Does anyone else feel like this extra chapter was added in based off of editor suggestion on how it "should" go? I much preferred the more ambiguous real ending in chapter 430. Despite the fact that I don't agree with Deku becoming a teacher and giving OFA to overload Shigaraki, I can see how teaching is a path he could go down based on the influence of Aizawa and All Might.
My main gripe with chapter 431 is the Izuku x Ochako ship that was thrown in there haphazardly. It was super one-sided throughout the story. Uraraka's whole character arc was centred around her crush on him and realizing it wasn't going to go anywhere so she decides to move on! That's where Toga comes in, who has a crush on both of them, and Uraraka starts to catch feelings before Toga's untimely death --which makes her want to go into social work and make things better for people like Toga. Chapter 431 even admits this, with Uraraka still not over Toga, even confiding to Asui over it. But the chapter than spits in her face and has Toga's "spirit" push her towards Izuku, who she lost feelings for ages ago! Chapter 431 is a huge disservice to her character, it makes no sense why she would still have feelings or even want a relationship with him when she already moved past that!
Not to mention it makes even less sense on Deku's side. Sure, he was nervous around her in the very first FEW chapters, but he was like that around all female characters, and he got over his blushing habit pretty damn quickly as he got used to all of the girls in his class. The entirety of the manga had his and Bakugo's relationship as a pretty hefty subplot. From childhood friends, to Bakugo being the first to know Deku's OFA secret, to resolving tensions over the year, to becoming rivals, always circling the other and worried for the other, all culminating in Bakugo spending 8 years funding a special suit to help Deku achieve/ maintain his hero dream. Bakugo was crushed when he found out Deku no longer had OFA because he thought they'd continue competiting with each other for the rest of their lives, it's worth noting the "rest of our lives" is a common romantic subtext in Japanese and anime. Additionally they both risk their lives for each other numerous times. Both Bakugo and Deku have a very hard time understanding their own feelings and each others. Deku has always seen Bakugo as one of his most important people and he was a huge influence on Deku's desire to become a hero but it's hard for him to reconcile that with Bakugo's most recent actions and emotions towards him as it conflicts with their past of Bakugo pushing him away because he was scared and emotionally constipated. At many different points through the story, Deku does all he can to defend and protect Bakugo, from the beginning actions which made All Might give him OFA. In the Joint Training Arc, he manifests Blackwhip for the first time due to being angered by Monoma badmouthing Bakugo. One of the past OFA users even told him he needs to "control his heart" but he later lied to All Might and Bakugo as to what triggered it.
Chapter 431 just feels really weird with respect to the bakudeku relationship building (whether it was intended to be romantic or not). Like you're telling me they spent all this time building up their relationship only for Deku, the man who always wanted to be a hero and whom deeply cares for Bakugo, to reject his offer of joining his agency and instead remain a teacher for most of the time? Why didn't he try to maintain hero duty in those 8 years anyways? Plus how in chapter 431, bakugo tells Deku to think for himself and stop missing what's staring him in the face and the lingering shot of him waving feels very odd for the direction the final pages took. Seriously it's like Deku magically gained feelings for Uraraka in the final 8 (if that) pages of the extra chapter. I just don't understand why Horikoshi ended the series like this. The sudden Izuocha ending that ignores all other character arcs feels like something the editors told him to do to appease fans and have a explicit heterosexual relationship (it is shonen jump after all). Horikoshi even mentions in his author note that he has low self-esteem and felt expected to make each chapter bigger and better than the last. Idk just feels like he was pressured to make chapter 431 for the tankoban to try and appease some angry fans after 430 released. I think he only intended for 430 to be the absolute end, which was more ambiguous on any relationship, and felt more natural. Frankly it would've been better if the manga actually ended there. Chapter 430 was a much more satisfying ending than 431.
Does anyone else feel like this extra chapter was added in based off of editor suggestion on how it "should" go? I much preferred the more ambiguous real ending in chapter 430. Despite the fact that I don't agree with Deku becoming a teacher and giving OFA to overload Shigaraki, I can see how teaching is a path he could go down based on the influence of Aizawa and All Might.
My main gripe with chapter 431 is the Izuku x Ochako ship that was thrown in there haphazardly. It was super one-sided throughout the story. Uraraka's whole character arc was centred around her crush on him and realizing it wasn't going to go anywhere so she decides to move on! That's where Toga comes in, who has a crush on both of them, and Uraraka starts to catch feelings before Toga's untimely death --which makes her want to go into social work and make things better for people like Toga. Chapter 431 even admits this, with Uraraka still not over Toga, even confiding to Asui over it. But the chapter than spits in her face and has Toga's "spirit" push her towards Izuku, who she lost feelings for ages ago! Chapter 431 is a huge disservice to her character, it makes no sense why she would still have feelings or even want a relationship with him when she already moved past that!
Not to mention it makes even less sense on Deku's side. Sure, he was nervous around her in the very first FEW chapters, but he was like that around all female characters, and he got over his blushing habit pretty damn quickly as he got used to all of the girls in his class. The entirety of the manga had his and Bakugo's relationship as a pretty hefty subplot. From childhood friends, to Bakugo being the first to know Deku's OFA secret, to resolving tensions over the year, to becoming rivals, always circling the other and worried for the other, all culminating in Bakugo spending 8 years funding a special suit to help Deku achieve/ maintain his hero dream. Bakugo was crushed when he found out Deku no longer had OFA because he thought they'd continue competiting with each other for the rest of their lives, it's worth noting the "rest of our lives" is a common romantic subtext in Japanese and anime. Additionally they both risk their lives for each other numerous times. Both Bakugo and Deku have a very hard time understanding their own feelings and each others. Deku has always seen Bakugo as one of his most important people and he was a huge influence on Deku's desire to become a hero but it's hard for him to reconcile that with Bakugo's most recent actions and emotions towards him as it conflicts with their past of Bakugo pushing him away because he was scared and emotionally constipated. At many different points through the story, Deku does all he can to defend and protect Bakugo, from the beginning actions which made All Might give him OFA. In the Joint Training Arc, he manifests Blackwhip for the first time due to being angered by Monoma badmouthing Bakugo. One of the past OFA users even told him he needs to "control his heart" but he later lied to All Might and Bakugo as to what triggered it.
Chapter 431 just feels really weird with respect to the bakudeku relationship building (whether it was intended to be romantic or not). Like you're telling me they spent all this time building up their relationship only for Deku, the man who always wanted to be a hero and whom deeply cares for Bakugo, to reject his offer of joining his agency and instead remain a teacher for most of the time? Why didn't he try to maintain hero duty in those 8 years anyways? Plus how in chapter 431, bakugo tells Deku to think for himself and stop missing what's staring him in the face and the lingering shot of him waving feels very odd for the direction the final pages took. Seriously it's like Deku magically gained feelings for Uraraka in the final 8 (if that) pages of the extra chapter. I just don't understand why Horikoshi ended the series like this. The sudden Izuocha ending that ignores all other character arcs feels like something the editors told him to do to appease fans and have a explicit heterosexual relationship (it is shonen jump after all). Horikoshi even mentions in his author note that he has low self-esteem and felt expected to make each chapter bigger and better than the last. Idk just feels like he was pressured to make chapter 431 for the tankoban to try and appease some angry fans after 430 released. I think he only intended for 430 to be the absolute end, which was more ambiguous on any relationship, and felt more natural. Frankly it would've been better if the manga actually ended there. Chapter 430 was a much more satisfying ending than 431.