Deku’s dear friend Katsuki Bakugo remains in dire straits in recent My Hero Academia chapters, with his very life hanging in the balance for a second time. Bakugo nearly died defending Deku from Tomura Shigaraki’s anger in the anime’s sixth season and recovered, but he could die this time – which would be bad for the tale.
Bakugo was nearly dead the last time MHA fans saw him; Edgeshot took the controversial step of healing the young hero’s heart with his thread-like body. Even if Edgeshot’s acts are cynical and convenient, Bakugo deserves to live for a completely different reason: to make his atonement count for anything.
MHA’s Katsuki Bakugo Deserves Another Chance at Redemption
Katsuki Bakugo’s current predicament came not too long after his well-received “I’m sorry” moment to Deku during the “Dark Deku” mini-arc. Bakugo was a popular but bully-ish antihero through most of My Hero Academia‘s story, and only recently did he finally own up to his terrible behavior and fix his relationship with Deku. This almost makes him a younger Endeavor, a rough hero who united the fandom and other characters against him only to become aware of his horrible mistakes. Since the young hero never tried to ruin anyone’s family, Bakugo is easier to forgive than Endeavor — but that won’t happen if MHA’s final arc kills him off first.
Despite his poor attitude and antihero behavior, Katsuki Bakugo is still a decent person deep down. He’s just now starting to prove it, most of all with “I’m sorry” and his heroic efforts to shield Deku from harm in battle. Bakugo’s redemption arc isn’t complete; it’s just beginning, and he needs a chance to become the good person he has promised to be. He won’t be remembered too fondly if he was a jerk for 95% of the story and died not long after apologizing, and this character deserves a better legacy than that. Like Endeavor, Bakugo needs a post-antihero phase of his life to balance out his darker years, making him a mixed bag rather than a monster who said one nice thing before getting killed off.
My Hero Academia Needs the Old Katsuki Bakugo Back
In a way, Bakugo’s redemption arc isn’t just about transforming him and having him deliver on the promise to be better. It’s actually about finding a return to his original and best self. Certain My Hero Academia flashbacks have shown Bakugo as an energetic and kind boy who channeled his enthusiasm in positive ways, only to start bullying Deku after the latter was diagnosed as Quirkless. Bakugo wasn’t born bad — he became bad after finding a reason to look down on his childhood friend. Bakugo’s scorn for Quirkless Deku brought out the worst in him, but now that the two have made peace, the old Katsuki Bakugo can return.
Bakugo must not die in MHA’s current war storyline because, for the sake of everyone, he must revert to his former self and be the active but gentle young man he was always capable of becoming. On a meta-level, this would redeem him; in a concept picture displayed early in the manga, author Kohei Horikoshi revealed that he previously planned for Bakugo to be a kinder, more supporting character in the style of Ochaco Uraraka.
Giving Bakugo another chance to live and totally rehabilitate himself would bring the old character back in two ways, demonstrating that even if he was supposed to be a jerk for narrative purposes, there was always hope for a nicer, more sympathetic Kacchan after all.
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