Discover Top Posts Tagged with #shuzenji chiyo

BNHA Observation: Chap 2-4 [Ep 3-4]

As I was rereading the manga and rewatching the anime for my "Keeping up with the Todorokis (anime version)" series, I took notes of things that weren't really related to the Todorokis but that still were worth noticing.

I thought I could as well share them in case someone else is curious especially since reading about how the series started helps to understand why it ended this way.

The things I observed are splits into: anime only scenes, characters info, continuity problems, cultural info, history time, Japanese language info, places, points to ponder, relevant quotes, timeline info, wordbuilding.

The order in which they're presented try to follow the order in which you face them in the manga, so that you can re-read the manga/re-watch the anime and, at the same time, follow them.

For who wants to start from the previous post: Chap 1 [Ep 1-2]

XX POINTS TO PONDER: STARTING LINE

The forth chapter (as well as the forth episode) is titled “Starting Line” (スタートライン ‘START LINE’).

This too will become a recurring way to title chapters. We’ve starting line chapters for Bakugō Katsuki (Chap. 11) and Todoroki Enji (Chap. 167) and in the story we’ll see other characters talk about their ‘starting line’. All this to say even if to a first reading/watching we might have missed it, the story places importance also on the ‘starting line’ of the characters. This also makes easier in a way to track their evolution and evidences how they’re characters who’re meant to evolve and yet keep something of that origin inside themselves.

XX CONTINUITY PROBLEMS: ALL MIGHT’S AGE AND QUIRK

We’re told All Might’s age is unknown and so is his Quirk… and as the story progresses we’ll be lead to believe his real name was also unknown to the public (in fact in a “Vigilantes” sidestory he introduces himself to Tsukauchi as Yagi Toshinori from Might Productions’ secondary clerical office, the department in charge of managing All Might’s life and Tsukauchi doesn’t comment on him having the same name as All Might)…

...with All Might saying the “weekly magazines” (週刊誌 ‘Shūkan-shi’) like to guess that his Quirk is “super strength” (怪力 ‘kairiki’) or “boost power” (ブースト ‘BOOST’) and All Might saying he avoid the question in interviews by making jokers because he doesn’t want to lie… but all this creates plot holes.

In fact a well known fact about All Might was he was a U.A. high student and, even if we were to assume U.A. high keeps the record of his students hidden, the sport festival is transmitted on television nationwide.

It means for three years All Might took part to it, likely won it (actually in the second ending of the 4th series he’s shown holding the U.A. gold medal)...

...and therefore his name and age were shared on national television. Even assuming back then he used another Hero name, it would be easy for the press and his fans to figure out it’s him, never mentioning he should have registered his Quirk to the Quirk registry to join U.A. so various people should know which Quirk he has or claimed to have (but again, if he didn’t claim it was One for All he would have lied).

Nowhere is said the records on the Quirk registry are kept as a secret, and we know the police can have access to it. The information would have eventually leaked.

What’s more, on his Hero license there should be his real name as well as his Hero name… and then there are all those flashy actions he did while he was in an university in the U.S.A. which the press likely wouldn’t miss.

This makes impossible for All Might, who was back then an illustrious nobody (and not the pupil of the Hero commission who worked out a fake identity for Keigo to hide behind) to hide his name and not give a name, even a fake one, for his Quirk.

There just would be records of him having been declared Quirkless and then records of him updating the Quirk registry with a Quirk name.

All Might claiming he hides many things but doesn’t lie is also not really a strong point because the reason we’re given for hiding this fact, that All Might has to look like a natural born Hero, is fundamentally a lie in itself so there’s no reason All Might weren’t to do like he’ll basically instruct Midoriya doing and write he had a “super strength” (超パワー ‘Chō POWER’) Quirk on the Quirk registry.

Likely the reason for all this are Doylist in nature.

For start Horikoshi hadn’t thought to all this worldbuilding details like the Quirk registry and the sport festival and the Hero license and wanted All Might to be kind of like Superman, someone with a secret identity… and also possibly likely he didn’t want to reveal All Might’s exact age (around 54) because there were complains about him being too old.

The second reason is he wanted All Might to be trustworthy. By having All Might telling Midoriya he doesn’t lie, he makes him more reliable.

The third reason is all the mysteries around All Might’s Quirk makes All Might and the Quirk Midoriya inherit also more interesting. We slowly discover about his Quirk, about his past and so on. It makes for a more interesting story than if we had an info dump at the start.

XX HISTORY TIME: THE WORLD PRIOR AND AFTER ALL MIGHT’S APPEARANCE

From when All Might appeared the once critically high rate of crimes committed by Villains decreased year after year and his existence became a deterrent gaining him the role and title of “Symbol of Peace” (平和の象徴 ‘Heiwa no Shōchō’). For who’s curious chap. 304 revealed All Might had One for All for around 40 years. Considering the 3 years he spent at U.A. high and the 5 years he spent in U.S.A. All Might appeared in Japan around 32 years ago.

XX WORLDBUILDING: ALL MIGHT IS ON EVERYTHING

In BNHA we see that there’s plenty of gadgets that are Hero themed. In this chapter, along with other things, we see the “All Might gum” (オールマイトグム), a type of bubblegum, and the “All Might chips” (オールマイチップス), a magazine named “Tarzon” in the manga and “Torzan” in the anime which is clearly this word version of “Tarzan”, a Japanese magazine, “Goetha”, which is clearly this word version of “Goethe”, another Japanese magazine, “All Might Curry” (オールマイカレー) along with more toys, what looks like a manga, what looks like a face mask, what looks like a pencil case, a movie dedicated to him and what else. In the anime he’s also shown to have already a statue. Later we’ll also see Midoriya wearing an All Might shirt with the writing “All M” on it.

XX POINTS TO PONDER: NATURAL BORN HERO

All Might says he hides the true origin of his Quirk, a Quirk that was passed down to him because the “Symbol of Peace” has to come off as a natural born Hero (ナチュラルボーンヒーロー).

This lie is the proof of how their peace is built on an illusion and wrong beliefs regarding personal value.

The previous chapter just established what made Midoriya a Hero wasn’t his innate superpowerful Quirk (he had none) but the fact he jumped in action to save someone. The idea that All Might can maintain peace because he’s exceptional is self detrimental to All Might and to society itself.

All Might is just a man, who ends up having to hide even the fact he got injured because All Might has to project this fake image of perfection, basically embracing the ideals of the Hero Commission which was promoting further the idea of a world of perfect Heroes (killing off secretly whoever wasn’t perfect).

Society instead becomes complacent, no one can be as exceptional as All Might so they all depend on him and no one tries to surpass him (yes, this changes in late generations but the story often remarks in the past generations only Enji wanted to try to surpass All Might).

The impossibly high standard will mess up Enji, who’ll end up trying to create his own natural born Hero by mixing his Quirk with Rei… but it’s a standard All Might himself can’t sustain, not only because his wound will make impossible to keep up such a lifestyle but because, being just a man, he would eventually die while he knows All for One can live way longer than him.

We see, in fact, that once All Might retires, society begins to crumble exactly because it was built on a clay pillar.

While likely Horikoshi hadn’t planned yet all that will happen later, part of it was already woven in the plot he had in mind and it kind of will come to full circle with Uraraka’s questioning ‘when a Hero is hurting, when he needs protecting, who will protect them?’

Uraraka Ochako ‘HERO ga tsurai toki dare ga HERO o mamotte agerareru darō?’ 麗日お茶子「ヒーローが辛い時誰がヒーローを守ってあげられるだろう？」 Uraraka Ochako “Who can protect a Hero when he is in trouble?” [Chap. 429]

The answer being that all the people can contribute to reach out their hands to help making the burden a Hero carries a little more light.

XX WORLDBUILDING: ONE FOR ALL (ワン・フォー・オール)

All Might’s unique Quirk which can be passed down from a person to another like a Olympic torch, so that each person who has it cultivate the power and then passes it down to another who refines it and passes it on again and so on forming a network of power.

Two days after being told All Might will have him inherit One for All, Midoriya will learn his body is a ill suited vessel for All for One because if the physical strength of many people were to be bound to his body, his weak limbs would pop right off, so he has to train to become a suitable vessel.

That’s all we’re told about it right now. As the story progresses though, we’ll learn much more about it but for now just the name should have tipped us on how there should be also an ‘All for one’ Quirk.

XX POINTS TO PONDER: ALL MIGHT & KYUBEI

BNHA and “Madoka Magica” are two works which have in common Buddhist roots but also something else, a character which hands down a miraculous power as if it were a blessed gift, hiding it comes with plenty of downsides.

Of course Kyubei does it out of self interest and planning to harvest the power the future magical girls will generate, while All Might doesn’t have such dark intentions but when he offers One for All to a teenager, Midoriya, fully aware Midoriya worships him, is desperate to become a Hero and has an inferiority complex because he’s Quirkless (a fact that caused him to be bullied), hiding from him how his body is, at the moment an unsuitable vessel (so that Midoriya’s bones break each time he uses it), that he’ll have to hide the truth behind such power, even from his parents, and that not only he’s being set up to face the most powerful Villain but that said most powerful Villain stalks such power and that all the predecessors were slaughtered by said Villain… well, it really doesn’t paint a nice picture of All Might’s actions.

Mind you, this sort of things are TROPES used regularly in manga and anime so all that I mentioned above is meant to be handwaved as not relevant.

It’s “Madoka Magica” which subverted things by showing us instead how poisoned such a miraculous gift would be, we aren’t meant to think of All Might as evil for taking advantage of Midoriya’s trust in him to push on him a power that comes with some serious downsides without warning him beforehand. All Might is a good guy here, though if you want to make a dark version of BNHA fanfic this might be your starting point.

All Might won’t even really get criticized for all this, because we’re really meant to mostly handwave it as All Might meant the best.

I’m pointing it out solely because I find it interesting, but it’s clear despite the similarities we aren’t meant to see All Might as Kyubei.

XX WORLDBUILDING: TUITTER

In the anime we see people debating about All Might’s Quirk on Tuitter, which is likely inspired to Twitter, the social network service which is now currently known as X.

XX JAPANESE LANGUAGE INFO: MIDORIYA’S MUMBLING

When Midoriya starts mumbling we see plenty of ブツブツ (‘butsu butsu’). ブツブツ or ぶつぶつ (it’s always ‘butsu butsu’, only first it’s written in katakana and then in hiragana) is a standard Japanese onomatopoeia for mumbling, muttering, or grumbling to oneself.

XX TIMELINE INFO: WHEN DOES MIDORIYA’S TRAINING HAPPEN?

In the manga we’re told Midoriya’s training starts 2 days later at 6:00 AM (朝６時 ‘asa 6-ji’) but in the anime we’re told it’s just early morning (早朝 ‘Sōchō’). We’re also told it’s 10 months before the entrance exam of U.A. high, meaning that the entrance exam is in February.

XX PLACES: TAKOBA MUNICIPAL BEACH PARK (市営多古場海浜公園 SHIHEI TAKOBA KAIHIN KŌEN)

The beach had been in a poor state for years as due to the currents lots of stuff drifts ashore and people dump their garbage there even if they shouldn’t. Considering that on the schedule All Might prepares for Midoriya, Midoriya is given a hour to reach it from home and a hour to reach home from it, we can figure it’s at a hour of distance from Midoriya’s house (and he likely has to use some form of transportation to reach it).

Takoba might be the name of the district or ward in which the beach is… though it might also be just the name of the beach. Hard to say.

The name Takoba (多古場 in katakana タコバ) is likely a reference to the “Star Wars” planet Dagobah (ダゴバ), which is written adding to the first two kana a dakuten (a double dot).

In “Star Wars” Dagobah was a remote, unexplored planet in the Dagobah system, and one of the purest places in the galaxy within the Force. It’s covered with swamps and forests and served as a refuge for Jedi Grand Master Yoda during his exile. Here it’s also where Yoda trained Luke Skywalker.

XX CHARACTERS INFO: ALL MIGHT’S WEIGHT

Midoriya points out how All Might should weight 274 kg but All Might corrects him saying he lost some weight and therefore he’s just 255.

XX WORLDBUILDING: BEING A HERO

According to All Might young Heroes only want fame but being a Hero is all about volunteer work, and that’s why he tells Midoriya he should clean the beach. Ironically though in “Team-Up mission” Chap. 33 we’ll learn it’s Endeavor and not All Might the one who, at U.A. held the best record of trash collector, All Might not having a good record at all because he stopped talking with people from the public and so he didn’t collect trash at all.

XX PLACES: U.A. HIGH SCHOOL (雄英高校 YŪEI KŌKŌ)

We learn Midoriya wants to go to U.A. high because All Might also attended to that school.

XX WORLDBUILDING: AIM TO PASS AMERICAN DREAM PLAN (目指せ合格アメリカンドリームプラン MEZASE GŌKAKU AMERICAN DREAM PLAN)

It’s the plan All Might prepared for Midoriya to help him prepare himself to pass the test. It contains a training regimen to help him clean up the garbage and some other things (for example the first thing he tries to make him do is try to move a Side-by-Side Refrigerator (which generally weight about 113 to 159 kilograms) on top of which All Might stands (All Might, for his own admission, weight 255 kg) for a total of asking Midoriya to move around 400 kg). All Might even planned what Midoriya should eat and how much Midoriya should sleep, through for his own admission the plan is super tough.

XX TIMELINE INFO: AIM TO PASS AMERICAN DREAM PLAN TIMELINE

In the manga the plan can hardly be read but in the anime the first sheet is well visible. On it it’s written:

Daily schedule (weekdays)

From 8th of April to 31st of May (For Saturday and Sunday see attached sheets)

Phase 1

AM 04:00 Wake up

AM 05:00- AM 07:30 Aerobic exercise (running, jump rope, tai-chi)

AM 08:45-PM 03:20 School

PM 04:00-PM 07:00 Garbage cleaning

PM 07:45-PM 08:30 Dinner (menu is attached)

PM 08:30- PM 11:00 Basic physical training (push up, abs, back muscles *see set plan)

AM 00:00 Going to bed

The other sheets are ‘Daily schedule (holidays)’, ‘meal menu’, ‘set plan’.

The one in the manga, despite not being clearly visible, has minor differences, like being titled ‘1 day (weekday)’ with at subtitle just ‘schedule’. Also for the aerobic exercise it lists a set A and a set B.

It’s hard to say if this means we’re on the 8th of April, since Midoriya isn’t following the plan yet, as, according to it, garbage cleaning should take place in the evening.

What we can tell is that the week should be the one including the 8th of April. If Midoriya is supposed to follow it from the day after (meaning that day is the 7th) this would make the 8th Thursday. If instead the 8th is just a general numbering to imply the schedule is meant to start from the week that start with Monday being the 8th it would mean we’re on the 10th.

Honestly though I’m more prone to think there’s a mistake in both the manga and anime schedule as Midoriya seems to collect the garbage always in morning, and the whole training will end with him finishing to collect the garbage in morning.

XX POINTS TO PONDER: YOU CAN’T DO IT AS A QUIRKLESS PERSON

Although All Might told Midoriya he can be a Hero because he has Hero spirit, the underlining meaning of his words was always ‘you can be a Hero because you’ve Hero spirit and are suitable to receive my Quirk’. He never meant that Midoriya could do it while remaining Quirkless. He remarks it even now.

ALL MIGHT ‘Mae ni mo itta ga “mukosei” demo nari tatsu yōna shigoto janai. Kanashī ka na genjitsu wa sonna monoda. Mashiteya U.A. HERO-ka wa sainankan. Tsumari……’ オールマイト「前にも言ったが〝無個性〟でも成り立つような仕事じゃない。悲しいかな現実はそんなものだ。ましてや雄英ヒーロー科は最難関！つまり……」 All Might “As I said before, it’s not something you can do if you’re ‘quirkless’. It’s sad, but that’s the reality. And the U.A. Hero Course is the toughest! So...”

All Might isn’t saying this to be cruel, he was Quirkless too and has come to believe this as well. For quite a while, after he’ll lose his Quirk, All Might will feel lost too. Meeting up with Stain will likely be what will push him to react, so by the time of the final fight, he’ll still face All for One with the support of a body armor. The whole thing will come to full circle when he’ll bring a suit for Midoriya too, telling him again he has earned it, same as he told him when he gave him his Quirk.

XX WORLDBUILDING: BUILDINGS

Midoriya’s teacher explains with the appearance of “paranormal abilities” (超常 ‘chōjō’) the Building standard act (建築基準法 ‘Kenchiku kijun-hō’) was revised.

XX CULTURAL INFO: BUILDING STANDARD ACT (建築基準法 ‘KENCHIKU KIJUN-HŌ’)

Currently the “Building Standards Act” is a Japanese law (Law No. 201 year 1950) that stipulates minimum standards for the site, facilities, structure, and use of buildings in order to protect the lives, health, and property of the people. Prior to it, there was the “Urban Buildings Act” (市街地建築物法 ‘Shigaichi kenchiku-mono-hō’) a law dated 1919.

XX CULTURAL INFO: CORPORAL PUNISHMENT AT SCHOOL

While Midoriya is at school we see the teacher hitting him on the head because Midoriya keeps on mumbling. It’s generally used as a recurring gag in manga and anime to have a teacher hit the head of a student that isn’t paying attention or throw at the student’s head things, more often than not the blackboard eraser or a piece of chalk, usually causing the student to be knocked off its chair or something similar.

But what the Japanese law says in this regard? Is it okay to hit children at school?

Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools under article 11 of the Education Law 1947, which states that disciplinary punishment may be inflicted but “in no case is corporal punishment permitted” (art. 11). A ruling by the Tokyo High Court on 1 April 1981 suggested this provision did not prohibit all physical punishment in all cases, and in 2007 a ministerial guideline issued to public schools relied on this in suggesting that some forms of physical punishment may be permitted in some circumstances. In 2012, the Government asserted that the said article of the Education Law “strictly prohibits corporal punishment” and that Ministerial guidelines and training support this, but did not comment on the High Court ruling.9 In 2014, the Government reported it was continuing its efforts to completely ban corporal punishment in schools. In 2020, a law was amended to explicitly and clearly state that all forms of corporal punishment against children are strictly prohibited. However, according to a survey in 2021, a certain percentage of Japanese adults still believe that using corporal punishment on children is a necessary form of discipline.

Long story short in 2014, the year in which BNHA started being printed, despite continuous effort to ban corporal punishment, it was likely still administered in minor forms and went unpunished unless the students’ parents were to report it.

To give you an idea of how things are “Mizuiro Jidai” (水色時代 Aqua Age) a Shōjo manga by Yabūchi Yū printed from 1991 to 1994 in Vol. 5 chap. 25 argued in defense of corporal punishment at school, presenting the parents who argued against it as in the wrong… as long as it was reasonable, with the author writing in the author’s column how she disagreed with the idea of completely abolishing it… Interesting enough when the manga was transposed into an anime in 1996/1997 episode 28 was changed so that we don’t see anymore the teacher giving spanks that leave handprints, punch heads, slaps faces, grab shirts and hair as she did in the manga, but she’s just strict with them verbally.

XX POINTS TO PONDER: MORE ABOUT THE TEACHERS AND BULLYING

In addition to the hit the teacher asks Midoriya if the meeting with the Villains made him go crazy pointing out how it’s presumptuous of him to dream to go at U.A. high, causing again Midoriya’s classmates to laugh at him.

Sensei ‘Teki (read: VILLAIN) to sōgū shite atama kowareta no ka? Sonnanja U.A. nante kuchi ni suru no mo okogamashī zoo.’ 先生「敵（ヴィラン）と遭遇して頭壊れたのか？そんなんじゃ雄英なんて口にするのもおこがましいぞー。」 Teacher “Did your encounter with an enemy (read: villain) damage your mind? If that’s the case, it’s presumptuous of you to even mention U.A.”

I’ve mentioned it in the previous post while discussing of Midoriya’s homeroom teacher’s behavior but we can see it here as well. The teachers at Midoriya’s school were actively promoting the idea that Midoriya’s dream was a laughing matter, basically chipping away at his self-esteems and encouraging bullying.

XX TIMELINE INFO: MIDORIYA MAKES A NEW PLAN

Midoriya says he has 294 days and a week left before the entrance exam. This would mean 301 days. As the entrance exam is on the 26th of February this means we’re at the 1st day of May.

XX CHARACTERS INFO: BAKUGŌ KATSUKI AND MIDORIYA IZUKU

While all the class is snickering at Midoriya due to the teacher’s words, Bakugō is the only one who remains serious and looks elsewhere. In Chap 4 Midoriya will confirm that after the incident with the Sludge Villain Bakugō never tormented him again, meaning for more than 10 months Bakugō let him quiet and it was only the teachers and the rest of the class who kept on bullying Midoriya.

It’s still worth to mention that when Midoriya will meet Bakugō at the exam, even if for 10 months Bakugō didn’t bully Midoriya, we see Midoriya is still scared of him and will remain scared of him for a while, which is Horikoshi’s way to remark on the way being bullied sign people. Overcoming this will take Midoriya quite a bit of effort and it won’t help Bakugō will go back on being aggressive toward him.

XX POINTS TO PONDER: OVERTRAINING

As Midoriya trains we see how, one day, he ends up throwing up, either due to exhaustion or overheating (it's likely summer).

In fact one of the potentially serious causes of nausea and vomiting during or after sport activity is exercise-induced hyponatraemia, first described in 1985. This electrolyte imbalance is caused by massive sodium losses during sweating followed by excessive, low-sodium fluid intake. Exercise-induced vomiting, is, in short, a particular physiological reactions to strenuous exercise which might be alleviated by proper hydration.

We see in various instances how Shōto too throws up. This can be caused by his father overworking him, or due to the intense heat of the fire Quirk, possibly both as Enji aimed at training his fire Quirk and tended to over train him.

Why all this is relevant?

Midoriya too is overtraining as he decided he would follow an even harder schedule than the one All Might established behind All Might’s back… and, despite throwing up being an obvious sign of overtraining, All Might will realize Midoriya is overtraining when only three months are missing, meaning Midoriya over trained for more than 200 days without him noticing. Actually, All Might’s first reaction when Midoriya falls on the ground due to fatigue is scolding him because only three more months are missing and if he stops now he’s not going to make it in time.

Credits when it’s due, when All Might FINALLY realize Midoriya is overtraining, he scolds him for doing so and with good reasons.

Overtraining is dangerous as it can lead to an elevated resting heart rate, increased blood pressure, and in extreme cases, heart arrhythmias. You can also have Rhabdomyolysis, which occurs when, due to overexertion, muscle tissue breaks down and releases proteins that can damage the kidneys. It can also result in imbalances in hormones (such as cortisol, testosterone and growth hormone) that can adversely affect metabolism and muscle growth. In addition, the strain on the body due to overtraining can suppress the immune system, making individuals more susceptible to infections, illnesses and prolonged recovery periods. Other symptoms of overtraining can include decreased performance. Rather than achieving the desired outcome, excessive training without adequate recovery can lead to fatigue, decreased strength and endurance. Overtraining can also negatively affect mental health, causing symptoms like irritability, anxiety, depression and poor sleep quality.

Long story short it can cause short-term and long-term damage and it is to be avoided.

However Midoriya insists he doesn’t want just pass and therefore he needs to train more, instead than assuring him his training plan is just what Midoriya needs and there’s no need for him to go further than that, All Might caves in and promises to adjust the plan for him (even though for his own admission the plan was already super hard) because Midoriya’s words were what he wanted to hear.

We’ll see more than once that All Might tends to encourage Midoriya to go overboard.

More than a character problem this is a trope problem.

In regard to the training of future Heroes BNHA basically takes inspiration from spokon manga and in spokon manga overtraining often simply doesn’t exist… not because athletes don’t over train but because overtraining is presented as the thing you should do.

Athletes put themselves through hell, or, more often, their trainers put them through hell and it’s all worth it. Well, sometimes someone dies but it still was worth it (in “Ashita no Joe” [あしたのジョー Tomorrow’s JOE] dated 1968/73 Rikiishi Tōru, Joe’s adversary, in order to lose weight to box against Joe, put himself through a drastic diet that includes NOT DRINKING. He’ll lose weight and win the match only to die just after it due to weight loss and a brain hemorrhage sustained during the fight… but he’ll still win so Joe will be none the wiser and try the same method to lose weight later on).

BNHA finds itself in the delicate position of trying to balance all this.

The whole plus ultra (“further beyond”) catchphrase encourages students to try harder, we’ll see some scenes that can fall into the overtraining risk, but at the same time, it tries to point out there’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed with Eraser Head and Recovery Girl scolding Midoriya and All Might when this happens (All Might being openly called out for going overboard and encouraging Midoriya to do so) and Enji being openly blamed for overtraining Shōto.

Compared to previous manga it’s approach is therefore more ‘modern’, though you can still find in it things that are still too overboard to be justified.

XX CULTURAL INFO: OVERTRAINING AND ABUSE IN SPORT

If you’re wondering why the overtraining trope is so popular in spokon manga… well, that’s because in Japan there are still no laws against abuse in sport. Meaning your trainer can force you to over train and can verbally and physically abuse you if you fail to comply.

A famous real life case is the Japanese women’s volleyball team who in 1964 won the Olympics. They were put through an outright abusive training regime but, since they won, everyone was fine with it and the players even thanked the coach for what he did for them (“He was tough, for sure. But just as much, there was kindness with coach Daimatsu. It’s why everyone respected him” said one of the players).

This inspired the shōjo spokon manga Attack No. 1 (アタックNo.1) dated 1968/70 by Urano Chikako, and which was transposed into an anime in 1969/71 which is filled with overtraining and abuse that would be impossible for a human to bear… while for the shōnen side a good example is Kyojin no Hoshi (巨人の星 “Star of the Giants”) dated 1966/71 by Kajiwara Ikki and Kawasaki Noboru, in which the abusive coach is, for the first part of the story, the father of the main character (a character who likely inspired Todoroki Enji, with the difference Hoshi Ittetsu, despite being abusive, was lauded as a model father).

If you think it’s a thing of the past think twice.

In 2018 18-year-old gymnast, Miyakawa Sae, in a press conference said she was harassed by leaders of the JGA, and that she was threatened with being left off the Tokyo 2020 team as she did not take part in the early stages to special training sessions in Japan and overseas, and that she was ultimately pressured to do so, and protested the banning of her coach, who sometimes hit her, but, according to her, didn’t deserve such a severe punishment… apparently because being hit by your coach should be considered normal.

In 2020 Human Rights Watch released a report titled “I was hit so many times I can’t count” that includes testimonies from more than 800 Japanese former child athletes competing in more than 50 sports who have reported abuses that included being assaulted and sexually abused or harassed, with many suffering from depression, physical disabilities and lifelong trauma as a result. Some cases resulted to suicide.

Long story short beating athletes is a practice that in Japan is known as ‘taibatsu’ (体罰 lit. “body penality” practically “corporal punishment”) and, as far as I know, it’s still legal in Japan (the most you’ll get is being banned in some circumstances).

Therefore even if you might think BNHA isn’t doing enough, in 2014 it was actually a way more progressive work of many others that had preceded it.

XX JAPANESE LANGUAGE INFO: OTAKU (オタク)

When people hear the word ‘OTAKU’, they usually think to an anime fan, but the Japanese word is actually meant to describes people with consuming interests (and can work to translate words as “geek”, “nerd”, “freak”, “no-lifer”). In BNHA it’s how All Might calls Midoriya due to Midoriya’s being a hardcore All Might fan. Bakugō instead favors calling him ‘NERD’ (ナード).

XX TIMELINE INFO: THE DAY OF THE EXAM

According to the manga (chap 4) and the anime (ep 3) it takes place on February 26.

At 6:00 AM of that day Midoriya has finally finished cleaning the beach, 3 hours before the entrance exam that’s meant to start at 9:00 AM

XX CULTURAL INFO: WHEN HIGH SCHOOL ENTRANCE EXAMS TAKE PLACE?

Each prefecture has its own date in which entrance exams take place. U.A. high is in Shizuoka prefecture and, in 2014, this day wasn’t 26th February, which is the day in which begins the acceptance of the application requests, but 5th March. In case you’re wondering in Tokyo instead they’re held 24th February. Either Horikoshi changed it because, at the time, he didn’t want to reveal where U.A. high is or he mixed up the date of the entrance exam with the one of the application requests.

XX CONTINUITY PROBLEMS: ALL MIGHT IS SURPRISED AT HOW MIDORIYA CLEANED THE BEACH

Since All Might supposedly was always around Midoriya when the last trained, his surprise at seeing how Midoriya diligently cleaned the beach is weird.

We don’t get to see the updated plan but in the old one Midoriya was meant to get up at 4:00 AM and start doing aerobic from 5:00 AM to 5:30 AM with the garbage cleanup taking place AFTER SCHOOL and prior to 7:00 PM, the time in which he was supposed to go home.

This means All Might should have seen Midoriya’s progresses the day before. If we want to stretch things we can assume his surprise comes from the fact Midoriya wasn’t supposed to keep on cleaning the beach in the morning but, instead than doing aerobics, he did keep on cleaning. More likely though All Might’s surprise has the Doylist reason it’s meant to clue in the reader in how it should be impressed by Midoriya’s work so it’s not like we should criticize the story for presenting us with All Might’s surprise for how far Midoriya went.

XX CULTURAL INFO: BORN WITH AND EARNED IT THROUGH HARD WORK

Despite All Might talking about how important it is for him to be a natural born Hero, All Might points out to Midoriya how he deserves receiving his power because he worked hard for it.

ALL MIGHT ‘Kore wa uke uri daga, saisho kara unyoku sazukatta mono to mitomerare jōtosareta mono de wa sono honshitsu ga chigau! Kimo ni meijite oki na. Kore wa kimi jishin ga kachi totta chikara da.’ オールマイト「これは受け売りだが、最初から運よく授かったものと認められ譲渡されたものではその本質が違う！肝に銘じておきな。これは君自身が勝ち取った力だ。」 All Might “I’m just repeating what I’ve heard, but there’s a difference between something you were lucky enough to receive from the start and something that was recognized and transferred to you. Keep this in mind. This is a power you’ve earned yourself.”

For start very likely that sentence was said from Nana to All Might.

What you might miss is that it’s actually much more fitting of Japanese culture for Midoriya not to be a natural born Hero because Japan values more ‘doryoku’ (努力 “effort”) than inborn abilities, thinking everything can be done if one just work hard enough at it, therefore Midoriya, being the main character, has to be the poster boy of the power of effort.

Another poster boy of effort though is Endeavor, whose Hero name means ‘doryoku’. All Might too is, in truth, a poster boy for effort, but he masks it trying hard to pretend he’s a natural born Hero. We however see how hard he still tries to be on active duty despite his injury and the time limit of his transformation, up to his two confrontations against All for One.

What All Might says, as mentioned before will also come to full circle in chap 430 when he’ll bring Midoriya the body armor.

ALL MIGHT ‘Kimo ni meijite oki na. Kore mo kimi jishin ga kachi totta chikara da!!’ オールマイト「肝に銘じておきな。これも君自身が勝ち取った力だ‼」 All Might “Keep this in mind. This too is a power you’ve earned yourself!!”

XX WORLDBUILDING: HOW TO RECEIVE ONE FOR ALL

According to All Might what one needs to do to receive One for All is to ingest some of the previous possessor’s DNA, hence that’s why he tells Midoriya to eat his hair. Blood would also have been fine.

In order for the whole exchange to take effect though, Midoriya needs time to digest it and will start feeling something in 2/3 hours.

XX TIMELINE INFO: WHEN DOES MIDORIYA SWALLOW THE HAIR?

According to the anime at 6:15 AM, which means he should start to be able to use One for All around 8:00/9:00 AM, just in time for the exam to start.

XX CHARACTERS INFO: MIDORIYA’S SHOES AND BACKPACK

Midoriya seems to be the only one in his class who uses a huge yellow backpack (バックパック), while all the others use the standard blue shoulder bag. They’ll keep on using the same bags in high school as well, Midoriya continuing to use a backpack even 8 years after the final battle, the backpack becoming part of what characterizes him.

Another thing that characterizes Midoriya though are his red high top trekking shoes (トレッキングシューズ), shoes which he always wears unless he’s at school and then he has to wear the mandatory white sneakers. The choice on the red shoes is relevant for two reasons.

One, red is, more often than not, the color assigned to the leader in shōnen manga/anime. Midoriya was supposedly assigned green due to his hair and his surname which means “green valley” and the fact that green is associated with youth (this is a coming of age story), but Horikoshi still gave him some red in form of his shoes.

Two, Shigaraki Tomura, the leader of the Villain League, also wears red shoes, although his own are plain red sneakers. Still the red shoes become another thing they’ve in common. And yes, I’m mentioning it only now because the anime has a scene showing just Midoriya shoes and backpack.

XX CHARACTERS INFO: MIDORIYA IZUKU (緑谷出久)

His profile page says he’s born on July 15th, that his height is 166 cm and that his favorite thing is Katsudon (屋久杉), a popular Japanese food, a bowl of rice topped with a deep-fried breaded pork cutlet, egg, vegetables, and condiments. His age is also now given as 15 as he managed to turn 15 during the year he trained with All Might.

XX TIMELINE INFO: WHEN MIDORIYA REACHED U.A. HIGH?

According to the anime he reached it at 8:40 after a 40 minutes ride.

Thanks to his training schedule we know that to reach Midoriya’s house from the beach he needs a hour, meaning that he arrived home short after 7:00 AM, then he took his quick shower and then he ran to the subway which he reached at 8:00 AM with the result he didn’t have time to test the power All Might gave him.

XX WORLDBUILDING: HEROES WHO ATTENDED U.A. HIGH

We’re mentioned 3 Heroes who attended U.A. high (we’ll learn later how more Heroes did so).

The first mentioned is All Might, whom we know is the Number 1 Hero and now we learn he also refused the people’s choice award.

The second mentioned is Endeavor, the man who stopped more crime than anyone else in recorded history, and that here is called instead than ‘FLAME HERO ENDEAVOR’ (フレイムヒーローエンデヴァー) ‘Nenshō-kei HERO ENDEAVOR’ (燃焼系ヒーローエンデヴァー “Burning hero Endeavor”). Endeavor is also still shown wearing his prototype uniform (same as chap 1) and Horikoshi doesn’t mention he’s the Number 2 Hero.

Last but not least we’ve Best Jeanist, the guy who won the ‘Best jeanist’ award for eight years running.

Midoriya comments that graduating from U.A. is simply a requirement for becoming a great Hero and that it’s Hero course is the toughest and most popular course and only 1 in 300 applicants is accepted.

XX CONTINUITY PROBLEMS: TOO FEW HEROES ARE FROM U.A. HIGH

As the story goes on, we'll learn each year U.A. high graduates 40 students.

Remember how All Might had One for All for around 40 years? Likely Nana handed it to him when he had to attend U.A. same as Midoriya. This also means 40 years of U.A. high existing and producing Heroes for a total of 1600 Heroes.

Considering U.A. is the best Hero school and all the hype about needing to go to U.A. high to be a great Hero, those Heroes should be better than others. Even assuming they equally spread among the 47 prefectures of Japan, this should mean there are 34 graduates just in the prefecture Midoriya is in (Shizuoka), but, what's more the Hero billboard chart should be saturated by U.A. high Heroes, along with Shiketsu Heroes.

There should be much more Heroes Midoriya could mention, instead we never meet Heroes who graduated with All Might or with Enji and we met plenty of Heroes who are never stated as ex-U.A. high students.

Of course it's possible Horikoshi just didn't want to mention it, I mean Īda's brother possibly also went to U.A. high even though we were never told so, and possibly Nighteye too did the same even if, again, we were never told so, and it's possible the same is true for ALL the U.A. teachers so it can actually be plenty of Heroes we met are from U.A. and we just don't know.

The Doylist explanation is that a narrative saturation of U.A. Heroes in the story would probably feel wrong, kind of like unreal but also more likely boring... and the story doesn't bother mentioning how some Heroes come from Shiketsu because Horikoshi hand't planned Shiketsu yet.

So, in itself this isn't really a 'problem' as it helps the story to remain interesting.

XX CULTURAL INFO: BEST JEANIST AWARD

The “Best Jeanist Award” is annual event for promoting jeans comsumption in Japan which has been held since 1984. Japan Jeans Association hold a commendation ceremony to award well-jeans-dressed stars or singers because the competition awards celebrities who wear jeans the best. There are three categories awarded, “General Selection”, “Committee Selection”, and “Next Generation”. The awards are usually announced around September/October.

When BNHA started the competition was at its 31st edition and was held in October. In 2024 the 41st edition will be held.

Also, originally if a winner wins five times, they are inducted into the Hall of Fame as a permanent Best Jeanist and are no longer eligible for selection, but all of these winners are from the two agencies mentioned above. In 2013, the rules were changed to require three wins to be inducted into the Hall of Fame… so Best Jeanist shouldn’t have been able to win the prize for eight years running.

XX CHARACTERS INFO: BAKUGŌ IS WELL KNOWN

As Bakugō walks in U.A. high he’s recognized for the one involved in the Sludge incident, people also knowing his name. I’m not sure people should know his name, due to the fact he’s a minor. Generally when talking about a minor on the news they refer to him as ‘shōnen A’ (boy A) and not by surname but, since Bakugō did nothing wrong, it’s possible the press was allowed to leak his name.

XX WORLDBUILDING: THE STATUES IN U.A. HIGH

In U.A. high garden there are various statues. The anime shows how one of them resembles the head of one of Nagai Go’s robots.

XX CHARACTERS INFO: URARAKA OCHAKO (麗日お茶子)

Though we don’t learn her name right now, we’ll see how she can use her Quirk to levitate objects and uses it to save Midoriya from a bad fall right before the exam. This moment, along with other occurrences, will be referenced by Midoriya in chap 429 as one of the many times Uraraka saved him… though in this arc we’ll go round to the two of them saving each other as Midoriya will save her from the attack of a robot and she will again save him from a fall, also volunteering to give him some of the points she earned as she figured he didn’t manage to earn a single point.

Her profile page says she’s born on December 27th, that his height is 156 cm and that her favorite things are starry skies and Japanese food. Her age is 15.

XX CHARACTERS INFO: PRESENT MIC (プレゼント・マイク)

The one to introduce us to how the exam will take place is Voice Hero: Present Mic (ボイスヒーロープレゼント・マイク) who has a radio show which Midoriya listen every week. Due to this he likes to refer to people as ‘LISTENER’ (リスナー). He also likes to use English sentences… and later on it will be revealed he works as an English teacher in U.A. high.

We’ll learn much later his real name is Yamada Hizashi (山田ひざし).

XX WORLDBUILDING: THE TEACHERS AT U.A. HIGH

The fact that Present Mic is one of the teachers at U.A. lead Midoriya to speculate that all the teachers are Heroes… which will turn out to be true, and this will include even the guy serving lunches. While of course having Heroes working at U.A. high can be useful it’s not actually necessary for all of them to be Hero… but I guess this gives more color to the BNHA world.

XX WORLDBUILDING: THE EXAM

For the practical exam, in the application requirement it’s said that after the exam orientation the students will be conducting a ten-minute mock urban battle after the exam orientation. Present Mic says they can bring along whatever they want, which likely mean they can take with themselves their support items.

He then explains after the presentation they’ll head to the specified battle center, the board behind him showing there are battle centers from A to G for a total of 7 battle center.

Bakugō, who’s seated next to Midoriya, points out to Midoriya they’re organized things as such so that people from the same middle school won’t be able to help each other. In fact they’ve consecutive examinee numbers (hence why they sat one next to the other but different battle location), Midoriya being 2234 and Bakugō 2233 but Midoriya is assigned to battle ground B while Bakugō to A.

Present Mic goes on explaining three types of faux Villains are stationed in each battle center and the examinee can earn points for each of them based on their level of difficulty. Attacking other examinees or other not heroic actions is forbidden.

There’s a 4th type of Villain which is worth 0 points and it’s just there to be an obstacle, so, even if it can be defeated, there’s no reason to do so and Present Mic recommends them to just avoid it.

Nezu will later point out how the examinees don’t know how many Villains there are or their location and, with a small amount of time in a vast area, they’re forced to draw the Villains out.

So what matters are information gathering abilities to understand the situation before anyone else, mobility that can be used in many circumstances, discernment to be able to stay calm in any situation and pure combat ability.

It’s worth to mention in the manga we can’t know who’s talking but in the anime, in addition to recognizing his voice, we see him and, next to him, Cementoss and Ectoplasm, we hear Midnight’s voice

XX CULTURAL INFO: HIGH SCHOOL ADMISSION EXAM IN JAPAN

In Japan middle school students select one public high school (公立高校 ‘Koritsu kōkō’) from the school district and take its entrance examination, in addition to the entrance examinations for as many private schools (私立 ‘Shiritsu kōkō’) as they want. There are two kinds of private high schools: elite and low-ranked. All high schools in a school district are ranked, according to their success in sending graduates to prestigious colleges, and matched to the standard deviation of the test scores of prospective students.

Why can they take the entrance exam of only one public high school?

Because all the public high schools have the entrance exam in the same day.

Going to a high-ranked high school gives students a better chance to enter a high-ranked college, and to land a high status job, because employers use educational credentials as one of the main criteria for recruitment.

The admission exam is very stressful to the point they talk of “Examination hell” and the admission selections are based on academic merit including the entrance examination scores, grades, and interviews.

During placement counseling with students and parents, homeroom teachers of middle school students take the most significant role in matching each student to a high school. Homeroom teachers know the student’s interests as well as parents’ preference, and present the odds of passing the exams based on the analysis of his/her test scores from midterms, final exams, and practice exams. Teachers compare the student’s performance to that of previous students, during a parent-teacher-student conference at the end of the first trimester. They sort out students according to their academic rank, and suggest to them the high schools where they have the best chance of passing the entrance exams. The problem with this system is that the students are sorted only by academic achievement, such as the standard deviation of mock test scores, and not by their future life plan.

Here there’s a general outline of what a student has to do in preparation of entering high school in his last year of middle school

October, November: choosing 3 - 4 schools

December: It’s when there are the final grades for 2nd semester those results determines which schools one can attempt and also the deadline for papers to be filled out by the school.

January/February: Students take their entrance exam application (ganshou) on particular day to particular schools. (In Shizuoka is the 26th February till 27th February)

February/March: Regular entrance exams for public and private high school (In Shizuoka is 5th March for the Academic achievement test with the interview and other things the school might require taking place the day after).

March: Results for entrance exams (In Shizuoka is 14th March).

XX WORLDBUILDING: THE GRAPHIC OF THE PRESENTATION

In the manga the faux Villains are depicted as “Super Mario Bros.” (スーパーマリオブラザーズ) enemies, “Super Mario Bros.” being an old yet extremely popular videogame that even gets mentioned directly) and the kids are depicted as Mario. Present Mic specifically mentions this game in his explanation. In the anime instead they used a more serious graphic, even if it’s one still based on videogames, with the faux Villains looking like they are and the kids depicted as Present Mic.

XX CHARACTERS INFO: ĪDA TENYA (飯田天哉)

Īda, who’s examinee number 7111, also appears now and he’s the one who points out how on the print distributed there are four types of Villains, complaining if it’s a misprint U.A. should be ashamed and how they’re there because they wished to be molded into exemplary Heroes. Plus he complains about how Midoriya keeps muttering, distracting him, and that if he’s not taking this seriously he should leave. He however thanks politely once he receives explanations.

XX WORLDBUILDING: THE SCHOOL MOTTO (校〝校訓〟 ‘KŌ “KŌKUN”‘)

According to Present Mic Napoleone Bonaparte, whom he calls a great hero, said “A true hero is one who overcomes the misfortunes of life”. From here he mentions the school motto is ‘go even further’ or, if you prefer the Latin version ‘Plus Ultra’.

PRESENT MIC ‘Ore kara wa ijō da!! Saigo ni LISTENER e wa ga kō “kōkun” o PRESENT shiyou. Ka no eiyū NAPOLEON BONAPARTE wa itta! “Shin no eiyū to wa jinsei no fukō o norikoete iku mono” to!! Sarani mukō e!! PLUS ULTRA! Soredewa minna yoi junan o!!’ プレゼント・マイク「俺からは以上だ！！最後にリスナーへ我が校〝校訓〟をプレゼントしよう。かの英雄ナポレオン＝ボナパルトは言った！『真の英雄とは人生の不幸を乗り越えていく者』と！！更に向こうへ！！！〝Plus Ultra〟！！それでは皆良い受難を！！」 Present Mic “That’s all from me! Finally, I’d like to present our school’s ‘motto’ to the listeners. The great hero Napoleon Bonaparte said, ‘A true hero is one who overcomes the misfortunes of life’!! Go even further!!! ‘Plus Ultra’!! So, have a good time everyone!!”

XX WORLDBUILDING: U.A. HIGH RESOURCES

We get a sample of the massive funds U.A. high can count on already in this part of the story.

The test location is massive, it’s a reproduction of a city, and U.A. counts 7 of those battle centers. The faux Villains are also impressive robots. The idea a school could have at its disposition such massive and elaborate training ground and robots is impressive.

XX CHARACTERS INFO: AOYAMA YŪGA (青山優雅) & SHŌJI MEZŌ (障子目蔵)

Among the ones that were assigned to Midoriya same battle ground we’ve Īda, Uraraka but also Aoyama and Shōji.

We also have Aoyama using French words in two instances, the first is when Midoriya stands, paralyzed in fear, in front of one of the robots, Aoyama instead destroys it and then thanks Midoriya using ‘merci’ (メルスい). ‘Merci’ is French for “Thank you”, but it normally gets transliterated as メルシー. Not sure why Horikoshi went for that transliteration. He then says ‘adieu’ (アデュー) French for “goodbye” when leaving Midoriya to his own devices. Aoyama also uses ‘mademoiselle’ (マドモアゼル), French for “miss” when talking about Recovery Girl. His usage of French words is meant to hint he was born in France… though the “Ultra Archive” and “Ultra Analysis” say that Aoyama’s birthplace is “France (or so he says)”… which might mean originally Horikoshi might have planned for this to be developed more but, in the end, it never was.

As for Shōji, we only catch glimpses of him that don’t show his face, only his arms.

XX POINTS TO PONDER: SHŌJI AND THE HETEROMORPHS

Shōji is one of the earliest characters introduced and it’s possible that is because Horikoshi was already planning for him the whole Heteromorph problem. We see hints of this in the following future chapters, like how he’ll be shown wearing a mask hiding half of his face (Chap 5) and how Mineta will call him ‘octopus’ (Chap 6). Still somehow, along the way, Horikoshi failed to well develop the Heteromorph plot, with discrimination being addressed very later on by Spinner in Chap. 220, which is the chapter that starts the ‘My Villain academia’ arc, only to go forgotten again and being abruptly fished up for the whole attack at Central Hospital arc… when it probably would have benefitted of more development from the start.

XX POINTS TO PONDER: ALL MIGHT’S INSTRUCTIONS

After giving Midoriya One for All All Might tells him he might be a proper vessel but he was put together in a hurry with no time to get used to his power so he should prepare for the physical backlash (). He claims there’s no time for a detailed explanation but when Midoriya uses One for All he should just clench up his butt and let his heart cry out saying ‘smash’.

ALL MIGHT ‘“Utsuwa” wa nashita ga… sore wa akumade kyūzō-hin no “utsuwa”. Narashi unten mo dekinakatta karana… nikutai e no handō wa kakugoshite oke yo. Komakana setsumei o suru jikan wa nai kara kore dake… Watashi no kosei (read: ONE FOR ALL) o tsukau toki wa, KETSU no ana GUTTO hikishimete kokoro no naka de kō sakebe!!!’ オールマイト「〝器〟は成したが…それはあくまで急造品の〝器〟。馴らし運転も出来なかったからな…肉体への反動は覚悟しておけよ。細かな説明をする時間はないからこれだけ…『私の個性』（ワン・フォー・オール）を使う時は、ケツの穴グッと引き締めて心の中でこう叫べ！！！」 All Might “I have created a vessel, but it is only a hastily constructed vessel. I wasn’t able to even break it in... so be prepared for a backlash against your body/physical backlash. I don’t have time to go into detail, so I’ll just say this... when you use my quirk (read: One For All), tighten your asshole and shout in your head!!!”

It will turn out the real kickback is that Midoriya’s bones will break each time he uses One for All, which will cause him to break his legs and an arm during the exam.

Now, all this has the Doylist explanation that it’s meant to surprise the reader as well as to create an obstacle Midoriya will have to overcome (as he has to think at how he can save himself with 3 limbs broken while he’s falling from the sky).

In a Watsonian view though… it doesn’t speak so greatly of All Might.

He trained Midoriya for a year, HE HAD ALL THE TIME TO EXPLAIN HIM THE CONSEQUENCES so his excuse about the lack of time doesn’t hold. It’s actually even worse when one think this is a detail All Might hid from him when he asked him if he wanted to inherit One for All and something about which All Might had no planned countermeasures to teach him. When Midoriya will start attending U.A. two months after, he’ll still break his bones using One for All, and the same will continue when he’ll go to the sport festival, which will lead him to report permanent scarring. As Aizawa will say this wasn’t a minor setback for a Hero and is a serious problem for Midoriya.

We can go for the Watsonian explanation that All Might is an inexperienced teacher, we’ll see Recovery Girl scolding him for how he handled Midoriya more than once… but it’s still worrisome how he hid from Midoriya such an important information.

As said before, there’s a more important Doylist reason for this, so Horikoshi doesn’t mean to portray All Might like a jerk for this, but again, it surely creates material for a potential Dark All Might.

XX WORDBUILDING: THE ROBOTS AT THE TEST

The robot that charges at Midoriya states:

1P ROBOT ‘Hyōteki hosoku!! Bukkorosu!!’ 1Pロボット「標的補足！！ブッ殺ス!!」 1 point robot “Target acquisition!! Kill him!!”

In short the robot declared he was going to kill Midoriya. It’s probably programmed to say so (so as to make it play the part of a Villain) but not to do so, but it’s still worth mentioning this is what it said and such thing would clearly put quite a bit of pressure on the examinees.

XX POINTS TO PONDER: TRUE NATURE

When they release the giant robot that grant 0 points All Might says this:

ALL MIGHT ‘Attōteki kyōi, sore o me no mae ni shita ningen no kōdō wa shōjiki-sa………’ オールマイト「圧倒的脅威、それを目の前にした人間の行動は正直さ………」 All Might “It’s an overwhelming threat, and the actions of humans when facing it are honest…’

Basically, people show their true colors when facing an overwhelming threat.

It’s something that was touched in the first chapter as well, when Midoriya was the only one who tried to help Bakugō when the latter was captured by a Villain… but will be mentioned in other circumstances as well (for example Jin’s true nature was the one of a person who wanted to help his friends even though he was a Villain).

However, as the story will progress, we’ll see this isn’t something written in stone.

Kirishima froze the first time he saw Machia but, as he grew up, he managed to overcome his own fear.

Ashido instead managed to react the first time she saw Machia so as to save her friends, only to freeze the second time she faced it, as she remembered the fear she felt that time. Humans change and are complicate so a single honest action doesn’t define their whole life.

And we see something similar happening with Midoriya as well. As soon as he sees his enemy he freezes in fear and fall on the ground, to move immediately as soon as he sees Uraraka is in danger.

ALL MIGHT ‘Dakara koso irokoku ukabi agaru toki ga aru! HERO no dai zentei! ! ! Jiko gisei no seishintte yatsu ga!!’ オールマイト「だからこそ色濃く浮かび上がる時がある！ヒーローの大前提！！！自己犠牲の精神ってやつが！！」 All Might “That’s why it stands out so strongly! The most important thing to be a hero!!! It’s the spirit of self-sacrifice!!”

Not only Midoriya was scared but he would gain nothing by defeating that faux Villain while he was desperately in need of gaining points. However, in order to save Uraraka he put aside his fear and his own problems and jumped into actions and, in doing so, according to All Might, he showed the spirit of a true Hero.

The same goes for Uraraka who, despite feeling sick due to the side effects of her Quirk, still used it to save Midoriya. She also had nothing to gain and yet she did so anyway.

XX POINTS TO PONDER: WHY URARAKA ENDED ON THE GROUND?

In the anime it’s shown clearly some debris fell on her legs, keeping her trapped on the ground, but in the manga she just fell (we can see her foot is in front of the debris and the scene is meant to be a call back to how Midoriya risked to fall and was saved by her). So why doesn’t she stand up and run? Because intense usage of her Quirk makes her sick. Uraraka was close to her limit and she summoned all her strength to still try to help Midoriya when she saw him falling from the sky (and while Īda at least realizes Midoriya moved to save Uraraka, no one seemed to realize Uraraka has also saved Midoriya) and this lead her to throw up.

She will have a similar problem when she’ll fight Bakugō, her stamina failing her and forcing her to withdrawal from the fight. Although the anime hinted even more at how Uraraka was starting to feel sick while fighting for points, it preferred to make the scene more dramatic and her more helpless by trapping her leg. Which, if Uraraka had been fine, wouldn’t have been a problem because all she had to do was to use her Quirk on the rubbles and free herself.

XX CHARACTERS INFO: BAKUGŌ KATSUKI (爆豪勝己)

His profile page says he’s born on April 20th, that his height is 172 cm and that his favorite things are all the spicy foods and mountain climbing. In “Team-up Missions” chap 30 he goes to mountain climbing with Kirishima, Sero and Shōto. His age is also now given as 15 as he managed to turn 15.

XX POINTS TO PONDER: EVERYONE STARES

The exams is finished, Uraraka just threw up and is lying on a piece of a robot, Midoriya is lying unconscious on the ground with three limbs clearly broken and everyone else… just stares and doesn’t run to ask for help nor try to offer it. They all talk about Midoriya but that’s all. Even Īda, who apparently is the only one who realized Midoriya jumped because he wanted to save Uraraka, doesn’t move to help neither Midoriya nor Uraraka. The story is already hinting to a problem that will become dramatic in Tenko’s case, people just don’t move to lend a hand to people in need even when they’ve nothing to lose (the exam has ended, they don’t have anymore worry about dangers or hunting for points) but wait for a Hero to do the saving… even when they’re wannabe Heroes.

XX POINTS TO PONDER: MORE ABOUT ĪDA

Īda figures Midoriya jumped to save Uraraka, where he didn’t bother to stop when he saw Midoriya on the ground.. but more than worrying about helping Midoriya or Uraraka he tries to comfort himself by telling himself he would have jumped to Uraraka’s rescue as well if this weren’t an exam… probably trying to tell himself he didn’t do it because the danger wasn’t real (as it was just an exam) but more likely because he feels ashamed and is trying to cope with it (the visual shows him remembering how he ran past a fallen Midoriya without caring to help him).

His attempt to soothe himself doesn’t work as well as reminding himself it was an exam to enter in a Hero school helped him to realize that people at U.A. high would also judge if they would rescue others or not, hence by not helping anyone he also failed one of the tests there were in the exam.

Īda is therefore presented as smart… but also as one whose true nature isn’t yet one that would push him to jump into rescuing people. He’ll grow, but this note of egocentrism is, along with his anger, what will spin the Stain arc.

XX CONTINUITY PROBLEMS: WHERE WAS ĪDA WHEN MIDORIYA JUMPED?

Chap 3 shows Īda running past Midoriya. Midoriya then turns and starts to crawl away...

...when he’ll hear Uraraka moaning, turn, stand, and then jump to save her. In the anime this takes 55 seconds, nearly 1 minute.

Considering how fast Īda is, by this point he should have ran very far from Midoriya. Yet in chap 4, when they show Midoriya jumping as Īda thinks back at that moment, Īda isn’t depicted as far from him, actually it seems as if Midoriya jumped just when Īda was passing him which is why Īda turned to follow his movements, because otherwise, since Midoriya didn’t even scream or make any other noise, Īda has no reason to turn toward him.

In the anime is even worse because they first depicted Midoriya running toward Uraraka and then they had him jump (in the manga isn’t clear if he also ran close to her or if he just moved in order to jump), meaning not only Īda should have gotten far by that point (especially considering how fast Īda is!) but that Midoriya moved even further away from him.

Of course the scene has the Doylist explanation they’re meant to draw a comparison between Midoriya jumping to rescue Uraraka and Īda not even sparing a glance to Midoriya (in the anime he actually did glance at him but kept running anyway), as well as show Īda aware of how Midoriya jumped to help her (if he’d been far he wouldn’t have noticed/seen him jumping to save Uraraka).

It’s still messy though because sometimes you just can’t have your cake and ate it.

XX CHARACTERS INFO: YOUTHFUL HEROINE: RECOVERY GIRL (妙齢ヒロインリカバリーガール MYŌREI HEROINE RECOVERY GIRL)

Once the exam is finished we meet up with Recovery Girl, whose true name, we’ll later learn, is Shūzenji Chiyo (修善寺治与). As said before the ‘HEROINE’ in her name in Japanese doesn’t mean “female hero” but “female main character”.

She’s the “nursing teacher” (看護教諭 ‘Kango kyōyu’) of U.A. high.

Aoyama explains she’s the backbone of U.A. high because with her Quirk, “Heal” (癒し ‘Iyashi’), she can literally kiss any type of wound better, basically allows U.A. high to hold such dangerous exams.

She hands out candies to the examinees, which in the manga she calls just ‘HARIBŌ’ (ハリボー) while in the anime she calls them ‘GUMMY’ (グミー) and which are clearly the ‘GUMMY BEARS’ (グミーベーア), the famous bear shaped small, fruit gum candies from Haribo, the German confectionery company.

Now… it’s possible the anime didn’t want to say “Haribo” due to copyright problems but they still chose a candy that’s from their line of candies.

Through the story she’ll also hand out other sweets, claiming they help people recovery stamina.

Recovery Girl is extremely short as BNHA seems to follow the Miniature Senior Citizens trope (think also at Gran Torino, who shrunk drastically from when he was young).

Recovery Girl also doesn’t seem to know that Midoriya isn’t used to his Quirk yet because he has just inherited it… which is a bit weird as later on she’ll be shown knowing the secret behind All Might and his Quirk as well as the fact Midoriya is his successor.

The Doylist explanation is likely that Horikoshi hadn’t planned yet for her to know the truth about all those things, the Watsonian is that All Might will inform her about the truth only later.

XX CONTINUITY PROBLEMS: RECOVERY GIRL’S QUIRK

Recovery Girl’s Quirk is used for the first time here, and it completely heals Midoriya’s shattered bones with her only giving him one kiss, the bones setting themselves on their own (this can be seen in the manga and even more in the anime, where Midoriya's shattered legs move back into position).

As said before, Aoyama points at her as the reason why U.A. high can have such dangerous exams.

As the story goes though, Horikoshi ends up being forced to place on her Quirk various limitations… because if Recovery Girl could easily kiss everything better it would have been impossible for wounds to have consequences.

Horikoshi starts with claiming the healing process consumes the healed person’s stamina (Chap 7) because her Quirk actually don’t heal but boost the injured person’s healing factors, which means if they run out of stamina they die. We can see she still needed to bandage Midoriya’s broken finger. This will also translate in her being unable to heal Midoriya in chap 12 because he was too fatigued… never mentioning how Aizawa will remain bandaged as a mummy for a while… to continue with Midoriya needing surgery in chap 40 to set his bones and being only partially healed by her Quirk, Nighteye dying as her Quirk wasn’t enough to save him and Endeavor keeping a scar on his face.

While inserting limitations was surely useful to the plot, it clashes with how here her Quirk doesn’t seem to have such thing. Midoriya’s bones set on their own, she doesn’t bother to check how much stamina he has (he shouldn’t have had much considering he trained like crazy for 10 months to the point he even fainted in that same day!) and Midoriya’s wounds don’t leave him with a single scar even though as it was the first time he used One for All with a body completely not used to it, shattering completely three limbs. It also clashed with Aoyama’s bragging on how thanks to her U.A. could hold such dangerous exams… when if someone were to get injured significantly enough, he would just die.

The limitations in short make impossible for Recovery Girl to be that big of an asset, as she can only help things, but no more magically fix them.

It’s not a big deal but it’s surely a retcon.

XX CULTURAL INFO: NURSING TEACHER (看護教諭 KANGO KYŌYU)

The English version translates ‘kango kyōyu’ (看護教諭) as “school nurse” but a more literal translation is “nursing teacher”, but what exactly is a “nursing teacher”?

For start a “nursing teacher” is considered a TEACHER who takes care of nursing, and not just a nurse, even though they also must have the nurse qualification. They’re part of the teaching staff and carry out the school health activities involving other teachers. In some cases, they can teach to classes, though this would risk leaving the infirmary empty.

In Japan, the person in charge of the infirmary is usually also called ‘Yōgo kyōyu’ (養護教諭 “Health Teacher”) or ‘Hoken-shitsu no sensei’ (保健室の先生 “Infirmary Teacher”) and this person provides first-aid treatment for injuries, illnesses, etc. of students and monitor their physical and mental health through medical examinations, health observations and so on.

She decides whether an injured/ill student should be observed by remaining in the ‘Hoken-shitsu’ (保健室 lit. “health room” basically “infirmary”) or taken to a doctor. In the latter case, after a consultation with the principal and the homeroom teacher, she’ll accompany him while the homeroom teacher warn the parents.

She carries out health examinations of all the students each year among which administering questionnaire on current physical condition, taking measurement of height, weight, and chest, making vision and hearing screening, doing medical check of eyes, ear-nose-throat, teeth, and chest & back (scoliosis), nutritional assessment, urine test, cardiogram test, X-ray exam, stool exam. (for parasite), and tuberculin test.

She’s part of the health division along with representatives of classroom teachers in each grades, holds a meeting at regular intervals (once or twice a month), discusses needful matters at each stage of planning, implementation, and evaluation of the school health program, and involves other school personnel in activities of the program.

She spend plenty of time each day in giving advice (on general problems excepting health problems) and health education activities.

A lot of her job is taking care of and running health checks. She needs to do these for all of the students and keep records of them (using Excel) and there’s also some health related things for the teachers like surveys but also some optional check-ups. She also works closely with the principal and some outside people for this and has a number of meetings with them. And of course she helps students when they’re sick lol. She talks quite a bit with all of the homeroom teachers about their students and fills them in anytime they come to her. She also talks with the other teachers about things that are assigned to work on together etc. Like other people have said part of it is definitely the mental side of things.

Despite not running any classes she is mostly treated like a teacher. She needs to attend all of the meetings, she helps grade entrance exams, she does jobs not related to being a nurse with other teachers, etc.

At my school the gym teachers run health classes so she doesn’t teach at all. But one of the gym teachers does share some jobs with her so they work together on projects.

Considering how much time the nurses I work with put into student counseling, you would need a Japanese level beyond N1 that would allow you to talk to students on a multitude of challenging issues. I’d say 90% of what they do is mental rather than physical health.

XX TIMELINE INFO: WHEN MIDORIYA RECEIVES HIS ANSWER

One week later, in the evening after dinner.

XX CULTURAL INFO: WHAT IS MIDORIYA WEARING WHILE HE’S AT HOME

Very likely Midoriya is wearing a ‘hanten’ (半纏), a winter garment/coat equally popular with men and women due to its great comfort and easy to wear form. It is most often made of cotton or silk and padded with cotton or absorbent cotton to provide thermal insulation. Usually worn over a kimono or more modern clothing. It dates to Edo period when it was typically worn by regular people. Similar types of clothes are the ‘happi’ and the more formal ‘haori’ (羽織).

XX WORLDBUILDING: MIDORIYA’S RESULTS AT THE EXAMS

From self-scoring Midoriya knows he just barely passed the written exam. All Might confirmed it, as well as how he got 0 Villain points in the practical exam. Midoriya however got rescue points given by a panel of judges for a total of 60 points which allowed him to place 7. Midoriya didn’t get all 10s, we can see only 5 judges, 3 of them giving him 10 and the other 2 giving him 7 and 8 for a total of 45. It likely means there are at least other 2 judges who gave him the missing 15 points.

XX CULTURAL INFO: NEIGHBORHOOD CIRCULAR (回覧板 KAIRAN-BAN)

In the anime, as Inko is cleaning up, we catch a glimpse of something called ‘neighborhood circular’ (in the manga it's just leftover of the dinner they just had).

They are a bulletin board used in Japanese neighborhood associations to circulate documents and other information. It is mainly used as a means of communication within a community.

They are basically passed around by people in the same neighborhood with a pre-determined route that would take from a few days to a week to have the document be passed around. In some areas, there are squares at the bottom of the cover of the document for people to sign or put their stamp on once they have finished reading it, before delivering it to the next household.

The information contained in them is relevant to local life, including announcements of neighborhood associations and events, advertisements for local businesses, safety, crime prevention, and disaster prevention information, as well as decisions made by neighborhood and local government associations. Sometimes they also include the garbage collection schedule, police bulletins issued by police stations and notices distributed by local governments.

XX WORLDBUILDING: WHY ALL MIGHT CAME THERE?

All Might admits he came to this town (街 ‘machi’) to work as a teacher at U.A. high. In fact, while All Might is in Japan by many years, “Vigilantes” will reveal his Hero agency is in Tokyo... even though All Might basically moves through all Japan to do his heroics.

XX TIMELINE INFO: WHEN DID URARAKA MEET PRESENT MIC?

Just after the exam she went to search for him in hope he’ll allow her to give Midoriya some of her points.

XX POINTS TO PONTER: MIDORIYA’S ACTIONS

All Might points out how Midoriya’s actions spurred others to act, referring to how Uraraka not only saved him during the exam but also tried to help him by sharing with him her points.

This will also be the general theme of the ending in which Midoriya’s final fight will trigger a change in society that will feel inspired to try to reach out to help people, basically again bringing a theme to full circle.

XX POINT TO PONDER: SAVING OTHERS

All Might says a Hero course can’t reject who saves others. However Aizawa will later scold the students for trying to save Bakugō. The difference is that at the exam the examinees were playing the part of the Heroes and therefore were required to act like a Hero would… but in Bakugō’s case the students weren’t professional Heroes yet so they shouldn’t have acted as their actions put themselves in danger and could have jeopardized the whole mission.

The story always teeters on a difficult balance between when it’s right to act to help others and when one shouldn’t because it might cause more troubles than help.

A classic example is the Eri case, in which Midoriya wanted to help her right then while Mirio believed they should let her go back to Chisaki because otherwise they might get in the way of Nighteye’s work.

While usually acknowledging than acting CAN INDEED CAUSE TROUBLES and sometimes CAN MAKE MATTERS WORSE (think at Gentle who failed to save the person he wanted to help and got in the way of the Hero who was trying to do the saving), more often than not the story remarks how TRYING TO HELP IS THE RIGHT DECISION (Mirio and Midoriya will regret not helping Eri and will also be scolded about how they let her go back to Chisaki by Rock Lock, who’ll say if they had taken Eri away all their problems would have been solved).

XX RELEVANT QUOTES: “Come now, Midoriya! This will be your Hero Academy!” Yagi Toshinori (All Might) [Chap. 4/Ep. 4]

In its original version this sentence is:

ALL MIGHT ‘Koiyo, Midoriya shōnen! U.A. (read: koko) ga kimi no HERO ACADEMIA da!’ オールマイト「来いよ、緑谷少年！雄英（ここ）が君のヒーローアカデミアだ！」 All Might “Come on, Midoriya boy, U.A. (read: this) is your Hero Academia!”

This sentence is basically a call back to the title of the story, “Boku no HERO ACADEMIA” (僕のヒーローアカデミア My Hero Academia). In fact, from the next chapter, the story will narrate Midoriya’s life at U.A. Hero Academia, which basically makes these first 4 chapters kind of like a prequel to the real story.

If you think it’s a long prequel, consider the epilogue is 6 chapters long.

XX POINT TO PONDER: RECEIVING HELP

Midoriya points often how he received help and this changed his life.

We had him acknowledging how blessed he was at having All Might’s help at the end of chap 2, when he finished his training…

Midoriya Izuku ‘Nanka… ZURU da na… boku wa…… ALL MIGHT ni koko made shite moraete megumare sugi teru…’ 緑谷出久「なんか…ズルだな…僕は……オールマイトにここまでしてもらえて恵まれ過ぎてる…」 Midoriya Izuku “Something like this… feels kind of unfair... I'm so blessed to have All Might do this for me…”

And we have him remarking it even more at the end of chap 5 when he discovers he’ll be allowed to attend U.A. high.

Midoriya Izuku ‘Ōku no tasuke o ukete… boku no jinsei wa kawatteku. Soshite, yume no kōkō seikatsu ga hajimaru!!’ 緑谷出久『多くの救けを受けて…僕の人生は変わってく。そして、夢の高校生活が始まる！！』 Midoriya Izuku “My life changed after receiving a lot of help. And my dreamed high school life began!!”

This is not minor and will come back also in the last chapter where his classmates will provide him with a suit to help him continue being an active Hero, bringing this again to full circle… but there’s also the other side of the coin to consider.

While Midoriya, blessed by the help of many people will flourish, we’ll see many of the ones who became Villains were the ones who either didn’t receive help or received it from wrong people aka other Villains, who sometimes did it in a disinterested way (Himiko wraps Jin up and accepts him out of love) and sometimes did it in an interested way (All for One and Garaki want to use Tomura).

This too will be brought to full circle by showing in the last chapter how the nameless kid (the “World Best Hero” page calls him ‘Jokijoki’ but this is an onomatopoeia sound that appeared when we first saw him in chap 425 and which can be translated as “snip-snip”) with a past even more tragic than Shigaraki and who was starting to feel anger at how he felt only he was suffering while everyone else was living happy, likely being about to become a Villain, was actually saved by the old woman who stopped to help him and will be then shown attending U.A. high.

Basically one of the messages of the story is that the best way to stop people from becoming Villains is help them before, due to their misery, they’ll end up taking bad life choices.

XX ANIME ONLY SCENES: MIDORIYA TELLS HIS MOM HE PASSED

Episode 4 of the anime adds a post credit scene in which Midoriya leaves his room and joins his mother who was anxiously waiting outside it and smiles at her, letting her understand he was accepted. At this Inko’s eyes filled with tears and calls him to express her joy. The image then shows one of ‘Aim to pass American dream plan’ sheets attached to the refrigerator showing the food Midoriya was supposed to eat. The implication is that Inko too, by preparing that food as All Might has requested, helped Midoriya to pass the entrance exam.

While it’s a really minor addition, it feels like a very good one.

#shuzenji chiyo

Trending Tags

Recently Viewed Tags

#shuzenji chiyo