He used it twice in the end, in the USJ arc and the rescue bakugou arc, the other times it was either a risk-free arc, or another hero, or the kids themselves, had to solve things, or the villains luckily cut their losses before they got cornered and desperate.
My Hero Academia II - A true Hero
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Funnily enough the school campus itself has only been attacked a single time in the series and that was really early on.
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Yah, only in the election day the campus was compromised, secretly, the next attack was Gentle's.
The other attacks were on field trips.
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I fully disagree with that opinion. The author* biggest problem is going to fast and not doing build up. I still call the absence of the usual carefree period at the begenning of the manga a mistake that forces him to introduce the elements that would have been there in weird places and limit the initial investment on the students. You should not make people care for your characters 10 seconds before they finally became relevant. So he made the right decision by putting the spotlight on the top 3 rather than fading them out of existence.
The real mistake was not giving time to Nejire, the third member of the top 3. The other members of class A already have people invested on them. Everyone that was there were those that already received plenty of focus from the author throughout the story. Fleshing out or making us care about a new character should have been a priority. As for people that received spotlight they shouldn't it's Rock man that just had proven himself recently when he used his even harder mode. The focus should have been Deku, Mirio & the rest of top 3 and only then everyone else.
You're correct. I was only framing it in a way where Horikoshi couldn't extend the arc anymore and could only keep the same pacing or cut certain things. I still stand by prioritizing the girls over any member of the Big Three that is not Mirio if you can only pick one. But actually caring Suneater would work the best. And Nejire was severely mishandled compared to both her male colleagues.
*I hate remembering name so call him "the author"
lol Force yourself to type it a few times and you'll memorize it through muscle memory.
HE made the wrong choice but it was Rock man not suneater(who is bland but that's a different issue).
Hm… You're right, but I personally don't like removing Kirishima's fight because without it all he gets is a power-up against a scrub without much emotional investment. I would rather have one character shine great than multiple characters shine on a mediocre level. But when you add in how Horikoshi gave time to not just Kirishima but even Sun Eater, there's really no excuse for how he treated the girls lol.
I consider it was the right choice then. Try hard even if it doesn't always pays off. And it wasn't the right place to make McBoom lose since there wasn't even a lesson about how he shouldn't underestimate his opponents. It was the right way to handle the fight. Don't let the future development cloud your judgement of the past.
Oh no, you completely misunderstood me. Sorry, I could have explained much better.
Bakugo winning over Uraraka was totally the right move. Absolutely. Especially since Bakugo showed growth at the end by respecting Uraraka's efforts and winning the tournament leads into why he gets kidnapped by the League of Villains several arcs later.
My issue with the fight is HOW Bakugo won. This might be an overblown nitpick on my part, but I have never seen anyone mention how abnormally huge Bakugo's final explosion was.
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!It's a great twist, but the more I think about it, the more I never remember Bakugo ever making explosions that huge. At most they're the size of his body. He's only capable of that when he uses his costume gear like when he uses that giant grenade explosion in the Battle Trial arc against Deku for the first time and against All-Might in the Final Exam, but none of the students could wear gear for the Sports Festival aside from Hatsume.
Like I said, it's a small nitpick and I still like the fight for what it is. But that execution is what I meant by "anticlimactic" because instead of feeling wowed by a clever twist I think "oh, Bakugo could apparently make explosions that big from the get-go. Okay." Not Bakugo winning the fight in general. Showing female characters with flaws is just as important as having them be proficient as well. You need both for a proper balanced portrayal.
I'm surprise we haven't skipped anything yet.
SAME. I still keep wondering if he might do it.
I think he wanted the focus on Deku and Mirio. Suneater was a byproduct of making us care more for Mirio(I remember thinking that MIrio's flashback should have come first for the proper impact). As for the girl grouping unconscious thing. Group them so you can more easily handle them than when you have to cut out the fluff(because the plot was waaaay to much) you inadvertantly erase them because it seems the most harmeless.
My hope is that when he rereads it he realize how weird it is that Nejire got nothing worthwhile.
Suneater's flashback was definitely used to support Mirio's charisma. But that only makes Nejire's lack of anything beyond hitting Bane on one page all the more apparent. Mirio and Suneater look like best buds while Nejire's the forgettable token female third wheel.
Deku is a complete afterthought to me in the Yakuza arc. He is only motivated by letting Eri go in the alley, and that wasn't even his fault but Mirio's. Mirio's redemption journey is much more meaningful than Deku saving a kid for the second time. So he didn't even grow in the arc at all except for unlocking 20%, which was useless against Overhaul. In hindsight, if we could get a version of that arc where you replace Deku's presence with just the Big Three and the other students like how Gon's almost completely absent during Kurapika-centric arcs in Hunter x Hunter, I would take it. Although having Deku absent for about forty chapters might seem way too out there for Horikoshi and readers, which I wouldn't blame him for. I'm sure that Deku's bonds with Mirio and Eri are going somewhere so him being in the arc is necessary in the longrun I guess.
Grouping them is fine if it isn't a trend, which it fortunately isn't. You're right about that being an effective tactic, but I wish it didn't have to be for the girls of all characters in this manga lol.
Maybe I'm being too much of a pessimist, but a part of me thinks making Nejire win the beauty pageant in the Culture Festival WAS the author's way of making up for her lack of relevant screentime in the Yakuza arc…
The guy is way to muchinto social thing for it not be unconscious. The question now is if he will realize it.
Still, there are many people that like talking the talk but not walking the walk. And he openly basks in liking cheap female fanservice and perverted antics as reflections of his own desires. Not that you can't be a tolerable perv AND a feminist, but I can't hold out optimism for too much longer.
He's an alchemist.
A cool theme does not justify using such a broken power that's really multiple powers. Especially when each of those powers is versatile in the first place. You could only have him repair/fuse things like Crazy Diamond or have a gold transmutation Midas touch and have that be a much more simple balanced alchemist power.
After weird crazy villains that wanted to destroy society just coz and man babies. I needed a little normal in my life. I seemed to finally get someone that is evil, had a plan and a goal.
I get that.
If you didn't repeat it often I probably woudn't notice that's a thing. Also it reminds me that he should be the one with mask to not not have to breathe in the filth. That thing bothered me a lot in the arc. He should be the one wearing the mask not the filth. If the filth is wearing it it's just a design but if it's him it's part of his personality. God that annoys me that it was not reversed.
That is a very good catch!
I also wish that his germaphobia was exploited as a weakness during the final match. Like using blood or dirt or Twice's dead clone goop to gradually destabilize Overhaul's focus. Sort of in a similar way to Luffy using his bloody body to hit Crocodile. A psychological weakness can be a clever way to make up for being an OP character, which is exactly what Horikoshi did for Twice since he never wants to clone himself.
Actually I think all the ingredients were there. They were just badly mixed. The flashbacks should have come sooner giving us a better perspective. Probablly egenning of the arc for his motivation. Than at a moment that the heroes or his men are doubting his resolve you see the yakuza boss with a qucik flashback f how he had to put him on ice to let him save the Yakuza for him. than at the end of the arc Eri give her full name and you realize it's the same as the boss.
Agreed. I don't have a problem with anything that overhaul embodied (OP powers aside) but how undercooked all of his aspects were.
Considering the author seems to acknowledge some of his flaws I guess I can consider Gentle a decent one. I still consider Sylar better both for how much fun he seems to have with the thing and how he actually passed the torch and care for Facepalm. Of course, if we learn he never cared about Facepalm it becomes shit but I'll give the benefit of the doubt. Also there's Stain as more captivating and Twice as more engaging. So Gentle is 3rd at best, 4th for me.
Lots of people keep bringing up how likely it is that All for One might have staged the deaths of Shigaraki's parents. If that's true, I'm not sure about All for One caring about Shigaraki. Still possible, but not likely. I hope they have some sort of legit relationship, albeit a perverse one.
I told someone this before but I completely forgot about Stain. He is the one villain I keep forgetting. Probably because we haven't seen him in forever and despite compelling his characterization was, his role in the plot has only been being a stepping stone for the Shigaraki's ascension. Which Shigaraki himself states lol.
Twice is hands down my favorite but I was only counting main arc antagonists. I keep wondering if Twice might get redeemed. It would be funny if Twice helps the heroes while a clone stays with the League of Villains lol, although that might undermine the whole thing's impact. Then again, it could really show how psychologically complex having clone powers is like his flashback suggests.
Well he suddenly has a personality and can move so that's already something. And his connection to Sylar(first time he was emotional in a way I cared) give me some hope.
It is something. I would prefer seeing more villain bonding, but I'll take what I can get.
Dabi has cool powers and visual. I have zero investment in pole man(Or is he the one that died?). Mostly my interest in the league is superficial except twice. Did mention already that twice is the best villain of the author. Probably also his most well done character work? There's Flamebeard but we don't know if he can stick the landing and McBoom is simpler.
Pole person died. I would've liked to see more of her backstory about coming out getting explored, but oh well. Although Horikoshi clearly supports trans acceptance because of that one guy in the Pussycats.
I take killing characters very seriously. Especially in this kind of story where killing is so hard to do. It just happen that I hardly cared for those who died.
Killing characters is like an art form to me. It takes proper build-up, grieving, significance, and meaning for me to care about a character death. I've seen too many stories where deaths are used gratuitously edgy and
Horikoshi's willingness to kill is interesting. He avoided it for a long time but then introduced it in the Yakuza arc so casually. Judging from his favorite superhero stories, I think he actually likes seeing characters die but wants to make those moments rare and special. Even if the three characters we've seen get killed off are forgettable, I think this him setting up the possibility of death for when it really counts, like whenever All-Might finally dies. Which would work better than when everyone kept getting resurrected in One Piece until Ace and Whitebeard bit the dust.
Hate Eri's powers to death. And I still call BS on the power making people powerless forever but whatever.
I can buy it since it's not really the power that's doing it but random scientific alteration mumbo jumbo.
Knighteye powers should not be counterable.
Horikoshi had the two best powers for foresight twists in an arc. Cloning and shapeshifting. And yet he STILL squandered it. Even if this manga runs for whole decades, I will never let go of that super easy missed potential.
I just love Mirio and everything he does. So him being cute with Eri works.
I just remembered the controversy those chapters had where some of Mirio's lines had skeevy connotations but were really just naive dialogue lol.
Which reminds me it would have been better if Knighteye didn't touch Mirio but just believed in him.
It definitely would have shown growth on Nighteye's part. I wish we got a Mirio and Nighteye flashback, but maybe that can come in the future if Horikoshi's clever enough.
Well she doesn't spend her time as a damsel i distress(Nami's role) and actually show she is decent(something smoothie doesn't do or Robin) so I would say that's good.
I want to say that's a very low bar to be satisfied with topping, but for shonen manga I'll take it I guess lol.
Meh fighting wise I always pictured him as high level. I thinking both seeing his power and trashing the league gave him that minimum. The proper is that he never delivered. I am not so much underwhelmed as much as I am frustrated. He should have taken some hero out in the tunnels before being catched up by Mirio.
I see him as high level too but there's normally more tension for such a character.
So what's Stain backstory?
Years ago, he used to be a villain killer called Stendhal that targeted people like Yakuza guys even if they were honorable. I think his perspective at the time was that if he killed "weak" villains, he could support stronger villains that would in turn promote stronger heroes as a response. Basically the same thing he did for heroes now as Stain. Stendhal saves the main character from a villain and looks cool, but then kills that villain when the protagonist disappears to foreshadow his darkness. Then he teamed up with a villain to kill a mook, but the main characters showed up to save the mook's life. Stendhal recognizes the protagonist and tells him to leave, protagonist refuses, and then Stendhal decides that heroes who defend villains deserve to die.
Stendhal fights the the protagonist's mentor, a Batman/Wildcat version of All-Might with no powers, and gets punched in the face, which broke his nose. Then he hops away to an abandoned bathroom to whine about how he lost. He gets mocked by the villain he teamed up with, attacks her, and ends their partnership. Then Stendhal looks at himself in the mirror and cuts off his bloody nose. I think he said something about how he needs to experience proper pain to become stronger. You know, basic pretentious edgy suffering olympics stuff.
And that's pretty much it. I don't think certain fans liked that. It made Stain look more randomly crazy than perversely deep like Heath Ledger's Joker, and made him a sore loser to boot.
ISn't that bound to happen since he inherit All Might strength? Unless we are saying a bunch of class A is gonna be as strong/stronger than All-Might in his prime.
Maybe a couple like Bakugo and Shouto, who knows. But I want Deku to look at least a bit different and not a clone. So it's more interesting.
I was more thinking Gran Torino reveals with an evil grin to All-Might he was always evil and that Nana stays his friend like a fool despite that time where he passed a naked photo of her to everyone to humiliate her.
Perfect. We should write a fanfic Toriko sequel.
The ending was incredebly rushed but when it was good it was the most entertainment and enjoyment I could get from a manga. And Even some of the bad was fascinatingly entertaining.
Couldn't say it better myself.
Anyway, back on topic, do you think we'll get anything special for chapter 200?
Like another boob joke?Dick jokes for equality?
We didn't get anything special for 100 so no. New poll? I think it might be too soon. -
Poll: whose butt gets featured for chapter 200?
• Midnight
• Mt. Lady
• All Might
• Gang Orca
• Nezu -
All might with plus extra writtten as a caption
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Suneater is the only good thing of that arc for me so I at least will be looking forward to the 2+ episodes featuring him (with the action parts being more understandable - really not a forte of the mangaka).
I don't care about the rest of the arc. -
I still don't care much for the Big 3. I think it's mostly because they're not really going to be around like how class B can. But mostly I hate that they're called the Big 3 but only 2 got any backstory. I mostly have no desire to see any of them. I'm here for Class A a handful of B and the pros….And Twice lol.
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@Count:
It's a great twist, but the more I think about it, the more I never remember Bakugo ever making explosions that huge. At most they're the size of his body. He's only capable of that when he uses his costume gear like when he uses that giant grenade explosion in the Battle Trial arc against Deku for the first time and against All-Might in the Final Exam, but none of the students could wear gear for the Sports Festival aside from Hatsume.
Like I said, it's a small nitpick and I still like the fight for what it is. But that execution is what I meant by "anticlimactic" because instead of feeling wowed by a clever twist I think "oh, Bakugo could apparently make explosions that big from the get-go. Okay."
Minor refresher:
The reason you never saw him make explosions that huge before is because doing so gives too much recoil for his arms to handle.
The only part of his costume that lets him fire off those huge blasts toll-free is the grenade-shaped gauntlets.
It would normally put immense strain on him to fire off those blasts, which is why he had the gauntlets added to his costume.Using that big explosion at the sports festival was a major blow to his stamina, and his arms were shaking from the physical strain/recoil.
In order to dispell Uraraka's whole manoeuvre, he pushed himself and forced out a big one.He CAN do big blasts from the get go, but it puts his arm muscles through hell. It was a big aspect of his final stand against All Might.
All Might smashed the gauntlets earlier, but Bakugo found the determination to launch many huge blasts at him with his own power.
It's important to note that without his gauntlets his costume wasn't helping him, he was taking the painful recoil directly and brutally.
He took on the intense burden in his arms to give Deku a chance to escape. He was practically breaking himself.Thus, it's even more of a credit to Uraraka that Bakugo had to use a limit-pushing attack to keep her away from him.
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You are right. Rock guy(established chracter) should have been sidelined for Nejire(new character).
Well people would have just complained that he was a waste of space instead of the girls.
I suppose by people you general readers and consider the internet to be moot. What level do you consider people give a shit about the character? Top 10? Top 20? Top 30? Top 50?
My point is that even Kaku ranked higher than him at one point and his recent resurgence is because Oda gave him some depth during the Summit arc.
I think he is referencing specifically the Hawks thing. Would it really be less interesting if Toga was going the talking?
Dabi is the only one who cares about who joins the VA given how he killed some random thugs deeming them "unworthy" to join. Why would Toga care?
I think people have trouble with Knighteye powers suddenly becoming fallible.He had been trying for years to found a flaw and never found one. Deku just doing it without any particular feels like a cop out rather than earned. And since the author went so down to earth and practical with the powers having one that was overcome by emotional means or thematic means rather than practical one feel like a cop out.
The whole arc was enforcing the fact that Nighteye's powers weren't infallible he just never tried. Without the sequence of events that led to Eri's rescue and Overhaul's defeat they would have died in the cellar right then and there. This is brought up once again when Nighteye wanted to give up even after being saved due to his vision with Ochako reiterating that "Nobody knows what the future holds until it happens". Considering that Deku has to essentially kill himself in order to change Nighteye's outset I wouldn't call it nothing also the manga has always operated on emotional and thematic means its how Deku beat Muscular and AM beat AfO.
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@MDL:
Minor refresher:
The reason you never saw him make explosions that huge before is because doing so gives too much recoil for his arms to handle.
The only part of his costume that lets him fire off those huge blasts toll-free is the grenade-shaped gauntlets.
It would normally put immense strain on him to fire off those blasts, which is why he had the gauntlets added to his costume.Using that big explosion at the sports festival was a major blow to his stamina, and his arms were shaking from the physical strain/recoil.
In order to dispell Uraraka's whole manoeuvre, he pushed himself and forced out a big one.He CAN do big blasts from the get go, but it puts his arm muscles through hell. It was a big aspect of his final stand against All Might.
All Might smashed the gauntlets earlier, but Bakugo found the determination to launch many huge blasts at him with his own power.
It's important to note that without his gauntlets his costume wasn't helping him, he was taking the painful recoil directly and brutally.
He took on the intense burden in his arms to give Deku a chance to escape. He was practically breaking himself.Thus, it's even more of a credit to Uraraka that Bakugo had to use a limit-pushing attack to keep her away from him.
! [qimg]https://i.gyazo.com/432aef11486101dd8bc9211461ce0209.jpg[/qimg]
[qimg]https://i.gyazo.com/8e77a290816b83b14f3191345a58626f.jpg[/qimg]
[qimg]https://i.gyazo.com/9db528c6ff1843bfd09eddb9b179f373.png[/qimg]Thank you so much for the clarification. That explanation is all I needed to be okay with the scene.
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I like the way you think. Except Midnight>Mt.Lady.
I agree with that but Miruko > both of them.
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@Long:
I agree with that but Miruko > both of them.
We've only had like 5 panels with Mirko. But she's clearly the best.
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@MDL:
Minor refresher:
The reason you never saw him make explosions that huge before is because doing so gives too much recoil for his arms to handle.
The only part of his costume that lets him fire off those huge blasts toll-free is the grenade-shaped gauntlets.
It would normally put immense strain on him to fire off those blasts, which is why he had the gauntlets added to his costume.Using that big explosion at the sports festival was a major blow to his stamina, and his arms were shaking from the physical strain/recoil.
In order to dispell Uraraka's whole manoeuvre, he pushed himself and forced out a big one.He CAN do big blasts from the get go, but it puts his arm muscles through hell. It was a big aspect of his final stand against All Might.
All Might smashed the gauntlets earlier, but Bakugo found the determination to launch many huge blasts at him with his own power.
It's important to note that without his gauntlets his costume wasn't helping him, he was taking the painful recoil directly and brutally.
He took on the intense burden in his arms to give Deku a chance to escape. He was practically breaking himself.Thus, it's even more of a credit to Uraraka that Bakugo had to use a limit-pushing attack to keep her away from him.
! https://i.gyazo.com/432aef11486101dd8bc9211461ce0209.jpg
https://i.gyazo.com/8e77a290816b83b14f3191345a58626f.jpg
https://i.gyazo.com/9db528c6ff1843bfd09eddb9b179f373.pngOh wow, I never noticed this about Bakugo before. It goes on to show that there are more parallels between him and Deku. I have to wonder if using his arms with risk was directly inspired by Midoriya(just like he inspired All Might at the end).
I wish it would have been made more clear though. It would have made me appreciate some his scenes even better but on the other hand not making a big deal out of it is inline with his character so I don't mind too much.
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There was also the little tidbit in the sport festival on how quirks will have an impact on the users body, as they are biological in nature, like Todoroki's hypothermia.
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I wonder if any of that training with putting his hands in nearly boiling water and firing off massive blasts actually did anything for him.
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I wonder if any of that training with putting his hands in nearly boiling water and firing off massive blasts actually did anything for him.
Did the Forest Training arc do anything for anyone? Even though Aizawa touted it as finally working the students to get physically stronger? It got interrupted, but it's still funny lol.
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@Count:
Did the Forest Training arc do anything for anyone? Even though Aizawa touted it as finally working the students to get physically stronger? It got interrupted, but it's still funny lol.
I think they showed improvement during the Provisional License exam. Jirou making a small earthquake comes to mind.
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The impression that I got is that everyone continued doing these things on their own. Their quirks have indeed refined, maybe the main ones not so much, but the supporting cast seems to be catching up, not only in the super moves and gadgets department, but in basic quirk use.
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I think they showed improvement during the Provisional License exam. Jirou making a small earthquake comes to mind.
They did. It's just weird how they get progress during an exam arc but not a training arc lol. Although they trained a little before the exam too.
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@Count:
They did. It's just weird how they get progress during an exam arc but not a training arc lol. Although they trained a little before the exam too.
Isn't it more accurate to say the exam arc is where they displayed the results of their training arcs?
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Isn't it more accurate to say the exam arc is where they displayed the results of their training arcs?
Not exactly. That was the original intention of the teachers with summer training camp but it was obviously cut short. The real bulk of the training came immediately before the License Exam with special moves and strength training, even though the two training periods took a pretty similar number of chapters.
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I wish we could do frequent polls here. I'm trying to guess which teams during this arc will do well or how the mashups go in general. I assume more of the class A will get to showcase new moves. But pretty much most of Class B we have never seen them in action.
I'm just now every week looking forward to these mini battles. So many possibilities!
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@Count:
Did the Forest Training arc do anything for anyone? Even though Aizawa touted it as finally working the students to get physically stronger? It got interrupted, but it's still funny lol.
Well, Deku managed to get to 100000000%
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We're at the point where Aizawa probably welcomes an attack from the League during training because god knows Shigaraki and Pals are better field experience than anything the school can come up with.
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I do wonder if we are getting this arc to the end. I would welcome it, but like two volumes of training will fly?
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It's basically, a tournament arc. Editors probably want it to last longer than that.
Just gonna put it out there. Deku's goal to become the number one hero isn't a noble as I first thought. Or, should I say, it won't improve their society as much as he thinks it will. He wants to become the next All Might, but for all the good All Might did, the core problems in MHA's didn't improve. Everyone relied on All Might to fix everything, but no one thought to try preventive solutions.
Look at Twice. Look at Magne. Are they exceptions to the rule or does this world have trouble with helping those who feel they don't belong? Yeah, we have Tiger, a transgender hero, but is being a hero the only reason he's accepted? In My Hero Vigilantes, a guy was basically experimented on by villains but the government didn't try to help him. The chapter brought up an issue with people with unusual bodies having to live in certain places to fit their needs. That can make it hard to find or commute to a job. It's easy to accommodate for someone with a tail but for something more extreme it looks like those people are screwed. That may be why a lot of mutants (Sludge monster, for example) turn to crime.
Seems like the government's response to crime is more law enforcement, but if they only go that route things will never change.
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We are told that mutants right now are wildly accepted and of the league, the only mutant one is the least monstruous of the bunch, with Spiner being a fanboy and Kurogiri being almost amicable, and with the power of his quirk, more things than just "they forced me to live where polen was deadly to me" had to push someone like him to a life of villany.
I mean, if we were meant to get that the inequality was the core issue of this world, then Deku's quirklessness would have been made more of an issue for multiple career paths other than the one that mandates a quirk, (I'm practically blind, so If I wanted to be a pilot I would have faced the same "prejudice" as Deku), or the multiple mutants of the class (octopus guy, Tsuyu, Tokoyami, or those of class B like Manga face, the literaly black guy, beast, mantis, etc) exposing or being target of prejudices.
Hell, we are more prejudiced against the class with our constant harrasing of
the filthy traitorHagakure, just because we can't see her face.I can't blame society for not moving as fast as quirks do, and a problem that can be solved by "bureocratic program to facilitate mobility for people with quirks that require extra care, or specific conditions for a good quality of life" it is something for politicians, not heroes.
What has been built up is:
the single point of failure that presents a pilar of justice
the fact that even heroes can't be an infalible system to be everywhere
that heroes are also people, and there is nothing in place to make sure that they aren't bullies or abusive pokemon breeding monsters
that quirks are going to get wilder faster than humanity can addapt to them
unjust evaluation systems that don't allow for second chances pushing people to the fringe
And "might makes right, because everyone loves the powerful" that All For One seems to represent, and all might can only reject by being stronger than himAbout the quirk prejudice, look at Eiri, she can accidentaly erase people from existence, what did the system do? Put her with a guardian who can stop her quirk. I wouldn't put my hands over fire about this, but while we can't say much about the past, this generation seems to be getting it better than the last one.
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And "might makes right, because everyone loves the powerful" that All For One seems to represent, and all might can only reject by being stronger than him
I agree with everything else you said, but that is a rather shallow takeaway from what we've seen concerning All for One. He didn't build up his forces through intimidating might, but by propping himself up as a messiah that could exchange Quirks for anyone's personal welfare in exchange for considering favors, not even demanding loyalty (for all we know thus far, but maybe he has skeevy manipulation tactics up his sleeve). All for One's ideals don't seem to present the power of strength so much as the power of choice. Being able to determine the life you want to live rather than being forced to cope with how you were born no matter how inhibiting or discriminatory it is like society tells you to do. The way you put it only remembers the fight they had in Kamino and nothing from the recent history lesson flashback chapter or the how All for One apparently saved Shigaraki's life when all the other heroes couldn't.
All-Might only being able to fight against what All for One represents by being stronger is a valid interpretation though. One that very interesting implications that can hopefully push him off his nauseating pedestal and introduce the "successor realizes predecessor's mistakes/flaws/corruption" trope that I always love to see.
It's basically, a tournament arc. Editors probably want it to last longer than that.
Just gonna put it out there. Deku's goal to become the number one hero isn't a noble as I first thought. Or, should I say, it won't improve their society as much as he thinks it will. He wants to become the next All Might, but for all the good All Might did, the core problems in MHA's didn't improve. Everyone relied on All Might to fix everything, but no one thought to try preventive solutions.
Look at Twice. Look at Magne. Are they exceptions to the rule or does this world have trouble with helping those who feel they don't belong? Yeah, we have Tiger, a transgender hero, but is being a hero the only reason he's accepted? In My Hero Vigilantes, a guy was basically experimented on by villains but the government didn't try to help him. The chapter brought up an issue with people with unusual bodies having to live in certain places to fit their needs. That can make it hard to find or commute to a job. It's easy to accommodate for someone with a tail but for something more extreme it looks like those people are screwed. That may be why a lot of mutants (Sludge monster, for example) turn to crime.
Seems like the government's response to crime is more law enforcement, but if they only go that route things will never change.
Every once in a while, I make a post about the exact same thing. I don't think it's enough for Deku to just become All-Might 2.0. either strength or symbolism-wise. But I would replace "noble" with "misguided" since I doubt Deku has anything but pure intentions for anything he does in this manga lol.
Granted, the story has mentioned improvement possibilities like raising a whole new generation of heroes that can work as a team instead of relying on a No. 1 crutch, giving previsionary licenses to the students for expanding hero response proximities and frequencies, and changing the hero ranking system to be based more on how people like heroes rather than viewing the quantity/quality of crimes solved as the sole heroic measure (but relying strictly on public opinion for integrity validation like Hawks suggested has its own obvious problems). But I don't think those changes are enough, especially this early in the story.
Typical Count analysis diatribe post incoming:
! Twice is an excellent example. He joined the League of Villains for a sense of belonging after messing up with his Quirk. That doesn't mean he's an innocent butterfly that "accidentally" took advantage of his clones and teamed up with domestic terrorists, everyone in the League deserves to go to jail. But at the very least this guy is mentally ill and has a Quirk with complex ethical layers that even the most knowledgable philosophers would struggle with evaluating the right and wrong uses of. More measures can be taken to prevent people from going as far off the deep end as Twice with proper awareness. And he also has a point that the heroes would never give him the time of day given how spotless they all look and how strict the government is about not even using Quirks, practically a part of your body as much as your limbs are, for any means in public without regulated approval. If a new Symbol of Peace or hero team were able to convey not just a sense of protection to the populace, but also encourage ideas of redemption and understanding, I feel like that could go a long way in deterring villain groups from recruiting members who are apathetic to their causes and join mainly because they feel like there isn't a better option for support. Hell, I still think there's a decent chance that Twice could eventually defect from the League of Villains and join the heroes, but that all depends on how Shigaraki's growth and ethics proceed. And you can't tell me Horikoshi can't do these things when he's trying to make a freaking domestic abuser have a gradual redemption arc.
! Then there's whatever tragedy Shigaraki's backstory seems to involve where he seems to have been one of many unfortunate impoverished people neglected by society. Strongly hinted by hating how carefree and dependent on hero intervention everyone in the mall looked even though it only takes one villainous Quirk outburst to cause utter chaos. That kind of situation reminds me a lot about gun control issues and terrorism hysteria. That does not have an easy answer and may never be truly solved even by the end of the series. Which I would love because this series' societal issues has nuances and multiple compelling perspectives unlike how much of an obvious corrupt caricature the World Government is in One Piece. Personally, Shigaraki looked a bit too naively whiny here which is why I'm hoping he has a good reason for hero society being seriously flawed other than "THE HEROES NEVER NOTICED MY ISSUES AND ONLY MINE, I HATE THEM EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE JUST AS IMPERFECT AS EVRY HUMAN IS", and thus making Deku feel irrationally guilty just because he and his idol can't save every single distressed person in the country 24/7.
! Not to mention everything Stain brought up about hero commercialism and monetization, although that can be countered with the mindset that heroic monetization helps cultivate and sustain publicly accepted heroes. Along with how heroes doing it for the money without being jerks or committing crimes are still doing good work regardless, like Uraraka.
! All this being said, all of the regulations we've seen this far in the series have reasonable reasons for existing. They're not perfect, but they reflect a lot of what our laws pretty much are like right now. The government thus far, especially since it's mainly based off of Japan's government structure and reception which I remember CCC say is highly respected and obeyed there (sorry if that's way too crude of a generalization), so they're going to be portrayed as good willed but realistically flawed at best or neutrally gray at worst, and I'm leaning more towards the former given what we've seen of them so far.
! Asking Horikoshi to resolve all of these issues and hero society become a utopia by the end of the story is like asking him to figure out how to fix OUR world, so it's ridiculous to think that's going to happen lol. But there should be some big events, controversies, and changes by the end of the story to at least give all of this societal commentary proper payoff instead of only being arc fluff to sound deep in a moment without committing to them long-term. But that's what makes this story's future possibilities so much more exciting for me than the average predictable manga structure. We might, just MIGHT, get a final arc that's more creative than just the usual big old civil war between clear black-and-white a hero faction and villain faction to determine the fate of the world through might determining right. Although given how Horikoshi opted for Deku overcoming foresight through sheer willpower, probably the ultimate action-adventure shonen cliche, I can totally still see the civil war final arc with loads of 1v1 fights happening. lol Not that I would personally mind as long as there are interesting stakes and the final antagonists have proper depth.
! However, Horikoshi LOVES to have Deku disregard proper protocol to save the day and not get reasonably penalized for it. Deku is the one character that the manga keeps constantly acknowledging has no right to butt into people's problems and intervene instead of trained professionals, yet still paints him in an idealistic light. Oh sure, the manga always makes sure to have some side character like Aizawa chastise Deku's recklessness, likely to serve as pragmatic advisory to readers that Deku's actions are incredibly obnoxious and should almost never be attempted if you were in his position.
! But we all know better. The manga is still clearly idealizing Deku's selfless procedure again and again and again by having him successfully save and inspire people. Although Deku primarily gets away with this by inheriting a strong Quirk used by the greatest hero, I can't help but think Horikoshi wants to say that people should recklessly intervene in situations where they're the only person that can save the day. That the government should be more lenient with Quirk usage and heroes should inspire the populace to act more responsibly with their Quirks more. Which is easily disputable since Horikoshi also brings up strength being necessary, and trusting random civilians to defend themselves is very reckless. I think Gentle's flashback even showed how he screwed up by doing that. But that thought keeps coming back to me with how much plot-immunity Deku has.
! My only gripe about all of this is that all of these societal issues kind of just come and go in the manga. They aren't exactly recurrently focused on as central plot conflicts.
! The closest we got that was during Stain's arc, but that only lead to the League of Villains recruiting Stain zealous idealists and selfish opportunists. All that stuff about hero commercialism/monetization potentially being corrupt and how messed up it was for Endeavor to take the credit for Stain's capture vanished into thin air. Which does kind of make sense since these are very nuanced issues that don't have simple solutions and should take years to improve upon, let alone even convince the majority of the population that these issues even exist. And again, we're still quite early in this manga. He doesn't have to focus on that stuff every arc and can take breaks, I'm only worried about whether or not these aspects will actually come back.
! But I keep feeling like Horikoshi keeps pulling himself back from making this manga as morally grey and convoluted as it could be. Especially with the villains so far because Stain for all his philosophical credit is still clearly portrayed as an insane villain who inspires crazy people and Gentle has redeemability but was barely a villain to begin with. Maybe he's saving that depth for later on in the story when we're past the first year in U.A. or maybe U.A. altogether (I have my doubts that this series will go beyond the school since that's what makes this series' premise unique to begin with).
! Or maybe he actually can't commit to the convoluted scope of these issues that he's set up and is complacent with standard hero vs villain tales as the main focus. Which I can foresee given by the recent chapter where we're supposed to take the first One for All User's side over All for One even though the latter didn't do anything wrong and actually helped people in that specific chapter, and a meek guy who let go of his Quirk to support his parents suddenly goes to destroy a group of All for One dissenters with no reasonable build-up. All for One's totally going to be evil, don't get me wrong, but that chapter's tone and escalation felt pretty forced unless that was Horikoshi's subtle intention.So all in all… I still don't have a clear idea on where this manga is going lol. Aside from Deku being the best hero ever and overcoming fate with naive shonen willpower, which is the only disappointingly predictable thing about the series. And I don't know whether that's because of good or bad reasons yet when analyzing Horikoshi's writing patterns, but I'll still give him the benefit of the doubt for now lol.
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I measured these words, "Everyone loves the powerful" meaning that his power and what he could do to people to help them was as much his power of control and intimidation.
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Okay, I get it now. Those words have cliche connotations to them, but I understand. Regardless of whose ideology may be more correct, they've ultimately succeeded and failed based on who's stronger in both powers and resources.
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Oh, I get it, I put those two in the same quotations, they are two different ideals tho. My bad.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Also, I find the notion of "Oh, I happened to become the dark leader of the underworld because everyone that I give favors just loves me so much" hilarious.
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Horikoshi could have done a much better job on that front lol. Although he's obviously hiding a lot of the past too, so hopefully it all works out later on in the manga. Although I think even then it will still look a little ridiculous.
If All for One was cracking down on followers who accepted his deals like a loan shark, everything would make sense. But then that gives an easy out to paint him as obviously corrupt. So I'm really interested to see where Horikoshi goes with this.
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By the way, not sure if this counts as a spoiler, but the next chapter will consist of only 11 pages, so it will be a pretty short affair.
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So long as all eleven pages are about that mushroom girl, I'll be happy.
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Yikes, now I am really worried about Horikoshi. I wouldn't mind him switching to a break schedule like Oda, although he might not have that type of clout yet for all I know.
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It's fun to joke about Horikoshi playing too much Spider-Man but he does seem to put out short or rushed chapters relatively often. He definitely seems like the type that could be easily overworked.
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I like manga's quirk as a concept and as a power
I dislike his quirk (comicman, I am going with "him") as a quirk, because it is wildly outside the range of reality, it is not just sweat that explodes, or an afront to the laws of physics or thermodynamics for a simple effect like fire, ice or zero gravity.Interesting wins against consistent tho, and the manga itself wasn't consistent at all, just some heroes who lack the "required secondary powers" and have to adjust makes more interesting character development than super powerful quirks without consequences.
Well, maybe Manga runs out of ink now.I like the showcase of Class B quirks, I'll repeat myself, I want the whole gauntlet.
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I can't wait to see how Momo whoops that ass.
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Love me some metafictional instances.
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Wait til his quirk evolves to Act 3: Freeze
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Congrats, My Hero Academia. 200 chapters!
It's so nice to see it reach this stage, especially after what happened to Horikoshi's previous two manga. Poor Barrage never had a chance.
Also, "how would those onomatopoeias work in foreign countries?"
I feel like Horikoshi is asking that question to VIZ.
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I'm really loving this hot streak, Horikoshi! Let's keep it going!
Looking forward to a good Momo moment next time.
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Come on Hori, don't let class A win battles in succession. Let best girl Kendo shine.
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Shemage…I see what you did there Hori.
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Argh. Tournament arcs can be torture on a weekly basis lol. Especially in a scenario that isn't life and death or for a prize or punishment. It's very difficult to guess the author's intentions and desired outcome.
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If Class A wins this, then by the fault of the "last match is the tie break match" rule, both Todoroki and Bakugou teams will have to lose… either way I am sure Class B is getting two victories out of the initial fights.
That said, I am not really into this one for now. I don't know what it is, but I simply can't like Yaoyorozu... same for Iida, the both of them just annoy me too much. Hopefully the focus will shift to Hagakure and/or Aoyama before the match ends.
And I wonder how She Mage (HA!) passed the entrance exam if growing harmless mushrooms is all her quirk does.
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@.access:
And I wonder how She Mage (HA!) passed the entrance exam if growing harmless mushrooms is all her quirk does.
Probably the same way Mineta passed.