Yeah, for sure, this ep was another one of those watershed moments. They’re coming fast and furious at this point, and Boku no Hero Academia is really a series that’s rich with them. There are risks to that, actually – both in terms of “epic fatigue” (even iconic moments can seem less iconic if they’re too frequent) and the author potentially getting so caught up in creating them that he keeps trying to top himself. There may be a few times in more recent arcs of the manga where that’s a minor issue (though that’s just my opinion). but this particular arc is BnHA at its iconic best.
As relationships go, reasonable people can have legitimate disagreement over which of the two big ones is the true central one in HeroAca. All the big relationships are hopelessly entangled with each other of course, but my contention has always been that Izuku and All Might is the emotional and thematic heart of the series. But they don’t get much more elemental than Deku and Kacchan – childhood frenemies, eternal rivals, the light and the dark, empathy and rage. Two sides of the same coin, no doubt, and seemingly eternally linked for better or worse.
Of course I wrote at length about this weird, co-dependent bond last week. And without a doubt, it’s a matter of passionate disagreement among fans of the series – for whom Bakugo is indisputably the character who provokes the most divergent opinions. My official position has always been that I like him as a character, but not as a person – and nothing that happened in this arc changed my opinion on that. Bakugo is a fascinating enigma and a great plot driver, and an obvious catalyst for Midoriya-kun’s development. But to me, there’s never been any doubt that he’s an unpleasant, miserable bastard.
So what about the Bakugo we saw this week? Well, I have no doubt that Horikoshi-sensei’s intention was that we feel more sympathetic towards Kacchan after this fight than before it. But I don’t, not really. The reason is pretty straightforward (to me at least): to a degree at least, I think the design here was to show a more vulnerable side to Bakugo’s character. But I already saw him as pretty vulnerable to be honest – borderline pathetic at his worst moments. He wears his insecurities on his sleeve (even All Might makes reference to his “inferiority complex”), and he’s driven by pettiness and ego far more than anyone aiming to be a top hero should be. I saw him after the fight pretty much as I did before it – someone who was worthy of pity, probably, but no more than before someone who was worthy of respect.
Let’s be clear about some things, here. Bakugo started this fight (featuring Bones’ most glorious animation and art in several eps) with Deku, 100%. Yeah Deku got in trouble too, but WTF was he supposed to do? As well, this was envy and sour grapes driving Kacchan’s hand. Is it a coincidence that he picked this fight on the night of the day he failed the provisional license exam, and Izuku passed it? No effing way. Kacchan hates that the boy he always bullied and belittled (he admits to “beating him up” when they were kids) won All Might’s favor, and that the boy is no longer his punching bag. This is Bakugo’s larger problem in a nutshell – the world before Yuuei always laid down and deferred to him and stroked his ego. It no longer does that, and no longer will – he has a hard time ahead of him. And Deku is the one that symbolizes this change, so he’s the one Bakugo picks a fight with.
All Might and Deku are certainly sympathetic – but then, I would argue both of them are too nice for their own good (literally). Deku has always admired Kacchan – his “image of victory” – but the persistence of that admiration is, in my opinion, indicative of a flaw in Deku’s own character. He never gives himself enough credit, and far too easily gives it to others. He should have seen through Kacchan as the paper tiger he was years ago, and who knows, maybe he did – but to admit the truth of just how sad and frankly weak Bakugo is would be too painful for Izuku to admit to himself. So he talks himself into the continued illusion, the idealized version of his “friend”. Again, that co-dependent, mutually destructive nature of this relationship.
I don’t deny Bakugo has some very good reasons to be both pissed and despondent. He blames himself (almost entirely unfairly) for All Might’s fate. All Might’s choice of Deku shakes Bakugo’s very faith in how the world should work. But the kid has a serious problem – on the very same day his rage issues cost him the provisional license, he started a brawl with Deku and got both of them in trouble. He’s a serial offender, and he needs help. Bakugo for all his flaws is legit beastly strong, and he could have a future as a hero. His desire to be one is certainly genuine. But if Deku really wants to help him – All Might too – they need to stop validating his anti-social behavior and try and force him to grow and change.
Easier said than done, I know. But the conversation at the end of the episode shows that All Might has a pretty decent grasp of Kacchan’s psychological state, if he can bring himself to truly act on that knowledge. Deku, sadly, needs this rivalry right now too – he’s not strong enough in his self-awareness to define himself as a hero without measuring himself against Bakugo. So the co-dependency continues for now, perhaps even by necessity, but that’s not a substitute for real growth. What Bakugo desperately needs is some tough love, but Deku and All Might sure as hell aren’t the ones to look to for that.
TheYepMan
September 15, 2018 at 5:59 amIt’d be a spoiler to talk about how this talk will affect Bakugo further (not that there’s too much to see in that department due to screentime reasons) but by this point in the manga I was able to notice what his character arc really means: genius fatigue.
Most people just see Bakugo as an annoying piece of shit – because he sort of is. But the reasons why he grew up to be that have been laid out to us from the beginning: showered with praise by the whole world and raised by parents that couldn’t really manage the issue. And I can soooort of relate to that, especially after a long period of time when I had to come to terms with the fact that the praise was empty and that I’m very much an average joe that needed to work as hard as everyone else but wasted a whole lot of time. And that shit is hard to come to terms with.
Yes, I agree that the most one can feel about characters like Bakugo is plain pity… at least for now. But I also think (for reasons that are SPOILERS, welp!) that this manga, and thus this anime in the future, does know where it’s going with Bakugo. The parallels to Endeavor are plain as day, and Endeavor is a damn perfect example of what Bakugo would’ve become had it not for this particular moment in the story.
So apart from pity, I also feel grateful for Bakugo being there, raising up the quality of this franchise with his compelling and interesting character.
Guardian Enzo
September 15, 2018 at 6:07 amI don’t really disagree with any of that… But I don’t think any of it disagrees with me either.
animealex
September 15, 2018 at 7:46 amA very good post. I hope it’s okay if I try to expand a minor, but (to me) important point. His parents not only couldn’t handle Bakugo’s situation, they made it (unwillingly!) worse. From what we’ve seen, his father is a rather timid and passive character (so no real guidance there), while his mother has the same temper as Bakugo and acts with (mild, but still) violence to his transgressions and not only says in her talk with Aizawa and Allmight, that she doesn’t see much praiseworthy about him, but also assigns the blame for being kidnapped on him (while being his primary authority figure!). I know this scene is seen as funny by most fans and I’m not sure if this wasn’t the intention by the author. And I hope this doesn’t sound to much like “armchair psychology”, but to me this scene made clear, why a) Bakugo is a “do-not-touch-me” person who always keeps his distance, b) made violent reactions to the behaviour of others acceptable and c) what made his “inferiority superiority complex” (or whatever you want to call it) worse. If you are praised to the high-heavens by your peers and your teachers on the one hand, but get scant or no praise from your parents, well…lets just call it not healthy.
Just to clarify: I’m not trying to shift the blame for Bakugo’s behaviour to his parents, his actions are his own and he’s old enough to reflect on them, but his home situation certainly is a contributing factor. Count me in the camp of people, who would call “being a parent” the hardest “Job” out there.
And now a question for Enzo, if I may: You said that Bakugo “blames himself (mostly, though not entirely, unfairly) for All Might’s fate.” Could you please expand on the “though not entirely” part? Because I’ve thought about that for about 20 minutes before this post and I’m drawing a blank here.
Guardian Enzo
September 15, 2018 at 8:05 amYes, I think I’ve been pretty consistent in saying that some of Bakugo’s dysfunction comes from environment – a lot of it. If teachers or parents has reined him in instead of playing to his megalomania when he was a kid, it might have made a difference.
As to the blame issue… I mean, I guess I just sort of get where his thinking is here. Maybe a different decision somewhere, a little quicker assessment/reaction to what was happening, and who knows – Bakugo might have avoided getting captured. If I were in his shoes I’d feel that way. Not that he’s at fault – if anything, it’s the administration at UA who allow this stuff to happen over and over.
TheYepMan
September 15, 2018 at 9:49 amI think Bakugo is completely blameless for All Might’s demise. Yes, completely. He is 100% to blame for the disaster that was his kidnapping, because he chose to ignore clear orders – orders that I bet he knew deep down he should’ve followed the moment he was given them – just because they were Deku’s idea (and because he wanted action). However, he had no way of knowing All For One was playing speed chess with everyone – hell, he had no way of knowing about All For One at all, and he also had no way of knowing All Might’s secrets.
So yeah, I took this as him blaming himself for things that were completely out of his control. Had Bakugo not been kidnapped there would’ve been no showdown with All For One at all, sure; but who could’ve predicted things were to escalate as quickly as they did? No one – and that’s exactly why All Might is out of commission.
animealex
September 15, 2018 at 10:44 amOK, here I have to disagree with you on one important point. Bakugo is not to blame for his kidnapping. He ignored the order not to fight for the whole “Moonfish” situation and was afterwards his abrasive self, but he fell (quite literally) in line, when the other students who were present decided to protect him. He wasn’t the last one in the line (Tokoyami was) and there is no mention that he strayed from the group. Mr. Compress is just so good, he could snatch two quite capable teenagers at the same time, while nobody else noticed anything. Hadn’t he fallen victim to his own dramatic nature and revealed himself, none would even guessed what happened.
So, no Bakugo is not at fault for his kidnapping imo. Otherwise, as above, I agree with you.
Guardian Enzo
September 15, 2018 at 3:44 pmAgain, it’s not that I blame him – it’s that I get why he blames himself. Big difference.
GC
September 15, 2018 at 1:55 pmOne correction…. Deku is still Bakugo’s punching bag. Deku needs to try to get rid of some of his timidness if he is ever gonna be the world’s greatest hero.
Guardian Enzo
September 15, 2018 at 3:36 pmI disagree here. Punching bags don’t punch back.
Deku was, literally, that for Kacchan once. If nothing else, he’s at least a sparring partner now.
Yann
September 15, 2018 at 2:00 pmVery nice post! I very much enjoy when you spend more time analyzing in depth like that… Sweet!
Guardian Enzo
September 15, 2018 at 3:35 pmAwfully nice of you to say – those posts are more fun to write, for sure.
Sam
September 15, 2018 at 4:36 pmIs this supposed to end within next 1-2 episodes (as in 24-25 eps)? Before inevitable hiatus (prior to season 4), that is.
A bit surprised by the preview as surely they don’t plan to end the season in the middle of new story arc? I do like that I may get to see probably my favorite character in the series introduced (shown in the preview).
Guardian Enzo
September 15, 2018 at 5:16 pmS4 will probably be Spring 2019. Wait won’t be that long.