#soya's analysis

SAME SMILE SAME SMILE!!!!!

These two rlly mimic each other during battle... it's the same brave, self-confident smile as Katsuki gets into the heat of the fight w All for One and Deku insists on Tomura's humanity.

When Deku yells in battle, he seems a bit more like Katsuki than himself. I bet when he yells he thinks of Katsuki and the thought alone gives him strength. It gives him the bravery and confidence he needs to keep going.

Likewise, thinking of Deku and how hard he must be fighting gave Katsuki the strength to finish his own fight even tho he'd come back to life just minutes before!

I don't think ppl talk about this convo between Deku and Spinner enough.

Deku wasn't even FAZED when Spinner grabbed him, turned larger and yelled in his face, yet those are behaviours that the rest of society would deem monstrous. In this moment, Deku saw him not as part of the LoV, but as a PERSON who was grieving his best friend's death! Yet, the rest of society are blinded by ignorance and denial of that very fact. That special news report exposed it.

The general public saw Tomura as nothing but a toddler throwing a tantrum, or a cold-hearted evil entity that was out for blood. What Spinner saw, however, was different. He saw someone who would fight for him when no one else would. A friend he could share his love for video games with. A family member, even. His hero, definitely. There's someth so human about bonding over video games - it highlights both Tomura's AND Spinner's humanity cos it's such a small, specific detail about them, and when Spinner mentioned it to Deku, he started crying. Millions of everyday ppl play video games, how are they any different?

Is it right to ignore someone's feelings cos they've committed massive crimes? Does that mean they aren't human anymore? If that were the case for Spinner, then tell me WHY is he crying over video games and losing his best friend? This is what Hero society fails to acknowledge. They dehumanise those they see as 'immoral' but that's just how villains are created in the first place. They stigmatise the passionate, outward expression of emotions. When people get hurt and aren't helped, they'll release that hurt onto others in bursts of rage. That's EXACTLY what the LoV did, and because of that, society became scared, so they shunned them and cast them aside, letting their feelings accumulate over years and years.

Deku lets Spinner just grab him, yell and cry into his face, and even then, his expression doesn't even waver a tiny bit. The contrast between these professional adults who were responsible for guarding Spinner / holding him captive absolutely freaking out and Deku, a literal HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, not even showing an ounce of fear or discomfort, is insane. It reflects society's intolerance of emotions and juxtaposes it with Deku's pure understanding and acceptance of them. The MOMENT Spinner began to break down, the guards tried to shut him down, but Deku got in the way of that. He's the shield that protects outwardly emotional ppl from pernicious social conventions, but what's even more meaningful is that Spinner mentioned that before he met Tomura, he felt empty. This was probs the first time he'd cried so heavily, and yet he was being immediately shut down. But because of Deku, he was allowed to cry. And that in itself might've made him wanna cry more.

Not only that, but Deku was incredibly calm and had his eyes and ears open the whole convo. He acknowledged and respected Spinner as a person when no one else did. Plus, Deku is a deeply feeling person himself, so he understands the importance of releasing emotions, and how difficult it is for marginalised groups to express those emotions due to oppression by the majority. A "You're not like me, so your feelings don't matter, not like you're allowed to show it anyway" kinda thing, which is wrong on ALL levels.

love this frame cos look how the colours are separated - Katsuki's got multiple colours coming from one eye and his signature explosion orange from the other.

One for All is providing him w the speed to reach All Might in time, contributing to the propulsion force supplied by his explosions, meaning that he's got 9 generations (well 8 if we exclude All Might cos he's the one who needs saving) on his back. He's carrying the hopes and prayers of not only him, Izuku and the pros who are fighting but also of the billions of ppl currently alive AND every previous generation that lived to witness All for One's evil.

When Deku runs across the battlefield and everyone's cheering him on, he says this:

"I hear everyone's voices."

And I had a beautiful thought. When he said this, it showed not just ppl on the battlefield, but also ppl outside the battlefield, and even other countries, which could mean this quote applies to everyone cheering for him, regardless of how far away they were. But realistically, Deku wouldn't have been able to hear anyone who wasn't at the battlefield, right? So why this quote, and the vague mention of "everyone" (the dub translation being "I can hear your voices" with the vague mention of "your")?

Because symbolically, he means everyone. Not just those on the battlefield with him, or even those on the other side of the world.

He means us too.

Us, on the other side of the screen, in another world... not literally ofc, but poetically, he heard us! It reflects how we are just as much a part of Deku's journey as every person in the MHA verse who has ever helped him or cheered him on.

Our cheers mattered to him just as much as theirs, because we stayed till the end and believed in him enough to get to this point and see it all through!

To every person (including me) who reads this and wishes they could be a part of the MHA verse, I have some awesome news.

Deku has carried a pen and notebook with him for his entire life. Watching an AMV about him with the song "Non-Stop" from Hamilton the Musical (AMV link here, it's so good) made me realise something.

"How do you write like you need it to survive?" -> in Deku's case, it's not even an exaggeration - in fact, he DOES need to write in order to survive. Writing is like a survival mechanism for him cos he lives in a world where those with Quirks are the majority. A society that is built not for Quirkless ppl like him, but for this majority. Neither his world nor ours was built with minority groups in mind - thus, the survival mechanisms, as being Quirkless had always put Deku at a disadvantage compared to his peers. Even when he first received OFA, he was at a disadvantage cos he didn't have as much time to learn how to use it and so he was breaking his bones all the time.

Deku writes about his observations of the world he lives in, of the ppl around him, of the moves and actions of every pro hero, of all those that Hero society was made for, so that one day that info would be enough to put him at an equal level to all those ppl. So he could compete against them. He copies their moves in order to be in a better position. Everyone else naturally knows how to live in this society but Deku had to pick it up himself from birth. He had to LEARN it all himself, and through the accumulation of notes throughout his life, he's learnt.

Monoma may have been jealous of 1-A, but he also came to care for them. In the scene where he saw Katsuki die, he was horrified not just cos of that, but cos of the image he had of Katsuki in his mind. Someone who could beat impossible odds, and win even the toughest fights. Katsuki's team's flawless victory against 1-B was what gave him this impression - that's why he remembered it here.

Katsuki asserting his strength and proving it in front of everyone only for Monoma to watch him die in the war must've made the time afterwards seem completely HOPELESS. If even the embodiment of victory couldn't win, then how could the heroes ever win?

So, this rlly shows Monoma's character development. He cares for and respects Katsuki as a hero, but the main reason he reacted the way he did was cos of the impression he gained of Katsuki during the 1-A vs 1-B mock battles - an unstoppable force of power.

I LOVE this cover, it's so symbolic.

The contrast between the way Deku is gently holding Katsuki in his arms and his furious eyes rlly emphasises the connection between them. He is ready for WAR (she says as they are literally in the middle of the the biggest war in the story at this point... but you get what I mean).

Deku's hands are huge and one has been placed over Katsuki's injured heart, not to mention Katsuki is drawn a bit small. I've seen a lot of ppl be confused about this but I think it's intentional to show that Deku is the one with all the power at the moment – cos he has OFA, which means he's the only person that can defeat Tomura/AFO – and due to their connection, he's feeling a rlly strong protective instinct towards Katsuki (even tho he's dead here but we don't talk about that okay-). If you're close with someone who's much taller or bigger than you, being near them or hugged by them will give you a sense of safety and protection, right? Cos like they can envelop you in their arms and hide you from the chaos of the world...

And we know Deku's whole thing is about saving and protecting ppl. I think Horikoshi is tryna imply Deku's regret over not being able to reach in time to be that person for Katsuki, even while he wields the only power strong enough to end this war. Had he been at the Coffin before Katsuki died, he would've been able to protect him AND everyone else there. He's tryna become the protector he feels like he failed to be when he was most needed. Failed to be cos, funnily enough, Deku is canonically shorter than Katsuki (Deku is 166cm tall and Katsuki is 172cm tall), yet Deku is drawn to be larger than Katsuki over here. It further symbolises Deku's wish to have been able to protect him. He's forcing himself to fit into a role that was impossible for him to play at the time, cos he hadn't even arrived yet.

Looking at this cover, I kinda wish we got a moment in the story where Deku could've done this. Arrive at the Coffin, run to Katsuki, then hold him in his arms for a minute as he feels the rage build up, then be forced to let go when OFA starts acting crazy, then the realisation kicks in and he begins to panic... but then I realise that in reality, Deku's first glance of Katsuki's dead body gave him such a big panic attack that he was hyperventilating and unable to move OR speak coherently for a minute, so how could he have managed to run to him in that state? Plus, even if he did, he would've been wasting a lot of time if he stayed still to hold him and grieve and cry. That would be so out of character for him cos it'd imply that he's lost hope that Katsuki would ever come back, and we all know he is the LAST person to do that, especially with how much he admires and looks up to him.

Obvs Deku was INCREDIBLY upset (I mean, who wouldn't be if they saw their best friend dead at their feet?), but I rlly admire him for pushing through and channeling his rage into someth he could use to fight, instead of letting it consume him like it did in the Paranormal Liberation War. When he's too angry, his moves become too simple, and he couldn't afford that. He learnt from it!!!

"...I hope you know that I love you, Ochako. That's why I wanna push you to love too!"

Toga knows that Ochako is in love with Deku, so she pushes her forward, past the guilt of asking for more than she has. Thus, Toga acknowledges that what Ochako already has isn't enough – her life isn't complete without that love - without Deku.

This episode title, 'More', is a double entendre — not only does it add 'more' context to the 8 yr time skip, but also reflects on Deku and Ochako's mutual wish to talk (and therefore be with each other) 'more' often.

The girl who lives off love helps the one she loves most to pursue her deeply buried love too. After all, true love isn't selfish. Toga tries to get Ochako to realise that taking steps towards the one she loves wouldn't forsake her duty as a hero, because love is exactly what saved both of them. Ochako was saved by Toga's love cos of the blood transfer, and Toga was saved by Ochako's love cos of complimenting her smile instead of questioning her for it. Being called cute instead of a monster. Now she lives happily as a vestige within Ochako, and she can smile as much as she wants without being shamed for it.

Now, Toga pushes Ochako towards her love, hoping that it will free her from her guilt. That it will keep her happy forever, the same way she is now that she's a part of Ochako.

That Deku's love will save her, just like Toga's did.

"What I'm saying is that if everyone's special to you, nobody is."

Deku is who he is cos he loves everyone and everything so unconditionally. But Katsuki gets him to realise something important - you can't love everyone the same. Sometimes you gotta put your own wants and needs first, and this is advice for Deku cos he struggles with that a LOT. As Katsuki said, if a selfless person doesn't put themselves first sometimes, they'll miss out on a lot, and they won't get to live their life to the fullest!

The way Deku looked at Ochako when he thought about what Katsuki said to him makes it clear that she is the person he wants to put forward. He won't be able to pursue his love and talk to her more if he doesn't start putting her above everyone else. Otherwise, she'll be just another person, and that's not the case in Deku's eyes.

I mean, look at those eyes. Whenever they look sparkly like this, I am officially gonna call it "the look of love".

He runs after Ochako with Katsuki's words in mind, and with that, the two hearts that beat for others...