Does Izuku Think His Feelings For Katsuki Are Gross? (or, DvK2's Endless Emporium of Nuance)
This is a pretty common sentiment I see repeated, and we all know the source of it: Deku vs. Kacchan 2.
Original Japanese and official English translation.
Crunchyroll subtitles
In one translation, Izuku expresses discomfort over this topic; in the other, he outright declares it to be gross.
That is quite the difference. I gotta say, Crunchyrollās direct āThis is grossā kind of shocks me, because it functionally ignores the key adverb āsasuga niā and translates the line the same as you would if he hadnāt said it at all. The official manga translator, on the other hand, clearly made a decision about what Izuku meant by that phrase and then dispersed that meaning across the line as a whole.
So I understand why people have this straight-forward interpretation.
Iām here to offer some linguistic nuance, because my main problem with āIzuku thinks his feelings are grossā is not that it is completely wrong. Itās that it isnāt the whole story.
There are two really important phrases to take into account: kimi ni wa ienai and sasuga ni.
To illustrate their meaning, letās split the line into two sections:
Note: Grammatically, kara belongs in the first section. Iām lumping it into the second section for the sake of isolating the core ideas expressed in the first section and maintaining clarity in the second.
Now weāre going to break the sections down into their constituent parts. This looks like a verbatim nightmare of a translation, because it is, but trust me, itās a useful exercise.
Kara links the two sections by showing that the first section directly causes the second. Something worth noting is that Izuku does not use past tense hereāhe uses present tense and indicates a continuous, unchanged state. He has not been able to before and still cannot tell this to Katsuki. I would argue this also suggests he thinks the circumstances will not change for the foreseeable future.
Important Phrase #1: kimi ni wa ienai
Ienai is the negative potential form of āto say,ā which means it is not possible for him to say it. Iwanai, on the other hand, is the negative present tense, and if he had used iwanai instead, that might suggest that he has some choice in the matter. Examples in English might be, āThatās why I donāt tell you this,ā āThatās why Iām not telling you this,ā and āThatās why I havenāt told you this,ā which all express intentional withholding despite opportunity. To use a form that specifically denies the possibility serves to center limitation, regardless of desire.
The combination of the two particles ni and wa are used to emphasize, compare, and contrast. This is extremely telling just on its own. Izuku is emphasizing the fact that, compared to everyone he could possibly tell, he cannot tell Katsuki this. He might be able to tell other people, but when it comes to Katsuki, he cannot. Ienai does not specify where the limitation stems from, but ni wa sure implies it.
Now letās dig into the phrase that does the most heavy-lifting in the first section.
Important Phrase #2: sasuga ni
Sasuga ni is the adverb Izuku attaches to the adjective kimochi warui (gross or creepy). It is typically translated āas expectedā because this kind of adverb sounds awkward in English. āThis is expectedly grossā is not a sentence people say much. You might also see it translated āas I thought,ā ānaturally,ā āobviously,ā or āindeed.ā
And there is something interesting here: Izuku uses a second word that means āas expectedā on this page.
Yappari, which can also be translated as āin the end,ā āsure enough,ā or āafter all is said and done.ā
I researched the nuances of these two phrases, synthesizing definitions and examples from four different Japanese dictionaries/encyclopedias and two forum boards for language tutoring from native speakers. My conclusions as related to their usage here:
Yappari indicates:
an outcome that was expected (example: āI tried, but sure enough, I failed.ā)
something that remains unchanged [in the state it was previously or in other circumstances]
a situation where, no matter how you think about it, you end up with the same result (example: āI was really torn over it, but in the end I gave up on going.ā)
Sasuga ni indicates:
[you, the speaker] must acknowledge that this is the natural result of the situation up to this point (example: āthey grew up in a big family, so naturally they are good with kids.ā)
something exceeds the permissible range, or that it may be permissible under certain conditions, but not others (example: āno matter how nice a guy he is, if he was accused of something unfairly, heās bound to get angry.ā)
You can see the meanings overlap, but the sentiments are a bit different. I saw someone learning Japanese say that every time they used one of these phrases, native speakers told them they should have used the other one instead. Another learner responded that, from their observations, the distinction appeared to be that yappari is used when the speaker had personally thought about and expected this outcome, while sasuga ni suggests that everyone would agree with this statement.
Iām not sure this is true across the board; usage always varies, even among native speakers, so generalizations are only useful up to a point, but I have to admit, a bunch of little things I noticed in my research do support this line of thinking.
If yappari tends to be more reflective of the speakerās personal thoughts and expectations, sasuga niās āacknowledgment of a natural resultā could indeed imply external validation. This is true of the equivalent English words, at least: naturally and obviously both suggest that any reasonable person would accept it as fact.
In fact, permissible as an idea kind of hinges on social normsāwhat is reasonable for someone to put up with? What behaviors sit within the realms of welcome, allowable, or excusable based on your relationship?
In my opinion, Izuku feels like he cannot say this to Katsuki because it exceeds the bounds of what is permissible between them. If sasuga ni implies Izuku feels sure that anyone would agree with his assessment, Katsuki is absolutely included in that.
Izuku is not saying, āI alone think this is gross, so I canāt tell you.ā
He is saying, āConsidering everything that has happened between us up till now, you would obviously see this as gross, so I canāt tell you.ā Its grossness is a natural result of the situationātheir history, the way their relationship fell apart, the way Katsuki lashes out, how he can barely stand Izukuās presence, let alone his emotional honesty.
Chapter 10, during Deku vs. Kacchan 1
But remember that this sentence is a fragment: the subject of Izukuās sentence is revealed in the second half, and it is the fact that he runs his mouth when he wants to win more than he wants to save.
This is what is gross. Izuku acknowledges that the behavior itself is unpleasant, and that any reasonable person would agree with that. His whole identity as a hero is based on saving people, so he feels some real discomfort when he has to recognize that sometimes he just wants to win. In fact, he can want victory so much that it supersedes his desire to help people.
Izuku has intentionally emulated Katsukiās practical tactics, but this is about instinctive response. He wasnāt standing there facing Muscular, thinking the winning move was definitely to scream, āshut up.ā He was furious, so he wanted to win and make that guy shut up.
When the scale tips, he acts out. He talks shit. He screams at people and insults them, because thatās what Katsuki does. These are all unacceptable behaviors, socially-speaking. Katsuki constantly and intentionally acts the exact opposite of how he should to qualify as a Good Japanese Boy. Izuku, on the other hand, plays the part faithfully, at least until it demands he betray his core values.
Deku vs. Kacchan 2 showcases how neither Izuku nor Katsuki had fully accepted the heroism of their counterpart. Katsuki is uncomfortable with Izukuās innate capacity to help others, to see their need and meet it without question. Izuku is uncomfortable with craving victory, with that indomitable drive to seek glory. They each admired All Might for the value they themselves embody, and they admired each other for the value they lacked, but that doesnāt mean their admiration was uncomplicated.
Katsuki is a loud-mouthed, aggressive jerk, but Izuku ends up acting just like him. He clearly feels conflicted about it. Heās annoyed and hurt that Katsuki pushed him away by being such a jerk in the first place. And, from his perspective, he fails every time he tries to wrangle their relationship into something less miserable. He might even be embarrassed over the simple fact that he has held on to these deep-seated emotions for years over someone who wants nothing to do with him. He wishes things were different. He doesnāt know how they could be, anymore. He wants to connect, but he canāt.
Izuku frames his inability to express this specific thought as natural and reasonable. Obviously, thereās no way I could do this. And honestly, he is probably right. After all, this is a very intimate, revealing thing to tell someone who seems to hate your guts and has for years.
At any other point in the story, Katsuki probably would have curled his lip in disgust and barked out Izukuās exact words, āGross.ā
But in DvK2, Katsuki bears his heart to Izuku without restraint.
Katsuki confesses something painful and private to Izuku twice, at two separate moments.
Izuku has two confessions, too. Here's the first:
But the second he admits only to himself and the audience.
Maybe if Izuku had said his āimage of victoryā monologue out loud, Katsuki could have had his own moment of understanding:
Izukuās reaction after Katsukiās second confession.
Maybe Katsuki wasnāt ready to hear it, or maybe Izuku was too chicken to believe he was ready. Either way, he needed to voice both confessions, and he didnāt.
So the narrative punishes Izuku for failing to push past his own limitations.
In the battle of revealing their honneātheir true feelings, their truest selvesāKatsuki risked it all.
Izuku couldnāt do the same, and thatās why he loses.
Donāt forget that underestimating your opponent is one of the easiest ways to lose a fight in MHA.
But I want to reiterate, Izuku feels conflicted about this behavior and his own feelings, not ashamed.
Emotional conflict is borne from two or more simultaneous, contradictory feelings. Izuku admits that any reasonable person would see the way he unconsciously imitates even Katsukiās bad habits as gross, but he also clearly tells us something else.
Izuku is directly expressing his own thoughts about it, and the most important phrase is nanoni, which according to online encyclopedia Kotobank, āindicates that the following is contradictory to the preceding matterā and specifically, āincludes critical feelings about the contradiction betweenā those two things. The latter point is unique because other words often used for ābutā (such as kedo, which he used earlier in the form of dakedo) do not necessarily do this.
In the final line, one little detail here is the orange highlighted nda. This is used to explain and correlate topics of discussion. The most obvious point of explanation is why he acts this way. But the use of nanoni to connect this thought to the previous one tells us that this line is also explaining why Izuku doesnāt hate it.
Katsuki is his image of victory, and that alone is the reason he does not find this part of himself unacceptable. Just like with sasuga ni, Izuku is telling us that he understands the way other people would see this situation, and he knows what he āshouldā feel, but then he tells us that he does not feel that way.
I know it is very easy to see āThis is gross, so I canāt tell youā at the start of this monologue, skip right to āimage of victory,ā and walk away thinking that Izuku is ashamed of that specifically, but the details show that the opposite is true.
And letās not forget the nuance of yappari, which implies that Izuku has personally thought about this fact over and over, but it has always been this way.
I have seen people say that Katsuki is the one letting Izuku set the pace of their new relationship and that Izuku holds back, with this presumed shame as the cause. But I donāt think that acknowledges Izukuās perspective on their dynamic, nor the casual mutualism they build together.
Katsuki initiated DvK2: a unique, closed āeventā wherein, for the first time, they each expressed their vulnerabilities as much as they were able. But immediately outside the confines of DvK2, Izuku is the one who reaches out, as a gesture of reciprocation towards Katsuki for having initiated this change.
He is asking Katsuki's opinion, but what this gestures means is, āI donāt want us being honest with each other to end there. I still want you in my life.ā
And maybe for the first time in years, Katsuki actually understands what Izuku means, and reaches back.
Look at these fucking nerds.
Notice that Izuku responds to Katsuki twice. At the first response, Katsuki has offered his observations and given him valid criticism on his technique, which is a show of goodwill. But then, Katsuki continues even when the admission reflects a personal weakness, with Izuku's punch having caught him off guard. This is actual honesty, and it means that they didn't just resolve their aggression and reset to neutral peers, but that Katsuki wants to be close, too. And just like during their fight, understanding comes the second time around.
Iāve said it before and Iāll say it again: from Izukuās point of view, Katsukiās shitty behavior was the only thing that stood between them, because Izukuās core feelings for him never changed.
Izuku lets Katsuki decide what is permissible between them, because Katsuki is the one who pushed him away in the first place. He opens the door just enough to say, āWhatever you want to give of yourself, I will accept.ā
After that, Katsuki is the one making the big gestures by taking time out of his own life to discuss OFA with Izuku and All Might and help Izuku by training with him, even inserting himself into situations when he isn't asked. At every point, we see Izuku receive Katsuki with warmth and then follow up with smaller gestures of his own.
Chapters 202, 209, 249, and 327.
The reason we see so much of Katsukiās side of their relationship, especially after DvK2, is because his feelings are the ones that change the most: from dysfunctional to self-aware and accepting. He has struggled for years over Izukuās place in his life. He didnāt understand Izuku or his own feelings, and he was wrapped up in denial. He tells himself again and again that Izuku is ābeneath him,ā when we know the truth is he always thought Izuku was better than him.
Comparatively, Izuku resolves his conflicted feelings about his admiration for Katsuki much quicker, because the source of his conflict was primarily external while Katsuki's was primarily internal.
Chapter 257
A little detail I love about the "I'm too blessed" moment is that Izuku thinks of his conversations with Katsuki as "normal(?)" with a literal question mark attached. Is this normal? He doesn't really know. But it's enough. Kacchan is Kacchan, explosive and outrageous and way too much, all the time. Maybe they'll never be what other people think of as "normal," but Izuku is happy just to have Kacchan as he is, and be there however Kacchan will have him.
Katsuki's ideal has always been Izuku; he tried to outrun that fact and failed every time. Meanwhile, Izukuās image of victory has always been Kacchan, and he has just been waiting for Kacchan to want to hear that from him.
Everyone has been wondering if Izuku will ever tell him. Me, personally, I'm hoping their story will end with a mutual declaration of their shared truth.
"You have always been my hero."
