BNHA Rewatch: Episode 34 “Gear up for Final Exams”
mysterylover123
I always break this one out around Finals week.
Pictured: Deku and Kacchan in 10 years. (Of course episode 34 opens with the Mineta bit).
Now to count down the Students in Class A from least to most smart:
20TH & 19TH:
Kaminari is constantly frying his brain with his own quirk, and Mina is used to just kinda coasting on her quirk and athletic skills, so they’re both last.
18th
Aw poor Aoyama. Not exactly great at anything.
17th
I dunno why but I thought Sero would be higher.
16th
OMG Tooru is eating lunch with the Dekusquad! Is that where she falls?
15th
Kirishima 15th, same # he placed in the 1st popularity poll oddly enough
14th
The biggest surprise of the bunch - introverted doesn’t =brilliant.
13th
I think I thought Ochaco would be higher on the list. She’s not dumb, per se, just middle of the road.
12th & 11th
I dunno i guess they’re supposed to be middle-of-the-road in everything.
10th
Congrats on the midway points Shoji!
9th
Why.
8th
Oji you do good.
7th
Nice, Kyoka!
6th
Tsu did good too. I didn’t think she was dumb or anything, but she’s not geeky like Momo so it seems surprising.
5th
The third smartest of the Big 3? Wow, Shoto. Always second best, aint’cha?
4th
My best boy is so smart and cute.
3rd
The biggest surprise of the poll - at least, first time around. You assume Bakugo is dumb. He’s not.
2nd
Iida is Class rep, but still second in grades to...
1st
Best of the best! Momo Yaoyorozu I love you.
Aw Shoto noticed she’s feeling down. Let the Todomomo/BKDK arc begin!
Ooh Uraraka looks really mad about Monoma being mean to Iida. (Or maybe it’s supposed to be Deku. I don’t care. Iichaco hc)
So if Monoma is Class 1B Bakugo, who is Kendo? Iida? Deku? Kirishima?
Kendo mentions an older classmate, and my HC is that it was Nejire. She hangs with Nejire in the Culture Fest Arc. I think they’re friends.
LOL This scene is like a rundown of all Bakugo’s most popular ships.
KACCHACO
Because Uraraka knows exactly what Bakugo is thinking.
TODOBAKU
Because Bakugo makes sure to challenge Todoroki too.
KIRIBAKU
Because Kiri talks about him like a spouse.
and of course, BAKUDEKU
PAY ATTENTION TO ME. (More in the corner)
“You’re getting worse than I thought” Gotta love that villain FauxShadowing.
This is how y a do The Power of Friendship right, in my opinion.
Now a rundown of my ships taking the exams/Studying!
Kamijiro!
Todomomo!
BKDK! (Oh my god they’re the two halves of me taking a test)
Kirimina!
We’re just missing Iidaraka
An approximation of my initial response to learning that the next arc would be about pairs of students fighting their teachers: YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TODOMOMO VS AIZAWA?! I’M TOO BLESSED COULD IT POSSIBLY GET ANY BETTER
OH MY GOD
YES IT CAN
BAKUDEKU VS ALL MIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG BEST PREMISE EVER (Or so I thought at the time, not to know that it could be topped. That’s MHA, always topping itself). Can I also just say that the design of the Final Exam arc is brilliant. I noticed this a lot in comparing it with the PL Exam later on, but I personally think of it as Hori’s own License to Print Character Development, and I absolutely approve.
This is probably the arc that changed the most from adaptation in manga to anime - and although I adored this arc in the anime the first time I saw it, there are a few changes in it that I think are actually not for the better. That’s to say, they make for more entertaining television, but they also change the characters.
Firstly, changing it so the tests happen one after another, instead of simultaneously like the manga, means that the characters have different amounts of time to strategize ahead of time. This puts a certain light on the big character moments in the arc, particularly Momo, Shoto, Deku and Kacchan. 4 of the top 5 smartest kids in class, and they don’t even try and strategize beforehand? Made sense in the manga where they had no shot, but in the anime, not so much.
Second, also, Uraraka isn’t really the type to do this, she’s too laid back and Type B, so the anime having her strategize with Deku...I guess it’s a way to throw in some ship tease, but other than that it does nothing for her character arc, or any of the other seemingly random characters they throw into the strategy room along with them. Basically, it’s anime filler, so I don’t really care about any of it except Deku’s observations, since those are from the manga (he observes the others after he and Kacchan pass).
For the record: Manga Order: Todoroki and Momo vs Aizawa, intercut with Midoriya and Bakugo vs All Might; Todomomo first, BKDK second. Deku then observes the other teams for a few chapters as they all pass, with Mineta being last.
So Fight #1 in the anime: Kiri and Sato vs Cementoss. There’s this lady on Youtube who did these really great analyses of the first four fights of the FE arc (never got around to doing the rest) so I’ll put links to her (Excellent!) analyses of those four fights. LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUABh3SiaMs
I’ve noticed that Kirishima is often the first one thrown under the bus in school exercises. This, the Joint Training Arc, the training camp...maybe that’s where his insecurity issues stem from. And with a little tease of Tsuyu and Tokoyami vs Ectoplasm, we leave off.
So yeah, another episode I really enjoy. I gotta tell you guys, the Final Exam arc is definitely a favorite of mine. I actually like it even more in the manga than in the anime, for the reasons I’ve outlined above, but it’s still a blast and I was so happy to see it as the next arc. i wasn’t ready for a new villain-based arc yet, and the sheer premise of BKDK Vs All Might is so amazing, I’m hyped as hell just remembering Episode 37. Oh, speaking of...
BKDK CORNER
We focus in on Deku, contemplating his Great Destiny, as Mina and Kaminari talk about how complacent they are in their chances of success. Cue Kacchan, like an embodiment of Deku’s subconscious, telling them off.
I’ll stop the world and melt with you.
This line has a bunch of different translations, all basically meaning ‘I’ll beat you’. The Shippiest is the English Dub, where he says “I’ll show you how much better I am.” Which plays into his Notice Me Senpai hidden attitude towards Deku. I think it’s a mix of both “I want to beat you” and “I want to impress you”. Deku is quiet here. He’s very quiet about his feelings for Kacchan throughout all of Season 2, but he still quietly demonstrates the importance of that dynamic through his actions in the Sports Fest (inspired by Bakugo) and his Full Cowling (also inspired by Bakugo).
Aw they were already standing together.
I’ll talk more on the symbolism of BKDK fighting All Might in Episode 37, but oh man, this is the best. Like, THE BEST. I love this fight. To Sum: They both want to be All Might, each is half of the whole, and they both have to expel that perfect-imperfect image of him they have to make it. Also, I totally think Aizawa and All Might ship it. “I went with relationships” Yup. You sure did, Aizawa.
BEST GIRL OF THE EP: No new best girls this ep
RANKER: Final Exam Arc Fights
10: MINETA AND SERO VS MIDNIGHT
This one is really dull because Midnight just doesn’t do very much to win the fight. You need the teacher putting up more of an effort!
9. URARAKA AND AOYAMA VS 13
They just...kinda fluked their way into winning.
8. SHOJI AND HAGAKURE VS SNIPE
Poor Snipe, There’s not a lot he can really do in this situation
7. KIRI AND SATO VS CEMENTOSS
Short and quick and to the point.
6. MINA AND KAMINARI VS NEZU
Poor dopes never stood a chance.
5. IIDA AND OJIRO VS POWER LOADER
Short but kinetic and exciting.
4. TSUYU AND TOKOYAMI VS ECTOPLASM
Some good strategy here and Tsuyu did really great.
3. KODA AND JIROU VS PRESENT MIC
Jiro is underrated best girl.
2. TODOROKI AND MOMO VS AIZAWA
A brilliant fight of strategy and character development.
1 BAKUGOU AND DEKU VS ALL MIGHT
How could it be anything else?
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I love those fics where a character has a kid and doesn’t tell the other parent, especially when it’s BkDk but damn, I need to add some angst to that.
Gimme Katsuki finding out Izuku had a child and never told him about it and he’s fucking pissed. He goes to see him, he goes to see his damn kid and he doesn’t care about the excuses Izuku is giving him, they all sound pathetic and cowardly anyways, all he cares about is the fact that Izuku hid something this fucking big from him. Did he think so little of him that he didn’t think Katsuki would take care of him or the baby? What the fuck?
So, instead of cupping his cheeks and wiping away Izuku’s tears Katsuki tells him he wants to meet the child. And he does, and she’s the sweetest little thing he’s ever seen. Blonde hair and red eyes and Izuku’s eye shape and freckles. She’s beautiful, his stunning girl. He tells Izuku to stay out of the room while he holds her.
Afterwards, when he’s wiped away his tears and put his baby girl in the crib, he leaves the room and the moment he sees Izuku he tells him, “I’m going to take care of her, I’ll be there for her and pay for everything. I want her to spend nights with me, I want to be her dad. But I don’t want anything to do with you. Unless you want to talk about her then don’t contact me at all.”
Brought to you by the fact that Katsuki and I are exactly the same when it comes to processing emotions and I just fucking know he would not be able to forgive something this big straight away, no matter how hard the other person cried. That boy is emotionally constipated and can hold one hell of a grudge, he’d be pissed for ages.
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