The Bad Taste Gang Might Come For Me Over This Post, But The Fact Is That BNHA And MP100 Have Some Overlapping

The bad taste gang might come for me over this post, but the fact is that BNHA and MP100 have some overlapping themes, and that’s one of many reasons why they get compared. BNHA’s treatment of those themes is shallow and unwittingly cruel, but is supposed to be read as positive. Meanwhile, MP100 approaches those themes with hope and compassion

Both BNHA and MP100 explore themes of value as an individual and in society—value judgments of who is average, who is extraordinary, and who is inferior. From the very beginning, BNHA asserts that people are not of equal value, but anyone can improve themselves to meet or exceed the average and become valuable and worthy. I don’t like that one bit—it assigns worth to each individual based on their level of mental and physical ability. It seems like a positive message at first glance, but upon further inspection it’s just desolate.

BNHA asserts that if you physically can’t conform to norms, the only acceptable route to happiness is to do the impossible and exceed those norms. MP100 asserts that if you can’t conform, you are still no better or worse than anyone else, and the path to fulfillment is treating yourself and others with respect.

MP100 answers the question of who is worthy and who is not with the idea that nobody is special—not in a positive way, or a negative way. (“If everyone is not special, maybe you can be what you want to be”.) In the end, whether your ability level in one area or another is within the bell curve, or if it’s at the extreme edge of the range of human experiences, you are good enough to value yourself and be valued by others, but you are not superior, either.

What makes Midoriya different from the established norms around him is something that he must change about his nature as a person. What makes Mob different is his powers and his neurodivergence, and while he’s insecure about both of these things and afraid of the way they manifest in combination (reaching 100% and having a meltdown), the narrative shows that those are neutral qualities and he can do whatever he wants with the hand he’s been dealt in life. (“Mob, Mob, What do you want?” “Mob, Mob, whatever you want!”)

Midoriya’s happiness relies on meeting and exceeding the social norms set for his body and future—gaining a quirk and becoming a hero. He has to change to be treated with any respect. But Mob’s happiness relies on learning that it is okay to be who he is.

Another theme is power: in BNHA, the pursuit of power is treated as something noble and admirable. In MP100, power is treated as something that only immature, self-aggrandizing, destructive people seek; or, in Ritsu’s case, power is something that people seek when they feel helpless and unsafe. But that’s another essay unto itself.