#ask & reply

[itsnothingofinterest]

The implication that society at large hasn't learned a thing from its Original Sin (Shigaraki's backstory) is making me ill... Between this and Touya/Dabi's ending, I feel like I'm reading the ending of a tragedy from an Outsider POV or the bad ending path in some video game and being told to Suck It Up Buttercup, because this is a Good Ending Actually!! I've never felt more insulted reading the ending of a story...

Oh same here; a part of me is even beginning to wonder that you might be on to something labeling the whole story a tragedy. The more closely you look into things, the more it looks like every aspect of this ending is a tragedy underneath a thin veneer of “well things are happy and the day is saved now.” I’m almost suspecting if it’s on purpose.

Dabi was beaten, and now Touya is stuck in cenobite cosplay in prison as he lives out the rest of his single digit days letting his abuser talk at him while the rest of the Todorokis wait to hear that the eldest son has died once again.

Anyone considering that the next AFO or Tomura could be out there is taking the exact opposite approach from correct; saying they need to not be sympathetic and instead close their hearts to such a person to better persecute them, driving such folk to villainy faster.

We don't know what happened to Toga but the faces we've seen on Uraraka these past few chapters do not fill me with hope.

We started out with a 4-digit, maybe even 5-digit hero figure when this all started, and the only solution we’ve seen anyone think of (and only as a joke) is to fill the streets with more heroes. Otherwise you can’t fix this; Deku’s talk with AM and Taukauchi ends concluding that you can’t prevent these tragedies.

That sucks when the end of humanity is coming sometime in the next century; just far enough away that no one cares, just close enough that no one can stop it. And though a cure was developed, Deku smashed it to dust and scattered it to the winds alongside the guy he vowed to save; and when the end comes, likely no one will know that Tomura could have prevented this.

It feels poetic how much this reflects hero society as a whole, how much it repeats everything Tomura said in real time. All this present tragedy and future disaster swept under the rug of “but the big bad villain is dead, smashed to pieces by the next symbol, the day is saved, isn’t it?” I once thought MHA was supposed to be optimistic. It has not turned out that way. But it might turn around my opinion on Hori’s writing if that turned out to be on purpose.

...But that might be too much to hope for.

[majikalconcepts]

30 Music Asks...

(1) A song I like with a color in the title.

(2) A song I like with a number in the title.

(3) A song that reminds me of the summertime.

(4) A song that reminds me of someone you would rather forget about.

(5) A song that I love to play loud.

(6) A song that makes me want to dance.

(7) A song I love to zone out & drive to.

(8) A song that makes me happy.

(9) A song that makes me sad.

(10) A song that I will never get tired of hearing.

(11) My favorite song from the 70′s.

(12) My favorite song from the 80′s.

(13) My favorite song from the 90′s.

(14) A song that I reminds me of the winter time.

(15) A song that I love that is a cover song.

(16) One of my favorite classical song/pieces.

(17) A duet song I would sing with somebody else on karaoke.

(18) A song I like cause it was sampled by a hip-hop artist.

(19) A song from an artist I hate or dislike.

(20) A song that I love that I always thought was by another artist.

(21) My favorite song with a person’s name in the title.

(22) A song from one of my favorite movies.

(23) A song that I think everybody should listen to.

(24) A song by a band (which the artists are still alive) that I wish were still together.

(25) A song by an artist I had a crush on.

(26) A song that makes me want to fall in love.

(27) A song that creeps me out or gives of negative vibes.

(28) A song by an artist with a voice that I love.

(29) A song from the very first album I bought as a kid.

(30) A song from a genre of music I don’t care for.

This seems cool, ask me any of these questions, and I’ll reply with the answer & maybe a youtube video.  I’ll try anything different to break from the normalcy, if you just have a request for something ask away.

[itsnothingofinterest]

So now that the stories basically over I’m starting to think horikoshi never wanted to actually make any commentary or do anything with the societal issues and he only had them there out of obligation. We know horikoshi is a huge fan of American media especially comics. A lot of what he brought up, discrimination and mutant racism villains who are also victims and you can see where they’re coming from like magneto domestic issues with neglectful and abusive fathers and lingering trauma following a legacy, all of it is in comics that have been trying to make commentary on society and bring up actual societal issues. Maybe horikoshi really was just making a story with what he thought was cool in the moment, and he included all that stuff just because it’s been in media he’s consumed before and he was writing what he knows. Maybe since the start all the theorycrafting people has been for nothing and Horikoshis end goal was always no matter how bad stuff is as long as individuals can be good everything will work out just fine and everything will get better. I dunno just rambling here since the manga is ending so soon.

Honestly, I could see a bit of these arguments. This whole epilogue had made Horikoshi, an author I really respected the writing of not too long ago, come off as a bit of a hack.

I don't think it's quite as simple as him just throwing in whatever he thought was cool or what comic books make look interesting; I personally suspect it may have started out more as "what motivates these villains that they'd fight so hard for," but I do think he put a lot of thought into these set-ups and circumstances hat led the villains to think destroying society was the right & reasonable way to go about things. One thing he was really good at was finding logical conclusions to a society of super powers; stuff like quirk marriages, prejudice against people who's powers make them ugly, or dangerous, or suck, and especially the consequences of "Super Hero" being a professional industry.

His problem was just that he had no idea how to solve these things at all, least of all by teenagers (teenagers who're minor celebrities by the end, but also sidekicks at best). So the villains, who he set to to get saved to make the kids seem more heroic, die anyway because that's all the kids could do for them. And then everything that needed fixing just solves itself because of ~good vibes~ and 'zomg Deku's so inspirational' that suddenly no one is awful anymore (again, read in this tone). And for some reason it never occurs to Hori that he could've had his villains live and go free through means as contrived as heroes getting free time because of those ~good vibes~.

In short, Horikoshi could write this stuff once upon a time; but his main problem looks to me that he simply couldn't write satisfying resolutions to the society-scale issues he set up and stick the landing to save his life.

[itsnothingofinterest]

Any predictions for the next chapter, or from this wrap up in general?

I’m gonna be honest; with Shigaraki dead, who knows how many of the League with him or soon to follow, and most of Class 1A ending their arcs as a disappointing collective carbon copy of the last generation, I’m not too interested. And that may hinder my ability to predict what little we have left, let alone to any enjoyable capacity.

The only real prediction I can make is about how the wrap up will take every implication or consequence of the kids’ failure to save or change and…continue to ignore them, brush them under the rug that is this feeling of how much the ‘day has been saved’ we’re being given.

I’m talking zero mention of corruption in the hero industry, no talk about the folks heroes aren’t around to save despite inspiring complacency & dependency, nothing to make us think villains won’t be treated worse after how Twice, Machia, and Shigaraki were treated, and you better believe they won’t bring up the Singularity Doomsday.

(Or, potentially more infuriatingly if it’s done poorly*, they actually will bring up some of the League’s old talking points…most of which no one on the heroes side have ever been shown caring about and weren’t really brought up in the final arc at all…and it’s all to talk about how they’re handling it the right way tm, which we learn is super easy for them. Turns out Shoji really can solve all of quirks racism by just being super inspiring at bigots, maybe with some finger wagging at them if he’s feeling daring**; don’t know why Spinner’s mob thought they needed to riot like that. And Shoto just made a few calls, gave a speech maybe, and now heroes abusing their power and/or families is a thing of the past; sure makes the lengths Touya went to seem silly.

Ugh, I’m getting a migraine just typing that out.)

And it’ll all end with future Deku saving some kid lost in the streets like Tenko Shimura, and we’ll be asked to just pretend that means every kid like Tenko Shimura gets saved from now on…even though that’s not how his backstory or criticism of the system worked at all. Remember: ‘the day is saved, so don’t think about it too hard.’

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*Which I expect it would be.

**Which he will not.

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If, after seeing me say that I don't want an ending where they do nothing but also don't want an ending where they do everything, you're wondering what ending I'd be satisfied with…I honestly couldn't tell you.

I should want an ending where they change and improve things; but after spending a sizable fraction of MHA's total length effectively fighting against change and improvement because it was villains trying to shepherd it in while the heroes were always talking about rebuilding it all back to normal to the very end (including just last chapter), I don't know how Hori could pull that off without it feeling like bad writing. And unless that writing gets bad enough for Tomura to return from dust, I don’t much care for that idea either.

[itsnothingofinterest]

Hey hope you're doing ok with the recent bnha discourse?

Still holding out hope for shigaraki/tenko and good writing 👍👍

Can I ask you, if you ever find it kind of off-putting (like I do) when some bnha fans commit to the idea that Deku and the other younger heroes will be the ones to change their society for the better, after the villains are killed?

As if purely heroic methods were really capable of changing hero society, when the very best that the innocent people in bnha have done from their constant protectors, the heroes, is toss the hero kids a shirt and some dollar store med. Items??

(To say nothing of the government corruption that came to be under All-might's nose, that Deku and the other heroes haven't thought about once.)

And they honestly believe that's the best outcome...

It feels either very optimistic or unknowing at best, and completely ignorant at worst.

Do you think so or differently?

Oh yeah, no I totally get what you mean; it kinda looks like we’re on course for a lot to get worse actually. And it all comes back to how poorly they handled the villains; both their talking points, and their failure to save them.

We just have not been given any indication that the next gen are going to do anything better than their predecessors; they're ending their arcs side by side with them as equals and partners after all.

Rather than improving things, they're basically a carbon copy of the last generation; which I feel is exemplified in how the final battle of this war ending in a retread of Kamino. Except like I said, in some areas it feels like it'll just get worse. This retread of Kamino ending not in an arrest, but in a murder; something I find very worrying given Deku's status as the next symbol (which, despite all criticism of All Might in the same roll, Deku has become anyway) because of the impact that'd have on treatment of villains by the heroes Deku inspires. Add in their treatment of Machia & their support of Hawks' handling of Twice and it just doesn't look good. Oh and if that same crowd gets wind of his status as 'The Greatest Hero Who Saves By Putting You Out Of Your Misery' that'll be even more catastrophic. (Especially once the Singularity doomsday starts up for real.)

Meanwhile, what little progress has been made on a societal level is either purely for the heroes benefits, like the civilians acting more grateful to the heroes (and as you say, the results of that are pretty middling, amounting to first aid & a shirt); or else maybe baby steps in the right direction like Shoji's answer to the heteromorph plot. Baby steps they do not have time for, mind you. And even then, that's still a 'maybe' because Shoji's not actually planning anything different from normal hero activity: just be inspiring and hope people follow your example. Meanwhile everything else societal that brought us here, corruption in the system, poor treatment or handing of quirks, general prejudice; it's all just gone unaddressed.

Probably because the points with which they used to be addressed, the League, instead got their plot points changed to revolve around motives more personal, less serious, less justifiable, and more easily addressable by the kids. Y'know; Toga's plot used to be about society's treatment of the other but then was about her wanting love, Dabi's was about people in power abusing their power but then was about him wanting attention, and Shigaraki's was about the lie of hero society and the complacency of the people it inspired, but Deku couldn't do anything about that so instead it because about Tenko's hatred towards his house. But then Deku still couldn't do anything about that so instead it became about Tenko's self-hated. And then Deku still couldn't address that either all too well, really, so we instead got 'It was AFO All Along'; and that Deku could handle with trivial ease. What self-respecting All Might clone couldn't punch AFO?

To use a metaphor I think Tomura would appreciate; it's like they all turned on easy mode, and Deku especially turned on baby mode, and it feels like we're all going to get the bad ending as a result of them skipping so many side-quests, dialogue trees, or special objectives. Personally speaking, any hope I had in things turning around was based in how the villains would be handled, both a) because I expected how they were handled would reflect how their societal motives would be handled(i.e. how Deku saved Tenko would inform us of how he'd save other Tenkos), and b) because I expected they'd need the help and perspective.

Needless to say, I've not been left with much hope that things will turn around.

So yeah, right there with you hoping Tomura could somehow come back, partially because that's the only part of this ending that feels salvageable even by his long-shot odds. But boy is the rest a mess of unfortunate implications beneath the veneer of how "The Day is Saved"...Man, Deku really is an All Might clone.

[itsnothingofinterest]

Oh wow so my hero is ending in five chapters, any idea what those five chapters will be? We know we have that new stranger and the todoroki household to deal with so what else could they cover?

Well there’s obviously a lot to go over, but I expect some things (todofam) to get a lot more focus and page space than others (Gentle and Nagant) so to focus my answers on, well, what I expect to be the focus:

One chapter (426) will be, as I think we all can tell, the Todoroki resolution. Talked about my expectations/ worries for that here.

Next (427) will probably feature Uraraka & whatever happened to Toga in some way. Although since Hori dosn't always treat her the best (I mean I do think her villain fight was the best, but I don’t believe that was on purpose), I wouldn't be surprised if her chapter shares page time with other student plot lines, whatever happened to Spinner and/or the heteromorph plotline, and other miscellaneous stuff like Gentle getting released from prison.

Mystery person I'll bet will probably actually be two chapters (428 & 429): a) because it's Midoriya's resolution and b) because it'd naturally need more time for that; introducing a new character and all, bit of backstory to explain why they were tied up in some house and had to cut themselves loose with with sissors. Especially if it goes the way I except; mystery guy's a poor jaded victim-villain on their way to becoming the next Tomura, but Deku will save them and it'll be presented as though that means society is now improved such that it won't fail any more future Tenko Shimuras. ...Even though a) that's a hard sell after murdering Tenko Shimura in the arc that was specifically representing how thing will go from now on and b) that idea entirely misses the point of Tenko Shimura's story. But even giving this two dedicated chapters, that's the best Deku can really do so...guess you've still just got to hope a hero's around to save you. If not; sucks to suck, good luck with villainy and/or dying.

And uh, last chapter (430 if all our math is right) will probably just be your standard fare “5 or so years later" chapter about everyone as pro heroes. Everything is great and fine and so much better for no real reason and they'll all live happily ever after for anyone still alive; The End.

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Although if I may be spiteful; one thing I hope doesn’t get touched on is the quirk singularity doomsday plot line. Because as is, it still looks like the best case is for humanity to become an endangered species as soon as around the time of Class 1A’s eventual retirement (presumably their last decade or two spent dealing with panic over that). All because hero society refused to look where things are bad or inconvenient; and just when a solution, a treatment & cure to this condition was available to them anyway…Deku smashed it into dust because that’s the only way the little All Might clone could conceive of to beat the big bad villain.

And again, I know this is spiteful, but I rather like the idea of Deku murdering Tomura having such a serious consequence.

[itsnothingofinterest]

You know, honestly the LoV should have won the Paranormal Liberation War and annihilated most of the Class 1A and the hero society as a whole. I didn't like Class 1A because nobody died and plot armor saved them too many times so I want the LoV to win in the PLF War Arc.

While I can't say I’m a big proponent to any of the kids dying, especially when they…used to be…the best chance the story had at changing things in the next generation. (Definitely should’ve killed more pro heroes though, especially Endeavor.) But that other stuff?

Yeah, yeah I think the first war should’ve ended in a far more decisive villain victory. Especially one where they get to be in charge a bit.

Like, people came away from the first war thinking the heroes lost, and certainly it was their worst showing of an operation in living memory. But did they lose? Certainly not. The villains lost over 99% of their forces including many of their power players that could’ve taken on pro heroes solo and won. Sure they picked up more later for the 2nd war, but most of these replacements were USJ-tier nobodies at best. Meanwhile the heroes only lost half their numbers...and most were just due to cold feat in the aftermath. Actual casualties were, as I recall, a few dozen or so? Maybe in the low hundreds?

And I think that’s quite a missed opportunity. I’d have loved to see what things could’ve been like with Shigaraki on his rubble throne; let the PLF put their money where their mouths were and make the easier-to-live-in world Toga kept talking about. I think it could’ve been a great way to show the flaws that were supposed to be in their approach, maybe see why things can’t get better through their kind of violent upheaval or what ways they aren’t equipped to govern; but maybe also highlight some more flaws in the existing system by having the PLF focus hard on fixing them or maybe fixing a few easily. Just one "man, why didn't we do that?" situation could've been really cool & interesting.

Instead we got a period where nobody was in charge…well, actually more accurately the heroes and their government were still in charge in theory, but they were doing it badly because they failed once so a bunch of people lost so much faith that they stopped listening and chose to live in localized effective anarchy instead. But then the heroes prove themselves again and it all went back to normal.

(Man, putting it like that makes the hero system seem like the stock market if it was law enforcement.)

Anyway, because we didn’t really get to see what the villains’ world would be like, I still kind of think a resolution where Shigaraki triumphed over everyone and came out on top as ruler would’ve been the 2nd best ending for everything we could’ve gotten. (1st was of course one where heroes and villains work together for a best of both worlds resolution. 3rd by a wide margin is the one we got where everything goes back to as it was and trucks along to doomsday. And 4th was the one where AFO pulls a win out his ass.) Because, considering how aware the PLF are of the existing system’s flaws and their want to correct them; I can’t think of much solid criticism for their hypothetical governance that are not themselves purely hypothetical worst-case assumptions. I mean, besides ‘it’s wrong to get there through such violence’…and this is a shonen action manga where All Might ushered in an age of peace after beating up enough of AFO’s goons. A message like that’d always read a little hollow.

I can’t help but think that’s not the impression I was supposed to get towards the idea of the League being in charge and trying to make their easier world, but it’s the one I got anyway because there's not much to disprove it. Whoops.

Besides, the Paranormal Liberation War arc really was the villains' arc; if anyone had earned a true win by the end, it was them.

[itsnothingofinterest]

Does it feel like kurogiri is kind of an after thought, like horikoshi suddenly remembered oh right I have to wrap this up and said alright he talks to his two buds remembers who he was and makes portals to save the day by getting the heroes to deku.

Oh I totally get what you mean. I've talked a bit about this before, but just look at how his plot line was resolved: while every other hero's been putting their all into trying to talk their villain foils down (sometimes failing and having to resort to violence while then acting like they solved this peacefully by reaching out); Aizawa just grabs Kurogiri's head in his hands, talks about their memories and school days...to Yamada, and then Shirakumo is suddenly on their side and helping them out. This all takes 4 pages.

Or, actually I have to ask, is Shirakumo back and on their side? Because the way he/it's been acting and the way Aizawa and Yamada talk about him half the time since ch. 420, it can feel less like Shirakumo's back on the hero side and more like they found a way to hack one of the villain's tools to use for themselves. He's had exactly one word of dialogue since he warped those two away the first time, and even even now Aizawa's talking about how long their grip on him will last so they gotta use him while they can. It's all pretty dehumanizing.

(Either way it's clear the Kurogiri personality's been totally brushed aside. He'd never warp heroes in to attack villains, especially Tomura; and its not like he could've known AFO took him over again.)

Well maybe something interesting could still happen to him to make up for how rushed his plot was in 420, since it looks like something's up with him. A pessimistic part of me is worried he'll just fall over dead soon, leaving Aizawa & Mic to come to the bittersweet conclusion that at least he can finally rest in peace. (But you know, who cares about anyone from the League that cared about Kurogiri?) But the overwhelmingly optimistic part of me is hoping that he'll instead reawaken his Kurogiri personality (with or without merging with the Shirakumo personality) and warp in Dabi, Toga, & Spinner. I even think this has a good chance of happening, since it feels fair to say they're maybe needed to save Tomura at this stage; but conversely I don't think any hero, besides maybe Deku, would even think to ask for them. Kurogiri's the best person here to conclude: "You know who'd be really helpful here right about now? The League of Villains!"