#if it's not bc of endeavor and hawks i would have dropped this manga and back to my seinen list

[lookotherway]

in all honesty, I feel like Hori's destroying all three of them Dabi, Endeavor and Shoto, this could have been done in a far better way like I'm not against him saving his brother but it's as you've said and others said rushed as hell! plus yeah what the hell is with shoto saying it's the family's crime? no it's the parents for not being able to assist their child, and it's adult Touya for him deciding murder is the way to go!

you're right anon, in the short four chapters all three of them were devastating horribly. we all know shouto is a kind kid but the hell with that? since when kindness is showing no fucking negative conflicts to whom literally was a mass murderer, who tried to kill him, kill his friends and his family and still showing no sign of remorse? shouto was so real during his first chardev, how much we readers can relate to his conflicted feelings. then in the most important battle he was reduced into... a cartoonish just to justify dabi's redemption. even his second chardev is half-baked and contributed half of its meaning to dabi instead of adding to shouto himself. i'm reluctant to call it a "character development".

tbh endeavor actually involved little, since whatever fuck dabi spouted about him never conflicts with the reasons why i hate dabi and love endeavor. it's just that i personally feel insulted as an endeavor stan that there's so many openings to belittle his character depsite the narrative had stated clear as day that he cannot involve this fight. this shit is completely on some certain D stans.

then dabi. ugh, not to mention the whole problem i have with the lov, i lost my last fondness for dabi after 352. it's like i have to see another toga, who did nothing and show nothing for me to be fond of yet i was shoved in my face the tiny little crying baby of them. for fuck's sake when will writers stop using this pathetic cliche to bait the reader's sympathy? what's that for??! dabi's character build has been so sloppy and patched up by pinching a bit from this character a little from that character and now pulling the ultimate trope. did Hori want the readers to fill the plotholes and justify dabi for him or something?

[pwnyta]

You know I haven’t read BNHA in years but… from what I gather through your ranting… I just have a feeling that Horikoshi is incapable of writing about serious problems in a mature way. OR he wants to do it, but bc of the fact that his core audience consists of teens he just. Can’t? Like, bro, you would think that an ADULT manga ka would know that to write a disgusting, abusive father and then give him an easy redemption is wrong. Like. Cmon? Get a grip? I understand that his reasoning to give Endeavor redemption probably have something to do with how popular this character is… but you know, I still can’t get over the fact how easy this whole thing is going for Shouto. As I said, I haven’t read manga in years, but the last time I remember Endeavor trying to win his son’s forgiveness was kind of played for laughs? I mean, listen, I wasn’t abused like Shoto, but I remember several times when my parents would threaten me with violence and those moments will forever be with me, and I am a full grown adult. The fact that Shoto so easily got over the fear of his abusive father and started to treat him more like a joke is… appalling? What I am trying to say is that for an ADULT Horikoshi sure feels like a teenage kid who doesn’t understand that physical/mental abuse can scar someone for life. Like, look at both Deku and Shoto. Sure, the level of abuse is very different, but still! The fact that the victims just “get over” their trauma for the sake of plot, while their abuser hardly get any punishment SUCK. Like, i believe no one have ever found out that B*kugo was bullying Deku for years? I mean, if I knew this information about my classmate I sure as hell would have thought worse of him. And the fact that part of Enji’s shitty actions are now blamed on his kids is just… BRUH. Sorry, my thoughts are all over the place, I’m just so angry. That’s exactly the reason why I’ve dropped BNHA years ago, I just feel that mangaka talks about a lot of hard/heavy/interesting themes, but he never elaborates on them and when he does, it usually goes to shit ://

Yeah its not great. It didnt get better at all.

There was a bit of a tonal dissonance to how Endeavors abuse was introduced as this horrific, intense moment that deeply effected Shoto and the rest of his family in a way he couldnt break until someone got through to him and helped him take the first step into moving on from it...

To Horikoshi bending over backwards to make Endeavor look better and even throwing Dabi under the bus... who in the previous flashback was shown to get on with his siblings just fine to him being deranged and trying to murder a literal baby out of jealousy. Effectively ruining both Dabi and Endeavors story because Horikoshi didnt know how to redeem Endeavor any other way.

I mean were shown him being abusive to his wife again in a later flashback sure but seeing good guy Endeavor so butthurt that All Might is better than him that he does a complete 180 and becomes this monster for 10 years is so fucking weird and just makes it obvious that that was never what Horikoshi planned...

And he really laid it on thick with Hawks and his literally out of nowhere flashback to show he'd been through something similar just so he could go 'Well I dont think Endeavors bad.' or to have Deku brush it off of all people...

And Shoto never having any real say or attachment to Endeavor during basically this whole situation?

I can understand how it could be insulting to people whove been through this (my dad and my moms next boyfriend were abusive to my mom but I was a baby at the time so I dont actually remember) but even beyond that... even just as a storyline its just badly written. Endeavor is such a poorly written shitbag character.

I suspect Horikoshi is trying to make him well liked so he can kill him in a blaze of glory with Dabi... the whole dance in hell thing... but who knows.

But yeah I get it. Its like he chickens out in the end and wants to please fans more than write something that has a strong point.

Ive always had a problem with Horikoshis treatment of characters like Bakugo and Endeavor and it has extended to villain characters like Overhaul as well who literally dont have anything going for them.

Maybe im too desensitized for a 'this shitty violent abusive guy is kinda sad now :'''C isnt that so sad???? Isnt this a good character moment?!?' storyline.... But especially from Horikoshi because hes so fucking bad at it.

I know he can write a good bad guy... Stain still holds up somehow.

[justslightlycool]

Hey bnha manga rant here. I'm kinda disappointed with Shoto's arc in the recent chapters. After the big dabi reveal the war arc felt kind of convoluted because of one plot twist after another. We also get very minimal pov from Shoto after the reveal. He was finally healing mentally. But we hardly get to see his proper emotional turmoil and the pressure of fighting his own brother in the future. Even in the dabi vs shoto fight, Deku sort of steals the spotlight by demonstrating his new quirk. I also think it would have been nice to see 1a's reaction. How do you feel about this?

Ohoho~ my time has finally come.

Welp, bb, I have a lot of feelings about Shoto’s arc and the manga’s plot in general, in this essay I will but to answer your questions:

1. Yes, everything post-Toya reveal felt like Boku no Hero Speedrun and it did take precious focus and pages away from an emotionally charged for everyone - Shoto, Toya, and Endeavor.

2. Having said that, it didn’t bother me that Hori didn’t dive into Shoto’s turmoil right away (and by this I mean, during the battle) bc I read it as Shoto taking over while Endeavor froze. Shoto, canonically, is great at compartmentalizing (eg: there’s the amazing hero Endeavor, from whom he can learn so much; and then there’s his abusive father, Enji Todoroki). So right then, it felt very in-char for him to handle Toya’s attacks, even trying to reach out at once (objectiveness + kindness, traits we have seen other characters praise Shoto for having).

3. Now, post-battle...We got that one panel where Shoto thinks “I have to be the one to face Toya” or something along those lines and then we have Rei arriving with divorce papers and the whole TodoFam assuming responsibility for the creation of Dabi, therefore telling Shoto ~they’re all in this together~ and heeeeere is where my particular beef lies.

4. I am not exactly bothered by the fact Hori didn’t explore more of Shoto’s feelings about fighting Toya because - and this might be controversial - Shoto barely remembers his brother. He’s much younger and had barely any connection to his siblings. I think he feels the pressure from the concept of fighting against a brother, but not Toya himself (completely different than if Natsuo were in Shoto’s shoes, for example). But we did get Shoto’s empathy, how he can see his past self in Toya and recognize the same self-destruction, etc. And I feel like this is where the connection and chance to save Toya is, so I was satisfied by the way Hori did it.

5. What I did miss, and I think we’ll never get to see, is his reaction to Rei’s admission she’s to blame for his scar; what was he thinking when he saw Endeavor crying?; what did Natsuo and Fuyumi say to him after Hawks and BJ left?

6. I say this bc, despite the western fandom’s stance on Endeavor and the tons of hcs and fanfics where Shoto is forever sluuuuurping away at his dad, canon is showing us that he might indeed choose forgiveness. And, damn it, I wanna see how he arrives there!

7. I love the Todofam plot, it is my favorite in the entire series: it’s incredibly nuanced, from how the siblings react to Endeavor’s abuse and neglect; to how it affected their other parental figure, an abuse victim so broken she hurts one of her children; to Endeavor himself. Everything has layers, no cookie-cutter reactions and - most wonderfully of all - no right answers. It’s okay to forgive or not. The first does not equal forgetfulness, a free pass; and the second does not damn you to a life of bitterness. It’s just what’s right for that heart.

8. Now, Deku’s new quirks...*sigh* Man, that’s a whole other essay, but I’ll say that I hate-hate-hate the narutofication of Deku. As for 1-A’s reactions, I can’t say I was surprised. Since Hori didn’t take the time to explore Shoto’s POV, I felt like he wouldn’t show much of the other students.

9. So as you can see by this essay, I FEEL FUCKING ROBBED, NONNIE. Hori has proven before that he knows how to write emotional build-up and that he knows the importance of it. There’s no way this man crafted this plotline without knowing it, SO WHERE IS IT?! HUH?!

10. In conclusion, I think BNHA is about to become a different manga. Hori moved away from mixing action and high school shenanigans when Deku dropped out. I don’t necessarily have a problem with that if it’s well-executed, but I suspect heavy editorial meddling and Hori burning out are stripping away the human element that first attracted me to BNHA (shonen can combine action and emotion, just look at FMA), and turning it into a Cool Fight Scene extravaganza that’s not my cup of tea.

tl;dr: I hate it here and my boi deserved better

[kiribread]

Top Ten Heroes pt. 1

So, I was wondering after these shenanigans are other with in the manga, who will be in the top ten? And yes there will be manga spoilers so you have been warned.

Were also assuming that there is going to be a top ten. So, as it currently stands. This is what the top ten looks like

At bear minimum, there will be at least one new hero sincecwe know crust died. Though im also taking out Endeavor bc think he'll become a unranked hero due to all the drama. So now we have two openings. I think hawks will remain in the top five though he dropped a spot or two. I'm not quite sure about miruko yet though I would like her to remain a hero but due to all the injuries she sustained, I don't she will. If she didn't get that leg injury I think she could but sence she did idk. I also think that the rest of the heroes will stay since they were at the raid.

So here's the list I decided on:

10: Gang Orca or lion(i think that's his name? He's the one that both sato and orijro did a work study with.

9: Mt. Lady

8: Wash

7: Yoroi mushu (i hope I spelt that right)

6: Ryukyu (there was no way I was placing her under a washing machine again)

5: Hawks

4: Kamui woods

3: idk maybe a hero that we haven't seen yet? (I should've planned this out better lol)

2: Best jeanist

1: Edgeshot

Ok that's my list and I'll post the part 2 shortly going over why I picked these heroes!

[touyasnow]

i used to tag art and stuff “hawks tw” for like a whole month or whatever in 2019 and I remember vividly a mutual of mine dmmed me asking if he was problematic bc they didn’t read the manga they just thought he was cute but if he was endeavor levels bad they would have to drop him 😭😭 and I had to say nooo I love hawks I just hate him 🙌🏽

[onigirimsby]

It's not wierd, people have all kinds of different fears. I don't fear birds but I'm wary of them as with anything. Almost got chased by three of them that looked to be two-three feet tall at least. As for that well ;) haha what do you think you know? Feel free to share. You might be right or it might not be the full story. Tbh I can't say that even we know the full story. Anyways, I say your innocent for how kindly you speak of Hawks. Very small number of people said only that at first.

(cont)A lot of the early reactions to him were along the lines of something different. And for those that did like him, like me. Were probably hoping those people were wrong. And then the next chapter leaks dropped. And there was real fear, betrayal but then pure whiplash after cutting to the next scene. Shock, relief, and then 'oh no doesn't this mean-' just trying to process what was intoduced in the story. Hawks went from 10 to 100 real quick. Probably why he ended up 4th in the popularity poll.

(cont)Which is pretty high for someone that showed up for barely 10 chapters, and with BakuTodoDeku always taking the top three ranks. Like at first he seemed like this chill guy with cute moments that keeps bothering Endeavor and people support that. But then ohh boy were we in for something. Even if we had to start hoping for his safety and happiness after that (which no one seems to want anymore in the fandom) at least it meant we'd see him again at some point. You'd like chapter 199 too I think!

(cont)Back to that since I ran out of space, but I don't think any of us could have ever known how Hawks would progress through his role. Until plot happened. We saw a lot more to him, and the situation in the manga itself changed a lot. Particularly on one side. Which made his role far more reasonable and in its element. And dare I say, part of the reason he managed to stay alive until now. Bc he sure wouldn't be, or it'd be really difficult. Now question is how much longer he's gonna stay okay-ish.

I’ve seen stuff about people saying he’s a morally gray character :) I don’t see why that would make people hate him, though? but idk this isn’t my first rodeo, and i’ve encountered enough moral grayness hahahaaa 

I do just have a random collection of info/spoilers from when I saw stuff in the tags. And I try not to think about them, so that I don’t speculate and inadvertently guess something right hahahaha 

I’m gonna put the possible spoilers under the cut :)

1. something about the hero commission training him when he was younger?

2. His dad was some kind of thief? And Endeavor caught his dad, who he disliked, and that’s why he likes endeavor?

3. He goes undercover to join the villains

4. Someone (dabi?) kills twice and even though he wanted to save twice, he didn’t wanna blow his cover/mess up some mission??? so he let twice die?

5. His childhood was a lie? idk?

6. Oh and Dabi knows his full name but he doesn’t know why (and neither does the audience)

That’s what I remember knowing for now hahahaha I’m very bad at avoiding spoilers 😅

[lookotherway]

I think what confuses me about my hero is that bullying and abuse are taken very seriously in the story but somehow kidnapping/murder/terrorism/etc. are not? There’s no emotional impact for the victims who die or suffer from lov unlike there is to deku getting bullied or rei and shouto being abused. Not even shouto cares that he’s almost murdered. The closest we get is the families of dabi’s victims speaking out but we never get to see it. I really wonder why.

i guess because the author set it up that if kidnapping, murder or terrorism occurred and there're innocent dead, it would be the authorities' fault, or specifiedly in this case, the Pro Heroes' fault; and focuses solely on it.

my friend once told me this: A stain on white shirt is more eye-catching than a stain on black shirt. if killer, kidnapper, terrorist do their job successfully, it would be the heroes' fault for not fast enough or not careful enough, not good enough; as we've seen in Bakugo's kidnapping arc. it's funny how Tomura pointed it out in this arc then some arcs later he actively blames the entire Hero industry for unfortunate things happened to the villains. a city was destroyed when LOV battled Meta Liberation Army, resutled as the media praising brave civilians yet concerning about the Heroes’ irresponsibility for letting that disaster occured. another disaster, Paranormal Liberation arc, civilians once again condemn the Heroes.

they bullied and abused someone in the past, yes, their fault. but disasters? still because of them. it's always a Hero's fault for not being ‘hero’ enough.

things like that happen in real life too, so i guess Horikoshi just tries to make his manga more real? he’s good at writing realistic details, like how the children’s behaviors reflect their upbringings. but then he also wants the villains to be kind of right in their reason so he has to squash the hero side lower so readers would feel less possitive about them.

on this instance, i don't like Stain's ideal (i kind of ok with his character, but not his ideal) because such ideal dehumanizes Pro Heroes, that Heroes have to be strong to stand against any trauma, have to be perfect from inside out and outside in, have to have a 200% success rate, have to be mary sue and gary stu, be power machines because only senseless machines that won't possess a slightlest thought about themselves while working for human. that kind of ideal is ‘everything-or-nothing’ kind of ideal and it’s very dysfunctional.

and the thing is: even without Stain, a similar mindset already transpired among the Heroes. Nana sent her son away and fought a suicide battle. Aizawa went solo against dozen villains because behind him is his students. Endeavor told Bakugou “if you aren’t fast enough, what lost is someone’s life.” and was hurt to the point he almost dropped his career only to get up again because people need him. Hawks accepted a long and dangerous mission for a better chance, almost wingless, heavily injured but still running around like the fast chicken he’s bc the world is in chaos while he’s sleeping. Best Jeanist be like “hey you killed me and i just died for like, half a year, but it’s ok i’m up!” and coming straight to the battle while his body felt like a disstressed denim. 

there are heroes, albeit not entirely and loudmouthedly, whose existence revolving around the safety of the ones-to-be-protected, even if each of them performs it in different way and different form, surpassed their own limits and gave up many things they have every right not to, then passed it to their successors. that’s what ‘hero’ means, to give, to sacrifice. the only difference is some of them do ask for something back instead of all giving.

it’s just that All Might took such mindset to another level, became the absolute standard of Hero, then Stain took it to a reverent level, deeming the Heroes aren’t sacrificing enough.

[lookotherway]

I don’t think him dropping his career would destroy the story or would be an utter waste, at least not if it is handled correctly that is but honestly I have given up trying to theorise how the story will go and just decided to sit there and well let it play out 😅! Also I don’t think his arc is over yet, we’re probably going to have his final father moment when he reunites with his children, chapter 356 didn’t feel like it was him balancing being a father and a hero at least not completely I feel it will feel more balanced once he as his father moment with his kids

dropping his career would be the worst scenario for endeavor (since death is out of question) bc like i mentioned, his story is to find the balance between being a hero and being a father.

tldr at the bottom.

endeavor is the hero who hurt his family to save outsiders, and he's also the hero who let his personal family matters hamper his important battles to save the world. he is the father who's trying to be a father, and a hero who isn't allowed to step down. he is someone who cannot live without fighting his own weakness (hero), yet he is trying to open his heart to live with and for the others as well (father). endeavor's entire story progresses like this: from being a no.2 hero to be no.1 hero but a father who has yet to do anything for his family to a heartbroken father and "endeavor died back then" to "end this battle here is my duty".

you see that, he went from hero to trying as a father to yeet his hero persona away (for 55 chapters) to coming back as endeavor (356). only now his last arc has started. this endeavor of 356 is the endeavor who is ready to win this battle and try to be a father again (to touya). because he cannot win over afo as a father, nor can he face touya as a hero, but at the same time he cannot let either of his responsibilities down, he cannot not facing both or either of these battles. win this war as a hero and come back home as a father. basically endeavor in his atonement arc but better. very close to find the balance. he has faced his hero persona, and next he will be a father.

so yeah, again, pushing aside worldbuilding reasons i listed on the previous ask, endeavor's character is made up by two roles with double development for both, which means there has to be a good (or bad) ending for each role. you can't write him successful in one role and give him a lame-assed ending for the other. no, unless you think endeavor's eating up too much public love while isn't the main character. telling me endeavor will retire (before Japan could be stable again, before there's someone who's capable enough to inherit the no.1 from endeavor, hawks and best jeanist) is like telling me endeavor will spend the rest of his life behind the bar for child abusing. it completely leaves his story hanging in the air without a fulfill meaning.

like, pulling cliche realistic justice and righteousness in shounen manga? after all the attempts to redeem the villains? no way.

another point i want to add bc i feel like people who thinks endeavor will retire don't really understand the last chapter (356). idk how to explain this either bc i just... relate hard. but like, endeavor sustains inferior complex, at the same time it's the feeling of inferior and despise toward himself that dragged him moving forward. 'hero' has been determining enji's entire self-worth. we suddenly have endeavor's origin is him facing his own issues and eventually reevaluating his entire self-worth. endeavor retires is like yeeting his entire effort to freaking deal with his own issues out the door, like throw away half of his existence, his entire self-worth. his issues aren't just about his family, they are about himself.

tldr: endeavor has issues to himself and to other people. his story has to fix both in the most meaningful ways. him retires from hero means flinging his entire effort to fix the "issues to himself" down the river. dabi dies, endeavor in the jail, anything that prevents endeavor to have a warm reunion with the todorokis means flinging his entire "issues to other people" down the river. it has to be both, or be nothing.