Boku no Hero Academia, Chapter 62: Bakugou Katsuki - the Origin
Oh, hey, look! Popularity poll. Done in an even more tongue-in-cheek way than other mangas, pointing out the fact that freaking Naruto gets a vote (with Hatsume and Eijirou even parodying Naruto's catchphrase of dattebayo). Also, Midoriya's shoe, absolutely cheerful, also gets a vote. Poor Mineta only got 18th place, and I do like how we actually zoom in on his rather dejected face. Poor dude! The standings has, in order, Midoriya (of course), Todoroki, Bakugou, Uraraka, All Might, Tsuyu, Tokoyami, Iida, Kaminari and Aizawa. Good job, Tokoyami, climbing up so high in the rankings! I knew you could do it, and you're totally rocking that poncho and scarf look. Kaminari also rose higher than I expected, and I honestly thought someone like Mineta or Momo would be in before Kaminari -- though Momo herself is 11th place. But Kaminari's cool. I don't particularly like him more than the others, but he's cool nonetheless.
Ahem, back to the chapter review. We pick off from last chapter, with All Might proclaiming "Collateral damage to the city? Who gives a fuck?" which, I think, is a term that people call 'precision F-strike'. Yeah, this All Might is a villain, and he is definitely putting his heart and soul in not being jolly and that art on the page two-three spread with All Might just charging in, and the subsequent 'burn half your life away by staring at you' shot of his eye... the art in this manga is absolutely powerful.
Bakugou, rage idiot that he is, tries to stun All Might, using this 'Stun Grenade' attack... but All Might just grabs Bakugou in the face. Bakugou, however, for his credit, is planning to get close and just launches a barrage of explosions at All Might. All Might does go 'ow ow' for a moment, but that's just his innate goofiness, though props to Bakugou for having balls. Dude doesn't have brains since All Might just manhandles the kid even more, evidently unhurt, but he certainly has balls. All Might just zips in to cut away Midoriya, and the zoom-in to that wonderfully shaded closeup to his face with scary eyes... well, it's only marred (or arguably enhanced) by the eternally-fixated cheery grin that All Might has.
Midoriya remembers Stain, reflexively goes Full Cowl, and leaps into the air... and fucks up Bakugou, who is grenade-launching himself. All Might just scratches his head as we cut away to the healing lady who actually provides some pretty good analysis on why the two is faltering, and I wouldn't be surprised if she turns out to be the one assigning the scores when the teachers eventually take down the students. Midoriya's panicking is because of undue excess of admiration, but she can't figure out what makes Bakugou so flustered and impatient (and a raging douchehole) despite possessing a metric ton of talent.
Bakugou goes "I will win, because that's what a hero does." But whatever they are trying to discuss gets interrupted as All Might goes in with a fucking guardrail to pin Midoriya to the ground, and punches Bakugou straight in the gut. Yes, he is pretty obviously holding back, but that panel with Bakugou going goggly-eyed and later vomiting is absolutely well done. A painful love tap to ensure that Bakugou doesn't just, well, think that he can killsplode everything.
And we get an unexpected flashback to Bakugou's past, where he's just adorably fanboying over All Might, excitedly waving his hands and head and admiring All Might's strength and the fact that he always wins.
This is juxtaposed with present-day All Might towering over Bakugou, noting that Bakugou is frustrated at Midoriya's sudden growth, but compares Bakugou's lack of growth to how a game character at level 50 will grow at a slower pace compared to a character at level 1. Good explanation, All Might. He evidently plays Pokemon. All Might tries to give a speech about how Bakugou doesn't need to nurture his strength but other things, while Midoriya tries to get up from the guardrail noting that while he hates Bakugou, he always admires Bakugou's desire to emerge victorious. But Bakugou, spitting vomit and everything, goes 'if I have to borrow that bitchass's strength, I'd rather lose'. All Might looms over Bakugou all sinister and shadowed and good lord the art here. He goes all 'don't regret this', we see Bakugou's face being punched...
Before we cut away to Midoriya speed-punching Bakugou away from All Might's punch, shouting "don't say you would rather lose... you of all people!" Midoriya runs away, carrying Bakugou, ignoring Bakugou's protests, and notes that while he himself has no idea how to beat All Might or run from him, there is no way they should just give up. Midoriya reminds Bakugou that he is the kid that never gives up on winning, and I do like this about their dynamic. As much as an asshat that Bakugou is, Midoriya always admires Bakugou for his sheer tenacity and raw talent. And as powerful as Bakugou is, he's also frighteningly self-conscious about the others around him and has a bit of an inferiority complex even though he could arguably be called superior.
We cut back to a flashback where Bakugou beat up a bunch of older kids who bullied him... and we see more hints of a society filled with metahumans, like this kid with Spock ears, this kid with bat wings, and, uh, this kid with poop on his shirt with the words FUN. Okay. And despite rubbing away his tears, Bakugou keeps saying how the number one hero will always win, so his stubbornness can manifeste in a positive way.
All Might, obviously letting the kids have a headstart even as he goes all 'I let my guard down' and 'man these things are heavy' tries to cut Midoriya and Bakugou off at the exit gate, but Bakugou comes in all screaming, doing big explosive stuff while commenting how pissed off he is at having to work with Midoriya (that expression sells it)... and apparently Midoriya has snuck up behind All Might equipped with one of Bakugou's grenade gauntlets, and pulls off the pin! And... I forget what those grenade gauntlets do. More explosions, I'd wager.
Highly doubt that even this combination attack is going to put a dent on All Might -- maybe the all-important anime cliche of landing a scratch on a powerful mentor, but that's it. But while this is nowhere as epic as Todoroki Shouto: the Origin, this does show a really important turning point in Bakugou's growth as a character and as a person. And I absolutely love the dynamic between Bakugou and Midoriya! It's great.
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