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hamliet · 21 days

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I'm really worried now about how bnha is going to end. I fell in love with the story because a lot of horikoshi's hero characters (nana, enji, hawks for example) were allowed to have flaws while his villain characters were still painted as sympathetic and human without having their villainy be erased. Now I'm feeling like hori is trying to turn this into a good vs bad kind of thing and the message is going more and more into the direction of some people are in fact born evil. on the one hand, we are constantly being told that all villains are human and that deku is special because he can see that, on the other hand we have AFO who is supposed to be the bad guy behind it all and heartless and whom the narrative never sympathizes with. it's all very odd to me. You could potentially argue that afo is a product of his environment and that nana, Kotaro, and shigaraki all made their choices in the end no matter how much they were being manipulated, but I got the feeling that the narrative doesn't believe that and even if it does, it bothers me that it refuses to acknowledge it. it feels so empty and cowardly, like horikoshi can't decide between "this guy is the big bad and just pure evil" and "every villain has a human heart" and like he doesn't actually believe in redemption as a concept, only in good people who do bad things but don't mean it and bad people who are really just bad. there's just something gross about it in general

I mean... yeah. That's why it's a thematic mess.

I will say that I think Hori isn't attempting to argue that he doesn't believe in redemption; it's more that

he wants to please everyone, and actually

he wants everyone to root for redemption.

By Trying to Please Everyone, You've Pleased No One.

I've actually talked about this before particularly in regards to the Endeavor arc, where it felt thematically confused because he was trying to placate both sides--people who didn't want Enji redeemed because they feared he would wash away the abuse, and people who wanted him redeemed. And we know Horikoshi initially had different plans for Enji but changed it, so this is partly to blame as well.

But the reality is it's a stronger story if the story isn't written to be enjoyed by everyone. If people can dislike parts of it. Even if people scream about how it's morally bad for saying circumstances influence how people become or something like that. (Those attacks come from genuine pain, and I honestly get the feeling that Hori is very, very aware of this, especially considering how visceral he writes abuse. But that doesn't mean they are themselves valid criticisms.)

You can't please everyone. You just can't. No one wants every single ice cream flavor melted together. Not every story will be for everyone. And no, that doesn't mean you should be deliberately hurtful, but if you're writing a story where the abuser is redeemed, if you want to portray the abuser as human, some victims may not want to read it. But many will want to read it. And both are okay. Some people will misunderstand you, and that's just--life.

The reality is that in this world everyone has competing needs, and what can meet someone's need doesn't meet another's, and that's okay. The beauty of humanity is that with all the billions of us on this earth, someone should be able to help meet someone else's needs in a certain area. You can't feed everyone, but you can feed someone, and watering down the story so that it's basically now devoid of nutrients/what makes a story interesting doesn't actually help anyone. By trying to please everyone, you've pleased no one.

Hori Is Very Pro-Redemption

I genuinely think Hori somehow decided to try to make Shigaraki extremely palatable not because he doesn't believe in redemption, but because he wants everyone to believe in it and root for Shigaraki.

It's not unique for him to retcon characters' mistakes; like I said, he's done this with Enji, with All Might, and with Hawks where he very obviously swerves from the initial plan. However, that weakens the very themes and the characters, and makes the story less interesting and objectively less well-written.* And now this AFO reveal, considering it's the main plot, kinda throws these more subplot ideas to the back burner and weakens the entire frame of the story rather than just the subplot.

So Hori's into redemption. The problem is that he doesn't know how to convince everyone that redemption is worth it, and so makes it so obvious that it's devoid of any actual interesting questions we can ponder. Essentially if you refuse redemption for Shig now, what's wrong with you? It's nigh morally impossible not to.

But I, Redemption Arc #1 Fan, like it when it's questionable. Redemption, for me, is never about deserve.

It's disappointing, but I've also seen way worse lol in terms of thematically undermining a story at its ending. So, no, I'm not happy about it and I will critique it. But I still want to see the characters I've loved for so long get their happy endings.

*Yes, "good writing" is an opinion; however, there are general consensuses of what constitute good and bad writing. This type of thing--removing agency completely in the last hour--is bad writing.

#ask hamliet #bnha #mha 418 #afo

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linkspooky · 1 year

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To add to my previous post, I think a lot of the current debates raging in the My Hero Academia fandom on whether My Hero Academia has failed because at the end of the story there probably won’t be major changes to the society it takes place in are kind of silly. You see to remove any political message MHA is trying to send out of the equation. I think the big problem with MHA is much simpler than anyone wants to admit.

The biggest problem is that... it’s boring.

It’s boring the same way Marvel Movies are boring. It’s swapped out what are potentially interesting and layered hero characters, for what are essentially characters with costumes and superhero powers and not much else going on for them. Enji and Hawks are the only heroes that have character flaws, and they are largely stagnant characters, Aizawa is introduced to us as a ruthless pragmatist and trickster mentor and he’s now just a generic “I love all my kids” mentor and the only thing he really has done in a hundred chapters is use his power. I don’t think this is a controversial opinion either, a lot of people didn’t like the deku alone arc, a lot of people think the current war arc is less satisfying to read than the previous one and it’s not well paced and it drags.

You could say the kid heroes are interesting characters with potential for growth, but have you noticed the kid heroes have been consistently sidelined for the adult heroes who are shallower, just because they have stronger more flashy powers. Heck, Enji gets more screentime in the Todoroki family arc than Shoto does and Shoto is supposed to be a main character. I think the hero kids just not getting plot importance they used to get and being sidelined because they’re not as powerful as the adults is not even an MHA exclusive problem, it’s the reason I don’t like the Young Justie Cartoon, it’s a pretty common flaw in adolescent superhero stories. Because why focus on the kids when the adults get all the cool fights against the bigger bads?

I think the reason people sympathize with the villains so much is not because they find them to have better politics, that’s probably a ex-posto facto applied reasoning (though I think that’s part of it). (Also if people are invested in the story in MHA because of the political issues it expressed, and they are disappointed because we’re not focusing on that, that’s a valid response too because Horikoshi is the one who set these ideas up as themes and then failed t follow through). (Or even if someone wants to critcize the way Hori dragged race as a metaphor into the story, they’re free to be displeased with how HOri handled it but also can still be invested in the story as a whole.) I don’t think the villains are sympathetic because they’re societal reformers, I think they’re just interesting because they have severe personality flaws and character arcs. Enji is the same character from the pro-hero work onward, the exact same character, he even does the exact same action his only true action to atone is to just defeat a big bad in AFO the same way he roasted the Noumu alive. You can’t say Shigaraki is the same character he was at the beginning of his arc, nor Himiko Toga, nor Dabi, nor Spinner, not even Twice and he has a tragic arc. Negative character development is still development, a stagnant character is dull a dynamic character is interesting. Maybe everyone is excited that Toga, and Dabi are at extreme low points in their character arcs, because it’s a change, and it’s compelling to see the extreme emotions they represent. Like, there’s so much discourse today on whether or not the League of Villains is a healthy friend group for one another, and like they’re not, they’re codependent and heavily flawed but that’s what makes them interesting dude.

Compare that to Class 1-A which is a much bigger group of kids where they are all unconditionally supportive of each other, and a healthy influence on one another, and because there’s very little conflict in that group bond there’s also little development. The only reason Class 1-A is in fact something people are emotoinally invested in is because of the conflict they had earlier in their arcs, Bakugo and Deku is a long running conflict based on an unhealthy friendship and fixation they have on one another, it takes a long time for Bakugo and Todoroki to interact regularly as friends, Deku had to literally beat up Todoroki to get him to accept help or even admit he needed it, Iida would have straight up killed a man without Todoroki and Deku’s interference, and even early on Uraraka felt inferior and more selfish to her friends, and Iida also drew a line that Deku shouldn’t expect unconditional support and teamwork from Iida during the tournament because they are compettitors competing for number one.

Conflict creates depth which creates audience engagement.

The Teen Titans are my favorite superhero team ever, and they are a heavily dysfunctional found family. In fact Cyborg even jokes at one point that their life is a soap opera. They are constantly breaking up and getting back together, and sometimes the group’s decision to collectively either neglect or enable someone has a bad influence on their personality (the second return of trigon arc comes about because no one was paying attention to Raven, heck, Raven is kidnapped by a cult and just left there for months because Donna was a poor leader). These character conflicts are also what makes them interesting as a group dynamic, I don’t think you should break the group apart because they’re not healthy, because there’s a better story to be told in them working through their dysfunction into a healthier group bond.

I’ve said this a thousand times but I don’t think the hero kids are bad characters, I don’t even dislike them, I want to see more of them. Literally all I talk about on this blog are the villains, but the only fanfic about MHA I’ve ever written and managed to finish, is about Bakugo, Todoroki, Momo and Uraraka and in particular the great potential I see in those characters to be interesting,

You could write a story where society does not change as a whole, but still circumstances get better for people because the kids are deciding to help people and be kind. Bleach is all about the fact you can’t really change the whole world or save everyone. Ichigo is just trying to protect his hometown and it’s my favorite shonen manga. I also think those stories matter just as much as like revolutionary fiction, because oftentimes people can’t change the world as an individual, and yet the action of helping people still matters, and I think also for a lot of normal people they tend to be paralyzed into not taking any action to help people at all because they believe that it won’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things.

At the most basic level we haven’t even gotten that yet. We used to have it! I really liked the Overhaul arc, and that entire arc isn’t about societal reform, it was about several people striving to save a young girl because heroes are supposed to save people. We are thoroughly in shonen battle manga punch em ups and fisticuffs. And as a shonen battle manga it’s not even that interesting because the fights suck, they’re not well choreographed, we don’t know what’s happening most of the time, they’re incredibly crowded, there’s no tension because the heroes despite supposedly being outnumbered way outpower the bad guys. We are given the promise that might happen in the future, there is set up for the fact that these kids are going to as their final act in the story save the villains and sympathize them but all we’ve gotten between then and now is a whole bunch of fighting. And once again it doesn’t come from a hatred of the kids but a genuine desire to see more of them, I want to see Shoto’s thoughts and feelings about his brother, I want to see Uraraka try to be a rescue hero and grapple with the fact villains are suffering, I want to see Deku think about what saving Shigaraki actually means. What I don’t want to see is new super powers, kids trying out their super moves, or kids helping the adults in fight.

And once again this isn’t to criticize people who enjoy MHA or are still emotoinally invested in it. Like I’m sure I’m going to get replies to this post “Why are you even reading MHA if you’re bored by it?”

Like... because you can engage critically with something even if you’re not entertained by it? There’s more purpose to literature and media then just whether or not ti’s personally enjoyable? I think there’s still a fascinating conversation to be had, in what works in MHA, and what does not work. I like superhero comics, and MHA is a shonen mangaka’s commentary on how they perceive western comics to be.

But yeah, I think the biggest most fundamental failing of MHA right now is that it’s a real snooze fest. As a comic book story, it doesn’t work because the heroes aren’t fun, it doesn’t seem to have much to say about the heroes besides very generic statements of heroes good. Heroes help people. Deku good. Deku saves. Deku punches. Deku wins.

So like can everyone collectively agree to just stop yelling at people who are emotionally invested in the villains, or even want to see them win? And like I think people should be allowed to post salt on their own blogs privately or even try to like comment on why they think certain fandom opinions are wrong, but gosh some of these posts guys they’re just like acting like a vast majority of readers are stupid. PEOPLE AREN”T STUPID! In fact I think most people are actually really good at interpreting stories because we are exposed to stories from a young age, and we think and feel in narrative, it’s just a lot of people don’t have the tools to either analyze stories or express what they find engaging. In fact if you think someone is wrong, or even think they have a vastly different take then you’re own, I think you should ask them why they think that way if you’re really interested in a conversation with them. Heck Thy and I usually agree about a lot of things, but sometimes I’ll make a pretty extreme statement, and they go “Oh, I don’t think that, or that’s wrong.” And then I just walk it back and try to explain my reasoning and then even if they’re not convinced to agree with me we just both move on.

People root for the villains because they’re underdogs. They’re sympathetic and flawed. They are also not stagnant as characters and we spend more time in their head. People aren’t stupid for being emotionally invested in them or reading the story wrong necessarily, so much as MHA has kind of failed to properly establish stakes and tension and make things difficult for the heroes like it should be, that’s just how engagement in a story works. There’s a reason that everyone hates the Yankees, but Cubs fans can stay fans for like a hundred years without a world series victory. I’m not even trying to directly insult anyone, or say that My Hero Academia is bad fiction, or not worth reading, I just wish people would chill a little bit and stop jumping on villain stans for liking the unhealthier or darker aspects of the characters.

Everyone’s like “I love my murderous meow meows covered in blood” and then you actually say the reason you like Shigaraki is because he’s heavily flawed, and at times a vengeful, hateful little shit and suddenly it’s a problem. Spinner’s a codependent enabler, yeah it’s called having a personality with flaws. He wouldn’t even have a character arc if he wasn’t those things, he’d just be a lizard. The thing that is deliberately written by a flaw, called out in the plot, and he gets punished for. God has punished him for his sins. Right now he’s just lying on the floor nearly brain dead. Also sometimes characters don’t have like, big, operatic flaws. Like as murderous and nasty as Dabi is there’s like a catharsis and power in the way he calls out his abusers. Sometimes people are annoying and needy. I feel like more ficitonal characters should be annoying and needy! Sometimes the most interesting characters, are characters you like would hate to be friends with in real life because they’d just be too high maintennance and put-upon.

I mean on top of that there are also stories where characters get worse, and only experience negative character development, and there are people who become engaged in those stories because of the dark turns it takes.

You could say that the fandom downplays the darker aspects of these characters, but like that’s what every fandom does. Heck, don’t Bakugo and Deku have an extremely unhealthy friendship for a long time, that fandom likes to downplay because they want to see them in a much healthier version of their relationship?

It’s also pretty much harmless. Beyond being frustrated with seeing an out of character version of a character being popularized, it doesn’t really harm people in any way that matters, you don’t have to yell at people for being wrong or even go out of your way to correct them. In fact, I think people having extremely different takes from the story that you do should be celebrated more. Isn’t it interesting two people can read the exact same events and interpret them in wildly different ways? Isn’t it weird, that we all have this collective agreed upon version of like “in character” and “Out of character” and yet people tend to either deviate or stay inside that framework. People also, tend to enjoy different aspects of the story. I don’t think the heroes are interesting at all, but if someone is a diehard hero stan and they like the heroes I’m glad they are having a fun time.

Fandom is supposed to be a conversation, and like, you shouldn’t go out of your way to correct the people you’re talking with, because it’s a much more fun conversation to ask why people think the way they do and try to understand that then to just tell them they’re wrong and end the conversation there. The reason I have this blog is not because I think I’m right and other people are wrong, I just like to talk to people about my thoughts on the comic books I’m reading, and then other people ask me why I think the things I do and I try to explain it.

Oh and by the way I’m not talking about people who disagree with me specifically. Like, Class1akids wrote a response to one of my posts. I think they have every right to disagree with me and they were pretty professional about the way they expressed their opinion, I follow them and like their takes because they’re good at stating the reasons behind what they think. I just didn’t interact with it because I was feeling lazy that day and didn’t want to type up a big response. I’m just in general asking people to chill and be nice and have fun.

#spooky speaks #this is highly critical of mha #but i honestly don't want to pick a fight with anyone #i just want to like #try to explain why i think the things i think?#like consider this a conversation rather than a debate #this is critically what i think is making the audience less engaged with MHa #This is why I think the League of Villains fans get so rabid and opinionated #mha critical #fandom critical

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rarepears · 1 year

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Thoughts on possibly Isshin Kurosaki X Endeavor? The reason i am asking this is because Ishin had to raise all 3 kids alone when his wife died and they grew up kinda ok for the most part(although they do need some therapy regarding the mourning of their mum) so like maybe it could be interesting to see?

Okay, let's do some math to figure out how this AU works.

Ichigo is like... 9 when his mother dies. He's 15 when he becomes a Shinigami in canon. Isshin needs a few years of mourning to get over the lost of his wife (and we all know he never really does in canon, but he's going to develop a Single Father Bond with Endeavor and that's how their relationship starts.)

Shouto will have had to been born and Touya is like 10 years older than Shouto. Let's say Rei die in childbirth since we need Enji to FLOUNDER with 4 kids and a Very Busy hero career to juggle. He would love to get more help around the house, but the first few nannies he's hired has gone horrible wrong: nannies getting kidnapped and tortured by villains who would LOVE to get some revenge on the Flame Hero via his kids, nannies selling out private Todoroki information to the press, etc.

He needs something more permanent. Someone who's got their horse permanently hitched to him that they are paddling up the creek with no oar and will suffer any and all consequences togehter.

In other words, I'm talking marriage. Enji is getting remarried.

Then when Enji makes this decision... he gets severely hurt on a mission in the middle of no where. Aka Karakura Town. The nearest doctor is one Dr. Isshin Kurosaki who performs first aid.

Enji doesn't deal well with small talk (aka he doesn't talk), so it's just Isshin rambling on and on and on about his favorite topics: dead wife and his cute kids! Enji's interest in finally perked when he hears that Isshin is also a Single Dad with a Very Busy Career (because doctors and surgeons of Isshin's caliber are busy in Enji's mind and why would he ever assume that Isshin is a runaway rich scion that isn't human at all???) and is still somehow managing to juggle 3 kids.

So. Single Father Bonding Time.

Ichigo is 13 when his father (finally) informs him that he's dating someone is it's Serious.

Touya is 11 when his father informs him that he's getting remarried- and oh, it's a guy. With 3 kids.

Touya: NANI??!!!

13 year old Touya goes to fake his death in winter - Ichigo is 15 years old and his first sibling has passed away. It's what pushes him to accept Shinigami powers 6 months later when Ruukia intrudes into his bedroom because he's hoping to find his little brother's soul in the afterlife.

But instead what happens is that Ichigo hunts down his Very Alive runaway brother after the whole Soul Society arc, so that's nice.

[More in #isshin kurosaki x endeavor aka ichigo gets the todoroki shouto as his stepbrother AU]

#todoroki touya #dabi #isshin kurosaki #bnha ideas #bnha #endeavor #todoroki enji #boku no hero acedamia #bleach #toshiro hitsugaya #bleach ideas #mha #kurosaki ichigo #isshin kurosaki x endeavor aka ichigo gets the todoroki shouto as his stepbrother AU

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class1akids · 11 months

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What was Enji’s intentions/& motivation in general, and especially after having children were his intentions ever paved in good intentions? Or was he ever motivated by his kids? When he was training Shouto was it paved with the intention of not letting Shouto suffer from the same fate as Touya? Because I read some meta’s here and there, and some have suggested he was scared of a similar fate happening to Shouto that happened to Touya, and his intentions were good while also coming from a place of a loving father but it doesn’t feel like that at all. It felt like with Touya’s death he felt like he couldn’t turn back so he pushed harder in Shouto, and while he seemed happy with Touya before it all went wrong. He very much didn’t seem like a loving father. I’m also in general confused now, like what was his motivation? His own ambition? Or what?

What was his motivation?

I think it's very clearly stated all over the manga that Endeavor had children with the objective of fulfilling his ambition for creating a quirk that surpasses All Might's. The notable exception is Fuyumi, who was concieved at Rei's desire to give a sibling to Touya.

Were his intentions ever good?

I mean in the sense that the kids were his creations, he did not want to actively harm them, but his investment was always conditional on their ability to fulfil their purpose. So he dropped Touya when he was revealed to have a "flaw", never really paid attention to Fuyumi or Natsuo and poured all his ambition and obsession into Shouto.

He did stop training Touya because he didn't want to see him hurt - but only in the context that the pain would be futile, as he was convinced that Touya wouldn't make it. In contrast, he had no qualms about torturing Shouto who had the potential, so he kept punching and pushing him in ruthless training. Obviously not to cause him permanent physical harm (after all, he was invested in his "masterpiece") but hurting him on the daily. If Touya had the potential in Enji's mind, I have no doubt he would have kept pushing him too.

Was he ever motivated by his kids?

Not until after Kamino.

When he was training Shouto was it paved with the intention of not letting Shouto suffer from the same fate as Touya?

This is clearly false. I would invite whoever wrote this to go back to the JTA arc, and read again how Endeavor was trying to force Shouto to train flashfire - to turn the heat up, up, up - not very long after Touya burnt to death on Sekoto peak.

The ONLY time Endeavor warned Shouto about the dangers of fire was during the Sport Festival when he let loose in his match against Midoriya. But that was already a very different context, where they had no daily training relationship anymore.

It felt like with Touya’s death he felt like he couldn’t turn back so he pushed harder in Shouto,

I mean, I'm sure he was feeling some level of guilt about Touya - something he couldn't face so he pushed Shouto even harder, because somehow in his twisted mind, if Shouto could get there than it would have been worth it maybe. To prove that the sacrifices were necessary.

This is why Shouto throwing back the "masterpiece" title into his face is so good - because he's not giving Endeavor some kind of satisfaction of the goal justifying the means.

#c1a asks #endeavor #bnha manga spoilers

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princess-of-the-corner · 2 months

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It's weird to me that the Dadzawa crowd act like everything would've been perfect if Aizawa was told about Midoriya not having a Quirk most of his life as if this man didn't watch Midoriya's limbs explode and made the decision to expel him before the school even started instead of trying to stop that from happening.

(Side note: I'm constantly amused by the scene in the war arc where Midoriya claims Aizawa is his treasured teacher who's always looked out for him and we see this represented by a one-panel flashback to a scene that never happened, presumably because literally all school time in MHA happens offscreen)

(Side side note: I also find it funny that the expulsion thing was so dumb Horikoshi later retconned it)

Don't get me wrong, I don't like bashing on him like I've seen some authors do but. There are times. Where becoming familiar with the source material makes you learn things about characters you would prefer not be true.

Oh yeah no I just.

I've said this before but Aizawa 100% has pretty privilege. He's attractive enough to the majority of fans that they just let shit slide when they don't do it for other characters.

Like the same people who are like 'uwu perfect dadzawa!' are the ones who bash All Might for doing similar 'dream-crushing' things(even though he does it with more kindness and compassion) or for not being a 100% perfect teacher right out the gate

And I've said this before as a joke, but "I was quite traumatized by losing someone I cared for, so I pushed myself to be the best Hero I could, and when that wasn't enough I started projecting and taking it out on the kids in my care" is something that can /also/ be said for Enji, but guess which one is seen as peak father material and which one has fans going 'nah the homicidal maniacs are right throw the whole man out'?

And it's. To be fair, Aizawa /does/ get better and they did retcon the expulsion thing(even though I still argue that the method could have caused just as much if not more damage to the students as a real expulsion in some cases). And I do love me some dadzawa shenanigans(which is why I roll with both canon and fanon to speedrun his character arc so I can jump ahead). But a lot of people really do ignore that he did some shit.

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thyandrawrites · 1 year

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do you really think Dabi has a future? i was very emo reading the recent manga chapters because to me it seemed like he is on a suicide mission, but i would be happy if that is not the case 💔

Yep. I am certain Dabi will survive the manga. The fact that he's suicidal is precisely the reason why he will survive. Bnha is a hopeful story, and it cannot portray an idealization of suicide. Besides, Dabi already died once, and his arc is all about clinging to life even as he perceives it as meaningless in an effort to be told he is worthy of love. So thematically he's in line for a rebirth, a fresh start, not a another pointless death. He needs his faith in humanity restored, and so does the story. If he died because he ultimately believed there was no other value in him, nothing worth this life he was given, then that would be the same thing as saying that Enji was right for abusing him, and Horikoshi will never go there. Granted. He's writing a story where heroes are challenged to rescue victims no matter what, and not one where letting people die when someone could've helped them is the superior moral choice. That was Gran Torino's belief, and we saw the consequences of that mindset. The new gen is being challenged to go past that and restore the notion that heroes should be harbringers of hope, not just state-sanctioned assassins

#ali replies #there are meta reasons for why dabi will survive too #his survival is fundamental for shouto and endvr's arcs #they cannot address the past if dabi dies with it again

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greenhappyseed · 2 years

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BnHA Ch. 354 - Review, parallels & comparisons

AFO’s really out here, sky dancing and singing his way through this war. He’s serving us some jazz hands and pointed toe realness, as if on a one-man mission to prove that 7-foot-tall, 200-year-old demon lords got talent.

One more bit of snark and then I’ll be real, I swear:

Best Jeanist is looking more and more like a penis and I can’t—

Oookay, MOVING ON!

We know this chapter is serious because it starts off with a closeup of Hawks’s burn scars. We’ve gotten glimpses before during the Nagant arc, but IMO the art downplayed them. Here, just after Shoto cools off Dabi and Endeavor winds up to face AFO, we get a nice big panel showing them off. The burn scars are something Hawks has in common with Tokoyami and Jiro.

Strategy-wise, I guess breaking the mask is good, but it’s far from perfect. As I’ve pointed out in other posts, AFO survived All Might’s United States of Smash without the mask, and fought for a bit without it, so a broken mask is NOT the end of the fight. It’s just the start, unless AFO is somehow significantly weaker. Unfortunately, as AFO immediately notices, it’s an obvious start. The far more interesting addition is Jiro. Her Earphone Jack quirk can do some real damage to AFO’s infrared/radio wave quirk, plus she can block his ability to feel sounds and vibrations. He can, of course, still sense emotions, but Jiro can make everything else very difficult for AFO.

That said, Jiro’s quirk isn’t her only asset in this battle. There’s also her stealth and her rock n’ roll attitude. Hawks doesn’t know her name. AFO doesn’t either. That means they don’t really know what she can do. AFO tries his usual insults, going for her pride by calling her a “jobber,” meaning she’s only present as a “red shirt” or meaningless kill that acts as a power-up for him. Jiro doesn’t take the insult personally at all, and turns it back around on AFO masterfully. I mean, he is 100% old man ranting at her about some 200 year old comic book she’s never heard of, but I’m still glad she was able to laugh and say OK boomer. The other thing that caught my eye here is AFO saying “gnats” around OFA, and “gnat” was Gigantomachia’s main insult, especially in Ch. 280 (where Jiro is down by Momo). I know AFO loves to see heroes and civilans as bugs for him to squash, but “gnat” is very specifically a Machia thing.

I also really like Tokoyami in the mix. While I enjoy him encouraging Hawks to be better, I’m curious why he was stationed against AFO — I suppose Dark Shadow can go all Ragnarok around AFO to capture him without direct touch? Or maybe there is some bird boys combo move he has with Hawks? I feel like this is less likely because, although Tokoyami says he is capable of teamwork with Hawks, have we ever seen that? I know Tokoyami can do teamwork but can Hawks?? I also liked Tokoyami’s, uhm, reminder to Jiro to stay still. Like yes, Tokoyami is an elite superhero who looks like a bird and is fighting the battle to end it all, but also he’s a 16-year-old guy with a girl wrapped around him. Do you think AFO can sense the teenage awkwardness?

AFO does seem to have a hard time reading Hawks, emotionally. Hawks jokes about them both being crippled, and is ok with being called Nagant’s replacement (that was, after all, how he introduced himself to her). I don’t know if it’s his HPSC training —he expects AFO’s mind games — or his “less than heroic” actions and attitude, but AFO’s insults just don’t stick to Hawks at all. That makes me wonder if something is coming, especially after Hawks seemed surprised that AFO kept the Toya card up his sleeve for over a decade.

That brings us to Endeavor. I wrote about him a bit here, but it’s so stunning to me that he wasn’t prepared for AFO’s provocations. Hawks even tried to pull Endeavor back from thinking about his family by appealing to Endeavor’s “duty” to “take down AFO without delay.” But it doesn’t work. The one time Enji HAS to put his duty before his family and he can’t do it. Being #1, surpassing All Might, proving his mental & physical strength….none of it matters to Enji anymore. Hawks says Enji is living in order to atone, so he cannot make a “clean break” from his family, the implication being that family can be a distraction or something that can be exploited to hurt a hero. At the moment, it’s proving that All Might was right to isolate himself and Enji was right to keep running away from his family, so I’m sure there’s another part to come. The last time Enji became fatalistic and felt it was too late to change things, his family told him it wasn’t and helped him get back on his feet.

I wrote this for my last chapter review, and I think it’s still true in this one:

Through Toya, AFO managed to take the same things from Endeavor [as he did from All Might] — his facial scar, his public image, the joy of reaching #1. Interestingly, All Might countered AFO’s mind games like how Shoto neutralized Dabi. All Might agreed with AFO, saying yes, he had many things to protect. He told AFO to go ahead and expose his secret to the world. He admitted he wasn’t the best teacher. But then All Might used those “weaknesses” to explain that he can’t die here, because there’s still too much for him to do. … Will Endeavor rally and realize there’s still so much for him to do to as a father? Is Endeavor aware of how Shoto brought “down” his other son? Does Endeavor know there’s a chance Toya is healing? Or does he think he caused one son to rip apart the other?

Finally… did AFO’s arm alien consume Enji’s arm or…???? If AFO really thinks wounded heroes are the scariest, why not kill Enji outright here???

#bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha 354 #mha 354 #mha #bnha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #afo #all for one #hawks #kyoka jiro #jirou kyouka #fumikage tokoyami

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problemswithbooks · 1 year

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I find it so strange to see endeavor basically failing in all departments, both as atoning father and atoning hero at the culmination of his arc. Despite many people here “not buying” it, his arc is about redemption, it’s pretty obviously written this way. Yet the creator deliberately writes one impossible situation for him after the other, leaving him practically no choice but all the fallout. Neither his introspection nor his sacrifices work.

He gave his arm to protect Hawks and Tokoyami. What happened next? It doesn’t matter because he couldn’t kill AFO. Hawks and tokoyami were risking their lives again and again fighting him. In the end his injury and sacrifice didn’t matter, AFO easily defeated everyone again and who knows what other injuries he caused. Everything enji said he was responsible for. All the blood spilled, including Hawks losing his quirk.

Enji supposedly found new determination to keep paying penance and keep his eyes on toya? Nope! It’s all gone now. Toya is a bomb now, with his mind long gone and there’s nothing enji can do to prevent him from explosion. He can barely move and is struggling to get him out of the civilians and heroes vicinity in time. So he chooses to die with toya. Another set up by the creator for him to fail. I know it’s done for an incoming Shoto big hero moment, for his family and everyone else in Gunga. But did the author really need to make enji such a loser again and bring him down so his family would look more heroic? And he would look more pathetic and useless?

Is it likely enji doesn’t have anything significant to do in this arc anymore? He went all out on AFO and so far it just put more pressure on everyone else and put more people in greater danger than ever before. Now he can’t help his son or his family. A pretty underwhelming conclusion to his arc if you ask me but I bet his antis are gonna love it

It's defiantly getting to the point where I don't see the point of Enji having a character arc at all if he's going to fail up until the last moment. If he's just going to fail over and over again in all aspects than why even bother having him change at all? If the story was a more adult story with the Todofam drama as the center point than i could see it fitting, but in a battle shonen Enji sticks out like a sour thumb.

The reason I loved Enji's arc was because it was more mature and he was a way more human character compared to the rest of the cast. I don't mind the idea of showing him constantly struggling and backsliding or having moments of self refection that don't necessarily lead to improvement. People don't change over night, it takes more than wanting to change, or knowing how you could change to actually succeed. Someone might know what the right thing to do is, but to do that thing requires going against everything they've ever known, and fighting against their own brain.

The problem with Enji constantly failing in BNHA is it's a shonen. This isn't HBO's Succession where the entire thing is about showing the struggle of it's characters to change and failing due to how they were raised and being trapped in a system that rewards cutthroat behavior. This is a story for teenagers about the power of friendship and how all problems can be fixed if you just try hard enough. No other character struggles this much to be a better person. No other character reacts to bad situations as negatively as Enji does. Even Izuku when he was in a bad mental state acted out in a way where he was still fighting and winning, but just doing so in a way where he got a dark design change. He didn't freeze or have inner monologues about how upset he was and once his friends spent a chapter yelling at him, he was fixed.

Because every other character only has a chapter or two (sometimes just a couple of lines) to have doubts before getting pep-talked into being better and having real growth, Enji comes across as a loser in comparison who can't get with the program. Hori refuses to give him anything except mental monologues that reiterate he wants to change, but actions wise he's not allowed follow through, even if it doesn't make any sense.

And I don't really see why. If the point is that abusers are losers who can't ever fix anything or atone why have him even bother to change anyway? The point might be that change is hard, but that change of heart is only this hard for Enji. Everyone else gets to make progress and the end of manga looks like it will end with the main villains having a change of heart in 2.5 seconds. Showing that changing and atoning is hard could have been shown without repeating the same inner monologues three or four times. Progress could have been made without undermining that message.

On top of that Hori has him 'fail' in ways where it only makes sense because of shonen logic. Enji is only wrong to take Touya up in the air and die with him because the theme of the story is hope. As the audience we know there will be some solution to save Touya despite everything telling us otherwise because it's a trope in this kind of story. In a different genre or in RL Enji's choice would be tragic but the only real solution. Not a him yet again failing, but the sad culmination of his past actions toward Touya.

He fails only because of the genre and themes of the story, not because there is an actual real solution he's just not doing because he's a bad father. Which is why when people explain why he's failing they only point out framing reasons rather than actually saying what he could be doing instead.

It's one of my biggest pet peeves in Hori's writing because if he really did need Enji to constantly fail than he could have done so in a way where it felt earned. Touya doesn't need to be on the verge of exploding, that blast doesn't have to be so big that it'll take out thousands of innocent people. He doesn't have to be delirious and screaming like a flaming monster. Enji could just fuck up and stumble over his words so Touya doesn't believe him and continues to attack him while burning himself. There's no reason to make the stakes so much higher, Touya's life being on the line is more than enough--I mean would Shoto not go save him if his death wouldn't cause mass casualties?

More and more it comes across as Enji failing only because the story says so, rather than because he makes real mistakes given the situation he's in. This is an issue with a lot of the characters not just Enji, but it's the most pronounced with him because it happens to him so often. This sort of writing has always bothered me because it makes side characters feel unimportant--there's just waiting around for the main characters to actually do stuff.

Yes, main characters like Shoto need their shining moment but it wouldn't have taken anything away from him if Enji had been allowed to make better choices. He could have said all the right things to Touya and still failed due to Touya's anger and years of resentment, so Rei steps in to help, and than Shoto comes too. The choice to be on the AfO team could have been a more thoroughly discussed decision between Shoto and Enji where they both agree that Shoto would have a better chance because Touya reacts so negatively toward Enji. Enji could have mentioned he was looking for Touya while out with Izuku (because that makes sense), maybe even he does it without Shoto because he's busy learning his new move to help cool Touya down.

Instead Enji is constantly stuck having repetitive inner monologues that go no where and do nothing in this genre of story except make him look inept or even cast doubt on whether he's trying at all. Which if that was the point than Hori shouldn't have wasted the pages on his arc at all. I really love Enji's arc and to me he feels the most real due to how he struggles and doesn't always succeed to do what he wants to, but I'm starting to think his entire arc was a page sink because it's ultimately done nothing that keeping him an asshole wouldn't have accomplished with far less time.

#endeavor #bnha spoilers #bnha #mha #thanks for the ask :)#ask #enji todoroki #never not going to be a bit bitter about this #because the potential is there #Enji is just in the wrong story #because he really does react realistically given what happens #he freaks out and almost gives up under the realization that he turned Touya into a villain #what he's done to his family weighs on him all the time even in big fights #he does his best to do right by his family but he's still him and messes up #he tries so hard and it doesn't always work out for him--in fact it rarely does #and I like that #maybe it's cuz I'm not an optimistic kid anymore #but that speaks so much more to me than Shoto who never struggled with Touya's reveal and what he's done #and will ultimately save him because he's one of the main protagonists #Enji just doesn't fit in this story with it's happy go lucky themes and characters who shrug off issues in just a chapter or two #like even when Shoto was at his most angsty and had issues with only using his ice #Izuku inspired him and besides his set back with Bakugou #he was allowed to make real progress going forward #he interned with Enji even though he hated him just a few chapters later because he knew it was the right choice for his goals #he didn't ever backslide into not using his fire again #or struggle with it once Rei told him it was fine #by the time the first war happened Shoto isn't conflicted at all and is already seen as the Hero of the family #Bakugou is a weird case because he has moments of growth but his anger and mean personality are also treated as jokes #so he'll have big moments but then revert back into angry mode for the lulz #it's not seen as backsliding because it's comic relief

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fluffykitteninabox · 1 year

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Sorry If I'm rude.

¿Why do you think the narrative treats endeavor as a good person deep down?

In my opinion If that were true then I don't think hori would made Endeavor go to AFO instead of going with Shouto and Touya,drawing Endeavor as a demonic shadow that destroyed his family and also looks like some sort of demon that's not even human in Dabi's backstory and have both Shouto and AFO saying how Endeavor is fleeing from his responsability.

Hi anon 🌻🌻🌻

Don't worry, you're not being rude at all 😊

Thank you for the ask, have some sparkles ✨✨✨

I half agree with you in a way. I actually think Endeavor's characterisation is really contradictory throughout the manga.

A "complete monster" half the time and "just a flawed human" the other half. I think that's why the fandom is so divided about him. You either love him or hate him, there's no in between.

Warning: me rambling again sorry, possible spelling mistakes, me dunking on Hawks a little bit, excessive use of italics

As you said there's the parts where he's literally drawn to look like a demon which are mostly from Shouto and Touya's perspectives of their backstories.

But there's also parts like

The hospital scene where we see him crying

Him leaving food at Touya's shrine

Even comedic scenes like him constantly texting Shouto who's ignoring him

These are all scenes where we see him in a neutral/positive light.

In those scenes he's more the dad who's trying to reconnect with his children because he was absent during their childhood.

And If it were just that then I would love to see his redemption arc. But being an absent father is the least bad thing he did in this case.

When he's crying and saying he feels bad about what he did it feels hypocritical to me, but my understanding is that the scene is still trying to make us sympathise with him.

To me this reads as "the public is wrong to put that responsibility on Endeavor"

As if it isn't actually his responsibility to make the public feel safe not just as the current number one, but as a hero in general. Something which he failed to do.

The fact that people have lost faith in the hero system is first and foremost society's fault, but it only happened because Endeavor was exposed as the worst of what said hero system had to offer.

He represents the exact opposite of what a number one hero should be, so the public has every right to criticise him. He doesn't deserve his position and in my opinion he should have lost it right after the first war.

But instead we get this random doctor saying he's rooting for him. This line has no purpose. It's not there to show us there's still people willing to support Endeavor, because we're going to see that with actually relevant characters just a couple of chapters later.

Sure we get Natsuo and Rei basically telling him to stop whining because he's not the victim here but that doesn't change the fact that the scene of him crying is there to at the very least get us to pity him.

We get three panels of him apologising and wiping his tears. Plus a close up of him looking even more sad and pathetic and talking about how his heart can't handle the guilt he's feeling, while 4 of his victims are standing in the room listening to him.

Then Best abuse apologist Jeanist and Hawks Keigo victim blamer Takami walk in and declare they're going to provide their full support to Endeavor.

Because obviously that's the person who needs support the most right now am I right?!

The public giving him a chance to prove himself and Hawks immediately assuming that Enji must be different now and deciding to help him don't make sense to me. Because Enji only started changing a few months before this. He was still the "irredeemable monster" right up until Kamino basically. The public and Hawks don't know that either. Why couldn't Hawks just as easily assume the exact opposite? Why does the public give him the benefit of the doubt after what they just learned? Because he gave a speech in a fancy suit and bowed once?? We see one person criticising him heavily during the speech/broadcast but they are focusing on the wrong thing in my opinion.

The public is portrayed as asking Endeavor and the heroes in general to ignore the accusations and even lie and pretend said accusations aren't true, and focus on defeating the villains. That's not holding the heroes accountable for their actions, that's ignoring half of the problem.

So even if we see people being disappointed with Endeavor, it mostly has to do with his performance as a hero, and not the fact that he shouldn't be a hero in the first place. He gets criticised for the wrong reasons. So I don't count that as him getting a taste of karma. Dabi's dance had the potential to bring said karma, but in my opinion it didn't. Basically me being disappointed about how the story went.

And while yes, characters like AFO are calling him out on his hypocrisy (hate that I have to agree with that bastard!) but the way I see it, the narrative is still coddling him.

He is currently supposedly finally facing Touya, but Touya had to go there himself and force him to do that. But it's still framed as a good character development moment for him, even though he didn't actively make any decision.

Endeavor is a reaction type character when instead he should be an active character.

For his redemption to feel earned he needs to actively do things to make that happen. But instead he actually avoids making decisions until he's forced to. He says he wants to change but it looks more like he's waiting for the change to happen automatically somehow. His "redemption arc" starts with him trying to basically insert himself back into the family dynamic as if nothing ever happened and he hasn't been abusing and neglecting them for the past... more than a decade, until Natsuo calls him out on it. All of his development happens internally, we see his thought process in detail. The first active thing he does is making a new house for his family to live separately from him. Which is... fine, but throwing money at his problems isn't really a good solution

And he's currently only half being held accountable. Again he didn't lose his job over this somehow. The narrative focuses on how he's going to make it up to his family which he's not doing a good job at anyway, and there's no talk about how he really shouldn't have a position of power like the number one hero spot.

I'm not saying we shouldn't focus on his relationship with his family. Obviously the whole point of his character is that he focuses too little on his family and too much on heroics. But him still having his position as a hero after all of what happened seems wrong to me. There's two ways to fix this

He gets fired after the first war. The public demanding that a person like Endeavor shouldn't have a job as a hero makes more sense than them demanding he doubles down and focuses on being a hero. This decision is like chaining his character arc and dragging him backwards.

Or he quits being a hero at the end of the manga to focus on his family, which is what I'm hoping will happen. If he stays a hero at the end of the story I will consider this officially the most botched character arc I have ever witnessed ever! And that's saying something because Hawks exist!

The second option would make him a more active character like I said he should be, but at the end of the story that doesn't really matter.

I hope I explained it well

Basically I just think it's inconsistent writing and Horikoshi deciding midway through the story that he wants to redeem him, because with his early characterisation it's obvious that this wasn't planned.

#thank you again for the ask #have some sparkles ✨✨✨#anti endeavor #tagging this just in case #the hawks slander is with affection #the bastard jeanist slander not so much #cute question mark anon

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lumilasi · 1 year

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Hiiii I was reading FS series and so far AM LOVING IT!! (That ending doe whyyy imma cri (;—;) and just, wanted to ask how u even came up with it? Do u have favorite parts?? (Or least fave, can't imagine that personally thou (〃´∀｀)) asdgfsssd sorry if this is random or weird I just really wanted to let u know I liked it a lot! Might've skipped sleep couple times ahahaha....(^—^);

Thank U for writing! Hope u have a great day!!!!!

Hi there, sorry for late reply! (got this last night basically lol) and don't worry! It's random but in a good way lmao

(Also, don't worry things get better if you continue reading the series, trust me C; But up to you of course! I know its a long ass story when you put all 3 fics together lmao)

Also pls don't skip sleep, sleep is good! Sleep is important haha

I can't recall exactly where the idea came from, I think I was just toying with the concept of "What if AFO WASN'T absolute horse shit of a parent & Somehow friends with Toshinori WITHOUT making All Might evil?" or something along those lines.

Hmmm....I do very much like that one scene, where Hisashi and Toshinori chat in a car, or more like Toshinori shares his woes with his friend, and Hisashi says something very simple, but it is very profound in the context of the story/their relationship. (I drew this scene and wrote a whole ass essay about why I loved the scene so much for some reason lmao).

Hisashi Kicking Toshinori outta hero form was also pretty fun, namely because you as a reader KNOW who Hisashi is (and Toshinori doesn't, yet), making the whole thing kind of ironic.

Also, Tenko pretending to be a starfish. It was just one of those cute kids train of thoughts moments I really liked writing. (Since I've drawn all these scenes in question, I'll plop the artworks here so this is not just a wall of text answer lol);

As for least fave, it is actually pretty typical (at least in my case lol) that there's always something I feel like I could've written better. Don't get me wrong I very much still love FS, but even my favorite story has some things that in hindsight...if I wrote the fic now, I'd do differently. Call it learning what works/what doesn't/what could work better and all haha!

These things are:

How Hisashi's brother died. I now feel like how it went down doesn't...quite fit with the kind of character Hisashi became. It was meant to be tragic, kind of accidental, but, ehhh...maybe it doesn't feel enough like an accident? Admittedly this detail is something I could easily go and change as it's just couple of lines of dialogue and a scene, but finding those bits would probably take ages. (Will I do this small but kind of significant change? Who knows, maybe someday lol, I did rewrite an entirety of Reanimate at one point, or well one half of it back in 2020)

The whole Todoroki family sub-plot. Now, the way it was written came from the current understanding of Endeavor's character at that time (pre Touya flashbacks) which, kind of...ironically ended up making me write him worse than he actually turned out to be in canon, (Enji's still a terrible, abusive father and a person ofc, don't get me wrong, but he's def. violent sooner in my fic, than he was in canon) and now, I'd probably approach that plotline differently with the new info I have.

Maybe I wouldn't make a full on redemption arc for Enji as, well, I don't really care about his character much outside the impact he's had on his family, but def. wouldn't have written him as violent as he came off, given the timing of things.

Maybe The Midoriyas could've prevented things from going to that point it ends up in canon, and get Touya to see he has more value than just living up to his dad's amibitions, and MAYBE Enji starting to see his son as an individual, rather than his extension.

Or something. IDK.

Like said, Enji's one of the more boring characters in bnha to me, which makes writing him/focusing on him kind of difficult, hence IDK if I'd be able to pull off such an idea easily. I feel like he has very little interesting substance (to me, this is subjective OFC) outside the whole "bad dad" plot, and as a cherry on top, his design just... manages to combine a lot of things I tend to find kind of unappealing to look at in a character lmao. It's not even rescued by his writing, like what happens with All Might for example.

In fact, if I can get away with not showing Enji on-screen in a story (Without just killing him off/putting him in jail, those aren't my favorite solutions to issues like this, and have only used the former, once), while still showcasing the negative effect he's had on Dabi (and/or Shoto) I will do it. Quite obviously, I did not feel like it'd work for FS, not having him be on-screen at all.

....Well this is a long answer, this last part got especially rambly, but kind of fitting given how long my stories tend to be too haha! Hope it satisfied your curiosity :D

#answered anon #family secrets fic #todoroki family #Funnily enough I just today got a comment regarding to the topic around Endeavor and how he's often written in fics #so this was actually in the forefront of my mind coincidentally lmao #I'd definitely pick a different approach to the todoroki sublot for this fic now #but since this fic is already complete I guess its too late for that lol #changing it would require much bigger changes than I did even with Reanimate's revamp and THAT was a massive project #so most I might do someday is the point 1 #Maybe even changing OFA's name to the correct one as its currently based on a headcanon I had at the time #before his actual name was revealed #tenko shimura #Dad for one #touya todoroki #toshinori yagi #all might

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autumn-foxfire · 11 months

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Congrats👏 evil abuser is finally plot worthless. Your precious victims got super agency and all your nitpicking of how the abuser was getting unfair preferential treatment and asspull powerups was proven hysterica. Japanese were stupid for liking abuser as No 4 instead of victim Hawks and Hori fixed it by throwing out abuser from fight and highlighting his true All Might successor. Himura fam(T-slur is a deadname) got big fight👏a👏g👏e👏n👏c👏y™️ and were the only ones allowed to help victim son not impotent abuser.

That's a lot of words you're putting in my mouth that I've never said, huh.

I don't know where you got this narrative that I hated Enji because he was an abuser and that he deserved no agency when I've defended his character and his arc in the past a lot of the time and praised it at a lot of points for a redemption that didn't just brush his crimes under the rug.

But whatever, you clearly need someone to be mad at and you picked me because I made a joke with a follower over my favourite not being placed higher than a character I personally felt he deserved to be higher than (because he's my favourite character so of course I would feel that way).

FYI I think Hawks should be number one in all polls, above Shouto, Deku and Bakugou too so it's not just an Endeavor thing despite how desperate you're trying to turn it into one. It's what happens when a person loves a character, figure that.

I actually hate the current plot for the Todoroki family btw, it's why I dropped it (which you'd know if you actually followed me instead of just getting angry at me for something I said months ago in jest). I think it's done Endeavor's arc a massive disservice and I don't think that Touya has earned a grand moment with the family he would throw under the bus in a heart beat if he could.

Grow up.

#personal #fuck off

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hamliet · 2 years

Text

Hello, Stranger (Things)

So, Hamliet finally watched Stranger Things, motivated by the promise of a super hot squid villain I mean, 80s nostalgia and a good story.

Overall, I enjoyed it. Eleven and Max are my daughters, and Will is my son. Steve and Eddie are too pure for this world (so were Alexei and Bob). Robin and Erica are amazing. Nancy is my girl. It is a good story.

The writing itself varies wildly, with characterization inconsistency as the story’s main flaw. Seasons 1 and 2 were extremely tightly written and well done. Season 3 is definitely the weakest, with several characters just doing what the plot needed them to do for Reasons, but it ironically has what was, for me, the most satisfying climax. I also found Season 4, while also having some very, very, very obvious flaws in its writing, the most interesting in terms of themes about the past, choices, parents, and more. We’ll see if they continue to explore those in Season 5. If they do, it could be great.

The Part Where I Complain

Y’all know critique’s coming so let’s get it out of the way before I gush about other things and give theories.

Season 1:

The subtext around intercutting shots of Nancy choosing to have sex for the first time with scenes of her BFF literally dying is decidedly Not Great. Yes, I know it is a deliberate flouting of the typical horror movie trope in which the dark-haired girl who has sex gets murdered. But it still relies on this premise that women choosing to have sex for the first time is a negative and results in losing your friends and not knowing who you are anymore.

Season 2:

Season 2 introduces the good victim/bad victim dichotomy between El and Kali, and Max and Billy (which continues into Season 4 with Henry). The writers also don’t seem interested in exploring this deeper.

Also, the writers are addicted to sacrificial death starting this season.

Season 3:

If you thought I was going to complain about Billy’s death, you’re not wrong. But it’s honestly decently done so writing-wise it’s not terrible, and now I’ve complained a bit so let’s go on.

Why did Steve and Billy never interact again? After that fight in Season 2, there was unfinished business. I can only conclude the writers were terrified of the sexual tension. (I kid. Kind of.)

Mostly, here is where the inconsistent characterization emerges. Hopper’s character is the worst victim of this. His arc could have worked, but the execution didn’t. It makes a lot of sense for Hopper to struggle with anxiety and to have all his insecurities stirred up with having a daughter again. But how controlling he was to the point of threatening a child? It wasn’t shown how he got there at all. Hopper deserved a way better arc than acting controlling with El and Joyce without the substance behind that being explored.

Jonathan was also somewhat inconsistent in Season 3, again not because his conflict couldn’t work, but because the writers didn’t put the time or effort into making it work. Jonathan being mad at Nancy for pursuing the rat lead was a bit nonsensical, and then being furious when they lost their jobs--the conversation about their experiences with sexism and classism could be an excellent source of conflict for them. However, it’s brought up just once and then dropped. If you’re gonna bring it up, explore it.

And I know the show isn’t over and these issues could come back, but like. Patience only gets you so far when you’re telling a story in serial format which inevitably affects the experience consuming it.

Season 4:

Why is the Upside Down’s poison air now gone? Do you know how obvious a worldbuilding inconsistency has to be for me to notice and care?

Brenner’s characterization was also a retcon that puts BNHA’s Enji retcon to shame. ~He may have abused and been a monster, but he still really loved them~ The complexity, again, is not inherently bad, but it wasn’t even remotely hinted at earlier and four seasons is a long time to suddenly be like “surprise!” But I am glad El chose not to say she understood at the end.

Ye old "the way the world is is actually a prison and we should change it" is again the ideology of a villain. Like... really, it’s a bit tiring to see revolutionary ideas always framed as dangerous. Not that I’m advocating violence or Vecna’s solution, but. Vecna's making points. Since we can't have that let's show him slaughtering innocents to show us he's wrong even though--well--some of it ain't wrong.

The clear neurodivergent and gay coding of Henry Creel is... here is where I’ll invoke patience. I’m not entirely ready to say I don’t like this yet. It really depends on how the show handles it next season.

The Parts Where I Liked Things

Will’s sexuality (and also, just. Will)

Going into Stranger Things, I only knew a few things. I did know that many people were complaining about Will being a queerbait-y character, and went into the show expecting Will’s sexuality to be a subtextually teased thing that I would complain about.

Not the case.

Even before Season 4 Volume 4, and actor interviews aside, the show is very upfront about Will’s sexuality from like the first 20 minutes of Season 1 Episode 1. If people didn’t get that Will was gay, I’m sorry, but--how? Joyce literally says that he’s “sensitive,” and other kids call him “queer” and other things. Season 3 has Mike directly state that Will does not like girls. Yeah, kids say stupid shit all the time and people develop at different paces, but it’s a story, not real life where we say dumb things that don’t matter. In a story every detail should be important. The writers are trying to set expectations. Something that is repeated multiple times across seasons is obviously intentional. It doesn't need to be spoonfed to the audience be abundantly clear that Will is gay.

The scene in Vol 2 of Season 4 where Jonathan and Will talk--where Jonathan is clearly telling him that he knows Will is gay and he loves him--is beautiful, one of the show’s best scenes.

Give Will a Boyfriend please (Mikhail, anyone?)

But, more on Will later.

Season 4′s Themes

Like I mentioned earlier, I really enjoyed Season 4′s questions about the past, about parents, about the difficulties of growing. Everyone regressed this season: Jonathan being Mr. Mom, Joyce was absent (even w good cause), Max isolated herself, El thought she was the monster again, Steve obsessed over Nancy, etc.

Steve: Too Pure, Too Good For This World

Speaking of Stancy/Jancy... the writers really don’t need to draw out this love triangle. Unless a major retcon is coming (not impossible), Jancy should be endgame as it’s always been set up to be. Steve and Nancy will probably have another moment, but there’s enough weird framing of Steve’s feelings in Season 4 to make me doubt any possible endgame for them. Despite Dustin and Robin insisting it’s true love, Nancy never once said it was love herself, and the problem is that Steve also says--after Dustin has already suggested he get Nancy back--that he would date Robin if she was not a lesbian. Hence, I’m not convinced the story wants us to buy Steve really loves Nancy, or if he just loves an idea of hers.

The thing is, Steve already has what he says he dreams of. He wants six kids. Well, that’s ironic considering he has six kids Robin explicitly identifies as “your kids”: Dustin, Mike, El, Max, Lucas, Will. He also says he dreams Nancy is there with them and the kids--and she is. She already is, even if not romantically. My guess is Steve will realize this at the end of his arc.

Honestly, Steve’s arc is a fantastic deconstruction of toxic masculinity. Which... don’t hurt him Duffers. Don’t. I’m begging you.

Max Will Be Fine

Seriously, I promise. Max will be fine. You don’t leave a character in a coma unless you plan to wake them up, unless you’re the latter two seasons of Angel levels of horrifically bad writing which, for all of my complaints, Stranger Things is not.

Max is heavily foiled with Vecna (and Chrissy): traumatized, isolated child subject to the whims of their unstable mother. Vecna tells Eleven that he wants them to make their own rules, essentially to be gods of the world. Max, way back in Season 3, tells Eleven that “we make our own rules.”

Max’s words are what El remembers when she brings Max back. No, this isn’t negatively framing El bringing Max back. It’s showing that there might in fact be some nuance. Max’s rules are based in love and friendship, in hope, in love of humanity, while Vecna’s are based in hatred of humanity. To uphold Max’s message--which the story needs to do--Max has to live.

Eleven, I am Your Brother!

Okay, now let’s talk Squid.

Henry’s whole story is Star Wars. Actually, Season 4 was just Star Wars (makes sense given the 80s stuff). Brenner was Yoda, telling Eleven that she wasn’t ready to leave just yet, that if she ran out to save her friends she’d fail. I know the prequels weren’t until the late 90s-early 00s, but Anakin killing the younglings is clearly the inspiration of Henry’s rainbow room massacre. And Henry’s “join me, Eleven, to build a better world” speech is essentially Vader’s speech to Luke and Kylo Ren’s speech to Rey braided together.

With that said, I fully expect Henry to get some kind of human ending. Will he atone? Don’t think so. But the foreshadowing is pretty obvious. (More on that later.)

Brenner tells El that she and Henry are not alike: “that’s where your similarities end.” Brenner’s the least reliable narrator about this. (Also, you cannot give the abuser--Brenner--a redemptive death and not give that compassion to his victim.)

El and Compassion

El’s true superpower isn’t her telekinesis. It’s her compassion. It was her compassion, her empathy with the abused child in Billy, that inspired Billy to sacrifice himself. Her compassion saved Will. Yeah, she’s human and lashes out, but she loves deeply. Her compassion freed Henry and then her uncontrolled powers turned him into Vecna (not that she’s at fault; she isn’t). But her compassion should ultimately be what helps save the world.

Vecna himself asks El this. "Why cry for them after everything they did to you?" Well, let's see Vecna. Why does Max cry for Billy? It’;s kind of a theme in Stranger Things. Even without forgiveness (like El not forgiving Brenner), she still acknowledged his humanity. I don’t have to love it to see the theme as it is.

I strongly suspect the main question at the end for Vecna will be "after all I've done to you, why cry for me?" But compassion is what Vecna’s missing, what he lacks in his view of humanity. It’s the true magic of being human.

Henry and Vecna, Unreliable Narrator

Did Vecna choose to become the monster like he proclaimed? Yes. And no.

It’s not a coincidence that an abused child targets other abused, isolated, and traumatized children. Even if Victor loved Henry, his mother was clearly implied to be considering locking him up and lobotomizing him. Like... woof. There’s a lot there subtextually. He’s clearly targeting himself as much as he’s targeting everyone else. I’m not sure the writers will entirely explore this, though. But I do think they will have him experience humanity again. They should.

Honestly, Victor should die trying to save/stop his son. If Victor’s alive, and if he mourns his son--which he does--he should have to consider whether he loves Henry despite everything that Henry has done. If he does, he should try to convey that even if it kills him.

But who will the actual key be to stopping Vecna?

Will as the Key

So, there are two characters--and only two--who have survived the Upside Down for any significant length of time. Vecna, and Will.

I actually think Will is the one who can reach Henry. It can't be Eleven, because Henry sees her as having hurt him. But a “weak” helpless boy who is an outcast, gay (Henry is absolutely coded this way) and has just been suffering his entire life still choosing love (or even choosing corruption for a time and going back to love/friendship even though I doubt the writers have the balls for this particular plotline)?

Vecna thinks he and El are the two most alike, but it’s actually Vecna and Will. And Will is so human, in everything Henry thinks he hates about human beings. He’s not superpowered. He’s a sad boy in unrequited love with his best friend. He just happens to have a mom and brother who love him.

Plus, tbh, structurally Will should be the focus of season 5. Season 1 was Mike (the heart, which Will called out funnily enough in Season 4), Season 2 Lucas (the mind), Season 3 Dustin (the body), Season 4 Eleven and Max.

Obvious Foreshadowing is Obvious

I’m not sure how much clearer the D&D game at the start of Season 4 could be in terms of foreshadowing. 11 couldn’t defeat Vecna.

But 20 did.

How interesting that the three kids still alive are 11, 8, and 1, which totals 20.

Henry--Vecna’s humanity--is probably going to be key to stopping himself. No, I don’t think he’ll get any sort of classic redemption, and he certainly won’t survive it, but I can see him pulling a Zeke Jaeger where he doesn’t exactly repent but still chooses to sacrifice for some bigger goal like destroying the Upside Down or something in a moment of compassion in the end.

#hamliet reviews #they will be fine #max mayfield #eleven #peter ballard #vecna #henry creel #stranger things theory #stranger things meta #stranger things season 4 #victor creel #jonathan byers #steve harrington #nancy wheeler

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tonya-the-chicken · 2 years

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I mean I love shoto and would still argue he is the most boring in the family. He is perfect by design and has a very clear moral standing of clearly a victim who has never done anything wrong. We know exactly how his story will go from the tournament arc and forward.

Compare to enji or touya who is just convoluted messes with questionable morals (or non existent in touyas case) same with rei, who as much as she’s a victim also was never there for a single one of her children. You could do something with that guilt or the pain that they must feel over it. For fuyumi and natsuo you have to question what it means to be a failure and all that that means. It’s not a coincidence that the backstory barely even included him

As I said I love him, but he tends to sometimes feel like a plot tool rather than a person when tododrama is at play. Things happened that led to him being born, his existence itself is more relevant than how he feels about it and who he is. Which is why he works better as a character when around class 1a where his backstory isn’t as defining. When around the other todorokis I just feel less interested because the others are more narratively compelling

We have some glimpse of "abuse made me cold and unwelcoming and it made me hurt people" (for example, Inasa) but we receive this information AFTER Shouto starts his change which obviously doesn't contribute much to our perception. While Enji's redemption starts with us seeing his worse, Shouto's starts with us just seeing a bit cold teen with trauma so then I can't really care when he keeps on talking about his change. Yeah, you've been cold but we found out about that fact that it hurt people after you became a good boy

I too feel like other character of todofam are more fun. Though it doesn't have to be this way, it's just that Shouto is rarely the centre of attention in the family plotlines. He doesn't really talk with them outside plot convenience like when he went to meet Rei and she started getting better. It's almost like that Todoroki family exists as an additional characterisation for Shouto but when we talk about Enji then they start looking more like fleshed-out characters. Look, we didn't even hear Rei speak anything that would move her beyond the archetype of "loving mother with abusive husband" before Enji's storyline began developing. Same with Fuyumi and Natsuo. Then, of course, Touya's storyline added too

But in Shouto's storyline family was and remains a backstory. And what is worse is when Horikoshi makes him react to current family troubles he is put afront others and talks about eating udon with a mass murderer he barely knows. How does Natsuo feel about being attacked with the directions of beloved his brother? What does Fuyumi go through now when her dream of a happy family is destroyed completely? No, we gotta have Shouto and only Shouto thinking back to his change and projecting his own struggles onto Dabi who is a completely separate person, please

#asks #bnha #bnha manga spoilers #i won't let the udon thing die #todoroki family

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musemilitia · 2 years

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Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion. || Accepting

@heterochromatica asked:

🔥🔥🔥 if you're still doing this I would really love to hear you take on Rei's fault in the Todoroki family drama because I personally think she gets off too easily in the fandom owo

Oh, Rei definitely gets off too easy in the fandom. But also .. another person who gets off too easy purely because of the fact that “he was a child” is Touya. In fact, I think the only people in the entire Todoroki family who are truly “victims” is Shouto (for obvious reasons). But also Fuyumi (but I’ll explain why later on in this rant).

((also be warned; there are spoilers for manga chapters that happen near the end of the first war arc in this))

Enji himself was the main source; but a lot of what stemmed him to be how he was .. was him being a ‘workaholic’ as well as the fact he “wanted to surpass All Might” so badly. That it eventually all just boiled over until it started heavily effecting his family and their lives.

However, Rei didn’t try to even quell the desire that her husband had when Enji was home from work. And I believe it was HER who suggested that they have more children after Touya. As it would be a way for them to encourage and help each other. When in actuality it only made Touya see his siblings; primarily Shouto, as “competition” of their father’s love and attention. And he most likely started to not see them (Fuyumi and Natsuo) as such until after their Quirks manifested and the two had gotten ice Quirks.

And that’s leading into why I feel Fuyumi is also the victim in this scenario -- because yes, Fuyumi herself admits in Chapter 302 that she knew her “family was broken” and that she was “too scared to interfere”.

But why should she have interfered?

Especially why should she have interfered at such a young age?! In a time where her parents should’ve been the ones to interfere first.

Not to mention, she DID try to interfere with Touya to stop him from hurting himself more (Chapter 301):

But she SHOULD NOT have had to do this. And this -- THIS is something that Rei should’ve been the one to say first. Their mother should’ve been the one to try and explain calmly to Touya how dangerous it was for him to continue training.

Fuyumi from a young age was already displaying a more “caring, motherly vibe” than her own mother did. No child at her age (which is about 2-4) should have this level of maturity for such a serious topic about a person’s health and well-being -- no matter if it’s their sibling or not. The responsibility should always fall on to the parents first and foremost.

Letting a LITERAL CHILD be the voice of reason is and should always be the last resort; purely because children tend to view the world through untainted eyes. So they have no filter yet for what is appropriate and not appropriate to say at the time. And what Fuyumi says here wasn’t the appropriate wording for the situation given Touya’s stubborn attitude and drive to want to be stronger. But there was no way she knew that this wasn’t appropriate to say to him in the moment.

(Fuyumi and Natsuo as characters and their involvement in the whole situation is a whole thing in itself. Especially when they get older. But for the most part I’m sticking with just BABY Fuyumi.)

And this actually leads into why I feel like the fanbase is too quick to let Touya off as a victim because he was a child... and he says it himself (in Chapter 301)

If Touya did “know his body better than anyone” than he should have also felt WHAT the training was doing to him. And so he should’ve known that he needed to ‘tone it down’ if he really did want to be like his dad.

But he never got that “strong yet firm” parental guidance from either of his parents. And when it finally did happen -- it was AFTER Shouto was born. Meaning that his stubborn and determined mindsight was already made up. And nothing his parents could say was going to stop him.

Mun Note: this started off as mini rant about Enji and a slight rant about Rei... and slowly lost the plot and eventually evolved into a rant about the fact that Touya tends to be let off by the fanbase. xDDD

But also ... there is SOOOO much drama in this family from pretty much ALL SIDES -- that it’s hard to really focus on just one person whose at fault. Like I’m pretty sure there’s more drama from the Todoroki household than there is from the Kardashians; and that’s saying something.

#{ bri's ranting fun; }#heterochromatica #{ mun answers }#{ brizzy rambles (ooc post) }

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class1akids · 2 years

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BNHA 356 - Thoughts

First the leaks confused me, so I thought I'd wait for the scanlation. Then the scanlation confused me, so I waited for the official. But tbh, I'm still confused a bit with the central part of the chapter - Young Enji's appearance and what it all means.

It was a visually pleasing chapter, and I get why many people like it, but to me, it still feels a bit meh' because of how messy that middle part feels.

Tokoyami getting a big smash looked cool. And that's all it did. I wish this fight would bring back my immense love for the Hawks & Tokoyami content that I adored during the war arc, but so far, it just feels like an echo of the hype I felt then.

AFO eating the vestige. OK? I guess. AFO vestige stuff is so non-sensical at this point, that there is no point to comment.

Hawks is growing on me again. Him moving from wanting to score a killing blow to shielding the kids - this little featherless chicken certainly is pulling his weight in this fight. His expression as he turns to look back at Endeavor really got me.

He's not even surprised, because he knew that Endeavor would get back up, but also it's sad seeing Endeavor's sacrificing his arm.

4. I'm glad Endeavor is back up and trying to protect the kids who stepped in when he faltered.

5. On the one hand, his young self doesn't say anything shocking, but on the other, it reveals a deep self-hatred, that ties somehow to the loss of his own father, who died trying and failing to save a girl. We don't know much else. Whether he was a hero or a civilian. Whether he had the same quirk. Whether he was a good dad or another abusive asshole. Whether Enji watched it happen helplessly or learnt it later. It's all left open.

But what it gives us is a reason for Enji's endless thirst for power and strength, his obsession with All Might and how he turned to power to try to shield his heart.

It is tragic and sad and ironic how young Enji's loss of his family because of weakness leads to Endeavor's obsession with strength, which then leads to the destruction of his family at the first sign of his son's weakness. It gives context, but not an excuse. It doesn't lessen Endeavor's responsibility towards his family.

As the resident weakness expert said - there is more to strength than a strong quirk. Endeavor should have listened more.

I have to admit, Endeavor growing a flaming arm is a pretty cool visual - even if this is not the moment I'm waiting for. There ought to be a more emotionally resonating closure - something where it really feels like Endeavor is letting his "ugly heart" to be fully exposed and vulnerable, and fall to pieces, and where he lets himself grieve and accept and embrace both his own father's memory and his family who suffered so much on account of his "ugly heart".

The fight obviously continues, so maybe it will all makes sense in a few days. Until then, I keep believing that the story won't let Endeavor punch himself into redemption, because clearly his weakness has nothing to do with his quirk and everything to do with his heart.

(I this context also see Shouto's Phosphor coming from the center of his heart, and Touya's mystery glowing, which is also in the center of his chest.)

#bnha 356 #class1a reads bnha #bnha meta

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