Hey saisai! Not really sure if you've read the latest chapter of bnha, but if you have, what are your thoughts about it? Do you think Kacchan has been jealous of Izuku the whole time?
The thing isā¦ i donāt think jealousy isĀ exactly the right word for it.
to be more specific, this panel. this panel expresses both Izuku and Bakugouās feelings towards each other. Bakugou isnāt jealous of Izuku, he fears him. heās scared of Izukuās sudden development and is scared that one day Izuku will surpass him.
but heās also in denial about it.Ā
to go further back, the whole reason Bakugou started bullying Izuku is because he thought Izuku was looking down on him.Ā
this is 100% the reason Bakugou started to bully Izuku. itās because he thought Izuku was looking down on him. itās because he thought that Izuku saw him as weak and needing help.
for his entire life, Bakugou grew up believing he was better than everyone. and, until recently, he had no reason to not believe this.Ā
since he was little, he was able to read before all his classmates, he was able to do amazing stunts no one else could do, he got his fantastic quirk that was way better than everyone elseās.Ā
Izuku was always the failure. he was always the one messing up. he couldnāt skip stones, he didnāt have a quirk, he couldnāt do anything.Ā
and sadly, no one in Bakugouās life ever did anything to curb this belief. every year, it was just reinforcedāhis classmates all admired Bakugou and always told him how awesome he was, and constantly mocked Izuku for being a failure.
even with the teacher still in the room, the entire class bullied and mocked Izuku. and yet, the teacher did nothing to stop them.
Bakugou had no reason to believe otherwise.
however, if thereās one thing Bakugou hates more than anything, itās when people are looking down on him. itās when he feels weak. itās when he thinks other people are treating him as unworthy or unimportant.
this is why he was so pissed at Todoroki for how their fight went. because Todoroki wasnāt going all outāand Bakugou knew it. he overheard the conversation he had with Izuku. he knows about Todorokiās beef with Endeavor.
he knows Todoroki swore to never use his fire side. and then he did, against Izuku.Ā
āIF I CANāT GO ABOVE DEKU, IT DOESNāT MEAN A GODDAMN THING!!ā
look at how upset he is by the result of their match. he looks like heās about to break downĀ crying.
for Bakugou, this entire fight was unsatisfying from beginning to end. for him, he was fighting an opponent who refused to take him seriously, who fought seriously against Deku. To Bakugou, he was fighting someone who was looking down on him, mocking him, making an ass out of him.
thereās no point in winning a fight like that.
for years, since that first moment when Izuku offered his hand, Bakugou seriously thought that Izuku was looking down on him. Izuku, the weak one. the one who constantly failed. the one who didnāt even have a quirk. how dare he think that he had any right to help Bakugouāsomeone who was amazing, who had an awesome quirk, who didnāt need help with anything.Ā
Bakugou truly believed this. that Izuku, who didnāt have anything, thought he could surpass Bakugou, who had everything.Ā
Izuku was just trying to be nice. however, Bakugou took it as a personal insult, and it colored his perception of Izuku for 10 years after.
for their entire fight during the Heroes vs. Villains exam, Bakugou was fixated on this. over and over again, he commented on how Izuku was looking down on him. of course Izuku wasnāt. Bakugou is one of his biggest sources of inspirationsābut Bakugou doesnāt realize that.Ā
he truly believes that, for all this timeādespite Izukuās quirklessnes, despite being a failure, despite not having any of the advantages Bakugou had growing upāthat Izuku was looking down on him.
this just shows how little these two understood each other.
Bakugou based so much of his self worth on being better than Izuku. on being better than everyone, but especially Izuku.Ā
look at his expression in the above panel. heās not grinning. heās not boasting. rather, heās desperately trying to hold onto an idea that heās believed since he was a child. look at the cracks behind himāhis world view is literally beginning to shatter.
what he believed for all his life is starting to fall apart, and heās desperately trying to fight against it.Ā
after Izuku won, even tho he was broken and beaten on the groundāthat was when Bakugou realized, oh my god. Deku can beat me. Deku does have the potential to do this. it isnāt just some fantasy anymore. itās reality.Ā
Izuku can surpass him, and thereās nothing he can do to stop it.
Bakugou almost has a breakdown because of this. that is how much this meant to him. that is how scared he was of Izuku.
everything he mocked and feared and denied was possible, happened. it actually happened. and he still thinks Izuku is looking down on him.Ā
and itās not just Deku.
for the first time, Bakugouās unshakable self confidence is broken. in the official translation of this scene, he says that he doesnāt think he can beat Todoroki.
for the first time, he thinks that thereās someone out there that he canāt beat.Ā
i believe this is part of the reason Bakugou was so angry and upset with the results of their matchābecause Todoroki was another person Bakugou so desperately wanted to prove himself against, and Todoroki couldnāt even be bothered to take their fight seriously.Ā
(again, not Todorokiās fault. but thatās probably how Bakugou viewed it.)
for the first time, Bakugou is met with the realization that he isnāt the best. that there are people out there who can beat him. there are people who are stronger than him. that there are people out there that can beat him.
Bakugou is a victim of his own talent and upbringing. he lived his entire life believing he was special, and he was constantly praised for everything he did. it wasnāt until he met others who were just as strong, if not stronger than him, that this idea was shaken. and now heās no longer special. heās no longer the strongest. heās no longer the best.Ā
Bakugouās ego was stroked and stroked and stroked, and then it popped in the worst way possible.Ā
and Izuku is the heart of it all.
when Izuku tells Bakugou about his quirk, Bakugou thinks heās just mocking him after beating him. Bakugou is insulted, angry, infuriated, frustrated, and feels like heās being mocked by the person who was just supposed to be a pebble in his pathā¦. who actually managed to beat him.
he thinks Izuku is trying to humiliate him in a way.Ā
and again, he had no reason to think otherwise. neither character ever tried to talk it out with each other before now, so they had no reason to know what the other was thinking.
one of the reasons Bakugou is so frustrated at Izuku is because now thereās a chance of Izuku surpassing him.Ā
the entire manga up until this point is pretty much just Izuku getting stronger, and stronger, and strongerā¦ while Bakugou feels like heās being left behind.
heās been beaten, humiliated, and kidnappedāmore than once.Ā
hell, in the very first chapter heās taken hostage by a villain and needs to be rescued by Izuku and All Might.Ā
he lost to Izuku, wins the Sports Festival but in a completely unsatisfactory way, feels like he wasted time at Best Jeanistās, was forced to swallow his pride and work with Izuku to win (again, in an unsatisfactory way), feels left behind in terms of growthā¦
the narrative just keeps beating him down in more ways than one. the few times he actually wins and he canāt even enjoy it. it culminates with both All Mightās retirement and believing that itāsĀ his fault, and his failing the provisional license exam.
Bakugou is only 15/16. heās just a kid. kids can only take so much before they fall apart.
this is honestly one of Bakugouās worst moments. he had no right to hit Izuku like that. however, the reason he did was because Izuku was saying that there was no way Bakugou could beat All Might. even with handicaps, Bakugou had no chance of winning this fight.
in other words, he was calling Bakugou weak.Ā
it doesnāt help that prior to the exam, Bakugou believes that All Might is looking down on him with all their precautions.
it doesnāt matter if itās All Might, the number one hero. it doesnāt matter how much logic is in Izukuās words. all that matters to Bakugou is that Izuku is saying that Bakugou is too weak to win a fight. that both he, and All Might, are looking down on Bakugou.
Bakugou needs the validation of being the Best. he needs it. he has to be able to do everything on his own, and be number 1 with his own power, and if he canāt fulfill that, then itās worthless. thenĀ heās worthless.
so much of his self worth is based on this, and heās willing to go to extreme lengths to reach it.
if he has to tear apart his own body to win, then he will do it. Ā
this is not healthy behavior in the slightest, but thatās just how much winning means to him. thatās how much that validation means to him.
the second heās presented with the idea that he needs Izukuās help, he says heād rather lose. the kid whoās constantly screaming about how heās gonna be the best and be number 1. the kid whoās willing to abuse his own body to win.
Bakugou refuses to give up. this is one of the things that Izuku admires the most about him, and one of the things that inspires Izuku so much.
the WHOLE REASON Bakugou wants to be a hero is because he admires All Might. itās because he admires the way All Might always wins, no matter whatāthat shaped how Bakugou views a hero should be.Ā
a hero must always win. and for Bakugou, that also means without help.
this is literally his entire lifeās motivation, and heās willing to give it all up if it means he needs Izukuās help to accomplish it.Ā
Izuku. the kid who always trailed behind him. the kid who couldnāt do anything. the kid who was a quirkless failureāand Bakugou needs his help to win.
this upsets Bakugou so much that he begins crying mid-battle.Ā
every time Bakugou cries, itās always in response to feeling weak or worthless. especially in comparison to Izuku.
since he was a child, heās been scared of Izuku.
no matter what Bakugou did, Izuku would not back down. he would always get back up. no matter how many times Bakugou beat and bullied Izuku, no matter what he did, Izuku would get back up and trail after him.Ā
he just would not give up.
Bakugou thought Izuku was looking down on him with his offer of help. Bakugou thought Izuku saw him as weak and helpless. and most of all, Bakugou was frustrated. he was frustrated that Izuku actually believed that he could surpass Bakugou.Ā
Izuku, the weak, quirkless nobody. the kid who sucked at everything. there was no way it could ever happen.
and yet, Bakugou was terrified at the possibility.
Bakugouās terrified of Izuku.
specifically, his progress.Ā
itās even mentioned in the Omake chapter [here], by Uraraka.
Uraraka: Itās likeā¦ youāre intimidating him because youāre scared and you want him to go away from you.
all his life, he tried to push Izuku away, to put him down. but nothing ever worked.Ā
Bakugou is scared that heās being left behind. heās scared that everything he believed in until this point has been wrong. heās scared that he wonāt accomplish his goal, his dream. the one thing in his life thatās motivated him up until this point.
heās scared because Izuku, the person who was supposed to be a pebble in his path, can accomplish the things that heād always wanted. heās scared because Izuku is surpassing him, heās scared because Izuku got All Mightās attentionāthe one person they both admired most.Ā
heās scared because his entire world has turned upside down, and he has no idea what to do anymore.
this fight is almost an exact parallel to their first one earlier in the series.Ā
the above is a comparison between chapter 10 and chapter 119.Ā
the dialog is almost exactly the same. Bakugou is still talking about Izuku looking down on him, and Izuku is still explaining how much Bakugou inspires him. the only major difference now, is that theyāre finally listening to each other.
here, and in the above panel, Bakugou and Izuku are finally paying attention to each otherās words in regards to themselves. yes, theyāre both emotionally charged, but no longer blindingly soātheyāe finally listening to what the other is saying.
which is what this entire fight is about. them finally understanding each other. finally doing something that they shouldāve done 10 years ago.Ā
itās only up until this fight that Bakugou stops being in denial about everything. about Izukuās progress, about his own securities, and about the affect his actions have. itās a first step of progress for him.
thereās been miscommunication on both partsāhowever, Bakugou reacted much more violently and badly in regards to it. nothing justifies his abuse and bullying of Izuku. but this is exactly why it started.Ā
this fight is about them baring their emotions and clearing the air. and finally, finally, Bakugou will understand that Izuku had never once looked down on him.Ā
this is something thatās weighed down on him since he was 4 years old. many of his insecurities can be traced back to that moment.Ā
Bakugou was never jealous of Izuku. he feared him. he feared what Izuku could possibly do, and tried his damnedest to keep him from achieving it. he feared and hated being looked down upon. and once they got to UA, he feared Izukuās progress. he feared being left behind. he feared that everything he ever believed in was wrong, and that Izuku was right all along.
for Bakugou, this has never been about jealousy. itās always been about fear.
[what answers Bakugou is looking for in this fight]
[a meta about why Bakugou isnāt ready to apologize to Izuku yet]
[how Bakugouās guilt is throwing him off balance]
[how i think Bakugou realizing Izuku and All Mightās connection will further his growth, and hake him regret his actions towards Izuku]
[a meta about Bakugou and Izukuās relationship throughout the series, and how the abuse has affected Izuku]
[Uraraka asking Bakugou about his feelings of inferiority towards Izuku]
[why Bakugou failed the provisional licence exam]
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