Mushoku Tensei tards: Redemption means lack of punishment | ThatAnimeSnob quote

 "Its because there are shows where you get horny by body odor, where you jerk off to images of feet; where you bark like an animal. And think this is what thousands of years of recorded civilization amount to." - ThatAnimeSnob 2026

3:44

One of the ThatAnimeSnob quotes of all time.  

One hand its just a tv show, on the other hand .... is being a gooning loser what your bloodlines survival amounted to? 

All the risks were taken so we could have a packaged life experience, just so we can squander it masturbating in filth as dogs, tinies, footslaves,  anything to communicate being less than what you are because that way you don't have to meet a standard, comfort of weakness. 

Squandered precisely because the privilege wasn't earned. I mean damn, it aint that deep; but should it be?

 Maybe part of the problem is the significance is actually not as trivial as we want it to be, maybe what we put in our heads actually does matter, or not? Thats tough. whomp. 

/re "How Hunter x Hunter Breaks the Shonen Formula" | HxH is competent

OP's points were strongest towards the end of the video, but disagreed that it's a masterpiece.

A masterpiece is nigh perfection, and HxH is not perfect. The pacing is brutal at times when it doesn't have to be (Greed Island, Chimera Ant Arc), & the 90s anime's pacing is even slower than the 2011 but the 90s anime actually did a lot of things better in just how it wrote the exact same story (way better character writing). And too much goddamn talking when visual storytelling can do the heavier lifting.

The story decisions regarding the Troupe wasn't the best after York New, Chrollo has been shelved waaaaaay too damn long, & we're in yet another arc (Succession) that has nothing to do with him or the Troupe in premise as a focus. Meanwhile they're off jerking around somewhere.

But HxH is still good anyway, despite it's issues, why? Characters & it's INITIAL story structure bought it enough good will to where later red flags could be afforded. MHA jacked up it's own theme out the gate with contrivances, nepotism, plot armor, dysfunctiona/unhealthy overtones & hypocrisy.

Otherwise, I personally think The Netero & Meruem fight could've been less repetitive and had better choreography but what we got by the shows standards of power scaling, is still pretty dope. Way better than most My Hero fights which is 90% flashbacks & looking at people watching the fight than actual fighting. Meruem actually communicated a strategy while seemingly getting smacked around, even Gungi playing a visual factor into the matter; the talking served a purpose because how fast everything was happening, you'd need exposition just to keep up.

So that much, was pretty good.

Overall,  HxH simply what 90% of shonen are not: which is "competent", which means it does the bare minimum, and the bare minimum doesn't mean it's a masterpiece.

That says less about it being a masterpiece, than it says about shonen as medium being a dogshit genre & the bare minimum in comparison seems like a masterpiece. 

That says more about the genre, than the show itself.

Watch the first 3-6 episodes of MHA, realize Teen Titans 2003 is better in every way in less episodes (2 minimum) & one movie. Then watch HxH.  Then watch Avatar the last Airbender, actual peak.

Gon's quality as a main character? Infinitely superior to Tearsdoriya, leagues more depth & range without the coddling, handholding, being gatekept in that damn school, the one time he went independent he was POLICED right back to being the same caricature, and that babying "you can do it", "do your best", "I'll save everyone" Nick Jr. bullshit.  Absolute joke.

Gon is a good kid with a limit, he'll help you in neutral, he'll give you a chance when you push it, he'll threaten you if you get in his way, he'll hurt you when you do get in his way and if you body one of his own, he will kill you. Crying inner child or not, he got two hands for both you & the child crying in your soul or whateverthefuck.

That's an actual person with realistic boundaries, vs some mascot kid who acts more like an emotional support animal than representing an actual person. CHRIST himself is more three dimensional than Deku is, that's how unrealistic & boring izuku the snowflake is.

I finished  MHA before I even took HxH seriously (after years of scoffing at it), Gon is an actual main character, a severe breath of fresh air; and when others share the spotlight, it's not spread thin between 20 fucking characters, and one of the characters that got the spotlight was the antagonist Ant King. 

Deku is a MC figurehead, brutally and thats being generous.

Deku's concept works better than the execution, Gon's concept as an archetype works with his execution because he's not an ideal, nor ideal as a person. He's written like a flawed human being who's allowed by the narrative to taint his ledger / & corrupt his image vs being protected from having to make tough decisions, thus preserving the character to be the exact same person the entire show, aka a caricature. And just having an edgier design or costume isn't character development.

All in all, HxH ain't no masterpiece; it's got plot armor, it's got too much exposition out the ass at times, contrivances, etc. but most of it can be afforded but it is written worth a damn.  So even despite it's problems, for a shonen, it's still competent.

Hunter x Hunter Episode 115-116 | Reaction Mashup

I only watched HxH 99 & 2011 just last year for the first time after 10 yrs of My Tears Academia.

Deku ain't got nothing on this kid Gon, the depth gap is beyond insane.

Gon is a force, Togashi was not shy of making Gon a source of hope & horror if necessary. Multi-faceted character.

Anime Overview: The Book of Bantorra (2025)

I put this one off for over 5 yrs, it wasn't worth it. It was promising initially, but getting through the middle was painstaking & the ending was not good. The flashbacks of the characters (minor characters included) was better than the current day plot. Will watch episodes (ex. Ep12) not be watching it in full again. The lore was too damn dry, not interesting at all. It's mature in it's themes but something in the execution is holding it back, a lot of set up was squandered horribly (example: Volken's lackluster subplot & wasted potential/ Hamyuts' potential). A lot of this in terms of worldbuilding should've been more simplified so immersion would be a better experience. That bootstrap paradox (?) love story was probably one of the most interesting elements & luckily it's in the first few episodes for anyone who wants to try it. Not recommended but it was definitely unique.

Anime Overview: Eureka Seven

I used to love it, but the lore & story is weak. I could never re-watch it since my second rewatch yeeeeeeeears ago. And AO was a disappointment, it made the main series' issues more apparent. The main couple growing up as young adults was the best part about it for me but the story relied on that & didn't lean into it enough at the same time. You can get the same story but with more focus, better pacing, better male lead, less distraction & better writing out of After War X Gundam, I shit you not.

My Hero Academia Final Season Is Garbage

agreed, it didn't even deserve to get past 4 season at the latest. I am genuinely astounded it somehow made it to a final. For what it was worth, it was a ride. Definitely serves a purpose for aspiring writers on how to tap into aesthetic success & designs (which Horikoshi excelled in) but also serves as an example of how to write, and how not to characterize.

So it wasn't pointless, it serves a multi-function, both good & bad, but a great story? It was not. Good? Hardly.

It simply existed.

Hunter x Hunter 2011 EP35 (recommended show)

Where the 2011 shines over the 90s version in this scene is the absence of music to hone in on the intensity when this fight began, pulling you in. VERY wise direction. #HunterXHunter2011 (recommended show)

 

"The End of an Era That Created The Current Anime Community"- My Hero was an aestheric with no substance, a phase, not an era.

 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GnFzg9c7O30

It was garbage, what one loves is moments in the product, not the product being the hallmark itself because its actually good. 

Its an end of an aesthetic, not an era. Mecha as a whole is an era, a genre is an era. Shonen itself is an era, 1 corny af show is a phase at best. 

Kamino arc is when it fell off its stakes mainly because thats when AFO was shelved, then the movie immediately during S3 gives us DollarTree AFO in Nine, then Chisaki. 

The villains were colorful but came & went, barely an inconvenience when gone, Deku had no rivals, no real threats. No drive to get stronger, he was too comfortable. He & Shigaraki had no recurring dynamic, none. 

you mention My Villain, yet what came outta that besides setup for no payoff? Even you had to admit it was booty. 

Shigaraki ran nothing, we didnt get to see him build no empire like a Peaky Blinders vibe. Immediately after that event could even breathe, Jaku Raid starts. 

300+ characters KH couldnt let go of but had to shovw them all into frame because all his babies are special snowflakes. 

Zero breathing room, & I dont blame Jumps deadlines just yet for that cause KH was choking even earlier. 

Sports Festival was about getting scouted right (its revealed even this was pointless), U.A apparently didnt give a shit about USJ event putting students in danger & thought a festival was the appropriate response to essentially a terror attack on a school field trip, thus putting civilians & other Hero courses in danger and the parents got no vote in the matter. 

They didnt even think to omit Class 1A from the festival but keep the event intact, just keep the target class out of it just for precaution, nope nothing. 

Eraser heads best retort to Jiro is basically 'we wont be intimidated', thanks EraserBrain. 

And again, parents had no say. 

*NICE ONE Horikoshi, anything for that TournaArc. And you know why this is a problem now? Because MHA didnt stay goofy, kiddy, and ACADEMIA. 

it made the mistake of getting gritty, more contrived and serious* 

When you turn your storys tone more serious, the standard of writing raises as well. And if you cant keep up with tracking the continuity consequences then you shouldnt be making serious stories. 

Cause if it was just a stupid Saturday morning Superhero school anime that didnt get serious, the sports festival plothole wouldnt matter. Because you can overlook it.

When you raise stakes, you raise the standard. And Horikoshi wasnt ready.

I could go harder , so much to obliterate about this show along with the few good bits. 

Whatever you could try to praise about it, that praise will likely possess or be attached to a problem that conflicts with it. Not because stories inevitably do that, no but because THIS ONE does. 

MHA was bent from day 1 because the writer was inexperienced as most tend to be- but the difference is he had no writing talent to begin with. And likely had no plan hence why he kept making changes reliant on what fan feedback, vs having a plan & better help. 

KH needed better / HELP.

The fight & animation doesnt matter at this point, the story was crap, the ending will likely be the same because more important changes that needed to happen were NOT made, so its far too late now. The best ending in 2020 era anime history is not going to fix 10+years of mid, or rectify the other 95% of wasted potential and time wasted. 

The anime is a re-run of the book, Boku no Hero Academia ended already. The "era", the phase ended already. 

*Animation is irrelevant to the story IF the story any good, if the colors gotta be pretty to stick the landing, you basically said everything that needed to be said about the thing yer talking about.* ♿🚮 

Thats what needs to carry, writing, not background art. Lmfao, this is why Mangaka keep fucking up endings & arcs, yall prioritize the wrong shit over & over and wonder why you get the same exact outcome ad infinite.

And yes, OP is correct. I dont doubt MHA would've gotten a foothold without the wests clout, My Hero woulda been popular regardless but the MCU phase 3 specifically is why My Hero blew up so quickly, it debut during the golden years of superhero hype. 

However the fatigue is not what you think it is, its ppl being tired of what Superhero movies turned into, not fatigued of superheroes themselves. 

Superheroes are modern pagan gods, ideals, paragons, there will never be a fatigue of "the superman" or ubermensche  as a concept. Thats like Americans getting Football fatigue, HA! Dont hold yer breath. 

My Hero took off because Horikoshi (like Snyder) knows aesthetic, it got a following because it's superhumans in cosplay calling themselves "Heroes" in an ANIME, it got movies because the following migrated from Western Superhero clout-- 

And it took a hit overtime because its a lesser example of how to do a Superhero story, let alone an origin story; always has been. 

Overall it was fine, a hot mess, most of the fights are trash, the "development" from the plot to the characters is a joke and the oversaturation of characters is top 3 reasons why the development was nerfed, but it was okay. And someone else said it but BONEs sticking with it this long? They're the real MVPs. 

By just the movies (2nd one is best) & the OVAs alone (most of em are dry af, first 2 were solid)  MHA is as much their kid as it is Kohei's at this point. Joint custody.

"What are your thoughts on Kallen Kozuki?" - Painfully under-written heroine (2025)

Painfully under-written heroine.

Season 2 was not her downfall, it was the show inflating what it always was: Overrated, hack, rule of cool that thought it was clever.

• R2 only emphasized prevailing issues that already existed in S1
• S2 didn't invent the sidelining, plot armor, contrivances, plot holes & overcompensating fanservice because the show couldn't think of humanizing reasons for anyone watching to give a shit about the women beyond what makes your dicc jolt
• And so, it gave us more of what CG was to begin with, the difference is Season 1 didn't have a reputation yet and so it was more conservative with it's gimmicks, didn't mean it was good, it means R2 was worse.

TL;DR Thoughts are Kallen overall was "fine", not good, but fine for a hollow light novel archetype, which is how she's treated.

A remarkably weakly executed character given how early we saw her in Season 1 and really had very little agency despite how headstrong she is.

Yet she's an excellent set piece for action scenes because of her archetype or being a piece of meat mascot for fanservice because unfortunately she wasn't a male character & due to that fact she isn't exempt from not being treated seriously or with respect, because that's what her worth boils down to according to the writers when she isn't kicking ass or being melodramatic or more noticeable: being Zero's biggest simp, her defining trait, besides her grit.

Episode 9 of Season 1 is still one of few episodes I'll still watch these days of the show without getting a headache because of how uncharacteristically competent the writing is for the most part. The through lines relating to her mother's traumas, her resentment toward her mother and it ends with somber closure between them both, though it should've been explored more as with Kallen's entire motivation namely her brother & daily life.

Kallen's goals, her motivation, her flaws, her abilities. She can carry a show easily, an OVA, really she's just as much main character material as Suzaku & Lelouch.

In Zero's absence, I would've liked to see Kallen directly leading the knights, her way; because how Lelouch leads isn't the only method to lead effectively.

• And the respect she already has due to being one of the front line fighters and being THE most valuable fighter: Her being Chief would've given an interesting challenge for us to see her not thinking like a brute, reliant on orders to aim her talents but instead thinking like a tactician, thinking for herself in this way whilst having that combat prowess, so being a nerfed combination of Suzaku & Lelouch but not being especially exaggerated in either category, a balanced Jack of All Trades. And unlike Xingke, she's not sick or anything, she's just not overpowered in terms of being a tactical genius, she goes off instincts.
• Because her decisions in this way would dictate whether or not her comrades live to fight another day, seeing her deal with the weight of that would be an easy arc for an episode, because they're not just chess pieces to her; all of which happens without Zero there to be her emotional safety net vs him/the mask being her metaphorical emotional shackle.
• Easily could've had R2's first 2-3 episodes or less be on that focus, whilst leading up to Lelouch' emancipation from his illusion, building up to it through Kallen's eyes. Easy w.

Lelouch is the MC of base form Code Geass but he wasn't the only protagonist, same with Avatar the last Airbender, Codename Kids Next Door & The Avengers movies, hell even Lego Monkie Kid. You can't just sparingly sprinkle some scarce development in there in 1 or episodes and then piss off, you have to add more development to eventually cultivate an arc. That's how it works.

When the plot hijacks the character writing, when fanservice regresses the profile of the characters, you get stagnation, which leads to sidelining & narrative deprivation. Season 2 didn't undermine Kallen, Code Geass as it always has been: undermined Kallen.

Unfortunately CG's writers had mismanaged priorities.

Otherwise, easily top 5 best pilots in CG, considering how many skilled pilots there actually are in the entire franchise beyond Lelouch' drama, so for her, that says a lot; beside the fact that The Black Knights' Ace pilot, "Q1" is globally infamous, which is also something I liked about what little we got from Kallen's profile in the long term.

But you need more going for you than just a part in action scenes & being boner bait, which is where most people get muddied when it comes to Kozuki or anime female leads in general. We get latched on for superficial reasons vs her actually being "well-written" due to exploration & tests, and it pains me to see (still) how many people will say that term but don't know what it means.

The "lewdness" or fanservice didn't defeat any depth for Kallen, because fanservice, especially in high frequency (in a serious setting like this) is generally what happens in a vacuum of not having depth in the first place. It clashes.

Fanservice can't undermine depth Kallen never got to have, which is why the fanservice was there to begin with; so with depth gone, you have to fill it with something, and lazy writers usually go with Mary Sue-isms (woke, condescending & politicized) or oversexualization (anti-woke, dehumanizing & disrespectful). You'll seldom see that kind of treatment with characters that are actually taken seriously by the writers.

There's a big difference between fanservice cameo, an easter egg, having fun; vs compiled humiliation rituals labeled "fanservice".

It's overcompensation so that the writers give us something to attach onto about the character the easy way, so they don't have to do any real work with their pens to layer the character. That way they can prioritize pushing the plot along while the characters get dragged in tow.

And because situations around the characters develop & escalate, we by proxy think they / the characters are developing as well, when at best they're just reacting to rising events but in reality most of them are actually still the same exact people.

Code Geass was & has always been plot driven over character driven, which is partly why it's a mess, style over substance.

So unfortunately despite her high ranking in The Black Knights, outspoken nature & prominence in fight scenes, the fanservice never undermined her depth because she had none to begin with.

Episode 9 Season 1 was the foundation for depth, & it wasn't fully realized or exploited, despite how early her debut was.

• She isn't an NPC that showed up in Episode 9 or 15, she was there since Episode 1, you'd think she'd get more respect or more to do.

Kallen wasn't useless (her preventing Lelouch from shooting up, rejecting his advance, course-correcting his vision is one of the better scenes in R2 EP7 because of how the drug relates to her personal life- is one of the better moments), she was whiney & clingy at times but not fragile. Written to be way too reliant on "Zero" overall for my taste, with no proactive attempt to use leaving him behind as a sign of growth for her, another wasted opportunity. Otherwise she had a stake & a role (as limited as it was), but not agency nor depth. At best, she was a highly prominent tool, high ranking lackey. What she needed was more independence, more proactivity vs being a reactive henchwoman.

Again, Fanservice definitely regressed her representation but it can't undermine depth Kallen never got to have in the first place, which is why the fanservice was there to begin with.

With depth nonexistent, you have to fill it with something, and lazy writers usually go with Mary Sue-isms (woke, condescending & politicization) or oversexualization (anti-woke, dehumanizing & disrespectful). You'll seldom see that kind of treatment with characters that are actually taken seriously by the writers.

Kallen really could've been the Katara of Code Geass with the theme of vengeance being the parallel, but Anime Japan yet again proved it's not capable or willing to write competent characters of high caliber in mainstream because quotas must be met at the characters expense for reasons that benefit everything & everyone except the characters.

Kallen is cool: strictly as an archetype, that's what she is & treated as, an archetype. As a character (generously): undercooked & painfully under-written because of lazy writers that felt style mattered more than substance. which is Code Geass in a nutshell.

"Rule of Cool:" The Animation, Mechs, superpowers, pretentious pseudo-intellectual political mumbo jumbo, supernatural shit pertaining to the will of man & god, cults, a ninja maid, etc.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Asspulls was doing too much, it's why it got me into anime, it was an ambitious melting-pot experiment but it really didn't know what the hell it was doing & aged as well as a heroin addict.

Kallen is a casualty of that, one of many.

How and why did My Hero Academia fall off so fast? (quora) *2021-2024

Vision, talent, timing and Horikoshi’s lack of experience.

To keep this short (lol), Horikoshi’s talent as an artist only got better.

But his writing was & is garbage, I still watch this show every now and then, mainly season 1 & maybe 2. I even checked out some of Season 5. Garbage. My peer whom I watch the show with (a woman) she herself can’t stand the writing decisions, namely Deku’s overly-emotional nature.

KH was just on the par of average when the plot was small scale, the kinks in the craft were minute, less noticeable.

The plot was exactly what it was supposed to be, not some elaborate war drama, but a story about kids in school who want to be Gov. Sponsored Military Police Agents uhhh I mean “Heroes”.

The moment he started trying to writing above his means then things got dumber

and dumber

and dumber

and dumber

and dumber

and dumber

and dumber

and dumber

Aaron Ehasz is a decent writer who is likely NOT as good an artist as Horikoshi, and Kohei Horikoshi is not as good an writer as Aaron Ehasz or even Joe Kelly or Donny Cates.

Just because you are the author, doesn’t mean you know what the fuck you’re doing.

Just because the “theme” was this, because Author-sensei said so, doesn’t mean it’s good. If the vision is true to his vision, but his vision was garbage, then the vision was garbage.

Just because a book, a show is popular doesn’t mean it’s good. It means it’s digestible. Easy to process, it has good iconography which My Hero Academia absolutely DOMINATED in. This franchise had an excellent aesthetic.

Popularity means its talked about, what were people talking about? Writing quality or how it made them feel? How cool it was ? Or it’s nothing like they’ve ever seen before? (lies)

It means it happened,

It means what he wanted to do he did, it doesn’t mean what he/she did— worked or meant anything worth a damn.

Horikoshi needed help, he needed time, and he needed a plan. And a better one.

• My Hero Academia is a failed storytelling venture (which I called yeeeeeeeeeeears before it ended) that succeeded in numbers. Which means nothing if no one will regard it in 5–10 years, and people started doom posting not long after the manga ended.
• It made money now, to be forgotten, dropped, taken for granted.
• Popularity is a measure of how many people will spend to digest garbage/product, it’s not a measure of how good a product is. ie. IRL Fast Food but it’s a visual medium.
• Which is why everyone tried their best to push back on me & the other few people whenever we pointed out the same exact shit fanboys are complaining about now but only AFTER it ended & now everyone all of a sudden is a critic dropping videos about how My Hero failed. Bunch of no agency having drones.

Because the doomposting now, wasn’t anything close to what ThatAnimeSnob called out.

Sheer incompetence to prioritize characters over plot, he often disrespects his characters as shonen authors tend to do:

(2026) He wouldn’t have done that if she was a male character, and if that’s to be expected because “shonen”, the genre is obsolete. Fix it. Cause that’s a problem. Not “problematic”, fuck that, it’s a PROBLEM, if Avatar The Last Airbender didn’t need to do that in only 3 season. Why does this need to do with 300+ chapters, 4movies, 8 ova, 8 seasons+++ just quantity over quality.

Garbage.

(April 2024) This joker was really pretending like Horikoshi and BONES gave a single shit about the character of Momo for 10 years, you’re asking or hoping they STOP doing what they & the fandom has been doing which is relegating her to a piece of meat- and actually give her something to do?

Hence why the picture THEY chose was a shot of her provocatively posing with her chest being the center focus of the goddamn visual. But you’re asking Horikoshi to do better when you’re EMULATING how many fucks he himself has to give.

They themselves are subconsciously playing into exactly what the problem is lmfao, but at the same time hoping the author does better.

You can’t make this shit up

2023: Japan raises the Age of consent after 100 years because of an influx of sex assault cases again women and children in a society with mega-industry that is carried by dehumanizing women & children.

The biggest resources of anime & manga’s creative process being : Sexualized women & children through predatory lens.

Gee, must be a coincidence.

POV then: people that defended PDF coded anime culture: “You can’t judge it, because that’s their culture”

Now: I- i never said that.

And so, when the author doesn’t give a damn & treats them like meat, zero respect to his own craft. Thus the fandom doesn’t respect them either. Hence the excuses, can’t even blame them entirely when the author doesn’t give a damn either.

• Like children copying a toxic parent.
• Plot driven storytelling is often susceptible to more plot contrivances & laziness which is final arc in a nutshell.
• My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is just the prototype to Final War Arc, been said this for years.

Horikoshi is, and always will be a better artist than a writer.

Mangaka need to start teaming up with better more qualified people who will give them push back and stop working themselves to death. It’s not even worth vomiting out a mid story with robbed characters just to meet a deadline.

We can make the “comic continuity” memes all day, about how different people clash with canon of other authors on the same character. But those people don’t work themselves to an early grave. Why? Because they have editorial infrastructure, the person drawing isn’t always the person writing it.

That means less burnout, and more jobs for other people.

Do better Japan. Because if one person wrote a shite Superman story ala Horikoshi, a rotation means the next Superman story won’t be written by the same Horikoshi but instead a Joe Kelly.

I watched S1-S2 on a whim back when it first popped off, dropped it, and binged S5 backwards to S1 in 2023, saw the problems then. Painfully clear.

Read up to 355 in 2023, dropped it again after that Jiro “Made my friends cry” bullshit & discovered LEGO Monkie Kid (effortlessly better show, formulaic but a better Shonen.)

I was outside, read that panel, and dropped it. And that same day, I found LG:MK

AFO was being made into a joke, if Jiro could survive him, then the story failed the villain. Zero stakes. I saw it coming from a lightyear away.

I didn’t have to “wait” until the story “was finished” to see a pattern. If garbage is the standard, if garbage is the fandom, then garbage will be the legacy.

Meeting the deadlines at the expense of the best possible story, It wasn’t worth it.

Horikoshi had deadlines to meet than a vision to bring to life.

Or? Likely: He didn’t have a vision or a plan or didnt know what the hell he was doing even if he did have a plan.

It fell off partly because it strayed too far from the “Academia” in My Hero Academia, and sticking too close to it would’ve been boring as shit.

It fell off because the concept wasn’t built to last this last long and stay true to itself.

And when he teased interesting ideas outside the school, he backtracked right back to that school.

He gets bored with School activities, doesn’t know how to keep it interesting in the school itself, then he turns it edgy, fight happens, back to school, then more edgy villain shit.

• Reads like a formula to keep himself engaged, than tell a good story to the audience.
• I’m not some platinum writing master, I’m not media literate or whateverthefuck, all I did was pay attention than just consume.

He didn’t know what he wanted to do. He didn’t have the restraint to manage his characters with respect, the female characters were pieces of meat to him and so they’re nothing but pieces of meat to the fandom as a whole. Especially the underage girls.

His plot aka mess, he betrayed his premise in the first three chapters, Deku would’ve accomplished nothing without Quirks and he didn’t get anything done before his miraculous chance meeting All Might. Deku was a golden boy nepo-baby from beginning to end.

“You earned this power, fair and square-” That I’m yet again handing to you.

“You earned this power, fair and square-” as I hand this super suit to you because you’re a special boy.

He didn’t train for months then was surprised with the opportunity for the power, he was promised it as a reward. He was promised the keys to success.

edit: (AUG-5 2024) Finally ended.

why “finally”? Because he, Horikoshi can finally rest.

It’s easy to sit back and say “You’re doing your story wrong sir.”

If you’ve ever tried making continuity; You’ll know making a story+ art+history+lore = is not a cakewalk

There’s no one way to do it, but there’s things you don’t do if you want it to age worth a shit, or mean anything beyond the surface level aesthetic which is all people care about when it has the new car smell.

I can’t tell you how many fucking debates I’ve had with people, including homies, criticizing this story, and they just dont get it until I get serious and start mapping out exactly how Horikoshi-isms work.

Between watching, reading, and editing that requires looking at ALL the footage & episodes, OVA included, discovering all kinds of things of the show good and bad: I’m not a MHA fan, but an unintentional My Hero Scholar at this point, not a brag, trust me, the story ain’t even all that.

I see it as I see it because I’ve seen A LOT of it. More than I wanted to tbh.

Not a fan, but this isnt a story worth hate, its actually a tragedy.

My Hero had semi-decent world building, horrible prioritization, colorful but weaklyy written characters (TOO MANY characters, too soon & at once), awesome artstyle/ I love how much he made this reminiscent of an actual comic book.

The problem is it’s infected with a terminal case of chronic bad writing & SHONEN-titis and chronic Anime-tisms.

That’s how it fell off, Japanese Mangaka had a hand in it & Shonen Jump was the overlord. Garbage writing that was always there since the beginning.

When did it happen? CHP2.

The “fall” specifically? The Moment AFO lost that fight in the Kamino Arc.

No villain could measure up since, including AFO himself.

The stakes dropped. Everything felt sterilized, ya’ll don’t realize how built-up AFO’s arrival was, even the 1st movie was gassing this man up: And he lost. Maybe you cats need to watch Season 2 again.

It’s not like he was pulling strings from behind bars or we got to see him running the prison in luxury or transfer his consciousness to a Nomu or something, or maybe because in reality: He had ties in the Gov. running the Hero Ind. which would be a “holy fuck” moment.

All Might was working for All For One this whole time?

Crowd: “WHAT THE FUCK!?

Could you imagine if AFO was that calculated but no, he was just doing shit.

Think about it:

This guy took on prime all migt & handicapped him. How did he kill no one of note during all this?

in a meta sense all might walked away broken because he fought alone vs everyone actually beating AFO because they fought together- it works as a theme, not as a story because AFO is too strong to lose and not even kill at least 20 people of notice.

If AFO was so old he was senile and actually wanted to lose but lose on a grand stage, thats different it'd be lame but it'd make sense that he wouldn’t literally want to be the villain but he wanted to emulate the attention a super villain gets from being a menace:

• thus being noticed by everyone & fulfilling that villain role, the role of pushing complete strangers to be their strongest because he was in reality the strongest.

If that was his goal as a narcissist since day 1 vs being a “demon lord” whatever that means, and everyone coming together in the end vs him was his dream, that'd make leagues more sense as to him allowing himself to lose so pathetically as opposed to him actually losing like that because he was that incompetent.

After making him LOOK cooler than he actually was, why would you write a villain as pathetic as the heroes?

I won’t sit here & pretend I saw it coming since Season 2 or something, nah, I was a casual then fell off for a minute.

I didn’t start following this series really until 2023, watched it backwards from Season 5, then read the manga & Chapter 355 was what broke me. I had to stop again.

It was Kamino arc that showed AFO’s belly (keep in mind, Jeanist survived him after getting a hole in his stomach and he couldn’t even kill some random woman in the debris, didn’t kill a nerfed All Might)

Nothing matters.

It fell off years ago, most people only now decide to catch up and smell the shit-soup because they got bored and only when they get bored & their hormone thrill trip fizzles will they finally see reason, or they choose to admit when they think it’s safe to be honest. Which doesn’t work because then it’s not about honesty, you’re likely not going to give the show it’s credit it’s due because you went from one extreme to the next.

This is why being a “fan” isn’t what it used to be.

• The story fell off regardless if people realized it or not.
• The people who knew what we were talking about didn’t need your permission for My Hero to be confirmed to be trash, it was always trash regardless of any of us.

Because Horikoshi didn’t have the maturity, nor presumably the life experience (Stan Lee projecting life experience and not FETISHES is why Spider-Man is a staple icon across the globe/ Spiegel and Shuster with Superman) nor the writing experience to make this shit even 2% of what Avatar The Last Airbender was.

Or Teen Titans 2003, the superior My Hero.

Horikoshi created more work for himself when he kept jamming excessive characters (300+), juvenile antics, and an ever escalating plot that did not have to be that elaborate.

He worked against his own best interest, & more importantly as consequence: he worked against the best interest of My Hero Academia. If he kept the main cast to Deku, Iida, Ochako, Bakugou & Todoroki.

• He would’ve had more time, more panels, more authorship resources to cook to the best version of My Hero and AFTER the work was done fleshing out those five, then in season 2 the others can get more to do
• Or? Since the manga had Omake’s & the series had like Eight OVA’s, I repeat approximately over 7 Original Video Animations, use that to explore the other students on a deeper level or wait until Season 2 or 3.
• That’s just common sense. Twenty students? Not one is transferred, or dies & their death brings the class even closer together like a family, no nothing. It’s just everyone CRAMMED into the frame.

It was logistically moronic from the get go.

And now that it’s wrapped up (multiple times) we’ll see who the “fans” are when it gathers dust, and people are already 180-ing, frauds.

Now we’ll see who really gives shit. I a “hater” is still reading, still using early volume artwork as reference, still watching some episodes of that garbage anime.

Why? Because it had potential. I swear my homie (who hates MHA) sometimes asks me “Why?” in the tone of “Why watch that trash.” even if it’s just one episode every 5 months.

Because it could’ve been great, that’s why.

Because it’s not even 1 year old post-end (2024), and already people are switching sides.

When all we had to do was be honest to begin with and stop fighting the people who are fan enough to know the story could have long been better.

Would you Kiss her? | SHRAPNEL

"Do you kiss the eledritch flesh loli?"

“Loli”, why are you cats like this. Why ya’ll can’t get the prospect of fetishized little girls out ya mouths. 

VA is having fun but she trying way too hard here.

After that one touching skit with the knight finding that lost girl in the snow (The Wolf and the Kitty), that was mostly just grunts and very few lines of dialog, just visual storytelling & sfx. Excellent work, one of the gems of youtube even, at the time. It's why I was subbed for a time.

Rarely get that authenticity on that level anymore nowadays with these guys. Now I get this garbage 0:10 ooooh, yet another crazy anime girl. Blown away.

skit's trash & awkward, mainly because of the entire premise of asking us would we want to engage with a "loli" period, poor taste. 

The character acting idiotic & not even remotely intimidating, endearing or cute, just annoying. I wouldn't show this to anyone I knew who likes anime.

The craft got better, but the direction fell off. Pure Cringe.

Episodic Impressions: Mushoku Tensei (episode 15)

"story driven", red flag #1 characters driving it is ideal, story is going to progress no matter what happens. If you prioritize story over characters when by default the story functions as an auto-pilot vehicle anyway, you get low quality characters make it character driven or you risk high probability of failure. if you make it character driven, you have to put in effort, you get less gimmicks and get more development. Which is why mangaka lean to story driven, less effort. Characters are after thought.

Dianna Soriel is peak “Gundam Girl”

 

Queen of an entire race of moon people, she can improv the shit out of a speech without being preachy, and none of that Pop Singer shit like Lacus.

She sits proper, full of class, and so much composure. 

• She can feign ignorance in one breath, and command the room in a second. And it’s not cringe “girl boss“ energy, she’s a PROFESSIONAL. 
• It’s legitimate qualifications, you believe it she’s done this shit for a while as a career and is about it.

300+ Year old Queen that’s not above learning the joy of simply washing clothes lol, and will put a cap in your rump if you start rampaging in a mobile suit in her name.

She’s not having it:

"Do i even remember my parents"

Is something she says towards the end of the series, just before a battle, the finale battle. 

A very odd thing to just drop in the finale, but it’s little nuggets of character like that that puts her up there in the Gundam “character” list, not just the honorary female category, but Gundam characters period.

Now, i’m zero bullshit, the reason why she’s not as marketable among current day audiences as your Lunamaria, or Lacus, Nena, or Sayla. Is mainly exposure and sex appeal, let’s just get that out the way.

• Turn A Gundam is underrated, so it goes under the radar (Exposure)
• Dianna Soriel is too well written to be classified as a “waifu”, she’s not an infantilized idiot with a fat ass, and she’s not treated as such. (Sex appeal)
• Turn A Gundam has it’s moments of fanservice but it’s not My Sus Academia levels of Pedobear- it’s entirely context oriented and it doesn’t dwell on it. It passes, and we move on.

So she’s not a sex symbol in this franchise, and for the most part is not flaunted like a piece of meat, she’s written like a Ghibli Studios character. 

Is that enough reason for her to go unnoticed? 

Unfortunately yes, to an extent. I’m a straight male with working testosterone, i know the game. 

Just look at your top “anime girl” lists and count on five fingers how many of them:

1. Got that spot because they’re well written vs possessing some blatant form of sex appeal, despite being 2D with eyes the size of a respiratory organ
2. NOT a Shonen female character
3. Not from a mainstream anime that everybody rides because it’s mainstream 
4. Leads their own series
5. And contributes something legitimate to the situation beside being there or being hot

Cause i guaran-fucking-T you you won’t see Marlene Angel on that list, her anime has fanservice, however the anime itself is like a cult classic type situation.

People in this anime straight have sex, and the narrative function is like Attack on titan, end of the world, creatures run amok.

People are trying to feel alive in the moment because it could be their last time.

That’s the context, it’s called Blue Gender, brutal, fucked up, tragic. (First act’s the best, 2nd act drags and the 3rd pays for it but it’s something to experience, it’s a gem. The movie improve many problems I have with the series) I recommend it. 

You’re even less likely to see BALSA Yonsa on that list

And she’s a beast.

Explaining her story would take another post, just go watch her anime:

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit

So because the anime is underrated and retro, and her sexual market value is not exploited-

No, she’s not going to get her due respect.

If she was treated like Makima is, she would also have stan group on Twitter compiling entire tweets dedicated to pointing out the anime itself featuring frames of her ass, chest, her in lingerie, the whole “woof” meme, lmfao. 

Because we’ve never seen that shit before. Originality. 

Niggas calling her “Mommy” and shit, bruv chiiiill with all that hogwash.

Can’t make this up, her relevance is being a fetish mascot, fabulous.

• Writing 101: When your character is as transparent & hollow as a Ziploc bag, over compensate with sex, “that’s a neat trick”.

Can see it a mile away. Because at some point, writing wise, most people have done it, it’s definitely tempting, cause humans are sexual. And writing is freedom so you’d think, why not?

• However, the measure of a writer’s competence in this context, is choosing not to do that. 

Because giving a character depth takes more work & EFFORT vs letting your fandom project their libido onto the character because you want to misdirect the fact that she’s not much of a character. 

And her popularity is founded on that, longterm, she’ll fade into obscurity when the Makima or Akane Shinjou  is introduced.

Oh? You forgot about that weirdly “foot fetish-y” sexualized teenager that everybody was panting over not long ago? Well don’t worry about forgetting she ever existed, cause so did everyone else-

And that’s my point.

• Sex appeal by itself isn’t the issue, women are attractive, that’s not a sin. Active sexualization (especially of teenagers, cmon bruv) at the expense of presentation and characterization, is straight narrative laziness. Going out of your goddamn way is the issue.
• Laziness and wasted potential is the issue.

So Makima’s biggest contribution to the average normie is being a “Woman in a suit” aesthetic (Which i personally think is under-represented), but in the culture, that’s all the majority care about. Ass, cake, what can I upload to R34 this week.

Which is not surprising because a lot of Mangaka’s do not use their work as a proxy to share their storytelling prospects & ideas like competent writers as much as they should but instead insert their kinks to project onto millions like scumbags.

And it works, because the industry attracts and rewards that energy.

There’s no reason why Avatar The Last Airbender (one of the best shonen anime ever made, period) DID NOT come from Japan. Why? Because  Japan isn’t mature enough to handle it and nothing has changed.

And of course the characters in meta either succeed because the content is good, they're relevant for a few weeks cause they're cute, or get butt fucked in on the usual sites like danbooru for it then they're replaced by the next pinup girl.Trending today, forgotten tomorrow.

“Trending today, forgotten tomorrow.”, same with most Vtubers

Dianna Soriel does not have this problem, because she’s not written to be an eroticized effigy to pander. She’s not a proxy, she’s a character. And that’s partly why she’s under the radar for the most part. Was was written perfect? Ofc not, no one is; I personally would’ve liked flashbacks of her time before, see her as a young queen figuring it out, who preceded her era- But that wasn’t the story, everything we got was through dialogue & subtle nuggets of lore. We were told more than shown, yet due to her not being “the” main character, how much was done with her and where she ended up: fairly impressed.

 

TL;DR Put respect on her name.