Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo have a strained but ever deepening relationship with one another throughout the manga My Hero Academia. Growing up in the same neighborhood and school district Bakugo and Midoriya have been intrinsically linked from the very beginning and despite how drastically differently they've been treated up until this point, their relationship with each other can say a lot about the characters individually and what that may mean for them in the future. Today, I'd like to discuss that in-depth.
Right out of the gate, Bakugo and Midoriya have drastically different beginnings despite being born into relatively similar family lives, financial situations, and social setting. Right out of the gate, Midoriya and Bakugo were both inspired by All-Might to become heroes when they get older but the two took drastically different takeaways from that inspiration.
Midoriya was inspired by All-Might's ability to not only help as many people as were in his sight but to inspire hope and dissipate fear while he did so. Meanwhile, Bakugo was inspired by All-Might's raw power and decided that to be the number 1 hero you had to be the single strongest fighter. Of course I'll talk more about this as we go on but keep it in the back of your mind for now because these two takeaways are very important for how the characters will develop later in life.
Of course Bakugo was always highly praised for being outgoing and generally capable in a fight and Midoriya followed him for that reason but these reasons were always superficial. Even his mother notes that despite everyone respecting and revering Bakugo, none of them were capable of seeing him for what he really is.
Midoriya was far more timid but almost because of that fact he wanted to be just like Bakugo perhaps because he saw that as a starting point for getting to be like All-Might. This all comes to a head, however, after Bakugo develops his quirk, Explosion. Bakugo saw this incredibly powerful quirk as a means of reaching All-Might's status and used it as a method of propping up his pride and confidence as he saw himself better than everyone else.
Meanwhile, Midoriya was told that he would never develop a quirk and this led to everyone seeing him as inferior to everyone else, especially Bakugo, who thinks and even says with impunity that Midoriya is worthless because he's quirkless.
A lot of what I've said so far is just restating what a lot of others have said in the past, particularly Explanation Point, however, what nobody I've seen has talked about before is how Bakugo is in a lot of ways just a superior version of what every other kid he knew is.
Most people don't seem to realize or at least talk about this, however, Bakugo like all the other students at his school believes that all it takes to be the greatest hero is raw power and, like that insufferable kid in Black Clover, that Quirks are everything in the superhuman society. Everybody in that school thought they'd become a great hero and everybody in that school believed Midoriya would never amount to anything. And it is precisely this reason that Midoriya was chosen to be All-Might's successor and not Bakugo.
This all finally culminates in Midoriya's meeting with All-Might where he finally asks if he can become a hero without a quirk. Naturally, Midoriya knows he's at a significant disadvantage without a quirk but he figured if he works harder than everyone else he could eventually make up the difference. However, All-Might flat out tells him that you can't be a hero without a quirk. The simple fact of the matter is that some villains simply cannot be defeated without powers. Granted, I would say a fairly large number of villains are nowhere near as strong as Shigaraki or Chisaki, however, if a quirkless hero like Midoriya were to go up against either of them, that would cease to matter.
Midoriya ends up walking to the scene of the sludge villain attacking Bakugo on pure habit and sees that he needs help. Midoriya runs in unable to think and unable to stop to try to rescue Bakugo from the Sludge Villain even when the very Symbol of Peace himself was backing down due to his limitation. This act spurs All-Might into rescuing them both and makes him choose Midoriya as his successor.
Now even though All-Might says that it's just because he rushed in without thinking, the choice seems to be a bit more nuanced than that. Granted, it hasn't been revealed how every student in every school reacts to someone without a quirk, however, considering how unanimous it was for Midoriya's class that he was seen as worthless and unable to amount to anything that I'm going to go out on a limb and say that for All-Might Bakugo would've just been more of the same.
Sure Bakugo has a really powerful quirk, and he's skilled at using it, he's quite intelligent, and generally capable in combat. However, we see from Bakugo repeatedly throughout the anime and manga that he wants the fame, fortune, and respect that comes from being the number 1 hero rather than the responsibility that entails. He's just like everybody else, he may be better but that's all he is, a better version of what every other kid his age is. He doesn't have the moral compass or ability to inspire hope that the Symbol of Peace requires.
Midoriya is the exact opposite. Likely due to the way he was brought up, he was inspired by All-Might, yes, but part of me suspects that he wants to help people well into adulthood because nobody was there to help him when he needed it. More than almost anybody that we've seen, with the possible exception of Kirishima, Midoriya knows what it's like to be powerless and wishes to help others out of it.
In the event with the sludge villain, we see exactly what dilemma All-Might was dealing with play out in real time. A kid with a powerful quirk who is only powerful, or a kid with no power who has exactly the qualities that his predecessor saw in him. For All-Might the choice was clear.
Now we'll skip ahead by ten months to the UA Entrance Exam and here we see more of what Midoriya had been battling with all of his life: people judging him as worthless for his outward demeanor rather than his actual qualities and capability. This all ends with Midoriya rescuing Uraraka from the Zero Point robot and getting to number 7 on the chart through only rescue points. Now Iida saw right away as the exam ended that perhaps there were other parameters than just combat ability for making it into UA, something that Midoriya doesn't recognize but that All-Might explains anyway.
Once they actually get into UA roughly two days in after Midoriya and Uraraka win the hero exercise, we start to see a shift in the relationship between Midoriya and Bakugo.
Now as I said earlier, Midoriya was the one who was constantly picked on and bullied for being quirkless and having no capability while Bakugo was revered for being great. I'm sure they all thought he was an unbelievable asshole but for people in that environment it was okay that he was an asshole because he was really strong.
However, upon entering UA we see that being really powerful isn't enough to get respect anymore, since pretty much everybody in UA's hero course, barring a select few that I've railed on before, are close to as powerful.
Meanwhile Midoriya was receiving far more praise for being able to get as far as he has despite his obvious disadvantage against everyone else for having a quirk that breaks his, well, everything. Here, the two start to get seen far more for what they are and Midoriya is respected more for it because while both are fairly capable on the inside, Midoriya has a lot more heart, which allows him to get along with everyone else better.
This is something that infuriates Bakugo because, for all of his life, he's seen battle power as the single most important trait a hero needs to have to become number 1, and while it is important to an extent, as we see further into the manga, if power is all you have, you'll never make it.
Not only that but Bakugo's not as far ahead in power as he thought he was to begin with. Not only are characters like Kirishima, Tokoyami, and Todoroki closer to his level than he deems comfortable, but even Midoriya has gotten so much closer to his level than he ever thought he would.
This causes some maturation on the part of Bakugo. Bakugo starts to see this adversity as something to be overcome not only because he still has the drive to be the best but also because he recognizes that being the best in a shit pool is not nearly as gratifying as being the best of a great pool. So he begins to apply himself a bit more and starts respecting the efforts of his opponents far more because he recognizes that they are not inferior to him. Even against Uraraka in the Sports Festival he doesn't disrespect or demean her efforts because he knows she deserves to have gotten as far as she has.
As we go through the sports festival, everybody is fighting for dominion in terms of overall battle ability but Midoriya once again stands out as being a worthy successor to All-Might for choosing the heroic path of helping another student, in this case, Todoroki overcome his demons instead of focusing on crushing the competition. Even as everybody else is in awe at the spectacle of giant anime techniques, All-Might recognizes that Midoriya did the right thing. He may have sacrificed the win in the process but he ultimately helped a fellow classmate begin his road to recovery and setting him on the right path, something that only a true hero could do and something that Bakugo doesn't give a flying fuck about.
Throughout Season 2, Midoriya aides in the recovery of two of his classmates into better heroes and better people: the first is Todoroki during the sports festival and the other is Iida during the Hosu Incident. Iida, blinded by revenge for the attack on his brother, hunts down the Hero Killer and in turn ends up showing that he's not as mature or ready for the role as he thought he was. Midoriya, jumping in at the last minute, decides to help Iida for the same reason he helped Todoroki, because helping when you don't need to is the essence of being a hero. That in itself is the reason the Hero Killer deems Midoriya worthy of sparing. He sees him as equal to All-Might and spares him because he doesn't want to waste the life of someone who will follow in his footsteps.
Though Bakugo is not present for this fight, I think it's pretty clear that if Bakugo had fought the Hero Killer, Stain would've killed him without a second thought because he's just as bad as the fakes he is already killing.
After this not much is seen of Bakugo or his struggles until after the defeat of All For One and Midoriya develops Full Cowl Shoot Style. At this point, Bakugo invites Midoriya out for a battle and a discussion.
Now, I didn't bring this up earlier primarily because it wasn't important until now, however, in Season 1 Midoriya tells Bakugo that he inherited his power from someone else. At the time Bakugo thinks he's just talking nonsense. However, as time passes, Bakugo starts to put two and two together and realizes that Midoriya is All-Might's successor.
This combined with the strain of not having proven to be the best and the guilt he feels for All-Might losing his power and status force him to challenge Midoriya as he's questioning if everything he's thought up until this point has been wrong.
Here Bakugo starts to realize something, and it's the very thing that I've been talking about so far: for a long time he thought power was all that was necessary to become Number 1. However, Midoriya who had no quirk prior to this was given that power by All-Might who deemed him worthy. If power were all that was necessary, he would've been All-Might's successor, not Midoriya. So, does that mean everything he believed was wrong?
Well he fights Midoriya thinking that it's to confirm his suspicion when in reality it's just to blow off steam and make himself feel better. This battle is the catalyst for Bakugo's further maturation into what he is in the present of the manga. Bakugo defeats Midoriya but it doesn't change the fact that Midoriya was the one who was deemed worthy.
This causes the secret of One For All to be shared with Bakugo and a lot of pent up emotions are released both within Midoriya and Bakugo.
Following this, what we see is a subtle change in Bakugo's behavior that signifies his growth at this point. During their punishment for breaking curfew where they clean the dorms, Bakugo gives Midoriya a small piece of advice on how to improve his shoot style. Granted, it's pretty vague, and it doesn't substitute for actual mentorship but the fact is that Bakugo wouldn't have given this advice at all prior to this event.
Here Bakugo shows a slight glimmer of respect for Midoriya. It's not to the point of full cooperation and he still has his drive to succeed but he recognizes that Midoriya is getting there whether he wants him to or not and has somewhat come to terms with that fact.
Currently, Bakugo's motivations in relation to Midoriya are as yet unclear but if I were to hazard a guess, I would say he'll eventually get to the point of helping Midoriya with combat training, either through sparring or practical advice.
Of course we see more bits and pieces of this later on. Firstly, during the remedial course for those who failed the second phase of the Hero License exam, Bakugo shows that he's learned from his mistakes with Midoriya by giving advice on how to improve to an arrogant child, that being that you can't improve and recognize your failings if you're too busy looking down on everyone.
Then we see again for the Fall Festival that though the students hate Class 1-A at the moment, Bakugo is still going to put his best foot forward by being the drummer for Class 1-A's concert, alongside Jiro, Tokoyami, and Kaminari.
Bakugo's overall demeanor hasn't changed. He's still confrontational, he's still aggressive, and he's still a bit of an asshat. However, now he's far less of a potential villain and more of just a generally angsty teenager with an anger problem.
Now because Midoriya and Bakugo's relationship has relaxed somewhat, it's safe to say that their relationship will continue to improve, albeit in small amounts. I see the My Hero Academia manga covering the three years the characters are in UA and some time after that during their hero work. So the manga still has two and a half in-universe years to pass before it ends. A lot can happen in that time and I don't expect the characters will all remain as they are forever. Compared to how he started, Bakugo has improved by leaps and bounds. So imagine what two more years will do to him.
No comments:
Post a Comment