The most unapreciated part of Brook's second backstory in my opinion, is the way it tells a secondary tale about King Reuven, Brook's big brother, all through his reactions, his expressions, him letting himself go, and how there is such a clear divide between the younger and more hopeful young Prince who took in Brook as his brother, and a more cynical, downer man who has had to deal with the aftermath of his wife's brutal humiliation and the consequences thereoff that would in the end, get him and his entire kingdom wiped off the face of the Earth.

We are introduced to Reuven as an older man, clearly past his prime and if mayhaps not quite as far along as big mom, has clearly let himself go.

However, that isnt really the important part of this introduction, rather it's the very cold way he treats his little brother's proclamation of joy for his wife, and not any smile at his followup joke to try and ease the tension.

Now it's easy to think this is just a couple of siblings throwing barbs at each other... and it is, but there is a sharp divide between these two's thought process.

obviously ther was no way Reuven was going to execute brook here, but he isnt laughing either. For Brook's and Shuri, this is a funny little back and forth, but for Reuven, this is a bit that stopped being funny the moment when his wife was assaulted, and got pregnant with a world noble's child.

In hindsight, this moment, is downright depressing, because just like Brook making some lame joke about Arlong right besides Nami at fishman isle, he is very obliviously reopening a wound that is exceptionally bitter and personal to his own family.

rather than a big brother making a sarcastic barb, its instead him using words to get to vent out his feelings of rage and frustration at his little bro withouth having to immediatly resort to violence.

which in turn deeply colors the scene immeditaly following where he does try to use violence to vent his feelings at Brook.

There is also another underlying story under the surface that Brook doesnt pick up on, and isnt immediately obivious on a first reading.

Reuven 1. doesnt make any bones about the face that Shuri is his daughter, despite knowing fully well she is not his biological child.

And 2. he is very sensitive of the idea that Shuri isnt acting in the manner one would expect from a "True daughter". obviously this is a small family drama one could expect from a kid who doesnt know any better, and her older male family figures playing out a bit knowing fully well this precious crush sillyness isnt going anywhere... But when you have the full picture, and one sees how easily this very small display of "Rejection" from Shuri maked Reuven Cry, while also immediatly kicking Brook for "disrespecting her".

This is a man who is TERRIFIED that his daughter would reject him, the moment she learned he wasnt her biological dad, and overcompensates by being extremely overprotective.

Then when he learns the his wife is in danger, in a scene played for comedy, he has the usual one piece overreaction scene while begging Brook to go and handle it all, all while his little brother just takes it all easy, having already dealt with the threat, and in any case, it doesnt matter anyway, the queen is strong.

however, while listening to this, while Shuri has a more standard scared kid face at the news something bad might happen to mama, Reuven has a different kind. A much more genuinely scared and almost primal level of fear with the kind of small, blank white eyes Oda generally only uses when Characters are going through something absolutely horrible.

The reason for this, is that regardless of how strong his wife is, Reuden knows better. he knows that there are far, far more powerfull people in this world than him and his wife, and that you cannot take your own security for granted, because he lived through a similar scenario once, and it fundamentally altered him to his core.

and so, not trusting either his own, or his wife's strength, he can only turn to his strongest man, Brook.

For brook, this is a whimsical episode, for Reuden its a moment where he is about to have a mental breakdown as the worst day of his life seems about to happen again.

its also a strong juxtaposition with his wife, the actual true victim of the events that lead to Shuri's birth.

In sharp contrast to her husband, who basically became a completely different person, Candelle has NOT let what happened to her, define her life. Rather than a Victim, she is out there, confidently living her best life withouth fear, trusting in her own strength and that of Brook and her kingdom.

of course, first time reading this, all these details arent clear, and we are instead shown how pathethic Reuven seems, especially compared to Brook... But then we get the followup chapter showing how Brook and Reuden met... and he is completely different.

Instead of the reculsive, downer man we first saw, Reuden is instead far more like his wife, down to drink, sing, smoke and party, living life to the fullest withouth fear or worries about anything.

we also see his more fearless side, throwing himself into battle withouth abandon, which in turn was one of the things that made the younger brooks take to swordship in the first place.

This is Reuven in his prime, when he was young, strong, fearless, thinking he was invincible and as luffy would do so much later, decided he could take on the world government headon withouth fear or consequence.

and just like Luffy, he would come to have to face the fact that he could not.

The critical moment though, came as a result of that very event. Brook heartedly relays the events, treating it as a moment of whimsy, when in reality what happened here was this.

Reuven attacked marines, trusting in his royal status to protect him.

Sometime later, an escort of Celestial Dragons came to the country.

it does not take a genuis to figue out the course of events here, though brook's doesnt piece it together at all.

To save him, Reuden took on the world government, and in response, a bunch of celestial dragons, led by what seems to be one of Imu's holy knights, came to the kingdom.

The reality was stark, and Reuden would have firsthand discovered the conseuquences of crossing the government.

Because his father died at this exact time, leading to Reuven taking the throne.

and we know this happened RIGHT at this time or just afterwards, because while Brook tells this story in such a way you could assume the couple of months when Candelle was bedridden(aka, taking the time to deal with the consequnces of what happened to her) we can actually spot that this isnt quite how it happened, as Candelle was so early in her pregnancy when she and Reuven married and took the throne that there was no sign she was pregnant yet.

That means that as a consequence of how Reuven saved Brooks, his dad ultimately got killed, and the love of his life got raped, and knowing the holy knights modus operandi, he probably got quite the beating as well.

this moment, not shown to us, was the moment that completely changed Reuven into the man we see in the later parts of Brooks flashbacks, the man who, despite clearly still loving Brook's, couldnt just go back to the way things used to be.

On first reading, this moment where Reuven is juxtaposed with his wife, is meant to show a contrast with the carefree wife and the gloomy husband, but on the second read, this is a woman who overcame her trauma and has embraced her life and the daughter that came from her worst day fully, while her husband is filled with nothing but worry, worry about the kingdom, himself and his daughter's relationship, and her growing so close with brook. a man reuven still loves, but clearly cannot just be as open about it as he used to be.

There is too much baggage here. it's not hard to imagine that at least some part of Reuven must at least to some degree blame brook for what happened. even if no such ugly part of himself exists, there is the way brooks so carelessly procalims his love for his wife, that though meant in chaste manner, Reuven CANNOT just accept for what it is. and of course there is the way that Brooks has become his mirror. in a small family where nobody else is worried, he is the realist, the man who truly understands how weak they are and how easily things can change.

For a man who is afraid of his daughter rejecting him if she ever found out the real truth, so easily bonding and turning to his younger brother, who brings such complicated feelings to, its really must have seemed obvious to him, in a way that it didnt to everybody else(maybe except his wife) how outside his own family Reuven felt. The king, the leader of his family and people who adored him, and yet here he is, isolated and unable to find himself at peace in the world.

brooks is his most loyal supporter and the man who loves Reuven more than anything else in the world, and yet there is a deep, silent cliff between him and his brother, who by all accounts, was the one his daughter always turned to. Not him.

then everything got worse.

the unnatural smog(most certainly caused by the world government to set up what came next) killed his country. it destroyed his economy, setting up round two with the government as he no longer could pay his yearly heavenly tribute.

it killed his wife, once again proving to Reuven that he could not protect her when it came down to it, and it destroyed his body itself, a perfect living symbol of what had become of his realm, his family and his people.

when he returns from his last trip to the holy land, or wherever it was he had his chat with the government, he is unapolygetic, and brutually to the point.

War is coming, and it's a war he clearly understands he cannot win.

This is not some grand stand where he hopes he can somehow win against the odds.

This is a man caught between a rock and a hard place.

He cannot abandon his people and land. which means he has to stay and fight here. he cannot, and will not give up the actual price the world government wants, which is Shuri. which means he must face the consequences of standing against the world government.

he cannot flee, and he has to fight. so he must make his final stand here.

it is also here, that he does something new. He lies. he flat out lies and sells his people and Brook a lie that he was given a choice to either give up a thousand slaves, or war.

Whatever his motivation, wheter its fear his people will refuse to fight for Shuri, or just to motivate them to fight harder thinking their families becoming slaves is the actual goal of the government, or he just does not want to publicly explain the hows and why this all came to be and why they want her, we dont know, but lie he does.

whatever the reason, the effect is the same, as Reuven prepares to go to his final battle, his people rallies, and his little brother trusts in him completely, certain that his brother knows best, that it is not his place to challenge his king's decisions.

the contrast could not be clearer. Brooks, to the last, has hope. he believes their cause is just and that they will somehow, against the odds, prevail.

Meanwhile, Reuven knows better.

And what a fitting thing his brother would one day say these words to Big Mom...

Young lady… What kind of fool would ever plan to die?!

The tragic fool in question, is Reuven... but who is the true fool? the fool, or fools who follows him?

Brook during the short war is spectacular, but he is not brave. he simply does not even consider an outcome where they actually lose.

This makes him the polar opposite of his brother, who was defined by his fears and his worries.

Brook believed that him and his people's names and history could not easily dissapear from history and the maps of the world.

even as the palace is breached, and he sees all the symbols of his past and the places that were important to him go up in flames, Brook's still believes that somehow, victory must be possible and in fact natural.

because there is no way that his great big brother, the man brooks respects and loves more than anything or anyone in the world, could ever lose.

But Reuven was not rocks, nor joy boy... and come to think of it, both Rocks and Joy Boy lost to Imu didnt they?

One aspect of Reuven's death that Oda deliberately hid from us, was Reuven's face when he died.

unlike Rocks, who was smiling at the end, despite it all, we dont get to see the look of utter defeat that Reuven has in the end, just like we never got to see Brook's own eyes in his first flashback as he died. their emotions were deliberately left for us to imagine at the scene of his greatest failure.

but there is one, final little detail to note in the tragedy of King Reuven of Esperia, older brother of Dead Bones Brook's.

chains. this is a small detail to his outfit that can be easy to miss on the first read, but are very obvious in hindisight.

These chains were such a defining part of Reuven's royal attire, that when brook later tries to think back to what happened, his brain damaged mind conjures them up because he expect them to be there.

Reuven wore these chains across his back, his entire life as king, putting them on sometime after his coronation, and afterwards, during his entire reign, there were only two times they werent there, a silent detail the king literarily carried around with him everywhere he went.

the first time was at his wife's grave, the only time during his life when he werent wearing them.

and the second time, was at the sight of his death, when having been slain at the hands of the young girl he raised as his own, the chains and whatever it was that they represented to him, was gone.

You know, thinking abaout it, as the story goes on we get less and less of Izuku inner monologue and troughts.

The story starts and he is pretty much the PoV character. We are always inside his head, and switching to other characters in a exception rather than the rule.

But as the arcs go on, we get less and less of Izuku troughts on events.

And he gets more and more simple as a character, stripped of his traits like begin smart and analytical, and he also solves his problems more and more by "punching harder" rather than talking like he did early in the story.

By the Final War, Izuku truly feels like a shell of his former self, and nothing but a vessel for One For All.Since One For All and All For One seem everything he ever talks or thinks abaout.

Not engaging much with the characters and world araound him, with only Shigaraki as a (badly handled) exception.

We don't get his troughts on Bakugo apology, the Todoroki family plotline, Toga obsession with him, Twice death or the whole situation with the HPSC and Hero Society.

We don't get much insight in his goals or motivations.

Izuku ending is so unsatisfying, because we have absolutely no idea what he thinks abaout his OWN story.

I’ve talked about it before briefly in a prior ask on Hawks and different hypothetical internships, but Hawks taking on Izuku as an intern would never work before the work studies. No way was Hawks sitting down and teaching him the basics like Gran Torino did in the Hero Killer Arc. The likely scenarios where Hawks could have considered offering Izuku an internship include: (1) Hawks having better information than canon somehow and seeing Izuku as a potential lead or (2) Izuku unlocking Float instead of Blackwhip during the Joint Training Arc.

Hawks isn’t a great mentor, and he doesn’t like to see himself as one. But he would do just about anything if he thought it would help his mission, and he seems to have a soft spot for those with quirks that can simulate flight.

They both have a bad habit of suppressing themselves because of how strongly they identify themselves as heroes. Hawks and Izuku both cling to their roles as HPSC hero and OFA successor respectively. They could have both become worse if they reinforced those habits in each other.

These two are also too sharp for their own good and would have tripped over each other’s secrets if in close proximity, which could have increased the paranoia on both sides. This is why they barely interact before Act Three because it would have fundamentally altered the trajectory of the story if they had a genuine conversation.

Exactly how I felt. It highlights how Hori did not see one thing wrong with the society he world built. Even worse because Mirio as a character checks every box on the quintessential shounen protag checklist. So for him to NOT be the MC of the story and yet get the ending reserved for MCs (regaining his powers and being at the top) is bullshit.

And Nighteye getting what he wanted was the worst part of it. Because I firmly believe that All Might's image was manufactured propaganda and Mirio as Lemillion was also heavily manufactured to become a "symbol of peace" figure. It doesn't even acknowledge how that concept was part of why so much crap happened.

And frankly, history would legit just repeat because, again, All Might's imagery and concept was baked into the Billboard and hero society's issues - everyone's just going to be competing against Mirio and it's gonna drive people to be the next Endeavor or Stain or Shigaraki.

But again - Izuku isn't allowed to have any place to shine. Because even him getting the suit isn't about him, it's about Bakugo. Because it's Bakugo's idea and it's Bakugo who gets the class together for it. It's not Izuku getting the means to get himself back out there nor him playing a role in creating/designing it.

Not only is he the classic shounen protagonist in every aspect, therefore existing to undermine Izuku's existence, he's also just really fucking aggravating in the same way Bakugo is (not acknowledged for what he is and overstays within the story).

In the greater scheme of the story, he is treated as what All Might's successor should have been. It is NOT deconstructed nor used to emphasize the issues with All Might's propaganda-focused image at all. Instead, it's treated like a fact - so much so that he ends up becoming number one AND gets OFA.

Edit - "gets offered OFA," I know he doesn't take it or gets in in the epilogue. Typo on my part!

Even if you ignore that aspect of his character, IE how he legit takes away from Izuku, what remains is a person that should be a paragon hero - except he's overly favored and fucking annoying.

Mirio, due to being favored, gets a suit designed just for him and his quirk. Characters like Hagakure, Yaoyorozu, and even Midnight do NOT get this and it's genuinely a bare minimum within the story - it's established that UA could've given them better or connected them with people who could and simply didn't. Worst yet, UA provides Bakugo with a pair of fucking GRENADES and yet can't give Hagakure actual clothes?

Mirio's personality is also a major factor in my dislike of him. He is all the things that makes All Might's propaganda work and nothing that would make him a proper paragon. He sees no real issue with the world around him and he knows and acknowledges that he benefits from it. He does not see this as a problem. And it's lowkey implied that he, or someone like him, caused someone to quit and become a villain (Neijire's words aren't direct enough to confirm this, but for the context of the moment, that's the vibe I got) - which makes sense because this is the same dude shouting "POWER" after beating a bunch of FIRST YEARS (that pissed me off something fierce, but not the point of this post).

Even when he loses his quirk, Hori creates a path where he remains both in the story and relevant without suffering for his new status - this is legit after beating Izuku down for being quirkless and emphasizing how him being quirkless made any heroism impossible. Because Mirio lost his quirk mid-fight and yet still fought Overhaul AND won. Izuku would have never been given that victory and it pisses me off that what should've been a side character is given this victory.

And then the one thing that endears him, his bond with Eri, only further makes me dislike him overall. In shounen, characters like Eri bond with the protagonist after being saved. Why is Mirio being given the bond that she should've had with Izuku? That genuinely grates on me because it's bad enough Mirio is there to begin with. Izuku isn't allowed to be a proper protagonist ever and it's not Mirio, it's Hori, but come on!

And I don't want to say I hate him, but the fact that he gets so much screen time when he's meant to be part of a TRIO and neither get much time beyond gags, praising him, and a beauty pageant, yeah, I have beef with him for sure.

Shinsou, like Aizawa, has two versions. The fanon version that is woobiefied and defanged and the canon version.

The real Shinshou, the canon version, is an asshole in the worst way. He is a self-victimizing jackass that insults others because he's suffered and refuses to acknowledge that him and his suffering are not unique or special.

And despite all his supposed suffering and drive to be a hero, he relies so heavily on his quirk that HE alone is the reason he didn't make it into the hero course via entrance exam. Because while it's skewed towards specific types of quirks, characters with non-combat quirks just like him made it into the hero course in BOTH classes.

You cannot say the test is against you ans that's why you failed - but Hagakure, Kuroiro, and Mineta all passed while having quirks that aren't suited for going at and taking down robots.

And then during the sports festival, Shinsho behaved very much like the villain he whines everyone claimed he'd become? Because remember, he used his quirk on everyone near him during the first two portions. Not one person was willingly help him and he sabotaged them for his own gain (legit makes people carry him to the finish line, then makes others join his team). That's villain behavior according to MHA, yet the narrative and fandom do not acknowledge that.

No matter how tragic his fanon backstory is (because THAT is fanon and headcanons, not anything Hori wrote), he is not exempt from scrutiny. He was not a good character NOR a good person. Again, Shinshou whines about being told he has a villain quirk and proceeds to use it like a villain.

Bitch had the audacity to insult others, he legit calls Oijiro a monkey (an acknowledge slur in MHA), he judges everyone based off their quirk, he treats everyone the way he claims he himself was treated. And THEN we find out all of that was in his fucking head. Because his flashback? Everyone's praising him. The present? His classmates are cheering for him!

If his goal was to learn how well they can use their quirks, he should've read their files on their quirks and had a showcase with specific tasks based on said quirks. For example - invisibility, acid production, and frog abilities are useless in what amounts to a physical assessment.

Beyond that, I genuinely believe Aizawa skewed the ranks with the sole purpose of targeting Izuku. You mean to tell me the kid that was benchpressing All Might and a fridge ranked below Hagakure and Mineta? Not saying he'd be in first place, but Izuku would realistically have a decent median. He should've been somewhere in the mid-ranks, not in last.

And even if he didn't, these children all passed UA's ridiculous entrance exam. To veto it and act like Aizawa alone has the right to judge if they deserve to be there is sadist teacher bulllshit. Like, telling them you'll expell them doesn't motivate them to do their best - it makes them anxious and do their worst.

cuz neither the fandom nor the series respect him at all (his n1 ship being his abuser who didn't even see him as a person but a bug to step on and torment for fun for over 11 years but not the people(ochako,shoto, rody and literally anyone else!) who cherished him and admired says it all)

To me he hasn't felt like his own character/ person for a long time now. We don't even get insight into thoughts as much as we used to. What he's thinking,feeling and why he chose to do something is unclear or just down right out of character by the end of the series.

What do you mean izuku midoriya just gives up on being a hero and saving people once he loses ofa? The same izuku that used to refuse giving up on helping ppl even when he was being physically harmed and verbally shamed for wanting to be one? Why would he give up his life's dream that he wanted to achieve with or without a quirk to become a teacher,something he didn't even mention ONCE mind you. He never talked about it,never even thought about it so WHY did HE choose that?

What makes this ending worse is the "dw guys his classmates raised money for him and got him a iron man suit so he can continue to be a hero!" This doesn't make anything better, infact it makes it worse.

1: So he did want to continue to be a hero based on the way he cries after receiving the suit. So he gave up cuz of the lack of quirk and not because he wanted to "retire" and help the next generation (which means he started becoming like the people who didn't believe in him and said that you can't be a hero without a quirk? That's depressing)

2: he's once again being HANDED A WAY TO BECOME A HERO AND NOT FORGING HIS OWN PATH. Which is sooo frustrating to see. I can understand why 14 year old izuku couldn't do anything but train his analysis (being isolated because of his status as a quirkless kid which probably denied him access to training centers cuz they probably think quirkless ppl are weak and fragile and not worth training.) but izuku fights in a war and saved everyone (and is witnessed by the whole world cuz it was being podcasted!) Graduated from the best hero school which means he's trained for years just like the others. You're telling me izuku couldn't have come up with the iron suit idea himself and worked on it himself??? Like it wasn't something new or unheard of when his mentor already used it to fight fucking demon lord afo quirkless.

Tenya Ida sees Izuku and immediately looks down on him and yes, we get to know him and know he's not like this - but it comes off like he's picking on Izuku because he's an easy target (IE, like Bakahoe who knows he can abuse Izuku and no one will do shit about it).

Tenya then sees Izuku cowering and runs past him only to then witness Izuku push through his fear to save Uraraka. And how does he react? Like a rival - "I would've done the same" while looking genuinely upset with himself, not Izuku (like shitty Bakuhoe who turns every moment of self reflection into hatred for Izuku). He becomes determined to be a hero that can rival Izuku and that is so much better than having an abusive bully with a one-sided "rivalry" as such a main character.

That one moment should've established a friendly rivalry, a HEALTHY one that would've given major character growth. And not just for Izuku, but also for Shoto - because where Tenya and Izuku could be foils, Tenya and Shoto are mirrors (legacy with high expectations on them, but one came from a healthier environment and is willingly trying to live up to the legacy he was born to).

It's me, I'm everyone

To put it simply, kirishima is a fraud with a capital f.

The series tries to make him out to be this uber cool and manly guy that stands up to bullies and someone we should all be like!

The only problem?

He's best friends with a bully. Anybody with common sense and functioning eyes and ears could tell that napalm-breath is a bully, in every sense of the word. Yet somehow, kirishima continues to not see the writing on the wall, cmand constantly enables and kisses up to bakublowhard.

And mind you, kirishima has gotten on mineta and monoma's cases for their behavior, but has hardly ever called out he-who-shall-not-be-named.

But that's not even the worst part, you wanna know the worst part?

Kirishima knows what bakugo did to izuku before ua. That's right. In one of the light novels, kirishima encounters bakugo's old cronies when out studying, and they basically yell him what bakugo put izuku through during their childhood(which includes the "swab dive" comment.). And his reponse to this? "Forgiving is just a small deed for midoriya."

...

Kirishima. You shark-toothed clown, you phony redhead, you shirtless buffoon. Go screw yourself.

I'm actually furuous about that. How can this putz call himself "red riot" and simultaneously be the biggest bootlicker in ua?

It was fine. Emphasis on was. They had some future tech up front. Giant robots, sentient AI, holograms.

Even though a significant portion of act 3 and the final chapter was focused on her, she still feels a bit fundamentally boring somehow. Maybe because she was a very nothingburger character for a while in the middle.

What is there for people to latch onto? Uraraka suffered from being given the components of a main character: screen time, thematic ties to the villain and hero, a love interest role, without the narrative commitment to follow through on any of them in a meaningful, proactive way. He did none of the work to create a strong character. Screen time does not a compelling character make.

firstly we are shown how Loki learned early on that at the end of the day, Power is what really matters. withouth power, either your own, or others, if you are mistreated, you cant do anything about it.

Juxtaposed with that though, we are shown his father, beginning the work of turning Elbaf into a much more interconnected, wealthy, and above all, peacefull place.

We are shown the result of Harald's campaign of interconnecting the entire realm in name as well as fact, but here we already see all the cracks start.

everyone else is focusing on Harald, what he wants, his dreams, how he is changing everything, and the royal guards makes their feeling clear on the matter of succession, as this is a genuine point of contention that needs to be settled at some point, given Loki is the heir, and his brother Hajrudin is a very real political threat to his future reign... but that's not important here. Not really.

Loki doesnt see his brother. He only sees his dad, proclaiming his intention to make a world where people like Loki has no place in it.

That is ultimately what is at the heart of the matter between Loki and Harald.

Harald is so blinded by his dream of the giants of Elbaf becoming a part of the "Civilized" world, and he is more than willing to use his own, massive strength to force the issue if he needs to... But one thing he fails utterly to do, is to give those who doesnt want to give up their ways any other path foreward, the way kingdoms like arabasta did with it's royal guard, and army.

For the most part, the kingdom went along with it, because they genuinely benefitted from all the increased trade and economic boon that being part of a trade network provides.

But not all, and Loki most of all.

but as Harald gives his speech, Loki smiles, because he does see a way forward, to get what he wants, despite his father's plans and wishes.

and so, on the opposite page from his father giving his speech of the future and pacifism, he starts on of his usual rampages of destruction, but this time it isnt just a violent kid acting out.

He has a goal in mind as he beats and bullies his brother, smashes his own retainers when they piss him off, and attacks the adults with no abandon.

If his father will deny him any honor or place in the world as a warrior, then Loki will get the one honor that all those who take up the sword can attain. An honorable death in combat.

of course, Loki is not an adult, and this is another way of acting out... but it's not for payback, or to get attention this time. Loki genuinely wants this raid to end with his death.

i love that during the rampage, you can actually see the moment when one of the adults, an unnamed giant woman craddling her wounded child has finally had enough, and decides to go at this withouth kid gloves, and Loki bites his lips and smiles, clearly assuming this is it, this is where he dies.

except that doesnt happen. Loki is so bloody strong he manages to walk off the massive blow that sent him flying and threw him down to the lowest level of Elbaf.

it's not that Loki wants to die, not truly. But even young as he is, he understand that the world his father is forcing about has no place for him, because Harald's self hatred means he cannot see any honor or place for giant warriors like Loki.

And that means that as long as he is on this island, he can never be allowed to be what he is. The naturally strongest giant of his era, born for war.

so he seeks a death in battle. the one thing his father cannot deny him. except he does.

as he cries, he laments that he cannot even die, his own royal lineage as a child born of ancient giants making him so strong that even when they come at him with the intent to kill, his countrymen cannot slay him.

Whitebeard making the choice to leave Rocks to his fate rather than try to figure out what the Hell as going on with him, in no exagerated terms, Destroyed EVERYTHING Whitebeard would ever come to care about.

By making the choice to not stand by his captain, and take him on his rather dubious, clearly mind controlled, word, Whitebeard laid the foundation for Teach becoming an orphan, and with it, all that would follow.

The boy would later join Whitebeard, who would help him build strength, knowledge and experienc,e as well as shielding him against any possible blowback that his own lineage might bring about as Ace's did.

Never once did he realize that the boy he took in was not only planning on stabbing him in the back down the line, but that when he did, he had a very real grudge to do so, 100% as a result of Whiteveard's own choice to leave Rocks to his fate.

Whitebeard's deliberate inaction, formed from the choice made by his wounded pride, led to Teach becoming an orphan withouth parental guidance or protection, and in turn to him concocting his own plan to succeed where his father had failed, and in turn to everything Whitebeard loved falling into utter ruin.

Tatch's death for the Yami Yami no Mi.

Ace going after Teach to avenge Tatch's death, and his sucequent defeat and the war that would follow.

The war at Marineford and the death of countless of his sons.

The failure of the war and Ace's death, and with it not only making all of his son's sacrifice's pointless, but also robbing his sons of his own clear successor for the new age.

And of course his own Death, when just like Garling sneaking in to murder Rocks when he was at Death's door, the Blackbeard Pirates swoop in to finish Whitebeard off and take his life and Devil Fruit, ending his own age, just like God Valley ended Rocks...

And of course, the final, total obliteration of the Whitebeard Pirates, his pride, joy and reason for living, not ultimately destroyed by the Marines or the other Yonko, but by Teach during the Payback war, when he obliterated Edward Newgate's sons once and for all.

All of that, in a long, ironic turnabout way, ultimately came about because Whitebeard left Rocks to die, which lead to Teach to devote his entire life to make his own bid for world domination, and bring about the destruction of all that Whitebeard held dear.

Too much surface aura, too little substance

He was supposed to dig into why villains become villains, but instead, he's running around being baby-sat by the Top 3 + All Might, and the only fight with this theme is Nagant on EZ-mode

Nagant getting impressed with Deku saving Overhaul is such a ridiculously low bar, considering we saw Hawks do the same to Twice during Dabi's attack

Having heard Nagant's story, Deku has zero reflection about hero society

His power progression sucks. He gains 3 new powers in 4 weeks, none of those powers challenge him in any way. He just reaches Faux-100% due to a stacking quirk

Class A vs OFA sucked - it would have worked better with a smaller group (Iida, Ochako, Bakugou, Shoto)

Deku's return to UA sucked. The civilians' valid anger and fears were turned into strawmen arguments all to highlight Ochako's fluffy speech pretending she's some saint, while Shoto was tucked away at a back entrance with nobody caring

All that Black Deku stuff led to precisely 0 reflection

The vestiges sucked. Kudo and Bruce did not pose the slightest challenge to Deku's pov and turned out to be total snoozefest characters

The reunion with All Might was terrible. Again, potentially juicy confrontation resulted in 0 meaningful interaction.

0/10 MC solo arc. But the art looked edgy I guess.

Whereas Aizawa was always going to be a bad teacher but Bakugo compounded his bad issues. If Bakugo wasn't there, there's a chance that Aizawa could've improve or be a better person earlier without Bakugo making him a static character. Aizawa doesn't warp the story like Bakugo and without the latter, some of his bad decisions probably wouldn't happen as Bakugo was the cause of them.

Oh it’s Katsuki 100% and it’s not even close.

The biggest things going against Aizawa is that he’s a hypocrite, Hori’s mouthpiece, and calls to question U.A/Nezu’s standards regarding who gets employed there. While he does have his influence on the story, Aizawa’s a minor supporting character so that influence is minimal.