Boku no Hero Academia Manga – 321 & 322

Belief is a beautiful armor.

Welcome to the first season of Boku no Bachelor Academia. Man, last week was a crazy week for our fandom, wasn’t it? I actually didn’t even catch anything about the translation until I took a stroll on my tumblr and all I could see was MINETA. Ha ha. However, given Horikoshi’s nature as a writer, his love for humor and Mineta’s depraved hedonistic nature, I think this was meant as a play on words to show Mineta’s admiration for Izuku’s coolness as a hero and nothing else. Overall, chapter 321 felt like that moment when a shot is fired and we’re sitting at the edge, watching the slow-motion trajectory of the bullet until it reaches its target. Even though Mineta got everyone’s attention, the real unexpected star was Class Rep Iida. It truly felt like a personal full circle for him since the Stain incident.

Back to you, it always comes around, back to you..

Here’s a big toast to personal accountability! Many of us were expecting the conclusion to ‘Bring Deku Back’ to culminate in Deku vs. Kacchan Pt. 3, and while we did get this, it turned out to be in the form of a heart-to-heart, and not a fight. Katsuki’s redemption arc reaches its pinnacle with his apology in an emotional juxtaposition of their relationship through the ages. More than punches and taunts, it’s Katsuki’s validation of [Izuku’s] his feelings, his acknowledgement of his wrongdoings and his support that finally break down the walls Izuku has built around his heart.

We’re slow dancing in a burning room.

Throughout this series, Horikoshi’s portrayal of the general public has been, for the most part, self-centered, nearsighted, in a daze, fearful and concerned only with their own immediate safety. Which, to be honest, is a very realistic commentary of modern society. And it’s because he’s done it so well that I would actually bet that if I ever had an opportunity to sit face to face with him and ask “do you personally see the general public as being truly redeemable?” I think his real answer would be ‘no’. That in real life they are a fixed variable that needs to be worked around, and that a proper reform would result in a much darker story. But alas, shounen stories don’t always strive to be realistic. A successful powerhouse Hero story ends with viewers feeling inspired (and sometimes reality just can’t do that job). Achieving an ideal world plants a seed so whoever’s reading or watching leaves the theater or closes their comic book with their hearts filled with hope and wishes for a better world.

“Fear is a disease, hope is its only cure.”
– Star Wars, The Clone Wars.

In his deathbed, Sir Nighteye speaks about the combined energy of those who believe in a bright future. “When one doesn’t allow for doubt, a vision that strong, energy from wishing.” Though unfortunately, like ‘can’tcha see kid’ said after Dabi’s reveal as Todoroki Toya “(…) people are gonna lose faith over this! (…) especially with all this damage and destruction.” The truth is that this energetic flow has been disrupted for a while, but now we’ve reached the lowest point of despair. We’ve been seeing through Ochako’s lenses just how much this imbalance has been weighing heavily on the shoulders of heroes, the ones putting their lives on the line for civilians. They have no emotional refuge, they’ve lost the energy of belief.
“A world without smiles and humor has no bright future.” We first hear that Ochako’s main motivation to become a hero is “money”, but we soon find out that’s not really the case. She wants to be able to financially support her parents so they’ll no longer look so sad and tired, so they will smile again. Then we learn that the memory living inside of her heart from when she first saw a hero in action, was actually people’s expression and how they were all smiling, inspired by the heroism.
And now we have reached the answer to her question. If heroes are the ones who bring smiles to the face of people, if they are the ones who save people when they’re in trouble. “Who will save heroes when they’re the ones in trouble?” Who will bring smiles to the faces of heroes? The people.

“Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you see it, you’ll never make it through the night.”
– Leia Organa.

This new ideal society Horikoshi’s trying to build can’t sustain itself solely on the shoulders of the hero community. And it seems like Ochako will be the bearer of this message. Her voice will be the one to reach the masses and tap into their hope for a brighter future. Horikoshi passes to her the mantle of the Mother Archetype. A place of sympathy, compassion, magic transformation and rebirth, a female authority, like Princess Leia from Star Wars. Luke may be the chosen one destined to save the galaxy from destruction, but she’s the one who speaks to the people.

Small ps: how freaking cute is Thirteen?!