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#MyVolkersAcademia Chapter 1 analysis (part 2)
My original part 2 thread got lost after my app crashed so I had to start over. And then I got summoned for dinner with the family so, yeah. Sorry for the delay. ANYWAY, shall we resume? https://twitter.com/volkerstime/status/1283516989865168905">https://twitter.com/volkersti...
My original part 2 thread got lost after my app crashed so I had to start over. And then I got summoned for dinner with the family so, yeah. Sorry for the delay. ANYWAY, shall we resume? https://twitter.com/volkerstime/status/1283516989865168905">https://twitter.com/volkersti...
Two characters who couldn’t be less like each other meet up. World’s best hero and his biggest fan. Look, he even signed his notebook! How cute. But are they too dissimilar? Deku latching onto his leg proves he isn’t as timid as he may seem.
But this causes the sludge villain to escape! I like how Bakugo and his cronies are seen from his POV. Those cronies also tell him he went too far earlier, showing the bullying has never been THIS bad, but they didn’t try to stop him either. Bystander syndrome in effect.
I’ve seen many complaints about how Bakugo isn’t called out on his behaviour enough but if I may, that would just be repetitive. Every time he gets a little too full of himself he’s always brought down just as harshly. Blows to his pride are more effective than stern talkings-to.
Back to Deku+AM: It’s the typical “can I accomplish my dream” stuff, yadda yadda yadda, but what I find interesting about this is All Might’s outlook during this scene. He empathizes with Deku since he was once quirkless himself, but I think there’s more going on here.
I think the seed for giving OFA to Deku took root here, but AM didn’t seriously consider it. He was the same once: a quirkless kid with dreams. Look where that got him. He’s slowly dying and, as we learn later, cut ties with his sidekick. Does he want to go through that again?
His first answer is no. He could’ve offered OFA right there, but he has no good reason to. He can’t make that decision without being sure of it. So Deku is told by the very man he respects most he can’t accomplish his dream. It’s temporary, but in the moment, that’s crushing.
But what happens next changes his mind, as we see more of this society’s bystander syndrome in full effect. People have been conditioned not to act. It’s ironic that in a world overflowing with heroes, it makes sense they’ve only grown more discerning about the ones actually able
to do anything. But they don’t move forward to do anything themselves, either. They’ve grown too reliant on just trusting the system in place will fix everything. And that system is what gets everybody in trouble, in every circumstance.
This is where Deku comes in. He has never been as low in his life as he is here or since. He’s convinced to give up on his dream, and yet, he still possesses that inner quality to take charge all the same. He’s the only one who acts!
You see Deku and All Might here, just another part of the crowd who look way too excited about this. Bystanders. Part of the problem. But only until Deku locks eyes with Bakugo, and something in him realizes that can’t stand by and do nothing. It’s not who he is.
Not even All Might thought he could do it, but here a boy who is categorized as worthless still dares to save somebody all because he saw how scared he was. And that somebody was his bully, of all people, showing how fundamentally good he is.
The S1 dub changes this line to “I couldn’t let you die” which makes it sound like Deku only charged forward because it’s Bakugo. It’s part of the reason why since he still considers the guy a friend, but this is also the awakening of his heroic instincts in general.
What really elevates it though is how AM reacts. He feels ashamed of hesitating. This weak, insignificant kid managed to make the world’s greatest hero feel ashamed of himself. That’s amazing.
The rest goes as we all know, AM saves the day, Bakugo is praised, Deku is scolded. But that doesn’t matter to Bakugo. His first encounter with a villain, and he had to be rescued in front of everybody. And he was so helpless, Deku even had to try helping him.
In another series, this would be the begrudging apology scene from the bitter rival. This isn’t another series, so Bakugo isn’t going to acknowledge Deku that quickly. Although this does mark the end of the bullying.
Stretch to say he’s grateful, but I imagine the attack made him reevaluate himself. Personally, I think it’s because he thought over what he actually said to Deku about suicide and destroying the notebook, then thought “maybe that’s not the last thing I’d want to tell somebody.”
But it’s not over yet! All Might is here... to turn into Skeleton Man again.
But remember what I was talking about with the seed being planted? After what Deku did, this is where it finally sprouts and we get arguably the most iconic scene in MHA even so many years later.
But remember what I was talking about with the seed being planted? After what Deku did, this is where it finally sprouts and we get arguably the most iconic scene in MHA even so many years later.
This boy comes from nothing, he was told he would never be anything by almost everybody in his life. And his biggest idol, the man the world respects more than anybody else, tells him he is able to grasp his dream.
What AM is doing here isn’t just granting Deku the chance to become a hero, he is taking a chance on himself to be able to go through it all again. He found the courage to do that through Deku, and THAT is why he was chosen over Mirio.
Interesting to note about the final line: most translations have Deku call himself “the greatest hero”, but this simply remains at “great.” From what I understand the original Japanese can be read either way, but in terms of context, I think greatest makes more sense.
To me, it doesn’t suit Horikoshi’s style to have this kid dub himself “a great hero” after ALL OF THAT we just went through. Him saying he becomes THE greatest matches the type of escalation Hori likes to write. And besides, we all wanna see him be the one on top. Greatest it is.
10/10 chapter without a doubt. It’s got the heart, the drama, and establishes the three central characters on the hero side. Along with giving us a good look at what shaped up to be a very interesting world. Amazing start.
Along with this chapter came the first tweet and sketch on Horikoshi’s Twitter, and it’s Mt Lady given her prominence in the chapter. This is the first in a series of sketches Hori would release alongside his chapters. He says that he made the account for advertisement. https://twitter.com/horikoshiko/status/486289329526816768">https://twitter.com/horikoshi...
I believe he also has a lingering fondness for her given that she’s split off from the character we know today as Ochaco Uraraka. I’ll be covering that in a later thread about differences between the Japanese and Viz versions of volume 1.
