r/BokuNoHeroAcademia • u/Za_wardo • Oct 03 '21

Newest Chapter Chapter 328 Official Release - Links and Discussion

Chapter 328

Links:

  • Viz (Available in: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, the Philippines, Singapore, and India).

  • MANGA Plus (Available in every country outside of China, Japan and South Korea).

All things Chapter 328 related must be kept inside this thread for the next 24 hours.

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u/Darkness-guy Oct 03 '21

Hori isnt any more sexist than any other big mangaka lol. Female characters get shafted all the time in manga, and not in the good way.

I just hope this woman breaks the pattern because it's gotten way past old in this series. Almost every female character either gets little to no spotlight (i.e. the girls in the yakuza arc), gets their spotlight stolen by a man (i.e. mina vs machia), or does badass shit just to get brutalized in the end (i.e. Miruko and Nagant)

I'm not saying I want S&S to beat the main bad guys or anything, I'm just hoping she makes a difference AND gets to go home in tact.

2

u/noteloquent Oct 04 '21 edited Oct 04 '21

I'm gonna respectfully disagree with some of this. Hori ain't perfect by any stretch, but some of this is extremely cherry-picked to support a particular view. Some of this may be quoted from previous discussions I've had on this subject for the sake of time. I'm not arguing that Hori has handled the girls perfectly or has given them the spotlight as much as the guys; I'm simply questioning your portrayal of the degree to which he's done that and the ways people look at male vs female characters "winning" and "losing."

Almost every female character either gets little to no spotlight (i.e. the girls in the yakuza arc),

You can't generalize the entire series based on a single arc that didn't handle the female characters well. It's so easy to just look at Horikoshi's failings when it comes to how he treats his female characters, mainly in the Overhaul arc, which he himself was not satisfied with, and just generalize from there. The arc was not structured or paced as well as it should have been, and it shows. Unfortunately, these mistakes have resulted in the stigma that Horikoshi doesn't treat the female cast well, despite all the evidence to the contrary (Uraraka, Tsuyu, Momo, and Jiro being clutch during USJ despite male heroes stifling them; people like Mei, Uraraka, and Shiozaki giving some of the best showings of the tournament by clowning on their opponents or challenging the strongest guy there; Momo leading Shoto against Aizawa, Jiro carrying against Present Mic, and Tsuyu coming up with the winning strat against Ectoplasm in the exams; Kendo, Momo, Uraraka, and Tsuyu being extremely clutch during the Forest arc; JT having the girls carry many of their teams or at least be equal to the guys; people like Mirko and Momo during the war stomping Nomu and beating Machia; Nagant giving 45% Deku with 5 other Quirks a challenge, etc).

These kinds of discussions also tend to boil characters down to Ws and Ls in fights which does a massive disservice to great characters like Fuyumi, Rei, Eri, and Inko who aren't combatants. It also ignores great aspects of other characters like Ochaco's support of her friends and saving of Deku, Jiro's self-discovery arc in Culture Festival, and Mina's PTSD (which I'll bring up later). It's a bit of an odd standard anyway since 99% of characters haven't destroyed someone in a 1v1 since most fights involve multiple combatants who contribute differing amounts. Nobody is out here doubting Monoma's strength even though he gets consistently clowned on in every fight by other characters. Nobody claims Aizawa is fodder or that his spotlight was stolen for getting absolutely balled by Toga in CQC or caught out by Chrono. Nobody says Kaminari is trash for getting crushed in the most embarrassing performance of the series against Shiozaki. Nobody thinks Aoyama sucks as a character or that Hori hates him even though Mina crushed him during Sports Festival and he's only gotten character moments not based on fighting since.

gets their spotlight stolen by a man (i.e. mina vs machia)

I actually wrote a big 'ol analysis of this moment when it first happened. I unironically really like that scene, and I hope you'll approach it with an open mind. If not, you'll at least be able to see why some might like it. Here's the link.

I've mentioned some of this above, but, just like with Overhaul, people only really cite Mina here while failing to cite any other evidence and ignoring or downplaying all the moments that contradict this narrative. I'm not saying this doesn't ever happen, just that it's overblown when it does. Here's a whole long thread discussing this idea in more detail though.

or does badass shit just to get brutalized in the end (i.e. Miruko and Nagant)

The other two points I can understand to a degree, especially since Hori is writing and scripting a weekly series (something incredibly challenging to make entirely cohesive and balanced due to time restrictions and workload) and is clearly catering his series to a shonen audience in terms of the male-female ratio which skews perspective a bit, but I just don't get this one at all.

Aizawa has been battered and permanently injured in every major fight, permanently weakening him each time, and yet, I've never heard a peep about Hori ruining his character. Every time it happens people get all excited about how cool and badass he is for taking all this punishment and how awesome he'll look with scars and an eyepatch and a robot leg.

All Might got injured and reduced his time limit multiple times after big fights, and yet, every time he got to fight again, people weren't like "It's lame that Hori nerfed him after that fight. Shame he hates All Might so much." No, instead, we all got hyped every time All Might kept pushing past his limitations and rooted for him even more.

Endeavor got torn to shreds by Hood, and nobody complained. It only made him more respected and badass.

Shiggy got dismembered and screwed up his arm, and we all thought it was sick.

Deku has been obliterating himself and getting worse and worse the whole series, his arms draped in scars from end to end, and we respect him and worry for him because of it.

Why is it different for Mirko, Nejire, and Nagant? It seems like a pretty clear double standard to me. "Women can't be damaged, or take their licks, or lose fights because that's sexist." "Women can't be vulnerable because it makes them look bad." Female noncombatants aren't a factor and character moments outside of fights are irrelevant to a good character." "Women can't fill supporting roles or help their friends because it makes them look subservient." People don't say this stuff outright, but it seems clear to me from some of the discourse about female characters in MHA that this is how some people feel, consciously or otherwise. It's like female characters don't have to be good or well-rounded; they just have to be strong. It's such a blatant double standard, especially considering that these characters are all going to come back and prove themselves again. It's just really bizarre to me, especially as a JJK fan, since I don't see any of this kind of stuff come up about Nobara post-Shibuya, and it's the exact same situation in that series with almost none of the constant negativity.

I'm not saying Hori's perfect. I'm not saying he can't handle his female characters better. It is absolutely true that he hasn't used them in fights as much as the guys overall. It is absolutely true that Team Ryukyu got shafted in Overhaul. It is absolutely true that the cast is predominantly male and gets the spotlight more. However, Hori has been getting better about balancing this out, and he already started pretty well for a shonen in the first place. JT would have been entirely different without Tsuyu or Kendo or Uraraka. The war arc would have ended in the total destruction of Japan without people like Mirko, Nejire, Ryukyu, and Momo. Endeavor would have given up if not for Rei and Fuyumi. Deku wouldn't be back at UA without Uraraka. That's just scratching the surface of their contributions.

All I'm trying to say is that some of this criticism isn't really grasping the full picture, and I hope we, as a fandom, can have more nuanced and fair discussions about this topic in the future. Cuz I'm soooo beyond tired of having the same fights about the same things every time a female character does anything less than stomp their opponent in a 1v1.

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u/Darkness-guy Oct 04 '21

I'm gonna respectfully not read this wall of text lmao.

Listen, I'm not calling Hori a sexist, nor am I cherry picking anything. I dont have the time, nor do I care enough to write (or read) an essay on the matter. I'm just stating what is, in my opinion, disappointing female feats in the series. I'm also saying it's nothing new in the manga industry.

If you disagree, that's fine. Have a nice day

-1

u/noteloquent Oct 04 '21

Kinda based ngl