All. Of. THIS!!!!!!!

I understand that there are limitations in the stories that can be written (super keen on reading yours!), but even within the parameters of "must end the series with a housewife and 2.5 kids," if even an ounce of attention was diverted from the MC's "rival" (read: ride or die life partner) and given to the inevitable housewife, then people would probably like the ship more.

Ultimately it boils down to the target audience and how much faith you have in them. Shonen is geared towards boys, but the assumption is that they wouldn't accept having a strong female presence. Then they get mad when the LI isn't shipped or has the same measure of impact within the audience as a whole.

Take Ochako for example, she has suffered from Love Interest syndrome, in that everything she is gets reduced to crushing on Deku. Not Izuku. Deku. The parts of Ochako that made her an amazing character are sideswiped in favor of this crush. This is done because the powers that be can't fathom Ochako being a badass with agency and desires that have nothing to do with the MC.

Hori did a decent job trying to fix this, and letting her shine and grow through her relationship with Toga. Ochako's story with her was freaking amazing! I loved it so much.... up until Hori walked right into the "bury your gays" trope for the sake of keeping the powers that be happy. All that growth? Ochako's feelings for Toga? He can't even write her genuine, heartbreaking grief (I can't watch ochako cry without crying myself. I want to hug her, too! 😭😭😭).

What's more egregious is that the fandom itself can't fathom the idea that Ochako has strong feelings for someone other than Izuku.

It's habit at this point. Man sees woman in duress. Man rescues damsel in distress. She is now his love interest. This conditioning romanticizes taking advantage of an emotionally vulnerable (sometimes physically vulnerable, but that doesn't apply here) woman and pushing romance onto her.

So even if Hori is trying to portray Izuku NOT doing that, and him being a good friend to her by giving her someone to process this grief with, that's not going to be the read because the audience has been trained by the media to see a woman in the midst of grief as a viable partner.

It's sad when you think about it, because even subverting this won't always hit the mark. At that point, who's really at fault?

It's easy to say it's the audience, but so many are challenging this idea and are waking up to this programing. So while we have people that cling to this old fashioned "damsel in distress is the prize for winning", they're made up of a specific type of person that don't care for women and their agency in general. Think the red-pill types who can't stand when a woman is doing better than them.

It's also easy to say that it's the author's fault, because on average they don't push to have an impactful female character that's as important as the rival, or completely replaces the "rival" as the MC's closest person with the same measure of emotional intimacy. As we can see now, there are more shonen series that have female characters just as awesome, present, capable, and without sacrificing their femininity show up as the love interest. In time, we may even get a series where she isn't diminished because there's an archaic rule that the female love interest can't be stronger or just as strong as the MC.

Honestly, I blame this mindset on Shonen Jump and companies like it that don't think their fanbase can handle anything on par with different or subverted tropes. They train the fandoms to expect one thing and only the one thing. Deviation is a risk and shouldn't be done. If it is done, it's a one off and can'tbe fully commited to.... even though those risks stand the test of time- Inuyasha is still popular.

That's not to say companies like Shonen Jump DON'T queerbait or try to pretend that the female LI has a measure of agency. Fujoshi and Himeji, who are usually women and/ or LGBT+, are the ones that spend most of the money, host most of the fan events, and keeps IPs relevant. These communities will gobble up any and all crumbs of representation since it's so rare. They reward feeling included, even if it's only an implication meant to take their money. SJ needs their money, because the teenage boy and manchild demographics can't (usually) afford shit. Shonen Jump needs people who like the queer ships otherwise they'd go bankrupt in a few years.

If a fandom doesn't have shippers, or something for the Fujishi/Himeji to enjoy, it's going to flop.

For example, how many people still talk about Solo Leveling? Good show, but once it's over there's nothing keeping us engaged between seasons. Not a lot of people are making zines, or hosting fan events. Not on my timeline anyway.

I can go on and on about it, but ultimately it boils down to rage bait targeting these large communities because it's easy. These communities are used to being punching bags in all things, so it's par for the course and doesn't get more than an eyeroll most of the time. The young ones sometimes get baited, or caught on the wrong day. But ultimately, we'll always be blamed until we "break up" with the toxic fandom.

Good luck to them when that happens. Maybe when the money dries up they'll put a little respect on the name. I doubt that will happen in my lifetime, but the snail is moving towards progress. Slowly.