This was a amazing video. I really liked how you explain that while yes, Izuku isn't deeply complex, he's a great character/ protagonist because he still strived to be hero just like his idol.
Finally someone understand my boy, this man was being told he was worthless since 4 and lacked something centennial to the world he lived in a quirk which would affects how an individual would act how they eat, sleep and thing I believe the reason deku was willing to sacrificial limbs was because the environment he was a produce of being told your worthless for years up to when he got one for all. Deku sees one for all as a gift and in a way kinda like yuji, how he sees himself as a cog in a system, deku is sees himself as a place holder and used that gift to finish weilders before to reach an end goal even if that's the end of his dream always putting others first before himself.
Depth and complexity is different, I think Deku has a lot of depth that's downplayed (I've been leaving the same comments in hopes people understand) For me Deku feels so human, even though there is that Shonen trope/gag stuff and Western super hero implementation but it feels intentional for a homage to an extent like how his character always respects and grasps other people's individuality that everyone saw that Deku apparently lacked which he projects himself to which leads him to be so selfless. It's so interesting to me to see the story shows his sometimes expressionless nature that he's traumatised from his younger self to be lesser than and you see that when the story shows him to look like more of a Villain than a Hero, and Shigaraki with his white hair more looks like an Angel similar to the Demon Lord and All Might being seen as these far off beings on the screen. Deku is shown so many times shown to go against the Farther of the of a family regardless of tradition which has it's own set of meanings for Deku growing up without much of a father figure and in Japan the parental hierarchical structure is different, so it always feels like Deku has this naive or ignorant world view the story takes advantage of because he projects a lot of his experience with Bakugo and how he's changed/ the theme of forgiveness/atonement/saving with other people, it very much shows even though he's trying his best to understand there is always that underlying sense of selfishness to impose his worldview but there is also very valid/well meaning behind his words and the story never shows him to be "right" or "wrong" but that he's trying his best to understand, as well as the villains Deku also has a slightly warped view that feels like a Shonen protagonist but isn't holistically seen as a good thing (which leads to some of the things in the current manga I'm guessing). For example when Deku says his well meaning talk to Todoroki about he's a caring /nice person/ about his farther, while well meaning it can come off ignorant not knowing the whole situation he projects his forgiving Bakugo without an apology on to him, the story shows how Deku's voice came off the opposite to Natsu that he isn't a caring person (while in reality he shouldn't have anything to do with Endeavor) another example is Deku talking to Aoyama and how realistic it is for Aoyama, while justified Deku wanted a fair fight against Todoroki (a double layer of ego and saving), while also to save him but that can also come as imposing his world view similar to Kota later and how Todoroki even says that it can feel overwhelming seen as a small gag moment. The well meaning side of him makes me love his character, because it is hard to understand the world from different perspectives, it's also that allegory of ADHD or autism that quirks have some surrealistic semblance to (especially when he's trying to fit in with people with quirks that sometimes he feels out of place when he was trying to make his ultimate move and also the start of the series, he feels so overwhelmed at how different they are in terms of their individuality where as Deku as used his own self destruction as something to improve for a lot of the series to even create scars) it also relates to his name Deku (The one who can't do anything/ Or Wooden puppet) in his Dutiful and pragmatic nature which is sometimes dulled by his altruism and his hopeless devotion to a cause similar to All Might, the individuals he carries Melissa's Gauntlets, Smile or society of all might to show a fake smile, Iida's kick to not destroy his leg to deviate from All Might, his mother's costume, the Sole Shoes by Mei all cover his individuality in that arc before he breaks from that sense of duty and ego. I also wanted to talk about how the series is always critiqued for never having punishment (aside karmically) but that's also the cool thing with MHA aside from conflicts that have to happen (Hawk's stuff), but the series also loves to show punishment isn't the only way to flourish as a human being and it's also such a cool thing does, you can relate that to Deku and how much he loses despite how some of his wins are seen as just wins but Deku as a character always doesn't see it as that, whether it's his altruism dulling his sense of intelligence from emotionality or sole commitment to a lost cause that's tunnel visioned, you see some of the flaws build up and I hope the series finally gets a chance for him to show his self fish side because I think as a human it's probably untenable to be so selfless, it's one part of his dichotomy from his selfless and selfish side, MHA shows everyone's human and so is Deku to have that selfish side of him as it is Human to do so. I feel like I can ramble on and on about him but I love his empathy being the main thing and how it's rooted and just his character is amazing I personally think, I really want more people to talk about other sides of him whether it's his intelligence, mindset, design evolution, Japanese context how Deku can feel different in another lenses, him crying changing over the series and isn't always necessarily the same because he doesn't want to go back to his "worthless" self showing that he thinks he was only gifted to be a human when he had a quirk (because he sees quirks as humanity for himself to be fulfilled for himself to be an actual person/ego the % usually correlate to his ego as a complete successor until status quo changes with multiple quirks which you can go further in detail, which is showed in the manga and how "hearts" is sometimes interchangeable with quirk and humanity to him, he can also be ambivalent) I just want people to recognise the story has given a lot of depth and people just ignore it while not giving a lot of fair thought to it.
this, like it didnt even adress the whole "social commentary" of everyone literally idol warshipping heroes and being consoomers in general - like wouldnt it have been interesting if Dekus want to actually save people clash with his nerd obsession funko pop colecting mentality?
