Downtown Khazan: Ice Cold Utopia

**Dark Soul # 7** · 05-17-2021, 05:37 AM

Originally Posted by Jcogginsa

Part of that is that Japan is a culture that puts a lot of value in competitiveness. But even in that regard, Bakugo has grown. At the beginning of the series, he saw people trying to do better than him as a personal attack, but not he just sees it as a reason to work harder. The underlying motives are much less toxic

He could still do with not acting like a little **** whenever he interacts with Deku. Bakugo has grown as a character, but still acts like a little **** and way too few people call him out on it.

I like to compare to Neito Monoma from class B who is pretty just as much of a little **** as Bakugo, but I still find him to be more enjoyable as a character. Part of that is that whenever he goes to far in his trash-talking somebody will smack him up the head because he's being a douchebag and pretty much everybody else will just stare at him like they don't want to be associated with him, all of which are fairly appropriate reactions. At the same time he has shown depth with his alternate viewpoint on heroics based on the fact that he can't do much without anybody else there for him to copy so he has to resort to more underhanded tactics to achieve the same basic heroic goal and in that he's a good co-leader for class B (alongside Kendo), when he's not being a little doucheshit. He's also consistently hilarious while Bakugo more often than not is rather annoying.

YMMV

Originally Posted by The Dog

Snake: Uhhhh... How old is she?

Izuku: In her 20s.

Snake: ****. Well, I don't think you can wait for her to die of old age then.

spoilers:

Izuku: Well... she DOES have a second Quirk, and if what I've learned isn't specific to OfA and Quirk users, then that'll significantly reduce her lifespan.

Snake: That's good... By how much is her lifespan reduced?

Izuku: She'll live about 20 years from when she received the second Quirk.

Snake: And this second Quirk of hers is pretty much brand new?

Izuku: Seems that way.

Snake:... Think you can survive 20 years until she just drops dead?

Izuku: Probably not. Considering there's plenty of other people who want to capture me.

Snake: Then you're gonna kill her.

Izuku: But I can't kill her!

Snake: Then I've got nothing for you. All my advice beyond waiting for her to drop dead involves you killing her.

Izuku:... ****.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Izuku: I mean, I am open to the option of killing at least Shigaraki and might include other villains to that but...

Snake: You're not fully comitted to the idea.

Izuku: No, not really. I'm trying to use this whole ordeal to broaden my understanding of villains and how to deal with them. And while killing them is an option, I'd rather exhaust everything else first before going that far.

Snake: I can respect that. But that still means I've got nothing to offer you kid.

Izuku: Hence the "****.". ...it's probably also bad that I really want her autograph due to her time as a heroine.

Snake: ...really?

Izuku: You do not know how close to completetion my autograph collection is.

end of spoilers

Somewhat off-topic, but I kinda really want to see a MHA-edition Suicide Squad with Stain, Gentle, La Brava, Knuckle Duster from the Vigilantes spin-off and Lady Nagant.

**Sharpandpointies** · 05-17-2021, 05:59 AM

Reading Teppu again, and am (again) struck by just how well it has captured the personalities and issues of the central characters.

**Iron_Twister** · 05-17-2021, 06:35 AM

Revisiting the manga Higanjima and...Yeah, despite the monster designs looking pretty unique, god the story is all over the damn place.

**Sharpandpointies** · 05-17-2021, 06:35 AM

Originally Posted by Iron_Twister

Revisiting the manga Higanjima and...Yeah, despite the monster designs looking pretty unique, god the story is all over the damn place.

Good way or bad way?

**Iron_Twister** · 05-17-2021, 07:01 AM

Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies

Good way or bad way?

Kinda in the bad way but in the sense you'll keep reading just to see just what the author will do next.

...I intially read it because it had humans slaying vampires with logs though it has become increasingly sparse with those kind of scenes now.

But yeah, there are moments that make me shake my head. Like the protagonist feeling sympathy for an enemy or befriending a vampire...And going on a "every vampire must die, no exception" rule when someone on his side is infected.

**Sharpandpointies** · 05-17-2021, 07:48 AM

Originally Posted by Iron_Twister

Kinda in the bad way but in the sense you'll keep reading just to see just what the author will do next.

...I intially read it because it had humans slaying vampires with logs though it has become increasingly sparse with those kind of scenes now.

But yeah, there are moments that make me shake my head. Like the protagonist feeling sympathy for an enemy or befriending a vampire...And going on a "every vampire must die, no exception" rule when someone on his side is infected.

That does feel a tad biased.

**Iron_Twister** · 05-17-2021, 08:09 AM

Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies

That does feel a tad biased.

Yeah, the follow up sequel doesn't help off the bat. A new character enters the story, his girlfriend is infected...And our protagonist straight up goes "she has to die, no matter what" despite how everyone but the girl herself pleads him to just spare her.

...Next arc, he teams up again with that vampire he befriended and is hesitant to kill again that one enemy he sympathizes with (he eventually does but he feels bad).

...I mean to the author's credit, he is painting the protagonist as becoming more messed up in his quest to kill the vampire responsible for everything so there's that. But yeah, it's pretty jarring to know he actually was ready to kill his childhood best friend upon realizing he's infected pretty quickly.

**Sharpandpointies** · 05-17-2021, 08:17 AM

Originally Posted by Iron_Twister

Yeah, the follow up sequel doesn't help off the bat. A new character enters the story, his girlfriend is infected...And our protagonist straight up goes "she has to die, no matter what" despite how everyone but the girl herself pleads him to just spare her.

...Next arc, he teams up again with that vampire he befriended and is hesitant to kill again that one enemy he sympathizes with (he eventually does but he feels bad).

...I mean to the author's credit, he is painting the protagonist as becoming more messed up in his quest to kill the vampire responsible for everything so there's that. But yeah, it's pretty jarring to know he actually was ready to kill his childhood best friend upon realizing he's infected pretty quickly.

Yeah, this definitely reeks of author bias. 'He'll have this attitude toward everyone but the characters I want to write about.' Bleah.

**Iron_Twister** · 05-17-2021, 08:25 AM

Originally Posted by Sharpandpointies

Yeah, this definitely reeks of author bias. 'He'll have this attitude toward everyone but the characters I want to write about.' Bleah.

Higanjima is kinda similar to a lot of "Gilligan's Island but with creepy murderous stuff on the island" manga in that the characters/survivors are usually morons or asshats (sometimes both) until the story decides they're not. A character I do like is mostly liked because she hasn't done that much to make me dislike her (in fact, the poor girl doesn't do a lot since her introduction despite being the replacement member for her dead sister).