#bnha chapter 263 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stillness-in-green · 2 years

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Chapter Thoughts: 363, Those Who Defend, Those Who Violate

O I love the detail that Monoma is on his feet on the first page. I went back a few chapters to see if it happened when Bakugou’s big power move rocked the arena, but no, Monoma was still seated after that. But here, just like Aizawa has one hand on his capture weapon, poised like he wants nothing more than to leap into the fray, Monoma—who can’t stand Bakugou!—jumped to his feet so violently he tipped the chair over behind him. I love Monoma, you guys.

(Continued below the cut.)

O I’m amused at the idea that some of ShigAFO’s newfound disdain for Eraserhead is tied to Eraser sending students to the field instead of coming himself. I feel like it’s one of those things that echoes threads of both Shigaraki and AFO. Dabi expresses it most clearly, the idea that adult heroes roping students into these big anti-villain pushes is in questionable taste (“tacky,” as he puts it), but it’s easy to imagine Shigaraki having similar sentiments.(1) All For One, meanwhile, has had strong opinions about the nature of the student/teacher relationship from the beginning of the series! So of course he thinks Aizawa sending his student into a fight that is only going to get said student killed is a mark against Aizawa as a teacher.

O Shigaraki’s hair is especially gorgeous this week. My god, he could have walked out of a shampoo commercial. (If the shampoo commercial was cross-marketing with Mad Max, anyway.)

O As others have noted, I’m interested to see what Best Jeanist thinks he’s doing here. Eyes down, not even looking at the oncoming opponent, shirt sleeves unraveling downwards… I saw a lot of supposition about him trying to sew up Bakugou, maybe even do something about the kid’s mangled heart, if we’re going to get real wack with what kinds of “fibers” Fiber Master is able to control. (I would like to note that if we find out Best Jeanist can control muscle fibers, I will be needing the Best Jeanist+Muscular fic yesterday, please and thanks.)(2)

O I want to comment, “Nice to see Mirko confirming once more that murdering an unconscious guy in a science lab tube was her explicit intent at Jakku,” but she’s enough like Bakugou that I wouldn’t want to take her at her literal word too unthinkingly, especially when her word in the Japanese is exactly that kind of “slaughter/beat to death” threat that Bakugou uses all the time. (Indeed, give or take some regional differences in her word usage, I think it’s the exact same.)

O Egregious boob shot is egregious. At least her snarl is intense enough that it’s showing forehead veins.

O I have no idea how exactly Dabi is mimicking a move that Shouto uses ice for, but I am indescribably glad that it’s not Phoenix Quirk Nonsense. I wonder if any of Endeavor’s sidekicks are actually going to bite it here? On the one hand, Fire Is The Worst Super Power because it scales damage relative to the opponent’s determination, as has been proven by this very series time and time again, so I have my reservations that Dabi is going to suddenly get better at K.O.ing named characters than he ever has been. On the other hand, the art of Onima and Kido being consumed by the blaze is a lot more convincing than usual.

Also, I’m not going to say they deserve it, certainly, but given how lethal the story is always insisting Dabi is, he’s long overdue for something that his opponents can’t just bounce back from after a day or two in the hospital. And the sidekicks, with their defensive rationalizations about why they’re still on the field doing Endeavor’s work after the revelations about Endeavor’s abuse of his family, are just about as narratively perfect a target as Dabi could get.

Otherwise, I’m extremely amused at how all this makes Deika look in retrospect. So Dabi is capable of just snapping out copied movies in a matter of seconds? He doesn’t even need any time to practice or work it out? And we know Dabi taught himself the flying trick after seeing Endeavor use it against High End. He would have had just about two weeks to practice it before the League showed up to pick him up for the Deika fight, wherein he had to fight a flying ice user. So if Dabi is really that good at picking up his family’s special moves, why on Earth did he let Geten keep the high ground for their entire fight?

Did he just not think of it? Forgot all about it just like he had to be reminded about the chainsaw Noumu at the training camp or that sand hero he killed? Or was he not confident in the move yet and didn’t want to risk falling on his ass and looking lame in front of the League and/or that insufferably smug ice user? Inquiring minds need to know.

O Looking forward to Iida getting to do something (anything) at this point. Or horse sidekick guy, who we know came to this field of battle but who hasn’t been seen here once. Or Stain, in an ironic reversal in who’s watching who in a sea of flames and Noumu.

O I’m always amused at how consistent Dabi is with using epithets or derogatory nicknames for people younger than him—crazy girl, lizard, Boss—while people older than him get to be called by their actual names/titles—Twice, Ujiko-san, and now Skeptic. Dabi being polite

And speaking of Skeptic.

O I am in mourning for a more colorful translation of Skeptic’s fazacon insult to Dabi.

I'm going to be pretty frank about this, so if you don't want to read several paragraphs about fetish terminology in Japan, or if the discussion of fictional incest upsets you, please do skip down to the next bullet point.

"Daddy issues" is, at least in my experience, entirely sexless in the English idiom, but it is not a sexless insult in Japanese. It’s a clear Dad-themed equivalent of siscon or brocon, lolicon or shotacon, and all of those -con words are much more loaded with connotations of obsession, possessiveness, and inappropriate affection or attachment in Japanese. They don’t have to indicate that the person being hit with the label is literally having (or wanting) incestuous sex, but there is, even in the most clinical uses, a meaning of, “You are too hung up on [X taboo target], to extremes that other people consider weird or uncomfortable.”

But that’s only the milder end of the implication! On the more explicit end, those words are also in common slang parlance as fetish terms, especially when they're shorthanded like that instead of fully written out! If you do a google image search for ファーザー・コンプレックス, "Father complex," you will get both academic or journalistic-looking results, as well as a number of what appear to be BL manga covers. But if you do the same for ファザコン, fazacon, the ratio shifts sharply towards manga covers/art, and even those start skewing dramatically more towards scantily clad anime women making bedroom eyes at the viewer.

"Daddy issues," to me, is about male characters brooding and stewing over their controlling or abusive or idolized fathers; it's reflective of angst and resentment, not the excessive and unseemly attachment Skeptic is implying with fazacon.

Now, Skeptic is hardly the final authority on Dabi’s feelings about his dad, of course. Still, he did spend a month living in a cave with Dabi harping on at every second of the goddamn day about how much he wanted to be out there making Endeavor cry more. Hard to blame the man for calling it like he sees it!

O Skeptic's! Pin-stripes!!! Watch me spin out a whole headcanon about how he’s adopted Re-Destro’s mode of dress as a parallel to also taking up Re-Destro’s dream. Skeptic always was the most proactive in RD’s inner circle about preserving Re-Destro for the cause, no matter what kinds of off-the-wall and/or psychologically abusive methods are required. Love seeing him appealing to Re-Destro’s desires here, including advancing Shigaraki Tomura’s interests, because of course that was Re-Destro’s desire as well.

This kind of begs the question of to what degree Skeptic knows or is even thinking about the real Shigaraki’s current situation—but on the other hand, it’s not like he was ever a real Shigaraki loyalist—he wasn’t even at the crater, after all. So it wouldn’t be a big surprise if he doesn’t particularly care what’s going on inside Shigaraki’s head right now, so long as it’s not obstructing Skeptic’s own goals.

O I’m delighted to get the nod that FGI did try to eject Skeptic from his position. Given how little the heroes have talked about him as an issue—he mostly seems to get lumped in with the rest of the PLF escapees, as if he didn’t hack into every TV screen in the country!—I wonder if the Feel Good Inc. corporate head honchos assured the federal investigators that Chikazoku had been ejected, locked out, no way he can do that a second time! (panic sweating)

It’s also interesting that the FGI head honchos were even able to flee the country. I tend to think the arrest nets had to be cast pretty wide, and you’d think a company one of the highest officers of the MLA was a boardmember of would fall under a lot of suspicion. I wonder if that implies, then, that it’s actually relatively clean?

I have had the thought before that someone like e.g. Curious might find it useful to have a dupe above her on the chain of command, someone that attracts all the attention for her magazine’s radical politics while she gets on with business in a less dangerous position. Easy to imagine Skeptic could be much the same, especially since FGI’s main use as an MLA asset is the infrastructure access, which doesn’t require an ideological bent in the same way that a magazine and a political party would, or that Re-Destro ran Detnerat with.

O Interestingly, it’s in this chapter that we finally see a hint of quirk supremacist leanings from Skeptic. He and Curious were always the two that talked least about it, which I’d always assumed was because their quirks had the least to do with what they actually brought to the table as warriors for Liberation. Of course, as mentioned above, Skeptic’s been living in a cave for a month, and had all his friends and comrades imprisoned or worse on top of that, so it’s easy to imagine he’s feeling a few notches more radical than he was, say, 6-8 weeks ago!

Still, I can't help but feel that his phrasing here is milder than the way Geten described the same idea, and I like that Skeptic’s wording leaves room for skillful or intelligent wielding of one's meta-ability—that, contra Geten, it doesn't have to be about the brute power of the meta.

It also stands out that Skeptic here is yelling about using one's quirk to get ahead in the world, as he....hacks into a computer system with no use of his quirk at all. Further, in a true anarchy that brings down the old order, exactly how intact and reliable does he think things like the power grid and the internet are even going to be? Is he thinking at all about how much less useful he’d be if no one was maintaining cell towers? The fact that he glosses over that completely is probably partly the cave life talking, but it’s also a good example of the kind of cult-based double-think lots of the MLA are likely prone to.

Anyway, like Skeptic and the Liberationists, I too would very much like to see the social categories of Hero and Villain abolished, so I remain highly curious(3) about whether Horikoshi’s going to actually do anything about all these radical binaries he has characters talking about, and the way those binaries encourage the dehumanization of members on both sides.

O Finally, I’ve touched on this before, but while La Brava is the heroes’ obvious solution to a villain hacker, I don’t think she really works in this situation. There’s nothing heroes can offer her that I can see them being willing to offer, so why would she accept any of their help requests? Yes, clemency for Gentle Criminal would be an incredibly easy thing to enact in their position, but that would be like *extremely American voice* making deals with terrorists, and the series has never given me the impression that heroes are willing to be less than Maximally Harsh with villains.

Also, even if heroes/police were willing to bargain with LB, they don’t seem to have done so in advance, judging by Mandalay and the rest’s blindsided response to someone trying to hack into the system. Exactly how fast would we be meant to believe that heroes could retrieve her, bargain, and get her appropriate equipment and access, all while Skeptic continues to make a nuisance of himself?

O I have a lot of questions about the circumstances that are seeing the Todoroki family just wandering around through a crowd when Endeavor is as unpopular as he is right now. Though Natsuo’s arm around Rei’s shoulder and Fuyumi’s touch to Natsuo’s hand do feel telling.

O I never had the chance to talk about this before, as I wasn’t doing chapter posts at the time, but do you guys know what’s really dumb? People in the tags back in Chapter 342 saying cruel or hateful and insulting things about this AFO spy dude:

(And his lady friend, too, of course, but he was a bit more prominent, so he seemed to get more vitriol.)

Guys. Guys. This man was introduced literally five chapters after we saw the Aoyama family weeping in despair about how helpless they felt under All For One’s thumb. People use AFO’s grooming as a handwave to excuse every negative thought Shigaraki Tomura has ever had. Yoichi openly accuses his brother of manipulating and using people. AFO comes into peoples’ lives when they’re at their most vulnerable and collects them for his nefarious purposes. He gives poisoned gifts and then never lets people go. We have seen all of this, multiple times, extremely explicitly.

And yet, somehow, people just forgot about all that the instant they saw someone new working for the guy. Yeah, Bowl Cut here seemed pretty cynical in 342, much less tearful and sad than the Aoyamas were, but gloppy tears and distraught wailing are not the only way to respond to a life like the one the Aoyamas were living. Every time this guy’s phone rings, he presumably has to worry about who’s going to be on the other end, whether his life is about to descend once more into intimidation, manipulation and the danger of being discovered and subsequently abandoned to the fury of a justice system that has no mercy for people who associate with villains.

It’s possible he’s just working for AFO in hopes of some kind of reward? His final line back in 342, delivered with his standing very close indeed to his fellow spy gal, was, “Our future is guaranteed,” which leaves some ambiguity about what sort of future he’s expecting. But living under AFO’s thumb is no kind of life at all, and it was absurd how quickly fandom forgot about that the red hot second they saw a new face following AFO’s orders, just because Horikoshi didn’t write in 60 pt. Font, “THIS MAN IS A VICTIM.”

I’m rooting for you, Bowl Cut! You and hat girl and the leopard guy and the older lady with the ponytail, all of you do your best for your future!

O I love AFO’s sense of camaraderie and identification with villains as a collective and I wish it was more genuine, or at least that we got to see more of it that isn’t openly and blatantly aimed at advancing his own ends. What I wouldn’t give to know more about how he and Skeptic interacted, such that Skeptic expresses, “I’m going to do as I please!” sentiments more in line with Shigaraki’s words to the united PLF than anything Late Series AFO has ever indicated he’s going to permit when he becomes Demon Lord of the World or whatever.

And that's a wrap on this week. Thanks for reading! More ask replies soonish.

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1: Not that someone who accepted a high schooler and a middle schooler into the League has the moral high ground there or anything, but, as ever, villains don’t claim to hold the moral high ground like heroes do, so I consider them under less obligation to live up to it.

2: In light of 263’s spoilers, I would like to say that handing this task to Edgeshot is a waste and a crime. More thoughts on that next week.

3: Read as: concerned.

#bnha #bnha 263 #bnha skeptic #chikazoku tomoyasu #todotalk #ua spies #chapter thoughts #my writing

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thequietmanno1 · 2 years

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Thelreads, MHA 263, Replies Part 1

1) “oh boy, what was it, two weeks? It felt like longer to me… The last time I read BNHA Mirko ripped her own arm off and died,, but then she went “nah” and continued to fight regardless. God bless the Great Rabbit herself, just as bloodthirsty as I remembered.”- Mirko: I’ll sleep when I’m off the clock and there’s no bad guys to beat up! Villains: You are literally just a head in a jar by this point…. Mirko: Then it’s a fair fight, ain’t it bitches! 2) “ Lot`s of familiar faces on this shot- well, not faces, backs, but even so, I remember most of those people in here. Also remember who that particular name refers too, and oh boy am I not looking forward to his return.”-

youtube

Been a long time since we saw him, or many of o’l Class 1A in action, eh?

3) “It`s not been a single page and I already feel the need to tell mineta to shut the fuck up. Oh boy this is going to be a good chapter if he`s going to keep complaining about doing his job here.”- I mean, he’s not technically wrong either. Heroes or not, the kids are still technically kids, and they’re uncomfortably close to the frontlines of a brewing war, with enemies determined to kill all heroes who oppose them, students included. Ideally, they should never have to face any members of the PLF directly or without extensive backup. Kaminari’s involvement in the frontlines is because of his quirk, and it mainly serves to counter the wide-range attacks of some of the more-skilled PLF members rather than actually fighting the dude directly, allowing the older pro heroes to subdue him close-range. Frankly, if the kids did have to face any villain, it’d be a sign that the heroes’ plans were going down the drain, because their involvement here seems mainly to provide as much aid as possible whilst minimising the personal risk to them until the fighting’s done.

4) “Alright everybody, you trained your whole life- well, kind-of a whole year of your life for this moment, go there and die a hero`s death, make me proud!”- Honestly, given how chaotic and life-threatening 1A’s school life has been throughout this year, the odds are more in their favour for surviving this level of combat than most other students their age, including 1B. Experience is the deciding factor. 5) “Oh- okay, I wasn`t totally expecting to immediately cut to him, but also can`t say I am surprised by this. And, well, he`s not dying yet, but he`ll soon will be, considering that, by the looks of it, he`s right on the front line.”- Best place to stick a guy whose quirk runs the risk of electrocuting everybody in a wide radius around him without his equipment to focus it. In all else fails, the heroes can just yeet Kaminari into the clustered enemies and let him zap a whole swath of them unconscious from his discharge. 6) “And it`s right where we left last chapter if I`m not mistaken. The Skies are opening up and time of judgment is upon the Liberation Front. Shouldn`t have built your whole base out of a material your enemies can bend you know”-Cenemtos is like an Earthbender, but with way harder material to beat you up with. Not as plentiful in wooded areas though, but in this case, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. 7) “Oh no, not the conference! Damn you, heroes! Damn you! How dare you cancel the conference! Curse thee, heroes! I hope Shigaraki wakes up and absolutely obliterates all of you in Shogi.”- They didn’t even get to enjoy the free snack bar….

8) “The battle is about to take place, as… Cigarette McScarface stepped forward to confront them. I hope you have some damn good power there dude, because otherwise Cementoss is just going to crush you with the pieces of the hotel. “- Hawks’s situation aside, heroes generally try not to kill if they can help it, but for Scarface, having a wide-open area and a bunch of clustered enemies in front of him would have been the perfect opportunity to unleash his full powers, if not for the Heroes bringing their own Jammingwheey lighting rod. 9) “You know, you could`ve just crushed all of them with the hotel, or at least a big chunk of them, and captured the rest, I bet it would be far easier than whatever we`re about to see. Really, in a battle, the one to strike first has the biggest chance to win, and you just threw away your shot.”-A wide-open space lets the group of heroes coordinate more to cover each other’s weaknesses, whereas the PLF members are all scattered and working in smaller individual groups, some of which are split up around the hotel. The heroes initiated this attack, so they’re already in place to counter and contain the big fish, who can only count of quick and decisive action to reverse the heroes’ momentum and puts some odds back in their favour. 10) “Alright, that`s what I like to see. The hero side is all familiar faces, but on the villains` side, oh boy: Captain Bald, Spiky McAnime hair, Punk Bruv, ?? eyes, Executioner, Mister Stache, Moonshark, Flathead Katnaboo, Tokyo Ghoulie, Turtleneck waifu, Granda Murders, :o skull face, and of course, Cigarette McScarface.

A though crowd to face, I hope the heroes are well prepared.”- Well, they’ve certainly made great use of their own spying efforts to predict the most favourable matchups in powers and skills to bring to the table to thwart the PLF’s counterattack, as Kaminari demonstrates.

11) “YEAH SHUT THE FUCK UP CIGARETTE MAN, WE DON`T CARE YOUR QUIRK IS ELECTRICITY, I`M MORE CONCERNED THAT CUTE MOMENT WAS ABSOLUTELY A DEATH FLAG AND I DON`T LIKE IT ONE BIT“-In war, every interaction starts to look like a death flag. Pray they made it mandatory that nobody’s carrying around any photos of loved ones…

@thelreads

#bnha #my hero academia #thelreads #chapter replies #mha263

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