A lot of the fandom doesn't seem to ever grapple with the fact that Izuku spent a large portion of the story believing that Bakugou's personality was trash.
Izuku admired Bakugou's strength, competency, and his general vibe of "an image of victory". You can love art and hate the artist. Izuku is a practical person and he can appreciate a person's accomplishments even if he finds them otherwise loathsome. He has even incorporated moves of villains into his arsenal when he found them effective enough.
But Izuku is even worse than Bakugou at verbalizing his emotions and the rabid Bakugou stans would descend if Izuku was honest about how he has felt about Bakugou for most of his life, so this bit of dialogue is likely the closest we'll get to addressing this.
Not being able to understand another person who isn't hurting you is not an excuse for making their life a living hell for a decade. Bakugou would have been well within his rights to avoid Izuku if he was unnerved by him or their values just couldn't align. And if he just pushed Izuku down in the sandbox and told Izuku he couldn't play with them anymore, Bakugou would still be a little brat but nobody reasonable would be calling him abusive.
But that isn't what happened. Even from Bakugou's own words, he actively beat Izuku down again and again. Because he one-sidedly decided Izuku was looking down on him without ever speaking about it, he terrorized an already marginalized person. This isn't about whether Bakugou should have liked or gotten along with Izuku. It's about Bakugou believing he had the right to violently suppress the people around him that didn't fit into his narrative.
Bakugou clearly had deeply rooted insecurities that needed addressed that weren't handled by the people around him because in their society, physical strength is extrapolated to strength in all instances. But that in no way excuses the harm he committed towards others.
Others have mentioned this before, but this only looks like a two-sided brawl at first glance.
Look at the positioning. Izuku is grabbing Bakugou's shirt and trying to create more distance between them with his leg. His other hand is trying to stop Bakugou's attack. It's almost entirely a defensive position. He's trying to get Bakugou off of him or at least trying to create more distance.
Bakugou is putting his hand, the source of his quirk, the weapons grade explosive one, directly on Izuku's face. His other hand is also moving to strike. Bakugou's body language here is all around a threat of extreme violence.
Also, the hand on the face as an act of violence is a go to position for All for One. He put his hand over Yoichi's face when he forced the stockpiling quirk onto him to try to bend Yoichi to his will. Shigaraki spent a good half of the series with a dead hand All for One put on his face. He frequently used a similar hand on face position when he gave or took quirks from people, which he used to control people and spread his influence.
In BNHA, a character covering someone's face with their hand is a symbolic act of suppressing or attempting to control that person.
And this moment is no exception. Bakugou didn't like that Izuku wasn't following the script. Izuku was supposed to be "a useless pebble on the side of the road". So since the beginning of the series, Bakugou was trying to force Izuku into acting in a way that didn't contradict his own worldview.
Previously on BnHA: U.A.’s security robots detected Deku and Kacchan entering Ground Beta after curfew and narced on them to ponytail!Aizawa, who then stepped outside and encountered some mysterious figure. Idk who it is, but probably All Might. Over at Ground Beta, Kacchan was trying to fight Deku, because he’s very conflicted and confused. Partly that’s because Deku used to just be an annoying tagalong brat, but then all of a sudden he got this quirk, and now he’s getting stronger and Kacchan feels like he’s being left in the dust. But even more than that, he’s conflicted because it turns out he blames himself for what happened to All Might. And he doesn’t know what to do, and he feels like fighting Deku is the only way for him to figure out just what it is about Deku that made All Might choose him. Because clearly Deku’s on the right path, and he’s starting to feel more and more like he himself is not. Did I really just meta about Katsuki in the “previously on” section. No, because Katsuki FUCKING METAED ABOUT HIMSELF IN THE PREVIOUS FUCKING CHAPTER YOU GUYS.
anyway so Deku’s gonna fight him. for real.
Today on BnHA: The rival ruckus continues. Deku tells Kacchan he has no intention of being his punching bag in this fight. They go at it. There are lots of explosions and backflips and people being thrown and it’s very cool and intense. Then Deku smiles at the wrong moment, which sets Kacchan off again, and because he still has his feelings algorithms set to “display all”, he starts ranting about how Deku’s attitude (”what attitude?” you ask, and I know, but just keep in mind it’s Kacchan we’re talking about and he has Issues) has always pissed him off. Basically he thinks Deku was always chasing after him despite the bullying because he thought he could surpass him. Deku is startled, and replies that he was chasing after Kacchan because he thought he was amazing. And he gets all fired up when saying this, and loses control of OFA for a moment as a result, and unintentionally ramps Full Cowl up a notch to 8%. And then aims a roundhouse kick right at Kacchan’s face because he’s a badass.
(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 151 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)
all aboard the new volume train, kids!
it’s the new villain on the block! Overhaul! and the volume’s even named after him lol
he reminds me of Agent Smith from The Matrix. “human beings are a disease”
and the title page is Monoma of all fucking people, and. some girl
who tf is this
(ETA: no idea why she’s here tbh. she’s in one chapter for like two pages. Mirio or one of the other Big Three kids would have been a more natural choice, but what do I know)
character page -- OH MY GOD
ALL MIGHT GOT HIMSELF A FUCKING SHIRT THAT FITS WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT
everybody’s kung fu fightin’ and I’m loving it
what the fuck is Tsuyu doing
Ojiro is fucking flexible, man. damn
Iida actually looks really good. this is a good look for him. something about the sleeve length, I think. or maybe not having his shirt tucked in for once in his life
and you know I could go on and on, but Deku and Kacchan are still fighting, so. yeah. Deku’s gotta kick Kacchan until he feels better about being the reason for the downfall of the Symbol of Peace
that’s exactly it. he already talked about it more candidly than he’s ever talked about anything in his life, but he needs some of that good old fashioned shounen style therapy too. he’s always been the type to show his feelings more through actions than words, and to use fighting and training as a release
and Deku’s narration says that looking back on it, his thought process was distorted
“it may have been selfish of me, but I couldn’t let him win without a fight.” that’s okay, he wouldn’t have wanted you to
(ETA: so Fallen Angels and the anime subs translated that line more like “it may have been messed up, but even so, I couldn’t completely reject him,” which I like even better. he knows it’s kind of weird and violent that the only way he can help is by them trying to beat the shit out of other. but after seeing how much he was hurting, he couldn’t just turn his back on him. it’s been noted several times that Deku is the type of person to offer help even when it’s not asked for. so here, now, when Kacchan is asking -- Kacchan, of all people, asking for help, even if he can’t say it directly -- there’s no way he was ever going to be able to say no.)
lkhlklkhkhg
“BAKUDEKU: THE CHAPTER”
yes. good. yes. more about your hidden true feelings that you’ve never exposed, please
also, wow. literally as long as he can remember. he literally has no memories of a life before he knew Kacchan. he’s been the one constant this entire time
ASLDHFAOWHK
BAKUDEKU: THE CHAPTER
lmao. there’s a part of me that kinda wishes this was how it actually went down
but no, they’re much too dramatic for that
so now Kacchan’s using an explosion to propel himself back down toward Deku to hit him, it looks like
but Deku’s jumping out of the way
they both have very acrobatic and quick-moving fighting styles now, so this should be pretty amazing. I almost want to just skip to the anime version right now. but the manga version is plenty exciting as well
(ETA: honestly, the choreography of this fight is just as good as the emotional impact. both of them have extremely dynamic fighting styles which are unique to them, and they both employ them here to their fullest extent. they even utilize their surroundings a bit, like when Deku uses the railing to do a backflip. the art is clean and easy to follow. and it’s exciting. they’re both so, so fun to watch. Katsuki’s movements are always so erratic and yet calculated. but Izuku is only ever getting faster and stronger, and my god. just. so good.
I look forward to the inevitable Deku VS Kacchan 3 when they both decide it’s time for more bonding and/or stress relief later down the line. you know it’s gonna end up becoming a tradition. shit goes down and they need to talk things out? looks like it’s time to head back to Ground Beta again for some good ol’ fightfeels.)
Kacchan’s spiraling toward him! this almost looks like the Howitzer Impact he used during his fight against Todoroki
Kacchan’s swinging at him and Deku’s thinking, “deflect his hand, and – ”
wha
(ETA: I love this move though. now you see me...)
when the fuck did you get that fast
what the
holy shit, dude
okay so. he’s all over the place, so much so that it’s hard to keep up with his movements, but it looks like he went up and over and behind Deku, and then did a spinning attack and hit him in the stomach
and now he’s speeding toward him, and Deku doesn’t even have time to even catch his breath
dude, being fast is like your entire thing right now, get it together
better
(ETA: I also love this move! especially in the anime because it’s so fast. this whole sequence is really fast-paced actually. it’s only 23 seconds from when the fighting starts up till when Bakugou knocks Deku into the railing. but then from Deku hitting the railing to when Kacchan comes barreling after him is only two seconds lol. he is not fucking around. it was either flip or die for poor Deku there.)
Kacchan’s not missing a trick though!
damn boy
(ETA: so this is the part where Kacchan throws Deku so hard that he himself also goes flying back from the force of it. imagine throwing someone so hard that you end up concussing yourself. somewhere out there All Might is watching that and wincing.)
what happened to “I’m not gonna be your punching bag” lol
Deku’s thinking that his usual method is to predict his enemy’s movements and then go from there, but Kacchan’s not giving him enough time to do it. Kacchan moves on reflex, and he’s gotten even faster than he used to be
(ETA: so here’s the thing about Japanese -- most of the time in informal conversation, people don’t really use pronouns all that much. they kinda just say the rest of the sentence, and you have to infer from the context who or what they’re talking about. and most of the time it’s simple enough. but every so often, you have dialogue like this where it’s actually really hard to tell. in this particular case, both of the manga scanlations translated this line as Deku saying Kacchan has gotten stronger. but in the anime, they went with the opposite. “my speed and reaction time has gotten better than before. it’s only natural, but I’ve gotten stronger.”
and the thing is, I can’t for the life of me decide which one I think it actually is. because they both seem to fit?? idk, I think they’ve both gotten stronger at any rate. Kacchan’s flying around like a pinball, but Deku is doing a fairly good job of evading him even though he doesn’t have time to think. on top of that, it’s equally in character for Deku to admire Kacchan’s strength as it is for him to get competitive and realize that he’s gotten better. so who even knows. just, good job both of you, I guess.)
Kacchan’s yelling at him again lol. “I thought you said you weren’t gonna be my punching bag”
that’s what I said. so far this is more one-sided than I was expecting
okay but so far you pretty much have been, so do you want to mix it up a bit or
ahhhh Kacchan’s hitting him with his stun grenade attack. the one he blasted Todoroki with during the festival
he’s coming at Deku again and bitching about how he never knows what he’s thinking
this entire fight is just “all of Kacchan’s feelings about Deku: the fight.” alt title: “everything makeste has ever wanted from this series since chapter one”
-- YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
[SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE AND JUMPS OUT OF MY FUCKING SEAT]
KACCHAN ARE YOU CONFIRMING MY FUCKING THESIS ON YOU GUYS because I’M ABOUT TO FUCKING START SCREAMING OVER HERE. I CAN’T HOLD IT IN
(ETA: you know, sometimes I wonder how different the series would look in an alternate universe where Kacchan was the narrator. an unreliable narrator, obviously. but I’d just be so curious to see a portrayal of Izuku as seen from Katsuki’s perspective. to see him depicted as this quietly disdainful and self-righteous person that Katsuki’s apparently seen him as for such a long time. I wonder if it would even be possible to do it without significantly altering the canon dialogue and events. because you sure do have to jump through some weird mental hoops in order to view him that way. but I just wonder what it would be like to read a version of Act 1 of BnHA from Katsuki’s perspective, with him being the main character who’s destined to be the number one hero, only to have him gradually gain more self-awareness as things progress, and slowly come to realize that he’s not quite the protagonist he sees himself as.
the thing is though that it’s really hard to justify any of Katsuki’s behavior in the first chapter of the series, no matter what perspective you’re looking at it from. like, and when I say “hard to justify”, I actually mean there is no justifying it. lines are not so much crossed as they are viciously blasted away with that familiar shout of “DIE!” he burns Deku’s notebook, he threatens him with his quirk, and oh yes, then there’s that whole “take a swan dive off the roof” thing. not a good look. I honestly still can’t figure how he managed to justify that in his own mind -- if he even tried -- no matter how much he thought Deku was looking down on him. I just assume that was pretty much the culmination of years and years of escalating thug behavior. but still. yikes.
but anyway! the lovely thing about people is that they’re allowed to be flawed. and they’re allowed to change, and become better people, even after making lots of mistakes. they can learn and take responsibility and move forward. and Katsuki, who is very flawed, has indeed done a lot of learning, and is right now on the cusp of undergoing a huge change. and it sure hasn’t been a quick or easy process, but it has been earned. and he’s had some help and guidance along the way (thank you, All Might. and Aizawa, too. and Kirishima. and last but certainly not least, this little green boy right here), but his personality is such that a lot of it still had to be figured out the hard way. he’s stubborn, has absolutely no self-awareness to speak of, and he has trouble seeing past himself and his own point of view. so the whole thing has ended up involving a lot of shouting and struggling, as well as a lot more violence than one would normally expect to accompany most life lessons.
but he’s getting there. to paraphrase Kouda’s pet rabbit, “to call him a good person might be a bit of a stretch, but he definitely isn’t a bad person either.” and he’s trying. he’s finally willing to swallow his pride, and that’s such a difficult thing to do, and so important.
and meanwhile poor Deku though. as ever, the victim in all of this. the one who’s gotten to bear witness to most of this character development process firsthand. because he’s been right there on the front lines putting up with the shouting and the struggling, and certainly more than his fair share of the violence. because he absolutely is a good person, who cares about my trash son very much in spite of everything, and god bless. we don’t deserve you, Izuku. sob.)
Deku is just standing there fucking speechless for a second. he can’t even believe it
DEKU I HAVE HEAPS AND HEAPS OF NOTES ABOUT IT OMG
OH MY GOD NOW DEKU IS FIRING BACK WITH HIS OWN FEELINGS ABOUT KACCHAN. I SEE YOUR META AND RAISE YOU ONE COUNTER-META
jesus fucking christ oh my god
can you imagine if these guys had ever, even just once, actually tried to just fucking talk everything out. Katsuki why are you so fucking bad with emotions
and even Deku was so overwhelmed by his own feelings that he didn’t know what to do with them. so he just kept on getting bullied by you and hiding behind trees and watching you be amazing and writing about you in his diary
I really hope All Might is watching this and being like, yessssssssss! and also smacking his forehead at how fucking stupid they are
(ETA: I would kill to watch an All Might face journey of his reactions to this fight)
anyways, this isn’t the first time Deku’s told Kacchan that he thinks he’s amazing, but maybe, just maybe, Kacchan is actually capable of listening this time and not just automatically dismissing it because he still thinks Deku is looking down on him
well he seems to have gotten his second wind!
oh shit, the narration is cutting back in and narrator!Deku is saying that his emotions got all worked up “and my control was slightly disrupted”
please do not fucking break your fucking leg and/or hurt Katsuki please
!!!!! hold up
-- okay so he’s definitely going beyond five percent, but he seems to be doing it instinctively because his body knows it can handle it omg
-- oh my god I laughed
just. I mean yeah, judging by the difference between zero and five percent, adding even another three percent here is definitely gonna amp things up. but it still sounds so fucking ridiculous lmao
anyway
(ETA: there’s a really nice touch in the anime where flashback!Deku’s expression here subtly changes to a soft smile as he continues to chase after Kacchan. and just. have I mentioned that we don’t deserve Deku, though?? because we really don’t. omg.)
haha! wow
okay let’s do the bonus quickkkk must read more. till the end
it’s the girl from before. was I not supposed to read this yet?? I have no idea who she is still
(ETA: that’s right, past me. you done fucked up. she’s not till chapter 121. that’s what you get for being in such a damn hurry to get to admittedly my favorite chapter of all time.)
anyway her name is Pony and she’s Japanese-American. I wonder what her quirk is. look at those damn shoes
“her face has changed quite a bit since she first appeared” I wouldn’t know. I got nothin’ here
There already was plenty of chapter 119 analysis so I will keep it short.
Basically it's resolving of issues that was pointed in chapter 63.
Katsuki quits denial, and openly reveal his fear towards Izuku.
Izuku quits antipathy, and express his envy. Yes I think he shows more envy than admiration in this panels. It's not malicious but it's envy never theless.
So hopefully much anticipated leap for both in the end of this fight is coming.
I know I haven’t posted in a while, but I recently got into reading my her academia. And this is something I really wanted to get off my chest before I go to the land without internet again.
In the previous chapter, the cover page looked like this ^^^ and then a super cool fight ensued.
I kinda want their fight devolve into this, a petty fight, where they try to land as many physical blows as possible. Not even relying on their quirks.
