#like I feel like he might have been trying to portray Izuku as a heroic foil to AFO (who only transferred quirks for his own gain)

[problemswithbooks]

BNHA Ch. 419

Haven't had much to say about the chapters lately. I didn't really find the fight between Shigaraki and Izuku very exciting and was checking up on leaks just to see if the ending had dropped yet.

But I was actually really excited to see this new development in 419.

I always suspected and hoped AfO gave Tenko decay and manipulated the situation so he wasn't saved. Now, we don't know if AfO orchestrated Tenko not being saved by a Hero during his trauma walk, but it was would be a little weird if he didn't after it's been revealed he had a hand in almost every aspect of Tenko's life.

I know a lot of fans are bumped by this choice or think it ruins his character, but personally it fixes a lot of my issues with how Shigaraki has been portrayed.

The main thing (as long as AfO did mess with Tenko being saved) is that it fixes the huge world building mistake that Tenko's backstory relies on. Now, I'm not a huge fan of the ridiculousness of Touya's backstory either, where this young teen in hospital clothes runs around a rich neighborhood, but that's not the core of his identity as a villain either. The thing that mattered was that Enji was still training Shoto so Touya thought his death didn't change anything.

Tenko's origin just straight up does not make sense with everything else we've been shown about this world. By the time Tenko was born Heroes were everywhere and beloved. We've never been shown anywhere else in the story that Heroes wouldn't help a child wandering around bloody on the streets actively asking for help. Even with civilians, claiming they rely to much on Heroes doesn't fix this because why wouldn't one of the thousands he walked by go get a Hero. I mean people report stuff all the time, and it'd give them an excuse to interact with what their society deems a celebrity.

It also makes AfO look stupid. Tenko is his golden ticket--he's putting all this effort into him, he's the only person he wants/can use for his goals. Why risk a Hero or caring civilain helping him? It would ruin his entire plan if anyone even showed a small kindness to Tenko. For someone who claims to plan everything, that's taking way to many chances.

I know the people that hated this reveal think it kneecaps the message of 'Hero Society bad', but I don't necessarily think the story was ever really trying to say that. It has issues and needs some fixing, but it's not what Shigaraki wanted--he wanted total destruction. It also explains why a bunch of stuff Shigaraki said didn't make sense with what we've been shown. He thinks the things he does because he's been lied to or set up in a way where that's the only conclusion he could come to.

And it's not as if all of Tenko's pain/suffering being caused by AfO makes BNHA society perfect. Spinner still faced racist discrimination, Toga's Quirk made her feel ostracized, Dabi was neglected and abused by his father who was a Hero, Twice is the poster child of the 'one bad day' motto. Shigaraki's origin is villainy itself and with AfO's own origin, a good argument of why Heroes exist. Now the entire core characters of the League have differeing backstories instead of Shigaraki just being a combo of them all, with some AfO manipulation sprinkled in.

It makes him a better foil for Izuku as well, since just like Izuku is often referred to as an empty puppet, Tenko could be viewed this way too. This is something Izuku can connect and help Tenko with when he comes back (because it'd be insane if he was just dead now). The one thing Shigaraki does have is a Heroic heart. Yes, AfO might have set some things up to get him to be that way, but you can't force someone to be altruistic or caring of others. Tenko cares about outcasts and his friends--that's still a part of him, even if it was nurtured by AfO for nefarious purposes.

So, yeah, that's my thoughts on 419. Actually sort of excited to see what happens next.

[theloganator101]

Since the whole Overrated 1A vs Deku arc started, something has been bothering and now i am even questioning where MHA is worth to proceed.

Till the introduction of Class A, we were shown why Midoriya left UA, and he had every reason to do so. Now with class A and learning about the improved security system, the narrative show as if Izuku is in the wrong and class A is in the right?. That is BS. Whatever improvements Nezu did wouldn't stop AFO considering he was able to NUKE AN ISLAND to KILL NANA and SCARED AWAY AM AND GT. UA even had spies and even a traitor and still this didn't bother the Staff and UA students and reflect on their own stupidity, since they made it their personal goal to portray Izuku being in the wrong for leaving UA while they were in the right about him staying back?. And i don't care if they were captured or not, the fact of the matter is IZUKU wasn't safe in UA and these are the proof.

I also hated the whole "You need to be in UA to keep the people there safe to surpass All might". Sorry but no it feels so much forced and that too coming from Bakuhoe after his shitty apology is BS. Just because he said it doesn't make him, Overrated Uraraka or rest of Overrated 1A better than him. They aren't strong and didn't do shit compared what Izuku did in his solo stint. Heck Izuku stepped up when no one did and was becoming a hero better than all might. He was the first to try to understand why someone wants to be villain and tried to make sense of their reason. No one including all might did this. He came to terms with how society is and even got called the real Deal by a former top Hero turned Villain like Nagant who despises the Heroes and only came to light and is supporting them because of Izuku's actions. All this and class A are ahead of him?

Also why UA?. What were they hoping to do, wait till Shigaraki becomes 100% complete. were they gonna wait for AFO and Shiggy to attack UA. Sorry but none of the Heroes could defeat Shigi when he had his quirk cancelled and was also incomplete. Are we forgetting how endeavor struggled to kill him and still failed and even it took Izuku breaking himself to damage Shigi. You know what they should've done, they shouldn't have returned to UA with Izuku. They should've gone to some other place, like a strong-hold with Heroes and Police force present to guard the place while they rest and prepare. The only reason they went to UA was to give Uraraka her Overly heroic moment which btw while the speech was nice i don't narrative it as she was responsible for the Civilians believing in heroes when her speech wouldn't have had a strong backing if Izuku didn't leave UA and do all the work in his solo stint. Izuku does all this but URARAKA GETS CALLED AS THE ULTIMATE HERO SURPASSING ALL MIGHT WHILE IZUKU PUT ALL THE EFFORTS? thats BS and proves How shitty Horikoshi is as a Mangaka.

The problem here is that nobody is trying to see this through Midoriya's perspective, how HE feels and how HE'S affected by it all as OFA's successor

They just ASSUME what he was thinking and feeling and went to get him back.

This is why I think the OFA secret and history should've been told to 1-A after Black Whip appeared.

That way they probably would've gotten a better understanding of the situation and find a different way to approach Midoriya.

But nah, Midoriya's the one who's obviously in the wrong for leaving his friends and family behind, how incredibly selfish!

He should've just rough up 1-A for trying to force him back

At this point I don't care what happened to the heroes (Except Midoriya) since they've proven what terrible friends they are

[that-bi-bitch-writes]

Not The Forgiving Type

[Name] was a kind kid. He was poised to be number one until shit hit the fan. But he wasn't gonna let his dream die no matter who got in the way.

Or

The one where All Might neglects his son a little. The son eventually goes apeshit and hurts the people that wronged him on his journey to becoming the Number One Hero

Warnings: Major Character Death, Vengeance, Murder, Blood Mentions, Religious Themes/Imagery, Christianity is not portrayed in a good light, All Might is compared to God, There is no good guy, sad ending.

The thing that [Name] hates most is his smile.

Christians believe that every human was born with sin. As such, you spend every day of your life abstaining from further sins as you try to erase the red from your ledger. You’re encouraged to do acts of service, not to win the favor of God but from the kindness of your heart. Because you care about people. Yet not doing those acts of service puts you years behind if you aim to present God with a clean ledger.

[Name] was kind. It wasn’t something that came natural to him nor was it particularly easy all of the time but he made the effort. Be kind to others, the family motto. His father was like God to the people he saved. Keeping a smile on his face as if at the shine of his teeth all life’s problems would flash away. And he’d give grand speeches for no other reason than he could.

“Power” his father would say grandstanding “is for the strong to be able to protect the week” [Name]’s father had the kind of power that made the weak feel untouchable. All might would save them. They were sure of it. [Name] was sure of it too.

‘Daddy’s so strong’ [Name] thought ‘I’m gonna be strong too.’ It was a shared thought between the two actually. He was the son of the number one. The son of God. Destined to bear the weight of everyones sins. The reincarnation, who stretches himself thin for the sake of saving others. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Strong should his resolve be, lest that head roll off of his shoulders.

[Name] was four when he got his quirk. Yagi was ecstatic. There was a slim chance that the boy would be born quirkless like Yagi himself and [Name]’s mother wasn’t in the picture. A one night stand who was paid off after she showed up on his doorstep with a baby. There was no way to be completely certain what would happen, but he believed. Hoping for all hope his little boy would be strong. At the proud look on his dad’s face, [Name] smiled. He would continue to make his father proud.

At the age of nine [Name] had all but mastered said quirk. He was a prodigy who’d trained with heroes like Nighteye, and Eraserhead practicing both combat and battles of quirk. Within the next year All Might finally thought [Name] was ready. And sometime after [Name]’s 10th birthday Yagi sat him down to talk about the possibility of him being the next person to wield One For All. [Name] was more than shocked to hear that his dad had been quirkless and possessed a rare, powerful quirk. In his nervousness all he could manage was a smile, a wide confident smile that masked all his hesitation and surprise.

“I’ll be the next number one hero dad” [Name] said “And i’ll make you proud”

Yagi gave his son a matching smile “You already have. And I can’t wait to see what you will do in the future my boy”

At age 13 [Name] took down his first villain. It was illegal of course, but things are easily swept under the rug when you’re the child of God. But why should he have been punished? He was doing good for the sake of good. Saving others with a smile on his face. That was the family motto. It mattered not that the streets were stained with the villain’s blood. No, he was a hero. Heroes saved the day by defeating the villain and giving hope to the people. His actions should please God.

“He’s not ready”

“He’s my son”

“And that’s why you can’t be impartial. Take a break, spend some time with [name] and teach him how to be a hero”

[Name] creeped closer to his bedroom door at the sound of the furious whispers trying to figure out who was talking about him and why. He leaned his head against the door not risking the chance that if he opened it to take a peak he could be seen or heard.

“He’s a great kid, with a powerful quirk. He cares about stopping injustice, and he gives people hope. Like I did. He’s primed to be my successor”

“All might you know I think of you as a great hero. But he’s too much like you”

‘Nighteye’ [Name] realized

“I think he spends too much time trying to be like you that he doesn’t know the true meaning of heroics. You’re right he’s a great kid but I don’t think he’s ready for the kind of responsibility that comes with One For All.”

“Who else if not him?”

Nighteye paused, and answered cautiously “I met a kid. Resembles you in looks, a little more than [Name] does. He has a strong work ethic and made his debut into class 1B at UA. His quirk isn’t exactly strong but he’s made it so. Give him a chance”

Toshinori gave a hesitant “maybe” and the conversation ended there.

Betrayal felt like a sharp stabbing sensation. Nighteye, his precious mentor doesn’t think he’s ready enough. Doesn’t want him to succeed. Wants his father to mentor another kid because he doesn’t believe in [Name]. Ouch.

The next morning, [name] is quieter. More unsure of himself as he asks his dad to stop training with Nighteye. The relationship between All Might and Nighteye is frayed and [Name] knows that. He’s the glue keeping them together so to get back at Nighteye, [Name] will sever the connection between idol and fan. He doesn’t need Nighteye, he just needs to please his dad. He’ll train on his own and become number one. Praise be to God.

Hands gliding through the air, [Name] played with a bright red colored mist that flowed through his fingers and gathered in the palms of his hands. He would flex them, some fingers pointing down, others curled inward as if he were grabbing something with that finger only. Depending on the weight of the object he moved, his arms would flex too.

In a fight his stance became wider, more sturdy almost as if actually shouldering the weight of the object. His knees bent when he planted himself into the ground, resisting the push and pull of gravity as he lifted things with a thought and a flick of his hands. He was powerful. The kind of powerful that makes you smirk at your opponent, not because you underestimate them but just because you know you’ll win. It’s a long hard road to becoming that powerful and [Name] was damned if he wasn’t going to show it. The perfect venue was coming up too. The UA Entrance Exams.

[Name] unconsciously used his quirk to stop something from landing in the koi pond he’d been walking past. “Poor fishies” [Name] thought as he grabbed the floating book. It read ‘Hero Analysis For the Future’  He casually flipped through it, silently asking for forgiveness. He’s not a snooper; he just needed a little guidance if he was going to be the best. It was a little burnt but thorough. He heard the noise of a bunch of boys walking by and he looked up. At the sight of Bakugou [Name]’s eyes flashed red. Bakugou looked away and scowled knowing he couldn’t beat the son of the Number One hero. Not yet.

“Oh [Name]-senpai you found my book”

“Izuku-kun. I came to you for advice. But also just because I wanted to see you.”

“Of course! We’re friends you can ask me anything”

“I’ve been training a lot on my own recently because I wanted to surprise my dad with my progress but pretty soon I think I’m gonna ask him to personally train me. The UA entrance exams are pretty soon. And I want to make him proud”

“I’m sure you’ll do fine! You’re a great hero already with an amazing quirk. I think he’ll be proud of you no matter what you do”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive”

“Thanks. I’ve gotta go train, my exams are way sooner than yours. You’ve still got about 10 months right?”

“You honestly think I can make it senpai?”

“I don’t know. But I like you and you’ve got the right attitude so I want to support you. Who knows maybe you’ll make history as a quirkless hero.”

[Name] smiled and bid Izuku farewell as he headed off in the opposite direction intending to train even harder to become the number one. Everything in his life was primed so he would be the best. He was Icarus chasing after the sun on his man-made wings. But he was determined not to fall, not to drown and he refused to fail even if the sun burned him up upon first contact.

[Name] passed his entrance exams and was ranked number one in the incoming first year class. His first number one. The sports festival being his next goal, and once he finally had One For All, there’d be no one to stop him. He was sure of it. And that’s what he wanted to tell his father the day Yagi came home and excitedly told him he’d met and befriended a young boy from Mustafu called Izuku Midoriya. [Name] smiled brightly happy that the two of them had met and instead promised himself to bring the topic up the next morning.

The opportunity never came considering All Might had gone missing from the house every morning before [Name] woke up and he’d come home deflated and exhausted. [Name] would just smile at the exhausted Yagi and make the two of them dinner or tuck Yagi into the bed when he’d fall asleep on the couch. It was pretty easy for a telekinetic to tuck their dad into bed without waking him. Sometimes [Name]’s eyes and hands would glow and he’d flutter his fingers near Yagi’s temple sending him sweet dreams. After about two months of this [Name] decided to confront Yagi, and he camped out on the couch that faced the front door. When Yagi tried to sneak out [Name] spoke up

“Where are you going?”

“I’ve got some work to do early this morning”

“Everyday for two months?”

Yagi’s eyes widened, not knowing [Name] noticed his habits. And that was a part of the problem. [Name] paid attention to everything, he was a strategist who had a degree in All Might. It was how he and Midoriya became friends in the first place and why they continued to get along so well

“I’ve been training”

“For what” [Name] asked and at the slight downturn of his father’s smile he realized he’d been asking the wrong questions. “Where?” He received silence

“Who are you training dad? And don’t lie to a mind reader”

“I’ve been training Young Midoriya”

“For his entrance exams? Why not invite me? The two of us are friends and I can teach him how to spar”

“It’s just between the two of us, no need to wear yourself thin. Focus on training for the sports festival”

“I’ve been trying to ask you to train me. This is the perfect opportunity”

“Perhaps later my boy”

The disappointment barely got a chance to sit on [Name]’s face before he smiled “Have fun dad. Tell him good luck for me, yeah?” Yagi nodded and headed out the door, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. [Name] was a good kid.

[Name] returned to training alone, and cleaning up after his dad, and going to school, and listening to his dad lie, and smiling. But the feeling that he was missing something took over him and set him on edge. So he went for a walk. And who better to find than Izuku Midoriya and his dad training on a beach. [Name] reached up a hand to wave at them before realizing this is what was setting him on edge. His dad was paying more attention to his quirkless kohai than his own son. He felt another stabbing sensation similar to when Nighteye had betrayed him but this time the pain was in his chest and didn’t go away. It was accompanied by the desire to cry. And so [Name] stood there hysterical with a smile on his face and tears streaming down his cheeks. The taste of snot reaching his tongue through his teeth.

[Name] waited for them to finish training before he followed Izuku pretending to just casually bump into the boy. “Oh wow Izuku you’re shaping up. My dad says you’ve been training lately” [Name] knew the boy was horrible at lying and would probably nervously blurt out the truth between the two, and if he didn’t there was always the option of reading his mind.

“Hehe, yeah” Izuku chuckled nervously

“So what’re you training for exactly? I know you’re aiming for UA but what’s your strategy for passing the exams? Just regular old strength training?”

“Actually All Might’s been training me for something else entirely. I’ve got to go but I’ll talk about it more with you later okay?” Midoriya screamed behind him as he put some distance between the two. He was smart, smart enough not to look in [Name]’s direction anytime he lied, a strategy that kept him safe for months. All good things must come to an end.

[Name] showed up on the beach one afternoon and demanded to know what was happening. His expression was serious and his eyes glowed the moment they tried to placate him.

“I’ve been training Young Midoriya to be a hero” All Might started

“Yes I know that”  

“More accurately his successor” Midoriya finished

“Wait what” [Name] frowned

“I knew you approved of Young Midoriya becoming a hero and when I saw him save Young Bakugou from the attack I saw myself in him”

“I’M supposed to be your successor. You don’t see yourself in me? Your son?”

“Bubs-”

“Don’t Bubs me. And You!” [Name] whipped around furious, hurt in his eyes as he faced Midoriya “I told you all I ever wanted was to be like my father and make him proud. I befriended you and protected you when I could. On the day of the attack I told you I wanted to train with him and you stole him. You took him right from under me.”

“I’m sorry” Midoriya stuttered out “But you have a quirk. You don’t know what it’s like being powerless and picked on. He gave me a way out”

[Name] looked at Midoriya sympathetically, simultaneously wanting to reach out and hug the boy but also wanting to make him suffer. At [Name]’s conflicted silence Midoriya continued “Senpai, please. Can’t you just be happy for me? I’m finally getting to live my dream”

[Name] looked at him apathetically “Why would I be happy you sacrificed my dream for yours?”

“Please” they begged and oddly enough, they begged in harmony “Don’t go. Forgive us, we didn’t mean to hurt you” Their eyes were pleading almost as if they knew the second he turned his back on them, it would be the end of their relationship. [Name] got a high off of their suffering. It was the first time in months he’d truly felt happy. They got a taste of what he’d been feeling.

‘This is karma’ [Name] thought ‘God’s in his heaven and all's right with the world’ He looked at the two of them and smiled. A reassuring smile. They let out breaths they didn’t know they were holding in as he laid a hand on the side of each of their heads. “I’m sorry” he said sickeningly sweet “I’m not the forgiving type”

Neither All Might nor Midoriya had time to react before [Name]’s eyes glowed and he sent them into a nightmare where they were abandoned and lonely calling out for help only to be betrayed. [Name] walked home with his head feeling more clear than it had in weeks. He’d always thought of his father as God. And if he were God that would make [Name] Jesus.

God made Judas, and All Might made a hero out of Midoriya.

Things were awkward in [Name]’s house after that. Yagi and Izuku were still training, and so Yagi would come home to a dark house and no son to greet him. If [Name] was around when Yagi got home, he’d pretend not to notice or leave the room immediately and have his things float up to his room. Yagi knocked on his son’s door one day and though he got no response he knew [Name] was listening.

“You can still be a great hero my boy. I know you’ll do great things”

“There’s no room for me to be Number One while One For All exists”

Yagi was disheartened and walked away leaving it at that. The day of the entrance exams was coming up and Izuku would finally receive One For All. He hoped they could take it one day at a time from there, considering they’d all be attending the same school for the next few years. Midoriya went on to pass the entrance exams and earned a spot in class 1A. Yagi was ecstatic and Midoriya got a taste of what it felt like to be a hero.

The UA Sports Festival made for a grand spectacle where Izuku Midoriya had called out to the world and said “I Am Here”. He showcased an amazing power but also his poor control over said power. About a week after the festival, Izuku was attacked by villains who believed the key to his strength was in his DNA. They knew he wouldn’t sit still and let them pluck hairs, so the easiest way was to make him bleed. They ambushed him, subdued him and took him to a second location where he was bled and beaten to death. His body was found a week after his disappearance. Broken arms, legs and lacerations all over his body. The police suspected most of his injuries came from him trying to escape.

The villains couldn’t remember why they took him. The harder they tried to remember the worse their heads hurt and their eyes would glow red. Even Naomasa with his lie detector couldn’t pick up the truth. All the villains knew was that his blood was supposed to give them a boost, like some of the other illegal quirk boosters on the market. The suspects were released on bail and disappeared several hours later.

All might of course felt responsible and was weighed down with guilt. He had killed Young Midoriya through his own negligence. Heavy is the head that wore the crown. Yagi was strong enough to keep his head on his shoulders but he could not move from the position he was in.

He recalled a conversation between himself and [Name] a day or two after Midoriya’s disappearance. The boy who hadn’t smiled once since their fight on the beach gave a twisted smile as he asked “How’s your successor doing? Have they found his body yet?

Yes, All Might had done this to Young Midoriya himself. He played the part of instigator and now he was the secret keeper. He was to bear the sins of his son and himself as he prayed that unlike [Name], Young Midoriya up in heaven was of the forgiving type.

[lurking96]

That might sound like a weird question but... Why exactlty does Bakugo hate Deku so much? At first I thought it was because Bakugo felt insulted that a nobody like Deku who Bakugo saw as the bottom of the barrel tried to help him when he fell in the water but now apparently the narrative tries to push the idea Bakugo was scared of Deku's lack of self worth and tried to keep him at bay, which is complete nonsense? I can't help but think the author doesn't own up to what he originally wrote.

Well to me there are a few different reasons. Again. This is an opinion. Other opinions might differ and no one is absolute. Also. while these things might be reasons for Bakugou they are no reason for the treatment Izuku endured for years thanks to Bakugou. This is anti bakugou. I put it under a read more and you can filter out the tags if you dont want to read it.

To bakugou needing saving is a sign of weakness. He fights alone. He doesnt need anyone. So when little Izuku who back then already had markings off a hero held out his hand he felt called weak. Also even before he already teased Izuku and called him useless. And if you dislike someone it´s easy to draw wrong conclusions. So he thought Izuku was looking down on him. As Bakugou in general also looks down on people and calls them weak. Bakugou assumes others think like him too. To him genuine kindness and doing something without payback doesnt exist. So of course Izuku must just be faking it. Another thing is that he sees Izuku as a threat to him becoming the number one hero for more than one reason. First. His backstory. Even though Bakugou has seemingly a well off family he goes to Aldera. As described a rather shitty school. If bakugou wanted he could go somewhere better. He acts and dresses like a delingquent. He wants to paint a backstory for himself. Craft it so that people think he comes from nothing. A sad backstory fitting to an anime protagonist he sees himself as. Izuku who has a genuine backstory would actually show in comparison just what a sham Bakugous story is. Another thing is Izukus heroic heart. Again in comparison to Izuku we have Bakugou who lacks the substance. Yes he has a drive and a goal but so has every other student in UA. And Izuku has more of a heroic heart. He has a desire to save people. Third. Even while he calls him weak, useless, worthless. He still thought that Izuku made it in UA while being quirkless. He still thought he beat a bunch of robots without a quirk. Rescue points were not something known about so he couldn't think it was that. He sees him as weak and a pebble on the road while at the same time a looming threat to him. A paradox of hate really. The enemy is inferior and barbaric while being strong and advanced at the same time. The whole part of seeing his self worth and trying to keep him at bay. Well. I honestly just see that as damage control. He knows that if the full extent of what he did to Izuku would come out his dream of becoming the number 1 would certainly take a hit. He is already trying to grab the narrative and make PR up for himself. He doesnt want to loose his social standing or chance to be number 1. He wants to portray himself as great and flawless so this part of his history he would rather hide. Bakugou feels like a character that knew he would have been a side character and then tried to claw his way into main character position.

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Alrighty, time for the rest of chapter 12! Featuring the Smile of a good bean, and the cool shenanigans of our favorite zoomy boy. 

(Honestly, this bit really IS cool, not gonna lie.)

[No. 12 - Yeah, Just Do Your Best, Iida!]

We transition into Lunch Rush’s cafeteria, where our intrepid trio is eating lunch together. (Also, I think this is the first mention of the support and business courses.)

I really need to save this as a reaction image, it’s just so cute. <3 

Izuku is still worried about whether he can really be class president. Ochako and Tenya both assure him he can, with Tenya going on to explain how Izuku’s grit and decisiveness in a pinch makes him perfectly suited to lead, thus why Tenya voted for him. Which comes as a shock to Izuku.

Ochako notes that Tenya wanted to be president as well, plus comments on him having the glasses and everything. Izuku thinks that Ochako really just says whatever pops into her head. Tenya replies that ambition and suitability are different, and that he felt he made the right choice. 

Both Izuku and Ochako notice his use of ‘humbly’, with Ochako asking if Tenya’s a rich kid based on how he talks. Both of them listen as Tenya explains that he tried to hide it, since he doesn’t like people to know, but he does come from a renowned hero family, the Iidas, and that he’s the second son. The two think this is pretty cool.

Lookit that family legacy, can’t believe grandma Iida is still around and kicking. The one right next to her is Tensei with that forward horn on the forehead, while the man in front and the woman on the left… probably one parent and their sibling, or both parents but one’s hiding the lack of engine quirk with the armor. But this shows that the Iida family has been in heroics for a long time… possibly even since the dawn of quirks… (cough cough)

Tenya asks if they know the turbo hero, Ingenium. Izuku, being a hero nerd, confirms it immediately, getting excited to ramble about the 65 sidekicks at his Tokyo office, before he then connects the dots and determines that Tenya’s related. 

Lookit that, so excited to meet a fellow fan of Tensei. These boys…

Tenya confirms that Ingenium is his brother, with the other two impressed that he’s so frank about it. Tenya goes on to describe his brother’s leadership and his strict adherence to rules and regulations, and that it’s Tenya’s admiration for his brother that’s inspired him to become a hero. 

(Not pictured: Me, trying to imagine Iida Tensei following a single damned rule in his life.)

(Hmm, where do we see the most of Tensei’s personality come from, anyways? I’m guessing the Vigilantes manga, right? Still makes this so hilarious I cannot even.)

Anyways, moving on. 

An Smile. I just had to change my discord pfp to this because it’s so Good. 

Tenya knows he’s not ready to lead anyone yet, thinking about his talk with Izuku back in chapter 5 about the true nature of the entrance exam. He repeats his belief in Izuku as the superior candidate for the role. 

Ochako and Izuku, much like me, are temporarily at a loss for words at seeing such a pure, good smile from our serious boy. Ochako tells Tenya she’s never seen him smile before, which startles Tenya before he assures her that he does smile on occasion. Izuku watches on with an awkward but fond smile, thinking about how, just like he has All Might, Tenya has Ingenium, and that he-

Whatever the thought, it’s cut off by a loud alarm, startling all three of them (poor Ochako, choking on her food like that.) The intercom then announces to the concerned students that security level three has been broken (aka someone’s gotten into the school proper), and that students need to evacuate in an orderly fashion.

The students:

I dunno what else the school expected, really. In the one panel before this, Tenya asks a third year what’s happening. The student replies that a level three breach means someone’s infiltrated the school, and that that hasn’t happened in any of the student’s two and change three years there. The kid then warns them to get outta the cafeteria with the rest of them (and also makes an aside about Tenya’s hand chopping I guess?)

The three end up getting caught up in the crowds, being shoved around inside the stampede. Ochako wants to know what’s going on, Tenya makes a comment about the rapid response to danger that feels like it’s just a touch sarcastic, but it’s so hard to tell with him because he’s so earnest. Izuku makes an aside that the response is maybe a bit too rapid, and that everyone is panicking.

RIP Deku, guess it’s time for Tenya to become the new main character. Press f in the tags to pay respects to our fallen protagonist.

Our new champion takes to the role immediately, wanting to figure out who could have infiltrated. He unceremoniously gets shoved into a window right afterwards, where he can see the press within the school grounds. 

Said crowds are crowding around Present Mic and Eraserhead, demanding a comment from All Might or even the staff in general. They try to warn off the crowds with how All Might’s out for the day, and that giving an inch will have them demanding a mile. Mic asks aside about how this is illegal, even villainous, wondering whether they can be blown away already. Eraserhead tells him to lay off on it, and that the media will write what they want either way. Better to just wait for the police.

Tenya tries to let the students know that there’s no danger, it’s just the media, but no one is listening because of their panic. Tenysa wonders where the teachers are, and if they’re all dealing with the press. He then notes Kirishima and Kaminari caught up in the crowds, and determines that no one knows that it’s a false alarm because of their panic. With a brief shriek, he’s alerted to Ochako being dragged away from him by the crowd (which how it took this long for that to happen is a wonder - maybe she’d been trying to fight her way to him through the crowds to stick together? Would make sense…)

I love this, because he already puts his admiration for Izuku - and his confidence in Izuku’s abilities to handle a crisis - at the same level as his brother. God, I love these three, they are the goodest of friends. <3

Tenya gets Ochako to use her quirk on him, their hands slapping together before Tenya leaps up above the crowds, losing his glasses in the process. (No wonder he has whole shelves if he loses or breaks them this often!) He thinks about what will get the crowds attention, eying the exit that everyone is trying to crowd out through. His shoes fall off as he tugs up his pant legs to unveil his engine thighs (which are fucking HUGE what the hell) and turns them on to boost himself across the room gracefully.

And by ‘gracefully’, I mean ‘not at all graceful’. Though I do wonder if this eventually gets turned into a super-move between Ochako and Tenya once he gets a better handle on momentum and angles for movement in zero g. 

(Oh, and turns out Izuku’s still alive, just stuffed deep inside the crowds. Guess the funeral is delayed a while longer, folks.)

Tenya grabs onto the pipe above the exit for stability, taking a moment to catch his breath and center himself before shouting out at the crowd. He thinks about how he needs to make his announcement short, concise, and bold, while out loud he tells everyone that everything’s fine. The crowd stops to stare and listen as Tenya explains that it’s just the press, and that there’s nothing to panic about. He goes on to chastise them a bit - this is UA! Behave like you belong there!

We fade out and to a bit later, when the police arrive and the reporters are driven away. Mic cheers as they’re gotten rid of.

Meanwhile, in class, Momo encourages Izuku to go ahead. Izuku is nervous as he explains about choosing other student council members, but that something else needs to happen first. He then says that he feels Tenya is better suited to be class president, picking up confidence as he focuses the class attention elsewhere. He explains how Tenya led everyone in the crisis, so he feels he’s the right choice for the job. Kirishima and Kaminari agree, hyping up Tenya’s actions more.

Aizawa tells them to get on with it with a glare. Izuku’s narration concludes that that was how Tenya became class president while Tenya stands up and says he’ll accept the job. The class jokingly cheers for ‘Exit Sign Iida’ (the first class meme, how sweet) while Izuku wonders how ‘they’ managed to… something. I’m guessing this is his own thoughts drifting to how the media got in, since that’s what we transition to right after.

(Also, Momo there sweating wondering if her position is safe.)

At the gate, we see Nedzu, Recovery Girl, Thirteen, and Midnight examining the damages done. Nedzu notes that no ordinary reporter could have managed this break-in. SOmeone else instigated this, but the question then becomes whether someone actually slipped inside, or if this is the start of some greater war.

And on that ominous note, we end chapter 12! Although I wonder why none of the reporters even stopped to question the destruction of the gate in favor of getting inside and demanding answers about All Might. Ah well, I don’t think the media in this series is exactly portrayed to be in any form accurate, so. :)

[imalreadyjudgingmyself]

The Teacher Trap (Aizawa x Reader) P2

Teacher Trap Masterlist

Aizawa doesn’t like how giggly Ashido’s being this class period. Granted, he never likes how giggly she is, but now she’s actively distracting the class. “Ashido, focus or I will remove you from training.” It’s already a pain working with All Might for the heroics class today. He’s tired and wanted to discuss the students' grades with the other teachers. The finals for the semester are coming up and he needs to get an idea of how the class is doing. Plus, he’s still working on the plan for the summer training camp. Instead, he has to be here babysitting All Might and making sure the students aren’t doing anything stupider than usual.

“She’s allowed to have fun,” All Might jumps to her defense too readily, that large smile plastered over his face, and a thumbs up directed towards Aizawa. “Plus, she’s ahead of some of the other students.”

Aizawa rolls his eyes, which made his eyes feel sorer than they should, damn that injury. “Tch, she’s distracting the other students.” This entire simulation bores Aizawa, it’s not really a challenge for the students. It feels almost like it’s just to keep them busy. Aizawa sits down and decides to focus on something productive. The final exams. He’s figured out most of the teachers to use from the second half of the exam, he’s considering replacing the principal with you though. He knows that the principal can go a bit—overboard—to say the least, and he does want his students to have a fighting chance. He knows that while All Might would be impossible to beat, he’d be too soft to be too hard on the students. The principal, on the other hand, is cold and calculating.

He could ask you. He’s been hesitant because of your ear, but the students you’d be going up against wouldn’t exacerbate it. It might be worth a try, especially because he’s pretty certain none of the students know your quirk yet (except maybe Izuku since he studies heroes), which could add another difficulty to the exam. But he doesn’t want you to hurt yourself. The students wouldn’t take advantage of your injury; would they? He thought about the students you’d be matched up against, they’d probably not even noticed it, so you’d be okay. If you were going up against Bakugo or maybe Todoroki they might, but you’d be safe against Ashido and Kaminari. Your quirk would also be an interesting match against theirs, which is why he thought of asking you in the first place. Okay, Aizawa decides he’ll find you later and ask you.

All Might clears his throat and Aizawa looks up at him expectantly. “Must be really lost in thought.” All Might says chuckling. “All of the students have reached the positions, so it’s time to start phase two.” Aizawa guesses phase two is the reason why his afternoon was interrupted for this lesson. He makes a mental note to talk to you later before returning his attention to this “phase two.”

 Aizawa enters the teachers' lounge feeling more annoyed than anything else. Damn All Might for making him late, he was planning on doing some patrols tonight and now he’s behind schedule. He saunters over to his desk, about to pick up his stuff so he can leave when he notices you asleep at your desk. He pauses, questioning if he should wake you up. He’s surprised Yamada didn’t.

Gently he shakes your shoulder, and you jump up declaring, “I wasn’t sleeping.” Aizawa can see the faint outline of some ink that transferred from the paper onto your face. You turn to face him and faintly blush at how close he is.

He grunts in reply and walks to his desk. He watches you check your watch out of the corner of his eye, as well as you quickly start shoving your papers into a folder. He grabs what he needs then waits by the door for you to finish grabbing your belongings.

“What are you doing here 30 minutes past the final bell?” You ask, trying not to blush at how he held the door open for you as you both left. “You usually leave pretty quickly.” Oh no, what are you saying? That’s weird.

Aizawa shoves his hands into his pockets, and doesn’t even glance your way as he replies, “All Might held me up after class.”

“Oh,” You know he doesn’t really get along with All Might so you don’t really know how to reply. It’s silent for a minute or two as you both walk down the stairs together.

“It worked out, I guess. I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Aizawa says.

“Oh?” You pause, your brain immediately going back to the conversation from earlier that day. Oh no, he found out that you talked about him in class, and now he’s asking you to leave him alone. But it’s not like you said anything that really gave yourself away, right?

Aizawa turned back to look at you. “I still need one teacher to help out with the second portion of the final exam. I was wondering if you would be willing to.”

You blink, “Yes, of course, I can help out. I don’t really know why you need help with the robots though—”

“We aren’t using robots this time. It’ll be teachers against the students.” Aizawa cuts you off.

“O-oh.”

“You don’t have to, I can ask—” Aizawa scratches his chin absent-mindedly. 

“What? Of course, I’ll help. I’m just surprised.” You reply, finally walking towards him again. Aizawa takes this answer and you both walk in silence towards the entrance of the school. You wish him a good evening, to which he grunts in response, before heading your separate ways.

 Meanwhile, at home, Mina Ashido begins to create a plan. It has to start out simple, after all, she can’t risk getting caught. Maybe she could leave some food for Aizawa-sensei under your name, or a note. She’d have to copy your handwriting though, so that would take time. She wants to get started now! But how?

A/N: Wow, so like, I really wasn’t expecting any likes at all over this story. It was a little overwhelming, haha. I actually got anxious to upload this part because I felt like it was a little different from the last one because the personality I gave the reader is much different than Aizawa’s. I hope I did well on portraying Aizawa’s perspective. I chose to change canon (do you care about that? Cause I don’t as long as it doesn’t, like, ruin the story) just the tiniest bit because I felt like it was a good way to naturally introduce the reader’s quirk (though, I ended up finding a better way to introduce it sooner-- oops, haha) and drive the reader and Aizawa together outside of the meddling from Ashido. All around, I don’t hate this part by any means, I really liked writing it but, I’m just afraid that there’s a standard now and I’m not going to meet it. Also, I am trying my hardest to keep the reader gender-neutral, so please forgive me if I make any mistakes in that department because I am not practiced with this type of writing. Okay, I’m going to stop ranting now. I hope you enjoy the second part!

[skygemspeaks]

submitted by @rosejen8675

So, I have a story idea for My Hero Academia that I’ve been wanting to bounce off of someone for a while now. You always seem pretty cool in asks and have a lot of fun AU’s, so I’d thought I’d ask you. 

Izuku has gotten pretty used to people dismissing his quirk ramblings by the time he’s a pre-teen. Then one day he comes across a video online of someone talking about a hero’s quirk and sort of picking it apart, just like he does every day. He sees that the video has gotten a good amount of views and positive feedback, and it bolsters him to know that people out there do like to talk about this stuff. He notices something a bit off about one of the observations the person makes though, and feels bold enough to leave a comment about it. The person messages him back saying that the Izuku actually had a really good point, and that maybe he should make a video about it himself. And Izuku becomes inspired to do just that.

His first videos aren’t great, mainly just recordings of his usual mutterings. Some comments are mean about it, but a few provide constructive criticism about how he could make the videos better and make his point better understood. Izuku starts putting more planning into the videos, doing a bit of research and actually writing out scripts for himself, and they start to get better. A couple episodes get recognized by older and more popular channels, and that causes Izuku’s channel to become more well known.

Izuku is thrilled to have people who actually approve of his hobby, even if he’s never actually met them. He starts to recognize certain regulars, especially ones that leave comments that lead to discussions among the viewers and himself. Some people leave mean comments of course, but they never really say anything worse than Kacchan already does. 

After his channel gains a certain amount of notoriety, people start to leave comments asking about his own quirk. He’s analyzed so many others, what does he have to say about his own? Izuku doesn’t want to tell them he is quirkless, because he’s afraid that they will take him less seriously or stop watching all together if they know, just like most everyone else has done. He doesn’t feel comfortable just ignoring it though. 

One day when he’s having lunch his glass does that thing where water condenses in just the right way at the base of a glass that it starts sliding on it’s own, and he gets an idea. He can make people think he has a quirk. He’s mentioned in previous videos what type of quirks his parents had, so people would believe he has some kind of telekinesis. He practices enough that he figures out how to get the glass to slide when he wants it to, and during his next video he sets it up to slide toward his hand part way through. He acts super casual about it, and lets people think what they will. 

People end up taking the bait. Izuku feels a bit guilty for the deception, but tells himself he’s not outright lying. One person comments it’s a shame he didn’t inherit his dad’s fire-based quirk, and suddenly Izuku is getting ideas. Could he find a way to make it look like he had? Would people believe it if he did? There’s only one way to find out. 

After some research into sleight of hand and stage magic, Izuku is able to make it look like’s he’s accidentally coughing up smoke in one of his videos. People start debating in the comments about which is his real quirk and whether or not he could have inherited both. From there it starts to escalate. Izuku becomes curious to see how far he can push this. He keeps coming up with new quirks he could have and different ways to imply he has them. People start getting really into it. Entire threads are created trying to piece together the mystery Izuku is presenting them with. Some argue that he has an analysis quirk that he’s been using the whole time, and that he’s doing this to tease them for not realizing it. Others say he definitely has one of those quirks, and he’s challenging them to figure out which one it is. Some say he has an illusion quirk. Only a very small number put out that he might be quirkless and messing with them all.

Even with all the fake quirk shenanigans, Izuku makes sure that his video’s analysis content is still top notch. Because of this, a few students at UA end up showing one of videos to their teachers. Then some of the teachers start watching episodes that sound relevant to the topic they covering, and telling the students about it. At one point Present Mic mentions a video of Izuku’s in response to a caller question, and Izuku proceeds to lose his mind over that endorsement for a week. 

In the grand scheme of things, this AU changes little. Izuku still ends up getting attacked by a sludge villain and meeting All Might. He still inherits One for All, and most of the events at school and with the League of Villains fold out in the same way. The difference is made in little things. Izuku becomes a bit more confident before UA, at least when it comes to his ability to analyze and make plans. Certain teachers recognize him during the entrance exam, and are delighted that they now know what Izuku’s ‘real’ quirk is. A number of the 1-A students recognize him, tell him how fun or useful they found his videos, and ask if he’ll give them advice later. Even some older students come up and tell him that such and such episode gave them new ideas on how to use their quirks in combat.

At the end of the day it’s not a huge difference, but all of them combined make a world of difference to Izuku. 

So what do you think? I’d really like to get a more polished version down at some point, because I like the idea a lot. I do kind of worry about the whole ‘pretending to have different quirks in his videos’ part. Do you think that’s too out of character for Izuku?

I’d appreciate any feedback you could give. Thank you!

AhhhH????? I would read 100k of this!! It’s super interesting, and I do like the idea of him teasing his viewers about what quirk he has. It’s a fun, harmless little thing, and if I know the internet, it would ABSOLUTELY help bring in the views lmao.

I’m super interested to see how this would affect canon though, in small but noticeable ways, how the people in his life see him.

All Might, who’s seen a couple of his vids (because at this point, who HASN’T?) despite being technologically illiterate. He’s always had a fondness for the boy who does such great quirk analyses, at the easy confidence he seems to portray in his audience, the kindness that shines through, the mischievousness, the resourcefulness in making it seem like he has all these different quirks. And then he meets Izuku, and he feels his heart break for him, and he’s amazed that even with the online fame, this boy is so genuinely modest.

There’s Aizawa, who watches all of Izuku’s videos, because having in depth knowledge of all kinds of quirks is especially important for a hero who doesn’t have a physical enhancement quirk of his own, a hero whose true strength lies in his mind. When Izuku is put into his class, Aizawa doesn’t immediately dismiss him. He knows the kid has the brains to be a truly amazing hero, and maybe now is the time for Aizawa to repay him for all the help he’s received from his videos in the past.

Imagine the sports festival - the name of his channel trending on twitter as people freak out about how the winner of the obstacle race is actually this famous youtube personality? Imagine the chaos, especially if he didn’t tell any of them that he entered UA. Or maybe he told them he entered, but didn’t specify which department 

(because that seems to be Izuku’s theme these days. Now in addition to what quirk he has, people are arguing over whether or not he’s in the hero department.

“Of course he’s in heroics! He’s mentioned before how much he’s wanted to be in a hero since he was a child, you morons.”

“Just because he wants to be one doesn’t mean it’s possible for him though. He obviously has an analysis type quirk, so he’s gotta be in support or management.”)

Imagine people finally getting CLOSURE as they find out what his quirk actually is, and isn’t it so cheeky of him that the quirk he was “born with” was the one quirk he never teased in any of his videos.

He makes a sheepish apology video afterwards for nearly scaring his audience to death in his match against Todoroki, and he quietly makes his disapproval known when his fans start commenting about how that Bakugou kid is so villainous and shouldn’t have won the tournament.

Dear god, imagine the Stain incident! People seeing our boy almost carried off by a Noumu.

And once people know he’s in heroics, imagine his fans begging him to upload vlogs, the day in the life of a ua hero student. At first he refuses to, because he thinks his teachers would disapprove, but after UA’s reputation takes a hit with all the villain attacks, Izuku suggests the idea to Nedzu, to help show people that UA really is doing its all to help.

Imagine him giving a tour of class a’s dorm building, and getting ready for the cultural festival!

Imagine him meeting Gentle, and La Brava is lowkey salty about how many more views he has than them, but Gentle is quietly freaking out because he’s been a fan of Izuku’s channel since forever now???

Ahh, sorry for getting so carried away my dear, but this idea is just too good for me to leave alone!! I would definitely love to read this if you decide to continue it. And if you want to talk to me about it more, please feel free. It’s such a fun verse to play in and I’d love to help contribute to it :)

[sazorak]

My Hero Academia’s hero and villain are not very good

My Hero Academia,  Kohei Horikoshi’s shounen manga take on Western super hero comics, has been running nearly three years now. I am something of a binge-reader when it comes to media; I don’t care for the drawn-out schedule that comes from following serialized releases. But My Hero Academia (alongside One Piece, Berserk, and One Punch Man) is one of the few that I actively follow. Lately though, I’ve been wondering why.

It’s not that the comic has taken a particularly egregious downturn in quality or pacing – it’s been fairly consistent all in all. The current arc about the class becoming intern sidekicks has been interesting, and it’s been moving at a rather brisk pace. The issue I’m struggling with is more fundamental. It’s a problem My Hero Academia has had since the beginning, and it’s done little to ameliorate over time.

The main protagonist and antagonist of My Hero Academia are just not very good.

The lead of My Hero Academia, Izuku Midoriya, isn’t a bad character per se. The angle of an ordinary kid born into a society of supermen finding himself entrusted with power by his world’s urhero is a pretty good one. It’s an underdog story with tons of good karma built in as Midoriya is forced to struggle to surpass those who had mocked his lack of abilities. It’s also good for hitting those power-fantasy notes that are so crucial to making the shounen genre work. He’s earnest and likeable. It’s easy to root for Midoriya and put yourself in his shoes as he is manages to pull himself to the front of the pack by sheer heart and willpower alone. These are all good attributes for a protagonist in a heroic work!

But as time has gone on and as his powers have developed, he has ceased to be the underdog. Where he was once only keeping up with his classmates’ inborn genius by hard work and determination, now he’s not only the most driven but also the most talented. Midoriya’s climbed what should have been the first foothill on his journey to the top, and we’ve found that there is actually nothing else on the horizon— the foothill was the mountain. Midoriya’s journey of growth being essentially complete is dire, because it’s all Midoriya actually has: It turns out he’s REALLY boring.

Midoriya’s character revolves entirely around his desire to become a hero and imitate the super hero paragon, All Might. That’s it. This is literally all there is to him. He has no other interests. No particular ambitions beyond the dream to be The Best Hero. The only real struggles remaining for him are narrative happenstance and the gradual power-ups that are practically prescribed at this point. There’s nothing else to his story.

Here’s an example: In order to convince All Might’s former side kick to give him an internship, Midoriya has to make him laugh. This isn’t going to be easy; the sidekick is a straight-laced nerd, AND he has the ability to see the future. This concept has a lot of good goof-potential. You could conceive Midoriya in all his earnestness constructing an elaborate comedic scenario that, while perhaps falling on its face, would at least show off his good qualities. Maybe he’d screw up and it’d result in the kind of unplanned comedic pratfall that would be easy for the sidekick to laugh at. 

Instead, what does Midoriya actually do? He does a bad impression of All Might of course, because “I want to be like All Might!” is his entire character! It pisses off the sidekick so much that the whole laughing angle is completely abandoned, and instead a scenario is contrived where Midoriya has to steal the approval stamp from the future-seeing sidekicks hand. Ultimately? He gets the internship because he didn’t damage any of the All Might memorabilia in the room. Midoriya’s All Might-mania would be a funny gag if it wasn’t the crux of who he is.

The only other aspects to Midoriya’s character beyond his hero-crush is his very typical shounen budding romance with Ochako Uraraka (that has not and will not ever be developed until the very end of the story, as is the staid shounen manga way), his willingness to occasionally break the rules in order to save lives (and then let McGruff the Crime Dog unironically say that he should have let his friend be murdered in front of him), and a mostly one-sided rivalry with his childhood bully Katsuki Bakugo. Only the rivalry actually feels that impactful to the story, and that has more to do with Katsuki’s personal arc than Midoriya’s.

The issue isn’t that Midoriya doesn’t have any major flaws necessarily – though that certainly doesn’t help – it’s more that there’s not much else to his personal story at this point beyond the narrative events unfolding before him. He fundamentally lacks agency and meaningful personal struggles. Things happen, and he reacts to them; his arc is essentially complete. It’s a foregone conclusion. His single-mindedness makes the story flat in a way that it really need not be.

Narratives revolving around villains doing nefarious things tend to lead to reactionary heroes, but the best heroes are ones who are more than just the mask—they’re also people. Peter Parker has a day job, has to deal with people trying to constantly hunt him down and kill him, and has to fight to balance his romantic dalliances with the responsibilities of being Spider-Man. Bruce Banner may fight the occasional radiation monster, but the Hulk’s story is more about his struggle with his own inner demons than him punching real ones. Hell even Superman, the poster Generic Nice Boy, tries to have a personal life beyond the cape and liven up his Fortress of Solitude.

There’s more to good stories than Good Man Beats Up Bad Guy. While personal struggles can be completely ancillary to the action at hand, they can also be far more challenging for the hero to surmount and far more engaging. Even if the are trivial, that doesn’t make them unimportant. Diversions may not matter much to the ongoing “plot” always, but they give the characters character. Something as inconsequential as the heroes going out to get Italian food can be huge as far as characterization goes; it speaks volumes to the interests of the characters, it humanizes them, and makes their situation more relatable.

The tragic thing is that there are major characters in My Hero Academia who would make for far better protagonist material than the actual lead if the story had been built differently. The frog-girl Tsuyu Asui is a good example. She’s been raising her siblings on her own while going to hero school due to her parents being constantly away at work. Her powers seemingly have low potential (she does whatever a frog can do), but she rises to the top by being smart with them. She wants to become a hero to help people— but seemingly doesn’t have too much of an interest in getting into the bad-guy fighting side of things. Throughout the story, she’s also wrestled with the whole legality / morality of saving people without a license, which frankly the most under explored aspect of the narrative by far given how weird and complicated the subject matter is. These are all interesting angles that easily have been built out to create a different, more engaging My Hero Academia.

Not having an engaging protagonist for your narrative puts a greater onus of the villain being interesting. For My Hero Academia, this is a BIG problem. If the hero Izuku Midoriya is uninteresting, the main villain Tomura Shigaraki is outright lame.

As is the super hero convention, Shigaraki is dark mirror of Midoriya— where Midoriya is a child who looks up to heroes and wants to grow up to be like All Might, Shigaraki is a man child who never grew up, doesn’t like heroes, and wants to murder All Might. And just like Midoriya that’s literally all there is to him. He has some kind of tragic past due to heroes not saving him when his parents died, but even that’s paper thin. Ultimately, he’s just a petulant kid who never grew up; he occasionally sends mutants his spooky adopted dad made for him to punch trucks. Because that’ll show ‘em.

The narrative openly acknowledges the fact that he doesn’t have any particular beliefs beyond disliking heroes. Other villains with actual raisons d’etre confront him about it,  and he no joke throws a tantrum over the fact that they have views. Like Midoriya, the single-note nature of the character comes across as borderline comical. (Also: his character design looks stupid.)

Villains, like protagonists, need motivations to be compelling. That motivation can be as small as being a crazy mofo or just plain greedy, but it should at least be understandable. Shigaraki isn’t a revolutionary— he’s a child with a gun. An inordinate amount of power has been thrust into his hands for no particular reason. That doesn’t actually make him feel like that great of a threat to society as a whole; it just makes him a deadly nuisance if anything. Earthquakes are unpredictable and can hurt a lot of people but that doesn’t make them particularly compelling villains.

Villains need to be likeable. Not necessarily as a people— far from it in most cases, really. But they need to have some trait that is inherently admirable to make them work as the foil for the protagonist. In X-Men, Magneto is a fantastic villain because he’s ultimately a flawed idealist; his charisma and the fact that his views sometimes seem attractive is what makes him so compelling. He’s complex. Single-mindedness too can be admirable if it’s portrayed well. Kira Yoshikage, despite being an outright serial killer still has admirable traits in just how ruthlessly efficient he is at maintaining his “ordinary life”. That doesn’t make him less reprehensible— if anything those traits are what makes him so potent a threat, far more than his murderous tendencies.

Totally uncharismatic antagonists can work as small-bit villains – but there’s a limited lifetime for which their existence is tolerable. Past that point, their continued position as a central part of the narrative just becomes annoying, if not totally implausible. How are we the audience supposed to believe that Shigaraki can amass followers and inspire loyalty in them when we cannot muster the slightest bit of admiration for him ourselves? He’s not even shitty enough for it to be played up for comical effect!

This situation is all the more crazy when you remember that My Hero Academia serializes alongside One Piece.  One Piece’s Oda Eiichiro has writing good bad guys down to a science. His bad guys range across the whole spectrum, from the immeasurably bad at their job to the point where you’re actively rooting for them (who the hell doesn’t like Buggy the Clown?) to the dark-mirror of the lead that you just love to hate (Blackbeard you monstrous son of a bitch), to a whole heap of over-zealous enforcers of law and order (go to hell Akainu). Oda’s a master at manipulating the audience’s feelings and creating characters that work in both short and large doses. Characters with short-lived appeal are dealt with appropriately, while those more sweeping interest and unexplored complexities are kept around for years. Oda will occasionally even turn past arc’s main-villains into bit-players in ongoing ones. Knowing when and how to subvert expectations like this speaks a lot to Oda’s abilities at constructing characters and narratives.

The sad thing is that I just can’t see Kohei pivoting with My Hero Academia. The trajectory My Hero Academia is on looks to be the one it’ll stick to for the future. The foregone conclusion of Midoriya’s journey is in plain sight; while I’m sure the ongoing story will take some amount of twists and turns, there’s not a lot of mystery left in how Midoriya fits into it. Shigaraki taking his place as the main villain is outright uninteresting and unappealing at this point. While the actual writing of characters and the flow of the chapters is good, the broader sweep of the work viewed from a weekly-perspective now leaves something to be desired.

I suppose there’s nothing left for me to do at this point than to let it fall to the wayside and just read at my own pace when more of the material is built up. Actively following a work as it releases requires considerably more personal investment, and I’m not sure I can muster that for this story anymore.

Oh well!

[problemswithbooks]

I don’t really get how how people are comparing Izuku immediately trying to save Shigaraki in the vestige plane, opposed to Star destroying things in the vestige plane.

Like, that’s not her--it’s her Quirk. It might look like her but it says nothing, and does what it was told to do. Star, herself isn’t seeing what her Quirk is, and unlike the OfA Quirk it doesn’t have consciousness. OfA is special in that regard--if it wasn’t you’d think the Quirks in AfO would have been fighting him this entire time because at least some were taken against the user’s will and of those, some were probably from Heroes who wouldn’t just let him use their power without a struggle.

So, it’s not like she saw the weird amalgamation of AfO and Shigaraki and just decided to go ham anyway. Heck, even if she did decide to go after him anyway, you’d think if her Quirk was conscious she would comment about how it finally makes sense her Orders didn't work on Shigaraki--because there’s this creepy combination of two people fighting for dominance in  his head. 

It’s probable she didn’t even know about the vestige plane. She just said her Quirk would fight against other Quirks, or in other words act as a virus against other Quirks. She didn’t have to know about the vestige plane to give this order--all she has to know is that AfO steals Quirks and has a lot of them. Say a nomu was given NO, with this command attached it’d have similar results, because the vestige plane isn’t what makes this order work--it’s the having a Quirk at all. Having multiple Quirks just makes it more damaging and last longer.

So, no she’s not trying to save Shigaraki, but at the same time she knows nothing about the inner battle he’s fighting. Her Quirk isn’t her, and doesn’t have consciousness or freewill like Izuku had when he entered the vestige plane and saw Shigaraki. 

And, sure you could argue she should know more about Shigaraki and AfO, but he attacked her before she even got to Japan to be told what the situation was. From what we’ve seen we’re not even sure if anyone but the Top Three were told that AfO was taking over Shigaraki’s body, so it’s not like Star ignored or refused to listen to important information before she left. 

As it stands I don’t see how this is somehow proof she’s a bad Hero--or even if Hori is trying to portray her as one. Sure, she gets some scary panels every now and again, but so does Shigaraki, who people say we’re supposed to be rooting for so that’s not really a solid indication of how we’re supposed to feel about Star. Especially when Hori gave her a very heroic, sacrificial death. If she’s supposed to be bad, why give her that? Why have her care about her friends? 

But either way, regardless of how Hori wants Star’s character interpreted, I don't see her Quirk attacking Shig/AfO as a Hero choosing not to save. Star’s not there--that’s not her. AfO even wants to ditch it by giving it to one of her men, who she wouldn’t attack if she were a conscious presence, with the ability to make choices independent of the Order given to the Quirk. So, it’s less Star finally seeing the true, hurting Shigaraki and ignoring him, and more like a virus that is a brainless entity that works on instinct alone.