ochaco keeps around those pencils with cute animals like seals/whales/bunnies printed on them and she shares them exclusively with kirishima, who equally adores them (she's stopped giving them to kaminari bc he keeps losing her pencils)
ojiro has insanely huge lung capacity for some reason
todoroki is so organized every single sheet of paper in his binder is placed into those plastic sheets as protection. he takes each sheet out individually whenever he needs to annotate
mina still uses the cheap rosin she got when she first bought her current violin and everyone dunks on her for it
everyone collectively forgets shoji and hagakure exist until they hit the gong in the back of the classroom REALLY REALLY loudly and it kills everyone's ears
if i had a penny for every time i met a 16-year-old boy who goes on a journey of self-discovery, with:
- a burn scar over his left eye given to him by a parent
- fire powers
- insane daddy issues
- a mother who was forced to leave after doing something bad
- crazy high expectations
- a conflicting sense of identity
and a sibling who:
- wants to kill him
- has blue flames
- cries as they are defeated
- survives the final battle at a cost that fractures their mind
I'd have two pennies, which unfortunately isn't enough to buy me ice cream on this hot day but it's still enough for me to think it's weird that it's happened twice
asbhfjk well if you're twisting my arm like that....
ok so, preface that I'm rewatching it w a friend rn and I used to like the show/manga like, a decade ago when I was a teen, so I'm getting severe whiplash rn from how bad it is and I just didn't notice back then. also, some points I'll be rephrasing from my friend bc we had these discussions while watching it, so credit to my friend, we bounce off of each other p well
anyways, I have a ton of issues w the show, but I'll explain the one problem I made that specific vague post in reference to: the narrative handling of Todoroki Shouto's abuse. which is actually a problem I had w the story even a decade ago, but didn't rly have the language to articulate why at the time, and I was willing to look past it bc I still thought most of the rest of the show was ""decent""...
so, during the tournament arc, two different people hear the specifics of Shouto's abuse (he tells Izuku directly, and Bakugo overhears), and another character gets a whiff of it, but not necessarily the specifics (Endeavor lets his feelings slip in front of All Might). in different ways, all three of these people ignore Shouto's abuse
admittedly, All Might doesn't know exactly what's going on with Shouto. all Endeavor says is that he trained his son to beat All Might, but Endeavor DOES use incredibly dehumanizing language to describe this (calling his own son "that"). hearing a parent talking about their kid that way, even if I didn't know what was going on, would send up IMMEDIATE red flags for me-- let alone if I was a teacher who was directly responsible for that kid. personally, I would try to talk to Shouto myself, get a read on the situation, and then call the proper authorities once I had a better picture of the situation (directly confronting Endeavor could unfortunately have repercussions on Shouto..). but that's just one solution-- there are plenty of ways All Might could have taken this information and investigated further
but unfortunately, All Might is a spineless idiot-- which is a bigger problem than just the Shouto situation (may make a separate post abt that), but it still contributes to the fact that All Might does LITERALLY NOTHING about it! he doesn't talk to Shouto, he doesn't contact the authorities or investigate Endeavor himself-- nothing! and All Might's literally the ONE GUY in the entire setting who COULD directly confront Endeavor and bring his crimes to the public w/o repercussions! Izuku and Bakugou don't have the physical or societal power yet to do anything without getting their asses handed to them, but what's All Might's excuse? fucking useless, what's the "number one hero" even good for!!
and the crazy thing is, if this was a smarter, more self-aware story, Endeavor and Shouto's relationship would be more directly compared to All Might and Izuku's, beyond just the superficial. All Might is also grooming Izuku into his successor, and objectifies him by internally calling Izuku his "vessel", and encourages Izuku to push past his limits and break his body constantly. if this show were smarter, one or both of them would see Shouto's situation, then step back and think, "Oh. Oh no..." but this show isn't smart, so All Might is instead framed as the "good mentor" in opposition to Endeavor being a "bad mentor", and that's that
then Izuku hears the gritty details of Shouto's abuse-- Endeavor physically and emotionally abusing Shouto and his mom, leading to his mom's mental break that caused her to pour boiling water on Shouto, etc. and rather than bring this up to any trusted adults or the authorities, Izuku's ONLY focused on their tournament fight. a more charitable reading of their fight would read Izuku as trying to "help" Shouto reclaim the suppressed, fire part of himself for himself, rather than for his father. and that's certainly what the story wants us to think-- the narrative goes on and on abt how Izuku spent the entire fight trying to "help" Shouto.
but I see something different: I see Izuku selfishly focused on the "fairness" of the fight, and putting forth his best effort. I see him accuse Shouto of holding back, in a way that "insults" Izuku, bc Shouto's not giving his "full effort" to his opponent. as if this is a judgement that Shouto is making about Izuku's skills as a fighter, rather than a fucking trauma response to the fire power which directly reflects his abusive father. like, I know you're the protag Izuku, but NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU! THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOU, THIS IS ABOUT SHOUTO'S TRAUMA! GET A FUCKING GRIP!!!
even if Izuku truly was trying to "help", this just isn't the way. for one, baiting someone into doing something that triggers their trauma is incredibly fucked-up, that's not exposure therapy. but also, helping Shouto reclaim a fundamental part of himself is like, step five or six of a multi-step plan to get him the fuck away from Endeavor in the first place. like, there are bigger issues with Shouto's situation than his suppressed fire power!!
and look, I'm not opposed to flawed, selfish characters, obviously they can work. but Izuku is framed as a character who's core trait is helping people without thinking about his own well-being, against all risks and warnings. so the fact that, instead of just dropping the tournament (which he doesn't even have strong reasons for winning for in the first place!!), and using all the rest of his time to help Shouto in some way, he just fucking struts into their fight with the self-centered idea that Shouto's trauma is all about HIM instead. I do not believe that this character is actually heroic, I think he's just impulsive and self-centered!
my friend pointed out that it was a very "Bakugo moment", and what do u know, Shouto himself says the same thing not even a few minutes after their fight! that shouldn't be a compliment, but the show certainly frames it that way!!
and speaking of Bakugo... well, he just does the same exact thing that Izuku does-- gets pissed at Shouto for not using his fire during their fight, and takes it as a personal insult. at least it makes sense for Bakugo to act that way, that's just how he is as a character. but the fact that TWO characters react the same way to Shouto's trauma, one of whom in direct opposition to the way the story tries to characterize him... it just makes me feel nauseous. as if this "tough love" approach is the correct response to a character who has, frankly, received enough "tough love" from his own father already!
so basically, what we get is a useless adult who does nothing to help Shouto, and then a kid who successfully baits Shouto into doing the exact thing his abusive father already wanted him to do. Shouto can say, "it wasn't about Endeavor," all he wants, but the fact of the matter is, he's been so thoroughly groomed and abused by his father, that even his version of "rebellion" is to at best simply not use his fire, and at worst, tell his father that his fire "wasn't about him", instead of like... not be a hero, go into a different profession. I genuinely feel nauseous abt Shouto's situation, this kid is NOT ok, and he's not getting any better.
and that's not even getting into the internship! we haven't rewatched that far yet, but I do remember that Shouto interns under his fucking father! I don't remember the stupid reasoning that Shouto gives for it, but I'll prolly have something to say abt it when we get there!! just... why? WHY???? why isn't this poor kid allowed to escape his father? why isn't he allowed to do anything fucking else with his life??
