I went back and read chapters with Gentle and La Brava again..and I wanna go over why they’re just a GIANT PARALLEL TO BKDK. GUYS IT’S ACTUALLY INSANE!!!! They almost feel like they don’t have any relevance to the plot and yet, they exist. First of all, their eye colors remind of bkdk! But this is nothing compared to what these two actually are.. Let's go!
Now first, I wanna talk about little La Brava before I move onto Gentle which I'm super excited about! When La Brava is recalling her crush that rejected her, we learn that she expresses her feelings through admiration. She gushes about how cool her crush was and how amazing everything he did was.. she gets called a STALKER. Does this sound familiar?
Izuku always gushes about how amazing Katsuki is..sometimes he doesn’t even have control over it. And at one point, Katsuki asks for a restraining order. He calls him a stalker in Japanese. So there’s a parallel. This tells us Izuku’s feelings for Katsuki are indeed romantic because we see this same thing in La Brava.
Next..La Brava’s quirk seems oddly symbolic too. It makes the person she loves the most temporarily stronger. Think about it. Izuku gets his power boost from his feelings for Katsuki.. Katsuki makes him stronger. Katsuki was the sole reason Izuku got OFA. Izuku’s body only moved when he realised it was Katsuki. His full cowling worked because of Katsuki.. his OFA quirks started triggering because of Katsuki and now? He’s using 2nds quirk and merging other quirks into one because of Katsuki.. Sure, other people have given him a power up.. but all big things, all evolutions..all NEW things..happened because of KATSUKI.
On the other side, Izuku makes KATSUKI stronger..
Katsuki was on the verge of DEATH here.. later we find out he’s barely made it in the hospital.. and yet, he not only got up because of his feelings for Izuku, HE PROPELLED HIMSELF AND FOUGHT! Because he recalled how seeing Izuku about to die, felt like HE was going to die too.. we DO NOT TALK ABOUT THIS ENUGH????
Notice a bunch of OFA stars around Katsuki.. Izuku’s love opened the door of OFA to him fully in this moment and because Katsuki loves him back, he could step through the door.
And this helps Katsuki get the strength he needs to move again.
Izuku kept thinking about Kacchan in OFA realm.. and AFO told him that his rage is staring to eat away at OFA’s rules.
HERE WE FIND OUT THAT EMOTIONS TOO STRONG FOR THE WIELDER TO HANDLE CAN OVERRIDE OFA AND BEND IT’S RULES!!! AFO is trying to use Shigaraki's hatred to get the job done but..can Izuku's LOVE do the same thing?? It sure can.
We know from before that OFA has been called a quirk that connects people’s hearts. We know there is only one feeling that’s too much for Izuku to handle which makes his OFA dangerously go out of control and that’s whatever he feels for KATSUKI!!! So could Izuku have somehow changed the rules of OFA cause he loves Katsuki that damn much that he was able to SHARE IT’S POWER WITH HIM VIA PURELY THE CONNECTION OF THEIR HEART? If Katsuki doesn’t actually have OFA in his DNA, that explains why no one can sense it. OFA is still within Izuku, but Katsuki has access to it. Oddly similar to La Brava’s quirk, no? It's very romantic and sappy but honestly, I wouldn't put it past Horikoshi.
So this was the moment when Kacchan got FULL access to OFA..
La Brava’s quirk activates in a time of CRISIS for her lover.. Katsuki’s cluster was activated because of his love for Izuku also in a time of CRISIS! He needed to save his LIFE.
Control yourself.. or lose the one you love. Edgeshot needs time to save Katsuki’s life. And so this feeling of love gave Izuku such a boost that he’s using all his quirks AT ONCE together with 2nds.. but it’s temporary. Much like La Brava’s quirk. The fuel will run out.. Just like any car engine, Izuku is bound to stall.. and it won't be good.
Thi is also gigantic because Izuku and Katsuki always follow each other and look what Gentle says? “She would never be happy escaping on her own.. she wild go to commit crimes beyond anything we’ve done so far.”
Izuku doesn’t wanna win without Kacchan..and what is he doing now? Acting like a VILLAIN..he’s out for BLOOD..he punched a HUGE hole in SFO’s chest....He did to him the same thing he did to Katsuku.. how romantic..and not very heroic..
“If I can’t be with him..I’ll just die.” Kacchan died without Izuku and now Izuku is on a dangerous path to die without Kacchan..
Let’s move onto GENTLE! This is the juicy part down here !
“I fought with my feelings on the line until all that’s left in me deep down was a HEART THAT BEATS FOR SOMEONE ELSE..”
Notice how we have both Gentle’s THOUGHTS and his words here.. words.. in which he LIES! He lies that he kidnapped and brainwashed La Brava to protect her, while his thoughts are ROMANTIC.. he let his heart beat for someone else..
Yep. Izuku LIED about the true black whip trigger but unlike Gentle, WE DIDN’T HAVE ACCESS TO HIS THOUGHTS!!! Horikoshi didn't let us hear them.
Because if we did.. we’d realize they were romantic. Much like how Gentle’s thoughts were romantic while his words told platonic lies. And this was only about 20 chapters before the Black Whip activation.. it’s a great foreshadowing.
Gentle also blames himself for roping La Brava into his mess.. because she didn’t want to let him do things on his own even if it meant she was in danger.
Even if it meant she was going to DIE.
Much like how Katsuki followed Izuku into these last two wars, knowing fully well he could die. And he DID die..BECAUSE of his relationship with Izuku...BECAUSE IZUKU HASN'T BEEN HONEST ABOUT LOSING CONTROL OF HIS HEART FOR KATSUKI..and he left him and all the other heroes on the battlefield, unprepared for SFO's shenanigans.
Moving on...La Brava describes Gentle as her only LIGHT. THIS IS ANOTHER HUGE PARALLEL!!
This is the most telling part because Katuski IS IZUKU’S light. From the moment he found him on the streets, to his apology, to Katsuki being the only one making Izuku come back and talk in the bath scene.. and finally.. To chapter 362, where Katsuki died..being called “LIGHT fades to rain.” And we see the light in Izuku’s eyes and even his hair entirely fade the moment his eyes lay on Katsuki’s dead body. Horikoshi also drew a SUN card with Katsuki on it and he drew Izuku as a SUNFLOWER and we know sunflowers NEED the sun, always look for it and die without it.
Horikoshi’s depiction of romance is just that. Two people that love each other are each others light. They are each others closest person, they make each other STRONGER and they can’t imagine their life without each other. This is all present in bkdk.
Here is another parallel to both Izuku and La Brava asking for the one they love back in a very similar manner!
Gentle also uses EYELINER TO LOOK LIKE LA BRAVA!! And we've seen Izuku literally transform into Katsuki especially lately..
All of these little clues put throughout the manga are very smart because Horikoshi will want to escape the accusations that he made bkdk canon because of the shippers. There are clues from the very beginning that this was his intention. And I’m sure we’ll get a ton of flashbacks to connect it all in the end.
Gentle and La Brava are each others whole world. And we know Izuku canonically can’t imagine his world without Katsuki.. and Katsuki can’t imagine his life without Izuku. It’s why he was ready to die for him.. and he died with a smile on his face, thinking about him.. caling out to him..
La Brava doesn’t want to be LIKE Gentle.. Izuku doesn’t want to be LIKE Katsuki.. I spoke about the misunderstanding regarding Toga's idea of love here. But they admire the one they love greatly, they trust them with their life and they want to be WITH them. This is a beautiful and quite a genius parallel to bkdk.
And finally at the end.. people say that Gentle and La Brava don’t represent bkdk because they're different and hence they’re not a parallel.
Yes.. they do not represent bkdk. There is really no Katsuki in Gentle and La Brava’s relationship all that much on the surface.
Because they BOTH represent different aspects of IZUKU.
La brava represents Izuku’s happy, innocent side of his feelings for Katsuki. Him hyping him up, gushing about how amazing he is.. Katsuki being Izuku’s light …Izuku following him around all the time.. to the point where both Izuku and La Brava get being called stalkers.
Gentle on the other hand represents the dark aspect of Izuku’s feelings for Katsuki. The loss of control of his heart.. his feelings getting the best of him.. him bringing the person he loves in danger and roping them into his mess..
They aren’t supposed to represent bkdk because they’re not even remotely similar to bkdk. But they both represent Izuku’s own feelings.
Gentle told Izuku to follow through with his feelings. And we haven’t seen Izuku do this yet.
It was almost like Izuku’s battle with his own feelings.
As he was fighting the two of them.
A warning from the future. In the form of Gentle.
La brava, the happy, good side of Izuku’s feelings.. was able to power up Gentle, Izuku’s dark side of his feelings with her “LOVE” quirk,. But it was only temporary. Why? Because they have to FUSE!!!!
Gentle never actually voiced his feelings for La Brava. She tells him she loves him multiple times, professes her undying love for him.. but all he says is "Thank you, La Brava.." and he speaks about how his heart beats for her. We know he loves her. They're a couple... but because he represents Izuku's dark side and we're not seeing Izuku admit or face his feelings at all...we haven't heard Gentle SAY IT either. But we have heard both of them speak how their heart is being affected by La Brava..and Katsuki..
Oof..this was super long. if you've made it this far, thanks for reading. In conclusion, Gentle and La Brava's arc came right before Izuku begins losing control of his heart for KATSUKI..and there is a little comic of these two that's comes with the chapter where Izuku's Black Whip triggers! As if to tell us.. hey..pssst...these two are RELATED!
"La Brava loves him enough to join him in all capers.." Well... Katsuki loves Izuku that much too..he followed him everywhere..even if that meant he was going to die..
