I want to talk about Horikoshi’s idea of love, the way he handles relationships and his writing style, bkdk and Ochako’s future. It’s no secret chapter 348 is my favorite chapter in the entire manga because it’s a massive turning point for Izuku, Katsuki and Ochako.
So I’ll remind you of my previous post which focuses on this in depth that you should read since it’s an introduction to this!
So hidden behind the admiration that Izuku feels for ALLMIGHT and Ochako feels for Izuku.. is the TRUE romantic imitation which all of us have felt at one point or another if we fell in love. You start listening to music your crush listens to.. going to places they do, picking up their little habits but you DONT WANT TO BE LIKE THEM! It just makes you feel closer to them. And this is what we see in Izuku’s feelings for Katsuki and this is why Izuku mentions only ALLMIGHT when Toga asks him about it in chapter 348. Despite HIM knowing he imitates Katsuki.
If Izuku brought Katsuki up here, it would have been game over for bkdk.
He even admits it to himself and calls these feelings gross in DvK2. And that’s what Katsukiesque narration in this chapter represents. That true idea of love and the true romance of My Hero Academia. So let’s go!Izuku in this chapter has a role of basically shutting down Toga’s idea that wanting to be like someone represents love. What does this mean? Is this Hori telling us through Izuku that Ochako doesn’t actually have romantic feelings for him? Maybe.
In Japanese, Izuku says: “I’ve always wanted to be like ALLMIGHT..I can understand wanting to be exactly like someone can make your heart feel fulfilled but.. why doesn’t it make me feel that then? I could never hurt someone I love.” (Thank you Noemi for translating this form me. 🧡) The fascinating thing here is that Katsuki was not the one who came to Izuku’s mind. Because like I already said, this finally proves to us that Izuku’s idea of love isn’t being the same as the person he loves. Which again, goes back to the realistic theme of romantic imitation.
Why is this chapter a turning point for Ochako and what I believe is going to happen in her fight with Toga? Like I said earlier, Izuku dismissed Toga’s idea of love as simple admiration and by this, he is dismissing Ochako’s as well. At least that’s how I see it.
Ochako has been very secretive lately with the way she distanced herself from Izuku, the way their relationship isn’t cute anymore but rather polite and friendly.. When Toga tries to tease her about Izuku, she dismisses her and instead says: “I’ve been thinking about only YOU.)
But think about it.. Hori has been very secretive with Ochako from the start. She never felt weird around Izuku until her friends started teasing her about it. Once this happened, their relationship changed because Ochako couldn’t feel normal around him anymore. She never stated herself what exactly she’s feeling and she even said things like “That’s not it!!!” And “I’m confused, my feelings are all over the place.” Hori has been carefully avoiding to tell us what exactly Ochako is feeling. This could be because she doesn’t know herself
But it could also be because Hori has been planning to plot twist the whole thing once Ochako realizes she never actually had romantic feelings for Izuku. He was just the kind of hero she wanted to be and she felt strongly about that.At the same time, Hori has also been very careful never to show Izuku’s interest in Ochako specifically. It was always “ I talked to a GIRL”. Never “I talked to URARAKA”. That and.. he blushed to many other girls as well. But he’s over this. He hasn’t had this reaction in years.
Horikoshi seems to pay a lot of attention to the depth of his relationships and even relationships like Kirimina which barely have any screen time, feel deep and developped. Kirishima is inspired by Mina, they grew up together, Mina used one of his moves in her way…
Sounds familiar, right? Not to mention.. Katsuki’s parents insanely parallel Bkdk. Horikoshi made Izuku very detached from Ochako. He went as far as to show us her letter specifically when he left UA which was the same straight to the point letter everyone else got.
Everyone except for Katsuki. We didn’t see his letter, but we saw parts of it and some of the things written are very emotional and personal. Hori showed us these two peoples letters specifically. And for a reason. By reading the manga, I noticed Hori loves foreshadowing and hints.
Some of the things in Katsuki’s letter included: “sharing secrets”, “together”, “if we could”, “smile”, “thanks for everything”,”help me kacchan” (this was probably supposed to say thanks for saving me but it was rolled to just show a”help me”) and indeed, Katuski was the one who in the end found him and saved him.
“At that moment, he was the one who came.” We see this little text after Katsuki finds Izuku.. and the wording just sounds like he was the one Izuku wanted. The torn up text that says “help me kacchan”.. was that Horikoshi telling us that deep down, Izuku hoped KACCHAN would come for him?
So nothing is shown for no reason. Izuku parallels Ochako in a sense that he is hiding something he is feeling regarding Katsuki. This is visible in DvK2 and especially Black Whip activation moment and his thoughts. “You have to control what’s inside your heart”
And especially Deku saying but never finishing “If it reacts to my feelings then that time I was…..” while hiding this from everyone. Clearly whatever he feels he thinks he shouldn’t feel or shouldn’t let anyone know he feels. Interesting. Especially for a shonen manga.
Another thing is Ochako doesn’t subconsciously imitate Deku. She always thinks about it.. forces herself to be like Deku even.. while to Izuku imitating Katsuki is the most natural thing ever.. he does it without realising and it makes him stronger!
So Horikoshi is great at writing feelings and relationships so his choice to make Izuku not show any romantic interest in Ochako, was very deliberate. A trick. Because those used to Shonen romance will think that “boy+girl=canon” But that’s not how Hori feels.
His comments regarding the relationship between Narusasu really helped me understand the way he thinks a relationship should be like. That and Hori hinting he did not like the Naruto ending (let’s be honest.. no one liked it) tells me he’s planning something different. Hori also said he believes nothing is off limits to him and that he will do what he likes NO MATTER WHAT. This could mean a number of things so I will not speculate but it’s good because it could mean he isn’t following traditional Shonen path.
By blocking Ochako’s feelings being revealed and sending Izuku back 400km away from Ochako at the very end of the manga, he is finally telling us. “It’s over. No more messing around. Time to get to what’s REALLY going on.” And Ochako is about to reveal in her fight with Toga that everyone’s pressure has gotten to her and that she convinced herself she has feelings for Deku when she never did and that she is finally letting go of her obsession for him so that she can be the true hero she can be!
Another interesting thing is that unlike other mangas where multiple ships were an option, that’s not a thing in MhA. Naruto had Hinata who he showed romantic interest in, Sasuke had Sakura who he showed he cares about and they had some super romantic shippy scenes..But Sasuke and Naruto also had a very deep romantic looking bond. So by doing this, no matter what Kishimoto did.. it wouldn’t feel right. Horikoshi is avoiding this by not giving Bakugo literally anyone else aside from Izuku and by making Izuku detached from everyone else.
Childhood friend is also a big trope and a big thing I’m Japan and the only person Izuku knew from childhood? Was Katsuki. Most of other shonen manga endgame ships had this trope. Growing up together. Again.. Kirimina and Bakudeku.
Hori purposely avoided every romantic moment he could have given to Izuku and Ochako and somehow found away to make it about Izuku and Katsuki. And I’m not talking about the initial, childish blushing Izuku had for many girls cause they were aliens to him at the time. At this point in manga and pretty much ever since DvK2, Izuku’s and Katsuki’s characters became all about each other. And if Ochako didn’t express she had some sort of feelings for Izuku, this ship would hardly exist. Which is why I feel like it’s a trick from Hori’s side.
Now I am not sure how big chances of Bkdk being canon are.. but I’m sure that we can at least get an implied end. But with everything that happened so far.. it’s more than implied already. All we need is Izuku finally opening up to Katsuki and admitting to him that he is his image of victory and that he triggered his quirks because of insane feelings he’s keeping bottled up about him. Katsuki also never heard Izuku say “give MY KACCHAN BACK TO ME”.
Anyways this dragged on. I believe in Horikoshi. He seems to have a great understanding of how relationships should work with a healthy amount of admiration that doesn’t drag you down, imitation and a deep connection. I don’t think he is going to end the manga with a marriage between two characters he purposefully skipped bonding and developing when he had countless of chances to. I hope Horikoshi can finally change the way shonen mangakas handle romance forever..
If anyone can do it.. it’s Horikoshi.
