top10 things i dislike in the mha 431 extras
1) the big conclusion about hero society and a cast we watched giving their all to become heroes for 430 chapters is that heroes are actually going extinct. 1 single big fight eradicated all serious crime; apparently there're no more societal hardships/prejudices/outcasts human nature of ego/greed or even a criminal underworld to speak of.
to say crime is vanishing when during tomura's fight we were shown many ppl rooting for the villain is insane. it's also unrealistic in every sense that hero/villains are disappearing when quirks canonically keep getting stronger via singularity AND it's only been 8 years to "fix" societal issues.
2) apparently izuku's goal was to be a teacher. he says even if he had ofa he'd choose that, which is ?? something never established or developed before. for the whole series he wanted to be a field hero directly helping and saving ppl but his main goal is switched off screen.
it's not wholly unbelievable that someone's goals would change and becoming a teacher while still being a part time hero is cute. but when you read a story and for 430 chapters the main character's goal is to be X, then after comes an off screen 8 years time skip only to end 431 on Y? the disconnect of such a focal plot point without shown process is insane!
the fact it is strongly implied that this places the wonder duo onto different dream tracks too? it's so jarring to see an extra finishing chapter ideologically splitting them when for the whole series they kept being established to chase the same dream on each other's heels? dreams do change with adulthood but this is a manga you read for a decade that kept establishing a possible partnership, a duo, these two stiving to compete following their childhood dream. so it /is/ jarring to switch suddenly.
3) tying the first 2 points together, one is clashing with the other. the reader supposes that izk chooses teaching bc he indirectly wants to shape the next hero gen.. meanwhile heroes are going extinct. so is he what.. a soon to be math teacher? the 2 themes override each other.
4) katsuki debuted as #4 on the hero rankings but slipped to #15 bc of his temperament. a gag we're familiar with that should no longer apply if society changed. bc not only are the hero rankings still a thing but apparently ppl STILL base it on outward appearances and good marketing? good job!
katsuki is a chara who won every popularity poll in real life for 9 years. to keep the gag that civilians would downvote him based on appearances is nonsensical when he proved himself to be a war hero at 17 years old. he became a chara whose efforts are louder than his mouth but the gag was more established than the actual tangible change in society i guess.
5) katsuki saying everyone is special to izuku, so no one really is special to him sounded like an unfitting pinterest quote bc - for one it's a lie, and two it was said by katsuki who was inarguably the one chara izuku kept treating as someone most special unlike anyone else since age4. it felt so forced, i had to laugh. by logic alone izuku should've realized and cut in that katsuki was always more special to him than most of anyone in his life. yet it's introduced to force a different realization.
6) no allmight. he's a pillar character and yet we don't get a glimpse of him. he was most definitely more special and important to the story than quite a few that got panel time. what's he up to? is he ok? is he teaching? traveling? living with inko? not even a throwaway line on him.
7) no iron suit in real action. for a battle shounen series to me it seems unforgivable that we never see the mc in his cool new gear in explicit action. just a pose panel but no combat, not even some talk about what it's capable of. utter loss of potential.
8) izuku's lack of emotional journey from 16 to 24ys. post war lacked hori exploring loss, grief & catharsis for izk but it seems he never intended to. till the end we never get to talk/see inside izk's head on anything heavy. he's just a smiley ok dude who skipped all that trauma straight to peaceful, enlightened acceptance i guess
9) toga being used to compensate for horikoshi's lack of developing his supposed end game romance. all 3 charas involved deserved better. that moving on was about romance to begin with is was tasteless to me coming from the dead queer-coded character.
10) to say izuku and ochako didn't even keep in contact for 8 years is despicable. that it's worked as a tool for implied endgame romance is even more so. what we actually get to see on page is that they were close friends but hori throws that outta the window, only to make them remember romance 8 years later.
i also hate how its implied that proximity is what make them care about the other. ochako even says she started seeing him only after the suit. so they dropped each other as friends while one was deep in trauma & the other quirkless trying to find his footing. but it's supposed to be a romance now.
+1) hori not even having the spine to own what he put in print. to draw out 38 pages your readers will close the cover on but also imply in your afterword that it can be ignored from canon is spineless. disrespectful to both who like or dislike it bc you didn't stand by either, while those pages will still stay printed there. it felt like a tactic to appease homophobic readers who were bothered by the og open ending not killing off the queer interpretations of neither togachoka nor bkdk, while simultaneously wanting to keep queer people's money who make up most of the fandom who actually spends a lot of money on merch. so. like i said. spineless. out of all points this last one made me hate it all the most.
