This article is a response to/argument against people who believe that it is morally wrong to ship Katsuki Bakugo from My Hero Academia with any other characters due to his various "negative" character traits. This reddit thread was the specific inspiration behind this response. My Hero Academia Volume 12 spoilers ahead.
After reading that Reddit discussion, I now completely understand why some people would be against OchakoxBakugo, or even AnyonexBakugo. That is, if their reasoning behind it was accurate; which is to say: it's not. Such an opinion is one that can only be held under false pretenses.
In short, their main argument is that Bakugo is undeserving of/not ready for love because at this point in the series he is nothing but a raging asshole who is destined to be abusive in the context of romance. ("This point in the series" equating to roughly around volume 15 when the thread was published.) This is agreeable until one realizes its core reasoning has no canonical basis. Yes, he is rude—and not only to the people he hates (Midoriya, villains, Neito Monoma) but also to literally everyone around him. But someone being rude does not directly translate to them being abusive and unable to control themselves, and I don't see how it can be blindly assumed that he would act the same or worse towards a romantic partner. That point notwithstanding, thinking that his misdemeanors are an inherent part of his personality or that they even matter in the context of relationships at all reveals an underlying misunderstanding of Katsuki Bakugo as a character.
In volume 11 he calmly asked All Might about his affiliation with Midoriya, and then calmly walked away even though he knew All Might lied with his answer. In volume 12 he calmly confronted Midoriya about using a borrowed power. These are both examples where, if Bakugo was a blindly raging asshole, he would have gone totally ballistic. But he's not, and so he didn't. He doesn't do anything fueled by blind rage. Bakugo is smart, and everything he does is calculated in order to achieve his goal of becoming the #1 hero. Those examples were purposeful moves on his part: The first to try and get information and test All Might’s loyalty, and to confirm his suspicions about Midoriya’s quirk. The second to remind his rival that he’s smart and not to underestimate him, and to let Midoriya know that he’s figured out his secret and that he no longer has the upper hand in their rivalry. Contrary to common misconception, Bakugo has a strategic and goal oriented mentality, is not a mindless and uncontrollable asshole, and is utterly capable of calm composure; All of these being qualities that neither point to him being abusive nor have any negative impact on romantic relationships at all.
The misunderstanding that Bakugo is a nonstop raging asshole probably stems from the fact that he is portrayed as acting rude and angry towards other people more often than he isn’t. This tricks people into only ever remembering those parts, and to disregard the evidence that reveals his true nature. Sure he often gets frustrated and angry, but does that mean that hot headed people can’t succeed in love? No, it doesn’t. Let’s also remember that Bakugo is human, and it makes sense that his negative qualities (anger issues, rudeness) would be accentuated when dealing with people he doesn’t like, so I don’t even need to address that because there's nothing wrong with it. However, a big problem people have that make them think he would be abusive in a relationship is that he’s rude to everyone else as well, and therefore his romantic partner would also be mistreated. That deduction is wrong and this is the simple explanation as to why:
Bakugo is rude to people because he doesn't care about them and can't be bothered to exert the effort needed to treat them politely. This is exemplified in how he doesn't actively go out of his way to mistreat anyone, which is an essential quality needed in order to be able to define him as being intrinsically mean/bad/abusive. I acknowledge that he used to be that way at the very beginning of the series when he was younger and immature, however it was a stage in his life that we know he has grown past since he no longer acts that way. He’s not out there purposely trying to be rude to people, it’s just that being nice is not one of his priorities. Him getting a crush on someone would mean that he grew feelings for and therefore cares about them, which is why Bakugo wouldn't treat his crush the same way he treats everyone else. Who knows, his crush could even become a slight priority for him too, while he's at it.
There is no basis behind labeling him as a truly deep down unloving and abusive asshole just for focusing on himself and what he needs to do to pursue his own goals, especially when doing so largely doesn't even have any significant negative impact (I'm not counting hurt feelings as being significant. Boo hoo, bitch) on anyone else (and I'm not counting his actions towards people he hates because those're understandable). He doesn't owe it to anyone to be nice to them, so there's no reason to hold anything against him for being this way. He's not an angel, and so what? No one is, and that doesn't mean none of us deserve love. His negative demeanor cannot be construed as him being an inherently bad or mean person, nor can it be construed as something that would actively transfer into a romantic relationship, especially considering the fact that by definition he would care about said romantic interest.
The people in that thread seem to view Bakugo as a character that is constantly screaming and being rude and who never has a calm decent moment. That thread gave me the impression that they think he's borderline evil* in his inability to control himself. Yes, he doesn't bother wasting time and energy on politely communicating with people he doesn't care about, but he is completely capable of calmly communicating with people—even Midoriya—when he wants to. And of course he's not actually evil (he is working his ass off to become the #1 hero, after all), a common misconception that I too had during the very beginning of the series. The people who think that Bakugo would be abusive in a relationship have remained stuck in the past and have failed to fully understand his motivations and intricacies as a character. Bakugo would absolutely be capable of having a healthy relationship with someone whom he has developed romantic feelings for.
*No one (that I saw) in the thread actually called him "evil", it's just that that seemed like the word everyone was dancing around based on how they were describing him.
Thank you so much for reading that essay I randomly wrote at the end of this book review, I appreciate it a lot! That Reddit thread got me thinking hard about both sides of the Bakugo shipping coin and I ended up with an even stronger opinion on the matter than I started off with, and I really wanted to share!
After reading that Reddit discussion, I now completely understand why some people would be against OchakoxBakugo, or even AnyonexBakugo. That is, if their reasoning behind it was accurate; which is to say: it's not. Such an opinion is one that can only be held under false pretenses.
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| Image from the reddit post |
In short, their main argument is that Bakugo is undeserving of/not ready for love because at this point in the series he is nothing but a raging asshole who is destined to be abusive in the context of romance. ("This point in the series" equating to roughly around volume 15 when the thread was published.) This is agreeable until one realizes its core reasoning has no canonical basis. Yes, he is rude—and not only to the people he hates (Midoriya, villains, Neito Monoma) but also to literally everyone around him. But someone being rude does not directly translate to them being abusive and unable to control themselves, and I don't see how it can be blindly assumed that he would act the same or worse towards a romantic partner. That point notwithstanding, thinking that his misdemeanors are an inherent part of his personality or that they even matter in the context of relationships at all reveals an underlying misunderstanding of Katsuki Bakugo as a character.
In volume 11 he calmly asked All Might about his affiliation with Midoriya, and then calmly walked away even though he knew All Might lied with his answer. In volume 12 he calmly confronted Midoriya about using a borrowed power. These are both examples where, if Bakugo was a blindly raging asshole, he would have gone totally ballistic. But he's not, and so he didn't. He doesn't do anything fueled by blind rage. Bakugo is smart, and everything he does is calculated in order to achieve his goal of becoming the #1 hero. Those examples were purposeful moves on his part: The first to try and get information and test All Might’s loyalty, and to confirm his suspicions about Midoriya’s quirk. The second to remind his rival that he’s smart and not to underestimate him, and to let Midoriya know that he’s figured out his secret and that he no longer has the upper hand in their rivalry. Contrary to common misconception, Bakugo has a strategic and goal oriented mentality, is not a mindless and uncontrollable asshole, and is utterly capable of calm composure; All of these being qualities that neither point to him being abusive nor have any negative impact on romantic relationships at all.
The misunderstanding that Bakugo is a nonstop raging asshole probably stems from the fact that he is portrayed as acting rude and angry towards other people more often than he isn’t. This tricks people into only ever remembering those parts, and to disregard the evidence that reveals his true nature. Sure he often gets frustrated and angry, but does that mean that hot headed people can’t succeed in love? No, it doesn’t. Let’s also remember that Bakugo is human, and it makes sense that his negative qualities (anger issues, rudeness) would be accentuated when dealing with people he doesn’t like, so I don’t even need to address that because there's nothing wrong with it. However, a big problem people have that make them think he would be abusive in a relationship is that he’s rude to everyone else as well, and therefore his romantic partner would also be mistreated. That deduction is wrong and this is the simple explanation as to why:
Bakugo is rude to people because he doesn't care about them and can't be bothered to exert the effort needed to treat them politely. This is exemplified in how he doesn't actively go out of his way to mistreat anyone, which is an essential quality needed in order to be able to define him as being intrinsically mean/bad/abusive. I acknowledge that he used to be that way at the very beginning of the series when he was younger and immature, however it was a stage in his life that we know he has grown past since he no longer acts that way. He’s not out there purposely trying to be rude to people, it’s just that being nice is not one of his priorities. Him getting a crush on someone would mean that he grew feelings for and therefore cares about them, which is why Bakugo wouldn't treat his crush the same way he treats everyone else. Who knows, his crush could even become a slight priority for him too, while he's at it.
There is no basis behind labeling him as a truly deep down unloving and abusive asshole just for focusing on himself and what he needs to do to pursue his own goals, especially when doing so largely doesn't even have any significant negative impact (I'm not counting hurt feelings as being significant. Boo hoo, bitch) on anyone else (and I'm not counting his actions towards people he hates because those're understandable). He doesn't owe it to anyone to be nice to them, so there's no reason to hold anything against him for being this way. He's not an angel, and so what? No one is, and that doesn't mean none of us deserve love. His negative demeanor cannot be construed as him being an inherently bad or mean person, nor can it be construed as something that would actively transfer into a romantic relationship, especially considering the fact that by definition he would care about said romantic interest.
The people in that thread seem to view Bakugo as a character that is constantly screaming and being rude and who never has a calm decent moment. That thread gave me the impression that they think he's borderline evil* in his inability to control himself. Yes, he doesn't bother wasting time and energy on politely communicating with people he doesn't care about, but he is completely capable of calmly communicating with people—even Midoriya—when he wants to. And of course he's not actually evil (he is working his ass off to become the #1 hero, after all), a common misconception that I too had during the very beginning of the series. The people who think that Bakugo would be abusive in a relationship have remained stuck in the past and have failed to fully understand his motivations and intricacies as a character. Bakugo would absolutely be capable of having a healthy relationship with someone whom he has developed romantic feelings for.
*No one (that I saw) in the thread actually called him "evil", it's just that that seemed like the word everyone was dancing around based on how they were describing him.
Thank you so much for reading that essay I randomly wrote at the end of this book review, I appreciate it a lot! That Reddit thread got me thinking hard about both sides of the Bakugo shipping coin and I ended up with an even stronger opinion on the matter than I started off with, and I really wanted to share!
If you read my essay, please say so on this poll just because I'll be really excited if anyone actually does read it, lol.
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