#bakugo analysis

I am devastated because of the leaks

Because of Katsuki.

His journey throughout the story consisted about taking accountability for his mistakes: the bullying he did.

And oh, he did learn. He did take accountability.

From win to save, he learned to save to win. He helped Izuku train OFA. Got impaled and saved Izukus life.

Then, he apologized without expecting an answer, because he meant it. Katsuki understood that Izuku didn’t have to respond. (Seriously, what would he say? Thank you for taking accountability for making myself miserable during highschool?) Izuku left that past behind ever since he took the “Deku is worth nothing” and rephrased it to: the Deku who can do his best. What I most like about his apology, is that Deku didn’t answer, and Bakugo didn’t demand nor expected one, because it wasn’t necessary. It was Bakugo’s thing to do.

Then, Katsuki died while thinking about him, because Izuku went from the kid he pushed away, to a man he admired:

Fighting through the pain: this is the path you have been walking all this time.

I have to win, right, Izuku?

Can I still catch up to you?

Then, he got another chance at life. He promised that he would never get in between his way, recalling the times he used to bully him.

Here is what makes me weak for him. The way he never forgived himself for what he did. Katsuki was linked to Izuku forever with that way of thinking and acting: although he apologized and walked forward, he never forgot what he did. And he atoned and atoned and atoned. Which isn’t bad. Don’t get me wrong.

But everyone has to move on: he apologized. got impaled for him. And then, much later, built Izuku a suit. HE, of all people, the one who used to bully Deku for being quirkless, gave him his dream BACK.

That’s another fact that makes me weak. Because Bakugo’s heart changed: he believed quirkless people were losers. He bullied. Now, he understands his mistakes and has tried to atone for so, so long. He is not the same and will never do that again.

(What about his foul mouth? You could ask. Man. That is literally a façade. Or that’s how I interpret it. Bark don’t bite. Bro is a dumbass, but is not a bad person.)

All this leads me to the dream he made for himself and Izuku in it: to compete forever. He never cut the link to Izuku. Never got over him. Never stopped atoning.

To sum up: it hurts me that after so much atoning for Izuku, he never atoned for himself. He just got attached to him, revolved his life to Izuku.

Izuku did move on: life makes you walk different paths. He found something in teaching that, clearly, topped off his desire to compete with his childhood friend. He moved on. Remember: 8 years have gone by. Izuku moved on from OFA but Katsuki DIDN’T!

And that’s why his ending hurts. Because he never let go. And that makes me so, so, so sad.

In twitter some say it’s karma. Deku doesn’t have to stick to him for his entire life and I agree: I am happy for Izuku and the path he forged to walk. A new dream. A new person. Not the 17 year old he was.

But Katsuki never let go of the dream he built at 17 and always knew that he would ensure Izukus his dream back. (While Izuku didnt know it would happen so he moved forward…)

Izuku is noble and wants to keep teaching, he has kids to motivate and yada yada. It’s amazing how he has evolved as a character and as an adult. His dream isn’t the same as Katsuki’s anymore. Not the same 17 year olds wanting to compete for the rest of their lifes.

And now, cut to the present. Izuku rejects Katsuki because his dream has changed.

I do believe Izuku recognized Bakugo’s efforts. He has said he is welcome and appreciates the suit!!!! He is happy to be able to fight alongside class 1A!!! this dialogue seems to be forgotten somehow!! My point is: their goals are different now. Izuku moved away from OFA once he lost it / Bakugo never forgot it and kept fighting for it building a suit, that Izuku is thankful for! But seems like competing w his childhoodfriend isnt his main goal anymore

And this change didnt happen quickly because there has been a timeskip! Of 8 years!

However, readers believe it was rushed because all that introspection was cut. I don’t blame you, in fact, I agree with you all. An elypsis wasn’t the right choice to make, but how could have Horikoshi finished the manga!? He cant keep drawing forever! This mangaka was suffering the last year, taking a lot of breaks because his health was in shambles. Therefore, a timeskip it was. But maybe not the best choice to the story, I guess.

But stories sometime need to be concluded. Cant keep holding on for them forever. You can blame it on writing decisions. Anyway, let’s get back to the main point.

The ending hurts from Katsuki’s perspective because he got rejected, because he never let Izuku go. And now, he has a chance to. To develop himself as a man separate of Izuku.

As a shipper it hurts like hell, but man. Katsuki did love him. Take it as romantic or platonic i dont care. But Katsuki cared. A lot. Izuku, I am sure that too. But rejecting the offer doesn’t mean he hates him or is a bad person: he never asked for that suit, he reshaped his dream.

And I repeat. The truth hurts. Reality hurts. And still, this ending was… truly realistic, from their point of view. In that manner, it satisfies me. But on the other hand, as a fan, as a shipper, a fanfiction writer, the ending hurts and I will cope with fan content on my behalf.

The ending wasn’t ass. It was realistic. That’s my take.

Izuku.

See, Bakugo is taught that people without Quirks are less than. Yet this little boy is brave and saves people despite not possessing one.

This makes Bakugo get angry because he contradicts what he's been taught, yet deep down he admires him for it.

In his mind he feels like he has to remind Izuku of his place. "I'm just helping you, maybe you got lost, this is where you're supposed to be. That's what I learned."

Izuku never stayed in that place, he always hoped for more. And when someone is brainwashed, it really ticks them off if someone breaks the mold they learned.

And when Izuku actually had the guts to stand up to him, it was past just the hopefulness. It probably scared him a little. "That's not what you're supposed to do!"

When you're brainwashed, something contradicting what you've been taught can be scary. Because then it makes you question what's really true.

I feel like the icing on the cake was the Hero versus Villains lesson.

First, the one who he thought was weaker than him stood a chance against him and WON.

This contradicts that people without Quirks are weak, especially considering Izuku had one now.

So in his mind, he probably thought he was tricking him. And if anything, mentally reassured him and disappointed him.

Assurance because, "Okay, now you're not contradicting what I've been taught."

But deep down, "I admired you because you didn't have a Quirk and did what you did, but you have one you've been hiding the whole time?"

Then also because of his superiority complex, "How dare you think you can trick me? You think you're better than me?"

But all this time something else has been building, and it cements itself in his brain when he sees Shoto's skill.

Bakugo gets a reality check when he sees that someone is stronger than him. And it scares him.

It's the start of his inferiority complex.

So now he starts to feel inferior, and tries to find ways to still prove to himself that he's the best.

The Sports Fest was about proving to himself that he was still good enough, not everyone else.

But when his win wasn't because he actually won, but because Shoto fell unconscious... He wasn't assured. If anything, it made his inferiority complex worse.

Then comes his internship. He was chosen because Best Jeanist wanted his personality to be corrected, his appearance.

Usually people fawned over his Quirk, but B.J. kind of brushed it aside.

"Yeah, you're Quirk's good. You know how to use it, but your personality sucks."

And this made him defensive, cause time and time again he'd been getting comments about his personality. And this is another contradiction, because he'd been raised this way. This is his normal. But there are people telling him it was wrong. Which makes him question things.

He also gets upset because he felt like he didn't learn anything to help his Quirk grow...

Not even realizing how much this would help him later. Which is why Jeanist became special to him after, too.

But back to that later.

Exams.

That also made his inferiority complex worse. It wasn't an easy win and he had to count on Izuku of all people.

This made him feel inferior to even him.

He was relentless and didn't want to give up because he didn't want to let himself down and feel like he's less than.

But he fell unconscious and needed Izuku to help him win.

I feel like because of that, he didn't want to be seen by anybody. So he avoided the class shopping trip.

Then I Island happened, again, he felt like he got to prove himself a little.

And after, camp.

The kidnapping.

Which was a lot more traumatizing to him than he let on.

His inferiority complex really hit him in the chest when he was the only one who got kidnapped. (After people already recognized him everywhere for the Sludge Villain incident where he was helpless ((which was also more traumatizing than he let on)).)

The only one people thought would go to the villain side.

And All Might stepping down from number one after saving him.

He was probably already beginning to blame himself, but what cemented the feeling, I think, was his mother's words.

"It's your fault. All this trouble is your fault."

Because that's what he says to Izuku when he confesses how he feels.

"It's my fault."

He sits in the blame he feels like everyone has on him.

Then once it's confirmed that Izuku gained the Quirk from All Might, his admiration is back.

And slowly, in this time, he realizes what Best Jeanist's point was.

Not everything is about Quirks, he needs to work on who he is.

So he starts working on his personality slowly outside the spotlight in season 4 (anime). Then it shows in Season 5 (anime) when he works with his team much better than before.

Season 6 (anime) he finally apologized to Izuku, which he had to grow past his pride to do.

And as time went by throughout the series, he desired to be Izuku's friend, like it should have been. He just had to learn to jump over the wall society put around the two of them. To learn that it was okay to be friends with someone Quirkless. To learn that there was more to people than their Quirks to define them and what they'll do.

He had to break from the mold.

And Izuku was a piece of that puzzle, as well as Eijiro, who opened him up to feeling equal with other people. Having people he could feel equal to. Having those he could appreciate even if they weren't at his level in terms of power. Someone real, who wasn't only his friend because of his Quirk. But really wanted to get to know HIM.

He's continuing to grow.

Just jumping in to save someone without thought? And Izuku at that? He wouldn't have done that months back.

If you think about it, his development has been the most teenager like.

But I think his pattern of development was different and made sense. He needed to learn how to focus on himself more than growing his already powerful Quirk because it was all that mattered to him.

And needed to learn how to love himself genuinely and love others.

Everyone else majorly needs to develop their Quirks, so outside of it being society's focus, that's where they need to grow the most.

Katsuki, on the other hand, is strong in what he can do with his Quirk. Just...not his identity outside of what he was told and molded to.

And how much he's grown so quickly shows that he probably already had a desire to, but didn't realize.

And even though he's fictional, as someone who loves to see people real or not grow...

I'm SO proud of him.