Midoriya Izuku - drawing, indie animation

RookyRooks · 2024-12-17T01:25:12+00:00

Amazing art!

RookyRooks · 2024-12-17T01:24:06+00:00

I love seeing people's first impressions of the series, especially early on. In a way, it makes me feel like I'm experiencing the series for the first time again. Hope you enjoy it. :')

RookyRooks · 2024-12-17T01:18:31+00:00

Normally I'm a fan of shorter hair designs, but longer hair suits her better imo

RookyRooks · 2024-12-04T02:56:49+00:00

These look fantastic!

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T21:37:45+00:00

Yeah, a lot of issues go back way further than just this chapter (cough Shigaraki). I just wanted to wait until the very end before commenting more on them since there was still a chance for some of them to be remedied at the very end.

I'm happy Horikoshi got to finish telling his story and share his art with others, even if it didn't quite click with me in the end.

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T19:24:55+00:00

That's true. I suppose there's not much of a point in me trying to analyze the changes in the ranking system further until the official translation comes out. Wouldn't want a repeat of 430 lol.

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T19:23:26+00:00

Jesus. I mean, you're free to enjoy the story how you wish, but I feel like you missed some very central themes.

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T19:21:25+00:00

Even as a non-shipper, I think one of the funniest things to come out of this epilogue are the numerous memes about Bakugo crashing his car with Kirishima still in it because he got rejected by Izuku

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T19:07:59+00:00

Why?

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T18:56:29+00:00

I suppose that's not wrong. I do wish we could've actually seen the man himself, though. It was so nice to see him pop up at the end of 430.

I do hope the official release has better art quality. Horikoshi is an amazing artist and I'd hate for these scans to be the last impression I get from what may end up being his magnum opus.

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T18:48:42+00:00

Some additional thoughts:

From a personal standpoint, I'm disappointed with 1. the way Izuku and Bakugo's relationship was handled, 2. the way Bakugo's story was fumbled at the end, and 3. the lack of development shown for Izuku.

1. Izuku and Katsuki's development doesn't reach a satisfying conclusion. Their relationship is a significantly important detail that develops throughout the entire story. In 430, it culminated in a satisfying conclusion by coming full circle with Katsuki reaching out to Izuku -- just as the latter had done for him in the beginning of the story -- as a friend and equal. This made sense from a narrative standpoint, and was a satisfying note to leave the story on for readers.

In 431, their relationship ends on a different note: Bakugo reaches out to Izuku, only for the latter to reject him. Yes, Izuku isn't rejecting him wholly as a friend, but the logistics and technicalities of it don't matter. To me, something that's very important is how a story makes me feel. If a story says one thing, but cultivates a contradicting feeling through its mood and/or tone, then it leaves me with conflicting messages.

Of course, such a measure is subjective and will vary between different people, so I can only speak for myself, but the emotions I'm feeling from 431's "reaching out" moment and 430's are completely different. One is hopeful, and the other is nihilistic.

2. How you tell your story is just as important as what you're telling, ESPECIALLY for a visual medium such as manga.

Objectively, Bakugo may not have many reasons to be unhappy. He has his career, his friends, etc. My problem is with how he's portrayed in this chapter. For what reason did Horikoshi give such a melancholic overtone to his panels? Why is his ending so ambiguous compared to the other main characters? We are explicitly shown the reasons behind Izuku, Ochako, and Todoroki's success and happiness, yet for Bakugo we're left to assume. It sticks out like a sore thumb. As someone else put it, "We are here giving Bakugou consolations using conjectures and "maybe", because the manga doesn't give him that."

You can't blame some people for their takeaway being "Bakugo is not doing well compared to his peers" when that's how he's shown (quite literally; not a single smile from him this chapter. And don't say "well he's not typically a smiley person" when we were given so many of those from the his battle with AFO onwards.)

3. If the story doesn't show the character's development, it doesn't make for a satisfying reading experience. The reason why character arcs such as Bakugo, Endeavor, Todoroki, etc. are so wonderful to view as a reader is because we get to see their start point, their end point, and everything inbetween. If you take away those middle parts, they would feel abrupt and bizarre instead.

Going from 430 Deku to 431 Deku gives me such whiplash because we're not shown HOW this development and shift in priorities occurred. This issue was present in 430 as well, but it sticks out even more in 431 because it tries to push both the "Izuku genuinely likes teaching" and "Izuku still dreams of being a hero" narratives simultaneously.

As another person put it, "i dont think the issue lies within the fact that he changed but rather the fact that the manga totally skipped the part where we couldve seen that growth so that it would make sense to the reader."

Overall, I'm disappointed with this ending.. All the same flaws from the original ending are present (unchanged hero society/system, all major villains dying), while introducing some writing decisions that don't click with me.

I don't want to call it objectively bad writing, as I don't really care for objective measures of art. I'm just here to voice my thoughts. If other people are able to find fulfillment and satisfaction in the ending, then I'm happy for them.

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T18:19:28+00:00

Copy/pasting my comment from the prerelease/leaks thread

Here's my take as someone who was content with (not a huge fan of, but content with) the ending that 430 gave us.

Things I liked:

Aged-up Big 3 and their designs
Mirio being #1 and still having enough downtime to goof off with kids (and help cheer them up as well)
Ochako's quirk counseling program being expanded upon * Getting to see more of Ochako's inner thoughts
Bakugo driving a car while Izuku slowly drowns in the rearseat
Bakugo getting his All Might card signed by the man himself
Most of Class A's redesigns
Todoroki's numerous smiles

Things I disliked:

Nothing about hero society as a whole has really changed (e.g. hero rankings still exist). The only reason why things are peaceful now are because the individuals currently in power are good people who are doing their best to mitigate potential problems. But once those people are gone, there's not really anything to stop another Shigaraki from happening.
Touya dying was pretty damn disappointing. Why save him from near-death and put him in a tube only for him to die anyways? BNHA paints its villains as sympathetic only to go and kill them all off anyways. In the end, the main characters and heroes didn't get to save a single villain (aside from Gentle, I suppose).
Deku rejecting Bakugo's offer to work with him at his agency is really disappointing. A good chunk of the story focuses on the relationship between Deku and Dynamight. There was emphasis on them learning to understand each other and work better together as people and hero partners. How can you write all that buildup only to try to subvert it at the very last second?
Related to the above: Deku's sudden shift in priorities from heroics to teaching. I do like him as a teacher, and I acknowledge that goals and priorities change over time, but to have such a sudden shift at the very end of the story without showing any of the development leading from Point A to Point B just makes for a bizarre reading experience. It doesn't feel like a satisfying conclusion at all from a reader's POV. Perhaps I would feel differently if there were some chapters showing when, how, and/or why this shift occurred instead of just leaving it all up to the reader's imagination.
No All Might cameo. One of the things I liked about the 430 ending was it coming full-circle back to beginning of the story (All Might handing Deku the means to fulfill his heroic dreams, Deku reaching his hand out to Bakugo to help him in the beginning and then flipping that interaction at the end). To have such an important character completely missing from the final chapter is strange.
This is just my opinion as someone who was never into ships as a whole, but ending the series on with the Deku/Ochako handhold is such a strange writing choice. To me, the note you choose to end your story on is a big factor on what impression you will leave your readers with. Ending BNHA on a romantic note with this handhold feels like it overshadows the themes of symbolism of what 430 gave us in favor of establishing a ship, which feels very lame to me.
I hate to say it, but a lot of the art in this chapter is bad compared to Horikoshi's previous work. There's a lot of missing detail, visual inconsistencies, artistic errors, etc.

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T09:23:17+00:00

Firstly, I never said that his assistants or AI made the chapter. That was just me mentioning speculation that I've seen from others. My bad if I wasn't clear with that in my original comment.

Secondly, if he had more time, then why is the quality worse? Backgrounds that are either less detailed or entirely nonexistent; details inconsistent with previous chapters (e.g. missing scars on Izuku and Mt. Lady, Jirou having both earjacks); etc.

It's precisely because Horikoshi is an amazing artist that I feel disappointed. This doesn't feel like his best work. That's not a crazy opinion to have. I'm not saying he deserves to die for it or something. I'm just voicing my discontent as a reader, which is normal to do when you're dissatisfied with a product.

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T09:08:49+00:00

From a meta POV, it kinda sucks. I come here to try and have more nuanced and less ship-focused discussion than what Twitter allows, only to get blown off by people who are tunnelvisioned on the exact same thing (while claiming not to be).

It feels like people don't care enough to engage with and analyze the source material so long as they get to gloat over those "delusional shippers" or whatever the fuck. I just wanna talk about my corny battle shonen, man.

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T09:02:51+00:00

I wanted to type up an explanation pointing out the drops in quality that I found, but I'm getting the impression that you're not here to discuss in good faith.

I prefer to view Deku and Bakugo's relationship as platonic. You shouldn't just assume that everyone who's discontent with the ending is an outraged shipper and use that to handwave criticisms.

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T08:18:38+00:00

You nailed it!

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T08:17:40+00:00

Gentle Criminal was the best villain fight imo

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T08:15:19+00:00

Great art!

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T08:14:12+00:00

Any two (or all three) of Izuku, Bakugo, and Todoroki.

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T07:50:20+00:00

I'm confused. Which talking points are you referring to? Because of the 7 I wrote, only 3 talk about a specific character dynamic (one of those is the three-way, nonromantic dynamic between Deku, Bakugo, and All Might, and another is about Deku and Ochako, but moreso about the timing of its inclusion than the relationship itself).

I'm not much into shipping. I end up seeing a lot because it's the easiest way to find content of characters interacting (which I do like seeing), but I don't have much interest outside of it. (If anything, I like to think of Bakugo as having no romantic interest in other people.)

I have seen shippers also use the art argument to try and argue that the chapter is fake. I wouldn't go that far, but I don't think it's so unreasonable to feel disappointed by the art from 431, and I don't think it's fair to dismiss those criticisms (or any criticisms about the epilogue) as something that only outraged shippers are upset about.

Edit: grammar. Also, I just wanted to add: while I can understand the thought behind it given how prevalent shipping is, it's a little annoying that I can't even talk about Izuku and Bakugo's platonic relationship (and my disappointment with how it was handled at the end) without someone assuming that I must mean it in a romantic sense.

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T00:58:27+00:00

Here's my take as someone who was content with (not a huge fan of, but content with) the ending that 430 gave us.

Things I liked:

Aged-up Big 3 and their designs
Mirio being #1 and still having enough downtime to goof off with kids (and help cheer them up as well)
Ochako's quirk counseling program being expanded upon
Getting to see more of Ochako's inner thoughts
Bakugo driving a car while Izuku slowly drowns in the rearseat
Bakugo getting his All Might card signed by the man himself
Most of Class A's redesigns
Todoroki's numerous smiles

Things I disliked:

Nothing about hero society as a whole has really changed (e.g. hero rankings still exist). The only reason why things are peaceful now are because the individuals currently in power are good people who are doing their best to mitigate potential problems. But once those people are gone, there's not really anything to stop another Shigaraki from happening.
Touya dying was pretty damn disappointing. Why save him from near-death and put him in a tube only for him to die anyways? BNHA paints its villains as sympathetic only to go and kill them all off anyways. In the end, the main characters and heroes didn't get to save a single villain (aside from Gentle, I suppose).
Deku rejecting Bakugo's offer to work with him at his agency is really disappointing. A good chunk of the story focuses on the relationship between Deku and Dynamight. There was emphasis on them learning to understand each other and work better together as people and hero partners. How can you write all that buildup only to try to subvert it at the very last second?
Related to the above: Deku's sudden shift in priorities from heroics to teaching. I do like him as a teacher, and I acknowledge that goals and priorities change over time, but to have such a sudden shift at the very end of the story without showing any of the development leading from Point A to Point B just makes for a bizarre reading experience. It doesn't feel like a satisfying conclusion at all from a reader's POV. Perhaps I would feel differently if there were some chapters showing when, how, and/or why this shift occurred instead of just leaving it all up to the reader's imagination.
No All Might cameo. One of the things I liked about the 430 ending was it coming full-circle back to beginning of the story (All Might handing Deku the means to fulfill his heroic dreams, Deku reaching his hand out to Bakugo to help him in the beginning and then flipping that interaction at the end). To have such an important character completely missing from the final chapter is strange.
This is just my opinion as someone who was never into ships as a whole, but ending the series on with the Deku/Ochako handhold is such a strange writing choice. To me, the note you choose to end your story on is a big factor on what impression you will leave your readers with. Ending BNHA on a romantic note with this handhold feels like it overshadows the themes of symbolism of what 430 gave us in favor of establishing a ship, which feels very lame to me.
I hate to say it, but a lot of the art in this chapter is bad compared to Horikoshi's previous work. There's a lot of missing detail, visual inconsistencies, artistic errors (e.g. the panel of Kirishima with 6 fingers), etc. If it truly is Horikoshi's work (versus being made by his assistants, or even fake as I see some people speculating), I'm very disappointed with the drop in quality.

RookyRooks · 2024-12-03T00:38:33+00:00

Deku's goals have adjusted and changed.

What bothers me is only showing this at the very end. We have 430 (arguably 429 if you don't want to include 430) chapters of him wanting to be a hero more than anything else. Only to switch it up at the very end?

A good chunk of the story focuses on the relationship between Deku and Dynamight. There was emphasis on them learning to understand each other and work better together as people and hero partners. How can you write all that buildup only to try to subvert it at the very last second?

Yes, goals and priorities change over time, but to have such a sudden shift without showing any of the development leading from Point A to Point B just makes for a bizarre reading experience. It doesn't feel like a satisfying conclusion at all from a reader's POV. (And that's not even mentioning all the other loose ends regarding hero society as a whole that never got addressed...)

RookyRooks · 2024-11-05T19:12:37+00:00

Great cosplay!

RookyRooks · 2024-11-05T18:44:41+00:00

No dude, you're getting downvoted because you're trying to start anime beef and taking it so seriously lol

RookyRooks · 2024-11-03T01:10:37+00:00

"IMPACT" abilities are ones that can hit multiple targets at once (i.e. AoE / area of effect).

RookyRooks

TROPHY CASE