#jeany

First off, I want to apologize. In my review of the first episode of Dog Signal, I said that Singe is a mini poodle. He’s not; he’s actually a Toy Poodle. So, I’ll be using Toy Poodle when talking about Singe’s breed going forth.

Most important thing first: Mic name-calls “Jeany” after Best Jeanist interrupts him and insults the UA teachers, saying the citizens find it hard to hear the truth from schoolteachers. Excuse me, PRESENT FUCKING MIC IS A PRO HERO WHO FOUGHT IN THE WAR AND ARRESTED THE DOCTOR. Ultimately, Jeany is trying to take responsibility, which is good, but the way he does it is insulting. Is that really how the Top 3 feel about the UA teachers? (This started out shitpost-y, but I think it does actually matter….)

On to Nezu, who, despite all his well-repressed rage, is still just a rat principal building a cage. He’s created an elaborate mecha-vault-campus to capture save humans and transport them around the country like Willy Wonka’s great glass elevator. Nezu says he did this on intuition, yet that can’t be the full story because his High Specs quirk gives him great insight into possible strategies the villains will use. In fact, the last time we saw his quirk in action, he was trapping 2 students in a maze, gradually blocking off all paths to the exit. Oh, and who else in BnHA is seemingly able to predict their opponent’s strategies and enjoys doing so? I’m not saying Nezu is “The UA Traitor,” particularly given his speech at the end of the chapter, but I AM saying there are parallels.

In particular, Nezu seems to do a lot of work related to quirk morality, while AFO refers to morals as mere fabrications.

Sticking with Nezu and jumping to the end of the chapter…this isn’t the first time he’s made a grand speech about UA students and the future. After DvK2, while Izuku and Katsuki are under house arrest, Nezu speaks to the school about All Might’s retirement and says how all of the students will “inherit this society.” The word “inherit” makes All Might think about his successor, and how Nezu reached out to him when he was searching in earnest (ie, when Nezu and Nighteye had Mirio picked out). Nezu’s “one step” language also ties back to an All Might monologue from the remedial course days — when Shoto, Katsuki, and the Shiketsu kids worked together to win tiny hearts AND All Might and Endeavor had their first real talk, leading Endeavor to reach out to Shoto.

Speaking of the remedial class moving forward, the Katsuki/Shoto “we are not friends” mutual side eye at the mention of Shiketsu is A Moment. Will the remedial foursome be trapped in an underground classroom!??!?

I think it’s clear that the heroes — pros, teachers, students — need to work together as one to win over “the citizens”. The heroes also need their supporters (hello kid in an All Might shirt!), parents (omg, Mitsuki holding Inko back from recklessly running into the crowd like the Midoriya she is!), friends, and rescued victims to take those steps to come forward. Izuku is moving forward for them, and they need to move forward for him.

I’m not convinced that Nezu’s “ultimate hero” is Izuku; it could be Katsuki, Ochako, Shoto, Mirio (hello underground permeation!), Shigaraki, Class 1A, or the entire “new generation”, judging by his “inherit” comment. Izuku is All Might’s chosen one to inherit OFA, but Izuku is NOT the only one inheriting society’s future. Special, but also not. (More on that later!)

Final bit on the mecha-school…I don’t think anything good in this series has come from being “underground”. I think we’ve already established that “underground” is neither safe nor invincible. Underground Yakuza compound. Underground prison. Underground hero (sorry Aizawa!!) Even when talking about the “ultimate hero,” Nezu speaks in terms of rising.

The text leaks said Eri was with Class 1B, which made me frustrated, but the panel is actually a lovely soft Monoma comforting her. It’s really sweet and shows off Monoma’s heroic heart! (And his off-duty fashion sense, because those buttons add some serious dramatic flair.) But, knowing that Aizawa, All Might, Mic, Thirteen, and the Big 3 are Eri’s usual caretakers makes me really sad for her — why are they ALL gone?? Especially when (1) she’s listening to a crowd call her personal hero a weapon with a cursed quirk, exactly how Chisaki used to talk about her; and (2) Izuku doesn’t HAVE to be the one taking care of her, but I think they’d both LIKE to see each other.

Speaking of the crowd, I do like having “the citizens” as a character. In the early chapters, we heard so much about protecting citizens and keeping society from falling into chaos, but it was all theoretical. With the jailbreak, the war destruction, and Dabi’s reveal, it’s good to see citizens who (1) question the value and robustness of the current hero society; and (2) are scared out of their minds. “The citizens” may be an obstacle for the heroes, but their fear and motivation is very rational under the circumstances. People who were forced to evacuate their home on short notice and hole up in a dormitory while skyscrapers crumbled due to villains gone wild (and, uh, Deku) are unlikely to trust the same people who created this mess in the first place. While WE know and love cinnamon roll Izuku, “the citizens” only know him as the target of Shigaraki’s destruction. He’s billed by Jeany as the One True Hope but the citizens know him as a dirty teenager insane enough to break his own bones in a school competition. He’s somehow related to AFO and is either a bomb for AFO, a Nomu-fied corpse doing AFO’s bidding, a target for Shigaraki, or a weapon against AFO that is falling apart at the seams. None of that is reassuring, so I can see why the crowd gets mad enough to make Izuku’s Danger Sense go off. The heroes need to take a moment to really empathize and understand the crowd’s fear and anger.

What’s missing from this scene? ALL MIGHT. The focus on Deku and the OFA/AFO quirks completely omits that Izuku is All Might’s handpicked successor, and that All Might used OFA as a force for good for decades. Jeany and Ochako confirmed Izuku is the special powerOFA holder, so it’s all out in the open except for how Izuku came to possess OFA in the first place. So much for Mt Lady and Endeavor’s media discussion in Ch.317! Also, as Lady Nagant told us, the HPSC was well aware of AFO and tracked his movements. AFO may have been a secret from the public, but was NOT a blind spot for heroes. Same with Gigantomachia — Gran Torino and Tsukauchi failed to capture him, but they knew of him and his association with AFO. (Nobody, including All Might, knew about the doctor and his quirk duplication prior to Hawks’s spy work and the hospital raid.)

I want to see all of this come into the open because the hero failures stem from All Might working alone in secret to stop existential threats while other heroes fought each other for table scraps. (Think of Manual, who is such a plain and underpowered hero, but was clutch during the war.) Heroes STILL aren’t working together, and to fight dual AFOs they are going to need every last bit of help they can get from each other, from students, and from citizens — quirked or not. Anyone who is willing or able to help should join in.

Unease is referenced in this chapter, and unease is what happens whenever All Might disappears. At first when All Might retires, Twice notes the widespread unease with Endeavor as the new #1. Endeavor himself notes his unease with becoming #1 by default rather than earning it. Shigaraki has a persistent unease with his past (pre-awakening), arguably because All Might never came to save Tenko.

Unease spreading through the citizens feeds into AFO’s win conditions perfectly. He WANTS as many fractured and walled-off groups as possible. To steal OFA and rule for eternity, he needs to prevent a “singularity” of will that opposes him.

Let’s see what happens next chapter — I still don’t think Ochako has quite hit her “light of hope” moment yet, and am not convinced this speech will be it. I do think she’s trying hard to humanize Izuku as the OFA holder, but the irony is, in doing so, she is denying he is a special person to her. Only a few humans are truly special at the societal level, but we all have friends and loved ones that think we are special. That’s right, you are loved, even if you don’t have OFA. You are loved even when you need saving. I think this is what All Might was getting at when he tells Izuku during the Sports Festival that there is something special in Izuku. All Might is saying he feels a connection and a trust with Izuku because they were both born quirkless, which makes Izuku special to All Might. This contrasts with Endeavor and Jeany, who view Izuku as special solely because he is the OFA wielder, and Izuku’s need to rest is in service to that duty rather than Izuku’s needs as a human.