So, since a friend of mine linked me to this this thread and I see this "Oh, it's not political, stop saying this or that", I think this always comes from an extremely privileged mindset and also completely ignoring how a person's mindset can influence and impact a person's writing whenever something is written. J.K. Rowling's writing, for instance, is filled with anti-Semitism with how she describes the various elf like characters, as well as the stereo-types she employees here. There's a character which is "Trans" coded and not in a good way, and she focuses on how "grotesque" their "masculine" features are, which is absolutely not shocking given her political stance she has taken about LGBTQ+ issues on Twitter, including backpedaling a bit on her "Dumbledore is gay" stuff, as she refuses to explore it in her media.
While I understand this topic is mostly focusing on My Hero, I cannot like understate the importance of representation in media and how to portray characters. My Hero Academia, first-most, in Japan, is targeted towards Kids (it's an All Ages series airing late Afternoon, early evening, plus even some late night anime is targeted towards this demographic, but just has to rely on late slots due to not enough time slots). It airs next to Detective Conan, a show that their demographic goes all the way to pre-school level, notably with safety lesson videos and stuff, as well as shows for the pre-school audience. I still think these issues are important even in older targeted media, but it's especially true for stuff targeted towards All Ages.
When you have a core cast of male focused characters, as well as sexist and problematic traits in a series, it causes problems and "normalizes" certain behaviors. "Boys will be Boys" is something even is said in Japan to justify sexual harassment/assault with people in the classroom. There was a recent petition in Japan lead by men (with support by women), which goes into this a bit. The fact of the matter is, Kids see this behavior, and to them, it's normalized, and realize how they initially thought they could see the difference between "reality and fantasy", and as it turns out: They can't. Media is an extremely heavy influential piece that helps shape our views, for better or for worse. So promoting sexual assault as a joke, including spying on women's locker rooms, is normalized, and was a huge issue in Japanese schools from what I understood. It's why Mineta is a seriously problematic character and is in no way okay.
Getting into the whole issue: Seeing a Trans Character, who was fighting for their friends sake, as they were afraid to be out and open, and then just casually killed off, and only really shown characters took interest after their death, follows a long "trope" of "LGBTQ Characters Just Dying". This is more common with Trans characters, but as a whole, it's a problematic trope across all Queer characters in media. Queer characters just "can't have a happy ending", either due to being always alone, mental trauma, dying, and among issues, adding onto a lot of this tied into their orientation or gender identity. And then the character is just casually killed off, and to further add onto it, the treat the mis-gendering of them as a semi-joke afterwards.
Again, this stuff has consequences and is not a good thing to show kids who are struggling with their gender identity, especially with how kids as a whole don't have a lot of supports. "My Brother's Husband", though covers more the male gay side of things, explores how kids struggle with this in school and how they hate not being open about liking guys, or how they can't admit liking girlish things, and among other things. "Wandering Son" is also an extremely good series covering Trans issues, which depicts the cruelty and struggles Trans youth deal with in Japan, as well as the level of conformity they have to go through on top of social norms present in Japan. Both books hit hard on these issues and are, "Generally" positive on representing these issues.
My Hero, unfortunately, is not, and it's really unfortunate.
Look, I love My Hero, a lot. It does have some serious issues, though. That said, an author's view points, political views, etc., often come out hard on the work. Sometimes, it can be out of ignorance. Sometimes it's malicious. It's how I feel about One Piece nowadays with how freaking sexist and transphobic it has gotten, despite my love for it. Oda's views seemingly changed, and not for the better, and it's a freaking shame. It's also why I kinda wanna hope that the My Hero Academia author doesn't go down this rabbit hole, but there's been some concerning and potential worrying signs, notably the doctor's name that became a HUGE mess in Japan and China.
God, I hadn't logged in since forever and this was not the first post I expected to do here. But seriously, listen to LGBTQ+ and other minorities here when they take issue with the work and content in it. Nothing is above criticism. NOTHING. Especially if issues hit hard representing a community. I'm a Gay Cis Man, and honestly, it's always been so disappointing how many times the "EFFEMINATE MAN IS FUNNY, HAHA" jokes present in media just make my blood boil, and it's not something that I feel that is okay, at all. Especially as a gay man. I see it on the media here all the time, and it's definitely still a huge issue on Japanese media as well. This shit is NOT okay.
Ahem, back to the topic.
Yeah, this is not how you handle criticism. Walking away from a topic, while is still on topic, is not how you handle discussions like that. Me and Julie, two openly Queer members, are literally discussing how there are serious issues representing in My Hero, and how as a whole the media depicts and shapes people's views. It's still on topic, whether you like it or not.
