okay so my first impression of 431 is that i thought it was sweet. thoughts below the cut because hashtag spoilers:
loved the little snapshots of where everyone is at. everyone's 20-something designs! the continued emphasis on education and cultural change leading to less need for heros. mirio was offputting as always but i guess the kids like him, but i really liked the chance to see ochako in action. the bits about building relationships with the kids, building trust so that they trust you with any possible issues at home in turn--all things that don't depend on a quirk. all things that showcase treating the person and not the quirk. all things that point to prevention and support over policing and vilification. ugh so good.
i also liked seeing how everyone has stayed connected--kouda at shoji's agency! aoyama with hagakure! kaminari setting up right next door to jirou! tsuyu being always at ochako's side! ah! so sweet! suneater steadfastly refusing to leave fatgum had me giggling, and shoto taking pottery classes had me tearing up a bit. also, that mention of ochako already seeing izuku a lot because of work tells me that maybe he's been helping out with the quirk counseling and education stuff too? did i misread that?
i see why people had issues with the last chapter (beyond shipping stuff which. whatever. as stated before, i don't care much about that). i get it, especially as a fan of the villain characters, and it really sucks to see them as like, pieces in the main character's development as opposed to their own characters. it also really ummm stood out to me how much less development shigaraki and izuku's relationship had in comparison to ochako and toga's, or dabi and shouto's. i do still feel like not giving them more meetings and development was a missed opportunity in the development of the story. it's just. ochako dreaming about toga. this being a well-tread topic that tsuyu knows all about. that entire discussion on the subway actually. ochako wanting toga's quirk to be like one for all because then that would mean toga was still around to haunt her. god. toga completely changed her life. i still wish they had all lived.
the complete overkill of 20 heroes descending on a runaway truck had me laughing too, even though the class 1-a panel looked very cool. and mineta being 108 was i'm assuming a reference to the 108 vices, right?
i'mmmmm still mulling over the conversation in the car and the one at the end, since those seemed to have caused the most contention in the random spoilers i've seen and i want to really solidify my own feelings on the matter before i put them out there. but my initial thought is that...i like izuku as a teacher? i like that he gets his hero suit, and he's so thankful for that, but he enjoys being a teacher and wants to keep doing it? it runs very much in the same vein as ochako prioritizing quirk education and shoto wanting to learn pottery--in the end, society has changed, priorities have changed, quirks aren't everything, izuku can conceive of worth for himself outside of being a hero. izuku sharing his experiences, telling his story and i'm assuming shigaraki's, doing outreach to the younger kids--the suit is so nice, but he doesn't need that to do the work he's been doing. again, making a lot of assumptions here.
that being said, katsuki completely failing to say what he meant, kirishima demonstrating his top-tier katsuki wrangling skills and translating, izuku completely not computing katsuki's offer, izuku offering everything to everyone, katsuki telling him he needs to think more highly of himself because he misses the way others care for him, that line about special treatment for everyone means no one is special--it's the izuku special of bending himself in half for every person that crosses his path, and it's interesting to hear this perspective of how that can distance him from the people that care for him. i suppose perhaps being a teacher is part of that special treatment for everyone--he does strike me as the type of teacher who would turn the world inside out for his kids--i've known teachers like that, and they usually have no work life balance and their whole life is their students. i also suppose this goes back to aizawa telling him in the last chapter he needs to be stricter with his students.
but anyway, i do think it's interesting the way that after the sidekick offer is spelled out explicitly, izuku still says no. i don't think it's a rejection of katsuki. i think it's a reiteration that izuku's priorities, his teaching and everything else, are the right decision for him. it's not a 'well i was thinking that those who can't do teach but now that you're offering to get me out of that job i guess i'll come join you.' it's 'this suit and the chance to be a hero are an incredibly gift that has added a much-missed dimension to my life and allowed me to reconnect with my friends, but the life that i built before i got the suit still has value and meaning and isn't something i want to completely leave behind.' like who cares if they aren't in the same agency? katsuki's still driving him home at the end of the night, and izuku's gonna bully him into coming to aizawa's communication seminar next week.
idk i'm just rambling now, but the explicit parallel drawn between ochako's and izuku's lack of consideration for themselves, and the way they kind of claim that in the end by saying that they have something they want for themselves? idk i liked it. ochako and izuku have had really interesting development together throughout the series, and whether you read it as romantic or as them just choosing to reprioritize a friendship they've let fall by the wayside a bit, i think it's fitting for them to get a moment, especially since katsuki and izuku got such a big one in the last chapter. and of course it ends with hands, because why would it not.
so anyway! the catastrophizing and cursing horikoshi's name is. dumb to me but people will do what they're gonna do i guess and everyone's entitled to their own opinions and i guess this very long ramble is mine. holy moley this is way longer than i intended.
i've somewhat made my peace with the villains' endings as much as i can because 1. there's always fanfic and 2. there was no way that what had been done to them already would be undone in this last chapter, so i didn't go into this with any sort of expectations on their behalves. wish there was more shigaraki, but as stated before, i think that, like a lot of the other 'issues' i have with the ending, is something that would have needed to be solved dozens of chapters back, not in this one additional epilogue.
finally. air conditioning hero. i love shoto so much.
