Boku no Hero Academia, Chapter 120: Three People
These manga reviews came a bit later than usual, sorry about that. We get the results of the popularity poll! Pikachu and his bottle of tomato ketchup gets a vote, WOO! Mineta dropped from 18th to 31st, which is hilarious. Kyouka and Kirishima ranked way higher than I expected them to, which probably means we'll be seeing more of them in future chapters since Kaminari got increased page-time after the first poll.
The 8% kick from last chapter apparently did nothing to Bakugou but bruise his arms and push him back a bit, and Midoriya starts to taunt Bakugou. The monologue explains that in Midoriya's mind, when he gets competitive and "I need to win" becomes the priority over "I need to help people", he starts to run off his mouth and say careless things, because in his mind, Bakugou is the image of victory. That's actually a very cool little bit of character writing, considering how intrinsically tied to Midoriya's backstory Bakugou is.
We get a badass scene where Midoriya monologues in his own head how Shoot-style isn't exclusively using his feet, because his arms, while injured, can still be used. Midoriya gets to punch Bakugou in the face, but then we get a very cool scene where Bakugou flips Midoriya around and creates such a gigantic explosion and slams Midoriya face-first onto the ground.
Which I'll mirror, because it's a pretty cool two-page spread. Bakugou notes, with one arm on Midoriya's face, that he won. Just like in the popularity poll.
Bakugou asks Midoriya why he lost, when he had access to All Might's power, and, well, who else to interrupt but All Might himself? He shows up, telling them that it's enough, and that he's been eavesdropping on the two of them.
It's a very, very good confrontation that follows, really. Bakugou isn't going to kill Midoriya, and I never believed that it was going to come to that -- not with the style and the direction of writing that Academia was taking. But this confrontation was, again, very well-written. All Might notes how he chose to help Midoriya, who truly wanted to be a hero despite being powerless, and he chose to help Midoriya stand in the arena and not Bakugou, who had a very long and solid footing in it.
Bakugou notes how he was weak, and how All Might ended up in this sorry state because of Bakugou's weakness. All Might comforts the poor boy, noting that it'll end up like that no matter what, and apologizes that he concentrated too much on Bakugou's strength despite him being young as well. We get a brief hug (before Bakugou naturally swats All Might's arm away), and All Might notes that Bakugou and Midoriya are two sides of the same coin, two important aspects of heroism -- the 'I must win at all costs' hero and the 'I must help everyone' hero. And it's this desire, Bakugou fearing Midoriya's spirit, and Midoriya desiring Bakugou's strength, that if they adapt each other's style, they can be the best heroes with a great balance between winning and rescuing.
I actually like this -- seeking strength isn't villified as corrupt or whatever, just that you shouldn't do it exclusively.
Bakugou's just kind of confused and tired (he's not built for feelings), and slumps with his head down, telling Midoriya that since he's got All Might, the strongest man, on his corner, he can't go losing. Bakugou also, out of respect for All Might, notes that he's going to keep this secret.
Very, very well-written, and a very nice, emotional end to the Bakugou/Midoriya conflict. I think this is my favourite rivalry between two characters... like, ever, in fiction. Most examples end up being too friendly or too antagonistic that it's an enemy instead of a rival, and I don't think I've seen one that maintains a balance (hee hee the chapter is all about balance and I said balance) between the antagonism that Bakugou and Midoriya show each other while not making them flat-out good-guy-versus-bad-guy.
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