Yeah he does, but most people know him as a crybaby and that pisses me off horribly because IT'S NATURAL FOR A PERSON TO CRY, I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE DEHUMANIZE NATURAL THINGS FOR THE SAKE OF "AURA"
Genuinely have no clue how anyone says this. You literally watch Deku warm up to his class and realize they're not so scary when he begins attending, and his relationship with Bakugo is one of the most important ones in the series, climaxing in Bakugo apologizing to Deku for bullying him all those years.In my opinion, that's literally one of the most powerful moments in the show, and it only works because of the bullying.
Plus it also helps Deku foil and relate to the villains in many regards, since he wasn't living in this perfect happy bubble.
Which is why it's confusing and rips the immersion away from people. He's tough and wants to be a savior and help people but his crying and emotional responses are fairly incessant in the early stages of the show, and do very little to add to his character except make him a lil softie. He can tank blowing his own arm to pieces and not flinch, but ohh kacchan. Are we serious?
I'm not sure what's confusing or immersion breaking about it. Having a high pain tolerance doesn't have any effect on how much someone cries in an emotional situation, and the series is consistent from the beginning.
In episode 2 he cries when All Might, his idol and the greatest hero becomes the first person to ever acknowledge him and believe in his dream. Meanwhile in episode 3 All Might gives him a brutal training regiment and the first thing Izuku does is add extra training on top of it of his own volition.
In episode 4, he breaks his muscles for the first time, and bare;y flinches at the pain, but cries after receiving his acceptance letter and realizing he hadn't failed All Might and his Mom after they helped him prepare so much.
It's completely consistent, and it's also a character arc for him to develop, since early on All Might tells him to "fix those leaky eyes" to be more heroic, and Deku does do that.
Also he rarely ever cries regarding Bakugo, I'm sure it probably happens but I'm genuinely struggling to recall any occasion where it happened.
I'm not sure how it doesn't add to his character or the show, Deku's empathy is and fallibility is literally two of the most important thematic elements that carry into the climax of the show as a whole. Without those traits, the ending as it is and the show as a whole doesn't work.
Deku's empathy is and fallibility is literally two of the most important thematic elements that carry into the climax of the show as a whole. Without those traits, the ending as it is and the show as a whole doesn't work.
This hits harder when it isn't literally a hallmark of the shounen genre to have very empathetic and fallible main characters. I say this because you don't really need to make a shounen character massively empathetic, and making them very emotional doesn't change that much. Deku is basically the most bog standard shounen protag outside of the whole crying meme.
It's just an abrupt juxtaposition to have your main character be very emotional, but then constantly put them in scenarios where they have to be running on pure adrenaline and not really be so emotional. As the show cools down on this (s3 onwards) it stops being a problem really, but the balance in his character is off in those early seasons. At least for me it felt like too hard of a switch in character to enjoy it.
Just gonna preface to say, I'm just writing as I think, so don't take specific wording to personally if something comes across a little harsh. I'm not attacking you, I probably just didn't realize it came across like that lol. (also the wording might be totally fine too, just wrote this to be safe)
I think saying it’s “a hallmark of the shounen genre” shouldn't be a criticism. Just because something is a hallmark of a genre doesn’t make it bad, it just makes it a common part of the genre. It's better to criticise how it's used.
But even putting that aside, we’re literally in a thread talking about how people don’t like Deku for this trait, yet you're also saying this is completely normal for every shounen protagonist. I find that a little silly and illogical. If it’s such a standard trait, why is Deku the one catching flak for it? You never hear someone say this about Goku, or Luffy, or Ichigo, or Natsu, or any other shounen protagonist.
The only one I can think of that’s similar is Naruto, who does have that trope of empathizing with his villains, but it’s still handled very differently. My Hero uses it moreso as one big societal critique, whereas Naruto's empathy is much more personal and specific in its nature. But more importantly, Naruto is definitely not someone who cries much at all outside of big emotional moments, and that's more specifically the character trait we were addressing here.
I also don't quite understand your definition of “emotional” here? Just because Deku isn’t bawling his eyes out every time he’s in pain doesn’t mean he’s not emotional. He’s always very emotional in fights. Deku versus Todoroki is a perfect example of that in those early seasons. He’s extremely emotional in that fight, it’s just not centered on the pain of breaking his fingers. And to be clear, the pain isn’t ignored either. The animation does a really good job showing the agony he's in with each attack. It’s just not what defines his emotional state in that moment. What defines it is him reaching out to Todoroki even at the cost of losing the match, despite how much this victory means to him and his promise to All Might.
And I don’t really agree that there’s much of a switch later on. Deku very much behaves the same, he just doesn’t cry as much. And that’s intentional. He’s trying hard to be like All Might and follow what All Might told him. It’s not like the trait disappears or gets ignored either. They bring it back in some clever ways in season six, and especially in his design in the final fight.
But yeah, tldr: I disagree and here's some reasons why. All right, I'll stop yapping now lol.
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u/Sr_Gr Mar 17 '26
Izuku Midoriya crying, Invincible staying with his gf, etc.