#personally kacchan's char arc (and canon relationship to deku) are the most fascinating things of bnha :O

[the-nysh]

P1:I find it both fascinating and frustrating when it comes to Katsuki's wrong doings because I can't fully agree with the sentiment "bullying is bullying" and I feel Bakugou is a good character to explore that in examining the different severities of bullying which doesn't have to equate to invalidating victims experience (which are also variable) by doing so - discussion tends to describe it as so awful and he must apologise (which I don't disagree with) but awful can describe well more awful-

P2:-kinds of bullying, like actually going out of your way daily to harm someone and relentlessly take away their sense of safety and dignity. Maybe I care because the extent of the bullying itself (and his behaviour at UA, which I think is still bad but distinct from bullying) sets the tone to Deku introductory relationship to him and Bakugou's apology (which was wonderfully taking responsibility for his behaviour but works with his actions in part because it was not worse behaviour in his - P3: -past). Bakugou's behaviour in response to his insecurity, jealousy, fear and intolerance makes sense, his bullying was to push Deku away and coloured all his interactions with Deku, but he aimed to have those interactions be infrequent which feels like it plays a role in how Deku's (besides his own inners strengths) early feeling is that Bakugou is a conceited jerk in response to Bakugou's attitude towards him. In the story it all feels in proportion (well except Bakugou almost having to - P4: - to die, but that is more about him having a moment in Deku's shoes which in turn informs his understanding, his apology and how he goes about making things right from that apology, while also experiencing that panic of potentially not getting a chance to apologise to Deku), meanwhile it often feels like things are never aligned and in proportion on fandom and even nice takes veer towards implying bullying veered towards severe because discussion lacks the language to talk about nuisances.

So basically....what Hori’s created and written thru Kacchan’s character arc is proportional, consistent, and hyperspecific to his own fictional settings (world building) and his characters’ circumstances. But when fandom tries to discuss it objectively, Hori’s intent & nuances often get colored by people failing to separate the text from their own personal experiences & projections with bullying (ie Deku is not them, and Kacchan is not their childhood bully). Or things just get flat out misinterpreted by poor translations (ahem, including the lasting damage from Fallen Angels’ harsh mischaracterizations), including cultural differences and the like. Leading to a frustrating time trying to discuss what’s actually canon. :O Oh yeah, I can understand that.

Because the truth is that Kacchan’s past shitty actions (cause he was a shitty kid, who understands what he did was hurtful) were not nearly as severe or constant as many people were misled to believe in fanon assumed they were. He never sought Deku out in that daily, oppressive & controlling way (it was the opposite; he tried to keep away from him to avoid how Deku made him feel, except when Deku voluntarily got in his way and Kacchan lashed out to get him to stop) and what transpired between them was not the familiar case of ‘american’ bullying in media either (none of that stealing lunch money or undignified shoving into lockers kinda stuff - cause Kacchan was also trying to uphold a clean record before entering UA), because it was again, all hyperspecific to Hori’s worldbuilding with quirks & heroes.

Consisting of their hero society’s view on quirklessness & people’s worth/usefulness, Kacchan recognizing quirkless Deku still held a heroic ‘strength’ (in his heart/spirit), which threw all his understandings off balance and made him feel like shit in comparison (lesser, inadequate). And Deku recklessly never taking himself into account (without a rational reality check or adequate power/training/preparation) would only lead to Deku stupidly getting himself killed by following his ‘dream’ this way. Leading to a mix of confusion from what young Kacchan couldn’t understand, pain from his wounded pride/self-worth on what best makes a hero, including the fear of Deku’s potential surpassing his and the concern for Deku’s life exacerbating all his frustrated anger towards him. That and their miscommunication from all their avoidance - cause once Deku suddenly shows up at UA wielding OfA, now Kacchan thinks Deku’s lied to him their entire lives. D: Having felt like shit before, and now thinking Deku’s betrayed him with the perfect reason to believe Deku had truly been mocking & looking down on him the entire time...?! (Which we know was untrue.) Oh what a mess of misunderstandings! Which makes their plot riveting to see how it all unfolds though.

So basically, here we have all these complicated, different factors at work to explain (not excuse) the mix of hurtful behaviors that happened. (Kacchan kept trying to push him away, which failed both because Deku kept coming back and cause Kacchan couldn’t reject the lingering feelings of concern for him as a friend either - by keeping an eye on him at arm’s length anyway.) But it gets so easily misconstrued in bad faith, or Kacchan gets unfairly flat-out demonized (one-sidedly) to the extremes, that people simply want him to suffer in proportion to their own personal revenge fantasies, incongruent with the actual text presented. Thankfully, Hori shows healing and improvement (even from rock bottom) in a much more constructive way.   

Personally, I feel Hori making it a public apology was a little disproportionate, because this was a longtime private thing between him and Deku to finally come clean & sort out their feelings, and not really anyone else’s business to spectate or judge. (Which I also didn’t expect to happen right now either - with me prepared to wait another 50chs or so til the end for it.) However, for Kacchan to reach Deku’s heart - speaking from a place of experience he knew best, to get Deku to realize where he was currently failing and being hurtful/dismissive of others - it does the job. :’) Their classmates now have the full context behind his behaviors (now understanding where they misjudged Kacchan too), and...they double as witnesses, such that no one can claim they ‘forgot’ or missed this important moment in its entirety either. Hori lays it all down very clear (consistent with everything that attentive manga readers have already known & followed), while handholding the message so there’s no misunderstanding his intent with this. While also setting things up for Deku to return a private response from his side later. To finally complete & bring everything together full circle. :’) I’ll be waiting~