My Hero Academia 3: Villainous Interlude

[John Cribati]

Try driving through a checkpoint with an expired license.

What I meant was that you were saying that the license expires and needs to be renewed by definition, and there would be no way to have a license without it having those requirements.

And while I'm here...

and if you were flying while committing a crime and it turns out that you never get cleared for safe flying

So I take it that they would search for your name in a database of people who have this specific distinction? That seems like a bit of a hassle when they could instead grant you... some kind of... document, or something, I don't know... that you could present?

[Rater202]

Name. some kind of Pin you're assigned when you're tested.

Making a document that you have to carry on you means that if you lose the document or if it is stolen or destroyed, your use of your inherent powers which are part of your body that your psychology is built around suddenly becomes a crime.

That's okay for things like a big chunk of heavy metal that can go faster than humans were ever meant to go, but is far less okay for natural means of locomotion.

Also: There's this thing called a Gyrocopter. It is a device that allows for man-powered flight. In most places, you do not need a license to pilot one, so even in real life there are examples of unlicensed being legal.

[Ramza00]

Just a reminder in a Chapter 70, twice in different places of the chapter, it is the use of Quirks in public places that are forbidden. Private property not in the city has different rules with quirk uses. We do not know all the details of the rules but the characters in universe do, thus we only get subtle references to rules the 15 year olds know by heart for they been living in that culture by then.

To use a quirk in public you need to be certified in some fashion such as a hero license.

Some people may not call this fair but that is the culture MHA Japan created. Furthermore the rules and regulations are a national thing with different nations having different local rules.

[Lord Raziere]

Some people may not call this fair but that is the culture MHA Japan created. Furthermore the rules and regulations are a national thing with different nations having different local rules.

Well that only furthers my point, this stuff is complex, Japan is very socially repressed. I doubt other nations are as strict as MHA Japan. like, MHA America as I've said before? probably laxer, China is the only one off the top of my head I'd see being more strict or as strict as MHA Japan, and who knows how less fortunate nations dealt with the Quirk problem aside from getting new dictators taking over.

[LaZodiac]

Since you all ignored my post on this argument, I'm just going to move on. For those of you who've seen movie 2, there is a one shot bonus chapter of My Hero about the villains, which you can read here.

As well, there is a new Vigilantes chapter!

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We, interestingly, get to see another aspect of how My Hero is kinda messed up. Because of the destruction Pop caused, even though this is her first offense, she's been classified as a Villain and when she is arrested she will go to jail even as a minor, though with rehabilitation obviously a goal. And we see very clearly that... things are pretty rough concerning that, with Tsukauchi and his sister arguing over how this sort of thing is just kind of inevitable and sad. They'll do what they can.

And then we catch up with Koichi, who is recovering from falling off a building. He gets a letter from Knuckleduster and... ooh, looks like we're gonna have a rough time next chapter, cause it's a flashback of sorts involving everyone's favorite punch uncle.

Incidentally, shifting back to the argument at hand because I do want to contribute to it a little (even if none of you will read this). Vigilantes has PopStep, a character who's power effectively lets her fly. She jumps into the air real real good. She does it to do rogue idol shows and the like early on... and while she is known by police, it wasn't until what happened recently with the bombee lady, that her activities became a crime.

So we have, in universe, a person using their quirk for movement, and the police are ignoring it because yeah, it's illegal, but they have better **** to deal with. They'll reprimand here if need be. So like... we have an in universe example of how people just don't care about the law, and the law won't actually DO anything unless you cause problems. They're lenient about it.

so yeah. Take that risk of flying around. Better hope you don't fall on a person though.

[Rater202]

See, at that point, it becomes a matter of principle.

If it's a crime, but the police acknowledge that it's harmless so don't enforce the laws against it becuase there's more important stuff to do, then it shouldn't be a crime in the first place.

[Lord Raziere]

Since you all ignored my post on this argument, I'm just going to move on. For those of you who've seen movie 2, there is a one shot bonus chapter of My Hero about the villains, which you can read here.

As well, there is a new Vigilantes chapter!

Spoiler

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We, interestingly, get to see another aspect of how My Hero is kinda messed up. Because of the destruction Pop caused, even though this is her first offense, she's been classified as a Villain and when she is arrested she will go to jail even as a minor, though with rehabilitation obviously a goal. And we see very clearly that... things are pretty rough concerning that, with Tsukauchi and his sister arguing over how this sort of thing is just kind of inevitable and sad. They'll do what they can.

And then we catch up with Koichi, who is recovering from falling off a building. He gets a letter from Knuckleduster and... ooh, looks like we're gonna have a rough time next chapter, cause it's a flashback of sorts involving everyone's favorite punch uncle.

Incidentally, shifting back to the argument at hand because I do want to contribute to it a little (even if none of you will read this). Vigilantes has PopStep, a character who's power effectively lets her fly. She jumps into the air real real good. She does it to do rogue idol shows and the like early on... and while she is known by police, it wasn't until what happened recently with the bombee lady, that her activities became a crime.

So we have, in universe, a person using their quirk for movement, and the police are ignoring it because yeah, it's illegal, but they have better **** to deal with. They'll reprimand here if need be. So like... we have an in universe example of how people just don't care about the law, and the law won't actually DO anything unless you cause problems. They're lenient about it.

so yeah. Take that risk of flying around. Better hope you don't fall on a person though.

Yeah this is what I mean by MHA's issues being more cultural than legal. They have legal systems in place for this and that, and the police like any police in the real world can't do everything and enforce every single instance of the law being broken so they ignore things that they don't have time for, because rules are useless without a human to interpret and apply them effectively. the real issue is that the culture of MHA is still in a post-chaos mindset of wanting all the stability they can and have been using All-Might as a pillar of singular hope for a generation or so, while being afraid of any Quirk they don't understand or think of as properly heroic so they don't bother to try and figure out solutions for them.
A common theme in humanity is unfortunately the tendency to want someone strong/badass to enforce stability when stability is threatened, and thus people seeing Bakugo as heroic makes sense because he can beat up the bad guys and make sure the threat or whatever goes away, its seems to be a very basic human instinct. thus the exam is biased towards aggressive quirks, even though there is more to be a hero than that because what people will recommend to UA will invariably be something aggressive and powerful.

while on the flipside, like here, the laws clearly are a result of the culture around it, seeing anything that causes trouble as a threat and thus a villain. people want a simple system to sort people and enforce stability even though thats not the world really works. thus one act or mistake gets you villain status and thus jail time because you can't make an exception when the act is that obvious loud and harmful, when no one paid much attention before.

thus heroes are biased towards being aggressive fighters and warriors. thus villains are people equated with people like All For One because they are afraid of anything to upset their lives and safety. villains probably fall into a cycle of not being wanted by any job because of the label, and thus might continue being one. thus the violent heroes defeat them to set things "right" again without actually changing much. I doubt any of its intentional, like all complex social change its a result of many factors adding up.

[LaZodiac]

See, at that point, it becomes a matter of principle.

If it's a crime, but the police acknowledge that it's harmless so don't enforce the laws against it becuase there's more important stuff to do, then it shouldn't be a crime in the first place.

It's not harmless though. She's almost died a couple times because of this, and has hurt people by using them as footholds to jump from. They just didn't care.

You and I both know that if she, say, slipped while jumping... or landed on the wrong lamp post and caused something to fall onto someone, everyone would have exactly one phrase on their mind; the police didn't act properly by letting her do this so freely.

[Dragonus45]

Something else to consider here. One person in the city using their power to fly to work is probably harmless, everyone doing it is a nightmare. Imagine a few thousand people all trying to fly to work while a bunch of speedsters, gliders, sliders, jumpers, swingers, and literally every other kind of movement quirk you can imagine all moving around the city at once. I drove an 18 wheeler in New York, once. I refused every load that would ever take me there again. Between that and a the almost daily idiocy I've seen on the road I can safely say that whether they realize it or not most people don't really act in discerning ways while doing their daily commute. You take a big city like that and just let people "do what comes natural" in a world with quirks en masse and people are going to get hurt. That isn't a question, it's a reality. Also you seem to be begging the question on this, we know for a fact that a lot of quirks take effort to understand and use properly and safely. That means there there is not parity between your two examples.

[LaZodiac]

Hey so uh, new chapter!

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Dabi knows Hawk's real name which is weird since it's never been televised and the man himself was an orphan slum child. He and Twice do their best to get Twice out to help but... Hawks is just that good. Twice manages to make a clone that goes on to kill a hero that was capturing Toga and Compress, but... let's all read the room properly for once;

Twice is ****ing dead. Holy ****.

[Ramza00]

Hey so uh, new chapter!

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Dabi knows Hawk's real name which is weird since it's never been televised and the man himself was an orphan slum child. He and Twice do their best to get Twice out to help but... Hawks is just that good. Twice manages to make a clone that goes on to kill a hero that was capturing Toga and Compress, but... let's all read the room properly for once;

Twice is ****ing dead. Holy ****.

You know what this mean about future imagery don't you?

Spoiler: New Chapter Speculation

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We are going to get Angel vs Demon or perhaps Angel vs Fire Goblin imagery.

I find this delicious considering Dabi has a lot of Onibi imagery. [Onibis are blue lights you see in the distance, spirits born from the corpses of humans or animals who are vengeful against the living. Will o Wisps or Jack o Lanterns are similar concepts in other cultures.]

So what I am saying is regardless I am very psych right about now.

[I am not processing Twice's death right now, I will be in denial until 4 weeks after this arc is ended.]

[LaZodiac]

You know what this mean about future imagery don't you?

Spoiler: New Chapter Speculation

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We are going to get Angel vs Demon or perhaps Angel vs Fire Goblin imagery.

I find this delicious considering Dabi has a lot of Onibi imagery. [Onibis are blue lights you see in the distance, spirits born from the corpses of humans or animals who are vengeful against the living. Will o Wisps or Jack o Lanterns are similar concepts in other cultures.]

So what I am saying is regardless I am very psych right about now.

[I am not processing Twice's death right now, I will be in denial until 4 weeks after this arc is ended.]

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I actually feel better about contrasting him with his dad. Endeavor is a big fiery shouty red-oni, and Dabi is the cool, collected, silent but no less furious blue-oni.

Also yeah **** Twice is dead jesus. It's gonna... be a lot, to think about.

[Cozzer]

Well, this is definitely not going to make the moral debates about the whole

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Hakws vs. Twice situation

more complicated.

Wonderful chapter, anyway. I'm loving this whole part.

[Dragonus45]

Hey so uh, new chapter!

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Dabi knows Hawk's real name which is weird since it's never been televised and the man himself was an orphan slum child. He and Twice do their best to get Twice out to help but... Hawks is just that good. Twice manages to make a clone that goes on to kill a hero that was capturing Toga and Compress, but... let's all read the room properly for once;

Twice is ****ing dead. Holy ****.

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Damn that was sad, but the tragedy of it is somewhat spoiled by him murdering a hero right before it happens. Ironically if he was the kind of person to take that chance and abandon his friends he wouldn't be worth it.

[LaZodiac]

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Damn that was sad, but the tragedy of it is somewhat spoiled by him murdering a hero right before it happens. Ironically if he was the kind of person to take that chance and abandon his friends he wouldn't be worth it.

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Does it help any that he killed him AFTER he died? Because Twice is already dead by the time that happens.

[Dragonus45]

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Does it help any that he killed him AFTER he died? Because Twice is already dead by the time that happens.

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Not really? A little I guess. I have complicated feelings about Twice because he is the only member of the League I find remotely sympathetic. But at the end of the day he just killed a guy. Like, that is a dead hero right there at his feet who's blood is on his hands while he has his big sad goodbye scene and that sort of sums up what Twice for me in a lot of ways. Sympathetic sure but ultimately someone who Hawks shouldn't have taken it easy on. Because he wasn't going to stop killing in the name of some real and true monsters and now another hero is dead.

[Spacewolf]

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Yea I'm inclined to agree it's like the sand tiger or whatever he was called hero, we get attached to members of the league because we see stuff from there point of view and never see the family of that hero who's now dead because Hawks got attached to Twice.

[Dragonus45]

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Yea I'm inclined to agree it's like the sand tiger or whatever he was called hero, we get attached to members of the league because we see stuff from there point of view and never see the family of that hero who's now dead because Hawks got attached to Twice.

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Yea we see a lot of their inner lives, but its important to remember the people they terrorize are just as likely to have a complex inner life we don't get to see. It's important to remember that what the League has are explanations, not excuses.

[Lemmy]

Great chapter!

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It was truly a touching moment. As usual, even the villains are sympathetic... We lost a great character, but I can't really feel bad about Twice. At the end of the day, whatever the reasons may be, he's still a horrible person, as evidenced by the dead hero at his feet.

Whatever misfortune took place in his life may explain, but don't justify his crimes.

[Lemmy]

I just wanted to share this video form Toho's Animation official YT channel:

It's class A's concert, with the full song, uncut and uninterrupted. It's a really good video.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

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I feel that Horikoshi does a decent job of making the villains believable without going so far as to give them a pass for their actions.

Some stories go too far one way or the other. You either have one-dimensional villains who just do bad things because they're bad people, even though that makes no sense whatsoever. Or villains who are so developed and sympathetic that they end up more popular and relatable than the heroes!

Also, IMHO, the way that Toga just looks at Jin quietly for multiple panels, before thanking him just as he falls apart is heart-wrenching. Everything is conveyed by her changing facial expressions. You'd think that she would shed a tear before the end of the chapter, but she doesn't need to. The scene works perfectly without tears.

[Traab]

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I feel that Horikoshi does a decent job of making the villains believable without going so far as to give them a pass for their actions.

Some stories go too far one way or the other. You either have one-dimensional villains who just do bad things because they're bad people, even though that makes no sense whatsoever. Or villains who are so developed and sympathetic that they end up more popular and relatable than the heroes!

Also, IMHO, the way that Toga just looks at Jin quietly for multiple panels, before thanking him just as he falls apart is heart-wrenching. Everything is conveyed by her changing facial expressions. You'd think that she would shed a tear before the end of the chapter, but she doesn't need to. The scene works perfectly without tears.

I agree, he is doing a great job of creating bad guys you can sympathize with without actually justifying their behavior. Stain is the most obvious example. We can all understand his hate of "heroes" who are in it for wealth and fame instead of being there to protect people, but the way he goes about fixing this issue is abominable. Instead of working to try and say, train up the next generation like eraserhead does, he just flat out murders any hero who isnt heroic enough for his taste. I know in his backstory its implied that he tried to pass on his message before going murder hobo on the heroes but even so. His whole motivation is weak on top of it all because yeah it would be nice if all heroes did it because they want to help people but so long as they ARE helping people, why does it matter so much that mt lady is constantly making an effort to move up the popularity numbers?

[LaZodiac]

I agree, he is doing a great job of creating bad guys you can sympathize with without actually justifying their behavior. Stain is the most obvious example. We can all understand his hate of "heroes" who are in it for wealth and fame instead of being there to protect people, but the way he goes about fixing this issue is abominable. Instead of working to try and say, train up the next generation like eraserhead does, he just flat out murders any hero who isnt heroic enough for his taste. I know in his backstory its implied that he tried to pass on his message before going murder hobo on the heroes but even so. His whole motivation is weak on top of it all because yeah it would be nice if all heroes did it because they want to help people but so long as they ARE helping people, why does it matter so much that mt lady is constantly making an effort to move up the popularity numbers?

To play devil's advocate a bit; Mt Lady being motivated purely by money and fame has actually shown some degree of negativity. Mineta, awful goblin that he is, ended up basically just being used as a maid for his work study. If Mt Lady was a more professional, more "pure" hero, she might have instead worked to curbing some of his worse traits. Likewise, if someone is only motivated by money, how can you trust them to put their lives on the line? That's a genuine question that someone CAN have, I think. Someone truly noble like All Might would sacrifice himself to save your life, but would someone like Mt Lady?

And of course the answer is yes but the fact that that question exists, and would give someone pause, is why Stain does what he does.

[Lord Raziere]

To play devil's advocate a bit; Mt Lady being motivated purely by money and fame has actually shown some degree of negativity. Mineta, awful goblin that he is, ended up basically just being used as a maid for his work study. If Mt Lady was a more professional, more "pure" hero, she might have instead worked to curbing some of his worse traits. Likewise, if someone is only motivated by money, how can you trust them to put their lives on the line? That's a genuine question that someone CAN have, I think. Someone truly noble like All Might would sacrifice himself to save your life, but would someone like Mt Lady?

And of course the answer is yes but the fact that that question exists, and would give someone pause, is why Stain does what he does.

I mean there is also the fact that if heroes keep becoming celebrities and getting rich and passing on their heroic quirks to their children as well as their money, that they might as well become a neo-nobility in all but name. Given how Endeavor acted with his family, that might already be happening and it might be a matter of time before the gap between Heroes and even normal quirk users just becomes too large and stratified, with Hero quirks being the ones in power while everyone else might as well be normal.

[Lemmy]

Then again, even the most vain of heroes seem to actually care about protecting others... It's just that some of them really, really like their money and celebrity status as well.

I don't think they are anything close to "neo-nobility" simply because, quirk or no quirk, their children still have to actually do stuff to get the title of hero. They aren't awarded money or respect simply for having the quirks of their parents.

[John Cribati]

To play devil's advocate a bit; Mt Lady being motivated purely by money and fame has actually shown some degree of negativity. Mineta, awful goblin that he is, ended up basically just being used as a maid for his work study. If Mt Lady was a more professional, more "pure" hero, she might have instead worked to curbing some of his worse traits. Likewise, if someone is only motivated by money, how can you trust them to put their lives on the line? That's a genuine question that someone CAN have, I think. Someone truly noble like All Might would sacrifice himself to save your life, but would someone like Mt Lady?

Eh. As much as All Might goes on about the nobility of self-sacrifice, the narrative and characters keep trying to shove "Dead heroes can't help anyone" into Deku's immensely thick skull.

Also, in general, You're never going to have a workforce full of A+ workers. Some people give 100%, some people give 20%, but that 20% is covering something that the guy giving 100% isn't.

[Dragonus45]

And of course the answer is yes but the fact that that question exists, and would give someone pause, is why Stain does what he does.

Realistically just the act of going outside in the costume is risking your life. Let alone the years of effort it takes to get the license. Frankly it really shouldn’t even be considered a reasonable question to begin with.

[Ramza00]

I mean there is also the fact that if heroes keep becoming celebrities and getting rich and passing on their heroic quirks to their children as well as their money, that they might as well become a neo-nobility in all but name. Given how Endeavor acted with his family, that might already be happening and it might be a matter of time before the gap between Heroes and even normal quirk users just becomes too large and stratified, with Hero quirks being the ones in power while everyone else might as well be normal.

Cringes at the term neo-nobility. Yes the top 20 heroes are rich, powerful, and celebrities ... but celebrities are not the same as nobility.

Hero Cults / Worship of Heros being a large face of one's society may lead to problems for the society, but it is a completely separate type of problem as Nobility.

[Traab]

Cringes at the term neo-nobility. Yes the top 20 heroes are rich, powerful, and celebrities ... but celebrities are not the same as nobility.

Hero Cults / Worship of Heros being a large face of one's society may lead to problems for the society, but it is a completely separate type of problem as Nobility.

The thing though is that heroes tend to be stronger than those who arent due to both their quirk being whatever it is and the extensive training they get. Unlike say, a football player or an actor, whose celebrity is based entirely on something that long term doesnt matter, these heroes are actually strong enough to matter outside of their popularity, and if they go the early endeavor route and basically try to breed for stronger quirks in their kids I can see the argument about them being families of super duper quirks while everyone else is far less than them. If you read the grrl power comic, or even if you dont, the character Math is actually an example. His family for like 99 generations has been exceptional martial artists on both sides. This along with the training he received has made him so powerful as a martial artist that he fights on a super hero team with people who can crush space shuttles or nuke long island with their index finger. Yeah those people could crush him but he is still counted as superhuman.

Now think about quirks and how they seem to combine in the next generation, potentially getting stronger. Tokoroki can already create instant glaciers and fuel air explosions at will. He can do that because of his fathers strong fire quirk and his mothers strong ice quirk both being passed on to him, maximizing his potential. Now imagine he marries some other woman who has similar quirks so his kids end up even stronger like some unholy fusion of the human torch and general esdeath. Meanwhile mr stretchy eyeballs marries madam big fingers and their kid can be his own halloween costume and thats about it. Its entirely likely that future generations of heroes will be so much more powerful than those who arent third generation heroes that they will basically take over. Thats what the neo nobility thing was about.

[uncool]

His whole motivation is weak on top of it all because yeah it would be nice if all heroes did it because they want to help people but so long as they ARE helping people, why does it matter so much that mt lady is constantly making an effort to move up the popularity numbers?

Part of the point of the season - and to some extent, the whole show - is that it matters because caring for the rankings leads heroes to not help (or at least, hinders their attempts to help). The tournament gives a light tie-in for this: Izuku gets first in the first segment, and because of that is nearly knocked out n the second bit; his short-sighted attempt to top the rankings early cost him in his goals. In the middle, Shinso can't join the hero course because his powers don't lend themselves to looking right, no matter how obviously helpful they would be for nearly every villain we've seen. On the heavier side, Endeavor cares so much for the rankings that he abuses his family and engages in eugenics.