#volume 03

Notes:

I know that it took just over a full calendar year to get to this issue after the Volume 3 cover, but the thing is that it was a pretty major year for me. After experiencing some significant and transformative life events, I replayed Dead Money and withstood levels of catharsis so powerful that it could have registered on the Richter scale. It also gave me a very vital refresher before I dove back into IKROAH. I mentioned it in the cover notes, but I've been looking forward to "the Dead Money arc" since I first put pencil to paper back in 2020. The scripts were written in 2021, and have underwent revisions here and there since, but for the most part have simply been loaded in the chamber for four years and counting. It's finally time to fire the bullets.

Original Pencils:

Well, it's obvious that there's another art shift. Originally, I wanted to keep doing it in the style of the last few issues of IKROAH and my Vol. 3 cover, but here's the thing: I've realized that I hate digital coloring. I want to do it as little as possible from now on. So I finally decided to learn, actually learn, how to ink worth a damn, using the Vol. 2 Omakes as a warm-up of sorts, and the result that you're getting is these stark and moody black-and-whites. I thought about tinting them red, but it just didn't look as crisp. I can certainly color them if I want to, but outside of single simple images, it's just such a timesink and a soulsuck for me as an artist. It took literally a whole day to draw the third page, I can't imagine needing to still color it on top of everything else.

My new approach to art means that there is very little distance between what's on my paper and what ends up on your screen, and that's how I like it. Still, there's a little trickery involved: to prevent misalignment with the digital blueprint (my panel borders and lettering are all still digital) or mistakes with inking that I can't undo, I've started drawing full bleed background images on their own piece of paper, and then drawing standalone panels and other elements on a separate one. Then it all gets Frankensteined together pretty easily without looking too incongruous or overly digital.

Below, you can see me experimenting with washi tape on the first page to try to get my panel outlines clean; it worked decently enough, but was just so much more trouble and finicky than just doing them separate. Still, it's been a great trick for when I need to prevent runoff from one drawing onto another. You can also see an unused variation of Agnes sprawled out in front of the fountain. While a good pose, I think it ultimately read better if the panels kept the same shot. There's also an inking test of the old man's hologram, because I wasn't sure how I'd represent the etherealness of it without color. But I think I did alright.

Due to production being divided across multiple pieces of paper and also due to just being absolutely in the zone, I didn't get scans of all the pencils before I started inking. If you're a really big fan of that sort of thing, sorry! I'll get it next time.

To my earlier point of realizing that I hated digital coloring, I actually tried working on this issue earlier this year, but I wound up scrapping my entire first attempt because I just straight up wasn't happy with it. The only thing that I still have saved is what would have been the first page of that version:

And while it's not... it's not bad, but I'm much happier as an artist that I changed direction.

Transcript

UNKNOWN LOCATION. It's dark.

???: Get up. Now.

EXT. SIERRA MADRE VILLA. AGNES SANDS is face-down on the ground, at the base of a FOUNTAIN.

???: Not sure why the mutant just dumped you there. Could have been picked apart by the villagers… or worse. Careless.

AGNES remains on the ground, immobile for a few more moments, until--

She begins to rise to her feet.

???: Ahh, you can still stand. Good. If you couldn’t… dead weight.

???: Listen to me.

AGNES has fully risen to her feet. Sweat drips down her face. Some stubble dusts her chin and jawline-- how long has she been out cold? As she stands, she realizes that--

???: There’s a bomb collar around your neck. Ensures compliance. Three others here, same as you. Collars connected... Radio.

AGNES's hand comes up to her collar instinctively. She can feel the metal thing around her neck, locked in place with a sturdy metal clasp. Her eye darts around in panic.

???: Listen.

AGNES looks toward the voice. It's a hologram of an OLD MAN, standing atop the long-dry fountain. The figure is bearded, wild-haired, and wearing tattered, heavily damaged robes of some kind.

OLD MAN (emphatic): If any of you die...

The OLD MAN stands with his back turned toward Agnes, hands clasped behind it. It leers at AGNES over its shoulder.

OLD MAN: ...then you all die.

AGNES SANDS IN: IT KEEPS RIGHT ON A-HURTIN' VOLUME 3: LEFT MY HEART IN THE SIERRA MADRE

The FOUNTAIN is situated in the center of a dilapidated VILLA nestled beneath a plateau. Buildings surround AGNES and the OLD MAN in disrepair and mid-collapse. Dense CLOUDS both hang in the sky and wisp throughout the streets of the villa.

OLD MAN: You-- all of you-- will have to work together for this. Cooperate. Obey. It's, ah... it's a heist. The ultimate heist, and you're a part, now. You're all parts. 

OLD MAN: The greatest technological treasures of the Old World, preserved for centuries beneath this Cloud-- all of its secrets and mechanisms, its controls--

OLD MAN: --they’re all somewhere in there.

The OLD MAN turns his gaze upwards, towards the plateau. Atop it sits a massive, monumental building.

OLD MAN (reverent): The Sierra Madre. You must get inside… you, and the others.

OLD MAN: Do as I say and you can go free. You can all go free. But refuse me, or fail me, or turn on each other… or if you try to take the treasure for yourself? ...Then there’s the collars.

The OLD MAN remains fixed on the SIERRA MADRE. AGNES, on the ground beneath and behind the hologram, follows its gaze, until the OLD MAN turns his head toward her again.

ELIJAH: I need you to find the others who are here, and quickly. Bring them back to this fountain. More instructions then.

The OLD MAN's gaze turns further downward.

OLD MAN: Your Pip-Boy, it can... track the other collars, pinpoint their signals. ...It’s fortunate that you have it. I've... I've had no way to communicate with others, here... for quite some time.

The OLD MAN's gaze suddenly softens.

OLD MAN: Everyone before you? Besides the others here now? They all died without my guidance. So many failed attempts, all such…such a waste, of preciously finite resources.

Then, the OLD MAN smiles again. Staring at AGNES. AGNES stares back, horror solidifying on her face.

OLD MAN: But you, heh-- you’re exactly what I need. 

OLD MAN: : You've been given your task-- go. I will tolerate no more delays. No more greed, no more treachery, no more failures.

AGNES turns away from the fountain, tracking one of the collar's signals on her Pip-Boy already.

OLD MAN: I have waited... far too long for what’s mine.

As AGNES leaves, the hologram on the fountain CHANGES, as the OLD MAN evidently signs off.

SFX: FWWSHZT

Theme: Plants: Floriography (Language of Flowers), however, we may expand to a general Plants/Flowers

Format: Digital & Physical

Merch: Yes- Digital Only, however, some may become physical for stretch goals

Free/Profit: Non-Profit; non-profits/charities TBA

Zine Specs

A5 portrait  [ 5.8 x 8.3 in / 14.8 x 21 cm ]

Perfect Bound

SFW

Currently estimated at 80-90 pages, no more than 100 pages

Will contain art, written works, and photography

Schedule

APPLICATION PERIOD

Applications: December 7, 2025 to January 4, 2026

Mod App Voting: to January 9, 2025

Acceptance/Rejections Emailed: January 10

Joining Discord & Concepts-Claims: due January 26

Concepts Approved by Mods: January 31

CREATION PERIOD

Check-In 1: February 22 [Artist: Rough Sketch/Lineart; Writers: Outline]

Check-In 2: March 15 [Line art complete, flat colors. About 50% complete]

Check-In 3: April 5th [Line art complete, some shading, 75%; Writers: Complete piece, but requires beta/editing]

Final: April 19 [100% Complete, Print / release-ready]

SALES/PRODUCTION

Pre-Orders: May 2026

Production: June 2026

Shipping: July 2026

Leftover Sales + Shipping: October 2026

Thank you for sharing! @all-zine-apps @open-zines @zinefeed @zinetown @zine-scene @anizines

Discord | Bluesky | Instagram | Twitter/X | Interest Check Results

Todoroki Shōto ‘(Kōzoku ni michi tsukucchimau ga… ) Ushiro ki ni shi teru baai ja nē… !’ 轟焦凍「（後続に道作っちまうが…）後ろ気にしてる場合じゃねえ…！」 Todoroki Shōto “(I’ll make a road for those behind me but…) this is no time to worry about who’s behind me…!”

Observation notes:

This chapter covers the final part of the race, the one in which Midoriya too joins the battle for the first place. While I do hate the fact that they had the kids run through a minefield I do like the idea that Midoriya managed to win the race using his brain, even though this is clearly a Quirk competition. Of course the situation is as unreal as it can be, not only because explosions who sent Midoriya flying that much would have seriously injured everyone who happened to be caught in the blast, but because Shōto (and Bakugō) had an overwhelming advantage on him and Midoriya is also carrying with himself an armor plate who should have slowed him down and had to search for mines to create such a big explosion so, really, Shōto and Bakugō were ahead enough that they should have won. Still Shōto managed to keep his cool and to worry for what was really a source of troubles, Midoriya in front of him and I love how, despite being the one who is less used to explosions differently from Bakugō, he still managed to come second ahead of him and even seems less tired than him. Even though he didn’t manage to get first place Shōto showed himself to be a very strong adversary.

We then have Midnight telling us how only the first 42 can move to the next round.

42 isn’t a random number, class A and class B, together make 40 students and they should be the best the school has to offer so it would make sense they would all qualify. Two slots remain open for two students who want to try to move to the Hero course by winning the sport festival.

Midnight then introduces the next event, a ‘kibasen’ (騎馬戦 “cavalry battle”) in which each participant will have a headband with point values assigned according to how he placed in the obstacle course race.

By the way you might remember that when talking about chap. 22 I mentioned that nowadays sport festivals try not to include ‘kibasen’ (騎馬戦 “cavalry battle”) due to safety reasons or that, if they do include it they also use helmets, crash mats and strict spotters so guess what will be the second event? Yeah, a cavalry battle and in the explanation Midnight will make no mention of safety measures... and we will see in the next chapters none will be in place... which means the last will have 5 points and the first will have 10.000.000 points.

Cultural notes:

Kyōsō (競争 “competition”): in Japanese culture, it is a fundamental element in order to aims for ‘jiko no kōjō’ (自己の向上 “self-improvement”). Competitiveness is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture, partly due to a societal emphasis on achievement through hard work and a belief in the importance of status and credentials. Parents instill into their kids the idea they must keep working hard. The way they know their hard work is succeeding is by how many people they’re beating. Competition between students to enter high schools and universities is so high that kids sometimes spend a majority of their time studying in order to get on the right track for the right school. Sometimes students break down, burn out and drop out. Some face bullying for not getting into good schools. Some even withdraw from society, too taxed mentally to face the hurdles of life and education. The exams to get in the desired school are so hard that they have a word for it, ‘shiken jigoku’ (試験地獄 “exam hell”).

Sessatakuma (切磋琢磨 “to strive for mutual improvement” Lit. “To cut and polish hard stones and carve and polish jewels”): it signifies improving oneself by learning from others, a concept commonly expressed as friendly rivalry, mutual encouragement, or diligent application through study/work together. In manga/anime this idea can be brought to the extreme. While the first even was focused on individual competition, this second event mixes individual and group competition, better expressing the idea of striving for mutual improvement both through rivalry but also through mutual aid.

Retcon notes:

Similarly to what Horikoshi did with Chapter 18/19 the final scene of the chapter with Midnight explaining how the cavalry battle will take place is partially retconned/repeated/expanded in the next chapter. One might miss it because they are both two dialogue scenes if it wasn’t for Midnight repeating the rules, even if in an expanded way.

Sexism notes:

I have been unsure if to add this because Shōto likely didn't witness how Mineta managed to get there groping Yoyorozu, but I decided to include it because... everyone else in the arena likely did and they didn’t boo Mineta. The crowd is willing to boo Bakugō because he fights seriously again ‘a poor girl’ (Uraraka), but doesn't care Mineta takes advantage of Yaoyorozu to both complete the race and grope her, especially grope her and this tells us something about the society Shōto lives in, one that finds okay what Mineta did but not that one could fight seriously against a girl.

Teaching notes:

‘Taijin jirai’ (対人地雷) really means “anti-personnel mines” as the English translation says. Modern anti-personnel mines include small, low-yield blast mines, which blow off the ankles or shins of anyone who steps on them; and relatively large, fragmentation-type jumping mines, which, when activated by a trip wire or foot pressure, first launch a small amount of explosive into the air about 1-2 meters high, then explode, scattering steel balls and other explosives within, killing enemies within a radius of several dozen meters. This kind of mines are generally buried underground, but they can also be secured to a hidden location and, when activated by a trip wire or other means, scatter steel balls and other explosives horizontally in a fan pattern, killing or injuring. The 1997 Treaty banning anti-personnel landmines, also called the Ottawa Treaty, which was signed also by Japan, bans the use, possession, production, and transfer of mines, and provides for the destruction of stocks and assistance to victims. The Convention commits States Parties to destroy all anti-personnel landmines in their possession or control, “as soon as possible” but, in any case, no later than four years after entry-into-force of the Treaty for the concerned State. The only exception to this rule concerns mines that can be kept for training purposes relating to detection, clearance and destruction. These, in any case, must be kept in very low numbers.

Now, okay, the story insists that those mines aren’t that dangerous (even if they sent students and Midoriya flying but whatever, realism was clearly not what Horikoshi had in mind) but I still can’t see a good reason why a teacher would think that getting copies of banned mines with low explosive power to have students run through a minefield is a good training exercise beyond the Doylist fact that Midoriya needed something that would send him flying.

Also Midoriya deliberately caused another explosion very close to Shōto and Bakugō that sends him flying and that could have seriously injured them since it was powerful enough to send Midoriya flying but again, in this sport festival everything goes and Midoriya, Midoriya who threw away his chance to make points to save Uraraka, who will throw away his chance to win the sport festival to help Shōto, here doesn’t worry at all he could injury him and Bakugō in a way that Recovery Girl might not be able to fix. And really, great action scene but as far as teaching goes this is no good.

At least Aizawa is honest. When Present Mic remarks his class is amazing and asks what he is teaching them he said he did nothing and that his students got fired up on their own.

And then we have All Might’s speech.

ALL MIGHT ‘(Kimi no shindearou “‘hito o tasukeru’ HERO”… kono taiiku matsuri wa, rokotsu ni soko to sōhansuru ‘hoka o ke otoshite’ kisou ba… Ninki shōbai no men ga ōkī gendai HERO. ‘Tanin yori ue ni’ to iu donyokusa wa. Kimi dakara koso erandaga… kimi dakara koso no jakutenda to omotte ita. Chō kiyū datta na!! Gomen na! Nakimushi wa hayaku naoshita hau ga īkedo na!)’ 轟焦凍「(君の芯であろう『〝人を救ける〟ヒーロー』…この体育祭は、露骨にそこと相反する〝他を蹴落として〟競う場…人気商売の面が大きい現代ヒーロー。〝他人より上に〟という貪欲さは。君だからこそ選んだが…君だからこその弱点だと思っていた。超杞憂だったな！！ごめんな！泣き虫は早く治した方がいいけどな！)」 All Might “(Your core is that of a "hero ‘who can save people’"... but this sports festival is a blatant contradiction to that, a competition to “kick others down”... Modern heroes are largely a popularity business. They are greedy to be “above others”... I chose you because of how you are... but I thought it was also a weakness unique to you. I was worrying for no reason!! I'm sorry! You should get over your crybaby ways soon!)”

So basically this sport festival is a competiton that tests the students on their ability to kick others down in order to get to the top, with Heroes/scouts coming to choose who is the better one at kicking the others, instead than the one who is better at saving others. And All Might is happy because Midoriya too can kick down people, because if he weren’t capable to do this it would be a weakness. And the majority of people in Japan is interested in seeing how good are teenagers aiming to become Heroes at kicking everyone else down.

When you think at one Todoroki Enji and at how he aimed to be Number 1 and at what he was capable to do in attempt to get at the Number 1 spot remember how he went to a school who, less than a month after he started attending him, told him the most important thing, the thing for which he would be chosen by other Pro, was his willingness to kick other people down and become the Number 1 and how the whole society supported this kind of teaching. What was important wasn’t how many people he could save, not how well he could cooperate with others, but how good he was at kicking people down.

This is what the sport festival watched nationwide more than the olympiads teach now. Because sportmanship and team cooperations are an outdated concept.

Yeah, All Might says he also chose Midoriya because he has this drive to save but guess what? No one else will choose Midoriya impressed by how he was willing to throw his match to help Shōto. Yeah, his problems with his Quirk probably didn’t help but NO ONE felt like chosing him and helping him to overcome them (except All Might’s old mentor though I doubt Gran Torino would have done it if Midoriya hadn’t been All Might’s protégé).

I will save most of the discussion about the cavalry battle for the next chapter as the scene gets repeated and expanded there.

The only thing I want to discuss is this line that close the chapter.

MIDNIGHT ‘Jōi no yatsu hodo neraware chau──────────... gekokujō SURVAIVAL yo!!!’ ミッドナイト「上位の奴ほど狙われちゃう──────────...下克上サバイバルよ！！！」 Midnight “The higher up you are, the more likely you are to be targeted... It's a survival game of overthrowing the ruling class!!!”

So, in case you were thinking this exercise was to promote group spirit since well, the cavalry battle is played in teams, well, this is true only tangetially. The goal of the cavalry battle is still to promote an extreme competitivity in the students and see what they are willing to do to win since this sport festival is also an elimination game.

Now, regarding the anime version...

Episode 16 - In Their Own Quirky Ways (みんな個性的でいいね Minna Kosei-teki de Īne)

Added parts notes: The scenes again are expanded a bit, and we are even shown Shōto and Bakugō running after Midoriya. A weird addition is that we see that Shōto is using his ice when they are in the tunnel, supposedly to propel himself forward? I am not sure because he hadn’t done it before and, actually, his ice would be more useful to freeze Midoriya’s legs than anything else but whatever. The anime also shows a screen showing in replay the moments in which Midoriya surpasses Shōto and Bakugō. The images are exactly the same we saw on the anime only now they’re on screen. We however gets another image of Shōto before the episode ends.

Midoriya Izuku ‘Tsumari, START koten ga mō...’ 緑谷出久「つまり、スタート地点がもう...」 Midoriya Izuku “In other words, the starting point is already...”

Todoroki Shōto ‘Saisho no furui.’ 轟焦凍「最初のふるい。」 Todoroki Shōto “The first filter. ”

Yaoyorozu Momo ‘Amai wa Todoroki-san!’ 八百万百「甘いわ轟さん！」 Yaoyorozu Momo“You’re too naive, Todoroki-san!”

Bakugō Katsuki ‘Sō umaku ikase nē yo hanbun yarō!!’ 爆豪勝己「そう上手くいかせねえよ半分野郎！！」 Bakugō Katsuki “It won’t work half bastard!!”

Todoroki Shōto ‘CLASS renchū wa tōzen to shite, omottayori yo kerareta na.’ 轟焦凍「クラス連中は当然として、思ったよりよけられたな。」 Todoroki Shōto “Of course I expected it from my classmates, but more than I expected (from the other classes) were able to avoid it.”

Mineta Minoru ‘Todoroki no URA no URA o kaite yatta ze zamaa nēttenda! Kurae OIRA no hissatsu...’ 峰田実「轟のウラのウラをかいてやったぜ。ざまあねえってんだ！くらえオイラの必殺...」 Mineta Minoru “I’ve outwitted Todoroki. Serves you right! Take my special mo...”

Todoroki Shōto ‘Ippan nyūshiyō no kasō teki (read: VILLAIN)-tte yatsu ka.’ 轟焦凍「一般入試用の仮想敵（ヴィラン）ってやつか。」 Todoroki Shōto “Are they the fake enemies (read: Villains) for the general entrance exam?”

Yaoyorozu Momo ‘Doko kara okane dete kuru no kashira...’ 八百万百「どこからお金出てくるのかしら...」 Yaoyorozu Momo “I wonder where the money comes from...”

Todoroki Shōto ‘(Sekkakunara motto sugē no yōi shite moraitē monda na.) KUSO oyaji ga miterunda kara.’ 轟焦凍「（せっかくならもっとすげえの用意してもらいてえもんだな。）クソ親父が見てるんだから。」 Todoroki Shōto “(If they were going to do it, I wish they had prepared something even more amazing.) My shitty old man is watching after all.”

Gakusei ‘Aitsu ga tometa zo! Ano sukimada! Tōreru!’ 学生「あいつが止めたぞ！あの隙間だ！通れる！」 Student “He stopped them! There is a gap! We can get through!”

Todoroki Shōto ‘Yame toke. Fuantei na taisein toki ni kōra shitakara… Taoreru zo.’ 轟焦凍「やめとけ。不安定な体勢ん時に凍らしたから…倒れるぞ。」 Todoroki Shōto “Don’t do that. I froze them when they were in an unstable position… They’ll fall.”

PRESENT MIC ‘1-A Todoroki! Kōryaku to bōgai o ichido ni! Koitsu ~a SHIVYY!!! Sugee na!! Ichinu da!! ARE da na mō nanka… ZURII na.’ プレゼント・マイク「1-A 轟！攻略と妨害を一度に！こいつぁシヴィー！！ !すげえな！！一抜だ！！アレだなもうなんかズリィな！！」 Present Mic “1-A Todoroki! Conquering and disrupting at the same time! This guy is refined/gives shivers! That’s amazing!! He’s first place!! That just feel… unfair!!”

Observation notes:

Shōto is technically present in all the scenes, the entrance in the stadium, the athlete’s oath and, of course, the first event, the obstacle course race.

In the manga we however see him solely during the race. In it Shōto comes out immediately as the strongest, immediately getting first, making harder for everyone tail him by freezing their feet on the ground and destroying in a blink the robots that had caused troubles during the Hero course entrance exam.

Up till chap 16 the fact Shōto’s ice can harm others was always kept into consideration but, from this point on, the story will stop considering it and viewing it only as a way to stop others when they get trapped in it, and not as something that can cause frostbites. Shōto will then freely use it as he is doing now and let people trapped in it without anyone caring/worrying.

Something else worth to mention is that the way Shōto uses to dispose of the robot is dangerous for the others but... again the story doesn’t care because the whole course race is dangerous and no one cares (actually they play it for laughts) which makes harder to judge what he did negatively (credits when it’s due Shōto also warned the others not to try to pass but the image shows the others were way too close already and the fall could still involve them even if they were to remain where they were). Sure is Shōto comes out as superior though here we also have the first hint regarding a conflict between him and his father, in form of Shōto calling Enji ‘kuso oyaji’ (クソ親父 “shitty old man”).

On another note Bakugō’s previous insult for Shōto and the current one are both based on Shōto’s Quirk. While Shōto is no Heteromorph and their type of Quirk is the same, ‘hatsudō-gata’ (発動型 “activation/operative type”) it is interesting how Horikoshi chose to create Quirk-tied insults. From a Watsonian point of view we can suppose they are a left over of the previous discrimination over Quirks that was so pervasive even people with Quirks who don’t consciously mean to do discrimination, end up on using other people’s Quirks as a way to insult them and society accepts this as normal.

Cultural notes:

Senshu sensei (選手宣誓 “athletes’ oath”): it is a pledge made by athletes at athletic events, with the representative of the athletes vowing to “follow sportsmanship” and “fight fairly.” In Japan it is used in almost all if not all the athletics events and it is often the same as that used in the Olympics. Normally a representative from each of the participants raises their right hand diagonally forward and takes the oath. Bakugō though doesn’t raise his arm, if this is done out of disrespect or because somehow the gesture had been seen reminiscent of the Nazi salute with people proposing to change it and Horikoshi deciding he wanted to spare himself the drama is unknown.

Here you can see the one Tsubasa does in Chap 17 of “Captain Tsubasa” (キャプテン翼) a spokon manga created by mangaka Takahashi Yōichi in 1981 and which lasted till 1988.

...and just to get a more interesting comparison, the one Hyuga, Tsubasa’s rival does in answer in the following chapter and that more or less matches the one Bakugō did because BNHA takes a lot from old mangas.

Shōgaibutsukyōsō (障害物競走 lit. “obstacle course race”): it is a race in which participants compete to reach the finish line the fastest while overcoming various obstacles set up along the course and that yes, is often included in school sport festivals. It tests physical acuity and balance ability. Typical obstacles include jumping through nets, hoops, balance beams or balance disks, vaulting boxes and hurdles, using a hula hoop and doing laps. What are normally not used as obstacles are the ones we see in the manga, starting from the ‘STARTING GATE’ (スタートゲート), continuing with the ‘ROBO INFERNO’ (ロボ・インフェルノ), ‘THE FALL’ (ザ・フォール) and the ‘ichimen jiraigen’ (一面地雷原 “minefield”).

Teaching notes:

Honestly I don’t know how to consider this one. The whole obstacle course race is a deadly trap with no Hero making sure the students won’t die during it so it is horrible teachers would consider to put their students through it, especially the ones who aren’t even part of the Hero course but when something happens during the race the whole thing is ALWAYS played for laughts so no one gets seriously injured. We see it in this chapter, in which Mineta, after getting such punch from a robot, should at the very least have some broken bones or by how the robots falling, should have killed someone (but no, in the next chapter it will turn out the only two students involved couldn’t get injured this way). If the story were to keep this up and commit to be a comical manga, at least as long as the sport festival goes on, I would be fine with it and not call it out, but since the story itself mentions the dangers are real and Midoriya will end up breaking his bones during the last part of the festival I am more inclined to consider this seriously and think it is horrible teachers would let their students go throught it and THE WHOLE JAPAN would watch and not care at all.

Translation notes:

Bakugō calls Shōto ‘hanbun yarō’ (半分野郎 lit. “half guy/half bastard”). ‘Hanbun’ (半分 “half”) is likely a reference to Shōto’s Quirk while ‘yarō’ (野郎 “guy/bastard”) is a more nuanced word. It litterally means “son of the field” as to imply he is a “rustic person” and can be used to say “guy/ fellow/chap/buddy” however if you aren’t familiar with that person, it comes out as rude so it’s often translated as “bastard”. Bakugō has already used a derogatory name for Shōto that was based on his Quirk, ‘Kōri no yatsu’ (氷の奴 “ice bastard”) in chap 11, now he has officially switched to this, which he will keep on using through most of the manga.

Mineta, same as Kirishima, calls Shōto just ‘Todoroki’ (轟), without adding any suffix. He does so for all of his classmates. On a general line, when calling someone, in order to be polite, you should use the surname plus a suffix (-sama, -san, -kun…) so Mineta comes out as less formal/more casual/rude when talking with/about his classmates.

Shōto calls his father ‘kuso oyaji’ (クソ親父 “shitty old man”). Now ‘oyaji’ (親父 “old man”) is a rather nuanced word. Let’s say it’s a more colloquial-sounding way to say “father” which can also used to refer to middle-aged or elderly men. It’s not exactly rude (though some Japanese people consider it as such) but it’s definitely very informal, similar to saying “my old man” in English but (often) without an affection. Again, it’s nuanced and depends on the contest. Within one’s own family, teenage and older children, especially males, tend to start using the term to address their fathers at home. In public though, older children will typically call their own fathers ‘otō-san’. Using such word in many cases gives a ‘rough guy’ vibe. The fact that Shōto ALWAYS uses it regardless of him being in public or not, is already kind of rude as it is a clear show of disrespect. Here though he also adds ‘kuso’ (糞/くそ “shit”) to ‘oyaji’ (親父 “old man”). ‘Kuso’ (糞/くそ “shit”), usually written in katakana (クソ) is generally used as a curse word with the meaning of “shit”/“damn”/“fuck” though of course the nuance changes according to situations. Combined with ‘oyaji’ works as a pejorative and turns it into something that sounds like “shitty old man”/“damn old man”, in short makes it an insult or express angers toward that person.

I couldn’t find what ‘SHIVYY’ (シヴィー) means. It might be a deformation of ‘SHIVER’ (シヴァー), in the sense Shōto gives people shivers, but it can be a deformation of ‘shibui’ (渋い), which means “refined/elegant”. The manga went for “cold”, chosing the first option, the anime subs went for the second. Do your pick.

Now, regarding the anime version...

Episode 15 - Roaring Sports Festival (うなれ体育祭 Unare Taiikusai)

Added parts notes: We get some tiny glimpes of Shōto as class A gets inside the stadium.

They had Shōto apologize after he has iced the whole building and is running away.

Todoroki Shōto ‘Warui na.’ 轟焦凍「悪いな。」 Todoroki Shōto “Sorry.”

The anime takes advantage of the fact it is animated to expand the scene in which Shōto freezes the robot, showing it to us bit by bit.

They also added a bit more commenting from Aizawa and Yamada after Yamada comments it is almost unfair.

Aizawa Shōta ‘Gōri-teki katsu senryaku-tekina kōdōda.’ 相澤消太「合理的かつ戦略的な行動だ。」 Aizawa Shōta “That was a rational and strategic move.”

PRESENT MIC ‘Sasuga wa suisen nyūgaku-sha! Hajimete tatakatta ROBO INFERNO o mattaku yosetsukenai ELITE-ppuri da!’ プレゼント・マイク「さすがは推薦入学者！初めて戦ったロボインフェルノを全く寄せ付けないエリートっぷりだ！」 Present Mic “Just as you’d expect from a recommended student! It is the first time he fought them but the Robo Inferno couldn't even get past to his elite moves!”

Changed parts notes: In the manga Shōto contents himself with only icying the ground and the feets of the other players. In the anime he goes overboard as he seems to ice the whole building with a blast of ice of some sort (which, if done realistically, would also have sealed the exist for him as well as freeze completely all his opponents) and then as they somehow survived to that blast of ice, he iced his feets. It’s visually impressive but practically it doesn’t work well.

Teaching notes: