So my daughter has been watching My Hero Academia (mostly because we reached the end of One Piece on Netflix and I’m still figuring out how to access the rest), and asked me, “who’s your favorite character?”
Honestly I’ve read like 99% of the manga (tuned out just after Shigaraki’s defeat), but I didn’t really have an answer because it’s all kinda forgettable and I’m real apathetic to the series—
—but she pressed me on it so I thought about it. And after thinking about it, I realized I actually did have a pretty clear answer, and that my answer has to do with my view of the series overall, and my critiques of it; why I never really got into it and why I really lost interest at the end; reading only from routine.
I realized my favorite character is Stain
Not close at all, he’s my favorite categorically— and he’s my favorite despite the part of him killing people.
But here’s the thing— in the ENTIRE series of MHA, Stain is basically the ONLY character who thinks about, is motivated to try to make the world better.
He is rightfully (based on the morality of his actions AND by his own self-admission) classified as a villain for his acts, but there’s reason the readers AND main character heroes of the story have such a sympathetic reaction to Stain and his role in the MHA universe— because in a way, it is Justice that he’s taken into his own hands, primarily targeting the greediest, most corrupt pro heroes, and powerful people in the MHA society.
“Both this sham-filled society... and the criminals who wield their power in the name of petty mischief... are targets of my purge... All for the sake of a better society...”
When you zoom out and think of the big picture, it’s really odd that there is only ONE character in the ENTIRE series with a systemic critique rooted in making the world better.
…which is painful for this anime in particular because Horikoshi goes out of his way to FILL his story with societal critique; discrimination, exploitation, greed, corruption, trauma from over-competition, or unjust police/hero violence— Horikoshi decides to not draw his villains as just bad guys being evil for evil’s sake or just for personal greed— he tries to make them sympathetic characters by having the villains outline all these corrupt, systemic problems with society drawn from real world critiques.
BUT— these critiques have limited success in making the villains interesting; because none of them show a genuine interest in making the world better. Either the villains are too ignorant/short-sighted to do anything but illustrate trauma (Twice, Toga), or their only motivation is destruction/greed (Shigaraki, AoF) so the critique is near useless because it’s made in bad faith— even if they point at a real problem or hypocrisy, they don’t actually care about society or regular people.
Meanwhile, it’s even MORE problematic for the hero characters because it sets them up to be even MORE shallow/hollow/fake— because unlike the villains, they don’t even have a critique of the system.
I mean can you imagine asking Deku,
“What are the major injustices in society?”
“What needs to be done to fix them?”
We know from seeing actual dialogue with villains is basically “uh… I got nothing.”
Which is problematic because you know that if you put the same question to All Might or anyone else, they would also have nothing— no thoughts, no intelligible answer; on this point all of them would suddenly become vapid and stupid.
“I’ve never thought about it before and I only just thought about it for the first time when a villain critiqued the system mid-battle and I know they’re right and I’ll admit you’re right but I need to defeat you now because the status quo is better than your obvious evil and I’ll promise to think more about that problem and how to fix it later but you know I’ll completely forget about it a few arc-conclusion chapters later!!”
The heroes have no role at all in the story but to uphold the status quo, which doesn’t work narratively when so many real problems are outlined with the status quo. The heroes become shallow characters.
Essentially MHA is just “What if the real world, but with more SUPER cops?” Which we all know wouldn’t fix most problems (and it doesn’t in MHA either)
So within this universe Stain reads as remarkable— but it’s also remarkable that such a character was included at all.
Stain is written remarkably for his abilities, but also for his unparalleled strength of principle, conviction, and clear-eyed justice.
It’s remarkable that the author of a “Super Cops Good” story wrote Stain as such a sympathetic character, and even wrote him as allying with the main characters against Shigaraki and even playing a major significant role in the victory.
Unfortunately, his inclusion actually serves to ALSO make the main heroes look shallow by comparison. DOH!
And if anything this writing does nothing to invalidate the idea that in a corrupt authoritarian system of fake peace with no viable political way of peaceful reform, Stain’s path of individual vigilante violence against government officials, corrupt cops, or CEO’s would be totally justified.
All said and done, I’m a One Piece guy, and I read MHA only because my friends told me to, the art is spectacular, and I needed some extra jump series to go along with OP after the other 2 of the big 3 retired—
But let’s face it, it’s not the big 3, it’s the big ONE. Naruto is Drake to OP’s Kendrick
While both MHA and One Piece draw upon the real world, real world problems to illustrate a realistic and complex setting for the story, MHA leaves those societal injustices completely unaddressed, expects us to believe everything will be hunky dory.
One Piece takes it head on, centering the systemic critique. Luffy doesn’t think twice about becoming a terrorist, declaring war on the world government for the sake of freedom of speech, intellectual freedom— and just to save his friend. And when a PISSED Luffy marches up— and PUNCHES a World Noble in the face; we ALL felt it, cheered it, and all knew EXACTLY why that evil Nazi parasite had it coming.
…and one day we know Luffy will join up with extremely based Dad and the extremely based Revolutionary Army of freed slaves, drag queens and robot furries— we all know what that’s about too!
This is why OP is a literary masterpiece, a revolutionary tale of human liberation— and MHA is meh lib shit that we’ll completely forget in a few years just as Smogon forgot this thread long ago.
BUT… if you had to ask me my favorite MHA character, it’s Stain.
Edit: I guess the mods decided the old thread was too old to dig up so— I guess welcome to the new MHA thread! lol
We stay Stain staning or something
Honestly I’ve read like 99% of the manga (tuned out just after Shigaraki’s defeat), but I didn’t really have an answer because it’s all kinda forgettable and I’m real apathetic to the series—
—but she pressed me on it so I thought about it. And after thinking about it, I realized I actually did have a pretty clear answer, and that my answer has to do with my view of the series overall, and my critiques of it; why I never really got into it and why I really lost interest at the end; reading only from routine.
I realized my favorite character is Stain
Not close at all, he’s my favorite categorically— and he’s my favorite despite the part of him killing people.
But here’s the thing— in the ENTIRE series of MHA, Stain is basically the ONLY character who thinks about, is motivated to try to make the world better.
He is rightfully (based on the morality of his actions AND by his own self-admission) classified as a villain for his acts, but there’s reason the readers AND main character heroes of the story have such a sympathetic reaction to Stain and his role in the MHA universe— because in a way, it is Justice that he’s taken into his own hands, primarily targeting the greediest, most corrupt pro heroes, and powerful people in the MHA society.
“Both this sham-filled society... and the criminals who wield their power in the name of petty mischief... are targets of my purge... All for the sake of a better society...”
When you zoom out and think of the big picture, it’s really odd that there is only ONE character in the ENTIRE series with a systemic critique rooted in making the world better.
…which is painful for this anime in particular because Horikoshi goes out of his way to FILL his story with societal critique; discrimination, exploitation, greed, corruption, trauma from over-competition, or unjust police/hero violence— Horikoshi decides to not draw his villains as just bad guys being evil for evil’s sake or just for personal greed— he tries to make them sympathetic characters by having the villains outline all these corrupt, systemic problems with society drawn from real world critiques.
BUT— these critiques have limited success in making the villains interesting; because none of them show a genuine interest in making the world better. Either the villains are too ignorant/short-sighted to do anything but illustrate trauma (Twice, Toga), or their only motivation is destruction/greed (Shigaraki, AoF) so the critique is near useless because it’s made in bad faith— even if they point at a real problem or hypocrisy, they don’t actually care about society or regular people.
Meanwhile, it’s even MORE problematic for the hero characters because it sets them up to be even MORE shallow/hollow/fake— because unlike the villains, they don’t even have a critique of the system.
I mean can you imagine asking Deku,
“What are the major injustices in society?”
“What needs to be done to fix them?”
We know from seeing actual dialogue with villains is basically “uh… I got nothing.”
Which is problematic because you know that if you put the same question to All Might or anyone else, they would also have nothing— no thoughts, no intelligible answer; on this point all of them would suddenly become vapid and stupid.
“I’ve never thought about it before and I only just thought about it for the first time when a villain critiqued the system mid-battle and I know they’re right and I’ll admit you’re right but I need to defeat you now because the status quo is better than your obvious evil and I’ll promise to think more about that problem and how to fix it later but you know I’ll completely forget about it a few arc-conclusion chapters later!!”
The heroes have no role at all in the story but to uphold the status quo, which doesn’t work narratively when so many real problems are outlined with the status quo. The heroes become shallow characters.
Essentially MHA is just “What if the real world, but with more SUPER cops?” Which we all know wouldn’t fix most problems (and it doesn’t in MHA either)
So within this universe Stain reads as remarkable— but it’s also remarkable that such a character was included at all.
Stain is written remarkably for his abilities, but also for his unparalleled strength of principle, conviction, and clear-eyed justice.
It’s remarkable that the author of a “Super Cops Good” story wrote Stain as such a sympathetic character, and even wrote him as allying with the main characters against Shigaraki and even playing a major significant role in the victory.
Unfortunately, his inclusion actually serves to ALSO make the main heroes look shallow by comparison. DOH!
And if anything this writing does nothing to invalidate the idea that in a corrupt authoritarian system of fake peace with no viable political way of peaceful reform, Stain’s path of individual vigilante violence against government officials, corrupt cops, or CEO’s would be totally justified.
All said and done, I’m a One Piece guy, and I read MHA only because my friends told me to, the art is spectacular, and I needed some extra jump series to go along with OP after the other 2 of the big 3 retired—
But let’s face it, it’s not the big 3, it’s the big ONE. Naruto is Drake to OP’s Kendrick
While both MHA and One Piece draw upon the real world, real world problems to illustrate a realistic and complex setting for the story, MHA leaves those societal injustices completely unaddressed, expects us to believe everything will be hunky dory.
One Piece takes it head on, centering the systemic critique. Luffy doesn’t think twice about becoming a terrorist, declaring war on the world government for the sake of freedom of speech, intellectual freedom— and just to save his friend. And when a PISSED Luffy marches up— and PUNCHES a World Noble in the face; we ALL felt it, cheered it, and all knew EXACTLY why that evil Nazi parasite had it coming.
…and one day we know Luffy will join up with extremely based Dad and the extremely based Revolutionary Army of freed slaves, drag queens and robot furries— we all know what that’s about too!
This is why OP is a literary masterpiece, a revolutionary tale of human liberation— and MHA is meh lib shit that we’ll completely forget in a few years just as Smogon forgot this thread long ago.
BUT… if you had to ask me my favorite MHA character, it’s Stain.
Edit: I guess the mods decided the old thread was too old to dig up so— I guess welcome to the new MHA thread! lol
We stay Stain staning or something
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