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haptronym · 2 years

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Fanon vs. Canon #1: All Might is insecure about his appearance

Been doing some musing about fanon and canon in the MHA universe, and was convinced to put it online, so here you are.

A lot of people make fanworks because the source material feels incomplete in some way. They explore things that they feel could’ve been fleshed out more, or interesting alternate character interpretations, or AU scenarios. Sometimes, I spend so much time playing around in the fandom side that I forget what was actually in the show... I go back to rewatch and am shocked to realize that the character I got to know so well in fanfic is actually very different in the source material.

So, since I find it fun to think about this stuff, I figured I’d go through a few really popular fan assumptions about my current obsession, All Might, that actually seem to clash pretty hard with the source material. The first one I want to tackle: the well-worn idea that All Might is insecure about his appearance... that he never wants anyone to see his scar, that he thinks he's ugly and is constantly self-conscious about his failing body.

This interpretation is all over, and it’s not hard to understand why. I would be insecure too.

The whole show kicks off because of his injury and its effects. He spends most of the story trying to hide his frail body. His central conflict revolves around his failing strength and how that changes his abilities and identity. So it makes perfect logical sense that he would be horribly self-conscious about his sick and injured body when he spent so long building an image of perfection. It makes sense that he would hate his true form, that he’d be embarrassed by it, that he’d be ashamed.

And yet... that’s not how he seems to act in canon.

He definitely tries to hide his true form, because it would damage the perfect image he’s built around the Symbol of Peace. He jokingly calls himself “old man,” and he is very frustrated with his body’s physical limits. But there’s very little indication of shame or self-consciousness about his appearance. Overall, he acts incredibly nonchalant about how he looks. A few examples:

In the very first episode, he shows off his scar to a complete stranger. There were other ways to get his point across, but he went right for the grisly one.

He does not seem very concerned about covering up his scar in general. He keeps wearing shirts that ride up and show it... get an undershirt, you’re going to catch a cold!

In the first movie, he spends an entire scene cavorting around in his underwear in front of his boyfriend while getting a medical examination. Even after he’s presumably done with the exam, he still spends most of the scene wandering around half-naked instead of trying to find a towel or something. His body language does not seem hesitant or embarrassed at all.

In one of the light novels, it’s implied that he bathes in the communal bath at the same time as Cementoss. It seems like he’d try to bathe alone if he were self-conscious about people seeing his scar.

In a Team-Up Missions comic, he is asked to play a zombie in a class film, and seems to delight in it to the point that he creeps around the office trying to scare Aizawa with his stage makeup. (He fails.) This doesn’t seem like something he’d do if he were actually sensitive about his appearance... it takes self-confidence to poke fun at yourself this way.

This part during the Stain confrontation in chapter 326 is the only example I could find of him saying something that could be interpreted as ragging on his own appearance, and that’s during a time when he’s consumed with self-loathing in general. In Japanese, it seems much less sarcastic and more matter-of-fact ("You wouldn't recognize me in this form.")

Aside from that, his overall demeanor and body language throughout the series just... does not come off to me as the behavior of someone who’s bashful about his looks. Yes, he spent a lot of time trying to keep his true form a secret. But it was always framed in a practical way. To me, it came across like someone covering up a tattoo when they go to work because they know their boss will throw a fit. They aren’t ashamed of themselves, but they know that being totally open will damage their reputation, thanks to societal pickiness.

Just... his entire attitude seems to be missing the tells one would expect from someone insecure. He’s polite and deferential around other adults, but of course he tries to be humble when he’s the biggest deal in any given room. One would think that if he were self-conscious, he wouldn’t unapologetically run around in eye-searing banana-colored pinstripe, or garish ties (which the anime needs to quit editing out). He’s constantly flinging out dramatic, over-the-top poses that look absurd in his true form, but he doesn’t seem to care. We never saw him being flustered when first integrating with the other U.A. faculty, or trying to explain himself after Kamino. He just owned it.

To me, it makes sense that he wouldn’t be a self-conscious person in general. He’s a wildly famous public media figure who seems perfectly comfortable showing off his butt in promotional material; you don’t get that popular without learning to tune out people’s opinions. And as Stain said in chapter 326, his real influence doesn't come from powers or quirks: it comes from his pure, driven force of will. He never needed any justification beyond “run ahead at full speed.” He never cared what other people thought; he actively left them behind to achieve his goals. Living that kind of life requires astonishing conviction and inner strength, and it’s poignant to see that inner strength demonstrated with a casual indifference about his true form even when most people would be insecure. It goes to show: even without his powers, he is anything but ordinary.

Another thing that could explain his ease with his true form is chapter 92 of the Vigilantes spinoff. Here, it’s shown (along with... several dubious things like “Might Ears”) that he’s always had a “true form,” even before his injury. It would be much less jarring to cope with a less-impressive alternate self if he always had a less-impressive alternate self.

Of course, his confident act could be just that: an act. He could be secretly dying on the inside. People can keep their discomfort and low self-esteem to themselves, especially people like him who are concerned with projecting an inspiring image. But we never see him touch on the topic in his inner monologues, so there’s no way to know for sure.

(One caveat: a lot of fanworks that have him act insecure about his body are romance stories. In that context, self-consciousness makes a lot more sense. Of course a person’s appearance will be more high-stakes in a relationship based on physical attraction. He could very well be more shy than we normally see him if he were in a situation like that. It’s interesting to explore!)

But to me, the single most surprising part about this topic isn’t his own canon behavior... it’s everyone else’s. Nobody seems to bat an eye at his shocking secret. To the point that it feels bizarre. It’s mind-boggling how little anyone else brings up his looks:

Izuku does freak out when first seeing him... but after the initial shock, he never brings up All Might’s appearance again.

When Tsukauchi learns his identity in Vigilantes chapter 6+ Beta, he just starts harping about All Might’s paperwork. Nothing about how the #1 hero has suddenly deflated into a bag of bones.

None of the U.A. teachers comment on his appearance or seem to try and coddle him, besides showing concern for his time limit.

None of the students react to his true form, either, once they learn about it. There’s a bit in the Training of the Dead OVA where he’s assumed to be a zombie, but it’s brief and played for laughs.

In the Kamino fight, AFO goes on and on about how devastating it will be now that everyone has seen his true form... but the only person we see give any negative reaction at all is Endeavor. The public goes on cheering for him, the heroes keep fighting alongside him. Afterwards, the main fallout seems to be, once again, the issue of him being unable to fight. Nobody seems upset that he was deceiving them.

After Kamino, we get an entire episode about a newspaper reporter stalking the class and All Might, and yet all we hear is admiration of him. The reporter decides not to reveal any juicy gossip on him, and the newspaper is instead delighted to run some pictures of all Might eating meat buns in his true form.

There also seems to be very little media sensationalism after Kamino. There is a little section in red at the bottom-left of this newspaper that starts off asking “What is this zombie!?” but the main focus of the page is his hero form, and the end of the blurb concludes that it’s heartbreaking to see the comparison between his hero form and what he looks like now. Not exactly bloodthirsty journalism. (One note: apparently, in Japan, you can be sued for defamation even if the claims are true. So perhaps this is part of why the news acted so tame.)

This is the only thing I could find where a member of the public actually said something mean about his appearance, and it seems like she blurts it out before she realizes who he is:

Also, look how he responds: pretty much exactly the same way he responded on the beach way back at the beginning of the story, when someone recognized him and he didn’t want to draw attention to himself and Izuku spending undue time together. More about wanting to avoid publicity than any kind of self-conscious or offended reaction.

Even the villains seem to go easy on him! (Aside from AFO, but he’s AFO.) The only non-AFO villains I can recall who specifically mock his appearance are two henchmen in chapter 313, who act smug and haughty for exactly 1 panel before cowering in terror once he starts yelling at them. Seriously, am I missing something? If anyone has other examples, please chime in.

My best guess, besides “the author didn’t want to deal with this rabbit hole,” is that it’s a narrative decision done to reinforce just how much influence he has. He’s so universally loved that even his ghastly appearance doesn’t dent people’s admiration. They still respect him no matter what he looks like. (But then they go and put “I am not here” signs on his statue... hmm.)

Anyway, the point of this whole post is: in canon, his physical appearance is overwhelmingly a non-issue. He doesn’t fret about it, and neither does anyone else. And, ironically, this goes a long way towards explaining why he’s characterized as the complete opposite in so many fanworks. Fan creations are often made to fill in things that feel like frustrating missing gaps in the source material, and it is extremely weird how utterly this whole issue is glossed over. It feels like a huge letdown, considering we spent the whole beginning of the series biting our nails wondering what kind of horrible consequences he might face after being found out. It makes sense why fans would want to explore a more plausible-feeling world in which there are consequences for not looking like a physical ideal, where the media is cruel and people are judgmental, where wounds can injure your heart and not just your body.

But it can also be valuable to look at why canon approached things this way. To me, it’s an inspiring thing, to think that he can exist unapologetically, not caring about what he looks like, just caring about what he can do to serve those around him. That, to me, is exactly what All Might is all about.

I'm always forgetting the things that happen in this show, so if you have counterpoints, I'd love to hear them. These are just my thoughts, I'm no authority. We're all here to have fun and be creative!

(Thanks to @journalxxx for lots of help and input on this post)

#toshinori yagi #bnha #bnha manga spoilers #hap pops off about meta-narrative

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pestriddencarnivore · 1 year

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Realised, I’ve never done this post and with the Manga being on break (right after Tomura pulled his fun little stunt) I figured, why the hell not. Predictions on Kai Chisaki’s future plot relevance and backstory:

‘Cause while I can indeed never stop malding about the fact that Hori brought my blorbo back but didn’t follow up on it, I actually have genuine reason to believe that his backstory will become relevant in the upcoming confrontation.

Why is that? Well, essentially because of the conversation Deku had with the former OFA users’ vestiges. In the conversation he reveals that while fighting Tomura he saw that on the inside there was a part that needed saving and that thus he wanted to help him. He is still pursuing that goal in canon right now.

However, more importantly to my point is that Deku continues that thought process further and explains that he’s realised he fought many villains in the past but never explored their motivations. [ch 305]

The villains depicted here specifically are Muscular, Stain, Gentle Criminal and La Brava, and finally Overhaul. In the following chapters all of them have made an appearance thus far and the readers got more of a glance into this underlying motivation Deku is addressing here.

Muscular has directly fought Deku and pressed that he simply was motivated by a desire for violence and there wasn’t more to it. [ch 307+308]

Stain on the other hand aided the heroes by providing them information from his stay in Tartarus and also gave Yagi a personal pep talk to remind him of what is truly inspiring about All Might. [ch 326]

Gentle Criminal and LaBrava had their moment very recently, with Gentle experiencing a change of heart in face of the mass-breakout disaster and the two of them actively deciding to fight on the hero's side in the war. [ch. 378+379]

Chisaki has also made an appearance, albeit in a remarkably broken and mentally dissociative state. We learn a little about him. Mainly that he’s given up on his ambitions, that he cares little for revenge and that his mind is now obsessed with nothing but the idea of returning to the boss and apologising to him. He even got to meet Deku who demands for Chiaki to extend his need to apologise to Eri. [ch 315+316]

Chisaki speaking to Eri, perhaps even apologising to her, is a huge deal for both of their characters. It puts the conclusion of the Overhaul arc into a whole new perspective, and could serve a lot of purposes such as providing closure for Eri, or addressing the developments both have gone through since last seeing each other ( For example, how Eri has grown more confident, while in contrast Overhaul rapidly deteriorated. ).

However so far, none of this has happened. The storythread was left on a cliffhanger and I would assume that Hori is keenly aware of this.

In conclusion the big “Deku explores Chisaki’s secret motivation” event is most likely still coming, and my guess is that is most likely around the time he apologises to Eri, or tries to at least. And there is a lot to unpack, as I have previously already pointed out. To this day there is essentially nothing we know about Kai’s origin;

Why was he abandoned as a child on the streets?

Why he hates quirks so passionately.

Why he appears to hate his own name.

But why is this relevant to the future plot? Well, now we come to the speculatory part. From what I am seeing, the Manga points in one direction; that the encounter of Chisaki attempting to apologise to Eri, along with Chisaki’s backstory, will be retold in a flashback during the Tomura VS Deku fight. Because some part of the experience Deku has made there will help him get through to Tomura as Chisaki’s childhood backstory leads back to All For One.

( Yes, bemoan it together with me. “ Why does almost every villain origin story in mha have to relate back to All For One? “ I hate it but I suppose it comes with the territory. )

The reason why I believe All For One is involved is greatly due to this one image:

When it was revealed in Chapter 350, that Dabi had in fact been saved from dying by All For One who wanted to use him, we were given an exclusive glimpse into this facility. Ujiko described it to be a place where AFO kept backup children to replace Tenko/Tomura just in case. As the image above shows, the facility has a more than striking similarity to a place Chisaki was shown to have been in as a child. [ch 158] About the Chisaki panel we had never been given any context; whether it was set before or after Chisaki had joined the Yakuza, or where it was set. However it was strongly implied that it was around that time that he learnt about the theory of quirks being considered a sickness, which became ingrained in his motivation and his entire character.

Considering these two much too similar looking settings, we can assume that most likely Kai formerly had been a child under the clutches of All For One.

Now, for those of you who’ve heard of the theory that Chisaki was there at the same time as Touya, I will quickly clarify that this is not possible without time travel. Chisaki is several years older than Touya, who was apparently around 18 at the time he woke up in that facility. That would mean Chisaki was in his twenties, and thus it only happened many many years after he’d joined the Yakuza. After all, the boss had picked him up when he was still a child.

However, I want to continue this thought of age to remind further; Chisaki is in fact also 7 years older than Tenko. Looking at the child the boss had picked up from the streets, I believe it is safe to say he was not much older than 7 years old, which would mean he was in All For One’s clutch even before Tenko was born. In conclusion this would make young Kai not just a potential backup for Tomura Shigaraki, but rather a child intended for the position even before Tenko was part of the equation. This is my currently standing theory.

This of course all just speculation, but it certainly wouldn’t be beyond AFO to suggest to a child that quirks are a curse upon humanity in order to manipulate him, and it certainly wouldn’t come as a surprise that Kai had grown up in such a toxic environment previously to joining the Yakuza. Going back to narrative purpose, the experiences he would have had in that case would also certainly provide Deku a unique insight to help him understand how to help Tenko/Tomura and how to defeat AFO.

Considering all this I want to close by pointing out a small tidbit from the start of the Overhaul arc [ ch 125 ] that gets a rather different tone in this context. During their first meeting with Overhaul, Tomura tells the league of villains that All For One had in fact already talked to him about this particular Yakuza, as though he was giving a warning. It is a little strange considering how they also talk in length about how the Yakuza have fallen out of relevancy. Even Overhaul himself admits that he struggled to finance himself because of how little people took them seriously.

So why would All For One of all people pay attention to a “little Yakuza throwback”? That is unless he had a bit more of a personal history with Kai Chisaki.

#bnha spoilers #overhaul #kai chisaki #all for one #we back to speculating abt shit again boys #also legit found the previous post I was gonna make on this in my drafts like ooops i really did start it and forget it

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greenhappyseed · 1 year

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Watched the new MHA episode with my anime-only kiddos. Upon seeing the “I AM NOT HERE” sign on All Might’s statue, my youngest yelled, “Hey! Someone should take that down!” Sjaksksksjdhhr, I can’t wait until 326 is animated….

#bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #all might

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duckymcdoorknob · 2 years

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Have you seen the MHA chapter 326 leak?!?!? I'm crying omg watch me go on a rampage destroying towns if it turns out to be true

I HAVE BUT I DONT THINK ITLL HAPPEN

#written in the stars #ducky’s moonbeams 🤍#mha spoilers #my hero academia spoilers #bnha spoilers #mha manga spoilers

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animechristi · 1 year

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My Hero Academia: Loving our Enemies

1 Timothy 2:3-4 “This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.”

First, disclaimers:

As of January 2023, My Hero Academia is an incomplete work so I can’t comment on the series as a whole.

While I would recommend it if you like typical shounen stories, the series might scare off some readers because it isn’t super short.

And of course, there will be spoilers (for things mentioned up to chapter 326).

Second, a quick summary (if you’ve seen the series jump to 3):

My Hero Academia (MHA), takes place in a world where 80% of people have a genetic mutation called a “quirk”. Think of this as X-Men but not as secret. With such a high percentage of the population there’s everything from simple quirks, like super speed, all the way to complex quirks, like being able to steal or transplant the quirk of someone else.

It goes without saying then that “superheroes” have become a normal part of life simply because villains are a part of life. Within Japan, the superhero “All Might” is #1. He’s pretty much the perfect hero. He smiles, laughs, always saves everyone, and always defeats the bad guys. But there’s one problem: he’s dying. That’s where our quirkless main character Deku comes in. He’s a big fan of All Might, and after All Might witnesses Deku rush to protect someone despite being quirkless, he passes on his quirk to Deku. With his super strength no longer putting strain on his body, he can live a little longer and coach Deku in how to use his new power. Now that he has a quirk Deku can attend the esteemed U.A. Hero Academy and start down the path to becoming a professional hero.

What I like about MHA is that it’s not simply “here’s a villain doing bad stuff now stop him”. One of the recurring themes is how the hero system itself isn’t perfect. There are many people who become heroes because it pays well and the public likes you. Afterall, if there’s a real bad villain then someone like All Might will take care of him. Since the series pretty much begins with All Might losing his strength and passing on his power it quickly sets itself up for this peaceful bubble to be popped.

With All Might gone and retired, even with a surplus of professional heroes, the general public no longer feels safe…

Third, what’s this about?

I think a major turning point for MHA is season 5 (late 200’s in manga). The heroes’ organization has just pulled a massive operation against our “bad guys” and lots of things go wrong. Multiple cities end up demolished, many top heroes are killed or severely injured, and a scandal breaks that the new #1 hero “Endeavor” abused his family in his struggle to climb the ranks.

In the aftermath, we watch Deku’s classmates carryout search and rescue operations in a city that’s been destroyed. It’s here we get a scene of a hero just standing still while everyone is running around. He’s in shock that something this terrible could have happened and he mutters a line that sums up the underlying problem: “I need to find a new line of work.”

For this man “hero” was a profession, a career. It was something you were on and off the clock for, that you got paid for, that you could joke about and complain about with on people on the job just like any other job you might have. But being virtuous isn’t an exterior role for us; it’s an interior disposition which informs all our actions – whether we’re on or off the clock.

Unfortunately, this one example isn’t the minority. Over the course of the series, we’ve seen too many people that treat being a hero just like a regular job. Case in point, after this operation many heroes resign/retire and are viewed as quitters by the common folk who now take policing into their own hands.

Overwhelmed by the chaos, a hero stands paralyzed amidst cries for help.

So where does the series go from here?

We might think a typical answer to such a societal problem would be for the “good guys” to preach a “do good deeds even if they’re difficult and no one thanks you” attitude. In all fairness, My Hero Academia probably falls into this mentality a few times. But I do think the show sometimes goes beyond this by answering the question “why do we continue in the face of difficulty?” MHA doesn’t always make this question explicit, but what we see is that everyone is worth saving because everyone has inherent worth and dignity as a person.

Related to this is another theme that runs in the background of MHA: how do we treat villains? Do we capture and restrain them, or eliminate them? And who is the one to judge which course of action is taken?

Take for example the character Lady Nagant, a hero whose quirk allows her to be a deadly sniper. As a professional hero she was tasked by the Public Safety Commission to take care of loose ends and cover up the choices made by the Commission that they didn’t want the public to know about. She eventually snaps under the stress of living a double life to the public and kills her commanding officer in an attempt to get out of the system. She ends up going to prison only to be freed years later by our “big bad guys” who enlist her help in capturing our main character Deku.

Samaritans and Jews were sworn enemies, yet this man goes out of his way to save a man he had no connection to.

Painting by Eugène Delacroix

Are you going to make your point already?

Yes, I am. To do that I want to look closely at the fight between Deku and Lady Nagant. On one hand it’s very cliché but that also makes it easy to understand because we’re pitting two stereotypes against each other: the calloused veteran Lady Nagant who’s seen the dark side of hero work and wants to destroy the system vs. the young idealistic student Deku who wants to be a symbol of justice and peace just like All Might. Obviously Nagant can see her past self in Deku and that causes her to scorn him all the more.

Towards the end of their battle – when she is almost within Deku’s reach – she fires her rifle at an incapacitated villain nearby, thinking Deku will hesitate between choosing to save him or letting him get shot and this will give her enough time to escape. However, Deku doesn’t miss a beat. Not only does he not hesitate in choosing to protect this incapacitated villain, but because of this he’s able to pull him out of the bullet’s path, and wait there’s more! He then immediately jumps back to grab hold of Lady Nagant who in escaping lost her balance and was in a free fall. Even if she was just trying to kill him, Deku has a desire to save anyone he can.

Fourth, that’s great but isn’t this a Catholic blog?

It is, and here’s the point. Remember when Jesus says “love your enemies, and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return” (Lk 6:35). Deku is someone who does not hesitate to love his enemies. He saves people not because it’s his job, but because he wants to save as many as he can; and he’s not going to let anyone tell him he can’t. In comparison to those who are simply heroes for a job, Deku is the real deal. This is why when Lady Nagant witnesses his lack of hesitation to save not only a bystander but also herself, she has a conversion. She realizes that there are indeed people who aren’t just doing this for a job but who honestly want to help everyone they meet. Why is Deku’s behavior either so inspiring or so infuriating? Because, as our opening verse points out to us, the desire to save is a very Godlike desire.

But we can ask the question: is this realistic behavior? Is Deku simply an ideal but ultimately unrealistic character? Or is his behavior something we could actually do? And if so, what has to happen for someone to get to Deku’s point?

I think our way into answering this comes from Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’”. We obviously aren’t God, and we don’t ever become God, but we are made in His image, and we can become His sons. The result is that through Jesus Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit we can do Godlike things. This establishes two things that I alluded to earlier in section three:

Every human person has an inherently dignity or value being made in God’s image

As sons and daughters of God we learn to see as God sees, to rejoice in what God rejoices in, and to love as God loves.

If you haven’t read C.S. Lewis’ The Weight of Glory, take some time to read it over. Lewis has a great way of getting us to see the eternal value of our neighbors around us – and not just those we like but everyone!

Lady Nagant can’t help but be struck by Deku’s truly heroic actions

Fifth, God desires all men to be saved

WE ANSWERED THE QUESTION!

We see then that Deku’s attitude is not just a nice ideal in a story but a real disposition we can and have begun through Baptism into Christ Jesus. But I know from my own history that I’m not perfect, and that I fail to love my enemies as Jesus instructed us. So how do I change? If we’ve established the foundation, how do we reach the level of love of a “true hero”?

We can start with very simple actions. I myself like the example of St. Therese of Lisieux. Whenever one of the other sisters in the convent would get on her nerves, she would picture Jesus in their place. If someone was making a lot of noise in the church, she would offer it as a song to God. For myself – believe it or not – I run into a decent amount of people who don’t like anime. But I know they like a lot of things that I don’t really like and so I thank God that there’s someone who is able to appreciate His creation in a different way than myself.

But people who annoy us or who disagree with us aren’t necessarily our enemies. What about people that actually hate us? Keeping in mind the fact that God desires all men to be saved I think of 2 points.

First, while we still breathe, there is always time to repent. This is true for us and our persecutors. Lady Nagant had turned her back on the hero society, been imprisoned, and was hunting down Deku to help capsize what remained of the hero society, and yet she was able to have a conversion before dying precisely because Deku loved his enemy. This is also why, like Deku, we must not hesitate in our evangelizing efforts to all people. Because once we pass from this life, there is no more chance for conversion.

Second, for those actively persecuting us, what do we do? We don’t have quirks like the characters is MHA that allow us to “fight back”. But we do have something much more effective. Here again I’ll refer to St. Therese: “it is prayer, it is sacrifice which give me all my strength; these are the invincible weapons which Jesus has given me.”

Prayer is not magic, but it is effective. Prayer is not just words. It is action. And if it is authentic, it will be invincible in the end. Our Lord prayed in Gethsemane for the strength to endure the way of the cross that lay before Him. Think also of the first 300 years of Christianity and of all those being persecuting for following the way of Jesus who prayed for their persecutors. It wasn’t magic, it was prayer and it was effective.

If I can put forward a final, more recent, example I would use the pro-life movement within the United States. The overturning of Roe v. Wade can only be understood within the context of the ceaseless prayers, vigils, fasts, marches, rallies, etc. of pro-life supporters. These are our invincible weapons, and we do not use them only for earthly justice to be satisfied but because we desire all men to be saved, not just those who pray and march with us but for all the doctors and women and men who have promoted the contraception, abortion, and pornography industries. They too can have a conversion away from the culture of convenience and towards the full knowledge of the truth that we are made in God’s image.

Pro-Life supporters at the 2020 march for life

#catholicism #catholic anime #anime #anime analysis #animechristi #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #overthinking #loving your enemies

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collisiondiscourse · 3 years

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tiny old pointy-chinned weirdos

#codi.png #stainmight #mha stain #bnha stain #akaguro chizome #mha spoilers #bnha spoilers #mha 326 #bnha 326 #yagi toshinori #toshinori yagi #all might

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purple-mind-slave · 3 years

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BNHA 326 Spoilers

This is gonna be a funny and good chapter. It's just Stain giving All Might a pep talk?? And him being like "you made an impact on people that still effects them to this day" while holding onto All Mights face like raving lunatic

Love it

#bnha spoilers #bnha #mha spoilers #boku no hero academia spoilers #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #mha 326 #bnha 326 #toshinori yagi #hero killer stain #all might

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i-refuse-to-sleep-before-3-am · 3 years

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This is all I established from the leaks I'm sorry

#bnha 326 #all might literally saw this insane feral man thats tried to kill three of hus students before and hes like. im gonna have a convo with him #LIKE HELLO????? SIR??? ARE YOU BATSHIT INSANE TOO?$??@?@)#anyways i also saw that deku finally took a shower. im glad cuz dear god his hair wouldve started to fall off from all the greasiness #bnha #bnha manga leaks #bnha manga spoilers #kind of?? does this count??#mha 326 #boku no hero academia #toshinori yagi #stain

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dynyamight · 3 years

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SHE’S CLEANING UP ALL MIGHT’S STATUE, THAT’S RIGHT!

#star speaks #AN INTECTUAL I SEE #OMG THE FACT THAT SHE IS DOING THIS WITHOUT REALIZING ALL MIGHT IS WATCHING #MY HEART IS CRYING #I LUV WHEN HORI BRINGS SO MUCH LUV TO SIDE CHARACTERS #THEIR IMPACT !!!!!#I LUV YOU UNNAMED WOMAN #THANK YOU FOR YOUR HOPE #all might #bnha 326 #bnha manga spoilers #bnha spoilers #mha 326

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gloomymangos · 3 years

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Hori is seriously the king of parallels because COME ON LOOK AT THIS OMFG

#bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #midoriya izuku #all might #bnha 326 #mha 326 #bnha 326 spoilers #mha 326 spoilers #yagi toshinori #bnha toshinori #mha toshinori #young toshinori

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astersofthesky · 3 years

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Thank you Horikoshi for blessing us with this really pretty Bakudeku crumb 💚🧡

#bnha 326 #mha 326 #bakudeku #dekubaku #bkdk #dkbk #decchan #katsuizu #Look at Kacchan's little pout 😭#I missed seeing clean Izuku 😖#austere posts

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filipinoizukuu · 3 years

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hello mr simp do you have any thoughts on the leeks 👀

FIRST OF ALL. THEY CAME SO FUCKING EARLY??? BRO I WAS ASLEEP

SECOND OF ALL

holy SHIT YALL

Okay, it's no secret that I'm an All Might stan. I LOVE All Might. Very very much. Not just as a simp, but genuinely, I enjoy his character SO MUCH.

--And unlike what some people may think, I'm not totally blind to his flaws. I know he sucks as a mentor and that he's done way more harm to Deku than good. He's.... not perfect. in every sense of the word. The whole point of AM's character is that he is a DEEPLY FLAWED individual— but at the end of the day, still good.

This new chapter gave me SOOO many new feelings. I'm not gonna lie to y'all and say I was a Stain apologist beforehand because I wasn't. I disliked Stain to a certain degree, but I also knew he was morally grey enough that I was able to still quite appreciate him as a character. This chapter was about EVERYTHING to me because I honestly did NOT expect Hori to go in this direction and for things to happen the way they did. It was too good to be true! Too fanfic-y! The disbelief I felt when I read what happened was on par with when Bakugou and Deku had that apology and kinda-hug in the rain!

But this disbelief is not because it was a bad thing.

I think the writing in Chapter 326 is phenomenal. The moment that All Might was really beginning to lose hope in not just himself as a hero, but himself as a PERSON... we finally hear the opinion of someone who would abso-fucking-LUTELY make or break the last of his spirit.

Stain is, as much as his views are pretty agreeable and his label is that of a vigilante, still a pretty shitty guy. He's tried to kill literal kids who got in his way, even if said kids made pretty dumb decisions. AM hearing what he has to say is absolutely mind-boggling to him because he knows all of that. He knows Stain is a shitty person and that his worldview is perhaps terribly skewed. He knows Stain has spent a hot minute frying his brains down in Tartarus and isn't good at making judgment calls. Knows that for all intents and purposes, Stain's opinions are not to be trusted.

But the thing is... Toshinori also knows that Stain, regardless of the soundness of his mind, is telling the truth.

Regardless of how fucked-in-the-head Stain is, we as readers are able to acknowledge that he isn't blinded by hero worship. Sure, he's bitter, cynical, and quite the absolutist--but Stain is still clear-headed enough to be able to see AM's flaws for what they are and accept them, ultimately proving to Toshinori that the power of All Might was never his own but rather the legacy that he inspired.

The society MHA takes place in is flawed. We all know this. Heroes, as a concept, had been corrupted into being purely about good and evil. Purely winning fights for money or fame or the abstract concept of victory (coughs Endeavor and the no.1 spot coughs), making heroism as we know it about flashiness and power instead of mercy and the desire to help others.

All Might symbolizes the ideal version of the Hero Society. He represents doing the best you can. Being a hero until you reach your limits, and then going even past that. He symbolizes pure intention and the desire to be a hero not for material gains but because of the pure want to make society a better and safer place. Stain refers to Kamino Ward and the statue as a "holy land" because he believes that through and through, AM's only had the purest of intentions and morals. To him, Toshinori was like a deity that had no fault in making society what it was in the present because that accountability fell on the generations of heroes that failed to fulfill his legacy.

The point being, Stain understood that All Might was fundamentally not about 'being there' for everyone 24/7, but rather the message his presence had sent.

All Might's monologue at the beginning of the chapter essentially boiled down to the ideas that:

A. He regrets not being there properly for Deku

B. His image was a delusion that ultimately led to the downfall of hero society.

To break this down, his problem with Deku is his inability to be a competent mentor. It shows that he has led him down dangerous and horrible paths (Deku's stubbornness to do things by himself and his 'dark' arc post-war), and is unable to bring him back into the light even if he tries. It was only when Class 1-A had intervened that they were able to get Deku to rest and let people tag along, after all, which is why Toshinori was far too embarrassed to follow him into UA's walls even after everyone had come out with umbrellas.

Stain disproves this in two ways.

First, he says that it was never about All Might's ability to actually be there for people. The whole point of what inspired Deku to be the inherently good-hearted "true hero" he is today is because of the values that AM's brand had instilled in him as a child. AM's biggest positive impacts came from behind the screen where he was used as the proof that true heroes can and do exist. Deku does want to be exactly like All Might, yes, which is why we see Toshinori leading him down the same path that he walked--but the underlying message of this is that the very first thing All Might gave him even before OfA was the courage to help fix society.

I do believe Deku is an innately compassionate person. Most people in the series are. However, what makes All Might's smile so uniquely impactful to what it did to Hero Society is the way it gave people courage to help people. Less hesitation. Less bystander syndromes. The ability to move without thinking. Because you can feel the want to help a person, but the courage to be nosey and actually do it? That's portrayed as something AM's image teaches people.

The second way he disproves AM's insecurity of dragging Deku down is that he makes it clear that this pain is somewhat of a necessity in reforming society. He says, interestingly enough, that this is but the 'middle process' in reforming society. This spills over to how he addresses Problem B, but what Stain is essentially saying here is that this sort of brutality and isolation that Izuku faces is impermanent. A phase. It implies that even if Deku is struggling and Toshinori is unable to help him, it is something that needs to happen before they re-realize the ideal heroes All Might's image is meant to create.

The second problem in regards to how All Might feels about current society (how it's collapsing because of him, etc. etc.) is more interestingly addressed. There are many things that Stain says--like how Toshinori doesn't need to actually be the one to fix society with his bare hands. The current society is not his fault because of the fact that it is not finished developing. I'm not sure if I can go so far as to say that Stain means this in the sense of the Scorched Earth method of tearing everything down to build it back up better-- but I can say that Stain still has faith in society to rebuild after this period of chaos.

This rebuilding starts with the old generation of heroes correcting what they messed up (i.e. Endeavor v Dabi) and more importantly, paving the way for a better generation of heroes that was inspired by All Might's image. Heroes that are led by people like Deku, who is defined by his proclivity to help without thinking. The violent deconstruction of society is about exposing society to the raw truth of All Might's image that not everybody can be as strong as him-- which is why we have to take care of each other.

When the lady comes in to remove the sign and start cleaning the statue, it's symbolic. It's a clear metaphor that the past few chapters are the turning point for society as a whole, and how people are starting to remember what real heroism is. From the distrust that was seeded in society ever since LoV had surfaced, we are seeing that trust being returned TEN-FOLD now that people can see not only the mask of a hero's smile, but also the person underneath.

I think it's some really neat symbolism here too about how Deku, who's metal mouth guard was literally all about representing All Might's smile, is shed.

This is hero society dropping their masks. Letting people see them for as they are. Toshinori revisiting the statue in this form makes all the more impact because he shed his mask ages ago during the Kamino Bust, so this is him coming face to face with the image he's created and seeing the differences between them, and how his image continues to live on even after he's almost completely Quirkless. The lady cleaning the All Might statue shows off the fact that things can be repaired again--that society can be clean (hehe stain pun) again.

It's interesting to me here how Stain offers the information from Tartarus.

He doesn't care anymore about his life. It's evident. He disagrees with what the LoV is doing, but believes enough in Deku to think that it's time for him to retire the mantle of 'Stain'. Unless this is another test, it's very odd for me to hear that Stain is offering a blade and his life to someone he isn't even sure is All Might.

But the impact of this action reads loud and clear.

This is Stain taking pity on All Might. This is him realizing that All Might too is a person behind the hero. That Toshinori Yagi is incapable of doing anything past the image he had already created. By offering that knife and information on Tartarus, Stain is giving control back to Toshinori. He is giving AM the chance to do something big again to help society's reconstruction. To be a part of the revolution that he so badly deserves to see. That knife is essentially an exit ticket from the sidelines, and one last chance for All Might to be able to see what his image has done for people.

I personally think that the main reason Stain is willing to die then and there by Toshinori's hand, despite not being sure that he is All Might to begin with, is because of the final impact it creates that it isn't about Toshinori Yagi's true power as a person, but the image of All Might. It is because he looks like the symbol of peace, that Stain (the literal HERO KILLER) feels comfortable laying his life in his hands and giving away valuable information.

If that isn't a great testament to the power of AM's image, I don't know WHAT is.

I guess all I have to say is I absolutely love what Stain did in this chapter. Everything felt so incredibly symbolic and emotional and as someone who absolutely ADORES All Might and what he stands for in the story, this felt like a cool balm after seeing Deku tragically reject his bento box a good few chapters ago. I have a few more opinions about symbolism, and how I think Deku's generation of heroes is going to stray from the old gen, but I think that's a discussion for another time.

Thanks for reading 'til the end!

#asks #anon #bnha meta #mha meta #all might #toshinori yagi #yagi toshinori #stain #mha stain #mha #bnha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha spoilers #bnha spoilers #mha 326 #bnha 326

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