Something Something, Kyojuro Gets Turned Into A Demon Against His Will (by Douma) And Akaza Is So So

I have a question, in a certain part of the fandom when it comes to criticizing characters like Bakugou, Endeavor, etc., an answer that is repeated a lot is that those who criticize don't understand the cultural context of Japan and therefore we don't understand the way in which Horikoshi wrote. But is this really true? I don't deny that there are aspects of Japanese culture in the manga but many actions of the characters feel very Westernized for the cultural issue to be an impediment in understanding the manga, more than anything when the idea of ​​the heroes and everything written by Horikoshi feels a direct reference to US comics, not just a comic but directly movies like the MCU.

For understanding any character or the world of BNHA generally, of course some knowledge of Japanese culture would help shed light on some of the narrative choices and themes. This was written by a Japanese man with an intended audience of Japanese manga readers.

And it's true that Japan overall does tend to have a more laissez faire attitude towards bullying and domestic violence.

However, BNHA also clearly depicted these actions as horrific early on in the manga. Beyond that, BNHA is a manga where that argument is weaker than usual because it is so heavily inspired by American culture and American media specifically.

If an author spells out how horrific bullying, systemic discrimination, and domestic abuse are in his work, it's not too much to ask for the characters who were the victims to get the panel time to demonstrate how they were affected by these actions. The atonement doesn't carry much weight without an understanding of the result of the wrongdoing in the first place.

What a good consequence should look like and how atonement should occur is going to be tied up in cultural norms. But there's no cultural excuse for sidelining the victims because the author feared it would make the atoning characters unpopular. Objectively bad writing decisions are bad writing decisions regardless of culture.

So there's a strange "defense" of Miraculous I've seen crop up on occasion. The idea that everything wrong about the Lovesquare powerdynamic is deliberate and will all be explored next season (lets put aside that this defense has been cropping up for 3 seasons now). The claim that Soon(TM), the writers are gonna make the characters face the concequences and explore the fallout of the entire jenga-tower of BS they've been "carefully" setting up all along... Which... isnt a defense I vibe with, cause it fundamentally boils down to "its not a Kids Rolemodel Show, its a deconstruction of a Kids Rolemodel Show". It's a defence that would place Marinette alongside Tyler Durden, Walter White and Rick Sanchez in the "you werent supposed to relate to them" pantheon. And while i think there are plenty of reasons that deconstruction is a usefull tool (even if i hate the dime-a-dozen "Childrens Fairytale but its depression" and "Superman, but psycho"' decon-stories out there). I'd argue 'Kids Rolemodel Show' is the one genre that should never be deconstructed, or at least not in the slow-burn,long-form way the people arguing this claim the show to be doing. And i hold that stance for one simple two-part reason: Poe's law, and the fact that the deconstructed genre is aimed at an audience with absolute zero media-literacy. (reminder: "5-6 year old kids" is the one audience where that is not an insult, simply a statement of fact.) A show aimed deconstructing a genre with an audience for whom it may actually be their first big piece of media is legitimately dangerous. Because there is no way a 5 year old can be expected to tell "deconstruction of a formulaic kids cartoon" from "Formulaic kids cartoon". The idea that "they've been making Marinette into a bad example deliberately and are going to reveal the entire show to have been a carefull ruse in season 6/7" is supposed to be a defense? Its frankly absurd. A 6 year kid who watched the show when it first aired and idolised Ladybug, could be old enough to drink by the time S6 reveals she was supposed to be a bad example. A little girl who based her relationships on the way Mari pursues romance would have a restraining order by the time the show indends to pull this twist. And some of y'all are claiming that "actually its a long-form deconstruction" is a defense? I legit don't get y'all.

So this might be a hot take or it might not be but I 100% believe Bakugo was an entitled kid whose parents probably spoiled the fuck out of him along with everyone else. Or at the very least probably fueled his superiority complex. And the entire reason for the inferiority complex he had is because he knew Izuku was better than him in every way except being quirkless and that's why he was such a shit to him. Hell we see Bakugo's thought process play out during his shittastic "apology" because Izuku tried to help him when he fell into the river he's a better person than Bakugo because he has fucking empathy for everyone and Bakugo couldn't stand that. And it's a large part of why I will never like Bakugo as a character. Fundamentally could he have changed? Yes. But the execution of his change was done so poorly that even Horikoshi admitted in the epilogue that Bakugo is still not a good person. He still treats others poorly and will probably go down in the rankings because of that. He's an entitled shit who never had anyone truly check his behavior and just because he's done a few good things does not outweigh all the bad he's done and continues to do.

I wasn't expecting this kind of KIBUTSUJI MUZAN:

alexa play "i can hear the bells" from hairspray 👬💒

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Sukunella 🖖🏻🎃

Did I say they fully understand each other’s language because they both speak raptor? More like, mostly. Takes some work but will get easier eventually.

(I figured actual-words dialogue would be unnecessary here, so have squiggles representing raptor noises. Downside of squiggles is, though, it’s hard to recognize when the same ones are purposefully reused, so I hope giving the reused ones colours works to help get across that Blue does still get to say all the same things in the last two panels as she said in the second one. Just slower, so Indo and his nonexistent experience at conversation can keep up.)

Hi,not sure if I ever mentioned this but...not a fan how Monoma acts towards A1. Why? Bc I don't get it.

In my fics I tend to make B1 be seen as the lesser one to justify the animosity Monoma feels.

But canon...B1 is not looked down, I think maybe that is general eds.

"he hates A1 bc of bk" it's a justification I saw and could have worked but he also ...calls Izu arrogant, Izu the boy who clearly thinks he is worthless...is arrogant.

Why Monoma even has a beef with A1 in the first place? Just to be a mouthpiece for BK? Maybe but why take out on the others? Too many questions and no answer since Hori admits he created Monoma thinking on an annoying person he met and he doesn't like Monoma (bold claim here Hori) my point is...I don't think it makes sense Monoma have a issue with the students of A1.

If he was beffing with Aizawa and BK only. Yes, that would make sense.

But the rest? No. And I say this as a person who detest A1 now.

I don't care either way because Monoma is only mildly antagonistic so it isn't a huge deal for me, but I'll attempt to explain some of his behavior:

1A does nothing to call Bakugou out. They allow, and even enable in some cases, his behavior. This even includes Izuku, as (I believe) he even defended Bakugou against something Monoma said once (I can't remember if it was to his face or not)

After the USJ, Bakugou acted like he was better than the other students because he easily beat real villains. This was the rest of the school's first introduction to 1A. So Monoma, incorrectly, assumed that 1A shared Bakugou's behavior. Dumb on his part, but again, 1A didn't really condemn his behavior so they didn't help their cases there either

1A is, rightfully, annoyed with Monoma's behavior, but is fine with Bakugou's. Most of the people who condemn Monoma are Bakugou's friends (Kirishima and Sero mainly). This also replicates his childhood. He was treated differently for his quirk while people like Bakugou were praised. So I can see why he continues to antagonize 1A even if I don't agree with it

It really comes down to 1A as a whole being bystanders and hypocrites, which we know they are. They allow and defend Bakugou's behavior, even though he's been awful to them and other people. I can't blame Monoma for having a distaste for them, even if he does go too far with it.

(Also, it wasn't just Monoma who thought like this. The rest of UA resented 1A too)

Monoma's an asshole, but that's not really a problem for me. Because a) he's called out and condemned for it and b) it's really not that serious. He's not malicious or cruel, he's just an overzealous jerk

Throughtout the time Reigen knew Mob, he bought books so he could better understand him and be prepared to answer his questions/help him out(While maintaining the façade that he is the master in that field).

But it wasn’t only though books...

Reigen also trained his body so he could better understand/help Mob who was doing the same with the Body Improvment Club. Reigen maybe a con artist, but at the end of the day, he never wanted to be unable to answer one of Mob’s questions or be unable to offer him help because he knew Mob needed him and also that he thought the world of him. So much so in fact...

While it’s not exactly stated, but rather shown, Reigen is a smoker, something that he does his best to hide from Mob because he doesn’t want to instill such a habit to him. But despite the con man he is, and all of what I just mentioned

Reigen still wants Mob to be all he can be, his own man, away from Reigen.