i can't look away from this car crash.
the inconsistencies with the story we read for 400+ chapters, the hopelessness around Izuku's entire character, deeming bkdk's dynamic entirely useless after all the effort to set them up as the 'wonder duo', 'the ultimate rivals' -- and then? What is this? was it all to waste?
where is Izuku defending his dream? where is his ambition to become the #1 hero? if what he wants to do now is teach, you have to show me that!! you should've shown me that sooner! Show me an Izuku who is admired by his teachers (AM, Aizawa, GT...) not because they're heroes, but because he admires how they teach and now he longs to become a mentor as well. Then, maybe, this whole shift in his perspective would make more sense. But the thing is:
Izuku loved his mentors because they were heroes. Not because they were teachers.
(teaching is the noblest profession do not come for me -- all I'm saying is: this is not consistent with his character!)
If he loves being a teacher now, I'm not seeing that, either! I'm not seeing a deep desire to help kids (like Tenko) to make better decisions or have better opportunities.
All I see is a depressed twenty-something boy with dead-eyes and office-shoes. If I wanted to see that, I'd read literally anything else!
Where is Izuku? Where did his character go? what happened to his personality? Where is my shōnen manga MC? the kid who cleaned a beach with his bare hands and no quick, fueled by the ambition to become a hero? if that drive was there before the quick, it surely should be there long after the embers burned out...
it pains me, because it feels as though everything else that happened in this story was for nothing. it collapses on itself and becomes pointless. If the message was that once you grow up you should give up on your dreams--well, then call me Katsuki 'cause I don't even know what to say to that! What kind of shit message is that?
If the message is that you should do the best with your circumstances, Izuku is still not doing that! He could be a hero again now. He has the suit, he had an opening, an offer, even. But he still didn't want it. He's settling. It's mediocre. I hate it. I hate this for him. And I hate it if this is what he's become.
Also, I was not about to be queerbaited by a shōnen manga. I've been around the block and I knew what to expect. But maybe even so I was too naïve, because what they did to bkdk's relationship goes beyond the ship, it fundamentally kills their bond.
How am I supposed to interpret Katsuki not only working for nearly a decade in order to get Izuku his suit, then waiting for Izuku to be a hero again and then WAITING AGAIN to invite Izuku to join his agency, rejecting all other prospects because it was always Izuku, always Deku, the one he wanted by his side as a partner -- and I'm supposed to be okay with Izuku never acknowledging this? Rejecting Katsuki's proposal without a thought? That is not Izuku. And it's a disservice to the friendship they spent 400+ chapters rebuilding, the rivalry I was shown from day one.
There were so many better ways to address their dynamic, even if there was a shift in it due to Izuku becoming a teacher or whatever. If Katsuki was to be rejected and disappointed in the end, you might as well have left him dead, for there was no purpose to his character after that without their rivalry.
(by this I mean, you set up their dynamic to be a duality. One can't exist without the other. If you are going to change your mind, tell the audience! Show the audience! there was no buildup for this. is sloppy. is mediocre again.
anyways i obviously care about this. I wanna look away but i can't. I can't. I've spent years of my life loving these characters, learning from them, following their story. I thought they'd have a better send-off. I thought their creator understood the characters (he gave us every sign that he did).
I thought the ending would be consistent and good, like most of the story was, and it hurts to be proven wrong, especially when it's not only bad, but painfully, regrettably mediocre, which is the worst fate a beloved piece of media can get.
