#provisional training arc

[deusvervewrites]

I Think I Know Why I Dislike Bakugou's Writing

Yes I know I just did the AFO/Asano Meta, but I feel like I need to do this too

To clarify: this is not me bashing on Bakugou. I want to like Bakugou. If you like Bakugou, you aren't wrong. You just deserve better for him.

Let's begin.

For at least a week now, I have had a picture open in a tab on my browser. This picture is something that I was beginning to think was made up by an Ao3 author because I had only ever seen one mention of it. And now that I've found it for myself, I found myself holding on to it and trying to figure out how to feel about it.

But now that's led to me finally having a way to verbalize the issues I have with how Bakugou has been written throughout the series.

On paper, Bakugou has one of the most interesting character arcs in manga. He goes from being a self-absorbed asshole with a superiority-inferiority complex who only wants to be a Hero because they win fights to the genuinely Hero Midoriya believes he can be.

In practice... well.

Let's play a game really quickly. I'll describe a scene from My Hero Academia, and I want you to guess what chapter it is. It doesn't have to be exact, just a general idea. Here's the scenario:

Midoriya manages to use a Quirk that's destructive to him without seriously hurting himself, and is proud of this accomplishment. In response, Bakugou gets incensed and physically attacks him.

Thought about it? Got an idea? Keep that in mind for later.

So here is my issue with Bakugou: there are two Bakugous. I know that sounds weird but let me explain what I mean. I'll call them Interim Bakugou and Dramatic Bakugou.

Dramatic Bakugou saw his classmates at the Battle Trial and realized that he wasn't the Big Man on Campus. He was furious with Todoroki for not using his fire at the Sports Festival, and infuriated by his internship with Best Jeanist. Dramatic Bakugou was kidnapped by the League because he's an asshole. He blames himself for All Might retiring, and he failed the Provisional License Exam because he's a asshole. Dramatic Bakugou told a kid that he needed to acknowledge his own weakness, took a hit for Midoriya in the War Arc, and apologized to him.

Dramatic Bakugou is improving as a person and a Hero.

Dramatic Bakugou also barely appears in the manga.

We are instead left with Interim Bakugou, the Bakugou who exists in the interim between dramatic moments. Interim Bakugou has not changed from his first appearance on the first page of Chapter 1, when he was five, beating the shit out of Midoriya.

Interim Bakugou tried to attack Midoriya on Day 1, and tried to kill him on Day 2. Interim Bakugou listened in on a private conversation about how Endeavor's obsessions broke him and learned nothing. Interim Bakugou told the League of Villains that he wouldn't join them because he likes how Heroes look when they win. Interim Bakugou told the Help Us Company actors to fuck off. Interim Bakugou dragged Midoriya out to Ground Beta to beat the shit out of him because he was butthurt about his exam and making it all about him. Interim Bakugou won the Joint Training Battle because he wanted to be the Undisputed Best. Interim Bakugou never calls people by their real names.

Interim Bakugou called himself Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight. Interim Bakugou told the class that Deku is fucked in the head and doesn't care about what happens to himself, while ignoring that he called Midoriya 'Useless' so often Midoriya responds to it like his own name. Interim Bakugou uses Deku right up to the moment that Dramatic Bakugou apologized for inventing it in the first place.

Interim Bakugou never changes, no mater how much Dramatic Bakugou tries.

Here, let me prove it. You remember that game I had you play a few paragraphs ago, yes? What chapter did you say? Chapter 7, during the Quirk Apprehension Test?

Well, I have to admit that I lied a little. That picture I've had on my browser for the past week or so? It's actually a screencap of the manga.

This is from Chapter 253, after Midoriya shows his progress with Blackwhip.

This is five chapters away from the start of the War Arc.

This is 69 chapters before he apologizes, most of which aren't focused on him at all.

This is within the Final Saga, as Horikoshi puts it.

And Interim Bakugou is indistinguishable from Orientation Day eleven months ago

I will freely admit that this is clearly meant to be a joke, and that he did not hurt Midoriya as severely as the class is acting, but the behavior is still there. It hasn't changed a bit. Interim Bakugou hasn't changed a bit.

Dramatic Bakugou, in a flashback, confessed to All Might that he used to bully Midoriya.

Interim Bakugou still does.

This is why I don't like how Horikoshi writes Bakugou. I want to like Dramatic Bakugou and follow his journey, but for every step forward he takes, Interim Bakugou takes two steps back. All of his apologies feel hollow because Interim Bakugou is demonstrably the same.

And that's why his apology rings hollow. Here's a transcript of it from my fan translation of choice:

Do you remember what I told you after Shigaraki stabbed me? (...) "Don't even think about winning this alone!" After yelling that out, my body moved on its own, and I was impaled. Yet I knew that I had to tell you those words.

I always looked down on you, just because you were Quirkless. You were always far away behind me, yet, I felt that you were somehow miles ahead of me. I hated that. I didn't want to feel like that. And I didn't want to recognize that. It's why I grew so distant from you and always tried to beat you down.

I opposed you and tried to show my superiority over you. But I always lost. After entering UA absolutely nothing went as I thought it would. I spent all my days trying to figure out your strengths and weaknesses.

It probably doesn't mean anything telling you all this but that's what I really think. Izuku... I'm sorry for everything I've done up until now.

The path you took as a successor of One For All is exactly what All Might did. Your choices weren't misguided at all. But as of now, you can barely stand on your own. Your ideals alone can only take you so far. If you ever encounter a road bump, you can always count on us for help. To surpass All Might, your ideal Hero, we would all have to protect UA and the civilians in there together. It's the only way.

There are three parts to an apology.

You have to be sorry for the harm you caused. Bakugou says that he is.

You have to understand how you hurt them. Bakugou... acknowledges that he "grew distant" and "beat Midoriya down."

You have to either ask how to make it right, or promise never to cause that harm again. Bakugou... promises that they'll all surpass All Might.

Though I will give him credit for acknowledging the protection of civilians, good job Dramatic Bakugou.

Dramatic Bakugou seemingly can't apologize for Interim Bakugou, because Interim Bakugou isn't sorry. Interim Bakugou is the same as always.

So the truth is that I love Dramatic Bakugou's character arc, and I hate Interim Bakugou for not having one

[darkonekrisrewrite]

Toga seems to avoid killing when possible

Especially when it comes to heroes, even select heroes after Twice’s death

(Spoiler warning)(Toga meta and Quirk Theory)

In Bnha Toga Himiko has had multiple chances to personally kill many individuals, including Ochako and Tsuyu but for some reason she never strikes a fatal blow.

I think this adds and plays into the conflict that she’s currently having in recent chapters using Twice’s Quirk, a part of why she’s not able to use it to the fullest extent.  

Starting with all the examples of Toga’s avoidance of critical hits:

(Very easy cut available here.)

The first instance of Toga not following through ^, here in the first conflict between the three girls, the forest training camp arc.

While true that she did try to cut Ochako’s facial area, possibly implying a fatal hit, I think coupled with this ^ and all the other instances (especially with Ochako), Toga was possibly aiming for the cheek.

The next example came later in the Provisional Hero License Exam Arc:

(Camie seems extremely fine ^)

Toga impersonated Camie, a hero student from another school, to get into the Hero license exam.

Drugging her so Toga could take her blood, Camie was asleep for four days and when she woke up, didn’t remember anything and as shown by the picture above (from the/stated by the Bnha Wiki) she “doesn’t care”.

There wasn’t much reason for Toga to kill or not kill Camie, the mission could have been completed either way as nobody realized anything was suspicious or discovered the real Camie in that timeframe.

But Toga went with the latter option.

(Side Point: I don’t think that body disposal could have been a problem either thanks to Kurogiri’s Quirk, if Toga went with the kill option, as Kurogiri was captured during the Shie Hassaikai Arc after the License Exam Arc/Camie mission.)

Next example Rock Lock:

Toga, with the help of Twice, very easily takes out the Pro Hero Rock Lock during the Shie Hassaikai Raid.

But not kills, despite the fact that she could have easily stabbed him in the throat.

Keeping the Hero silent wasn’t an issue, as Toga would have had his mouth covered either way as shown above and while Rock Lock was only stabbed in his side but was still unable to warn his Comrades about Switch going on when they entered the room, the results would have been the same.

But still no kill.

 Bnha games provide evidence too, only with Civilians instead of heroes:

While this could be seen as merely creating a distraction, I think a dead or very close to dying body would have gotten a similar response from the heroes, maybe even more so than a “knocked out passerby with a little blood loss”.

The logistics of this example are a bit iffy but I think it does add more weight to the overall point.

 Cut ahead to the Final Arc:

(Toga landing a stab on Ochako’s back shoulder ^)

There’s no reason Toga couldn’t have gone for the back of the neck or upper spine/center back here, and at this point in the story there’s no reason for her not too.

Toga had already been rejected by Ochako (though Ochako did later have a “change of heart”, wherever that may lead) so there weren’t any of her blood/love related reasons to miss the kill shot unless there still are lingering feelings or the kill isn’t really what she wants.

I think it’s both in this case.

Same with Tsuyu soon after:

(Tsuyu seemed okay in the moments/chapters following this ^)

This doesn’t seem hostile at all, of course I mean after the initial take down.

The same instances come and go with the same results in Toga’s actions not to kill certain people, even after Twice’s death.

 Although that being said, Toga does still definitely kill others, those who are a threat to her and the Lov’s existence.

The other Pro Heroes on the battlefield (Post Twice death, giving rise to Toga’s very justified belief that the heroes will kill her and all the people she cares about) and the civilians in the way/part of hero society’s system (I again say that’s not a problem as 90% of the Bnha Civilians are still awful).

So while I don’t think that Toga has a problem with the concept of killing, I think it might have more to do with her targets.

Why can’t Toga use Twice’s Quirk to its full power?

A number of reasons coming together I think, including but not limited to this ^ one.

Loving and the desire to become (the person Toga is turning into) are necessities to the full power of Toga’s Transformation Quirk.

Toga usually does need some form of love for the person who’s blood she takes and then in that way knowing enough about them to function properly in the transformation but I do think that the idea that “Toga’s power is more based around the intent to become that person” makes slightly more sense when looking at Toga’s Nature.

With Toga wanting an “easier life” and the bonds/happiness that come with it, so she zeroes in on people she believes have the qualities/lifestyle that she wants.

But another part of why Toga can’t use the Twice quirk might be because of the targets of her current battle, tying back into the ‘Toga avoids killing sometimes’ point.

Ochako and Tsuyu being the Heroes she’s fighting and needing to be in conflict with, with the clones stating that “All Hero must die!”, and with that intent not being what Toga really wants.

Toga’s “Pure Love” (though bloody) isn’t to kill others, at least not them.

Current Chapter Spoilers: I think the resent leaks help this theory even more at least for now, as any of the clones could have killed Tsuyu when they had her tied up and the real Toga could have stabbed Ochako center or a little higher, hitting more vital organs.

Also Ochako will be fine; Bakugo survived a Rivet stab in roughly the same area (and several other places) running him through completely, even kept fighting for a while despite the blood loss, so no worries.

[nutzgunray-lvt]

Something interesting about Bakugou that I've only seen addressed a few times is that he couldn't care less about the collateral damage resulting from his actions.

Thirteen tells him and the rest of 1A to stay back as she tries taking on Kurogiri? Bakugou (and Kirishima) bumrush him and ruin her plan, causing her to get seriously injured.

During the Forest Training Camp arc, Todoroki has to keep warning him not to use his Quirk, otherwise it'll only cause Mustard's poisonous gas to spread.

During the Provisional Licensing Exam arc when they're making their ultimate moves, Bakugou obliterates an Ectoplasm clone and nearly gets All Might seriously injured as rubble starts to fall on him.

And again, THIS is the guy that Shota "I hate All Might for playing favorites" Aizawa is putting all of his faith into.

[delawaredetroit]

This mini training arc is meant to justify why the first year UA hero students fared so well against the second and third year hero students in the provisional licensing exam arc.

What I'm not sure about is why Aizawa planned this before the end of All Might's hero career. He had no way of knowing All Might's career would end in the next year. Was it just an assumption based on the LOV targeting Class 1A once at USJ? This seems like a big leap in logic because their target was clearly All Might. And this training was obviously planned before what happened to Izuku at the mall.

After All Might fell, no one was going to bat an eye about bringing in some first years a bit early for their provisional licenses. But without Kamino, would Aizawa have even been permitted to do this?

[kaleidoscopic-quiddity]

'todoroki doesnt even want to be a hero, thats just something endeavor forced him into/pushed onto him'

did??? we all??? watch??? the same show????

todoroki openly antagonises Endeavor, to his face, numerous times 

even as a literal toddler he would stand up to endeavor, yelling at him to not hurt rei, and after rei pours the hot water on his face, todoroki told endeavor ‘it’s your fault she hurt me’ 

he slaps his hand away after the provisional licence remedial training, and in the endeavor agency arc he tells him to ‘stop acting like my dad in front of my friends’ 

just in general his manner of speaking to Endeavor is very disrespectful and outwardly aggressive in japanese

basically, hes not afraid of pissng off his dad, at all, even in public

so if todoroki truly didnt want to be a hero, what gives you the impression that he wouldnt just straight up refuse to go to UA, or at least do everything within his power to fail his classes/get expelled??

the whole point of his fight with midoriya at the sports festival is todoroki accepting himself and that his power is his own, not endeavor's, and that its okay for him to become a hero using it

literally what does todoroki say after midoriya yells 'its your power isnt it?!' at him? in that moment where himself admits that he forgot all about endeavor and wasnt thinking about him at all??? he says 'I want to be a hero too'

look i get why this take is popular, lots of people can relate to todoroki in that they have shitty/abusive parents who forced them into a career path or life style they dont wanna do

and so obviously they project those feelings of discontent and resentment back onto todoroki

but in the literal canonical text of bnha, his character aspires to be a great hero just like midoriya and bakugou

if heroics truly was 100% something that endeavor just forced onto him, why did todoroki go to help midoriya and iida in hosu? why did he follow midoriya and bakugou at jaku? why did, along with kirishima, he approach yaoyorozu to get a nomu tracker off of her after bakugou was kidnapped and say that he was going to make a rescue attempt whether or not midoriya or anyone else joined him? why did he run in to try to save all might from the nomu at USJ?

like???? i dont have anything against people having differing interepretations of a character or headcanons from me, ofc different ppl will read the same thing differently

but this is a take that is just so extremely the opposite of todoroki's canonical characterisation it baffles me that its so common??

did we all miss the part where he was deeply frustrated with himself for failing he provisional liscence exam? or where he decided that he needed to be the one to stop dabi?? the fact that he carries first aid supplies in his hero costume so he can better help people?? or how he suggested a concert for the school festival because he thought itd be a good idea to do something 'fun' and 'stress relieving' for the other students at UA???

idk, ofc at the end of the day ppl can headcanon what they like and everyones interpretations are valid and none of this actually causes any harm to anybody etcetera etcetera, art is subjective and all that

(like this is benign fandom bullshit for a mediorce shounen battle series, im self aware that none of this actually matters)

but idk im just still confused as to how ppl seem to miss the point so fuckin badly with todoroki's character

[pikahlua]

I have a question

But I really want to ask just from a writing standpoint, no ships or anything

Do you like Izuku and Ochaco's development as possible (or probable? idk where Hori wanna go with that) romance?

Cause I appreciated it (even tho it felt like the usual shonen romance) till the return of Izuku to UA, which made me see them more as platonic (and made me appreciate their bond way more tbh)

So from a writing standpoint, I'm not exactly a romance aficionado. It can really only come down to my preferences in what I like in a romance, but there are just some cheesy romance tropes I'm not into. I do think it's perfectly viable to analyze any relationship in any property, MHA included, for whatever dynamic you want. If you ask me to take a look at the potential romance in Izuku and Ochako's relationship, I can do that.

That said, this is a warning to hard-line IzuOcha shippers: I can't guarantee you'll enjoy everything I write about in this post.

To me, there are five major "sagas" in their relationship. Some of these I like, some of these I don't.

Saga 1: Beginning through the Internships Saga 2: Final Exams through Kamino Saga 3: Provisional License Exam through School Cultural Festival Saga 4: Joint Training Arc through Paranormal Liberation War Saga 5: Deku Retrieval Arc through to the present

Saga 1 was my favorite. This was when they were still getting to know each other and becoming friends. I like this part best because Ochako has the most characterization in the show. Her personality shines through and she's very entertaining. I also thought the stuff that happened between them in the Sports Festival was some of the most refreshing writing of opposite-sex characters I've seen in a while, platonic or romantic. Ochako has personal motivations that can be in conflict or in harmony with her relationship with Izuku, and the manner in which they interacted showed a special type of relationship for Izuku that he didn't have with any other character. It was nice variety in the context of everything else the show was giving us at the time. I wasn't necessarily dying for romance, because I do love a good platonic opposite-sex friendship too. But if it did take a romantic direction, I was excited to see how it went at the time.

Saga 2 just felt like it shoehorned the crush thing in there. It didn't really come from anything that came before it. I thought it was gonna be a good opportunity for some romantic humor, but it just turned out to be a bunch of embarrassed blushing and not much else. Wasn't really my thing.

Saga 3 tried to add something interesting to the mix with Ochako's jealousy which she tries to deny and squash, but...it doesn't come across as particularly deep or well-developed. Horikoshi kinda just throws it out there and then immediately ditches it. I wouldn't have been so annoyed if it didn't encompass all of Ochako's character for this saga. She didn't really do much of anything else at all. Even in the Overhaul arc, she didn't get any meaningful spotlight, and I mean this from an action perspective. After the awesome action she got in the Sports Festival, Horikoshi really pulled back on her and it felt like he was too afraid to make her get dirty and fight again, save for a brief moment when she pinned Toga in the woods at summer camp. I liked it better when Izuku was pining a bit after Ochako than the other way around.

Saga 4 was a bit better. There was finally some meaningful development between them with Ochako getting inspired to update her costume, saving Izuku as a development of her new character question of "who saves the heroes?", and--my favorite part--when she decides to trust Izuku when he says he can take Shinso on alone and she goes to take care of business elsewhere. But I notice these developments I like also happen to have non-romantic elements to them. It's really just when things are one-dimensionally romantic that I'm super disinterested. I like the complexity of other feelings even in their easy friendship. Platonic friendship that leads into budding romance brings at least a bit more flavor in the writing. That said, it's not a whole ton of flavor. I can see why other people would like it, but it's not the MOST exciting for me personally.

Saga 5 is again more exciting to me because of the non-romantic elements, kind of like you say. It's not that it's necessarily platonic, but it's just more interesting that Ochako's feelings seem more complicated now, and Toga has been added to the mix too. What we get in this saga especially puts me in a weird position where I'm rooting for Izuku and Ochako NOT to get together in the end, not because I don't like them or have a problem with the ship, but because it makes the overall story about their relationship since the beginning..."make sense" isn't the right phrase. It's just an interesting take on the trope in this genre. I really like the message it could potentially deliver on. I'm just not a big romance person in the first place, so the whole "there are even deeper things happening between people than just high school crushes" angle that doesn't necessarily mean romance speaks more to me. I don't really know what we get out of them getting together if that happens. But, as I said, I'm not big on romance to begin with, so I'm not the best judge of this. It could be we get a great message out of it and I'm just really bad at being able to see that at this stage. I will still be forced to lament what was lost in that case, though--because we would lose the far more interesting take on the trope if they were not to get together.

And that's why I say I'm not anti-IzuOcha, just anti-IzuOcha in canon. I think they're cute together and I really love their earlier dynamic. I think the fanart of them is cute. I love when they get along doing things. I love when people create excellent fan content for their favorite pairings. I just most like the idea of an ending where they don't end up together for the purposes of my own intrigue.

[fedzkun]

BNHA HAS LIKE STAR WARS RELEASE FORMULA VIBES LET ME EXPLAIN

From Chapter One to End of Kamino Arc = Episode 4-6 (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi)

Best Trilogy and best arcs, Popped us right into the next gen story already, Training Camp has very Empire Strikes Back vibes, Big Good defeats Big Bad, Izuku I am your father -Dadmight

From Provisional License Exam to Paranormal Liberation Front War Arc = Episode 1-3 (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith)

Weak beginning but stronger by the end. In depth look on the politics of Hero Society and Quirks. Order 66 kinda mirrors the mass hero deaths during the War. Izuku I am your brother—Tomura

From Tartarus Villains to BNHA end = Episode 7-9 (The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker)

Technically worst trilogy, Lots of fighting and war but not really as striking as PLF War arc, Izuku is Older Luke he goes rogue and has mastered the One Force All, Izuku I am your grandfather—All For One (making Dad For One theorists groan everywhere), When Will It End vibes

this is nonsensical and I don’t take criticism I haven’t watched car wars in twenty years lmao

[kramaku]

A little "my opinion on Izuocha" rent

It's originally, at its core, not a bad ship. Pretty cute, even.

So it's hard to explain why i dislike Izuocha as a bkdk skipper bc people automatically assume im just hating on a straight couple or that I'm misogynistic.

I literally hated katsuki and shipped izuocha the first 3 seasons. They were so cute. But I kept being disappointed. It's entirely one sided.

Horikoshi said on multiple occasions that he reads romance a lot. And he's very good at writing characters and psychology. He knows how to write romance. Yet here he is, writing a superhero comic but never gave us a scene where Izuku risks his life for her? Never protects her? Every single time there's a villain attack and Horikoshi has the perfect set up to write a very romantic scene, he immediately SEPARATES THEM. USJ attack? He was with Tsuyu and Mineta. At the training camp? He fought alone. And when he joins Ochaco's group? He leaves her 5 minutes later. Katsuki rescue mission? Could've have Ochaco coming too in order to prevent Izuku from doing something too risky (like Iida did) it would've been cute. But no she wasn't there either.

We got a lil romance moment between them at the provisional licence exam but IT WAS FREAKING TOGA THE DISAPPOINTMENT.

Besides, when Ochaco (so actually Toga...) fell down, he didn't have that "I want to protect the girl im in love with" moment, no he had a moment where he thought about his regrets and past mistakes that caused Kacchan and All Might prejudice.

The whole chisaki arc? Oh. Surprise. It's also one sided. Ochaco only comes towards the end, terrified at Nighteye's vision of Izuku's death. Nothing from Izuku again. Season 5 Uraraka saves Izuku from blackwhip going out of control with Shinso. The war? Oh a war! What a good way to bring in scenes of them sacrificing for each other- well no they separate AGAIN at the very BEGINNING and it's Katsuki's redemption being upfront.

Then the vigilante arc... Izuku talked about wanting to protect the smiles of his family and classmates but never Ochaco in particular... it would've nice to have her on a panel alone at that moment but no...

All those missed opportunities just gave me so much frustration and disappointment that I don't ship them anymore. I absolutely love Izuku with all my heart he's my favorite character but Ochaco deserves someone who looks at her the same way she looks at them. And it's not Izuku.

So sorry but I'm tired of the typical Shounen (male) main character totally ignoring the girl who's in love with him the entire series meanwhile she can't be more devoted to him but suddenly at the last chapter they're married. Like seriously ? Its just bad writing to me.

But a lot of people still believe it's a very good ship because there's "moments". Like when Izuku blushes around her... 90% of the time it's because she's in his personal space, very close and it's making him a lil embarrassed. Things like that.

There's their conversation after Ochaco's speech at UA where he thanks her. He compliments her hair style and other things out of nowhere it was I think the only time of the series my Izuocha heart felt a little satisfaction. It was adorable. But then they talked about wanting to save villains so it stopped there.

At the final war, last opportunity for Horikoshi to finally do something with that supposed to be canon ship, we get Katsuki thinking of his idol All Might, his dreams to be a hero and his childhood with Izuku as his dying thoughts, we get Izuku going feral seeing his corpse but for Ochaco we get... that

On the 393th chapter, the last one that was released (small spoiler) we can see Ochaco thinking of Izuku. It's again one sided, Izuku isn't even looking at her

but ive seen a lot of people saying this is Horikoshi "putting it all together and making the ship canon" and... I don't think so...? This is just yet another shot of Ochaco being in love, one amongst idk many others since the beginning of the manga it's not new at all..

Now give me a shot of Izuku thinking of OCHACO when he speaks about love. Then I'll start thinking it's maybe reciprocated. Now? Absolutely not.

I send absolutely no hate to Izuochas, if you ship them no problem but I just wanted by this post to explain why me and so many other people don't want them to end up together. It's not idk... Gay ship obsession or misogyny (even if Ochaco does receives a lot of undeserved hate for these reasons...). There's just nothing interesting to the ship to me.

It's one sided. It's... boring. Just boring.

Now I know bkdk won't be canon because well.. homophobia is a thing and it's a Shonen so I'm not dreaming much but I dont want Izuocha to end up together. Not with their current dynamic at least.

[deusvervewrites]

For being called “My Hero Academia”, we surprisingly don’t know much about the school’s history.

Like, who the hell made a hero school while cities were being leveled. Was it Nedzu? Was it someone else? How old is Nedzu? We don’t even know if he was Principal when All Might was a student.

It would be a testament to Nedzu’s character if, after being experimented on and tortured by human scientists, he saw the hellscape the world had become and thought “I am going to make/look over a school for heroes!”

The history of the school? The Academia in the title barely appears in the story!

Here is a list of the official arcs in this manga and how Academia they are

Entrance Exam (Pretty Academia)

Quirk Apprehension Test (Aizawa ignored orientation. Not Academia.)

Battle Trial (Back to Academia)

USJ (Villain interruption. Not Academia.)

Sports Festival (Back to Academia)

VS Hero Killer (Outsourced learning; school barely appears. Not Academia)

Final Exams (Skipped six weeks of studying/training. On thin ice)

Forest Training (Summer Break, outsourced learning)

Hideout Raid (Not Academia)

Provisional Hero License Exam (Only Academia by association)

Eight Precepts (Outsourced learning)

Remedial Course (Only Academia by association)

School Festival (Finally, Academia!)

Pro Hero (Focuses on Endeavor, Not Academia)

Joint Training (Academia already? New Record!)

Meta Liberation Army (Wait, nope, UA doesn't even appear in this one nvm)

Endeavor Agency (Outsourced learning)

Paranormal Liberation War (UA continues to not even appear)

Dark Hero (Midoriya ran away from school making this one negative Academia!)

Star and Stripe (School doesn't appear)

UA Traitor (School is only the setting; no classes. Not Academia)

Final War (School is only one of the fight arenas. Not Academia)

[ispendtoomuchtimeonline]

Idk if you're into MHA anymore and I know this is a very common complaint, but it absolutely grinds my gears how the narrative/characters wank Bakugou off for ANYTHING he does.

Develops an ultimate move (the literal thing everyone else was doing)? Aizawa, All Might, and like 5 other 1A members stop what they're doing to monologe about his "potential".

Participates in the Joint Training Exercise? 1B keeps repeating how Bakugou's the biggest threat (not like Todoroki and Momo exist, but okay)

Acts like a colossal asshat during the Sports Festival and runs straight into the LOV's arms at the Forest Camp Attack? UA runs damage control on his behalf - talking about how "he works harder than anyone (which throws the rest of 1A under the bus) - and takes no measures towards reigning in his behavior.

Blatantly torments Izuku and mistreats his classmates? "It's just classic Bakugou!", "you two need to make up and be friends!", "you're proper rivals 🥰", "leave Bakugou alone! He really cares!", "he's hero material! You all should retire for criticizing him!" "I know you tried killing your classmate, but grow up and stop wasting your talents!", "they have no communication!", "here Bakugou, let me hug you and comfort you while leaving your injured victim on the ground!"

What's worse is that for all of his supposed "character development", not once does ever aknowledge the full scope of the shitty things he's done. He admits to All Might and 1A by extension that he bullied Izuku due to his Quirklessness. Okay, 1. you were already an ass to him before that, and 2. how exactly did you bully him again? Oh yeah, you told him to go kill himself, used your Quirk on him and his belongings, tried killing him during the Battle Trials, and threatened him to not apply to UA. You even dragged him outside after curfew to take out your anger and jealousy over failing the Provisional License Exam and not being All Might's successor out on him. He even says this won't change anything between them, which goes to show that he has no remorse for his actions.

Sorry it took me so long to respond. Literally everything you said here is 1000% true. It’s why I actually quit the manga a long time ago.

It’s just…what happened to BNHA is so pathetic and sad it’s not even worth getting angry over anymore. And what’s most bewildering is that I KNOW Horikoshi is capable of decent writing. Even great writing. (*cough* Stain Arc *cough*) And his ideas had incredible potential. So, WTF went wrong? Is he really that big of a Bakugo fanboy? Does he actually believe the things he’s writes? Or is he just pandering to Bakugo’s fan base? And if so, why? Is he simply trying to milk this unexpected cash cow for all its worth? Is he so scared of this portion of his fan base’s (admittedly rabid and vitriolic) disapproval that he lost his spine? Is he secretly sick of writing this series and trying to sabotage it? Is it even him, or are his editors pushing him to write this crap because THEY want to milk the cash cow? And Horikoshi refuses to stand up them because, again, no spine?

Well, whatever the reason is, all I can do is gaze upon the smoking wreckage that is BNHA and shake my head at the fact that the writer did this to his own work. And, you know, consume media that’s actually WORTH my time.

[i-like-pikmin]

Mineta's Grape Stem

I've seen a lot of people confused on Mineta's grape stem, since it wasn't formally addressed. Even Mineta's wiki page doesn't mention any of the uses. So I'll address them here.

Latest episode. I was unsure if those ropes were regular ropes Momo created or Mineta's grape stem. I leaned way more towards Mineta's stem because he wasn't wearing it after Machia escaped the defenses. The anime seems to confirm that it is, in fact, Mineta's stem.

Here are some other instances the grape stem is utilized:

Super Move: Mineta Beads

Provisional License Exam

Joint Training Arc

Villain Hunt - Mineta Beads: Ten Fold

The grape stem seems to be used like a rope. Or a whip like Midnight. It's a neat idea and has so many creative uses.

[princessesandangels]

Bye Bye Yesterday Summary

How Does Assassination Classroom Connect to BNHA in this AU?

BNHA canon starts 232 years after the events of Assassination Classroom

Shiro (mastermind villain from Assassination Classroom) is All for One

Ritsu was not party to the time-travel shenanigans that brought 3-E to the future. She is now the Number 2 pro hero (everyone else is shifted down one rank from canon) and is known as the AIFA Program to the general public. Her agency is in Tokyo and she deals with both cyber and physical crimes, with the help of sidekicks and a fleet of humanoid bots.

Wait, How Did We Get to the Future?

Turns out AfO has been trying to make nomu for a long time. When his attempts with Koro-sensei failed, he decided to try the next round of experiments on the 27 human kids from 3-E and their surviving teachers – they were chosen purely for revenge reasons.

Before kidnapping them, Shiro had a breakthrough: he discovered that bodies with quirk factors* can stabilize antimatter. Because of this, his experiments on 3-E involved using an Overhaul-type quirk together with technology to rewrite their genetic codes to insert quirk factors, before injecting them with antimatter.

What AfO didn’t account for was their quirks developing almost immediately post-experiment – and colliding in unpredictable ways. Entirely accidentally, the combined power of Karasuma’s and Karma’s quirks (see quirk list) put the entire class into suspended animation for 232 years, bringing us to the present.

Ok… What Are They Doing Now That They’re Here?

Mostly trying to not get kidnapped again. But AfO is powerful and his retribution against the people who represent his biggest failure is a matter of when, not if.

With the help of Aizawa, Present Mic and Shinso (a family), they have been learning to use their quirks and antimatter tentacles. The Wild Wild Pussycats also made an appearance to help them train (but didn’t learn the entire backstory).

They have a 4-pronged plan:

Karasuma is stepping into the public eye, to become a popular hero (much to his displeasure) and draw AfO’s attention away from the kids. His hero name is New Moon and he’s got a buddy-cop-thing going with Hawks. It’s quite precious.

The kids are making an assassination plan for AfO – but have promised to not do anything proactively against him until they’re of age.

In exchange for this promise, the kids were permitted to get provisional hero licenses – to allow them to legally fight back when AfO does go after them.

All the kids are going to hero high schools – Shiketsu and U.A. – because they have better security (not enough to keep out AfO, but enough to give them slightly more advanced warning). They also have trackers imbedded and have permanent earpieces connected to Ritsu, in addition to being connected with Isogai’s quirk (see quirk list). Together, it’s hoped that these measures are enough for the heroes to be able to respond when AfO goes after the kids.

BNHA characters privy to this plan (and the entire 3-E situation): Aizawa, Present Mic, Shinso (their son), Best Jeanist, Tsukauchi, Hawks, and All Might (but not Izuku).

How Have Their Relationships/Personal Issues Developed?

Irina has taken Shoto Todoroki on as a student in the art of seduction and manipulation. He is not a natural.

Isogai’s dealing with some pretty intense grief along with the burden of leadership for 3-E. He’s also learned that he’s related to the Iida family.

Karma has some *serious* quirk trauma. As a result, he’s pushed Nagisa away – and not nicely. He’s not in a good place.

Nagisa is deeply resentful of the above, so he’s dealing with that angst alongside a major identity crisis after having been the one to deal the final blow to Koro-sensei. Our boys have some character arcs coming.

Shinso and Rio are best friends.

Shinso has joined – not 3-E, but the newly formed ‘KORO Hero Agency’ – as seat 29 (they’re using seat numbers as code names, cause the canon ones are stupid) and gotten a provisional license alongside them.

Nezu is deeply suspicious of whatever Ritsu’s got going on (biological experimentation is deeply personal for him) so he’s made efforts to question both Shinso and Karma – with few results beyond frustrating the boys.

Oh. And Izuku knows the name Asano for some reason…

That’s pretty much it!

Wait, I Still Have Questions!

Feel free to message me! Or read Part I ;)

But seriously – happy to answer any questions. I’ve spent far too much time building this AU in my head, I’d love to talk about it, whether you’ve read Part I or not.

*This is an explicit deviation from canon – here, a quirk factor refers to a genetic marker that causes someone to develop a quirk. So, in this version, Mirio would still have a quirk factor after the Overhaul arc but All Might and Midoriya wouldn’t have one at any point in the story. This may or may not become incredibly important later on ;)

[stillness-in-green]

You need a kosher explanation for the kid Horikoshi brought back for two arcs despite failing in the first, decided to add the father of to the manga, gave a significant amount of character while setting up the potential for future development in said arcs, and used as one of the three Shiketsu representatives in each of their single panel post babysitting arc appearances bar one that was license training specific?

Legit cannot understand this nitpick each time I've seen it; it would be stranger and far worse writing/make no sense if Horikoshi left him and his broken quirk out in a doomsday scenario.

Seiji's flaw is ego/extremism, not combat ability.

(re: my post on Chapter 381.)

…Yes?  Yes, I do?  No offense, anon, but you’re doing that thing I sometimes get people doing in response to my meta, where I’m talking about the series on one level and they come at me with a bunch of objections that are engaging with the story on another level entirely.

Specifically, nearly everything in your ask is a Doylist explanation for Shishikura’s return.  That’s a perfectly valid approach if you’re looking to explain the author’s decision-making process, and, indeed, I’m sure you’re correct on every point—from a Doylist perspective.  The questions I raised about Shishikura’s presence, however, were Watsonian in nature: what’s the in-universe explanation for this and is there any chance that, whatever that explanation is, it’s not incredibly sketchy?

Hit the jump for more analysis, and please keep in mind that this is coming from the perspective of someone whose favorite non-UA student is, in fact, Shishikura Seiji and who has been wanting to see how he's handling his father's murder for over two years.

Anon, you said Seiji's flaw is ego/extremism as if it’s not a real flaw, as if it doesn’t matter, as if it’s not a damn good reason for the in-universe regulatory bureau to have withheld his license.  But ego/extremism is a reason to withhold his license—his snide little gatekeeping routine cost him the very first round of the exam!

During the exam, Seiji wasn’t focused on getting himself through; he wasn’t focused on getting his classmates through—his entire stated rationale was to hinder other people.  Not in the spirit of competition, nor a desire to secure his own place, but simply because he was looking down on all of his fellow students.  It’s a terrible attitude for a hero to have[1] and, given that the police had specifically asked the HPSC to prioritize teamwork in that exam, he rightly flunked it.

Would he have been able to pass solely on the basis of his combat chops?  Judging by the number of meatballs around him when Kirishima, Bakugou and Kaminari faced him, yes, absolutely! He would have coasted through in no time if he'd actually been focused on doing so. But instead, he decided that he had ascertained the goal of the examiners (he hadn’t) and took it upon himself to act towards that goal.  As his own teacher later said, Seiji had been influenced by Stain, coming to let contempt drive him, and that sense of contempt led directly to his defeat—the only Shiketsu student to fail the first round!

Those failings of ego are not minor.  On top of everything else, Seiji's ego made him incredibly easy to provoke, and his contempt for Kaminari meant that he failed to catch onto Kaminari’s ruse. On a field with All For One—the man who personally murdered Seiji's father and who excels at mind games—Seiji's being quick to anger and prone to underestimating his opponents are not funny character beats; they are potentially lethal flaws.

Back when Aizawa was first explaining the exam process, he said, “Hero licenses are inextricably tied to the saving of lives, so one must be properly qualified for such a heavy responsibility.  Naturally, the test is incredibly difficult.” Under normal circumstances, Seiji would never have been given his provisional license because he would be a danger to himself and others.  Yet in 381, there he is—why?  Who decided that Seiji’s combat potential was enough to make up for his personality flaws?

Well, we know the answer to that: the HPSC.[2]  Over the course of the story, multiple characters either allude to or comment outright on the HPSC’s desperate attempts to increase the number of heroes at their disposal:

Aizawa, in the initial explanation of opening up work studies to first years.

The UA staff, in discussing the reasoning behind restarting work studies after they were initially called off.

Endeavor, in reflecting on the HPSC using the trainees as backup to bolster their numbers.

Midnight, in apologizing to Kaminari that his presence on the front line is needed.

Dabi, in scornfully commenting on the students’ presence at the villa raid.

Whatever other cases might be escaping me at the moment.

Lacking any other explanation, I have to view Seiji getting approved for being at this action as just more of the same.  And, as has been made repeatedly clear, “more of the same” is not going to actually resolve the problems facing Hero Society.  Doubling down, bringing on board more and more people who are categorically unfit in their present state, is only going to get more people hurt as the usual tactics continue to fail.  And the people most at risk, in any halfway realistic story, would be the ones who are least qualified to be here in the first place.

So, yes, anon, I would like a kosher explanation for Seiji’s presence here.  Because all the unkosher explanations point to a society that’s just continuing to make the same mistakes.  I like Seiji!  I like all the students that Horikoshi has managed to scrape together some actual, impactful flaws for!  I’m happy to see Seiji here!  But that’s not the same thing as agreeing that he has any business being here, if the authorities in his world had the slightest degree of respect for his life and future potential.

P.S. Even setting aside the authorities, why in god's name did Seiji's classmates let him come to the fight with the man who murdered his father? Did Inasa and company think he had the right to that confrontation? I can see stories that would work in, but BNHA, with its comparatively grounded, real world-ish setting with laws and licenses and so much paperwork, is definitely not one of them. For evidence, compare the idea of Seiji's classmates not trying to get him to stay well clear of this fight with Narrator Deku's profound regret about not being able to prevent Iida from confronting Stain.

Seiji's keeping an admirably level head so far, and honestly, with the current pacing and the way the most recent chapter ended, I'm not actually expecting that to change. Though, if Seiji does manage to keep his temper all through this, Deku should ask for some pointers. Would have been nice if the reader had gotten to see any of that emotional maturation, huh?)

----

1: Though obviously not an insurmountable one, cit. Number 2 Hero Endeavor.

2: I considered that maybe Seiji's classmates just didn't complain about him along even without a license, but then I remembered that he's in that big spread in Chapter 246 with a figure I recall we've seen elsewhere doing Pro Hero work, though judging by the hat, he's probably a Shiketsu alum. I suppose it's possible that he's a teacher, but if it was a class thing, you'd think we'd see Nagamasa Mora, the hairy class rep guy, there too.

[meeko-mar]

Bnha 362 thoughts:

It honestly doesn't make sense narratively for him to be *dead* dead

in one aspect alone, let's consider;

Bakugou's entire arc? is FROUGHT with loss. Losing. Failure. He has gone through life thinking ONE thing, and then getting proven WRONG every step of the way.

He gets captured by Sludge villain.

He loses to Izuku on the first training day in UA.

He gets DESTROYED by All Might and is forced to work with Izuku during their finals.

He gets rescued(in front of Izuku no less) by All Might at the USJ incident.

He gets targeted and kidnapped at the training camp. Gets used as a pawn during AFO's fight with AM, rescued by his friends(including Izuku who had come up with the plan.) All Might loses his power due to this incident, and Katsuki internalizes it.

He feels neutered under his internship with BJ, and feels like he falls behind while others had so much more exp on their internships.

He FAILS his provisional liscense exams.

He realizes that All Might gave Izuku his power and feels unworthy.

He wins against Izuku at ground Beta, and after that, things look a little more "in his favor", like the 1-Av 1-B exercise, getting his Provisional License...but then the war happens and he is back to "losing" by getting stabbed (I count it as a loss b/c it was a potentially fatal injury and he wasn't able to triumph over it properly)

The next big battle is THIS ONE and. Well. We all know what has been happening, and what has HAPPENED.

Katsuki has now, on top of his long history of losing, failing, and having every one of his principles he started with challenged and shut down, after finally UNDERSTANDING IT and making choices to be better, including making up with Izuku himself, faced the ULTIMATE loss, and DIED in battle.

The end.

EXCEPT NO. THAT CAN'T BE IT. it can't be a final death, it doesn't make SENSE.

I mean, it's not even a NOBLE death. If Horikoshi wanted to go "Noble Death" with it, he would have done so when Katsuki got skewered making the sacrificial play. But he can't do that again, because he already did that move!

Izuku isn't even there to see it.

So this isn't that.

And Bakugou, whatever he started as, has become an essential part of this story, a deuteragonist instead of an antagonist. His story is intricately tied to Izuku's, and we all SEE that plainly in the canon, and how deeply important to each other they are. Horikoshi himself said something about coming to really like him as a character.

What the heck would be the point in killing him off so unceremoniously?

Before Katsuki actually has a chance to truly win(and save)?

Katsuki's arc STILL doesn't feel complete.

And it's as if the Antis are getting what THEY want, and his arc is ALL punishment for what he's done, instead of truly rising above it(he's come quite a long way, but to truly triumph he should be able to make all the changes he has, acknowledge the damage he's done, and then truly begin to flourish.

But he's still taking the L and getting brutalized by AFO.

He literally STILL asked, as he is DYING, "Can I keep up with you Izuku?"

He has barely landed a hit on AFO in all this and in his "final" moments thinks about Izuku and how he WANTS to keep up with him.

This is horribly incomplete.

So unless we SOMEHOW get a vestige or ghost of Katsuki performing final acts in this war that turn the tides, but don't get him back, which would suck...

Then my bets are on SOME WAY getting him back via resuscitation, or the Nitroglycerin Revival theory, something to do with the Second's Quirk, bringing him back.

We could argue then about the effect that has on stakes, or if that would be just a deus ex machina ending, but

Bottom line is that I feel like leaving such an important character, such a POPULAR character as *dead* dead, without at least having a true victory moment to close out his own story....LET ALONE one shared with the protagonist whom he has been codependently developed alongside the entire time...without at least making a single difference in the final battle, doesn't make narrative sense. When Hori said he wants to do right by this character, and that what he came up with should be pleasing to all fans.

SOMETHING IS STILL MISSING in Katsuki's entire arc and I don't know, personally, I don't think he'll stay dead?? I'm not sure how I want it to happen, but...

There's been so much build up, there are talks that haven't even occurred between them to our knowledge. There's LOOSE ENDS. There's a lack of fulfillment to Katsuki's story if you take this as the end.

Yes, his challenge through the story was to learn to SAVE and that will be important, but he hasn't even reached the climax on THAT yet, and I don't consider what happened in the war arc and retrieval arc to be that end-all be-all climax.

This can't be the end of Katsuki Bakugou. (and I'm hoping its not just gonna be some Jedi Ghost shenanigans)