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Valiona Since: Mar, 2011
04/12/2020 05:18:14 •••

My Hero Academia + Original Character = Author Tract

This review covers through Chapter 11.

Writing fan fiction generally involves balancing fidelity to canon with adding the author's own touch, thereby creating something that's original but still recognizable as part of the original work's fandom. While RH Junior's Coyote stays true to the plot of My Hero Academia, there's a lot of the author's influence in it, and that isn't a good thing.

The fic is essentially a retelling of MHA with an Original Character- Riley Coyote, who hails from America and is Izuku's Childhood Friend. Since he's the author's main contribution to the story of MHA, and has a large impact on the plot, most of the review will look at him.

On the plus side, Riley is a truer friend to Izuku than Bakugo ever was, so their friendship is heartwarming, even if it has its ups and downs. Riley's Quirk awakening long before Izuku meets All Might strains their friendship, but they're able to resolve the problem together.

On the minus side, Riley's Quirk, while original and amusing, is also rather overpowered. It's similar to Momo's Quirk, but requires less skill to use and is more useful in direct combat, so Riley probably wouldn't have lost to Tokoyami in the Sports Festival.

Another minus, and one that has a larger impact on the story, is Riley's tendency to act superior to others, a trait that rubs off on Izuku. He and Izuku serve as mouthpieces to the author who tell their classmates and even pro heroes how best to use their Quirks, and frequently criticize others' decisions, from the pro heroes' handling of the slime villain to Aizawa(who will be discussed later).

The above seems to be a symptom of a larger problem with the author, whose values tend to bleed into the story and make it an Author Tract. His having Riley's American mother criticize Japan's laissez-faire approach to bullying is understandable, but there are also a few lines showing the author's disapproval of homosexuality. Since the author is also transphobic, I can only imagine how Tiger and Magne will be portrayed if the fic gets that far.

A few characters also end up being bashed. An entire chapter is devoted to calling out Aizawa on his (admittedly controversial) tendency to expel entire classes, as well as his other shortcomings as a teacher, and while it raises valid points, it goes too far. Bakugo gets the same treatment, since while Izuku is understandably less tolerant of his behavior, he's also significantly worse than in canon (not counting the Suicide Dare at the start of the series). Surprisingly, the almost universally hated Mineta escapes this fate; by comparison, the previous two are divisive.

In conclusion, fics like this one will almost inevitably be compared to canon, and be judged by what their authors bring to the table. Coyote personally makes me glad that Horikoshi, rather than RH Junior, is in charge of writing MHA.

hubakon1368 Since: Apr, 2015
04/11/2020 00:00:00

This is a really well-done review. I agree with you on how Aizawa and Bakugo are treated in this fic and this is coming from someone who doesn't even like Bakugo that much. I have no clue how Mineta comes out of this (so far) unscathed, but then again, the author may have a similar thought process to him considering how his self-insert acts.

You don't mention it in your review, but there is something I want to bring up: Izuku and Riley making recordings of information for all of their potential teachers (and selling them to other students because that's real heroic). I've seen some people talking about how this could be used to potentially ruin the lives of innocent people, but they won't because the people behind the operation are such noble paragons. I've also seen someone point out how easily this could backfire in a world where (Nearly) Everyone Is A Super.

And yeah, RH repeatedly hammering in his beliefs is just ugh... (I don't even what to think about how he might treat Magne and Tiger.)

Talking about the author avatar, yeah I agree on how completely broken he is. (He probably would be able to defeat Tokoyami considering Shigaraki couldn't decay his "Oobleck"). I also just roll my eyes at any time Riley tries arguing on the grounds of realism with characters who should know more than him but don't because the author wills it. Also, I find it kind of amusing on how just plain hypocritical it is that a Magical Native American who runs on Toon Physics whose ability he names after something from a Dr Seuss work is trying to inject "realism" into the story.

I have nothing else to say other than I'm also glad that Horikoshi is the one writing My Hero Academia.

Valiona Since: Mar, 2011
04/11/2020 00:00:00

If I had to guess, the reason why Mineta gets off scot-free is because he doesn't do anything to threaten Midoriya. Bakugo bullied Midoriya, and Aizawa threatened to expel him, but the worst thing Mineta did to Midoriya is point out that hardly any pros would want to have him as an intern after seeing his fight with Todoroki (and he's right). Unless Mineta commits some act of perversion that Riley considers intolerable, I doubt either he or Midoriya will take steps against Mineta.

That's a good point about the recordings. Part of the reason why I didn't mention it in the review was that I was getting close to the character limit, so it's a bit more specific of a detail than the ones I usually include.

hubakon1368 Since: Apr, 2015
04/12/2020 00:00:00

Good point.

Thank you for telling me.


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