I can understand the reasoning behind fighting him. A little talk will most likely not make him come back. However it might ease things. Might make him a tiny bit calmer. Might not make things worse. Fighting however will make things worse. Izuku is already on edge. He is already filled with paranoia. He hasn’t slept or eaten well. He might do rash decisions. He is not in a healthy mental state. And here we have it. His friends, his supposed allies are fighting him. The people he wants to protect went out and attack him. Out in their costumes. Ready for battle. A kinda scary scene overall. You dont see their faces. You feel anger coming from them.

It might bring some memories back to Izuku if you compare it with another picture.

Just like the picture before Bakugou is kinda in the foreground.He is leading just like back then he was leading his so called “extras” This might bring back memories to Izuku. Again he is sleep deprived. His mind might not work the sharpest. For all he knows it´s like back in his other schools where Bakugou lead his group of “extras” to attack Izuku. He might fight back stronger than intended. He might just try to flee even more. Overall it is not very helpful to him. Because a part of the reason for Izukus mental health is Bakugou. Not in a kind of friendship way but more as a cause. Bakugou to put it simply had been Izukus main bully. They were never apart. From preschool to UA. They were in the same class. With team exercises they were together. Izuku never had a break from him. He was never allowed to have time without him. From early on Bakugou has called him useless, worthless, what does one think the name Deku means. Has been using his quirk on him without the teachers caring. Before people say that is long ago. It is not. Right now they are in their second year. How did their first year start. Bakugou trying to attack Midoriya. Trying to kill him. Insulting him where he goes. It is not long ago. And even if it was like 300 or so chapters ago. That still happened. That is still the characters backstory. Honestly you are fine to like a character. But one should recognize that a character has flaws. No character is perfect. Saying that you like a character and saying that they are an asshole that needs to change can coexist. I like Overhauls aesthetic and quirk. Am I okay with what he did. Nope. Would I want him set on fire. Yes. Simple as that. Now back to it. In chapter 319 we hear Bakugou say that Izukus self sacrificial nature is caused by All Might. This. I do not agree with. Again. Who has called him worthless, a pebble on the road, useless, a deku for years. It was not All Might. Izuku has incredible low self worth. If it means saving a cat from a tree he would break his legs. He doesnt care for himself. He sees himself as worthless and only as somewhat useful when he is saving people. It got drilled into him from a young age. This is not something simple that is left behind after a few days. It can take years. And so far he has nothing contrary to those ideas. There are three people that know of his former quirklessness. His mom. Who is kinda supposed to love him. All Might who never really went back on the quirkless hero thing and Bakugou who still insults him for it. Everyone else only knows him with his quirk. Only knows him with being useful. Just because he has a quirk now doesnt mean that quirkless Izuku has ever left his mind. Yes All Might is not perfect. He has flaws. Those flaws are shown and others call him out. Could he have done more. Yes. Could he have helped him mentally. To a degree. But again. All Might is flawed. He is not perfect. All Might is shown to lack social skills. Seeing Bakugou just as rival or Endeavor who has open hate for him as friends. He never had a normal relationship. And again he was not the cause for Izukus psyche. He didnt lay the groundwork. With Bakugou blaming it on All Might. The guy that is not there and can’t protect himself he is doing something one could call damage control. He is not telling the entire truth. For the truth would hinder his dream of becoming number one and reduce his social standing. Him telling others that he is even partly responsible would surely open more questions later he would want to avoid. He also calls Midoriya crazy which is a tactic used to discredit a victim. Same for him making things up and overexaggerating and so on. He did do damage control before. A bit ago he told All Might that he was bullying Izuku in the past. You would think It´s something positive. But here is the thing. He lacked details. He didnt tell him much. For all we know All Might assumed some rough housing and name calling. Nothing that bad. It is to soften the blow. So if Izuku tells him later All Might is already in the mindset that it wasn’t so bad. Bakugou seems not that he would lie and my successor must be overexaggerating a bit. Bakugou is not that dumb. He knows his way around words. He knows when to not openly attack and wait for a better chance. A fool would have kept attacking Izuku after Aizawa held him back. He was just waiting for the training with All Might. He knows what buttons to push to get information out of Izuku. He basically forced the OFA secret out of him. One could call this a good use of crocodile tears if they so want. If they dislike him that much. Again an opinion of many. As of Chapter 319. He might have good intentions. He might want something good for Izuku. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Good intentions are not an excuse. Just because Bakugou thinks it is the best doesn’t mean it will be automatically the best. Just because the dog wants the chocolate bar doesnt mean it will be healthy for anyone involved. Bakugou being there might be quite detrimental to Izukus health. He might just open up wounds again. Izuku fighting class 1A would probably not increase his trust. And what are they going to do if they win. Tie him up, drug him, force him back. He will just try to escape. His trust in them will be broken. He might allow some sleep but it will never be the same. He already had trust issues before this will just expand them further. Isolate him further. This is what AFO wants. To have the heroes fighting with eachother. To have the OFA holder isolated and even branded as Villain for fighting as hero class. 1A winning is also a big IF. Shigaraki fought Gigantomachia and the MLA sleep deprived and incredible tired and won. Shigaraki and Izuku are foils. Two sides of the same coin. Izuku had a year to analyse their quirks. He has a bunch of quirks for himself and OFA mastered far more than anytime before he trained with them. He has become a natural disaster in human form. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he defeats them and leaves. To me the good option would be trying to talk to him. Not let Bakugou do the talking. He lacks the fine control. Get him in the direction of rest. Sadly none of them are trained professionals to deal with mental health. They are children that just fought in a war and also got traumatised. So I dont have great hope on them taking the talking route. Overall I think this will be a breaking point. They will fight. Izuku will most likely win and his trust will be broken even more. He will be even more isolated. His personality might take a darker turn seeing as there is no one he can trust. It might just get even darker than before.

[greenhappyseed]

BnHA Ch.326 - Review, parallels, and comparisons

“Who are you?” was the theme that bookended Izuku’s and Iida’s development during the Stain arc. It’s the question Gran Torino asked Izuku at the start of the internship week, and at that time he had no answer; only that he wasn’t Toshinori and he needed help with OFA.

But after facing Stain and mastering Full Cowl, Izuku fully manifested Deku, his hero name and persona. And it’s this hero identity — not Izuku — that Torino thinks will be hailed as the next Symbol of Peace.

Stain himself asked the question of Tenya, where once again the “correct” answer was a triumphant assertion of Tenya’s hero identity, Ingenium. Shoto is the star player here, helping Tenya remember his motivation for becoming a hero and reminding Tenya of his role as the class leader.

It’s fitting that Stain is now the one asking “who are you really?” to Toshinori, who is struggling to reconcile his retired hero persona with who he is as a human. Compare Ch.1, where All Might merely has to convince Izuku he has a second physical form, with Stain in Ch.326, where the physical evidence is insufficient. Stain wants All Might to justify his origin and his heroic spirit, regardless of what form his body takes.

I’m struck by how eerily calm and easy All Might’s words are here, even with the Hero Killer at his throat, testing his sincerity like Stain did with Shigaraki. We know there’s a part of him still expecting death by villain (and now he seems to be thinking he deserves it?!!?!? This chapter gets dark fast.). We also know he will always be willing to give his life to save “his disciple” (more on that in a bit), but All Might has no fear of Stain or his questions. All Might acknowledges when Stain makes good points and provides honest answers. The “Falsely claim? Fair enough” line is stunning coming from the guy who was #1 for decades — can you imagine Endeavor, Best Jeanist, or Hawks answering that way? Again, compare All Might’s reaction to Shigaraki:

This brings us to the heart of All Might’s despair. All Might feeling distant from heroes and heroism isn’t wrong — as I’ve noted before, everyone else in the story seems to have forgotten about him. (Fun that he opens the chapter with the excuse that he’s “checking up on hero-hating groups” while himself not feeling optimistic about the state of heroism). He followed Aizawa’s advice and was “there” for Izuku. He kept his promise to Inko and tried to take care of Izuku, even though he knew he couldn’t keep up with him. But it wasn’t enough.

All Might ultimately failed because he was afraid to be a human — not an idol or a god — and let down his “disciple.” This word is important. All Might never names Izuku here, and he doesn’t say “successor” or “student.” He says “my disciple” twice, which both carries religious connotations AND implies spreading the doctrine of a teacher/leader rather than merely having a title passed down. All Might is acknowledging Izuku as his follower, which inherently means All Might is calling himself an idol (or someone with teachings to be followed). Then Stain begins talking about All Might’s “embers,” another loaded word. All of this calls back to Ch.94 (titled “From Teacher to Disciple”) where All Might thinks about Nana telling him to do his best right before he says farewell to his last OFA embers to defeat AFO…and at the end says “Now it’s your turn.”

In that context, it was too difficult for All Might to tell Izuku that even the most powerful can only do their best and need to be human. All Might “lit the fire” in Izuku and his admiration of All Might leads him to work himself to ruins. To prevent self-destruction, All Might has to stop Izuku’s admiration OR stop the OFA fire, which are terrifying options.

Stain, of course, isn’t here for any of this. He himself is a “disciple” of All Might. And while All Might thought his embers ran out in Kamino, Stain’s point is that they’re not gone from the world. They spread to many “disciples”, not just the OFA successor. And now it’s up to everyone to do their best to keep those embers burning.

The chapter ends with Stain pulling a Gran Torino style prank and acknowledging that he was playing dumb. He knew exactly who All Might was all along. Maybe he knew about Kamino and All Might’s retirement the whole time too. Having goaded All Might into living up to the title of “hero,” Stain offers All Might info from Tartarus (hopefully it’s something new that wouldn’t have prevented the war, otherwise I imagine All Might kicking himself harder). And then he tells All Might to kill him in order to fix society. I can’t imagine All Might going for this, especially if (1) Stain’s words really do inspire All Might; and (2) Stain’s information is useful and not secretly a message from AFO. Either one of those acts is heroic by itself.

I’d like to see All Might take the information from Stain and return to UA. Or at least share the information with Nezu, Aizawa, etc. I think Stain’s offer to “let” All Might kill him as “payback” for killing 40 heroes is a good foil to the “payback” Nezu and Aizawa are plotting, so I’d love to see their reactions to All Might letting Stain go. With that, it’s time to put our umbrellas away!!

[gentrychild]

My fears: 1. Second wants to control Izuku's body, 2. He wants Bakugou to have OFA since he sees a bit of himself in him. Both would happen because he doesn't trust Izuku since AFO is his father. By enabling Izuku not taking care of himself, he hopes Deku ends up failing and believing he isn't worthy of using OFA. Maybe this is a scretch, but Second gives the feels of having a gray morality and would see damaging Izuku and shortening Bakugo's lifespan as a necessary sacrifice. (1/2)

(2/2) I don't want to jump to conclusions because we don't know much about Second, but he already showed red flags: 1. He lived in a time where it was kill or be killed, and still has this mentality. 2. He didn't trust Izuku for "reasons" (obviously DFO, and the reason of wanting to save Shigaraki was total bullshit) 3. He agrees with Deku not taking breaks and not caring about himself. To me, there is the possibility that he wants to avoid another AFO.

When I read the chapter, my first thought was: "Okay, if AFO the quirk can control Shigaraki's body, OFA can probably do that too."

Time to remember that Deku means Puppet.

But AfO couldn't just manipulate Shigaraki from the get-go. He tried to overwhelm his will several times during the war arc battle. Even though Shigaraki was probably exhausted due to the awful procedure he went through, the fact he got woken up too early, and the tiny detail of his body breaking down, AFO only got full access when Shigaraki let him (about right after he got his behind handed to him and called AFO for help).

Now, I don't think that most the Vestiges would be okay with just straight up possessing Izuku right now.

However, I can absolutely see Second manipulating them into having no choice but to do it.

In the past chapters, we saw Izuku ignoring the Vestiges' advice several times, as they are telling him to slow down or not to use their quirks so recklessly.

Now, they are telling him to slow down because his wounds haven't healed yet, but Izuku can't since Danger Sense keeps ringing in his head. He has to save everyone. He has to find AFO. He has to find Shigaraki.

And with that, we don't have Second encouraging Midoriya: he is saying to the other Vestiges that there is no other path. Which is worse, as he is putting the idea in their minds that discouraging Izuku would be useless, but that there is no choice, which is a very dangerous state of mind.

So Izuku keeps exhausting himself. If he meets AFO or Shigaraki or both, I really doubt that he will be able to last long against them.

And that moment would be perfect for Second to intervene and to go "Hey, let us help you. You're tired but you're not alone." and to get his consent to control his body.

That way, he is sure that things are done the way he wants. Shigaraki gets to die. AFO gets to die. And it's not a bad deal, as the Vestiges definitely have more experience fighting than Izuku!

And what are the other Vestiges going to do about that? Oh, I am sure they would be mad. But if the alternative is to let Midoriya and OFA die...

[ignitification]

The Determination to be Saved

The concept of ‘Determination to be Saved’ is a concept introduced when Deku saves Eri from Overhaul. It comes up in this panel, and it refers to Eri finally realising that her sacrificing herself in favour of the others, making herself the victim in order not to hurt others is not going to bring any good, so she finally puts herself in the position to be saved and taking the chance to grab Izuku’s hand when he extends it and not let go.

However, this same concept is (even a little bit shifted) the one applying to the villains. First and foremost, however is applies to Tomura Shigaraki. 

This chapter (305), we finally had a breakthrough in the plans concerning Izuku and his ‘will’ to extend his hand to save Shigaraki. This feeling, the same he has towards Izuku thinks he needs to save, stems from the fact that Izuku sees Shigaraki as more than a villains. When they were both in the Vestige World (World of OfA), what Izuku saw, was not a raging, spiteful and hating man, but instead a crying child, whose face was innocently (and maybe even involuntarily) asking for help. 

Of course, this reminds us of the time when Izuku tossed himself in the situation where Bakugou was being smothered by the Sludge Villain - and running to save his bully and ex-friend because he thought that inwardly Bakugou’s face was looking like he was crying for help.

In this scene, Bakugou asks why Deku has thrown himself to save him, and Izuku does not even realise it himself at first, but then he comes up with: 

Izuku’s nature is to selfless and self-sacrificing, so it is fully in character when he, in chapter 305, says that no matter how dangerous or draining, he will extend that hand over to Shigaraki. This sense of sureness come, of course, from the lessons given to him by All Might about One for All, and in which Izuku learns that OfA is a power made to ‘save’ people. Which inwardly means, that Izuku has to try and save all those he can reach. And he does not take care about giving his life for it, if it means that he will get to save that person. 

However, no matter the good intentions Deku might have, if on the other part (exactly like it happened in Bakugou and Eri’s (when they first met) case) the person does not want to be reached, and consequently saved, what can he do. Is the the fault of the hero if he does try to save someone who does not want to be saved and ultimately the hero fails to? Or is the fault of the victim who did not want to reached by the hero’s hands? I think that this question will be at the core of the conflict of Shigaraki and Deku. Mainly because, so far, we saw how destructive are Shigaraki’s instincts. 

He does not see a future. Not for himself, not for anyone. Not for society. At least not for this society. Which is why, as well, he feels a terrible fascination and is repelled by the ideas of Stain: because he feels like the society that Stain wants to repent and recreate so badly, at the end of day, is so rotten that there is no way back. There is no possible salvation for it. And he applies the same concept to himself: since he has been raised in this society, a society that refused him and all those alike, it means that he does not have any hope to be reversed and saved. It is not a case that Shigaraki wants to destroy: after all, what is left for him to do when there was a chance for him to accept a hand, but it never got extended? Why would be expect one now, when he has become a villain, and an unredeemable one at that? 

So, if the Determination to be Saved concept, as I think it does, plays a big role in the saving process, it would be very difficult to save Shigaraki. But that is exactly the point on the story - and why Izuku, after all, is the only one who will become the Greatest Hero. Because when he looked at the bent face of a villain he did not see only rage, hatred and will to destroy but the figure of a child, crying for help, and to whom that help was never offered. 

[tigerdovefan34-realone]

So guys, here's something to think about when it comes to Villain Deku.

He wouldn't let Kota be killed by Muscular. Villain or Hero, it's not in his nature to just let a kid die. At the same time, I don't see him fighting Muscular and knocking him out. I can instead see him say "Are you really going to kill a little kid, the weakest kind of opponent out there, when there are several heroes and students far stronger than him that could give you more of a fight?" And Muscular would agree and go fight, likely being KO'd after a long engagement with the teachers and the remaining Students. This would allow Izu to collect Kota, convincing him that the LoV will be moving to reshape hero society and fix it in a way that the 'fakes' can't, maybe he can even tell him about his quirklessness and his conversation with All Might before saying "Join Us and your parents' death will not be in vain." Kota would likely agree, since he's a little kid and little kids are easily manipulated.

As they're fleeing back to base with Bakugou, he likely collects Mustard as well, meaning only Moonfish and Muscular goes to Tartarus while the VAS gains a new, albeit young, member. Izu, Toga, and Mustard take over Kota's training to help make him a proper villain.

When we get to the Overhaul Arc, I think Izuku would insist that he goes with Twice and Toga and that he should take Kota along since it'd due all of them some good. Kota finds Eri and convinces her to go with him and the others, much to Izuku's everlasting glee, making him proud of his self-proclaimed Little Brother. While Shiga, Compress, Spinner, and Dabi go after Overhaul to deal the finishing blow, Mustard stays at the current hideout to make sure they can all successfully regroup. Mirio is this close to taking Eri from Izuku's grasp, but is slashed by a thrown knife from Himiko, forcing him to get back and allow the villains to leave.

So now, Kota and Eri has joined the LoV and the two become close friends with a potential future for romance between them that can be set up for a sequel with a setting of a decade in the future.

With MVA, I can see Izuku teaming with Toga and Mustard while trusting Kota and Eri in Compress' care to take out ReDestro only to be stopped by Curious and Separated. Mustard and Toga evolves their quirks around the same time and Izuku later finds a wounded Mustard before Finding Twice and Toga. He convinces Jin to let them be in his care and Compress to give him back his two adopted siblings as he cares for his two beaten friends, using a clone if each Twice made for a blood transfusion.

Then we get to the War Arc, I can see Izuku setting a trap for the heroes and making them choose between Eri and Shigaraki while also laying one for Hawks, though he and Dabi fails to save Twice simply because Hawks was going to ensure Jin would die before he died, much to Izuku's immense rage, beating Hawks to a bloody pulp after Dabi flames him due to the fact that he saw Him as a Big Brother and the only person who genuinely cared about the young members of the league ever since Magne's death. Toga and Mustard participates in the massacre of Heroes to avenge Jin while Spinner is convinced to take Eri and Kota to a safe place. In the aftermath of the war, the group is split in two, Shigaraki, Dabi, Spinner, and Giran in one group and Izuku, Toga, Mustard, Eri, and Kota in the other, with Jin dead and Compress arrested.

Izuku is appointed the leader of the other group by a group vote where everyone except himself votes for him (he votes for Mustard).

During all of this, we can have IzuToga develop into a genuinely cute romance, with Izuku initially being cautious of her and Toga being curious of him when they first meet. Through their interactions together, they begin to realize how great of a team they are, with Himiko growing a genuine love for Izuku without him getting all bloody while Izuku grows to always want her by his side. Mustard comments on their relationship with Kota and Compress, often making witty jokes at their expense. Come MVA, Izu decides to give her a kiss and confesses his feelings for her and she does the same, just in case they don't come back. Following the war, the two decide to marry in secret because this might be the end of the road for them but they want to ensure their love for one another before they are taken away and they agree to try for a child, with Jin if it's a boy and Mag if it's a girl, to always remember the two members who actually tried to get involved in their lives and be there for them.

As for who gets OfA here, instead of going with the tired Bakugou/Mirio gets it, why not give it to Uraraka, Shoto, or Tsu. Any of those three would be great Candidates to succeed All Might and would be around for it when AfO is defeated, unlike Mirio.

Hell, imagine the tension in a Battle of IzuToga v OchaTsu. The fighting would be amazing.

Maybe I should write this fic idea into reality. If I get 15 Reblogs and 30 Likes by next Thursday and I'll consider doing it, anymore than that and I definitely will.

Ciao, everyone!

[henoda4]

Spoilers ahead + speculation

So everyone keeps making the Deku/Sasuke comparison now that Brocolli boy has decided to go solo and all I can think of is:

Deku vs Kacchan pt 3

I can't be the only one.....

There's so much angst potential if Bakugo decides to chase Deku down. Despite Deku's motivations for leaving being drastically different than Sasuke's (I mean let's be real this is likely just more Midoriya "selfless" Izuku branding, he's probably thinking this'll keep everyone else safe since AFO/Shiggy are specifically after him.. where as Sasuke mostly had revenge on the brain), but still he'd probably throw hands if he thought it'd ultimately keep Bakugo out of harm's way. And if Bakugo decides to chase after him, no way in hell is he going to give up without a fight. He'd make it his mission to literally knock some sense into Deku.

------------------

"Deku...what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Kacchan, I-"

"I thought I told you not to do this shit on your own Deku! Or did you not listen to a fucking thing I said when I saved your ass?!"

".... I've watched people I care about get injured and d-die. All because of me, because of OFA, because I'm not strong enough yet..."

"And you think running away is going to make you stronger?"

"I'm not running away-"

"*tch* The fuck you aren't-"

"I'm doing this to protect everyone. To protect you! Don't you get it?! AFO is after me! This is something I have to do!"

"I don't need your damn protection!"

"I ALMOST WATCHED YOU DIE!"

"...I can't-I can't do that again. I can't risk putting anyone in danger, not again. This is my responsibility."

"Shut the hell up!"

"Fuck you- you think I don't fucking understand? I almost watched you die too you asshole. I thought you were dead! I thought that Shigaraki bastard had killed you. After everything, after we- "

"Kacchan?"

"Dammit Deku, didn't All Might say some shit about us working together to make the best heroes?"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying my dipshit of a rival is trying to shoulder everything on his own yet again. I'm saying I don't want him to fucking die because he's too goddamn selfless for his own good. I don't want my friend to deal with this shit alone, not when I can help him."

"K-"

"I'm saying if you're sure you need to do this, if you're going to take down this AFO bastard or save Shigaraki or whatever... I want in."

Bakugou extends out his hand in offering.

--------------

(Apologies if this is a tad OOC. But it would not leave my brain alone until I wrote it out.)

Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled internal screaming about this latest chapter.

[ladyoftheblackpaint]

Dad-for-One Theory Breakdown

So now that the big man is out and on the loose, I was reading about this theory, and honestly it’s pretty interesting.

All For One being Izuku’s father.

Other people could probably write better analyses of the theory itself than me, but from what I understand these are some main arguments to support this being a possibility:

Firstly, let’s talk about AFO’s appearance.

He’s shown with white hair in the anime when he was younger, as does his younger brother. His eyes are constantly shadowed even before his face got jacked up by All Might.

So genetically speaking, here are the traits that constitute Izuku and his parental figures:

One of Izuku’s parents would need to have freckles

One of Izuku’s parents would need to have green hair (check)

One of Izuku’s parents would need to have curly hair

One of Izuku’s parents would need to have green eyes (check)

One of Izuku’s parents would need to have his eye shape (check)

One of Izuku’s parents would need to have his skin tone (check)

The thing with genetics, though, is that they’re weird things and parents are not always the sole givers of traits.

As we can see, from the parts of All For One’s face that is visible, he doesn’t have curly hair OR freckles, which is sort of a big kick in the gut for this theory.

Irregardless, I do have to say that theory, though, does have a point with the fact that his eyes are hidden. Most of Izuku’s traits seem to come from his mother, and the fact that two of his most telling traits (his curly hair and his freckles) just so happen to be in the same spots that are covered up by scar tissue in the design of present-day AFO is pretty interesting.

Coincidental New Abilities Given To Izuku & Izuku’s strange pain threshold.

So this is one that I have been asking questions about. OFA is a stock piling quirk, but from the looks of it, only strength is actually passed down from one individual to the next, like an energy reserve. However, if that is the case, why is it that all of a sudden the vestiges decided to change the rules of the game and bestow onto Izuku all of their abilities.

Why not All Might? He was the closest to killing AFO in the past, so if they had done so with him he might have actually done it.

It’s possible that the reason they chose Izuku was because of the impending catastrophes that were obviously coming to fruition with the League of Villains and Tomura.

I’m left to wonder if there was another reason, though:

One of the themes of My Hero Academia is how quirks harm the user over time. All Might gets wounded and then forces himself to keep using his quirk,  Bakugou hurts his arms if he uses his quirk too much, Aizawa gets dry eye, Ururaka throws up, and the most obvious of them is Izuku-- who breaks his bones with the intensity of his quirk.

This didn’t happen with All Might and apparently not with any of the past users, either, since All Might seemed surprised at the extent since it was easier for him, even though he suspected what the consequences might be. Add onto this that the ability is now supposed to be stronger than All Might’s was, and you get the picture.

The point is: Izuku gets wounded a lot and yet seems to have the pain resistance of a freaking monster I mean:

COME ON.

Taking that into consideration, AFO has been described as being concerned about how his quirk affects his body. Since he has so many quirks that could potentially harm him and overwhelm him. I mean, look at the experiments with the Nomu-- people are obviously not supposed to have more than one quirk.

So someone with the capability of wielding multiple quirks with possibly painful drawbacks would, probably, be able to pass on some of the needed traits to keep that up genetically to Izuku, amiright.

And it’s possible the vestiges could tell that Izuku could handle it because of this genetic connection.

He didn’t have a quirk, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t get other traits from AFO if he was his father, such as his endurance and pain threshold.

Which leads me to my next point:

Extra Toe Bone

I actually just thought of this when I was writing the last point, so if it makes no sense welp...

Izuku was born quirkless, something that is considered relatively rare, expecially as the generations go on. Quirks are genetic phenomenon, and so if two people who have quirks have a child, it is VERY slim that their child will be born quirkless, unless they had a grandparent or someone else down the line who was quirkless.

Now, AFO was part of the first generation of quirked people. Meaning, his parents would have likely been quirkless, something that would have made it much easier for his offspring to be quirkless, as well.

Fire-breathing Absent Father

This is one of the more easy and obvious ones.

Horikoshi has said that Izuku’s father would show up later in the story, meaning that he has had a plot planned out for Izuku’s parents. Whatever that might be.

So that obviously shuts down the idea that his father is simply an unimportant character. To be introduced so that into the story as if he’s a vital piece for the future story seems...strange. Pretty suspicious.

Anyways, there’s also the information that’s been given about Izuku’s father having the quirk of fire breathing, and, obviously, a man who has numerous quirks would have the possibility of being a fire breather.

There’s not much else to say about this point.

Parallelism

OH, this one’s my favorite.

Okay, looking at Tomura Shigaraki’s character for a moment, we see the connection he has with Nana, one of the previous holders of One for All.

This is a plot technique that is basically just a twist in the narrative. How could someone SO GOOD and someone that All Might looked up to have a grandchild so inherently evil? His family was relatively normal, even if his father was abusive (god, that’s a terrible thing to say but I digress). His father’s abuse came from the trauma he experiences when he was abandoned by Nana, but all in all his family was full of ordinary people. He had grandparents, a mother, a sister, and his abusive dad (oh god).

Even with the heroic heritage and the normal family life, Tomura becomes one of the worst villains in the series.

By parallelism, I mean, imagine the DRAMA if Izuku-- pure, wanting-to-be-a-hero, saving everyone’s ass, sunshine child Izuku-- was the most powerful villain’s child...that’d be fucking awesome. I would shit bricks. It’d be amazing!

Possibly predictable...

But amazing!

Plus, if you look at both Izuku and Tomura’s parents, if the Dad For One theory is true, they would each have one caring parent and one “bad” parent.

It would fit so well. With the narrative of the “heroes” of society not being inherently good (Nana abandoning her child-- even if she believed it was for his best interest) and villains simply being misunderstood until the point that they snap (look at literally ANY villain in the series. There’s some type of narrative about being abandoned by society).

One of the best heroes ever producing one of the greatest villains, and vice versa.

It’d be beautiful.

THAT’S some badass parallelism.

PLUS, it would fit with the narrative of ending the cycle of violence. For a story so based on the intricacies of society and what is truly “evil” and “good”, to have an ending where the two characters stray from their genetically defined path and decide their own destinies would be SO satisfying I’m getting excited just thinking about it.

ANYWAYS, I’m not so sure how much I believe this theory might come true, but I know that it’s not a silly theory at all. Looking at the narrative, the possible hints, the parallelism (GOD the PARALLELISM) it would make sense in the long run and, in my opinion, be super interesting.

[sarahjtv]

BNHA Chapter 308 Spoiler Thoughts: Beat His Ass, Young Midoriya!

Chapter leaks are out!  Full chapter hasn’t been revealed yet (and take what I say with a grain of salt until the official translations come out), but I think I have a pretty good idea of what’s going on.  Nothing super heavy, but it’s an action-packed chapter that shows us how much of a badass Deku has become since he left UA and went all vigilante on us.  So, let’s do this:

Before we get into the chapter, I need to mention our mangaka, Kohei Horikoshi-sensei’s comment this week.  He’s basically apologizing for taking a break last week, calling himself a “small-fry”, and promising to pick himself up.  Horikoshi deserved a break last week and he is by no means a “small-fry” for creating one of the best and most popular pieces of fiction in the last few years.  I hope that he knows that and that he shouldn’t blame himself for taking a break.  

So, the chapter picks up right where we left off!  Deku and Muscular’s battle begins and Muscular recognizes Deku’s voice.  He says that he’s been waiting for this moment as everyone else he’s faced have been weaklings compared to Deku.  As far as we know, Deku has been the only one to even beat Muscular by himself.  It took over 100% of his strength to do so, but Deku did manage to kick Muscular’s ass.  It makes sense why he’d want a rematch.

I need to take a moment here to talk about how awesome Deku looks in his Vigilante costume (as I’ve decided to call it).  The tattered clothing really works for him and the dark sclera around his eye adds to the effect.   Again, I love that he’s finally putting the bunny hood and metal mask to use.  I mean, he used them before, but not as a real part of his daily costume.  He looks almost like a completely different person with them on.  I’d be scared of Deku tbh.  

As the fight continues, he gives the injured Yo Shindo to his GF, Tatami.  Tatami can’t see Deku’s costume because of the smoke surrounding him, but she does kind of recognize his voice from somewhere.  I do wonder if Tatami’s going to put the pieces together and find out that the vigilante is Izuku Midoriya.  And I wonder if she’s going to get the word about his actions spreading and if that will reach our UA kids.  Or the news stations will, that might happen too.  

Speaking of smoke, DEKU UNLOCKED THE 6TH OFA USER’S QUIRK!  The 6th user is the Tobio Kageyama-looking dude with the long collar (He’s cute btw 😳!) and his name is “En” which translated to smoke.  His Quirk is Smokescreen which explains the smoke surrounding Deku at the end of the last chapter.  Deku is using the Quirk too much, so he needs to calm down a bit and use each Quirk individually.  There’s actually quite a bit that Deku could use with a Quirk like Smoakscreen: He could hide himself for a sneak attack, he could use it as a distraction, use it if he needs to retreat, etc.  My mind immediately went to Pokémon (because of course it did) and how Team Rocket would constantly use moves like Smoakscreen and Haze to either distract Ash and Co. to confuse them or use a sneak attack, or run away from the protagonist.  It’s another support-type Quirk, but it’s a damn good one if used right. 

Edit: There’s a panel that shows the scale of how much Smokescreen Deku used and it’s A LOT.  Like, the smoke is covering several streets and it goes to the top of some buildings.  It’s hard for really anyone to see anything.  Deku’s really trying to keep himself in the shadows, I suppose.

To use all his Quirks well, En suggests that Deku think of each Quirk like a support tool.  So, Float is a jetpack, Black Whip is a long string of rope, Danger Sense is a radio, and Smoakscreen is a flare or some kind of smoke grenade (I don’t know the specific name).  This is a really good way of thinking for Deku since he’s been using object-focused metaphors for OFA before.  Remember the “Egg in The Microwave” and the “Turntable in The Microwave”?  Similar to that!

Edit: Fan-scans are out.  It seem like Deku is actively talking to En here as if he’s a little voice in his head guiding him on what to do.  My guess is that after his coma talk with the OFA Holders, Deku can now talk to the vestiges consciously.  He doesn’t need to enter a dream-like state to interact with him; it’s just a thing he can do willingly.

So, Deku uses each Quirk individually and finally ties Muscular down with Black Whip.  I can’t describe it, but it’s so cool to see Deku in action here absolutely folding Muscular.  He really has improved since their last fight. There’s one panel that has a close up of Deku’s masked face and he looks so damn cool!  I’m so tempted to color it when the official translations come out.

Deku is asking Muscular where AFO and Shigaraki are, but Muscular doesn’t know.  He also asks why Muscular is doing what he’s doing, but Muscular just responds that there is only blood and battle in his heart and  he doesn’t want to live a life where he regrets not fulfilling that (his name is revealed to be Gouto Imasuji btw.  Don’t know the translation behind that, but I assume it has to do with his Quirk and his violent personality).  So, this confirms that Deku is actively looking for Shigaraki and AFO.  He’s not just saving people left and right, but he is actively looking for the big bad on his own.  I can’t see that ending well without help unfortunately.  Deku’s also trying to reason with Muscular to see if there’s a different path for him similar to his fight with Gentle and LaBrava.  He’s really going for the “Save People’s Hearts” route and I can understand why.  That’s Deku’s character at its core.  It’s why he wants to try to save Shigaraki despite everything.  If there is a different path for a villain, then Deku will try to lead them to it.  Unfortunately, villains like Muscular don’t always have that path.  

Edit: Actually, you know what, how in the world did Deku know Muscular’s real name?  Did he see it on the news somewhere?  Did he do some research and manage to look it up?  Does he have someone to give him intel?  I mean, unless Muscular’s name was broadcast out there, his real name is some very specific information Deku got a hold of.  

Finally, as he remembers Shigaraki and Kota (the small boy Deku saved back in the Forest Training Camp), Deku runs towards Muscular with full speed and finishes him with one powerful punch!  Deku speeds past Muscular as we finally see his face again under the mask (Badass Deku🥵)!  One Punch Man has left the chat, my dudes.  For real, though, if Muscular really is defeated, it’s amazing how flawlessly Deku beat him.  Deku used every Quirk well and efficiently to dodge Muscular's attacks and pin him down so he could get a clean hit in.  Everything was calculated and executed perfectly.  This is not the Deku we knew back in the Training Camp Arc.    

Edit: Ok, it was explained that Shindo’s Vibration actually did effect Muscular’s Quirk.  Then tendons in his muscles were pulled and were starting to unravel.  That’s what made an opening for Deku to get a good hit in.  I think it would’ve been hard for Deku to knock Muscular out with one punch if that opening wouldn’t have been made.  So, Shindo wasn’t entirely useless.  

And that’s it from what I can gather!  Damn good action-packed chapter! A+ art and writing from Horikoshi once again!  This man just keeps bringing us 🔥.  I’m so glad to see Deku fight like the badass he’s meant to be.  I wish it didn’t have to take a war and several near-death experiences to get here, but Shonen gotta Shonen.  He knocked the lights out of Muscular, I almost feel sorry for him.  He got his ass kicked by the same kid twice in less than a year.  You should’ve stayed in Tartarus, my dude.  Really, all prisoners should’ve stayed in Tartarus.  If Deku can defeat Muscular, then none of them stand a chance against him now.  I can only assume Deku’s going to go after everyone who was associated with the LOV to find Shigaraki and AFO at this point.  Thankfully, we don’t have a break next week.  Will En teach Deku how to play volleyball?!?  I’m kidding!  I do want to know what our UA kids are doing, especially Bakugo, Shoto, and Uraraka.  This would be a good time to transition to them.  Like, they can see Muscular’s capture on the local news, put the pieces together, and go after Deku.  Or we could just keep focusing on Deku’s vigilante adventures, that works too!  

Me @ Deku:

[palbabor-writes]

I have, uh, thoughts...

M’kay, I know this has likely been harped on until nothing is left but little bits and pieces, but after reading this latest chapter, I realized what’s been bothering me about this current arc. It’s the imbalance of violence and aggression that is heaped onto Shigaraki.

I don’t know if this is Horikoshi’s intention, and I’m likely looking wayyy too into this, but I’d argue you don’t have your characters say things for no reason. So, if you’ve got a minute, let’s see if I can sort through these nagging emotions of mine.

warnings: manga spoilers 220 - 285, basically, no touch if you don’t want to see the current arc 

Ok. Let’s roll the clock back and look at something Shigaraki told us at the USJ.

Now, while he has changed a lot from these early arcs, that core motivation he carries here is the same. He wants society to see just how fragile and how ridiculous their reliance on a hero state of justice really is. And, I would say that he’s absolutely right in this assessment.

The idea of heroes and villains needs a foundation of violence. They need that evil, almost as much as they need the concept of justice. It’s the age old right and wrong theory. It doesn’t leave space for grey, for nuance, for differences in ideology or upbringing.

However, heroes like to ignore what they can’t fix. Like anyone, they’re human and humans don’t often take pleasure in looking at the uncomfortable. I’d argue that’s why Gran Tourino doesn’t check back in on Kotaro. Yes, he made a vow, but those memories of that crying child being placed with a trusted friend, and not his mother, not Nana, have stuck with him. Nana wouldn’t be any wiser, or any less dead, if he checked in on her son. In chapter 281, we finally, FINALLY see Gran reflecting on that choice both he and Nana made

If he had checked in, Kotaro might have known a different memory of his mother, or he might have at least been able to see the threads of aggression and abuse that were riddling Tenko’s life. He might have seen AFO, manipulating and watching. Might, might, might. No matter how you shake it, everything changes when there’s some kind of monitoring, of looking out for your fellow man.

With that in mind, BNHA’s world state, which is based on hero work, would need a strong set of checks and balances to function properly, to catch those falling into the cracks & I’d argue we don’t see much push for that from the everyday populace.

Which is wild. Because society itself is practically Quirkless. Sure, 80% have a quirk, but in Japan you cannot use your quirk in public. If you do, you run the risk of arrest or classification as a villain.

That is why we see moments like these

Izuku is likely one of the only people in this massive crowd who really has no quirk. There is a horde of people standing there and no one is lifting a finger. It’s kinda a “bread and circuses,” mentality. They look fucking entertained and no one is freaking out except for Izuku, who knows what it feels like inside that goop thing. Instead, they’re all waiting, watching for the next hero, or for All Might to show up. But wait, aren’t there heroes there? It’s a city and this is a massive attack, it’s brought foot traffic to a standstill, surely a hero will get there and save this boy who is literally dying.

Oh. They’re there. But they’re waiting too

They are all “managing,” the situation and hoping Bakugo will survive long enough for someone with the right quirk to come along. Not polling the masses of people to see if any of them could possibly assist in the meantime, no, all these civilians get to watch this miscarriage of “justice.” Don’t worry. If the kids strong enough, he’ll make it.

So far, Shigaraki’s underlying motivation calling for a more rigorous, critical, take on heroes doesn’t feel too far fetched. Looking at chapter 1 alone, the current way things are isn’t right and it’s not fair.

Now, Shigaraki isn’t going about asking for it the “right,” way, but I bet he’d see a similar response even if he wasn’t hurting and maiming people as he goes.

The latter would let him be swept aside just as easily as the former. We see this happen with Stain. The news isn’t talking about the Nomu, or the countless people who were terrorized and hurt. No, they’re talking about the Hero Killer, because just like in our real society, that’s what get the clicks, the likes and the attention. Again, people don’t like to look at things that make them uncomfortable.

Yet, even with this horrifying fact, that Stain could go down in history books as a villain, as someone who gleefully killed others, people, both good and bad, sat up and took notice. Many even identified with his ideals: That heroes are corrupt and they are only in the field for the fame and money. Only All Might was the perfect specimen to Stain. Because this is an idea that people can get behind, to me, that means that others know things are stacked against the underbelly, the downtrodden. But they can’t be bothered to call for change.

On the flip side, Shigaraki, who has a better grasp on the true ills and neglect of hero society is often told he has no “real,” ideology, no real conviction, and this is a theme that’s repeated over and over and over.

Like most things in BNHA, it begins with All Might

Then it’s carried to Stain, Dr. Ujiko, an ally and long time supporter of AFO, to Re-Destro, and, most recently, to Endeavor. They all can’t see what Shigaraki is wanting, what he’s calling for.

It’s easier to name him a monster, a freak, scum, then to listen or to absorb any of what he’s saying.

But, as he says, he’s got convictions. He’s got his father’s, he’s got AFO’s ideas on the ethics and morals of hero society, AFO’s drive to crush OFA, once and for all, and his own deep seeded resentment and neglect toward a broken hero society. Honestly, he’s got more motivation than almost any other character.

And how is he treated? How does Horikoshi show us the “heroes” response? He gives up a heaping of violence. From chapter 270 to 285, Tomura Shigaraki is hit, punched, burned and beat around a whopping 36 times. And, for most of this fight, he is effectively quirkless.

How many hits does he get in? A grand total of 6.

And his first reaction is never to maim, in these moments, instead it’s to talk, to rattle, and to question

He only goes for Endeavor after he’s been burned, likely, without his regeneration abilities, to the point of death. These heroes aren’t aiming to subdue, they’re going in for the kill. And yes, he has just decayed an entire hospital and the surrounding area, the heroes are warranted in their anger and their frustration. After all, they’re the ones who dropped the ball here. This was a “planned” raid and they should have been the only ones in any real danger. They’re heroes, so I’d argue that it’s their job, their life’s mission to save, no matter the cost.

Besides, if they can spare AFO, not once, but twice, they should be trying to spare Shigaraki just as hard.

This has been a long and drawn out arc, with many, many ups and downs, but the one thing I don’t wanna see is the heroes getting a pass. This society has pitfalls and it’s got big ones. People are treated as lesser if they don’t have quirks, or if they have the wrong ones, the ones that don’t make them look normal. People are pressed to the side when they don’t conform and a hero, the current number one, has gotten away with mentally, and physically, scarring his family for over 20 years.

Right now, there are no checks. There is no: who watches the watcher in this world and I’d argue society has suffered for it.

Yet how are we shown how to treat those who don’t agree with us? With anger, untapped rage and physical violence, of course. And this is true of BOTH sides.

At the end of the day, as he said back at the USJ: violence only breeds more violence and while I don’t like predicting future chapters or arcs, I’m hoping that thread won’t be dropped. It’s one of the things that drew me into BNHA and I hope we get to see more, not less, of that grey morality.

[oldblog-ileft]

Hi so I just realized that Kota has a very high chance of DYING in the Treehouse Trio AU.

Let's face it, Shirakumo took "I'll be a hero even if it kills me" literally. He absolutely is not above risking his own life to save Kota, much like Izuku, the only difference being... Shirakumo's chances of coming out on top are deep past the earth's crust when fighting someone like Muscular.

Do I think Shirakumo is smart? Yes, in fact I think he would be great at coming up with a solution. The only problem is that his quirk isn't exactly going to be much help in fighting Muscular in particular and he's self-sacrificial. The most he could do is maybe blind Muscular, but even then that's only putting himself and Kota at further risk because Muscular could start blindly swinging, taking down the mountain around them and crushing all three (and potentially anyone near) in the process.

Shirakumo is nowhere near Izuku's strength in canon, even at that time. It's confirmed early on that each OFA user grows stronger each time it's passed along. Meaning, Izuku is going to be more powerful than Yagi "I can change the weather with the sheer air force in one punch" Toshinori. Izuku barely won back then, only getting lucky because he was able to surprise Muscular. Cloud is very weak in comparison to OFA, so Shirakumo's chances of surviving using his quirk to help already eliminates it as an option. That leaves him quirkless and...

Yeah, that's not gonna happen. The most they could do is run and try to escape Muscular but there's no way that's happening either. As much as I want to have faith in Shirakumo, I just realistically can't when putting him up against Muscular.

Frankly, the most Shirakumo could do is delay the inevitability of his death, and then Kota's by default. I really don't want to kill off either of them, but Muscular has no qualms with murdering children, even actively enjoying it.

There could be the chance that someone else fights Muscular, despite Shirakumo and Izuku being the ones to swap places, and realistically I think Aizawa would be the one to do it. Erasure would really help in that situation. But we run into a similar problem even then.

Muscular is beefy. Aizawa, Mic, and Shirakumo all look like absolute twigs when we see them during their UA days in comparison. I can think of two other people who could take down Muscular in this AU, but I haven't confirmed their presences in this canon or at the training camp yet, so they're being pushed to the side right now, and even then they'd still be getting testy and running a gamble with death.

There could be the chance that Muscular isn't even included in the storyline at this point, thanks to one major change that I can't disclose because it's too heavy spoilers for something I don't want to air yet. But he'd inevitably appear later because he's in the hero students' general area, and he'd still want to kill off the entire Water Hose bloodline, and this time the chances are there wouldn't be a hero student to even try intervening because they most likely wouldn't know.

I have two possible solutions where Kota and whoever tries to save him don't die.

A. Muscular is not included in the attack, but that would only leave Kota in a more vulnerable spot later on, resulting in his death then.

B. Izuku/Shinobu is still the one to intervene (this would actually most likely result in Muscular's death because at this point in time, Izuku's morals have been blurred heavily in order to serve AFO and Shigaraki) but I don't want the entire story to just consistenly be "Izuku jumps in to save everyone" because he already does so several times even as a noumu.

Option B could even be a result of A. Kota is left vulnerable under Muscular's attack, and Izuku or one of the members of the league (I say that like Izuku and Shigaraki aren't the only ones that would be willing to step in) interfere then.

Any thoughts on this? Was there something I potentially missed that could have resulted in a better ending?