#like you really want that for a canon ending for a SHONEN ABOUT HEROES?!

[epickiya722]

Sometimes I have to question why people want romance to be the endgame for a character especially if the genre is far from being a romance.

What? Platonic relationships aren't as important? Mending broken relationships? Family?

Not everything needs to be a "babies ever after" ending. 🙄

Jeez, if I'm watching an action, I'm expecting action. Romance is the last thing in my mind. I wanna see the big bad get defeated. I could care less about "Are they gonna date or not?" I tuned in for fight scenes, not a dating game.

Like I have my ships, too, but them being canon is the last thing I want when the characters are losing their lives, limbs and happiness while trying to when a battle against a big bad with issues.

If I wanted romance for a canon ending... I'D WATCH A ROMANCE.

[siflshonen]

I’d love to interpret bkdk as romantic but I will be honest, it is difficult to do when a het ship is being hinted at more explicitly. I’m still glad Horikoshi did not include a full-on confession though. We can do what we want in fics without having to rework canon.

Love your posts, thank you for your wonderful insights into bkdk. Your meta is always well-done.

I know this ask was originally meant for someone else, and you’re absolutely right that bakuhatsufallinlove does fantastic meta. You’re very wise to see how great of a job they do and it’s kind of you to say so. It’s also very kind of you to read my posts.

I’m about to not be quite so kind.

I hate Izuocha. And I’m annoyed by the insinuation that Ochako breaking down in tears over Himiko to Izuku - her big moment of bearing her emotions out in the open to him - is seen as an endgame romance, especially since the only other detail we have to go off of is Ochako smiling at Izuku in their hero suits when Todoroki is kinda doing the same thing, AND when I should DAMN WELL hope Ochako and Izuku are still friends and looking out for each other, especially since they bonded over the traumatic deaths of those they failed to save.

I’m insulted that Ochako’s confessions to Himiko are disregarded like that, or the tumultuous chaos she grapples with in her heart is brushed aside. I’m insulted by the insinuation that Ochako’s known love of seeing happy, smiling people is not acknowledged and instead her expressing joy over seeing that on Izuku’s face is painted over as being implied, for-sure romantic endgame. Maybe it is, sure. Anything is possible. I’m sure Himiko wants the best for Ochako and for her to be happy, and would probably think it was romantic that her feelings also reached Izuku by way of Ochako as being someone they mutually loved.

But Himiko is dead and it ripped Ochako apart, and her reaction to that is the last in-depth look we get at her feelings. Izuku recognizing that Ochako is a hero in her own right (not a heroine, aka a damsel for the hero to save and then end up with romantically per Japanese storytelling roles, not just “a female hero” like we think of it in English) is gratifying and wonderful. And I’m insulted by the insinuation that just because Izuku acknowledges that Ochako is and has been his hero and always saved him that this must mean that they are implied to be the romantic endgame. God forbid they mutually admire each other and respect each other and the story just ends there, and god forbid Izuku calling her his hero sends a totally different message.

Now, as for Katsuki. You cannot tell me that he doesn’t have some kind of deep feelings for Izuku. @bakuhatsufallinlove has posted extensively about unspoken feelings with a likewise unspoken understanding are common for Japanese romances, but I’ll admit I’m not here to talk about that.

Do you really want to tell me that Horikoshi-sensei allowing Katsuki and Izuku to keep their arms and have an implied handhold at the end doesn’t mean as much as whatever the fuck Ochako is doing in the final panel?

In Naruto, which BNHA takes many cues from, Sasuke and Naruto had their arms ripped off because the editor didn’t approve of the two of them holding hands in panel. Apparently, that’s too romantic and inappropriate for the male leads of a shonen. Given that, how interesting that the doctor recommended that Katsuki’s hand-holding arm be amputated. How interesting that Katsuki refuses. How interesting that Katsuki refuses while thinking not just of All Might, probably not really of All Might, but Izuku. How interesting that Izuku also keeps both arms, and we as readers are very certain they held hands even if it is not shown.

How interesting that Katsuki is not just the heart of Izuku’s mech suit project (and, in some respects, of the class,) but of Izuku’s image of victory, Izuku’s “Pro Hero with a quirk” origin, the heart of what he believes a real hero is like, and the literal actual heart of what he wanted to defend from ShigAFO multiple times over. How interesting that Katsuki’s story is in part him learning how to not be a burden to Izuku or used against him like, say, a heroine-damsel-in-distress might be used, AND it is also in part him learning to come to terms with his feelings for Izuku. In fact, we spend basically the whole manga dwelling on this with him. It’s that important that he reconciled Izuku with his heart and desires.

Izuku, who is so tearfully happy that Katsuki wants to be with him for the rest of their lives in whatever form that takes, even when they weren’t sure he was going to have a quirk and be able to be Katsuki’s superhero rival. Izuku, who is so happy to be with Kacchan and the class as a hero again, in part BECAUSE it is with Kacchan………….and everyone else on the next page.

Nothing is for sure. Nobody kissed or got married or whatever, sure. But you really want to tell me Izuocha is more heavily implied based on the ending?

Thanks for the ask. I’m sorry you feel that way. Get off my lawn.

[lunerabo]

Been thinking about making this post for a while and only recently figured out a good way to articulate it but I unironically think Gege’s kind of a genius for using what is most definitely censorship of a gay relationship to his advantage in writing whatever was between Gojo and Geto.

I think what a lot of people get wrong in saying things like how this was a perfect setup for a romance and it’s bullshit that he wrote all that just to label them as best buds is the fact that they’re forgetting that in general homosexuality is nowhere near as accepted over there as it is in the west. BL and GL absolutely exist but read any of them and it becomes very clear to you that the general attitude towards it is that it’s seen as a taboo fetish and not a preference. If you have that in mind, it suddenly makes a lot more sense why they’d want to censor it especially in shonen manga (even though you still get boys falling face first into racks large enough to have their own gravitational fields—something Gege’s also notoriously avoidant of, thank goodness). Not saying it’s right or that it’s not problematic, but when you take into account the differences in attitudes across the board, it’s easier to understand.

Gege’s aware of this. If he wasn’t, and was less careful about putting queer characters in the story, jjk would have never seen the light of day. We know he’s not shy about doing that, as proven by the existence of Megumi and Mai, who are both canonically bi/pan, Kirara, a trans woman, Mahito, who is genderless, and Kenjaku and Uraume, who are loosely implied to be nonbinary or genderfluid. The reason he can get away with this is because none of them are the larger-than-life hero holding the gaze of every fucking pair of eyes on the planet even in death. He’s already toeing the line with the aforementioned characters, for the same reason that other progressive authors only ever seem to make background and side characters queer but never the super important ones. Gojo as a character has a lot of fans and is arguably the thing that attracts readers in the first place, so it goes without saying that a less accepting audience would get turned off by the confirmed queerness of their favorite character. It also goes without saying that this would be very likely to cost Gege his job, so confirming anything is too big of a risk to take. All he can realistically do is tiptoe around it and lay out the signs and hope we read them right.

Gojo and Geto were not in a relationship and couldn’t ever have been simply because Gege wasn’t allowed to write that. So what do you do when something in real life is influencing the story like that? Ultimately, you have to find a way to use a roadblock like that to make it fit in seamlessly, and I think he did a really good job of it. Because the fact is actually that it wasn’t a perfect setup for a romance; the feelings were there but the lives they led were not ones that a relationship develops in, especially not after both of them fell off opposite deep ends in the different ways that they did. What it was a perfect setup for was tragedy. He can’t confirm a relationship but clearly he’s allowed to make them pine for each other, so being barred from bringing them together helped to create a tragic so-close-yet-so-far type of situation that fit everything really well, and made it that much more painful to see them ripped apart.

Idk. I’m tired.

[kaban-bang]

I only know a little about MHA from reading the first few chapters before dropping it + what I see on my dashboard. I know that there's the 'toxic yuribait' ship and stuff, and apparently they got killed off? The point of this ask is please tell me about how MHA fumbled the ending, I really want to know because I'm nosy and love drama but I don't want to actually read it again. Thank you if you can explain it <3

I'm just being a hater, I dropped MHA around S2, so take my words with a grain of salt. But yeah I remember a lot of people hyping up Ochako x Toga going "canon' when clearly it wasn't the case (This is a Shonen, Ochako was cursed to become the protagonist's wife), then the next chapter drops and the author kills off Toga. Bury your gays!

iirc around the same time Bakugo died for the third time or something, but he was back alive by the finale. That didn't happen to Toga.

The penultimate chapter drops and some people were commenting on how little pages got dedicated to the resolution of Ochako and Deku's relationship. At this point Deku has lost all his powers I think?

Then the final chapter drops and apparently it ends in a wet flop. There's a timeskip and during those 8 years none of the characters (Except Bakugo?) ever spoke to Deku bc they were all busy being superheroes while he couldn't. Then they reunite and pitch in to give him an iron man suit so he can be a hero.

Also none of the relationships hinted/breadcrumbed got confirmed which is kinda funny bc before it dropped people were like "it's over for BakuDeku shippers" also Toga died for nothing lmao.

Anyway:

[tangytiramisu]

You Are The Stardust Crusaders’ Favorite Anime Character

Warnings: None!

Jotaro Kujo

He’s apparently canonically a fan of Shonen Jump, so he’s quite a nerd even if he doesn’t look like it.

He’d most likely know you if you were from a Shonen Jump series or a popular series from another publisher. If you aren’t from Shonen Jump, it would take him a while to consider reading your series or watching your show until he finally decides to give them a shot and ends up really liking them.

Being reserved, he doesn’t openly gush about you, but he recommends the series to close people like Kakyoin (if the latter doesn’t know about it already).

While he isn’t really the type who collects large merchandise, such as posters or t-shirts, he will silently support you by buying a couple of small things like buttons or bookmarks.

While he browses anime stores, Star Platinum immediately rushes over to the stall for your series, much to Joot’s embarrassment.

He will stay up all night reading a chapter or watching an episode when the plot gets juicy. Who needs sleep anyway?

He will shed tears if anything really bad happens to you but only in the confines of his room where nobody can witness it.

Even if he has never told Holly she knows of his love for you and your series and will buy him merch of you on his birthday 🥹❤️

Regardless of how interesting the story may be to him, the main reason he invests in it is you. He just wants his husbando/waifu fictional bestie to succeed.

Noriaki Kakyoin

He’s a big nerd, so he’d have read and watched your series regardless of its popularity.

Before he met the rest of the SDC he didn’t have people to gush to aside from Hierophant and his family, but after having met his friends he would occasionally bring your series up in conversation, especially to Jotaro.

While he doesn’t openly rave about it, his eyes light up and he’s more animated that usual which makes the others interested in your show too and it’s just so cute— 🥹❤️

He most likely brought one of the mangas with him on the trip too and showed the others some cool panels.

He also recommends that they check the series out for themselves and tells them that they would love it.

I could totally see him having a blog where he talks about his interests and comes up with detailed theories. There are endless posts about the symbolism behind your series, which have garnered him a pretty large following. He has a picture of you as his icon.

Would write fanfics of you and they’re really well written too. He gets your character just right. 😤👌🏻

He’s got lots of merch, including posters, shirts, keychains, and even cosplay of you (yes, even if you’re a girl, and yes, he rocks the fit).

He puts his art skills to good use by making gorgeous fanart of you and sells some at conventions.

He sometimes thinks about what you’d be like in real life, how you’d look, and what it would be like to meet you.

Like Jotaro, he will stay up all night watching your show. You can’t tell me he hasn’t finished a whole season in just one night.

He has memorized all of your most iconic quotes and has integrated them into his daily vocabulary.

If we’re talking modern AU, he 100% makes tiktok edits, icons, and memes of you and follows fellow fans on social media.

Jean Pierre Polnareff

He had most likely never even heard of anime until meeting Jotaro and Kakyoin. The latter introduced him to your series and he was already hooked. Mostly because of you.

While he’s more into the classic super hero genre of fiction, if your series is something different it doesn’t really matter to him because you’re the MC and he loves you.

Unlike the tamer Jotaro and Kakyoin, Polnareff has no filter when gushing over you. He will endlessly rant about how amazing, attractive, and incredibly cool you are. The others roll their eyes albeit fondly.

He’s extremely excited when he finds out that he can buy merch of you. Expect him to start saving up for a lot of stuff.

Imagine seeing a large, muscular man walking down the street with chibi (Name) earrings. We’re living for it.

While he may not be the best artist, he does try to redraw some cool panels of you from the manga.

He updates the others about where he is in the series and what his opinions are of new content.

While watching the show, he loudly cheers you on when you do something cool.

Like Jotaro, he will totally cry if something bad happens to you in the show but he will fearlessly do it in front of the others. They all comfort him in their respective ways because they’re good friends.

He doesn’t care if the story is fictional. He holds grudges against characters who hurt you and absolutely loves your friends.

Like Kakyoin he imagines meeting you in real life, but his daydreams are more romantic in nature.

Since your series is his first ever anime/manga, he’s enthusiastic about trying out other series, though yours will always be his fave ❤️

Muhammad Avdol

He’s a very well read person who has traveled the world, so he would know what anime is.

While he may not be a “fan”, he appreciates the art and can be found occasionally browsing through manga to pass time. However at some point he finds your series and eventually grows attached to you.

He’s a calm person, so you won’t hear him openly gush about you, but anyone who catches him reading or watching your series will see a smile on his face.

He will openly praise the creator of the story for how well they had written you and recommended this series to anyone who may ask.

He will occasionally discuss the story with Kakyoin and they’d theorize about it.

While he isn’t an avid merch collector, he does have a few trinkets here and there consisting of keychains, stamps, buttons, and the like. Most of them are (Name) themed.

He prefers reading to watching the series, but won’t hesitate to pop in a cassette if he doesn’t have the manga with him.

Ok hear me out about this one,,, he will probably read a couple of fanfics about you. Nothing weird, but he likes seeing other peoples interpretations of your character. He leaves really sweet comments too ❤️

Lmao there’s a high chance that he read one of Kakyoin’s fanfics without knowing who wrote it—

Overall a very chill and wholesome fan 💕

Joseph Joestar

He likes reading comics, so he’d most likely stumble upon your series in a comic store during his time in Japan.

He remembers Jotaro mentioning manga in passing, so he’d decide to grab whatever was displayed on one of the stalls at the very front of the store.

What he wasn’t expecting was to get absolutely hooked.

This series is so good??? And the main character is absolutely amazing???

It would be so hard to get his head out of the book. You’d pretty much have to snatch it out of his hands.

He’d totally gush about you to Jotaro, who’d mumble his catchphrase and fiddle with his hat, but he’s secretly somewhat happy that his grandpa likes the series.

He would also gush to the others and pretty much everyone about how awesomely written you are and how your series got him into manga, which is very wholesome 💖

Will get into an argument with anyone who dares insult you because you’re his favorite anime character.

He’s a huge fan of the merch and would by anything under the sun as long as you’re on it. Yes, he even has (Name) themed socks that he wears with pride.

He will haggle for expensive stuff.

He has a little keychain of you dangling from his rear view mirror.

He doesn't mind reading the manga or watching the anime, he loves it.

He has cassettes that consist of your most iconic moments; basically retro versions of "(Series Title): (Name) Moments!" Youtube videos.

[danmei-confessions]

Most SVSSS fandom has invented a Shen Yuan that doesn't exist because deep down they know they can't stand his real personality.

Shen Yuan is that kind of nefarious man you loathe on Twitter for saying a sexist comment, he just thinks he wants to stick his dick in some of the girls (including NYY, a minor) but he can't because they're OWNED by Luo Binghe. Don't be surprised if he's the type to comment that a woman who has had sex before dating you is dirty and not worth it.

As someone has said before, Bingqiu seems more like a punishment to Shen Yuan for being scum of the worst kind, an internet rat child, a keyboard hero. A fucking troll. And they had to fabricate a persona about Shen Yuan in order to have appreciation for him because if they really looked at canon, if they understood the purpose for which he was created (he's most similar to your favorite shonen critic who throws misogynistic comments about female characters and highlights how super cool his GOAT protagonist is) they would hate him.

They can't stand his true self, actually, which is why they had to fabricate the good, kind, gentle, loving Shen Yuan who doesn't exist. Because everything "good" he did, he did thinking about saving his ass and not dying horribly. Luo Binghe's feelings? He doesn't give a fuck about them.

Poor Luo Binghe, who in the end had to settle for a shitty relationship next to a despicable character who is afraid to tell him the truth, because he knows that even Luo Binghe wouldn't love him being what he really is.

.

[tempenensis]

I know you don't usually weigh in on non-canon content, but I've seen a lot of people say 236 was a bad ending, or like gege joked, that things are moving too fast or he's missed a chapter (or 20, I'm personally annoyed that we jumped from Nov to Dec 24, I know gege wants the manga to end for some reason, but those three weeks of training/preparation would have been a great time to let us get re-invested in the student characters since the culling game arc felt like it was missing so much)

Do you have any feeling for what could have been a better way to end things, if indeed things are ended, for Gojou Satoru? Or do you agree that things have been moving too fast?

Sorry for this and please feel free not to answer if this is not the kind of question you want to entertain, I am just curious if you have an opinion you're willing to share since I feel you have a very good grasp of the jjk's plot and themes! I trained as a literature major, so my interest is always in whether character consistency is maintained and what a story is saying and whether that message is carried successfully or not and what that might mean for us as readers. I'm personally still on the fence about this particular twist because I'm trying to withhold judgement of the piece until we actually see it as a whole, but I am starting to feel that the narrative started to unravel a bit after Shibuya, like somehow we didn't see a lot of the characters to their full potential (like Nobara T.T my baby Nobara). Maybe this is just part of gege's notorious fast pace.

Some of this I believe is due to JJK's titular meaning of the issue of curses and what they represent being an "endless battle" but there's only so many times one can show hopelessness and loss I think before it becomes almost redundant. We actually haven't seen that many on-screen sorcerer deaths, but somehow it's been two of the most popular adult characters so far, and only direct mentors, which is a frequent trope of the hero's journey in western literature. I think that even though I really wish it hadn't happened, Nanami's ending made a lot of sense. Power-wise, Gojo's current death also makes sense, and he's not the kind of character who instantly changes his mind or learns something in his heart from a single experience, but I think it feels somewhat frustrating from my point of view because despite the bodhisattva imagery, he had more to learn as a living person, rather than continuing to believe he was like a flower and maybe no one had the right to ask him to understand. I don't know, it's just a bit frustrating for me because I think it feels character consistent (which I think gege tends to be pretty good at) but somehow incomplete too.

Again my apologies for the long ask, you're always the one I wish I could sit down and have a conversation about these things with!

-raindrop anon

Hi, raindrop anon,. Good to see you again.

First of all, I don't really think Gojou's death is particularly bad, but yeah, as you said, there might be something leaves to be desired in the plot - if jjk is a traditional shonen manga, that is. But jjk is different, which is also the reason for its popularity. I feel that jjk storytelling has always been fast-paced, and one thing that Akutami-sensei does really well is to stick to the main points that he wants to tell with his manga. The last time we have a non-serious non-battle chapter was probably chapter 64 lol - but at the same time, this also shows how jjk departs from the traditional shonen jump manga custom where the mangaka tends to drag the story to make the manga runs longer. Gege on the other hand, seems adamant to want to end the story sooner than later (if his last estimation is to be believed, only a few months left for jjk).

I don't actually have a strong feeling of how gege should end thing with Gojou, but it's been a habit of him to get to the.. shocking side of things; we see this with Gojou getting sealed back in Shibuya. Nanami's death. Then we see the Culling game, and Tengen getting killed. And lastly for Gojou to die. The longstanding status quo is going to be changed eventually. And the next one with status quo is already targeted; Sukuna himself.

As I follow this manga, "things moving too fast" has always been the opinion I saw a lot discussed here in my askbox for many, many developments in the manga. And this is more of a personal preference, but I actually like the fast-get-to-the-point-storytelling that Gege uses with jjk, exactly because how it breaks away from traditional jump manga. I feel that this fast pace is just how gege do his storytelling since the beginning lol

tldr is all I can say is jjk has always been different and fast-paced, gege is unpredictable, and I'm in the opinion that Gojou's death does make sense, unfortunately :')

[p-receh]

I'm very curious for 2, 7, and 12 :]

Would love to hear your hcs!

Alright! Which character btw? How about Boboiboy as a starter? 😅

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

The fact that he's ambidextrous is really really amazing as a character. Not only he wields two weapons but also can constantly switching between right and left handed side in the midst of a battle.

And I be honest, the fact that Monsta keep that movie 1 white hairline glitch as canon is what people called a "Serendipity" or happy accident. Another serendipity glitch in animation media for me is the iconic nose touch scene from httyd 1.

Who knew this bug could become his sole identity? It doesn't lesser his image but it does made 10x better as the result of a genetic mark within generations. Thus it creates "the Butterfly Effect" in designing Amato and adult Tok Aba.

In sense, Oboi become a shonen character since child with that look lol

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I don't follow much with what happened to Boboiboy's fandom recently, still making me a headache whenever I visit, but I always appreciate when fandom united to correct blatant hoaxs. It's often surprised me.

Oh and memes lol. Screenshot memes whenever new episode arrived is a never not entertaining cus it was usually flooded in my timeline. 🤣

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Since I only made headcanon for elementals, I think it's not fair that the real main protagonist has not yet get his headcanon. My bad :p

Oboi may or may not able to make a clear communication with Amato after all these years and I have two scenarios:

If Tok Aba still alive, Oboi might be more comfortable and more open to Tok Aba about his daily life rather than Amato. He still talks to him, but struggles to keep up a simple conversation from both ways, and eventually Oboi starts to make excuses to end it by "Helping Atok at his shop".

If no. 1 doesn't happens, Oboi might a bit cold to Amato at first. He try so hard to avoid any conversations with him and just focus on continuing the Kokotiam Shop as an escape route.

One of my questions regarding him, "How does he remember every events during split/fusion/3rd tier?" My deduction to this headcannon is this: firstly after he wakes up all memories will be blur due to his dizziness in the aftermath. He might remember some of it but his brain is not yet fully capable to comprehend all of it quickly. Then, all those event will be shown during his sleep. It sometimes disturbing his sleeping schedule and wakes up abruptly in the middle of night from a lucid dream.

Idk why, but between Audio sensory, Visual sensory and Action sensory Learning technique. Oboi is the person who learn and solve problems by practice it in real time. He may not the guy who absorb a quick information, but when he tried to think about it, he implements his thoughts by action such as moving hands or walks around. (I onced very obsessed with psychology especially with self learning types during my high school days but now I forgot most of them lol)

He has a hidden fanatic side of him all over the news as a hero with the evidence of all his photos from movie 1. He might eventually remove them when he gets older. He doesn't want to admit his embarrassment with his obsession publicly lol. (Of course he treasure it somewhere )

I forgot where's the source of it, but I read a post that Oboi once tried to cut his white stroke hair but it grew back. He never knew why but he eventually let it be afterwards. Maybe he wears that hat not only as a gift from his dad but also to cover his white hair? Idk :-\

That's maybe all headcanons I got so far. I guess I'll admit I might need to dig for more Boboiboy magazines and older post of his social media ones. There's still so many trivias that I missed throughout my life. :(

[rinseveryday]

Hello! I have so many thoughts and theories in my mind, especially I want to ask you the one. What do you think about the Demon King Rin? In the last chapter we saw how all pieces of the puzzle is coming together....

Hello! Thanks for the ask! I also have so many thoughts, please ask away anytime.

Massive spoilers for chapters 139 (138? I don't remember) and above!! Putting my response under the cut because it is long :> Like, I had to sit down for over an hour, long.

Demon King Rin my beloved boy

You know what's funny about life is that I fell in love with him way back in 2013, and he ended up becoming exactly my type of character 10 years later. I kept up with the series, but I discovered my tastes through other media so it was a huge shock to me when Demon King vigilante Rin shows up in canon. I was/am OBSESSED with the anti-hero or jaded hero types, like Daredevil and Deadpool just to name a few (I had a Marvel phase) as well as serieses like Devilman and Chainsaw man on the anime side. A monster with a human heart, bonus points if they live in a world that doesn't accept them. Now why am I talking about other shows? (Bc I wanna, that's why)

Well, Blue Exorcist didn't start as an adult rating, morally gray, anti-hero series did it? It was a fun, cliché Shonen show for teens set in an academic setting with all the typical school festivities and classmate crushes you can expect. Kinda different than Daredevil. But it's slowly been creeping towards darker, more serious topics over the years because Katoh's specialty lies in her ability to twist clichés into her own thing. AoEx's plot runs a lot deeper, and more sinister than your typical devil shonen manga. I still see a lot of theories about AoEx that still think it'll follow a Shonen plot, though, where the end will be a big fight against Somebody and then they'll all go home, become exorcists, and move on.

But really, Katoh's already said that Rin is a character that, if she's not careful, becomes real dark, real fast. I bet she had been wanting to add an anti-hero plot to the story for a while. He's no Naruto. He is the fox.

And so, newsflash! Rin's biggest antagonist isn't a demon. It's himself. Not demon!Rin, but Rin, as a whole. The plot isn't anywhere near being finished. Right now he's not the Blue Exorcist quite yet. He's a guy (level of humanity questionable) wreathed in the flames of a demon god. The day where he must choose between Assiah or Gehenna, is coming closer.

We see in the timeskip chapters a world where the current day has become Rin's tragic anti-hero backstory. Where he made choices that led him away from his human allies. Where he chose to embrace his demonic nature and fight against the corrupt human organizations.

I used to think that someone else was leading Rin, using him as a puppet leader of a resistance with his friends kept away as blackmail. Because how could Rin be so organized as to lead any sort of resistance right? Did his friends die which made him go rogue? What did Paku see? Was it related to Rin's reasons for becoming the Demon King?

However, now with the things Rin brought up in the most chapters, I don't know. I still find it hard to believe Rin would lead anything, but maybe he was just doing his own thing and the demons followed on their own *shrug.* If Rin's friends were still in the picture, he'd go to the ends of the Earth to get them back. So that leaves us with either a) they're dead or b) he chose to leave them.

People wear masks to hide. He doesn't need to hide his identity because his flames give it away so... Maybe he's hiding from shame.

His face went from sad to blank when he realized Paku was around. Rin Okumura? With a blank face? Our Mr. Wears his heart on his sleeve? Dude who cries from manga and slaps his knee when he laughs?

The blank face is a coping mechanism, just like the mask. He's probably disassociating so he doesn't have to deal with the painful memories she brings. Memories of his friends... Memories of being human.

Which brings us to the question, What did Rin remember when he woke up? I have a feeling he never reconciled with his demonic nature in that future, which led him to be at odds with exorcists. (RIP Malchidael Miku, you were too annoying to live). He probably didn't see the same future Mephisto did, but considering he does have all the same powers Satan does, he definitely saw Something.

Rin is right in that he was wrong to cage his so-called "demonic side." Or, if you read the raws too, he called it the "demon me." Everyone has anger and violence and desire and scorn in them as part of their survival instincts. That's not even a purely "demonic" thing. Rin forces the embodiment of those feelings, demon!Rin to yield and stay put. He doesn't understand why demon!Rin lashes out so strongly nor why he wants to take over.

Uhmmm sounds real healthy right? *Checks watch* demon!Rin should be back any chapter now~ It really begs the question, is demon!Rin the evil one for wanting to break out? Or is human!Rin the evil one for forcing demon!Rin to keep seething in jail?

Going back to the topic, it seems that Rin doesn't want to become the Demon King this time but he also isn't sure what to do. He knows he needs to do something about his burning questions and he knows the key to truly taming himself lies in knowledge and understanding. He has only caged himself, and has yet to reach Yuri's level of taming. Demon!Rin will come back. He'll always be there to protect Rin when he needs him the most.

While I sure love me some villain and anti-hero AUs, I do hope my beloved Rin Gone Wrong to stay in those chapters. He deserves a happier True Ending than becoming a Demon King 🤧

Well, there's some of my thoughts on Rin as Demon King and the plot. This got super long and was actually longer before I cut out all the unnecessary rambling.

Tl;dr he scares me

[shysheeperz]

love ur blog!! I check it out before starting an anime/manga 💞

just wondering do u have any recommendations for complete anime/mangas?

thank u either way!!!

Completed??????

Manga:

Fullmetal Alchemist- the gold standard

Silver Spoon- by the same person who did FMA. Agricultural school stuff. Cute.

Agravity Boys- space sci-fi gag comedy, a wild ride to say the least, I miss my stupid boys

Magu-chan: God of Destruction- cute digimon/pokemon-shaped gods get woken up and mingle with a bunch of middle schoolers. Cute fluff mostly, will occasionally pull at your heartstrings (including the ending)

High School Family: Kokosei Kazoku- comedy/ slice of life, about an entire family attending high school. Has a volleyball arc that rivals the likes in haikyuu!!

Haikyuu!!-sports manga, if you want to cry over boys and their love for the game then this is for you, Boys x Volleyball is the tru otp of the show

Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku- dark historical fantasy, so very, very good. Don't get attached.

Dr. STONE- sci fi, technically the main story is complete. We still have been getting the occasional side chapter or three that continue where the main story left off tho. A very solid shonen jump series. includes one of the best shonen jump dads in the history of ever. Will make u emotional over lightbulbs and stuff. hard not to root for the main cast.

Dr. STONE Reboot: Byakuya- a non-canon little one volume spin-off about byakuya and mainly about a funky lil robot that will make you sob uncontrollably I'd personally say to read up to the end of the Treasure Island arc in the main story first before tackling this one (about ch 140ish)

Dr. STONE 4D Science- a continuation of the main story, only a couple chapters, the ending is a really cruel tease imo and if Inagaki/Boichi don't give us more may they be cursed to lose all their left shoes forever

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Sanji- spin-off of sanji side stories by the duo who did food Wars. ONE PIECE related ofc. Tasty looking food. Sanji too cool for school. One volume.

Astra Lost in Space- space sci fi survival, solid story that deserves more appreciation, the ending is just a tad lackluster in actually showing what a lot of readers would have liked to physically see. By no means ruins the story tho.

Blue Flag (Ao no Flag)- high school, romance, slice of life, boys and gals just trying to figure out life and relationships. Solid.

Mashle: Magic and Muscles- gag comedy that leans a little too much into the shonen battle-esque stuff towards the end imo, but a decently enjoyable time. A mash up of Harry Potter and other various manga like mob, opm, etc.

Mitama Security: Spirit Busters- comedy, axed but I enjoyed it. Goofy fun. nothing spectacular but reading it won't hurt anyone.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes- spin-off of mha obviously, average joe Koichi >>> deku FIGHT ME, the goodest of boys, world building u don't get in the main series, Aizawa's backstory, Knuckleduster is the man the myth the legend.

Chihayafuru- screaming crying throwing up, it's niche it's technically a sports manga, romance, female MC, growth™, love triangle but at the end of the day that's not what's important

My Love Mix-Up!- comedy romance, big big mix-up on who loves who and lots of shenanigans ensue.

Noragami- TECHNICALLY not complete until like 2 days from now when the final chapter releases. my emotions! MY EMOTIONS!!!! 😭

Gintama- comedy/gag with dashes of really good drama

I have no idea what your tastes are, anon, so here's a mix that I've personally enjoyed. Some of them were axed, but technically that makes them complete so I included them :P yes I cheated.

Anime:

There's a lot less of them bc I haven't actually watched a lot of completed series.

Run with the Wind- more boys x sports but this time it's about running. Also the boys are in college. Will trick u into wanting to run.

91 days- ol timey story about VENGEANCE. Set during the prohibition.

Tengan Toppa Gurren Lagann- makes you emotional and feel all fuzzy inside, sci fi, mecha

Cowboy Bebop- a classic

Samurai Champloo- also a classic and I actually prefer this one over cowboy bebop tbh, god tier baseball episode

Astra Lost in Space-the anime version, if you'd prefer watching over reading, but I always prefer manga > anime just cause.

FMA 03/FMA BROTHERHOOD- the gold standard. I appreciate both versions. 03 goes the anime original ending root bc obviously the manga wasn't completed yet no biggie.

Mob Psycho 100- MOB!MOB!MOB! and tumblr sexy man reigen arataka

Gintama- animated version alternative lol. The voice actors bring the characters to life.

Obv there are the old school classics like Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Gundam and all that jazz if you haven't already checked out some of those. Oldies but goodies.

[deusvervewrites]

What I meant, is how should I plan the writing, like reading the manga or looking for inspiration in different stories?

Ah.

Generally, yes, I would suggest being familiar with the source material if you intend on changing it. Whether that's the anime or manga or binging the wiki is up to you--I personally have a the wiki and a fan translation of the manga up at all times for reference.

Now, over time and thanks to asks on this blog and my various projects, I've become extremely familiar with various parts of canon, but an encyclopedic knowledge is not required so long as you can quickly find any information you need.

This is important for a few reasons. Chiefly, many readers will be familiar with canon and will notice discrepancies, which can be both a good and bad thing. For example, I greatly enjoy using canon events as a form of Dramatic Irony, like in Haigha when the Hosu Noumu attack never happens.

Being familiar with canon is also important for characterization purposes. If you really know how a character acts in canon it's easier to know how they'll respond to changes, making their personalities feel more fleshed out.

(Note that something feeling fleshed out is not always the same as it actually being fleshed out. Both is better, but the first is all you strictly need, and you rarely want to only have the second.)

More crucially to this ask, it makes the planning easier.

I'm assuming if you're rewriting canon and asking about planning things out, you aren't strictly following the way that things went in canon, and are doing something closer to my fics, where I cascade a single change into many more. This is the reason I'm personally so acquainted with canon. Knowing how each event in canon led to others makes it easier to see how changing any event will change the rest.

For example, the League attacked the Forest Camp to discredit Heroes, to acquire Search, and to recruit Bakugou. Either the League could have gone after Ragdoll at any time (presumably, it's possible they couldn't find her, though that seems unlikely), but waited until the Training Camp so they could also deal a blow to UA's reputation and acquire Bakugou. And they only wanted Bakugou because of how the Sports Festival ended. In other words, if the League doesn't have a way to find the camp, doesn't want Bakugou, doesn't want Search, and/or doesn't care about UA, there is no Forest Camp Attack.

As for inspiration, it can come from anywhere. Canon, fanfic, other works of media, random things you see in your day-to-day life, literally anywhere. I generally recommend that writers read lots of things--not just fanfic, either, but consume all kinds of media--to see more plots, narrative voices, technical writing, pacing, etc.

You can learn so, so much by reading books or watching tv or movies or playing games that don't even seem related to what you're actually planning on writing.

For example, here's HK47 in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 teaching you how to kill superheroes Jedi

I'm not sure looking for inspiration is necessarily the best way to put it. I find that ideas are fickle things, much like cats. They rarely show themselves when you actively seek them out, but come to you on their own terms.

The more stories you read/watch/play, the more familiar you will be with storytelling and common narrative beats, and the easier it will be to see the connections between ideas. This is as true with fanfic as with any canon material.

Here's a practical example. As of writing this, I'm running a series of polls titled Let's Make A Shonen! where I had various selections of tropes, settings, and plot devices necessary to create the barebones of a hypothetical shonen series. At the end of which, I'll write up the plot synopsis of the resulting series. At this moment, Magic is winning the Power System poll by a landslide at more than twice the second-place option, and in the How Does The Protagonist Learn Their Powers poll, the front-runner is the the powers themselves are sentient.

With about 50 hours left in the poll, I've agonized a bit over how I wanted to combine these plot points, before the answer came to me. Magacite from Final Fantasy 6--where Espers are turned into crystal upon death which can be used as a means of summoning that Esper or to teach magic to the party member equipped with that Magacite. By taking this idea and tweaking it, I can fit it neatly into place as the combination of those two polls, and by extreme coincidence I can tie it into several other polls as well, such as the main antagonist being The Government and the first arc being a Fetch Quest. The protagonist needs to get the Legally-Distinct-Magacite before the government does. Easy.

This is something I'd never have thought of if I hadn't known about the plot of Final Fantasy 6, which, while overlapping, isn't a shonen at all.

[allforone-appreciation]

1. IF (I hope) DFO turns out to be canon, how do you think it would be revealed at this point? Izuku wouldn’t recognize his father as a child and I doubt he’ll say the “I am ur father” in a child’s body. It doesn’t have the same impact. What if as All Might is dying he reveals the truth? My idea is that he’ll rewind until he looks like Izuku’s twin and they’ll have a sudden realization or something.

2. It’s inevitable that AFO is gonna lose/die, but I feel like the best way to end his tyranny is by making him quirkless for the rest of his life. ie after the war he lives the rest of his life quirkless. That’s the best punishment for him in my eyes (and cuz I love him I don’t want him to die lol).

3. IF DFO is not canon, where the fuck is Hisashi Midoriya? It’s too suspicious he’s not in the picture. (My own father has worked overseas for the last 5+ years, I promise you he calls me almost everyday + visits 2 times a year). Do you think he’s some big hero? Or other villain? Or maybe he really abandoned Izuku? It seem like he shut his dad out of his memory completely, not even mentioning him once. Hori also said he had big plans for his reveal or smthin. Sorry for the long ask! ��

Oh you're fine I love long asks it just takes me a bit to reply as I have stuff going on during the week in real life. So now I can take the time to share your lovely ask to everyone in all it's glory.

I don't imagine it being a I am your father moment, if anything it feels like something that would be revealed to All Might or figured out. Rather then something explicitly said unless All for One just absolutely loses it and shouts about how stole his family or something.

It is a foregone conclusion that AFO is going to lose/die regardless of everyone's intention. Through him becoming quirkless it would be quite a funny and poetic. Likely if the quirk rewind is stopped while he's young, it could just lock his quirks. We all wish he wouldn't die we can hope but even Horikoshi seems assured he definitely not going to survive. But we can hope. :' )

Honestly, that is the weirdest thing. Like many shonen series sometimes omit a parent from the equation. But Horikoshi when asked about Mr. Midoriya said he would be revealed. It honestly now would be weird for him to introduce a new character in the supposed final arc. So the only other idea I can have of him is just being AFO or maybe if want to be creative, the one we been seeing is a clone. His actual first attempt at retiring but the clone is left unaware of that and is why is using Tomura. Just a funny thought as I remember someone musing about clone AFO being a thing.

[jumpscaregoose]

The Asakura Twins are Neat Basically

just me shoving a bunch of thoughts together with basically no structure so I can have words to look at when I force my english classmates to deal with this later (and also because I'm a dumb nerd who likes being a dumb nerd)

I probably talk in circles a lot here so be forewarned

tldr: Yoh and Hao are fundamentally the same person except for a couple things which makes them excellent foils and characters and it's cool and I love them and

I think Yoh and Hao work so well as protagonist and antagonist because on a fundamental level they are the same person. This isn't even me making stuff up, they're frequently described as each other's "other halves" or as originally being the same soul.

They're both even called the same thing as kids.

In his chapter of Zero (one of my favourite Shaman King spinoff manga. Go read it if you haven't it's only like ten chapters and is brilliant) it's shown that Yoh even acted like Hao when he was younger (between the ages of four and ten based on other flashbacks). This Yoh openly hates everyone, and wants to isolate himself from them.

This panel specifically really reminds me of Hao. Not sure if this is canon but my hc is that Yoh was born with the same soul as Hao (without some stuff like memories or Spirit of Fire) but acts differently because of his interactions with Matamune and the ghost girl from Zero.

When they talk in the Shaman King's commune near the end of the manga, Yoh even expresses that he does still hold the same views of humanity, he just applies them differently.

This is so cool because on the surface level the Asakura twins read as stereotypical shonen characters: the power of friendship paragon hero and the pure evil villain. They oppose each other on principle, but so much about them (views of humanity, genetics, appearances, and even personalities) are or were the same. These characters only really differ in their mindsets and applications of their views. Hao has given up on humanity and just wants them gone, whereas Yoh believes in the good in people and that things can be better.

They don't have the same dynamic you'd expect from the aforementioned shonen tropes either. Every conversation they have is surprisingly civil. The cafe scene, onsen scene, and even Kurobina's intro scene; they just talk. It's cool.

I've talked about how Yoh acts like Hao in his Zero chapter, but Hao also displays traits we associate more with Yoh (these names are losing meaning by the second. By that I mean Hao is ridiculously chill. This is probably in part because he's so much more powerful than everybody else that he doesn't need to be worried, but I think it's also because he's just built like that. He brings a baguette and binoculars to the Shaman Fight and randomly shows up to hang out with his brother a couple times (including the one where he just invited himself to sleep over). He displays the same laid-back vibes as Yoh, he's just more murdery when he's not doing that.

I feel it's appropriate to call them narrative foils, but I think it's a bit deeper than that. The Asakura twins aren't just similar, they are the same in every element except what makes them oppose each other. And it is very interesting to watch these two characters interact with each other.

I mentioned the Shaman King commune scene before, and I think it really shows what I mean (it's also my favourite scene in all of Shaman King, period). At this point, Hao has basically won. He's the Shaman King, everyone's dead (but this is Shaman King so that's far from permanent), and he just wants to talk to his brother before he consumes his soul. It's a great scene because it reveals how identical they are, specifically the apathy they share. They just sit and talk for a couple of minutes before Yoh rejects Hao's offer to stay in the commune (demonstrating their difference in mindset yada yada) and the (cool part) of the scene ends.

And I think it's neat.

They're neat.

That's it.

(for now)

[robotlesbianjavert]

every part of your theory about toga and uraraka came true! but what do you think of how canon got toga off the murder train?

horikoshi is genuinely so funny.

for real though i do have to mull this over a bit. there's a lot that i genuinely love about this confrontation, particularly on a character level. getting more info on toga's backstory, uraraka showing some real shonen grit and determination to talk to toga, the way their separate things about smiles were woven together, the taking -> giving of blood and what that would mean between toga and uraraka, the way uraraka admitted she admired toga's freakiest smile revealing she's a bit of a freak, THEY GOT A FALLING THROUGH THE SKY HOLDING EACH OTHER SCENE? sublime. it's a lot of what i wanted out of togachaco and the climax of their respective character arcs.

however. there are character levels that would be better served. if the more societal level themes were present. the shot of naomi spn as toga's quirk counselor is exhilarating, but it's not something that uraraka or any of the other heroes will have to reckon with. or the abuse that toga and any other league members went through with their families and the ways they were ostracized by society - it's cute how uraraka opens herself up to toga and promises to accept her, but how do we extrapolate that into the overall conflict of the story and how society created the circumstances that broke toga? and then of course no one fucking admitting what it means for toga's friend to have been murdered by a government agent except for fucking FUCKING hawks going "jin was a decent guy" YEAH HE WAS HAWKS. WISH MORE WAS DONE WITH THIS. but yeah it's really weird how uraraka despite being told straight up that someone toga loved was murdered, uraraka never has a reaction to that or thinks about what that means in the larger context of the world she lives in.

there's some stuff i'm willing to wait until the end of the story to see how it pans out, but i wish a lot had been better integrated into and paced throughout the story, this final arc in particular, but. it is what it is.

specific to the murder train, i am mollified that toga is very certain that the league is going to destroy everything actually, and that she doesn't intend to go to jail or anything for her crimes, so she's not technically off the murder train. she's just willing to crash her murder train cuz the girl she likes said she had the cutest smile in the WHOLE world. like that's fair.

anyways. not entirely related to the murder train but related to the overall togachaco plotline. there are two things that could have really helped with, if not entirely eliminated, my complaints and really have made uraraka's arc more powerful, which in turn would only have good things in store for toga's.

the way that ALL the students and the aftermath of the war got shoved aside for deku's meaningless angst trip. i want to see uraraka wrestling more with herself about her encounter with toga and what it meant, really taking a look at the world around her and how it came to be, getting into real conflict about the viability of reaching out to and saving the villains despite everything, etc etc. also i want to see more from toga for that period of time between her fight with uraraka and turning up at AFO's vacation island. i would like to see her talk to spinner again.

if uraraka had been involved in the stain confrontation with iida and todoroki (deku is optional). one of the things about uraraka is that it felt like the purpose of her arc was constantly shifting or being rebooted - she became a hero to financially support her parents, actually no she became a hero because she wants to make people smile and cuz she's such a good kid, she's interested in who saves other heroes but this is mostly directed at deku and also the ochaco/deku dynamic is really boring, etc. uraraka being in the fight against stain would fix basically everything. plus it gives an earlier in for togachaco, the girl who helped defeat stain vs the girl who had a crush on stain, it could work so good yall.

[kravisaweeb]

okay ive just been thinking about bkdk wayy too much recently (when am i not, though, honestly?) and i just Have to dump my thoughts somewhere. these are my own personal opinions and if you don't agree 100% (or at all) that's perfectly fine!

it's kinda Long and Rambly so beware lmao

so ive been reading more bkdk meta (of course) and like, i have so many conflicting feelings cause. y'all, no amount of evidence and logic and reasoning and thematic and narrative parallels and development and arc conclusions and build-up and Everything will make a weekly shonen jump main title gay. that's My opinion as a terribly bitter cynic, and it is in no way meant to rain on other people's parades (if you think they will be canon, you are more optimistic than i and are making the world a sweeter place). I've just been burnt too many times, i don't really expect anything from mainstream media At All—only indie content gets my unfiltered hype and hopes—and whenever things do shake up differently from what i thought, it's a nice surprise! cause the alternative is, This Mountain of Evidence and Development... and then oops get hit with the straightification beam on the last second.

"but it would be so unsatisfying! and completely out of nowhere! and just plain out of character! and ignore so much development! and it wouldn't make any sense at all with what has been established in the story!" Yeah. i know! im as angry and annoyed and disappointed about it as anyone. and yet, so many fucking times, that's how it goes. it would be terrible, and weird, and completely against everything that's been set up, and yet it would happen anyway. this is true even for things that are not shipping-related—ask game of thrones how it ended. cause executives are Executives everywhere, including the "west", which is """"supposedly"""" more liberal (lol, lmao). people with money that make all the decisions force creatives to comply, or fight with tooth and nail and blood and sweat and tears into allowing them to make the story they DO want to make. so it's really hard for me to see it in any other light, when i have seen it happen so many times before.

and yet.

And Yet. i cant help but think, but wonder—what is it all for then, anyway??

i can honestly say, taking off my shipping goggles for a moment, bkdks platonic relationship has ended. it really ended two years ago, culminating when bkg took a bullet for him, and then was cemented when he apologised, you know, to trample down any doubts. there we go, narrative concluded! from rival to best friend. all loose threads tied in terms of their relationship. if that's how it had ended, how it had stagnated, remained in stasis, with this New Dynamic the new canon going into the final battle then show over. yeah. typical shonen bestie stuff. it would have ended and i would have gone "oh they were in LOVE fr" forever, but knowing that people who were like "this is what besties are like! this is what siblings are like!" also had as much of a claim to their interpretation as mine (even if i didn't personally agree w it lmao)

BUT IT DIDN'T STOP THERE and i have to ask why???? WHY is it more central i Don't Get It. i dont understand? i really dont get it cause.... why? bkg is important to deku, yes. other people are also important to deku (all might, his mom, his other friends, civilians, any lost pet he has to kill himself over cause he is a Good Caring Shonen Protag). that has been established for forever. so i don't rly understand the necessity to further highlight that One part of his personality (caring about kacchan) to motivate him into fighting the Big Bad Villain, when 1. he would've fought the villain anyway cause that's what heroes do, and 2. it could have been a generic "you hurt my friends!!" and like lump in more people there, like in the first war arc where several people got hurt (aizawa, gran torino, etc).

but No! you hurt that guy. that guy, that while he was dying, the villain, textually, explicitly says, "i am hurting you because it will make deku angry and sad, since you are his most important person" (that's almost a fucking quote im basically QUOTING here). and it's like, what? lmao wait. what?? why???

what is it building up towards?? i dont get it. it's not going to build up to the apology/their relationship being mended (what we thought would be the climax of the whole thing), cause that already happened. there's no "oh my god if kacchan dies he'll never get to say sorry!" stakes, or "oh my god if deku fails he'll never be able to be friends with kacchan again!" stakes, cause like, that already did happen though. i mean i know obviously in real life, you do things for people just for their sake, not because of what it will mean for your narrative arc. but this is a made up story and thus needs storytelling reasons for shit to happen. so what is the reason for deku needing to be pushed, needing to be backed into a corner, over kacchan dying? why did bakugo have to die (had to get FRIDGED, it's a trope and everything), if not so that his death would fuel dekus rage (which we were told explicitly was the reason why)? why, out of everyone on the battlefield, out of everyone in the CAST, did it have to be bakugo, the one to make deku Lose It?

i mean we know why, but still. what? is it really, textually, canonically That?

i just don't get it. and secretly, deep deep inside, i really hope we get to find out soon

[princess-of-the-corner]

AU Idea

So, I was thinking, and the one MHA/BNHA AU I keep seeing is Izuku staying Quirkless and not getting in to UA which … bothers me? Not the premise necessarily, and not even all of them. Like, deciding to to go the Batman route, or becoming an amazing Support guy, those don’t bother me as much. Its more the surprisingly large number I’ve read where it’s portrayed as “oh, Izuku would try out and not get into the Hero Course, so gives up and becomes an office worker” and like … I admit I’m new to the fandom, but isn’t Izuku one of those Shonen protagonists that has the defining character trait of “never giving up, even when you should”?

and I’m not talking about fics where they play up the prejudice against Quirkless people to explain him not getting in. If that’s the angle you’re going for and you’re telling a good story with it, kudos. But I … kind of get the feeling that UA’s principal wouldn’t really care? About Quirk/less? Like, I sort of get the feeling he’d research Izuku and be like “Oh, this’ll be hilarious”. But most stories in the vein of “Izuku doesn’t get in”, and then we have a story about Izuku running a blog or as an accountant, end up sounding like either they don’t think Izuku could be a hero without a Quirk, or like Izuku didn’t have the drive to be a hero, which … is not the feeling I’m getting from his character?

Like, Izuku trying out and not getting into the Hero Course on the first try Quirkless, sure, fine, that I’ll believe. Especially because the tryouts are kind stacked in the favour of the more combat oriented Quirks, so even if he did have a Quirk, depending on what it was, the test might screw him over. But trying out and giving up immediately? Just because he wouldn’t get into the Hero Course? Like, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the test specifically engineered for the Hero Course kids? Like, Shinsou tries out aiming for the Hero Course and gets screwed because his Quirk isn’t as in your face, but he still gets into the school, right? He’s Gen ed, or something until the Sports Festival, when he has a better chance of displaying his abilities. You’re telling me that Izuku - analyst, insanely clever, reckless and determined - either failed the entrance exam badly enough not to get in at all, or decided that because it wasn’t the Hero Course, he wasn’t even going to try? Like, not even as Support or whatever?

Again, I’m fairly new to the fandom but it feels weird? Like, is It just me?

I think the only fic I saw of the “Izuku Doesn’t Get In” variety that I thought was decent without his character feeling weird was one where Izuku did try out and did get in, but his mom freaked out and basically forbade him from going? Like, not one of those where she becomes an abusive monster, but more supremely overprotective? Like, that was a great plot point, but they kind of didn’t do much with it. We get the feeling that their relationship is strained, and Izuku mentions not talking to his mom much, but like … it doesn’t really get explored? Granted the fic was mostly a Izuku/Shouto fic, where it was less about plot and more about them falling into bed together but it had some neat plot elements and … 

Honestly, I don’t know where I’m going with this. Just trying to get a feel for a new character by playing the “What If” Game and uncertain how “canonically” certain things would play out.

-

Oh yeah no absolutely!

Izuku is a stubborn little shit who will not give up.

Like. Within my Vigilante!AU, the reason he doesn’t go to UA isn’t giving up. He actually passes the Entrance Exam! but while the UA staff would be fine with teaching him, the Commission doesn’t really want a Quirkless Hero. After all, so much of Heroes images are in how Amazing their Quirks are and how they’re so much better than normal people and a Good Quirk = Good Hero. 

They wouldn’t want ‘just some guy’ being shown as on par with them. And if they let Izuku into UA at all, even in Gen Ed, then there’s a chance for him to enter the Sports Festival and be broadcast to the world as ‘on par’. Or even for just after-class sparring sessions where sure it’s not as widespread but people will See Him.

But yeah like. If I did a side-AU where Izuku stayed ‘Quirkless’ but got into the Gen Ed course, he’d 100% enter the Sports Festival! And considering how the event went in Canon, he didn’t actually use his Quirk until the 1v1 battles! So he’d get a lot of attention for making it to the third round without a Quirk!

It’d be a question of how well he’d do in the 1v1 battles though. His first battle is against Shinso who does have a Quirk that’s very hard to beat once he can get it going. Maybe I could have Izuku already befriend Shinso so he knows the limitations of Shinso’s Quirk and can’t be baited into responding. The fight against Shoto would probably go badly for him, but also who knows what Shoto’s mindset would be re: his own fuckery since he likely didn’t traumadump to Izuku before the fight.