in the middle of endeavor vs afo, and im really thinking about endeavor's arc. i've had some thoughts in the past on parallels with bakugou, but i didn't quite see how they were paralleled in any grand narrative. but i'm starting to see what horikoshi is trying to say.
see, we have to think of the demographic bnha is meant to appeal to: teenage boys in japan. plenty will be looking to be some combination of normal and awesome. the best of normal society. not someone strange or weird, but someone lots of people look up to. and, more than being angry fire-type quirk users with an inferiority complex they used to express through hurting others, they fit those ideals. they want to be the greatest heroes, and have the power to be in the top (excluding anyone with one for all). additionally, though, both of them are a type of warning, for different stages of life.
bakugou is someone who learned to be better while he was still a teenager, before he really did damage. we're introduced to him as an awful bully, but it's important to note that that incident is the very worst he's ever been, it sets the bar for the very lowest he can go; he'd never said something as cruel as telling someone to kill themselves before, it was so out of the ordinary his friends commented on it.
and in the early chapters, he goes from a big fish in a small pond (in his early years) to a big fish in a lake full of big and giant fish (u.a. high school). over the storyline, we see him learning to humble himself, to recognize his inferiority complex, to grow past it before he let it fully consume him. he's still a rude bastard, of course, but hes an otherwise decent person as his core, and he stays that way.
so, what does bakugou show? he's the pinnacle of being young, popular, talented, smart, with a bright future and the ambition to make use of those traits. however, that by itself isn't enough. he needed to learn to recognize his own weakness, not focus so much on being the greatest and learn to accept the times he feels inferior. nobody will ever truly be the best at everything, and some humility is vital to learn. and most importantly, that it's possible to change into a better person without losing what makes you uniquely cool. even as hes a better, more mature person, hes a rude bastard.
but what about endeavor? well, he's a warning for what happens when you don't come to terms with your own limits before its too late. he's also talented, he become the 2nd ranking hero, hes extremely successful and should be able to be happy. except, he isn't. he doesn't come to terms with his limits and doesn't curb his ambitions until after he's destroyed his family. his children either hate him, or in the case of fuyumi, cling to hope of a normal family as a way to cope with the terrible home he created. his toxicity eventually made his wife lose her mind, not even mentioning how he took advantage of her family's problems to coerce her into a quirk marriage for his ambitions. with his son being one of the protagonist's friends, a typical storyline would involve him being defeated. however, we know that didn't happen.
instead, he too learned to humble himself. again and again, he was confronted with the harm his actions caused. touya revealing himself when he did was extremely significant in terms of this; he had been on an upswing, trying to make amends with his family, became the recognized number 1 hero, it was almost possible to forget that in season 1 he was almost an antagonist. however, with touya, both he and the audience were reminded, the past never dies. he had still done much harm. he still had much to atone for.
however, despite all of this, his story is still one of healing and redemption. and one of the reasons for that is because, as time goes on, many of those teenage boys will grow up without fully maturing, and they well become someone similar to endeavor. of course, it is ideal for them to not become those sorts of people, but when they do, what next?
when someone becomes the abuser, it is very important to not get stuck in a sunk-cost fallacy of "well, i'm already monstrous and will never be able to redeem myself, i might as well continue being this way." instead, like endeavor, it is important to do what they can to heal themselves and fix what can be fixed, without expecting forgiveness, but simply because it is the better thing to do. endeavor still has a future, and he's lucky that some members of his family will be willing to accept he's trying to change for the better.
in short, both are warnings for the demographic of teenage boys; bakugou's story says "look, you can learn and grow and it isn't lame at all", endeavor's story says "even if you made mistakes, even if they cant be forgiven, you can still move forward and do better". and i think those are incredibly important stories to tell.
I mean at least with ochako, deku and shouto the author had them fight with the intention to try to save or understand himiko, tomura and touya. These characters were constructed under this little idea. But at the end none of them managed to do it and all the villains died as villains anyway and the ones that lived didn't change and afterwards the author decided to show a random kid being helped by an old lady as the proof of hero society changing or something. It felt cheap to me i guess.
"fight with the intention to try to save or understand himiko, tomura and touya"
"But at the end none of them managed to do it"
...Do...do you really think they didn't manage to understand Himiko, Tomura, and Touya? Why? Why do you think that? I don't know how it could have been any clearer that understanding was achieved??
And I'm very concerned about this notion that "saving" these villains means they don't die and after surviving they completely change. Like, I'm sorry, but this confuses me the most about people who claim to be fans of the villains when they imply things like this. Think about what this would mean. Somehow these villains' grievances with society should have all been immediately and completely resolved and they change their tune like "Oops, guess I was wrong about everything ever! I love society now! Everything that happened to me was justified and I should never have complained! The heroes were right all along and I was just being silly! I will take steps for improving myself and rejoining this society that I used to hate because I mistakenly thought it wronged me!" Maybe that's not how you truly expected it to play out, but if Izuku, Ochako, and Shouto managed to talk-no-jutsu their villains in one go out of being villains, it would absolutely have come across that way. It would have been the message behind the culmination in Izuku and everyone "becoming the greatest heroes." It would have said yes, the status quo is good and correct, and people should just open up to the right people before they become villains and then they wouldn't be a problem for everybody.
What we get instead is the heroes coming to an understanding of what their villains' grievances are (again, why do you think this didn't happen?) and showing those villains that yes, there is at least one person in the world who understands them and wants to give them hope, that wants to make their lives easier. Tomura and Himiko both die with hope in their hearts. A piece of darkness inside each of the three of them is resolved by their respective heroes. Touya is granted his last wish to talk things out with his family before he dies. Himiko is faced with the question of incarceration or death, and she chooses death as a means of staying true to herself (i.e. her desire to never be caught, to live and die as she wants to). She also is able to live this new form of "love" in giving her blood to Ochako as she goes out. In destroying himself, Tomura also destroys the man who used him and was responsible for the existence of "that house" that represented all his trauma. Tomura also left a legacy for Spinner to continue in his absence and a question for Izuku to observe of society in the aftermath (which is why we see that moment with the old lady, who represented the legitimate grievance Tomura had with the society that failed to save him from AFO). All the villains maintain their LEGITIMATE grievances with society and refuse to bend to society's wishes, and thus their points, their ideals, their legacies live on. They endure within the hearts of others who are aggrieved by society, and they leave a stark impact on the heroes who couldn't change them. That's how we get Ochako dedicating her life to children's welfare. That's how we get Izuku telling all children they can be heroes whether or not they become pro heroes in the law enforcement system. That's how we get Shouto living a life where he can be and discover himself separate from the tainted legacy of his father. The lessons they take from their villains stay in their hearts forever because they are failures. Their failure was the point. They aren't perfect, they can't save everyone by themselves, they have to dedicate their lives to being the change society needs if they want to save more people, and their failures guide them in the directions where they can make that sort of impact.
Believe it or not, Crimson Riot says it best...
Yeah, that's right, the message has been prevalent in the story for a long time. It didn't come out of no where.
If the message feels cheap to you, I implore you (and EVERYONE) to engage in a thought exercise. Genuinely, try to imagine that someone in the world other than you finds the message of this story as not cheap but as earnest and meaningful and robust. Now imagine why this person would think that. What evidence is there in the manga that they would use to support it? What meaning would they derive from this ending? Try to understand the opposite point of view. Try to honestly engage with the text in this way. Horikoshi devoted a decade of his life to telling this story. Sure, some of it probably suffered from bad editing and weird changes due to elongating the story at times. It was a big story with a giant cast, and that can be a lot for any one person to manage perfectly over the course of 10 years. Maybe there are parts of the story that aren't as tight or clean as they could be. But, in good faith, please try to imagine WHY Horikoshi felt this story needed to be told. Try to imagine what message Horikoshi wanted to convey that matters to him. Don't just dismiss the ending out of hand because it doesn't immediately click for you. I think it's great you asked me about it, and I hope my answer gives you more to think about.
So, the past time I was rambling about the Shimura family and the Takami family.
Now generally, when I made those posts about those families, I focused on the dynamics about family members… but for the Himura family there’s hardly something to work with as we barely see any interaction among them.
However… there’s plenty of history (which I kind of discussed in a past ask), and since I thought this could be interesting and worth being preserved, I decided to make a post just for this.
PREMISE
Generally, to make my posts, I use the canon material as basis, but since in this case the story of the Himura family involves history, well, I’m going to report info you don’t find in the manga but which are probably common knowledge in Japan.
For the sake of this observation I’ll assume this:
- ‘What happened in the past in our world history is also true in the BNHA universe’ which might not be true but unless Horikoshi specifically stated there were change, likely is.
With this said let’s start with the Himura family.
We learn more in detail about who the Himura family was in… chap 387 in which Geten will reveal to belong to the Himura family as well as a bit of their backstory.
‘Furuku kara no shōya datta Himura ha nōchi kaikaku go mo bunke wo fuyasu koto de zai to PRIDE wo nantoka tamotte kita.‘
「古くからの庄屋だった火叢は農地改革後も分家を増やす事で財とプライドをなんとか保ってきた」
“The Himura, who were village heads from long ago, managed to maintain their wealth and pride even after the land reform by increasing the number of branch families.” [Chap 387]
Let’s consider this bit, ‘were village heads (庄屋 'Shōya’) from long ago’ and see what it exactly means.
'Shōya’ (庄屋) can be translated as “village heads” but which is actually a bit more complex than what it might seem to us.
Basically a Shōya was a person who, during the Edo period (1603-1868), was in charge of the village affairs under the direction of the magistrate and worked as the leader of the village. The term was used predominantly in the Kansai regions (other regions used other names), so we can assume the Himura were originally from that region.
Just to give you an idea the Todorokis instead are from the Shizuoka prefecture (along with other characters like Midoriya and Bakugō).
To be more exact, the office of Shōya in Japan was generally established between 1688 and 1704.
To get a better idea of how rich Shōya could be, just think even though they technically were considered peasants, many of them were financially better off than samurai, or even top class Daimyo, lived in large mansions, owned large tracts of farmland , and were also intellectuals representing the village due to their work involved in document creation . The families that served as Shoya during the Edo period were often from prestigious families or previously were powerful vassals of warlords of the Sengoku period (1467-1638).
Of course it wasn’t mandatory for the Shōya to be that rich but… well, it gives you an idea they generally weren’t just a random nobody in charge of a village.
Their duties included tax collection, general village administration, management of public natural resources (such as mountain, field, river and ocean) of a village, as well as negotiating with the territorial lord as the representative of the villagers. The most powerful of them, administered between a dozen to several dozen villages, and ruled an extremely large territory. Some of them were given the privilege to bear a surname and to wear a katana and were treated like members of the samurai class. Their duties also included the communication of laws and the coordination of lawsuits.
Just so you know, Japanese surnames were not really born until 1875. Before, the Japanese mainly carried the name of their clan. Before this date, only people of high rank such as nobles and samurai had a surname. The common people used, in case of need, the name of their place of birth, for example, their village.
Now… Himura is written with the kanji for “ice” (氷 'hi’) and “gathering, collection” (叢 'mura’)… but the interesting part is that 'mura’, written with this kanji 村 means “village”.
So it’s possible originally they were the people from the Hi village, and then they took the word Himura, changed the kanji so as to make it sound less common people and turned it into their surname… either by becoming important enough to gain the right to a surname or much later, in 1875 (I tend to think they gained the right to their surname but that’s just me) or maybe even after this date, when they gained their Quirk.
Going on.
Let’s consider this bit ‘managed to maintain their wealth and pride even after the land reform (農地改革 'Nōchi kaikaku’) by increasing the number of branch families (分家 ‘Bunke’)’ and see what it exactly means:
So here Geten mentions a 'Nōchi kaikaku’ (農地改革) which means “Agricultural revolution” or “Land reform”.
Although Japan had various land reforms, in Japan, when you talk of the 'Nōchi kaikaku’ (農地改革), you are talking of the reform of the agricultural land ownership system carried out by the Japanese government in 1947 under the direction of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.
The purpose was to reduce the wide gap between absentee landlords who owned agricultural land but did not farm it themselves, and tenant farmers who rented the land in exchange for giving the landlord a high proportion of the crop. The land reform laws were intended to limit the amount of farm land one household could own to about the amount of land that one family could farm themselves, without outside labor. The government forced absentee landlords to sell all their land to the government. Farmers were allowed to own a small amount of farm land that they could rent out to others, and had to sell any excess to the government. The government then sold this land, usually to the tenant who had been farming it. The result greatly improved the living conditions of farmers.
Why Geten says the Himura maintained their wealth and pride creating branch families?
Likely the Himura owned more than the land they would be allowed to own by the reform… but my guess is that, in order to continue controlling it, they decided to split their family in many branch families and share the land among them so that the control would still remain in their hands even if they would technically comply with the law.
In fact let’s look for a moment at how the whole main family/branch family work in Japan.
The “main household” of a Japanese family, which Geten will mention later in his talk, is called ‘Honke’ (本家 literally “source house”) and it is characterized by a patrilocal residence and patrilineal primogeniture and is part of the system of family branching that establishes a multiplied structure to create familial relationships.
In fact, in Edo period it was decided the eldest son would inherit everything, all of the family’s assets, including movable and immovable property, including the household as well as the responsibility of taking care of his parents as they aged and even the family Butsudan (since in the Todorokis’ Butsuma room, the room in which the Butsudan is, there’s also a photo of Enji’s father on the wall, this implies the Butsudan had also been ‘his home’ and so we can figure out that, if Enji had siblings, he was the eldest son merely by him having the Butsudan which hosts his father). The eldest son is also expected to live with his parents when they grow older. This change was essentially intended to prevent further division of a territory into smaller sections. Due to all this, particular attention was given to the oldest son’s upbringing and education as he would be the next family head.
What’s the family head?
The “family head” (当主 ‘tōshu’) is basically the person who has inherited the headship of the family.
This means they have authority over their wife and the rest of the family members and the duty to protect them as well as the right to disown those who violate his wishes. Basically, disobey him and you can be literally kicked out of the family. They also had authority over the family's customs and rituals and are responsible for the management of the family property and the family business.
What about the other children of the family?
Normally they would get zero inheritance (or a very small one). The daughters would get married off and would come to belong to other families, as for the younger boys, they could remain in the family and continue obeying to the family head or, if the family head were to allow them, form a branch family, the ‘Bunke’ (分家 literally “part house”) “branch households”.
The branch family was supposed to remain subservient to the main family (so the main family still keeps control of things) and remains to live close to it.
Note that a family could also adopt an adult (generally someone who worked for them) and then use him to create a branch family.
The Himura already had some branch families they controlled since the text say they increased (増やす ‘fuyasu’) the number of the branch families.
Long story short, if the Himura decided to not let anymore the male firstborn inherit everything but to split the land between more people so as to create many branch families, the main family would still be in control of everything.
I’m speculating, I don’t know if this is how they handled the whole thing, but it seems the most logical assumption.
‘Demo chōjō ga okiru to tomoni kasokudo-teki ni reiraku shite itta. Chi ga mazaru no wo kirattanda. Kekka bunke… tōen dōshi de no kekkon ga aitsuida. Mizukara wo heisoku kankyō ni oki Himura-ke ha shukushō no itto wo tadori.’
「でも超常が起きると共に加速度的に零落していった。血が混ざるのを嫌ったんだ。結果分家…遠縁同士での結婚が相次いだ。自らを閉塞環境に置き火叢家は縮小の一途を辿り」
“But as the exceptional happened, things (for them) started falling down at an accelerating rate. They hated mixing their blood. As a result, the branch families... had marriages among distant relatives which occurred one after another. As a result of placing themselves in a closed environment, the Himura family steadily shrank.” [Chap 387]
Now… during feudal Japan, clans traditionally encouraged cousin relationships to perpetuate family dynasties, and the Himura split their family on paper to keep control of their land… so it can be the Himura always married between themselves because back then it was normal to do so.
It’s hard to say.
However the way Geten claims it was the advent of the “exceptional” (超常 ‘chōjō’) or, if you prefer, the appearance of Quirks, which speeded up their downfall as they didn’t want to dilute their blood, seems to imply when they turned out with having an ice Quirk, things started to take a turn for worse, causing them to hate mixing their blood.
Possibly the Himura’s ‘ice Quirk’ became another reason due to which they didn’t want to mix their blood with people who didn’t have it. If before it could have been fine to adopt someone into the family, afterward it wasn’t anymore because that someone wouldn’t have an ‘ice Quirk’, if before whatever family member could be okay for marriage, afterward only whose who inherited the ‘ice Quirk’ were eligible.
Shōto too kind of hinted at this, when he talked of Quirk marriages.
‘Kosei kon. Shitteru yo na. “Chōjō” ga okite kara dai ni ~ daisan sedai-kan de mondai ni natta yatsu… Jishin no “kosei” wo yori kyōka shite tsuga seru tame dake ni haigūsha wo erabi…… kekkon wo shiiru. Rinri-kan no ketsuraku shita zenjidaiteki hassō.’
「個性婚知ってるよな。“超常”が起きてから第二～第三世代間で問題になったやつ…‘自身の”個性”をより強化して継がせる為だけに配偶者を選び…… 結婚を強いる。 倫理観の欠落した前時代的発想」
“Quirk marriage. Do you know about it? After the ‘paranormal’ happened, between the second and third generation they became a problem… In order to pass in inheritance a further strengthened version your ‘Quirk’ choose a spouse… and get her married to you by force. Old-fashioned way of thinking which lacks in ethics.” [Chap 31]
Likely the Himura started marrying into the family before Quirk appeared but, once they did, the marriages weren’t just between family members but between family members with an ice Quirk. I’ve theorized the Himura might have changed their surname in the past… but it can be that the ‘hi’ part of it became “ice” after the appearance of Quirks… or the fact the Himura started having an ice Quirk ended up being seen as a requisite to belong to the “ice gathering” family.
So it’s likely they were also doing Quirk marriages among family members, not so much like Enji did so as to mix his fire Quirk with a suitable Ice Quirk so that they would both compensate each other, but only in order to strengthen or maintain their ice Quirk. Which made Quirkless people, which previously were the majority, ineligible for marriage.
How distant had to be those distant relatives the Himura married each other off?
Currently, by law, in order to marry among them, relatives had to be at least second cousins or more distantly related (4th degree or higher).
If you've no idea of what this means here there's a potentially useful scheme which show you which degree are your family relatives from 1st to 3rd (the ones without degree are 4th or higher).
Now the huge declining birthrate in Japan might have caused the thinning of their numbers… and to make matters worse, if people keep marrying distant relatives, with each passing generation those distant relatives become less distant and therefore no more eligible for marriage, which might have made harder for the Himura to find a potential partner… and if having a ice Quirk was a requisite to get married, the fact some Himura might have been Quirkless thinned their options further…
So, anyway, Geten blames the Himura downfall to the thinning of their numbers… but honestly though, I tend to think it’s more like they were bad investors/administrators and so they lost their own capitals.
I mean, whatever you think about their marriage policies, they shouldn’t affect the money they had and we know if Rei was married off to Enji it wasn’t because there wasn’t an Himura available for her to marry but because her family was poor.
‘Obā-chan-tachi ga binbō shiteta kara okā-san wo uttan daro. Okāsan ha sōsuru shikanakattan daro.’
「おばあちゃん達が貧乏してたからお母さんを売ったんだろ。お母さんはそうするしかなかったんだろ」
“Grandma and the others were poor, so they sold you, mother, isn’t that right? Mother, you had no choice but to do it, isn’t that right?” [Chap 302]
In the anime Enji himself confirms the reasons why he won the Himuras over were also tied to their lack of money.
'(Katsute ha meika datta Himura-ke mo ima ha aoikitoiki…)’
「(かつては名家だった氷叢家も今は青息吐息…)」
“(The Himura family, which was once a prestigious family, was now in deep distress…)” [Ep 130]
Okay, so he doesn’t quite talk of them lacking money as Tōya did but he makes clear what won the family head over: his status and the bride’s dowry.
'(No.2 HERO no chii to meiyo, soshite djisankin meate ni Himura-ke no tōshu ha ore no teian wo assari to ukeireta.)’
「(No.2ヒーローの地位と名誉、そして持参金目当てに氷叢家の当主は俺の提案をあっさりと受け入れた) 」
“(The head of the Himura family easily accepted my proposal, aiming for the status and prestige of the No. 2 hero, as well as the dowry.)” [Ep 130]
The “dowry” (持参金 ‘djisankin‘) generally refers to the amount paid by the bride’s family to the groom, while the groom instead should give the bride “betrothal gifts” (結納金 ‘yuinō-kin‘) .
So what happened here?
When the bride is poor she brings as dowry the betrothal gifts given to her by the husband. So likely Enji, in a roundabout way paid her dowry, by giving her money as a betrothal gift and it’s possible that part of it was held back by the Himura themselves so that not all the money was returned to him. Or not. We don’t know but again, the Himura were interested in money, that’s why they agreed with his proposition.
Let’s go on.
‘Tōtō honke ga miuri wo hajimeta koto de jijitsujō no shūen wo mukaeta. Nokori no wazuka na shizoku mo risan shi sono naka no hitotsu datta boku ha saikōshidō-sha (read: RE-DESTRO) ni hirowa reta.’
「とうとう本家が身売りを始めたことで事実上の終焉を迎えた。残りの僅かな氏族も離散しその中の一つだった僕は最高指導者(リ・デストロ)に拾われた」
“When finally the main family started selling themselves, it came to a de facto end. Even the few remaining clans are scattered, and I was among them and then picked up by the supreme leader (read: Re-Destro).” [Chap 387]
Geten also says the Himura family came to an end when the main family started selling themselves. This is likely a reference to how Rei was allowed to marry out of the family, the Himura being interested in Enji’s money and reputation.
What does this mean?
The family is carried on by a male heir. Likely Rei’s family had no male children and, since Rei didn’t marry a Himura nor her father adopted a Himura and made him the next heir, the main family couldn’t continue.
Well, to be honest, in theory it could have continued if Enji had agreed to take Rei’s name (yes, the husband can take the wife’s surname in Japan) but, of course, Enji wouldn’t have agreed.
Probably the main family kind of kept the organization of the other families until the family head died. With no new main family head, Geten explains the remaining “clans” (氏族 ‘shizoku’) ended up scattered.
What do we mean with “clan”?
A ‘shizoku’ (氏族), a “clan”, is a group of families that are related to each other.
Remember the whole ‘you needed permission from the family head to form a branch family, if not you would remain in the family under the family head authority even if married’ thing?
Evidently the Himura were still organized like that, with all the children who were born in the branch families continuing to live in the huge Himura residences with their parents (regardless of being married or not) under the authority of their father first and of his heir after, unless they were allowed to become a new branch family and leave.
This until the main family dies out. Once it does they probably started doing what many do, who gets married or is an adult capable to support himself, leaves the birth family and build his own house. Hence they scattered.
Likely this could have been because the old, huge Himura residences were sold because the branch families were poor and couldn’t keep that lifestyle, and the result was no family member could support the others. That’s why Geten ends up being picked up and groomed by Re-Destro from when he was a child, so that he doesn’t even attend to school and starts training his Quirk way sooner than other Heroes.
So Re-Destro to whom Geten is fiercely loyal, becomes his savior from a life of misery and poverty with no support from his other relatives who, apart from Rei, might be deep in misery as well.
The obsession of the Himura for not mixing their blood with others, might have made easier for him to embrace the 'Quirk supremacist’ theories of Re-Destro (those with the strongest Quirk should rule).
But let’s now go back to the main family and to Rei.
We get some information about them which confirm the story Geten told us in chap 301 and episode 130.
In chap 301 we’re shown Enji, Rei and the Himura family head taking part to what looks like a Miai (見合い), as the anime confirms.
‘(Ichiō, miai to iu katachi wo totte ha iruga, kore ha “kosei” kon)’
「(一応、見合いという形をとってはいるが、これは"個性"婚) 」
“(Just in case, although it is made to look like what we call an arranged marriage meeting, this is a “Quirk” marriage.)” [Ep 130]
An “arranged marriage meeting” (見合い ‘miai’) is a Japanese traditional custom in which a woman and a man are introduced to each other to consider the possibility of marriage. Fundamentally is a meeting opportunity with more serious considerations for the future as a process of courtship.
Prior to it, both the families involved investigate the potential candidates.
So was Rei forced into it by Enji or not? When I say ‘families’ I mean parents who not always feel necessary to inform the future bride about it, in fact Shōto will say Enji persuaded Rei’s relatives, not Rei.
‘Kosei kon. Shitteru yo na. “Chōjō” ga okite kara dai ni ~ daisan sedai-kan de mondai ni natta yatsu… Jishin no “kosei” wo yori kyōka shite tsuga seru tame dake ni haigūsha wo erabi…… kekkon wo shiiru. Rinri-kan no ketsuraku shita zenjidaiteki hassō. Jisseki to kane dake ha aru otoko da… Oyaji ha haha no shinzoku wo marumekomi haha no “kosei” wo teniireta.’
「個性婚知ってるよな。“超常”が起きてから第二～第三世代間で問題になったやつ…‘自身の”個性”をより強化して継がせる為だけに配偶者を選び…… 結婚を強いる。 倫理観の欠落した前時代的発想。実績と金だけはある男だ…親父は母の親族を丸め込み母の”個性”を手に入れた」
“Quirk marriage. Do you know about it? After the ‘paranormal’ happened, between the second and third generation they became a problem… In order to pass in inheritance a further strengthened version your ‘Quirk’ choose a spouse… and get her married to you by force. Old-fashioned way of thinking which lacks in ethics. He’s a man with achievement and money… My father persuaded my mother’s relatives and obtained my mother’s ‘Quirk’.” [Chap 31]
‘Marumekomi’ (丸め込み) literally “rounding included” means “to talk someone into doing what you want”, “to persuade him” but also “to manipulate”, “to swindle”. Shōto is clearly giving a definitive negative connotation to how Enji managed to win Rei from her parents, but in the end it seems all Enji had to do was to show them the money and the fact he was the Number Two Hero and they capitulated easily enough and decided he was a better potential partner than any distant relative she could have.
Tōya also paints a picture that looks rather negative.
'ENDEAVOR ha katsute chikara ni kogarete imashita. Soshite ALL MIGHT wo koe renai zetsubō kara yori tsuyoi “kosei” wo motta ko wo tsukuru tame muriyari tsuma wo metorimashita’
「エンデヴァーはかつて力に焦がれていました。そしてオールマイトを超えれない絶望からより強い"個性"を持った子を作る為無理やり妻を娶りました」
“Endeavor was once thirsty for power. Therefore, out of despair of not being able to surpass All Might, in order to create a child with a stronger "Quirk” he took a wife by force.” [Chap 290]
Tōya uses 'muriyari’ (無理やり), which means “Forcibily, against one’s will” but again, later on, it seems it’s just because Enji didn’t swoon Rei over but merely persuaded her parents to agree by showing them money.
‘Obā-chan-tachi ga binbō shiteta kara okā-san wo uttan daro. Okāsan ha sōsuru shikanakattan daro’
「おばあちゃん達が貧乏してたからお母さんを売ったんだろ。お母さんはそうするしかなかったんだろ」
“Grandma and the others were poor, so they sold you, mother, isn’t that right? Mother, you had no choice but to do it, isn’t that right?” [Chap 302]
In truth, apparently, Rei was given options by her parents, limited as they were, as she claims she actually chose this.
‘Sentakushi ha kagira rete itakeredo erande susunda no ha watashi no ashi de. Semete sono-sakide ha waratte iyou to omotte ita… noni’
「選択肢は限られていたけれど選んで進んだのは私の足でせめてその先では笑っていようと思っていた…のに」
“Although my options were limited, it were my feet which chose to advance. At least I’ll try to smile in the future, that’s what I was thinking… and yet…” [Chap 302]
'(Kotowaru koto mo dekita hazuda. Daga kanojo ha “kosei” kon de aru koto mo shōchi no ue de, ie no tame ni ore no tsuma ni naru to iu.)’
「(断る事もできたハズだ。だが彼女は"個性"婚である事も承知の上で、家の為に俺の妻になると言う)」
“She could have refused. However, even if she was aware that it was a "Quirk” marriage, she said that she will become my wife for the sake of her family.)” [Ep 130]
‘(“Kosei kon”de aru koto mo shōchi no ue de... Ie no tame ni ore no tsuma ni naru to iu.)’
「(“個性婚”である事も承知の上で……家の為に俺の妻になると言う) 」
“(Even though she was aware it was a “Quirk marriage”… she said she would become my wife for the sake of her family.)” [Chap 302]
Likely her options were either to marry Enji and, at least, ensure financial stability for herself and her family, or marry a distant relative and ensure the continuation of the Himura family as well as its economical decadence.
Tough choice.
Anyway, during the Miai, the family head let us know it was Enji who approached them for a bride.
'Jiki No.1 no yobigoe takai ENDEAVOR-sama kara o koe kake itadakeru to ha yume ni mo omoi masendeshita! Gyōkō no kiwami ni gozaimasu!!’
「次期No.1の呼び声高いエンデヴァー様からお声掛けいただけるとは夢にも思いませんでした！僥倖の極みにございます！！」
“I never dreamed that I would receive an invitation from Endeavor-sama, who has been hailed as the next No. 1! We are at the height of luck!!” [Chap 302]
So ‘okoegake’ (お声掛け) or, more simply ‘koegake’ (声掛け) as the ‘o’ is just an honorific, is generally used to imply you’re calling out someone or inviting someone to a meeting… but it is a word also used to imply you requested for a Miai.
Mind you, it’s not so weird in Japan. When organizing a Miai the parents of the future grooms tend to approach the people they know, asking them for potential candidates and even investigate said potential candidates. So either Enji checked on the Quirk registry and found out all the families that had an ice Quirk, investigated them and then approached the Himura with a proposal knowing they were in financial needs, or they were recommended to him by someone else.
It can also be the Himura also informed the people they knew they had a daughter they wanted to marry, just in case they decided PRIOR to Enji offering them money that they were willing to sell Rei to the best offering, but didn’t expect Enji to volunteer himself.
If the Himura were already planning on selling their daughter off, it means Rei too had her pick of rich potential husbands among whom to choose in addition to the distant relatives, which would increase her options and Enji had to persuade her parents he was the best candidate.
Hard to say but, from the way the family head, which I take is Rei’s father (it could be her grandfather as well but since the main family crumbles short after I’ll assume it’s her father) is enthusiast of having been approached by Enji who doesn’t even have to say a word, he didn’t really have to work hard to persuade them.
The guy is absolutely delighted to give Rei to Enji.
‘Himura mo katsute ha meika to yoba reta yuisho aru iegara ni gozaimasu ko - top Hero-sama no hanryo to shimashite ha jūbun ni tsuriai ga toreru mono to’
「氷叢もかつては名家と呼ばれた由緒ある家柄にございます故―トップヒーロー様の伴侶としましては充分に釣り合いがとれるものと…」
``The Himuras also come from a distinguished family with a prestigious lineage, so I think she would be a perfect match as the Top Hero-sama’s companion…” [Chap 302]
The family head confirms what Geten will later say.
He calls the Himura a 'Meika’ (名家) which can be translated as “noble/distinguished family” with a ‘yuisho aru iegara’ (由緒ある家柄) which can be translated “with a prestigious/with a long history social standing/lineage”.
In the anime Endeavor also confirms this, he probably picked the Himura also for this as, as I said, it’s considered perfectly fair to investigate the family of a potential bride.
'Katsute ha meika datta Himura-ke mo ima ha aoikitoiki…’
「かつては名家だった氷叢家も今は青息吐息…」
“The Himura family, which was once a prestigious family, was now in deep distress…” [Ep 130]
Also, since Rei knew it was a Quirk marriage, he came clear with them about his intentions…
‘(“Kosei kon”de aru koto mo shōchi no ue de... Ie no tame ni ore no tsuma ni naru to iu.)’
「(“個性婚”である事も承知の上で……家の為に俺の妻になると言う) 」
“(Even though she was aware it was a “Quirk marriage”… she said she would become my wife for the sake of her family.)” [Chap 302]
I’m honestly curious on what the Himura thought about Enji’s idea. Their Quirk marriages were to preserve and strengthen their ice Quirk as it was, they didn’t want to mix blood and create a different Quirk, so Enji who instead wants to marry outside of his family with someone with a different Quirk to strengthen his own by mixing it with Rei is definitely someone who’s doing something that runs in a parallel line to what they’re doing, meaning something similar but with no contact points.
The Himura don’t praise Enji’s family, just his status as Number Two Hero, which makes me think the Todoroki weren’t a noble/distinguished family with a prestigious/with a long history social standing/lineage but who cares, Enji has prestige as Hero and money so he can stand on an equal level with Rei.
What else do we know or can speculate about the Himura family?
The house in which Enji and Rei have their meeting might have been a place Enji rented for the meeting… but might have also be Rei’s house. Since the Himura were land owners this might explain why the garden is so large, and maintaining such a large property might be expensive hence why the Himura are desperate for money.
We’re told that Enji and Rei are at their first meeting/date.
Normally if the initial Miai introduction was successful, the potential couple went through a series of dates until a decision was reached. Don’t expect a long courting, the decision was usually expressed at the couple's third meeting. If they chose to marry, they went through a formal marriage process known as ‘miai kekkon’ (見合い結婚 “arranged meeting marriage”), in which a “betrothal ceremony” (結納 ‘yuinō’) was arranged by the groom's family.
Now… considering Rei is wearing a scarf which is what we see the character doing in January, the Miai might have taken place in January.
We don’t know when exactly Enji and Rei met and married, it was after Enji became the Number Two Hero and we know he became as such at 20. This means he became Number 2 either in the November Hero Billboard Chart, or that he had to wait until the following one which was in May. If it was in the November Hero billboard chart, the Miai might have taken place at the beginning of the next year, when Enji was still 20, if not it would take place in the following year, when he was 21 (but would turn 22 in August of that year). It can’t be later as, since Tōya is born in January he was probably conceived in April of the year in which Enji would turn 22.
Long story short Enji and Rei had, at best, a year and four months from their first meeting to the moment in which they conceived a child, and four months only at worst.
By the way, the best period for marriage is April so yes, Tōya could have been conceived short after they married.
With the marriage Rei stops being an Himura, her name is written out from the Himura “family registry”, better known as ‘koseki’ (戸籍) and written into the one of the Todoroki family.
If Enji were to kick her out of his family in theory she would need the family head permission to go back into the Himura family. Divorce is a big shameful deal for all the parties involved so it’s not as easy as in the west.
So, what happens to the remaining Himura of the main family?
We know Rei’s mother was alive when Shōto was five.
Tōya calls his grandmother ‘Obā-chan’ (おばあちゃん), which is an affectionate way to call your grandmother (he might have used the more respectful ‘Obā-san’ (おばあさん), and his view on them is sympathetic (they were really poor so they had to sell his mother off) so it can be that he has a good relationship with his grandmother.
‘Obā-chan-tachi ga binbō shiteta kara okā-san wo uttan daro. Okāsan ha sōsuru shikanakattan daro’
「おばあちゃん達が貧乏してたからお母さんを売ったんだろ。お母さんはそうするしかなかったんだろ」
“Grandma and the others were poor, so they sold you, mother, isn’t that right? Mother, you had no choice but to do it, isn’t that right?” [Chap 302]
Even Rei tried to turn on her mother for help when she believed she couldn’t take it anymore… and calls her ‘Okā-san’ (お母さん), which is the standard way to say mother in normal families (people from upper class families might use, for example, the much more respectful ‘Okā-sama’ (お母様)) so, I guess, by Japanese standards she was present enough as a mother/grandmother.
We can even speculate she’s the old woman we see watching over Tōya, Fuyumi and Natsuo as they’re playing in the garden under Shōto’s longing gaze (though she could also be a helper/servant).
Shōto has not Tōya’s sympathetic opinion on her mother’s family relatives, nor refers to them in an affectionate way, calling them just that, ‘haha no shinzoku’ (母の親族 “mother’s relatives”).
‘Kosei kon. Shitteru yo na. “Chōjō” ga okite kara dai ni ~ daisan sedai-kan de mondai ni natta yatsu… Jishin no “kosei” wo yori kyōka shite tsuga seru tame dake ni haigūsha wo erabi…… kekkon wo shiiru. Rinri-kan no ketsuraku shita zenjidaiteki hassō. Jisseki to kane dake ha aru otoko da… Oyaji ha haha no shinzoku wo marumekomi haha no “kosei” wo teniireta.’
「個性婚知ってるよな。“超常”が起きてから第二～第三世代間で問題になったやつ…‘自身の”個性”をより強化して継がせる為だけに配偶者を選び…… 結婚を強いる。 倫理観の欠落した前時代的発想。実績と金だけはある男だ…親父は母の親族を丸め込み母の”個性”を手に入れた」
“Quirk marriage. Do you know about it? After the ‘paranormal’ happened, between the second and third generation they became a problem… In order to pass in inheritance a further strengthened version your ‘Quirk’ choose a spouse… and get her married to you by force. Old-fashioned way of thinking which lacks in ethics. He’s a man with achievements and money…My father persuaded my mother’s relatives and obtained my mother’s ‘Quirk’.” [Chap 31]
The implication of Shōto’s words is that they just did it for an old-fashioned way of thinking which lacks in ethics and because Enji persuaded them.
So it can be that Rei’s mother either was kept away from Shōto as well or died early enough, hence he has no fond feelings for her.
Since Geten said:
‘Tōtō honke ga miuri wo hajimeta koto de jijitsujō no shūen wo mukaeta. Nokori no wazuka na shizoku mo risan shi sono naka no hitotsu datta boku ha saikōshidō-sha (read: RE-DESTRO) ni hirowa reta.’
「とうとう本家が身売りを始めたことで事実上の終焉を迎えた。残りの僅かな氏族も離散しその中の一つだった僕は最高指導者(リ・デストロ)に拾われた」
“When finally the main family started selling themselves, it came to a de facto end. Even the few remaining clans are scattered, and I was among them and then picked up by the supreme leader (read: Re-Destro).” [Chap 387]
We can assume this also implied the family head didn’t live long after that or, otherwise, since he would have kept on ruling over the other branch families, he might have stopped them from scattering. If Rei’s father died without an heir instead there would be no one to rule and the families inside the clans can scatter. It would also explain why Tōya said it was ‘his grandmother and the others’ to say ‘his grandparents’ instead than ‘his grandfather and the others’. The man might have died when Tōya was young so it’s to his grandmother he thinks, even though the decision was very clearly taken by his grandfather, the family head.
Well, that’s all we know about the Himura.
We can speculate Rei is a forth generation Quirk owner like Midoriya Inko, which would mean since the Himura married among them with ice Quirk users, that their ice Quirk is very strong genetically, which explains why Enji’s kids tend to take more from Rei than from him… at least this was clearly Horikoshi’s intention when he inserted the Himura family history just before revealing Tōya too had an ice Quirk.
Basically of Enji’s kids, all 4 of them inherited Rei’s Quirk and only 2 inherited his Quirk albeit each of them inherited variations of those over mentioned Quirks… but well, as far as I’m involved that’s the less interesting part of the Himura history.
I doubt we’ll get more info about them before the end of the story, even though it could be interesting.
Came here after realizing Geten's and Mr. Compress's exchange was cut off the anime. Not so relevant maybe but honestly made want to know more about the Down of Quirks era.
Kudo is actually such a kind, soft-hearted guy that had to toughen up because he cared too much
He looked at AFO's rule, and even though he was weak, he had that glint in his eye that has been referred to as the "will of a hero" to oppose him. A hopeful glint shared with Midoriya, Bakugo, and Hawks
He even parallels Hawks when they talk about that particular look in their eye
From a glimmer in the eye, to which eye is shown, how much of the face, a similar angle of the face, and placement of text questioning the existence of that light,
He stormed to kill Yoichi with Bruce, but couldn't, once he saw the state Yoichi was in. Even knowing he was the enemy, he still reached out his hand and never let go, even when they were running
When Yoichi died, even though they'd only been together for two months, Kudo still cried and froze up.
This is a reaction from a man who repeatedly used lives as a stepping stone for his own goal.
Kudo said himself, that victory was life, and defeat was death. He had killed and seen his friends killed over and over, but still cries when it happens again. And to someone he only knew for two months, at that.
Kudo gathered allies under his cause, and they were loyal enough to die for him. Bruce cries (still smiling tho) facing AFO, tried protecting Kudo when he froze up at Yoichi's death, and we see all Kudo's comrades dead in the end. Maybe Bruce was suicidal when he went to face AFO, knowing he'd die, but most of his comrades (and Kudo) were already gone. Their cause was snuffed out, but the will persisted.
Kudo is a bit like Aizawa.
A bit crass and blunt, doesn't like beating around the bush, but he can clearly see what kind of person you are. He's not openly kind, but you know he cares so much, but has also lost too much once. He's seen his friend(s) die, and shouldn't it have been him in that spot? Shouldn't he have died instead, but was forced to continue living for that dead person's sake?
His speech about why we call Abilities "Quirks", recognizing people's intent over raw power is the real power. (Ch 369)
He's blunt and goes straight to the results rather than beat around the bush, but it doesn't mean his heart is frozen and he doesn't care about you. (Ch 408)
He cares so much, and that's why he has to do so much. (His whole Resistance thing, figuring out how Yoichi's Factor works to make sure Yoichi and his will can live on in some way)
He recognizes that Midoriya isn't driven by duty, but that he genuinely adores Quirks too much. (Ch 414) He could look at Midoriya, read that immediately, and even though he looked through his memories, Midoriya's character was his takeaway. Not that Midoriya is an idiot for letting himself be stepped on, or that this kid was bullied, but that Midoriya could see the goodness in others.
Like how Aizawa saw that Midoriya was relying on the reason [It can't be helped] whenever OFA broke his bones and told him he can't always break himself just because he could be fixed (Midoriya's recklessness that showed itself on the first day of school). He called out something that was an underlying, innate belief to Midoriya, that was so normal to the teen, and no one else had brought up as wrong to him.
The first thing they perceive is a person's character.
When Aizawa tied up Midoriya on the first day of school, he wasn't telling him off over his Quirk destroying him being a PR thing or too gruesome for the public. It was out of the fact that his Quirk shouldn't destroy him, because it's dangerous for Midoriya.
Aizawa came off antagonistic, but he was looking out for Midoriya. He didn't want him to keep breaking his whole arm, he didn't want him to get stuck in the mindset that he had to get hurt to use his Quirk, he was looking out for his wellbeing from the start. A kid he didn't know personally until that day.
Kudo did a similar thing. He turned his back, and refused to help, because they were putting their hopes in a delusional boy who would go too far. When the vestiges realized their gathered Abilities and Quirks were letting Midoriya have the freedom to do as he wished, Kudo already knew, only saying "His path is the right one". He could relate to having to run full-sprint to see your goal realized, even if everything opposed him, but didn't want Midoriya to go through that same path alone.
If he were alone, he'd be like Nagant. He had to have comrades to be like Kudo, able to continue and stand for their beliefs, but having comrades to fall back on, or pull him back when it's too much. That's why he follows up in that moment with, "But, if there's something Midoriya does need..."
Kudo and Aizawa could see themselves or their comrades in others, and knew how to approach those character flaws that were normalized to others and said person.
Kudo could see others for who they were, and I think it's this, and his caring nature, that he gathered so many allies with him. He knew when to be blunt, when to show kindness, that the truth hurts but needs to be seen, was actually very logical and witty, and when to step aside and let people do their thing, even if it wasn't the best move (like saving All Might). Because that was what was best for that person.
It's not like people would join someone so wholeheartedly without conviction and being left unseen by that person. So many people were willing to die with and for Kudo, and Bruce believes in him so much.
When All Might's vestige was fading and becoming more solid, Kudo had to look away. They knew it meant All Might was dying in the real world.
Kudo was telling Midoriya not to intervene with Gearshift there. But once he saw All Might genuinely dying out, he couldn't look at him, and kept quiet. He stopped hanging onto battlefield logic of necessity, shut up, let Midoriya do his thing, and it saved All Might. It saved Midoriya from seeing his idol die in front of him, and Kudo didn't have to see another ally die beside him.
The chapter is literally called [We Love You All Might!!]. Even if it's just meant to focus in Bakugo and Midoriya, and only has 2 exclamation marks, it can't discount the world is watching. The vestiges care about All Might too.
When the vestiges come up with the plan to forcibly transfer themselves to deal damage, Kudo volunteers himself as the test dummy. Sure, he backs it with a lot of reason too, but he didn't want anyone else to go first as a test drive
He, with a Gearshift Ability that resembled a manual car, was the test drive. Ha ha pun- *gets shot*
En tried going first. Kudo rejected him, saying he would go first.
"Part ways with Gearshift [me], and you'll be free of the crippling recoil too."
Too. TOO.
KUDO JUST WANTED TO GO AND BE DESTROYED FIRST. HE PUT THE FREEDOM OF RECOIL DOWN AS AN EXTRA BONUS SO THEY'D AGREE WITH HIS CHOICE.
I'd cut the image so it looks better, and I can use Bruce's words elsewhere, but this is an image limit, so,
- Kudo refused to let anyone else go first. This was before giving reasons to convince them he should leave first
- En gives reason to why it can't be Kudo. Kudo just says, "Listen." and reminds them of now.
- Look at Kudo's face when he says that. The guy knows what he's doing when he cuts off En, and would probably be a horrible liar. He might as well be pulling this out of his ass.
He's said "The world will end" "You have to or else" "Five minutes" "You're going to die" a few times in this fight already. DUDE STOPPP
(Terrible liar and a guy who purposely eggs you to torment? What a great friend he would be [yknow, when u make ur friends freak out by being ominous or reminding them of stuff. Like Toast to Lilypichu in a game of Observation Duty])
- "Too."
- Bruce's trust in him, but knowing when to pull Kudo back from going too far
Also, when he's transferred, he smiles to Midoriya. He knows he's about to die again, but the last thing he does for Midoriya is
1) Take away the recoil of his existence as a Factor on the boy
2) Reassure him that it's okay, so it doesn't weigh on his conscience
Even if only in thought, STILL!
KUDO LOOKED SO PROUD OF MIDORIYA!
I bet Kudo is suuuch a sentimental fool
> [Be me and watch your new friend die]
> [I have Yoichi's Factor]
> [It's like I carry his will now]
> [Have a glint of opposition in my eye that drives the Demon Lord and my comrades (Bruce) crazy]
> [Hey Bruce, let's figure out how it transfers]
> [Bruce's common sense VS my rabid ideas]
> [I win]
> [Bruce was unwilling the whole time and still ends up with the Factor]
> [The Factor is named One For All, after something in Yoichi's favorite comic book series]
> [We pass it on to the future to carry forward]
> [Even as everyone else and me dies, I make sure Yoichi and his will are safe from his Demon Lord brother that locked him up]
> [Decades later, my sweet vaulted friend reminds me of when we met]
> [I turn around and give my whole-hearted support to believe in some 15-year old boy because Yoichi believes in him too]
SEN - TIM - ENT - AL!
When Shinomori was stolen by AFO, Shinomori pushed everyone away before they could really notice the invader. Kudo called out for him.
Everyone is in shock, but I don't think it's a mistake that the text bubble calling out for Shinomori is pointing from Kudo.
All For One made it through and is ready to steal them, but the first thing Kudo did was call out for the one at the very front.
[On the post I made that mentions Shinomori pushing everyone away] What if Kudo wasn't pushed away? What if this was him at the front, realizing the danger and turning around, but being unable to do anything for Shinomori when he saw?
Like Bruce, Kudo communicates. He doesn't expect you to just follow or understand him. He actually lays it out and makes sure you keep up.
He explains
- the transfer of vestiges, and why he should go first
- his Quirk
- why Quirks are Quirks
- reports to Midoriya what's happening and what's next
- to Yoichi why they couldn't trust in a delusional boy. In a way that wasn't Bruce's roundabout "we lived in a terrible era and a leader gathered us"
When En panics, he barks at En to keep up. By barking at him, rather than any other way he could've used his tone, it shuts up En in his frantic babbling. Kudo also lets Vestige Might put in his thoughts to understand better, and uses it.
Eye reflection. Kudo can really see people for who they are, and understands others, and himself.
I can't repeat the pics cuz image limit, but look at previous panels here. For example, Kudo saying Yoichi's will lives in him, and when AFO reflected in his eyes
It's something I learned from Re:Zero. When a person in reflected in one's eye, something something that person can see the true core of you, of what you really are underneath everything. The eyes are the window and mirror [glass] of the soul. I finally see the true you.
AFO never reflected anyone.
But Kudo reflected AFO when the man accidentally killed Yoichi. He saw that AFO wasn't seeing anything, so later, Kudo smiled and mocked AFO at his own death.
"Yoichi?"
"He's gone."
"You killed him, Demon Lord."
And AFO hated that reminder.
Kudo was reminding him of what the truth was. Kudo saw it himself, and AFO blocked it out from the get-go. Kudo already knew what AFO was, what he was seeing, what he was doing to himself by blaming Kudo instead of himself.
And then, Kudo's eyes reflected his own hand when he realized Yoichi's Factor was in him.
Kudo clearly saw himself, and in himself, Yoichi. Nothing distorted it. It really was a clear mirror.
He really perceived Yoichi's will was living on, and was right. Otherwise, his eyes wouldn't have shown it.
Kudo was right about AFO. It's even implied back when he and Bruce had their backs turned; Kudo knew what AFO's real goal was. That was back when AFO preached unity and division under him.
Kudo could always see right through AFO. He really understood people from the start. And he never tried making up truths to justify what he was seeing, facing it head-on.
Kudo's lying about the world being black and white.
Kudo and Bruce saw the world as black and white. This was mentioned in the void.
Kudo also says, "Victory meant life. Defeat meant death."
But it's the Resistance. It's when Japan and the world was at their lowest. The world wasn't black and white; there's lots of gray.
Kudo and Bruce would've seen this. Kudo even admits that there's gray, just not directly.
Kudo says Yoichi knows, how he killed and trampled so many lives, to get back at AFO. He knows it wasn't right, or an amazing choice. Later, he says that when your back is against the wall, you have to make callous judgements. These hint at gray moments.
Kudo and Bruce have faced and been in the gray. But it's too hard to make the right choices, and there are times there is no right answer.
Historically, soldiers would convince themselves the enemy were monsters. They wouldn't be able to fight and kill them otherwise. They wouldn't be able to live with themselves without believing in this so badly.
Kudo and Bruce had to have been the same way. They were Meta Humans [Monsters] in a time they were viewed as diseased humans. The monsters were real. And they had a Demon Lord. Kudo and Bruce literally dressed up as soldiers.
Even if they were monsters to society, being Meta, Kudo and Bruce were still human. They knew this. The ones who tried believing in only black and white were inhabitants of the gray itself.
But they have to protect themselves. Kudo is so adamant that the world is only black and white, because he can't stand the gray. What it makes him do, what it means, that he's too weak to do anything.
Yoichi is an example of that gray area. The mortal enemy's younger brother, was actually locked up and sickly. He's just a comic book nerd. And it humanized the other side Kudo opposed so vehemently.
Kudo says victory is life and defeat is death. And Yoichi asked why he reached out to him then. He reminded Kudo of that gray area, and Kudo opened up.
Kudo might avoid the gray area because it's a matter of the heart and a moral dilemma, but it's what makes him human. When there's no right answer in the battlefield, he decides on his feelings instead.
He wishes the world was black and white, because it'd be so easy. But it's not.
Yoichi reminded him of how entering that gray area led to OFA ("when you reached out your hand to me"), and it had been the best choice in the end. The gray area is real, and Kudo's left a bare man with only his emotions when he's there.
Kudo is actually really kind and understanding. He's too soft for his own good. Thanks if you made it this far, I hope it makes sense (tag and image limit)
Bruce is actually really attractive, and I have enough reasoning to make a list
He's:
Tall (. Tall enough to hit his head on the vault doorframe)
Long-legged
Has a straight nose bridge
Has high cheekbones (more noticeable in 2nd pic below)
Has a strong jawline
Sharp eyes, but they aren't small (plus eyebags if you're into that)
Overall, he has strong, attractive facial features
Has broad, refined shoulders. You can tell he works out (or he did, when he was alive)
Even has a thick, muscly neck
He has MUSCLE. Is SCULPTED. NOICE. VERY NOICE. (nice arms. Nice shoulders. Nice neck. Nice legs. Nice butt-)
(There are actually panels where you can see some of his muscles. Other than those already shown here, he's got bricky thighs-
-and in the panels where we first get his name dropped, he's got those shoulder blades too-)
The one time we see him smile, and he actually has a scary one
Has small, kinda sharp pupils, and his eyes remind me of a cat. We only ever saw him tense or defensive, so his resting/listening face is really cute
Other than the physical appearance stuff, he also:
Takes shit without batting an eye (patience, knowing it's just how Kudo is, etc)
Kudo being all "Cut the crap Bruce and give it to me straight", after Bruce tests his blood and is rightfully Concerned because they just faced AFO
Put up with Kudo's experimenting and testing over Yoichi's transferable Factor
Did ya'll see the look on Kudo's face when he realized he had Yoichi's Factor/will? Kudo was going to start in nonsense and Bruce just dealt with that.
Also something I noticed when looking back at the images here; Bruce has bandages on his arms in the void. But not when he faced AFO in the sewers.
Were he and Kudo cutting their arms open in their experimenting over Yoichi's theory? Is this why Kudo has two gauntlets instead of his one? Why we never see his bare arms in the void? That he always keeps his arms down so there's no slip?
Is smart enough to run blood tests, plus has enough common sense to pick Shinomori as his successor
He picked a guy who avoids society, has an Ability to detect danger so he can always stay away from AFO, is also a coward so he's never going to go throw himself into danger, even without knowing instinctively he stands no chance, etc.
Meanwhile, Kudo chose Bruce, who he played Hot Potato Yoichi with; but he did also trust Bruce, and put the only pure combative Ability in OFA through Bruce.
These two made their choices based on what they valued and saw the Factor needed.
Is logical, analytical, and calm.
He tried advising Midoriya on their Abilities in One For All, especially his own.
Midoriya then tried ignoring him about using Fa Jin for the first time, but found he was right, thinking: "Dammit!! I had [Lady Nagant] right where I wanted her, but... ugh! The Third was right. My parallel Quirk processes are all screwed up!" (ch. 314).
Plus, when Midoriya fixed his processing mistakes, Bruce was analyzing the way he reached his new conclusion. Pure facts, no bias, very calm, just saying it as it was.
We never see him panic. When he's caught by surprise in the sewers by AFO, Kudo, and Yoichi's little bubble event, he immediately reacts. He doesn't falter, he just knows he has to do something right now.
Was more willing to listen than Kudo to Yoichi's beckon, and probably was just following Kudo's rejection of Midoriya
While we don't see Kudo's face, we see Bruce's eyes when Yoichi calls on his heroes. Bruce was more open and receptive, or at least more impacted.
Bruce was also the one to start talking, while Kudo just kept quiet.
He actually communicates a lot
When Yoichi called them to support Midoriya, Bruce started talking to paint a picture of why they thought the way they did, so Yoichi understood where they were coming from.
(Though he seems to beat about the bush sometimes, since Kudo spoke up to be direct on how they couldn't just put their trust in some starry-eyed teenager. Plus, when Kudo tells him to just tell him what's wrong [double Factors])
When Midoriya first used Fa Jin against Nagant, Bruce came out just to tell him he knew what he was trying, but that Midoriya wasn't ready; and Midoriya found he was right. Midoriya just didn't want to listen to him then.
He asks Kudo for clarification after finding Kudo had two Factors in him after the sewer incident ("Just to be sure, All For One didn't touch you, right?") Kudo knew him well enough to go "stop beating around the bush and tell me", so Bruce was probably gonna start with questions, theories, and trying to understand everything in general, before saying "yeah you have two Factors. Don't know why".
Is strong-willed and loyal.
He followed Kudo, even to death, carrying on the cause he started until it ended with him.
Plus, when talking about how AFO needs a strong will to override OFA's own, we first see Bruce, Kudo, and Yoichi.
AFO couldn't steal OFA because the will was too strong for him, and that was back during Banjo's time. Since Shinomori never actually tried opposing AFO and just hid, we can assume the first Three (Yoichi, Kudo, Bruce) already had an accumulation of strong willpower that made OFA un-stealable. Those three are a strong enough foundation, and the main wills, that the other users just become bonuses.
Kudo, also saying that Midoriya needs allies with the same will and drive as him... hey Kudo, you're talking about yourself and your old allies, aren't you? That's why you look at Yoichi and Bruce when you say this.
Not only is Bruce attractive, but he's got good character. THE END.
I love that Izuku became a teacher. That he CHOSE to be a teacher, unlike All Might, who was backed into it, and Aizawa, who was dragged into it. Sure, All Might and Aizawa ended up being good teachers but it wasn’t their choice. Izuku, however, was THE hero of the war and could have gone anywhere for employment. Izuku chose education.
Teaching — especially high schoolers — is the epitome of a good and noble job that is horribly undervalued given its difficulty in most cultures. Yes, even in MHA’s Japan. Think of how Horikoshi portrayed the Aldera middle school teacher, or the Masegaki elementary school teacher from the Remedial Course arc. Their classrooms are full of kids gone wild, popping off with their quirks and ignoring their teachers because they’re gonna be heroes. It’s HARD to reach these kids’ hearts! Izuku choosing that work says something so cool about him and his legacy. He’s going to keep making his mark on the world by passing on what he’s learned to dozens of students every year. The fact that he can be an active, quirkless hero AND a teacher at the same time is just the cherry on top.
can you explain what quirks have to do with a characters personality. quirks explain explain a facet of a persons personalty in the story since quirks loosely is translated to individually. what does a the main characters quirk have to say about their personality? i read somewhere that"a persons physical abilities are heavily influenced by the strength of their character" even rikiya uses this with shigaraki. quirks explain personality not strength.
Quirks do have something to do with the characters personality. In the sense that they are ficitonal characters designed around a concept, most likely with Horikoshi thinking up their superpower first and their personality second. Though it could just as easily be the other way around too. My point is they are characters designed intentionally with a theme in mind.
However in the story themselves no, I do not think a character’s personality is determined by their quirk. At least not in the sense with they are born with that personality, because they were born with that quirk. Quirk is definitely a component of personality, but it’s not the entire reason the characters developed that personality. Basically there are two theories of development, people are either born that way, or they are made that way by circusmtances. My Hero Academia favors heavily towards the latter. Which is especially meaningful in an arc where, you know, you can be born a lizard person.
The My Villain Academia arc was actually about confronting this idea. The arc starts with Spinner’s narration. There are many different people with many different types of values. What makes people so different? Is it because they’re born different?
The people the League of Villains fight this arc, are people who believe that the quirk you are born with is the most important thing in determining who you are. The first people they kill are predjugiced against heteromorph quirks.
It asks the question. Is Spinner different because he was born with a heteromoprhic quirk? What makes Spinner different from other people? In the confrontations with the Meta Liberation Army who believes a quirk determines everything in who you are we are confonted with this question over and over again.
This is the narrative that Curious tries to push onto Toga. That she had no choice but to become a serial killer because of the quirk she was born with. That because of her specific quirk, she would have always ended up violent. That therefore she is a martyr to the their cause of quirk supremacy because society shunned Toga for just following the natural instincts she was born with.
She essentially argues that Toga is a helpless victim of the quirk she was born with. That she was always going to be a blood thirsty monster with that quirk, and Toga’s own decisions, and the environment around her don’t factor into that at all. However, we see for ourselves that there’s more to the story than the way Curious tells it.
Toga is basically the Ur-example of what the Meta Liberation Army believes. She’s lived her entire life obsessively turning into other people, and drinking their blood because that’s what her quirk tells her to do. However, at the same time we see that Toga’s circumstances forced her into conformity. That it’s not so much the quirk that defined her, but rather the way she was treated because of the quirk she was born with.
We see from Himiko’s own perspective that she has desires outside of her quirk. What she really wants is not to drink people’s blood, but rather to be close to people. What she envies about Uraraka is that she has people who trust her in her life, people who value her for who she is, that she’s accepted and loved. All of these wants are environmental and have absolutely nothing to do with her quirk.
It asks the question? Does Toga obsessively transform into people because she was born with a quirk that allowed her to do so, or because she was forced by her parents to be someone who was not herself? Because she thought her real self was never accepted?
Essentially there are some things you are born into. No matter who you are some things about yourself are going to be determined by circusmtances out of your control. Just like the quirks people are born with, your quirk is definitely going to define a part of your personality.
However, the characters define themselves not by what they are born as but rather how they choose to react. What defines Himiko is not the quirk she was born with, but rather how people reacted to her attempts at suppression, and then how she herself reacted rebellion against any suppression or limitations.
The characters are faced with this question again and again in the people they face off against. Does your special ability determine everything of who you are?
This is what Geten attempts to ask Dabi.
His body isn’t compatible with his own flames so what does that mean for him? Does his disability define his entire life? No, clearly not. Dabi has goals and ideals, and a sense of self outside of his disability. There’s clearly a person there still struggling, even if his flames burn too hot for his body. And Dabi’s self destructive streak doesn’t come from the fact that he was born with a quirk incompatible with his body. It comes from having a father who was breeding for strong quirks, and treated his children with weaker quirks like they were total failures.
Twice’s split personality problem did not come from the fact that he can literally make two of himself. It came from the fact that he literally had nobody around him in his environment to trust.
Rikiya himself has a quirk that revolves around using his stress to physically augment himself. However, did he start piling up stress because he was born that way, or because it was a learned behavior. Because we see from his background that he literally was expected to take care of the hopes and future dreams of a cult as a child, and that itself is pretty stressful.
Quirk is definitely a part of personality. And personality is definitely a part of quirk, but neither of them are the entire answer. The problem with the Meta Liberation Army is that they want to create a simplified narrative where a person is defined entirely by their quirk, when that’s clearly not the case. Even what Rikiya accuses Shigaraki of is proved false, Shigaraki didn’t just destroy his family members because he was born with a destructive quirk, it was literally something he had to be groomed for over and over again. It’s a quality he was raised to do by All for One.
We clearly see cases where both quirks inspire parts of personality. Himiko’s obsession is because she was born with that quirk, and she’s always going to be attracted to blood because of it. However, we also see the other way around where a person’s determination and personality will influence a quirk. Shigaraki’s quirk awakens to a more powerful level when he stops mentally holding himself back. Apocrypha’s changed and evolved because he saw his father figure get hurt in an accident.
Basically, there’s a lot of nuance to this. We have a society which praises certain quirks over others, so people with flashier quirks will get more attention, people with villainous quirks will get disciminnated against. Quirks influence yourself, and also how others perceive you, and how they react to you. What defines a person is not any one thing, but rather the combination of all of those things. People are defined both by themselves, and the people around them. They both influence each other.
I’m gonna disagree with the folks who say that our main heroes and villains didn’t “close out their character arcs.” Of all the possible criticism, I just don’t get this one because:
Izuku became the greatest hero, even if he only held OFA embers for a short while afterwards
Bakugo saved All Might, admitted to Izuku that he wanted them to stay in the same orbit together, AND selflessly worked with All Might on the new suit for Izuku.
Ochako had a heart to heart talk. She also proved that she is capable of handling the most brutal of fights, as acknowledged by Izuku (and to some extent, the rest of 1A).
Shoto saved his entire family and all the surrounding civilians with his ice because he chose to, free of his father’s influence
Tomura got a few brief moments completely free of AFO’s interference. Not only that, he got to share those moments with Izuku and tell Izuku what was really, truly in his heart
Toya destroyed his father’s hero career and now gets to spend the rest of his life in purgatory with Enji. He also gets a chance to build relationships with his other family members, and at least Shoto is interested
Himiko’s greatest fear was being caught and forced to live in ways that went against her nature. She didn’t want to be a martyr; she simply wanted to be free to make her choices. She chose to die saving Ochako
Spinner wanted a purpose, and he found it in writing his book
Moreover, to the extent anything was left unfinished after the final battle, the epilogue tied it up. Izuku wanted to be a hero that saved people with a smile, and he finished the story that way, “pro” hero and “ordinary” hero.
Ochako had a more scattered “arc,” going from wanting to help her parents make money to saving the heroes to … well, Ochako basically solved the quirk singularity doomsday, allowing kids like Eri and Himiko to grow up with sufficient counseling to live freely in society, which had the knock-on effect of reducing villainy.
And Shoto is achieving his desire to be authentically himself, breaking free from the cycles of abuse in his family. Unlike his father, he treats his fans well, earning the trust and ease his father demanded but never earned.
In other words, the failure to save the lives of Himiko and Tomura, and to save Toya in time to live outside of a hospital, was NOT the endpoint of our heroes’ arcs. The end is how they reacted to that failure and what they chose to do AFTER. Turns out, they never stopped trying to be better heroes and better people while staying supportive and friendly with each other.
…..seems like resilience in the face of failure is a major theme, yeah? Good thing I’ve got more on that next time!!!!!
There are gonna be two parts that are completely different from each other.
At first I wanted to dedicate the last day to the love that I have for this series and revisit some of my favourite memories. But because everyone has something to say about the ending of the series, I decided to also dump whatever I have on my mind.
Especially with the topic of Horikoshi's treatment towards Izuku and the villains.
Because with this fandoms logic:
Killing a beloved character = omg the writer hates them!
Now, if Horikoshi killed them in cold blood without having them find their happiness/purpose/peace, then yes I would agree that this ending sucked.
But I never saw it this way.
Now this is my personal (and very biased opinion) that could be extremely wrong. But at last, BNHA ended and everyone and their mother is talking about it so, here goes nothing.
"The villains didn't get what they wanted"
Tenko/Tomura Shigaraki
"His only desire was to destroy" was it though?
Why don't we go back, to the very beginning of Tenko Shimura.
No, his first ever desire was to become a hero.
"Okay then he should have lived and become heroes with Deku"
.... First of all, I highly doubt that ANY citizen of Japan would be happy to have the guy that was so heavily involved in two deadly wars become one of their heroes. This scene conveys the message perfectly.
So no, he can't become their hero but that ... shouldn't matter anyway because Tenko was already a hero to the villains.
He fought for them, protected them, promised them a new beginning with freedom. The moment where he states his true goal, is still my favourite moment from his character. Because we know that he has been feeling lost. Who was he? Were his thoughts his own or AFO's?
The need to protect them was his. Finally for the first time he's talking straight from him heart, without AFO's influence. Tenko Shimura never wanted to destroy but to save.
Tenko Shimura didn't die being AFO's puppet . His life, his whole existence was planned by him. That's the moment he's breaking free from the AFO shackles and makes his own decision. He's a hero. AFO's desperation to mold him into a heartless super villain gets destroyed by Shigaraki himself.
So Tenko wanted to survive in order to continue being their hero. But here's the problem, the Lov didn't exist anymore. As Tenko was saying how he's the hero of the villains, said villains were either dead (Twice) dying on the battlefield (Toga) and were about to die in a few months (Dabi)
So if not for them then what would keep Tenko alive? His will was to protect them, and he did. You can't blame any of their deaths on him, from his part he did a good job being their leader. He truly cared about them.
His first wish was to be a hero, and a hero he became. Just with a twist. Instead of taking down bad guys, he protected them. He found his purpose before he died.
(Side note) Shigaraki makes his last appearance in the last page of the finale... and I loved it. I didn't get emotional just because he's there but because of what he's wearing.
It's the clothes that he had in the beginning of the series :')
But most importantly, look at his body, the hands of his dead family that AFO forced on him, aren't there anymore.
He's free. He finally found peace.
Twice
All Twice ever wanted was to belong. To have a family. Simple as that but because of who he was he truly thought that it was almost impossible to fit in. But the Lov became his family. The Lov made him feel like he belonged. You can just see how grateful he is as he's slowly dying. He thinks back to his life and states proudly that he had never been unlucky, which is obviously not true.
Twice have been anything but lucky but in his final moments he thinks that he was. Because while yes most of his life was miserable, just by meeting the Lov and have them be a part in his life, he looks back and can only think how lucky he was, to live and meet them. He found his family before he died.
(u can see a pattern here and yes you're right)
Toga Himiko
Toga wanted to be accepted as she was. To have people not judge or get disgusted by her. For someone to understand her. And she found that comfort in Ochako. The line about Togas smile means so much more than what many think.
And I know because it has been meme-ed to death that a lot of people can't take this scene seriously anymore and it is a shame!! Cuz that's what Toga always wanted to hear. Because she was targeted and ridiculed for that same smile and now for the first time there was someone that not only accepted her smile but she thought that she was beautiful, the most beautiful. So come on say it with me, she got what she wanted before she died.
She doesn't think of herself as a monster. No, she's normal and she's the cutest girl in the world!
(ps, I just realised that Twice died in the arms of the person that accepted him the most, Toga. And then Toga also died in the arms of the person that accepted her in the end the most, Ochako)
Dabi/ Toya
He wanted approval. He wanted his father's attention. But he also wanted love (all people who think dabi as a heartless monster can go now!) that boy thought his need for revenge cancelled all his desperation for love but HA NO! And I'm so glad that at the very end you can see his true self shine through. Dabi got Endeavours attention, he had him apologising for everything. He got his family together and the knowledge that Shoto, the brother that he tried to kill on multiple occasions, doesn't hate him, only asks him about his favourite food.
He. Got. What. He. Wanted. Before. He. Died.
I think Izuku, Ochako and Shoto will always live with that burden. When the whole world thinks of these guys as monsters, they can say otherwise.
The public doesn't see little Tenko in the villain Shigaraki. Only Izuku does. Only Izuku has seen a small boy getting abused by his family, and then manipulated by AFO.
The public will not find Togas smile the prettiest but most likely creepy. But Ochako thinks it's beautiful!
And the public couldn't care less about Toyas favourite food because he's just Dabi to them. But that was what Shoto only wanted to know.
Along side Izuku, Ochako, and Shoto stands us, the readers. Just like how these three know what truly these villains were, we also know because we lived through their povs. We've seen them being silly and making jokes, living life as "normally" as possible. We've seen why they ended up becoming villains. And now we have to live with their absence.
Which is why for me Spinner and Mr. Compress are the saddest part.
To question what was the point of the league of villains is like you're insulting them. The point was the happiness that they found. Their home, the place to belong.
Spinners scene is heartbreaking but personally what breaks me the most is Mr. Compress. Yes that small panel of him smiling while reading (probably) the book that Spinner wrote about the Lov. Just seeing the fondness in his smile is enough to convince me that after everything that went down, he doesn't regret it. He doesn't regret the league of villains. It was probably the happiest he'd ever felt in his life. And after 8 years not a single thing could change his mind. He was and still is, happy that he got to meet them.
But then I ask myself, what ending would fit them? A "happy ending" only sounds happy to us. And apparently for BNHA fans:
happy ending = all characters must live.
Would Tenko be happy to know that what awaits him is a life trapped in a prison without the Lov being alive? As if they would ever let him out. So what, Izuku visits to trauma dump on each other and then when it's over Izuku goes back to his happy little life being a Pro Hero, and Tenko goes back to being alone? Trapped in a room with only his thoughts and the remaining trauma? Would that even make him happy? I personally can't think of another ending that doesn't revolve Tenko being thrown in prison. I just go with what sounds more realistic. Trust me, I would LOVE to see him as a Pro Hero alongside Deku and Dynamight. But that's maybe for an alternative universe :')
Toga was (and still kinda is) the one that confused me the most. Hori just kept avoiding to show us any actual evidence of her being dead. It felt like it was building up, that it was going somewhere but at the end she's really gone. But again, same question with Tenko, would Toga be happy as a prisoner for life? I just imagine Ochako visiting her to update on her life and lift her mood, but then again, Toga would only be happy because of Ochako's happiness and not her own. It's tricky, I really really wanted her to live. But at the same time I don't know how it could have been handled.
(Alternative ending: Toga lives, she hides until Ochako becomes a Pro Hero. Then they meet and immediately fall in love and decide to run away together ❤️)
Dabi is the most complicated one. I will say that what we got from chapter 426 was pretty satisfying to me.
It's bittersweet, exactly like I expected it to be.
For Dabi to live, logistically would be impossible. He's quite literally a walking corpse. I'm assuming he died after a few months from chapter 426.
And this is where the open ending solution can be unsatisfying.
I wanna know how he died. Was he alone? Was he crying? Apologizing? Was his family with him? Maybe Shoto? And if yes, then did he apologize to him? Did he die peacefully? :')
That's why open endings can be 50/50 for me. It's nice to leave things up to the readers interpretation but sometimes you just really wanna know what exactly went down.
Izuku Midoriya: Do Not Be Defeated By The Rain
Don't get me wrong, Izuku deserved to have an emotional breakdown. He deserved to be comforted and be told that he isn't a murderer.
It hurts to see him move on while his heart is still heavy with pain.
He needed a hug. Someone to hold him.
But Izuku doesn't allow himself to have an emotional breakdown.
He thinks he completely deserves it.
It's almost like he thinks this:
Breakdown means your heart is complaining about something. You can't complain, that's ungrateful.
(He's still alive while someone else isn't)
You need to stay humble and live with it.
(He said he's fine while feeling slightly lonely for years)
If others are crying, you should go and comfort them.
(Katsuki, Spinner, Ochako)
But don't expect or even wish to be comforted back.
(He never did)
The choices that you made will live alongside you.
(.....)
And the only thing that you can do, is move forward and be grateful even if unhappy.
Sounds awfully familiar, right?
Better dismissed as useless than flattered as a "Great Man"
Izuku stayed true to his character until the very end.
That's Deku for you. A selfless person that will never put himself first, will never truly think of himself as important, will always question his worth and will always downgrade his value.
It's frustrating to watch, it's hard. You love that character so much, you just wanna bang your head against the wall thinking just how much more he deserves.
I don't think Horikoshi is the one that thinks Izuku doesn't deserve to have a moment for himself, it's Izuku himself who's against it.
That's why I'm so glad that even after many years, he's surrounded by the loveliest people that care and want to show him how incredible he is.
He might not want to face it, but he truly is a "Great Man" :)
At the end, you can say and feel however you want. Things could have easily been handled with more care. But this wasn't my or your story. If that's what Horikoshi wanted then I'm ok with it. The open ending leaves so much for us the fans to figure out and get creative with! I'm honestly grateful for that. Now I know for sure that this fandom won't die that easily.
I will be honest with my next topic:
Calling Horikoshi a useless writer and saying things like "put that pen down" and "maybe it's time to retire" is very disrespectful and just plain rude. I get it, you didn't like the ending. But I personally find it too harsh.
People saying that Horikoshi now sucks but used to be good, mind you, the "used to be good" literally refers to a few chapters before the finale. So in a spam of five chapters he became the worst writer possible? No. That's the ending that he had in his mind. Like it or hate it, it shouldn't cancel all of Horikoshi's work.
We all know that he has given us amazing arcs with brilliant characters and backstories. That man knows how to write, he's just not perfect. He's a good writer with flaws. You know, like any other normal human out there?
No matter what ending we'd get, it would never satisfy every single fan.
Some wanted for all the villains to stay alive while others didn't care about their survival.
Some wanted for all the main characters (especially Izuku) to get married with kids and stuff and others (like myself) hated that idea.
Hell some people still wanted Bakugou to end up dead somehow. Or for Izuku to get revenge. For Toga and Ochako to become canon. Katsuki and Izuku to become canon. Mina and Kirishima, Denki and Jirou, Izuku and Ochako... You get the point!
Everybody wanted something different. How on earth could you satisfy a fandom with so many different needs? You simply can't.
I'm not saying that I LOVED the ending. But I also don't think it's a bad ending. Is it rushed? Yes. But is it bad? It depends on who you ask. If you ask me, I wouldn't call it bad at all.
And for the love of god, stop saying that Horikoshi got sick of BNHA and wanted to end it as soon as possible. That he "hates Deku" omfg are you listening to yourselves?
First of all, even if Horikoshi really wanted to end BNHA, that doesn't mean that he hates it! His love and adoration for his series can coexist with his need to move on to something different. It's been ten whole years and I get it. If he wants to create something new I will definitely stick around to see it.
At last, people undermine how worst we could have had it. Getting the ending of a long series right is difficult .
He's still a good writer in my eyes. Not perfect but very good with interesting ideas to share. Overall I enjoyed this ride. And the more time passes the more I like this ending.
I still hope for more material tho. Maybe from team up or light novels? Perhaps any original ova or movie? (I will always beg for a fantasy movie PLEASE BONES JUST DO IT)
Either way I definitely want more from adult class 1A. Headcanons and fanon stories to fill gaps are good but come on Horikoshi 👁️👁️ don't be shy, share some facts with the class.
Ok, so I was thinking to myself and I realized that Mezou Shoji is such an unsung hero in 1-A. Bro’s single-handedly kept the class alive at several points in the story and really deserves more credit.
Here’s a list of things of some of the things he’s done:
1. Snagged half his classmates in the USJ. If it weren’t for him, 1-A couldn’t have destroyed the door and Tenya wouldn’t never gotten to U.A in time
2. Saved Izuku from Himiko.
3. Helped calm down Dark Shadow by carrying Izuku to them.
4. Held out the longest against Nine which allowed Katsuki and Izuku to advance and used his body to shield the two children.
5. Managed to calm down a group of mutant protesters with the power of empathy alone.
Mezou needs more love. Dude’s such a great guy and an interesting character.
The attention to detail in worldbuilding is amazing. This page on All Might's retirement is basically one of the big problems with this society that's relied on him for so long- they barely see him as human. Like the people who put up that "I Am Not Here" sign on his statue, people in this world seem to feel an entitlement to being served by a hero like All Might. They see him not as a human being doing a(n important) job, but as this superhuman, godlike being.
Even after all he's sacrificed for Japan (his life, his internal organs, his physical and mental health), it's not enough for some people. They're so used to relying on his presence that they take it for granted and even feel an entitlement to it.
When anyone brings up how catastrophic the consequences of All Might's retirement are, just because the country has a dependency on him, it makes me think that All Might was terribly misused in-universe. As a single person, while he was an extraordinary deterrent to crime, the series repeatedly makes the point that the issues that create villains were festering under the surface. Really, All Might and his "Symbol of Peace" was a forty year opportunity for the government to take advantage of suppressed crime rates to invest in long term infrastructure surrounding welfare, which would decrease the necessity of All Might over the years rather than creating a dependency.
Instead, for his forty years of saving lives, he gets flak for physically not being able to do it anymore. He gets flak for ageing like a normal person, for not being able to keep up with the demands of an incredibly physical job close to the age of sixty. Even without his injury, even heroes get old at some point.
The part I'm most bitter about is that despite all this, despite this ingratitude, All Might would still die for a stranger without question. He would die for the person who wrote this blurb. He's a man on the front lines. He's not a politician or an administrator or King of the country, responsible for the welfare of the people. But he does every single thing he can to ensure it. He does community service, he goes into active disaster zones, he fights crime. He does the immediate thing, and is criticized in-universe by people who simply don't understand that anything other than that is a waste of his sheer manpower, and the government and governing bodies are at fault for not taking advantage of his work to make the world a better place.
It all builds up to the overall idea that hero society is flawed on both ends. It's not just that heroes (like Endeavor) receive free reign and too much power, it's also the public that treats heroes as something other than human put there to serve them. The welfare of an entire country resting on the shoulders of an institution that is essentially just celebrity law enforcement.
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