MHA has a gender problem.
Before I begin unpacking my thoughts, I would like to make clear that I am aware that Shonen is a genre which caters to boys. I do not think that a genre catering to a specific demographic excuses poor writing choices.
I am not by any means the first person to make a case for the importance of well-written female characters, however, as a lifelong anime fan, poorly-written women are a consistent issue in many anime/manga. The treatment of female characters in MHA limits the story's potential and at times makes the manga utterly unbearable.
MHA presents us with an unequal society, however, in the world of MHA, women uniquely lose out. In the hero world, women are sexualised and clearly provided with fewer opportunities than men. This is reflected in both the gender distribution of the classes at UA as well as the hero rankings themselves. There are six girls in both class 1a and class 1b and there are only two women in the top 10 of the hero billboard chart, those being Mirko and Ryukyu. The costumes which female heroes in the story wear are often highly sexualised and impractical, and on numerous occasions in the story the sexualisation of these women is openly demonstrated to the watcher/reader. In our first interaction with Mt Lady, she is sexualised with her butt being focused on.
Need I say much more.
This isn't the only example of the sexism within the narrative. During the internships following the sports festival, Momo and Kendo internships with Uwabami, and instead of gaining valuable experience they participate in a hair commercial. To make matters even worse, the message that Uwabami imparts to them is that keeping up appearances is crucial. Here, Momo and Kendo are deprived of gaining training and development and the harsh reality of what the hero world is like for women sets in. This experience is humiliating, and the narrative plays this off as joke.
Beyond these two examples, other sexist things occur within the narrative which are barely commented on. There's a headline in a newspaper which references a rescue that Tsuyu and Uraraka are responsible for which refers to them not by name but as "two cuties". Endeavour literally purchases Rei to be his wife and domestically abuses her (let's not even get into the horrific power dynamics here). The women in class 1-a are sidelined and frequently saved by their male counterparts. Mineta frequently sexually harasses and violates women in the story (grabbing Tsuyu's chest in the USJ arc comes to mind here). Momo is made to wear a revealing costume because she wont be able to phase the items she creates through the fabric but Mirio's costume can stay on as the fabric in his costume is interwoven with his own hair.
Additionally, power scaling in this manga is gendered. The majority of female characters have non-combative quirks, and the female characters who have combat-oriented quirks are usually weaker than their male counterparts. Ryuku for example, struggles to take down Rikiya Katsukame in the overhaul arc and has to utilise her three student interns to accomplish this. In the overhaul arc, the girls are majorly sidelined and are thrust into a support role. Many of the women in the manga are sidekicks, and a lot of the female pro-heroes don't have heavy-hitting quirks. When characters do have heavy-hitting quirks, Horikoshi's poor power scaling becomes most obvious. For example, Mina's quirk allows her to produce acid capable of melting metal and she isn't regarded as having a formidable quirk within the story. Similarly, Neijire's wave motion quirk is under utilised.
Most disturbingly, though sexism is deeply entrenched throughout the story, none of the female characters acknowledge its existence and this is a bad writing choice because it is antithetical to the values held by someone who is pursuing a career as a hero. In the MHA universe, heroism is pursued to help others and to achieve justice within society. Within the story, heroes are presented as the protectors of the weak and the facilitators of order within society. Thus, as a reader it is hard to believe that women who are pursuing heroism as a career path would be content with their own oppression. The women in the story also do not strive to be at the top, save for Mirko who is the main exception.
UA is the top hero school in the country and has a highly selective admission process. It is astounding that the majority (if not all) of female students that we meet are comfortable with becoming support or rescue heroes. In classes 1a and 1b there isn't a single female student who has the ambition of becoming one of the school's top three. The female students are not as ambitious or competitive as their male peers and are forced into gendered rivalries with other women in the story (see the Kendo and Momo rivalry, Ochacho vs Toga).
The inclusion of moments of critical reflection by the female characters within the story would have made them feel more three-dimensional. If Momo's self-doubt during the final exam arc had been the result of being chosen for an internship due to her looks rather then her hero ability, it would have made her self-doubt more understandable and would have demonstrated her discontent with her physical appearance being valued over her talent. If Tsuyu and Uraraka had been disheartened that the major takeaway from their rescue was the result of their physical appearance, this would have added another dimension to these characters. Hakagure having to be naked all of the time is played as a joke at her expense, but understanding Hakagure's thoughts and feelings about this would have allowed us as an audience to greater empathise with her rather than viewing her as a spectacle.
Ultimately, MHA's depiction of women is disappointing and a lot of potential is wasted here.
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offline meetup is mostly just very funny to me but the end bit makes me just the tiniest bit emotional
hes protecting them ๐ฅบ
Ironically, Aizawa's expulsions would make sense if UA wasn't a Japanese school. While dropouts, transfers, and kicking students out of the Hero course for not meeting standardsย would legitimately be a thing, in fact, some schools would probably want to have a student who made into the Hero Course but have other issues at hand. The problem is that since UA is in Japan and is a Japanese school, the cultural context about expulsions and the black mark is fundamentally a serious liability and business in Japan compared to the west. Having a black mark in Japan is enough to prevent someone from getting a normal job and MHA Japan would not have enough time to develop away from this mentality, thus causing more problems down the line.
The manner in which Aizawa gives his students black marks instead of basic transfers to the General Course, since full expulsion from UA would be too extreme given that a 2-A does exist in canon, would mean that the moment that these black marked students graduate, they would not get basic jobs even if they graduated from the top school in Japan. There is a difference between changing courses of student and being given a black mark and while both could happen, getting a black mark is a gunshot wound to the person being kicked down the steps. Aizawa ironically is creating more villains and vigilantes on the streets by his actions and those students are very likely to die due to societal pressures and being forced into poverty. It would be an extremely minority that could have back-up plans and money to survive a black mark in Japan.
And let's not get onto Stain as he's just crazy. He would support Aizawa's expulsion of students on the basis of weeding out the weak heroes early. He just forgot that having a black mark is a death sentence in Japan.
See this is why I just donโt get the black mark thing. Like unless Aizawa is meant to be a big bad villain it makes no sense. Him temporarily expelling students to shove them into Gen Ed for a bit is much more reasonable if they need a reality check and fits his personality more. Still a bastard but not some jackass villain. And then he softens as he learns he made the wrong assumptions becoming a better teacher! See?! Way better. Instead we get this.
Also he can scare them with the idea of a black mark but not actually give them one. Fits more to with his logical ruse shit.
Thereโs a reason I drop canon Aizawa and itโs cause his shit makes no sense.
Stain would approve. Hes a bitch. I really do not like him.
Mob Psycho 100 represents such a refreshing, powerful portrayal of platonic love, but the fandom seems to be dominated by romantic headcanons.ย It makes me kind of sad.ย I feel like shipping the characters romantically negates some of what makes MP100 so meaningful.
Can I say something really mean about my hero academia? Can I??
I got into mha when I was a 14 yo girl, I saw Deku vs. Todoroki at the sports festival and I was immediately sucked into the story.
I was a little girl being physically abused by a parent at home, and when I saw Shoto, the first ever character I came across in TV who was being abused in a similar way as me, it sparked hope deep in my chest. That he was going to be saved, that he was going to be believed and helped and rescued and maybe, just maybe, that meant that there was a chance for me too.
Maybe I was going to be saved.
For years, I daydreamed about the time when the truth of Endeavor would come out, when Shoto was finally going to be safe. Sometimes it was my only comfort when I dissociated during or after being hurt.
Then it happened, and Shoto wasnโt saved, and Endeavor faced no consequences with the law or his reputation. Shotoโs feelings on the matter were never addressed. He never got to cry, his friends never got to comfort him, Aizawa or any other adult in his life never got to save him like I had imagined so many times.
Maybe itโs selfish of me to project my desire to be saved onto a fictional character that isnโt mine.
But I was 14, and I was still scared to call what was being done to me โabuseโ, and Shoto was my anchor through a lot of pain. Because he was like me, isolated and hurt. And I hoped that I could be saved like he was going to be.
And then he wasnโt.
Now Iโm 23, and mha is ending, and Iโve never been more disappointed by a piece of media in my life.
He just wants to be trained guys let him spar
Going back to review MHA, I don't really understand the participation of at least 20 teenagers in the cast if they're not going to do anything
I mean, Aoyama is justifiable as well as Uraraka, Kirishima, Iida and Yaoyorozu
The rest are like they're in the background and suddenly in the last arc everyone perfectly understands the protagonist and his motivations, when at most they interacted with him at USJ, it feels like Hori read "Class 1-A as a Family" in AO3 and continued the story from there.
Bakugo has continuity and importance until he is kidnapped and from there he seems like an extra character (because he has no evolution, the mini-endeavour of the group)
Horikoshi, you should have made AFO take out his quirk, because seriously, it is incomprehensible what he is doing here
Hiring Dabi was like Tomura being handed a knife. Trusting this guy and giving him leadership of ANYTHING was Tomura cutting his own throat. Dabi is a complete and utter fraud. The guy can't kill his way out of a paper bag. If he's up against characters who don't have a name, always bet on Dabi.
But if he has to fight someone who has a name and isn't just a background character who was invented just to die (like Snatch) then this guy is cooked.
Dabi is also a bum because he actively harmed the League at every step of the way.
He's the reason their hideout was rumbled. Someone saw Dabi leave the League's bar to go squat in the nearby abandoned building and called the cops. The cops investigated and later found the LOV base. He's the reason Momo and Awase are alive right now. Because he didn't have the Chainsaw Nomu finish the job and take them out. He's also the reason the Nomu lab got found out. Because he was the leader of the mission but he couldn't be bothered to check his nomu for damages and see the obvious tracking device that was planted on him. Momo was knocked out and had to wake up to tell the heroes what she did to help. At anytime Dabi could have destroyed the device, but he couldn't be bothered to look. He caused All For One to get arrested and undermined the League's victory in the forest camp arc. The heroes got a big win and All Might ended his career in a blaze of glory.
He's the one who puts his agenda ahead of the League's. The guy was absent for most of the Overhaul arc bbqing nameless characters.
He's the one who sent Hood to die against Endeavor, removing a powerful ally from the League's arsenal. That High End Nomu could have made mince meat out of other pro heroes who are NOT Endeavor, but Dabi decides to send him against the worst possible target. Oh, and of course this boosts Endeavor's popularity and gets people believing in him, right when public sentiment about Endeavor was low. The loser just gave his dad a public trial by fire that he won with a flourish!
And he's the one who brought Hawks into the League and failed to do any sort of checks on the guy. The disastrous first war was 100% Dabi's fault. He didn't bother to check if Best Jeanist was dead. He didn't keep a watch on Hawk. He didn't kidnap a hero or two and demand Hawks kill them in front of him, with the implication being that he'd burn Hawks to death if he failed to comply. This is standard stuff to sus out an undercover cop. The guy's lack of any sort of education really shows here. In a world where Hawks doesn't enter the League, they 100% win, effortlessly. They had the MLA join them, they had the doctor creating an army of Nomu, and All For One would have fully taken over Tomura's body. The only reason the MHA universe isn't ruled by the demon king right now? Dabi's incompetence. He's also a bum because he wasn't shown to be doing anything at all until he saw Stain's broadcast. What was he gonna do without the League? Sit and wait forever and achieve nothing?
He's also the reason All For One, Tomura, Toga, and Kurogiri died.
See, he had the chance to kill both Endeavor and Shoto but he decided not to. He said he wanted Endeavor to be awake to see his masterpiece burn, and since Endeavor passed out, he didn't finish the job. Oh, and guess what? He didn't kill Hawks, either. He couldn't even be bothered to avenge his homie, Twice. Had he taken out Hawks and Tokoyami, the heroes would have suffered IMMENSE LOSSES in this war and the entire war arc part 2 looks different.
Well, congrats, Dabi. You're the reason the first war arc happened, and you're directly the reason why the second one was a failure. You wanna know another reason why Dabi is the reason his friends are dead?
If he'd killed Aoyama during the forest camp arc, where we have ZERO REASON to believe he knew Aoyama was a spy for their side (as Aoyama was AFO's servant, not Tomura's) then Aoyama wouldn't have been alive to get outed as a spy, and then be used by the heroes to lead the League into an ambush.
Heck, he fucked up multiple times in the forest arc. He's the one who had a gameplan that left Mustard entirely on his own instead of keeping some boys at his side because his quirk is a one hit kill if someone inhales the gas.
His clone yapped and ran its mouth to Aizawa about how they were after a student, which is what got the guy to give the students permission to fight back.
He's the one who demanded Compress unmarble the students, resulting in them not abducting Tokoyami, just Bakugo.
He's got fire hotter than lava but couldn't be bothered to BBQ some kids to ensure they do more damage to hero society and aren't gonna be a problem in the future.
The guy can turn human bodies into charcoal in an instant, but his flames never manage to burn anyone the author cares about.
We call Dabi 007.
Zero 1 vs 1 fight victories.
Zero kills on plot relevant characters.
7 victims who walked off his flames barely worse for wear. The League would have objectively been better off if this guy never joined.
Sukunella ๐๐ป๐
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