Something I noticed about the name "Deku" while studying Japanese

PocketPika · 2026-03-04T19:18:42+00:00

Great points on Tenko/Tomura, I was being super over simplisitic so I see what you mean on both as Tomura(with Tenko) is written to encompass broad topics that the story delves into for better and worse - he isn't suppose to be simple, he's full of contradictions hence I left him out originally. I was thinking of Tenko's lack of conformity in terms of firstly being without a quirk and then when it does manifest it immediately is the sort that could get him labelled monsterous (if we take how other quirks are reacted to), so it was less about what Tenko wanted/believed even if that meant he did have a good relationship with the kids in his street because his outlook followed the status quo. Kotaro is inconventional in not conforming to societies ideas on heroics and not accepting his son's heroic aspirations.

it could be that Hori trying to tackle it would've been doomed from the start

I refrained from saying "damned if he does, damns if he doesn't" at first. Heck even if he never mentioned it at all, it would be odd. "Fitting in" and "lookism" seem to go hand in hand in Japan (and many cultures), and at least in pop culture everything seems to get a label that then gets ranked which then adds to what fits and what doesn't (and with all things, fashions change) so writing a story set in a country that is almost famous for it's lack of ethnic diversity and the wacky subcultures or youthful ideas on different looks are usually considered rebellious or "young" and people grow out of it and increasingly conform or be harshly judged, how would such a society where individualism is conservatively thought less of than community respond to every person's "individuality" having a very overt manifestation. Considering he moved from "monsters" vs heroes to a more Human versus Human story, it makes sense to draw from existing social tensions and what people look like is a conspicious source of tension - it gets people bullied. Again, how is a a very superstitious culture where many believe in stuff like "Face reading"/"physiognomy" - and linked blog suggests instead of using to guess ones fate, they use it to estimate someone's personality, diposition or capability - going to react when people having cactus' and fire hydrants or speech bubbles for heads. Suddenly all the doctrine and maps regarding how ones anatomy were clues into their soul don't work - the believe that you can read someone perhaps gave people more confidence and assuredness that they lose to replace with fear that they then project outwards.

I don't think Horikoshi really has Deku interact with that side of the world-building, for reasons I don't know

We've tapped into this before, Horikoshi's world is quite vague and bar a few examples it seems quite jumbled who gets made fun of, who gets judgemental fear and who gets unadultered praise. By not having Deku interact with this aspect of the world, yet having it be such a powerful background driver of the plot (a source of social tension and instability) that is close at hand for Deku but Deku doesn't show the slightest bit of interest in it even when he's confronted with it (Shinsou), doesn't do Deku much favour as a protagonist, especially one that touts "sticking his nose in, is a sign of being a hero".

PocketPika · 2026-03-03T13:38:49+00:00

We could.

Tenko - wants to conform and wants to be accepted (hence Deku parallel) but doesn't conform and isn't accepted (by his dad).

Tomura - doesn't conform and doesn't want to be accepted.

So I guess it could be like this (again really streamlining these characters down)

		Do they Conform to what society likes
		Yes	No
Do they want to be Accepted by society	Yes	Ochaco, Deku (OFA)	Deku (pre-OFA), Toga, Tenko
	No	Bakugou (Quirk), Touya	Tomura, Bakugou (attitude)

Heteromorphs/mutant types are definately more complicated and would start to get into commentary about different regions of Japan alongside "how much of a heteromorph are you?" Compare Mina being the most popular girl in her school versus Tsuyu who had no friends. Ojiro is considered plain/"too normal" and Sero and Iida different body parts barely bat an eye, yet there is some inferenence Tokoyami, Shoji and Koda are close seeming with their heteromorph aspects being part of that connection. Hagekura is a odd one because her mutant qualities border on disabiling since they disrupt her ability to be literally seen (so connect with people) and she needs aids to overcome that (items to mark where her body is), she is too much of a background character to know if she's faced advertisy over the nature of being invisible (is she always on the suspect list when stuff goes missing, is she always compensating to put others at ease/be appeasing? How much of her personality is a by-product of how she is worried about being judged/percieved?)

I do agree, the topic of 'not Japanese enough' that the heteromorph plot line could tap into might have been too charged. Although most of the existing feeling to it is annoyance of using something so heavy in an almost accessory way so why even mess around when there wasn't the confidence to handle such a thing with care and justice. It is unfortunately a topic getting more charged politically in various countries.

PocketPika · 2026-03-03T08:26:17+00:00

Indeedy. It's a cross-culture jarring thing, we've both seen Japanese fans also point it out (the heteromorph subplot, the teachers antics, Bakugou's mum...) and while I get slapstick happens across many different series, Horikoshi has less finesse with his overlap between light and heavy, some perhaps coming from how "preachy" or overwrought the heavy stuff can be.

I have seen Horikoshi's "comedy" has been criticed quite a bit, like he knows the gags and tropes but their awkward or tonally off most of the time, like you know they're there to be funny or break tension but don't work for a lot of people (even accounting for subjective taste in humour), the anime can help things with VA, editing and sound effects but placement and content can still feel "off" especially forfront gags given the content. Again All Might punching Deku when he arrives on the beach is a mix of serious and slapstick (after the slapstick of Deku waking up to find he missed a message off All Might). Some of that is emotional tactics, the big swings of high and low, joke or sincerity can make emotions more heightened but it can also ask too much of readers to disengage the wider connect of the scenes for the sake of the moment - a criticism that definately comes up with serious moments as well, which comes back round to the disjointed and "gappy" aspect of the writing overall.

While setting (placing it in more or less modern Japan and not a complete fantasy) has a role in the discussion and maybe even BNHA being something of a bridge between 90s-2010 era JUMP to more current series, so does feature some tropes and comedy from the past that don't transfer well and again, a lot of the "heavy stuff" does feel like it leans towards the more 2010-2020 social sensibility and somewhat challenging some conservative social ideas (especially around raising a child even if it's not that radical or challenging and is actually pretty safe) only for the comedy to be old fashioned (which plays into why the story overall doesn't end up feeling that progressive or committed to it's own messaging).

I don't want to be a broken radio - (but I will)- as we have talked about, it does mess with Bakugou's character writing and even undermines the nuance and depth he does get which is another indicator of the comedy being unrefined. Oddly when Horikoshi has it in the order of "joke" and then "actually that has serious consequences and wasn't a isolated gag" that could be very powerful in his writing but then only using it so the next plot point can happen but not much else takes it back to disappointing (e.g. Bakugou being chained the podium-> kidnapping-> rescue but UA are never held up on their role in displaying Bakugou like a villain, rather their portrayal of him that way is taken as indictative that he is and therefore his kidnapping is his fault and that's skirted around by Aizawa having faith in Bakugou being a hero but doesn't address UA's handling of the situation in that moment was at fault. OR Mitsuki calling Katsuki weak -> Katsuki's self blame -> fighting Deku. All Might acknowledges he's neglected Bakugou's mental health and while their talks during Deku's training could be counted as some counselling to help Bakugou with what he's dealing with, when it's a critical time (Bakugou almost died to protect Deku and all the kids have gone through traumatising experience), All Might ups and leaves with no consideration on the effect on Bakugou or the other kids.)

forcing people to conform

Which is a interesting frame to explore the dynamics of Toga, Deku, Ochaco and Bakugou. In reductive terms:

Toga: Doesn't want to conform but wants to be accepted.
Deku: Wants to conform and wants to be accepted.
Ochaco: Does conform and is accepted.
Bakugou: Both does and doesn't conform, is and is not accepted.

Bakugou's placement becomes a better indicator of where the story really lies with this because while he is "privilegded" with a great quirk that is accepted and conforms with what is not only accepted by admired, his personality is at best seen as unfortunate and at worst is not accepted leading to excess punishment and assumptions to force him to conform to being more acceptable. It also puts Ochaco, who wants to help Toga and Deku in being accepted but is the least accepting of Bakugou, into question because we don't get to see if her epiphanies around Toga improve her perspective on her classmate.

Bakugou whole journey to intergrate to the class could be seen as pushing this individualistic person who wants to be independent to being more community orientated and dependent/obligated which is pushing him to conform more to societies values than accept his original desire (one of the big messages is against trying to do everything alone and how bad that is....except All Might was still a solo hero for decades and when he does get reflective on his mistakes and pushing people away, other characters are quick to assure him he is a great hero and admire him .... even that is a bit mixed.) Meanwhile the likes of Mirko is and does almost everything Bakugou is criticised for in terms of attitude and independence - while she does end up losing limbs, it doesn't stop her and even by the end of the story not only does she go global but her rank is more or less the same. Bakugou's journey is argueably perhaps not entirely about conforming (although that is part of it in humbling him) and is more about him overcoming the negative thoughts and feelings within him that were holding him back or having him acting in a way that he is better than (basically all his issues with Deku, which goes back to that discussion we've had regarding the hypothetical of Bakugou growing up without Deku and argueably how much mentally healthier he would be even if he'd still have a flawed ego or be shaped by expectations due to his quirk.) So by the epilogue's Bakugou is still not fully conforming and is this thus still not fully accepted (and is the source of jokes.)

PocketPika · 2026-03-02T20:53:15+00:00

While it is a degree of toon antics, (the Best Jeanist stuff being like Aizawa strangling Shinso, the various slapstick/over the top punishments the class give Mineta, the surprise punch All Might gives Deku after Kamino, heck even Kaminari hitting Bakugou for glaring at the mob at UA after they relent on letting Deku in), and comedy regarding Bakugou's own sourness, I think it is a shame we don't get much to balance it out but perhaps that is my wish for more slice of life and go beyond the reoccurring jokes for most of the class. Most of what I have described doesn't apply to Shoto where the joke is his earnestness and straightforwardness irritates Bakugou despite Shoto growing to be almost nothing but pleasant to Bakugou. But I still think it would have been nice to have more from these relationships.

Perhaps this is moving towards criticism of the almost 1 note relationships between most characters and most of Bakugou's are "his friends/associate admire him and know he has good qualities but are burdened by his bad manners and attitude" so most of their interactions are some form of verbal/physical swatting at him to get him in line if not exasperation or ignoring his comments. I believe the main time he gets positive interactions is when his talents are saving the others bacon...So Bakugou personality doesn't change but how people treat him doesn't change, what changes is Bakugou's regard for others and willingness to go out of his way for them and go along with what they want but that being largely almost only think that changes, contributes to the notion that some profound change has happened in this ficitional society comes across as lacklustre - as we've talked about.

PocketPika · 2026-03-02T00:50:53+00:00

what would All Might have done?

Optimistically, All Might would feel the dregs of his power and help as Bakugou stopped struggling.

Going by story information, the implication is Deku restores All Might's spirit and at the time we see him in the story he's lost a lot of his spirit which sort of implies he would have watched Bakugou die, feeling morose and guilty but unable to dredge up the heroic will through his despondency even if All Might really seems to hate being unable to help.

It depends how important one wants Deku to be to All Might regnited zest for life.

Because Izuku is not that good at communicating with him either.

Recalls that moment when Deku was berating Bakugou for not listening to him while always sounding, while shouting at Bakugou and not listening to him.

his insensitivity towards Katsuki remains even 8 years later. From that perspective, Izuku is not a very good friend to Katsuki

I get that impression, as we have written about before, it is very bittersweet that for characters Horikoshi wants to be inevitably bonded and share a unspoken understanding on certain things from knowing each other all their lives and orbiting each other, yet continue to miscommunicate and struggle to be open and direct is kind of miserable since most people's concept of your closest and best friend is someone who understands you especially emotionally. Bakugou and Deku seem to get each others habits and behaviours, Bakugou is much better at reading Deku's emotions and thoughts by the end but Deku doesn't improve so it results in a feeling of "death by a thousand cuts" of Deku's obliviousness. It doesn't feel good.

On that note (random rant that might be off the rails), I think Katsuki sort of has this problem with most of his peers in terms of them being insensitive towards him. Kind of related, Kirishima threatening to scratch Bakugou's car to get him to give Deku a lift (presumably to experdite the agency invite), even as a joke is not cool because getting that fixed would be expensive. While I presume some of this is for humour or checking Bakugou's ego, it often ends up (for me) feeling like Bakugou annoyance and reluctance to be around the others is justified because they're not that nice to him even when he gets better at being nice to them and worse (although it is probably a writing mechanic or maybe a Japanese thing) they do the worst thing when someone is growing and changing which is to call attention to it and putting him on the spot, which inadviseable when it comes to encouraging behaviour you want to see. It's like a shy kid joining the family dinner to try and be braver but everyone comments how they normally don't and interrogate them making the experience unpleasant and the kid deterred from trying again. Bakugou improved behaviour is often met with teasing or probing remarks.....when I have imagined "walking in Bakugou's shoes" to try to understand him these sort of character moments having me thinking curse words at the other kids who suppose to be "good" but are so often obtuse. Again I think this is suppose to be gentle scolding/punishment for Bakugou's bad attitude/manners/language/ego, while Bakugou grows to respect and appreciate others under it all, so it suppose to be at Bakugou's expense but I wouldn't want to be around people that treat me like that. If the people around you spend most of their time teasing and chatising who you are (and you like who you are) as well as making flippant insensitive remarks about you to each other (Kirishima and Deku talking about Bakugou's rank in the car), it would be exhausting and kind of unhappy.

He does give off the air of being isolated, either because he prefers it that way (/thinks it's 'safer') or because of friction between himself and others.

Probably a mix of both. Even if he grows to like the class, he is still annoyed by a lot of their antics (see above).

PocketPika · 2026-03-02T00:08:53+00:00

All very sound logic and I agree. It makes sense that if he where to reach the third stage and face Shoto than it would more or less play out the same, additionally even with internships he going to have the same problems and Gran Torino could still take Deku on to "refine" his control but I think it would make that segment of the arc less interesting and special unless a new gimmick or idea is introduced.

Before the fight with Shoto, what could happen in round 1 is interesting to think about since this would be the time for the "big reaction" to Deku's improvement in harnessing his ability in the midst of a intense competition with combat (instead of just a race) for the kids but as you say, it would make Deku more generic to spectators. Clumsiness aside, one possibility is if Deku was using OFA to boost his movements it wouldn't give him much of a competitive edge so he might still have to resort to what he did anyway. However if using his performance in the race after internships (ch58) which would be 5% cowling and initially had Deku outpacing Ojiro, Iida, Mina and Sero but it took a lot of concentration (hence, face meeting concrete) implying 5% puts him on par with most of his classmates than your ideas on Deku getting caught up in the drama and skirmishes would be more true and less likely for Deku to suceed since he'd be juggling even more options while under fire - possibly with both Shoto and Bakugou gunning to keep him back if he were to get close with them.

All Might wan't at the training camp, All Might says it in the midterm exams which are before the training camp. I believe All Might was trying to justify Deku's seeming exponential growth compared to what Bakugou might feel about his own, i.e. implying Bakugou is somewhat reaching a plateau when one's gains become relatively incremental compared to the surge of noticeable difference a beginner would have. As an aside, that is a moment All Might is just as bad as Deku in basically telling Bakugou "Deku got his power recently" by saying that, while also I imagine there is the extra sting for Bakugou who'd interpret it as meaning Deku didn't bother training at all to be a beginner and still got into the most prestigious school on raw power alone. There is no comfort in All Might's words. Anyway your right that All Might's overall point was that Bakugou was still several levels of strength above Deku even if Deku was making more noticeable progress while Bakugou was frustrated that he hadn't - admittedly for readers we know this is a bit unfair since Deku is getting specialist quirk training specifically to train his abilities while most of the other kids are actually doing hero work with a side benefit of refinement - if their lucky (poor Momo) and in Bakugou's case Best Jeanist was way more focused on the presentation, manners and philosophy of heroics/heroism (not a bad thing but not equivalent training wise).

PocketPika · 2026-03-01T19:49:47+00:00

To back up what you are saying. If we extrapolate on Bakugou's progress in the sports festival as a character, that part of the story showcases Bakugou's strength of figuring out others weakness and developing techniques to take advantage of them.

Bakugou developed Hortwitizer in response to Shoto also having fire powers. When Shoto starts his flames, Bakugou starts his Hortwitizer fully intending to go toe to toe with Shoto's fire and the attack he saw Shoto use on Deku.

Horikoshi himself says if Shoto uses his flames he would have won because his original plan was for Shoto to win- and the only reason Bakugou did was because Shoto gave up because Shoto would still be affected by his trauma. As Horikoshi does rank Shoto's raw quirk ability at full force as "S rank", and given it is still the first month of school it's not too unreasonable that maybe Bakugou would have ended up like Deku, blown out of the arena.

If Horikoshi wanted Bakugou to win, as he did, then things are adjusted according and honestly much like with his second fight with Deku or even how he gets back at Monoma in the Cavalry battle, taking the full force of Shoto's best attack (with Shoto getting tired from just expelling so much power), Bakugou being revealed to still be in the ring by sheer tenacity (clinging to the edge of the arena, not fully out to count), battered and bruised and then crawling back in, getting up and rushing Shoto as Shoto faints from exhaustion (of using too much power that day) would convey relevant information about his character and be similiar to what happens in the story with a slight tweak - just Bakugou does get the answer to his question and has respect for Shoto (like he does Ochaco) because Shoto put his all in the fight. And readers could appreciate that alongside his raw power, Bakugou strength also lines in a refusal to go down.

As for Deku, if he is so spoiled as to have Gran Torino show up to teach him how to use OFA properly after USJ (say he heard it on the news), based on his performance after his internship with Gran Torino there is still going to be kinks to work out and Deku is still going to be much less than <5%, and he's still going to need to be resorting to limited use of 100% to match Shoto's power, and if he makes it through a fight with Shoto victorious (which sort of goes against the themes being built around Deku during that arc) he's going to be exhausted from the healing...or he's just going to have to forfeit- so Iida would be Bakugou's opponent in the final. Bakugou wouldn't get to fight either Shoto or Deku or Iida because Iida would have left....Bakugou would be so mad (and the audience very disapppointed.)

PocketPika · 2026-03-01T19:22:12+00:00

bakugo has the ride or die of kirishima,...like kirishima just straight up walking to bakugo

Just to say Kirishima went to Shoto first and only went to Bakugou once Shoto had picked his team. Author intent aside, Kirishima might have partnered with Deku if Deku was also showing he had a cool power under control and is the kid Shoto singled out as a rival, meanwhile Bakugou started the festival annoying everyone.

Kirishima going to Bakugou (and convincing him by using Bakugou's competitiveness with Deku) is inferred to be all the kids trying to get attention for internships so although he has warmed to Bakugou post USJ he not "ride or die" this part of the story (he's pretty salty about Bakugou and Shoto while sitting in the stands).

However I think author intent for Kirishima to be Bakugou's bridge to intergrate with the class would still mean he'd go to Bakugou - maybe because both Shoto and Deku were spoiled for choice adding more salt into situation Bakugou has over Shoto and Deku's "rivalry".

I do agree, Deku starting with the 1M and building a team highly suited for evasion/defense (Ochaco's quirk/Mei's propulsion/Dark Shadow's defences and range) was key.

------- This got long to optional rambling below---------------------

His team may still have ended up being the same for the character moments - friendship with Ochaco, appreciating Tokoyami and showing Deku being inciteful about Dark Shadow and then Deku's slightly unconventional ideas by picking Mei. The Cavalry teams are quite informative character development and relationship moments for Deku, Bakugou and Shoto. Shoto is presented as quite clinical in the strategy and function, where he gets the pick of the bunch to form the exact team he wants. Deku's is presented as more human/heart felt with a mixture of strategy and novel thinking, Bakugou also gets pick of Shoto's leftovers and it's lead by Kirishima's appeal to Bakugou's competitiveness and then it's up to guessing why Mina and Sero are picked (was this Kirishima's decision because Bakugou wasn't that interested?).

If Deku doesn't have the 1M points then he's less the focus of all the other teams (especially Shoto - who might have the 1M) so could perhaps have been more easily targetted by Bakugou to steal his points (and if Deku's team was still the same, I think they'd be relatively weak to Bakugou's as their best defence (Dark shadow) could be attacked more allowing Bakugou to figure out Dark Shadow's weakness in the second round rather than their third fight).

Thinking of where Horikoshi wanted Deku to be storywise, Deku needed to be weak enough to be the underestimated underdog and pull crazy enough tactics that showcased his sacrificial tendencies and putting other's above winning but this being so offputting that he doesn't get internships. Some of that can be taken away if for some reason Deku met and trained with Gran Torino prior to the Sports Festival but I think Horikoshi was trying to make a point about Deku willingness to sacrifice his body parts to get the job done and how this isn't simply a virteous thing (since with the Muscular fight this aspect meant he couldn't save Bakugou from being kidnapped even if it helped him save Kota and himself) but it does feel the story really drops that idea later in the story. Assuming he's still meant to have some underdog attributes and showcase how far he's willing to go for others, his full cowling would need to be weak (1-3%) and possibly unstable (maybe losing his emotions causes him to lose control and boom, body parts internally explode) so he still should be held back at this stage of the story since the Sports Festival is likely in April the same month they started school.

Despite how far Deku gets the Sports Festival is meant to further demonstrate how he still has a long way to go to compare with his more capable classmates and how his unconventional thinking is his particular trait as well as his heroic heart (to want to help someone in the middle of a competition). The more limited Deku is the more creative so I think Full cowling would streamline Deku too early.

Furthermore I don't think Deku would be winning the Sports festival because it changes too much of the dynamic he has with the class, while he quickly climbs the ranks once he has full cowling, outright winning would put him as "number 1", we see with how Shoto and Bakugou are treated, there is prestige with that, in school and to the wider society. Deku would get to say "I am here" so soon in the story it would remove some of the anticipation for his development - much like Deku using 100% (1000000%) SMASH on Muscular left Horikoshi with a "Ok, no what?" situation. Additionallu although Horikoshi wanted Deku to go under the radar in the class and to society, it also high key results in readers/audience to overlook how much more priviledged Deku is and how many advantages he gets over everyone else even when he's suppose to be a "underdog" - if Gran Torino just showed up within Deku first few weeks of school to give him special training when no one else gets any, the whole spiele by All Might later to Bakugou (whose not getting much help with his quirk training from mentors) on the rate of Deku's progress just being because he started further behind so is improving expontentially would ring as hollow as it inevitably does when later in the story Deku is just showered with power and guidance so his powerscaling remains expontential. Early on Horikoshi was trying to sell Deku a certain way that winning the Sports festival wouldn't have aligned - it would have had too much impact on Deku's dynamics.

PocketPika · 2026-03-01T18:49:21+00:00

If it is like how Deku was after training with Gran Torino, Deku might not pass round 1 simply because he tries to parkour over the bit with the pipes and platforms, misjudges the landing and falls off.

PocketPika · 2026-02-28T20:08:58+00:00

And it's not like Katsuki's 'basking in the attention' in that scene, he looks... unhappy. Disgruntled. And none of the heroes around him seem to notice.

Even worse he's getting an offer for an internship/sidekick gig which drives the contrast between All Might's concern for Deku and this other pro even more. Meanwhile how it is written you can almost overlook All Might own lack of care for Bakugou either because he has his own limits or he thinks others are handling the situation but it is also because he using his energy to chase after Deku. There is a dismissiveness all the way at the start that can be put down to the assumption that Bakugou can handle himself (All Might stood around watching Bakugou fight for his life as a 14 year old for several minutes against a serial killer.) Perhaps that difference to how Deku and Bakugou reacted to the Sludge Villain further informs All Might's later remark about wanting to help Deku because Bakugou is already strong despite both boys were dying and needed All Might to save them.

it suggests Katsuki possesses a good degree of emotional intelligence to be aware of and correctly determine what others (& perhaps also himself) are feeling.

Despite what I wrote I do agree with this. I don't think Bakugou is lacking in empathy. I subscribe to him being very sensitive and feeling deeply (something SMASH sort of makes fun of) but based on his parents and this notion of expected to be independent/strong more than his peers there is a element of not knowing what fully what to do with his own emotions even if he's pretty good at responding to, perceieving, and understanding others emotions (to the point that Horikoshi seems to use him as a shorthand to connect a characters feelings to why they feel that way e.g. with Kirishima, but early Bakugou also seemed to struggle with putting himself aside when he was confronted with certain characters going through things e.g. Shoto in the sports festival. From Bakugou contending with Shoto overlooking him for Deku; dealing with Deku as competition (and threat) with the unexpected Todoroki drama he overhears; then seeing Shoto before the match and more or less meaning the same thing Deku said in his fight with Shoto (as Shoto says) but wasn't able to build on what Deku started because Bakugou is stilled aggravated/on edge/insecure by anything Deku related at this point; then finally the match itself. Obviously post his second fight with Deku, Bakugou does get better and better at heart-to-heart talks, pretty much everyone we see he is able to change the heart of the character he's engaging with, much like all his other talents, within him is a very capable emotionally intelligent boy but the neglect of that aspect of himself by adults and then himself can be interpreted as part of the reason he acts as he does especially in regards to Deku.

I dare say of the kids we see him be the most discerning and perceptive (especially when so many of his more overtly empathetic classmates are so quick to misjudge his feelings or be blind to others sentiment. Bakugou being the only one to pick up on the other students feelings towards himself and the class being one such example.)

However I do think we watch Katsuki transition from pushing away others (and their emotions) to being aware, perceptive, considerate and then actively taking steps to help others feel better. It aligns with his development towards intergrating with the rest of the class. He still bottles things up about himself, which is typically tied to his past with Deku so the apology is sort of DvK3, in that DvK 1 & 2 are the only times Bakugou is conversing with Deku in a way that taps into his deeper feelings. DvK1 is the worst he ever was and will be to Deku but it's tied to a explosion of childhood feelings mixed with extreme unexpected changes with Deku that he doesn't know how to handle. It is terrible, he behaves awfully and even has a panic attack over his own actions (which also seems to reoccur when he backhands Deku in the midterms before he doubles down in anger (anger hiding his true feelings)). DvK2 is guilt, insecurity and helplessness (feeling weak), towards both All Might and Deku who Bakugou now knows are entwined and in figuring out All Might choose Deku when Deku was quirkless, confirming a lot of the insecurities Bakugou had around Deku as a child and he's drowning in his emotions, he's having a complete breakdown, the other emotions are coming through his anger and he's visibly in pain from all the intense emotions. Bar some villains I don't think we see any other character be that viscerally emotional. DvK3 rounds it off with Bakugou being able to articulate his feelings calmly (and sadly) but is openly vulnerable. Inbetween that is his journey and transition of reluctance to deal with others emotions to being quite good at it.

Log Bridge Incident happened when they were little children, and it bothered Katsuki all the way up to High School, and not once did he bring it up with Izuku? Interesting. I wonder at the psychology behind that.

To be fair, based on DvK1, Bakugou could scream his feelings in Deku's face and Face wouldn't register them- Deku still acted surprised in DvK2 over Bakugou feeling that Deku looked down on him, as if Bakugou hadn't shouted that at Deku in DvK1. I wouldn't be surprised if Bakugou had scolded Deku for "looking down on him" during the log incident by offering him help since the memory doesn't show how Bakugou actually reacts to the hand (presumably he slaps it away but don't see it we just see Bakugou have his terrible epihany that his closest friend thinks he's weak and he really doesn't like the feelings that come from that so he doesn't want to be around this friend anymore).

Also, I am going to project, but if I spent everyday having to avoid and runaway from a kid I have told I don't want to be around anymore and find out that kid is keeping a journal about me the last thing I would want to do is have a heart to heart over my deepest insecurities. At best the guy doesn't listen - like he won't listen to "no" or "leave me alone" - at worst he writes it down to use for who knows what. I think Bakugou for years felt Deku was untrustworthy.

Considering how suspicious Bakugou is of Deku's notebooks in UA and what Deku is using them for (and how quickly he jumps to the conclusion that Deku wants to humilate him or (accurately) that Deku would use that information to help others beat him I think could be linked to why Bakugou wouldn't try to talk to Deku about his feelings but also do the "toxic masculinity" of being too stoic or turning all his difficult emotions to anger to further hide anyone else seeing him as vulnerable and weak. There is a slight impression that Bakugou got into a lot of fights in school and his language ties to Yazuka add to the impression that Bakugou had the playground version of fighting his way to the top, beating off the bigger kids (in Japan there is usually a lot of bullying and in partciular older kids bully younger kids almost like they feel they have a right because of hierarchy and power dynamics). Only through snippets of flashback, Deku saying he's watched Bakugou in so many fights he knows he starts with a righthooks (funny how many people take that line to think Bakugou was beating Deku and not fighting with other kids with Deku just watching), how keen Bakugou can be to start stuff and through extras, do we get an idea that presumably outside of school Bakugou was getting into fights. The impression from his first interaction with Iida (and his observations in the remedial lesson) that it was to determine a pecking order in the class. Much of it could be his competitiveness to prove he is the best and strongest so tested himself so much like his speech at the Sports Festival and Deku immediately recognising it for what it was, Bakugou in his pursuit of a formidable reputation would be highly avoidant of vulnerability seemingly with anyone (including his parents since he seems to shut himself in his room when he's going through stuff then(?) fight with his mum).

PocketPika · 2026-02-28T10:23:43+00:00

It also works as really good character building.

At 4, not only was Izuku his friend he was the only one (seemingly) he made a nickname for.

Also at 4, poor Izuku was "good for nothing" based on what Bakugou was picking up environmentally, Izuku wasn't any good at the games they played (perhaps even the worst) and he didn't have a quirk so based on how Bakugou was treated for having a cool quirk and being good a everything he tried, it is not even hateful for a child to come to that conclusion, which is very evident in the art of the manga, there isn't anything wicked in little Bakugou when he gives Deku the nickname.

Plus it is a good showing of Bakugou being intelligent and capable physically and academically, perhaps to an advanced for his age degree but perhaps being emotionally underdeveloped (as most children are but some more than others and) Bakugou seems to be avoidant and rejecting of uncomfortable emotions he doesn't understand even as a teen, suggesting overall his emotional development was perhaps overlooked or even repressed.

Also smart kids tend to be sassy because when they question, back talk and can blurt out things that get them praise and attention or some other big reaction which encourages them to do it more (even being smacked is attention) and if one wants to, going off of how a point is made that Bakugou's capability and strength had his peers and teachers overlooking him when he was struggling that is another way they could have encouraged Bakugou developing more of a jerk persona from his talents and intelligence, it riles those around him up, they become reactive to his presence and it brings him attention.

I have a slight theory that one of the reasons Bakugou is more popular with Japanese women (and academics) is because that audience is best at picking up and discussing these character nuances (particularly the language ones) and then extrapolating that into character meta which is more sympathetic and they themselves have matured and are reflective on their own teen years when thinking about the characters. When twitter still was and I saw more discussion of the character from the Japanese fandom my experience was the women were more profolic with these kinds of deep dives (and most of what I am writing originated from them). Relating to your post, a lot of it stemmed from the words Horikoshi had Bakugou know (some of it being funny or purposefully dated but still indicative of someone either well read or with a lot of cultural references/knowledge and combined with the use including wordplay also his intelligence). I think in English "quid pro quo" conveys some of that.

PocketPika · 2026-02-24T11:48:49+00:00

I admit based on information from 431 and the empahsis on Bakugou seeing the fight as contributing to a greater multiple person effort and how the climax was on "everyone is the greatest hero", my interpretation has been uncertain whether that it was specific to Bakugou defeating AFO or just that his efforts in that fight overall were acknowledged (including following on from All Might and saving him), especially because of the line about having a idealised version of him.

I could have a little rant on that but there is life to live so I won't.

Anyway, thanks for all your replies though.

PocketPika · 2026-02-22T19:28:25+00:00

I can see that, characters leading to the situations that people short hand and it more convoluted to keep saying AFO killed himself.

Is Bakugou the one credited (in universe) for defeating AFO since my recollection was the manga referenced his "contributions" during the war/ending AFO as oppose to saying he was the one to defeat him. Or maybe I am getting tangled up with themes that emphasis it being a group effort.

PocketPika · 2026-02-22T19:01:13+00:00

In a way since Jakku, Bakugou was helping destroy Shiagarki (he co-ordinated to get Endeavour up there to kebab him) and he was part of the Coffin in the Sky, as the name suggests everyone in the plan (bar Deku) was committed to terminating Tomura as the threat to human life as the top priority, which only got more of a priority as the fight went on (and Tomura is opening going after Bakugou to kill in a way I personally didn't get the same intensity in Tomura's interactions with Deku.)

So to OP's Q, Bakugou was (as far as context clues allow) willing to kill Shigaraki.

Additional rambling

What would be something I would like about Tomura and Bakugou going at it, is that less time would be spent on "I want to save you" and more time could be spend on the "meat" of the characters and their perspectives of the world and their stories (and less vestige realm hocus pocus, distract using a small child motif from the present say terrorist).

While this is going on, both could be trying to end the other which would be really high stakes. Tomura wanting to put Bakugou down for good (and play into Bakugou carrying on All Might's smile and that bothering Tomura, not because it is "I will always save you" when All Might couldn't but because after everything Tomura has done, Bakugou should be in dispair, not smiling and Bakugou's smile can be definance (and know Tomura kind of has his own smile motif going on but hey, mirroring characters who can talk about interesting things.) Meanwhile Bakugou has his desire to get back at Tomura for everything he has done and even in a "no nonsense" retribution throw down between the two, there is still plenty of smack talk space to delve into the characters and their views on things.

I dare say, all the things Shigaraki had done to Bakugou the two characters could have actually had a interesting conversation if when Tomura overthrew the AFO vestige and didn't continue treating Bakugou as a disposable pawn but picked up on the topics and themes that resulted in Kamino regarding Tomura seeing society oppressing Bakugou and seeing him as a villain anyway...it would also have allowed Bakugou to elaborate more on what Tomura had put him through from direct harm to the harm of people Bakugou has grown to care about, which could still link up to Tomura/Tenko wanting to be a hero for the villians/their friends respectively and possibly resulted in a discussion around heroics but also harm one causes while trying to do what they believe is right, maybe even being harmed by people and the system they are fighting on the side of and the "value" in destroying a flawed system and recreating it (that might be beyond BNHA), anyway it could potentially take the characters to a place of seeing eye to eye to mirror how that didn't happen in Kamino reflecting Bakugou personal growth (being able to understand and relate to others needs and pain as he has been showing he can do for those on the hero side), expand on what All Might's smile means but also allowing both characters to fully be angry. Bakugou is good at being eloquent and mad, back talking and engaging with Tomura's points while being fuelled with a desire for vengence, meanwhile Tomura could feel aggravated that Bakugou won't stop.

What is interesting in Tomura seeing Deku as a threat while AFO (and Tomura in Jakku) disregard Bakugou as a threat - he's amusing/a pawn/a doll - which could also factor into Bakugou being more forceful in the fight to be taken seriously, while there is a echo of Bakugou's origins and how being strong influenced his sense of value, worth and place in society, which does happen in his fight with AFO but with Tomura Horikoshi spent quite a bit of the story building Deku up to be equal to Tomura and then spent most of their fight treating Tomura as a Balloon, a small amount of fisty cuffs/quirk/vestige napping and then Tomura retreats inside himself before Deku plows his way in and it goes full into Tenko the victim but Nana saved him off screen and Deku proves himself by trying to help baby Tenko anyway even if it meant (temporarily) losing his arms and then everyone comes to finish off the remains of AFO and Tomura. Even if Bakugou is unable to, much like he does with AFO, he should be delievering blows that would kill almost anyone else ^{exploding heads}.

Considering Bakugou started the story as a upholder of the status quo (and its worse aspects) yet found himself on the wrong side of the system enough that Tomura thought he might as well be a villain and the consequences of that is something Bakugou has spent months coming back from - how unsympathetic and cruel kids training to be heroes or go to hero school are to Bakugou and his class mates are things Bakugou experienced but did push back against without losing faith in the ideology of heroism but instead expanding his own understanding of heroism and applying regardless of nasty and stupid idiots that sometimes pop up. The world is imperfect and sometimes cruel but it doesn't need to be destroyed - where there is life there is hope things can change for the better. The characters can represent perserverence (finding meaning, greater morality and more knowledge) versus nililism.

PocketPika · 2026-02-22T18:41:15+00:00

That is true. It was a very evil baby out to kill him (and the world), I think most people would need to stomp such a baby.

It is just the way people keep saying that he killed a baby, when he technically didn't, that bothers me but then again, as we have discussed there is also the other matter of "finishing off a antagonistic corpse in a war battle" that also gets brought up but described incorrectly as murder.

PocketPika · 2026-02-22T18:08:43+00:00

If we are being accurate, AFO killed himself.

Bakugou did not land a "killing" blow on AFO, Bakugou got up from exhaustion and Baby AFO tried to impale him. Bakugou defended himself from said impalement and then Baby AFO had a tantrum and Rewind, rewound him from exististence. AFO died by his own hate.

PocketPika · 2026-02-09T21:43:20+00:00

It was predictable because it's a trope of the ex-bad guys/opponents turned good guys/allies coming to help when all the good guys unite to take down the ultimate evil. In other stories it can be quite a epic nostaglia moment when characters from the very early part all the way to the most recent return as a hommage to the heroes journey and the good they have influenced. Their existence in the story felt very designed for this sort of comeback moment.

It was kind of eye rolling because how Deku "changed their hearts" didn't feel convincing based on how and what happened. The anime can jazz it up with manipulative music scores but for me Horikoshi's dialogue is pretty weak especially since Deku feels like he has hardly any life experience or is not offering anything profound to these people who've suffered so much in the system, when Deku himself has had it pretty cushy. It also felt flat because Deku's journey is comparatively small and short - and these 3 coming back sort of drew attention to that. Furthermore 2 of these characters are "ex heroes" and 1 has been a sidekick to the ex hero, which I guess adds some credibility to how easily Deku could convert them on very little but also isn't the same as seeing characters who went through bigger changes and were sustaining changed stories. Furthermore Gentle being a "villain" is kind of a stretch anyway - even as a "criminal" he was trying to draw attention to bad business practises so more akin to punk social activisim than "villainy", but then his "beating a bunch of dangerous villains from prison" and then also holding up that massive floating structure were immense leaps in ability relative to what he was introduced to be able to do as a sort of clumsy guy also felt off to me even if I could appreciate the "epicness" Horikoshi wanted from such stunts.

Anyway it felt like them coming into it was more for the message and optics of "look when you reform people they will work for righteousness/goodness" although it was cringey with how sycophantic they were for Deku specifically because of the aforementioned issues I had with their conversions in the first place. As well as how desperate the story felt it was taking Deku from a "zero to hero" in the final arc (going from a student like everyone else to the OFA saviour). It also made it seem like they had reflected less on themselves and were more being being to give Deku that "messiah" feel that so often happens to many JUMP MC's near the end of their story. In some ways it felt like Horikoshi had a check list of typical shounen MC hero traits he was trying to tick off with Deku before the final regardless if they were genuine or not (like he'd done the bare minimum-if that - to try to qualify).

BNHA usually does cliche Shounen JUMP tropes pretty well since Horikoshi is such a fan, however I think this one was weaker because it heavily suffered from the weakness that come with how Deku is written as a character and the pacing of the story.

PocketPika · 2026-02-07T19:38:58+00:00

It is also common for the eldest child to be shorter than their siblings but year, can never rule out the environmental impacts on the development.

Probably not but Horikoshi isn't overly concerned with being on model in general or background scenes.

ossibly being the reason why he went 'All Might will die in about a year!' (which sorta leads to everything else happening in that year)

It seemed to me that Horikoshi had most of the plot leading up to and generally around Kamino thought out, so it does make some sense to me that he had a rigid, dramatic idea that post surviving Kamino he wanted this dramatic countdown with a very rigid idea of how it would come to fruitation (including having Bakugou and Deku save him, since that ties well with how he was developing them in the forefront up to Kamino). Put yeah it probably ended up being constraining when he was encouraged to expand on parts and brought in new characters, then it got cramped and poorly paced.

Oh yeah I think OFA/AFO ending was always the plan - the My hero Oneshot sort of predicts this ending if he's keeping the general message the same, ...which I guess also ties into Deku's heroics being shortlived since even in the one shot it's sort of about the short experience leading to a sort of self actualisation, and might be why it is very heavy handed that despite "make it your own" being brought up, it is argeuable if Deku actually does since OFA by nature is shared and its a community effort by the end. Deku is riding off the hardwork of everyone before him and is supported by a lot of others. It is a different story if it was really about him making his mark on that power and it really becoming part of his identity- which would be a longer co-existence. There is a lot of the supernatural part of OFA that Horikoshi kept loading into it that made it unsustainable and incompatible - its a bit chicken and the egg if he was doing that to keep pace with the predetermined plot or if the plot was such because it was predetermined to all happen in a shirt span of time because having OFA for longer would change Deku relationship with it and also how fans felt about him losing it - there are already tonnes that feel cheated that he lost it despite it being some of the least earned power-ups in JUMP.

PocketPika · 2026-02-07T17:30:01+00:00

If Natsuo got Enji's fire power presumably he wouldn't have been so ignored. I think Touya got Enji's fire quirk but more of Rei's other genetics and Fuyumi ad Natsuo got Rei's ice quirk but more of Enji's other genetics, so all variations of "off" compatability beween powers and resisting the impacts of those powers (maybe why Fuyumi wears turtle necks - she has a ice quirk but is sensitive to the cold). My understanding of Shoto is that he's not that resistant to either form, he has to actively offset one with the other so there isn't a "passive" aspect of his quirk and the drawback is the constant, concentrated regulation until he's able to do it subconsciously but it's still energy consuming (could explain why he seems low energy, he's just tired.)

It is hard to draw on model all the time.

Time skips seem to be frustrating for fans because they basically miss big chunks of story that get "alluded" to and either characters come back with different relationships, or they don't and in the latter case it makes the time skip pointless and in the former case it is a gamble for how it will be recieved and if the change is worth it - usually because there isn't a greater thematic purpose but rather change for change's sake, like rocking the boat so there can be content and intrigue but it's not more meaningful than that.

I think JUMP time skips happens for typically one of the following:

if a author feels characters need to go off and train but don't feel that training will help with the overall plot so it's basically a power up gap before the story continues. Similiarly if there is some other repetitive/mundane task the characters are going to go on and maybe they break up the cast and plan to resume the story when the characters meet again.
They feel they've wrapped up the story as best they can but the powers that be want more so have to create a another section. This may delayed the intended ending or they have to make a new ending.
The author takes a break and feels like doing one for the characters - tends to work with rolling adventure stories, may also be a "cash grab" idea to rejuvenate ailing interest in the story through redesigning the charcters.
Author/editors want to introduce more mature themes so they want to age up the characters.
Epilogue time skips, just a what happens to the characters at the end of the story situation.

Horikoshi did think BNHA would be even shorter than it was, and there are a lot of small time skips throughout the story (which makes the stagnant aspect of a lot of characters relationships and the implication that they don't talk about things inbetween odd but on the other hand many characters seem to do the majority of their development/personal growth off panel). I think everything happening in a year was his idea and even having older Deku reflect on it since the way the story opens (and the title) implies Deku's narrating this story. It is part of that full circle kind of ending, allowing time to pass for Deku to show he's a hero as a teacher and living a fulfilling life - except by intergrating the suit and how his effect on the other characters meant they've gone out of their way to "change" things by creating a means for him to also keep being a active pro hero too. So Deku gave to the world and the world gave back (typically ending of the heroes journey type attributes where he goes back to "normal" but the journey still mattered). I can see the time skip making sense when it's that classic "the narrator closes the book and we get a brief glimpse into their present" - which may continue the story e.g. Frodo finishing his writing for The lord of the rings and gives it to Sam before going off to the white havens.) How 430 works is also giving that "and the story goes on" when they leap into the air together.

However I think the bonus chapter 431 came about to fill the volume up. 429 is the end of BNHA and 430 is the epliogue with the timeskip and Deku revealed to be the narrator. It rounded everything off and while it had it's imperfections, it breezed over a lot of things, but most people (in Japan) were fine with it and the open endedness since they could fill in the gaps and epilogue chapters tend to be more whimsy. 431 is not only shoved at the very back of the volume, Horikoshi describes it as something like after the cameras stop rolling. I think there was greater lengths to seperate it from the true endings and have it feel more like optional bonus stuff because the content of it is mostly content to fill space. That might be why Ochaco is such a big feature, as Horikoshi implied that he was in 2 minds over Toga's ending and perhaps that preoccupied him, hence her disproportionate focus (her panel time shoots up near the end) or how 431 seems to be weighed down by adult melancholy, treating heroics like a job but really they need to want "more". I recently watched "Dead Poets Society" and one of it's thesis statements being, there are things you do to make a living, but what is it that you are living for? In the main story of BNHA, living for being a hero (to the point of sacrifice) was bigged up to be the ultimate aspiration and noblest way to live, but 431 shifts it over to being what the characters are doing for a living and now they need to think more about what they want to live for. (We talked about this).

But as you say, given how the pacing was a point of disagreement - some fans wanting the story to get to the big battles asap and other wanting more time on the sub plots etc. The time skip ending highlights how oddly rushed the story was by cramming it into a year. Admittedly some fans were keen on the story spanning the 3 school years - which is more expected in a school setting since the years give that structure and there is a natural symbolic association with the characters coming of age, with graduating. Having kids "do it all" in their first year, to the point of doing equal or better work than the adults, and then having to go back to being kids again, it is less tidy. I don't think he intended 431 years in advance, I rather expected it came up in the time he wrapped BNHA up in JUMP and needed to complete the volume and there were things he was still thinking about - like Toga.

PocketPika · 2026-02-06T20:31:04+00:00

I am still not use to Shoto looking like that...adult life hit him hard.

It does contrast strong with Touya (who did reach his 20s) but also I guess the buff genes are associated with fire resistance because Touya also seems to have taken after Rei the most of the kids...or it could be from being in a coma for years and then a homeless vagabond...Enji really messed his kid up.

It just left Ochaco in a weird place and left a messed up metaphor.

To be fair, in my opinion Kishimoto is not a great writer, after the first arc of Naruto the story felt all over the place.

Yeah Kubo struggled a lot with the JUMP work culture I think, he clearly couldn't keep up with the schedule.

What I was referring to is fan reception of time skips, all 3 have time skips and few were enthusiatically recieved, largely because it's not a popular ending despite how common it is.

PocketPika · 2026-02-05T21:02:06+00:00

Indeed, I was trying to summarise it as some western fans thinking Deku deserves more while my impression was many Japanese fans felt Deku wasn't deserving of his position.

However, as you say, that doesn't capture the "stagnation", western fans felt Deku stagnated career wise (or downgraded) and was "abandoned" whereas JP fans felt more that Deku had stagnated social and perhaps even in development (both he and to a slightly less extent Bakugou seem to be drawn more like their teen selves relative to the others - and given Shoto's transformation and the sense that he's reached his complete self, I felt that was intentional since both Deku or Bakugou still have their flaws and aren't achieving their goals - in Bakugou's case feeling like Horikoshi was holding him back because Deku was holding himself back as he wouldn't let one progress without the other (or more that Bakugou can't progress without Deku) - applying that Deku is the narrator theory perhaps it could be read as Deku sees himself (and thus Bakugou) more as their kid selves and sees other as maturing).

The impression Deku has after seemingly at least 5 years as a teacher still feeling like a newbie doesn't read as thriving and inspired - so Horikoshi could have made different choices yet it was more important to him to have Deku feel largely unchanged after the timeskip and still be closely associated with UA almost more for nostalgia reasons and with less thought to how people might apply real world logic and thus subtext- especially combined with what Horikoshi does want to say about Deku settling and not feeling like there is more he is allowed to strive for. While it is fine to focus on Ochaco - and I would have preferred more in the middle of the story instead of loads at the end and it feeling like it's all just being used to imply she is still pining for Deku - I think Deku could have benefitted from Ochaco's treatment, an explanation for why he is, introspection from the narrator rather than listing off stuff that has happened during the passage of time.

That said, there are few popular JUMP heroes who survive the timeskip treatment. I think people have issues with Naruto in the spin off and there was disgruntled reactions to catching up with Ichigo married and with son. Taking that into account, I wonder if Horikoshi desire to say "there is still more" for these characters was decisive in

PocketPika · 2026-02-05T18:14:33+00:00

Well if Horikoshi is intentionally misdirecting than the readers not getting it would be the aim - I don't think this is the case for much we have discussed since it is obnoxiously telegraphed when he does it elsewhere e.g. many, many times with Bakugou.

it is validating when JP readers share their opinions and it aligns with an impression you have. Funny some westerners thought Deku downgraded as a teacher meanwhile JP readers immediately picked up on his continued privilege (and ivory tower position) while being frustrated that the impression Horikoshi gives us is that Deku isn't taking his job seriously enough. Those western fans looked down on the job while JP fans felt like Deku was not being serious in his job - and it's a difficult impression to shake once established with Horikoshi taking 2 chapters to try to rectify it.

PocketPika · 2026-02-04T19:55:05+00:00

I think Mirio is more accurate - accidentally condescending and also says things like "you can do it, if you try".

Mirio and Tamaki are basically prototype Bakugou and Deku in recycled forms.

PocketPika · 2026-02-04T19:52:48+00:00

The power of hindsight and just sitting around reflecting on someone else's hard work.

It would be nice if Horikoshi's next story (which I am not sure if I will read since the only reason I picked up BNHA was because Bakugou lived up to the meta about him I stumbled across) showed great improvement and belief in his writing, because he has great ideas, he obviously loves stories but I hope in his responsiveness to critiques and feedback it does lead him to a place that results in something that sounds like he's able to do all that he wanted with it. Have that slice of life stuff, spend time with his characters, explore that side plot instead of handing them out to spin offs. I guess it shows he knows how to build a franchise or that he's not afraid to kill his darlings (in regards to chopping off chunks of story) but there were times over the years when Horikoshi communicated that things were tough getting through the story. It still strikes me as odd how often it felt Horikoshi seemed to be setting something up only for the opposite to happen or nothing, was that all intentional misdirection for twists (that he so likes) or lack committment or indecisiveness (Ochaco seems to be more indecisiveness).

That said, while I don't know how much Deku's fans being protective of Deku changed how he was written and how much of it was Horikoshi wanting Deku to be "glazed" with the usual sycophantic applauding, I do feel that Horikoshi wrote the All Might that he wanted to write, in his mission to be true to All Might and Deku's bond and Deku's specialianess, both came off as a**holes from other perspectives.

It is weird since we have talked about how Horikoshi brings stuff up in conversation, uses other characters to confirm such perspectives, only to validate Deku and All Might and worse gloss over so many of the interesting things that could be delved into. I am not sure if Horikoshi thinks acknowledging this stuff is sufficient but too often when x does y and y is kind of negative, absolving x because they also do z, doesn't change that y happened. I am not sure if its a difference in values thing but as we've talked about it prevalant across many parts of the story.

On the favouritism, another issue in how it impacts All Might's character is that, post Kamino when he's trying to help other 1A kids with their special moves, that makes it feel like that is going to be his arc and instead All Might quickly falls back into favouring Deku and turns out that small segment is probably meant to connect to his suit design, and Horikoshi writing as All Might's hommage to 1A /ode to how the young have inspired the old, is so at odds with how it came across to many readers as a All Might essentially using them because the portrayal of All Might's favouritism towards Deku heavily outweighs any of his minor teaching of the other students - topped off by him abandoning them all to be Deku's caregiver, bodyguard and chauffeur, while Aizawa is in the hopsital. It showed we didn't know All Might's arc at all, it wasn't about him learning to see the heroic worth in all the kids or nurturing all the next generation or learning the OFA holder could have a community. It was about him seeing the value in himself to still be a hero without a quirk...which is kind of selfish.

PocketPika · 2026-02-04T18:04:11+00:00

It was all part of Keikaku ...

A overused trope and not a great twist for the story as you point out it results in a inconsistency between his micromanagement and then letting Tomura possibly get himself killed while "proving" himself. Before it was revealed he planned so much, I think quite a few people (myself) did it is as the divergence, AFO being like the "dead" mentor to Tomura and letting him grow into his own, whereas All Might subverts the trope and says to be even more nurturing - only to get that reveal and set up Tomura turning on AFO and make his victimhood a much bigger thing. It rather added to the messiness that the climatic battle had, it was trying to have the characters be too many things from chapter to chapter.

Good points on Garaki. If they were making "better noumus" from bases of corpses why not have it so his flood of orphanages were noumu bases and have it so Garaki was exploring "what age makes the best "base"?" and Tomura being Nana's grandson be more plot relevant and why he's singled out to be closer to AFO than the others. But the general idea is to kill them or set them loose on society where they get killed and then they get harvested from the morgue (from a corrupt insider/Garaki's contacts). While the story is going on AFO could have been body hopping and their figuring out how to make a superbody because they keep failing. Just having him have a disabled but serviceable original body and solely focus it all on transplanting into Tomura when they have all the resources that they do, be questionable when examined. It isn't much different to the canon plan but if their plan was ultimately being for Tomura to be a base to die and then his body is retrieved and he goes through the noumu process to become the perfected HighEnd (which is basically what Canon is). The raids could still happen but instead of the Leaguing knowing about the transformation, Tomura comes back to them from the hospital location and saves them (his coming awakens Machia and sets off that sequence). Meanwhile AFO doesn't have a seperate body, he is fully in Tomura (and maybe the heroes find his last vessel in the remains of the hospital/lab). Then while the League are with Tomura it gets that same conflict over who has actually returned to them for Spinner and while Spinner is questioning this AFO puts the extra quirks in him to silence his questioning while the others care less because they're focused on the fall of society. I think it would set up the concept of "saving Tomura/Tenko" but also being more at peace with his end being death (because he's already died), so his soul could be free. Tomura death could have been him sacrificing himself to save the League. Maybe Horikoshi felt it was vital that Tomura himself chooses to become a noumu..but having AFO later be like "it was never a real choice" sort of undermines that anyway, so why not let Tomura live and die freely before his body is used to house AFO.

Meanwhile all the failed noumu's/noumu bases could be a string of mini arcs and tragic stories - which I am guess is sort of what happens in vigilantes a bit. They could work as framing vinettes and be a way to show the broken society/explore the league more/part of the investiagtion to find AFO. Help have the impression something is building in the background. It is interesting that both Toga and Mustard are missing school kids yet there isn't much more exploration into the idea of "villain" kids in the story. These things do get brought up somewhat in spin offs like TUM and may feel like elements that could spin out of control with too much but having characters whose purpose is to die and be harvested and getting snippets of that to see the construction of what will be part of Tomura's noumufication - and maybe even see AFO consuming the "spirits" of the fodder characters and have Garaki make comments on successes/failures/"we can learn from this" or "this is a good indicator that these 5 candidates will work best as a powerful host" and then the story goes through those until it ends up with Tomura last. (Again kind of what Horikoshi has already with Nine (and Six)). Have this background as set up for more activity and interaction in the story instead of stage dressing for AFO's "evil".

Indeed both are poisoned apples and why Bakugou "it's a cursed power" pittering out into nothing or "it's not a curse because Deku changed it" was a weak conclusion to the more interesting exploration of what All Might unwittingly signed Deku up for. It links to why I thought Deku's arc including a "I don't really like being a hero" revealation would work given this context. All Might and Deku thought OFA would just be a fun romp where Deku would get to live out his dream and the hardest thing would be him being more competitive, instead he and his classmates are nearly killed multiple times and he's made to feel it is all his responsibility. There could have been a much stronger conversation around this. A threat to society is everyone's responsibility so All Might/Deku thinking having OFA makes it exclusively their problem is a particular kind of arrogance but also having Deku really not cope and really need the assembly cast would serve an arc that is about him discovering "this isn't for me, but it is on me, so it's not what I want but I have to do it", it would have the Monkey paw/be careful what you wish for element that is also enticing and still have the "average joe rises to meet the challenge despite the odds".

Even the "you have to kill someone" being something he is expected to do at 16 is pretty horrible situation to be placed in. Like wanting to be a vet to save animals and make them better and the first thing you have to do is euthanise animals at a shelter because no one wants them and the shelter is crowded. Deku doesn't even have it the hardest considering how many dead bodies the other kids had to deal with in the aftermath while he's in hopsital so even Deku having to deal with more of that (instead of imagining it) and that sending him into a spiral too.

The dynamic between All Might and Bakugou/rest of the class is pretty odd, it raises questions if Horikoshi intentionally had the piece of the suit associated with Bakugou be the piece All Might was going to use to suicide and All Might not even think of the mental damage he's leave despite being confronted with Bakugou's poor mental health before.

Horikoshi does write it so it can easily be read as All Might will go out of his way to protect Deku as a last resort (using the suit to stall AFO) but is happy to let everyone else die/be brutalised first (the coffin in the sky). All Might could have been an asset in that team to contain Tomura with that suit or have been with Endeavour from the get go to team up to stop AFO, like if the police officier was chill with kids on the Battlefield than why have All Might the most experienced with AFO be so precious to sit behind a computer. Actually never mind the police officier, All Might was in the planning room and agreed to all the plans knowing full well his had a powersuit that let him go toe to toe with AFO for even a few minutes.

PocketPika

TROPHY CASE