#retake arc

He does pass the first round this way, but it’s still an impulse of his that he has yet to curb. 

When Todoroki notices Inasa’s bad attitude towards him, he assumes he must have done something (and he did, but nothing he should really blame himself for). Shoto is simultaneously the kindest, most self-abasing kid around, and yet also arrogant in that he feels he is the one who controls and causes everything.

Not that I’m really critiquing him much, here. Inasa’s the one who held the grudge. But this is about analyzing Shoto’s dynamics, not talking about how great he truly is.

We see how Shoto deals with conflict in this arc. We’re used to seeing him calmly blow off Bakugou’s temper tantrums, but Inasa’s comments seem to hit him more personally, of course, because he compared him to his dad. 

An angry and petty Shoto accuses the other person of hassling him on purpose and becomes fixated on his anger and rage rather than anything else.

Pre-UA Shoto is almost Bakugou-esuqe. Angry, sullen, withdrawn, and telling other people to shut up, go away, that they’re not worth his time.

A sweet moment in the midst of the angry chaos is Shoto acknowledge that Midoriya is always there, perhaps “for me” or just perhaps what was said. That Deku is always around, like Shoto pointed out in the previous arc. Always meddling. 

Always watching him to see if he’s ok.

Yaoyorozu joins in as well here.

And Deku and Iida come to congratulate him when he learns he can retake the test. He looks to them and tells them he’ll catch up soon. Interestingly, Shoto is not the only rival of Midoriya’s who Deku surpasses in this arc by winning the provisional Licesne, but his reaction is obviously a little more...subdued. 

He makes some amends with Inasa, as well.

And finally, to Bakugou. We don’t get much of Shoto’s thoughts about DVK2, since nobody but the 3 were privy to it.  (BTW flipping through it again, even in passing, made me feel things.) What we do get, interestingly enough, is some concern for Bakugou missing their classes, not for Midoriya’s punishment, despite him arguably being closer to Izuku. It’s Kacchan who Shoto shows concern for here. (was someone looking forward to those private lessons, Shoto?)

He’s apologetic for failing, and adopts a somewhat “noninvolvement” policy towards the work studies, since he can’t participate.

Though he says “our” rights, he’s probably referring to Bakugou’s alone, after DVK2. Hence why Bakugou immediately snaps at him.

Again, a criticism from Todoroki provokes the anger from Bakugou. Shoto, for his part, is as usual pretty indifferent to Bakugou’s anger and just kinda takes it in stride, while worrying about him as much as ever. Shoto, indeed, allowed to properly look after his friends, is very much a Mom Friend type, worrying about them and nagging them to do better.

This scene in 137 with Izuku is a great example of that (and one of the finest TDDK moments, in my opinion). Shoto starts by inquiring into Izuku’s wellbeing, noticing he isn’t eating.

He’s been paying attention to Deku’s behavior and emotions, even when Deku wasn’t aware of it.

When Deku tries to say that “heroes don’t cry”, Shoto gives him this wonderful piece of supportive advice. This is so interesting, because as we know, crying is such an essential feature of Deku’s character. Here, he’s try to subscribe to the ‘tough guy’ ‘real men don’t cry’ mentality, but Shoto, one of the strongest and coolest kids in Class A, doesn’t subscribe to that. After all, Shoto’s own dad is just the type of person to give that unhealthy “don’t show feelings” mentality an endorsement. Therefore, it makes sense that Shoto would believe it’s important to express your feelings, even if he’s usually a bit stoic himself.

This, plus giving Deku some comfort food, is such a sweet moment of supportive understanding from Shoto. He lets Deku be himself. 

He also stays up late the night before the PLE retake courses to make sure Deku is doing ok, and apologizes for having to leave early to go to bed.

With Bakugou, Shoto remains as impenetrable as ever. A question that comes up is, since Bakugou is constantly telling Shoto to “walk behind him”, why does Shoto never listen to him? It’s probably because they’re both so assertive. Shoto doesn’t take orders from him, and he doesn’t take orders from Shoto.

He gives Bakugou a subtly impressed look when he takes on a Cheerleader role to the team, though.

Just like Izuku, the other person privy to the backstory with Endeavor, Bakugou watches Shoto to see how he’s doing.

In interacting with the kids, Shoto is stilted, awkward, and a king of exposition.

Once again, Shoto critiques Bakugou, who explodes angrily at him, though he still provides an explanation.

Oof. This interaction. Once again, Shoto corrects Kacchan, though this is a more emotional, nuanced correction than simple nagging to do things better.

Kacchan is proposing that they use a show of forced to teach the kids a lesson. Shoto tells him that there are better ways.

What this says about Bakugou’s upbringing is a subject for a Bakugou meta and this is a Shoto meta. However, it’s worth noting that both of the two most socially inept, cold and ‘lacking heart’ members of Class A come from households with parents who we know have physically struck them, insulted them and tried to control their lives. Whether you consider Mitsuki abusive or not (she’s certainly not as bad as Endeavor, obviously), Katsuki and Shoto’s similarly dominant, forceful, independent personalities may come from their similar upbringings. However, that difference - Endeavor’s cruelty and Shoto’s acknowledgement of it - does change how they approach this. Shoto remains stoic and avoids anger when he can, because he associates losing his temper with Endeavor. Bakugou doesn’t see anything wrong with it, because he sees his mom as loving and doing the right thing, so why would doing it her way be wrong?

Of course, Shoto instantly screws up, and now it’s Kacchan’s turn to critique him. 

When Camie creates an illusion of Shoto, the Viz translation has Bakugou say something like “Suits you well, Dreamy boy!” Either way, Shoto’s reaction here is to question if it really is hilarious, because hell, if it can make Bakugou laugh, there must be something he’s missing. (I don’t think we’ve ever seen Shoto laugh, come to think of it).

But we do get to see him smile. In the flashback showing how the Team came up with their plan, Shoto and the others, at Katsuki’s suggestion, figure out how to truly reach the kids. We once again see surprisingly good teamwork between Bakugou and Todoroki, along with Inasa and Camie here, despite their antagonism.

Endeav tries to be a dad for a few minutes and Shoto pretty quickly blows him off, though he seems a little touched by the attempt. Bakugou once again watches him, like Izuku did before, to see how he’s doing.