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My Hero Academia (Shonen Jump) move over pirates, ninjas, reapers, its Hero time
- Thread starter SalvaPot
- Start date
Dedication Through Light
Member
I hope thats what happens with Yaoyorozu/Jirou, because otherwise Ill never be able to shake the fear of him writing Kaminari/Jirou into canon material
OniBarubary
Banned
I have a type.
Horikoshi does a thing where he sets up a trope and then turns it around, like the whole thing with Bakugou turning traitor and fighting Deku. Kirishima/Jirou feels like that. I'm not saying it's not happening since I don't want to get into actual ship wars lol, but it's suspicious.
Yeah I know you're a deviant but what about those people in nipponland?
OniBarubary
Banned
Crimson_Echidna
Banned
I hope thats what happens with Yaoyorozu/Jirou, because otherwise Ill never be able to shake the fear of him writing Kaminari/Jirou into canon material
Why you gotta NTR Todoroki and Kaminari like that?
Crimson_Echidna
Banned
I know that for sure is inevitable to happen, but Mei is bae. I always welcome her getting more focus.
I think the ear jacks might be the dumbest power in the series even if its creative. Of all the powers it makes the least sense to have a character who has earlobes that magically not only connect to head phone jacks but actually work with them to the point that they can create super noise blasts. I mean that is such a super specific power it comes off as a bit ridiculous. As a character she's fine and I like her design, the power not so much.
I'm pretty happy with how this fight turned out. I have a special love for characters who are on seperate paths to the same destination, and Horikoshi understands what makes that trope perfectly well. He had to make a major character change to Bakugou without removing what made him a good opposite of Deku. If I have a disappointment, it's that this fight didn't escalate more than it did, as I was hoping for something bigger, but that might be the wrong instinct in this case. It's important that we don't have powers on scale of massive destruction quite yet, and fights are better when their smaller scale more often than not anyway. I do expect one day we'll get to see them become massive juggernauts of power though.
I think the cleverest thing that happened in this fight is that Deku finally confronted and accepted a selfish part of him: his desire to be strong and win. Most of his character is defined as altruistic, someone who just wants to save people. It's rare that one of these manga's portray personal ambition and power hunger to be a worthy goal to strive for because their usually considered bad things, but it's probably healthier if Deku didn't think that he just had to be a goody two shoes the entirety of his life with any thought of himself being selfish or bad.
It's a bit stranger to see that trait praised in Bakugou. It's acknowledged that he has that problem in massive excess, but it's not depicted as fundamentally wrong. It gives an interesting read of Endevour, who can be considered a grown up Bakugou and is probably the vilest character in the manga thus far for how he's managed the his family.
I think the cleverest thing that happened in this fight is that Deku finally confronted and accepted a selfish part of him: his desire to be strong and win. Most of his character is defined as altruistic, someone who just wants to save people. It's rare that one of these manga's portray personal ambition and power hunger to be a worthy goal to strive for because their usually considered bad things, but it's probably healthier if Deku didn't think that he just had to be a goody two shoes the entirety of his life with any thought of himself being selfish or bad.
It's a bit stranger to see that trait praised in Bakugou. It's acknowledged that he has that problem in massive excess, but it's not depicted as fundamentally wrong. It gives an interesting read of Endevour, who can be considered a grown up Bakugou and is probably the vilest character in the manga thus far for how he's managed the his family.
Eh. Hero's journey and all that. Star Wars has successfully codified it, but it existed long before Star Wars came into the picture.
Edit: Should have edited this into my other post, but eh.
NHarmonic.
Member
Dude, yaoyorozu summons any object from her body... functional objects... so jirou isn't that weird after all.
Bounceounce
Member
Iida is still close friends with Deku people, sure Todoroki has been getting more story focus, but Iida still hangs out with him as much.
What HStallion is saying is, ear jacks don't work in a vacuum. It's a super power that only works in the 21st century. What happens in the future when Apple takes away all the earphone jacks and replaces them with Thunderbolt ports? Yeah, she's out of a job then.
Newtype-001
Member
Shes plugged her jacks into walls to listen to vibrations shell be fine lol
Poodlestrike
Banned
That be a cool dynamic.
She can amplify the sound of her hearbeat into her jacks when they're inside anything.
I think it's also kind of bizzare that modern man-made would manifest itself as a magical super power.
I mean, it's wierd, but I noticed this when reading Grant Morrison's Multiversity. I wouldn't blink for one second at the idea of a magic book. But a magic comic book? That's just weird.
There's just this layer of strangeness associated mixing modern technology with elements of magic.
Poodlestrike
Banned
It's about expectations, really. Comic books are less serious, magic books are supposed to be like... grimoires.
I'd also point to cement dude as another example of powers that hinge on man-made technology. If I wanted to get all Morrison about it, I'd say there's something about mankind's creative will influencing the incredible forces that create superhumans, but this is Horikoshi, not Morrison
OniBarubary
Banned
Horikoshi da god.
Hero Academia 120
I think I'm putting this on hold. This was the perfect opportunity for Deku to win against Bakugou and the guy to get at least a bit humbled, but it was squandered. Now the fuckhead continues to be a fuckhead with All Might's blessing in his "we need both good level-headed people and bullying pieces of shit as heroes!" speech.
Don't know what the hell the Japanese fanbase sees in the guy, but if that's going to influence the story in any way, I'm done.
I think I'm putting this on hold. This was the perfect opportunity for Deku to win against Bakugou and the guy to get at least a bit humbled, but it was squandered. Now the fuckhead continues to be a fuckhead with All Might's blessing in his "we need both good level-headed people and bullying pieces of shit as heroes!" speech.
Don't know what the hell the Japanese fanbase sees in the guy, but if that's going to influence the story in any way, I'm done.
It's about expectations, really. Comic books are less serious, magic books are supposed to be like... grimoires.
I'd also point to cement dude as another example of powers that hinge on man-made technology. If I wanted to get all Morrison about it, I'd say there's something about mankind's creative will influencing the incredible forces that create superhumans, but this is Horikoshi, not Morrison
Tablets aren't less 'serious' than books, but the idea of a magic ipad evokes the same kind of reaction from me as a comic book. It's just weird. But your right, it's about expectations, and a lot of our literature has primed us for literally centuries to the idea that if anything is magical, it's old stuff.
Yeah, Jirou isn't the only wierdo of the group.
I'm on board with Horikoshi becoming Yoko Taro
If Bakugou has a complete turnaround in personality and actually apologizes for the years of torment he put Deku through, I'd at least partially accept it. If they become friends without that, then yeah, it's just shit writing with an incredibly regressive message. I ain't being friends with someone that told me to kill myself and continues to act antagonistic toward me, and Deku doing so would be battered wife syndrome.
OniBarubary
Banned
I legit don't know how you can read this chapter like that.
It's more like it's incredibly redundant that this malicious rivalry has lasted so long, and actually having Deku get a pure power win would theoretically humble the only one petty enough in it to hold onto that malice. Instead, Deku gets a loss, keeping Bakugou's development slow, which has done what, slowly chip away at the guy's self-esteem? And even beyond that, it's just wholly unsatisfying.
In what way?
How is it shallow? It's insulting the way the series constantly tries to get you to sympathize with a bully with minimal consequences beyond hurt feelings who's character development doesn't go in a direction that endears the guy in any way. You can be an asshole on the side of good while also being a good character, but if the story doesn't treat you like that, it's not good writing. Bakugou has been the biggest stain on this series writing-wise since the beginning, which is a shame because a lot of other stuff is believable.
Maybe it's just a cultural thing with Japan's tolerance of bullies and its "don't rock the boat" mentality.
And you can disagree with me, but come on, calling my critique shallow is uncalled for.
It's more that the series is more interested in viewing Bakugou as a complete person instead of delivering any kind of karmic retribution for his past actions. His punishment is having to see the person he belittled prove to succeed time and again. And I say succeed, not win, which is more important. If you notice, despite winning, Bakugou is much less happy about the end of their fight than Midoriya was.
Bakugou is a major shitbag, but when you get down to it, if the victim more or less actually doesn't care, then why should anyone else? So, it's far more interesting to explore how Bakugou's mentality, which lead to his bullying in the first place, carries him through the world he lives in now. A world in which he is consistently failing in. That he can still outmuscle Midoriya doesn't change that.
Bakugou is a major shitbag, but when you get down to it, if the victim more or less actually doesn't care, then why should anyone else? So, it's far more interesting to explore how Bakugou's mentality, which lead to his bullying in the first place, carries him through the world he lives in now. A world in which he is consistently failing in. That he can still outmuscle Midoriya doesn't change that.
I really don't know how to explain it to you if you can't see Bakugou as more complicated than just "a bully" and think that beating him into the ground is a good idea for either Deku or Bakugou's arcs, or the setting in general.
Bakugou's development is slow? You're reading the manga as excusing bullies? Like, what? It feels like you're reading a completely different manga from the one I read.
Bakugou's development is slow? You're reading the manga as excusing bullies? Like, what? It feels like you're reading a completely different manga from the one I read.
And I do like this when it happens. Bakugou failing the exam was an amazing, satisfying moment.
But every time some sort of failure happens to him, he learns fucking nothing beyond how to feel sorry for himself. When Deku and Ochako faced off against him and Iida, nothing. When Deku and him faced off against All Might, nothing. When he won the tournament and was unsatisfied by it, fucking nothing and a new straight jacket. When he got captured which ended up speeding up All Might's deterioration... well okay, he's learned something from that, but it's done nothing for his personality. And the way the story plays out seems perfectly fine with that.
And since we're taking into account subtleties with this conversation, stuff not said contributes to this too and shows through in the art. There's been plenty of panels that essentially yell "hey, check out this cool badass here!" or "hey they really do respect each other" or "the whole gang's back together!" like when he's getting saved. This chapter alone had All Might comforting the guy with the framing of a moving, emotional scene and the insistence that Bakugou and Deku can pull each other up, not the implication that the former is being left behind.
Bakugou exploded Deku's book and told him to commit suicide. The reaction from his peers was support for Bakugou and the reaction from adults was "oh, you silly kids". Deku didn't hold a grudge because he's written to be a character that's better than that, with the assumed message toward the young readers being "even you can be a hero like Deku!". So basically, turn the other cheek when people destroy your property and encourage your suicide, because you can't rely on adults to do shit.
And I don't think beating Bakugou into the ground with an 8% punch was good, so why stop at 8%? Why not bring it up to 15%? The gap between Deku and Bakugou as of late hasn't been portrayed as THAT wide. This could have been Deku's equivalent of Guts leaving the Hawks after beating Griffith. No, it didn't need to be THAT much of a beatdown, but showing Bakugou that he's being left behind in all aspects and not just in the hero registration thing would do wonders.
I never said he can't be a complicated character. I'm saying interactions from other characters and unsaid scene framing contribute to how good a character actually is.
An example that springs to mind would be Kayaba Akihiko from Sword Art Online. On Gaf and many other places, the series is rightfully considered abysmal for its character writing (among other things) despite it's popularity. But Kayaba is actually a surprisingly well done depiction of a mass-murdering sociopath, of course ignoring the logistics behind what he's able to accomplish.
And yet he completely falls flat as a character because EVERYONE else is a fucking idiot that finds it fitting to idolize the guy and even see him as a sort of mentor later on, something the show seems to agree with considering its heart-warming music and poignant scene framing during those moments.
An example that springs to mind would be Kayaba Akihiko from Sword Art Online. On Gaf and many other places, the series is rightfully considered abysmal for its character writing (among other things) despite it's popularity. But Kayaba is actually a surprisingly well done depiction of a mass-murdering sociopath, of course ignoring the logistics behind what he's able to accomplish.
And yet he completely falls flat as a character because EVERYONE else is a fucking idiot that finds it fitting to idolize the guy and even see him as a sort of mentor later on, something the show seems to agree with considering its heart-warming music and poignant scene framing during those moments.
Well....yeah, it pretty much is. And so am I. I have no desire to see Bakugou punished for his dickishness, personally, only seeing him grow beyond it. He's progressing nicely as a characters whose slowly learning that his power doesn't give him the right to treat others like shit. I mean, in case you haven't noticed, he doesn't do any actual bullying anymore. He recognizes the strength of the people around him, to the point where he was the only one who took his fight with Uraraka seriously. And he repaid Kirishima his money when he rescued him, expressing gratitude. Subtle expressions like his fear of the villains that capture him and his guilt over being part of bringing All Might's time to an end humanize him and give him more and more dimensions.
He's never going to stop being an asshole, I think. It's a core tenet of his personality. And the narrative has no issue with that. It's more interested in growing other personality aspects rather than reducing his attitude. As such, it recognizes the value of his ambition to win and be the best, something that Midoriya does indeed lack in.
If you don't like that it doesn't look like Bakugou is going to suffer for his bullying or that he is going to be converted into a nicer person, then idk, it feels like this is just not the narrative your looking for. You directly tying your desire to see karmic justice, or atleast your moral sensibilities about what should happen to bullies, to how you gauge whether something is good writing. Not all works do that though, and I generally prefer works that don't.
Okay? It's still shallow criticism.
It's very telling that you're dismissing the consequences as "nothing but hurt feelings", bringing up the middle school thing, interpreted the most recent chapter as "bullying pieces of shit", and thought the poll influenced the chapter. That all points to you wanting Bakugou to just be beaten up rather than interpreted as a complicated character with both admirable and terrible traits, who's slowly growing up out of those terrible traits.
It's very telling that you're dismissing the consequences as "nothing but hurt feelings", bringing up the middle school thing, interpreted the most recent chapter as "bullying pieces of shit", and thought the poll influenced the chapter. That all points to you wanting Bakugou to just be beaten up rather than interpreted as a complicated character with both admirable and terrible traits, who's slowly growing up out of those terrible traits.
Aaronrules380
Member
He really isn't though? Kayaba is just murdering people because... reasons? Most actual mass murderers have some sort of actual goal, be it terrorism or deriving a sick sexual pleasure from the acts
I don't think Baku is growing at the rate you guys say he is. The main has always been insecure and nothing has changed now. He still hates winning when he feels like the opponent is holding back. I have not seen anything I haven't already read when it comes to Baku. All might encouraging him and Deku finding the desire to be number 1 are new things. Think this was more of a character growth for Deku, while Baku just let out his frustration so he won't be brooding for 5 more chapters.
I haven't seen Sword Art Online because it sucks, but as someone who actually studied Antisocial Personality Disorder, 99% of media don't portray it accurately or in depth.
Ironically, one of the best depictions of it is Ozai from Avatar: The Last Airbender, but you have to really pay attention to his motives. Most people just think of him as a generic evil overlord, and maybe he kind of is, but it's uprising how psychologically authentic it felt, especially compared to Legend of Korra's book 2 villain.
Ironically, one of the best depictions of it is Ozai from Avatar: The Last Airbender, but you have to really pay attention to his motives. Most people just think of him as a generic evil overlord, and maybe he kind of is, but it's uprising how psychologically authentic it felt, especially compared to Legend of Korra's book 2 villain.
Aaronrules380
Member
I mean, most people with Antisocial personality disorder also aren't killers or anything like that either
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
Yeah, I like Baku, but I kind of get what Rainforce is saying. No one is saying charmatic justice (that be nice) but just chalking a lot of it up to "Baku gonna Baku but at least he's not that much a Baku anymore" is kind of normalizing some really awful behavior. This is more a personal thing, but I've always hated the "But he grew up" line of reasoning with bullies. They were still awful. But implying they're better now is like rubbing salt in the wounds and kind of feels like saying "Get over it kids."
Edit: I also want to throw in a response before this thread continues to spiral. To the person who said, the author was like Yoko Toro. No, just no. The author of MHA does not hate children nearly enough to be the next Yoko Toro. If this was a Yoko Toro story, Deku's kick would in fact be the truck from Fuuka and this next arc would be about the mix of joy and dread Deku feels about killing Baku as he dumps the body in the river.
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