I can't believe there are still people talking about me.
Sigh okay fine.
Chapter 431 Izuku tells Ochako he wants to talk with her more, not stay with her. I guess some official translations decided to lean heavily into one reading by choosing "stay with her." Whatever. As I've stated many times, my translations are literal and literal ONLY.
How do I know he says he "wants to talk more"? It's like, the most basic Japanese you learn in year 1. This isn't complicated stuff.
Motto hanashitai.
Motto means "more." Hanashitai is the word hanasu, which means "to talk," conjugated to mean "I want to talk." And when I say it's not complicated, I mean Google has absolutely no issues translating it either, so anyone who says otherwise is perfectly capable of checking my work on this and chooses either to not do so or to ignore it.
Anyone who's casting doubt on this extremely uncomplicated translation is being gross, because anyone can read "I want to talk more" as romantic if they want to, but to change the meaning to make it sound MORE-UNQUESTIONABLY-ROMANTIC-I-SWEAR is just an attempt to influence how OTHERS read this moment, and this moment was made INTENTIONALLY vague for open-ended reading, as Horikoshi has made clear several times now.
And I scored a 100 in Japanese years 1, 2, and 3. Bite me.
I want to talk about the Christmas gift that Ochako got from Izuku and why it is the perfect symbol of a doomed love.
Izuku didn't choose that gift thinking of Ochaco. He was picking a generic gift for a classmate and friend. That they received each others gifts after a blind exchange and weren't thinking of each other at all when they picked them. In other words, it was random. Much like the IzuOcha pairing would look random and mashed together by coincidence if Horikoshi ultimately chose to pair them as endgame.
Ochaco might carry the doll around the same way she might carry a crush for Izuku, but the mochi that Izuku received has long gone the way of their romantic potential. I shall not elaborate.
Furthermore, the doll is problematic as a symbol for Izuku and Ochaco's relationship. Why?
Because All Might belongs to Izuku and Katsuki.
No, I don't mean that they have any claim on All Might the person, but these two boys have plotted their entire life's trajectory on All Might the Hero. Their entire relationship can be traced back to All Might. They bonded over their shared love of the hero as kids. The only reason Izuku is with Katsuki attending the same school is because of All Might. They share the secret of OFA with All Might and every time their relationship grows closer to reconciliation, All Might is there, watching over them. Their entire spiritual journey revolves around All Might and synthesizing the dual aspects of his heroic nature. All Might is their signpost and their get-a-long shirt.
Now if Katsuki had received the All Might doll--
Oh.
They both carry talismans into battle, but the weight is not the same.
You cannot add a romance to a story as an afterthought and expect it to read well. It can be a background thing going on, but there needs to be something happening in the background. If there is no lead up, no connection, no bonding moments then the relationship will seem shallow and unremarkable even if the characters personalities play off of each other well.
Let me also state that everything I said previously has nothing to do with shipping, people are crazy and if there is not lead up, they will create it themselves. (I’m people)
Also I have no greater resentment than of media creators who make these grand stories and get angry when the audience ships the male main character with another male character.
I know it also stems from homophobia, but if they wanted the audience to connect with the relationship between the well done male main character and the 1 dimensional sexy obstacle girl then do the fucking work!
You spent pages on pages (or episodes) building this connection between the main character and his friend, dying for each other, saving each other, saying crazy ass emotional shit to each other. And honestly I get that you want to write a platonic bond sometimes and you are allowed to do that but shipping has always been a driving force in fandom, if you make that relationship important in the story and more interesting that anything that’s canon, then the audience is going to reject those parts of your story.
And let me say, it is not enough to write a 3 dimensional interesting girl character. You have to make the relationship she has with the protagonist interesting as well.
This post is about a variety of stories I’ve read but I’ll tag a couple that bother me. Also this is not to say i dont ship the gay ships. This is moreso a “callout” to creators (who aren’t on this app and I’m not really pissy about it) and the way they are so lazy about writing het ships and then have the gall to get pissy about the fandoms making everything “yaoi”
I made this blog to talk about language because I find it fun and fascinating, so while I'm not thrilled to acknowledge 431 any more than I have to, there's really hilarious shit happening in this scene and the people need to know.
So, the first fucking thing we hear outta Katsuki's mouth is this:
"Jeez, why the hell do I gotta be Deku's private little chauffeur!"
There are a few ways you could translate this. It's an indignant complaint with some rudeness, but comparatively mild for Katsuki. Some people might rephrase this to something more like "why do I gotta drive Deku's ass around" but I'm keeping the original, possessive grammar of デクのアッシー (Deku no asshii) because I think it highlights an important implication.
Sooooo... the word Katsuki uses here アッシー (asshii) is uniquely loaded slang.
Jisho.org
This term originates from Japan's bubble economy era of the late 80s and saw continued use through the 90s. During the economic bubble, the unemployment rate was very low; the related increased presence of women in the workplace led to a cultural perspective that women were gaining social power and financial independence.
From this new social dynamic emerged several terms:
Asshii-kun, Messhii-kun, and Mitsugu-kun.
English Journal, written by University of Kitakyuushuu linguistics professor Anne Crescini
There's also the lesser known Tsunagu-kun, who hooks up electronics for a woman, and Keep-kun, a "backup boyfriend" for when a woman's preferred partner dumps her.
A couple Japanese websites I looked at talked about luxury vehicles gaining in popularity during this time, so Asshii-kun are associated with expensive sports cars, something Katsuki is probably referencing since his car is fancy as fuck!
It's not a well known term anymore, to the point that I saw a number of jpn fans joking about having to look up what it means, haha. Katsuki's dialogue often has interesting, unusual word choices, and of course, reigning queen of up-to-date slang Camie teased him about his delinquent shtick being "out of fashion"!
In that journal article, Crescini explores English terms which roughly convey the same meaning as asshii. I've used google translate here to show you what is written, so let's take a look!
O--oh.
Oh.
fdkjslhsmh;lkshm;
LISTEN I WAS TRYING TO BE FUCKING EMPIRICAL AND SHIT
oh. is that right.
yeah
yeah he is
FYI shiri ni shikarareru of course carries the implication of a man being dominated or bossed around by his wife.
Now, on social media, I saw people (likely in their 40s and 50s) using the term jokingly to describe having to chauffeur someone around for errands. It was mostly men talking about their wives, but there were a couple instances of it being used for friends and family members. It definitely has the energy of "being forced to drive someone around without getting anything in return."
But notice that Katsuki voices this complaint about Izuku specifically, even though Kirishima is also in the car. Like yeah, he yells about Kirishima threatening to scratch his car, but he doesn't fucking call himself Kirishima's asshii!
He could have used a plural "you" pronoun or even pluralized Izuku's name with Deku-tachi to make it "Deku and the people with him," but no, it's "Deku's asshii."
Tell me, Kacchan, when it comes to Izuku, are you hoping to get something in return?
"If somebody'd just said the words 'I wanna surpass Dynamight,' I'd have taken 'em."
"You ain't gonna give up teaching?"
date me date me date me fucking do hero work with ME Izuku be a hero with ME
[sigh...]
"Man, you got dumped, huh, Bakugou!!"
Listen. My jaw dropped when I saw Kirishima say this.
Weblio (google translated)
This definition specifies "amorous feelings of being in love" (恋愛感情). I'm not joking when I say I've almost exclusively heard this word used for rejected confessions or couples breaking up.
Japanese Stack Exchange question, "Can フラれて be used in any non-romantic sense?"
The Japanese example sentence describes a business proposal being immediately rejected. The comedy here is inherently tied to the verb being used for romantic rejection, like someone saying "I applied for a promotion, but those fickle hiring managers went and broke my heart."
Even if you aren't literally suggesting romantic love, the association makes it sound over the top and dramatic.
Kirishima is drawing attention to how serious and emotionally invested Katsuki is in making this offer and affectionately teasing him for it. Note that he doesn't just use the simple past tense for this verb (フラれた), which would have sounded direct and not particularly sympathetic. He's using a [verb] + shimau construction (further contracted as slang to "-chimatta") which makes it a "regrettable" outcome, like an "aww man!"
You can add that construction to any verb and it would sound funny/sympathetic, so he could have phrased it differently:
断られちまった ("You got turned down," common word used for all kinds of rejection)
拒められちまった ("You got denied," used for romantic, platonic, and familial relationships)
撥ね付けられちまった ("You got totally rejected," used for when someone coldly or flatly rejects an offer or request)
撃沈しちまった ("You got shot down," uses battleship sinking imagery for failure in daily life, business ventures, romance, hopes and dreams, etc.)
轟沈しちまった ("You got crushed," similar to above, but more severe and instantaneous sinking: instant kill, KO, torpedoed, etc.)
The last few in particular are very dramatic and humorous, so they would work well if Kirishima wanted to joke about the speed or bluntness of Izuku's refusal.
BUT NO.
DUDE USED THE VERB SPECIFICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH ROMANTIC REJECTION, which centers the feelings of heartbreak and disappointment.
He is commiserating with Katsuki for "putting his heart on the line" and getting the cold shoulder, and then he fucking wingmans for Katsuki by spelling it all out to Izuku!!
You can say all you want "it's just lighthearted banter, they're joking!" Sure. You're right, this is a funny scene.
But the joke is that Izuku is a cute girl Katsuki keeps trying (and failing) to woo. That he's taking advantage of Katsuki's feelings for him and stringing him along.
The joke is that Katsuki wants Izuku at his hero agency so bad, the rejection is essentially on the level of getting dumped or having your love confession rejected.
The joke is that Izuku is completely oblivious when it comes to love.
oh interesting doesn't that sound familiar
LITERALLY EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS NERD WOULDN'T NOTICE LOVE IF IT PUNCHED HIM IN THE FACE
'cause Katsuki already tried that one
But I will say, for all Katsuki's complaints, the problem is obviously not a lack of reciprocation. The problem is that Izuku doesn't recognize what Katsuki feels for him. He doesn't get what Katsuki is trying to express to him. He can't answer honestly if he doesn't even understand the question.
The comedic parts of MHA are often wrapped up in important plot points and messages. Sure, it's funny, but why does that mean we're supposed to dismiss it?
Also, Kirishima says this:
"Midoriya sure is dense when it comes to these things."
その辺 (sono hen) is a perfectly ordinary phrase for "that area," "that topic," "in that regard," or "around there," and I wouldn't think anything of it if not for this next bit:
"On that note, what about you guys?"
They are talking about the Class B students who started dating, and Sero uses the same phrase to ask whether Jirou and Kaminari are a couple. Again, this isn't unusual, and if these moments were separated by whole chapters, it would not read as notable in any way. その辺 is a common enough phrase that it's not something you could pin down as a "thematic phrase" or anything like that.
But the repetition struck me. Sero could have said, そういえば (speaking of which, now that you mention it, on that subject), this is a very common sentence starter, but he also could have said things like 付き合ってといえば (speaking of dating) to be more specific.
In this conversation, その辺 is framed as the topic of dating or romance by the preceding remarks. Meanwhile, the "topic" Kirishima suggests Izuku is thickheaded about is only really defined by his own previous comment...
which framed Katsuki's rejection as romantic heartbreak.
anyway
here's the funniest translation of Katsuki's asshii comment I could think of:
"Jeez, why do I gotta be Deku's vehicular bitch boy!"
cover i did for the free [oikawa zine] that you’re invited to check out if you haven’t yet! in the wake of the newest chapters i just want to say: you did a great job, captain! here’s to even grander future!
Galehaut, The Knight of Forfeit - Daniel M. Lavery
I've always, always wanted to make this for Katsuki and now I finally have all the pieces. I had a lot more scenes I wanted to put in, but I scrapped it to make this somewhat coherent, there are literally so much of Katsuki's story I can pack into this text. I am always so fascinated with romantic, knightly views on love.
manga(&anime)!sanji spent half the panels arguing / being annoyed w luffy and was finally like "ur an idiot. a crazy bastard. gritty af tho. nami will b there? yk i guess i'll join ur dumb crew. see the world n shit" while opla!sanji openly thinks of luffy as his little meow meow
gummygunk
romaincrisis
ellievsbear
gamechangershow
