I Don't Quite See How Quirkless Discrimination Can Only Exist In Fics, There's Mention To It In Canon

I don't quite see how quirkless discrimination can only exist in fics, there's mention to it in canon and not just wrt to Midoriya. Multiple mentions made in canon to that. Melissa Shield for one. Like sure it's not to the extent a lot of fan head canons make it out to be, but ultimately– there's two largely relevant, born quirkless characters. The story shows us one relentlessly bullied, and one character who internalized that she can't help people without a quirk. Show also shows us a lot of cruelty against people with "villainous" quirks, it's not too difficult to extrapolate from the small, minuscule amount of characters without quirks having these issues (even one in a very supportive environment) that there is naturally something there. Aoyama's family did all that to get the kid a quirk.

And Izuku is not bullied nearly as much if at all after getting a quirk. Sure Bakugou who retains his might makes right mindset and can't cope with the idea of a powerless punching bag having power over him has to grow and adapt to that but the complete 180 Izuku has from middle school to high school is the direct result of getting a quirk. Because ultimately even if he wanted to save Uraraka in that test way at the start of the narrative, he wouldn't have been able to without One for All. The improvement of his life is inherently tied to having a quirk now. Being able to be in an environment where he wasn't treated poorly came as a result of having a quirk.

I think a lot of fandom discussion on quirkless discrimination treats it like racism. In reality, it probably would work in canon like ableism does in real life. Just because that sort of discriminatory behavior isn't as plainly and evidently obvious doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. Yes Midoriya is ultimately mocked for wanting to be a hero without a quirk, but Melissa also feels that sort of fear that she won't be able to help people full stop till All Might comforts her or whatever– it's the lack of expectation for those people to have potential. Beyond that though, all of that's pretty irrelevant to my central thoughts about BNHA as a whole.

Ultimately the narrative just reinforces All Might's initial answer to Deku on the rooftop– "Can someone without a quirk become a hero?" No. Not in this story at all.

Idk this is kind of a long ramble but tl;dr just because the canon doesn't go into depth about discrimination against quirkless people doesn't mean that narratively the treatment of the very few quirkless characters is irrelevant to the messaging of the story– Ragdoll has to give up being a hero, All Might has to give up being a hero, etc etc. The way power works in BNHA is if you have it, if you've been given it, you can be a hero. If you don't, well, tough luck kid. Maybe in another life. Because you can have all of the character traits of a hero and that doesn't matter at all. Which is kind of at odds with what it frames itself as setting out to do.

Tbf BNHA is and has always been confused messaging-wise. It opens with Deku saying: “humans are not made equal” and showing us all of the foul ways quirkless people are treated. Narratively, this is of course seen as bad, but there’s an underlying principle in the narrative there that’s never actively challenged (and there’s not enough time to make it satisfying if they do) that yes, humans really aren’t born equal. That yes, you see SOME characters overcome their limitations (but even then, like in the case of Deku, it’s because of a big narrative magical moment) but they’re largely confined to the roles expected of them. Power in BNHA is never really given to the powerless, a character like Toga or Shigaraki can’t be saved, and power is never truly denied to those who shouldn’t have it— Endeavor is given a dignity his victims weren’t afforded.

And though I don’t think this is wrong to do in a story in and of itself, I think it is at odds with the way it sets itself up in the opening. The first thing we see in BNHA is everyone telling Deku he can't be a hero with no quirk. The story should be set up to disprove that. To show that his heroic qualities are in and of themselves what makes him a hero. But every time in the narrative where it's his character that makes the difference, he kind of. Fails. He can't save Eri at first, can't save Shigaraki (even though he wants to) because Shigaraki is apparently beyond helping, etc etc. Like the largest successes for him as a hero are explicitly BECAUSE he has One for All now.

And that combined with the way the story ends, with the fact that Toga and Shigaraki are not possible to save, and the only thing about them that was worthy of saving was the innocent child they once were, just feels kind of at odds with what the opening of BNHA sets out to prove in the narrative. BNHA sets itself up to be about how anyone can be a true hero, that true heroism is from character and not power, but the only characters that are capable of being heroes are those with power, the only characters that are able to seek redemption are those whose powers allow that for them. A character like All for One is doomed from the outset, and the narrative makes no foil to him to show that there is a choice to be made there.

Idk it just seems kind of sad to me that a story that superficially claims to be about how anyone can be a hero narratively reinforces the very attitudes the first scenes portray as wrong. And it feels too late to change that. It feels too late for that when Mirio had to get his quirk back to be a hero again. It feels too late for that when Toga is dead. It feels too late for that when Deku was only able to defeat evils with a quirk. It feels too late for that when All for One selected everyone and maneuvered them into position and there was no inherent randomness. It feels too late for this story to course correct into "anyone can be a hero, heroism comes from internal ideals" when it's shown time and time again that the only people who get to be heroes are those with the quirks to do so.

Most unforgivable thing Horikoshi did to me is short hair Aizawa I want his long glorious (probably 2 in 1 using) locks back none of this short hair bullshit.

Since the manga is ending and I'm heinously ill should I rewatch all of BNHA and liveblog it I think the answer is yes

Me 2 seconds after the last chapter drops with my post-canon fic ready to drop

(I'm gonna fuck them boys and girls up) (It's like 25k words so a short one let's fucken go) (Hopefully I can edit it down and I'm def not posting it all in one go)

Very VERY rough fem Deku because since writing my fic haven’t been able to get the stare out of my head. Anyway yeah you can go read my fic or not lol but FEM DEKU FEM DEKU AND SHE IS A LESBIAN this was like a 10 min sketch Im well aware tis busted

So uh about Hisashi Midoriya

A list of things Kohei Horikoshi one hundo percent intended for us to understand about Hisashi Midoriya, because he definitely implied them uh somewhere in text (next to social structures and a functioning bureaucracy) (Izuku Midoriya substitute teacher is so fucking funny to me tbh like Horikoshi really said bb ur a glorified babysitter till ur bestie gets his money up) (Him being Bakugou's sugar baby hero is SO fucking stupid I wish I could've come up w that)

Canonically Izuku was a fucking immaculate conception.

The real Hisashi Midoriya was the friends we made along the way

He is really All Might's secret lovechild, Todoroki was right all along, the problem is both All Might and Inko forgor

He left to get milk and never came back

All for One actually fucked his dad

All for One is his dad

(All for One believes he is god. God is like, everyone's dad. In some sense, u know?)

All for One is actually the baby daddy of everyone in this series they just ain't admitting it.

Much like Anakin Skywalker, Izuku has no dad and HELLA midichlorians

He left to get milk and came back but like 20 years later so we ain't seen it yet

Nana Shimura is actually Hisashi Midoriya. How, you might ask? I said so.

Hisashi Midoriya died like an Anime Mom Death bc he wore his hair like that once but they didn't show us because we'd cry too hard and never forgive it

Hisashi is just so hot they can't show us in canon bc we'd be too distracted

Bakugou killed him. He can have a little homicide as a treat.

Izuku killed him. He SHOULD do a lot of homicide as a treat.

Inko killed him. Real.

He left Inko to have a whirlwind romance with someone's secret twin (I haven't decided who yet)

Principal Nedzu ate him (he was delicious)

Fire breath did not protect him against spicy food and he went on Hot Ones and died.

Hisashi's quirk wasn't fire breath, it was negligence, baby!