Have you ever wanted to die? Wish for the world to end? Have you ever lose yourself for a couple of minutes and felt like you wanted something really bad to happen to yourself or everybody else?
Has someone ever made you laugh in one of those cases— and just by that you realized how much you didn't want any of it to happen?
You were just upset.
Hold this concept in your mind, would you? Because the heart of the pro-hero thesis of bnha is that a hero not only saves your body or gets rid of the villains threatening you— they also save you from yourself sometimes, from the darkness within you; they prevent future tragedies with the force of their kindness.
Kid Deku watching a video of All Might's debut:
And he's smiling!! Mom... no matter what kind of trouble you're in... he'll save you with a smile.
⠀When we were first introduced to Deku and his admiration for All Might, the one thing the story made emphasis on was All Might's smile. Why?
Because if you're afraid and you see the person rescuing you smile, you relax, it makes you feel better, it tones down your fear and anxiety.
It gives you hope.
I won't be able to put all the panels I wish I could show you to support this meta, so I'll rely on your good memory about the manga, okay?
⠀
During the Hero License arc, we learnt that being a hero is much more than just knowing how to fight. We already knew part of it from All Might's first session (take care of the situation with the minimum amount of damage to both the property and the people surrounding the fight).
We learnt that the way a hero saves a person matters. Their words, their attitude, how they carry themselves and how they approach the victims and situations, it all matters.
With Bakugou and Todoroki we learn that the job of a hero also implies daily services, like helping kids and guiding others, stuff Iida Tensei (former pro-hero Ingenium) used to do.
That's an idea that finds its development along many arcs, the maximum point being after the War arc, with Ochako's speech. When heroes were giving up, she reminded them it was not only about defeating the greater evil, but also about wanting to see everybody smile together again.
It is an echo of Nighteye lessons to Deku and Mirio, of course. An echo we see in bnha 367:
A world without smiles or honor... has no... bright future.
⠀As you know, my thesis is based on the idea that the major problem with the hero society was how they forgot what a real hero was, but not because everything was exclusively monetized (it was still part of the problem, I gotta admit). No, the major issue was exposed by Tomura Shigaraki in his first speech in front of the UA staff and students:
Violence became comfortable for the bnha world, mundane even, to the point heroes stop trying to find the root of the problems so they could treat it and the civilians stop trying to help because they thought it was the heroes jobs, not theirs. Serious issues were getting overlooked, the system was getting corrupted and the effort of the heroes was shallow, superficial, even if well-meant.
Tomura/Tenko in his thoughts:
Everyone just passed by, pretending not to see, thinking that some hero would save the day. Who decided to make the world this way?
AFO "rescuing" Tenko, kneeling down to hug him:
You'll be okay now... I am here.
⠀Let's take Nana Shimura as an example; she was a great hero, we all know, the one who trained Toshinori and taught him that the people who smiled when they were afraid were the strongest. However, she was not perfect and she shouldn't be regarded as such. She failed her son and her family, something Kotaro was right about.
Can a hero talk about justice if they sacrifice their families to save others? Why some lives matter more than others? Why are heroes allowed to decide who lives and who dies, instead of helping everyone they can equally in the measure of their context?
Bnha narration:
People... are not born equal.
What is a smile to a war?
You could ask what is the sacrifice of a kid for the safety of the world, right? A life for the safety of the entire planet?
For Endeavor, what were his children and his family for the glory of his name and the glory of the hero industry, for example?
What is Tomura to AFO? Toga to the media?
What is Deku —a quirkless kid— to an entire society of people with quirks and cool abilities?
⠀
We learned it through Kota in the Summer Camp arc and with Eri in the Overhaul arc. Both kids. One of them was a direct victim like Tomura of the hero society, the child of a broken family who had many reasons to hate what pro-heroes were; the other was a kid victim of the discrimination of quirks, a baby abandoned by her mother and used by criminal organizations for power and gain, just exactly what AFO did to Tenko/Tomura.
Deku could save Kota and Eri because he individually cared about them. No one told him there was a problem, he was actively looking. The same with Bakugo at the beginning, Deku didn't need a reason or a command, he didn't need the title or the suit, not even the quirk. He was doing the right thing.
Deku helped Kota because Kota was upset and he wanted to change that. He payed attention to Eri because she was crying. Same reason he found his way to help Bakugo, Todoroki and Iida.
What are they to Deku's journey of defeating AFO? Nothing. And everything.
Tomura talking to Doc Garaki and the LOV:
Every living, breathing thing just rubs me the wrong way. That weight in my heart is never gonna go away. So why not destroy it all?
⠀During his fight with Endeavor, AFO asked Hawks what was evil, what could be categorized as "wrong", why everybody got so easily offended. Then revealed that his main motivation of being a villain was because he wanted to make everyone bitter, everyone, inspired on those comic books villains.
In a way, it means "I am bad, everybody's bad too"
On the other hand, Tomura's motivation to destroy it all comes for the trauma of not being rescued. Why? Didn't he deserve it? Why people wouldn't help him? Isn't it because he must play the part of a villain?
Tenko asked his mother why his father hated him. Tomara also asked the UA staff what was the difference between villains and heroes using violence, the same way Toga asked Uraraka why people wouldn't help or save them (the villains).
There is real inequality in bnha: you have people like Spinner, Shinso, Hawks, Toga, Deku, Aoyama, Dabi, Tomura, Shouto, Hatsume, Aizawa... The list keeps on growing.
There are differences. Preferences even.
If you're a pretty metahuman to be used by the hero commission or a filthy "mutant" with a weak quirk, if you have a spooky quirk or a "villain" quirk, if you're quirkless or your quirk is not flashy enough or powerful enough, if you look creepy or are not "hero material", if you are hero material even if you don't want to be one...
Inequality. Discrimination. Society prescriptions.
AFO almost won, he almost made everyone mad and bitter, including Deku in bnha 367.
⠀
Go read what Nighteye told Mirio again.
The fight against AFO (and what he represents) isn't a fight of just weapons. It was a fight with the hero society itself.
Their indifference, their apathy, their prejudices...
A smile matters in a war because why the fuck would you fight for if the only thing your gonna leave behind is a bunch of broken people who wish they were dead.
Why would you rescue Eri if you're not going to fight everyday with her trauma so that she can be happy? Why would you leave Kota to live in pain and anger without his parents when you can make his life full of light again?
What about the Cultural Festival arc?
Or rescuing Deku from his suicidal mission?
Going for Bakugo and Iida and fighting for Shouto to melt his heart??? Shouto going for Dabi???
This is why what Hawks did to Twice was wrong, because he forgot the principle of a hero:
Every lives matter.
Every smile matters.
The reason Tomura doesn't see a future is 'cause no one has ever showed him otherwise. No one saved him back then and no one has saved him (yet) in 20 years. No one told him he deserved to live and be happy, no one ever stopped and tried to make him smile or laugh or ask him if he had friends or if he liked dogs.
AFO killed Tenko the day he put those hands on him and has been dragging his body around in a parade— and even when Tomura was screaming about pain and injustice and screaming about the problem of the hero society, no one listened to him, no one tried ro reach him.
Dead.
Except Deku sees him.
⠀
Every moment of the manga, every mission and arc, every panel and interaction, it has brought us here: to Deku asking AFO if Tenko/Tomura is still in there.
What is Tenko's smile to the bnha war?
Maybe the end of it. Maybe the defeat of AFO. You have a wounded animal that will try to attack you because it's in pain. Here are your options: you can kill every wounded animal you encounter or you can go search for the cause of their pain and treat it, so the next generations won't arrive at your door full of desperation and rage.
Everyone can be a hero, because everyone can do the right thing, everyone can make others smile, everyone can save someone one day just by telling a joke or being gentle.
⠀
A smile can prevent a war.
Which is more powerful than any weapon which could stop at war.
In summary, bnha is about a society ruled by violence and miscommunication learning that if they don't reach for each other, if they don't try to understand, if their only solution is to erase what make them uncomfortable... they're doomed to dissappear.
I honestly feel bkg and deku got one of the best rival dynamics in general and I read a lot of stories not just in shounen
agreed. it's got pretty much everything.
long personal history - they've known each other since they were little babies and know basically everything about each other.
intense emotional connection - their emotions become heightened whenever they're around each other. they bring out feelings in each other that no one else does. it's a tangled web of feels that neither one of them has the slightest idea how to begin sorting out.
yin and yang - they clash and contrast with each other, but they also complement one another.
parallels - in spite of their differences, they're also far more alike than they realize, and as the relationship progresses the similarities keep growing stronger to the point where they both openly draw inspiration from one another and mimic each other unconsciously.
there and back again - the relationship pretty much runs the full circle. they start out as friends, then turn completely antagonistic, then slowly mellow out into rivals, and then eventually back into friends again. it's a whole damn journey.
supportive rivalry - they egg each other on and push each other and help each other grow.
protectiveness - no one else is allowed to fuck with them!! they will fuck you up so don't even try it!!
acceptance - "huh, okay, so Deku has six extra quirks now. whatever. I hope they're not lame. I should fight him right now and test them all out."
faith/trust - unspoken and instinctive. in spite of everything they've been through, Katsuki has always believed in Deku's strength (even when it pissed him off), and Deku has always believed in Katsuki's potential.
relying on each other when nothing else is constant or secure - when Deku needs saving, Katsuki is there. and when Katsuki needs saving, Deku is there. they know how to get through to each other in ways that nobody else can. they know that they can depend on each other.
symbolism - the hands!! the reaching!! the hesitation!! the regret!! the longing!!
being complete morons - "hey Deku idk what to do about all of these stupid feelings I'm having, let's go sneak out of the dorms and have a dramatic therapy fight." "idk Kacchan, we probably shouldn't be doing this, I say as I follow you without hesitation and get totally swept up in the fight within five minutes and ramp my quirk up to 8% while we both beat the living shit out of each other."
not having a fucking clue - "oh whoops I meant to just tell Kacchan that I wasn't lying to him about not having a quirk, but it appears that I have accidentally told him my biggest, most important secret instead. just a small slip of the tongue there. I wonder what brought that on."
seriously - "I hate Deku so fucking much. but secretly I'm really just scared of him. and also scared for him?? and also I actually care about him a lot. but if he ever finds out I will literally die so I guess I better just sit back and call him names all day long for the rest of my life instead."
just making it up as they go along - "Izuku I'm so sorry for everything, I was a complete asshole and you were right and I was wrong and I fucked up and I really regret it and I just want to let you know. also we're still rivals and nothing has changed between us. let me show you my new cluster move."
literally no one else understands it but them - "I'm so happy and thankful to be able to have a semi-normal conversation with Kacchan again after all this time. [flashback to earlier that day with Kacchan when they spent fifteen minutes squabbling about who's better in All Might's office while Kacchan made bizarre faces and All Might was all 'lol these two really are a riot I fucking love their dumb asses.']"
and on and on. I'm basically just scratching the surface here lol. it really is the dynamic to end all dynamics. it's hilarious and deeply affecting and inspiring and compelling and poignant as hell and the slow burn to end all slow burns. and also never forget how, unlike certain other iconic shounen rivals who shall not be named, they got their shit together after 120 chapters and became a team, rather than breaking up and joining opposite factions and spending the rest of the series separated except for their periodic reunions where they wistfully try to kill each other. I'm just saying lol. we really are blessed.
Some of my favorite bakudeku moments in no particular order
^Bakugo is once again the person who pays the most attention to deku, he knows what's up. He knows all might was pouting to deku and he knows deku's reaction is significant.
The scene where Bakugo gives deku advice on his shoot style after their fight. in the manga he's the one who initiates it. In the anime he responds to deku's question. Either way it's adorable and a moment of growth for both of them.
^This scene where Bakugo is watching deku talk to a kid and his popsicle melts cus he was too preoccupied watching deku. I can't even explain this one, but it feels straight out of a fic.
The scene where Bakugo checks up on how Izuku is doing (in his own agressive way)
Izuku has a bunch of people who wants to talk to him, but he goes outside to talk to kacchan and immediately confesses that he got his quirk from someone else (Baku go brushes it off though lmao)
When we first learn that Bakugo feels like deku is looking down on him. Looking back on it, and knowing how much Bakugo believes in honesty, his reaction to thinking that deku had been lying to him made perfect sense (not in a justified way)
^this scene after deku saves the day and Bakugo gives probably his softest smile in the show (and then gets all embarrassed when todoroki catches him lmao)
The scene where they look at each other and realize how much they need each other to grow
The scene of them joking around for the first time in years (followed by deku talking about how blessed he is to be talking normally with Bakugo after all this time)
The scene where deku first rushes in to save Bakugo
hey has anyone done an analysis on how being Quirkless fed into Izuku's hero complex. Like, he's had it beat into him since he was four years old that because he is Quirkless he is useless, and because he is useless he is worthless, therefore he must be useful or everyone will hate him. Being aggressively self-sacrificing seems like a direct product of this line of thinking.
I don't know if i am the only person to see those comments, but, i wanted to know what you can say about those who see Midoriya as an "'Almighty protagonist', with immense power, that masters every fight, and goes through everything too easily". I can not understand this line of thinking? Is there anything i missed? I see this so often. I just want to know, that i am not out of my mind. Am i?
I...I don't understand this thinking either. Where has he been an "Almighty protagonist?"
Sure, he has the power of OfA but he has only mastered a little over a quarter of it like????? Not only that but for a good chunk of the recent chapters it hasn't even focused on Deku. Hori has been so focused on building up the rest of the world that we've barely had solid Deku content lately, so how are people coming to these conclusions?
If it's because of the newest chapter, I don't even wanna talk about it tbh.
Deku is THE MAIN CHARACTER. He is meant to be the one on top, and even so, HE BARELY IS MOST OF THE TIME. There are very few fights he has won with ease, most of the time he ends up close to death or his body is completely wrecked because he can't control his power, so while he has this ability to continuously be the best, he isn't. Deku himself is aware of this, which is a brilliant device Hori uses, if you ask me. He's made his character self aware, and that's incredible.
People just wanna be salty, honestly, and I think they should find a different show/manga if that's how they see the Main Character of this one. What's the point of watching or reading if you can't even appreciate the Author's work??
In literature, the deuteragonist or secondary main character (from Ancient Greek: δευτεραγωνιστής, deuteragōnistḗs, second actor) is the second most important character.
Greek drama began with simply one actor, the protagonist, and a chorus of dancers. The playwright Aeschylus introduced the deuteragonist; Aristotle says in his Poetics:
Thus, it was Aeschylus who first raised the number of the actors from one to two. He also curtailed the chorus and made the dialogue be the leading part.
A deuteragonist often assumes the role of “sidekick” to the protagonist. Conversely, the deuteragonist could also be a particularly visible antagonist, normally whom the actual antagonist hides behind. For instance while Light is the protagonist of Death Note, due to his equal amount of screen-time and parallel story L could be read as the Deuteragonist, despite acting as the antagonist to Light.
While there are characters that could be seen as a deuteragonist to Midoriya, (Bakugo the rival, Todoroki, even Uraraka and Iida who are set up as a trio with him), I would argue in a classical sense due to the parallel development between Deku and Shigaraki they are set up as a pair. They share the same conflict. They are both trying to achieve their dreams in a society that is fundamentally unequal. Shigaraki’s memories here directly parallel Deku’s in the first chapter, his desires as well.
Shigaraki is meant not as the main villain but rather a secondary protagonist who parallels Deku’s journey but from the dark side of society. Shigaraki first appears as a decoy villain, but as it’s revealed he is a victim, there is a much greater villain responsible for the conflict between Shigaraki and Deku that will be found at the end of their parallel journeys.
1. Midoriya Izuku and Shimura Tenko Origins
Shigaraki and Midoriya share the same conflict from their origin. They were both not allowed to become the people they wanted to be, simply because of the people they were born as. Tenko because he was born as Shimura Nana’s grandson, and Midoriya because he was born quirkless. Not only do they have no control of the circumstances of their birth which means they are suffering from unfair circumstances, but also the environment around them only made this worse.
Due to the fact that people are born with different quirks, and some are not born with quirks at all, the current society of MHA is unequal. People with flashy quirks, strong ones, are preferred over people with grotesque and dangerous quirks even though there is no helping someone you are born with. “Quirk Society” is something we are presented as being unfair from the very first chapter, it is the opening line of the series. Therefore it makes sense to make this, the central conflict of the series.
Shigaraki and Deku are both victims of quirk society. They cannot become the people who they want to be, their fully realized self, or even pursue their dreams because of the circumstances they were born into. Rather than trying to assist them, we see society try to force them back into their slots.
The central conflict of the story is a classic man vs society conflict. Here we see it represented in abstract form, Deku tries to be an individual, and he’s punished because his desires exceed society’s expectations for him. He even says that it’s not wrong for him to try even though it would be more difficult without a quirk. We see the response is for everyone to gather around Deku and oppose him. Deku is the individual, and Bakugo and the crowd around him are depicted as the outside group. Deku is the other, who must fight to find his place in the world.
The man versus society conflict is when a protagonist has a strong belief against the majority of the community or surroundings and decides to act on it. Since this type of conflict is between a character and an outside group, it is classified as an external conflict.
In the story, we are being shown now that Tenko is dealing with the exact same conflict that Deku is continuously fighting against. In his first flashback with Hana we see that Tenko found out about his grandmother as a superhero, but his father opposed it.
Tenko and Midoriya both desired to be a hero. They both faced opposition in the form of someone who personally tried to convince them they could never become a hero, likely Tenko’s father because he was abandoned by Nana due to the danger of her profession. Midoriya met opposition in the form of Bakugo who spent most of his life bullying him, in order to prove that Midoriya is someone who could never be a hero and never be better than him.
However, even though they have loving families that comfort them in spite of this antagonism from Father/Bakugo, those families still repeat what society has always told them. That they cannot become heroes. Both Tenko and Midoriya are both comforted but they are not supported. As Tenko cycles through his memories, he remembers his mother, his grandparents, all being kind but none of them telling him the words he wants to hear. That he can be a hero too. Shimura says that Hana is the only one who ever supported him on that in a way.
Once again, this is the conflict. Society stands in the way of their self realization. Not only are Shimura and Deku told their dreams are impossible over and over again, but also they are repeatedly told they are nothing. Not only can they not become what they want to be, but they can’t become anything at all due to their position as the “outsider” in society.
It’s even hinted that Shigaraki may have either been abused by his father, or born with some kind of chronic illness that would prevent him from becoming a hero. We see a flashback of his mother treating something wrong with his eye, and everybody else around Shigaraki trying to cheer him up as well. His father is so far the only one who has never appeared in the flashbacks, and it’s also the hand which grips Shigaraki’s face forcefully.
Either, there was a scar around his eyes left by his father striking him or Shigaraki was chronically ill which caused the wrinkling we see around his eyes and scarring later in life. He needed medicine but he could only keep scratching at it. It’s also noteworthy that Shigaraki shows signs of excoriation later in life, which is a mental compulsion to scratch at his wounds and make them worse when he feels stressed which could have been developed in early life. In the shattered flashback we also see his father’s face up close, as well as an arrow, or pointed object which could have been used to make those scars on his face.
Shigaraki and Deku have the exact same origin point, to the point of even being harassed and bullied constantly in some form from someone trying to convince them not to become a hero. Shigaraki may have even been a sickly child. However, the greatest thing standing in both of their dreams was simply the person they were born as, something they had no control over and something nobody would let them even try to overcome with effort.
The only difference is how their origins ended. Shigaraki’s chapter where we first learn of his origin is called Shigaraki Tomura: Distortion while Deku’s is called Izuku Midoriya: Origin.
They were just both found by people on opposite sides of the conflict. Deku was saved by the right person, and Shimura Tenko was saved by the wrong person. Which again is something that Tenko had absolutely no control over, he was a child.
Therefore if this is a man vs society conflict, Shigaraki makes more sense as a secondary protagonist who grows and changes and deals with a different aspect of society rather than as a villain to Deku. The reason is because if society is wrong for telling people what their roles should be because of circumstances outside of their control regardless of their efforts to change it, then it would be wrong for labeling Shigaraki as a villain who can only ever be a villain just because he happened to be found by All For One, rather than All Might like Deku was.
2. A Conflict for Self Realization
Tenko and Midoriya are fundamentally people who want to be understood. They want their dreams to be validated. They want to become the person they want to be, regardless of who they were born as. The primary conflict in this story is each of them struggling against that, and attempting to define themselves and improve themselves with effort to escape the circumstances they were born into.
While Deku gets more screentime than Shigaraki, and he also ends up participating in events not as related to this central conflict (because this is shonen manga not a tightly paced story with limited scope), all of the major moments with Deku are when he faces people who tell him that it is impossible for him to become a hero. He cannot become the person he wants to be.
Not only do they go so far as to call his dreams impossible, but they also say that Deku himself is nothing. He is ill fitted or lacking, and so they try to push him back into his slot with antagonism rather than try to support him in becoming somebody.
Not only was Deku bullied his entire life, but also nobody really ever did anything to stop it. Bakugo literally uses his quirk on Deku in front of the entire class and they just watch, because Bakugo is society’s voice in this case. Even if they might think bullying is wrong, they all agree Deku is worth less because he does not have a quirk. They believe what society has told them to value. Bakugo’s favorite nickname for Midoriya is “Deku” because the character means “Useless.”
Every major antagonist that Deku faces inside of the system insists that he cannot become a hero, either because he was quirkless at some point, because his quirk is not fully developed, or because there is someone else better suited for the role.
When he is faced with these words, Deku describes them as denying his entire being. They oppose him, not by fighting against him, but rather as a person. They are trying to say he must become who they want him to be. They stand in his way, rather than assisting someone who is clearly putting in effort to better themselves and develop.
At the same time when he talks to Shinso, he realizes that Shinso does not have what Deku has been given. That he had people tell him he could be a hero after all this time, first from All Might then by his friends at his school. That does not change the fact though that every obstacle they continually face, they have to prove the right to be themselves. They have to prove themselves as worthy over and over again which results in low self worth.
It’s a conflict to be recognized for the person they are, rather than the person that other people want them to be. They have to force others to acknowledge them for the effort they’ve put into their own growth. It’s not enough to simply pursue their dreams, they also have to be seen.
Otherwise, those words will continue to deny them, everything they are, everything they want. Shigaraki faces a similiar conflict with every villain he ends up facing against. He is continually told just like Deku, that he is an empty person not capable of becoming anything.
These are two characters who are repeatedly told they are nothing, that they are capable of nothing, that they have accomplished nothing, and that they will become nothing. Yet, we see each of them struggling to become someone, and not only that but to be able to dictate who they want to be.
They share the same fundamental conflict, to be recognized as an individual in a society that is unequal, unfair, and constantly calls upon them to prove themselves rather than lending them any assistance. For Shigaraki the struggle to define himself is especially pronounced, because rather than All Might who encourages Deku not to copy him, All For One only cares about Shigaraki as becoming a second version of him and has influenced him not to be his own person but rather All For One’s substitute.
3. Shigaraki and Deku Both Save Others
Deku’s one goal, his one motivation other than proving himself is “Saving other people.” He sees far more value in the people around him than he ever does in himself.
Shigaraki may be a villain still, but he is not necessarily Deku’s direct antagonist anymore. One, the antagonist shifts every single arc with the overarching conflict behind the scenes being the conflict that All for One and All Might left behind by the scenes. However, Deku may have chose to become a hero, but Shigaraki does not necessarily choose to become Deku’s direct antagonist.
Shigaraki may spend the rest of the manga as a villain, but a villain is not an antagonist. An antagonist is just a character that directly opposes the main character, they can even be a hero (in the case of Light and L). My point is, Shigaraki has his own separate storyline from Deku, and he’s not even interacted with him that much, only one conversation, and the raid on UA.
Shigaraki has stepped away from the role of the antagonist, and yet he still mirrors Deku’s actions. The both of them are central characters that save the people around them, by telling them it is alright for them to be themselves. They give the others around them a place to belong. This is what Deku tells to Todoroki in the school festival, that he is his own person and that his quirk belongs to him.
Deku opposes people who tell others what he was told in life, that he was destined to never become a hero because he was quirkless. He wants to be what All Might was for him, someone who can tell others that they can be who they want. He desires to be someone who tells others the words they desire to hear.
He does this for Todoroki, he wants to do this for Shinso because he recognizes his past self, he even does this for Eri when he tries to shake her free by Chisaki’s words by calling her quirk beautiful. Every time Deku has a meaningful interaction for saving one of his friends, he helps them by telling them they can become the hero they want to be. As that is his central conflict at heart as well.
Shigaraki is the same, as a character his priorities have shifted from someone who was just lashing out in an empty fashion, to supporting the other people around him. Shigaraki’s first three attempts at being a villain end in failure. His attack at UA Fails, he cannot defeat Stain and even loses a publicity contest to him, and then the camp raid and kidnapping end with Shigaraki losing All For One.
After that we see the first time that Shigaraki is succesful when he decides to fight against Chisaki. The reason he fights again Chisaki, is because of Magne. Magne’s desire was to be free to be whoever they wanted to be and live the way they wanted to live, and she found that within the league of villains. Not only does Chisaki kill her, but he also denies her true gender, the person she is. He denies the identity of the lady he killed, even after her death.
Shigaraki not only reaffirms Magne’s identity, but even goes so far as to plot this revenge and destroy Chisaki for Magne’s sake, and for the sake of everyone around him. Because, Chisaki was standing in the way of the people they wanted to become, as long as he opposed them he needed to be destroyed.
Shigaraki saves an entirely different kind of person than Deku does. He saves those with nowhere to belong, the bad, the dangerous, the non-virtuous, the ones who would never be saved by the heroes. He gives them a place to belong, and values them.
Not just as disposable subordinates that worship him the same way that All For One did, but rather as friends and equals. They are all together, because they are all whack jobs who do not belong anywhere else. Shigaraki says over and over again, not “me” but rather “we” will become the next ones, even when he defeats Chisaki.
Twice, who was let down by society over and over again until he had nobody left but himself and even betrayed himself in the end, is able to find himself again because of the friends he made in the league of villains.
Pecko the Gecko, I mean Spinner is someone who became a Neet because the bullying from his quirk was so bad and he thought himself a worthless person capable of nothing, but Spinner began to accept himself when he realized that even someone as worthless as him could still support Shigaraki.
Himiko is told over and over again by the media lady that her story is tragic, and that she should just become some suffering princess, and martyr for quirk kind because she was always destined to be an outcast born with a quirk like hers, and finding the league made Himiko happy because she found a group of people she could be normal around.
Even when other members of the league, or Giran himself insist that nobody is going to try to come to save him, we see no hesitation in Shigaraki whatsoever to make a plan into this life or death situation and obvious trap to save Giran.
Due to meeting Shigaraki, all of these people are on the way to being able to accept themselves. They are making efforts to improve, and we see all of their quirks improve as well, as “quirks are directly linked with personality.” They start to grow because they’ve been told the words that All Might told Deku, that it was okay to be them.
When fighting against the UA Kids, or trying to inherit All For One’s role, Shigaraki always fails. However, when he fights against other villains, and when he fights for connections with the League around him he succeeds. As this is the person that Shigaraki is meant to be. Someone who “Holds his family close.” It was the person he was meant to become if not for All For One’s interruption.
Shigaraki and Deku are co-protagonists who both develop around the same central conflict, not only that but they tell other people that it’s okay to be themselves while also struggling to realize their full selves.
The only difference is the sphere of society they interact with. They are both fighting a fundamentally unfair society, but Deku is on the light side, and Shigaraki is on the dark. Deku saves heroes and virtuous people. While Shigaraki is a person who can save villains on the absolute bottom who fall through the cracks.
Shigaraki is the hand which can catch those who have fallen so far even All Might could not save them. He’s also the hand that destroys the unfair society that let them fall in the first place. So once again, are those hands of his really only capable of destruction?
As I gew up I didn’t like superheroes. Mostly because there were no superheroes I could relate to.
There was Batman, the rich guy with a tragic past that wanted justice.
There was Spiderman, the guy who was bitten by a radioactive spider and while funny, carried the weight of a responsability in his shoulders.
There was Hulk, there was Iron man, there was Captain America...
But I couldn’t relate to any of those Heroes.
Even with girl superheroes, i never saw one that made me go, “yes, i wanna be like her when i grow up!” or “That is someone I aspire to be, because I can follow their path and become them!”
But, when I saw Boku No Hero, I found something in the protagonist that I hadn’t seen before.
I saw a role model unlike other. One I needed as I grew up.
He’s a crybaby, he’s weak and has no powers. He’s a little about average in grades and intelligence...
But he’s extremely kind and hardworking.
He’s the hero i needed. Someone who didn’t carry a tragedy, but became a Hero because that was the right thing to do. Because he wanted to, because he wanted to save people with a smile. He worked really hard to get to his destination.
Maybe a little too hard.
He thought me a lesson I had never received before.
“Work hard to get where you want to be...But not hard enough to break yourself.”
All my life people taught me that I had to work hard.To work until I bled, that my goals were more important than anything else.
But this little guy comes and says, “No. Don’t destroy yourself.”
He’s scared, and he cries, and he’s weak and can’t save everyone. He’s desperate just like, just like anyone else could be. But the story tells, both Deku and us, that we can’t go that fast. That we need a break.
anyway so here’s my BakuDeku essay from all the way back in chapter 327 lols.
so back when The Apology Chapter came out, I mentioned that I had mixed feelings about Katsuki calling Izuku by his actual name. here’s a quick breakdown of my concerns.
I am deeply invested in both Katsuki’s character arc and the entire BakuDeku relationship trainwreck.
owing to the above, questions like “do these two actually respect and trust each other?”, and more specifically, “does Bakugou actually respect Deku?” are really important to me, and I would dearly like to believe that the answer is “yes.” on a similar note, I would also really like the answer to “is Bakugou really as much of an asshole as he makes himself out to be?” to be “no.”
however, if these things really are true -- that Bakugou’s genuine asshole days are behind him, and he really does trust and respect Deku -- then at some point the follow-up question needs to be asked, “why does Bakugou keep calling Deku by a cruel and insulting nickname?”
and again, if we assume that Trust and Respect and Not-An-Asshole are all in fact true, then the only acceptable answer to that question would be, “because he doesn’t actually think of it as an insult, anymore.”
which makes sense, actually! because Kacchan has unflattering nicknames for just about every person he interacts with. Shitty Hair, Half and Half, Dunce Face, Ears, Ponytail, even Hag and Old Man. it’s just his thing, and we all know he doesn’t mean anything by it. so why should “Deku” be any different? it’s just him doing the same thing he always does. hell, if anything, he put a lot more creativity and effort into “Deku” than he does with most of his nicknames lol.
so yeah, not only do I have a vested interest in Kacchan using “Deku (affectionate)” rather than “Deku (derogatory)”, I think it’s supported by canon as well. but here’s the problem, though. if “Deku” isn’t an insult, then the symbolic gesture of switching from “Deku” to “Izuku” is basically meaningless. or at least it should be meaningless. because basically all you’re doing is switching from a nickname to the person’s actual name. the only way it would actually have meaning is if it truly was an insult after all. because in that case, then it’s obviously a huge fucking deal. it’s powerful af, and shows how seriously Katsuki is committed to becoming a better person and doing right by Izuku. which is good stuff, actually.
but anyway, so that’s my dilemma. on the one hand, “either Katsuki didn’t respect Deku, or else he was still being a straight up dick to him all the way up until chapter 322” is a thought that takes a lot of the wind out of my sails, and retroactively makes a lot of my favorite moments in the series much less appealing. but on the other hand, that scene in chapter 322 truly was excellent, and the emotional impact of him switching to “Izuku” at such a crucial moment was a big part of that, ngl. anyway, so I’ve been kind of torn on the whole thing.
until 327, that is.
I read this, and everything just clicked at last. it was like, ohhhhhhhhhh. because,
when he starts to address him, “Deku” is what automatically slips out. it’s what his mind naturally defaults to when he isn’t consciously thinking about it. (in fact, the name “Izuku” apparently feels so unnatural for him to say that it’s spelled out in hiragana -- “いずく”, rather than “出久.” almost like he has to sound it out in his head lol.)
BUT, he then catches himself and makes the correction.
so that’s two reveals there. the first is that he genuinely does think of Deku as “Deku” first and foremost in his mind, just like Deku thinks of him as “Kacchan.” meaning that it definitely is not meant as an insult. it’s just his name, like how I’m using it myself in this very post. Deku is Deku.
and the second reveal is that the apology wasn’t just a one-time thing. he is actively committed to making this change moving forward. he is trying very hard to do right by Deku, and he thinks part of that is calling him by his actual name.
so he doesn’t think of it as an insult, but yet he still feels obligated to make the change. ??? what exactly are we missing here.
and actually, the answer to that is pretty damn obvious in hindsight lol.
character development!!
because the Kacchan we are dealing with now is a Kacchan who finally has learned to see outside himself. meaning that he’s no longer looking at things from just his own perspective, but from other perspectives as well. in other words, I was overlooking a very simple explanation for “Izuku” this whole time. he’s not doing it for his benefit. he’s doing it for Deku’s.
doy. everyone else probably figured this out ages ago and I’m just really slow lol. but the thing is, I was just so used to analyzing pre-Jakku Kacchan that I didn’t take into account just how much he’s matured. the old Kacchan would have never stopped to consider how Deku might feel about the nickname “Deku.” so long as Kacchan himself knew it wasn’t an insult, it was fine. Deku should just be able to read his mind, obviously!!
but this new improved Kacchan keeps surprising me by doing these absolutely wild things like considering other people’s feelings and shit. maybe Deku doesn’t like the nickname, huh?? ever stop to think about that?? maybe he doesn’t like being called “useless” by the guy who bullied him for an entire decade. what a concept! maybe you should stop and think about these things every once in a while!! fuckin’ geez. anyway so that’s what I imagine Kacchan’s brain must be like nowadays, and it’s just the greatest thing lol. keep it up, kid. you’re doing great.
anyway, and there’s a whole second essay’s worth of content I could (and hopefully will, at some later point) get into about whether or not he’s actually right, because I suspect Deku’s feelings about Kacchan are extremely complicated. and it wouldn’t surprise me if, prior to the apology, Deku (who as we know doesn’t take himself into account) wasn’t even aware of how complicated those feelings really were, or how deep they actually ran. and I think that’s one of the reasons why he hasn’t given a real response to said apology yet. he has a lot to sort out.
but that said, I do think he is being 100% truthful now when he says that “Deku” is fine. now that he is finally on the same page as Kacchan, and knows that Kacchan doesn’t mean anything by it. to be clear, I’m not saying that Deku actually was bothered by the nickname in any tangible way prior to this, or that their renewed post-DvK2 friendship was secretly toxic, or anything like that. but what I’m trying to say, I guess, is that there is a small -- but significant! -- difference between understanding the concept of “Kacchan is actually a very caring person, but he tries very hard to hide it, and his bark is definitely worse than his bite”, and understanding the concept of “Kacchan cares about me, too; I am also included in the Caring.” and I think that Deku understood the former, but not necessarily the latter. not until Kacchan finally opened up in chapter 322.
but now that he does understand, there are definitely no further objections to be had. Kacchan can use the name. he has permission. not only that, but unless I’m reading Deku very wrong in that bath scene, he actually prefers “Deku.” no reason to bring it up, otherwise. “oh btw Deku is fine”; translation: “okay seriously though, now it’s starting to feel weird.” agreed, Deku. agreed.
anyway so that’s it! btw do you know that it took me a month to realize that I was trying to fit two entirely separate essays together into one post for absolutely no reason? and that it turns out that when you don’t try and do that, posts are actually very easy to complete? anyway so yeah, we’ll save the “Deku and Kacchan are both utterly blind to the fact that the other one cares about them (not just in a general way, but in an Important Way), and both of them are equally unaware of just how badly they secretly need the other’s emotional support and approval and forgiveness, which is why Deku had his mind completely blown in chapter 322, and Kacchan is inevitably going to get his own mind blown at some near point in the future, and they are both definitely going to cry, and it’s going to be fucking great” essay for another time lol. these fucking kids.
