Also Im Angry At All Times Over Insensitivity Towards Asians Okay - Blog Posts

on bakugous hero name

[ SPOILERS FOR MY HERO ACADEMIA CHAPTERS CHAPTER 293 maybe beyond ]

Okay so like I said I was going to write that post about Katsuki Bakugou’s hero name some time ago, anyways I’m getting around to doing that right now! So we need to address something vitally important that I should’ve done earlier but now is an apt time as any. 

“Ground Zero” as a fandom hero name for Bakugou is something I am personally chill with. It is, however, no longer chill with it when people say things like “Bakugou’s hero name should have canonically been ‘Ground Zero”. 

I really don’t think I need to get into the reason why, but I’ve been proven wrong already so we have to do this now. 

My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia) is a JAPANESE anime and manga series.

“Ground Zero” is defined as “the point on the Earth’s surface closest to a detonation“ when used in relation to large bombs and nuclear weapons

For those who do not already see where “Ground Zero” maybe being an issue as a canonical hero name I will go more in-depth.

Japan suffered two nuclear bombings in August of 1945 at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Furthermore, as a result of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, the cooling system at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant had a meltdown causing everyone within 10km to have to be evacuated (at the time of writing, I do not believe people have been allowed back into this area). 

Alright now lets get into the meat of this.

“Ground Zero” is a term highly, highly associated with nuclear weaponry and other weapons of mass destruction when discussing bombs and such. Guess which country has actual generational trauma relating to the destruction of their cities and home via bombs? Japan!

Guess which hero name would be the WORST name that has bombing connotations to give to an audience that in recent history of having to live through horrible nuclear events, and have a horrible history regarding bombing and nuclear bombing in particular? Ground Zero!

And before anyone! Brings up the prototype design sheet of Bakugou, this picture! 

Just because this prototype design says “CODENAME: 爆心地” which does indeed translate to “center of explosion; hypocenter; ground zero”, that does not give you any reason to not consider the emotional impact that it potentially has towards a full on generationally traumatized society. 

Unless, of course, you truly do not care about people for who this media is directed towards because you know insensitive western-centric mindsets who don’t actually care about people other than themselves and their own enjoyment topped with a likely, extremely U.S. mindset that nukes are just “good”. 

Frankly, I would like to also discuss the implications of this mindset possibly stemming from anti-Asian discrimination or a fetishization of some sort or general disrespect for the literal people that this work of media is intended for, but I don’t quite know how to word it nor do I have the patience to make it easy for everyone to understand. Hopefully people still understand it anyways.

tl;dr: it’s a highly self centered and culturally ignorant thing to say that “Ground Zero” should’ve been canon for Bakugou’s hero name, which takes absolutely no care for the generational trauma of the Japanese who have suffered due to horrific bombings. fandom name? a-okay by me. Bitching that the name isn’t canon? leave!