Tbh Horikoshi Failed So Phenomenally Writing The League Of Villains, Because Hell No, I Don't Want To

I feel like a thing I wish was more generally acknowledged across fandoms is that "I don't find this character sympathetic" and "This character was not intended to be sympathetic" are obviously connected but are, ultimately, two completely different statements that may not overlap at all.

Ultimately what you think about any given character is a completely subjective issue that has no right or wrong answer. The narrative may be trying to evoke sympathy for them, and you may just feel that it flat-out was not successful in doing that. You may look the author straight in the eye and say "Nope, I see what you're trying to do, but f*ck this guy actually, he's The Worst and that's all there is to it". And no one can tell you that you're wrong for doing so.

But when it comes to picking up on what the story is trying to do, whether you ultimately think it did a good job or not, I would argue there's at least some measure of objective reality. And I feel like people sometimes end up conflating them, so you end up with these posts like "I can't believe people sympathize with this character when the story clearly just wants you to hate them!" and it's like... yeah, I think people sympathize with this character because the story is very clearly and intentionally painting them as sympathetic. I could point you at a dozen different scenes that are clearly meant to evoke sympathy for This Character. You don't have to have found any of it compelling, but at a certain point recognizing it's there is a simple matter of reading comprehension.

So this kind of dialogue from Rei really put me off when these chapters first came out. But it's significantly less jarring after the later context and after just gaining more life experience.

The Hellish Todoroki Family Subplot can be viewed as an allegory for the different responses to abuse. For that allegory to be complete, someone had to stay with/prop up Enji because some victims of domestic violence choose not to leave even when given a real opportunity to do so.

And though it seems counterintuitive, it actually makes the most sense for Rei to fulfill this role than any of the Todoroki children. Look, I've met more domestic violence survivors than most people. It's an unfortunate trend but from observation, the most severely abused are the ones more likely to return to their abusers.

However, it's still annoying that Rei's portion of the narrative is primarily covering for Endeavor. Rei making bad life decisions isn't the problem. The issue is there needed to be more from Rei to make this not feel like abuse apologia.

There were plot points from canon to work with to accomplish that. Rei was raised by a clan that was eugenicist and was selling off its members including herself to maintain its lifestyle. Did Rei grow up in an abusive household making it difficult for her to grapple with the severity of Enji's actions? Was she numb to Enji's quirk marriage scheme because everyone in her family was involved in quirk eugenics? Enji visited Rei and left flowers but there was nothing to indicate that any of the Himuras visited. Does she lean on Enji because the Himuras abandoned her?

Having the domestic abuse victim who was still hospitalized from that abuse say everyone should give Endeavor a chance actually without more context just feels gross. The dialogue itself isn't the problem. Given the sensitivity needed to properly handle an issue like domestic violence, more was needed to show that what Rei said here shouldn't be taken at face value.

Bakugou Katsuki would hate AI

This sequence of panels reads like a daytime tv drama.

Inasa (glaring dramatically): I'll despise you to the end of days. You have the cold eyes of your father.

Shouto: (*404 error noises*)

Izuku (playing the role of Shouto's MPDG): Oh no Todoroki-kun do you want to talk about your feelings?

Toga (as Camie): Hey ~~

Izuku: (*terrified bluescreen noises*)

Ochako (in ten layers of denial): Am I jealous she was flirting with my hetero not-crush or because she reminds my girl not-crush?

I’ve been trapped in an endless cycle of BNHA thoughts since writing Hand to Heart, but like…why did the Stain arc have to end so abruptly? Why didn’t the effects of it carry further into canon? Why did Horikoshi bring up a villain motivated entirely by the flaws in the hero system and then just drop him instead of having him escape? That was like…the best possible world-building opportunity and he just threw it out the window???? Stain was SO INTERESTING. He was acknowledged as being charismatic and influential, someone who had been around for awhile, who was strong enough to operate in and around the LoV without directly involving himself with them UNTIL their goals lined up. He’s really quality (S-ranked!!!) villain material. The fact that he paralyzed one of the main character’s siblings is HUGE - why’d we have to wrap that up so fast? Nobody else in the story thus far had been so close to real extreme injury gained in the line of duty. No other hero in the story went as full-throttle homicidal as Iida did - many of them likely wouldn’t have actually. And that’s interesting! That’s pointing out a newfound FUNDAMENTAL difference between Iida and his classmates in both their experiences and their response to engaging with villains! That was AMAZING fodder for Iida’s character development in ‘what it means to be a hero’ - Stain even directly challenges Iida’s self-worth! He also was pretty much acknowledged as not ////really//// trying to kill Iida, Todo, and Izuku, which must’ve done an absolute number on them. Especially Iida! Argh! 

It would’ve been so easy to continue the arc into something substantial even if it still ended with Stain’s arrest. I’m sure he had a list somewhere of potential victims and his reasoning behind them (can you imagine a hero scandal arc? Because I sure can), I’m sure the fact that he singled out ALL-MIGHT and DEKU (through saving him publicly, but also MAN in one of the first translations of that chapter Stain said the only heroes who could kill him are All-Might AND Deku and honestly??? Quality content) as heroes he would recognize made waves in the hero community, and that should’ve drawn attention to Izuku. The whole cover up was so lame and poorly reasoned out??? The whole bit with Stain rescuing Hero Deku when NO ONE ELSE did was HUGE and it wasn’t even televised? Lame! He could’ve escaped easily but instead he chose to go after Izuku even with massive injuries!!! The fact that this didn’t give Endeavour an even more targeted hang-up on Izuku (and the fact that he didn’t get roasted for moving to attack despite Izuku being in the line of fire)? LAME! It had NO EFFECT at all despite being HUGE - an insanely interesting villain specifically drew parallels of worth between Izuku and All-Might, not based on Quirks, but based entirely in his attitude towards heroism and its absolute rarity in the hero community! 

He didn’t say this about Todoroki or Iida!!! AAAH!!!! The Hero Killer was SO OVER THE TOP. Look at him!!! Why let this arc die so quickly!?!? He even CALLS OUT ENDEAVOUR! NO ONE ELSE EVER CALLS OUT ENDEAVOUR ARGH!>!???!?! Also, listen, if the Hero Killer WASN’T caught? Can you imagine?? Him low-key stalking the child heroes who took him down and defending them? How badly do you think that would mess them up - how thoroughly alarmed would Izuku be (”has he caught on to my secret? Oh god he has, hasn’t he?? I bet he wants me to kill him oh my god I can’t DO that!??!?!”)?? How incredibly furious would Iida be? How much motivation would it be for Shigaraki to go after Izuku more aggressively? What kind of impact would that have had on UA and the teachers? How straight up horrible would it make the students (or Endeavour) look if Stain got away and began to hover around them!? How many UA students he would likely target!?!??! Could the LoV try to coax Iida out using revenge against Stain as bait or simply getting him to stop as bait?  Stain was a better villain than Overhaul (similar motivations, but Stain’s was easily understood and RIGHT in the heroes faces) and honestly his arc should’ve had more impact, leading to the Overhaul arc being more meaningful and ultimately having more impact on the story than it actually did.  (Also a very slight pinch of salt, but why later on in the manga does Izuku seem to struggle so much with ever accepting anyone’s help with anything when he so easily/immediately calls for Todoroki in this situation and leans heavily on both his and Iida’s assistance? Izuku post-Stain arc would have just tried to lure Stain out of the alley and set himself up to die in Iida’s place lmao. I miss Stain-arc Izuku. He was a smart guy)

what the fuck is your quirk,,

it just hit midnight here Happy Birthday Shigaraki Tomura!!!

happy pancake day 🥞

And so they had a sing off