On another note, I am so pissed off Horikoshi thought it was a good idea to appropriate Indigenous and Chinese cultural clothes into COSTUMES.
Man had to have studied society in depth so he HAD TO KNOW this thing existed. Even if not through Japanese education, he knows a lot about comics, he had to have come across it at some point.
Its disappointing, he should have known better.
Oh my god Horikoshi. Is he doing it? Is he giving us a female rivalry? One that has nothing to do with romance and is healthy for them both? I dont want to get my hopes up but that would be amazing.
I’ve been thinking a lot about patterns that I’ve seen in series like Bleach and Naruto, and how it feels a lot like they’re showing up in BNHA, no matter how much I don’t want to accept it. These are a specific type of shounen that, while carrying several major differences, do have some things about them that are formulaic (at least in terms of how certain characters are used).
My kneejerk response is to want to deny it all- to say that Uraraka isn’t being forced into the same kindof box as characters like Hinata and Orihime who, while being given some truly interesting potential, were both HEAVILY made to revolve around their love interests (the main characters). You can say Ura’s more of a Sakura- but she hasn’t gotten that much focus. Sakura was given the star treatment in comparison to what Uraraka has gotten at this point in both series runs.
Yes, Ura had a good start (which is why I love her straightforward, friendly and goofy self so much) and yes her crush is painted as something that is a negative thing which is distracting her (which is why I still have some hope, as I haven’t seen that done yet!)
…but it’s also not taken very seriously, more often than not just being painted as a cute gag that is fun for the straight teenage boys that this series is directed at (if you disagree check the stats of who shounen jump is marketed towards. Fanart is not a good indicator of everyone who buys shounen jump in Japan). Of course they love the idea of a girl pining for them while being cool and oblivious, only thinking about getting stronger.
Think back to that scene where she decided to push down her feelings and look at the scenes immediately taking place around it. The placement makes it clear that it served a simultaneous purpose to build up the idea that Deku inspires his classmates (just as Kaminari’s moment right around then was focused on how Bakugou also inspires classmates). That wasn’t really THAT MUCH about her. (Especially when we get nothing more about her struggle to deal with those feelings for a long time, aside from her punching herself in the face.)
I love Uraraka so much but don’t think she was placed in this series to have anywhere near the level of importance as the other “main characters”.
We all want more for Uraraka and a better written romance than “girl pines for guy until he notices her at the end of the series and we just have to accept that they’re in love”, but our complaints are merely us yelling in an echo chamber.
Is anyone in Japan aside from a handful of fanartists upset about her lack of big, emotionally weighted (non romantic) focus in comparison even to “side” characters like Kirishima while she’s being touted as a “Main Character”?
It doesn’t feel that way.
From what I’ve seen, like a lot of people here, they just go on to say “That’s just how this genre is, get over it. Teenagers get crushes, so even though everyone else gets to focus on their big struggles, it’s okay that she’s focused on this. Be glad she gets more focus than other girls!”
There’s so much that’s good about BNHA that it’s easy to just shrug it all off and enjoy how great a lot of the characters are- but since Uraraka is my favorite character it’s constantly irking to me. I know Horikoshi is not done developing her character, but I don’t have any high expectations.
It’s easy to ignore until I start reading and watching other anime- and remembered that series DO exist that allow the main female cast to be involved in major plot events and they CAN have deep/developed friendships with the MC. It is not that unreasonable to want more. (And no, I’m not attacking hori or saying this series is trash. I get that this is just the kind of character Uraraka was made to be, and I get that this is a common trope in shounen- doesn’t make it any less sad.)
I dunno. I could be wrong, I hope I’m wrong. My bet is if I am wrong, we won’t see the fruition of her deeper development for a long time.
I have a feeling I’ll have left the fandom by then and will only read the series from the sidelines long before that point- because the passion that inspires me to create content or look at fanart will probably disappear with my waning hope for Uraraka getting momentum ever again.
Also some people say “oh well Iida is in the same boat” that dude got the stain arc, which had A LOT OF WEIGHT AND GROWTH (conflict and resolution!) followed by a stronger friendship with Deku and even got a showcase of his protectiveness over his classmates in the Bakugou rescue arc. I’d happily trade 100+ chapters of waffling about a crush (with occasional action) for that.
Everyone in the MHA Universe: “All Might is so cool!“
All Might: *flubs catchphrase in front of a packed stadium*
All Might: *completely helpless with vital paperwork*
All Might: *full of corny jokes* All Might: *uses his own voice as a ringtone and message alert* All Might: *has a “Teaching for Dummies” manual for his job as an educator* All Might: *a totally over the top ham*
all for one he has a hades motif Much like him, no one dares to speak his name, so they only refer to him as euphemisms, (in this case, “All For One” and “Sensei”), he is heavily associated with death, with Midoriya saying that being near him is like being near death and after arrested, he is now staying in a place called Tartarus.
Gigantomachia a reference To the Giants of greek Mythology. Similar to them he is a gigantic humanoid being and his name is the name given to the battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods
hawks to icarus
Icarus was a guy who grew cocky despite his father’s warnings and flew too high, resulting in his wings burning and him falling to his death. Hawks has wings, seems rather arrogant/brash, and ascended incredibly quickly in the hero rankings.
Hawks is now working with Endeavor who could easily represent the sun, and there’s reason to suspect Dabi, another fire user, will be involved in this arc.
There’s also that panel of him flying up with a bright light shining behind him, which others have already noted looks like a Icarus reference.
hawk is connected to Icarus. A young, arrogant and talented Teen Genius with large wings. This is lightly alluded to in a shot of him spreading his wings close to a light source,being that Icarus is better known for flying to close to the sun.
He also mentions that his flight is compromised the more feathers he uses, similar to how Icarus died when his when lost too many feathers and he plummeted to his death. Becomes less subtle when he sends his feathers to a grievously injured Endeavor while the latter is fighting High-End, giving him literally flaming wings.
. plus the whole line about hawks going too fast reminds me of icarus going too high hawks rose to great heights to quickly
hawks also mentions that his flight is compromised the more feathers he uses, similar to how Icarus died when his when lost too many feathers and he plummeted to his death.
I was worried since Hawks was introduced and pulled his stunt of flying up by the lights; a total Icarus move. The only confirmation I needed on him being screwed is if his wings were RED.
This is bad because I am an old enough US comic book reader to know of a character named Joshua Guthrie codename Icarus. (Marvel) Who lookie lookie- Had big red wings-
Lets just say that things did not go well for Mr.Guthrie. He lost his wings (cut off), his healing ability, was used by a ‘nice talking’ enemy and getting his friends/team slaughtered. All before getting killed himself.
I know how much our lovely BNHA creator loves US comics so I was worried when I remembered Mr.Guthrie.
so the most recent leaks for the kanji for touya are 燈矢 – light and arrow. considering horikoshis use of greek mythology in bnha this could be a reference to apollo, god of light, whose main weapon is, you guessed it, the bow and arrow.
apollo, also the god of the sun, drives the sun chariot across the sky everyday – therefore connecting him to hawks/icarus.
the apollo/touya theory could also hint at how old dabi is – he is the eldest son
and it may be because he’s fuyumi fraternal twin, who would be artemis in this metaphor. her hair’s even white/silver, which is associated with artemis and moonlight!
finally, interesting to note for those hoping for a dabi redemption arc – apollo is also the god of medicine and healing. fingers crossed!
As for the Artemis is Fuyumi part, from what I remember Artemis is (among other things) a goddess of the moon which only appears during the night the coldest part . of the day
Shi Hassaikai as a whole based off of a subversion of buddhism specifically its Eightfold Path, with Chisaki acting as a Buddha analog. and chisaki and the eight expendables are a corruption of the buddha and the eight precepts
the eight expendables
They seem to be themed after the Eight Precepts of Buddhism. Rappa’s bloodthirstiness is a violation of the first precept, which forbids causing harm and taking lives. (Subversion: Of the first precept of Buddhism’s Eightfold Path, “I will abstain from being harmful to living beings.” ) Setsuno, whose Quirk lets him teleport small objects into his hands, violates the second precept, which forbids theft and willfully misplacing items. (Subversion: Of Buddhism’s second precept of its Eightfold Path, “I will abstain from stealing”, as his Quirk allows him to steal anything. ) Rikiya Katsukame, whose Quirk is touch-activated and makes some creepy comments about Nejire, violates the third precept, which forbids sexual activity.
(subversion Of Buddhism’s seventh precept of its Eightfold Path,“I will abstain from listening or playing music, songs, wearing flowers, jewellery and other ornaments”, as his Quirk generates gemstones.) Shin Nemoto, whose uses his Quirk to force people to tell the truth so he can Break Them by Talking, violates the fourth precept, which forbids lies and harmful speech. (Subversion: Of the Fourth Precept of Buddhism’s Eightfold Path, “I will abstain from uttering lies"— his Quirk makes it nearly impossible to lie to him. ) Deidoro, the alcoholic, violates the fifth precept, which decrees abstinence from alcohol. (Subversion: Of the fifth Buddhist precept of the Eightfold Path, “I will refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness”. ) Tabe, a glutton whose Quirk lets him eat anything, violates the sixth precept, which forbids eating outside the appointed times. (Subversion: Of Buddishm’s sixth precept of its eightfold path, “I will abstain from eating after noon time”, due to his Extreme Omnivore tendencies. ) Hojo, whose Quirk lets him generate crystals on his body, violates the seventh precept, which forbids wearing luxuries like cosmetics and jewelry. Tengai, whose Quirk generates an impenetrable shield, violates the eighth precept, which forbids resting in luxurious comfort. (Subversion: Of the Eighth Precept of Buddhism’s Eightfold Path, “I will refrain from lining or seating on high and luxurious places"— his Quirk creatse a near-indestructable barrier, somewhere where one can essentially take shelter during harsh circumstances. )
Meti『Not The Bad Guy』 goes into chisaki being a corruption of the buddha in his video the beauty of kai chisaki/overhaul the guy goes into it chisaki is a corruption of the buddha references at 10:20 to 14 :00 to and he also brings up the eight expendables reference to eight precepts as in which precept referenced by which member of the eight expendables though he doesn’t go into detail why and just flips through pages pointing out which character references which precept not going into detail starting around 9:30 but I went into detail about how each character references the eight precepts above , so just check out the vid for the part about how chisaki is a buddha analogy
ibara shiozaki is a reference to jesus her being a devout christian and Quirk is likely a reference to Jesus Christ and the ‘crown of thorns’ that was placed on his head. she even has a sort of crown of thorns This is also referenced in her hero name Maria, a reference to the latin name for the the Virgin Mary.
Her birthday is September 8, which is also the birthday of Virgin Mary.
Her Hero Costume consists of a plain white robe, which looks similar to the one worn by Jesus Christ.
and the name of her attacks
Via Dolorosa is the latin reference for the path by which jesus walked on his way to crucifixion.
plus there are her lines “Passing Judgement” “scheming sinners more religious allusions
and her referring to gevaudan as the beast of revelation/apocalpyse
I’m pretty sure there’s a panel of Aizawa somewhere with this exact same pose, maybe it’s even from the same angle. But I can’t remember where I saw it
Aizawa stans, please lend me a hand here
I think I found it (?)
the pose is not 100% the same but you can tell that Aizawa was definitely behind his training, and this wasn’t just Shinsou blindly imitating his style
Also, this is from a different camera angle but it’s still the same move Shinsou uses above:
Still, I like how Horikoshi made it clear that Shinsou is pretty much still a newbie to fighting, because take a look at this:
Pro hero Aizawa: falls into a crouch in front of the target, uses his surprise to wrap his bandages around him, moves fast in the corner of the target’s vision to divert and dodge the possible counterattack and use the thus gained leverage to leave him dangling like mistletoe;
meanwhile, Shinsou, still a rookie who lacks experience in the battlefield and at hand to hand combat:
frontal attack in full display of his targets, tries to be fast and smooth, fails, panics
then the second time around, having learned from his previous mistake:
Attacks from advantage, covert position; uses a less direct approach, but this time exploits his surroundings to carry out he brunt of his offense from a blind spot, panics slightly less but still ends up having to be saved by Tsuyu
Basically, he’s trying his best to use the moves Aizawa taught him but his approach falls short of the actual, fast-paced rhythm of a real fight, and has yet to get on par with the hero course in terms of experience
he’s not dead weight as they introduced him, but he is behind. Which is why this is bullshit imho:
quit that lone wolf attitude, buddy. I’m saying it for your own good
In a sense, you could even compare the present Shinsou with the “Earlyroki” from above. So overconfident in his ability to pull through on his own that he failed to realize his own limits when faced with an opponent who knew how to best neutralize him
Stressed, Depressed, and Story Obsessed 