#mha359

Power equal to or exceeding Prime All Might — without a quirk — has long been an AFO AND a Shigaraki goal, and now they’ve achieved it. Because yeah, the “massive disparities” between All Might and everyone else did lead to a lack of understanding, dread, and rejection. In the last chapter, Bakugo said he’d “taken all that crap to heart.” He knows, and has accepted, that he doesn’t have All Might’s (literal) power, although he does have All Might in his corner as a teacher and coach, and as his inspiration + namesake. Yet in this chapter, after AFO!Shig breaks his arm, tosses him aside like a doll, and blows away Mirko and Jeanist….after AFO!Shig screams how the strategy was wrong and he has power equivalent to All Might….Bakugo starts to crumple.

It’s a little strange to see a moment of doubt in Bakugo, because Bakugo DID fight All Might in the final exams, and he smiled against that towering wall. Against All Might, Bakugo thought, “we’ve got no chance against that pure simple strength” after a full power gauntlet blast didn’t do much. Bakugo’s hand was throbbing from strain, and he acknowledged the incredible power gap, but decided it was his power alone, not Izuku’s or some combination, that could bag the win for them both. Izuku begged him not to, but in a last ditch effort to win, Bakugo released his biggest one-shot explosion at All Might, leaving Bakugo exposed and defenseless. All Might seized on that, saying that he wouldn’t allow Bakugo to use such a self-destructive attack, and knocked the kid unconscious, which triggered Izuku’s big punch for the win.

What I’m saying is, kudos to AFO!Shig for masterfully making Bakugo doubt the ONE thing he’s ALWAYS been sure of, even in facing All Might: his raw power. Bakugo’s always been in control of his own destiny because he won the genetic lottery and has a kick-ass quirk; it’s his personality and ego that needed work. But AFO!Shig followed the standard AFO playbook and made Bakugo question the bedrock of his own identity. I wonder if Bakugo is thinking about how powerful Shigaraki has grown since USJ? Pre-MVA, I think Bakugo could have taken on Shig 1v1, and maybe that growth is gnawing at him.

The question is, what will Bakugo do next? We know he won’t give up; as he said in the final exam, he will break and crack, and accept being messed up because he won’t accept that his best is incapable of winning. Also, Bakugo is the one who told Izuku that he should have killed Shigaraki at the mall, broken bones or not. After being kidnapped, Bakugo brazenly exploded Shigaraki’s face — and was powerful enough that Shigaraki called on AFO to help. Being a damsel in distress waiting for a feral Izuku ain’t an option. But power alone will not save Bakugo or help him win.

Bakugo’s updated his view quite a bit since these early chapters, so I think his current view is more like “he won’t accept that his best, in combination with a team, is incapable of winning and saving.” Convenient then that Mirio, the alternate universe OFA holder/most powerful UA third year/champion of Eri and quirkless caretaker, is entering the conversation. (We’ve seen an impromptu Mirio-Nejire-Bakugo-Jeanist team up in the war before. This time, just subtract Iida and Izuku & add Amajiki and Mirko!)

I really do see Bakugo trying his best to work with these other heroes, and not trying to win alone like a hypocrite. Even if they all think they need Izuku (and in the end they will) I’m going to take a wild guess that a broken, messed up Bakugo can figure out a way to make progress until Izuku arrives (unless shit really hits the fan!). He can help deepen the vertical divide between AFO and Shigaraki as he figures out what’s worth winning and what’s worth saving. I could even see Bakugo supporting Shigaraki, helping Shig kick AFO in the proverbial nutsack face — whether that’s in the physical world OR in the vestige world.

I also think it’s good for Bakugo to be around Mirio because, although he wasn’t in the room to hear Nighteye’s full hypothesis, both Mirio and Nejire know what happened during the Overhaul fight. Mirio also knows Nighteye believed that the future he saw wasn’t entirely set in stone. If, in the end, every character needs to focus their energy on helping Izuku, I’m betting Mirio can work with Bakugo and make it happen.

Speaking of energy…LOTS of energy…anyone else’s Danger Sense going off when Mandalay says the electromagnetic waves are wonky as AFO!Shig’s body takes form, AFO regenerates in Gunga, and Toya’s chest is glowing and humming in Kamino? And Jiro’s Heartbeat Wall SOUND WAVE attack fired up AFO’s vestiges to encourage them to revolt? If AFO!Shig’s face changing is bad news for the heroes, this could be Very Bad News, especially for anyone (Izuku???) outside the barrier.

With that, let’s talk about the business students, shall we? All Might, the biggest media whore [affectionate] in the series aside from Dabi, didn’t look kindly on the business course. While he used his celebrity to its fullest extent, celebrity was never his goal. Fascinating then, that Bakugo was something of a celebrity before he even entered UA. Bakugo further entrenched his notoriety at the Sports Festival, and again after his kidnapping and again in the Cider House fight. Meanwhile, Izuku took down Overhaul and….nada. He’s just the kid who broke his fingers in the Sports Festival until he was the dark, multi-quirked “vigilante.” (Remember in the mall scene, Tomura approaches Izuku by talking about the Sports Festival, and when Tomura mentions Hosu, Izuku replies, “You sure know a lot about me.”) The media + watching from afar allowed Tomura to act like he knew Izuku. But did he?

It’s hilarious how wrong the media has been about Katsuki and Izuku. It’s almost like watching someone doesn’t let you know what’s in their heart (eg, Katsuki’s “bad personality” belies a true hero). So it doesn’t feel right to have business course/PR students in floating UA. I get their point, but it feels like a continuation of everything wrong with hero society — trying to make a narrative, win popular opinion, pit heroes vs other heroes. I’m hoping these students will actually capture footage of the villains helping the heroes, inadvertently creating a brand new narrative in favor of a different kind of hero society. If that means Bakugo gets some image rehabilitation too, then I’m all for it.

Finally, as promised, my batshit cuckoo take on AFO!Shig’s “closer to Izuku Midoriya than anyone else” line. Now, there are many, many times where both AFO and Shigaraki have seen Izuku and Katsuki be triggered by the other. Or times they may have heard things from other LOV members like Compress. But…what if AFO!Shig heard it from Bakugo himself? I wrote here about the numerous times 1-A and AFO have said eerily similar phrases, and this could be another one. Plus, AFO and Bakugo have certainly circled each other in the narrative, often bookending chapters or scenes. Shigaraki initially had the idea to kidnap Bakugo, likely to get at All Might. But what has AFO wanted with Bakugo??? Why has AFO always agreed Bakugo is an important pawn?