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makeste · 1 year

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BnHA Chapter 341: The Pale Princess of a Palace Cracked

Previously on BnHA: All Might was all, “time to take up literally half of this chapter by calling a strategy meeting but then never getting to the actual strategy because we have to keep the readers in suspense!” Aizawa was all, “listen up Aoyama, I know you’re really scared about having to face AFO again, and possibly dying, and also potentially letting down your classmates again, and just basically having all of the odds overwhelmingly stacked against you no matter what you do now. But I just wanted to let you know it’s all going to be okay because we’ve got your back and I will personally guarantee your safety, somehow,” only he said it so convincingly that everyone actually did buy in because his words were just that sincere and powerful! The chapter ended with Shinsou being all, “SURPRISE, IT’S SHINSOU TIME!” at long last, and oh dang.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all, “JUST KIDDING, IT IS NOT SHINSOU TIME AT ALL, IT IS IN FACT TOGA TIME,” and okay then. Toga visits her abandoned childhood home and is all “ah yes, this sure does remind me of those carefree days I spent dreaming about being eaten alive by birds.” Dabi is all, “hey Toga, I’m just gonna go ahead and set your depressing house on fire now. Also, don’t forget that you’ve got some of Twice’s blood and can use his quirk! Just thought I’d remind you about that, apropos of nothing.” Meanwhile in AFO’s creepy pirate cave lair, AFO is all, “wow, Tomura sure is recovering well, just look at how many tentacle fingers he can spawn from his left hand now!” Skeptic is all, “btw Spinner I need you to become the new face of the PLF so that we can pretend to have some sort of moral high ground while we proceed to destroy the world.” The chapter ends with a bunch of villains just kind of randomly gathering in some apocalyptic city ruins somewhere, including everyone’s favorite inaugural chapter villain, Slimeothy McBlob.

(1. as always, all comments not marked with “ETA” are my unspoiled reactions from my first blind readthrough of the chapter.

2. as of today, I am very much NOT caught up with the manga, but will keep you posted on my progress (currently only up to this chapter, 341, but ONE OF THESE DAYS MY ROR (rate of reading) WILL FINALLY GET AHEAD OF MY ROP (rate of posting), SOMEDAY, POSSIBLY, MAYBE).

3. as explained here, I HAVE been spoiled for one Major Thing happening later on in the series. however, there are no references to said Thing in this particular post, other than a countdown image posted at the very bottom. I’ve taken the liberty of marking that with a spoiler warning, and placing it a few inches down and away from the rest of the recap, meaning this post should effectively be spoiler-free.

anyway, on we go!)

oh my goodness

this seems like a lot of blood even by Toga’s standards. should I be worried

and Horikoshi is really starting to get cute with all these chapter titles lately huh. part minus one???? so wait, what does that even mean? are we going to have some sort of flashback dating back prior to chapter 338? or is this implying that this chapter will be kind of a one-step-forward-two-steps back sort of thing in terms of their hero journey? lol what the hell

(ETA: based on the actual content of this chapter, I’m guessing that the negative/minus is Horikoshi’s way of denoting the villain chapter(s), similar to MVA vs MHA.)

oh damn

soo, I’m guessing this is Toga’s old house from back in her pre-villain days? and that this graffiti is related to that whole “innocently murdering her middle school crush” incident

wow, these people were absolutely charming

gonna go out on a limb and guess that her parents don’t live here anymore

but, surprise surprise, guess who’s visiting now

okay, I was prepared for more Aoyama feels. I was prepared for Shinsou feels. I was prepared to finally learn the details of the heroes’ grand and exciting and outrageously risky villain battling plan. but I gotta tell you guys, I was not at ALL prepared to have Toga feels, out of all the possibilities, just straight up out of the blue like this

actually come to think of it, didn’t Horikoshi mention her in his 2021 year-end interview? damn it, now I have to go back and find that thing lol

okay yeah. here’s the link to @hanashimas’ translation. so let’s see. blah blah, “if things go smoothly...” lol well I’m pretty sure the series isn’t actually wrapping up just yet, so yeah. looking forward to that 2023 Jump Festa message my guy

okay here we go. “regarding Ochako and Toga, I have a scene that I’m itching to draw. Frankly speaking, Toga is a character that was created specifically for Ochako. And I’ve developed Ochako to match Toga.” huh. this sounds a whole lot gayer than I remembered lol

and unrelated, but nonetheless also interesting, he also mentions Tomura and Deku and gets really philosophical about the two of them. “He’s the greatest obstacle in Deku’s goal of ‘saving’.” and then this one part that really has me intrigued, “Saving and Destroying are both born out of ego. Whose ego will win in the end? Is it even a matter of winning or losing?” just, huh. what an interesting thing to say

anyways! back to Sad Toga!

you are really bumming me out right now Sad Toga

that close up of the door frame with Baby Toga’s height measurements all crossed out is fucking brutal. who did that, I wonder. was it the vandals? or was it actually her own parents? I don’t know if I can take this right now you guys

“no one will ever accept you, the way you are” dammit dammit dammit

well, granted we’re only like 4 pages in, but thus far I’m just as conflicted over the whole Toga Redemption(??) Saga as ever, lol. on the one hand she was and is just a kid, and she never really meant to hurt anyone, and definitely didn’t seem to fully comprehend what she was doing. but on the other hand, there’s an obvious clear-cut difference between “giving kids the freedom to be themselves and express themselves”, and “giving kids the freedom to straight up murder other kids if that’s their preferred method of self-expression.” so yeah! this imo is arguably the most morally complex out of all the LoV origin stories, and I really appreciate it for that

man oh man

when you get right down to it Toga really just has a REAL fucked up quirk. is that taking the easy way out lol. well whatever, I don’t even care, Toga’s quirk is the real final villain you read it here first

OH MY GOD

“every night I dream about this cute little birdie dancing on my tummy and then eviscerating me <3 <3 <3 it’s just the cutest little thing”

OKAY BUT FOR REAL TOGA, YOU AND I REALLY DO NOT SEE EYE TO EYE IN TERMS OF OUR HAPPY PLACE

mm. yes. so pleasant. so sweet :’)

what an absolutely delightful and profoundly unsettling journey we’re all having here today

LMAO WHAT

SO THIS BITCH CAME ALONG FOR THE NOSTALGIA TOUR TOO HUH. lol okay then. don’t tell me we’re off to visit Todoriko Village next

dammit Dabi I can never tell if you actually give a fuck, or if you just like being a dick to people all the time

but seeing as you’re a character in a shounen manga who seems destined for a redemption arc WHETHER YOU DAMN WELL LIKE IT OR NOT!, I’m gonna go ahead and stick with the former. look at you, out here keeping an eye on Toga as she confronts the looming shadows of her past. and pretending be all aloof about it. classic big brother move. wonder if she reminds you of Fuyu

what an interesting response!

“you sure you’re ready for the grand finale where we destroy the world and everything in it?” “not like I can do anything about it now either way.” sooooo. can’t help but notice the part where that is by no means a “yes.” having some second thoughts about your chosen path there, Toga?

meanwhile this guy is launching into yet another of his patented monologues

man, y’all are way too damn nihilistic for me. absolutely no one in the League of Villains is actually happy are they. or even has any hope of ever being happy. they all just want to burn the world down and presumably go out with a bang right along with it. it’s going to be so damn satisfying when Ochako and Deku and Shouto and the rest finally hit them with those long-overdue inspiring shounen beatdowns and remind them that THERE’S STILL SOME GOOD IN THIS WORLD, MR. FRODO, AND IT’S WORTH FIGHTING FOR

wow, Dabi

still as dramatic as ever, I see

awww. she says he’s going to get them both caught, but that she’s grateful to him all the same

and she called him Touya! my heart! better watch yourself before she starts coming for your blood, Dabi

OH MY GOD DABI

“[LEAPS OF A WINDOW!!] WHATEVER, TOGA!! [DOES A FLIP IN MID AIR] I ONLY DID IT TO SPITE ENDEAVOR SO THERE!!” because if there’s anything Endeavor hates, it’s having empty abandoned buildings burn down miles away from where any living people actually are. good job Dabi. fucking gottem

?? what’s this now?

some freshly acquired blood? but whose?

ohhhhhhh hh shit. oh, SHIT

exactly how much damage could this potentially do. shit

okay I just looked it up and apparently the ratio is 1 cup of blood = 18 hours of transformation. which. is actually so much worse than I remembered sob

however this is a fairly small-looking test tube though! so assuming that this can hold maybe 5 ml of blood, which seems reasonable, that means she has enough of Twice’s blood to stay transformed for... twenty minutes or so? wait, really? is that all? am I just really bad at math?? lmao well I take it back then, that actually doesn’t sound too bad at all. surely the heroes can fend off an army of Twices for just twenty minutes or so. right. ...right?

oh dang now we’re cutting to... Spinner? AND AFO???

what the hell

lol wtf is happening. he was just sitting there, and then suddenly AFO was all WOOSH, and then Spinner looked over, and then he started wandering down some dark tunnel calling for Tomura??

WHAT THE FUCK

HAVE WE ACCIDENTALLY CROSSED OVER INTO THE THIRD ACT OF FMA OVER HERE OR WHAT

OKAY SO NOW THE CREEPY CAVE TENTACLES ARE SUDDENLY RECEDING, AND IN THEIR PLACE TOMURA IS LYING THERE??

ARE YOU DOING ALL RIGHT LITTLE BUDDY?? YOU’RE NOT LOOKING TOO HOT RN MY DUDE?

LSDJKAFLKASJLGKJ okay now that I’ve forced myself to scroll back up to look at the “tentacles” again a little more closely, an action which I highly, highly regret, I can see that they are actually just... fingers. literally just a bunch of fingers. endlessly spawning tentacle fingers with joints and fingerprints and fingernails and okay you know what, where the hell did Dabi run off to, I’ve got a panel here that needs to be incinerated ASAP

(ETA: so now that I’ve looked at this page yet again, which I regret EVEN MORE, it appears that this is Tomura’s left hand trying to regenerate itself or something. anyway so that I’ll just leave it at that and will ask no further questions and will basically just do my best to NEVER EVER THINK ABOUT THIS PANEL OR THIS ENTIRE PAGE EVER AGAIN.)

NOW AFO IS HERE AGAIN OUT OF NOWHERE TO BE ALL CREEPY AT SPINNER!!

WORRIED, YOU SAY??? WHY ON EARTH WOULD I BE WORRIED???? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WORRISOME ABOUT ANY OF THIS, NO SIR. that’s it, Spinner. just play it cool. then wait until AFO has his back turned and grab Tomura and make a run for it

so AFO says Tomura is “conquering” the quirk doomsday theory, which. ????????????? ?????

(ETA: so I’ve had a day or so to mull this over a little more now, but tbh I still don’t really understand what he’s trying to say here. in the RHA translation, AFO says that Tomura is “gradually overcoming the quirk singularity”, so my best guess is that it’s a needlessly complicated way of saying that he’s gradually gaining more control over his quirks? since the quirk singularity nonsense is basically just a sciencey way of saying, “heads up, eventually quirks are just gonna get SO FUCKING WILD that no one will even be able to control them, so then we’ll all just die I guess!”

but that still doesn’t make much sense to me, and also I really have very little clue about what’s been going on with TomurAFO in general ever since his fight with S&S, so! just gonna have to keep reading I suppose.)

“he’s still Shigaraki?” oh Spinner. my sweet loyal Spinner. if you have to ask, I think that deep down you already suspect the answer

why wouldn’t he be? :) you don’t think AFO would lie to you about that, do you, Spinner? don’t you trust him?? he’s such a notoriously nice and trustworthy guy!!

(ETA: I mean he obviously is, don’t get me wrong. but it seems pretty clear that things are all going according to Vestige!AFO’s plan for now, and that the “Tomura” currently running things in the ol’ TomurAFO body isn’t the same Tomura that Spinner once knew. at least not right now.)

so now Skeptic, who STILL EXISTS FOR SOME REASON IN SPITE OF MY BEST EFFORTS TO FORGET THAT HE DOES, is launching into some boring speech about villains with mutant quirks? and saying that a bunch of them hold grudges against heroes because of all the historical prejudice and stuff

oh snap lol

YOU’RE FAMOUS NOW, SPINNER!

oh my god they’re trying to recruit him to be the League’s new public face or something. bitch you’re just trying to distract him because he’s onto you and he’s like the one member of the LoV who would actually be able to reach out to Tomura and snatch him back from AFO’s grasp with The Power of Friendship!!

seriously though! Tomura finally makes ONE real, true, honest-to-god friend, and IMMEDIATELY AFO is all “welp, time to send this kid far, FAR away from here right now” ffff goddammit. don’t go along with it Spinner!!

(ETA: forgot to comment on it at the time because I was too busy trying and failing to make telepathic contact with Spinner, but what the hell is up with this flash drive thingy that Skeptic is handing over to him? don’t tell me it’s ANOTHER Dabi tell-all HBO miniseries. how many of these are they gonna churn out.)

NOOOO SPINNER

DAMN IT AFO. he was definitely wavering until he heard that, and then he immediately got all resigned

AND THAT’S THE END OMG

WHAT A DARK, DEPRESSING, AND FOREBODING CHAPTER IN WHICH ABSOLUTELY NOTHING GOOD OR POSITIVE HAPPENED FOR ANYONE, AND EVERYTHING JUST KEEPS GETTING EXPONENTIALLY WORSE SOB

and is that the OG sludge villain chilling out there in the bottom right?!? BACK FOR MORE, EH. well I seem to recall you got your ass kicked by a fucking backpack all the way back in CHAPTER ONE so it’s pretty fucking bold of you to show your face in these parts again after all this time! but more power to you I guess

so there we have it! not the most exciting of chapters, but I really like that about it, actually. like for once, we got a chapter that actually slowed down the pace and took time to breathe, and that was actually really refreshing. granted, I might not have felt the same way if I’d spent a whole week waiting for this, and then had to resign myself to waiting ANOTHER whole week to finally see what Shinsou & Pals are up to, lol

BUT SINCE I’M FROM THE FUTURE where I have the freedom to continue reading AS MUCH AS I WANT in order to get as much of that SWEET IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION as I desire, I feel like I can appreciate this more than I might have otherwise! and in all seriousness, I think the pacing of this chapter bodes very well for the future. the last two arcs in particular had a LOT of plot developments that felt more than a little rushed. things like Nagant’s whole storyline, S&S and her history with All Might, and so forth. there were a lot of times when it was just like, “[SUDDEN PLOT TWIST OUT OF NOWHERE!]”, immediately followed by “[HASTY EXPOSITION-HEAVY FLASHBACK BELATEDLY EXPLAINING THE PLOT TWIST].”

and it’s not like most of the twists were actually bad, but you know what would have made all the difference? is if we’d had a couple of earlier chapters introducing us to Star, or establishing Nagant and her history with the HPSC. that would have served to get us invested in these characters beforehand, the same way that I’m now more invested in Toga’s story after spending a few pages with her revisiting her childhood home and confronting those old memories. that kind of thing really goes a long way, and it’s something Horikoshi used to do a lot more often (remember Twice’s introduction way back in the day?). so yeah, I was really happy to see him getting back to that kind of writing here, and hopefully that bodes well for the writing as we move into the final arc

anyway so yeah! AND WITH THAT SAID, I GUESS THIS MEANS IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN, by which I mean “time to post our updated ‘COUNTDOWN TO SPOILER THING’ meme”! so here is your friendly warning that ***if you are not fully caught up with the BnHA manga, please stop reading here!***

you may have noticed that we appear to be counting in the wrong direction from the previous chapter! that is because, after a bit of discussion and some confused pondering and consideration, I have decided to go with 362 as the revised Chapter Of Destiny! so yeah. THE RECKONING STILL APPROACHETH, but it hopefully doth approach slightly more accurately than before lol. BUT IF NOT THEN OH WELL

#bnha 341 #himiko toga #todoroki touya #dabi #spinner (bnha)#all for one #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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