Mha Analysis - Blog Posts

These three pieces of media have a trend

I love these movies and shows so much and I want to talk about just one reason I love them:

Autism.

The three main characters of all these franchises have a similar situation. They are all weird and friendless and they have a dream that no one believes that they can accomplish.

Izuku with his dream to be a hero. PO with his dream to be a Kung Fu warrior and Hiccup with his dream (at first) to kill a dragon (which turned into being friends with dragons).

They are all bullied and ridiculed. What I find really interesting though is there's The reason for them being bullied and then the hidden and (seemingly) more likely reason that they are bullied. Izuku is quirkless, no one thinks he can be a hero because he has no powers. PO is big, no one thinks that he has the body to be a warrior and Hiccup is small. As he says, he's a walking fishbone.

However from what I can tell, those are merely (horrible, might I add) excuses to hate on them. Like what gobber says, 'its what's on the inside that they can't stand.'

What I don't get is that in Mha, 20% of the population is quirkless. In a school of just 300 there would be sixty kids who didn't have a quirk. I know we didn't see much of other quirkless kids but I really do think that the bullying that Izuku received would have been much worse than everyone else. It seems to me that the main reason that they don't like him, (especially Bakugo) is because of his personality. Because he's annoying.

I think that a big reason they hated him was because they noticed autistic traits, didn't understand it was autism (or cared) and didn't like it.

(I can make a separate post about why I think all these characters are autistic)

Now with Kung Fu Panda. (I just want to say really quick that I do not mean to take away from the real situations and ridicule that plus size people receive. I know that it happens and I know it can be really bad and I'm sorry for anyone who experienced bullying. I think that Po does face a lot of discrimination just because of his body, I just want to highlight the underlining albeism that seems to be present)

Po in my opinion is so clearly Audhd. He has an intense interest on Kung fu and everything surrounding it. He knows everything about the five, and he misses a ton of social cues. He just blurts things out and doesn't realize how they can be inappropriate for nuerotypical standards.

When Shifu first speaks with him he is immediately unimpressed. Yes, he does bring up (if I can recall correctly) his 'flabby' body. But it was also because Po was so excited and he was speaking in a way that Shifu or one of the five wouldn't. He was describing all the artifacts and knew exactly what the pinky hold was.

In fact, to me, the movie wouldn't have happened if Shifu didn't accept Po's weirdness. Really, in the end, Pos's body shape wasn't a detriment at all and I think Shifu knew this. He's worked with so many different species before, he has to know that every type of body has their own value. He teaches a prey mantis for crying out loud.

And also, I don't think most of Po's insecurities came from his size. To me, he seemed mostly insecure about himself inwardly. (Though I haven't watched the movie in a few months) Come on though, the whole secret ingredient thing? I think there was a reason that when he looked into the scroll it only showed his face.

Yes, his size did help a lot in the fight and I love that part of the movie so much but his creativity and his differentness helped a ton too. He literally imagined the scroll as a comfort food to get to it first... I mean, are they even trying to hide it? (We know it's his comfort food cause he literally did the splits to get to them when he got upset)

I'll move on to How to Train your Dragon now. Hiccup had ADHD. Hiccup has autism. I think that's a universally accepted, right? I think most of the movie is a metaphor for nuerdivergence. The movies already have amazing physical disability representation but that came later. In the first few minutes, we already knew something was different about Hiccup compared to everyone else. He was impulsive, he didn't listen, once he was set on something he was going to accomplish it, he said things without thinking, he was terrible with socializing. Especially with those his age. Gobber said, and I loosely quote, "it's not what's on the outside, it's what's on the inside that he can't stand."

That boy didn't have any friends until he met the dragon that he shot down. I'm sorry, or is that not the most autistic thing you ever heard. It's like autisitic people and their animals. My dog was and is my best friend. Always will be. And a dragon is basically a giant cat/dog, and reptile.

He didn't get friends until his 'uniqueness' set him apart in a 'good' way. It wasn't until he was useful and cool that he got any human friends which is something I wished they touched on in Race to the Edge. Like, Hiccup has to have some insecurity surrounding that, right?

Anyway, my point is, whenever you see a character get bullied. Just remember that they are most likely nuerodivergent and that's probably why none of the characters like them. Peter Parker is included in this list.

can we acknowledge how insane izuku was? like he was literally insane. surely we realize that as a fandom, right? he’s insane-

oh. we don’t? oh okay let me just compile a list…

-GRABBED onto All Might’s leg in an attempt to have a single conversation with the man

-WITHOUT THOUGHT ran into a literal villain, and attempted to save HIS BULLY while having NO QUIRK or COMBAT experience

-Cleaned ALL OF DAGOBAH BEACH (a literal landfill) on his own without question

-Broke his bones the first time he used his quirk. Knows the pain of breaking bones. HAS NO PROBLEM WITH BREAKING THEM OVER AND OVER AGAIN

-breaks his bones just to fight Katsuki.

-jumps IN FRONT OF ALL MIGHT (a 15 year old boy trying to save the symbol of peace) to take a hit for him from shigaraki in the USJ

-Executes his plan with the mines during the sports festival, LAUNCHING HIMSELF USING EXPLOSIVES WITHOUT GUARANTEE OF SUCCESS (he literally could’ve died if he landed wrong)

-broke his ARMS JUST TO PROVE A POINT against shoto (nobody asked him to do that??? he just did??? never had to do that???)

-Uses the name associated with a very specific insult towards him specifically into his HERO NAME (Brave move. like who the heck does that)

Let’s not even begin to discuss how Izuku is in a constant HANDS OR NOTHING mindset. The amount of times he could’ve called in for a professional or a teacher for backup, but instead electing to dive headfirst into combat regardless if he thinks he’s gonna make it out alive or not. He has no problems running into the portal during the league of villains training camp raid if it means he can save Katsuki. He used OFA at 100% regardless of the intense pain he felt just because Eri was rewinding him. When he meets gentle, he doesn’t even try to call a teacher or text a friend. NOPE! He’ll fight the fucker himself. Nobody told him to go vigilante. He chose to go vigilante because he felt it was necessary to do handle shit on his own. Forget recuperating and figuring out strategy with the class. He’s gonna go fuck all and find Shigaraki himself.

Also, LET’S NOT EVEN BEGIN with when things involve Katsuki, Izuku is a MASSIVE CRASHOUT. His biggest character moments are him having to fight against his crashout tendencies. He isn’t even a self-destructive crashout. He’s a destroy absolutely everything around him crashout. HE IS A PROBLEM

Extenuating circumstances aside, his mindset is ABSOLUTELY not a common one for the average 15-year-old. Let alone the type of sunshine nervous cinnamonroll the fandom makes him out to be. He’s a nervous wreck, yes. He’s also very kind. But he is also literally insane.

It’s why I love him so much tbh

All Might was literally suicidal and people dont talk about it enough.

How it must've felt to have to pass on the one source of his strength, for years that has kept him at the top, his sole source of not only livelihood but also his way of helping others? How he must've felt knowing that he could not be the pillar of peace as he had been for almost four decades, that he had to subject another young person to carry that weight. How he must've felt after Kamino, after losing that power for good, after the entire nation saw him at his weakest.

His talk with Aizawa about deciding to live for the next generation, absolutely broke my heart. He felt useless, in a way probably none of us could ever even grasp. Not even izuku could.

What does it mean to be the entire world's pillar in one moment, the strongest man alive, only to go powerless in the next? It's no wonder Toshinori considered ending his life after Kamino- He didn't even look the same. What other option would you have but to end it all there? When you go from the man everyone looks to for help, to a man who can't even take a punch and survive?

But the fact he chose to live speaks volumes of his strength. His willingness to carry on, and help his students and successor fight with whatever strength remained. He helped Izuku during his tenture as a vigilante, because All Might would've done the exact same thing. He packed those lunches. He chased after Izuku, trying to give him the same support he knew All Might would've needed if he was the same age as Izuku.

It's why he put on that suit and fought All For One, even if it meant stalling and not defeating.

Because All Might is beyond his quirk, the same way Izuku is. He has the heart of a true hero.

The reason Izuku probably managed to survive those eight years without an ability to fight alongside his class- was because All Might was likely there beside him, both of them sharing the loss of their power after being at the front of the field. And they both know the importance of sharing their strength, their true strength, with future generations.

It was the strength of their hearts that put All Might and Deku above the rest.

Believe me, I was trying hard to not give him a name that means just cloud/storms/lightning (and none of the options with those words sounded good in my opinion).

But the fun thing is: Technically his nickname is already related to his quirk.

To be more precise the name Nine seems to be a reference to the term "Cloud Nine" and not just the number of the experiment he was part of as much people (including myself at first) seem to think.

Because at least according to the TUM chapter featuring Nine and his crew, they already used the nickname to refer to him, and keep in mind this happened when Deku and Bakugou were in highschool much before the expeirment happened

And it kinda makes sense, because in the movie it kinda feel weird that they only refer to his friend as "Nine" as that would be sort of distant and cold if it just was a lab term.

The idea of he using his nickname based on the term Cloud Nine also fits with the bit of info given on Slice character page, in which she comments Nine appreciates quirks more than names or something on those terms. So it would make sense if he prefers base his identity to his weather quirk.

The fact Nine is also the 9th experiment seems to be a fun coincidence in-universe for the lore.

...

P.S: I might consider using Insta to read those stories.

Have you ever thought on names for AFO and Nine?

As sadly canon never gives us something for them, and sometimes feels bad just call them by their nicknames.

I had some ideas for names for them, despite I suck for making names with japanese meanings lol. But I've tried anyway.

For AFO I like the name "Reiichi" as I read it can be interpreted as the "zero" or the one that started everything in the context of the story. And just because it sounds cool and imposing.

For Nine I like give him the name "Yoriichi" which according to some sources it can mean "divine" which is kinda fitting for his character.

Not only that but I like the simple fact that Yoriichi sound like a combination of Reiichi and Yoichi, as you probably know I'm a sucker for the idea of Nine being related to the Shigabros.

And like that all them have names ended with "ichi" how cute.

As a weeb I decided to learn a tiny bit of Japanese…since most mha characters names are somewhat simple and direct translations. For example kaminari is literally just “thunder” but I think adding that to Nine would be too easy imo. However it’s not the first time a character shared a common word in their names weather or not they may be actually related (EX: kendo rappa & itsuka kendo)

I know sora: sky, haiiro: grey, tenki: weather etc etc

I was messing around with the translator and got “雲雷/unrai” which is cloud weather or something in english idk but I’d assume nine would’ve gotten something directly related to his quirk. But maybe his first or last name could be different and be related to the shigaraki’s? …I still want to think they’re related somehow

For afo specifically…I kinda like that his name is a mystery, before he was always seen as some odd mysterious villain. Kinda same for nine but the whole weather manipulation was a part too.

but I guess anything could work now since it’s not like we are ever getting any official confirmation T^T

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Oh I also made this photo for a instagram story uhhh yeah

Looking at the characters pages in the Volume Rising extras, I notice an interesting detail about Slice's background.

Now I'm aware this is a rough translation by google, but it's interesting that Horikoshi explicitly describes Slice as being used by "men".

Which could also connect with this panel from Nine's origin backstory, in which Slice is seen lying on the floor of a destroyed apartment looking totally defeated and helpless.

As far I know this is the only time a female character (and a villain for that mattter) in the series is written with an explicit background about being used and possible exploited by mens, implying a context of misoginia.

Which also makes me wish we had more context about Slice relationship with Nine and the rest of the crew.

How she pass from not trust anyone to be fully concerned about her team? (All being mens).

There's a lot of potential to developed their relationship there.

But an important note: I don't see Slice devotion to Nine and his ideals as romantic, not at all like much people like to interpret just because she's a woman. I feel that kinda goes against her characterization, considering Nine probably was the first man she ever trust but unlike others he wasn’t a lover or anything, but a savior and a true friend/family.

Horikoshi also says on Slice character page that Nine asked her about her quirk first and he values the name of it over actual names (which btw adds to Nine's own characterization considering he doesn't have a real name). I like to think it might be one of the reasons of why Slice trust so much on Nine's vision for the world, as he probably give a new meaning to her life other than being a pretty face and help her to value her own power.