#chapter 042

Todoroki Shōto ‘(Midoriya (read: aitsu) to tatakau made “kangaeru” nante… Kangae moshi Nakatta … Okāsan … Ore Wa … )’ 轟焦凍「（緑谷（あいつ）と戦うまで〝考える〟なんて…考えもしなかった…お母さん…俺は…）」 Todoroki Shōto “(Until I fought Midoriya (read: that guy) ‘thinking’ at it... I never even considered it... Mother... I...)”

Bakugō Katsuki ‘! A? Are! ? Nande temeE ga koko ni… hikaeshitsu…… a… koko 2 no hō ka, KUSO ga! Heya machigaeta no wa ore dakedo yo… kesshō aite ni sono taido wa OIOIOI… doko mitenda yo hanbun yarō ga!!’ 爆豪勝己「！あ？あれ！？何でてめェがここに…控え室……あ…ここ2の方か、クソが！部屋間違えたのは俺だけどよ…決勝相手にその態度はオイオイオイ…どこ見てんだよ半分野郎が！！」 Bakugō Katsuki “! Huh? What?! Why are you here...the waiting room...Ah...this is room 2, damn it! I admit I got the room wrong...but that attitude towards your final opponent, hey hey hey...where are you even looking at, you half-and-half bastard?!”

Todoroki Shōto ‘Sore... Midoriya ni mo iwareta na. Aitsu, muchakucha yatte chihito (read: hito) ga kakae teta mon BUKkowashite kiya gatta. Osananajimi nandattena, mukashi kara annana no ka? Midoriya wa..’ 轟焦凍「それ…緑谷にも言われたな。あいつ、無茶苦茶やって地人（ひと）が抱えてたもんブッ壊してきやがった。幼馴染なんだってな、昔からあんななのか？緑谷は…」 Todoroki Shōto “That... Midoriya said the same thing. That guy, he went all out and destroyed everything I had been carrying on. I heard you're childhood friends/you know each other from childhood, has he always been like that? Midoriya...”

Bakugō Katsuki ‘Anna KUSO NERD… Dō demo inda yo! ! UDAUDA to dō demo inda yo…temeE no ie jijō mo kimochi mo…! Dō demo īkara ore ni mo tsukatte koi ya honō (read: sotchi)-gawa! Soitsu o ue kara nejifusete yaru!!’ 爆豪勝己「あんなクソナード…どうでもいんだよ！！ウダウダとどうでもいんだよ…てめェの家事情も気持ちも…！どうでもいいから俺にも使ってこいや炎（そっち）側！そいつを上から捩じ伏せてやる！！」 Bakugō Katsuki “That shitty nerd... I don't care! I don't care about all your whining... I don't care about your family situation or your feelings...! I don't care, so use your flames (read: that) side on me! I'll crush it from above!”

PRESENT MIC ‘SaA iyoiyo LAST! ! U.A. 1-nen no chōten ga koko de kimaru! ! Kesshōsen Todoroki tai Bakugō!!! Ima!! START!!!!’ プレゼントマイク「さァいよいよラスト！！雄英1年の頂点がここで決まる！！決勝戦轟対爆豪！！！今！！スタート！！！！」 Present Mic “And now, finally, the last match!! The top U.A. first-year will be decided here!! The final match: Todoroki vs. Bakugō!!! Now!! Start!!!!”

Bakugō Katsuki ‘(Son de, ore ga TOP da! !)’ 爆豪勝己「（そんで、俺がトップだ！！）」 Bakugō Katsuki “Then I'll be the top!!”

Observation notes:

We have Shōto in basically three scenes.

The first is when he exchange a look with Bakugō after the latter won his match. The visual is interesting because Shōto is positioned above him, so it looks as if he is looking down at him, which is likely how Bakugō see the whole thing. Shōto is the obstacle he has to surpass to get to the top, the mountain he has to climb.

Bakugō has been feeling inferior to Shōto from the battle trial arc and has hated how, through the whole sport festival, Shōto only seemed to see Midoriya as a possible worthy adversary, completely ignoring him so he was probably looking forward to this match.

In the second scene Shōto and Bakugō meet by mistake before the match because Bakugō enters in the wrong room. Shōto was lost in his thoughts which were circling about how the match with Midoriya caused him to change his perspective and Bakugō feels ignored again because he believes Shōto judges him inferior, which angers him.

It is interesting how, in a way Bakugō is basically mirroring Enji with All Might, down to how he will win the match but not in the way he wanted (Enji will become Number 1 not because he surpassed All Might but because the latter retired).

Bakugō’s attempt at getting a reaction from Shōto only reveal the latter was still thinking at Midoriya, at what he did for him. Shōto was impressed and would like to know more about Midoriya from Bakugō, as he had heard the two go a long way back.

However it is the wrong thing to say to Bakugō, who is also plagued by an inferiority complex toward Midoriya due to the times in which Midoriya tried to help him.

Bakugō gets even more angry at both Midoriya and Shōto and tried to dismiss Midoriya as well as Shōto’s problems, challenging him to come at him with his fire.

Even if he asks him the same thing Midoriya asked him, this time it is clear Bakugō, differently from Midoriya, is not doing it to help Shōto but to show he is better.

I guess in Horikoshi’s plan this is why he can’t push him to use his flames the way Midoriya instead did.

Cultural notes:

Honne (本音 “true sound”): it refers to a person’s true feelings and desires. Japanese people go to great length to hide them.

Tatemae (建前 “built in front”, “façade”): it refers to the behavior and opinions one displays in public. Generally they should be as such that they will allow the person who display them to avoid the disapproval of others, to avoid direct confrontation or disagreement.

Giri (義理 “duty”, “obligation”): it refers to the social obligations each person have, among which to hide their true feelings and show an appropriate façade that will allow them to keep harmony with the rest of society.

Osananajimi (幼馴染): this word is generally translated as “childhood friends” but it literally means “known well from infancy”, with ‘osana’ (幼) meaning “childhood/infancy” and ‘najimi’ (馴染) meaning “familiar/intimate”. It is a word used to refer to people who, as small children, knew each other, lived next door or in the same neighborhood and/or had close family ties since childhood and/or attended the same school and class. This is relevant because children openly expressed their own feelings. the honne mentioned above, as they hadn’t built a tatemae yet and so, due to this, people who know each other from childhood, are believed to have a profound understanding of each other's personalities, secrets, and habits, both good and bad and therefore to have a close and deep bond, one that allows them to continue to express their honne to each other openly. As in Japan you don’t get many people to whom you can express your honne freely, it is believed this kind of relationship has to be treasured and it doesn’t help tales and turned them into a trope, that often ends up in making them romantic partners. So yeah, since Midoriya and Bakugō had known each other from childhood and attended to the same class from preschool, the word ‘osananajimi’ fits them even though they are all but friends. The idea they should ALSO be friends due to this though is a social expectation made worse by other Japanese social dynamics. That is why everyone, Shōto included, use ‘osananajimi’ for Midoriya and Bakugō.

Translation notes:

Bakugō, to talk with Shōto, keeps on using ‘temē’ (てめえ), the very rude way to say “you” used usually when the speaker is very angry and that’s often translated as “you, son of a bitch”. Actually he uses it with the last letter written in katakana for emphasis. Using ‘temē’ though is pretty standard for Bakugō, so it is not something he is doing specifically against Shōto, which is also why translators fo not bother translating it as something different than just “you”.

Like he had done in chap 24 Bakugō calls Shōto ‘hanbun yarō’ (半分野郎 lit. “half guy/half bastard”). ‘Hanbun’ (半分 “half”) is likely a reference to Shōto’s Quirk while ‘yarō’ (野郎 “guy/bastard”) is a more nuanced word. It litterally means “son of the field” as to imply he is a “rustic person” and can be used to say “guy/ fellow/chap/buddy” however if you aren’t familiar with that person, it comes out as rude so it’s often translated as “bastard”. Bakugō has already used a derogatory name for Shōto that was based on his Quirk, ‘Kōri no yatsu’ (氷の奴 “ice bastard”) in chap 11, and now we can see he has officially switched to this, which he will keep on using through most of the manga.

English version notes:

The English version translates ‘hanbun yarō’ (半分野郎 lit. “half guy/half bastard”) as “two face” which... is a weird choice as the reference to Shōto’s Quirk Quirk ‘Hanrei Hannen’ (半冷半燃 lit. “Half-Cold Half-Hot”) to focus on his physical look.

Episode 24 - Fight on, Īda (飯田くんファイト Īda-kun FIGHT)

Added parts notes:

There is not much to say for this tiny bit in this episode, the only thing added is the image of Shōto and Bakugō announcing their fight.

Episode 25 - Todoroki vs. Bakugō (轟VS爆豪, Todoroki VERSUS Bakugō)

The episode includes this chapter as well as the next, so, in order to smoother things and not repeat them twice it mixes them a little. This means some scenes we see were actually in the following chapter but were placed before some scenes that are in this chapter therefore I will count them as changed (as they changed the position in which they were presented) instead than added.

Added parts notes:

The anime adds shots of Shōto’s left hand, shows the flashback about Midoriya and expands the flashbacks about Rei.

The anime adds an  “(I wonder when it started... )” to Shōto’s words.

Todoroki Shōto ‘(Itsukara daro... Midoriya to tatakau made “kangaeru” nante koto… Kangae moshi Nakatta … Okāsan … Ore Wa … )’ 轟焦凍「（いつからだろ…いつからだろ…緑谷と戦うまで〝考える〟なんてこと…考えもしなかった…お母さん…俺は…）」 Todoroki Shōto  “(I wonder when it started... Until I fought Midoriya ‘thinking’ about that thing... I never even considered it... Mother... I...)”

The anime adds a flashback to when Midoriya told Bakugō he looked like he needed saving.

The anime adds Shōto looking at Bakugō as he leaves and then looking down.

The anime adds Bakugō’s intention to crush Shōto before he says he will be at the top..

Bakugō Katsuki ‘(Hanbun yarō o kanpunakimade ni tataki tsubushite, son de, ore ga TOP da!!)’ 爆豪勝己「（半分野郎を完膚なきまでに叩き潰して、そんで、俺がトップだ！！）」 Bakugō Katsuki “I'll utterly crush that half-bastard, and then I'll be the top!!”

The anime adds a visual of the screen announcing the fight between Bakugō and Shōto.

Again Present Mic adds how Bakugō and Shōto are from the Hero course.

The anime adds the image of All Might before showing Enji so that the two seem to contrast each other. Actually this had sense in the match between Shōto and Midoriya but not so much here as it is not like All Might is taking a side.

Changed parts notes:

The anime changes Bakugō’s words so, instead of “your flames (read: that) side” he uses “the flames of your left”... which makes sense as the manga could use kanji and then give them a different reading but the anime do not have this possibility.

Bakugō Katsuki ‘Dō demo īkara ore ni mo tsukatte koi ya hidari no honō! Soitsu o ue kara nejifusete yaru!!’ 爆豪勝己「どうでもいいから俺にも使ってこいや左の炎！」 Bakugō Katsuki “I don't care, so use the flames of your left on me!”

The scene in which Bakugō says he will become the top is moved to when Bakugō leaves Shōto, while in the manga it took place when the two were facing each other in the arena.

A couple of scenes showing buildings with screens depicting how the battle between Bakugō and Shōto is about to start were actually in the following chapter.

Deleted parts notes: