Finally someone who actually understands dekus character and isn’t just copy paste calling him a crybaby and boring take my like and sub you’ve earned it dude. 👍
Glad I could provide some catharsis for you man. As someone who needed the same thing, I know how bad it feels to see one of your favorite characters being clowned on.
I always felt like deku crying made him seem more human and relatable, especially when he got his dreams crushed. Thank you for this video. i hope more people stop getting misinformed about deku and MHA as a whole
On top of making him more human, I think deku's crying makes him more badass, since he's willing to fight through the tears and carry on without complaining. Example: his first fight against muscular
I remember back in 2015, when MHA was still early, people were saying that Deku was different than other protagonists because Deku uses his brains and wasn't like naruto and luffy
I’ve gotten so sick over people misrepresenting Deku as a character that frankly I’m convinced they don’t pay attention to his actions in the series. In fact I think Deku is breath of fresh air for a Shonen protagonist and he’s one of my favorites to. Great video basically sums my thoughts as well.
I think a lot of these points come from not having context of the entire series, some people aren't willing to give the series the benefit of the doubt that it will pay off it's buildup. Like the second guy has a problem with Deku's recklessness even when the series itself makes a point of addressing it. After Muscular Deku vows to not be as reckless with his power. But during the war Deku goes against his vow (we even get a flashback to remember how bad his arms are) and uses 100% even though he knows he isn't ready for it "no matter what happens to me". The recklessness is taken to the extreme in the vigilante arc when he refuses all help and basically decides it would be better to run himself into the ground than to give up. Bakugo even says to Endeavour "You don't know the first thing about Deku. He's screwed up in the head, he never takes himself into account". Chapter 318 is quite literally titled "Reckless". Deku finally shows in the second war arc that he can make better judgements now and listens to reason, like when he trusts Uraraka to handle Toga by herself, doesn't wreck his equipment just to get to UA faster, and holds back from going into a blind rage against AFO.
Yeah that definitely could play a factor, but even outside of the fact that deku's recklessness is fixed and worked on in season 6, I don't see any problem with a protagonist being reckless lol. Like, people are flawed and being reckless doesn't mean he isn't heroic as well.
Finally! Someone said it. EDIT: if I were to describe Deku, Deku's character embodies a journey of self-worth and selflessness, rooted in his initial insecurity as a Quirkless individual in the minority of society, he grew up never believing in himself to put time and effort into becoming a hero, so when he did get that chance by the icon of what he stood for from pure luck, he vowed never to waste that treasure. Despite facing doubts and skepticism from others formhis negative trauts, especially his doubters like Nighteye, Bakugou, Iida, Todoroki and Aizawa, etc, his unwavering desire to become a hero stems from his belief in protecting and helping others, regardless of it they asked or if it was his business, driven by his deep admiration for heroes and what he believed heroes stand for, All Might obviously but even people like Bakugou, who to Deku, despite bullying Deku all his life up to the beginning of the series, stands as the pinnacle of victory, embodying Bakugou’s loud booming presence and mannerisms so villains knew he was beyond capable. Throughout his journey, Deku proves his worth time and again, not just to others but also to himself, pushing himself to the brink to demonstrate his capabilities and value even at several personal expenses, which he proved when he was willing to damage his bones, his future, his mind, his goals and his life. However, his pursuit of proving his worth expands beyond personal validation after he does accomplish that goal, evolving into a mission to reshape society and prevent the suffering that drives individuals toward villainy, where no one helped them, where they were left to fend for themselves and cause havoc just for being who they are and never given a chance, Deku would do everything to make sure he could be there to lend them a hand, his body instinctively moving without consideration for his well being, his self worth initially in his own will and physical prowess, entirely became in his physical prowess after all the work he did in order to achieve his goal, neglects his well-being in his quest to help others, relentlessly and constantly working himself to the brink of destruction, it's the support and encouragement of those around him that he did prove his worth to that ultimately guide him back to recognizing his self-worth, enabling him to fully realize his potential as a hero and a symbol of hope for all, and tear the world order down so he can bring a new one where everyone has a chance.
Couldn't have said it better myself. I especially like how you broke down the specific mindset during the vigilante arc and how his lack of care for himself and his self depreciating way of looking at himself played a factor in pushing him forward. Awesome comment
Finally!😊 Someone who understands the heroes didn't have the slime incident perfectly under control. When people say that I've always wondered if they watched the same show.
Oh wow, I didn't know that that was a common critique of that scene. Jesus, I seriously wonder how anybody could have watched that and went yeah, deku didn't need to do anything since the heroes had it covered.
For me i liked dekus progression of control. After full cowling and shoot his growth becomes liniar without many new twists. They reset that graph by introducing OFA's other quirks but that felt like it broke deku away from everyone else who had to master/improve their quirk. Personality wise i loved his self sacrifice. Its heroic but doing permanent damage. Its always shown to be good in the moment, bad longterm. The problem is after being told he will mess himself up he still takes those massive risks with no reprocussion. Its even possible eri undid some of his damage. It was a nice way to force deku to not fight so recklessly besides just needing to save people. I do like deku and his mentality on hero society, i just think some of it got lost in the weeds and that makes me latch more onto other characters.
Completely valid reasons to say he's a flawed character. It's just so frustrating when people confuse him being a flawed character with being an awful character lol. Like being one doesn't necessarily mean he's the other as well. But I liked your reasoning.
@@etheri0n959 yeah i agree. I think legit complaints get simplified more and more until we get people seriously saying deku forgot he has legs. It's funny but devalues the actual story.
I am so tired of the Deku slander. Lmao They critiques are hilariously inaccurate and simply don't make sense. Thank you , Etheri0n, for making this video.
this is one of the best videos on mha I've ever seen, IMO, deku hate is completely unjustified and forced, people who think mirio or bakugou would be better protagonist are delusional.
FINALLY someone understands this fucking character man 😭 every time I ask someone why they don’t like him they all regurgitate the same bullshit over and over again. Good shit for making this video bru
Honestly my hero in general gets shit on nowadays which is kind because it was really the most biggest postive thing, but now you see a lot more videos talking about it in a negative light like talking about deku. Or talking about uraraka saying that her falling for deku and stuff like that was a bad thing.
Yeah, the negativity towards my hero was something that genuinely made me feel sad. It was the anime that got me into anime as it probably did for a lot of people. And the uraraka stuff is kind of dumb. She's still a perfectly fine character
@@etheri0n959 Yeah my hero was definitely a great thing i loved the hell out of my hero when it first came out to me it just really grasped me at the time, and i'm surprised how much people talk negatively about it now maybe its just people focusing more on the new shonen like JJK. I understand people's frustration with uraraka character and that people had higher expectations, all tho i don't like them saying that uraraka character is bad due to liking deku. Like its not that crazy for teenager to like a boy and its not even like its in some kind of crazy obsessive way where she starts focusing on deku while on duty. Thats why it kind of bothers me where they say that he shouldn't be revolved around the main character. And its like being revolved around main character does not make you bad bakugo entire character nearly revolves around Izuku and he is one of the more fleshed out characters i would say he is the most fleshed character in the entire main cast, besides maybe endeavour. What i can't stand about people that hate DEKU is them calling deku a cry baby like he doesn't casually break his fingers every fight without barely crying about it. Like deku is not a crybaby he is closer to a insane person then a crybaby when he is casually crippling himself just to win a sports festival thats one criticism i always thought was dumb. Like are we watching the same show
Lol yeah, the crying thing is so dumb that anybody making a hit piece on deku tries their best to come up with reasons other than that to make their opinion seem more valid and it sucks
@@etheri0n959 Yeah him crying is also very understandable, when you were denied your dream basically told you would always be denied what you wanna be at like the age of a child he wasn't even middle school yet and his dreams already got denied. Deku crying usually comes from a emotional moment of progress or involing almight is his idol. And people act like for some reason that makes him some kind wuss bitch when in reality deku breaks his bones litterally everytime to get the job done.
This is a really well-made video! I admire Deku a lot and have been a little sad to see all the slander over the last couple years. Especially because a lot of it's not actual constructive criticism, but shallow jabs and completely misrepresenting the character. You hit a lot of good points and counterpoints, and it was nice to see someone do a positive dive into his character for once!!
Thanks so much. I'm glad to see deku support in this comment section and I relate heavily to your reaction to all the deku slander over the years, this video was a long time coming now.
Hating on MHA and Deku seems to be the new trend. Some may have valid points until you realise they all regurgitate the same arguments which gives you more proof that they didn't actually watch the show. Thanks tho, it's good to see someone who sees Deku for who he is as a protagonist.
The way the community has been reacting to deku as a character and mha as a whole recently has been so disappointing, and like you say the non stop parroting of the flawed points that other people have made is frustrating to no end.
I absolutely despise how the Fandom sees Deku and all the other characters. The My hero group chat videos here on RU-vid and my hero tiktoks are a great example of how they've ruined him
Preach! While I can respect that Deku just doesn’t work for some people (on account of how big My Hero is it’s only natural that people are going to have different tastes), but my god, is it refreshing to finally see a video addressing some of the admittedly bad criticisms of him. I honestly still love Deku as a character. Granted he’s not the most interesting character in the series, but I still think he embodies what I love the most about My Hero Academia. Also, I see this channel also talks about Fma 2003, so I’m definitely subbing.
Yeah, having a different opinion on a character isn't a bad, but a lot of people who criticize him voice their opinions with really poorly thought out arguments. Also glad to see another fma 2003 supporter! Happy to have you on
He's definitely not the most complex. He's simple, but in a good way. He has his own growth and has his morals. It's very comforting to me at the very least.
Just an fyi, if you don’t like Deku because you were wanting a main character to utilize physical abilities instead of superpowers to fight villains, then the spinoff manga “Vigilantes” might be interesting to you. “Anime Batman” describes the mentor character pretty well
I think for the monkfruit on motivation, I think what he really meant is that deku's motivation should be more self centred as it is more appealing and character depth to him, like wanting to be powerful enough to take revenge on bakugo. Though yeah his expression on deku's motivation is still incorrect.
Good video. I’m not even the biggest fan of my hero and I personally liked Deku more in the early seasons of the show but I’m happy you derailed those arguments. I’m also really happy you mentioned the hypocrisy and the blatant lie about Hinata’s motivation because I did a double take when I didn’t hear the Little Giant mentioned once. Edit: I also love how you take into account how their perspectives may have some validity, you do a good job acknowledging the good of the take and the bad rather than just blindly fighting it
Thanks so much man. I tried really hard to give them every benefit of the doubt I could and I'm glad to see that it can be felt in the video. It makes the effort I put into making these arguments feel so worth it.
I feel like the person who you're talking about has no media literacy, especially about the Sludge Incident (which still pisses me off a second time). Here you have a bunch of "heroes" standing around "waiting for the right quirk" when Back Draft (who needs to learn how to freaking multitask in my opinion) was right there. But instead they just stood there while Bakugo suffered until Izuku's body moved when Izuku saw who was being held hostage by the Sludge Villain, in turn, spurring All Might to take action.
It's either he has no media literacy or he was just not paying attention at all. Those are the only things that could lead to him saying what he did about that scene without assuming malicious intent lol.
@@etheri0n959 That's usually the case with most people when it comes to this series or media in general. I've been rewatching it to prepare for season 7, plus ignoring the fandom bullshit, and things are much more clearer than the first time.
As someone with trauma from a long history of being bullied, Deku is a special character to me. To see people twist the truth to make him sound worse for the sake of their own arguments really pisses me off. Even if it was a character I hated, I don't like it when people make characters go ooc. If the only way you can support your arguments is to change a character's character, then your points never held water in the first place and you were getting mad at a version of a character that only exists in your own mind. The Deku slander is really just tired and overblown so often. I remember even back in the day when the show was new, people (mostly guys) were all ganging up on Deku and other characters like him who cried. Never mind that in many of his early fights his limbs looked like used up tubes of toothpaste, he's showing an emotion other than anger! How dare he, as a man, cry for any reason? He should be punching holes through drywall when he's upset like a real man! Shonen protags weren't like this back in my day! Misinformation is a plague that needs to be stopped before it becomes dangerous. I understand having a different interpretation of a character, but so many of these "arguments" these Deku haters bring up are just factually wrong and take the slightest bit of thinking and paying attention to debunk.
Why is it whiplash? Is it not possible to like something while disliking another thing? Or maybe it's just such an extreme difference lol. Well either way, hope you at least got something out of it.
30:54 this makes me wonder if this is much more prevalent among dub watchers due to how different deku’s initial dispositions are in large part due to Japanese usually having a “passive voice’s” word choices. See explanation points mha video for elaboration on the subject.
I thought the same thing, but even in the dub, that clip that I brought up gave me the same vibe as the sub when I first watched the show, but maybe that was reading too much into it.
I'm so tired of everyone hating and misrepresenting deku/izuku get garbage out of your ears and pay attention to the mf series! And thank you etheri0n soo much for this video essay. 😊❤
Even if he tried to become "anime batman" how would he do that and still get into 1A on time? He can't fight, he's not that strong, and he's quirkless with no gadgets, on top of all of that, the main part of the test is just destroying big robots and be selfless. He'd either have to suddenly gain talent for making gadgets, or rewrite his character to be like that from the start, and if you go with that second one, then you might as well rewrite his entire character and personality. That sounds less like Deku and more like one of those shitty what if fanon interpretations of deku. "What if deku was trained by batman" or "what if Deku was batman's reincarnation" or something stupid like that
I used to think MHA was pretty good and though I felt it dropped off in quality in season 4 (not animation quality mind you, that's never mattered to me much) leading me to drop the anime I felt it still deserved its popularity. Then I read One Piece. It's like, you eat nothing but white bread your whole life and then taste a cake for the first time.
I always hate people using the he’s a crybaby to explain how he’s a “bad” character. It just enforces toxic masculinity by saying that a teenage boy like Izuku shouldn’t be crying when it’s just a natural emotion. Izuku not being afraid to show his feelings is good (the only problem he has is keeping his insecurities and what else bugs him to himself but that’s a whole different story) and helps tell people that it’s alright to do that. Especially when you take in that he’s living in Japan where showing big emotions like that are frowned upon via society. Which is also why I like All Might so much as Japan society isn’t big on showing affection to others yet All Might doesn’t hesitate to give hugs. It’s like Hori is telling the Japanese people that showing emotion and affection is fine, that it’s normal and I appreciate that as this is something that everyone in general needs to know.
Somewhat tangential, but I always found it interesting that Bakugou insults Midioriya by calling him a "nerd". Now in real life this would make sense, since an interest in super heroes is often considered a part of nerd culture, however in context of MHA its a bit different. Heroes are an active career someone can pursue. It would be the equivalent of someone wanting to be a firefighter or football player, a career that's widly supported by the public. Heck arguably by Bakugou's own logic he would seemingly be a nerd too since he has the same interests as Midoriya. However, than it hit me, what seperates the labels in Bakugou's mind is ability. In Katsuki Bakugou's mind he's working for an achievable goal, while someone quirkless having that same interest is seen as a futile exercise. At least that's my own takeaway.
That's definitely in character for Bakugou at the start of the show and while you can just say that he calls deku a nerd because of the fact that he takes things way more seriously than other kids in this world, it is interesting that you can read that into his character. I actually like that interpretation a lot considering how their relationship eventually turned out, with Bakugou becoming insecure after falling behind him.
Your interpretations of Deku have had such an impact on my opinion of this character! Such a well-crafted video, but I have to ask; have you ever played My Hero Ultra Rumble?
Honestly, the only reason I still watch MHA after season 1 is Deku. It's kinda refreshing to see an anime character with this kind of passion for heroism. My only problem with Deku is that he feels kinda passive throughout the story, he doesn't actively do anything to pursue his dream before meeting All Might (like a workout or something), and it feels like he decided to become a hero because his favorite hero says he can, which still comes off as weird for me.
So just to comment on the whole pre meeting all might thing, the show actually tells us why deku doesn't do anything to pursue his dream before all might tells him he can. I show the clip at around the 30 minute mark, but to summarize, he basically knew deep down that his dream was unrealistic, but kept a hopeful attitude as a way of combating the sadness. So it does make sense from a psychological perspective why all might giving him confidence would Kickstart his journey in the way it did. But it's a small part of the show and I understand why you would feel that way if you missed that. It does feel contradictory to his goals without that bit of context.
@@etheri0n959 Yeah, I know. It still does click me as weird though, especially after seeing him run up to save Bakugo. That kind of passion doesn't fit that well with the "my dream is unrealistic" attitude. It sounds more like "I know I'm going to screw up, but hey, at least I did try to make the situation better." But not big enough of a problem to stop me from watching the whole thing (the manga does kinda go downhill after the whole Deku out of school stuff but that's another thing)
Well for him running up to save Bakugou, that wasn't a result of his passion for being a hero, that just came from his innate sense of heroism. His body moved before he had a chance to think, he leaped in to help bakugou purely out of reaction to seeing his pained face in that situation. To me at least it makes sense, but yeah I can see how it would come off as weird.
@@etheri0n959 Yeah maybe I was being a little too harsh on Deku, great analysis on Deku overall, heroism is kinda being underrated today (or maybe i've readed too much berserk)
For me, Deku's character: Power progression: 8/10 Character progression: 8/10 Proactive progression: 9/10 Btw, Would you consider deku top 10 best shonen jump protagonist or even top 50 best anime protagonist in general
He's definitely one of my personal favorites. I'd probably put him in top 50 for me at least. Don't know about top 10 for sure, but it doesn't sound wrong to me personally.
@@etheri0n959That is pretty cool. For me, Deku is around yuji from jijutsu kaisen or maybe edward from Full metal, he is definitely not the most complex character of all fiction, like light from death note but he is perfect for mha. btw, I heard koichi from mha vigilante spin off is way better than deku. What do you think of koichi?
@@etheri0n959 For the quirkless argument presented by monkfruit, in their defense, don't you think there should have been more emphasis on quirkless people, like what if there is a quirkless villain?
To that I'd say that the character doesn't have to be quirkless in order to explore the same things as you would for a quirkless character. If you take a look at the themes you can explore for a quirkless character, what can you delve into? Stuff like broken dreams, a failure to live up to expectations, ostracization, basically everything that the show has covered with deku in the first two episodes. You can explore all of these things with a character who just has a weak quirk as opposed to no quirk at all and because of that, I see characters like gentle criminal as a different means to the same end. Plus, I don't honestly see much merit in the show having a bigger emphasis on quirkless people specifically. I feel like the show already explored pretty much everything it needed to with that through the first two episodes and how it tells us about deku's life up until that point. There might be a specific scenario unique to quirkless people or something that hasn't been covered by deku's first two episodes that could make for interesting storytelling that I'm forgetting though so maybe the show could benefit from delving a little more into it. But if there is something like that, then I still wouldn't see that as a major failing or flaw with the show or deku's character.
I tried watching the first episode of my hero; but I found deku so annoying with all of his crying. But it looks like I'm missing out. I'll probably have to push through all that crying just to watch the anime.
