What are your favorite bnha arcs? I love reading your rankings but I dont remember seeing them for bnha. Thank you :D

Sure 😀

1) Hideout Raid. The most powerful thematically. It had me on the edge of my seat reading, focused entirely on the main conflict, and had the pro-hero work and the work of UA students perfectly intertwined

2) Sports Festival. Todoroki’s first focus happens here, and it’s the moment that sold me on BNHA as a story: seeing him realize his power was his own :’’)

3) Pro Hero. I love the Todoroki family drama, so the focus on it was great. Plus, Hawks is a fantastic character with a ton of potential.

4) Hero Killer. I love this arc too. Stain is a good villain, Iida’s arc was really well written, Todoroki showing up to help showing that he has in fact grown…

5) Unforeseen Joint Simulation. I really liked the focus on Asui, and the introduction of all the characters and the villains.

6) Forest Training Camp. Mostly set up for the Hideout Raid. It was genuinely great to read, though. I love this and am surprised it’s not higher.

7) Internship/Overhaul. An excellent arc. Dark for sure, but Eri is great and Mirio is best boy.

8) Final Exams. I loved the character arc of Momo in this.

9) Cultural Festival. It had some really touching moments with Gentle and La Brava, Eri, and Jirou, but it didn’t offer a ton to the overall plot.

10) Remedial Course. It’s hilarious and set up the Pro Hero Arc really well.

11) Entrance Exam. A good intro arc.

12) Battle Trial. A good extension of an intro arc.

13) Hero License. It’s not itself bad, but it’s a bit… long and out of place. Unlike the Cultural Festival, which offsets the heaviness of the Overhaul Arc quite well, this takes the extremely real reality of the main plot and its danger from the Hideout Raid and then we immediately delve back into school trainings, treating it with the same weight and seriousness. I genuinely think that attitude–treating the school simulations with the same seriousness of the main plot–is BNHA’s greatest weakness as a story.

14) Joint Training. It’s not over yet but it kind of takes the same issue of the Hero License exam and multiplies it after the weightiness of the Pro Hero Arc. I am excited to see more of Shinsou & the vestiges, of course, but it really reads as pure filler most of the time.

I believe we won’t get information about touya or dabi in 30 chapters

Maybe, maybe not. It doesn’t really matter to me so long as the story is compelling.

I’m not really into doom and gloom predictions; I tend to have faith the story will be the best it can be, even if not perfect because no story is, until proved beyond reasonable doubt that it won’t be which is usually like, at the very end if at all. If we have to wait for more Touya/Dabi, I’m okay with that so long as it works for the story. If we don’t have to wait I’m even more okay with that because it’s definitely my favorite subplot by a lot, but it’s hard to tell what will happen after this arc since a lot of it seems to be filler.

Judging by the pattern though, the arcs over the past 100 chapters seem to be alternating in pattern, though of course this doesn’t have to continue since the beginning arcs seemed to entwine the UA-focus and plot relevancy, heaviness and lightness together more. It’s been like… heavy & plot relevant (Hideout Raid), light & UA-focused (Licensing Exam), heavy and plot relevant (Overhaul), light & UA-focused (Cultural Festival), heavy & plot relevant (Pro-Hero), light & UA focused (the current arc). So I’m suspecting the next arc might be heavier again, but I hope it weaves in UA focus a bit more than, say, the Pro-Hero arc did. That’s what I’d like to see, anyways. If Horikoshi goes another way and it works, that’s fine, if it has Dabi-Touya drama, even better, but if not, also fine.

Between Frost and Flame – linkzeldi – 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia [Archive of Our Own]

Chapters: 1/24
Fandom: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki & Uraraka Ochako, Todoroki Shouto/Yaoyorozu Momo, Kaminari Denki/Shinsou Hitoshi, Dabi/Hawks (My Hero Academia), Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Fukukado Emi | Ms. Joke
Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Uraraka Ochako, Todoroki Shouto, Yaoyorozu Momo, Kaminari Denki
Summary:

When the king of flames Endeavor has an assassination attempt made on his life, he summons his son Todoroki home to make him return to the duties of a prince. However, rather than return home alone Todoroki brings three of his friends which complicates things, further complicating things is the rise of a group of bandits on the border led by a self proclaimed Bandit King Dabi. Todoroki realizes there are a lot more parties involved into his family drama then he had ever thought possible, and can no longer keep his lineage as a prince a secret to himself.

Fic rec!! My talented friend @linkspooky is blessing you with the Uraraka and Momo development you always wanted, complete with Todomomo, Bakuraka, a fantasy setting, and brewing Todoroki family drama. (Seriously, the first chapter is really good, I gotta recommend it!)

Between Frost and Flame – linkzeldi – 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia [Archive of Our Own]

What did you think of snk/bnha/tg/hxh/black butler when you read the first chapter?

LOL okay haha.

SnK: I saw the anime before I read the manga, so I’m going to answer this by “first episode.” I was horrified and didn’t want to continue but my sister convinced me to and I was sold. I was also sold on Armin and Eren from the very first episode and texted my sister “EREN has no concept of chill” and to this day EREN is always in caps lock when we text about him. Like my phone autocorrects “Eren” to “EREN” and honestly? It fits.

BNHA: I read the manga first. I thought it would be darker than it was and was wondering if we’d see Deku getting super powers be deconstructed into “be careful what you wish for.” We’re clearly not going there and that’s fine–I really do love what we have.

TG: Again, I watched the anime first and was hesitant. I was sold by the time the Dove Arc came around though because Touka and Mado’s confrontation gets me every time.

HxH: Don’t do what I did, which is read the first 50 chapters on a plane when you’ve been awake going on 50 hours. I’m not exaggerating. I was interested but not completely captured until I reread when, you know. Not sleep deprived. OH I was also getting over the flu during this flight. All that to say, my first impressions were severely muddled and thank Link and Sugar for convincing me to finish, because DAMN I was so wrong.

Black Butler: Ciel had my heart from the start, and I was instantly intrigued by the way it deconstructs its characters and different literary tropes. Like, Faust is one of my favorite stories, so reading about a twisted Faust wherein it asks “what if instead of being ‘uwu power,’ Faust is a traumatized child?” instantly had me hooked.

you know i noticed something when dabi said the “hero killers will im going to make it reality” something tells me he doesn’t just admire the hero killer remember what stain said to endevoir? and endevoir was the one credited with his capture? I thought that this here is about exposing endevoir for his revenge I thought this here was refereing to endevoir

Yep. Endeavor very much is the embodiment of what Stain’s philosophy wants to take down, as well. If Dabi is Touya, that probably is part of what motivated him as well–specific revenge on Endeavor.

What do you think about The Big 3 of BNHA?

Nejire is lovely, but thus far, she doesn’t really have focus. She has potential though and I really hope it gets developed.

Tamaki and especially Mirio, on the other hand, are well done AF. Tamaki’s anxiety makes him interesting to me especially given that he wants to be a hero, but doesn’t appear to jive with the fame or esteem that comes with it. He just wants to be a hero.

His friendship with Mirio is also endearing, and Tamaki and Mirio’s relationship foils Bakugou and Deku’s. They are two childhood friends, but without the rivalry Deku and Bakugou come with, and are wholly supportive of each other. My guess is we’ll see Bakugou and Deku growing in this direction even if they’re never like BFFs.

Mirio in particular seems to foil Deku in that he notes his family wasn’t able to be heroes because of their quirks (rather than Deku not being able to be one because he didn’t have a quirk in the beginning) but he works really, really damn hard to not only get into UA but become a candidate for OFA and a strong hero. His relationship with Night Eye definitely parallels Deku’s with All Might (and, tbh, it’s end is exactly what I expect for Deku and All Might) in how much Night Eye believed in him. Mirio’s relationship if you will with his quirk also is the inverse of Deku’s with his quirk: Deku starts out without a quirk, Mirio ends up without one (currently. I do think Eri will give him his quirk back eventually).

And Mirio also shows that you don’t have to have a quirk to be a hero: you can still save people without one. You can still be someone’s hero, as he tells Eri he is her hero. He is the utmost of Deku’s ideal of a hero: someone who saves people, and he can do without his quirk too. Mirio therefore is a refutation to Endeavor’s philosophy of having to develop the strongest quirk to be the best hero.

I love Mirio.

If Dabi is a Todoroki, and why wouldn’t he be at this point, I want to see Todoroki family reacting. Although I’m not sure how I feel about seeing already-traumatized Rei doing some super-ugly crying. Although I do want to see someone who’s been used and abused making a stand for her children, even the lost soul, ESPECIALLY the lost soul. Shouto can show his brother that not all is dark, I’m sure now (soft Dabi panel was the clincher, I feel). I hope Endeavor’s house of cards comes down at last.

Yeah, I do think Dabi is almost certainly a Todoroki at this point, but until it’s confirmed I’m going to try to sound cautious but it’s. Hard. Lol. But I want to see Dabi’s family wanting him saved, and my guess is we would–Natsuo clearly refuses to forget his brother whatever happened to him, Fuyumi just wants her family back so presumably that would include Touya, Rei loves her kids, and while I think Dabi likely presumes Shouto is Endeavor 2.0 right now he is very much not, and I’d like to see Shouto being Dabi’s hero and saving this idiot from himself. Though I think Endeavor would play a significant role as well.

Considering the new chapter, it sounds like the Todorokis think the fourth sibling is dead. Even Endeavor’s thoughts seem to indicate he thinks so too. I just don’t understand how though? I mean unless we get the cliche of Dabi “fell from a high cliff” and his body was never recovered it doesn’t make sense for Endeavor not to know.

Yeah. As I said previously, I want to wait for further translations before I fully speculate, but yeah, the MS translation definitely sounds like that, and if Dabi is Touya his comments last chapter indicate that as well.

At the same time, I also think there is not much evidence that they lost a child prior to the most recent chapters, so… idk, I would think that should have been foreshadowed earlier if that’s what Horikoshi’s going for. The “incident” in their family has always seemed to revolve around Rei pouring boiling water on Shouto’s face, not the death of a child–though it is certainly possible that that is a reason why Rei broke. Then again that might just be the author’s way of hinting narratively that said lost child is not actually dead.

My personal preference is just that Touya ran away soon after Rei snapped and they haven’t seen him in ten years. But that doesn’t entirely explain why they don’t recognize him, though Endeavor’s vision was noted to be blurred last chapter and Shouto would have been extremely young (again presuming Touya is Dabi, which, at this point, is pretty obvious and definitely the most satisfying answer. Him just like… having been friends with a dead Touya would then be like–well, why not give Dabi’s name?). All that to say I think you’re right and it’s more likely he faked his death.

In a story like this there are a lot of possibilities for how someone like Dabi might have faked his death and it may explain why he is so scarred to the point where he is not recognizable. Either way, we know now that Touya is the shortest sibling and also still the oldest, so not to perpetuate stereotypes as a relatively short person myself, but narratively that’s probably a way of the author indicating he was perceived as weaker than his siblings.

Also, in Japan cremation is more common than burials (by a lot, like a lot a lot), so there are a lot of possibilities there. Aaaaaaand guess what Dabi means: “cremation.”

could you please talk about what shoto’s ideal of a hero should be is?

In short: Not Like Enji.

Haha, but actually. It’s similar to All Might, mostly in that he wants to be someone whom people can look up to–and who is worth looking up to, as opposed to being two-faced like Endeavor was until very recently. Like, if Bakugou’s definition is someone who wins and Deku’s is someone who saves people, Shouto’s is in the middle as someone who is the best but also is a good person, and that… wholeness is of paramount important.

Shouto’s primary conflict in the Tournament Arc is about wanting to be himself and surpass his father on his own merits, but at the same time inhibiting himself because he refuses to accept half of who he is (having a fire quirk).

If it seems contradictory it’s because Shouto is a character of paradoxes right down to his quirk. His main flaws are paradoxical themselves: a tendency to rely too much on himself (Hero Licensing exam arc, anyone?) and a tendency to, at the same time, define himself and others by the traits passed onto them (ie by how other people have affected them). Which is why he relies too much on himself: he doesn’t want to be defined by what’s gone in to making him who he is, because he doesn’t yet understand that he gets to grab the pen and decide for himself what defines him.

Shouto wants to be a hero who is the best in every single way, who is exactly as he appears to be inside and out, in the public eye and in private. Those are all good desires, but he isn’t going to be able to be the best or be the same person inside and out unless he learns to accept the parts of himself he’s afraid of (his heritage being Endeavor’s son, his fire quirk, etc.) but choose for himself what that means for him.

That’s why Dabi is such a good villain foil for him: he overuses his quirk likely to the point of injuring himself, he is also driven by Stain’s ideology of a hero being a spotless person inside and out (kind of Shouto’s idea but taken to an extreme) and he too is driven by defining himself based on… something related to family as shown in the most recent chapter (especially if he is Shouto’s brother, which he probably is, because he is likely referring to his own family then).

If Dabi is related to him, I think it would make sense for Dabi’s mockery of Shouto to be based at least in part on not knowing his kid brother super well and perhaps assuming he’s just like Endeavor. And, of course, Dabi learning that Shouto is actually the hero Endeavor was not during his childhood might actually be part of what helps Dabi find redemption, which I do expect after the latest chapter.

Ok, I’m hooked. I’m invested and I care….about that damn amazing hero manga I desperately tried to avoid learning about. I’m trying to not remember the name of it right now so as to conceal my love. Why? I thought with TG being done I was almost free…

HAHA it’s not nearly as deep thematically as TG but it’s tightly written and fun, with some really cool and intriguing characters. Plus two villain characters are pretty much guaranteed redemption so if you liked that aspect of TG you will probably like that aspect of BNHA. *wipes tears* AND it has a really excellent anime adaptation! What I would give for a TG adaptation of that quality. A lot. I’d give a lot. Lol.

read iiiiiiiiiiit