The TodoFam in BNHA Vol. 1 Chap. 006 - What I Can Do for Now (今 僕に出来ることを Ima Boku ni Dekiru Koto o)
Release date: August 11, 2014 (WSJ Issue 37-38, 2014)
Let’s look at what the manga shows us first:
Observation notes:
The test continues and we only catch two glimpses of Shōto in his gym suit in which he doesn’t do anything noteworthy. Horikoshi is likely trying to save the revelation of Shōto’s power and abilities for a better moment.
Cultural notes:
Gakkensai (学研災 “Personal Accident Insurance for Students Pursuing Education and Research”): it is a supplemental insurance policy for students which protect them in case they get hurt and that covers physical injuries or accidents of sudden, unexpected, or external origin during educational and research activities. Illness is not covered by this policy except in the case where toxic substances are accidentally inhaled, absorbed, or consumed or you suffer a physical impediment as a result of sunstroke or heatstroke. The policy covers incidents occurring during educational and research activities, school commute, transit between school facilities, or during clinical training. While U.A. High has Recovery Girl that can fix most injuries, considering later it will be revealed she can fix everything and the dangers the training poses, this insurance policy should be really good. It is worth to note in Japan teachers and school are responsible if a student gets injured... however it can be really hard to have them take responsibility as they often try to turn the blame on the student who should have known better (basically Midoriya shouldn’t have used his Quirk and should have said he needed to go to the infirmary) and often, if someone tries to press charges, the most one can get out of it is an apology from a teacher.
Hobaku buki (捕縛武器 “capture weapon”): this is how is called Aizawa’s scarf, which is made of carbon fiber woven with a special alloy. The whole thing is basically a “cloth fu trope”, a trope that has a character uses a piece of stray cloth as a weapon but the idea of the stray cloth comes from the ‘tenne’ (天衣 “heavenly garment”), a floating strip of cloth draped around the shoulders and sometimes floating like some sort of holy halo of statuary of various Buddhist (or related) deities over the centuries, such as on Niō statues or, later, statues of Raijin and Fūjin, among others or supernatural beings such as youkai, demons, ascended humans, angels. In some myths this cloth gave who would wear it the ability to fly.
Hojōjutsu (捕縄術 “Rope grabbing”): a traditional Japanese martial art dedicated to restraining or immobilizing a person using rope in which the Japanese police is trained. It is generally performed differently from how Aizawa used his capture weapon but it could have still inspired the idea behind it.
Teaching notes:
The first thing Aizawa basically teaches his students is that the world is unfair and that their job as future Heroes is to overcome that unfairness.
Uraraka Ochako ‘Saikai josekitte…! Nyūgaku shonichi desu yo!? Iya, shonichi janakute mo… rifujin sugiru!!’ 麗日お茶子「最下位除籍って…！入学初日ですよ！？いや、初日じゃなくても…理不尽すぎる！！」 Uraraka Ochako “Being expelled for being the lowest ranked student...! On the first day of school!? No, even if it wasn’t the first day... it’s just too unfair!!”
Aizawa Shōta ‘Shizen saigai… dai jiko… migattena teki (read: VILLAIN)-tachi… itsu doko kara kuru ka wakaranai yakusai. Nihon wa rifujin ni mamire teru. Sōiu rifujin (read: PINCH) o kutsugaeshite iku no ga HERO. Hōkago MAC de danshō shitakattanara o ainiku. Korekara sannenkan, U.A. wa zenryoku de kimi-tachi ni kunan o atae tsudzukeru. Sarani mukō e “Plus Ultra” sa. Zenryoku de norikoete koi.’ 相澤消太「自然災害…大事故…身勝手な敵（ヴィラン）たち…いつどこから来るかわからない厄災。日本は理不尽にまみれてる。そういう理不尽（ピンチ）を覆していくのがヒーロー。放課後マックで談笑したかったならお生憎。これから三年間、雄英は全力で君たちに苦難を与え続ける。さらに向こうへ〝Plus Ultra〟さ。全力で乗り越えて来い。」 Aizawa Shōta “Natural disasters... major accidents... selfish villains... calamities that can strike at any time and from any direction. Japan is full of unreasonable/irrational/unjust things. Heroes are there to overcome such unreasonable/irrational/unjust things (pinches) If you were hoping to chat at Mc(Donald)’s after school, I’m sorry. For the next three years, U.A. will continue to give you hardships with all its might. Plus Ultra beyond. Do your best and overcome them.” [Chap. 6]
All Aizawa says doesn’t mean Heroes have to find a way to erase ‘rifujin’ (理不尽 “unreasonable/irrational/unfair things” so the world will stop being unfair, or, with a label that would be more fitting of Aizawa, irrational, just that when they are placed in an irrational, unfair situation they have to overcome it on their own. No one of the kids is encouraged to think to a solution to change the irrational/unfair rule Aizawa set, they are all encouraged to not end up in the last place so as not to be expelled. This will basically be one of the themes of BNHA, irrationality/unfairness doesn’t have to be erased but overcome through hard work. We will see who can’t do it will end up becoming a Villain.
It is an important thing because normally, we would expect Heroes in training to be taught they should try to make the world fair and just, while here they are just told to accept the world is unfair and unjust and that they still have to win despite it.
Aizawa Shōta ‘Mita toko… “kosei” o seigyo dekinai ndaro? Mata kōdō funō ni natte dareka ni tasukete morau tsumoridatta ka?’ 相澤消太「見たとこ…〝個性〟を制御できないんだろ？また行動不能になって誰かに救けてもらうつもりだったか？」 Aizawa Shōta “From what I can see... you can't control your ‘Quirk’, right? Were you planning to become incapacitated again and have someone save you?”
Midoriya Izuku ‘So~tsu, sonna tsumori ja…!’ 緑谷出久「そっ、そんなつもりじゃ…！」 Midoriya Izuku “I-I didn't mean it that way...!”
Aizawa Shōta ‘Dōiu tsumoride mo, mawari wa sō sezaru o enaku naru tte hanashida. Mukashi, atsukurushī HERO ga dai saigai kara hitori de sen'nin'ijō o sukuidasu to iu densetsu o tsukutta. Onaji ban'yū demo… omae no wa hitori o tasukete DEKUnobō ni naru dake. Midoriya Izuku, omae no “chikara” ja HERO ni hanarenai yo.’ 相澤消太「どういうつもりでも、周りはそうせざるをえなくなるって話だ。昔、暑苦しいヒーローが大災害から一人で千人以上を救い出すという伝説を創った。同じ蛮勇でも…おまえのは一人を救けて木偶の坊になるだけ。緑谷出久、おまえの〝力〟じゃヒーローにはなれないよ。」 Aizawa Shōta “No matter what your intentions are, those around you will be forced to do the same. Long ago, a smug hero created a legend by single-handedly saving over a thousand people from a major disaster. Even if you have the same bravery... you'll only be able to save one person before you become a Deku, a puppet/good for nothing. Midoriya Izuku, your ‘power’ won't make you a hero.” [Chap. 6]
Aizawa’s lesson in pragmatism is important on one side, as Midoriya destroying himself each time he uses his Quirk isn’t something that can be accepted. The game is not worth the candle. On the other side there are some things to consider.
First of all Aizawa says the problem isn’t that Midoriya will be hurt, but that this will end up affecting the others around him, in fact he will accept Midoriya’s solution to reduce the damage he causes to himself because in this way he supposedly doesn’t bother others.
The second problem is that Midoriya isn’t doing this because he likes it but because he hadn’t found yet a way to control his power and it is actually fair not just because he just received it but also because technically he shouldn’t have used his Quirk before. Remember? Using Quirks is forbidden if you aren’t a Hero. Midoriya should learn to use his Quirk here, at the Hero school, not being told to figure out how to use his Quirk now that he is in a Hero school. U.A. will continue to pressure him into figuring a way to use his Quirk without really helping him to find one. If Midoriya were like Tōya, he would never find one because no amount of training or support items can help Tōya withstand his own fire (it goes mostly missed but Tōya’s clothes once he turns into a Villain are actually support items designated to witstand his Quirk and... they don’t really save him much from burning himself to a crisp). Fundamentally for the majority of time U.A. doesn’t teach the students how to overcome the obstacles, he just place in front of them an obstacle and tell them to figure out how to overcome them, which is a very slow and poor method of teaching.
Third, even though Midoriya’s finger is broken he is sent to the infirmary solely AFTER the test has ended. While Midoriya didn’t ask to stop and didn’t even dawn on him to do so after the test has ended and it can be argued it was done to teach him even minimizing the damage isn’t a good solution because he still ends up useless due to the pain (unless he had chosen to sacrifice another finger or something like that), it is also a form of torture when it should have been better to teach him if he gets injuried that bad, he has to go to the infirmary and therefore can’t take the rest of the test just the same. Aizawa was responsible for his students and the fact Recovery Girl can erase the damage is just a not good enough excuse.
Now, regarding the anime version...
Episode 5 - What I Can Do for Now (今 僕に出来ることを Ima Boku ni Dekiru Koto o)
Changed parts notes:
Same as with the previous part, differently from the manga the anime gifts us with plenty of glimpses of Shōto and even goes and change the visual of the two scenes in which he was shown in the manga to show him better. Probably the anime, despite leaving the focus on Midoriya and hiding Shōto’s power and abilities like the manga does, is pawing the way for the moment in which Shōto will have more role.