Boku no Hero Academia

[Kraco]

Internet says it's 'avant-garde' or something. You used it. Why are you so unsure lol?

Never thought I'd need to check a dictionary for something like that, but what the hell:

From dictionary.com:
adjective, edgier, edgiest.
1. nervously irritable; impatient and anxious.
2. sharp-edged; sharply defined, as outlines.
3. daringly innovative; on the cutting edge.

You're saying Kacchan is like some kinda mercenary or something. Then he should become that instead. Heroes, ideally, should be heroic.

I thought we had this conversation already... It's not our world they are living in, so our definition of the word "hero" obviously doesn't apply. It's an official word in that world with plenty of hero academies and media coverage.

[Ryllharu]

@shinta:

You really ought to use UrbanDictionary for cases like this.

edgy

the act of being edgy is basically teenage kids that think theyre cool. hardcore kids seem to think theyre the fucking edgyest things everr.

"why are you wearing that bandanna out of your pocket," says 9th grade homeroom teacher.

"because i'm effin edgy biotch," says asshole.

"Edgy" has been consistently used in an ironic way since about 2010, like some sort of hipster revolt against it. In the 90s, making things "edgy" was deemed to be the way to success by Hollywood, and it worked then. But what worked in the late 90s was considered stale by the general audience by the 2000s, as a pathetic way to cash in by a collection of out-of-touch executives. But they kept doing it anyway because they're adverse to change and don't bother consulting their audience. Sometimes it works still, see Nolan batman trilogy. And then they think it is still valid and copy it everywhere, invariably failing.

A "dark and gritty" reboot of a more traditional franchise are "edgy". Think Shadow the Hedgehog. Or chuunibyous.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't understand this any more after reading your explanation Ryll.

I thought "edgy" meant easily irritable.

[shinta|hikari]

I thought we had this conversation already... It's not our world they are living in, so our definition of the word "hero" obviously doesn't apply. It's an official word in that world with plenty of hero academies and media coverage.

But All Might, the most popular and possibly most powerful hero in their world, shares our definition of being a hero. That shows how the concept of being a hero is also idealized in their universe. Maybe most people forgot it after so many heroes kept popping up, but self-sacrifice and classic heroism was definitely the foundation of the hero occupation. Heck, All Might became popular precisely because of his heroics in saving people.

Going back to what I said (the line you quoted), I did include the word "ideally." I do agree it's possible for assholes to become heroes in their system. But they shouldn't. A bully like Kacchan doesn't deserve the power and fame he'll get when he graduates and gets a license. He'll probably abuse the hell out of it, like how those asshat heroes in OPM picked on newbs or pushed civilians around.

[Munsu]

I don't understand this any more after reading your explanation Ryll.

I thought "edgy" meant easily irritable.

As always, depends on the context your're using it.

Not the first time a word had multiple definitions and/or uses.

[shinta|hikari]

So...

Kraco meant edgy as irritable, not avant-garde.

Ryll actually gave the avant-garde (in a bad, overused way) explanation, so I'm guessing you think (or at least believe that Kraco thinks) Kacchan is edgy in that way.

Did I get that right?

If so, I agree with you both.

[Munsu]

So...

Kraco meant edgy as irritable, not avant-garde.

Ryll actually gave the avant-garde (in a bad, overused way) explanation, so I'm guessing you think (or at least believe that Kraco thinks) Kacchan is edgy in that way.

Did I get that right?

If so, I agree with you both.

Well, going by the context of what Kraco said... someone who's not mellow.

So, we can infer that he means someone who is intense, aggressive, is wired up, can easily get excited, etc.

Any of those would fit.

[Ryllharu]

I don't understand this any more after reading your explanation Ryll.

I thought "edgy" meant easily irritable.

You're thinking of the idiom, "on edge," which has the same meaning as "touchy".

English wooo~! The language with no fucking rules!

On edge or touchy describes Kacchan in most contexts. His costume choice, while thematic, is a bit on the "edgy" side. Same with the guy who has gears on his shoulders for some reason.

[shinta|hikari]

I, for one, am not a fan of Izuku's costume. He looks like a fucking pokemon.

I want cool heroes, not geeky mascot kids.

[Munsu]

I, for one, am not a fan of Izuku's costume. He looks like a fucking pokemon.

I want cool heroes, not geeky mascot kids.

Well I like it. Well, I guess what I like is the idea I have in my mind of it: a creepy bunny in the mold of Frank Anderson.

[shinta|hikari]

Oh... I get where you're coming from. That wouldn't be too hero-like, but I like it. Izuku's version is likely inspired by it but took too many turns into pony land.

[Kraco]

I found his costume funny in a creepy way. It perfectly suits his personality, which is creepy as well. I doubt I will ever forget the early scene where he was sitting at the computer eagerly waiting for the All Might video, with that usual insane expression of his and rocking himself back and forth like some mechanical doll. He has an unhealthy hero complex combined with the sickly nervous timidity and shyness of a bullied person with a crushed self-confidence.

A full mask suits a shy personality because he can hide behind it. The rabbit theme suits a cowardly personality because rabbits are extreme cowards due to being the favourite game of pretty much any beast living in the same area. Then there's finally the permanent, wide grin, which is the creepiest part of it all. After all he has gone through, you'd think he had no reason to keep being positive and smile, yet he does and it's not even hollow and forced, like a bullied person would sport to placate the bullies. It's the genuine happy smile of a person who was pushed over the limit until something broke in his mind.

[shinta|hikari]

LOL, that's an interesting take on Izuku. All this time I thought he was just a cliche shounen geek, but it turns out he's a borderline psychotic, obsessed with a messiah-complex. I hope he snaps and starts killing people all of a sudden, starting with Kacchan. He can certainly do it with All Might's power.

[NeoCybercoin]

That in fact would be an interesting twist. All Might giving the kid this power to be his successor but the kid snaps and becomes a villain.

[Buffalobiian]

They'll have to kill Aizawa first. His eyes are death to any hero.


Unless they've got a chafe bomb.







Or a water pistol.

[Ryllharu]

[HorribleSubs] Boku no Hero Academia - 07

Hype is real.


------

I'm certain everyone else will start discussing the (awesomely animated) fight between Bakugou and Deku, or Deku's side of their childhood "friendship" which even reused a lot of the scenes we saw from Deku's view.

But I want to highlight the other part of this episode that made it truly great: Iida and Uraraka.

Iida's earnest craziness and Uraraka's brightness made a perfect counterpoint to the GAR-style fight between Bakugou's superiority complex and Deku's inferiority complex. There was a levity to the other scenes that allowed the savagery of the Deku-Bakugou scenes to shine.

Iida practicing his evil laugh, because his family business is heroics and he's afraid he otherwise wouldn't be convincing. Uraraka laughing at it and giving herself away. Iida's next "evil" deed is to clean the entire room to a spotless shine so Uraraka can't use anything to attack him, hahaha. Uraraka hugging the pillar and lifting a leg pinup style.

The whole thing. Perfect counterbalance to the rest of the episode.

I'm also a fan of the thought that goes into the costumes. I know they detail them extensively in the back of the manga volumes, so I hope the anime does the same. Bakugou gave Deku the short version of his own, storing all the palm sweat to...dramatic effect. But if you watched carefully, you also saw that Uraraka's horseshoe pattern heels are squishy. Given that she's starting flinging herself around with her power, you can see that her costume has enhancements that work similar to Chell Boots, even if they look like hockey goalie pads.


edit:
Perfect casting on Uraraka by the way. I can't imagine anyone else playing her since Sakura Ayane is doing such a good job. This show has great casting in general.

[shinta|hikari]

Kacchan is indeed an ass, as expected. His flashback only showed how he is even more of a shallow ass than I thought. I could somewhat understand it if he was just a muscle-brained jock, but if he was this so-called brains and brawn genius, he should've realized how much of a bully he was and how his hatred was utterly misplaced.

Not only that, why was he so surprised about Izuku not being able to use his powers? Didn't he ask for details from ANYONE in his class? Everyone else saw Izuku's power's feedback. I mean, he already asked about the events. Didn't anyone give him any details? Didn't it occur to him to ask one more question, like what the fuck happened after? That's some convenient plot-purposed ignorance right there.

The logic behind Izuku and Uraraka splitting up, at least Izuku's version of the explanation, was utterly stupid. Fighting Kacchan with the two of them apparently means they'll run out of time, so his solution was to fight Kacchan alone and win, and then support Uraraka, who had to go ahead because, let's face it, it's shounen. That makes no sense. If you can't beat an enemy with two of you fast enough, fighting him alone won't make it any faster.

He didn't have to beat Kacchan at all, despite him putting that as a prerequisite at the start of the episode. In fact, they won with Izuku losing the duel. When will this trope disappear?

There are many other ways to justify them splitting up, one they actually used in this episode. He should've just said their best chance was to let Uraraka deal with the bomb alone because Speed dude was too heroic and wouldn't hurt her, something she could take advantage of (and she did in the end).

Now onto the fight.

I agree with Ryll, but I'm taking it a step further. I actually think the Uraraka fight is much better than the Izuku fight. It made sense for the most part, and the heroes didn't act like Supermen immune to getting slammed on concrete, or blasted by nitro on the body directly.

The Izuku fight was typical shounen fluff.

1) Izuku just stood there while Kacchan was explaining his new power and aimed his arm at him. Wasn't he a hero otaku? I figured out it'll shoot a projectile of some sort the moment Kacchan spoke. Why didn't he? Why didn't he jump into the corridor conveniently beside him?

2) Izuku must be immortal or something. Taking explosions on your back and a beam of fire (albeit "indirectly" in a narrow corridor as conveniently explained away by Kacchan/All Might) should kill humans. Did All Might's gene make his body inhumanly tough? Except that makes no sense. Kacchan didn't know his quirk, and he clearly said he didn't intend to kill him, so he must've "toned down" his explosions to make them non-lethal. Right...

That said, it was really good shounen fluff.

One has to understand that to enjoy shounen fights, you have to throw away logic to the bin. Shounen logic and battle tactics are there to entertain, not to make sense. With that in mind, this fight was a winner. It had the GAR of shounen heart and the smarts of a geek hero winning the battle. It pushed all the right buttons (and provided awesome music) to make the audience's hair stand on end.

I guess this shows how self-sacrifice really is the message of this show. Izuku's team won because of his self-sacrifice, after all. He would already be dead in a real world scenario after what he did. Even the comments from the audience showed how heroes are idealized in their world too. Dry-eye sensei was an odd duck in his views.

This is definitely no HunterXHunter, but as standard shounen goes, this is good stuff.

[Ryllharu]

The logic behind Izuku and Uraraka splitting up, at least Izuku's version of the explanation, was utterly stupid. Fighting Kacchan with the two of them apparently means they'll run out of time, so his solution was to fight Kacchan alone and win, and then support Uraraka, who had to go ahead because, let's face it, it's shounen. That makes no sense. If you can't beat an enemy with two of you fast enough, fighting him alone won't make it any faster.

Actually the plan was for her to run off and find Iida and the bomb, because the hero team on this exercise doesn't know where it is when they start. Then Deku would lose Kacchan in the corridors and quickly back up Uraraka and get the bomb, mission complete. Bakugou would lose simply because he's too focused on getting back at Deku.

When Uraraka screwed up because Iida's antics made her laugh, they both had to abruptly change the plan. Bakugou's secret weapon also changed things even further. Deku was still under the assumption that Bakugou was only dangerous up close. With his new costume, Bakugou is far more dangerous at mid-range. Deku couldn't flee to meet with Uraraka, he'd be annihilated, and he was forced to keep Bakugou focused on him.

Unlike Bakugou and Iida, Deku and Uraraka were in constant communication. They acted as a team. While Bakugou was having his flashback and getting reprimanded by All Might for nearly killing Izuku, Deku and Uraraka reformulated their plan and improvised their way to victory.

Deku's team won because they can both think on their feet, and worked together. They should have lost, but Bakugou is too pigheaded and Iida is too obedient to be properly evil or shout down Bakugou to stfu and let him do the interference while Bakugou guarded.

[shinta|hikari]

That wasn't their original plan. Re-watched the planning scene just to be sure. 8:00 to 8:10.

Izuku clearly said he needed to beat Kacchan. He specifically mentioned it was a prerequisite for him to support Uraraka.

I do think having Uraraka find the bomb alone was a good idea. The logic behind Izuku beating Kacchan and chasing behind Uraraka to help her was the illogical part.

I have no issues with how they improvised. Well, except for how Izuku conveniently ended up right between Uraraka and the bomb after all that fighting. You can't be that exact from just instructions via earpiece.

Does he have photographic memory to memorize the blueprint of the building and an inhuman sense of direction and distance? If he does, I wish they mentioned or implied it at some point. I'm kidding. Like I said, it's shounen.

[Kraco]

A good enough fight. The setting was sort of perfect for Deku and Nice Person in a sense because it was given Kacchan would ignore everything else and concentrate 100% on Deku. It didn't mean only staying away from the bomb as long as Deku wasn't there, but it also meant forgetting the villains' mission. It looked like it never visited Kacchan's mind that Deku might be planning to use his power to solve the bomb case, not the fight against Kacchan. If Kacchan has the wits, he should learn a lot from this fight.

I also liked more the Nice Person vs Iida match. It wasn't tainted by stupid personal hatred, but instead we got Iida's funny villain acting and Nice Person's cute but quite competent fighting. Neither actually forgot their own mission nor the fact this is just a mock battle between students, which is 1000% more than Kacchan could credit himself for.

I hope Iida doesn't steal Nice Person away from Deku. He was able to impress her positively with his villain acting, after all.