My Hero Academia 3: Villainous Interlude

[LaZodiac]

Waits for the receipts. Like a good boy Tobi, I wait

Sad 😢

Okay so

1: Don't need to provide a reference for this one. He added a collar to his outfit that resembles Best Jeanist's. Yes, it's practical for keeping his breath in and for keeping his face warm in winter... except given how screamy he is, having something directly over his mouth like that is a hindrance more than anything else. It's an obvious parallel in costume design.

2: Bakugo is asked if he is going back to Best Jeanist. He says "I don't know" and we see him thinking about Best Jeanist being missing. This proves he cares since if he would say no he WOULD JUST SAY NO. That's Bakugo, that's what he does! We also see here Best Jeanist calling his initial names childish.

3: Best Jeanist makes it clear that he thinks Bakugo is naive for his names, and that once he understands himself and the world better, and has a proper name, to come tell him after getting his provisional license. We know from Bakugo's failure to GET said license and the eventful fight with Deku and it's aftermath that Bakugo is understanding the world better now. Ergo, if he were to think of a name, and tell someone, it would be Best Jeanist.

4: Bakugo makes it clear he's chosen a name, but has someone he must tell first. Judging from what we've seen above, he clearly respects Best Jeanist. He wouldn't be thinking about him and NOT get mad about these memories if he didn't have a non-angry emotion attached to them. He has his provincal license now, he is thinking of Best Jeanist in a non negative light, and has picked out a name to better show his ideals and understanding of the world. He wants to tell Best Jeanist.

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god I know. I really want a UA outfit uwaaah!

[Gluteus_Maximus]

*peeks at scans*

Welp. Hope everyone's been keeping up with Vigilantes.

[lord_khaine]

Hmm i see. Yeah i was confused about how people overlook that what Jeanist did was as such more abuse than what Bakugo's mom did by just swatting him.
And its clear he did loathe his stay at the agency. So the idea that he would do as Jeanist wanted just because Jeanist asked is honestly silly.
The last person to make random demands of Bakugo (Shigeraki) got an explosion to the face.

But i guess it can indeed be that time and reflection helped him change his mind on the lessons.

Else, rather shocking development.
So this is the reason for that friend who got randomly introduced in Erasors school flashback.

[Ramza00]

*peeks at scans*

Welp. Hope everyone's been keeping up with Vigilantes.

100% agree. Lots of new things happened in the peeked scans.

Spoiler: Chapter 253

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Wait, I am a peeker, that means I am no better than Mineta



2 more days till the official translation

[John Cribati]

Yeah i was confused about how people overlook that what Jeanist did was as such more abuse than what Bakugo's mom did by just swatting him.

I'm not sure I follow. Are you talking about the part where he made Bakugou wear jeans and comb his hair, or the part where he lectured him about how one is supposed to conduct oneself while performing a public service?

Or is it the tying him up thing? Because I do agree that was excessive, but I'm also not sure Bakugou would sit still and listen... well, sit still... otherwise.

[Ramza00]

I'm not sure I follow. Are you talking about the part where he made Bakugou wear jeans and comb his hair, or the part where he lectured him about how one is supposed to conduct oneself while performing a public service?

Or is it the tying him up thing? Because I do agree that was excessive, but I'm also not sure Bakugou would sit still and listen... well, sit still... otherwise.

Starting a debate for starting a debate [I do not have an opinion on this but I am curious of what other people's opinions are on this matter.]

Is tying someone up for 20 seconds or less as Best Jeanist did with Bakugou.

Is that any worse or better than specifically removing someone's quirk for 20 seconds, coupled with the double fact you told them to use their quirk prior to surprising them and you layered this removal on top of telling them they would be expelled if they fail to perform well in the Quirk Apprehension Test / Track Games? [I am referring to Eraserhead / Shota Aizawa incident Izuku Midoriya in the 1st season and manga chapters 6 and 7.]

Is this more abusive, more manipulative, less?

I don't have an answer and thus I am asking this question.

[John Cribati]

Is putting someone through 20 seconds of anxiety- in order to stop them from turning every bone in their whole arm into dust- morally justified?

[Ramza00]

Is putting someone through 20 seconds of anxiety- in order to stop them from turning every bone in their whole arm into dust- morally justified?

That is what we are arguing ... are we not? Is this a proper application of force? Is the misuse application of force while teaching / instructing a form of abuse? Could these teachers have used a better method to achieve a similar and perhaps even the same effect?

[John Cribati]

See, I was referencing something of a forum meme back in the bygone days. Guess that means I'm officially getting old.

[Ramza00]

New Chapter finally released and thus we can talk about it!

https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/my-he...93?action=read

One thing that is subtly alluded to is they have some form of science of studying ones quirk factor [base factor] and comparing it to another person's quirk factor. We do not know what it is, or how it works, but in my head canon I see it as comparing genetic fingerprints between two people saying this person's DNA looks similarly but different to another.

[John Cribati]

Spoiler: Facetious Superficial Comparison Go!

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the scruffy but young instructor with eye-based powers who's notoriously picky about the students he takes on, has found out that his classmate/teammate/childhood friend who wore goggles and that he thought had been crushed to death by rocks while in the line of duty, has been revived and given teleportation powers and mentally altered into joining a group that's set on tearing down the very system they are/were a part of

[LaZodiac]

I'm ****ing dying over this chapter I REALLY hope people read Vigilantes or this will mean NOTHING to them oh no. The art sells it so it should still work but oh dear. I hope this means we get a Vigilantes anime as well...

Spoiler

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Anyway yeah details: Kurogiri is a modified Shirakumo. Oh ****.

[Ramza00]

Spoiler: Facetious Superficial Comparison Go!

Show

the scruffy but young instructor with eye-based powers who's notoriously picky about the students he takes on, has found out that his classmate/teammate/childhood friend who wore goggles and that he thought had been crushed to death by rocks while in the line of duty, has been revived and given teleportation powers and mentally altered into joining a group that's set on tearing down the very system they are/were a part of

Spoiler: Adds to the list

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• Bright personalities of old self.
• Names are some mirror of old vs current self (With Naruto トビ as Tobi vs ビト as Obito, For MHA the names meaning White Cloud vs Black Mist.)
• Teleportation / Phasing Powers where one interacts with reality but also shifts through reality like an idea or ghost.

I'm ****ing dying over this chapter I REALLY hope people read Vigilantes or this will mean NOTHING to them oh no.
The art sells it so it should still work but oh dear.
I hope this means we get a Vigilantes anime as well...

Universe please make LaZodiac happy this holidays!

[LaZodiac]

Spoiler: Adds to the list

Show

• Bright personalities of Original Self
• Names are some mirror of old vs current self (トビ as Tobi vs ビト as Obito, White Cloud vs Black Mist)
• Teleportation / Phasing Powers where one interacts with reality but also shifts through reality like an idea or ghost.

Universe please make LaZodiac happy this holidays!

I would want a Vigilantes anime so much aaaagh.

Spoiler

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Also this "Kurogiri is Obito" stuff is making me die because it's so good and also so very very frustrating because it's incredibly true.

[John Cribati]

I'm not someone who takes this "MHA is just Naruto Again" thing seriously. You can do the same with any two Shonen if you pick them apart enough.

[LaZodiac]

I'm not someone who takes this "MHA is just Naruto Again" thing seriously. You can do the same with any two Shonen if you pick them apart enough.

I'm not really taking it seriously either I just think it's cute and funny to me how similar those specific details are. My Hero has many things that make it clearly not Naruto so it's fine.

[Ramza00]

I'm not really taking it seriously either I just think it's cute and funny to me how similar those specific details are. My Hero has many things that make it clearly not Naruto so it's fine.

I think some of the choices are purposeful, but that is not a bad thing for that is what remixes are for and nods to what came before. You make things similar only to make them different and your own thing in your own story.

Giving a totem to unite two friends even when one is gone, why not make that a person's eye goggles instead of a scarf and so on. Lots of totems could have been given, and choosing the googles is a choice an author gets to make and the only requirement is to do your story well.

[Lord Raziere]

I'm not someone who takes this "MHA is just Naruto Again" thing seriously. You can do the same with any two Shonen if you pick them apart enough.

I disagree. I can't find any similarities between Bleach and any other shonen anime in the most dull and stupid of ways. Dragonball predates everyone, its the DnD of shonen so it doesn't count. One Pieces characters and powers are original in the most horrible and silly of ways. HunterxHunter takes the usual archetypes and goes off into completely different directions that are miles above everyone else. Yuyu Hakasho was made by the same guy who made HxH and thus filled with great stuff. Jojo has been around just as long as Dragon Ball, so its in the same boat as that.

really, its Naruto, MHA and black Clover that are the most similar to one another. while One Piece does have a protagonist similarity it goes off into its own thing that has nothing to do with the other three, and came before all of them.

its just that, Naruto is the DnD 5e of shonen anime. sure DB started it and Jojo was always the weird alternative, but Naruto is one that codified it into something more easily replicable from a structure that can be universally easily recognized, and did something that the previous anime did not: it gave Naruto depth that most protagonists before him simply did not have:
Goku is fight-happy all the time forever with no internal conflicts
Gon is Goku taken to his most amoral creepy extremes
Luffy is unrelatable and alien
Yusuke's initial trouble of being DEAD is played half for laughs
Jojo doesn't have a consistent protagonist

Naruto was the first to have a problem or trouble that would stay throughout his life, causing emotional pain unrelated to his goal (because having a tailed beast inside him really has nothing to do with his quest) and basically actively disadvantage him which Goku, Gon, Luffy and so on don't really have, Luffy chose to eat his fruit after all and drowning in water isn't something he is torn up about.
but NARUTO? the tailed beast being inside of him basically causes most of his problems, its even a factor that causes the Uchiha massacre because at the time an Uchiha was the prime suspect for unleashing said tailed beast as no one else can place genjutsu on those. and show Naruto having to go through real emotional pain with things like his friends dying or leaving him, and have it stick in a way that it changes his outlook and philosophy on life so that he truly becomes a better person rather than just training harder.

which brings us, to MHA, which like it or not is cut from the same mold as Naruto in that Izuku Midoriya is disadvantaged. But in a vastly different and more logical way: he simply does not have any powers, not even super-strength/speed (which Rock Lee can at least claim even if the similarities are blaringly obvious). until he is given those powers, and unlike Naruto doesn't frame the powers themselves as the problem but as the solution which is more logical even if it would be better if Izuku just had to use pure batman prep smarts to pull things off. and even though his given powers now, Izuku as a result of his background knows how unfair his world is, just like how Naruto rapidly realizes how unfair his world is and both resolve to do something about it. if you dropped one into the other's world you could see them empathizing with the others cause or taking it up themselves if need be.

which doesn't really track with other protagonists. sure Luffy wants to become pirate king but doesn't really care how unfair the world is, he just wants to be it because its something that will give him a lot of adventure and because he wants all the food. Goku and Gon just like aimless adventuring and thrills and Ichigo is a motivationless bland robot who exists to protect friends or rescue friends when they're kidnapped. if they ended up in MHA or Naruto they'd only agree to help to either get more thrills/adventure or to get home and wouldn't understand the seriousness of defending the common man or working together to defeat someone.

MHA and Naruto are worlds are full of people who actually care about protecting the people under them and protagonists that actually want to change the bad system they are in for the better, which puts them on more relatable and better level than other anime. they're different in similar ways and have a better structure because of it, both plot-wise and setting-wise, while also giving people actual emotional problems that make sense for their world, and thus made an easily replicable blueprint for doing the same yourself if you want to.

there is a lot of reasons why Naruto and MHA are similar, and not just for superficial reasons but because they do something that gives them something more about them to discuss and makes the world feel more full and alive, and one of them is that their systems of power can be easily used to make your own ninja/hero OC with their own unique abilities, you can make new locations in both universes pretty easily to set a story,there is a lot of potential stories in those universes that are touched upon but aren't really explored in depth, with the right amount of variance in some things to make it interesting while consistency in others, as well as an element of exploitation to their powers because in Naruto people were constantly looking for ways to stack the deck with chakra and not just use their unique power to show it off, Quirk users are encouraged to figure out as many ways to use their quirk as they can. and while something like say, FMA is just as good or better from some perspectives, we don't get this same amount of popularity or discussion or setting from it because, FMA was relatively limited in its setting focusing on only one nation and the tricks alchemy can do being limited to the plot without explaining or showing all the things it can really do with Ed and Al being like the two people with alchemy and some others without any peers and society of alchemists to show off a bunch of tricks with it. thus we know more about the potential and possibilities of Quirks and Chakra, and not so much about whats possible with Alchemy.

this is because MHA and Naruto the way they're set up with Quirks and Chakra allows for something called hyperflexible mythologies. a structure that allows fans to manipulate the structure and symbolism of the story so that they can easily deviate from the canonical story, while also remaining consistent with its logic, which isn't possible in more rigidly or less rigidly defined structures. it has to have enough of both structure and vagueness to work. these are not the only works to have this kind of thing: Homestuck, Harry Potter, Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, and things like that all have such structures to expand their world and get fans to participate in the act of fleshing it out for themselves by telling stories about the part they're interested in. this potentially allows for far more stories to be told without needing to make up new things every time you want to tell a story, you can just take one of the many things lying around and use it for this or that.

MHA's hyperflexible mythology of course is based around its Quirks, with various kinds of quirks you can have, with enough variables to be flexible in how you GOT the Quirk, how effective that quirk is, how that quirk interacts with your life, how its limitations and dangers can affect your training and what it means when you fight, what means for you as a hero, and such and so on. while Chakra is an energy with lots of ways it can be used, and for those ways to be combined and engineered into one big machine to do this or that, but both have some measure of inheritance to it, of obtaining the power as apart of your genetics and not some random mutation but as a distinct bloodline passed down through your family which nicely ties into metaphors of inequality and nobility, and not having that bloodline can be just as important to the hyperflexible mythology as having one, and carries its own meanings as a result.
this is why MHA is at least better in some ways, because while Deku does receive an unfair power up that puts him above everyone else, its not through genetic inheritance and thus apart of the unfair system that gives people power regardless of who they are, but because he was chosen by the previous wielder for his strength of character and thus was given the power for good reasons while Naruto just got the responsibility of keeping the tailed beast locked unfairly foisted upon him by his dead father when he was just a baby. they're both victims of the system they grew up in, but in different ways.

but yeah, there are differences, but I believe that MHA and Naruto are cut from the same cloth and not just telling the stories of determined heroes in a world of action but telling the stories of people who see something wrong with the world on a systemic level and set out to fix it even if what they have isn't the ideal toolset to do so with- because no power or action combat skillset is the ideal skillset for changing the world for the better-and thus have to convince other people to follow their example of being a better person because of being unable to do this alone. which I think is awesome.

[LaZodiac]

An interesting essay, Raziere. I quite liked it.

That aside, I'm watching the My Hero anime with my girlfriend who is blind and god I'm remembering how much of an absolute ****ing ******* Overhaul was. What a true, genuine monster.

[Ramza00]

That aside, I'm watching the My Hero anime with my girlfriend who is blind and god I'm remembering how much of an absolute ****ing ******* Overhaul was. What a true, genuine monster.

How is Season 4 of MHA going? I am waiting till there is a cour of 13 episodes or perhaps two cours of 26 episodes are out before I start watching the new Season.

Is there anything the anime has done better, or things you forgot moved your heart-strings when you see it animated?

[John Cribati]

A lot of things in general just hit harder with music, so there's that.

The Suneater fight looks a lot better animated than as a bunch of still black-and-white images. But then again that could just be the ol' "my brain and eyes aren't always on the best terms" thing that I have going on.

[Ramza00]

A lot of things in general just hit harder with music, so there's that.

The Suneater fight looks a lot better animated than as a bunch of still black-and-white images. But then again that could just be the ol' "my brain and eyes aren't always on the best terms" thing that I have going on.

Nods, I have Dyslexia, Coordination problems (Dyspraxia), and Inattentive ADHD, so I can sympathize.

Well I am glad something can improve on the very good manga already. I love how things can "emerge" and be even better than something that is already awesome.

[LaZodiac]

How is Season 4 of MHA going? I am waiting till there is a cour of 13 episodes or perhaps two cours of 26 episodes are out before I start watching the new Season.

Is there anything the anime has done better, or things you forgot moved your heart-strings when you see it animated?

So far everything's been fantastic. The animation and voice acting really bring it to life.

[Cozzer]

The pacing is really tight too, it's almost too fast without actually being too fast. That makes the slower scenes (like Deku and Mirio's first meeting with Eri) really powerful.

[John Cribati]

Also as someone who just picked up the manga where season 2 ended and had to watch the Basement Maze unfold week-by-week in 12-page intervals, can I just say that I'm glad the anime can just coast past some of that.

[Ramza00]

Obito to Kisame: "This world holds nothing but lies"

Eraserhead smiling to his class (for once) : “It was a logical deception!”

[Rater202]

Weirdly, Midoriya is more similar to Endeavor than he is to All Might. Both of them have powerful Quirks that can seriously harm them if overused (One For All; Hellfire). Both have good analytical skills and good forethought. Endeavor is also one of the few who can understand Midoriya's Techno Babble mumble-thons without any confusion whatsoever. Arguably, and somewhat ironically, Endeavor teaching Midoriya could help him improve far better than training with All Might.

Is this worth discussing?

(I'm now wondering if some kind of Fire-Related power is one of the Quirks in OFA.)

[Ramza00]

Is this worth discussing?

(I'm now wondering if some kind of Fire-Related power is one of the Quirks in OFA.)

We see a lot of Aristotle's Golden Mean / Buddha's The Middle Way in MHA and both of those systems are very pragmatic where you can have multiple mentors and it is your job / duty to figure out what works for you and incorporate individual pieces of reality into yourself. The difference between an image which is sometimes true and sometimes false / illusion, and the difference of yourself where you must embody the values and virtues you care about.

All Might starts as the 4 year old image for Izuku. But then Izuku met the true All Might and he is both disillusioned by reality but also their reciprocal interaction caused both of them to grow as people and be better than they were before them meeting.

Simultaneously Izuku learns from the pains and sufferings of others. Izuku naturally is very good at social and self-preservation interactions, his blindspot is the 1 on 1 aka "sexual" interactions of learning what animates others life energies. Yet even though this is Izuku's blindspot part of the story is that this part of Izuku is growing.

What can be more life energy / sexual than a person whose literal superpower is fire and making things change? When we first met Endeavor we only saw a portion of who he is as an image, but we have since learned more of him and how he is a fuller person, not just a hero, and not just a person who did child and spousal abuse plus neglect. Endeavor weakness (one he has improved upon) is learning to modulate his fire, and he is now familiar how both the extremes of too much fire, and neglect of not being a force in his family lives is disastrous.

Of course, from a narrative story standpoint Endeavor was going to be one of Izuku's mentors. Now of course Endeavor could have been one of Izuku's fellow classmate mentors instead, but the already small choices made in MHA were made and they are leading up to Endeavor giving the protagonist more insight.

(I'm now wondering if some kind of Fire-Related power is one of the Quirks in OFA.)

It may be a fire related quirk or it may be something different. But yes one of Izuku's new quirks is probably going to be Endeavor related.

Something that can have disastrous consequences if not controlled, but if controlled correctly it is a boom to society. The difference is Izuku's power storing / strength quirk had disastrous consequences to Izuku but never others. Izuku's quirk never hurt others by accident, the only form of hurt it could do to others is others could never depend on Izuku when stuff got real for if Izuku over did it he would break and be a libality not an asset.

But what I forsee is Izuku new quirk is one who can injury others if not properly controlled. Either fire related like Endeavor, or perhaps rampant destruction like Tomura Shigaraki, or some new combination with these themes of affecting others 1 on 1.

Remember Izuku is the mirror type or protagonist that mirrors others. Yet his strongest counterpart who thinks like him is his rival / villain Tomura Shigaraki. The only difference in them is not a difference in personality, it is a difference of animal instincts.

If Izuku is Social first > Self Preservation 2nd / Auxiliary and > Sexual / One on One as his Tertiary also known as Blindspot instinct.

Well Tomura Shigaraki is

Sexual First > Self Preservation 2nd > Social Blindspot but this Blindspot for Tomura is very much growing. Tomura is getting better at not just understanding the needs of others as in their desires (which is more Sexual 1 on 1, something Tomura has always been good at) but now he is able to interact with others well and create a cohesive group where everyone prospers with My Villian Academia arc (which is more Social.)

It is purposeful on the author part that Izuku and Tomura are mirroring one another, but also becoming the other over time and space.

[LaZodiac]

New chapter!

Spoiler

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We get a "so you didn't read Vigilantes" primer, and it's REALLY good if I do say so myself. We get the reason why they suspect a high quality Noumu could be awoken. And we see the truth of Eraserhead's expulsion test; you're free to re-enroll, but you have to deal with that. And that's super cool.

And we see Eraserhead cry which is... a lot.

[Dragonus45]

I read this chapter on my break at work and started to get all sniffly.