(Re)reading BNHA, one questionable analysis at a time

This is a non-professional, mid-depth exploration of the BNHA manga, starting from chapter one and eventually, perhaps, catching up to the manga. Will include character analysis, plot examination, callbacks, narrative themes, and whatever else I feel like looking closely at. Feel free to ask about my thoughts on stuff from any point in the story, I will ramble on just about anything. (No, I will not be analyzing ships. This is a shipping-free area. I do NOT need to deal with that headache.) This will have spoilers! Plenty of them! I'll try to have things tagged by their story arcs for convenient blacklisting, but I might not catch everything, so be warned now! This is a hate-free area. I don't care how much you dislike a character, or how 'wrong' you think my take on the series and story/character arcs are, I simply am here to have a good time and do not need bad vibes on my blog. Go make your own posts/blog and leave mine alone. Remember that anonymous asks are a privilege. If I ever feel like it's being used inappropriately, I remove it as an option.

[rrandomtthings]

Why Bkdk is NOT toxic:

A look through their relationship throughout the series

Cw// MAJOR bnha manga spoilers

As bakudekus, we experience that “bkdk is toxic!1!” argument on a daily. It’s something that we have all just.. let sit next to us knowing that it’s always going to be there. Of course, and understandably, it bothers most of us. What many see, especially non-manga readers, isn’t what we see.

Let’s start off with what they see. In the first episode/chapter, we start off with Bakugous infamous “Swan dive off the roof” line.

Of course, no matter how you look at it, this was a terrible thing that Bakugou said to Izuku. There is no excuse. Telling someones to kts, no matter how you may disagree and not see eye to eye, is always inexcusable (this applies to real life too!!)

Later in the chapter, Bakugou carries around a can that says “Lip Service,” which, pretty much means being all talk and not meaning actions behind the words that are being said (usually said with a negative connotation.)

Once again, does this excuse what he said to Izuku? Absolutely not. However, this does give us insight on the future and when we find out about how Bakugou feels for Deku.

Note: As for the bullying prior to this scene, there is no proof that Bakugou continuously bullied Deku as of when this has been written.

Then, the sludge incident happened. At first glance, Deku looked horrified at the attack. However, he didn’t make any moves as he assumed that the heroes will come in and save the person. Once it was revealed to him that it was Bakugou, Izuku had his “My body moved on its own” moment and did not even hesitate to save Kacchan.

After the sludge villain attack, it was explicitly stated that Bakugou had not bullied Deku since then.

Now, the two are in UA and it is revealed that Deku has a quirk to Bakugou. A quirk that he was told to keep its origins of a secret. However, Deku told Bkg about OFA, ignoring All Mights warnings because he felt like he could not lie to Kacchan. Despite them still having a very rocky relationship at this point in the series, Deku still felt the need to tell Kacchan about OFA. He could not lie to him. He could lie to his mom, all of UA, everyone in the world, but not to Kacchan.

Fast forward to DVK2 and they are fighting out their emotions. Here, Deku talks about how, although he hated those small parts of Bakugou that bullied him, he never let the bad outshine the good. He always looked up to Bakugou and wanted to be just like him.

Deku compares how he sees Kacchan to All Might. His literal hero. The man who he idolizes like crazy. He felt closer and more inspired by Kacchan than All Might. Because Kacchan was always there next to him. In Dekus eyes, despite the bullying and all, he saw Kacchan as more than All Might.

Izuku expresses how he is the only one who can accept Bakugous feelings. Not because it is explicitly about the two of them, rather it’s because he is the only one willing to listen and understand where he is coming from. And Bakugou knows this too. He could have easily asked anyone else, but instead he chose Izuku. He trusted Deku enough to be vulnerable around him.

During this fight, Bakugou expresses how he always thought that Deku continuously looked down on him. And it’s because he has never seen such genuine kindness from anyone. He was always expected to get up on his own. All because of his quirk and how he was praised for being gifted with such. He always thought that Izuku had an “attitude” that he was so unfamiliar with.

Deku, during their fight, although he does not say it out loud because he thinks that it “sounds stupid,” talks about how he sees Kacchan and his image of victory. To him, when he thinks of victory, Kacchan is who comes to mind.

After this fight, they are able to start to see eye to eye and start to understand each other’s perspectives. Now that Bakugou knows about OFA, they start to work and grow together. Win to save and Save to win.

In the JT arc there are very fun moments between the two as they start becoming more and more friendly with each other. They continue to try and one up each other, but it is much different than before. There is a lighter undertone to their words and actions. They start hanging out in the meeting room with All Might as there is also a lot of banter between the two—this is when their relationship has started to mend. Not to mention, during this arc Deku unlocks black whip all because Monoma insulted Kacchan.

Now, after the two spend so much time together with the JT and Endeavor agency arcs, the two has become much closer than they were at the beginning of the series. The two have started to mend their bond and continue to do so.

Then, the war arc.

After realizing that Shigaraki is after OFA, Deku makes the decision to follow after him. Throughout these panels, he looks absolutely terrified. Of course, why wouldn’t he be? He is about to run into a battle field all on his own, without any support and with no one knowing what he plans to do.

However, Kacchan does.

Kacchan follows Deku to Shigaraki. He claims that it’s because he has “unfinished business” with him, but, while that may be partly true, that’s not the full truth (I.e. he wants to protect Deku.)

Now, the two have reached Shigaraki and Deku is fighting against him. Bakugou tells Deku to get away from him and that he should be the last person near him. The response Bakugou gets is that no one else can defeat Shigaraki as Kacchan watches Deku in absolute fear that he will end up being terribly hurt.

Side note: look at the terror in his eyes.. I’m gonna sob

Within this specific fight with Shigaraki, there are many heroes with the two. Some of which are Endeavor, Shouto, Rock Lock, Aizawa (injured), etc. Despite knowing that this is a child up in the air fighting Shigaraki, some (not Rock Lock, he had the right idea with questioning why children are on the battle field) look in amazement as Deku continuously breaks himself so he can try and get Shigaraki down.

However, Kacchan sees past this as he yells at the other heroes about how this is not helping Deku in the slightest and that he is going to get himself killed at the rate that he was going.

Bakugou devises a plan to try and help Deku and to get Shigaraki down as the heroes look in awe at Deku. He uses Shouto and Endeavor as they try and get up to where the two were and have Endeavor use his Prominence Burn on Shigaraki in hopes that would bring him down.

While Bakugou is flying them up to Deku, he has a flashback to a conversation with All Might.

They were training Deku with black whip. They were playing a game called “Catch a Kacchan” (I will never get over how cute this name is 😭) and they called in others to help Deku practice with quirks similar to the ones that he will eventually or has either unlocked (Uraraka for Float, Tsu for black whip, etc.)

As All Might and Bakugou watch on as Deku trains, they have a conversation.

Bakugou asks All Might why he is hiding information about the fourth user from Deku. No, he doesn’t ask, he confronts him. He confronts his childhood hero for the sake of Deku. He straight up tells All Might to stop keeping information from, knowing that this could potentially harm him.

Bakugou is upset at that point. He wishes for All Might to stop keeping secrets from them, more specifically Deku.

Then, as the two continue to talk, All Might brings up the fact that he is worried for Izuku. And Bakugou is too, to which he does not deny in any sort of way.

Note: once again, even when they’re not on the battle field, Bakugou looks so worried for Deku. Many have speculated that him looking tired throughout this chapter (ch. 284) has to do with him continuously worrying about Izuku and thinking about their past together.

Bakugou continues the conversation as he talks about how Deku does not understand how special he is. All Might brings up the idea of atonement and questions Bakugou as to whether that is what he is doing with Deku as a way to make up for their past, to which Bakugou does not disagree upon. The conversation then ends with All Might talking about how the two will eventually get to talk this out together and allow for Bakugou to express his worries for Deku to him.

Then, the scene changes back to the battle field as Endeavor uses his Prominence Burn onto Shigaraki, only for it to fail as he got right back up due to his regeneration.

The battle continues between Deku and Shigaraki (who at this point is AFO) as he releases Quirk Activation spikes in Izukus direction.

Kacchan, seeing as Deku is about to get hurt, rushes to him in an instant.

Throughout this scene, we see Bakugous inner monologue. Here, we are shown all his regrets with his and Dekus relationship. How he completely regrets bullying him in the past. Deku are his final thoughts in a moment where he thinks he is about to die.

Kacchan had his “my body moved on its own” moment as he rushed in to save Deku.

After Bakugou was hit, his first words to Deku were to try and calm him down and to tell him to not win this on his own.

Upon seeing Kacchan hurt, to even say that Deku went bat shit crazy would be an understatement. He was absolutely livid as we see him fight like never before.

As Deku continues to fight against Shigaraki, Shouto flies up with his fire quirk to catch Bakugou as he is falling, to which he eventually grabs Deku after him and Shigaraki separate and Izuku starts to fall.

After putting them on the ground, Shouto goes back and fight with Nejire.

As Iida had arrived at the battle field by this point, he tries to help an injured Bakugou get out of the battle field. However, Bakugou refuses as he continues to fight.

Here, it is revealed that Bakugou, just by seeing Deku almost die, has never felt so close to death in his lifetime. Not when Bakugou got kidnapped. Not when class 1A was attack at the USJ, not after he was stabbed. It was the thought of Deku dying that made him feel like he was about to die.

The need to get to Deku caused for a quirk evolution as he had to advance his quirk in that moment to be able to reach Deku.

After the battle is done, Bakugou falls into a 2 day coma. When he wakes up, the first thing he asks is how Deku, Todoroki, Aizawa, etc. are doing.

Upon hearing that Deku is still asleep, Kacchan rushes out of bed to get to his room despite still being heavily injured. At this moment, Bakugou knew that he would not be able to talk to Deku. He just wanted to know if he was okay. He just wanted to see him.

After having to tie him up with Tsuyus tongue, knowing that that if they tie him up with anything else he would explode it, Bakugou yells “Why am I awake while you’re still asleep?” towards Dekus room as he is being dragged away by the class.

Many have taken that line as a way of showing that Bakugou fully expected to die for Deku at that moment. And he was willing to. Seeing that his effort to protect him failed and led to Deku being in a coma only greatly upset Kacchan.

At the moment that this has been written, Deku still hasn’t woken up and Kacchan was forced back to his room.

If after reading this post you still think that bkdk is toxic because of their past, I do want you to understand that people change. We all have a past, a present, and a future. You are not who you were in your past. You are who you are in the present, and you will be someone different in the future.

Bakugou clearly regrets how he treated Deku. This is not an opinion, this is a fact. He is trying to change and mend their relationship. They are living in the present right now, not the past.

Izuku does not hold any grudge against him and even admits that he feels blessed to be able to have conversations with Kacchan.

When it comes to Bakudeku, so many only look at the first episode. Even if you’re just an anime-only, the anime has DVK2. The episode where a lot of their progression comes from.

At this point, if you still think that their relationship is toxic, then im really not sure what to tell you. If your argument is still “in the first episode...” The no. Stop. We are 300+ chapters in. These two are the main protagonists and the show literally revolves around them. They are obviously going to grow. You can’t completely ignore this growth because of what happened in the first episode. You can’t only look at the things you want to and ignore the big picture.

[thenarator]

do you ever just think about how all might must see izuku?

like, everyone else – tsukauchi, nighteye, even gran torino – first experienced toshinori at his best. they met him either in professional settings when he was being ALL MIGHT ™ or when he was young and idealistic and generally had the overwhelming charm of a child with big dreams. when they met him he was making a conscious effort to live up to his ideals, and they only saw how hard that was for him much later, if ever. he knows they support him, but he also knows that they came to admire him long before he ever asked for their support.

and then there’s izuku, whose first meeting with all might was … bad. toshinori was having a bad day, he was grouchy, and he absolutely took that out on izuku. not only does he, five minutes after meeting izuku, immediately dump his baggage about his injury and his time limit on the kid, but he also talks about his self-doubts and waning faith in heroes. stuff no adult should ever tell a child, let alone a hero to a civilian. and then he tops himself by straight up crushing izuku’s dreams, telling him he can never be a hero. finally he leaves the kid on the roof of a tall building, without taking half a second to think how that might go horribly wrong.

and the next thing he sees izuku do is fucking dive into a villain fight to save another kid who’s dying, while all around him heroes INCLUDING ALL MIGHT stand by and do nothing.

like, holy shit can you imagine what toshinori’s view of izuku must be like? he knows damn well this kid is having what is possibly the worst day of his life. he got attacked by a villain, found out his hero is a fraud and had his dreams crushed. that’s without knowing he got suicide baited less than two hours ago. and still this kid, who by rights should be slinking home to cry for the next 24 hours, is out here risking his life to save his friend. knowing full well that if he does this his day can only get worse, either by being injured or by getting in trouble with the heroes.

that puts toshinori to shame.

so of course toshinori admires izuku. of course he offers to make izuku his successor. of course he believes in izuku (even to the point of expecting unreasonable performance out of him, but it never shakes his faith when izuku falls short or has different priorities). of course he’s willing to get down on izuku’s kitchen floor and beg his mother to let izuku be his student. how could he not want to be izuku’s mentor?

izuku may be the only person who makes toshinori actually feel good about himself. he did something terrible to izuku, and still izuku admires him, listens to him, wants him for a mentor. izuku saw him at his worst and said “you’re still my hero.” he makes toshinori feel loved.

and if you don’t think that’s the most heartwarming shit you can get out of my face.

[fromatozfantasylover]

Chapter 304 leads us to another aspect of why exactly All Might chose midoriya as his successor.

While yes, AM cares about midoriya some might view it in a different sense.

For example:

1. All Might knows about the quirkless having an advantage when it comes to OFA

2. All Might found out about midoriya’s quirklessness

3. He saw a kid running into battle after having a shit day, with no hesitation or remorse

4. He deemed him a good hero

5. And offered him his quirk

In other words, had not midoriya told AM he was quirkless on the rooftop, or had he not run in to save bakugo, AM would’ve discarded him. Even though he was quirkless.

And this leads to another question:

Why was All Might scouting for successors in UA when he knew how short lives the person would live and why was he searching a school filled with quirks?

[thenarator]

i understand horikoshi wants to tarnish the emotional impact of this plotline with his recent sweeping retcons, but do you have to bring it up on my post appreciating one of the, like, 4.5 good things about this anime?

[fromatozfantasylover]

sorry, but yeah

[humangerbil]

Except canon says otherwise. All Might had no idea that being quirkless was beneficial to OfA holders.

Let’s take a walk through canon’s details about All Might discovering information about the past OfA holders.

In chapter 202, after Izuku has his weird dream (which we should see near the beginning on season 5) All Might talks to Izuku about how he is going to call Gran Torino to see if he has any information about such things from Nana.

Then he hears from Gran Torino about Nana once had a weird dream in Chapter 210.

After Black Whip materializes All Might know something is up and starts doing research into the previous holders. In chapter 241 he is so busy doing this he neglects his health! He also is talking to Nedzu about the research he was doing which might mean Nedzu had been helping. Look at how much more skeletal he looks! He has been working so hard at gathering this information.

At the end of chapter 246, when we know All Might has been doing research we see him looking rather upset. This was likely when he found the info revealed in 304 about how 4th died from “old age” at forty after only have OfA for 18 years. 

Then, at the end chapter 256 he mention he wasn’t able to find everything out.

In chapter 257 he gives Izuku the notebook. 

He also mentions all the previous holders died young. This is also where we see the crossed out part in the notebook that Izuku was unable to read. Chapter 304 confirmed this information was about how 4th died of old age. 

In Chapter 284, in a flashback, Bakugou brought up the half finished and crossed out info on 4th. All Might told him he didn’t he wasn’t sure!  At this point, likely back at the end of chapter 246, All Might was getting the feeling that OfA might be ‘cursed’ or shorten people’s lives. He didn’t say anything because he wasn’t yet sure.

We finally got the full confirmation in 304 that yes, OfA does shorten lives but only of quirked people. All Might did not have any inkling of the 'curse’ OfA carries until chapter 246 and even now in canon he has no idea that being quirkless exempts Izuku from that ‘curse.’ 

Izuku was chosen because he moved without thinking. Izuku was chosen because All Might saw someone he thought should inherit his power. It had nothing to do with the fact that Izuku was quirkless. All Might wasn’t searching for a quirkless kid. All Might had no idea that being quirkless would be a benefit to any future OfA holder just as he had no idea that if he passed it on to a quirked person it would shorten their life to only another ~20 years. All Might may be an idiot sometimes but if he knew that giving OfA to a quirked person would greatly shorten their life he never would do that, especially to a child. 

Stop trying to turn canon All Might into a bad guy.

[thenarator]

extremely well said

[psychomurderz]

About the Midoriya family.

Keep reading

[chroma-ki]

Bakugou Katsuki, and the Value of Being "Genuine": An Analysis

I’ve been thinking about this concept for a while, and the more that I analyze Bakugou’s character and his development, the more it stands out to me.

Bakugou Katsuki places a high level of priority on the idea of being “genuine”, and it is often this attribute in another person that earns them his respect almost immediately.

I will go into more detail on this with a couple of particular characters, but it is this concept of “genuine-ness”, or the ability of someone to be honest and truthful at face-value, that Bakugou values very highly. He is drawn to people who are “real”; people who don’t put on false faces, spout false praise or put on a ‘mask’ for the benefit of others.

Keep reading

[kiraelric]

what is your favorite headcanon about izuku?

Oh God.

Okay, so I feel I need to preface this with the fact that in no way does this post excuse the actions of Katsuki Bakugou. I’m going to talk about him a lot and I just need to get that out there before I start because:

I honestly believe that Izuku Midoriya thinks of Katsuki Bakugou as his best friend.

I refuse to believe otherwise. Like if you watch throughout the series, Izuku doesn’t think of Katsuki in a negative light - he never has.

Even at the beginning of the series.

When Izuku first explains Bakugou to the readers he doesn’t speak of him in the sense of “oh this guy makes my life a living hell.” or “this is jerk I avoid at school.”  or even “I used to be friends with him but he’s such an asshole now I can’t stand him. He’s a horrible person.”  No. We get this:

He explains that he was once friends with Bakugou - and never once has Izuku expressed an end to the relationship on his side of it. He doesn’t even say that once Katsuki’s quirk manifested that they stopped being friends - no he says “it took a turn for the worse.”, or if you wanna go further since this is the mangapanda translation, in the VIZ translation he says that Kacchan was neither “good” or bad” but once his quirk manifested he started on the path towards “bad”, and in the anime (I watched the dub I will be completely blunt right here), Izuku says “But when his quirk manifested, He began to change.”  

Relationships are not always prefect, and it’s something Izuku has been aware of for a very long time. He doesn’t expect everything to be perfect and he simply noted that once his friend gained a powerful quirk that said power began to affect his personality.  

So that’s why I guess I look at the opening  “You’re making him cry Kacchan, If you don’t stop I’ll stop you myself” scene a little differently? I mean Katsuki and Izuku wanted to be heroes ever since they were little, and they idolized the same person so, to see his friend do something that hurt another person (far as we know for no reason) it probably hurt Izuku.

‘What are you doing, idiot? You want to be a hero, why are you acting like a bad guy? This isn’t like you. This isn’t the Kacchan I know. I’ll step in and wake you up. I’ll show you what you’re doing is wrong. Even if it’s scary.’

Agreeing with your friends 100% of the time, isn’t real friendship. It’s a friend’s responsibility to look out for one another, and Izuku was trying to do that for Katsuki all the way back when they were four.

I mean let’s look at the ever discussed, suggested suicide scene.  Katsuki was literally just a complete asshole to Izuku. He told someone he’d known over at this point a decade to just go kill themselves in an all too casual fashion, and Izuku’s reaction to this is for Katsuki think before he speaks.  I mean look at VIZ’s translation:

He’s more concerned about Katsuki getting charged with his death, and he is about the actual action of it even being suggested. Now I’m not saying this is right, or a good thing - I’m saying that even after such a thing - a whole decade later - Izuku is still putting Katsuki ahead of everything else.

And this continues to be the case, time and time again.

The USJ just got attacked. They almost died. All Might almost died, but when Katsuki and company show up to save the day, Izuku doesn’t just say “guys” or “everyone” in relief, it puts Katsuki ahead of the others, because Katsuki carries more weight in Izuku’s heart than the others do (mainly because of time, both in the fact that Izuku has just begun to know the others but also because he’s known Katsuki for so long)

But back the concept of their friendship and the length that they have known each other. It’s not like it’s a hidden thing. It’s not like people don’t know. It gets brought up time and time again that they used to be friends. Not just ‘someone I used to know.’  and even Katsuki’s lackys get on his ass a little for being “too rough” with Izuku after the whole suicide comment.

But back to the friends thing. Izuku says it, Todoroki asks it of Bakugou during their encounter with each other in the waiting room right before the final match,

so it’s not something I believe should be looked over. The whole of class 1-A and those surrounding them know that Katsuki Bakugou and Izuku Midoriya have been friends for an extremely long time. They don’t know the circumstances to which their relationship has become what it is, but they are aware that at one time they were on positive terms with each other.

And thing is too, that when confronted with the topic, neither of them ever denies it. For as much as Katsuki grumps and growls about Izuku he never denies being friends with him.

I mean, look at this:

The famous “Deku Scene”, I know, but instead of focusing on that, look at it from another perspective. Katsuki came up with a nickname for him with a horrible meaning, yes, and you can see little Izuku standing there telling him to stop but I see it more as the start of the downhill slope. They were friends and now that same friend is starting to be a jerk and Izuku doesn’t understand why. He still cares about Katsuki, he still holds him in honest concern, but he just doesn’t understand why his best (and only) friend (at the time) is being so mean.

I mean, ever since the beginning all Izuku has ever shown for Katsuki was true honest concern. From the falling incident:

to kicking him in the face despite Katsuki demanding that he fight him.

Even when Katsuki demands that Izuku not worry about him, we all know it’s impossible. Izuku cares too much about Katsuki to not worry about him. He’s been worrying over him since they were four why would he stop when they were sixteen?

Katsuki is Izuku’s best friend. He’s going to fret and worry and lose his mind when something goes wrong or he gets hurt or worse.  That’s just what Izuku does. He’s probably the only person who’s ever shown Katsuki any gentle form of genuine honest concern in his entire life to be completely frank.

I mean I get that Bakugou’s parents care about their son but his explosive temper didn’t appear out of thin air. Izuku’s concern for Bakugou’s well being has always come with uplifting words, honest eyes and an outstretched hand and Katsuki’s just not used to that.

I think it’s important to remember that when looking at Izuku at his core, he’s a good kid. He follows the rules, stays out of trouble and keeps his head down for the most part - at least that is the impression we’re given at the beginning of the series.

But then Katsuki gets in trouble for the very first time and it’s life or death. It’s the same monster that almost suffocated him to death only an hour or so prior and he just had his entire world shattered by both Katsuki’s far too casual remark about suicide and All Might’s ‘confirmation’ that he can’t ever achieve his dream.

But when he sees the look on Katsuki’s face, all bets are off. All logic and reason, any sense of survival- it’s thrown out the window and he runs. He runs straight into the face of danger that pro-heroes have even deemed is too much for them to handle and he does whatever he can to try to save Katsuki’s life. Cause sure, he’s a jerk and maybe he’s not the nicest guy to be around anymore and he might have just been out of line in the past few hours at school but the bottom line is Katsuki Bakugou is his friend, and he can’t just stand there and watch him die.

And it’s not like he expected to be rewarded for his efforts or even survive the encounter. His friend was in danger so he reacted and did what he could to help.

Because friendship is not agreeing with your friends 100% of the time but being there for them when you can and when they need you the most.

Even when they get pitted up against each other for the first time, the respect for Katsuki is still here. He still doesn’t paint a negative picture for the reader of Katsuki and honestly I don’t think he ever will.

See? Uraraka is the one who is painting the negative picture. Izuku doesn’t refer to Katsuki as “his bully”, in fact he doesn’t even refer to him as Bakugou. He has too much respect for him for that. The difference though between Izuku and Katsuki’s other acquaintances is that Izuku acknowledges Katsuki’s downfalls. “He may be a jerk but... let me tell you all of this other awesome stuff about him.”

He acknowledges that yes, my friend has the capacity to be an asshole and sometimes he is but let me tell you everything about him that’s hidden until that thick layer of jerk.

Without Izuku’s perspective of Katsuki the reader would be left with a much darker picture of the blond. He paints in the light and shows us the hero that he’s capable of being instead of the villainous role the world wants to pigeonhole him into.

Even after all the shit that Katsuki puts him through, Izuku still tries to show the reader Katsuki from the best possible light.  That’s what best friends do.

And I mean, even if Katsuki doesn’t share the same sentiment (because that’s another post about Katsuki and this is about Izuku), Izuku cares so so so much about Katsuki and his opinion and what he thinks of him.  We go from the first fight, in chapter 9 -

To Izuku completely ridden with guilt because his friend thinks he’s been lying to him; because Katsuki thinks Izuku has been the one making fun of him. I mean look at Izuku’s face. Once Katsuki started yelling about how “You’ve been tricking me for all these years.” Izuku felt crushed, because ‘No I haven’t, things happened. I haven’t lied to you. I wouldn’t lie to you. Please believe me, I think this is crazy too.’

I mean he went off and told Katsuki the almost truth about One for All out of guilt.

Katsuki didn’t bully him into telling him the truth. Katsuki didn’t even go after him about it, he just left the school and went to mind his own business because he didn’t want to think about it and here comes Izuku ready to tell Katsuki pour his heart out in the hopes of making sure that he knew Izuku wasn’t making fun of him, and that he never had or would. Izuku couldn’t bring himself to tell his Mother but he felt such a twist in his stomach that he needed to tell Katsuki.

And then 110 chapters later -

After Katsuki finally opens his mouth and expresses his frustrations and confusions of feeling like he was the one chasing Izuku and how much it makes him sick to his stomach to think that the one who had nothing was now the one who had everything and even when they were kids that Katsuki had always thought Izuku was looking down on him, this is what we get. Look at his face. That’s shock. That’s concern, and that’s a little bit of hurt too because Izuku has never thought so negatively of Katsuki and in fact it’s quite the opposite so it’s like - how did I fail to show him how much I care about and look up to him?

And he does too.

Izuku idolizes the hell out of Katsuki, even more so than All Might. He always has.

First time during U.A. he’s in real danger at the USJ - who does he channel for courage? Katsuki.

He finally figures out how to use One for All as an extension of his body and decides to train and practice moving in the Full Cowl state - who is he drawing inspiration from? Katsuki.

“Not even moving like that would be outside my reach.”

Not moving like All Might, moving like Katsuki.

How many times has Izuku used Katsuki for reference - every time he needs reference for personal growth. Every time Izuku makes a step forward, it’s because he’s looking at Katsuki and deciding how to make it his own, unlike how he merely tried to mimic All Might up till recently.

But the other things to think about is how Mr. ‘Strategic think things through before I actually do them’ Izuku Midoriya completely loses his shit when Katsuki is in danger.

Because I really think we need to talk about the kidnapping scene. When Izuku realizes that Katsuki was the target, he gave his everything to get past that villain to protect Kouta and to get to Katsuki faster because he was in danger, and when the villains managed to capture Katsuki, Izuku degrades down to nothing but raw emotion:

Isn’t it though? Isn’t it a strange choice of words to just say ‘Give him Back’, and look at Izuku’s face. Look at how torn up he is about it. They took Katsuki. They can’t do that. Katsuki is his friend so ‘give him back to me’. As stated, Bakugou doesn’t belong to anyone but in the context Izuku is screaming in, he does because in Izuku’s mind, get your filthy hands off of my best friend. I mean, The two of them have never been apart at this point and when Katsuki isn’t, Izuku just breaks.  

It’s like all the pain he was suppressing in the name of retrieving Katsuki and saving him comes flooding in at once and his entire world shuts down. What just happened?  Yeah Kacchan’s a jerk, but he’s here… he’s always here…and then he’s just suddenly….not.

Izuku can’t cope with this. He’s doesn’t know how, and as I stated before the whole of Class 1-A knows just how close Izuku holds Bakugou to his heart (despite Katsuki himself being too blind to see it) because for as much as Kirishima is close to Bakugou and is worried about him too, he still says this:

It’s like the entire class can look at them as see it. They all know how much Izuku cares, and it’s even more so after watching his miniature panic attack when Katsuki got taken away. He corroded. Izuku is normally the one that will find a way, pull through in the end, say the up lifting words and do it with a smile - some way some how but with Katsuki gone, it’s like his world is a fragile as a glass that just got knocked to the floor.

So with Kirishima’s influence, and the ‘your hands can still reach him’ line, Izuku becomes hell bent on getting Katsuki back with the help of the others. He knows the risks - even if he didn’t Iida made damn sure he did - his academic career along with his dreams of being a hero are on the line but that doesn’t stop him from once again, putting Katsuki first.

He’s seen pro-heroes up close and taken notes on them his entire life, he knows what they’re capable of but that still isn’t enough to put his nerves at ease. No. He needs to make sure his friend is safe and save him with his own two hands, because this isn’t just some random person now. This is different. This is Katsuki Bakugou we’re talking about - and when it involves Katsuki all bets are off.

So they manage to save him, and the two don’t have nearly any interaction for quite some time until recent chapters, in which Katsuki has finally started speaking his mind for the first time in for what Izuku calls “as long as he can remember.”

It’s been over a decade and the two of them still haven’t talked things out. They have both almost lost their lives multiple times, and some times in Izuku’s case in the name of coming to the other’s aid. (because and I know I keep saying this - that’s what best friends do.)

I guess I just feel that looking at their relationship as Bully / Victim is looking at it on a surface level without actually acknowledging how the characters actually feel about one another. It’s been 119 chapters and Izuku is still singing Katsuk’s praises, in fact more so than he ever was before.

I think it’s important to note the way Izuku phrases this; (I think it’s important to always pay attention to the way Izuku phrases everything when talking about Katsuki) because he uses the phrase “it was blinding.”  Katsuki was a jerk, and he has plenty of things that make him an unpleasant person to be around but in spite of this, his sheer talent and skill at what he could do; his natural ability to just be good at everything was enough to out shine all of his negative traits and habits.  Basically, Izuku is saying that if it were anyone else he would have stopped following after that person a long time ago, but it wasn’t, it was Katsuki and for that reason alone, he could overlook it.

This entire time Izuku has been patiently waiting for his best friend to get his head out of his ass and stop being a jerk. This entire time, Izuku has been patiently waiting for Katsuki to look at what he was doing and think about it because Izuku wasn’t giving up on him.

“I always chased after you.”

Can I also point out that Katsuki is the one person we see Izuku get emotional around? I mean more than crying, but venting his feelings emotional. I’m not talking about Todoroki because that was completely different - that was calling him out on his bullshit where as this is a “why have you not listened after all these years?!”

Izuku is so frustrated because he failed to get it through Katsuki’s thickly layered ego that he still cares after all this time. He’s so frustrated because as Katsuki stated ‘no matter how many times I beat you, you kept following after me.’  - because he cares. Because he looks up to him. Because he idolizes him. Because Katsuki Bakugou is his best friend.  Katsuki’s quirk changed him. The praise Katsuki received through his entire life changed him. Katsuki’s strength changed him. Katsuki just got lost on his path and Izuku wasn’t about to fault him for it, instead he just decided to wait for his best friend to stop being an asshole and it’s taken some life changes events on both their parts for Katsuki to think and Izuku to find his voice.

So I say again.

I honestly believe that Izuku Midoriya thinks of Katsuki Bakugou as his Best Friend and I can’t bring myself to think other wise.

[clueless-and-quirkless]

Shinso Hitoshi: Victim of Discrimination? Part 2

Last time on DragonBall Z this overly long meta post, I talked about how fanon Shinso differs from canon Shinso, looked at the evidence for him being bullied, and contrasted that with Izuku's canonical bullying and discrimination. This time, we move from how their classmates treated them to how society treats them. This section is going to be a fair bit shorter, but let's have some fun with it anyway! If you have not read the previous post, I highly suggest go and read that first! I will be building on ideas from that post in this one! With that said, let's get started!

We have seen how Izuku's and Shinso's classmates treated them in middle school, but quirk discrimation and quirkless discrimination are societal problems in the world of My Hero Academia. That begs the question, how does wider society treat Izuku and Shinso? Let’s start with Izuku. During the scene where Izuku is revealed to want to go to UA, Bakugo does this:

How does their teacher respond to this blatant aggression and attack on another student? With silence. He never intervenes at all to stop Bakugo or any of the rest of the class from insulting and attacking Izuku. Izuku is being completely let down by one of the key authorities in his life. The teacher does nothing to reign in his other students, does not scold them for their discriminatory actions or attitude, does not even try to defend one of his students. He is failing Izuku as an authority figure and one possible conclusion we can draw from this is that he thinks Izuku is not worth defending. This is not the only time an adult authority figure lets Izuku down or devalues him for his lack of quirk. That began the moment Izuku was diagnosed as quirkless:

This panel has been much studied due to the similarity in appearance between Doctor Tsubasa here and Doctor Garaki, but that is not what I want to focus on. Instead, focus on the specific wording he uses, “there’s no hope for him.” Izuku, at the age of four, is judged by a medical doctor to have zero worth because of his lack of quirk. He is immediately discounted because of the double toe joint he possesses and the quirk he does not.

Finally, we have Izuku’s own words on what people say:

He is specifically ignoring what the world is telling him and instead keeps his head up and keeps moving forward. The implication is that society is telling him to do the opposite, to keep his head down and to give up on his dreams. Let’s contrast this with Shinso.

We sadly do not see Shinso’s quirk awakening, nor how he is treated by his teachers at his middle school. However, there is one instance where we can see how society treats him, the Sports Festival itself. In chapter 34, after Izuku defeats Shinso, we get a cut to the crowd and their thoughts on Shinso. Do they think he is a villain in the making? Are they scared of his quirk? That could not be further from the truth.

The crowd, far from viewing Shinso as a villain or dangerous, instead is praising him. One person wishes they had Shinso’s quirk (as did one of his classmates previously), another wonders why UA does not have Shinso in the hero course given how useful his quirk is for heroics. Not one calls him a villain or says he is unworthy of standing with the heroes. To summarize what Shinso’s 1-C classmates say, “he’s awesome.” I could not agree with them more, Shinso is awesome.

So, let’s conclude this meta with some closing thoughts. Shinso is a great character. I love him to death, and I have loved many stories that use the fanon ideas about him as an outcast. However, we should be careful to distinguish between fanon and canon. The two are very different things. As I mentioned at the start of last post, a big part of why I was inspired to write this long essay was because I had let the fanon version of Shinso replace canon in my head. It was only when I looked back at these chapters when Sam and I were planning how to handle Shinso in Little Owl that I realized, thanks to Sam's prompting, the inconsistency between fanon and canon. Canon Shinso has his own struggles and character that I would love to see explored in fanfiction a bit more often. He does face a lot of challenges, just that his challenges are different from Izuku's and from the challenges fanon often places in front of him. Taking canon and going in weird, fun directions with it is the entire point of fanfiction. I hope y'all have enjoyed my ramblings, I did not expect this to be quite this long, but I am a bit of a windbag!

For those of you who made it to the end of this, thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think and if you would like to see more stuff like this from me in the future!

Until then, ἐρρῶσθαι!

[clueless-and-quirkless]

Shinso Hitoshi: Victim of Discrimination? Part 1

Shinso Hitoshi. The most popular teen character in MHA who isn’t part of 1-A or the League of Villains. There are numerous fics and stories that have him as a main character or as a major supporting character, especially considering how little he’s actually in MHA itself. Of the 347 chapters of My Hero Academia published at the time of writing, Shinso directly appears (not counting flashbacks, mentions, etc.) in only thirty-one chapters. That is 8.9% of the MHA manga. Furthermore, he is only really important to two arcs, the Sports Festival Arc and the Joint Training Arc. He is, for all intents and purposes, a minor character.

Despite his lack of appearances, though he is quite popular. In the official Japanese popularity polls, he ranked, respectively: 12th, 14th, 10th, 23rd, 17th, 24th, 10th. On Archive of Our Own, one of the largest fanfiction archives in western fandom, especially English-language fandom, Shinso’s tag, as of March 15, 2022, has been used on 31,154 fics, making it the ninth most popular character tag.

Given the popularity of the character, combined with a lack of material in MHA about him, it is no surprise that a whole spate of fanon has grown up around Shinso. However, a lot of this fanon is not based on what we actually see in MHA itself. There is one specific point I wish to focus on in this post, that of Shinso being bullied by his peers and discriminated against by wider quirk society. I especially wish to focus on this given how often Shinso’s bullying is compared with Izuku’s treatment, either saying Izuku is the same as Shinso or was not treated as badly as Shinso was for the sake of woobification of Shinso. I intend to show that this is far from the case. There is another common fanon trope I would like to look at, that Shinso was raised in foster care, but I shall save that for another post. This one is going to be long enough as it is.

Before we begin, I should note a few things. First, I want to make it expressly clear that I am not shaming people for their writing choices. I love a lot of fics with these tropes for Shinso. They’re fun and provide great drama. There is nothing wrong with using these tropes. I’m just explaining how I interpret what we see in canon in contrast to the common fanon tropes, nothing more. If you go and send this post to writers, screaming about how they are terrible for writing Shinso in a way different from how this post interprets him, you are a terrible person and I want nothing to do with you. Do not use this to harass authors just trying to have a good time.

Furthermore, I will be relying exclusively on the manga’s version of events here. I have not seen the anime myself, so I cannot judge how it changes things with regards to Shinso. I will also be relying exclusively on the official VIZ Media localization of the manga, not on any fan translations.

Finally, I must give a huge shout-out and thank you to Samcalibur, my co-author on Little Owl. I had let fanon Shinso completely eclipse canon Shinso in my mind until she pointed it out when discussing how to write him in Little Owl. This post would not exist without her. Thanks for this, Sam! With all that said, let’s get started.

The most common fanon trope for Shinso, in my experience, has been to highlight him as an outcast from his peers. This includes him having zero friends before UA, him being specifically bullied for his quirk being “villainous,” teachers refusing to talk to him because of his quirk, and, in some fics, even having his middle school put a muzzle or gag on him during class to keep him from speaking and using his quirk.

A lot of fics that go to these extremes with Shinso often will paint an equivalence between how he was treated and how Izuku was treated by his classmates and society for being quirkless. However, when we actually see flashbacks to Shinso’s past during the Sports Festival, when he is explaining himself to Izuku during their match in true battle shonen fashion, how does Horikoshi depict him?

Shinso and Izuku fight in chapters 32 through 34 of the manga, during the Sports Festival Arc. These two chapters are where the bulk of the fanon that Shinso was bullied and discriminated against come from. Do the chapters bear this out? In a word, no.

So, in chapter 33, Shinso is goading Izuku to try and get him to respond again after Izuku breaks the brainwashing. He says that Izuku is lucky to have a quirk that lets him “enter the Golden Gates” that Shinso is not allowed through.

However, nowhere in Chapter 33 does he bring up the idea of him being bullied for his quirk, just that Izuku, due to having a physical quirk, has a leg up with regard to the hero course that lets him follow his dreams (the second panel comes from chapter 34, but is part of the same conversation).

So, he does not talk about his supposed bullying here. Instead, his bitterness is about how those with physical quirks are able to “follow all their dreams.” Shinso's resentment is about how the UA entrance exam is structured, not over how society is treating him or how his peers treated him. That begs the question, where did the bullying aspect come from? Given how prevalent it is in fandom, the answer is quite underwhelming. It’s a single page in Chapter 34:

It is worth noting that, by all indications, this is an entirely internal flashback. Izuku himself is never actually told about this. Only Shinso and the audience are privy to this information.

This page is at the heart of the entire fanon about Shinso’s bullying, and it is incredibly underwhelming. To me, this does not read as someone who was horrifically bullied. This is standard First Day of School talk. I can see how Shinso would find this being constantly brought up annoying, but it is not bullying. This is the equivalent of having a odd name and having every joke about it memorized by fourth grade. Speaking from experience, yes, that is annoying, but it was not bullying. Hell, one of the students even flat out says they are jealous of Shinso’s quirk.

There is also a common point in fanon where Shinso is an outcast in 1-C for his quirk. However, this point is not just unsupported by canon, it is actively contradicted by it. We see some members of 1-C after Shinso’s loss to Izuku. Here’s what they have to say to him:

Far from viewing him as an outcast, they’re proud of him! They call him the “shining star” of General Education. They think he is “awesome!” and they’re elated that he went so far. This is not what you say to an outcast you are afraid of, this is what you say to a classmate you respect and think highly of! Quite simply, there is little to no evidence that Shinso was bullied for his quirk, and certainly not for the fanon concepts of him being a complete outcast due to it. There is no chance that the Shinso of canon was muzzled to keep other students safe from him as some fics claim. By all indications, Shinso was accepted by his peers, both in middle school and in Gen Ed at UA.

For contrast, let us look at Izuku’s experiences, to which Shinso is often compared.

We see Izuku’s middle school days mainly in two places, Chapter 1 of MHA and the bonus two-part story Deku and Bakugo Rising, which is included in Volume 2 of My Hero Academia: Team-Up Missions. Let’s first look at Chapter 1 of MHA itself.

So, when does Izuku being bullied for being quirkless start? Page 1.

Let’s make note of two specific things on this page. First, what Bakugo says to Izuku. “So Deku, the quirkless wonder, thinks he can play hero, huh?” Let me draw your attention to two pieces of information here. First, even at this early stage, Bakugo has already coined the nickname of Deku, meaning “useless,” here. He is already calling Izuku worthless and useles. Second, he is calling out Izuku’s quirklessness and him for “playing hero.” This shows that the bullying is both because of Izuku being quirkless and for him having the try to stand up to people with quirks, to "play hero," against his betters, those with quirks. Then he punches Izuku in the face while his longhaired friend hols Izuku's head in place, both of them using their quirks. However, that’s just Bakugo and his cronies. Bakugo Katsuki, as shown throughout MHA but especially in recent, has a specific complex vis a vis Izuku. What about Izuku's other classmates later on? Did they also lightly tease him the way Shinso’s classmates did?

Well, here’s how they responded to the idea of Izuku applying for UA’s heroics program:

The entire class laughs at him, mocking him for the entire idea of someone like him, someone quirkless, could be a hero. It gets even worse a couple panels later:

There’s a lot to go into here with this panel, because there is some very striking visual storytelling going on here. First, the entire class is framed as a single mass, distinguishable only by their various quirks. This contrasts them specifically with the quirkless Izuku, whom they menacingly loom over. Izuku is on the ground beneath them, showing how he feels below them, framing them as villainous and him as small and weak. The only light spots in their silhouettes is the repeated word “heh,” showing they are still laughing at him. Finally, the word balloon. It is not tied to any specific person, not even Bakugo. Instead, it’s presented as the unanimous words of the entire class. They’re specifically asking him, mocking him, “what can you even do?!” with the word “do” specifically bolded. They are telling Izuku that he is completely useless, that he can’t do anything. This is bullying and discrimination. This is not the light teasing Shinso received.

We see this bullying on an individual level in Deku and Bakugo Rising with Bakugo’s two unnamed friends. In that story, set in Izuku and Bakugo’s second year of middle school, the two friends of Bakugo steal Izuku’s hero magazine and mock him for reading it (apologies for the weird look of these pictures, VIZ does not have scans of this online, so I had to take pictures of the physical volume for it):

They specifically mock him for wanting to be a hero when he is quirkless. Bakugo himself underlines this point a panel later, saying “since he’s quirkless, dreams’re all he’s got.”

I have reached the image post limit for Tumblr, so I will have to split this post here. Next time, we will deal with how society treated Izuku and Shinso and close out this very long meta!

Until then, ἐρρῶσθαι!

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Where in the world is All For One?

A brief discussion about the building All For One is holed up in before Kamino.

So I know there’s already been plenty of discussion about the building that shows up in chapter 59 briefly, and its uncanny resemblance to the Chrysler building that currently exists IRL in Manhattan. It’s often cited a lot as part of the evidence for the ‘Dad For One’ theory (a fairly popular theory that All For One is Midoriya Hisashi, Izuku’s father) due to said building being in America, where Hisashi supposedly is during the course of the story. 

This is not a debate about the ‘Dad For One’ theory, just to be clear. I’m just trying to clarify the location of this building, as well as some Doylist and Watsonian theories for why it looks the way it does. 

Thanks in advance to the friends on discord who sparked and fleshed out this discussion: Clue, Pastel, and Aksee. I wouldn’t be making this post without them.

Anyways, onto the post.

The first thing to make note of is that the above image is not the only time we see the building over the course of the series - it shows up again at the very end of chapter 306, with Izuku standing on top of one of the decorations as he overlooks the destruction.

There’s no question that this is the same building, since the decorations are part of the unique look of the building, as seen here:

This led to a short bit of confusion as people wondered whether Izuku had gone to America, the way All Might had in his youth in order to get away from All For one and train himself up in relative safely. However, the destruction below and the following chapter clarified that Izuku - and thus this Chrysler building lookalike - are most definitely in Japan, probably somewhere near Kamino.

If we’re in Japan, then why would Horikoshi bother use an American skyscraper, especially one as well-known as the Chrysler building? Why not use a famous skyscraper of Japanese origin instead?

Well, there’s a number of reasons he could have decided to do this, both for lore reasons and for art reasons. Let’s start on the Doylist reasons.

Doylist

The Chrysler building is located in Manhattan, a famous location and a centerpiece of American superhero comics, especially Marvel. We often get cover pages and spreads of heroes standing on similar decorations as they look out over the city, much as we saw Deku standing on them in chapter 306. 

In addition, a quick peek into the Marvel database reveals that, in Spiderman: The Animated Series, “a fortress resembling the Chrysler Building served as the Kingpin's base of operations.”

Seem familiar? It gets better. Kingpin is a major villain in the animated series, serving as head of the mob and often hiring others in order to take out his nemesis, Spiderman, without being obviously connected to the attacks. He also enjoys using criminal’s families as leverage against them, and isn’t above faking peoples’ deaths in order to manipulate others into doing what he wants.

Another possibility, and one that’s probably not the case but felt worth mentioning anyways, was that he was looking at various American buildings via google images and just happened to like the style of it. 

With that covered, let’s get to some in-universe possibilities for why a building that looks like the Chrysler building exists in future Japan. 

Watsonian

To start us off, we go back to the Dawn of Quirks, where society was experiencing great upheaval. While quirks weren’t as strong as they are during modern BNHA, I wouldn’t doubt that a lot of destruction was happening as tensions between quirked and non-quirked people heated up. These were likely exacerbated by people like All For One or the Meta Liberation Army doing their best to take control of Japan through whatever means necessary. 

As such, there would need to be a lot of rebuilding as things calmed down and society started to piece itself back together. Despending on how much was destroyed, that could mean a lot of work.

What that means for the Chrysler look-alike in particular? Well, there could be a few reasons.

One, someone liked the design of the Chrysler building and decided to construct their new building to look similar to it. Could have been a random Japanese person, could have been All For One. Hard to say there, and sort of does lean back towards Horikoshi being inspired by the building’s design. Depending on how much was destroyed globally and locally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see countries and wealthy private individuals building their own versions of famous locales. 

(This does also lead to the question as to how many priceless cultural heirlooms, art pieces, and artifacts were lost or destroyed because of looters and rioters. What historical sites were flattened in the fighting? What had to be reconstructed from archives years later, with obviously different techniques and flares? What was lost entirely because of the loss of said archives?

It’s actually kind of sad to think about how much was lost because of the rise of quirks and all the societal upheaval therein.)

Two, it could be the actual Chrysler building, just moved. It wouldn’t be the first time some architecture was bought and moved to a new location, as pointed out by Clue - a similar thing happened in 1968, when a bridge in London was brought over to Arizona piece by piece, and reassembled to look just as it did when it stood over the Thames. 

Three, it could just be an in-universe coincidence. If there was a lot of rebuilding happening, it genuinely could have just been chance that the building ended up looking so similar to the IRL Chrysler building. I don’t think this is all that likely, since the decorations for one would be hard to mistake for another, but anything’s possible.

So why is All For One there?

Well, there’s a few reasons. One, it could be like I mentioned above, and All For One’s building resembles the Chrysler building because it’s a reference to the Spiderman animated series. Two, it could be that, in-setting, AFO decided that he liked the look of the building and either had his own built, or had it brought over from America. Three, it could have been built by someone else and AFO just nabbed the penthouse for his own nefarious means. 

It’s really hard to say for sure, but there’s no question that it has to be close enough to Kamino that the Doctor can get around with the short-range sludge warp quirk of his nomu, Johnny, since he needs to look after AFO and his projects alike without being caught going in and out of the building. It would also make sense for AFO to be close to Kamino in case he needed to intervene with Shigaraki’s work, as with what happened with the Villain Hideout Raid and subsequent battle between him and All Might.

I wonder if he made use of it at all after his breakout from Tartarus, or if he considered it compromised and didn’t bother with it.

So yeah, those are some of the theories I and the others came up with. I know they’re not fancy or in-depth, but really, I don’t think there’s a lot of motivation on Hori’s end for the Chrysler building to exist in his future Japan (and be AFO’s hideaway) besides it looking cool and being a Spiderman reference.

Thanks for reading, even if this was a short and kind of silly post. 

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Hori’s really having fun with these end of chapter extras now.

Just a girl sleeping her money issues away. Nothing much to see here. Could be fun to color this in at some point.

In full seriousness, this and the other volume extra about her saving money by not eating at her apartment… god I hope she’s getting enough calories at UA during lunch to make up for what she’s using during hero training. It’s in no way healthy to diet while trying to build up muscle strength and exercising a lot in general, because the body will start devouring itself to make up the energy deficit.

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Last chapter of the arc! What does All Might want to talk about…?

[No. 59 - Listen Up! A Tale From The Past]

Character file for Jirou! It’s actually pretty impressive that her reach with those jacks is six meters - that’s as long as a giraffe is tall (according to a fast internet search)! I suppose that makes her and Sero capture buddies on the field… then again, what happens if her jacks get damaged or cut off? Do they regen? 

…right, leave the quirk talk for later, focus on the chapter.

The chapter starts with the kids in the locker rooms, Izuku thinking back on All Might’s words from the end of the last chapter about the important discussion. Izuku considers how All Might said it so seriously… what could it be? He’s a bit scared. 

Meanwhile, the other boys are changing out of their costumes while chatting away. Aoyama laments how, after being away for so long, he worked up a sweat. Kirishima complains about having to work on his mobility. Tokoyami suggests he’ll just have to make it up with reconnaissance. Kaminari gripes how they’ll still fall behind at this rate, and that he’s jealous of Sero and… I think this is a response to Tokoyami? Possibly in regards to the ‘reconnaissance’ idea. Could also be Izuku, though, considering his performance. 

And then Mineta has to butt in as ‘comedy relief.’ Sigh. Since I don’t particularly want to transcribe everything, I’ll just summarize the bit as ‘Mineta is an idiot and a horndog and gets an ear jack to the eyeball for it. None of his classmates are impressed.’ 

We shift to after school. Izuku enters the breakroom, only to find Toshinori already there waiting on the couch, looking pretty tense. The tension makes Izuku nervous as well. 

Toshinori asks Izuku to take a seat. As Izuku moves to sit on the stool set across the table from Toshinori, Toshinori comments on how Izuku has been through a lot lately, and apologizes for not being there to help. Izuku tells him it’s okay, he really doesn’t have to apologize - he’s more curious about One For All. 

Toshinori heard that the hero killer licked Izuku’s blood. Izuku’s confused at the apparent change of subject, but dutifully explains how Stain’s quirk let him paralyze anyone whose blood he ingests - but what about it? Toshinori asks if Izuku remembers what he said when he granted him his power. Izuku mimic’s All Might’s face to a concerning degree while saying ‘Eat This.’ Toshinori says no, not that. 

Never not gonna be amused at that face. How does he do it? 

Toshinori then goes on to repeat his words from the beach - it really doesn’t matter what it is Izuku eats, so long as he gets Toshinori’s DNA! The words spark Izuku’s memory, and he shoots to his feet in a panic as he asks whether that means Stain has One For All now. 

Toshinori quickly says no, but that he’d thought Izuku might be worried about it, since he forgot to explain it fully. One For All can only transfer if its holder wills it to. Though it can’t be stolen forcibly, it can be given to an unwilling recipient. It’s a unique quirk, in that sense, with a unique origin story:

One For All was originally derived from a different quirk altogether - All For One, a quirk that lets its user steal other quirks, as well as grant quirks to others. Izuku mulls over the name, guessing that it meant that everything was for that guy to take. 

Toshinori shifts tracks, explaining how this was back at the advent of the exceptional - a time when society still hadn’t managed to adapt to the changes. Back then, the norms of what it meant to be human suddenly collapsed, and with that, laws became meaningless. Societal progress halted. It was catastrophic. Izuku chimes in with a quote from ‘some important guy’ on how without the advent of the extraordinary, humanity would be enjoying interstellar travel now. 

Toshinori agrees and continues on. In that age of confusion and disorder, one man took initiative and brought people together. Izuku may have heard about this. All For One would steal quirks from other people, and with his overwhelming power, spread the influence of his organization. He was responsible for manipulating many into committing wicked acts, which was his intent. Before long, he had taken over Japan - a true lord of evil. Izuku admits he’s seen rumors on the internet, but he’d thought it was all made up - there’s nothing in the textbooks about him. Toshinori states that the textbooks don’t tell him about what the yakuza are up to either. When a person has power, they instinctively seek a way to use it. 

Izuku questions how all this is connected to One For All. Toshinori mentions how All For One could grant quirks, too; with that ability, he could instill trust in others - or at least get them to submit. However, the load was too much to bear for those who received it. Many would end up becoming mere puppets, unable to even speak, just like those noumu.

On the other hand, there was one case where his granting a quirk resulted in a mutation - a blending. The man had a quirkless younger brother. This brother was small and fragile, but he had a strong sense of justice, and the deeds of his big brother pained him, so he opposed the tyrant. The elder brother gave his younger brother a power stockpiler quirk by force. They still don’t know whether that was out of kindness or if it was to force his brother to submit. 

Izuku realizes what Toshinori is implying. Toshinori notices and confirms his suspicions. It turns out the younger brother hadn’t actually been quirkless from the start - though neither he nor anyone else had known it. He possessed a totally useless quirk, one that let him pass his quirk itself to others! But then, the power stockpiler and the transferring quirk were fused! That’s how One For All came to be. 

Toshinori is such a showboat, what a dork. He calls it an ironic tale, and notes how justice is always born from evil. Izuku asks Toshinori to hold on; he doesn’t really get how it happened, but… this old story about that villain - why is Toshinori telling him now? 

Toshinori points out that they’re talking about someone who steals quirks. He could acquire any kind - such as ones to stop the aging process… and he did, making him a near-immortal symbol of evil. Given the man’s indefatigable strength and the state of society at the time, his defeated younger brother decided to pass the mission to future generations. Though it was but a shadow of what it is today, the power he passed on grew and grew, all in the hope that it could one day stop the older brother. And it was his generation that finally brought down the villain!

…or so they thought. He survived, and now he’s on the move again as the brains behind the League of Villains. One For All is a power that’s inherited for the sole purpose of beating All For One - which means that someday, Izuku will fight against that ultimate evil… perhaps. 

Izuku’s silent for a moment. Toshinori admits that he realizes the conversation got a bit dark - only for Izuku to interject that he’ll do his best! Whatever Toshinori says, he’ll step up to the challenge. As long as Toshinori’s by his side, he can do anything! That’s how he feels, anyways.

Toshinori is speechless at this declaration. He reminds himself that he has to tell him. He has to. But he remains silent, only eventually managing to mutter out a thanks. Internally, however, he’s already halfway grieving for Izuku, thinking of how probably, when that day comes, he won’t be there for him anymore.

Every fucking time I see this page I tear up all over again. It actually has me wonder whether Nighteye was planned or not yet, or even whether Horikoshi was seriously considering killing off Toshinori during the Kamino battle, leaving Izuku on his own to figure out One For All. Whatever it is, it hurts. It hurts a lot. Thanks, Horikoshi, you jerk. (tears emoji)

With that, we transition to some point in the future, during homeroom. Aizawa tells the class that summer vacation is close at hand. Of course, it would be completely irrational for all of them to take a whole month off. Kaminari and several others seem to catch on before Aizawa explains how they’ll be doing a summer training camp in the woods. 

The class is excited; Mina gushes over Truth or Dare, Tsuyu is hoping for fireworks, and Tenya is excited for curry. Oh, and Mineta won’t shut up about the bathhouses. They also consider what that training will involve; since they’ll be out in nature, their training activities will probably be different too. It’s all about making the right decisions regardless of environment. One of them is excited over all of them living together.

(Good thing for them that right after summer camp is gonna come the dorms, then, huh? Somewhere, a monkey’s paw curls a finger.)

Aizawa’s quirk flares - however, he explains, anyone who doesn’t pass the upcoming final exams is in for summer school hell, right here. Kirishima and Kaminari immediately tell everyone to do their best, sweating because they’re no doubt in fear of failing and being stuck in summer camp hell. Katsuki grumbles under his breath about them being stupid, while Mineta cheers on the girls.

Izuku’s narration, meanwhile, goes over how ever after that earth-shattering story, life had to go on as normal. What he had to do hadn’t changed at all. His thoughts also reflect back, realizing in retrospect how Toshinori never got around to the ‘about him’ part of the talk. 

And so we transition to the Chrysler building. Or a building that looks a lot like it, as we learn many, many chapters down the road (chapter 305 or 306). There’ll be a separate post on that soon since the discord ended up discussing the issue. 

Anyways, All For One lounges in a chair in his secret lair, mulling over the hero killer. He’d never thought Stain would be caught, but for the most part, he performed as expected. Those wanting to rampage, those sympathetic to the cause - all sorts. That was the catalyst they needed to seek out the League of Villains. Now, it’s Shigaraki Tomura’s job to unify them. 

The Doctor wonders if the child can do it; he still believes that if All For One came to the forefront, this would proceed smoothly. All For One tells the Doctor to hurry up and fix his body for him. The Doctor replies that it will take at least another five years to achieve hyper-regeneration - but a quirk like that is all for naught if his wounds have already been healed by then. 

All For One states that it’s fine! They’ll let Tomura do the heavy lifting - all to prepare him to be the next ‘him.’ He knows that boy will rise to the occasion - he was born twisted. So enjoy it while you can, All Might - this transient peace of his!

Damn, this dude’s fucked up. In multiple senses of the term. And considering what the fuck AFO’s gonna do in the future… yeesh.

Anywho, with that, the Hero Killer arc is finished, and we’re moving on to the summer training camp arc! Hopefully I’ll get through that before the end of April, if not by the end of this month. See y’all then.

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Another word-heavy end of chapter page, this time about Stain! And a bit about the manga process.

With Hori’s choice of making the villains terrifying… I wonder if this was decided before he was sure he was able to continue with the story and so able to actually start digging into hero society, villainy, and just… how fucked up the BNHA world is. He definitely started gunning for more sympathetic villains after Kamino, abet not to the point of excusing their actions or making them ‘soft.’

Hori cursing himself with his own hubris / character designs. What a creator mood. And putting too much detail into illustrations only for it all to be lost when converting to manga, again the creator curse.

Stain definitely did leave a massive impact on the rest of the story, and that was before he came back from the bus- I mean Tartarus in order to inspire another bit of character development + plot advancement.

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Time for a post-internship race! Clearly it’s time for Izuku to flex his protagonist muscles and win the day, right?

[No. 58 - Internship’s End]

We return to one of UA’s many training grounds just in time for the kids’ first hero training class since they got back! All Might greets them with his usual ‘I am here!’ and that he’s there for their basic hero training. It’s been a while, boys and girls! How is everyone? SOme of the kids mutter about how it’s not much of an entrance, that they’d expected more after a break, and one person wondering if he ran out of sthicks. All Might states that he’d never run of of sthicks; his supply is inexhaustible. 

Getting back on track, he states that, as an immediate follow-up to their internships, their activity for the day is a playful one - a rescue training race! Izuku is busy fanboying about All Might’s golden-age costume, while Tenya immediately asks whether rescue training shouldn’t be conducted at the USJ. All Might clarifies that that place is for disaster rescues in particular, but that he told them this was a race.

We get a brief overview of Training Ground Gamma as All Might starts to explain it to his class - it’s a dense spread of factories that wind together to create an intricate network of maze-like alleys. They’ll split into four teams of five, with each team going one at a time. All Might will send up a distress signal from somewhere inside, and they will start at the border. It’s a race to see who can reach and rescue him first. All Might then turns and directly wags a finger at Katsuki while stating that they should keep destruction of property to a minimum. Katsuki looks away and tells All Might to stop pointing at him.

Katsuki shaming, we love to see it.

The first group is comprised of Izuku, Ojiro, Tenya (out of costume since his is out for repairs), Mina, and Sero. The rest of the class discusses who they think will win; one person notes how Tenya’s still not totally recovered, so maybe he should have sat this out. Another states how it seems all of the class’s mobility experts are on this one team. A third (Jirou?) states how if they had to say, they think Izuku’s at a huge disadvantage. Jirou then states that she’s not really sold on izuku’s power yet. Momo agrees, since it seems Izuku’s quirk requires him to hurt himself in order to accomplish anything. 

Kirishima says Sero will take first, since he’s the best bet. Kaminari tells him not to count Ojiro out. Mineta declares that he’s rooting for Mina, since her reflexes are nuts. Katsuki just states that Izuku will come in last. Ochako says that even with his injury, she has a good feeling about Tenya. Tsuyu nods her agreement with Ochako. 

All Might starts the race. All the kids shoot off, with Sero immediately going up high. Kirishima is excited to see it, pointing out how in a cramped place like this, overhead’s the way to go. Shouji agrees, adding on how that puts Sero at an advantage, since he’s great at staying airborne. As Sero swings ahead, he starts to gloat a bit about how this test was made for… him…?

Izuku showing off his new moves, a confident smile on his face. He’s twirling and bouncing like he was born to it, and the rest of the class is Shook. All Might watches on, while Sero is distracted by his sheer disbelief. Shouto, Ochako, and Katsuki all recognize the moves Izuku is using - Katsuki’s moves, specifically! Katsuki is in disbelief that, while he was off wasting his time with those idiots, Izuku once again leapt ahead in his development. 

While Katsuki is quietly seething, Mineta wonders how Izuku managed to change so much in just one week. Mina and Ojiro also hesiste for a moment as they process that, yes, Izuku is jumping around and not breaking his bones. 

However, that confidence Izuku was showing is quickly losing steam as Izuku struggles to concentrate on his quirk. He mentally chants to keep going and keep calm, to stay at five percent, to not get nervous, to keep cool-

Whoops. 

We cut to the end of the race, with Sero declared the winner of the round. Ojiro is worn out, Mina’s frustrated, and Tenya is worried about Izuku, who still hasn’t gotten up from where he landed his nice faceplant on top of the water tower. Izuku, meanwhile, is a bit too caught up in his head, mentally noting how when one’s footholds are unstable, it pays to consider the landing before jumping. He still has a lot to learn…

All Might notes that while Sero may have taken first, they’ve all figured out new and better ways to use their quirks since starting school. Keep up the good work as they prepare for their final exams! Izuku finally starts to pick himself up, recalling how finals are soon. 

Under his breath, pitched so that only Izuku can hear him, All Might comments on how he could barely recognize Izuku. He gives Izuku a discrete thumbs up, turning to head towards the others who are already heading back. Before he walks away, he quietly tells Izuku to come see him after class; the time has come for an important discussion about him and about One For All.

Finally got this done. Only one more chapter and this arc will be wrapped up! 

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

With internships ending, the kids will all get a chance to share some of what they learned. 

[No. 58 - Internship's End]

Starting out with another character sheet, this time for Mina! She and Izuku are in the ‘hair is fluffy because it’s full of secrets’ gang. The rest of the school should be terrified of them teaming up.

In the chapter proper, we return to Gran’s house/agency. Izuku says that while it might have been brief, he appreciates everything. Gran replies that he doesn’t feel he did much for Izuku, and all that (villain stuff) happened while he was out training on the job. Izuku refutes that; thanks to Gran’s inspiring talk and all their sparring, he managed to hold his own against the Hero Killer!

Gran whacks his ankle with his cane, getting a yelp of pain from Izuku, retorting that it was against a Hero Killer who was just toying with him. He then reconsiders, commenting that if Izuku had fired off a 100% smash at Stain and missed, the villain probably would… anyways, he guesses all’s well that ends well. 

But that arm - it’s fractured, right? He went over his 5% limit at the last second, huh? He still gets nervous and overdoes it. When he’s careless, he loses control. Find a way to calm those nerves under pressure. If he really wants to become the greatest hero, like All Might, then he’s still got a lot to learn. Izuku takes this warning/advice seriously, immediately agreeing with Gran.

(Also like, no shit Izuku still has a lot to learn, he’s only been in hero school for like a month at this point.)

Gran turns on his heel to head back inside, huffing and saying goodbye. Izuku asks him for just one last thing, if Gran doesn’t mind. He hopes this doesn’t come off as rude, but he’s been meaning to ask, and he couldn’t just find the right time to…

Gran tells him to spit it out, he has taiyaki that needs eating. Izuku states that Gran is strong, and he’s the one who trained All Might, of all people. But he’s not famous, at all. He’s wondering, is there a reason for that? Gran replies that that’s because he never cared about being a hero in the first place. Izuku is shook. Gran explains how there was a time when he needed to be able to use his quirk freely and legally - that’s the only reason he picked up his license. If he wants to know more, he’d be better off asking Toshi- All Might.

Gran then declares them done there, and tells Izuku to stay strong. Izuku accepts that, bowing and thanking Gran for everything before starting to head off, muttering about how he hopes Recovery Girl can do something about his leg; probably not the arm, though. 

Gran watches on, thinking about Izuku’s declaration of being the greatest hero. He doesn’t look or act at all like Toshinori, but he still sees Toshinori in Izuku. Gran’s friend chose Toshinori, and Toshinori chose this boy… so let’s both help him make it, so that by the time Toshinori’s past his prime, this kid - his name - will be hailed as the Symbol of Peace.

Gran calls out after Izuku; when Izuku looks back, Gran once again asks who Izuku is. Izuku is confused and annoyed, saying that he’s Midoriya. Gran tells him that’s not what he means. Izuku just stares at him for a hot minute in confusion before it finally clicks, and he tells Gran that he’s Deku. Gran huffs, a smile on his face, and then turns around to head back inside, waving goodbye to his temporary student.

(Every day I still think about the pure chaos that would be involved if Gran even ended up a guest teacher at UA for Izuku’s class. Every damn day…)

The next day, everyone is back at UA - and we immediately rejoin the kids as Sero and Kirishima are laughing wildly at Katsuki’s fabulous new hairstyle. Katsuki shakes in rage as he tells them to stop laughing, that his hair’s stuck like that even after a good washing, and that if they keep it up, he’ll murder both of them. Naturally, the two keep laughing hard enough for tears to be in their eyes, gleeful as they point out the perfect 2:8 hair ratio. The fury at the two is enough to cause Katsuki’s hair to poof back to normal as he proceeds to do his best to strangle them.

Meanwhile, Mina is jealous (in the friendly way) of Jirou getting to take out some villains. Jirou states that she was just doing evacuation procedures and logistical support, no real fighting. Mina still thinks it’s awesome. Tsuyu says it was just training and patrol for her, though one time, they did catch some foreign smugglers. Mina thinks that sounds amazing too. 

Tsuyu then calls out to Ochako, asking how the past week had gone for her. Ochako…

…has had some kind of awakening, at least as far as Tsuyu’s concerned. And it sure looks it, with that power stance and the intensity of her aura. Ochako herself calls it ‘instructive’. Jirou remembers that Ochako had gone with the Battle Hero. 

While Ochako’s living and breathing her battle aura, we see Kaminari and Mineta look on with a bit of concern. As Ochako throws a fast punch in the background, Kaminari comments on her having such a transformation in just a single week. Mineta corrects Kaminari, stating that it’s not a transformation. All women hide their demonic natures deep within them! He’s biting his nails and freaking out while stating this, which only makes Kaminari more concerned as he asks what happened to him while he was with Mt. Lady.

Kaminari then declares that he, on the other hand, was pretty spoiled - it was tons of fun! Now if they wanna talk about the most transformative, most traumatic experience, that’d be the one those three (Tenya, Shouto, and Izuku) had! Sero, still being manhandled, also recalls the whole Hero Killer thing. Momo admits she’d been worried,and Kirishima states he’s just glad they’re all still alive. But Endeavor came and saved them, right? That’s their number two for you! Shouto gives about the most insincere agreement to their being saved, and Izuku’s isn’t much better, but no one seems to notice. 

Ojiro comments on how he saw on the news that they think the Hero Killer’s connected to the League of Villains; he hates to think how things could have turned out if a scary guy like him has shown up at the USJ that time. Kaminari tells him to hold on; sure, Stain is scary, but did he watch the video? You can really see his tenacity - his one track mind. Kind of cool, don’t you think?

Izuku immediately calls out, catching Kaminari’s attention. He realizes just who he’d said that to and apologizes to Tenya. Tenya states that it’s fine; Stain is certainly a man of conviction, so if some people think he’s cool, he gets that. But his convictions have led him to conclude that society requires a purge, and no matter what one’s motives are, that’s just wrong. So that no others like myself emerge and suffer the same fate, he will correct his course and walk the path of a true hero!

Izuku is impressed by Tenya’s new conviction, thinking of how cool he is. Tenya warns the class that class is about to start, so they all must get to their seats. Tokoyami mutters about Tenya being loud, and Kaminari apologizes again, probably to Tokoyami for winding Tenya up in the first place.

With that, there’s just enough left to cut it off here. Next time, we get to see a race, and Izuku gets to show off his improvements to the rest of the class! See y’all then.

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

This end of chapter sheet is a bit interesting, considering it goes into a minor character, and has quite a bit of worldbuilding lore to it.

One of the biggest things here that draws my attention is the ‘certain human rights group,’ because this is our first mention of the group that will be known as the Meta Liberation Army and Paranormal Liberation Front. While it definitely is in line with certain extremist groups today, it’s also, well, interesting to consider how much is known about said group in-universe by the general public versus what we learn through the course of the story. 

I do appreciate Hori’s message here, about how there’s nothing in the world that everyone will find acceptable, so all we can do is believe in ourselves and walk our chosen paths. I think it’s something that a lot of people forget, especially in their hunt to make the internet ‘safe.’ 

I have to say though, between this tidbit on the MLA, as well as the mention of support companies selling to nonheroes recently, I would bet this is the earliest establishing information about Deternat as well. I would guess that this means that this is when Deternat as started to arm their masses with their high-end tech, which we then saw in use during the League vs MLA arc a few months down the road. 

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Even with Stain captured, his legacy lives on, seeping into the dark corners of society…

[No. 57 - The Aftermath of Hero Killer Stain]

We come back to Gran Torino calling Toshinori over the phone. He complains about Izuku, stating that thanks to him, Gran’s teaching license was revoked for six months, plus he got a pay cut as well. But, he supposes the kid didn’t have much choice; that’s just how it goes. He acts before he thinks, just like Toshinori.

Toshinori is sweating as he tries to keep his voice down on his end of the call. He apologizes to Gran, saying that it looks like he didn’t teach Izuku well. As he walks out of the staff office, Gran replies that he can’t say he really cares about the teaching license at this point. He only got it in the first place to keep his promise to Toshinori’s predecessor, Shimura. Toshinori states he apprecies it - he’s only who he is today because of Gran. Gran replies that Toshinori has a funny way of showing it, forgetting about him. Toshinori hastily replies that it’s not like that - more like he sealed away those precious memories. 

Gran snaps a bit, then calms down, asking if Toshinori knows why he really called. It’s about the Hero Killer - he was only around the guy for a few minutes, but it was more than enough to scare the crap out of him. Toshinori steps into the break room after checking to see if it’s empty, surprised that Gran was frightened. The Hero Killer is in custody now, so what’s wrong?

Gran states that was intimidated him was probably the overwhelming pressure of Stain’s fierce ideals. Don’t get him wrong, he’s not praising the guy. But Toshinori’s whole ‘Symbol of Peace’ thing? That sense of duty? It was like that. In so many words, it’s charisma. The investigation will continue; his ideals and opinions - they’re gonna get out there. On the net, in papers and magazines, on TV… this age they live in, for better or worse, is one of suppression. But mark his words - people are gonna be influenced by this. 

Toshinori states that heroes will deal with them, just like this time. Gran points out that there’s the League of Villains. The media’s already making the connection, so this League’s gonna go from the gang who attacked UA and got beaten at their own game to an organization with something to say.In other words, they’re the perfect magnet! The evil of individual thugs isn’t worth much, but when it’s united by a single will, it’ll become a hundred times more dangerous. 

(I do like the ant imagery used here, really does make a point in how numbers really are a strength all their own, even if individuals aren’t really each doing much on their own.)

If this is what the League was gunning for from the start, then the enemy’s head honcho is no slouch. Steadily removing their obstacles, manipulating the whole situation according to their calculations - that way of doing things. Toshinori hand clenches as he mulls this over, before stating that he’s had a bad feeling about all this. Gran agrees. Shimura was his friend and Toshinori’s predecessor, the last user of One For All. And the man who killed her, the man who opened up that hole in Toshinori’s gut…

He thinks they can assume that All For One is back again. 

Toshinori is frustrated to think All For One survived after those wounds - he doesn’t want to believe it. Gran doesn’t disagree. He points out that Izuku is a brave little kid, and that his admiration for Toshinori is no joke. Toshinori had better find a chance to sit down and tell him everything - about him and One For All.

The narration explains how, two days after the Hosu incident, people started exploring the Hero Killer’s background from every angle. With that, we shift over to the other side of the law. 

Down in what I presume is some kind of underground bar, two villains meet, one of whom will become well known to us as Giran, an information broker. The other dude laments how it seems like no one’s willing to break the law nowadays. All this whining about not seeling out their friends - it’s a real pain. Giran explains how that’s because producing and dealing in support items and costumes without a license is considered a major crime - not to mention that recently the established support companies have been selling their goods to nonheroes through back channels… or so he’s heard, anyways.

(Taking an aside here to comment on how, if I'm reading this right, then having support items without a specific license doesn't seem to be illegal in and of itself, but the production and distribution of them without one is. Which, if I'm right, means that's another bit of fanon that's gotten mixed up along the way. Because goodness knows I've seen more than one fic explain how it's 'almost impossible to get support items' for the populace, when it seems more that it's like heroics in that having those items isn't illegal, just making them is. Which is...

....question, does this mean making your own support items is illegal unless you work with a licensed business? I think it does. Whoooooo boy, capitalism, but also like, to some degree I can understand why it's better to have people who provide support items be, you know, actually licensed to produce them, and so in theory capable of making them safe and durable.

But then again, I could see an argument made in the same vein as heroics, wherein yeah, people use their quirks in public everyday and it's not a huge issue so long as it's small things, like Inko using her quirk to pick up a dropped phone without bending over. You can in theory make your own support item and use it so long as it's like. nondisruptive/obvious. But in practice… well. 

Anyways, back to the chapter itself, but I definitely will be keeping an eye out for more information on support company stuff to maybe make an informational post down the line.)

Other Guy takes a sip of his drink while sighing, complaining about missing the days before All Might came along. He’d been young, and Japan had been a way more impulsive place. Maybe it’s about time to retire.

Giran tells him to hold on. This is between the two of them, but he’s got the opportunity of a lifetime there. He’s only telling Other Guy this because his people have a reputation for quality. He then holds up his phone, asking if Other Guy has seen this video. The Hero Killer is the man of the hour. 

The narrative then gives us some more background information on Hero Killer: Stain, real name: Akaguro Chizome. Deeply impressed by All Might’s debut, he sought to become a hero. Akaguro attended a private high school for hopeful heroes, but soon despaired over ‘the fundamentally corrupt view of heroes within the educational system.’ He dropped out the summer after his freshman year. Through his late teen years, he made soapbox speeches about the need for a ‘hero revival,’ but this ended when he concluded that ‘words alone are lacking in power.’ 

In the ten years that followed, Akaguroeducated and trained himself in the art of killing, all to fulfill his so-called duty. He’s for a ‘hero revival.’ According to Akaguro, ‘hero’ should not be a title given to those seeking reward and recompense, but one earned through tireless self-sacrifice. The heroes of this era are pretenders who misrepresent themselves. Only through a relentless purge can society be made aware of this truth. (All of this, it seems, is an excerpt from a weekly publication.)

A video recording of Stain’s last stand plays as we come back to Giran’s conversation. He explains how the clip keeps getting put up and taken down, because both sides get it, especially this last part. This guy’s whole style is gonna spread like a plague - from the punks with a few priors to the really bad guys on the run. Anyone who’s anyone - himself included, of course. All that evil scattered around out there… they’re all gripped by the same fever. They’ll all be drawn to the organization he was working with - 

The League of Villains.

…okay, so I get that this was still before Hori was completely sure he wasn’t going to get canceled at any moment, but why, for the love of god, is Mustard part of the ‘villains to worry about’ gang here? Like, why not Twice, or Compress? Those two are gonna be far more relevant to the plot in the long term!

Anyways, see y’all next time for end of internship stuff.

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

With Stain out of the picture, what happens now?

[No. 57 - The Aftermath of Hero Killer Stain]

The narration turns back the clock a bit, returning to the evening of the noumu attack on Hosu. A news chopper flies over the city watching the carnage, interrupting their previous story to bring breaking news - sudden explosions, and smoke rising from the streets below. The reporter wonders whether this is some sort of accident or a villain on a rampage, since they don’t have the full story…

…except wait, what’s that? She notices something out the other window, telling her cameraman to get a closer shot. She’s caught sight of Shigaraki and Kurogiri, but obviously doesn’t recognize them, since she just comments on rubberneckers being all the way up there. 

The next day, it seems like all anyone can talk about is Stain’s capture. People are impressed, shocked, relieved, and even a bit disappointed. The newspaper’s headlines blare with the news, the front page nothing but information about the hero killer and the three rampaging noumu. 

I do find it important to point out here how Endeavor’s interview about his capture of Stain suggests that his villain captures are usually calm. Goodness knows the number of fics that have him acting reckless despite the fact that there’s no way he would have held the number two position for over twenty years unless he knew how to regulate and manage himself. 

A TV news station is playing a special report on the Hero Killer, along with some stuff on the captured noumu. At present, the identities and addresses (???) of the three noumu are unknown. However, based on their physical characteristics as well as footage of two men incidentally captured by NHA TV, some are speculating that this incident could be linked to the events of last month, when UA High School was attacked by the so-called ‘League of Villains.’ With the largest number of murders of any independant villain since the advent of All Might, Hero Killer Stain has certainly made his mark on the history books. Up next, a look at the motives behind this fiend’s crimes.

And already we see interested parties listening in on this report. Is it really a surprise that so many flocked to Shigaraki’s side with the coverage Stain got here?

Shigaraki, however, doesn’t see it that way. He (and I’m guessing sensei??) are both silent as he finished going through the newspaper before crumpling it between his hands (surprised it didn’t just decay there, considering.) He’s frustrated that no matter where he turns, the nomu are just an afterthought. Despite his declaration about how the world would have forgotten all about Stain, it now seems like they’re the sideshow. 

We skip around a bit to see how some of the other students are doing at their own internships. 

At Genius Office, Best Jeanist talks about how the incident in Hosu City last night worries him, and quite a bit at that. People are so easily distracted by big incidents like that. But it’s now, more than ever, that heroes need to remain calm and composed, because chaos is often so good at drawing out the slumbering brutality in people’s hearts. As such, they’ll continue their usual operations today, just as always. Let their tight jeans keep their bodies and minds bound upright.

The sidekicks, all in jean outfits and horribly tacky hairdos of various degrees, all voice their agreement as one vapid blond unit. Katsuki, also stuck in jeans while Beat Jeanist tries (and fails) to make his hair behave, thinks about how he came to the wrong place. 

Terrifying! Are we sure there isn’t some kind of cult training involved here?

Next we peek in on Kirishima and Tetsutetsu. Kirishima is surprised to have gotten a reply. The location info really was an SOS! Good thing he passed it on. Tetsutetsu warns him that Fourth Kind is gonna give him a smack, so they need to get going. 

After that is a glimpse at… a hair spray commercial, with Uwabami in front and Yaomomo + Kendo as backup ‘stars.’ As the girls watch the rough footage, Uwabami explains that that was quirk work. This was just a demo, so it will be another month or so before it makes it to TV. They need to add in all sorts of CGI. Meanwhile, they’ll head out on patrol. Kendo is a bit uncertain how she feels about actually being on TV. Yaomomo, however, is down in the dumps, muttering to herself about how they’re supposed to be heroes.

Finally we check in with Ochako, talking with Izuku over the phone during what’s probably a break. She’s relieved that Izuku and Tenya are okay; she was super worried when Izuku sent out nothing but an address. Izuku must say something about needing to head back to his room soon, because she tells him to take it easy, and that she’ll be fine with hearing the rest later. 

Gunhead gives Ochako a friendly warning to get back to basic training. She confirms she heard him, tells Izuku that she’ll see him at school and she’s sorry all that bad stuff happened, and says bye before hanging up. Gunhead teases her about a love interest, which has Ochako sweating as she denies it. 

Meanwhile, at Hosu General Hospital, Izuku himself is still totally flustered over talking to a girl over the phone. Once he manages to calm down a bit, he lets himself back into the room the three boys are staying in, crutch under his right arm. He starts to tell Tenya about how he just got off of the phone with Ochako, only for Shouto to interrupt to tell him that Tenya just got his diagnosis. 

Tenya himself is looking pretty solemn, taking a moment before he begins speaking - his left hand could have permanent damage. Both of his arms were badly injured, but his left got the worst of it. Stain severed something called the Brachial Plexus nerve. But the doctors said that he might regain most of the feeling and use of his hand and fingers if he receives a nerve transplant. When he found the Hero Killer, his mind went blank. He should have told Manual before doing anything else. He may hate Stain… but Stain wasn’t wrong. So until he succeeds in becoming a true hero, his left hand will serve as a reminder. 

Izuku has no idea what to say at first. He thinks of how he should’ve followed through back then, before shaking off the thought as useless. Tenya already gets it. Apologizing now would be insulting. His damages right hand will be his guide. He speaks up, telling Tenya how he feels the same way. He clenches his fist and offers it out to Tenya, stating that they should get stronger together.

Shouto seems to have some kind of epiphany of his own, abruptly apologizing, much to Izuku’s heavy confusion. Shouto is stressing as he comments on how whenever he’s involved, it feels like people hands get messed up or something. Is it a curse? Both Izuku and Tenya are stunned for a moment, and then start laughing heartily. Tenya wants to know what on Earth Shouto is talking about, while Izuku’s just amused that even Shouto knows how to make a joke. Shouto denies that, stating that he’s not joking, and that they should just call him ‘the hand crusher’ - which, naturally, has the two laughing even more. 

Anywho, this is halfway through the chapter, but I’m gonna call this a post since the next one has quite a lot of conversation and info-dumping happening. See ya’ll next time for some interesting revelations.

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

End of chapter page. I don’t have much to say about it.

Technically, I do have things to say, though, mostly in regards to the fact that this obviously was never released with the chapter in Shounen Jump, but had to wait until the volume 7 release. Which means that there was probably no warning for people just getting the volume before they saw that. I imagine there was screaming involved.

…Wonder how long it took from Oboro’s introduction for people to connect him to Kurogiri. Ah well, I suppose that will be a more relevant question when we get there.