My Hero Academia Appreciation 2021

[Inversed]

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As the fight between Midoriya and Lady Nagant continues, she explains more of her history with the Public Safety Commission. She was an assassin who secretly took out villains and corrupt Heroes, all while still under the guise of the Public Hero. She couldn't handle the stress of all her dirty deeds, while keeping up the facade, seeing their society as nothing but a sham. When she questioned her beliefs to the former President, he threatened her, resulting in her killing him. As it turns out this is why she was incarcerated, and her killing a fellow Hero was just a cover-up by the Commission. In response, Midoriya proclaims that he understands how the world is more gray than black-and-white, thinking about Shigaraki's words, and that's why he needs to lend his helping hand, while Nagant seemingly aims her rifle at Overhaul, who Midoriya finally discovers.

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Nagant's story just keeps getting more and more interesting and I'm loving it. The page with the kids and her hallucinating her bloody arm is genuinely chilling. She's effectively a soldier forced to also play the role of a "Hero", and you can easily understand how much that stress that erode someone's mental health. I like that her guilt comes from a combination of not believing she's worthy of a "Hero" due to how much she's killed, but also primarily how this all stems from the secrets having to be kept. That by doing this they aren't solving anything, just preserving the status quo, and just constantly taking care of any other bad apples that crop up rather than preventing them from appearing anyway. And then adding in the revelation she didn't kill a fellow Hero, just the Commission President (technically in self-defence), just makes it all the more compelling, plus painting a picture in how insecure HPSC is in making sure nothing goes "wrong". It's also really nice to see Midoriya's response, recognizing the issues swept under the rug, which is why they need to help out and try better, rather than simply running away. It's also kinda hard to tell, but if her intention is to shoot Overhaul to catch Midoriya off guard, it'll be incredibly ironic considering it's exactly what Overhaul did to Eri while fighting Mirio.

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This is going to sound weird but it feels like the PSC is trying to be like the World Government from One Piece yet can't pull it off.

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I've also seen people reference Shinobu from Yu Yu Hakusho as being similar situation to her too. There's also a little bit of "Minority Report"-esque in there, stopping the villains even if they just have the idea of doing something. How Nagant turned out also helps paint a clearer picture of Hawks too, that he's probably someone trained to be the same way, but has been desperately doing whatever he can to avoid being that assassin, while still working within their framework.

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