I think about this moment a lot. It fascinates me.
A big part of My Hero Academia is unraveling the mystery of Katsuki’s thoughts. Katsuki is such a compelling character because he provides a unique and meaningful perspective on the story that’s kept secret from the audience via Izuku’s unreliable narration and Katsuki’s tendency to not put his own thoughts into words.
This scene is All Might’s infamous “save to win, win to save,” advice. Here, All Might tells Katsuki that he and Izuku need to learn from each other, that each one has something the other doesn’t, something that’s necessary in order to become the best heroes they can be. As viewers, we hear what sounds like excellent, constructive, insightful advice that advances the narrative. It’s something that the story between Izuku and Katsuki has been naturally approaching.
If you are dependent on Izuku’s perspective, then Katsuki’s reaction in the above screenshots is anti-climactic, inspiring a sense of flat, exasperated humor. Katsuki is just being good ol’ obstinate, stubborn, petulant Katsuki. Katsuki just isn’t Katsuki if he isn’t being unnecessarily difficult.
But Izuku is an unreliable narrator.
Objectively speaking, All Might being a good teacher? That’s out of character, at least at this point in the story. We’ve just sat through flashbacks of other advice All Might has given Katsuki, highlighting how what sounded like decent advice somehow made everything worse. But it’s not spelled out for us what’s going on in Katsuki’s head. Why is All Might’s advice so terrible? Why does it upset Katsuki so much?
Katsuki believes he is weak. Katsuki has an inferiority complex.
All Might: You have all the abilities necessary to become a hero.
What Katsuki hears: You aren’t strong yet.
All Might: Level 1 power and Level 50 power can’t improve at the same rate.
What Katsuki hears: Yes, Izuku’s improving, and you’re not.
But then, All Might’s “save to win, win to save” advice should be welcomed by Katsuki, shouldn’t it? It’s actionable advice. All Might told him what he’s missing. Now he just needs to work on that, and he’ll be the best hero, even better than Izuku!
Katsuki didn’t ask how he can surpass Izuku. He asked why All Might chose Izuku.
Their conversation basically boils down to this.
Katsuki: Why did you choose Deku?
All Might: Because he was weak, and you were strong.
Katsuki: But you were wrong. I’m weak. (Implied: Deku is the strong one now.)
All Might: You are strong, but not strong enough by yourself. In a sense, you are both weak and need to learn from each other.
Katsuki: So we’re both weak? That’s even worse.
Time and again, All Might fails to address Katsuki’s real concerns. Every piece of advice he gives is just more fuel for Katsuki’s insecurities, which the fight before this moment illustrates. A big part of the fight is about Katsuki trying to understand why Izuku was chosen based on his assumption that All Might judged Izuku as superior to Katsuki, as the stronger of the two.
Remember, Katsuki doesn’t have the full explanation about One For All yet. Based on the information he has, Katsuki only knows that All Might gave his power to Izuku. He implies he thinks All Might sought out All For One’s help to pass on his quirk, that “All Might knew the guy who could do it.” He doesn’t know One For All can pass on itself or that All Might was on a time limit. So from Katsuki’s perspective, either All Might risked getting help from a known villain for Izuku’s sake, or, maybe more likely, All Might was friends with AFO until AFO betrayed that trust. There’s even the potential that AFO betrayed All Might specifically when he decided Katsuki was an exploitable weakness and kidnapped him.
Katsuki’s presence on the battlefield inhibited All Might, and Katsuki couldn’t get out of the situation on his own. He was weak, and so he dragged All Might down. That’s why he accepted help to get out of there. Did AFO know that would happen, that Katsuki was as weak as that? Why wouldn’t AFO target Izuku, All Might’s successor? The only thing Katsuki could logically conclude is that Izuku is strong, and thus safe, while Katsuki is the exploitable weakness.
While fighting Izuku, Katsuki wonders “Why?” with each flashback he has of All Might’s past advice. That advice, paired with Katsuki’s insecurities about his weakness, implies what he’s been worrying about all this time: “Why can’t I improve? Why can’t I get stronger? Why did All Might see no potential in me?” Katsuki slaps away Izuku’s hand when offered help and shouts, “Why won’t you fight? What’s wrong with you?” From Katsuki’s perspective, it must be because Izuku is that strong and thinks Katsuki is so weak in comparison.
Katsuki expects Izuku to win the fight from the start. Katsuki just wants to find the answer to his question:
Why is Izuku strong while I am weak?
And yet, All Might’s answer, his advice of “save to win, win to save,” is the exact opposite thing Katsuki wants to hear:
So, Katsuki tells Izuku, “Don’t lose.”
Before this moment, Katsuki assumes Izuku is safe. His idea of the ultimate hero is a hero who never loses. He thinks All Might got help from AFO for Izuku’s sake. Whether AFO betrayed All Might or All Might knew AFO was a villain all along, All Might isn’t worried about Izuku because he’s strong. There’s no way All Might would involve Izuku with a dangerous supervillain unless he thinks Izuku could handle it.
But if Izuku is actually weak, Katsuki could end up in the same position again. Katsuki is still an exploitable weakness not only for All Might but now also for Izuku.
I know plenty of people will want to extrapolate from here that Katsuki is worried about Izuku (and anything I could say about this is manga spoilers, so I won’t touch on that here). However, I think it would be a mistake to say his concern at this point is, “Izuku is weak, so I have to get strong to protect him.” Katsuki’s character arc up until this point in the story has focused mainly on his feelings regarding victimhood. I don’t think it’s a stretch for me to say one of his worst fears is being a victim, particularly as a means of getting to someone he cares about such as All Might (just look at his trauma over what happened with the sludge villain in middle school). After all, Katsuki believes All Might’s downfall could have been avoided if only he had been strong enough to not be victimized by AFO and the League of Villains.
So it’s not that Katsuki wants to protect Izuku; Katsuki doesn’t want to be the reason for Izuku’s downfall.
Katsuki promises to keep OFA a secret because, “It’s just too big a risk with too many drawbacks for me to spread this around.” The risk? Katsuki could be made a target again just by virtue of knowing about it. “There would be confusion about where the power is,” meaning people would attack Katsuki for that information assuming he either has OFA or knows who does. If the secret gets out, Katsuki becomes a weak point for All Might and Izuku. So he has to get stronger before that happens.
You can see when Katsuki bows his head in acceptance. He hasn’t heard what he wanted, but he accepts that he has to grow stronger in order to prepare for when the OFA secret gets out. He’ll follow All Might’s advice and do what he has to do to be ready, and he’ll hold Izuku to the same standard. When the time comes, Izuku cannot lose.
When Katsuki hears the full story about OFA, he says, “It doesn’t change what I have to do.” It doesn’t matter which of them is All Might’s successor. He has to surpass All Might, surpass Izuku, surpass One For All. He has to be the best. He can’t be the weak link again. He can’t be the reason they lose.
He’ll grow. He’ll get stronger. He’ll take All Might’s advice to heart and become the ultimate hero who wins and saves. He’s planning their victory strategy, and he’s making sure they’ll be ready.
If there’s one thing Katsuki’s a genius at, it’s victory.
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