#like OFA and AFO are not way more powerful than explosion

[greenhappyseed]

MHA 409 Review — The Extra and the Pebble

Ch 409 is a really interesting continuation of the action in 405-406, prior to the AFO backstory in 407-408. These few panels of Yoichi and AFO in the OFA-AFO mind palace (406 on the right; 409 on the left) tell us a LOT about AFO and how he’s been affected by Katsuki.

I’m not even sure what’s left of AFO. Is he fully baby-fied now? Is he down on the ground like Toya and Himiko? Throughout the chapter, it looked like AFO was gaining a pupil in his right eye, which is the one Katsuki doesn’t have at the moment. Is this just clever art mirroring or hinting at AFO’s next move????

Unlike 407-408, this chapter focuses on Katsuki. I don’t think it tells us something we didn’t already know — Katsuki was born to a couple with a happy, functional marriage who loved and wanted him. He has a strong and versatile quirk. He’s powerful, smart, and strategic. And yet, at the start of the story all those advantages combined made him more of a brat than a hero. But it’s different now. The final page really shows how Katsuki has connected it all. See how the lines of his explosion frame the rest of the page? How the left line points directly to his dialogue about not being alone? And below Katsuki are all the influences that have supported him — All Might, his parents, and Yoichi/OFA (via Izuku).

Katsuki is going all out at the end, breaking his right arm (again) but able to pull off one last huge blast due to the brace All Might gave him (like Izuku using Melissa’s gauntlets in Two Heroes). If his gambit of dropping sweat beads in AFO’s mouth didn’t pay off, he would have delivered the blast sooner, but luckily his ploy worked.

FWIW, Katsuki dropped the beads in AFO’s mouth right when AFO was shouting about Kudou and Katsuki said his name was Kacchan, because Kacchan is a clever kid.

Katsuki is also acknowledging directly that he could not have soloed AFO. Even though he’s awesome, there’s a limit to what he (or ANY one person, including All Might) could do alone. Seeing as Yoichi’s message to Izuku has always been, “You are not alone,” it further emphasizes how Katsuki has grown to adopt the spirit of OFA. The kid who thought needing help was a sign of weakness, and who thought Izuku holding out a hand was mocking him, now understands the importance of accepting that hand. Standing on the shoulders of giants helps one see further. :)

Moreover, Katsuki is now motivated by helping Izuku and getting out of Izuku’s way. Izuku isnt the pebble in Katsuki’s path — Katsuki is the one in the way of Izuku. Back when 362 dropped, I wrote about how Katsuki’s death was very Buddhist in that he had to lose all his physical attachments (including his body and quirk) to achieve a spiritual awakening. It seems like that worked, and now Katsuki is genuinely, truly appreciating all the gifts he has, as well as his role as a piece of something bigger. He’s no longer demanding that others get out of his way, but rather thinking about when HE has to move for someone else. The kid who pathologically couldn’t walk behind someone else is now able to get out of his own way AND clear the path for others.

This fits the pattern we’ve seen numerous times in the final arc with a hero accepting a villain’s taunt in order to defeat them. Of course Katsuki takes a different tactic than, say, Shoto (“A half-baked dummy, that’s me”). Katsuki yells he’s the final boss, he’s not a filler character, etc. But the point is the same. Katsuki is accepting he has one quirk; he’s NOT physically bound to the OFA-AFO quirk; he IS a pebble compared to AFO. His role IS to support Izuku….and it takes absolutely nothing away from him whatsoever. Katsuki has his stupid awesome quirk, his intelligence, his strength, his commitment, and people who care about him. He can play his part to the best of his ability and deliver a big win for the heroes.

[justatalkingface]

Hi there,

I'd love to know your ideas and opinion on Hori going out of his way to make Bakugou the second OFA user as it was shown in the movie. Are you a fan of it?

This post has aged badly because of how long it's been sitting in my inbox, but... well, I was the one who did that, so that's my own fault.

Hahahahahah, yeah, wow, sweet flying fuck no. In a series that has been escalating in how many bad decisions they've made lately, that is one of the worst. More than that, it is telling, in this deeply concerning way, about how little Hori seems to like his own main character.

I've never watched the movie, and I have no desire to, because I'm pretty sure all that'd happen if I did would be me spending the entire movie picking out plot holes than anything, but I have done some basic research on it, and my impression is that it's very... Naruto filler-movie-y, where the protagonists get Random Power up that is basically never spoken of again (note that this is basically official confirmation of Bakugou's promotion), the same general kind of big fight sequence where both of them work together, etc.

It's just... it's just shallow, though, is the thing. At least the filler Naruto movies had the basic decency to make up whatever power up they used and threw away; here Izuku is taking one of the foundational parts of the entire story and just.... giving it away. All of his emotional attachment to it, as a Quirk, as his Quirk, as part of a legacy connecting him to All Might, One For All, and what is singlehandedly keeping him in his current place in society (since at this point he wasn't allowed to be smart anymore), and he just throws it away to Bakugou.

And then, to top it off, it just comes back to him. Some Fucking How(TM). And, because this is, again, one of the foundational parts of the fucking story, that just leaves... so many questions. So many.

Like. If the Quirk could yeet itself from hosts it doesn't like, could AFO ever really take it? Or would it Yeet Thyself from his body, and presumably take a copy of AFO with it in the process (and doesn't that mean, since there was that nod to this happening in canon, that Izuku should have Explosion now? That he literally, by Hori's own logic, has taken that fundamental core of Bakugou's character, and should be in the perfect place to invalidate his entire, badly managed and over all atrocious 'character arc'?).

Really, the more I think on this, the more I realize that that is proof that, not only was Explosion drastically warped to contort to Hori's whims, but so was OFA; OFA, originally, was just supposed to support Izuku, as an assistance to his character, but as time passed, it became clear that that was no longer true, and Izuku only existed to assist OFA. And no, I'm not even talking about the actual person, I'm talking about the set of powers Izuku's entire purpose in the story had been reduced to helping display on demand.

And the fact that, looking at it with that symbolism in mind, that movie's ending was a perfectly horrible encapsulation of what happened in the overall story, of Izuku handing his entire self identity over to Bakugou, for him to take and use however the hell he wanted.

...Fuck, that's depressing. Really, honestly, I wonder why the hell Izuku even exists. Seriously. It's clear that Hori doesn't want him, and he wants all the good Izuku things to go to Bakugou; there's plenty of manga and anime with an asshole of a main character, although a lot of early things would have to be changed to explain how that'd work...

I wonder, but I actually know that answer: beyond needing a more acceptable hero, beyond changing plans, having Bakugou as the focus the way Izuku was would, A, put a spotlight on the traits of him Hori clearly wanted to avoid doing, and B, would put more pressure on Hori to make Bakugou change in way he so clearly wasn't allowed to do, to make the reality of him match up with the narrative version so many people love (You could argue that Izuku, in a similar place, stopped changing after awhile, but at the same time his complete lack of growth is the main reason why the people stopped liking him anymore, because he stopped feeling like a person, and one of the major reasons the second half of the story became so overwhelmingly shit, to the point even people just casually enjoying the story on a surface level read couldn't miss; combining that clusterfuck with Bakugou's shit characterization is probably the only reason Hori didn't just... have Izuku die at some point so Bakugou could flat out replace him, along with shallow nods to their 'rivalry' (like this movie!) to help the story sell).

...I've gotten off topic. So, to sum up: No. No, I hate it, it's terrible, I'm glad I've never had to actually watch it happen.

[pikahlua]

Weird question but, is possession theory still on the table?

It’s horrifyingly alive and well, actually.

I just can’t help but notice that Horikoshi didn’t take the opportunity to revive Katsuki before Izuku left the UA stage. So what is he waiting for? What is it Horikoshi? Is it just gonna be Katsuki waking up at a pivotal moment to save Izuku from Tomura in battle? I just...I wonder. I wonder about that. I really, really wonder about that. Is that what Horikoshi truly is waiting for?

Because there’s someone else who’s trying to get to UA right now, too--someone with a time limit and not much to lose.

Yeah, there are a LOT of alarms going off right now. Some themes are really really really really really converging on a Katsuki vs AFO dynamic.

The question is: what will the nature of this clash be? A physical battle? A vestige-world showdown? Both?? GROUND BETA IS RIGHT THERE. 

Katsuki caused AFO to feel genuine fear. When AFO realized that, it triggered a flashback of his fight with the Second OFA user (a flashback in which, lest we should ever forget, we see AFO crying). The flashback established the main philosophical battle: AFO’s “might makes right” philosophy where he values quirks based on sheer power versus the Second’s philosophy that the power of a quirk lies entirely in who is using it--or the “will behind the quirk.”

I shall wrap this up with an adapted explanation I gave in a discussion with @decaywasizukusquirk​:

I think the story has said the moment where TomurAFO panics while fighting Katsuki is about AFO feeling fear. Then, with the flashback to Second's snarky moment, something is happening where Second's philosophies that AFO rejected are coming into play. In other words, Katsuki's will is far more terrifying to AFO than his Explosion quirk is.

Second challenged AFO by championing the philosophy that a quirk isn't what should be feared, it's the will of the person who uses the quirk that should be feared. Second was most likely a legitimate threat to AFO, and AFO can't stand that. AFO probably hates to even admit that, because AFO thinks everything really is about powerful quirks. Note how he decides not to steal Jeanist's quirk because he says the quirk isn't that great--it's just that Jeanist is very skilled with it. AFO's pretty dismissive of Jeanist's quirk because he isn't patient enough to learn how to use it well. When TomurAFO fights Katsuki, he determines that Katsuki's firepower is the biggest threat about him, so he breaks Katsuki's arm and then Katsuki's equipment. TomurAFO told Lemillion he wouldn't fight him because he's not actually a power threat; Lemillion is ENTIRELY a "how you use it" quirk guy. AFO has no imagination--he just picks out the most OP quirks that require little thought to use. His master plan to end All Might was BIG POWERFUL FIST OF PUNCHING!!!

And on the other end, we have Izuku who spent his whole life analyzing the THEORY to quirks. Izuku's all about the will, not the quirks themselves. He loves all quirks because they can all be used to do special things if you can just think about how.

So the point is, if anyone represents raw willpower in a heads-up fight, how is it not Katsuki, quirk or no? How is it not Mr. "I will twist myself to win the way I want. I won't accept I can't even beat you that way” himself? Katsuki thinks of battles in terms of what others can do strategically with and without quirks: he trusts in the wills of his teammates to "save him when he needs saving" and vice versa; he refuses to underestimate any opponent (or even any civilian); even when he thought Izuku’s quirk would be useless against All Might in their final exam, he still used Izuku as a body double equipped with one of Katsuki’s gauntlets to outwit All Might.

All together, this means AFO thought he had disarmed Katsuki and had no reason to fear him, but then Katsuki surprised him by reading the absolute hell out of him and by using his own Explosion quirk in a new way.

AFO is a manchild. He's literally a powerscaler dudebro.

Tell me I'm wrong. Tell. Me. I'm. Wrong.

[doodlegirl1998]

Here I'm beating the corpse of a horse, but I do find ODD how no one in MHA is even interested in understanding their own quirk bar the basic of basic.

Granted some powers are so simplist that you dont need to waste too much time. Like, Mirko's power doesnt need to be heavily analyzed in the story. She has super strenght and it is ok.

But others? No. I want some explanation, especially and Shig's case. Decay is so powerful (and I do have a thought about afo sabotaging shig in a way. "If he cant know how to use his quirk, better for me" but is a sentiment Hori never dwell well enough bc you know, my abuser academy) but no one has any plan or idea of this quirk.

We have tecnhology to make a clothe to Mirio(not for Toohru of course) why not developed smth it cant be decayed?

Hori:😍my abuser academy

(Then again the bullets are useless and afo is deaging bc........evil plan?)

And now it makes me back to Izu. Our poor mc. He has a powerful quirk and 0 thought about this. Like he was quirkless and now has the power of a god(ignoring the bone crushing thing) and we get 0 introspection. And Izu never analysed his quirk.

I mean, maybe he did as he handles well...but to me it was more of a gamble than anything. No one helped him, Izu doesnt comments about his own quirk ...

And the users doesnt even offer some help...(not bashing them, maybe the second but bc he is BK 3.0)

Hori loves to kill any potential in his story. Its quiete fascinating, its like seeing a captain purposely sinking his own ship for no reason.

Hi @mikeellee 👋,

I think I've mentioned before how odd I find this that not more people are like early story Izuku - eagerly analysing their own and others abilities to explore what they can secretly do.

Even powers that seem simple for example Miriko's rabbit that you mentioned - I've looked this up recently for a fic I'm planning on writing and she doesn't just have super strength* and speed* she has:

Enhanced flexibility*

Enhanced hearing

High pain tolerance*

Animalistically high intuition*

All of these things would be awesome to explore more. Particularly as with her broad array of abilities (the ones I've placed a * by actually are similar to some of the abilities given to Izuku by OFA or high pain tolerance which he had built up through excessive exposure to an explosively abusive BKG growing up) she could have been an excellent mentor to Izuku. She also could have helped Izuku gain confidence by Hori wastes all this potential by turning her into... A stick for his gore porn fetish it seems...

As for the technology to do with quirks and how unequal it seems that could have also been explored narratively. With Shig it's easy to see that as AFO not wanting him to know too much about what he can do and keep him under control.

But why can't Momo and Hagakure have a costume that works with them if Mirio can? It would be interesting if that was sexism, HPSC corruption, the over sexualisation and celebrity nature of heroes but Hori... gave us all this set up then nothing.

To conclude, Izuku over time has been whittled away at - things like his analysis - which I actually enjoyed, vanished. Part of me thinks this is due to Hori's laziness and lack of being bothered to think through every quirk of the people he puts later into the story like Nejire (what happens if she overuses her quirk? Can she die from it?)

But Izuku's lack of analysis into OFA, is that Hori literally can't be bothered so is just shoving out content at this point, seems in universe like he doesn't feel like he deserves to, this doesn't feel like his quirk, it feels like All Mights and Izuku could feel unworthy of analysing it.

[anti-katsuki-lounge]

You know i read about this fanfic, Genius in which BnHA x reader (who is female ironman, female version Tony Stark) as she spit facts towards Bakugo's behaviour, all he could bark was how she is a Quirkless runt who knows how to built shct and later in a chapter (chapter 12 serotonin killers), Bakugo who always yapping like a dog insults a heavily traumatized Y/n (her caretaker died on overusing their Quirk to protect her) infront of everyone while everyone horrified on Bakugo's words on how she is just nothing but a Quirkless runt and useless without her suit and tell her that she doesn't have what it takes to be a hero. Excuse me? What kind of goals you considered heroic? Being a number 1 hero with a mid tier quirk of yours? Landmine is a better Quirk, lol. She applied to hero course so she could turn society a better place with geniune heroes while you, you want to crush others to assert your dominance and while he finishes that statement he fcking laughs, despite the fact that she is young and achieve a greater achievement better than her classmates and contributed to society and the fact she was born poor and doesn't have any Quirk to help her, just using her intelligence to carry in life to succesful to contrast to Bakugo who was born with everything and didn't have to work shct and acting like a little spoiled brat he is when a little bit of compliment was thrown into somebody else's way, he throws a fcking tantrum, Y/n have every right to act proud and cocky (and a little bit of narcissist) because she work hard on that suit with little to no money and who wouldn't be proud at your own creation? What kind of skill or achievements he should be proud of? His Quirk? There's nothing special about that, in the end of the day it's just a tool, to get what he wants and without his Quirk? He's also nothing and also useless.

When i read the comments there, someone commented that they are grateful that Shigaraki turned him into a donut.

Sorry for dumping a Bakugo slander in here, reading that chapter makes my blood boil.

All of this. Katsuki motives suck. He doesn’t deserve to be a hero. He’s a brat who wants to be a hero for his own purposes and that’s to have the legal right to bear people up so he could usurp All Might’s throne. MHA overrates his quirk too. It’s a mid-tier quirk at best that gets hard countered and/or outright dwarfed by so many quirks (harden, steel, half hot half cold, barrier, hellfire, dupli-arms, Dark Shadow, copy, rewind, Overhaul, OFA, AFO, wings, lizard tail splitter, new world order, creation, and earphone jack are just some of the quirks that are either way more useful, powerful, or hard counter explosion).

[pocketramblr]

Ask game: BNHA winged AU in a hero setting, please.

Ah you make me make a second wing au, I see how it is

- Wings emerged with quirks. The first child born with one was considered an angel. Awe and fear of apocalypse in general spread, new religious movements created, old prejudice movements continued with "china is trying to pull a babel tower and genetically modifying themselves to be more powerful," being a cry in the states... Until oops quirks and wings all over! More widespread panic either way a child was born- either a freak and maybe curse or maybe miracle to protect, or normal and possibly not good enough for the rapture??? I cannot emphasize enough that this made the social unrest worse. Probably lasted longer too.

- to AfO's displeasure, he has a delicate pair of white wings. Beautiful, admired by his followers, but too angelic. To his further displeasure, wings and quirks aren't linked- he can take someone's quirk, but their wings and flight remain. He can give someone a quirk, but they won't grow wings with it. This somewhat complicates his rise to power, but he gets there eventually. (Yoichi was born with a larger set of white wings. Gangly and heavy, too awkward to walk with comfortably. He never could fly well, it made his asthma worse. Whether OfA helped or not...)

- With vestigal mutations come vestigal wings. They're there, but they can't be used, and a little too small, molt a little too slowly. Izuku's got green hair and pigeon wings like his mother, but he's quirkless. He can't fly. He doesn't think he ever will, and that impacts his life enough as it is- with such a social fall, the new rebuilt one really wasn't for people who can't fly. But he still wants to be a hero. He still tries, desperately, to save everyone. When he falls from All Might's leg after trying to grab hold, All Might realizes he's quirkless and dives to save him. They end up under a different bridge, not on a roof, while they talk. Sorta talk. It's more All Might insisting on Izuku's name, saying he can try to help, and then rushing off with a promise of sending a ride for him. Izuku ignores this and leaves, Villain Attack pt 2 explosive boogaloo, and suddenly All Might is back, saving them, and rushing him off before collapsing in a terrifying display

- after the skeletal man assures his All Might, signature wingspan that lights gold included, he apologizes for rushing off earlier and says they he intended to talk with a friend about the required wing prosthetic additions that would allow izuku to fly. Izuku figures that the past tense there means he blew it somehow, but has a million questions about that. All Might then reassures him they can still do that if he wants, but he's offering his quirk now. Izuku has two million questions

- Toshi never intended on altering his wings, just not using them while he fought with OfA- didn't really need them. Dave pointed out the risks and four years later, he could sorta fly. If absolutely needed. It was a secret, no one knew why All Might's wings had glowing bits between some of the feathers, but there it was. Toshi realized, watching izuku fall, how worse things were now. It would take a while to start a whole program to offer flight to the quirkless who wanted it, but a single boy would be easier to help quickly. Izuku's training is part strength, part sessions to slowly build and get used to the wing additions so he can kinda fly by high school.

+1 inko and Izuku live in an older apartment because it's more manageable without flight, which means some discomfort for both with their wings hitting narrow doorways. Touya's feathers aren't fire proof and he hasn't flown since he was twelve.

+2 animal based mutations are far more likely to be bird or reptile based than mammal based

[sparklingseb]

My Hero Academia x Scarlett Witch!Reader Headcannons

based off of one of my last posts

- reader could’ve just had quirk manifest normally or could’ve been quirkless & have been experimented on as a kid by AFO or any villain group and gotten their powers kinda like wanda did (if so reader being rescued & adopted by erasermic opportunity)

- wandas power as a quirk (putting aside the mental stuff) would be so good for so many types of hero work & so applicable for rescues, villain fighting, just like the hero exam/licensing exam etc.

- if the reader wanted to work on the mental part of their quirk they could easily train with aizawa the way that shinso does cause if they go to far/ start hurting either themselves or him, he can just erase the quirk

- reader would obviously find out about OFA (hello mind reading) but also maybe be able to help izuku with the vestiges the way that shinso is able to(?)

- reader could literally trap bakugos explosions (think the way that wanda did in nigeria at the beginning of civil war)

- so many possible combination attacks with other 1A students omg

- if reader got captured with bakugo by the LOV, they could make strategies with him telepathically for their escape & could literally just pop into aizawas mind to be like “hey we r at this location pls come save us”

- reader could do their internship with mirko (dw i have reasoning for this besides the fact that i’m just obsessed with her) to work on more physical fighting cause a lot of readers/wandas specialties lie with long distance & mental attacks

- also once the reader gets better at using the mind reading/ putting images in people’s minds part of their quirk (post training with aizawa) that would act as such a good distraction during fights. like imagine if the reader could just incapacitate villains by putting some image in their mind

- reader helping to rescue eri & connecting with eri cause the reader also had a bad childhood (hello 1st bullet point)

- also the energy manipulation part of wandas quirk??? imagine how powerful of a duo the reader and kaminari would be

- also wanda (and thus the reader) is like always finding new things her can do kinda like izuku, so bonding over Not Understanding Your Own Quirk™, but also working with aizawa & the other teachers to help u understand ur quirk better

- literally just the mundane uses of your quirk! like imagine taking notes in class but using your powers to move the pencil rather than actually writing, or moving into the dorms but using ur quirk to move the boxes & then put everything in its correct place

- imagine how powerful of a duo reader & todoroki would be, since he doesn’t have a ton of control over the actual shape of his ice u could help him manipulate it as he makes it so it has more precision, like at USJ if the reader was holding the nomu in place while todoroki iced it? simply a powerful ass duo

- the reader would be so powerful in the sports festival, 100% placing in at least the top 3

- also! if reader was training with aizawa then they’d probably end of training with shinso too and it’d be so interesting to see how their quirks worked together

- also picture this: the scene where wanda is holding back thanks but with the reader holding back either AFO or a nomu? wowowowowowow so powerful

- small detail but imagine if instead of your powers always showing up as red (like wandas), they change color based on how ur feeling, idk i feel like that could make for a sick hero costume

i literally have so many more of these ideas so if u want a part 2 lmk (also if anyone uses any of these ideas in an actual fic PLS tag me)

[izusun]

Goblin anon here absolutely screeching over feral quirkless Midoriya, it's everything I wanted

I would like to also introduce a brand (my brand) of feral to Midoriya: pyromaniac.

Imagine Midoriya getting through the entrance exam by saving people, but also by bringing makeshift Molotov cocktails and wrecking almost as much shop as Bakugou.

Imagine the battle trials where Bakugou tries to blow up the building because "that's the only way to keep this little shit down" and in response Midoriya dodges and then sets the building on fire.

Imagine the USJ incident, which goes about the same, but his first instinct is to set the Noumu on fire. Yes he does so. He also nearly sets the stadium on fire at the sports festival so much that they had to evacuate sections of the stadium.

Midoriya (say it with me now) sets Stain on fire. When Tsukauchi meets with the murder trio after the Hosu incident, he just sighs and is like "Midoriya, really?" And this is when we learn that Midoriya has a history of coming across random villains and setting them on fire. When Inko arrives to pick him up she's just like "You're grounded."

There's theories about what Midoriya's quirk, everything from increased intelligence to extremely shitty luck to the ability to make anything he touches explodes (due to his inane ability to make a bomb/lighter out of the most insane things). When it comes out that he's quirkless, it just makes everyone even more afraid, as Midoriya can make a bomb out of some LSD and a rubber duck quirkless-

Pyromaniac quirkless Midoriya.

- Goblin anon

GOBLIN ANON IT’S BEEN AGES IM SORRY IM JUST RESPONDING NOW (ive been so bad at responding asks my god i struggle but thank u for ur au dumps, i love loVE THEM SO MUCH!!!!)

IM IN LOVE WITH THIS AU

feral quirkless gremlin midoriya going through shit by setting things on fire is just the way to go im duwldjwksk

i read midoriya with molotov cocktails and i have not stopped simping for and thinking about this midoriya

genuinely swooning at this ver of him

midoriya probably has a collection of lighters and basically does those hand tricks to calm him down or to take his mind off of things

bakugou and midoriya being more familiar with each other in their middle school days compared to canon and bakugou gifting midoriya with personalized all might lighter god that’s adorable

ok but they’re talking about their favourite heroes and bakugou goes, “shocking that you don’t like endeavour.”

and midoriya just shrugs, twisting his hand and fingers to orchestrate the fire’s dance from his lighter, his viridian eyes brighter and says, “his fire feels wrong.” and they leave it at that

midoriya being inspired by bakugou’s explosions and attempting to copy those so bad that bakugou thought midoriya’s trying out for support classes

OK BUT FIGHT WITH SLUDGE VILLAIN?

he yanks out makeshift molotov cocktails from his bag, lights them up and throws them at the bastard. the sludge villain screams and retreats slightly because not only was he facing the fires but also the exploded glass shards. it gave enough time for bakugou to explode the villain and escape enough to allow him to breathe. in the end, all might still defeats the sludge but he misses bakugou and midoriya who escaped. no ofa for firey green bean.

bakugou helping midoriya create more explosions.

“but kacchba i want fire, not explosions!”

“same difference you pyro asshole!”

midoriya learns them anyways and enjoys it.

THE EXAM!!

i have two ways:

one: midoriya appealed to the staff that he needed support items and they allowed him and they watched in shock as this little boy explodes the arena worse than the explosion-quirked student. of course he passes and aizawa took him on as his student.

two: midoriya appealed to the staff that he needed his support items but the staff did NOT allow him because they’re considered weapons (as if quirks are not genetic weapons but i DIGRESS) and so when the exam starts, he stays at the very back of the other examinees. this was so that when he arrives at the scene, there are already spare parts for him to scavenge so that he can build makeshift explosions (foregoing whatever shit he learned from katsuki because all that’s on his mind right now are molotov cocktails)

so that’s what happens. he scavenges parts and hides inside one of the buildings so that he can focus more on making explosions and be less worried about being attacked. when he was fully geared, he steps out and begins to retaliate.

he works fast as to not waste his time and the makeshift explosions. because of this, others (ahem-aoyama-ahem) had no opportunity to steal his score.

same thing happens: uraraka gets caught and midoriya explodes the zero pointer. this time, however, the robot is utterly destroyed.

aizawa and majima saw midoriya’s performance, adored it, and began fighting for midoriya.

“majima, he’s here for the hero classes.”

“great. now give him to me.”

nezu pretends that he’s not planning on splitting midoriya’s schedule anyways.

BATTLE TRIAL OH MY GOD rip all might i bet you keeled over so bad, you were one second from turning to small might there and then.

all might: ok so one explodey kid to look out for. that’s not bad.

all might, one minute later: this green kid looks familiar…

all might, ten minutes later: what the fuck.

NO BECAUSE bakugou and midoriya being excited to explode things (well, more like midoriya’s excited and bakugou just wants to fight midoriya) and having a blast when fighting each other.

1a’s probably thinking “oh no” followed by “they’re hot” (literally too because yk the building’s on fire.)

MIDORIYA EXPLODING THE NOUMU??? king shit

midoriya saw this monster running to aizawa and he just points a more eloquent looking flame thrower (thank u mei for working with midoriya with that) at this beast and sets it on fire.

it effectively slowed the noumu and gave the others an opportunity to pull aizawa from the hit zone. it also granted all might more freedom when fighting the noumu because it was slowed enough that all might didn’t have to worry about exceeding his time limit.

the fire damaged some of its nerve processes that the scientist and afo had not accounted for. of course this review is returned to them and many of the noumus become fireproof because of this incident.

OK BUT DURING THE SPORTS FEST

midoriya crushing on todoroki because fire.

he was actually very interested in todoroki prior to sports fest but something about todoroki’s fight against sero sparked something more in midoriya. midoriya saw the anger from his ice, now he wants to see the same intensity from his fire.

his spiel of “that’s your power, todoroki” goes differently. todoroki still pulls him aside and trauma dumps on him but this time he goes, without missing a beat, “that fire is a waste on you.”

todoroki full body pauses because that’s not something he’s ever, well, considered to hear after trauma dumping.

“what?” he croaks, confused at the bubbling feeling. it’s a miasma of anger and hurt, but to a scale so unfamiliar.

midoriya shrugs. “fire is unique, more so as an elemental quirk. you think it doesn’t make half of you—well, i mean you’re right. it doesn’t. you make it. you control it. fire is often uncontrollable and yet here you are, having it as your power. it’s yours to control, so control it. use it.”

todoroki’s ears are ringing.

“you have it as your power.”

“so control it.”

and so he did.

midoriya watched todoki’s fire; watched the way the flames lick up up up and leaves no air bathed in heat. midoriya sees the rawness of anger and determination and thinks, “this is how fire should always look like.”

unconsciously he also thinks how todoroki’s fire is far more beautiful than endeavour’s.

midoriya loses and he’s not as sad about it. losing to something sentient (fire, not todoroki), for him, is a blessing.

todoroki advances along with bakugou.

bakugou who is jealous of todoroki because he saw how midoriya eyed todoroki’s fire and knew todoroki’s a competition in other more ways.

bakugou wins again, this time less angry because todoroki used his fire against him.

STAIN THINKING MIDORIYA’S JUST THIS WEIRD HERO STUDENT WHO HAS NO SPECIFIC QUIRK UNTIL HE FEELS FLAME KISS HIS SKIN AND SCREAMS BECAUSE DAMN IT GREEN EYED KID JUST SET HIM ON FIRE

todoroki full on pausing because he thought he’s the one who set stain on fire unconsciously only to follow the fire’s trail and sees it’s from one of midoriya’s many support items.

“shoot i didn’t mean to burn him that fast!”

“that’s your issue!?”

midoriya gives them a “duh?” look and todoroki feels himself warming up (HAH another fire pun) at midoriya’s ease.

flying noumi still comes and picks him up but midoriya also sets this thing on fire. the difference between a winged noumu and a normal noumu is that the wings are far more flammable and midoriya had quite a bit of fun at setting it on fire and hearing the crackling of flames on rubbery wings.

endeavour casts him a glance that speaks of approval and midoriya doesn’t know if he hates it or not.

tsukauchi arrives and sees not only stain, but the noumu and heaves up a very big sigh. “midoriya, really?”

GOBLIN! PYROMANIAC QUIRKLESS MIDORIYA IZUKU IS A FAVE IM SCREAMING

[stillness-in-green]

Why are fans mad about second war asspulls when we’ve got deku’s extra quirks and lady nagant surviving a face explosion as prime examples in the final act. Heck just looking at the todoroki family: shouto perfecting his ultimate move in 1 month, endeavor’s never before seen eye beams, and now dabi copying a quirk in a handful of seconds. At this point let’s just enjoy the ride.

That is an admirably, even enviably mature view, anon, and I suppose we would all be more content that way.  However, I’m afraid that, at least where this series is concerned, it’s just not how I tick.  But as to why, at least some of it is tonal, I think, and rooted in a conflict between how the series operated up to the tail end of the first war and how it’s operating now.

I could try to go into all that, but actually, some while back, a friend pointed me in the direction of a YouTube video that really broke it down perfectly.  I’d recommend this to pretty much any BNHA fan, but especially those who want some bittersweet validation or those who don’t understand what the big deal is.

I don’t agree with every single detail of this,(1) but my quibbles are extremely minute compared to the number of times I was ready to literally raise a glass to the points he makes.  I particularly like the parts where he talks about how a narrative needs more than bare functionality to make it work—that just because you can construct a solid enough thematic spine on AFO’s refusal to cede the narrative to the next generation, that doesn’t make said theme less of a disappointment compared to the much more interesting theme we could have had with a more interesting and challenging lead villain.

I would add also that, strictly speaking, the complaining isn’t new-new.  There were 100% people complaining about the SIX QUIRKS!!1 reveal—I was just a reader at the time, not active in the fandom, but I certainly didn’t much care for it, and I saw plenty of other commentary around with the same view.  Back then, though, people could and did still tell themselves, “No, it’s cool, see, because think about how much Deku struggled to get a handle on just the base power of OFA!  Now he’ll have to do that six more times!  It gives him more power but also gives him more work to do!  It’s cool!”

And that looked like it might prove true when it was just Black Whip.(2)  Like so much else, though, it went straight down the shitter towards the end of the war when Float and Danger Sense kicking in proved no detriment. It got even worse during the Edgy Deku arc, when Deku proved to have a better handle on what Smoke Screen and Fa Jin could do than their own original bearers despite assurances from the narrative that he was totes struggling, we swear.

Or how about the whole matter of quirk evolution introduced during MVA?  You’d better believe people complained about that, even as other people said, “No, it’s fine; this is just the power-scaling kicking in; shounen manga always does stuff like this.”

BNHA has always had some things you could call asspulls.  I think the reason people are complaining so much now is that, previously, people could tell themselves that asspulls were just newly introduced elements that would be used to further the drama.  There’d be fallout; there’d be time to decompress.  Because there was before!  See again the six quirks stuff, where it really did take Deku a full (if short) arc and then some timeskip afterward to master Black Whip.  But since the end of the war, the pacing has been so fast that we’ve entirely lost that kind of breathing room, and the asspulls have only been getting worse: more frequent, less foreshadowed, and with ever less time before the end to even pretend there might be reasonable space to decompress or deal with fallout.

Thanks for the ask, anon!  I hope you continue to enjoy the ride, because WOW, that Edgeshot nonsense was like getting thrown off a mechanical bull.

---

1:  For example, I can make just as good an argument for Ochaco being involved in the Stain fight as this guy does for Shouto, so I don’t think, “It could only ever have been Shouto and Iida, no one else,” holds.

2:  Though for what it’s worth, even mastering Black Whip mostly got handled off-screen, during all that time with Endeavor that the readers didn’t see because the offscreen villain fights weren’t advancing the plot.  But at least the story had the decency to give us a timeskip and highlight the fact that Deku had been focusing his training on parallel processing the whole time.  

I actually don’t have any real problem with Shouto mastering his Phosphor move in a month for the same reason: we had hints that he was working on it and we know he had time to be training it in.  I don’t expect as much attention for a side character’s training as I do the protagonists.  Anyway, just because he calls it his ultimate move doesn’t mean it’s actually the ultimate, final expression of his experience and training; “ultimate moves” are just what heroes call their flashy named signature tricks.  Endeavor has like sixteen of them.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 316: We've Had One, Yes, But What About Second Explosion

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all “[powers up like whoa because it’s time to end the fight]”, and he saved Overhaul from getting not-shot, and then smashed up Nagant’s arm with the power of his new rechargeable super knees. Nagant was all “yoooo this kid is crazy strong whaaaat, it’s like he’s some kind of protagonist or something.” Deku was all “I AM A PROTAGONIST, ACTUALLY, DO YOU WANT TO JOIN FORCES AND FIGHT BAD GUYS WITH ME?” Nagant was all “ah shit why the hell no -- ” and then AFO was all “SURPRISE” and everyone was all “?!?!?!” and AFO was all “TIME TO EXPLODE NOW” and made Nagant explode because he’s an absolute fucking dick. And then Hawks showed up, because Horikoshi just wanted to stuff as many plot points as humanly possible into a single chapter I guess.

Today on BnHA: Hawks is all “good job giving motivational shounen redemption speeches Deku but I’ll take it from here” and screams very earnestly right in Nagant’s face until she finally wakes up. Nagant is all “oh hey it’s my successor, you seem surprisingly unfucked-up from your own HPSC tenure, how did you manage that?” Hawks is all “fandom is going to love hearing this one, but basically it’s because I’m very upbeat and also I had the world’s best role model Endeavor to look up to,” and I swear this man stirs the pot on purpose, but damn it I still love him so damn much. Overhaul is all “HELLO AGAIN, JUST A REMINDER THAT, THE BOSS!!” and Deku is all “MAYBE TAKE TWO SECONDS TO REFLECT ON HOW YOU TORTURED A LITTLE GIRL,” which, thank you, lol. Nagant is all “btw AFO’s hiding in a house in the woods”, and so Deku and the gang go to the house in the woods. Video recording!AFO is all “hi I’m AFO welcome to Jackass” and blows up the house. Sometimes I wonder if this manga is just a weird dream.

I am once again reading the Bean version because I think it was actually the best out of all three translations last week. and that is surprisingly including Viz’s. “faux” is not nearly as entertaining as “knockoff”, and also I have literally no idea why Caleb thought Deku was saying the Third’s lines lol

oh hey, Endeavor’s here too! not that you’d ever be able to tell from this first panel lmao

glad you received All Might’s call, mysterious unidentified glowing smudge

oh snap he says he’s weaker in the rain. is that why AFO told Nagant to attack then?? except that as we discussed the other day, I believe that AFO fully intended for Nagant to lose the fight, so him giving her info that would give her an advantage doesn’t really fit in with that. maybe he wanted Deku to be separated from Endeavor and the rest for maximum angst, though

btw Deku’s eyes are unsurprisingly back to the new normal here

alas, the angst continues. I say, pretending like I’m not totally eating it up each and every week and writing essay after essay about it lol

anyway so apparently Hawks can’t actually fly lmao. he was just yeeting himself with style

for some reason this is the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever seen omfg. wave to Hawks, kids! say “bye, Hawks!”

j/k of course Deku is catching them. -- except???

wow so he was just running on fumes there at the end. well, good to know there is actually a limit to his shenanigans, particularly regarding this new “knockoff” 100% OFA. it will definitely not alleviate any of the discourse, but it’s good for my own peace of mind because it’s solid confirmation that he still needs his pals in order to win this thing

anyway, but on to the rest of this conversation, which is basically Deku deducing what we all deduced last week -- AFO implanted some sort of trap into Nagant when he gave her Air Walk. though I’d still like to get the actual details from AFO and/or Horikoshi, because this was particularly wild even by quirk standards lol

omgggggg

she still has a face after all!! so it’s confirmed, Horikoshi has no idea what “blowing up” actually means. we might have guessed, based on what happened to Toga in the MVA arc, and also based on everything Katsuki does ever, but shhh

so now Hawks is all “NAGANT PLEASE WAKE UP, IF I SHOUT MY NAME AT YOU WILL THAT DO THE TRICK”

this is actually kind of touching though because even though we all know (or most of us acknowledge at any rate) that Hawks is a pretty caring person, it’s rare to see him actually panic over someone’s welfare like this

oh shit Horikoshi is really doubling down on it

I wonder how much Hawks knew about what really happened between Nagant and the HPSC. regardless, he probably sees her as a kindred spirit of sorts, and I’m more than happy for Deku to pass the redemption torch onto him now that he’s on the scene. like no offense Deku but they actually know each other and stuff lol

DAMMIT NAGANT CAN’T YOU SEE HOW LOUD HE IS YELLING

apparently being freed from his HPSC shackles has finally given Hawks the space to embrace his own inner shounen protagonist. is there anything more shounen than trying to motivationally scream someone awake when they’re lying in your arms inches from death?? 100% guaranteed to work

!!! IS THIS NAGANT’S POV OMG

SO SHE IS ALIVE. THANK GOD. Horikoshi doesn’t want to meet with my emotional distress lawyer today after all

love how she’s all “just gonna stir up the weekly Hawks Discourse pot here by implying that he probably committed a lot of Atrocities just like I did, so now people can get all hopped up about that, even though there’s no evidence he’s ever killed anyone aside from that one horrible ‘damned-if-you-do...’ situation with Twice.” no one asked for your provocative speculation young lady!! trust me Nagant, our rabbles don’t need the rousing lol

but nice save there with the “so how are your eyes so untainted” well you see it’s because even when he was following the HPSC’s orders he always went to great lengths never to go against his own moral compass. which just to be clear was incredibly difficult, and led to a ton of pain and suffering on his part, because the life of a spy is basically just one impossible situation after another. but in spite of that he never stopped trying to do his best to help people. I don’t really know where this tangent came from or is leading to, lol, but anyway p.s.a. I love Hawks a lot and he’s a good kid dammit

oh shit??!?

how is the League always able to swing all these fancy forest mansions. where do they find them. how many do they have

so Deku’s dropping them -- very roughly, not sure if he was reacting to finally getting AFO’s location, or if his energy really is giving out -- and now Nagant’s saying that AFO hired other villains as well. well of course he did. gotta keep chipping away at OFA’s ninth successor little by little

now Nagant is asking Hawks how he’s able to keep making “that” face. I assume she’s again talking about the fact that he somehow didn’t let the HPSC wear down his spirit

oh my god???

thanks for stuffing this chapter to the brim with good nutritional Hawks Feels, Horikoshi. what a good. he just keeps on trudging forward undeterred no matter what bullshit comes his way. what a steadfast little guy. I WILL PROTECT YOU FROM DISCOURSE MY SWEET SUNSHINE

lmaoooo

“SPOTTED THIS DUDE JUST CHILLING OUT THERE ON THE ROOF WITH NO ARMS, SEEMED PRETTY SUS” good job Endeavor

anyway so you don’t really need me to tell you that Overhaul is immediately starting in with the “BUT THE BOSS WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE ME TO THE BOSS YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD TAKE ME TO THE BOSS” stuff again. but I will go ahead and tell you anyway. so yeah. he’s doing that

OMG YOU GUYS LOOK AT DEKU’S “of all the fucking assholes to just randomly drop in on my life once again why did it have to be you” FACE THOUGH, OMG

fun fact, if you go back to chapters 124 through 160, there was an entire story arc where Overhaul imprisoned and tortured a little girl. yeah, I know!! suuuuuuuuper evil. anyways just an interesting little anecdote for you all that’s somewhat relevant to the current situation

OMG, YES. FUCK YES, DEKU

THEN WHAT ABOUT SPARING ONE FOR HER!!! YES!!! EXACTLY!!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, SOMEONE GETS IT

HERE’S THE PANEL OF DEKU SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING I’M SAYING LOL

(ETA: so apparently there’s some discourse about this because some people are interpreting this as Deku saying “you should apologize to Eri”, which would obviously be a terrible idea even if Overhaul actually wanted to do that, because Eri shouldn’t ever have to see him again. however I just want to point out that there is a HUGE difference between saying “it would be nice if you could direct that feeling of regret/being sorry towards Eri as well”, vs saying “you should also apologize to her.” all Deku is doing is rightfully pointing out that Overhaul has hurt way more people than just his boss, and if he really is remorseful, then he should extend those feelings of remorse to Eri and the rest as well. it’s not a directive to take any specific action, and I’m 1000% sure no one at U.A. would let Overhaul within 100 miles of Eri ever again.

tl;dr “try feeling remorse sometime” =/= “do you want me to fly you over to U.A. right now to surprise the little girl you traumatized”, lol.)

[slings an arm around Deku’s shoulders] you’re a good kid. I like you. I don’t know if I tell you that enough, but it’s true

meanwhile here is Overhaul’s “spare... a thought... for Eri...???????” face sigh

the struggle is real y’all

(ETA: and that’s... the last we ever saw of Overhaul, I guess? well all right then. I assume Deku will make good on his promise, so we know he’ll get that little bit of closure before going back to jail or whatever, and I confess I’m more than fine with leaving the rest of it open-ended, especially given his character’s history. I think this was pretty generous all things considered.)

lmao holy shit

All Might what did you do to those tiki torch guys?? did you thrash them. did you give ‘em those hands. did you deliver their own asses to them complete with a sticker reminding them Amazon Prime Day is on June 21. we missed out goddammit

so Endeavor, who wasn’t the one he was asking, is telling him that they captured (well let’s be real, Deku captured, give the credit where it’s due) Nagant and Overhaul. and so I guess they’re going to take Nagant to the ER now

fire is no one’s weakness

-- oh my GOD I scrolled down and audibly gasped

[is politely but firmly approached and asked to remove my arm from Deku’s shoulder by the physical manifestation of all this Dekuangst] “we’re sorry, he’s not allowed to have visitors right now” oh shit, my bad. [goes to stand behind a police barricade]

lmao what. did you run out of room on the previous page

what an exaggerated fade to black lmao

-- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I actually can’t see what he’s reacting to so maybe I’m just seriously jumping the gun here lol, but THE HELL WITH IT. the next panel appears to be a cut to Haibori Forest, so I’m just gonna go ahead and declare that Deku ran off on his own all wounded to go have more Dekuangst, just like I manifested. now go call Katsuki goddammit

[scrolls three more inches down] oh

yeah so like I said, Deku is walking very slowly a few feet in front of Endeavor, who’s telling him to wait up. yep. we’ve all gotta be so careful to not just jump to conclusions. I know we’re excited but still

anyway, so! welcome back to Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods (ARE YOU GUYS DATING) and Edgeshot! have fun walking into this obvious trap lol

dammit Deku why are you so determined to tempt fate

[monkey puppet meme faces]

OH MY GOD THIS IS PURE GRADE-A CHEESY COMIC BOOK VILLAIN 101 SHIT AND I’M HERE FOR IT

that’s such a weird way of clapping who claps like that

unlike certain other people who shan’t be named, AFO doesn’t feel the need to inexplicably take his shirt off when recording sinister villain monologues. I think we’re all pretty grateful for that

high fives to everyone who called it!! yep yep

anyway so this whole scene has major booby-trap vibes, which I’m enjoying immensely even though I don’t think anything is really going to come of it lol. probably just another long-winded AFO Speech. but wouldn’t it be funny if like the ceiling started lowering down to try and squish Deku afterwards lol

(ETA: well the explosion was still pretty funny too ngl.)

ffff

[“Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies]

anyway so yeah. he’s just hitting up all of his usual villain talking points. we get it, you’re so smart and you see right through the thin veneers of society and people who don’t conform are left to fend for themselves and labeled as villains and history is written by the victors, and blah blah blah dude are you just jumping randomly from one soundbyte to another lol. literally what are you talking about. what does this have to do with you blowing up Nagant

-- holy shit??

[”Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies MORE?????]

LOL WHAT

BRO. WHAT IS WITH YOU. DON’T YOU KNOW HOW TO LAY ANY OTHER KIND OF FUCKING TRAP GOOD LORD

“YOU’RE NEXT” THE CALLBACK?? THE PARALLELS?? THOUGH WHEN ALL MIGHT POINTED HE MADE IT LOOK WAY COOLER. AFO’S POINTING JUST LOOKS LIKE SMOKEY THE BEAR

HAS ANYONE CHECKED IN ON KAMUI WOODS I HEAR HE IS WEAK TO FIRE?? THE ONLY ONE WHO IS, APPARENTLY

r.i.p. to this particular forest mansion. don’t worry they have a ton of backups

remember last week when I said maybe AFO thinks explosions are gauche. well never mind. he fucking loves explosions

anyway so that’s the end of BnHA, everyone. hope you enjoyed. it was a good ride while it lasted. see you all, good luck in your travels

[meeko-mar]

Coming at you with an idea here, about the finale. a big What if.

So it's obvious by now, that Shigaraki, AFO, and Izuku's final battle is going to be far more Cerebral than a physical brawl, since Izuku wants to "SAVE that little boy" he saw in the Vestige plain. (or rather, we will likely get that Physical finale fight, because Shonen manga, but we will ALSO get the literal internal battle)

The most recent episodes which showcase even more of the Vestige world inside AFO are kind of only enforcing this idea.

So Izuku is going to have to find a way to pull Shigaraki into the Vestige World so they can match up in there(and likely Vestige Deku can extend his hand to Vestige Tenko) And last time, it was done when physical contact was made.

Thinking of a scenario where Izuku tells Katsuki this is what he has to do, and it's basically going to be a power struggle and that Katsuki needs to support him from the outside...Kind of like how Aang's friends would protect him while he was in the Avatar State?

And obviously Katsuki is not keen on letting Izuku put himself so close to total annihilation like that without being right there. But he trusts Izuku and his mission.

So Izuku fights with Shigaraki until he has to take the risk of grappling him to make that contact. It comes down to something dramatic, Like this panel, but this time with clasped hands, or Izuku's fists being Held back by Shigaraki:

And so Izuku snaps them both into the Vestige world like this, and the internal struggle begins....

But on the outside, Katsuki has to watch. Granted, Vestige world stuff usually happens within SECONDS of real time. But their Quirks are both still in effect and seeming to battle each other in a force of will; Izuku crackling with green lightning...Shigaraki's Decay struggling to take hold. Maybe Black Whip is also in play, and Izuku is holding on to Shigaraki with the tendrils as well, maybe even bracing himself against the concrete for extra force.

With their wills fighting within, the decay is massively slowed. but still, cracks appear along Izuku's hands, creeping along his wrists. Izuku visibly struggles, but holds Shigaraki back...

Katsuki is watching, furious and horrified each time decay inches further onto Izuku, and these seconds seem to stretch agonizingly...but he knows, Izuku told him that he has to let him do this, he cannot break the two's trancelike state. He promised, no matter what he saw.

But was it really ok?? Was it really under Izuku's control?? Or Was Izuku at the very least, going to lose both of his hands? And at the worst...?

His heart and his brain are FIGHTING to make the right choice. But what's the right choice?? He trusts Izuku, of course, but he does NOT trust this insane situation. He doesn't trust the Quirks of AFO, or even OFA.

A crack forms and bleeds on Izuku's face, even as his face contorts in exertion and pain. The struggle seems to reach it's fever pitch. He screams "TENKO!!", to reach the little boy within Shigaraki's consciousness, both within the Vestige world and in the physical. Shigaraki screams incoherently back.

More decay crackles over Izuku as the struggle intensifies, and Katsuki is truly beginning to panic. Green lightning arcs around him, and the ground is starting to crack and buckle under Decay too. He HAS to intervene...Or Izuku's going to die.

And he realizes once and for all, he'd rather lose the war than lose Izuku.

Before he can act, with a huge internal explosion, Shigaraki and Izuku blow apart, the connection severs. Shigaraki is limp, thrown back across the rubble, and Izuku tumbles away, cracked, bleeding skin on both arms hardly able to catch himself, as he tries to focus on Shigaraki.

Katsuki is able to catch Izuku and demands to know what happened. He seems angry and huffy, but he is FRANTICALLY checking over the decay he'd seen on Izuku.... They looked the same as did Aizawa's wounds during the USJ incident, blood dripping and pooling along his forearms, skin broken, but he's not decaying anymore. The one on his face remained deep (and would eventually be a permanent scar) and still bled down his neck.

Izuku seems delirious, and pants frantically through the pain and the mental exhaust.

"You asshole, I thought you were dead!" Katsuki curses as he traces the cut with his thumb.

"I found him," Izuku huffs, "I found Tenko. It's just as I thought," Izuku says, they both tense as Shigaraki stirs, pushing himself off the rubble and death glares at them.

"He's still in there. I need to get AFO away from him."

"You're NOT doing that again," Katsuki growls, his hands burning as he postures for battle, his fiery glare matching Shigaraki's manic eyes. "You really think you can survive that twice!?"

"Kacchan, I..." Izuku looks at him, with somber eyes. And he says quickly, before Katsuki can stop him... "I have no choice."

And rushes Shigaraki again.

"IZUKU!!" Katsuki screams, fear wrenching at his gut.

[gentrychild]

In terms of power levels, do you think Midoriya BAMF Izuku can already outmatch All Might (at his peak) as well as Bakugou? The latter one is because I have a need for Izuku to curbstomp one Lord Explosion Murder if they ever fight again

In term of power level, I think Izuku could both outmatch All Might at his peak and Bakugou from the day he received OFA.

OFA stockpiles power. By definition, it means that Izuku has to be stronger than All Might. Of course, one could argue that All Might has better stats because he is taller, stronger, has more muscle mass (I am not talking about experience yet) and yet, Izuku is still stronger than him.

I know the Kamino fight and the United States of Smash was nothing short of magnificent and a very humbling moment for every hero and villain watching... but it was a fight between two old men, one who is missing some pretty important organs and didn't have enough time anymore and someone missing a face and is very needed oxygen respirator.

Can you imagine those two in their prime? The damage they could have done... Okay, I'm digressing.

In any case, there is no doubt that Izuku's OFA is stronger than All Might's because that's how it works.

And I'm not even talking about Bakugou. In their first fight, during the Hero lesson, why do you think would have happened if Izuku had hit Bakugou at 100% when he was so close to him?

Izuku's problem was never his power but the fact that he can't use his quirk at full strength without breaking all his bones.

Now, if your question is: can he take All Might at his prime or Bakugou in a fight, that's different.

Incredible power isn't the only way to win a fight. Experience, fighting instinct, and wanting to win this fight is important.

Even if Izuku had managed to master OFA from day 1, All Might would have still folded him like a street taco because he is simply more experienced.

Bakugou's fighting instinct are legendary.

I make no mystery that I think that Izuku could (and should but that's for another time) have won the Kacchan vs Deku 2 fight, simply because Izuku wanted to help Katsuki vent while Katsuki wanted to win.

Right now, in the Hunting AFO arc? I think Izuku has the experience, the skills and the power to take out Bakugou. (Something he will never do, obviously.)

Taking out Current AFO or All Might in his prime? I have doubts about it. He would have to fight very smart.

[queerenteen]

The character development that Bakugo Katsuki got just, hits me sometimes? It’s just so beautifully done that I have to stop whatever I’m doing (like my trig homework) and appreciate it.

I always keep coming back to this one line from chp 285 which just seals the deal for me. 

I mean every single thing in that chapter, or even the entire war arc is amazing but this one line just completely redefines him.

“Even if One for All is a cursed power--” 

The next few panels show how he thinks that the people (All Might and Deku) make the power heroic.

(also bakugo’s expression in that last panel just kills me)

But, is that something that Bakugo at the beginning of the manga would have thought?

The one who believed that victory and strength were the ultimate goals, who was completely willing to sacrifice everything for the perfect win, and got into UA with the highest villain score but zero hero points?

Who believed that a powerful quirk was the indication of the strongest hero?

Logically, OFA is the strongest quirk in their world.

Sure, you can argue and say that AFO which gives the user multiple quirks or Todoroki’s Half Hot-Half Cold which are powerful and balanced, or even Bakugo’s explosions or Momo’s Creation could take that title.

But speaking from a biological perspective (my stem nerd side just jumped up and down with glee), the passing of OFA is what makes it so powerful.

The combining of the original (and incredibly powerful) quirk with those of several other heroes, with increase in variation and deepening of the quirk’s power (the quirk singularity theory) which all cumulated within Deku, makes it an awe-some power.

Even Shigaraki/AFO almost levels an entire city trying to take away OFA.

The combination of super-strength, super-speed and even affecting of air pressure from the original power stock-piling quirk with blackwhip for restrainment and offence, float and even danger sense (four of the seven existing OFA quirks that we have seen so far) is absolutely unstoppable.

But it also tears the user apart.

Bakugo Katsuki, who would do anything for total victory, to be the absolute best that there could be, calls the most powerful quirk a curse because of what it does to Deku.

While pro heroes like Manual are in awe of the power (also why is Rock Lock the only one questioning why a teenager is the one fighting, get it together adults), Bakugo is in absolute panic because Deku is wrecking himself with OFA.

If that complete shift in mentality isn’t peak character development, I don’t know what is.

{also sidenote: how do I think this shift affects the dynamic between Deku and Bakugo? 

Well, the way they are now is so at odds to how they began: they are probably one of the, if not the most important people in each others lives.

This is illustrated heavily by Bakugo’s sacrifice and how Deku becomes absolutely feral when AFO insults that sacrifice; and how they are the ones that the other asks about first--the top priority.

Do I think that this is leaning towards the romantic side of the pairing?

I would like to hope so, because having not one, but two of the main charcaters be top pro heroes and also queer would mean so much to me; because people do tend to assume that one cannot be queer and also a hero (as shown in the media, most hero stories are so heteronormative it’s painful). I mean, you can like people of the same gender and still fight good.

But as someone who’s best friend is probably the most important person in my life, I know that platonic relationships can be as, if not more impactful than romantic ones.

Saying that, do I still think that they’re queer (for each other)?

Yeah. I love my bestie, but I don’t look at her the way Bakugo and Deku look at each other.}

(take note of the dramatic lighting, the briefest of ‘touches’ and the reaction--it’s like some shit out of regency novel)

(The first time I read the last panel I proceeded to gape in shock, almost trip over myself and fall flat on my face getting out of bed so i could grab my phone from my desk and call my best friend and then do the vocal equivalent of a keysmash for five minutes. This picture is picked up from a screenshot i sent to her in an email with the title: the gayest thing i have laid my eyes on.)

[i-cant-sing]

Daniel and YN part 9 🌗🌗

“Sensei, I think we have a lead on Daniel and YN.” “Tell me more, Tomura.” Shigaraki’s spine tingles when his master speaks.

His father figure, his sensei. Desperate to please, he pulled up the file his rat in the police station grabbed. “Last week there was an incident at the cafe in the pink district. There were several vases destroyed from an unknown explosion. The windows were cracked from trembling so hard. Almost all the footage tapes were melted, melted in the camera holder. When examined, the broken materials were giving off radiation. Radiation so bad it left a cop in the hospital.” “Interesting… you said almost all the footage?” “Yes. My rat got me the only tape that survived. When I watched it, I think I saw them.” AFO tilted his head. It was progressing faster than planned, but of course he was prepared for that possibility. Daniel seemed to be more subject to his emotions than his sister. Over the years AFO did not see an improvement on his mental development. It seemed that he would need to intervene sooner than expected if he did not want to lose his child to a hero. “Sensei. There’s also news that All Might and his protege are investigating the incident.” Now that was a complication. All Might and his other child should not be allowed total influence over the two. It was time to enact a different plan. One that involved seeing his past wife. “Thank you Tomura. I want you to keep an eye out for them. They are not to be harmed. I have to make arrangements. When you find them make sure you keep a nullifier on hand. In case Daniel needs to be calmed down.” With that, AFO hung up and opened a portal to the Midoryia household. He hasn’t gone by Midoryia for a long time, but even so he did not expect a warm welcome from his past wife. And when she opened the door to him, the look of worry on her face confirmed his suspicions. “They’re not here. Izuku is out trying to find YN. You can’t lash out at him or All Might. They’re-” “I plan to find them first. Izuku is not capable of handling Daniel’s quirk if they upset him. And you underestimate YN. She is very adept at hiding and defense.” “How would you know?” “Because I keep a watchful eye on all my children.” “All your..?” “Four years before we conceived Izuku, I donated my DNA for a little… experiment. The mother had a minor quirk involving radiation. From that pregnancy cane Daniel. Four years later, months after we conceived Izuku, I had my DNA donated again. YN was born from that.” “They 're just experiments to you?” “At first, yes. I did not plan to get attached. But I did. And I have been attached since. I was there when Daniel first displayed reminances of a quirk. I was there when YN learned to balance herself on a high wire. I found them when they were lost. I arranged for her mother’s job to move her to this district and apartment building. I’m the reason you gained custody of them if you recall the deal we made.” “I…” “My point is I may not have been there for Izuku’s life but I have been there for my other two. And I don’t plan to relinquish my children to All Might or those heroes. Is that understood, All Might?” Inko turned around to see her son and his mentor standing in the doorway. Both were glaring at the villain. Ready to ounce at him if need be. But without him she would lose the children. “Mom get away from him.” “Is that any way to speak to your father Izuku?” “YOU LEFT!” Before the fighting could get any worse Inko stood between them. “My baby, my love.” She turned to All Might and Izuku. “We may not like it but he is their father. And he probably would be useful to returning YN and Daniel safely. We have to sit down and figure this out. For them.” So with great tension, Two rivals sat across a dinner table along with a green haired boy and a troubled mother. All discussing the custody of two individuals that didn’t belong to them. 🌗🌗

Daniel and YN part 10 🌗🌗

Sometimes YN wished she had made more of an effort to make friends. Yes Daniel was her best and closest friend, but it would be nice to have a girl or boy her own age to talk to. Someone that she could talk about stupid crap with. She tried being friends with Izuku when she and her brother officially moved in with the Midoryia’s, but they never saw her or Daniel as their own people. Izuku never really cared that YN was great at math. The best in her class. That she had a tiny interest in math because the answers were always exact and never had to be debated. He didn’t bother to care that YN liked reading romance and horror stories, that she really liked cheesy murder mystery movies with a twist villain hidden in plain sight. Izuku knew those things about her, but he just wrote it down in his notebook and filed it away like she wasn’t a person. They were no better to Daniel either. He was treated like an incompetant child. Like he was stupid and a baby. Sure he was disabled but he wasn’t incapable of everything. If they bothered talking and treating him like a person they’d see how complex he was. They’d see that he was so talented when he painted, that he could find a focus on the small important details. That Daniel, while he couldn’t understand complex emotions, could create beautiful things. Daniel had a delayed mind, but he loved figuring out puzzles. Daniel loved pinwheels and painted windmills, loved when they spun to beautiful colours. But did they care, no they saw only a child that needed to be coddled and kept away from how beautiful the world could be. YN couldn’t help but tear up as she held her knees to her chest. Why? Why couldn’t Izuku have been the friend she needed when her parents died? Why didn’t she try harder to make friends when she was at public school? Why did she act so introverted and angry at everyone? Just as she was about to cry, YN felt two long arms wrap around her. “Why you sad?” “It’s nothing really. I just… I really miss momma and pop. I really wish they were here.” “....Me too.” So the two hugged tightly. For tonight and every night that will come, they’ll have each other. In another place, a skinny blue haired villain placed a severed hand on his face. Determined to please his master, his father figure, Shigaraki set out to find the two troubled teens. They couldn’t be hidden forever. Besides, AFO should be allowed to see his children. He was their father, by blood. Shigaraki wasn’t an idiot though. He knew that the incident caused a commotion for those hungry for power. Ready to use quirk off the Boy. Shigaraki made sure to send some of his underlings out to gather intel and report whether or not other crimelords had their sights and claws on the teens. He had to be careful not to cause a scene and bring the heroes upon them. As the cold night blew his hair slightly, Shigaraki pondered the situation. Sensei had a wife, and three children? But not all share the same mother. He didn’t raise his three children, but he looked after them. But out of all of them Sensei chose to raise Shigaraki. He felt special. Sensei wanted to be near him. Nonetheless, these two were family. His sorta siblings. And he would bring them home. 🌗🌗

Daniel and YN part 11 🌗🌗

Young Izuku had the foundations to be a great hero. He was kind, string in heart, brave, and a little stupid. Toshinori knew that he would make a fine owner of OFA. And when he trained the boy he saw the makings of a new symbol of peace. Inko was a beautiful woman, even if she was too anxious to notice. He felt this urge to love and protect her. And over the months with her and Izuku, they formed a genuine love. Toshinori was a little concerned at first when he met YN and Daniel though. He did not really understand why they were kept so sheltered and why they were so babied. YN seemed like a capable young woman. But like with Izuku and Inko, the more time he spent near them, the more he felt protective, loving, obsessive. “Ah, good morning young YN. How was your night?” “What do you think. You stole my switchblade.” Inko seemed to bristle a bit at YN’s angry tone. “Sweetie.. We just thought that you could get hurt. It’s for the best. You know that w-” “That you only want the best for me. Yea I heard the same argument over and over again. And each time it’s still bull.” Before either could reprimand her, she stomped to her room slamming the door. Mornings usually weren’t so great. Especially when the night before they had to make big decisions regr=arding her safety. On All Might’s days off he would spend time with the Midoryia’s, sometimes it would go smoothly and sometimes the mood couldn’t surpass a funeral. All Might felt that he should’ve noticed the signs that YN was going to run away sooner. Perhaps then he could have intervened and then the whole family could air out why things were the way they were.

The first signs had to be when YN kept interfering with the way Inko felt was right to take care of poor Daniel. “Come on Daniel, It’s time to go to the learning center.” “Oh sweetie, I forgot to tell you that we pulled Daniel out of the center classes.” “What?” When YN’s face turned, All Might could see that a screaming match would begin, well not really a match considering young YN would be doing all the screaming. He was just here to pick up young Midoryia but he couldn’t help but stop in. “Well it’s just that Daniel learns so much better at a home, and the center is full of so many people that would be mean to him. Besides, he doesn’t really need to be at the center when I can take care of him.” “Yes he does! How is he gonna learn to cook and clean and manage any type of money if you refuse to let him learn!?!” “Daniel’s mind can’t handle all the new information. He might start to panic and his quirk might-” “YOU don’t know a GODDAMN thing about him! About what is best for him! You wanna do what’s best for my brother?! Than STOP treating him like he’s completely incompetent!” Before she could yell another word All Might stepped in with his trademark ‘I AM HERE’ . “Now young YN that’s no way to speak to your foster mother. She just believes that someone more personal should be teaching Daniel these things. That's not so bad is it?” “But-” “IS IT?” “Fine.I’ll get my school work done early so that I can teach Daniel in the afternoon.”

With that the argument was resolved. If only that was the last time she lashed out at them. If only he prevented the biggest fight that broke out between Izuku and YN. “Will you stop pestering him about his quirk?! It obviously makes him uncomfortable!” YN had walked into the room seeing Izuku asking Daniel all sorts of questions about his quirk and how he used it. It would’ve been fine had he stopped at the first two questions, but he kept going on and on. Wouldn’t stop asking about the destructive qualities, or about how his mind sometimes couldn’t comprehend his own quirk. Izuku didn’t notice how uncomfortable Daniel was getting. “I was just asking him some questions!” “You were being a jerk!” Before Izuku could yell at her again, the table and the mirrors broke. Both turned to see Daniel staring furious and scared, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Don’t scream at my sister!” He spoke angrily. He was so brave, so ready to defend his baby sister. Daniel could’ve brought the whole room down, had All Might in his ultimate form not stepped and stopped him. All Might should’ve known not to grab him and held him down. He should’ve known that the constriction made Daniel panic. Made him destroy more things to make it stop. The screaming continued, until YN grabbed her brother and calmed him. They barricaded themselves in her room that night. And in the morning, the three tried to act like it didn’t happen. All Might took the kids out for the day. Celebrating Izuku’s placement in the hero program. The signs were there that day. The signs that they were going to run. That they were going to leave. If only All Might had seen the signs. If only Toshinori hadn’t gotten attached to them. 🌗🌗

Daniel and YN part 12 🌗🌗

Toshinori was a good man. He wasn’t perfect but he was a good man. He had a moral code and knew right from wrong. Though selfish desires sometimes took his attention more than the moral desires. He knew it was wrong to smother and coddle Daniel and YN, but he couldn’t help wanting to protect them. Even if they didn’t want it. He felt like Izuku, YN, and Daniel were like his children. He felt just as protective over Izuku as he was over YN and Daniel. But he couldn’t coddle him like the other two. He had a duty to Nana to pass on OFA, Izuku had to live up to that power now. And he was so dedicated to being a hero. Toshinori wanted to do right by all the kids. He felt that it was his duty to find his missing kids, and bring them home. Let YN know that he didn’t feel angry that she left. Let Daniel know that he was sorry. So before he could work with his arch enemy, he decided to learn more about the two. So that when they were found again, he could show them that he was ready to be a real mentor figure, a guardian. When he entered YN’s room, it was not what he expected. He thought the sullen looking problem child would have grunge posters, a dirty room, torn up clothes and what not. Imagine his surprise when he saw colourful mini lantern lights strung over the walls. A math book along with several romance and horror storybooks. Her bedspread was a mix of several pillows and a giant comforter. Something that he’s sure would look inviting after a long day. There was a fluffy rug that cushioned his feet. The curtains were dark and cut out all light. On her bookshelf there was a collection of old murder mystery and comedy movies. When he popped one into the small tv player, he felt a stronger connection than before with her. Laughing at the cheesy twists and overacting. She was more than just a quirkless victim. She felt like a daughter to him. Toshinori never understood why he never went into Daniel’s room before. Of course Inko was there. Holding Daniel’s favorite pillow. This room, like the other, was a window into someone that Toshinori never actually knew. For some reason he thought Daniel would have soft light wall colors and some doodles on the wall. But the walls were an earthy dark blue. His blankets were patterned with prints of old paintings. There were canvases of unfinished pieces of art littered around the desk and bed. Notes and papers of unconnected thoughts all tucked away in a drawer. He spotted a framed photo of what he assumed were Daniel’s parents. Hidden under his pillows. When he saw the ceiling, it was a mix of a starry night sky but had handprints all over. In various colors. Touching his own hand to the print, Toshinori felt a connection to the boy. It was like a click happened. He wasn’t just a boy struggling with his developmental disability. Daniel saw the world in colors and was just frustrated that no one could understand those colors. Daniel wasn’t an emotionally compromised person with a violent quirk, he was a boy who wanted to be happy and understood. That day, Toshinori finally felt the wall that was preventing him from really understanding these two was finally lifted. And had he been listening to his moral side he would’ve known to not pursue them. But his selfish side won that fight. With his new understanding came an ugly obsession. A protective instinct to hold and protect them even more. Whilst quirkless YN might be strong and smart, she was too emotional and easy to provoke. Daniel might not be safe out there either. He loses control when people don’t understand. But Toshinori understood now. He would keep his children safe. Izuku, Daniel, and YN. Even if he had to work with the devil. “I’ll bring you home. Everything will be okay. Because I am here.” 🌗🌗

Amazing work as always moon anon! The story has become quite interesting! Its inspiring me to write for platonic AFO, something that I've not talked about for quite a while. Him and well, Erasermic

[arkus-rhapsode]

MHA Chapter 315 Discussion-An Almost Great Conclusion, But Misses It’s Mark

Hi guys, Rhapsode here and it’s time for another MHA discussion. I haven’t really done one in a while, but after reading 315, I had a lot of thoughts I was working through. And before I start I want to say, I do not think this chapter is overtly bad. I think there’s a lot of good ideas to it, and overall nothing objectively bad. However, as the climax to this Deku vs Lady Nagant fight, I felt it didn’t quite hit its mark (pun not intended).

If you want my brief opinion of this current arc of “solo Deku”, I actually enjoy it quite a bit. I’m happy Horikoshi refocused on Deku after such a long war arc. As well as Deku FINALLY be proactive in his hero duties. No longer on the rails of the school setting. And I have especially enjoyed his current fight with Lady Nagant.

In terms of sheer action, it’s got a tried and true set up of a sniper battle, but then adds to it by taking the fight into the air. The action is hectic in all the right ways with the unpredictable bullets cutting up Deku as he dodges them with Danger Sense. As well as the introduction to a new quirk of OFA.

But where this fight really shines is Nagant and her origin. Lady Nagant was hero assigned to maintain the illusion of order by getting rid of potential threats and heroes up to no good for the Hero Safety Commission. Until being told to kill in the name of improving society and any of her activities being covered up finally weighed on her and she killed the then president of the Commission and placed in Tartarus. While she’s only hunting down Deku because she’s assigned to, she says that even if AFO wants to rule the world, it’d be more transparent than a return to the status quo.

It’s honestly a great reveal as it finally puts out in the open the actual corruption in the system that’s hinted at, but was never really delved into. But now it also finally has Deku confront the problems of the status quo that he’s grown up in. This isn’t an ideological battle like with Stain on the definition of hero or reaching people who have fallen through the cracks of society like Gentle. This is real flaws with the system that people have had faith in from the mouth of someone who has done their dirty work.

It’s something I think a lot of people have wanted to see. And I’m glad Horikoshi finally did dive into it the structural problems of hero society.

So how does this all get resolved in 315? How does all this end? Well after Lady Nagant targets Overhaul and shoots at him to make the situation harder for Deku to focus, Deku without hesitation goes into trying to save Overhaul (despite knowing Overhaul is a villain), Deku homages All Might and then shatters Nagant’s arm, and finally Deku makes an observation that Nagant wasn’t really going to hit Overhaul and that if she seeing the darkness of society, she knows where to expose it as she still has the heart of a hero. Nagant should join Deku.

But then AFO activates an explosive power right as Nagant is coming around. The blast fries her as Hawks arrives and we’re left on the cliffhanger of “is she going to survive.”

Now after reading this, my feelings have been… mixed. Let me get out this out of the way there is nothing with this chapter I disagree with: I have no problem with Deku making an emotional appeal to Nagant, I have no problem with AFO acting like a heel, and I have no problem with Nagant not being fully evil and never intending to kill. I know that last one has upset some people, but given Nagant’s backstory of killing innocent people for others because they told her so is the reason she fell off her path in the first place. So it makes sense she never intended on killing anyone.

And I know some people have nitpicked how it’s the female villain who isn’t fully evil, but that honestly doesn’t matter to me. As narratively, this arc started with the attack by Muscular and Deku couldn’t reach him. So it’d make sense to potentially end this mini arc on an example of Deku reaching and reforming a villain. It also helps that Nagant has actual layers to her motivation that could actually allow her to be swayed away.

Now my real issue with this chapter is honestly a problem that I was afraid Hori would do after he introduced just how messed up the Commissions back dealings, it’s that Deku doesn’t really take any concrete stance on what should be done about this status quo. Instead, Deku focuses more on telling Nagant she is a real hero and he ultimately wins her over after showing how much a real hero he is.

While Nagant uses the term “fake”, “sham”, and “phony” when discussing heroes and hero society, it doesn’t address the bigger issue. Namely that she feels this way because of the corrupt and unheroic things the Commission has done to maintain faith in it. Deku offers no actual answer to the very real and very hard question she poses.

And his only real response is this:

(I’m being generous as there can be something lost in translation here and it’s a bit on the flowery side )

While Deku did acknowledge this world isn’t Black and white and he’s saying she can expose corruption if she works with them, he dodges actually offering a solution to her concerns about the status quo. Instead more time is devoted to the same kind of “I will save anyone” appeal he always does.

And while one could argue Nagant’s only on the side of AFO because his reign would keep the Commission from having the power they did, even if she doesn’t fully believe in him. She still poses why being ruled by AFO has its appeal to her and Deku doesn’t actually counter that. No pointing out the obvious anarchy that could result from this or how AFO uses even the people he claims to love like Shigaraki. Deku doesn’t rebuff anything and once again passes the tough decisions onto other people. With Hawks appearance here at the end and his baggage about killing Twice, I can very easily see cleaning up the commission as becoming his motivation going forward. Once again resolving Deku of actually needing to make hard calls or form stances.

This is compounded by the fact AFO just blows Nagant up. It really doesn’t matter if you rebuff anything that AFO has said or offered to convince Nagant to join you, there’s no way she’d work with him after he attempts to kill her. Which feels like it undercuts this conversation about morally gray society.

Look we all know that AFO is evil. The audience knows and this is absolutely what he would do, but if you’re trying to give all of the illusion that we’re finally confronting issues with society and bringing this up and why we would get people loyal to AFO or people like the liberators or people like stain. And trying to sway someone away, then just having him nuke them for having a change of opinion. then it undercuts any actual ambiguity of a clash built on addressing moral grayness. Which I feel is always been one of the strengths of MHA.

I was not expecting Deku to have a thesis on how he plans to dismantle the shady parts of society. Or go full Eren Yeager and become his own revolutionary. But when confronted by a villain who isn’t like Shigaraki or Toga or Twice, who fell through the cracks in the system and needed a safety net like Deku wants to be, Nagant was a part of the system. The corruption of society runs deep in her motivation and Deku doesn’t really address it beyond acknowledging its flaws. And yet his actions of “true heroism” are enough to sway her. It just feels incomplete. There is a brief line that you can interpret of him wanting to clean up the system, but it feels way too short for a moment like this. Deku being confronted by all the darkness of a system he admires should cause him to make some kind of stance.

And no, I’m not going to speculate on if Lady Nagant is actually dead and this will finally forced Deku to take a firmer stance or what have you. I do want to keep these discussions at least relative to when they are released and in this moment the thing that wins over Nagant is the same “save everyone”/“inspiration by example” Deku usually does. Which doesn’t feel as satisfying a conclusion as it could be.

Not helped by a good chunk of this chapter being taken up by explaining all the bits and bobs of OFA’s power system and finally explaining what exactly his third quirk does. This feels like padding when I wanted the space could’ve been used for character dialogue or a continuation of their conversation about the status quo.

I do want to repeat though that there is nothing outwardly bad with this chapter. There is no real objective failure in the writing. It’s just a case of, “ this could be stronger.” And that’s the frustrating part.

Tl;dr there’s a lot of things that are good about this chapter from a technical and narrative level. The natural progression of characters and the switching of allegiance makes sense.  however it’s just all shy of really living up to a lot of the stuff it sets up about society and going back to the status quo. As Deku doesn’t seem to have any real concrete stance beyond his usual.

And because a lot of the things around it are very good it makes it a lot more noticeable when it doesn’t quite stick the landing. Not helped by what feels like nothing more than padding with the explanation of quirk ability instead of character introspection about this very legit and difficult revelation. There is nothing outwardly bad, it’s one of those cases of something that could be an 8-9/10 ends up more as a 5-6/10.

That’s my opinion at least. But I am extremely interested in seeing where Hori goes with this. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.

[pocketramblr]

Hello, Pocket, my beloved! If you could change something (or more) in the solo arc, from the moment Izuku escaped the hospital to the last chapter you read, what would it be? Pretty please.

Sure beloved! The last chapter I think I've read is the iideku one so

- let Rei have her own pov flashbacks in the hospital please I'm tired of how her being a nonperson I don't want to see her kids all show they don't actually remember when she was isolated I don't want to see Enji talk about how she wanted this, actually, I don't want to see Touya truly got the misogyny passed down to him from his parents and grandparents. I want to see Rei's experience! Not her holding a flower two decades later! Her flashback, her family's reasoning, seriously. If we were going to lose focus on izuku to get another unnecessary Hawks backstory repeat, then we should have gotten a Rei flashback, bc Rei and Tomie are much better parallels than Tomie and Twice or whoever that was about

- ... You know how I feel about Hawks's backstory 2 electric boogaloo

- ya girl.... Did not care for how Chisaki was handled. We just used the permanent bullets! We don't know who ended up with the remaining temporary ones! Or where the cure went! Considering all that it seems like. Like if you were going to break Chisaki out of Tartarus and keep him alive, you should make him do something useful and related to that set up. But instead Nagant just carries him around like a bag of potatoes and I just.... Wouldn't have done I like that.

- Nagant was a whole nother thing I just think needed way more set up bc I kinda ~ * still * ~ don't care about her much. But you know what! That can be fixed! By connecting her to Snipe more, in a way that answers where the hell Snipe was during the war arc because he is only one of two named heroes we didn't see in the war arc. Snipe and Vlad. Where were they??? Reveal Vlad as Traitor, have Snipe do something with the temporary bullets, and have Nagant tie to both of those as a former hero turned villain who's got a snipe connection (perhaps his student?). Also give her pants. Maybe have her reflect on how the HC lied and used her and develope character where she figures out the AfO is Very Obviously going to lie and use her and then have her vanish for a while to do something big later instead, use this as her build up time so I care later instead of just exploding yet another non toga lady villain...

- uh.... Look.... Third's quirk is boring. Fa Jin is just. "OfA but a little bit more". I think I would have liked to see something less physical, or less basic. But it was handled fine in the story so as long as Second doesn't have explosion powers I will accept Fa Jin BUT I want Third's name now yes

- so like did we EVER figure out why Stain was stalking Toshi?? I kinda hope he's just keeping an eye on him so he can protect him from other villains that much try to attack him but personally yeah I think if Izuku had a confrontation with Stain instead of Nagant and Chisaki I would have cared more and thought it good. Like Stain going on about how Izuku failed from what he thought he could be and Izuku is just. This close to snapping at him. Maybe a "No one cares. No one cares what you think of their worth, dude. Take a look around you and either start helping people or get out of my way, because right now you're no better than the people who don't understand what's going on and lash out at a statue of All Might that they choose to erect." And maybe they gets Stain to go on the "protect Toshi" detail?