Lizzy's MHA Rambles - Tumblr Posts

I have so many thoughts I literally just want to get out there about MHA because I don’t currently have someone who’s like, as into it as I am. So here I am, to scream my thoughts into the wind since I can’t draw for shit and have a hard time writing fanfics. I want to participate in the fandom somehow damn it. 😂

Tonight’s thought/Ramble: Touya Todoroki.

Now, I worked in foster care for a while, I worked with a lot of abused and traumatized children. It was hell, tbh, but that’s a story for another day so stay with me. One thing I learned from that and my time studying psychology in college is that abuse can literally change the chemistry of your brain. One thing we used to be told where I worked was that, when it came to the kids we took care of, we had to think of them as half the age they were (not as an insult, but more for when thinking of solutions or trying to reason with them).

So, with that in mind, Touya really starts to make way more sense to me. ESPECIALLY when you put together that he was in a coma FOR THREE YEARS. He basically lost three whole ass years of vital development on top of all that.

Because like, I look at him at first and go “why tf would you try to kill the rest of your family when your parents were the problem, why go after the other victims?”

Because he’s effectively a vindictive child/teenager, that’s why. Deep down, he WANTED to be acknowledged and seen and loved by his father, and what does a child who was never given healthy attention do to get that? They act out. They don’t know the difference between negative attention and positive attention, or maybe they do and they just don’t care.

In the end, Touya/Dabi just wants his dad’s love and attention like he always has, no matter what form it takes.

(And boy do I have so much to say about Endeavor and his arc but that’s also a rant for another night).

Okay, kinda shocked by the positivity on the last post. 😅 So I guess here we go again??

Today’s MHA thought: Katsuki Bakugo (or Bakugo Katsuki, whichever tickles your fancy) and why I think he’s an incredible character despite hating him in the beginning.

Some context: I was a teenager when the anime came out, so the only thing I knew of him was what we were given there. So like, seasons 1-4 my hatred for him was STRONG. It let up a little at the end of 3 with his and Izuku’s fight, and again with the class a/class b fight in 5, but it wasn’t until I put the series down for a few years then came back this as an adult in April and binged the entire series before 7 started airing that I really started to love him as a character.

Now, there’s a few reasons for this, but a lot of it boils down to this: He has NO REASON to be an asshole.

As far as we know, he has good parents, had a mostly-healthy home life, and doesn’t start being actively traumatized till he joins UA. He’s just genuinely a bad person at the start, like he literally tells Izuku to go take a swan dive off a roof AND HE HAS NO EXCUSES. (Side note, not saying being traumatized gives you the excuse to say these things. NO ONE has an excuse to say this no matter what they’ve been through). He had no past trauma to explain that response, no real good reasoning behind it other than he’s just being mean. We learn later it’s because Izuku made him feel inferior and he didn’t know why, which makes perfect sense and we see the evidence of this long before it’s said, but that doesn’t make it any better.

But that’s the beauty of it, for once this asshole-ery wasn’t born of trauma it just kind of…happened. He’s almost like All for One and Endeavor in that neither really had a good reason to be mean, they just got so wrapped up in themselves that they lost sight of everything else. However, that’s why I love Bakugo’s arc because it’s so satisfying to see him slowly come to that realization himself and change even though he really doesn’t have to. (It also begs the question why Endeavor and Bakugo and really any of the villains are seen in such different lights despite having similar stories, which is a theory for another day that I have brewing).

His change wasn’t necessitated by abusive past that held him back like Todoroki or even having to figure out how to manage a new quirk like Izuku, because say what you will he is SMART and he is TALENTED and he was doing great on his own. He could’ve climbed his way to the top without having a good personality, I mean just look at Endeavor. But he saw Izuku, his classmates, his FRIENDS and realized that wasn’t what he wanted.

And it all culminates in the end of season six when the class goes to retrieve him, instead of rushing to Izuku to yell his apology, he sends Iida after him because Iida is built for speed (these two/three episodes are my favorite part in the entire damn series and I’ll probably make a whole post about them eventually). But then, after that, he genuinely apologizes. He recognizes what he did was wrong, and what gets me about the dub of this episode is the way they chose to phrase the line:

“Saying this out loud doesn’t change a thing”.

He KNOWS that apologizing doesn’t make it okay, and he accepts that Izuku may never forgive him, but he does it anyway, and that’s how you know he really meant it. We see his convictions through the whole series, that boy doesn’t say anything he doesn’t mean. But it doesn’t stop there, he goes on to prove it with his actions, starting by calling Izuku by his real name, and his first name at that.

And in all of that, we still don’t lose his personality. He’s still loud, brash, mean, a bit of an asshole, and determined to be the best, but instead of looking down on Izuku, he sees him as an equal...an actual friend, someone to race against so they can both be better. It’s no longer all about him, he’s learned to see the world through a different lens, one we see him create during the entire series. He has truly changed in a way that feels natural and authentic to him as a character, and that’s something you don’t see every day.

And, we can see in the end, he continues to think about others, striving not for the top, but for Izuku’s happiness, and I think that’s beautiful.

I have so much more I could say about this, but I’m gonna stop here because this post is long as hell already, but if anyone is curious about anything don’t be afraid to ask, I’m an open book!😄

You know what I realized yesterday through an event that I desire to never deal with again in my entire life?? Toga’s parents really did suck.

Today’s Rambling Thought: Toga, and why her parents deserve hell.

Picture this, it’s the evening, I’m getting ready to get on a discord call with my friend because we’ve been watching MHA together and we usually chat between episodes (it’s their first time watching the show, we’re in season three). I go to use the bathroom and what do I find?? Remnants!!! Of a bird!! I’m not talking about a few feathers here, I’m talking bones, a pile of internal organs, and a half mutilated wing covered in blood and God knows what else. Completely dismembered. Of course, there are two potential culprits in this crime scene, both cats. (I should mention these aren’t my cats, I was watching them for a friend), but I’m pretty sure the one circling my feel and meowing proudly is the one. So, I get to clean up bird guts at like 8PM, trying my hardest not to gag.

AND YOU KNOW WHAT I DID TO THE POTENTIAL CRIMINAL??

Nothing. I patted his head and gave him a scratch.

All this delightful context to put into perspective this realization that came to me later that night, how is it that I - someone who actually had to clean up a mutilated bird - nicer to a cat that ISN’T MY OWN than Toga’s parents were TO THEIR OWN DAUGHTER. Now I’m no saint, and I realize a cat and a human are completely different, but come on, for real guys?

I don’t think we’re told how old Toga is in the scene where she’s offering her parents the bird (if you know please share) but we know she’s a little kid. Like I’ve said before, I’m studying psychology in college and I worked with kids in foster care, so if I know anything at all it’s this: Children are little sponges, and they automatically want to do whatever it is you tell them not to do. It’s a natural part of development, and actually something we don’t really lose as we get older (the specific term is rebel psychological reactance I think). So it’s really no surprise that after years and years of being told nothing but no when it came to these urges she had, she eventually just snapped. The kids I worked with were the same, the longer they were in the shelter I worked at the less they felt inclined to listen when we told them no, and I don’t think I need to explain why that’s dangerous.

Now, I’m not saying that consuming another’s blood as a child or gnawing on yourself in your sleep is normal behavior or something a parent shouldn’t be concerned about, but there’s a reason therapy focuses on replacing negative coping skills with positive ones. Did they ever go beyond just calling her weird and creepy? Did they take her to a doctor get a blood test and find out if maybe there’s a reason she was doing this beyond just being freaky? Does she have an iron deficiency?? I’m just rambling now and that’s pure speculation, but no, they just kinda insulted her over and over, told her not to, and sent her to quirk counseling which IS NOT a substitute for actual therapy I’m sure. The bottom line here is that you can’t take something away and not add anything in. You can’t tell someone not to do something and not supplement it with something else.

It’s little wonder that once she snapped, she went straight to “I just want to do whatever I want”, because she spent her whole life being told not to be something. I think it’s easy to forget that Toga is still legally a child at the start of the series, one who has not been taught how to safely deal with her urges. No wonder she felt more at home with the league of villains, they gave her what she never got. No wonder Ochaco’s actions in the final chapter shocked her so much. She was never accepted for who she was until then. She was never treated like she was a normal person.

The people who were supposed to love her most in the world saw her as a disease to be rid of, and I that disgusts me more than a dead bird ever will.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk, I’m gonna go ramble about how, as an author and a fan, I love her end even if it makes me so sad, and Ochaco’s part in it.

Today's MHA ramble is either gonna be great or ineligible and there will be no in-between. I'm on my computer instead of my phone today so I can type so much faster, but, I am slightly dehydrated and out of it because I just spent like eight hours outside in the sun for a renaissance fair so maybe I'll just pass out half way through, who knows.

Lizzy's MHA thought/ramble of the night: MHA and why I think it does the "power of friendship" trope the correct way (IE: Not cringy/weird).

Now, I honestly think trying to wrap up the intricacies of the end of MHA in just "the power of friendship!!" is doing the series a huge disservice, but in its simplest form, that kind of is what happens. To be honest, I'm such a sucker for this trope. I love it when we get to see all the people the MC (Izuku in this case) has made an impact on over the course of the series and they all come together to back the main character, that is thee shit and I will eat it up.

However, the thing I love about MHA's approach to this is something we see explored a lot through the series: the idea that you don't have to go at it alone. Like, I feel like the ending has so much more of an impact because instead of them all the other characters standing behind him and going "Yay!! You can do it!! Good job!!" No, instead they run beside him and say "rest, we'll clear you a path. We know we can't do this for you, but at least let us do this".

Because that's what a friend is. That's what friendship is. It's realizing that not only is a friend someone you want to protect, but it's someone who protects you.

It gives me chills Every. Damn. Time.

It's through that we get to see the impact Izuku has made on everyone in the series. I joke with people that even when Izuku has nothing to do with something that's happening, he has something to do with it, and that really comes to a head in the final chapters. In a sort of ironic way, it's what ends up defeating All for One, because it's literally the only thing he never managed to get. Deku says as much while they're fighting, that deep down All for One really is just a lonely man. He had power, people to do his bidding and hang on his every word, but the top of the world is a very isolating place to be because there's no one who can look you in the eye. Followers and friends are two different things, a friend is an equal, a follower is a pawn.

I think it's why All for One was so attached to his younger brother Yoichi, because deep down, he knew All for One in ways that no one ever could. It was the closest to a genuine loving relationship he ever got.

Honestly, it's part of why All Might failed the first time around too. He had a few friends, sure, but in the end he was surrounded by mostly fans. People who adored and appreciated him, but did so from behind a barricade. All Might pretty much worked alone - and Deku definitely couldn't have made the progress he made without the trail All Might blazed - but Deku had the one thing All Might never did: People who fought alongside him even when he didn't want them to.

And, honestly? I can't blame All Might for avoiding it. After all, Deku almost does this same thing. They both wanted to protect people so badly they don't want to accept help. They see themselves as the only person who's allowed to make sacrifices because they're so scared they'll loose someone. It's part of the reason I find such comfort in Izuku as a character, because he never wants to see anyone else hurt because of him.

However, because Deku reached out first in the beginning, because he made friends and took care of them whenever he could, because treated them as equals, they said "too bad so sad, you get our help whether you like it or not, because that's what you'd do for us". It's the beauty of those final episodes of season six and why I love them so much, because 1-A had no reason to go after Deku other than they were worried about him. They didn't take no for an answer, because sometimes it's a friend's job to take you by the hand and scream in your face to "TAKE A NAP!!! EAT SOME FOOD!! YOU'RE WEARING YOURSELF DOWN AND YOU NEED A BREAK!!! SIT DOWN AND LET US CARRY YOU FOR A WHILE!!!"

It's exactly like Ochaco says, they don't want to be protected. They're not fragile victims to be looked after. They didn't get blindly wrapped up in this mess, they dove in head first because they cared about Izuku and wanted to stand at his side.

And therein lies the difference.

All for One had followers.

All Might had fans.

Deku had friends.

Followers will only do as they're told. Fans will only cheer on. But friends? You can't tell them to do shit, they do what they want, and if they want to help you then they will. Friends go the extra mile. Friends run beside you when no one else can. Friends clear the path for you so you can deliver that final big ass punch.

That's the magic of this trope, and you can see it so clearly here because it's realistic. And by that I mean Izuku doesn't get a magical burst of energy because everyone was cheering his name from the sidelines. It came from them actually doing shit to give him a chance. It came from Aizawa bandaging his wounds, it came from Iida grabbing his hand and half-dragging him across the battle field, it came from Eri giving a little bit of her quirk, it came from Bakugo showing up at the last second to blast the crap out of someone, it came from the countless attacks launched by the rest of the heroes to give him a chance to get back on his feet.

You know what they say, actions speak louder than words, and that's the magic of this kind of storytelling. We don't need to be told they care through chants or claps, they just show us.

That's the true "power of friendship". People who don't just stand beside you, but sometimes run in front of you so you don't trip over that stump in the path.

That's friendship. That's love. And I think that's incredibly beautiful.

...these posts get longer every time. Maybe I need to stick to my phone so my thumbs get tired faster. 😂 This is what happens when I'm allowed to cook late at night. If you made it to the end, thank you and I salute you.

Tonight's blabber is brought to you by sleep deprivation and my desire to ignore it long enough to try to get my sleep schedule back on track. Drink your electrolytes when you're out in the sun for long periods of time kids, even if you don't feel thirsty, don't be me.

Lizzy's MHA Ramble of the Evening (I need a shorter title for these things): Why I think Toga's death was one of the best in the series.

Now, before I begin, I have to say that as an author, I think that her dying was a good choice since it seems so authentic to her character and I can’t see an end where she’d be happy being captured. Over and over again, she shows us that she's only going to do what she wants. It makes the whole scene so much more impactful, because it shows us how much Ochaco's words really meant to her. We know from over the course of the series that Himiko doesn't do shit she doesn't want to, that's the whole point of her being in the league. So, her sacrificing herself because she wanted to just feels so right and satisfying from an author standpoint, it's the kind of development I die for. Could it have been better? Probably! But that’s a thought for another time.

...But, as a fan, it hurts my heart so much. Toga was another character, much like Bakugo, that I hated so much in the beginning yet grew to love by the end. Her story hits home for me for several reasons, but mostly because it not only shows the importance of finding people who don't ask you to be someone else for their comfort, but also inspires us to be that person for someone else.

You see, love is a funny thing, mostly because it's never the same twice. Be it platonic, romantic, familial or friend, it's never something I think we'll fully understand. However, I do believe this:

Himiko Toga was never truly loved before she ended up in the league.

I don't necessarily mean romantic love here, by the way, I feel like I should say that. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, but I don't really think that's what matters here anyway.

We see at the end of Toga's fight with Ochaco where she gives the hero her blood that she ponders what she would've done if she'd found love sooner, love that made her want to give and not take. I think that tells us a lot about the love she received before she left. She was under the impression that love was all take, take, take, and I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that's because that was the only kind of "love" she ever received.

That is, until Ochaco came along and offered up herself, even when she didn't have to. Like Himiko tells her, Ochaco could've killed her and she would've been in the right, but she doesn't. Instead of demanding something from Toga like everyone else had done, Ochaco offered a part of herself at no cost. She didn't expect anything back, she didn't ask for anything back, she didn't even tell her to stop, she just offered her wrist and said "please, tell me everything".

She doesn't apologize, she doesn't beg, she levels with Toga as a person and shows her what love actually is. And what does Himiko do with that? She turns around and gives it back. Even though she could've let Ochaco die and moved on, creating an easier world for her to live in, she didn't. I think that's the magic of love, as cheesy as it sounds, the second she got a taste of what it truly was she realized it was worth dying for.

In a lot of ways, love is a sacrifice, a piece of yourself you never expect to get back. But, sometimes, when you find those people who love you as much as you love them, they take your love and give you theirs.

Love is a lot of things. It makes you happy, it makes you sad, it makes you safe, and sometimes it forces you to be a little uncomfortable while you face things you didn't want to face. To love someone is to make them happy yes, but it's also to help them realize that it's okay to not be okay. Love is beautiful, but it hurts sometimes.

No one forced Himiko to give her life for Ochaco's, she didn't do it out of a warped sense of duty or because it's what she was supposed to do, she did it because for once in her life she found someone worth giving to instead of taking from.

Himiko died, but she died how she lived, doing exactly what she wanted to, and I don't think she'd have wanted it any other way.

In a way, Ochaco did save her, just like Izuku saved Tomura, even if it wasn't the way they intended to.

Okay I HAVE to go to bed because I can't keep my eyes open so hopefully that all made sense, farewell all and if anyone has any fix-it fanfics with Himiko please recommend because my heart hurts after writing that.

To be deep or silly in today's MHA thought, that is truly the question. I missed yesterday, and it's late, which usually makes me philosophical, but I can't get this thought about the OFA vestiges out of my head so maybe they'll end up combined, who knows?

Lizzy's MHA Ramble of the Eve: How long could the vestiges of OFA see what Deku saw??

Like we see as early as season two that they're boogieing creepily in the background during the sports festival arc, but we don't ACTUALLY meet them until around season five, I think? The way Yoichi talks to Deku in that episode with the first flashback, it makes it seem like they've been monitoring him for a while. Plus, when Banjo meets Izuku, he talks like he's been watching the fight. So it seems like they've been watching him for a bit at the very least.

All that to say, can you imagine how unsettling that must've been for him to come to the realization that seven people have been watching every single thing he's done for the past year. I don't know about y'all, but I appreciate my privacy. Obviously Izuku is not an introvert like me, but still, I don't think anyone would appreciate knowing seven people can/potentially have been watching them every moment of the day.

Anywho, I totally think at least a few of them took to yelling at him like a dad at a football game on TV. Do you think they like, placed bets on what he'd do in certain situations? Or whether or not like, Bakugo would use a particular insult on someone? I like to imagine it'd go something like this:

Banjo: Ten bucks says Bakugo calls him a shitty nerd today.

Shimura: We literally don't have money in here, why would anyone take you up on that?

Yoichi: (Playing magical mind-scape Uno or something, idk, with Kudo or Bruce) Besides, he's getting better! Izuku's said so himself.

En: Midoriya would still sing Bakugo's praises even if he set his own mom on fire and did it while screaming "Deku is a fucking moron!!" I don't think Midoriya's opinion is ever valid when it comes to him.

Hikage:...my money's on damn extras.

Shimura: Again, we don't have money, we don't even eat, what the hell are you betting with??

Banjo: Look, there's only so long we sit ominously on our fancy little thrones waiting for him to figure shit out before we start to loose our non-existent minds, let us have this.

I don't know what this is or where it came from, but I've been thinking about Yoichi a lot lately as I compile my thoughts/rambles about him and All for One for a later post, so I think it was born of the little threads that didn't fit in anywhere else.

Today’s MHA thought is brought to you as I watch the livestream of the Wisdom Saga from Epic the Musical. Go take a listen, I’m sure it’s gonna be great.

Honestly I have no transition into today’s thought so we’re just gonna move along here we go.

Lizzy’s MHA thought of the night: Yoichi and All for One’s relationship and why I think it’s brilliant.

Let it be said, All for One is a fantastic villain. I think he’s well written in the sense that I absolutely, positively, HATE him. He is an absolute asshole and he has very little reason to be. Does he have a tragic past? Ehhh, kind of? But I would argue that he started screwing people over in the womb, so I have a hard time feeling bad for him when it kinda seems like a lot of his issues were his own doing. But that’s why I like him, because he doesn’t have that super sympathetic backstory and he doesn’t have much of a reason to be an asshole other than “I want to win and see people suffer :D”. Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE a sympathetic villain (see my posts on Touya and Toga) but I also love to see a villain that is just evil for the sake of being evil.

However, I don’t doubt that he probably has some kind of personality disorder, plus he did have to entirely raise himself, and if we pile the theory that quirks influence personality on top of it, you don’t get a pretty picture. It’s an interesting look at the nature vs. nurture debate in a world like this. It was a perfect storm of genetics and circumstances that made All for One, a terrible turn of events to be sure.

And yet, despite being twins, Yoichi doesn’t turn into a psychopathic maniac. It’s honestly wild, and a kind of psychological circumstance that fascinates me. And, let's be honest, it's not out of the realm of possibility that AFO is partially to thank for that. After all, he took care of Yoichi like, straight out of the womb. However, what gets me more is their relationship.

It’s messy, it’s toxic, and it’s a little weird, but it’s so unique because we rarely see it done like this. It’s codependency at its worst, more so on All for One’s side, though he’d never admit that.

It really begs the question, why? Why was All for One SO obsessed with his brother? By all accounts, his brother only ever stood in his way and screwed with his plans. He was a hindrance, even when they were kids, so why keep him around?

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. I think a part of it is Psychological Reactance (which I talk a bit about in my post on Toga), basically, it’s a common reaction in humans when you tell them they can’t do or have something. It’s often rooted in control, we don’t like to loose control of anything, and so we automatically act out to make sure our control is preserved. It’s emotional and behavioral, and we know All for One LOVES his control just as much as he loves his quirks.

And you know what else he loved? He loved Yoichi, and in a way he could never love anyone else. And maybe Yoichi loved him too, I think he did, but he loved him enough to tell him he was utterly wrong even when his brother wouldn’t listen. So, here’s this one thing he genuinely doesn’t want to loose because it’s the one thing he can never replace and it wants to leave?? Excuse???

Here’s what I think, I think Yoichi was the only thing he ever really lost control of.

Yes, I think his twisted sense of love had a part in him chasing his brother across generations, but I also think All for One could not handle the idea that he lost control of something he actually cared about.

We see in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs that our most basic needs above physical are relational. Family, friends, safety, belonging, those aren’t things that are plentiful when you’re a dictator. Yoichi was there with him from the beginning, he fulfilled that need in some capacity.

We’re all afraid of losing things, especially those we love the most, it’s human nature. No matter how powerful you are, you can’t substantiate real human connection.

The day All for One lost Yoichi was the day he lost the only genuine relationship he had, it’s not surprising he spent the next few centuries trying to get it back.

…

I had fun with that one! Imma do one one Yoichi one of these days, because I love him and he deserves it, but for now I’m gonna go enjoy the Wisdom Saga and plan out a little Yoichi one shot I’ve had bouncing around in my head for a while.

I felt like being emotionally destroyed today, so I watched the dub of episode 151 of MHA. I don't know what it is about Izuku's face when he comes careening out of the sky like a fucking warhead and sees the state of the fight but it gets to me every single time in both languages. He looks positively haunted and it makes me want to cry, my poor son. Anywho, to recover, I decided to go rewatch 136 and 137, which are my favorite episodes of the entire goddamn series and I realized it's high time I do a little rant about them.

This is mostly for me because, again, I don't have anyone to rant about this with and I have got to get these emotions out of me somehow, but I hope someone else finds it enjoyable!

Welcome to Lizzy's MHA Evening Ramble: Why MHA episodes 136 (Deku vs. Class A) and 137 (A Young Woman's Declaration) are what really show us the impact Izuku has had on the people around him (specifically Class 1-A).

Honestly, I don't have much science to back up this post. There's not really a psychological reason behind why these episodes slap, but they do and I'm gonna talk about it.

You see, for better or for worse, everyone in Class-A has a different and unique personality. That much is obvious, I know, but that also means each of them have different things that impact them. Think about it, what means a lot to one person doesn't so much to another.

And yet, despite that, every single one of them had something to say to Deku. Every single one of them. For some of them, it was as simple as helping them organize their notes. For others, it was something he said or did that has followed them through the entire show.

"Meddling where you don't technically have to is the essence of being a hero, right?"

Izuku said that one time to Tenya. One time. But that, accompanied by his actions that night, became the corner stone of what Tenya strove to become.

They all voted to go after Izuku–not even voted, they all just got up and went. No second thoughts, no questions, they just went. They literally slapped a GPS out of Endeavor's hand so they could find him. They were not about to take no for an answer, not even from Izuku himself. It's insane, honestly, that one person managed to impact a group so deeply they'd risk everything to bring him back to their class.

I think a lot of the time, we think of difficult or unhealthy relationships as those where you give and give and give and the other person refuses to the same. No one really tells you what to do when someone you love dearly is giving so much it's hurting them, but they refuse to receive. It's an odd situation, but one I love seeing explored.

Could they have just let him go on his own? Fight by himself because that's what he wanted? Yeah, they totally could've. But they didn't, because they knew if the roles were reversed, Izuku wouldn't have thought twice about hunting them down. They weren't victims, they didn't want to be protected, they wanted to kick ass at his side.

They didn't do it out of heroism or even necessity I'd argue, they did it because that was their friend and they'd be damned if they let him suffer alone.

Still, despite that, Izuku wanted to protect them and he was so, so scared to lose them. It makes sense, in a sad, twisted way, that he would rather keep them locked away behind a wall and fight alone than let them stand at his side. He was haunted by the shit the people around him went through because of Shigaraki and AFO. It's far easier to blame yourself for things than it is to admit that it wasn't your fault and, sometimes, nothing could've done would've changed the outcome. I have no doubt it would've felt like he killed them himself if he went back and something happened, and the thought of that was far more terrifying than any threat to his own person. Of course he wanted to fight alone, he didn't want to fathom the possibility someone else would get hurt because they were around him.

But that wasn't for him to decide.

Sometimes, we forget a relationship goes two ways. It was dangerous for them to be there, sure, but that was a choice they made. A choice they wanted to make. They couldn't make him let them help, but he couldn't make them go away either. I have no doubt that if he got away that day, they'd have followed him to the ends of the earth until he gave in.

It's also easy to forget Izuku is just a kid. He's sixteen, barely in high school. Ochaco says as much when she pleads with the crowds to let him in. Her voice cracks as she begs this group mostly made of ADULTS to let a boy rest inside the walls of his own school. He probably doesn't physically know how to deal with these kinds of emotions yet (the frontal lobe, responsible in part for our emotional reactions to situations, doesn't fully develop until around 25/26, and even then research suggests it's never really fully done). It probably makes perfect sense to him that the best course of action is to be alone, even if it seems stupid to us.

We all need support at any age, but especially during those teenage years. Those are vital years of development as the mind develops and starts to take shape. Izuku has been beaten, traumatized, and terrified, it's no wonder he seems to be making such irrational decisions.

No kid should be carrying the weight of the entire goddamn world on their shoulders at that age and, of course, no one could've predicted that AFO was going to accelerate the process and force Deku to face him, but that doesn't make it any better.

However, that's the great thing about having friends, families, and partners, they come alongside you in those times and help you navigate this crazy new situation. They pick up the things you can't handle because they want to. Sometimes, they just stand next to you. Sometimes you have them lean on you for support. And, sometimes, they shoulder up next to you and carry you for a bit so you can catch your breath.

Because that's what you'd do for them.

Whenever I watch these episodes, I'm reminded of that scene in Lord of the Rings where Frodo thinks he can't go on and Sam says, "I can't carry the ring, but I can carry you!" I think this has similar vibes.

They couldn't carry One for All, but they could carry Izuku, and they were determined to do at least that.