Wish the season 5 dub would come to Hulu. That's where I watched the whole series before, not to mention that I don't have cable.
Spoiler Okay, I can already tell that Lady Nagant is going to be a new favorite of mine. Cool quirk, cool design, cool name, seems to have an interesting history as a former supervisor of the Hero Public Safety Commission before somehow ending up in Tartarus and now wishes to see society fall apart. I'm intrigued! I'm still personally kinda bummed that Re-Destro, Geten and the other MLA guys (minus Skeptic it seems) have been sidelined for the time being, hopefully they pop up again in the near future because I wanna see more of them. Very much been enjoying season 5 so far as well.
Spoiler: Latest Subbed Episode This arc has been a disappointment. First Yaomomo's leadership and Tokoyami's Black Fallen Angel lost, then Todoroki's Wall of Flames and Tenya's Recipro Turbo got a tie but we're supposed to believe Bakugou's "brilliant" leadership caused a flawless victory in less than 5 minutes. I'm calling Creator's Pet on him. The story keeps telling me he's changed but he still acts like the same self absorbed bully. Oh well, still looking forward to Izuku's match with Shinsou.
Spoiler Well it wouldn’t exactly be super interesting if they all win their matches. Cause 1B is better then them in some places. And Bakugo’s development is more of the subtle sort, I’ve found. I’m pretty sure if I ask the right question over on SpaceBattles someone will list them all. His personality is always going to be the same, the devil is in the details with him. This arc isn’t the best I’ll admit, but it makes for good eye candy. This is pretty much page for page how it happened in the manga. If anything this arc helps lull you into a false sense of security, right before the next one rips the rug out from under you. Trust me, once that arc starts, we’ll miss the lighthearted stuff. I’m assuming your anime only.
You are correct that I haven't read the manga but I'm not spoiler averse and already know some of what happens next. Spoiler My problem isn't really that they lost their matches but that they lost their matches and Bakugou won his. He berated 2 of his team mates, gave the barest of orders, then was miraculously there whenever the other team tried something so he could have his effortless victory. It didn't feel earned. The others felt like they could have gone either way and even though I'd gladly trade Yaomomo's loss for Bakugou's victory, I didn't mind her losing. I'll be honest, Bakugou is my second least favorite character so when you combine that with what I perceive as his Creator Pet status, I was never going to like this episode and needed to vent at the only BNHA community I'm kind of a part of.
Eh, understandable. Spoiler I can't stand Bakugo either so his unearned victory felt really stupid. Especially for all the reasons that you stated in your post.
Spoiler: Episode 3 dub on Toonami I officially hate Monoma because he’s a self-aggrandizing egomaniac who does nothing but talk down to Class 1-A
I was given this a counter argument. Spoiler ”I’ve debated with someone on YouTube over this and they honestly raised a different criticism over why they see Bakugou being a “Creator’s Pet” or “Mary Sue” and that’s how him being an asshole is just ignored in favor of his better qualities by both the narrative and the characters. Let me explain... Now regardless of whether you like Bakugou or not, what cannot be denied is that Bakugou is changing. Both in how he acts on the field and during exercises (like this one against 1-B) as a hero by prioritizing rescue and cooperation over going lone wolf and trying to take down the villain, and also in his ideologies and what he believes victory as a hero truly means (with him defining it as Saving and Winning like All Might told him). But what also can’t be denied is that he’s still...well...a total fucking asshole. He’s still incredibly rude, arrogant, disrespectful, and his talent along with his drive are still the only few good things about him and to that person, that’s a problem. To them, it came off as inconsistent when Bakugou would tell kids not to ignore their weaknesses, explain to Endeavor he wants to become a better person, and acknowledge his bullying towards Midoriya with All Might only to turn around and pretty much disrespect the previous One For All users and still act like a complete jerk to Deku and his classmates in casual settings. Characters and the Story and even Bakugou himself have all acknowledged his shitty attitude, yet he still has it with all the other characters either ignoring him or just treating him as a class clown. Besides Best Jeanist we haven’t had a character actually take Bakugou’s behavior seriously and try to force him to be better. Hell Vault Boy brought up a good point about how even though Bakugou failed because he was an asshole, he didn’t reflect on it and instead focused on the guilt he was feeling over his kidnapping. I actually think that describes what quite a few people, including myself at times, consider to be one of the biggest flaws about his development and that it focuses more so on Bakugou’s flaws and failings as a hero instead of as a person. So when people see characters acknowledge his growth but ignore when he’s an asshole, watchers and readers may take it as the narrative playing favorites with Bakugou. I personally don’t think that because A) the narrative has instead acknowledged how his behavior isn’t good and B) changing a person’s personality and habits isn’t done overnight and the Manga even has a panel about how Katsuki yells at Izuku not because he’s pissed but because that’s how he’s used to talking to Izuku. But I can see why people have a problem with that. I do personally think that Horikoshi could dile back on Bakugou’s assholeishness or at least make it more entertaining like Wolverine or Iron Man cause it can be a bit jarring seeing Bakugou switch from being mature to immature at the drop of a hat. Then again, he is based off overly hyperactive and loudmouthed Shonen protags who do the same thing so maybe that’s on purpose.” And this smaller one. ”Well while I'm largely gonna stay out of this, according to an interview with Horikoshi Bakugou was initially meant to be written as a horrible character (though he did admit he went overboard in hindsight) before Horikoshi decided to flesh him out more after his first fight with Deku and him crying at the end. He also acknowledges the hate Bakugou gets, that he really was horrible at the start and essentially that it's deserved even though the character's taking steps to remedy that. Now people argue over the quality of this development and whether or not it's better to keep the asshole personality in light of that, but frankly it's doubtful Bakugou fits the definition of Creator's Pet, especially with the author's remarks and looking at its description on TVTropes.” I’ll drop it with this, and I’ll just agree to disagree.
I think we're out of spoiler territory and just discussing Bakugou now so I'm dropping the spoiler tags. I definitely agree with you that one of the problems is that Bakugou's development is focused on being a better hero without him trying to be a better person. I think part of the problem to me is that what Horikoshi describes as "going overboard" was what was most interesting about the series that got pushed to the wayside after the Sports Festival and Stain arcs. The idea that villains aren't the only ones hurting this world but that this whole public hero ranking system makes victims out of those with weak or no quirks and turns the children of some pro heroes like Todoroki into weapons or tools for their parents. Just dropping that Bakugou told Izuku to jump off a building instead of acknowledging it makes the story more generic. Of course Bakugou's a hero, he's in the Hero Course. There's no reason to question that when the story is actually about hero's fighting villains who are clearly labelled for you as the League of Villains. Regardless, trying to ease Bakugou into being a more palatable character after he suicide baits the guy he used to bully without him feeling the need to apologize to his former victim who he still sees everyday and continues to insult at every chance comes off as ungenuine and bad writing. I am willing to agree to disagree with you as well but I also like civil debates like this and wanted to respond. Feel free to respond or not as you see fit.
Just because someone is an asshole with asshole tendencies doesn't mean they can't be a good hero on duty. People really need to move past the whole "jump off a building comment" it was one scene and Horikoshi has made it clear that he went a overboard and he was unhappy with it. Sometimes when a manga just starts out it's a bit rough around the edges before it solidifies its identity. They're already doing enough to show that heroes are flawed people that contribute to the 'system' in their own ways, are you a manga reader by chance or just watching the Anime? Because maybe that's the issue I'm running into here, you're looking at an incomplete picture. Sometimes it takes awhile for characters to develop, this isn't a new thing. Maybe Deku is strong on his own and doesn't need an apology to be alright with Bakugou. Are you seriously gonna argue that Bakugou can never be 'redeemed' because he said 'kill yourself' to someone once when he was a shithead teenager??
He can certainly be redeemed as a character. I would just argue that Horikoshi isn't really doing a good job of that. Sure, he's making him a better hero, but not necessarily a better person. I'm pretty up to date on the manga and I personally still think that Bakugo is a raging asshole... though I will say that recent events do show that he at least gives a shit about Midoriya in his own way... though even that might boil down to his own selfishness.
Spoiler I'll give you that since he cares about becoming the next top hero, he could become the next pre AFO vs OFA Endeavor, a high ranking hero on paper but so long as he treats people as "extras" I don't believe he could be an effective leader as implied in the last episode. His next big character defining moment was almost killing Izuku with his explosive bracer in the trial matches. Like I already mentioned, up until season 2 I thought the series was mostly consistent and going somewhere with Bakugou and others. It is only after season 3 where Bakugou neither joins the villains nor reflects on why they thought he was a perfect recruit and changes his behavior that I believe the series 'solidified its identity' of still having him behave like a bully but excusing his behavior under a false veneer of "growth". Already mentioned that I know of some of what happens later but am primarily anime only. I know of the aftermath of the PLW Arc if that is what you are referring to. This isn't about Izuku needing an apology or not. This is about Bakugou's moral character or lack there of. Does he even regret how he treated Izuku in the past? I would think not considering how he treats him and the rest of the class. Of course not, but redemption comes with a change of behavior. He is still a shithead teenager and if he keeps treating everyone the way he does he'll grow up to be a shithead adult.
I appreciate you both taking the time to respond to my post. I'll try to address everything. I dunno, I think he's doing a fine job and people just need to be more patient. He's doing an amazing job with Enji's arc of atonement / redemption so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in regards to this. It's really hard to make definitive statements when it's an ongoing story and we can only go off of incomplete information. I guess what I may have not have made clear in my initial post is that he doesn't necessarily have to be a better person to be a better hero, in many ways he's a lot like Enji, it may take him a few years to grow is all. I definitely think he's an asshole but I don't fault Hori over it or think it's a 'flaw', some of my favorite characters are assholes. You're free to dislike them for their attitude but a character having a nasty attitude doesn't make them a bad character. Him having selfish motivations doesn't make him a bad character or bad person necessarily either. Maybe he does regret what he's said but he doesn't seem like the type of person to come out with it. What do we know about his home life? We know his mother appears to have a temper, maybe that's where he gets at least some of his abrasive attitude from? I'm not accusing Mitsuki of being abusive since she doesn't seem like a bad parent necessarily, but we still don't know that much about their living situation. Being praised all his life for his quirk probably hasn't done him any favors either in regards to the pride and ego that will naturally manifest in him. Despite how often he appears there's still a lot we don't know about him and how he feels about things, but despite all of his negative qualities he does appear to have a solid moral foundation and has shown that when the chips are down he tends to usually do the right thing. I guess what I'm asking is maybe just be more patient, he's an asshole and I can definitely understand that being a turn off, but compare Enji to when he was first introduced during the Sports arc and compare it to now. Maybe I'll be wrong in the end but as someone who has kept up closely with basically everything this series has to offer, I think Bakugou is a good guy who just struggles with his pride and ego, like Enji has in the past, he talks a lot of smack but I think a lot of that is just hot air. He cares about his friends, he cares about Deku, he just doesn't exactly know how to show it. A moment that's small but I really, really liked between him and Deku was after their second match and Bakugou learns the truth about All-Might and Deku's quirk, when he sort of off-handedly offers Deku advice for improving his technique. In his own way I think that was his way of showing that he does care, even if he does a great job making it look like he doesn't. Some people just be like that.
@Novaburnhilde, why is it that I can agree with you in regards to MHA and MLP, and yet with the MCU and comic related stuff I couldn’t disagree more?
Well, you're not wrong that he doesn't really have to be a better person to be a better hero. When it comes to how Horikoshi is writing Bakugo's redemption it just feels like no one's addressing his shitty attitude... the only character that even tried to do that was Best Jeanist while everyone else is just like "ah, that's just how Bakugo is". Which, when you contrast that to Enji's redemption arc... well you've got his kids calling him out and saying it isn't all forgiveness and sunshine and he's going to have to work on a lot. Which, to Enji's credit he's accepting the criticism and trying to work on all of that by admitting that he has to show and not tell. I don't see the same with Bakugo... at least not yet. Maybe in the future after the recent manga events, Spoiler since I doubt Horikoshi plans on killing him off even after the blow he took for Midoriya, Bakugo'll start to have a legit change of heart... or something like it. Admittedly sometimes it can take characters some time to change. I absolutely love Vegeta, but in all honestly, it wasn't until Super that he started really acting like a good father and husband. So, yeah, I can see where you're coming from in that aspect.
The new episode that happened... GODDAMNIT WOW! Spoiler They did such an awesome job animating Blackwhip! It was a real treat!
