You Know I Feel Like You're The Only Person I Have Ever Seen Who Likes Aizawa But Actively Dislikes Shinsou,

you know I feel like you're the only person i have ever seen who likes Aizawa but actively dislikes Shinsou, cause if someone likes Aizawa you always assume it's a given that yes they must also like Shinsou because they both have so many charcter traits that they're basically Dr Evil and Mini-Me, they're both insomniacs, they're both assholes, they both have non offensive quirks that are incredibly overpowered given the circumstance, they're both arrogant and they have the same mindset of how heroing goes on hating the flashy heroes who are literally keeping society stable and thinking haha yes underground the best

Sorry, this took so long! I’ve been busy with a lot. ^^; Anyway, I’m going to use this to address some stuff that’s been on my mind.

Any! Long-ish post below. Oh, and this was written in a rush as I’m busy during this time, so forgive any grammar mistakes, repeats, and inconsistencies.

Oh, and if you feel I made a mistake anywhere, please be polite in your corrections.

Notes:

*A bit of Shinsou-Critical which may come off as anti-Shinsou (it’s not, but some people are sensitive.)

*Small bits of Aizawa Defense

*Spoilers for Vigilantes and the Main Series

*Bakagou critical (Yeah, somehow he slipped in.)

*Take it with a grain of salt

*Bad language

*images

*Again, very hurried so not as detailed as I would like

Basically, this is just me explaining why Shinsou doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not trashing Shinsou or anyone that likes him, these are just my thoughts. The gist is that he’s not a bad flavor, just not one I care for.

I’ll go into another post about why I love canon Aizawa later when I have the time, but this one is about my issues with Shinsou currently.

Before we dive in, a few things I think you might have misunderstood;

1: Neither are insomniacs. Insomnia means you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or getting good-quality sleep, but that’s not the case here.

Aizawa has zero issues falling asleep. In fact, if SB is canon he can do so very well and instantly. In the same chapter, he was able to stay asleep despite Mic shaking him. He only woke up when his boss came in. The only reason he doesn’t get “quality sleep” is that he’s always working, either as a hero or as a teacher. He only sleeps out of necessity as his eyes need to rest work (along with the rest of him).

Shinsou just has bags under his eyes which could just be from iron deficiency. (I have permanent bags under my eyes and I have a decent sleep schedule.) We have never seen anything to hint that he can’t sleep or is even tired.

2: I think any quirk can be overpowered depending on circumstances but whatever.

3: I disagree. Shinsou is definitely arrogant in his own way, but Aizawa isn’t. He comes off as being so at times but is more than willing to humble himself. One of the reasons that I like Aizawa so much is that he is more than willing to admit his mistakes and flaws and then works on his own to overcome them. Aizawa has even admitted that he admires people like All Might a few times. Speaking of which;

4: Aizawa doesn’t hate flashy heroes, nor has he once stated that being an underground hero is better. He respects All Might as a hero he just doesn’t agree with his teaching methods. At most he doesn’t understand the idea of needing to bother with interviews and such, but not seeing eye to eye and looking down are two different things.

5: Never once has he stated that being underground is better.

6: When he insults people with flashy quirks, he’s not insulting the quirk, but the person. All he’s ever said on the subject was that UA’s entrance exam was unfair, which EVERYONE online has agreed with.

And Shinsou doesn’t look down on flashy quirks. HIS quirk is flashy. The only issue is that it’s non-combative and it’s associated with villains. Shinsou’s only bitter that it’s non-combative and tries to tear others down because of his insecurities. That’s not looking down, it’s being jealous. If you want to see how it looks to look down on non-flashy quirks, look to Bakagou who looked down on everyone except Todoroki.

Okay with all that out of the way, let’s get to why we’re here; I like Aizawa and not Shinsou for a few reasons.

First, is that Aizawa, even when he was disadvantaged, never blamed the world for his weaknesses or shortcomings.

He actively worked hard and trained, even before Oboro died. He knew he had weaknesses and while he would bemoan them, Aizawa always did his best to improve. (Actually, Aizawa is a lot more like Tamaki than Shinsou, in that respect, but I digress.) Again, Aizawa trained himself AND he got himself a weapon that worked six years to master.

Shinsou is willing to humble himself later in the manga, however, he did very little on his own. He wanted to get into UA, so submitted a form to general studies and waited for the sports festival. That’s it. He didn’t train, he didn’t study combat or anything to overcome a weakness the entrance exams would have made very clear to him. And even at the sports festival, he relied on the strength of others to get him through it, then complained that the world was against him (we’ll get to that).

That’s not a failing as Izuku was the same before he met All Might. I’m not saying that it’s a flaw that Shinsou did nothing himself.

However, I am saying this is a point for why I like Aizawa over him as I like people who recognize their weaknesses and try to overcome them. He has low self-esteem but he tries. When he was a teen he saw that he had a disadvantage in combat and became a decent brawler and even taught himself to use a very complicated weapon. He saw a flaw in himself and works to overcome it (except for the smiling thing, but oh well).

The next Aizawa never tries to tear people down to make himself look better. He doesn’t actively look to cause a fight or hurt others.

Aizawa was kind even to people who tried to tear him down. (I’m not calling Laser eyes a bully as there’s a big difference between being a bully and being a jerk.) Even after laser eyes insults him and calls him useless--

--Aizawa acts like the bigger person and extends his hand twice by letting him keep the sunglasses he liked--

and then by offering advice on how he could improve.

At first, Shinsou reminded me of Bakagou, in that he looked down on everyone around him. (Again, he got better later on, but for nearly a hundred chapters this was my main impression of him.) True, he didn't insult them, but it came off that he was looking down on them as he had people carry him like slaves.

(Here, he may be thanking them, but that smirk makes it clear it's not sincere.)

Yes, Aizawa’s rude as well and can come off as a jerk but that’s because he’s blunt. He’s not purposely being an ass to stomp over others. And on the occasions, he is an “asshole” it’s with the intent of helping others (or in the case of Hizashi, playful fun).

The worst thing he does is put a black mark of expulsion on student records and yes. It is VERY extreme but at the same time, we’re kinda forgetting something. See, here’s the thing;

Aizawa is training these kids to fight villains.

They can’t afford to fool around as one single mistake can and will cost lives, either theirs or others. The black mark makes it clear that they’ve got no choice but to improve. And Aizawa doesn’t throw them to the wolves. He does what he can to help them become better (when plot armor doesn’t get in the way). Hell, he remained loyal to the traitor despite that latter setting up Class 1-A to get killed twice. It’s very clear that the expulsion and the black marks are scare tactics. We have seen any evidence of his actions ruining anyone’s life. In fact, we see that the scare tactic actually worked a few times.

In chapter 6 we see that scaring Izuku with the thought of expulsion forced him to figure out how to use his quirk without wrecking his entire body at once like he did the first time using his quirk. And even then, Aizawa wasn’t an ass for the sake of bullying his student like Snape would. He explained to Midoriya why what he was doing was stupid and why that wouldn’t fly in the future.

“But threatened to expel Izuku for not controlling a quirk he only had for two months!” Aizawa was locked out of the loop and didn’t know that. As far as he knew, Izuku had his quirk his whole life. Everyone likes to point out that because of the law there’s no way to properly train quirks but students like Bakagou, Todoroki, and Ochako have full control of their quirks along with the rest of the students. Later in the series—in Tamaki’s flashback—we see that students do get training for their training. Further evidence is that we’ve never seen one person in the world not know how to properly use their quirk. (Morally is another story.) Therefore, from his POV, there was no excuse that Izuku shouldn’t have control either.

 Moving on, all of that was to show that his most jackass actions are not for the sake of being an asshole, it’s actually to help. And you know what? The expel threat and the black marks do help.

It made the rest of the students of Class-A put their best foot forward on the quirk assessment so he could see where everyone’s starting point is. Then there’s a scene where a student states that it scared his previous class into doing better and helped them to grow. So, again, while it’s extreme, we’ve seen that it works.

The bottom line, when Aizawa is an asshole, it’s with the intent to help others. When Shinsou does it, it’s to help himself.

And I do understand that Shinsou does this because a) that’s the best way to use his quirk and b) he has severe low self-esteem in himself.

He truly seems to believe that everyone thinks of him as a villain because of his quirk. (They don’t. They just don’t like it when he uses their quirk on them, something Shinsou very much enjoys doing.)

And I do sympathize with him on that, believe it or not, but that doesn’t mean I like his attitude. Maybe if he was called out and forced to grow out of this I would be more endeared but still.

But to be fair, we do see him act better after the sports festival as he is grateful to work with the others. He’s even mostly polite. Shinsou even admits that he does want to help others and we see that when he helps Izuku, who has lost control of his quirk.

We also see that Aizawa cares for his students and fellow teachers. We see him make friends with former criminals.

We only get a glimpse of this with Shinsou in School briefs, which I’m not sure how much to take as canon as it’s written by Anri Yoshi and not Kohei Horikoshi, but let’s assume it has the Star Wars canon logic (before Disney got a hold of it) and say that it’s canon because it got his stamp of approval.

In School Briefs, Shinsou is kind, thoughtful, and considerate towards his classmates. He even admits guilt for the effect his actions had on Ojiro, whom he brainwashed without consent.

What annoys me about him though, is his writing.

He is always going on and on about how everyone looks down on him and his quirk but we see the opposite.

Shinsou is overly praised for everything he does and no one has ever said anything bad about him or his quirk. They’ve only said that the quirk is usually associated with villains and not to use it on them. Oh, and that Shinsou could force people to do things for him. It’s thoughtless and insensitive but no malice was intended.

And I’ll throw him a bone and say that Shinsou internalized these comments to the point where he cannot believe people’s compliments. It’s still annoying.

To me, it’s like a woman bemoaning she’s ugly when she looks like a model and has everyone telling her, “Wow! You’re gorgeous.”

And you know what? From a storytelling point, it’s a waste! Shinsou could have been used to explore how people can be prejudiced against quirks. And it’s really simple to do this;

1: At the sports festival have some of the heroes make comments about how questionable his quirk is.

2: In his flashbacks actually have people say bad things about him and call him a villain, or have him overhear conversations.

3: Or—if you want to have an arc where Shinsou just internalized ill-thought words—have him come to realize that he was mistaken.

It really was that easy for the bare minimum. As is, we just have Shinsou’s perception which, when you look at the evidence, shows that he’s wrong about what people think.

He could also be shown struggling with the moral implications of his quirk; true it’s cool and powerful, but it involves taking away someone’s free will and at times affects their memory. Even if he doesn’t see it as a big deal, others obviously do. Why not explore it? See how he handles this, how he comes to terms? Maybe use it to develop Ojiro as well, as he was the one most affected by Shinsou. Have them debate and explain their sides where Ojiro points out the shittiness of using others without their consent and forcing them to do things against their will while Shinsou states that’s how his quirk works, then find a middle ground.

As is, we’re told that Shinsou was told that he couldn’t be a hero with his quirk, but we constantly see otherwise. Again, the only person who gets more narrative dick-sucking is Bakagou. And even with Bakagou, we see him get humbled here and there. (For two seconds, but I digress.)

Plus, Shinny’s personality is basically just copied and pasted. He’s a mini-zawa with a slightly different backstory and a bit more arrogance. And yes. Despite his low self-esteem, Shinsou is arrogant and prideful. (True, this is mostly at the sports festival where his arc starts.)

Look how he uses his quirk; he has others carry him around like a king. This isn’t bad and I like that he is one of the few to stand up to Bakagou. (I wanted them to fight and have Shinsou win, which would have been good for both arcs, but I digress.)

I just prefer Aizawa’s personality with Aizawa, who I see more of and whose backstory and character I like. He’s also not a one-note character, Shinsou is.

Aizawa is a strict teacher but he loves his students and wants to help them in his own way. He’s also a tsundere friend to Mic and Midnight. His relationship with Shirakumo is heartbreaking as he was the one who always inspired him and now he’s a brainwashed corpse.

Aizawa is a hero who stops to help people even on his days off and uses villain fights to get out of events he doesn’t care about. He made friends with low-collar criminals and had them make him so much coffee, he inspired them to open a cat cafe. The list goes on.

Shinsou is just a one-note character. He wants to be a hero but struggles because externally he’s no good at combat and internally he’s got the idea that everyone thinks his quirk is villainous to the point he can’t believe anyone who tells him otherwise (even when it’s LITERALLY everybody). Which is compelling I grant you, but what else? Who's his best friend? What food does he like? Why does he have bags under his eyes and what's up with his hair? Shouta looks like a hobo because he doesn’t think it's rational to waste energy on personal upkeep, what’s Shinsou’s excuse?

This is why Shinsou is a favorite for fanfiction. He has a setup for a tragic backstory that people can have fun with, he has a canon connection to a fan favorite, his past is mostly blank, and family is never mentioned, and his personality is basic enough that writers can add whatever they want to fit the story. But for me, why go for the bland diet version when I can have the more rounded original?

And finally, here are a few very pretty reasons;

1: I don’t like his design. The color of his hair is nice but that’s it.

2: He has angsty teen vibes where he acts “oh, no one likes me!” when everyone is praising him more than Narcissist did his own reflection and people are literally throwing themselves at him to sing praises. And no. The fact he’s literally a teen doesn’t help.

3: And the pettiest reason I don’t like him; he is always shoved in my face. (I told you it was petty, but this is an opinion piece so fuck it! :p)

Everyone and their mother has decided that Shinsou is Aizawa’s son which is annoying. I already don’t like the character, so having him forced in my face is grating. But he’s everywhere because people like the potential of his character. And to be fair, there is a lot of potential. Like Ari, he is good fanfic material. I just don’t like him enough to explore it.

I mean it, I filter every tag I can with them and these fuckers will still show up. I can’t tell you how annoying it is to really get into a fanfic only to have these guys suddenly thrown in. It’s like eating a really good meal only to find a fly in it. Maybe it won’t ruin the meal but it’s not as enjoyable as it was before. (Sorry, small rant.)

It didn’t help that I was getting the face full of Shinny when I was doing the first read and still had the SF impression of him where he reminded me of an Emo version of Bakagou who I REALLY dislike.

His relationship with Shouta doesn’t appeal to me either. Again, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just we didn’t get to see too much of them interacting and the scenes where they did weren’t much different than the ones with his other students. And there’s not enough contrast in their personalities to set up potential interesting interactions if that makes sense. They’re too much alike to be fun for me and the things that separate them aren’t enough. Yet, in 90% of fanfics, there he is, written as a poor woobie child who needs daddy Aizawa to love him (shut up internet, you know what I mean). I just can’t stand him anymore mostly because of that. (Fanon Shinsou is the worst for me because I know what he’s actually like in the manga.)

Bottom line;

Aizawa is a well-rounded character with virtues and flaws. He struggles with having a non-combative quirk but instead of just blaming the world for being unfair, he works to overcome his weaknesses, earning the admiration of his friends. He’s blunt and rude, but he’s also kind. As a teacher, he’s super strict and merciless, but also forgiving as sin. Why hasn’t he expelled Bakagou or Mineta? He wants to help them get better (not that he takes action to do so but I digress). He’s also more than a one-note character.

Shinsou is very one noted and—mostly due to lack of screen time—relies on exposition for character development. He’s rude and arrogant, and because of his low self-esteem wants to drag others down. He uses his quirk on others without consent even though his quirk requires taking away someone’s free will, then treats them like slaves under his control. Then when they mention that the quirk made them uncomfortable, he blows it off. He also comes off as someone with a victim mentality. He’s always claiming that everyone thinks his quirk is evil but the majority of the scenes show the opposite. People overpraise his quirk. Now, I’m sure he doesn’t have this but it comes off that way.

Shinsou’s writing annoys me and he just doesn’t appeal to me as a character.

I have Shouta who’s a lot better and more fulfilling emotionally. Why do I need his less-developed clone? It didn’t help that due to his lack of screen time, his first impression of the sports festival is what stuck in my mind for the longest time before we got to see him grow up a little and we didn’t even see that development.

Again, it all comes down to personal tastes and I hope I explained this well. I did this all in a rush and luckily I had some images on standby for other characters.