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makeste · 5 years

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BnHA Chapter 144: Kirishima Flashback Part 1

Previously on BnHA: Chance the Rappa and Fat the Gum prepared to have a punching match while Tengai and Kirishima stood there and watched. Rappa punched Fat Gum like 600 times as Kirishima looked on, feeling increasingly powerless. Finally his shounen instincts couldn’t take it anymore and he leapt in there to take some of the blows for FG. Rappa was impressed by his durability, but things weren’t looking too good, as Kirishima’s hardening kept reaching its limit and breaking only for him to turn it back on again. Having been all but turned into a bloody pulp, he finally tried to counterattack, only to have Tengai step in with his stupid barrier. Fortunately, Kirishima’s intervention gave Fat Gum time to charge up his attack power, and as Kiri fell, FG stepped in ready to kick some ass. Oh, and he’s hot now. All of a sudden, just out of fucking nowhere. Shit’s wild.

Today on BnHA: Hot Gum gets ready to punch some bad guys as reality abruptly gives way to a sudden Kirishima flashback. Middle school Eijirou tries to defend a hapless kouhai from some thugs, but is shown up by middle school Ashido Mina, who effortlessly befriends the thugs and teaches them the error of their thuggish ways. Everyone is all “oh shit Mina is awesome”, and Kiri thinks that he himself is pretty lame in comparison. He knows his quirk is nothing special, and he’s trying to compensate by having a manly spirit just like his hero Crimson Riot. Later on while walking home, he stumbles across an intimidating villain confronting two girls from his school. No heroes are around, and he knows he should step in and try to help, but he finds himself frozen in fear. Luckily, Mina arrives to save the day again and sends the villain on his way. Later that night, Kiri sits in his room thinking about how his manly heart failed when it really counted, and miserably crosses off U.A. from his school aspiration report.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 175 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

two chapters in one day?? is it just because Fat Gum is that hot? maybe. maybe it is

“Red Riot” is the chapter title; that’s very promising

anyway so Hot Gum is all rarin’ to go with his punchin’ fist

incredibly, Rappa is actually asking Tengai to lower the barrier. seriously, this type of villain basically does all of your work for you

Tengai is saying that Kirishima’s thrilling heroics in the previous chapter must have been intended to set up this attack

but Kiri’s thinking that’s not it at all, and that he was just scared

“again...”

oh my god. this is a flashback. we ‘bout to get that good angst, aren’t we

I guess this is Kiri’s middle school

some thugs are picking on a child who has a quirk that lets him transform leaves into sweet, sweet cash. omg. are you serious

oh wait, he says it’s only a temporary transformation. dang

is he supposed to be a tanuki or something. he doesn’t really look like one, but he’s kinda got similar ears, and there’s that shapeshifting leaves connection too so idk

lol actually I just read the translation notes and they’re confirming that he is indeed a tanuki

the thugs are all “we’ll just spend it before it turns back” but obviously that’s. not nice

and here comes our boy!

this motherfucker really does dye his hair. I can’t fucking believe it. that’s such a nice character touch because it’s totally unnecessary but it’s just a nice little additional character detail

anyway, he’s charging at these guys in hardened mode but one of them is chucking a rock at his face. which fucking hurts

wow, he was this weak as recently as his third year of middle school? if that’s the case, he’s gone through almost as rapid of a transformation as Deku

oh my god the thugs just picked up the weird little tanuki kid and are scampering off with him while Kiri is all “HEY WAIT”

what the fuck

were they watching the whole time?!

...

damn, Kiri’s friends need more spine

it’s so weird how he’s now best friends with a guy who not too long ago was not all that different from those thugs. and yet, maybe not that weird after all, because even at his worst, Bakugou was still a hell of a lot more honorable than these guys seem to be

now Kiri is dashing off heroically

I really want to meet Crimson Riot. although the way they talk about him makes me wonder if he’s an older generation hero and maybe retired now or something. but then, Gran Torino is getting on in years too and he still kicks ass, so

OH MY GOD WHAT

MINA!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE CRASHING KIRISHIMA’S FLASHBACK

ALSO, YOU TELL THOSE THUGS OFF GIRL. FUCK YEAH

OH MY GOD

oh my god

what in the name of

lol are they best friends now

just. fucking Mina. we don’t deserve her

now the bullies and the leaf kid are walking off sparkling and waving back at Mina

my god. send this girl off to Tomura and let her just befriend him and all of his stupid hands. problem solved. I fixed your manga for you

Kirishima are you appropriately impressed by Mina’s outrageous big dick energy

he and his buddies are watching as Mina’s friends come up and ask her if she wants to come with them to that shop and she’s like “yeah!”

they’re saying she’s gonna be one for sure. a hero, that is. presumably

yep

Kiri’s mildly annoying friends are talking about how heroes these days are different from the ones in the past. “it’s all about entertainment and approval ratings”

and they’re saying that Mina is a perfect fit for the job

and while I can’t argue that Mina is going to make a phenomenal hero, Kiri is feeling a little down on himself now, thinking that he’s just “kinda dull and boring”

damn, who would have thought Eijirou of all people would have self-esteem issues. I mean, we’d gotten some hints previously, especially a few chapters ago when we flashed back to their special moves training and he was thinking how plain his quirk was compared to the rest. but this is more than I thought

by the way I really don’t have room for all of these adopted kids

also, are they trying to imply some sort of Kirishima/Ashido thing here now? I feel like they’re slowly but surely pairing off all of the 1-A girls one by one. Ochako with Deku, Momo with Todoroki, Jirou with Kaminari, and now this. this leaves us with just Tsuyu left, basically. (and Hagakure, but I still think she might be the traitor, so)

(ETA: and how could I forget that she’s paired up with Ojiro? so that really is all of them accounted for except Tsuyu. I swear to god, if Horikoshi so much as sneezes in a way that implies he’s considering pairing her off with Mineta, I will fucking learn Japanese and move to Japan and become a Japanese citizen and go to Japanese law school and become a Japanese lawyer and sue the fucking shit out of him for everything he’s worth until I fucking own the series and can pair her off with the mongoose snake girl. don’t test me, sensei. this is a little frog girl’s life on the line here and I will fuck you up.)

but anyways, try as they might, I doubt most of these vaguely “official” het pairings stand even the ghostest of chances against all of the glorious gayness that this fandom has embraced

so now we’re cutting to a one-panel training montage of Kirishima doing pushups and hitting himself with a stick and doing sprints and shit

and all the while he’s thinking of his hero Crimson Riot, who apparently said that as long as you have a manly spirit, it doesn’t matter what your quirk is. aww

so now Kiri’s friends are discussing what they’re gonna put on their career sheets, and which high schools they want to apply to

Kirishima’s acting like he hasn’t decided and doesn’t already have his heart set on U.A.

aww, he’s patting the sheet in his pocket which has U.A. written on it as his preferred school

now he’s walking down the street wishing that he had more confidence

you know, the more I see of flashback!Kirishima, the more I understand why he was so quickly drawn to Bakugou. he naturally exudes the self-assurance that this Kiri wishes he had more of. it’s similar to the reasons why Deku was drawn to him too

also, here’s a big dude in a lumpy cloak who just appeared out of nowhere and what the hell

holy shit

for a second I thought he was transforming into something because the outline of his cloak was so weird, but nope, looks like he just has some sort of massive troll body

anyway, Kiri’s looking over and realizing that those girls that this dude is terrorizing are from his middle school

and once again there are no pros in sight. there never are

now the villain dude is touching the wall and it’s cracking

Kiri’s thinking the exact same thing as me about the pro heroes. I kid you not

because pro heroes are the worst, Kiri. well most of them anyway

(ETA: and it’s fitting that later on in this chapter, Kiri mentions that one time that about a half dozen heroes all gathered around to watch a fourteen-year-old boy nearly suffocate to death because they were all afraid to get too close to his quirk. thank fuck for the Minas and the Dekus of the world)

he’s looking around frantically and thinking “somebody...!”

and then realizing there is nobody and he’s gotta do this himself

but he’s frozen in fear omg

HOT DAMN BUT LOOK WHO IT IS THOUGH

NO ONE TOLD ME THIS KIRISHIMA FLASHBACK WOULD RESULT IN ME BEING CONVERTED INTO A HARDCORE MINA STAN

OH MY GOD

SHE’S GIVING HIM DIRECTIONS. TO THE HERO OFFICE. THAT HE WAS ASKING ABOUT EARLIER

sflkahd

I’m fucking speechless

(ETA: ...hold up. holy shit.

that profile. the radio hanging from his neck. that face. those lumpy rock shoulders. holy shit. this is that guy. the guy we saw again in 162. Giganto something. holy shit.

this guy took out half a fucking mountain and nearly killed Gran Torino and Naomasa. Gran referred to him as an it. this fucking guy is one of All for One’s direct subordinates. and fourteen-year-old Ashido Mina just stood her ground against him and didn’t back down.

yet again I’m fucking speechless. damn but this girl is so much more amazing than she’s been getting credit for. also I’m just gonna file away everything that we just saw here, because we all know this guy is going to become a big deal probably in the near future. I can’t believe I didn’t even make the connection the first time around.)

y’all think I’m kidding about siccing her on Tomura. I’m not. this is the way to go guys. this is how we win the day

and now she’s collapsing from fear and crying about how that was so scary

and her friends are embracing her and thanking her for saving their lives, and they’re all crying together

I can’t believe Ashido Mina is my new favorite character. well actually I can. how far out is the next character poll? I think still a good thirty or forty chapters out, but just you wait. this girl is going places

(ETA: I regret to announce that, after ranking Mina at a pitiful #36, behind Mineta and fucking Overhaul, Japanese BnHA fandom is cancelled. or at least the ones who voted for the aforementioned two are. more than a thousand people voted for You’re Damn Right He’s The Best Fucking Jeanist, though, so in the end I still can’t be too mad.)

Kirishima are you in proper awe of Mina’s massive, huge, just totally fucking colossal dick energy yet?! bow down to it!!

he’s still standing frozen across the street, just staring at them

and he’s berating himself for just standing there and not taking action

now it’s later that night, presumably, and he’s sitting at his desk staring at his career sheet or whatever you call it. “aspiration report”

holy shit he’s thinking about Bakugou, somehow, even though he hasn’t even met him yet. and Deku too

Deku out there inspiring people even before becoming the Symbol of Peace Jr. was ever even on the table. what a legend

Kiri is miserably thinking to himself that not even his heart was up to snuff. boring quirk, timid heart

oh no he’s picking the pencil up and I think he’s gonna erase U.A. from his number one choice

except that can’t be right, unless we’re about to cut back to present day!Kiri and shockingly find out that him attending U.A. has actually been a 140-chapter dream sequence this entire time. whaaaaaaaaat

but he really is crossing it out!

I can’t. I don’t. where am I going to put all these sons. too many sad children

also this chapter was only 13 pages long what the fuck

and now there’s an omake corner??

oh my god it seems like the scanlators took it upon themselves to fill up the additional space with translations from the official character book!

this is awesome. but it’s also way too long for me to read right now, so I’ll have to come back to it. maybe do it as a separate post if I get into it

(ETA: so I most definitely am going to do a separate post on the character book, but I’m not sure when that will be. I have the whole thing downloaded, along with as many translations as I can find, so it’s mostly just a matter of finding some time and energy to do it. it will mostly just be me nerdily comparing the characters’ stats and also going “omg you guyyyyyyyys” at that one concept art picture of Shouji without his facemask lol.)

BONUS:

KIRI COSTUME :D I’ve actually done a fair bit of wondering exactly what all this stuff does, so I’m excited to finally see!

so apparently the headgear is supposed to protect the weaker spots on his face. I like how the explanation acknowledges that it rarely works :’)

and here we go, an explanation for the arm covers which were a new addition during the provisional license arc!

so apparently they’re to help protect the people he rescues from getting hurt if he has to carry them. that’s so thoughtful. here I thought he was just getting cold lol

I love his reasoning for wearing a deliberately tattered-looking costume. just embracing it as part of his look. Deku might want to consider a similar strategy at some point

the “manly justice” theme is just perfect. although ngl, I would have also enjoyed if we kept our usual naming conventions and these were referred to as kimipads, kimicovers, etc. but this works too, and it fits him to a T

I hope and assume that the double exclamation points are part of the official name. not just manly justice, but manly justice!! !!!!!!!

#bnha #boku no hero academia #kirishima eijirou #fat gum #ashido mina #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #so we're all in agreement that mina is the actual star of kirishima's flashbacks yes #which isn't to say that I don't love kiri or that I didn't enjoy his character development #because I did #very much #but there's just no denying that ashido fucking mina stepped in here out of nowhere and just seized my heart and was all 'mine now'#and I just let her because *holy shit* though you guys #she's been pretty amazing in the cultural festival arc as well #she's just the best and I fucking adore her

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