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violetlunette · 2 years

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BNHA’s Failure of Story Build-up

Okay, so I struggled to figure out how to start this, so this took a while, but I’m here now. So! Let’s talk about “build-up” and how the Main story of BNHA failed to do that.

*BNHA Spoilers

*BNHA Critical

*Ranty opinions

*Long Post

So, what does build-up mean in the context of a story? Basically it’s the material needed for plot points and character development to pay off and impact the readers most effectively. The build-up is important to build tension and emotions otherwise, scenes fall flat and makes the readers confused rather than invested. Without build up, plot twists and emotional scenes don’t work as the writer failed to set things up.

For instance, In the Lord of the Rings, Boromir’s betrayal hits hard for many because the story did its job of setting up the event. We know that Boromir wants to save Gondor and his people and believes the ring will allow him to do so. Every time he mentions Gondor, we hear the desperation in his voice and his heartbreak. However, we also see him training Merry and Pippin and then playing with them. We see how he empathized with the hobbits' heartbreak when Gandalf died, demanding Aragon give them a chance to grieve. So when the betrayal came and he tried to steal the ring, it broke our hearts. And then there’s his death!

BNHA doesn’t have a lot of moments like that because it rarely does any build-up. It just introduced characters out of the blue, then acts like they were a big deal when they just were. it was more, hello, goodbye, oh, I’m dead now. And the publishers seem to realize this as they tend to send all the build up to side materials like Vigilantes and Team Up Missions, which is a huge writing failure that I’ll get to later.

Here, I will focus on three plot points and why they failed to hit the mark.

I did a poll—albeit, a poorly made one as I had no idea what I was doing--a while ago asking five questions;

1: Did you feel that Class 1-A had the second family vibe, particularly with Izuku?

2: What were you thinking when Izuku left UA?

3: How did you feel when Class 1-A came to bring Izuku back?

4: How did you feel about Midnight’s death? (And did you read only the main manga, or the sides as well?)

5: What were your thoughts about Kurogiri’s reveal?

The first three are connected as it’s focused on Class 1-A’s bond.

First off, I don’t think anyone was sad when Izuku left U.A. as the manga didn’t develop the school very well. We saw very few classes and didn’t get to know the teachers, or anything to connect us there, so when Izuku left we didn’t feel the devastation.

(I’d show a comparison of giving life to a school, but the only one I can think of is in HP, but I know the pain is still too painful for people for me to do that.)

But you know what, that doesn’t matter. What does matter is the bond between class 1-a and the lack thereof.

The story tries to play up that everyone in class 1-A and their teachers have a special bond with one another, but it’s just not there. Why? Because despite being drawn together, we don’t see them interacting and connecting. Don’t get me wrong, they’re nice to one another, and there are some sweet moments, like Ochako being considerate of Tsuyu’s sensitivity to the cold. They get along, but showing characters just being nice to each other isn’t enough. We need to see them talk and connect.

Look at Hizashi and Aizawa’s relationship; they have less than 30 scenes where they actually interact with each other together in the entire manga, yet they have one of the strongest relationships in the entire series. (No, seriously; surprised me too, but it really is just around 30. Go back and see. Oh, and keep in mind I said INTERACTING, not just sitting together or being in the same area.) So, why do they work to the point where they are one of the most popular couples in fandom? Simple. It’s not quantity, it’s quality. In every scene they’re together Mic acts, and Aizawa responds. There’s a back and forth between them. Even when Mic ignores him, Aizawa is responding to that action. It’s simple, but it creates a bond.

Class 1-a doesn’t do that, at least not as much, and not with everybody. The majority of them especially don’t react to Izuku. There’s a comment or a line, but that’s it.

That being said Izuku does has a connection with half the class; his best friends, Tenya and Ochako, his rival Todoroki, his childhood bully and maybe friend Bakagou, and Yuga, who attempted to reach out to his dorm neighbor. Adding to that there are a few Izuku is friendly with such as Tsuyu, Mineta, Tomoyoki, and Eijiro, but that’s it. Izuku is never shown to even have a conversation with Toru, Rikido, Mezo, Mina, or anyone outside the ones above.

Izuku has a connection to a few characters but not his whole class. And I wasn’t the only one who felt that way;

Now some of you may be wondering, why does this matter? Simple. The story says it matters.

When Izuku leaves UA, it’s supposed to be heartbreaking. The audience is supposed to feel sad when Izuku goes off on his own and leaves his class behind, but they didn’t. Instead, they were excited!

Everyone was happy that Izuku left school and was going “vigilante.” True, some felt bad that Izuku was leaving a few people behind (Inko, Tenya, Ochako, Shoto, and Bakgou) but overall, no one cared that Izuku was leaving his classmates.

When Izuku leaves UA and leaves letters explaining the truth, they didn’t feel sad. Most were wondering, “Wait, why is Izuku telling them about OFA?”

This is another moment that was played as a big deal, but it wasn’t. Aside from when Bakagou threw a fit about Izuku “lying to him” there was never any scene that showed that Izuku felt bad for keeping his secret from anyone. Plus, there was nothing to gain or lose from relieving the secret. For all the emotional weight there, Izuku might as well have revealed his favorite color, or that he slept with an All Might plushy.

Then later in the manga, when Class A came to bring Izuku back and theses are the results;

It varied, but only 3 out of 20 wanted Izuku back. The majority either didn’t care or was annoyed. This was supposed to be a big emotional moment where our hearts are breaking and yearning, “yes! Please take him home!” and yet, most of use were the opposite.

The manga plays all this as a big emotional battle, but except for a few people, no one felt the emotion. At least not the ones the manga wanted readers to feel. They didn’t want him to go back to U.A. They wanted to see more of Izuku’s solo adventures. And why? Because the manga neglected to build the relationships needed for that to pay off. (The relationships needed to especially be strong here, as it was battling against the concept of “vigilante Izuku.”)

Contrast this to when Izuku left All Might;

Izuku and All Might’s relationship is the most in-depth and developed relationship in the entire manga (FIGHT ME), and why? Because the story took time to develop it. We saw them interacting, we saw them learn and grow from each other, we saw them connect, and we saw how much they came to love each other as father and son. So when Izuku left to keep All Might safe, when we saw the bento box be rejected and fall, our hearts broke. And the angst part of us aside, most of the readers wanted All Might and Izuku to reunite and be together. We didn’t feel that way for Izuku and Class 1-A. If it was just Tenya, Ochako, Shoto, Bakagou, and maybe Aizawa, that would be a different story. Those relationships were built over the story (though they kinda drifted in recent chapters).

The next part where BNHA fails with its build-up is with Midnight’s death. When I asked about Midnight’s death, the results varied, but the gist was that people were more upset about how Midnight’s death was handled than her actual death.

Not one person out of twenty who only read the main manga was sad that Midnight died. Why? Because Midnight was just a side character you saw once in a while if you just read the main. To anyone who read just the main manga, what do you know about Midnight? Okay, we know she’s fully embraced her sexual liberty and that she dotes over youth, but what else? Did you know that outside of her hero persona she is a woman who dotes on cute things and adores children like puppies? Did you know that because of her costume in high school, a law was made stating that heroes had to cover a certain amount of skin? Did you know that she was one of Aizawa and Hizashi’s best friends? Did you know that she’s been raising a cat that Aizawa gave her to take care of? Did you know that she texts Aizawa daily with pictures of said cat and that those pictures are one of the few things to make him genuinely smile? Did you know that, despite popular belief, it was MIDNIGHT who got Aizawa into teaching at U.A.? No. If you read just the main manga and weren’t spoiled by Tumblr or fanfics, you didn’t even know any of that. Hell, you were probably just confused why Hizashi and Aizawa were so broken over her death. And why? Because all the information I mentioned was in a side series, along with a good portion of Midnight’s character. In BNHA vigilantes Midnight plays a huge role and interacts with several characters. It’s where we learn about her—and sadly, there’s little to no payoff. The payoff is in BNHA where her death fails to make an impact. We don’t see her making a connection with anybody in the main series, so when we see Mina and the others crying over her, the hit meant to be delivered isn’t there. The audience is meant to fill in the blanks as to why Mina was sad when we never saw her have any one-on-one time with Midnight. Obviously, Midnight is the first dead body of someone they know, but what else? Of all the people who died at the hospital raid, Midnight’s death should have affected people the most as she was the one around since the beginning and had a connection to the main characters. But it didn’t. Do you know who’s death did affect the audience more? Twice, one of the villains. People felt worse for Twice’s death than Midnight’s. Why? One; we saw it happen. Two; we got to know Twice as a person. Three; the drama was built up. We saw Twice opening up and reaching out to Hawks who we knew was a spy. We saw their friendship blossom, and when Hawks killed him, it was heart-wrenching. Plus, it’s an important story point as well as an important shift in Hawk’s character arc. Twice’s death had meaning—Midnight’s didn’t. Midnight died happened off-screen and again, everything that would connect readers to her was in side materials. Her death didn’t matter in the story. Midnight died just because someone the readers were familiar with needed to die. And, yes the argument could be made that her death was personal to the kids, but not really. Any teacher could have been killed and it would have had the same effect. The manga failed with the build-up, emotionally and for the story thus it failed Midnight’s death and failed her character.

Speaking of death, let’s move on to Kurogiri. Now, this one wasn’t a poll, however, they wrote in their answers and most people seemed to like the twist.

But here’s the thing; where’s the build-up in the main story? No really, think about it. We know that Aizawa and Hizashi lost a friend in the past, but there was nothing to hint that Kurogiri was their lost friend or even related. Hell, in the main manga we’re not even told what Oboro’s quirk was, so there was no way to hint that these two were the same person. Except maybe the hair.

But okay. Let’s say that the hair was enough build-up, plot-wise. What emotionally? How did the emotions hit?

Well, to anyone who just read the main manga the emotional turmoil came from Aizawa and Hizashi’s reactions, not the fact that Kurogiri was Oboro. Why? Because—and say it with me—the emotional buildup was in the side materials. And here, there’s no excuse for it, at all. The back story could have been put in Chapter 253 when Aizawa and Hizashi were driving to Tartarus. It would fit naturally as Oboro had hinted at and it makes sense that Aizawa would be thinking about his past with Cloud boy as they were going to see “him.” It wouldn’t have slowed the story because A) Aizawa is a well-loved character people want to know more about. B) IT’S AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE STORY. It tells us about Aizawa’s character, showed us who Oboro is, and helps introduced what the nomus are. Again, no reason why it’s not in the main manga.

The only reason the reveal was so emotional was that we saw how it tore up Aizawa and Hizashi, to who the audience had a connection. That’s the only reason this worked. (That and anime fans know how to predict certain tropes. For instance, a girl is bathing and a guy wants to shower. What happens next? Every anime fan knows.)

There are other things that the manga failed to build up for the emotional impact as well such as Eri being important enough for Aizawa to think of in the middle of a fight when losing his leg, Eri restoring Mirio’s quirk and more. And let's not even get started on Edgeshot in the latest chapter where--no. No, I need more time. Too much stupidity, I just--gfhgfh.

In conclusion, if there are any writers please understand two things;

1: Anything that plays a major role in the story, plot or character-wise, needs to be properly built up.

2: If a reader has to go outside of the series they’re reading to understand important plot points or to get the emotional impact you desire, then you failed as a writer. A story automatically fails if you have to depend on supplementary details to get the whole story. Supplementary materials are supposed to add to a story, not fill in your plot holes, or make up for the leg work that was supposed to be in the main story.

Thank you for your time and especially thanks to those who took the poll.

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handwrittenhello · 1 year

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Tumblr's Poorest Little Meow Meow

A poor little meow meow, by definition, must have three traits: soppingly wetly pathetic, squishy scrungly cute (or a similar attribute), and morally ambiguous. YOU will be voting for characters to win the title of

Poorest Wettest Saddest Littlest Meow Meow!

Character nominations were limited to one character per fandom and were crowdsourced.* Match-ups were made on a seeded basis according to character popularity, in the hopes of preventing a popularity contest from happening. Remember, it doesn't matter if they're your blorbo, we're trying to find the SADDEST and MOST ATROCIOUS little meow meow. Please evaluate how well they fill the attributes of a PLMM when you vote!

*If your poorest little meow meow didn't make the cut, sorry! Maybe we'll hold another round.

Polls will be held daily at noon EST. Here's the bracket. It's not fancy; nothing about this will be fancy. (These polls are just as pathetic as the characters they represent.)

All posts will be tagged #tumblr's plmm contest

Check below for a list of all poll posts:

Round One (Feb 3 noon EST)

Loki Laufeyson (Marvel) vs. Jiang Cheng (The Untamed) Prince Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs. L (Death Note) Izzy Hands (Our Flag Means Death) vs. Father Paul (Midnight Mass) Vriska Serket (Homestuck) vs. Kaeya Alberich (Genshin Impact) Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who) vs. Joel Miller (The Last of Us) Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad) vs. Harrowhark Nonagesimus (The Locked Tomb) Derek Hale (Teen Wolf) vs. Kendall Roy (Succession) Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars) vs. Lestat de Lioncourt (Interview with the Vampire) Dream of the Endless (The Sandman) vs. Emet Selch (Final Fantasy XV) Howl Jenkins (Howl's Moving Castle) vs. Daemon Targaryen (House of the Dragon) Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption 2) vs. Harry du Bois (Disco Elysium) Bruce Wayne aka RBattz (The Batman) vs. Villanelle (Killing Eve) Will Graham (Hannibal) vs. Seong Gi-hun (Squid Game) Jonathan Sims (The Magnus Archives) vs. Catra (She-Ra) Yennefer of Vengerberg (The Witcher) vs. Faith Lehane (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) Castiel (Supernatural) vs. Nandor the Relentless (What We Do in the Shadows)

Round Two (February 4 noon EST)

Loki Laufeyson (Marvel) vs. Prince Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender) Izzy Hands (Our Flag Means Death) vs. Vriska Serket (Homestuck) Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who) vs. Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad) Kendall Roy (Succession) vs. Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars) Dream of the Endless (The Sandman) vs. Howl Jenkins (Howl's Moving Castle) Harry du Bois (Disco Elysium) vs. Bruce Wayne (The Batman) Will Graham (Hannibal) vs. Jonathan Sims (The Magnus Archives) Yennefer of Vengerberg (The Witcher) vs. Castiel (Supernatural)

Round Three (February 5 noon EST)

Prince Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs. Vriska Serket (Homestuck) Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad) vs. Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars) Harry du Bois (Disco Elysium) vs. Howl Jenkins (Howl's Moving Castle) Will Graham (Hannibal) vs. Castiel (Supernatural)

Round Four (February 6 noon EST)

Harry du Bois (Disco Elysium) vs. Will Graham (Hannibal) Vriska Serket (Homestuck) vs. Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars)

Final Round (February 7 noon EST)

Vriska Serket (Homestuck) vs. Harry du Bois (Disco Elysium)

The winner will be crowned on February 8. May the most sopping wet paper towel of a person win!