#and horikoshi should have added that'

[swallowtail-ageha]

Deku and his stans suck so much

[mishy-mashy]

I said this in a whole reblog, but just copy-pasting to a separate post because I think it'll give some reading comprehension and reblogs don't show up in the search feature.. again, I'm reiterating what I said in another post.

Go check out @demidokuriya 's post for this; OP's post made me put this all down in like. 20 minutes. Mind went vroom vroom cuz HEY THEY'RE ONTO SOMETHING.

(They also reblogged the post with some hint to some behind the scenes of what led to the ideas if you wanna check that out)

Look below at how, when Mineta told AFO to spare Tokoyami, AFO specifically went "..."

He remembers Jirou and thinks, The braying howls of the weak...

He was going to take Tokoyami's Quirk. He took Hawks'. But after Mineta pleaded with him, AFO just straight-up left and didn't take anyone else's Quirk.

AFO saw Yoichi in Mineta.

These scenes are near-identical to each other.

Mineta and Yoichi (at that time) are both much smaller than the normal person at their age

They're both hurt, yet dragged themselves up from the ground to throw something at AFO, to get his attention and make their voice

Both are considered weak, even if they have a Quirk (Mineta's Pop-Off and Yoichi's undeveloped Factor)

The fact that Yoichi got AFO's attention here by throwing a can at him, while Mineta got his attention by throwing a Pop-Off ball; and it stuck.

Mineta's call for his attention landed and actually stuck to AFO. This is unlike when Yoichi and his can bounced off, and AFO kicked him, not listening to him; AFO listened to Mineta and left Tokoyami alone, technically doing what Mineta wanted—to not hurt this person.

AFO just went on to hurt more people away from Mineta's [Yoichi's] eyes so the small weakling wouldn't see.

Yoichi and Mineta both cried to AFO to not hurt in his ways, when AFO was intent on stealing people's Quirks

AFO even stole Hawks' Quirk during this time.

He had time to steal Hawks' Quirk, and though he could've tossed him to the side, he let Hawks stand in his way.

He had the energy. Right after this event, he flew off and left the scene. But he didn't go for Tokoyami immediately.

And this let Mineta play his part, and remind AFO of Yoichi.

"A putrid, festering Quirk Factor."

That sounds like Yoichi, AFO.

".. such garbage."

Hey hey hey, what did Yoichi throw at him when they were kids?

A discarded can. Garbage.

This chapter (385) where AFO listens to Mineta is literally called [A Youthful Urge].

Mineta told AFO to take his Pop-Off (hurt him) instead. But last time, AFO hurt Yoichi by kicking him; this time, AFO not only listened to Mineta to not hurt Tokoyami, but didn't touch Mineta at all.

Even though this time, Mineta [Yoichi] offered to take that place of suffering.

Yoichi didn't do that back then. AFO just turned on little Yoichi anyway.

Yoichi through his whole existence is literally [the braying howls of the weak]. AFO acknowledges he's weak and idealistic, yet he still loves him.

Side note about this panel, I think it's interesting that in this vision, this was the first time we saw Yoichi's eyes: when he was being defiant, despite being pushed down by someone much stronger than him.

Really characteristic of him, honestly. Yoichi's soft-spoken and frail, but it's always reiterated that Yoichi had a powerful will against his stronger big brother.

Mineta at this moment reminded him too much of Yoichi, because the two scenes are near-identical to each other. Parallels, really.

Reiterating something from OP's post that I reblogged this from;

"The reminder of his brother made him uncomfortable, so he hurried away."

AFO didn't want to hurt Yoichi again.

[linkspooky]

Art credit: @/charscounterattack reposted with permission.

INVINCIBLE VS. MY HERO ACADEMIA: WHEN HEROES KILL

Whether or not heroes should kill people is a hotly debated topic in comics.

There are people who think heroes should never kill, and others who think heroes should kill more. One of the most famous comic book storylines "Under the Red Hood" has Red Hood / Jason Todd debate whether or not it was ethical for Bruce to keep letting the joker live even after the Joker killed Jaso, especially after the Joker killed Jason. If killing the Joker earlier to prevent all future deaths would have been justified. There are like a hundred DC Aus that are like "What if Batman and Superman just started killing people?"

In order to explore this question I'm going to explore two situations in different comics, Invincible and My Hero Academia when the hero, a very idealistic young hero kills someone for the first time.

LET HORI COOK

Storytelling, especially for serialized storytelling which comes out week by week instead of all at once works on the premise of drawing people in by promising that certain future developments and plot points are going to happen. Stories are all about creating expectations, building them, and then paying them off.

Here's an example: The Dabi is a Todoroki theory has existed pretty much since the training camp arc. Horikoshi wasn't in your face about the hints about Toya, but there was just enough hints to make the theory seem more and more plausible. Toya having the same fire quirk as Shoto / Endeavor. Toya mentioning both of them by name. Shoto's two other siblings getting revealed but not Toya. Toya saying that Hawks should have paid attention to him most of all. All of these little pieces came together until Toya finally revealed his identity on live TV in front of both Shoto and Endeavor.

This worked because not only did it give the audience just enough clues that they felt smart for figuring it out, and get invested in the idea of Toya as a Todoroki, it also was well-paced so it didn't seem like Horikoshi forgot about it unlike the traitor plot which went hundreds of chapters without being mentioned. If Toya was revealed to be a Todoroki at the training camp arc with no buildup, it wouldn't be as effective bcause we didn't have years of waiting and theorizing. If Todoroki was revealed to be some guy named Steve after all the hints, it also wouldn't be an effective reveal because there were hints dropped for Toya Todoroki, but there were no Steve hints so it'd feel like the author lied to us.

Themes are like this too. I tend to explain story themes by oversimplifying it as "Question, and answer." The story asks a question, it provides us an answer, and we can come up with our own answer as well. However, there's a middle part I'm skipping out on which is deliberation. Before you can come up with an answer, you obviously need to deliberate it, either by presenting arguments for or against, hearing outside opinions or just thinking things through.

In other words, you need to "Let things cook."

If Toya calling Shoto by his full name at the Training Camp Arc is when we're first asked "Is Toya a Todoroki?" or when the theories first started, then the long middle period between Training Camp Arc and the First War Arc is the deliberation. This is when the story not only added more hints to the idea that Toya was a Todoroki, but also set up why that reveal mattered. Endeavor wanted to atone for his past sins, but one of his victims was no longer alive. Endeavor begins to move on anyway and think he's finally made himself a good hero, but now Toya appears to flip up the reverse Uno Card.

So let's follow this basic formula, for how ideas get developed in My Hero Academia and just any good story.

Question / Introduction

Deliberation

Answer / Conclusion

My Hero Academia and Invincible explore similar themes in regards to heroism, generational trauma and how to be better than the previous generation in both Mark and Deku. I'm going to streamline their arcs down to one basic question for the sake of time. For both the question is:

Can I be a better hero than my Dad?

Deku and Mark might be two characters who cannot possibly seem to be more different, but you can actually list off a lot of similarities between them right away. Deku and Mark are both people who in a world oversaturated with superheroes spent most of their childhoods with no superpowers at all. Also, they were genetically supposed to inherit a quirk / viltrumite powers, but Deku was born quirkless, and Mark was an extremely late bloomer. They are also people who while being powerless civilians for most of their lives worship heroes. Deku collects so much All Might Merch he even stole some from Nighteye after he died, Mark attends comic conventions even after he becomes a superhero.

They also grew up worshipping one hero in particular who was essentially earth's strongest hero, for Mark it was his dad Omni-Man, for Deku it was All Might. They also both get the opportunity to train directly under their favorite hero immediately after they get their powers. At first this makes it seem like they've been given everything they've ever wanted. All Mark has ever wanted was to be a hero like his dad and make his father proud. Not only did Deku just want one person to tell him he could be a hero too even without a quirk, but his very idea of heroism is built around seeing All Might always save people with a smile.

However, both of them suddenly hit complication just when it seems like they've been given everything they've ever wanted. They are both confronted with the fact that their heroes are not who they expected them to be. They are overly idealistic heroes who have been dreaming of being heroes since childhood only to be hit with a much greyer reality. To the point where there innocence becomes a flaw in and of itself. The way they've been coddled and protected all of their lives leaves them completely unaware and unable to spot the grey areas in the world, or the people around them.

For Deku the moral greys exist in the villains around them. In MHA Society, villains are basically just bad guys in suits for the heroes to punch on television. They're seen as a faceless enemy, and there's very little in way of rehabilitation for villains once they're captured. Deku lived in a very black and white world before this point, and he's suddenly presented with the idea that his villains could be morally grey.

Deku's image of All Might is a hero who saves everyone with a smile, so he could never imagine that there are people who All Might has failed to save. He's never stopped to consider where villains came from, or if any of them might have legitimate reasons for their grievances.

This becomes a pretty central theme in MHA. It's first brought up here when Shigaraki talks about All Might acting as if there's no one he can't save. Twice brings it up again in his first backstory chapter, that the heroes only save the virtuous ones.

This is further enforced in the same overhaul arc with members who are loyal to Overhaul because they are society's trash who would have been thrown out otherwise. There is a group of people fiercley loyal to Overhaul who is a terrible boss, because he is the only person who would accept them.

edits belong to @stillness-in-green from bring it all back a tone poem on returning to staus quo located here on ao3.

In the War Arc this long running theme basically reaches a climax with the Hawks and Twice confrontation, where Hawks decides to try to offer Jin a chance to restart because he's deemed him "good" but he won't extend the same helping hand to the league who Hawks has determined as "bad." He then asks Jin to betray his friends in order to be saved, something that Jin rightfully calls out.

That Hawks only wants to save Jin because he's one of the good ones, and he's written off the rest of the league and left them for dead. Hawks choosing to divide between good and bad victims ad only save the one he personally thought was worthy of redemption, makes it impossible for him to save Twice who would never under any circumstances give up on the rest of the league.

Twice's death is a tragedy, but it also presents us a clear example of the failures of the previous generation. Even a hero who sincerely sympathized with a villain and wanted to help them start over wasn't able to help them because of this attitude of selectively picking and choosing who to save. If the heroes only save the innocent the I guess the lives of the guilty are worth less.

This is the questio Toga poses to Ochako, if the heroes killed Twice then are you going to kill me in order to stop me. This is the central subject of Shigaraki's speech to the heroes. That heroes and villains will never uderstand each other, because the entire hero system perpetuates itself on ignoring the needs of societal outcasts and rejects in form of the "innocent people" and those outcasts who aren't having their needs met eventually turn into villains who get systematically put down by heroes. Heroes and villains are incapable of understanding each other and breaking the cycle, because the entire system isn't built on helping people, but merely maintaining the idea that heroes are perfect, faultless saviors so normal people will feel secure, while the people the heroes have failed get swept under the rug so society can keep "functioning."

"You heroes hurt your own families just to help strangers. You heroes pretend to be society's guardians. For generations, you pretended not to see those you couldn't protect. That means your system's all rotten from the inside with maggots crawling out. It all builds up, little by little, over time. You've got the common trash, all too dependent on being protected, and the brave guardians who created the trash that needed coddling. It's a corrupt, vicious, cycle. Everythig I've witnessed, the whole system you've built has always rejected me. Now I'm ready to reject it. That's why I destroy. That's why I took power for myself. Simple enough, Yeah? I don't care if you don't understand. That's what makes us heroes and villains."

So if the starting question is: Can I be a better hero than my dad?

Then everything I've detailed above is deliberation. Here we have, ever since the training camp arc, this slowly built up idea of why All Might was a flawed hero in the end.

Mark has to face the fact that his father is a more morally grey person than he could ever imagine, whereas Deku has to face the fact that the villains are more morally grey in his world, and that makes the heroes look more flawed in comparison as well. The deliberation is all slowly bringing Deku to think over what Shigaraki asked him all the way in the beginning in there first meeting.

Were there ever people that the heroes couldn't save? If so then what are you supposed to do with the victims you can't save after they grow up? This is when Deku begins to start forming his own answer.

Deku hears the advice of both the other OFA users, and The Stinky Old Man (Gran Torino) that killing Shigaraki is the best option, but wants to explore other options.

Scenes like this clearly telegraph what the answer / conclusion Hori is leading us to to be. The same way that Toya is a Todoroki is foreshadowed long in advance, statements like "All for one is a power meant for saving, not killing" clearly set up Deku's Endgame. Deku's end goal is to find a way use his power to save Shigaraki rather than killing him. Everything else is just a matter of deliberation, Deku knows what his edgoal is but the chapters between then and the end of the manga is Deku having to figure out how exactly to save Shigaraki without killing him.

You Heroes Hurt Your Own Families Just to Help Strangers

Invincible is the story of Mark Grayson, the son of Omni Man / Nolan Grayson. He's been told all of his life that his father is a viltrumite, a race of benevolent aliens who send out people like Nolan to alien civilizations in order to uplift their entire civilization. Which is what led Nolan to come to earth and become Earth's greatest heroes.

This turns out to be a big fat lie when within 12 chapters Nolan not only slaughters the guardian's of the globe, but also has a confrontation with his son.

Mark has wanted to be just like his dad his entire life. Only to be slapped in the face with the realization he's known nothing about his dad his entire life, shown rather brilliantly by these panels where Nolan tries to have a normal father / son conversation with Mark while covered in blood.

Nolan isn't from a futuristic utopia but from a brutal, fascist space empire. He didn't come to earth to help bring it up, but to weaken its defenses and make it prime for conquering. He didn't have Mark out of love, but to produce another soldier for the viltrumite empire.

Mark's entire schtick is that he's invincible, but he's so inexperienced as a hero that he gets beat up constantly despite the fact he has the strongest power set in the series b/c he has viltrumite powers. However, not only does the series introduce moral greys by continually showing how Mark even with the best power set in the series constantly gets his ass kicked, it also challenges Mark's black and white thinking and hero worship of his father by showing him the kind of man his father really is.

Mark has wanted to be exactly like his father his entire life, but now that's suddenly a bad thing. His father is a morally reprehensible person and Mark is now a descendant of an alien race meant to conquer worlds. Not only is Mark confronted by who his father really is, but now everyone in Mark's life judges him by comparing him with his father.

Mark has to work with Cecil and be his on-call Superhero, both to be able to pay for college, and also to prove that he's not his dad. The unspoken part of the agreement is that Cecil gets to keep a leash on Mark and Mark has to prove that he'll never turn out like his father to earn Cecil's trust.

Cecil is automatically suspicious of him because if Mark were to turn evil, the planet would have no defenses against him just like it didn't have any for Omni Man. Mark's mother starts to drink and blames Mark for Omni-Man leaving in a drunken moment of weakness because of how much the information that Omni Man only regarded her as a pet affected her.

The comic even shows us that in most alternate universes, mark actually did make the decision to join his father's conquest, and this universe is one of the few exceptions. This is also where we're introduced to a major reoccuring antagonist in the comics, and also the main antagonist / final antagonist of season 2 of the cartoon Angstrom Levy.

Levy is someone who can jump between dimensions and has traveled to almost all of them collecting his alternate selves. He has witnessed for a fact that in most universes Mark sides with his father instead of fighting against him.

Levy enlists the clone bros to build a device that would combine the knowledge of his alternate selves into one individual. This device ends up breaking tragically (partially mark's fault, but levy himself made the decision to stop the machine in order to stop the clone bros from killing Mark). Levy's memories become confused as a result of the machine malfunctioning, and he can't tell the difference between himself and his alternate universe counterparts. This means that Levy now remembers several alternate universes where Mark did turn evil, and remembers them as if they happened to him.

It's better elaborated upon in this post:

The process by which Invincible has had to condense and consolidate the plot beats of the original comic, coupled with the opportunity it's granted the writers to tighten up and emphasize its themes on a second pass, has resulted in a newfound appreciation for how unbelievably fucking good Angstrom Levy's whole character concept is. What's that, Mark? Your main emotional crisis this season is your fear of turning out like your father? Here, have an archnemesis who's out to kill you because his memories were inadvertently overwritten with the lived experiences of hundreds of alternate versions of himself whose friends and families were slaughtered in worlds where you did, in fact, turn out exactly like your father. Because it turns out that that is in fact the multiversal norm. That you turn out like your father. And now you're left to wonder what set of arbitrary coinflips pulled you back from that abyss in this dimension, and whether your luck is going to continue to hold into the future.

Mark is not only hit with the revelation that his father isn't as good as he thought he was, but also while he's in a crisis about about whether or not he will turn out like his father, he learns the answer is yes, in several dimensions he turns out exactly like his father.

In My Hero Academia there are families like the Todoroki's who balance the difference between a hero's obligations to society, and a hero's obligation to society. However, that's a side plot where I'd argue that the main plot for Invincible and it's main focus is what Mark owes to the world as a hero, and what Mark owes to his family.

It's not just that Omniman is trying to invade earth for the Viltrumite empire. It's not just that he failed as a hero, but that he failed as a father. What makes Mark snap, is hearing Omniman call Debbie a pet. Until that point Mark was in denial and still trying to reason with his father.

Invincible is about two intersecting themes: Is Mark obligated to use his incredible powers to help make the world better? Can Mark be a good hero and a good family man?

While MHA has more far reaching societal implications in its themes and questions, Invincible is more specifically about the Grayson Family. It's generational trauma on a society level, vs generational trauma on an individual level. The way Nolan was raised on Viltrumite effects how he raised Mark causing their conflict, and Mark's conflict with his father effects most of his young adulthood when he's trying to figure out what person he wants to be (read: not his dad), but also the way he parents his daughter with Atom Eve.

Omni-man failed Mark as both a hero, and a father. Mark feels the need to overcompensate for what his father did the world and all those innocent people by acting as Cecil's lapdog and doing whatever Cecil tells him.

However, Mark is much more hurt by the personal betrayal than he lets on. It's not just that his father killed a bunch of innocent people, it's also that Mark's father failed as a father, abandoning both him and mom and choosing to be a viltrumite rather than being Mark's father. Mark's stated reason for wanting to be a hero post the omni-man reveal is to prove he's not like his dad to the world, and also make up for the innocent lives he failed to save. However, his unstated underlying reason is Mark is hurt and betrayed his father didn't put his family first, and this causes Mark to always put his family first.

This leads to two insecurities / narrative flaws. One, Mark is insecure about becoming like his father so he tries to prove he's nothing like him by being the most selfless, perfect hero possible. Two, Mark is hurt by being abandoned by his father and doesn't want to become a deadbeat like Nolan so he gets extremely overprotective of his own family.

These two things are obvious in conflict with one another: A hero has an obligation to the common good which sometimes means sacrificing time with your loved ones. However, being a good family man requires a level of selfishness that directly contradicts the selfless hero that Mark is pushing himself to be. In the comic the way Mark prioritizes his family and loved ones over the common good and justice is made even more obvious. His first instinct on seeing Omni-Man again isn't to call him out for being an awful father, but to hug him and ask him to come home. Mark is a distraught son first, and a hero second.

Mark has two flaws, his fear of being like his father makes him try too hard to be a perfect hero, and his trauma over losing his father makes him prioritize his family over being a hero. It's very much a having your cake and eating it too situation, oftentimes heroes make huge sacrifices for their personal lives in order to be heroes, that's basically a theme discussed in the comic with Nolan being absent for a lot of Mark's childhood, and why Mark's relationship with Amber fails.

The show also introduces us to the idea that Mark is so afraid of becoming like his father that he deliberately holds back his punches. Which is good when he's fighting earth villains, but bad when he's facing viltrumites who can only survive being disemboweled, but will also come to wipe out all life on earth if they're allowed to live. In the show it's directly mentioned that Mark is holding back, in the comic it's implied when we see how helpless Mark is in the fight against other viltrumites. Mark lacks the resolve to kill someone and when fighting a viltrumite, failing to put them down can have consequences because they are galactic conquerors who will not show you any mercy.

This all comes to a head in the Angstrom Levy fight where Mark makes his first kill on-screen when beforehand he'd never fought to kill before, and even held back against galaxy conquering aliens who were out to murder him and his dad.

However. before we begin that.

Should superheroes kill?

People often act like whether or not super heroes should kill their villains is a black and white topic, where it actually depends highly on context.

Batman’s an entire character is written around how he wants to redeem Gotham and save the city, most of his villains aren’t even sent to prison they’re sent to Arkham a facility that’s supposed to rehabilitee the mentally ill so they can rejoin society. Batman has decided it’s his place to stop crime, not his place to decide whether or not people have the right to live or redeem themselves.

Batman is also at risk for being just like his villains, that’s why he’s foils with Harvey Dent, someone who tried to prosecute people under the law who then snapped and went full violent mobster vigilante. Batman actually is at risk for walking the same path as Harvey if he decides murder is an option.

In X-Men 97, there was a character known as Rogue who dropped Simon Bolivar Trask off of a building in an act of vigilante justice. This action makes sense in context for several reasons. One Rogue was raised by Mystique and Destiny, is a former member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and began as a terrorist in the comics. She's not really a "moral highground" character like Batman. Two, Boliver Trask built a giant killer robot that resulted in the deaths of millions in Genosha which Rogue is a survivor of. Number three, Trask had no sympathetic reasons for building the genocide robot, he built the sentinels out of bigotry to wipe out mutants. He's not a victim in any way, he's an oppressor facing consequences for his actions.

Batman shooting Harvey Dent, his former best friend, a victim of severe mental illness and trauma that still has hope for recovery, and Rogue dropping the guy who made a genocide robot off of a building are both wildly different situations.

So in the context of MHA we have Shigaraki Tomura, a terrorist who's goal is to destroy japan enough that it will dismantle the hero system for good. Shigaraki Tomura is a ten year old child who lost control of his quirk and killed his family for mistake, he wandered for days in crowded city streets but not a single hero stopped to help him, then he was found by the main villain of the story and groomed for ten years into becoming his successor. Shigaraki is also surrounded by a group of societal outcasts who were failed by society in similiar ways, so Shigaraki knows he wasn't the only one failed by hero society and he starts to wage his war for their sake as much as his own.

In Invincible we have Angstrom Levy. Angstrom is not plotting mass murder the way that Shigaraki is. He is specifically only targetting Mark Grayson's family for revenge (at least the first time he showed up, the second time during the invincible war arc was different). Angstrom's revenge against Mark Grayson is misplaced, but to be fair the accident messed with his brain hardcore and he doesn't remember clearly what happened. He doesn't remember that he's the one who decided to stop the machine in order to help Mark. It's tragic. Angstrom also has the memories of like hundreds of different universes of evil Marks. Even though he's the victim of a tragic accident, he's also a victimizer in that he doesn't choose to just go after Mark, he deliberately picks Mark's family, his mother, and his infant little brother as a way of hurting Mark.

So both of these characters blur the line between villain and victim, but neither of them are like Trask in that they have no sympathetic motivation whatsoever. Shigaraki's actions don't come from bigotry, and he's not an oppressor. Trask was actually trying to do something good before his machine broke and his brains got scrambled, and now he wants personal revenge and to blame all his problems on Mark which is petty yes, but not on Trask's level of heartlessness.

So, there's a case that can be made here for both of them that there's room to save them. After all Mark and Deku aren't killers to begin with. Mark especially has an incredibly vested interest in not becoming a killer. Even if they don't explicitly go out of their way to save and redeem these two people, we're still at this point expecting the heroes to at least take down these two sympathetic figures non-lethally. Mark doesn't want to be like his dad and Deku has said explicitly he wants to save Shigaraki, and that OFA is a power for saving and not killing.

Also to sidestep this argument before people comment on my post with it.

What do you expect the heroes to just let a mass murderer live?

YES!

It happens in comics literally all the time.

Magneto, Wolverine, Jean Grey / Phoenix, Emma Scott, heck, OMNIMAN himself, all characters who have killed lots of people and all characters who get to live and even be on the heroes side. Of these three Jean Grey of all people has the highest body count.

Shonen Jump also has Vegeta. Have you ever heard of Vegeta? Most popular Shonen Rival of all time? Omni-man and Viltrumites are basically just Saiyans.

In real life they wouldn't let a mass murderer walk away but comics are not the same as real life. That's why characters are always punching dinosaurs all the time. Fun fact, if you were to try to punch a dinosaur in real life it would probably hurt your hand. I would advise against it. Dinosaurs are for the most part much stronger than human beings.

As I outlined above Shigaraki and Angstrom are different characters than Trask. They might all be murderers, but the first two have sympathetic elements and are humanized, they are victims of oppression (Angstrom's been killed by viltrumites in a whole bunch of worlds) whereas Trask is an oppressor.

So for both of these stories we are not expecting to see Deku and Mark kill their final villains (for the series and for this season). Deku because he's spent the final third of the series trying to work out a way to save the villains, and Mark because he doesn't want to turn out to be a violent murderer like his father so he's trying to be the most selfless, most perfect hero ever.

I THOUGHT YOU WERE STRONGER

So we finally reach the scenes in question and I thought I'd compare them without much commentary, just highlighting what happens without adding much spin.

So the final episode of Invincible Season 2 and Issue #33 of the comic is where Angstrom and Mark have it out. Angstrom appears in Mark's home and threatens his family. he brings up the comparison between Mark and his father right away. This is also something Angstrom has seen first hand by traveling to multiple universes where Mark has sided with his father.

In the cartoon he's a lot more confused because he's constantly remembering other universe's memories as if he were his own so he genuinely thinks he's taking down an evil viltrumite, in the comic he's being more petty and blaming Mark for his deformity (I think he doesn't remember that he was the one to take the helmet off by choice). In both versions he uses Mark's family as hostages to keep him from fighting back as he tries to send Markk to his death in several different realities.

Angstrom then ups the threat of violence from holding them hostage to threatening to kill them. In both the show and comic he brutally breaks Debbie's arm. Mark is sent through several more realities, only to discover that Debbie's arm is broken and lose his temper.

Mark and Angstrom's fist fight comes to an end, and while Mark has him on the ground he keeps hitting and hitting and hitting long after Angstrom stopped fighting back. Which is what prompts the famous "I thought you were stronger..."

Now, in this situation it looks pretty justifiable that Mark attacked Angstrom so aggressively,. it was self defense for one against a man trying to kill him and he only got truly aggressive after he saw his mother's arm get broken. Not only that he didn't intentionally kill Angstrom, you can argue he went too far in a case of clear self defense. Other people even tell Mark that this one isn't on him, including Cecil who compares Mark to his father the most.

Then, why is Mark so disturbed?

It's because this....

Is a deliberate parallel to this...

It's not just that Mark killed a man, it's that he killed a man by pounding on him relentlessly long after he'd stopped fighting back the exact same way his father did to him during their fight.

There's a difference between Mark say, fighting against a viltrumite and making a deliberate decision to kill them because of the danger that viltrumites represent to other people considering they are planet conquerors, and Mark killing this man because he lost his temper and couldn't control his own strength.

Mark spends the entire season trying to not be like his father, only to see first hand that he's capable of the exact same violence that his father is. The last episode of Season 2 summarizes this moment pretty perfectly in a montage of season 1 moments while Mark screams and breaks the sound barrier trying to push his viltrumite powers to their limits.

Mark: I'm strong enough and I can do this. It's all I've ever wanted for as long as I can remember. I want to do what you do. I want to be just like you. Omni-Man: You will be, son. You will. Mark screaming. Omni-Man: You'll outlast every single fragile being on this planet. You'll live to see this world crumble to dust and blow away. Everyone and everything you know will be gone. Mark screaming. Cecil: You know who else said that to me? Mark: I'm not my dad. Mark screaming some more. KRegg: Your father will be execute and you can return to earth. You will assume the mission to prepare earth for our rule.

So not only is Mark hit with the realization that he's just as capable of being violent and angry as his father is. He also is being forced by the situation to become more violent out of pragmatism, because if he doesn't get strong enough to fight viltrumites then they're going to come to his planet and take everything.

Not only has Mark lost some of his innocence, he's also being forced to throw the rest of it away. It's why Mark drops out of college at the end of the season because any pretense of balancing between his human life and his duty as a hero is gone. He is basically forced to be a viltrumite full time now and will abandon any semblance of trying to live his own life for a very, very long time until his relationship with Eve starts to get serious.

Which is why a pretty justifiable murder in this context is presented as so bloody, gruesome and traumatizing an event for both the audience and Mark himself. We both know there's no coming back from this.

As for the death of main series villain Shigaraki Tomura, Deku ends up being forced to kill Shigaraki in a situation similiar to Mark. Though I will highlight one difference right away. Mark was trying to reason with Angstrom, but he was at no point like "I want to save Angstrom, he's a victim I want to find some other way of ending this bloody conflict between us." Mark just didn't intend to go so far as killing him.

Deku entered the fight with the explicit stated desire to save Shigaraki rather than killing him, which would make him different from the previous generation of heroes because he wouldn't turn a blind eye to society's faults and victims like Shigaraki accused him of.

Deku makes a journey into Shigaraki's mental landscape to find Tenko in a recreation of the memory of the day of his worst trauma. As Tenko's quirk activates, Deku attempts to grab the little boy's hands to comfort him.

Deku's "Why I am here" is markedly different from All Might's. Deku says the reason he wants to save others is to take their hands, comfort them and give them peace, whereas All Might as the strongest hero tried to keep peace by beating all the villains down. Deku's way to become the greatest hero once again, focuses heavily on saving others, and offering his hand to everyone without hesitation instead of picking and choosing who to save like previous generations.

Deku even says that he has to extend a helping hand to everyone because he's learning that the world is more complicated than he thought, he was ignorant to a lot of people's suffering, and he can't sweep their pain under the rug anymore.

For a moment Deku unconditionally extending a hand to Shimura Tenko even as his mental body begins to decay away wins over Shimura Tenko. Though Shigaraki also resists because much like Twice he doesn't want to abandon the rest of his friends even if it means he personally will be saved.

However, any attempts to save Shigaraki are interrupted by AFO suddenly appearing out of nowhere and taking control of Shigaraki's body yet again.

At this point Deku does exactly what Mark does, which is relentlessly punch Shigaraki's body to death in order to kill AFO along with Shigaraki. In some small defese Shigaraki was also there too punching AFO in his mental landscape so he was assisting Deku in defeating AFO he wasn't helpless the entire time.

But, basically we see the same scene happen with Mark.

A hero who does not wish to kill is forced by circumstance to kill a villain. In Deku's case it should be even more devastating because they explicitly went into the fight wanting to save Shigaraki and they believed their power was for saving and not killing.

Yet, we don't get nearly as horrified a response from Deku.

However, instead Deku's final words are just about how he couldn't forgive Shigaraki and had to put a stop to him no matter what.

Even the way the scenes are presented to us are entirely different. Mark punches Angstrom in a wasteland a dry, dead place, until he's soaked in Angstrom's blood, and painted everything around him red. Once again, it's a visual callback to Mark's father beating him half to death, which was Mark's own lowest point.

Whereas, when Deku punches Shigaraki until he disintegrates not only is the violence or horror of Shigaraki's death not acknowledged, but it's played as a triumphant moment where the clouds clear from the sky and the stun starts shining.

In the cartoon Mark killing Angstrom leads to a total screaming breakdown where he has traumatic flashbacks of his dad beating him and pushes himself to break the sound barrier multiple times. It also leads him to making big life changes like dropping out of college to become a hero full time and giving up any pretense of having a normal life. As seen in a scene where he watches Amber from the sky, and is tempted to go down and greet her and just flies off, because Amber represents his connection to his humanity.

Also, Angstrom doesn't even die. He comes back way worse and that's how invinicble war arc starts.

In the aftermath of killing Shigaraki, Deku gets melancholy about not being able to save Shigaraki only to be reassured he did save him in the end. Only to be told by All Might that it's okay because he still saved Shigaraki's heart even if he killed him.

DEKU: "I couldn't save Tenko's life." "I reached out to his heart, and even though his hatred was crushed," "to the very end, Tenko" "was the leader of the League of Villains." ALL MIGHT: "Let me tell you this as someone who has had a near-death experience," "I think it's in the expression on his face at the end." "If there wasn't a crying boy there," "I think his heart was saved after all,"

People also try to convince mark that he did nothing wrong and that there was no helping what he did in a situation like that, but he doesn't let himself believe them.

The ending lines about the last episode of Season 2, are this:

Eve: I'm sorry Mark. It's not fair. You don't deserve this. Eve: You don't deserve this.

Which has a double meaning. Eve is just trying to comfort Mark, because arguably he shouldn't have to feel guilty for fighting in self defense. On the other hand what Mark hears is You don't deserve this in the context of Eve's feelings for him. An alternate timeline version of Eve confessed her love for Mark. Mark was about to bring it up but decided not to. At that moment as Eve embraces and comforts him, what Mark hears because of his own self loathing is that he doesn't deserve Eve comforting him, or her love for him.

Just to clarify I don't think that Mark is crying over Angstrom Levy specifically. In fact over time he's painted to be pathetic in his obsession with revenge, and what he amounts to is just wanting to blame everything on invincible when it was partially caused by his own actions.

However, it's inarguable that killing (or rather seemingly killing Angstrom) deeply impacted Mark and how he saw himself as a hero. It's less about Angstrom, and more about the loss of control, and the realization of how powerful his anger and hatred can get and what that means for him personally.

It also shows us where Mark's priorities lie. Mark wants to be a perfect hero and a perfect family man, and Invincible shows us he can't be both, his desire to protect his family leads him to staining his blood when he was trying so hard to be a good, selfless hero. This is all a part of a deliberate arc where Mark chooses more and more to value his family over being a hero. I'm not going to say whether or not it's the right choice, but it's a choice he makes, as a part of his character development where as he grows up and becomes a father his priorities change.

My point is that this moment has an impactful change on Mark, for arguably the rest of the comic.

Now my question is, with My Hero Academia will the death of Shigaraki Tomura, the series greatest villain and it's greatest victim have an equal impact on Deku's character that Levy's death did on Mark's?

[epickiya722]

You know what the moment it was revealed Izuku was left with the embers back in 424, I knew he was going to become Horikoshi's previous protagonist from 2008... Jack Midoriya.

I'm sure almost everyone has heard of Jack Midoriya, right?

Well, guess what, you are today!

Let me just point out something that I noticed when it comes to Horikoshi and his concepts and characters. Some of the characters are characters from his previous works and maybe he has used a certain concept before. Izuku Midoriya and his story is no different. It's been told before but in a different flavor.

(I kid you not that every time I think I'm done finding every character and concept Horikoshi has used before, I'm not done. I'll probably make a post of a list!)

For those who don't know, Horikoshi had an one-shot manga published back in 2008, which is 16 years ago, called My Hero. Already seems familiar, doesn't it?

Well, it should be. My Hero Academia is like a more revamped version of that story, just expanded with more added themes and characters and a different setting.

In summary of My Hero, Jack Midoriya is a salesman who wants to be a hero, but due to being anemic and failing his Hero License exam (yes, that exists), he can't become one officially. However, it doesn't stop him from trying! Throughout the story, Jack does still try to be a hero, using the gadgets the company he works for makes. Spoiler alert, by the end of the story, he is recognized as a hero. Especially, by the one person he has looked up, Snipe aka the real Positive, the mantle Jack used during his vigilante run.

Now, how does this may relate to Izuku Midoriya?

Throughout the story, it seemed that a quirk, a good one, is what was needed for someone to be a Hero. Izuku was born Quirkless and his dreams of being a Hero seemed fruitless, nearly shut down when his role model, All Might tells him so. (Which Snipe does to Jack.) However, after trying to save Katsuki, All Might sees that Izuku does have the ambition to be a Hero and Izuku inherits the One For All Quirk from him.

Now I know some of you said that was pointless for him to have a Quirk and then lose if he was going to become a Hero anyways using gadgets.

But, folks, that was it. There is a point. And the point is... it was pointless.

Here's what I'm getting...

One theme I think is often looked over is "be your unapologetic self" and another could be "work with what you have".

Izuku never needed a Quirk to be the best Hero he could be because he already had Heroic qualities, but he did need a Quirk to see that.

One For All was a Quirk that needed to be gone. It was a curse disguised as a blessing. It worked so to challenge Izuku into becoming the Hero he always meant to be. Just as Jack Midoriya did in his story.

Now that Izuku is Quirkless, he now can become that Hero. He still has room to grow and learn from what he did fail at in the past to be better in the future.

It wasn't something he was going to learn overnight just as society isn't going to change overnight.

While MHA has some fantasy elements, just like many other stories before and after, it is a reflection of the real world sometimes. One reality is that it takes a long time to finally understand something.

In real life, it takes people years to understand "Hey, that's not right" or "maybe I should change this about me".

The characters of MHA are no different.

"Society hasn't changed, there's still discrimination, there's still rankings and---"

Well, yeah. Again reflection of the real world.

And just because the changes aren't seen, doesn't mean that they can't happen or that they didn't happen.

The last chapter gave us glimpses of what transpires over the eight years. What if those events have changed? Even not then, what about later?

"What about the talk between Katsuki and Izuku?" Just because we didn't see it, didn't mean it didn't happen. It was revealed Katsuki put in a lot of money for Izuku's Hero equipment, so that's a sign for me that they did talk some more because knowing Katsuki, he wouldn't have just done that unless he knew Izuku would be okay with it somehow.

Hell, they still had two years of high school left together. You're telling me it's impossible that they didn't have a talk?!

Sometimes I feel like some of you decide "this sucks" is because you just don't have the patience to try to decipher the message yourself. You want it handed out to you.

Not me, I want a writer to challenge my imagination because that gets my mind working and really engaged with the story. I might not understand it, but it's not that big of a deal for me. I'll still try to understand and if I never get it, I'll just move on.

Really my overall take from "Izuku being Quirkless again but still a Hero" among other things is that yeah, work with what you have. Just because you receive something that may be a blessing, it will also curse you in some way. The things and changes you want won't happen overnight, it takes time. Izuku was already a Hero, or at least one in the making.

And honestly, Izuku wearing a suit (because he's a teacher) and still being a Hero with gadgets just visually is like a reminder of "I'm not forgetting where I started" from Horikoshi.

It's wholesome in a way that he went back to an earlier work and still used his intended concept for Izuku (he wanted to make him an adult but had to change it to Izuku being a high schooler) of his last chapter. Full circle! My Hero may not be Horikoshi's first work (yes, folks, it's not), but it's familiar.

And I know some of you may not care for my opinion because I'm sure this post made you feel some kind of way (not my intention, but damn it, I'm tired of not expressing how I feel), but I know some of you might.

My overall thought of the finale? It is not as bad as some of you make it out to be. I'm sure there are worse endings out there and it's not like Izuku didn't become a Hero. It's not like Izuku didn't have people by his side because he did.

"But he was lonely." Well, you would, too if you couldn't hang out with your friends. But they're adults now and busy. Izuku is busy, too, he's a teacher.

"But Izuku's feelings!" Cut it because this is the same fandom where some of you don't care how he feels. He cries, it was annoying to you. Oh, but when he was neglecting himself y'all sure was like "yeah so badass".

I see myself in Izuku with how he treats his emotions. He's expressive, but he also tends to keep in his feelings. He even keeps them from us, the audience.

"Eight years it took him to be a Hero again!" Back to my original point. Izuku was always a Hero. You don't have to go out there and fight to be one. You don't need a Quirk to be one.

Overall, I don't hate the ending at all. It have easily been worse.

Sure I would have loved more Miruko, but I'm glad she's alive and some other Heroes didn't get the spotlight like that anyways. She is still a minor character, so I'm not actually upset. 😆

[yonkokraven]

Small comments (BNHA manga 429 spoilers)

Horikoshi is getting one thing right at least, society will now not stand by and watch someone suffer, but instead... we keep the top heroes but add a separate category that does represent heroism?

It's good that now they measure actions and not power, but I am 99% convinced that Horikoshi left that old top of heroes so that Bakugo would be number 1 in that top, I hope that in the next chapter that top does not exist and that the new top does exist, but without Bakugo (although I know that it is impossible for Horikoshi not to stop giving awards to Bakugo just because)

The legacy of the villains restructured society in one way or another, but the fandom simply does not want to see it that way because everyone expected Tomura and Toga to live, but in case it had happened, I remind you:

-Tomura was not going to stop destroying, because that is the promise he made to the league (another thing that Horikoshi added at the last second, because Tomura simply wanted to DESTROY EVERYTHING)

-Toga would have been imprisoned, no matter how much they had avoided the death penalty, she would not be rehabilitated, no matter how much she redeemed a little of her actions, she would never have freedom. She chose to die because it was the only option she considered appropriate (and they literally say that she died as she lived, as she wanted).

What is criminal is that Horikoshi simply makes Deku accept that he is a murderer and makes Uraraka feel sad about being stabbed.

Deku does not have proper introspection, he is losing his power and could not prevent AFO from taking control of Tomura who preferred to destroy himself from within rather than let AFO continue...

and Uraraka wanted to save Toga with the difference that she did not want to be saved if it meant stopping and accepting the consequences of her actions.

Toga and Tomura needed help?

BUT OF COURSE, what happens is that the manga literally shows us that everyone has reached the point of no return.

Dabi almost killed his entire family, Tomura wanted to destroy the world even after discovering the truth, Toga wanted to live by her own rules and WANTED TO KEEP KILLING, the only one left after the first war who could stop everything was Spinner and he almost a Nomu thanks to AFO.

What should bother the fandom is how Aizawa is a bad teacher for 90% of the manga and doesn't even find a moment to properly apologize to his students, OR THE OWN EXISTENCE OF BAKUGO KATSUKI

OR THAT AOYAMA HAS TO START FROM SCRATCH AND NOT SHINSO THAT HE LITERALLY DID NOT TAKE THE NECESSARY FIRST YEAR TESTS TO GET TO SECOND YEAR.

[uglygreenjacket]

Do I think Ochako and Izuku will end up together as we end the manga? Probably.

Does it change a single thing for me as a BKDK shipper? Absolutely not.

I’m not deluded enough to think bkdk will become canon. This is a classic Shonen manga. Japan isn’t that progressive. But I’m sorry, you can’t tell me Horikoshi didn’t know what he was doing with the volume 37 cover. You can’t tell me Horikoshi didn’t know what he was doing with that Jump GIGA cover.

Does he ship them? I don’t know. Sometimes it feels like it. A lot of times it feels like it. Katsuki getting stabbed to save Izuku. Izuku losing control of blackwhip whenever someone speaks ill of Katsuki. Katsuki nearly killing himself to get to Izuku when he can barely move (MULTIPLE times). Shigaraki going after Katsuki because he’s the most important person to Izuku. Katsuki CRYING over Izuku’s lost quirk in the hospital. The list goes on and on.

And with that being said, honestly, it’s no wonder so many ship them. Their relationship is so much more fleshed out than the Izuku x Ochako relationship could ever hope to be at this point. Even if the entirety of the epilogue is IzuOcha confessing, it still doesn’t erase the entirety of what’s happened between Katsuki and Izuku. Horikoshi isn’t great at writing well-rounded female characters, at least in this story, and I think this also contributes to the sheer number of BKDK shippers. It’s so much easier to ship two fleshed out characters. Add in a rivals/enemy dynamic and you have the the makings of many of the most popular M/M Shonen ships.

And I understand people’s issues with the BKDK, though past a lot of homophobia and a refusal to acknowledge people (especially teenagers) have a great capacity for change, I’m not sure where the intense hatred of it comes from.

I loves these characters. I love this ship for so many reasons. And if IzuOcha becomes canon that won’t change. If anything, my resolve that BKDK should be canon will only be strengthened.

I’m not under the illusion that I’m adding anything new to this discourse. The shipping wars will continue no matter how the story ends. But I don’t think BKDKs should be blamed for coming to a conclusion the story has, up until this point, so clearly led us to.

[mamapyjama]

Thought I ought to bring this over here for the Tumblr crew since it’s making a little buzz in the other place and I want to gather all my thoughts in one place.

So, back in 2022 I was in my feelings about Izuku (when am I not?) and wrote the following little sad headcanon on twt:

Made myself sad thinking about how the original Japanese word for Quirk is ‘kosei’, which means ‘individuality’ or the unique part of a personality. It’s no wonder Deku thought he was plain and useless. Everyone has literally been telling him since he was 4. 😓 Like, there’s no way at that age he could separate people talking about his lack of meta-ability from his own unique value as a person when they’re using the same damn word. That’s the kind of stuff that’s going to stick with you. 🥺

Sad to imagine, eh?

Fast forward to 2024 and chapter 412, and as always, I was browsing the jp fandom tweets for reactions after the official release. They often pick up on things we miss like Katsuki’s childlike language, the NTR implications of the kudoichi plot etc.

As I scrolled, I realised there was a HUGE disconnect between what we in “The West” were experiencing (mostly rage at yet another translation ‘choice’) and the existential questioning that was occurring among Japanese readers.

This is just a tiny glimpse, but you should know that every single one I saw was doing the tweet equivalent of staring into the middle distance with a haunted look.

It’s all about the panel below, which was mentioned by the incomparable Pikahlua, as it is unusual in writing ‘mukosei’ without the speechmarks that signify ‘quirkless’ (to use the English term) rather than ‘lacking individuality’.

Horikoshi always uses speechmarks around “Kosei” when talking about quirks, so the implication here is that Izuku never believed he had actual individuality/personality.

Using this interpretation, Kudou observed that Izuku held the hope that even people who were detestable (Katsuki) and those who had no individuality (Izuku) still had human hearts.

Read that again. Izuku hoped that both he and Kacchan, despite their shortcomings, had human hearts. He thinks his only worth is as a vessel, a holder of OFA, and without that he’s barely human.

Ever noticed how some parts of the fandom complain that Deku is a boring MC, that he’s just ‘nice’, and we never get his opinions on things? Yeah.

Remember how hard he cried when All Might said he could be a hero? That was the first time in his life that someone acknowledged him as someone with potential, with worth. (In ch2 he also says “I have no reason to refuse!!” when offered OFA, which always struck me as slightly anticlimactic but makes way more sense now).

And remember how he cried in a similar way when Ochako told the world that he wasn’t special but that he had a special power? She couldn’t have known she was reinforcing his deepest held insecurity, and for a moment his mask slipped. Or maybe he was touched by her assertion that he was just a ‘regular high school kid’? We don’t know, but it’s worth taking a look at these moments in this new light.

You staring into the middle distance with a haunted look too yet? I know I am.

If you’re interested in the bright side (I needed this, I hope it helps):

Narratively speaking, this is the angst section that will lead to Midoriya Izuku: Rising and the happy ending they all deserve.

And the person most likely to disavow him of this sense of inherent worthlessness is the one person who added to it the most in their childhoods.

✨KACCHAN!!✨

No one else can reassure Izuku that he is special, that he’s worthwhile and—crucially—that he always has been, because he’s the only one who knew that all along.

If you need more reassurance, remember that their Origin and Rising chapters so far have all involved each other and have mirrored the emotional journey they’re both on.

Bakugou Katsuki: Origin: Katsuki struggles to accept Izuku and work as a team to battle All Might. Eventually does the bare minimum to cooperate by lending him his gauntlet.

Bakugou Katsuki: Rising: Katsuki coordinates the pro heroes and sacrifices himself to save Izuku. His body ‘moved on its own.’

Midoriya Izuku: Origin: Izuku is bullied by Katsuki, tries to save Katsuki from a villain—his body ‘moved on its own’, and is consequently told he can be a hero by All Might.

It isn’t a reach at all to pretty safely assume that Izuku’s Rising chapter will also be intrinsically linked to Katsuki, and it is his cooperation, faith and love (however you interpret it) that will finally save Izuku from his own sense of worthlessness. Closing the circle.

So yeah, this bit could be rough for the next few chapters, but I have faith that Horikoshi will wrap it up in a way that will be so rewarding and satisfying.

I’m gonna stop now because I’m ill and I need to rest my head, thanks for reading! 😮‍💨

[bibibbon]

A lot of the time I wish horikoshi actually split both 1A and 1B to classes that only had 10 people in them so he can make every character feel different, make the hero course more competitive and actually develop the characters. For example 1B has so many characters all with such interesting designs and concepts that never get expanded on because oh well hori didn't have the time to or something else.

There's also the fact that hori should of had it so that some kids dropped out of the hero course to Futher increase tension and have them pursue a hobby dropping the number of students or heck even adding transfer students yet he doesn't do much with these concepts.

Like people heavily sleep on yanagi, shihai and kinoko who are probably my top 3 favourites in that class

[irontragedyreview]

People who are saying "you can't criticize Horikoshi, it's his story and he can do whatever he wants", etc. Yeah, it's his story but he's made it public so I can do whatever I want and if I want to be a bitch and I call hi, mediocre I’ll do it. Like I love Naruto with all my heart and I have defended Kishimoto over certain criticisms in relation to female characters, etc. I have also criticized him for the absolute shit that Boruto is, even considering that as a manga Boruto isn’t 100% his work considering that at the beginning he was involved in the movie but on the manga he was only a supervisor. What I'm trying to get It’s that if you believe that just because a mangaka creates a story it should be free from criticism then you aren’t ready to get involved with any type of media or sincerely the public believes that consuming a movie, book, etc. means being a passive subject without critical thinking.  

That being said, Horikoshi largely deserves as much criticism as he can get because these chapters were truly a shit show since this last arc began. Let's just start listing first, AFO vs Endeavor and every hero in existence was too long and repeated for a large number of chapters the formula "villain takes the advantage, heroes take the advantage, the villain takes the advantage again and finally wins and move on to something else", all of this perhaps understandable to give some prominence to characters who were forgotten for entire arcs.

Shouto and his arc plus his relationship with Dabi, Shouto had a very interesting arc and incredibly much material to exploit but his arc and his relationship with Dabi never managed to take off because he was so tied to Endeavor that the interactions between them felt empty. 

Ochako and Toga were honestly the only thing that was worth it, you could see the commitment to giving them both a great moment and the way she wanted to approach Toga and truly have a conversation. The only thing I can criticize about their ending is that obviously there is no completely satisfactory closure in giving Toga an answer to what happens next, apart from Ochako's offer of understanding, there is no easy way out of what the other heroes will do, therefore which I can’t criticize her for not giving an answer to a complicated situation in this way. 

Also Horikoshi added things to his story that in the end he didn’t finish closing or that surely even if he touched them again it would no longer make sense, what happened to Spinner? What happened to everything about heteromorphic discrimination? I have to believe that everything is fixed by the good heart of Shoji telling Spinner that his way of doing things only makes the "achievements" of equality go backwards by giving them a bad image. In other words, we know that quirk society is discriminatory, especially in less urbanized towns, that those heteromorphs who reach places of power are the least and no real change has been achieved, but of course the victims of discrimination have to keep quiet and be good. So, maybe in the future they will no longer be discriminated. I'm going to be fair here, touching on issues like discrimination is complex, but putting an idea like this in the manga and then going for a simplistic or rather completely ignored resolution, because while a person may not share Spinner's actions, it’s understandable why he does it and simply saying that you have to be better because then people will see that you are good and not discriminate against you is stupid, Horikoshi covered a topic that he honestly didn’t know how to deal with or wasn’t interested in doing so. 

Kurogiri/Shirakumo being just a plot device for Aizawa and being resolved in 5 panels, I'm going to be understanding and say that this arc had the least to explore, but in the end it was meh. Tbh I'm not going to criticize this because it is so empty of content that it is no longer worth criticizing it. 

About Tomura and Izuku, the truth is what can I say the most that I haven't said in previous posts? from all the fights or confrontations it’s the most ignored, neglected and rushed of all, we don't know anything about them other than loose panels for a whole year, they barely interact and now Tomura dies, Izuku is "well, I honestly don't give a damn and I want you dead", if no one who has followed these two characters realizes the damage that this chapter has done to their conclusions then I'm not going to explain it. If Horikoshi felt incapable or was tired of his story he could have ended it with something else, however perhaps this was always the plan, we are talking about a guy who said that the second movie was the end of his manga,that is Midoriya without quirk giving it to his childhood bully. It's obvious that he doesn't care about Izuku as a character and I think he did care about Tomura but he didn't know what to do with him, which is why we have this ending.

Final note for any comments I may surely receive for calling bk a childhood bully. Don't waste your time replying, commenting or trying to argue, Horikoshi took it upon himself to make bk a gary stu who never faces real consequences for his actions (dying is not a sign of karma) and his abuse is never treated seriously by the author, because his victim never reflects on himself, which is ironic considering how many BK fans recognize that Midoriya has self-esteem problems, contempt, and poor self-care but do not recognize BK's role in this or minimize it.

[blank468]

Alright let’s beat the dead horse to the ground so hard that it can travel to the center of the earth. I found a tweet from someone who tries to defends Bakugo’s resurrection and say how it and his death raised the stakes in the final arc. I’m not going to reveal who made the tweet just to protect their identity but if you’ve been on Twitter you’ll most likely know where this paragraph came from.

“Edgeshot knows he can’t come back from this. Edgeshot is sacrificing his life to save a kid’s life I want everyone to remember that there aren’t as many pro heroes left after the first war many of the pros retired because of the discourse that happened after the first war. Plus, we know edgeshot’s efforts were in vain now, because Edgeshot isn’t the one who revived him He helped hold him together, but he didn’t bring him back to life. By pure luck, Bakugo’s own sweat exploded and jump started his heart. This type of stuff is seen in Shonen all the time, so I don’t wanna hear any complaining about this one. (Jjba pt3 spoilers until ⭐️) Let’s not forget when Star Platinum stopped Jotaro’s heart so Dio couldn’t hear the beat ⭐️”

First of all, I could care very little if Edgeshot was one of the majority of heroes that retired after the events of the war arc. Edgeshot as a character is a nobody. I’ll be honest, I thought he was pretty cool when he showed up in Kamino and his quirk looked interesting. But just like a majority of characters with interesting concepts, Edgeshot falls back into the corner and is given barely anything to do and has had no meaningful impact and connection with anyone before the final arc even started. I don’t feel anything about him sacrificing himself for Bakugo because he has never been shown or established to have any sort of character for me to give a crap about. I don’t care if he and Best Jeanist were students together at UA. I don’t care if he’s going to end up as dental floss for the rest of his life. I certainly don’t give a crap that Bakugo is now feeling grateful to be brought back by some hack who he had barely knew.

Speaking of Bakugo, if all of this is really Horikoshi intended to happen in his story, then why not do the basic thing when writing any story is to make a plan. There clearly should have been a dynamic between Bakugo and Edgeshot for this moment to feel impactful than it does. Horikoshi really dropped the ball with having his favorite character join Deku and Todoroki in the work study with Bakugo. He can’t go through a single arc that Bakugo is in without getting him involved with crap he has no real contribution to. I said in a previous post that Wonder boy has no real purpose/contribution in the main story line. His involvement with things like Deku, OFA and other side plots doesn’t amount to anything other than mindless yelling, guilt tripping, and just him treating everything as damn a competition. An egregious example would be the Endeavor Agency arc. Him acting ad the third wheel along with Deku and Todoroki doesn’t do any thing but give us more annoying moments with him. It’s one of the reasons why I dislike the dynamic between these three. I could on about why their dynamic is the most annoying and stupidest crap I’ve seen but that’s for another story. So back to the Endeavor Agency arc, He acts incredibly aggressive and inappropriate when he’s with the Todoroki family. He’s only in that arc so he can have power progression.

If Horikoshi wanted me to care about his dynamic with Edgeshot, why couldn’t he just have Bakugo do the work study with him instead of making a third wheel just because he’s afraid that his fans will get upset. Bakugo taking up on a work study with Edgeshot would have given the story a chance to do things that would have improve the final arc than it does. Let’s list them.

1. It gives a chance for Bakugo to develop as a character on his own without it being related to Deku

2. It could have helped painted Bakugo in a better light by having him feel guilty about Best Jeanist and make him regretful for his shitty attitude towards him during his internship

3. It would have given the creator an excuse to establish Edgeshot as a character and his relationship with Best Jeanist.

4. Edgeshot would give Bakugo some words of advice about not getting hung up over your past mistakes and focus more on improving yourself.

5. Edgeshot would have stated that he doesn’t blame Bakugo for what happened in Kamino; especially towards Jeanist

Second of all, what exactly is in vain here exactly? The only thing that I can think of that is in vain is his ego. Edgeshot I would think would have been better established to be more than just a support hero if he can do medical treatment on a battlefield. He had knowledge of this ability all this time and he chose to randomly choose it on this one kid who he barely knew.

Third of all, just because you excuse something by saying it’s a Shonen and you should expect it to happen doesn’t automatically excuse bad writing. Most shonen not only establish the world so the audience can get familiar with but they alsocreate rules on how stuff work like power scales for example.

Where in this story has it been established that Bakugo’s quirk can jump start damaged organs with the touch a tiny explosion? And how does that tiny explosion not do any damage to an organ that was or not have been stitched yet?

So basically what I’m saying is that Bakugo’s quirk somehow being able to jump start his heart was an asspull. And no, saying that you have spoken to a real doctor to get knowledge on the science of heart surgery doesn’t excuse your bad writing. It was already bad enough that a nobody character came in and turned into the world’s greatest surgeon incredibly late in the story, but the very thought that Wonder Boy’s quirk was able to jumpstart his heart without it damaging him is not only ridiculous but it ruins the stakes for this story. Why as a reader would I feel worried for a character if I know they’re going to be fine? Imagine if there’s a sequel to MHA and Bakugo as a Pro hero gets pummeled by a villain and his limbs were broken to the point where shouldn’t move. Would Horikoshi have Bakugo’s quirk somehow instantly heal his wombs and he’ll get back up like nothing just happen? How many fake out deaths is the creator’s pet going to have in this story? The amount of times characters have walked out of situations that should have killed them is not only laughable but proves why the story has no real stakes.

[vimara00]

Hello everyone, It's Vi! 💕 I had some 'Shoto vibes' today so I decided to write something about him. As always I hope you enjoy! Please comment, like or send me requests on my DMs (I don't know how it's called on Tumblr jajaja)

All characters reservations yo Horikoshi

Warnings: toxic relationship (not with Shoto) and swearing but fluff💕

~Always~ ShotoTodoroki

• Shoto and y/n had been friends since they entered the UA. Well, actually that's not so true...it took time for Todoroki to get used to others but the more he knew her, the more the walls he had put around himself where trembling down. It was a slow process but Shoto realized his days were better when she's around and that he smiled more just at the thought of seeing s/o but those things had nothing to do with his growing feelings for her...right?! He indeed liked her as more that a friend but she wasn't supposed to know about this till it was too much for his heart to take

• One of the reasons He never made a move (a part from being a coward) was because she already had a relationship or more specifically a toxic relationship. For someone who wasn't given enough love and care as a child, he could see miles away how terribly it was. She was always the one who ended up hurt by the asshole's sharp and cruel words, the one who took to much space and time and that would never be enough for him not matter how much she tried. He treated her as something that belonged to him, something he could show off to his stupid friends. He had so much power over her when he laughed about her dreams of becoming a hero in front of everyone saying he'll let her play the heroine but they all know she'll be just his pretty wife. And everyone was laughing, except her and Shoto, who wanted to throw up.

• With all he might, Todoroki wished to take her out of that relationship (and burn that idiot alive but that wasn't too heroic, was it?). However, y/n, who had such a beautiful soul, too kind for this world and even more kinder for that man, always ended up forgiving him and justifying his actions after the promises that 'he'll change, he'll grow, he'll be better' (quoting Maddie here hehehe)

Shoto had witnessed how abusive behaviors and unhealthy relationships could take an amazing woman to madness and he'd known that even if that asshole didn't fiscally abuse her, his words caught deeper than a knife. She tried so much to hide her low self-esteem but Shoto knew her better than she knew herself. He could see behind that fake smile and those eyes filled with sadness, how much she struggled to save her soul. At first, he had tried to convince her about leaving him but the last few weeks he came up with the idea of showing her how she should be treated. Not only the material things but the acts of service like making her favorite tea when she was studying or heating her hand when she was cold and the attention her boyfriend lacks off giving like just listening what her worries were or how her day went and remembering all she'd said by heart. It actually was not much work, he already did that but he added more enfasis to the lingering touches that she seemed to reciprocate. Shoto was sure she noticed his longing stares when they were watching a movie or how his hand always found hers when they were in a crowd room (cause he knows she hates being surrounded by many people) or the blushing mess he became when she'd found staring for too long. Todoroki could tell something in their friendship was changing and he couldn't be happier if it werent for the fact that the dickhead was still present in her life...

• However, He had enough when one night in particular that idiot decided to visit at the doorms and ruin their weekly movie marathon (the one Shoto and y/n always did in the common area when everyone was already sleeping but her boyfriend didn't have to know that she cuddle him under the covers that they shared) Apparently, he had important news to deliver so he proceeds to enlighten the mood by saying that he was offered an amazing job abroad and that she didn't have to keep on attending to that worthless school with those wannabe heroes and that she needed to hurry cause their plane leaves in three hours. Y/n open her mouth to protest but he interrupted her like always. To that idiot surprise and Shoto's too, y/n took a few steps closer to him and shouted 'STOP FUCKING TALKING! I'M TIRED OF YOU AND YOUR TWISTED GAMES. STOP LAUGHING ABOUT MY DREAMS AND MAKING ME FEEL LIKE I'M THE PROBLEM WHEN I COMPLAIN. I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU! I'VE TOLERED TO MUCH OF YOUR BULLSHIT. I'M TIRED OF PRETENDING THAT I LOVE YOU CAUSE I DON'T. AND I WON'T GO ANYWHERE WITH YOU EVEN IF YOU WHERE THE LAST MAN OF EARTH. SOMEONE HAS ALREADY TOOK THE PLACE YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE HAD IN MY HEART AND SHOWED ME THAT I'M WORTH LOVING SO FUCK YOU!'

The room was silent and Shoto took this opportunity to grabbed that asshole and take him out the residence. Y/n will never know as Shoto would take it to the grave, that he had frightened her ex so he'll never come closer or even breath the same air as her EVER again

When he entered, he saw her trembling figure and the tears rolling down her cheecks and all he could do was embrace her body in hope of giving some comfort. Her face was against his chest as he caressed her hair delicately. Suddenly, she looked up at him and said 'I know its bad...you don't need to save me but would you stay by my side even after the storm?'

And Shoto responded firmly without a pause and without a doubt but with his entire being 'Always' and hugged her even harder

• A few days later, after things had calmed down, he confronted her about what she'd said and she confessed to him even if she wasn't sure that he'll reciprocate, she was glad that she found someone as great as him to love.

Shoto's had enough time to figured out exactly what he felt towards her so he make it his life mission to show her every day why he was worth of her love. No one will ever hurt her ever again and God forgive who'll try...

[that-spider-fan-over-there]

I'm still very baffled at people who complain about lack of Izuku's POV, and it's not because I don't understand it; hell, every leaked chapter I keep thinking if we'll soon get an insight on his mind (admittedly, my patience has dwindled because of the previous fandom so that's 100% a flaw on my part rather than the story's pacing. In my opinion), but.

When you really think about it, our little freckled unreliable narrator here never actually gets introspective on anything personal- we get the "I gotta be stronger so others won't worry" "I need to save that kid who was crying" "I have to catch up so I'll be the best version of a hero I can be", but uh all that aside. Literally most times he's actually introspective is either to help someone with their own feelings or when he's thinking about. Well.

Point is I still haven't forgotten that door with a bunch of lockers in the vestige world. Or the entire "control your heart" narrative- which is one of the reasons I'm an advocate for "Final battle in the vestige world".

Because I wanna see that door being opened with all those raw emotions hitting him like the true tsunami he holds in.

For comparison, Izuku is like an outsider's POV of Steven Universe in SU:F; we can tell he's bottling it up, but "what" exactly and "how much" is the suspense, rather than the "when" he'll be forced to face it all, even if we already know some of the things he's keeping it in.

Because while both are a matter of time, Izuku has the added bonus of keeping it too close to his chest. He's stopped being a POV character long ago. Which now that I realize, could count as a subversion of the "everyday relatable MC"; because usually in most comic books, we know what makes a human a hero; but in BNHA; we're questioned: what makes a hero human? It's one of the reasons, I'd argue, Izuku's been getting flack as a protagonist: we're seeing a hero who needs to rediscover his own humanity, his individuality.

It's because he has put his own expectations of himself on such a high pedestal post-PLF, he only thinks now of what he can and should do, but we, as the audience, have known him as someone growing to be a hero while he accidentally forgets and confuses his origin. We're still seeing "the Deku who always does his best", but learned that's detrimental without the heart of Midoriya Izuku.

Personally, however, I'm patient. It's been a little fun because in a way, everyone else is getting an exercise on being the main character, and it feels like Izuku became a side one. That's actually not a bad thing: as he rediscovers what makes Deku and Izuku important to his identity, he regains agency to the story and we as the audience will slowly get back on his mind. BNHA's themes of identity are still prevalent; we just need to open that door beforehand. How or when, it's up to Horikoshi-san, but soon enough. I'm putting trust it'll pay off, the story has yet to make me regret it, bumps in the road and all.

TL;DR: I think Izuku's lack of internal thoughts since the PLF Arc is an intentional choice it'll pay off, and it's related to OFA's door; as it would make sense to the themes of identity and self discovery BNHA has, just involving the audience's reaction in a way. Especially because Izuku's a character who thinks he's worth what he can do rather than who he is. That said, the absence of these thoughts has precedents because Izuku is an unreliable narrator who doesn't really do introspections unless it's to other's benefit, hero-related or relative to his relationship with Katsuki.

TL;DR to the TL;DR: We'll get Izuku's thoughts eventually you guys are just mean /j/j/j/j

[theukuleleisbroken]

MHA Story Direction

There are a few points in MHA's story where Horikoshi made a decision that sent the plot and characters in a specific direction, and it didn't really benefit the story. One of the biggest decisions was when Bakugo was kidnapped, when it should have Izuku.

If Izuku was the one kidnapped, he could've interacted with Shigaraki, better setting up the final battle between them that is happening right now in the manga. He also could've interacted with AFO, who he has barely interacted with at all in the story (I think the only interaction Izuku has with AFO, when he was in his original body and not possessing Shigaraki, is at the very beginning of the Final War, before everybody is transported everywhere else.)

It also would've added to other characters' arcs. Iida, the rule follower who went off on his own to take revenge against Stain and had to have Izuku save him (something Todoroki could've mentioned to him), could've decided to ignore the rules to save his friend. The rest of the class also could've struggled with the decision, when they know Izuku would've tried to save them if they were kidnapped.

It might've even helped Bakugo's arc and "redemption". While this would probably require Bakugo's character to be rewritten in the earlier arcs, he could've come to some sort of partial realization that he's treated Izuku horribly, starting his redemption earlier. He could've made the decision to go save Izuku, also starting his arc that being a hero isn't just about winning. This could've lead to Bakugo being the one to reach out his hand towards Izuku and made the effort towards changing (instead of unloading his emotional baggage onto Izuku in their second fight). I don't like Bakugo, and I wouldn't say I outright hate him either, but if Horikoshi insists on making Bakugo important, I feel like this would actually have given him substance, instead of propping him up and forcing him into the main plot.

Instead, Bakugo is given a lot of unearned importance, just like he has in the arcs before and after. He was already being given importance in the plot as Izuku's "rival", but after Kamino he was basically promoted to the secondary main character, arguably taking the place of importance in the story that All Might previously had. Izuku end ups having to share too much of the spotlight with Bakugo, taking away from possible interactions with other characters in the story.

[thealiveshadow]

This is the letter Horikoshi wrote in the extras of Volume 39, it’s quite the interesting read:

«  As many of have already noticed, most chapters have become shorter. This is due to the speed at which I draw decreasing over the years and my schedule being a total mess. Because of that, I've been talking to the higher ups of the editorial department on a regular basis so that we can decide on the number of pages for each chapter in advance, allowing MHA to be included in the magazine. I know it's 100% my fault, but I always find myself thinking "if only I could draw a few more pages...!". I'm really self-centered, ain't I? How awful.

So they told me that chapter 395, "Built Upon The Joys of Others", would be 13 pages long. But, as you can see, it ended up with 15 pages. And that's thanks to Imamura-san, my editor. I made a 13 pages long first draft, but it was evident that I had to hinder the narrative for it to work. If I were a better author, maybe those 13 pages would have been enough... So, I took that first draft and handed it to Imamura-san, who read it and fell silent. After a while, he said: "...what if you added two more pages?"

An editor increasing the page count based on their personal opinion is considered a major taboo. After all, the magazine consists of many series and many chapters. But Imamura-san is a relatively younger editor, so maybe that's why. "Is that even possible?!", I asked, and his eyes lost their sparkle.

"Don't worry, I'm the only one who's going to get scolded. I liked this draft, but I think this chapter has the potential to be even better. So, I'm asking you to draw two more pages within the time limit. If the deadline comes and you haven't done it, it'll be a problem for everyone. What do you say, Horikoshi-san?"

His eyes were as black as a black hole. They were pits without any light. And that's how we managed to publish chapter 395 with 15 pages.

What I'm trying to say is that both Imamura-san and the editorial department are giving their all to make sure that MHA comes out in the best possible way. If it weren't for their efforts, maybe it wouldn't be possible for the serialization to continue. So I want to take this opportunity to thank them. Thank you very much.

And I want to send a message to everyone who's entering adulthood: meet your deadlines and avoid causing trouble for other people. Otherwise, their eyes will be filled with darkness.

(Come to think of it, I never managed to finish my summer vacation homework on time. I should have realized back then that I wasn't fit for life in society)»

Kouhei Horikoshi

All credits go to @RukasuMHA on Twitter for the translations, I take no credit at all for the text provided.

Here’s the original page:

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

OK, uh, I am, like, writing this crack fic right now, don't worry about it too much, and I was looking back up the Meta Liberation Army thing...

And, uuuuuuuh...

Can we talk for a QUICK SECOND about the ideology of BNHA villains?

OK, like, I'm trying to do this thing in the fic, where I position the Meta Liberation Army and Humarise from the Movies as two diametrically opposed ideologies for obvious reasons, and Humarise is easy as shit to write, it's just a Death Cult who believes in what is, in universe, a fringe conspiracy theory by a disgraced quork scientist from 50+ years ago, an hypocritical one at that since none of their high ranking members are Quirkless despite advocating for Quirkless rights.

Anyway, in my fic they just finance the Shie Hassaikai for now, hence the gang not going under, and and will come into play later, but I had the bullheaded idea to also tackle the Meta Liberation Army immediately for added drama, you know, the parallels, and holy shit...

The MLA are Ancaps.

This is, and I can't stress this enough, the most charitable way I can read them.

Their entire ideology is essential unregulated freedom. Everyone should use the quirk the way they see fit, with no permits or licences, always. Basically the dissolution of the social contract they are currently living in.

This is also the ideology of the League of Villains mind you, but there is a big difference there.

ReDestro is a rich fucking businessman.

The three top leaders of the Army? One controls the biggest telecommunication company in the country (Modern Media) the other their biggest publisher (Traditional Media), and the third is a GODDAMN POLITICIAN.

Do we know... ANYTHING about the Political Leanings of the Hearts and Minds party in canon? Like, I assume they'd be advocating for ways to ensure Meta Liberation Army doctrine to be upheld right? Which means tax cuts for their allies, lessening in quirk regulations, I guess some Token Heteromorph support?

Keep in mind the only Heteromorph among the MLA top ranks, as well as the only woman, is also conventionally attractive. Like, I can DEFINITELY see her as a great example of some weird Glass Ceiling "Got mine fuck you" situation, in the way her gender and quirk are ultimately secondary to her Social Class as a member of the rich elite.

Like, shit, the more I read about them the more I am amazed Horikoshi essentially wrote about how in the BNHA universe there is a secret society composed by the richest men in the country, infiltrated at the highest ranks of society, even among heroes or the commission, advocating for deregulation and zero oversight...

And then just... Did nothing with it.

Like, ReDestro straight up... Picks a fight with the league and then that's it, we doing villain shit now, time to suicide bomb the commission for no reason, the MLA could have EASILY fucked over Japan with a 10 year plan of gradual political shift, and NO ONE could have done anything about it cause they are just normal businessmen at that point.

"You don't arrest Lex Luthor for burning the rainforest you arrest him for using a giant robot to do it" sort of shit.

Like, imagine this shit is tackled with the gravitas it deserves, and Izuku has to come face to face with the fact hero society is corrupt and a slave to capital and he can't do jack shit from stopping a LITERAL POLITICIAN from spreading harmful rhetoric via social media and the traditional medias unless he goes rogue and starts car bombing people, that he can't even "vote with his wallet" cause Detnerat controls most of the market when it comes to support items?

Like, damn.

[bibibbon]

On the bluesky saw a post talking about the flying nomu.

And...it hits me how Shig saw a nomu going especially after Izu and ....did nothing. He didn't find that odd.

Did Izu recognized the flying nomu as the lackey?

Once again, the Nomus are wasted in this damn story.

So my ask here is

1) how possum/shig controls the Nomus? Bc if we go with "they have animal mentality" well, you can dominate a lion but you need to put work and shig didn't show us that

2) what happened after? Like the flying nomu was killed by Stain(if I remember right) and then...no one makes any investigation or smth??.bc I have two theories here either people did some research and find out who the kid was and opt to be silent or no one knew not even Izu and the bk's lackeys died completely unknown and uncared. Not even his grandpa gave a fuck.

Hi @mikeellee 👋

Agreed the nomu's do have a lot of wasted potential within the series and its a shame horikoshi didn't expand on them more whether be the horror, social and societal aspects surrounding the nomu's.

To answer your questions izuku didn't recognise that the nomu that attacked him was one of bkaugo's childhood friends. This seemed to be just a tiny easter egg for the readers and its a shame that it's never brought up again because

1)it would of played well into izuku's characterisation since he is really observant

2) would of added the horror into mha early on. You could have izuku doubting himself and saying oh this nomu kind of reminds me of tsuaba but then trying to brush that concern of until its brought back up

3) it would of connected early links to Dr garaki and important and underutilised plot point in the series

(Its weird hori did say that he would delve deeper into the nomu's but never truly did)

I don't think shigaraki sought to particulaty control the nomu's in the hosu arc he wanted them to cause chaos and bring awareness to his ideals and himself which is something that both the nomu's and stain helped achieve for him.

Now in terms of controlling nomu we know when they are given a lot of quirks they practically become braindead and their intelligence is significantly reduced. Some including I speculate that a brainwashing type of quirk or Dr garaki wires their brains to take instructions (however none is confirmed).

Yet this process is interesting because it suggests that a nomu can break out of that thought process like kurogiri and then what?

We know within the series that research was done on who the nomu's are and detective naomasa reports to all might about the nomu's identities. Iam assuming that this should be done for all of the nomu's discovered but this information was kept secret and never leaked to the public and therefore never leaked to izuku.

When the information was leaked after the war arc it was labeled to be so big to be the final nail in the coffin of hero society in general and ended up taking away any trust people had in heroes and hero society.

Nomu's could of been explored in multiple ways like:

Blurring the line between people and easily discardable puppets. It would make society question what it means to be a person since it can't be established by looks and it could tie in heteramorphis discrimation

Can heroes kill nomu's would society allow that? (Ending does talk a bit about this)

How are nomu's created?

Imagine one of your loved ones is a nomu and the way it would damage people like the situation to do with tsuaba and kurogiri

Puppets that can kill maybe the hpsc would want them if they can train them?

How are they created? What does Dr garaki do and how does he use them? Maybe they can be an ultimate super weapon of his that he uses to do his work