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milkmademozzarella · 1 year

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WC: 845

Category: Angst

Fandom: BNHA

“Baby, what are you doing?” He tilted his head. “Are we going on a getaway?”

Your brows furrowed, and you squinted at him. He was in normal civilian attire, with a rose in his hand contrasting with his light blue dress shirt. He also had freshly ironed khakis. At one point, that person was you. Now, all you felt was disgust.

“You’re dressed nicely,” You avoided his question.

“Well, it is a special day today,” He grinned.

You grimaced as you recalled what you were wearing 45 minutes ago.

You were seated patiently at the dinner table, scrolling through your phone while waiting for your pro-hero husband to get home. The temperature within the building was low, so you wouldn’t sweat, so you were shivering. The attire you chose didn’t help either. You were wearing a stunning green dress that fitted you perfectly. It wasn’t just any green; it was your husband’s signature green. The TV was on as background noise, something to keep you focused as you prepared for the evening, and now that the evening was set up, it had served its purpose. You were paying it no mind until you received a text that caught your attention.

“So, I don’t know what you’re doing right now, but if you already know I’m so sorry.”

You tilted your head, confused. Katsuki usually never texted you. He preferred in-person communication. Hell, he barely texted his group chat with his friends.

Following his message came a flurry of messages, some from unidentified numbers, others from close friends, co-workers, or acquaintances. You didn’t have time to read all of them as you dialed Katsuki’s number into your phone and waited patiently for him to pick up. He answered after the first ring.

“Hello?”

“Katsuki? What happened? Is Izuku okay?” You panicked.

“(Y/N) I need you to calm down, okay? Take some deep breaths.”

“Katsuki what the fuck happened!”

“If you don’t know, I’d rather talk to you in person about it,” Katsuki sighed.

“Know what?! What the fuck happened?!” You were yelling at this point.

“Izuku had an affair.” Katsuki’s voice cracked.

You felt time stop as you dropped your phone onto the counter. Your eyes filled with moisture as you digested the information you just received. Izuku, your husband of 3 years, had an affair.

“W-What?”

“I’ll be there in an hour or so to get you, okay? You’re at your house, right?”

“Right.”

“Cya then.”

You ignored the incoming notifications and went to the internet browser app on your phone. You typed in Izuku’s pro hero name into the search bar and sobbed at the results. Through blurry vision, you tapped the most recent article. Barely able to read about his affair with fellow pro-hero Uravity. Your best friend.

You let out a loud wail and ran to the bedroom, throwing open your luggage onto the bed and entering the closet.

And that brings you back to the present.

“Special to one of us, maybe, but I guess that’s long gone,” You shrugged.

He let out an awkward laugh. “What do you mean, honey?”

You stayed silent. You were unaware of what to say to him, knowing that if you were to speak a word regarding the situation to him, you’d burst into tears again.

“I know what you did, Izuku,” You sighed. “The whole world does.”

“What’d I do?”

“You and Uravity,”

“Hm? We’re all friends, what happened?”

“Ruining three years of marriage for fucking what, Izuku?”

The gears started to turn in his head, his expression going from confused to shocked to absolutely mortified.

“Honey, no! I—I—I would never!”

You roll your eyes as you feel tears spring to life, threatening to spill over your lashes and make contact with the surface.

“No, no, no, honey! I—I wouldn’t do that to you, you’ve got to understand!”

Izuku placed strong hands on both arms' sides, immobilizing you and keeping you in place to listen to his rambling. His voice became muffled, and you could only study the expression on his face. His green eyes were wide with panic, and his lips kept moving. You don’t even know if he knew what he was saying anymore.

“Let go!” You hiccuped.

Slam!

Katsuki pushed open the door, ramming into Izuku and landing a punch square on his jaw. The impact caused the shorter male to stumble backward, his hands automatically coming to the place of impact as he fell to the floor square on his bum.

“Put your hands on her again and I’ll put you in the fucking ground!”

“It—It wasn’t like that!”

“You’ve fucked up big time, Izuku!”

Katsuki grabbed you and stormed out, rushing you to his car in case Izuku tried to chase after you guys. He buckled you into the passenger's seat. He got in the driver's seat, speeding into the night, leaving Izuku alone in the practical mansion.

“I know…”

#my hero academia #bnha #mha #x reader #izuku x reader #izuku x y/n #izuku drabble #bakugo katsuki

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quirkwizard · 4 years

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Stand as One

One of the major themes across manga is the importance of the connections between the protagonist and the people they associate with. They talk about how they can't make it by themselves or how they are doing everything for those they love and cherish. On the other hand is the villains. More often than not, they are the most powerful people possible, either using others for their own gain or just simply being stronger than everyone else, often doing what they do because of some selfish reason. But this is where My Hero Academia seems to differ. Instead of having a collective mindset like most of this manga seem to be leaning towards, the series seems much more oriented to the individual with heroes and much more to the collective with the villains.

Heroes, at their core, are highly individualized. It's all about a hero putting themselves out there as a brand, as a single entity that represents everything that they are about. They have their styles, costumes, and abilities, all of which are supposed to be helping the user stand out. But it goes beyond just that. Each hero is not doing what they do for altruistic reasons. Some do it for altruistic reasons, others do it for money, some do it as an easy way to become famous. As the series continues, we learn about how much a person needs to set themselves apart from other people. While they can be inspired by others to take action, it is ultimately up to themselves to get to where they want to be. The series puts a lot of emphasis is put on one's own hard work to become a hero and how hard it is to become one. It is the acknowledgement that they are weak and they can overcome this through hard work. Even Deku, who gets his power, moves, and his primary goal from All Might can still see the importance of branching and trying to do things his own way. This is reaffirmed further by Izuku learning how to grow his Quirk in news ways such as his Shoot Style.

But regardless of all that, there is a prevalent theme of effort on the side of the heroes. It is shown constantly how hard it is to become a hero, training for years at the chance of getting a license and working to get a public image. And part of that hard work is about someone growing personally, expand beyond their original comfort zones to be the best heroes they can be. Ochako branches out from her mainly supportive role to make herself more rounded, Kirishima learns to be more confident in his seemingly unimpressive ability, Shoto overcomes his personal feelings regarding his father to truly become the be hero he is capable of being. It's all about hard work and how that hard work gets that person to where they want to be. It ties in nicely back into the idea of individuality since all of these people are either made or broken by how much effort they put into their hero work. Yes, people who have strong Quirks certainly get a head start, but what ultimately determines how good of a hero that person is their effort. It's why Mirio was such a legend amount UA in spite of his ability, to the point his considered the person closest to the number one spot.

All this does mean that some people do get left behind. Look at Class 1-A for example. Despite being a group of students that are working together, they are ultimately competing against one another to try and become heroes. And while Aizawa's teaching may be harsh, it goes to show how hard it can be to function as a hero. If someone cannot make it in the hero world, they are left behind because they cannot put in the work to succeed. You either need to be in the work to become a hero or risk falling behind or failing in your work. You quite literally live and die by how good of a hero you are. And once a hero becomes official, most of the work seems to be done on their own, with teams being rarely seen in the story. The most other heroes have been sidekicks, but they are still playing second fiddle to this single entity, cursed to forever live in their boss' shadow until they can strike out on their own. Yes, heroes do work together at times, such as the join operations we see throughout the series, but most of the time they seem to work on their own.

But this individuality is in pursuit of a greater goal. While all the heroes are working against each other for money and fame, they are still working for the same objective: they help those who cannot help themselves and try to maintain peace for society. Even if a hero does not have altruistic intentions at heart, they still have to work and strive to help the most people possible, making it more about the group than the individual. But this is no better represented in then the person who stands at the very top of hero kind. The main goal of Number 1 hero is it is they are the person who is standing above everyone else, hence why so much emphasis is put on the person who actually fills that spot. To both inspire those beneath them to do better and provide a sense of comfort to the masses. They must sacrifice both in body and in soul to make sure everyone can hold on to hope. They are one for all.

As for the villains, this is one of the many ways they differentiate from heroes. When it comes to the villains, they are much more oriented to a group. This is done as a basic need to survival, coming together to oppose the much more well organized heroes, but it goes beyond just that. In working together, they are propping each other up, working far better together than they ever would apart. It is the acknowledgement that they are weak and they can overcome this through working together. Overhaul found people that were struggling to find meaning, giving them a second life under the yakuza. Re-Destro united many people under the teachings of his father and wanted the free use of Quirks for all, as misguided as it was. Even Gentle and La Brava, who are basically two ragtag nerdowells, still found and sense of completeness with one another not only in their complementary skills but in their emotional needs. This contrasts with the more solo working heroes.

Of course, this is best shown with the League of Villains. Heck, they were the inspiration for villains teaming up to get strong, both in the USJ attack and the League as a whole. But this is more so about the core League, especially true after the arrest of All For One. They work together, protect their own, seek vengeance when one of them is wronged. They grow and train together, sticking together through highs and lows to achieve what they want. This in of itself is best represented by Double, always surrounded by his allies and inspired to become stronger to protect them, and Spinner, who finds new power under the branding of villainy and the League. It's likely why so many people in the fandom gravitate towards this ragtag group of villains. They are the underdogs in the story, banding together to better fight against those with much greater advantages then they could ever hope to fight alone, whether they be heroes or different sorts of villains.

But how this differs is that this collectivism is that this all seems to be done for the sake of one person. Despite how much emphasis the villains seem to put on working together, it all seems done an individual's goal. Overhaul, for all of his talk about raising people up, still treats his subordinates as inferiors and garbage that he can toss aside. Re-Destro still sacrifices countless of his own people in the hope that he can kill members of the League. Yes, the various villains of the League seem to have their own goals and dreams, but all of that seems to be down in the pursuit of They cannot achieve their dreams on their own with the society they live in, so they must follow Tomura to get what they want. But what they want becomes superseded by what Tomrua wants. The more and more the series goes on, the more and more it seems to be all about Tomura. It stops being about the group, only focusing on Tomrua and getting him where he is now. It is all for one.

Now this isn't a perfect one to one comparison on either side. There are certainly exceptions to this idea on both sides. Hawks is someone who has his individuality striped away in favor of having an agent that will do whatever is necessary to ensure the safety of the public. Stain is a figure who fights alone, trying to reform society in his own way through his actions and effort in a quite twisted manner. However, the comparison is still there for a large portion of the two sides. It's interesting to see this kind of development out of a major manga. While it still has some of the major tropes, it certainly has the roles reversed when it comes to this traditional theme. So why is this comparison here? Well I think it is to make a sort of connection to the nature of heroes. It's like Aizawa said, you can't always rely on other people to help you out a situation. If you want to help someone or help yourself, you need to put in the work and you are the only person who can make it work. It all works back into Horikoshi's inspiration of American comics and more American-style heroes, where people with the will and the way could achieve great things.

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problemswithbooks · 3 years

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Deku and Stain :)

I'll do Izuku in this ask and save Stain for a separate post so this one doesn't get to long.

favorite thing about them

I really like Izuku's personality. He's a born Hero but that's kind of his biggest flaw. His drive to save and ask questions later is what always gets him in hot water. Though I think the story could have focused more on this, I think it's still a really neat set up. Izuku is also one of the few protags that starts off with low self-esteem and still sort still has that even now. Even though he got All Might's power he didn't become cocky--he still cries and has a hard time seeing his individual worth. It's nice.

least favorite thing about them

He's kind of to nice sometimes. I understand why he doesn't for story reasons but I kind of wish he would snap at Bakugou once and explain to him just how much all that bulling hurt him. Or maybe despair to All Might about how OfA sort of ruined his life. Just get to talk through some more negative emotions you'd think he'd have.

favorite line

I had to use the panel because part of what makes the line is the contrast of hw Izuku looks here. Like it's an inspirational line (i think he's even said it in a better context before) but here it's obviously not a good thing. Like there is a downside in doing your best to the point of self destruction.

brOTP

Class 1-A, especially his main friend group like Iida, Ochako, Shoto, and Bakugou. Also him and All Might doing father son things are adorable.

OTP

Pretty much the same people in his friend group.

nOTP

His teachers, or the villains, Toga included.

random headcanon

Asked All Might to sign all his merch. All Might did it because he wanted to make Izuku happy, but didn't really know why it was such a big deal--I mean they hang out almost everyday.

unpopular opinion

He's not really that boring of a protag. I have seen way more one dimensional main characters and usually they're assholes to boot (think intro Bakugou who never changes). Could he be better, sure, but for a story aimed at teens he's good.

song i associate with them

Even If It Breaks Your Heart- Eli Young Band and Imagine Dragons - Whatever It Takes (though this one could pretty much apply to bnha as a whole honestly)

favorite picture of them

I just really like that the first time he used OfA he had to have Eri's help and it was in the middle of saving her. Especially now that we see him use it with no help, but it makes him look monstrous the contrast is noticeable. Supporting those he helps as well as him being supported in return is what makes him a good Hero.

#ask game answer #answer Izuku/Deku #thanks for the ask!! :)

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ae0nx · 5 years

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MY HERO ACADEMIA SEASON 4 EPISODE 2!

Ok, I’m super hyped for this season now. Crazyyyy shit went down and I have thoughts about it that some people might not like... or maybe they might understand why I feel that way? But anyways, let’s get into it...

- I’m liking the theme song more and more after every listen. It might eventually make my top three. Sorry, ‘The Day’.

Swag. Overhaul. What a first entrance. It’s probably my favourite introduction to a villain so far besides that first full reveal of All for One. He’s just straight up pimpin’. There’s no other description. Especially with that coat.

‘I DID NOT COME TO PLAY WITH YOU, HOES’

Also, the character music they gave him was dope! Up there with All for One’s theme. The shading and colour tint - and even the line art sometimes - in his scenes were all just beautiful.

...Right. This is the moment I mostly wanted to talk about. I really loved getting this little snippet of a backstory from Magne. It honestly just made me want to find out more about her ideals and why she decided to join the League of Villains. We’re told that she basically found the League as somewhere she can comfortably belong... which I’m reading as she feels most comfortable being able to express herself as a transgender woman with the League rather than her being transgender in society.

Which makes me raise questions as to how the transgender community is looked at in the MHA universe. We know so far of one other transgender character, Tiger, and he didn’t choose a life of villainy (instead going in the complete opposite direction) and for the most part seems accepted by others, just feared cos of how tough he is lol. I just wanna know what other motivation Magne had for becoming a villain besides her new found family.

Anyways...

...too bad we’re not gonna get that answer.

Anime is interesting. If this was a Marvel film or any other type of western media, directors and writers would be getting dragged for killing one of two transgender characters, just seconds after we get a backstory for her. And while I don’t think we should be dragging Horikoshi’s name through the mud, I do think it’s something we should at least acknowledge. Anime has never been politically correct and over the years and I find myself excusing a lot of stuff that goes on cos I don’t feel educated or experienced or even belonging enough to Japanese culture to really critique it. Plus, I’ve gotten lax about it cos overtime I’ve just shrugged it off as ‘anime be anime’.

It just felt unfortunate that we finally get this interesting backstory for this character and suddenly they’re offed. I get someone had to die to show Overhaul meant business but... it just felt... weird. Maybe that was the whole point? ...hm.

The amount of blood. Brutal.

- I will say I’m not totally sold on Overhaul’s English VA. I think his germ freakout moment needed to be a bit more vocally dramatic to contrast his almost monotone and low and weirdly calm voice. Especially in the one scene where Overhaul is literally breaking out in hives.

I would laugh at this if it weren’t so incredibly dark. God, I can’t wait to see more of Overhaul this season! He definitely seems like a contender and he doesn’t need over 100 quirks to prove it!

I appreciate this weird, murderous, found family! It’d be sweet if they weren’t all so twisted.

Why isn’t Bakugo allowed to do a work study? Is it cos he was kidnapped or is it cos he still needs to get his provisional licence? I’m guessing the latter. (I just wanted to acknowledge best boy cos I know he’s barely getting any screen time this half of the season).

I love this small moment. I love how human he seems now that he’s locked in Small Might form. Oh, All Might... (when he dies, it’s gonna be a sad few months for me)

BIG THREE. AND BEST BOIIIII

...Dis boi. <3

- Also, I love the English VA for Mirio! His ‘AWWWW YEAHHH’, is one of my top moments this episode

- Mirio being All Might’s secret son and asking Izuku why he wants to be a hero. What a good boy! :’)

I LOVE ME SOME DOMESTIC CLASS 1A! Having them move into dorms was the best autocorrect decision, I dunno why Horikoshi didn’t just make UA a boarding school in the first place. Especially as I find the reasoning for making them move into dorms a bit nonsensical but anyways.

The start of a beautiful and reluctant friendship. :)

... ‘anime be anime’

- Also, is it just me or is she basically just a blue version of Cheelai from DBZ: Broly?

Lol wtf?! There’s something fucked up about this, but without it going completely 18+ and I can’t put my finger on it exactly. ...‘Anime be anime’? 😂

I’m dyingggg. I hate how much I love this show haha

Overall, this was a dope episode. The first half was definitely better than the second half but it still was awesome and I just can’t wait till we get into the nitty gritty of this Overhaul arc. Shit’s about to go down!

#bnha #my hero academia #mha #overhaul arc

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fandomsandfeminism · 7 years

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Character Design is an important part of any movie, but few use it to map out character design as well as Howl's Moving Castle

Closed Captions available.

Full Transcript below

Character design is a funny thing. It is an integral part of visual storytelling, but most viewers don’t pay it a whole lot of attention. I want to focus on character design in Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle, and how it helps establish character development, but first let’s look at some of the basic philosophy behind character design.

Beyond “This character looks like a badass” or “holy crap, I want to cosplay her” most people don’t consider the design of a character too closely. But it’s a really very important part of developing a story. Good character design has to not only be nice to look at, but also convey information to a viewer. How a character looks- their clothes, their hair, the shape of their eyes and face and body types, convey a lot of information about them. Personality, profession, stuff like that. -

So, Let’s Look at Naruto, for example.

Never mind that orange is, logically speaking, probably the worst color a ninja could wear. This is actually some really solid character design. Bright colors, exaggerated posing, and that spiky spiky hair- one glance and you can sum up his core personality. Naruto is energetic, outgoing, and a young hero. The colors and shape of his composition are able to convey an effective first impression. While the story itself will introduce more nuance to his character, this initial impression primes us for his outlandish, even prankster attitude in the early chapters.

And bright colors + spiky hair is a really good character design for shounen heroes.

Look at Izuku in My Hero Academia

Bright colors and spiky hair. His design is more subdued than Naruto’s, but then, so is his personality- more shy and nervous than Naruto, but still young and heroic.

Bright colors and spiky hair are a main stay for your energetic, young, friendly shounen hero. And This even holds true for the ultimate shounen hero of our time:

Goku has super bright colors and super spiky hair, and never a hero more bright and energetic and pure hearted have you seen. Aspects of his design- like the tail and the power pole, are a nod towards his origin as Son Goku of The Journey West legend. His fighting gi instantly let’s us know that not only is this a fighting, action show, but one with action based in martial arts specifically. It’s a very effective design -

But not only does character design help establish character traits with a first impression. It can also be used to draw a contrast between characters.

Compare little Goku to little Gohan.

Gohan is still in bright colors, and his hair is even a little spiky. But instead of a fighting gi, he’s dressed in traditional looking Chinese clothes, much like his mother, ChiChi. Little Gohan isn’t a fighter (yet), and his outfit clearly reflects that. Also, his hat and the dragonball on top are much rounder and more contained that Goku’s wild mop of hair, hinting that Gohan will be milder and less outgoing as well.

Character design can also be used to draw a connection between two characters. Look at Sukeroku and Yotaro from Showa Genroku Rakugo. If you’ve seen this anime, it’s fantastic. Everyone should watch it.

They both have that same little curly loop on their nose. It’s a subtle thing, one that’s easy to miss, but it gives the characters an implicit connection even though they have never and will never meet. Their personalities, their style of performance, and their roles in the story are hinted to parallel each other with this simple visual cue though.

- So let’s look at Howl’s Moving Castle. Howl’s Moving Castle came out in 2004, and is based on the book of the same name by Dianna Wayne Jones. It’s apparently pretty different from the book, but since I’ve never read it, I can’t speak on that too much. It’s a film that deals a lot with war and pacifism, emotional honesty and responsibility, and even the question of identity.

Note: lots of spoilers moving forward. So if you haven't seen the movie, be careful.

Between the missing Prince being disguised as a turnip headed scarecrow, Markl disguising himself as an old man, and the state magicians slowly losing their human forms forever, the question of appearance and identity is a recurring motif.

So character design becomes particularly important in Howl’s, not only to help in our initial impression of the characters, but also to help us understand their character growth. We see this very clearly with the Witch of the Waste, Sophie, and Howl himself. -

Let’s start with the Witch of the Waste. When we first meet her, she looks like this. She’s used magic to glamour herself, and the result is...kind of alarming. She’s this big formless shape in bright make-up and jewelry, menacing and obsessed with outer appearance. It tells us an awful lot about her- she puts us on edge. She’s dangerous, kind of inhuman. She could not be more different than the rather plain Sophie.

And then, she gets her magic taken away. Deprived of all her magic, she reverts to this tiny, rather sweet, kind of senile old lady, totally human and almost helpless. It’s a startling difference. It also happens at the exact same time that the much larger threat, the looming war and the war mongering government, appears center stage in the movie, and the witch goes from the main antagonist to a lovable side character. Her character development happens narratively at the same time it happens visually. -

Sophie is a much more complicated case. Her character design shifts are a major plot point. At the beginning of the movie, Sophie is a bit of a shut in. Mature to a fault, she has dedicated her whole life to work and has eschewed fun. And her character design reflects that. She wears a plain dress, her hair is in an unassuming braid. Despite working in and owning a fancy hat shop and making beautiful, intricate hats all day, her own hat is very simple and plain. She keeps her emotions totally subdued and comes across as rather lonely and unhappy with low self esteem. Especially when she is compared to her younger sister- friendly, and outgoing, and in big bright outfits.

After a bad encounter with the Witch of the Waste, she is cursed for her outer appearance to reflect her inner emotional state. And Sophie takes on the appearance of an old woman. So now Sophie’s appearance literally reflects her emotional state and growth. In moments of emotional vulnerability, when she lets herself be honest about how she feels or acts more spontaneously, she grows younger to reflect that, but fear and self doubt make her revert to old age.

By the end of the film, she has broken the curse on her own, and her appearance is far more youthful and open, a bright dress, her short hair, and she herself has grown more open and confident. -

While Sophie’s character development and character design is a major plot point, Howl’s is a bit more subtle. When we first meet Howl, he has bright blond hair, a bright pink and grey jacket cape thing, tons of sparkling jewelry and a real habit of showing off. He is as flashy and flamboyant as his outfit- shallow and dazzling, truly a man who would eat a woman’s heart. When Sophie, now an old woman, because of the curse, shows up at his house, he pays her no real mind at all. He doesnt even have much to say about it. He just continues on as normal.

Howl’s big design change happens after Sophie has shown up and moved into the castle. She buckles down one day while he is out and cleans the entire castle, top to bottom, scrubbing and sweeping. This is one of my favorite scenes in the film, because only god damn Miyazaki knows how to make cleaning look like so much fun. This is the scene that really cements Sophie’s place in the castle- she isn’t just a stowaway. She takes charge, gets things done, and carves out a place in Howl and Markl and Calcifer’s lives. Howl comes home, sees the change in the castle and the good Sophie has done, is ok with it, takes a bath, and boom-

Character design change. He lets Sophie into his life in a meaningful way, and his entire hair color and wardrobe change. After this moment in the movie, the entire dynamic of their relationship alters. Howl asks Sophie for help, Howl gives her the flower field, Howl stops running and takes a stand.

And look at his character design! All the pomp and poshness has been stripped away- his hair a plain black, shirt a plain white, plain black pants. It is a drastic change from what we saw in the opening act. He never wears the bright pink diamond coat cape thing again. Even in the final shot of the movie, when he’s in a pink shirt, his hair stays that more subdued black.

And here’s the sign of really effective character designs: If you had never watched the movie, and I showed you a picture of Sophie and Howl from the beginning of the film and then the end of the film and asked you to guess how their characters had changed, you could probably ballpark it. Sophie looks happier and more confident. Howl looks more genuine and content.

And that’s the joy of visual media. Movies and tv shows and comics have ways of giving and reinforcing information that other forms of storytelling just don’t. And it’s always a joy to see it done so well. So I guess what I’m saying is take a minute to appreciate the good character designs around us. And take a minute to grieve the terrible ones.

#howl's moving castle #hayao miyazaki #anime #howl and sophie #howl

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