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How Katsuki's Character Is Misunderstood.

I think people that hate Katsuki just don't really understand his character or how he breaks the cliches of most rivals in shonen.

Accidental rant :D

No Tragic Backstory.

Vegeta had his home destroyed,Sasuke's clan was murdered,Shadow lost everything,etc. They have "reasons" to be an asshole,people excuse they're actions because people say "You can't blame 'em,"

Which is kinda an awful way to look at people's actions and why they do it. A character always needs a motive,and killing half their family,giving them abusive parents,makes it easier to write them. (kinda like a cheat code)But,with Katsuki,he doesn't have a "good" reason to do all the bad things he did.Katsuki stands out because he has what we would call a good life. He has good grades,he has both of his parents,who love him,he has an awesome power,he has so many things going for him,so,in most people's minds he doesn't have any issues and he's just a spoiled brat who doesn't get what he wants. And I think that's what trips people up the most,because he doesn't have a objectively good reason to do anything,but,here's why it's GOOD he doesn't follow that formula. Katsuki is just a kid who was an asshole,that's really it,in reality it's so simple,but some how Horikoshi took one of the most simple things and made it so complicated and gave it so many layers.

Katsuki just felt like he wasn't enough even though people told him he was,he knew he had what people would call a "perfect life," that he was "perfect," and that's what messed him up so bad. He felt deep down,despite what other people were saying,he was inadequate; because one person who he shouldn't think is better than him makes him feel weak. It doesn't make sense. If you were pampered and told you were essentially perfect,then one slip up happens and someone who you have been told is beneath you,that should be beneath you,is the one who helps,it would confuse you too. (Also,remember,Katsuki is a CHILD when this all happens,and he had no one to talk to about it,so of course those feelings would build up over time). It also doesn't help Izuku always wanted to be near him,and when you look at it from Katsuki 's perspective,that person is only there to see you fuck up,that person (Izuku) is WAITING and WATCHING your every move. Waiting until you fuck up just to leave you and or mock you. You would feel like shit too if that's what you thought for ten years.

Katsuki is not some "brat throwing a tantrum because he doesn't get his way," He's confused and coming to terms with a lot of things. His arc is about acceptance. He learned to accept he isn't the best or strongest,he learned to accept he needed help,he learned to accept himself,he learned to accept Izuku.

The person Katsuki has been losing to his whole life,is the person he thought he should be. He had to let himself lose to win. GOD,THAT IS SO DEEP.

(*I also hate the whole thing of, "Well, Katsuki had no reason to be the way he was," then those same people will turn around and get mad that Toga is having a redemption arc because "nothing justifies killing" first, no one is saying it does,second,you were just saying you need a bad past to be forgiven for your bad actions,which is awful. Like,you can't make mistakes if you haven't suffered. That's fucked.*)

KaTsUkI DiDn'T fAcE aNy CoNsEqUeNcEs

My honest reaction:

Katsuki faced defeat his VERY first day at his dream school. It wasn't just that he lost,he had his HERO his IDOL the person he looked up to,insult and scold him while he sang the praises of Izuku right in front of him. I hate that argument so fucking much. Like,did you seriously read this blindfolded? It happens in the first VOLUME. And it just gets worse.

He gets kidnapped and then has to deal with all of that shit on his own. I also can't image being called a villain when you're trying your best to be a hero,and you got kidnapped because of your personality. Katsuki faced,in my opinion,the most brutal and most instant humbling ever. And real quick,I made a post about All Might and why I don't think he's going to die,and I brought up he sucked at teaching,and in my opinion,he was an asshole too. When he sees on of his students having a panic attack the first thing he says is:

"U.A. Will humble ya :D"

That is beyond problematic.

(Not All Might bashing! I think he's a great character,but I think he was an ass at the beginning of the series,that has a lot to do with his hero persona and his inexperience with children,and just socializing as a whole. And that's why I like him,because we see him grow to be less like his persona and more like his true,sweet,authentic self.)

Inconsistent Writing.

A lot of people get Inconsistent writing and...y'know...more than one tone and personality trait mixed up.

I've see people say, "I don't like how he's written because it's inconsistent,'' and I think that is bullshit. Mainly because out of all the characters Katsuki is objectively the most consistent one.

I saw this person say they didn't like how Katsuki's anger is treated as a joke then the most serious thing in the room,and I say that's valid,but I think the thing they don't understand is tone and context. In the context when it's a joke,Katsuki isn't necessarily even "mad". I think when it's used as a more comedic device,it's not his anger,it's his inability to express himself without yelling. And I think it's funny and interesting to see how Katsuki struggles to articulate himself when he's not "mad" or "yelling." He also lives in a household where communication is done by yelling.

The atmosphere and tone really matter too. When Katsuki has his more "funny mad" moments it's with a group of people all smily and happy. No one is actually "mad." Including Katsuki.

DAMN. I didn't mean to go on a rant like that. Uh,anyway;Katsuki is my favorite character,if you couldn't tell.

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One of the biggest reasons I don't think IzuOcha is not the endgame pairing is because of how intentionally underdeveloped it is!

I mean look at this example:

Ochako was just thinking about Deku in a completely platonic sense and everyone made it an IzuOcha moment, like why?

What part of it screams romantic?

A Relationship is between two people but in this case, Izuku is not even looking at her. It has always been her and her alone, struggling to walk through her feelings of low self esteem and confidence.

Plus there are other people in the background! If you truly love someone, only that person matters...and not the rest but Deku is standing there looking at someone (most probably Katsuki) and the rest of class 1A is standing with him.

_._._

Remember this famous scene from when future Lucy died?

What makes this memory special is the fact that this is Natsu's POV. She is looking at him, flashing a beautiful smile, reminding Natsu what he needs to protect from now on!

THIS IS ROMANTIC!!

Or when Natsu thought about Lucy in the GMG...

You know the drill.

In Ochako's case, she doesn't need to win for Izuku. She needs to win for herself and save her fellow heroes from Toga and even Toga from herself.

"Now Ochako will just confess her undying love to Deku in the epilogue"

Are we reading the same manga? Why would she even do that? She doesn't like Deku that way and would never wanna hurt Toga, the person she's trying so hard to save!

Speaking of which, if Ochako loved Deku and planning on going after him , she wouldn't be so okay with confronting Toga because Toga just confessed to Deku and got hurt. So, if Ochako gets together with Deku, wouldn't it hurt Toga even more?

Toga genuinely loved Deku, even to the point where Danger sense failed to detect any malice within her, and she got rejected. So if Ochako is willing to voluntarily give her blood to Toga for the rest of her life, why would she be with the person that hurt Toga?

Toga was hurt by Deku's rejection and Ochako told her that she should never hide her feelings or that beautiful face of hers just because some boy rejected her.

Plus if she really wanted to confess she had all the time and moment to do so. There was literally a perfect moment, during the cliff scene when they both knew they could die tomorrow and yet none of them chose to close the distance between them. Instead, they chose to talk about their nemesis and how they will stop them.

.

"Ochako will show her true feelings for Deku after this"

Ochako stopped hiding her feelings a long time ago! STOP MISCHARACTERIZING HER!!

Another reason could be, because Deku knows the best to hide his true feelings behind a mask. Dark Deku Arc is the perfect example. He hid behind his own mask and suffered for everyone else's sake.

It could also reflect on the promise she made with Deku on Okuto Island, that she'll get Toga and he could go get Shigaraki.

Plus, Toga told Ochako that Twice was like a brother to her and we know that Ochako and Toga are supposed to be similar. Meaning Deku and Twice are also supposed to mirror each other!

And then there are literally thousands of BkDk shippers screaming online on why it is the endgame pairing with its various proofs and theories.

So, with all that being said, I don't know what people who say 'IzuOcha is the endgame pairing' are thinking.

*sigh*

Cheers! Sunshine!

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I love these two so much~

They’re so gay look at them

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I’m having a breakdown. So the back cover of volume 37 is out, and by now we’ve all heard the preliminary translations of Edgeshot’s spiel to Kacchan.

But we didn’t have the images! Now we do, and I have Observations. Please note that I have used a combo of Google image translate and Japanese language websites for this. I don’t read Japanese but I’m fascinated by language and can’t help analysing it.

Firstly, I just want to comment on how bloody romantic the last line is, “Connect yourself to your future where you dreamed of your ideal”, considering he does exactly that, and thinks only of Izuku.

Risō: Ideal

Yumemita: Dream

Mirai: Future

Jishin: Self-confidence, assurance

Tsunaide: Link or connect (as if tied together—nice)

Misero: Show

Gorgeous, beautiful, fantastic work Edgeshot! It also really reminded me of Jeanist’s line to him about his hero name being a representation of his ideal self. These Heroes care about him so much 😭😭😭.

BUT, but but but, the part I really want to talk about is “Omae ga matsu kare wa… Deku wa kanarazu kuru!”

Omae: very informal ‘you’. Edgeshot is literally inside him so I think he’s allowed to be casual.

Matsu: Wait or look forward to

Kare wa: ‘He is’ or ‘boyfriend is’ (bear with me)

Kanarazu: Without a doubt

Kuru: Come or arrive

The sentence is very deliberate in the way Edgeshot says “He is… Deku is definitely coming.” So, what’s interesting about that? I WILL TELL YOU.

In Japanese it’s unusual to use pronouns, which is why you hear Deku saying ‘Kacchan’ directly to Kacchan all the blinking time. If it’s obvious who you’re talking by about via the context, then they don’t say he/she/they/you if possible. Here, have some evidence from translation websites and Japanese speakers:

So we already know Edgeshot is being extremely casual from his use of ‘omae’, and ‘kare’ is a casual term for boyfriend. It is unusual for him to unnecessarily use a pronoun that could also be interpreted as a reference to Deku as his boyfriend, no? He could have very easily just said “Deku is definitely coming!” without adding that ambiguity, But He Did Not.

I just think it’s interesting. And I do believe I will be thinking about this for the rest of the manga.

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ngl in all of the English translations I've read, Izuku's response here always sounds a little flat to me, like he isn't fazed by Katsuki trying so hard to not call him Deku. I've even seen ones that kind of sound like he's making fun of Katsuki, like "too challenging?"

But in Japanese, he sounds just as soft and affectionate towards Katsuki as he always does! He says, "You don't need to push yourself, Deku is fine, Kacchan!" It reads as totally sincere!

idk man 「デクでいいよ　かっちゃん」 (Deku de ii yo Kacchan) just sounds hella sweet to me. The base of the term "don't push yourself" here is muri suru (無理する), which takes the word muri, meaning "impossible" or "unreasonable," and turns it into a verb.

MEANWHILE what Katsuki says back to him is so damn funny. Since Izuku uses muri shinaide to say "don't overdo it," Katsuki says, "Words like impossible don't exist in my dictionary!"

It's funnier in Japanese because he just says the same word Izuku said, muri. "I don't know the meaning of overdoing it!" is a good approximation of the pun, but the secondary meaning of Katsuki not knowing words like "unreasonable" is pretty amazing LOL.

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Some ding-dong reported my tweet where I was making fun of people who see lgbt content associated with people under 18 as pedophilic cause they think lgbt content is inherently sexual. Twitter took the comment as /me/ saying that gay stuff was sexual and pedophilic. Appealed it, hopefully I’ll get some kind of response back soon. For now though, I’m using my side account to see stuff. Not interacting with anything though.

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anyway blackout poetry not just as an art form, but as an act of violence against other works of art

taking a piece of text that someone probably put their heart and soul into creating and using it as your raw material, cutting out everything that you deem irrelevant to the point you want to make

i mean imagine cutting up a painting and using it to make a collage, or taking a marble sculpture and carving pieces out of it to make a different sculpture

just to be clear: i love blackout poetry, im not criticizing it here. i am just waxing poetic about it. i dont really know where im going with this i just have Thoughts about art being destructive

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Hey so it’s been a while since I’ve actually been active, but I wanted to jump on and say: Bkdk Canon Completely seriously and unironically /gen /gen /gen

#bkdk

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“The reason you’re you is because you never give up on winning, right?”

Katsuki loves Izuku so much that he values what Izuku thinks of him more than anything. This is exactly how Izuku feels about him too. Katsuki staked his whole life on his opinion because he knows without even needing to be told, his determination to win is what Izuku has always seen inside him and adored about him. Katsuki getting up to fight again, while knowing it’s most likely futile, is an action of love towards Izuku. By acting in the way Izuku loves, he wants to be loved.

Regardless of what happens to Kacchan from here on, in it’s own incomplete and tragic way, this is still peak romance and no one could convince me of otherwise. Hidden behind the tangible despair of unconnected-ness, the desires and longing that slip right through his fingers, is the deepest love for Izuku that has ever seeped out to the surface. It’s right here. You are meant to be feeling this. Feel the sad and love-filled wish as he reaches out to Izuku. He longs to hear Izuku’s voice telling him he did good one more time. He wants his hero.

‘To you, the hero who always tried to save me no matter what… To you, who I always felt was going to leave me far behind… To you, who is my whole world and the one I love: ‘Are you watching me now? What do you think of me?’

And it’s not simply about getting the speed to catch up so they can be heroes together, but the almighty hope he carries within his soul that his feelings towards Izuku will somehow reach him. They still have yet to. And they must. It’s only by going with Katsuki on this road of grief and sadness born from his distance with Izuku, that we can truly feel the joy of them being connected and as one later. 

Ch 362 feels like a curse being cast over us to hide the undeniable truth we’ve always known: they are connected, always have been and always will be. Neither of them are meant to do this alone. This is their story, their path to greatness, their fight and their triumph. Izuku can’t possibly do this without his Kacchan to keep him balanced and to telepathically read through his plans like a book and to charm him with his best winner hero smirk and to make jokes and share laughter with and to simp All Might with and to lift him when he falls and to hold his hand and-

Thanks, Kohei “I can’t write romance lol” Horikoshi-sensei… ~Dispel~

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Ochako is NOT intended to be the REAL love interest of the story

Chapter 348 clearly told us that Ochako was NOT meant to be the true ‘love interest’ of this story.

Narratively speaking, Chapter 348 is very fascinating and very important because it helps us clarify what the character of Ochako Uraraka is supposed to represent thematically and what is the true role it has been designed to occupy in the series.

And the key to understand everything that is going on with Ochako? Her antagonist: Himiko Toga.

Remember when Horikoshi said he created Toga specifically for Ochako? Well, I truly believe that Toga was created to indirectly help Ochako find her true self and her true path in life; a path that does NOT directly involve Izuku.

The way Toga’s presence is utilized by Horikoshi in chapter 348 is genius, and gives us a great insight into who Ochako Uraraka really is and what is the true nature of her feelings towards Deku.

How?

I’ll try to explain it as concisely as I can.

You see, in a well written story, any character’s primary antagonist is always crafted to be the key to make said character become fully aware of their  weaknesses and limitations. An especially effective technique that an author can use, is to have the antagonist be a symbolic and exaggerated personification of the darker aspects of the character’s true self. This is an excellent way to do it, and it is exactly what Horikoshi has chosen to do with Toga in regards to Ochako.

Because when a morally righteous character is too scared to accept their darker sides and flaws, a good solution is to shove the personified version of all of that in their way in the form of an enemy they just can’t avoid to face.

This is why Ochako has been unable to stop thinking about Toga.

Because of everything we explained so far, it’s obvious that we need to take  take a closer look at Toga to uncover the more hidden layers of Ochako Uraraka’s character.

Taking a good look at Toga’s most important characteristics, in fact, we get a much better picture of who Ochako really is as a character.

By doing that, we immediately get a big clue that Ochako’s weaknesses and limitations as a person (and as a character), all revolve around the concept of self-worth and self-identity. Along with the fact that these are, of course, evidently intrinsically linked to her 'crush’ on Izuku.

The fact that Toga has: 1) a quirk that makes her transform into someone else and become the exact copy of them, 2) believes that the epitome of romantic love is being able to straight up become the one you love, and 3) Is 'in love’ with Izuku Midoriya, and wants to literally become him, is NOT a random coincidence.

As Horikoshi said, Toga was specifically created to be the way she is for Ochako, to serve a specific purpose in regards to her character.

He created an antagonist for her with clear the intent of shining a light on what Ochako’s limitations are as a hero and as a person and what she needs to acknowledge and overcome to grow and develop into a better version of herself.

And yes, from the closer look we just took, it appears obvious that her 'crush’ for Izuku is effectively portrayed in the narrative as one of these limitations. The story is explicitly suggesting that this crush was born as a result of a deep-rooted sense of insecurity, and that it was the result of Ochako needing to find someone close to her to set a relatively achievable ideal for what she wanted to become, rather than anything else.

By indulging in the illusion that her feelings are to attribute to a mere high school crush, Ochako doesn’t have to confront the much more nuanced and complex issues of self-identity and self-worth, which are clearly at the root of the problem. But clinging to this illusion is obviously very detrimental as it impedes her to acknowledge the real problem and therefore get an actual chance to fix it.

The narrative Horikoshi expertly crafted, already implicitly promises the reader that the character of Ochako Uraraka will eventually let go of this illusion to get her chance to grow as a character.

Everything has already been set up for that to happen at a certain point in the future.

Ochako being with Izuku would not be a positive resolution, given all of the elements that have already been set in place. Because the story itself by the manner in which it was constructed, already depicts and condemns this example of romantic love as inherently flawed.

Because Ochako doesn’t want to be with Izuku she wants to be Izuku.

This is what has repeatedly been hinted, through the long list of Ochako’s interactions with Toga and their subtext, 

And the the story implicitly condems this.

The author in fact, implcitly informs us that this is NOT what true love should be like by making of Toga Himiko (an antagonist and an unstable psychopathic killer) the main proponent of this love philosophy in the story.

The message he wants to send is very clear.

The more it goes on,the more this story seems to hint that, true and healthy love is about two different people reconciling differences and uniting together in equilibrium to form a new, better whole. Not about idealising someone and striving to literally become them to fullfill a selfish need.

Which is why, I believe that it is no coincidence that we are shown Ochako finding her independence and true self at the same time that we get to see Deku and Bakugou’s developing relationship becoming the central axe around which the entire last arc revolves.

This is ALL too well constructed to be 'just coincidence’, this seems a well-designed resolution by a talented author, who’s well-versed in the art of storytelling.

So, should we dare to hope to see My Hero Academia do something revolutionary with its ending despite knowing it is a Shonen manga from Shonen Jump? The narrative is definitely pointing in a very interesting direction right now and Horikoshi is a very modern writer, but the fact that it is published by a magazine like Shonen Jump (which has always been fond of traditional manga endings) makes me wonder if something like this is really possible.

It would be extremely exciting if until now Horikoshi had used common Shonen manga tropes to hide his true plans for the ending of the story.

As someone who analyzed stories for years, let me tell you that I am seeing signs of this in all of the most recent developments, and it is very interesting. I like Ochako as a character and I would love to see her maturely get over her 'crush’ on Izuku, and develop into a character that has her own identity and a role that is different from that of the hero’s girlfriend. (Especially if I can simultaneously get to see Horikoshi leave enough well-placed hints to suggest that the true love story of the series has indeed always been that between Deku and Bakugou, which is looking more and more like it was intended to be the real romantic bond at the heart of the series ).

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Changed my tumblr stuff to match my twitter so I’m easier to find, since apparently we’re moving back here XD (I’ve been more active on twitter, /just/ in time for it to implode, so uhhh... hi again lol)

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I went back and read chapters with Gentle and La Brava again..and I wanna go over why they’re just a GIANT PARALLEL TO BKDK. GUYS IT’S ACTUALLY INSANE!!!! They almost feel like they don’t have any relevance to the plot and yet, they exist. First of all, their eye colors remind of bkdk! But this is nothing compared to what these two actually are.. Let's go!

Now first, I wanna talk about little La Brava before I move onto Gentle which I'm super excited about! When La Brava is recalling her crush that rejected her, we learn that she expresses her feelings through admiration. She gushes about how cool her crush was and how amazing everything he did was.. she gets called a STALKER. Does this sound familiar?

Izuku always gushes about how amazing Katsuki is..sometimes he doesn’t even have control over it. And at one point, Katsuki asks for a restraining order. He calls him a stalker in Japanese. So there’s a parallel. This tells us Izuku’s feelings for Katsuki are indeed romantic because we see this same thing in La Brava.

Next..La Brava’s quirk seems oddly symbolic too. It makes the person she loves the most temporarily stronger. Think about it. Izuku gets his power boost from his feelings for Katsuki.. Katsuki makes him stronger. Katsuki was the sole reason Izuku got OFA. Izuku’s body only moved when he realised it was Katsuki. His full cowling worked because of Katsuki.. his OFA quirks started triggering because of Katsuki and now? He’s using 2nds quirk and merging other quirks into one because of Katsuki.. Sure, other people have given him a power up.. but all big things, all evolutions..all NEW things..happened because of KATSUKI.

On the other side, Izuku makes KATSUKI stronger..

Katsuki was on the verge of DEATH here.. later we find out he’s barely made it in the hospital.. and yet, he not only got up because of his feelings for Izuku, HE PROPELLED HIMSELF AND FOUGHT! Because he recalled how seeing Izuku about to die, felt like HE was going to die too.. we DO NOT TALK ABOUT THIS ENUGH????

Notice a bunch of OFA stars around Katsuki.. Izuku’s love opened the door of OFA to him fully in this moment and because Katsuki loves him back, he could step through the door.

And this helps Katsuki get the strength he needs to move again.

Izuku kept thinking about Kacchan in OFA realm.. and AFO told him that his rage is staring to eat away at OFA’s rules.

HERE WE FIND OUT THAT EMOTIONS TOO STRONG FOR THE WIELDER TO HANDLE CAN OVERRIDE OFA AND BEND IT’S RULES!!! AFO is trying to use Shigaraki's hatred to get the job done but..can Izuku's LOVE do the same thing?? It sure can.

We know from before that OFA has been called a quirk that connects people’s hearts. We know there is only one feeling that’s too much for Izuku to handle which makes his OFA dangerously go out of control and that’s whatever he feels for KATSUKI!!! So could Izuku have somehow changed the rules of OFA cause he loves Katsuki that damn much that he was able to SHARE IT’S POWER WITH HIM VIA PURELY THE CONNECTION OF THEIR HEART? If Katsuki doesn’t actually have OFA in his DNA, that explains why no one can sense it. OFA is still within Izuku, but Katsuki has access to it. Oddly similar to La Brava’s quirk, no? It's very romantic and sappy but honestly, I wouldn't put it past Horikoshi.

So this was the moment when Kacchan got FULL access to OFA..

La Brava’s quirk activates in a time of CRISIS for her lover.. Katsuki’s cluster was activated because of his love for Izuku also in a time of CRISIS! He needed to save his LIFE.

Control yourself.. or lose the one you love. Edgeshot needs time to save Katsuki’s life. And so this feeling of love gave Izuku such a boost that he’s using all his quirks AT ONCE together with 2nds.. but it’s temporary. Much like La Brava’s quirk. The fuel will run out.. Just like any car engine, Izuku is bound to stall.. and it won't be good.

Let’s move onto GENTLE! This is the juicy part down here !

“I fought with my feelings on the line until all that’s left in me deep down was a HEART THAT BEATS FOR SOMEONE ELSE..”

Notice how we have both Gentle’s THOUGHTS and his words here.. words.. in which he LIES! He lies that he kidnapped and brainwashed La Brava to protect her, while his thoughts are ROMANTIC.. he let his heart beat for someone else..

Sounds familiar?

Yep. Izuku LIED about the true black whip trigger but unlike Gentle, WE DIDN’T HAVE ACCESS TO HIS THOUGHTS!!! Horikoshi didn't let us hear them.

Because if we did.. we’d realize they were romantic. Much like how Gentle’s thoughts were romantic while his words told platonic lies. And this was only about 20 chapters before the Black Whip activation.. it’s a great foreshadowing.

Gentle also blames himself for roping La Brava into his mess.. because she didn’t want to let him do things on his own even if it meant she was in danger.

Even if it meant she was going to DIE.

Much like how Katsuki followed Izuku into these last two wars, knowing fully well he could die. And he DID die..BECAUSE of his relationship with Izuku...BECAUSE IZUKU HASN'T BEEN HONEST ABOUT LOSING CONTROL OF HIS HEART FOR KATSUKI..and he left him and all the other heroes on the battlefield, unprepared for SFO's shenanigans.

Moving on...La Brava describes Gentle as her only LIGHT. THIS IS ANOTHER HUGE PARALLEL!!

This is the most telling part because Katuski IS IZUKU’S light. From the moment he found him on the streets, to his apology, to Katsuki being the only one making Izuku come back and talk in the bath scene.. and finally.. To chapter 362, where Katsuki died..being called “LIGHT fades to rain.” And we see the light in Izuku’s eyes and even his hair entirely fade the moment his eyes lay on Katsuki’s dead body. Horikoshi also drew a SUN card with Katsuki on it and he drew Izuku as a SUNFLOWER and we know sunflowers NEED the sun, always look for it and die without it.

Horikoshi’s depiction of romance is just that. Two people that love each other are each others light. They are each others closest person, they make each other STRONGER and they can’t imagine their life without each other. This is all present in bkdk.

Here is another parallel to both Izuku and La Brava asking for the one they love back in a very similar manner!

All of these little clues put throughout the manga are very smart because Horikoshi will want to escape the accusations that he made bkdk canon because of the shippers. There are clues from the very beginning that this was his intention. And I’m sure we’ll get a ton of flashbacks to connect it all in the end.

Gentle and La Brava are each others whole world. And we know Izuku canonically can’t imagine his world without Katsuki.. and Katsuki can’t imagine his life without Izuku. It’s why he was ready to die for him.. and he died with a smile on his face, thinking about him.. caling out to him..

La Brava doesn’t want to be LIKE Gentle.. Izuku doesn’t want to be LIKE Katsuki.. I spoke about the misunderstanding regarding Toga's idea of love here. But they admire the one they love greatly, they trust them with their life and they want to be WITH them. This is a beautiful and quite a genius parallel to bkdk.

And finally at the end.. people say that Gentle and La Brava don’t represent bkdk because they're different and hence they’re not a parallel.

Yes.. they do not represent bkdk. There is really no Katsuki in Gentle and La Brava’s relationship all that much on the surface.

Because they BOTH represent different aspects of IZUKU.

La brava represents Izuku’s happy, innocent side of his feelings for Katsuki. Him hyping him up, gushing about how amazing he is.. Katsuki being Izuku’s light …Izuku following him around all the time.. to the point where both Izuku and La Brava get being called stalkers.

Gentle on the other hand represents the dark aspect of Izuku’s feelings for Katsuki. The loss of control of his heart.. his feelings getting the best of him.. him bringing the person he loves in danger and roping them into his mess..

They aren’t supposed to represent bkdk because they’re not even remotely similar to bkdk. But they both represent Izuku’s own feelings.

Gentle told Izuku to follow through with his feelings. And we haven’t seen Izuku do this yet.

It was almost like Izuku’s battle with his own feelings.

As he was fighting the two of them.

A warning from the future. In the form of Gentle.

La brava, the happy, good side of Izuku’s feelings.. was able to power up Gentle, Izuku’s dark side of his feelings with her “LOVE” quirk,. But it was only temporary. Why? Because they have to FUSE!!!!

Gentle never actually voiced his feelings for La Brava. She tells him she loves him multiple times, professes her undying love for him.. but all he says is "Thank you, La Brava.." and he speaks about how his heart beats for her. We know he loves her. They're a couple... but because he represents Izuku's dark side and we're not seeing Izuku admit or face his feelings at all...we haven't heard Gentle SAY IT either. But we have heard both of them speak how their heart is being affected by La Brava..and Katsuki..

Oof..this was super long. if you've made it this far, thanks for reading. In conclusion, Gentle and La Brava's arc came right before Izuku begins losing control of his heart for KATSUKI..and there is a little comic of these two that's comes with the chapter where Izuku's Black Whip triggers! As if to tell us.. hey..pssst...these two are RELATED!

"La Brava loves him enough to join him in all capers.." Well... Katsuki loves Izuku that much too..he followed him everywhere..even if that meant he was going to die..

[rikusoma]

an index of Horikoshi Kouhei interviews

these are organized by date, oldest to newest, and I’m including a brief bullet-point summary of each to make it easier to look up specific interviews by content.

also, please note that although I haven’t spoiler tagged this post, the interviews from roughly 2019 onwards include some spoilers, so please watch out for those if you’re anime-only or otherwise not caught up with the manga. that said, the other interviews I think are all good.

putting this below a cut to keep things tidy.

Keep reading

[rikusoma]

i wrote a short taz/homestuck crossover back in 2018, just the IPRE crew running into Earth C, and obviously it’s not up to my current standards but i’m still not sure i’ll ever write a joke funnier than this one

right at the beginning:

and then, lup meeting terezi:

and finally, right at the end, having had a whole year to investigate:

#I can hear it in their voices #mom holy fuck

[rikusoma]

Three panels IN ORDER…Izuku thinks of the quote to control his heart..then Black whip taking the shape of a HEART.. and in the very next panel, Izuku is repeatedly hitting himself in his chest.. in HIS heart…Hori what are you doing? 😭

[rikusoma]

My Hero Academia

How to do last minute representation the right way

A meta post that I’ve been thinking about for a while, and I think I finally have the right words.

First, let's establish the terms I will be using and how they apply to other shows.

Open representation

Open representation, in this case, is a show that from start to finish is openly queer and never tries to hide that. The first ones that come to mind are Steven Universe, Shera, Sasaki to Miyano, or the owl house. They will have queer representation throughout the show, though may hook people in first by not making the characters openly queer in the first few episodes. This is usually done through a beard of some kind. Connie for Steven, the fantasy dude for Luz, bow for adora, etc. They don't necessarily have to be important to the MC's love life at all, (like how bow is glimmers love interest or that connie and steven legitimately are love interests) they simply have to make the illusion of a non queer show to prove that the show is STILL good, with or without it.

Explicit representation

I think sasaki to miyano actually fits better here, as the thing that defines this representation is that it never tries to hide the queerness. BL usually goes here because of what the genre is born out of. Which is, usually, oppressed groups finding comfort in certain media. Not a lot of popular shows/comics are in the "explicit representation" section unless it's from an indie author. Or, on the rare occasion, published by a big manga company. The only time these works are easily published is when it's nsfw, because of the yaoi/yuri industry. These works aren't very popular most of the time because they have to appeal to a straight audience, and it's hard to do that with explicitly queer shows.

There are exceptions to the rule of course, like heart stopper or, once again sasaki to miyano, and that's because straight women are able to project and/or fetishize the characters. They will also have a token straight couple sometimes, like heart stopper, in order to appeal to the non gay audience. Or be able to fetishize the main couple because they have something that allows them to see the couple through heterosexual eyes. Like miyano and sasaki's height difference. Maybe they will add something onto them to make them more masculine to fight this, like miyano's hate for sweet things and sasaki's love of it. But ultimately people will just see this as "breaking gender norms" instead of just two gay men.

However, it was also the only reason they COULD get the show green-lit. No matter what, these shows will have to find a way to appeal to a straight audience. It's just how the world works. It sucks, but it's true.

Queer coding or coded representation

This genre of queerness usually fits shonen/shoujo anime. Think death note, hunter x hunter, madoka magica, sk8 the infinity or kakegurui. Though it also fits a lot of western cartoons like infinity train, star vs the forces of evil, and gravity falls. The thing that defines this representation is that it's never explicitly said. It's what makes this representation so frustrating, as it directly appeals to a straight audience, while still grabbing a major queer audience. The straight audience can write it off as being accidental or even say it doesn't exist. That the queer audience is "looking into it too much".

What's even more frustrating about this is that it actually had to happen in order for us to have representation at all. Gravity falls laid out the footsteps so that the owl house could actually BE A SHOW! These shows fight tooth and nail for it to be written the way they want it to be, like making marco a latina trans woman, and in the end, they were never able to make it openly queer the way they wanted it to be.

Accidental representation

On paper, this concept is hilarious, but it's also the most frustrating thing in the world. Accidental representation is honestly just a big phenomenon called "homosociality". angy-grrr explains this concept in this post (https://angy-grrr.tumblr.com/post/690891053818134528/bakudeku-in-bnha-another-case-of-the) But if you don't feel like reading that at the moment and just wanna know what this term means, I'll explain it. It is intimate social connections between the same sex, usually it's used to understand masculinity from a psychological standpoint. It's also used to understand hegemonic masculinity; the idea that there are different forms of masculinity across many cultures and points of time. Essentially, men who are in a male only space because they don't want women to "invade their space" feels inherently gay. (Edit, please look at the post right after this one on my page, I explained this a little wrong and was corrected, PLEASE READ IT GOD DONT SPREAD MISINFORMATION-)

Regardless, shonen anime usually falls into this category. Like Naruto, dragon ball z, or saiki. Sometimes western cartoons can also fit this category, like dipper being accidental trans coding, or rapunzel from tangled ever after being accidental sapphic coding.

What this representation is defined by is the author simply making a lapse in judgement for their own show. They accidentally make the rivals to friends a little too queer because they will show an intimacy the main character can not share with his female love interest, and instead give it to his rival. This is often born out of ignorance; when a straight person creates a show and instead of sharing intimate friendships, it shows intimate relationships. They will try to fight toxic masculinity by showing they can hug and be vulnerable with their male friends and rivals. Essentially, a "romantic scene" is not actually romantic because there are two male characters. That is the only thing that separates his rival/best friend from his love interest.

It boils down to men not being allowed to have intimate relationships and women can be as intimate as they want to be to practice for boys.

The gender binary is so interesting isn't it?

Last minute representation

FINALLY, we're here. Last minute representation. Last minute representation is honestly the most common one. Gravity falls, madoka, adventure time, shera, dead end paranormal park and many many more have last minute representation. This is because of two factors. One, that shows IN GENERAL have their characters get together at the end, a very common aspect in story telling. The "happily ever after" part. Of course happily ever after doesn't exist, there's always another day after the end of a story. This is just a general writing pet peeve, but making a kids show with yet ANOTHER "happily ever after" is kinda stupid as it doesn't properly teach children that relationships take work and are complicated. It shows a small portion into what goes into a relationship, the confession. It's part of the reason why I want to create my own children's show, but anyway, that's not really the point.

The other reason shows often have last minute representation is because a show can no longer be canceled. For example, SU was actually gonna have a whole other season after season 5, but because the show aired the first ever gay marriage on TV for children, cartoon network was banned from hosting the show in a lot of countries. That's why the ending arc feels so rushed; because it was. That's why shows leave it to the very last minute, so that they can finish their story while still adding the LGBTQ rep they wanted to add into the show.

How does this relate to My Hero Academia?

Simple, my hero is going to do last minute representation correctly for once. The problem with last minute rep is that it entirely is dictated by pandering to the company who publishes your work, along with attracting an audience it doesn't necessarily need.

MHA did create a beard character for their main character, yes, but it did so in a way that completely erases the idea of shonen. Shonen is inherently pandering to the male gaze, the heterosexual society around it, yet it has always tried to stand out against other shonens.

What makes My Hero unique, is the fact that it never tried to be anything it wasn't.

It always showed you the love interest of the story, it never once lied to your face. The entirety of izuku and Katsuki's characters have always been gay.

Obsessed with someone

The other half of them

Everything they ever wished to be is what the other person is

They envied everything that they stood for

It was always in your face, we just chose to ignore it.

Not only that but Katsuki and Izuku have acted like a troubled married couple FROM THE START! Their relationship has always been about nuance and learning to be better. They have always acted like they were in a relationship, and that's why they're such a popular ship.

Horikoshi has enough of an audience that if shonen jump didn’t let him publish the two of them being gay, he would just do it without a publishing company. He’s got the money, fans, and the show. Plus, shonen jump would just lose money. It would be a lose lose situation.

They stood as the "male couple that ended up having more chemistry than the love interest" AND as the "they might be canon" couple.

Horikoshi was able to show that men can be intimate by not fighting homosociality.

[rikusoma]

Edgeshot and chapter 364 analysis

I decided people are just complaining for the sake of complaining at this point.

What is everyone's problem about Edgeshot saving Bakugou?

I have seen three main points. 1. Why kill him to resurrect him two chapters later? / 2. Edgeshot's quirk was never said to be able to do this / 3. Why Edgeshot? We have no emotional attachment to him

Number 1: Why he needed to be saved now (so soon?)

First of all, let's address the "why resurrect him when he just died". I think the point of Bakugou's death was never the drama of the death itself, but to show us how far he can go, the fact that by imitating Deku (the muttering, the analyzing) he ends up killing himself, this is the same flaw Deku has, they need to work together to succeed, and alone they will fail. I also believe that Horikoshi wanted to show us a re-do of chapter 1. In chapter 1 we have the heroes looking at Bakugou while he is being killed and chocked, waiting for a better hero, someone with a better quirk. We also have Deku showing them all what it means to be a hero... even reminding All Might.

In chapter 364 we finally have the heroes acting. We almost have the same situation - everyone is watching, Bakugou is being beaten up, strangled, killed. Aizawa asks for someone to help him, nobody does - until finally the heroes step up. They do not wait for the perfect quirk, this time, but they act anyway to save him. This is Horikoshi showing us that hero society is slowly being fixed, plus the importance of the next generation.

I also do not believe that Edgeshot will fix Bakugou so easily and we will have Bakugou jumping up and fighting soon. Shigaraki seemed to really believe nothing can be done - I suspected Horikoshi wanted... something else. Not the death but maybe Bakugou in a coma (for vestiges reasons?), or maybe for Deku to arrive and have to learn to control his heart even if Bakugou could be dying, or maybe for Bakugou to need Edgeshot's quirk ability to be able to successfully use his own cluster move.

So I do not believe death was the ultimate reason for his "death". Bakugou was not killed, he was injured and hit. The way it felt so final is that we are reading a weekly story.

Number 2: Edgeshot's quirk should not do this

I think this is the worst criticism to the chapter I have seen. It is often divided in "medically it makes no sense" and "it breaks the rules of the world for him to be able to do this".

In the case of Edgeshot we do not spend too much time with him, not enough to have all the limitations of his quirk. Let's see what we have.

The first time we see him in action is in Kamino. He uses a tecnique called Ninpo, we just know that he becomes super thin and he can transform faster than the speed of sound.

We also know that he "fiddles with people's inside" to make the unconscious. Why? It would be very easy for him to choke them from the outside (stop the blood flow, get them to pass out), but in the case of Kurogiri it would probably be impossible. Kurogiri's body is not a normal human body, but he had enough speed and knowledge to be able to enter him, manipulate his insides and make him pass out. That requires a lot of medical knowlege.

I imagine for a normal human body, all he would have to do is enter their bodies, choke them from inside. It clearly shows he is comfortable entering people's bodies.

Now, he can manipulate organs, so people would ask "But we never saw that he could replace or fix someone's organs!!"

True. But we are in a world where quirks awakening and quirks training and evolution happen normally. Edgeshot never had his quirks limited, we never had the text expressingly telling us that "His limit is donating his own tissue" - but I have seen other quirks being limited: Toga, Monoma and Shinsou.

Toga was said to have a particular limit: She cannot use the quirk of people she transforms into. Until she has her quirk awakening. So for her (and many other characters) we have a limitation being surpassed through emotional events/arcs.

Then we have Shinsou and Monoma. For both of them we have an explicit limitation set: Shinsou cannot make people talk and Monoma can only use one quirk at a time.

In both cases, we do not have a big emotional quirk awakening... we just have them breaking the rule. Shinsou makes Aoyama's parents speak, and we just know he trained to make that happened. Monoma uses multiple quirks in class 1a vs class 1b just because he trained to do so.

Why is it so strange that a Pro Hero, an adult who is in the top 5 pro heroes would have had enough training to be able to very easily evolve his quirk, or do more than just "fiddling" with people's insides?

Another question I have seen is "If he could do this didn't he save his buddy Best Jeanist at Kamino? or All Might's wound"

Because Edgeshot was not there when Best Jeanist got hurt. He arrives only in chapter 93, alongside Endeavor, in the same scene where we see the police taking care of the Nomus. Which means that the medical team is probably already taking care of Best Jeanist, and the rest of the heroes are saving people and wounded. There is no way any medical team or doctor can get to Bakugou now.

And regarding All Might, he kept his wound secret. And he would have never asked a hero to sacrifice himself for him.

Now, another problem is "It makes no medical sense, what is he even doing?".

It is early to say, but I suspect this is just a way to explain why Bakugou's brain doesn't die for lack of oxygen. Edgeshot is saving his body by donating his own tissues. Medically, it is like a transplant. He can manipulate strings of cells (biologically it makes no sense for him to get thinner than a cell), so he can turn his own tissues into strings, and he just can donate these strings of cells to Bakugou, as long as it is the same type of tissue (cells have the same DNA, just different epigenetic markers to differentiate tissues). This is also why Edgeshot cannot survive this, Bakugou needs heart muscle, blood, skin, muscles, probably some parts of lungs and bones. They are also the same blood type, and I am sure they have very high histocompatibility if this transplant works.

Now, my question is - why do you need such detailed medical reasons in a world where biology never made any sense? You signed a contract with a work of fiction, when you start it. You accept to suspend your disbelief as long as the in-world rules make sense. We are here in a world where one single gene can cause the creation of a sentient shadow (Tokoyami), where remains of people's quirks can live in your head (Deku and OFA), where a gene can cause you to see the future (Nighteye) - why the need to have accurate biology for this transplant.

In a world where one single gene can make me see the future, someone using his own cells to repair another guy's organs is not that problematic.

Number 3: Why Edgeshot?

This is probably the only problem I agree with. Edgeshot is not a main character, had barely any screentime, and thus his death does not have a big emotional impact for us, plus his connection with Bakugou is almost absent.

It is through Best Jeanist, but even that connection is established in 364 itself.

Still, I am sorry, but this is classic Horikoshi. Look at all the characters who died before, they were tertiary characters or they (and their emotional backstory) have been introduced just to be killed.

In this case, Horikoshi established a small connection with Best Jeanist, and decided Edgeshot has to go. It is also because he did not want to weight Bakugou with survivor's guilt (from his mentor, if Jeanist was the one sacrificing himself) given that the manga is over, and he probably wants to end it on a positive note.