IzuOcha should have worked, So why doesn't it?
I'm probably going to make a post about the epilogue chapter in it's own thing when i get the full thing but I thought now would be a good time to talk about IzuOcha and my personal thoughts with the ship.
Lowkey I kind of wished we didn't get any ship ending (truth be told I don't really like any ships in mha much anymore) But I'm more shocked the amount of people who are saying IzuOcha is a bad or underdeveloped dynamic or this came out of no where, when it actually ties up a loose end. One of the most surprising things in chapter 430 was we never seemed to get a confession from Uraraka considering that it was a big part of her character arc. I like that we have finally tied that part up, although I'm not a big shipper anymore it was needed and shouldn't have been off screened, basically if there was ever an end game ship it would have been this one.
My biggest complaint of IzuOcha isn't that she terribly written, she actually a very well developed character, nor that it was a ship that came out of no where, there have been so many scenes with them together hinting about it and it was literally a huge part of MHA. or that Dekus doesn't like her there been plenty of signs showing he has some feelings for her.
The biggest problem with IzuOcha is that there isn't any direct conflict between them.
The main conflict the ship was how the individual feels about a romantic relationship with the other person (which was much more in Uraraka side because Dekus character can't be introspective to save his life) which was great for character growth, but not for ship growth. Since the two basically never Overcame any personal problems between each other, they next to never disagree with each other, nor do the have conflicting world views. they have nothing but positive things to say to each other and any disagreement is done with a group rather then by them selves. Ultimately this ship was played far to safe despite the very obvious set up for conflict down the line.
Ochako and Deku dynamic was crafted pretty solidly early on, She would be a character that pushes Deku to be more honest and open about his feeling and help him over come his lack of self worth. Well he in turn would help her overcome her guilt and feeling of responsibility that causes her to smother her true feelings. And even by the end of the story they do just that, except instead of feeling satisfying it comes off as flat because Hori never added any conflict to their dynamic. Instead of Ochako bluntness and ability to read emotions well being used as a rude but needed wake up call to Deku to realized his self worth and disregarding his health. She instead became a cheerleader for him, which although need occasionally, got pretty old fast. Well for Deku he never really over came that problem for being introspective of himself and his feelings, so he never got moments where he though of Ochako in a more romantic light. Which makes him come off as less involved in the relationship compared to her.
which adds this extra annoyance and disregard to Uraraka character as well, considering a lot of her development is tied to that ship. Because a lot of how she felt about it was "I can't show my feeling to Deku without X,Y and Z happening that's bad for both of us" and then... never showed that conflict that she was so worried about. and there were so many times to add a conflict between them, especially on Deku end. There could have been many times where Uraraka expressed her frustration on seeing Deku hurt or wanting him to rely on her as well since she wants to save heroes. There could have been moments where the clash with the dream vs reality how Ochako sees the heroics as more of a job then Deku does and the dangers of getting to wrapped up in a fantasy and vise versa where he could have shown her that she can live life for herself as well. And although these moments do happen it's never with any push back from either party, just an "OK! let's do that" and move on.
I feel like there could have a been a easy fix with that with Nana story since a lot of the tragedy of nana could have been reflect on to Izuku and Ochako arc as well. The dangerous of relationship in heroics, how you can unintentionally hurt the people you want to save, ect. The cool thing about IzuOcha dynamic is the whole "can't show him how i feel because it might get in the way of our goals" is actually really interesting for a dynamic and opened a ton or possibilities where they face those problems and over come them anyway. But the problem was Hori never showed real examples of the problems for the characters to work through and over come, so it just kind a fell flat.
The only time we see some conflict between just the two of them is chapter 429, and there is a reason so many fans got upset when Class 1-A crashed the party. Because just as we saw them be honest and "ugly" with each other in a way that had push back and wasn't them just blindly agreeing with each other it got interrupted.
A lot of moments between Uraraka and Izuku are about support, but it's all a little Too fluffy. it's a little too quickly fixed, and undercutter with the you like him moments that lean too heavily on Uraraka and not enough on Deku that cause the ship to feel safe. It also doesn't help the Uraraka did 90% of the lifting with the ship, because Deku lack of introspection (which doesn't just effect this dynamic btw it's a big thing with a lot of the story we just really feel the sting for this one) we don't get him to think about the relationship until it's quite literally the last chapter. it also doesn't help the the class never really nagged Deku about it to the extent they did Ochako. We know that he liked her, but I sometimes wonder if he knew that, since unlike Uraraka he never got the, "I think of her more then a friend" dialogue that he really needed. Although it was shown here and their it never was really told unlike Uraraka who got the shown and told part pretty clearly across. IzuOcha did way more for Uraraka character then it did Deku's, and because of the lacking conflict in this ship Deku never got past his lack of introspection.
Which then leads to Toga because boy did she really prop the ship up. She acted as a beginning of a what could be a conflict between them but then unintentionally made herself and Uraraka character dynamics a lot more interesting excluding Deku. Toga and Uraraka had conflict, they had problems they worked through and over came, it's because of Toga, Uraraka could understand her suppression of feelings was dangerous. But that's the issue because that problem was meant to be for Deku to help Uraraka solve, but in making the villains more human that got placed on Toga instead.
Well ironically the same thing happened with Bakugou and Deku, Bakugou character development stole a strength from Uraraka, her ability to see Deku for who he really is and her blunt nature to call him out on it. Remember the reason Bakugou bullied Deku because his ego "mischaracterized" Deku intentions. Yet later on Bakugou becomes the person who can read Deku the best which previously was what Uraraka was better at. In order to grow the depth between Toga and Uraraka, and bakugou and Midoriya, Hori Robbed IzuOcha of dynamics that would have given more weight to their depth.
The biggest problem with IzuOcha isn't that it was underdeveloped or that it makes no sense. It's that it's just played too safe, it's stripped of moments of conflict and over done with to many moments of support.
TL:DR should we ever get a squeal story of mha I'd like to see more personal character conflict between those two since that would solve like 90% of my feelings on the ship.
