How do you determine if someone’s problematic behavior is part of their personality? Through two key things: repeated instances and other people’s perception of that person. The same goes for abuse. In this meta, we’ll examine two confirmed examples and two non-examples of abusers in BNHA, and draw a conclusion about a hotly debated character, Bakugou Mitsuki.
Let’s take the most obvious case, Endeavor. He has obviously been shown to beat Shouto on a constant basis to the point of throwing up since the age of 5, only considering him as a creation. He calls his other children failures and things, and barred them from contact with Shouto their entire childhood. He hit Rei and placed so much pressure on her that she became afraid of any face that resembled his, which lead to her pouring boiling water on Shouto’s left side. The repeated actions check out.
Shouto resents Endeavor so much that he refused to use his fire side in combat, and only calls his father “old man”. After many years in a mental hospital, Rei is still too afraid to meet him face to face. Natsuo stated he would never forgive Endeavor for what he’s done. It’s clear that this character fulfills both criteria.
How about Overhaul? Is his abuse shown through repeated actions? He said himself that he broke and fused Eri back multiple times to exploit her quirk for the bullets. His minions are nothing but expendable pawns to him, even though they dedicated their whole lives to his cause- he literally fused with them whenever he saw fit (I tried to mention as few spoilers possible here).
As for other people’s perception: Poor Eri, a 6-year-old, was so traumatized by Overhaul that she lost the ability to smile even after she was taken away. Note how willing she was to be rescued by total strangers, and how she still felt guilty because Overhaul called her a monster. The expendable minions only stuck around because they had nothing else to live for and got manipulated by him.
Moving on, let’s go back to Rei and her pouring boiling water on her son. This is undoubtedly a problematic action; however, it’s not consistent with her usual caring nature. She has been shown to defend Shouto from her husband even if it meant getting hit herself. She also dedicate time to watch All Might broadcasts with him and told him it’s okay to use both his sides to be a hero.
This is also seen through Shouto’s attitude towards his mom- he never blamed her for the incident and still proudly used ‘her’ ice power, even apologizing later for not visiting her. Natsuo and Fuyumi casually visited and had a conversation with her, where the manga shows they value her opinion and wellbeing.
Someone else with questionable actions coming from a good heart is the hero himself, All Might. A prominent example is the end-of-term exam, where he smashed Midoriya and Bakugou in an attempt to get them cooperate. This unnecessarily violent approach almost resulted in permanent injuries. He also pushes the duo together a bit too soon in their relationship’s development, which could be seen as harmful. However, these actions are a minority compared to the good he had done to both of them (in particular), such as making them realize the values of being a well-rounded hero, or providing genuine attention and trust to them.
Midoriya and Bakugou agree with this perception- they see him as their mentor, even after his quirk has gone (and he shared that secret too). They both feel a deep sense of responsibility- for Midoriya- and guilt- for Bakugou- after his career ended. It’s probably not a stretch to say that Midoriya even views him as a father figure.
So what does this mean for Mitsuki? Sure, her calling him ‘weak’ and smacking him on the head was problematic, but was it repeated behavior? No, it was only one scene. How about other people’s perception of her? Once against, we don’t know for sure. Bakugou barely talks about his family at all, so that’s ruled out. During his visit, All Might commented on there being a ‘darkness’ in the family, but never elaborated beyond that.
Based on our established criteria, Mitsuki cannot be determined as an abuser or not. People who brand her this mark after one scene might as well brand Rei an abuser for the boiling water incident, or All Might for punching Deku.
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