#but tbh I'd rather her not become enough of a recurring character for me to have to learn it

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 200: Mushroom Mushroom

Previously on BnHA: We flashed back to Tokoyami’s workplace experience and later internship with Hawks. During the former, Hawks was pretty much one step ahead of his sidekicks and poor Toko the entire time, and they were reduced to running around after him as his cleanup crew. A frustrated Tokoyami asked why he’d drafted him and Hawks said it was mostly because he wanted to talk to one of the 1-A kids about the USJ attack. This frustrated Toko, but he still chose to go back to Hawks’s agency during his For Reals Internship, and this time he showed off some new skills he had learned and Hawks was actually impressed. He revealed to Tokoyami that the other reason he’d initially drafted him was because he thought Toko was wasting his potential: “if you’ve got wings, you should stretch them out and fly.” Back in the present, Tokoyami revealed his new Black Fallen Angel technique, in which Dark Shadow basically carries him around in his arms while they fly around. He busted this move out to rescue Aoyama from Kuroiro’s clutches, but before they could capture Kuro, Kendou’s team switched to their plan B, and Toadette suddenly made a mushroom sprout from the tip of Momo’s nose. Okay.

Today on BnHA: Toadette sprouts a bunch of mushrooms everywhere and it’s deeply and profoundly unsettling and no one likes it and what the fuck is wrong with Horikoshi honestly. Anyway, apparently Kendou planned it so that even if Team A was able to counter Kuroiro with a “light” technique, they’d still end up revealing their location, and on top of that they’d weaken Dark Shadow too. Momo tried to gather her team to regroup, but before they could, Team B’s Manga struck with his incredibly badass quirk which allows him to create physical onomatopoeia. Like, this dude creates a wall of giant letters by shouting something to the effect of “BAM KERSLAM” and it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. Then he makes the air all humid by whispering the onomato for “muggy.” This causes Toadette’s mushrooms to grow even faster, which I hate so much. Anyway, so Momo is cut off from the rest of her team by the giant letters, and Kendou proceeds to attack, knowing she has the advantage in a physical one-on-one match. The rest of the chapter is just Shouto quietly hyping up Momo from the sidelines, which I think we can all appreciate. Go Momo.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my mostly-unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’m caught up with the manga now at chapter 223, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

LOOK AT THIS ADORABLE COVER CELEBRATING 200 CHAPTERS OF THIS RUCKUS

though it’s interesting that they didn’t get a color page! but this seriously is adorable so it’s fine

(ETA: and they probably didn’t get a color page because this chapter is the shortest chapter in history lol. we’re lucky we got what we did.)

I’m trying to figure out if Katsuki is actually trying to smile but just doesn’t know how to do so on command. like, he’s baring his teeth, but it’s not quite as ferocious as usual, ya feel? I feel like he knows the mechanics of smiling on a theoretical level but has no idea which muscles to use, and so he just ended up like that and was all “fuck it that’s close enough.” if you really want him to smile you gotta earn it

meanwhile Shouto is just not making any kind of effort at all. I don’t think he was ready yet

and Iida is clearly the one taking the selfie so let’s take a moment and give him some props for getting as good of a shot as he did considering what he’s working with

this also feels like as good a place as any to stop for a sec and analyze the changes in Horikoshi’s art style over the past 200 chapters. overall it hasn’t changed all that much, but one thing I’ve noticed is that the characters’ faces used to be longer and more angular, particularly the chin area (especially the male characters), and nowadays they’re all a bit more rounded out. also their necks used to be longer. the overall effect is that they all look a bit younger and more adorable. characters like Ochako have barely changed at all, but the difference is much more apparent in characters like Todoroki and Shinsou and even Deku himself

anyways, just wanted to make a note of that, since it’s something that’s been in the back of my mind since Shinsou’s reappearance. now back to our regularly scheduled chapter!

so yeah, mushrooms

something about this is so powerfully and viscerally unsettling. do I have mycophobia??

ffffffff oh my godddddd

or maybe it’s just the ol’ trypophobia acting up. ffffff I feel nauseous in a way I haven’t since fucking Moonfish’s teeth attacks. please don’t tell me the whole chapter is going to be like this, because I’m not kidding when I say that my stomach is doing flips in the bad kind of way

(ETA: yeah it’s definitely mycophobia. fungus creeps me out. this chapter is a fucking nightmare for me honestly. the weird thing is mushrooms are actually delicious. I don’t mind eating them, I just don’t want to look at them or acknowledge them ever basically I guess. anyway. back to this ordeal.)

this is a fucking nightmare quirk. this is up there with Centipeder. if I had this quirk I’d be knocking on AFO’s door all “take it, buddy. go ahead and sign me up for your evil army, whatever. just fucking take it dude”

also just a reminder that her name is actually Toadette. it just is

you know it’s bad when I agree with every word that Mineta is saying

RIGHT?!

fucking Awase trying to play it off like it’s not so bad. even though she has a bad habit of “spamming” them “everywhere.” holy shit. at this rate I’m going to have to cancel the entire class B. you’re all fucking contaminated jesus christ

(ETA: and looking more closely at Awase’s face, you can tell that he’s secretly traumatized and has Seen Some Shit and he’s trying to play it cool here but buddy we know. it’s okay. you’re among friends here.)

so now Kuro is hiding inside one of the mushrooms

didn’t you already try this plan. didn’t you literally just try this and it failed

also wouldn’t Dark Shadow notice that some guy was hiding inside of him? I feel like he’d notice that. no?

so apparently this was Kendou’s plan. she’s counting on A Team not realizing that B Team can take control of Dark Shadow

so they can do that then? then why didn’t they do that earlier when Kuro hitched a ride on Dark Shadow back to their group??

(ETA: lol exactly how long did it take me to realize this was a flashback)

ah, okay, so that was part of the plan. hold up, let me just shut up and read this whole thing before I cast any further judgement

...well that tells me absolutely nothing. okay so they thought that would work, but just in case it didn’t, they had a plan B also which we’re about to see take effect now. okay then so let’s see it!

so meanwhile Momo is telling her team to stay calm and that they need to regroup

and now there’s a lot of noise coming from deeper within the training ground

what the hell is happening here. this almost sounds like it’s purposely meant to be a distraction

now something is zooming down the corridor too fast to be seen

(ETA: lol those were the letters)

OH SHIT!!

IS THIS MANGA’S POWER?? HOLY SHIT!?

and if it is, then why are they surprised? surely the first fucking thing they would have done upon seeing Manga would be to ask what the hell their quirk is. like, if I personally saw someone walking around with a speech bubble in place of a head, I wouldn’t be able to fucking sleep at night until I knew. it’s just one of those things. you gotta know

we have a new Best Quirk ladies and gentlemen. sorry, whoever it was that had the previous best quirk. you had a good run

(ETA: so I just got done answering an ask about the class B quirks and I gotta say, Horikoshi really outdid himself with most of them, they’re amazing.)

can he only materialize katakana or can he do hiragana, kanji, roman alphabet, etc.? inquiring minds want to know

(ETA: I bet you he can do all of them. Manga ilu)

also class B has several people with no actual heads or faces and I’m very curious as to how they see, hear, etc. he doesn’t have eyes, people!!

but I still love him though

wow his letters are so sturdy that Aoyama’s laser can’t even scratch them. holy shit. you know two paragraphs ago when I was all “best quirk” but like jokingly? well now I’m thinking real seriously on it, let me tell you though

okay what

okay now I’m pretty fucking sure this is in fact the strongest quirk of all time!?

lmao Satou is wondering the same thing as me about Manga’s powers. “how would those onomatopoeia work in foreign countries?”

(ETA: Viz’s translator Caleb Cook took this to be Horikoshi’s way of saying “lol sorry in advance for this bruh” which I find hilarious.)

and Sero’s all “I DUNNO JUST BE QUIET AND WATCH.” Sero I feel personally attacked

oh shit it looks like Manga’s wall cut Momo off from the rest of her squad

well you know what, if Horikoshi had to make them lose for plot reasons, then this is about as good of a job as he could have done. you know that if Momo had remained with the rest of her team they would have pulled out a victory. Kendou knew that cutting her off from the others was key

OHHHHHHHHH SNAP

YESSSSSSS BRING ME MY BADASS LADY BATTLE

damn Kendou’s attack was so powerful that the impact still hit Momo even with the shield up

whoa, had we seriously not gotten one of these for Kendou before? even with everything she did during the Fanfic Lodge arc?

I love that she was smart enough to know that she wasn’t smart enough to best Momo. like, that’s not a knock against her at all; according to the character book Momo has S-ranked intelligence, the highest you can get. she’s on a level matched only by the Rat Principal and fucking All for One (and All Might, but he’s S-ranked in everything and clearly that’s just because he’s All Might)

and for the record, Kendou herself has A-ranked intelligence, which is the same level as Mei and smarter even than Deku and his Big Hero Brain. so yeah -- she’s good

and I got a bit off track, but anyway I was just trying to say that I love that she knew she had to strategize so that she could battle on her own terms

she’s shouting that she won’t give Momo any time to think

and she’s diving in with some more attacks!

so now it’s Momo’s turn, though! this is how she lost to Tokoyami in the sports festival! he took advantage of the fact that she needed a moment for her quirk to activate, and also to think of a plan. this is a weakness Momo has to overcome if she’s going to keep moving forward

ooh, Todoroki is still quietly confident in her!

so now Tetsu’s looking at him in surprise

and now Momo’s thinking back to what Kendou said about Momo constantly outshining her

and she’s thinking that Kendou couldn’t be more wrong, that even now she’s still just a novice

yes!! show her, Momo!

LOOK HOW SUPPORTIVE HER BOYFRIEND IS

fuck me, I’m gonna have to figure out how to work Shouto into this polyamorous MomoJirouKami triangle thing. why does everyone in 1-A have so much respect and admiration for each other??

and especially for someone like Momo, who even now is still so hard on herself and lacks confidence, to have someone who has such absolute faith in her is so, so huge. and Shouto is just so fucking eager to tell the whole fucking world how much he believes in her and how she’s going to kick ass and just wait and see

YESSSSSSSSSSS

oh my god. I’m so fucking conflicted!! I want Momo to kick ass so bad. but I don’t want 1-A to just sweep all five battles. and I also want Kacchan’s team to win because he needs a fucking win! but if anyone else from 1-A wins leading up to his group, then I feel like he can’t because that would mean 1-A wins the whole thing then and there, and Deku’s group becomes just a formality at that point

also holy shit you guys, this chapter was only 10 fucking pages. and one of those was a (black and white) cover page. this has got to be the least amount of fanfare I’ve ever seen for this kind of milestone, particularly for a series at this level of popularity. damn

but I’m guessing Horikoshi just needs a break, which is fine. probably it’s either shorter chapters, or One Piece-style frequent weekly breaks, or else unfinished chapters like we get every so often. I generally think it’s good for the writer of the series to get to sleep more than three hours a night, so sure, you know what, do as many 10-page chapters as you like. I’ll be grateful for whatever lol

(ETA: apparently Horikoshi mentioned in an author’s comment back in December that he was moving. so that may well be why the chapters got really short for a while. the last half dozen or so have been a consistent 15 pages each, so hopefully we’re past that now and I can get my solid weekly fix for the next couple weeks until we hit Golden Week and WSJ goes on break and I fall into withdrawals and have to compensate by seeing Avengers: Endgame seven times sob.)