#ask pika

What Izuku rejects is the opportunity to be Katsuki's SIDEKICK. He doesn't reject being a hero or competing with Katsuki. He rejects working FOR/UNDER Katsuki. Which is hilarious because Katsuki accepts (apparently multiple times) showing up as a guest lecturer to help out Izuku's class. Katsuki tells Izuku that "If everyone is special, no one is special," which has the potential for SO MUCH DOUBLE MEANING. But what there is no ambiguity about to me is he's basically telling Izuku "Hey, notice this. I'm treating you special. You're special to me. NOTICE."

It's also implied that Izuku sees Katsuki more regularly than he sees most others from their class, which is emphasized by the previous chapter when Aizawa complains to him about Katsuki's behavior in public affecting his ranking. Katsuki basically tells Izuku he needs to start thinking about himself more, and he also ends their final interaction with a "See ya [later]." Katsuki is NOT talking about Ochako, but Izuku takes some of his advice as the impetus for going to talk to Ochako (specifically they just wanna talk more after the dinner since the dinner is now over and they didn't get to talk). So what was Katsuki thinking of? I personally read his "See ya later" as "You'll figure it out, just go handle what you gotta right now and you can catch up to me later."

Hilariously, Izuku calls Katsuki out for being the one to say "If you don't start thinking a little more highly of yourself, you won't notice the things you should." Izuku's response is basically, "Look who's talking." Again, the potential for double meaning here is painfully obvious. He could be referring to SO MANY THINGS and we're meant to infer what that is. WE GET TO GUESS. Izuku could be saying "You did stuff just as bad as what you're saying," or "You're STILL not noticing something, Kacchan."

And Izuku taking inspiration from Katsuki's words to go talk to Ochako is meaningful in another way--IT MEANS IZUKU LISTENED TO HIM. Katsuki is having an influence on Izuku in a way to improve who he is just like Izuku did for him in high school. Izuku takes Katsuki's advice seriously. NO ONE HAS EVER GOTTEN HIM TO UNDERSTAND THIS LESSON BEFORE NOW. It ends with Izuku and Ochako deciding to talk more, but what it shows us is the beginning of Izuku considering himself more. If Izuku follows Katsuki's advice long enough, he'll end up back in the competition with Katsuki just like Katsuki expects him to. That is just as easy of a conclusion to make from the theme of "inevitability" that Shouto gives us (and that Izuku also takes to heart).

This ending implies that inevitably Izuku's gonna catch up again, basically. Things will continue to change. So yeah, we get a beginning where he and Ochako meet up to talk, but it's just a beginning. It's one night of chatting. They're seeing if something's there now (which kind of implies that there wasn't much there before), but it's left open-ended. And I think it's left open-ended what happens with Ochako on purpose because anyone can read how that ends up however they like. You just have to decide as a reader what's "inevitable" for Izuku Midoriya from this point on. Me? I've decided Izuku is taking Katsuki's advice to treat people who mean more to him better. Ochako is just the beginning. Izuku has other people in his life he needs to show love to as well (because that's what this is, Izuku is learning to show people that they're important to him, that he loves them, because saving people doesn't do that--he saves EVERYONE). And then maybe he'll start to see how the people who love him treat him special too, like guest SPECIAL (same kanji) LECTURER KATSUKI BAKUGOU.

tl;dr there is a lot left open to interpretation and it's probably on purpose, read the chapter however you like, just like we did with the last chapter.

What video game will you defend forever?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

FNAF Security Breach

Is it buggy? Yes. Is it not what was originally planned and hinted at? Yes. Does it also have an incredible vibe, a surprisingly meaningful story, and probably the only well-written characters in the franchise? Also yes. Genuinely, I love this game, and despite the fandom response it's mostly down to the characters and writing.

Like, Freddie is finally a main character in his own franchise, and they make him a dad caring for a hurt child? Augh I love it. And then you have Vanessa, this unwitting pawn trapped and not in control of her own actions, tired and stressed and lashing out because her hands are not her own and you can save her.

And Gregory himself I have genuinely never understood the hate for - he's a bit standoffish because he's a kid, probably a runaway, who is hurt and who's become trapped in this deadly situation while trying to find out what happened to other missing people. People who get mad at him for hurting the animatronics seem to forget that they are trying to violently murder him, that they've kinda always been like that (see Monty murdering Bonnie), and that barring Roxie (who is still trying to kill him!) none of them are sympathetic.

My reading is that it's ultimately a self-esteem issue? David lacks confidence in general because he lacks confidence in himself, and that has become a bit of a vicious cycle I think especially in Season 2 - he's actually very capable of standing up to frightening things for the sake of people he cares about, but when it comes to himself, he tends to fall into "I'm not brave enough" in a way that inflates his genuine fears a lot IMO, and I think the root of that is a general discomfort he feels around who he is and what he's capable of.

I'm very confused by this question. Everything in chapter 431 indicates that they're as close as ever in the sense of friendship at the very least. It's implied they see each other more often than they see anyone else in class and that they even call on each other to help out with work, such as Katsuki agreeing to guest lecture for Izuku's classes, and that's before the little extra epilogue where Izuku gets back onto the charts.

If you're just talking about the lack of intensity or drama in their interactions, well, first of all there wasn't really a dramatic context to fuel such a thing. But even then, they're young adults now. They're past the wild ride of puberty, and that does a lot to even a person out lol.

But your reference to this idea that Izuku had a dramatic sense of care in the first place is...telling. That's a very vague way of putting it. I've seen a lot of people who seem to think Izuku is unstably obsessed with Katsuki's well-being, which smacks of that whole "control your heart" fanon business. To me, Izuku has only ever been proportionally concerned about Katsuki. Of course he'd flip out when Katsuki was in dire straits. But the thing about Katsuki that riles him up under normal circumstances is not Katsuki's well-being but his heroism. In the same way that Katsuki fights to protect Izuku's dream, Izuku does the same to preserve Katsuki's. He punches Katsuki for choosing to sacrifice victory in their final exam, and then he turns around to punch All Might when Katsuki inspires him with his unwavering determination. He shouts at Compress for insinuating Katsuki hasn't somehow already chosen to be a hero. He loses his shit at Monoma for poking at Katsuki's weaknesses and insecurities. Hell, even when Katsuki gets stabbed by TomurAFO, the thing that actually causes Izuku to snap is when AFO derides Katsuki's heroic sacrifice as futile and pointless. As I put it just yesterday in conversation, the thing Izuku and Katsuki come to terms with over the course of their relationship in the story is not how badly they wanna protect each other but how much each trusts the other to have their back, how much each believes in the other's heroism. It's why Izuku is able to "control his heart" when Katsuki's heart stopped, because he realizes that to be a hero he has to believe in the best-possible outcome no matter how unlikely it may be. It's why his "powered-up form" in that moment resembles tears pouring from his eyes, because all he has in that moment is hope until Katsuki is resuscitated. And it's why those "tears" disperse when Katsuki finally stands up again, because Katsuki is the hero Izuku and the world need to save All Might. In that moment, they both trust each other to take care of what the other can't.

Bakugou said something about hiring someone who wants to surpass him... and I want to headcanon that he replaces Deku soon enough

If you have already talked about this subject then my apologies, I am new here

No it does not bother me because Katsuki Bakugou had this thing called Character Development and learned what it means to be a hero. And caring about others and helping them be their best selves such as idk Izuku Midoriya is exactly what I would expect him to do now that he's embraced his true heroism. He may tell himself he does these things because he feels like he owes it to Izuku, but deep down I think we all know it's because Katsuki has always been a hero at heart, he just had to figure out how to let it out. So regardless of if you wanna take a gen or a shipping lens to that question, the Kacchan fan in me basks in the fact that Katsuki still maintains that ideal of a hero that most everyone else in the epilogue seems to have let die.

I'd introduce a meaningful point of conflict in their relationship that lets them shine as individual characters and demonstrates what it is about each other they are attracted to. We ALMOST had that in the sports festival. Remember when Ochako said she was gonna view Izuku as a rival? Remember? Remember that?

"Wow," you say, "you sure do sound like a Kacchan fan!" DO I? DO I NOW? BECAUSE IZUKU HAS RIVALRIES WITH FUCKING EVERYONE ELSE, DOESN'T HE? Doesn't everyone LOVE Midoriya vs Todoroki? Doesn't everyone LOVE how Iida looks out for Izuku by expressly challenging him and racing to keep up with him? Fuck, the most REDEEMING ASPECT of Mineta is how he compares himself to Izuku and admires him and finds himself lacking and so tries to become like him! Ochako--

likes how he tries his best. That he tries so hard he destroys his body.

?????

Who the fuck in this manga ISN'T TRYING THEIR BEST? Who ISN'T willing to get beat up? Fuck, by that logic, Katsuki is the most attractive man in the world when he dies from an open heart wound. You and I BOTH know there has to be more to her attraction than that. But then you try to look into it. Does she think he looks good? Well, she only ever calls him plain. Does she like All Might too? She's never highlighted in such a fashion. Does she like analyzing quirks? She seems a little creeped out by it and then feels insignificant in comparison, and then I guess she gets used to it off-screen. Does she want to work with him in the future? No, she sees her crush as an obstacle to her other dreams in life. Does she feel like he treats her special? Everyone on the planet knows Izuku doesn't know how to treat a person he likes special to save his fucking life, which is WHY KACCHAN HAS TO TELL HIM.

And that's where the insult comes in. Hey girls, why don't you wait until you're adults for the boy you like to realize he should treat you special if he likes you. Not special like on a pedestal, but just like, you know, someone more important to him than the villains he saves all the same. It's insulting to EVERYONE who ships Izuku with ANYONE. And even worse, WE NEVER ACTUALLY GET TO SEE IT. We get to see Izuku asking to hang out with her more. Does Izuku ever explain what he finds attractive about her? Well, he certainly comments on how cute she looks, which, whatever, that's fine, unless it's the ONLY THING HE LIKES ABOUT--

Oh my FUCKING GOD, IZUKU.

You may say he DID profess something else, that he finds her attractive for saving him! Which...no. That's not a scene about romantic attraction. You can't have that scene be about romance or it's all just even worse. It becomes manipulative, because Ochako is suffering in that scene and needs a friend, not a boyfriend. And "saving Izuku" is not something only Ochako has ever done, and it's quite insulting to think that Izuku only ever sees Ochako as the one who saved him and doesn't include the bajillion other people who all have done the same for him. Remember: saving people is NOT a sign of romance for Izuku, because he does it himself for EVERYONE, NO MATTER WHAT.

So all we have is basically that they get along. They get along. WOW. THEY GET ALONG. IZUKU DEFINITELY DOESN'T GET ALONG WITH ANYONE ELSE. HE DEFINITELY DOESN'T ALREADY HAVE THIS SAME RELATIONSHIP WITH 20 OR 40 OTHER PEOPLE.

Look, in real life, it's fine. It's fine in real life for that sort of thing. The problem is, this isn't real life. This is fiction. And in fiction, that shit is boring as fuck. IT'S BORING. IT'S. FUCKING. BORING. AND IF IT WASN'T BORING THEN IT WAS ALL OFF-SCREEN. Horikoshi said he can't write romance and he was right! Except he was also wrong, because he managed to put all the interesting elements that COULD have led to romance in ALL OF IZUKU'S OTHER RELATIONSHIPS AND IN OCHAKO'S RELATIONSHIP WITH HIMIKO. He was clearly too scared to put any complexity or depth into Izuku's and Ochako's relationship because he wanted to put Ochako on a pedestal and imagine an idealized version of himself into Izuku. And it's gross. As a woman with self-respect, I don't want to read that shit, at all.

I understand you don't know who to talk to about this, but I'm honestly flabbergasted you came to me, one of the most openly critical people of the inclusion of those rankings in the first place. They mean nothing. They're honestly a joke. I can't imagine taking the fact that Katsuki is one rank below Izuku as anything serious and offensive because it's so meaningless. The *only* meaning you can ascribe to this situation is that Katsuki's heart truly wasn't in the competition at all until Izuku got back in the game. Now he's getting to do the exact thing he wanted to do so badly he cried openly about it to Izuku in the hospital--he's getting to chase after Izuku again. I can only assume that these rankings would just fluctuate all the time after this point. One of them will always be chasing the other, no matter who is "out in the lead."

And please be wary of using terms like "dehumanized" in reference to fictional characters. These aren't people. They literally are intangible objects. Katsuki literally is a literary tool to be used in a narrative. You're treating this mini-chapter as though it's depicting a static situation that will never change for the rest of their lives. But it's your job as a reader to infer the dynamism into the little details. Plenty of other characters care about Katsuki, and we've been shown that throughout the series. Plenty of fans care about Katsuki, and they have demonstrated that in their fan creations. Horikoshi himself even said in this fanbook that his favorite part of the story to write was the story between Izuku and Katsuki. It's not shocking in that case that he'd focus more of his attention on fleshing out the relationship between them than between Katsuki and anyone else. Nothing about that implies to me that Horikoshi doesn't care about Katsuki.

I wanted to ask if you could help clarify something for me:

I’m not able to understand how Katsuki got injured and died.

Did his heart explode or was he stabbed?

Was the explosion when he flew away and hit the ground caused by Bakugou’s own quirk, or by Shigaraki?

Shigaraki hit him, his heart did not explode.

The idea that his heart exploded in that moment really came from confusion over how it was all drawn in the manga. The impact frame looked like maybe a burst of light, and so people thought perhaps his heart exploded. However, future manga events and the anime itself demonstrate that no explosion occurred. Katsuki was killed by the blow from Shigaraki, and Shigaraki takes active credit for it too. Katsuki's sweat was not yet in his circulatory system, and we also know that because there were no sparks or explosions when Edgeshot went in to fix him up. The first bit of sweat in his circulatory system got there because of his open heart wound and restarted his heart, which Edgeshot takes time to narrate in particular for our benefit.