@Count:
Agreed.
Agreed.
I totally get what you mean. I just feel like that if it was going to be a five-page exam, it might as well have happened off-panel or in-between arcs than right in the middle of the flow of one. And that if a storyteller is willing to suddenly switch locations like that, that it should serve a purpose in the overall plot besides a character catching up to the rest of the main cast several arcs. But that's just me.
I can understand what you're suggesting. Todoroki, Inasa, and Bakugou seriously screwed up. And for such serious and irrational mistakes, the tone of their failure should not be optimistic. Horikoshi should have focused more on an emotional downfall to truly cement the impact of their reckless behavior's consequences for the reader's immersion. I agree with that.
That's how I always feel about him lol. But I get what you mean.
Possibly. Although I would prefer for Horikoshi to switch up the villains plans from pulling a THIRD invasion. At least not for another hundred chapters lol. With the students having provisional licenses now, the plot could move towards the villains showing up at other places besides school grounds.
Your last paragraph highlights the exact conflict I'm homing in on being interesting. The younger heroes looking at the inaction of their Pro-Hero peers wanting to obey the laws and let some sort of crime boss run loose, and feeling that they should take action (you know, impetuous youth and all of that. Just look at how they snuck in to save Bakugou at Kamino). But the Pro-Heroes can't, otherwise they would basically be similar to corrupt cops like you said. It's a question of if justice is found in following the ethics stipulated by the law or your own moral judgment, and which one is true justice.
Say that Pro-Heroes show up to help arrest a crime boss the police investigated about on their own and need help in case of potential violence. Then a few days later, there's unsubstantial evidence and that boss gets out. Even though the Pro-Heroes may have heard or seen enough about this guy to get a good idea that's a legitimate criminal (especially if they've got a friend like Tsukauchi). Something like that would be a decent conflict to explore if the kids somehow learn about it or witness it for themselves, or once they become Pro-Heroes themselves. Especially if such a crime boss character actually had connections to the League of Villains to tie back into the main plot, like the Broker or one of his black market associates.
Stain's issue was with heroes being heroes for the sake of a job and not pure selflessness without rewards. He detested the idea of adapting heroism into a government-sanctioned merit system. You're right about that. But that arc extended to Iida wanting to take revenge, which would go against Quirk and Pro-Hero regulations. Those regulations are a fundamental part of the society that Stain wants to destroy, regardless of if those are his specific ends or not. Stain's arc lead to themes of questioning the effectiveness of the overall hero occupation society and how All-Might stands as the pinnacle of that. The regulations are a major part of that, especially in how superheroes have to be approved and moderated. These regulations can get in the way of how heroes should function to their full capacity to certain perspectives. The functions and infrastructures of the hero society are all connected, is what I'm saying. Shigaraki himself even criticized the hero society in how the public and media unfairly judges heroes just for trying their best and sticking to the rules, highlighting how things have gotten so "strict and rigid" with hero work and approval. The rules of hero society are connected to the themes of Stain's ideology because they are what propel heroes to be a part of the merit/compensation system that he hates.
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So yes, it's a theme that should and probably will get explored later on in the franchise. A crime boss-esque character would be a great way to capitalize on that and test Pro-Heroes and students on if its okay to overstep the law.
I think this is where Midoriya's mind will really shine. Let's face it, this kid is a legit chessmaster. AFO was considered a crime boss with chessmaster intellect, so if Midoriya can't take down a crime boss through misdirections, sleights and intellectual traps, there's no way he can win if AFO ever gets out from prison.
So far, we have seen a good balance of the mind and body from Midoriya, but before we see his physical peak, we need to see the peak of his intellect. This kind of arc would be a good way to show that.