#chapter 370

for the first time in- a while, maybe, yjh is the one telling the story! really, with the amount of stuff he knows now i wouldnt be surprised if he regained the 'avatar' trait that was exclusive to 1863rd round yjh, which is, i.e. the author trait.

the crux of the problem is that kdj (usually) assumes that he knows yjh: his actions, his thoughts, his motivations. that might have been true three years ago, but there was still bits of him not understanding yjh (see: the start of divorce arc monologue that kdj goes into) but he DOESNT! since coming back, he hasnt even been able to regularly see into yjh's thoughts through his understanding. nonetheless activate 'first person pov' through him - or whatever the level is called.

furthermore: kdj really, REALLY cant comprehend that yjh cares about him, for realsises. he has an inkling of it now that the fourth wall is down, but not really. he hasnt even really seen the midday tryst notifs from the three years at this point but like- he doesnt know/realise that yjh missed him!

kdj knows all these things, these facts about yjh. but he doesnt really know him. not as a person.

370 was, in my opinion, mostly about setting up the future events of the main battle, the BBs essentially just arriving to the scene and telling Asta to go ahead; that they can handle the clones. And that... for some reason the Clover castle needs to be in the skies for Lucius' plan to work (I guess JuLu really just is gonna climb the tree of Qliphoth and punch their celestial parent for missing out on parenting /j). But also just securing that Yuno and Asta as a duo are the only "real" threat to Lucius. Though I have to suspect that there is going to be some kind of a scene stating that they weren't alone, and were only able to do it because of the wonderful people and friends they met along the way.

(But I also gotta laugh at Auggie just chilling in his castle while there the apocalypse happening outside. Do the limits of this man's incompetence know no limits?)

Charlotte deciding that she can't die yet. My romantic heart wants to believe that it's partly because Sukehiro needs to talk to her about something, once the battle is over. But also for the very obvious reason of... the world being about to to end, and her being one of the people that stand in the way of it. Rill might just be able to soon paint his masterpiece.

Then...

MEREO

CLK

FUE

Oh gosh. I love how Tabs went from the pure battle into some lore! He gave an explanation to Mereo's decision to leave the capitol, and it was simply because she didn't think that she'd get to ... grow stronger, in the proper sense of the concept. Because growth exists outside of one's comfort zone, and she would have, most likely, been stronger than anyone she goes up against with just being comfortably at home. There wasn't enough to quench her thirst for ability, for knowledge. Life inside the castle walls just wasn't enough, because there was no challenge.

I can now really imagine how much that battle during The Tuesday of Blood and Fire meant for Mereoleona. It was one of the first, perhaps only, times when someone really, truly, engaged with her into a proper battle. She must've been ecstatic! Such a proud big sister!! And we always knew that she has fire in her heart, and she was going to make something out of herself, but even her, she couldn't quite make it on her own. She needed that push from the people behind her. They might have been weaker than she was, but they gave her the necessary nudge.

Then we have Morris, blabbering about how the most weak preach the most... and then goes to preach about how he was chosen by God. Well... I guess he can't appreciate the irony in it, but I can.

Fue arrives to the scene, when she's on the brink of realizing. After having shown some of his strength, and only to see the dead souls of their squad rise from the flames of hellfire that exists in Mereo's fire! She figures out her ultimate magic! And as she does, she declares that she wasn't waiting for anyone. She's going to charge ahead, with someone or without, because that's the only way to get stronger. To keep pushing the limits!!

Her soul is Fire! And she manifests that forth, into her body and gives body to the fallen souls. "You fools can't just die and think you'll get away with this!! That is not an excuse!" Like damn... what a mentality!

But these people were the ones who were not deterred by her training methods. They were afraid yes. They were aware of their weakness in comparison to her. But that was not an excuse for them to not push their own limits!! Mad respect. And Mereo grins. "This is the true shape of a human soul!" Something that burns with passion and bravery, charges forward and refuses to give in.

Like holy hell (pun intended)

And then she glances back with a mad grin, like something hell itself spat out.

I wouldn't be surprised if she becomes... like a fire spirit after this? I mean... Salamander is The Great Spirit of Fire, but he has a physical form. And Mereo is doing something similar, though at least between the Spare and Final arc, it seemed like she was able to still retain her body -body. I wonder if, but I also doubt, that it would be the same after the final arc. It might be that she'll become permanently a spirit. But... I honestly can't blame. Because that is not her death, even if it comes to that. It's her becoming.

If I wasn't afraid of Mereo before, I sure as damn am now (in a positive way)

That's my girl!

Hell yeah!

The flashback at the beginning isn't Spinner's; It's Shoji's.

To my understanding, the words thrown have religious/Shinto connotations: kegare 穢れ - with that specific kanji 穢 - means defilement, and imi 忌み is taboo/something to avoid. I think Heteromorphs aren't just discriminated against; they're seen as dirty/impure and abominations.

The 'blood' talk is especially unnerving.

"I can't believe you have tainted blood...You people tricked us!" So is this idea of deception.

The countryside sucks ass, apparently.

Quirk counseling doesn't work, probably because they don't actually teach acceptance, but instead are intended to assimilate children into strict societal norms and standards.

Both the PLF speech guy and Shoji have large visible scars on their faces, presumably from being assaulted violently.

Shoji only looks several years younger in his flashback - the assaults and hatred, they all probably happened in the past five years. Definitely not a thing of the past.

Gran Torino notes that Hero agencies pop up in places with dense populations. Countrysides probably have little to no Heroes. "The light does not shine on us" indeed.

Also: throwing rocks and hate speech doesn't require use of quirks. These bigots won't be classified as Villains. Heroes won't be after them.

The Heteromorphs who fight back using their body-which-are-their-quirk can definitely be classified as Villains tho.

Most of the manga have taken place in city areas; nearly all the history lessons we ever got about quirks and HeroAca World in the manga are from the villains - Heroes just don't seem to talk about history; Spinner was a hikikomori and Shoji was told not to leave his house; (this is from Vigilantes but) infrastructure don't accommodate for all body shapes/sizes/needs - this heteromorph stuff exploded because it was hidden and held back, out of sight, and just not dealt with for so long. No wonder there's so much rage.

.

I've been rambling meta about heteromorph discrimination since 2019, even before My Villain Academia. So none of this was out of no where - the information was there in the manga, all one needed to do was look carefully and think. Everything could be extrapolated.

Yeah lol ia. I think it makes sense thematically but emotionally it feels bizarre. We just spent 200 chapters on the fix Casca quest, often emphasizing Guts' personal growth as a result of that quest, often teasing Guts and Casca romantically (the family moment on the beach, the dress, roderick asking who casca is to him and the reader not getting to see his answer, guts' protector of the branded girl shit, etc etc), so to completely ignore that in favour of Guts moping over his sword feels like either awkward writing, or a deliberate bait and switch to me, and possibly both.

You were all I had...