I dunno, Bakugo seems like he was always going to stay relevant being Deku's main foil and the deuteragonist.
And Todoroki lucked out that Hori decided he could get way more out of his arc through Endeavor and got bumped up to Tritagonist.
Iida had his arc and it was great...and then Hori was like "deuces bro"
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.I still think people down play the moments Iida's actually had since his main arc, even if overall he has fallen out of the spotlight.
And he gives enough moments to Ochaco that saying she's been phased out fills wrong to me. She's not as important, she's still someone he clearly sees important enough to do that for.
Edited by LSBK on Aug 31st 2020 at 10:08:52 AM
Iida gets a lot of great moments, I will never deny that. But the fact remains is that the expectation is that he was gonna be one of Deku's BFF's, his ride or die buddy.
That never came around and that's just gonna leave a sour taste...
Same with Uraraka.
Its not like Iida and Uraraka had to be pushed aside too; the Five-Man Band exists for a reason. But alas, Hori wasn't interested.
To Iida's credit, he's remained consistently popular even if its not as much the power trio.
Edited by BlackYakuzu94 on Aug 31st 2020 at 11:13:25 AM
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.Part of it is that once important female characters getting the shaft on their screentime is almost tradition on WSJ.
So it might not be fair to say that Horikoshi is gonna do that (because we're somewhere between halfway to two-thirds into the story) it's a reasonable enough concern.
(Ironically Bulma remained relevant almost all the way to the endgame, thanks to the power of science. Senku would be proud)
Edited by HailMuffins on Aug 31st 2020 at 12:14:13 PM
Can't she? The stuff she invents might as well come out her ass since she just tends to show up with it.
Forever liveblogging the AvengersIf Horikoshi really wants a twist, he'll kill off Bakugou in this arc. That would show both Anyone Can Die, and it would shake things up in terms of the group dynamics.
I agree with LSBK. Ochako has had a consistent presence in the series, even if not to the extent of the power trio, it's been way more than Iida's gotten as of late. With Ochako you can at least say she's gotten a moment in every arc aside from the USJ, Hosu, Pro Hero, Meta Liberation Army, and the Endeavor Agency. Even in the Shie Hassaikai arc she still gets some focus thanks to her helping the dying Nighteye, with his death having a significant impact on her character arc. Iida meanwhile had been heavily Out of Focus after Kamino Ward, having little presence in the series outside of being the Class Representative, his position in the cast more often taken by whichever character was getting A Day in the Limelight, namely Kirishima and Mirio. But even he too got focus again in the Joint Training arc.
I can understand the frustration people have with female leads in Shonen series getting the shaft and all, namely after two of the Big 3 had their female leads, Sakura and Orihime, either completely useless or reduced to a Damsel in Distress then put Out of Focus afterwards.
I'm not saying it's wrong to say Ochako gets less than the Power Trio, since its basically a fact she does, the only debatable part being whether or not she gets less than or an equal amount with Bakugo. But Horikoshi has made clear she is a main character. Not a heroine like Hinata or Orihime, but a main character, and much like I argued with Mina choking against Gigantomachia, stories don't exist in a vacuum. She is getting focus even if it isn't the most, and each part contributes to her development. Cause when you get down to it, each of her appearances tends to further her character arc.
- The Sports Festival outlines she was initially Only in It for the Money, but after being inspired by Izuku and seeing both Shoto and Iida declare him their rival, she wanted to prove that she too could stand alongside them, leading to her bout with Bakugo.
- The Case Studies arc had her take up martial arts training under Gunhead so as to compensate for her failings that caused her to lose to Bakugo.
- The Final Exams arc had her continue trying to emulate Midoriya to the point Aoyama rightfully asks her if she was in love, with her denying her feelings, and she implements her training in taking down 13.
- The Training Camp has her come to blows with Toga and be forced to once again demonstrate her training paying off while trying to aid Izuku after seeing how desperate he was to save Bakugo.
- The License Exam forces her to confront her feelings for Midoriya and determine that they aren't good for her desire to be a hero, so she pushes them aside.
- The Shie Hassaikai arc forces her to carry the dying Nighteye and makes her think she failed him, and gives her the drive to be a hero who saves people.
- The Cultural Festival arc has her aiding Izuku in his plan to try and help Eri regain her smile and save her from Overhauls grip on her.
- The Joint Training Arc has her reaffirm her desire to save people by being the one to reach out to Izuku when Black Whip goes berserk, and keep restrained long enough for Shinso to call out to him, as well as take down Monoma when he tries to capitalize on Izuku's inability to use his Quirk. Said incident does make her feelings for Midoriya resurface, but she channels them into further improving. Hell, it was pretty much thanks to her that her team ended up winning, since while Mina took down Nirengeki and Izuku took down Shinso, Ochako took down Monoma, Kodai, and Reiko.
- The Paranormal Liberation War demonstrates how she's learned from Izuku by implementing rope into her gauntlets akin to his Black Whip and ditching the helmet after it was so often simply discarded. And she's ultimately the one who first picks up on Izuku acting weird when he feels Tomura wake up, and is quick to act in rescuing civilians after his Air Force fails.
Edited by RebelFalcon on Aug 31st 2020 at 11:45:17 AM
Rodimus: Self-sacrifice, Magnus— It's cheap. It's a cheap way out. I need to live so I can make amends.Anybody know where to find the first two OV As legally? I heard they were made available in the US yesterday.
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I'm not trying to discredit your point, because I do agree she gets something but notice how most of her moments revolve around Midoriya in some way. That's a very noticeable trend.
He is probably referring to the dub.
Edited by BlackYakuzu94 on Aug 31st 2020 at 12:55:57 PM
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.While Todoroki and Bakugo likely always had major roles intended (only 4 characters have an Origin chapter), Horikoshi did mention that Bakugo's breakdown to Izuku (chapter 11, i think) is where it clicked for him (IE that Bakugo has a softer, emotional side to him).
In terms of Todoroki, the story has heavily evolve too. I think it's pretty clear this is Horikoshi using the extra time: the story was intended to end at 20 volumes and then 30 and currently no number is given.
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While it does look bad in regards to the fact it's a female character getting development due to a male, it's important to remember that, as Aizawa mentioned to Ms. Joke back during the License Exam, Izuku and Bakugo tend to inspire character development in everyone in 1-A, and it sort of domino effects from there. The most obvious examples being Shoto and Iida for Izuku, and Kirishima and Kaminari for Bakugo. Their development was ultimately kickstarted as a result of Izuku and Bakugo coming into their lives, and the two are effectively the ones the rest of the class follows the lead of. And like I said, it dominos. Momo ended up getting her kickstart from Shoto, Mina looks to be set up to get her kickstart from Kirishima, Kendo got hers from Momo, Tetsutetsu from Kirishima, Jirou from Kaminari, Monoma from Izuku and Shinso, it's basically a massive web of character interactions and developments. Hell, if you look hard enough, you could trace any and all developments back to those two, kinda like One Degree of Separation.
The reason it ultimately looks worse for Ochako is because, frankly, an unintentional sense of sexism. Because of how unfairly females tend to be treated in Shonen, it doesn't paint a good picture if their development is explicitly tied to a male character, since it raises worry of being Demoted to Satellite Love Interest or that the female characters will be less valued than the males.
Notice though one of the characters I listed is just as if not more affected by Izuku's inspiring of their development: Shoto. Izuku you could, quite frankly, call Shoto's best friend, and a good chunk of Shoto's character development only came as a result of Izuku being a Warrior Therapist to him during the sports festival. While it's easy to forget thanks to "Keeping Up with the Todoroki's" going on, a good chunk of Todoroki's characterization after said Warrior Therapist moment came as a result of interacting with Izuku. Whether it be exploring how socially awkward he is (like his genuine thought he was the "hand crusher" and not understanding why Izuku and Iida were laughing) or confiding in each other over issues (like how Shoto pointed out to Izuku his approach with Kota wasn't working and how Izuku weighed in on his issues with Enji while visiting the Todoroki household)
Now, there are ultimately two reasons why Shoto doesn't get the same response as Ochako despite his development having been so tied to Izuku:
- 1. The fact he's a guy. It's old hat at this point that The Lancer or the Number Two to The Hero will have their characterization heavily connected to The Hero, since even characters like Vegeta have it as such. While Shoto isn't The Rival, that's Bakugo's position, he is effectively the tritagonist of the series now that All Might has retired and taken a Supporting Protagonist role. So for many people, Shoto having his characterization tied to Izuku's isn't as big an issue since its effectively just one of the cliches of Shonen.
- 2. Shoto has connections outside of Izuku due to being apart of the Power Trio.
- Shoto's characterization is not solely limited to Izuku, namely because of his connection to Enji, his bouncing off of Bakugo, his care for his mother, even his initial tension with Inasa. Shoto had plenty of avenues to explore other facets of his character, largely thanks to being part of the Power Trio.
- Conversely, while Ochako does have other facets to her character outside of Izuku, namely her parents, her relationship with Tsu and Nejire, and her being enemies with Toga, she hasn't had the opportunity to explore said aspects as much. One of the downsides of being a constant presence but not the main presence in every arc is that she'll often only get the opportunity to focus on a single asset each time. It's not always Izuku as demonstrated during the Training Camp and Shie Hassaikai arcs, but because she doesn't get as much as Shoto, the fact her development is so connected to Izuku's is more noticeable.
Edited by RebelFalcon on Aug 31st 2020 at 1:49:56 PM
Rodimus: Self-sacrifice, Magnus— It's cheap. It's a cheap way out. I need to live so I can make amends.That was the main point I was trying to point out is all. It just doesn't paint a good picture for her is all if most of her development is tied to the main character and she's mostly relegated to a supportive role.
Sure, other characters have had their development tied to Midoriya and Bakugo, but even someone like Kirishima has an arc outside of his relationship to Bakugo.
I don't think Uraraka be Demoted to Extra, but I also don't expect Hori to really give her the same attention he gives the others. Its just the unintentional sexism as you said unfortunately.
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.Which makes it rather amusing that for all of Black Clover’s own inferiorities to MHA, that’s the one area it’s actually excelling at better.
Props to Noelle, her attraction to Asta is fucking annoying but that Valkyrie Armor battle was dope.
Edited by slimcoder on Sep 1st 2020 at 4:31:40 AM
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."Noelle is a tsundere and by definition there can not be enough moments of embarassed blushing from her.

Well hopefully she does something cool against Giganto.
And this is a close enough culmination of her arc per-say. She previously stated she wants to help people especially after what happened in the Overhaul Raid & saving all these people from Giganto’s rampage is a perfect opportunity.
Edited by slimcoder on Aug 31st 2020 at 7:40:21 AM
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."