BakuDeku Analysis

BakuDeku Analysis

First of all, they’re literally made to be two sides of the same coin, each others’ missing piece, successors of All Might’s legacy, and soulmates. Their relationship is extremely crucial to each other and the series in general. They are the Wonder Duo, who both win and rescue. Their hero costumes even have complementary color palettes. Even Bakugou and Midoriya’s mentor, All Might agrees. He has stated, “In the way that young Midoriya longed for young Bakugou’s strength, and in the way that young Bakugou feared young Midoriya’ spirit…your feelings are all out in the open now, and now…you both get it now, if the two of you can recognize each other and honestly raise each other up, you can become the best heroes, who both win and rescue.” (Honestly, that sounded like an officiant’s wedding speech) and “You’ve got a good friend in him.” They also share the secret of One For All with All Might and because of this, Midoriya only considered to pass OFA down to Bakugou in Heroes: Rising. Midoriya unlocked Black Whips after Monoma talked dirty about Bakugou and the previous One For All user advised him to “get ahold of his intense feelings.” Midoriya only refers to Bakugou as “Kacchan"and not once has he asked him to stop, even though ”-chan" is a Japanese honorific used to indicate a cutesy and close bond between friends. Midoriya refused to call Bakugou as something other than “Kacchan” even during a life or death situation, shown when he wanted Mandalay to warn the class about the potential kidnapping of Bakugou. “Kacchan” was an affectionate nickname used by their childhood friends to adress Bakugou. Even Kaminari had teased Bakugou with this nickname, when he seemed geniunely concerned about the well-being of the internship squad, which included Midoriya.

In addition, there is no doubt that Bakugou is honestly obsessed with Midoriya. He mentions him and thinks about him all the time. He talks about him with other people even when they haven’t brought him up in the conversation. This could be said the same for Midoriya, who would always be there to save Bakugou no matter what despite all that the former has put him through. It could be interpretated as a symptom of Stockholm Syndrom, but in reality Midoriya is just able to see the good in Bakugou without excluding the negatives as well. “To the same extent as all of your unpleasant traits, your sheer amazingness at everything you do was so brilliant to me, it was blinding!”, “You, who had so many things that I never had…to me, you were an amazing, inspiring person, who was even closer to me than All Might!”, and “You’re my symbol of victory.” Midoriya admires Bakugou the most (even more than his idol, All Might who he has said to be his favorite hero and multiple merch of) and has stated that he is one of the most important person in his life. Bakugou exposed his feelings and broke down in front of Midoriya, 5+ times in fact (when he was a child, when he was kidnapped by the Sludge Villain, when he told Midoriya he’s not going ot lose to him, during their final exams, and during their second fight.) He only wanted to fight Midoriya in order to let off steam. Midoriya only charged in to save someone from the Sludge Villain when he realizes that someone is Bakugou. He’s willing to risk his life for him.

Even Kirishima sees how much they care for each other deep down. “…Because I’m betting this is hurting you more than the rest of us.” This happened after Midoriya got devasted about not being able to save Bakugou from getting kidnapped by the League of Villains his eyes broke and he was screaming with his bloody arms. He was yelling “Kacchan!” through blood and tears while Bakugou whispered a worried, “Stay back, Deku.” Midoriya can’t stand the thought of Bakugou being taken away from him. Todoroki and Uraraka have commented about their relationship, too. Todoroki has said to Bakugou, “You’ve been friends since you were kids right?” Uraraka has said to Bakugou, “It’s almost like…you’re scared so you want to distance him and so you act all menacing like that…I mean, you were childhood friends, and now you’re in the same class. So I want you to stop yelling at each other and be friends again.” She has also described their relationship as, “the fated battle between rivals/ men.” Toga has described to Uraraka what loving someone entails, “And you’re always thinking about how you want to be like him, aren’t you? Keep in mind, Uraraka is Midoriya’s hinted love interest. However, I think Uraraka is only in love with the idea of loving Midoriya. Midoriya as her possible romantic partner as only ever crossed her mind because someone else mentioned it. Whenever your classmates tease you about liking someone, don’t you get flustered as well, even though you don’t even like them? But Midoriya also admires Bakugou a lot, to the point where he copies his movesets and acts like him because he’s his "image of victory.” They inspire each other to be the best versions of themselves. Bakugou only wanted Midoriya’s attention on him when he was about to win and rescue during his joint-training battle with Class-1B, even if a sexy girl like Tokage was right in front of him.

Currently, they have frequent tea time meetings with All Might about One For All. Midoriya had commented on his life after getting One For All, everybody who helped him get to where he is now, and his newly healed friendship with Bakugou as being blessed. Yes, Bakugou did bully Midoriya in the past. He did act abrasive, mean, and told Midoriya to kill himself. However, their relationship is improving. Bakugou is improving. This ship is based on their chemistry, development, drama, angst, and everything else in between. On the other hand, I don’t understand why people shame Bakugou for hurting Midoriya, but not when Jirou stabs Kaminari with her earjacks all the time and makes fun of his stupidity. Don’t get me wrong, I ship KamiJirou too and I know they were not as toxic as BakuDeku, but these are double standards. Anyway, people can choose to interpret their relationship in a healthy way or not, but it’s no one’s right to tell others what they can or cannot ship. They’re not harming anyone. In fact, BakuDeku is a lot of people’s comfort ship and OTP. The BakuDeku fandom is one of the largest, full of supportive people, and produces tons of content. Bakugou and Midoriya’s relationship is the most central to the plot which means they frequently get content together. Everyone knows there’s no way BakuDeku would ever become canon. But just because they won’t, we can’t ship them? We can’t imagine what would happen if they did get toegether? We can’t have fun? Personally, I don’t like shipping canon ships because it’s boring. There’s no hope that motivates you and the author already decides their dynamic for you. Fanon ships and rarepairs are my favorite because you are in charge. You get to explore the dynamics and possibilities of every ship. In conclusion, BakuDeku is my OTP.