#nobody has multiple quirks except nomu and afo

[anime-and-manga-rants]

Why I Believe Deku Fails as a Character (Part 2 of 3)

SPOILERS FOR THE MHA MANGA (OFA reveal, last completed arc, Chapter 307) 

...

Not only were we robbed of a compelling character with a mental illness — which we so desperately need in the media — but we were also robbed of anything about Deku that could make him an interesting character in other ways. 

Now, a compelling character should have a quirk (not a Quirk) that separates them from the rest of the characters (because who likes when all the characters all act the same?) and makes them more relatable. Everybody’s got something about themselves that sets them apart from their friends and families. It could be a dialogue quirk — common examples would be someone who references movies constantly or never uses contractions — or just a habit they have that nobody else has. In Deku’s case, it’s his muttering and his hero analysis notebooks.

However, one of the first rules of good writing that a writer will be taught is the phrase “show don’t tell.” And it’s good advice, for the most part. (Some things are better left told, but that rant isn’t relevant to this one, so I’ll hold back on that.) 

For Deku, his mumbling is never really shown to us. Yes, it’s shown through the word “mutter” that appears on screen whenever he’s muttering, but that’s actually telling. We don’t ever get to decide for ourselves that Deku mutters a lot. No, the show decides for us, telling us to believe he mutters often and talks too much by the way it always accompanies his muttering with the word “mutter” surrounding him on screen or in the manga panel. He certainly does talk a lot, but it’s ruined by the fact that the anime/manga constantly needs to tell us that he talks a lot. 

The reason why showing rather than telling is so important is because the audience needs to be able to figure out aspects of the plot or characters on their own. If they’re simply told everything, they aren’t going to believe it. If the author tells you that Person A hates Person B, but A never shows any animosity towards B through their dialogue or actions, the audience won’t believe it.  (Think of the tip from Billy Wilder, which tells screenwriters to make the audience add up two plus two— don’t give them four. Give them two plus two, let them do the math themselves, and they’ll love you forever.) 

This is mostly a nitpick, yes. Still, it’s a blatant example of when showing (and not telling) is necessary. In this case, the telling ruins it, and by telling, it negates the unique aspect of Deku’s characterization that would’ve helped make him a more realistic — and therefore more relatable — character.  

Which brings me to another point: what about his hero analysis notebooks? 

I mean, hell, he’s got thirteen of those things. By now, he should be able to look at a villain’s Quirk and, in the matter of a minute or two, come up with a plan to take that villain down.  

Those notebooks could’ve made Deku such a unique character— with thirteen notebooks worth of analyzing already in his repertoire, he should be able to analyze Quirks like there’s no tomorrow. And people, too. Wouldn’t it have been so interesting to see Deku be able to just look at someone and know what they’re planning, thinking, or feeling? 

(As a questionably relevant side note, there are accounts of people who have experienced traumatic things such as abusive households who have told stories of how they can look at people and instantly know what they’re thinking. It’s a defense mechanism to prevent themselves from provoking someone, because they knew if they accidentally provoked their past abuser, they would face the consequences. See? It could all tie together.)   

And if that seems like it could make Deku overpowered, it really doesn’t have to. There isn’t a single overpowered power you can give to a character that will, without fail, make them overpowered. At least, not at first. We just need a character to earn their overpowered-ness, because we love a character who earns their strength over time. You just have to give the power drawbacks in whichever way makes sense and actually impacts the character. 

Deku with All For One’s Quirk, one of the most overpowered Quirks in the anime/manga to date? Using multiple Quirks at the same time makes him pass out from exhaustion. Using too many at once could give him permanent brain damage like what you see with the Nomu. Having a villainous Quirk like AFO makes his bullying even worse as a child, leading to permanent self-esteem issues that keep him from ever wanting to use his Quirk to begin with. (Last one courtesy of Shinsou’s backstory!) 

Deku with seven Quirks courtesy of One For All, the other most overpowered Quirk in the anime/manga? Same thing as the first two examples in the paragraph above. Or the burden of having to carry out the wills of the eight users that preceded him, all of whom have differing opinions on Deku’s best course of action for any given battle. The previous users never had to so readily accept him as their successor. Why not have them reject Deku for deeming him too soft to do what’s best, or any other reason? 

Deku with Overhaul’s Quirk? Uh-oh, looks like he accidentally killed a classmate the first time he used it, and now he’s forever afraid of it. But, uh-oh, if he wants to be a hero, he has to use it. Or what if the Quirk only works on organic matter, meaning it’ll only work on people or plants? That would kinda suck. 

See? No power is automatically overpowered unless you make it that way. 

Maybe Deku can analyze anything if given enough time, but he can’t exactly sneak off in the middle of a fight to come up with the best strategy. This could be quite reasonable, considering Deku would have been able to think long and hard before writing anything down in his hero notebooks. And all his training could culminate in the main climax of the series, where Deku creates and executes the perfect plan in a matter of seconds thanks to his analyzing skills. 

Or what about All For One, the big bad of the series? (You can argue it’s Shigaraki too, but in the recent chapters, it’s made obvious that AFO is actually controlling him. Therefore, AFO’s the guy Deku should ultimately be putting a stop to. He is essentially Deku’s fated enemy in terms of Quirk backstory, after all.) 

What if AFO turned out to be the one person Deku couldn’t analyze, couldn’t read at all, because his face is so disfigured that it’s impossible to tell what emotions he’s experiencing through facial expressions? What if AFO was such a masterful manipulator that Deku couldn’t read the tone of his voice because AFO purposefully kept it unchanging? 

The extreme fear that Deku could experience just by being unable to tell what AFO was thinking could make AFO into such an intimidating villain. He’d be the one villain that Deku just might not be able to best, and the audience would fear for him, like they’re supposed to do. 

And, at least for me, I haven’t been fearing much for Deku. As of Chapter 307, it looks like he’ll be fighting Muscular again. But where exactly are the stakes of this fight? Sure, it’s a good way of showing how far Deku has leveled up after the time skip, but we already know he’s going to win. I mean, he beat the guy in season 3. He better win, or what the hell, right? It would’ve been much more impactful to have him lose against Muscular the first time and come back again in Chapter 307 to kick his ass. 

It’s just... Deku always seems to win. His first major loss that comes to mind is his fight with Todoroki, but the loss only proved how good of a person Deku was. His second fight against Bakugou couldn’t even be considered training— Deku had nothing to lose. And what about Deku’s arms? Again, as of Chapter 307, it looks like he can still use them perfectly fine despite absolutely destroying them in his fight against Shiggy. What was it that doctor said? If he keeps abusing them the way he has, he’ll paralyze himself? Sure, he said two or three more times, but Deku was abusing the hell out of them again and again just to make Shiggy take any damage with his regeneration Quirk. Doesn’t seem like his arms are even slightly stiff at the moment. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.

I don’t know. It just seems like nothing goes wrong for Deku unless it doesn’t have any truly negative effect on him. His fight against Shigaraki is an exception, I suppose, but it was also the fault of every other hero who failed to stop Shigaraki from freeing AFO and the villains from all of those prisons. Whenever it’s just Deku, it seems like he never really loses when it would actually mean something if he did. 

This is another flaw of Deku’s characterization, but it ties into my second point about Deku’s analyzing skills, too. 

Creating a foil for Deku in AFO by making AFO unreadable would help give the conflict some oomph, if you know what I mean. Because, currently, AFO is really only Deku’s foil because of his Quirk and because he wants to take OFA. If Deku was portrayed as a master analyzer... 

Think about it— All For One, the master manipulator with AFO, up against Izuku Midoriya, the master analyzer with OFA.

This is the fancy-schmancy dichotomy that we could’ve gotten. The heightened tension that would’ve made Deku’s story so much more interesting to read/watch, that would’ve made me wait for each new chapter on the edge of my seat. 

But, once again, Deku’s potential to be an interesting character is wasted. 

Horikoshi could have made him interesting with his muttering if he hadn’t shoved it down the audience’s throat. 

And while he had set up for Deku to be a master strategist, he didn’t follow through, making Deku seem pretty stupid for having so much experience in analyzing and yet having so little to show for it. Because Horikoshi does try to show it, but only when it doesn’t matter, like when Deku analyzes the fights for the sports festival up in the stands. Why not have him do it when it matters, like when he fights against villains at the USJ or when he fights Shigaraki in the more recent chapters? 

Not to mention the fact that he missed a fantastic opportunity to make All For One more of a villain. (Because All For One is kind of a sucky villain at the moment, considering it just seems like he’s a villain because he wants to be. Sure, there’s a little snippet of why AFO does what he does, but it’s subpar at best.) 

Honestly, I just wish Horikoshi had done a better job with Deku like he did with Bakugou. But he didn’t, unfortunately, and that’s what makes Deku fall so flat. 

#bnha #boku no hero academia #mha #my hero academia #mha analysis #bnha analysis #deku #mha deku #bakugou katsuki #bnha shinsou #shinso #my hero manga

[purpleswans1]

Ghillie’s Villain!Izuku AU Outline

Since the only way this AU is going to see the light of day is as interconnected one-shots as I get angsty/villain prompts, I’m posting the major backstory elements now so readers can reference it. If I end up writing enough of these one-shots, I may rearrange and republish them as a coherent story, but until then here’s a basic starting point.

When Izuku is about 7 or 8, his father comes home and decides to do something about his son’s quirklessness (he’s not a real villain, just a rando with more pride than sense.) Hisashi ends up in a fight with Inko over this, and it eventually becomes so violent Hisashi sets the apartment on fire. Izuku makes sure his mom gets out, but his dad grabs him and runs from the burning building, saying that he’s heard about a “specialist” who could help them.

That “specialist” is All for One. At some point during the meeting, All fro One decides to kill Hisashi but sees something in Izuku and decides to keep him, raising him alongside Shigaraki (I’ve got ideas for a subplot where Izuku’s quirk is the ability to handle multiple quirks so All for One was thinking about using him to hoard extra quirks, but I wouldn’t get into it until WAY down in this AU, and could just as easily be dropped in favor of AFO being impressed by analytics and spirit)

AFO proceeds to groom Izuku to be a villain. At first Izuku keeps hoping that a hero (read “All Might”) would rescue him from the villian who killed his father, but AFO is quick to shatter Izuku’s faith by revealing the truth about One for All, specifically that it originally came for AFO. Izuku gets a little boost when All Might defeats AFO, but AFO makes it clear that he mortally wounded All Might and the hero can't be that powerful anymore.

During this time, Izuku and Shigaraki are basically being raised as brothers. However, they’re brothers that fluctuate between getting on each other’s nerves, flat-out hating each other, and very rare bonding moments. When they first meet, Shigaraki hates Izuku’s original faith in heroes and Izuku thinks Shigaraki is creepy, and this sets a bad precedent for their whole relationship. The fact that AFO is obviously showing favoritism to Shigaraki doesn’t help matters. Stll, you can’t spend half your life around one guy without forming some kind of bond with them, even if it’s a part of a vicious, abusive cycle.

Oh yeah, AFO is being very manipulative and emotionally abusive towards Izuku in his attempt to make the kid turn villain. Although Izuku quickly learns to hide his wish for heroes to save him, AFO is still trying to make Izuku hate hero society and only praises him when he helps villains. AFO is constantly saying that he’ll give Izuku a quirk of his own once he’s proven himself to deserve it and AFO decides what quirk would best suit him. Unfortunately, Izuku develops a kind of Stockholm syndrome and craves appreciation from AFO and Shigaraki.

Izuku does still subconsciously know that this is wrong, but in some psychological misdirection he turns all his negative feelings about AFO’s emotional abuse towards the other pearson who used to abuse him: Bakugo. Now that Izuku has distance he recognizes that his friendship with Bakugo was very unhealthy, and starts to turn all of his built-up hate towards him.

Izuku finds his calling in quirk analysis. At some point he overhears Kurogiri, Shigaraki, and AFO planning some criminal activity and provides suggestions on making the most use of the quirks available. AFO and Kurogiri are impressed, and bring Izuku into the criminal organization to plan operations. This leads to Izuku earning the villian name “Analyst.” He is still a little hesitant at this point though, not wanting any civilians to get hurt.

Around the time Izuku is 13-early 14, AFO brings a new kid into the organization. Uraraka’s dad had died in a construction accident that killed several employees, so her family gets stuck with a lot of debt. The accident was actually caused by a hero being careless (probably Mount Lady) but nobody wants to blame the hero so it gets swept under the rug. AFO offers to pay Uraraka’s family’s debt if she comes to work for him and gives up on hero school, and a desperate Uraraka has no choice but to accept. She’s barely in the organization for a day and decides she likes Izuku a lot better than Shigaraki.

When Izuku was supposed to start high school, he somehow finds out that Bakugo not only got into UA, but got the top spot in the entrance exam. The fact that his childhood bully got into the best hero school throws Izuku into a rage and he finally decides to help with Shigaraki’s passion project: killing All Might at UA. He develops a plan to maximize the quirks they have at their disposal and counter the teachers’ quirks, but asks Shigaraki to wait until after the sports festival so he can take the student’s quirks into account. When Shigaraki refuses, Izuku finally comes out his rage and realizes he doesn’t actually want to hurt any of the students, except maybe Bakugou. He plans with Uraraka to keep the kids from getting too hurt, using the excuse that their focus needs to be on defeating All Might.

USJ attack happens, Izuku fights Backugo who recognizes him, eventually the pros show up and they have to retreat, but Shigaraki blames Izuku for the failure.

Izuku goes in disguise to see the sports festival for research. Izuku witnesses Todoroki fighting with Endevor, and the two have a heart-to-heart about hate. They exchange numbers because Todoroki likes talking to him and Izuku thinks he can turn Todoroki to his side. Todoroki ends up using his fire to upstage Bakugou, and eventually realizes where he’d seen Izuku before.

When Stain shows up at the bar, Izuku and Shigaraki are still fighting. The fact that Shigaraki doesn’t like Stain but Izuku agrees with his ideals doesn't help. Izuku and Stain hit it off, and although Stain basically said he wouldn't work with Shigaraki he does say he's interested in Izuku.

Shigaraki throws a temper tantrum and decides to attack Hosu, but Izuku goes in secret to talk to sSain, looking for "advice" but really just trying to find an ally that will take him away from AFO. He catches up just before Stain kills Iida. The 3 have a discussion about Heroes, Izuku reveals that he completely lost his faith in the system when Bakugo was accepted to UA. Eventually, Shigaraki sees Izuku talking to Stain and tells a nomu to pick him up. It's when the pros chase after the Nomu that they capture Stain. Later, Izuku receives a flashdrive in the mail containing Stain's manifesto, including directions to upload it.

When Stain's followers start flocking to the League of Villains, most of them connect with Izuku. There quickly becomes a clear divide between those that follow Shigaraki because VILLAINY, and those who follow Izuku. There's some tension between the two groups, but Izuku and Kurogiri mostly keep the peace.

This all comes to a head when Shigaraki announces his intention to recruit Bakugo. Izuku is livid and refuses to help plan the operation in any way. Eventually he threatens to leave. AFO gives Izuku his usual admonishment and reminder of the possibility of getting a quirk. Izuku finally realizes that AFO is never going to give him a quirk, and as long as he's in the LOVs he'll always be in Shigaraki's shadow, and he decides to actually leave. To his surprise, his half of the LOVs comes with him and they form "The Quirk Revolutionaries."

This is when things really get going.

#mha villain au #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #myfanfic #myfic #there's way more in my google docs #but this is for reference if I write something for this AU