My Hero Academia's Social Commentary
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- For this weeks My Hero Academia video, I talk about some tidbits of what I believe Kohei Horikoshi is trying to say about the society around him. Whether it be economic disenfranchisement, or a criticism of celebrity worship.
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God, the point about heroes being so oversaturated, yet areas still having little to no heroes is wild - Of course heroes would flock to bigger, more populated areas. That's some incredible but subtle worldbuilding. Both the real world, and MHA's world's systems facilitating crime is a harrowing thought.
Great video Asa
I love the math done here. More heroes = Need for a market = Need for more villains
Its a piece that fits perfectly into the popular "reoccuring villain" trope. Why actually help people and stop villains from being born and having a reason to do crime when you can make money out of it?
My only problem is that redestro didn't submit just because shiggy was more powerful. It was because he was liberated. Redestro can never be truly liberated due to his quirk working under the stress of limitations, meanwhile shigaraki has nothing stopping him. He is what the MLA wants to create.
And you just know that in the world of MHA that system is probably worse in the United States: especially since they were the ones that invented most of the systems other countries use for their own Hero or Villain processes going by how they labellled around 10% of the original vigilantes as heroes and the rest as villains, you also have examples of Heroes made to sell their public image there: Captain Celebrity had his license revoked and had to work abroad due to controversy after the public learned he cheated on his wife. And Katherine Bate, a woman who grew up idolizing All Might, was raised to be a walking billboard of US patriotism going by her outfit and name(Stars & Stripes).
It looks like she chose that outfit
I wonder if America in MHA is like the boys
Probably
This is my favorite running theme in MHA.
I do wish it was portrayed just slightly more explicitly.
Imo, I enjoy the subtlety. The mangaka to me, while he does want to add some irl world problems to flavor the story, doesn't want said topics to overpower the story and make it really heavy/political, I don't think that's the kind of story he wants to portray
@@niffleraku
I find it a liiiitle too subtle. Because it's not like this stuff isn't important to the narrative. The story goes out of it's way to tell you this is how things are and this is what's wrong. Most of the conflict and character motives are directly linked to the systemic issues. Deku's goal isn't even to live his dream and have a successful career anymore. His goal is now to save the villains and understand them more.
So when Hori shies away from that stuff and/or provides no meaningful follow through, it feels just a little... cowardly. Not exactly Hori being cowardly. Like maybe it's not his fault. Maybe Jump would never allow for such explicit commentary. But then it feels like Jump itself or the industry is just cowardly then.
MHA definitely wants to be taken seriously. So it should take its subject matter more seriously.
@@nifflerakuhe/editors, his vision for mha has been changed a few times by the editorial staff starting with character designs and traits of characters
I always had a feeling that bnha had more commentary behind it than it seemed, one of the most obvious ones to me was when stain first appeared. It was clear (to me at least) that there was smth about celebrity worship going on in there, there was also some commentary about how the authorities meant to serve people more often than not are just doing it for either money or glory/status nowadays, and how the actually good and honest people like iida's big brother, get caught up in the mess and sadly end up paying the price for smth they didn't do
You bring up a good point about Mt. Lady’s success by the time of the billboard charts. Heroics aren’t judged equally by the general public - and heroes searching for popularity know this.
Another facet to this point is the fact that it was said part of Mt. Lady’s skyrocketing success (along with Kamui Woods) is their involvements in Kamino. Despite their involvement not being a focus - they get acclaim by association; which shows that it’s not just about how heroes can pick their location of heroics, they can also pick the nature of heroics they do.
Think back to All Might during USJ. He was late because he put effort into solving every misdeed along his way. Of course, a fair comparison can’t be made to Mt. Lady because of the immense attention All Might already gets - but in the eyes of an average hero looking for popularity: would you try and stop the petty criminals escaping through the alleys with a purse, or the big fight disturbing public transportation just a block over? Even if just to take part in ONE hit.
It’s a common point of knowledge in visual studies that the camera is inherently biased; that what is and isn’t seen is controlled. Just like you allude to with the safety commission, it is these blind spots that are NECESSARY for systems like these to stand alone. What better life of a greedy hero to have their best qualities in the frame, leaving the boring or straight up bad qualities away from view? Great video!
Engagement! Algorythmn! Numbers! Wohoo!
i love the good numbers. i HATE the bad numbers
Never thought I'd see the two of some of the best MHA analysis channels in the same place
The worldbuilding in MHA is easily my favorite part, and the main reason it’s always frustrating to hear people underestimate the story so much lol
Great video 👍👍
Does anyone think that if hero ranking never existed, Endeavor may have never tried to make a child to surpass All Might.
Yes, but the society loves ranking. It's like, there are so many issues on holding Olympics and the host country even has a huge debt after the event is over, everyone still chooses to chase the ranking.
Very good analysis, very perceptive. A system that focuses on suppression and punishment instead of prevention (helping those at risk) does not really save anyone in the long game, quirk counseling is hinted at in-series but it's effectiveness is clearly lacking+the seemingly complete lack of any other social help, the endgame of a villain uprising is the only outcome. With rumors of the series ending I really have no idea of how the heroes (few that even hint at wanting change) are going to make anything better and not just bring things right back to where they started, what do you think?
The more analyses I see about the good qualities of early MHA, the more I'm convinced that Horikoshi (ironically, due to the contents of this video) is getting fed up with the industry and toxic fanbase and just wants to be able to finish the main story regardless of how lacklusture the arcs and narratives are (AFO becoming the main villain in the manner that he does with the iffy explanation, the final war being rushed, the way he handles the riot at the hospital). It's almost as if he's pulling a south park and trying to finish/get cancelled
This is the perfect thing to watch to calm me down. Amazing.
You are calmly demonstrating to anyone watching this, just what is inherently wrong in society, which is something that I cannot do accurately, myself. You are more intelligent than me.
It almost feels like watching a documentary, or a nature show. Something I can just listen to, and it doesn't feel too pretentious. I like you.
this was a really good video asa!! your point about heroes being oversaturated yet basically nonexistent in certain areas reminded me a lot about how osheon doesn't have pro heroes like japan because being a pro hero in that region meant little exposure to potential wealth and fame.
this is the reason why toga’s questions about heros killing is important, with all this, if it becomes natural to kill anyone with a good quirk then things can het bad quickly
MHA is a great piece of adultescent media a fun story that can be enjoyied by anyone but also puts some things to think about in our real world in a overexerted and more digestible way for younger audiences to understand wail still telling a solid standalone story something I respect about the show still even if I dont enjoy it as much anymore
My biggest problem with bnha is we have all these amazing themes and we saw them at surface level mostly and we never truly explored them! Bnha goes so fucking fast we had no chance to truly show this fucked up bullshit of the society. And besides endeavor let us have truly scumbag heroes worse than villians. THAT would be an amazing arc if hirokoshi just didn't get bored with the series.
Boku no Hero's big problem for me is that it shows this flawed system but cowards out on what it means. 95% of the Hero's we see are full on good guys, who risk their lives for the People and try their best to do good. Ida's Brother did not live up to the loony standards that Stain held up, but everything shown of him paints him as a fully good guy. Even Characters like MT. Lady that are obsessed with cash and fame on the outside, still fully live up to the Hero Ideals when push comes to shove.
If Hori actully showed a larger amount of the Heroes and even the Students in a more selfish and selfserving light, it would have gone a long way of making this a far better situation for the reader. Heck, stuff like Quirk Racism is not even brought up ever, until we hit the Villian arc talking about it. It is too afraid to trully commit to the idea.
Exept with Endevour, but the Todoroki Plot is simply the best of this manga, so pointing that out is kinda unneaded.
PS: I already dreed the Spinner VS Shoji fight, because I fully expect a "Racism is bad, but being a Villian is worse! I also get treated racist (even though he has not been treated like this ever in the Manga) and still am a Hero!" nonsense.
Oh and the stupid Toga Vs Ochaco stuff that is terrible in ways that would take me a lot of text to explain, so I will not even bother.
i'd like to hear your thoughts on Ochaco vs Toga
@@coca_0146 Oh boy, were do I even start.
Ochaco is a character who had a chance early on to become a actual important character for the Narrative, but like most female characters was shoved to the sideline brutally.
In her case, it is even worse because she is the Main Love-intrest of Deku and has a character that has little going on outside her crush on Deku. Elements that made her stick out like becoming a Hero for Money reasons or pushing her crush aside to focus to become a better Hero ether are dropped or barly shown at all.
As for the fight, the story itself has gone out of it's way to push it away from anything important, that it makes the stakes and things in it almost irrelevent. Which is nuts considering that Toga has access to Twices Quirk for a limited time, which should make her the most dangerous person in the war.
And last but not least, many people are dreading a Talk-No-Jutzu ending coming for Toga.
I think this is why I got tired of the show tbh. It keeps bringing up these points that have really interesting implications for the story and could serve as a really powerful commentary on our world, but because it just keeps half-assing those themes they start to feel less like actual points and more like dressing to make the story seem like it has more depth than it actually does.
@@plinfan6541 ruclips.net/video/ivlU--nHUIs/видео.html
@@plinfan6541Well, I disagree having seen the whole Ochako Toga fight.
The stakes are there because Toga's Twice quirk is shown to be able to kill a lot of the major heroes in the fight and she could then go on to support Shigaraki, so she cannot be allowed to continue. Ochako wants to beat her, but also doesn't want to abandon her like how hero society has done.
It didn't end with a Talk-No-Jutsu because Toga is still too far gone and will have to be incarcerated and stopped. But the emotional ark of Toga and Ochako is closed as they come to some level of understanding. And Ochako also gets rid of the Twice Quirk, so her mission is accomplished.
What else do you want?
Amazing video as always.
I hate that every character who is against the established systems is declared a villain by the author. There is not a single hero who is fighting against the system. People can interprete this any way they like but it seems to me that the author actually supports the existing structures. Every attempt at "revolution" or fighting against the systemic problems is presented as sth only villains do. While the heros may hear the villains talk about injustice, they never acknowledge it and actively fight against not alongside them. The author chose to portray everyone who is against the system as plain evil and makes them murder others with no remorse. I was hoping that the author might start to flip the script and make the heros fight against the establishment but he has shown no signs of doing that.
Yeah, because the villains are still psychotic murderes. Even if you think that the villains are right, that still doesn't excuse all of pain and suffering they've caused to innocent people that have done nothing wrong. And the LOV don't even feel bad for the people they've hurt or killed either.
I think Stain is a good example of a "grey villain" who despite being portrayed as evil, still shows moments of his moral character being better than anyone else's, I mean he basically returns hope to All Might after shit hits the fan
@@OccuredJakub12 Stain could be considered an anti-villain
A very interesting analysis,i honestly agree with most of your points.
PERFECT GUNSHOT VOLUME WOOOOOOOOOO
I love My Hero Academia it’s something new and amazing I love the society of My Hero Academia
This video is such a banger, MHA’s core world building is so damn interesting
This video is amazing. U did ur homework. Love it❤️❤️❤️
8:59 I think its more accurate to say that the Villains’ League in the show are more like Anarcho-Egoists. I’ve read the Ego and Its Own by Max Stirner.
I find this interesting because this is sort of the inverse of how the Yakuza came to be in the Edo period. They were originally just gamblers, but eventually became an organized group of people who wanted to have the same power as the Shogunate. And eventually, both came to an unspoken understanding. Both agree to stay out of each others affairs and gain the benefits of both, lest they suffer the consequences of losing stability. Both honored this agreement, and created an state of stability that no other country in the world had experienced.
But with the rise of heros society, the Yakuza lost their power and was eventually replaced with more conventional villains. As a result, the Japanese underworld had no one to maintain stability. And the result of the Paranormal Liberation War arc showed what that created.
This is MHA not The Boys. My hero isn’t a cynical take on super heroes. The hero society isn’t perfect but that’s the point. That’s the excuse for the villains ideology. The commercialization of hero’s isn’t even portrayed in a negative light in the show. It’s just a way for them to make money like anything else.
Oh my god you're right I thought this was the boys the whole time. My bad, argument destroyed
@@AsarathaHSYT I know you’re being sarcastic but literally what you just described fits The Boys way more than My Hero Academia. My hero is probably more of a commentary about how stifling Japanese society is and how villains, individuals (since Japan is a very homogeneous society), fall through the cracks as you said. But unlike in the boys the heroes here aren’t merely celebrities. They do save people and perform acts of services. And the reason the heroes go to denser populated areas is because the rate of crime is higher in big cities than rural areas.
@@Perryshotter ...and yet HPSC still had child soldiers and assassins to kill 'dirty' heroes and groups that would go against govenment (the mutant revolution group), popularity chart exists, and the commersalisation of heroes is still presented as a negative thing. Dehumanisation of both villains and heroes is a running theme in BNHA. Being a hero is still a job being paid by the government, heroes are still a 'product', there's literally a course in UA about hero marketing. Yes, they do save people, but it doesn't at all goes against anything presented in the video. It sound like The Boys because those two stories are taking about a similar idea, but it's not 'cynical', it's realistic. It happens in real life. if heroes existed and became a job, government would absolutely start making profit from that and would seek to make even more, from which all the problems mentioned in this video would appear. Also, the 'heroes go to denser populated areas is because the rate of crime is higher in big cities than rural areas' and 'heroes go there because there's more work > popularity' are two statements that could and should coexist.
Did you...not watch the Stain arc? Stain literally hates heroes because he thinks they're all doing it for the fame and money. And we do kinda see that being true. Like in the first episode where Mt Lady was taking all the glory and how a bunch of heroes have merchandise of themselves and even Momo's Internship just had her doing a bunch of commercials and she didn't really learn anything. A lot of it isn't said outright but if you really pay attention, you can see that the hero society has flaws and they're pretty bad flaws to the point where you can understand the villains takes
I actually find 9ish points of social commentary in the show, including the points mentioned in the videos. My experience with some of the things villains like Shigaraki and Toga have gone through helps me find these points of social commentary. The more I watch the show and learn about Shigaraki the more I understand him and relate to him, making him probably the most compelling character in the show, with Stain either tied with him or just behind.
MHA is trying to say things it does not have the tools to convey. and it's a lot of things. and because of that, we have to fill in for it, making it unfair to the medium and to us (the audience), when it's Hori ( I think that's the mangaka's name) who should have workshopped the themes and ideas into something cohesive.
lol
Should probably be noted that the HPSC isn't actually the government, just some glorified police, so they can't really do anything about villains falling through the cracks.
the police are the civil authority of the government. they are a literal law enforcement agency responsible for managing interactions between heroes and society as a whole
Yes. The HPSC has authority over what heroes do, they don't have any authority over the economy, schools (excluding hero schools), or health system. The HPSC covers up those issues with the glamourous view of heroes, sure, but they don't cause the problems that they cover up, other than the general apathy of heroes.
When you look at the issues the LOV faced (apathy towards those in need, parental neglect, pseudo-homophobia, failure to address mental health issues, failures of the capitalistic system, fantasy racism, and transphobia), only one of those is actually the HPSC's fault, and since they can't actually arrest people or make laws, that's the only one they have authority over.
Where the problem lies is in the HPSC putting up a smokescreen, so that the people don't notice all those issues, so there isn't any push to solve those issues that doesn't involve the destruction of civilization.
okay but you denied the HPSC is the government when it definitely is. Legislation does not only begin and end in legislature. If the HPSC was interested enough they could be attempting to influence policy.
The My Hero Academia universe is so unique
Y’know when you put it like that it kinda sounds like the boys
It feels like if Horikoshi has freedom to really draw what he wants like One Punchman, he would def draw a lot deeper and spend more time on the villains and the society.
Even though I like the story of MHA, the endless more and more powerful flighting scenes make me fatigue. At least it's better than the traditional 1-on-1 fighting.
It does seem that Hero’s are mass produced in the modern age of my hero
You want to talk to commoditizing heroes, watch Tiger & Bunny. They wear logos on their uniforms like racecar drivers.
Best anime ever
I wonder what would have happened if UA had taken in Shigeraki, Toga, Dabi, Twice, Mr. Compress, Muscular, Spinner, Lady Nagant, or even Stain. Would they become heroes instead of villains if they had proper help and training. Especially considering 2 of the members are connected to pro heroes and 2 even went to UA in the past or in Lady Nagant's case was once a hero. Also others could have been trained by the pro heroes for example Toga if she got accepted to UA could maybe get help from Vlad King stuff like that.
Imagine idolizing All Might the ultimate Failure that allows Bakugo to nearly kill Izuku in their training exercise dude cares more about being everyones friend then being a good teacher
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I love MHA
Based
Hey uhh can you put manga spoilers before the video starts? I don't wanna be spoiled xD
I forgor 💀
Soooo, you're saying that bnha is just anime The Boys without an unpowered vigilante group?🤔
Commenting for the algorithm
greed is bad? Mha is really kicking things up a notch.
You can’t make a perfect society they’ll always be people who fall through the cracks and the mha world it doesn’t seem to be a big problem with only a handful of exceptions and even though you might feel bad about them that doesn’t justify their actions since that’s what makes a villian the world hurts them so they try to hurt it back while a hero tries to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else and it also comes down to choices.
where did i ever say it justifies their actions?
The biggest takeaway I got from this is you should really do a book review series covering Thomas Sowell's books that go into economics.
Poverty is expensive, because the more crime that happens the more government justifies excessive spending on programs that do not address crime. These programs typically always tying directly into the pockets of the politicians, or direct family members of the politician as benefactors. Crime is directly encouraged by the state, because the worse things get, the richer the politicians do.
Such is the nature of socialist economics, that inevitably births fascism. The state and the corporations inevitably fuse into one political entity to control the masses for their own profits.
JÄGERBOMBASTIC BOIIIIII
Love the world building of MHA. The underbelly of this world that has become over saturated by Heroes is disgusting. But it's disgusting in the ways that make me love the series more.
This show is like the boys but less obvious
(starts mining diamonds in ur comment section)
I don’t like how the social commentary is handled simply because some of the toughest ones were handled horribly. The one that is obviously based on a race literally has the trope of oh, if you riot you push down all of our progress by blank amount of years that’s bad simply because 99.9% of the time the only time change ever occurs is when the people in charge are forced to change and when it comes to twice and Himiko, the fact that one of them in spoilers is dead and the other one is very likely dead. Just makes me go you dumb screwed up with the social commentary. also as a person who is disabled partially paralyzed with low sensation on the right side of my body. I don’t like that the obvious standing for a disabled person the protagonist just gets magically, made, not disabled or at least that’s what it feels like would’ve been better in my opinion, if he learned how to be a hero with out a Quirk but all of this is just my personal opinion, and not objective facts
this video was made before that awful race plotline. i do have a video on that tho
@@AsarathaHSYTholy shit I think this is the first time or one of the very few times where the creator actually commented on my comment thank you if ever, I actually have the guts to make a video. This is one topic I will dive into, but mostly on the. Magically becoming non-disabled aspect.
shame all of it went to shit lmao
Every commentary MHA does is shallow
Amazing video as always.
Commenting for the algorithm