Bkdk is so incredible just for how full of ambiguity it is.
Like, it is so fun to look into these little hidden details and meanings to what goes around these two it's amazing, when many characters have a more straight foward relationship with each other, and bkdk themselves.
Like, Uraraka is Deku's friend, she has a crush, and is trying to figure this out while she has a similar desire to understand her own villain counter part, Toga.
Todoroki is friends with both of them, and he is very sure that he is. He is around them a lot, and is part of the "big three".
We know all these things pretty clearly, but NEVER get the same with bkdk.
Nobody currently describes them as "friends", but they do often point out their status' as "childhood friends", Bakugou is the closest person to Deku. Deku is the one that has chased him his whole life. He is "the guy" Bakugou is waiting for, the one who knows him best. Deku was striving to make ofa his own for him. He loses control of his heart for him. He YEARNS to be closer to him again. And at some point the idea of standing shoulder to shoulder with Bakugou "sent chills down his spine".
Like??? Those you can all excuse by saying it's just strong frienship or fondness but. The actual narrative NEVER said that it was the case.
My first anon ask! But not really an ask 😅.
Yes, it IS fun to look at hidden details, I love it too. I agree, there’s so much of their story that could be fleshed out more, like we don’t even know that much about the nature of their childhood friendship! Please indulge me while I ramble for no reason just because you invoked me.
We have a few single panel snapshots of their interactions as kids, but we never have a full scene/chapters like with the Todorokis, Tenko, Hawks etc. even though their relationship is so central to the narrative! There’s also a massive gap after the river scene and quirk manifestation right up to the final year of middle school—that’s like 8 or 9 years where we have no idea what their relationship looked like.
We know that Deku was often there when Kacchan was playing with his friends, but they’re both unreliable narrators so we don’t actually know whether Deku was part of their group, or if he just following them around. That makes me so sad to think about but it’s a big question mark. I personally think they’re both so dishonest with their feelings for each other that they both misrepresent the relationship in their memories. Maybe they were close but both twisted it after everything went wrong. Who knows! But it’s fun to wonder.
Let’s take the weirdly inconsistent forest scene where they get further away each time they remember it (thanks deleted Reddit user for the almost accurate image);
Ch 9 is Kacchan reminiscing during Dk Vs Kchn 1, Ch 117 is Deku’s flashback in the lead-up to their Ground Beta Fight and Ch 275 is Kacchan thinking while following Deku to lure Shigaraki away from the city (side note how tiny Deku is in this one!).
So each picture represents something:
A) ‘I’ve always seen Deku as behind me’
B) ‘I’ve been chasing/following Kacchan my whole life’
C) ‘I need to keep up, Deku’s not going to leave me behind’. Literally:
Essentially, they have always been each other’s yardstick, the thing against which their own success and value is measured. But the yardstick kept changing length and I think at this point in the manga they’ve both realised that relationships aren’t about who’s ahead or behind.
The panels after the one in 275 are some of my favourites. He remembers their childhood, he remembers their fight, and he GRINS as he finally gets to work side by side with Deku.
Look at that smile! Not for the first (or last) time, he thinks about how he had it wrong and now he’s letting himself just be at the same level. Of course he keeps his typical competitive bravado, because he’s still the same brat we love. ‘Losing’ isn’t losing to Deku anymore though. Based on the context, it’s not absurd to suppose he doesn’t want to lose the opportunity to be by his side, to fight with him, to keep him close. Aahhhh.
I’m gonna stop now, but thank you for sharing my excitement about the lovely ambiguity in the story. 🥰