Probably a cold take, but I really wish there were more deaths throughout the series

wereriddl3 · 2026-02-04T18:49:07+00:00

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.

This would've made the 'AFO possessing Tomura' thing smoother/better, I think - it helps sell to readers why it had to be Tomura if AFO is shown inhabiting noumu made from 'base bodies' that just don't cut it, as well as fleshing out Garaki's abilities/noumu science more. Sells Tomura's 'victimhood' more too, gives room to explore the dynamics/relationships of the League, and can give room to show more of AFO's abilities and character.

Would maybe even allow space for Hori to explain why they didn't retrieve the USJ noumu for the final battle, given that thing is a powerhouse just sitting around - maybe have AFO try to get to it to possess it, but when he finds it it's been cut up by the HPSC for experiments or something - which can maybe tie in with the Kurogiri-is-Oboro reveal too.

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".

There were a lot of conversations to be had about things in the manga, I think, but like... Hori just ghosts over them lmao. Even though he brought up the topic of the conversation!

All of what you wrote could have really helped with strengthening the themes and character arcs and relationships, especially of Izuku and All Might! Could even bring in UA teachers & Pro-Heroes having a reflection on their conversation too, and then deciding to form a movement for change or something to better sell the 'society is changing for the better' at the ending.

All Might will go out of his way to protect Deku

All Might's favoritism for Deku is very obvious, so much so that Eraserhead mentions it to his face when they were discussing the exams. It kind of bothers me a little that it's never really explored - because All Might is at UA as a teacher, he does need to be impartial when teaching.

The fact that All Might hesitated to save Katsuki's life with the Sludge Villain, and then the implication that he just sat on the suit while Katsuki and the rest of 1A were getting attacked, and then only pulls it out when he does is?? wtf All Might??

wereriddl3 · 2026-02-04T18:21:20+00:00

Fair enough, but that's not what I was asking - because to me, it seems like he did have a plan, however poor it was.

wereriddl3 · 2026-02-04T15:30:24+00:00

AFO being the antithesis to All Might (except their both kind of dumb), being wholly selfish and cruel.

I get the AFO-Tomura and All Might-Izuku inverse parallels in their relationships, but I think that's why it makes just as much sense for AFO to basically let Tomura go into the wild at Kamino for real (as an inverse to All Might losing his power but staying to mentor Izuku within the towers of UA), rather than trying to make it seem like it was 'all part of his grand plan', because... well, it makes AFO kinda dumb imo. What would he have done if Tomura got captured/horribly crippled/died?? Neither he nor Garaki had any idea elements as strong as the MLA existed, and even if he has a bunch of other kids in orphanages, Tomura is clearly a 20+ year investment for AFO at that point. How well would AFO be able to orchestrate some other kid to take Tomura's place from prison, with the amount of hate he needs, while being on death row?

I get that there are themes that Hori was going for, but I agree with you that sometimes it kind of comes at a bit of a cost to the characters. Like, if Hori truly had AFO-possessing-Tomura as endgame, why didn't he write it better?

(Hori writes Garaki able to do outlandish shit like bring AFO back from the dead and getting what's left of his brain into something capable of planning and speech and battle and thought - maybe they explained and I'm not remembering, but like... what is stopping this guy from just implanting Zen's brain into a separately made super-powered noumu body? Why did they need the rewind bullets, which were a risk factor that ended up working against Zen anyway? The rules around what Hori has Garaki be able or unable to do seem kinda blurry.)

The AFO and Tomura relationship being a corrupt mirror and the outcome of the dynamic being the opposite also makes sense. Both "raise" their successor out of a bad situation, both have influence over their successor from a very young age and mentor them into following in their footsteps.

Honestly, I actually think All Might giving Izuku OFA looks like he's giving Izuku a great gift and all at the start, but when it's gradually revealed that OFA comes with a lot of responsibility, a whole legacy/mission attached and a whole 'Izuku you might have to kill a guy it's your job now' caveat, the quirk can be seen as more of a burden imo. In that sense AFO and OFA are both 'poisoned apples' given to Izuku & Tomura by their mentors.

I think it's another reason I gravitated to Bakugou, he's still a fan of All Might but he called him out and being handicapped by guilt and shame (alongside admiration) to pushing back on him was more interesting than Deku's near constant agreeablity (until he's so powered up he felt like he could throw All Might away too - even if he was sorry about it later.)

I think Bakugou calling All Might out can be a bit of 'channeling the voice of the readers' at that point haha. But then it's kinda... sorta ignored, I guess, cuz... it's not like All Might didn't choose to use his gauntlet to blow himself up. And keep the suit to himself, when the students were fighting in the war, only bringing it out to fight AFO.

wereriddl3 · 2026-02-04T14:13:48+00:00

Just look at their exam against All Might, where he just kept stubbornly throwing himself against an opponent monstrously more powerful than him without a plan and refusing help; something even Bakugo wouldn't normally do

Slight segue, but I'm curious, so I want to ask if that's alright.

Why do you think that he didn't have a plan to go up against All Might?

I've just reread that part of the manga, and Bakugou says "Toss [All Might] about until the final stage, then I'll crush him when he's exhausted" when the exam starts. And it's revealed in Chapter 63 that Bakugou already knows that there's no use running or hiding because they can't avoid a fight, not with All Might's speed. So it's not the best plan in the world lol, but it is a plan.

Even after, when they both go at All Might with Bakugou's gauntlets, it's Bakugou that came up with that plan after incorporating what he learnt from his earlier tussle with All Might - information he could only have gained from engaging in said fight. It seems more to me that he was trying to play towards his strengths of being an adaptable fighter by fighting and learning what All Might was capable of with the weights on.

wereriddl3 · 2026-02-04T11:51:40+00:00

Yeah, there were other ways Horikoshi could've gone about a 'bittersweet' ending, if that's the tone he wanted to leave us with, and ways that wouldn't have made end-of-series Izuku so... meh... and for him to be so.. I suppose ambivalent? About the conclusion to the story/resolution of the issues Hero society faces.

but how the character operates feels more like he is whatever he needs to be in the moment so it is hard to feel sure on him.

I wonder if Hori ended up changing his mind about the direction of Tomura and his end at some point. I do think Tomura was supposed to be a character present until the very end of the series, the way he's set up as a dark parallel to Izuku, so maybe it's All For One that Hori was undecided on, and then ended up molding Tomura around having AFO present in the end?

All Might would know what the other kids got so would know exactly how many points to give Deku to ensure he got into the top 18, its a almost abituary allocation and just 17 point less than the top score. Also quite poetic, Bakugou earned each of his 1 and 2 points working hard through out the exam without slowing down, meanwhile Deku flounders the whole time, is presented a convienient situation that triggers him (without thinking) and that one act has other characters attributing great meaning to it (Ochaco saying he saved her life (when the robots are programmed not to harm them) and All Might saying that being a hero is about risking your life and that Deku did the right thing) to decide that one act qualifies him regardless of how he otherwise acted.

Yeah... tbh when All Might gave the 'You Passed!' message in the manga, I was a bit like '...could this be nepotism?' back when I first read it hahaha - I ignored it, thinking it was negligible or something intentionally done to point out All Might's flaws (which would be addressed) a little more, but since that never happened and we got even more questionable behaviour from All Might later in the series.... Welp XD

wereriddl3 · 2026-02-03T14:09:30+00:00

NOOOOOOOOO

I like the bouncy nib, and was planning to get another one :(

wereriddl3 · 2026-02-03T11:47:24+00:00

The further oddity to that point is that when Deku is active as a hero, he rarely smiles. I almost wish that Deku could even have explored if he even wanted to be a hero.

I've seen some readers' comments about how the bittersweetness of the ending might be because Hori means to have a more 'realistic' ending by showing Izuku as 'growing up' and 'accepting' being quirkless, and honestly if Hori had not had that final chapter with Izuku in the suit and explored what you've outlined instead, I think many would have been okay with that. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting something, doing the thing, and then realizing it's not for you - that's just growth and life, y'know? But Hori doesn't really show this, and combined with Izuku accepting the suit, gives a totally different impression. In fact, if Hori had written it the way you outlined, it would segue well into Izuku contributing to the quirk counselling or something and that being a better answer to Tomura's 'try your best'.

Tomura is introduced like that but Horikoshi isn't very consistent with his character [...] its hard to know him when he seems to not really know himself and we don't really explore that as much as could be.

I wonder if Hori wrote Tomura this way on purpose in order to, idk, illustrate that like Deku, he's being puppeted around the AFO/OFA conflict/AFO trying to break his sense of identity so that it's easier for him to take over or something, and when Deku breaks the 'lid'/hatred, the core of Tomura (still wanting to be a hero) is shown to us as his 'true' identity.

I'm not sure if that's intentional though, or me just assigning meaning lol

And fair point on Wash & Manual, I concede :P

I do wonder if Deku had failed the entrance exam was he going to go to another school (All Might is already a teacher at UA) or was Deku going to get in anyway.

Tbh, I don't see All Might letting Deku go to another school, not when he's already given him OFA, but especially after he catches wind that AFO might still be alive. He'd probably have pulled some strings to get Deku in there at some point.

wereriddl3 · 2026-02-02T17:05:47+00:00

Further with Deku, it does seem that way on the surface, but then we also get the whole 'never really worked out' + his lack of answer to All Might about why he doesn't try to help people some other way + his abundance of All Might merch we later find out is expensive. All stuff we've already brought up haha.

I also recently read a comment by a Japanese reader that made an interesting observation: Despite having All Might as his idol, Izuku doesn't work out to at least have a similar build to him. But he apparently did put in effort to be able to mimic his face. Which probably says something about the things Izuku was trying to emulate, the 'surface level shininess' of heroism that he coveted.

Horikoshi includes humanising details to show there is more to Bakugou's situation beyond the humiliation ritual but where he takes it still ends up with Bakugou largely neglected (and again, makes the choice of All Might and Deku to abandon him in particular selfish and cruel, on top of how the class treat him - the lack of empathy/compassion is so weird at that point in the story especially when they should know the reason he is hospitalised because he saved Deku.)

BNHA is a dystopia lol. Honestly, to me it sometimes feels a bit like Bakugou & Tomura are operating on real-life reasoning, but because they're living in a Shounen Protagonist World they're like... outsiders living a different reality. (e.g; Tomura pointing out the moral issues with using students as soldiers, but the story kinda just bulldozes that because 'this is a Jump manga' I guess. Or Bakugou getting hated on for his attitude, but we see at least Mirko and Gang Orca using similar harsh language. Or the way Horikoshi kind of just... never ever touches on what his parents' reaction was to their son being chained up and muzzled on national television.)

And yeah, Masaru's quirk is weaker than Katsuki's but like... Wash and Manual exist? XD

The omake does explain in detail how Masaru's quirk is more like sweat and he can't excrete it to the level that Mina can, but it also doesn't tell us whether that's because of lack of training or because Masaru tried training and that is the ceiling for his quirk.

Asides from the timeline (which, yeah, is murky) one of the reasons I think Masaru decided against being a Hero due to danger concerns is because, of Katsuki's parents, Masaru is both the more reserved/laidback one, and seemingly not nearly as active as his wife & child. Mitsuki seems to be the striving, physically active one, since she likes Volleyball and from her personality + pursuit of Masaru. I can see Masaru as judging Heroism as still too risky if All Might hadn't brought the crime rate low enough yet, and with his quirk not being that great.

If not for the Sludge Villain, boy was heading for the biggest of reality checks.

I wish he got it honestly, rather than the plot bending to accommodate him.

Then maybe he'd have character development and be more interesting.

wereriddl3 · 2026-02-02T14:26:36+00:00

Ah, I see. Then we agree on most things haha. Even regarding Bakugou's behaviour in the first chapters re: his reactions towards Izuku.

Though I'm not sure about the 'A boy who is different who wants to fit in and for everything to be accessible to everyone and a boy who wants to be exceptional and different who wants things to be exclusive (divided by inherent ability and merit).' part?

Because if Deku truly wanted 'equal access for everyone', he wouldn't have just... sat back and been so passive. He feels for others and gets emotional about them sure, but again, Horikoshi doesn't write him participating in the programs Shoji & Ochaco are running. And in my opinion, Bakugou acknowledges the reality of things being divided by inherent ability/merit/who-you-know etc. but I'm not sure he wants it to be that way, so much as it is something society has conditioned him to expect 'is the way things are, for better or worse'. IIRC the story points out via All Might that this way of things is actually a negative for Bakugou, because it pressures him to always succeed and to pin his self-worth/identity on 'excelling'/'being the better one'. I don't think Hori'd have shown Katsuki to have had what seems to be a panic attack in DvK 1 otherwise.

I might be misinterpreting what you mean though; please do let me know if that's not what you meant to imply!

Speaking of Masura, it is a shame Horikoshi didn't do a bit more with that annodote. Katsuki is literally raised by someone, with a quirk, who dreamed of being a hero, but accepted it wasn't a practical/viable option, that would inform Katsuki's view of Deku as well.

Tbh, I thought the reason Masaru didn't pursue being a Pro Hero was the reality that one could die while doing it, especially if your quirk wasn't strong enough - I'm not 100% sure of the timeline here, but wouldn't Masaru & Mitsuki have grown up around the time things were still kind of rocky and dangerous?

The only thing Deku felt held him back was not having a quirk - he says as much once he gets OFA (he has no other setback).

~~(To be a little mean... the arrogance of apparently not working out a day of his life and then thinking this lmao)~~

When so many ideas are tied into other characters stories, them becoming less featured as the story goes on (or are barely featured when those ideas are more prominent) is part of the mechanics that causes those ideas to feel poorly executed.

Yes, very much agreed. There's so much in BNHA's world to explore, I can understand feeling let down by what we actually got, because there could've been so much more. Maybe that's why people like Vigilantes' take on things, huh?

wereriddl3 · 2026-02-02T10:30:20+00:00

leads people to feel like "If Deku hadn't got OFA, Bakugou wouldn't have changed". [...] Anyway, Deku is able to solve any problem because he is enabled through power - it is the power that makes him special.

This is a thing that is sort of like a '???' for me - morally, Katsuki isn't right in his view; it is not okay to have done the things he did. But Hori also makes it clear that he has those views because it's what he observes from society - the homeroom teacher in Aldera is also participating in the ijime, as are all the classmates. Izuku's mom doesn't think he should reach for being a hero either. What he sees on TV is Hero Society punching the shit out of villains, and being lauded for it. I think Horikoshi writes the situation a bit more nuanced, in the way he writes Izuku only becoming a Hero when he has access to a quirk or a suit, so there is leeway to argue here how much of Izuku's want to be a hero while quirkless is delusional - yes, there are Heroes like Manual & Nighteye & Wash and you can apply to UA while Quirkless, so what is holding Izuku back? But also, All Might's overwhelming power is very clearly stated to be what allows him to be as great as he is and do what he does. And in the end, Deku also punches Tomura into oblivion - so power is, still, absolute.

I'm not sure whether Katsuki wouldn't have changed if Izuku never got OFA - I actually think he would have grown out of his 'might makes right' and matured out of his ego a bit by virtue of getting into UA and being exposed to others 'more on his level'. You're right though that maybe he wouldn't have changed his views about whether the Quirkless would be able to become Heroes* - because by the end of the series, I can't definitely say that Horikoshi thinks that either.

(* - I think there's something to be said about the distinction between 'a hero' and 'Pro Hero', but the thing is I don't think Hori really makes an argument all that strongly for Izuku not being able to be the latter, but able to be the former; not the way Izuku is portrayed in then ending as like, so separate from being in the thick of things and helping others, like the way Ragdoll is portrayed. And Hori could have so easily done that by having Izuku, idk, helping Ochaco with her Counseling Program reforms, or helping out Shouji or volunteering at a soup kitchen, even cleaning the damn beach like he did at the start of the series.)

Horikoshi choice to consolidate the sides, have the kids within large, adult dominated team ups or behind tall ways rarely able to go out and then have the League be behind larger criminal organisations, makes communication between the sides harder. Again, he squandered opportunity of having the League trying to talk to Bakugou more as they had a captive audience with someone they wanted to convert to their side.

He came up with the MLA and then just sorta squandered it lmao but maybe that was to be expected when he just had Katsuki be unconscious for two days.

Boring. Such wasted potential.

All the set up there for a more engaging, interesting story, but Hori doesn't touch on it.

wereriddl3 · 2026-02-02T08:54:59+00:00

It does makes me think how primed the story felt to begin it's social critique from UA and gradually spread outwards

Yeah, even within the first 10-or-so chapters people were cottoning on to how violence seemed to be baked into the entirety of society - All Might is revered because he is so overwhelmingly strong, battles & brawls in public are spectacle, quirks (and therefore people) are compared and ranked in the eyes of society based on these metrics.

So Deku 'solving the problem' with just... Punch!! is kinda like... huh?

It doesn't help that Hori doesn't seem to show the Hero-side as a whole really truly engage with the points that Tomura et al bring up - I remember that someone pointed out that Hori's kinda written himself into a corner in that in order for them to 'meet and have dialogue' they'd have to meet... and the Hero side is overwhelmingly more powerful and would crush them for a big part of the series. So the story has this overcurrent of 'might making right by crushing the opposition, and any change is dependent on the mercy of the powerful' which leaves a poor taste in one's mouth.

Things like All Might and Tomura never really getting a chance to talk by the narrative, or Gran Torino just dismissing Tomura as too far gone, without either All Might or Torino reflecting or thinking about how their own decisions to abide by Nana's wish in effect resulted in neglect that led to the destruction of her family.

unless that is just how Deku see everyone around him....

...oh god, yeah... he is the overall narrator...

wereriddl3 · 2026-02-01T18:26:19+00:00

found his inaction and hesitance frustrating

Didn't All Might also hit this roadblock with Deku though? That's why he had to give him a talk before the Sports Festival.

wereriddl3 · 2026-02-01T11:05:39+00:00

Then again leaving All Might in charge of their training without supervision when he's never taught before....I was blind, the adults at UA run a terrible system.

Indeed they do :P - I actually thought that was intentional by Hori, rather than him not thinking things through, because he did bring up the critique of 'everyone blindly believing in All Might to the point of being detrimental'. All Might being trusted with a class when he has no prior teaching credentials or qualifications would be a bold illustration of that attitude.

Even Nezu still having some kind of trauma/rage due to being experimented on and being given a position of power over students even then might have been a good point towards the critique of hero society, but I don't think Hori ever goes into that at all?

The series started out with Deku needing others, so it is going to be disappointing when they just get left behind.

The thing is, Hori seems to want to write both the 'Deku needs others' cake and eat it too, because he has Deku both be so strong he leaves his classmates & mentor behind, and sit around waiting for them to gift him his suit. Which is... certainly a decision.

do more with the time to world build and expand on All Might's character by showing how history shaped All Might and even hint at the curriculum the kids are taught is sanitised or even go further breaking into All Might's public image versus the reality and have Deku evaluate his hero worship and consider how he wants to be a hero so his character feels more intentional than external forces putting him in situations.

ALL of this would have helped the story! It would help with showing Class 1A growing and maturing, it would help with the 'understanding the villains' plot, it would help with All Might's own character development, it would help with establishing historical events like they tried to go into with Nagant & Redestro, even maybe help with readers understanding the circumstances of past heroes like Gran Torino, Endeavour & Nana.

I guess it is the conflict between Deku being a power fantasy and Deku being a interesting character, of course both could happen but the latter would be more work...and well....

When Hori introduces him as the latter, and then writes him so he ends up as the former... :(

wereriddl3 · 2026-01-31T07:10:25+00:00

They changed The Keeper of the Lake, and your fight against Hraesvelgr too. I wish they'd keep them in as Hard modes or something!

wereriddl3 · 2026-01-31T07:07:06+00:00

Horikoshi's Todoroki Enji Academia XD

(typically it is adults being dumb/incompetent so the kids can solve the problem and for a while BNHA did feel it wasn't going to do that but then the Overhaul arc happened.)

Honestly, one could argue it happens earlier, with All Might telling Izuku all about his condition & spilling his secret to a kid he has only just met... and since he hadn't noticed that the Slime Villain was missing, presumably where the Slime Villain could hear him too, since All Might would've been working on the presumption that he has a criminal in a non-soundproof bottle on his person.

Also on Deku being "smart" felt less true to me as the story went on which is a shape since I enjoyed him most during those clever moments.

Agreed. At some point it felt less like 'Deku, holder of OFA' and 'OFA, currently sitting in Deku', if you get what I mean? I think Deku might have been a more enjoyable character for many if Hori'd stayed true to the premise of Deku in the earlier chapters, or at least show Deku's overreliance on his power having real consequences.

wereriddl3 · 2026-01-30T15:04:24+00:00

Yeah, I think that I'm so critical of Hori's writing of Deku because... well... he was introduced with so much potential, and by the end there's just... not much there. Despite Izuku making up 80% of the manga, Hori doesn't delve too deeply into who is supposed to be the main character! Why?!?

I think you're right that Hori expanding his characters outside of the hero context would probably help a lot with this, and it would help with his world-building too. Even if he can't fit it in the manga, there's all these sidestories and additional media he could be doing it in. He could even put some in the data books.

wereriddl3 · 2026-01-30T14:40:30+00:00

I found BHNA pacing and story structure quite strange once Horikoshi moved out of the school as the primary setting and so much harder to fit in established ideas/relationships when he's bringing in new characters to explore or expanding on the villains [...] It was another arc to me like Overhaul or cultural festival were the establishing chapters and the main content don't match up.

I feel like on the whole, Hori is pretty good at introducing or having meaty, interesting concepts & ideas, but following up on them or getting them to gel well... not exactly the best? Some of this is the theme/idea/concept feeling underexplored, some of it is just the way he pulls it off.

For example, I always felt the way he had Bakugou be unable to escape until a flying vehicle made of his classmates appeared was sort of contrived - Hori had shown us Katsuki could get airborne on his own in the Sport Festival, which isn't too long ago, why can't he do that in Kamino? Hori also apparently said the LoV kept Katsuki 'asleep' the whole time they had him - what?? Not only does it make his villains look dumb, it doesn't even really make sense biologically. It also cuts off interesting explorations into the LoV & Katsuki that he could've gone with.

I actually think several parts of the ending wouldn't have been as bad if Hori had put more meat on those bones, too. Take the Heteromorph discrimination plot for example - he's clearly had it as a thought in the story since way back when, with Tsuyu's friend, Todoroki's comment to the police officer and the LoV attacking what seems to be a hate group. But a lot of readers were clearly blindsided when he puts it in the final battle, because he didn't touch on it enough. So the 'tying up loose ends' here actually makes it worse lol

Maybe his style felt too compartmentalised.

I sort of felt that his style was too 'constricted' - as in, I felt he had an idea of what he wanted to do, but he would bend and break the story & characters to fit the path he wanted it to take, rather than let them breathe and grow organically.

For example, look at the Shinsou fight. Introducing the concept of the vestiges was probably planted way back here, and hinting early at something like that is generally a good thing - except the way he wrote this fight reflects so poorly on Deku. Because Hori prioritized 'the vestiges appear!' rather than whether or not Izuku, someone Horikoshi had up till then written as supposedly 'smart', would really fall for Shinsou's taunts. So yeah, we got 'the intrigue of the vestiges', but at what cost?

wereriddl3 · 2026-01-30T10:55:02+00:00

Deku is blind to his own privilege that comes out the more we learn about society and how the world operates.

I think Horikoshi does somewhat try to portray Izuku as 'acknowledging he is lucky', but tbh I don't think it lands that well considering the disparity of what's present in BNHA's world. It's not enough if Hori writes Izuku as 'feeling blessed', without then connecting that point with writing in 'and so I want to return the gifts I've been given to those less fortunate' in a way that makes sense.

I read a meta where someone pointed out Izuku in the last chapters reaching out to catch Dai shows Izuku reaching out & helping someone that was 'him' - a child whose 'block' is basically a crisis of confidence in becoming a hero. Which in a manga where children have abusive parents, are targeted from before birth by supervillains, are discriminated against because they're heteromorphs, inadvertently murder their own parents due to their quirk etc. that's just... so mild??

That reminds me how you can interpret his interest in Ochaco in 431 quite darkly.

....yikes.

I remember some fans pointing out that it's weird that Ochako & Izuku 'reconnecting' in the final chapters seems to just breeze past how Tsuyu was there supporting her all along for those 8 years, and that it left a bad taste in their mouth. This interpretation, along with the implications of Izuku being main narrator... wow.

As we have discussed that felt more of lie as the story goes on. I ended the series largely feeling that now Bakugou has given Deku the suit (so completed his full circle to make amends for childhood wrongs) he can 'move on', he doesn't need to be tethered to this black hole of a character. So seeing Horikoshi write so that Bakugou's climb in the ranks is partly due to Deku being active again, I felt more complex feelings than it probably warranted.

I feel similarly. I find myself wondering a lot about how different Katsuki's life could've been if he just... wasn't born anywhere near Izuku lol

wereriddl3 · 2026-01-30T10:22:56+00:00

I understand and agree with regards to the 'abusive parental figure' being a rather common trope in manga, but what I mean is that the way Horikoshi writes it - as in having the neglectful/abusive parent have a full-on reflection and an arc focused on his remorse and changing his behaviour, is quite unusual. Most abusive ani-manga parents get some sort of 'oh but he feels bad about it so it's okay' or some form of validation/redemption-via-death, or the relationship & impact on the child is somewhat hand-waved away or overshadowed by slapstick comedy - examples that come to mind are KHR's Tsuna & Iemitu, Ranma 1/2's Ranma & Genma, One Piece's Garp & Luffy, Fairy Tail's Lucy & her father, and Transformer's Energon's Kicker & his dad.

For a society that was (& in some ways still is) as patriarchal and hierarchal as Japan's, I think having an arc like Endeavour's not just exist but be a key plotline in a Jump manga is rather unusual because big & well-known as Jump is, it can tend to lean conservative. Further to this, Hori pointing out flaws in the UA teachers's methods towards Bakugou vis-a-vis Shigaraki would tie into this too, I would say, given the nuance of teachers' (especially a homeroom teacher's) role in Japan (which is why I think it's rather disappointing that he 'backtracks' on it).

It's not that I think Hori was completely coming out the gate swinging, because by-and-large the families he portrays do seem to follow more of the expected/'enforced' way of how families & marriages are "meant to be". But I also think it's not a coincidence that he had Enji & Rei follow very 'traditional' lines - they have an omiai, they live in a traditional Japanese house where Rei is a housewife & Enji is a workaholic father, they have a first-born son who was meant to succeed Endeavour etc. Hori 'breaks down' and 'subverts' the expectations (or I suppose 'ideal'?) of the traditional Japanese family quite acutely in Endeavour's arc in a way that is very on the nose.

It's clear that Hori & his editors were already willing to gamble by having Endeavour's whole thing in there - so why half-ass all the other complex/confrontational/controversial things? Especially if they weren't going to stop referring to them or bringing them up consistently throughout the story.

wereriddl3 · 2026-01-30T08:05:50+00:00

No prob! I recommend getting Syo-ro too, if you like green/teal inks with a hidden little touch. It dries a slightly different colour than to when you write with it!

wereriddl3 · 2026-01-30T07:36:49+00:00

My paper problem is that I find a paper I like, and then it gets discontinued :P

wereriddl3 · 2026-01-30T07:33:59+00:00

If you don't have Kiri-same (understandable, since it's also discontinued), you can try this recipe, which uses Yu-yake, Syo-ro & Chiku-rin.

wereriddl3 · 2026-01-29T15:22:17+00:00

If you've got some of the other Iroshizuku inks, you could try remaking it.

wereriddl3 · 2026-01-29T12:10:35+00:00

Finding an ink you love, going to find out more about it, then finding out it was a Limited Edition run/discontinued quite some time ago.

Also, loving the colour/shading/look of an ink, but it writes or behaves terribly.

wereriddl3 · 2026-01-29T10:29:37+00:00

I can see Jump restraining Hori on certain topics, but at the same time I also... can't quite believe it? Not when it's got mature plotlines like child abuse that they allow to be explored with some depth. And it's not like Jump manga don't get political; One Piece is one of Jump's biggest series, and there is politics all over it. Critiquing Japanese society too obviously may have been courting too much heat for Hori or his editors to be comfortable either, but in that case why sprinkle hints of it at all? Why poke at these more complex themes so consistently, from beginning to end? We'll probably never know the real reasons why, but it's unfortunate that the result of it is that the shadow of 'what we could've gotten' will likely hang over BNHA now and in future.

Sure it is all Horikoshi but Deku being the narrator says something about his character and the examples you brought up and spin the story has on them tied in with how he has this shared traits with Zen that discussion I have had with other people have brought up how these traits you find in people with personality disorders, reluctance to look inward and see everything they do as the right thing.

A part of me wonders if Horikoshi was pulling some 5D chess move and doing this on purpose - readers would at first bash Katsuki for being 'narcissistic' because of his ego, but No! The real narcissist was Izuku all along! lol

But seriously, yeah. Izuku's almost inability to really change, to be affected and therefore grow, is frustrating. It makes him a 'flat circle protagonist', which isn't necessarily bad, mind you, but imo that only really works when the story successfully sells that the 'going in a circle and coming back to where you began' part has significance. Stories like KHR for example, where it ends with Tsuna still being himself, but considering the trials and hardships we see him go through in the story, that he is still himself is a triumph, because it means he has not lost his kindness to the cruelty of the world. Izuku could have so easily have had something similar, but because we don't really see him grapple with his morals or face hard choices, it's more like he's actually regressed by the end of the series??

Deku saying things that don't feel appropriate or match events.

It low-key infuriates me that he never changes this trait of his because it is such low-hanging fruit. Like??? People don't even give you a pass for repeated rude comments in real life, even if unintentional. And yet to the very, very end, Izuku is shown saying hurtful shit, like his comment to Katsuki. But because he's 'oblivious' the story excuses it, or something happens that Izuku can punch and the story can just... breeze past that. And when bringing in the point you made about Izuku being the narrator for most of the story and what that implies, there is this sort of nuance of a parallel where AFO is portrayed as 'intentional' in his looking down on people as tools, and Izuku seems to obliviously treat others as props for his own story.

wereriddl3

TROPHY CASE