#mangastream was like what if i just made shit up

[ramjam]

nobody asked but i finally found the source text so i could properly fix this mistranslation. i may have not picked up all the characters correctly, but this is the correct translation. compared to the weird way mangastream has mistranslated it. like what:

[makeste]

What are your favorite hero names?

oh man there are so many. I had to limit myself to a top twenty, and even that was rough. anyway so first off, a few runner ups because I couldn’t go without mentioning these:

Vlad King - to be clear, this isn’t actually one of my top hero names. but I’m mentioning it here because back when I was first reading the series, one of the fan scanlations -- either Fallen Angels or Mangastream, I forget which -- had originally translated his hero name as Brad King. which, to be frank, would have been one of the greatest hero names of ALL TIME. you can’t imagine my disappointment when I finally learned the truth. it still haunts me to this day.

Jack Mantis - this is Kamakiri (a.k.a. the guy from class 1-B who can grow knives out of his body)’s hero name. my question is, why the Jack. the mantis part, I get! that’s fairly obvious! but the “Jack” is forever a mystery to me. it just adds this little layer of intrigue.

Mr. Brave - this guy is one of the few good things to come from the Basement arc. don’t get me wrong, he is completely useless. but his name? absolutely legendary. this guy, with his power of ripping his own hair out and turning it into a sword (yes that’s his quirk), an ability that could be easily duplicated or bested by literally any jackass who just went out and bought their own damn sword, really thought to himself, “I am going to be the BEST MCFUCKING HERO THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN. I AM GOING TO NAME MYSELF... MISTER BRAVE.” and they let him, you guys. they let him.

anyway so now for the top twenty!

20. Can’t Stop Twinkling - this isn’t a name so much as it is poetry in three words. I still cannot believe that Aoyama went up to Midnight with a hero name that sounds more like the world’s greatest Dear Abby letter, and she actually let him keep it. I’m not 100% clear on how this all works, but I like to think this means that Aoyama’s fellow heroes have an actual legal obligation to call him this in battle. I don’t think we as a fandom and as a people really take enough time out of our lives to stop and be grateful for Aoyama’s existence.

19. Uravity - it’s a pun!! it’s so cute and I love it!! and it’s such a perfect name in that it just instantly sums up and defines her whole brand, bringing to mind both Ochako the person and Zero Gravity the quirk. honestly she is one of only a few kids whose hero name I never space out on. with a lot of the others I usually have to pause for a sec and be like “wait, what was their name again?” but never Ochako.

18. Present Mic - this would make a really great band name honestly. I just like it. I’m pretty sure Horikoshi was going for “present” as in the verb meaning “to perform”, like in “presentation”, but to tell the truth I always pronounce it like “present” as in “gift” or “the present time”, which doesn’t make any sense at all, but IT’S JUST WHAT MY BRAIN DECIDED TO DO. anyway.

17. Tsukuyomi - I know this name has its origins in Japanese mythology, but to be completely honest I’ve always just associated it with Itachi’s infamous genjutsu attack from Naruto. I just think it’s the gothest thing ever and absolutely perfect for Tokoyami lol.

16. All Might - there’s just something about this name that kind of makes me just want to pump my fists and go “YEAH!!” I really like the use of “might” as a noun rather than “mighty” as an adjective like you see in so many classic superhero names. it’s just so much cooler somehow. this name really does conjure up the image of the strongest guy in the universe.

15. Midnight - honestly I’m almost mad that this wound up being a hero name, because it would have made a perfect villain name. it’s dark and mysterious and sexy. it’s no wonder why Midnight chose it lol. anyway so my girl is a bit kinky, nothing wrong with that, and it’s also a perfect name for someone whose quirk puts other people to sleep. it’s just such spot-on branding, I love it.

14. Ingenium - fun fact, I had no idea what this meant when I first came across it because I don’t speak Latin! apparently it means “genius” or “talent.” which is a very good meaning for a hero name! but honestly the real reason I love it so much is because it’s Iida’s tribute to his brother, and I am just such a sucker for that kind of shit. damn you Iida siblings. quit giving me all these feels.

13. Shouto – yes, seriously. I know a lot of people hate this name, and it’s always getting flak for being bland and uncreative. but I honestly think it’s a perfect name for Shouto. firstly because Shouto himself is very much the opposite of flashy in a lot of ways. he’s not particularly animated or attention-seeking; he is a very calm, sort of still-waters-run-deep person, and I think the lack of a snappy brand name fits that personality. I’m even more delighted that it hasn’t remotely curbed his popularity at all (at this point I think the only kid hero with more in-universe fans out there is Momo, and even then it’s probably a close thing), and I think a big part of that is that people are drawn to his unpretentious nature, especially in comparison to a lot of the other heroes out there. but most of all, I like the name because of the simple yet powerful way it serves as a declaration that he is his own person. he’s not his father, and he’s more than just a Todoroki. he is himself; he is Shouto. anyway so yeah, to me this is a fantastic name with so much depth and meaning.

12. Battle Fist - this is Kendou’s hero name AND IT’S PERFECT. like, holy shit. what should we call the girl who goes around punching bad guys around all day with her giant hands. how about BATTLE FIST. there really isn’t much more to say about this one, honestly. its greatness speaks for itself.

11. Vantablack - imagine being such an enormous douchebag that word of your douchey exploits made it all the way over to some guy in Japan who spends 95% of his waking hours writing a manga and has almost no free time. fun fact, although Anish Kapoor is the only one licensed to use the color Vantablack, the name Vantablack is still owned by Surrey NanoSystems (a.k.a. the guys who actually invented it), and so I’m pretty sure they’re the ones who decide whether or not someone else gets to use it. I wonder if Kapoor is pissed about his color being referenced in a popular shounen manga. anyways, all of that speculation aside, it really is the perfect name for someone with Kuroiro’s quirk.

10. Endeavor - look, say what you will about Endeavor the person (although I’m personally a big fan of the way his redemption arc is being done and think he’s a fascinating character, albeit a very flawed one), but there’s no denying that Endeavor is a badass name. but what’s really great about it is how it so perfectly captures the admirable part of Endeavor, the one thing about him that’s actually worth praising. he never gives up. he’s always pushing, striving, struggling forward no matter how hopeless it seems. and that’s a worthy trait, and it says something about him that this is what he chose for his hero name. a name that has nothing to do with fire, nothing to do with his quirk, nothing even to do with his goal of becoming #1. it’s simply a name that means to make an effort; to try and achieve something. and I like that.

9. Sugarman - this IMO is easily the most overlooked and severely underrated hero name in the series. it’s a hidden gem. everyone always forgets about Satou just because his power of being a Strong Punching Guy doesn’t particularly stand out in a manga chock full of strong punching guys. but he is a badass and a great character, and honestly “eating candy makes me super strong” is possibly the single greatest quirk in the history of time and I am jealous. anyway, so this is a really straightforward name, but it’s really smooth and catchy somehow and so it’s one of my favorites.

8. Gale Force - this is Inasa’s hero name! it’s another one which is criminally underrated, much like Inasa himself. airbender powers are just so badass you guys. wind is so badass. this name is all hurricaney and tempesty and super cool and powerful-sounding. this is one of those names that I’m honestly surprised wasn’t already a mainstream superhero name. Marvel was all “nah, we’ll just go with ‘Storm’”, like come on you guys where is the creativity.

7. Red Riot - this name is a fucking grand slam. it’s alliterative! it’s catchy! it’s got the word “riot” in it! it’s an absolutely perfect name for a passionate guy whose quirk lends itself towards good old fashioned brawlin’ and head bashing. the fact that it’s got additional meaning as a tribute towards Kiri’s own personal hero is just the icing on the cake. this is another name that Marvel probably legit wishes they had thought of first. it’s easily the best hero name out of everyone in class 1-A imo.

6. Sir Nighteye - hilariously for the longest time it was not confirmed whether or not Nighteye actually had a real name (he does! but I’ve forgotten it lol), and so there was this lingering question, absurd as it was, of whether or not Nighteye’s parents, whoever they are, were descendants of some proud Nighteye clan, and whether they had really, actually named their child “Sir.” anyways though, I love this name. it’s super cool and mysterious and perfect for someone with future-seeing powers, and the “Sir” just makes even awesomer because it implies that the Queen really liked him or something.

5. Mt. Lady - this name is a stroke of genius. supersize-me powers are a dime a dozen, but the characters always have names like Giant Man or Giganta or Goliath. as far as I know, no other superhero characters have ever thought to name themselves after mountains, let alone to name themselves as if they WERE a mountain. like, she isn’t “mountain lady”; she’s “MOUNT Lady”, as if she were an actual tectonic peak. it really bothers me that I can’t adequately describe in words why I love this so much. I just do!! I think she should get an award.

4. Suneater - Tamaki is out here proving to everyone that your hero name doesn’t need to have jack shit fuckall to do with your actual quirk in order to be completely badass and iconic. sometimes I wonder what Tamaki does when people ask him “out of curiosity, why did you pick that name?”, which someone surely must have done at some point. he probably turns beet red and tries to dissolve into the background. but anyway, the general public does not need to know the meaning of his hero name in order for it to have meaning; we know what the meaning is, and that it’s his way of saying “I believe in myself because my friend believes in me”, and honestly that’s all that matters. I am still of the opinion that certain other people whose childhood friends held a lot of unwavering belief in and admiration towards them could do worse than going down this same hero name route, but we will see! anyways Suneater deserves all your respect.

3. Best Jeanist - I had so much love for this name from the start, and then I found out it was a real, actual award. for people who make good jeans, or are good at wearing jeans, or something. it’s run by the Japan Jeans Council, which is also a real and actual thing. but anyway, despite it not being as wholly original of a name as I thought, it’s still iconic, and I love that he went with something that was recognizable while still fitting his quirk, and which has the added implication that he is the motherfucking best, because he is. also, given that he probably chose this name while he was still in school, and that only public figures generally seem to be eligible for the award, this implies that he chose the name Best Jeanist first, and then went on to win the actual award eight years running. presumably because the JJC got very flustered and were all, “IT’S LITERALLY HIS NAME... WE HAVE TO GIVE IT TO HIM... WE HAVE TO”, and so they did. anyway so that was a goddamn power move on his part.

2. Gang Orca - first of all, if you are an orca man, then naming yourself after orcas is a pretty apt thing to do and I have to respect that. but then along comes the “gang” part, out of absolutely NOWHERE, and it absolutely SMASHES. like, this name comes up to you and it slaps you in the face. GANG ORCA. HE’S A BIG AGGRESSIVE DOLPHIN MAN AND HE’S NOT HERE TO FUCK AROUND. IS HE ACTUALLY IN A GANG?? WE DON’T KNOW. BUT HERE HE IS, READY TO YEET YOUR DELINQUENTS AND HUNT YOUR MOTHERFUCKING SEALS. this name fucks so hard it came within inches of the number one spot. he is a ruffian and a champ.

1. Eraserhead - last but not least, the guy who DIDN’T EVEN PICK HIS OWN NAME. his best friend had to do it for him, and out of love, came up with the SINGLE BEST HERO ALIAS IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. first of all, this name sounds like a very funky and electronicy Thom Yorke song. second, it conjures up the image of a man with a big no. 2 pencil head, which could not possibly be further from the truth. it’s just so whiplashy in the best way possible. third, the very existence of this name is seriously a goddamn miracle. he could have been “Power-Stopping Man.” or “Sleeping Bag Man.” or “Scruffy Hero: Tired Man.” or just “Shouta”, but unlike Shouto there wouldn’t have been any actual meaning to it; it would have simply been a case of him not giving the slightest of fucks about coming up with a real name. but rather than any of these, thanks to the power of friendship we were blessed with the greatest hero name in recorded memory. this is one of the few kindnesses fate has ever bestowed upon Aizawa Shouta in his tragic, exhausting life, and I for one am eternally grateful.

anyway so that’s my list! sorry if I left out anyone’s favorites! but I think all of these are deserving of love. also if you want to see the single best thing Japan has ever come up with, please go visit best-jeans.com. they even have an instagram lulz.

[punkbakugo]

Does Bakugou actually say fuck? Does he swear at all? If so how much?

this is kind of a tricky question and one i get somewhat often so i’m gonna try to explain this the best that i can.

first off i’m gonna quote a really good article about localization and japanese to english translation i’ve read recently:

Basically, Japanese doesn’t use “swearing” as we do. Instead, Japanese consists of multiple politeness levels, and depending on your social standing between you and the speaker, your intent, and such stuff, you pick from the appropriate politeness level. You talk up to your teachers for example, while a department head at a company will talk down to his subordinates. There are different levels, and one of the lowest levels to talk to someone is the closest equivalent to our swearing.

A quick example of “eat”. Here are a bunch of different levels of telling someone to eat.

Omeshiagari kudasaimase

Omeshiagatte kudasai

Tabete kudasai

Tabete kure

Tabete

Tabero

Kue

The proper word to use depends on who’s talking, who’s being spoken to, what their relationship is, what the intent is, and other context things. By going against what’s proper, you can talk rudely, which is what swearing accomplishes in our language (and other similar languages).

Even words like “kuso” have multiple translations, you could call it the “shit” in one case, while in other case it could be as harmless as “dang it!”. You’d even hear “kuso” in Pokemon anime I’m sure, for example. I know I heard it in Beyblade often enough.

Because all of this is so subjective, swearing in translation can vary pretty crazily depending on the translator. Generally, the more experience, the better the swearing turns out. That’s why with fan translations (particularly anime and manga) you tend to see tons of swearing in what would seem to be kids’ shows or what have you.

Also, because of all this, I really doubt the Japanese rating system takes this politeness level stuff into account, since it occurs everywhere in Japanese entertainment. It’s also not taboo. You don’t want to talk in everyday situations the way they do in entertainment, but you’re not going to go to hell or get your mouth soaped if you use the wrong level.

(and if you have any interest in this kind of thing i’d really recommend reading the whole article sometime. it’s on the localization process of the fan translation of the game Mother 3 and the guy clearly put a lot of thought and care into it which i really appreciate. also i can empathize w/ the level of nitpicking lol. spoiler warning for the first chapter of Mother 3 tho)

so to answer your questions in order: not in a literal sense since there’s no real direct japanese equivalent (other than the actual english word fuck which, no, he doesn’t use lol) so it depends on the translator, he does but i have an issue with how much some translators have him swear, and it once again depends on the translator

to elaborate: bakugou uses ‘kuso’ pretty liberally in ways that i would definitely consider swearing (tho the intensity of it greatly varies) but a lot of what has been translated as swearing isn’t actually that, it’s the way he talks. honestly speaking, i think defaulting to swearing is a lazy way to get across coarse speech patterns but on a theoretical level i don’t have issue with some of bakugou’s coarser speech patterns being translated as him swearing and in fact there are times i myself would translate lines as him swearing if i were localizing instead of directly translating. but it has to be done thoughtfully. so what i have an issue with is how liberal and careless fan translators tend to be about it.

and what i mean by that is they don’t look at the context of what he’s saying, who he’s saying it to, his tone, and how it compares to how he speaks at “baseline”. he’s got different levels. and bakugou’s baseline is impolite, yes, but you also have to keep in mind that that’s kind of the default for a lot of guys in shounen manga (and i’ve said this before but characters in japanese entertainment don’t talk like real people). my friend @tobjo made a post about this the other day that i wholeheartedly agree w/ and like she said, todoroki also speaks pretty impolitely but he’s never translated as saying fuck every two words.

an example of something that sometimes gets translated as swearing is the use of ‘てめェ/temee’ which is literally just a rude way to say ‘you.’ the thing is, bakugou uses it pretty casually so whether or not i find it a valid translation choice to have him swear in the sentence is entirely based on context

this translation, for instance, i think is perfect. it shows that he’s speaking gruffly without being explicit. (well, if i were the one localizing it i would’ve gone with “Hey, kid. You too, go participate.” but y’know. details.) now, this is mangastream which is pretty hit or miss w/ the bakugou localization and there are definitelyparts where i think they overdo it but nothing is as bad as FA which added so much unnecessary bs that i feel like they were just actively trying to be edgy (let’s not forget the time they had shigaraki call magne a transphobic slur for no fucking reason! real cool!)

classy. another casual use of temee where i wouldn’t even put light swearing.

left is FA, right is viz. the original is “てめェらの’個性’知らねぇ 何だ!?” which, if you were to ask me to localize rather than just directly translate, i would translate to something like “I don’t even know what your quirks are! The hell!?” because that’s what feels organic to me here. (and the goal of any good localization should be to a) get the feeling of the original text across accurately and b) make sure dialogue feels organic)

but go through FA translations and you’ll see 394843985 instances of ott swearing and nastiness where bakugou’s not even using coarser language in the original text like the panel where “fuckwipe” came from in the above mentioned ch.117 title where bakugou literally just said “oi” lmao

and some translations like the one mentioned in the above linked post still carry on this tradition of excessive swearing bc FA ingrained it so deeply into the fandom

basically my point is you can absolutely choose to translate bakugou as casually swearing and to what extent is dependent on the person’s taste (and skill level) but translations that are too liberal and excessive with it tend to push an image of him being overly volatile and juvenile rather than just a teen w/ a sailor’s mouth or something of that ilk. it warps his character. no thought or care is put into it and i get the feeling they don’t realize that there are ways to be gruff or even abrasive other than swearing and insults and ways to swear other than saying ‘fuck’ all the time lol (and some people really just do not know what a person that swears a lot actually sounds like)

[candy-crackpot]

What is Promised Neverland?

The Promised Neverland a currently ongoing weekly shounen manga (available on Mangastream too) that strongly borders seinen, keeps surpassing my expectations every time.

We have a female protagonist, a fantastic universe to explore, a suspenseful and dynamic plot, thriller and horror elements seeping from each page of gorgeous art, a very diverse cast with intimate but not necessarily romantic relationships and engaging characters with strong emotions and such hard personal struggles that resonate with the reader. 

I could only sing an ode about the art style because J E S U S, those dynamic and energetic lines, those sick perspectives, those compositions, those contrasts, those expressive facial expressions and the coloured pages (and boi, the colours, even those are so perfectly transmitting the mood) are so absolutely stunning they leave me breathless. Here are just a few examples (cleaned pages are from mangastream): (warning, if you are interesting head over and read the manga, google is full of spoilers)

There are ample female characters with both feminine and masculine traits worn proudly, there are both masculine and more ambiguous guys, there are characters of colour, there is an overweight character who is NOT made fun of for being overweight and is NOT treated like a burden - the others realise they have more difficulty moving around but they are very supporting.

This fucking manga had sent shivers down my spine at chapter 2 and made me clutch my chest and tear up as early as chapter 3 and let me tell you, chapter 1 only didn’t hit as much because I wasn’t that invested emotionally just yet but holy shit.

It’s only 2 years old but so far I’m still in shock that such a masterpiece exists and in the same lifetime as I do and it makes me anticipate 2019 when the anime is going to get released. Either you decide to jump in or wait for the anime - I strongly recommend jumping into it because it’s one hell of a ride.

[wildcrisis]

Analysis of Chapter 160

There’s your warning. Obviously, big spoilers below the cut!

Well, this has been a ride. Mostly an unpleasant one, but that aside, let me get into my thoughts about specifically this chapter. 

There are things I’m very happy with, and things I’m displeased with. There’s definitely a mixture of both emotions going on, because I really like both villain groups - though for different reasons. Let’s start from the top. 

This plan to betray and intercept Overhaul was never originally crafted by Shigaraki. We know that, because Nemoto used his Quirk on Toga and Twice to try and weed that out -- but, therein likes the problem. He asked the two, “Does Shigaraki Tomura have any plans to betray us”. 

No, Shigaraki didn’t. But Toga and Twice did. 

Now, this raises my first problem with the chapter. I’m assuming intercepting and taking revenge on Chisaki/getting the bullets and serum was technically a back-up plan of theirs, and that capturing Eri was their original objective -- because, how could they have any idea that the raid on Chisaki’s hideout would end so poorly for him? If it hadn’t been for the WILDLY LUCKY COMBO of Eri’s quirk + One For All, Overhaul would have won. That’s another discussion entirely, obviously, but Twice and Toga literally had no way of knowing that Chisaki was going to be defeated. All signs pointed to the 8 Precepts winning, before plot deku-ex-machina was released. That and, it would be unlikely for Twice and Toga to have taken Chisaki head-on to get the bullets/serum from him. 

I do love Mr. Compress. A lot. He’s classy and dapper for a villain, and as we find towards the end of the chapter, extremely ruthless. His joking around with Toga at the beginning is a nice touch. 

Who I love even more is Twice. I’ve always been pretty “meh” on Toga, because she’s an overused stereotype in my opinion, but holy shit Twice. The poor man is having to be led around because he can barely function without his mask on to stabilize his persona, but he was still able to tell Toga to contact the League about when/where they’d likely find Chisaki’s police transport. Twice is an amazing villain and I adore him. Give that poor man a mask and a hug once he’s out of police-sight. 

The interactions between Dabi, Spinner, and Shigaraki are fun. I believe it’s shown, as well as the earlier interactions between Twice and Toga, to really hammer home that the League of Villains is a family. They’re a true team -- of crazy people with hack plans, sure, but they’re a team. This is to show contrast to Overhaul, who considered many of his men expendable. He even called his, clearly, closest and oldest friend a moron and an idiot from time to time. This kind of lighthearted interaction is something you didn’t see with the 8 Precepts -- at least, whenever Chisaki was involved.

Though, I would argue that we MAY have seen that if we had actually, y’know, gotten to see more of them together -- but I digress.

 Poor Sand Hero, Snatch, we barely knew thee. It’s an excellent choice of Hero to keep someone like Overhaul detained -- you can’t destroy sand quickly, it’s tiny and there’s tons of it. Obviously, he wasn’t there expecting Shigaraki to show up, but it works well on his Quirk as well, considering his quirk is very similar to half of Overhaul’s. Though, he hardly stood a chance against the combination of Dabi and Mr. Compress because Compress is a very powerful and underestimated Quirk. That man can compress anything -- as it currently exists in nature -- into a sphere. Anything he touches. Why aren’t more people flipping shit about Mr. Compress. 

So, RIP Snatch -- burned alive trapped in a ball. 

Shigaraki jumping onto the front of the van to kill the driver and wreck it? HOLY SHIT. AMAZING, 10/10. I feel like the Shigaraki we saw back at the very beginning of the series would not have done something so dangerous and badass. Truly impressive from him -- he’s learned to take more risks. 

Shigaraki is also smart to keep Overhaul tied down. Even though Chisaki is clearly exhausted from his fight with Deku -- though he was healed by Eri’s quirk -- Tomura doesn’t underestimate him. If Shigaraki were more arrogant, like he once was, he likely would have freed Overhaul to taunt and jeer at him before simply killing him. (Also, Shigaraki can’t lift Overhaul because he’s a skinny nerd -- so him just kicking the bed out into the street is kind of hilarious.) 

However, what we witness instead, is a craftier Shigaraki. He keeps Overhaul tied down like an animal to dole out his punishment. 

Now -- I have to make an aside here for a couple of things. I honestly thought Shigaraki would be reflecting on what he learned playing Shogi with Overhaul -- that you take your opponents pieces and wisely use them. He could have had a very powerful, forced ally in Overhaul. Chisaki’s very arrogant and prideful, it wouldn’t have been easy, but he could have used Overhaul. He could have used the 8 Precepts. Instead, he’s got other plans to completely decommission Overhaul as it were -- which, fine, whatever -- BUT DO YOU NOT SEE HIS USES SHIGARAKI? You could have still taken his quirk away but kept him for his brain. He designed QUIRK DESTROYING BULLETS for crying out loud, there’s no telling what else he’s capable of given enough time and a decent lab. 

Which leads me to the second point I had before we continue on with Overhaul’s punishment -- What are you hoping to accomplish with those bullets Shigaraki. You’ve only got FOUR. FOUR OF THEM. AND NO MEANS TO MAKE ANY MORE OF THEM WITHOUT OVERHAUL AND ERI. As powerful as a move Shigaraki has made here, I don’t think he’s looking at the quirk destroying serum as a long-term goal. Or, if he is, I assume he’s going to be bringing in a scientist of some sort at some point. 

Alright, alright, back to what’s going on. 

Shigaraki begins with his taunts, and Overhaul (obviously still exhausted from his battle), takes an obvious guess that Shigaraki is there to kill him. Chisaki has taunted Shigaraki enough to know that it’s a strong possibility, and he’s likely banking on it. Depending on how long Chisaki has been conscious in that truck, the harsh realization that he’s lost everything he’s ever loved and everything he’s ever worked for has set it. He knows he’s off to prison for the rest of his life, considering what all the heroes have on him. Death would be a release at this point, because his entire life’s purpose has been snatched away. With his defeat, and Pops still unconscious (potentially done by his own hand), the Yakuza are dead. They aren’t a dying breed -- they’re extinct. 

Shigaraki, having grown up a tad from “I hate you so I wanna kill you”, states that, no, he’s thought of something much worse than that. He hates Overhaul because he’s arrogant -- which, I’m sorry Shiggy, but TAKE A LOOK IN THE MIRROR IF YOU HATE ARROGANT PEOPLE. Compress walks up and agrees, taking Chisaki’s arm with his compression quirk. Chisaki shows a little bit of pained surprise at this -- but I think most of his pain nerves are dead, honestly, from using his quirk on himself so much. His tolerance for pain is likely through the roof. 

But, you go Mr. Compress. You deserved revenge for your arm, because while you were trying to attack Chisaki when you lost it, he made no attempt to restore trust between the two organizations by fixing it. That and, well, Overhaul wouldn’t have died if he were compressed. Just ... trapped in a fun Christmas ball ornament for the season. 

So, Compress taking his revenge? I ain’t even mad. I was expecting Overhaul to lose an arm, based on all the foreshadowing we got. It’s even his dominant arm, as he’s been shown to always use his left arm first. 

This is where the chapter takes a turn I wasn’t expecting. 

Shigaraki’s goal is to turn Overhaul into a Quirkless man -- that’s all fine and dandy. But you are literally holding four bullets that can do just that. Just stab him with one. Use his own life’s work against him if you’re going to go on about the irony of him using his quirk to make people quirkless. Don’t take his other goddamn arm away. He could be useful to you! REMEMBER WHAT HE SAID ABOUT YOU LITERALLY WASTING PAWNS. 

Instead, what we get is Shigaraki using his quirk on Overhaul. We see Overhaul’s immediate panic and Shigaraki going “Whoops, guess we better take care of that or you’ll die!” did give me a little giggle. Shigaraki then slices off Overhaul’s other arm, leaving him strapped down to a bed and dismembered, rubbing in the fact that he’s now quirkless and helpless. Shigaraki has taken everything Overhaul has ever worked for and he can’t do a damn thing about it.

Is it evil? Yes. Is it smart? Ehhhh. That much I won’t agree to. As I stated earlier, Overhaul would have made a brilliant pawn -- and he was obviously in no position to fight back. Even quirkless, he could have been an amazing pawn if only for his brain. He’s proven to be a brilliant scientist, a master at recruiting people, and a fantastic tactician. These are all excellent skills that the League lacks a little of. 

So, the reality sets in for Chisaki -- if it hadn’t already. Everything he’s worked for is reduced to nothing, in the hands of his opponent. He’s powerless to do anything about it. The tables were turned on him, by the heroes, and by the villains. 

It’s not translated in the mangastream version, but the sound effect in the very last panel (where Shigaraki is walking away from the scene) is Overhaul screaming. Shigaraki’s done something much worse than killing him -- but leaving him alive, to suffer and watch Shigaraki take over the Underworld -- potentially by using his tech and ideas. 

... Though, Shigaraki barely paid attention to what Overhaul had to say when he came to visit, and Overhaul didn’t lay out much of his plan. I’m curious to know how Shigaraki got so much intel -- surely not from Toga and Twice. 

ANYWHO.

There you have it -- the end of the arc. Not how many people, myself included, wanted it to end one way or another. Do I think this is the end of Chisaki? Absolutely not. Sadly, he was set up as a mirror to Shigaraki -- a “much better villain” because he had a plan, he had a team, he had everything he needed. He was tossed away simply for that purpose -- same as Mirio was for Izuku, but that’s another analysis entirely. 

However, Shigaraki definitely set himself up to get slapped with revenge in the future. Chisaki only owed the league one arm -- not two. Shigaraki was extremely arrogant in lording his success over Overhaul. These things will come back to bite him in the ass somehow, and I have a feeling Shigaraki will come to regret letting a man as driven as Chisaki Kai live. Chisaki was willing to throw away everything to revive the Yakuza. I’m betting, now that he’s lost it all, that he’ll be willing to throw away everything purely for a taste of revenge. 

After all, if Compress can get a prosthesis, Overhaul can get a couple too. He may not have his quirk, but he’s still got a too-intelligent mind and a too-driven body. If he’s not hauled in by the authorities (I assume we’ll find out if he was or wasn’t soon -- much like how the News was shown covering the Stain incident), I think we’ll see him again in the future. 

I didn’t cover everything I wanted to, but oops this became massive. I’ll make a separate post to detail out how I think Overhaul and Mirio serving as plot-point only characters was an extreme waste. As well as finish my meta about how Pro-Hero societies are why people like Shigaraki and Chisaki exist at all. 

I’m always down for discussion, so feel free to reblog and add comments of your own, or hit me up to talk!

[swans-anime-ramblings]

One Piece Translation Notes Chapter 889

Ffs guys. Tumblr is THE WORST with failing to upload blogs from mobile. This is take 3 🙄

Anyway, here’s some notable translation differences between Manga Stream and Viz. I’m going to say it every time I upload a translation difference…Manga Stream DOES NOT go for accuracy. Most of their translations are pretty loose. Sometimes this is okay, but it CAN change your reading experience.

I’ve got a couple of noteworthy examples below.

1. Jinbei’s explanation of Mink powers

The Manga Stream translation is clunky, awkward and not as a clear.

Mangastream:

Viz:

2. Sanji’s thoughts about Nami.

So the difference isn’t ginormous, but MS does read a bit more “shippy” if that makes sense. I’ve noticed MS makes EVERYTHING seem more shippy, so if you’re reading the manga looking for hints for your OTP, keep that in mind.

So for this section, Sanji is concerned about Nami (i.e remember when he tells Luffy he was upset his actions put Nami in danger) but I feel like Viz reads more like, ‘Holy Shit! There’s a Yonkou chasing the Sunny. Be safe until I bring the cake Nami!” And less like, “I’m almost there for our glorious reunion!” You might disagree. That’s fine.

Also, MS made Chiffon’s statement to Bege way less personal for some reason. Not sure what’s up with that.

Mangastream:

Viz:

3. Jinbei’s final order

So with this section, the meaning behind what Jinbei said was translated accurately, but not the way he said it.

MS translates everything so casually it spills into how characters talk. Jinbei talks quite formally. In fact, the OP anime dub has Jinbei speaking without contractions. He says “do not” instead of “don’t”. I feel Jinbei’s way of speaking is lost here. I don’t think he’d ever say, “we might have to ditch the ship” as if he has no regard for Sunny.

Just something to think about.

Mangastream:

Viz:

And that’s all I got for this week’s chapter. And as always, support the official release if you’re eligible and able! You get a lot for what you pay for.

If you’d like something clarified, just ask! I’ve had my subscription since December 2017. 😁

[icharchivist]

Was there a lot of drama in the dgm fandom in 2008? All I can remember is the ship wars

Heyooo!

Okay my bad I mixed up the dates I meant 2009 dkjhfdf but -

Disclaimer, I was 14, I was both in the French and the English fandom of dgm - in the French fandom, I was in a general forum with a lot of guys and lots of theorizing, and in the English one I was in a roleplay community mostly focusing on the Noah Family, which wasn’t talking as much in detail about the show. I was distant to shipping, I wasn’t a shipper, but I knew a lot of shipping community in the RP community.Also disclaimer, I was staning the Noah and I h a t e d Lenalee. (I come a long way.)And, I lived the Alma’s arc. 

I will put it under cuts because man the memories, but here you go.

Notice though that at least where I was, I never experienced actual harrassment (the closest was probably the shithead of the French fandoms but I enter in details about it under cut). Honestly when comparing to some stuff in recent fandom history, it wasn’t...... The worst thing ever, but it was still a ride.

Take care ;O

-Shipwars. Shipwars everywhere. 

In English fandoms, it was especially the usual shipwar you see. Like “guh who would ship THIS ship when you can ship THIS ship” and the usual. Since the characters of the show are mostly guys, Lenalee was seen as a threat by shipping community who hated on her because she got in the way of the ships.  Shipping any ship with Lenalee was considered bad on the mlm shippers side.

In the French fandom, as I said, I was mostly with dudes, and especially dudes who were veryyy not into mlm. (They were repeating on the forum that girls liked mlm because it “humiliated guys”, that was a Good Time :)))))) ). Even bringing up the possibility of it being gay was causing an uproar among the guys who would call you out for being perverted that way. Note tho that I personally didn’t ship anything back then. One or two girls I knew did, and they were being clashed hard.

Guys usually shipped Allen/Lenalee or Allen/Road and they would argue about it (I remember mostly calling Allen/Lenalee boring) but it was rarely the focus of the conversations, it remained a lot of theories.

Leading to the new point:

-The Alma Arc Came Out. (SPOILERS ABOUT THE ALMA ARC AHEAD)

It was a weird time. I saw a lot of people complain on both fandom that it was rushed and coming out of nowhere (while...... it didn’t). Note also that we were having a chapter every months or every two months at this point, after all the rest of the manga was weekly. And if you don’t know dgm (well check it out and check the alma arc pls) Alma is Kanda’s canon love interest, a character who's a guy, or so presenting as such/using masculine pronoums, and revealed to be Kanda’s soulmate, his lover from a past life in which Alma was a woman. (There are debates about how to refer to Alma’s gender nowadays, but back then, everyone stuck to “he” because that was what the most pushed forward for the few months of publications and his past life stayed blurry since Kanda and Alma barely remember it. It’s relevent, i promise.)

Shipping fandoms, especially people who shipped Kanda with any of the guys, were s o upset. Because they considered Alma came out of nowhere and that it wasn’t the ship they wanted with Kanda. There was uproar against it. It calmed down with the years, and people started to love Alma (thanks god, Alma is bae).

I personally was completely destroyed by this arc and loved those two right away, so I was really good with the manga’s storyline.

So, remember when I said the French fandom I was into hated the even possibility of mlm stuff?  Ye. They didn’t like it. Like istg, suddenly the DGM subject of that forum got really quiet. When, before the reveal, some people pointed out Alma and Kanda seemed really close, the guys were shutting them down, calling them perverts or Fujo (glad to see fandom never change /s) and saying stuff like we were ruining a perfectly good story and we were stupid. 

Aaaand when Alma was revealed to be Kanda’s soulmate (who was a character we were hinted at since the second arc of the manga and people theorized about a lot), the guys went upset. Either that Hoshino was a “fujo” and it was to be expected and that it was the least interesting development possible for Kanda (did i mention they all loved Kanda?? Oh the mighty have fallen. Kanda was like, The Alpha Male for them, and this arc came to an end with Kanda showing vulnerability and love for another guy, the thing those guys were always saying was the most humiliating thing for a man. I didn’t forget.). 

The fandom on this forum grew a lot quiet after it, except for a few guys who were cool with it or guys who went “well Kanda doesn’t actually love Alma since he loved only the Past life so it’s not gay” (and fuck this. that’s so much bad faith lmao), but istg that was a riot to witness.

(I say it again, I don’t intend to debate about Alma’s gender right now, and I completely understand the debate over it nowadays, and it’s just as important to discuss about it. NonCis!Alma is still something important and therefore the relationship with Kanda is a huge thing. I just want to emphasize on the fact that straight guys who didn’t want to think about gender fucking rioted because the manga presented Alma as Kanda’s male love interest, and if you don’t know anything about Gender theory, this is what you stop at - and those Guys had none of it.)

-Allen was considered boring// 14th Debates

That was something from both Noah side I was into and the French fandom mostly, of people considering Allen being annoying/Boring. Characters like Kanda were much more appreciated (Lavi kinda fell into the background with the arcs that came out at this point, although he was still very loved in the English fandom). 

So, there were a lot of theories to “make Allen more interesting” which were mostly debates to have him join the Noah for good by becoming the 14th. There were people arguing a lot about that, and the few people who actually liked Allen were kinda upset about it.

There was of course a lot of theorizing on the 14th, and the two commons theories were “Allen will join the Noah as the 14th” or “Allen will become the 14th and, Road and Tyki and they’ll create their own third side”. 

So let’s say those people were annoyed when the 14th appeared and told he wanted to become Millenium Earl instead of Adam. Oops. 

Mostly I know there was a lot of disappointment about Nea’s introduction and the fact that it’s more a case of “Nea will remplace Allen” instead of “Allen will become a Noah”. A lot of the guys from the forum I mentioned weren’t too happy with that development, and complained about it a lot (and the further infos on Nea didn’t please them much. The latest theory group I mentioned tho were overjoyed when Tyki and Road came to free Allen though).

-Noah VS Exorcist Wars

I suppose it’s more a question of preference there, but at least in the RP community I was into, and lowkey in the French fandom, there were tons of arguing depending on which side you were rooting for. Both sides could get extremely rude and mean to each other, and it could result in the fandom with an obvious bias on who people were cheering for.

There were very few people cheering for a 3rd side (I was mostly Noah but leaning to 3rd Side, nowadays I can’t even feel myself in any sides,i’m just “please take care of those children” side), and this was usually the neutral part of the fandom.

Honestly, on me who wasn’t a shipper, and mostly on non-shipping groups? This was our shipping wars. That was what people were getting angry at. Who you were siding with.

-Lenalee Hate, which doesn’t exist in this fandom anymore right? /s

I plead guilty there because I was totally among those ones, and that’s probably why i’m so upset when I still see it nowadays. 

People hated on Lenalee for a brunch of reasons, either because she was in the middle of their ships, or because she was considered “useless” and “whiney”. The complains about her violent attitude only came a lot later tbh??  I know I didn’t like her among other reasons for that, and because a lot of characters liked her and it made me upset, and a lot of people were like that tbh. 

She got shit then, she still gets shit now. Back then though I remember at least in Roleplay community that Lenalee was always the punchline of a joke, and people roleplaying Lenalee could have a hard time with people being rude to them.

That’s honestly the most that I can remember, and honestly it was probably just the communities I was into, but I especially remember the end of the Alma Arc with the Dudebros. Like I think on tumblr we tend to forget fandoms weren’t always that opened with this kind of stuff, and that regardless of how people regard the Alma’s arc nowadays, it was huge back then. 

Everyone kinda fell out of the fandom in the following time since it’s when the big hiatus started to appear, leading to the 3 years haitus in 2012 (?). Between the Alma Arc and then, the fandom really died down and people moved on on most parts. 

On tumblr, at least when the manga restarted, a lot of people who used to be in that Old Fandom had tried to not reproduce shipwars/hatred stuff all that much. I wouldn’t say we’re out of problems though, of course, and there are still some... casual issues. (like when the last chapter came out on Mangastream the comments were flooded with slurs because people considered the chapter “too gay”, and I even saw back some of the old “Allen is boring, let him be remplaced by Nea already” fight. me.)

So that’s about it i think? kdjhjkdfh

Take care!

[perfectackeracy]

Shingeki no Kyojin chapter 90 review (+ theories)

This is it. 

We’re finally concluding the arc beginning with Grisha’s flashback at chapter 71 and ending with the basement’s discovery and the amount of deal-breaking contents, leading us to the last phase of the manga, with this month’s chapter as being the ultimate wrap-up.

Lasting 5 volumes, it would be wise to write an arc review in a separate post, since it covered the unfinished business left from the first volumes: taking back that portion of the territory surrounded by titans, the mystery between Grisha Yeager and the contents of the basement and eventually the truth behind this world. Too bad I wasn’t around when the first chapters have been published because it would’ve been fun to pick every theory around and check which ones were actually closer to the facts; remember people trying to guess the Beast Titan’s identity? Eren using the coordinate to invoke the wall titans during the battle?

But anyway, the point of this post is more about commenting the chapter in an itself and guess what happens next, as always. 

I’ll start by a general commentary: I had... mitigated views about this chapter overall. Not because it felt like a huge letdown for my birthday (because let’s face it, nothing can top Edgetolt) but because it just shows it’s a rather quick wrap-up when we’re preparing the final phase.

I’ll use the MangaStream translation while waiting for the CR scans. It’s not top-quality but the translations are usually on-point (and they seldom mess up bubble order or in this month’s case... PAGE ORDER).

This chapter can be decomposed into 4 phases:

The truth about the titans

Flocke

The ceremony

The timeskip

The ocean and Eren’s resolve

I’ll detail my review under the cut:

The truth about the titans

Historia made her mind and decided to make the information held public... If anything, that underlines the fact the basement was a turning point for the story, despite the sudden influx of information. 

This is huge since it was the point where Eldia stepped out of their cycle of ignorance and progressively started to realize the true nature of this world. As Historia said: this is retribution.

Historia letting Eldia know - Ch. 90

Just wanting to point a funny thing here.

She really looks like her father here - Ch. 66

Since a huge war is coming, it would make even more sense. I still don’t believe in that unity spirit however. While it may be effective in times of war against a common enemy, it’s not in times of peace. 

And according to Roy and Peaure, it’s apparently too brutal to stir an episode of nationalism or more precisely, a feeling of general agreement that the world they lived on was limited to a single huge island, weren’t part of Humanity in general but as a race labeled as “the descendants of Ymir”, that they’ve been the monsters all along and they’ve been isolating themselves from each other, having the rest of the humanity as a common enemy. 

Peaure took note of three types of reactions:

People who accepted the truth as it is

People who think this is a huge joke

Conspiracy theorists who think there’s some Illuminati members in the military

The first category will be easy to rally. The second one needs some time to digest the information or need better evidence. The third one is... well...

While living with the truth seems to make things better and ready for advancement (it’s always better than a situation where people make their growth stagnate), they now realize they’re the target of the rest of humanity who isn’t ready to change their minds. There simply isn’t any room for peace.

And that’s why I’m not feeling particularly salty about the titans being nearly wiped out. Grisha’s logs were the last knee-slapper as their role as mighty oppressors. I’ve said it in a post concerning Bertolt and his role as the Colossal Titan: the same analogy can be applied when they started as being those freakish humanoid looking creatures hellbent to devour humans and forced them to retreat behind walls, decimating anybody who dared to venture in their territory. Then revelations happened:

Humans can turn into titans.

Pure titans actually don’t have a proper conscience and are either trapped in a nightmare or bent on one particular desire.

With titans being humans it means “Humanity” was killing humans all along.

Not every titan can revert back to a human. Only 9 of the whole population can.

The user of the Coordinate can use them as slaves to their bidding.

Titans as well as most humans inside the walls belong to the same people, meaning they were fighting a war against themselves all along.

Titans are only wandering on one island while the rest of the world is free from them.

The wandering titans are actually part of the oppressed minority from another country sentenced for several types of crimes, often unfairly. 

All of this implies the SC was executing already sentenced people of their own kind, essentially finishing Marley’s work.

This whole path depicts them as the mere rank of victims rather than predators. Now that they learned who the real enemy is, titans are all demoted from that position, which makes me not so regretful they were eliminated by the guillotine, not to mention the flashback made sense as to why they were all trapped between Wall Maria and Wall Rose.

Eren’s lifestyle is to hunt predators and he already fixed his next target. Notice how at the end of the chapter he referred to the crawling titan as a fellow instead of an enemy he once sworn to kill? I’ll come back to it later.

Flocke 

One of the nicest part of the chapter was getting a peek from Hitch, eventually giving Marlowe’s death closure. Jean was giving her the classical speech of how brave he was when he fought for the recapture of Wall Maria. It could’ve gone smoothly but the little problem remaining about his honors was...

...Flocke

Flocke was probably the most controversial character from the chapter. Never in the spoilers tag have I seen so much vitriol for a character who started to make himself relevant in the second-last arc. I’m going to make myself clear about him:

He’s absolutely right.

I’ve seen so many fans call him a piece of shit, him thinking too highly of himself (when he called himself a coward?) or him being too harsh but in the situation where the SC is and as a stock-filling recruit, why should he sugarcoat everything when his first operation was one where he had to brave a giant monkey throwing rocks?

He wasn’t lying when he stated those facts about Marlowe. Being honest is still better than putting on a brave face, which made Hitch go ultimate tsundere and cry while missing how much of a self-absorbed idiot Marlowe was.

“Even though Marlowe Freudenberg was only recently recruited to the Survey Corps as part of the emergency listing just like me, he was still able to help unite us all. The Survey Corps were driven into a corner and faced certain annihilation. The situation seemed hopeless. While everyone else was vulnerable and frightened, he alone kept encouraging and inspiring us.” - Ch. 81 (Pic)

“But in the end... I’m sure he regretted ever going to that place.” - Ch. 81 (Pic)

He wasn’t too happy of dropping the truth on Armin either. He wasn’t fond of Erwin but in no way he would deny him a chance to a second life when there’s a way of breaking through the crack that is despair.

Besides, it wasn’t just his opinion. Everybody else wondered why Erwin wasn’t chosen. Erwin was right in their grasp and he was denied the serum. That’s how it happened to an outsider who only read the reports. People think the SC became nuts, and Flocke nailed what the problem was. For people who dedicated their hearts about serving a cause, they let their feelings get the best of them. “Somebody who can’t sacrifice anything can’t change anything.” Flocke used the same logic Armin does and that’s why it resonated with him in that panel.

“Someone who can’t throw anything away... will never be able to change anything” - Ch. 27 (Text)

Armin thinks the “useful evil” is good, which is why it made sense for him and Flocke to bring Erwin back instead of letting emotions getting the best of them.

“The three of you let your feelings get the better of you, took the injection for your own means, and made an irrational choice. In short you just couldn’t let go of someone important to you, could you?” - Ch. 84 & 85 (Pics)

“Eren... You’re one of those people who believe deep inside they’re always right. that’s why you never give up, just like some unreasonable child.” - Ch. 84 (Pic)

“In that regard, Mikasa was the grown-up in the situation. Because when push came to shove did she give up” - Ch. 84 (Pic)

“You people... You didn’t oppose the senior staff, nor did you try to stop Eren and Mikasa. You just stood there and watched.” - Ch. 84 (Pic)

Well, in defense of Jean, Sasha and Connie: the three of them arrived late and Sasha had a shrapnel her arm, so... 

Flocke was mostly narrating what really happened on that roof, which in perspective makes the situation look like a complete dramatic joke, which eventually gives the SC a bad rep where its only members are just a bunch of teenagers who only care about themselves.

Notice the stares from the other officiers oriented in the same direction than Flocke’s. It’s pretty telling the future recruits should watch out for the SC.

On another note, Flocke calls himself a coward. While it’s true he cried about him not wanting to die and not being remembered, he was the only one advocating for Erwin to be brought back before Hange showed up, even standing in front of a Mikasa ready to slice him. He faced Zeke’s attack alongside Erwin and Marlowe, survived miraculously and lost every single one of his comrades in the process. He has the right to have a word in this whole mess.

Armin also nods, making the same disappointed face than the one from chapter 85:

I swear to god, it’s the exact same - Ch. 90 & 85

Armin’s opinion didn’t change since chapter 85: Erwin should’ve lived. Eren this time tried to rile him back in by bringing up the exact same tirade he brought up when he was talking about the outside world, completely cut by his own intentions, associated with a picture of Faye being eaten by the dogs: freedom.

The ceremony

I have no idea why it popped up in his mind but as he touched Historia’s hand and had that detailed flashback with Grisha and Frieda, maybe using trigger words serves as a means to make the memories of a certain person flow through your brain:

When Eren pronounced the word “freedom”, he immediately shifted on Kruger’s perspective, seeing Fay eaten by the dogs.

When Frieda and Grandpa Reiss heard demands about solving the titan problem, the memories of the First King flowed through.

That would explain why Eren began having visions of Grisha and Kruger’s memories: the logs probably contained a lot of trigger words invoking the memories of both men, hence why Eren got a better hold of the coordinate when he couldn’t before.

Thanks to those flashbacks he managed to discover the real key to trigger the coordinate and still hasn’t told anybody about this. Not fully believing to be able to stop the imminent treat, you have two pages dedicated to his self-doubt, him feeling down.

...That expression reverted to anger when he got the full input of Grisha’s memories and perspective. The flashback wasn’t over.

Frieda, as the First King, must have ushered words so powerful they were enough to amp up Eren’s morale to the max. They were also powerful enough to make Grisha lose it, steal the power and make sure nobody from the Reiss family would seize it again. The details apparently made Eren keep the power to himself, as he initially believed the Reiss line was the only one able to defeat the titans with a bit of conviction.

Eren believing Grisha did wrong - Ch. 65

Remember how Kruger and the other restorationists stated how cowardly the King was? That probably what made Grisha lose his marbles and steal the power.

The timeskip

This is where my biggest complaint came from and while it doesn’t represent a huge portion of the chapter (two to thee pages), it was the major detail I was unhappy with. While the way they got rid of titans was understandable, it would’ve been nice to get at least a couple of pictures of everybody’s situation inside the walls during these months. Maybe (and I’m saying maybe) it’ll be used as an opening for next chapter but in any case it feels inappropriate.

Isayama mostly detailed that under the scenes of the seasons in Trost. It at least indicates the Shiganshina battle happened in late autumn/early winter (if that’s any indication for character’s birthdays, because I definitely believe Reiner and Bertolt are born the same year, Annie’s born a year later, the rest is born two years after Reiner and Bertolt and Armin turned 16 between the Uprising and the Battle of Shiganshina arcs). I still find that more underwhelming than having a picture of a ceremony for the fallen, the rest of the titans being wiped out by the military, giving Rico a cameo, Hange falling asleep on their desk after too much paperwork, Levi staring at the window remembering Erwin, Jean/Sasha/Connie paying visit/homage to their families, Armin staring at Eren being concerned but he coordinate shenanigans... All of this could’ve sat nicely on a page, just like this one:

The situation in the walls - Ch. 82

It really feels like nothing important happened and they reached the coast as if it was just the day after, while it’s probably the biggest timeskip of the manga.

Speaking of the ocean...

The ocean and Eren’s resolve

Y’know what? My theory was that the ocean was permanently out of reach because of the tensions inside the walls or it would be saved for the very last chapter. Instead, it was shown in the last chapter of the current arc and the issue was quickly buckled up at the end by Eren’s interruption.

Discovering the ocean also contributed to the underwhelming feeling, but after Isayama posted an entry about it, I’m wondering if closing the matter on six pages and not the ending of the series was actually intentional? The goal of the story was never about reaching the ocean but it felt more like a whim from one character who turned out to be overwhelmed with a major sin at the price of one life that should’ve been selected instead. When Armin reaches the ocean, he isn’t staring at it with the same “dreamy” eyes Eren envied. It’s only after Mikasa stepped in the water he felt joy again.

And of course Eren doesn’t even remotely care. As expected. Instead, he’s focused solely on finding a way to reach Marley and destroy every citizen here. I think that shell Armin found symbolized the beginning of the parting Isayama wanted to illustrate. Armin was probably riddled by survivor’s guilt because of Levi’s choice. Eren told him in this chapter he had to see the ocean he himself already saw but it’s eventually revealed it mattered so little to him. The shell represents Armin’s discovery about things no living Eldian has ever seen before but Eren immediately turns away, preferring finding a future where he walks around and nobody can stop him. It looks like Armin’s actually holding the shell back, isn’t he?

Anyway, that seals my review and I suppose the final arc will be solved on Marley: there’s literally nothing else to do on Paradis and the catastrophe is bound to repeat again. Eren made his mind and follows into his father’s footsteps, knowing how to trigger the coordinate. Getting into Marley is either going to be through infiltration or complete invasion. Since the SC has few members, the former is easier to accomplish if they can hijack a boat.

It’s weird we haven’t heard signs of Reiner or Zeke during these months. They have to be up to something and they’re probably luring the SC into a trap, where Zeke expects Eren to come to Marley by himself. The two of them have to meet in order for chaos to go down, because Marley is ridiculously powerful compared to Eldia. 

For some reason I’m expecting Eren to not only touch Zeke but also eat him as well. There’s many points we need to solve about Marley as well. I’m paraphrasing this post here:

What pushed Zeke to join the Marley warriors?

How were the warriors trained?

Were they several promotions?

Is Zeke actually an exception to the rule (somehow answered with Ymir Fritz dying 13 years after but contradicted by Zeke being recruited at least in his late teens)?

If so how did he manage to have a word with the higher-ups? Was he a vet in a previous war? An experimental test?

Is Marley aware Zeke is the last Fritz?

How was the original promotion of the seven warriors?

How did they organize themselves in two parties, with Zeke being the titan outside and Reiner, Bertolt and Annie as the infiltrates?

How come Zeke only manifested himself after Annie’s crystalization?

How is Marley dealing with their enemies in the East?

What about that Titan Chemistry society?

How come Reiner’s last name figure on the Armored serum Eren swallowed?

Is the fact that Reiner and Zeke share the same birthdays nothing more than a joke?

Speaking of Reiner, how come he and Bertolt never mention their family? Orphans? Taken in at a young age?

How did they keep the seven shifters in control?

How did Kruger get his shifter power?

[makeste]

“I came here to find what it is that I lack.”

hey everyone, so can we talk about this?

this is the first time that Katsuki has talked about his own personal shortcomings to such an extent. he’s flirted with acknowledging them out loud before, at the provisional course, and we know he’s been working on improving himself, because we saw the change during the joint training arc. but this is the first time he has actually come right out and admitted that there is something he knows he’s missing, and that his goal now is to find it.

so there are two parts of this that I want to break down and discuss. let’s start with this:

“I’ve learned that just because I’m strong in a fight, that doesn’t mean I’m strong as a person.”

JBox translated this as “I’ve learned that pure strength isn’t enough to become strong.” I’m curious as to how Viz will word it. but it’s Mangastream’s translation that really piqued my interest. “that doesn’t mean I’m strong as a person.” correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is the first time Katsuki has ever talked about himself as a person at all. up to this point he’s seemed to have zero interest in any kind of self-reflection. and even now, he’s still bringing it up in a context of strength. he needs to be “strong” as a person because that will help him become stronger as a hero. but regardless of how he frames it, or whether or not he’s only seeking it because it pertains to his goal of surpassing the number one, this is still huge IMO for him to bring up strength of character and acknowledge that it’s still something that’s eluding him.

and it’s not like this hasn’t been brought to his attention before. for all of his strengths, his personality is the one thing that’s been consistently singled out by virtually everyone he’s ever met as a glaring fault. and yet he doesn’t seem to have ever given this real thought until recently. possibly because he didn’t think it actually mattered in the big picture. or maybe it’s because until recently, he was able to shrug off those accusations because he knew that deep down he was good where it really counted. like, yeah, he might swear a lot and he might not get along with people and maybe his temper gets the better of him at times. but he was able to brush that off because he knows deep down that he’s a hero. and not just any hero, but the person who’s going to become the best hero. and so he had faith in his own integrity, and didn’t let other people’s perceptions bother him, because who the hell cares what anyone else thinks.

but note that I did say “until recently.” because in the last six months or so story-wise, a lot has changed. things which have sent little parachutes of self-doubt sailing over Katsuki’s formerly impenetrable walls of indifference. he was singled out as a target by villains. yeah, they were wrong about him, but it still says something that they thought he was a good prospect. and not just them, but everyone. the press gathered together less than 48 hours after a child was kidnapped, and felt comfortable speculating about whether or not said child was unhinged and destined to follow the villain path. yeah, Aizawa shot them down, but Katsuki still got a behind-the-scenes documentary feature look at how some of the actions he’d never before given a second thought to were actually affecting the world’s judgment of his moral character.

and then All Might lost his power at Kamino. something which Katsuki felt was his fault. and then, directly on the heels of that, there was the shock of realizing that the childhood friend he’d maligned and tormented for years had ended up being All Might’s chosen successor. and there are so many ways that Katsuki could have responded to that realization. being jealous of Deku. being derisive of All Might’s choice. but instead, his reaction to learning Deku had it right was to immediately follow it up with: so I’m wrong. and just, wow, though. and then, of course, this was all compounded even more when he failed the provisional license exam. so now we have the villains, the general public, and the heroes -- or at least, the people in charge of deciding who gets to be a hero -- all hitting him up with various different versions of you are flawed, you are deficient.

anyway, thankfully at this point he did something he’s never done before and actually reached out to someone, even if it was in the most shounen way ever (“should I just talk to my rival like a normal person? nah I’ll challenge him to a fight”). and he and Deku had a heart to heart via their fists, and then All Might gave him a hug and some good mentor advice. so the worst of that line of thinking was curbed before it could become more damaging. and he seems to have rebounded since and is back to his old confident ways.

buuuuuut. we have seen him paying more attention to other people’s remarks than he seemed to before. maybe this was something he always did, but just pretended like he didn’t. hard to say. but there’s no denying the way that Horikoshi made it a Thing during the Band AU arc, when we saw those upperclassman grousing about how “class 1-A is the one causing all the trouble” and then Katsuki listening in, stony-faced. and then he got really pissed off and ranted about it afterward.

so yeah. and then more recently, during the joint training arc, we also had that incident where Monoma -- on camera, with Katsuki watching, and we know for a fact there was sound because U.A. based their teaching model on The Hunger Games, and also the kids were able to hear Shinsou’s voice-changing shenanigans earlier -- was all “SO HOW ABOUT THAT TIME THAT BAKUGOU CAUSED THE DOWNFALL OF THE SYMBOL OF PEACE, EH.” which marked the first time we confirmed that Katsuki isn’t the only one who’s made that connection. mind you, I don’t think Monoma actually meant it; he was just trying to rile Deku up into talking so he could pull the ol’ Jedi mind trick. but still, the fact that he had that remark ready to go means that it must have crossed his mind before. and at this point I think it’s pretty safe to say he’s not the only one. it’s an obvious enough conclusion to draw, and society was a hot mess for a while following Kamino, and it was the kind of thing where I’m sure that a lot of people, shaken up in the aftermath of this disaster and struggling to process it, would be looking to assign blame.

so now Katsuki, who formerly did not give a shit and was very proud and upfront about his lack of shit-giving, has been more or less forced to confront the fact that like it or not, his behavior -- and other people’s perceptions of it -- maybe matters a little more than he thought. and it seems like maybe he’s become a bit more sensitive to that lately. a little more aware.

I think it must be frustrating for him in some ways, because he knows that he’s good and that his intentions are good, but he has difficulty conveying that. and the other thing is that he’s not the type of boy to ever have people actually say to him, “hey, you’re a nice guy.” (Kirishima, I think, is the only one that might have actually said that sentence to him -- I feel like he has? -- and honestly there’s a reason why Katsuki trusts him so much, and things like this are no small part of it.) “amazing”, sure. he gets that all the time. and “strong”, which is the adjective he himself uses the most when talking about things he admires. but never good. and he might not ever show any signs of needing that type of reinforcement, but (a) sometimes we don’t know that we need something, especially if it’s something we’ve never had before, and (b) even if Katsuki was in any way adept at identifying his emotional needs (he’s not), the odds of him ever mustering up the will to actually ask are slim to say the least.

but no child wants to be bad. Katsuki’s one and only desire since he was very little has been to become a great hero. and heroes are inherently good. this boy, for all his surliness and stubbornness and toeing-the-line, works hard. he listens to his teachers. he studies. he fights fairly, and shows honor in other ways (like fessing up immediately to being the first one to throw a punch). he shows kindness and gratitude and concern in his own prickly ways as well. his goodness isn’t the kind that comes up to you and slaps you in the face, but it still manages to shine through like sunlight through a cloudy filter. he is a good person. and I think that sometimes, during his more intense moments of self-doubt, he may have wondered if maybe he’s not. but he is.

and having said all of that, one of the things I would like to see at some point in the future is for someone to actually tell him that. for him to get that validation. because I think that’s something he’s seeking, even if he’s not aware of it. even now he still has the media censoring his interviews, as if they’re worried he’ll somehow corrupt the viewers with his attitude. even though the whole reason he’s being interviewed is because he proved himself through his actions. somehow it’s still not enough. so I just think it’s something that would mean a lot to him to hear. “you are strong, but also you’re a good person.” so yeah. All Might, maybe -- get on that.

moving on now to the second part of this essay!

“I came here to find what it is that I lack.”

you know what I find interesting about this? at first glance, one might assume that he’d already solved this mystery. doy, the kid that only ever thought about winning and victory has to learn how to help others. we got that already; All Might broke it down for us nice and clear back in chapter 120. we’re good.

and the thing is, it really seems like we are good, doesn’t it? Katsuki passed his remedial exam with flying colors. he and Todo saved a bunch of would be purse-snatching victims, and he even saved their wallets (that makes it sound like he got them to save 15% or more by switching to Geico lol but NO, IN THIS CASE IT WAS LITERAL). and let’s not forget that dominant performance during the joint training arc, in which he both allowed himself to be rescued, and breezily rescued others with no qualm. by all measures, it would appear that he has embraced this new way of heroing, and seems to be taking to it as naturally as he takes to everything else.

so then the question arises: if he already figured out that IT’S THE RESCUING, STUPID, then why is he still talking about “what he lacks” as though there is still something he’s missing? and not just missing, but as-yet-unidentified to boot. he doesn’t actually know what it is. he’s trying to figure it out.

so I have a few guesses, but since this essay is already running long, I’m just going to jump right to my main one: what he’s talking about is the difference between this:

and this

in a very similar way to how Katsuki himself proved there was such a big difference between this

and this

“the difference between those who are aiming for the top, and everyone else.” so yeah. and if this applies to the “winning” part of the hero equation, then it also stands to reason it should apply to the “rescue” part as well, right?

so what would that mean? basically, as far as I can tell, it’s the difference between your everyday rescuing, and between Deku’s style of rescuing. no, I’m not talking about the bone-breaking. I’m talking about, “my legs just started moving. why? I dunno!” or, as All Might puts it, “their bodies simply moved before they could think.”

what Deku has is not just the will to rescue. it’s the instinct to rescue. in the same way that Kacchan uses his quirk intuitively to reach ever greater heights, what Deku does intuitively is to save and protect others. he is unrivaled in this. his instinct to rescue surpasses even All Might’s. and this is what makes him great.

what Katsuki is doing right now is rescuing on the balanced, sensible, government-approved level of things. which is fine! admirable, even. but compared to what Deku has, it’s the same as Monoma’s will to win pitted against Katsuki’s own utterly indomitable will, which is completely illogical and excessive in exactly the right type of way, and is what drives him to the levels of excellence that he’s achieved. Deku’s will to rescue is like that. it’s on a whole different level.

and I think one of the biggest things I can say in praise of Katsuki is that he is not yet satisfied with where he is in terms of his moral strength. he understands that there’s a level he has yet to unlock and achieve. something that he isn’t yet grasping. and I’m pretty sure this is what it is. and if that’s the case, then he’s in luck, because I think it’s safe to say there will be plenty of opportunities in the near future to hone his own rescue instincts. Deku didn’t really start to approach Kacchan’s own levels of WIN NO MATTER WHAT until his battle with Muscular, and the key thing that made the difference there was the stakes. needless to say, in this latest arc, we have stakes aplenty. 

and all it takes is one moment. for there to be something to be on the line which Kacchan realizes in a moment of clarity that he can’t lose. something to trigger his own instant of my body just moved on its own. and then from there? who even knows. but it’ll be a sight to see.

so that is my [checks notes] 2600-word essay about Kacchan’s 75-word speech in chapter 247. to sum up, what I want for my son in this arc is for things to finally click for him to get that moment of Hero Autopilot, and also for other people to get with the program and acknowledge what a good kid he is, goddammit. even if he gets embarrassed. or embarrasses them immediately afterward by demonstrating exactly how good of a kid he is by blowing up the nearest inanimate object and launching into colorful tirades about someone’s mother. Bakugou is basically like a poorly wrapped Christmas gift. ugly on the outside, doesn’t quite look right when stacked next to the other gifts, but once you rip that sucker open TAH DAH, IT’S THAT BRAND NEW THING YOU WANTED! and it kicks all the other gifts’ asses. what more could you want in a character lol.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 252: Suplex of Feels

Previously on BnHA: Deku, Kacchan, and Shouto visited Todobrook Heights one time, just the one!!, so of course it just so happened to also be the one time that Natsuo got straight up kidnapped by a villain for no reason because THAT’S JUST HOW LIFE GOES. Thankfully for Natsuo, the Terror Trio had kind of a Cinderella thing going on where if they didn’t beat a villain before Endeavor by midnight, their character development would turn back into a pumpkin, and I’m not really sure I stuck the landing on that metaphor but anyway! So Shouto used Flashfire to roast the villain alive, Deku used Blackwhip to save some hapless civilians who got caught in the crossfire of everything, and Kacchan used his cool fast explosions which don’t have a new name yet because he’s focused on more important things to rocket over and save Natsuo from becoming roadkill. And then Endeavor gave him and Natsuo a BIG OL’ HUG and my heart went, oh.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi grabs a handful of raw, squishy feels out of a bucket and just full on slaps me across the face with them. Endeavor has a moment of agonizing, excruciating vulnerability and apologizes to Natsuo for everything -- like, everything -- and says Natsuo doesn’t have to forgive him, and that in fact he doesn’t want him to forgive him, and that he just wants to atone for everything he’s done. And just, I can’t even describe the scene, but it’s just perfect down to the last detail, and exactly what I wanted. And meanwhile Deku, Shouto, and Kacchan stand there watching, and then Kacchan has a fucking epiphany and FINALLY DECIDES ON A HERO NAME!!, and I completely lose my goddamn mind, only to then be brought down to the lowest of lows when he immediately says that he’s not going to reveal it yet because THERE’S SOMEONE ELSE HE HAS TO TELL FIRST. So once I’m done sighing, we cut to later and Endeavor is all “Fuyumi I’m gonna buy a house for you guys so you can all live a happy life with your mom and never see me again,” and yeah. You guys I am in shambles.

hey everyone, whoever is doing Mangastream’s thumbnails every week deserves a raise though

especially since they’re not actually getting paid for it at all lol. their resolve to find the most ridiculous Kacchan expression every week and slap it on their home page is 100% a labor of love. AND IT SHOWS

lol and here I was half-worried the chapter would pick up after all the dust had settled, and we’d miss out on this glorious scene of Kacchan acting like he’s the goddamn wicked witch of the west and the sprinklers just turned on. anyways, I know what I’m thankful for this holiday

HAHAHAHAHA

I’D LIKE TO TAKE A MINUTE AND THANK ALL OF OUR SPONSORS AND OUR GREAT CREW WHO MADE THIS ALL POSSIBLE. SHOUT OUT TO ENDING, YOU’RE THE REAL MVP. BIG “HEY WHAT’S UP” TO TOUYA, WHO STRAIGHT UP DIED JUST SO ENDEAVOR COULD HAVE ANGST AT A CRITICAL MOMENT AND FORCE KACCHAN TO BE THE ONE TO SAVE NATSUO INSTEAD. AND A HUGE FUCKING “YOU THE MAN, BRO” TO THAT MORON SPEEDING BLINDLY IN THE TAXI CAB WHILE ON HIS PHONE AND NOT PAYING THE SLIGHTEST BIT OF ATTENTION TO THE ROAD IN FRONT OF HIM! WITHOUT YOUR RECKLESS DISREGARD FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY AND THAT OF OTHERS, THIS NEVER COULD HAVE HAPPENED. OH GOD, THEY’RE PLAYING THE MUSIC NOW, I GOTTA HURRY UP... AH... I’M SO GRATEFUL TO ALL MIGHT, GIVER OF SO MANY LEGENDARY HERO HUGS, AND TO SLIDIN’ GO, YES REALLY SLIDIN’ GO, WHO ESTABLISHED THIS GAG BACK IN CHAPTER 219. YOU BOTH WALKED SO ENDEAVOR COULD RUN. AND LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, TO HORIKOSHI KOUHEI, WHO IS ABSOLUTELY FUCKING DETERMINED TO HAVE EVERY PRO HERO IN THE COUNTRY HUG KACCHAN BEFORE THE SERIES IS OVER. YOUR TIRELESS EFFORTS ARE THE REASON I GET OUT OF BED EVERY MORNING. GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND GOOD NIGHT

anyway

sorry Kacchan this is just your life now. you’re just stuck here. by the way, Endeavor really is just an absolute MOUNTAIN of a man, though?? like, a whole, absolute unit. like remember a few chapters ago when I was joking about how he was eight feet tall? well Natsuo is 5’11” according to the wiki, and you can tell by looking at him that he is a solidly built guy. like, he eats his fucking Wheaties. and Endeavor is still able to FULLY WRAP HIS ARMS AROUND both him and Katsuki together WITH ROOM TO SPARE and just. ?????? WHAT EVEN IS THIS MAN good grief

anyway poor Natsu looks close to passing out though so maybe you fucking should let them go Endeav

SDLFKJSDLFKH

1) seriously though look at how big his hands are jesus christ is he even a human!?!?

and 2)!! the amount of sheer detail which was put into this panel, with the facial expressions and the shading and all, only for Katsuki to open his big fucking mouth with ABSOLUTELY NO REGARD! like, this could have been one of the most heartrending panels in the entire series. but instead it’s forever immortalized with Bakugou fucking Katsuki and his brutal fucking speech bubble interjecting with the most vicious insult his angry toddler brain could think of. this panel has the same energy as Deku receiving a heartfelt thank you letter from a child whose life he saved only to unfold it and read that iconic opening line, “SORRY FOR PUNCHING YOU IN THE BALLS LOL”

oh my

boy took matters into his own hands. after Enji just STRAIGHT UP IGNORED HIS PLEAS lmao. this entire chapter is a gift, and we’re only on the second page. also that katakana there is all “SUPON”, which I don’t know what that means, but I have to tell you that to me this felt more like a “ZWOOP.” but that’s just how I personally read it

eyyyyy and there’s our half-naked lukewarm boi

and look, I’m not advocating for Shouto to actually be walking around half naked, because this is a children’s manga and Shouto is just a baby, and that kind of thing is obviously inappropriate unless you’re [checks notes] one of his female classmates, who just like Shouto are also only teenagers, but it’s okay for them because they have boobs. hey wait

but anyway, I will say that I appreciate that his uniform really did burn off just as you would expect, and that he used his ice quirk to preserve his modesty lol. quick thinking on his part

meanwhile all the people Deku rescued are stumbling out of their cars nauseously and thanking him. I like how all of the other traffic on this highway has apparently just come to a halt now. I wonder if the Endeavormobile also came equipped with some traffic cones and road flares that launched out of the trunk along with the costumes

oh hey a BakuDeku interaction, don’t mind me, I’m just... [folds hands on desk and leans forward]

someone please tell me what he actually called Deku here because I’m dying to know. anyways whatever it was, “dumb-ku” is a great translation. it’s just the right amount of stupid and immature, and I love how Deku just fucking answers to it anyway like shrug, whatever

also love how the first thing Katsuki asks is whether anyone is hurt. swear to god this kid makes me love him more with each passing week

fond sigh

okay guys, I’m getting more and more excited here now, and let me explain why. it’s because Katsuki, despite having achieved (as Deku points out) a complete and perfect victory here, is very obviously agitated and angry still. and I think the reason for that is because even though he’s achieved the goal Endeavor set out for them, he still hasn’t achieved what he wanted from this internship. the other two have! Deku accomplished his goal of gaining more control over Blackwhip, and Shouto is now well on his way to mastering Flashfire. but Katsuki specifically came here with the intent of discovering something intangible that he couldn’t put a name to. and even though he’s gotten stronger just like the others, he still hasn’t achieved what he set out to do yet, and I think he’s getting frustrated by it. and the reason I’m so excited is because I think we’re inching closer and closer to seeing that finally get resolved. ahhhhhhh

(ETA: THIS CHAPTER IS THE MONKEY’S PAW WISH OF CHAPTERS.)

anyway I’ll shut up now and read. here’s Katsuki bragging to Endeavor, and Endeavor doing his best All Might impression what the fuck

that line could have come straight out of All Might’s mouth and it would have sounded 100% natural. well everyone, we did it. we fucking broke Endeavor. I hope you’re happy. lol what the fuck is happening what is this

DFKLSLDGHK

I fucking see those wobbly speech bubbles Endeavor, are you crying, because -- !! holy shit this chapter is taking my emotions all over the place

lol Kacchan’s pissed off that Endeavor isn’t more pissed off about being shown up by some punk kids

Deku’s eyes. this chapter. I just

ohhhhhhhhhhhh shit here we go

for everyone out there who was worried that Natsu would just forgive Endeavor outright after the events of this chapter, I think we’ve arrived at the part where your fears are assuaged. I pretty much expected this was how it would go down, because for all the criticism he’s been getting week after week, Horikoshi has been writing the Todorokis realistically and consistently throughout this entire arc, and this was the natural conclusion based on what we’ve seen up till now. Natsuo won’t just forgive Endeavor just like that, because why would he? and Endeavor just has to deal with it. and it’s all very sad and painfully real

SON OF A BITCH

the fucking words “I’m sorry” really just came out of his mouth at last, holy shit. this is the first time, right? as far as I can recall, anyway. oh shit

oh shit

my fucking jaw. just dropped. just. fuck me, I wasn’t ready for this. sure Enji, just go ahead and pour your heart out. lord

imagine if his voice actor goes all out in this scene like Katsuki’s did in episode 61. holy shit, I never thought the thing that destroyed me would be a sad confession in a fucking shounen manga by the character I used to despise. life is funny

ohhhhhhhhhh

[awkward glance around the fandom] soooo. how’s everybody doing? aheh. [coughs]

oh shiiiiiiIIIIItttt

oh look at that, Endeavor didn’t actually murder his child, who could have predicted that. but maybe I’ll just shut up now though since I’m not here to start any shit

and the pain train to feels junction just keeps on chugging. fuck

YOU SEE!! BRUTAL!! RUTHLESS!! SO REALISTIC IT HURTS. Endeavor is genuinely sorry, but it’s all coming way too late to be of any use! and Natsuo is so pained because he honestly probably would like nothing more than to be able to forgive his dad, and for them to all just be a happy, normal, loving family again, but he can’t. because they’re not. and apologies can’t erase the past, or make up for it. there is no way to change what happened. Touya’s still dead, and the scars from all those years of neglect and abuse are still fucking there, and they’re not just going to go away, even if Enji is remorseful. Enji becoming a good man now doesn’t make up for all the years that he wasn’t! he can’t just undo it! and that’s the tragedy of it!! you feel so bad for the man -- or at least, I do -- but at the same time, part of the atonement process is to accept the consequences of everything he did!

and also, for everyone saying he hasn’t faced any actual consequences yet -- one person in particular sent me a very detailed and thoughtful ask, which I apologize for not responding to yet -- I say this with all due respect: there. look. there are your consequences, right there. everything he will never have. everything he can’t salvage. the pain of knowing he was the cause of all this. the pain of seeing the misery in his son’s eyes and knowing he can’t fix it, and knowing the hurt he’s caused to the ones he loved most. that is karma. that’s a fucking punishment. that’s an agony beyond any physical torture that anyone could ever possibly dream up. his punishment is that after all these years, he finally gets to feel all of the suffering he’s inflicted on them, and he’d do anything to take it back now, but he can’t. that’s it! and we all fucking hate it, and no one is happy! and it’s not fucking fair! haha! but that’s how it fucking is, though. and I swear to god, I keep saying it, but it’s some of the most brutally realistic shit I’ve ever seen in a fucking manga. fuck

anyways, I need to stop monologuing or else I’m never going to finish this fucking chapter, but rest assured my soul is being ripped the fuck apart. hmm

:’)

(ETA: note the conspicuous lack of a Kacchan reaction panel directly after the “I’m never gonna forgive you” panel. everyone else gets one. but not him. in fact, there are no more reaction panels of him until this speech ends, and then we get one zoomed far away where we can’t really see his face. but I’m sure that’s all just a coincidence and means absolutely nothing! oh baby. what a chapter.)

:’)))))))

by the way, quick shoutout to that person in the taxi giving them the Rock Lee Eyes and having just no idea what the fuck is going on sob. thanks to you for keeping me from breaking into full on sobs here. I’m holding it together for you, random deer-in-headlights citizen

[INHALES!!!]

that’s it. I don’t. fuck. anyways. I ranted about all my feelings already, so just. ... you all get it by this point, right?

oh Kacchan. penny for your thoughts. I’m almost done with that essay I keep rewriting. you have a lot to think about right now huh

and Shouto. oh Shouto. safe to say this is a side of his father he’s never seen nor imagined he would see before

YOU GUYS THIS IS SO FUCKING IMPORTANT THOUGH, SHIT

[GRABS THIS PANEL AND FRANTICALLY WAVES IT ALL OVER THE BNHA TAG] I’M!!! JUST!!! SAYING!!! THOUGH!!!!!!!

oh, we’re still going? SURE WHY THE FUCK NOT

WHATEVER HORIKOSHI!!! JUST KEEP COMING AT ME, THEN!! GO AHEAD AND FINISH ME OFF WITH A FUCKING SUPLEX OF FEELS!! YOU SON OF A BITCH

and now Ending’s freaking the fuck out and screaming for Endeavor to stop. lol it’s like the villain version of Can’t Ya See-Kun. Endeavor you jackhole, this isn’t on brand! CUT IT OUT

forget it, Jake. it’s Character Development

now the police are arriving and Deku’s like THANK GOODNESS because the awkwardness was about to go critical here. meanwhile, pay no attention to how Katsuki is staring at him despite having no real reason to be in this panel!

[sidles up next to Kacchan] so hey fella. did any of that hit a nerve, perchance. did it open any metaphorical eyes. dust off any momentous revelations that you’ve been valiantly trying to keep shelved in your mental basement. have the SEEDS of your PERSONAL GROWTH been CULTIVATED. are the JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES of NOT BEING A DICK knocking at your inner door!?

anyway so now we’re cutting to Endeavor talking with the authorities while Chauffeur Armstrong tells him he needs to watch his back

friendly reminder that a bearded hermit flew around town on a glass hoverchair singing a song about Endeavor bringing darkness to the world or some shit not too long ago. that’s still a thing! better watch it Enji

HOLY FUCKARONI

(ETA: shoutout to that “neither does the light” line because that’s some straight up Harry Potter quotable bullshit and I love it and Endeavor’s character development continues to slay me that is all.)

FUCKING!!! CHRIST!!! OH GOD!!! OH JESUS!!!!

HMGGHHHHAAAA SOMEONE HELP ME OH MY GOD I’M SHAKING, AHHHHHHH

(ETA: listen you guys, in all of my “!!!!” I didn’t stop to appreciate all of the other things about this scene. but Shouto has changed into his hero costume which is a great little detail that I love because he obviously didn’t feel like standing around freezing his butt off and being oggled by the crowd. and then we have Natsu coming over to thank them all for saving his life, which is great, and he’s such a sweetheart. and then Deku actually saying “Bakugou” for probably the first and only time in his life lmao. and then, finally, his fucking face when he realizes Kacchan has finally chosen a hero name. he’s fucking ecstatic. he can’t wait!! anyway so Deku is me.)

NO BUT I’M FULLY SERIOUS YOU GUYS, I’M TREMBLING LIKE A FUCKING LEAF, IT’S PROBABLY THE CAFFEINE IN ME BUT STILL, OH MY GOD, I’M PARALYZED, I CAN’T SCROLL DOWN, MY HEART IS POUNDING, MY LIFE IS ABOUT TO BE FOREVER CHANGED, OH FUCKSTICKS, OH SHIT

NOOOOOOOOOOO

FUCK MY FUCKING -- WHERE IS HAWKS!!?!? WHERE IS HE!?!? I SWEAR TO GOD IF THAT FUCKING MAGPIE DOESN’T SWOOP DOWN RIGHT THE FUCK NOW WITH JEANIST IN TOW ALL “HAHA IT WAS ALL A MISUNDERSTANDING” I’M GOING TO --

(ETA: but lmao at the fact that Shouto was all “okay, so you’re not going to tell him, but what about me, your Best Friend?” like he really heard “DROP DEAD ASSHOLE” and thought “well, that was Midoriya though, LET ME TAKE A STAB AT IT.” this is the most earnest child in the universe and this OT3 continues to bring me boundless joy.)

FUCK

LISTEN YOU KNOW I LOVE THAT TODODRAMA, BUT YOU CAN’T JUST DO THAT TO ME!! I’M A HUMAN BEING!! IF YOU CUT ME I BLEED!! WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS. I’M GOING TO STRAIGHT UP CRY ALL OVER AGAIN YOU HEARTLESS PIECE OF SHIT

looool

“and his friends.” you hear that, Kacchan. now COME BACK OUT HERE AND TELL US YOUR HERO NAME RIGHT NOW YOUNG MAN!!!

Endeavor you better save this chapter. I’m counting on you dog

oh. oh shit

hahaha. well fuck

first of all, look at Mr. “la dee dah I’m just going to build my family a new house on a whim because I’m so fucking rich” over here, like, damn, Endeavor. and second of all my heart is just a bludgeoned hemorrhaging mass of feels at this point and I’m not even going to try to salvage it. and third of all, this is exactly the type of resolution I wanted, pain and all, and I’m so goddamn satisfied with it it’s almost ridiculous. because the man fucking gets it. for everyone who continues to doubt Endeavor’s intentions, look no fucking further than this. this isn’t a narcissist trying to gaslight his victims and get back in his family’s good graces and make it all about him yet again. this is a man who understands that the best thing for his family right now is for them to be allowed to piece their lives back together without him. and so he’s enabling them to do that, and voluntarily stepping out of the picture while still providing for them. and damn but I respect that so much. fuck yeah, Enji. this was the right thing to do. it doesn’t make up for all the mistakes you’ve made, because nothing can do that. but you’re a better man now, and this right here is exactly the type of thing people mean when they say actions speak louder than words. so, respect

and that’s it! we’ve officially experienced all of the human emotions in this chapter! oh and also that’s it, as in the chapter is done. so yeah. well that sure was a whirlwind now wasn’t it

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 253: That Good Angst

Previously on BnHA: The villain Ending, whose name in retrospect is hella melodramatic for a guy whose power is MAKING ROAD MARKINGS COME TO LIFE, kidnapped Natsuo and then deservedly got his ass kicked by three teenagers. Endeavor won the manga’s coveted Best Hug award, made up by me just now, and then gave one of the best monologues in the whole series, basically owning up to all his crimes and saying he doesn’t want or deserve his son’s forgiveness. And he didn’t get it either, which was excellent. Instead, he announced to his kids that he was building them a new home for them to go live in with their mother and without him. Meanwhile Katsuki was all, “btw I’ve decided on my new hero name,” and the ENTIRE FANDOM was all “!!!!” until he went on to say, “but I ain’t revealing SHIT until I’ve told it to Best Jeanist,” which caused everyone to collectively wince and awkwardly glance at each other wondering who’s going to break it to him. Uh.

Today on BnHA: hAHAHAHAHHA.

Sorry, I forgot to turn my capslock back off. Anyways, so we return to U.A. and everything is all “HAPPY NEW YEAR IIDA!” and “STILL ON ABOUT THAT UNREQUITED LOVE THING, HUH OCHAKO?” and “LOOKS LIKE THAT SCAMPISH IMP BAKUGOU IS AT IT AGAIN!” and all the usual stuff. We then have a complete switch of gears, and I seriously mean like the GEAR SWITCH TO END ALL GEAR SWITCHES, as we cut to Aizawa and Mic driving to Tartarus! Why are they driving to Tartarus you ask? Well it’s because they got a call from Naomasa and he was all “hey, so you know your deceased childhood friend from chapters 59 through 65 of Vigilantes? Well IT TURNS OUT I HAVE A FUNNY STORY ABOUT THAT.” Anyway so the rest of this chapter can basically be summed up as (1) LOL SO KUROGIRI WAS REALLY SHIRAKUMO ALL ALONG, and (2) AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

btw the whole reason I spoiled myself in the first place was because my dumbass id was all “WE SHOULD CHECK IF THEY MENTION THE HERO NAME” and I was like “YES” and just immediately lost all self-control. like it wasn’t an accidental click or anything; I was fully aware of what I was doing. lord knows what I would have done if I actually had been spoiled about the hero name lol. that would have been so much worse than the spoiler I actually got, so yeah. just stupid decisions all around. anyways how are you

no BnHA thumbnails on the Mangastream homepage today. must mean Kacchan didn’t make any good faces. ah well

lmao the chapter is literally titled “Shirakumo.” well I guess I wasn’t spoiled much after all. I did catch a half-glimpse (I was trying not to look; like, I had my fingers covering my eyes and was peeking through them. again, I’m not really sure what I was trying to accomplish in the first place honestly) of what seemed to be Aizawa with a shocked expression on his face though, so that’s why I was so convinced Kumo was somehow coming back from the dead or something. WE SHALL SEE

MY FORMULA 1 SON!!

lol I’m having one of those Berenstein moments. like. he didn’t always have those huge exhaust pipes running out from his sides and from either leg, right? those are just for this cover. or else something new and fancy he just added to his suit. right??

anyway so yes, Iida is the color page this week, just as we all expected from a chapter titled “Shirakumo”

“WINTER BREAK WAS OVER IN A FLASH” oh man. ain’t that always the way

wow I’ve really missed U.A. like, we’re cutting to these panels of USJ and the stadium, and it’s so fucking nostalgic geez. we weren’t even gone that long

Deku’s voiceover is talking about how they only have three months left in their “tumultuous” first year. ha. tumultuous. if Deku hadn’t met up with All Might, he could have easily fallen back on a career in PR; he’s got a gift for phrasing things diplomatically

Iida is wishing everyone a happy new year! happy new year Iida!!

he’s announcing that their class will be an action report meeting, which apparently means everyone’s gonna share what they learned over the winter break

but now he’s telling everyone to come down to Field Alpha, which Mangastream annoyingly spelled out with the Greek symbol α, forcing me to look it up because I’m sorry but I don’t speak math. ?? like what is this

now Aizawa’s sliding the door open all CRANKY because he’s MISSING HIS NAP

but Mina is all smooth like,

Mina could also have had a promising future in PR. well it’ll still serve them well in their hero careers too

oh my lord

WHAT is that FACE, Iida. just what. is that an eyebrow waggle. what the fuck. he looks like the next words out of his mouth were going to be “sliding into people’s dms”

jokes’s on you Horikoshi!! you think a panel like this will stop my “stupid sexy Iida” jokes? IT ONLY MAKES ME LOVE HIM MORE

oh? someone on the loudspeaker is calling Aizawa and summoning him to the faculty room. I wonder what this could be about. probably nothing!

now we’re cutting to the changing room and the girls are admiring Ochako’s new costume!

I’ll add an ETA later where I actually analyze the changes in her costume. right now let’s just pretend like I’m aware of what actually changed. I swear I pay attention to things. by the way, why would the suitcase get heavy? her quirk can be applied to anything can’t it?

(ETA: so the costume changes are (1) an upgrade to her gauntlets, and (2) an upgrade to her headset. so anyway that’s pretty cool, even if it was really only brought up in this chapter so that we could get that SWEET YA ROMANCE DRAMA. which I know annoys some people, but at this point I feel like Horikoshi only throws it in because he’s expected to, and the way he does it is so adorably reluctant that I can’t help but enjoy it at this point lol.)

OH MY GOD

OCHAKO YOU KEPT DEKU’S CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO YOU IN YOUR HERO COSTUME FOR GOOD LUCK, OH MY GOD. (1) YOU ARE THE LITERAL CUTEST, (2) IT’S TIMES LIKE THIS I’M GLAD I SHIP BASICALLY EVERYTHING BECAUSE THIS IS A DELIGHT, and (3) MINA’S REACTION TO THIS IS ABOUT TO BE MY FAVORITE THING OF ALL TIME, SO LET’S COUNT DOWN TO IT IN 3... 2...

okay but before we click to the next page, I just need to draw everyone’s attention to the background of that Jirou panel, where I’m pretty sure that is Ochako acquiring Hagakure’s quirk in a moment of transcendent desperation, much like how parents are able to summon incredible strength in times of crisis to lift cars off of their trapped children and shit. we are witnessing the next stage of human evolution over here

-- oh fuck me

hello, Horikoshi? yes, this was supposed to be a cute moment of teens being teens and giggling over high school crushes. did you not get the memo. what are you doing here with this sucker punch of feels right to my fucking kidneys. why would you do that. why does this panel of Ochako make me want to fucking cry, I did not ask for this

(ETA: but like also, you see how he just instantly drops the subject less than a panel later lol. like “THERE’S YOUR ROMANCE PLOT, OKAY?? NOW BACK TO THE REANIMATED BRAINWASHED CHILDHOOD FRIENDS ARC.”)

meanwhile in the boy’s locker room! so apparently word has spread about Deku mastering Bloopwhip!

so Ojiro is evidently fucking ripped under that karate gi. Ojiro, this one corner of a panel with you facing away from the screen is possibly the most interesting thing you’ve ever done. have you considered what a costume change might do for your image. I’m just saying

lmao Deku

I have never in my life found the idea of Villain Deku even remotely convincing until this exact moment. jesus christ. Deku are you sure there isn’t a little piece of AFO horcrux soul in you right at this moment. just wondering. if it was Kaminari doing this, the headline for this chapter would be “KAMINARI 100% CONFIRMED THE TRAITOR” and even I would find myself hard-pressed to argue at this point

anyway, the hero we deserve is stepping in to bring him back to reality sob

(ETA: I’m not even going to check the bnha tag to see if there is discourse about this, because I already know!! because clearly this is a very serious panel which should be taken 100% seriously!! anyway I’m not even going to go here lol.)

it’s okay kids I’m already dialing 911. Kacchan, honey, come here. listen, we need to put you in a time out. I love you but you can’t just go around throwing your spiky headgear at people like a fucking tomahawk, and also what the fuck is that thing even made of jesus christ

sob is Deku actually fucking dead

and so, while the girls were having cute shoujo drama about a romantic All Might plush, over in the boy’s locker room an actual murder was going down

FSDKDJL

I can’t. stop laughing. I

and the way they’re all just staring at him and clearly have no idea what to fucking do at this point. “so should we just... leave it in, then?” lmao Horikoshi what the fuck kind of substance did you ingest before you went and drew this. I need me some of that

(ETA: and now that I’ve mostly stopped laughing, I would also just like to point out that he is essentially saying “I just had to stop thinking so hard about it and just do it”, which I’ve only been saying SINCE FOREVER, DEKU, but sure go ahead and don’t listen to me then!)

ALL MIGHT IS...

WHY, YOU ASK? WHO CARES!!

lol apparently it’s a pun. someone go over there and check to make sure this All Might isn’t actually a bunch of Mirios hidden underneath a trench coat

anyway so they’re completely unimpressed, because they’re all jaded fucking teenagers with no souls, and they’re asking where Aizawa is

is this the part where we slide right back into the angst after our brief humorous interlude with the kiddos. because I am ready. bring it

OOOOH HERE WE GO, LOOK AT THIS TENSION

SO HERE WE HAVE MIC ACTUALLY TELLING AIZAWA TO SHUT THE FUCK UP, AND IT’S CONFIRMED, THE WORLD IS ENDING

and look at Aizawa’s body language. arms crossed, fingers tapping anxiously, gritting his teeth. fucking Mic has to tell him to calm down. jesus christ. anyway so Aizawa angst is apparently MY DRUG you guys, and Horikoshi you can go right ahead and INJECT THAT SHIT STRAIGHT INTO MY VEINS

AHHHHHHH

OHHHHHH THAT’S GOOD. I might need someone to come and slap me in the face in another minute just to make sure I can continue here

-- HOLD UP, WHAT

THAT SOUND YOU HEAR IS THE SOUND OF MY MENTAL BRAKES SCREECHING TO A FUCKING HALT, EVERYONE HOLD THE FUCK UP WHILE I DO A QUICK MENTAL ROLL CALL OF THE VILLAIN CAST AT USJ. FUCK ME, PLEASE TELL ME HE WASN’T THE NOUMU. BUT ASIDE FROM HIM AND TOMURA, AND THE FACELESS NO-NAME VILLAINS, THAT ONLY LEAVES... OKAY MY BRAIN JUST SERIOUSLY FROZE UP WHILE PROCESSING THIS, BECAUSE NO FUCKING WAY

fuck me fuck me FUCK ME

there is no fucking way it can really be Kurogiri, can it?? Kumo didn’t have a portal quirk. but All For One, though?? but no wait because we know he didn’t have that quirk because he had to use the other teleportation one instead. John’s or whoever’s

so then the only other option is the Noumu. could this be the start of the Noumu arc at long last?! oh my godddddd I’m about to get up out of my seat and just jump around for a second to get all my nerves out. ahhhhhhh

Horikoshi knew full well what he was doing titling the chapter “Shirakumo” and then teasing us with this incredibly tense buildup, too. I have actual fucking chills

oh my god IT REALLY IS THE NOUMU ISN’T IT

I HATE AND LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS SIMULTANEOUSLY, IT IS THE WEIRDEST FEELING. IT’S BOTH INVIGORATING AND TERRIFYING HOLY SHIT

I WANTED THIS. I KNEW IT WAS GONNA BE DARK. I WANTED IT SO BAD AND I COULDN’T WAIT FOR IT AND NOW IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING AND WHAT A FUCKING WAY TO KICK IT OFF I JUST!!!

AHHHHH

DON’T MIND ME PLEASE CONTINUE AND IGNORE ALL OF MY SILENT SCREAMING!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

AIZAWA IS ABOUT TO LOSE HIS FUCKING MIND. HIS CLOSEST FRIEND WAS DESECRATED AND VIOLATED IN AN UNIMAGINABLE WAY AND TRANSFORMED INTO SOMETHING UNRECOGNIZABLE WITH ALL TRACES OF HUMANITY LOST, AND THIS WHOLE TIME HE THOUGHT HE WAS FUCKING DEAD. THEY DON’T EVEN HAVE A THERAPY FOR THAT, PEOPLE. THAT IS THE KIND OF ANGST THERE’S NO COMING BACK FROM

ANYWAY, SO THERE’S THAT SHOCKED AIZAWA FACE I CAUGHT A GLIMPSE OF YESTERDAY, NOW WITH HORRIFIC CONTEXT, AND IF ANYONE NEEDS ME I’LL JUST BE HERE IN THE CORNER SETTING MY KEYBOARD TO PERMANENT CAPSLOCK, AND UPDATING MY SEXUAL ORIENTATION TO “THE FUCKED-UP AIZAWA ANGST IN THIS CHAPTER” BECAUSE THAT’S APPARENTLY WHAT IT IS AND ALL THIS TIME I NEVER KNEW

OH GODDDDD

BRB UPDATING MY ORIENTATION AGAIN TO “MIC’S COMFORTING HAND ON AIZAWA’S SHOULDER AS AIZAWA STRUGGLES TO HOLD ON TO THE LAST OF HIS COMPOSURE WHILE TRYING AND FAILING TO PROCESS THIS UNFATHOMABLY HEINOUS THING THAT’S ABOUT TO BE REVEALED”

(ETA: and also!! the fact that either Mic’s hand is shaking, or Aizawa is shaking so badly that it’s affecting Mic’s hand on his shoulder too! either way how the hell am I not literally dead after reading this chapter, I don’t even know.)

WAIT WHAT!!!!

THE CORE?! SO WAIT, IS IT KUROGIRI THEN??? OR WHAT?!

(ETA: I know I’m just inserting random commentary all over the place at this point, but like, can we also talk about how Naomasa looks like he hasn’t slept in eleven years?? this is taking such a toll on his soul here and it’s heartbreaking.)

OH MY GOD!!!!!

I WISH I COULD BETTER DESCRIBE THIS FEELING BECAUSE IT’S REALLY SOMETHING!! I’M SO EXCITED AND AT THE SAME TIME FULLY AWARE OF HOW I’M DELIGHTING IN THE PAIN OF THESE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS, SO IT’S LIKE THIS GUILTY SADISTIC GLEE AND AT THE SAME TIME SHOCK AND EXCITEMENT AND DAMN NEAR A KIND OF ELATION AT BEING FULLY TAKEN FOR A RIDE BY THIS EPIC FUCKING TWIST. IT’S GOOD SHIT

SDLKFJASLKDFJ;LKS

(ETA: so if they can trace quirk factors like this, they should be able to do it with the other Noumu they have in captivity, and also with any dead Noumus they’ve collected as well, yes? including the one that Stain killed a few months back? like, don’t mind me, I’m just sitting here trying to calculate the Six Degrees of Bakuangst for this plotline seeing as my brain, as ever, is focused on one thing and one thing only.

and so if they have managed to ID some of the Noumus, would that info maybe be on the Hero Network? meaning Endeavor would have access? would the interns then have access too? or if not, is his password something easily guessable, like Shouto’s birthday or something? will I ever stop running out of hypothetical scenarios along these lines? doesn’t seem likely as of now.)

“SEVERAL DIFFERENT QUIRK FACTORS” HOLY SHIT, AFO. THAT MANIAC. THIS WHOLE TIME MY RESPECTED DOCTOR OF MEDICINE WAS REALLY A HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT WHO GOT CONKED ON THE HEAD BY SOME FALLING ROCKS ONE DAY. THE GRANDDADDY OF ALL TWISTS!! THIS TWIST WAS CONCEIVED IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS!!

AND BY THE WAY, THANK YOU AGAIN TO THAT ANON, BECAUSE HOLY SHIT THE EMOTIONAL IMPACT IS FUCKING RAW. ONCE I FINALLY COME DOWN FROM THIS BIZARRE HIGH I’M GOING TO CRY FOR AIZAWA BECAUSE HE IS HURTING SO BAD RIGHT NOW AND I CAN’T EVEN, SOMEONE SAVE HIMMMM

WELL FOLKS. THERE IT IS. HORIKOSHI FINALLY HOOKING US UP WITH THAT GOOD ANGST. THE PLOT THAT WAS PROMISED. THE ANGST THAT WAS AVOWED. YOU GUYS I CAN’T BELIEVE AIZAWA SHOUTA WAS SHIGARAKI TOMURA’S FUCKING UNCLE THIS WHOLE FUCKING TIME. HOLY SHIT

AND YOOOO I JUST HAD A BUNCH OF THOUGHTS THAT I CAN BARELY EVEN PROCESS RIGHT NOW BECAUSE THIS REVELATION OPENS UP SO MANY NEW DOORS NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN THOUGH. BUT LIKE, IF AFO AND UJIKO WERE IN THE BUSINESS OF TAKING CHILDREN’S CORPSES AND REVIVING THEM AND INFUSING THEM WITH UPGRADED QUIRKS AND NO MEMORIES OF THEIR PRIOR LIVES, THEN HOLY FUCKING SHIT, WHAT IF A CERTAIN TODOROKI SIBLING REALLY DID FUCKING DIE AND HAS ACTUALLY BEEN A PUPPET OF AFO’S THIS ENTIRE TIME OH MY GOD. THIS CHAPTER IS JUST!!!

(ETA: yeah I actually have a lot of thinking to do about this one, because holy shit. I mean there must be a reason we’re getting this reveal directly on the heels of the Todoangst Arc with all of its talk about Touya and how dead he is, right? god I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all. this stupid manga!!)

AND AIZAWA’S FACE. THE WAY HE’S COVERING HIS MOUTH AS THOUGH TRYING TO KEEP HIMSELF FROM BEING SICK. THE MAN WHO PRIDES HIMSELF ON HIS RATIONALITY IS SO COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED BY EMOTION THAT HE’S STRUGGLING TO KEEP IT TOGETHER. THIS IS THE DEFINING WOUND OF HIS CHILDHOOD, RETURNING ALL OF A SUDDEN TO STAB HIM RIGHT IN THE HEART ALL OVER AGAIN WITH A FRESH NEW KIND OF HORROR. MIC, YOU’D BETTER BE THERE FOR HIM AFTER THIS, BECAUSE HE’S GOING TO FUCKING BREAK DOWN IN THE CAR ON THE RIDE HOME OR SOMETHING PROBABLY, AND HE NEEDS YOU, AND YOU PROBABLY NEED HIM TOO, AND FUCK

I DON’T HAVE SPACE FOR ALL THIS ANGST IN MY HOUSE!!! BUT LIKE HELL AM I GIVING ANY OF IT BACK, IT’S MINE NOW AND I’M KEEPING IT!! I WILL FUCKING RENT OUT A STORAGE LOCKER FOR THE EXCESS!! I WILL HOARD IT ALL LIKE A GREEDY DRAGON IN MY CAVE. THIS ANGST IS MY CHILD NOW. FUCKING SUBSCRIBED, GOOD NIGHT EVERYONE

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 193: The First

Previously on BnHA: Recovery Girl healed up Endeavor and he left the hospital with a shiny new scar. Hawks apologized for everything that happened and came up with some bullshit story about how they were probably spotted by villains earlier and made a tempting target and that’s why they were attacked. We also learned that he was more or less raised to become a hero from a young age and didn’t have much of a choice in the matter due to his talent. Endeavor headed on home where his kids were waiting to greet him. Although they were glad he was all right, Natsuo couldn’t hold back his anger toward Endeavor for tormenting Shouto and Rei for all those years, and for taking this long to finally get an attitude adjustment. Shouto acknowledged that Endeavor the hero was amazing, but he felt similarly to Natsuo as far as forgiving Endeavor the father. However, he said he was willing to wait and see, and that he knew better than anyone how “one small inspiration” could change a person. Endeavor thought about the epiphany he’d recently had that his children were the most important thing and that as a hero it was his duty to protect them. He also realized it was too late to apologize for all of his wrongdoings, and that the only thing he can do now is to move forward. That evening, Deku fell asleep after a long day of training, and dreamed of the past wielders of One for All, including the very first, All for One’s younger brother.

Today on BnHA: Deku finds himself in the midst of a wildly trippy dream sequence. First he sees the eight other wielders of OFA, and then his attention is drawn towards a flashback conversation between AFO and OFA the First. The First accuses AFO of using his quirk to fulfill his own selfish desires. AFO maintains he is using it for the good of the people. He demonstrates this by taking a mutation quirk from a man who wants to be rid of it, and bestowing a quirk upon a quirkless man who wanted a power of his own for self defense. The two men appear grateful, but the First says that AFO is really just creating an army of loyal servants to do his bidding. AFO says he intends to restore order to the world, and goes on to imprison his brother while he creates his army. Some time later he visits his younger brother and brags about how his dreams are becoming a reality, “just like in that comic we read together way back when.” The First says that AFO never finished the comic, and at the end of the story the Demon King lost to the Hero of Justice. AFO is all “well whatever IT’S NOT LIKE THIS IS A MANGA OR SOMETHING,” and then forces a quirk on OFA in order to entice him to join him. The scene fades, and Deku finds himself speaking with the First directly. He mentions something about them having passed “the point of singularity”, and tells Deku that he is not alone. Deku wakes up and finds that he’s somehow activated his quirk in his sleep and destroyed his room. He stares at his hand in shock and the chapter ends.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my mostly unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 213 now, so any ETAs will reflect that. If you haven’t read that chapter, don’t read this recap! Don’t be like me and think “eh I’m probably good, I bet I know most of the big stuff by now” and get cocky and then live to regret it sob.)

so just a quick thing here -- I have unfortunately been spoiled for something big related to Deku, which is that he is going to be getting additional quirks. six, to be precise. and that’s all the details I saw before I clicked away (much too late), but unfortunately it was enough to put everything else together. because he is the ninth owner of OFA, and the second quirkless wielder, and the original dude’s quirk was OFA. but the other six wielders presumably had their own quirks, and so in hindsight it makes perfect sense that he would inherit not just their strength, but all of their abilities. and since it had been hinted at that there would be more OFA stuff coming up around this point in the manga, and also that Deku would be getting some sort of huge power-up, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together here. so yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what all of this is eventually building up to

but oddly enough, that’s not even in my top 5 list of things that I’m actually excited for here! I don’t even care about him getting their abilities tbh, but I’m just curious whether he’ll be able to talk to them and have access to their memories! and for the first time it appears that yes, he will! which makes me so fucking excited you guys, because I have at least two of three fanfic ideas that have been permeating in my head for quite a while now which are very reliant on this concept. so I’m so fucking glad this panned out omfg

AND I WANT HIM TO MEET NANA OH MY GOD

ANYWAY!! LET’S START THIS THING ALREADY

so it appears that that fog or whatever that’s surrounding Deku is actually him not having a full body in this state, whatever he is. because his mouth is missing, he isn’t able to speak. but he can watch, and he can move his right hand

that’s so fucking clever and I love that eventually this ability will grow stronger and presumably he’ll be able to interact with the others and maybe even train with them??

right now he can’t move since he doesn’t have legs though

and there are still two figures that are complete mist and he can only see their silhouettes thus far

kind of weird that these guys are out of order, no? because All Might is all the way back there for some reason. and I assume his form is less distinct than the others because he’s still alive? maybe? though that doesn’t make a lot of sense but idk, it’s a cartoon, people

also there’s a disappointing lack of female representation here, but unfortunately that seems to be par for the course recently. poor Shimura having to rep an entire gender because the mangaka decided that just six or seven dudes wasn’t enough. nope, better make it eight!

though I suppose the somewhat androgynous Shouto-looking one in the trench coat could be female, possibly. that would be pretty awesome. or one of the two shadows, though based on the silhouettes I’d say that’s less likely

(ETA: although the second-from-the-left one, though... I’d say there’s a shot. fingers crossed!)

and lastly, the missing one is clearly the original, who’s fighting AFO in your dream sequence as we speak! pay attention, Deku!!

oh shit you guys I’m so fucking hypppppped. more AFO stuff!!!

and even though Deku has never seen his face, he recognizes his voice instantly and is thinking that he’ll never forget it

and so he’s finally realizing that the person AFO is talking to must be his brother, the First

why is the First such a hot mess. look at that scraggly looking hair and outfit. looks like he just rolled out of bed

why would they be aware of your presence if it’s a flashback dream. have you never read a fucking manga before Deku

oh shit AFO is beckoning to some dudes and they’re appearing out of the flashback mist

and you, being the kind soul you are, are going to “help” them both I suppose

also interesting that quirks were not called “quirks” at this point, but superpowers! taking more notes for that fic I mentioned!

First is running toward his big bro begging him not to do it and saying that once he does there’ll be no turning back

but he’s collapsing in a coughing fit oh shit

OH MY GOD ARE WE ACTUALLY GOING TO SEE IT??? I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS HOLY SHIT

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE

so his quirk is gone! is he happy though?

and meanwhile the other guy has the defense he wanted so badly

so far nothing about this seems that evil, but I’m sure the other shoe is going to drop any minute now

well he is implying that they both owe him a favor now, for starters

and we know he’s going to go on to be the future kingpin of the underworld, so him acting all Godfather here is definitely on point

and they’re saying of course, and that they’ll never forget what he’s done for them

sophistry is a super fancy word for a fallacious, intentionally deceiving argument, FYI. jesus Mangastream, put that fucking thesaurus away for a bit will ya. or am I the only plebe here who had to double check what that meant and everyone else already knew and is cool with it lol

AFO is acknowledging that he needs people who owe him a debt so he can know they’ll come through when he needs them

building up that loyal army of followers huh

but he says that by trying to deny him, First is also denying them of their happiness

but will they still be happy by the time you’re through with them? that remains to be seen

already one hell of a god complex building up here

First says he’s just taking advantage of people’s vulnerabilities and using them and throwing them away after

yeah I’m inclined to agree with him lol. AFO your MO has been made abundantly clear already

what is this?!

oh shit!

-- IS THIS KUROGIRI!?!?!??!??!

lol that’s crazy right. that’s a crazy thought. but idk I’m still convinced that AFO and Kurogiri are very old friends, so it would not surprise me at all to see him running around in this timeline already. hell, he doesn’t even need to have the same quirk at this point; the warp quirk could just as easily be something that was given to him by AFO

(ETA: this is an absurd theory that I’m gonna continue to push until the end of my days you guys.)

so as Deku continues to watch, AFO is loftily monologuing about how his poor pathetic brother was born without a superpower

“without power, one cannot even assert their ideals”

but he says that even so, he still loves him. “you’re my only family after all”

oh shit is this when he makes the mistake of giving him OFA??

but the black fog is getting much more prominent all of a sudden? like, I don’t think we’re going to get to see this flashback play out in full

I swear to god, if Deku wakes up and it turns out someone is shaking him awake or something I’m gonna be so pissed at that person lol

oh shit nope, never mind, we’re just getting a scene change! EVEN BETTER OMG

YOU GUYS

seriously you don’t understand, I have this plot bunny in my head that involves time travel and is tentatively set during the early days of quirks, and it also involves the past users of OFA and the concept of them passing on their memories as well as their power

so basically what I’m saying is this whole chapter thus far has been an absolute goldmine

does Deku even realize what he’s seeing here, though? whose narration is this

(ETA: I think that’s actually a paraphrase of something All Might said back in chapter 59, so we’re probably just being reminded of it.)

you guysssss AFO’s origin story is so fucking metal oh my god I love it. I love this so much

YESSSSSSSS

YESSSSS LOOK AT THIS MAGNETO BULLSHIT. LOOK AT HIM WITH HIS FUCKING ARMY HOLY SHIT

and now we’re transitioning again, this time to a dark cell

jesus christ AFO

that’s your own fucking brother for christ’s sake?? what the hell do you have him locked up in, a bank vault? are you that concerned about his sickly ass somehow getting out? for fuck’s sake there’s not even a bed in here

First says he refuses to be manipulated by AFO, and AFO says it’s about time he gave up already

oh my god!!!

OH MY FUCKING GOD THERE WAS A FUCKING RESISTANCE MOVEMENT YESSSSSSS

this is another thing I needed for my fic, fuck yes!? this worldbuilding is giving me life right now

(ETA: not that anyone cares, but despite my not shutting up about it, this isn’t something I’ll probably be writing any time soon. more likely I’ll spend the next five years or so outlining every last detail in my head, and then finally get inspired to write it only to flake out before the very last chapter hahaha sob. but it sure is fun to construct imaginary WIPs in your head though.)

so I’ll just assume that even though he thinks they were all killed, some of them survived! and continued the fight!

anyways

so AFO says he didn’t actually give the order to kill those people, and that his “friends” and followers simply did it on his behalf and made his desire to bring order into a reality

and he says he was happy beyond words. “I simply think it, and everyone takes action on my behalf”

so much fun being the god of your own world huh

HOLY SHIT

WHAT THE FUCK AFO, WHY THE FUCK ARE YOUR EYES SO FUCKING CREEPY

oh my god I for real shuddered

(ETA: and I was so creeped out by his eyes that I didn’t notice this my first time around, but underneath his nose there... are those freckles?!)

but First, nerd that he is, says AFO only read up to volume 3, and that the story continued and eventually the hero won and defeated the demon king

I like how Horikoshi clearly drew these in the style of the old timey American comics of the gold and silver ages

OH SHIT!!

SFLHKSDLKF HERE IT IS!!!

DEKU’S REACHING OUT, BUT OF COURSE YOU CAN’T STOP IT, DEKU! AND EVEN IF YOU COULD, YOU’D UNDO THE ONE GOOD THING AFO EVER DID LOL

YESSSSSS OH MY GOD I’M SO HYPED TO FINALLY SEE THIS MOMENT OH MY GOD

(ETA: there really is something fascinating about watching the moment when someone seals their own doom and doesn’t even know it. if only AFO had gotten himself an irony-understanding quirk.

also, this answers the question All Might raised in chapter 59 about whether or not AFO gave his brother the quirk out of pity/affection, or whether it was to control him. seems like it was mostly the latter, but seeing as he could have killed him but chose to keep him alive all this time instead, maybe there’s a little of the former there too. like, he wanted him to submit to him, but the reason he wanted it so badly was probably because some part of him wanted his little bro fighting by his side. that’s why he spent so long trying to convince him of his own free will before he finally went with this option instead. but little did he know...

also also! that just goes to show you how much OFA has leveled up over time, because this quirk was originally so weak that AFO picked it specifically because it was something that his “frail and starving” little brother would be able to handle. and look at it now. quirks. are. fucking. wild.)

and now the scene is fading!

AHHHH!LHLKlksdhflahks

YES!! HE IS!! WHO’S TALKING!??

OH SNAP

YOU KNOW, LIKE A LIAR

HOLY SHIT IT’S THE FIRST WHO’S TALKING!!

YOU GUYS THE HYPE IS TOO MUCH I’M FUCKING LOSING IT HERE OH MY GODDDDDDD

“BUT YOU CAN ONLY MANAGE ABOUT 20%” HOLY SHIT DEKU FUCKING HURRY UP AND MASTER THE REST OF IT ALREADY AHHHHH

so the memories are the same as the powers and will come to him little by little? but why lol. with the powers I can understand, because his body can’t physically handle the strain

...well actually, thinking of it like that, maybe his mind can’t handle the strain of all this info dumping yet either, though

and the hands touching omgggg. the connection! the bond that they now share despite being separated by time. the same shared fate oh my god

there is so much more to this than All Might ever let on. he barely even scratched the surface. did he think about all of this before he made the decision to give this power to a 14-year-old? this is so much, though. holy shiiiit

(ETA: so a couple more things to add here! first, we now know that All Might apparently didn’t know shit about most of this, so he gets a pass for the most part. and that’s a relief, because there’s a limit to how irresponsible I can accept him being lol. at some point it becomes less of a gift and more of a burden. but he had no idea of the extent to which this would happen, because his own OFA experience was very different.

and second, I totally missed this the first time around, but “the point of singularity” which First refers to is something that was brought up by Seiji in chapter 166. basically it’s the whole “eventually quirks will evolve to the point where no one can fucking control them and it’ll be chaos” thing. I didn’t realize this would become an actual plot thing so soon, but this is something that’s come up again in the chapters I just got up to, and now I can kind of see what they meant. best of luck with that Deku.)

HYPE AND FUCKING FEELS, COME ON THOUGH??

oh sweet moses

this chapter is blessed

so now he’s charging in to Deku’s room and asking why he’s making so much noise

WHAT’S GOING ON WHY IS HE HAVING THIS REACTION

OH SHIT

holy fuck

is it weird my first thought was that I bet this exact same thing has happened to Katsuki in the past. accidental activation of your quirk in your sleep, destroying all of your precious All Might merch in the process

and is his hand all right!? his hand was the only thing he could move in the dream so I’m worried the power was concentrated there, and that’s his fucked up hand and he’s not supposed to use it oh man

what is this

lol well actually I probably know the answer to that already huh

oh man. ohhh hhhhhhhh man

that was so intense. easily one of my favorite chapters ever. I said “oh my god” and “oh shit” so many fucking times lmao. that was fucking intense! it’s late and I have to get up early tomorrow but I’m gonna read the next one anyway because I need to see what kind of a conversation he has with All Might after this lol, and ALSO! TELL KATSUKI, YOU COWARD

(ETA: THEY DIDN’T but it’s okay because Kacchan realized something was up and took matters into his own hands! KEEP KACCHAN IN THE LOOP 2K19 IS ALIVE AND WELL.)

by the way, I haven’t done omakes for the last few chapters, but we actually crossed over into volume 21 back in chapter 189, so at some point I’ll have to go and find what I can from that volume and edit it into one of the upcoming recaps. this volume has way more bonus content than the last one, thanks to the presence of the Todoroki children as well as all of the class B kids finally making their appearance after all this time lol. so that should be fun to find out more about them.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 127: Sir Nighteye

Previously on BnHA: Aizawa announced that the freshman students would be permitted to take on internships. Deku asked All Might to introduce him to his former sidekick Sir Nighteye. At first All Might declined, but then he had a change of heart after seeing Deku’s determination. He ended up asking Mirio (who’s been interning with Nighteye for the past year) to introduce Deku for him. Mirio agreed because he is a pal, and come the weekend, Deku accompanied him to Nighteye’s office. Mirio warned Deku that Nighteye values humor very highly, and if Deku couldn’t make him laugh, he’d probably be sent home in vain. Deku greeted Nighteye and made the weirdest fucking face I’ve ever seen. Times like this, it’s hard to believe this is the same series that was hitting us with that intense character development a mere five chapters ago, not to mention straight up blowing people to splattery bits two chapters ago omg.

Today on BnHA: Nighteye chews Deku out for getting the wrinkles wrong on his All Might impression. Deku activates his Quirk of Being a Giant Nerd and informs Nighteye that actually, his impression is based on a specific incident in which All Might made a particularly weird face. His gatekeeping attempt foiled, Nighteye begrudgingly agrees to test Deku. He says he’ll give him three minutes to take Nighteye’s hanko stamp from his hands and use it to stamp his internship form. This is much more difficult than it sounds, since it turns out that Nighteye’s quirk, Foresight, lets him see into the fucking future. Since he can see all of Deku’s attacks before they happen, Deku quickly finds himself in a pickle. Nighteye says that Mirio should have inherited OFA, and that Deku isn’t worthy. Our little green boy takes some issue with this, seeing as he was acknowledged by All Might himself. He powers up again, determined to show Nighteye just how worthy he is.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 155 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

are you even a megane character if you don’t use your middle finger to flip people off when adjusting your glasses

although to be fair, he has the rest of his fingers all splayed out. clearly he is still undecided as to whether he actually likes Deku or not

fucking look at this title

“shit, we didn’t come up with a title for this one.” “well who’s it about?” “um, these four characters.” “okay just put all four of their full fucking names then”

so he’s towering over Deku, who fully believes that he’s about to die

he fucking loves it, Deku. YOU GOT GUTS, KID!!

wow he’s grabbing Deku’s face and saying All Might doesn’t have a wrinkle on his right side, unlike the face Deku is making

holy shit

nevermind he doesn’t love it

jesus christ. EVEN THE UNLICENSED MERCH, DEKU. FUCKING GET IT RIGHT!!

now Deku’s looking around Nighteye’s office while the man in question continues to aggressively jab his fingers all over his face

he’s jealous of all of Nighteye’s All Might swag

Nighteye says he is “quite displeased” and is telling Deku to leave

what in the

sure. who doesn’t. that’s when all the vinegar just. fuckin’ killed itself

holy shit

OH SNAP. HE FUCKING NAILED IT AFTER ALL

Deku says it’s one of his less popular incidents, but he really likes it

mainly because of All Might’s terrible dad jokes

holy shit I love All Might so fucking much

by the way can you imagine if a river just fucking turned into fucking vinegar all of a sudden. like, did the kid change it back afterward? how much of it was actually changed? someone else is walking along further downstream and they’re all like, “...do you smell something? ...did this river go bad?”

also there’s no suicide in this story. how misleading

now Nighteye’s getting offended and asking Deku if he’s testing him

but Deku says he just got a little hyped up remembering the story

Mirio and Bubble Girl are just watching like, “...”

Mirio’s impressed with how Deku turned the situation around even though he didn’t actually get Nighteye to laugh

so now Nighteye’s sitting down and looking as though he’s considering it

Deku’s all “PLEASE TAKE ME!!! HERE’S THE CONTRACT OMG”

but Nighteye hasn’t quite made up his mind yet whether or not to take him

Nighteye’s laying out all the details of the internship and how tough it is

the internship will last at least a month -- although it’s paid, hell yeah Deku, nice -- and Deku will need to take lots of time off from his lessons at U.A. and he’ll likely have trouble keeping up with his course workload and would risk falling behind his classmates

but Deku has made him his mind on this for sure. he’s not afraid of the extra work

aaaaaand Nighteye is stamping the contract

wait a sec

uh oh

(ETA: how could I have just skipped right over Deku’s reaction without commenting on it omg

fucking flawless comedic timing. who says this kid has no sense of humor)

lol Nighteye says he has no intention of stamping it

Deku, grab his arm real quick and just... he’s right there! you can do it. he’s so skinny. just overpower him

oh shit

what the fuck is wrong with his neck

also, so Mirio’s already considered a sidekick then? you go, Mirio

(ETA: actually, Mangastream has the correct translation here: “this office already gets along fine with two sidekicks and one student intern.” it’s just that at this point we hadn’t yet been introduced to Nighteye’s other horrifying sidekick)

he’s asking Deku what he has to contribute to society. if he wants his acknowledgement then Deku has to show him

of course there’s no need to sum up everything All Might himself had to contribute. nothing to see here, just a single man who transformed the entire world for the better and gave it hope. yep yep

anyway, so Nighteye is again asking him what advantages he can offer his agency. and he says he’d appreciate if he showed him with actions rather than words

well this is tricky. what does Deku have going for him. well his winning attitude and good heart and big hero brain of course. and also a little ol’ thing called One for All, but that part is of course a secret

oh my god

lmao are you serious. yes, exactly. GO FOR IT DEKU, STAMP THAT SHIT YOURSELF

he says he’s giving Deku a rare chance even though he doesn’t have the slightest shred of humor

“am I not merciful” jesus

now he’s telling Mirio and Bubble Girl to skedaddle

well, Deku managed to graze Gran Torino within three minutes his very first time using full cowl. and he’s the guy who trained All Might. Nighteye is just his fucking sidekick. DEKU YOU GOT THIS BRO

Bubble’s asking if Mirio had to pass a test like this when he first started

he says he didn’t, since Nighteye chose him personally. I guess U.A. must have given him the same pitch they gave All Might about how great Mirio is

in both the FA translation and the Mangastream translation, Bubble uses the word “jelly”, and for some irrational reason it’s really making me cringe

so jelly

(ETA: honestly though, Nighteye really does love Mirio. initially it’s framed as just Mirio being his protege and the one he believes is most deserving to inherit OFA, but over the course of the arc it becomes clear he cares about him much more deeply than that. actually, a good deal of Nighteye’s character development is just us gradually learning that he cares a fuckton more than he initially lets on. I have a lot of Nighteye feels. someone sent me an ask about him yesterday, so I’ll post that soon)

Mirio’s thinking to himself that it doesn’t look good for Deku, though

“against Sir’s quirk, accomplishing those conditions is virtually impossible”

well then Sir “All Might’s fucking sidekick” Nighteye, what the fuck is your quirk, then. consider me suitably hyped by this point

Nighteye says he won’t attack Deku, and he doesn’t care what Deku does, even if he damages the room

okay for real though, just how badass is this dude. what rank is he. is he the number three guy at long last? they’re sure making him out to be at that level

(ETA: are we going to get Nighteye’s actual hero ranking at any point? will they mention it in his fucking obituary maybe)

Deku’s powering up full cowl. I hope he went straight to 8%

he’s charging straight at him. Nighteye seems to think it’s a feint

yep he’s right

“you’ll follow with another attack” hoooooooly shit IS HE A PRECOG. IS THAT HIS QUIRK. FUCKING KATAKIRI OMG

although to be fair, literally any asshole could have told you Deku was going to follow up with another attack lmao. “nah, actually that’s it. one and done. I give up now”

imagine if this really is the number three hero. oh Kacchan, I heard you interned with number four, so naturally I went and convinced the number three guy to take me :)

(ETA: and yeah I’m aware that since All Might’s retired, all of the rankings have been bumped up, but I still think of them in terms of their previous rankings for some reason. anyways, you know what I mean)

not that Katsuki would have been able to tolerate this guy for more than thirty seconds

“I see everything.” yeah, I’m pretty sure. either that or he’s got 360 degree vision or some shit

but I really hope it’s precognition. I have a mental list of quirks we haven’t seen yet that I’m anticipating and this is one of them. (I also really want to see mind-reading and truth serum quirks. and an illusionist quirk, because I need one of these villains to play some damn mind games one of these days)

(ETA: WE GOT THE TRUTH SERUM QUIRK AND THEY TOTALLY WASTED IT. I’M SO MAD)

Deku’s thinking to try and beat Nighteye’s quirk by overwhelming him with a bunch of attacks

yesssssss!

(ETA: later on we learn that he can only use this quirk once every 24 hours. that’s a pretty big deal, because it means he took this decision so seriously that he decided to use it on Deku. if he’d ended up needing to use it for something else (say, something related to actual crime-fighting) later on he’d have been SOL.

also, Nighteye is a great example of the advantage a hero has when the details of their quirk aren’t widely publicized for the world to see. and he also proves that it’s more than possible to keep them under wraps even after years of hero work. just saying, U.A. maybe it’s not the most rational thing in the world to deprive your kids of that advantage right from the get go simply because you assume it’ll happen eventually)

so now Deku’s straining to figure out a way to get around his quirk

I would think speed alone would still be able to do it. if you’re fast enough it shouldn’t matter whether the opponent knows the punch is coming or not. but I expect Nighteye is likely faster than Deku though since Deku’s still inexperienced

is there any way to confuse him if someone has a lot of potential “courses of action” and all of them have a near-equal likelihood?

anyway let’s see what he actually does end up doing lol

Nighteye says he was wondering what kind of person Deku was, and that he had high expectations

but he says Deku is mediocre

wow

starting to get an inkling that the guy who can predict the future has gotten a little too used to being right all the time

you really think you know better than All Might on this one, huh. okay

also, exactly how many people know about One for All for real though?? the list just keeps expanding

so Deku’s really surprised. that’s right, he wasn’t aware Mirio had been the original candidate

Nighteye says he respects All Might, but they didn’t see eye to eye when it came to his successor

why do you think you should have had a say in it to begin with?

I guess All Might probably confided in a few people and asked for advice and recommendations though

oh dang

(ETA: All Might does a lot of not telling Deku things. he is the Obi-Wan of this series after all)

I don’t know if I’m ready for Deku to have a crisis of confidence so soon after Kacchan’s. I hope this doesn’t rattle him too much

he asked All Might back at the sports festival if he wanted someone else, and All Might told him in no uncertain terms he was the one, so. hope he remembers that

so Nighteye’s reminding him that the clock’s still ticking down while he’s just standing there thinking

he’s being a real asshole! :)

NOT ACCORDING TO THE GOAT ALL MIGHT THERE ISN’T

I mean, not to compare All Might to Lord Voldemort lol, but it’s kinda the same thing. having heard a prophecy that could have applied to two different children, Voldemort went with the child most similar to him, rather than the pureblood. All Might also had his choice of successors. Mirio is amazing and would have definitely been worthy. but in the end, All Might chose the boy who was born quirkless just like him. just because he started from further down doesn’t mean his ceiling is lower than anyone else’s, and in fact it may just be the highest of them all

oh good. Deku’s getting fired up

good Deku

“All Might... chose me!” yessssssssss omg. bring it!

“he’s not the kind of kid who’s so used to rejection anymore!” omfg. now they’re trying to get me fired up. and it’s working oh damn

 BONUS:

it is pretty sweet how he went out of his way to make sure she got a decent amount of screentime and not just some one-time background role

but like, he can’t pretend her costume design wasn’t 100% the reason he picked her, and tbh it kind of skeeves me out. anywayy

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 116: Prison Chat

Previously on BnHA: We took a break from the U.A. kids and their provisional license exam antics and got a whole chapter from Twice’s point of view. He has a fucked up backstory which involves him cloning himself and then his clones all battling for dominance and murdering each other, and now it’s just him left and he’s not even sure if he’s the original. We also learned that Endeavor is not exactly winning people over as the new number one hero, and most people are either underwhelmed or openly creeped out by him. Meanwhile, emboldened villains feel increasingly comfortable committing petty crimes in broad daylight and teaming up now that All Might isn’t around. A new group of villains lead by a dude named Overhaul committed some light dismemberment and arson, and it looks like Twice is thinking about recruiting them to the League. Finally, we cut to a max security prison where All Might is apparently meeting with the imprisoned All for One to “settle things” omgggggggg.

Today on BnHA: All Might asks All for One about Tomura and about what he was planning. All for One is predictably unhelpful and says that Tomura is working on his own now. They have an admittedly fascinating discussion about why All for One decided to groom a successor after being injured by All Might. AFO then expertly provokes All Might by speculating about the chaotic state of the outside world with startling and annoying accuracy. He taunts All Might about being frustrated and powerless. All Might says he knows that AFO was planning to have Tomura kill both him and Deku. He says he won’t let that happen, and that no matter how many evil schemes AFO hatches, he will always be there to crush them. Back at the fanfic dorms, the kids of 1-A wind down as they excitedly await the start of the new semester. Bakugou comes up to Deku and tells him to meet him outside later and that “it’s about your quirk.”

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 151 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.

**There are spoilers in this recap for chapter 131, which has not yet aired in the anime.** These spoilers are tagged as always, but take heed.)

BAKUGOUUUUUUU

“the noble beast of class 1-A” lol wtf

“Tartarus Greeting” isn’t that like the Greek hell

WE ONLY HAVE THREE MORE CHAPTERS LEFT IN THIS VOLUME FOR THIS BRAT TO GO CONFRONT DEKU ABOUT HIS QUIRK. GET A MOVE ON ALREADY BOY

but of course we’re opening right where we left off first. the prison with All Might and All for One. which I’m also pretty hyped for, so

All for One is complaining about the high level of security in this high security prison

apparently they’re monitoring his vitals, brain waves, etc. at all times, and if you so much as wiggle in your chair the wrong way, all the gun turrets in the place will point at you

still think he could escape in an instant if he wanted to. he probably has a bulletproof quirk. and we know he has a fucking warp quirk. he’s just biding his time

oh, apparently Tartarus is the name of the prison. also the prison is underground. or at least his part of it is underground. cuz it didn’t seem to be underground when we cut to the exterior of the building just a couple of panels ago

is there any wood around, All Might. you should probably knock on some wood. fucking jinxed us all, dude

All for One’s only response is “let’s assume that to be the case.” fffff lol yeah okay

so he’s asking what does All Might want with him, where’s Gran Torino, why did All Might come alone, “what’s with that pitiful costume” -- and okay, with that last one though, so are you actually fucking blind or not. I know he doesn’t have eyes and he’s been using infrared and the like, but his scathing remarks about All Might’s appearance are always so on point and it’s like ???

(ETA: goddammit I wish I could just project this thought into Horikoshi’s mind. like he suddenly wakes up in a cold sweat and is all “THE PLOT HOLE. OMG. I FORGOT” and immediately goes to write one of his infamous bonus page ramblings to correct it. I mean, it’s an easy enough fix. he can make up some bullshit quirk to explain it easily enough. but just. it really bothers me for some reason, like way more than it should. fuck you, All for One)

All Might really fucking hates All for One you guys. not gonna lie, pissed off is a good look for him

now he’s asking where Tomura is

All for One says he doesn’t know. “unlike you, I’ve already let my successor carry on”

now All Might’s asking him what he was trying to do. “what were you after?”

okay but now that the immortality thing has been brought up, it reminds me that I’ve been wondering why would this basically immortal guy suddenly become so obsessed with molding a successor? to the extent where he said that everything he’d been doing was for Tomura’s sake. (although whether or not that’s true is a whole nother story)

All for One says it’s pointless to explain it because All Might would never be able to understand

and now he’s saying that he and All Might are the same. two sides of the same coin type of thing. “in the same way you aspired to be the hero of justice, I yearned to be the king of evil”

when he says “live on eternally”, he’s talking about his legacy living on through Tomura, then? cuz idk, I still don’t buy it

and now All Might is also asking him “if that’s the case, why a successor?”

ah, he says it’s because of the injury All Might inflicted on him

I really love the way the reflection is dividing this image between All Might and All for One’s faces. oh damn

and all right, I guess I can buy this explanation. but I still can’t see Tomura as having those final villain chops though. idk, I wouldn’t be surprised if All for One changes his mind, or manages to acquire a better healing quirk than his current one -- one which actually allows him to restore himself to his former glory -- and then he decides he wanted to carry on with the whole villain thing after all

someone over the speaker is telling All Might he only has three more minutes

and now All for One is like OH SHIT and he’s trying to think of all the other shit he wanted to say to him lol

he’s asking how the world is out there now that All Might’s retired

it’s like Order of the Phoenix, but not quite Half-Blood Prince, fyi

dude on the loudspeakers is warning All Might not to give him any info

All for One says “what a shame”

and now it looks like he’s going to speculate. and probably be bang on target too

did you actually read the previous chapter yourself somehow or what

I wish All Might would stop gritting his teeth and clenching his fist and sweating in this way that just confirms every damn thing that All for One is saying

ffffff he must be so frustrated though. he devoted his entire life to making a peaceful world and to see that all fall apart and to be helpless to do anything about it...

and of course All for One is making the exact same observation. :/ “I believe you will spend the rest of your life stricken by your powerlessness and inability to do anything”

fucking hell, can’t we just have one of these turrets suddenly tragically “malfunction” and end this dude already. someone please tell me why we’re keeping him alive. clearly he’s no good for information

he’s asking All Might how it feels

All Might, the best thing you could do right now would be to just stand up and walk out of the room. you’re not getting anything else out of him and right now he’s getting under your skin, and seeing you hurting over this is giving this fucker exactly what he wants

the loudspeaker voice is also telling All Might to back away

I feel like he’s talking to me more than to All Might. about the “no hitting” part. yes that is indeed a shame

ooh, All Might’s gonna fire something back at him! GO TOSHI GO

he’s telling him not to presume that he knows everything. and he says he understands All for One’s thinking very well

oh shit

okay so like. I really like when older mentor type characters mention their proteges like this and they’re like “that boy” or “that child” and it’s like a reminder of how young and vulnerable and inexperienced the protege character is still, and how the mentor character is always looking out for them. like. I just like that. maybe it’s that it makes me feel like I can bond with the mentor character over our mutual protectiveness of the kid

anyway. so All for One isn’t even denying it; he’s just like, “and?”

and All Might is just like

dang. although once again I really wish that there was some wood nearby for you to knock on fffffffffffff

(ETA: ****SPOILER WARNING FOR CHAPTER 131, WHICH HAS NOT YET AIRED IN THE ANIME****

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so not only is All Might saying “fuck you” to All for One here, but he’s also giving the middle finger to fate itself. and I have to admit, it’s incredibly badass, even if it also makes me more worried than ever about him jinxing it. you see, that’s the upside of sticking around to raise your successor, AFO. you get to be inspired by them in some unexpected ways.

also, All Might is very brave and very determined and I love him so much omg.

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****END SPOILERS****)

and now the loudspeaker guy is telling All Might his time is up

All Might says that whatever future AFO is envisioning, All Might will always smash it no matter what, and AFO can spend the rest of his life sitting here and looking on

yeah bro. way to get the last fucking word in

now the doors are closing on All for One, and he’s laughing because of course he is

oh fuck you, dude. this conversation has been amazing but I’m tired of you now lol

now we’re cutting to All Might riding home with his best bro Nao

Nao’s asking how it went and All Might’s like, yeah, it didn’t

!! he’s mentioning that he also talked with Stain?!

(ETA: Mangastream’s translation made it sound like he spoke with him, but Viz and Fallen Angels's versions said that he was making plans to question him but hadn’t actually done so yet. given that this hasn’t come up again yet -- at least not at the point where I’m currently at -- I’m guessing Viz and FA got it right. though I’m still curious as to what they actually want to talk to him about.)

but now he’s getting interrupted by his phone which is buzzing

AHHHHH HE GOT DEKU’S WHOLESOME TEXT

All Might please charge your phone soon

HE EVEN HAS DEKU LISTED IN HIS CONTACTS AS “MIDORIYA-SHOUNEN” LMAO

HIS DAD FACE AT THE END OMG. HE REALLY NEEDED THIS RIGHT NOW

also it completely slipped my mind earlier, but he finally has his arm out of that cast. and apparently the hand is doing pretty well since he’s using it to text. good good

AHHHHH FINALLY WE’RE BACK AT THE U.A. DORMS

the kids are hanging out in the common area. Deku’s wondering if All Might got his text yet. he has this super cute proud little smile on his face

I’m so happy for him

but I won’t pretend I’m not also preoccupied with how Bakugou is doing lol. like, he wasn’t one to hang out with the others much even before this, and now it’s probably going to be even less so, at least until their excitement at having all passed the exam dies down. I expect Shouto will be keeping to himself a little bit more for a while too

gasppppppppppp

[FRANTICALLY CHECKING OWN PULSE BECAUSE I’M PRETTY SURE MY HEART JUST STOPPED]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYYYYYYYY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDD

(((o(꒪ □ ꒪ )o)))

I’M FREAKING THE FUCK OUTTTTTTTTTTTT AHHHHHHHHHHH

 BONUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU GUYS!!!!!!!! HOW AM I EVEN SO EXCITED WHEN I FUCKING KNEW THIS WAS COMING?!?!?! I DON’T EVEN KNOW!!!!!

THE BONUS PAGE IS JUST KACCHAN AND HIS SQUAD ALONG WITH TETSUTETSU AND MONOMA FROM CLASS B FOR SOME REASON

ALSO THE GUY WHO WROTE THE VIGILANTES SPIN-OFF THINKS THAT TSUYU HAD A LIL TADPOLE TAIL UNTIL KINDERGARTEN!

IT SAYS “NOTE: NOT CANON” BUT IT’S MY FUCKING CANON NOW DUDE

“AND I LIKE TSUYU” I FUCKING LIKE HER TOO OMG

BAKUGOU!!!! AND DEKU!!!! OUTSIDE!!!!!!!!!!! TALKING. ABOUT. QUIRKS

someone help me, I’m pretty sure if my apartment were to fucking catch fire right at this moment I’d still be reading and just ignoring it omggggg