#theres so much subtext in this that I'm not explaining | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pikahlua · 3 years

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there's something i can't put my finger on about the scene where kid katsuki finds out that izuku doesnt have a quirk (i believe its a flashback when they fight all might) and it bothers me every time i think about it. its like the point where he really starts believing his own hype and breaking away from thinking anyone else is on his level. i think specifically because izuku isn't on that level anymore? someone he actually thought could rival him as a kid? maybe? the dialogue is pretty in your face but i always feel like theres a subtext im not grasping. of course theres a BUNCH of other emotions on top of it because kacchans havin a little freak out but that whole ep in particular does make me wonder how much katsuki actually acknowledged izuku before their quirks were a thing

Assuming I'm understanding correctly, you’re looking at the flashback from Deku vs Kacchan (S01E07).

And you’re not wrong: Katsuki singles Izuku out even before his Explosion quirk develops.

((Side note: The two characters I relate to the most in the entire series are Izuku and Katsuki as four-year-olds. It’s almost unnerving to me, actually. I had so many similar childhood experiences (well, I imagine many people did, there’s so much that’s universal in that bit of the story), and honestly this is the first dynamic that got me invested in the story.))

My opinions about this flashback have changed over time, even undergoing a drastic change...just now while watching it again, lol.

You see, for reference, I am of the opinion that Katsuki has a unique, meaningful perspective about the world, and he knows it. I’m not talking about his obsession with power or victory, nor am I talking about his arrogance or superiority and inferiority complexes.

I think Katsuki has opinions about the world, recognizes they are different from those of most people, and realizes that society’s views are very often superficial and meaningless in comparison. And I’m not just talking about his treatment of Ochako and rejection of first place at the sports festival.

I see it as early as episode 1 when everyone except Katsuki laughs at Izuku for wanting to apply to the UA hero course even though he’s quirkless.

I see it in episode 2 when Katsuki ignores the praise from pro heroes to focus on Izuku, whom the pro heroes are simultaneously scolding.

Katsuki has always seen something in Izuku that the rest of the world misses. He takes Izuku very seriously, even when society around him tells him that he shouldn’t. Katsuki doesn’t seem to always know what to think or how to feel about it, but he can’t stop noticing whatever this thing is about Izuku that demands his attention.

It’s his heart, in case you don’t know. Katsuki is in awe of Izuku’s heart, whether or not he realizes it.

Anyways, let’s take a look at their childhood.

For a long time, whenever I watched these flashbacks, it seemed to me that Katsuki compares himself to Izuku constantly. He only does this with Izuku, not with any of their other friends. I couldn’t think of why he singles out Izuku like this other than how maybe he subconsciously picks up on how special Izuku is, even before Izuku turns out to be quirkless. In other words, Katsuki sees Izuku’s heroic heart from the get-go.

But now I don’t think that anymore.

We get three moments from their childhood before Katsuki’s quirk manifests.

Soccer scene:

Katsuki impresses Izuku with his soccer juggling

Katsuki claims juggling is easy

Izuku fails when he tries to juggle

Katsuki wonders at how badly Izuku does

Nickname scene:

Katsuki impresses Izuku and the neighborhood kids with his reading skills

Katsuki comments on how none of the others can even read kanji

Katsuki explains that “Deku” means a person who can’t do anything

Izuku is embarrassed

Katsuki wonders why Izuku doesn’t know how to read as well

Skipping rocks scene:

Katsuki impresses Izuku and the neighborhood kids with his rock-skipping skills

Katsuki wants to know how many times Izuku’s rock skipped

Izuku is embarrassed his rock didn’t skip at all

Katsuki wonders why Izuku can’t skip rocks

What strikes me about each of these scenes is Katsuki’s earnestness. Sure, he comes across as cocky and a bit of a show-off, but at the same time, he’s not setting Izuku up for failure. He doesn’t understand why Izuku just can’t get it when whatever they’re doing comes so easily to Katsuki himself. It doesn’t make sense to him.

In other words, Katsuki thinks of Izuku as his equal.

But here’s the thing: For each of those ending moments I bolded, Katsuki sounds genuinely confused. In the soccer scene, he laughs with disbelief, like, “Oh wow, you actually can’t do this, can you?” In the nickname scene, he thinks he’s showing off that he knows multiple readings of Izuku’s name, but it turns out no one else can read Izuku’s name at all. Yet his “You can’t?” line to the neighborhood kids does sound condescending, while his “Why don’t you know?” thought, directed at Izuku, is soft and sincere, like, “Huh, why don’t you know your own name?” He sounds just as confused in the rock-skipping scene except maybe also a little exasperated, like, “I don’t get it. Why can’t you do it?”

And here’s the other thing: Katsuki always goes first.

He’s not at all invested in the other kids. Katsuki is showing off to Izuku. He demonstrates soccer juggling for Izuku. He reads the kanji in Izuku’s name for Izuku. He skips the rocks on the water with Izuku as if it’s the first time both of them have ever tried.

It’s like Katsuki is trying to teach Izuku, and each time Izuku fails to get it, Katsuki also fails as a teacher.

It’s not Katsuki’s fault that Izuku doesn’t get it, of course. Children don’t exactly have degrees in pedagogy. Katsuki would have to understand how Izuku’s mind works, how he learns, to properly teach him. And Katsuki hasn’t developed that level of empathy yet. It’s not exactly a subject in school that he gets graded on either, so he doesn’t even know it’s a skill he’s lacking.

So instead of coming to the conclusion that Katsuki is bad at teaching Izuku, he reevaluates his previous assumption: perhaps they aren’t equals after all.

He comes to this conclusion when his quirk manifests:

And it’s not surprising he’d come to this conclusion in this way. He now sees a clear biological difference between him and everyone else that explains why he’s so good at everything.

And if Katsuki’s amazing, then it’s not his fault Izuku is so bad at everything. Everyone’s just not as good as he is. That means, even if Izuku gets the strongest quirk in the world, Katsuki can still be stronger.

But then, Katsuki’s new worldview gets worse. It gets compounded by Izuku’s quirklessness:

Now there’s a clear biological difference between Izuku and everyone else, and from Katsuki’s perspective that difference is in the opposite direction. Katsuki is good at everything, so when he gets a good quirk, he concludes he’s better than everyone. His quirk’s manifestation just makes that “fact” clear. Izuku is bad at everything, so when he gets no quirk, Katsuki comes to think Izuku is worse than everyone.

It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg paradox, since he has to be told his quirk was amazing by his teachers and hear from his peers that it’s lame to be quirkless before he makes these connections. Would he have thought quirklessness was actually that bad had it not been introduced to his life via Izuku? I actually do wonder about that, because these things all seem very precariously tied together in his head. But ultimately, I don’t think Katsuki’s problems with Izuku stem from Izuku’s quirklessness; I think the quirklessness filled in the missing piece in Katsuki’s poorly-constructed house of cards.

And then it all comes tumbling down.

You know, I think we all just kind of assumed for the longest time that this scene is about Katsuki realizing Izuku has a caring heart, something a hero needs, something that Katsuki lacks, and that makes him self-conscious. But, when I think about it...

Izuku’s kind of overreacting, isn’t he?

Katsuki isn’t hurt. He smiles and laughs after the fall. He’s barely even embarrassed about it (a far cry from how he might have reacted at an older age). Maybe Izuku is justified in coming down into the ravine to offer a friendly hand, but this is a bit of a dramatic reaction:

He asks if Katsuki is okay, if he can stand, after Katsuki has already told everyone he’s okay. Katsuki’s reaction is to frown like, uh, yeah dude, I already said I’m okay. Then Izuku says:

And that’s probably the most appropriate thing Izuku says about the situation.

Unfortunately, it gives Katsuki context for the strange expression on Izuku’s face.

So there are two things happening here.

1. Izuku is frowning. He looks worried. It’s early in the story so we haven’t had much commentary on this from the narrative yet, but that’s bad. That’s poor form. When you rescue a victim, you have to smile, look strong, give reassurance. Izuku’s not that great at rescue...or that’s what I would have said if he wasn’t four-years-old. And maybe Katsuki even recognizes that. Maybe Katsuki looks at Izuku’s rescue attempt and thinks, meh, 3/10.

2. It’s still better than anything Katsuki’s done in the rescue department.

When Izuku fell over while they were playing soccer, Katsuki didn’t offer to help him up. He’s only ever teased Izuku, postured around him, competed with him. And that means Katsuki has never demonstrated an example of rescue to Izuku ever. And yet rescuing people seems to come naturally to Izuku.

Meaning Katsuki was wrong: there’s something Izuku actually can do.

Oh, and it gets even worse! Katsuki never demonstrated a rescue to Izuku, but he did try to teach him! He tried to teach him a lot of things! And Izuku never caught on. You could construe those “lessons” as very meager rescue attempts.

So Izuku is a lot better than Katsuki at rescue, even though Izuku kinda sucks at it. And Katsuki recognizes that.

We don’t know what happens after this point.

Have you ever thought about that? We don’t know what happens next! Did Katsuki take Izuku’s hand? Did he shout at Izuku, try to correct him? Did he blow Izuku off and get up by himself? That seems most likely but... What actually happened? We just don’t know!

So then Katsuki goes through life with Izuku chasing him around as that one oddity that doesn’t fit into his mental picture of life. Katsuki doesn’t want it. He doesn’t want to think about it. He doesn’t want to figure out what that means. What the hell is Izuku, and why does he complicate things so much? If Katsuki were to examine it closely, the truth could upend his entire worldview. And that’s terrifying.

So Katsuki fears Izuku’s heart and tries to push him away, because an examination of those questions would lead to facing his weaknesses, those deficiencies he has to correct in order to become a true hero. That’s also terrifying, that he may be bad at something.

It’d be easier if he could just somehow prove once and for all that he’s better than Izuku so he can move on and be done with it. No one else feels like they have to prove themselves against Izuku, not in middle school anyways, but Katsuki says he was actually looking forward to crushing Izuku in the UA entrance exam were they able to compete on the same field. Katsuki is dying for some sort of competition to prove he doesn’t need to think about how Izuku seems to challenge his understanding of the world. Then he can move on and leave Izuku behind forever.

So why would it be absolutely world-shattering if Izuku actually had a quirk the whole time?

If Izuku actually did have a strong quirk, this would explain everything and reaffirm Katsuki’s worldview. Well, except it would prove that Izuku is better than him after all. Izuku’s strength in rescue isn’t a fluke. Katsuki is just a bad teacher.

Katsuki doesn’t understand that he was ever a bully at all. He thinks he’s in a competition of equals. He thinks Izuku gets it, that Izuku sees the world the same way Katsuki does. So he can keep up their vicious competition for a long time.

Until he figures out the secret of One For All and Izuku’s relationship with All Might. Until he realizes Izuku really was quirkless all along.

Only then does Katsuki finally face the truth. He and Izuku never understood each other even a little bit. They both saw something amazing in each other, something they each lacked that the other had. They weren’t equals, they were peers, each with something to teach the other. And neither of them ever succeeded at getting the lesson across.

Not before Deku vs Kacchan 2, anyway.

Once they come to their understanding after that fight, Katsuki starts actively inspiring Izuku, encouraging him, training him, teaching him. And if you’re a manga reader, if you’ve read chapter 284, you know exactly why.

#my hero academia #katsuki bakugou #izuku midoriya #deku vs kacchan #bakudeku #not shippy but like this is important to their relationship #oops long post #meta #babies #precious sons #i just kept going #i had a lot to say #hfajfhlasgdfjkadhsjkg #ask pika #anon ask

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ofcowardiceandkings · 3 years

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I've seen you reference story implications in the sequel to BOTW a few times but I can't find an explanation and I'm still not sure what you mean 😖

not to worry being a vague mess is one of my fortés lol

im gonna get mad english-class serious a second because i need it to explain my shit hold on to yer horses lads this is gonna get long and over the top im SO SORRY in advance ..........

what i generally mean is if we take every interaction in BotW as if it had actually happened, not in the details minutiae sense like if you felt like Link would be nice to Bozai or want to spin kick him in the head way, but if Nintendo included an interaction or lore then it happened at some point or was learned way (the correct answer is spin kick though), then Link would know a LOT of very personal thoughts and feelings from a LOT of people.

to be fair, most of said people have passed away by this point in the story BUT more to the point Zelda is still very much alive and is also in some kind of tenuous contact with Link throughout the course of the game via Spooky Voice On The Winds just for good measure

regardless of what opinion you come away with of Link's own emotions - original Japanese text adventure log and player point-of-contact poker-face not withstanding - it is 100% canonical that Zelda had a thing for Link before the Calamity after they got to actually interacting and understanding each other. even if you wanna side-eye the construction of the story told by "Captured Memories" to be at LEAST a little romantically orientated (which in my opinion is a dubious stance to take given how typical storytelling structure works), what Kass has to say about the whole thing is explicitly textual, if only through secondhand information (although i will say a court poet seems like a sound bet in terms of reading people and especially if the person youre reading is a teenager with no concept of not wearing her heart on her sleeve and Small Emotions). trying to ignore ALL of that and - to be honest - what the latest batch of writing team has been doing since Skyward Sword isnt so much "reading the subtext/story wrong" as it is willfully ignoring it lol

not that im saying thats a bad thing, i also ignore chunks or details of stories i dislike because "fuck that im having fun" but i can also acknowledge that whatever im ignoring did in fact happen even if i think its stupid ... anyway

and the only reason i think this is a train of thought less-travelled is purely due to how HUGE BotW is, theres a LOT of stuff .. like i hang out with friends mostly playing BotW on twitch every day and we all learn things constantly. if you dont go hard for the lore and story you miss it, thats the nature of storytelling in the way BotW went about it

like i said, it's kind of dependent on what content is to be taken as having ACTUALLY happened. the only thing that isnt up for debate is that he regained all of the main-game memories since that's how you get the "true"/full ending. but did Link really read those diaries, did he really have that chat with Kass in Rito Village, is The Champion's Ballad lore going to be carried over,, that sort of thing. in my opinion? yes, because more solidly Nintendo included it for a reason no matter of what percentage of players found it, but in an off-shoot opinion if i was trying to regain my lost memories i'd give ANYTHING a chance of getting them back even if it meant the awkwardness of reading my long-gone friends diaries 🤷‍♂️

basically, what i mean when i have a meltdown over "the plot implications of BotW on BotW2" is im extremely curious to see how Nintendo handle 1) Zelda's established feelings towards Link (assuming they still exist, which i think we have reason to believe they do) and 2) Link quite possibly KNOWING about it. oh and them not existing in an extremely rigid class-driven society anymore.

i dunno about you - or the writing team for that matter - but if i was made aware that a pretty and smart person who i used to be around a lot had a thing for me i would be going out of my MIND lmfao

while their dynamic in past games has been quite developed or had romantic overtones before, BotW is by FAR the most complex understanding of them with the most information given to the player about how their characters grow from more than one angle. like having known each other for some time, general depictions of them existing around each other, visible emoting around the others' circumstances .. these things have happened before but not in such a huge combination. oh AND an abject change in their relationship after having come to some kind of understanding, which is definitely new, let alone that understanding happening OFF SCREEN.

i'll stop now before i actually write a full essay, but lets just say this is even more uncharted territory than Skyward Sword's obvious love story and the "oh and then he was king of hyrule :)" at the end of the original, because like ... its a sequel ... after the fact ..... unresolved

........ yeah

#IM SO SORRY IVE OUTDONE MYSELF IM SO RABID ........................#lol remember when i wrote a couple of sherlock metas ? good times ... im never gonna unlearn understanding fiction now its here #lets just say there are a LOT of ways this could go and i hope Nintendo doesnt chicken out if theyre implying what theyve been implying #there are a LOT of ways this could go ... and im not sure what i'd prefer ?? i just dont want them to sweep it under the rug #because THAT would be annoying and kind of rude to the people who DID find all the story they could :/ lol #i was already a hardcore LoZ fan but then BotW came and slapped me in the face with a chainmail gauntlet and challenged me to Step Up #i could actually 100% do a full essay on this im more than equipped but im not that bad yet #no ones pissed me off that badly .. YET .. i have seen some astoundingly bad takes out there though yeesh #anyway i'll go to bed now SORRY AGAIN [blows kiss]#rory's ramblings #asks #anon #long post #zelink #zelda blogging #botw/totk blogging

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