My Hero Academia

I'm pretty sure Deku will pass it. Deku being forbidden to participate in some real combat situations due to legal technicality while some of the classmates do engage will be an awkward situation for the mangaka to manage. If he anguishes about it and stops himself readers will feel tired about seeing freaking shounen MC "get held back" by all these rules of society, but if he ignores and rushes in again it will feel like he's irresponsible and impulsive, and that he learned nothing from all the scoldings so far. This time there will be some of his classmates who actually proved themselves and earned provisional license to engage, so unlicensed Deku participating will feel even more out of line.

IMO, even all of class A passing could manage not to be an Ass Pull if I see enough development from characters. UA is a pretty prestigious school for heroics after all. I'm expecting something more like what happened at the end-of-term exams though, with just handful failing while most pass.

This is unrelated to the current line of discussion, and maybe other people have thought of it before, but is it possible that Tomura's disintegration quirk doesn't work on hands? Like, if someone locked hands with him, his power wouldn't do anything to them. Or if when he does disintegrate someone, they crumble away to nothing, except for the part below the wrist.

Huh, I've never thought about that, but now that I hear it it sounds plausible. All those hands should have come from somewhere, and I can see the hands being left behind because for some reason disintegration doesn't work on them. It would be kind of hard to leave only the hands intact like that by purpose.

One the one hand, this series is known for putting in odd little quirks like that into the powers, but on the other hand, they usually make some sort of sense in their own way and that really doesn't to me.

For the record, I only noticed the play on words until after I was done typing my explanation.

Yeah it's true that the limitations and oddities of the quirks tend to be more simple and straightforward. It's possible that Shigaraki really is that obsessed with hands and took measures to leave the hands behind. Or that the hands are not real hands except maybe for the "father". Or that AFO provided the hands seeing that they seemed to be Shigaraki's favorite toys.

I still think it's an interesting idea though. It's a quirk, maybe it's just extra quirky even compared to other quirks.

A safety mechanism, perhaps. His power is triggered by touching something with all five fingers on one hand. Well, technically they're all touching the body part they're connected to. And consider that activation condition, touching something with all five fingers. It's hard to imagine a physical justification for why it would need to be that exact way. But it makes sense as a safety feature, to keep the wielder from disintegrating everything they come into contact with. If so, then the hand thing makes sense too, to keep the wielder from dying because they make a fist.

edited 23rd Jul '16 6:08:38 PM by Montegoraon

Of course, that does bring up the good ol' Fridge Horror of what happens to all those poor kids who manifest potentially self-destructive quirks without the necessary Required Secondary Powers.

In other news, it makes sense that Powerloader teaches the Support class, the gadgeteers specifically, since his entire costume seems like some sort of mech suit. I'm imagining them working out some sort of mechanized brace like Batman in Dark Knight Rises for all of Deku's limbs.

edited 24th Jul '16 9:40:40 AM by danime91

Deku and Ochako just dancing

So it looks like Deku is going to try a different fighting style from All Might. I honestly can't imagine what it's going to be like, so I'm looking forward to what he comes up with. Hopefully Deku will gain signature moves other than the obliterate-your-own-arm smashes.

...But the MC's strongest weapon being a simple powerful punch is such an attractive concept. Although it's too early to make guesses (because we don't know what kind of new moves he's gonna come up with) I'm already imagining a Godzilla Threshold-crossing fight couple hundred chapters later, maybe even towards the end of series, where Deku had run out of other options and definitely needs the greatest raw power output he can muster. Enter 100% pure unadulterated Plus Ultra-style OFA smash, which has been sealed away for who knows how long. It's gonna be desperate, it's gonna be Call-Back to earlier days of the series, I can just see that kind of thing being effective narratively later on.

I mean, there's not really a lot he can do, One For All is a lot of things but versatile it is not.

You know, we've never seen him to try to lift anything or the likes, I wonder if that would be harder on him.

I mentioned this idea before, and it's incredibly silly, but cool to me dammit; Deku either learns how to "optimize" OFA's power output or harness it, like a kind of ki-like energy, and going wild from there.

That last one might be problematic, since that's the fighting style of all the shonen protagonists, but I can't think of any other way. That's alright, though, since being surprised is one of the joys of fiction.

@Bocaj: Bookmarked, saved, loved.

edited 25th Jul '16 8:37:10 PM by mrsunshinesprinkles

Basic human strength is all in what you do with it, like a Swiss army knife. Sure it can stab people (punches) but we do have all kinds of other attachments here!

Twice now, One for All has struggled against shock absorption quirks. What Deku needs is a way around that. He needs to learn how to apply his strength in grappling.

"Oh, your flesh can absorb my punches? Well, let's see what happens if your joints are slowly forced to bend 90 degrees in the wrong direction."

edited 25th Jul '16 11:10:11 PM by Montegoraon

I wonder if Deku will figure out how to do the windy/shockwave thing with his Smashes.

That way he can go all-out without nearly killing himself.

He's already done that, back when him and Ochako fought Bakugou and Iida. You just have to punch really hard.

Unrelated; I've been reading Baby Steps. The main character is an awkward dweeb who's a late bloomer, but is growing at a ridiculous pace. He makes up for his lack of experience by jotting breakdowns/analysis of the capability of pros on his many Campus notebooks, which earns him equal parts derision and admiration.

That sounds incredibly familiar and I am alright with that. Seriously, I'm not making no assumptions. I won't say that the socially-awkward, analyical late bloomer is becoming the new shonen MC archetype.

Just saying it would be pretty damn awesome if it did.

edited 26th Jul '16 6:17:48 AM by mrsunshinesprinkles

that's what originally endeared me to Deku. he's wicked smart and good at thinking on his feet and making plans mid-fight. once he fully gets the hang of using his powers without breaking himself, he's gonna be an amazing hero.

Yeah, but he wrecked himself pretty hard that time.

I think a safer way to do that is with the full cowl, or maybe an even further form.

Deku's actually used shockwaves quite a few times. Other than the 2v2 indoor battle training already mentioned, he also did it during USJ (finger flick towards water surface) and tournament fight against Todoroki (finger flick to ward off Todo's ice attack)

Honestly the finger-flicking could be a possible move. Good mid-range attack with decent penetration power and high accuracy/low collateral damage. Suddenly I'm thinking of everyone's possible special moves in terms of arcade fighter attacks and specials.

edited 26th Jul '16 8:04:47 PM by danime91

Izuku can also develop throwing projectiles if he needs to get range.

Probably why we ran into Mei again since hem doesn't seem adverse to using gadgets. May feel weird to have a super strength character be liberal with it, but no complaints on my part.

Heroes needing tech or some Phlebotinum to control their powers isn't so crazy.

Cyclops has his ruby quartz glasses, Havoc had a suit, etc, etc.

I know there are more examples, but I'm suddenly drawing blanks. The point is, it's not so crazy.

@ danime91 Potemkin from Guilty Gear actually had such a Special Move, but it was used for reversals and countering projectiles (It would make a travelling series of explosions back at the opponent)

Deku would totally be a melee Shoto like post 96' Kyo Kusanagi.

Ya guys know, the pilot for this manga had, instead of school life, Midoriya be hero Gadget salesman

Problem with the finger flicking is that for a single finger to be that powerful, Deku needs to use 100% on that single finger, meaning it breaks. It's an useful weapon because he can keep fighting after he uses it, but it's still "break my body to win" territory.