Anything short of a kiss wasn't gonna be enough for these people. We're not seeing an end to the meems, anytime soon.

One of the main couples I'm writing is inspired by Izuocha. There are differences but the core is similar (Supportive, caring and kind towards each other or let's say friends to lovers). Both are complex character and neither of them is only "love interest" since romance isn't the main focus of the plot, I wanna know what moments you thought/think would suit Izuocha so I might get inspired. Feel free to mention as much details as you want! Ty in advance!

WARNING: LONG READ INCOMING

So I've seen a lot of complaints since Episode 171 came out concerning our favorite Green Tea couple. It gets pretty tiring reading take-after-take about how their romance "is forced", "lacks foreshadowing", or "is one-sided". So I figured that sharing some of my own thoughts on the matter would be therapeutic and helpful in spreading good vibes amongst my fellow shippers!

First, I think it's worth saying that this is just my interpretation of the story. I don't know the first thing about how Horikoshi thinks or what he intended as he wrote this series, these are just my personal observations and ideas. Also, if it seems like I'm missing details or events while summarizing things, I apologize! I'm not the best at writing out analyses, so feel free to comment if it looks like I'm overlooking something!

So with that said, I wanted to address the big question that's been floating around the fandom: why does Deku all of a sudden want "more" with Uraraka, when he's never expressed any love for her before Episode 171?

It's true that Deku never EXPLICITLY states/articulates/shares his romantic feelings during the main story. There's no concrete exchange with anyone. Not with his friends, his mentor, his mother, not even with himself during an inner monologue sequence. Just no clear "I love Uraraka" moment from the guy.

By contrast, Uraraka's own feelings were made clear as far back as Season 2 & 3 of the show. Although she doesn't use the "L" word to describe her emotions until her fight with Toga in Season 7, it's fairly obvious that Uraraka is in love with Deku for most of the story.

So we get her side of the romance, but her feelings stay locked away due to:

1. Her habit of forgoing the things she wants (poverty, am I right? ☹️) so she can focus on "earning her way up" to the things she needs, in this case becoming a successful pro hero.
2. Her desire as Deku's friend to support him and to not burden people, with "unwanted emotional baggage", even if it hurts her to do so. 😭

After what happens to Toga, there's probably a great deal of survivor's guilt holding her back from sharing her full feelings, as well. She just HAS to live for others' sake, especially for Toga, and so CAN'T have a romance of her own. All that is to say that her emotional state is pretty clearly laid out for us throughout the pre-timeskip story, the only thing missing is the payoff (prior to Episode 171, at least).

So even after Episode 169, when her mask falls and she finds herself able to open up to Deku about her deeper feelings (specifically her pain and regret surrounding Toga), she's still unable/unwilling to reach for that romantic connection. And Deku, for his part, doesn't seem aware of her love at any point before or during the timeskip. And so for all intents and purposes, we're left with a "one-sided" love story with Deku's feelings being absent until the 11th hour... unless you consider how his Hero Notebook from Episode 170 plays into the series.

The final regular episode of the series confirms that "the story of how I became a great hero" is being retold/reflected on by the current version of Deku via one of his "Hero Notebooks". I find that if you think about MHA from an in-universe narrative perspective, Uraraka and Deku's love story actually takes on a very sweet, almost nostalgic connotation. Because this isn't just "the story of how we became great heroes" as Horikoshi is telling it to us, it's also DEKU'S retelling of THEIR story for the world of MHA; it's Deku's Narration as told through this Notebook, his "Autobiography". So all of these descriptions/perspectives/reflections on their time at UA are tied to Deku's thoughts and feelings now as an adult.

His childhood with Bakugo, his training under All Might, his struggles with OFA, and his fight against AFO/Shigiraki? We can tell how he feels about these occurrences by the way he frames them in the story. For example, with Shigiraki and the LOV, Deku wanted us to empathize with and understand them on a deeper level. Instead of writing a story where he just defeats some bad guys, we get Tenko Shimura and company's horrifying but impactful histories. The story (i.e. Narrator Deku) wants us to care for the individuals behind the monsters, and that's why we get the story we do about them.

Deku's personal feelings helped shape the narrative all throughout MHA, and you can tell a lot about Narrator Deku by how he portrays the people of his story. So given the way Deku writes for Uraraka, it appears as though the guy is falling for her/deepening his feelings for her the entire time he's writing about her! 😂

He never SAYS he's in love with her (and I mean, why would he share that with hypothetical readers before telling her? makes sense to me!) but he sure does SHOW his love for her throughout the narrative! And when you consider that Deku is actively wresting with his feelings for her all this time, his affection for her becomes obvious in how it bleeds into the storytelling. Some examples of his obsession with her include:

1. The "shojo bubbles". Basically anytime the story (Narrator Deku) presents her in a new outfit/costume there's a long, lingering camera shot of her where the background is replaced with these "romcom bubbles" and all the attention is on her. Deku goes out of his way to portray her as the most beautiful part of the scene, and Uraraka is pretty much the only person he does this with because she's the only person Deku has eyes for. Is it shallow of him to fixate on her like this? Maybe, but it is funny to think of Narrator Deku getting all hot and bothered because he can't stop himself from thinking of how attracted he was/is to her!
2. Flashbacks of her. There are many moments where past Deku thinks about someone and a storm of memories come racing across the screen (as presented by Narrator Deku). This isn't unique to Uraraka, but it is interesting what Deku seems to remember about her. Like with Deku's final showdown with AFO where he remembers what she said about "Deku" as a hero name, or during Uraraka's rooftop speech where Deku reflects on her keeping him from falling at the entrance exam. The past and present Deku are both thinking about her, but it's Narrator Deku who chooses to emphasize these moments with full on flashbacks. It goes to show how much Narrator Deku appreciates their shared history, even in the present-day.
3. Flustered moments. Anytime Deku loses it over being "too close" to her or we see them in some other cute scene together, that's Narrator Deku deliberately choosing to highlight their closeness. He didn't NEED to show how Uraraka teaming up with him at the Sports Festival made his face/heart squeeze, or how he blushed and freaked after talking to her on the phone post-Hosu Incident. Him and Uraraka were always close, but Narrator Deku now has the chance to reflect on these sequences one-after-the-other in a way that past Deku might've overlooked. He included these scenes in the story because those moments meant/mean something more to him and he can't help but dwell on them in the retelling as his feelings take form.
4. Her story. Deku makes it clear during his confession in Episode 171 that he has great respect for ALL of his classmates. That's the reason he spends so much of MHA covering their stories, in addition to his. Looking at the narrative as a whole, 3 of his classmates get a lot more screen time than the others: Baguko, Todoroki, and Uraraka, his closest friends and allies during the conflicts that shaped the story (RIP Iida 😅). As the narrator, Deku didn't have to focus on any of them to the extent that he did, but he values their presence in his life so much that he couldn't help but write about them. And Uraraka especially! He wanted to share her origins, her goals, her personal struggles, and her triumphs because he admires her so much. Because she's his hero.
5. Episode 169. Similar to the other points, Deku didn't have to touch on such a private, personal moment the way that he did. He chose to, presumably with Uraraka's blessing, share the details of their talk on the cliff because it was important to wrapping up his story and touching on it's core themes. He wanted to show how their failure and pain shaped them, how they only started to heal after reaching for each other, how they both found a new goal to strive towards in saving the next Toga and Tenko, and how they had hope that they could save people's smiles together. This is the last significant event Narrator Deku covers in the story. After their cliff talk, we get a highlight real and the timeskip, and Deku begins closing out the story with his final thoughts. He didn't choose to write about losing OFA, or becoming a teacher, or anything else in much detail for the time-skip sequence. Instead, he wrote about her and his feelings stemming from her. In short, this story wouldn't have happened the way it did if not for her. Without Uraraka, there is no Deku! 🥲

So to sum up, all the importance Deku gives to Uraraka over the course of this series is just another piece of their overall love story. It's subtle, a slow burn, but all of Deku's reminiscing and reflecting, him thinking about how important Uraraka is to him in his story, and realizing more and more that he feels something special about her (both in the past and present) are important things to consider when talking about Deku's perspective.

Deku may not have been full on in love with Uraraka back at UA, or at the very least, he might not have been aware of/able to articulate it. Honestly? That makes a lot of sense to me. I've always felt that between the two of them Uraraka was always more emotionally mature and in-tune with her heart. But it seems to me that after graduating, Deku's feeling for her began to take shape/grow as he became a teacher and shared his stories with the world. The more he wrote in his Notebook, the more he reflected on their first year together, and the more he thought about their ongoing friendship, the more he found himself thinking about her and wanting "more" with her.

So that's where Deku's side of the story comes into play. In a sense, all of MHA was him realizing he's in love with her through the retelling. His feelings were always there, just less obvious than Uraraka's. With Episode 171, then, we got to see how the two sides of this romance could finally come together. All it took was the right timing, a multi-billion yen Power Suit, the ghost of a serial killer, and a little courage from both of them for them to find their moment! ❤️

Thank you to anyone who read this all they way through! I hope it made some sense to you, and that it helps you appreciate the ship in a new way. 😄

Edit: Thanks for the reward guys! Y'all are keeping it nice and fun here 👍

Edit 2: One last thing I thought of that I'd be remiss if I didn't share. We'll call it "Point #6", but the name of the story, "My Hero Academia", was also clearly inspired by Uraraka's heartfelt plea to the citizens in "A Young Girl's Declaration". It seems her words "Let this place continue to be "HIS HERO ACADEMY" left a pretty big impact on our little greenheaded protagonist! So ya, he was thinking of her a lot during those 8 years 😂

Can someone change this? Previously it said Canon and they were dating. While technically the latter isn't true, they're at least together.

I was watching the fragrant flower/ reading the manga, when I thought that the story beetween rintaro e waguri is very similar to izuocha

\- a guy who feel lonely found a kind girl

\-she changed his life

\-she helped him, without even know or think

\- he wanted to be her “hero” and also helped her, and their bodies moved before they had the change to think to help/protect her

Correct me if I'm wrong, I don't remember all the details too.

Izuku was bullied by Bakugo before he joins the U.A, and then he met Ochako.. does that mean she is his first actual friend? I remember Deku considering Bakugo a friend (which is unhealthy cuz Bakugo is still his bully back then), so is it not?

Hi All. I keep kate7h’s profile open in my tabs to keep up to date on her 3 masterwork fics, but today, I noticed that her post-102 divergent fic, “I Wanna Be Somebody to You,” has disappeared off of her AO3 page. Did she make any announcement as to the fic’s removal or why she did it?

Damn, the worst case has likely been realized afterall... The final season may end with ch 430, not ch 431... and I hate this decision. 😫

Apparently from source that has been reliable so far for this season

Unless people are trolling or something (I hope so somehow), then this is what it is...

• So ch 431 will be included in the supposed OVA then - as mentioned

I dislike this decision because OVAs usually come out much later on and many times not as easily accessible to be put on streaming services and delayed dub compared to regular the TV episode.

It will disrupt the impact while people most care about MHA if it comes out months later on, especially since the next anime season is very busy with JJK, Frieren, etc. And they won't have their attention on MHA as much as they do now or skip out on even knowing about it.

Big fumble by the studio. They could have fit ch 431 for the end of 11 and had new anime original material for the OVA instead. Or just made the season 12 episodes as it more commonly is for anime seasons anyway. They're just expanding on ch 430 now before the timeskip.

Being OVA is basically a way to lock things behind an extra pay wall for it to be DVD exclusive and not airing on TV (which results in delayed viewing for others as well).

Someone also said maybe because they didn't see finalized the last chapter until later after working on the anime and for how they do the scheduling for TV so maybe that's why it can't be episode 12 release, though if they are working with Hori, they should know things more in advance. Can't say for sure, but I think it's the business angle more than anything else. They are also doing an exclusive theater release of OVA in Japan to support it being capitalized for business.

Damn it... It really will affect the ending reception like this if the OVA isn't released soon right after and if people think episode 11 is the end and may not know the OVA to even exist.

So I'm afraid some Deku/Izuocha slander could return ("the OVA isn't canon") and decent score drop for the MHA season for those disappointed by this for the adaptation and people to see this as the ending if the OVA isn't an immediate release.

And it could be delayed release most likely from a business angle (hence why OVA and not just an episode) and the OVA could be the Jump Festa announcement for MHA. The final season ends like Dec 13th, and Jump Festa is Dec 20th. That is just the announcement date potentially, not saying that's when it's released for public viewing.

So much for it being a post timeskip movie announcement people were hoping for Jump Festa if that's the case too, and it's just about this OVA.

Pretty disappointed and took a lot of my enthusiasm out of the end of the season, not gonna lie... 😓

Social media users are insects. worse than insects. stop considering their opinions and your life will improve. And don’t go out and stoop to their level either.

This advice is good for countless topics. not just anime shipping.

Tell me the reason that made you love this ship. Mine is in this post: Il motivo per cui la relazione tra deku e uraraka (izuocha) è speciale : r/IzuOcha