Guys I swear Turning has taken over my life! I legit forgot mha existed. I'm both sorry and not sorry because let's face it MHA is a train wreck for so many reasons and Turning is such a breath of fresh air compared to it. Seriously I need more people to check out this web novel/ manwha. Because I need more people to rant about it with! Also for my fellow Bakugo haters!!!! One of Turning's long standing villains is blonde with red eyes and is a spoiled bitch boy who is getting wrecked by the narrative! So it's super cathartic! So if you like bl please give it a read! It's so fucking good guys! Also it's so long!!!! It's got 1396 chapters at the moment!!! And it's still ongoing!!!! Ahhh!
For most of the redemption arcs in MHA, I really feel like the focus is less on the character actually trying to make what they did right, and much more on making the abuser look pitiable. Because if the character gets all sad on screen- then they can’t be a bad person, right?
This is mostly about the whole Deku vs Bakugou thing right after the provisional license arc. People love to parade that fight around as the defining “start” or even middle of his redemption arc, but it just falls flat to me because it really doesn’t prove he’s any better or different a person than he was in season one.
He essentially lured Midoriya out to where there was nobody to stop him, and then attacked him while ignoring attempts to deescalate. How is that any different from him waiting till after class in season one to tell Midoriya to kill himself? If anything, it’s worse considering this time it actually got physical.
And see, I don’t even hate the idea of him doing this- it could’ve worked for me if it ended as a REAL self reflective moment for Bakugou, realizing how he treats people is wrong and that he has to change for the better. But instead it’s just a pity party about how bad he feels for “making” All Might retire, then it ends with him being comforted and them both being punished for fighting. As if Midoriya had much of a choice in the matter, it was either lie there and let Bakugou beat him, or defend himself. He shouldn’t have been punished for that.
The part that gets me is that we’re supposed to feel bad for him in that scene, which yeah, I can understand since he got kidnapped and all. But EVERYTHING else about it is just so icky to me.
It’s just him crying about how Midoriya didn’t stay someone who he could crush or use as a punching bag whenever he wanted, that someone he (unfairly) saw as inherently beneath him drew the attention of his “idol”, it’s a self centered joke of an inner conflict. One that barely gets challenged in the series, considering every other scene with Bakugou is just glazing everything he does while ignoring his flaws.
All of this! Though I'd like to add on about a big part of Bakugo's redemption that adds onto making this fight fall completely flat. Is that while yes Bakugo does have some moments of growth after it everytime he does have that growth he backslides and goes right back to blaming other's for his shit behavior right afterwards. How many times have we heard him use his belief that Izuku thought he was better than him as an excuse to abuse him!? It's so stupid and ridiculous. Like yeah we know you have an inferiority complex and can't handle that you're a crappy human being and the person you've harmed physically, mentally and emotionally is still a better person than you can ever hope to be please get over yourself. This also pertains to Endeavor because yes they are two sides of the same fucked up coin. I can't take their redemptions seriously because they both suck and trying to make me feel sorry for them is gross. Not every person is redeemable and I've known way too many bullies/ abusers who aren't redeemable who behave similarly to how Bakugo and Endeavor do. Crying and feeling sorry for themselves because their actions finally caught up with them isn't something to feel sorry for them for. It's just pathetic and feels like manipulation because it is.
So I'm not completely leaving the bnha/ mha Fandom but currently I'm dealing with a new hyperfixation that doesn't have the tendency to make me furious the way mha canon does and it's so refreshing. My only complaint is that I wish I'd found it sooner! So while I definitely will continue to post on here sometimes especially about my hatred of certain things and headcanons I have I want to make sure everyone is aware. Will I come back to mha? Maybe. Honestly mha kinda feels similar to pokemon to me. It's been in my life a long time and still gives me complex feelings so it will probably come back. But at the moment my mental health is kinda awful and mha feels more detrimental than helpful. Canon just makes me so angry. I'm going to continue working on my original work that started as an mha fanfic though! So maybe those of you who follow me might get some updates about that. I've completely changed the story FYI and now I'm enjoying it way more. Plus there's no Bakugo to constantly have me so angry I want to throw something. I still love todoizu and I probably always will. But for now my mental health and hyperfixation are pulling me towards something better. Also if any of you haven't checked it out yet and like bl please please please read turning! It's got both a web novel and a manwha I highly recommend it! That's my current hyperfixation. It's so good guys!
You know, I really don't care what people ship. People should be allowed to enjoy themselves in fandom spaces. However, it genuinely annoys me when bkdk lovers claim they love and care about Izuku because its obvious they don't. Like, the fact you ship them in the first place proves you don't care about him.
These are the SAME people that were crying and making art pieces of Izuku getting punched because he DARED to reject Baku's offer. Oh wow Izuku actually chose himself for ONCE....he's awful! What an ungrateful loser! Why aren't y'all happy that Izuku chose something else and is happy? Oh is it because you really only care about Baku's hurt feelings?
I love when these people say the bullying wasn't that bad or Baku beating Izuku is a gag and supposed to be funny. What's funny about an annoying freak beating someone for....honestly just existing. The bullying WAS that bad. Izuku doesn't have any self respect, his self worth/ esteem is dangerously low, and for crying out loud he chose Deku (useless) as his hero name. If you LOVE Izuku wouldn't you want him to be with someone who was sweet to him from the beginning? And not a prick that even after the apology had trouble saying Izuku's actually name.
Its funny that when it comes to this ship people have to change pretty much everything about the two in order for it to even work. I used to ship Izuku and Ochako and from the comics and stuff I've seen the two stayed in character for the most part. But with bkdk people always make Baku the "good" one and Izuku is just a doll. And with dkbk people still make Baku the good one because Izuku is like a crazy stalker monster in that one.
The people that say Bakugo is the ONLY good partner for Izuku, I just have to roll my eyes. Really? REALLY?! Out of ALL the characters Izuku met and became friends with Bakugo is the ONLY one for him?? The guy that bullied him SO much that Izuku flinched whenever Bakugo would talk to him, the guy that told him to KILL himself, the guy that beat Izuku senseless for who knows how long, the guy that destroy his belongings, yelled at him, threw a SHARP object at his head making it bleed, the guy that even in the end still saw Izuku as below him because he was trying to get Izuku to be his SIDEKICK rather then an equal working partner....that guy....that's the guy Izu should be with??? Ok.
And you wanna know what's tragic, if these two did get together no one would be thinking about the possibility that Izuku might have a trauma bond with Bakugo. Everyone would just be saying how cute they are, even though their relationship was built on negativity. Honestly, I don't even think trauma bond is the right word because Bakugo was nothing but horrible to Izuku. Like the only happy moment those two had as children was them getting that AM card and that's it. Childhood friends...yeah right.
In conclusion bkdk fans don't care about Izuku. They don't, they really don't. All they care about is Bakugo just like the rest of this fandom. I know not every shipper is like this but a large majority is.
What are your two cents on whether Mitsuki is abusive? This is what I think:
The Fandom says that "Mitsuki cares", "Other people feed his ego", "Bakugo is a bully himself", etc.
Why can't all these concepts co-exist? A parent can love their child while unintentionally doing them harm. Multiple sources can cause a kid's bad behaviour. Someone can be a victim of one person and be the abuser of another person.
Fans argue that smacking a child for misbehaving is the norm in many households. Even by these standards, that is not what is happening to Bakugo. Mitsuki hits him when he is quietly sitting. Mitsuki hits him when he is saying goodbye before a battle.
Where in the world is it 'normal' for a kid to get called weak after their kidnapping? Mitsuki can claim Bakugo's ego came from others' compliments, but his shouting and swearing is learnt from her. Bakugo thought it was fine to use force on the primary class, mentioning his own upbringing.
I don't think Mitsuki's actions can be excused as simple jokes. MHA has this strange relationship between comedy and seriousness. The gag of Bakugo getting chained on TV leads Shigaraki to encourage him to get revenge on Hero Society. Bakugo repeats his mother's words in the dramatic fight between him and Izuku.
I have seen claims that if you call Mitsuki abusive, that invalidates 'real' abuse. As if it's a competition. As if multifaceted cases don't exist.
This is definitely an interesting and complicated question/ answer. I definitely don't believe Katsuki's parents are blameless in how he turned out. Especially his mother. She flat out admits he takes after her temperament wise, and I fully believe that. I also fully believe that he's a product of his upbringing. I've stated it briefly in another post but I fully believe his parents probably especially Mitsuki reinforced his belief in how strong and amazing his quirk is. And she definitely didn't teach him how to regulate his emotions properly. Which is a big part of why he's so loud obnoxious and angry all the time. And seems to immediately go straight to physical violence. Do I think she and her husband are the main reasons he turned into the absolute shit head he is? No but they definitely played at least a part. Also notice that neither Mitsuki nor Katsuki seem to have any respect for Matsuru at all. Which probably reinforced Katsuki's poor treatment of Izuku since they have some similar traits. So all in all yes I think his parents failed him just like the school system did. You can love your kids and still screw them up by not giving them boundaries. And Katsuki definitely fits the entitled kid stereotype.
Hopefully that answers your question. Thanks for the ask and sorry it took me a bit. I got sucked into a different Fandom that doesn't anger/ upset me the way this one does. XD
The trio for My Hero should've been Izuku, Shoto, and Tenya. I will die on this hill if needed, it makes narrative sense to have Tenya as a major focus and rival instead of shitty Bakahoe who spends the entire story abusing Izuku.
Tenya Ida sees Izuku and immediately looks down on him and yes, we get to know him and know he's not like this - but it comes off like he's picking on Izuku because he's an easy target (IE, like Bakahoe who knows he can abuse Izuku and no one will do shit about it).
Tenya then sees Izuku cowering and runs past him only to then witness Izuku push through his fear to save Uraraka. And how does he react? Like a rival - "I would've done the same" while looking genuinely upset with himself, not Izuku (like shitty Bakuhoe who turns every moment of self reflection into hatred for Izuku). He becomes determined to be a hero that can rival Izuku and that is so much better than having an abusive bully with a one-sided "rivalry" as such a main character.
That one moment should've established a friendly rivalry, a HEALTHY one that would've given major character growth. And not just for Izuku, but also for Shoto - because where Tenya and Izuku could be foils, Tenya and Shoto are mirrors (legacy with high expectations on them, but one came from a healthier environment and is willingly trying to live up to the legacy he was born to).
Contrast that with Bakahoe who is legit just Endeavor with no PR training, an abusive asshole incapable of seeing his own flaws until it benefits him, he offers nothing in that aspect of character dynamics and I do not like how people/Hori inflate his character like that. Seriously, Bakugo Katsuki was narratively part of Izuku's BACKSTORY. His only major role after that should've been an ACKNOWLEDGED villain (because you can't change my mind, the asshole who actively tries to kill someone during class is a villain and no apology makes up for that).
Kirishima kinda pisses me off on principle - but this is down to Bakugo being creator's pet Mary Sue.
Characters like Kirishima (Ashido and Todoroki too) should not find anything admirable nor befriendable in a character like Baguko. The same abuse and bullying Bakugo inflicts on Izuku and the rest of the class should've put him on Kirishima's hit list. No "Bakubro" bull, I'm talking going straight to throwing hands the moment Bakugo calls Izuku "Deku" and Ashido "bug eyes" and nearly getting himself expelled defending people after years of being too scared to do so.
That's also why people saying Bakugo is an integral part of the story pisses me off. After the sludge rescue, he legit drags the story down and ruins many chatacters because his personality and behavior being minimized or ignored contradicts the personalities and backstories of others. All these characters with tragic backstories related to bullying and abuse would NOT be his friend. They would hate him, avoid him, or beat him down.
Especially Kirishima who is legit written as the epitome of positive masculinity! He should've had a major moment where he gave up on trying to play nice with Bakugo after witnessing him picking/beating on Izuku or ANYONE one too many times and went berserk. The narrative favoritism shown to Bakugo was legit at the detriment of multiple characters and Kirishima, who I love in concept, was one of those characters.
And like, arguing with my sister about that is tiring, she hates Kirishima (yet loves Todoroki who ALSO suffered character degradation at the expense of shilling Bakugo). And yeah, Kirishima deserves to be bashed for the above character issue - but I can't really go hard on him because it's HORI, not Kirishima that I have the problem with.
If Hori wasn't so fixated on Bakugo at the expense of his other characters, there wouldn't be reason to hate Kirishima for being a hypocrite (one way to do that is acknowledging in story that Kirishima is one - but that requires Hori acknowledging that Bakugo is a shit person within the story).
Hi this is abt your latest Bakugo rant! Let me preface that I very much agree with the rough outline of your points. I generally cut off my analysis of bnha before the suit ending & 431 because I think the series is better off without them. Though even including them, Bkg doesnt change nearly as much as his fans want you to believe.
It's hard canon that he still physically abused him right untilthe plf war (which people are also fighting tooth and nail to ignore)
Also again, I prefer ignoring 431, but him making Izuku a job offer where he would have considerable financial and social power over him is like. an horrifying red flag. Especially since he put him in a position where Izuku would already feel immensely indebted to him. It's Bad.
I just got really really caught up on the "[being an abuser]'s in his nature". Not because present-day bakugo can't still be interpreted as an active abuser, but because I believe that abusiveness is a learned behaviour that (theoretically) can always be unlearned again.
So I wanted to ask whether that was an angry-phrasing because bkg's character sucks and Horikoshi would have never written him any other way, or something you said because you believe people like him or endeavour are incapable of real change? If the latter, what do you think differentiates them from people that are (genuine interest question)
That's actually a very good question thanks for asking. For me it's a bit of both if I'm honest. I don't tend to touch to much on my own lived experiences but I did come from an abusive household and was bullied extensively in school though so I do think that colors some of my feelings/ emotions towards both Bakugo and Endeavor and how their "redemptions" were handled. My wording probably could've been better though.
What I truly meant by in his nature was that he's always been proud angry and violent since our first introduction to him. And in many of the flashbacks we get. He's always popping of explosions, beating up other kids, or talking down to everyone around him. Whether that was learned at home or at school doesn't necessarily make much difference. So it falls into that nurture or nature debate. And while yes I fully believe he was definitely encouraged to behave that way. He doesn't really ever stop to truly acknowledge that his behavior was wrong other than passing remarks after which he goes right back to behaving as he always has. Which again is definitely the result of Horikoshi's writing.
I don't fully believe that abusers and bullies are incapable of change necessarily. But its something that they have to be willing to do and put in the work for and well whether it's because Horikoshi can't write redemption arcs to save his life. Or just what I see from being in situations similar to Izuku and Shoto growing up. Their abusers do not seem to truly have the capability of being better. They want change but aren't willing to truly do the work that's necessary to be better. Change can happen but it requires work and understanding why something you did was wrong. And a lot of times it also requires someone hitting rock bottom to truly bring that change about. I do agree that abuse tends to mostly be brought about as a learned behavior though there are some exceptions. But that's true in everything. Human nature is never black and white there are many colors and shades in between. I don't think anyone is inherently good or bad and a bad person can still do good things. And a good person can absolutely do bad things. It's all a matter of perspective.
So I suppose my irl experience has colored my perception of Bakugo and Endeavor but again Horikoshi doesn't seem to understand what makes a good redemption arc. I fully believe that if someone who knew what they were doing had handled their arcs they could've been well done but that's not what we got and it does make me very upset.
Hopefully this makes sense. And answers your question.
Warning anti-Bakugo rant incoming don't like that please scroll otherwise welcome to the blog stay if you like lol. This is gonna address the finale and some specific things from it so if you haven't seen it yet this is your spoiler warning so scroll away or don't I'm not your keeper. Now that that's out of the way let's begin!
So I've spoken about this a bit with one of my friends but there are several reasons that Bakugo's character development in the time skip feels like complete and utter bs. First of course is that he supposedly paid the majority of the money towards Izuku's new suit? Like ya'll Horikoshi expects me to believe his abuser paid for that!? Idgaf if he's changed it feels fishy and like a lie. Especially when he asks Izuku to join his agency!? As I've mentioned before that felt super manipulative. Like if All Might had said Shoto had paid for a majority I would've fully believed it not just because I ship them mind you. Shoto was just always a better friend and rival for Izuku than Bakugo. Though I will say Shoto inviting Bakugo to join Endeavor's agency along with Izuku was a terrible decision but that's on Horikoshi and his absolutely stupid idea that Bakugo had to have attention when he didn't deserve it. At this point he was still actively abusing Izuku guys! You just either forgot or didn't care because it was made funny when it wasn't. He impaled Izuku with his head piece remember!? Why does everyone forget that happened!? It wasn't funny it was disgusting and wrong!
Anyway getting back on track here my next point! The fact that Bakugo went from number 15 in the rankings to number 5!? Horikoshi you expect me to believe that and not be disgusted by it!? That's yet more proof that Bakugo hasn't changed at all! Bakugo was out here being a terrible person and throwing freaking temper tantrums because his self proclaimed "rival" wasn't a hero!? That's so gross. Like dude we get it you're obsessed with Izuku but God damn dude you need to stop. Because let's face it Izuku isn't the creepy freaking stalker Bakugo is. He can't handle when Izuku is better than him and he can't handle when Izuku isn't around for him to abuse and try to get one over on. It's gross and I will never understand how this Fandom never sees it. Dude was an abuser. I know he was a child but we see snippets throughout the manga that show us that Bakugo was always terrible to Izuku and it feels like all the apology scene did was try to absolve him of his awful behavior but he still stayed the obsessive creepy asshole who can't seem to be shitty to Izuku. Like I would bet that if Izuku had joined his agency Bakugo would've absolutely backslid and started abusing him again. It's his nature. The parallels to Endeavor were always there and they were there for a reason! They are two abusers cut from the same twisted cloth and I will never be able to believe otherwise.
cuz neither the fandom nor the series respect him at all (his n1 ship being his abuser who didn't even see him as a person but a bug to step on and torment for fun for over 11 years but not the people(ochako,shoto, rody and literally anyone else!) who cherished him and admired says it all)
To me he hasn't felt like his own character/ person for a long time now. We don't even get insight into thoughts as much as we used to. What he's thinking,feeling and why he chose to do something is unclear or just down right out of character by the end of the series.
What do you mean izuku midoriya just gives up on being a hero and saving people once he loses ofa? The same izuku that used to refuse giving up on helping ppl even when he was being physically harmed and verbally shamed for wanting to be one? Why would he give up his life's dream that he wanted to achieve with or without a quirk to become a teacher,something he didn't even mention ONCE mind you. He never talked about it,never even thought about it so WHY did HE choose that?
What makes this ending worse is the "dw guys his classmates raised money for him and got him a iron man suit so he can continue to be a hero!" This doesn't make anything better, infact it makes it worse.
1: So he did want to continue to be a hero based on the way he cries after receiving the suit. So he gave up cuz of the lack of quirk and not because he wanted to "retire" and help the next generation (which means he started becoming like the people who didn't believe in him and said that you can't be a hero without a quirk? That's depressing)
2: he's once again being HANDED A WAY TO BECOME A HERO AND NOT FORGING HIS OWN PATH. Which is sooo frustrating to see. I can understand why 14 year old izuku couldn't do anything but train his analysis (being isolated because of his status as a quirkless kid which probably denied him access to training centers cuz they probably think quirkless ppl are weak and fragile and not worth training.) but izuku fights in a war and saved everyone (and is witnessed by the whole world cuz it was being podcasted!) Graduated from the best hero school which means he's trained for years just like the others. You're telling me izuku couldn't have come up with the iron suit idea himself and worked on it himself??? Like it wasn't something new or unheard of when his mentor already used it to fight fucking demon lord afo quirkless.
Izuku's future being a way to show how his abuser developed is so disrespectful to a whole new level I'm just like wow I didn't think this series could get worse but you continue to prove me wrong.
Above is a picture of happier times: me and my husband 7 years … Kelsey Smith Chang needs your support for Please Help My Disabled Ass
Alright guys, it's come to this. I need help. State aid has run out, federal aid is not an option, local charities have run dry, and my husband is risking his JOB by taking overtime to pay my rent. I need help with bills for the next 3 months, which covers the start of the calendar year and the waiting period for when I'll be able to re-file for unemployment. If I get a job between now and then, any funds raised by this GoFundMe will help me get out of my parents' house--and avoid moving in with my husband's parents--because BOTH sets of parents are CONSISTENTLY emotionally abusive and NONE of them will help us.
If you can't donate, please reblog! The reblogs help A LOT!!
Above is a picture of happier times: me and my husband 7 years ago, during our engagement photoshoot, on the beach in Southern California. As of the time of this writing, I have not worked for a year and a month (apart from 2 temp jobs in February 2025 that lasted only 3 weeks). I've been disabled for 12 years, but my health has declined sharply over the past year--both physical and mental. Despite this, I have still been fervently hunting for a job--and have turned up nothing. The job market actually is that bad. As a result, even though we were already living paycheck to paycheck, my husband has taken on an enormous amount of overtime in order to pay my half of the rent. Last week, he informed me that he got in trouble with his boss's boss for taking on so much overtime. My husband paying my rent is not sustainable. And even if it were? I still have to come up with the money to pay the rest of my bills--and the money has run out.
Over the past year, I collected unemployment from the state, but the funds ran out this past August. I applied for and was granted a short-term state disability claim, which my doctor stated SHOULD have lasted until February of 2026--it did not. The disability funds paid from August to November. They are now gone.
So is our savings. There's nothing left.
I'm still hunting for a job. I'm starting to lose hope. I can re-open my unemployment claim next calendar year, but it takes four to six weeks for those applications to go through. Effectively, I have no way to pay my car, car insurance, and other crucial bills for December of 2025 and January and February of 2026. And after that, I need to be ready to start paying rent, because my husband can't keep going with pulling overtime like he is for long. It's straining his mental health, his physical health, and the health of our marriage.
On top of all of that, my husband and I are cohabitating with my parents. They are not able to help us financially. They have been of no help whatsoever--quite the opposite. They have not taken my unemployment and disability well. They've stated outright that, the second they find a house they can afford, they plan on moving 2 counties away and leaving us high and dry.
Now, we have a backup plan, and that is moving in with my husband's parents. But his mother has NEVER approved of me (she believes that my being disabled is a burden on my husband and that he should have never married me), and if we do that, the target of parental verbal abuse will switch from me to him--and I cannot do that to him. I love him too much to put him through that.
I have already exhausted all potential leads in receiving aid from state and local governments, and local private institutions such as churches and food pantries. There is not enough to go around. Everyone is suffering. I've been turned away everywhere I try. So, I'm asking the internet--you all--for help.
The total amount of this GoFundMe is for the non-rent bills, food, gas, and vitamins I need to pay for by the end of February of 2026. If it looks like a lot, that's because it is--not only is the cost of living in Southern California quite high, but I'm already behind on several payments, AND there's a massive annual charge about to debit from our account in January. Normally I wouldn't care about stuff like credit cards, but I HAVE to keep my credit score up if we have any hope of moving out of here.
Any money raised beyond that will be used to pay my half of the rent, so that my husband will be safe from job loss. If I manage to get a job before February, any money raised will go straight into our savings--so that we can get the hell out of this house, and move somewhere where neither of us has to take abuse anymore just to survive.
Not my normal content but this is one of my very good friends irl so if anyone can help or even just spread this it's super appreciated. She's been there for me in tough times and I want to help however I can.
I need more fanfics where class 1-A finds out about Bakugo's bullying and abuse of Midoriya. Realizes how bad it actually was and how badly they all fucked up and Bakugo gets actual God damn consequences and maybe gets his ass beat by someone! Todoroki is my first pick on that front because platonic or not Todoroki is 100% Midoriya's ride or die and if he found out that Bakugo was Midoriya's abuser, there's no way in hell Todoroki wouldn't light his ass on fire immediately no questions asked. Do I also think Midoriya would 100% be upset if class 1-A beat Bakugo's ass? Yes. Does that mean Bakugo shouldn't get his ass beat? Absolutely not. I know why Midoriya would try and defend him and try to lessen whatever punishment he should get, but at the same time fuck that! Is Bakugo a child? Yes. But by 15-16 he's old enough to know better than to do ANY of the things he did in canon. Dude's literally Endeavor 2.0 and should've been removed from 1-A if not UA entirely after the battle trials if not the sports festival.
So I finally bit the bullet and I'm now actually writing the fic. I've just started really buckling down with it but it's in progress. I'll link it once it's out. Also warning now I'm not going to be nice to Bakugo in this fic he is getting his ass dragged. Dude needed actual consequences for the literal decade of abuse he put Izuku through and instead his abuse got rug swept and Midoriya wasn't allowed to feel at all negative towards him. That's not ok. Also Endeavor will also be mentioned and Todoroki is not nearly as forgiving as he is in canon either because I hate Endeavor as much as I hate Bakugo. I'm sorry if that offends you but I've seen assholes like and Endeavor Bakugo irl and guess what people they don't fucking change. They might pretend to be better but they will go back to the same shit unless they get legit consequences or lose everything. Bakugo is between 14- 15 at the start of canon and 16-17 by the time the war arc happens that is old enough to know not to fucking suicide bait and abuse someone. Especially if he wanted to be a hero idgaf. And Endeavor was a grown ass man he absolutely should've known better than to beat his kid until he puked and isolate him so he had no social skills at all. Fuck them and fuck abusers.
This! I will NEVER believe they can be friends. Their whole relationship was based on Bakugo treating Izuku like his own personally punching bag. Was he a child? Yes but you don't systematically abuse and bully and call someone useless for a decade and apologize in one of the worst ways at the worst time once and get to rug sweep all your shitty behavior because if it. Well he had consequences? Bitch when? Was it not getting his hero license immediately? That wasn't a direct consequence of him abusing Izuku. That was him being a shitty person and someone finally not tolerating it. Was it after the battle trials? What consequences happened there? Because all I saw was Aizawa tell him to grow up and NOTHING else. We never actually see him get any consequences for abusing Izuku and it's just constantly rug swept like it doesn't fucking matter. Does anyone realize what 10 years of constantly being ostracized beaten and told youre useless does to a child? It's no wonder Izuku runs head first into danger with no regard for his own life. He fully believes he's expendable and I will NEVER forgive this Fandom for putting Bakugo on a pedestal and acting like his character development was the best thing ever! He's awful and all of you who constantly act like he's amazing need therapy and some reading comprehension.
I think Midoriya needed better treatment of his character and his trauma regarding Bakugo’s abuse towards him. I think part of the reason why some Midoriya fans may feel that he is treated extremely poorly as a MC may have to do with the fact that halfway through Act 2 and the entirety of Act 3 his internal world was gone which coincided with Bakugo’s start of “redemption” arc. It doesn’t help that Horikoshi is ageist when it comes to his treatment of Bakugo’s actions. To be more specific, he perpetuates something called the ageism of low expectations. Like his cousins sexism of low expectations and racism of low expectations, ageism of low expectations often involves not putting teenagers and children into the same moral standards as one would put adults in. For example, if an adult abuses a teenager or a child, people would condemn it or at least, most of the excuses wouldn’t be rooted on the perpetrator’s age. If a teenager and children abuses another teenager and/or child, people would make excuses related to their age. People would dismiss the severity and impact of the teenager/child’s actions. Sometimes, people may use developmental stages as a way to excuse and minimise their actions. The ones who ended up suffering the most are teenage victimcs and child victims since their pain is minimised in favour of the potential redemption of the perpetrator. This is clearly seen with Bakugo’s “redemption” arc. Bakugo’s abusive actions are reckoned (Horikoshi never brought up the suicide dare ever again since the first chapter), minimised (him throwing his headpiece towards Midoriya is treated as a gag), and justified (him feeling inferior towards Midoriya for the latter trying to help him). His arc erases any agency and internal world Midoriya has in favor of making Bakugo look better. This is partially why his apology is extremely hollow since he nevers goes into specifics.
I think this is not a matter of Midoriya and Bakugou, the point is that Horikoshi’s ideas about how to handle abuse of any kinds are that you should put up with it, not feel anger about it, not bother others about it and be the best version of yourself to prove others how much of a great person you are, so as to discourage your abusers from feeling they are justified in abusing you.
On the other side if you hold a grudge, if you feel angry, if you react with anger, you’re wrong or, worse, bad, you’re disrupting quiet and peace and making things hard for those around you when you aren’t outright becoming/being a Villain. After all it’s you that is different, so while the one mistreating isn’t right… well, aren’t you (partly) guilty?
This is Horikoshi’s idea, he uses it for bully, wife abuse, overtraining/abusive training, neglect of children, discrimination, child manipulation, injustice of any kind, which yes, it is also rooted into some Japanese beliefs so I don’t want to go at it too hard and just content myself from saying it HUGELY CLASHES with my culture, beliefs and psychological understanding of how people work.
And of course culture plays a big deal in all this because most people from the west hate Bakugou’s apology but I’ve been told by various culturally better informed sources that Bakugou’s apology is actually A BIG DEAL in Japan, akin to public humiliation of himself, which for someone as prideful as Bakugou should be REALLY BIG, but the same wouldn’t be true in other countries where a public apology might not be seen as a public humiliation but an attempt at manipulating the other party into accepting the excuses offered.
We are talking about different cultures here, people in Japan have their own do and don’t which aren’t more or less valid than the ones of people in other countries but that not necessarily apply in other countries.
BNHA is really, really bad at being an international work, it is much more localized than it might seem on the surface, never mentioning it is based on ideas that are getting old in Japan too so it presents outdated ideas for handling things.
In Midoriya’s specific case what annoys me the most is that I fear Horikoshi made him a bullied character because that topic was likely trending due to a trial against bullies that caused a new law to be enacted.
I’ll quote what I wrote in another meta of mine:
“In Japan in 2013 was enacted an anti-bullying act which prohibits bullying, due to a 13-year-boy committing suicide in Otsu due to bullying in October 2011, and its parents suing three former classmates, their parents and the city in February 2012. The Act still does not stipulate any punishment for those who bully others. In the aforementioned case, in 2015 Otsu City established an independent panel that eventually concluded bullying was the direct cause of the suicide and reached a settlement with the boy’s parents in 2015 and paid them 13 million yen or 117,000 dollars, in damages. In regard to the bullies, in 2019, the judge ruled that bullying was the main reason behind the suicide and ordered two of three classmates to pay compensation, but said the third classmate had only a small degree of involvement and did not find him liable (he was 13 at the time and exempt from criminal prosecution). Note that the 2011 case wasn’t the first case of a boy committing suicide due to bullying in Japan, other cases made it to the news, sometimes involving also the involvement of teachers, but the predominant ideas that “a bullied student is responsible for being bullied/has reasons to be bullied” and that “It’s a shame to be bullied therefore bullied students should conceal that they have been bullied” pushed people and teachers to turn their eyes away for a long time, teachers refusing to admit that bullying was occurring and in the previous Japanese civil suits, the bereaved families of suicidal students have been held responsible for proving such a causal relationship, the obstacles to doing so are almost insurmountable. You might say the aforementioned trial signed a turning point. “My Hero Academia” starts in July 7, 2014, when Horikoshi knew people could sue bullies but also that there were no precedents for people winning, when an act was enacted making bullying illegal but not stipulating any punishment for those who bully others. This ends up being why through the story the reaction to Midoriya having been bullied is overall negligible.”
Long story short, there was zero intention to explore Midoriya’s trauma due to bullying, it was all just to make him interesting and giving him something to overcome.
Bakugou too got roped in because the topic was likely meant to be dropped earlier. Attentive readers might remember Bakugou DROPPED bullying Midoriya after the latter saved him in chap 1… and it could have continued this way, Bakugou was originally planned as a good boy… but evidently the idea to pin Bakugou against Midoriya was judged something readers liked so Bakugou tried to relapse in that and Horikoshi had Midoriya kind of talk a little of how he was bullied so we could see him overcoming it in their first battle.
The bullying becomes a move to make the characters interesting, not something that’s tackled seriously, it’s just a trial in Midoriya’s life that he overcomes.
Horikoshi doesn’t want us to think Midoriya is self-sacrificing because he was bullied but he is so BECAUSE HE IS NOBLE AND HEROIC.
This lead many people who were bullied in real life to find hard seeing themselves in Midoriya because he leaves everything behind way too quickly and way too easily. They rightfully point out that they felt the narrative is doing him dirty because Midoriya should still be hurt but the narrative doesn’t care to soothe such hurt, when the problem is Horikoshi thinks Midoriya is all better and there is no hurt to speak about and, from Midoriya’s point of view Bakugou’s apology was unnecessary because he has overcome the bullying, it’s a thing of the past. And it is fair to hate this narrative because it doesn’t apply to the majority of people and the fact it instead seems so natural, as if this is how a normal people is expected to react, feels like a slap on the face.
Bullying (and abuse in general) is horrid and can scar a person for life. Some lucky people manage to leave it behind, the majority just lives with the scars… or don’t as there are plenty of people who can’t bear it and kill themselves like the Japanese boy who died in the trial I mentioned before.
Now you talk about something else, “ageism of low expectations”. I’ll be flat, I’ve never heard of it but I’m not American/English. I research on it and found something different from what you said in extremely few webs so I’m going to tackle this from another angle, my personal point of view.
For me, when abuse is carried on we must spit the action in two branches: CONSEQUENCES and RESPONSABILITIES.
I’ll make an example that’s as simple as it can be.
“A child of 1 year old find a gun on the floor, he grabs it and manages to push the trigger. The bullet hit someone else who dies.”
CONSEQUENCES first.
Is it relevant for the consequences that the child had 1 year old? It makes the person less dead, less hurt than if the one shooting was 20, 50 or 100? The age of the shooter is irrelevant for the consequences, the person is dead and stay dead.
In the same way it is irrelevant for a victim of bullying that the bully was a minor or not. He is a victim of bullying and suffers horribly he might even reach the point in which he tries to take his own life. Bakugou being 4, 14 or 24 shouldn’t change the pain Midoriya should have felt (and on which Horikoshi glossed over because… Midoriya is a Hero who can overcome such silly, little things! Silly us for thinking they’re serious! We should all overcome them as easily as Midoriya!... I’ll be back in a minute, I need to throw up).
Long story short a certain action has consequences and the consequences don’t change according to the perpetrator’s age. The most the perpetrator’s age can do is stop him from doing certain actions, not stopping their consequences (in my example I deliberately used a 1 year child but many guns would be too big for him to hold in such a way he would manage to press the trigger that would also be too hard to press for him. Long story short, his chances to commit the action to successfully shoot and kill a person are low… still, if he manages, the consequences don’t change, that person is dead).
RESPONSABILITIES now.
From the way you talk you seem to imply Bakugou who started bullying Midoriya from when he was 4 and is currently 15, should be as accountable as an adult for his own actions. As far as I’m involved THIS IS A HORRIBLE TAKE because Bakugou is a minor and this take removes the responsibility of all the adults who were meant to be in charge of controlling Bakugou’s behavior and educate him on not bullying, to pin them on a child/boy (as I said this started when Bakugou was 4) that was never educated and whose brain isn’t even fully grown up so that at the start he SURELY wasn’t capable to grasp the consequences of his action and now he might still not even be capable to do so. I’m not taking solely of the psychological consequences his behavior should have on Midoriya, as Midoriya said at the start, if he were to commit suicide as Bakugou suggested, Bakugou also would suffer consequences, he wouldn’t be allowed anymore to become a Hero. We see Bakugou is an immature brat who needs to be educated and taught how to grow up and think at consequences in the first Deku vs. Katchan, when he thinks it’s okay to blow up the hideout to stop Deku.
Bakugou is not dumb, he is immature and was never taught to consider the consequences of his actions and for this we have to blame the ones who raised him, his parents and his teachers, who in Japan play a very big role, and that actually were encouraging the bullying of Midoriya instead than teaching to their students such behavior wasn’t acceptable.
It’s disgusting how we have to wait for Bakugou and Midoriya to meet Aizawa, to finally have an adult who stops Bakugou… and how All Might instead let him go on because he thinks Midoriya needs to confront with Bakugou.
And really, Bakugou is not a good kid and what he does to him is horrible and needs to be addressed but where is the fandom’s anger for his parents, his teachers, who conveniently turned away their eyes or encouraged his behavior and WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR IT, FOR MAKING SURE HE DIDN’T HURT ANYONE?
Enji and Rei are rightfully blamed because they don’t look at/after Touya, but why there isn’t the same indignation for all the people who didn’t look after Bakugou? The most I saw ws Bakugou’s parents getting scolded was for how Mitsuki slaps Bakugou when All might and Aizawa are there, not for how (as far as we know) she does nothing to stop how Bakugou is a bully (true, she might have tried and failed and it just wasn’t shown but I tend to think Horikoshi just didn’t care to have Bakugou’s parents try or consider they have to try).
And no one, NO ONE, blames the teachers at Aldeera middle school even if they basically encouraged people to bully Midoriya. They are goddamn adults! In charge of minors! And encourage this! And yeah, in Japan it used to be okay but in many countries in the west it isn’t and almost no one says a damn thing!
It’s all Bakugou, Bakugou, Bakugou! When Aizawa stopped Bakugou, Bakugou never tried attacking Midoriya again in front of Aizawa! All it took was stopping him ONCE!
Said so, as Bakugou is currently 15, so, despite being a minor he hold some personal responsibility for his own actions. He is still nowhere as accountable for them as, let’s say Enji or Bakugou’s parents/teachers.
And this applies also in real life so I’ll bold it: trying to propose the philosophy that minors should be held accountable as adults is just a convenient way to excuse the adults that should actually be held accountable for the minors’ actions by pushing the blame entirely on their charges and I think this is really pretty bad.
So no, I don’t like what Bakugou does at all and I think Horikoshi should have taken the consequences of Bakugous actions more seriously, but no, he shouldn’t have considered Bakugou as responsible of his own action as an adult and should have actually gone after all the adults that were in charge of Bakugou and didn’t care to stop Bakugou’s bullying. But that would have meant to go against society and Horikoshi never goes against society.
Also Horikoshi never, NEVER had any intention to explore Midoriya’s internal world in regard to his abuse beyond the ‘I’ve overcome it’.
THIS IS WHAT HORIKOSHI THINK ABUSED PEOPLE SHOULD FEEL/DO REGARDLESS OF THEIR ABUSER HAVING A REDEMPTION ARC OR NOT.
Shouji’s abusers don’t have a redemption arc but this is what he is meant to feel.
Eri’s abuser doesn’t have a redemption arc but this is what she is meant to feel.
Tenko/Tomura’s abusers don’t have a redemption arc but Tenko should have just overcome his abuse instead than raging against society.
Shuuichi’s abusers don’t have a redemption arc but Shuuichi should have just overcome his abuse instead than raging against society.
The Heteromorphs abusers don’t have a redemption arc but the Heteromorphs shouldn’t have gone protesting at the hospital.
Rage is only valid if you feel it on the behalf of others.
THIS IS THE IDEA BEHIND BNHA and it has nothing to do with characters getting redemption arcs or not.
Bakugou might have ended up killed by the sludge Villain and we still wouldn’t get Midoriya’s inner pain for having been bullied be decently explored because for Horikoshi Midoriya has to overcome it and that’s it. And who doesn’t in his story 99 times out of 10 ends up on being a Villain.
So, no, it’s not Midoriya that needs a better treatment. It’s talking about abuse through the whole story that needs to be done in a different way. But since it’s also a cultural problem I don’t know if this could be done.
Said so, well, all this is just my opinion and you are free to feel different. Thank you for your ask.
I feel bitter on the fact that Midoriya Izuku lost his quirk at the end of the story and rendered him unable to accomplish his dream, not even as a quirkless hero. I’d rather prefer to see him as a hero while fumbling the themes because at least, it accomplishes his journey to heroism over him being reduced to a teacher without any foreshadowing. To make matters worse, Horikoshi decided to make it about Bakugo instead of exploring Midoriya’s feelings. Bakugo is NOT the one who lost his quirk, but rather Midoriya is the ONE who lost his quirk. The whole thing completely soured me on the idea of Midoriya Izuku losing his quirk to the point where I wish Horikoshi hasn’t chosen that route. Midoriya can’t even have a storyline without being tied to his own abuser.
Personally I find it very frustrating and infuriating when people express their dislike of BK and (and B*d* in general) and get slammed with: "Look past the first episode!" "Tell me you didn't read the manga without telling me you didn't read the manga."
Problem isn't the first episode. It's 10 years of bullying behind it.
And the fact that his behavior continued to the end of the first act, not actually changing until his apology. He's truly unlikable for a good portion of the story and nowhere near as well written as people claim he is. There is so much more of him to dislike beyond the first episode/chapter.
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