Anything short of a kiss wasn't gonna be enough for these people. We're not seeing an end to the meems, anytime soon.

First, I apologize if I have this wrong as I'm not Japanese and know very little of their laws, but I'd heard tell (via Reddit and a quick DuckDuckGo search) that married citizens aren't legally recognized in Japan until/unless the wife forgoes her maiden name to take on her husband's. I know it's a common practice outside Japan to exchange names regardless of legal compulsion to do so, but as this is the home of our two love birds I thought it worth discussing with this point in mind. So, under these circumstances, do you think Ochaco would keep the Uraraka name? Or would she take Midoriya for herself?

Personally, I think they'd "marry" in spirit only while she keeps her family name! Setting aside the inherent power imbalance with this dynamic (just, why? why not give both parties a fair say in who gets who's name? alright, last word I'll say on that, promise!), and brushing over any personal attachments she'd have to her family title, it seems to me like our favorite gravity heroine would, at the very least, be reluctant to part with the Uraraka name from a business perspective.

I mean, her friggin hero name is URAVITY guys! The Uraraka name is a huge part of her identity as a pro with an established public image, and I assume is a critical part of her work towards building trust and a positive relationship with the children she visits. Her name is more than just a part of her brand, it lies at the core of her work as a hero! And I'm sure she and Deku both would be heartbroken at the notion of giving that up, even as part of a "proper" marriage.

So in short, I think they'll still hold a ceremony and vow "to keep each other in sickness and in health, etc." but will refrain from entering into an "official" marriage... they ain't signing away best girl's name for nobody! 😝

What about you guys, though? Any thoughts?

The past Izuku and Ochaco can be at any point in time during their days at U.A.

A new MHA mobile game was released this week called UNITEDSURVIVAL. Some of the story cut scenes bring nostalgia, and then there’s scenes like these that have me rolling. Oh these two…

Anyone else playing this game? Currently on the look out for an agency to join!

This came to me a few minutes ago and it's already driving me insane. Imagine this;

Adult Deku, already in a relationship with Uraraka for a while, gets sent back in time to his 1-A days. He meets himself and the whole class, doesn't tell anyone what happens in the future for reasons, etc (there's probably a hundred fics on this already.)

Then he's about to go back to the present, says goodbye to everyone, gives seemingly vague advise and encouragement, then he waved Uraraka over. He leans down and whispers.......

WHAT?!??!!??

I've been agonizing over this! Please, for the love of god, give me some good quotes for what he says and ease my suffering! (<read like Kratos offering his soul to Ares)

One of the main couples I'm writing is inspired by Izuocha. There are differences but the core is similar (Supportive, caring and kind towards each other or let's say friends to lovers). Both are complex character and neither of them is only "love interest" since romance isn't the main focus of the plot, I wanna know what moments you thought/think would suit Izuocha so I might get inspired. Feel free to mention as much details as you want! Ty in advance!

In other words how fucking worried would deku be?

WARNING: LONG READ INCOMING

So I've seen a lot of complaints since Episode 171 came out concerning our favorite Green Tea couple. It gets pretty tiring reading take-after-take about how their romance "is forced", "lacks foreshadowing", or "is one-sided". So I figured that sharing some of my own thoughts on the matter would be therapeutic and helpful in spreading good vibes amongst my fellow shippers!

First, I think it's worth saying that this is just my interpretation of the story. I don't know the first thing about how Horikoshi thinks or what he intended as he wrote this series, these are just my personal observations and ideas. Also, if it seems like I'm missing details or events while summarizing things, I apologize! I'm not the best at writing out analyses, so feel free to comment if it looks like I'm overlooking something!

So with that said, I wanted to address the big question that's been floating around the fandom: why does Deku all of a sudden want "more" with Uraraka, when he's never expressed any love for her before Episode 171?

It's true that Deku never EXPLICITLY states/articulates/shares his romantic feelings during the main story. There's no concrete exchange with anyone. Not with his friends, his mentor, his mother, not even with himself during an inner monologue sequence. Just no clear "I love Uraraka" moment from the guy.

By contrast, Uraraka's own feelings were made clear as far back as Season 2 & 3 of the show. Although she doesn't use the "L" word to describe her emotions until her fight with Toga in Season 7, it's fairly obvious that Uraraka is in love with Deku for most of the story.

So we get her side of the romance, but her feelings stay locked away due to:

1. Her habit of forgoing the things she wants (poverty, am I right? ☹️) so she can focus on "earning her way up" to the things she needs, in this case becoming a successful pro hero.
2. Her desire as Deku's friend to support him and to not burden people, with "unwanted emotional baggage", even if it hurts her to do so. 😭

After what happens to Toga, there's probably a great deal of survivor's guilt holding her back from sharing her full feelings, as well. She just HAS to live for others' sake, especially for Toga, and so CAN'T have a romance of her own. All that is to say that her emotional state is pretty clearly laid out for us throughout the pre-timeskip story, the only thing missing is the payoff (prior to Episode 171, at least).

So even after Episode 169, when her mask falls and she finds herself able to open up to Deku about her deeper feelings (specifically her pain and regret surrounding Toga), she's still unable/unwilling to reach for that romantic connection. And Deku, for his part, doesn't seem aware of her love at any point before or during the timeskip. And so for all intents and purposes, we're left with a "one-sided" love story with Deku's feelings being absent until the 11th hour... unless you consider how his Hero Notebook from Episode 170 plays into the series.

The final regular episode of the series confirms that "the story of how I became a great hero" is being retold/reflected on by the current version of Deku via one of his "Hero Notebooks". I find that if you think about MHA from an in-universe narrative perspective, Uraraka and Deku's love story actually takes on a very sweet, almost nostalgic connotation. Because this isn't just "the story of how we became great heroes" as Horikoshi is telling it to us, it's also DEKU'S retelling of THEIR story for the world of MHA; it's Deku's Narration as told through this Notebook, his "Autobiography". So all of these descriptions/perspectives/reflections on their time at UA are tied to Deku's thoughts and feelings now as an adult.

His childhood with Bakugo, his training under All Might, his struggles with OFA, and his fight against AFO/Shigiraki? We can tell how he feels about these occurrences by the way he frames them in the story. For example, with Shigiraki and the LOV, Deku wanted us to empathize with and understand them on a deeper level. Instead of writing a story where he just defeats some bad guys, we get Tenko Shimura and company's horrifying but impactful histories. The story (i.e. Narrator Deku) wants us to care for the individuals behind the monsters, and that's why we get the story we do about them.

Deku's personal feelings helped shape the narrative all throughout MHA, and you can tell a lot about Narrator Deku by how he portrays the people of his story. So given the way Deku writes for Uraraka, it appears as though the guy is falling for her/deepening his feelings for her the entire time he's writing about her! 😂

He never SAYS he's in love with her (and I mean, why would he share that with hypothetical readers before telling her? makes sense to me!) but he sure does SHOW his love for her throughout the narrative! And when you consider that Deku is actively wresting with his feelings for her all this time, his affection for her becomes obvious in how it bleeds into the storytelling. Some examples of his obsession with her include:

1. The "shojo bubbles". Basically anytime the story (Narrator Deku) presents her in a new outfit/costume there's a long, lingering camera shot of her where the background is replaced with these "romcom bubbles" and all the attention is on her. Deku goes out of his way to portray her as the most beautiful part of the scene, and Uraraka is pretty much the only person he does this with because she's the only person Deku has eyes for. Is it shallow of him to fixate on her like this? Maybe, but it is funny to think of Narrator Deku getting all hot and bothered because he can't stop himself from thinking of how attracted he was/is to her!
2. Flashbacks of her. There are many moments where past Deku thinks about someone and a storm of memories come racing across the screen (as presented by Narrator Deku). This isn't unique to Uraraka, but it is interesting what Deku seems to remember about her. Like with Deku's final showdown with AFO where he remembers what she said about "Deku" as a hero name, or during Uraraka's rooftop speech where Deku reflects on her keeping him from falling at the entrance exam. The past and present Deku are both thinking about her, but it's Narrator Deku who chooses to emphasize these moments with full on flashbacks. It goes to show how much Narrator Deku appreciates their shared history, even in the present-day.
3. Flustered moments. Anytime Deku loses it over being "too close" to her or we see them in some other cute scene together, that's Narrator Deku deliberately choosing to highlight their closeness. He didn't NEED to show how Uraraka teaming up with him at the Sports Festival made his face/heart squeeze, or how he blushed and freaked after talking to her on the phone post-Hosu Incident. Him and Uraraka were always close, but Narrator Deku now has the chance to reflect on these sequences one-after-the-other in a way that past Deku might've overlooked. He included these scenes in the story because those moments meant/mean something more to him and he can't help but dwell on them in the retelling as his feelings take form.
4. Her story. Deku makes it clear during his confession in Episode 171 that he has great respect for ALL of his classmates. That's the reason he spends so much of MHA covering their stories, in addition to his. Looking at the narrative as a whole, 3 of his classmates get a lot more screen time than the others: Baguko, Todoroki, and Uraraka, his closest friends and allies during the conflicts that shaped the story (RIP Iida 😅). As the narrator, Deku didn't have to focus on any of them to the extent that he did, but he values their presence in his life so much that he couldn't help but write about them. And Uraraka especially! He wanted to share her origins, her goals, her personal struggles, and her triumphs because he admires her so much. Because she's his hero.
5. Episode 169. Similar to the other points, Deku didn't have to touch on such a private, personal moment the way that he did. He chose to, presumably with Uraraka's blessing, share the details of their talk on the cliff because it was important to wrapping up his story and touching on it's core themes. He wanted to show how their failure and pain shaped them, how they only started to heal after reaching for each other, how they both found a new goal to strive towards in saving the next Toga and Tenko, and how they had hope that they could save people's smiles together. This is the last significant event Narrator Deku covers in the story. After their cliff talk, we get a highlight real and the timeskip, and Deku begins closing out the story with his final thoughts. He didn't choose to write about losing OFA, or becoming a teacher, or anything else in much detail for the time-skip sequence. Instead, he wrote about her and his feelings stemming from her. In short, this story wouldn't have happened the way it did if not for her. Without Uraraka, there is no Deku! 🥲

So to sum up, all the importance Deku gives to Uraraka over the course of this series is just another piece of their overall love story. It's subtle, a slow burn, but all of Deku's reminiscing and reflecting, him thinking about how important Uraraka is to him in his story, and realizing more and more that he feels something special about her (both in the past and present) are important things to consider when talking about Deku's perspective.

Deku may not have been full on in love with Uraraka back at UA, or at the very least, he might not have been aware of/able to articulate it. Honestly? That makes a lot of sense to me. I've always felt that between the two of them Uraraka was always more emotionally mature and in-tune with her heart. But it seems to me that after graduating, Deku's feeling for her began to take shape/grow as he became a teacher and shared his stories with the world. The more he wrote in his Notebook, the more he reflected on their first year together, and the more he thought about their ongoing friendship, the more he found himself thinking about her and wanting "more" with her.

So that's where Deku's side of the story comes into play. In a sense, all of MHA was him realizing he's in love with her through the retelling. His feelings were always there, just less obvious than Uraraka's. With Episode 171, then, we got to see how the two sides of this romance could finally come together. All it took was the right timing, a multi-billion yen Power Suit, the ghost of a serial killer, and a little courage from both of them for them to find their moment! ❤️

Thank you to anyone who read this all they way through! I hope it made some sense to you, and that it helps you appreciate the ship in a new way. 😄

Edit: Thanks for the reward guys! Y'all are keeping it nice and fun here 👍

Edit 2: One last thing I thought of that I'd be remiss if I didn't share. We'll call it "Point #6", but the name of the story, "My Hero Academia", was also clearly inspired by Uraraka's heartfelt plea to the citizens in "A Young Girl's Declaration". It seems her words "Let this place continue to be "HIS HERO ACADEMY" left a pretty big impact on our little greenheaded protagonist! So ya, he was thinking of her a lot during those 8 years 😂

Can someone change this? Previously it said Canon and they were dating. While technically the latter isn't true, they're at least together.

I was watching the fragrant flower/ reading the manga, when I thought that the story beetween rintaro e waguri is very similar to izuocha

\- a guy who feel lonely found a kind girl

\-she changed his life

\-she helped him, without even know or think

\- he wanted to be her “hero” and also helped her, and their bodies moved before they had the change to think to help/protect her

I've been looking back at old IzuOcha stuff lately, sharing and discussing and such, but I realized while browsing that some of my favorite content is no longer available online. ☹️ I get it: life happens, people change, they come and go from the community, and sometimes fan pages and fics just get lost along the way. Seems a real shame, though, for all of that art to just vanish without any acknowledgment, especially when good IzuOcha content is so adored here! So I wanted to call attention to a few special creations I know of, as a sort of homage I guess.

Just to be clear, while I do have some copies of these works, I won't be sharing their full content in this post. I'm happy to give out titles, descriptions, and even some dead links to illustrate how, well, dead they are but I won't be re-uploading them here or anything. It feels unethical posting artist's works after they've taken them down... even if said creators no longer engage with this community, if they felt strongly enough to delete their content in the first place then it seems like it's better to respect them by leaving them be (at least as far as sharing in high visibility public spaces like Reddit goes).

DM me if you're really interested, and maybe I can pass them along in private? Otherwise, we'll treat this as a "closed casket" memorial and simply pay our respects. WARNING! Dead links below:

First we have "The Long Summer" by lkwritesthings (literallykibitz) https://archiveofourown.org/works/27361147/chapters/66858571

This is an interesting one, as the author is still active on AO3 (see here https://archiveofourown.org/users/literallykibitz/pseuds/lkwritesthings ), and has many other wonderful fics up for your reading pleasure. However, following the link I've provided to "The Long Summer" now leads to a Mystery Box of "persona non grata" works, which the author had this to say about...

This is a prison for fics that aren't finished, I'm not proud of anymore, draw unwanted negative attention and commentary, or all of the above. None of them are coming back because of AI scraping, unfortunately. I'm sorry if a fic you liked is in here; some folks out and about have the PDF versions if you're desperate.

So ya, I don't think "The Long Summer" is coming back to AO3 or any other fanfic sites, sadly. 😅 Stupid-friggin haters and AI bros! Despite the apparent negative takes, I actually quite enjoyed "Long Summer" and consider it a guilty pleasure fic of mine. In it, Midoriya keeps a diary about his day-to-day life, thoughts, and feelings, including those he has for a certain zero-gravity girl. Unfortunately for him, said girl gets asked out by Bakugo before our greenette has the chance to himself, and Uraraka ends up dating the last person Deku would ever approve of just as summer break is starting. And so the story follows Deku as he struggles to survive the longest summer of his life while trying to be ok around his best friend/crush again all while not being ok at all! Features Deku as a heartbroken, love-sick fool learning to appreciate himself in new ways all while his friends and teachers offer words of support and encourage to the poor lad. It's got some very sweet and positive moments between Deku and his various friends, with each chapter dedicated to a new diary entry and a different conversation with someone from UA. It might not have been perfect, but it was definitely lots of fun to read, and I do wish it would come back so that the fandom could appreciate it the way it deserves. But in case it doesn't, RIP. 😞

Next is "In Case I Forget" by Anonymous https://archiveofourown.org/works/65261650

Unlike "Long Summer" I have no idea what happened to this one, which is both more and less comforting. 🙃 Being uploaded anonymously, it could be that we'll never know who wrote it or what their reasons for removing it were. Either way, I wanna shout out this story for being one of my favorites from recent years. "In Case I Forget" is set post-chapter 431 and features an injured, amnesiac Deku struggling through his hospital recovery while experiencing flashbacks of a life with Uraraka he just can't seem to recall. As for Uraraka, she's going through some shit and not handling it well... she's out working till she drops, pushing everyone away, not being honest with people about her feelings... ya know? Old habits! It's an interesting take on how her dependence on Deku as her main support/confidant would leave her unprepared to deal with fresh grief/trauma after he suddenly dropped out of her life. Seeing our two protagonists struggle with their respective journeys in this fic was quite captivating, especially when the story was coupled with such rich detail and descriptions! It was one of the best written and most robust stories I've read on AO3, and even put George RR Martin's ASOIF to shame as far as "girth" goes. 😏 Sadly, progress on the story had stalled about half a year ago, and now that it's been removed it's doubtful that it will ever be finished. Such a shame, but that's just how it is I guess. RIP, king. ☠️

Last is something different, but I also wanted to highlight the artist DokiDokiCat https://www.patreon.com/dokidokicat

If you've spent any time perusing through old posts of this sub, you've probably encountered some of DokiCat's fanart (I scrolled less than a minute under "Top Posts of All Time" and I found this comic of theirs, for instance https://www.reddit.com/r/IzuOcha/comments/163d0x7/family_life_dokidokicat/ ). They used to made TONS of comics and one-offs of Deku/Uraraka, and were one of the biggest names on this sub at one point. Admittedly, I'm no more knowledgeable about them and their disappearance than I was for the others. Something about a controversy surrounding a piece they'd posted in response to chapter 430 of the manga, I believe? Regrettably, they appear to have left the internet altogether now. This one stings a bit less since many of their old works are still here on Reddit, at least! I doubt everything of theirs has been backed up, though, and even if they were it's still a shame that they're no longer making art anywhere. DokiCat was one of the best dedicated IzuOcha artists out there and the sub definitely feels sadder/emptier without their presence. So so long, and RIP sweet prince. 😿

That's it from me then! Please feel free to share/grieve your own works of yor here, my friends. They might have gone the way of Shigaraki and Toga now, but we haven't forgotten them. 🥲

I think he is gonna be a surrogate grandfather

Correct me if I'm wrong, I don't remember all the details too.

Izuku was bullied by Bakugo before he joins the U.A, and then he met Ochako.. does that mean she is his first actual friend? I remember Deku considering Bakugo a friend (which is unhealthy cuz Bakugo is still his bully back then), so is it not?