BkDk & DkBk

[nefastnefertiti]

WHY CHAPTER 431 OF MY HERO ACADEMIA SCREAMS CENSORSHIP

First let's start by the "afterword", the note Horikoshi left after 430 and before the extras, chapter 431.

Original japanese for those who understand.

The best traslation I found and most people are agreeing with.

Key sentences are:

1.The real final chapter is 429, 430 is more like a curtain call.

2. PS: For chapter 431, I turn off the cameras and free the characters from their dramas.

This note being left after 430 and before the extras is so important. . The clarification of "the real final chapter is 429" and 430 is the curtain call is screaming: the show has ended here. This is further stated by "i turn the cameras off" by the man who use to refer himself as the camera man, I leave you with an example.

(They're talking about Vol 37 cover)

And back to point number 2: "and free the characters from their dramas", which could perfectly be understood as "the characters are no longer tied to their previous plots and drama" no longer connected to the main story.

It may seem like a reach until here, we're just trying to convince ourselves that's not canon, right? They´re delusions, right?

The problem is how far away everything about 431 antagonizes the whole story, the characters doesn't feel like themselves, they even regress back all their development, the drawing style looks totally different and there are many irregularities that call for our attention.

Dabi, 431 and by Horikoshi

Toga and Ochaco in 431:

Toga and Ochaco by Horikoshi:

All Might's signature for Katsuki (Horikoshi would never mess this up):

Kirishima with 6 fingers lol, Horikoshi loves drawing hands, he would never.

Katsuki's odd teeth what the fuck. (His hand looks good to me)

Ochaco and Shoto just look, weird. It's clearly not Horikoshi's art style.

And this awful background (center) was the main giveaway.

Horikoshi's backgrounds are so professional:

At this point I'm getting tired since the difference is astounding, don't believe me, just check the manga.

I don't think Horikoshi would've allowed those mistakes had he have a role in the making, maybe he did, there's no saying about that, but clearly if he did his involvement was very low.

Character's development wise now.

Seriously? "Deku"? And Katsuki complaining for picking him up. He cried his eyes out when Izuku lost his quirk and now he's back at season 1?

Izuku would never in a million years turn down that offer. And if he did, it would never be like this, so devoid of emotion and empathy.

430 showed us an Izuku aiming for his dreams again and at 431 this Izuku ¿? It's okay with being a teacher? Ok. And if that's not the problem, why he outright rejects Katsuki out of nowhere? When their rivalry was one of the main points of the plots for 430 chapters and now just um over? Without justification? Ok.

Ok.

Now specifically about that ship canonization and bkdk.

Horikoshi has been doing this for 10 years. The choices he took the whole manga were incredibly intentional, all those romantic tropes given to bkdk, his interviews, all stand in direct opposition to what happened in this last chapter.

I, myself, don't know much about Jump but what I've heard is they end lot of shonens with the same heterosexual formula. I don't think all of this is a coincidence.

Something really important that needs to be adressed to is what happened back in June (I think), when suddenly MHA announced it was ending in 5 chapters could've something to do with this. The manga was suddenly rushed to its ends with unsatisfying resolutions and as if that was not enough, one month later (at most) the same happened to JJK and all of this came accompanied by a switch of one of the heads of Jump.

About 431 again though.

I was just thinking what would I do if I was pressured to write something that ruins the biggest project of my life and goes against everything I was hoping for? Refuse. Tell them to write it themselves. If I can't do anything to stop it and it'll be there, alright, but I WON'T DO IT.

And I think this could be Horikoshi's case.

I've never seen a shonen manga come so close to implying his male protagonist and his male deuteragonist are in love before. Yes, it was not EXPLICIT but it was so fucking clear if you knew how to read, all the way up to 430. All those cliches tropes he gave them, he knew, we know.

I thought I'll die trying to explaineverything that seems wrong with this with nothing to back me up but the fact that he added that note is clear for me. I'm surprised they allowed him to publish it, I thought we wouldn't even have that.

PS:

It's interesting this being posted the same day 431 comes out. Also "heroaca is pretty dark, huh?"

I'll not go into this anyways because it's kind of a reach but the conclusion is: I think it's a "soft" censorship and Horikoshi did his best to relay his message given what he had.

Thanks for reading!

[fireandlightning25]

To any BkDk fans that are upset over ‘More’

Chapter 429 (before the time skip) is MHA’s ending and chapter 430 (after the time skip until Izuku accepts the suit) is the epilogue per Horikoshi’s end-of-series authors note. ‘More’ is the Censored ‘Epilogue’. You can also think of it as an Alternate Universe Epilogue or like the Bad Ending of a video-game. It’s technically ‘canon’ but there’s an overwhelming amount of evidence that it’s not exactly legitimate.

Because let’s be real, 431 is censorship. It directly contradicts the previous 430 chapters of MHA in a lot of ways. If MHA wasn’t as queer-coded as it is, if Katsuki and Izuku’s relationship specifically wasn’t as blaringly favored, if them being each others closest and most important person wasn’t woven throughout the whole series, if the way they think and talk and feel about and how they treat each other wasn’t so obvious, if BkDk wasn’t canon in every way that matters, if the only reason it’s not canon is because of technicalities [because their relationship isn’t labeled in the stereotypical ways (being “two sides of the same coin” rather than “boyfriends” or “crushes”) and their love isn’t displayed in cliched ways [Shigaraki specifically targeting and killing Katsuki for being Izuku’s closest person, Katsuki spending 8 years working to bring back Hero Deku, Izuku getting OFA in the first place because his instinct was to sacrifice himself to try to save Katsuki from the very same villain that suffocated him nearly to death that very same day, Katsuki sacrificing himself to push Izuku out of the way of AFOs skewers, Izuku refusing to stop following to stop watching to stop chasing after Katsuki no matter what Katsuki did to try to push him away, Katsuki at his most vulnerable seeking out Izuku his perceived enemy in their unsolicited fight) rather than kisses or cookie-cutter dates or weddings] then More never would’ve happened.

And at first I thought that Jump was censoring Horikoshi but now I’m leaning toward Horikoshi and Jump and the animators working to tell Horikoshi’s actual story while keeping the law or high-powered bigoted parties from intervening (enforcing more severe censorship like removing certain scenes or chapters or penalizing Horikoshi/Jump or trying to ban or stop production of MHA). I’m obviously not an expert on Japanese law but I do know that queer protections there are behind other developed nations and that Shounen Jump is technically supposed to be for boys. And media meant for minors is more heavily policed.

Because even though it’s ‘canon,’ Horikoshi and Jump and the animators have drawn pretty big lines between MHA and More. Even though it’s being presented as ‘canon,’ more effort is being put into separating it from MHA than is being put into including it as an actual part of the story:

1. The art of More (in the manga) doesn’t match the chapters before it or the special one shot after - Look specifically at their eyes, side views, backgrounds, background characters, and especially Katsuki’s face which somehow loses it’s angular adult features and regrows his baby fat, somehow aging backwards, between 430 and 431 which is supposedly a month after (the reblog I have pinned to my page goes into this and some other points in a lot more detail with photo comparisons)

2. The plot doesn’t add up - I won’t get too into this because there’s too much to say but what irks me the most is that a big part of MHA was realizing that heroes were carrying too much on their shoulders, that heroes are human, and that the citizens needed to help too because the heroes just couldn’t be everywhere all the time to carry everything and everyone all by themselves (like helping an obviously scared/hurt child wandering the streets rather than turning your back on them thinking ‘a hero will find them,’ Hawks whose dream is giving heroes more free time becoming the president of the HPSC). And yet 431 starts with Ochako (who’s story was catered around this theme, with her often thinking about who saves the heroes and culminating in that megaphone scene where she united the spiraling citizens of UA with Izuku, the real person behind the Hero Deku) waking up at her desk (the picture of overwork) as if she wasn’t pivotal to that theme.

3. The characters are wildly out of character - Ochako’s character was essentially torn down to create a dependency in herself that apparently needs to be fixed by ‘being the male lead’s sudden, unexplained, too little, too late love interest’ as if she hadn’t deliberately decided to stand as her own person, to not be overly reliant on Izuku (like she said when she turned down Izuku’s help before her fight with Katsuki at the sports festival), as if she didn’t learn anything (from watching Deku over-burden and under-support himself at UA, from watching heroes pushed past what they could take quitting on the spot when society started to collapse) and instead pushed away her support system (all of 1A that came to help her in the cliff scene) by hiding or minimizing her struggles from everyone (but Tsu essentially). And Izuku is even worse. Because to even build up to that stupid mediocre ‘grand romantic gesture’ of chasing Ochako down in the street to say he wants to talk more that apparently makes her cry tears of joy, Izuku’s character wasn’t just torn down but completely inverted. Because Horikoshi’s Izuku is good, kind, selfless, attentive, a good person, a good friend. And 431s imposter is the kind of bastard that rejects Katsuki in a cruel and careless way. Who treats the suit that was the result of 8 years of work and being a Pro Hero like a weekend hobby, a sidenote, an afterthought, as if being a teacher was his life’s purpose actually despite the literal whole story of MHA being about him wanting to be a Pro Hero. Who turns a blind eye to Ochako’s struggles until she becomes a possible love interest as if she didn’t matter to him as a person or as a friend before then which is completely selfishly offensively misogonystic. Who supposedly ‘treats everyone special’ and yet completely fails Ochako, treats Ochako in a way that is very much not special, like an acquaintance at most, not even respecting her enough to be a good friend until the very end when he decides that this person he’s been completely blind to and negligent of is the most special person to him and the one he wants to be with actually.

4. Horikoshi’s end-of-series, thank you authors note calls 429 the actual ending and 430 the (end-game credits) epilogue and heavily hints that 431 either isn’t his or is something separate from the story (‘removing the characters from their dramas,’ ‘turning the cameras off’, also explained in more detail in the pinned reblog on my page)

5. Horikoshi’s end-of-series authors note is placed right after chapter 430 and before 431 in the paperback manga like a dividing line

6. Chapter 431 released 4 months after 430 with significantly decreased quality and care when Horikoshi had been releasing well drawn, well written chapters every week for the past 10 years & the episode for More released 5 months after the previous episode

7. When chapter 431 was released it was only in the paperback manga. It was not released digitally (like in the Shounen Jump subscription app where I read the 430 chapters of Horikoshi’s actual story - when I heard about More I honestly thought it was a hoax and wasn’t convinced it was actually in the manga until I imported the original, untranslated edition of the final volume from Japan)

8. The More episode is being treated like an OVA and it’s being called Episode 170+1. That +1 also works like a dividing line

9. The More episode released today so you would think today would be about More if it were a serious part of the story right? Well to me, it’s being overshadowed by the announcement (on the very same day) on the official MHA and TOHO Animation Twitters that Horkoshi’s fan-book one shot (which is absolutely his work) is being animated!!

10. The fan book one shot which released after More matches chapters 1-430 once again (in art, plot, characterizations) and contradicts 431 [which itself contradicts every other chapter of MHA including itself (in that Izuku treats ‘everyone special’ but also shows a pattern of treating Ochako as less-than-even-baseline-special but then declares that she’s obviously the most-special actually like some kind of plot-hole-inception)]. It is well drawn, well executed, the characters are in-character, Izuku treats being a Pro Hero with the respect it deserves and the love he’s always had for it in every chapter except More, Izuku’s face looks actually happy and fulfilled (unlike that weird insincere cutesy look he has in More), doesn’t officiate any romances (in the same way 430 didn’t canonize any which I prefer since it’s meant to be a making-of-the-heroes story not a who-dates-who story), and shows Izuku working consistently, routinely as a pro hero (not that fickle nonchalant rude weekend BS from 431) with Katsuki and Shoto in particular, shows how the citizens feel about the return of Hero Deku, highlights Katsuki and Izuku’s rankings now that they’re both in the running, gives Deku’s official Pro Hero name and official super power name, and gives more specific details about All Might and Eri’s future (among others).

So for the BkDk fans who may have been hurt or upset over More (though the animation did make a couple tiny improvements from the manga), you don’t have to count it, you don’t have to accept it, you don’t have to try to make it make sense or fill in the many huge plot holes it opened up for the sake of censorship, you can discard it like filler (which it basically is just for worse reasons than trying to fluff up an empty time slot) because there’s an overwhelming amount of evidence that More isn’t legitimate, isn’t serious, isn’t meant to be a real part of the story, and instead get ready for the fan book one shot animation because it’s actually a special bonus epilogue worth getting excited for!!

[chandralia]

I JUST WOKE UP ?!???

[is-bakugou-alive-yet]

The Eri one-shot is also getting an animated special

[fireandlightning25]

Horikoshi’s Ending

** I don’t believe Horikoshi made 431 for so many reasons I don’t feel like mentioning here and I don’t accept it as any kind of real part of the story so it’s not included here. This is about Horikoshis endings: chapter 430 and his special one shot with Eri that came out later.

MHA was written in a way that gave the fans a lot of choice and flexibility about how the characters personal lives, their behind the scenes, could play out.

It was written so you could interpret it however you like:

By having the story focus on “the making of the heroes” with sub-themes of humanity and society. The scenes that are included in MHA are the ones that are relevant to that in some way. And the characters’ dating lives aren’t relevant to this.

[The only exception being Ochako’s possible crush in early chapters which was part of HER making of the hero story and NOT meant to shackle her to Izuku as the male lead’s future trophy girlfriend. Ochako does grapple with her feelings for him in the beginning AFTER being pushed into seeing her feelings for him as possibly romantic by Mina and Aoyama. She tries to determine if it’s love or admiration and ultimately she decides that whatever it is, she’s not going to try to date Izuku because she doesn’t want to distract Izuku from his hero journey by throwing her possible crush at him. Which also frees her from being reduced to ‘the girlfriend’ and lets her focus on her own hero journey. Her hero story is about realizing that she wants to be the type of hero that saves the people who might otherwise fall through the cracks: heroes that society forgets are humans too and not just shields for civilians (Izuku) and people with quirks that isolate them from others (Toga). Izuku and Toga were meant to help her grow as a hero. Writing it like she was going to be the cliche trophy girlfriend (in the beginning) and having her break those heteronormative shackles on her own volition (choosing not to pursue him romantically even when pushed by other characters, refusing his help at the sports festival because she realized she’d become too reliant on him) to stand on her own, strong and autonomous, perfectly content and capable in a life she built for herself (in the end where she’s a hero that helps civilians/heroes as a pro and kids as a counselor) was really well done imo.]

By including special moments between multiple characters that could be interpreted as romantic if you really wanted to. Izuku and Ochako being flustered in the beginning (I think it detracts from both of their stories, but there’s really nothing wrong with other fans liking the idea of them together). Izuku saving Todorokis heart at the sports festival. Izuku saving Iida from Stain. Todoroki saving Izuku from Stain. Iida holding Izuku’s hand in the sky when they bring him back to UA. Literally every other classmate trying to reach out to Izuku during the vigilante arc. Aoyama trying to help Izuku with cheese. Izuku trying to redeem Aoyama the traitor. Mei constantly fan servicing into Izuku. Kirishima taking Katsuki’s hand when they rescue him. Katsuki’s rivalry with Todoroki.

And Horikoshi has an obvious preference in the bond between Katsuki and Izuku. And I honestly think it’s heavily romantically-coded. Because most of the story focuses on them. Because All Might calls them “2 sides of the same coin.” Because Izuku is only ever truly selfish and possessive of Katsuki (following and watching him, ignoring Katsuki’s boundaries, even when Katsuki does literally everything he can to try to shake him off). Because when Katsuki is at his most vulnerable, the one he reaches out to is Izuku (in their fight, even though Katsuki sees Izuku as a threat and an enemy, Izuku is the one he goes to and cries in front of and shouts all his emotional turbulence at. It would’ve been easier to go to Kirishima, a kind and good friend that he accepted but he still chose Izuku. This is the first time Katsuki reaches out to Izuku and it’s the calalyst for repairing their frayed relationship). Because Katsuki cares about Izuku’s opinion the most even when he thinks he hates him. Because the only time Izuku hits Katsuki unprovoked and for emotional reasons is when he says he’d rather lose which later gets Katsuki killed because he refuses Jeanists medical treatment and keeps fighting Shigaraki because he wants to live up to Izuku’s expectations of him as someone who doesn’t give up. Because Katsuki’s dream changes from being better than All Might to competing with Izuku for the rest of their lives and he spends 8 years working towards that suit to bring back the Hero Deku. Because Izuku chooses Katsuki over All Might (in the final exam, punching All Might who he knows is injured to carry Katsuki through the finish line even though it was completely strategically unnecessary & risking All Mights secret by telling Katsuki he got his quirk from someone else). Because Mr. Compress is unsettled by Izuku’s possessiveness. Because AFO realizes that Katsuki is Izuku’s weakness when he almost steals OFA from him after skewering Katsuki. Because Shigaraki kills Katsuki specifically because he’s the most important person to Izuku (which is interesting because targeting the main characters love interest is a common well known trope in love stories) and the only reason Izuku doesn’t break when he finds him is because Mirio gave him hope that Katsuki would come back. Because Katsuma (who’s personality is like Izuku’s) and Mahoro (who’s personality is like Katsuki’s) in the movie where Horikoshis roles included supervising and character design have blonde hair like Katsuki and freckles like Izuku. Because it’s obvious they’re the absolute most important person in each others lives (and knowing that, it would honestly be pretty shitty of them to date anyone else when that other person would never be their number 1).

And despite Horikoshis obvious preference for them and despite how queer-coded they are for each other, he still doesn’t make them directly romantically canon. He doesn’t make any of them romantically canon. He implies but doesn’t force his favorites on us. By not canonizing anyone, he lets the fans keep their ships. He doesn’t break the hearts of the ships not chosen. He doesn’t break the passion shippers have by disillusioning them. He doesn’t cut off the enthusiasm of fanfiction writers and doujinshi artists. In this way, he keeps MHA alive even after its conclusion which is something he’s talked about being important to him.

[fireandlightning25]

Kacchan Bakugou

I think Katsuki calls himself Kacchan during his fight with AFO as a slip of the tongue rather than intentionally.

Because he’s just been brought back from the dead. And his body’s been through the ringer. And he’s got to have passed his limits by a long shot already. But he’s still fighting. A second grueling fight right after his fight with Shigaraki.

I think he was revved up on adrenaline and survival instincts, fighting for his life and everyone else’s against an overpowered enemy that no single person could hope to defeat with fresh stitches in his heart and a messed up arm.

The last person in a chain of heroes chipping away at AFO, after the former and current number 1 heroes couldn’t finish him off, knowing Izuku (the only other person aside from Katsuki who has a decent chance against AFO at this point) has his hands full with Shigaraki and is screwed if Katsuki can’t beat him. Katsuki is the last line of defense against AFO. The only one standing between him and Izuku and him and the world.

He can’t fail. He has to win. He’s their last best chance against AFO. Because if he falls who could take his place? If he falls how many other people will die trying to stop him? And he knows if he falls Izuku will too.

He’s putting everything he’s got into finishing this fight. And it’s amazing he’s still conscious yet alone fighting. I think he was putting all of his focus on surviving and winning.

So he spoke without thinking, from the heart with no filter and he called himself Kacchan because that’s how he sees himself in his head.

[fireandlightning25]

431 is a Jump-sponsored deception (see the reblog I have pinned on my profile about censorship for details) and I know it’s only ‘canon’ in the way that filler is ‘canon.’ I know it’s not Horikoshi’s and this knowledge erased the hurt that that chapter had originally caused me.

But it still pisses me off. Because how dare they?

The homophobia that sparked this forgery’s creation is so stupidly entitled because Katsuki and Izuku’s relationship wasnt even directly shown as romantic - they didn’t kiss or get married or whatever else makes the homophobes shake in their boots. If they were so threatened by the idea of a main character being not-straight they could’ve just told themselves that Katsuki and Izuku’s love was platonic. They could’ve shut the hell up and stuck their heads in the sand.

But no. They felt entitled to force their heteronormative obsession on everyone else. They couldn’t accept that other people could interpret it differently than what they wanted. They couldn’t handle even the implication of Katsuki and Izuku loving each other more than loving a woman. Is their world view so fragile that they have to stick their hands into someone else’s story to try to warp it to their views?

And how dare they do that to Horikoshi. A real person, a talented author and artist whose work made them a ton of money. Their power and their money comes from THE ARTISTS and yet they used that power to strongarm and silence and censor Horikoshi. I’ve lost so much respect and trust for Jump honestly. Will they pull this same shit with the ending of One Piece if it doesn’t end the heteronormative way that they want it to as well?

And aside from the homophobia and the abuse of power, 431 is so fucking insulting to women. Because Ochako didn’t need to be someone’s girlfriend for her story to be complete and meaningful.

She’s her own person. How dare they try to make her a damn trophy for Izuku. An object, a prize, instead of a person. A person who through 430 (Horikoshi’s chapter) had built herself a fulfilling life where she was a pro hero and a hero to kids with difficult Quirks. A life where she can make sure other kids don’t grow up with a deep longing to be loved and accepted that is only granted by their enemy on their deathbed like what happened to Toga.

And yeah Izuku and Ochako are friends and important to each other. And yeah Ochako was inspired by Izuku’s passion for being a hero. And yeah they blushed around each other when they were fresh out of middle school and she got flustered when the other girls basically forced the idea of her feelings for him being romantic on her, but ultimately she CHOSE not to pursue him in that way. At UA she decided she didn’t want to distract him from becoming a hero by confessing.

And when he went into teaching instead of pro heroism (before the suit), that reasoning no longer applied. She had YEARS to make a move on Izuku if she really wanted to. Ochako is strong enough and smart enough to make her own decisions about dating and she did.

431 is so offensive in the way it makes it seem like Ochako (who was living her life how she wanted based on her own choices) needed to be rescued from those choices, rescued from her own independence and autonomy, like a child who doesn’t know what’s best for her own self.

And the implication that she couldn’t heal from Toga’s death through time or support from platonic friendships or her own emotional labor and that that hurt could somehow only be healed by a boyfriend is so damn superficial.

And even for how close Izuku and Ochako are, and how they honestly could’ve had a small fleeting crush in first year, and how he inspired her, his feelings for her are tiny compared to his feelings for Katsuki regardless of the lable you want to slap on them. And her feelings for Toga are much deeper than her feelings for Izuku.

Because Ochako only met Toga a handful of times. And yet, she wanted to save her. She wanted to save her even as she was dying from the injury Toga gave her. And yet, this girl who’s always been passionate about seeing other peoples smiles thought Toga’s was the cutest. And yet, Toga changed the course of Ochakos whole life. Because she chose to go into helping kids with difficult Quirks, kids like Toga, which brings her all over the country rather than staying where Izuku is around UA.

Because she’s her own person, not some thing to be given to Izuku, especially the fake Izuku of 431 who somehow didnt see or care about her 8 years of suffering until he ‘needed a girlfriend.’ Are we supposed to believe that he didn’t notice in the remaining 2 years at UA? That no one did? That after the cliff scene they all just brushed it under the rug? That after graduation Izuku didn’t keep in touch with her well enough to know what state she was in? That without Izuku, a boyfriend, she couldn’t handle the weight of her own life, her own career, her own dreams, her own feelings, and her own choices? Fuck that.

[fireandlightning25]

Izuku & Katsuki vs Izuku & Uraraka: Blushing

Blushing is nothing. I know blushing is used as a trope in romance mangas a lot and so people associate it with ‘true love’ or whatever but blushing is really pretty weak.

Blushing is a flustered 14/15 year old virgin fresh out of middle school being close (emotionally and/or physically) to the opposite sex (that society tells him he should only be attracted to) for the first time. Blushing is a socially inexperienced boy making his 2nd friend at age 14/15. Blushing is that same kid having only the vaguest shoujo-inspired ideas of what love even is, likely never questioning his own sexuality or his own feelings for the boy who just being friends with seemed hopeless in the face of 10 years of constant rejection (which didn’t even stop Izuku from chasing after him).

And let’s say Izuku did interpret being flustered around Uraraka as a sign that they should try dating. I’m positive Izuku would realize pretty quickly that something was off. That it doesn’t feel like it should especially when he compares how he feels about her to how he feels about Katsuki or how other people feel about their boyfriends/girlfriends.

And if she kissed him, would he even like it? He’d probably be expecting magic and be met with disillusionment. If he hadn’t already, I’m pretty sure that would be the moment he’d notice the wrongness of it.

And how long into dating her would he start thinking about what it’d be like if he was doing those things with Katsuki. I’d bet within the first month. And I think Izuku is too good of a person to stay in a relationship with Uraraka after realizing he loves someone else more.

They’d never last. Because blushing is superficial. A cheap Shoujo cliche made even weaker when compared to the absolute depth of what Katsuki and Izuku do and feel for each other.

[chandralia]

I guess what I find frustrating is that whatever MHA is ... its not LGBTQIA+ media. Its media made for, built and designed for cis straight men. There are TONs of media out there that DOES showcase ACTUAL LGBTQIA + experiences. And MHA... aint it.

as a queer person myself, you should know that people can see themselves in the characters and explore dynamics for fun, regardless of canon. that’s what shipping has always been.

also I don’t think you’ve ever actually seen the show, since there are explicit and canonical queer characters. toga is bisexual, as stated MANY times in the series with her own words that she loves both men and women. and magne + tiger are canonically trans as well. there’s even a scene where toga and twice correct magne’s pronous.

and maybe you weren’t aware but mha is actually more popular with women? these stats just came out less than a week ago.

and it’s not really a secret that the majority of the fandom consists of women and queer people, and that there was an article in japan that mentioned how lgbtq fans resonate with a lot of the characters.

as well as this comment from horikoshi…

so I really don’t understand the problem? at the end of the day, people can ship whatever they want. and queer people don’t have to be confined to certain media. this genuinely seems like a case of you severely judging a series before even knowing a single thing about it.