#hrnotes

My BNHA story, TBE, is currently on hold. However, I am planning on releasing a Heroes:Rising oneshot on FanFiction.net with my OC incorporated in it.

It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve last seen the movie but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it so I’m going to write a series of notes + reviews on Tumblr, as well as an eventual oneshot (story acronym will be T:B). 

[MAJOR SPOILERS—this post will spoil the entire movie!]

I don’t ship BakuDeku in BNHA (or any other pair except KamiJiro) but Heroes:Rising will definitely be a treat for those who do and for those like me who simply love their rivalry.

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[Climax Transcript] (note: I’ve never learned Japanese so the translations may not be 100% accurate).

B: Bakugo, D: Deku, YB: Younger Bakugo, YD: Younger Deku, N: Nine

B: “This will be the end of your dreams.” D: “That’s fine. There’s no other choice. And even if it’s All Might, he would say that it’s okay [to pass down One for All] if it’s you. ...If it’s you, who shared the secret with me... if it’s you who’s always admired the same person as me... if it’s you—”

YB: “All Might really is cool!” YD: “He’s a really... cool hero!”

YB: “No matter how bad of a pinch, in the end he always—” B: “—I will win!” YD: “No matter how many people are in need of help... with a smile—” D: “I will save!”

N: “Don’t make me laugh!” D: “Detroit... smash!” N: “What... what is that power?! Don’t stand in my path!” D: “Let’s go, Kacchan!” B: “Huh? Don’t order me around!”

[Fight continues]

D: “This will be my final... my final... SMASH!”

D: Goodbye... One for All... thank you.

This is pretty bare-boned considering the sakuga, pacing, and soundtrack makes these lines quite epic, but I really wanted to break down the first few lines as well as Deku’s last inner monologue.

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‘Deku’ and ‘Kacchan’: There’s been a lot of rumours on Twitter/Tumblr on what Bakugo says to Deku with some of it blown way out of proportion or just simply untrue (though I have heard that the novelization of the script may be more BakuDeku heavy. I do have the book with me but there’s no furigana, so I unfortunately can’t translate it).

But the first line that Bakugo says, “This will be the end of your dreams” really got to me in the theatre. I may be self-projecting, but I think it’s a line that’s both accurately culminated their relationship thus far as well as an acknowledgement of Deku by Bakugo.

I absolutely love the latter simply because he’s one of the most consistently-written characters I’ve seen in anime who’s not just a mindless, senseless jerk, which makes his growth very organic and fun to watch.

What’s significant about that line is that if he really doesn’t care about Deku (and objectively speaking, there really hasn’t been a lot of moments in the canon where he’s shown to care for Deku’s wellbeing—only a gritty rivalry), he wouldn’t care about the fact that he got One for All.

I’m not quite sure if Bakugo’s ever expressed his desire to get One for All, but I’d argue that he wouldn’t want it because he wants to surpass All Might, which is something that the non-canon character, Tokuda Taneo, also echoed in the recap episode of Season Four. Basically, Bakugo is the type of person to say ‘I don’t need your stupid power because I’m going to be the best hero with my strength alone’. The voice actors of Midoriya and Bakugo have also noted that their fight at the end of Season Three was due to a series of ‘why’ questions from Bakugo: why was I the one who ended All Might? Why am I now chasing the back of someone who was always behind me? Was the way that I admired All Might wrong? (I will be writing a separate note on this episode in the future).

But what changed with the line “This will be the end of your dreams” is that there’s a lot of hidden nuance behind it. This is solely my opinion, but in the movie it felt like Bakugo was (1) acknowledging Deku as his rival, (2) feeling sorry that his dream has ended in this manner, (3) pitying him instead of absolute loathing, like he usually does.

The reason why I believe this to be true is because the first half of the movie opens up a lot with Bakugo watching Deku and really seeing what he’s like as a person who aims to ‘save to win’. He eavesdrops on a conversation between Deku and Katsuma (the little boy), a scene that does a really good job portraying the type of person that the hero Deku is. He’s empathetic, patient, understanding, and kind to someone that Bakugo can get irritated by, and this impatience is almost fatal later when Bakugo almost hangs up on Mahoro when the villains attack, thinking it’s another prank. Basically, the first part of the movie does a good job showing both the audience and Bakugo what sort of person Deku really is.

That line is basically saying ‘I may not like you, but I’ve seen you grow up next to me. I know how much you wanted this and how hard you’ve worked for it—that’s why you’re my rival, no matter how much I despise you. But this isn’t how I want to see your dream end.’

There’s no love lost between the two but just that one line made me positive that Bakugo was fully willing to work with Deku (something he’s either always refused to do or has done so extremely begrudgingly) not simply because Nine was too powerful, but because the entire premise of the movie and Deku’s decision to end his dream just to save Katsuma has once again shown that his once Quirkless, crybaby of a childhood friend really is a hero that he must acknowledge as well.

He knows this wasn’t an easy decision to make and one done out of pure desperation, but the interesting thing is that he asks this question after the power has already been transferred.

As if to ask, ‘Do you really think I can have this, even if it means that your dream will end?’

More surprising to me was how quickly and affirmatively Deku is willing to pass OfA to him. Over the series, he’s said multiple times of how unlikeable Bakugo can be, but he was the person who he respected the most growing up, because Bakugo was someone great that was always near him, unlike All Might.

“If it’s you, I trust that you’ll be able to recognize both our dreams.”

Deku doesn’t even give Bakugo a chance to hesitate, quickly listing out all the reasons why he was willing to hand down One for All—and his dream—to his childhood friend.

I don’t think the movie showed a lot of new sides for Deku, but that one line from Bakugo really made me feel that he cared for his childhood friend in an unexpected or different way than other typical shonen rivalries. It’s different from Kageyama/Hinata’s in Haikyuu!!, or the brother-like relationship between Sasuke and Naruto, or the one between Asta and Yuno in Black Clover, where both sides acknowledge their strengths even if others don’t.

Deku has fought so hard for so long, chasing something impossible despite all odds and actually gained the opportunity to realize his dreams. He’s gone through every roadblock, none of which were easy or handed to him, and deep down, I think Bakugo’s always acknowledged this. But I think it’s only from this fight that can really see that he needs Deku.

All Might told them that they will become the greatest heroes if they can both win to save, and save to win. I’m not sure about Deku, but the ‘save to win’ part probably never registered in Bakugo until he began to see Midoriya as a true rival.

But now, with this seemingly endless fight, Bakugo is about to witness his other half—as a friend, a rival, and as heroes—take his final stand. But unlike Kamino, he can fight with the person that he respects this time, rather than just watching from afar like he had to with All Might.

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Heroes:Rising was emotional for me for many different reasons, but this line really got to me (although I will once again say that I may just be projecting my own feelings). The rivalry between Midoriya and Bakugo has always been filled with so much conflicting feelings such as envy, pride, antipathy, fear, admiration, and rejection (All Might, chapter 63), but this fight felt like those emotions could now culminate into one of pity, acknowledgement, rivalry, trust, equals, and acceptance. Which made the fight even more bittersweet for me.

Thanks for reading this stupidly long post—it’s been on my mind for days now and I just had to spit it out somewhere. I don’t know if I could even call them ‘friends’, but I really love watching their relationship grow in unexpected ways.

Haven’t really had the time to write any more notes on Heroes:Rising, but I’ve written quite a bit since then. Here are some quick snapshots of what’s to come! (Note: some titles will be acronym’ed so not to spoil them!)

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Romance Dawn (One Piece): quick hiatus (you can read the latest chapter here) -Just a really hard chapter to write emotionally and it’s a turning point in the story/arc so I want to make sure it’s as accurate as possible -There’s like 8 different ways to portray how Falco’s feeling right now but I’m not sure which one would be the best for her -Amare was a great buffer to start conversations between Ace and Falco, but now that she’s gone, it’s hard to write about them :(

TBE (BNHA): no releases scheduled for now, title subject to change -Still in the process of figuring out how I’m going to write this. Hit 170k words (!!) this week and yet I still can’t figure out how to solve one major problem involving a group of OCs. -The OC count is huge (25-26 so far) and while I know exactly what to do with 14-15 of them, there are 11 that I’m not sure how to implement. The manga looks like it’s about to hit a HUGE arc and Hawks is a critical character to TBE, so depending on his fate in these next few chapters, the direction of TBE and these characters may change drastically.

T:B (BNHA Movie Heroes:Rising AU): tentatively scheduled to be released before Feb. 26(?) -“There is a might in you.” -I’ve been DYING to write this AU ever since I went to Japan to watch the movie but it spoils so much about TBE that I’m not sure if it’s a good idea. I still do want to release it before the official release in U.S/Canada though (Feb. 26) -A final stand on an island with no heroes. Three students and one goal. An irreplaceable bond formed by bravery and courage rather than from love and acceptance. -Bakugo/Deku/Kana-centric, I want this to be a very touching story but it’s honestly so hard to do because the movie was perfect and I don’t want to change anything, not to mention it’s hard to write flashy fights when there’s no sakuga/soundtracks in writing -“Don’t let go. Keep going. Even without me, you have to keep going. I’m sorry—but don’t you dare say you’re sorry. Keep going—you have to. Even without me, you have to keep going.” -“You’re the reason why I could keep fighting. The bad and the good... the joy and the sorrows... every moment with you was as radiant as you are.”

Mightless (BNHA AU): no releases scheduled for now -What if All Might wasn’t able to keep his promise to Inko and watched Deku’s path getting marred by blood? What if Izuku becomes disillusioned to the hero world as he sees more and more people around him get seriously hurt or die? -This is quite an angsty AU set in the near future where both Deku and Kana somehow die, and All Might gets an opportunity to go back in time to never give Izuku One for All and ‘fix’ everything by using a time-travelling Quirk. -“You can fix this, you know. Ask me to turn back time.”

V is for Vantablack (BNHA Villain!Deku, Villain!Kana AU, Sequel to Mightless): scheduled to be released after Mightless -“You cannot become a hero.” -Words that are a death sentence to Izuku, words of salvation to Kana -A Villain!Deku AU where Deku goes missing and attempts suicide, going into a coma. His mother, Midoriya Inko, successfully commits suicide after being struck by grief and remorse after what’s happened to her son. Kana meets him by chance and the two seek to get revenge on the hero society that has rejected one and taken the other as hostage.

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These are some backstories (rather than AU’s) that are directly related to TBE and will likely be incorporated into the story or as a quick standalone. I can’t reveal anything about them but I do have a general idea of when they’ll get released.

-BW: this is probably the hardest one to schedule despite being the most important backstory for TBE. Though the contents of BW probably won’t change that much, where I’ll place it will be very dependent on the current arc (Chapter 258 as of writing this note) as well as a certain character’s fate. -ABBM: to be scheduled somewhere after the Shie Hassaikai arc (maybe before/during the cultural festival arc)

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And finally, some others that haven’t quite been fleshed out, but they’re definitely divergent from TBE and will likely be their own oneshots.

-Spirits of the Sea: Todoroki/Kana AU oneshot -V is for Vantablack: Midoriya/Kana AU that I mentioned above -Untitled: Bakugo/Kana AU oneshot

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So yeah! What was supposed to be a quick, fun, lighthearted story based off of BNHA ended up being my biggest project with a story that already has 170k words, over 20 OCs, and possibly seven different AU’s :)