Deku Is An AWFUL Main Character | My Hero Academia Analysis

My biggest issue with deku is that despite wanting so desperately to be a hero, he did NOTHING to make that happen before the story. No training, no conditioning, no martial arts training, nothing. It makes it seem like, despite showing that he was willing to put his life on the line for it, he just didn't give a shit.

When you brought up Midoriya's quirklessness, it reminded me of this fanfic called 'Deku? I think he's some pro'. It's part of the For Want of a Nail series. In it he doesn't receive One For All and actually goes on to become a hero without a quirk. I loved it because it seemed like the anime kinda brushes off his being quirkless after he received a quirk and the fanfic goes into detail about how hard it is to be quirkless in a society that practically revolves around quirks. The same series also has an entry where Izuku says fuck it and becomes a quirkless villain called 'Mastermind'. I actually find myself reading and enjoying these stories more than the anime in fact. And now I guess I understand why. Everyone was written well enough except for poor Izuku

Deku's biggest flaw isnt even his personality, is how the universe bends around him and ruins what he should have been, instead of the underdog hes first introduced as, he gets god like powers from the best of the best , in the first season, then he only gets more overpowered as the show goes. also, the side characters have more depth than deku, so thats a problem.

Tbh Hitoshi Shinso would make a good MC for Mha, having him would really take a deep dive into the discrimination of quirks and the wrongs of society, deku proves nothing about that because he has a “heroic” quirk (stated by Hitoshi himself)

I remember seeing a drawing of Goku passing the torch to Deku. That drawing aged like milk left outside during a hot Florida summer.

Deku has a major savior complex and it’s pretty obvious. He needs to be the savior even when is obvious others can take care of themselves. The only explanation for such an annoying main character is that the people that wrote it don’t understand the difference between a real hero and someone with a savior complex. Also no one is 100 all good a lot of anime seem to forget that.

Deku was liked for being the "underdog," and we all love to root for the underdogs, but now he's not the underdog anymore. Hes just a "dog" to the system. Even having gained Allmight's quirk I would have loved to see him use his "privilege" to improve the lives of other quirkless and inspire them. Its almost like he is becoming Allmight, the same Allmight who was once quirkless himself and told a previously quirkless Deku he could never be a hero without a quirk. Like the message from Deku's characterization is "you cant be a hero without power and if one power isnt enough then you can just use another." They make it seem like theyre promoting togetherness and teamwork, "no hero can do it alone," then constantly showcase Deku surpassing/bodying everyone and how he can "do ot all on his own," people who have years of experience learning their quirks. We only really notice the other characters now because theyre more interesting, not because they're getting any spotlight, nothing focused on them anyways. And sure some of class 1A has had their own arcs and family drama, but Deku was at the center of each one, yes he's the main character but if we're focusing on the Todoroki family struggles we dont really need Deku, if youre there to support your friend then support your friend not "steal the show." The manga does a better job at not completely focusing on him during some of them but its not much better than the anime. I was literally cheering for Deku during the sports festival and now... I'm not even interested, we all know "this is the story of how i become the #1 hero" so the ending is set. Its not even Satisfying when he masters a new Quirk... Cause its not a matter of "how" its a matter of "when." We watch the show and read the manga for the other characters, and we only care about Deku to see how close he is to his dream

Deku is someone I really used to like but my main problem is that he confirms to a society that would normally expell him. Horikoshi is someone who can build up a massively flawed hero world but he didn't flesh out these plot points. Even though Deku has stated that all men aren't born equal he follows regulation that don't help everyone. His desire to become the Nr 1 hero is a responsibility that Deku would still need to comprehend. Ever since Deku received a quirk that made him lose his uniqueness. Deku also doesn't seems to be open to reforming his villains. The spinoff manga vigilantes is actually what Deku's story should have been.

I just hate him for letting Bakugo walk all over him while worshiping him.

When fanfiction writers do better with your story than the original author you might have a problem

When he was given multiple powers instead of improving OFA ane getting over its weaknesses, Deku became a Mary Sue

In defense of Deku’s character: I believe his motivations does come from a human place, idealism or childhood fantasy, as children most us would see something on TV or in the real world and be like, I wanna be that when I grow, (most likely cause it looked cool) Deku was denied and insulted for his dream for most of his life and then is suddenly given the chance to achieve it through all might. Problem is he learns that his dream job isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, he sees many of flaws within this hero society: selfish Heroes only caring about popularity and status, the failed trainees that slip through the cracks of the system, and most of all how society creates its own villains. Through these experiences he gains a wider perspective on his dream of “being a hero to everyone.” He realizes that it’s not just the citizens and even other heroes that need saving but the villains too. Most of them people that got screwed over by society similar to him, it doesn’t excuse their actions by any means, but by learning the stories of the victims he can help make changes to society to slow of stop the creation of more monsters, that’s how he’ll surpass allmight, whose presence dissuaded monsters, Deku reforms them and stops them before they show up. And briefly on the topic of class 1A, the series has been clear in showing that society can’t stand on the back of one pillar else the entire thing crumbles when that pillar is gone, thus the importance of other rising heroes that Deku has trained with and inspired. Thanks for reading if bothered to.😂

Ironically, the "Anime Batman" was the original goal. Shonen Jump, the compony, basically said no. Which is how we get the "Chosen one" aspect as a second hand option. Oddly, the lack of "human element" isn't really an issue to be honest. Some irl individuals are mentally lacking with particular drives which could very well have helped them, but doesn't cross their minds. I just find it nice to see a good one track mind character in a similar vein to Goku. Though as someone has pointed out, it could very well be the fact of idealism or childhood fantasy. But again, all the issues that you can point to where it all started was with Shonen Jump. We could have had the Anime Batman, but didn't because they said that it wouldn't be as cool. We could have had a decent story line where we learn about the world and see where things could have gone, have him use his mental ability to win fights instead of punch/kick to win. But with how Shonen Jump forces the artist to basically suffer under the wight of deadlines, it's hard for Horikoshi to actually put enough effort without making things feel like there hand-me-down's. And that's where I think we will need to focus more on.

Izuku doesn't even want to be something amazing. He just wants to be a hero in a society in which that's an actual, literal job. That's like wanting to be a lawyer and probably less difficult to get a license for.

YOU PUT IT PERFECTLY!!! "Deku is so unrealistic that he can't engage with hero society. He needed to interact more with hero society." "He needed to care about the quirkless." That hits hard. Man, I've been wondering whats wrong with Deku and why I don't like him for YEARS! Thank you for putting it in a way I can understand! Great video btw.

Yeah Deku is a pretty vanilla... He is even blander than boiled chicken with no seasoning I feel like the problem with Deku is that he is the main character... Let me explain alot of main characters in anime or cartoons usually have they're flaws removed as time goes to make them more Jesussy, so anything controversial or anything that would make the fan base be disappointed him is removed.... It's why alot of MC's get so boring as time goes on they're not allowed to have flaws or go through interesting character arcs all in an attempt to make them the moral center of the story It's why the rivals and supporting characters have the better characters arcs

In my experience, Deku's main problem is his likability. It wasn't as easy to like Deku as it was to like other characters like Naruto, Asta, Natsu, or even Tanjiro. Deku isn't really that charismatic compared to other shonen protagonists. Those characters personalities and backstories made them more magnetic. Deku's personality in season 1 is understandably weak and meek, it's somewhat annoying, but after that, he's kinda uninteresting as a person. Iruma-kun from Mairimashita Iruma-kun is a lot more likable despite having similar personality traits like being a pushover. however when Iruma acts weak are less out of fear but more out of kindness. Deku just doesn't feel as human as other characters from anime.

My problem with Deku has a protag is that when consider the amount of luck he had to get OFA is crazy. Like he would be dead if All Might wasn’t thete to save him when he suicide missioned to save Bakugo. Again when he tried to save bakugo with his friends, they were all fucked if the heroes didn’t show up. And don’t try to bring the “oh but he trained hard to deserve it” that’s not what I’m talking about. Deku never would have even trained to get stronger physically if he didn’t meet all might. My problem with him is that despite wanting to be the best, he never trained physically before meeting all might and afterwards despite knowing so much about heroes and training for so long he’s still reckless with his body and with other ppl’s lives. He’s a wet sack of an anime protagonist bc his entire story was 50% luck

to be honest if they wanted to have deku saving people make him be like the animated flash in dc animated series helping people by not just saving them but helping them out on a personal level while adding variety to how he needs to save people instead of just punching the next villain in the face and calling it a day. Have deku show that he goes out his way to help the small nobody by doing simple task like painting their fences for them or something that adds more substance, or if he could try to talk the villains down from doing bad things first before trying to blow their heads off with his quirk first. All deku is now is some strong guy that punches the strong villains to save the day. One arc almost got this right the Vigilante Story Arc started to do this but it went in a stupid way.

Lmao the leg part really get me too, like how does he take that long to realize that he has legs